Chapter 3: The Start of a New Life

Nightshade inhaled the cool air as she closed the sewer gate behind her. She was glad to leave the green, smelly, damp sewer that had been crawling with rats and crabs. But she was even happier because she was finally out of the city, out of the Bloodworks, out of the Imperial City.

The sun was past noon, somewhere around four o'clock. The light beach trees swayed with the gentle wind as she stood on a pebbly, sand-colored beach. She knew where she was, or at least had an idea. The prison mustn't have been far up the hill behind her, but she was on the Rumare Lake beach.

The Rumare Lake surrounded the Imperial City like a sort of moat. She knew this because she had seen it on an old map in one of the shops. It was fantastic to see the water in person, a dark blue that hardly moved.

There was a pier not too far from where she stood. She walked on it, feeling like it would break underneath her. Yet she felt a sense of safeness here, so she sat on the end and looked out across the water. There was some sort of ruin that resembled the Ayleid ruin in the distance where the Emperor died—

The Emperor was dead. Disbelief filled her as she stared into the water. So much had happened that day that she wasn't sure how to really feel. She held out the Amulet of Kings, the red diamond-shaped pendent, which had been in her pocket, and then carefully put it back, remembering the Emperor's last words and Baurus's advice. If she didn't go to Weynon Priory and find this Jauffre then the empire would surely collapse. But she couldn't go with these shackles on.

Nightshade tried slipping her hands out of the iron, but it was no use. She decided to crack them.

She looked around the beach for a hard rock. She ran into a crab and simply stepped on it, tired of whacking the crustaceans with the Akaviri Katana. Baurus thankfully had been too preoccupied to notice she had it.

Nightshade grabbed a smooth stone off the edge of the water and started banging away at her wrists against a tree, which didn't work. She remembered how the sewer floor she had come out of was made of stone, and went back there.

Her wrists were red by the time the shackles came off, and her left one was bleeding. She ripped the bottom of her shirt and wrapped it several times tightly around the wrist. She then remembered how her hair needed washing and, remembering how the sewer water was green, she decided Rumare Lake was better than the baths. They probably used this water anyway.

After she came out, it was six o'clock, and the sun was starting to set. She put on her clothes, strapped on both swords, and headed up the hill behind the sewer exit.

She walked near the city wall for a while, but she really didn't have a choice. The island was small, and the city wasn't much smaller. She ran into a wolf and got bit on her left hand, but it was not incredibly bad. She simply washed it in the Rumare, slowly and rather dejectedly, for her fatigue was beginning to catch up to her.

By the time she got to the bridge that led to the mainland the sun was halfway down. She looked across. Finally, off the island, freedom…

"Stop right there!"

Nightshade turned, her red hair slapped at her face. There was a figure in a blue cloak leaning idly against the wall of a horse stable on the other side of the pebbled road. He didn't look like a farmhand, but it didn't matter; he wasn't the one that had yelled.

The guard standing right outside the main city gate was approaching her. "Who are you? Are you the girl from the Bloodworks that got arrested?"

She blinked and just stared, petrified. It seemed obvious that Valen Dreth had told the guards she escaped with some utter lie. And now Owyn probably bribed the guards to find her.

"Right. Come with me to the prison…"

She struggled. No, she wouldn't be a slave anymore. She yanked her arm out of his strong grasp.

"Hey, if you resist I'll be forced to hurt you."

"He'll hurt me!" she said, feeling like she would cry. This was all too much; she was so close to freedom.

Then the cloaked figure, his eyes concealed by his hood, stood between them. "Hey, she's free. Can't you handle that? How could the guards not see her walk out of prison?"

The guard grimaced with an instant dislike for the figure. He sounded vaguely familiar to Nightshade.

"I don't know," the guard reached out to grab her again. The guy grabbed his arm and pushed it away. The guard unsheathed his sword from his hilt, but then he looked confused.

The cloaked guy had muttered something, some sort of incantation or spell. He drew his large cloak around her, which seemed hard for him because he was shorter.

"This way," he whispered, and led her across the bridge. "Don't make a sound."

"What's going on?" She turned to look at him, but he was invisible.

So it was a spell, an invisibility spell. He kept muttering something every few seconds as he walked onwards across the bridge. The guard followed his first instinct and searched towards the farm.

Nightshade stepped down onto the dirt. Her rescuer adjusted his cloak and she saw they were in a small settlement. There were only two buildings, both ragged. One looked like someone's home and had a lone sheep falling asleep, and the other had a sign with a moon.

