The Adventures of Marius:, The island and the madmer Options

[redsrock]

Chapter One

"Marius, be a dear and fetch me some water from the well, will you please? I need to clean these dishes before I can fix us lunch."

"Just let me finish something real quick, I'm almost done."

Marius could hear his mother talking while walking down the hall, and this made him roll his lime-green eyes at the thought. "Marius, I don't want to keep asking you things, over and over, I-" she stopped mid-sentence after she saw what her sixteen year old son had doing in the first place. "Marius, if I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, YOU'RE NOT JOINING THE IMPERIAL LEGION!"

"But why?" Marius had by now dropped the silver longsword he had been polishing and was standing beside his bed glaring into his mother's eyes. This was not the first time they had quarreled, and he knew it wouldn't be the last either.

"Because I NEED you around here! After your father died we were left with nothing! If you are to run off to kill things who will be here to help me around the house? I certainly can't fix the food, clean dishes, milk the cows, feed the animals by myself. Do I really need to go on?"

He sighed sarcastically and bolted out of the room and out into the kitchen. "Fine, mother, have it your way...again! You know, father gave me the sword for a reason," he added, turning back around and facing his mother, who herself was now standing in the middle of the hallway.

"And what reason is that, Marius?" She asked with her arms folded and a smile upon her face. She was waiting for Marius to use the upcoming excuse. She'd hurt it millions of times.

"To follow in his footsteps and-"

"Get yourself killed just as he did?" She said, interrupting Marius. "He died fighting for people who didn't even care about him, Marius! Did they give him a funeral? Did they send their apologies? By the gods no they did not! They sent us a blunt letter explaining that he died 'fighting for the glory of the Empire', and didn't even bother sending his body!" She yelled, adding a bit of sarcasm to the last sentence. Any other time she would have started crying at this time, but she was used to the arguments with Marius about his father's service to the Legion. Crying did her no good and she didn't see a reason to continue it.

"Why do you disrespect the Empire so much, mother? Because of them we have our freedom. Because of them we are free from the Ashlanders people. You and I both know Caldera used to be full of 'em." Marius couldn't stand the way she talked of the Empire day in and day out. It drove him crazy to hear her talk like that.

"Marius," she laughed, "You have no idea how or why Caldera has become what it is today. The Empire isn't as prideful and glorious as you think it is. Now, get out and fetch me the water or you won't be doing anything for the rest of the day."

"But I was gonna meet my friends at Potter's Creek later on!"

"Then I suggest you get going on that water," she said, already having her back to him and walking down the hallway towards her room, carrying the sword and no doubt putting it back into the old chest where it had been before Marius pulled it out.

It isn't fair, she can't keep telling me what to do. Soon I'll be an adult and I'll be able to make my own decisions, Marius thought as he trudged out the door and over to the watering well. Bernie, one of the few pigs on the farm, wabbled up to Marius from behind and nudged his bare ankle with a cold and wet nose. "Oh, Bernie, I didn't see you coming fella'. Here, you want some water?"

Marius dumped a pale-full of water into the pigs' trough and then refilled the bucket. He walked back into the house and sat the pale on the floor just a few feet away from his mother. She had just started to prepare biscuits, one of Marius's favorite foods.

"You're fixing biscuits?" he asked her.

"Yes, Marius, I am. It's too bad you won't be here when they're done," she said, referring to him going to Potter's Creek.

"But you'll save me some won't you?"

She turned around and gave him a warm smile, which in return made Marius feel guilty about yelling at her, even if he still stood by what was said.

"Of course I will, Marius, have I ever not?" She walked over and gave her son a hug, and Marius could feel a set of tears from his mother's cheek, with he being about an inch taller than she. "You know, through all of our arguing and whatnot I sure hope you know how much I love you, son."

"I know mother, he replied rather bluntly, wanting to escape her tight grasp and be with his friends at the creek.

After what seemed to Marius like hours she let go of him. "Alright, you may go. Though I'd like it if you were home in a couple of hours. Lunch will likely be ready by then."

