Chapter 1
Wamasu Slayer
Present Day - Shadowfen Swamp
Artemis liberally lapped water over her face. The blood of today’s hunt washing away into the murky water. Green flowing off her pale skin into the brown-grey of the swamp. After she felt sufficiently cleansed of the foul beasts innards, she strapped her Yffre-blessed bow to her back.
She lifted her graceful arm, inspecting one of the horns that jutted from top of her skull. The left one had been chipped from the encounter with the Wamasu. The creatures always surprised her by their sheer intelligence. Fighting the massive beasts always turned into a flurry of panic. No matter how well Artemis prepared her opening shot, the creatures always turned with equal furor.
The blasted hist have touched every inch of these marshes. Artemis thought with some disgust. The hist… I wonder how conscious they are. If the stories are true, they bless the argonians with visions. The treacherous argonians, with their shadow-scaled kin.
The scaled-men patrolled the swamps. Since the pact had been formed, Artemis had lost her ability to exploit the squabbling’s between dark elf and lizard-folk. The lucrative slave-trade may have stopped for now, but the Argonians wouldn’t forget, and the dark elves would never change.
Artemis inspected both of her masterwork bosmer blades. A couple chips now marked the blades length, but otherwise no major damage. Sheathing both of the fine long swords to her waist, she stood, inspecting her kill. The corpse of the Wamasu was laying on its side only a few paces away, even now carrion insects began to swarm the beast.
If she was the mer she once was - if she was within the Valenwood - she would have to eat the creature and use it's remains for some purpose. But this was not the great home-forest, and time was short.
Glancing downward once more, she saw Masser and Secunda in the night sky, reflected by the still water, barely visible through the heavy forest canopy above. The kha'jiit revered the two moons as deities. She supposed that it was no more strange than the bosmer's belief in Yffre. She noticed something, the rustling of a single branch.
She turned, lifting her head to inspect the tree above. Each of the trees stood still, no breeze was moving upon the air. Artemis focused her keen eyes, each of her deep red eyes elongated, each becoming more feline in nature. A gift of those trained in the ways of Yffre. Staring into the shadowed green above, she noticed two pale blue eyes staring directly back at her. They were the eyes of a feline.
Staring into the eyes of the beast she heard a guttural growl emit from the creature. Is that a kha’jiit? Artemis thought with some alarm. The figure began to coalesce, the creatures shadow cloaked camouflage dissipated slowly. The white fur of the creatures ears appeared first, followed by a menacing glare. Slowly the creature became visible, his illusion completely dissipating, his eyes never quivering from those of Artemis. Then she saw him in truth. A predator of this jungle. She had entered his domain. She could see the desire in the kha'jiit's eyes. He considered her a worthy a prey.
Sensing the impending calamity Artemis had her bow out and arrow knocked. The kha’jiit’s face changed from a menacing glare to that of a charming smile, pristine white fangs a sharp contrast to the lush green canopy. The shadowy cloak began to cover his body once more. Invisibility moving from the beasts clawed feet to black beard. Artemis jerked and let the arrow fly. It sunk into the thick tree trunk behind.
“Yessss thisss is the pesssky bosssmer” a raspy voice spoke from behind her. “Capture her!”
Artemis turned to find three argonian’s, Each of them clad in black and red. She had let herself get distracted. The argonian that spoke - obviously their leader - was adorned with rich gold embroidery. His left eye covered by a black patch. His two companions came crawling out of the swamp. Muck and murky water flowing off their bodies as they unsheathed daggers. They began making a steady pace toward her.
“Three on one. I see the argonian's lack of spine is a common trait amongst the scaled-kin,” Artemis spoke the words calmly - turning with bow and taking aim.
While the lizard-men were only fifteen paces away, she managed to unleash three arrows before they were upon her. One arrow glancing off the insignia marked shoulder-pad of the shadow-scale master. The other two arrows took the left most argonian lackey in the chest. He let loose a few pained squeals as he fell to the mossy ground.
Then they were upon her. The other lackey came with jagged dagger in hand. savagely swiping at her throat. Artemis, bow in hand, leaned backward, dodging the slice. Using the backward momentum to bring her foot around. She planted a solid kick into the argonian's hideous scaled face. Pain spiked in her foot as a few horns that protruded from the argonian's head dug through her soles and into her foot. She managed to keep her balance - landing mostly graceful upon hands and knees - the Argonian thug went sprawling.
