The Ebony Renegades BOOK ONE

chapter eighty three

(Zed pov: )

I perched myself on the rocky overhang overlooking the nordic fort and I lay down and covered myself in brush and foliage to break up my outline and make it harder to see me. I could make out three bandits in the inner chamber with a grindstone, workbench, and forge. Still, I looked more closely and noticed a reflective mirror-like item tilted upwards but it was absorbing sunlight, or perhaps to harness lunar energy. I carefully pulled out a scrap of paper and started drawing out the layout of the fort in case the group decided to pick these guys off drawing a intricate detailed map of the small fort including possible hiding places and where the enemies were positioned. I was very light with my hand as I rubbed the charcoal scrap along the paper being careful not to tear the paper but also not to make loud scratching sound to alert the bandits to my presence. I carefully noted the three below me the one who I could only assume was the bandit leader was a redguard wearing a set of ebony armor except the helmet he had a ebony sword on his side and carrying in ebony shield however he also had a ebony bow on his back with a full quiver of ebony arrows. There was a nord woman with long blonde hair wearing a blacksmith apron pull up apparently must have been the blacksmith for the gang operating that strange forge which I still had yet to understand how it worked other than the function of a standard forge. There was another bandit who was an orc who wore a complete set of orcish armor with a orcish battle axe the orc in question was rather standard in size from the orcs I've seen the largest orc I've ever seen being none other than Yamma. I pulled up my makeshift binoculars turning my attention to the other bandits that might be lurking nearby. I saw a imperial lookout sitting on one of the towers with a single imperial bow and a steel mace on their hip meanwhile down by the cooking area I saw three more bandits another nord a khajiit and an argonian all wearing either fur, leather, or studded armor. Deciding to bring one of these strange weapons back to the group for analysis I needed to first get the bandit chief, blacksmith and muscle away from the room where the forge is. I pulled out Zepher from my back and shot a fire arrow at one of the nearby watch posts to draw the attention of the bandits away from the forge which worked as they pulled their weapons out and all rushed towards the commotion as I tied a rope around the boulder I was laying on and repelled down into the inner sanctum. The moment my dwarven male boots made contact with the stone floor I immediately rushed over to the workbench and grabbed the strange mace that was laying on the workbench I also found a iron warax underneath the grindstone which I picked up as well and then ran over to the rope that was still dangling from the ceiling. I quickly strapped the mace and axe to my side before I jumped onto the rope and quickly climbed up the rope onto the roof and pulled the rope up and swiftly ran back to the boulder and untied the rope I had just repelled from and bundled it up into a scout bundle and proceeded my way around the surrounding area. The surrounding area wasn't much in of interest aside from a few puddles accompanied by a couple of the occasional mud crab or saber cat but all in all nothing of major concern to worry about. After about an hour of scouting the nearby areas and any places that looked of interest or nearby bandit camps that can prove troublesome I immediately mapped down and made my way back towards halted steam camp where the rest of the group was situated. However on my way back I started getting the scent I had a tail so I immediately took to the nearby cliff driving one of my war axes into the side of the cliff before swinging my weight into a internal cave structure and once my pursuer ran past I immediately went the opposite direction moving swiftly and quietly to avoid detection. Due to my intensive training to become a scout I lived by three rules that were instilled in me by my teacher, number one 'be swift and agile,' number two being 'always be prepared and take no unnecessary risks' and third and most importantly, 'in the event of something unexpected and you feel you cannot handle it, retreat'. Those three rules have kept me alive through some of the most hostile and unforgiving environments in Skyrim whether it be above ground or the deepest depths of dwarven ruins. As I continued running and weaving through the thick brush of the nearby woods bordering Whiterun and Hjallmarch I swiftly jumped from the tree the tree using the rope and a dwarven hook formation as a grappling hook along me to swing from tree to tree before taking cover and blending into the thick spruce trees. After about an hour of waiting and the sun was barely setting and no sign of my pursuer I dropped down to the ground and slowly made my way back to the camp moving swiftly and silently however made an extra point to go all the way around to ensure I was not being followed. Knowing that Severin and Salazar were perched on one of the nearby outlook I quickly took the reflective edge of my war axe and reflected the sunlight at to ensure he saw it. It was a special signal the group used whatever we were separate and we needed to ensure we weren't being followed upon spotting it even from a distance a good tell Salazar was using the detect life spell that he used to see and if I saw a reflective back I would know if I was being followed, if I saw three flashes the coast was clear if I saw two that would mean that I am being followed and I need to lose them. As I waited I stayed hidden within the brush the mud on my dwarven male armor still caked to the golden surface breaking up my outline and making me harder to spot I smiled when I saw three flashes back in my direction which meant the coast was clear. I quickly made my way to the front gate which was open for me by both Gentu and Yamma who closed the door