There and back again ch. 8
Chapter 8: cold blooded
…imperial city, Elven gardens district…
"Excuse me, where's Luther broads-"
"I don't know."
"Excuse me, do you know-"
"Sorry… no"
"Excuse me-"
"Zelda!"
"What!?"
"It's right here…"
"Oh."
Link and Zelda stand before the large sign stating the name and location of Luther Broads Boarding House. They enter and see Baurus sitting at the bar. As they walk over Zelda trips over baurus' feet and lands rather painfully on a Breton man sitting in the corner.
"Oof! I'm so sorry! Hey bartender… I think our friend here owes the three of us a pint of mead… what do ya say?"
"I say go for it… clodhopper…"
Baurus growls as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the necessary gold for 3 pints of mead.
"Now… down to business."
Zelda glances around the room to make sure no one is listening then continues.
"We found the emperor and the amulet of kings has been stolen."
"No no! Not now… look, that guy you fell on has been following me all day… when I get up, he'll follow me. You follow him. Got it?"
"Got it."
"And one more thing… you make sure Jauffre give's me my 150 gold back ok?"
"Uhm… no."
"Damn… ok let's go."
Baurus gets up and heads down into the basement and Link and Zelda sit for a minuet glancing at the guy in the corner… he soon gets up and half jogs down to the basement… the couple follows.
…Luther's basement…
"FOR LORD DAGON!!"
"Shit…"
They round the corner to see an armor clad figure fighting the not so armored baurus… Zelda makes a swing at the assassins head but her blade is deflected off of the helmet. The assassin turns and backhands Zelda as Link runs in and tackles the assassin… after a brief struggle, Link finds himself on his back as baurus runs in and pulls him off of Link… Link tackles the assassin again and starts to choke him… after another brief struggle… the assassin lays motionless as Zelda comes back over rubbing her head.
"Ow…"
"Check the body… see if he has anything on him"
"He's got this book… commentaries of the mysterium xarxes… volume 1."
"Hmm… take that to tun-zeeus at the arcane university… she's got some expertise on Daedric cults… contact me with any important information you may recive."
"Ok…"
"Don't just stand there… move!"
…imperial city, arcane university district…
"So you want to find the mythic dawn huh? I won't dip my nose in any further… I've been working with the blades for the longest time now…"
"It's probably nothing you don't already know anyways… so what can you tell us?"
"Well, child, from what I've studied… the books are full of ranting gibberish… but there's something special about the first letter of every paragraph… raminus! Leave the poor boy alone!"
"What!? What's a small telekinesis spell gonna do to him?"
Before tun-zeeus could reply, raminus polus cast a telekinesis spell on Link and flung him into a wall, changing him from the quietly snoring state he was in to a raving ranting cursing maniac of a man layed up against the wall.
"Stupid mage fucker!! The hell did you do that for!?"
"Its what I do to all of the apprentices that sleep in class"
"Do I look like your fucking apprentice!?"
"It was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up."
"If I ever get my hands on you."
Link gets up of the ground and starts chasing raminus around the room while Zelda and tun-zeeus shake their heads and continue with their conversation.
"He does that all the time… anyway… you seem like a nice enough sort… go ahead and take the libraries copy of volume 2… I wish I could help you more but I haven't even seen volumes 3 and 4… you could try first addition in the market district."
"I love bookstores! So check with the clerk there and see if he has what I want right?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Great. Now, on a completely different note… what's the mages guild like?"
"It's a lot of fun actually… and raminus likes to tease people he thinks he can get along with… like now…"
They glance over at where Link throws a small pot of plants at raminus as he hops over a bench.
"Like I said… he THINKS he can get along with."
"Link can be very hard to deal with sometimes."
"I noticed you were holding his hand when you walked in. How is he when he's not angry at the world?"
"he's wonderful… when he's not throwing plants at people… he's a delightful kisser and for the most part easy to get along with… when he's not throwing things or cursing at people."
