The air reeked of blood when I finally finished my work and put aside the bloodstained knife. While I must have done this a hundred times I was always happy when this part of the work was done. Tracking, sneaking around the forest and catching up to my prey before making that one true shot, those were the parts of the hunt that I loved, handling the meat afterwards... not so much.
"Gods, it gets colder everyday," I muttered under my breath as I washed my bloodied hands in the chilly river. Once I was clean again I gathered up all the neatly cut pieces of venison and pelt I could carry and started to slowly crawl up to the top of the steep hill where I set up my camp.
When I finally reached the top I was exhausted and covered from head to toe in snow. Dropping my burden unceremoniously in the snow I decided to have a short pause and eat something before I go back down for the rest. I sat down on the small patch of ground that I cleared of snow and for a moment just enjoyed the warmth the small fire next to me radiated. Absentmindedly I noticed that the sky has turned gray while I worked, a clear sign that the next snowstorm wasn't too far away now. As I was about to reach for a nice piece of meet I could prepare I suddenly heard something shuffling towards me through the snow.
My heart skipped a beat, but it only took me a moment to recover and scramble to reach my bow, neatly tucked inside the tent. Old and crude as it was, the familiar feel of the weapon in my hand still gave me a sense of comfort. Smoothly I strung an arrow and patiently waited for whatever was to come. I could now hear it completely clearly, clearly enough to recognize it was no animal, no matter how much I wished it was.
The snow creaked under the heavy boots as the person quickly approached. Man, a big one, judging by the amount of noise he produced. That alone gave me quite a good idea of who it might be. He was now standing under the top of the hill, just where I couldn't see him. Being as careful as I could and with the arrow still prepared I took a single step to the side hoping to get a flank on him, but despite my best efforts I still made some noise.
"Hey, you there boy?" the familiar, rough voice half-shouted, half-asked in a tone that made it clear he heard me. "There's no need to be scared I just came to talk," the man continued as he finally decided to make those last few steps and reveal himself to me. Not that I needed any clarification, the voice was unmistakable.
"I am all ears Voric," I said trying to keep my voice even, which was usually a hard thing to do when talking to Voric. Even the fact that I had an arrow aimed directly at his head did surprisingly little to calm my nerves.
To say that Voric was a slab of meat would be an understatement. Even among other Orcs he would be considered a freak of nature. Easily a full head taller and twice as heavy as I was, he could probably wrestle with a troll and still come on top. And while from this far away his clothes looked like he stole them from some beggar in the Gray Quarter, the metal plates, roughly sewn to the patchwork of fur he wore still looked sturdy enough to withstand a hell of a beating. But a slab of meat or not I still had my bow aimed at his head and I could get a shot out long before he got within striking distance of his axe.
The Orc revealed full length of his fangs when he gave me a crooked smile that made chills run down my spine. More footsteps from somewhere behind me and I was suddenly reminded of a saying I once heard, that bandits were like mushrooms, you spot one and you can be sure that there are more around. But I didn't dare to look away from the Orc and give him a chance to try something.
"It's actually quite simple, I need someone to lend me a hand with a small problem I have and I thought you might be interested" he said and made a step towards me. I made a step back and pulled back the chord, which only served to make his smile wider. "Someone had the nerve to steal from me, took my gold, my food and... other possessions of mine. But what is even worse is that they actually managed to get away before I noticed," another step to me, another step back, out of the corner of my eye I could see a figure slowly flanking me from behind. Still I didn't dare to look away from the bloodthirsty gaze of the bandit.
"And you want from me... what exactly?"
"What I want from you is to help me track the thief down, obviously. That shouldn't be a problem, for a hunter, right? You probably do something like that every day anyway, so why not help a friend in need? And who knows if you say yes and come quietly, I might even persuade the rest of my men to let you keep that meat you have there," he said nonchalantly and nodded at the pile behind me. All I could do was stare back at him in cold rage. The bastard had me give them more than half of what I managed to catch as 'protection fee' for the last three months and he knew I felt like shit every time I did so. Now he was mocking me while simultaneously 'asking' for my help?!
