MufasaToSoar is back, everyone! I am not dead. And my most sincerest apologies for the rather long wait for this chapter. I only hope for you readers to enjoy and that this chapter is good enough.
It took some time, but Undian has made it back to Cloud Ruler Temple. All the while, he heard whispers from the knapsack. Most likely from the Mysterium Xarxes., or from that accursed spirit Nord. He came to the ancient gate of Cloud Ruler Temple, seeing it open when the Blades saw him. He dismounted the paint horse and walked up the steps, the reins in his hand.
The trip itself wasn't boring, though. He had two bandit groups attack him between the cavern and Bruma and a highwayman thought that it was a good idea to extort money out of the Altmer. It ended with the bandit dead and Undian with a scorch mark on his right shoulder which burned through the armour and onto his skin.
One of the Blades took the paint horse away from Undian, which was for the best. He wanted to be rid of the accursed animal anyways. Jauffre walked up to him, but Undian almost didn't recognise him in the Blades armour. It suited him, for some reason.
"Did you retrieve the Amulet of Kings?" He asked, his eyes hopeful.
Undian looked away, shameful. Jauffre noticed this without troubles.
"You didn't get it, did you?"
Undian shook his head. He took the Mysterium Xarxes out and showed it to the Blades Grandmaster.
"But I did get this out of the shrine." Undian replied.
Jauffre looked at it, confused with the book. "Take it to Martin. He's in the Great Hall." Jauffre ordered, walking off to the battlements.
Undian placed the book back into the bag and walked into the Great Hall. There, he saw Martin at a desk almost completely covered in books. Baurus was standing at the post behind him, keeping watch over the heir to the Septim Throne.
'Honourable. Yet stupid.' Undian thought. He didn't want to know why Men do what they do.
He walked over to Martin, who was busy reading through the rather large stack of books. He noticed Undian when he was leaning onto the desk.
"Ah, Undian. You have the Amulet of Kings, I hope?" Martin asked.
Undian sighed, hanging his head lower. "No. But I do have this." He answered.
He picked the Mysterium Xarxes out of the bag and placed it rather roughly onto the desk. Martin glanced at the cover of the book, only to have his features give way to anger. He stood up, the very air changing from calm to angered. Martin gripped the desk hard, his knuckles turning white and ice forming over the surface of the wood.
"By the Nine! These things are too dangerous to even handle! What on Nirn were you thinking?!" Martin exploded.
"And I swear, by the Eight, that I couldn't! The leader of the Mythic Dawn has it and he's in somewhere called Paradise!" Undian yelled back.
The two stared at each other for what seemed like hours. The air became tense, with both competitors having the magic coursing into their hands and Baurus having his hand on his sword, ready for any threat. Martin closed his eyes and breathed in and out, his features relaxing as he did so.
"Forgive me." He said, sitting back down. "You were right to bring it with you. But it'd be best if you keep it here. I know some ways to protect myself from its evil power."
"Evil power?" Undian asked, calming down slightly. He still had flames ready, just in case.
"Daedric gifts, such as this, are evil by nature. It differs from Daedric artefacts. Gifts corrupt the soul and brain of mortals, ultimately bending them to the Prince's rule."
"You mean I may be corrupted?"
"Yes, unfortunately. Don't worry, Baurus. I know what I am doing to protect myself." Martin said, addressing Baurus' unvoiced worries. Martin turned back to Undian. "Now, I believe Jauffre is searching for you. Something that the Captain is concerned about."
Undian nodded and left the warmth of the Hall, only to be greeted by the Breton that he was told to see. He had a grim look, something that severely disturbed Undian to the core.
"Captain Steffan has told me of two suspicious individuals. If they are based in Bruma, and are members of the Mythic Dawn, then Martin is in danger." Jauffre told him.
He waved for Undian to follow him, which the High Elf grudgingly obliged. They came to the Captain of Cloud Ruler Temple, who was looking over the battlements with pride and unrivalled vigilance.
'The Marines at Auridon would be envious.' Undian thought immediately, but quickly dismissed the thought. The Altmer are better than all.
"Captain Steffan. Tell our friend here what you know of them." Jauffre ordered, before walking off.
