I've had the first chapter of this story on my computer for a few months now, and after reading the Lord of the Rings for the first time it inspired me to try to finish this story I was having trouble with. With most of my fan-fictions I have trouble writing more chapters but I have alreadly prepared the second and third chapters of this story, they just need editing and then I will post them too. I plan for this story to have about ten chapters in total, but that number may increase or decrease as I find events relevant or not. With that said, here is Chapter one of The Swordmans Dance and I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter One: The Cat and the Wood Elves

4E 29, 12th of Last Seed, the city of Solitude, Skyrim

Cedric Aerius strode through the streets of Solitude, searching.

"Where could that old house cat have gotten to?” Cedric asked himself.

Cedric's light leather armor, tight against his athletic body, protected his skin from the pale golden sun, his black, swaying, hair shining from the rays. His face was sharp, and very light, his brows trimmed. He had often been complimented on his brilliant green eyes, ones very similar to his father's, or so he had been told.

The city was bustling as mid-day shoppers came out to browse the merchant's wares and services. This made the task of finding an old friend even more troublesome. As Cedric passed the city market, his blade began glowing faintly with a golden aura. This was not an unusual occurrence when Cedric passed through towns, as the sword, Kilight, could sense anything of significant value. This made the weapon a particularly useful tool for someone of Cedric's Career.

Cedric was a treasure hunter, but would take mercenary jobs if they presented themselves. Perhaps, had his life played out a little differently, he would have had a safer, more secure job. However, he had lived on the streets from an early age, looked after by the very same person he was searching for now, High Heart.

High Heart was an old Khajiit. Being a retired adventurer himself, he had taught Cedric everything he knew, from trap deployment, to how to deal with will-o-wisps, if he ever had the misfortune to encounter a group of them. Because of this bond, High Heart fit rather nicely into a father-figure role for Cedric. Cedric has often found High Heart's name ironic, as he was often not as honorable as his name suggested. Cedric, who was a pure imperial, had not known his father well, but High Heart more than made up for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
High Heart tried to catch his breath, while looking behind him to spot his pursuers. Being a Khajiit, he was naturally agile and nimble, but he was old, and these elves were faster, more acrobatic than he was. He spotted the bosmer exiting a alley, who immediately began chasing him again.

He began running, but knew they would catch him soon if he didn't do anything. Unsheathing his blade, he swung at a weak wooden support of a towering scaffolding. The structure came tumbling down as High Heart raced pass, roughly blocking the street with wood and various tools . The first two wood elves simply leapt over the rubble, while the third performed a wallrun to pass it.

High Heart cursed as he realized he hadn't even slowed them down. Placing his short sword back in his sheath, he turned left heading into the marketplace of Solitude. He took a quick glance, the marketplace was moderately crowded, but it wasn't enough to hide him from the bosmer. He looked behind him and realized his exit was now blocked by his pursuers. He sprinted to the opposite end of the market, the bosmers just a few feet behind him and gaining. He grabbed a spear from one of the many vendors, knocking that stand over in the process.

“Sorry!”, he yelled over his shoulder to the furious argonian owner.

Again, the wood elves easily jumped over the stand and passed yelling customers. High Heart was quickly coming to a dead end. Spear in hand, he jabbed it into the ground, propelling himself up. Pushing off the spear he launched himself over the small wall, an obstacle he knew the bosmer wouldn't be able to pass. Jogging now, High Heart crossed the street and headed off into a alley, sure that he had lost them. His growing smile soon ceased as two wood elves appeared in front of him. He quickly turned to flee, but was flanked by the third wood elf. Cursing under his breath, he accepted he had to confront them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Cedric prepared to cross the street to continue his search, he heard a argument behind him. He hurried into the nearby alley. There stood three, agile-looking wood elves, and one very exhausted looking Khajiit. One of the wood elves, who seemed to be the leader of the band of thieves, held a dagger to the Khajiit's neck, who was pressed up against the wall of a building that created the alley.

“We want our money!”, spat the wood elf.

