Scar-Tail awoke late in the evening in his bed and looked over to the other beside; the fire that was burning he made late, still burned brightly and still illuminated the dark stone walls of Fort Nomore.

He saw the kid sitting straight up and gazing at the floor as if he was going to find something in the stones of the fort. An answer of some kind. Any kind. Apoltis's cheeks were shinning from the light. Scar-Tail could see he was indeed crying. His cheeks were so glazed in fact, that they almost seemed to reflect the fire in his skin.

Small whimpers were escaping as he was trying desperately not to disturb his already stirred companion. Scar-Tail waited for about a minute of quiet sobbing before letting the boy know he was awake. "How long have you been up?"

The boy gasped and was somewhat startled, at first. He calmed back down quickly though and then said in a choked voice with his eyes traveling back down to the floor, "About an hour, I think." He wiped his glistening cheeks and asked, "How about you?"

Sitting up in his bed, Scar-Tail then stood up stretching a bit. He lifted his hands over his head and extended his tail straight behind him for a moment getting the kinks out of his muscles. "Not as long as you." His voice still hissing with darkness but also a certain lack of energy. He sat back down on his bed and stared at the boy. "What have you been crying about?"

Snapping his head in Scar-Tail's direction, Apoltis said, "Nothing! It is just - umm..." He was at a lost for a lie.

Scar-Tail just slightly sneered at the boy. "You don't have to make up some story boy. I'm very keen to emotions. Especially when a person goes out of their way to hide them. Besides, it is part of my training." Reaching over to the side of the bed, he picked up his dark cloak keeping his hood still on the floor. He put on the cloak and hissed with comfort as it slid over him.

There was no use in Apoltis hiding his emotions any longer from a perceptive anthromorphic reptile who's appearance was still making him slightly evasive. He could not help being evasive either. He had never seen one of Scar-Tail's kind before. He had been raised in Hackdirt all his life. True, some traders from Chorrol had come to trade but he had never paid any attention to them. He had mostly spent his boyhood in his small wooden house reading about fictitious heroes and villains. Not really dreaming that he could be one of them but at least have a little more of an adventurous life then what he had. If he only he had known what had happen was going to happen back then, he would have wished for his life to stay dull and boring.

As he thought back on his life, his eyes began to tear up again wanting that boring lifestyle back. Wanting that security back. Most of all though - wanting his mother back.

Scar-Tail saw this and once again his heart went out to the child. "So, what is troubling you boy?" He did not know Apoltis's story and he was also looking for that as well.

Apoltis took a deep breath and began. "Three days ago, my mother and I were living in Hackdirt. She was busy with Thomas; a red guard boy who wasn't all that red. One of his parents was an imperial, his father. He use to work on the big well in Chorrol. Also working with the Fighter's Guild. I think he did repairs or something."

Scar-Tail found it quite hard not to interrupt the boy for talking about subjects that were not important to the story. He held his tongue though trying hard to remember that village people, no matter what their race may be, always tended to stray into other matters not of their own.

The boy continued on pausing for a moment as the events of three days ago started to become refreshed in his mind. "They were just outside the front window."

Scar-Tail assumed that he was now, finally, talking about his mother and Thomas again.

Apoltis's voice changed. it became deep and meaningful no longer sounding like a small boy but that of a traumatized adult. "That was when I heard it. The clattering of horse hooves on the ground. The rough breathing of at least four horses. I saw my mother pick up Thomas and carry him to his house where his mother grabbed him. There was a short conversation between my mother and his. Like Thomas's mother did not understand why my mother was afraid of horses.

My mother then pushed his mother into their house and she came running to ours. She shut the door and grabbed me and took me to my room. She told me 'Gather all you can but not enough to make you slow' I wondered what was happening but I dare not question.

I remember getting my small bag and packing my hooded cloak. It was a gift from her a long time ago. She said it was special. I always use to pretended that it gave me powers. All sorts of powers. It was different each day." He said with a smile.

