All-Flag Rangers: Part XI, Through the Blackwood
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Cyrodiil, 4E 97
Dagot-Ei led the rangers southwest, bypassing the dangers of the marsh like only a native could. He told them - while not looking at Alessandros - how under different circumstances they could move a lot quicker by means of a root system throughout the marshes. Unfortunately he did not wish to burst the passages.
They'd stopped to rest one afternoon on the rotting wooden remnant of an old imperial bridge. Dagot-Ei pointed out a creature to them, a fat furry six-legged beast that waddled on the ground near a pool of swampy water. He explained that all outsiders he had met favored the taste and that he would love to secure one for them but unfortunately they were extremely skittsh and the creature was at the water's edge. While it looked tubby and slow now once it hit the water that would change. Aurelius thought for a moment, then gathered up Dram and Lagerta. Lagerta massaged her throat as he spoke, then Dram got his bow. They each got on top of one of the pillars on either side of the bridge, then Lagerta whispered something.
Furioso had keen ears and was the only one who heard her.
"^zul ^mey ^gut"
The other rangers, excluding the Captain, Dram, and Lagerta, all jumped when a sudden,
"RUN LITTLE FOOL!"
shout rang out of thin air on the water in front of the creature. It burst into a run opposite the shout, straight towards the rangers. Dram's arrow met it halfway.
They walked another five miles before making their camp for the night in a clearing far from any predators the shout might have attracted. Dagot-Ei prepared the creature's meat, rubbed it with swamp salt and leaves he carefully selected from bushes they'd passed in the day. He then marinated it for an hour in a thick viscuous liquid he poured out from a tap installed into the gourd he had strapped to his back. The meat was roasted and the rangers ate the creatures soft, tender flesh that night, and even Lagerta grudgingly agreed it was good, certainly a vast improvement over the last meal the argonian had made her.
Later that night Dagot-Ei approached her with another leaf-sac. He presented it to Lagerta.
"It contains tea."
"I do not want your tea."
"A whisper is not a shout. You must drink. It will make you better."
"It'll be good for ya El," Dram said across the fire, "I'm gettin' tired of you soundin' raspier than a' ashfaced magribash."
The nord glared at the dunmer, then grimaced and accepted the tea. Her voice was getting better after that first draught. Trust in the Hist, she remembered his words.
It tasted just as foul as the first time though, so she washed it down with more meat.
As the rangers got ready to sleep Lagerta took off her fur armor, then shrugged off the thin iron breastplate she wore beneath it, grimacing and rubbing her sore chest. Dagot-Ei observed this and nodded, commiserating,
"I recall that life-phase," he said with a gesture at her chest, "and I do not look forward to it's return for precisely that reason. Mammaries are quite bothersome, especially after a day in armor."
Lagerta grunted an agreement and didn't bother asking what Dagot-Ei was talking. She was done with the easterners and their surprises.
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They passed the Cyrodiil border near noon, entering the Blackwood rainforest. Aurelius recognized the region as county Leyawiin. He led south towards a town called Blankenmarch where they might resupply. They arrived a couple hours after high noon to find the whole town assembled in the streets, yelling and throwing rocks at something near the center.
Aurelius did not look pleased. Furioso cleared his throat before saying,
"We could just walk on, Captain."
"No. We can't," said Aurelius as he put on his legion helmet, "Minotaur stay here, I don't want you frightening the mob. In fact, Iszir you come with me and the rest of you stay here."
Alessandros didn't mind. This all seemed too familiar for comfort.
"The presence of a holy man is often calming to the masses, Captain," the moth priest said wisely.
"Very well, but stay between us." Aurelius didn't bother telling Iszir anything. He knew the sword-singer would guard the old man with hir life.
Aurelius shoved his way through the crowd, and anyone who tried to fight back or turned to shout or spit stopped as soon as they noticed the crest of the helmet jostling it's way through the crowd, then blinked at the sight of a blind priest walking through the wake with a redguard close on his heels. The two rangers and the priest reached the center where a couple of thick-armed woodcutters held a ragged, dirty-bearded man on his knees. The town elder was standing before him,
"Confess! Confess and it will go easier for you. You want us to keep you till the guard has arrived, alive? Then confess!"
"I ain't done nothing!" cried the ragged man before looking up and noticing Aurelius, "Aw shit."
"What seems to be the problem here." Aurelius said with authority in his voice.
"Ah! A watchman! Praise Stendarr!" said the elder, "This man is a thief. He's a wild man, living in the woods and stealing crops and animals in the night."
"Well disperse your people and go back to work. I'll take him to a legion checkpoint. Get up you, your under arrest."
The ragged man was staring curiosly at the Captain and wouldn't budge. When the woodcutters tried to lift him he sank like a boneless sack of wheat. Then something clicked and he yelled,
"LETO! Liutenant Leto, that's you ain't it!" he automatically tried to stand, hope in his eyes, only to be slammed back down by the two woodcutters holding his shoulders. Aurelius looked confused for a moment, then sighed,
"Nero... Nero isn't it?" it was a rhetorical question. Aurelius knew who it was now that he'd heard the voice, even through the grime and the unkempt hair, and he wasn't happy.
"Yeah that's right! You and me, we fought together in the Reserve remember? You an' me, we sent Asterion and them filthy bulls back where they come, didn't we?"
"Yes, we did." Aurelius wanted to look away, but he didn't, "Now get up, you're under arrest."
