Silence of the Void
an Elder Scrolls fanfic
written by Helena
Dark waters await you, Dryskin. May the Hist embrace you.
3E 433, 21st of Last Seed, one week before the assassination of the Emperor, Uriel Septim VII.
Chapter I
Blackrose Prison
Amuzei entered the subterranean execution chamber, escorted by a pair of Imperial guards in plate armor.
Moss grew on the walls and floor, thriving in the warm humidity of the room. A stone block sat in the center, accompanied by two solemn women and an Imperial officer whom Amuzei had come to know all too well.
Amuzei's black scales itched against the rough fabric of his prisoners' garb as he walked.
As the leader of the Blackwind pirates and captain of the Sorrow, Amuzei had plundered vast wealth while burning and delivering Imperial merchant-and-war ships to the bottom of the sea, the Void, as it were.
His survivors, of which there were few, gave whispers of black sails materializing instantly at point-blank range, cannonballs which fired without a sound, and an invisible assassin who slipped aboard and cut their captains' throats before their battles even began.
"I will enjoy watching you die, pirate," Legate Cimber said.
Amuzei met his emerald eyes and had no doubts about that statement. Cimber's stature and auburn hair suggested Nordic blood, common in most of the Empire, especially in the Nords' homeland of Skyrim, but a rare sight here in Black Marsh.
Cimber stood half a foot taller than the Imperial guards flanking Amuzei, which made him only the second largest in the room. Amuzei dwarfed them all, standing just over seven feet tall and carrying nearly three-hundred pounds of reptilian muscle.
Amuzei felt a sickening tightness forming in his belly.
"Saxhleel, murdered in his homeland at the hands of," he stared daggers into Cimber's eyes, "greel." He bit off the last word in the Argonian language, Jel.
Cimber chuckled, a genuine sound. "There are no outsiders in the Empire."
"Any last words?" The priest prompted.
How comforting, Amuzei thought.
"Pray I meet Sithis in the Void."
"Dark Brotherhood scum," Cimber spat on the ground.
Amuzei's identity as an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood was technically a secret, but it was common knowledge that an Argonian born under the Shadow star would have been offered to the Brotherhood at birth, to be raised as a Shadowscale. Perhaps less obvious was that Amuzei's people, the Black-Tongue Tribe, or Kota-Vimleel, take certain measures to produce as many such births as possible.
The executioner stepped forward and rested a two-handed axe by the block.
The Dark Brotherhood values Shadowscales for their potential, as an Argonian trained in the stealth and assassination arts from birth is a cold-blooded beast of slaughter. However, equally valuable is that many of them are born with an innate ability to vanish instantaneously into invisibility.
Amuzei felt a cold breeze move through the chamber and the air pressure rose considerably.
"I will have use of you yet, my child." The Voice of Sithis, the god of the Void and patron of the Dark Brotherhood, rang hollowly within Amuzei's skull.
Amuzei smelled sweat and fear in the dank chamber as he laid his indigo-feathered head on the cold stone block.
/
It's a job, everyone has one. Justice thought, as she stepped forward, swinging her battle axe a little too wide.
She might have been a little hungover, but she felt secure in her abilities. Her mother and her grandfather were Imperial executioners, and she had been named with the assumption that she would follow in their footsteps.
Word came late the previous night that Legate Cimber would be arriving with a prisoner, scheduled to be executed immediately for a laundry list of crimes, including…gods, what were they?
Justice tried to remember. Piracy and smuggling, skooma probably. Multiple counts of murder and an additional count of murdering a tax collector? She was sure there were others, but she had forgotten them in her drunken haze.
Crime doesn't pay, Justice thought as she looked into the reptilian man's eyes. She blinked, then realized he had been holding his eyes open since he got there.
Determined to see the end? She stifled a laugh. Maybe an Argonian's eyes did not dry like humans' did.
Justice sighed when the Argonian had said his peace and the Legate had got his bitching in. Privately, she felt that Legate Cimber had been on this lizard-manhunt for far too long. Now, the handsome Nord seemed on edge and his face shone with sweat.
Justice would ease his mind.
She raised her axe high over her shoulder, and brought it down hard. She blinked.
Amuzei vanished and the axe struck deeply, lodging in the stone.
Oh, gods!
It happened almost instantly.
Cold hands grabbed her face and yanked hard against her will. Searing pain split across her neck and her vision turned to mere light. A sickening crack filled her ears. Her heart banged in terror as she fell stiff and dropped to the floor. She felt more pain as her head smacked against the cold floor and the light faded to black. She could hear the crack echoing in the prison hallways. She lingered on the edge of death, painfully aware that she was completely paralyzed.
/
I'm not ready to die.
Ulene Hlaalu had been accompanying Captain Amuzei on a contract pickup on the Northern coast of Elsweyr when the Legate and his grunts jumped them. Now she awaited execution in a grungy prison in Black Marsh.
She thought about her homeland, Morrowind, the Land of Ash, with its volcanic Red Mountain and its densely populated Dunmer cities, pockets of Dark Elven civilization amongst miles of wilderness and wasteland spotted with haunted ancestral tombs.
Ulene looked around her damp limestone cell, with its rusty wall of iron bars and thriving ivy population.