"Ok, I will," and then he was off out the door and running towards Potter's Creek, praying that his friends hadn't started without him.

******************************

"It's about time, Mar, we've been waiting almost an hour!"

Marius's best friend was waving frantically in a playful manner as he ascended down the large hill that ran right into the creek itself. "Sorry...Katrina...but my mother kept me longer than I thought she would," he responded, out of breath from running the entire way.

"Well don't worry, we didn't start without ya'," the Redguard Jonah said, another one of Marius's good friends, but not quite like Katrina. She and Marius had a connection that was special, even if the two didn't know it yet.

"Do you think we'll be able to find it again?" Katrina asked Marius while he was still catching his breath.

"I sure hope so, it looked like a lot of fun. Maybe we'll find some treasure or something."

The trio had been running through the woods yesterday when they had stumbled upon an old cave, a small one mind you, but one that was located out of view, situated behind a couple of large rocks that had done a good job of keeping the cave from normal eyesight. Being sixteen year-old kids they were of course curious about exploring the cave, but by the time they had discovered the hidden cavern it was almost dark.

They walked along the edge of the creek, talking and laughing like normal kids do. After several minutes they passed a small deformed tree. Marius remembered the cavern being somewhat close to that tree, somewhere the right. So they walked across the creek, since it was rather shallow and barely went up to their knees, and continued onward.

"There, there's the two boulders!" Jonah yelled with excitement as he began running towards the oversized rocks, with Marius and Katrina following close behind. Once they reached the cave's entrance they just stood there for several seconds, and then the youthful fear finally kicked in.

"Who's going in first?" Katrina asked hesitantly, now all of a sudden not too sure if she really wanted to enter the cavern or not.

"I don't know, but it ain't gonna be me..." Jonah responded, backing away from the dark hole several feet.

"What's wrong with you, I thought Redguards were supposed to be all brave and everything..." Marius laughed jokingly. Jonah flashed him an angered look and that's when Katrina took over, which was quite ironic because she was the only girl of the small group.

"Fine, I'll go in," she said, and then did just that. Marius and Jonah waited anxiously a few seconds before Katrina called out from within. "It's fine you guys, and it's not as dark as I thought it would be! There's some light coming from a few holes at the top! Come on down, but watch where you're walking, there's dip when you come in!"

The two boys looked at each other, both still undecided on who was entering the cavern first. "Just go, Jonah, I'll follow!"

"Why don't you go?" the Redguard boy yelled out in defiance.

"Stop yapping already and just come in at the same time!" Katrina yelled impatiently from within the cave.

Marius and Jonah simply shrugged their shoulders and did just what Katrina told them to do.

This post has been edited by redsrock: Jul 3 2008, 02:45 AM

[redsrock]

Chapter Three


"Psss, over here!" Marius heard someone whispering behind him but when he turned around there was of course no one there. "Down here!" came another whisper. He looked to the ground and saw that at the bottom of the wall near the corner of the room was a hole, where pieces of the ship had been torn off. Marius knelt down on both knees and saw a boy about his age, an Imperial as well, peeking at him from the other side of the wall. "How's it going?"

The boy was smiling widely, and Marius thought that was rather strange. Who in their right mind would be smiling after they'd been kidnapped, and then put on a ship heading to an unknown direction? "Who are you? Were you kidnapped too?" Marius asked.

The boy smiled even more and said, "Yeah, about a month ago I'd say, though I'm not really sure. It's hard to tell time locked up in a room all the time. My name's Roderick Gaalmane. What's yours?"

"Marius...Marius Dalvane. And did you say a whole month?" Marius asked with a bit of shock that the boy had been on the ship that long.

"Yep, I think the ship has been stopping at different places looking for children to kidnap. There's been two others in your room, but they were moved around each time. Hopefully you'll stay here longer."

"And why is that?" Marius was starting to find the boy annoying.

"I don't know, I guess so I can have somebody to talk to. It's been lonely here by myself for the past few days. I think we're getting close to wherever we're going. I heard you and the Nord talking."

