Cearbhail: Chapter 2. About time? I know, it's been a very long time and with no update. I've been too busy with the Chronicles of Lydia and one chapter of the Shoutmen. The reason is simple, I found this chapter so hard to write. Now, it's over and there should be more coming sooner. Maybe one every two weeks. I'll try my best to make it sooner, though.

Enjoy, oh and if you're reading my other Elder Scroll stories, try to catch some names and characters who WILL make some cameo appearances. The name Erandur has already poked into Lydia's story. I'm sure he will as well, but for this story, he is a vital importance. Expect to be seeing a lot of the characters from the Khajiit battlemage as well, and only one from the other story, maybe two. I have not decided yet.

-Nexa-

The Shadow Squad. A squad of shadowscales, shadowwraiths, and myself. I am the leader of the group, as hard to believe as it is. I think it has something to do with the fact that my father wants to see if I can be trusted with a squad of my own. If I muck anything up, he'll probably behead me himself. Everything I did was reported back to him. That being said, I had a watcher. I had a Shadowmaster. He was the one person who was underneath my father. He was the Argonian version of a Battlemage Assassin. One of three Shadowmasters alive. The squad I was in control of was my father's personal squad, the one squad that did not operate with the rest of the army of Argonia. As such, any failure on my part was a failure on his part. As soon as my father gave our Shadowmaster his word, he would behead me. I already knew that I could not hope to stand up to him. He was a master of any magic and any physical combative.

My current mission: making sure my soldiers were prepared for our mission. Right now our mission was a peaceful one. We were going to shadowport to Gideon and help the refugees settle into the camps we had set up around the town. The area was surrounded by Aedra repelling magic, courtesy of the Imperial Battlemages. The spell was called Soul Separation. It blinded the Aedra to anyone around. We also knew another big secret about the Aedra; concentrated Fire magic killed them. As such, Shadowwraiths had lined almost every tree within Black Marsh with Fire Runes. We would not dare to risk losing Argonia. We were a big country, but with few real places to make our settlements in.

Still, we were going over all our combative gear in case we were under sudden attack from Aedra. I sighed as I walked into the barracks.

The room was filled with every shadowscale that our great country had. That being said, there were only a hundred or so. Every shadowscale belong to a squad. A squad comprised of three shadowscales and two shadowwraiths, overlooked by one shadowblade. A shadowblade was just an older shadowscale trained in the shadowwraith ways…or vice versa. They had to know both sides and so they could lead their squad to its highest capability.

While the rest of the room was filled with shadowscales sleeping, my squad was already up and silently organizing their armor and weapons. My three shadowscales were standing at attention, masks wrapped across their face, their hands tucked behind their backs, and their feet shoulder width apart. This was how we stood at attention. No one knew if they had weapons in their hands while they were hidden behind their backs. It looked like they were defenseless, but it was a common practice for a shadowscale to, while at attention, to attack their squad leader with a concealed weapon. Since I am something close to a betrayer, I was expecting at least one attack.

I nodded to my squad as I approached them. The three I had been assigned were fresh recruits. I guess father didn't care if no one knew what they were doing on our 'special' missions. Or, I guess it could be taken that the fresh recruits were still very gung ho, would listen to me like I was a Drill Shade, and execute any order with an enthusiasm that would long be lost with some of the older shadowscales who've 'seen the world'.

I came up on my first new recruit. I bowed to him and he nodded back. That was good. They weren't supposed to bow. Bowing could unbalance you. I was supposed to bow so that he could attempt to attack me. By nodding, he acknowledged that he was not going to attack me. So, I looked him up and down. His scale armor was brand new. It had no scratches, scuffs, or even a dent. I looked him in the eye and said, "Show me your weapons."

He moved from his position of attention and started unsheathing his weapons.

While he was busy pulling out his many blades, I looked over at everyone else. "Everyone, present your arms. I wish to be done with this as soon as possible." I was in hurry, after all. We had so much to do and little time to do it in. I thought that I'd give them a reason as to the hurry. "Our mission is to help the refugees from the other countries settle into Gideon. Once we are done, we are to find any capable warriors among the bunch and make a formidable resistance army. They are to report to Helstrom to be trained in anti-Aedra combat and magics. The Aldmeri Dominion is going to assist us in this war. They are allies, so are the Imperials. So, if we encounter any battlemages or soldiers, we are not to engage them in combat. Are we clear?"

All three of them nodded.

So, now that they knew what we were going up against, it was time that I inspected their arms. I walked across the lines of blades that every shadowscale had. Ten throwing knives that were aligned five on each leg; four daggers, two on the forearms, and two on the lower back; and one short katana. These were the weapons that we always carried with us. The daggers were and swords were all serrated to be like teeth. It helped catch other swords, helped us climb up trees if we needed to, and it was sharp enough to saw though someone's body in one pull.

I could see that everyone's weapons were perfectly sharpened and prepared for war. Their bodies looked fit and ready as well. They looked resolved, they looked ready. I guess it was time for me to give them their inspiring speech.

"I am Shadowscale Nexa: daughter of Warlord Zeelius, and granddaughter to Queen Ali-Jinasha. As such you three have been selected as the shadowscales for Shadow Squad, the personal squad of the Warlord. Our missions will be the most dangerous ones around. There is much honor to be found here and we will bring Argonia glory. You should all be honored; you are all in the strongest squad Argonia has to offer. We're so honored that Warlord Zeelius has placed a Shadowmaster as our overseer." I said, looking everyone in the eye. Everyone straightened up as soon as I said that a shadowmaster had been placed as our watcher. That was something to be feared of. No one could handle a shadowmaster and they were not negotiators. They would kill any Argonian if they did not do as ordered.

