Mutants Misplaced

Chapter 20

Night-stalked

With everything ready, the mutants left the city of Riften early the next morning and followed the road north, towards Windhelm and subsequently Winterhold.

While they enjoyed beautiful weather most of the day, with the evening came dark clouds from the south, and with them the rain and chill. Running through the rain, they searched for something that could provide them with some shelter from the weather.

"Man, can't this rain let up soon?" said Sephie while she ran, holding one of the backpacks against her chest to keep it at least somewhat dry.

"Doesn't seem that way I'm afraid." said Leo, wiping away some water from his face. "But there must be something that can we can use as a shelter."

"As long as it's not a cave, I'm fine with just about anything." said Mikey.

"Hey, I think we're in luck! Look over there!" said Donnie, pointing at some form of structure far away from the road, well hidden behind trees by the mountain side.

"Let's check it out." said Raph. "Anything's better than this rain."

Leaving the beaten path, the reptiles hurried over to the building. It was a simple stone structure, with four large corner pillars holding up a large stone slab, inside, if one could use that term, there was a stone bench or altar in the middle of the earth floor. There were more stone pillars around the main building, each as wide as an oak.

While it wasn't a house or even a shed, the pillars and roof was enough to shield them from the worst of the weather, so they decided to wait there until it had passed.

"Geez, still no sign of it stopping." said Mona, looking out into the evening, having waited for over an hour. "We may be stuck here for the night."

"Well, at least this isn't a grave, but I'm not sure what it is used for. Could be a place for travelers to pray for safe journeys, or just an old ruin that isn't really used anymore." said Tyroth.

"Someone's using it, or it would be covered in moss and ivy. But the question is what for." said Donnie.

"Feel free to figure that out, bro, as for me, I'm gonna get some shuteye." said Raph.

"I second that." said Mikey.

"I'll take the first watch then." said Leo as he and the others prepared the campsite for the night. But what they didn't know, was that they were being watched from the dark.

"Fresh prey. Master Dandre is going to be pleased."

Hours passed and finally the rain was starting to let up, but the dark clouds still blotted out the stars and moons so the night was almost pitch black. Donnie threw another piece of wood on the fire and yawned, his shift was almost over and Tyroth would take over.

As he got up to wake the dragon, he heard a branch brake behind him. Turning around immediately, he was faced with an attacker in dark cloaked robes, charging at him with two daggers drawn. He was so close that only Donnie's ninja training and reflexes allowed the turtle to defend himself. A swift swipe of his staff hit the attacker across the face and knocked him backwards. As soon as he was down, more robed foes emerged from the shadows, moving swiftly and silently.

"We're under attack! Wake up!" Donne cried out, waking his friends. Jabbing another attacker in the stomach and swiping yet another one of his feet, Donnie gave the others the little extra time they needed to react and engage their attackers.

"What the shell are these guys?" Raph asked while crossing blades with one of them. Trying to get a good look at their faces, all he saw under the shadow of the hood were red eyes.

Two quick slashes from Leo's katana cut down two foes while Mona disarmed one of his daggers with her fans, allowing Mikey to deliver a roundhouse kick to his head, flooring him.

Tyroth's sword impaled an attacker with no effort, killing him immediately. Not noticing that another robed figure was behind him, Sephie rushed to her mate's aid and jumping over the enemy, she landed between him and the dragon, driving her own daggers into the face of the man.

"Duck!" Tyroth called out and pulled Sephie to the ground with him as several spears of ice flew passed them just above their heads.

"They got magic! Be careful guys!"

The mutants continued fighting their mystery assailants, cutting, slashing and crushing their foes as best they could, all while they avoided the subzero projectiles fired from the shadows, and it seemed like they were winning. But when the dead attackers started to glow blue and rise into the air only to get back on their legs and attack again, things changed quickly.

"I thought we already killed these jokers!" said Mikey, who started to freak out when the dead rose again.

"They're being reanimated by some form of magic!" said Mona, while blocking strikes from one of the newly risen dead.

"Normally I like to use necromancy in games, but having to be on the receiving end in real life sucks!" said Mikey.

"Keep fighting, we have to hold out!" said Leo. Cutting of the head of one of the undead, he saw the body turn to a pile of ash while the belongings fell on top of it.

"These guys are getting on my nerves!" Tyroth growled as he used his mana coated sword to block the ice spears. "A little help here?"

Sephie once again aided her lover, this time by moving around to flank the magic users. Taking cover behind one of the outer most pillars, she could see four robed mages firing their spells at the others from cover. With her bow drawn, she took aim at the enemy and fired many arrows in quick succession. By the time the mages realized that they were flanked, half of them were already dead and the rest fell not long after.

