Jihl of Hart Options

[Heather V]

Hey guys! Sorry it's taken so long, but school has kept me pretty busy, but here I am with another update!

As always thank you all for your comments I appreciate each and every one of them

In chapter 6 The emperor prediction of the future came true as he was murdered by an assassin. Before his demise he gave Jihl his amulet with instructions to find a man named Jauffre and warn him about oblivion. Jihl passed this imformation on to Baurus and gave him the amulet so he could fulfil the emporer's dying wish.

Jihl escaped the sewers and found a few handy bits of equipment. She is now en-route to finding and killing Nerasteral

7. Lucky Heather

I bathed in the lake near the sewer exit for an hour and scrubbed my clothes clean. They didn't smell amazing, but at least they weren’t grimy anymore.

I checked my utility belt to see what I had been left with. All ten of the potion pockets were filled; all with a minor restore health potion. The coin purse held eighty gold coins and the extra pocket held fifty lock picks. It was lucky I had the lock picks, seeing as I was, as Faythe once called me 'the unlocking master'. A corny nickname, but it was very true. Unfortunately my sword holster was empty, leading me to regret giving the Emperor's dagger back to Baurus. My shoulder bag was also empty (apart from my map and compass). I worried that my shoulder bag would make too much noise should I ever fill it. I relied on stealth, so I knew it would be a problem; but I would cross that bridge once I came to it.

I looked across the lake and saw an Aylied ruin on an island. Chances were that there would be some kind of sword carrying fiend over there; but as I wasn't in desperate need of one it seemed pointless to even consider going over there.

Once I had performed the minor chores I got dressed and prepared for my journey, although I had no idea what the journey was to be. I knew I had to find Nerastarel and make her pay for what she'd done, but I didn't even know where to start.

"I guess her house would be a good start?" I said to Heather.

"Where does she live?" Heather asked me.

"Skingrad; although as far as I know she hasn't been there since she joined the Resistance two years ago..." I replied.

"Hmm..." Heather thought, "Still, a long shot is better than a short shot... or is it a no shot? I don't know."

I laughed, "I know what you mean."

I turned and saw the Imperial City rested proudly atop a large hill; The White gold tower staring at me with enormity. The white walls shining in the sunlight. A beautiful example of architecture. I was to assume this would be my next stop. Seeing as, luckily, I had a few gold coins in my coin purse I was in definite need of some new clothes.

I started to walk up the steep hill toward the city and decided to start a conversation with my new friend.

"I hope you don't mind me asking but how old are you? Or were you, rather?" I asked heather.

"Eighteen." Heather replied with a blissful joy.

Eighteen? Although I myself was only a year older, that was pretty young; but I've known younger to die before their time.

"So how did you pass away?" I asked her with a soft and caring tone. I didn't want to risk upsetting her; especially seeing as she would always be inside my head.

"Well the low down is a rogue mage tried to kill my parents, but I killed him with a powerful fire spell. It caused an explosion; the only drawback was that the only way to cast it was to use all the casters energy. Although I knew this I cast it anyway."

"So..." I said, not quite sure exactly where she was going.

"So... when I cast the spell and killed the bad guy I basically dissolved into nothing. It really wasn't a fun time."

"Wow..." I said, feeling a lot of respect for this girl, "You sacrificed yourself to save your parents?"

"I guess you could say that." Heather replied quite humbly.

It was safe to say that in the mere minutes I had known her, I was proud to have her as a companion; despite how annoying her voice may have been.

***

Once I reached the city I found myself in the Market District. I was rather nervous around the guards, but I don't think they knew who I was; either that or they simply didn't care.

After some extensive shopping, accompanied with some gleeful encouragement by Heather, I bought myself a new outfit.

A blue silk shirt, a pair of wide, black pants and a pair of leather boots. I ducked into one of the archways and put my clothes on, ditching my old prison wear inside a wooden box.

"What now?" Heather asked me, no doubt eager for more shopping.

"Now we head to Nerastarel’s house in Skingrad-" I told her.

I was immediately interrupted, "WHAAAAT?" Heather replied, shocked.

"What?" I echoed her.

"This is the Imperial City Jilly! Don't be boring with your mission stuff, have fun! Let off steam! Paint the town red!" She insisted.

I laughed, "There will be plenty of time to let off steam once I've completed my mission."

"BORING!" She interrupted again, much to my annoyance. "No, we are going to have fun. You can go to Skingrad in the morning."

"Heather-"

"NO! Fun now, Skingrad later. Okay?" She ordered.

