Telvanni Chronicles: Son of Madness

The Meeting

After 'sneaking' through the grand Imperial City in hooded robes, Imsin and Endar arrive at the Arena.  Endar has his arm around her waist, maintaining the facade of them being lovers.  With Imsin leading them, they approach the Arena booky, "Good evening sir, I'd like to place a five hundred gold wager on blue team."  She pulls the gold out of her satchel, then the man nods and gestures toward the door to their right, "Enjoy the match, m'lady, and good luck."
They proceed through the door onto the spectator's balcony overlooking the arena floor, which is populated by many onlookers and fans, cheering and visiting with other betters about the upcoming match.  Imsin inconspicuously points at a Nord woman wearing middle-class clothes at the far table.  Understood, I will stay at the railing to keep an eye out for any 'visitors', thinks Endar with the intention of Imsin reading his thoughts.  She nods and walks toward the table where the Nord woman sits, and Endar leans his arms on the railing, peering over the edge.
"The Arena's faked... You think those guys are getting hurt? Really? It's just berry syrup and ham-acting," says an Argonian who is leaning on the railing next to Endar.  He shrugs and glances at the man's face, but a shadowy figure in the far corner catches his gaze, causing chills to run up his spine. Endar rotates his neck, trying to pop a knot out of it, which is a signal to Imsin that something is afoot.  The crowd's cheering gets louder as everyone takes their seats.  The Arena's janitors leave the floor, the match about to begin:
You almost have to feel bad for yellow team's Khajiit...
For the blue team's Gladiator is a combatant you know and love!
Let's see how they fare! LOWER THE GATES!!!
The cheering escalates to cries of excitement as the gates holding the fighters lower, both combatants charging at each other.  Endar cocks his head to the side, recognizing the fighter in the blue raiment... He just can't place where he's met this person. He shrugs the notion away as he notices Imsin walking toward him again, she grabs his hand once more, and they leave the balcony.  Before they make it out the door, he looks into the shadowy corner and sees a man lean his head out of the shadow. This man has dark skin, red markings covering his face, his skin is cracked, and he has horns on the top of his forehead.  The maniacally grins at Endar as him and Imsin walk through the door.
A half hour passes and the acting couple are out of the Imperial City, soon after they both strip off their robes, revealing their steel armor underneath, and toss them off the bridge leading out of the City, "We won't be needing those again."  Endar nods and replies, "I swear to the Gods I saw Kathutet on that balcony..."  Imsin, not surprised, quickly responds, "I know, he has been after us since we left Kvatch, I only hope he does not have knowledge of where we are going, but even we are not that lucky."
"Where is it we're going, anyway," asks Endar as they turn north along the road leading away from the City.  "We must make haste for the Nordic province of Skyrim, home of my people.  My contact informed me of an old friend that would meet me at a dragonwall - an old tomb-stone from ancient times."
Several miles from the City, they find a suitable campsite and set up a tent there.  As Endar gets a fire going, Imsin strips off her leather-steel armor.  Endar looks embarrassingly at the site of her beautiful bare skin as she slips on simple clothes to relax in. She unrolls two bed-rolls, places them next to each other under the tent, then lies on one of them.  Imsin lets out a sigh, smiles, closes her eyes, then says, "Get some rest, Endar, we're going to require quite a bit of energy for this journey.  It will no doubt take the better part of a week to make it past the Cyrodiil-Skyrim border."  Endar unfastens and removes his breastplate, lies down in the bed-roll next to her, and is quick to fall asleep.

Endar opens his eyes, in an all-too-familiar meadow, with Imsin standing in front of him.  He glances down, notices her hands are in his, then looks back up at her.  "Endar, I think I love you, and I think you have a mutual feeling toward me," she says sweetly as she smiles.  "Indeed, I do," he replies, "I do not yet know all the secrets your mind holds, but I know that I will soon."  She nods, and at the same time, he can hear a distant howling, similar to that of a wolf.  They slowly lean into each other and start to softly kiss, but their moment is interrupted by the ground shaking and red clouds looming overhead. An intense and booming voice comes from the clouds, "You're end is nigh, Endar! You cannot outrun a Daedric Prince forever!!!"  Imsin is torn from his hands and disappears into a black fog in front of him.  Endar attempts to call out to her, but it is futile as he is now mute, he then clutches at his neck...
He sits up quickly as the nightmare startles him out of deep sleep, Imsin already dirtying the fire, her green leather-steel armor already equipped on her body.  He stands up, straps on his breastplate and begins to speak to her, "Imsin... I..."  "I know, Endar, but we cannot talk about this at the moment, we must start for Skyrim immediately."  He nods, grabs the satchel that she was wearing and bears the burden around his shoulder this time.  They then both set of for the long trek towards the home of the Nord to the north.