Sotek, who had just been stepped on by his mate who, moments before had tripped him up, dusted himself off before recovering his axe. He harshly turned to Farkas and snapped out at the lumbering Nord.
“Don’t you dare tell me it’s just ten bloody gold for a maid. Come on, before she gets herself in trouble. Or even worse, us in trouble”.
As the door was pushed fully open, light and fresh air flooded inside. Aela was standing by a fire brazier, impatiently waiting for them. As she saw them enter the chamber, she snapped out her orders.
“There’s oil in the burner here. Light it up”.
Sotek, Farkas and Vilkas all stopped together and simply looked at each other. Aela started tapping her foot as she stared at them.
“Oi Sotek, I’m talking to you, ya bloody reptile. Light the burner, then we can get a shift on”.
Farkas smirked at Aela then turned to Sotek.
“Where’s that slave of ours? Oh, there you are! Sotek, stop messing about and light the brazier there so that we can see our surroundings”.
Sotek chuckled then walked towards it.
“Yess mastersss. but I beg of you, only give me three lasshess for not lighting it sstraight away, and not the ussual sseven”.
Aela growled at the pair of them.
“Jusst light the bloody thing will ya. Damn it, your inssufferable hissings catching”.
Sotek laughed as he cast his flame spurt spell. A jet of flame shot out from his palm and instantly ignited the brazier. Fire leapt up from the burner as the oil blazed away, casting out the black shadows to the furthest reaches of the chamber. As they looked around, Sotek noticed the roof was an arch shape, a bit like Jorrvaskr’s living quarters. The chamber itself was only a small initial one, far smaller than Sotek had expected. Aela opened the opposite door which gave way to a long narrow room. There were two walkways either side of the room with a caged bridge spanning the gap above them. Rubble and stone debris littered the floor, some of which had fell years before from the ceiling.
A good few feet in front of them laid a corpse of an imperial soldier. By the looks of him, they guessed that he had been dead for months. Aela found herself growling at the now dead intruder.
“Humph, l see there’s another residence here. I just hope they didn’t make it to the final chamber”.
Sotek knelt down next to the corpse as he examined the body. On searching the soldier, he found a few gold pieces. Without getting up, he turned to the others.
“Don’t make it? Aela, he’s dead. If they didn’t make it then they are all dead. He’s riddled with arrows. Someone had a falling out with him”.
Aela scoffed at him as she drew her bow.
“I didn’t kill them so don’t expect me to be sorry. He’s been shot by an archer? Really? Duck, you idiot”. She fired over Sotek’s head as a ghostly apparition appeared the other side of him. The dragon cultist archer burst into flames as he retaliated against the attack from the intruders and opened fire at the closest target; Sotek.
Sotek rolled to the side as an arrow thudded into the stone ground where he was previously kneeling, before clawing himself up to his feet. He broke into a run and headed for cover away from the apparition as a second arrow flew just past his side.
“Aeeiii, shoot him Aela!”
Aela snarled at him as she aimed a second arrow at her target.
“What, by Hircine’s wrath do you think I’m doing? You blasted lizard. Fire back you morons”.
Thinking he was out of immediate danger, Sotek drew his bow and took aim, but a second later his bow was thrown from his hand as an arrow struck him in the arm.
“Argggg, you bastard”. He immediately cast a fireball with his good hand and launched it at the cultist. Before it even reached his target, he was already casting a second fireball.
Three blasts of elemental flame erupted around the archer, who disappeared in the fiery explosions. Aela had to stop launching arrows as she could no longer see the target.
“Well that was bloody clever, now we can’t see anything”. Fortunately for them, there was a ghastly scream as the archer succumbed to the flames and perished without firing another arrow.
Vilkas cringed when he noticed the arrow which had skewered Soteks arm.
“Ewe. Let’s get that arrow out. Here, bite on this. It’s gonna hurt”. He held Soteks arm which had the arrow protruding through it, while Sotek bit down on the piece of tightly wrapped up leather which Vilkas had given to him.
