The contract, my reowking of some of Oblivion's events Options

[Remko]

Well, since I was specially asked by a fiend, I will be posting this one as well. I was re-reading it and couldn't conclude otherwise that it's obvious it was the first fan-fic I wrote. Hope it isn't too disappointing.

Chapter1: The hangover

He woke up with his head throbbing and a woozy feeling in his stomach, a silent witness to the night before. ‘Ooohhh, I really should stop drinking that cheap rubbish,’ the hung-over Altmer thought, while cradling his head in self-pity. A severe burst of pain rushed through his forehead and he wished he had paid more attention when they tried to teach him the fine arts of restoration. He barely knew how to heal minor wounds, let alone cure a serious hangover. Or even how to get rid of a bump that had mysteriously manifested itself on his head and he couldn’t help but wonder where that had come from. His recollections on the previous days were still somewhat blurry.

‘Now to open my eyes,’ he murmered to himself. Reluctantly the Elf opened his eyes and immediately shut them again in agony of the bright light that greeted his new day through the bars of his small, square cell.
Although the light was a lot dimmer than he had anticipated it was still hurting his eyes and consequently, the throbbing in his head got worse. Quickly he shut them again. A grunt of agony left his throat. ‘Where in oblivion am I?’ he wondered while re-opening his eyes, slowly this time, and took a few glimpses through his squinted eyelids. First things he became aware of now he finally could take a decent look around, was that mouldy, green bricks and a metal gate in one of the walls enclosed him. Definitely not the room he had rented in the Talos plaza hotel a couple of days before the events that, apparently, got him thrown in jail.
‘Not again….. By the Nine, how am I getting myself out of here this time?’ he sighed.
This damp, cold confinement seemed familiar from the last time. But, then again, he had noticed all jails tend to look the same throughout the empire. It was just another cell, just like all the others.

A raspy voice broke through the relative silence of the morning:’You are never getting out. You are going to die here, you snotty Altmer hahahaha!’ Gently he sat up from the stone slab. A damned lousy excuse for a bed but what could he expect from a prison? A brief throb of pain though his head, this time in the area of his temples, rather than his forehead, rudely reminded him of his condition. He wished he had something decent to drink instead of something you wash your clothes in.

‘Yeah, yeah, sure,’ he whispered and made a face, while trying to rub his stiff, sore back. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t really reach the spots that hurt the most, which disgruntled him even more. Why couldn’t he just lie down and die? Death appealed a lot more to him than this bloody hangover. Judging by the taste in his mouth something had already died in his mouth so he figured he might as well pass on too.
The banter from the opposite jail carried on some time but Hargeth just ignored it. If he hadn’t been feeling so miserable, he would probably have taken offence in it but he really didn’t feel like acknowledging that pesky Dunmer how he felt about it. As there isn’t really a point harassing someone who just ignores it, the Dark Elf soon grew weary of it. He did make a mental note though. A lot could be said about Hargeth but not that he is the most forgiving type and even less when he has been drinking. The last individual thinking that was now sleeping with the slaughterfish. The memory on that particular incident brought a shade of a smile on his face.

Returning to the present day from his wandering thoughts, he wondered if the guards had left anything to quench his terrible thirst. The convict turned his head, slowly; to make sure the throbbing in his head wouldn’t return in the severity it hit him last time. In a corner there was a tan pitcher with some fluid in it that could be identified as, well, wet. Calling it water would be an insult to real water. He was actually glad that it was a tan pitcher so couldn’t really see the colour of what was in it. ‘Hmmm, smells like rat piss,’ he grumped while bringing the pitcher to his mouth to quench his thirst and to get rid of the awful taste in his mouth, briefly hesitating uncertain of what was in the pitcher but then decided he didn’t really care. It could hardly be worse than his current state. He took a careful sip but even that upset his stomach and made him loose whatever he still had in it. ‘It IS rat piss,’ he thought and agrily tossed the pitcher in a corner shattering it in a lot of pieces. And if being in jail with a terrible hangover didn’t suffice, sure enough, a shard bounced back and cut him in the face. ‘Oh great!’ Frustrated he wiped the welling blood from his cheek, again cursing the lack of attention he had paid to learning restoration. He made a second mental note to start with that, well, when he got out of jail that was.

