AroundightMay 23, 2014May 23, 2014 at 04:56 AM
#1
The jaguar had hungry eyes. H’eldul had not bothered to catch his name. Names were just labels, often chosen by those who wore them and no truer a representation of those who wore them than the lies that could pass so easily from their tongues. Names could be lies, words could be lies, but eyes told only the truth. And the first thing that H’eldul noticed as the young jaguar passed through the door H’eldul had been assigned to guard was that the jaguar had hungry eyes.
H’eldul had seen such eyes before. Eyes like that did not see people, they saw things. To eyes such as those, people were merely objects to be used, possessed, or discarded. Hungry eyes saw the price of everything but knew the value of nothing. Hungry eyes were dangerous eyes.
Ra’zaka had hungry eyes. Those eyes had served him well in his business, as he bought out or destroyed his rivals. Ra’zaka had started as a simple textiles merchant, but now he had fingers in practically every pie in the region and turned his attention to the Skooma trade. H’eldul wondered if either Ra’zaka or the jaguar knew how dangerous the other was… but H’eldul had greater concerns.
Both pairs of hungry eyes were watching D’ni as she danced in the firelight while the drummers played. The lithe young cheetah spun and flew, looking as if she was riding the currents of the air. The fires lighting the pavilion created shadow-dancers all around her that spun and danced with her as she leapt and twirled. To H’eldul it looked as if Khenarthi himself was her dance partner, lifting her into the sky and allowing her to fly. He had never seen anything as beautiful as D’ni’s dance, and he could feel the pull to join her, to experience that same joy and freedom. He took a deep breath to focus himself and looked back at Ra’zaka and the jaguar.
They appeared unmoved by the beauty of the dance they were observing. To Ra’zaka, D’ni was nothing but a bargaining chip, a way for him to finally get a piece of the incredibly profitable Skooma trade. Ra’zaka had long farmed and traded in moon sugar, but though he had hired the finest alchemists and produced a quality product none of the local cartels had been willing to buy Skooma from him. Now he had his way in: the head of the Crimson Tear wanted his son to take a wife, and had heard of both D’ni’s beauty and Ra’zaka’s desire to enter the business. He had sent his son, the jaguar, to negotiate both trade and marriage.
To the jaguar, D’ni was a pretty thing to be possessed. H’eldul could find no true appreciation of beauty in his eyes, merely greed, calculation, and lust: how much status could be gained from having such a bride, and how much carnal pleasure could be taken from her.
Between the two of them they would destroy D’ni’s spirit and a beautiful light would go out, leaving the world a darker place. “This one can’t be having with that.” H’eldul whispered to himself.
H’eldul was not known for being quick-witted. He preferred slow, methodical planning; making sure that all pieces were in place before making his move. But he knew that tonight he would have to act quickly. Soon D’ni would be sent off to bed and real negotiations would begin, and it was all too likely that the young jaguar would try to claim his bride-to-be immediately after the negotiations. Hungry eyes were impatient eyes.
So for once H’eldul forced himself to think quickly. D’ni would not allow herself to be bound by such a deal. She valued freedom above all else, and H’eldul knew she would try to escape once she knew what her father was doing. So H’eldul’s role was to allow her to do so.
He had in his pocket a prayer flag, a midnight blue cotton cloth embroidered with the symbol of Jone, the little moon. He had bought it as a gift for D’ni, who he knew liked to associate herself with S’rendarr’s Sorrow. At the same bazaar he had bought himself a gift, a potion of invisibility that the sly Argonian he had bought it from assured him would allow him a midnight rendezvous with a certain attractive female that had just joined the guards… but that wasn’t important right now.
He wrapped the prayer flag around the potion so that it could be presented as a single gift. Inside, the dance was ending and the crowd was applauding. The jaguar had brought several friends and assorted boot-lickers from the Crimson Tear with him, and they all seemed impressed with what they had just witnessed. D’ni was sent off to bed, and H’eldul’s shift came to an end. He pulled D’ni to the side as she passed him.
