The Eldest Councilor, A knight in service of a councilor... Options

[Kiln]

Author's note: Keep in mind that none of the characters in this story are based off of any in oblivion, as I do not have the game and cannot add references to it so just assume that it takes place years after the OB storyline.
Also, this is my first real try at a story from the first person perspective so it may not be so good but hey, I hope you find the time to at least read a little and decide if you like it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prologue

I shall tell you a story that is rarely told, there are few left in this world to recite it. It is a tale of a knight who would stop at nothing to protect his master and friend, throughout time he grew more and more powerful. I will admit that his power was not used only for helping people, they were used for what his master desired and needed. I shall read this story from the journal of Deagan, for he is long gone now and his tale has nearly been forgotten.

Chapter One: In the Beginning...

My name is Deagan, I am but a prisoner now but I was not always locked up like this, believe it or not I once served one of the oldest and most respected councilors in the country...once I was a respected knight serving under what I felt was right...though now I sit here in the darkness, secluded from the other inmates, I can't help but think back to when I first arrived and why I was brought here.

When I first entered the prison, I was on the same floor as the other prisoners but after I escaped my cell and nearly made it out of the complex, the warden added several more guards around me but I was still on the same floor at that time.

The extra guards that were added to the area were always drunk and abusive, they enjoyed hitting me for long periods of time, generally only a few would participate and the beatings would last only a few short minutes but there were always the occasions when they would all enter my cell and hit me at once.

I could have killed them at any time with the amount of experience and training I'd been through but I took the punishment so I could avoid getting into more trouble. Though every man has his limits and eventually I snapped.

One day when the guards entered my cell to begin the usual beating I took the iron mug from the wet stone floor of my room and swung it with my full strength at the nearest guard, causing him to fall to the ground.

As the other guards stood in amazement, I drew the sword from the belt of their downed comrade and jabbed it through the stomach of one of the others. The last guard that hadn't already run unsheathed his sword and I fought him for a few minutes before finally getting through and slicing his neck.

I know it was probably wrong but I felt great, I'd once again gotten the feel of a blade in my hand and felt the blood of the guards who had beaten me regularly for almost four years.

I went for the stairway and fought several more guards in the room with the exit.

Before I left I took a knee near the bodies and searched them quickly for anything that might be of use to me once I had left the prison but there was nothing but a bit of gold and a key.

I went down to the cell room and released the other inmates, no matter what they had done, nobody deserved to be locked up here. The bruised inhabitants of the prison stayed downstairs for now, until I'd checked things outside the prison.

At that point I was starting to feel pretty good, the doorway was right in front of me and I now had a weapon and a bit of gold, I was set to start my new life.

I opened the double doors in front of me and stared blankly into the huge blue sky above me, smelling the fresh air, tasting the winds, absorbing every moment of my newly acquired freedom...but it was a short lived moment of ecstasy.

In all the time I'd been fighting my way out of the prison, one of the guards had already made his way into town and brought back several others. I looked out across the courtyard at the many armored guards in formation in front of me and did a rough estimation of how many were there.

I counted about twenty and readied myself to fight them when I heard the loud thumping noise, as I slowly looked down I noticed the arrow in my chest and quickly broke it off, leaving the tip still inside of my flesh and starting to move closer to the group of men down the stairway.

Another arrow struck my shoulder but I did not let my pain show, instead I continued to make my way closer and closer to the soldiers, knowing that this battle would be my death...unfortunately it wasn't.

A man in a robe emerged and put his hand out as if he wished were motioning for me to stop, from it emerged the spell that ended my escape, it hit me and all my strength faded, I felt as if I hadn't slept in months and I fell to the ground on my knees, barely able to stay awake...which reminds me of why I hate mages since we're on the subject.

The guards surrounded me and forced my head down, the guard drew back his blade and readied to strike me, finishing this once and for all.

Before he could a voice rang out,

"No! Do not kill him, he shall be forced to suffer for what he has done, for the rest of his days he will remember the brave guards he killed today and their deaths will weigh hard on his mind."

In reality I felt no remorse for killing the guards, not even the slightest bit of guilt, my years of killing had taken away the feeling of grief and the feeling of wrongdoing that I had when I first started.

The man leaned down close to me and whispered into my ear softly,

"You will suffer for the crimes you have committed fool, you cannot stop us, we will kill the councilor."

I forced my head to look into his eyes then quickly looked to his feet and spat onto them, showing my hatred for him. If I could have lifted my arms I would have hit him right in the jaw and strangled him but alas, I was powerless.

