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]

Muhahaha! Cower in fear before the wrath of the agent! No really, with the treatment he regularly receives, it was about time someone put him in a different role. Enjoy the update. Muhahaha!



The agent seemed to have noticed my behaviour.
,,Anything on your mind?” He asked me curiously. I shrugged.
,,Sort of, weird dreams mostly. About a bunch of Dwemer. No real clue why.” We looked at the sea for a while.
,,You are not Dunmer, so that would make you immune to soulsickness. That, and your dreams don’t go about the usual subject. I’d say you are seeing too much into this.” The agent told me. Maybe he was right, but I had this distinct feeling I was seeing too little into this.

,,Soulsickness eh? I never liked the sound of that. Can’t say what it is or where it comes from. The Dunmer blame the ash storms. I personally can’t see how a big load of dust makes you go wacko. Besides, soulsickness even spreads to those parts that are relatively ash free. When was the last time Balmora had to face an ash storm? Ebonheart records say three years ago. Back then, there were no reports of soul sickness on that part of the island.” Was my opinion on the dreaded curse that currently swept through the Dunmer population.

We walked back to Seyda Neen in silence. To my surprise, the agent continued past the small town till we reached a door set into the rock.
,,Smuggling cave. It’s been cleared out a while back, only I’ve noticed that the operation had begun once more. So, I figured we might as well clean it up again to keep our neighbourhood safe.” The agent explained to me as he took out a bow made of Chitin. I couldn’t help but laugh at the thing. Those bows were known for ease of manufacture, low cost and their pathetic firepower. The agent gave a knowing grin.
,,Not much to look at, isn’t it? Heh, I once took out a Flame Atronach with it, using a silver arrow of course. Don’t judge a weapon by its appearance, judge it by its wielder.”

I stepped up in front of the door.
,,Any preference of entry?” I asked, already raising my foot. We both now grinned.
,,Absolutely. When a door gets kicked in, everyone expects a barbarian with a big melee weapon or something, not a sneaky archer. You open the door, I put an arrow in the guard.” I took aim and hit the door right at the weak spot. With a loud crack, the lock broke and the door swung open. By then, I’d already ducked and rolled inside, feeling the arrow whistle over my head. There was a loud thunk and when I jumped up, the only one around to greet me was a Dunmer with a Chitin arrow right in the left eye.

We moved through the entrance chamber to another door. This time, we crouched down and listened before acting. Someone could be heard ascending a ladder.
,,Hey Guvrayn, what’s all that noise?” A voice said with the unmistakable slur of drunkenness. I shrugged as I brought out my best imitation of a Dunmer voice. They all sounded alike, especially if you were drunk.
,,I tripped over the guardamned bucket. Don’t you have anything better to do than breathing down my neck?” I hoped that the rudeness as well as my imitation would do the trick and keep him from busting through the door.
,,You’re right. I’ve got a deal to make. Well, keep an eye on that door. We don’t wanna have any intruders poking their nose into our business.” The owner of the voice could be heard descending the ladder.

I stifled a laugh.
,,Keep an eye on the door, we don’t want any intruders.” Well, too late pal. The agent was not laughing.
,,Hrisskar. That damned drunkard of a Nord bully is a smuggler. I should have known. So that is one corrupt Legionaire.” He hissed between clenched teeth. I understood that they weren’t exactly best friends.
,,You take care of him, I’ll handle everyone else.” I offered. I then looked at the door and came to a conclusion. No noisy entrances this time. Using a simple lockpick, I managed to open the door almost without a sound. We slipped through and looked both ways carefully. We could either go up or down.

We went up first, where we found a storage room of sorts. No one was there so we turned around and now headed downwards. Peeking down the ladder, we spotted three people. One was a Nord, obviously Hrisskar, one was a Breton and the last was an Imperial. A surprising lack of Dunmer for a smuggling operation. I took a closer look at the Imperial. It was the rude tax collector. Waiting for the right opportunity to strike, we had a chance to eavesdrop on their conversation.
,,So about that thing you found in Argonia. I’d like 3000 septims for it, no less.” The Breton demanded. Vodunius Nucius shook his head.
,,Right, do you take us for a fool? It won’t do a thing unless that crazy mer tells it to. We’ll have to put up with that one as well. You can get 2000.” He countered. The Breton sneered.
,,2000? Do you want to convict me to the life of a beggar? I’ll tell you what. 2500, and you get a favour from me as well.” During the whole conversation, Hrisskar didn’t say a word. It was obvious that he was acting as the tax collector’s bodyguard here. A dumb thug.