“Hold for a moment, mistress… this one has a gift for you.” He passed her the bottle wrapped in the prayer flag. “In case you need to disappear.”
D’ni looked confused for a moment, but then smiled and gave him a hug. “Thanks H’el!” she spun around a merrily bounded up the stairs.
H’eldul turned and went outside. He didn’t have long, and would have to move quickly. The night was dark and quiet, except for the sound of passing guards. Ra’zaka believed in appearances and forced his guards to wear plate armor, as impractical as that was for patrolling. Masser hung full in the sky, red and angry, and Secunda was laying hidden behind the clouds. H’eldul thought this a good sign; he had always associated himself with Jode and knew that he would need to be strong and fierce this night.
Khajiit had no real need for lanterns, but Ra’zaka had always insisted that they be carried, and for the first time H’eldul was glad of it. The lights would ruin the guards’ night-vision and all H’eldul needed to do to pass unseen was to stay out of the light. He darted quickly over to the stables.
The stables smelled of horse and hay, comforting and familiar smells. The lamps had been put out and the stable-boy was asleep in the loft. H’eldul stopped for a few minutes to consider him.
The stable-boy had never done him or D’ni any harm that H’eldul knew of… but he was likely to wake up once things got interesting and he could easily sound an alarm or report what he saw. H’eldul had never killed anyone outside of the heat of battle before, and he wasn’t sure he could now. Especially to kill an innocent boy who had done him no harm… this was not the way.
But he had sworn an oath, an oath to D’ni, and to D’ni’s mother, and to S’rendarr himself. An oath that he would serve and protect D’ni. It was his duty, his honor, his purpose. One stable-boy could not be allowed to interfere in that. H’eldul considered the stable-boy grimly in the darkness. “S’rendarr, have mercy on this one and his plans as he shows mercy on others…” he prayed as he approached the stableboy and did what he had to do.
He looked around the stables until he found the horse he wanted. The palomino. The Crimson Tear had brought some horses with them as part of the trade negotiations, and D’ni had fallen in love with the palomino as soon as she saw it. She said it was intelligent and wanted to be a Khajiit. H’eldul grinned in the darkness. If D’ni visited the stables during her escape, she would find the palomino saddled and ready to go. He also packed some food and basic supplies into the saddlebags, knowing that she would need to travel quickly at first.
H’eldul left the stable, shutting the door carefully and making sure no one was around. One obstacle remained: the gates. The plantation was fenced by a large wooden palisade in order to prevent both large animals and thieves from straying in and ruining or stealing the moon sugar canes, and that meant that if D’ni was to ride out she would have to go through the main gate. Which would be guarded. By, if H’eldul remembered the duty roster correctly, Rainai. Rainai at the gate made things both easier and more difficult. Easier because she was someone who trusted H’eldul which would allow him to get close. More difficult because she was his lover and he did not want to hurt her. She was the one for whom he had purchased the invisibility potion, and the meeting he had planned would not have been their first.
And she was indeed guarding the gate. H’eldul idly wondered if the gods arranged things specifically to cause him difficulty. She had her helmet off, and she looked both beautiful with her bright eyes and leopard-patterned fur and bored with guard duty. “Heya, boss.” She said with a grin as H’eldul approached.
H’eldul spent a moment considering an honest approach. Tell her they served a monster, ask her to run off with him and leave the gate unguarded… but he knew that it was futile. Theirs was not a relationship of love, merely one of fun and enjoyment. He was under no illusions of what they shared, and he knew that she wouldn’t abandon her post and risk both her job and her life merely on his say so. So he knew what he had to do.
“Training time, rookie. Defend yourself!” he barked out as he drew his sword and readied his shield. She was taken by surprise, but managed to draw her own blade in time to fend off his first half-hearted attack routine. His actions were unusual, but not unheard off. H’eldul was recognized as the finest swordsmen among the guards and had been tasked with training the others, and it was not out of character for him to challenge one of them while at their post.