I stayed awake a bit longer to see one of the guards draw back a wooden club and that was it, I awoke some time later in the darkness, completely alone. I learned later from the warden that they had moved me into the cells in the basement, away from the well behaving prisoners and into the part of the prison with those who would never see day again.

The guards were careful here, never leaving anything in which we could use to escape and never entering our cells under any circumstances. I was in the high-risk section of the prison and nobody wanted to disturb me.

It was a step up from the prison upstairs in some ways, no listening to other inmates complaints and no abusive guards.

Though life in the lower sector got old quickly I'm still here, as I've been unable to escape, its been years since my only escape attempt and I wonder if I would even be in this situation if I had not been in the service of councilor Quin, who would probably be killed by the black diamond assassins, if he had not been already.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope this at least slightly interests some of you.

This post has been edited by Kiln: May 9 2006, 08:14 PM

[Kiln]

Well I wrote a variant of this four or five days ago that took me about an hour and a half but right before I posted it the power kicked off and I lost it...I was very unhappy. Stupid power outages...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2: The Storm

I made my way upstairs and left the secret hall of knights standing proud in my new armor. It was heavy but it was specially made so that it didn't restrict movement of the arms and legs, a thick layer of chain was under the arm and only the top of the gloves were metal, underneath was a thin leather that would allow me to have a tight grip on my blade.

I slowly walked into the dining hall and looked around once again at the splendor of the decorations and the soft lighting of the candles. Strangely I was still amazed of how wonderful the room looked and how good the food tasted even after eating there for over a month.

The maid and her assistant brought out a dish of roast beef that was only rivaled in beauty by the girl that carried it to the table. That was the first time that I'd noticed how pretty she was, I was generally more interested in the food but this woman was too perfect to miss. She had blond hair that ran to her shoulders, green eyes, and the perfect body that would make the councilor himself want her if she wasn't born a servant.

My heart beat sped up and became louder, sweat began to build on my forehead, and I felt as if I were swallowing an apple with every drink from the goblet beside me.

I sat silently staring at her as she served the food to Quin, Oryn, and myself. When she noticed she started to blush and moved on with her business and left the room with a smile, I shook off the dazed feeling and began to eat the food in front of me as my thoughts wandered back to her and when our eyes had met for that brief moment.

Oryn dragged me back to reality with a quick tap on the shoulder to indicate that both of them were ready to go. I left my plate with half a meal remaining on it and went out by the carriage in the courtyard.

Quin and Oryn entered the cart as the gates of the keep opened and the bridge dropped down for us to cross. We rode for several hours and were quite surprised that nothing had happened along the road. I could see the gates of the imperial city now and nothing stood between the carriage and our destination. I looked off to the sides of the road, watching for an ambush but there was nothing suspicious anywhere.

Oryn stepped out with a cautious look on his face and spoke to the guards at the gate. The massive gates opened and we slowly entered, the streets were empty, there was simply nothing there to make us suspicious of an assassination. The carriage pulled up in front of the council hall and stopped abruptly, the guards formed around it and readied for the councilor to disembark.

I saw the councilor inside, he looked as worried as everyone else. Perhaps his informant had been wrong, or he'd been discovered and the assassins' plans had changed. Oryn stepped from the carriage and called all of the guards into attention before Quin climbed out behind him.

"All of you stay here and guard the entrance, nobody enters after us...nobody." he commanded

Quin stepped up beside him and pointed at me briefly.

"Deagan, you come in as well...you are one of my knights after all." he said calmly

"Yes councilor." I said respectfully

I felt like part of the circle now, being allowed inside the council chambers was a great honor. I followed them up the steps and the guards opened the doors for us to enter.

I looked around the crowded room slowly admiring everything as Quin put on his political face, even if you were his most hated rival you would not know it by the way the councilor acted towards you. He shook hands with everyone and smiled as he pretended to remember those who talked with him, he was a true politician at these meetings.

The councilor made his way to his seat at the back edge of the room and sat down, Oryn stood calmly with his arms crossed beside the councilor.

The room was huge with many lanterns lighting it brightly, the tables were around the back edge of the room in a "U" shape so the councilors could sit with their backs to the wall, and the tables were exquisitely decorated sparing nothing to make it look as costly as possible.

People danced to the small group of men playing instruments in the corner of the room as they talked and laughed among themselves creating one loud noise much like a large tavern. This was more of a party than a meeting, a feast paid for by imperial taxes and had I not eaten a huge breakfast hours before I would have feasted with them.

I looked up and noticed the twin balconies on opposite sides of the room, a place that someone could stand and look over the entire hall. I noticed that about six servants passed me at once going up the stairway on the right side and luckily I decided to follow them.

