The Ebony Renegades (Skyrim)

chapter seventy six

(Tully pov)

After we left Mistwatch and no sooner did we get five steps out of the the front gate the damn courier rushed up and spoke. "There you are, I've been looking for you I've got something I'm supposed to deliver your hands only, let's see here... Oh a letter from General Tullius, you certainly have friends in high places, that's everything got to go." The courier said handing me a letter before running off, I had to resist the urge to grab him by the throat and drain every last ounce of blood from his body just to make sure that annoying pest stops randomly appearing wherever we are. I rolled my eyes before opening the letter and reading the contents.

Tully if this reaches you then I have a request that I wish to ask of you, it involves the East empire company, pirates have been looting our ships and halting our supply and we have reason to suspect that the family in Windhelm calling themselves clan Shatter-shield may be involved and we need someone to take care of it under the radar, not only to prove their involvement, but to get shipments to the East empire company working again. I would send my troops but our numbers are spread thin enough as it is with the Stormcloak rebellion. If you would lend your assistance I would greatly appreciate it. Two of our legionnaires will be waiting at the docks of Windhelm to take care of transporting you to the destination should you choose to accept this under the table mission.

PS. I am not asking this for the legion, I am asking this as a personal favor. You're the only one I can rely on for such a delicate job Stay safe soldier and know that the legion always takes care of its own, once a member of the legion always a member of the legion
-General Tullius.

As I continued reading it I nodded reading through the details and the map of the location where the pirates were allegedly said to have been based. I nodded understanding the full situation we rode back to base to regroup since I would need very specific skill sets for this kind of job and there was only a few who possessed the necessary skills that I required for such a task. We ride back through the natural hot springs of Eastmarch passing a few hunters as we rode passed. As we arrived back at the base we went around from the back entrance down by the entrance to Mzulft just to be safe as we carefully made our way into the base coming out through a hidden passageway that brought us in the middle of our custom arena. When we entered the first thing we were seeing was absolute chaos ensuing in front of us. Ebon-shi, Suvvan, Yamma, and Shadow-step were in the arena in a free-for-all duel while the others were sitting up watching some looking like they were placing bets. We walked over to the stands for the spectators were and we sat down watching the free-for-all in front of us before I looked over to Asadelf silently asking what the hell was going on. "Oh they decided to go for a one last training exercise before calling it a day, however a certain somebody decided to make a spectacle of it so now it's become a wager about who gets knocked out first." Asadelf said with an annoyed sigh as she rubbed her temple with her hand I nodded in understanding having a feeling I knew which one of them decided to turn this into a wager. "Don't tell me, our resident cheese nut job?" I asked crossing my arms as Asadelf nods. I nodded and watched the free for all going on in the arena watching Ebon-shi deflect Yamma's right hook and throw him into Suvvan as Shadow-step tried to take him from behind only for Ebon-shi to crouch down and sweep his legs out from underneath him and judo throw him onto the other two. "Well, the boss certainly has gotten a lot more handy when it comes to hand-to-hand combat I assume that's from all the intense physical therapy he's been going through?" I asked a Asadelf spoke. "Yes, after he got back from the tournament of ten bloods he told me how close to the limit he was, he told me he wanted to come back stronger than before so he told me to push him past his limits no matter what." Asadelf said crossing her arms watching as Ebon-shi and Suvvan locked arms sizing each other up before Ebon-shi used his nimble anatomy to swing from Yamma's arm and swing his legs around causing him to make Yamma stumble because of the abrupt shift of balance and causing Ebon-shi's foot to collide across Suvvan's face and in a single fluid motion he wrapped his legs around Suvvan's neck before twisting his hips causing the crazy nord to flip head over heels and smack right into Yamma causing the two to stumble back as Shadow-step rushed forward delivering punches swipes and kicks and rapid succession using the whispering fang style from the khajiit martial arts. Ebon-shi effectively dodged and blocked his kahjiit comrades attacks effectively counter-attacking whenever he spotted an opening moving with such stamina and agility he was like a shadow just like his kahjiit opponent. Blocking kicking and a jabbing in rapid succession before ducking underneath a surprise attack from behind from Yamma using the momentum the crouch down and sweep his legs out from underneath him causing the large orc to land on Shadow-step as he got up he caught Suvvan's right hook twisting his arm turning his back facing Suvvan's chest with his hand underneath his armpit before swinging him over his shoulder making him land on top of Yamma and Shadow-step as Ebon-shi put his foot on all three of them. "Yeild?" He asked in a calm yet respectful manner before the three looked up giving a single thumbs up from all three as he removed his foot from their back and offered a hand up showing his more honorable and respectful side. "See I told you the boss would win, pay up" Gentu said with a grin holding his hand out as Severin handed a coin purse into his hand since the argonian had bet on Shadow-step's superior agility to bring victory but all in all it wasn't a bitter defeat as both the argonian and breton had a playful smile. "Welcome back everyone, Tully how did the three perform and did you deal with the problem?" Ebon-shi asked walking up to us putting a black tunic on before getting within speaking range. "Indeed, they performed a great and not only did we deal with the problem but we gained a new ally in the process who offered to watch out over our lair when we are not here." I reported crossing my arms as Ebon-shi nods but could see something was up before speaking. "What troubles you? Is everything all right?" Ebon-shi asked as I nodded and spoke. "Gather everybody in the meeting room and I will explain to everybody." I said walking into the dining room where we usually had our meetings and ate together before sitting down on the bench and rubbing my head. Once the group had completely assembled in the dining room and everyone was here I put my hands on the table looking up at the boss waiting for him to give the nod once he gave it I nodded in return before starting. "On our way out of Mistwatch The courier paid us a visit and gave me this letter, it's from General Tullius and he is asking a personal favor of me, according to his letter there's a group of pirates who are attacking shipments from the East empire company and he has reason to suspect that the family in Windhelm calling themselves clan Shatter-shield may be involved. If I decide to accept this job it will be completely off the books and to imperial soldiers are waiting at the docks of Windham tonight, so I wanted to let you all know ahead of time this way we can discuss how to move forward." I explained not leaving any details out and waited for the group too discuss what was going on. "Well if it's pirates we're dealing with then I'm going with you, after all you send a cat to catch a mouse, so you send a pirate to catch a pirate." Sabrina said twirling one of her twin scimitars in her hand with a smile on her face as she was gulping down a bottle of wine. "And if you need to gather proof that the Shatter-shield's are involved then you're going to need an infiltrator and a thief to steal documents and infiltrate their home to get the evidence required to prove their guilty." Shadow-step said under his Nightingale hood placing more ebony arrows into his quiver before swinging over his shoulder with his Nightingale bow. "And of course you know you're not leaving me behind, I'm with you to the end." Serana said with a smirk sipping a potion of blood before carefully wiping her lips with a napkin and stuffing it in her sleeve of her daedric mail gauntlets. "I'll go to, I need to get out of the base for a while I've been confined here for a while and I need some fresh air." Ebon-shi said crossing his arms with a nod as Asadelf stood up. "I'm coming too you're going to need someone who can use magic in case things get hairy, not to mention I need to keep an eye on Mr tough guy here just in case his wounds flare up again." Asadelf said giving the boss a stern expression as I nodded knowing full well there was no point in trying to argue with her. "All right we leave in a few hours when the sun sets, I would advise getting dressed and making sure everything is prepared we don't know if we're going to be dealing with just regular bandits or if we're going to be dealing with battle-mages." I said as the rest of the group split off to do our own thing I went to my room to get everything prepared since we would be leaving in a few hours at sunset.

