The Road to Hell
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Chapter 16: Target Practice
I reached Castle Dour as the sun began its slow descent to the horizon. I found Legate Jamal and the others conducting drills. Val was sitting off to the sidelines watching everyone practice their drills.
"Legate Jamal sir!" I called out as I approached the Legate. "I've informed Jarl Elisif of what's happened. She's ordered more patrols on the streets and is going to petition General Tullius to bolster their numbers," I said to him. "Other than that, we just have to hope that we can catch the killer before he can strike again," I added.
The Legate nodded at me. "All we can do, little recruit," he said. "But now is time for drills," he told me. "Pick up a blade. You go up against Asher," he ordered me.
I quickly picked out a training sword and met with Asher who grinned at me and said, "Show the wildling girl a good time?"
I knew what the Northerner was getting at, so I gave him a flat looked and replied, "Val simply wanted to see the castles. And I showed her them."
Asher simply gave a shiteating grin and said, "Uh-huh. Was that all you showed her?"
"Let's just get on with this," I muttered as I readied myself.
Asher grinned at me widely before launching his first attack. He quickly closed the distance and I blocked his first strike and remember my first lesson with the Legate, I stepped back just as the Northerner tried to sweep my legs out from under me. I then shoved the man back with my shoulder before thrusting my training blade at his chest.
Asher twisted his body away from my thrust and swung his practice sword at me. I ducked at the last minute and moved back to get some breathing room. I hefted my training weapon in my hand. Asher gave a laugh before he charged towards me, but I was ready this time. As the Forrester got within arms distance of me, I quickly sidestepped and stuck my foot out as Asher passed me. To his credit, the sellsword had good reflexes as he quickly caught himself before he could end up falling face first to the ground, but he was gait was awkward as he tried to get up to standing position. I swiftly acted, getting up behind the Northman, striking the back of his left knee with my blunted practice sword earning a grunt of pain from the man as he fell to one knee. I then swiftly placed the blunted edge of my sword to his exposed neck.
I panted from the exhilaration of the bout and Asher looked up at me in surprise. We looked at each other for a long moment before Asher gave a shaky laugh and nodded at me with a smile. With a nod of acceptance, I moved my weapon away from Asher's neck and stuck out my free hand to help him to stand on his feet.
"Nice work. You're getting better it seems," Asher complimented me.
"I hope so," I replied as Legate Jamal walked over to us.
"Good work, little recruit," said the Alik'r warrior with a toothy grin. "You're getting better. Keep it up!" he encouraged.
I simply nodded at the older man who then looked down at my hip and asked, "What's that you got there, little recruit?"
I looked at my hip and realised what Jamal was looking at. "Ah! This is something I bought off the Merchant," I told him as I pulled out the sapphire wand and held it up for everyone to see.
"A wand, eh? Want to learn magic, eh?" Jamal asked with a grin. "Not enough to be musician, but wanting to become big wizard as well?" he remarked in amusement.
"A magic wand? What can it do?" asked Asher as he looked at the wand in my hand with interest. Val, Rolly and Beskha came over to join in the conversation.
"I think it's better if I show you," I stated before I asked the Legate if we had a shooting range.
The Legate soon led us to where some Legionnaires were practicing archery. "So, basically the wand fires magic darts at whatever you're aiming at," I explained the function of the wand. "It draws on ambient magic in the air, meaning you don't have to recharge it," I also said.
"Really?" Rolly asked. "Could you show us?" He looked both interested and skeptical at the concept.
"Sure," I said as I faced the closest target. I held the wand in both hands and aimed the jewelled head at the painted hemp board. I gave a firm squeeze of the handle and the gemstone tip flared a neon blue as a magical jet of light streaked out and hit the target board, magical energy splashing off it and damaging the board a little.
Everyone gave a chorus of awe as they witnessed the display. "How does it work?" Val asked me as she looked at the wand in my hand with great interest.
"Well, just hold it firmly in your hand, aim the tip where you want to hit and then squeeze the grip tightly," I replied.
"Mind if we gave it a go?" Beskha asked.
"Sure." I handed the wand to Beskha who aimed the wand at the target board and gave a tight squeeze. She hit the outer ring of the target before trying another shot and hit the leftmost side of the board. Beskha then handed it to Asher who hit the top middle of the target and his second shot hit the bottom right of the ring.
