Blindness

by Deunan and Hawkings.

The Plan part III: Execution.

~~~*~~~

"Noki!" Xochi said as Noki opened the door. "Xochi! Nero!" Noki hugged Xochi and Nero.
"What are you doing here? I thought you be down in Bravil with Nero's family." Noki asid inviting them in.
"I have been, we just decided to come and visit you. You were quite the life saver when we met you." Xochi said sitting with Nero and Noki.

"So, how are you two?" Noki asked bringing them drinks.
"Good, we're fine. Nothing too exciting happening." Nero answered.
"Nothing? Come on Nero! We've been traveling all around Cyrodiil, we've been to Anvil, Bruma, Leyawiin, Imperial City, Kvatch, we've yet to have traveled to Skingrad, but we will in time. I've been meeting count's, mages, fighters and all sorts of people around Cyrodiil." Xochi went through just about everything.
"Really? Count's, you've met the count's of Cyrodiil?" Noki asked, slightly surprised.
"Yes, they all seemed so interested in keeping me there longer, they've offered me food, drink, dances, everything!"
"That's quite the thing to see I bet."

Noki smiled only wider from every explaination Xochi gave, she made it sound like Cyrodiil was made of gold.

However, outside wasn't quite the same.

"She in there with her guard friend." A man on a buckskin horse rode up to another man on a black horse.
"Good, her friend has to get back to his guard duties some time, right Raijin?"
"Right sir." Raijin pulled the other men aside.

"In the city, just in the gates make a scene, make a tough one too. We want the guards to call Xochiquetzal's friend out to help." Raijin told the others as they dismounted and walked into the city.

"The men are on their way, any minute now there will be a guard coming out to get all the others around here."
"Good, get in and out as quick as possible, I don't want a mess. Remember, she's only worth the bounty if she's unharmed permanently, so do not put a knife up against her throat like the last one, that was a mess."
Raijin nodded.

He got off his horse and walked to Xochi's and petted him for a moment before the guard came rushing around the bend.

The guard alerted the others in the area that two men, heavily armed were making noise inside the gates and they need all local area guards to come a put this to an end quietly.

Another guard saw the legion horse and knocked on the door, went in and told Xochiquetzal's friend about the disturbance and just as soon as he went in he came out, swords being drawn, Xochiquetzal's friend looked Raijin right in his face as he passed by.

"Their gone. Get her." The man said as Raijin and two other men went into the house.

Xochi was looking the other way with another woman, washing dishes.

One man went in a grabbed Xochi, and as she kicked the dishes broke and the other woman pulled out a dagger and tried to fight the men.

"Get back you bastards! Get away!" The woman shouted as Xochi tried to fight back.
Raijin went forward and took the woman's dagger away and held her back.

"No! Let her go! Let her go!" Raijin shoved the woman away as they left out the door.
"Nero! Nero!" The woman called following them out the door.

One man who held Xochi got on her horse and pulled her up with him and rode off.

"Hurry men! We've got to go now." The man said as they rode away.

Xochi screamed and tried to fight back, but as she remembered her race was not famous for their unmatched strength.

"Calm down woman or I swear I beat you until you can't move!" The man held tighter onto her as they rode across the bridges and further away from the Imperial City.

Back at the Waterfront Noki ran to find Nero who had just finished up with the two noise makers.

"Nero!" Noki ran to him and he turned to her.
"Noki? What is it?" He asked as she caught up to him.

"They took her!" Nero's eyes widened.
"Who? Who took who?"
"The men! There were three men, they just walked in and took Xochi!" She panted.
"Oh no..." Nero ran back to Noki's house, upon seeing the state of the home he turned back to find Xochi's horse gone.

"There they are!" Noki pointed across the lake.
Barely visable was the white skin of Xochi on her white horse with a man holding her.

"Noki stay here." Nero said and got on his horse.

"Guards!" Nero called out and four came running, "A woman was kidnapped while we attended to matters inside the city gates, across the lake will be riders, on a white horse there are two riders, one is a purely white woman whom I have been traveling with and she was just taken. Send word to watch for those men and that woman, everyone else, follow me." Nero said as one guard ran back inside and the others gathered their own horses and followed Nero to the Imperial city bridge and crossed it.

Noki watched helplessly as Nero pursued the men.

But Noki did see the men turning into the woods where Nero could follow only so far.

As Nero saw, the men were going to stop sooner or later and he'd be waiting for them.

Nero rode through the woods, over logs and boulders, lucky enough not to fall, one guard's horse wasn't fully trained and had fallen over.
The other guard tried his best to keep up as the men slowly began to disappear into the woods.

"Sir! Their gone." The guard said to a still determined Nero who only rode harder on his horse until his horse buckled under.

"No, they can't be... I can't loose her." Nero's horse stood back up, tired and pained as Nero ran through the bushes and trees until he reached a large hill where he looked over as far as he could, yet nothing came into sight.
They had out ran him and he had lost Xochi.

"Sir, we can't keep up with them, we'll have to send word around until someone spots them." The guard slowly came up from behind Nero.

"That's fine... but their not staying here in Cyrodiil, not in all of Tamriel, their leaving." Nero sighed.
"Where could they go?"
"To an estate a day's ride from Cyrodiil."
"That could be anywhere." The guard said.
"Then send word fast, watch the borders, if anything comes up, get me."

The guard turned and left, sending word to every guard he possibly could.

"I'm sorry, Xochi..." Nero turned back to his horse and thought about what he would tell Noki, Chanda and even Luka.

"I'm so sorry..."