Chapter seventeen - Two Hunters and a Farmer
Turdas, First Seed 30, 4E 0 - Near Midnight
I've had a lot of thought from the words of Lady Nocturnal, and her words of warning as to how I am going to deal with Theranis. None of this will be easy, not one bit; but at the end of the day, I have a choice.
After my meeting with Lady Noctural, I followed the road north from her shrine until I found the Drunken Dragon Inn. As it is completely set in the middle of the forest, in the Nibany Valley, and just south of the Panther River, I discover this inn is a waypoint for Imperial guards to occupy their time in boasting about their superior service to the Empire with a tankard full of ale.
It was most definitely not the right place for the Gray Fox to sleep for a night, but before I resume destination via Guild Hall, I needed rest after a long day.
Loredas, Rain's Hand 1, 4E 0 - Dusk
I took my time before deciding to return to the Guild Hall, I spent the full day of Fredas at the Drunken Dragon Inn, allowing my scattered-brain to conjure up of several thoughts all around me and let one sink in before I thought of an idea for what I will do. But I think I finally found it.
Nocturnal mentioned of Theranis being near the shores of the Topal Bay, but I am to heed her warning that I'm involved in a life-or-death situation when it involves confronting him. I must be mad insane to want to find out what I'm really dealing with, but I have to know. As I recall, she never spoke of remaining unseen.
I stand, now, at the edge of the Tamriellic border, the farthest I can possibly go before I start swimming in the Topal Bay. I'm not one for swimming, but the bay is not much for a beach, just trees that meet to the waters.
In a short distance, I see a wooden bridge held together by rope and connected to a very small island where a house once stood. It must've been broken down by a strong tidal wave to cause it to be demolished.
I notice, also, small ripples in the water before me from fish swimming next to the waters surface, mudcrabs in the distance searching for food. A calming breeze that sweeps over the water and through the trees as the leaves dance around. For a moment, I couldn't help but allow a overwhelming sensation of feeling content and comfort overtake me. I stare out into the sea and watch as I see a sun setting above the waters, where the sun meets the horizon.
In that moment, I felt peace, and I could picture living out the rest of my days in a secluded home somewhere in the forest. The longing of a permanent retirement is what I aimed to achieve by the time I am finished with my plans with the Thieves Guild.
I turned back to the small island, and I seen a man.
Quickly, I ducked down and hid behind a tree. This man had been walking out of the waters from the demolished house, almost as if he was living there under water. He was a Breton, not an Argonian, so he couldn't breathe under water. The closer I looked, he became more familiar. Breton man, slightly above five feet, short brown hair and full-body leather armor.
Theranis. That's him, for sure.
I watched him as he crossed the bridge, nearing closer to where I was hidden, I ducked down even lower. He gazed all around, as if he were looking for someone, but continued walking. The sun had fallen below, the darkness sky filled with stars had watched over us. I followed him for one hour, keeping distance from him so he wouldn't see me, but I wanted to know where he was going. He continuously kept making demonic sounds and jerking with twitched, reflexed actions as if he had been going through muscle spasms.
He had stopped, then dropped to his knees and let out a loud, screeching growl. I tensed up and took a step back as I feared he must've heard me, but he didn't. He seemed in pain, and is searching for a way to alleviate that.
He continued on, and I followed out of sight, and after another hour, I lost track of him. I must have let him get to distant from myself that I did not know which direction he had gone. I looked all around me and still I didn't see any sight of him, I didn't hear anything but the sounds of insects in the trees and wind blowing against the leaves.
I continued on in the direction I thought he might've headed to, I passed a ruin, and approached a small village. A village of three low-class, unkept, unmaintained wooden houses with a water well in the center. I did not want to be heard by anyone, did not want to be seen by anyone, but as I approached, I couldn't help but to hear the loud chatter of talking and laughing as I see three men standing together with tankards in their hands.
I took a quick glance over a map of the Blackwood region, and it turns out I had just passed the Ayleid ruin called, "Veyond" and I'm looking at a village on the map called, "Blankenmarch."
Two of the men were Bretons, and one of them was an orc. I wondered why three men would be awake during midnight drinking and being obnoxiously loud to one another, but if I recalled correctly, today was the 1st of Rain's Hand and it is a Breton holiday for Gardtide. On the day of Gardtide, the people of Tamarilyn Point hold a festival to honor Druagaa, the old goddess of flowers. Worship of the goddess is all but dead, but the celebration is always a great success. Tamarilyn Point is a location in the region of Anticlere, of High Rock, homeland of the Breton race. It explained why both the Breton men were drinking, and how an orc wouldn't refuse a tankard of ale.
I was crouched low and moving behind a house, unseen, and stopped where I found a small wooden-gated crop of plants and vegetables.
"Farmers?" I said to myself.
