Chapter 4

"By the gods what in oblivion was that!?" Mjollnir exclaimed.

Faren, with a wave of his hand, send the two Dremora back to Oblivion. Even Nirn, their 'expert' on the arcane, was blown back at the level of skill Faren brought into their group.

Faren then walked calmly towards his comrades, with a smug smile creeping on his face.

"How's that for 'not going according to plan', Nirn?" He teased.

Nirn didn't reply as she was still in shock of what had happened.

"T-they told me-you were just a reject from the college! I thought maybe the best you could do was a flame cloak spell-" She stammered.

"No. I don't know what they told you, but I'm not even from the college. I'm actually from house Telvanni."

Nirn's eyes widened. "That explains a lot."

Their talks were interrupted by Bosmer, who began clapping in astonishment of Faren's talents.

"Thank you. You are too kind." Faren bowed.

Shakh merely grunted, and began packing.

"It's time." He announced.

They calculated the time it took for the Jarls men to arrive, and the time it took for them to execute their mission. It was now.

Their company rose and slowly made their way to the entrance of the cave, where darkness awaited them.

It was Shakh, who entered the cave first. He was the one who most fitted the task of an 'infiltrator.' Little was known about him, except for the fact that he worked as an assassin. When they met at the 'meeting', days ago, he was chosen to be their 'muscle'.

Shakh stepped into the cave, and sniffed around curiously.

"What are you doing?" Nirn whispered.

But it was Bosmer who answered that question by pointing at his eyes, and then drawing a line across the cave.

"He's scouting?"

Bosmer nodded, relieved they understood him.

"This way." Shakh whispered, as they took a passage to the left. As they passed through the tunnels, Shakh drew an arrow for the Jarl's men to follow later.

While sneaking down the path, Shakh suddenly stopped.

"Something's not right." He grunted.

"What is?" Mjollnir asked; his hand already at the blade.

Shakh gestured him that it wasn't a matter of drawing his blade, and continued.

"There should at least be some guards around… But there aren't any. I don't know what's going on, but we better be careful."

As if on cue, there were several voices across the narrow cavern.

Shakh immediately commanded the group with silent signals to take a hiding spot, but in this crowded hallway, it was near impossible.

"… And why do WE have to be on guard duty? It's preposterous!" shouted a vampire across the hallway.

The fact that they could hear them now was clearly a sign that they were very, very close. Shakh hid underneath a pile of dead bodies, his hand at his axe-hilt.

Through the dull torchlight, the silhouette of the creatures came closer, and Nirn held her breath after squeezing behind a cupboard. Mjollnir had opened a gate to a nearby cell, and he lay on the ground, faking death. Bosmer had done the same, and Faren was the only one who did not find a hiding place.

He knew he couldn't risk summoning his Dremora again, as their noise might alert the others, and he knew this had to be dealt with-fast. At the last minute, he ditched his pride and managed to hide beneath another pile of dead bodies.

"Hold on. I heard something." One of the vampires paused.

He snarled as he sniffed around the hall, his eyes darting left and right repeatedly, like a sabre cat hunting its prey. In his right hand was a fire spell, which was unusual for a vampire, and in his left, a lightning spell. He was next to the cupboard now, and Nirn closed her eyes tightly, in fear that the vampire may even hear her eyeballs moving in their sockets.

The other two vampires looked around slowly, until one of them came across a cell with a Nord in it. An odd, warm Nord, unlike the others who were cold due to their dead bodies. The vampire who discovered this, a dark elf, gestured to the others silently and they began preparing their spells as they slowly opened the cage gate.

"You've picked a bad time to get lost, friend." He said, as he lifted his hand to shoot an ice spike-

Which never met its mark.

The vampire, confused, slowly turned to see his hand-or what's left of it, in a bloody mess, and what remained was stuck to a stone wall, with a massive arrow pierced through it. It was no ordinary arrow, and was at least half was larger than the standard ones. Without even having time to react, the second arrow, a smaller but still deadly one, pierced his throat, spraying blood and killing him instantly. The other vampires turned to face the killer, to come face to face with Bosmer, who had already let go of his third arrow, and it swam through the air, and killed another, striking them in the throat.

"Intru-"

The vampire's scream was cut off by the Nord muffling his screams with an armored hand, and a dagger to the throat.

A fierce struggle ensued as the vampire tried clawing at Mjollnir's face-anything to be free-then silence.

Nirn slid out of the cupboard, her eyes widened.

"That was a close one." She sighed.

"Too close than I would have liked." Mjollnir laughed.

He nodded at Bosmer.

"Thank you, friend."

Bosmer gave a faint smile and nodded.

"I… Apologize." Faren said, as he stumbled out of the bodies, dusting his clothes to get the insects and dirt off.

"I didn't grow up in such an environment as you people… I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"It better not." Shakh muttered.

"You made too much noise because you delayed too much time in hiding yourself. You almost got one of us killed."

Faren looked at the ground in disappointment.

"My… Deepest apologies, to all of you."

"That's fine." Mjollnir said, as he cleaned his dagger on the robes of the dead vampire.

"Just be careful next time."

Faren nodded. He was determined to fail them again, but even more determined not to soil his name.

"Everyone ready? Let's move on." Shakh said.

To be continued