Sangreal - Chapter 7 – In the distance


Sirai set out early for Skingrad with her Imperial escorts as the sun began to rise, and tried her best to sit deeply in her saddle. Shadowmere felt the tension from her and tried to make his gate as smooth as possible upon the stony road. It was the Gold Road that they were traversing, but there was nothing golden about the trip.

A young, handsome looking soldier rode up beside Sirai upon his own white mare and asked her, "Is everything all right, Lady Alessia?" The Khajiit turned to the man, and smiled wide as she replied, "Oh, yes, I'm quite alright for a pregnant woman. Captain Thalan, there is something I've been meaning to tell you." An eager look crossed his face as he looked upon the champion and answered, "Go ahead!"
"Amongst the trees, from time to time, have you heard a rustle? A swift movement barely seen out of the corner of your eye?"
"A few times, yes. Several soldiers have gone on alert, as you've noticed, but we could find nothing."
"Well, do not be afraid of these figures. They mean us no harm, only to help. They only stay so they may attack our enemies swiftly."

Captain Thalan was puzzled but Sirai hushed him before he could speak and purred to him, "It will be all right. Trust me on this one." The captain's anxiety drained from his conscience as he let the Khajiit soothe him with her words. Speech-craft was an important skill for Sirai, and it allowed her to comfort her companions and rally her troops while instilling fear and anger in her enemies.

A far off goblin shriek made every soldier in the company draw their bow and arrows, but it had been the sound of a death, not of a battle cry. Sirai held up a hand and said, "See? Only here to help." Captain Thalan nodded and called for his company to sheath their weapons. Sirai rocked back into her saddle and said softly, "Perhaps we shall discuss this when we stop with the rest of your men. They are skilled and could easily hurt our allies." Thalan nodded, "Yes, I agree."


Cedric, Caius, and Jauffre had travelled steadily towards the Valus Mountain Range that stood between Cyrodiil and Morrowind. The range had a horrible reputation for being hard to climb and very inhospitable. Yet here the Blades were, staring up at the rocky slope, a thin, precarious looking trail, weaving its way up between the rocks and scraggly trees.

Caius whipped his paint gelding around towards the group and roared out, "Like every other obstacle we have overcome, we shall conquer this mountain, all in the name of the Septim bloodline and the Empire!" A resounding hurrah rippled through the group, and following in a single line, the soldiers began their ascent, horses cautiously walking on the gravel path.

As they went higher on the mountain, the plant life grew less and less, trees becoming shorter and flimsy. The plant life started to be dominated by only mushrooms, with the only greenery growing to be that of milkthistle, their magenta flowers the only color on the gray landscape. As the air grew thin, the horses and soldiers alike were breathing harder, and slips were becoming more frequent on the dangerous zig zag that passed as a road.

"Jauffre," Cedric began, calling up ahead to the old priest, "How much longer must we endure this?" Jauffre briefly turned his head, and called back, "We are growing closer to the peak. Once there we will break for a while, build a fire, and eat. We need to try to conserve our energy for the path back down these blasted mountains." Cedric wiped his nose, the cold making it run, and he replied, "Sounds like a good plan."

The party was moving at almost a crawl as the mountain turned to only rock and snow, the air freezing and spread thin with oxygen. The horses were tiring quickly, and it was decided to dismount their steeds so that it may relieve the equines of the soldiers' weight, and to allow the men to warm their muscles up with the exercise.

The struggle was finally over as Caius led everyone to a plateau upon the mountain's top. Wood was quickly gathered from saddle bags and promptly covered with burning tinder. The humans quickly gathered around the fire, seated upon stones as the horses drank melted snow and nosed the ground in hopes of food.

Cedric lazily gnawed upon a smoked piece of deer jerky, staring out into the distant landscape, deep in thought. A very faint spiral of smoke could barely be made out through the snow, but it was clear that it was Red Mountain producing it.

"Septim for your thoughts?" Jauffre asked, nudging his young friend as he also ate a smoked strip of meat. Cedric looked away from the spiral and back towards the fire. He sighed and said, "I was just thinking of Sirai." The priest sensed the sadness and continued, "Something happened between you, am I right?"
"We used to be married. And we had a child together." Jauffre's eye brows rose in surprise, "Something definitely did happen between you two. What came of the babe?"
"She died the same day she was born. It was after her death that Sirai disappeared. I never saw her again. Our marriage records were destroyed, and it was as if she was wiped from life completely. She was my reason for living."