That was the world we lived in. If we did not do as ordered, we were killed. Such is the way of the Shadows. Such is the way of Argonia. We were a small nation filled with poisonous plants, deadly animals. If you as so much stepped wrong and scraped against a plant with a bard, you ended up dead. That was why we had to be the way we are. If you aren't perfect in everything you do, you will die. Shadowscales are assassins, the army of Argonia. We were the best and if we are not…we are killed.

I looked over my squad. "Are there any questions you have for me?"

One nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Why are the shadowwraiths not here with us? Are they too good to be here, being inspected?"

Ah, the old rivalry between shadowscales and shadowwraiths was already showing its ugly head. It was a common thing for the shadowwraiths to look down on the shadowscales as some foot soldier; as some piece of sword fodder. The shadowwraiths saw them as unintelligent barbarians who only know how to dismember people, while they saw themselves as masters of magicka. Illusion, Alteration, and Destruction were theirs to wield with deadly proficiency.

That was the shadowwraith beliefs. Shadowscales saw shadowwraiths as spoiled brats who didn't have to go through all the crap that shadowscales had to go through. They didn't go through a strict boot camp like they did. They spent their time in a library, studying magic. That wasn't so true, either. Shadowwraith boot camp was almost just as hard as shadowscale boot camp. It involved continuous mastery of magic and precision with it. If any amount of magic was not used correctly, the shadowwraith was severely punished.

I shook my head. "No, they will not be joining us until 0500, when we shadowport to Gideon. They are making sure that they have all their scrolls and that their variously powered wands are full."

One of the shadowscales scoffed. "I bet they're just sleeping."

I looked around my squad. "That's enough. You are a team now. If one of you fails, we all fail. Understood?"

They nodded. They stiffened up and I allowed myself to breathe. I did not need some uptight nameless soldiers. I needed a squad. I had to fix this. I looked to the blue faced Argonian in front of me. "Ok, I want to know my soldiers. You, what's your name and perhaps a hobby?"

The blue-faced Argonian looked confused. "I am Ram-ku. My hobby? I guess I like running?"

I nodded. "Nice to meet you, Ram-ku." I turned over to the dark purple-faced female. "Another female? What's your name?"

"Meesei. I like alchemy and brewing poisons for my blades." She said.

I nodded to her as well. "Great, I'll remember that in case we need some poison." I looked over to my last member. "And you?"

The last Argonian was a very dark red Argonian. His scales looked almost black. I was expecting something weird. "I am Vistha. I like bunnies…" I almost smiled but then he finished his statement, "for breakfast. They're delicious."

I bowed to them. "I am Nexa, like I said earlier. My hobby is…reading books. I guess we should try to become as close as possible. You're all now brothers and sisters. We will be together through blood and war, so learn as much as you can about each other. If someone steps wrong, your brother may die…so just think about that. Remember that we will be forming up at 0445, so make sure you're all prepared. I will leave you all to your preparations."

I nodded to them and left the room. I think that they were happy enough with me just coming in and making sure that they were ready. I was a shadowscale so I had to make sure everything was perfect. It was in our blood. But, I wanted us to be more than just shadowscales. I wanted us to become a family. I wanted it that way for one reason. When it came time for me to betray them…I wanted them to hesitate, maybe even join with me. Imagine, a squad that fought alongside me because they believed in me. I could only hope that they stayed with me the minute it mattered, the moment that we received orders to kill Vatu.

I walked across the quiet swamp over to the shadowwraiths buildings. It was nice to be able to look up at the sky for once. I couldn't see any stars from my dank dungeon cell. They looked lovely now. I never seemed to notice, but something about seeing moldy walls made everything else just seem…all the more beautiful.

I entered the shadowwraith barracks and looked around. I could only see two shadowwraiths up. They were flipping through pages of some books that they were looking through. They were out of uniform and unprepared for my visit.

"Are you the two shadowwraiths assigned to Shadow Squad?" I asked, making both of them jump.

One of them jumped up to her feet and bowed. "I am, ma'am. I'm sorry, I was caught up studying black soul gems."

"Black soul gems, why?" I asked.

"Our assignment, ma'am. We're venturing into Elsweyr to find some buried ruin that holds a chamber that uses black soul gems to capture Aedra. I'm just brushing up on how to feel that type of dark magic so we can find that place faster." She looked over at her friend, "My brother, Biluuz, is helping me out."

I looked at the young pink-faced Argonian. She looked completely exhausted. I smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Bring the book with you. I will help you study black soul gems. Don't forget that we have to form up at 0445. That's in two hours. I suggest you drink some hist sap and prepare for our mission. Where's your partner?" I looked around.

The pink-faced Argonian pointed straight up. "Oleeme is meditating right above us."

I looked up. There, floating ten feet above me was a purple robed, green-faced Argonian. He was surrounded by black/purple flames. He glanced down at me, his eyes glowing bright white. "Ma'am, I am all prepared. My wands are programmed to their fullest, my spells at the peak. I will make sure that my colleague, Nakuma, is prepared by the formation time. Go now, I have ruins to scan."

I almost chuckled under my breath. I thought he sounded a little snobby, but his voice was so light and disinterested that I think he was in a trance. I nodded and bowed before looking at them. One was completely focused and prepared, the other one looked like she forgot to eat the past two days, keeping her head in the book the whole time. I found myself smiling. Good, at least there was some balance between the two of them. But, the shadowscales were right, they were not even prepared for an inspection.

Cearbhail: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried to make all the shadowscales appear as tough and rigid, while the shadowwraiths have more personality and character. Over time you'll notice that everyone has their moments, though.