Chapter 37: Curse of the Ruby Throne 3: Laelaps' Chase

Having given the order to move in, andfter the mages casted their spells on us to Muffle our movements and render us invisble, we spread throughout the building to find our target, I made my way towards the main room.

The Spy said that the entrance to the basement is located here somewhere.

Looking around everything was in a sorry state. Maybe the basement is the only place that was refurbished.

No entrance was in sight so I moved to the next room to investigate.

In this room there was an simple, old and tatered bed and a few tables with a few large bowls on the ground.

I went over to the bowl and saw a crystalline substance inside.

Having seen this many times before it was obvious that this was Moon Sugar, but in a bowl on the floor?

Also there was quite a number of deep gashes and claw marks all across the room.

Odd...

Based of everything Elika said about him, he doesn't seem like the sort of guy to do drugs. Though I can be wrong, it's unlikely.

It's probably to feed a pet or apart of one of his experiments that Elika mentions.

I looked at the floor and saw that the bed was pushed, since there were deep marks left by the bed's legs.

The bed must be heavy if it caused these deep marks.

Furthermore, who could have pushed this?

If he was really in the basement, it'd be impossible to cover the entrance unless he has another entrance.

I put my sword in my sheathe before I grabbed the corners of the bed with both hands.

With great effort I lifted it on one side and twisted the bed, causing it to crash to the side and out of the way.

Looking at the upturned bed I was suprised to see the frame was made entirely out of steel with some traces of gold.

No that's not gold, it must be something else.

I was no blacksmith so I couldn't identify the specific metals used except for the well known ones.

The sound of the bed crashing must have alerted him, wherever he is, and the rest of my team.

Not wasting time for my allies to come, I opened the hidden trapdoor and descended down the passageway as quickly as I can.

I was on guard against any sort of traps and possible protections having been activated but there was nothing.

I came upon a two steel doors, one of them was open, and from what I can see, led to a large room like a living room and even further in was a bedroom.

The other steel door was closed.

"He must be inside."

I took out my sword and slipped it into a grove on the side of the door where the hinges were.

Using my armoured forearm, I slammed the flat pommel with full force, causing the blade to create a fissure in the side.

I can hear a rummaging sound and of glass hitting and shattering with the ground possibly.

The sword I had was custom made out of Ebony to withstand the physical strength I can exert on it.

I pulled the handles with a great deal of strength, causing the door to break off its hinges with medium effort.

Stepping into the room my eyes made contact with Sivreth, but this time he wasn't in his disguise of a Breton boy.

It must have been Illusions or a magical item this whole time.

Whatever the case, he didn't have it now and I could see him properly as a Snow Elf.

We had a staredown for a moment before the sounds of approaching footsteps caused him to flinch, his grip on the glass tubes and Vials momentarily lossened in shock.

I immediately took action and began to charge at him with sword in hand.

He poured the liquids in the tube and vial together and a bright light made me slip and crash to the ground as my vision became pure white!

I heard him running away, dropping the glass to the ground in the process.

My vision was still white and I kept groaning in pain.

It felt like my eyes were on fire!

It took me a few moments but my eyesight returned, although still slightly blurry.

Immediately, I got to my feet and went after him in the direction I heard him go in.

As I ran through the strange Alchemy room I could see dozens of empty shelves, vials, boxes and cages.

Just what did he do in here?

There was another door closed but this one was a wooden one.

I ran straight through it, causing ut to shatter into thousands of pieces in the process.

Looking up I saw that he was barely able to slip through a crevice in the wall.

On the otherside it looks like it leads outside to the edges of the island and onto the edges of the lake!

I grabbed a hold of him, still wanting to avoid killing him if possible due to a brief hesitation if I should kill him or not.

The right hand I had grasped the wrist of seemed to emit a crackling sound before I felt my whole body being electrocuted.

I withstood the electricity coursing in my body as my grip hardened as I tried to pull him out of the crevice.

He raised his left hand, barely reaching due to the space, before a clicking sound was heard.

Looking at the new hand, that was made from a white metal, I saw a miniature Crossbow of sorts on the wrist aimed at me!

He fired and I barely dodges the Crossbow bolt, but was forced to let go of his hand in the process.

Getting back up, I tried reaching for him in the gap but he was able to squeeze through before my hand reached him.

He looked at me for a brief moment before screaming out loud.

"Rael Deg'aia!"

"Rwraaahhh" a loud beastial roar echoed outside which no doubt caused the people on the surface to panic.

It took only a few moments until a Senche-Tiger appeared by his side, it was had snow white fur and azure blue strips across its armoured clad body with a saddle ontop of it.

He continued to stare at me and neither of us said anything, that is until he broke the silence.

"Why did you kill my mother?" His voice was calm yet neutral as his face displayed to emotions.

"It was an order from the Emperor...and the Thalmor. If it brings you any peace, I made sure it was a swift death and cremated the body than leaving it to rot." I told him, it was the least I can tell him and what he deserves to know.

He stood there pondering for a few seconds before muttering a few more mords that sent a chill down my spine.

"So...the Thalmor are really behind it all along. Their paranoia to control everything will be their downfall. Give them my parting words will you. 'So says Sivreth Aival Erdys Lyr Es Aur-I-El, I will eradicate ever trace of the Thalmor from the face of Nirn. I will freeze the the Summerset Isles so that it will become nothing more than a large landmass encased in eternal Ice! In 5 years, I hereby declare war against the Aldermeri Dominion!'. Farewell Commander Rella Ashenclaw, say goodbye to Elika for me...it was nice while it lasted..." He muttered those last words but I heard the sadness in his voice as he muttered them.

He swiftly mounted the Senche-Tiger before riding off.

I left the room I was in to meet up with the few soilders that had came too late.

"Quickly! He has escaped to the surface! Tell the mages to follow plan B and use their spells to track! Hurry!"

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Rael is a Senche, he is a Tiger but don't confuse Senche-Tiger and Senche (Tiger)

They are different.

Senche-Tiger is Khajiit wild cat.

A Senche can be of any variet and are bigger, they are the second biggest and only the Senche-Raht is larger.

To not confuse you all, from now on in the novel I will use Senche (Tiger) when describing Rael.

Rael was bred forceably by Sivreth when he requested one from the Clanmothers, he had used [Moon Shifting] and his Grimoire to determine the best breed for him to obtain.

He made a White Senche (Tiger) be birthed from a random pairing.

Because he used [Moon Shifting] and the Grimoire to position the 4th Moon with Masser and Secunda in a special way, this gave birth to a White variet by force.

Not only that but the 4th Moon had an added effect on Rael making him more intelligent and capable of speech like a Black Senche-Lion can supposedly do.

However, he can't speak as of now.

Also the 4th Moon enhanced his aging and physical abilities slightly, but not enough to overpower a Senche-Raht when Rael is fully grown, but he can beat a Senche-Raht with his enhanced intelligence and battle prowess.

The Senche-Tigers' most defining feature is their stripes.

Striped Senche-Tigers are a semi-domesticated version of the wild Senche-Tiger, bred for size and manageability. They notably have golden colored fur.

Tenmar Senche-Tigers prowl in the Tenmar forest, where they are camouflaged by the shadows of the canopy. They have a brown striped pattern and are also used as mounts.

Moonlight Senche-Tigers are sleek and silvery, and have been used as guardians for Khajiiti temples dedicated to the moons ever since the revelation of the Riddle'Thar.

(Image Rael)

(Image Rael armour)

(Image Rael size - blue circle is current size, red circle is full grown size.)