Chapter Four
Arthonir woke to a callused hand clamped down on his face. Panicking, he opened his eyes to see a beared and armoured man crouching over him. To his right, he heard a scuffle and realized his Khajiit companion had been captured as well. Which confused the thief, until he saw out of the corner of his eye a mage. The man must have cast a silencing spell on his comrades, allowing them to sneak up on the pair. His dagger was wrenched out of it's sheathe, as the man handed it to one of his companion. Then they dragged the two companions two a wide based tree and set their backs up against the trunk. There hands were securely bound by leather strips, they had basically no hope of escape.
A large Nord in what looked like iron armor, probably the leader of the group of bandits, by the way he carried himself. He tossed the mage a bulging coin purse " thanks for the help, mage, now get outta here" the brute ordered. The magic user grinned and departed,into the pre-dawn mists. The bandit leader walked over to them, grinning lewdly at the Khajiit. " Now, the two of ye are going to tell me what you was doin' in my forest?" Shadow lifted an incredulous eyebrow. Meanwhile, Arthonir scanned the group, and estimated that there was about thirty of them.
"Your forest?" She smirked, which earned her a hard boot in the side. Hissing in pain, she fell on her side, and the bandits laughed. "Yeah, it's my-" a scream of terror cut him off. The bandit leader looked a little concerned, but shrugged and turned to his men "Our mage must have seen a wolf!"
He turned back to Arthonir and Shadow, his eyes narrowing and opened his mouth to speak again. Another scream rang out, this one of agony. Now the bandits were clearly nervous, a few drawing weapons. Then two figures dropped out of the trees, startling the bandits. One dashed to the side, drawing most of the nearest bandits to chase them. The second attacker pointed his arm straight up, sending a fireball well above the canopy. That seemed to be a signal for the rest of their group, as dark armoured figures sprinted out of the mist, attacking the shocked bandits. There was perhaps a dozen attackers, suicidal odds under normal circumstances.
However, that was not the case. The attackers moved with supernatural speed, and Arthonir they were something other than human. His suspicions were confirmed when a petite Wood elf woman attacked the man guarding Shadow, wrapping her legs around the bandits' waist and biting into the mans' throat. Arthonir's guard, distracted by the bloody end of his companion never saw the pair of arrows that pierced his leather armor and knocked him to the ground. The bandits were not untrained, and they certainly were not badly equipped, and yet the battle barely took five minutes. A robed and hooded figure with red and gold threading running through the black had the bandit leader a meter in the air, by the throat. The vampire said something, and the bandit spat a curse back. With a crack like a stick snapping, the vampire crushed the mans' neck and windpipe, simply by increasing his grip. The man's limbs twitched involuntarily before the vampire dropped him to land in a heap of flash and iron.
Now the robed and hooded figure turned to face Arthonir and Shadow. He said something in what sounded like elven to one of his companions, a man clad from head to toe in ebony armor. That ,man nodded and pointed at the two captives "cut their bonds" two vampires approached, a Redguard and an Imperial. The Imperial knelt in front of Arthonir, drawing a dagger. He had short silver grey hair and a neatly trimmed, equally silver beard. He seemed almost normal until he glanced up to meet the young Nords' gaze.His eyes were a gold red color and blazing with an unnatural hunger. The Imperial nodded curtly as Arthonir stuttered his thanks, and retreated from the Nord. He noticed that the Redguard vampire was retreating several meters as well.
The hooded and robed vampire turned to face the two former prisoners and bent at the waist, bowing low. " Salthar Vivarian, at your service" the vampires tone was light and friendly.By the way he held himself, and his subconscious small movements, including the aura of fear and authority he seemed to send out in waves, Arthonir surmised he was the leader of the group.He had been an Altmer once, although his skin was extremely pale, it was almost hard to tell he'd been a descendant of those golden skin elves. The elven vampire smiled brightly when he saw Arthonirs' Khajiit companion "my dear Shadow, how nice it is to see in Skyrim once more!" he exclaimed. Shadow's response was cold, and not at all friendly; " It's temporary, I assure you" she said, her body language oozing contempt and unfriendly-ness. The thief also noticed that she had her deadly bow in one hand , and an arrow on the string.
