Nightingale Whispers
By Jackie Almasy
Through the mist I see the face
Of an angel, calls my name
I remember you're the reason I have to stay
-Within Temptation, "Pale"
Chapter Ten
Distant Reminders
Aia's concern for her sickness fell to the very back of her mind. Despite her mind begging for rest and relief and ignoring her aching wounds and body, her strong sense of duty and honor kicked in.
Her brown eyes flashed to the quiver and long bow less than two feet from her. Before her mind could question what little sanity she seemed to have left, the will to live and save her friend took over.
Launching herself foreword, Aia grabbed onto the bow and strap on the quiver of arrows. Rolling once, she quickly assumed a kneeling position and notched an arrow into the bow's mighty string. Pulling back as hard as she could muster, Aia trembled heavily. Her trained eyes scanned the body for the first fault she saw and her attention quickly fell to the constantly clinking of a loose screw at the fulcrum of the giant machine on what would be the elbow of a normal person.
Gritting her teeth through the pain, Aia unleashed the arrow with all the strength she could muster. Hitting the base of the large loose screw with a mighty force, she gasped softly at the pin not falling out.
Caught off guard form the force of the arrow on its arm, the Centurion Guardian stopped momentarily. Taking one-half step back, Aia whimpered as she held her ribs beneath her breasts tightly. She only had one choice left.
Concentrating all pain and adrenaline into her throat, the old and powerful familiarity of the Thu'um rose from deep within her chest. The pain that was to come in mere seconds would be unbearable but she refused to let her friend down.
"ZUN HAAL VIIK!"
The instant the power left her ravaged body, Aia could hardly breathe from the strain on her ribs. She felt bones creak, groan, and then finally snap under the weight of the power. Her fiery red hair lifted by her face as her body was sent careening back.
However, the dragon shout was not without its victory.
Hitting the Centurion Guardian at full force, the loose screw flew out of its slot and into the darkness of the tunnel. The dragon shout disarmed the giant weapon of its right arm. Large amounts of steam and squealing grinding gears filled the darkness, loud enough to rouse Vidar from his lulled pain.
Groaning in pain, the man suddenly screamed as the large right arm of the weapon landed less than inches from his face. Pushing himself to his knees and back away furiously from machine, Vidar looked over his shoulder to see the agony filled form of the Dragonborn leaning against the cold stone wall. He quickly saw his bow and quiver of arrows not far from her hands.
He quickly ran to her side and his eyes widened in horror at seeing a stream of blood coming from the corner of her mouth and specks of blood all over her chin and neck, "Aia?! AIA?!"
Hearing the machine begin to take steps, Vidar reacted as a hunter would. Grabbing the bow and arrows, he quickly shouldered the quiver and began unleashing an onslaught of arrows. Even in the dim lighting of the tunnel, the sparks from the grinding gears gave him a brief light of the damaged form.
"Curse you!" Vidar screamed as he aimed his arrows one right after another at the Centurion's neck. Dread suddenly hit the pit of his stomach as he realized he was out of arrows. Only managing to stun the weapon once more, he cursed his luck and threw down his bow. Drawing his two daggers, the man prepared to fight the ancient death trap hand to hand if need be.
However, the life of the weapon suddenly came to a complete stop as a large double axe landed on its neck. Nearly decapitating the head from the body, the weapon let out a whirring sound of its gears once more before collapsing to its giant knees and then the ground. Vidar backed up even more at the sight of a very angry Hargar behind the weapon with eight men.
Their looks were equally pissed as the torch light illuminated their silent glares. Hargar moved his gaze to Aia as he heard her weak intake of breath, hearing the wheeze behind it.
"Dragonborn…" Hargar said as he lifted his axe and let its full weight fall upon his shoulder. He only budged an inch to its weight falling upon him.
"She is the bloody fucking Dragonborn," Hargar whispered with a seething anger Vidar had never seen in him before. He had come to this place expecting an easy treasure to find and instead had been introduced to a hidden nightmare of untold lengths. "And you knew all this time?"
Vidar refused to say anything, merely glaring back to the man as he backed up even more to protect the injured woman. His healer instincts were screaming for him to tend to her wounds before it was too late but even he didn't know if there was anything he could do for her now.
