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"Where's the rest of your pack, cur!" A big blonde-haired man threatened.
One of the women, a pretty brunette with cruel eyes cackled at Vilkas. "Aww, poor little wolfie is all alone." They hadn't noticed Lily.
The blonde man joined in her laughter, then held his silver blade at Vilkas' throat. He pressed it to his neck, drawing blood.
"We're going to skin you alive, dog, and send your carcass back to Jorrvaskr," He said.
Another man in their group grinned and said "Let's string him up first and take our sweet time. Cut his balls off and watch him howl. It will make a fine story back at our meadhall."
"Too bad you won't live long enough to tell the tale," Vilkas said. He stared at them coldly. The steel in his pale blue gaze was the only hint of the icy rage building within him.
Still trapped in the little room, Lily knocked an arrow and pulled back her bowstring. The bars of the portcullis were narrow and would probably ruin her shot, but she had to try. Lily had her sights trained on the blonde man who held the blade to Vilkas' throat. The Silver Hand warrior wasn't wearing a helmet. She stretched the bowstring, focusing intently on the blonde man's bare neck.
Then, it was like the hells of Oblivion broke loose.
One moment, the Silver Hand were laughing at Vilkas and threatening his life. In the next, Vilkas opened his mouth and let out a roar. Teeth elongated into fangs and coarse hair sprouted on his face. His armor fell away as bone and muscle contorted into powerful new forms. Where the man had been a moment ago, there was now a great dark-furred beast. He stood on two legs, seven feet tall and nearly as broad. The Silver Hand warriors were shouting and fighting him for their lives. Soon their shouts turned to screams. Vilkas tore them apart with fang and claw until what was left of the Silver Hand warriors was unrecognizable.
Lily's bow and arrow had been forgotten in her shock, dropped to the floor from nerveless fingers. She had seen death in battle before, but not like this…
Lily felt something wet. She touched her face and her hand came away red with someone else's blood. Her stomach roiled.
It was all over in a few short minutes. The mindless fury of the beastblood receded and Vilkas returned to his human form. He looked at the carnage around him and closed his eyes as remorse washed over him. He did not regret taking the lives of the Silver Hand, since they were ready to take his, but he had not intended to transform. In his cold fury he lost control and broke his promise to Kodlak. Somewhere in the endless hunting grounds, Hircine must be laughing.
Vilkas found a dusty old tapestry and used it to clean the blood from his body. He clad himself in his armor once more, relieved to feel its comfortable weight. After he retrieved his Skyforge steel greatsword and sheathed it on his back, Vilkas started to feel like himself again.
He turned his attention back to Lily and cursed to himself. He had no intention of revealing the Companion's secret to her. Could she be trusted to keep it?
When Vilkas approached the portcullis, Lily looked at him in fear and pressed herself against the back wall. Stuck behind the bars, she reminded him of a scared little mouse in a cage.
Vilkas sighed as the last of his anger dissipated. He didn't know why it bothered him to have Lily fear him, but it did.
"Lily," He said. "I know I must seem like a monster to you, but believe me when I say that I won't hurt you.
She looked at him with fear in her eyes. "You're a werewolf. How do I know you won't kill me as you killed them?" Her gaze dropped to the bloody carnage that now littered the floor of the chamber, and she paled.
The question offended Vilkas' sense of honor, even though he knew it came from simple ignorance.
His expression hardened. "I'm no murderer! I may be moonborn, but I still live by the honor of the Companions. We kill in battle when we must, when our lives are threatened. Had I not stopped them, the Silver Hand would have killed me and then you. But first, they would torture you to get your confession."
"My confession?"
"Aye. It's their way. They torture anyone they suspect of having Lycanthropy. If they kill a few innocents in the process, they believe it is justified. You heard them yourself. The kind of filth they attract to their ranks seem to enjoy it," Vilkas said with disgust.
Lily let out a shaky breath and looked at him in the eye. "Alright. Don't blame me for being a little…shocked. That scared the life out of me, but I believe you."
"In that case, we should get going. We still need to find the shard. Are you ready?"
