Uktul sniffed the air with flared, sensitive nostrils and squinted his pig-like eyes. The intruders were here, just as that snooty pink-skin Orim had said.
The man had interrupted Uktul's noon meal and looked at the orc -gnawing on a huge, meaty bone - with undisguised distaste as he gave orders.
"Take two dozen of your finest and make sure you take a shaman as well. I don't imagine they'll put up much of a fight but one can never be too certain, hmmmm?"
"Umph! Two duzzen, yes boss!" replied Uktul, wiping grease from his mouth with the back of a massive green hand. Because he wore his armour night and day - in the last few months it had developed a rather "savoury" aroma - there was no need to waste time gearing up, so he grabbed his Orcish broadsword - a family "air lume" - and was almost out the door before the man's irritating voice caught him. "Oh, one last thing." Uktul turned to face Orim, obviously impatient to be on his way.
"I want them alive. *Alive*, you hear? Alive is the opposite of dead, which is the state in which you usually bring me 'captives'. I shall be mightily displeased if you fail me this time. Perhaps I'll have the Archmage himself mete out your punishment, hmmmm?"
That was all the orc needed to hear. The 'big bad majik man' gave him the willies. "Me not fail you boss!" Snapping a hurried salute he trotted to the nearby barracks, wondering along the way if 'not quite dead' could be classed as 'alive'. He hoped so. Thirty minutes later not more than ten orcs - *including* Snarfl the senior shaman - marched towards the entrance hallway to ambush the intruders. Ultimately, Uktul's inability to count was to prove his undoing.
Being orcs, they argued noisily all the way - over who was the best fighter, who could belch the loudest, who could pull the wings off an imp without killing it - usual Orcish banter. Although entertaining, it slowed them down considerably and they'd barely reached their designated ambush position in the tapestried hallway before faint sounds - booted footsteps! - could be heard. Uktul could smell the intruders before he could see them (the Orcish olfactory system is highly developed, which is surprising given that they smell so bad themselves). Uktul squinted, trying to catch a glimpse of the foolhardy interlopers. Ah, there they were. With the sun's glare behind them they were silhouetted against the entrance, plain as day. 'Pity we no think ta bring missile weppuns wiv us,' he thought ruefully. 'Still, no use cryin' ovuh spilt bludd.'
Uktul squinted harder, trying to determine their numbers and races. One, maybe two males...and the others were Elven girlies (girlies were more fun than men - they squealed more when you tortured them)! They numbered only...(he removed a gauntlet and painstakingly attempted to count them)......one hand. Supremely confident and none too quietly, Uktul signalled his warriors to stay put and wait for the trap to be sprung. From the looks of things however, the element of surprise had been lost because without warning the well-armoured man (an Elf...ugh!)flung his cloak back and hurled a huge ball of fire in the direction of the waiting orcs. Before they could react the sphere of flaming death hit a nearby pillar, exploding in their midst and sending white-hot bolts in all directions. The screams were terrible.
Though badly wounded, Uktul retained enough presence of mind to assess the situation, and he ordered Snarfl to use his magic. Snarfl did not reply and when the burly Orc turned to reprimand him he discovered the shaman had been in the unenviable position of 'ground zero' when the fireball exploded...he was now a greasy black smear on the pillar. Besides himself there were only three others left standing. All the others had either burned to a crisp or routed. "Why Orim tell me to bring only two duzzen?" wailed Uktul despairingly, "this job need 'least twenty four!" There was no time for self pity now. The intruders advanced, weapons drawn.......
At the sight of Tenaka's magic, J'layah, Mea and Pilar ran into the room, drawing weapons as they came. Tenaka smiled as he saw that J'layah was using the Daedric katana he had given her. Now that it was to be used, its own magic could come into play. How was she to know that the blade would magically alter her perception of him with every use. He hoped she would kill at least a couple of whatever was coming. He thought that he now had at least the respect of Twilight. The blade would give him the trust of J'layah. Now he had only to affect Mea and Pilar.
