Chapter 10: The Forgotten Tomb
I awoke with my head at the foot of the bed, my feet resting on the pillow. It took me a moment to remember where I was. At first I thought it was an inn, but the decor quickly reminded me that I was in a Mages' Guild. I slowly got to my feet, resisting the urge to drift back to sleep. I yawned, wondering how long I had been out, and why Schimmel hadn't woken me.
I stumbled out of the room, still not entirely awake. The guild was quiet, more so than usual. I went down the staircase to the reading area, nobody seemed to be there, not even Edwinna, but that was probably for the best. I searched through the lower rooms but found nobody, even the shop was left unguarded. On my way back upstairs to check the spare rooms I heard a door shut and then footsteps. The Dunmer woman that told us where the tomb was located came down the stairs leading to the lobby. She looked at me for a moment, a surprised expression on her face.
"Oh! Awake at last Nem?" She asked with a smile.
"Yeah... where is everyone?" I asked, feeling a bit stupid since I still couldn't remember her name.
"A lot of corpus beasts came from the east, both the Mages' Guild and Fighters Guild were asked to help stop them from reaching the town. I was asked to stay and watch the guild so nothing is stolen. Although I doubt I could do anything to stop a thief." She said, crossing her arms.
"Corpus beasts?! How could they get through the Ghostfence?" I pondered.
"That's the mystery. I tried to wake you and your friend, but you were both out cold." she said, walking down the hall to the spare rooms. "We should get him up, I doubt you want to sit around for long."
I followed behind her to the second spare room, she knocked on the door a couple times but there was no reply. I walked over and pushed the door open, Schimmel was asleep on his side, snoring loudly.
"Schimmel!" I shouted, standing over him. He continued to snore. I grabbed his shoulder and shook him a bit. "Wake up!" He mumbled something in his sleep, pulling the blanket over his head. I sighed, wondering how anyone could sleep so soundly. "Geez... it's like trying to raise the dead."
"I tried the same thing, but he just won't wake up. I can't blame him really with all the training he was doing though." She said, watching me try in vain to awaken Schimmel.
"What training?" I asked as Schimmel let out another deafening snore.
"He joined the Mages' Guild and did some alteration and restoration training. He seemed to be really interested in a few spells after hearing about them."
"No wonder he's so tired, after my first time training magic I was unconscious for nearly a day. Of course I was too stubborn to know when to quit." I glanced down at Schimmel, and decided to let him sleep for a while longer.
I went back to the other spare room, going back to sleep for now. Two hours later I faintly heard someone calling my name, it steadily got louder as I slowly awoke. It sounded a bit like Schimmel, but another voice quickly spoke up.
"Oh let me... get up you bum!" someone shouted, shoving me off the bed.
"I don't think you really needed to do that..." I heard Schimmel say.
"He needed it. Are you awake now, or do you need a good kick?" a familiar voice said, it took me a moment to realize who it was.
I sat up, giving Edwinna an irritated look and grumbling something rude under my breath.
"What was that?" She asked.
I said nothing, standing up and stretching. She gave me an annoyed look and walked off. I put my armor and robe back on, then turned to Schimmel, who was still standing in the doorway. "That woman is psychotic... oh well, you ready to go?" I asked.
"Yeah, but..." Schimmel mumbled.
"But... what?"
"Nothing, nevermind. Time to raid that tomb!" Schimmel said, walking out the door and down the hall before I could say anything.
I shrugged, making sure I had everything before making my way to the guild lobby. Schimmel was on the other side of the room, talking with Edwinna. I opened the door outside, there was sand piled against the buildings, blocking some of the doors.
"One of the worst blight storms we've ever had. You're lucky you arrived in town when you did, any later and you could have had a lot of problems." A voice said behind me. I turned and saw the Dunmer woman from earlier looking out the door.
"Looks like it was... glad it's over now." I said, looking at the countless sand drifts covering the town.
