Chapter 2.

The Prey

            The Dark Elf known as Nuuael slowly made his way up the hill, towards the Galloping Stag inn. It had been quite a long day, and he was tired. All he wished to do was drag himself up the stairs, forget what had happened that day and sleep. Nuuael had been in Balmora for three months now. He had found himself somewhat gainful employment working at the quarry as the night watchman. He kept a low profile and didnt bother anyone. Balmora seemed as good a place as any to fade into the shadows and stay out of the public eye. He made his rent on time, and never made a spectacle of himself. The last thing I need right now, he reasoned to himself, is more trouble.

            Upon arriving at the inn, he inched the door open, careful not to wake anyone. At this hour of the night, the last thing he expected was to see two young women at the bar. Oh, what the hell? He asked himself under his breath, then joined the women at the bar. The tender had long ago left for home, so it was pretty much self-serve, so Nuuael poured himself a small glass of Dregs Blood, and sat down near the two young elves.

            "Hey, youre that Drow from the third floor, aren't ya?" asked one.

            Nuuael nodded, "Though I prefer the term Dunmer..."

            "I wanna know something," continued the loud one, who had her hair up in pigtails, "How come you always got that hood on? You scarred up or somethin'?"

            "I simply find it safer to keep a low profile," he replied quietly, "I've had a bit of an unpleasant past."

            "Didja kill somebody?"

            Nuuael chuckled lightly at this, "Why would you like to know? Would you turn me in to the constables if I had?"

            "Fine then, kill the mood," pouted the loud elf.

            "What my friend here is saying," said the other elf, punctuating the word friend by jabbing the other elf hard in the ribs, "is that we've never seen you so much as have a drink when others are down here. Why are you so afraid to come out in public? I'd surely hate to think that theres a criminal lodging in my inn."

            "I am not afraid, simply cautious. There are those who would like nothing more than to see my head on a stake in the middle of town, simply by dint of my reputation, deserved or not."

            "What reputation?"

            Nuuael sighed at this, once again his mouth had written a check his scrawny blue ass couldn't cash. He slowly lifted the hood of his cloak, revealing the blue skin and red eyes of a Dunmer, the dark elves of the east. Across his right eye was a tattoo of a black palm, the universal symbol of the Nightblades. His black hair fell across his face in small strands. The two women gasped when they recognized his face.

            "You...It's you, the assassin...the one that almost got Emperor Dunsirn!" Squealed the loud elf.

            "My name is Nuuael, and I would like to hope that this little secret is kept between us. Remember, if you are to be caught aiding and abetting a known fugitive from justice, the powers that be will be just as harsh on you as they will me. I trust we have an agreement," Nuuael said has he leaned back a bit, revealing the hilt of his blade.

            The two elves glanced at each other, then back to Nuuael, "Understood. If we are to be part of this little white lie, then allow us to tell you our names. I am Randi, and my obnoxious friend here is known as Neona," the fair-haired elf replied.

            "This is agreeable. Now, I am tired, and would rest, I shall see you both on the morn..." Nuuael suddenly stopped, turned towards the door, and cursed in Elvish. He then became surrounded by a haze of green light, and vanished.

            "What was that about?" Neona asked to no one in particular. A few seconds later, the door to the inn was slammed open, and in strode a red-scaled Argonian followed by three orc thugs.

            The Argonian pointed at the pair and snarled, "You, a Drow fugitive came in here earlier. Where is he?"

            "I have no idea what youre talking about," replied Randi.

            "Grarg, jog her memory," sneered the Argonian.

            The orcs then slowly began to advance on the pair, as Serpentyne said, "For aiding and abetting a known fugitive, you are hereby placed under arrest under orders of the Emperor."

            The head orc stood in front of Randi, a good three feet taller than her slight build, looked down at her and grinned. In a quick flash of movement, Nuuael swung down from the rafters and wrapped his legs around the orc's neck. The orc began to thrash about, trying to dislodge his legs. Nuuael let go his grip on the support beam and violently twisted his body to the side, snapping the hapless orc's neck with a sickening crack. The orc's body fell limp to the ground and Nuuael landed with the grace of a cat to its side.

            Serpentyne snarled at the two remaining orcs, "GET HIM!"

