Listen To The Sound Of The Ashlands, Chapter 2-> Lock Options

[Fiach]

~ Time to start Chapter 2, as always, feel free to comment and give your opinions on the story so far ~
Chapter 1-> The Return


Chapter Two-> Lock


The wind was merciless that night as it lashed against the thick walls of Vivec, Abigail looked down at the waters below.
She enjoyed the view from up here, it helped her forget everything. The hardships, the battles lost and the people that abandoned her.
There was knock on the door. Abigail smiled to herself. Not this again…

“Come in” she sighed, the door opening with a shallow creak. “Roderick, Fathis…what do you want?”
The dunmer and redguard behind her both turned a bright red, she didn’t even have to turn around. “Our men caught some travellers up north, we were wondering if…”

“Are they spies?” Abigail cut Roderick short, making his blushing redguard face darken even more.

“Eh…no, we don’t think so miss”

“Are they Fugitives?”

“We...we don’t think so…”

Abigail turned around, her eyes fiery. “Then why are you wasting my time?” she growled. Roderick paused, speechless. Less than a decade ago they were in Suran, drinking, dancing and having fun.
But the last ten years did a lot to Abigail, at nineteen she was still a girl with a pretty face and mischief in her eyes.
But she had grown since then; her face now was beautiful, ladylike. Her emerald eyes were hardened from seeing her friends die and her voice was like tempered steel.

Once she wore dresses and loose fitting leather armour, now she was dressed in the attire that once belonged to an Ordinator, with a purple sash tied around her forehead to keep her lush brown hair out of her eyes.

Fathis smiled softly, “We are pretty low on men Abigail” he said slowly, “They could come in pretty useful…One of them is a Tsaesci.”
“A Tsaesci?” Abigail whispered, interest showing in her eyes for the briefest moment. “Whatever” she murmured, giving a shrug before pointing at the door. Fathis and Roderick gave a bow and left the room slowly.

Roderick took a deep breath, “I hate it when she gets like that!” he wheezed. Fathis nodded in agreement. “Lock should have come with us… he knows how to talk to her.”
“I don’t think she’s waiting for Lock.” Fathis whispered
“What do you mean? oh”

When I finally woke up my body was sore, my feet and hands were numb and there was a warm, coppery taste in my mouth. Blood. “Just perfect” I muttered as I looked around. I was lying on a wooden stretcher with a sheet pulled tightly over the frame, the room around me was windowless but dozens of shelves lined the walls, each one filled with vials and potion bottles.

“You took quite a beating my friend” muttered a wheezy voice.
“Haeil?”
The Tsaesci stood up from a chair that was dipped in the shadows at the edge of the room.
“You were talking in your sleep… sounded like a nightmare.”
I shrugged.

“I can’t really remember”
Haeil smiled, “It was probably the medication…these guys have been pumping you with the stuff”
“These guys?” I asked
Haeil laughed, “The resistance Furan…. I’m a member of it now”
I looked at him strangely, “When did all this happen?”

“You've been unconcious Furan...for a week. When they tried to capture us I ended up beheading a couple of their men…it seems that the people here are just as blood thirsty as they are back home.” His laughter rang across the stone room. Before I could open my mouth to ask something else the door opened and someone walked in.

She was a Bosmer, dressed in the blue robes of a mage; her hands were filled with dozens of pale grey scrolls. With a sigh she placed them on the table in front of her and looked at Haeil.
“Is he doing ok?”
“Of course Madeline…don’t you trust me?” The mage--Madeline gave a grunt before turning to look at me.

Madeline looked very young for a mage, no more then thirty; her copper red hair was tied back into a ponytail revealing a pair of slender pointed ears. She had a light smile on her face but there was intelligence in her eyes as she scanned my arms and face, her gold pointed fingers checked my pulse and bruises.

“I’ve been in Morrowind for nearly 9 years and I never saw injuries like the ones you had ...” She said. Her sharp blue eyes were flicking from me to the book that was in her hands.
“9 years…” she sighed, “I swear to Akatosh if I ever see that swit Traven again, I’ll make him wish that he avoided magic as a child!”
“Whos’ Traven?” I asked
Madeline looked at me, “He’s the Arch-mage of Cyrodiil or at least he was when I left….”

She put on a high pitched voice, like what little girls did when they insulted someone. “Go to Morrowind Madeline the guild needs your leader ship there, it’ll be an adventure, think of all the spells you will learn…” She spat on the ground, “But noooo, one year I’m in Balmora and then I’m being harassed by argonians for being a witch. A WITCH! Can you believe it?”

“It happens a lot, just agree with her and we’ll be fine” Haeil whispered softly. I nodded with a smile.
Madeline gave a sigh and wrote some thing down in her book. “I think it’s time that you went down to Lock” she said, gesturing toward the door.

Haeil nodded and pulled me out of bed. “Where are we going?” I whimpered, the cold air nipping at my feet.

“To see Lock.”

“Who’s Lock?”

Haeil looked at me with a smile, “Oh, you are going to love this.”

