[h3]History Has its Eyes on You[/h3]

A Stormy and Dervs Collab

[hr]

[i]3rd Midyear, 4E208, Hawkford Residence - Evening[/I]

It had been a long day for Salosoix Hawkford. The aftermath of the vicious attack on his daughter had left him feeling torn up inside. Having to conceal his pain only allowed the emotional wound to fester. 

[i]He was used to this.[/i] 

If his daughter was calculating, he was too, tenfold. Her tutor in the art of manipulative diplomacy. If she was ambitious, it was because those ideals had been taught by her father. If she could seduce the hearts of men, then it was her father’s silver tongue and unmatched wit that had taught her how. In his youth, he was quite the ladies man - but it was Roxada Encenitte who won his heart and soul entirely. Only two years after their marriage, they welcomed into the world Raelynn - who would once again be another woman to take Salosoix’s heart and soul in full. Through the years, they tried to conceive more children - but alas fate would not allow it, and so this only made Salosoix’s love for his daughter deeper. She was his precious Sunlight. 

He thought fondly of his wife as he paced through the alleyways of Gilane, back to his residence with a selection of tomes under his arm, and a bag of Knafeh in the other. Her eyes were emerald in colour - beautiful, vibrant, and inviting unlike the piercingly cold eyes of steel blue that both he and his daughter shared. He sighed happily as he pictured her radiant beauty in his mind's eye. To think of her brought him some peace - and reaffirmed why he was here. Why he was doing what he was doing. To think of her reminded him that everything would happen as it should, and would be alright. It was one of the few times that he allowed himself to soften.

As he entered his home, he immediately felt a chill strike him. The lamps had been extinguished, perhaps by a person or by a gust from an open window. Of a window that he had not left open. 

Immediately he was on guard. Immediately he knew [i]who[/i] was here. As he stepped out of the modest foyer and into the main room of his dwellings, he first saw the Khajiit in [i]his[/i] chair. With his feet on [i]his[/i] desk, the abuser of [i]his[/i] Sunlight. He clenched his jaw, and as the moonlight pooled into the room it was then that he then noticed one of his guards, Barast, was pinned to the wall by his throat - dead - with a dagger that now sparkled with his blood. He looked from Barast’s body, to the Khajiit, and back to Barast before he placed his belongings calmly down on the side table. 

His insides were boiling with fury, he imagined how it would feel to bring a cleaver down in between the eyes of this feral creature - but he did not show it on his face. He maintained an unbothered posture. He was [i]cunning[/i]. He was not a fighter, he would not approach this vermin as such. 

“So you must be the one who captured my Raelynn, then?” He asked in as nonchalant a tone as he could muster. “Very clever of you to find your way here - do what I do owe the pleasure?”

“What gave it away?” Zaveed asked, tapping a pistol across his knee. As little of a threat as Salosoix Hawkford posed to the privateer, he found the effortless display of power was enough to keep most men’s tempers in check and avoided unnecessary extra effort in subduing quarry before getting to the point of the encounter. Of course, his axes did most of the work, and they often were the most effective at conveying his displeasure at an individual. “A remarkable woman, Raelynn. She came right here after our last… ah, session. I should like to pick up where we left off. I’ve unfinished business, and she is instrumental in my performing of my duties.” He glanced over at Barast’s limp form hanging from the wooden beam. “I imagine that you are capable of picturing what happens when my desires are not sated, Salosoix. I’m a busy man and my time is more precious to me than your life, have I not made that clear?” he asked, his tone was cordial, but there was no mistaking the riptide of malice that lurked beneath the Khajiit’s pleasant veneer. 

“A shame about Barast, I liked that one - and you’ve made a mess over my tapestry, Khajiit.” He approached the guard pinned into the wall, and placed a hand against his arm as if to comfort him. Nostrils flared at the mention of Raelynn and the crude reminder of her experience. “I’d ask you not to speak like that of my daughter, speaking of - if you think I will hand her over to you, then you are sadly mistaken.” He walked away from Barast and towards the desk, nodding in acknowledgment of the pistol that the Khajiit was so desperate for him to see. “Ahh yes, I can see your little toy there. You’ll have no trouble from me tonight if we can keep this conversation civil.” He gave a crooked smile to Zaveed, before sitting down at the other side of the desk. 

“You seem to be mistaken of the nature of my visit, this isn’t one of your business negotiations. I am simply telling you how things shall be. I will find her again, and I’ve had many opportunities the past few days to do what I pleased, but the timing was simply wrong.” Zaveed replied, his ice-blue eyes boring into the aging Breton’s. “The question is how much trouble you wish me to spare [I]you[/I]. Dear Barast there had the mercy of a quick death, a regrettable action, but one that necessitated the stakes here. Raelynn traded her life for his, and while it wasn’t the guard she sold out… it was enough to get the point across that there is nowhere she can go that I cannot follow. Are you comfortable with the idea that you will receive similar, but much worse, treatment than her?” the Khajiit asked, the barrel tapping impatiently on his knee. 

“Ah but isn’t life just a string of business negotiations? I am not a fighter. I can’t fight you and you know it. I know it too. I did go and speak to our lovely mutual friend, Governor Rourken this morning though - to discuss these [i]issues.[/i] You might want to get to the point of why you’re here.” His face became smug and his tone was moderately threatening under the veil of his smile, and he folded his arms into his lap unafraid to break eye contact with the Khajiit. “You say you can take her at any time? So why do you come to me? Chop chop, negotiate.”

