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.
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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.
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Hope this at least slightly interests some of you.

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

[Kiln]

Thank you all for your comments, they mean alot.
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I searched the room with my eyes for anything that might point me in the direction of the assassin but there was nothing, no sign of where he might have gone. Quin took a knee beside Oryn and spoke his final words to the corpse of his guard and companion.

"Farewell my friend." He said slowly

A bald man wearing a long brown robe walked up to me and stood silently for a moment before putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Find the assassins my child...and punish them for their ungodly ways." The man said softly

"When they attacked the councilor...they killed my son." he added

"I will avenge his death father...though I have lost their trail." I said quietly

"Start your search in the wine cellar, the old crate in the far eastern corner." He bowed slowly before me and then turned to walk away

I watched him wipe the tears from his eyes and leave the building before I turned to the councilor, the rest of the guards were with him now so I figured he'd be safe with them.

"Councilor, let me end this...let me seek out their leader and kill him." I said

"I wish you luck, for I know that this is something that you must do and that even if I tried, I could not stop you." He replied with a look of approval

"Thank you councilor." I said as I turned quickly to the wine cellar

I made my way to the heavy wooden door leading into the cellar and entered cautiously, unsure of what to expect. The room was rather dark and only a few torches lit the huge space before me, shelves of wine lined the edge of the room, and a large stash of crates stood off towards the eastern corner, just as the priest had told me.

I carefully made my way toward the crates, keeping my eye out for a trap or an ambush. When I felt that it was safe I approached the crates, they looked quite normal but on the top of one was a large black diamond, seemingly burned into the lid.

The crate was sealed so I wedged my dagger in the crack below the lid and gave it a swift pull upward. The crate popped open and I grabbed the top, lifting it off, there was a handle on the bottom of it to pull it back on and inside the crate was a ladder leading deep into the floor.

Great, another passage...

I could see light down below so I slowly climbed down the ladder, securing the lid of the crate above me as I ventured into the lair. The ladder dropped down into a hallway that had been there since the council hall had been built, likely a place for the councilors to take shelter in case of an attack, but had been long forgotten by everyone excluding the black diamonds.

Once I reached the bottom I was enamored by the dull blue glow of the lights around me, seemingly enchanted as there was no visible flame. I shook off the wonder of the lights and contnued deeper inside, eventually emerging from the hallway into a dining area that held four long tables filled with assassins eating their dinner.

The leader of the assassins emerged from his room and held out his arms, calling for silence. Adrenaline pumped through me, I wanted so badly to kill him I could have charged into the middle of the room if I hadn't already weighed the situation in my mind.

"We have failed to achieve our goal once again! We must not let this councilor escape us again, in all the years our order has survived none have made us look so foolish as this one man." He yelled and slammed his fist on the table angrily

The assassins stopped speaking among themselves and gave the leader their full attention, seemingly afraid.

"We make no more mistakes, the next time we attack this councilor, those who fail will answer to me...I grow tired of the incopetence you men have shown of late and things will change if you fail me again..." He said darkly before turning and going back down the hall toward his personal quarters

I stuck to the darkness around the edges of the room, if I was sighted there would be no chance for me to escape...it would be over. I crouched down and slowly made my way down the hall behind the leader, my heart pounded loudly within my chest, begging me to kill him.

It was not time yet though, as I made my way down the hall a corridor formed off to my left. I could hear moaning and cries from down the hall and I made my way there to see what the source of them could be.

I was shocked and sickened by what I saw before me, cells containing battered people on both sides of the hallway and at the end was a table with a man strapped down to it.

A larger man tortured him with a sharp blade as I moved closer. The large man smiled as the other screamed and passed out from the pain. I emerged from the dark hallway into the room beside the large hooded brute and drew my blade quickly.

He was startled and began backing off toward the wall in fear. I stepped forward and stabbed my blade effortlessly into the man's dark heart, ending his reign of terror before taking the keys from his belt as he fell to the floor.

As I turned I saw the man on the table more clearly, I froze in horror as I saw his face, it was my father. He laid there bloody, beaten, and unconscious but thankfully he was still alive. I unlocked the braces holding him to the table and slowly lifted him off and onto my shoulder.

I walked back down the hall a ways and sat him down with his back to the wall near the cells and left him there for the moment.

