Agent, Ebonheart's finest Options

[jack cloudy]

Yesterday was my birthday so here's my belated gift to all of you. The start of a new fanfic! (Wings of Light will be continued as well.) You may notice a shift of focus compared to my earlier fanfics.




Agent.
Chapter 1: In training.

My knees were shivering. For a good reason, I might say as the Duke towering over me looked very intimidating in his heavy suit of Ebony armour. Just to compare the two of us, the helmet would have been enough to crush me. Also, being dressed in cheap rags has never been a good source of courage. As it was, I had more than enough reasons to be afraid of him.

Who am I? I no longer use the name I was born with. I changed it upon my arrival here on Vvardenfell. Now I finally I have a name I can spell. Anyway, my name is Ro-El Frost. Sounds Khajiit? Maybe, but I am really closer related to the Nords, though without the muscles, the alcohol tolerance, the noise and without the size. Go figure.

The Duke turned to a man wearing some sort of golden armour. Probably the boss of the guard who was blocking the only way out of the room.
,,Is this the kid you were talking about?” The Duke asked with a stern voice. This did not sound well.
,,Yes, that’s the one.” Was the equally stern reply. This was one of those moments that your life would start to fly past your eyes.

How did I get here? Well, I don’t really know to be honest. People claim I must have been on the Skooma to have forgotten how I ever found myself in that mine. I didn’t like it there. The slavers forced me to do hard labour every day. I could feel my life slowly seep away with every single egg I harvested. I had to get out.

My plan took time but it worked in the end, except for one small detail. I harvested some poison one of the Kwama warriors had been spitting at the wall and mixed it with my food for the day. The day after that, I dumped it into the lake that was somehow inside the mine. The food had been swallowed by the Slaughterfish before I’d stepped away. The next part of my plan was the hardest. I’d been warned that the smell of their queen’s blood puts the Kwama into a killing frenzie. This information was meant so that the slaves were careful not to kill themselves, but it could also be used to my advantage.

So as you might guess, tapping blood from the queen is a potentially lethal act. Fortunately, I knew that by tapping just a little through a tiny wound made with my fingernail, the Kwama would not even notice. I carefully kept the blood sealed away inside a bottle till after four days, I’d finally collected enough. That night came the last part of my masterplan.

I managed to convince the slaves to go swimming in the lake, after showing them that the Slaughterfish had died through my act of poisoning. Next, I sprinkled the collected blood on the clothes of the slavers. I managed to get out to the lake before the killing started. I’d never been so glad that Kwama can’t swim. Those things were completely out of control. Which leads me to where I am now.

,,You have caused the death of three Dunmer and would have escaped if my Legionaires weren’t performing a raid at the same time.” The Duke spoke directly to me. Remember the little detail that went wrong? Well two dozen heavily armed soldiers who found a whole angry bunch of Kwama in their face, that’s what went wrong.
,,I thought they would run when the Kwama went mad. I didn’t expect them to die.” Was the weak defense I managed to whisper.

My arm was brusquely grabbed by the guard. The slave bracers I’d been forced to wear clattered on the floor.
,,Ro-El Frost, you have closed down an illegal egg mine and punished those who were responsible. You have further freed their prisoners who are being returned to their families as we speak. All that without harming the Kwama themselves, my men are responsible for that. As such, it is my pleasure as a servant of the great Emperor, Uriel Septim, to grant you your freedom and to take you into my service as an agent in the order of Ebonheart. Serius will escort you to your room.” The Duke now said with a smile and pointed at the guard who had released me from the symbol of slavery.

In a flash of inspiration, I snatched the bracers from the floor before I was dragged out of the room by Serius. We ascended many stairs before he finally threw open a wooden door and pushed me inside. ,,Consider everything in this room to be yours. You’ll be summoned tomorrow at 6 am. Wait inside your room till we come for you.” Serius ordered me before slamming the door shut. Not the nicest guy in the world.

I sat down on the bed and looked around, still unable to believe what had just happened. Instead of being branded as the bad guy and possibly executed, I had been turned into some sort of hero. Not exactly something that happened to me every day.

After I finally admitted to myself that things had turned out alright, I took a look around the room they’d given me. Apart from the bed, there was a closet, a mirror, a desk with several books on it and a sturdy wooden chest. It wasn’t big, but not small either. I opened the closet with the intention of swapping my dirty old rags with something more comfortable. It was cold this time of the year. The closet did not disappoint me. It was filled with all kinds of clothes ranging from simple but sturdy to downright extravagant and fit for a noble. There were shirts, pants, robes, shoes and even a few skirts, though I did not know what I was supposed to do with those. Men don’t wear skirts where I come from. Finally there were a few gloves on a separate rack.

I choose for a simple blue shirt with matching pants and a pair of shoes fit for indoor use. As the last action of the day, I picked up the book lying on top of the pile. ‘History of the Empire, part 1’ it said on the cover. If my idea of an agent was somewhat correct, these books had been placed here for a reason. I had some reading to do.

