Uh…I really don't have anything to say. Nope.
Chapter 14
Varansaur opened his eyes with a start. He was back in Black Marsh. Had it all been an unusually vivid dream? He looked up. Criona, Imesh-Ma, and Ej-Friekhas were all standing over him. He stood up, ran towards them, and…
Imesh-Ma suddenly lifted into the air. As Varansaur watched in horror, he realized that she was stuck to the end of Orvas Dren's spear. Ranes Ienith lopped off Criona's head with a sword, and Navil Ienith slit Ej-Friekhas' throat with a strange green dagger. Varansaur turned to Vedam Dren, who was standing behind him.
Vedam shrugged. "I can't do anything."
Vedam Dren was then replaced by a blue woman. She had a long dress and was semi-transparent. "Fear not," she said, in the same voice Varansaur had heard in his dream on the prison ship. "Fear not, for I am watchful. You have been chosen."
"Chosen for what?" Varansaur demanded. "Why are you bothering me?"
"I have to," the blue woman said, only now she was speaking with a Breton accent. "I need to show you something."
"What, you mean my friends being brutally murdered?"
"Wha…no. You're dreaming. Wake up!"
Varansaur snapped out of the dream. He was in the dark bedroom at the Rat in the Pot.
"Who's there?"
The Breton barmaid stepped into the moonlight. "It's me. Lirielle Stoine, the barmaid."
"Oh no!" Varansaur suddenly remembered. "I dozed off! I was supposed to be keeping watch, and make sure Oreotragus didn't do anything stupid!"
"I'm afraid it's too late," Stoine said, taking Varansaur's hand. She handed him a strip of red cloth. "Wrap this around your face." She put a pointed chitin helmet on her head, one that enclosed her entire face. "You should probably see this."
She led Varansaur outside. The dust storm was raging just as fiercely as before. Aengoth, Thadar, and Dro'Tasarr were already outside, wearing various forms of protection against the storm. All of them were looking up at the roof of the building. Varansaur was afraid to look up. He was afraid to see what was up there. He thought he had a good idea. He glanced up, and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realized that he was absolutely right.
"I'll take on any contender!" Oreotragus shouted from the chimney, swinging his sword in huge circles.
"What is he doing?" Varansaur asked.
"He came up in the middle of the night and drained another three bottles of shein in only a minute." Stoine replied. "After that, he picked up a soup spoon and said he was going to use it to fight one of the Daedra!"
Varansaur cocked his head. "The Daedra?"
"The Daedra were the ancient gods." Stoine explained. "Only seven are still widely worshipped, and only three of those cults are permitted by the Tribunal Temple to exist. Anyone caught openly worshipping Malacath, Sheogorath, Molag Bal, or Mehrunes Dagon are severely persecuted. Worshipping Azura, Boethiah, or Mephala are tolerated, but still seen as a false religion."
A guard in slightly different bonemold armor than those in Balmora joined the crowd of onlookers. "What is that s'wit doing up there? He's disturbing the peace, and creating a danger to himself."
"I have absolutely no idea." Varansaur said. "If I were you, I'd arrest him for public intoxication, just in case."
"Sorry," the guard said, "but there's no section in the Morrowind penal code covering intoxication. If he hasn't attacked, killed, or robbed anyone, we can't have him arrested."
"I can take all comers!" Oreotragus shouted. "Not even the strongest sorcerer could bring me down!"
Varansaur's attention was diverted by the arrival of the final attractee to Oreotragus' antics. It looked vaguely like a bird, but it had pointed wings and no visible legs. As it got closer, Varansaur noticed that it also had a third wing on top of its body and a fourth on the bottom, presumably to act as a rudder; a huge beak, designed for snatching largish prey; and a needle-sharp barb on the end of its long tail. Varansaur recognized it as the dragon-like creature from his dream on the slave ship.
"Sweet mother of the gods!" Varansaur shouted. "What is that thing?"
Stoine looked in the general direction that Varansaur was pointing. "Oh no. That's a cliff racer! If we don't get some archers out here, he's doomed!"
The cliff racer snapped its beak ominously and flattened its third and fourth wings against its body, to reduce wind resistance. Varansaur tried to call out to Oreotragus, but his voice was lost as the wind chose that moment to shift direction. The cliff racer was taken by surprise, lost control, and spun headlong into Oreotragus. The elf staggered forwards, and had to jump off the chimney, but managed to stay on the roof.
"So," he said, pointing his sword about three inches to the cliff racer's left. "Do you choose to accept my challenge…uh…what is your name?"
"Krekkekakaa!" the cliff racer replied.
"Krekkekakaa?" Oreotragus said. "I like that. It works well for you."
Stoine shook her head. "That was its hunting cry, you moron!"
"It's Hunting Cry You Moron." Oreotragus said. "Well, that's certainly easier to pronounce, although not the most flattering name. So, do you choose to accept my challenge or not?"
The cliff racer answered by stabbing Oreotragus in the shoulder with its tail barb.
"Wait!" Oreotragus shouted. "I wasn't ready yet!"
To which the cliff racer responded by pounding its beak into Oreotragus' face. The elf leaned backwards, lost his footing, and slid off the roof, landing face-first in the dirt.
"I'm okay!" he called, without bothering to get up.
The cliff racer looked at the group of people on the ground, debating whether or not to go in for the kill. When the guard pulled a mace from his belt, the bird apparently decided that it could find food elsewhere. It opened its wings and let the wind carry it out of the city. Oreotragus got up, just in time to see it disappear over the city walls.
"Ha!" he shouted. "You see? He got a few good hits in, but I vanquished my foe!"
"No," the guard said, "it pushed you off the roof, and then left because it decided not to eat you."
"Yeah," Oreotragus said, "because I was too tough for it!"
Varansaur let him gloat for a few more seconds, before quickly pressing his thumb to the side of Oreotragus' neck again. The elf sank like a stone.
Varansaur scooped Oreotragus up in his arms. He turned to Stoine and said; "You don't, by any chance, have any way for me to, say, chain him to the bed, do you?"
"No, but I do have a potion I made out of ruby extract and bittergreen petals. If I serve it to him in an empty shein bottle, it should help him sober up pretty quickly."