User blog:Psychomantis108/Story: Myths of Mundus: Dark Pilgrimage - Chapter 8: The Silver Road

It had taken Arlas and Bologra several hours to skirt the outer rim of Lake Rumare, though it was a long walk from the Imperial bridge to the Silver Road, it was a rather simple one as they didn't seem to run into any resistance. This was mostly due to the fact that Imperial Legion patrolled it constantly as well as the fact that most of the beasts that veered away from the wilderness were slaughtered.

Many animals were smart enough to keep away and the ones that weren't paid for their ignorance, with their lives.

The Orsimer constantly fiddled with his arm brace, causing it to rattle and creak as he constantly reached up and adjusted it. In spite of the fact that the strap around his elbow was a little too tight, he seemed quite tranquil.

The two of them wandered the Cyrodiilic country roads as they admired the local animal and plant life. Up ahead they saw a group of deer, prancing on the path, seemingly as tranquil as they were, until they saw how close the two mer were getting and darted almost immediately and cleared the path to escape the potential threats.

"Huh, pussies are afraid of us..." Bologra snorted, finally letting his arm rest before he wore it out, Arlas simply rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Of course they are Bologra, you're like... Eight feet tall and you're carrying an axe around your waist. I mean, most people would be afraid that you were going to eat them, never mind the local livestock."

"Yeah? Well, the 'livestock' are right, I would eat one, if I got hold of it... Problem is gettin' hold of it in the first place, they move so damn fast." He grumbled, going back to adjusting his arm brace again, resulting in Arlas reaching up and pulling it back down to his side.

"D-Don't mess with it too much, it might come off." She warned him, like a fussy, irritable grandmother.

"You'll be thankful of it when something tries to bite or hit your stump." She added, resulting in Bologra chuckling and giggling to himself as he went, shaking his head.

"Man... That sounded dirty."

Arlas raised an eyebrow for a moment before sighing heavily and shaking her head, thankful that it would be over soon. Well, provided that this cave was empty and that they wouldn't have to do much work to reach this axe.

The Bosmer's trail of thought was interrupted as she heard rustling up ahead, she stopped and raised her hand, frowning as she did so as she noticed that something dark was up ahead, lurking in the bushes.

Bologra reached down and drew his hatchet-like hand axe, slowly bringing it up as he got ready to strike it down on the little bugger, as soon as it reared its ugly little head up, it was dead.

"Erm... Hello?" Arlas called out, stepping forward and being the ambassador for the group as she found herself to be in most situations where she and Bologra had to talk to a stranger.

The being lingered for a moment before eventually stepping out, revealing itself to be a Khajiit in dark Cyrodiilic leather armour, with two daggers hanging off of his waist and a small pouch strapped to his belt.

The Khajiit was an orange Khajiit, with a large main, who placed his hands on his hips and grinned at them, baring his sharp teeth. Somehow, he seemed overjoyed that his target was a Priest and such a young one as well, this should be very easy.

"Ah, what is this? A little chick has strayed too far from her nest?" The Khajiit asked, chuckling a little as he did so as he stepped forward, stopping just in front of Arlas as he glared down at her.

"What will it be? Your money? Or your life?"

Arlas found herself speechless and more than a little startled by the Khajiit. Still she quickly composed herself, remembering who she was, where she was and most importantly, who she was travelling with.

"Erm... I-It's not up to me." She pointed out, rather nervously before gesturing back to Bologra.

"It's up to my very large and angry friend over there..."

The Khajiit just smirked at her before looking up, getting quite the shock. Behind Arlas stood an eight foot tall, approximately 500lbs Orc, rippling with muscles and covered in scars. However, the Khajiit noticed that he had a slight handicap, the Orc was seemingly missing his left hand, possibly providing a great disadvantage.

The Khajiit quickly returned to his sleazy grin before stepping past Arlas and approaching the Orsimer, seemingly not afraid at all.

"What do you say, Orc? Would you rather pay the toll with gold or would you rather pay with the girl?"

Bologra, obviously, was barely paying attention to him as the only thing that he could think, in response to the Khajiit's threat was I shit bigger than this guy...

Still, it was a workout at least...

"H-How about you walk away before he breaks your legs!" Arlas counter offered, hoping that Bologra wasn't considering it as he didn't seem to saying or doing anything in response to the Khajiit's challenge.

"Pfft... Like he wants to risk it? C'mon Orc, I haven't got all day, will I be leaving with gold or a Bosmer Queen?"

Bologra remained silent some more before sighing, this asshole was so asking for it...

The Orsimer grumbled as he holstered his weapon and slowly reached towards his pocket, looking like he was about to pay up, however, he broke away at the last moment to snatch the Khajiit's throat. Bologra held onto it, with a vice-like grip as he pulled him in and grinned in the cat's face, proceeding to lift him up, six feet in the air and throwing him against the nearest tree.