(Pov switch: third person pov)

As the dragon priest lead Suki, Aden, and Aames nearby the shrine of stenderr where there were corpses of the mythic dawn made obvious by the red robes with the sun like insignias on the sleeves accompanied by the most crazed and sadistic laughing they've ever heard. As they approached they saw a woman dressed head to toe in daedric plate armor she was clearly of nordic blood her hair was red as fire and she had a strange dark crown on her head.

Her left hand resting boredly against her cheek while a single survivor of the mythic dawn was on their hands and knees licking her foot with a leash around their neck wrapped firmly in the hand that was leaning against her cheek when she looked up seeing the group of four approaching she simply raised her hand up as the still quivering cultist bowed his head. "Stop right where you are, you better have a good reason for interrupting or I'm going to slit your bellies open and play jump rope with your entrails~" She said her hand resting on a sword that was definitely daedric in origin except instead of the usual curved serrated style swords, this sword was a straight blade with red runes up the middle.

"Greetings your highness, please rest assured we do not mean you any disrespect but we have come to seek your aid would you please grant us an audience with you?" Ghidorah spoke as a slight smile crept up her Nordic face before gesturing them to come closer but not before bringing her foot up across the still quivering mythic dawn coldest jaw crushing his skull with a single kick causing blood to splatter across the floor before she tossed the leash to the side like it was a piece of trash looking up at them with cold and calculating ruby eyes but with the most sociopathic smirk that could send even a dark brotherhood assassin chills. "You have my interest dragon priest, you may speak and I may listen.." She spoke softly but there was an obvious undertone of sadistic malice in her voice and it was clear when she killed that mythic dawn in front of them her face didn't even contort her face was straight and blank it was clear she had no problem taking a life if anything she took a slight glee from it. "Please forgive us for interrupting you, but we wanted to ask your help in dealing with the Thalmor menace that is threatening all of tamriel, we need capable fighters and you are by far one of the most deadly in all of tamriel, Princess Myne."