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The Road to Ruin	By : pirouette Category: +A through F > Elder Scrolls - Oblivion Views: 2483 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
The
Road to Ruin B-Side: Ocato
I know I've mentioned that I
hate the Imperial City
before. Granted, I've never told anyone why, but still. What I don't understand
is why no one ever listens to me about it. First it was �go help
Baurus,� and then �go ask the High Chancellor for troops.� I didn't expect
Jauffre to care, but couldn't Martin have...? If he had done something, maybe
Ocato and I wouldn't hate each other as much as we do.
It still makes me feel like
screaming when someone calls me the Hero of Kvatch. Three months before I got
sent on that stupid errand, the High Chancellor would have laughed himself
hoarse if I had asked for an audience with him. But one battle, a Gate, and a
pretty dress later, I was announced at the Palace and heard scrambling
noises from behind the door. I smoothed the gown I'd put on�the one
Baurus had chosen for you, be honest�self-consciously. The black one had
seemed the most formal back at the inn, but just then I was wondering if I
should have kept with the blue. What if I came off as pretentious? What if it
was too glum?
My worries were shattered as
soon as Ocato walked into the hall, resplendent in his robes, blond hair
carefully twisted. Altmeri. I almost laughed�there was
no way to come off as pretentious to an Altmer. He looked at me appraisingly,
then ushered me back into the room he'd just entered from. It was large enough
to make me feel like I was outdoors. An uncomfortable, dead
room.
�So, you're the famous Hero
of Kvatch.� I think he was trying to smile.
�That is what they call me,
yes.� I looked at the floor awkwardly.
�You would prefer something
grander, perhaps?�
�I would prefer my anonymity
back, in all honesty.�
Ocato gave a short laugh.
�You do modesty well, Bosmer.�
We both ignored the angry
flush that crept across my cheeks�Baurus told you on the ride down here that
you couldn't treat the nobility like you treated Jauffre, remember? That
hadn't stung at all. By Y'ffre, things were so much simpler before I'd met
Martin. Not that I would ever admit that to anyone. Martin would be hurt, and
Jauffre would feel vindicated in his opinion of me.
But Ocato.
He was standing too close to me in the manner of all tall people who have
forgotten they are tall, looking down. �I'm surprised they didn't send a Blade,
you know, if this is such official business.�
�I am a Blade,� I replied
quietly.
�A Bosmer, a Blade?� Another laugh. �That's a shame. For a moment I was wondering
if your so-called Heir was trying a new method of
diplomacy.�
I stole a glance upward at
his eyes and did not like what I saw. �I don't know what you mean.�
�Are you being coy, now? He
sends a very pretty girl, a mer, to me in a very pretty gown. You may have
closed the Gate at Kvatch, little one, but you are no Blade. Why are they
keeping you around?�
I tried to take a step
backward, but he grabbed me by the arm, just gently
enough so that we could both still pretend it was polite. If anyone
walked in, it would look like a fatherly gesture. �So tell me�what is it you
came here for?�
�I am sent to request aid
for Bruma.� Baurus had helped me prepare a speech, but the words failed me as
his fingers dug into my skin ever-so-slightly.
Ocato laughed and released
my arm. �My Legions have their hands full already. Why should I care about
Bruma?�
I felt an edge creeping into
my voice�Baurus would be so disappointed with you! �Because your new Emperor dwells there.�
He was no longer smiling.
�Yes, and until he dwells here, he is not my Emperor. County
Bruma is on its own.�
I turned to leave, which
seemed to confuse him. He stepped in front of me and did not smile. �What,
leaving already?�
�I need to take word back to
Bruma and petition the other cities.�
�And you're not going to try
at all to negotiate?�
No one had prepared me for
that sort of turn in a conversation. �I... don't have anything to....�
His fingers snaked up to the
tips of my hair. �Don't you?�
I jerked away reflexively,
and he grabbed me by the neck and slammed me into the wall. My instinct was to
reach for my sword, but I was not wearing it. I twisted to bite him, but�You
BIT the High Chancellor?
No. I didn't. I slumped
against the wall and ignored the pain flaring in my neck.
�Something doesn't add up
with you. A mer in a man's Order, a Hero sent here in a dress and not armor.
