Niamh's Adventures in Nirn..., This is a thread featuring a digest of stories about... Options

[PhonAntiPhon]

-CONSEQUENCES-

A short while later Luciana, having recovered a little and been furnished with some food and a mug of beer, sat before Bravil's Commander of The Watch in his ornate office on the ground floor of the castle.
The windows were open and the sun was shining from a sky blue and cloud-free. A gentle breeze wafted fragrant geranium-scented air into the room.

"We found her by the Island Door." Said the commander, a large man of about 50 summers, stocky if not actually turning yet to fat, with a still rugged face and short greying hair."She had killed the guard and that Khajiit which was always hanging around." He was referring to the strange gateway about which the citizens of Bravil had been warned, it having opened on an island in the lake some time ago now.
Sitting back in his chair, he watched Luciana closely, as if expecting a response of some kind from her.

But she had none to give him.
Presently he grunted and scratched the side of his stubbly face.
"She was found by two of my men." He continued, his voice deep, Official, and impersonal. "They had gone over to the island to investigate flashes of light in the early hours of this morning. They took a Guild mage with them, as a precaution." He sat forward. "Luckily for them."

She watched him as he picked up a mug of ale and took a swig from it, placing it back on the dark wood desk with one hand whilst wiping his mouth with the back of the other. From outside the castle came the sound of birdsong and distant voices.

"Your input, madame Galena, would be helpful at this point." His voice was flat but his eyes were hard and with a clear suggestion that cooperation on her part would be very sensible, indeed necessary.
She shook her head, there was no point lying, he must already know anyway.
"All..." She began, stopped and took a breath, then; "All I know is that she was... with me last night. She talked, said something about... well she seemed to be saying goodbye and when I awoke this morning she was gone." She looked helplessly at the commander. "I am as confused about all this as you, Sir!"

He looked hard at her.
"I am inclined to believe you." He said. "Despite yours and that inn keeper's deceipt." He shot her a glance.
He shuffled through some papers on his desk for a moment until her found what he sought.
"It would seem," He began again, glancing down at the parchment, "that she was returning through the Door from the Other Side. We aren't quite sure of the events as they stand but we believe that the flashes of light that were witnessed occured as she passed through the gate originally, earlier." He looked up at her. "That was when she killed - Murdered - the Kat and one of my guards."
She could tell he was keeping his voice neutral but beneath it, and not far down either was anger, this was a man who felt very strongly about his men that much was clear.
A cold feeling began to gather in the pit of her belly, but something bothered her about what he had said.

Evidently the commander had noticed this.
"Madame Galena?" He prompted.
"I don't understand how she managed to get into the condition that she is in now when she's not been gone that long..." She said. It was not entirely true she knew, What was chained in the dark under their feet bore now only a passing resemblance to her Niamh, and for all that she knew the creature she had seen earlier might look like that anyway.
But no, more had gone on than either she or the Commander knew of that she was sure; the Other Niamh - (as she thought of her) - was suffering it was clear, it - she - was ravaged and clearly hurt and the part of Luciana that still hoped, Hoped, and Prayed that there was even some small piece of Her Niamh still left somewhere within could not stand to see her like that.
However much of a foolish hope it was, she had to cling to it, what else did she have?

She was snapped back into the room and out of her thoughts by the voice of the Commander; "I could not say, I do know that His Lordship has been advised by the Head of the Mages' Guild that time beyond the Door may work differently somehow." He made a face. "Apparently that means she may have been gone for days, over there." He shook his head, looked back down at his papers for a moment, as if finding some certainty within their physical reality. He was clearly a man for whom magic and it's associated oddities were something he would sooner have avoided and that, Luciana suspcted, included Niamh.
"She spotted my men and the mage, " he continued then, "whilst they were still in their boat and apparently wiped one of them out - all but incinerated him - almost before they knew what was happening." Again that anger in his voice, barely concealed. "They had to push his body off of the boat." He looked into her eyes. "Into the water." A pause, then; "Fortunately, the mage proved her worth and was able to place a ward upon herself and the remaining guard and then subdue... her."

