Chapter 26: Past Transgressions

"You... you're here to screw my life up again aren't you?!" Rodran shouted.

"What? Screw up your life...?" I hesitated, glancing back at the mound for a second. I knew I couldn't outrun them, and attempting to fight them both alone would be suicide. I only saw one way out, to stall them somehow until Schimmel arrived.

"It's only fair, you've screwed up enough lives yourself terrorizing the people of Dagon Fel and Sadrith Mora!" I shouted back at Rodran, then turned to Chris. "Not to mention you for attacking Gnisis!"

"Ah, yes, now I remember. You were that archer. Could that mean... the other one is here as well? The one with the flaming sword?" Chris asked rather casually.

"Of course, and I'm sure he's going to give you a piece of his mind for what you've been doing to Dagon Fel!"

"What has been happening there is not my doing. This fool can't keep his hired help under control, or he just enjoys it, I can't tell which." Chris gave Rodran an irritated look. "You'd think he'd know better considering..."

"Considering... what?" I asked, getting confused again.

"Oh right... what's your name again?" Chris asked suddenly.

"Uh... Nem, why?"

"Nem... his name was on the list we got, right?" Chris asked Rodran.

"Yeah it was. Let me take care of him though. I've got a score to settle." Rodran said, unsheathing his sword.

"Fine, just don't screw up again or Jiub will have your head. I'm going to go find that flaming swordsman, I've been looking forward to a proper match against him." Chris said, turning and walking off.

Rodran watched as he left, then looked back at me with a twisted grin on his face. "Ready for the fight of your life?"

"You're kidding me, right? I took you down with a lantern and scroll the first time and the second wasn't much different. You're nothing but a joke of a fighter, and a stale joke at that." I said coldly, feeling much more confident since it was a fair fight now.

"You've got some nerve... if I didn't hold back you'd have died back in that cave. I'd love to show you my real strength." Rodran growled.

"Stop bluffing, you were serious back then. There was no reason not to be."

"Shows what you know... I-"

A scream interrupted Rodran. I looked over my shoulder at the hillside to see Schimmel charging down it, and a rather large log was rolling down after him. He shouted something, but I was too dumbstruck by the sight to understand what it was.

I snapped back to my senses and turned to run just before Schimmel passed by me. Rodran was still standing there, looking as stupid as I must have. I hit him with a shockball spell while he was focused on the log, knocking him over. A hollow thud told me that Rodran wasn't able to get up in time, or that Schimmel had tripped. I glanced back to see Rodran on the ground unconscious, and the log slowing to a stop.

I came to a halt, examining the log for a moment. "How the hell did you manage to do that?" I wondered aloud.

"Well, it wasn't intentional. These things just sort of happen." Schimmel laughed nervously.

"Only to you. Maybe you have a problem similar to mine, or you're just one of the biggest klutzes I've ever met." I laughed, beginning to walk off. "For now we should find Bryenn, that jerk Mortifer is bound to be giving him trouble by now."

"A problem...? What do you mean?" Schimmel asked, following after me.

"The easiest explanation is... I'm cursed. I'll explain it to you later, we should help them out now." I pointed to Trelana and Barbarius, who were currently fighting off half a dozen bandits.

The moment I did, an orb of fire streaked out of nowhere, hit the ground between us and the group, and a massive explosion sent all of us flying.

Everything went black for a moment after the explosion, but it was a bit too difficult to stay unconscious with the throbbing pain in my arm. I groaned, rubbing the shoulder I must have landed on. There was a small crater where the spell had hit. I looked around in a bit of a daze. Schimmel was climbing to his feet already, but Barbarius and Trelana, along with the bandits that were nearby, were all sprawled on the ground.

"What the... are you two okay?!" someone yelled. Armor could be heard clunking behind us as Bryenn came running to help.

"I think so, but Trelana and Barbarius..." Schimmel said as Bryenn pulled me to my feet.

"If that was Razelus I'm gonna kick his- OW! My head... ohh..." I heard Barbarius shout.

"Well he seems well enough... but..." I mumbled, glancing at where Trelana had been. She was also sitting up, and must have thrown something at Barbarius by the look he was giving her.

"Why'd you do that Trelana?!" Barbarius demanded.

"You got behind me right before that explosion! It's not as much as you deserve for using me as a shield, jerk!" Trelana retorted.

"I didn't even know it was coming! There was a bandit coming at you from behind so I went to stop him! You really think I'd do something like using an ally as a shield?!"

"Well-"

Another explosion came from the front of the camp, a body soared over one of the huts and landed on the ground not far from Schimmel.

"Damn... him..." the person muttered, then vanished in a flash of light.

