Alright everyone, I received a lot of excellent character submissions for the contest and have finally picked the two lucky winner's who will be joining the Companions by the end of this book and will also be in my sequel, which I have finally titled, Two Halves: Storm of the Dominion.
THE WINNERS ARE:
WarWizard1994 and his character, a 42 year old Orsimer named Grognak gro-Gulag
and
Sir-Winter and his character, a 299 year old Altmer named Julius Valterayn
While I truly did appreciate and loved every submission that was sent to me, I felt that these two gentlemen stood out among the rest and deserved a place in the Companions. They both have interesting histories and personalities and hopefully I will be able to write their characters well and make their creators proud.
On a side note, this book of the series will be drawing to a close in at least fifteen chapters and I strongly encourage my readers to start thinking up questions that I can answer in the Author's Note section of my Epilogue.
I hope you enjoy this. Please remember to Fave/Follow/Review and be sure to share this story with your friends.
If you want to follow me socially, I have a Twitter account: NikkiNicole159 and I also have a Deviant Art account: Nicky-Nightmare
Chapter Twenty-Six
"Hon zey, mon do dovah, ahrk stin zey nol daar qoth . . ."
Lassarina stiffened as the words repeatedly whispered in her ear, though she could not see from whom they were coming. She knew the language itself was Dovahzul, but the voice itself did not sound like it belonged to a dragon–far from it. They sounded as if they belonged to an elderly man, one you would mistake for your own grandfather; rasping but with a touch of familiarity. The voice sounded so friendly, so tempting, that all she wanted to do was seek out the owner of such a voice and find out what was wrong.
She could sense the general direction the voice came from, staring right over at the glowing city that stood a mile or two away from the roof of the small lab she, Finn, and Amelia were staying in. The light was coming from a giant orb that hung from the cavern ceiling, masquerading itself as a false sun. Lassarina could only guess that even the Dwemer wanted something that resembled sunlight in such a dark and eerie place like Blackreach. She and the rest of her comrades had only been in its depths for four days now, and already she missed the sun. If she counted the days spent in the ruins of Alftand, it had been six or seven days since they had been outside and seen the sun or sky and four days since Vilkas went after Aela.
Lassarina had made the decision to wait for her husband and shield-sister at the laboratory that had belonged to the alchemist, Sinderion, which gave Finverior time to recover some of the blood he lost when Aela attacked him. The Bosmer had insisted he was fine to continue the day after the attack, but his pale skin and wobbly steps said otherwise and she didn't want to keep going without Vilkas and Aela. So the past few days had been spent sitting on the roof of the lab, occasionally switching with Finn and Amelia so that their remaining two team members could be spotted whenever they made their return. The days-or nights, since there was no way to tell time down there-went by slowly, the only action coming in the form of stray Falmer who had ventured too close and were immediately shot down by arrows.
She honestly had expected Vilkas and Aela to return the day after the incident and certainly hadn't expected them to take this long in coming back. It made Lassarina nearly go mad with worry at the thought of her husband and shield-sister lost somewhere in this forsaken place, possibly injured or, gods forbid, dead. Their absence was affecting her so much that she barely got any sleep and never ate more than a bite or two of food. When she did sleep, however, she was plagued with nightmares of Vilkas being savagely torn apart by Falmer, who would devour his organs and feast on his flesh.
"Kir, stin zey nol daar staad."
That voice didn't help her relax any either. She had started to hear the voice two days ago, when she had used the Kyne's Peace Shout to soothe a pair of chaurus who had been aggravated by their presence. The chaurus had been calmed by the Shout and were swiftly killed by Amelia and Finverior. They had retreated into the lab afterward, since the sound of the Shout no doubt carried across Blackreach and would have attracted unwanted attention. They were troubled by a couple of Falmer, nothing they couldn't handle, but late that night was when Lassarina heard the voice for the first time.
At first she had been terrified of it, thinking it to be the spirit of Sinderion for some reason, but when she realized that neither Finverior or Amelia could hear it, she knew it had to be something else. Her curiosity was beginning to torment her to no end, and any attempt she made to speak to the mysterious voice has proven to be fruitless.