I almost felt like releasing the arrow no matter what would follow, just to get the satisfaction, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I finally risked a sideways glance to see who I was dealing here and I saw another man dressed in similar attire like Voric, with bow in hand that was aimed directly at me. He was a Nord like me, but judging by the nasty smirk he had on his lips while looking at me I knew it made no difference. The message was clear: 'You shoot, I shoot.' They had me where they wanted me. Without a word I lowered my bow and threw it back into the tent. What a shitty day.
Voric smiled once again at me with that sadistic grin of his and closed the rest of the distance between us. His heavy, green-skinned hand landed on my shoulder almost staggering me. My gaze was momentarily drawn to the large greenish axe strapped to his belt, that still had some dried blood on it, before once again returning to his small brown eyes. They were still looking at me as if I was a cooked rabbit.
"A smart choice Volk. I knew that you'd see reason. Now let's get going before the trail gets cold." Not waiting for my reply and still holding me by my shoulder, he started dragging me off away from my camp, deeper into the forest where his camp was. All I could do was longingly look back at the burning fire and my catch halfway buried in the snow.
Dragging my legs through the snow was getting harder and harder as time went on, but I had a feeling we were getting close now. Abruptly stopping in place I knelt down, not really to inspect the set of tracks, but to take a moment to catch my breath. Whoever the thief was she had some endurance if not brain, I'll give her that.
It was actually quite hard to track her even with the thick layer of snow covering almost everything. Somehow she always managed to stumble across patches of ground that were covered with large boulders as far as eye could see or those rare parts of the forest where the ground was free of snow and completely frozen. No wonder Voric and his grunts weren't able to track her themselves. But in the last half an hour I noticed she has been gotten sloppier, or just less lucky. And thank heavens for that, the snowing and cold was getting more and more unbearable by the minute.
Still it puzzled me just where she was trying to get. I liked to think that I knew this part of Skyrim well, but as far as I was aware there was nothing noteworthy anywhere nearby, maybe with the exception of Windhelm, but the city was still at least three days away from here and she didn't even seem to be headed that way .
"It's been hours now, how much farther is it?" a female voice from behind me asked for what felt like a hundredth time, interrupting my thoughts and prompting me to turn around. There were three of them now. Voric, the archer from before and a woman that joined us once we were passing by the bandit camp... if you could even call her woman. With a short, stubby figure, large, bulging eyes and little to no hair on her strangely small head it was no wonder that even bandits, who usually had other uses for women left her alone. How she ended up with them however was beyond me.
"The tracks seem fresh, we must be getting closer to her now."
"To her?" Voric asked with a hint of surprise on his face.
I took a quick look back at the shallow footprint in the snow. "Yes, her. The shape of the boot and how deep she sank as she walked are clear indicators. The way she walks is a bit strange, but..."
"Fine, it's a bitch, alright, but I don't want to spend the night here so get moving!" Obviously even Voric was getting tired and I didn't want to think about what it would mean for me if he completely lost his patience.
With an inaudible sigh I got back up and barely paying attention to what I was doing, followed the trail through the snow. There were almost no trees around here, just an occasional boulder or small hill, but not much else to protect us from the cold, harsh wind that threatened to freeze the nose off my face. Pulling the fur mantle I wore lower, I tried not to think about how cold I felt.
Another few minutes passed and I could hear the small band of bandits talking excitedly among themselves behind my back. Once we get the girl what will they do to her? While a small part of me hoped they would just beat her up or maybe kill her on spot, the larger part still remembered Voric's sadistic smile and the stories about bandits that farmers told to their daughters to keep them out of the forest.
"Well, looks like its the end of the road for us."
Puzzled I looked at them and found them staring intently at a place behind my left shoulder. I followed their gaze and what I saw left me confused. All I could see was a large pile of boulders... and then it hit me.
