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]

I'll let you wonder about it for a bit longer. Now I present, the update.





Silence ruled for a short moment between us. We came to an agreement and left town without being seen. For ten minutes, we walked along the coast, jumping over the few Mudcrabs in our way. Then, we stopped in front of a tomb.
,,This should be far enough. You are?” The agent asked me.
,,Ro-El Frost, from Ebonheart.” I replied and we shook hands. So far, the agent hadn’t told me his name yet but I was fine with that. Names were trivial, unimportant. In the end, the person behind the name was what mattered.
,,Ah, Ro-El. Yes, now why did you come all the way to Seyda Neen? Got into trouble with that short temper of yours?”

I blushed slightly but nodded. We might as well keep honest with each other here in a world of lies and deceit.
,,Sort of. I beat up and humiliated a murderer. Turns out he was Camonna Tong. So instead of waiting for them to check their death list, I got sent here to investigate smuggling activities.”
The agent nodded. Obviously, the story was familiar to him. Perhaps he’d once done something similar himself.
,,Camonna Tong. I won’t sleep any less when they get beaten. Serves them right. As for the smuggling, that’s just a way to spend time. There are numerous caves around here, too many to clean out. I’d say we spend the night around a nice fire and get to know each other better. Cooked Crab meat is very good, trust me.”

He was right, the Crab meat was good. I also learned a great deal more of our agent. He was born in Elsweyr and moved to Vvardenfell at the age of twenty-one. There, he soon gathered himself a network of contacts which was taken into use by his lifetime friend, Leroth. He was good at being unnoticeable which helped him in scouting out any new arrivals on the island. Not only that, he also claimed to have a steady hand with the bow.
,,The things I do for the Duke. You know, once I even had an entire tree blown up in my face just to keep my cover. So, what are your talents?”

I thought about the question for a while. I wasn’t really all that special in the end, only average.
,,Getting into trouble, I guess. Fortunately, I’ve gotten a good pair of hands and feet to get me out of that trouble. That means, I know how and where to punch people. It’s too bad that I don’t quite think before punching. I once tried to punch a zombie, bad idea.”

Our conversation moved onto less serious subjects, such as the ‘101 uses for Cliffracer plumes and other bodyparts’, a well-known book among the locals. The sun dove into the sea and the moons rose up into the night sky. We covered up the fire, dropped ‘calm creature’ stones around our campsite and called it a night. The sound of a nearby Scrib soothed us into our sleep.

The banquet was, as always, incredibly vast. A Kwama pie the size of three men adorned one table, ten grilled Slaughterfish the other. Men, women and children from all over the island had come. Dumac walked around the hall, drifting from conversation to conversation.
,,I notice that you’re not eating, my friend.” A voice called out behind him. Dumac turned around slowly and gave an apologetic grin.
,,I have a banquet like this five days a week. If I just go around and stuff myself full each day, I end up fatter than a Kwama queen.” He said and laughed loudly. The Chimer chuckled before putting a hand around his friend’s shoulder.

,,Remember what I told you? I would tell you the reason for my coming after the sun had set. Well, there is my reason.” He spoke and gestured towards a female Chimer. The woman noticed this and bowed before the two.
,,Dumac, meet Almalexia. Almalexia, meet the king of the Dwemer and my good friend, Dumac.” The Chimer proudly proclaimed.
Dumac looked from one to the other. He was amused by his friend’s antics.
,,A woman? You came here just to say that you’re getting married? That’s wonderful! I’ll have to think of a wedding gift. A gift like no other. Give me a moment to think, ok?” He said.

Almalexia looked at the Dwemer. ,,So this is Dumac.” She thought, her face revealing none of the emotions inside.
,,Numidium would be nice.” She said with a joking tone. The Chimer instantly laughed, Dumac merely frowned before laughing himself, a bit more hesitant.
,,I don’t think it would fit through the door. Sorry, but I’ll settle for something a bit smaller.” He then pulled his Chimer friend away from his wife-to-be.

,,Listen, Nerevar. I hate to spoil the fun, but she sounds ambitious.” He whispered. Nerevar shrugged.
,,So? Who isn’t ambitious? You’re the king, don’t tell me that you aren’t ambitious.” He countered slightly annoyed. Dumac sighed.
,,I know, and look at what I’ve caused. I’ve caused the death of thousands of people, I’ve lead armies into battle. Trust me when I tell you, ambitious women and men only cause the spilling of blood.” He warned.

The two friends stared at each other, the atmosphere cooler than usual.
,,Nevermind that. She doesn’t look like a psychopathic murderer. So just go ahead and get married. And when you have some kids running around your house, uncle Dumac would be pleased to entertain them.” Dumac continued in a lighter tone.
,,Speaking about marriage, kids and all. I was looking for a Chimer to wed myself.” Now it was Nerevar’s turn to frown.
,,A political marriage? I thought you were against those. You turn down like, thirty marriage offers each year.”

Dumac laughed at the idea. It was true, he did turn down countless women each year.
,,I know, I should be ashamed. It’s not just that though. I’m sure that there is a fine lass among your people who I’d be happy to marry even if I had to give up my social status for it. So that would be a political marriage with an advantage in my private life. So, expect me to pay a visit someday.”

As Nerevar returned to his love, Dumac fled to a less crowded corner of the hall.
,,Why did she bring up Numidium? Not as a joke. Does she have any idea of the power such a thing requires to move? How that power could be abused? Or am I getting paranoid?”

The next day brought rain with it, lots of it. The rain perfectly displayed my own state of mind. My mind was clouded, thoughts swirling around in a mental storm. My dreams were getting stranger and stranger. Now that I’d gotten a few names to go on, it was even worse.
So Dumac was, the king of the Dwemer? And that woman was Almalexia, the Chimer was Nerevar. Nerevar and Almalexia as in, Nerevar Indoril and Almalexia, the Tribunal goddess?