"Come on," she said softly, speaking at the city in the distance. "If you don't tell me what's wrong in the common tongue, I won't know what to do."
Her response was silence.
"Do you need help? What do you want from me?"
"Who are you talking to?" Finverior's voice surprised her.
Looking over her shoulder, Lassarina saw that the Bosmer was pulling himself onto the roof and had set a bowl of something down to do so. Once he was on, he picked up the bowl and brought it over to her.
"What's for dinner?" she sighed.
"Cabbage potato soup," he answered, handing her the bowl.
"Why am I not surprised?" They had eaten the same exact thing for the past three days. Spooning a bit of it into her mouth, she grimaced at the taste but swallowed it nonetheless. "Gods, I hate cabbage."
"I'm actually quite fond of it, and it's the only thing we can make with what few rations we have. But the moment I spot a herd of deer down here, I'll make sure to shoot them all down and roast them on the spit."
"We can do without the sarcasm, Finn."
"Ah, but it's the only thing keeping the atmosphere so light," he replied drolly as he sat down beside her, his legs dangling off the edge. "So who were you talking to?"
She didn't see any need to hide knowledge of the voice from Finverior. "I keep hearing a strange voice whispering to me, but I can't understand what in Oblivion it's saying."
"Lovely, we've got Falmer, chaurus, dwarven automatons, and now strange voices that only you can hear; Blackreach gets more interesting with each passing day. Maybe Amelia and I will start hearing voices too."
"I'm not going mad, Finn, if that's what you're implying. This voice belongs to someone, and I can't understand a word he is saying."
"You can't understand him?"
"Nay, the language, it's not the common tongue. It actually sounds like . . ."
"Like?"
"Like a dragon is speaking to me."
Finverior snorted and shook his head. "Why on Nirn would a dragon be down here in this lovely living plane of Oblivion? It's too dark and there would be no way for it to get in here. Not to mention if there was one down here, we would have seen it by now. I know Blackreach is big, but for a dragon this is like a house with two rooms."
"Then how do you explain how I'm hearing a voice speaking in the dragon language?"
"You absorb all those dragon souls, maybe you're just hearing a dragon you've already killed, or maybe one of those walls of yours is here. Didn't you say you hear chanting whenever one is nearby?"
"If it is a Word Wall, then it's over by that glowing city."
"Honey, let's just leave that wall alone. That city looks like it's the heart of this place and that would mean that there are dozens of Falmer living there. You don't need to know every Shout out there. The only Shout you do need is tucked away inside that little Elder Scroll we're looking for."
Lassarina sighed and took another sip of her soup. "Aye, I guess you're right."
"Any sign of your darling husband or Aela the Ripper?"
"Finn, don't call her that, she didn't mean to attack you."
"She scarred my marvelous chest, and for that she must be tormented by her new name until the day she dies."
She rolled her eyes and set down the bowl of soup. "No sign of them today, either. I'm starting to get worried."
"Maybe something found them and they're dead," Finverior said bluntly.
Lassarina turned her head to look at him, seeing the bored expression on his face. "How could you say that?"
"What? You're thinking it too."
"They aren't dead."
"How would you know? You and Vilkas aren't werewolves anymore so you don't have the blood bond that would tell you the other one was alive. If we had Einarr here, we'd at least be able to know if Aela was alive or dead."
"Speak another word of Aela or Vilkas dead and see what happens to you, Finverior. Vilkas promised me he would come back to me. He said we weren't going to die down here, that we were going to survive and return to Faolan and Lyanna."
"And you believed him?"
"Aye, I believed him. I always believe him."
Finverior gave her a smirk. "Then why are you getting all bothered by whatever I'm saying? If you believe he's going to come back, anything I say shouldn't matter."
Lassarina glared at him, bothered by how he could have so much wisdom but behave like such an ass the majority of the time. How was it that he knew so much but spent all of his time whoring around and getting into all sorts of trouble? She was about to tell him off in a childish manner when she noticed he had straightened up and was staring intensely at something. She looked in the direction he was staring, but saw nothing.
"Finverior, what is it?" she asked him softly. "What do you see?"
