Chapter 7

Nirano approached the dead Khajit and plucked up his Silver Bow. It would be of much more use to Nirano now, since he was not laying face down in mud, not breathing. He then picked up the quiver of arrows as well and replacing his old bow and arrow he walked out of the forest onto the road to continue his journey towards Cheydinhal.

He had been walking for a couple days now when he heard the cries of wounded and the clash of swords nearby. He sprinted towards the noise to discover a tremendous battle raging on the grass-filled hill several meters away from him. Nirano slowly found some cover and crept closer to get a better look.

There were around fifteen Imperial Soldiers fighting a large group of maybe thirty bandits. The Imperial Soldiers were losing. The battle would have been over long ago if the Imperial Soldiers were not equipped with quality armor, as opposed to the Bandits, but they were still greatly outnumbered and needed obvious help.

It did not take too long for Nirano to make his choice. If he helped the Imperial Solders fight off the Bandits, he would be safe. If he helped the Bandits, they would probably kill him later. If he ran away, he would be tracked easily, being thought as a runaway Soldier. So Nirano sighed a deep, throaty sigh, and climbed to a high branch.

He notched his new beautiful Silver Arrow, and aimed at the nearest Bandit. He released and he watched in awe as the arrow flew gracefully, without any change in the slightest with direction, and chuckled to himself as it impaled the Bandit neatly and quickly. For what seemed like a mili-second everyone seemed to wonder where the onslaught was coming from, but then once more the clashing resumed and Nirano shot more and more arrows into the slowly diminishing group of Bandits.

Arrow after arrow, more blood was spilled and more bodies piled on what used to be a healthy patch of flowers and grass. It would reek of blood for many months to come, and not much would grow there, leaving the lasting impression of battle. The Imperial Soldiers were now fighting harder, and it showed as the Bandits numbers dropped dramatically in the next couple of minutes.

Finally, when there was only one Bandit remaining, Nirano loosed his last Silver Arrow and drew a long, deep calming breath as the Bandit fell to the ground, lifeless. He then dropped down from the tree and admonished the stunned Soldiers.

"It looks like they are all gone now, doesn't it?" joked Nirano.

All of the Soldiers simply stared at Nirano, in astonishment. He had saved their lives. Eventually one of them broke the silence and spoke admiringly.

"You saved all of our lives. We owe you so much. How did you learn how to shoot like that? We do not think you missed your mark once!"

"I learned over time. Listen, there is one thing you can do for me. If it would not be too much trouble, perhaps you can lend me a horse. I require a faster means of traveling to Cheydinhal and my feet are sore from weeks of walking."

"Yes, of course. We have an extra horse now since we lost one of our beloved friends. Take the steed, it is a fine one and do not worry about returning it. It is out gift of gratitude to you for saving our lives."

"Thank you." Finished Nirano, and with that he began to pluck his Silver Arrows from the dead and returned all of them to his quiver before taking his new horse and galloping off feeling extremely satisfied.

He had saved the lives of fifteen and he had gained a very expensive horse which would shorten his time to get to Cheydinhal considerably. It was a good move on his part to come to the aid of the Imperial Soldiers. Perhaps life was going to turn out better than he had ever hoped…