I pondered whether or not to do as she said. For all I knew Nerastarel was at her house right now, but she could be gone tomorrow. Surely it was best to go there sooner rather than later?

But again, what if she wasn't there right now, but would be there tomorrow? And if I went there now to see the house empty I would assume she was long gone, unaware she would turn up the next day.

"ARGH!" I let out a frustrated gasp. "Fine. Let's have 'fun'."

"Yay!" Heather Squealed. "I promise you won’t regret this."

***

What was Heather's idea of fun? Clothes shopping? Nope. Book shopping? Nope. Praying? Not even close. No, Heather had dragged me to the Arena adamant that I bet on a match.

You really like this? I thought, remembering from the book I read that Guardian Spirits could hear thoughts.

"Yuh-huh. It's awesomesauce. You'll love it!" Heather insisted.

I don't know. The idea of making money from a death seems kind of sick to me.

"Oh, BOO YOU!"

What?

"Come on!" She begged, "Just one? twenty gold bet, then we will leave." Her tone then turned childlike, "pleeeeeease?"

I thought for a moment, wondering whether or not this was the best way to spend my time. I only had fifty gold left on me and I wasn’t sure I wanted to waste it. But then again, if I won I would get double my money back; and that would no doubt be able to afford me a nice meal...

Okay, I thought as I started to walk towards the Bookkeeper. Heather screamed with delight. I almost went deaf.

"Welcome to the Arena!" Greeted the Bookkeeper, "Are you here to bet on a match?"

I reluctantly nodded.

"Ask him about the fighters!" Heather ordered. I did so.

"For this fight the yellow team is a female Nord with an iron claymore. She is wearing light armour and a steel helmet." The Bookkeeper informed me.

"And the blue team!" Heather urged.

Shh! "And the blue team?" I asked.

"A male Breton. He is also wearing light armour, but he is using a steel long sword. He is also adept in destruction magic; frost, specifically."

"Hmm..." I heard Heather. She didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Okay! Go for yellow team!"

Really? But surely a skilled destruction mage would be able to take down a melee fighter-

"Yes! I'm sure. DO IT!" She said in that cheerful way of hers.

"Okay," I looked at the Bookkeeper, "Twenty gold on the yellow team please."

[Colonel Mustard]

So it appears that Jihl has herself an impulsive, bloodthirsty lunatic as her Spirit Guide. Fun times for all lie ahead...

[Heather V]

Hey! Sorry I haven't been about for a while. Between school and reading your stories I haven't really had free time to post.

Until now!

in chapter 7, Jihl spent some time getting to know her new spirit friend. She also bought herself a new outfit before being urged by Heather to bet on a match in the arena...

8. Lucky Heather

Part II

"Die you filthy Nord!" The Blue team fighter screamed as he fired another frost spell at the Yellow team fighter. The spell hit Yellow, but she didn't seem to react too much; it was almost as if she was impervious to it.

Yellow then swung her blade, to which Blue deflected with his blade using much effort. His effort was useless, however, as Yellow managed to knock the blade from Blue's hand.

Blue ran away, getting far enough from Yellow to concentrate on casting another Frost spell. This spell seemed to be more powerful than the last judging by the time it took to charge.

Yellow ran toward Blue just as Blue cast his spell. It hit her, but again despite a minor knock-back she seemed unphased. Blue cowered as he knew that any future effort would be met with failure.

Yellow approached Blue and raised her sword, "Who's a filthy Nord, now?"

She swung her mighty blade, connecting with Blue's neck; decapitating him.

The crowd shot up and cheered as Yellow claimed victory in the fight. Heather also screamed with delight over the victory.

The arena master congratulated Yellow then instructed everyone to return to Bookkeeper to claim our money if we bet on yellow.

I had to admit, although it was utterly disgusting; the whole arena thing was rather thrilling.

How did you know yellow would win? I asked Heather as we headed back to the Bookkeeper.

"Easy," She started, "Nords have more resistance to frost than other spells. The Bretons key pro was frost spells, so as I knew that would fail it was obvious the Nord would win."

I smiled to myself, impressed with her hindsight. I, again, thought about what a crucial companion she would be.

I collected my forty gold from the Bookkeeper and then decided to head back to the market district.

***

After a delicious meal of Venison, vegetables and beer at the Merchant's Inn, I decided it would be best to go to sleep, ready for the hike to Skingrad in the morning.

I need to find a beggar and pay them to give me the location of a nice place to sleep outside, I told Heather.

"Why? You can afford a room can't you?" she asked me, slightly confused at my decision to sleep outside.

I explained to her, since I've been in prison for the past five months I’d rather sleep somewhere that's not closed in and lockable. NO bedrooms.