Not too far away from us, tucked in a shallow circular hole was a a dome-like structure made out of large stone blocks, with intricately carved runes covering its surface. Scattered around it were crumbling pillars and stone walls that hid parts of the tomb from our sight. Just looking at the place I felt as if the already chilly air got even colder. A quick glance confirmed what I already suspected and feared, the pair of tracks were leading straight towards the tomb.
"Kali go from the right side, Malik left. If she sees us we'll have her surrounded from all sides." The two nodded in agreement, but before they could get anywhere Voric roughly grabbed the man, Malik, by his arm. "Is she starts running make sure I get her alive. I already have plans for her."
His crony sharply nodded in agreement with an eager smile plastered on his face, before pulling out his bow and strolling off. After the woman left too with her sword at ready it was just me, Voric and his axe again. We exchanged a quick glance and he motioned for me to keep moving forward. I obliged, even though with each step I made I felt like the world was getting gloomier.
"The cunt is gonna regret the day she was born I tell you. We'll drag her sorry ass to the camp and I'll have her passed around like a bottle of mead. And I swear to you if one single piece of gold is missing then I'll make her scream so loud they will hear her all the way to High Hrothgar. We Orcs can do these sort of things you know, especially to people who try to screw us over."
Voric went on and on with his monologue as we approached the tomb, getting more and more excited with each next word. I couldn't tell if he was telling it to me or just using my presence as an excuse to talk to himself, but he didn't ask anything so I didn't bother to say anything. I was trying to persuade myself that this wasn't my fault, that if it wasn't for me they would just find someone else who could help them, but it did little to ease my conscience.
The only thing I could do was try to ignore his rant and just focus on something else. As we got closer to it the creepy old tomb seemed to grow even more sinister than it seemed from afar. Everyone in Skyrim who had a brain between their ears knew to avoid places like this. The corpses of fallen warriors that slept in the old tombs were said to be cursed, by the eternal unrest for their crimes. There were once times when I just rolled my eyes when I heard such stories, but things changed.
The stone pillars towered above us as we got closer and it was obvious now that whoever we were following has taken shelter inside. Even Voric was standing next to me quietly now, both of us staring at a heavy, iron-studded wooden door.
It has been eight years since I had been this close to a tomb. I was thirteen years old at the time and not caring one bit about the stories of bards and village drunks that spoke of the horrors buried under the ground. It was a tomb much like this one, somewhere near Riften I think. I wagered twenty coins that I could last there a whole night And while I didn't remember much of the how the place looked anymore, I still remembered the inhuman roar I heard as I set out to explore it and how the men laughed when they heard me banging on the door after ten minutes, begging them to open it for me.
"Don't tell me you want to go there?" the woman, Kali, shouted at us through the wind as she approached making both of us turn away from the door. "Gold is gold, but I..."
"You what?! You're afraid?" Voric snapped at her harshly making her almost jump back in surprise. For split of a second she had a look of determination in her eyes and it seemed she might actually say something to him, but the moment he took a step towards her it was gone as fast as it appeared.
"No, I just thought we could wait for her here, that's all," she muttered sheepishly and looked away, but still kept one hand close to the hilt of her short sword. No honor among thieves nor bandits, it seemed.
"Well, you can forget about that shitty idea right away. My gold is inside and I am not leaving it to rot down there with some ancient corpses. Go get Malik, we are going in!"
She didn't dare to protest again and swiftly walked away.
"Listen Voric, you don't need me here anymore, do you?" He looked at me, almost as if he just remembered that I was there too. "Your thief is inside and I won't be of much use for you down there," I pointed out, trying desperately to weasel my way out of the situation. But Voric barely seemed to be listening. Instead he pulled out his axe and very carefully inspected its head, while avoiding my gaze.
"You must have me for a fool, don't you?" he finally said, this time shooting me a nasty glance. "I let you go, the snowstorm picks up even more and will have to stay the night in there? Not a chance. You'll do what I say when I say it and what I am saying is that you are going down there with us. You are my bitch now hunter boy and you'd do well to remember it!" he shouted at me through the whistling wind.