“Don't worry, you'll get it back, I just need a little more time”. Said High Heart calmly.

“I Think we have given you enough time!”, said the wood elf, pushing the edge of the dagger deeper into High Heart's flesh.

“Fine, fine, you'll get your gold.... plus fifteen percent.” Said High Heart.

“It better be, otherwise we'll make you into a nice pair of fur boots, Khajiit.” Threatened the wood elf as he released the dagger from High Heart's neck, and raced off with his allies.

As High Heart patted the dirt off of himself, Cedric scurried over. The Khajiit wore simple fur armor and had a iron shortsword in his sheath at his hip. He had patches of dirt covering him, clearly from being chased and beaten by those elves.

“Are you okay High Heart?”

“I'm fine”, responded High Heart.

“What was that all about?” Asked Cedric.

“Those tree-huggers paid me in advance to do a job a few years back, to recover some artifact from a ruin. Turns out this ruin was crawling with undead, and littered with traps, so I forfeited the job. No amount of gold is worth dying over. However it seems I....forgot to pay them back.”

“Forgot?” Cedric said, grinning.

“Quiet you ingrate.”

“ Haha, sure. So how do you plan on paying back the bosmer?”

“I'll think of that later. Come on, lets go get something to drink.” Said High Heart, who started walking to the nearest pub.

“Uh, I think this is a time sensitive kinda think.”

“Hmm, I suppose you're right. We'll set off tomorrow morning.”

“Set off? Wait, where are we going?” Yelled Cedric.

“And don't forget your sword!” High Heart yelled back, vanishing into the crowd, clearly not hearing Cedric's question.

Cedric looked down at the sword that resided on his hip. It was glowing faintly and Cedric now knew where they were going. He also realized High Heart was probably intoxicated just now, so their destination was bound to be dangerous and odd.

Tell me what you think so far! :thumbsup:

Chapter 2: In Peril

4E 29 13th of Last Seed, outside the city of Solitude, Skyrim.

Cedric tapped his fingers nervously against the hilt of his blade. High Heart and Cedric had made their way a few miles away from the city, to a cave High Heart had known to contain some nice loot, if he sources were correct. These sources had also stated that the place was likely to contain some creatures. This fact was making Cedric uneasy, while he had been told he was a good swordsman, he had not been out in the field yet. High Heart seemed to have noticed this.

“Young Ced, what troubles you?” High Heart asked.

“I'm just...” Cedric paused, collecting his thoughts.

“You're worried if you can do this. Cedric, I've known you since you were a babe, I'd known your father, and trust me when I say you're deadly with a blade and perhaps the most cunning mage I know when it comes to the use of magic.” This was one of the few time High Heart lived up to his name, thought Cedric.

“Thanks High Heart, that means a lot coming from you.”

High Heart simply smiled at this, showing his great canine teeth, and waved for Cedric to follow him to the cave. The two walked the remaining distance to their destination in silence. It was a difficult walk through the thickets and deep snow, that crunched beneath their feet. They finally broke out of the woods of dead trees, emerging onto a snowy plain. Off in the distance, the opening to the cave was very dark. The silence was broken by High Heart.

“Hold your blade up!” He ordered Cedric

Cedric did as he was told, and grabbed the grip of his blade and unsheathed it. The grip was made in a diagonal pattern, the guard was short, but curved like horns. The blade itself was made from Nordic steel, and was curved in the middle. He held it above his head, and the steel glowed a golden tinge.

“Good, lets go.” Said High Heart, pleased that his sources had been correct. Cedric just hoped they hadn't lied about the other detail.

The pair continued into the cave, and Cedric was relieved that the wind had stopped rauaging his skin. High Heart walked steadily ahead disappearing into the darkness of the cave, leaving Cedric a few feet behind.

“Ced, I need some light.” He hissed from the dark.

“Oh, right!” Cedric said, opening his palm and casting a spell of light.