"How...?" Luciana asked, concerned even now that Niamh had not been hurt.
The captain looked at the parchment again.
"Paralysed her, it says here." He said. "Additionally it seems that the manacles keep her weak, the mage advises me that the iron they are made from causes her pain if she tries to use her power." He looked at her then, his mouth slightly open, his grey eyes hooded beneath his eyebrows. "They hurt her."
Luciana swallowed hard and looked away from him.
Maybe it was her shackles that were making her sick. She did not know and she felt conflicted by her feelings. On the one had it was clearly wrong, the murder of the Kat and the watchmen but on the other, could they not see?
Could they not see what she could see?

The feeling in her belly grew heavy, a cold lead weight. She forced herself to look back at the Commander once again.
There was a question she had to ask, even though she knew the answer.
"What will happen to her?"

The commander's eyes narrowed slightly, he almost seemed a little surprised she shoud even ask.
"She will hang, and soon." He paused for a moment. "That is if she does not starve to death first, she's taken neither food nor water and no one wants to get close enough to her to force her. We may well need to hurry if justice is to be served." His fingers rubbed the parchment he was holding. "I have spoken to His Lordship already."

Luciana could bear it no longer.
"But she's sick!" She cried out. "Surely you can see she is not normal, she's not herself and she doesn't know what she's..."
The Commander slapped his hand, palm first, down onto the table so hard his mug of ale jumped into the air, spilling beer onto the desk. Luciana, stunned into silence, sat back in her chair and stared at him.
"You, Madame, are no position to make any comment!" Her pointed a finger at her. "You and that inn keeper of yours are lucky that you are not joining her in the cells, harbouring a known criminal especially a murderer is a hanging offence!" His hand slashed from left to right across his face. "She's wanted over half of Cyrodiil and because of your misguided attentions she's killed again! Two watchmen, and the Kat."
He took a deep breath, steadied himself, though the anger burnt brightly in his eyes, still.
"One of those men had a family, two young children." He took another breath. "Would you let her go, if you were me?"

She very nearly asked what he would have if he was her, or if it was his wife, or son and not her Niamh or at least what she hoped might be her Niamh, still. But instead she just said; "I could take her away Sir, we could leave and go far away. I know what she has done is wrong, Sir, but you must believe me she is not right in her mind..." She looked at him, her eyes moist, her fingers knitted together. "Please."
The commander looked away for a moment, then looked back at her again. When he spoke his voice was softer.
"Your loyalty is admirable, Madame Galena, but justice must be served and must be seen to be served. Bravil will tolerate nothing less." He held up a hand to silence her protests. "That is the decision. If you were me, " he said quietly, "you would do the same."

The truth hit her then, as if the man she was facing had walked around the desk and sunk his fist hard into her midriff.
It obvious on her face to anyone who looked.

The Commander was not a cruel man, despite his anger at the loss of his men, but he was a staunch believer in justice and its rightful application. Even so, he would have been heartless indeed had he not been able to see the distress and helplessness written all over the attractive woman sitting opposite him.
"You were her..." He coughed. "...lover, were you not?"
Luciana could only nod at him, speechless as she was.
"I am aware of your actions with regards to her." Went on the commander, a more sympathetic tone in his voice. "Who is to say that I would not be doing the same now, as you are, were the boot not on the other foot." For the first time he looked a little uncomfortable. "I know of her, and I know that rogue as she was, she was not a mindless lunatic killer. She has been before me in the past and I am not blind, Madame Galena, and though I may not see through your eyes I can see well enough to know that what is in my dungeon is not the woman who stood before me."

From outside the door to the Commander's office there was the sound of a bell being rung, footsteps in the hall; borne on the air through the windows children's voices - the sounds of a normal world.
He spread his arms out on either side of the chair.
"But what can I do?" He shook his head. "There is nothing I can do other than what I have done, madame, that is all. She cannot be allowed to live."

Outside, the sun continued to shine brightly down from a clear blue sky.

-END-

[PhonAntiPhon]

-From Darkness-

Even this, too, must end.

And so it had come to it finally, as she knew it must.
The morning dawned grey and chill, with the promise of rain in the air. The wind blew sullenly through the wooden struts of the scaffold that had been erected in the courtyard of Bravil Castle.

Luciana had awoken and dressed in her best clothes, washed her face and hands in the chill water from the bowl on the washstand. She had eaten a little, all the while managing to maintain the dream in which she had existed for the last couple of days, since her meeting with the Watch Commander and her first and only visit to that room deep under the castle.
It was a good dream, a fine dream, her partner was away exploring and would be home anytime soon, bringing a gift or two like she always did and smiling at her in that mischievous way that she had.

