-1Author's Note: I apologize for the delay everybody. I've been busy with school, college courses, music, and essay writing. Thank you all for being patient. Here's the latest.
The Illuminated Order
Chapter 6 - Confrontation
Wow…this is something new, the silver-haired Dark Elf thought. Someone directly offended by Eno…coming to the Brotherhood for assistance.
These thoughts rattled around in the courier's head as he entered Dandras Vules' chamber at the rear of Moril Manor. The Dark Brotherhood's base of operations was underneath the Great Bazaar district, in the ruins of Old Mournhold, so as to avoid scrutiny from prying eyes above ground. Having the headquarters on the mainland was smarter anyways--Vvardenfell was too small for such a large scale organization.
"Brother Vules," the courier said to another Dunmer at a reading desk. "I come bearing the result of our meeting with the Hlaalu Imperial."
Dandras, clad in the standard Dark Brotherhood armor and long silver-blackish hair extending down to his neck, looked up from the report he was reading from a contact in Firewatch. The courier, with the bag of drakes jingling on his waist, walked over to the desk and pulled up a chair to sit down.
"Execellent," Vules replied. "So, who are the targets we are to eliminate?"
The silver-haired Dunmer unclipped the bag from his waist and put it on the desk, and began his official spiel. "Five thousand septims for each hit…one on Cavortius Pelelius, the Hlaalu's brother who apparently fled High Rock due to being tied with Mannimarco. He wants his brother killed so his name isn't besmirched. The other…Eno Hlaalu, Grandmaster of the Morag Tong. When the Imperial's initial offer to the Tong was rejected, Cunius felt insulted and angered."
A grin formed on the aged Dark Brother's lips. "No surprise…Eno has always been a rude one…and in need of some manners. Though I'm a bit disappointed with the amount offered…I'd expect at least five thousand more."
"But don't we have some in the reserves?"
Vules scratched his chin. "I think so…but double check."
"Who should be the one to take out Cavortius?"
The Dark Brother smiled. "I know just the person…as for Eno…one assassin won't be enough. We'll need…more. Tell Irena that we have a special task for her. I'll send out a notification to our cell on Vvardenfell in regards to the Tong."
The courier nodded, and walked off in the opposite direction of Dandras' desk as the elder Dunmer turned back to his work and smiled. Even if we fail, the Night Mother will prove that we, the Brotherhood, can still come within your jaws, Eno.
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"Once more you greet my humble sanctuary with your august personage," Decius Mus said warmly moments after Cavortius teleported into the room. "Have you then acquired the information on that new vampiric threat?"
The Imperial necromancer nodded, pulling the leather-bound book from his travel bag and passed it over to the vampire. Decius briefly skimmed through the book, and let out a roaring, demonic yet still charitable laugh, tossing the book into one of the waterspouts behind him.
"What a stupid Mer he is, thinking that the Blight caters to us creatures of the night! Red Mountain caters to no one…only Dagoth."
A quizzical look appeared on Cavortius' face, unsure of what he just heard, but most likely it had to do with the notes he had just picked up…although the mention of the word 'Dagoth' made his skin crawl.
"Excellent work, either way," Mus exclaimed. "However, I do have something of an urgent matter that has come up. Simply put…I need you to take care of a vampire hunter."
Pelelius nodded for the Imperial vampire to continue speaking. "I have learned that one of the Buoyant Armigers from the local stronghold has come to suspect my existence and is even now hunting for me."
"But, this hideout is concealed well!"
Decius held up a pale, gnarly finger as the strange Imperial grinned. "This may be so, but it's not unusual for me to hear noises outside of the fresco. For eventualities such as this, I took the precaution of setting up a series of false clues as to my location, leading to a decoy dwelling in the Underworks here."
It was then that Mus took a step closer to the necromancer…a few more steps, actually, until they were five inches from each other's face.
"You understand the Order's need for secrecy," Decius rasped hostilely, making his teeth very visible to a fearful Cavortius. "Don't fuck up. Or I'll make you my dinner. Are we clear?"
The young Imperial nodded rapidly, loving his life very much, and wanting to live long enough to see where this life of his would take him.
Decius then returned to his normal cheerful manner. "Good. You may go."
Rather then teleport to the temple outside using Almsivi Intervention, Cavortius instead exited through the door behind him and found himself standing in front of the fresco. He put the hood up on his robe and fastened the iron helmet Thuvien had given him over his head and looked for the Canalworks.
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Darko Valinus and Hawkeye, now clad in their Legion armor, emerged from The Pilgrim's Rest, a tavern inside of Molag Mar, talking to themselves quietly.
"So far, nobody has seen Cavortius or anybody matching his description," Darko said, scratching his chin.
"But we know he's here," Hawkeye interjected. "The shipmaster in Vivec told us he was heading this way, so he must still be here."
"True…but we still haven't--" Darko paused in mid sentence as they reached the center of the Waistworks and saw a hint of blue fabric disappear down underneath the walkway, seemingly running.
"That's him!" Hawkeye whispered harshly. "Hurry, before we lose him."
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Cavortius shoulder-bashed the door into the Canalworks, quickly slamming it shut with his foot and bolted down the flight of stairs three at a time. He had heard the two men's voices, and knew immediately it was the same Imperial Legionnaires he had encountered outside of Pelagiad.
So I am being followed! he thought angrily. Once he hit the bottom of the stairs, he ran past a few waterspouts before noticing a trapdoor made of wood in the floor. As quickly as he could, he worked on getting the latch open and Cavortius jumped down the hole.