He took a large swig from his brandy and continued, "It hurts so much that she found someone to love, that she is pregnant… She's no longer mine…" Jauffre patted him on the back and tried to comfort him. "The Aedra did this for a reason my friend. Cyrodiil would not have been saved had she stayed home to take care of her child. There would be Oblivion portals still plaguing our lands, and most of all, there is a chance to have an emperor back upon the throne." Cedric tried his best to quell his pain and nodded. The old blade was right, but he still felt bitter that all of this was at his heart's expense. It had been through so much pain, and it still ached.

Cedric looked back towards Red Mountain, and prayed that his pain would somehow be relieved. The camp quickly disassembled, and the soldiers saddled up once more, and began down the Valus Range, headed towards Kragenmoor, the Dunmer city nestled between the Valus and Velothi mountains.


Sirai, Thalan, and the rest of their group arrived at Skingrad earlier than expected, the sun still above the horizon. The count, Janus Hassildor, welcomed the travelers into his castle, a particular "thank-you" to the Champion of Cyrodiil, for keeping his Vampirism a secret from his subjects. The troops were welcomed into the bunkers, and the dark brotherhood assassins camped outside the castle walls.

The pregnant feline walked to the main city and decided to spend the sunset inside of the Great Chapel of Julianos. The life inside of her was rumbling, and she decided to pay a visit to the God of wisdom, to thank him for his help. Tumindil was dressed in his velvet burgundy finery and welcomed Sirai into the chapel, and the Khajiit smiled back, walking towards the large center altar and stared up into the blue glass portrait of Julianos.

Tumindil walked up beside her and said softly, "Allow me." Sirai knelt on the red carpet and allowed the priest of the temple to dip his hands into the holy water and anoint her with it. He said a prayer as he did so, and a white magic enveloped Sirai briefly, soothing her muscles and her mind, as her thoughts became clearer and her magica stronger. She thanked the Altmer for his blessings and Tumindil bowed, going back to walking around the temple.

Sirai stared back up at the aqua stained glass, and pleaded to Julianos, "Please watch over our quest to bring back the emperor. Give us strength, wisdom, and the intelligence to make the right decisions." Her thoughts wandered to Cedric and her own heart began to ache as she thought of everything she had done to him. Tears began to wet the fur upon her face and she wished he was holding her and comforting her as he used to.


With much struggle, and a few sprains from both man and beast, the blades reached the dark looking city of Kragenmoor. The ruling Dunmer family, House Dres, reluctantly allowed the group to rest in their lower section of their city, the large looming spires looking like architectural claws. As they travelled into the alien city, they passed seedy looking mer, shivering against black walls from skooma withdrawal, several robbed while lost in their stupor.

The dark brotherhood assassins felt safe enough to show themselves to the Blades as they found a low-lit, shabby inn with a bedraggled and graying innkeeper that could care less about their comfort. An Argonian dressed in the traditional black brotherhood armor sat down with Jauffre, Caius and Cedric as his comrades sat down at separate tables from the soldiers. "This one is named Dan-Ei Tikeer. We hope you accept our help on your quest," he spoke slowly in the customary slithering drawl of the lizard like race. Caius took the initiative to speak and said, "It is not rejected. But your involvement is what is most puzzling." With a dark scratchy laugh, Dan-Ei replied, "Sithis also wishes the return of Martin Septim. It is more a matter of I scratch your back… you scratch mine…"
"Go on."
"If you have not already noticed, my party consists of only Argonians…"

The three mean turned in their seats looking around at the assassins. A scaly tail emerged from each set of armor, and a few of the lizard race snarled at the stares.

Dan-Ei spoke once more when everyone turned back to him, "My brothers and sisters wanted the chance to join the Black Marsh rebellion in Morrowind… to exact revenge for our races slavery by the dark elves." Caius raised an eyebrow as Jauffre and Cedric leaned in. "What exactly are you asking?" he said.
"I'm asking you to let us kill without interference."

The humans exchanged puzzled looks among themselves and then Jauffre responded, "It is not our fight. Do what you like. We are only here to save the empire." Dan-Ei lifted his mug of mead and let out a loud laugh and smiled. "Let us cheer to our quests." The table toasted all around, and the exhausting day ended with delight as everyone filled their tired souls with alcohol.


Thank-you for reading my little journey! I hope things are picking up enough to keep everyone interested. We have just entered Morrowind and the quest towards Dagoth Ur continues! All of my story statuses are on my profile page, and feel free to comment, critique, and review!