The smile faded though as he went on with his story. Scar-Tail listened intensely.

"I remember my mother's face. I had never seen her so worried. She looked as if she was trying to run to a place she knew not of. Her eyes were troubled and her skin had lost color.

I could hear screaming outside and the faintest noise of swords slashing. I also saw fire glowing through the windows as suddenly my mother picked me up and ran outside with me, out the back door.

That was when I heard a crash from inside our house. I believe it was the front door but I do not know! I just - do not know!" Apoltis's eyes grew heavy with tears and he tried to hold them back. He blinked a few times to stifle them but it was no use as he began to softly sob. He continued with his story getting more and more harder to understand. "She lifted me onto the back of a horse and she got on as that screaming continued…"Apoltis finally broke down, "The fire glowing behind us! My home was burned!"

The silent argonian stayed silent and waited for Apoltis to stop sobbing. He had to wait at least a minute before Apoltis started again with his voice cracking with held back sorrow.

"We ran to Gottlesfont Priory. My mother apparently knew some people there. It wasn't enough to protect us though."

Scar-Tail just whispered under his breath, "Monks usually never are." He had one of his silver short swords out and was shinning it with a small white cloth. It helped him relax as he listened to Apoltis's story.

He went on. "By the next night, the riders were back and the monks at the priory tried to warn us but they were all slaughtered. I was asleep when they came. My mother grabbed me from out of bed and took me outside in a hurry. It was the blackest night. I could see fires shifting about. I could hear the clanging of metal on metal. I think some of the monks were armed and were trying to defend us the best they could!

My mother dropped to the ground outside of the stables. I tried to pick her up but it was no use. She was so heavy. So heavy." His voice trailed off. He stayed silent for awhile before starting up again. "She had been wounded on her right side. She laid…" He took a breath trying to hold back more tears. "She laid in my arms and with her hands at her side. My arms began to become wet with her…" He tried to say the word blood but could not. He could not compose himself long enough to say it.

"She slipped her hand into a small satchel of hers and pulled this out." Apoltis reached into his cloak which was still on the ground and removed a light green crystal. Scar-Tail looked at it curiously. It had jagged spikes on it but its bottom was completely flawless. It was definitely some kind of stone. It seemed kind of large in the boy's hands but he held it as if it was lighter then air.

"She told me that this was what they were after and they should never get it. Then she said…" He hesitated. What she said after that was personal to him. She had told him that she loved him and that he was now the guarding of the stone. That he should travel out of Cyrodiil and get somewhere were he might be protected. After that, she was gone.

Apoltis decided to say, "That was when I stood up from - my mother and was about to run when I saw a man approach me. He saw I had the stone and demanded that I give it to him. He was so sinister and had come with daedra. I ran and they ran after me. They did not catch up with me quite as quickly as I thought they would. I do believe that the monks had rendered them horseless. Still, it took me that night into the next to lose them. Even that was only for a short while. That was when I ended up at the inn."

Scar-Tail was now onto his other sword and was polishing it. He sheathed it when the boy was done and hissed out, "That was where I come in."

Apoltis agreed. "Yes, the rest you know."

Scar-Tail stood up off the small bed and asked, "This man you said you saw that night. Can you tell me what he looked like?"

Thinking back, Apoltis closed his eyes and pictured him in his mind. "He was a tall, thin man. He had dark hair and a goatee. He had on a dark blue robe. I think it had strange black markings on it but I cannot be sure about that."

The argonian thought to himself. "What else?"

The boy did not have to concentrate about this. "Well, his skin was - glowing."

Scar-Tail's reptilian eyes bounded at the boy. His calm demeanor was gone and replaced by a wild eyed stair. He had to ask, "Apoltis, did you say his flesh was glowing?"

Looking down at the stone floor of the fort, Apoltis replied, "Yes. It was a white glow with a slight green. It was very strange. It never stopped either. The light from him seemed to illuminate from within. Like he had a torch that burned brightly inside his body!"