Undian stood next to the Imperial, who was still staring out into the distance.
"There are two of them." The Imperial piped up.
"Two what?" Undian growled.
"Spies, of course. They gather near the sigil stone at the base of the hill at night. And if you are able to be there when they gather..."
"... I can end their possible threat."
"Exactly."
Undian turned to leave, hoping to get it done quick. He's stalled enough for Kvatch, praying to the Eight that it hasn't been fully destroyed. Or that the guards weren't killed. Or ,at least, the human ones were killed.
"There is one more thing, Altmer."
Undian turned back to face Steffan, who had turned to look at him. "You may want to speak to the Captain of the Bruma guard, Burd. He can grant you official statement to this case. Don't worry, we have sent a letter to him."
Undian nodded and turned to walk away once more. This time, he was grumbling all the while. Not anything that any one of the Blades should hear, since it was not exactly nice. He trekked down the temple steps and down the mountain, kicking a timber wolf pup over the ledge while going down the mountain path.
He walked through the open fields, covered in the snow of Cyrodiil's north. The tree line was far away from the city walls, a cunning idea, even for Men. But it ruins the beauty of the land. Summerset has tree lines that have remained untouched, even growing through some of the cities. The brown walls of Bruma met him quicker than he anticipated, the yellow chain mail of the guards putting them out of the surroundings. What he saw behind the walls were typical of Men.
Ramshackle buildings all cramped together. Maybe not even enough to keep the cold away. The most striking feature was the chapel in the centre of the town. One that showed a double-bladed axe on the bell tower.
Undian kept a large distance away from it all the way up to find this Captain Burd. When he was in view of the guards stationed in front of the castle of Bruma, he saw a large Nord with a silver claymore slung across his back. Undian walked up to him.
"Captain Burd, I presume?" Undian asked, finally getting a good height on the Nord. Burd was as tall as Undian, possibly taller. However, some strands of hair on top of his head were greying, signifying his age.
The Captain looked to Undian. "Aye. And you must be the one I got the letter about. Undian, correct?"
"Yes. I need to search for spies in this town."
The captain furrowed his brow, placing a hand on his chin. "We haven't seen any. However, I will inform the guards about you and your... investigation. Do you have an idea on where to start?"
"The sigil stone just at the base of the mountain there. I was told to look there at night."
"Right. May Talo-" Burd began to say.
"Don't... you say that name." Undian interrupted, storming out of the barracks.
When the door to the barracks closed, Burd had to repeat. "May Talos protect you and guide you to glory."
He's been out here for hours.
How he hated the cold of the north.
His magicka supplies are running low and he was too comfortable to find anymore firewood, so Undian just sat there in the snow.
The moonlight reflected off the snow beneath his feet, providing a better view to spy on the spies. But it could also lead him to be seen.
He wasn't the best at sneaking. Such things were best left to the beast races. The Altmer were a proud race of mages and even small amounts of battlemages. But, he remembered the quote that voice told him an hour ago whenever he thought otherwise.
"Each race has an advantage. These advantages can be frowned upon, or used well. The beast races have more advantages than the other races."
Undian had to remember his childhood. The endless training in both magic and swordplay, the tiring etiquette rehearsals and realities, the disdain he was given by every other Altmer whenever he walked on the streets of his home city on Auridon. The worst part, however, was the lashings from the nine-tailed fox when he was only a child of 11. The scars are still visible and are a reminder to never worship the One.
He saw a suspicious movement that snapped him out of his reminiscing. Just outside the city walls, a shadow was seen moving across the snow and towards the sigil stone. Even if Undian could see details from long distances, a hood covered the face. A second shadow, similar in motive and in dress, was following the first. They moved with a practised grace.
They reached the sigil stone, which glowed an eerie shade of green. Undian moved away from his hiding spot and began to trudge across the snow. He kept low, but sneaking wasn't his way. He moved like how an honourable warrior would sneak, terribly. But he went slow and kept transferring his weight onto each foot slowly.
A loud snap came from beneath his feet. He looked down. He stepped on a dead twig. The snap garnered the attention of the two spies. They raised their hands high in the air and a yellow light emanated from inside their hands. Their bodies were now covered in the armour that Undian was now sick of seeing. A mace appeared in one spy's hand, a dagger in the other. Undian drew his longsword and summoned his skeleton.
