Kynareth's Loss

"Kynareth, Goddess of Air, is the deity of the heavens, the winds, the elements, and the unseen spirits of the air.
Patron of sailors and travelers, Kynareth is invoked for auspicious stars at birth and for good fortune in daily life. In some legends, she is the first to agree to Lorkhan's plan to invent the mortal plane, and provides the space for its creation in the void. Further, she is associated with rain, a phenomenon said not to have occurred before the removal of Lorkhan's divine spark. She is known as Kyne to the Nords, and is the widow of Shor, better known as Lorkhan. The rain is said to be the weepings from Kyne as she mourns the loss of her beloved Shor, since rain did not appear until after his divine spark was forcibly removed."

Clio snorted then threw the scroll aside. She looked up at the Shrine of Kynareth with little interest; the argonian had stumbled across the statue while hunting timber wolves.
She had no interest in any god or goddess, another doom had been foretold by the so-called 'Priests' and if it was true then there was nothing anyone could do.
Clio was just about to turn away when she was approached by a redguard called Stanet.
"Greetings traveler, you look upon Lady Kynareth with a cold eye. Tell me, what fuels your dismissal of the Nine?" he asked, bowing slightly.
"There is no peace when one accepts the Nine, first it was the Gates of Oblivion and then it was the Eight and One and finally The Shivering Isles." Clio replied darkly.
"That last one was Daedric." Stanet pointed out.
"Does that make it any different? No, another doom has been foretold concerning this very deity." the argonian jerked her head towards the Shrine.
"Ah yes, Kynareth's Loss as it is called. The storm that will destroy all provinces; leveling cities, clearing forests and taking lives." the redguard said sadly.
"This is why I look upon Lady Kyne with a cold eye." Clio hissed.
She turned and swiftly walked away, preparing to resume her hunt.

Jhy-Thar got out of his wagon and walked over toward the shrine slowly, sometime after the other two had left. Gravel softly crunched under his bare feet as he approached it. The scroll caught his eye and he bent down to pick it up. Reading it over, he chuckled to himself and tossed it aside. He then noticed a large bag of food in front of the statue, on the base of the shrine, which, apparantly was an offering of some sort, left by the redguard. "Hmph... Dumbasses..." he muttered as he brought the bag back to his cart. His slaves looked at him, speechless. Jhy-Thar sat down in the front of the cart, the slaves to him, like two rows of loyal knights to a king. He tapped the felt of the back of the wagon, signaling the driver to go, as they headed for a place to camp for the night.

Clio hunched low in the long grass and shuffled forward towards the oblivious timber wolf, her fists clenched and her muscles tensed as she prepared to pounce.
But then a cart went by and the driver took the time to kill the wolf himself before continuing on his journey. Cursing, Clio stood up her scales glittering in the sunset.
"Stupid whiteskin." she thought angrily.
After a moments pause, Clio smiled slyly. Drawing her bow, her notched an arrow and aimed at one of the two horses pulling the cart. The arrow shot through the air, implanting itself in the horse's neck, killing the animal instantly. She aimed another arrow, this time taking out the other horse.
Clio smiled triumphantly and flitted off into the forest.

The wagon shook as the horses went down. Jhy-Thar roared and cursed loudly as he peered out and noticed what happened. He looked up and noticed they were not far from the closest camp, then grumbled. "Might as well cook up them horses, eat them too..." he finished, bringing the bag of food, leaving the loyal slaves to get everything else.

Clio couldn't help but laugh as she ran when she heard the roar and curse of another argonian.
"He'll get an even bigger surprise when either him or someone else in the cart touches one of those horses" she thought gleefully "I used shock arrows."
Clio sighed in relief when she saw Chorrol, pushing open the gate she headed towards the Grey Mare inn.

"Ouch!" one of the argonian slaves yelled as he withdrew his hand from the horse in shock. "Shock arrows..." Another muttered. "Give it a few seconds. It should be good then. Eventually, they were on their way to the camp, where they settled for the night. A couple slaves cooked all the food, a couple more guarded and Jhy-Thar napped in one of the tents lazily until the food was ready.

Clio payed for her room at the Grey Mare then bought a pice of boar meat and a bottle of mead. She sat down at one of the tables and began her meal.
She looked up as someone sat in the seat next to her, smiling when she saw it was only her friend Dar-Ma.
"I have not seen you in Chorrol for a while Clio, been hunting?" Dar-Ma asked.
"Yes, and I came across Kynareth's Shrine." Clio replied.
"Then surely, you have heard of the fate?" her friend said, eyes widening.
"I don't believe a word of it." the hunter muttered.
"But the prophet foretold it! And last time he was right!" Dar-Ma protested, voice rising.
"Listen to me Dar, whatever the fate is, it's not happening now. We'll worry about it if and when it happens." Clio said, her voice softening in an attempt to calm her friend down.
"I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't get angry at the person who saved me from Hackdirt." Dar-Ma said grinning, she stood up and prepared to leave.
Clio laughed "See you tomorrow, Dar." she said.

Jhy-Thar got up and sat by the campfire, as he was served a pile of food. Some of his slaves came and sat with him as they ate and drank until all the food and liquor was gone, and all that lit the area was the light of the campfire and the moon. His slaves helped him to bed in the tent, efforts combined, with little strength left to carry him, let alone themselves. A couple of them slept with him, while a few more stayed outside the tent, and those who didn't eat or drink nearly as much stayed on guard for the entire night.

