"You imbecile! Incompetent fool! Dumb fu-" 

Immediately after Aretino saved Keegan, the Altmer found the strength (from his anger), to leap on his feet and lash out at R'ihanna. He went on a tirade of insults while clenching tightly onto the bolt entry with a ripped sleeve. The dark-furred Khajiit bard was speechless, Rhasha's crossbow had been dropped on the beach and tear swelled in her eyes. Problem was, there was little R'ihanna could do in terms of medical care. So Keegan's little spat went on until the crash of ship hulls, the spilling of ropes and the shattering of Kattun's leg.

"Goodness grace, Kattun!" Seeing the priest fall, R'ihanna brushed aside Keegan and gone to his aid. 

Meanwhile, Sadri had rappelled down and started on Keegan's injury. On a scale of one to ten, Sadri's first aid rated around six or seven. However, Keegan immediately dropped this number into the negatives as Sadri ripped the bolt out in one rough yank. Having something that sharp, being lodged inside flesh for a good five minutes, pulled out so quick almost made Keegan faint in pain. "Ahhh!" He cried. "Thanks a lot, [i]buddy[/i]!" Grasping an reopened wound, Keegan dropped to his knees. Of course, Sadri's attention deficiency made sure he ate fist from the leather-bound bulk clown; a fitting reward for carelessly leaving his patient.

Thankfully, Rhasha had the patience to actually finish what Sadri started. Though Rhasha had a little bit too much patience to put sibling reunion ahead of preventing a bleed-out. Whatever, Keegan mumbled in his head. Rhasha seemed to have sealed the wound. The Altmer then took out a bottle of health potion from his robe pocket; do these things have expiration dates? It did smell wrong. Whatever, Keegan chugged the damn thing in one gulp, which ended up ejecting half in choking coughs. There was a trail of red from inland back to the boat, it could very well be Keegan's own blood. He bled so such, the realization dawned, and suddenly, the distant fighting seemed to blur.

"Wake me later." He slurred, then lost consciousness against the dinghy's gunwale. 

[hr]
"I'm not a cub!" Aretino pouted.

One beach away, five armigers are all that remained. Aretino had beat Solveig to the fleeing target earlier, who ended the armiger by slitting his neck. Four formed a defensive line with shields, and behind them, a lone archer. Opposing them was the lead assassin and her gigantic companion, who was apparently called Chews-on-Barks. The armigers were falling back toward the cave they came from.

"Nothing Chewsie couldn't handle." The assassin leader known as the "listener" responded to Dansharr. Then, she raised her voice for her enemies to hear. "Give up, run away, this is your last chance!"

"To the death, S'wit!" Was the answer.

"We can arrange that." 

Gathering her assassins around, the Dunmer woman pointed to the shield wall. "Time to clean up." She declared. "Dansharr, watch our back." With a [url=http://www.uesp.net/w/images/1/1e/SR-item-Blade_of_Woe.jpg]wicked dagger[/url] in hand, she traced the bluffs surrounding the cave. "Aretino, up high, you know what this is." She tossed a sack with jelly-like content inside. "Chewsie, get their attention. I'll shield you."

The plan sprung into motion with Aretino disappearing into the dark like a shadow. With the initiate running across the bluffs, Chews-on-Barks let out a monstrous battle cry and launched himself at the armigers' shield wall. From behind, the listener enveloped the large man in a shimmering magic ward. Several arrows pounded Chewsie, but none of them penetrated the ward. He barreled shoulder first into two shields, knocking opponents back slightly but did not break formation. One bonemold elf stabbed at Chews-on-Barks with a spear, but a giant leather-gloved hand caught it and threw it aside. Another swung a sword, seeing the edge skid off magic shielding, resorted to clubbing with the broad side. Chews-on-Barks eventually recoiled back, however, Aretino already moved into position and hurled a sack full of tar into the armigers.

During this time, the assassins' leader had reloaded her crossbow. Seeing armigers attempting to clear themselves of tar was the signal for her to launch a bolt into the air. The bolt flew in an arc, landed in a thick tar puddle and immediately lit the area on fire. The tar was flammable, even though Dunmers are resistant to fire, and their armor was flame-resistant, the sudden shock was enough to force the armigers' formation wide open. Aretino seized his opportunity by leaping down and landing on a confused mark, there were terrified screams as Aretino carved the elf up. Chews-on-Barks overpowered one, ripped his arm off and threw rest of the body into another. With the torn arm in hand, the behemoth alternated between beating his first victim and the second. The archer was entirely covered in flames, as he rolled desperately in seawater, someone suddenly appeared behind him and held his head under. The unfortunate archer thrashed and kicked, until a minute later, stopped moving. The last armiger managed to get his bearings together in time to attack Aretino from behind. However, he was suspended midair without warning and flew back into a dagger.

