<div dir="ltr"><div>Here is part three of my next story. HUGE thanks to Hallan for helping me make this scene work with what he has written. </div>-LurkingWolf __________________ February 29, 708 CR Lois marched through the halls of the keep with purpose, seeking out the small room that had become a second home to him over the course of the past few months. Around him, the sounds of the howling blizzard blotted out even the constant staccato of his own claws against the stonework of the floor. Despite having walked for several minutes already, Lois had never escaped the sound of the blizzard amid the unnaturally shifting hallways of the upper Keep. He had been south of the storm during the assault a little more than a year ago, but the howling winds brought to mind the possibility of another such attack. He doubted that anyone in the watch would sleep well this evening, at any rate. Regardless, as he entered the training room once again, he found that Kyia had made certain that both he and Paula would be comfortable this evening. Instead of the balcony and the wide open vista that generally occupied the far wall, a small window, visibly set in an extremely thick wall, was the only access to the outside world. Still, looking out through the window revealed a veritable curtain of white falling from the sky, and the wind whipped across the mouth of the open window, causing unnatural wails to reverberate through the window’s depth. Lois wondered if Kyia’s adjustments had actually made the storm seem less threatening at all. “I’ve never seen a storm remotely like this,” Paula commented as she entered. She was already prepared for the evening’s activities, having learned from their plentiful training exercises beforehand. Although she lived in the town below, she had seen the storm coming and found an excuse to be absent from the house when it arrived. She began to stretch as Lois continued to stare out the window. He could not even see lights from the town below, although he wasn’t certain if it was perhaps a trick of perspective due to the depth of the window. A flash, and he saw strange, fingerlike tendrils of lightning striking in the distance, only to scatter off of some sort of barrier, no doubt erected against the storm by the Keep’s mages. “I am ready,” Paula announced. She was waiting for him in the middle of the room, and he slowly turned to join her there. He stretched a bit himself for a few moments, but he had already prepared beforehand and did not need as much adjustment as Paula did. “You say you have not seen a storm like this? What of the assault last winter?” Paula seemed to shiver a bit as she recalled the event, but she recovered after a moment. “It was a blizzard, yes, but most of it was snow, ice, and wind. I do not recall much lightning or thunder then. I wonder what might have happened to anger all of the elements so, and all at the same time?” Lois shrugged. “I do not worry myself with the workings of the pantheon. By what I have heard from their servants with whom I am personally acquainted, they tend to be too fickle to predict on the best day. I think as likely as anything, one petty god or another was insulted by a daemon somewhere, and is throwing a tantrum outside to vent a bit.” Paula shook her head with a sideways smile. The two of them began their practice to the sound of the howling wind, talking very little as the storm seemed to try to sink its icy fingers through the stone to reach those within. Although the room was colder than usual for certain, neither Paula nor Lois noticed any other effects from the storm. Some of the swirling snow managed to cling to the first few inches of the window’s depth, but none of the flakes came into the room. The wind simply kept the air in the room moving, and neither of them minded that provision. They were soon sparring, each of them holding one of Lois’ daggers. Paula’s skill had definitely reached a very good level by this point, aided at once by her preternatural foresight and her recent training. Lois was still able to best her handily in most situations, but she had learned to identify her own errors very efficiently after each defeat, and she was remarkably skilled at learning from past mistakes. So long as she was given an opportunity to make mistakes in an environment that would not kill her, Lois was certain that she would soon be a match for almost any man in the Keep before very long. And then, a sudden red flash lit the room from the window behind them. Thankfully, they were both too shocked to land the blows they had been dealing in their current duel, and they turned to watch the window. Another blood-red flash lit the room, and then a thunderous rumble shook the room through the very stones that made up its floor. “Did the spells fail?” Paula breathed with some concern. Lois’ long fur was on end. “That wasn’t the storm,” he said, speaking to himself as much as Paula. He walked to the window and stared out, but the storm had not ebbed and the only thing he could see for certain was snow. “Stay here, Paula. I’m going to have a look.” The young woman followed him as he stalked towards the doorway. “Stay here? Where are you going? I could help!” Lois turned and looked her in the eyes. His expression was serious, but not truly angry. “Paula, there is a blizzard out there. The Curse gave me the form of an animal that can take the cold. You’re hardly prepared for it. Stay here, and stay safe.” He was gone before Paula could say another word. She wanted to argue, but the fact was that he was right. She would probably freeze to death well before she accomplished anything remotely profitable. She returned to the training room and began to run through some drills on her own. And then she noticed that Lois had left his daggers. * * * The assassin noticed the same thing a few moments later, but he had already committed to investigating the strange