WARNING! WARNING!
This chapter has a cruel scene. No joke, guys. It made me change the rating to M. Please, if you feel offended by it, PM me.
Let`s just say Razara is a much bigger a-hole than what I had planned.
One a happy side note, I am proud to inform you that , after ramming my head against it repeatedly, I finnaly managed to turn that Writer`s Block into smithereens. Yay!
While I am at it, I would like to point you all to another fick I have been reading a lot. It`s called Night Eye, and it is written by -my friend Skyflower. His story is a bit different from mine, but his Argonian-Khajiit pair is really, really good. Check it out.
On with the chapter...
Chapter 20:
- Ach!
- Stop that! You aren`t going to help me by thrashing around! Crybaby…
Tar-Ma gritted his teeth. He was back at the Shadowscale base. He had gone there after his fight with Siris. His room was a simple alcove with a bed, with a portrait of his sister hanging in one of the walls, illuminated by a single torch.
Kandella had offered to help him recover from his wounds. He had accepted, but was starting to regret it. Kandella was not proficient in Restoration Magic, and it showed. The sensation was usually of tingling numbness, but she somehow made it hurt.
- If you were any good at this, I wouldn`t be thrashing about!
- Then why don`t you heal by yourself? I`m sure you can just stuff yourself full of potions again!
- I told you, I can`t…
- What is going on here? – came a voice from outside the door.
They both froze in place, and Kandella`s magic slowly began to fade away. That voice was known throughout the whole base as something you would never want to hear.
Razara wasn`t happy about something.
- It`s nothing, boss. – Tar-Ma said, regaining a little bit of courage. – Kandella was just helping me with my wounds.
Silence followed. They were sure Razara was still outside the door. They could see a small shadow under the door.
- Boss?
- Carry on. – Razara said. The door opened just a little, but they could see one silver slit eye looking at them by it. – Kandella, I will need to see you at my room in two hours.
The door creaked back and closed. Tar-Ma let out a heavy sigh. He had been holding his breath. Razara had been acting strange for the past days, ever since Siris had escaped. Tar-Ma`s failure in his mission did nothing to improve his odd behavior. Kandella sat by the larger Argonian.
- What could he possibly want? – she asked. Kandella was young, but she was showing remarkable progress in her progress as an assassin. She specialized in the School of Illusion, but was good in Destruction as well. Her yellow eyes contrasted with her dark green skin. Her head was adorned with Argonian "hair", light green in color. She was attractive, by Argonian standards.
- I don`t know. – Tar-Ma replied, bluntly. – Now leave. I need to sleep.
She got up from the bed and heavily stomped out of the room, slamming the door. Tar-Ma blew out the torch and slid underneath the covers of his bed, falling to sleep thinking of how he would kill Siris when he managed to finnaly meet him again…
00000
Razara was reviewing his plans of attack. Whiterun was beginning to become an annoyance to him. That hold system was begging to get on his nerves. It was all so much simpler when he could walk through Cyrodiil with only one bounty on his head. Now he had to keep track of eight.
"I can`t order a large scale attack on the city. Nor can I expect Krona to do all the work. I need to send someone else."
"Why don`t you go yourself, lizard?"
Razara turned around and looked at the knife impaled on the table. The Mehrunnes Razor was a splendid dagger. The ability to kill instantly was also a good perk for an assassin like him, who didn`t like wandering around the crime scene.
- Because I can`t go without Siris recognizing me, Dagon. If not, Whiterun wouldn`t have lasted long.
He heard a fit of laughter in his mind. Dagon was the a good advisor, and his personality matched Razara`s. He doubted Siris had good realtions with his Ebony Blade.
"I see. Behind you"
Razara picked the knife up and, with one swift movement, threw it at the door. He saw the knife impale itself right in front of Kandella`s muzzle. She froze, door half open.
Razara chuckled. The he walked to the fear-stricken Kandella and removed the kife from the wooden surface.
- I see you have arrived. I am sorry, I am a little on edge since Siris took his leave.