With this in mind she walked across the creaking bridge over the waterway, then past the Mage's Guild and on to Mara's Chapel, steadfastly ignoring the sideways glances directed at her by other folk as they drifted slowly towards the castle courtyard.
In the chapel she found the shrine of Dibella, Niamh's patron Goddess. Kneeling, closed her eyes and said a few quiet words.

There were some thirty minutes to go, at the suitor she found Bogrum, they looked at each other for a moment or two; there were no words to be said anymore, nothing to be done but simply to make it through the next half an hour or so, and after that...
Bogrum pushed a small mug of spirit across the scarred counter to her, poured one for himself. They both drank, glasses first raised in a silent toast, Luciana feeling the burn of the greasy liquid as it slid down her throat.

Fifteen minutes to go and they were amongst the crowd at the scaffold. Niamh had caused quite a stir during her time in Bravil though few there had ever really met her, for all that though much of the town was present in the large courtyard.
The three who had come to know Niamh the best now gathered together: S'krivva, Luciana, and Bogrum; keeping close to each other, the burly innkeeper casting a protective eye over his barmaid and friend.

There were ten minutes to go; Luciana stood between the other two and stared fixedly at the gallows. The first officials had arrived on the platform, the Watch Commander, the Priestess of Mara - Bravil's patron Goddess, a couple of watchmen, and the magistrate.
She noticed the commander look up at a window set high in the wall of the castle, he seemed to be awaiting a signal. She saw him nod, and then turn to a watchman. The guard saluted smartly and headed off back into the castle.

There were five minutes to go, the sound of the crowd washed over Luciana, snatches of conversation impinged upon her.
"...always come to a bad end..."
"...strange one that..."
"...knew she wasn't right..."
"That one there, that's her... lover..."
She could feel heads turning to look at her, eyes regarding her, a thousand unasked questions prickling the back of her neck. S'krivva's clawed hand gripped her shoulder and squeezed it.
She could feel the Kat looking at her, but was unable to tear her attention away from the scaffold.

There were two minutes to go, it had begun to rain now and distantly Luciana could feel she was becoming wet. Somebody put a cloak about her shoulders.
Increasingly it seemed to her as if she were watching events unfold from a vantage point some distance above the crowd, somewhere beyond the hubbub and away from the constant, and now increasing, sense of something once so good finally coming to an end. Detached and gently drifting.

There was one minute to go, in her mind's eye she saw the door from the dungeons opened and Niamh being led out between two guards; she was shuffling unsteadily, manacled at ankles and wrists.
From her position above the crowd she watched the trio ascend the steps at the back of the scaffold and arrive on the wooden platform.
Distantly she noted the noise from the assembled crowd quieten and die away, saw their attention focus as one upon the gallows.
Calmly, almost languidly, her attention moved there also, focused on... her.

Time slowed down.
Niamh was dressed in a single piece of cloth sacking, with rough holes cut for her arms and head. It was far too big for her, she looked lost in it, her spindly body adrift in a sea of coarse brown material.
She was staring, unblinking, into the distance. Her strange eyes glimmered even in the dim grey light of the morning, the black-slitted pupils wide. Her face was sunken and thin, her mouth hanging open.
Someone had roughly chopped her hair short and removed the piercings from her ears and face. There was a large bruise on her left cheek, livid against the white skin.
She was barefoot, and Luciana found herself hoping that Niamh's feet weren't too cold, what with the rain and all.

Vaguely she heard the magistrate begin to list the Wood Elf's crimes and it occurred to her that actually her Niamhy was already gone; she had known for a while really, but perhaps finally she accepted it now and understood that what was there on the scaffold staring blankly into space, shackled and dressed in rags, was just a shell, empty now of the life force that had once burnt so brightly within it.
She smiled then for she knew that Niamh, her Niamh, was Free; free from her bonds and from the pain and the past that haunted and hunted her, dragging at her with clutching fingers.

In the realisation of this Luciana herself found peace, and falling back into her body she wept, and her tears were as much for the joy of Niamh's liberation and for their time together as they were for the sorrow of her passing and the end of that time.
Through misted eyes she watched with the others.

Snapshots.

"...commend unto Mara..."
"Spirit"
"...crimes..."
"Have..."
"...mercy..."

The noose went over Niamh's head, was tightened around her neck.

"...last words..."

Silence.

Anticipation rippled through the crowd.

"...commend your..."