"Ohh… that's great to hear… I hope to maybe one day settle down with a nice argonian male that shares the same interests as me… like reading and board games."
"You like board games? Like what- Link!!"
Link chases raminus into the bench in front of the chatting girls and raminus sticks his foot out and trips Link and before he falls Link grabs raminus by the collar of his robe and they come crashing down onto the bench with the girls.
"Link! YOU'VE GONE ENTIRELY TOO FAR!"
"Shame on you raminus!"
"But he started it Zelda!"
"I'm finishing it!"
"My wonderful robes…"
"Can it raminus! You can't go around throwing people into walls like that."
"But it was funny and…"
"No raminus… no…"
"Aww…"
"Link what do you say?"
"Zel…"
"Don't 'zel' me… tell him you're sorry."
"He threw me into a wall!"
"I don't care… you threw plants at him."
"Oh come on! You would have done the same thing!"
"Nope… I would have incinerated you."
"That's even worse!"
"I don't care… apologize…"
"Oh alright… I'm sorry for throwing plants at you."
"Raminus! Apologize to him."
"But zeeus!"
"But nothing… you could have hurt the man."
"But it was funny."
"Do you see any of us laughing?"
"I know you are on the inside!"
"We really must be going"
"Oh right! First edition closes in a few hours… it was lovely chatting with you! Come by any time!"
"We will… and Link will be on better behavior… wont you?"
"Yes…"
"And so will raminus… take care Zelda!"
"Take care!"
Zelda grabs Link by his arm and half drags him out of the lobby. But not before Link grabs another pot and throws it at the back of raminus's head.
PING!! "OW!!"
"Gotcha! Bitch!! Smack!! OW! What the hell Zelda!?"
"You're being an asshole again…"
…imperial city, market district, first addition book store…
"Hello! I'm Zelda hycrellian; I'm here to inquire about a commentaries of the mysterium xarxes volumes 3 and 4."
"Oh… hmm… well, you seem trustworthy… we have volume 3 here on stock, it needed to be specially ordered and I haven't even seen volume 4. And volume 3 has already been reserved by a certain Gwenas."
"Oh… I see… anyway that I could um… maybe purchase that book from you?"
"No can do, sorry… customer appreciation and all."
"Oh no no no! I completely understand!"
"I tell ya what… Gwenas is already late for his pickup but should be here soon to pick it up… until then you can have a look around and see if there's anything you like."
"Perfect!"
Link and Zelda spend the next 20 minuets looking through all kinds of books and magazines and the black horse courier news paper. Zelda finally settles down in a corner with a small stack of books while Link is at the counter with the clerk Phintias looking over a magazine of armor.
"Oh man! Look at this Link! Full coverage plate mail that only weighs 75 pounds total… only 2000 septims!"
"Yeah? Well look at this! Gothic plate mail and chain mail combination! Weighs at about 55 pounds and is guaranteed to give you all the protection of heavy armor with the nimbleness and speed of light armor!"
"Yeah at 1995 septims… that's not bad…"
The bell on the door rings as a rather small wood elf walks in and heads to the counter.
"I'm here for my book… commentaries on the mysterium xarxes… volume 3."
"Oh yes, here you are… and I believe that the young lady in the corner would like to talk to you about it."
"Uhm… ok?"
He walks over to Zelda.
"I hear you want to talk about my book?"
"Yeah… I want it"
"Why?"
"I seriously need it… private reasons"
"You're wasting my time-"
"You're in way over your head!"
"What are you trying to say?"
"You're looking for the mythic dawn right?"
"Right… so?"
"They killed the emperor you fool!!"
"Deh duh. The mythic dawn were the ones!? I had no idea honest! Here! Take my copy of volume 3! And take this note too… it's for my meeting with the sponsor to get volume 4! I don't want anything else to do with the dawn ever! I'm through!"
"Thank you… you're doing a great service to the empire… you just don't know it yet."
"Tha-thank you!"