Scar-Tail sat back down on the bed and folded his hands in front of his face. "This makes things all the worse! Not only may the man after you be a powerful conjurer but he is probably very adept at many other magical skills. Necromancy, alteration, incantation, by Sith…" He looked at Apoltis, "By The Nine who knows what else! He is probably a very powerful wizard!"

Apoltis looked at his stone for a bit and asked, "What does that mean for me?"

Turning his head towards the boy, Scar-Tail saw him looking sorrowfully at the stone. He was going to try to encourage Apoltis but he could not lie to the kid. "Boy, I am not going to lie to you. It does not seem very good for you. You have a powerful wizard after you and he is probably going to get that stone one way or the other."

The boy shook the stone and began to angrily ask, "But why? Why this? He killed my mother over this thing? I do not even want it! If I just throw it into the lake I will be much better with out."

He got up but so did Scar-Tail. He put both hands on Apoltis shoulders and looked him in the eye. Apoltis had a hard time looking at his companion still not completely comfortable with his scaly looks.

"Now look kid, you cannot do that!"

"Why not? Do you know what will happen to me if he finds me with this?"

"You ever thought of what might happen if he finds you without it?"

Apoltis looked for an explanation and came up with none. He figured that he was right. He sat back down on the grungy bed and stared at the stone. He put it back in his cloak and stared at Scar-Tail with a steel dagger out now. Inspecting it for any kind of ware on the blade.

Apoltis had to ask, "How many weapons do you have on you?"

Scar-Tail was still looking at the dagger when he answered back, "From what you have told me - not enough!"

"So what do you think of my stone?"

"It's probably Ayleid."

"What is that?"

"Ayleid? They are the distant relatives to some of the elves. There are many Ayleid ruins all around the empire. Mages and all sorts of other magical users hire bandits and treasure hunters to scour these ruins. There are different types of Ayleid stones too. Some are much easier to find but they mostly pay for the hard ones. The ones maniacally booby trapped."

Apoltis thought for a few seconds about Scar-Tail's long answer. "How - How do you know all this?"

"How do you think? I was a treasure hunter for a while."

"Oh. I just thought maybe you read it in a book somewhere."

Scar-Tail just gave a soft, sarcastic trill. "Do I look like the 'bookworm' type?"

"No, I just assumed that you were well read."

"Why is that?" Scar-Tail asked, a little curious about what in his personality or his demeanor that gave off that ridiculous notion.

"You just seem very educated for a jobless knight."

Scar-tail roared out with laughter. His laugh was sinister and dark and Apoltis had a hard time not being frightened by it. It sound just like a monster/snake with a bass to it that would have been loud if not for the overwhelming hiss over it. Scar-Tail's mouth full of razor sharp teeth as his growling laughter continued. "Is that what you think I am?"

"Well, yes! Your fighting skills, your attitude towards crime, and other things."

Now the argonian knew that this child had grown up in a small village. He thought that all good fighters were knights.

"What makes you think I am not one of the bad guys?"

Apoltis was slightly surprised at the question. He had not contemplated that possibility. It was not in him. This reptilian savior of his did not seem bad to Apoltis. He was sure of it. "Well, you saved me! I think that qualifies you as a good guy. Doesn't it?"

A smirk came over Scar-Tail's face. At least, Apoltis took it as a smirk. It was more of a scowl. "I save one small child and that makes me 'a good guy' hmm? How do you know I didn't save you just to kill you later and maybe steal that rock of yours?"

Apoltis gave Scar-Tail an insulted huff. "If you wanted me dead you probably would have killed me already and then taken the stone for yourself."

Cocking his brow in a calm, pleased surprise. Scar-Tail said, "Indeed. I would have."

"So you do not want me dead and you do not need me for anything important so I believe you saved me because you wanted to. In my book, that makes you a good guy."

Scar-Tail hissed with despises for himself. He was no good guy and he himself knew it. The kid's opinion of him was wrong. He had no idea what laid behind Scar-Tail's exterior. A maniacal mad killer. Born and trained.

