The Tail of Two Khajiit Brothers

Chapter 1

The Escape

We followed the short corridor and came to a wooden portcullis, I flicked my ear and crouched trying to peek through the holes.
“Let’s go the dragons destroying everything!” It was a man’s voice.

“Give me a moment, let me breath.” A ladys’ voice.

A leaned over to take a better look two nords both in blue armor one had a sword the other some kind of large hammer.
I turned to Hadvar and told what I saw.

“Let’s see if we can reason with them” Hadvar reached for a pull chain.

I grabbed his arm quickly, ”wait this feels like a bad idea, if they turn on us we will be pushed back into this corridor” I paused thinking up a plan “let me rush out first if they come at me you can hit them from behind.”

Hadvar frowned “well … ok but you sure you don’t want a weapon?” Hadvar pulled his dagger and held it out to me.

I grabbed it and slid it into my inner robe sheath. “Thanks but I think I can handle … at least one on my own.

Hadvar pulled the chain; before the door fully lowered I dove from the corridor and stopped in the middle of the round room.

The male nord drew his sword and shouted “your kind are not welcome here!” and charged at me sword raised.

I braced myself he was exposing his underbelly and I knew the counter kick well, I leaned back and swung my back foot outward the move surprised the nord as my foot slammed into his lightly armored belly using his forward movement I forcefully shoved my foot deeper and sent the nord crashing into the female with the hammer.

The female nord stumbled and charged, she swung low and I stepped back as the hammer head missed my leg by inches, she was readying for another swing but the hammer was clearly bulky and hard to move.

Realizing I could counter I stepped into a spin and backwards leg kicked her sending her back onto her side.

I made a full spin and turned and was shocked to see a sword in her chest, looking up I saw my brother half kneeling having stabbed her clean in the heart.

I looked over to see Hadvar had done the same to the male nord and was walking over towards us.

“Well … I’ve never seen anyone fight like that before, might be worth learning that…” he paused.

“Well Hadvar you might have to go with something a …. Bit more light.” I laughed as Hadvar’s eye widened.

“Then again I will stick to my sword arm” hadvar walked over to an iron cage door and gave it a tug.

“Hmm locked, hang on I think there was a key in the other room.” He walked back towards the barracks.

I turned to my brother who was digging through the dead nords looking for anything useful.

“Anything worth looting?” I walked over to him. He handed me a few gold coins and a small empty red bottle.

“Better than nothing ...” I turned as Hadvar stepped into the room a small key in hand, he quickly unlocked the cage door and pushed it open, pocketing the key as he walked through.

My brother when in ahead of me, I looked over at the dead “Hadvar what did he mean we are not welcome here?”

Hadvar turned around from looking down the steps “well to be honest …” he looked at his feet “most nord don’t like outsiders but it’s worse for your kind.”

“Ah yes the mindset that every Khajiit is a thief.” Well I guess in a way it true and a lie.”

“Oh?” Hadvar looked at me confused “you openly talk badly about your own kind?”

“Well not badly… most just don’t understand how we khajiit think-“ “Brother catch!”

I jumped back as a round green object was thrown at me. I caught it quickly and held it away from my face. “Is this …. A cabbage?!” I yelled.

My brother laughed “yes brother it a cabbage”

I stood up as Hadvar looked at Dar’Macanesh dumbfounded.

“Did you just throw a cabbage at him?” Hadvar stared still trying to understand what just happened.

“I did, brother dislikes cabbages so I have a habit of tossing one at him every so often.”

“Well brother I think we need to move on” I dropped the cabbage on the floor arm and stepped down the stone steps.

More roars sounded over head and the change in pressure and heat told me we were going below ground level.

As we rounded a turn a roar shook the building and we saw the roof cave in.

“Gods that dragon won’t give up easily” Hadvar walked up to the rubble.

I spotted an old wooden door with a large rock agents it, waving my brother over we quickly pulled the rock away and Hadvar pulled the door open.

As we stepped inside two nords in blue armor drew their swords and rushed us.

The nord that took on my brother was not used the khajiit style of swordplay my brother quickly out maneuvered his attacks, my brother loved to mix sword fighting a brawling he called it “sword brawling” it was a mix of forceful swings to knock the weapon out of your enemys hand and a few quick punches and kicks, however it was risky if you dropped your own sword to deliver the knockout punches.

I turned to look at Hadvar who stood panting agents a pillar his attacker was headless laying a few feet away.

I looked at my feet knowing I had done nothing to help them. “Sorry about that, I was …” I paused not able to say anything.

“Its fine I needed the practice” Hadvar looked around “an old storage room … look around see if there anything we can use in here.”

I walked over to an old wooden table and grabbed the few red and green bottles and tucked them into my robe and turned to the shelves and grabbed the one light blue bottle.