He turned and looked at Twilight who had also drawn her weapon. He could not tell if she had known the creatures were there before he fired, but it seemed likely. Unlike the other three who were running in excitedly, she was calm, seemingly resigned to what was going to happen. If Tenaka had had to guess, he would say that whilst she could kill and dismember corpses, she did not like it as much as she let on. The gift, or curse, of experience. The other three did not have it. They still found the prospect of battle exciting. They longed to risk their lives. They were young yet.
He was like Twilight. He had thought in more battles than he could remember. He had killed more men and creatures than he could count. He had hoped that his latest assignment might put an end to the killing. Recruitment should be peaceful – easy. But nothing was ever easy. He had not expected to have to win their trust or respect, but judging by their recent experiences, he would. He had been able to tell from the moment J'layah waved her broken sword at him that they would not trust easily.
He saw a blood spattered arm fly from the end of the room, still slightly on fire. He recognised it as an Orc's arm. He had nothing against Orcs, generally – there were many in his Master's army – anybody of any race could be a hero if they had the strength – but when they tried to kill him, he took it personally. He drew his sword. Maybe there were none left. Mere Orcs could and clearly had been killed by his magic. He stood at Twilight's side. Twin spectres watching the scene, both outwardly calm, but both ready to strike at a moment's notice.
The other three hardly noticed the two of them standing there and ran into the darkness. Tenaka silently cursed and heard Twilight do so less silently. They both looked at each other and he mouthed 'inexperience' to her. She smiled and mouthed back 'children'. "After you, my lady," said Tenaka, bowing.
She nodded and turned back to where sounds of combat could be heard. She started walking towards it and Tenaka followed. This was going well. Soon he would have not only her respect, but her friendship. He imagined that that was a most difficult prize to gain. But it would be invaluable. If she agreed to take the test, then the rest would too. When they reached the battleground, there was little left to do. The three young women were cleaning their blades on the remains of the Orc's clothing and sheathing them. Tenaka and Twilight also put away their weapons.
"This must be the way to go," said Tenaka, peering into the darkness. "However, I would prefer it if were not surprised again. Kindly do me the favour of guarding my body. I shall scout ahead for a few moments."
He sat down and retreated inside of himself again. As his spirit left his body, he added a silvery glow to his path for a few seconds. Still one for the dramatic, after all these years. Once great tales had been told of Tenaka Khan. One day they would be again. He removed the lights and sped down the corridor, into the darkness…
"That went rather well," thought J'layah, wiping black ichor from Tenaka's blade onto the still-twitching corpse. A quick glance at Mea and Pilar revealed they too had dispatched their foes and were similarly engaged in 'cleaning up'. "Considering I have very little combat experience that went a little *too* well." She paused in the gory task to examine her reflection -somewhat distorted - in the katana's blood red surface. It was almost as though the sword had a mind of its own...it had seemingly guided her hand in parrying every blow the orc threw at her - effortlessly, and hadf ound the opening (and the gap in the ribcage) after the beast had swung a little too vigorously and overbalanced. Before she had even registered the strike the creature was on the ground, begging for its life. That she had shown no mercy and immediately slashed the orc's throat was frightening enough...worse still was the fact that she'd enjoyed it. She had been brought up to respect life in all its varied forms and to kill only when necessary, and only in self defence. Her parents would be horrified if they'd seen her charging forth, bloodlust burning in her eyes. She reflected on her uncharacteristic actions a moment longer, then shrugged. No sense in dwelling on it - their quest would be difficult enough without the added burden of guilt. "Perhaps I am simply becoming hardened to the ways of the world," she thought, "or perhaps this evil place brings out the worst in me...in us."
Task completed, J'layah turned around, thinking to thank Tenaka again for his timely gift when she noticed his prone, unmoving form on the ground. Twilight stood over him, her sword drawn. She ran toward them, worried thoughts tumbling unbidden through her head, and as soon as she was close enough the questions spilled forth. "What is wrong? Is he hurt? Did he slip? Did he get caught in his own spell? Did a foul orc slip past us and wound him?" There was a note of panic in her voice. Twilight - as ever - seemed unconcerned and raised a slender hand to calm her.
