I’d like to think I was a brave woman, but I’m not. Draugr still give me the shudders. If a shadow passes overhead that seems a bit overlarge, I still reach for a blade I no longer wear. And Blackreach…well, Blackreach gave me nightmares for weeks. I know I wasn’t the only one, either. I thought Irkngthand had been bad; or the first time I entered a cairn. Blackreach wrapped it all up into one, and I couldn’t have made it alone.
And so on we went, Companions, Thieves and Dovahkiin; a more unlikely group of world heroes I couldn’t have imagined. We rode hard and rested when we could, thankfully without any harassment of the draconic variety though the roads that way stayed clear of bandits for a very long time due to our impatience with tolls and bravado. We rode strong to Winterhold and left our horses at the nearest stables and headed forward on foot, Aela and Karliah in the lead, Farkas bringing up the rear, and Vilkas, Brynjolf and I poring over the books and scripts the best we could. It was going to be grim work – we could only hope we all stayed professional and keen, but I knew these people – not a single untested soul among them. I couldn’t have been in better company.
“We need to head into Alftand first,” Brynjolf said, tracing a finger across the map. ”There was an expedition there, I’ve heard. Known a few Khajit who were doing some work there, and they’re going for information as long as you keep the skooma flowing.”
“We’ll see when we get there,” Vilkas said, wrapping his cloak round his shoulders as he surveyed the frozen landscape. ”Ready for anything.”
The frozen canyons of the expedition eventually were before us, with lashed scaffolding being buffeted by the winds. What we found wasn’t however what we were expecting – the entire dig site was abandoned with the scaffolding in poor state of repair. Not a soul was anywhere at the site – at least, not a soul alive. I murmured one of the Shouts for sensing heartbeats beneath my breath, and frowned – there was hardly anything to sense. Us, yes. And a lot of silence…and one ragged, irregular beat.
“Down there,” I pointed, homing in best I could at a huddle far below on the ground.
A Khajit was lying in the snow, gasping, with the red blood beneath him freezing to grisly ice. I didn’t have to say anything – everyone was on the alert, with Kharlia and Aela taking defensive positions and Farkas drawing his blade and fanning out. I moved forward swiftly, gingerly lifting the Khajit’s head to try and get its huge-pupiled eyes to focus. A packet of skooma tumbled out from its curled paw – trying to dull the pain, or kill itself? Probably both – the wounds were grisly.
“What happened?” I said tersely, snapping my fingers in front of the Khajit’s face.
“They rose,” it rasped, wheezing and coughing through a throat full of blood. ”They rose, from the deep. Killed them all. No one left.”
“There’s corpses down along that way,” Aela murmured as she jogged up to report to me. ”Looks like everyone’s been wiped out.”
I fumbled in my packs to get a healing potion, but the Khajit waved it aside. ”No point, no use.
“How far in?” Vilkas asked, scanning the gaping maw beyond – I had only just spotted the entry; dwemer doors open wide, but not a single torch lit beyond.
“You’re not…going in?” The Khajit gaped, coughing and spattering its fur with its own blood.
“I must,” I replied quietly.
“Poor fools, then. Mind them, mind how they rise. They don’t need to see you to catch you.”
There wasn’t much else to do. The Khajit wasn’t going to last much longer, and he knew it. The best we could do for him was to send him swiftly to his Beyond, and thus we did as painlessly as possible, though none of us were particularly happy about it.
We at least managed to cover the corpses and then with the grim work done, discussed the way forward. Aela was a fierce hunter and her heightened senses would probably prove vital. Then Karliah and Brynjolf, myself, and Vilkas and Farkas bringing up the rear. Everyone knew their roles and what had to be done, and now all conversation lapsed into silence. We had thought the expedition might be guarded, an easy way down and in – but this destruction proved there were more beneath the ice and crust of the earth than even the expedition had expected. Our handful of people against, potentially, thousands. We all thought this, but said nothing. I had to go in; there was no other way.
Torches lit, swords drawn, and faces stern we entered into Alftand, swallowed whole by the world.
It started out well enough at least – there were centurions and other dwemer creations which unfortunately don’t require much in finesse to destroy – just a lot of persistence. Hit it enough times, and it stops moving. Karliah managed to work out some of the traps, and we navigated through the rest, marking our way on the walls with bits of chalk, just in case. So far, no Falmer. However, there were oil lamps lit here and there, although very low – from the study crews? Or someone else? We weren’t sure, but we decided at that point to douse our own lights and allow our eyes to adjust to the gloom.
“There’s some places here and there where something’s been removed,” Brynjolf murmured quietly over his shoulder. ”It’s not our chapter, but someone’s looking for spoils.”
“Maybe more profitable for you further in,” I replied.
“I’ll count coming out of here alive as profitable,” Karliah said dryly.
