Sudhendra Vahl, the first chapter Options

[minque]

This is the first chapter of the amazing story by OverrideB1, which has been posted in the ES-forums

So you want to know a little more about me, where I come from, how I got to be where I am? That seems a reasonable request and we should have plenty of time for me to tell my tale.
I go by the name of Sudhendra Vahl. That’s not my real name of course, but you’ll soon understand why. I’ll start at the beginning ~ I was raised in a small village about fifty miles west of Rihad, and I was born in the year 401 of the Third Era. What’s that?
Well, that is uncommonly kind of you to say so, although your flattery will gain you nothing. I come from a long-lived species and certain events (which I will relate) have conspired to provide me with a much longer life than is normal ~ even for one of my kind. Now, let me tell you my tale…

The Tale of Sudhendra Vahl :Prologue
I never knew my parents: my mother died giving birth to me and my father, from what I can discover, was an itinerant adventurer passing through on his way to somewhere adventurous from somewhere less adventurous. My mother, Gods rest her soul, caught his eye and there was a brief dalliance. Nine months later, along I came ~ a very short time after that, my mother departed this vale of tears. I have little, or no, recollection of what happened after that ~ although I have expended considerable resources over the years finding out.

Shortly after my mother’s death, I was taken in by the Stendarr temple and, from there, sent to foster parents to be raised. My foster-parents were Stendarrites, although the milk of his mercy ran thinly in their veins. I was just a source of income from the Temple for them and, when that ran out shortly after my tenth birthday, I became cheap labour for them around the farm. Well, I say cheap ~ unpaid would be a much better description. True, I had food and a bed: the food left over after they’d finished eating and a pile of straw atop the storage shed. It was a brief and unhappy childhood; not helped by the fact I was the only Dark Elf in the village.

I grew up being handy with my fists and feet and wasn’t above using my teeth if push came to shove. And when half-a-dozen jeering children, all of whom are better fed and stronger than you, surround you; shove comes surprisingly quickly. I quickly garnered a reputation as a surly and aggressive child among the villagers. Not that I had much of a problem with that: my foster-parents did, however and I was regularly beaten for “starting another fight”. Any attempt to explain that I’d been set upon by six or seven older, stronger children was conveniently ignored.

However, just so you don’t think that it was completely bad, I did have a wonderful forest near the house and, when my foster-parents were away at temple, I could wander through them to my hearts content. It was about this time that I developed quite the interest in the properties of various flora. I soon found a root, common in the woods, the juice of which alleviated the sting of my frequent bruises. I never made much of the interest other than secretly trading useful bits of root and flower to passing traders in exchange for coin or, more frequently, a tattered old book. I took great care not to be seen with the books as I struggled to learn my letters ~ I knew that they’d end up on the fire and I’d end up being punished again if I was caught.

It was probably around my twelfth year that my Talent appeared. I began to notice strange auras around certain things and the feeling that I almost knew what they were for. As the days passed, I began to notice more of these quicksilver flashes and occasionally, when a Noble or Knight rode through the village, a strange tugging sensation if they passed close to me. Obviously not something I could discuss with my foster-parents, I chose to discuss it with a wandering peddler I’d dealt with before. In exchange for some plants and one of my miserly horded golden Drakes, he explained that I was born under the sign of the Apprentice and that what I was seeing was a manifestation of that astrological sign’s influence on my life.

Over the next three years, my friend the peddler would come visit. In return for my identifying magical items, he taught me a couple of useful cantrips. A fire-touch spell, a spell that allowed me to walk on water, and (my personal favourite) a spirit I could summon that would act as a guardian. In secret, I began marking the fifteenth of Sun’s Height as my birthday.

I said that it was a short and bitter childhood, and the truth of that became apparent shortly after my fifteenth “birthday”. My foster-mother was away visiting her mother ~ a woman I’d never met, but who was reputed to be insanely rich and insanely eccentric. One night, deep in his cups, my foster-father came up into the loft of the storage shed and attempted to… well, I probably don’t need to draw you a diagram, do I? Needless to say, he got a fist in the face that broke his nose and a shovel across that back of the head that turned out his lights for a while. Gathering my few tattered clothes and the meagre stash of Drakes I’d accumulated, I took a sack-full of provender from the larder, the best horse from the yard and, bidding a farewell to my hidden books, I set off in the general direction of away.

I figured that everyone would think I’d headed towards Rihad so that was the last direction I wanted. North lay Taneth and, beyond that, the wilds of Hammerfell. East lay the border with Cyrodiil, as it would if I headed south. Cyrodiil it was then and, angling roughly southeast, I rode off into the night. A few days later, hungry and dusty, I crossed into Sutch. There it became obvious that the supply of coin I had wouldn’t last too long and so, with some reluctance, I sold my steed and blended into the crowds.
Over the course of the next ten years I drifted from town to town, never staying in one spot for long, making a passable living identifying useful plants or identifying ensorcelled items. Naturally, I picked up a few useful skills along the way: my years of chopping wood proved to be handy as I found I could wield a pretty mean axe and I taught myself the rudiments of fighting with a long-blade. I won’t say I led a blameless existence, but I was no more of a thief, cutpurse, or mugger than anyone else of my station. Truth be told, I tried to avoid stealing things except when needs must: often I was the only Dark Elf in the town and knew that suspicion would fall on me pretty quickly.