He started slowly, as he usually did when sparring. His objective was usually not to win, but to make the other khajiit better, and he wouldn’t do that if he defeated them too quickly. In fact, he had always held back with the other guards. Their loyalty was to Ra’zaka, and H’eldul had always known in the back of his mind that the day would come when his loyalty to D’ni would pit him against the others. So he had made certain that none of the other guards knew how well he could really fight.
He let their fight create a rhythm, made their attacks and defenses form a pattern. Patterns were dangerous things to get into during a fight; they let your opponent predict your moves. But against inexperienced warriors they could be used to force your opponent to react as you wanted them to. The key was knowing when to break the pattern.
H’eldul slashed high and then feinted with a thrust low and to the left, which she had already started to lower her shield to block since this was the third time he had used that attack combination. This time, instead of actually thrusting, he launched himself into a high shield-bash and caught her unprotected face. There was a sickening crunching sound and he knew that bones had been broken. She staggered backwards and he went for her sword arm, binding her weapon and easily disarming her with a simple twist of his wrist. Her eyes were starting to focus again so he followed it up by punching her in the head with the pommel of his sword. Her eyes crossed and she collapsed to the ground.
“And that is why you always wear your helmet while on watch...” he muttered, knowing that she couldn’t hear him. He dragged her out of the way and opened the gate. After examining her closely he decided that she would unconscious for at least a couple of hours and it was possible she would never wake up. Head trauma was dangerous. He briefly considered either killing her or taking her to a healer, but decided that while her survival would make his life more complicated it wouldn’t actually threaten D’ni, while taking her to a healer would require more explanation than he was currently willing to give. He settled for leaving her lying by the gate and let the gods determine her fate.
And just in time. He heard shouting from the manor and saw smoke pouring out of a couple of the windows. Without stopping to think he took off running towards the manor. As he got closer he saw the flickering of flames and an ever-increasing amount of smoke. Several of the servants had made it outside and started to form a bucket line but H’eldul saw the size of the blaze and didn’t like their chances. He quickly cut the straps on his armor, dropped his sword-belt, wrapped a wet rag around his face, and ran inside.
The bottom floor of the manor was still relatively intact, but the second floor was a nightmare. The smoke and heat were nearly overwhelming. H’eldul ducked low and made his way to the wing where the family had their bedrooms, coughing and choking on smoke and avoiding the flames as best he could.
He heard a weak voice calling for help and followed it to discover Ra’zaka pinned down by a collapsed beam. H’eldul lifted the beam with a grunt of effort and Ra’zaka crawled out from underneath just before H’eldul’s arms gave out from the strain and he dropped the beam again.
Ra’zaka tried to get up, but his left leg was bent at a funny angle and wouldn’t support his weight. He tried to say something but the smoke make him choke and H’eldul couldn’t understand him. H’eldul took a deep breath, then tossed Ra’zaka on his shoulder and held his breath as he straightened up and ran back to the stairs, down, and outside. He set Ra’zaka down a safe distance from the house and knelt down, gasping for air and coughing.
Ra’zaka’s mate had made it outside and came over to comfort him as H’eldul got his breath back. She looked over at H’eldul and whispered “Thank you for getting him out… but D’ni and Ja’Raska are still inside.
H’eldul didn’t know who “Ja’Raska” was, but if D’ni was still inside he had to help her. He nodded, got up, adjusted his improvised breath mask, took a few deep breaths, and went back inside.
The fire had spread to the bottom floor in some places now. H’eldul was forced to avoid the stairs and climb one of the support pillars in the main hall to get to the second floor. Once there he looked around as best he could, and noticed that a pair of double doors embellished with the symbols of Jone and Jode. The doors seemed curiously untouched by the fire and H’eldul felt drawn to investigate.
Opening them and passing inside, H’eldul entered a room that has been nearly completely destroyed by the fire… except for an undamaged circle about ten feet in diameter in the middle of the room. Kneeling in the center of the circle was the jaguar, now looking furious and somewhat scorched. He looked up as H’eldul entered the room.