"Peace, J'layah. Tenaka is unharmed...he is merely scouting ahead."
"But he is laying there on the ground with his eyes closed! How *can* he be scouting ahead?" J'layah sheathed her weapon and knelt by the Dark Elf's side, bewildered.
"Ah, I see you are unfamiliar with the wonders of astral travel then?" Twilight saw the look of puzzlement on J'layah's face and continued.
"One who is well versed in the Art - such as Tenaka here - may leave his corporeal body for a short time while his "spirit" travels where it will. This non-corporeal form is invisible to the naked eye and able to move through solid objects, and at great speed. However, it is unable to affect anything of a solid nature and *must* return to the body ere too long has passed, else the body dies and the soul is lost in the ether...forever." Twilight's voice wavered ever so slightly at the last. Obviously she'd either had a close call herself or had witnessed first hand the demise of an astral traveller.
"How does the spirit know when to return?" probed J'layah, ever curious.
"How does one know when to eat, drink and sleep? The body sends out strong signals - very difficult to ignore, and so it is with astral travel. The spirit feels the "call" of the body and knows to return."
The younger Elf nodded, "I see, but why then is his face so deathly pale of a sudden?"
Twilight's gaze snapped to Tenaka's visage. Indeed, the Dark Elf's complexion had turned ashen - not a good sign by any measure. "I know not. He may have encountered another astral being...perhaps a lost soul, perhaps something worse. The ethereal plane is immense but by no means devoid of inhabitants. At any rate, all we can do at present is guard his body until he returns." Twilight's dark eyes met J'layah's grey ones and an unspoken thought passed between them. "*If* he returns."
Well what can I say, I saw this enormous fireball thingy fly past me and to say I was a little surprised is an understatement, here I was thinking of stealth (silly me)so that we wouldn't be noticed to quick and people(hrmph people?) wouldn't notice what sort of enemy they where about to meet, but alas, life is full of changes, so throwing stealth to the wind I figured I better make sure what ever creatures where on the receiving end of this bit of fire work, where well and truly dead before they can report back to their masters.
Feeling the evil running thru the vibrations of my trusty Sacre Noir I got stuck (sic)in to the first available opponent, which turned out to be some poor demented Orc, who was standing in front of a pillar looking quite bemused by the black smear, that probably not so long ago was one of it's brethren, figuring that Orc's take a while to think, I prodded him under his chin with my Katana, now this must be a soft spot or something with Orcs, cause the whole length of my quivering blade just slid right through his skin deep into his brain (and that ain't easy, considering the size of an Orcs brain) however he fell over without a sound and my trusty sword fed me his energies, and to my surprise my Magicka felt like it was replenished.
That reminded me of my old teacher who had sought the properties of my Katana, and had told me that whenever it came near evil it would vibrate and whenever I killed evil it would replenish my Magicka from whatever Magicka the creature it self possessed.
Done with that, I had a quick look around and saw J'layah happily hacking in to the last of these poor miserable beings with a katana no less," I thought to my self where does the girl get the energy from, to wield a sword so deftly?".
I also noticed Twilight & Tenaka, Twilight seemed impressed by Tenaka's skill, Tenaka how ever had a satisfied smile on his face, he sort of reminded me of a Black Cat that just got hold of a pail of cream, well, well, I wonder what unexpected things will happen next?
Tenaka's spirit form sped down the corridors of the Guardian Citadel. He knew that he had a lot of ground to cover, and not enough time to do it in. Already he could faintly feel his body weakening. It must have something to do with the abundance of magic being used in this place – normally he would have longer than this.
