Author's Note: You know, I don't think my story actually passes the Bechdel Test. That combined with the sheer amount of violence against the female main character is almost depressing.

Somebody wanna go back through and check?

Anyway, this is pretty much just an action sequence.

Disclaimer: The first time I saw a Clannfear Matriarch, I pretty much crapped myself. This and many other moments of panicky screaming, flailing, and running around in circles brought to you by Martigen's Monster Mod.

I never did quite get it to work with OOO. Sad.

Nobody Important

Chapter Twenty-Two: Climb

In which it's very large.

By: N3k0

Somehow, the guard wasn't dead yet.

Good for him.

At least, he hadn't been the last time she checked. She didn't really have time to look for him right now: if she let herself get distracted now, she was fairly certain the great beast would shake her off and she would plummet to her death.

She'd come too far to let concern for someone she'd normally call "enemy" get her killed.

Lyssi ripped one of her daggers out of the massive lizard's back, dangling by the other for a moment. From this angle, the creature looked almost familiar, though she found it impossible to wrap her mind around the sheer scale of it. This scaled fiend seemed to be the mother of all Pale Lizards. Most buildings were shorter than it. Her blades barely pierced its flesh, but the first dagger went in a bit higher, finding the small chinks in its natural armor.

Its scream of pain would have made her ears bleed, if they hadn't been already. She felt it, more than heard it, now. Pulling her blade free took leverage, so she slammed her boot into the thing's back a few times, yanking it this way and that until it wriggled loose.

A geyser of blood shot from its back, before settling down, becoming only a river that flowed down to join the runoff from the monster's countless other wounds.

The predator lurking at the back of Lyssi's mind knew that her enormous prey's heart was almost in reach. It could sense the source of all that delicious red nectar. The scent of it nearly drove her mad.

She'd just fed.

It wasn't like she was starving.

But then, few vampires were ever tempted with such a banquet, she was sure. This thing could sustain her for years, if only the blood wouldn't die with its owner.

The vampire found herself in need of footholds.

She drove the second blade in as deep as it would go, just under the thing's heart and to the right. The first went in on the opposite side.

Pressing one foot against the hilt of either dagger, she began to saw at the creature's back with a third blade, one which had been hidden before, out of habit more than anything.

The beast actually stumbled.

She ripped her knife free, the arterial spray hitting her in a rush, almost forceful enough to shove her off.

Perhaps "through its stomach" would have been faster. But the burn of digestive acid could never be nearly so enjoyable.

She giggled.

Martin had given up hope there would be any more refugees to tend, and all his current charges had stabilized – or not – already. Of the entire city of Kvatch, he was quite certain that this tiny number was all that was left.

A rescue, he was sure, would be impossible.

It came as a surprise then, when one of the guards who hadn't made it to the chapel was brought inside, half-delirious and babbling madness. There was something about an elf, but most of his focus was on the Daedra, a lizard taller than even the highest building. The man fainted not long after Martin began tending to him. Despite his mental instability, it was relatively clear that the only thing wrong with him was overexertion – and heatstroke.

"I know you don't want to hear it, Martin," Ariel laid her hand on his shoulder. "But your friend is probably dead. She – I'm sure she died bravely, and at … at least this one life was saved. We need to start working on our escape now."

"I told you –"

The Breton sounded as exasperated as he was. "I know – by the nine, I know. But the other gates have come down. We might – we might stand a chance. All of us."

A long silence fell between them.

"I don't want to die, Martin. And if we wait here ..."

Martin nodded. "There aren't enough supplies to last the week – even if the Daedra don't get us first. What do you propose?"