Lily nodded and retrieved her bow from the floor. Vilkas found an iron ring near the door and pulled. The portcullis rose up with a loud clank.
As they ventured deeper into the darkness of the cairn, Lily remained unusually silent. There were no quips, snide remarks or inane chatter out of her. Vilkas should have been glad, but he felt a little guilty for frightening her.
Finally, they came to an imposing set of iron double doors, the engravings so old and worn with age as to be unrecognizable.
Vilkas turned to Lily with a warning glance. "This should be the main chamber. Be on your guard."
They held their weapons at the ready as Vilkas placed a hand against the door and swung it open.
The scent of ancient decay assailed his senses, setting him immediately on edge. Something vile and evil lurked within this chamber. At the back of the gloomy candle-lit interior, a great word-wall dominated the room, the meaning of its ancient carvings now lost to history. In front of the word wall a large iron sarcophagus rested upon a dais. To the left and right of the room… row upon row of iron coffins stood as ominous sentries all the way from the dais down to the entrance where Vilkas stood.
He heard the sharp intake of Lily's breath as she peered into the chamber. After about 30 coffins, she'd stopped counting.
"Fire of Oblivion! I don't suppose the draugr will wake from their coffins nice and orderly? One at a time?"
The sardonic expression on Vilkas' face was her answer.
"Well, what's our strategy? Can we handle that many draugr at once?" Lily asked.
Vilkas was blunt. "I won't leave without that shard. I'll have victory or death this night. But I sure as Talos don't have time to hold your hand through the battle. You'll need to stay behind in that last room while I take care of this. If I don't make it, leave and report back to Kodlak."
Lily folded her arms and fixed Vilkas with a glare. "You'd have me wait back there and fail this Testing? No Thanks."
"You have a better idea?" Vilkas scoffed.
"I do. I borrowed a book from Kodlak, the one about the crazed mage who locked herself in with the draugr for a year to study them."
"Go on," Vilkas demanded.
"She used spells to sneak around and observe them," Lily said, retrieving a bottle from her pack. "They may be undead, but they are as susceptible to illusion as any living man or mer." She shook the bottle of Chameleon potion that she had retrieved from the chest earlier, watching the oily liquid splash within.
"See that wooden stairway and ledge on the left of the room? I quaff this potion and sneak up there with my bow. I'll have the advantage of higher ground and a good vantage point to pick off the draugr when you engage them. I can help you from the sidelines."
Vilkas frowned. It could just work. "Alright, we try it your way. Your aim better be good Whelp. "
Lily threw back her head and chugged the potion. She made a sour expression as all the bitter liquid went down. As Lily crouched and started to sneak into the room she slowly started to fade. It was as though her body took on the appearance of what was behind her. As she moved, the illusion cloaking her form would shift to match the background. Just watching it made Vilkas dizzy. He tightened his grip on the hilt of his longsword, and eyed the draugr's coffins instead. He was waiting for the creatures to burst forth in a snarling frenzy as Lily snuck past, but the room remained eerily calm.
Lily's shifting form snuck up the wooden stair on the left of the room. As she crouched on the ledge she became all but invisible. When Vilkas heard the telltale stretch of a bowstring, he knew that she was ready for him to begin.
Vilkas slowly stepped into the chamber with his greatsword ready. A loud "crack!" shattered the silence, followed by many more as the horde of draugr broke free from their coffins. The snarling creatures surged at Vilkas to press their attack. With his battle cry echoing in the room, Vilkas swung his blade, feeling the satisfying crunch of Skyforge steel meeting brittle bones and withered flesh.
In the haze of battle, Vilkas was aware of draugr jerking back as arrows slammed into their shriveled bodies. Some of the weaker draugr were felled outright by the deadly rain. Lily was helping to slow their advance, but still the horde came at him.
Up on the wooden ledge, Lily could feel the chameleon potion wearing off. The draugr were so preoccupied with Vilkas down on the floor that she doubted any would notice her re-appearance.
Her confidence wavered when she heard the unnerving sound of a large "Crack!" coming from the dais. She turned towards the sound just in time to see the lid of the sarcophagus fly off as a very large angry draugr in a horned helmet emerged.