"Why Vidar? Why betray your brothers? Why betray me?" Hargar's tone was getting dangerously uneven. He seemed like he was going to snap at any minute.
It was Vidar who snapped at the question.
"Brothers?! Don't make me fucking laugh!" Vidar nearly screamed, his bright blue eyes reflecting a hatred he rarely showed.
"You took me away from my family, from my sisters! Dragged me into a life of crime, slavery, and murder! I NEVER wanted to join you in the first place!" He continued, not noticing the spit flying from his mouth at every word. His emotions were unchecked and unleashed after a year of being pent up. "AND NOW I WILL NOT HOLD BACK IN MURDERING EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU PISS SUCKING MILK DRINKERS!"
Hargar visibly snapped at the anger flaring through him as he yelled an order at his men,
"Kill him! First one to bring him to me receives a bag of gold!"
Three of the men suddenly charged foreword, all three drawing their swords while another held onto one of the three torches from the group. Vidar held nothing back as he threw one of the daggers at the oncoming Blackblood Marauder. It lodged itself deeply into the man's throat as he choked on his blood momentarily before falling to the ground dead.
Running foreword towards the corpse, Vidar barely dodged a descending sword by a few inches. Turning quickly with speed and agile, the man dug his dagger deep into the wrist and pulled across. The slaver screamed in agony as Vidar reached down and yanked his other knife out of the dead man's corpse.
His scream suddenly filled the air as the edge of the third man's sword cut along the back of his left shoulder. Glaring menacingly, Vidar brought his foot down with all of his might down onto the leather boot of the Marauder. Feeling bones within the man's feet break, Vidar screamed as he drove both daggers into each front temple on the man's face.
The sound of crunching bones and squishing brain matter filled Vidar's ears as he ripped the daggers out and kicked the falling corpse away. The injured man with the slit wrist was still gasping and crying out in pain as he ran back to the group, looking for anything to still the bleeding.
"Touch her Hargar and you'll face far worse than me." Vidar warned as his daggers dripped blood down onto the ground. Panting and trying his best to ignore the throbbing shoulder, he quickly took another stance.
Suddenly from the darkness of the tunnel, two arrows lodged themselves into two unsuspecting men's chest. Hargar screamed in confusion as Vidar looked behind the group. A tall Dunmer woman, clothed in armor as black as the night itself, emerged behind the group and let out arrows at a speed he could never match.
Another man fell as she quickly sheathed her bow and drew out a single long silver dagger. It gleamed in the limited light of the torches as she quickly attacked what was left of the Marauders.
Caught up in the awe and fear of watching the men fall like flies, Vidar didn't see Hargar's immense fist coming towards his face. Knocking the man off his feet with the force of his strength, Hargar turned his attention quickly to Aia.
Aia softly stirred as she heard a familiar voice calling out her name in fear and distress.
"Aia!"
"Karliah…?" Aia thought slowly to herself. Her body suddenly flared to life with pain and throbbing as she was roughly raised to her feet. Her ribs creaked more under the weight being shoved onto her body as she screamed loudly in pain. She couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheeks if she wanted. They stained with red as the droplet hit the specks of blood along her lips and jaw.
She then felt Hargar's axe quickly come to the hot and sweaty skin of her throat. She froze instantly, whimpering and clutching Hargar's hand on the axe.
His panicked and panting form peeked very carefully from behind her head. He saw Vidar slowly getting up to staring at Aia in horror at her situation. The dark elf woman had pulled off her hood and facial mask. Her bow and arrow were notched and ready to fly at a moment's notice.
"Uh uh dark elf!" Hargar almost laughed at his situation. "One move I don't like and the girl's head rolls to you faster than you can let that arrow fly!"
Karliah narrowed her violet eyes dangerously at Hargar but said nothing. As Hargar took two steps backwards out of the tunnel and back up onto the illuminated darkness of Blackreach, Vidar and Karliah followed with the same amount of steps.
Karliah's eyes quickly moved to Aia for a split second before looking back. She attempted to call.
"Aia! Hold on my friend! We're going to get you out of here!"
"Over my fucking dead body!" Hargar grinned as he could hear the roar of waterfalls growing louder and louder. "You see Vidar here forgot to mention to me while he was in my service that Aia here was the Dragonborn!"
