Hello again! I just finished the second chapter, so here it is! This story is written by me, Baeowulf, by the way (just clarifying that because my co-author and I share an account), and while my co-author and I may do some stories together, I'm doing this one on my own. And, now, the hated disclaimer (dun dun DUUUUN!): I do not own Oblivion or any game characters or races, but I DO own Rhiihaaj, Seylia, Delchkahn Amori, Jehliij, and Sehirii, as well as Amori's trademark wilted rose insignia, so THERE!
And now, back to our feature presentation...
Delchkahn Amori sat, leaning against a tree across from Soul-Swimmer, clad in his Brotherhood armor. On the shoulder, he had rubbed off the bloody handprint symbol of the guild, and replaced it with a painting of a wilted rose. He sat, gazing at the vibrant, young form across from him, so full of life. He smiled, thinking to himself. "What's happening to me?" he thought, laughing inwardly, "She's just a novice, a relatively unskilled peasant! She has nothing, and she'll never come close to being Ocheeva…" At the thought of that name, he felt a pang in his heart, a reminder of the horrible things he had done. He had been lucky in that most of his contracts had concerned bad people with death on their hands, but the one that would allow him to rid the world of a number of cold-blooded killers would cost him his love. "I'm so sorry, Ocheeva. I'm so sorry." Tears formed in his eyes, and he found himself turning to gaze once more at Soul-Swimmer's sleeping form. "Great Akatosh, I'm a fool!" he scolded himself, angry that he was beginning to harbor feelings for the female opposite him. "She's unskilled, naïve, and takes unnecessary risks! Why am I attracted to her? Maybe it's something about her eyes, so innocent, so kind…" He was started out of his reverie as Soul-Swimmer began to wake, her eyes slowly sliding open, bringing her hand up to her forehead. When she saw Amori sitting across from her, her eyes widened and she tried to scoot backwards, only to find herself up against the tree.
"Gods, what does he want?" she thought, terrified of the purple Argonian across from her as she remembered what had happened earlier. She glanced down at herself, more than a little relieved to see that she was still wearing her armor and that there were no claw marks in it. "You—you're not going to kill me, are you?" she asked, her voice trembling in fear. Amori laughed.
"Kill you?" he laughed, unable to control himself, his tired eyes shining brightly for the first time in months, "I'm not going to kill you! If I was, I would have done it three days ago and saved myself the trouble!" Soul-Swimmer gasped as she heard this.
"Three days?"
"Yup!"
"I've been out for three days?!"
Amori's smile vanished. "Yes, three days you were healing from that beating I gave you. We should get moving, I'm surprised Rhiihaaj hasn't found us yet. Say, you look familiar… Have I seen you before?" Delchkahn asked, puzzled.
"Yes, and you've seen Rhiihaaj, too. Just a couple weeks ago, actually." Soul-Swimmer steadied herself, thinking back to that day. "When we first joined the Brotherhood, Rhiihaaj would always tease me, calling me things like 'scaly' and 'slit-eye', but he seemed nice enough, and we became friends. Eventually, he wanted to be more than just friends, and he was very forward about it, too." Soul-Swimmer blushed, remembering the many suggestive comments the sly Khajiit had made. "Just a couple days after our first date, he, well, he wanted to get me into bed. I said no, but he wouldn't take that for an answer, and so he picked me up around the waist and tossed me onto the mattress. I go up, and slapped him across the face." Soul-Swimmer smiled deviously. "I forgot to retract my claws. Unfortunately, Rhiihaaj lost it. He punched me in the gut, and then across the face. I could smell the drink in his breath, and I realized that he was drunk, and much more dangerous. He probably would've killed me, had you not intervened. It was at the moment that he had me by the neck that you heard the commotion and walked in. Rhiihaaj, never being one for words, told you to get your, well, let's gloss over that particular phrase, out of his business. Your reply was a quick jab to his face, and a decision to beat the living flames out of him. After handing him his tail, you left, not even showing signs that you had just been in a fistfight. No heavy breathing, no anger left on your face, nothing." Soul-Swimmer's smile vanished. "I'm afraid Rhiihaaj took that rather personally. The last thing he said to was a promise that I would die by his hand. We… We haven't spoken since."
"Wow," sighed Amori, chuckling under his breath, "so THAT'S where I recognized you from! You sure do have a knack for trouble, Soul-Swimmer! Say, no offense, but your name feel's odd on the tongue, and I know that it's not Argonian based. Is there anything else I can call you?"
"I suppose," replied Soul-Swimmer thoughtfully, "you could call me Seylia." She smiled. It had been a long time since she had used her native name that her parents had given her, and she enjoyed the ability to share it with someone. "There's a long road ahead of me," she thought, smiling. "At least I'm with the right person."
Rhiihaaj jogged up to the forest, following the tracks and scent of Soul-Swimmer. He reached a hand to his face, fingering the scars she had left him with. They ran over his right eye and down his cheek, ending when they reached his neck. He grimaced as he felt the bare flesh that her claws had left there, his blood red fur had never grown back over where she had clawed him. He gave a signal, and a group of Khaajiit bandits slipped out of their hiding places. They were eager for blood, and eager for the coin Rhiihaaj was offering. He grinned. "Those idiots," he thought, "They'll not receive any of my coins, only slit throats and punctured lungs!" He grinned wider, baring his sharp teeth. "And as for you, my dear Swamp Flower, I made a promise." He drew his blade, and with his band trailing behind him, made his way into the forest. "A promise I intend to keep!"