“That bitch… she tried to kill me, tried to stop me from taking what is rightfully mine!” he spat. H’eldul carefully entered the circle, noting that even the heat and smoke seemed to stay outside of it.
“How…” H’eldul started to ask, before being cut off.
“This one knows some magic, you see?” the jaguar said, gesturing at a small glyph he had scratched into the floorboards. “Ja’Raska can bring the flames to him, or keep them away. He will not be burned.” He glared at H’eldul, a glittering hatred in his eyes.
“Ja’Raska will track that bitch down, and she will burn for what she did to him. He will make her death long and slow, burn her to ashes and then piss on the ashes before feeding them to her whore of a mother and joke of a father. He thinks to join this one’s family? Ja’Raska’s father will seem them dead! Their servants dead. Their cattle dead. Their friends dead. You will all suffer and die for this!”
H’eldul continued to look him in the eye. He saw no dishonesty in his eyes, just hunger. Now a hunger for pain, violence, revenge. H’eldul closed the door behind him. Ja’Raska was still ranting, flecks of spittle dotting the fur around his mouth.
“But first, Ja’Raska will finish what he started! D’ni will submit to Ja’Raska, she will be his, and only when he is done using her will he burn her and take his real revenge!”
H’eldul felt strangely detached, like he was viewing the scene before him through a red haze and his body was acting on its own. He didn’t feel any particular emotion at the time but noticed idly that his body sure seemed to be angry at the Khajiit in front of it, at least judging from the way it had tackled him to the ground and started choking him. Then there was an odd pain in his fists and he noticed that his body had stopped choking the other khajiit and was now punching it in the face over and over again. It formed an interesting rhythm and he was reminded of the drumbeat that D’ni had danced to earlier. It was almost soothing, in a way.
Then there was heat, and smoke, and he realized that he was pounding on a dead body. There was fire everywhere and he couldn’t see more than a couple of feet in any direction. Gathering his remaining strength he charged in the direction in which he remembered the window being and crashed through it and out into the night. He felt like it took a ridiculously long time for him to reach the ground and he didn’t enjoy it very much when it finally happened, but soon the pain was replaced by a peaceful darkness as he lapsed into unconsciousness.
***
H’eldul woke up in a bed. He wasn’t expecting that. There were faint aches and pains, but he felt remarkably healthy considering what had taken place… perhaps he had dreamed it?
He opened his eyes to find Ra’zaka and a local healer looking down at him. “He is strong, and will recover fully Ra’zaka-aran.” she said quietly. Ra’zaka nodded to her and gestured towards the door. She left without another word.
Ra’zaka watched H’eldul silently for several minutes. H’eldul struggled to think of something to say, wondering how much Ra’zaka knew, and finally decided to let him speak first. Ra’zaka finally broke the silence.
“Last night we were attacked. Someone killed Ra’zaka’s guard at the gate, tied up the stable-buy, stole one of Ra’zaka’s new horses, kidnapped Ra’zaka’s daughter, and set fire to Ra’zaka’s home, killing Ra’zaka’s guests.” Ra’zaka spoke calmly but with an air of deadly menace.
H’eldul flinched when Ra’zaka mention the dead guard at the gate. Ra’zaka noticed and asked “You knew her?”
“Yes, she was this one’s lover.” H’eldul whispered. He closed his eyes for a moment, torn by what he had done, the life he had ended. He would never again see her smile, feel her touch… but he had done what was necessary. Ra’zaka nodded.
“Then you have extra incentive. The only way this makes sense is if someone, probably a rival cartel, is trying to sabotage this one’s partnership with the Crimson Tear. With his son dead, Ri’Baasha will be furious. He will probably blame this one.” Ra’zaka continued looking down at H’eldul as H’eldul remained silent.
“You saved this one’s life last night, H’eldul. You are the strongest of Ra’zaka’s fighters, and have served Ra’zaka longer than nearly all of them. Ra’zaka has a task for you.” Ra’zaka leaned in close and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Find them! Find the ones who did this and make them pay. Take S’nader, the tracker, and three other warriors. Lead them. Find D’ni, and bring her back here.”
