8 Violence isn't the answer

Rictus observed the forsworn man which had stopped the caravan. He appeared to be a classic example of a Forsworn. The man was lightly armored in various bits of leather and animal pelts, a lean muscular build, and very dirty looking. He had the traditional horned helmet commonly worn by the stronger members of the group. The leader was also flanked by two hulking Forsworn. There was something slightly off about those two and upon closer examination, they appeared to be the mysterious Forsworn Briarhearts if the giant scar on their bared chest is any indication.

Making sure no one was paying attention to him; Rictus cast detect life to see how badly they were outnumbered and the locations of the Forsworn. Curiously, the Briarhearts did not show up from the normal detect life spell but switching to the detect undead spell did reveal them. After a quick count, Rictus realized that both sides were about equal in total number, with each side having about 20, but the Forsworn had more fighters since not everyone in the caravan was a combatant. Thankfully, the Forsworn did not seem to take their caravan to seriously since the caravan had not been completely surrounded with most of the Forsworn focused towards the front of the caravan. Convenient for Rictus in case he felt like running away since the way back was clear.

One of the merchants leading the group appeared to be trying to talk their way out of this mess. It would make sense that the Forsworn really were just trying to take a toll instead of robbing the caravan of everything they had. They were not your typical stupid bandits as evidenced by them being able to take over and control Markarth for a time. If the Forsworn took everything form the caravans, then word would get around to the other merchants and then they would never come this way which would only hurt the Forsworn in the long run.

Not being able to hear what was being said, Rictus could tell that the Forsworn man would be getting a pretty good deal if his greasy smile and the merchant shaking with fear was anything to go off.

Rictus was a bit conflicted about the whole affair though. On one hand, he was all for peaceful resolutions to conflicts. On the other hand, he also has some pretty awesome magic now he wouldn't mind trying out, only in self-defense of course. Rictus could tell the supposed soul merger was probably messing with some of his mentality still. He should feel more nervous in the situation instead of being calm and collected. There normally should be more reservations about killing another person, even if that person is trying to steal your stuff, yet Rictus felt that he could kill these men with little remorse if they threatened or attacked him first. Sure, he had went hunting a few times and killed his fair share of deer, but that does not really translate to killing humans for most sane people. Rictus decided not to worry about it though. If anything, he was thankful for the change in mindset since he was in such a dangerous world now.

The merchant and the Forsworn seemed to have come to some kind of agreement. The merchant walked back and began telling the various wagons what was required of them while the Forsworn smugly looked on. As they were the final wagon, it took a couple minutes before the merchant reached them. When the merchant reached them, he immediately began speaking in a nervous tone.

"Well, the Forsworn have let us go with fairly decent terms. They are only demanding 1000 septims, 5 swords, and a couple bags of grains. All things considered, much better than it could have been. Since your wagon is not a merchant, you will have to pay part of the septims. There are 6 wagons total. One will cover the swords, one will supply the grains, and the other 4 will give 250 septims apiece."

Kibell seemed displeased with this hole arrangement since he had the least amount of money compared to the other traders. He was only making 200 septims from this whole trip since he had 4 riders and only charged 50 septims each. Not wanting to cause a scene or be left behind, Kibell gave over the money to the merchant who quickly scrambled back to give the Forsworn their offering.

Knowing how much money he now had, Rictus gave Kibell a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry Kibell, I will cover the cost for this whole incident as soon as we get away from here. No need to look so down. That is not nearly as bad as it could have been."

With a small smile and a nod of his head, Kibell seemed to be in better spirits and ready to get away from the whole mess.

The Forsworn seemed happy by the whole ordeal as well. With a nod of his head, a couple more Briarhearts came out of the woods and began moving the tree out of the way. After the tree was moved, the Briarhearts stood stoically waiting for more instructions from their leader.

As the caravan began to move past the forsworn, one of the Briarhearts made eye contact with Rictus. The slightly dead man suddenly stiffened even more as he continued to stare at Rictus. The other Briarhearts became aware of what their compatriot's unusual behavior and looked to see what he saw. When they looked at Rictus, they had the same exact reaction as the first one did. Starting to feel a little uncomfortable, Rictus slumped down a little in his seat and looked away from the creepy men.

The Forsworn leader noticed how strange his Briarhearts were acting and looked where they were staring. As soon as he noticed Rictus, he grew a little pale in the face before shouting out.

"Stop the caravan right now!!"

Once he finished shouting, everyone in the caravan froze fearing they had done something to upset these men. The rest of the Forsworn quickly left their cover in the trees and began to loosely surround them.

"Us Forsworn have one more demand. If you leave that man sitting on the last carriage with us, we will let you all go. If you try and defend him, we will be taking everything from you. Even your life."

With this proclamation, every person in the area was staring at Rictus. Before he even had a chance to say anything, Rictus was shoved off the wagon. Looking up to see what happened, Rictus only saw Kibell looking at him solemnly.

"Sorry friend, but I do not want to die today. I will remember you fondly and wish you luck with what ever trouble you seem to be in."

With that statement done, Kibell quickly got his wagon moving. Witnessing all of this, the rest of the caravan quickly began heading out as well before the Forsworn changed their mind. Rictus was a little pissed off by Kibell's actions but could not really blame him for saving his own life and acting so decisively. Rictus had no idea why these people wanted him so badly they would threaten to kill everyone in the caravan. Based on how the leading Forsworn was walking up to him, he figured he was about to find out.

"So, you thought you could sneak away huh? Think you're real clever trying to hide in a large caravan huh? I swore by the old gods I would find you. It happened much faster than I could have hoped, but I am not one to complain. I will make you good on my promises though. Don't worry, you will not be dying for a long time if I have anything to say about it."