Because of the racket he had made the Dunmer prisoner noticed Hargeth had hurt himself which was enough for him to start mocking his fellow in-mate in the opposite cell again. ‘Keep that up and you will have the guards save out on a lot of fun!’ and almost fell to the floor laughing.
‘I hope you choke in it!’ A growl from the opposite cell was its reward. Hargeth couldn’t care less and went back to feeling sorry for himself.
His thoughts wandered a while when he heard the distinct clang of armoured guards coming down the stairs to the cellblocks. Casually they strolled passed the front cells while taunting the prisoners in the cells there.

‘How did you like your…. beverage?’ a fat, balding guard asked him with a smug grin on his face while looking at the remains of the pitcher.
‘I guess my suspicions weren’t too far off, rat-piss, guard-piss, all the same,’ Hargeth replied and immediately regretted making that comment. The barely hidden insult triggered the guard to come into his stinking cell and rewarding him with a couple of cruel kicks to the stomach, much to the Dunmer in the opposite cell’s amusement.
Shuddup or you’s next Dreth!’ the guard barked towards the opposite cell. Valen Dreth was quick to shut up and withdrew into one of the darker corners of his cell. The Dark Elf had probably learned the hard way as well.

His nose had a strange angle in it, indicating his nose had been broken too, probably by the same guard. Most guards he had encountered in previous stays in prison scattered over the empire were kind compared to this one. This particular guard knew exactly where to beat into prisoners where it hurt the most. It was likely he practised a lot in being efficient in crippling prisoners. What was a captain doing a simple guard’s work anyway? It seemed Hargeth more and more likely the fat guard was just a sadistic honoured user taking pleasure in abusing prisoners. Or did the Legion really didn’t have anyone else for the job? Hargeth had hoped the distraction the Dunmer, Dreth had created would have kept the guard from making it worse but, much to his dismay, the guard wasn’t finished yet.

The guard, who fancied a drink himself judging the man’s breath, which still heavily reeked of ale from earlier, had spotted the remainders of Hargeth breakfast from the day before, or even the day before that. Hargeth couldn’t for the world remember. The guard’s face split in two by a very grim smile.
‘Are ya foulin’ up me cell? Ya know wot that means, don’t ya?’ the guard, obviously, rhetorically asked. Not that the guard would be able to spell rhetorical or even would know what it means but for Hargeth that made no difference what so ever. Of course Hargeth knew, having spent his fair share in jails.
He braced for the inevitable steel gauntlet in the face and the steel boot in the guts, kind of treatment. ‘That’s another similarity between a lot of jails,’ Hargeth grimly thought.
Unfortunately for him, he was right. The guard grinned slyly and whipped his steel gauntlet in Hargeth’s face. He could hear his nose breaking with a sickening snap just before he hit the ground like a ragdoll. In no time at all his entire face was covered in blood that came pouring out of both his nostrils.
Quickly he rolled himself up into a ball to protect himself the best he could against the relentless kicking of the guard. Most of the blows landed in his back and stomach. Then the guard kicked him in the head with his steel boots, he fought to remain conscious but it was futile. His whole world went spinning and then went black. Just before he passed out he thought:’If I’m ever getting out of this rathole, you best watch your back because I will be coming for you….’