Vodunius gave a nasty smirk.
,,Deal and here’s the favour. An outlander broke my nose and several other bones yesterday. He was last seen heading west. He wears blue clothes. I want you to find and kill him.” My eyes darkened. Outlander who broke his nose? It looked like Vodunius wanted to take his revenge on me. That could be arranged. I took a rapid look at our surroundings and came to a plan. I informed the agent of it with a few gestures of my hand. He nodded and nocked an arrow.

,,Mind if I drop in on the party?” I shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. All heads turned towards me. Using a rope hanging from the ceiling, I swung down with and got the chance to break Vodunius’ nose for a second time. The Imperial was sent off of the wooden platform he was standing on and splashed into an underground lake. Now only the Breton and Hrisskar stood in my way. The Nord drew a sword and closed upon me while the robed Breton took his distance. I had full confidence that Hrisskar was taken care of so I advanced upon the fleeing Breton. A scream behind me notified me that the agent’s bow had struck.

,,Now please don’t go away. We need to have a nice chat.” I told the Breton with one of my grins. That grin vanished as I realised that the Breton hadn’t been fleeing at all. He’d just been stalling for time. Time he needed to make fire. I managed to jump out of the way just in time to avoid a nasty burn. In doing so however, I’d pressed myself into a narrow corridor, removing all chances of evasion for the next shot.
,,You’re playing with fire, kid.” The Breton gloated as his hands lit up once more. I threw up my arms in front of my face in a futile effort to shield myself from the flames that would surely consume me. With a mighty roar, the fireball closed in, its warmth washing over me and…..vanishing.

We were both surprised at my survival. My surprise became even greater upon feeling the power that welled up inside me. My hand moved on its own, pointing at the Breton. The same fireball that had threatened to consume me now shot forth again, consuming its creator instead. For a few moments, I stood there staring at the corpse. Emotions filled me, taking away any ability to act.

I was horrified, angry, and strangely satisfied. I’d killed someone, despite having never planned to do so. I had brought myself into an inescapable situation by underestimating the Breton. The spell that was supposed to kill me, it had been absorbed and then reused instead. After a long struggle, I managed to shake off these feelings and walked towards the corpse. I looked to the right where I saw Hrisskar facing of against the agent.

,,What’s the matter with you. Did the alcohol give you a fool’s courage? I had nothing to do with it, I swear! I didn’t take your ring, the damn Redguard did! I didn’t tell him to go up to the lighthouse and find out where you hid it! I didn’t offer him money for it, even though he betrayed me! I had nothing to do with it!” The Nord howled. The agent calmly adjusted his aim and put an arrow in Hrisskar’s knee.
,,Do you really think I ever cared about that ring? No. I am not what you think I am. The Fargoth you know is a disguise, a test. A test to see just who this prisoner was that the Census and Excise saw it fit to make a great fuss about. Everything was a calculated act, including having a tree get blown up in my face. I am not the loser I pretend to be. The real Fargoth can hit a Scrib from threehundred steps away. You are much bigger and a lot closer. As a representative of the Duke of Ebonheart, a servant of the empire, I give you the punishment for your betrayal and the disgrace you’ve become. Death.” With a single shot, Fargoth killed the Nord as if he was pouring a glass of Flin.

We looked at each other. Fargoth took a short glance at the smoking corpse of the Breton and shrugged.
,,Smugglers usually suffer a violent death. His was much quicker than most. Perhaps you’d like to fish Vodunius out of the water. Being a tax collector here appears to be a bad choise of profession.” The agent chuckled. I didn’t say a word, still shaken by the death I’d caused. Inside, I was shouting at myself to stop acting like a fool. I had no problems when others did the killing, so why should I have problems when I was the killer? My heart was really messed up.