"Come on now Leto," he begged pitifully, "have pity on an old war veteran... we fought together, y'remember!"
"Yes. I remember," Aurelius replied softly, "Do you have proof of your innocence?"
"Uh, n-no, but I mean... they got no proof I did anything either!"
Aurelius looked like he'd eaten something sour, "The law is the Law, and the Law is sacred. Guilty till proven innocent. You're under arrest."
"Leto, man, c'mo-"
"Stop." Aurelius said sharply through gritted teeth, "You violated the law. Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence. Your stolen goods are now forfeit," he spoke as if by rote. He looked at the man's ragged state, "If you have no gold to pay your fine you will face incarceration."
The mob had begun dispersing after it became obvious the legionnaire was simply making an arrest and nothing more interesting, trusting the elder to settle things. The rest of the rangers were crouched behind one of the nearby houses, watching Aurelius commandeer some rope to tie the man's arms while Iszir kept watch on the prisoner. Furioso was chatting with some locals, calming and assuring them of the Empire's justice. Lagerta turned back to Dram, Alessandros and Dagot-Ei and said,
"I assume the priest has told you two nothing regarding the purpose of this quest?"
Dagot-Ei nodded while Dram said, "No, but I ain't ask. Assassin's, we learn not to ask why. Just do the job."
"So nobody in this warrior band has any idea why they fight."
"Oh no," said Dram, "We know why we fight. Just cause we don't share your convictions don't mean we got no purpose."
"Your private reasons mean little," said Lagerta, "for they will not affect the result of our actions, and what result we are acting towards we have no idea."
"We do know why we act, we do so with purpose." said Dagot-Ei, "I act under the will of the Hist."
"No. It does not matter," she snapped at him, "In the end that means nothing - only the acts we committed and the end result will remain, not our intentions. That is all the stories will record. And we are playing roles in a story yet we do not know the plot."
"It is not necessary for an actor in a play to know what part they are playing for them to play the part well, nor for them to find joy and purpose in that part." said Dagot-Ei.
"Life is not a play."
"Life is not a story either," the argonian countered.
"Yes, it is. Everything is a story, and after we die only our stories will remain. People will remember us as the ones who did what we did, nevermind what we intended. I want to know what their Empire is planning to make us do. It astounds me that I am alone in this, alone in not blindly trusting the Empire's direction."
"We ain't ever said you were alone in not trustin' the Empire," said Dram, "it's just that we have our reasons to fight. I made a deal with Aurelius - a contract. He lets Iszir carve out me heart so I can be re-loomed and I join his command. Without them my little cycle of life and death is over, I'm done. But I made that contract and I ain't breaking it. S'not good form for an assassin, that's how you lose faith with clients."
"So you trust Snake-Eyes? The Empire's lapdog set to watch over their little provincial irregulars?" she gestured at the town center, "Look at him now, betraying one he once fought beside for, what? The words of a few ignorant fools? Ask Little Kar if idiot villagers like them can always be trusted."
"He's doing his job is all."
"And if his job says he must throw us in prison next? For his precious Empire?" Lagerta said, "If we are betrayed we cannot rely on him to stand with us."
"If my job said I got to kill you, I would," said Dram, "that's work. That's life."
"You are an assassin," Lagerta said, "I would expect no less from a shadow-walker unknown to Shor."
"Aw, you sweet on me?"
"Cap not betray us," Alessandros interrupted, "He a good lord. Treats us good."
"Al," said Dram slowly, "I ain't hear him use your name a single time. To him your little more than a beast - just another wardog to command."
Alessandros' bovine ears drooped a little, "Yea... yeah. But," his voice was small, "It still better than beatings and the Box, in the dark. Some people, that how they lead..."
"I would assume," said Dagot-Ei, "That Brother Furioso would be more trustworthy. A pleasant elder of your people, yes? And wise."
"No," Lagerta shook her head, "The priest is the only one who knows the point of all this, and he hides it even from Snake-Eyes. They both work for the Empire, they are two sides of the same coin. We are weapons to them, little else."
"I think you jus' described Iszir perfectly," said Dram, "Ze's devoted to Furioso entirely - it's good you ain't say anything in front of hir. I like Iszir, a lot, but I wouldn't trust hir not to tell the old man about this uh, mutinous conversation."
"At least Iszir is honest," said Lagerta, "Heartless though he might be, just a weapon for them to point he might be, but at least he is honest."
"Hey I'm honest," Dram protested, "I said I'd kill you."
"And will the slaver speak to them of this conversation as well?" Dagot-Ei asked Lagerta.
"I cannot say, will he?" Lagerta looked at the dark elf. Dram shrugged,
"They don't pay me to be a spy, and I agree with a lot of what your saying. I'll do my job - kill folks - nothing else. So don't worry."
"And you Daggertail?"
The argonian blinked, "I am here because the Hist will it. Nothing else concerns me."
"Little Kar, you will say nothing."
"Yes'm."
"Then we go onwards, and you all know the reason why you have come but not the reason for which you fight." She looked grim, "I have abandonded enough bands. I will not see this one fall." She walked to the road that led out of town, where Aurelius was leading the prisoner by the rope tied around his hands and gesturing for them to come.
"Someone's got a bit of a nerevar complex," Dram muttered to himself.
Alessandros still looked sad, eyes looking down, ears drooping and trudging behind Lagerta. Dagot-Ei approached and patted his arm in a friendly way before asking, in a pleasant voice,
"Would you like some tea?"
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