There was a sharp ‘snap’ as Farkas broke the arrow tip off. He gripped the arrow in his hand as he prepared to pull it out.
“You ready?”
Sotek bit down harder then nodded at Farkas. He groaned out as the arrow was pulled from his arm, but his cries of pain were muffled due to the leather in his mouth. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he spat out the leather stick. His hands were visibly shaky as he cast his healing spell. Golden light flooded the chamber as his wound rapidly healed over.
Aela screwed her face up at him as she proceeded along the narrow room.
“Damn it, can’t you use a weaker spell than that? What’s the bloody point of us sneaking around when you light up the whole area?” Without even waiting for a response, she walked off towards the far end where a door had obviously been forced open. A grate was thrown on the floor where it had previously barred the way forwards. “There’s a floor plate trap here Vilkas, don’t be a moron and set the bloody thing off. Once you three have stopped screwing about, can someone please loot the remains? And then can we please move to the next chamber? We’ve got a long way to go yet. This complex is vast”. She turned to the three of them then found herself snapping. “Sotek, why are you all waiting? Shift it”. She then stepped around the floor trap and moved further down the passageway.
Farkas shook his head at her then turned to the others.
“She’s getting worse. Does she even know that you got hit?”
Sotek shrugged his shoulders as he watched Aela walk off.
“Maybe. To be honest, I’m not sure. What do you mean, she’s getting worse?”
Vilkas eyed the walls as if they were staring straight back at him, while they walked through the room.
“This place. Since that first trip here, it affects her. She feels she failed her trial, so it’s almost like a stain on her soul if you like”.
They suddenly heard her call out to them all, which instantly stopped their talking and made the three of them quicken their pace.
“What I don’t like, is people talking about me. Especially when it’s a great oaf, a bloody gorilla and a pesky hissy reptile”.
Sotek huffed as his shoulders dropped.
“Well, I’m the hissy reptile, so which one of you is the gorilla?”
The three of them froze as Aela started heading back to them.
“What the hell are you three doing? Shift it for crying out loud”. At that moment a cultist spectre formed just behind her and raised its sword to strike. Before anyone had the chance to warn her, Aela span around and lashed out at it with the side of her bow like Sotek had shown her when he was first trained using ‘the path of the huntress’. The dragon’s teeth, which were fixed on the bow, cut into the cultist, ripping a gaping hole in the spectre. Aela bashed the ghost with the side of her bow as hard as she could. This along with the other damaging strikes was too much for the cultist to cope with. He fell backwards, then instantly received four arrows in the chest in as many seconds.
Suddenly an ice spear shot out from nowhere and flew towards Aela. She instinctively dropped to one knee and shot off two arrows in quick succession. Both struck the dragon priest in the chest, but he drew a staff then came forwards. Aela fired a third arrow but this time it missed its target; or so Sotek thought at the time.
The arrow flew past the priest but struck the target which Aela was aiming for. There was a metallic clang as the arrow hit the pressure plate perfectly and ricocheted across the room. Above, an overly large sized log had been held in position for hundreds of years and now it was finally free. It whooshed downwards and caught the dragon priest square in the back. The priest was thrown forwards and landed hard on its chest. But even before it hit the ground, arrows fired from Aela were already striking it in its back. As the log followed through in its giant swing, Sotek, Farkas and Vilkas all scattered like three deer which were suddenly aware that they were being hunted as they scuttled away from the log which was rapidly swinging towards them.
Sotek, who threw himself sideways to the ground, picked himself up off the cold stone floor to find Aela standing over him glaring intently at the three of them. She threw her arms out to her sides as she stood there with her hip sticking out, basically displaying as much attitude as she possibly could.
“What? You should learn to move faster. Come on and pay attention to what’s going on”.
Vilkas paced over towards Sotek and Farkas angrily grumbling about Aela. As they came within range of hearing his low grumblings, he started moaning again.