"So you heard me crying too?" Marius, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

"Yeah, but it's nothing to feel bad about. I cried a lot in the beginning as well. Now I just want to know what's going on, and why they are only capturing kids...or at least those around the age of sixteen or so. How are you exactly?"

"Sixteen."

"So am I. The Nord and some others kidnapped me as I was picking berries in the forest. Swept me up and brought me here they did. I-"

Marius, no longer able to control his anger, replied harshly, "You know, I really don't feel like talking. I've been separated from my two friends, my mother, and I don't what's going to happen. The last thing I need is someone who doesn't know when to shut up..."

Silence for a few seconds, and then Roderick spoke up once more. "I'm sorry, I...just don't like being alone, and when you came I got all excited. I'll leave you alone now..."

And immediatly Marius felt sorry for what he had said. It wasn't like him to have sudden outbursts like that. "No...I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I..I'm just not used to all this yet. I'm scared, to be honest..."

"No worries, I totally understand. I'll admit, I do talk a lot, but hey, who doesn't? Anyways, I think I will leave you alone, at least for a while. I need to get changed into the clothing they've given us. Supposedly the Bosmer man is going to talk to us before we set foot on wherever we're going."

"The Bosmer man?"

"Yeah, he's the one who's been ordering our kidnapings, or at least that's what I heard a guard say the other day when I went to the bathroom. I don't think he liked me listening to his conversation. He hit me hard with his stick."

Finally the kid stopped talking and Marius could hear a box open on the other side. He figured the kid was getting dressed so Marius did the same thing. Inside the wooden box behind the bed was a pair of dark-leather pants and a tan-colored shirt, and under the clothing was a pair of leather boots and a brown pigskin belt. The outfit wasn't the most glamorous Marius had ever seen, but he didn't feel like disobeying orders.

Almost as soon as he was done buckling his belt and finished getting dressed the Nord he had met with earlier yelled from outside the door. "Five minutes and we leave fer the deck! Make sure yer ready!"

"You heard him, right?" Roderick asked Marius once the Nord had left.

"Yeah, I did. What's his name, do you know?"

"No, but he sure is mean. He's made many of us cry, so don't feel bad about doing it yourself." Marius wasn't sure whether to thank him or not, so he just didn't say anything. It didn't matter either way, because in a few minutes his door swung open and an enormous Orc stood in the doorway with a similar-looking club the Nord had hit Marius with back at the cave. "Get out, kid, it's time to get yourself on deck," he said, his deformed-pig-like face bunching up into an ugly snarl. Marius didn't say anything but walked out the door. Thankfully for him Roderick had left his room at the same time, so he was able to walk to deck with him. Even if Marius found the kid somewhat agitating, he was still glad to at least walk with someone he'd already spoken to. It made things easier, even if it was only a little bit.

"Hey, it's good to meet you actually in person. I really don't think peeking through a hole in the wall counts," Roderick said with a laugh.

"MOVE IT ALONG!" the Orc ordered loudly from behind, startling the two boys, plus a few other children in the area. There were other Orcs leading the sea of children, as well as some Argonians and other races as well. Marius took these adults to be workers of this Bosmer man. He didn't say anything to Roderick, and vice versa. Neither of the two wanted to take a chance of getting whacked upside the head by a stick.

And as the moved along the wooden corridors Marius took a mental note of how many children there were. It was an awe-striking scene to him, that all of these children had been stolen from their homes. There were all kinds of races, from Imperials like himself all the way to the furry Khajits and the scaly Argonians. What the hell is this Bosmer planning? Marius thought to himself just he was nearing an open hatch leading to the deck of the ship.

Once he was on deck Marius immediatly craned his head around looking for Jonah and Katrina, but he couldn't see either of them in the massive flock of children, and in fact he could barely see his feet because things were so crazy and crammed. Suddenly a high voice sounded from the mast of the ship, and standing on a platform was a Bosmer wearing an expensive multi-colored robe. The short elf began to speak and a hushed silence fell over the youthful crowd.