A/N: Well i've had a devastating week. My game file decided to corrupt and could not be loaded, so I lost Vallaska. Then I made a new file on top of the old one, new character, new everything. And THEN I discovered I could reload from an old save point to get Vallaska back but at that point I was really feeling this new character.
To make matters worse I married Camila Valerious and every time I walked into to our house all I heard was her manlike voice telling me over and over again about the god damn Golden Claw.
So I shot her.
Then reloaded and shot that bitch again.
Moral of the story? Don't marry a dull manwoman who's more into a gold plated artifact than you.
Ah but I bet you didn't come here to read about my life. My apologies, enjoy the chapter.
As the heavy dwarven door slammed shut behind her with a clang that sounded like music to her ears, Vallaska stepped out into the cool night air. Fresh air, she thought as the icy wind bit at her cheeks till they turned rosy, By the nine, i'd never thought i'd breathe it again. How long had she been down in that stinking skeever hole of a place? Hours? She had arrived at the entrance of Mzulft in the early morning dawn, and now it was- what? Almost midnight, judging by the position of the full moon floating high in the starry sky. It could only have been hours, but to Vallaska it felt like days.
Turning to her newly found- and somewhat reluctant- companion, Vallaska began to shiver in her armour. There was no doubt it was cold on top of Mzulf during the day, but at night it was a whole different story. If they didn't get moving soon he toes would surely drop off. Or maybe that was her just being overly dramatic. He was standing with his arms crossed, giving the little elf a hard stare that couldn't be interpreated as anything but 'I don't want to be here'. Vallaska wasn't sure because of his baggy robes, but it looked like he was shivering too. She was about suggest they get moving when a new thought occured to her.
"Shit! How are we gonna get back to Winterhold? I came by horse,"- a horse that was tethered round the other side of the mountain she might add, down what appeared to be a five hundred foot drop- "and you came by...by..." She waved her arms in a wide circular motion to represent that zappy appear-and-disappear thing he did.
Quaranir arched an eyebrow at her, a gesture she more felt than saw as his hood cast half his face in perpetual shadow. He paced forward of the narrow ledge they we standing on and craned his neck to look at the drop of the other side. Vallaska shuffled her feet to keep herself from freezing to the spot and waited for him to say something. Surely the Psijic monk had a bright idea.
The high elf straightened up and turned to face her after a few moments of gazing into the gloom. "The solution to this is simple then." He replied in his haughty accent. "You go by horse and i'll go by," There was a pause and Vallaska prayed to every Divine out there he was going to copy her mad arm waving gesture. But after a few heartbeats he simply finished by adding, "teleportation." It wasn't a word she had ever come across before and not one she understood. Fancy technical mage-speak, she assumed, feeling more than a little disappointed that the grumpy high elf had not made a complete fool of himself. Speaking of grumpy high elves, Vallaska remembered she's have Ancano to contend with when she returned and felt her heart sink to her boots.
"And I suppose you think I was born yesterday. It's not that I don't trust you to show up, Quaranir, but, well, I don't trust you to show up." Vallaska crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. Although the mage had healed the nasty ice burn of her arm, the feirce night air was beginning to burn her all over, and she was sure the pointed tips of her ears were forming icicles. He sighed. "You have my word I shall return. I know better and most what the future holds if you do not complete your destiny. Besides, you only have one horse, and I need to inform my order of your...input."
She thought in silence, less than convinced. He may of given her his word but she far from trusted the mage. His yellow eyes burned in the darkness as she considered his point, searching for an alternative, anything to keep him in her sight. She had a feeling that if the elf was to disappear now she would not lay eyes on him again until the rest of the psijic order saw fit. They'd probably send someone else anyway. High and mighty orders like that did not tend to respond well to blackmail.
Moments passed before he spoke again. "In any case, you need to inform your college that i'll be about. I'm less than trusted, especially by your thalmor associate." Vallaska supposed he did have a point there. And if she did tell the other mages he was coming there was a higher chance he would actually stay true to his word. But she really disliked the plan, and disliked the thought of trying to explain to Ancano that she was working with a psijic even less. But there seemed like no other eligable alternatives she reluctantly accepted. "Fine. Two days time. If you're not there by, say, midnight then the whole things off. I'll leave that blasted college for good. Understand?"