However, it wasn't a clean jump, because as he descended into the sewers, the left sleeve of his robe got snagged on the latch and while it closed the trapdoor, he found himself dangling in midair by his sleeve in near-darkness. Frantically trying to pull himself loose, Cavortius cast Night-Eye and the whole area became better-lit. He then reached for his dwarven short-sword, and carefully cut the caught fabric free, and free-fell the rest of the way to the sewer floor. He grunted as he hit the ground, rolling away from the canal to avoid falling in the water.
After that, he picked up the pace and disappeared down one of the various corridors in hopes of losing his pursuers.
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"Move with caution," Darko said quietly, his sword drawn. "He may be down here somewhere."
Hawkeye was looking around the Canalworks, sticking close to his Imperial friend, his sword also out and ready to use. He spotted the trapdoor Cavortius had gone through--the piece of blue fabric was sticking out from the top. The massive Nord dislodged it from its crevice and examined it in his fingers.
"He's in the sewers," Hawkeye remarked. He signaled Darko with his free hand, and instructed him to go down the sewer via the ladder, and Hawkeye quickly followed as he closed the trapdoor.
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One thing Cavortius failed to understand as he trekked through the sewers was how some sort of rotting man was able to sneak up on him. The man's skin had long since been drained of its former pallor, but bones were sticking out at various places on its body. Cavortius had no choice but to put the creature down. It should've been easy, but he could still see the pained look on the former man's face, twisted beyond belief. It would haunt him.
Finally, the Imperial reached an rotten, wooden door in one of the corridors that was hidden from view. Cobwebs covered the door, and it looked to be very old like it was barely hanging on. It was here he would avoid the Imperial soldiers, and wait for the Buoyant Armiger to appear. With a quick glance over his shoulder, Pelelius grabbed hold of the old door's latch and opened it and stepped through.
Inside was a smallish room with a few cobwebs and two torches, one in the corner behind him and one in the opposite corner. In the center was a coffin similar in design to the one he had seen in Scourge Barrow. The Imperial was also greeted with an unexpected surprise: the Buoyant Armiger had already arrived, and was standing on the other side of the coffin.
The Buoyant Armigers, he had learned from listening to conversations, was a holy order created by the Man-God Vivec as guardians of the Ghostgate. As such, they wore the traditional Dunmer Chitin armor. The only different was that the helmet this Armiger wore was similar to a large gondola hat but it had a mask covering the Mer's face.
"Foul vampire!" the Armiger cried, the voice hoarse and dusty--it was a Dark Elf. "I know you'd have to return to your lair before long! Bold and brass you are, living under the very feet of Buoyant Armigers, probably laughing to yourself at your own cleverness. You'll not be laughing for much longer, I promise you that!"
The soldier pulled out a dagger from his waistline, obviously enchanted from the way the blade reflected in the dim torch light. "Die, unholy filth!"
Cavortius grabbed the handle of the torch behind him, still keeping his eyes on the Armiger, and tossed it. Of course, he had planned on the Armiger dodging out of the way, but it allowed the Imperial time to let his short-sword clear its sheath. He honestly didn't know how in Oblivion the Armiger expected to beat him, as his short-sword was made of Dwemer metal and had a longer reach then the dagger did.
As the Armiger rolled out of the torch's path and back onto his feet, it hit the ground, putting the fire out and further dousing the room in darkness. Then it occurred to Pelelius that he had an advantage: if he completely doused the room in darkness, he could use Night-Eye. With the plan in his mind, Cavortius dashed the few feet to the coffin in front of him, launched off his feet, and extended his left hand at the torch in the opposite corner. From his palm, a Frost spell burst forth, dousing the entire torch in ice and extinguishing the flames. As the 'refuge' became pitch-black, Cavortius invoked Night-Eye and could see things very clearly.
On the other hand, the Buoyant Armiger seemed to have no such magic capabilities, or he wasn't too good with them if he did. As the necromancer tucked and rolled to his feet, he was thankful to still be crouched low, for the space above him was filled with the swoosh of a dagger cutting the air. Cavortius spun to face his attacker, who's face held a look of anger, fear, and determination.
The Armiger thrust the dagger toward the Imperial, but Cavortius deflected it with a flick of his short-sword, cutting deep into the Mer's arm and the bleeding followed…yet he didn't expect to be thrown off-balance by his opponent's front-kick. He stumbled back toward the wall, and had barely enough time to dodge away from another thrust as the dagger hit the wall.
After recovering from the clumsy dodge, Cavortius made a chopping motion with his free left hand and hit the Armiger's pressure point near the elbow. He swung around until he was behind the soldier and then stuck his short-sword through a weak spot that didn't cover his waistline.
"By the way, I'm not actually a vampire, and this isn't his actual residence," the Imperial hissed less then an inch from the Armiger's ear. "Doesn't it gall you that you died for nothing?"
With a twist of his Dwemer weapon, the Dark Elf shrieked briefly before succumbing to shock and blood loss, and Pelelius let go of the corpse. Slowly, the adrenalin wore off and he just realized the magnitude of what he had done. Killing a Buoyant Armiger…if he were ever caught, he'd be executed on the spot. Cavortius began to tremble, finding it difficult to make his way to the rickety door that had led him here. At the time Decius had given him the assignment, the fact that the vampire hunter was a Buoyant Armiger slipped by him. Now he cursed and berated himself viciously…then again, if Pelelius had turned down the assignment, who knew if the Order (by way of Decius) would've deemed him a liability and thus have eliminated him?
His head hanging low toward the ground, he closed the door carefully and placed a lock spell on it so nobody could get in. As he rounded the corner, he suddenly remembered that those two Imperial Legionnaires were still hunting for him and when he looked up, he wished he hadn't…because there they were, staring him down with massive scowls.