Chapter CXVIII – On Fire

One thing was for certain.

They were never sleeping in Dawnstar again.

They dragged themselves from the room completely exhausted and they both sat heavily on the chairs by the table in the common room. They have barely noticed the number of other patrons that looked just as haggard and tired as the two of them did.

The innkeeper walked over to them sooner than they'd expected and he placed two mugs of mead at their table with a knowing sympathetic smile.

"This is insane. How long has this been going on?" Aeyrin looked at the man before he left their table again. How did people even live in a place like this? The ferryman that they'd met the last time said that it was worse for the travelers who weren't used to this, but still.

"Over a year now, lass. We make do however we can," the innkeeper sighed rather morosely.

Her eyes went wide at him. 'A year'?! She could barely stand it for a night! But at least she didn't remember the dreams – she was sure that it would have been much worse if she did and kept obsessing over them.

"You have no idea what's causing this?" she pried. It was clearly not natural, but, for the life of her, she couldn't think of anything or anyone who would be able to affect a whole large area like this.

"If we knew, we'd hardly let this go on, now, would we?" the man scoffed at her with a shake of his head before he turned on his heel, leaving them to their breakfast and mead.

They turned to their food silently, both with their eyes half-lidded and their movements slow and tired.

"We should really find some place to sleep…" Bishop grumbled. They haven't had any proper sleep since Nightgate Inn, and the battle at the fort took a lot from them.

"Outside?!" Aeyrin's eyes went wide at him. She was so tired, but she really couldn't imagine sleeping in the knee-deep snow.

"We can find a cave or something. Or we can force ourselves to get to another city if you want… but not Solitude!" he narrowed his eyes.

She chuckled in response lightly. Solitude was rather close, if they took the boat, but she wasn't eager to go back there either.

"Winterhold?" she shrugged. The lack of direction and obligation was rather strange now. Something would definitely come up but, as of now, they were again left with absolutely no plan. And as freeing as the feeling was before, now it just left them with an uncomfortable indecision.

Bishop only shrugged in response. It didn't really matter at that point, and at least he could have his bow enchanted too, since they had some money to spare. It would definitely prove useful. The battles they've been getting into lately were kind of overwhelming. If things continued to go this way, he would need all the leverage that he could get.

Hopefully the mages haven't blown up the town again with their weird giant orb.

…

They rushed forward into the opening in between the giant icebergs on the coast as fast as they could.

They stopped just as they squeezed through into the cavern and they let out a loud sigh of relief almost simultaneously before they started brushing the thick layers of snow off themselves.

The blizzard came rather suddenly, forcing them to abandon their peaceful journey towards Winterhold. They were so tired already anyway – maybe getting some sleep and waiting for the weather to clear wasn't such a bad idea. At least they could recuperate here if nothing else.

Karnwyr was nowhere to be found – he never responded to Bishop's calls. He was likely unable to hear him through the strong wind. But it was not like some weather could do anything to the hardened wolf. He'd sniff them out eventually. Right now, they needed to concentrate on finding a place to rest.

The wind was howling through the crevice unpleasantly and Aeyrin was still shivering from the cold, huddling into her fur cloak.

"We should go further in," Bishop peered into the cavern of ice. It was unlikely that it would help that much, but at least they wouldn't be constantly buried by the stray snow blowing in from the outside.

They continued further, following the glistening icy walls and wading through the snow on the ground. The layer was getting a little thinner the further they went though – it was likely that they would find some suitable place to make fire and rest.

Before they could get out of the snow, however, noises echoing through the cavern from deeper inside riled them up. There was something inside.

They shared a disgruntled look, but there was not much else they could do but investigate. They were certainly not going back into the blizzard – Aeyrin would turn into an iceberg if they did. They crept forward as stealthily as they could before they were close enough to peer into the chamber ahead covertly.

Three men there, clearly mages, with their long dark purple robes and staves fastened to their backs, were discussing something vehemently together while several skeletons roamed around, patrolling the place.

Great… necromancers. What were they even doing in a remote place like this? Were there even enough old corpses in a remote cavern to feed their experiments?

They both groaned under their breaths in unison. They were so exhausted… another battle was probably not within their capabilities anymore. But, then again… neither was the raging blizzard. And they couldn't just sleep there with these people roaming around. Mages raising dead in remote hidden caverns were rarely friendly.

