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]

Short, so an update may follow later.


I had a choice here. I could dash for the exit or I could try and find a way to turn the tables. I chose the latter. Already, the formerly passive minions began to converge around me, flailing wildly with their arms. I unsheathed the sword I’d taken from Ephraim as I dove past their attacks. With a quick spinning motion, I put two of them out of their misery. A ball of crackling lightning zipped past my head, sending stone fragments into the air when it hit the wall. The leader had joined the chase.

I dove into the nearest passage and ran as if my life depended on it, which it did. To further my ongoing list of bad luck, the passage came to a death end. The good news was, that said death end contained a cage with Fargoth and Zarador. The Altmer was out cold, I couldn’t see if he was death or just unconscious. Fargoth though was awake.
,,Ro-El, you must have left quite an impression. They weren’t in such an uproar when we came in.” He said dryly. I pressed my back against the cage and held my blade pointed at the approaching mass.
,,What can I say? I’m famous.” I joked. Somehow, the gravity of the situation had brought me in a light mood. Quite odd.

,,Right, just give me my bow. It’s over there.” Fargoth spoke from behind my back, now more urgently. I had no idea what he wanted to do with that. Still, I lunged forward, using the nearest creature as a stepping stone to get across. I smoothly turned my landing into a roll ending at the place where the Bosmer’s bow and arrows had been discarded.
,,No, not the arrows! Just the bow!” I dropped the quiver of arrows and threw the bow over to Fargoth who caught it and withdrew into his cage.

,,You are a good runner.” The tentacled leader had caught up with me. Now I was trapped between a whole pack of cursed zombies at one side and a big spellslinging nightmare at the other. Not knowing what to do, I drew back on the Legion rules of engagement. Rule 51: When surrounded, attack in the direction of least resistance. In this case, the least resistance was the side with the big boss.

I rushed at it, somehow managing to catch it offguard. My sword bit into its robes, leaving a long gash in its side as I spun around and aimed a second blow at its back. My opinion of the blade was proven correct as the monster let out a scream of pain. It turned around to face me, forcing me to jump away from the swinging tentacles. My occasional clumsiness came into play when I tripped over a pebble and landed flat on my back. Enraged, my enemy shot a spell at me. I felt my legs freeze, my arms. My lungs drew breath with great effort against ribs that stubbornly refused to move. My heart beat slower, my mind was numbed.

Its minions approached me but were waved away.
,,Stop, I want to have the honour of killing him myself. Surely I will raise in rank when I report this to my lord.” If I could, I would have grinned. Legion rule 34: Don’t go for show, go for the kill. Yes, I was paralyzed. However, that spell could be turned on its owner in the blink of an eye. I gathered the threads of Magicka holding me down, subtly bringing them under my command. Not fast enough. A bolt of lightning hit my body, shocking me with its powerful charge. I was in silent agony, unable to make a sound. My vision blackened and through the haze of pain I realized that unless a miracle happened, I would die.

The creature screamed in pain again. This was my chance. I forced the spell out, making it slam into its creator at full force. Instantly, its movements froze, the swirling tentacles suspended in the air. I sprang up to my feet and plunged the silver sword right through its face into the brains.
,,You may scare the Legion, but their rules still apply.” I said as I withdrew the blade from the now lifeless creature. Already, my strength began to flee. I collapsed on the floor. The last thing I heard before succumbing to the darkness was the sound of running footsteps followed by the singing of a bow.