We didn't talk much more after that, but even later when we were slowly descending the old stairs into the darkness I could still feel the rage burning in me. His bitch, that's how the bastard called me and for whatever reason it pissed me off more than anything else about the situation. Partly because as things were he was right. But I knew that it was a helpless rage, there was nothing I could do to harm the goddamn Orc now. Not without a weapon and not when he had help.
The woman was walking at the front now, shield and sword at ready, then Voric, me and as a last the man with the bow. His dagger firmly pressed against my back was making sure that I will keep walking forward into the dark.
We didn't walk in the darkness for long however. After spiraling a few times around a circular shaft, the stairs led us to a narrow corridor illuminated by a single burning torch set in a wall. For a few minutes we slowly kept walking forward passing one torch after another, until the corridor spat us out into a small room. It was mostly empty safe for multiple sarcophagi that framed both sides of it. In the dim lights I couldn't make any details. The lids of the sarcophagi were covered in so much dust that I couldn't even recognize what the carvings on them were supposed to represent. But I also didn't exactly feel the need to stop and take a closer look.
"I see something up ahead, in that tunnel," Kali whispered and pointed at one of the four corridors that led out of the room. "Another torch, I think," she started to move forward to take a better look.
That's when I saw it, almost invisible in the shadow, disguised to snugly fit among the stones on the floor, was a contraption that somewhat reminded me of a bear trap. Only it was not a bear trap. The rusty circular piece of metal had four thin, short, iron rectangles protruding from its sides, but no apparent way to harm anyone. What it was doing there I had no idea, but Kali was walking directly in its direction.
I almost pointed it out to her, but I stopped myself. Why help them after all? So I just watched as she made another step and then another... and one more. Then, multiple things happened at once. As her boot touched the top of the circle there was a sharp click and the entire circular part of the contraption sank ever so slightly lower.
Something loudly rattled behind the wall.
In a blink of an eye two spears emerged from the wall next to Kali and both of them hit their mark perfectly, going straight through her chest as if it was a stack of hay. A soft moan escaped her lips and then her body went limp, remaining upright only because of the spears lodged in her.
The tomb went eerily quiet again. The three of us just stood there shocked, staring at the body. I felt the dagger that has been pressing into my back disappear as Malik took a small step back.
"Boss... let's get out of here." The archer's voice was surprisingly calm and without a hint of remorse for his dead companion. "The gold is not worth it."
Voric didn't answer immediately. Instead he took a moment to inspect the body, being very careful where he steps. His hand went into her pocket and pulled out a handful of small golden coins.
"You lead the way now hunter boy," he said, pocketing the gold. His expression was now utterly unreadable, but the axe that was pointed at me spoke for itself. Knowing that arguing would get me nowhere with him I obliged, my heart beating furiously as I passed by the corpse. But even after seeing the pained expression on her dead face I didn't feel any pity for her. Dead bandit, good bandit.
I led us onwards, from one dark, poorly lit room to another, desperately trying to remember the way in case the torches that guided us went out, but it was hopeless, the place was like a maze. There must have been dozens if not hundreds of rooms down here, all reminiscent of one another. Dead bodies was something they all had in common. Dead bodies lying in horizontal niches carved into stone walls, dead bodies lying on the floor, dead bodies stretched on strange wooden frames, parts of dead bodies on small altars... overall they made for a rather unsettling atmosphere. But if nothing else my sight was as sharp as ever. Even in the flickering light of torches I had no problems to spot any dangerous looking spots and make sure we avoid them.
"... add some flowers here and there, maybe also paint the walls and the place would be as good as new."
The cheerful voice coming from somewhere up ahead was barely comprehensible and in the grim corridor filled with balsamed bodies it sounded completely out of place. All of us stopped and I looked behind me just in time to see my companions exchange a glance. Both of them looked ready for a fight that was to come. Without making a sound Malik sheeted his dagger and readied an arrow. Voric motioned for me to move.