"Void take you." The listener whispered, releasing her telekinetic grip and pull her dagger out where the heart was. Turning to Aretino, she shook her head. "Sloppy, initiate, he could've taken your head off."

"Sorry, mo-" Aretino started. Whipping around, he breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his boss whipping off blood on boldmold. "Ma'am, I mean. It won't happen again."

"We'll see about that." Not bothering with a single look, the woman started to undo the armiger's equipment. There were faint but visible red stripes on the pauldrons. Peeling that off, the next piece was the hauberk. On the flipside of the hauberk stitched a net, which held a bundle of paper within. Unfolding the paper revealed Daedric letters, presumably written Dunmeris.

"What is that?" Aretino came up and asked. He was quickly bumped into by Chews-on-Bark. "Watch it!" The initiate spat, though what he got was nothing more than a grunt.

"Yes, what is it? We deserve to know too." Dumhuvud and an entourage of mercenaries followed the assassins. "And who are you louts?"

"Back off!" Aretino warned. He and Chews-on-Barks had positioned themselves in front the Cat-Kicker. "Should I kill him?" He asked his mentor.

"No," the Dunmer woman waved them down, "we're not your enemies. These men, the Nerevarine's goons, are though." She motioned to the corpses behind her. There were now two more (one missing an arm), after Chews-on-Barks started to pile them up. "How quaint of you to be shipwrecked in this place, at this time." She scanned the battered [i]Courtesan[/i] in the background. "You must be pirates, or mercenaries, or otherwise cursed by Mephala."

"Mercenary." Dumhuvud stated. "And you are assassins, heh? Why are you here?" Turning back to his own group, Dumhuvud narrowed his eyebrows at Rhasha. "Was one of the cats too scared to face me?"

"The Dark Brotherhood." Someone behind muttered.

"That we are." The Dunmer woman tilted her head at the voice, though she addressed Dumhuvud directly. "So Dansharr knows one of your men. No, you are a worthless fly compared to our last target." Shuffling papers looted from the armiger, she caught sight of R'ihanna and a limping Kattun to the back. "You," calling to Kattun, "does Lieutenant Raili ring a bell?"

"No, why?" Kattun looked confused, the fall really did a number on him. Even after Sebastian did the best he could, Kattun remained very much immobile.

"See for yourself." The assassin tossed across the first sheet of paper.

"This is signed by the Nerevarine's war ministry." Kattun exclaimed. The more he read, the more his face rose in shock. "These scouts were ordered to find a landing site, but for landing what?" He re-read the piece again, and mumbled the original Dunmeris sentences to himself. "To aid our allies; who are those allies?"

"Akavir." The listener tapped on the second paper. "The translation is, more or less: 'secure beachhead for the division, link up with Kamal allies, terminate all witnesses along the way'. I know the Nerevarine's despicable, but to collaborate with those that sacked Windhelm, that is a new low for him."

"Horse shit." Dumhuvud held up his hand, his axe with it. "Are we at war with Morrowind now? How do you even know?"

"Windhelm? We have ears there." Explained the listener. "The Nerevarine? My family was part of the skeptics in the New Temple. When the so-called reincarnate returned to claim his throne, he contracted the Morag Tong to put down those disloyal to him; my relatives were among them." Leaning down to pick up a bonemold shoulder piece, she continued. "The Armigers were suppose to be a unified defense force, but like Thur and his Stormcloaks, they are the tyrant's henchmen first and foremost. Lieutenant Raili here," she pointed to the man she killed, "leads a pathfinder detachment. He is probably an Ashlander, as the Nerevarine conscripted entire tribes into service."

"Not all of them." Trius entered the conversation. He was tired from the fight, but a seething anger kept him alert. In his hands was a seemingly average bonemold helmet. "At least one is ex-ordinator. I know that man, he used to serve with me."

"That's why he called you traitor." Kattun noted.

"Because I am." Trius admitted. He reached for his ebony blade, with a clip, took the sheathed weapon in hand. He starred at it longingly, head hanging in shame as the memory of it flooded back. "I refused to obey order, to kill innocents when my superior asked me to. But betraying our nation to demons of the east; I don't know what is worse, to refuse order or follow it blindly."

"Are you going to fight back?" Trius asked the assassins.

"As much as I wanted to, it's not our fight." The Dunmer woman answered. "In fact, we have already lingered more than we should. Know this, should the Nerevarine attempt similar actions in the future, they would meet the same end as now." Giving the mercenaries a final look, she recalled her subordinates. "Kill the stragglers, there is no point interrogating; every armiger is drilled with resistant techniques."

"Say goodbye to your brother, go." The listener told Dansharr. "It's rare for our kind to have family, birth family; I sure miss mine." Just as she was about to walk away, the woman pressed the rest of Raili's orders on Dansharr's paw. "Give this to your brother, he'll have more use of it than us. After the last job, I feel like we will need as many allies as possible."