She was about to approach it when he grabbed her arm. "Hey!" she hissed, but he jumped over the small wall that surrounded the house with the sheep. It didn't look up at them.

"Look, I'm grateful you rescued me, but," Nightshade watched him peer over the fence, "what's going on?"

The guard ran past and cursed. They listened, and soon he walked back towards the bridge.

"Can we go now?" Nightshade whispered. He peered over again, the silently jumped over the fence. "I don't think he can see us. Come on."

They snuck hastily to the other building, but she got to read the sign. "The Wawnet Inn," she muttered, and then she was pulled in.

The inside was quaint with a bar and about three tables with candles on them. There was an upstairs, but she couldn't see up them.

"Oh, it's you." The tall High Elf behind the bar said to Nightshade's rescuer. "I know what the answer's going to be, but did you bring me any Shadowbanish wine?"

"Sorry, I've had no time to explore any forts, but I promise I will, Nerussa." He grinned under his hood and he took it off. It was then Nightshade wanted to hack his head off.

It was the boy that had knocked her over before she was sent to jail. He had soft blue skin and red eyes, much like any Dark Elf, but his hair went neatly to his shoulders like she had never seen, and his bangs went to the sides. "You!"

"Yeah, people seem to call me that a lot," he looked at her. "Hey, but people don't know me."

"You are the one that got me in jail in the first place!" Nightshade's cheeks burned. The High Elf Nerussa watched, wondering if she should do something before it got ugly.

"Eh?"

"I'm the one you bumped into! The one you blamed for stealing a bunch of money!"

He was thinking, a puzzled look on his face, and then he looked bright. "Oh yeah, I didn't get a good look at you, but I remember the hair."

She looked like she was about to explode, but the boy turned to Nerussa. "We'll just seat ourselves. First date, she's a little weird."

Nightshade swung her fist in anger, but he ducked. "All right, all right, let's go and we can talk."

She followed reluctantly to a table near a corner to the right, on the wall where the door was. He sat closest to the corner. There were only two chairs, so she had to sit facing him.

"Ok, let's start this by introducing ourselves. I'm Ice, or that's my nickname…" he looked at Nightshade's angry expression. His smile turned into a scowl. "What's your problem? So I got you into jail. At least you got out. I didn't even get the money."

"I was harassed by an annoying cell mate and a guard. My… guardian is looking for me and I've got no where to go!"

"Then go back to your pitiful life in the city."

At this, she bit her lip. "No."

"Then stop complaining and tell me your name."

"I hardly know you."

"I saved you!"

She absorbed this retort reluctantly. "Fine. If you must know, I'm Nightshade."

"Nightshade?" Ice snickered a little. "Like the poison?"

"Yeah, like the poison, smart ass." This wasn't the first time she was referred to the deadly flower. Almost every new arena combatant did, and each time she got really annoyed.

"Hey, you can be Deadly Nightshade, although you'd have to really live up to it, because what I've seen out of you you're hardly deadly."

"Yeah, and you're certainly nothing like ice."

"Cold," Ice looked behind her at the counter. "I'm thirsty. You?"

She nodded and sunk further into the seat. God, how did this all happen? Could she trust this Ice? He seemed charming, but he was a thief, and a greedy one at that.

In the minute he was gone, Nightshade tried her best to gain her bearings, but wasn't triumphant. She looked confused when handed the wine. "Do you like wine?" Ice was holding a beer, which was in a thicker bottle with not much of a neck. She shrugged and tasted a drop. Not bad, but she had lost her appetite trying to gather all her thoughts.

"So, where're you from?"

She glared at him, "The Imperial City."

"Really? Where?"

"The Arena. I used to work, no, slave, in the Bloodworks."

"Oh," Ice took a swig from his beer. "So, I guess you don't know much then."

She shook her head. "What about you?"

"Well, if you must know, my real name's Repice Enangui. I'm from Vvardenfell and am currently working to get access into the Arcane University through the Mages Guild. I'm quite good at magic."

Nightshade turned her bottle made of the same glass as his beer, then looked a little disgusted. "I do know beer is bad for someone your age."

He shrugged, and then looked suspiciously "How old do you think I am?"

"Thirteen."

He gave a shout of laughter. "Thirteen? Sera, I'm older than that."