“There’s bloody times when she’s a right pain in the bloody arse. I’m sorry, but she really is”.
Farkas took the lead of the three of them as Vilkas trailed behind still cursing Aela, and Sotek was far too busy dusting himself off. Sotek started smirking as he whispered to the others.
“Move quicker? I’ll like to see how fast you move with a paralysis spell shot up your bloody arse”.
Both Vilkas and Farkas roared out laughing causing Sotek to grin at Aela’s back. Suddenly he found himself staring straight at her, just the look she gave stopped Sotek grinning immediately. He shrugged his shoulders at her as he tried to defend himself.
“What? I didn’t say anything?”
She growled then pointed the way forwards as she snapped at Sotek once more.
“You get your slimy tail up here with me, shift it”.
He gulped loudly then quickly turned to the others.
“This is it, if I don’t make it, burn my corpse on the Skyforge. But let the Harbinger know my soul resides with Hircine and I’m happy, until she joins me at least”.
Farkas started laughing at him as he thought about all that Sotek went through with her. He couldn’t help himself as he slapped Sotek on the back.
“You fought off Oblivion to be with her, go get your gal”.
Sotek mockingly screwed his face up as he looked towards her.
“Mercy, mercy”.
“I’ll mercy your bloody skin if you don’t hurry up. We’re here!” Aela stopped and held her torch up above her head when she reached the end of the corridor. There were three possible paths which laid before them. At least Sotek thought there was three. Once the light lit up the center passage, Sotek saw that in fact it was a stairwell, but rubble and stone had collapsed, blocking the route. He did allow himself a slight smile as he noticed a chest towards the top of the stairway though, however the moment Aela saw him move towards it, she grabbed his arm.
“No, the stairways not safe, we’re moving on. This way”. She started heading towards the left passageway past an old grill that had been propped open by some stone blocks.
After letting out a heavy sigh, Sotek followed her past the grill, but then he stopped and turned back around.
“Aela, what’s that way?” He pointed to the other corridor which she had instantly dismissed as an option.
“Oh, for crying out loud. That path will lead to the other side of the grill here. We opened it when we came here, so in my various visits, I blocked the grill from resetting so we can just pass through. Now can we please get a shift on?”
Sotek ignored the fact that Farkas and Vilkas were feeling trapped between the two of them. Instead he cast his eyes on the chest on the blocked off stairwell.
“I want to loot the chest first”. He completely blanked out Aela’s cries of frustration and simply walked over to the chest. Within moments he had picked the lock and carefully opened it. He gave a slight cry of joy as he produced a bright blue gem and carefully stored it in his pouch. “Oh yes, a sapphire. Now that’s worth a good few gold”.
Aela kicked a small rock and sent it down the passageway back towards the entrance.
“Great, I’m pleased for you, I really am. Now can we get a blasted move on? Oh Hircine, you are taking your time”.
Sotek rolled his eyes then glanced back down the other passageway before heading along it instead of following the Huntress, much to Aela’s annoyance. Farkas and Vilkas shrugged their shoulders at each other then followed him along the right-hand passageway as well. To Sotek’s right was another corridor but further ahead he saw the route had been blocked off by falling stonework and masonry. There however just before the blockage was a second chest on a small platform.
“Hey Aela, there’s another chest here! Did you want it?”
Aela yelled back at him angrily.
“What? No, I don’t want the blasted bloody thing. Are you following me? Sotek? Farkas? It’s this way you bastards… Sotek? Oh, for fuck sake”. She found herself having little choice but to follow them instead of proceeding along her route.
Sotek paused as he smirked slightly at Aela’s response then turned to the right passage. As he studied the narrow-arched corridor, he noticed slits in the stonework.
“It looks like an axe trap. Look, there’s a dead Stormcloak. He must have got caught in it”.
Aela huffed then started pulling his arm. He turned to see her clearly agitated.