H’eldul nodded slowly and spoke carefully. “Yes… this one swears that he will find D’ni…”
H’eldul had seen such eyes before. Eyes like that did not see people, they saw things. To eyes such as those, people were merely objects to be used, possessed, or discarded. Hungry eyes saw the price of everything but knew the value of nothing. Hungry eyes were dangerous eyes.
Ra’zaka had hungry eyes. Those eyes had served him well in his business, as he bought out or destroyed his rivals. Ra’zaka had started as a simple textiles merchant, but now he had fingers in practically every pie in the region and turned his attention to the Skooma trade. H’eldul wondered if either Ra’zaka or the jaguar knew how dangerous the other was… but H’eldul had greater concerns.
Both pairs of hungry eyes were watching D’ni as she danced in the firelight while the drummers played. The lithe young cheetah spun and flew, looking as if she was riding the currents of the air. The fires lighting the pavilion created shadow-dancers all around her that spun and danced with her as she leapt and twirled. To H’eldul it looked as if Khenarthi himself was her dance partner, lifting her into the sky and allowing her to fly. He had never seen anything as beautiful as D’ni’s dance, and he could feel the pull to join her, to experience that same joy and freedom. He took a deep breath to focus himself and looked back at Ra’zaka and the jaguar.
They appeared unmoved by the beauty of the dance they were observing. To Ra’zaka, D’ni was nothing but a bargaining chip, a way for him to finally get a piece of the incredibly profitable Skooma trade. Ra’zaka had long farmed and traded in moon sugar, but though he had hired the finest alchemists and produced a quality product none of the local cartels had been willing to buy Skooma from him. Now he had his way in: the head of the Crimson Tear wanted his son to take a wife, and had heard of both D’ni’s beauty and Ra’zaka’s desire to enter the business. He had sent his son, the jaguar, to negotiate both trade and marriage.
To the jaguar, D’ni was a pretty thing to be possessed. H’eldul could find no true appreciation of beauty in his eyes, merely greed, calculation, and lust: how much status could be gained from having such a bride, and how much carnal pleasure could be taken from her.
Between the two of them they would destroy D’ni’s spirit and a beautiful light would go out, leaving the world a darker place. “This one can’t be having with that.” H’eldul whispered to himself.
H’eldul was not known for being quick-witted. He preferred slow, methodical planning; making sure that all pieces were in place before making his move. But he knew that tonight he would have to act quickly. Soon D’ni would be sent off to bed and real negotiations would begin, and it was all too likely that the young jaguar would try to claim his bride-to-be immediately after the negotiations. Hungry eyes were impatient eyes.
So for once H’eldul forced himself to think quickly. D’ni would not allow herself to be bound by such a deal. She valued freedom above all else, and H’eldul knew she would try to escape once she knew what her father was doing. So H’eldul’s role was to allow her to do so.
He had in his pocket a prayer flag, a midnight blue cotton cloth embroidered with the symbol of Jone, the little moon. He had bought it as a gift for D’ni, who he knew liked to associate herself with S’rendarr’s Sorrow. At the same bazaar he had bought himself a gift, a potion of invisibility that the sly Argonian he had bought it from assured him would allow him a midnight rendezvous with a certain attractive female that had just joined the guards… but that wasn’t important right now.
He wrapped the prayer flag around the potion so that it could be presented as a single gift. Inside, the dance was ending and the crowd was applauding. The jaguar had brought several friends and assorted boot-lickers from the Crimson Tear with him, and they all seemed impressed with what they had just witnessed. D’ni was sent off to bed, and H’eldul’s shift came to an end. He pulled D’ni to the side as she passed him.
“Hold for a moment, mistress… this one has a gift for you.” He passed her the bottle wrapped in the prayer flag. “In case you need to disappear.”
D’ni looked confused for a moment, but then smiled and gave him a hug. “Thanks H’el!” she spun around a merrily bounded up the stairs.
