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// Day 9 - Rats in the House 
// Story: Friend of the Nerevarine 
// by DVAN56 
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	You, where are your going?

WHAT!!!!

Fine, fine, however before you go let me at least emphasize one thing that any Dunmer knows to be true. Vvardenfell IS NOT like the rest of the Empire!
        
        Day 9(Rats in the House)        

        The next few morning were roughly the same. I would be dragged by Rith to her training yard. The first day Rith gave me a suit of bonemold armor and a “good” sword and started teaching me the other fundamentals of combat such as striking and stances.

        The training itself was not all that bad. It did start of ruff, and I would be sore by the end of the day, but I started to pick up on thing quickly. Well quickly with everything but dodging. I ended up picking up a shield from Rith as well. Which I mastered handling and blocking incoming blows within that same day. I myself still still find it weird what I was able to master blocking with a shield in a day but still can't dodge out of the way of an incoming blow, slow or fast.

Twilight didn't even know I was being drug off for training the first two days. And even when she came out of the trace with the books, I don't think she knew why I was being drug off. She mostly stayed at the guild looking for a way home even after her book reading trance was over. However once she did come out of her book reading trance she gave Ajira a scolding about shaving her fur off. I wasn't there but from what I heard Twilight gave a display that would make Daedra cry. Ajira still cringes a little remembering that day.

        The guar that Twilight had ridden back from our mushroom trip had been waiting outside the walls of Balmora. When we returned after that trip we left it thinking it would go back into the wild. Instead it wait outside the walls patiently for Twilight to return. Why, we didn’t know, maybe it just liked us that much. In the end Twilight ended up being the owner of the guar and she named him Fox. Odd name but Twilight liked it.

        It was the fifth day of my training now. It started like the others, Rith would come down into the mage guild and dragging me out of my bunk. However this time Twilight was following me. She found it funny how I was being dragged away. She also said something about cheering me on today as well, it was almost like she knew something I didn't. However this morning Rith didn't drag me to her house but instead another house just a street over from her own house.

        “Alright, here is the bloody deal. Its bloody test day. So lets see how well that bloody training did you. This house has a bit of a bloody rat problem from what I have been told. Your going to bloody fix it by killing them bloody rats. Now in you go,” Rith said as she started to pushed me in.

        Before I knew what was happening I was trusted into the house. The only information I had was I needed to get rid of some rats. Ok, no problem. They can't be that bad, the biggest I had seen back in the Imperial prison was about the size of my hand, some slightly bigger. The thought of training just to catch rats made me wonder about Rith's test, but no sense and backing out now.

        The house itself was a site to see and could be described with one word, pillows. There were pillows everywhere in that house. Some scattered a crossed the floor, most were stacked on shelves that lined the walls, a few on the table. Just pillows everywhere. I let out a soft chuckle at the site. Then I heard it. The gnawing sound of teeth on wood coming from another room.

        I hadn't even drawn my weapon as I approached the door, thinking all I would need to do was leaning down and catch the critter before it darted away. I opened the door and what I saw made me realize something that had been forgotten. Vvardenfell is not like my prison cell back in Cyrodiil.

        This “rat” was huge, easily the size of a dog, with blood red eyes. But it was the fangs that really got to me. This rat didn't have normal rodent teeth. Instead it had a pair of fang that would make a vampire jealous. And now this rat knew I was in the house with it.

        Immediately I went to draw my sword only to fumble around with it trying to get it out of the sheath that hung from my belt. The rats of Vvardenfell are more aggressive than other rats as well as the first thing it did was try to bite my leg. The rat bit with such force that in pierced the armor of my boot and the only thing stopping it from piercing my flesh was the awkward shape bonemold armor is formed. It couldn't bit down far enough to reach my leg. And now it is stuck on my leg.

        I finally got my sword drawn and it instantly finds its way to the rats body. It let out a small squeak before it died. I spen the next moments trying to dislodge its fangs from my boot so I can walk without hauling around a dead limp body of a rat around. It doesn't come out and I eventually just take the boot off. However where there is one rat, there are more.

        As I removed the boot I noticed a bit of dust falling and landing on my arm. Then I hear the familiar sound of teeth gnawing on wood. Then a thought came to me. How are the rats gnawing on the wood with fangs and not rodent teeth? That thought doesn't stay long as the ceiling begins to creak, and give way. In the blink of an eye it falls on me and I instinctively cover my head with my arms.

        After the dust settles I’m surrounded by broken boards, one of which had an impaled rat at the end of it. However its not the only rat that fell through. As I stand up amongst the rubble a third rat makes its presence known to me by sinking its fangs in one of the few places my armor doesn’t cover, my butt.

        Its bite was excruciatingly painful. I can't even remember how loud I was screaming. The only thing I wanted to do was get the little beast off me. However it was positioned in a way to where swatting at it was futile. And the jolts of pain coursing through my body where forcing me to keep moving. So I ran, screaming the whole time.

        I ran out of the house into the streets of Balmora yelling at the top of my lungs. All the while a rat had its fangs in my rump with no signs of letting go. After running through a number of streets I come to one of Balmora's famous attractions, the Odai River. I had no intention of jumping in the river and the thought of using the river didn't even cross my mind.

 I was actually halfway crossed the bridge when my sight started to change. instead of seeing clear images of my surrounding, things became slightly distorted and the coloring was tinted purple. I then felt a sudden jolt as I was lifted into the air and thrown down into the waters below. Everything went black after I hit the water.

I woke up later in my bunk at the guild hall. Twilight had her head and front hooves on my chest. She was asleep but I couldn't imagine that position being conformable so I got up and gently got her into her own bunk. Why she was on my chest I didn’t know. I returned to my bunk, trying to remember how I got back to the guild. The last thing I remember that day was was falling into the river and my chest burning. I figured it could wait till morning, as I was still tired and let sleep overcoming.