If the vampire was at all put off by Shadows' demonstration of hostility, he didn't show it. "A pity then, I have such warm memories of when you were a guest at my castle" his smile stayed in place as he turned to focus his attention on Arthonir. "And who might this young man be?" The vampire asked, glancing at Shadow, as if he didn't trust the thief to answer for himself. The Khajiit woman on the other hand, seemed to have gained some measure of respect from the vampire, and it was clear the two of them had a history. Not a happy one on Shadow's part, but it was clearly there. " He is Arthonir Goldblade the son of Larial and Arvjun Goldblade" Salthar's smile disappeared. He seemed, for all intents and purposes, quite stunned.
"I was informed that the Goldblades' had no children"
"Clearly, you were informed wrong" Shadow actually sounded smug. For his part, Arthonir was more than shocked. 'Did these two know my parents? It sure seems like it' he thought. The vampire said
"It certainly appears that way" and glanced at one of his companions, who nodded once.
then as if nothing had happened, his smile returned and he said "ah, but enough of this, won't the two of you join me for late breakfast?" He paused, then said "After all, you must be hungry after your ordeal, and the pitiful meal you shared last night" Arthonir frowned
"You were watching us?" he asked, wondering how many other surprises this vampire had up his sleeve. Salthar nodded once "I had a couple of my brethren watch over you while you slept. After all, when a friend of mine said he'd seen a Khajiit woman matching your description, Shadow, I felt obliged to look out for you" then he swept his arms out, indicating the corpses "and now I'd say that my concern for your safety has been..validated. But enough of this, come, eat!"
At his signal, a pair of vampires laid down an intricately marked table cloth on a clear patch of ground, and laid out foods ranging from a selection of cheese, to different cuts of meat. Also included were several bottles of wine, mead, ale, and utensils and plates. A veritable feast. Then to both Shadow and Arthonir's complete surprise, the vampire shrugged off his robe, revealing a dark grey almost black tunic and a pair of leather breeches. Then he sat on the cold ground, smiled and waved the two mortals over. Shadow eyed the food suspiciously, and Salthar sighed " Shadow, my dear woman, if I wished you dead, I wouldn't have needed to risk the lives of my fellow vampires rescuing you, would I?" finally, the Khajiit woman relaxed slightly, and retorted "you can never be too careful" before sitting across from the vampire. Arthonir sat as well, but glanced at the group of vampires, all watching with an air of detached interest. "What about your companions?" he asked, knowing vampires no longer needed mortal food to stay alive, but asking out of courtesy.
"Don't worry about them, they've already caught their meals" Salthar assured him, pointing. The thief followed his arm and saw three vampires guarding a group of miserable looking bandits, their arms tied. He shuddered, feeling a tinge of pity for the poor souls that would make up the vampires' meals. As they started to eat, Arthonir asked, " so, is this your forest?" The vampire leader looked startled, before chuckling "hardly, my friends and I were simply reminding the bandits that they're not safe in the dark"
then he continued "no, our home is near Falkreath, in the mountains". After that, the rest of the meal passed in silence, with Salthar drinking from a goblet that most certainly had no alcohol in it. When they finished, the leader of the vampires stood, and donned his robe once again. "And now we take our leave...farewell, Shadow, Arthonir" and with that the vampires began to file back into the forest, taking their miserable meals with them.
For a while the two companions waited, half expecting the vampires to return and add them to the menu, but only the chill wind moved the trees. Once assured that they would not, in fact be made into meals, they stood and made their way towards Riften. Arthonir was certain that Shadow knew the vampire, and that she had known his parents. That was another thing he meant to ask her before they finished their journey.
To Be Continued.