Who was the woman talking to anyway?
"Who even builds a place like this? Ah, the Nords of course. Nords with too much time on their hands and too many nice stones and corpses laying around."
I could hear her clearer now, but there was something strange about the way the woman spoke. Her tone, how she pronounced the words. It was the kind of honeyed voice that a merchant would use to sell you an overpriced bow, while making it seem as if you were about to make a deal of your lifetime.
"Za'ri is tired, her legs feel like wooden logs and she is still cold. Hmm, maybe she can burn something to warm herself up, yes? But, what to burn?"
Just around the corner now. The thick accent she spoke with was something I've definitely heard before, but I just couldn't place it. And who was Za'ri? There was only one pair of tracks leading here, I was sure of that. Maybe she had been waiting for her here. But why?
Finally the corridor ended and I found myself standing in a large circular room that only had one entrance. It was illuminated by a multitude of oil lamps that hung from the tall ceiling and around the room's perimeter were short stone pedestals. On top of each was a dead warrior clad in rusty black armor holding a large, oddly shaped sword. The rest of the room was filled with dozens ceramic urns, some barely larger than a cup, others that were placed at the other end of the room, easily taller than a man. And kneeling there in the middle of the room, right next to a massive stone altar was the woman, her back turned towards us as she rummaged through one of the urns while humming a soft melody. She was wearing a thick gray and blue tunic and brown, woolen trousers, both secured in place by an assortment of small leather straps and laces. Her tail twitched in harmony with the song and was a dead giveaway of what she was.
A Khajiit! Now I felt stupid for not realizing it before. But I barely had time to take a good look at her before I was roughly shoved aside by advancing Voric. One of the smaller urns shattered into pieces when he roughly kicked it in order to draw the woman's attention.
She turned around with inhuman speed and grace, but with an unmistakable look of utter surprise on her feline face. Under a different circumstances I might have even laughed.
"Well, what do we have here?" the massive Orc asked as he slowly approached the Khajiit. "A little kitty cat. I bet you didn't think you would see me again, did you?"
The Khajiit quickly recovered from shock and if the Orc's statement surprised her she didn't let is show.
"You must excuse Za'ri, but she doesn't remember meeting you, even though she is usually good with faces," there wasn't a lick of fear in her voice as she spoke, but her green eyes constantly kept shifting between Voric and the rest of us. "Maybe if you reminded her..."
"Reminded you? And why not after all? You took three emerald rings from me, a silver pendant," Voric kept slowly walking forward as he spoke shattering urns around him with his axe after every word and steadily raising his voice as he did. "Six sapphires." The Khajiit's expression has changed meanwhile, apparently she realized just who she was dealing with.
Malik was holding back with a small smile on his lips, but he also moved to the side and further away from me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something resting in one of the open urns on the floor. A dagger, a small one, it seemed barely longer that my hand, but it was a weapon nonetheless. I stole a glance to the side and once I was sure that no one was looking at me I leaned down and quickly slipped it into my pocket. While I didn't know what I would do with it yet, it felt good just knowing that I wasn't completely defenseless anymore.
"...seven sweetrolls, AND FOUR HUNDRED GOLD COINS!" Voric shouted madly at the end and obviously not caring about any more theatrics charged the Khajiit head on with a menacing cry. The sound of breaking pottery filled the room as the Orc destroyed everything that stood in his way.
The woman reacted quickly. One moment she was standing still, then next she threw herself out of the harms way and landed behind the altar and out of Voric's sight. Malik moved yet further away from the entrance trying to get a flank on her, but the tall urns were proving to be effective at obscuring his vision. And not only his. Once Voric reached the altar the Khajiit was already gone if his puzzled expression was anything to go by.
Something moved further up in the room among the urns.