Parven stepped around the hut a moment later. "Did you see where he landed?" he asked rather casually.

"He just used an intervention spell..." Bryenn said.

"Not surprising. He's one of Jiub's five partners, he won't be easy to kill once he stops holding back and shows his real power." Parven sighed.

"I didn't get a good look at his face just now, but I recall Rodran saying something about not being able to show me his real strength. Was he the one you just blasted?" I inquired.

"Rodran was here as well? Interesting. He's one of Jiub's inner circle as well, probably the weakest of the lot. It was Mortifer that I sent flying though. If they were both here, they might have been attempting to establish a new base. It's a good thing we came."

"You said five, right? Rodran and Mortifer, who are the other three?" I asked a bit impatiently.

"There is an Altmer by the name of Harnaten, an Imperial named Rachel, and a Breton- oh wait. Forget about the Breton. I almost forgot I killed her a year or so ago." Parven chuckled. "Rachel is probably the strongest of those four, followed by Mortifer, Harnaten and Rodran respectively. However, none of them hold a candle to Jiub, or myself for that matter."

"You could have told us about them sooner..." Barbarius complained.

"Well, you never asked so..." Parven chuckled again. "Sorry, but I really should be getting back to Suran now. Farewell!" he then vanished in a flash, just like Mortifer only moments ago.

"Now I know why Ruby seems to want to strangle him. I feel like that sometimes as well." I grumbled.

"Now, now... you can think about that some other time. Right now we should tell everyone in Dagon Fel the good news." Trelana said.

"She's right. It's going to be dark soon, so we had better hurry." Schimmel said, looking up at the sky.

--

The five of us headed north, back to Dagon Fel. Bryenn was leading the way, talking with Trelana about something. Barbarius and Schimmel weren't far behind them, but I was trailing behind, thinking about Parven and Jiub.

"You look like you did before we left Dagon Fel, everything okay?" Schimmel asked, slowing down until he was walking only a couple steps ahead of me. Barbarius did the same.

"I don't know about 'everything' but... I think I have an answer for your question." I mumbled, my mind still wandering.

"What question?" Schimmel wondered.

"Maybe he means about when you asked him why he didn't quit Forlorn." Barbarius suggested.

"Yeah, that's the one. I've decided, I can't quit. Not until I know a bit more about the bad blood between Parven and Jiub, there must be a reason they hate each other." I said, staring at the ground as I walked. "I just can't figure out what it is."

"I've never really thought about it to be honest." Barbarius said, scratching his head.

Schimmel said nothing for a few seconds, thinking about something before responding. "I've... been thinking about that for a while. Nobody else I've asked at the guild knew anything either. Parven's past is a mystery to everyone."

"So for all anyone knows, he didn't even exist until founding this guild?" Barbarius wondered.

"Or he's from somewhere far away. Now that I think about it, I don't know anything about your pasts either, not anything detailed at least." Schimmel thought aloud.

"I'm a hunter from Solstheim, what's to tell?" Barbarius chuckled.

"A thief you mean." I muttered.

"That was just a temporary thing while I was at Raven Rock!"

"Sure..."

"What about you Nem?" Schimmel asked.

"You know about mine. I told you pretty much everything when we were stuck in Ald-Ruhn for a while."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. But... you never mentioned that curse then."

"Curse?" Barbarius inquired.

"Are you still calling it that?" Trelana laughed, joining our conversation. "It's not a curse. He was born under the sign of the Atronach, that's all."

"It might as well be." I grumbled, then turned to Barbarius. "Wait... that explains why you can turn invisible without learning the spell. You must have been born under... the Shadow?"

"Yeah, but I also have this." Barbarius reached under his shirt collar and pulled an amulet from underneath it. "This is enchanted with a chameleon spell, it's a family treasure of sorts."

"Ohh..." Trelana said in awe, examining it.

"Don't let her hold it, it'll vanish into her bag of enchanted trinkets and you'll never see it again." I said with a grin.

"I'm no thief!"

"It was a joke, lighten up." I chuckled. "I wonder... what's-"

"What are you four doing? Stop lagging behind!" Bryenn yelled back to us. He was already at the entrance of Dagon Fel, and seemed to have been waiting there a while.

"Oh geez... I don't know if I can handle anymore time on a ship." I sighed, coming to a halt. "I'm just going to recall to Vivec, see you all back in Suran." I gave them a small wave and watched Dagon Fel vanish before my eyes. A moment later I was standing outside of Vivec's Foreign Quarter.

"This dismal place again... I might as well do what I had planned." I muttered, making my way over the bridge leading into Vivec.