Mutants Misplaced
Chapter 29
Trouble on the Road
Having been continuing north towards the city of Windhelm, it had gotten colder by the hour and there had been more common with patches of snow. The lower temperatures weren't kind to Raph and Mona, being coldblooded, even the Khajiit were affected, despite their fur and clothes. Asking about it, Mona learned that the Khajiit's homeland, Elsweyr, was a lot warmer than Skyrim.
Even though they were out of their element, Taashi and the others never gave up, they continued their travels across the rugged landscape, trying to make a living as traders. The couple had gotten a lot of respect and admiration for the cats, especially Raph, who had initially been distrustful about them.
As they travelled together, Raph and Mona learned a lot about their new friends and their roles in the group. Taashi was the leader, she chose where to go and dealt with city representatives when they camped outside the cities. Faashan was their scout, tracker and bodyguard, and she took her job very seriously. While there hadn't been any need for her to fight so far, both Raph and Mona could tell that she was skilled just by looking at her, she had a certain stance.
The Khajiit with white fur that Raph had talked to a few times, was called Dro'zharim and handled most of their goods for trading as well as their supplies. If there was anyone in the group that had a silver tongue, it was him. Had he been human back on Earth, he would most likely been a car salesman, and an honest one at that. Last was a Khajiit with grey and yellow fur, he was know as Jo'iq, his job was to help carry goods and supplies, but he was also supposed to aid in the case of them being attacked. He was by far the least talkative of the cats, in fact, so far he hadn't said a word to anyone, which seemed to be normal for him. Weather he was mute or just didn't want to talk, no one seemed to know or want to share with the reptiles, and they respected that.
By afternoon, they came across a small group of armed men, that were walking straight towards them. They wore padded leather armor with blue cloth and chainmail underneath, fur boots and gloves and the same kind of helmets as most city guards, covering their faces. One carried a large two-hand sword while the other two carried regular swords.
"Who are those guys?" Raph asked.
"Stormcloak soldiers, judging by their armor." said Faashan.
"Stormcloak? I've heard that somewhere before… aren't they at war with the Empire?" said Mona.
"That is correct." said Taashi. "I wonder what they might want with us."
Once the soldiers got closer, one of the two with one-hand swords approached Taashi.
"Ho there, travellers. If you want to go any further on this road, you have to pay a toll." he said.
"A toll? What kind of toll?"
"A war toll of course, to make sure that the army has ample funds to use."
Mona eyed the men with suspicion, she understood that an army required resources, especially during war times, but there was something that felt off about these soldier. Granted, she didn't know much at all about the Civil War or the two factions, not even their cause, but she knew to trust her instincts.
"What exactly will these funds be used for?" she asked on a hunch.
"Oh, well, you know, weapons, armor, provisions, maintenance-"
"Horker dung!" Dro'zharim spat. "You are lying!"
"What are you talking about, cat?"
"Do not play dumb! I have dealt with many charlatans and tricksters over the years, and I know that you're not telling the truth! Your fingers on your left hand twitched and you shifted your weight when you spoke. Clear signs that you felt nervous when speaking to us, and a soldier has better nerves than that."
"Um, well… I'm new and… Arhg! Forget this! Just kill them!" the soldier shouted, drawing his sword. The other two also drew their weapons and attacked. Mona reacted quickly and drew her warfans, while Faashan joined in with her sword.
As Mona and Faashan parried the attacks of the two men, the third moved to attack them with his large blade. Raph saw this and quickly pulled out one of his sai and threw it at the man, impaling his right arm. The sudden pain of the sharp dagger piercing his biceps caused him to drop his weapon, but the worst was still to come.
A bolt of lightning struck the man in his chest, throwing him backwards and onto his back. Mona, Raph and the two remaining soldiers all looked at the source of the lightning. Standing behind Raph was Jo'iq, his hands crackling of electricity.
"So you use magic, huh?" Raph asked the silent cat, who only nodded. "Nice, thanks for your help." Jo'iq smiled and nodded again.
With the attackers distracted, Faashan wasted no time in delivering the deathblow, stabbing her sword into her foe's head, up underneath the helmet and into the brain. Blood covered the steel blade as she gave it a twist to make sure that he was dead.
Mona also saw the opportunity and folded one of her fans so she could stab it through one of the holes for the eyes on the man's helmet. Recoiling and throwing his head backwards when the metal tip pierced his eye, the man left his neck wide open for an attack. With a swift swipe with her other fan, Mona slit his throat and kicked him away, so he fell to the ground and choked on his own blood.
With the battle over, Mona retrieved her fan from the dead man's eye and wiped off the blood from both her weapons on a small patch of grass. Faashan did the same.
"You fight well," she said. "though, your choice of weapon and your fighting style are strange. Still, you are deadly in battle."
"Thank you, you are not so bad yourself. We have a very special style from our home, and almost everyone add their own personal touch to it."
"I would like to see your home one day, it sounds interesting."
"It is, but it's also a very dangerous place, still, it's home."
With her weapons clean and back in her belt, Mona walked over to the man who had been struck by Jo'iq' lightning, so she could fetch her lover's sai. But as she pulled it out of the man's arm, he cried out in pain, clutching his wounded arm.
"So you're still alive."
"No thanks to you damned lizards and cats." the man half muttered, half groaned. "Curses. I told them that we should just have killed the lot of you and made it look like something else killed you, just like we did together with the boss a few days back."
Mona's eyes went wide when she heard what the bandit said. Forcefully placing her knee on the man's chest, she tightened her grip on the sai and held it against his face, fury burning in her eyes.
"So it was you!" she snarled.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, clearly worried. Mona responded by jabbing the sai into his collarbone, making him scream in pain.
"To the south of here, a carriage had been attacked! It was made to look like it had been attacked by sabre cats! You and your ilk did that, didn't you?!"
"So what if we did?!" the man snapped back, only to yell in pain when Mona twisted the blade.
"It was a family! A mother and child! Slaughtered! How could you do something like that?!"
"I-I was just following orders… Our boss told us to attack, so we did..." he said through clenched teeth.
"Where is he?! Where is that bastard?!"
"I don't know! He said something about taking the rest of the gang to a new camp somewhere to the west! A bridge keep, or something, I wasn't really listening!"
Pulling out the sai from the man's collarbone, Mona turned around and started walking to the others. It seemed like she was going to leave the man there, but that was no the case. Instead she stopped and picked up the two-hand sword and turned back to the man with a murderous intent in her eyes.
"No! No! Please, I told you everything I know! Have mercy!" he pleaded, trying to get away while still laying on his back.
"Mercy?! You expect mercy after what you have done?! Did you show your victims mercy?!" Mona spat. Lifting the mighty blade over her head with both hands, she brought it down on the defenceless man, cutting through the armor and deep into his chest. Pushing the blade deeper to make sure that he was dead, she left it where it was and left.
"Come on..." she said to Raph and the Khajiit. "...we're wasting daylight."
"Mona..."
Once again, the roads of Skyrim are proven to be dangerous, but so is Mona. Will she search for the family's murderers, possibly abandoning the search for her friends? Only time, and coming chapters, will tell.