I walked up the stairs with my back to the wall looking around the corner and watching them enter a room marked "Servants Quarters". I slowly crept up and opened the door partially to see the small room filled with crates and bedrolls.

I could see someone pulling a rope up through the window and I watched closely trying to figure out what he was doing. After a moment he reached the end of the rope and reached down, pulling a bow inside with a few arrows in a pouch.

The man in the center rolled out a piece of paper and the others started to gather around it. I looked closer and noticed that it was a map of the council hall dining area. The leader reached out his arm and pointed to the map.

"You take the nord...you two get downstairs and get the councilor...I'll take the new guy..." the leader said as he pointed to the appropriate people

As he pointed I saw it, on his forearm was a small black diamond contained within a serpent's mouth marking himself as the leader of the assassins. The men stood and started to walk towards the door so I turned and ran as quickly as I could to try and warn the councilor.

By the time I'd reached the ground floor the assassin with the bow was in place getting ready to release an arrow. I pushed through the crowd but there were too many nobles in the way and I couldn't make it in time.

The first assassin got beside Jadier and pulled a dagger out of the loaf of bread he was holding, before he could do anything Oryn had stabbed and killed him. The second assassin moved toward Quin, jumping over the table and also being killed by Oryn.

It was too late to warn them, it had begun so I decided to make my way back upstairs and stop the marksman. I ran quickly up the stairs as the common folk ran for the exit I bounced off the wall at the top of the stairs and turned in a dead run toward the archer.

The first arrow was released and it landed in Oryn's chest, I wasn't even close to the assassin yet when he drew the second arrow and released it as well. I looked to Oryn who had been hit in the throat by the second shot, he was now choking and had fallen to his knees.

In a blind rage I drew back my blade and brought it down with all my strength, hitting the archer directly in the spine. He fell to the floor and I stabbed him in the heart before looking back up to the servant's quarters.

The other three assassins emerged from the door ahead of him and two of them circled me, forcing me to back up near the wall. The third assassin smiled at me briefly before pulling the hood over his head and heading downstairs.

He was getting away and there was nothing I could do about it until the assassins in front of me were down, I had to focus on them first.

I sidestepped the blade of one of the angry assassins and let him hit the wall behind me, I turned and quickly cut the drapes he was standing under to cover him up for a moment before turning back to the other assassin that was swinging his sword at me now.

I stepped back just in time to survive but I got a diagonal cut on my left cheek and blood ran freely from the wound. I wiped my face with my left glove and then looked back up to see the two assassins ready again, the second had already forced the drapes off of himself and was beside the other assassin once again.

I thought back to the training that Oryn had given me about strategy, I knew I needed to keep my mind on the fight now or else I wouldn't survive so I looked around quickly doing a scan of the area for anything I could do to even the odds.

One was near a balcony so I faked a swing and kicked him over the edge causing him to fall the long distance onto the stone floor, he hit with a loud thumping sound and blood slowly ran in jagged circle around him.

The other assassin landed a carefully planned stab in the gap between my chestpiece and my greaves. Blood ran down my stomach and the assassin looked at his work with satisfaction.

In anger I swung my blade at him with my full strength but it landed in a wooden portion of the wall, holding it there and forcing me to abandon it. I pushed the assassin to the wall and hit his hand until he dropped his blade, I hit him with my fists as hard as I could several times before his knee met my groin, forcing me to fall to the floor.

I laid there in pain as the assassin drew a dagger from his boot and turned me over onto my back, I pushed against his arm as he tried to bring the short blade into my throat, barely keeping it at bay.

The assassin's dagger slowly came closer and closer to me as my strength failed me. It started to sink into the flesh of my neck and I felt warm blood starting to trickle down the back of my neck.

I heard loud footsteps coming from the wooden stairway and the assassin turned away before I saw a blade come through his chest, blood covered my face as the assassin fell on top of me.

The man who pulled the assassin off of me was Falen, my friend from training. He helped me to my feet quickly.

"We have to get to Quin, there may be more." Falen said quickly

I stood and held my cut neck as I went downstairs to join Oryn as he died. I sat down and pushed my back to the wall beside the nord.

"Continue your training and...protect Quin..." Oryn said, choking on his own blood

He handed me a blood stained letter to his father before he drew his final breath and slowly faded away, he was gone.

Anger filled my veins and pumped through my heart, I would find the assassin and kill him slowly...for Oryn.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the next part, hope you enjoy it.

This post has been edited by Kiln: May 9 2006, 08:15 PM