At that point Aela hissed a warning and we halted in our tracks. I couldn’t hear anything, but apparently she could, and she gestured over at us, sniffing the air and pointing off to the right. We were all on our guard now, and carefully crept forward. However whoever was ahead of us wasn’t even trying to be quiet, and finally I could hear two voices arguing.
A man and a woman, I could tell that much. We heard them more by cavernous echoes than proximity though they sounded close, but there was something in the voices themselves that put me on edge. Aela certainly heard it, for she was snarling and her irises were edging into gold.
Now we could all hear it. Two people arguing – apparently they were lost treasure hunters who had been ambushed by falmer. Most of their band had been dragged down into the dark, and these two were all that remained, trapped on all sides by centurions and probably a fair few falmer as well. That was a problem for all of us – but what was making it worse was the noise; they were shouting now, and the notes in their voices were unmistakable – both sounded completely unhinged. Whatever they had seen down here in the dark halls had broken their minds, and now it was breaking our stealthy advance.
“If those two keep it up, they’ll alert everything down here here, machine or falmer,” Vilkas muttered at my shoulder.
“I’ll handle it,” Farkas said grimly as he drew his sword, but I held up my hand. Needless slaughter wasn’t something I wanted to condone. ”Maybe we can point them to the way out, they’re too dangerous to take with us but we know the way.”
As soon as I moved our group closer to the pair, I could hear swords drawn and the sound of ringing blows and cursing. They were really going for it now. I’d have to work fast – they were making too much noise. Motioning for everyone to take a position against the walls of the junction, I stepped out into view.
It was a vast room, lit by guttering lamps. The Imperial and the Dunmer with him weren’t sparing each other at all; their eyes rolled, their jaws flecked with foam as they battered at each other. I winced – they seemed pretty far gone, but I’d give them the benefit of the doubt. I let out a shrill whistle to alert them as I stepped forward into the lamp light.
My heart was in the right place, perhaps, but it didn’t help. They both froze in place, staring at me with eyes gleaming entirely too brightly in the shadowy hall. I could see now, they really had lost any and all reason, and I just had enough time to draw my own blade before they both seemed to forget their quarrel with each other and instead charged right at me. Who knows what it was they thought they were seeing, but I can guess.
They didn’t get far however – Aela and Karliah were blessed with a bow, and within seconds the eye of the Dunmer and the throat of the Imperial seemed to sprout arrows. Down they went with a crash, and I sighed, shaking my head.
“Well that wasn’t quite what I had in mind – ” I began, turning round, but then we were brought short once more by Aela sniffing the air, then hissing under her breath and drawing her blade.
“We need to go, and now,” she murmured. ”Those fools awoke this damn hive of beasts.”
“Which way?” Vilkas nodded to Brynjolf, who sprang forward into the dark, leading us even deeper through the warren. The walls were changing now from the level-straight stones of dwemer architecture to the fungus laden rough-hewn walls of forgotten caves. We had left Alftand, and entered into Blackreach, although this didn’t make Aela any more at ease.
“There’s a fair few ahead of us by the smell,” she warned. ”Be ready!”
It was a fair wall of falmer before us – it could only be expected considering we were heading right into their stronghold, but where I had glimpsed handfuls before, this was a small battalion of falmer and the chitinous insects they kept on leads like hounds. It was going to be bloody, and we held back nothing.
“Shield your eyes!” I commanded as we squared up against our foes – I filled my lungs with air and winced pre-emptively.
“Yol Toor Shul!”
Fire belched out and engulfed the front line, dazzling me even as I closed my own eyes. Flame licked out my throat into a roaring blast of flame, hot as the Skyforge, and sent the Falmer shrieking and howling, cooking the chaurus in their shells. Pandemonium reigned, and Aela shifted and tore through their flanks to attempt to break their numbers – we had to win through and come out the other side.
“Quickly!” Karliah cried, slicing through a falmer with her Nightingale blade. I dove through the gap, with Vilkas at my heels, but Farkas and Aela hung back.
“Go on!” Farkas roared. ”This fight will just bring more – Aela and I will finish this lot off.”
Vilkas hesitated, eyeing his brother. Farkas shook his head, flinging half a piece of chalk at Vilkas and swinging his blade back in a scything arc. ”Go, go, we’ll make enough noise to draw ‘em off. Get going!”
It was a worthwhile plan, but a difficult decision to make, and I gave Farkas and Aela a last look – as if to remember them as they were; Aela in beast form with claws dripping blood, and Farkas grinning fiercely as he cut a falmer nearly in two with his blade. Vilkas did the same for a moment, but then Karliah was at my elbow, pulling me forward into the cavern beyond.
“Quickly now,” Karliah murmured tersely, and I had to obey. On we went into Blackreach’s heart, leaving the smell of cooking flesh and battle cries behind us.
Comments