He said nothing, but after another few minutes of staring he swore loudly and pulled his bow from his back, nocking an arrow and drawing back the string. Alarmed, Lassarina did the same thing and pointed her weapon while her eyes wildly scanned the area, trying to find whatever in Oblivion he was staring at. Finally, she saw movement in the distance; a figure trying to outrun some crawling creatures. It took her another moment to realize that she was looking at Vilkas being chased by three frostbite spiders.
"Shoot them!" Lassarina ordered, letting loose her arrow and hitting one of the spiders in its many eyes.
Finverior nodded and let loose several arrows as well, killing the last two spiders on his own. Vilkas still continued to run even though the spiders were now dead, and it made Lassarina frown. As he drew closer however, she saw that he was carrying a body in his arms.
"Shit," she swore, jumping down from the roof and running towards her husband. "What happened?"
"Finverior," Vilkas shouted. "Get the poison cure potion from your pack! Hurry!"
The Bosmer had been right behind Lassarina, but at Vilkas's command he turned on his heel and ran back toward the field lab. Lassarina met her husband halfway and saw that he was carrying Aela, whose face was covered by a layer of sweat. She seemed to be barely breathing.
"What's wrong with her?" she gasped as they continued to run toward the lab.
"She got poisoned!" Vilkas replied. "She's fucking dying on us!"
Lassarina opened the door to the lab and carried Aela to the stone bed, where Finverior was already waiting with the poison cure potion in hand. Once their shield-sister was on the bed, Vilkas propped her up and pried open her mouth with his fingers.
"Pour it in," he barked at Finverior.
Finverior nodded and slowly began to pour the liquid into Aela's mouth, while Vilkas rubbed her throat to make her swallow it. They went about it slowly so they wouldn't drown Aela or make her start coughing, but after a few minutes they got the entire potion in her and everyone released a collective breath.
"Is she going to be all right?" Amelia asked.
"I don't know," Vilkas replied. "She was poisoned back in the ruins when we fought the Falmer."
"That was days ago!" Finverior exclaimed. "How is she still alive?"
"She unintentionally transformed into a werewolf as a way to prevent the poison from killing her sooner, but she couldn't keep her form long enough. I've made her drink every healing potion I had in my pack to keep her alive long enough to get back."
"It took you four days to get back, Vilkas," Lassarina murmured.
"I originally found her three days ago, but it took us all that time to get back. We kept getting turned around and lost, then we ran into those dreadful spiders when I did figure out which way to go."
That when Lassarina noticed the spider bite on Vilkas's leg. "It didn't poison you, did it?"
Vilkas shook his head. "Nay, I don't think so."
Amelia walked up to Vilkas and placed something in his hands. "You should eat this, just in case."
Vilkas stared at the leathery object in his palm in disgust. "Is this what I think it is."
"Yes, it's a Falmer ear."
"Why in Oblivion should I eat a Falmer ear?"
"They help resist poison; at least that's what this journal I found says. There's a bunch of useful recipes in here."
"We've been cutting them off the Falmer we've killed and eating them too," Lassarina told her husband. "It isn't pleasant, but with all the stuff that could potentially poison us down here, we thought it best not to take any chances."
Vilkas grumbled but did as he was told and bit into the chewy and unpleasant tasting ear. Lassarina squeezed his shoulder as he gagged several times, but eventually he swallowed every bit of it and sat on the edge of the stone bed with a disgusted expression on his face.
"Thank the gods one good thing came out of getting lost," he muttered, drinking down the last of the mead Finverior had.
"Something good came out of getting lost?" Finverior repeated in disbelief.
"Aye."
"And what is that, pray tell," Amelia demanded.
"I found the Tower Mzark."
oOo
Vilkas had gotten Aela to them just in time and she made a quick recovery, feeling better after spending two days resting in bed. In the time it took Aela to recover, Lassarina and Amelia worked together to make some healing potions with the meager and old ingredients left in the laboratory. They were weak and could probably take the edge off any pain for an hour at best, but it was all they could manage to make, so they would have just make do with them. Finverior spent his time fashioning arrows for all of them to carry, doing the best job he could with some old wood stacked in one corner of the lab and the workbench while Vilkas helped by sharpening the heads as well as everyone's blades. They were ready for just about anything.