When he re-gained consciousness, most of the light had faded and so had most of his hangover. His physical condition had hardly improved though. Instead of the throbbing headache it now was a constant whining in the back of his head. Apart from that, he had bruises everywhere. Even in places he didn’t know he could bruise. Gently he touched his nose and cringed in pain almost to the point of bringing a tear into his right eye.
‘Yep, that’s broken for sure…’ he couldn’t help but chuckling to himself over his misfortune, immediately collapsing in terrible agony. Apparantly, he had broken a rib as well. After recovering from the agony, he gently went to inspecting the rest of his injuries.
Softly he touched his left cheek with the tips of his fingers. The tan shard had made a shallow gash, about one, maybe one and a half inch long. At least it had already stopped bleeding and there was a crust of dried blood covering it.

He also realised in disgust the beating he got by the guard had caused Hargeth to have fallen exactly in the spot where he had lost his breakfast earlier. The smell of the regurgitated food in his shirt almost made him gag.
The garment hadn’t been too clean before the incident, now it was almost too dirty to touch, let alone wear it. To add to his misery, try as he might, it was virtually impossible for him to take the sackcloth shirt of with the broken rib. He couldn’t raise his arms enough because of the pain so he would have to reside with it. He was really starting to dislike that particular guard.

‘You alright?’ A gentle, throaty voice, probably a Khajiit female, asked from the cell next to him, breaking him out his contemplations
‘What do YOU care?’ he snarled. The prisoner didn’t respond again. ‘Nice Hargeth, real nice, finally someone to talk to and you bite of his head. Just great.’ His temper hadn’t improved at all.
Piece by piece he had been puzzling back together some of the circumstances that had got him thrown in prison. From what he had recollected, things were looking bleak for him. It appeared to him unless some kind of miracle would happen he was going to be stuck here for a long time. The Imperial Legion didn’t take kindly on murder. Especially when a guard is involved. Most of the details were still fleeing him but he remembered vaguely it was a contract gone sour. Had he been betrayed? He really didn’t know. He didn’t really care either. His profession had taught him not to look back unless you don’t care what’s ahead of you. That usually was the tip of a sword so he’d better care what’s ahead.

The harsh words awoke the Dunmer in the opposite cell. Dreth had a strange smile around his lips. The grey haired, light blue skinned Elf obviously had enjoyed seeing Hargeth being beaten up. Hargeth couldn’t really blame him; he would’ve probably done the same in his place. It had been a long time ago he had felt so utterly helpless. He made a promise to himself to never let that happen again. And then threatened the Dunmer to toss a fireball into his cell if he’d open his gob again. Ofcourse Hargeth knew that wasn’t really useful with Dunmer being heridatary fire resistant, but it at least would be good for a laugh.
‘Maybe I’ll do it anyway, just to annoy him.’ The thought made him smile, which was quite rare. But then he realised that would probably lead to another beating by the guards.
‘Bugger..…’

The days grew shorter and longer again. In the passing weeks and months he had decided now was a good time to catch up on his restoration skills, rather than waiting until he got out.
He had to be careful not to let the guards catch him practicing his magic though, so he only practiced at night. A few days before he had been careless and the guards had caught him practicing. He had paid a bitter price for his carelessness. Another beating and, as a result, a dislocated shoulder. He thought that after the fractured rib other injuries could hardly be more painful. How wrong had he been. He had to use a wall to slam his dislocated arm back into his shoulder. The sheer pain of this had made him loose his consciousness. This setback didn’t put him off practicing though, it only made him more determined. The determination had started to get him somewhere. The restoration spell he never had managed to cast wasn’t so hard for him anymore and he used it to ease some of the pain of his broken rib that still plagued him.
Next, he applied it to his shoulder. He could feel the strange light tingling sensation of muscles contracting and regaining some strength. When he also tried it on his nose, it only made him sneeze, changing nothing. He rested with the fact his nose would forever be visible in the inner corner of his right eye.

