Chapter 7: Starting off on the Right Foot
The red skin of Louise's raw wrists ached beneath the shackles. Her eyes downcast, Louise was able to intimately inspect her dirtied, sore arms. Gone was her noble clothing, her mantle, her noble crest, even her wand was taken from her. Only simple, abused rags gave her any shred of modesty. She half-heatedly wished it was warmth rather than modesty they provided. Rags as tattered as hers provided no defense against the heat sucking stone floors and walls of her barren cell. "You." A hateful voice hissed from beyond the bars to her cell. Weakly, Louise looked up to her visitor. Agnes, protector of Princess Henrietta and leader of the musketeers, stood beyond them with her arms crossed across her chest. "How could you. You who the Princess trusted most. How could you possibly..." Agnes turned away in disgust, "I can't even bear to say it."
As Agnes turned, a shadow strafed around, staying perfectly behind the musketeer. A gauntlet hand offered a single 'thumbs up' to Louise, who responded with an enthusiastic nod and a smile.
Agnes snapped back to the weak, barely conscious Louise. "I can't even stand to look at you! You best pray the Princess still holds any love of you. Only her plea could save you from the chopping block now!" Louise's clouded eyed failed to waver, eliciting an angry snort of disposal from Agnes. "Fine, rot here then." With that, Agnes spun around, putting her shadow through quite the circle strafe, and stormed down the stairs of the tower.
When Agnes' steps finally faded and the door below slammed shut, Louise looked up to the position her familiar had taken leaning against the wall next to the door. "Are you sure about this?" She questioned. Not that she doubted her familiar. No, she was definitely beyond that. But her slight uneasiness begged a further explanation.
Her familiar crossed his arms and nodded sagely, "Of course. Great Heroes and Heroines always begin their journey in prison for an unspecified crime. Even I was on my way to my execution when I received my call to adventure." He spoke as if what he said was fact, and for Louise's part, she was forced to accept it.
Still, these past few days weren't exactly the most pleasant of her life. "I still can't believe we-"
"Unspecified crime Louise. We must never speak of the events leading to your incarceration again." The dragonborn cut her off with a strict, no-nonsense tone. This was one of the more important rules after all. "I understand it isn't fun," Certainly, his day on the prisoner wagon in a Skyrim winter had been less than enjoyable. "But just wait, soon your main quest will arrive."
Now this bit was what bothered Louise the most. Not only was this one of the more crazy Skyrim-logic leaps her familiar had made, but he also only ever used the word soon. Not tomorrow or in three hours. Soon. The vague, vague word that it was. "I hope you're right. Waitin-"
Stone crumbled beneath dragon claw as the wall to Louise's cell was ripped apart. The thundering clash of magic claw on stone drowned out Louise's surprised scream, her Familiars cheer of success, then Louise's squeal of excitement. Both master and familiar quickly recognized the dragon as Tabitha's familiar. They did not recognize her when magical light engulfed her and left behind a naked woman. "Please! Irukuku doesn't know anyone else who could help Irukuku's Sister. Irukuku begs you help Sister Tabitha!"
Louise reached forward, intent on clasping Sylphid, Irukuku's, hands and agreeing but was stopped hen her familiar grabbed her shoulder, restricting her movement. Stunned, she looked to him only to see him rolling his eyes and shaking his notebook before her eyes. Right! She almost stated her main quest off with a mistake. Taking out her notebook, the one thing that hadn't been taken from her, she squatted down and opened it with trembling hands.
Quest: Save Tabitha