Chapter 21

"This one does not think the Self-Effacing One is coming back," Thrissi said. A long time had passed, but Bhed wasn't sure how long. He had changed position, to keep the sun from the window out of their eyes, but it had hurt more than slightly. Flies had gotten inside and were orbiting the corpses of the mages. Blood was still trickling out of the holes in his leg and arm.

"Looks like it," Bhed said.

"This one suspects she is bleeding inside. Are you able to stand?" Thrissi said. She lay limply against his cuirass.

"Doubt it," Bhed said. "The frenzy just about did me in. And if I could, I couldn't carry you - "

"That does not matter - " Thrissi started to say.

"Yeah, it does. Besides, I'd never make it down those stairs on this knee. So either way, you're stuck with me."

"So it appears," Thrissi said. "This one did not expect to return from this expedition, but…" Her voice was weak, but the change from thickly Khajiiti to purely Cyrodilic was very distinct. "…I wish I hadn't killed you, too."

"Well, you did try pretty hard not to bring me," Bhed said. "And I knew that accent was fake."

"It is not fake," Thrissi said, returning to her original diction. "This one speaks fluently the tongue of her ancestors."

"But you grew up in Leyawiin," Bhed said. "So it's not like you have to talk that way."

"That is beside the point, yes." She made a noise that might be considered a cough, if it had involved less of a gurgling noise. Bhed tried to ignore the spots gathering at the edges of his vision. Didn't think I'd bled that much.

"Thrissi?"

"Yes, Bhed."

"What I said earlier, about not being a pervert…?"

"Yes?"

"Um. That was true. So I hope you won't take this the wrong way..."

"This one understands," Thrissi said. One hand flopped onto his left greave in an awkward pat. "This one loves you, too."

"Oh. Good." Bhed shook his head. It was mostly just the stiffness of his armor that kept him sitting upright now.

"Do you hear something?" Thrissi said.

"There's this ringing noise - "

"No, you idiot," Thrissi said faintly. "Footsteps."

Bhed listened. Several seconds passed before he heard it, but the sound was distinct. He was fairly sure it wasn't Ba'jjon, whose feet would not slap the stone so loudly no matter what he was wearing. It was still sort of a surprise when an Altmer in a tattered dress burst through the doorway into the tower room. She was tall and slim, narrow of face and large of eye. She was smudged and dirty, but her golden skin had the perfectly smooth and unscarred look of one who has never known illness, want, or battle. She nearly glowed. Bhed found it difficult to look directly at her.

She pressed both hands to her mouth as she stared at the scene of carnage. "Lady Mara protect us!"

"This one is certain that she has," Ba'jjon said from behind her. "Else this negligent one would not have found you at all. This one's lockpicking skills were strained as it was. Please hurry, we are nearly too late."

"Oh, yes. Of course!" said the Elf. "I am so very sorry." She ran forward and dropped to her knees beside Bhed and Thrissi. One hand reached out to each. There was a rising hum of magicka, and blue light spiraled up around them. The pain in Bhed's leg and arm subsided. The bloodlust headache didn't completely go away, but it was lessened.

"I'm afraid I can't remedy your loss of blood, Friend Orc," the Elf said. "But this is the least I can do for those who saved me from Varon. I thought I would never see daylight again."

"Then you're Ardaline?" Bhed said. Thrissi edged away from him, then got carefully to her knees. Ba'jjon offered her a hand. To Bhed's surprise, she took it. Bhed climbed carefully to his feet.

"I am," said the Elf. "And I am forever in your debt."

Bhed looked at the other two. Ba'jjon's tail was trainquilly still. Thrissi winked her ears down and up again, a gesture of bemusement. Since he was talking to an Elf, however, Bhed quashed the urge to laugh.

"I think we've got enough of that going around already," he said. "But thanks."

---

Ardaline looked the other way as Thrissi and Ba'jjon looted the bodies, but she did insist that they be buried. Bhed elected to drop them out of the window rather than carry them down all the stairs. This was messy, but fortunately Ba'jjon had also found a shovel, so burying them did not involve any unpleasant stains on his armor.

The four of them stood and looked down at the new graves. Bhed leaned rather heavily on the shovel. His head still pounded.

"I suppose someone ought to say something," Ardaline said.

"May the two of them rot forever in the lowest plane of Hell," Thrissi said. Ardaline made a sound that, to Bhed's ears, sounded like erk.

"I don't think that's what she meant," Bhed said.

"This one's head still hurts," Thrissi said, echoing Bhed's own sentiments. "She will worry about the gentle one's sensibilities later, yes. First let us find water."

"Good idea," Bhed said.

"There is a fountain in the room where this one found Ardaline," Ba'jjon said. He put a gentle hand under Ardaline's elbow and nudged her toward the tower door. She went, but reluctantly.

"I would rather not go back there," she said.

"You will not be alone," Ba'jjon said. "We who have slain your captors will let no harm come to you, no."

"All… All right," Ardaline said. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

"We'd have to go back in anyway," Bhed said, turning toward the dark doorway. "It's going to rain again, and there's no way Thrissi and I could make it back to Bravil tonight, even if you two could. Don't be afraid. I doubt you could be safer with anybody than the Hero of Kvatch."

The Elf looked at Thrissi, startled. "Then you are Thrissi the Luckless?"

"This one is luckless no longer," Thrissi said. "The curse is broken. But yes. She is Thrissi."