I walked over to a barrel and popped the lid off inside sat small red bottles and a green and light blue one; I picked them up and set them on the lid of the other sealed barrel next to me.

“Ah! Wonderful!” my brother’s voice sounded above me and I quickly stepped back and looked up to see my brother holding a small sack.

“What have you found dear brother?” I crossed my arms as he reopened the sack.

“See with your own eyes brother” and he tossed a few orange carrots at me. I gasped.

“Lovely find brother!” and quickly bit into one of the carrots, shivering as the sweet taste filled my mouth.

My brother hoped down from the wooden ledge and I pointed at the bottles which he grabbed and crammed into his pockets, he then started chewing on a carrot as well.

“Never seen anyone so happy to eat a carrot before? … What is with you Khajiits?”

“Ah you don’t know” I paused and cleared my mouth “we Khajiits love sweet things its part of our very lives; we eat sugar daily … and have rather … bad withdraws if we go without it for a long time.

Hadvar gave us a funny look “you two sure don’t look it, we ready?” I watched him strap a bow to his back.

“This way.” Hadvar open the wooden door and we followed him to a flight of stone steps as we reached the first landing the sound of light thunder sounded mixed among battle cries.

“There is a mage down there be careful.” We rushed down the steps into a room with cages and shackles on the wall.

Two men were fighting off a pair of stormcloaks, and Hadvar quickly jumped into the fight, both my brother and I stood there having realized just what room we were standing in.

The hooded figure turned to us. “You all happened along at just the right time. These men seemed a bit upset at how I've been entertaining their comrades."

“Your … you’re a torturer!” my brother yelled. We both had a disliking towards anyone who would stoop so low as torture a person for any reason.

The hooded man was a high elf well known for being stuck up and rude.

“We need to go a dragon is attacking helgen!” Hadvar quickly told the elf.

“What don’t be foolish boy! you can’t order me to do any-“

My brother had unexpectedly grabbed the elf’s head and with a quick twist snapped his neck.

“BROTHER!” I gasped, shocked at his outburst.

“This one will not let someone as evil as a torturer insult a friend like that!” my brother shouted at the now dead high elf.

The assistant walked over to the dead elf and looked at my brother.

“I’m not sure what to say except in a way he had this coming to him.” the assistant walked over to Hadvar and pointed down a corridor.

“We heard strange sounds coming from down there, used to be a deeper passage but it was sealed up ages ago.”

We looked around the room I spotted a knapsack and a book on a small table and walked over, opening the knapsack I found a few lock picks, I picked up the book it was titled ‘the book of the dragonborn.’

I set the lock picks in my belt pouch and dropped the dragonborn book and the book from the barracks into the knapsack.

My brother passed me a steel dagger and I set hadvar’s iron one next to the one on the table.

"Hang on there's something in this cage." Hadvar had walked over to the small cell cages and was looking inside the middle one.
“The old man lost the key ages ago poor guy cried for weeks starved to death cause of the old man refused to feed him.” the assistant kicked the old cage door.

“You don’t sound like the torture type, why help him?” I taped my chin thoughtfully.

“Well it was help the old man or get sent to some frozen part of skyrim as a guard, at least here its warm inside.”
Hadvar passed me a few more lock picks "See if you can get it open."

I tossed half the picks to my brother he walked over to a partly empty cell and started to work the lock.

What one brother was bad at the other was great at; I could use magic with ease but could not swing a sword to save my life, I could shoot a deer from across a river with my crossbow, but could not craft arrows or mold iron at a forge, some said we could not live without the other and to be honest they were right, but at least we both knew three things very well, stay alive, make an honest living, and know how to pick a blasted lock.

My brother pulled the cell door open as I set the pick in place. “Done” he said cheerfully.

I pressed my ear to the small lock. “All those dwemer dungeons locks taught you well brother” I quickly found the spot and popped the lock open, inside a dead mage sat his hand on a spell book I grabbed the book and slowly removed the robe and satchel pack from the corpse, the pack had a few light blue bottles and a few coins inside, I looked at the now naked body.

“Forgive me mage but you won’t need this anymore.” I tossed the strap over my neck and let the pack hang at my side a walked over to the table and slung the knapsack into place.

My brother had picked the other empty cell lock and had entered the corridor with hadvar and the assistant, taking one last look around I dashed after them.

We came to a small room where a wall had fallen out revealing a cave tunnel.

“This must have been what we heard … “the assistant nudged a loose stone brick and stepped into the hole.

We walked down the small tunnel till a voice sounded “where are we so post to go! Where is the way out!”

“Let me take a look” I stepped around Hadvar who was leading us and peeked around the bend I saw two stormcloaks with bows and a female walking across a small bridge away from us, I turned around and looked back.