"Let us out! Come on, free us!" mixed voices whispered from inside the cells

"Stay calm and quiet...I will return." I said to the people inside

"I hope..." One of the voices replied

I hope so too...

I continued down the hall and slowly opened the doorway to the leader's room, quickly stepping inside, the man sat in front of a mirror practicing a speech. When he saw me he picked up an object off the dresser beside him and threw it at me.

A sharp pain emerged from my shoulder and I stared at the dagger for a moment before pulling it out, blood ran down my chest and soaked the left side of my shirt.

Enraged, I walked toward him quickly, thrusting my blade at his throat. It missed and broke the mirror beside him. He countered quickly and kicked me causing me to fall back into a display case full of plates and bowls, breaking them. Glass continued to fall from the shelf as I pushed off of it and charged at the assassin, hardly managing to stab him in the arm.

He pushed me off and hit me in the face with a steel platter from the table beside him. I fell to a knee and held my head, as he came in with a dagger I stood, moved to the side, and brought my blade down on his neck in one movement before he knew what had happened.

I looked to the headless corpse and spit on it, grabbing the head and carrying it to the empty dining hall, apparently the assassins had already went to their bunks for the night so I left the head on the table for them to find later.

A short walk back to the cells and I had freed the prisoners. I picked up my father as the others left and carried him toward the entrance, we were nearly out when a few of the assassins came in to check out the noise and found us. I handed my father to one of the prisoners quickly.

"Make sure he gets out...I'll hold them." I said

He quickly nodded and took my father from me, I pulled my blade and stood alone to face the wave of assassins, to save the lives of the men and women still climbing the ladder to freedom.

Two of the men came at me and I locked blades with one, wrestling him for position, in desparation I kneed him in the stomach and pushed him down on top of the other assassin as he came up the stairs. I quickly glanced behind me at the people still climbing the ladder.

Come on, hurry up...

As another came at me I stabbed him in the stomach and he was lost under the feet of several more assassins who had rushed to aid their comrades. A dagger hit the wall beside me so I pulled it out and threw it back, killing another one but he was quickly replaced by the next one in line.

There were too many so I retreated to the wooden ladder, climbing up it as swords clipped the steps below my feet. I climbed out the crate and kicked the assassin climbing up behind me in the face before putting the lid onto the crate.

I turned and rushed to one of the wine shelves, pushing it with all my might causing it to fall atop the wine crate, sealing the assassins within their lair and tomb.

As I emerged from the council hall Quin waited for me at the table across from the door, surrounded by guards. The prisoners fled the building and some of them collected some of the food from the floor, having not eaten in some time.
I laid my father onto the table and looked to Quin for a short while before I continued on.

"It is done my lord...I would like to request your permission to take my father home." I said softly

He looked at me and nodded briefly before taking a drink from the goblet beside him.

"Yes Deagan, take all the time you need and meet me here when you are ready to leave." He replied

My father groaned as I picked him up and carried him outside into the rain, toward my former home. I knocked on the door until it began to slowly open, revealing my mother standing within.

She gasped and motioned for me to come inside, asking too many questions for me to respond in a short period of time, mostly pertaining to where I'd been and what I'd been doing. I explained it all to her, the assassins, my knighthood, and the fact that I'd been doing bandit work since I'd left the house.

My mother stared at me in amazement as she tended to my father's wounds, I explained that I had to leave because the councilor was waiting and my mother agreed. I kissed my mother and departed before my father woke but at least I knew he was safe.

"Tell my father that I love him...I will return when I can." I said

I slowly walked through the rain toward the council hall, when I arrived I told Quin that I was ready to leave and with that we were off, headed for his estate.

I loaded Oryn's body onto the back of the carriage and wrapped him in a thick blanket to keep the rain out. We'd lost one man and saved over half a dozen but that didn't soothe my mind in the least, thoughts of what I could have done to save Oryn played through my mind as I walked mindlessly beside the other guards.

Though I felt like I'd done good I also felt like I could have done more, I could have done anything besides what I did and saved Oryn...his death lay heavy on my mind now as I continued the muddy walk back to Quin's estate. Rain landed on my face as I took off my helmet and looked into the sky off in the distance, bolts of light flashed and thunder rolled as we continued along our path.
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Here's the next part, hope you like it.

This post has been edited by Kiln: May 9 2006, 08:39 PM