“It is an axe trap, but we really want to go back past the grate. Come on, why are you going so bloody slowly? I thought we’d be in and bang, job done. Don’t drag it out, please? Come on”.
Sotek just smiled at her then turned to the others. As he spoke, he walked towards the chest at the end of the corridor.
“Hey Farkas, Vilkas, either of you two want the chest?”
Vilkas being the smarter of the two brothers, after seeing the face Aela was pulling as she glared at Sotek, called out to him. But at the same time, he gently pulled Farkas’s arm, keeping him from approaching the trunk.
“No thanks, we’re ok”.
Sotek just shrugged then turned back to the chest.
“Fair enough, I’ll soon open it”. He knelt alongside the chest, but suddenly found himself in a shadow. He turned around while he was kneeling to see Aela standing over him. “Ermm, you’re in my light”.
Aela had her arms folded as her eyes were fixed solely on Soteks.
“Why are you being such a pain? We need to go back to the grate. There’s no need for us to go this way”.
Sotek stopped picking the lock to the chest then sat on the chest itself as he scrutinized Aela’s face. He sat there for a few moments then after giving it some thought, he replied slowly, carefully placing each word.
“Farkas, Vilkas, can you both give us a few seconds?” He watched Vilkas nod then Vilkas and Farkas headed back towards the junction.
Sotek then turned his attention to Aela and smiled as he spoke.
“You say there’s no need for us to go this way? Ok my Huntress, tell me... Why are we here?”
Aela groaned then pointed to the junction behind them.
“We’re here because I never managed to enter the final chamber. You know damn well that I’ve been here multiple times to try to get past that bloody door!”
Sotek chuckled then gently pulled her close to him. He held her by the hips as he whispered to her softly.
“When did you say ‘Sotek, can you come to Forelhost and help me?’”
“Yesterday, I spoke to the three of you...”. She stopped then looked back at the other two, who were there at the far end of the corridor. “Fuck…”
Sotek gently pulled on Aela’s hips to get her attention. She turned back round to him, but this time she had a big frown on her face.
“What?”
She stared at the ground then looked at him for a few seconds before resting her head on his shoulder.
“It was you that asked us. We’re not here to get past that bloody door. We’re here for you, you need some armor sets. Sotek, I’m sorry, I… I lost my way”. She looked back at the others then called them over to her. “Hey, Vilkas, I need a word”. Her voice sounded broken and heavy, and as they walked towards her, she turned away from all of them as she faced the wall.
After a few seconds, she stared down at Sotek’s feet as she tried to put her thoughts in order. Despite everything going around in her head, her mind was a complete blank. She felt Sotek’s fingers wrap around her hand as he tried to give her some moral support. She looked down at him to see him smiling at her. After she nervously smiled back at him, she turned to the three of them.
“Someone, a good friend actually, once said that it’s not easy to apologize to friends and family. Sotek your right, and yet I feel I must. Sotek, Farkas, Vilkas, I’m sorry I’ve been a bitch, it’s… It’s this place. Do you know how many times I’ve been here?”
Vilkas nodded as he called out to her. He thought he would surprise her with his reply. But it was her that surprised him instead.
“Five times, we came here three times with you, but you came here twice by yourself”.
Aela faced the wall as she started gently chewing her lip. Then she looked straight at him.
“Actually, I’ve been here over five times by myself. The last time was when I got captured by the Silver Hand. They had someone send me a note stating that they could open the door. We were supposed to meet in Ivarstead, but… The Silver Hand trapped me”.
Sotek got up from the chest and held her in his arms, giving her some comfort.
“Ok, stop there. We know this place is important to you, but… Aela, we’re here, all four of us, so…”
He paused then gave her a slight squeeze as he continued.
“We’re all here, so let’s stop worrying about whether we can get past that door and let’s do what we always do”.
She looked down at her hand as she started playing with Soteks fingers.
“And what’s that?”
“We hit one room at a time, clear the complex, and shout out ‘Do your worst for we shall do ours!”