Rolly then gave it a try and missed on the first go which had almost everyone snickering as the blue dart hit the stone wall behind the targets. His second shot grazed the target board much to his frustration before he handed the wand to Val. The Wildling Princess hit the target in the centre on the first shot and hit just to the right of it on her second shot.
"Looks like the Wildling is the best shot out of us," commented Asher dryly. He looked at Val and asked her, "You ever use a bow before?"
"A few times," admitted Val with a prideful smile. "Almost every Free Folk girl learns to use a bow at an early age to help the men hunt for game," she said.
"Makes sense," I remarked. "A lot of women who aren't noble born don't take up things like archery. With some exceptions of course," I said.
"I think I prefer a bow to this thing, though," Val then said as she handed the wand back to me. "But it seems useful enough," she added in approval.
"You prefer a bow?" Jamal asked the Wildling who nodded at him. Jamal then took a simple yew longbow from one of the racks nearby along with a leather quiver that had some arrows in it. "May we see a demonstration of your skill?" requested the Legate as he handed Val the bow and quiver of arrows.
Val holstered the quiver on her right hip as she held the bow in her left hand. Smoothly and calmly, she drew a feather fletched arrow that had a standard iron broadhead tip and nocked it the string of her bow. She stood sideways before raising her bow up to line her shot. Slowly, she pulled back the bowstring in her right hand. Her concentration was intense as she lined up her target. I could hear her take in a slow deep breath of air, holding it for a brief moment before slowly exhaling and loosed her arrow.
The iron tipped projectile soared through the air and sunk into the hempen target board, hitting just a few inches from the centre of it.
"Nice," I praised. "Better than anything I could do," I added.
Val smiled at me and nodded her thanks.
"Good first try, let's see if you can do it again," Legate Jamal said to the Wildling.
The next ten minutes were spent watching Val use her bow to hit the targets Jamal ordered her to. She was quite good. She missed a couple or only hit them on the outer edges, but she was far better than I could hope of being.
"Well done, Miss Val," Jamal congratulated the Wildling. "You almost as good as a Bosmer ranger," he then said.
"Bosmer? What's that?" Rolly asked.
"Wood elves. You saw one or two since you've been here," replied the Legate.
"Aye, we've see a few oddities since we've been here," Rolly said with a nod of his head. "What races are there?" he enquired.
"Plenty," Jamal stated. "We have the human races like you and me; Nords, Imperials, Bretons and Redguards like myself. Then there are the elven races; wood elves, dark elves or Dunmer, the high elves also called Altmer, the Maomer or sea elves and the Orsimer or Orcs," he explained.
"And what about those cat-people I've seen wandering around? The lizard-people too," Beskha put in.
"The beast races? Well the Khajit at the cat-people and the lizardmen are the Argonians. There's also the Lithomiit or Fox people, but they're rare in Skyrim," replied the Legate. "There are also other beast races such as the centaurs, the lamia and harpies. Not to mention the races of Akavir," he said.
"There are centaurs here?" Asher asked in surprise.
"What is a centaur?" Val asked curiously.
"A centaur is a man or woman with a horse legs and body from the waist down," I answered Val's question. "They were said to be a myth in Westeros," I then said.
"Well, they're real here, little recruit," Jamal said to me. "Centaurs are native to High Rock and Valenwood, homes of the Bretons and wood elves respectively," he informed everyone.
"It'd be interesting to see one," Rolly said with an eager smile. "How far away is High Rock or Valenwood?" he asked.
"It'd take you a long time to get to either them, Rolly," Jamal laughed. "Even then, you may not be guaranteed to see a centaur. They're wary of outsiders and strangers, and can be hostile to those who mean them harm," he said.
"What else is there? Grumpkins and snarks?" Asher said with a snigger.
"Wouldn't know, but we also minotaurs and goblins," Jamal said seriously.
"Minotaurs?" Val parroted.
"Men with the hooves and head of a male bull," I quickly clarified.
"Gods! Is there anything in this land you don't have?" Rolly asked Jamal who then appeared thoughtful as though he were trying to think of what there wasn't. "Forget I asked!" Rolly quickly said before the Legate could answer.
