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]

Well now that my dreams of playing Oblivion are crushed by my wimpy Vid card I can focus on the story that probably no one will read anymore cause everyone is having fun with the game! *I would sell my soul for a new Vid Card! * Nevertheless I have to do something to bide my time till I can make enough money at work and doing DJ gigs..... Here's the next update friends.

Taillus looks at his halberd before looking at the crowd. He decided that he would be better off to have them rooting for him to bring the other warriors' morale down. Taillus abandons his halberd and throws it behind him before releasing his mace. The crowd, already seeing the marvelous weapon in action roars in approval as it hums with enchantment.

Taillus swings the mace of Molag Bal and watches as it dents the chest piece of the struggling Artus. The crowd continues to scream as Taillus lets it crash once again into his chest piece. Artus howls in pain as Taillus places a foot on Artus' cuirass in order to pull his weapon from the metal.

Rustling coming from behind him tells Taillus that Vanguard was getting to his feet, Taillus who was beginning to feel the charge of the mace turns to face him. The redguard grins as he readies himself watching Taillus approach.

“Angry Taillus? You should be! I have been watching and studying your moves since you got here and do you want to know something else? Once I stab holes through your pathetic body, I will take your beloved mace!” Vanguard booms. Taillus grips the handle as Vanguard continues spewing taunts.

Taillus knew that Vanguard was trying to distract him and he could hear Artus getting to his feet once again. He watched Vanguard's expression as he smirked looking over Taillus' shoulder. Taillus himself grins as he realized he could see the shadow of Artus himself.

As Taillus watched Artus wind up for a swing with his claymore, Taillus rolls to the side watching the metal slam against the off-guard Redguard, knocking his halberd from his hand. Taillus retaliates by swinging his mace once again, hearing the familiar sound of metal on metal as the spiked mace crashes into Artus’ left pauldron.

Vanguard throws his shield aside, but not before removing a hidden long sword from behind it. He grins as he approaches Taillus once again. The two men exchange blows as the crowd practically goes insane at the spectacle before them. Taillus quickly looks over his shoulder as he can see Artus getting slowly to his feet once again.

Artus joins the fight after removing his heavily damaged chest piece and helm and soon all three men are engaged in a mess of swinging metal, sweat and anguish. The crowd can barely make out who is who as the three men partake in a deadly dance of steel, silver and more. The announcer steps in to try an give a play by play but to no avail. The three men were moving too quickly and the advantage was switching from fighter to fighter.

As Taillus began to feel the effects of the long fought battle, he thinks to himself as to how he could end this. He was swinging his mace trying to hold off both men but as it stood, he was either fighting both of them at once, or he was getting between them fighting with each other.

The warriors continued their deadly dance of blades as things surge forward until Taillus feels the searing pain of metal tearing his skin. He looked over his shoulder as the blade of Artus sliced through the armor on his leather curiass and left a deep gash just below his left shoulder on his back. He clenches his teeth as he fights his way from the circle but to no avail. Wherever he would try to escape, both men would follow. He had to break the chain but was greeted by another burning pain. He jumped in fear as the long blade of Vanguard sank deep into his thigh.

Taillus was beginning to lose focus and both men knew it as they started teaming up on him. When he would try to move, both men moved as well keeping Taillus flatfooted and in a dangerous situation. One desperate swing of his mace changed the tides of battle as it collides with Vanguard’s chest, giving him enough time to get out of his predicament. Taillus stumbled backwards before falling on his hindquarters as he watches Vanguard struggle to get to his feet as well.

“As long as I can keep connecting with this mace I will be ok. I need the strength it gives and god knows I need the life essence.” Taillus says to himself as he quickly gets to his feet. He is met by Artus who tries repeatedly to skewer him with his claymore. Vanguard quickly jogs over and joins once again.

“No hard feelings Taillus but we won’t let a rookie like you take the title from one of us!” Artus yells as he continues to stab at him with his blade. Taillus responds by grabbing a handful of dirt from the arena floor and tossing it into their faces giving him another chance to escape the double team tactic. Taillus decides to try out his magicka in hopes that he could injure one of the men enough to even the odds.

He struggles to remember the spell he wants but smiles slightly as a blast of white magicka explodes from his palms. The glimmering magicka spell hurtles at Vanguard, knocking him off his feet and through the air for a few feet. Artus looks over his shoulder but was interrupted by the Mace of Molag Ball crashing into his ribcage. The crowd cheers as Artus doubles over in pain and Taillus raises Molag Bal’s weapon to deliver another blow.

Blood sprays from the downed warrior as the red energy flows from the mace, charging Taillus’ body. He looks at the tip of his mace, and to the bloodthirsty crowd before raising his weapon into the air. The spectators jump from their seats and cheer wildly. Vanguard charges at Taillus fresh from the effects of the magicka spell from the hands of Taillus. He had chosen an armor eater spell that had worked its way through the chest piece and most of his greaves leaving him pretty much defenseless.

Taillus watches his steps and waits for the best moment to make his move. Vanguard lifts his own blade to strike but is too late. Taillus throws his mace into the air and whispers to himself while clutching his chest before vanishing into thin air.

The crowd gasps as Vanguard watches the mace fall to the ground. Greedily, he stoops to pick it up.

“I don’t know what happened to you Outlander but your mace is mine!” The redguard shouts as he grasps the mace and stands tall. He turns just in time to see Taillus hurling his halberd with god like strength given to him by the enchantment of the mace itself. Before Vanguard could even react, the speeding halberd rests, deeply imbedded in his bare chest. The crowd goes silent as he falls to the ground dropping the mace of Molag Bal.

Taillus slowly walks over to his downed friend and picks up his mace. He would be sure to sell off what was left of Vanguard’s equipment so that he would not feel bad but overall, he was glad to be alive. As the crowd roared in acceptance of the new Arena Champion, Taillus looks around him at the people and thrusts his mace into the air….