Mori Pro Imperio: The Story of Pliton Calleius

The morning after, I woke up early, and made sure not to wake Twilight. I silently put on my armor, and went out hunting for wood and food.

I crept into the forest, and readied my bow. So many thoughts were running through my head, but I needed to think only about hunting for the moment. I needed to get something for breakfast before we rode off for Hammerfell, a rabbit or two at least.

The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the sky was still gray. There was a chilling breeze moving through, which was common in northern Cyrodiil. Being from Skingrad, I was unused to this, and it chilled me.

I shook it off, and focused on hunting. I found a set of tracks in the ground, and followed it. I followed for about half an hour, until I found a doe grazing in a clearing. I grabbed my bow, and pulled back the string.

The doe was so oblivious, like a child waiting for a candy but instead getting a beating. I raised the bow, and aimed at the doe’s neck. I only relented when I saw a fawn walk up to it, and nuzzle its head next to it.

I almost couldn’t fire the bow. All I could do is watch as the doe found food for her fawn. I shook my head, and pulled back the bow. I aimed at the doe, and closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see the doe die beside her fawn.

I let the arrow go, but I had to open my eyes to at least see if I had hit my mark. I watched the arrow as it flew into the doe’s midsection, toppling it. The fawn ran away, obviously terrified.

I came out of the woods, and grabbed my sword. I cut its head off, killing it, and began to skin it. I grabbed the valuable meat of the midsection, and walked off, letting nature take the rest.

I walked back to the camp, and found Twilight waiting with a fire. She immediately perked up when she saw me, and the meat. I hope it was for me, especially with what we did the night before.

“Good morning,” she said, “Is that breakfast?”

“Yes it is,” I said, putting the two slabs of meat down. “Where should we be by tonight?”

“About sixty miles,” she said, “Fifty eight miles if nothing happens.”

I nodded. It was so awkward talking to her, even after what we had done. The way she answered my questions directly, leaving nothing to elaborate on left me thinking that she was keeping something from me.

I knew that if I wanted to know, I would need to pry, but I let that rest, as I had to keep an eye on the cooking.

“Smells good,” she said, “Should be a cloudless day.”

“Yes it should.” I said, “Is there a way we can teleport to Helgathe or even Rihad?”

“No,” she said, “I need to be able to see it or have seen it to teleport to it.”

“We could just keep teleporting to the horizon,” I said, “That could work.”

“I don’t know,” she said, “It would really tire me out.”

“If we do this,” I said reassuringly, holding her arm, “We can go fifty miles in five minutes. We can rest at the border, and then travel to Rihad, where we can get a carriage there.”

“Are you sure?” She asked nervously, “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Nonsense,” I said, holding her hand in mine as she got up. “You can create inter-dimensional portals; you can teleport not even one hundred miles. Will you at least try?”

“Alright,” she sighed. “Wait, Pliton, the meat! It’s burning!”

I looked to the fire, and saw flames licking the meat. I ran over, and beat the fires with a spare cloth. Once they were extinguished, I picked them up.

“Alright,” I said, “It’s about half burnt on both. I take the burnt sides, you don’t.”

She nodded, and I cut the steaks accordingly. I took the burnt parts, and placed a slice in my mouth. It was rough on the outside, but the inside was perfectly cooked, and I began to take a liking to it.

Twilight ate her parts much more slowly, choosing to conserve energy for the momentous task ahead of her. She ate one piece at a time, and watched me tear at the meat. I looked up, and smiled at her. She laughed at me, and motioned that I had some stuck in my teeth.

I immediately turned away, and pulled the pieces out. I then finished my steak, and looked greedily at the horse.

“What do we do with the horse?” I asked, “We can’t just leave it here.”

“We are not slaughtering it Pliton,” she said, reading my mind. “We’re letting it roam free.”

She cut the binds, and scared the horse off. I shook my head ever so slightly, as Twilight scared off a huge hunk of meat we could be using.

“Grab my hand,” she said, “This is going to be nauseating for you.”

I readied myself, but Twilight didn’t wait. She teleported, and we were miles away from our campsite. I barely had time to look before she teleported again.

Once we were in the second location, the nausea hit me hard. I could barely keep it all down, but Twilight never let me catch my breath.

After five minutes of intense nausea, Twilight said that we were at the border of Hammerfell. She could see the Alik’r Desert, and the city of Rihad in the distance.

“Do you think you can make it to Rihad?” I asked her in between bouts of nausea.

“Maybe,” she said, “I don’t know. Do you think you can make it?”

“I wouldn’t care about me.” I said, “Just make sure that you can. If you can, I can then.”

She nodded, and grabbed my arm. Her horn began to glow, and she teleported us about five miles away from the gates of Rihad.

“Alright,” I said, “We can make it in about an hour or two.”

“Got it,” Twilight panted, “Can I just rest here for a bit?”

“Are you alright?” I asked, running to her side. “Do you need water?”

“No,” she said, “I’m fine. I just need to catch my breath.”

I nodded, and left her company. The landscape of this area of Hammerfell was intriguing. Behind us were the green forests and fields of Cyrodiil, though here, the huge trees gave way to shrubs and tall grasses, and the dirt was replaced by sand. The sun was warm, but since it was early morning, we could get inside Rihad before the weather got too severe.

I walked back to where Twilight was, only to find her gone.

“Twilight?” I shouted, “You can come out now. You got me.”