"Really?" Heather replied in a patronising way.

I laughed it off; she didn't understand. How could she?

I continued to wander around the market district, when I saw an old woman begging a guard for coins. I smiled and approached her.

"Excuse me? I have some coin for you," I informed her.

She grinned with ecstasy. "Oh thank you kind lady!"

I took ten gold out of my pocket, but I didn't give it to her straight away, "First, could you direct me to any comfortable places to sleep outside?"

"You choose to sleep outside?" asked the beggar. I nodded. "Well for that amount of money you can have my bedroll for the night! I am not askew to sleeping on the bare ground."

I wasn't in the mood to be humble and reject her offer, so I gave her the coin and she told me where to go. She said her bedroll was behind the shop 'A Fighting Chance', a shop I had passed earlier when heading to the arena.

I thanked the woman and headed to the location of her bedroll.

"I can't believe you're sleeping outside. That's gross." Heather complained.

What do you have to moan about? It's not like you have to sleep outside.

"Still, it's gross. If you catch the flu and die, don't come running to me."

"I think it's safe to say that if i die I won't be running anywhere-"

I was cut off mid sentence by a sight which made my heart stop.

A woman leaving A Fighting Chance. A Redguard woman. Young with black hair and blue eyes. It couldn't be... could it?

"Faythe?" I said, watching her as she walked toward the Arena district, "FAYTHE!" I bellowed, then ran toward her. I grabbed her shoulder, "Faythe..."

The woman turned, slapping my hand off her shoulder and scowling at me.

"Stop shouting at me, Jheeze." She scowled. "What?"

It wasn't Faythe. It was stupid to think that it could have been. Up close it was obvious that this was a different woman.

"Sorry," I apologized, trying to to get overwhelmed with emotion, "I thought you were somebody else."

The woman continued to glare, but she must have seen something in my eyes as she suddenly became caring and sympathetic.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked, putting her hand on my shoulder, "Do you need to talk? How about a glass of wine? We should get drunk!"

I laughed, "No, I'm fine. Sorry."

"Are you sure?" She asked me one last time, I nodded. She smiled. "Okay, well I would introduce myself, but I gotta run, but if i see you around then I’ll say hello. Okay?"

I laughed, "Okay."

The woman went to walk away, but looked at my necklace, "Hey, Is that a garnet in your necklace?"

I nodded, then looked at her wrist, "Is that a collection of sapphires in your bracelet?" I asked her semi-mocking; jokingly, of course.

"It's actually shards of a single sapphire. He wasn't happy about that." She told me.

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I nodded and laughed. She said goodbye and I did the same, then I walked through the small alley next to A Fighting Chance and found the bedroll that belonged to the Beggar.

I rested upon it, Looking up at the sky and smiling at its beauty. It was so amazing to be able to see it again.

"Goodnight, Heather." I said as I slowly drifted off to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, probably dangerous; but that didn't alter the fact that I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

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Author note:

The subtle cameo was thankfully allowed after I felt I owed the writer a thank you for letting me pinch the guardian stone idea. This will be the ONLY cameo and appearance of the character; it was just a little nod in way of thanks

This post has been edited by Heather V: Oct 16 2012, 08:15 PM

[Grits]

How fun for Jihl to meet Lissa! It sounds like Heather makes her own luck.

This post has been edited by Grits: Oct 21 2012, 04:55 PM

[Heather V]

In chapter 8, Jihl and Heather guessed correctly at the Arena, and Jihl learned what a valubale comrade Heather might be.

9. Hunt For Nerry

I woke up bright and early the next morning, skipping breakfast entirely as I left the Imperial City. Outside the main gate I took out my map to see how far from Skingrad I was.

"Not too far..." I said to myself, wondering whether it would be quicker to walk on the roads or through the wilderness.

"On the road, Jihl, always on the road. Those bears are sneaky mother--" Heather started.

"Okay!" I interrupted before she could finish. I rolled up my map and put it back in my bag as I walked across the bridge that crossed the lake surrounding the city. It seemed endless.

It only seemed to take me half a day to get to Nerastarel's house in Skingrad and it looked exactly the same as I remembered it. As I suspected it would be, the front door was locked. I didn't panic though as I knew that back door was usually open, which once upon a time I saw as careless.

Alas, the back door was also locked, but seeing as there were zero guards around to observe me, I decided to perform a little breaking-and-entering. The lock was easy to pick. I slowly slid inside the house, keeping my bow in hand just in case. Once inside I slowly closed the door behind me, and then looked at my surroundings.

