A story I wrote in passing...still in progress

[SoulofChrysamere]

Along with my murdered Redoran and Shape-Shifter stories, I still write ones in passing when I find myself bored and not in the mood for thought on the main two. This was one of those stories.

 

 

 

 

Not a soul save for the Ordinators could be found walking the streets or hallways of Vivec’s cantons that early Heartfire morning. The nighttime darkness retreated from the sun as it emerged from behind the Ascadian Isles landscape. As it rose above the clouds, its crimson wave washed over every tree, rock, flower, and grass blade, over each animal that roamed the lands. The beasts’ grunts, snorts, howls, and whistles brought the panorama to life with something of a natural symphony. Shameful was the fact that the Temple guards were far too busy making their rounds to take in the breathtaking view and sounds -- all except one.

 

 

Nidar Releth stood on the northwestern corner of the Foreign Quarter canton’s top tier with his helmet in his hand. The morning breeze caressed his indigo skin and likely would have filled his jet-black hair were it not done up in a knot to accommodate his helm. He inhaled deeply and panned his vision across the stretch of land that lay before him. The grass…the trees…the road…the netches and guar meandering off in the distance…the slaughterfish leaping out of the shimmering golden water…it was all grand. This was Vivec. This was his home.

 

 

Nidar slowly exhaled and took one last look before turning around and donning his helmet; he wasn’t getting paid to admire the scenery. He quietly began patrolling the outside of the Foreign Quarter’s three floors, sometimes stopping to chat with the occasional early riser. Early riser…any other time of the year, they’d be late risers. There was something about the months of Last Seed and Heartfire that caused the city’s inhabitants to sleep or dillydally for a few more hours than usual, but Nidar liked it that way. It gave time for shift rotation to keep pace with the commonplace morning pickpockets. Most of the time, the day’s first purse snatchers were pursued by guards that had been active for all of the previous night. The caught-to-lost ratio still exceeded what was acceptable to be sure, but it was still taxing on the drowsy watchmen. Nidar and all of the other patrols that morning were fresh, though. He himself had only been up for a couple of hours.

 

 

The first few hours of his shift passed by uneventfully. It seemed that the Foreign Quarter wasn’t going to have any trouble that morning, and it would soon be time for him to move on to the House Hlaalu canton. Then, a distraught feminine voice reached the Dunmer’s ears.

 

 

“Help! Thief!” The voice shouted.

 

 

Nidar wheeled around as the voice repeated its cry. He was on the middle tier, but the cries sounded like they were coming from the top one. The Ordinator dashed for one of the ramps leading upwards.

 

 

His search for the culprit, however, was cut short as he saw a small Bosmeri man holding a rather large bag flying down the ramp as he rounded the doorway. The Wood Elf looked at him for a moment and upon recognizing his armor, promptly doubled back up the ramp. Nidar sprinted up after him. He had always made it a habit of running at least two miles a day with his armor on order to make sure he could keep up with all of the little Bosmer and Khajiit that he had to chase. This practice certainly helped him now as he used his conditioning and long legs to match the bandit’s speed as they wound through the now semi-crowded walkways. He would wait until the morning commute to pull this -- Nidar thought. It was of course obvious to him why the pickpocket chose now to strike. What better way to evade capture in a large city than to disappear into a crowd?

 

 

Nidar and his quarry made several laps around the canton’s third level with the Dunmer slowly gaining ground on the man with each trip. Suddenly though, the thief broke off to the left and bolted for one of the doors leading inside the building. He tried to slam the door shut behind him, but Nidar caught it, wrenched it back open, and kept after the person. The Bosmer headed straight for the middle of the structure and leapt into the central hole. He sailed across the gap and onto the second floor and then took off to the left. Nidar likewise jumped the gap and, seeing that the thief had gone left, purposely angled his jump so he could roll with his momentum as he hit the floor and continue running once he was upright again. He followed the Wood Elf down the hallway leading to the bottom door to the Elven Nations Cornerclub. They both wove through the stream of people in the hall until the stealer tore open the cornerclub door and dashed inside, not even stopping to try and shut Nidar out.

 

 

Nidar sped through the doorway a split second later only to witness the Bosmer snap his head around to look at him and run full speed into a table, which was thankfully vacant. Before he could recover, Nidar pinned him to the table and proceeded to bring his arms around behind his back and slip iron cuffs around his wrists. The Bosmer bucked and struggled for a few seconds, but his head being slammed into the tabletop ended that. Now subdued, Nidar yanked the criminal up and dragged him out of the bar.

