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]

As I walked through the woods leading to the Imperial city my mind was tainted with thoughts of where my life had gone wrong. In my younger years I never would've thought that I might end up doing any killing...causing the death of another was the last thing I ever would have expected back then, yet so much had changed. I guess things don't always work out as you'd expect but the best you can hope for is that the path you take leads you where you want to go.

The city gates were in sight now, the giant wall made me feel incredibly small and insignifigant, even more so than I'd been feeling of late. I approached the guards outside the gate, they stood silently staring straight ahead.

Knowing that I was wanted made me rather uneasy about approaching them directly so I followed the road away from the city to seek out a carriage. I would pay them to help me enter the city without causing trouble with the guards.

A small carriage came in my direction slowly, guarded by armored men on horseback. I stood in the path and held up a hand in order to signal for them to stop. I approached slowly with my hands visible...I didn't want to cause any suspicion among the guards.

"Hello good sir, my name is Deagan and I seek your help." I said boldly to the noble man inside the carriage

He slid across the seat and hung an arm out the window.

"I'm not sure that I can help the likes of you..." He said nervously

"I see my reputation precedes me...I assure you that I intend you no harm." I replied

"What do you ask of me, knave?" He said

"I seek passage into the Imperial city by way of your carriage. I'm sure we can come to some sort of mutual agreement." I said, flashing the bag of gold Teris had given me

He stared at the gold for a moment, considering it briefly before speaking with the guard inside the carriage with him. The man stepped out and stood before me.

"My liege wishes that you surrender your weapons as a symbol of your good faith. They will be returned to you once we've entered the city and his payment has been recieved." The armored man before me said

I thought carefully of this proposition weighing the possible outcomes. I didn't want to hand over my weapons but perhaps it was the only way that I would gain entry to the city. If there was trouble I could use the dagger I had hidden in my boot.

Against my better judgement, I handed over all my weapons other than my boot knife and then looked to the noble once again.

"Alright sir, now what?" I said

"Arrest him." He said plainly

I had noticed the guard trying to sneak around behind me but hadn't thought anything of it before. He grabbed me and put a blade to my neck as his partner tied my hands in front of me. They then tied me to the back of the carriage and took off again slowly. Two guards walked at my sides making sure I wouldn't be able to escape.

We stopped in front of the gates and the guards there approached the carriage. I could hear them talking to the noble inside.

"What do we have here sir?" The guard asked

"We've captured Deagan and request entrance into the city to collect the reward." He said

The guards looked me over and then opened the gates. I should've known better than to trust the nobles. My mind assumed the worst given the circumstances and I began to plot my escape, carefully planning all the ways that I might be able to get away.

The carriage navigated carefully through the city then turned off into an alley and the noble stepped out slowly. After a moment he walked over beside me and flashed a faint smile before taking a dagger from under his belt.

"You looked a little worried back there, one thing I always do is keep my word." He said as he cut me loose with the dagger

I knew then that I had not been betrayed at all and for that I was thankful.

"I wanted it to seem as real as possible and obviously with the look on your face how could they have known that I planned to release you? Betrayal is as common as thievery in these parts Deagan, you'll do well to remember that. Now about that payment..." He said with a soft, lucid voice

"I will pay as we agreed...how about one hundred septims?" I asked as if I was bartering

"It is a dangerous crime to bring a man such as yourself into the city...perhaps two hundred septims would suffice." He said

"150?" I asked

"180." He said without missing a beat

"Will you accept 165?" I asked

"That will do, Alsen, retrieve his weapons." The noble ordered

After a few moments we shook hands and concluded our transaction, now a hundred and sixty-five gold pieces lighter, I returned to the road and walked through the town. The cobblestone streets glowed with an almost angelic look as I inched closer to the tavern. As I entered a drunk man fell through the door, grabbing onto me and then continuing on.

I sat and ordered a mug of ale along with a few shots of their finest brandy. Tonight would be a night to remember...or maybe it would be a night not to remember...either way I was going to be drinking again.

I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about all this, something told me that I would be unable to complete it but I continued to tell myself that nothing could stop me...it was likely my youth that kept me feeling immortal. The task that lay before me would be a troubled one even without taking into consideration the possibility of a failure on my part. It was hard to relax knowing that Tamira was still out there plotting...the details of which I did not yet know. I tried to put these thoughts aside as I took another drink.

After a few hours of drinking the chatting around me meant nothing, even thought it was about the events that had taken place in recent times mattered little to me. I could hear the words but they made no since.

"I've heard that another councilor has been killed." A man said

"Another one? So many unexplained deaths since Quin was killed in that bandit raid on his estate." a woman replied

"Burned his whole castle to the ground they did...then Ocato was killed in that hunting accident..." he said

"Damiscus was killed in a rebellion...then the last of them was killed yesterday...Tamira has called an emergency meeting tomorrow morning in the town square to speak about these issues." She said

"If only the Emperor hadn't been killed he would sort all of this out...everything was fine when he was around."

"I don't think we'll have to worry about this much longer...in times like these its only so long before someone makes a mistake and throws us into civil war...if that happens all bets are off." He stated

The talking continued as I crawled upstairs and entered the room I'd paid for earlier. I laid on the bed and stared at the wall beside me until I drifted to sleep.

My dreams were the clearest they've ever been, I saw myself laying peacefully on a small wooden platform covered in twigs and oil. The open building was atop a grassy hill, many people stood inside and around it as if it were a wedding, but there were no smiles or tears of joy. It was a ceremony dedicated to my death, the burning of a warrior. The priest softly spoke a few words as Quin, Falen, and the servant girl I'd rescued stood in front a crowd of people watching. Everyone around me seemed sad, even the ones I'd never met seemed broken by my death. The priest gracefully dropped a torch onto the wooden platform I rested on and flames surrounded me. As I burned all those around be knelt excluding Quin who stared into the fire, a single tear rolled down his wrinkled face.

As the people dismissed themselves Quin stood quietly as Falen walked away, leading the beautiful girl beside him with his arm. Quin was the last to leave, as my body was consumed by fire he whispered a few words and began a seemingly depressed walk back to town. Guards surrounded him as if to protect him on his walk and he continued along his path.

I could see the town off the mountain, it was bright and people filled the streets as if the entire city were having a party. Their cheers and cries of joy filled the night as people shifted about throughout the city.

I awoke calmly and sat up slowly. It was morning now and there was yelling outside the tavern. I shook off the after effects of the liquor and stumbled downstairs.

"Tamira is in the square making a statement...she's called the entire town to address recent events." A voice said

I walked outside and shielded my eyes from the light, looking to the stone platform in the middle of town where Tamira stood. A large crowd gathered and even more had come, this couldn't be good.

This post has been edited by Kiln: Sep 8 2006, 03:08 AM