Only she didn’t. I drew my sword, and called her name again. Now I was starting to get nervous, since I saw footprints in the sand.

I followed them, to find a group of Redguard bandits taking Twilight away.

“Hey!” I called, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

They turned, only to fire a few arrows at me. I charged at them, sword ready to slice through their light armor.

“Get back here!” I screamed, “Give her back!”

One stayed back to occupy me to give the others a chance to take her away and do Talos knows what to her.

“Now now now,” he said, “We don’t want any trouble here.”

“Do you know who you are doing this to?” I shouted at him, “I am a Legate in the Imperial Legion, and she is a personal protégé of Princess Celestia of the Royal Equestrian Army!”

“More gold we get for the ransom.” He said, reaching for his battleaxe. I tightened my grip on my sword, and cracked my neck.

He ran at me, and brought his battleaxe down at me. I raised my sword in defense, one hand on the hilt, and the other at the tip of the sword. He was caught off guard as I swept his feet out from under him and he fell to the sand.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a Legate.” I said, “I have killed many a Daedra with this blade. Surrender and I might consider your life.”

He snarled at me, and placed both his feet on my chest. I went tumbling down a dune, with the bandit hard on my tail.
I hit a rock at the bottom of the dune, and the bandit placed a foot on my chest. He raised his battleaxe to finish me off, but I wouldn’t have any of it. I cut at his thigh, catching him off guard, giving me the chance to roll out of the way of the falling axe.

“I will drink from your blood, Imperial!” He snarled, picking the axe up.

I ran at him, and bashed his chest with my shield. He fell to the ground, and I drove the sword into his throat. He tried to say something, only to gurgle and choke on his own blood.

I left him to rot in the desert, and climbed to the top of the dune. I could see a small group of people in the distance, but I couldn’t be sure if they were the bandits. Seeing as they were the only people I could see and that the battle didn’t take that long, I ran after them.

Sweat was drenching my face and underarms, the sun was so intense. Wearing black Daedric Armor also didn’t help, but mostly I attributed the intense heat to running in the desert.

Soon –and by soon I mean a half an hour– I caught up with the group.

“Twilight!” I screamed, and saw her look back. She had a large gash across her forehead, which sent me into a blind rage.

I charged the group, and severed one’s head before they could realize what was going on. They immediately drew their weapons, and threw Twilight down on the hot sand.

“Pliton!” She screamed, “Help me, I can’t see!”

I blocked it out of my head as soon as I heard it. I know that is just downright mean, I needed to focus on killing her captors before I could even think of helping her.

“Come at me!” I screamed, “I’ll fucking kill you all!”

They looked at each other in fear. I took advantage of the opportunity, and slashed at one’s abdomen. He screamed, and punched me in the face. I felt blood flowing out of my nose as I staggered back.

“Never should have come here to Hammerfell.” A bandit said, “We’ll make you regret it.”

They came at me, weapons ready to strike me down. I blocked an attack with my shield, but a bandit attacked me at my open side. The weapon struck, but didn’t break through the armor.

I turned, and drove my sword through his chest. Blood poured out of his chest when I drew my sword from the wound, and turned to the other two.

They were on my right and left, and looked to be attacking me at the same time. One had a sword, while the other wielded a Warhammer.

The one with the sword attacked first. I parried the strike with my sword, and sliced his neck open with the spiked bottom of my shield. Blood spurted out of his throat and gurgled out of his mouth, staining the sands black.

While I was turning to the other bandit, he brought the Warhammer down on my shoulder. I fell onto the sand, the wind knocked out of me.

I turned over, to see him raise the hammer with both hands, obviously planning tom finish me off. I rolled to the side just in time, and got up. I sliced at his shoulder, leaving a decent-sized laceration along the side of his shoulder.

“You bastard,” he said, “You’ll pay for that.”

He swung the hammer at me, but I deflected it with my shield. I brought my sword over the shield, and sliced at his face, cutting his eyes out. He went to the ground, and screamed as his eyeballs hung from his head.

I pulled the Redguard’s hair, and sliced at his exposed neck. I let him go, and ran to Twilight.

“Twilight,” I said, “It’s me, Pliton. Are you alright?”

“I can’t see,” she said, “Help me.”

“I think I have some potions.” I said, reaching for my rucksack. I grabbed out a large potion of healing, and poured some on her wounds, and the rest into her mouth.

She reeled in agony, but the wound was disappearing. When she had drunken the last of the potion, her wounds were mostly gone, but there was still a large part of her forehead that needed healing.

“Can you see?” I asked, “The last of the potion is gone.”

“I can barely see,” she said, “But I will manage. I can now use my magic to heal the rest.”

“This is my fault,” I said in dismay, “If I hadn’t left you alone, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“No, it’s not.” She said, “We’re both at fault. This was as much as my fault as it was yours, which isn’t much.”

I sighed, and agreed with her. She smiled, and then she placed her hands on her forehead, and her horn began to glow again. Soon, the wound was all but gone. You never would have thought it was there.

“Ready to go?” I asked, “Rihad is right over the next few dunes.”

“I’m ready when you are.” She grabbed my hand, and we began to walk the dunes.

Alright, so in the next chapter, I promise, Twilight and Pliton will reach Stros M’Kai and fight. I know these past few chapters probably weren’t the most entertaining, but it will have more action in the next chapter. PLEASE leave a review, and why not a fave? So, I'll see you in the next chapter!