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 was sitting on a throne. Several Dwemer were gathered around me. Each and every one of them wore a unique set of armour, which revealed them to be generals in the Dwemer army. Being the ones who led the Centurions into battle, they were also the only Dwemer who knew how to fight.
,,Milord, the mountain has been surrounded, all escape routes have been blocked off. The Chimer number in the thousands. Men, women and even children have joined their crusade. We are outnumbered and will never be able to win this battle. We need the help of the shield, we need Pelinal. At your command, an elite team of warriors on Wings will perform a raid to retrieve the keys. With the keys, we can awaken its true potential and turn the tide in our favour.” One of them told me.

I shook my head forcibly.
,,No, Pelinal is not meant for this. It is meant to protect, not to destroy. And you know very well that any attempt to retrieve the two keys would be suicide. Tell everyone who is not fit for battle to seek refuge in the inner chamber where Numidium is kept. If needed, we can block off the opening with the steel god’s hand. Kagrenac told me he’d found and implemented a suitable powersource.” I told him and got up out of my throne. I walked towards a large table which carried a miniature representation of the island. Countless red figurines were arrayed around the miniature mountain.
,,Any news from the other settlements?” I asked though I already knew the answer.
,,None. The few scouts we managed to send out all told us the same thing. A complete annihilation of the inhabitants and the entrance sealed by a metal sphere they could not breach. Without the factories, we cannot build an army to match theirs.” One of the generals answered.

I felt tired from the endless bloodshed.
,,Nerevar is a charismatic leader, but he knows nothing about how to lead an army. This is the work of Vivec. I must admit that he knows our weakness. The Centurions do not see the Chimer as enemies. It was a simple matter of entering at night and slaying all the Dwemer in their sleep. By sealing the entrance, he has secured his rear for we cannot reach the Centurions and tell them about their new enemies.”

I looked at the miniatures again. The situation was indeed hopeless. One on one, the Centurions were a match for the average Chimer soldier and more than a match for the women and children who had joined the army. Against a veteran though, they had to rely on strength of numbers. A strength we had during the Northern invasion but a strength which we’d since lost. The first general interrupted my thinking.
,,Lord, please. Think about it. We need Pelinal not only to win, but to survive. Even with one key, it will be of great help.” He pleaded. I fingered the hilt of Forgeheart and shook my head again.
,,And destroy one race to save another? Then how would that make us any different? No, we’ll entrust the future of our children with those protected by Numidium. As for ourselves, we’ll fight with what we have, inside this fortress. Besides, Pelinal is unable to fight effectively with only its mobile aspect awake.” I looked up at the steel door that was the only access to the throne room.
,,Nerevar, why?” I whispered.

As one, the generals drew their weapons. Dwemer steel shone in the light cast by tubes mounted on the walls.
,,At this point, there is no further use for a detailed plan or for leaders. There’s only one entrance, only one path to take which is blocked by every single Centurion we have, even those who are not meant for combat. The Chimer’s only choice is to charge in with everything they have. The women and children are likely to stay behind as from what our scouts told us, they are tasked with sustaining the army. As for the men who will fight, the grunts and inexperienced ones will likely lead.” I frowned at the explanation. It was heartless, though in the end, it was the right choice. By sacrificing the inexperienced troops first, the greatest warriors could fight against the final opposition at their full strength.

I drew my own blade as well. I could feel the Forgeheart’s cold touch which made me shiver. For those on the wrong side of the blade, this bitter cold would be even worse.
,,It is time for this nightmare to end, though in which way, I do not know.”

For the next few hours, we waited in a nervous anticipation. We didn’t dare to open the door and see if the Chimer had already began but we also did not dare to relax. After three long hours had passed, the sounds of combat reached our ears. Clanging of metal on metal, the screams of the wounded. If possible, the next two hours were even worse than the first three. Indeed, the waiting is the hardest part of any battle. Finally, five hours after the battle had started, silence returned. We looked at each other uneasily. Had the Centurions claimed victory, or were the Chimer standing outside the door, waiting for someone foolish enough to open?

As we’d done up till now, we waited. Another hour passed. At last, the nerves of one of us cracked and he wandered to the door.
,,I think they’re gone.” He whispered. The others and I gestured wildly with our hands, telling him not to open the door. He did, and was promptly slain by a flaming sword. A sword I knew. Trueflame.



Note: There's something different with this vision when compared to the earlier ones. Can you find it?