4
"I fail to see what this has to do with me. Did something happen on this particular job?"
Sasha paused before she answered.
"Yes Sean. It was the last contract Dayan's Riders would ever work."
"I don't like it boss, even if the pay is good."
"I know Jayred, but if you haven't noticed lately were a little low on coin."
"Yea but killing civilians is different than killing like, soldiers or mercenaries or something!"
"It's not like your ass is getting into Aetherius anyway. You'll be shoveling Daedra dung with the rest of us in Oblivion or gods know where." Toji countered.
Jayred didn't reply to the comment, but the team knew what he was feeling – guilt. As the years passed under Dayan's leadership, the contracts they accepted were becoming less brutal towards the innocent. Like Jayred mentioned, killing soldiers and other mercenaries who possessed means of self defense was not as emotionally difficult to deal with. This latest job would test the group's new found collective conscience.
"We all have things in our past that we're not proud of." Amir interrupted. "You all trust my brother and I to keep the money flowing in and the law off our backs – that is our responsibility. The Riders, our team, is known for doing the dirty. If we want to stop, that is a decision best made by everyone in the group."
"You saying we should vote on it?" Sasha was surprised by this.
Dayan ran the Riders with the precision of an elite military unit. The team trusted Amir and Dayan to make good decisions, not popular ones. Dayan knew this was the hallmark of a successful team and strong leadership. Once the "popular voice" came into play, a breakdown of group cohesion was sure to follow. The team all shared Sasha's concern and turned to Dayan for his judgment.
"Dayan, I'm with you either way. I just…"
"Was concerned Jayred, I know." Dayan finished. "Our mission is the destruction of an ebony mine. Several people, civilian workers of all different races will die by our hands. The mine is to be torched and equipment destroyed. We are to make our attack on the mine look as if it were committed by the native Argonians of the Red Club tribe. This is what Toby has charged me with and so it shall be done. Riders always get the job done."
Dayan stood up from the table his team was gathered around. His face was serious and calm but inside his gut wrenched with guilt and his heart ached.
"This will be our last mission in Argonia. After this contract we will leave the southern provinces and move north to establish a new client base in Skyrim and High Rock."
The decision, while painful, gave hope to the Riders. Leaving the southern provinces after nearly a decade would help put the dark past behind them as the Riders began a new, more honorable future.
29 Midyear 3E427, Thirty-three miles east of Murkwood
Dayan struggled to keep himself from sliding down the muddy slope. On their second day of travel, a fierce storm doused the central swamps of Argonia with inches of rainwater and had since not stopped. Day and night the Riders traveled to the ebony mines through this torrential rain, making a three day journey almost twice as long. In one sense this provided an advantage for the team; most likely operations at the site would halt during inclement weather. This would make it easier for the Riders to locate all of the personnel in the mines. Although Dayan didn't like to think about it, he would be forced to kill everyone at the excavation site if he were to convince the investigating officials the attack had been carried out by Red Club natives.
The Riders held their position below the crest of a hill overlooking the complex. The downpour of rain lessened to a light drizzle though it made little difference. All of Dayan's clothes and equipment were completely soaked. The Redguard wiped some rainwater from his eyes and peeked above the hill hoping to catch a glimpse of the site.
Dayan was startled when Roe and Elgamil appeared in front of him.
"Hello Dayan! Oh my you scared me! You shouldn't do that you know because I tend to do terrible things when I get surprised. Unless of course it's something kinky and fun like when Toji and I are in bed and he makes me –"
"For goodness sake Elgamil please!"
The Bosmer giggled. Roe smiled just a bit.
Silence.
"I think it is going to rain again." Elgamil looked towards the approaching gray storm clouds.
Dayan rubbed his temples.
"Roe, can you please tell me what you saw down there?"
"Silly Dayan, you know Roe can't talk. At least I don't think he can. We communicate using an ancient Bosmer method of communication."
Roe nodded.
"See, that means yes. Anyway, everyone at the mine is dead."
Dayan was surprised, and the comment caught the attention of Sasha and Toji who were crouching nearby.
"All of them?" Dayan repeated.
Roe supported this report with a single nod of the head.
