The Story of Taillus, Chapter 6 Options

[Taillus]

* I am sorry if I am moving way too quickly for everyone I am trying to give time to let people read it so in an attempt to make it so much easier on everyone I am hereby limiting myself to only one addition a day I know it will be hard considering now chapter 7 is also ready but I don't want to discourage anyone from reading my story So without further ramblings, here is the beginning of chapter 6! *


Chapter 6 - The Killer Within.

Taillus makes his way to the topside level of the Arena and looks for a seat. He decides to sit close to the arena itself so that he can see all of the details. He was looking forward to seeing what caliber of fighters were entered into the competition and could find himself at an advantage if he could figure out the winner’s fighting styles.

He watched as the spectators began to get antsy at the annunciation of the fighter’s names. From what Taillus could tell, the fighter named Artus was a fan favorite. He watched as the two men walked through opened doors and stand at opposite ends of the arena. The crowd goes eerily silent as both men have three minutes to emotionally prepare themselves.

The one known as Artus stands wearing a full suit of steel armor with a large battle axe and a sturdy steel shield. Artus had taken the liberty to etch a notch into the shield seemingly having one for each man he killed in battle. Taillus quickly counted coming up with an impressive number of twenty three.

The other fighter was a very solidly built Orc. His name was quite hard to announce so Taillus eventually gave up trying to repeat it. Nevertheless, the orc had only a pair of rusted iron greaves and an equally tarnished pair of iron boots. His upper body was completely void of armor and he had a single halberd in his hands.

A man stood at the top of a podium with a large bug shell at his mouth, the way it was shaped allowed his voice to be amplified so that the entire arena could hear him speak, after stating each combatant’s wins versus losses, he raises his hand and signals for both men to begin fighting.

The Orc belts out a bone shaking battle cry as both men charge headlong in each other’s direction. The fighter known as Artus quickly finds himself equipped wrongly for the fight when He ducks behind his shield only to feel the halberd scrape away a piece of the steel armor on his back. The Orc was far too tall for the shield to offer the protection it should have provided.

Artus quickly rolls to the side, abandoning his shield and swings desperately at the abdomen of the large Orc. The orc simply strafes to the side and pierces the fighter’s leg with the superior reach of his halberd.

The man shrieks in pain as he looks to see blood drip from underneath his grieves. The Orc being surprisingly nimble for his size, quickly removes the halberd from Artus’s leg and spins it before him, allowing the blade to catch the fighter in the helm. Artus falls to the dirt covered floor of the arena.

The Orc steps back, giving Artus a chance to get to his feet while laughing a deep, belly laugh and yelling obscenities at the downed fighter.

Artus shakily gets to his feet obviously favoring the leg that had been recently skewered by the Orc’s halberd. He motions for the Orc to continue and he readies his axe. The Orc charges once again but it shocked to see Artus throw his Axe with all of his might. It sails over the shoulder of the Orc, who smiles at his good fortune.

What he fails to notice is that the Axe is on a chain that Artus quickly grabs tightly and spins on his heels before hauling it back to him. The chain loses its slack and reverses direction in mid air. The Orc’s smile fades as he looks over his shoulder just in time to see the axe bury itself deeply in the side of his neck. Artus gives one last pull, bringing the ill fated orc to the ground at his feet.

The crowd cheers loudly and Taillus himself couldn’t help but stand and applaud the quick and clever thinking of Artus. He was going to have to have some tricks up his sleeve in order to remain among the living he thinks to himself before getting to his feet and heading downstairs once again.

[Taillus]

A surprise post for Sunday! My girlfriend is addicted to a game called "Zuma" and she has been playing it like mad giving me a few extra minutes to post this piece before I get ready for Clash of the Titans. Sorry again for all of those that are finding it hard to keep up but the story itself is almost finished.

Vanguard approaches Taillus after coming back from sparring and can see the voided look on his face. He wipes the sweat from his forhead and lets the cloth rest over his shoulder.

“You look like you have just come across a Golden Saint my friend, what troubles you?” Vanguard asks as he looks at Taillus’ blank stare. Taillus snaps out of his trance and looks at his friend turned enemy.

“The coordinator just told me my match tomorrow. I am to face you and Artus in a free-for-all late in the evening. I think I am going to be sick.” Taillus says slightly reminiscent of his first Arena match.

“Taillus, I knew about this fight since earlier this morning. It is best not to get worked up about it. Lets just say may the best man win and hope that that man isn’t Artus.” Vanguard laughs as he punches Taillus in the sholder in a friendly manner.

“How can you laugh about this? One or both of us will die tomorrow! Does that not disturb you?” Taillus asks as he feels a headache coming on. Vanguard smiles before pushing Taillus against the lockers.

“Why do you think I have been like a friend to you, Outlander? I learn your tactics and then use them against you. I have killed many “Friends” in the past with the same tactic. Good luck tomorrow you fool! I hope you can devise some new moves lest you wind up a bloody mess at the business end of my sword!” Vanguard yells before shoving Taillus again.

Taillus shakes his head as Vanguard walks off before opening his locker. His same old, same old armor and weapons would not do this time. He was going to have to try something new or else Vanguard would tear him to bits. He wonders why everyone in Morrowind chooses to prey on others to get ahead but again, Taillus was caught being too trusting.

Taillus walked to the foreign quarter with a large bag full of items, weapons and armor. He hoped that a merchant that he had made friends with over time would not let him down like his other supposed friends have done in the past. This relationship was different in that it was improved by money. Taillus brought him armor and weapons to fuel his inventory, and the merchant gave him money. Simple, and to the point was all they needed to get along.

After a half day of bargaining and doing some heavy lifting as a favor, Taillus ended up with an entirely new setup. He thought of Artus’ creative fighting style and decided that speed would be one of the best ways to deal with him, and the simple brute force of Vanguard could be countered by some well used magicka. Taillus heads to his room for the night actually confident in the outcome of the battle.

The entire day before the battle was spent for Taillus practicing in the wasteworks below the foreign quarter. The smell alone would keep anyone from seeing his new equipment and fighting rats would improve his proficiency with his new setup.

Late afternoon Taillus decided to sit and calmly run through his opponent’s tactics in his head. He decided that he should be mentally prepared as well as physically and for the first time would actually go into battle thinking. He suited up as the crowds can be heard throughout the city of Vivec and Taillus was certain that Vivec himself would have been awaken from his deep meditations from the sounds.