"Sera?" she looked confused. He looked annoyed. "Sera. That's what we Dunmer from Vvardenfell call girls. Serjo is for guys. It's like a sort of second name, I guess."

"Fine. Fourteen."

"Higher."

"Fifteen?"

"Higher."

"Twenty!"

"No, I was only kidding. I am thirteen going on fourteen next month." He laughed cruelly, in a way a prankster does. Nightshade grabbed her bottle right before he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can't resist a joke."

"No you're not." Her black face showed a little color, but she put the bottle down. Self-control was all she needed.

"So, tell me more about you." Nightshade wanted all the bad things he could say so maybe she could get back at him.

"Well, I lived in Vvardenfell most of my life. My parents liked to explore Daedra shrines all around the island," he didn't need to look at her face to tell she didn't know what Daedra shrines were. "Daedra are sort of evil gods, or at least some of them are. In Vvardenfell, we worship them, because some can be good. So, there are these ancient shrines all around Vvardenfell where the natives used to worship them before temples. Now, bandits and outlaws use them for hideouts, and some weird, crazy magician people who try to bring back the Daedra, but mostly end up bringing out a beast, like a Clannfear or a Scamp. You need to see one to know what I'm talking about.

"Well, my parents were unfortunate enough to come across one of these maniacs, and I was fortunate enough not to be with them. Five days later, I got news they were killed. So, two years later, I come to Cyrodiil for a new beginning..."

Ice was staring at his bottle, his mind lost. The silence was unbearable to Nightshade, so she said, "It's ok, I'm an orphan too."

He grinned. "Well, enough about that. Now, I'm working to become a mage! My strengths lie in illusion and alteration. I'm really trying to work on my mysticism and restoration. You got a taste of what I could do."

"You can make yourself invisible. Is that it?" Nightshade's face said unimpressed all over it, and she decided to take a drink of wine. It wasn't too bad.

"No! I can breathe underwater, protect, create light, and make people like me. But they don't last long. I'm an apprentice in both, but I'm better in illusion. Want to know why?"

She nodded, but Ice sat back and looked at her. "How did you get out of jail? I'm not telling you a secret if you don't tell me one."

"It's nothing special…" Nightshade looked at her wine and took another drink. "Promise to tell it to me if I tell you?"

"As the Nine Divines as my witnesses, yes."

She spun the bottle around, staring at the shine of the glass, and repeated her story to Ice. She told him all about the Emperor and the assassins, how they got attacked frequently, and the assassination of the Emperor. She even showed him the Amulet of Kings.

"Alright, I've kept my side of the bargain, now it's your turn."

Ice looked a little shocked, for if she hadn't of shown him the Amulet he wouldn't have believed her. "Can I look at that?"

"No!"

He snorted and pouted, but he started talking. "See, I'm good in illusion because thieves are. That's my star sign, the thief. I don't plan on making my fortune in that guild. I'm trying to get in the thieves guild, where the Gray Fox leads. I heard if you go to jail for stealing you can get here. So, I tried to steal, made the guards see me, but I chickened out."

"Who told you about this thieves guild? Isn't that a myth?"

"No! The beggars know! Hieronymus Lex knows! Now I want to know!"

Nightshade rolled her eyes, not wanting to know who this Lex was. "Well, if it is true, then they'll probably come for me."

Ice's face suddenly looked sly as he smirked. "Yeah, they will, won't they?"

She looked at him. "What?"

"Well, I'll just stick with you until they come and ask if I can join!"

She laughed. "Oh yeah, they just let anyone in."

"I'm serious!"

Well, she did need help to the priory, and she might need information. He just might prove useful. "Ok, but we have to get to Weynon Priory."

"Fine with me." He looked out a window to see the sun had completely gone. He yawned. "Well, I have a room with all my stuff here. You can stay with me."

"Can't I get a different room?" Nightshade got up with Ice.

"Have ten gold pieces to spare?"

She frowned. She was completely broke because the guards had taken all her money when they arrested her. The only things they had let her keep were her clothes and her amulet. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"Oh please, I'm not that mean. You can sleep in the bed and I'll get a sleeping bag out for me." They started walking up the stairs into a small hallway with three doors on the right wall. They walked all the way to the last one where Ice unlocked it and entered.

It was small and musky with an old chest and drawers. The bed was small, and when Ice pulled out a large backpack and dug for his sleeping bag, Nightshade didn't know where she'd be rather sleeping. However, she climbed into the old, creaking bed and fell asleep only seconds later.