 

 

“Sorry about the mess, sera.” He said to the owner as he closed the door.

 

 

Outside, Nidar grabbed hold of the pickpocket’s shirt collar, pulled him to his feet, took the stolen purse and fastened to his belt, and shoved him down the hall.

 

 

“Let’s go, fetcher. And don’t try running off. I’ve got ahold of you.” He said in a very annoyed tone.

 

 

“C’mon man, why ya gotta arrest me? There’s tons of other folks out there doin’ worse stuff than me!” The thief whined.

 

 

“There’s also plenty of other Ordinators. Now keep moving.” Nidar replied.

 

 

The time during their slightly lengthy trip to the Hall of Justice went by without incidence. When they finally arrived, there were already two other Ordinators in the captain’s office with their first catches of the day - a Khajiit and an Argonian. Nidar shoved the Bosmer into one of the chairs alongside his fellow arrestees and then stood beside his partners.

 

 

“Mornin’, Nidar” The guardsman nearest Nidar said.

 

 

“Hey, Voler.” Nidar replied upon recognizing his friend’s voice.

 

 

Captain Berel Sala added the final few pen strokes to a report sheet on his desk before stowing it in a drawer and looking up at the sextet of people. Voler and the other one had likely already identified themselves, but Nidar knew Sala would know him when he saw him. The tweaks he’d made to his own personal set of Indoril armor caused him to standout virtually everywhere in the city, even among his cohorts.

 

 

Sala leaned back in his chair as he regarded the three seated criminals -- the typical morning scum that came out of shops and crowds, clutching whatever with which they made it out of the door in their brazen “grab and run” robberies.

 

 

“Dalvur, you first.” Sala said.

 

 

Dalvur yanked the Argonian to a standing position and held him there with a firm grip.

 

 

“Caught this one coming out of the glassworkers’ hall. Just happened to be standing right outside when I heard people yelling ‘Thief!’ and saw him burst through the door holding a couple of green glasses. Caught him by the shirt, didn’t have the money to pay the fine.” He said.

 

 

Sala scowled at the lizard as Dalvur finished his statement. He had always had a particular dislike of the beastfolk. “Very well. Toss him in one of the cells on your way back out. We’ll get the head over at the glassworkers’ hall to come down and identify him.”

 

 

“Yes sir!” Dalvur replied as he left the room, dragging the Argonian behind him.

 

 

“Voler, you next.”

 

 

Voler didn’t pull the Khajiit to his feet like Dalvur had done, but he kept a viselike grip on the back of his shirt collar.

 

 

“Saw this one wandering around nervously over on the Redoran canton. He was constantly lookin’ around, but I couldn’t arrest him for that. Then he saw me, though. I wasn’t anywhere near him…wasn’t even moving toward him, but he took off like a shot. It was a good chase, but I ran him down. Searched some pockets in his pants and found a few gems and rings plus a few drakes.” Voler then took a small bag from his belt and sat it on the table. “Don’t know whose they were.”

 

 

“I’ll have some men ask around and see who’s missing some jewelry. Toss him in one of the cells and go back to your rounds.” Sala said.

 

 

“Yes sir.”

 

 

Voler now made the Khajiit stand and pushed him out of the room. “See ya, Nidar.” He said as he left.

 

 

“See ya around.” Nidar replied.

 

 

Sala scooted closer to his desk and sat up straight. “All right, Nidar. Who’ve you caught?”

 

 

Nidar jerked the Bosmer to his feet and locked his fingers around his left wrist.

 

 

“A pickpocket, sir. Was patrolling over outside the Foreign Quarter on the second level when I heard a lady up top scream. Saw him running down one of the ramps and chased him. Finally caught him in the Elven Nations. Don’t know who this purse belongs to.”

 

 

Nidar then took the purse off of his belt and put it beside the bag of pilfered jewelry. It was a plain enough thing - brown, mostly made out of leather. It had a crude rope for a strap that was likely a replacement for the lost original. Simple symbols and swirl patterns covered the majority of it.

 

 

“Guess I’ll have to send someone over there with this thing to see whose it is. Well, take him down to the cells with the others and go back to your patrol.” Sala said.

 

 

“Yes sir.” Nidar said.

 

 

The Ordinator kept the Wood Elf in front of him as he walked out of the room and descended the stairs into the main hall. The feisty ruffian tried once to pull away from his captor, but was put back in line with a boot to his calf. After a bit, the pair reached the jail, where Nidar hurled the guttersnipe into a vacant cell and locked the door. The prisoner pulled himself up off of the ground and flew toward the small barred window in the door to make an attempt to spit on the lawman, but his saliva fell short.