"Well as enlightening this discussion is, I think it's almost reaching sundown," I said getting everyone's attention looking at the sun which was slowly descending towards the horizon.
"Little recruit is right," Jamal noted. "Time we go in for evening meal, then get some rest. We have another assignment tomorrow," he told us.
"What's the mission?" I asked.
"Let you know in the morning, little recruit," Jamal said to me. "Come, inside everyone. Get some food in your bellies! Then wash up and get some rest. Big day tomorrow!" he announced.
I then realised something and spoke up. "What about Miss Val? Where will she stay?" I asked and everyone looked at in realisation.
"Aye, not like she has any money to stay at the inn," Asher stated.
The Legate looked at me sternly. "I told you that Miss Val is your responsibility, little recruit," he reminded. "She will stay with us as long as she pleases," he then said before he looked at Val. "Is that pleasing to you, my lady?" he asked.
"I'm no lady," Val said with a prideful smile. She then fixed me a look and said, "As long as little recruit is fine with it, I will stay with him."
"Umm, won't I be sleeping with the others?" I asked blandly.
Jamal laughed loudly at this and replied, "You company musician, little recruit! You get a private room where you can work on new songs. Come! I show you!" He clapped a meaty hand on my shoulder and steered me into Castle Dour.
Despite my protests about wanting to sleep in the same room with everyone else, the Legate showed me to what would be my own quarters. It was admittedly nothing grand or special; not too big but it wasn't small either. A simple single bed hugged the wall and there was a good sized pail for bathing and a wooden desk with a wooden chair to accompany it.
"This really isn't necessary," I said to the Legate. "I don't want my fellow auxiliaries to get the impression that I'm better than them," I added.
"Maybe," Jamal said in apparent agreement. "But you need a quiet space to work on new songs. Don't want to wake others up with your voice as you practice," he told me.
"And where will Val sleep?" I asked although I had a feeling that I knew what the answer was going to be.
"She'll stay in here with you," replied the Legate. He gave me a grin and said, "Try not to stay up too late, huh?" He gave me a roguish wink followed by a loud laugh as he shoved me into the room with Val gliding in after me.
I sighed to myself as I sat down on the edge of the single bed; I was uncomfortably reminded of the fanfiction trope 'Only one bed.' While I was determined to keep things professional with Val and any other woman who would show an interest in me, the concept of sharing a bed with a woman was both an enticing and terrifying prospect.
"You can have the room," I said to the Wildling Princess gallantly. "I'll sleep with the others," I added as I made to leave the room.
Val was quick to stop me. "Are you so afraid of spending time alone with a woman?" she asked challengingly.
"No!" I snapped out a little too quickly which had Val smirking. "I'm simply being a gentleman for your sake and for everyone else," I said primly with my nose in the air.
"Are you afraid, little recruit?" Val teased me.
"No," I said slowly, dragging out the denial a little. "I just want to keep things as professional as possible between us," I stated.
"Us? I didn't know there was an us," Val said with a grin on her full lips.
I gave an irritated sigh, running my hand over my face before answering those words. "There isn't. I know you believe I stole you according to your people's customs, but I don't want to give you or anyone else the wrong idea," I said to her.
"What ideas do you have, little recruit?" Val asked me.
"Right now? I just want to have some dinner, wash up and go to bed," I said dully. "From what the Legate said, it sounds like I'll have my hands full tomorrow," I added.
"Alright then, let's go have some dinner," Val said as she left the room.
I sighed before getting up off the bed to join the others for dinner.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! Chapter 16 is done and dusted! Not too much in this chapter, but hopefully the next chapter we'll see Aegon and his company begin their new assignment. Still figuring out what that is, but maybe it could be assisting a patrol that has reported a merchant caravan has gone missing, maybe at the hands of the Falmer or bandits? Either one would work.
And in other news, I've written up a document chapter of an Elder Scrolls/Starfield crossover. I haven't posted the new crossover yet, mainly because there is no Starfield category in the Games section of the site. I've sent an email/request to the admins, but last I checked, there hasn't been any progress. So for those who may want to see an Elder Scrolls/Starfield crossover, please do email the admins of the site and ask them to add Starfield to the Games category of the site, so I can publish the first crossover for Starfield.
And apart from that, I haven't got too much more to say, so I'll leave this here and see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.