H’eldul turned and went outside. He didn’t have long, and would have to move quickly. The night was dark and quiet, except for the sound of passing guards. Ra’zaka believed in appearances and forced his guards to wear plate armor, as impractical as that was for patrolling. Masser hung full in the sky, red and angry, and Secunda was laying hidden behind the clouds. H’eldul thought this a good sign; he had always associated himself with Jode and knew that he would need to be strong and fierce this night.
Khajiit had no real need for lanterns, but Ra’zaka had always insisted that they be carried, and for the first time H’eldul was glad of it. The lights would ruin the guards’ night-vision and all H’eldul needed to do to pass unseen was to stay out of the light. He darted quickly over to the stables.
The stables smelled of horse and hay, comforting and familiar smells. The lamps had been put out and the stable-boy was asleep in the loft. H’eldul stopped for a few minutes to consider him.
The stable-boy had never done him or D’ni any harm that H’eldul knew of… but he was likely to wake up once things got interesting and he could easily sound an alarm or report what he saw. H’eldul had never killed anyone outside of the heat of battle before, and he wasn’t sure he could now. Especially to kill an innocent boy who had done him no harm… this was not the way.
But he had sworn an oath, an oath to D’ni, and to D’ni’s mother, and to S’rendarr himself. An oath that he would serve and protect D’ni. It was his duty, his honor, his purpose. One stable-boy could not be allowed to interfere in that. H’eldul considered the stable-boy grimly in the darkness. “S’rendarr, have mercy on this one and his plans as he shows mercy on others…” he prayed as he approached the stableboy and did what he had to do.
He looked around the stables until he found the horse he wanted. The palomino. The Crimson Tear had brought some horses with them as part of the trade negotiations, and D’ni had fallen in love with the palomino as soon as she saw it. She said it was intelligent and wanted to be a Khajiit. H’eldul grinned in the darkness. If D’ni visited the stables during her escape, she would find the palomino saddled and ready to go. He also packed some food and basic supplies into the saddlebags, knowing that she would need to travel quickly at first.
H’eldul left the stable, shutting the door carefully and making sure no one was around. One obstacle remained: the gates. The plantation was fenced by a large wooden palisade in order to prevent both large animals and thieves from straying in and ruining or stealing the moon sugar canes, and that meant that if D’ni was to ride out she would have to go through the main gate. Which would be guarded. By, if H’eldul remembered the duty roster correctly, Rainai. Rainai at the gate made things both easier and more difficult. Easier because she was someone who trusted H’eldul which would allow him to get close. More difficult because she was his lover and he did not want to hurt her. She was the one for whom he had purchased the invisibility potion, and the meeting he had planned would not have been their first.
And she was indeed guarding the gate. H’eldul idly wondered if the gods arranged things specifically to cause him difficulty. She had her helmet off, and she looked both beautiful with her bright eyes and leopard-patterned fur and bored with guard duty. “Heya, boss.” She said with a grin as H’eldul approached.
H’eldul spent a moment considering an honest approach. Tell her they served a monster, ask her to run off with him and leave the gate unguarded… but he knew that it was futile. Theirs was not a relationship of love, merely one of fun and enjoyment. He was under no illusions of what they shared, and he knew that she wouldn’t abandon her post and risk both her job and her life merely on his say so. So he knew what he had to do.
“Training time, rookie. Defend yourself!” he barked out as he drew his sword and readied his shield. She was taken by surprise, but managed to draw her own blade in time to fend off his first half-hearted attack routine. His actions were unusual, but not unheard off. H’eldul was recognized as the finest swordsmen among the guards and had been tasked with training the others, and it was not out of character for him to challenge one of them while at their post.
He started slowly, as he usually did when sparring. His objective was usually not to win, but to make the other khajiit better, and he wouldn’t do that if he defeated them too quickly. In fact, he had always held back with the other guards. Their loyalty was to Ra’zaka, and H’eldul had always known in the back of his mind that the day would come when his loyalty to D’ni would pit him against the others. So he had made certain that none of the other guards knew how well he could really fight.