"Are they still there, whoever did this?"
Roe shook his head no.
"He says no." Elgamil translated.
Dayan was concerned that Toby was setting up the Riders to take the blame for this catastrophe. If he found this to be the case, Dayan would be paying the Bosmer an unfriendly visit in the near future. The Redguard crawled to the top of the hill and signaled for his team to come to their feet. Using hand motions, he motioned the Riders to approach the excavation site with caution.
Dayan sheathed his sword and retrieved and loaded his bow. The Riders moved down the muddy hillside in a shoulder to shoulder line, spaced ten to fifteen feet apart from one another. The hillside was bare, covered in tree stumps. Vegetation was usually first to go in order to build wooden beam supports for the mine shafts. A few trees still remained, though there branches were cut and the bark was peeled away like the skin of an orange.
Towards the base of the hill Dayan caught his first sight of the mining complex. The rain had long since extinguished the fires set by the attackers, but the black charred remains of equipment and bodies scattered the site. At first it was hard to discern the attackers from their victims, as a majority of the dead were Argonian. The complex was large, consisting of several tents built near a large hole in the ground. Dayan suspected this to be the main shaft leading to the ebony mineral deposits. The shaft was covered with an even bigger canvas tent.
Amir, Mogakh and Jayred split off from the group to investigate the workers' dwellings, while Roe and Elgamil investigated what looked to be the foreman's station. Toji, Sasha and Dayan headed straight for the mine shaft. Along the ground in front of them were numerous bodies, heads crushed in, arms and legs broken and severed. There were fewer bodies found around the entrance to the shaft. Dayan assumed that the perpetrators disposed of several workers by tossing them down the open hole. Sasha removed a torch from its mount on a nearby pillar, ignited the cloth and tossed it down the shaft. Toji, Sasha and Dayan watched as the flame fell before eventually disappearing.
"Long way down." Toji commented.
Dayan did not reply but turned his attention back to the open area of the complex.
"Dayan, look." Sasha pointed to a portion of the complex they had missed on the way in. A prearranged mound of bodies surrounded a tall tree branch stood on its end like a flagpole. On the tip of the branch was the skull of an Argonian, ceremoniously painted red.
"It's the calling card of the Red Club." Toji informed. "A warning."
"Are you saying the Red Club actually attacked this Site?"
"Could be, or at least that's what they might want us to think."
"You think…Toby set us up to take the fault for this massacre?" Sasha inquired.
"I wouldn't put it past him."
"Then maybe we should leave before the law makes an appearance." Jayred suggested.
"No. By now Toby has probably informed the Imperial garrison at Helstrom. We need evidence of what happened here to prove our innocence."
"Then let's be quick about it."
Dayan and Sasha rummaged through the bodies of the dead workers, looking for signs of looting or clues about the attack. After several minutes of searching, the drizzle of rain intensified to a steady downpour.
"Boss! Over here!" Toji cried out from a few feet away. The Khajiit was hunched over the body of a dead Argonian. "This is not a worker." He commented.
"So?"
"He's not Red Club either."
"How can you tell?"
Toji carefully flipped the Argonian's body over off his belly.
"I'm somewhat familiar with the Red Club. They aided my people during a tribal war we fought against the Bosmer some years ago. Three Argonians from the Red Club trained us in prisoner snatching and guerilla warfare; they're very good at it."
"Your point?"
Toji clasped the Argonian's head in his hands.
"The Red Club tattoo and pierce their faces with stones and black ink when they reach ten years of age; a rite of passage. As you can see, this Argonian, dressed in loincloth to trick us he into thinking he is a tribal, has no tattoos. He's also clearly older than ten years in age."
Since Toji had kicked the moon sugar addiction his usefulness as a cultural expert as well as his prowess in combat proved invaluable on countless occasions.
"This is brutal even, for Toby. What does he get out of all this?" Toji asked.
"Coin. In three days, what happened here will be the talk of the Empire - how the barbaric tribes of Argonia massacred an entire mining colony. Toby gets us to frame the natives and the Legions take them out. Companies will pay for personal protection forces - mercenaries owned and operated by Toby's cliental."
Everybody wins.