"Yes, she remembers now. Za'ri apologizes, but if the fearsome Orc cared about his possessions he would have not kept them in such an easy to unlock chest." Her voice came from somewhere on the bandit's left and it forced another roar out of him. Mere seconds later another batch of urns was reduced to dust. "As for the sweetrolls, all she can say is that they tasted splendidly on her tongue."
More broken pottery flew through the air, but the Khajiit was proving elusive. At this rate however she would soon be out of hiding places. Her cat face suddenly popped out from behind one of the four stone pillars that supported the ceiling. Malik noticed too and while she was busy showing Voric her tongue he fired an arrow straight at her.
I tensed when I saw it hit the mark, but to my great surprise the grin on the Khajiit's face widened even further as the arrow flew straight through her and bounced harmlessly off the wall behind her.
Magic! It must have been magic! As if to prove me correct the Khajiit disappeared into thin air and a second later a ball of fire hit Malik square in the chest, exploding in a million bright sparks. As impressive as it looked, it didn't seem to do much more than scorch his clothes and throw him off balance.
"You idiot, I said I wanted her alive!" shouted the enraged Orc as he continued to shatter the urns around him with his bare hands.
The Khajiit's face popped up again this time even closer to Malik and ignoring Voric's orders he readied another arrow to fire at the grinning cat. Once again the arrow hit its mark only to meet the air. But as it sailed through the spectral illusion it embedded itself in the dead warrior behind it.
"You'll have to watch closer silly Nord, Za'ri is...," she never got to finsih the sentence.
"AAAAAAARGHHH."
The inhuman roar filled the room and my blood ran cold. Fearfully I looked for its source, fearing what I'd see.
"Oh no," whispered the archer next to me when his eyes fell on the warrior that was dead mere seconds ago. His eyes were now open and staring straight at him, glowing with unnatural blue hue. Time seemed to stop.
The Draugr roared once more and its stiff body started to jerkily move. Clumsily it stepped off the pedestal and readied the large, rusty sword it held. The arrow was still sticking out of its shoulder when it started moving towards the fear petrified Malik.
I recovered before he did and turned on my heal ready to run and only stop once I get far away from this place. To my horror it seemed that the other figures standing on the pedestals next to the entrance had the same idea and were slowly waking up too. We were trapped now all I could do was back away from the corpses and from the only way out.
Meanwhile Malik next to me seemed to have snapped out of the trance and was shooting arrow after arrow at the approaching Draugr that completely ignored them as they sank into its body. Its glowing eyes were still fixated on Malik and he was almost within striking distance now.
I backed away from them further into the room hoping that I'd be able to hide among the urns like the Khajiit did. My back however came into contact with something that wasn't an urn and I spun around fully expecting to see a Draugr. For the first time today I was relieved to see the Orc. And to my surprise he didn't seem least bit afraid of the Draugr, he was furious.
Voric stormed past me and rushed to Malik's aid. He wasn't fast fast enough though. The Draugr, that now resembled a pincushion with all the arrows stuck in him, has finally reached Malik.
"No please…," his cry was cut short as the Draugr shoved his sword straight through his chest with such a force that I could hear his bones snap even from where I was standing.
"DIE FILTH!"
I've heard rumors of the Orcish battle rage before, but to see it with my own eyes was something else. Voric's axe was just a blur as it sailed though the air before connecting with the Draugr's helmet. It impacted with enough force to split it clean in half along with most of the corpse's head. Finally it went limp again and fell to the ground. But there were now six others ready to take its place and they swarmed Voric from all sides.
The battle that ensued was brutal, but surprisingly one sided. While the Draugr were terrifying, they were also quite sluggish and completely uncoordinated as they attacked. Two fell with their arms cut off before they could even lift their swords. The rest thrust and swung their swords at Voric, but the blows he did not block he seemed to completely ignore as they cut into his flesh. Another Draugr fell beheaded, but not before landing a nasty cut at the Orc's leg that was now bleeding profusely.
