Chapter Fifteen: Death Match

Anjaarra sat by the fire, its orange light flickering over her fur and the sleeping form of Hulgar. He had decided to get some sleep before they set off in the morning to go to Dushnikh Yal. But since she had been sleeping almost the entire day, the Khajiit decided to stay up and keep watch. She didn't mind it too much, she enjoyed looking up at the stars and watching the moons slowly move through the sky. The dark night was quiet except for the infrequent howling wolf and the hooting of owls in the distant trees. The cat-woman closed her eyes and sighed contently, the peaceful air making her feel relaxed.

"Anjaarra? You awake?" Hulgar asked from his bedroll. The Khajiit looked over at his prone body, thinking that he had been asleep.

"Yeah, I'm awake." She said quietly, watching the Nord sit up and stretch. He yawned quietly before looking at the cat-woman.

"I was just making sure." He said before standing up. He had taken off his armor and the only thing that he was wearing was some plain burlap pants. The Nord noticed her orange eyes slowly trace over his exposed abdomen and chest, crossing his hairy arms around his wide chest. "Is there something in particular you were gawking at?" The man asked with a sly smile. Anjaarra quickly looked away, her eyes lowered in embarrassment.

"N-no… S-sorry." She cleared her throat before looking back at the Nord, looking up at his face this time. "Hulgar, were you ever married?" The Khajiit asked quietly, tilting her head to the side when the man shook his head no, sitting on the rock he had been leaning against earlier that night.

"No, I never have been. Don't get me wrong, I've been interested in a woman or two, but I never found the time, or land, to settle down and make a family." The Nord explained, putting his hands on his knees.

"Oh. Let me guess, these were all Nord women, huh?" Anjaarra asked with a teasing smirk. Hulgar chuckled, plumes of misty air leaving his mouth.

"Yes, they were all Nords. But, I've had my eye on a less traditional woman, as of late." The Nord grinned, an embarrassed smile passing over the Khajiit's lips as she looked away again, her tail flicking around in bashful excitement. She looked back at the Nord and opened her mouth to say something but a sudden scream filled the air, making the travelers jump to their feet. Hulgar quickly grabbed for his war axes as Anjaarra pulled out her ebony dagger, their eyes scanning the darkness surrounding them.

A storm cloud rolled in from the south, covering the moons. All help that the stars and moons gave was obscured, leaving on the low lying fire. Hulgar cursed under his breath at the darkness, beads of sweat starting to grow on his forehead.

"What was that?" Anjaarra hissed out, her eyes frantically darting around the landscape before her. Hulgar shook his head, keeping his war axes raised and at the ready.

"I have no idea. I've never heard anything like that before. But I can tell you, it wasn't any living creature." The Nord muttered quietly. Anjaarra looked over at the Nord, her eyes wide with fright.

"How do you know?" She asked, her tail curling in anxiety. Before Hulgar could speak another scream filled the air. Along with the faint sound of metallic squealing. Anjaarra quickly turned to the river and saw a metal monstrosity charging in their direction.

"Move!" The Nord shouted, dropping his weapons and quickly pushing Anjaarra out of the way. She stumbled forward and fell onto the ground, hearing the machine roar past behind her and ram into Hulgar. The Khajiit quickly jumped to her feet and saw the eight legged machine smack the Nord with a hammer arm.

"Hey!" She shouted at the machine, trembling with fright when its upper body quickly spun around to look at her. "Leave him alone!" She shouted at it, trying to steady her hand as she held her dagger out in front of her. The metal face of the machine stared at her for a long moment, its face resembling that of a Thalmor. She shuddered at the resemblance before the machine let out a bout of steam and charged at the Khajiit.

With amazing speed, Anjaarra quickly ducked and rolled beneath the machine, feeling it thunder past her. She quickly stood up and saw the machine stop quickly in its tracks and spin back around to face her. The Khajiit heard a moan from her right and glanced over, seeing Hulgar slumped back against the tree that his horse had been tied to but it had taken off when the machine first screamed. There was another scream from in front of the cat-woman before the metal monster charged again, this time its saw blades held out in front of it.

Anjaarra stared at it wide eyed before quickly turning and facing the rock that Hulgar had sat on earlier. With the grace of an acrobat, Anjaarra ran and jumped onto the rock and leapt backwards, doing a back flip in the air as she landed behind the machine. A smirk crossed her lips as it crashed into the rock she jumped from, its front left leg twisted and bent. But it didn't slow it down as it quickly spun around again and faced her. Anjaarra let out an impatient sigh and snarled at the metal beast, her dagger raised at the ready.

Hulgar heard a scream from the machine, his eyes fluttering open in time to see it charge at Anjaarra. He wanted to shout out but nothing came out. Only a sharp pain filled his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. He knew that the machine had been sent by the Thalmor and it was after him, not her. But she still fought it and distracted it to protect him. Even now, as the machine charged at her, the cat-woman ducked and dodged it, cleanly cutting off one of its metallic legs. He grinned slightly as he watched her leap out of the way of its hammer arms, her ebony dagger slashing out at a latch that held its armor together.

Noticing the armor creak open slightly, Anjaarra quickly slashed at another latch, grinning as the machine desperately tried to whack at her. A hammer arm came crashing down next to her but she put her foot against it and leapt off of it, bouncing off one of its other arms before latching onto the machine's golden head. Its weaponed arms tried to hit the Khajiit but in fear that it would destroy itself, it didn't dare to hit her. Anjaarra took this to her advantage as she dug her blade into different crevasses, destroying latches and hinges. She dug her blade under a loose piece of metal and pulled, yelping as the metal plate fell away and revealed a black soul gem. Anjaarra stared at in awe and horror, raising her blade to hit it. Hulgar saw her and raised his hand, trying to shout but it was too late. Her ebony blade rammed into the gem, a sudden flash of light exploding in the chest cavity of the tracker. Anjaarra screamed as she was flung away from the machine and into the surrounding darkness. The machine shrieked out bouts of steam as the soul gem burned brighter and brighter before it exploded inside the machine, its metallic legs giving out and crumbling to the ground with a shudder.

Hulgar stared at the now "dead" machine, slowly getting to his feet. He placed a hand against the tree, trying to keep himself steady before pushing away from it and stepping towards the silent pile of metal. Steam slowly hissed out of it and ashes fell away from the chest cavity, shards of the soul gem littering the ground below it. Noting that it was safe to lean on it, Hulgar placed a hand against the metal monster, looking around blindly for his companion.

"Anjaarra? Anjaarra, where are you?" He called out, his chest aching and his head feeling light and airy. He took a deep breath, scrunching his eyes shut before opening them again and looking around again. "Anjaara, where are you?!" He called out, but there was no answer to his calls. She had disappeared.