Moving a little past the crops, beside the house, I had noticed both the other houses had small porches in front of each door. On each porch, I seen hunting materials and arrows laid around.
"Two hunters and a farmer? What a combo. They must look out for each other." I corrected myself.
While the three men stood there laughing and talking, distracted, I happened to gaze past them and down the road, I seen a dark figure moving. It was drawing closer, but nearly falling to it's side, being off-balance. I kept my eyes focused on the dark figure only to make it out as Theranis getting closer.
Immediately, I became aware of the situation that could be at hand, my mind going haywire and my heart pumping. I moved out of the shadows and took a step out from behind the house.
"Hey! Are you lost?" One of the men called out, I froze where I stood. Theranis continued to move closer, his appearance looking frail and weakened, almost struggling to keep the strength to walk straight.
"Did you hear me? Are you lost? What do you want? This is private property!" The orc continued on.
Theranis moved in faster, reaching his arms out as if he were to embrace one of them in a hug.
"Hey! I said- Aaaarrh!" Theranis grabbed onto him and bit him on the neck
Both the Bretons tensed up and had dropped their tankards of ale to the dirt, spilling over.
"Hey! Wh-what's going on? What are you doing!" One of the Bretons called out.
Both of them had their eyes fixed on Theranis as the orc struggled and yelled, unsure of what to do and how to act. Then, only several moments later as both the Bretons were slowly backing away, Theranis threw aside the deceased corpse to the dirt, then fixed his eyes on the remaining men.
With blood dripping down from his chin and drops falling to the dirt, Theranis took a step forward, fear shook their hearts and both the men broke off, running back to their houses. Theranis sprinted after one and caught him, pulled him back and bit him on the shoulder. The Breton cried out and screamed in excruciating pain. The other Breton ran to the front porch of his house and tripped, smacking against the wooden floor, and reached to grab something.
I didn't know what to do, as I stood being unseen, I didn't know what to do and didn't know how to act. I used to be a Speaker for the Black Hand after being promoted from the Dark Brotherhood, but I never witnessed an act of a rabid beast terrorizing on innocent men. I killed, in the past, but they were contracts, they were targets that had been prayed to the Night Mother for their demise. I look at Theranis and I knew him as the man who bragged about stealing, and getting caught and arrested by a guard, in Skingrad. He wasn't as innocent as these men he's killing tonight, but he was a petty thief and he wasn't this person - or thing - that he is today.
Watching him feed on a man struggling and screaming, on the side of my eye, I seen something fly in and pierce into the back of Theranis. He cried out, and pulled out a silver arrow, and turned his attention to the other Breton man that stood on the porch drawing another arrow to his bow.
Theranis sprinted fast at him, an arrow fired and missed. Next thing I know, it hit only a foot where I was, stuck into the wooden wall where the house is. I turned my attention back and Theranis had pushed and lifted the man off his feet and smashed into the wooden wall, breaking it in, then Theranis grabbed and yanked his arm off as blood splattered everywhere. He grabbed the Breton by his shirt and threw him down to the ground, took his arm and snapped the bone in half as it pierced out of his skin with blood squirting on the ground.
The Breton was screaming in pain, and in that moment as I was frozen in place to witnessing such brutality, I recalled a voice in the back of my head that was Lady Nocturnal. I remembered what she said.
"...do not rush to engage him, for upon the day you see him again, before the hour you two meet again, you will have a choice in whether to walk away and save yourself..."
I do have a choice.
Theranis knelt down and bit the man on the neck and started sucking out the blood from his vein. The words of Nocturnal filling my head as if she's speaking to me again, was the only thought I was able to think of.
In the next moment, I found the ability in my body to move and I turned around to run as fast as I could and as far away as I could. I tripped over a piece of wood from the wooden-gate of the crop that had been sticking out, and I landed in a branch that caused enough noise to disrupt Theranis.
'Oh no, he's heard me! He knows I'm here!' I thought to myself.
I turned back to look, and Theranis faced in the exact direction I was at. He was paused and staring right where I was. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. All I was able to see was the face of Theranis, how his eyes didn't look dark brown anymore as I remembered them, but a lighter color. His face looked older and his cheeks looked as if it was without fat. He, alone, looked as if he had gone a month with eating only once a week and snorting moon sugar to stay the way he looked now.
He didn't notice me. He must've thought I was a random small animal that ran off, because his attention returned to feeding on the Breton.
I do have a choice. My curiousity got the best of me of wanting to find out what I was really dealing with, and I did find out. I got up slowly, and before I turned, I could've sworn I seen the other Breton that was next to the dead orc, move, but I didn't stay long enough to find out. I silently moved away fast, then found myself sprinting away from the entire area. I didn't know where to go, I didn't know what I will do, but all I know is that I needed to get far away from here as possible.