Suddenly High Heart appeared a few feet ahead, cast in a pale light. High Heart turned and continued walking into the cave, and Cedric scurried behind him like a lost pup. The cave itself was barren, covered in ice. Cedric found it hard to believe there was anything of value here, but Kilight said otherwise. They continued deep into the cave system, meeting many dead ends before they found any trace of loot.

Rounding a corner, they met a long, narrow hallway. Torches were embedded in the walls. Barrels and crates lay beside the walls all the way down the ice hall. Cedric continued walking, but High Heart put his arm out in front of him, jerking Cedric to a halt.

“Something is off, who lit those torches?” Asked High Heart, but he expected no answer. The thought hadn't even come to Cedric's mind, but now that it had his stomach was turning. Once again he tapped at his hilt and his teeth bit down on his lip.

“Shall we go back then?” Asked Cedric.

“No, we mustn't. I'm sure whoever is down here with us will not prove a challenge. Likely just a party of bandits, bandits who hardly know how to wield a blade, let alone kill a man with one.” This didn't ease Cedric like last time. High Heart's words were hard this time, as if he was reassuring himself.

High Heart continued his march down the hall made of ice, and Cedric reluctantly followed. High Heart took his sword out, and gripped it tight in his fur covered hand. Following the Khajiit's example, Cedric too unsheathed his golden blade.

The hallway came to a end several hundred feet later, opening into a large chamber. Straight in front of the pair was a thin bridge made of ice, seemingly hand-crafted. Below the dark hid the floor, proving that a fall would be quite fatal. High Heart continued onto the long bridge, this time Cedric didn't follow.

“I don't know about this...” Spoke Cedric, his voice echoing in the chamber.

“I haven't known you to be afraid of heights, young Imperial.”

“Its not the heights, its walking into overwhelming odds, you old Khajiit!” Said Cedric, harsh to prove his point.

High Heart's grinning face changed to one of deep thought, his whiskers twitching periodically. He paused for several minutes before answering.

“I suppose you're ri-” High Heart was cut off by another, brute voice.

“What are you doing here?” Said a Orc slowly, who was outfitted in tattered iron armor.

“Us? Oh, we were just....climbing?” Said High Heart in a high pitch.

“You, sirs, are trespassing on the Lord Kazameer's property.” Said the Orc in a stern voice, as two other guards joined him.

“Lord Kazameer? He is no lord, nor does he own any property. He's nothing but a common bandit.” said High Heart chuckling. While High Heart seemed to know who this Lord Kazameer was, Cedric certainly did not.

“You obviously haven't seen the Lord in a while, scum.” Said one of the men behind the Orc, a Bosmer, in leather armor.

“Perhaps, but I still have no respect for the man or his abilities so...” High Heart charged forth blade in hand. The three men met him on the bridge, one at a time due to the bridge's width. Cedric heard more men coming behind them, and turned to see another three men blocking their exit.

The men charged him and he backed onto the bridge, allowing him to fight them one at a time. The first man swung his rusty iron sword at Cedric, very clumsily. Cedric easily deflected his aggressive blow and sliced the man's gut. Grabbing his wound he fell to his knees and off the bridge to his death below.

The second man took his place. He was a orc, a brute in size. He brought his heavy war-axe down on the Imperial. Cedric back-stepped, and the man's axe stuck deep into the ice bridge, creating extensive cracks in the ice. Cedric's blade came down on the man's head, quickly killing him.

The third man hurried to fight Cedric, but as he ran, Cedric lit the ice before his feet aflame with a spell, the man slipped in the water and plummeted to the floor below. Cedric grinned, defeating those opponents had renewed his confidence. He looked up from watching the man falling, only to see more opponents had arrived. Several more. He turned his head and saw that High Heart's end of the bridge was in a similar way.

They were overwhelmed...

-Update-

So I've finished both chapters 3 and 4. I would post them now but 3 needs some heavy editing while 4 I feel is the best chapter I've ever writen. So once I edit that, I'll post those too. It be nice to hear what some of you think of this story so far. :biggrin: