The Story Of Hajima The Nin Ronin, this is kinda long and addictive maybe.. Options

[jchamber]

I got inspiration from you guys, so thanks. Well here it is. Lemme know whatcha think.

(edited for fluidity, immersion, detail, and character touch up)

Chapter one- the begining
Part One
The Uncertainty

"Owww, my head..... dear Mephala!! What hit me?" I found myself with my face buried in a pillow on a hammock and my head was splitting in two. I can't remember what happened that was making my head hurt so bad or why I am lying down but I did know I wanted the pain to stop.

"Quiet, or the guard will hear you, he can be a mean sort." Said a gruff, deep voice. I turned my head to get a veiw of the guy and as I did so realized that I was on a boat, and that I didn't have a sea stomach as nausea overtook me and spilled my previous meal, which seemed to contain little more than a thin soup that I can't remember eating.

"Hey! Watch it!!" said the gruff voice that was now connected to a muscular dark elf with an ear ring, and scar on the right side of his face that took one eye out. He was wearing nothing but a pair of worn out, undyed, perhaps too used... pair of trousers on.

"Sorry 'bout that, I didn't see you were standing so close, good thing you were a little behind me."

"Yea good for yout health too, how are you besides being seasick?"

"My head is feels like it's going to explode, Several parts of my body feel like they have been wounded, I am still tired, and I haven't the strength to turn over to look at my body to see how bad the damage is."

"Well don't worry you'll be fine, gave that guard a mighty good fight though."

"What? Why is there a guard and just how hard did he hit me on the head, I don't even remember getting on this boat, or why I would be on one.. And why did I fight..."

"Slow down there," the man interrupted. "You are on a boat because that is where the guard put ya, the guard is here because I am a murderer and you have undoubtedly been found guilty of something...not that I am saying you did it, ... whatever it was. When the guard brought you to this boat I am guessing you knew you would get seasick or just wanted to escape and you just about did seeing as it took five guards to help the one you gave a thrashing to bring you down. I didn't see it but I heard it, and about it in good detail. I hear one had a hammer and got the back of your head when the other four were trying to get close enough to you, without getting hurt, to grapple you. I heard alot of scolding afterwards, seemed you were not supposed to be hurt getting on, that guard probably got his status revoked. As for this trip I am guessing we are about halfway there and I would suggest you go to sleep if you can't even turn over. By the way I am Jiub, we can will talk later, when you wake up, for now just rest."

And so I allowed myself to stop fighting the weary weakness that poisoned my mind and muscles and just let go...and soon I was standing in a windy foreign terrain. I had never seen anything like it before, the dirt was red and being picked up in the air, there was also another kind of dirt that seemed to be falling from the sky like a very light sprinkle in the storm of red. Before I could gather any more information about the place I heard a voice in my head of a soft but somewhat resounding tone, "They have taken you from the Imperial city's prison, first by carridge and now by boat. To the east... to Morrowind, fear not for I am watching. You have been chosen"

My shoulder was shaking, I began to wake up...to that gruff voice of Jiub's "Wake up, we're here. Why are you shaking? are you ok? Wake up. Stand up,... there you go. You were dreaming. What's your name? Forgot to ask before you passed out again.

"Owwwwww, I am still really sore, so take it easy on the sholder. Um, gimme a minute I just had a really weird dream.....Um .....BAH why can't I remember....I am sorry I can't remember my name right now, so just call me whatever you want."

"I think you seem like a Ganthar"

"That sounds bad lets go with Hanthimar instead."

"What do I care, it's your name."

"Fine then until I can remember my name we agree on Hanthimar"

"Ok, well, Hanthimar not even last night's storm could wake you, I heard them say we've reached Morrowind. I'm sure they'll let us go!" Jiub said hopefully. "Quiet, here comes the guard."

I could see him coming down the steps at the other end of the lower level of the boat, he looked very serious, but almost comical in that he only had one bracer on and one bracer off. His clothes were dark, but his boots and overvest were lighter. They might provide a little bit of protection...why am I thinking like that, I don't want to hurt the person who might let me go....now he was upon me and began to speak in a light, but very official, voice, "This is where you get off, come with me." I now noticed that the Imperial had some facial hair and was begining to bald, but that was at this point irrelivent. I was more worried about how I couldn't remember my own name. As the guard walked away I was caught up in my own thoughts, trying to remember something. The guard stopped and looked back threateningly.

"You better do what they say," said Jiub. So I got over my daze and followed the guard. When I got to the door in the floor of the top level a woman behind the stairs said, "The sooner you leave, the sooner we can move on." She was a ....well no better than a female dog let's say....That thought was interrupted by the gaurd from below that was escorting me,

"Get yourself up on deck and let's keep that as civil as possible." I paused for a moment to hate the woman, and the male guard gave me a small light push with a, "On deck now, prisoner" So I headed on up the stairs in front of me. I never could have guessed what I was to find at the top.

This post has been edited by jchamber: Feb 15 2006, 06:37 AM

[jchamber]

btw I didn't change threads because chapter one wasn't long enough to justify it having it's own thread, plus it barely took up 10% of the thread capcity. Now for 2.2

Chapter Two- Roots in a Strange Place
Part two- A New Alliance, and the Strange Occurance that Lead to it.

