Chapter Nine:

The Night Before

In a rich yet sorrow filled voice, Rain said; "Ah, you're here. I saw you coming, you know." She wasyoung, maybe sixteen at most, with pale white skin, nearly marble like. But the most distinctive feature of Rain was, without a doubt, her eyes. Like thousands of raindrops were falling within them. "It's rude to stare, you know," Rain said with a grin. Baiai managed to break the sudden shock that the sight had knocked him into him, and nodded. The rest of the room that seemed to make up Rain's home was nothing more than floorspace, a bed and a single crystal ball place before her. Inside the ball the view crazed and distorted by the lenses, the Shivering Isles stretched.

"You're right," he said. "Sorry." Vergil pulled himself up through the trapdoor and stared.

"Hello there," Rain said, grinning once more. "Do you two know how many visitors I get nowadays? Not many. Not many at all. "Nice to have come company," she said. "Especially two of you. So what can I do for you both?"

"We're looking for somewhere," Vergil said. "A place called Xedilian."

"Xedilian, you say?" Rain asked. Her rain colored eyes stareing like thieves about to take the crown jewel. "Ah yes, I remember. Used to be a busy place, back in the old days, before Relmyna finished off making that Gatekeeper of hers. I saw that fight of yours against that thing, by the way. Hell of a spectacle; usually I just watch it to see a bunch of adventurers get pounded into nothing, but actually seeing somebody beat it was something else entirely. Very impressive indeed."

"Thanks," Baiai said, wondering how this young girl wittnessed that. "But as we were saying; Xedilian? In Dementia, if I remember right. Let me check where it is for you." Her cyrtal ball lite up like a candel and all of the Isles seemed to pass through it. Faces and places meshed together into one strange yet likeable color, then she said; "Found it."

"How did you do that?" Baiai asked. "Magic?"

"In a sense," Rain replied. "It's a bit more complicated than that, you see."

"How so?" Vergil asked. "I mean, you're obviously a Daedra, so you did something, didn't you?"

"I am a Daedra, yes," Rain said. "Then again, I'm not, either."

Baiai shook his head. "You've lost me," he said. "Surely you're either a Daedra or you aren't?"

"Of course not," Rain said. "There's an awful lot of middle ground between being a Daedra and not being a Daedra. In my case, I'm just a facet of Sheogorath."

"You mean like the angels?" Vergil asked. He saw Baiais' confused look and added; "I'll explains some other time." He glanced over to Rain and added in a conspiratorial tone; "He's new here."

"I know," Rain said, causing Vergil to blush slightly with embarrassment. "Though, I suppose I have something in common with the angels; in my case, I'm Sheogorath's omniscience."

"His omniscience?" Baiai asked.

"It's a bit of a tale," Rain said. "Have yourselves a seat, and I'll explain it to you. I wouldn't mind a bit of a chat before I send you off to Xedilian." Vergil found a spot at the edge of her bed, Baiai following suit a moment later. Rain flicked a finger, a flame dancing on the top of the room. "Now, in each of their realms, every one of the Daedric Princes is, for all intents and purposes, a god," Rain said. "They know everything that happens there and can do anything in it, shaping and controlling it to their desires. You know what the problem with that is?" Vergil and Baiai thought for a moment.

"I'm having a hard time seeing it," Baiai said.

"It's dull," Rain replied, shaking her head. "Boring, predictable, drab, uninspiring, call it what you want, but it gets tedious, quickly. Nothing surprises you, nothing interests you and you get tired of it. So, aeons ago, in order to actually have things in the Isles be interesting for him again, Sheogorath made me, Rain, the Watchman of the Shivering Isles."

"So you're just part of the Madgod?" Vergil asked.

"Exactly," Rain said. "As I said earlier, his omnipotence. Of course, even then he put a few restrictions on me; I can only see the present, and for some reason I can't look underground or through walls."

"Why'd he do that, then?" Baiai asked.

"It's the Madgod," Rain replied with a shrug. "Who knows? He always liked putting limits on people, though, just to see how far they'd go to overcome them. He said it makes things more interesting." That, Baiai decided, made perfect sense when you considered the character of Sheogorath.

"So Sheogorath's still all powerful in the Isles, then?" he asked.

"I suppose so," Rain said. "He just chooses not to use that power. It makes things more interesting for him. The only thing he doesn't have the power to stop is something like another Daedric Prince, or an Aedra."

"Like Jyggalag," Vergil said, to which Rain nodded.

"Thinking of which, we need to get to Xedilian," Baiai said. "Activate it, help keep the Isles safe. Where is it?"

"I'll tell you," Rain said. "In exchange for one thing; your friend carries a lyre, and it's been some time since I heard some music. You play me a song, Vergil, and I'll tell you where to find Xedilian."