"Finding the tomb after this may be more difficult. That's why I'll be coming with you." She said, lifting a small bag off the nearby table onto her shoulder.
"What? It's going to be dangerous in there. I don't want to put anyone uninvolved at risk."
She chuckled a bit, smiling at me. "You don't need to worry, I've learned a few more spells since my last trip. Besides, I'm only taking you to the entrance. After that I'm coming straight back to the Mages' Guild."
"Oh... good. Well, we should get going. Schimmel, move it!" I yelled, walking out the door.
The Dunmer woman followed me, Schimmel close behind her.
"Schimmel, Trelana, be careful out there! Don't let Nem hurt himself!" Edwinna called out from the doorway with a laugh as we walked away.
I started to create a shockball in my left hand, trying to suppress the urge to turn and throw it at Edwinna. Trelana must have noticed the energy building up and grabbed my left arm, turning back to Edwinna and shouting. "Don't worry! We'll take care of him!"
I heard the door of the guild shut and the spell faded from my hand. I don't know what it was about that woman that always got on my nerves. I glanced down at Trelana, who was still latched onto my arm. "You can let go now."
"Oh, sorry." She mumbled, quickly releasing my arm and taking a couple steps away.
I glanced over at Schimmel, who was looking off in the other direction. I found myself wondering what Edwinna had been telling him, but did my best to brush it out of my mind. Our focus right now should be finding the tomb.
We wandered the hills for over two hours, on the road, what little could be seen of it anyway, and off. Countless cliff racers attacked us in our search, we were able to slay them easily enough, but using magic so much was tiring, and I was running low on arrows. By the time we found the tomb I was down to three arrows out of two dozen and I barely had the energy to conjure a shockball. Schimmel was clearly out of breath, but hardly wounded, his natural agility and the increase he got from one of the spells he learned at the guild got him through almost every encounter unscathed. Trelana was probably in the best shape of all of us, she was able to paralyze anything that got near her and break it's neck with one or two swings of her staff.
The stone door to the tomb was half covered by sand, after digging our way in we found it was exactly as Trelana had described. A short staircase down, a split with a dead end in each direction, and markings at the tunnel's ends. We rested for a while, Schimmel and Trelana sat by the wall chatting while I read though the symbols on the wall, trying to remember what some of them meant. My thoughts were pulled away from the symbols as I heard my name mentioned in the nearby conversation.
"Did Nem ever tell you why he and Edwinna are at each other's throats half the time?" Trelana asked Schimmel in a hushed voice. It didn't matter how softly she spoke, the echo of this tomb magnified every little sound.
"No, why?" Schimmel muttered.
"Oh... I thought maybe you knew. They've been that way for as long as I can remember... nobody else seems to know either. I wonder if they even know why." Trelana mumbled, leaning against the wall.
"It's one of life's mysteries. If you want to know why, ask Edwinna, I honestly haven't a clue." I said, turning my focus back to the symbols.
"Sorry... I just..." Trelana stuttered, embarrassed about being overheard.
"I'm sure it's one of the many rumors that circle the Mages' Guild, why we fight constantly. Who knows what idiotic ideas some have come up with." I said, staring at the markings on the wall.
"So... how's that coming?" Schimmel asked.
"I think I have it..." I reached up, touching one of the symbols. It began to glow. I touched a couple more and they began to shine as well, followed shortly by the other symbols and then the entire wall. When the light faded a stone archway stood were the symbols used to be.
I turned back to Schimmel and Trelana, grinning. "The other one should be open as well. Time for a little ex... eh?" a foul smell was coming from the archway. Before I could even react I felt a surge of pain through my body as something stuck my back. I fell to my knees and things began to get blurry. Schimmel and Trelana were on their feet, but a red blast of energy flew past my head, striking Schimmel in the chest as he drew his sword. Another surge of pain went through my body. I heard Trelana scream, and then blacked out.