Don't see me… don't see me…Nocturnal don't let him see me. Lily chanted to herself, but it was no avail. The malevolent eyes of the draugr lord turned upon Lily, glowing with rage and unholy magic.
From her position up on the ledge, she fired two arrows into its chest. The draugr lord merely pulled them out and kept advancing towards his prey. It stood at the base of the stair, just under the ledge and glared up at her. She heard an odd raspy sound from the draugr lord's throat. Gods, is that thing…laughing? Then it raised its massive black sword and sliced clean though the supporting beam that held up the ledge Lily stood upon.
Lily barely had time to utter the F-word as she came crashing down towards the floor along with the all the broken wood. She let out a cry of pain as her shoulder smashed into the ground. Self-preservation won out over the pain, as she righted herself and drew her bow upon the draugr lord. She fired again and again as she backed away from him. The onslaught didn't slow the creature at all. "GAAN LAH!" it shrieked at her. Lily suddenly felt weak, drained of all energy. Her bow slid from her fingers. She stumbled back and fell to the ground. Lily watched with grim fascination as the draugr lord raised its black blade above her, ready to cleave her head in two. The creature shrieked again and Lily looked on in confusion as the dark blade fell with a clatter from its bony fingers. It was then that she noticed two feet of Skyforge steel piercing through the creature's chest. Vilkas impaled the draugr lord so hard he had lifted it clear off the ground. In a smooth motion, Vilkas slid his greatsword from the draugr lord's body and swung back around to sever its withered head from its corpse, horned helmet and all.
Still in a battle rage, Vilkas turned back to the few remaining draugr and rushed towards them with a yell. "I'll mount your fucking heads on my wall!"
Lily couldn't help but laugh, she was so shocked to still be alive. There were only three unfortunate draugr left from the original horde and Vilkas would soon put an end to them all. They had won!
She stood and walked up the dais, to a stone table just in front of the word wall. There, lying at the table's center was a piece of metal glimmering in the candle light. It was the shard of Wuuthrad that they had fought so hard to retrieve.
Lily swayed on her feet. She was still dizzy from being drained by the draugr lord. What is that? She thought. It sounded like chanting.
Lily turned to take a closer look at the word wall, while the chanting seemed to grow louder in her mind, mesmerizing her.
She read the wall. "This stone commemorates King Jafnhar's child, who was burned alive by fire of the great dragon Lo'Du'Nost." She wondered who King Jafnhar's child was and how the shard of Wuuthrad came to be in his tomb. She'd ask Vilkas later. The chanting seemed to grow louder and her head started to spin. Her eyes were pulled relentlessly to one word etched into the wall…"fire." Her eyes widened as the cold carved stone seemed to smoke and then come alive with flame. The chanting increased to a deafening crescendo as the word YOL blazed across her consciousness and the inferno consumed her.
Vilkas impaled the last of the draugr and kicked it away from him, sliding his sword free.
Still tense, he looked around at the carnage and saw with grim satisfaction that nothing now moved. The heaps of draugr remained lifeless where they had fallen to his blade. Vilkas noted with grudging respect that numerous arrows sprouted from these corpses, from eyes, chests, shoulders and joints. He had to admit that Lily's onslaught had been helpful at hindering the draugr's progress so that he could cut them down without being mobbed. He sheathed the greatsword on his back and turned around with a smirk, saying "Well, it seems you are not totally useless after all…"
Vilkas froze when turned around and didn't see Lily there. It was as though he was alone in the room. "Lily!" he called out. His sharp eyes discerned a small crumpled heap laying in front of the word wall. He ran up the stair and turned her over, feeling dread that he may have failed to bring his charge back from this Testing alive. However, his keen lupine senses told him otherwise. He could practically smell her heart beating and sense the flow of blood through her veins. The whelp was alive, but probably injured. It would be too dangerous to remain in the cairn. There was no telling when an incapacitated draugr might revive itself to battle once more. Vilkas cast his eyes across the dais and his gaze fell upon the stone table. He caught sight of a gleaming piece of metal in the candle light. He quickly pocketed the piece, then scooped up Lily in his arms and headed back towards the cairn's entrance.