Clio lay down on the fairly clean bedroll, yawning; she rolled over and fell asleep in minutes.
The argonian woke up later than she'd expected, it was at least 11am. Cursing, she hurried down the stairs and out the door into the light rainfall.
"Hm..That's weird, doesn't usually rain at this time of year" she thought.
Clio wandered over to Northern Goods And Trade to visit Dar-Ma before she left.
"Hello Seed-Neeus, where's Dar-Ma?" the argonian greeted her friend's mother.
"Oh you just missed her, she's gone on one of her deliveries." Seed-Neeus replied.
"Ah, okay. Thanks anyway." Clio said and left the shop.
She walked around town for a bit, enjoying the refreshing rain before heading back out into the forest.

Jhy-Thar woke up to the sound of the rain hitting the tent and leaves of the trees. One of his slaves opened the tent door and peered inside.

"Go to Chorrol and get a couple more horses from the stables." Jhy-Thar said to the slave. "Sure thing!" the slave said and closed the tent. Jhy tapped another Argonian slave that had been sleeping down by his feet. "You, go with him and help with the horses..." he muttered. The slave nodded and hurried out so he could catch up with the other.

Jhy-Thar whistled and a third slave entered the tent with an enormous basket of foods and started feeding him. He sighed peacefully, putting his hands behind his head as he ate.

Clio was behind a tree in a flash of glittering scales when she heard two sets of footsteps heading towards the stables. She glimpsed a male Argonian and a male Khajiit talking in low voices about something; shrugging, Clio payed no attention and started to walk away.
She had gotten about two metres when the voices of the Argonian and the Khajiit caught her attention, they were getting steadily louder as if they were complaining about something or someone.
Curious now; Clio crept through the trees, listening to the conversation.
"Those were fine horses! And he ate them! They deserved a bit of respect." The Argonian male growled.
"What I want to know is, is who shot them." the Khajiit grumbled.
Clio grinned at the memory, these were obviously slaves from that cart.
"Never mind that! I'm worried about these next horses, not much escapes Master Jhy-Thar's belly." the argonian slave hissed.
"Jhy-Thar...So that was the owner of the cart. But that's definitely not a whiteskin name..." Clio thought.
She decided to make an appearance.
"Gentlemen." she greeted, walking up to them from behind "How are you this rainy morning?"

"Uhh... Uh, fine, thanks. You?" the Argonian said, hesitantly. "Yeah, we weren't doing anything wrong or anything..." the Khajiit muttered a bit. "We were just heading into Chorrol, to uh... buy some horses, yeah!" he finished, quite confident in what he said was believable.

"Not bad thank you, could be better." Clio replied to the Argonian, thoroughly enjoying this.
"Horses, eh?" She said to the Khajiit, putting all of her willpower into keeping a straight face "I would've thought two fine gentlemen like yourselves would have a whole stable of horses." she added, deciding flattery was the best way to find out about this Jhy-Thar bloke.

The two slaves weren't used to the flattery at all and just looked at each other.

"No..." said the argonian, "we need some..."

"And that is why we're going to the stables... to get some... because we need some..." added the Khajiit.

"Okay then, farewell." Clio said and returned into the woods, deciding she was getting nowhere with this.
She still silently followed them though, making sure she was undetected. It was quite annoying when slaves were this thick. She wondered how else she was going to gain information on Jhy-Thar.

The slaves ran off toward Chorrol as Clio went into the woods, or so they thought. "Okay..." the Khajiit whispered to the Argonian as they reached the clearing, "You go distract the guards, while I make it look like I went and bought a horse. I'll take it into the woods, then quickly return and alert the guard, telling him that something attacked me in the woods. Then, you grab a horse and we'll get away while they're distracted."

The argonian nodded obediantly. "Sounds like a plan!" he replied and headed for the gates.

"I knew it..." Clio thought as she perched in a tree, watching the two slaves go along with their plan. "Those Imperials are pretty useless guards."

She slid back down the bark and sprinted silently after the thieves with the horse; she wasn't going to hurt them, just follow them back to their camp.

"Ugh... So cold... tired, and hungry..." the bloated Argonian lied as he fell to his knees in front of the guards, in attempts to make them go get some food for him. They were convinced, as he was wearing just underwear, and his stomach was gurgling, only from being full, but they couldn't tell the difference, and helped him up.

"Come with us. We'll let you stay in the guard house for a while, have a meal and a rest." they said as the pulled him through the gates. "Eh... That really won't be necessary..." the Argonian started. "Ah, nonsense! We insist!" one of the guards replied.

Meanwhile, the Khajiit pressed flat against the side of the stable house and peeked around the corner, where Nardhil, a Dunmer was tending to the field. He snuck up behind her and killed her with a single strike to the back of the neck. He looted her, hid her body and then walked casually inside, looking like some random person looking for a horse who wasn't with the Argonian. "Would you like to buy a horse? We have the fastest horses in all of Cyrodiil." said a male Dunmer named Bongond. "It only costs 2500 gold. A fine price, I think." he added. "Uhh... No thanks..." the Khajiit replied, then punched the Dunmer in the face, knocking him out. He looted him too, then left the house, whistling happily to himself, as if he just bought a horse. He went in the field, grabbed a horse and came back out, riding it. He glanced over at the gates, but didn't see the Argonian there at all. "Ugh... That idiot..." he muttered to himself as he turned to take the first horse into the woods.

Clio dived into cover as the bloated Argonian came back, stumbling after the horse.

"'Ere! Jha'Meen! Wait a sec!" he called, looking even more well fed.

The Khajiit pulled the horse to a stop and the fat Argonian climbed on behind him.

"Honestly Eats-With-Gusto, the horse will die of exhaustion before we get back to camp." Jha'Meen muttered sourly.

"Aw, shut up" Eats-With-Gusto growled.

Clio now followed them at a greater distance, with Khajiit-like grace and agility.