"I have an idea," Aeyrin whispered to Bishop as she dragged him back a little way towards the entrance so that they wouldn't be overheard. When they were far enough, she fished around in her pack until she located a neatly rolled up scroll and gave Bishop a conspiratorial smirk.

"A likely unstable scroll from an apprentice destruction mage… hmm… what could go wrong?" Bishop shook his head but he couldn't help but smirk too. They were too tired to take on a whole crowd of enemies, even with their combined skills, and Shouting could easily lure more people to them and they'd find themselves in the same hopeless situation like in the fort.

"I can make a rune at the entrance to the chamber so that the skeletons don't get to you, then I'll just… walk in and burn them while you take care of the mages. I would be so much easier," Aeyrin gave him a hopeful look.

"Alright… sounds solid enough… if the scroll works like it should. If not… well… there's enough snow around to douse you," Bishop smirked in response before he readied his bow. His arms felt somewhat heavy, but it was not like he couldn't shoot at all. He wasn't so frail that an entire day spent in a fierce battle with no sleep afterwards would leave him too weak to fight… was he?

Aeyrin rolled out the scroll and she pressed one hand on the arcane symbols on it while her eyes roamed over each one. It was harder to concentrate on the symbols in her tired state, but at least scrolls were generally easier to grasp than spell books with the long-term temporal elements absent.

A moment later, her body was lit up faintly with a fiery aura, light and harmless-looking.

"Hmmm…" Bishop studied her from a somewhat safe distance with a doubtful look. That didn't look like it would do a lot of damage.

She just shrugged. There was no harm in trying it. If worse came to worst, she could always Shout.

She began walking back towards the chamber briskly before the spell dissipated. When she reached the cavernous archway, she crouched down; the mages still didn't see her. She placed her hand on the ground swiftly, letting the warm light weave the intricate patterns over the layer of snow.

Finally they noticed her, just as she had finished the rune. Bishop positioned himself behind her before she rushed into the chamber, somewhat more slowly than usual in her heavy armor. Bishop's arrow flew towards one of the mages, hitting him straight through the heart, while the numerous skeletons started to shamble towards her with their weapons drawn.

The remaining mages prepared themselves to attack and all their hands lit up with various spells, but before they could act, the aura around Aeyrin had reacted.

As one of the skeletons came too close to her, a searing gust of flame lashed out of her, spreading through the chamber into a veritable fireball.

Every single skeleton in the chamber went up in flames instantly, crumbling to the ground, while the two mages' robes caught fire instantly. They dropped to the ground a second later and they began rolling around in the snow frantically to douse the flames. It didn't help them – it only gave Bishop a good opportunity to pick them off with his arrows.

Not that the scroll wasn't useful, at that point, but… had he been closer to her, it would not have ended well for him.

Stupid fucking apprentices.

"Ah! Oh!" Aeyrin yelped suddenly and she looked down on herself in panic. Her breastplate was starting to get rather heated and, soon enough, the other plating on her followed, as if she was herself exposed to the flame aura.

That was not good.

She followed in the mages' footsteps and she quickly dropped to the ground and rolled herself in the snow, dousing the magical aura.

And she just stopped being cold! Now she would be soaked and freezing all over again.

"Princess?!"

Bishop was kind of torn. He figured out that she was probably caught in some sort of spell misfire, but if approaching her elicited another gust of flame… well… he wouldn't be of much help to her if he was burned to a crisp.

He looked down on the light rune on the ground in front of him. It didn't matter that he's done this before… it was still unnerving. With a sigh, he stepped onto the rune and his feet began tickling again mildly. He still debated going closer to help her, although he didn't really know how but, before he could make up his mind on the safest approach for the both of them, she'd already slumped down into the slushy melted snow around her in relief.

"You alright?" This time he dared to approach her. She was all doused now, right? There was no gust of flame when he got near her.

She nodded before she took the hand that he was offering her to get up off the ground. "My armor started burning. Those scrolls are really unstable…" she gave him a weak wry smile. She was already expecting a lecture on the stupidity of helping out apprentices with magical experiments.

Bishop sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation, but then his face turned into a more of a pondering one. "How many do you have left?"