occurrence, and he didn’t have time to return for them. He wished that he had anticipated leaving the Keep; he would have at least thought to bring other weapons. Perhaps the creeping paranoia that he had become accustomed to during his assassination career might prove to be one thing he kept to in the future. At least in that time he was never caught without a weapon. As it was, he found his way to the exit quickly, only to see the portcullis closed. At the moment there were no guards posted at the gate, which struck Lois as odd, but he was not about to question his luck. He considered trying to open the gate briefly, but decided that he didn’t have the time to waste. He focused on his body and mentally molded it to change into its most feral form. Almost before he had a solid image of the shift he desired, his body began to change. The ermine was glad that he had attempted this shift a few times since taking the Curse; it made shifting feel far more natural. Soon he was small enough to slip through the bars of the portcullis, and he took several steps out into the howling storm before shifting back. He reached back through the bars and took his discarded clothing, but simply bundled it and hid it in a pile of firewood against a nearby house. On second thought, he pulled out a light shirt and slacks from the rest of his clothing and put them on, allowing the wind to whip the material into a wrinkled mess. As he began to run, the former assassin realized that he had very little idea where he should be heading. He began to run down the main thoroughfare through the city before pulling up short. A cart had crashed ahead, turned sideways for some reason Lois couldn’t guess. The snow was already piling high around the broken wheel that rendered the mechanism unusable, so the only way around it was to go over it. Lois turned down a side road and began to dodge through the alleys between houses before running into another obstacle. A pile of barrels had been tumbled from where they were stacked only moments before. Lois would have blamed the storm, but the position of the nearby houses should have shielded the stack from the wind. Lois scowled. It seemed that something was trying to block his passage, but there was one way he knew to circumvent these barriers. He used what was left of the stack to jump to a low-hanging roof nearby, and from there leaped to the next building. Where the ground level had been subject to the spiraling winds and slicing snow, Lois found that his higher perch was even worse. The winds threatened to hurl him bodily from the rooftops, and the snow came not just from the sky, but also blew at him from where it had clung to the surrounding shingles. He had to squint through the ice that tried to tear at his eyes, growling to himself at yet another obstacle. His fur snapped this way and that, trying to be blown with the wind even though the wind refused to go in a constant direction. Steadying himself, the ermine tried to run to the far side of the roof, intending to jump the gap. His paw hit a slick patch as he ran, and sent him sprawling and sliding down the slanted roof until his claws again found purchase. He grunted and lifted himself back up; at the very least, his fall had taken him to the far side of the roof. He blinked as he looked down. Another pile of debris blocked the alley. He could not identify what it was from his perch, but it looked again as though it had been intentionally thrown there to stop a pursuer. Lois held a paw across his face to shield his eyes from the blinding snow. Looking about, he realized that he could see similar barricades in the nearby alleys. Suddenly, the truth came to him. The intention was not to block a pursuer. It was meant to channel someone in a specific direction. He turned his face and gasped as the constant wind made it difficult to breathe. A few moments later, he had dropped from the roof and landed in a roll in another alley, one of the few not completely blocked. He followed it, now paying the barricades the attention they demanded and veering to attempt new paths as they were opened to him. He was almost ready to vault over one of the strange barriers when he heard screams on the wind, words lost in the howl of the wind but emotions hanging clearly on the edge of the voice. Rage… Lois looked for a pathway, but found the only one that led the direction he wished to go was blocked. Growling, he again used the barrier to take him to the roofs, and this time he meant to stay there. He made full use of the claws that the Curse had given him, running on all fours to increase his stability as he leapt from roof to roof. The wind tried to stop each of his jumps, but he would not be denied now. More voices now, and more emotions. Grief… Disbelief… Death. Lois was almost blinded by another flash of light amid the storm, and then the screams came again, desperate now. The ermine willed himself to move faster. A sudden haunting, horrible cry stole all strength from the ermine’s body even though it was cut short. He missed the next jump, claws sliding hopelessly on the icy rooftop, dropping him to the ground in a heap. The former assassin wretched as he attempted to rise, body contorting as his mind flashed with visions only he could see. A baroness whose only crime was being born a commoner… A revolutionary with high hopes and a righteous cause… A merchant, ruthless in business but a gentleman at home… A thirteen year old boy, a victim of his uncle’s lust for power… A mage, his last moments spent shielding his child and apprentice from a hail of thrown daggers… Lois gasped, crying with a wretched agony that only he could feel as the flashbacks came like nightmares that were only too real. Their voices joined with the scream he had heard, echoing through his skull as memory united with the present to torment him. With the pain unrelenting, the former assassin growled in