As the door swung open on it's hinges I saw blood on the floor outside on the landing. Across from my room there was another door. To the left was a wall, and to the right there was a slope upwards. "Is there anyone in the other room?" My new aquiantance just grunted in a way to let me know that if there was we were not spending time to get them out.

As I came around the door to my own room I saw the body at the top ot the slope and the lines of blood that had made their way near my room. As we got closer I saw her throat had been slit open and her eyes had been taken out as well..."Why would you have taken her eyes after sliting her throat?"

"I cut her eyes out and then her throat, of course. Besides I like to collect the eyeballs of everyone that I mark to kill. I have large jars filled with eyes back home. I have one set I am especially proud of, maybe one day I will honor you with the privaledge of being able to come to my home and show them to you they have a nice story to them too. " Wow, this guy must have a really great house and come from a privaledged family for it to be that big a deal for him to have someone over to his place.

By this time we had passed three more bodies. Thay must have been taken by a LOT of surprise as my fellow had not a scratch on him. They all had been together when he had attacked them, as there were no lines of blood from being dragged to their present location. ....He seemed to leave the dead wherever they fell.

"Did you use a healing potion to look so healthy after killing this many people at one time?"

"No, these fools were nothing to get worked up about really, I am guessing that you aren't either if they are the ones that put you in bed, speaking of your lack of ability to defend yourself .....if you need a healing potion I always carry one... though I haven't needed one for quite some time." Wow, this guy was kinda mean...and full of himself. I doubted he was half a good as he would like to have me think.

"I'm fine, as long as I don't have to fight." I didn't much care for his conecending tone, and I had a certain amount of pride...I could feel it telling me not to accept handouts. He had also already done me a great service so I felt like I had to be nice to him just until we got outta here and we parted ways.

"We are almost to the door. Clean off your face with this cloth (yes, mother!), can't have you attracting the guard's attention as it would be too troublesome." (oh...that's true I guess) He said that as he turned around pulling a cloth out of his pocket. I wiped my face clean and used some of the alcohol that the fool at my feet had refused to sell to me, and it burned like hell...but it was better than just using a dry cloth.

I heard a door nearby open and my escortee pulled me down behind the bar's counter with his bodyweight without a sound beyond my 'umph'. Four men were coming down to us from the sounds of the alarmed voices there must have been more corpses up there as well. Once they sounded as though they were in the same room as us the fellow at my side lunged off to the side and up a little so as to get a sideways flight look to his movement. He threw dagger after dagger in very rapid succesion one hand after another, howls of pain came to my ears. I saw two bolts fly past him as the others misjudged where he would be by the time they pulled the trigger and the arrow got to him as he threw the last dagger he bent his body at an odd angle and dodged an arrow mid-air just before he hit the ground. I heard the screams of pain turn into garggles, as though they were underwater, then I heard the other bodies also hit the floor.

The dodger had thrown at least five daggers before he had reached the floor. As I glanced over the counter I saw four men that were at least twenty feet away. All of them had daggers in their throats and two had eyes with blades in them, both of whom were weilding crossbows. I couldn't believe my eyes, but now I knew how he had gotten in unscathed in the first place, and why I was one to be connescended at. This was a man capable of killing anyone, who wasn't as good at dodging as he was, on a whim.....and his dodging was amazing as well. I wouldn't underestimate his fighting again as I had when I thought he was just blowing smoke.

"Da**, I hit the cornea of that one....my aim needs some tweaking." He had to be joking but he looked really mad...."Good thing that didn't happen with any of the people I had marked, I wouldn't be able to put that eye in my collection jar."

"That was amazing....how did you get so good at throwing daggers?"

"I couldn't possibly begin to tell you of the training I have underwent and the deals I have made to attain such abilities, but I will say that I would be amazed to meet more than three other people who have attained as much as I have. What I need now is HUMAN resources. I want you to be a resource of mine, because I can only be in one place at a time and cannot fit into certain social places that you can. I expect that you will find a partnership with me most benificial.

"For now though we need to get out of here before anyone misses these sacks of meat on the floor." I nodded and we began to run through the rest of the compound, it was larger than I had thought it would be but we were out within a minute.

I couldn't believe how cold hearted he had been toward the people he had killed, I mean it wasn't like I hadn't killed before, but I didn't doubt that they were important to someone and that they were undeserving of life because they disgraced themselves and those around them....it had been a favor to them so that they could keep some honon and respect in this life. He also reminded me of something......that cold indifference was familar to me somehow. At this point I was looking forward to seeing if more of my memory was unlocked, "Do you know a man named Stargel?"

"No, and you need to be quite or I won't be able to hear any approaching guards from outside. So wait until later to ask your questions." Well, at least I got the answer before he started treating me like a child.

Once outside I realized that while that place had all the same people and that the contents of the building were the same, I was actually in another building entirely, in another town maybe...it was cold out, "Where is this? I was near the stilt strider port of Balmora when I walked into the building that I was captured in by the same people that are in there...what's going on?"

"Well, I am no specialist at transportation magic, but I would guess they had something similar to a mage guild guide, because you are a long long way from Balmora. This is the city of Dagon Fel, fool."

This post has been edited by jchamber: Mar 3 2006, 06:51 PM