Heartless

Chapter 53 - Part 71

The full force of the Dragon's soul slammed into me, causing waves of excruciating pain to ripple involuntarily through my body until my entire world was pure white. Noisy rushing of wind at high speeds filled my ears until I was forced unconscious by some invisible force, all the while cursing myself for my stupidity.

—

Jespar was not intending to be a soft landing.

He just was.

A small, black and white figure had slammed into him, sending the wanderer to the ground and the thing itself tumbled further away to the edge of the road.

Jespar also wasn't intending on meeting a Khajiit.

He just did.

The figure was unconscious, her white hair splayed out behind her head and one of her hands coming to rest quite elegantly right over her heart. Judging by the direction she came from, the cat was supposed to have flown much further, probably all the way to Solitude.

Jespar carefully scooped the unconscious female off the marshy ground and set off, surprised by her featherlight weight.

—

I awoke, groggy and disoriented, in a comfortable bed. A bed I didn't remember getting into.

'Hey, take it easy. Don't try and sit up too far.'

Warm and calloused hands helped me lie back down, helping me to the realisation that I was strapped down and inside a vaulted ceilinged chamber that had sparse furniture except for a few other beds like the one I was in. I snarled and struggled against my restraints, trying in vain to tear my hands free.

'I'm sorry you're like this but you aren't... stable. You won't ever be stable, something went wrong with whatever magic happened to you.'

'I'll be fine, this isn't the first time this has happened.'

The stranger eyed me cautiously before undoing the restraints on my hands, a mistake on his part. I watched myself from the inside as I lunged, claws unsheathed, for the stranger's rather handsome face. His expression changed from shock, to anger, to concern, to fear and then to pain as I slashed right next to his eye, drawing blood from a cut that would surely leave a scar.

Before I could harm him further, the stranger grabbed my neck and threw me backwards, my Dragonborn strength forcing the poor guy to throw his entire weight down and slam the restraints back over my hands. Once he realised the awkward position we were in, the stranger blushed and carefully moved away to sit beside me again, running a hand through his snowy hair.

'Unbind one of my hands and keep a tight hold on my wrist, I'll heal that.' I offered, feeling sick.

'Uh... no. I think I'll get this healed by Sirius. I'm Jespar by the way. I forgot to ask your name?'

'Uh... Shadow. I'm... I'm a mercenary.' I lied. Letting Jespar know that I was Dragonborn would not be ideal.

Jespar nodded. 'Oi Sirius! C'mere!'

A male, about the height of Jespar, entered the room. His eyes were obscured by a blue hood, he was wearing robes of ornate blue and gold, and he smelled like... Nightshade. It was actually a comforting scent, the aroma of a highly poisonous plant. He caught sight of me (at least, I think he did.) and grinned lopsidedly.

'That's my name.'

'Can you heal this cut? Our friend here went nuts and attempted to murder me.'

I struggled against the restraints again.

'Guys, I don't know why I attempted to murder Jespar. As far a I know, we've never met. If you'd kindly let me go-'

'Woah! You think we'd miss a chance out of this place? We're in a Thalmor base, if you can get us out then we can part ways. You're a Khajiit, I assume you're a thief?'

'Just because I'm a cat does not mean I'm a thief. I am a Mercenary thank you very much, and I could take down this entire base singlehandedly while blindfolded.' I lied, wanting these people to be fooled into thinking I was far from a thief. 'I do happen to be the stealthiest person in our little group. Unbind me and give me an hour, I'll get you out of here.'

Jespar and Sirius (Not Sirius from Silent Claws. For those that play Enderal, I love Jespar and couldn't resist putting him in here.) seemed to come to some sort of unspoken agreement as they unbound me and handed me my weapons. Strapping on two ebony daggers, an ebony sword underneath my quiver (which rested just above my tail) and my quiver underneath my bow. I slotted each of my throwing knives into their respective places and sheathed my Skyforge steel dagger on the side of my boot.

'Wish me luck.'

Without waiting for a reply, I slid smoothly into the shadows as footsteps echoed down the corridor outside. A tall high elf unlocked the door and stepped into the room, a whip in his hand and a cruel smile on his face. I unsheathed one of my daggers and slit his throat, looting his corpse of the master key and the key to our cell before slipping out the door and locking it again.

Within a few minutes I'd secured us two escape routes leading to the same place. Jespar and Sirius would take the deserted storage room one and I'd have the challenge of slipping out a window and climbing down to meet them after distracting the guards. I made my way back to the cell in triumph to find Jespar and Sirius sitting against a wall and betting on when I'd come back.

'Jespar, you owe me ten septims.' Said Sirius, grinning.

Jespar sighed and pressed ten shiny gold coins into his friend's hand as I sat in front of them.

'Okay so what you two need to do is wait until the next guard comes along. He'll laugh about "your little friend" being tortured. After that he'll leave and you will unlock the door with this key. Then I want you to proceed to the abandoned storage cupboard on the first floor, second door on the right of the west corridor. Once there you just need to use the long forgotten door in there to get out. I want you to wait there until I come and find you.'

'What about you?' Asked Sirius.

'I'm going to distract the guards and cause havoc, if I'm lucky I can attract a dragon to really rile them up. I'll meet you two outside in a while, but if you don't see me within an hour I want you to set up camp in the forest to the south and wait for me there. If I don't turn up in three days then you're free to leave, considering that the Thalmor are brutal savages and really really want to rip my guts out.'

Sirius looked concerned.

'You think it'll take you that long to get out?'

'Oh no, I'm actually notorious for my ability to vanish into the shadows. I was just allowing myself time. There are two thousand four hundred and eighty six different ways this could go, my death being half of them. Stand back while I cause a ruckus. Wait to be told that I'm in captivity again and then put the escape plan into action.'

I tossed Jespar the key to the cell and slipped back out sprinting down the hall and punching one of the guards in the face, causing him to raise the alarm that one of the prisoners had escaped. Two brutes seized me by my arms and dragged me into a nearby empty room where I proceeded to be tortured in sixteen different ways just to let Jespar and Sirius escape.

After a good hour and a half I snapped my bindings and melted into the shadows, sneaking away through the ajar door and down the hall to a small window. I eased it open, smoothly sliding through the tiny gap before snapping it shut again, digging my claws into the rough stone and snaking my way down the side of the building and (seeing that Jespar and Sirius weren't there) followed the footsteps into the south forest, glad that the duo weren't as lightfooted as I was, making them easy to track in the deep snow surrounding the Thalmor headquarters.