Apoltis decided to ask him something that had been bugging him. "So, how did you become a knight Scar-Tail?"

He faced away from the kid and said, "You do not want to know my story, kid."

Apoltis politely said, "If I did not want to know I would not have asked."

Scar-Tail looked at the ground and then said, "I think you and I have had are fair share of sad tales this evening."

Joining Scar-Tail at staring at the ground, Apoltis let out a sigh and then put on his cloak. He tied the small lace under his chin and then said to the assassin, "We should get going. They will be hunting me again."

Scar-Tail just grunted a bit and scoffed at Apoltis's statement. "Again? You say it as though they never stopped."

Starting to walk away from the fire, Apoltis said in reply, "All the more reason we should be leaving. Do you not agree?"

The argonian stood up now donning his hood from the floor. He looked around a bit and said, "No."

Apoltis just flashed him this confused look but his feelings of confusion were doused by terror. Scar-Tail walked up beside him and was looking in all directions. Apoltis went to say something but Scar-Tail hissed back at him, "Quiet!" He was listening for something.

At first, Apoltis tried to hear it but all he heard was the crackling of the fire and the movement of their own bodyweights against the stone floor. He heard nothing and was getting uncomfortable by Scar-Tail's over cautious attitude. He decided not to move though knowing that even though he did not hear or see anything, Scar-Tail probably did.

He could not have been more right. The highly trained shadowscale was scanning the inside of the fort as well as listening for anything he had heard from last time. After Apoltis had gotten up from his bed and was about to walk away from the fire, his keen reptilian ears had picked up on something rather unnerving. A low tone hiss. Not like his hiss either. This was more human in nature. Only one thing came to mind as Scar-Tail had one of his hands firmly gripped onto his elven dagger. Ready to throw it at the first shadow that dared to appear anywhere even near them. Vampires!

His keen, slit eyes caught a glimpse of something in the firelight. It was a humanoid form but what actual race it was he could not be sure of. His dagger hand muscles twitched but the figure disappeared before Scar-Tail could launch the small blade at the unknown entity. He was left with the dagger high in the air. Poised and ready to nail anything that was not him or Apoltis.

The air was quiet and still. Scar-Tail's breathing was short and rapid. Yet quiet at the same time. His training helped him with that. He made no noise and no movement as his reptilian eyes tried to focus in on some kind of being. His ears were equally busy, trying to catch a noise, a movement, anything to kill.

Apoltis was also trying to aid Scar-Tail in his silent hunt of the unknown but he was nowhere near the experience level or even in the same league with the highly trained assassin. Still, it did not stop him from trying to help his compatriot.

Apoltis suddenly saw a torch light and a dirty green hand snake around his mouth. Scar-Tail turned to see Apoltis had been captured! Next to Apoltis's bunk, with Apoltis in one hand and a dwarfish war-ax in the other; stood a bulky, female orc. She was at least seven feet tall and held the child like he was a small dog. Her garb was mangled and slightly torn while her flesh was a chalky green. Not a dark green or a bright green like most orcs. Scar-Tail knew why too but her eyes confirmed it. All orcs had two shades of eye color. Yellow and brown. Her eyes were light red. Almost pink like a baby rodent's eyes. The true sign of a vampire.

Apoltis struggled a little bit against her grip but he was just like a wriggling worm on a hook. Nowhere to go. Her skin was foul against his. It smelled old and rotten like bad meat. Apoltis didn't stop trying to get free but it was hardly a chore for the vampire orc to keep him detained.

Scar-Tail could sensed others. It had to be a whole pack of them. He was still poised with his dagger. His eyes were scanning the room ready to impale anyone in the room. He couldn't though for fear of the orc vampire hurting Apoltis. He had to think of something and fast.

The orc looked at the argonian and recognized him right away as a creature of tremendous killing prowess. She tightened her grip on the small boy and said, "Loose the blade lizard!"