[jack cloudy]

Hmm, debriefings seem to be ahrd to write. Nothing fun ever happens. Oh well, enjoy the update.



Once again, it took two days to travel. Two days of doing nothing but enjoying the weather. Ebonheart looked just as when I’d left it, the castle simply towering over everything else. Well, nearly everything else. Vivec’s cantons were much bigger. No one tried to stop me as I made my way to the entrance, for which I was grateful. I’d probably have a lot of explaining to do.

I’d barely set foot inside the castle when someone grabbed me by the neck.
,,There you are. What have you been doing?!” Serius growled. Ok, now I was getting nervous. An angry Serius was a bad thing.
,,Business. I’ve investigated a certain matter in Ald’rhun.” I replied as calm as I could. Serius let me go.
,,Business? I don’t think you know the meaning of the word, kid.” He sneered before walking away, leaving me to rub my sore neck.

,,Ro-El! There you are!” I looked up and saw Leroth. In the few days I’d been gone, he’d gone through a remarkable recovery. He began to drag me over towards the council chambers.
,,Why did you come back?” He whispered into my ear.
,,Trouble was brewing and someone had to deal with it. In this case, me. I suppose we’re getting a debriefing now?”

As I’d already guessed, I was brought into the Duke’s bedroom for a meeting with the man. Today, he was wearing some comfortable clothing instead of his armour. As he said, Ebony was good for intimidating people but it really itched.
,,So, Ro-El Frost. I hear you’ve conducted a private investigation?” He asked me, with a considerably warmer voice than during our first meeting. Apparently, it wasn’t only his attire that changed in a private environment.

I gave him the letter which told him everything he would like to know, and more.
,,There had been a rumour that Varvur Sarethi has been responsible for the murder on his best friend. Varvur’s father, Athyn Sarethi, is an important member of the Redoran council. The embarrassment and political leverage his enemies could gain on him through this event would cause a shift in the balance of power on the Redoran council. My investigation lead me to the one who was really responsible for this murder.”

I paused for a moment to take a deep breath. Leroth nodded me to continue.
,, Hanarai Assutlanipal, a Dunmer resident of Ald’rhun, has instead influenced Varvur through the means of a curse similar to the Command Humanoid spell. This spell was bound to a peculiar kind of red statue which she and her accomplice spread through Ald’rhun. Both have been sentenced to execution. Now, Hanarai apparently also kept a shrine in her house dedicated to the so called Sixth House, whatever that means. I couldn’t find out much about this Sixth House, except that its influence spreads throughout Vvardenfell. It also has the use of Bonewalker-like creatures. I’d like to investigate this Sixth house further.”

The Debriefing took the better part of three hours. After the Duke had finally heard enough, Leroth and I were dismissed. We then went over to my room where we sat down to discuss a few things regarding my training. Basically, Leroth thought I was ready for the simple jobs. If Ald’rhun was supposed to be simple, then what were the hard jobs? I pushed that thought to an empty corner of my mind. I had other things to think about.
,,Leroth, what is an Hortator?”

Leroth looked at me with that funny expression he always wore when he was surprised.
,,Hortator? Well, a Hortator is a warleader of sorts, a general. He leads the houses in war. The Hortator is the only authority, not counting King Helseth or the Tribunal, who may command the houses. Frankly, with all that political scheming, all the Hortators have died within a week. The only one who lasted longer was Nerevar Indoril himself, the Tiber Septim in Dunmer culture. Why do you want to know?” He explained.
,,I met a Redguard there. At least, he looked like a Redguard. His spirit was something completely different. Heck, I’m not even sure if he was even mortal. He wanted to be given the title of Hortator.” I fell silent as I remembered something Hanarai had said.
,,Hold on, that Dunmer, Hanarai Assutlanipal, she called him lord Nerevar. So the first Nerevar was a Hortator, now there’s a Redguard with an unique spirit who is called Nerevar. What’s going on here? I’m so confused.” I muttered and shook my head.

Leroth sighed.
,,Understandably. I believe I know the man you are speaking of. Luper Alkad, the Redguard. He’s quite an interesting person, I might say. Released from an Imperial prison and then brought into the Emperor’s private spy organization, the Blades. He has been part of the mage guild but was expelled after some unknown mistake he made. After that, he joined House Telvanni and has since risen at an unbelievable pace. In fact, he now holds the rank of Arch-magister. Finally, there are rumours of him being called Nerevarine. Nerevar reborn. Quite an interesting man, quite a dangerous man. Stay away from him, Ro-El. We are not in the position to take action. We lack both the information and the manpower. Telvanni are not to be taken lightly, especially a Telvanni of a non-magical race who has taken the highest rank in just a few months.” He told me with that serious tone he’d used when warning me of the dangers involved with my profession.
,,You look tired, go get some sleep.” With those words, the Bosmer left.

I lied down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Nerevar reborn, Hortator, the Sixth House. How where they all connected? And just what was this Luper Alkad? A Redguard, a reincarnated Chimer hero? Or something else? With every answer I found, two more questions seemed to appear.