It's kind of nice in its own way, she thought.
She heard a muffled squeak. Perhaps a rat or it might have been another prisoner, crying out its death throes.
Ulene wondered if Amuzei had been killed yet or if he had somehow managed to escape. The more she thought about it, the more certain she became that he had escaped and left her behind, and she hurt her own feelings.
Ulene heard a jingling and took her eyes off the ceiling. A human guard passed by her cell, looking bored to death. She returned her attention to the spiderweb above her, where its weaver was devouring a silk-wrapped fly.
Ulene dozed, but awoke when she heard a scraping and a clicking sound. A second later her cell door squealed open on its rusted hinges. She smiled as a huge Argonian materialized in the doorway.
"We swim in murky waters, Softskin," Amuzei whispered.
That's what his people call non-Argonians, he isn't thinking about how soft your skin is.
Ulene met his eyes and felt heat rising in her cheeks. She hoped she was not visibly blushing, though she felt certain she was. Perhaps her charcoal-gray complexion would hide it. She reigned in her thoughts and rose to her feet.
"The rapids go swift," Ulene replied. She had adopted this bit of Argonian phrase from Amuzei. She caught herself using his words sometimes and he smiled a little when she did.
Ulene followed him out of the cell block, balancing speed and stealth, to avoid detection by a guard or a jealous fellow inmate who might alert said guard.
Amuzei led her through an unlit hallway, perhaps guided by the small light beaming through the leaks in the ceiling. They passed a guard sprawled on the floor and Ulene took a brief pause as she registered him as a corpse. She supposed it was his keys that Amuzei had used to free her. Heavy footfalls and the sound of shuffling metal echoed from somewhere above.
Ulene felt small as they exited the hall into the cavernous main room of Blackrose Prison, where they stepped onto a long bridge made of wooden planks in various stages of wet rot held loosely together by frayed rope.
As they began crossing to the other side, where a rocky mound rose out of the water, Ulene peered into the black lake beneath her, a sixty foot drop. She lost all faith in the rickety bridge and weakness numbed her knees. The considerable weight of her companion did nothing to ease her concern. The bridge swayed and its boards bent with an uncomfortable creaking as he walked.
She remembered that Argonians had a saying about dark water, which meant "something sinister lies ahead." She wondered what might swim beneath the lake's opaque surface, and how long it or they might have lived there.
Ulene regained her nerves as she stepped off the bridge onto the island at the center of the massive underground room. Other bridges connected the little island to more cell blocks. She remembered crossing the bridge on her right when the Imperials brought her in, which meant the exit awaited on the other side, within the looming stone brick structure.
"Stop," a raspy voice called from behind them.
Ulene's heart jumped and she swiveled her head around, whipping silver, shoulder-length hair across her slender neck. A long-armed Argonian in an officer's uniform ran toward them on the bridge, accompanied by a couple of Imperial guards.
The room filled with the sound of metal armaments and footsteps on wood as guards swarmed the bridges. Ulene had the awful realization that they were trapped.
"We swim against a current that is too strong." Amuzei's deep voice sounded infuriatingly calm, given their current predicament.
Ulene hoped that meant he had a plan, but she thought she knew him well enough to guess he did not. Her jaw dropped as Amuzei removed his shirt, revealing light gray underbelly and huge pectorals. Despite her rising panic, she indulged the moment and grabbed an eyeful of reptilian abs, and was surprised again at what he did next.
Ulene watched in horror as Amuzei dove headfirst off the cliff. She looked over the edge in time to see him breach the surface of the black lake below and disappear into the void. Her vision seemed to narrow and warp as she looked down and sixty feet started to look like a hundred.
"Come with us, prisoner." The Imperials had reached the island and they had her surrounded.
Ulene knew she would be executed within the hour if they recaptured her. With no other choice, she pinched her nose and jumped.
/
Legate Cimber slammed his fist against his wooden desk. That damned pirate escaped and killed three of his men on his way out, including Justice, Cimber's personal executioner. He swore to rip Amuzei's throat out and shove it up-
Knock knock
"Enter!"
Commander Xode, an earth-toned Argonian with long arms, entered the stale office. Following behind him was Captain Grogmar, the scar-faced Orc currently in charge of Blackrose Prison.
Xode saluted, "Sir-"
Cimber cut him off, "Commander, send word to Lilmoth. We will be arriving by noon tomorrow. They must increase their patrols and close the docks. Have them send units to the nearby villages…"
He looked down at the maps of Black Marsh and documents, including a report he had determined to wait to send to the Imperial City, strewn madly on the desk.
"Dead-Water and Bright-Throat, sir," Xode offered.
Cimber nodded, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Captain Grogmar, move forward any scheduled executions for the next three months. You and I will clear them out today."
The Captain's harsh face betrayed his surprise. He grinned, revealing two large tusks in his bottom jaw, and gave an affirmative nod.
While this was far from standard procedure, Legate Cimber was the highest Imperial authority in this backwater region and he would use any means necessary to maintain order. Blackrose Prison held some of the Empire's worst criminals, so he could not allow any more jailbird flights and besides, beheading them might get his frustration out.
Replies