“There are two archers and one or two sword carriers nearby us.” Hadvar notched an arrow “let’s go!”

Hadvar jumped out from the tunnel and fired an arrow into the back of the female nord on the bridge as the assistant leapt from behind him down to the lower area were a storm clock I had not seen was drawing his blade.

My brother dashed past me leaping over the small bridge and raced towards the archers, I heard a gagged yell and turned to see the assistant fall face down an arrow logged in his head, the nord he had fought was also dead.

“Dam I’m hit!” Hadvar yelled as he fell back into the tunnel, I rushed to his side and saw an arrow had pierced his arm.

Hadvar growled in pain as I worked the arrow out, using the dagger and hadvar’s free hand I quickly pulled the arrow out, luckily is was a flat headed iron arrow, I quickly built up a healing spell from my bodies energy and worked it to close the wound and mend the torn flesh and skin.

“Thanks Khajiit …where is your brother?” Hadvar got to his feet and I rushed into the room, “DAR’MACAKESH!” I screamed. Fearful of what could have happened. I saw him sitting agents a wall, and I dashed to his side an arrow had pierced his lower leg.

“Brother! Hang on … I will fix this.” I saw the arrow had cut clean through his leg missing the bone and had cut into the back muscle, I snapped the head off and slowly pulled the shaft through his leg he growled and twitched in pain.

“Oh brother, I’m sorry why did you rush off like that?” I started mending his leg muscles making sure to heal them for the inside outward.

“They were in our way … So I gladly made them move” he grinned through the pain.

“There all done, it going to be sore brother so take it easy on the leg.” I stood up and the room spun around me and I found myself quickly on the stone floor again.

“You ok khajiit? You look kind of sick”

“This one is tired, it take a lot to mend injures like that one.” I reached into my side pack and pulled a light blue bottle and sipped it and felt a small rush of magical energy pulse through my body.

“Much better” I groaned and stretched my arms “this one is quite sore and tired now; brother … do you still have another carrot?” I asked feeling a twitch of sugar crave from my lack of energy.

“Here” he pressed his last carrot into my paw and I greedily ate it.

“Thank you brother now I feel much better.”

“You too ready come on let’s see where this goes.” Hadvar pushed a lever and a simple wooden bridge fell over a hole in the floor.
I grabbed the quivers from the two archers and put the arrows together and grabbed a long bow from a dead guard who had multiple claw marks across his face.

We dashed across as a roar echoed from a hole in the cave roof a large rock came crashing down destroying the bridge and blocking the way back.

“Dam no going back now, glad that did not land on us.” Hadvar looked at the splinted wood and crushed rock.

My brother hopped down and looked into the small tunnel in the wall and ducked in.

“Brother! Where are you going?!” I called from our perch. “Just wait I will be right back!” my brother’s voice echoed back to us.

Moments later footsteps sounded from behind us and I sighed as my brother furry face appeared “this one guessed right the tunnels connected to this big one.” He tossed a small brown bag at my feet and a paw full of coins fell out.

We followed my brother as he walked through the twists and turns till we came to an open area.

The large cobwebs meant one thing … “spiders!” my brother cried as he dashed backwards.

We both had a fear of spiders but luckily these were frost bite spiders despite their large size they were weak to fire in a big way.
Hadvar and I both drew our bows and dogged the spiders frost poison and picked each one off quickly and to our dismay a much larger one dropped form a web filled whole in the roof, however with two archers it died quickly.

"What next? Giant snakes!” Hadvar shuddered “too many dam eyes you know.”

We found the stream again and followed it into a larger area we crossed a natural bridge and walked past a pillar till I spotted a bear.

"Look! There's a bear. I'd rather not tangle with her right now.” Hadvar sounded concerned.

“We can handle this.” Bears were a bit tricky to shoot but this one was asleep and an easy target at best.

I crouched my brother following my lead behind me sword at the ready, I took the steel dagger from my belt and slowly worked my way around till I faced the bead head on, my brother raised his sword ready to drive it into the bears skull if it awoke.

I reached over and quickly sunk my dagger into its neck and quickly tore its neck wide open.

The bear roared and gurgled on its own blood my brother quickly finished the bead off.

Hadvar walked slowly over to us, “ok … never seen a bear go down quite like that…” I watched my brother pull his sword from the bears head and clean the blade.

“I would skin this bear for its pelt but I think it best we move on.” I wiped my dagger off on the bear’s fur and slid it back into it sheath in my robe.

“Right lets hurry I feel the cold air nearby we have to be close.”

After passing the bears eating area and avoiding all the long dead bones we saw snow had fallen into the tunnel from an opening.

"Looks like this is the way out!" Hadvar said quickly turning to look at us. "I was beginning to wonder if we'd make it!"

We all quickly rushed up the snow covered slope out into the cold morning air.