Quaranir leaned forward, still managing to tower over her and narrowed his eyes. "I may have been forced into being your little slave, but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like i'm stupid." And with that the brilliant light flickered round his form once more and the mage was gone, vanished into the darkness like it had swallowed him whole and left Vallaska standing shivering in the cold night air. She sighed and her breath billowed like smoke around her, already beginning to feel more uneasy as the mage left her. Best get moving, she thought to herself and then stopped and took in the narrow ledge around her. But move where? It was either down or through, and though the thought of the five hundred foot drop into certain death wasn't all that appealing, the thought of delving back into that dingy dwarven ruin was even worse. So, down it was.
With another heartfelt sigh and one last curse to the divines for letting her into this mess, Vallaska gripped the edge of the ledge and began to lower herself down into the darkness.
Several cuts and bruises later, her feet were firmly on solid ground. Well, solid-ish ground, as she was still half way up the mountian, on an icy path that wound slowly down to the ground. Vallaska began a swift jog back to the spot where she had tethered her horse, more to try and warm herself up than the need for speed. She had two days to get back to Winterhold. Her lungs screamed with the icy air and her ribs ached from where her fingers had been too cold to grasp a jutting rock properly and she'd slipped and fallen, but Vallaksa didn't let her pace falter, using the time to think.
She wondered if Quaranir was actually going to turn up, or if his order would actually let him. It must break a lot of their rules but...they didn't really have much choice, did they? She frowned. What was she going to tell Savos? What was she going to say to Ancano? They had already seen one member of the psijic order and Ancano had made no efforts to hide his contempt and mistrust for the order.
Vallaska tripped over a small boulder in the darkness and almost went head first off the narrow path and down the side of the steep mountain. After that she decided slowing down was the best course of action and began a brisk walk. Besides, she was nearing her camp, anxiety spreading in the pit of her stomach. Gods, what have I gotten myself into?
Considering her run of bad luck so far, it was of absolutely no surprise to Vallaska when she was delayed on her way back to Winterold. Wolves, bandits and even a dragon blocked her path, so when she finally neared WInterhold with a heavy heart and a tired horse it was nearing the two-day mark. She was starving, her mind clouded and distracted and her body weak, but she still wondered if there had been any word from her psijic mage. If she didn't get there soon there'd be no time to explain to Savos. That was if he even bothered showing up.
Vallaska urged her tired horse into a gallop, a new sense of urgency creeping over her. There was something wrong, she could feel it in her gut, a skill she had developed over time from being an assassin and not getting caught. At this rate she was going to run the poor beast to the ground, but there was not a moment to lose.
They neared Winterhold as the sun began to set, and Vallaska didn't even bother to tie up her tired pony before she sprinted up the gentle stone incline that led to the college grounds. It was eerily quiet as she ran past the towering stone statue in the middle and flung herself at the doors to the Hall Of Elements, which opened with an echoing crash that caused her to tumble to the hard stone floor, ribs sreaming in protest. Balance was never something she'd perfected, even after all those years of being an assassin.
Inside Savos and Mirabelle turned to her with shocked faces and Vallaska hauled herself to her feet, eyes widening as the took in the glistening barrier that prevented anyone from enterting into the main hall. She stumbled forward and reached out to touch it, pulling her fingers back quickly as it crackled like lightening. "What...is this thing?" She muttered.
Mirabelle turned to her, frowning. "We're not sure, but it's stopping us from getting to the eye. We think Ancano is casting it. Gods knows what he's doing in there but it can't be good."
Ancano! What a slimy, sceaming bastard. Vallaska had always known there was something off about him. What in Sithis' name was he doing to that thing? Wait till I get my hands on him, she thought to herself, i'll send his soul to be a plaything of Sithis in the void.
"We're going to throw everything we've got at it." Added Savos, drawing closer, hands coming alive with flame. "We need to know what Ancano is doing in there."