Scar-Tail stared her down and slightly hissed with refusal.

From behind the skilled assassin, a voice came of a small wood elf. "You heard her, you scaly sack of troll puke!" Male, about four feet and seven inches. Had a longbow made of either iron or steel. Scar-Tail could tell all of this from the noises that the wood elf was making.

Another noise to his back right. Fur on the stone structure of the fort. Heavy with armor and a heavy weapon. Mace, maybe even a broad battleaxe. Vampire khajiit with exceptional skill of murder. Brutal and staring a hole right through him. He was standing on a stone a little higher then Scar-Tail. Of course, the trained assassin could hear all of this from the sounds he was making too. Quite loud for a vampyric khajiit.

Scar-Tail was waiting for something. He was a highly trained killing-machine and his training was in full effect. If there was one thing about his training and vampires he knew; both focused on leaders. This little pack of bloodsuckers had to have a master vampire. Scar-Tail wondered where he was but he didn't have to wonder for long.

Suddenly, a dunmer mage entered into the room. He had a small blue flame in his hand lighting up most of the room. Next to him was another well armed vampire khajiit. Not as big as the one standing behind Scar-Tail but that did not decrease the lethality of his weapon. A silver long sword. Scar-Tail believed that the two heavily armed cats had to be the mage's bodyguards.

This dark elf took a step towards him and then said, "I know you Dark Brotherhood are not deaf. Get rid of the dagger and anything else you might be hiding under there." Referring to his blacker-then-black armor.

Scar-Tail knew this was the master. He began to bend down and lower the dagger and was about halfway down to the ground with it when he grabbed his small, silver dagger from a hiding spot within his armor and flung it right at the dark elf's head! The silver dagger flew through the air and hit its mark. Right in between the eyes of the dark elf vampire. He fell slowly onto the ground and a stream of magical energy ascended out of his body along with his dark, oil-like blood. The khajiit next to him watched in stunned shock as his master fell to the ground dead from one fluid motion. The khajiit dropped his weapon and knelt down on the ground next to their dead leader. Distraught and unconcerned about the others.

Scar-Tail was already on the move with both of his silver short-swords out. He flew through the air and chopped the female orc's head right off! It flew right off her shoulders and landed right next to the dead dark elf. The depressed khajiit did not even pay it any attention.

Before the large female orc hit the ground, Scar-Tail already had the boy in his arms and was rushing him out of there. The small wood elf was in close pursuit with the big khajiit jumping off the stone running right behind the small bosmer vampire. The shorter khajiit was still on his knees next to his master.

Scar-Tail ran right out the door of the fort and hopped on his horse. He slung Apoltis on the back and rode off into the moonlit night. The two remaining vampires ran out into the night and looked around for him in a frenzy. The small wood elf saw him and pointed him out to his taller compatriot.

Back inside the fort, the vampire khajiit slammed his sword right into the stone floor of the fort and stood up. He looked out towards where the two had fled and roared with anger. He ripped his sword from the stone floor and tromped right for the front door of Fort Nomore. He pushed right through the two in the doorway and right out into the blue ink of night.

He looked up at the night sky and saw both moons. He then said to his blood brothers not looking at them, "The night is with us!" He turned around and extended his arms with his sword still in hand, "Their blood will flow from our fangs!"

The small wood elf had his hand on his bow and said, "How? Their on a horse! We are fast but they are faster!"

Suddenly, just as the small wood elf had said that, two imperial guards were coming down the road. Both on horseback with torches. The khajiit in front picked up on their imperial blood and said, "Brothers, are prayers have been answered!"

The bigger kahjiit looked at the approaching soldiers and swallowed hard as he held his elven battleaxe. He then decided to say, "I don't know! They are imperial guards. Those silver swords could really cause us some trouble!"

The smaller kahjiit turned around with his silver sword and said with it, directly at his new servant's throat, "So can mine!" His bigger counter-part backed off and got ready for war.