Killing in the Emperor's Name, A collection: An argonian assassin's world Options

[canis216]

Here you, the reader, will find works associated with Always-He-Lingers-in-the-Sun's life and work all together. His future stories will be found here, primarily. I think it's appropriate, as his tales have taken on a more serialized form--if not strictly so. I still intend to experiment with different perspectives and styles within his general narrative, so don't expect every installment to flow perfectly into the next--that isn't what I'm going for. I'd like to think that I'm using Always-He-Lingers-in-the-Sun's stories as a medium--evocation of the rough existence that is life on Vvardenfell.

[canis216]

An Obsession – Part Four

The scouts emerged from the thinning marsh-forest onto the edge of a broad plain strewn with rough farm shacks and great far-flung manors of fired mud-brick. They had scarcely spoken since slaughtering the party of dark elves—the border patrol—and reporting to the Battlechief.

“Have you seen it before, Nine-Toes? The Deshaan Plain?”

“Yes, once. I was out hunting and got lost—I was still young then, and didn’t know my way as now. I crept around for a few hours, then fled back into the forest as the sun rose and I saw our kin working in those fields. I think it was over there” he pointed off to the west. “You see that manor house, two miles distant?”

“This is my first time, Nine-Toes. I approached the edge of the trees once, perhaps four years ago. I couldn’t bear to get any closer. I was afraid of what I might see. You know about my mother—“

“Don’t speak of it, friend. I know it was hard.”

“Oh, I guess I’m alright. I’ve seen too much now, I think. Father took it much harder.”

“Have you heard from him since he sailed for Hammerfell?”

Heik-Auir shook his head, slowly. “Another of our clan met him in Stros M’kai, or so he told me when he returned to the village. He’s tending the bar at a tavern there, or he was. Apparently they have a tradition of our people serving drinks in that city. That was two years ago.”

“Why didn’t you go with?”

“Unfinished business, Nine-Toes. Unfinished business.”

They stood there for another moment, silently taking in the scene.

“How are we going to lead our force through here, Heik-Auri?”

“I’m wondering myself. I don’t know. It’s so… open. I’ve never seen a place so open before. I think I can even see the lights of Tear itself…”

“Tear… if we are very fortunate we shall see it ever the more brightly on our way back.”

“Fortunate indeed. Nine-Toes, the way I see it we have only two options, and they’re neither very good. We can race by these plantations fast as we can and hope to reach the city before the alarm can be raised, and try to overwhelm the initial resistance. Like the fires they say can race through the dry brush in Elsweyr. Or, we wait until dark, try to sneak through these plantations with eighty hist, and maybe reach Tear by two or three in the deep night. Maybe. Then we might be able to do our work and flee town by sun’s rise, when we hope the Dres guards and the Legion aren’t cutting off our retreat.”

“Only those two options?”

“You have a better idea?”

Nine-Toes thought for a moment, then a moment longer.

“We get the hell out of here?”

------------------------------------------------------

“What is our course, Gei-Tekri? There isn’t a single tree on those plains to hide under, nor a single hill to slink behind.”

The band—it could hardly be called an army—had settled down within the last sheltering grove of trees before the opening of the grand Deshaan Plain, and Nine-Toes was consulting with Gei-Tekri while Heik-Auri kept up the watch.

“You don’t think we could fight our way through, Nine-Toes?”

“No. The manor guards alone, out on that plain, could outnumber us. The slaves might join us and rebel, but with what would they fight? They are sickly and weak, most of them. We all know the stories—some of us have lived them. Worse still, if a few survive and teleport away to the city, or ride off on their guars, or entire mission would be stunted before it could even start. I don’t know how many guards and legion troops there are around Tear, but they would all be sent our way.”

“And even if we could successfully fight through the plantations and to Tear, we would lose half our number along the way. Yes, I understand. Thank you Nine-Toes. So we must wait until dark, and take much care.”

“Wait!” Heik-Auri shouted from the edge of the forest. “I have a better idea.”