There was a thunk, the clatter of a trapdoor.
The rope went taut.

One final tear, the last drop in the ocean she had shed, coursed down Luciana's cheek.
"Goodbye Niamhy."

A whispered voice, an ending.

-X-

EPILOGUE

In the sum of all possible worlds, another.
A planet, a continent, a city...

In the bedroom of a third floor apartment in a building in the less well off side of the city, a woman - Lucinda Galner - awakes from a dream and sits up, staring for a moment into the soft darkness clinging about the bed. She holds the sheet up to her chest.
As her eyes focus and become used to the night, she turns to look down at the sleeping form next to her.

It is a woman, a little younger than her, maybe thirty. Her name is Niamh E. and she's the singer in a band that works the seedier bars in the waterfront district of the metropolis.
Lucy had met her earlier that night, she'd felt drawn to her; tall and slender with pale skin, dark chestnut eyes and long red-streaked black hair. She had an air of mystery about her, a dark and hidden past that Lucy found - finds - irresistibly fascinating.
She smiles in the dark and shakes her head. Lying down once again she presses close to the other woman and lays an arm gently over her.

She has no idea if the road that she's on is the right one or even where it is headed, but she has a suspicion that the ride, as long as it lasts, will be a wild one.

And you can't say fairer than that.

-The End-

[McBadgere]

Wow...That was epic!!...

That was one hell of a tale...I absolutely loved it!!...Thrilling and wonderful from start to finish...I mean, yeah...Sad end and all...But still...

Soooo, this the end of the Niamh story?...Hmmmm...

Fantastic stuff...

Loved it!!...

Amazing writing matey...

Nice one!!...

*Applauds heartily*...

[Colonel Mustard]

I just got to enjoy this whole arc in one sitting and it was very, very interesting indeed. Somewhat confusing, though I suspect that that was the intention, but tense, moving and ultimately rather sad

That little ending snippet, though, was great; I'd assumed by (what I gather) Niamh's reincarnation was limited to Nirn, allowing her to move between games (Skyrim, Oblivion and possibly Dragon Age from what I've read on yer blog), but that final bit was a really cool little surprise.

I enjoyed it very much, and it kind of reminded me of something that Neil Gaiman would write; I'm intrigued to see what'll be happening next.

[PhonAntiPhon]

I just got to enjoy this whole arc in one sitting and it was very, very interesting indeed. Somewhat confusing, though I suspect that that was the intention, but tense, moving and ultimately rather sad

That little ending snippet, though, was great; I'd assumed by (what I gather) Niamh's reincarnation was limited to Nirn, allowing her to move between games (Skyrim, Oblivion and possibly Dragon Age from what I've read on yer blog), but that final bit was a really cool little surprise.

I enjoyed it very much, and it kind of reminded me of something that Neil Gaiman would write; I'm intrigued to see what'll be happening next.

Thank you Colonel, that's really nice of you to say and thank you for reading.
As it happens Neil Gaiman is my Very Favourite Author, I have pretty much everything he has written as it goes!

[PhonAntiPhon]

I'm intrigued to see what'll be happening next.

It might well be, that you'll find out...

[mirocu]

I'm intrigued to see what'll be happening next.

It might well be, that you'll find out...

Will.... Will Niamh be resurrected!??

[PhonAntiPhon]

I'm intrigued to see what'll be happening next.

It might well be, that you'll find out...

Will.... Will Niamh be resurrected!??

Sort of, I'm working on a few ideas.

[mirocu]

I miss that girl!

She had such cute butt comments on stuff

[PhonAntiPhon]

I miss that girl!

She had such cute butt comments on stuff

I actually do miss her as well, as it happens, and despite my best efforts - her character got under my skin...
And so I found myself wondering if there was any further I could take her story, without trivialising it or just becoming repetitious. I made a lot of false starts, not least because I dont actually play Oblivion anymore, certainly not at the moment.

I do still write though, and I do write about her from time to time, and it kind of feels like I have an idea now as to how things might pan out, so if you are interested, watch this space!

This post has been edited by PhonAntiPhon: Jul 21 2015, 07:35 AM

[PhonAntiPhon]

See the new thread...

This post has been edited by PhonAntiPhon: Jul 22 2015, 10:44 PM

[PhonAntiPhon]

See the new thread...

This post has been edited by PhonAntiPhon: Jul 22 2015, 10:43 PM