Not here to tempt me, it seems, unless you need lessons on when to drop the coy
veneer.� He tilted my face up to his and looked me in the eyes. When he saw my
rage, he smiled. Sick mer.
�An angry
Bosmer who doesn't lash out. She also doesn't use her body to get her
way.� He chuckled and chucked me under the chin. �You've been ordered to be
good. So tell me, little savage�which Blade are you fucking?�
My eyes went wide, which I
regretted instantly, because he grinned. �So I was right! I wonder which one it
is�Jauffre would have never sent you away willingly.� I tried to pull away, but
he gripped me more tightly and dropped his face to mine. �Unless
someone was sending you away for a reason.�
�Let me go,� I managed, but
he just tightened his grip again.
�You were fucking someone
you weren't supposed to be, weren't you?� He was so close to me that I could
smell him. The thickness of the time he spent indoors overwhelmed my senses. He
smelled like a ruin�the entire Tower did. It was the odor, and not the words, that made me cry�could I willingly spend my life in a
place like this for Martin?
�Tears?
Oh, my. You're an imbalanced one.� He released me, and I slumped to the floor.
�What made you think it was
a good idea to go after the Heir? You'd have better chances socially with an Orc.�
I glared up at him. It was
hard to do.
�When he gets crowned, do
you think that makes you Empress? You'll be swept under a rug and left to rot
until he forgets about you and moves on to some human who can wear a dress
without looking like she is about to leap into the eaves.� He was staring down
at me in anger, and I had a brief moment of insight.
�What is it, High
Chancellor? Is being a glorified assistant in a palace built by your ancestors
not comforting enough? Does the thought of another mer ascending higher than
you have managed hurt you that much?�
The words were a mistake. He
hit me across the face with a snarl and dropped to his knees before me, placing
one hand on either side of my face against the wall. Trapping
me.
�You will never be higher
than me. You will never be anything other than an embarrassment, a blight. A mistress who offends the chefs at banquets
because she eats only meat. You'll rail inside these walls just as I do, but
only because you want out. You will be miserable here, and you will take
him down with you, little mer. We cannot make a woman out of a beast. You have
already learned all your tricks.�
I bowed my head to hide my
fury. �I am a Blade. That is all I am.�
�Yes, a Blade who eats her
enemies. A Blade who will sneak out of the palace, out of the City, every
chance she gets. Leave his life in the hands of the capable��
�If you had any idea what I
have done for him�� my voice was rising, so he covered my mouth with his hand.
The urge to bite him was embarrassingly strong after all he had just said to
me.
�I do have an idea.
And if you show me, Bruma will get the Legion.�
My hands were shaking. He
could not be asking�but no, his lips lowered to my neck, and his tongue slid
along what felt like a freshly-formed bruise from his fingers. I gave in. I bit
him as hard as I could.
�Little animal!� he hissed.
I sprang to my feet and was almost to the door before he struck me with a
paralysis spell. He pulled me back toward him with a casual flick of his hand,
and soon I was facing him again, at eye level.
�That is why you will fail
him, Hero of Kvatch. You cannot do what is necessary to get what he needs. As
long as you have a will of your own, you cannot serve his.�
�That explains you, then,� I
panted as he released the spell and sent me clattering to the ground.
�I am teaching you a lesson
you will need later,� he said dismissively. �I am helping you.� And with
those words I was allowed to go.
I didn't understand it then,
or later, when I was crying in Baurus' bed and he was trying to get me to tell
him what had happened. I never did tell him�I didn't want either of us to have
to think about the fact that we could never have Martin if we kept down the
path we'd been ordered to follow.
But after my meetings with
the Counts and Countesses went far more smoothly, I realized that I had
learned something from him, though not the lesson he was expecting me to. No,
this was stolen information�the kind I remain best at obtaining.
That day, Ocato taught me
the value of hiding my emotions and lying with my face. I had never been any
good with words, but this I excelled at. That is how I showed the other
Crusaders, the priests, and the Nine that I cared when I took up their quest to
defeat Umaril. That is how I managed to keep from telling Count Indarys just
what I thought of his son, Farwil. And that is how I managed to make it to
Martin's quarters before bursting into tears when I returned to him at the end.
- 8
- 9
- 10
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The Road to Ruin