One of the first things Lassarina did once she and Vilkas had a moment alone was tell him about the strange voice she had been hearing over the past few days, Finverior's opinion on it being a Word Wall, and his advice to leave it alone. She was surprised to hear her husband agree with Finn for once and say that it was probably best to leave it alone.
"I saw a bit of the city while I was coming back," Vilkas explained, staring at the city from where they sat on the roof. "There are dozens of Falmer living in the area around it and gods know how many more are inside. And they have chaurus acting as watch dogs for them."
"Then I guess that settles that matter," she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Did you get close to the tower?"
"Close enough that I could see it clearly. It's so damned tall, it goes straight through the ceiling."
"Maybe the tower has a lift up to the surface."
"If that's the case, we won't have to travel through this place again to leave. We can get back to Faolan and Lyanna sooner."
Lassarina smiled at the thought of her children and sat up to look at Vilkas. "I was really worried about you. It took you so long to get back I thought . . . I thought something bad might have happened."
Vilkas frowned and cupped her cheek with one large hand. "I'm sorry for making you worry."
"If something had happened to you, I don't know what I would have done."
"You would have gotten the Scroll and left this terrible place. You would have gone back to our children and given them the best childhood possible."
She frowned and looked at him with pain filled eyes. "Remember how you once told me you couldn't see a future without me?"
The corner of his mouth lifted a tiny bit. "Aye, it was right after I caught you outside the meadery and right before you ran off again."
Lassarina rolled her eyes. "I've already gotten lectured by Finverior; I don't need one from you. I know I was being stupid back then and things would have turned out a lot better if I hadn't left that night."
"All right, all right," he chuckled, defeated. "Why bring up something I said three years ago?"
"Because I feel the same way, Vilkas. I can't see a future without you; and being down here, not knowing where you were those days, it made me realize it. It also made me realize that everything I put you through before we got married was a terrible thing to do. Running away, coming back only to run again. I just don't know how you could still love me after all that."
He wiped away a tear that escaped from the corner of her eye. "That's in the past, Lassarina, where it belongs. It doesn't matter anymore. What does matter is that we did got the life we wanted. We got married, we have children, we might have more after all this is done, we love each other. You understand?"
"I understand that I married the perfect man," she laughed softly, kissing him on the cheek. "He's a good husband." She kissed his cheek again. "A good father." She kissed the tip of his nose. "And an excellent lover."
Vilkas let out a lustful growl and captured her lips in a bruising kiss, making her whimper a bit from the sudden intensity. When she felt his hands pulling on her hips, motioning for her to straddle him, she went without hesitation and started grinding herself against him. Vilkas tore off the leather strip binding her hair together in a braid and threaded his fingers into her locks, grabbing on tightly close to her scalp. Lassarina panted against his lips and guided his other hand to her back, where the bindings of her Nightingale armor were. He began to undo them and she was reaching for the laces of his pants when a loud cough interrupted them. Frozen in place, they broke the kiss and looked down to see Finverior staring up at them, his arms crossed and a dumb smirk on his face.
"As much as I'd like to let the two of you continue this naughty peep show, I came out to tell you that we're ready to go," the Bosmer told them.
Lassarina shot him a deadly glare and retied the laces of Vilkas's pants while he tightened the bindings of her armor. Once they were all situated, albeit very irritated and pent up, they jumped down from the roof and didn't even say a word to Finverior.
"That made me wish Onmund was around," Finverior said as he followed them to the door of the lab.
"You're still thinking of that mage from Winterhold?" Lassarina asked, shocked since Finverior rarely spoke about his past conquests.
"I only remember the best, Rina dear, and Onmund was definitely top five. I could see him becoming a regular thing whenever I stop in Winterhold."
"When do you ever stop in Winterhold, Finn?"
"Whenever I need to see my uncle about something."
"You have an uncle in Winterhold?" Vilkas asked.
"I do."