He quickly pushed past her and a gout of arcane fire burst from his palms, hitting the barrier with a deafening crackle. Mirabelle joined in with some frost enchantments, and Vallaska quickly fired a sucsession of arrows at the thing, which bounced off quite uselessly. She quickly conjured some flames, her body and mind too tired to make her attacks very powerful, but the sizzling barrier soon bagan to flicker before giving way completely.
They staggered in, Vallaska letting out a soft hiss when she saw the thalmor advisor casting some kind of spell at the Eye, slipping into an instinctive crouch, ready to attack. Savos brushed past her, ignoring all of Mirabelle's efforts to warn him away, yelling at the mage to stop. He, of course and in the manner of most villans, didn't, sparing the a scathing glace and a contemptuous half smile before Vallaska's vision sudden burst bright white and she felt herself sailing back through the air.
She hit one of the pillars painfully, her bruised ribs letting out a worrying crunch, before rolling along the hard stone floor. Dazed, her head spining and mind numb, Vallaska tried to gather her thoughts. Where was she? Where was Ancano? A groan escaped her lips as she tried to sit up, her side throbbing agonizingly.
"Vallaska! Val, you have to get up." Mirabelle's voices reached her through her confused haze and her eyes searched for the place where the voice had sounded from. A few paces away Mirabelle was propped up against another pillar, face ashen and leg twisted under her in a position that left Vallaska in no doubt that it was broken. It looked like Vallaksa had had a lucky escape, and she hauled herself once again to her feet and stumbled over, leaving against the walls to support herself.
"You have to find the arch mage. I- I think he was blown clean in the blast. Ancano's put up another barrier between us and the Eye." Vallaska nodded, not trusting herself to speak and staggered out the Hall of Elements as fast as her wobbly legs could carry her, eyes scanning for any sign of Savos.
The cold air hit her face like a slap, bringing her to her senses and Vallaska quickly trotted over to a huddle of mages gathering near the statue. Peering over, her eyes widened with shock and her heart once again sank to her boots. Before her lay Savos' body, twisted and burnt from the blast. Vallaska had seen a lot of death, and it didn't bother her one bit, but she knew that this had serious implications. Perhaps she had been wrong to threaten to ignore the Eye and the destiny the psijics had laid out for her. What if she was too late now?
She was quickly interupted from her doom-laiden thoughts as Tolfdir ran over and grabbed her sleeve, swinging her round to face him and making her wince as her ribs jarred painfully. At least one was broken. Maybe even two. If felt like her side was on fire, but she counted herself lucky that her armour had absorbed most of the impact, unlike the thin robes the rest of the mages wore.
"Listen!" He gasped. "Whatever kind of magic killed the arch mage is affecting Winterhold now! The people who live down there are in danger. You must go and help. I'll hold up here and keep an eye on Ancano. Hurry!"
Vallaska swallowed nervously and nodded, sprinting to the bridge where she could see Feralda and Arniel already hurrying down to help the people. Vallaska felt touched by their bravery and selflessness- after all, she couldn't see the people of Winterhold ever running to the mages aid if they were ever under attack. She certainly had a new opinion of Feralda.
Arriving to find the two mages being swarmed by...by...what were those things? They loosely resembled ice wraiths, floating through the air in the same jagged motion. She stood there in shock, before letting out a loud yelp as one bit into her shoulder, it's magic shocking her system. Vallaska tore herself away and pulled out her bow, knocking an arrow into place. Though the other two mages were shooting bolts of fire and ice and shock at the creatures, Val couldn't muster up the strength- or will- to even attempt to use magic in this situation. She was officially done with the arncane arts. But, she acknowledged with a sinking feeling, were the arcane arts quite done with her?
Moving off a few paces to give herself room to take aim, Vallaska fired a quick sucession of arrows at the creature, a few hitting but most being swiftly dodged. The things were a lot faster than ice wraiths. They swarmed around the three mages, biting and shocking them with the very magic they exuded from their being, and quickly overwhelmed them. Vallaska felt herself falling down, her already weak body giving up, legs failing. Her bow was flung from her hand as she crashed to the floor. Vision, blurring and going black at the edges. There was a high pitched ringing in her ears.
I'm going to pass out, she realized suddenly, swinging her arms about, trying to beat them off with what little strength she had left. Gods, no. I'm going to die.
I'm going to die here.