He let their fight create a rhythm, made their attacks and defenses form a pattern. Patterns were dangerous things to get into during a fight; they let your opponent predict your moves. But against inexperienced warriors they could be used to force your opponent to react as you wanted them to. The key was knowing when to break the pattern.
H’eldul slashed high and then feinted with a thrust low and to the left, which she had already started to lower her shield to block since this was the third time he had used that attack combination. This time, instead of actually thrusting, he launched himself into a high shield-bash and caught her unprotected face. There was a sickening crunching sound and he knew that bones had been broken. She staggered backwards and he went for her sword arm, binding her weapon and easily disarming her with a simple twist of his wrist. Her eyes were starting to focus again so he followed it up by punching her in the head with the pommel of his sword. Her eyes crossed and she collapsed to the ground.
“And that is why you always wear your helmet while on watch...” he muttered, knowing that she couldn’t hear him. He dragged her out of the way and opened the gate. After examining her closely he decided that she would unconscious for at least a couple of hours and it was possible she would never wake up. Head trauma was dangerous. He briefly considered either killing her or taking her to a healer, but decided that while her survival would make his life more complicated it wouldn’t actually threaten D’ni, while taking her to a healer would require more explanation than he was currently willing to give. He settled for leaving her lying by the gate and let the gods determine her fate.
And just in time. He heard shouting from the manor and saw smoke pouring out of a couple of the windows. Without stopping to think he took off running towards the manor. As he got closer he saw the flickering of flames and an ever-increasing amount of smoke. Several of the servants had made it outside and started to form a bucket line but H’eldul saw the size of the blaze and didn’t like their chances. He quickly cut the straps on his armor, dropped his sword-belt, wrapped a wet rag around his face, and ran inside.
The bottom floor of the manor was still relatively intact, but the second floor was a nightmare. The smoke and heat were nearly overwhelming. H’eldul ducked low and made his way to the wing where the family had their bedrooms, coughing and choking on smoke and avoiding the flames as best he could.
He heard a weak voice calling for help and followed it to discover Ra’zaka pinned down by a collapsed beam. H’eldul lifted the beam with a grunt of effort and Ra’zaka crawled out from underneath just before H’eldul’s arms gave out from the strain and he dropped the beam again.
Ra’zaka tried to get up, but his left leg was bent at a funny angle and wouldn’t support his weight. He tried to say something but the smoke make him choke and H’eldul couldn’t understand him. H’eldul took a deep breath, then tossed Ra’zaka on his shoulder and held his breath as he straightened up and ran back to the stairs, down, and outside. He set Ra’zaka down a safe distance from the house and knelt down, gasping for air and coughing.
Ra’zaka’s mate had made it outside and came over to comfort him as H’eldul got his breath back. She looked over at H’eldul and whispered “Thank you for getting him out… but D’ni and Ja’Raska are still inside.
H’eldul didn’t know who “Ja’Raska” was, but if D’ni was still inside he had to help her. He nodded, got up, adjusted his improvised breath mask, took a few deep breaths, and went back inside.
The fire had spread to the bottom floor in some places now. H’eldul was forced to avoid the stairs and climb one of the support pillars in the main hall to get to the second floor. Once there he looked around as best he could, and noticed that a pair of double doors embellished with the symbols of Jone and Jode. The doors seemed curiously untouched by the fire and H’eldul felt drawn to investigate.
Opening them and passing inside, H’eldul entered a room that has been nearly completely destroyed by the fire… except for an undamaged circle about ten feet in diameter in the middle of the room. Kneeling in the center of the circle was the jaguar, now looking furious and somewhat scorched. He looked up as H’eldul entered the room.
“That bitch… she tried to kill me, tried to stop me from taking what is rightfully mine!” he spat. H’eldul carefully entered the circle, noting that even the heat and smoke seemed to stay outside of it.
“How…” H’eldul started to ask, before being cut off.