 

 

Nidar dropped the cell key back on the warden’s desk on his way back out. He was a bit bummed that Warden Torayn wasn’t there at the moment; it had become a custom of his to trade the latest jokes with him after caging a catch.

 

 

He walked down the hallway toward the front of the canton. He decided to just go ahead and move on to the Hlaalu Canton since it was almost time to do so anyway. As he reached the door though, he felt a heavy impact on back of his neck followed by another on the side of his head. The blow’s force sent him headfirst into the wall, where a third blow struck his helmet’s forehead as he turned to face his assailant. Then everything went black.

 

 

A small blob of light slowly came into focus as Nidar’s vision revived. Eventually, it clarified into a lazily-swinging lantern. He instinctively tried to move his arms and legs, but they would not budge. He then raised his head up and saw that all four of his limbs and his torso had been strapped down to a round platform. The Dunmer tried in vain for a few seconds to pull himself free, but then stopped.

 

 

Suddenly, Nidar realized that he had been completely stripped of his armor, clothes, and other belongings. Where the hell am I? -- He wondered to himself as he looked around the room. Most of the place was too dark to make out anything significant, but in the middle of the room, he saw a collection of lit reddish candles huddled together at the base of a rather large statue. The statue was facing away from him, making it difficult to tell what it was. He didn’t see any people either. Still, the whole room appeared rather forboding to him and the air was thick and stale. He concluded that he was underground somewhere.

 

 

Turning his attention back to the restraints that held him to the dais, Nidar discovered that whoever had secured him had done it sloppily. Although they did have the bands firmly attached, they didn’t fully stretch the bands so as to impede back and forth movement. In a few minutes time, he had managed to wriggle his way to freedom.

 

 

After standing up, Nidar immediately set about searching for his belongings. He was really hoping that whoever conked him on the head hadn’t taken all of his gear to sell somewhere. He carefully searched the entire room, watching for any signs of life and rummaging through every crate, barrel, chest, dresser, and closet along the way. His efforts, however, were in vain. His stuff was nowhere to be found.

 

 

Getting a bit frustrated now, Nidar gave the ground a small stomp. The stomp produced a creaky crunch instead of the light thump one hears from hitting Velothi mold. He looked down and saw a small wooden trap door that looked about ready to cave in from rot. He took a small box and slammed it into the hatch, sending a hail of splinters in all directions. In the small hole that was revealed, Nidar could see something that appeared to be Indoril armor.

 

 

He hoisted the contents of the hole up and discovered that it was indeed his self-modified Ordinator uniform. It still looked to be intact. After digging amongst some other random junk in the hole, he also located his ebony mace.

 

 

Nidar hastily put on his armor and secured his mace to his waist. The armor felt a bit cold and strange without his regular clothes underneath it, but it was manageable. He then approached the only door the room had, only to find that it was made of hard, thick wood with metal reinforcements and locked tightly. Preferring a key hunt to the risk of shattering his ankle, Nidar began searching for the door key.

 

 

He went back through the entire room, thoroughly and methodically going through every container. He didn’t find anything though. Then he checked the altar, but it was bare except for a few random sundries such as plates and half-rotten food. Then, Nidar absentmindedly glanced up at the statue, which now faced him. His eyes went wide and he took a step back as he recognized of whom the statue was. I’m in a shrine to Sheogorath? I’m in a Daedric shrine? In Vivec?? The last thought was an assumption. For all he knew, he could've been on the other side of the island. He didn't know how long he'd been out, and there was no sense of time down there.

 

 

Nidar had been nervous since this whole ordeal started, but now he was doubly so. He’d never had to deal with Daedra worshippers before, much less set foot into one of their actual bases. He renewed his search for the door key, but the sound of a handle turning froze him. He looked back toward the door and saw the handle jiggling. Thinking quickly, he crouched down behind some crates against a wall. A few seconds later, the door swung open with a loud, eerie creak.

 

 

A pair of heated voices beckoned from beyond the doorway. One was deep and raspy like it belonged to a die-hard skooma addict. The other was high-pitched and mischievous, possibly feminine. Both sounded rather angry and soon, their owners stormed through the doorway: a big Nordic-looking man with a small, wiry woman right behind.

 

 

Nidar hardly dared to breathe as he viewed the spat through a slot in-between two crates. Both arguers were carrying bags likely filled with supplies and more weird Daedric paraphernalia. They slammed them on the ground as they continued their shouting match. Nidar was barely able to make sense of the half-incoherent ranting

 

 

“An Ordinator! What the hell were you thinkin’ conkin’ an Ordinator and bringin’ ‘im down ‘ere, huh? All his friends’ll have our asses for this!” screamed the woman.

 

 

“Aww shuddap, ya old witch! I made sure no one saw me knock ‘im out and carry ‘im down ‘ere! Think about how much we can sell his armor and weapon fer!” retorted the man.

 

 

“Sell his armor where?! Here in Vivec? Not a single damn shopkeeper here would dare risk tryin’ to sell an Ordinator’s uniform! And it’s not like we can just up and go ta someplace else!” yelled the woman.

 

 

“I betcha I can find some’un in this town that’ll buy that suit and mace for over ten thousand drakes easy.” asserted the man.

 

 

“Oh yeah, and you’ll be cryin’ all the way to yer jail cell once the buyer blabs to the nearest Ordinator and a whole damn team of ‘em ransack the whole freakin’ city underworks ‘n’ all lookin’ to drag your sorry ass in for murder!”

 

 

The argument kept on for several minutes before they finally hushed and settled down enough to salvage whatever remained of their sacks' contents. They had been so embroiled in their argument that they neglected to shut the door behind them, and oddly enough, they still hadn't noticed it standing widely ajar. Nidar could feel his heart pulsating inside of his ribcage. The duo wasn’t in one of the better-lit areas of the room, so he couldn’t tell whether or not they were armored or what kinds of weapons they were sporting. He also knew that once they saw that he was missing from his pedestal, they’d raise all kinds of Oblivion. He decided that that moment would probably be the best time to make a break for it since they were sure to go into another round of yelling and barking. Maybe if he was really lucky, they’d even kill each other to boot.

 

 

The minutes ticked by, one…two…three…as Nidar’s captors stowed away foodstuffs and drinks and arranged some objects on the large altar, all in silence. After they had emptied the bags, the man started toward the back of the room where the stone dais was.

 

 

“I’m gonna check on our prisoner.” He said gruffly.

 

 

No sooner had he uttered those words that he saw that the dais was vacant. The man immediately went into a fit of rage, hollering all manners of curses with earsplitting volume and flailing around like a child during a tempter tantrum.

 

 

“Damn it! The fetchers gone!” He yelled.

 

 

“What!” shouted the woman. “I thought you had him strapped down tight!”

 

 

“I did! He must’ve wriggled himself free!”

 

 

Then the woman noticed that the wooden hatch Nidar had rummaged through only minutes ago had been broken open. She quickly ran to it and fumbled around in the junk, muttering very unsavory things as she came to the realization that the armor and mace were also missing.

 

 

“The armor and mace are gone too, Lorgaard!” She said.

 

 

More arguing and shouting followed as each blamed the other for the mishap. Each lumbered about the back end of the room, tossing some things and smashing others. Nidar’s eyes were constantly shifting between his attackers and the open door. He knew that this was his chance. He needed to be out of that door before one of them finally got the sense to close and relock it.

 

 

After taking a few seconds to gather his courage and energy, Nidar flew from the pile of sundries toward the door. He made no attempt at stealth, and the heavy clanking of his boots managed to resound above the kidnappers’ raised voices. Both of their heads snapped toward the door and saw their quarry halfway between the door and its former hiding place. Thinking quickly, the woman released a frost bolt directly at him.

 

 

Nidar ducked and spun slightly to avoid the frost spell, but the maneuver threw him off balance and he stumbled for a few steps as he tried to regain his speed. He had almost succeeded when he glanced over at the Nordic man and saw him hurl something his way. The Dunmer lunged forward rapidly as a heavy throwing axe embedded itself in the wall behind him.

Edited December 15, 2011 by SoulofChrysamere

[AurianaValoria1]

Great story! Your writing is excellent.

 

I love how Nidar is different than the other Ordinators. Good characterization.

 

Keep it up! :thumbsup:

[SoulofChrysamere]

Thanks Auriana.

 

 

By the way, I edited in what more I've written so far.

[AurianaValoria1]

Nice job! :)

[tokyobiohazard]

Good job! I especially liked the dialogue you've added in. Last time I read, there were only a few lines of dialogue. :P

[SoulofChrysamere]

Update.

[Maharg67]

Very excellent! Please keep on writing the story. Looking forward to reading more of it. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[AurianaValoria1]

This is great! Keep it up!

[SoulofChrysamere]

Update.

[AurianaValoria1]

*cheers for Nidar*