The house was trashed. Furniture was scattered about the floor, and the fact that the place had gathered mountains of dust and threads of cobwebs suggested it hadn't been cleaned for a while. The house was dark and the air was murky; it reeked of death. No doubt Nerastarel had performed many resurrections here.

It was quiet as I listened for signs of life. There didn't appear to be anything nearby. I slowly traversed toward the main staircase, being very aware of my surroundings just in case Nerastarel had the place rigged with traps. I wouldn't have put it past her.

I reached the staircase then saw something that confirmed my fears of a trap. A living skeleton guarded the staircase. Luckily, or stupidly, it was facing the stairway with its back to me.

I took my bow and notched an arrow, firing it. I watched as the creature collapsed into a pile of bones.

I now knew that this place wasn't as safe as I had first anticipated as I crept over the skeletal remains.

"Skeletons are super creepy--"

Shh, I need to concentrate. I scolded and I climbed the stairs.

Once I reached the top of the staircase I listened for more skeletons, but I heard nothing. I didn't take it for granted, though, so I notched an arrow and swiftly shot around the corner, aiming in preparation, but seeing nothing to fire at. I relaxed the notched arrow and continued forward, seeing another small staircase which led to the master bedroom.

The master bedroom door was locked with another easy lock that I picked. I opened the door a crack to listen for anything hostile. Again, my fears were confirmed. The low moan and squelchy footsteps of a zombie.

"Drat." I cursed silently. Zombies had always been a tough fight; the battle against Nerastarel's army had proved that. Luckily for me Zombies were weak against fire, and I happened to know a fireball spell.

I crept into the master bedroom, looking about. It appeared the only thing in the bedroom was the zombie.

I put my bow back and prepared a fireball to fire at the abomination, but Heather interrupted me.

"Wait! No, your fireball is too weak."

Then what do you suggest I do?

I didn't want to risk having to physically fight this thing, and the space was too small to use my bow. I doubted a sneaky shot at it wouldn't be enough to kill it instantly.

"No, I mean it's too weak at the moment. Concentrate on your fireball and repeat after me."

I did as she told me as she chanted something in a language I could not decipher. Once she finished I threw the fireball at the zombie, killing it as it burned to a crisp in a burst of almighty flames.

"Okay, wow." I said, utterly surprised at the power my simple spell had garnered. It made my head hurt and my nose started to bleed, though. It must have used more than just my Magicka to cast it. I knew I wasn't going to cast it again; but that didn't alter the fact I was utterly impressed with Heather.

However my good mood was quickly put to a halt as I noticed that Nerastarel wasn't in the bedroom. I then searched the bedroom and the rest of the house, but there was nothing. No letters, clues or anything to suggest where she had gone.

"Well that was a waste of time." Heather sulked.

"Maybe..." I replied as I left the house the way I came. I walked to the front of the house, seeing something that raised my eyebrow. A Dunmer woman was stood outside the house's main entrance. She appeared to be waiting for something.

"Maybe she knows something?" Heather suggested, although I did wonder that myself.

I approached the Dunmer woman, "Excuse me!" I bellowed as I jogged toward her. She looked at me.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Actually, maybe." I said, "I don't suppose you know the woman who lives here do you?"

"Me? Why do you ask?" She said nervously.

I knew I had to lie to get any information from her. "It's just she... is my... sister. She's my sister and I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks and I really need to speak with her."

"You do? Oh, well last I heard she was going to an Aylied ruin with her friend Jalbert to conduct a few experiments; but that was over a week ago. She told me she would come and visit me when she was finished, but she hasn't."

Was why she was waiting for Nerastarel any of my business? No. I wasn't in the mood for small talk, "Do you happen to know where I could find this ruin?" I rushed.

She thought for a while, leaving me anxious for an answer. She gave me one. "She told me it was on a small island opposite the prison district of the imperial city. I suspect that seeing as she isn't home, she is still there."

A small island? Could it be the ruin I saw when I left the sewers? It seemed ironic that I was looking at her current location while wondering where she was, but I looked past that. I now knew where she was, and I had to get there as quickly as bosmerly possible.

I wondered if this woman had anymore information on Nerastarel, "She sure gave you a lot of information..." I said, trying to intimidate her into revealing more.

"Well I offer her good money for the carcasses of her failed experiments." She replied proudly.

"Excuse me?"

She realised what she had just said to me, "What? Nothing. I said nothing," She backtracked, "Nothing after what I said about her location. What?"

She then quickly darted off. I had no idea why she had gotten so agitated, but now that I had an almost concrete idea on where to find Nerastarel, the Dunmer's suspicious reaction was less than important to me.