Blow after blow was traded, but as the fight went on it became quite clear that Voric will emerge victorious in the end. His body was covered in an assortment of bruises and cuts, but he still dropped two more Draugr, leaving only a single one left.
Something moved on the far side of the room. I tore my eyes away from the battle and saw that it was the Khajiit, now with a bulky backpack on her back. She was crouched low and quickly moving through the few urns that were still intact, trying to use the chaos to make her way to the exit unnoticed. Our eyes met and she froze in place. Her green eyes with narrow slit pupils met mine, she looked more than a bit panicked. I put my index finger over my lips and nodded with my head towards the exit. She seemed surprised, but didn't waste any time and continued to scurry forward.
"Arrgh!" Voric let out a pained cry and I looked back just in time to see the last remaining Draugr pull its sword out of the Orc's side, leaving behind a deep gash. But that was not enough to drop the Orc and he gave back as good as he got, snapping one of the Draugr's legs in half with a powerful kick. The corpse toppled, but was still twitching, until a brutal stomp shattered its head in pieces and at last put it to its rest.
The bandit leader was breathless, covered in his own blood and appeared exhausted, but he managed to emerge victorious nonetheless. He raised his head to look around, but the sudden sound of pottery being walked on in the now silent room immediately drew his attention to the Khajiit who looked back at him as if she hoped to suddenly disappear.
"Well, wasn't that quite a fight," she squeaked out before breaking full sprint for the exit. The backpack she was carrying however was heavy and slowed her down considerably.
With renowned vigor and the same rage I saw moments ago Voric rushed through the room stomping the broken pottery on the floor. He reached the Khajiit before she got out and even as wounded as he was, he effortlessly hoisted her up in the air by her neck. A small flame appeared in her hand, but it dissipated the moment Voric's hands squeezed her throat in an iron grip.
"YOU CAT BITCH! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU CUNT!"
Her legs twitched in the air almost comically, before she was roughly thrown on the ground and kicked in the gut.
"MALIK DEAD! KALI DEAD! ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!" he crouched down next to her and once again put his hands around her neck. I heard her desperately grasp for breath and my hand involuntarily came to the small dagger in my pocket. He would kill her if I didn't do anything. But I was afraid. I didn't know if I could take on the Orc, even in his weakened state. She was laying on the floor almost stiff now. Something in me broke.
Closing the distance between us in a few leaps I roughly grabbed the Orc by his hair and with my other hand delivered a full force blow with the small dagger. But he was too fast and before the blow landed on his neck he managed to move his body forward. The dagger harmlessly bounced off of one of the plates sewn into his armor and the force of impact snapped it in half. In an instant Voric let go of the Khajiit and with a quick move snapped his head backwards, ramming me square in the face. The sudden pain threw me back a little and before I knew it the Orc was on me, one of his hands over my face the other furiously punching me in the stomach.
He shouted something and rammed my head against the cold ground. The impact almost made me lose consciousness and for a moment all I could see were stars. I was only vaguely aware of the fact that he was still punching me as I desperately tried to push him off me. It didn't work and once he rearranged his grip it was my turn to be choked.
I was pretty sure he was shouting curses at me, but all I could think of was how my vision was growing darker as I was desperately trying to get a hold on something that I could use as a weapon. All I found was a small ceramic piece of the urn, it would have to do. I grasped it with all the force I had left, barely noticing its sharp edge cutting into my palm and blindly swung it at the Orc. Once, twice, three time the shard made contact with flesh before he punched it out of my hand. And the Orc was still alive.
This was it then. All I could do now was try to push against his hands and delay my death by a few seconds.
But to my surprise the Orc's grip actually seemed to weaken little by little, until it went totally limp and he collapsed on top of me. Grasping for breath and still gagging I manged to pull myself from under him. For a minute I just rested there on all fours savoring the stale air of the tomb, massaging my throat. I felt like throwing up, but my stomach was mercifully empty.
When I finally recovered a little I looked next to me at the now dead Orc and laughed. Somehow I managed to slit his throat from ear to ear. Only then I realized that I was completely covered in his blood. But my victory was short lived.
