Skyrim: Burn
By
Emrald9
Will crouched down, hoping to avoid detection as he assessed the situation.
He was investigating an old ruin that he MIGHT have gone to on that drunken night of his…..
After fighting his way into the courtyard of the small fortress, he knew he would have to go in and "clear the hole" as he called it. The main issue here was the fact that this was a mage hideout.
Now, Will was a mage, so he had nothing against them, minus the fact that they were so damn hard to kill. And if two or more caught him in close quarters, it would be the end of the Nord.
Will looked around the corner, checking for signs of the Mages, moving about. There were four in total, two on a high rise, cursing at their experiment, and two on the First floor with Will, Dancing around gleefully. Apparently, some projects were borderline success.
He decided to shoot at the two on top first, as they were making less noise, in an attempt to conceal their work. Before he tried to make the shot, he laid down a lightning Rune, just in case something went horribly amiss. He then pulled out his hunting bow and got to work, downing the two on top within seconds of each other.
A faint hiss and they lived no more. Will ducked behind cover, hoping the two euphoric Conjurors wouldn't hear. Luck was on his side, as the two did not notice a thing. He looked out at them, and it felt wrong to ruin their fun.
Still, once he saw what they were experimenting on….He knew that it would be wrong not to. He lined up the target, a young Dummer female.
The other one, a young nord male, must have seen Will, because as soon as he let the arrow fly, he intercepted it. He fell to the ground as Will swore, already falling back. The young Dummer cried out in surprise, and then she began hunting for Will, and her revenge.
In her haste to enact her revenge, she hadn't noticed the Rune Will had placed on the ground. So, as she turned the corner and the rune detonated, Wills Arrows found their mark. Two to the body, one to the head.
Afterwards, Will looted the mages and explored his surrounding, knowing that most of these forts were built somewhat differently. He looked more closely at the experiments the Mages had been conducting, and found odd bits of dismembered Weaver tails and what looked like charred human flesh.
"What were they working on?" He wondered aloud. His only response was his own echo.
Pressing on into the fortress, he came across a room full of powerful mages, most of them MUCH more skilled than he. So, he set up a Rune and lured them out by casting a magelight.
The First wizard was hurled out through the door by my Runes explosion The Second, third and fourth came out in a flash, and Will knew he was in trouble. He began firing as many arrows as he could, the first mage went down without a problem, but numbers three and four cast wards, making it harder for my arrows to hit them. He retreated down the large hallway, and placed another Rune on the ground.
They had lost track of Will, and were searching rather loudly for him. He fired an arrow into the back of one, and the other spun around, ward at the ready. He gave chase, shooting a stream of fire out at Will, who ducked quickly behind a large piece of fallen debris.
As the mage hit the corner, he set off a trip plate, and a jet of flames erupted from the walls, scorching him. As he rushed out on the other side, the Rune knocked him backwards, across the hall. The impact of him hitting the wall snapped his back, and he died.
After another scouting session, Will still had no clue what these Mages were up to, but he knew that they needed to be stopped.
The rest of the fortress was clear, and all that remained was a Single locked door.
Will broke out his lock picking set, and got to work. He began to twist the pick around until he heard it click, and the door swung silently open.
Will stepped in, bow at the ready, and saw a man dressed in battle armor, at the bottom of a flight of steps, talking to someone in what appeared to be a cell.
"Don't you just love burnt flesh in the morning?" The man began to himself, "Because I…." He was cut short do to the sudden mass of arrows sticking out of his back. He gasped as he went down, still alive, but only just. Will looked inside the cell, and saw it was a holding chamber. At least five bodies were in there, all burned and blackened by some roasting embers underneath them that were once a roaring fire.
Will looked at the man, a look of disgust replacing the shock and horror on his face, then a look of grim resolution. He turned the man over, looting all his goods. He then opened the cell, and said a prayer for the lost. He then dragged the man into the cell, and locked it shut.
"No…please…don't leave me…" ho moaned weakly.
Will turned around, flames dancing in his palm, and said calmly.
"Burn you son of a Bitch." And relight the fire.
He closed the door, but not before he heard the man's screams.
And, with a look of fierce determination, the Dragonborn moved on.
Authors note: This did actually happen to me in Skyrim, and I did do something to that effect. It was such a good game, it made me feel for these characters who I only knew in death, so much so, I spent Five minuets trying to fit this guys body through the hole and onto the Embers.