The Thorn-Tail Chronicles - Tale Two

• Posted by Tae-Rai July 12, 2014 - 381 views

  The Thorn-Tail Chronicles

  Tale Two - Beasts

  Skyrim's nightlife was alive and thriving across the plains of Whiterun Hold. A pack of wolves chased a bunny under the stars, as an owl hooted loudly nearby, startling then, before swooping down from its perch and taking that same bunny for its dinner. The wolves snarled and snapped their jaws in frustration at the bird, but then they froze for a new scent wafted over them.

  Under the bright glow of Nirn's twin moons; two figures broke away from the cover of darkness to approach each other on a field of scattered wildflowers and scrub. One had a crossbow loaded and pointing at the other's chest, his face covered by a brown fur hood, his body covered with a mixture of animal furs, metal and leather, with the horns of a goat protruding from the pauldron on his right shoulder.

  “Who are you?” he was demanding, his gruff Argonian voice piercing the silence of the night. A dark finger rested on the trigger of the crossbow, his claw scraping against the metal. “I am in no mood for games.”

  The other figure, another Argonian, shifted to one side, his bright orange eyes watching the crossbow trace his movement. Most of his face was hidden by a hood too, and his armor was part crimson robes, part scaled armor. On his feet were large heavy boots and on his hands, gloves with claws at the finger tips.

  From what could be seen of his face, it contorted into a sneer. “Such arrogance... Always with the threats and always with the weapons.” His voice had a clear icy tone to it, sounding so cold that it was as if every word he spoke was of scorn. “You mortals are all the same.”

  The first Argonian made no response to this at first, but then he suddenly twisted and fired his crossbow, splitting the skull of one of wolves who was attempting to sneak up on him from about twenty paces away. “Do I look like I'm in a gaming mood?” the muscular brown lizard retorted as he reloaded. “Tell me why you're looking for me, vampire, or I will make your fate the same.”

  The vampire tilted his head, slightly startled, but showed no emotion. Many mortals could not spot his kind until they were being drained of blood, but by then, it was too late. But in another way, he wasn't surprised at all. From what his intelligence had gathered, Tae-Rai was a highly organised and efficient vampire hunter.

  Tae-Rai, the first Argonian, adjusted the crossbow's aim so it was pointing more directly at the vampire’s heart. “Don't make me ask again!” he snarled. “Why are you looking for me!?”

  The vampire did not answer at first but slowly lifted his hands up and brushed back his hood. As it fell, the moon came out from behind a cloud and lit up his features. Curling horns that rested just near where his jaw line ended, pale white skin that seemed almost translucent upon a skinny and a snake-like maw, purple war paint streaking down from his eyes to his throat which perfectly matched his other markings, bright purple feathers, and most intimidating of all, bright glowing red-gold eyes.

  “Tae-Rai,” the vampire purred softly, his jaw moving into what could only be interpreted as a smirk, two fangs curling over his lips. “You do not want to kill me.”

  Tae-Rai bristled and his entire body stiffened as he focused his aim with the metal Crossbow. “Are you willing to test that theory?” He shifted the crossbow so it aimed at the vampire Argonian's throat, a snarl plastered across his face.

  The vampire only laughed mockingly at this statement. “Now now, you wouldn't kill your own brother, would you, Tae?”

  If Tae felt any emotion, he didn't show it. If anything, his grip tightened on his weapon, his scales becoming white at the knuckles with the pressure. But then he rejoined it to his back, sheathing it, before he launched himself at the vampire, dagger in hand.

  The two become one as Tae-Rai tackled the vampire, thrusting his dagger into his ribs, twisting and jabbing harshly to slip past the armored cuirass. The vampire snarled and threw his arms up defensively. Wicked curses in the natural Argonian tongue of Jel sprung from his lips as Tae twisted the dagger deeper into the vampire's dead flesh. “My brother died at birth! He died as a hatchling!” he snarled, as he pinned the blood soaked vampire, the silver dagger pressed roughly to his throat. “You are a liar and a poor impersonator, vampire. And now, I must kill you.” He raised the dagger high, grasped in both hands and thrusted it down towards the pale Argonian's neck.

  Unexpectedly, the vampire cackled and threw his hands hard against Tae-Rai's chest with unnatural superhuman strength. The Argonian was launched into the air and landed a good ten paces away, groaning in agony as thick ash spread all over his chest from the point where the vampire had touched him.