"Two more. Why?" She narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion.

"Well… not like I want to put you in danger with unstable magic but… there might be more of these fuckers further in and we're not really in any condition to fight them off. And if you used your ethereal form…" he gave her an uncertain look. He wasn't eager to have her do this, but… it wasn't any more dangerous than fighting battle-ready mages like this.

He did have a point. She could make this work. And, at least, the snow could save her if it started to burn through her armor again.

She nodded at him with determination and she threw a bit of a desperate look towards another crevice leading further into the cavern.

She just wanted to rest already.

…

It was working perfectly.

The scrolls were hardly fit to be used by anyone without her abilities, but Bishop's plan was working wonders.

She walked through the cavern, engulfed in a faint fiery aura, causing gusts of fire spread out whenever they encountered another mage or skeleton. Whenever she felt herself getting a little heated, she Shouted, calling several hostile inhabitants into her trap while her body and armor cooled off in her ethereal form.

The scroll lasted for half an hour before she had to use up their last one in order to continue the now rather clam 'stroll' through the icy cavern.

Eventually, she reached a deep pit with a wooden bridge dangling above it. There was a mage standing on the other side and he was still unaware of her, fortunately. Bishop was some distance away and she was starting to feel the burning of her chest plate again. It was the perfect time to spring her trap again.

"FEIM!"

The mage snapped to attention instantly and his hand lit up with flames. But Aeyrin was already walking briskly towards the man. She was too tired to run in the plate and, besides, it sounded like others were rushing towards the bridge from further in. By the time she would reach the mage, others would be there to get caught in the burst of fire.

An arrow swished next to her, signaling to her that Bishop had caught up, while another mage appeared behind her target who had just been stopped from weaving what looked like an intricate nasty spell by the arrow.

Just as the flames spread out into the fiery chaos, she suddenly felt a strange jerk beneath her feet.

She completely lost focus on her surroundings in a single second, as she had lost the solid bridge beneath her feet unexpectedly. She plummeted down at startling speed and she barely managed to let out a shocked yell before she was stopped suddenly with her back on the ground. That was a strange experience. It didn't hurt at all. Did she really fall?

She looked down on herself and only now, when she felt the familiar tickle of her corporeal self approaching, she realized that she was still under the effects of her Shout. That was why it didn't hurt. Falling in her ethereal form always felt so strange and unsettling for some reason.

But when her eyes focused fully on her translucent body, she realized that she had a bigger problem now. There was a bloody wooden spike protruding right through her stomach.

Oh Gods! She needed to move before she materialized!

She rolled over with effort and she bundled into a ball as much as her armor allowed. She kept looking at herself frantically to see if there wasn't anything else that might have ended up… impaling her. She was pretty sure that she was safe, but she wouldn't be able to calm down until she knew that for certain.

Finally, her solid form came back and she let out a sigh of relief. Now she only needed to see what had actually happened to her. It wasn't possible that her ethereal form would let her fall through the bridge, was it?

She stood up, trying to determine her surroundings.

She was in a pit that served clearly as a trap or some… body disposal. There were old skeletons around with their bones lodged around the various wooden spikes of all sizes which were splattered around the circular pit.

She looked up.

The bridge was burned in half! The spell must have affected it too. That made so much more sense than her Shout failing her. She should have thought of that… why wouldn't it burn? It was wooden and fastened with ropes and she was on fire!

But now there was still the issue of her current predicament. She was pretty far down and there was no crevice to escape through anywhere.

How was she going to get up?

Not by climbing, right?! She had no strength left to climb in her equipment. There had to be another way.

"Ladyship?!" Bishop's panicked voice echoed from above her spiky prison.

"I'm fine!" she reassured him instantly. She noticed him above her, peering over the edge of the pit. She could only see the silhouette of his head like this. The snow was blinding her towards the details of his face and he was pretty far away from her. Oh Gods… he was so far. It was so high.

"Hold on!" he called out again as his head disappeared from her view.

Not like she had anywhere to go…

A minute or so later, a rope was thrown down towards her. Thank the Gods that they were always prepared for these situations, although she really didn't want to climb. There didn't seem to be any other way though. She tied the rope securely around her waist. The last scroll's effects were now luckily gone, after her tumble into the snow around the spikes, so at least she wouldn't destroy the rope too.