Feeling the fatigue of the Wamasu fight earlier, she tried to block the kick that drilled in from the shadow-scale master. Dropping her bow, she brought her arms to cross her chest, she braced herself for impact. Strangely, the foot passed right through her arms. An illusion? Panic flooded into every inch of her. She pushed the surprise away, letting her training take over.
Artemis kicked from the ground, pain spiking in her foot as she did so. She sent a wild kick behind her with her good foot. She felt impact, kicking off the face of the Shadow-Scale master to send herself through the air. She performed a graceful summersalt, unsheathing the two masterwork blades at her waist mid-air. She hit the ground with a grunt, facing her two adversaries.
She took a low stance, the Argonian with two arrows protruding from his chest lay at her feet. The other Argonian lackey was shaking his head, lifting himself to his feet.
“That wassss my coussin Sssshe-elf” The argonian lackey’s raspy voice spoke. He spat black-red blood onto the swampy ground, before he pulled himself to his feet.
“Maybe you should hunt prey less formidable, lizard.” She shifted her stance, awaiting the inevitable tricks these two shadow-scale assassins might throw at her.
“Take her alive Ssesshi” The Argonian leader spoke. He was rubbing his reptilian nose, his head was more sparsely populated with spikes than his lackeys.
A screeching sound emitted from the creatures as they came at her. She shifted into a tactical form for fighting more than one opponent. The argonian’s however, were ready for it. She flourished blades that met jagged daggers. Narrowly defending against several viperous strikes.
One of the creatures landed a solid kick into her torso and sent her sprawling. She hit the ground hard. One of her blades falling into a slowly flowing stream of swampy water. She saw stars for a moment. The other assassin sent a flying blade into her thigh. Pain awoke her from her stupor. She struggled to bring air back into her lungs.
“You know the drill” The master spoke. The Argonian was strangely sniffing the air. “Do you sssmell that Sssesshi?”
She must of lost a few more moments. Because the lackey, apparently named Seshi, now stood over her. She lay prone, struggling to remain conscious. The lizard kicked her other masterwork blade from hand. Then she was being grappled by her shoulders. Not thinking, Artemis sent a palm into the spiky face of the Argonian. The Argonian seemed to relish in her action, planting his face solidly into her hand. The spike adorned on the creatures nose ripped through her palm, blood began to spurt from her mangled hand. The same spike that pierced my foot earlier... I was always slow to learn the important lessons.
Cries of pain bellowed from Artemis, as the argonian removed her bloody hand from his face. The argonian sneered. Licking the blood around his mouth as it ran down his scaly lips and neck. The argonian flipped Artemis on her back. Her pierced foot and hand screamed in agony as the beast roughly began to bind her. The argonian planted a heavy foot on her back, the air flew from her lungs. She couldn’t breathe, her vision began to swim again.
I suppose I deserve this. A voice in her said, the part of her that Hellinzi had loved. What is it she always used to say? We cannot escape the wrong we do. Yffre see's all. In a surreal moment, agony racing through her veins, Artemis thought that this may of been justice.
Through her foggy ears she heard a great roar, it sounded strange to her. Like the sound of a mother senche-raht protecting her cubs. She felt the pressure of the argonian’s heavy foot leave her back, and rain splashed across her skin. Wait… That’s not rain, Artemis thought through the pain. Blood? A moment later the Argonian Lackey lay beside her, his throat completely removed by some savage gash.
“W… wait I can exssplain” A creatures raspy voice chocked out from behind her.
Another roar broke the silence. Followed closely by the sound of ravaged flesh. Artemis heard a long gurgle protrude from a dying argonian. The next moment, or what felt like the next moment, she was lifted from the mossy ground. Her mind a foggy haze of pain, each moment her thoughts grew more and more incoherent.
I’m being carried. Artemis thought, slowly understanding her position. She was being carried by a broad shouldered beast. She looked down and saw a white and black spotted tail swaying back and forth. The swampy ground moving by at incredible speed. She could barely keep her eyes open.
“This one saw it all, Tolan shall call you Sa’rench, It means wild one.” The khajit’s voice sounded amiable enough. She even noticed the cat-man had managed to grab her bow and blade. Then unconsciousness took Artemis.
