I stumbled into the Bannered Mare behind the dragonborn, my stomach rumbling loudly. As I stood on the doorstep, I swept my gaze around the crowded Inn.
Off to the right, a tired looking woman slapped beers onto the counter towards eager drunk hands. A few loud drunks sat in the far corner, and a swotty-nosed bard sat near the fire in the middle with two women on either side of him giggling. I snorted through my nose. Humans.
If any of these dithering idiots knew the type of power I commanded or even a fraction of who I was, I'd have the Inn emptied in less than a few seconds. The dragonborn seemed to sense my mood however, as she turned my way and gave me a warning glance before walking up to the bar counter, her stench keeping even the most handsy of drunks from even looking her way.
The dragonborn withdrew a few gold coins and slapped them on the counter. "Two rooms please, two hot meals, and a tub of hot water." The innkeeper nodded wordlessly, and handed the dragonborn two keys from beneath the counter, then waved us off. The dragonborn turned towards me and handed out a key.
"Here's your key; they will deliver food shortly. Lastly, don't even think of bothering me until tomorrow morning." She grimaced in thought. "We can discuss what your thralldom means then, and lay down a few rules. As for now, I don't care what you do, just don't kill anyone, and do not cause trouble in town." She paused for a moment, her brown eyes blinking with tiredness as if she was going to say more, but then turned and disappeared upstairs without waiting for my reply.
I sighed, and started to follow her up where I guessed would likely be several more rooms. I simply didn't want company at the moment, in fact, frankly, I wished the inn was full of draugr at the moment, as it would be far more amusing then this nordish lot of loudmouths. The inn was noisy, in fact it seemed to have gotten noisier. I glanced over to the corner and noticed that an orc had gotten into a brawl. Typical.
As I started to leave the room, a hand shot out and grabbed me uncomfortably close towards the crotch. I froze and turned my head.
What met my sight was a, well, very drunk cyrodiil woman (I could only guess) with a large tankard in her other hand. Her blond hair was braided into two long pig-tails, her blue eyes were alight with a conspiritorial expression that I didn't want any part of, and her face was red from drinking. She leaned in towards me, pulling me closer.
"I like strawberries." She whispered, grinning from ear to ear.
At that moment I hated the dragonborn more then ever. It seemed this thrall business was serious, as I felt the dragonborns earlier command being forced upon me. I wanted nothing more than to light the blond-haired ditz on fire, and then torch the rest of the Inn. I gritted my teeth impatiently as she kept her unfaltering drunk gaze on me as if expecting some reply. I nearly choked.
"That's...that's real nice." I attempted to grin but I'm sure it came out more as a frown. For Oblivion knows why however, it encouraged her to speak again.
"Oh, have you seen it? Have you seen my bottle?" She giggled loudly, her hand still clutched tightly on my leggings dangerously high.
"No...I havn't." I growled a little too loudly. A nearby patron glanced my way nervously.
"Oi, can you help me find it? You look like a nice strapping lad." She grinned fondly and then her hand shot a little higher and she smacked me lightly.
I could feel waves of the invisible dragonborn's magic washing over me and forcing down my deadly magic as I outstretched my hand towards this insipid woman. My hands that once could inflict death in seconds upon hundreds at a time were held in check by a stupid bond. Lowering my hand, I thought quickly. If I couldn't kill her...maybe...I grinned evilly, a sudden thought occurring.
About half an hour later I swiftly left the room after thoroughly relishing what I had accomplished. I'm positive no one once noticed the confused blond chick in the corner with a large tankard of ale strapped over her mouth. Come to think of it, I'm still not sure she even fully realized what had happened. I smiled to myself as I walked upstairs and let myself into a room and closed the door.
The room was dark and smelled faintly. I frowned, but didn't notice anything amiss. I didn't see the hot meal I was promised, and my stomach gurgled unpleasantly but I didn't feel up to returning downstairs and being groped again by a batty blond chick. Standing for a moment, I really tried to give the thrall issue some thought.
I had had a few thralls in my lifetime, both while living and while undead. The most useful thing about thralldom magic, was the ability to summon the thrall at any point or moment in time immediately to the caster's side. I had discovered this magic by accident when I had been annoyed with one of my thralls, and blasted him off a cliff one time in my anger so that he would be able to contemplate my displeasure over the next several seconds until his demise. But I realized right after I had blasted the poor sod off, that I realized I still needed some information from him regarding some research. The next instant he was (to both his and my surprise) standing shaking next to me and urinating badly. I had been so interested in the fact that I was able to recall him that I spent the next 2 hours repeatedly pushing him off the cliff and then recalling him before he smashed to the ground. He was a nervous wreck by the time I was done, but I had discovered something useful. And it was great for future punishments and boredom.
Unfortunately it really didn't help me at the moment, other than having the knowledge that the dragonborn could do something similar if she had half a brain. Fortunately that didn't seem likely; the dragonborn appeared to be one of those nobler-than thou types that traipsed around the woods saving damsels and fixing broken carts. The only alarming factor about her was her temper.
I sighed, feeling a wave of what must be exhaustion passing over my frame. I didn't realize thralls still got tired; I would have to wrestle with my significantly large problems in the morning, for now I needed to keep this fleshy frame alive and rested.
Having suitable made up my mind, I walked toward the dark bed in the corner and flopped ungracefully onto the bed.
My expectations for tonight were to have at least a solid 8 hours or so of uninterrupted sleep and then wake up in the morning and figure out my master plan for world domination.
What I didn't expect was to land full onto the sleeping form of the dragonborn.