So I drifted along, wandering from town to town with nary a care in the world. However, it was in one town that I happened to overhear a couple of Legion types asking about a Dark Elf named “Mishkin” who was wanted for assault and theft in Hammerfell. Heart pounding, I ran back to my hideout, collected my sparse belongings and got out of town pretty damn’ sharply, I can tell you. In a panic, I made the cardinal mistake – isolating myself with no options. I hit Anvil running, and booked myself passage on the first ship to very far away from here. It virtually emptied my purse, but I got passage on a vessel sailing to a port near Rimmen. I knew nothing about the place except that it was in Elsweyr and it was very far away from Hammerfell. Sounded perfect.

The journey took a couple of months, and I was more than happy to step off the boat in the bustling port and blend once more into the crowds. Of course, I’d forgotten how quickly bad news could spread, how persistent the Empire is in punishing wrongdoers, and the spitefulness of my foster-parents. I’d travelled under the name of “Vahl” and used the first name “Sudhendra” if I had to ~ it was a name I’d read in a book at sometime and it struck me as being a pretty name, certainly better than Mishkin. There I was, in a foreign place, with no money and a false identity. That’s when I made cardinal mistake number two.

My only excuse is that I was exhausted. I’d been running around trying to gather up some much needed coin and had pushed myself over the limit. I purchased a little bread and meat and sat in a pretty little park to eat my meal. Next thing I know, I’m being shaken awake by a burly guard who was being watched with some amusement by his three equally burly compatriots.

“You can’t sleep here,” he said. “What’s your name?”

I told you I was tired, I automatically answered “Mishkin Dark-Skin”.

“Says here you’re Sudhendra Vahl and, wait, did you say Mishkin Dark-Skin?”

The four of them fell on me like a landslide, hitting me with their short wooden clubs before dragging me, battered and bruised, to the local lockup. Where I spend a very uncomfortable night before being hauled before the local Imperial magistrate. The charges were ridiculous, to say the least: “Assault on a village Elder”, “Theft of three hundred Drakes”, “Theft of a prize stallion”, “Assuming a false Identity”, “Vagrancy”. Oh, and my personal favourite, “Resisting arrest”.

I might just have talked my way out of the first five charges but that resisting arrest one? That one was the clinching offence: the whole trial took under thirty minutes, I wasn’t given a single chance to refute the charges or make a defence and found myself sentenced to ten years in the Imperial prison at Alabaster.

I’d been in prison for a year when things took a turn for the very strange. During my sentence, I’d been a good girl; following orders, staying out of trouble, that sort of thing. Unlikely though it was, there was a very remote chance I might get a reprieve if I showed that I was a model citizen. So, I bowed and scraped, cleaned out the latrines, washed, cooked, and did all the usual stuff they make you do in jail. In addition, I kept in shape as best as I could. Then, one night, the door to my cell slammed open and I was grabbed and dragged out into the courtyard. A cloaked and hooded figure looked at me from the dark recess of his hood and muttered something to the commandant. Next thing I knew I was being hustled into a coach and driven out of the prison. We stopped but once, and I was made to stand there while my original abductors drove off in the coach and another, plainer coach was brought in. The hooded figure turned to me and said something that sounded like “Somnus” and a sudden blackness descended.

[minque]

I won’t pretend that I had a pleasant night: that building featured in a nightmare that woke me in the misty pre-dawn hours, damp with sweat. Quite what the nightmare was I couldn’t recall, but I did have a fleeting recollection of running down bizarrely angled corridors away from some indefinable danger. Things weren’t helped by the discovery of a set of oddly shaped footprints in the dewy grass outside my tent ~ footprints that started and stopped in the middle of the damp patch without any visible connecting footprints. Perhaps I’d been overly optimistic when I thought that I was far enough away from the building…

As you can imagine, it didn’t take me long to pack my belongings away and move on a step. Which was a good thing really since I’d covered a very little distance before I saw the unmistakable towers of a Dwemer ruin. Unslinging my axe from my pack, I made my way up the slope towards them, quite excited. I’d only been close to a Dwemer building once before, up in Hammerfell, and that had been very enthusiastically guarded by the Legion. Now I was about to get far closer to one than most members of the Empire ever do. (The Empire tends to be a little obsessive about these ruins for reasons that escape the general populace).

Anyway, there was quite a brisk fire burning near the ruin, and a tall, white-haired woman sat beside it ~ evidently cooking something with which to break her fast. “Ahoy the fire,” I called politely, “are you Larienna Macrina?”