Passing through a wall before him, he entered what appeared to be a strange museum. Like the rest of the Citadel, it was filled with tapestries and ornate drapings, but this room had something more. It contained many statues of people. Some he recognised from the stories. Some too, he had met when they were reborn in his Master's army. But one in particular held his attention for longer than the others.
The other statues seemed to be made of a strange stone, but this was stranger still, for it glistened like ice. Within the icy tomb, he could see the young body of a Khajit. Tenaka felt a twang of pity for the young man. Taken at such a young age, he had no idea why he would be here. But he had showed bravery. His encasement in ice would have been a slow process, but there was no fear on his face – merely a look of resigned fatalism. Tenaka raised his arm and passed it into the block of ice, into the young Khajit's body. It still lived! He quickly withdrew his hand, not wishing to cause any more harm than had already been done.
He turned suddenly as he heard something behind him. He felt magicka enter the room and looked around. Two men were entering the room. One wore flowing robes and a long beard – he was clearly an important mage around here – whilst the other had the look of an apprentice about him. Something about the way he watched the older man's every move, imitated his walk. They were speaking, though in a language Tenaka could not understand. He approached.
Suddenly, the older man's head lifted and the two of them stopped walking. The Archmage looked around until his gaze fell on Tenaka's spirit. And there it stopped. Tenaka was surprised. He was supposed to be invisible in this form. Clearly, if the observer were trained sufficiently, this was not the case.
"Who are you?" asked the Archmage quietly. His apprentice had a puzzled look on his face. He could clearly not see Tenaka.
"Tenaka Khan, Dreadlord. Whom do I have the honour of addressing?"
"That is not for one such as yourself to know, Dreadlord."
"You have heard tell of my title before?"
"Of course. Here all knowledge is considered sacred. Nothing is ever forgotten. We have writings about the first Dreadlord here. What do you want?"
"I was merely looking around. I had no wish to disturb you." Tenaka was slightly worried. If the man had the ability to see him, maybe he had the ability to harm him.
"I thought as much. 'Tis a pity that another Dreadlord must be lost. I sense potential within you too. Such a pity." With these words the man raised his hands, letting loose a ball of fire. Instinctively, Tenaka dodged. He did not know if the fire could have harmed him, but he was not willing to take the chance. The ball of fire fell into the icy statue of the Khajit. The ice melted and the body slumped forward. Here was Tenaka's salvation. He could not affect anything whilst in Spirit Form, but in a corporeal body, he could better anything – at least anything he had previously come up against.
He sped towards the body of the young Khajit and passed into it. He no longer feared doing damage to the young man – without help he would die soon anyway without the protection of the magical ice. As he positioned himself he cut his connection to his body. He thought for a moment if the four women would worry at seeing his body appear to die. But for only a moment. He had more pressing concerns now.
Rising, he leapt at the apprentice, still seemingly dumbfounded at happenings. As he approached, the man seemed to come again to his senses and drew a small dagger from his belt. Tenaka's new fist met his head with a crushing blow and the man slumped, unconscious to the ground. Tenaka grabbed the knife and stood looking at the Archmage.
He also seemed surprised. He had clearly not expected Tenaka to be able to take another's body. Tenaka walked forward menacingly, or at least as menacingly as he could be in a Khajit body. He felt the Archmage weave another ball of fire and he threw up his own magic to shield himself. As the Archmage's magic dissipated on his shield, he prepared his own aggressive spell. Summoning up all the power he could, he sent out ice towards the Archmage. The icy ball fell at the man's feet, which were suddenly frozen to the ground. The Archmage did not have as much courage as the young Khajit had had. He had a look of fear on his face as the ice rose to cover his own body.
Tenaka released the body of the young Khajit and it slumped to the ground at his feet. Now in a real hurry, he gave a quick prayer to his Master that he live long enough for him to come and help him. Racing through the corridors he worried that he would become lost, no longer being able to feel his body. He had stayed out too long. He should never have been so careless as to come so far out!