  “Clever,” grunted Tae-Rai from his prison. “An ash bolt.” He tried to wiggle away, but from his shoulders to his knees, he was sealed in a thick coat of unbreakable magical ash.

  The vampire had risen from the ground, but his form was no longer that of a pale Argonian. His face was bat-like, with an almost flat noise and large ears, dead looking grey skin stretched over fleshless cheeks. His horns were now small twisting nubs on his forehead, reminding Tae-Rai of Dremora horns. His body looked strong and muscular, despite looking like an old corpse's, and his chest was clad in a strong-looking but rusted metal brown and grey armor, with two large bat wings protruding from his shoulders. His claws looked sharp and very deadly, and he even had a tail like an Argonian, but scaleless and covered with protruding purple veins.

  But it was eyes that creeped Tae-Rai out the most. They weren't gold and glowing, but pale and unseeing. This vampire was blind as a bat. They glowed in the moonlight, unmoving and undead.

  But it appeared to not bother him so. The vampire lord flapped his wings once and moved upwards through the air, benefited standing over the helpless Argonian, his face curled up into a gruesome expression of rage. Blood dripped from a closing wound on his stomach, the skin healing at a super natural rate.

  “Did your mother tell you that, worm?” he roared as Tae-Rai tilted his head up, his hood falling to reveal piercing golden eyes and markings of deep red across dirt-brown scales. “Did she tell you your twin brother was too weak to consume the Hist sap? To live?”

  “Don't you dare--”

  The vampire lord suddenly let out a vicious and guttural growl, drowning out the pinned Argonian's words. His glare was filled with feral hatred, his teeth bared and his eyes unseeing but yet still focused on the trapped lizard below him.

  “Your mother lied to you, Tae-Rai!” he yelled, venom dripping from his fangs. “I am your brother, and here I am, alive and well! Why would I lie to you?”

  “Because... Because! Er...” Tae-Rai wracked his brains for a reason for why this creature would lie to him but none came. “Fine, good point,” he admitted begrudgingly. “Alright then, 'brother', answer me this then... How are you here?”

  “An excellent question!” the vampire lord smiled, if the grimacing look that crossed his face could be considered a smile, and he stepped a little closer to Tae-Rai before flapping his wings once more to lift him into the air. “It is time for you to know the truth, brother.”

  “Twenty-four years ago, we were hatched. You, Tae-Rai, took after your father, gaining his brown as mud scales and his red as blood markings. I, on the other hand, was hatched frail and skinny, pale as snow and near-blind.”

  “Your mother took me to her grandfather, the tribe's shaman, and he claimed to have foretold the downfall of the entire tribe if I were to remain. My white scales were a bad omen, according to him, and my blind eyes even more so. I was not ever given a taste of the Hist!”

  “Your mother ordered your father to take me away, to leave me with the monsters of the marsh in the hopes I would be killed quickly. But your father, unlike mother-dear, was a compassionate man and he disobeyed her, instead travelling away from Thorn to the very edge of Morrowind. He knew that nearby, a Dunmer warlock by the name of Pyrion, resided. As you may know, Dunmer and Argonians have never gotten along well, brother.”

  “But he was different, for he too was outcast from his kind for being different. Pyrion agreed to raise me as his apprentice, assisting your father with taking me to a Hist Tree to consume its sap, before I was finally left alone with him. He gave me the name of Rai-Kae, after finding it in an old book he had. What a coincidence it was for it to rhyme with yours.”

  Rai-Kae stopped and grinned, watching as a confused Tae-Rai raised his eyebrows. “I will not bore you with the details of my childhood for it was mostly hard, painful work. Painful, but very powerful and valuable work,” the vampire continued, waving off the unspoken question by his twin. “But perhaps you are wondering how I found you, no? Or even how I knew the truth about my birth?”

  He awaited an answer but the Argonian below him only fixed him with a steely glare as he struggled against the ash. When no answer came, Rai-Kae continued on with his tale.

  “Pyrion died four years ago, after I failed to heal his magical wounds, but I was finally ready to explore on my own. I decided to find the ones who abandoned me, the ones who gave me away, but first I needed coin to employ those with a talent of finding things like that. I journeyed to Cyrodill and found work with those who offered it... Whether it be legal or not.”

  “By the time three years had passed, I finally had enough to return to Black Marsh, employing a fellow Saxhleel tracker known as Terra-Jul. He was said to be highly skilled at finding anyone or anything.”