“I am,” she said, surging to her feet and grasping the hilt of her sword. “Who wishes to know?”

“I am Journeyman Sudhendra Vahl,” I called back. “Hrundi, of the Sadrith Mora Fighters Guild asked that I should join you.”

“You made good time,” she said, visibly relaxing. “Come, join me in a bite to eat and I’ll tell you why we’re here.”

Larienna had made a thick pottage of some unidentifiable meat and local vegetables, and she gave me a very generous portion in a hefty ceramic bowl. My contribution was two loaves of bread (slightly stale I’m sorry to relate) and some Comberry tisane that I reheated. As we tucked into this substantial repast, the Knight Errand told me of her mission.

“We’re here in search of the great beast known as Hrelvesuu,” she said. “It has attacked several travellers in this area and I was despatched, along with two Troopers, to track it down and deal with it.” She fetched a sigh, and then continued, “it attacked us from ambush near Almurbalarammi, killing my compatriots before fleeing here. I sent for help, and then followed it. It’s trapped inside, but I need someone to watch my back while I scour the ruins for it.

“That’s where you come in,” she said, adding, “I’d hoped for someone with more experience, meaning no offence, but I’m sure we’ll make an excellent team. Oh, and by the by, I have some skill in restorative magic and so can heal you at need. Remember, however, I’m no Cleric and casting the spell will weaken me. Well, are you ready?”

Not even in the slightest, I thought as I once more unslung my axe. However, the only way to avoid stinging remarks like ‘I was hoping for someone with more experience’ is to actually get out there and get the experience. Nodding to her, I led the way to the strange circular portal then evidently led into the building. She stepped forward and pressed several of the carvings on the door, causing it to dilate open with a thunderous crashing noise. Although I’d feigned disinterested, I’d made careful note of how she’d opened the door ~ just in case I needed to open one for myself.

There was a puff of slightly stale air as the door opened, but nothing untoward happened. Pausing, I put my hand on my axe and chanted, “Sino exsisto lux lucis”, causing my axe to glimmer with an eldritch light. She raised an eyebrow but said nothing as, with more than a little trepidation, I led the way down the metal steps into the ruins of Nchurdamz.

I barely had time to see that we’d stepped into a cavernous and well lit room before we were attacked by a strange creature ~ which was quickly reinforced by a couple of others. It looked like an oval on six legs but, as my axe hammered into it, it made a distinctly metallic sound. The creature wobbled slightly, but continued to rear up on its back two legs and slash at me with the front two. My axe clove into it for a second time, and there was a distinct spark and quite a loud bang as the thing bounced sideways and crashed into the wall. Its legs quivered oddly for a moment, and then it lay still.

Larienna Macrina had dealt with one of the other spider-creatures and, together, we turned on the last. As Larienna’s sword pushed the thing to one side, it met the flat sweep of my axe coming hard from the other. Again there was a loud “popping” noise and a flash of light ~ this time accompanied by a very disagreeable smell. “’Ware behind,” the soldier called, pivoting to face something behind me. I dived forward, hearing the unpleasant hiss of displaced air as a blade slashed through the spot I’d been standing in. Rolling, I came to my feet…

Larienna was hacking frantically at a golden-coloured ball that seemed to be moving of its own volition. Reading my axe, I stepped in: just as the ball split along the seams. As it opened like some strange flower, a metallic “head” and “torso” rose from the sphere. It had no “hands”, one arm ended on a strange confusion of metal parts and the other arm ended in a flat, circular shield. This it used to shove Larienna out of the way, the other arm slashing out as a blade somehow grew from the odd collection of metal at the end. Seeing that it was momentarily occupied, I reared back and hit the thing as hard as I could with my axe.

It pivoted on its base with frightening speed and, even though I could discern nothing that remotely looked like a pair of eyes, I got the distinct impression it was looking at me. That was when Larienna’s flat-bladed gladius cracked against its torso. As it started to turn towards her, I swung my axe in a flat and deadly arc. Metal crumpled and the head sprang off the neck and crashed to the floor a few paces away. The device spun erratically on the spot for a second or two, then seemed to deflate: like an inflated pig-bladder that’s been punctured.

“What,” I panted, “the frell was that?”

“The Empire calls them ‘animalcules’,” Larienna replied as I stepped up to examine one of the spider things. “Those are ‘Type I’,” she continued, before gesturing to the cracked and broken sphere, “and that’s a ‘Type II’.”

“How many types are there?” I asked, scraping up a thick goo that had leaked from the animalcule into one of my collection phials.

“The Empire has identified three types,” she replied. “There seem to be more Type Ones in the ruins in Vvardenfell than anything else. You sometimes get several Type Twos, the third Type is quite a bit rarer.”

“Would it look something like a heavily armoured Man carrying a big club?” I asked warily.

“Exactly like…” she paused, seeing my eyes widen. “Oh.”