#ebonarm

A smile stretches the stranger’s face as he lowers his weapon. “It is a mighty pleasure to see you again, old friend.”

“Who are you? What are you?” asks Stendarr, displeasure clear in his tone.

“You may call me Reymon. I should have expected some confusion!” He laughs deeply, seemingly ignorant of his visitor’s disposition. “I am glad you have come to see me be born, old Stendarr. We have much work to do.”

“Work?” Stendarr stands as still as a tombstone.

“Of course! To eradicate the daedra from these lands.”

“But,” begins Stendarr, choking on his words, “you are daedra.”

“Not anymore, friend. I am something new entirely.” Reymon leans against his sword buried in the soil.

“The daedric influence can only be diminished by its demise.” Stendarr draws his own sword, but Reymon seems not to notice.

“I agree wholeheartedly,” says Reymon. “I have died and been born again.”

Stendarr, nearly weeping, confirms, “Yes, you have died. Forgive me, Lord Trinimac.”

In a flash Stendarr rushes forward and swipes viciously at Reymon. Reymon’s right arm falls limply to the forest floor.

Reymon grasps at the wound, wincing. “Ah! Aha. Haha.” He falls back, only kept from hitting the ground by his grip on his weapon. “I suppose I shall never let my guard down, even around friends. Thou hast bested me.”

Reymon’s face flickers briefly, showing the visages of Boethiah and Trinimac. At this latter Stendarr hesitates, his sword pointed at Reymon’s neck.

“Renounce this heresy,” Stendarr quivers, tears streaming down his face, “and I may grant you my mercy.”

Reymon seems to hesitate as well. But then he grabs the blade, turning it aside as he rams his shoulder into Stendarr, knocking him off balance. “I do not need your mercy,” Reymon says as he quickly takes up his blade in his offhand. He seems to struggle with its weight, awkwardly waving it around. He frowns, and instead jams the hilt into what is left of his right arm, fusing the blade to his wound.

Stendarr is dumbstruck at the savagery of the act, almost leaving himself open for the ensuing strike. But he manages to sidestep it, relying on the training he received from this old knight himself. He wipes away his tears and prepares for a battle.

Reymon swings again, a vicious horizontal attack that Stendarr barely manages to duck beneath. He takes this opportunity to launch a thrust at Reymon’s waist, hoping to find a chink in the armor. He does not, and the blade bounces off the ebony harmlessly. Reymon uses his spare hand to grab Stendarr’s sword-wrist, pulling his entire body up and over the towering god, sending him crashing into the earth behind him.

The wind flees from Stendarr’s chest upon collision, and for a moment he flails like a fish out of water. Then he remembers his composure and quickly climbs to his feet.

Reymon laughs, but it is not Reymon’s voice; it is his old master’s. “I could have easily killed you just then, Stendarr. You live only because of my mercy.”

“What did you ever know of mercy, Trinimac?” cries Stendarr, scrambling to find his proper stance. “You were always as ruthless as Kynareth and the others.”

“Perhaps so,” Reymon says, in his own voice, “but I am not Trinimac. I am more. So perhaps I shall try on mercy.” He raises his black bladed arm skyward. “Alongside my ebon arm, I shall grow a shield, a rose to abate battle and spare bloodshed. But I shall not be afraid to wage war when necessary.” He extends his remaining hand towards Stendarr. “Won’t you join me?”

Stendarr does not hesitate this time. He immediately lunges forward to strike at the exposed arm, but Reymon immediately retracts it, having learned his lesson.

“Very well,” says Reymon, shaking his head. “Then I take my leave of you. I hope that you will one day remember our bond.”

“I will never stop hunting you, traitor,” Stendarr spits.

“Then to you I say: Good luck!” Reymon brings his fingers to his lips to whistle, and calls forth from nothing a massive steed, befitting of the god’s stature. Without another word, he is off, galloping through the forest away from Stendarr.