Amori jogged through the forest, Seylia following close behind him. While he had to go slower than he normally would in order for her to be able to keep up, he enjoyed the company of someone who honestly thought of him as a person as opposed to a weapon, something to be used and then cast aside, or gave him the false admiration of an inferior. The admiration had only grown worse since he defeated Dagon and his deadra; now practically all of Cyyrodiil proffered the endless praise of "the vampire who fought the deadra". He smiled; recognition had decreased considerably since he cured his vampirism in Deepscorn Hollow, that dark, underground hole he called home. He stopped when he heard panting, and turned to see Seylia clutching her stomach. "Seylia, what's wrong?" he said, slightly worried that she was injured.
"Don't worry," she replied. Delchkahn almost blushed as she lifted her head towards him, her light blue scales glinting in the afternoon sunlight. He gazed into her eyes, and really did blush when he noticed that she was leaning over, allowing him to look down her… He quickly averted his eyes, looking back into hers. "I'm just hungry, that's all," she said. As if to emphasize her point, her stomach rumbled loudly just then. Amori smacked himself in the forehead.
"I'm such an idiot!" he thought, embarrassed, "Here I am, admiring her… body, and I forgot that she's eaten nothing but healing potions for the past three days!" He reached into his backpack, and withdrew a large piece of dried meat. It was venison, and was a very high quality cut; salted with natural sea salt, and seasoned with spices and herbs imported from the Black Marsh. "Here," he said, giving Seylia the meat, while inwardly cursing himself. "Amori you idiot! That meat cost a fortune! She's a novice, she'll just drag you down! You should abandon her to fend for herself in the first city you find!" His rational mind screamed at him. He knew she was unskilled and probably poor, and he knew she would never be able to repay him for the price of the meat. But, while his rational mind ranted away, his heart felt differently. "Ocheeva's dead," he thought, "and nothing can bring her back. Would she really want me to sulk alone for the rest of my life? Perhaps it's time that I moved on…" Just as he thought this, he noticed a sword sticking out from the bushes behind Seylia. "MOVE!" he shouted, and shoved Seylia to the ground roughly. In one fluid motion, he pulled his bow out from behind his back, pulled an arrow from his quiver, drew back the bow string, and let fly, just as the Khaajiit bandit leaped out from his hiding place. His eyes widened in surprise as the charged arrow sunk itself into his head right between his eyes, sending him flying backwards and nailing his body to a tree. His body jerked as electricity discharged through it, and the flesh around the wound caked with ice. Seylia stood, staring in amazement at the dead Khaajiit.
"How… How did you do that?!" she asked incredulously.
"Lots of practice, come on, looks like your friend Rhiihaaj is on the move, and it looks like he's brought a few friends with him." Amori grabbed Seylia's hand, and they ran through the forest.
Rhiihaaj waited impatiently, tapping his booted foot against the soft, mossy ground. It had been half an hour since he send Jehliij on ahead, and he still hadn't returned. A soft, feminine voice piped up behind him; it was Sehiiri, a golden-brown Khajiit. She wore tight-fitting leather armor, studded with glass, accentuating all the right parts of her body. Her cuirass was low-cut, and on the bottom of it revealed her well toned stomach. Her long, brown hair was tied behind her head in a ponytail, with her bangs lying in front of her forehead in clumped strands. Her emerald green eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and her cheekbones were well formed, and just the right height and accentuation. All in all, she was extremely beautiful. "Perhaps we should go check on him," she purred seductively, sensing her boss' angst and impatience. "Maybe after we kill this little Argonian, we can have a little… celebration." Rhiihaaj grinned.
"Perhaps I'll let this one live…" he thought to himself. Not only was he extremely attracted to Sehiiri, but she was also pretty skilled in both blades and blunt weapons, her weapons of choice being dual-wielding an obsidian mace and shortsword. "I would enjoy that very much, Sehiiri. Alright, let's go!" he called to his group, and they stealthily made their way into the forest. After a short time they came to a tree; a tree with a Khajiit body on it. The body was nailed to the tree by an arrow between its eyes, and jerked every so often from residual electricity. Upon closer examination, Rhiihaaj found that the wound around the arrow was frozen. "Well, it looks like Jehliij met an unfortunate fate, and it looks like our Argonian friend has found some help." For a moment, Rhiihaaj looked puzzled and worried, but then his face spread into a wide grin. "There's only one weapon I know that can make a wound like that: the bow FlashFreeze. And I know who wields it: Delchkahn Amori, former leader of the Dark Brotherhood. Looks like we'll be getting a huge bonus!"
Oh noes! Rhiihaaj is onto their trail, and he has some help with him! What will happen with Rhiihaaj and Sehiiri? On another topic, it seems that Amori, despite his better judgement, is falling for Seylia, a novice fighter, unskilled in the art of combat! Will he come to his senses, will he fall for Seylia, or will he go COMPLETELY emo and commit suicide to be with Ocheeva (just thought the story needed some random emoness!)? Only time may tell! Until then, read and review, PM me if you want, and if you've played StarFox, check out my other story! Check it out even if you HAVEN'T played StarFox!
The winds of time blow on, and the sands of reality shift in beautiful, unreplicating patterns.
-Baeowulf