agony and frustration, forcing himself to his paws. The tears that clouded his vision were no longer due only to the cruelty of the wind. He gasped in agony once more before stumbling out into the snow-whipped street. There were more cries now, the voice so strong that the words nearly survived the savage winds. Lightning lit the sky once again, followed in dangerously close succession by a roll of thunder. Lois kept moving until he was brought up short by another barrier. He cursed between gasping breaths and once more used it to mount the rooftops. He steadied himself for a few moments before moving on, following the constant screams as well as he could through the force of the wind. The screams became wilder until they joined with the howling of the wind. One more rooftop… Climb to the peak, slide down the other side… The ermine took the moment’s respite to breathe, heavy gasps filling his burning lungs. He coughed as he turned, and looked down on the scene below him, eyes wide with shock and horror. The scene below was a masterpiece of chaos, painted in blood and snow. A building lay in pieces, discarded planks and bricks scattered too thoroughly to blame on the storm. Some of the rubble even seemed to smolder, lines of smoke rising in spiraling eddies as the wind caught them and bore them about. Laying on the snow a few paces from the building were a pair of forms, intertwined with no grace as they turned the snow red with their mixing blood. Those who still lived below were speaking, but the former assassin failed to notice the words. Instead, his gaze was transfixed in horror on the man furthest from his perch, his dark hair hanging down onto the plates of his pitch black armor. Lois did not recognize him, but the man saw him sliding to a stop at the edge of the roof, and the moment he spared to glance at the ermine and sneer in his direction sent a gut-wrenching chill up his spine. Fortunately, the man was otherwise occupied, and his gaze was elsewhere in moments. In one hand he held a cruel black chain, its links wreathed in a simmering flame. At the end of the chain and bound in a collar was the largest wolf Lois had ever seen, white but for a single, sloppy streak of red. Another chain, this one silver that gleamed with inner radiance, held to the collar of the wolf as well, and led to a regal lady whose back was turned to Lois. He could only see her gleaming armor from where he watched. Whatever dispute held the two gods on the corner of the street reached its conclusion, though not without several more harsh words exchanged. Their argument over, the two withdrew from the others who had gathered. In a flash half of light and half of shadow, the two were gone, and the wolf with them. The wail that lingered behind chilled Lois anew, but he was able to choke back the flood of memories that tried to cripple him again. Composing himself, he dropped to street level, approaching a side where no one would see him fall. He doubted that anyone present would react well to a man coming out of nowhere at this point. Instead of approaching them, he moved towards the bodies, allowing his face to fall into a shocked expression. It was surprisingly easy after what he had just witnessed. He could tell from the roof that the two were dead. There was far too much red in the nearby snow for either of them to be alive. The ermine simply wished to maintain a believable alibi. He did not go unnoticed by the small crowd that had gathered before his arrival, and he found himself at the point of several swords before he could even stand. He collapsed back into the snow, raising his arms to show them that his paws were empty. “Peace!” he exclaimed with a desperate tone to his voice. “I heard screaming. What happened?” “Go home,” a grizzled raccoon told him gruffly. He held the hilt of a well-kept katana in his paw, although he turned the blade to allow Lois to stand. “You cannot do anything to help here.” A female cat gave the raccoon a sidelong look before turning to speak to Lois herself. Although he was no religious man himself, Lois could tell by her clothing that she was a Lightbringer. “Take care, sir. There are Daedra about this evening. I suggest you return home with all haste and remain there for the rest of the night.” “I think the Daedra have gone,” another young woman suggested grimly from beside the cat. “They have what they were here for.” Lois looked between them. “What were they here for? Did the Daedra kill that man and the girl?” The raccoon still did not seem amused, but he was the first to speak. “No, that was Master Snow’s—“ “Yes.” A black leopard stalked up beside the raccoon and glared at him angrily. “Yes, the Daedra killed them.” He kept the glare focused on the raccoon for several more moments before he stalked in another direction, fuming silently to himself as he paced through the swirling snow. He kicked a drift with one paw, the cloud of snow he raised spiraling in the wind. Lois watched him with his jaw agape. “Master Snow?” He looked at the raccoon, but the man turned away, mumbling about having said too much. The Lightbringers had turned away as well, and Lois remained alone, standing in the snow. He wouldn’t have… He couldn’t have… But the words of the raccoon rung with truth, and Lois could not deny it. How could that sort of man do such a thing? What could have happened to make him so desperate? Lois finally staggered off, back towards the upper Keep. Paula would be waiting, and she would begin to wonder if he did not return soon. Lois had to know what had happened, but there were no more answers to be found tonight. He stumbled back up the road, wind blowing through his fur in gusts. He was not certain what he had just witnessed, but it made his head swim. The smith involved with Daedra? It didn’t seem right. The ermine set his jaw. There were too many questions here. He would find the answers. </div>