She rested her head in his chest as she closed her eyes. She nodded slowly then pointed to the chest by the end of the corridor.
“Yes, your right. But I’m still in charge. Sotek pick the lock then we’ll look at the axe trap”.
Sotek smirked as he walked towards the corridor with the axes.
“No, I had the last chest. That one’s yours”.
Aela smiled as she produced a lock pick from her pouch.
“I’ll have it open quicker than a deer being chased by a pack of wolves”. Within moments she broke through the locks defenses and was peering inside the chest. Her face screwed up as she picked up an old worn pair of iron boots which she promptly threw towards Vilkas. “These are your size. Here you go, catch”.
“Ugh, no thanks”. He sidestepped as they landed by his feet then he simply kicked them further down the corridor.
Aela looked over towards him and laughed when she saw the look he had as he noticed the rough state that the boots were in. She then promptly produced seventy-five gold from the bottom of the chest and carefully stored the gold in her pouch.
“We’ll divide this up later”.
Sotek couldn’t help but snigger as he watched the boots slide across the floor.
“Yes, except for Vilkas. After all he had the boots”.
Vilkas stared blankly at the iron boots which now resided amongst the dust and rubble which littered the end of the corridor. An old spider web became snagged on one of the boots as it slid past and had now wrapped itself around the boot as it came to rest alongside the other one. The web itself just added to the poor looking state of the pair of boots. The result was that they now looked even worse than before. Aela cheekily smiled at Vilkas as she shrugged her shoulders at him.
“Hey, it’s not our fault that you don’t want ‘em. Come on, Sotek wants to try to get killed with an axe trap. I don’t want to miss this”.
Sotek gave her a playful shove in retaliation for her comment.
“No, I don’t. I’m just curious as to what’s down there, that’s all thank you”. However, as they neared the trapped corridor, the axe trap came to life. Six axes started swinging across the corridor, three axes from each side came whooshing downwards in a deadly arc. All the axes swung in unison which literally blocked the corridor from any advancement the group could make. Sotek groaned as he turned to Vilkas “What is it with you and pressure plates?”
Aela laughed slightly then shook her head.
“It’s not his fault. The whole floors one big pressure plate. Once someone makes it through the axes to the other side, they’ll be able to disarm the trap. Volunteers anyone?”
Unbeknown to Sotek, Aela, Farkas and Vilkas all took a slight step backwards. Sotek himself stepped slightly forwards to have a better look at the corridor. As he mentally counted out the timing, he turned towards the others who were now standing well behind him. He groaned out loudly as realization dawned on him that he had been out maneuvered. As he came to terms with his fate, Farkas slapped him on the shoulder propelling him forwards by a few feet.
“Good man, you’ve got the heart of a true Nord, you know that. There he is, our leader. Our Alpha of the pack. He never asks someone to do something he wouldn’t do himself. Go forth and conquer”.
Sotek snarled at him but then composed himself.
“Farkas, if I went forth, then I’d be behind you three”.
Aela chuckled then walked up to him.
“I’ll do it, I’m the fastest. It’s all in the timing”.
Sotek held her by the shoulder then pulled her back. He then stepped forwards and stood in front of the corridor. “No, you’re not, I am. I’ll do it”. After sighing heavily, he inched forwards slightly as he watched the axes swing in time with one another.
Aela sympathetically tugged him by his arm.
“Sotek, I’m the fastest. You know damn well I am”.
He kissed her on the forehead then turned back to the corridor.
“Not today”. He counted down the seconds as he watched the swinging axes. As the seconds passed by, he cast a quick smile at Aela, then suddenly he shouted. “WULD NAH”.
Sotek shot forwards twenty feet nearly as fast as an arrow shot from Aela’s bow. Aela, who was completely caught off guard, nearly screamed as she jumped. She held her chest as she recovered from the fright of Sotek’s shout.
“Damn, I hate it when he does that. You stupid fucking reptile”.
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