  “He led me to the village and there, I met my family. Your father was overcome with joy and welcomed me back with open arms, but your mother was not. She was now Shaman and was furious that I lived. I could see the hatred for your father and me. I stayed with them for two nights, but on the third night, father died.”

  Tae-Rai's face was aghast with grief. He exhaled deeply before sighing. “Father died before I could head home,” he muttered softy. “But you met him?”

  The vampire lord nodded. “I did and he told me of you. Told of your deeds and how you joined the An-Xileel, a highly prestigious honour. His death, however, was deliberate. He was a young strong Saxhleel, so it did not make sense for his death to come quick and so early. I know who poisoned him and I gave the revenge... Mother dearest. So I put her head on a pike and razed that wretched place to the ground.”

  Tae-Rai was no longer quiet. He was snarling and hissing like a rabid animal. The vampire lord arched his eyebrows, smirking but then grew confused as the hardened ask surrounding Tae-Rai began to crack.

  The brown Argonian's form was shifting as he snarled and fought his way out of the ash with superior force. Fur the colour of mud sprouted from nowhere, his claws grew long and sharp, forming deadly claws and then his head shape changed, his broad muzzle no more.

  The werewolf leapt from the ground, the ash cracking and splitting to a million pieces. The werewolf, gangly and long-furred, howled into the night, his jaws aimed high into the sky. He, Tae-Rai, then aimed his golden eyed glare at the vampire, a rumble of growls echoing in his chest.

  “Mother! You murdered my mother!” he roared, saliva flying from his lips. “You are no brother of mine!”

  The Vampire Lord hissed and summoned magic to his hands, two glowing purple orbs swirling upon his palms, but then Tae was upon him, bellowing his mother's name, and roaring with grief.

  The two ancient foes lashed at each other with brutal claws and imbedded them in the flesh of their enemy, tearing and shredding. Teeth met necks, jaws locked and they tussled and wrestled at each other. Blood flew and roars of pain echoed through the plains, scattering animals as the two great beasts did their best to kill the other. At one point, Tae’s teeth ripped into the vampire lord’s wing, breaking it with a vicious SNAP, sending the immortal roaring with pain.

  “Enough!” roared Rai-Kae and he leapt away from the werewolf, blood pouring from his wing. He threw his hand up and gripped Tae in a magical chock hold, orange magicka pulsing out from the werewolf’s neck. Tae-Rai waggled his legs pitifully in mid-air, as his eyes squinted close, tears running down into his fur.

  Rai-Kae smirked wide and then released the wolf, sending him flying backwards into a tree. There was a large CRACK, before Tae shakily got to his feet, blood coating his muzzle. He rose high again and howled once more.

  Rai-Kae flexed his claws and growled, blood magic swirling in the air around his fingers. But then his ears perked and he turned to look behind him, as the sound of thundering footprints pounded towards him.

  The vampire lord narrowly slipped out of the way as a great silver werewolf leapt at him, its maw opened wide. It skid to a stop and turned, its one good eye fixed on the beast before him. It flexed its spine, muscles rippling underneath a near hairless back.

  From the hills came three more wolves, two black as night, big and bulky, while the other a long-haired slim auburn colour, surrounding the vampire lord. One of the dark-coloured ones, came to Tae's aid, letting the injured Argonian rest his chin on his back.

  “Shield-Brother, what is this?” the brown one huffed out, her voice rough and high, obviously a female. She circled the vampire, eyeing him with curiosity.

  “Doesn’t matter what it is, it’s an abomination!” snapped the other dark werewolf as he circled the opposite way. “We kill him, Aela. He doesn't deserve to live after injuring our brother.”

  The vampire lord stood tall and extended his arms out. “I have done no wrong,” he purred. “But if Tae-Rai sees me as an enemy, then so be it. I will pledge his soul to the great lord and cleanse him of the filth he associates with!”

  With a shrill snarl, the Argonian vampire was transformed into a cloud of bats and rose into the night sky, but disappearing from the circle of wolves.

  The grey one rose and tossed his head in annoyance, before trotting away, calling to Aela over his shoulder. She disappeared too, just as Tae returned to his Argonian body. He leaned on Farkas, panting and covered with blood. “Brother... Vampire. Brother... Evil. Mother... Not true,” he chocked out, eyes welled shut with tears.

  Farkas exchanged a look with his twin, before nudging the Saxhleel onto his back, and then took off into the night, disappearing into the darkness.

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