            The other orcs rushed towards Nuuael, readying their massive axes for a shot at the Nightblade's head. Nuuael unsheathed his mythril blade, and stood ready for them. The first orc arrived and swung his axe down to cleave Nuuael in two. He was able to bring his blade up to absorb most of the blow, but was knocked to his back from the sheer force of the attack. The orc pressed his advantage, and swung again. Nuuael tucked his legs up to his chest and rolled back onto his shoulders, just barely avoiding the strike that surely would have killed him. He then thrust his feet out, using the momentum of his roll to kick the orc squarely in the jaw. He connected and the orc reeled back, dropping his axe. Nuuael flipped back up to his feet and began an incantation as the orc recovered his senses. The orc then stooped to recover his axe as Nuuael stepped on the blade. The orc looked up at him, now surrounded by a nimbus of electricity. Nuuael shook his finger at the orc, and then threw an uppercut powered by lightning. The blow, accompanied by the massive electrical charge, flung the orc back into a table. It lay unconscious among the rubble. The second orc, upon seeing his two brothers fall at the hands of this puny elf, became enraged, and dropped his axe to better tear their murderer asunder with his bare hands.

            Nuuael, now with his electrical nimbus expended, could not dodge the first of the blows thrown by the enraged orc. The force of the blow sent him reeling back into the door of the stockroom, which splintered under the force of his landing. Nuuael regained his footing, nursing his jaw, which was surely broken. He quickly took stock of the room he found himself in, and cast a chameleon spell, to better hide himself. The orc shortly entered the room, and roared his anger. He whipped his head side to side, searching for the elf, which he could not find. Suddenly, a sack of flour flew from the corner of the room, the orc instinctively put up his arms to block it, but the burst flour obscured his vision. He never saw the blade of pure mythril that separated his head from his shoulders.

            Serpentyne became tired of sending orcs to do what he could have accomplished himself, and strode over to the elf females. He grabbed Randi by the throat and lifted her high, then shouted, "Dark Elf! I have your female, if you wish her dead, please remain where you are."

            Nuuael shortly reappeared in the doorframe of the stockroom, holding the head of the dead orc by the hair, "witness," he gurgled through a broken jaw, "what happened to your soldiers, leave here now, lest you face the same fate," he punctuated his statement by flinging the orc's head to the ground.

            Serpentyne roared in anger and flung the she-elf at Nuuael. He awkwardly caught her, then placed her gently down, saying, "find a safe place to hide, this shall be over shortly, he then shooed her away."

            Serpentyne reared his head back, and then snapped it forward spitting a massive wad of green mucus at Nuuael. He easily dodged it, and then made quite a rude hand gesture. Serpentyne roared his disapproval, and rushed at Nuuael. The agile elf hopped up and used Serpentynes back as a springboard, shoving him to the ground. Using the momentary lull in the action, Nuuael began the incantations and gestures of another spell. As Serpentyne rose, he began to once again rush at Nuuael, who finished the spell and opened a dimensional rift in the middle of the bar. Serpentyne would have rushed headlong into it, unable to slow his charge enough, had not Randi rushed in and smashed a bottle over the Argonians head. Serpentyne staggered backwards a few steps, clawing at the air around him as the alcohol dripped into the softer tissues of his eyes, burning. Nuuael cursed in Elvish once more, and leaped at Serpentyne. One swipe of his blade had the Argonian clutching his face, as green blood poured out. Serpentyne howled in pain as the alcohol mingled with his new facial wound, burning and stinging. Nuuael dropped to the floor and kicked the back of Serpentynes knees, sending him staggering into the dimensional portal. It sealed itself shortly after he fell through it.

            Nuuael stood for a second after the portal sealed, ready in case of a spell mishap, then dropped his sword with a clatter and fell to his knees, panting heavily. Neona poked her head up from her hiding place to see what had happened as Randi walked over to Nuuael, and knelt down beside him.

            "You okay?" she asked.

            Nuuael sat back on his ankles and groaned, "I've been better. Damn it, I didnt think he had followed me all the way here."

            "You thought wrong. Can I get you something, some water or anything?"

            "No, just help me up, I need to question our friend over there."

            Randi extended her hand and heaved Nuuael to his feet. He staggered a bit, but quickly regained his composure. He made his way over to the unconscious orc laying among the rubble of the shattered table. He tossed away a few shards of wood and grabbed the orc by the shirt collar. He tried to slap the orc into consciousness, but had no luck.