"I've only ever seen one Bosmer in Winter-wait a moment, Enthir is your uncle?" Lassarina demanded after piecing the information together. "Why am I just learning this now?"
"Didn't think you needed to know," Finverior shrugged as he stepped inside.
"I'm leader of the Thieves Guild and Enthir is our fence in Winterhold; why would you think I didn't need to know this?"
"I help my uncle with his operations from time to time, but he doesn't like it when others know his contacts. Plus he learned about our friendship and basically forbade me from saying we were related. Something about being afraid I'd screw things up for him when I finally piss you off enough."
"It sounds like even your own family is ashamed of you," Aela said from where she stood beside Amelia.
"I can't understand why, though," Finverior sighed dramatically.
"I can," Vilkas muttered as he collected his and Lassarina's packs.
"So, Vilkas, how do we get to the tower?" Amelia asked, putting out the fire in the fire fireplace.
"There's a main road going through this whole place, and it leads right to the tower. It seems before the Dwemer disappeared and the Falmer turned into monsters, this used to be a prosperous city."
"Wouldn't there be Falmer and chaurus on the main roads?" Finverior demanded.
"The Falmer are blind, they don't know there is a main road, and the chaurus prefer to stay off the roads, hiding in whatever shrubbery or hollow they can find. What we have to worry about are the centurions."
"There are centurions down here?" Amelia gasped.
"Aye."
"Dwemer might have been using them for security reasons," Lassarina rationalized. "What better guards than giant metal men who feel no pain?"
"Makes sense, I guess," Amelia frowned. "I just don't want to get anymore steam burns."
"None of us do," Aela muttered.
"If we stay on the main roads and avoid any centurions, we should be fine," Vilkas explained. "We want to get through this place quickly and safely. We won't stop to rest; we'll keep moving till we reach that damned tower."
"What if there are Falmer living in the tower?" Finverior asked.
Lassarina answered, "Then we kill them, find the Elder Scroll and get the fuck out of Blackreach."
oOo
Thanks to Vilkas's plan of staying on the main road, their group ran into very little trouble on the way to the Tower Mzark, avoiding the two centurions on the way and having to kill a pair of mating chaurus, which was a disturbing thing to see. They ran into some Falmer when they had to travel under what resembled two watchtowers with a walkway between them, but they managed to come out it with only one injury, which was Finverior getting an arrow in his shoulder, something Lassarina had no trouble healing. It took what felt like an entire day, but the plan worked; and after hours of endless walking, they reached the Tower Mzark and let themselves in quickly, taking the lift up.
"I don't smell anything living," Aela announced, leading the way inside.
"Probably because whoever was living here died," Finverior muttered as he looked around the room and grabbed any valuables he could find, Amelia quickly joining him.
Lassarina left them to their devices and walked into the next room with Vilkas, climbing up a ramp to look down at an enormous Dwemer machine with several stained glass circles hanging above it on metal struts. Vilkas frowned at the device, while Lassarina stared at a row of waist-high pillars in front of her.
"What do you figure this is?" Vilkas asked her.
Lassarina didn't answer, choosing to place the lexicon Septimus gave her into an empty slot and then pressing one of the buttons. The device below moved, making both Lassarina and Vilkas jump in shock.
"Press that one next," he advised her, pointing at the next one.
"Aye," she murmured as she did so.
The struts circled the room again and the rest of their party entered the room, staring up at the device in amazement as they made their way up the ramp to join them. It soon became a group effort, all of them guessing which button to press next.
"Gods damn it, what the hell is this thing?" Finverior growled after several minutes of no results.
Lassarina pressed one last button, the glass circles moved about, and a ray of light shone through them as a large crystal lowered from the ceiling. When the crystal began to open, Amelia gasped, Aela and Finverior stared at it in shock, Vilkas was left speechless, and Lassarina just smirked at all of them.
"That, my friends, was a giant treasure chest with the most valuable treasure imaginable inside," she explained as she stared at the prize inside.
Inside the crystal was the Elder Scroll.
Thank you all once again for your submissions. If things go as planned with this series, I might be looking for more Companions in the future. Until then, keep reading!
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and remember to Fave/Follow/Review!
Much love,
Mirage