Betrayal of the Crown, Volume III [WIP]

[Haplo]

Betrayal of the Crown
by Horatio Gargonath

Volume III

Himself.

Staring back at him was a perfect image of himself--every scar, every feature exact. Ranguvar let out a wretched yell and jumped twice his height into the air at the unexpected sight.

"Do not be frightened, young one. This is merely an old trick I use on strangers whenever I need a good laugh." The unreal Ranguvar's face suddenly turned very stern. "Take heed, young one; this is one of the few times you will see me in such a light spirit. Dark times are upon us all."

Leaves and dust suddenly swirled into a miniature whirlwind around the unreal Nord as a whisper of music filled the air; the humming of a thousand voices all just barely trapped on the wind.

Ranguvar blinked, and a very old, very thin man stood before him, swathed in deep grey robes, tinged with a hint of faded, royal blue. The man leaned heavily on a sturdy, unadorned wooden staff.

"Come, young one. We have little time." The elder hobbled across the open ground to a large tent, guarded by two strapping young Bosmer warriors, clad in robes of elven design, shimmering in the twilight. It was apparent that they wore mail beneath their robes; Ranguvar made note of any suspicious bulges or humps that indicated hidden knives or other weapons.

The Nord followed his new acquaintance into the dimly lit canvas. He was somewhat taken aback when he looked around and saw a room the size of many tents; he concluded it must be some Bosmeri magic effect used to increase the tent's efficiency as a command post.

That is what it must be, of course thought Ranguvar. It made sense to him; the many tables covered in scrolls and charts, scribes relaying orders and missives, and in the center a large ring of white rocks glowing softly with a soft light.

"Come. Stand with me here, in the circle. We do not have much time, young one. I must show you many things before the sun rises again."

"Show me things... what?" Ranguvar took a cautious step toward the spot where the elder was pointing.

"Come, come! No questions. Just do as you are told for now; there will be time for questions later. Much later, I'm afraid. For now, we watch."

"Watch what?" Ranguvar asked with apprehension in his voice.

"Why, the future, of course! We watch it unfold before our very eyes! Watch..." With that, the old man grasped his plain staff with both hands, raised it up to the sky, and brought it down thundering into the very center of the circle.

The stones began pulsating violently, and a crystal on the staff hitherto gone unnoticed flashed a brilliant, blinding white. Ranguvar shut his eyes in a hasty attempt to keep his vision in tact.

When he opened them again, it was with a loud gasp, accompanied by a dizzying disorientation, which almost caused him to lose his balance. Balance, which Ranguvar suddenly noticed, was quite precarious--perched on the roof of a sand-and-stucco-covered building in a town he had never visited.

"What... what have you done, old one?" Ranguvar hissed loudly.

"Shush, you, we must listen and pay close attention! You must hear and remember everything you see tonight, the fate of more than you know depends upon it!"

"Where are we, at least?" Exasperation sounded in every syllable as the Nord tried his best to remain calm in the face of this unexpected series of events.

"Elinhir, on the eastern fringes of Hammerfell."

"Hammerfell! What are we doing here? How did we get here so... so fast?" Ranguvar desperately wanted to know the answers to his questions, but the elder would not tear his gaze nor his attention from above a balcony, at the end of the alley they were so precariously poised above.

Suddenly a figure emerged from the dark curtains and withdrew something quite large from within the folds of his voluminous cloak. The figure, which Ranguvar made out to be a man (or a very, very large woman), flung the object into the air, whispered some words in a spidery language, and

---
A little here, a little there. A little bit more. A little longer. Penis. Queen Akorithi

[Haplo]

Updated a tiny bit. Comments, Questions, Crude Remarks all welcome

[Nanu]

When he opened the again, it was with a loud gasp, accompanied by a dizzying disorientation which almost caused him to lose his balance. Balance which, Ranguvar suddenly noticed, was quite precarious, perched on the roof of a sand and stucco-covered building, somewhere he had never been.

Nice transition, Haplo.

You love your commas, don't you? I'll have to weed out some of those pesky things. It's shaping up.

[Haplo]

Pfft, they should be --'s instead. Be glad I'm not going wild with semicolons

[Haplo]

Change of plans; this one is now volume III.