            Damn it, He looked to Randi, Do you have any smelling salts?

            I dont know, let me check. Randi then excused herself to the backroom of the inn, and squealed in disgust at the scene she took in. She quickly found the smelling salts and reentered the inn proper, "Did you really have to lop his whole head off? It's a damn mess back there and if you think I'm moving the corpses by myself, you are sadly mistaken, and another thing..."

            Nuuael didn't respond in so many words, instead snatching the smelling salts from her hand, uncorking them and holding them under the orcs bulbous nose.

            The orc snorted, grunted, then his eyes flashed open, and stayed that way. Nuuael handed the smelling salts back to Randi, and focused his attention on the orc.

            "How did you know I was here? How did Serpentyne find me? Answer me!"

            The severely lethargic and now even more seriously brain damaged orc could only utter "tree-sap," before losing consciousness altogether.

            "You killed him," Neona said, then looked around the inn. Upon seeing the severed orc head on the floor, she said, "...is that a...head, is that blood?" and promptly fainted cold on the floor.

            Nuuael and Randi quickly looked toward the new sound, and seeing Neona out cold on the floor, could only laugh.

            They were still laughing when a loud knock came at the door to the inn. They both looked quickly to the door, and Nuuael then began to drag the orc's dead form to the back room, while Randi ran to the inn door as it opened. She blocked the door with her foot, and peeked around through the crack in the door, "Yes?"

            The city guard outside said, "We've received word of a loud ruckus coming from here, you know the law, has something happened here?"

            Randi kept her face between the guard and the scene inside, saying "oh, that? Nothing, nothing really, I was closing up for the night and cut myself, it started bleeding and I got mad and started knocking things over, nothing bad happened, nothing at all..."

            The guard continued to try to look past her into the inn, "are you certain that nothing is wrong? Perhaps I should come in," he punctuated his words by pushing on the door forcefully, shoving Randi aside. The guard fell silent as he entered, and Randi closed her eyes and braced for what surely would have been the end of her.

            "Well, aren't you going to help your friend up?" He asked.

            "Huh?" Randi responded, and opened one eye. The inn was spotless, save for a toppled chair, a half-finished bottle of liquor, and one very unconscious Neona on the floor, "Oh, yes, her...she has a problem with the sight of blood," Randi continued as she quickly began to wrap her apron around her arm as a mock bandage while the guard was not looking.

            "I'll just have to bring her upstairs and let her sleep off the effects of the liquor. I'm so sorry to waste your time officer," Randi blurted as she strode over to Neona, holding her now bandaged hand against her stomach, mocking pain.

            "Is the injury really that bad? Perhaps you should see the town physician..."

            "No, no, it just looks worse than it is, I'll be fine...I should be getting to bed now, so I will see you around officer, thank you for your concern," Randi continued while she attempted to usher the guard out the door.

            "Well, alright then, I'll let you off with a warning tonight, but you know the law, closing time is 2 am sharp, no exceptions. If your arm gets any worse, then you are under orders to see the doctor," the guard said on the way out the door.

            "I certainly will officer, thank you," Randi said quickly while she closed and bolted the door. She then turned and looked at the room, then dropped to her bottom with her back against the door, and let out a heavy sigh. Nuuael and the mess appeared in front of her as the illusion spell he had cast wore off.

            "I thought he'd never leave. Are you alright?" He asked.

            "Gee, I don't know, aiding and abetting, lying to an officer of the law, and conspiracy to three counts of murder...yeah, Im doing just fine." Her words dripped with venom, even though her voice was pure silk.

            "Okay, I'm sorry," Nuuael offered his hand to help Randi up, but she refused and got to her feet of her own accord, "Look, you should get to bed, I'll clean up the mess...by morning you'll never know it was there, plus I'll pay double the rent this week."

            Randi eyed the Dark Elf carefully, his look of concern seemed to be expertly crafted, but she decided to test him anyway, "Fine, I'll bring her upstairs, and this place better be spotless in the morning."

            "As you wish, m'lady."

            The next morning, a stunned Randi surveyed a spotless, and amazingly well organized tavern. Not a single utensil out of place, not a drop of blood anywhere, and there was even a brand new door on the frame of the back room. She stood in awe; jaw hanging open, as Neona made her way down the stairs rubbing her head.

            "How much did I have to drink last night...Randi? Randi?"

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