More weeks passed, nothing much changed. Dreth had annoyed him some more and eventually Hargeth actually lobbed a fireball in his cell while the Dunmer prisoner was soundly asleep. The dry grass in the cell had caught fire in no time, clouding the cell in thick, black smoke.
Valen woke up because of the smoke penetrating his nostrils. ‘What the..’ Dreth didn’t continue his tirade because of a sneeze and then got up from bed, while cursing Hargeth in several languages, to put out the fire. The Dunmer was jumping around in his cell to stamp it out, still swearing, much to the other prisoner’s hilarity. Inevitably, it alarmed the guards and it got Hargeth in trouble once again. He was almost getting used it to it, hadn’t it been for the beating to his head. At least it made the day less dull.

‘If they beat me enough, maybe they can straighten out my nose again,’ he thought, while being punished by the guards. It appeared the guards hadn’t much better to do but tormenting prisoners. That moment he promised himself he was getting out of this godforsaken prison alive and rather sooner than later. Besides practicing his restoration skill he also started getting back in shape by doing physical exercise, as far as the small, square dank cell allowed, to get his strength back up. Months of basically doing nothing had weakened him. He wouldn’t stand a chance against anyone outside in this condition.

Clang, clang, clang.. The jailors were doing their round again. The ruckus had awoken him from his sleep. Since a couple of weeks the guards started to stray from their usual schedule and started patrolling more random. Hargeth didn’t like it one bit. Did the guards know about his secret plans? Once again, the guards found a reason to torment the blonde Altmer. In his sleep, unknowingly, he had tumbled the bowl for his excrements over. The smelly guard, as Hargeth started to call him in his mind, was about to enter his cell to punish him for the hidious crime Hargeth had committed by kicking over the waste bowl when another guard shouted:’Captain Avidius, Hayn wants to talk to you!’ The fat, smelly guard grumbled something barely audible but Hargeth could tell with his, for a Mer, keen sense of hearing Avidius had little respect for his collegue.

‘Interesting,’ he thought, and abscent-mindedly pulled his pointed ear. Of-course he didn’t let the smelly guard show he had heard the comment Avidius had made about Hayn. Avidius gave Hargeth a final cruel kick in his back and left the cell. From the corner of his almond shaped eyes the Altmer prisoner spotted something else interesting. Avidius was carrying around a small bottle. ‘That could be useful,’ he thought. Hargeth had always been quick in spotting opportinities in the simplest of things. For instance, broken bottles make excellent weapons. He grinned slyly when he thought about how he had found that out. Spending a lot of time in shady inns did have its advantage after all.

Avidius slammed the gate shut with a loud bang to make sure all the prisoners were awake. Angrily the guard made his way back to the offices, grumbling and swearing at everything and about everyone. Hargeth noticed he was possibly even more drunk than usual. The ale smell on his breath alone was enough to notice he had been drinking heavily. A more amusing telltale was that Avidius could hardly walk in a straight line, bouncing into the grey stonewalls, when he made his way back to the guardroom. ‘I really need to get out of this place.’ A cunning but dangerous plan was starting to form in his head.

[Remko]

mALX1; If only you had commented on it when it was still on that other forum. Then I probably would have continued it. However; your kind words urge to write more on this. Thank you! X

Chapter5: Dead or Alive

The shroud of night and the dense, wet, fog hid their proceeding but didn’t hide their footprints. Pilatus was highly unnerved by the fact they could still be easily tracked down. They needed to know what they were up against before retreating to a cavern they couldn’t escape from. What if they were highly outnumbered? What if their persuers noticed the three of them stopped heading south and had changed direction eastbound again? No doubt about it they would find the cave as well. An hour passed, they were almost halfway to the cave when Pilatus suddenly stopped. Hargeth didn’t notice until he almost stumbled into Pilatus’ back.