Seeing the cruel glint in his eyes, Rictus began to get a little worried. The rest of the Forsworn seemed to have a couple different reactions to him. Some were looking on in glee to the future torture, most were indifferent, there was even a group trying to hide their smiles as they looked at their leader. The Briarhearts continued to warily stare at him as they put a hand defensively over the wounds in their chest. Rictus thought he could at least try and find out what was going on.

"Umm I don't actually know what you are talking about. I think I would remember making an enemy of the Forsworn. And why are those guys clutching their chests? I know I am pretty handsome, but I didn't think I was a literal heartthrob."

While Rictus was a little impressed and amused by his words, the Forsworn leader did not find the humor in them at all. It did not take a genius to recognize that the rapidly reddening of his face was not a good sign.

"You really have the stones to try and make such a claim? You stayed with our camp for 2 days! We brought you in to our homes and shared food and wine with you. I even let you sleep on my spare mat the first night! Then you betrayed me! Everyone else thought it was a joke and wouldn't listen to me!"

As the man got to this part, the group that was trying to hide their smiles let out small chuckles and Rictus could have sworn he heard them mutter something about a goat. The leader continued with his tirade.

"Even if all the hagravens sang your praises, I knew. I knew it was only a matter of time before your true colors were shown. That last night is not one easily forgotten. Many of the tribes had finally got together which hadn't happened in years. I was once one of the most influential leaders of the tribes. Then you had to pull that stunt! Now I lead a paltry 20 Forsworn to raid caravans. To make it even worse, Esmerelda would not even speak to me afterwards! You truly will pay for what you have done."

"…So, what exactly did I do? You keep saying I did something inexcusable, but you won't say exactly what it was. How can I know you are not just making all this up? I still want to know why those Briarhearts are so scared of me. It is not like I went all temple of doom and Kali Ma."

At the words "Kali Ma", all the Briarhearts shouted out in fear and prostrated themselves on the ground making sure to cover their chests. The entire clearing went silent at this reaction. Rictus and the other normal Forsworn were staring in shock at the Briarhearts' reaction. The Forsworn leader looked validated by what Rictus had just said.

"See! You do remember ripping out the hearts of 4 Briarhearts! You even made the same demented chant as you did originally and mentioned your sacred temple of doom! That shows you already know how you betrayed me and embarrassed me with that goat! I never should have trusted you with that secret! It was only one time when I was a boy, yet you made me relive the entire thing in front of the council of tribes! Your foul magic will not be able to save you this time!"

With a final shout, the man could no longer contain his rage and charged at Rictus with sword raised.

As he tried to take his first step, the Forsworn tripped and fell on his face. As he was falling, he put his hands out in front of him to stop his fall. Sadly for him, Forsworn swords have nasty spikes along the blade which caused him to stab himself. While everyone else was in shock of their leader's sudden downfall, they did not notice the small earthen wall slowly sink back to the ground.

Rictus had thought the man may charge so he had stealthily raised a small amount of stone with a lip on the top to make the man trip. He never expected the man to literally fall on his own blade and kill himself.

Deciding to strike while the rest of the Forsworn were distracted, Rictus cast his first master level spell. The green glow surrounding Rictus broke the Forsworn out of their shock. Sadly, it was too late as Rictus slammed his hands down sending out a wave of paralyzing energy which hit everyone in the clearing. With all the Forsworn paralyzed, Rictus had a few seconds to implement his plan.

Rictus quickly raised a circular wall of stone about chest high around himself. He then shaped the outside layer of the wall to have sharp spikes. Even though this only took a few seconds, Rictus noticed some of the Forsworn were starting to escape the spell affects since he casted it so quickly. To bad for them, it was not fast enough.

With the spiked wall surrounding him, Rictus began to channel his mass telekinesis spell. Aiming the spell at the wall around him, Rictus was able to send out controlled bursts of power. Each of these bursts hit the wall, causing it to blast out like a cannon filled with buckshot. Spinning around, Rictus hit every part of his wall which sent out a ring of destruction. The sharpened spikes on the wall tore through the Forsworn like paper.

Looking around at the carnage, Rictus noticed two of the Briarhearts were still standing. As they were about to charge, Rictus repeated what he had apparently already done. With a quick pull of telekinetic magic, the briar hearts were ripped out of the chest of the now fully dead Forsworn. Rictus thought it was a critical oversight to leave such an important part of their body so exposed, but he was not complaining at the moment.

The once peaceful clearing was covered in the blood and bodies of the Forsworn. While all the Forsworn were taken down, not all had been killed. A few were moaning out in pain while covering their injuries. Noticing these people and that their wounds were too extreme to be able to treat, Rictus decided to put them out of their misery. Continuing to use his telekinesis spell, Rictus lifted the sword of the Forsworn commander before using it to finish off the Forsworn still moaning in pain.

'My first real taste of combat was really easy for me. I was lucky I had thought of this move before. I shouldn't expect any other fight to be this simple. This only really worked since everyone was so close together and had gathered around to listen to their leader yell at me. That man proved to be a good distraction and allowed me to cast mass paralyze which pretty much sealed the fight. It is good to know the combination of the shaping earth and telekinesis works so well when fighting a group. It probably would not have been as effective if they were farther away or had heavier armor. Still, everything worked out this time and maybe there won't be a next time…one can hope at least.'

With that done, Rictus quickly gathered up the items left by the caravan and put them in his dimensional storage. More money is never a bad thing. Deciding not to bother with the moving the bodies or trying to loot them, Rictus began making his way towards Whiterun hoping he would not have to walk the whole way back. He was a little sad he never found out what he actually did to that man. It probably would have been hilarious.