behind me as I sat down to the ground taking a few deep breaths. "Where's the boss? I have my scout report ready to give him as ordered." I said taking a deep breath and collecting my thoughts before calming myself so I could accurately and effectively explain and show what I saw. "The boss is inside overseeing the mining operation of the iron ore, if you hurry you might be able to catch him he should be on the upper floor overlooking the room where the bandit chief was." Gentu said as he was grabbing a cart full of iron ore and rolling it over to a pile on the mostly broken shelter that had three of the four walls missing that was apparently being used as a butchery where Myra was sitting and one by one transmuting the iron ore into silver ore and placing them into a wagon to be taken up to be smelled into silver ingots and then be taken down into the forge to be turned into silver crossbow bolts. Deciding to take care of two birds with one stone I decided to wait following Myra as we wheeled the wagon of silver ore up to the smelter up top where Yamma was as  he immediately started smelting the silver ore. I had never seen the smelting process up close before so I observed taking my dwarven mail helmet off and placing it off to the side as I sat down and watched carefully taking in the process and every intricate motion Yamma made. He would put two chunks of ore inside and would stand there at the face of the furnace watching once they were liquefied he would pull out the liquid silver with a pair of tongs and pour the liquid material into a cast turning them into an ingot and then would repeat the process. Every movement when it came to smelting the material that Yamma had made were practiced and disciplined every move was with purpose once again proving while he was one of the most renowned smiths in all of Skyrim along with my dear friend Gentu. Once all the silver ingots were made I placed my helmet back on and offered to wheel the wagon into the mineshaft to the lower level where the smithing station was I had to head down there to talk to the boss anyway so by doing this I was killing two birds with one stone as I was trying to be efficient. As I made my way down the corridor with Myra, Gentu, and Yamma behind me once we got to the lower level where the boss was standing on the railing his elbows resting on the overhang as he was looking down at them Myra took the wagon from me as her and the other two went down to the smithing station down below to take care of it. "Hey boss I'm back with the scouting report." I said as he turned his head to me before giving a nod giving the okay to continue. Upon getting the green light I pulled out the map I drew out and handed it to him. "I scouted the area nearby as you told me to the bandit fort Southwest of here has a bandit Chief who is a red guard and he wears a complete set of ebony armor with an ebony sword and shield along with an ebony bow, his right hand man is an orc wearing orcish armor with a orcish mace, the blacksmith is a Nord woman who makes some sort of strange weapon that I've never come across so I brought two of the unknown weapons with me for Asadelf to examine, the other bandits within the group mostly have leather, studded, or fur armor they shouldn't be too much trouble of course these were only the ones I could see from outside there could be more inside the fort." I reported pointing with a stick where each one was positioned when I was there as the boss gave us silent nod of approval before looking up at me. "You did well Zed, go take a break you've more than earned it make sure you get those weapons you managed to snatch over to Asadelf so she can examine them." Ebon-shi said as I nodded. "Where is Miss Asadelf right now anyway?" I asked looking around before I heard him chuckle before pulling down the corridor to the right side of the bottom floor. I gave him a gentle nod before making my way over to where Asadelf supposedly was. When I got to her I saw her placing spell runes all alongside the interior like a booby trap. "Excuse me Miss Asadelf, I have some enchanted weapons that you may be interested in, I've never seen enchantments like these so maybe you can put them to better use." I said handing over the strange iron war axe and mace which she carefully took into her hands examining them. "This is an exclusive night time effective enchantment, and the phase of the moon determines the strength of the enchantment. The enchantment deals burn damage at night it's really interesting that these assassins obviously attack at night I assume that's why they called themselves the Silent Moons according to Shadow-step." Asadelf said placing the enchanted weapons into her pouch behind her so she could disenchant them later but for now the smell of Gila's masterful cooking of the mammoth meat was causing everyone in the mines mouth to water more likely than not. After a couple hours we were called for food once we all reconvened in the middle room the mammoth carcass had been completely taken apart straight down to the bone the tusks were harvested in placed in a pile by the furnace for some strange reason and sitting on a large makeshift table was an entire buffet of mammoth steaks, mammoth, potato, and leek skewers, along with a large tub of fresh Mead that apparently the bandits had been hoarding. Hanging up on the wall was the mammoths hide drying over the smithing station so the heat from the flames would dry out the hide so it could be processed more efficiently. We all sat down around the table and dug in. As we were all eating and relaxing this was the first time we had a meal together away from the base we were at but it was nice seeing the comradery from the group between Suvvan, and Tully's rivalry, compared to Lianya's big sister vibe as she was gently rubbing Salazar's head with a beautiful and elegant smile on her face then looking up towards the boss who had Asadelf leaning on him I had certainly found a great group of friends, and I would do my best for them.