‘We’re not going to lose them, are we?’ Hargeth asked, using the brief moment of rest to check his foot. The swelling had been slowly retreating but he was still in pain. The bones hadn’t quite settled yet and walking a day didn’t do it much good. His foot was now mostly yellow and green. Quite amusing, if it hadn’t hurt that bad. Well, at least it kept his mind of the fact they hadn’t had a decent meal the entire day.
Pilatus shook his head, confirming what Hargeth had feared. They had to do something. Running away wasn’t going to do them much good. Not in the long run

‘I’m going to see how many we’re up against, we can’t remain uncertain, I don’t think there will be more than three though.’ Hargeth agreed, it had struck him the prison was practically deserted when he escaped. Where had all the guards been? The heat of the moment of his escape had kept him from noticing but he had plenty of time thinking it all over and all things considered, his escape went too smooth, almost too easy. Suspicion about the last few of days events started to pound into his paranoia like a blacksmith’s hammer on an anvil. More questions he wanted to ask the Khajiiti.
‘I’m coming with you, do you have a spare bow I can borrow?’ The iron mace that Pilatus wasn’t taking with him, didn’t appeal to him.

‘You can use Rhialla’s bow.’
Rhialla took the bow from her belongings and handed it over to Hargeth along with a quiver, containing only nine iron arrows. It was all they could spare. Hargeth gave the bow a quick inspection and balanced it. The bow was a well-maintained piece of weaponry. The string appeared as though it had been just replaced. Besides lending him the bow, Rhialla also gave both the men a hunting knife.
‘That could come in handy,’ Hargeth commented. ‘Thanks.’ The hunting-knife got a place in the leather boots Pilatus had borrowed him. Shoving his aching left foot into the narrow boot had been absolute torture; with a grunt he had endured it. Pilatus also gave him a dark robe. An unpleasant smell linguired in it, like someone had died in it. Pulling it over his head, a distinct hole in the front and the back told the truth about its previous wearer sudden, sticky end. A guiltful smile curled Pilatus’ lips. Yep, someone had died in it. The quiver of arrows was strapped to his back to prevent the arrows moving around and making unwanted noises.
‘You’re not bringing a bow?’ Pilatus shook his head in denial.
‘Suit yourself,’ Hargeth mumbled.

Silent, like ghosts, the duo made their way through the woods. The light of the moons reflected in the dense fog, bathing the forest in an eery glow. The feline bandit completely blended in with the shadows cast over them by trees. It was like the Khajiit became an entirely different person. Like he belonged there.
Hours passed without a single spoken word. They both knew how to handle themselves in the dark, hidden, elusive like phantoms. Silence was essential for their mission to succeed.

Suddenly, Pilatus stopped and dropped onto the damp forest ground and beckoned for Hargeth to do the same. Without questioning it, Hargeth dropped to the ground and crawled towards Pilatus’ position.
‘We’re in luck, looks like there’s only two of them, let’s take them out,’ Pilatus whispered. The camp was only fifty passes away, the guards were sitting at a very small campfire. Unlike most of the Imperial Legion, the two guards appeared very disciplined. The silence between the two was enough to alarm Pilatus and Hargeth; these guys knew what they were doing.

Very slowly Pilatus and Hargeth further closed the gap between them and the camp. Pilatus’ ears were turning all directions, scanning for any sounds giving away the location of a possible third guard on patrol. Either there wasn’t a third guard or he was as efficient in moving unseen and unheard as Pilatus was. As far as Pilatus was concerned, there wasn’t a third. To make sure, they observed the camp another hour or two. Growing weary of waiting Hargeth was getting restless and decided to take action, he wanted to reach for the bow on his back but Pilatus’ strong arm held him back. ‘Patience.’ Hargeth wondered what they were waiting for. For more guards to arrive?

Pilatus held out two fingers to Hargeth and placed his index finger over his lips. ‘Stay here, keep your eyes and ears open wide. Await my signal,’ he whispered, almost as quiet as a breath. Moving even more silent than before, the cat-like creature circled the camp in a wide circle to remain hidden in the relative darkness of near-dawn. Hargeth took the bow from his back, nocked an arrow and took aim at one of the guards, while keeping a close eye on Pilatus. If he hadn’t known the bandit’s exact location, he would’ve never guessed and couldn’t help but admiring the way Pilatus moved.