The four charged at each other. Undian casted a fireball spell at the spy with the dagger, a female, in front of him. The spell hit the spy, but the agent just shrugged it off.
'Dunmer, obviously.' Undian thought.
She struck with lightning speed. Undian managed to dodge it, the blade of the dagger glancing harmlessly off his chainmail armour. It was here that he couldn't do much to fight her. Every time he move away to be able to strike, the Dunmer spy moved to close the gap and gain the advantage. So Undian had to do a most dishonourable and unreputable thing and punched her in the face. This dazed the Dunmer and allowed Undian to step away and drive the point into a gap in the armour. This made the Dunmer kneel and Undian withdrew the sword and placed his hand onto the Dunmer's face. He surged a large amount of magicka to essentially freeze the Dark Elf to death. Her body slumped to the side, the Bound Armour dissipating.
He heard the shriek of the skeleton's defeat. He looked over, seeing the spray of fading bones. The second spy was bleeding in several places and was breathing heavily. She turned to strike at Undian with the mace, but it was both slow and weak. Undian dodged back and trusted forwards at the throat. The tip sunk right through the fabric of the armour and into her windpipe. She dropped her mace, which started to dissipate when she let go of it. She began to choke on her own blood, which also flowed down the sword and fell onto the snow.
He angled the sword down slightly, which the dying spy followed. She stumbled back and slid herself off the blade. When her throat was free of the tip and fell, the armour faded and revealed a female Redguard. He noticed a large sack near the Runestone. Undian picked it up and got an idea. But it needed the sack, the spies and his sword.
The Bruma guards at the castle's entrance to the courtyard noticed their captain's unusual behaviour this night. They knew of his meeting with the informant from the Blades, but they thought that the informant could wait until sunrise. The captain was constantly walking between the two gates to the city.
They heard the north gate open and close. Burd, despite his old age, ran straight to the sound. The night was quiet, so the two guards half-heard the conversation that the captain was having.
Burd couldn't believe his eyes. There, in the bloodstained sack, was two heads. One was Jearl's, but the other he didn't recognise. And he knew everyone in Bruma. Undian closed the sack, not allowing anyone else to see what the contents were.
"Do you have Jearl's key to her house?" Burd asked.
"I do, but there was this second key on her person." Undian replied, showing the two keys. Both were stained in blood and were radically different in their overall shape.
"Good. I'll inform the guard of your intrusion into Jearl's house."
Nothing was odd inside the main room of Jearl's house. The bed was set, food was on the table, all the signs of a person living here. Undian thought that nothing was out of place. He took tentative steps into the single roomed house, observing the possible places for a secret to be hidden. Although, it was all above the floor, since that's what it is like in Summerset.
He walked around the small table, but he saw that two plates were set out. Which was odd, since only one bed was up here. He stepped onto the corner of the carpet, one of Redguard make, but it made a hollow sound. Curious, Undian stepped back off the corner. Remembering the sound of floorboards when stepped upon, he stepped onto the corner once more. There was a large amount of difference. Bending down, he removed the edge of the carpet and revealing a trap door.
Taking out the bloodstained keys, he used the one that he didn't use to open the front door. It fit in the keyhole perfectly. He twisted it, hearing the deadbolt click out of place. He withdrew the key and pulled the trapdoor upwards. He stared into an illuminated stone basement. He calmly dropped down and pulled the trapdoor down. He looked around, noticing copies of the Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes.
He walked deeper into the basement and saw a folded piece of parchment, a wax seal on the fold. Using a knife close by, Undian cut the seal open and read the contents. He almost dropped it from its contents.
They were orders.
And they knew where Martin was.
He had to get up to Cloud Ruler to warn them, but he cannot leave Kvatch to ruin.
'A runner from Bruma could send these orders.' Undian thought.
He quickly got to the Bruma guard barracks and had Burd send one of his guards as a messenger for Cloud Ruler Temple. When he saw the guard run through the north gate, Undian left through the east gate and began to make his way to Kvatch on foot.