Kandella relaxed. She was still tense. Razara closed the door and she stepped further in. His room was more ample than the rest of the Sahdowscales, and had it`s own fireplace and desk, in which a few book were open, though the girl couldn`t decipher what they meant. Razara locked the door and put a muffle spell on it. Then he approached Kandella.
- Why did you call me, Razara? – she said, tense. He put his hands on her shoulders. They were rock hard.
- I? Oh, I simply want to know what you were thinking of our operations.
She turned around. Razara could see worry in her eyes. She saw something else in his, and slapped his hand of her shoulder. Then, she walked to the door. Razara laughed when she tried to open it, and she became frantic when she saw she couldn`t. She even tried using her foot to use her whole body`s weight to force the door. Razara picked her up and threw her on the bed, following her when she tried to get up, pressing her onto the bed with his body. She clawed at his face, trying to keep him out of her. Her screams just stimulated him further. He reduced her clothes to shreds, before he forcefully entered her. She screamed .
He laughed at her. He was going to get what he wanted. He always did…
00000
- Now, what did I told you?
- Don`t eat the butterfly wings… - she said, with a hand on her stomach.
- No. I said don`t eat the blue ones.
Dila was sitting in a corner, after she had "accidentally" eaten a pair of Blue butterfly wings. She had made a mistake: the wings had let her drained, and she couldn`t muster sufficient strength to lift her arm. If that wasn`t enough, she had a stomach-ache.
Siris had taken her into the alchemy room back in Breezehome, and had begun to teach her how to make simple potions. He had told her what each ingredient did, and how to combine them. He had told her which were dangerous to eat, and when he had told her that she shouldn`t eat blue butterfly wings, she almost laughed at his face. How could one thing, so tiny and small, hurt her? It was that defiance that brought her to her current state.
Siris took a small bowl filled with something white. He approached it of Dila`s nose.
- Smell this. – he said.
She did. The powder entered her nostrils and she coughed a little, before she felt her strength reurning to her.
- What was that? – she said, getting up.
- Powdererd mammoth tusks. Weren`t you paying attention to anything I was saying?
She shuffled her feet and looked at the floor. Siris huffed, and then laughed, shaking his head.
- No wonder you ate those damn wings.
- This is boring. When are we going to start making potions?
He laughed again. Then, he led her to the table again. She leaned over it, hovering her hands over the many ingredients available to her. Seemigly noticing her unsureness, he glues his body to her back and held her wrists, guiding her.
- What do you want to make?
- I don`t know. What are we lacking?
- Hmm…
His hands made hers hover over the ingredients for a while, before he decided to take another kind of butterfly wing. He placed them inide a glass. He then picked up some mushrooms and put them on the same glass.
- This is a recipe for a simple health potion. Simple, but effective.
He made her place the contents from the glass into a small wooden bowl. Then, he directed her to a small wooden cylinder, and made her crush the ingridients. The mushroom and the wings turned into a fine powder.
- Blisterwort and Monarch Wings. Seeing these two as they are now, nobody would have believed that they have saved my life many times. True, in this merely mashed form, they wouldn`t do anything if eaten. But…
He made her click a small mechanism and placed the bowl underneath a channel on the table. The green, bubbly liquid contained there ran through the channel and drooled over the mashed ingredients.
- With the Universal Fluid, it turns into a lifesaver.
He rapidly poured the mix into a glass and left it by the side of the table for a little while. Dila turned to face him. She placed her hands on the table behind her as he leaned closer.
- And what a life did it save… - she said.
- Was that supposed to be a compliment?
- I don`t know…
- Oh, I am not falling for that game.
He leaned further and kissed her. She released the table and grabbed him instead. He spun and pressed her against the wall, not so gently. She moaned.
- Feeling rough today, huh?
- Maybe I am, Dila. What are you going to do about it?
She smiled and kissed him. His hands knocked out a flower from the table. He broke the kiss and crouched to pick it up.
- This is a rare flower, Dila. One of the most beautiful too. – he said, lifting the flower up to her face. It was strange but beautiful flower. – It`s called Dragon`s Tongue…
He paused, and furrowed his brows.
