The Story of Taillus, Chapter 8 Options

[Taillus]

This is the very last "Full" chapter. I really appreciate the continued support and since my Video Card will be in my computer by Saturday I will have to start working on the story of Xander.... Thanks all and I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have loved writing it!

Chaper 8 - Eye For An Eye.

The now defenseless town of Balmora bows to Taillus’ mercy as he casually struts through town. Morrowind used to scare him silly. He can remember walking through these same streets not too long ago with a dire fear that someone would plant a knife in his spine for whatever gold he would be carrying. Today, and from now on he would not fear this at all.

He heads across one of the stone walkway bridges that cross the small river passing through the town and heads to the more residential part of town. The villagers pass by him without the slightest clue and he also ignores them for the time being. His mind was completely focused on giving his old “Friend” what he deserves.

The door to the Balmora hideout of the Thieves Guild opens quickly, catching a nearby Thieves Guild Member off guard. Taillus stomps across the floor and grabs the one known as “Sugar-lips Hasabi by the throat and lifts the thief off the floor, letting clawed feet dangle. Taillus squeezes hard as Sugar Lips wheezes and gasps trying to catch some small breath of air.

“I am going to give you three seconds to catch your breath and then you will tell me where the Dunmer by the name of Jiub is. I will not tolerate your ignorance so it would be in your best interest that you do not utter the words “I do not know.” Taillus whispers as he clenches Hasabi and props him against the wall.

The Thief gasps and tries to pull Taillus’ unarmored muscular arm away but to no avail. Finally, Hasabi manages to agree to Taillus’ terms and he drops to the ground desperately trying to catch some air to breathe.

“Sugar-lips sent Jiub to fetch some items of use from the local Mage’s Guild and he should be back soon.” The Sugar-Lips gasps while looking up at Taillus in fear. Taillus grins from beneath his hooded robe and turns to leave.

“Juib will peel that armor off of your body and skewer you without mercy you Imperial fool. He will not allow you to disgrace the Guild of Thieves.” Sugar-Lips hisses just before the door closes making Taillus turn quickly and grab hold of some clothing and heave the poor thief outside, off the step and out into the streets of Balmora for some discipline.

“What did you say!?” Taillus explodes as Hassabi struggles to quickly get to his feet. The thief draws a poisoned glass dagger and circles Taillus in a defensive stance. Taillus rips his robe off revealing his chiseled bare chest and motions for Sugar-Lips to try and plant the dagger into his exposed chest.

Sugar-Lips lunges at Taillus over and over but fails to hit flesh. Taillus draws his mace and motions for the Guild member to try and fill his body with poison. As the dagger is thrust in his direction, Taillus steps to the side and swings the mighty enchanted mace downward at the Thief Guild member knocking Sugar-Lips lifeless to the ground at his feet.

“Where are you Juib!? Come to me and accept your fate my friend!” Taillus shouts filling the empty streets with his voice as the white spirit energy of Sugar-lips flows into his amulet. Taillus can feel the added attributes of the thief with his own and his eyes could now suddenly make out more detail in the dark He felt as though he had trained in the Thieve’s Guild for years. He sprints through town heading quickly to the mages guild where Juib is supposedly off stealing scrolls. Checking his inventory, He found an invisibility scroll that he would definitely see going to good use within the next few minutes.

[Taillus]

Xander sits atop a large rock as his soldiers begin to grow tired of waiting. They begin to complain of thirst and hunger as well as stating that their feet hurt. Their constant complaining causes him to bite his lip lest he say something to insult them. He knew that they would offer very little help but if they wound up holding this Taillus character back for only minutes then that would be all they could do.

Suddenly, Xander gets an idea and hops off of his rock to inform Sellus Gravius. He jogs over to where he was getting his armor ready and gets his attention.

“I need a favor of you. I need you to go tell Socillus Ergalla to take the boat we came in on and sail it to Ebonheart. Allow him to take one of our soldiers along with him so that they can inform the people of Ebonheart to ready a line of defence. Get them to spread the word and hopefully we can move as many people into hiding as we can so that some people can be saved.” Xander orders as Gravius jogs back into town along with a chosen soldier.

The time that they had left on their side was dwindling down quickly and Xander knew he would have to have a secondary plan in case Taillus managed to cut through the soldiers.

“Men, ready your armor and weapons. There is a bad feeling carried with the wind and something tells me that Taillus will be through here by night fall. Have one prerogative and one only. This man must die tonight. He must not get past Seyda Neen. I know that this is not a great fort with numbers of men backing you up but we are up against only one man. Do not falter, do not give up. Cut him down until you cease to breathe!” Xander shouts as the men suit up.

Xander himself wears a full suit of imperial steel armor with a crest of the Blue Lions of Ebonheart on the cuirass complimented by a long, dark blue cape that was bolted to his shoulders and stopped just short of gracing the ground. With his Imperial Long sword in one hand and a small shield buckled to the other he stands in anticipation of meeting the horror known as Taillus.

Hours pass and the sun retreats beneath the horizon and a figure comes to view casually walking down the path leading into the village. Sellus Gravius identifies it as being in fact Taillus and the men get ready to attack.

Taillus can see the crowd of angry Soldiers amped to lose their lives fighting but Taillus could not care less. To him it was another bunch of soldiers that wouldn’t last more then a few minutes. Taillus stops for a brief second to confirm what he was just thinking.

“Not a short time ago and I was scared almost to death over fighting and now it bores me that a man dies before I get a chance to have fun. What is it that I have become? This is ridiculous! I am no longer human. I am no longer a man at all. I am nothing more then an evil god that tortures for my own amusement. Jiub was right after all. This is pretty much what I have wanted all along.” Taillus says to himself as he looks at the group of waiting soldiers.

“Today you die, Taillus! Your reign of terror will end now!” Xander shouts as he breaks into a run followed by the local soldiers and Sellus. Taillus shakes his head at these men that are willing to die for nothing and he reaches for his sword, then something happened. Something that Taillus couldn’t believe. The Breton that led the small squad began to shimmer with magicka and his speed seemed to amplify.

Curious, Taillus watched the man as he quickly broke away from his men. Before he even had time to react, Taillus was blocking lightning quick swings and stabs from the Breton. Taillus raised a brow in confusion as He had never met a man that ran to fight him even knowing that he would certainly die.

Taillus glanced another speedy swing from the Breton and retaliated with a swing of his own. Xander blocked but the sheer force of the swing made his blade vibrate violently and the recoil of the attack seemed to have fractured his wrist. Xander growls as the warm pain of fractured bone seeps up his arm.

“There is no way you are done yet, mighty soldier!” Taillus shouts as he can tell he had already injured this man’s arm. Surprisingly however, Xander still continued to fight, trying to overcome Taillus’ strength with his own speed. Soon the spell began to wear off and Xander realized the true strength of this beast of a man.

With one swing of his broadsword, Xander was robbed of his breath and was sent staggering backwards as he notices a large dent in his cuirass from the blade. Xander was certain that the last blow that had dented his armor so badly had also broken a number of his ribs as he places his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

He looks to see Taillus charging at his men and attempts to get in the way, wanting to kill this demon or die in the process. He quickly slides between Taillus and the Imperial soldiers with his arms extended.

“You cannot lay a hand on them until you cease my heart from beating!” Xander shouts, ready again to take another thrashing but Taillus was not interested.

“I will deal with you later, Breton!” Taillus growls as he slams the flat of his mighty blade against Xander’s helm, knocking him to the ground unconscious. The last thing that Xander could hear was the sound of the other men screaming in horror as everything faded from his view.