Surprise.
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Ahnaressu's trek was fairly uneventful, and he couldn't help but see it as the eerie calm before the thunderous storm. That foreboding feeling intensified as he left the bleak gray of the ashlands and entered the green plains of the grazelands. With the maze of foyadas behind him, the reality of the upcoming fight became even clearer and his resolve became firmer.
The calm was over, he realized, when he saw the darkest black clouds hovering above the cluster of yurts that made up the Zainab Camp. The clouds didn't follow any natural pattern, and gave Ahnaressu an uneasy feeling in his gut. Passing the feeling off as pre-battle jitters, he kept moving. The tiny dots that the dunmer knew to be yurts became larger, and he suddenly realized the truth of what was happening. The sound of clashing steel and battle cries reached his ears and his brisk walk became an all out run.
I can't let Valnor kill anymore. I can't let Valnor live anymore.
He repeated those to sentences to himself over and over until he entered the battle. He began his planned killing spree with a burly orc. The orc was occupied with fighting a young ashlander, and never even saw Ahnaressu or the bright green flash of the katana that tore his ugly head from his body. The young ashlander nodded in thanks before engaging another enemy.
Ahnaressu recognized the dunmer he had just saved, though it was obvious that the observation was not a mutual one. A few years ago, during the short while he had lived among these people, there had been an ashlander about his age who treated him with even less respect than the rest of the tribe. Strangely, Ahnaressu realized that he no longer held any grudge against Yas; a common enemy had a strange way of dispelling minor quarrels like that. Ahnaressu continued his fighting, and though none of the Zainab recognized who he was, they did recognize him as an ally.
With every short break in fighting that Ahnaressu got, he watched fruitlessly for any sign of Valnor. The clouds above them became blacker as the minutes went by, but with the more pressing problem of armed attackers, the ashlanders paid no notice.
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"Its when murder is justice that martyrs are made"
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