“This one knows some magic, you see?” the jaguar said, gesturing at a small glyph he had scratched into the floorboards. “Ja’Raska can bring the flames to him, or keep them away. He will not be burned.” He glared at H’eldul, a glittering hatred in his eyes.
“Ja’Raska will track that bitch down, and she will burn for what she did to him. He will make her death long and slow, burn her to ashes and then piss on the ashes before feeding them to her whore of a mother and joke of a father. He thinks to join this one’s family? Ja’Raska’s father will seem them dead! Their servants dead. Their cattle dead. Their friends dead. You will all suffer and die for this!”
H’eldul continued to look him in the eye. He saw no dishonesty in his eyes, just hunger. Now a hunger for pain, violence, revenge. H’eldul closed the door behind him. Ja’Raska was still ranting, flecks of spittle dotting the fur around his mouth.
“But first, Ja’Raska will finish what he started! D’ni will submit to Ja’Raska, she will be his, and only when he is done using her will he burn her and take his real revenge!”
H’eldul felt strangely detached, like he was viewing the scene before him through a red haze and his body was acting on its own. He didn’t feel any particular emotion at the time but noticed idly that his body sure seemed to be angry at the Khajiit in front of it, at least judging from the way it had tackled him to the ground and started choking him. Then there was an odd pain in his fists and he noticed that his body had stopped choking the other khajiit and was now punching it in the face over and over again. It formed an interesting rhythm and he was reminded of the drumbeat that D’ni had danced to earlier. It was almost soothing, in a way.
Then there was heat, and smoke, and he realized that he was pounding on a dead body. There was fire everywhere and he couldn’t see more than a couple of feet in any direction. Gathering his remaining strength he charged in the direction in which he remembered the window being and crashed through it and out into the night. He felt like it took a ridiculously long time for him to reach the ground and he didn’t enjoy it very much when it finally happened, but soon the pain was replaced by a peaceful darkness as he lapsed into unconsciousness.
***
H’eldul woke up in a bed. He wasn’t expecting that. There were faint aches and pains, but he felt remarkably healthy considering what had taken place… perhaps he had dreamed it?
He opened his eyes to find Ra’zaka and a local healer looking down at him. “He is strong, and will recover fully Ra’zaka-aran.” she said quietly. Ra’zaka nodded to her and gestured towards the door. She left without another word.
Ra’zaka watched H’eldul silently for several minutes. H’eldul struggled to think of something to say, wondering how much Ra’zaka knew, and finally decided to let him speak first. Ra’zaka finally broke the silence.
“Last night we were attacked. Someone killed Ra’zaka’s guard at the gate, tied up the stable-buy, stole one of Ra’zaka’s new horses, kidnapped Ra’zaka’s daughter, and set fire to Ra’zaka’s home, killing Ra’zaka’s guests.” Ra’zaka spoke calmly but with an air of deadly menace.
H’eldul flinched when Ra’zaka mention the dead guard at the gate. Ra’zaka noticed and asked “You knew her?”
“Yes, she was this one’s lover.” H’eldul whispered. He closed his eyes for a moment, torn by what he had done, the life he had ended. He would never again see her smile, feel her touch… but he had done what was necessary. Ra’zaka nodded.
“Then you have extra incentive. The only way this makes sense is if someone, probably a rival cartel, is trying to sabotage this one’s partnership with the Crimson Tear. With his son dead, Ri’Baasha will be furious. He will probably blame this one.” Ra’zaka continued looking down at H’eldul as H’eldul remained silent.
“You saved this one’s life last night, H’eldul. You are the strongest of Ra’zaka’s fighters, and have served Ra’zaka longer than nearly all of them. Ra’zaka has a task for you.” Ra’zaka leaned in close and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Find them! Find the ones who did this and make them pay. Take S’nader, the tracker, and three other warriors. Lead them. Find D’ni, and bring her back here.”
H’eldul nodded slowly and spoke carefully. “Yes… this one swears that he will find D’ni…”
TryynityMay 23, 2014
NanoNinjamanMay 24, 2014