- Dragon… Dragon…
Then he released Dila, jumping back in surprise and realization. He brought his hands to his head.
- By the Hist! Why didn`t I think of this before?
He put the flower back on the table and stormed out of the room. Dila, confused, followed him. That was the second time he had left her like that. She could understand the first, after all he had been fighting and was tired. But now it made no sense. She voiced her concearn to him as he picked his sword from the rack in the wall.
- Siris, why did you do that?
- Sorry, Dila, but I just might have found out our next travelling place. Grab your gear. I`ll need to stop by Dragonsreach to inform the Jarl of our leaving.
- Where are we going?
He stoped and turned to her. Then he gave her a sly smile.
- Think you can handle some stairs?
00000
The small town of Ivarstead was almost empty. Siris remembered the first day he had arrived at the town.
"How long has it been since? A year?"
- Can we please stop now?
He turned around. He had almost forgotten about Dila. She had been silent during the entire trip to the town, and now he could see why. The treacherous roads to Ivarstead were filled with curves, trails through the forests and steep falls to the river below. If Siris had fallen, he could at least dive and breathe normally, but Dila wasn`t trained to that sort of situation, and she would almost likely fall on one of the sharp rocks below.
Of course, Dila. It may not seem like it, but I am tired as well. And… - he looked at the mountain across the bridge. – I can`t climb the Seven Thousand Steps tired, now can I?
She looked at him with an incredulous face, pointing at the mountain, then at it`s top, back at Siris, before lowering her hand and, shaking her head, walking to the inn. Siris laughed and followed her.
Vilemyr Inn hadn`t changed a bit since Siris`s last visit. Willhelm was still serving that same old mead Siris had had the distaste to drink. The inn was cozy enough for them to spend the night. Siris gave the innkeeper ten septims for a room.
- You are lucky, Siris. Not many pilgrims this time of year means I have free rooms for you.
- Lucky me.
He took the key and went ot the room that he had pointed, with Dila lazily dragging her feet to follow him. The room was smaller than their previous room at the Bannered Mare, but that meant it was warmer. Siris closed the door. He hugged Dila.
- Tired? – he asked.
- Yes.
- Want me to "just hold you"?
- You are never going to let me forget that, are you?
- No.
They layed in the bed, side by side. Dila scooted closer to Siris.
- Why are we here, Siris? – she asked, with her head buried in his chest.
We are visiting an old friend of mine. Unfortunatley for you, he lives on top of the Throat of The World. We will be climbing up there tomorrow. But tonight, we should rest.
- Tell me about this friend of yours, love. – she said.
Siris looked at her. Wasn`t she tired?
- He gave up his name, people only call him one thing now. For the whole of Skyrim, he is the Dragonborn.
Dila looked up at him, only her eyes visible.
- And how did you met him? – she asked.
- We met in Riverwood. I had recently arrived in Skyrim, and was looking for a place for myself. I had walked for days ad finnaly managed to find a small village in the Whiterun Hold. I stayed there for the night, but when I arrived, I saw that I wasn`t the only new man in town. Soeone had arrived, together with a Stormcloak soldier. A Nord. I was still new to the land, like you, and I had no idea about the civil war. Then, to complicate my situation, I was informed about something worse than Imperial or Stormcloak soldiers had arrived in Skyrim: Dragons.
Dila looked up at him again.
- They told the Dragonborn, who at the tie didn`t know that he was Dragonborn, to go to Whiterun inform the Jarl of what had happened. I had nothing to do in Riverwood, so I agreed to go with him. We became friends and comrades-in-arms. He was a fierce warrior, Dila. He used the biggest battleaxeI had have ever seen like it was a stick. We fouht many things together. From mudcrabs to the Dragons themselves. We explored every inch of this land. We collected immensurable amounts of treasure. We…
A vibration in his chest made him stop. He looked down and saw that Dila had fallen asleep in the middle of his tale. He laughed and threw the sheets over them. Tomorrow he would finish his story.
Tonight he needed to rest.