"Now… Link! Pay for all these books and I guess that magazine too… we need to go find baurus."
"Ok…"
"You've been too kind Phintias… we appreciate it."
Link grabs the small pile of books and heads to the door… he opens the door and walks backwards out of the door… and into a certain red guard and they tumble into the street.
"BAURUS! YOU STUPID PRICK!"
"YOURE THE DOLT THAT WALKS BACKWARDS!"
Many people have stopped and looked on humorously at the bickering two men when Zelda walks out and sees all of her books strewn about on the street… with bent corners.
"My… my… MY BOOKS!"
"Oh… SHIT!"
Many people took this as a hint and started to ease away from the situation.
"Link!! WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
"Duh ehm… nothing! I ju ju just t-t-t-tripped and…"
"YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE BOOKS!"
"I-i-i-i-I'm sorry!"
"AND YOU..."
"Ohh…"
"You big footed, really stupid, frigging, PRICK! This is the second time today that you've made a real mess of things that didn't need to be a mess!"
Baurus says nothing… he just gets up and runs down the street.
"GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID RED GUARD!!"
"For who she is… she sure is fast…"
But nobody heard Link as Zelda sprints down the street after baurus… leaving Link to clean up the mess of books and his magazine. After about 5 minuets of chasing Zelda comes back with baurus' ear between her thumb and fore finger. Apparently she had caught up with and tackled baurus… the scrapes on his arms and the skid marks face coupled with his ripped shirt told him that.
"Now… what did you want baurus?"
"Some ointment and a cup of ice would be nice."
She kicks him in the shin.
"OW!! Alright! Alright! I came to see what you found!"
"Ok… we found volume 3, we know how to interoperate the books and we know where to get volume 4."
"Great lemme see that note… Elven gardens sewers… ok I know that part of the sewers well… blades business all… if you want we can go now."
…imperial city sewer system, room with the table…
"I always wondered who put that table there… ok whose going in?"
5 minuets and 5 games of rock paper scissors later…
"Ok… it's settled… looks like Link is going in."
Link enters the room and sits at the table as baurus and Zelda creep up to the walkway above the table… soon a man in red robes walks out and approaches Link.
"Ok so, you want to be in the mythic dawn… it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to do what we do… and-"
"We have visitors!! Raven! We have visitors!!"
"You were told to come alone Gwenas!"
"Actually, I'm Link!"
Link jumps over and tackles raven and they start rolling around on the ground as baurus and Zelda take on the other two mythic dawn agents… they are all fighting hard as Zelda gets tackled to the ground… her sword slides just out reach… the agent has his hands around her neck and is applying a great force. Zelda is gasping for air and reaching for her sword… closer… closer… she finally grabs the hilt of the sword and brings it an a stabbing motion into the side of the agents head… ice shard, true to its nature freezes everything it comes in contact with as it goes through one side of the agents head to the other… the agent falls limp on top of her as she stares wide-eyed at the ceiling of the room they are in… the horror has set in… she just killed someone… someone that probably had a family… maybe even a wife and kids… despite the fact that he was part of an evil cult… he still probably had a normal life as well… and she took that from him… she lay there trembling with the body still on top of her as Link and baurus walk up to where she is laying. She briefly registers that they are trying to talk to her… she picks out something like 'she doesn't look so good' as she feels the weight of the agent lifted off of her body… Link slowly brings her to her feet as she is still staring wide-eyed straight ahead of her… Zelda takes two steps forward before she clutches her stomach and throws up blood… her vision is extremely blurry as she takes a few more steps back… her world goes black as she feels herself fall back into links arms… her last thought was…
'I'm a cold blooded killer…'
Author's notes: well, it looks like Zelda isn't taking her first kill to good does it? Maybe it would be better if she used a paintball gun… well, probably not cause paintball guns aren't meant to kill anyone… but anyway, here's to chapter 8 enjoy!
Live life and happy splatting!!
Disclaimer: I own… not much of anything!