The Story of Taillus, Chapter 5 Options

[Taillus]

Chapter 5 - Two Is Not Better Then One.

Taillus wakes up to the sound of someone trying to gain access to the top of the guard tower. He rolls over as he opens his eyes before frantically scooting over to sit on the hatch. He can hear the annoyed grumbles of an Imperial Legion guard as he knocks on the wooden hatch.

“By the gods if you do not let me up there intruder we will go outside and ventilate you with a volley of arrows!” An angry imperial shouts as he raps on the door impatiently. Taillus bites his lip as he looks at the hatch between his legs. He quickly thinks about his best course of action. The tower is quite high, but he has had really good luck with falling and not breaking any bones.

He could scale the wall like he did on the lighthouse in Seyda Neen, but the surface of this tower seems much more smooth and he would probably land on his face anyhow. Not to mention he runs the risk of being caught.

“You could kill him my boy. One solitary guard is no match for my harvester of souls! Use the Mace that I have entrusted in you to rearrange that mouthy guard’s facial features. It will get you started on my army of souls!” The evil Molag Bal whispers in Taillus’ head.

“Do you not have any godly duties you should be concerning yourself with? I agreed to your demands but you did not tell me when I had to start.” Taillus growls as he looks again at the wooden hatch. The guard begins chipping away at it with his sword making Taillus panic.

Suddenly it comes to Taillus as if he had read it in a book of things to do in a situation such as this. Taillus clears his throat and kneels on the hatch, lowering his face to the wooden surface so that the guard below can hear him better.

“Could you leave me to my job my imperial friend?” Taillus shouts at the hatch trying to get the attention of the guard.

“I have been paid to clean the leaves and rain water out up here and I cannot do my job when I have guards threatening my life!” Taillus shouts again. He can hear some guards below him conversing quietly with one another and he looks down between his legs hoping that they fell for it.

“Terribly sorry friend. I will leave you to your business but hurry and be on your way.” The guard says as Taillus can hear him descend the wooden ladder and walk away. Taillus has to cover his mouth to contain his laughter as he gathers his things and opens the latch with his foot.

Taillus finds himself once again in the bustling city of Balmora. It seemed that the people had forgotten about his little spat with Molag Bal in the streets yesterday and he decided to check out the local merchants.

[Taillus]

As Taillus finds himself in Vivec just a short time later, he decides it would be wise to not do a lot of sight seeing and just get down to business. He quickly checks through the various merchants and trainers of the Foreign Quarter to repair and reinforce his armor as well as to learn a few much needed spells. He was going to have to learn as much as possible in order to stay alive over the next few weeks.

Taillus heads to the Arena Canton in Vivec to register himself for the competition and to pay his fee. He was beginning to feel much better about his situation. He had seen the mace of Molag Bal in action and from what he could tell, used an enchantment to mend wounds and give a second wind as well as being able to steal the very essence of strength from his foes.

He was also feeling much more confident due to his success with the daedroth and the Nord back in Balmora. It seemed that somewhere deep inside him, he really did know how to fight. He was impressed as to how he reacted under stress and with training, he began to think that he could be a very good soul farmer.

Taillus learned that his first match would be in only a few days but they could not release any information on his opponent. This would make things interesting and he had to be sure he would be ready for anything.

Taillus found himself underneath the Arena looking at the various animal cages and training corners. A few men were shining their armor and making sure all of their equipment was in working order. Taillus locks his belongings in a cubby with his number etched into it and sits on the floor watching some people on the training mat spar with their trainers.

Taillus looks as one man, a redguard finishes his spar and leaves the training mat to take a break. He spots Taillus and takes a seat beside him. He was dressed in thick studded leather armor and had various blades strapped to his person. He looked to be very well seasoned in battle and he could probably pick up a few tips.

“Hello Imperial, you look to be quite lost here. You must be quite new to the game. My name is Cerwin but you can call me Vanguard. Everyone else here does. So what brings you to the Arena?” Cerwin asks.

Taillus smiles, as if he was going to disclose the reason for him coming here. That would be a sure fire way to make a bunch of friends. He simply looks over to the Redguard and fabricates a huge lie.

“I am here to earn enough to hopefully cure my younger sister of her ailment.” He says while acting emotional. The redguard must have fallen for it because he opened up and began telling Taillus what to look out for in the Arena.

“Well it is very brave of you to do this for your sister my friend, one thing you must be aware of is that many of these men have been doing this for a very long time. There are two ways you can win. One is to kill your opponent, the other is to make them submit. I do not recommend the second method. The way I see it, if you let your adversary leave, they will learn from your fight and kill you next time.” The Redguard states as he slowly gets to his feet.

“I wish you luck my friend. I will be watching you. I suggest you come upstairs and watch a few battles yourself. It will give you some insight on what you are up against.” Vanguard says as he heads out of view.

It seemed like a good idea to watch the next few battles Taillus thought. Hopefully it wouldn’t scare him out of fighting. He couldn’t stand to be yelled at again by Molag Bal.