"RAAAARGGHHH" the distant roar brought me back to reality and I quickly scrambled to get up on my feet. It was coming from the corridor we entered through, but sounded like its source was still a few rooms away.
"Great, just freaking great," I muttered, the sound of my own voice giving me some courage. That's when I remembered about the Khajiit and quickly rushed to her. She was exactly where I left her, unconscious and bleeding from a shallow cut on her muzzle, but still very much alive.
Another roar echoed in the room, this time closer. Everything in me screamed to just leave the Khajiit here and run, that I couldn't possibly make it if I had to haul her with me. Despite that I started to undo the straps on her backpack.
"Look at me, Volk the hunter, Volk with the heart of gold, savior of Khajiits," I muttered mockingly as I worked. "He helps everyone from bandits to talking cats."
Finally the damn thing came off and I lifted the Khajiit up bridal style. Only now I remembered that I should have at least taken the bow from Malik, but I didn't want to waste any more time. Rushing through the corridor I ran as fast as my legs could carry me as more and more shouts could be heard coming form the corridors around me.
Fortunately for me the torches hasn't went out just yet, so it was impossible to get lost. I almost stumbled when I spotted something on the floor and only with luck managed to avoid setting off the undoubtedly deadly trap. An arrow whizzed past my ear as I ran through a dark room and I forced myself to run even faster when I saw the glowing pair of blue eyes watching me from the darkness.
"Not too far now,' I kept telling myself in my mind even though in reality I had no idea whatsoever where I was. A sarcophagus exploded as I ran past it and with a roar a Draugr stepped out of it to join the chase. The Khajiit woman was growing heavier in my hands and as the chase continued I stopped to believe that I will reach the door in time. Now it was just about how far I could get before the dead catch up to me.
More and more Draugr could be heard and at every moment I felt that my death was just around the next corner. I made a sharp turn to the right and I ran headfirst into a corpse. The force of impact threw me off balance and I tumbled to the ground with the Khajiit still in my hands. But the corpse wasn't a Draugr, it was Kali, still impaled on the spears and still very much dead.
With newfound strength I got back to my feet and kept running forward, the exit wasn't too far away now. I made it. As I started ascending the spiraling wooden staircase I dared to look down only to see at least ten pairs of glowing eyes that were only two stories bellow me.
The door burst open as I threw my weight against it and the chilly air outside hit me like a wave. Happy that I survived I couldn't care less about it and with my heart still beating wildly in my chest I ran away from the blasted tomb and into the raging blizzard, only stopping once my lungs couldn't take in the icy air anymore.
It was only then when I realized that I was standing in the middle of nowhere, exposed to the raving snowstorm, with Khajiit I was barely able to carry and unable to see more than few steps ahead. This shitty day was far from over.
Author's note (I advise you to read it):
Hi, thanks for getting this far and I hope you are enjoying the story thus far. A few things I wanted to get out of the way.
- this will be a slow building story based mostly on character interaction rather than action (although there will also be plenty of that)
- I will be taking creative liberties at every turn to make the story more realistic and to spice things up
- did I mention this will be a slow building story?
- as for updates I have no idea, I am hoping I will get a new chapter out every week but don't count on it (especially since college will start soon)
- this story will loosely follow the main quest-line (but I will most likely also add fresh new adventures)
- English is not my native tongue so any input on typos or grammar mistakes you give me (PM or review) will be greatly appreciated
- the battles will be portrayed realistically (or as realistically as possible), so do not expect to read something like: "... and as I chopped the last of the fifteen bandits into tiny pieces I took a swig of a health potion to seal my wounds. Ah how good it felt to just relax after slaying ten dragons and fifteen daedra." stuff
Hopefully I will get to finish this story and maybe gain a reader or two in the process and in case you are still reading I apologize for the atrociously long author's note and promise that it won't happen again. So until the next chapter, yours truly DanoTheSlav.