‘There is more to him than he’s telling. I have never seen anyone move like that. Huh, what? Wait for my signal? What did he mean? I guess I’ll find out soon enough,’ and then reprimanded himself. ‘Focus, Hargeth, focus.’ Shaking it off, he returned his full attention on the camp and on the two occupants. Still no sign of a third. All was clear. Then he noticed a dark figure crawling into the camp closing in on the guards, who still didn’t have a clue the hunters had become the hunted.

A silvery flash, the signal, Pilatus had drawn the vicious looking huntingknife and was now only three passes away from the back of the nearest guard. Hargeth aimed at the guard farthest away from Pilatus and readied himself to take the shot, still paying close attention to his associate’s movements. Pilatus was, slowly, unhearable to human ears, getting to his feet and strained his powerful leg muscles to jump the last remaining distance to his target and nodded. Hargeth understood, quickly checking all the variables affecting the arrow’s trajectory. Satisfied with all the variables, he pulled full tension and let go of the arrow. Pilatus jumped his target with a powerful leap, ramming the knife just behind his victim’s chin, avoiding the full-face helmet the guard was wearing, and up, into the brain, ending his life instantly. Startled, the second guard turned round while reaching for the sword on his side, the arrow struck him in the stomach instead of in his back where Hargeth had aimed for, piercing the cuirass right between the horizontal joints of the armour. It was luck the arrow even hit its target. It could just as easily have bounced of the steel of the Imperial Legion armour.

Blood foamed up in the corners of his mouth and seeped through the joints of the armour. His demise was certain. Hargeth knew a blade or arrow in the belly usually meant death, unless immediately attended to by a very capable healer. Slowly, all the blood would flow from the stomach into all essential organs, rendering them useless. All the bodily functions would slow down and ultimately stop altogether. Except for deadly it was also extremely painful. Hargeth had once stabbed a contract in the stomach. Alledgedly, it took two days for him to succumb to the bloodloss. Groaning in pain the Imperial guard reached for his sword but Pilatus was quicker to react. His knife was already hurling towards the guard and, with an awful sound, the knife lodged itself in the guard’s throat. His life’s blood sprayed everywhere when cold steel violently pierced the skin, veins and the soldier’s windpipe.
The guard plummeted to the ground, dead before he hit the bloodstained grass.

All in all, the mission had become a lot more gruesome than both men had anticipated. Now the job was done, Hargeth could finally stretch his muscles and limbs after the tense last few hours. Cramp was tormenting him, he stamped his right foot into the ground a couple of times to help his bloodstream flowing back to the numb parts of his body.

The good side of the bloody job just finished was that they had some decent weapons now. The guards were carrying silver longswords and heavy Legion armour. When they scouted the surroundings they also found the horses their, now dead, persuers had brought, cleverly hidden. The horses rolled their, spread wide-open, eyes and whinnied in distress. The heavy, metallic smell of blood was upsetting them. The horses yanked their reigns frantically in an effort to escape. Hargeth pulled some fresh grass out of the ground and held it in front of one of the horse’s nose. That seemed to calm the - scared out his wits - horse down enough for Pilatus and Hargeth to see what they were carrying. After having searched the first horse’s saddlebag, Hargeth pulled the same trick with the grass on the second horse as well.

The contents of the saddlebags were most welcome. Food, several vials with unknown contents with a strange, strong smell, a couple of spare bedrolls, twelve goldcoins, some clothing and a handbill. Not much to their surprise, it was a wanted poster for Hargeth, signed by Captain Avidius himself. Dead or Alive. Hargeth sent Pilatus a toothed grin, ‘At least we know who sent them.’
They gathered the weapons, armour and the items they took from the saddlebags, devided it evenly over the two saddlebags and mounted the horses.