The Highwayman flew about ten extra feet in the air, kicking and flailing about before eventually coming into contact with a nearby tree as his flight came to an abrupt end. He bounced off of it and fell to the ground, landing in a heap at the base of the trunk, with an 'oof.'

Arlas was amazed and quite impressed at how far Bologra could throw the man, she looked back at him with a grin on her face, drawing Jorane Lorwel's staff as she rushed over to the Khajiit, pointing the tip of it in his face.

"Aha, you aren't smiling now, are you asshole!?" She yelled, beaming triumphantly as she prodded him with the staff.

"No, now you're... you're..." She paused and sighed in annoyance as she saw that the Khajiit had been rendered unconscious from his encounter with the Orc, resulting in him not hearing a word of what Arlas had just said.

"Completely out of it..." She sighed, lowering the staff and returning to her upright position. At least they got away without paying the toll or anybody getting killed...

"He dead?" Bologra asked, seeming a little shaken.

"N-No." Arlas assured him as she looked back, giving him a smile.

"Just unconscious."

"Shame." Bologra spoke, plainly as he wandered off, ready to move on and hopefully get to the cave by sunset or find something else to pummel within the hour. Either was good to him...

Arlas shook her head and rolled her eyes again as she looked over the sleeping Khajiit, holstering her staff and sighing as she walked away. She didn't think it right to take his money, given that he was probably desperate for money to begin with.

She slowly turned around and followed her Orsimer companion, almost completely forgetting the encounter as she went. She looked up at the sky and heard the birds twittering once more, they sounded a little different here than they did back home. It was almost just as pleasant, if it weren't for the occasional flying ant attack...

The two of them came to a stop as they heard the sound of wolves howling, not so far in the distance. From the sounds of things, the pack were mobilizing, seeing some form of unsuspecting prey on their horizon.

"We might have wolves incoming, be on your toes." Arlas informed him, getting little more than a scoff in return.

"Pfft... Wolves, yeah, maybe we should have brought all of those guards after all." He mocked, seemingly amused by her reaction to them, though it didn't really occur to them that this was her first time out.

"Whatever, I'm only watching out for you, in case one jumps up and bites your 'stump' off. You didn't have that much to start with." Arlas replied, giving the Orsimer a slight smirk as she went, resulting in him laughing a little too hard, he was caught off-guard by the Priest.

"Ho ho... Damn, they teach you that in the Priesthood?" The Orc replied, continuing to laugh as he did so, seemingly getting distracted from the imminent wolf threat.

"Nope, that was all Mages' Guild." She grinned as she turned her attention back to the road, however, as she did so, she quickly stopped and turned around.

"Ha, sounds like those dress wearing book worms know a joke or tw-" Bologra turned back, realizing that Arlas wasn't right beside him. In fact, his face fell as he saw her turn away...

"What's up?" He asked, prompting Arlas to turn back, with a look of horror in her eyes.

"The bandit! The wolves will eat him alive!"

"So?"

"So!?" Arlas shrieked, this time she was the one caught off-guard by Bologra's blatant lack of respect for human life.

"So, he'll be killed! Horribly! And it'll be our fault!" She pointed out, getting little but a look of disbelief in response.

"How?" He asked, with a shrug, still not buying into this 'risking their life for a stranger that tried to kill them' crap.

"I mean, he was the idiot who jumped us, hell he wanted to make you his 'Bosmer Queen' or some shit. You telling me that he's worth risking our asses for?"

"No, he isn't worth it but that doesn't matter. You might be comfortable with leaving a man for the wolves but I'm not, I'm going back to help him." The Bosmer insisted, turning back and retracing her steps back to where the bandit had jumped them. She paused, quickly turning back to give Bologra a final chance.

"You coming? Or is big, bad Bologra Blackbeard afraid of a few doggies?"

"Pfft... Looks more like Hard Ass Arlas is more afraid of the 'doggies.'" The Orc pointed out, folding his arms and rolling his eyes as he sighed heavily. He just wanted to get that axe already before he froze to death...

"Alright, fine, we'll go and save your stupid Khajiit boyfriend, if it makes you so damn happy." He grumbled, marching on past the Bosmer as he did so, knocking her to the side as his hulking frame passed her. Arlas just looked up to him with a smile on her face as the two of them wandered back to find the bandit or what was left of him.

Hard ass Arlas... The Bosmer thought, with a smirk as she picked up the pace.

Has a nice ring to it...

The Khajiit lay where they left him, still unconscious from the heavy blow received, when he had been thrown by a 500lbs, seriously pissed off Orc. By now, the sun wasn't as high in the sky as it previously was and it felt more like he had, had a nap in the afternoon sun.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon but the Khajiit liked to nap on his own terms...

The Highwayman's eyes slowly opened as he felt an infernal pain shoot up through his foot as it was forcefully moved around. He could feel it, crushing his toes and jerking his sprained foot from side to side, snarling and growling as it did so.

