» Fri May 27, 2011 4:47 am
Manus hid behind the trees with the rest of the recruits, watching, waiting. So far they had encountered two merchant caravans, both with minimal guards, and both dispatched without casualty. They had been lucky that no legionnaires had been guarding them, and two victories made the men grow overconfident. That was dangerous. Suddenly, unbidden, a memory flashed before his eyes.
"Lalaine, I've returned from the recruitment offices. I've been accepted into the Legion!" Manus shouted upon arriving home. His wife, Lalaine, came from the other room and gave him a gentle smile and told him how happy she was for him, but he could sense something was amiss. "Dearest, what is it that bothers you," he had asked. But she simply continued smiling and told him not to worry, that it was nothing and that she couldn't believe how her husband was now a legionnaire. He remembered her saying how proud she was of him, yet, somehow, he could sense that she was disappointed, as if she had hoped they would reject him.
Just as the memory finished, two figures appeared on the horizon, a pair of Legionnaires out on patrol. How ironic. He quickly ordered the men to take positions on either side of the path, and they did so, their bows at the ready. As they approached his hiding spot, he fingered the amulet around his neck, and another memory appeared.
"I'm telling you, this man is innocent. It was the noble, Claudius, that murdered the man, not this poor fellow. I saw it, and I'm sure that there were others who witnessed it as well," he had explained to a pair of Legionnaires, though they remained unconvinced. He remembered how one of them argued that, being a noble, he couldn't have possibly committed the crime, and that this beggar had obviously managed to fool him somehow. "That's absurd! I know what I saw!" And yet still, they would not be convinced. After several more minutes of arguing, one drew his sword and approached the terrified beggar. When Manus tried to interfere, he was restrained by the other. He watched the innocent man executed, and could do nothing to stop it. He remembered returning home that day and explaining what had happened to Lalaine, and the look of understanding on her face, as if she knew that something like this would happen.
Soon, the legionnaires were in range, their black stallions snorting and bucking in an attempt to warn their oblivious riders of the danger. But they didn't listen, and they tried to calm their horses to little effect. Then he whispered, in a voice so quiet that only his men could hear him. "Ready." They rose their bows and withdrew arrows from their quivers.
The next day he had gathered witnesses and gone to the leader of the Legion in the district. He explained what had happened, and used the other's testimonies to support his own. The Captain called in the men that had performed the executions and sent away the commoners. They said the man Manus had seen was a noble, and that they couldn't have possibly have arrested and executed him. It would have caused an uproar. To Manus's surprise, the Captain praised their action, and turned to reprimand him for not simply letting things be. He was then sent away, but he distinctly remembered the warning of retribution one of the legionnaires had whispered in his ear.
"Aim." They aimed their bows at the pair, whose horses were panicking. But they continued to ignore the danger, and finally began to calm their steeds.
He arrived home that night to a gruesome scene. His dearest wife, his reason for living, Lalaine, lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood. She had been run through by a sword, and though there was no evidence of it, he knew just what had happened. He felt himself go numb at the sight and fell to his knees, holding her head in his lap as he wept for her.
"FIRE!" They let loose the arrows, and half simply bounced of the legionnaire's armor, though the other half found their mark. The men fell from their horses, impaled by three arrows each. Both had taken one to the neck. Both were dead. The horses took off back down the road, and he didn't bother killing them, as there would have been no point. They had done nothing wrong. Besides, Lalaine had loved horses.
He remembered the Legion capturing two young khajits for the crime, and him being forced to attend their execution, so that "justice could be done". He remembered, with clarity, their screams that they were innocent, right up to the point where they were killed. Those screams would haunt him for the rest of his life.
He walked towards the two Legionnaires corpses and stared down at them with a mixture of satisfaction, anger, and... Sadness? He wondered briefly if these men had families as he did, but quickly put it out of his mind. Such thoughts were not for warriors.
He remembered standing over his dearest's grave listening wordlessly to the preacher at the funeral, and the words of regret and sorrow from the mourners. But he stayed silent and still, his mind a battleground as he looked at the grave. Finally, when all had left, had dropped to his knees and stared at the tombstone of his beloved. "I swear to you, dearest Lalaine, that I will avenge your death. I shall destroy the accursed Legion that took you from me if I must travel to Oblivion and back, if I must sell my very soul. Nothing shall stop me. If you were my life before, then I declare that I have a new life, one focused solely on killing those that wronged you. Every one of those fools will die, I swear it to you. And once my task is done, dearest Lalaine, I come to join you. Please, wait for me."
One of the recruits tapped on his shoulder, and he motioned for the young man to speak. "Ummm, sir, shouldn't we hide the bodies like we did before?"
"No, leave them there. I want all that come this way to know that the only thing that awaits them here is death." After the man had left, he said, in a soft whisper, so that no one else could hear. "I am your instrument of vengeance. Please, wait for me, dearest Lalaine."