“How much further up the road Bones?” asked the lanky Breton.
“Are you deaf? He said just passed the third road sign,” snapped Bones, the Imperial leader of this rag-tag bunch.
“That was the third sign Bones.”
“Can’t count either?” scoffed Bones. “That was only the second sign.”
“Quiet you too!” hissed their Argonian accomplice, “There’s no telling where the Legion may pop up.”
“Oi, Scales! I give the orders round here. Besides, no one’s after us. You lizards are too paranoid for this kind of work,” said Bones, “Always jumping to conclusions. That’s why I don’t usually accept Marshlanders into this group.”
“We’re not much of a group,” said the Breton.
“The three of us look like imbeciles. Honestly Bones, whose gonna hire three men that try to pass themselves off as some huge underground organization? No one is too dense to see that it’s just us three.”
“Shut up, the both of you!” barked Bones.
The three men continued on the path in silence. All of them were clad in a mix match of Steel, Iron and Legion armor, but they had no complaints. Being a few steps above bandits didn’t mean that they couldn’t act like bandits. After this score, however, they’d step it up. A headquarters, matching armor; The works. Then, they’d start to gather some new recruits. That was Bones’ dream since he was a child. He was always partial to the life of crime and his goal is to run a troubleshooting group for the Thieves Guild. Basically, the group would be called in when the rewards were high and force was necessary. Tonight’s job was there initiation. “Look Toby, there’s the third sign. Only a little further n…”
Bones stopped mid-sentence. A few paces ahead of them, an apparition in glowing red and black armor appeared. The figure was the same height as them, but his armor made him tower over them. His face was hidden behind a helmet, but none of them wanted to know what he looked like underneath the mask. Discretion was always a must in their line of work. The most disturbing aspect is that it looked like an aura of blackness surrounded him, swallowing the trees and other vegetation that may be behind him. “Did either of you see him walk up?” whispered Bones.
“He just materialized,” added Scales. “I don’t like this Bones. Working for mages is never good for business.”
“You ever seen a mage in armor like that? We must have been jawing too much to see him walk up,” said Bones, writing off what just happened in front of them.
“Did you get my ore?” questioned the armor clad drifter.
“It’s all here,” responded Bones. “Thirty silver, fifty corrundum and sixty iron. We also cleaned four hundred or so Septims off those Legionnaires.”
“Here’s another six hundred. That will put you up to a thousand as per our agreement,” said the contractor as he tossed them a sizable coin purse.
As Bones grabbed the purse out of the air, he let his mouth get the better of him. “I was thinking, we killed eight men for this haul. The Empire hates losing men, but they hate being robbed even more. With the amount of heat that’s gonna come down around here, work will be hard to come by. I’m thinking we’ll need at least another thousand Septims to keep us going for a while.”
The Argonian leered at Bones, but Bones never noticed. He was too sure of himself in that moment to think about what he was doing or saying. The men had actually cleared twelve hundred Septims from the caravan they had rolled over, but you would never know looking at Bones’ face. Tobias, on the other hand, was very tense. With every shake of his hand, he inched closer towards his sword. “I'll need four mugs of mead to calm my nerves after this,” he thought to himself.
After what seemed like an eternity, a rough cackle resonated from the dark helmet. “You drive a hard bargain Bones. But you are right about the not-too-distant thieving climate. Here,” he uttered as he threw an even larger coin purse at them. “Take another two thousand. I don’t need any authorities finding you for a while. My ore?”
“Toby, take the man his loot, will ya?” The Breton said nothing. He was too dumbstruck to even think for himself at the moment. As he approached their employer with the crates, the man said, “You look quite nervous Tobias. Would you like a drink? In fact, why don’t we all have a drink? I’ve got some stuff fresh-in from Morrowind. Picked it up in the Gray Quarter.”
“Sure. We’ll drink to good business concluded.”
“Good,” replied their employer as he passed them all a bottle of ale.
“Ashland Ale, huh? Bottom’s up.”
“Cheers!”
After they all returned to eye level with one another, the three men felt a strange sensation rush through them. “I can’t move,” screamed Bones. Only the words never left his lips. His vocal chords wouldn’t even budge, but the man in Daedric armor heard him just the same. “Screaming will do you no good, Kraldar.”
“How do you know my name?”
“The same way I heard you scream Bones. Your mind called out to me and I listened.”
“He drank the same thing as us,” the Argonian attempted to say.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a poison that would affect a vampire. But speaking of drinks, I sure could go for one. I haven’t tasted the Hist in a quite some time. How about it Geer-Za?”
Geer-Za could not defend himself as the vampire crept closer. As hard as he tried to move, his muscles couldn’t produce results. When he was an arm’s length from the beast, it lifted off its helmet. Geer-Za looked on in terror at what he was about to see. The face that he saw bite him was of a Dunmer with completely black eyes and a very pointy chin, but something was different about him. His skin seemed extremely light, even for a vampire. It seemed to be slightly golden. “How old are you monster?”
As the Dunmer pulled back, he heard the Argonian’s thought. “Observant one, aren’t you?” he said with a smirk. “I suppose I will allow you a parting gift.” Once again, he went for Geer-Za’s neck, but this time, he actually felt the teeth sink in. Instantly, his mind was flooded with images. Just before he fell to the ground, he heard Bones say, “Release us demon.” However, Bones still could not talk out loud. “What has he done to me?” thought the Argonian.
“I’ll finish you quick Kraldar, for old time’s sake.” With that, the vampire produced his mace and brought it down on Bones’ head, shattering both steel and skull. No sooner had Bones hit the ground that Tobias followed, but his face was gone. It was destroyed by the brutal spikes of the fearsome mace. Even the weapon seemed to drink the blood from its exterior. Within seconds, the mace was just as clean and black as it was before it ended Tobias and Bones’ lives. For the final time, the Dunmer turned to Geer-Za. He was lying flat as a board, but he was convulsing madly inside his mind. “Your speech will return soon, but you won’t be able to move the rest of your body until morning. Hold still.” A flame erupted from the Dark Elf’s hands, but rather than ending Geer-Za’s suffering, it landed around him and disappeared. “I’d warn any travelers that might wander too close. So long.” Before he vanished, he produced a piece of silver ore from one of the crates he received. He held it between his hands and after a brief flash, he unclasped his hands. Geer-Za’s mind paused long enough for him to process what had happened. The demon had changed the silver to gold. And with that, he was gone.
Geer-Za was left with memories that were not his own and blood pouring from his neck. “I hope I don’t make to the morning.” Suddenly, the blood stopped flowing from his neck. In fact, it stopped flowing through his whole body. Then, his vocal chords stretched. “This is not the work of the Hist. What has that creature done to me?” Soon, his teeth began to grow and a hunger began brewing in his stomach, the likes of which he had never encountered.
