Should’ve known he’s with a pirate crew, now here I am, left to rot in a store room filled with fined moon sugar, skoomas and Divines know what other ‘honest earned goods’ lying around here, I bet that bastard of a captain trying to negotiate about his ‘honest earned goods’ at this moment with whoever the hell that pirate captain is. “Alright, boss. Here’s the whole thing I’ve promised, with an extra….’big haul’” And I’m correct with that thought, now then, who is this captain would be? A Dugal wannabe? An Empire-bitter Redguard? Or maybe a Nord pirate with ‘no allegiance’ to those damn Stormcloaks? Or maybe the worst type of them all? The door opened and in comes one fat-faced double-crossing kinsmen with a greedy smile and a one-eyed Imperial, great, it IS the worst one. “Well-well. Quite a handsome catch you got here, Bron” she exclaims, rubbing her chin while appraising me. “Ah yes, this one fella claims that he’s of a House Dufort, he definitely lied, but he brought a royal signet alongside him", he explained as he shows my ring to her. “Eh? Give it to me!” she exclaims, taking the signet.
She looked deeply into the signet and her eyes widened, “That’s not a big haul” is all she could retort as she handed Bron the signet “Wait, what do you mean it’s not a big haul, Safia?” he asked with a hint of anger on his tone, she then exclaimed “That right there, is a HUGE haul! This man here is telling the truth!” she said as she points towards me. They quickly discussed about my price, as they wager for the right price, I could only recount on what makes me stuck in this mess, on how in Oblivion I choose to not travel into Castle Navire with that Battlemage to convince that I’m an heir and maybe, just maybe, they will actually help me sails to Skyrim and give me a sizable caravel or even a frigate along with a quartermaster, a marksman, a cook, a navigator, and maybe even some army for this voyage, but no, I wanted to do this on my own just to avoid being killed right there because noble’s politics, now that I mention it, Thalmors might be around the- Argh, so frustrating! As my captor conversation goes longer, I heard two names of a well-known pirates operating in Skyrim, Blackblood Marauders and…. Blood Horkers… That’s IT! That’s the two corsairs that attacked Wayrest! Seems that old bugger’s memory serves correct, I suddenly hear a thud from behind and upon a glance, a glint of steel shining in the dark, a dagger, seemed to have slid down from the clumsily fastened belt of Bron, I quickly looked towards the two people that still in my ‘chamber’ and noticed that they’re still appraising the rest of the smuggled goods, while the pirate’s crew partying right above the store room and then *CRASH, a crashing noises made them exit the room to see what’s happened, leaving me and the dagger he dropped.
I tried getting that blade but it’s just too far for my bounded arms to reach it. “Well, this is it” I muttered, cursing every damn breath I breathe for drinking, stealing, duelling, and being a womanizer, but at least I know why in Oblivion was I found in that ship within a dead handmaiden’s embrace and why I can easily read that magically sealed letter… Wait, Magicka! Of course! I quickly focused my magicka to my right hand and with a flick of my fingers, the dagger slowly dragged itself towards me and then… “Nice try, dirtbag” Bron is towering over me and the dagger, along with Safia.
He opened my cell and start beating me. I can only flinch and cringed helplessly with each punch. Luckily, Safia stopped him “Oi, stop it! He’s a huge ransom, remember? If he’s dead, I won’t be able to get my money and YOU will pay for it!” Safia threatened him, Bron quickly regains his composure then comes out of the room to continue his bargain with Safia on the top deck. But, before he left the room, Bron picked up his dagger, smirks at me and spit on my face, I really, really wanted to rip his throat off if I’m able to unbound my hands. Fate and Divines seemed to love toying with mortals, huh? Give them a glimmer of hope only to take it away just like that, with all seems lost, I can only think of one idea… A not-so-good one.
I focused my magicka to my bounded arms yet again and as soon as I heard them already far away from my room, I burn the bindings around my arms slowly, hoping that they won’t smell anything burnt, bit by bit my bindings burned off and so does my arms, I felt the sting of embers on my hands for every, cursed, moments and it grew more and more agonizing. It took me three days and two nights so that I can actually just rip my bindings off easily, but I don’t have any strength to do it at this moment, so I wait, until. “Hard to port!”, someone yelled from above, then a footstep stumbled towards the store room, it was Bron, in his drunken stupor, he tries to unlock my cell while muttering about getting rich and wanting to ‘prepare the ransom’ for their biggest bidder, thank the Divines, the combined effort of a drunken fool’s sloppiness and the rocking ship have made the key slipped off of his fingers and into my cell right after he unlocks the door.
As he tried to grab the key, I forcefully removed my bindings and headbutted him flat in the nose, stumbling him backwards and as he tries to scream for help, I place my left hand over his mouth and pin him down with my body, while Bron struggled to roll me over, I pulled the dagger off of his belt and stab his neck repeatedly. After I killed him, I looked around the storage room for any kind of cloth and weapon, only to found a dead merchant and his dead bodyguard, I strip the merchant off of his clothes and pick the bodyguard’s weapon, walked towards the deck calmly and iped the blood stains off of my face, hoping that I didn’t stumble upon any of the pirate’s crew, luckily, I’m able to reach the deck and greeted by the sun light, staggering me with all its dazzling glory and it’s warmth, I could vaguely see a logo of East Empire Company’s Warehouse right in front of me and on my left. “Leaving sho shoon?” Safia, just came out of her chamber with ‘messy clothing’, thank the Divines she still drunk. “Aye, need to see this warehouse for any extra hauls” I said, trying as hard as I can to mimic Bron’s tone “Shee ya later sh-shthen” is all she said as she patted my shoulder and stumbling towards the store room. I walked off the ship calmly and then, Safia’s scream can be heard from behind me as I quickly run away from the Red Wave and into the safety of Solitude.
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