Chapter Twelve

In rushed four High Elves in Thalmor light armor. There was no warning from the elves and there was no hesitation from the rebels. Both of my cohorts were to their feet with weapons drawn before I could even get out from under the covers. Once I finally have my bow up and an arrow notched, Mal was already pulling his large sword out of one of the Thalmor. Ormvard was holding off two at once. The fourth was heading towards me with dual daggers at the ready.

I let my arrow fly but it flies past the elf and sticks into the doorframe. I rapidly notch and release another one and hit him in the shoulder this time. With his good arm, he swung at me and I tumbled against the wall to evade the dagger. I slid down the wall and snatched my dagger out of my boot in the floor. Then, I used my low angle to my benefit by thrusting the dagger with both hands up and into the torso of the elf. Blood ran up my arm and onto my clothes as the Thalmor's body fell on top of me.

With effort I pushed the body off and stood up in time to see yet another Thalmor charge me. Mal was fighting a quick female, heavily depending on his shield. I could see Ormvard's battle axe buried into a new corpse, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I slashed awkwardly with my dagger and the elf easily dogged me, though he lost his footing when his swing worked against the momentum of his dodge. I quickly use this to my advantage and thrust my dagger into his throat. More blood covered me and his body fell to my feet.

I look up at the destroyed room around me. Amongst the four Thalmor corpses on the floor, Mal knelt over Ormvard and was pouring a health potion into his mouth.

"Come on, friend. Come on you big stupid Nord!" Mal was whispering.

I watched with bated breath until suddenly, "Who are you calling a stupid Nord?" Ormvard's thick Skyrim accent brought me such relief.

A blood covered Jurgis suddenly charged into the open door. "Everyone alive? Yes? Good. Search them Mal."

Mal lowered Ormvard's head gently to the floor and began searching the Thalmors' bodies without question. "No gold. No family crests. Standard issue uniforms," he began reciting, but then he pulled a piece of folded parchment out of the female's pocket, "Here we go!"

Jurgis took the parchment and opened it. He mumbled most of the words until he reached, "…suspicious group from the direction of the border…"

"They don't know who we are, then?" Mal asked.

"Doesn't seem like it. We were only considered to be 'suspicious'. Hopefully we can make it to Orcrest without any further incident. After that we'll have more Elsweyr citizens in our party and hopefully will blend better. We're leaving now, though, so I hope you slept well."

He left the room and through the open doorway I saw Jo'Basha and Verick walk past in opposite directions. Mal called for Jo'Basha and the Khajiit doubled back into the room and healed Ormvard. Then Mal turned his attention on me and ordered me to start gathering my things. As I did, he grabbed a linen shirt out of his pack and threw it at me.

I turned my back towards the men in the room and exchanged the bloody top Zaynabi gave me for the new one. It was larger fitting than the shirt Danders had lent me. I put my belt on the outside of the loose shirt and tied ripped strips from the other shirt onto the sleeves to keep them up above my elbows.

Mal took one look at me and said, "Don't worry – we'll pick you up a set of armor when we get to Orcrest. If you keep dressing like that, you'll get the Thalmor called on us more than the two Nords will."

I looked down at my odd wardrobe and I had to agree. I grabbed my rolled bedding and my other things and layered them all onto my back. After watching how the others prepare their things, I removed my bedroll and tied it onto my waste instead.

As they left the King's Walk Inn, I saw the guard and the barkeep were both dead. I couldn't help but wonder if it was the Thalmor or one of my group – either way it was for silence. Jo'Basha led us out to the road, though it looked like a harder patch of sand surrounded by softer sand to me. It may be the Wood Elf in me, but I begin to feel as if I need to cling on to something as trees become few and far between.

I had sweat rolling down my brow as we crested another sand dune, and there it was in front of us: Orcrest. As we neared the city, my heart sank to my stomach as I took in the sight of skulls on spikes outside the gate and dead bodies hanging from the walls. I looked around at the passive faces around me and realized that this must be the norm for Orcrest. I breathe deep and keep following my party.

The guard at the gate was an Orc who greeted us with ironic kindness. Directly inside the gate was a market made of rickety tables set up under tents. There were odd creatures of the likes I have never seen before walking about.

"What are these things?" I asked in a whisper to Mal as I gestured towards the large ox-like creatures on two legs and the small shriveled rat-beasts.

"Dessert Goblins and Minotuars. They're accepted here and are mostly used as fighting grunts and laborers."

As Jo'Basha guided us through the area, I realized that it was not like the great cities I was accustomed to in Cyrodiil. Orcrest held trash, with broken crates and barrels littering the streets, and rats scurried about everywhere. Large, vicious looking beasts with tusks protruding from their lower jaws were kept in pins and cages as if they were pets. Mal informed me they were called durzogs and were most often seen in shades of red and black.

A sandstorm blew in as we were walking past a building with a broken sign indicating that it was the Broken Jaw Inn. Inside I could hear shouting and breaking of pottery. In order to get to the actual town, we had to pass through the Orcrest gateway, which appeared to be a sort of barracks with guards' beds lying on either side of the walkway. Inside the town, the trash and rats were worse and there were even goats roaming about.

Jo'Basha had us file into a shabby building called the Three Tusks Tavern. I followed in line with Ormvard in front of me and Mal behind me. Inside is a wooden counter with separators that give it a stall-like appearance, as if to keep customers from getting into fights. At the other end of the room, there are two round tables and two rectangular tables and a set of stairs, which our group headed up.

Upstairs didn't appear to be more pleasant than the down. There were a couple of dirty beds and a couple of dirtier bed rolls. On the far wall there hung a beat up old tapestry. Jurgis pulled it to one side to reveal a door on which he gave a series of knocks. I heard a sliding noise and saw light come through a small peep hole. Jurgis held up the hilt of his sword and showed the viewer encrusted symbol of Talos's dragon and the door opened.

The seven of us shuffled into the small sitting room. Inside were three Orcs, a Breton, and two Khajiit, as well as many knocked over bookcases, crates, and broken bottles on the floor. He vaguely introduced us to the leader of the outfit, a large male Orc named Urzog, but my exhaustion was beginning to get the best of me and my thoughts became jumbled.

Urzog pulled on one of the few standing bookcases and revealed a hidden staircase. We went up to the next level of the building and found a slightly neater meeting room in the first half and the second half held beds cleaner than the ones down below. Tonight no one will have to opt for the floor.

I threw my things down onto the first bed I came to and fell down onto the hard mattress. I would be lying if I saying that I didn't miss my feather bed, but I had never been so happy for a bed stuffed with hay.

"Don't get too comfortable, elf," Verick said as he sat down on the bed across from mine. "Jo'Basha and Mal are about to go out into the city for supplies and you will go with them to find yourself some armor."

I couldn't stop the groan from falling out of my mouth and into the musty pillow. Jurgis hit my boot and said, "It's not an option Floramer. Get your ass up."