Zaveed stood, pacing across the floor to where the guard was hanging from the wall and with his free hand he pulled free his elven dagger, the sapphire pommel shimmering in the lamplight as blood escaped through the open gash in the man’s neck as he crumbled to the floor. The Khajiit stood close to Salosoix now, holstering the pistol and wiping the dagger clean on the arm of the man’s shirt. “As yes, my darling Governor. I am sure what you are meaning to say but are too salamander shit to let slip between those earthworms you call lips is that my being here could bring me a world of pain and trouble because of your powerful connection, is that it? That my dear Governor Rourken is going to be furious that one of her deep seated agents is being threatened by someone so low on the hierarchy he might as well be a bloody courtesan servicing an entire battalion of her finest troops?” Zaveed purred behind Salosoix, the blade turning over to be wiped clean on the other sleeve.

That got his attention, and his eyes flashed with tempestuous fury and he sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Khajiit, why are you here and what do you want? You make such theatre of yourself. I’m not going to play around with you and as I said, I’m here to negotiate. We both are associates of Rourken, we each have our own goals. What are yours?” He inched his head away from the Zaveed as he skulked around behind him. “What does it have to do with my Raelynn? Out with it so we can finish this show.” His voice had risen, tone impatient. Zaveed surely could kill him in his chair and there would be nothing he could do to stop it - but he did not show any fear to him. He was genuine in his attempt to reach the middle ground of what they both wanted - even if he knew that he and his daughter’s life were hanging in the balance...

The dagger was at the man’s throat and his hair pulled back with a violent tug, the sharpened and honed blade tasting flesh. Zaveed leaned down so his canines were inches from the man’s ears. “You threaten me with the Governor’s wrath, but how do you suppose she’s going to feel when her trusted peon has been willingly and eagerly harbouring one of the terrorists that murdered one of her administrators that was promoting the image of peaceful cohabitation in this fucking city, attacked her loyalist guards and released a bunch of murderers and rapists back into the streets, and murdered several of her soldiers and freed even more terrorists back into their ratholes? Do you think your life, or mine, would be more at jeopardy if she found out that dear old Raelynn was living comfortably under her traitorous cunt of a father’s shadow who has been playing both sides? You cannot proclaim yourself to be loyal to her while harbouring your sweet, innocent daughter, you stupid fuck. Do you think you’re the only person of your not all that impressive stature that I’ve gutted on her behalf? Maybe it’ll be a mercy if I do it here, and now, so you can be spared fighting for your life in the arena against a foe who knows that ripping apart a fat, soft Breton man can earn his liberation?” he snarled into the man’s ear, all pretense of civility gone from his tones.

Zaveed pulled the knife away suddenly and slammed Salosoix’s head against the table as he sat down next to the man, his disposition back to casual indifference. “So, here’s how it’s going to go, Sal.” the Khajiit said, his tone returned to a cordial infliction. He pulled a piece of parchment out of his breast pocket and placed it gingerly beside the man’s face. “This is an address. You are to send Raelynn there in two days, telling her it’s something to do with your family trade, I don’t really care what you say so long as she arrives willingly and alone. In exchange for this, I will not cause her any more physical anguish, you get to keep your wretched life, and I will permit you both to leave this city unharmed because it is in my authority to pardon your crimes if it helps take down much more serious threats to Governor Rourken’s stability. 

“If you do not follow my simple instructions and she does not arrive as expected, she will be disemboweled in public and I will return with several agents and personally see that every single member of your entourage is slaughtered before your eyes before I personally gouge them out and cut your hamstrings to leave you to die as a crippled, blind man who will forever wallow in his pathetic, useless husk of a body until he begs someone to take his life for him.” Zaveed outlined, tapping the pommel of his dagger on the man’s head. “And I will see to it that it becomes a crime to mercy kill a beggar in these streets, so everyone will think twice of taking pity on you. Do I paint a vibrant enough picture for you, or do you need a demonstration?” Zaveed asked, reaching over to gently cusp the man’s face, a claw unsheathing itself dangerously close to Salosoix’s eye.

Free from the grip of Zaveed, he spat onto the floor, blood spilling from his mouth. “All you had to do was ask me in the first instance, Zaveed of Senchal.” His voice dry and cracking, he coughed. “There is so much violence in you, don't you ever tire of it?” He snatched the parchment from the desk and glanced over it, a long sigh followed. “You will not harm her, you will not bruise an inch of her skin. You will get her on a boat to High Rock immediately afterwards. To guarantee she is not hurt, I’ll play - I'll remove the threat of her precious lover and the Argonian and have them slaughter some of the Poncy Man’s new recruits upon their arrival in Gilane, because it will please our lovely Governor to see a pile of bodies on the other side... But you will not harm her, I want your word on that one.”

The Khajiit nodded solemnly. “You have my word that no harm will come to her. She will be detained, briefly, but further injury is detrimental to my aims.”

“She will be on the boat?” He asked, in a wheeze of a voice - glad they could reach an understanding - even if it had almost cost him a few front teeth. He’d been in worse scrapes. 

“When one is able to be chartered, of course.” Zaveed cleared his throat, producing a small vial and placing it on the table. “A health potion, for your troubles. I am glad we were able to come to an understanding.” he said, rising up from the table and sliding his blade back into its sheath on his back. He took a few steps away from the man, turning with a hand on a door frame. “Violence is the only thing that has ever gotten me results. If you do not wish to be stepped on by men who do not cower to those of higher station, I suggest you learn how to embrace it. Good evening, mister Hawkford. Play your part and this will remain nothing but a bad memory, but you will still have your family by the end of the week.” with that, the Khajiit disappeared into the darkness, his footfalls nearly silent as he exited the premises, leaving Salosoix alone to his thoughts.

As he wiped the corners of his mouth with his handkerchief, he was beyond distraught. Zaveed was gone and he released a tense sigh, tears filling up in his eyelids.

“What have I done?”