[hr]
The Dark Brotherhood left sight in no more than half an hour. In that time, sailors aboard the [i]Courtesan[/i] had determined their vessel no longer sailed. With that said, there was hope in repairing, or at the worst, salvaging Atgeir's ship later. In the meantime, they'll have to get help from Dawnstar. 

The beach was awash in red, blood from fallen armigers and injured ship passengers. A dozen Dunmers were stacked in a gruesome pile, many of them stripped of weapon and armor. Soon, one overturned dinghy and nine bloated corpses ran up at various times and places. The foolhardy mages were all confirmed drowned. 

Watching from the ship itself, Ariane found her amulet not in her bag when she went to the beach. At the same time, Orakh said S'riracha had vanished, seemingly into thin air. Both of them supposed everything lost went overboard, but Dumhuvud insisted that S'riracha stole the amulet and ran away. 

The time was still night and the morning was well away. Most members of the company, which included a freshly woken Keegan, relocated to the cave and caught up on valuable sleep beside the armigers' fire. A few, that included Dumhuvud, Trius, Orakh, Kattun and R'ihanna, could not find sleep. Dumhuvud first took Kattun by the throat and demanded to know whether he was connected to the armigers, when the Dunmer said no, Dumhuvud choked harder, only the plead of R'ihanna combined with the fist of Trius was enough to see him off. Stalking away, Dumhuvud found Sadri out of sight, grabbed the collar of his clothing and slammed him into a nearby rock. "What do you know of these people!?" He would shout. "Explain!"

The remainded had their own thoughts to talk over. Kattun could not believe what he saw and heard, even after he read Raili's orders several times. "So I heard some of the things you said about the Kamal, and if they were true, then perhaps submitting to them is for the better." Kattun said. "Still, I must return to home and find truth behind everything."

"I shall go with you." R'ihanna said. Despite Kattun warning her the danger of Khajiits being enslaved in his homeland, R'ihanna insisted that she stay with the only person to care for her. 

"As will I." Trius told the pair. "No more running for me, because they will follow me to the end of Nirn and back. Don't worry, I'll protect you two on the way." 

"Trius, what will follow you? Tell me, I won't tell another living soul. You can trust this old dog." Orakh laid a caring hand on the warrior shoulder, causing it to sag. Kattun and R'ihanna offered them privacy, but Trius asked the pair to stay.

"My real name is Helkan R'is, and the things I have done..." Trius went on to explain his service in the Nerevarine's name. "I was an extractor, tortured people for information. Argonians raiders, Imperial and Thalmor spies, dissendents in the Great Houses and sometimes, innocent people at the wrong place and time." Pulling out his ebony blade, he traced the latest notches added from clashing against the shock tonfa. "They rewarded me this, said I accomplished things no one else could. But I also had doubts no one understood, well, actually, some superiors knew my doubts, and they kept an eye on me."

Putting his blade back, Trius looked out to the ocean. "Solstheim, last month. They sent my unit to evacuate Raven Rock from a plague, but rumors are the king wanted to clear out the island for someone, or something. Then the commander ordered us to cut down everyone we couldn't fit onto boats; I just couldn't do it." 

His red eyes swelled with tears, Trius forced it away with his hands. "That was the last straw for the generals, because as soon as I fled home, they sent an assassin after me, probably Morag Tong as the Dark Brotherhood said." Looking up, he threw a pebble into the sea, watching as the waves swallowed the tiny stone in darkness. "That was not the end. In fact, another was with me at Windhelm; the supposed thief that stole my sword."

"I remember." Orakh nodded, replaying how he met this elf in the first place. 

"I am endangering the company, because they'll kill anyone perceived to be associated with me." The Dunmer warrior sighed. "I have two brothers in Blacklight, though I know they could handle themselves, what that woman said made me uneasy. I knew first hand the 'necessary' cruelty our military dispenses, and I can't imagine anyone of my own blood suffering for something they never did." 

"You are one man," Orakh paused to take account of Kattun and R'ihanna, "or three, against a country."

"There are groups opposing the current regime, cells I have personally destroyed." Trius, or Helkan, didn't seem deterred. "They have common enemies as I." The distant horizon to the east started to light up, at the same time, the storms at sea calmed significantly. "We'll take that ship," he meant the armigers' chitin boat, "for Blacklight. We have to leave now, before the storm returns." Standing up, the Dark Elf surveyed the landscape. 

"You know about sailing, yes?" Trius (Helkan) said to R'ihanna. The Khajiit nodded.

"Then this is farewell, my friend" Clasping Orakh's arm, Dunmer and Orc shared a warrior's embrace. In a surprising move, the former gifted his sword to the latter. Orakh stood in stock as the ebony weapon was placed in his palms. "Take it, the man this blade symbolized is no more. May Azura, and Malacath, bless our paths ahead."

[hr]
The next morning was Sun's Height 16. It would be two long walking days before Dawnstar.