Owww! He thought, though he was too dozed to say it, still he'd give this thing, whatever it was, a piece of his mind.

"H-Hey, g-get off!" He snapped, bringing up his boot and smashing it down, into the creature's face. The Khajiit's boot swiftly caught the eye of the wolf, causing its head to jerk violently to the side but not doing much damage. If anything, he'd just aggravated it.

"Oh... That isn't good..." He commented as the creature slowly growled and snarled before him, obviously processing the fact that it had just been kicked in the head as he built up a murderous rage deep inside him.

"N-Nice doggy... I'm sure that we can work something out..." The Khajiit 'bargained' slowly reaching for his dagger as he wrapped his hand firmly around it.

"M-Maybe you'd be happy with half of my food? Hmm? I hear that the heal grows ba-" The Khajiit's ramblings were cut off as the creature lunged forward, forcing him to lift his arms up into the air as the creature lunged at him, he plunged the dagger into the wolf's ribs in mid air as he clutched its side and swiftly tossed it over his head, resulting in the creature yelping and whining as it landed on the floor.

Its legs violently kicked around as it tried to pull itself up, slipping like it was learning to walk or walking on ice. The Khajiit rolled over and looked up and immediately grinned, this site pleased him as it told him that he had cheated death once more.

It was then that he saw it, out of the corner of his eye, the Khajiit looked around and noticed that he was now surrounded by two or three wolves, slowly moving in for the kill. The Highwayman's grin quickly faded as he looked rather crestfallen as he figured that, that would've made a great story at a party and now he'd never get to tell it.

Still, even if he wasn't exactly optimistic about his chances, he'd still go down fighting, they could count on that. He drew his daggers and readied them, getting ready for the wolves' predictable first move...

The wolves, seeing that he was trapped, immediately went in for the kill, one of them was slightly faster than the rest and got in first, however, the Khajiit was quick enough to slash at its face with his left dagger, causing it to fall to the floor with a pained howl.

Its brethren would have quickly followed, one of which leapt up into the air, going straight for the Highwayman's throat, only to be shot out of the air with a lightning bolt to the ribs. It to yelped as it spun off, down the Silver Road, its yelp followed by the almighty roar as several bounding footsteps approached the creatures.

The Khajiit looked up in amazement as Bologra ran over to the wolf, swinging his axe at it and missing it by inches. The creature lunged forward and bit his stump, which was thankfully encased inside of its brace. Still this didn't stop the wolf from chewing, fruitlessly, at it, even when Bologra pulled it away.

"Ha, stupid mutt!" He bellowed, driving his axe into the creature and extinguishing its life in one almighty strike.

As he finished it off, Arlas rushed over to the dying wolf from before as she quickly drew her staff, hoping to kill it quickly with a sharp burst of whatever type of energy this staff unleashed. She pointed it at the creature, whilst looking away, quickly emitting a powerful energy wave, that killed the wolf in an instant.

The wolf yelped as the Soul Tear effect of the staff passed through it, quickly absorbing its life energy and soul, adding to the staff's power as it quickly departed. Arlas watched as it fell still before sighing heavily, somehow not enjoying harming animals.

She then looked up and saw Bologra getting a running kick at one of the wolves, managing to boot it several feet down the path as he laughed, jeering at the creature and mocking its intelligence and might. She only wished that her attitude was the group's attitude...

The Khajiit remained silent as Arlas composed herself and looked up to face her, seemingly afraid to say anything as the Bosmer had forgotten about him. Still, she did save his life or it appeared to be that way at least...

"*Ahem* Sister?" He asked, trying to get up but slipping back down to the floor again, due to the fact that he couldn't stand on his left foot. Arlas turned back to the Highwayman as he rose to his feet, wincing and cursing under his breath as he did so.

"I... Wish to offer my thanks, for coming back and saving my life I mean, it was mighty generous." The Khajiit replied, he somehow always spoke in a sultry manor, especially when his words were directed at her. He seemed awfully cheery and calm for someone who was about to be eaten alive.

"Oh? So you no longer wish to make me your 'Bosmer Queen?'" The Priest mocked, remembering exactly what he had said before, she wasn't about to let that drop.

"Of course but now I see that I must rethink my approach, you are a much worthier prize to be had."

"Y-Yeah... I liked you better when you were a little more obvious with your creepiness." Arlas admitted, rubbing the back of her neck, almost regretting saving him at this point.

"Erm... Guys?" Bologra called, getting both of their attentions.

"We have a problem!"

Both and Arlas and the Khajiit looked up to see that Bologra was stood before a ten foot tall, incredibly muscular, slobbering werewolf, that did little but snarl and growl at the giant Orc.

Whether it was seeking a fresh meal or a meaty challenge, one thing was for certain...

They were in for a fight...