Mercer POV
I was tailing high King Serjius. He was still in the Gold Coast for unknown reasons. He said he'd leave us in peace. Serjius was poking around in the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary that I had cleared. He had brought another woman with him that I had met before.
They leave the sanctuary and the woman splits off into another direction. I decided that I'd follow Serjius. Serjius mounts his horse then begins riding away. I stay on his tail, but hidden from his view.
I follow him for a while. It was growing dark. We were alone in the dark, but it didn't quite feel that way. Something was lurking in the shadows. Serjius felt it too. He stops his horse. "Who's there?" He yells into the clearing. I couldn't tell if it was me he sensed, or the thing I sensed.
I stay hidden anyway. I wasn't that far from Serjius. I could see the sweat beading on his forehead.
Suddenly, we hear a roar and a creature comes out of the shadows. Serjius yelps in surprise and falls off his horse. I knit my brow. The monster had four arms and held a giant cleaver. It was a Minotaur.
Serjius lifts his sword to fight back. The Minotaur lifts his cleaver abound his head. Serjius jumps to his feet and slashed his sword at the creature. It roars and uses its cleaver to knock Serjius' sword away.
Serjius falls to the ground and the Minotaur lifts its cleaver again. The metal gleams in the night as it raises it over his head. The Minotaur begins swinging his sword downwards.
I didn't even think when I reacted. I jump from my hiding spot and I jump in front of the minotaur's weapon. I jab my sword forward, stabbing the Minotaur through the chest. As I tear my sword out of its flesh, it's cleaver hits its mark.
The cleaver hits my shoulder and buries itself deep in it. The Minotaur and I stand there staring at each other for a moment. My sword drops to the ground, and the Minotaur let's go of his cleaver. The Minotaur falls on top of me. I hear Serjius scramble away.
The Minotaur lands on me, and I'm pinned under its weight. That didn't matter though. I was loosing a lot of blood and I couldn't feel my shoulder anymore. I gasp and try to breathe, but I can't. Serjius stands there, struck by what just happened. I manage a slight smile towards him.
I start trying to drag myself out from under the Minotaur's weight. Serjius decides to finally help. He helps me get out from underneath it. "Pull this cleaver out of my shoulder, will you?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper. Serjius hesitates, but does as I asked.
I sit down on the ground, my shoulder bleeding heavily. Serjius stands in front of me. He looked like he had something to say, but I hold my hand up. "Leave here before I die. That side of me will probably kill you." I say but Serjius shakes his head.
"You saved me from that... thing." He says slowly. I could tell he didn't know what to say. He wanted to help me, but he knew I was already too far gone. I'd be dead soon.
"Leave, Serjius. You will not be blamed for this. It's my fault I decided to save you." I say, and groan. I hold my right arm where the cleaver hit. Blood was covering my arm.
"That's just it. You saved me, why?" He asks. His face a mix of confusion and anger.
"Because, I couldn't just sit back and watch someone die, now could I? Yes you're my enemy, but that war is over." I say. "If you have a problem with that, then go back to Daggerfall and never come back." I say, it was a little threatening, but I was also sitting here dying while he interrogated me.
"I-" he says, then crosses his arms. "I'm only still here because you have Ancyra still. Release her and I'll leave." I laugh.
"She's not a prisoner of war. We released her right after we returned to the fortress. We had no intention of keeping her prisoner, and yet you're here poking around in a Dark Brotherhood sanctuary." I say. I didn't really care that he found it, but it could cause future problems with the Dark Brotherhood.
"A sanctuary where you murdered everyone and left their bodies there to rot." I laugh slightly.
"Since when did you care about the Dark Brotherhood? They're assassins. They kill innocent people just because someone wants them to." I reply and adjust my position. "They would have killed you if someone ordered you. They've already killed me, twice." I say. There was no use trying to keep my secrete. He already knew.
Serjius turns away from me. "You have a point, Mercer. That doesn't justify what you've done though." He says, then looks at me. "I should take you as a prisoner to answer for your crimes. You saved me from that Minotaur though, and I currently don't have backup."
"Serjius!" Someone shouts, and Serjius looks in the direction of the voice. It was a woman. The woman that was with him at the sanctuary. She rides up and dismounts her horse. "I heard the roar of the Minotaur and I came to make sure you were alright."
"Well..." I say to Serjius. "Looks like you've got back up now." I say weakly and drop my arm from my shoulder. I was losing strength.
"You killed him?" The woman says, pointing at me. She didn't see the dead Minotaur yet. "I thought I heard a Minotaur." She says, I could tell she was confused.
"Don't give Serjius that much credit." I say, breathing heavy. "I killed the Minotaur and saved his ass from dying." She looks at Serjius. "Now, he wants to take me prisoner." I pause. "Go head." I manage a slight shrug. "It's not like I'm going anywhere else until I die."
"Don't listen to him." Serjius says. "It's true that he killed the Minotaur, but I could've handled it myself." Serjius walks over to the Minotaurs dead body. He picks up his sword that was laying on the ground beside it. "Get him on your horse and let's get out of here." The woman walks over to me and slings my arms over her shoulders. I wasn't going to struggle. I didn't have the strength left to do so.
She throws me on the back of her horse, and gets on as well. "What's your name?" I say quietly. She looks at me for a moment. "I'd like to know the name of the one who slung me over her horse and is now taking me prisoner."
"I'm Xaneana, but most just call me Xane." She says. Then grabs the horses reins. We then ride off into the darkness. I wasn't conscious for long though. Darkness soon takes its hold on me.