This post has been edited by Fiach: Mar 30 2010, 03:08 PM

[Fiach]

~~Sorry about the late replies recently everyone. School has been brutal lately as my English teacher is making us write an autobiography as a “personal project” which makes it hard for me to go back onto word after so much typing >.> but only two weeks left of school so hopefully the story will be finished by the start of July :]

But I had my seventeenth birthday on Monday and thus some time to start on a paragraph so I decided to start writing something so you guys would know that I’m not dead and Furan’s story definitely is not either. As always, please comment and tell me what you think ~~


The Saris tomb was built about a year after he disappeared. Nestled beneath the palace district of Vivec there was a time when people came from all around Morrowind to visit the small room with the three chests that lay inside.

Each chest was a small tribute to the Nerevarine, one held Umbra, the black claymore that the Nerevarine used to slay Dagoth Ur in his final form. The second chest held the ring of moon and star which the
Nerevarine used to prove his birthright to the dunmer people and earn their hope.

The third and final chest held Goldbrand, his most treasured weapon. The chests were arranged in a small
circle around a statue of him, the mer who saved the land for the dunmer.

Abigail liked to come down here sometimes, it helped her think, it helped her to stare at that cold ebony statue and imagine that he was actually staring back at her.

She looked at one of the chests with a sigh. It once held umbra, but the year that the argonians held onto Vivec gave them the chance to break the enchantment on one of Furan’s great treasures.She used to dream of him living in a cave somewhere and finding Umbra, realising what had happened and would one day burst through the doors with fire in his eyes. Not anymore though, dreams wouldn't help them win this war, but still....

“There’s talk of an invasion Furan” she whispered softly, the dim light of the torch just showing her pale pointed face. “Scouts came this morning talking about argonian soldiers crossing the border, past the Mournhold ruins.”

Abigail bit her lip and traced her finger across the cold statue, such a fragile, delicate face he had. “People want me to tell them what to do.... and, I just don’t know anymore.”
Tears came to her eyes as she fell to her knees.

“You would know what to do wouldn’t you; people would jump into fire for you... Just tell me, TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” She screamed banging her fist against the stone floor.

The statue did not answer.

“Jiub, it’s time to wake up.”



The land of the Skaal people had changed a lot since I first came to its shores. Where trees once ran wild and free along the coasts were now replaced with small wooden huts that were perched onto the cold gritty floor. Lock smiled at the startled look on my face. Immigrants are flooding to here every day since Cyrodiil closed its borders, keep your coin-purse close to you.

He nodded to Madeline who was sleeping near the edge of the boat, peace running down her face. I sighed and picked her up, following Lock onto the mainland.

“Why would Cyrodiil close its borders?” I asked while we walked.
Lock snorted, “I’m not in the mood to give you a history lesson kid” he muttered, nodding toward the large fort that loomed only a few feet away. “Come on, the sooner we get in here the better.”

Fort Frostmoth had changed a lot in the last couple of years. What were once scared recruits with low morale had transformed into battle scared legionnaires. I also noticed that there was a lot less of them. War has a high cost.

Lock finally stopped at the main oak door and knocked it loudly with his thick crimson fist.
“Leave Madeline here” he whispered, gesturing to the step and began to walk away.

”What?”

“JUST DO IT!”

I bit my lip softly and placed her gingerly onto the snowy step. Knocking an extra time to be sure, I turned around and ran toward Lock who already was making his way into the great forest that loomed behind the castle.

The snow crunched softly beneath my feet as I walked, there weren’t any Ricklings here, or any wanderers, what has happened?

“I don’t know how long you’ve been out of the country Jiub” Lock growled, as if he sensed my confusion.
“But I wouldn’t go looking for anything familiar. Morrowind has become a more…. Brutal place then it once was.”

I nodded and kept my mouth shut. The snow was falling heavier and the chitin armour that wrapped my body was begging to freeze.

It wasn’t long before we reached a small tomb, just cut out of the ice.
With a slow nod of Lock I went in, the wooden door making a sharp creak when I pulled down the latch.

It was smaller then the last base, Just a large room with a few bedrolls on the floor beside a roaring fire. A small map of Morrowind was pinned to a nearby wall and there was a small staircase on the left that loomed into a black corridor.

A few people looked up when we emerged but put their heads down quickly enough. Lock gave a sign and went over to the map, reading the notes that surrounded the map

“Ok kid, we have to keep you busy if you want to survive here.” He spat, pulling off one of the notes and handing it to me.

Written in an elegant hand was

Find Sk’Rivva

“Sk’Rivva?” I asked, Lock just grunted and pointed to the door.
“She’s an alchemist who’s famous around these parts, get over to her and ask for a few bottles of antidote elixir, she should be near the north of the island with the Skaal.”

Nodding softly I went to the door, Once I had the opportunity to help the Skaal in the past, but the path of the beast gripped me instead.

I was not looking forward to a reunion.

This post has been edited by Fiach: May 5 2010, 08:33 PM