Karliah felt her insides freeze in the fear of him finding out.
As if to prove a point, Hargar jerked the wooden post of the axe tighter to her wounded chest. The scream that emitted from her echoed loudly throughout Blackreach, bouncing off of the rocks and glowing tendrils hanging from the ceiling.
Hargar felt the ground beneath him change from dirt to rock. The roar of the waterfalls was undeniable now, as was the drop from the bridge to the water below.
"AIA!" Brynjolf's voice broke the silence as his form appeared quickly behind Vidar and Karliah. His green eyes widened in absolute horror as his eyes fell upon the form of the woman he loved.
Her once fiery red hair was matted with week's worth of dust and blood. Her face was pale and the dark bruises decorating her lips and cheeks stood out drastically. He could see the beads of sweat falling down her face.
His breath constricted within his chest as his eyes fell upon blood not only dropping down her mouth but from the cuts in her armor. She was bleeding badly, her wrists scarred heavily from the healing wounds, and he could see her body sick with fever.
"What did you do to her you bastard?!" Brynjolf demanded as he drew his daggers and readied to launch them but stopped as Hargar drew Aia tighter to her body. Brynjolf almost growled in sheer anger as he watched the man's arm wrapped around her waist.
Aia whimpered openly at the pain as she opened her eyes to look at the group in front of her. Even through her pain and blurry vision, her eyes softened at the sight of the one person she thought she would never see again.
"B-Brynjolf!" Aia weakly called as she extended one of her hands out as far as she could.
"Just hang in there lass!" Brynjolf called through his facial mask before nearly ripping it off his face. His eyes glistened with emotions beyond comprehension: relief at finding her alive, malice at Hargar for daring to hurt her, and a longing to bring Aia into his arms and never let her go!
Hargar's eyes never left the group in front of him. His anger flared as Brynjolf got too close for comfort.
"BACK OFF OR SHE DIES!" Hargar yelled.
Suddenly Hargar's footing slipped and nearly went off the narrow bridge, causing him to momentarily loose his footing. It was the second that Karliah needed as she launched the arrow right into Hargar's forehead. The corpse stood there momentarily before beginning to fall backwards.
Brynjolf's body seemed to react before his mind caught on. Aia's form was too weak to fight against him and the weight of the axe was dragging her to fall off the bridge with the man's corpse!
Brynjolf never registered the volume and dread of his single worded shout. He didn't know how fast he ran or how he did it. Jumping towards the edge of the bridge, Brynjolf gasped as his hand barely managed to grab Aia's in time.
He held her dangling form there for a few seconds, watching Hargar's corpse fall to the raging waters below. Grunting heavily, Brynjolf groaned at the strength it took to bring her body up. He fell back onto the ground as he wrapped his arms tightly around her.
He immediately wasted no time in kneeling and looking over Aia's injured body in his arms. His gaze was panicked and horrified.
"Aia! Aia!" Brynjolf called to her, trying to stir her awake. "By the Gods lass, say something! PLEASE!"
He almost cried tears of complete joy at seeing her eyelids quiver and then slowly open. Through the pain of her sickness, Aia felt Brynjolf's cool hand move hair strands from her face. Her brown eyes were clouded with hurt and it was hard for her to register anything else.
"Brynjolf…?" She asked weakly, hearing the calls of people behind him.
"I'm here lass! I'm here!" Brynjolf reassured as he looked over his shoulder and said something Aia couldn't make out. Why couldn't she?
Despite him being right over her, Brynjolf's voice was becoming distant and faint.
"…whomever you are…help her!"
Help her? Oh, they must have meant her. Aia's vision slowly started darkening despite her desperate attempt to stay awake.
"…lost vast amounts of blood…losing her! Help…me…stop…bleeding!" Aia could hear Vidar's distant commands.
The last sight she saw before the darkness completely claimed her was the terrified gaze of Brynjolf's emerald eyes locked on her's.
One – two chapters to go.
I am aiming for another Thursday release for chapter eleven but we shall see. Hospital tests tend to take up a lot of time and energy.
Till next time,
Jackie Almasy
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is copyrighted by Bethesda Softworks and Bethesda Game Studios. I own nothing.