Vergil nodded, pulling hs lyre free. He plucked a few strings, hummed a few lines of a tune for a moment, and started playing a melody. "Show your child home. Please dear mother, Please dear father, Under this night sky I pray, Show your child home. Show your child home. A place were she belongs. Somewhere far from all the war. Beyond all this pain and regreat, A place to escape all this awful worthless blood shed. Show your child home. Show your child home. Please daer mother, Please daer father, Under this night saky I pray, Show your child home. Show your child home. Away from all these misdiretions, Far beyond turning back, Under this night sky I pray, Show your child home. Show yor child home. Please dear mother, Please dear father, Home.," he sang. "My body twisting from yonder mushroom tree. For daring to dream that a harper could sing free, I now die, for Order's hands end me. Yet the strings of my harp will never be stilled, while the land of Mania lies over the hill, for the music of the Isles is their strength and their will, and the soul of the harper nought can ever kill. Oh the tyrant king on his cold crystal throne, fears song's freedom he never has known. Our bright Shiv'ring passion comes through in the tone, so he orders it silenced and broods all alone. Yet the strings of my harp will never be stilled, while the land of Mania lies over the hill, for the music of the Isles is their strength and their will, and the soul of the harper nought can ever kill. He'll string out my guts and drag me on the lane, blood streaming on out of my open veins. I'll kick and I'll scream in my terrible pain, and as I die my blood the ground shall red stain. Yet the strings of my harp will never be stilled, while the land of Mania lies over the hill, for the music of the Isles is their strength and their will, and the soul of the harper nought can kill. For one of the road, death holds no sting, 'tis another adventure, a wondrous thing. And I know that my music shall evermore ring, in the hill and the rivers of Mania's spring. Yet the strings of my harp will never be stilled, while the land of Mania lies over the hill, for the music of the Isles is their strength and their will, and the soul of the harper nought can ever kill." There was silence in the room that Rain called home, before the quasi-Daedra nodded.

"Well, that's fair," she said. "You gave me my song, so I'll give you the location of Xedilian. You have a map?"

"Right here," Baiai said, slipping the folded parchment from his pocket. Rain examined it for a moment, before she wrote something on the map and handed it back to him.

"We have to go back to Dementia again?" Vergil asked, looking over Baiais' shoulder at the mark Rain had made, at a place called 'Madgod's Boot'.

"I'm afraid you do," Rain said.

"It'll be fine, Vergil." Baiai said. "Dementia isn't so bad, anyway. Might be a bit gloomy, but it's alright."

"Says you," Vergil all but pouted. "But I suppose it needs doing."

Baiai stood and nodded to Rain. "Thanks for your help," he said.

"A pleasure," The strange being replied. "Please come again soon, the both of you; I enjoy your company."

"We will," Vergil said. "And I'll play you another piece when we do." They made their farewells and left with a promise from Rain that she would keep an eye on them during their travels.

"Well she was nice," Vergil said. "I know a place in Bliss where we can get some travel supplies, by the way," He said. "And we can pick up your sword from Cutter's, too. If we get everything together we can be on our way tomorrow."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Baiai said. He pushed open the door, and glanced at the corridor they were in. "Which way was it?"

"Left, I think," They made their way through the back rooms of the palace, the kitchens and laundry rooms and servant's quarters that the great building relied on to support its few rich owners, and they found an exit from the structure that was clearly meant for staff. Together, they made their way around the front of the building and out of the courtyard, into the cramped, twisted streets of Crucible. Finding Cutter's forge took longer than expected, but before long they reached it. Baiai pushed open the door to the building and glanced around at the plethora of blades and other instruments of bloodshed that adorned its innards. The fire in the hearth was crackling low, but the smith was nowhere to be seen.

"Cutter?" he called. "Are you there? His answer was a husky moan and a low, breathy panting from one side of the building, from a room just out of his view. Frowning, Baiai and Vergil rounded the corner, and it was there they found Cutter. Her eyes were rolled back in their sockets as she twisted the tip of a dagger into the flesh of her arm, an expression of pure ecstasy on her features as the limb was worried by the blade, cheeks flushed and a light sheen of sweat dusting her skin. It was one of the most disturbingly erotic things Carnius had ever seen. After a moment of horrified enthrallment, Vergil cleared his throat. Cutter jumped, startled out of her activity, pulling the dagger free with a wet squelch.

"Madgod!" She exclaimed, grabbing the wound as blood began to run down her arm. "I wasn't expecting customers." The tips of her fingers glowed with arcane energy as she shut the wound, giving them both baleful looks in the meantime. "You're here about your sword, aren't you?" the bosmer said, waiting a few moments for the injury to suture itself shut.

"I am," Baiai nodded, feeling acutely embarrassed despite himself. "I'll collect them, and then we'll go."

"Agreed," Vergil said. "We have things we need to do."

"Of course, of course," Cutter said. Satisfied that she was no longer bleeding for the moment and ignoring the ribbons of crimson that had snaked down her arm, she headed to another part of her shop, gesturing for Baiai and Vergil to follow as she flexed her fingers. She unlocked a chest, and drew the sword from within. She gave a quiet snort of amusement. "I'd almost like to keep theis for myself, you know."

"It's not for sale," Baiai said, holding out his hand for it. A look of reluctant displeasure on her features, Cutter placed it in his palm.

"Remember our agreement," she said as Baiai examined them. "This sword is to come back to me for repair and me alone. If any other smith touches it…" She ran the tip of the dagger along her throat.

"I know," Baiai said, refusing to be intimidated. He'd seen and done a lot worse. They left, stepping out into the contorted maze of Crucible's streets.

"I know a few places in Bliss where we can get the supplies we need, by the way," Vergil said. "I could do with a few health and magicka potions, for a start."

"Lead the way, then," Baiai nodded. The next few hours were taken up with scouting around shops and market stalls within Bliss, haggling over prices of food, potions and other supplies. Baiai couldn't shake the feeling that they could probably get them cheaper in Crucible, but decided against voicing that opinion for Vergil's sake. There was really no point getting into an argument about where they sun was setting by the time they were finished, and they made their way through the streets of Bliss for the Choosy Beggar, for a meal and a night's sleep. Without delay the next moring, they set out for Xedilian.