Suddenly, he emerged in the anteroom where he had left his body. It had indeed turned deathly pale, but it still lived – barely. As he entered he felt the pain that being separated for so long caused – but ignored it. He rose, wiping the sweat from his brow. As he stood, he opened a Window back to the museum. Only then did he look around to see his companions.
"Hurry," he said. "There is no time to waste!" He ran through the Window…
By the look on Tenaka's face Pilar assumed this was no time to be slow. She still wondered why she was here. But as with everything in her life, she assumed the reason would soon present itself. Either that or that silly old mage would figure out how he screwed up and teleported her here.
After a bit of pondering Pilar noticed Mea shooting through the window after the others and shouting back to her, 'Wake up, we gotta move.' Kicking herself, Pilar ran after her, stopping only to shut the Window behind her.
Pilar definitely didn't like the look she'd seen in Tenaka's eyes when he stood up again. 'Now what'd we do?' she wondered aloud. She didn't think it was that loudly, but Tenaka heard her and spun around to face her. She was more than ready. She'd given more than one tongue lashing to her foes. Pilar didn't take Tenaka as a foe, but she didn't fully trust him yet either. 'If you intend to go racing off you might care to take us with you,' she continued, 'And furthermore don't you go thinking we can't protect ourselves, I'm more worried about you protecting yourself.' Pilar's green eyes flared. If anyone had been listening closely enough they would have heard a faint growl. Adjusting the ring on her finger she waited on Tenaka's response.
Tenaka growled at the woman. There was no time for explanations, but he could see that she would move no further until she got one. He quickly stole a look over his shoulder. The other three women were still looking around the museum. Twilight had naturally been drawn to the ice statue he had created only moments earlier, but the other two were looking at the stone ones from legend. The young Khajit was still lying on the floor -nobody had noticed him yet.
"Dear lady," he said, carefully controlling his anger. "If you had been capable of following, I would gladly have taken you with me, but it was necessary to leave some here to guard my body. I am aware that you can take care of yourselves - you handled the Orcs admirably. Also, I would point out that there is no need for you to worry about me. And now my final point. Where did you learn to close a Window? Think on this. There is no time to waste."
Tenaka ran over to the Khajit on the floor and started channelling healing magic into his seemingly lifeless body. He hoped he was on time - it was his fault there was any danger to the boy in the first place. But he had never been skilled at healing. If his explanation to that girl had caused him to be too late, there would be trouble later.
Seeming to accept Tenaka's explanation, Pilar hrmphed and quickly followed him to assist in healing the Khajit. Satisfied that her efforts had succeeded she pulled a blanket out of her pack and allowed the Khajit to rest peacefully. She again turned to Tenaka. Thinking for a moment about the best way to approach this question she paused. 'Well my dear Dreadlord, that is neither here nor there, Hopefully from there we shall not be followed. What is of more concern is the present and how we care for this fallen soul. I have done what I can to help save him as you have. My secrets are my own, as are yours obviously.' She eyed him carefully and waited for his response. She was feeling very sheepish and peculiar as she was strangely attracted to this stranger. 'Perfect timing Pilar.' she thought angrily. This stare down was going to have one of two results and the next move was Tenaka's......
Tenaka looked at the Nord with hidden surprise. It seemed the problem of having to win her trust was over. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she was attracted to him - something he had not planned. He could not allow this surprising result to affect him, however. He had far too much to think about to allow romance to get in the way. Besides, he was a married man. Kriella would kill him if she ever found our that he was even allowing this idea to run through his head.
"Thankyou for helping, Pilar," he said quietly. "I feel an obligation to this young boy, for without him I would surely have died only moments ago, and if it were not for me, he would still be in no danger of death. I find myself in your debt. However, we cannot tarry long here. You see the icy statue that Twilight inspects." He took Pilar's nod as a sign to continue. "That was an Archmage but a few moments ago. When I defeated him, he also had an apprentice with him, whom I did not have time to dispatch properly. He seems to have awoken and fled. Soon this hall shall be full of guards. And this has left me distinctly not in the mood for guards."