With the threat of the magic users gone, Sephie was just about to return to her friends side, but when she turned around, she found herself face to face with another robed figure. Immediately taking a step backwards to avoid the daggers, she instinctively kicked the weapons out of the attackers hands.

'How the fuck did he manage to sneak up on me?' she wondered and was just about to draw an arrow when the attackers hand glowed crimson red. Suddenly she felt a great deal of pain in her left arm and dropped her bow. Looking at her arm, she could see the red colored magic reach it in an almost gas like form, and tiny droplets of blood seeped out of her skin, only a few at first but many more after less than a second, causing her enough pain to force her to her knees. Struggling to try and get away, Sephie could hardly move, just holding her arm where it was was hard enough, but if she moved it, the strange spell would hit her head or chest, and that could outright kill her.

"H-help..." she tried to call out, but she couldn't find the strength to make herself heard over the sounds of battle. Her attacker laughed at her attempt.

Delivering a series of jabs to another reanimated foe, Raph noticed a red glow behind one of the pillars. Fearing that another magic attack was coming, he hurried over to take a look and was shocked when he saw Sephie at the mercy of one of the robed figures.

"Get away from her!" he shouted as he lunged at him. While the robed man managed to sidestep Raph's attack, it did force him to stop his spell, and he wasn't fast enough to avoid a powerful roundhouse kick that sent him flying closer to the center of the battlefield.

"Grrr... You'll pay for that!" the man growled as he got back up.

"I don't think so, asshole." said Raph with an evil smirk. "Hey Tyroth! That bastard hurt Sephie!"

Hearing that his beloved had been injured made the dragons blood boil and he immediately turned his attention to the man responsible, growling loudly as his eyes started to glow red.

"He did what!?" Tyroth cried out. The robed man stared in fear at the furious dragon. Being certain that Tyroth could handle the bastard, Raph hurried over to Sephie again. He could have fought him himself, but he didn't want to suffer the same fate as Sephie, and someone needed too take care of her.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Sephie's arm was almost covered in her own blood, but at least it seemed to not be bleeding anymore.

"I-I think so... but I'm feeling so light headed, don't think I can stand, let alone fight."

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe. This fight should be over soon."

Meanwhile, Tyroth slashed at Sephie's attacker with his sword, just barely missing as the man jumped out of the way. With a quick flick of the wrist, the robed man created a ghostly looking sword in his hand and lunged at the dragon. But the man didn't even get close enough to strike before he was consumed by fire, screaming in agony as Tyroth's flames ate his clothes and flesh. And Tyroth didn't stop there, once the man collapsed, he turned his fire against the remaining enemies, forcing his friends to take cover.

"Duck! Or it's Barbeque City!" Mikey shouted while throwing himself flat on the ground.

"He has the power of flames! We cannot best that! Flee!" one of the remaining robed figures yelled and they all scattered into the night, with a few more falling victim to the fire.

Seeing the foes escape into the dark, Tyroth kept his eyes on them to ensure that they truly fled the area. Once he couldn't see them any longer, he hurried over to Sephie's side. Raph was still there and so was Donnie, removing the armlet so he could examine Sephie's arm.

"Please tell me that you are alright." Tyroth said, kneeling by his love.

"I've been better, that much is sure." Sephie responded. "Everything is kinda fuzzy though."

"Not surprising, you lost quite a lot of blood. It will take time for you to recover properly from that, until then, I recommend that you take it easy and avoid fighting unless it's absolutely necessary." said Donnie.

"What kind of magic sucks blood out of ones body like that?" asked Raph.

"Blood magic. Duh." said Mikey.

"Don't make me hit you."

"Whatever it was, it sure is dangerous. With sufficient power behind the spell, even Tyroth could get killed by it." said Leo. "We'd better pack up and leave, in case those guys come back."

"I'd really want Sephie to get some rest first, she isn't in any shape to be walking at the moment." said Donnie.

"Don't worry about that, I'll carry her all the way to Winterhold if I have to." said Tyroth and gently scooped up his mate bridal style. Sephie rested her head against her lover's chest and closed her eyes as she listened to his heartbeat and slowly drifted away, falling asleep, exhausted beyond compare.

Having traveled through much of Skyrim myself, I know that danger lurks everywhere and you never really know when you'll be attacked, or by what, and our heroes have learned that as well.

Poor Sephie took quite the beating this time, let's hope that she recovers before they have to fight again.