She felt so tempted to let him do all the work, to let him pull her and her heavy equipment up all by himself, but that was too cruel. He was just as tired as her after all.

She located two small spikes that were protruding from the snow and she yanked them out with palpable effort, before she got determined to get to the task with only a subdued sob of exhaustion.

She lodged her heavy boot into the icy wall – it was easier than she had expected, since, at least, the wall was a little brittle and melted from her fiery tumble. She had to try several times before she managed to drive one of the spikes into the ice above her though, that gave her much more trouble. She let out an exasperated sigh before she dragged herself up as high as she could in order to drive the other spike into the ice above her again.

This was exhausting. She was so far down.

And she was so tired.

Bishop helped, at times, by pulling her some distance upwards, but he couldn't do that for long before he needed a respite from the weight and the burn of the rope which was palpable even through the thick leather gloves. Or maybe it was even worse because of them.

They worked together like that for what seemed like at least an hour. At one point, Bishop yelled at her to hold tight while he had to let go of the rope in order to shoot another intruding alerted mage on the other side of the pit, but, fortunately, that was the only intrusion to their efforts.

Finally, after an eternity of struggle, she managed to lodge her arms on the edge of the pit. He let go of the rope, which had been secured around his waist too, just in case his hands slipped at any time, and he rushed towards her to help her up on the solid ground again.

She tumbled over him from the momentum, sending them both falling down into the snow and huffing in exertion.

"Fuck… I'm too old for this shit…" Bishop chuckled weakly. It felt like he tried to press her closer to himself, but he didn't have any strength left in his arms at all.

"On the bright side… I don't think that anyone's getting across that," Aeyrin looked back towards the pit which was now lacking the only way across with the bridge burned down. "We've got ourselves a somewhat safe resting place."

The cavern was freezing, but with a proper fire and a lot of blankets and body heat, they could at least get a few hours of sleep before the blizzard subsided and they could make it to Winterhold.

…

Finally the distant lights of Winterhold appeared on the horizon.

They got a bit of sleep in the cavern, but it was hardly sufficient. Luckily, the blizzard was over when they peeked outside and they could continue towards the town blessedly undisturbed.

Until now.

"Wait! Please!"

Exhausted huffing echoed behind them, making them both turn around to the already familiar sight.

"HOW?! Nobody knows we're here!" Aeyrin shook her head incredulously as the dark-haired courier rushed towards them. It could have just been a coincidence… but it was more likely the work of a Daedra or something.

The Imperial finally caught up with them and he handed her one small note. She wondered why he didn't wait until there were more letters. She was grateful that he didn't, it may have been time-sensitive, but if she were in his place, she wasn't sure she'd have the energy to be so diligent. Then again, it may have just been her current exhaustion doing the thinking for her.

The man ran off again into the wilderness without even stopping at the inn in the town nearby for a brief respite. Unexplainable.

Aeyrin unfolded the note while Bishop peered curiously over her shoulder. Hopefully nothing went wrong on Karliah's end of things, after she took a risk by telling Rune everything.

.

Dear friends,

Long time no see. Let's have dinner at Old Hroldan Inn on the 27th of Sun's Dawn.

Come equipped for some excitement. Looking forward to seeing you.

A friend

.

They shared an uncertain look. They didn't exactly expect a message from Delphine with their minds occupied by the Guild business, but the contents of the message were the thing that baffled them the most.

"Old Hroldan Inn?" Aeyrin gave Bishop a suspicious look. "Why not the Sleeping Giant?" Did someone discover Delphine's location? Maybe she wasn't that paranoid after all… They did already find that dossier about her at the embassy. Maybe people really were after her.

"It's in the Reach. I don't even wanna imagine what she means by 'excitement', but I guess she's there for a reason. We're likely in for a fight and there aren't many places around to get supplies until Markarth," Bishop explained.

Aeyrin couldn't help but notice that Delphine didn't mention anything about the lore-master in the letter. That was somewhat worrying. Hopefully he had recovered already.

"Well… it's still almost a week away, at least. No reason to head out right now," she smiled before she threw a wistful look towards Winterhold.

Bishop only nodded eagerly in agreement.

"Yeah. Let's go finally get some sleep."