Chapter Seven: Journey

Khali returned to the sun-baked castle of Rihad and padded inside, leaving the cold desert night behind her. A guard spotted her and swiftly ran to the throne room, presumably to alert Queen Blubamka, who was probably asleep at this late hour. No one stopped Khali as she walked through the massive stone doors into the empty throne room. She paused at the steps leading up to the sandstone throne, her claws digging into the red and gold carpet.

After about fifteen or twenty minutes a bleary eyed Blubamka in a silk nightgown shuffled into the room and plopped herself onto the throne. "What is it that you wake me up at this hour?" the queen sleepily asked.

Khali reached into her bag and pulled out the rolled up parchment. "Your Majesty. I have returned with your parchment."

At this the queen's eyes widened and she jumped to her feet, all signs of irritable tiredness leaving her immediately. "You have recovered the parchment!" She walked down the steps and took the rolled up paper from Khali's outstretched hand. "I hope you put Golthog into an early grave as well."

Khali flicked an ear, dislodging an imaginary speck of dust from her fur. "I did not encounter Golthog in the dungeon, but I can confirm that at least one of the goblins in his army, or Golthog himself, uses necromancy."

Queen Blubamka looked like she was ready to shout, but stopped herself. "Unfortunate, but still, I will complete my end of the bargain. ERNVAR!" A guard near the hall entrance suddenly straightened up to attention. From the shocked look in his eyes Khali could reasonably guess that he had been half asleep. "Fetch the Historian! Don't return without him! He must finish his work immediately!"

Khali dosed comfortably in one of the palace guest rooms. Even though she hadn't killed Golthog, she was the only one out of fifteen soldiers and armed travelers to successfully return the missing parchment to the queen. As such, she was being treated like a royal guest while the historian worked to finish deciphering the location of Fang Lair.

The Khajiit's blue eyes opened and wandered up to the brick ceiling as she lay on the soft bed in the room. She wondered if Ria's magic had anything to do with her luck in Stonekeep. There hadn't been anything or anyone guarding the stolen treasure, and she had only had to fight a single skeleton. She wanted to ask Ria if her magic was indeed working to protect her, but the apprentice mage hadn't contacted her since first telling her to find Fang Lair.

There was a knock at the door and Khali rose to her feet, grabbing her sword instinctively. "Come in," she responded, attaching the blade to her belt.

A Redguard opened the door, wearing the uniform of the Queen's Guard. His dark eyes found Khali as she approached him. "The location has been revealed. Queen Blubamka has put together a raiding party. You are to join them to collect your reward of three items from the dungeon."

Khali's tail twitched. She knew this tactic. It was classic politics. Queen Blubamka was hoping Khali would die in the raiding party, ensuring that all the treasure would belong to Rihad. Even though she was only allowed to take three items, it was just like a ruler to not want to give up anything valuable to a stranger, even if the stranger had helped the ruler beforehand. "How many will be in the raiding party?"

"Twenty soldiers, not including yourself," the guard replied.

Khali twitched her whiskers. She had to be careful what she chose. Even if she didn't die in the raid, she had no doubt the soldiers had been given the order to kill her if she took anything even remotely valuable from the dungeon. "Lead the way," she finally said.

The guard led her to the entrance hall, early morning light shining in through the stained glass windows, casting shimmering color on the brick walls and carpeted floor. Queen Blubamka was handing a map to the clear general of the party, with the rest of the soldiers listening carefully to the queen's instructions. "Ah, Khali!" the queen greeted. "Good morning. Our historian has finished his work, and this is the party that will be going to Fang Lair. It is unfortunately very far away, so you all will be taking enough food and water for two months. It will take approximately two weeks to get there, and I'm giving the party a month to raid the place."

Khali's tail twitched. Two months. How much further would Tharn's influence reach in two months? "Once we leave Fang Lair, is it acceptable that I continue on my way?" she asked.

The queen's eyes lit up, as if the thought of never having to see her again was delightful. "Absolutely! You can take your three items and go along with your journey. I know adventurers hate staying in one place for long."

Or it'll just be easier to get rid of me quietly if no one is expecting my return, Khali thought. It was more dangerous to ask to leave immediately, ensuring no one would question if she suddenly disappeared, but she couldn't spend the extra six weeks continuing the raid and travelling back to Rihad only to turn around back the way she came when she began looking for the next staff piece. She'd find what she needed as quickly as possible, then leave.

It took a few hours for the soldiers and Khali to finish packing all the supplies into the appropriate wagons, gather about thirty saddled horses, and finally ride through the gate out into the desert. The two weeks to Fang Lair couldn't move by fast enough for Khali, but she knew better than to recklessly charge across the desert, even if she did have a horse.

Even so, her tail irritably twitched and her frown deepened every time the general, a dark and bearded man named Sornado, called for a rest. During the hours they rested the Khajiit was fairly ignored by the Redguards in the group, so Khali attempted to bond with the horse she had been assigned. It was a shaggy, sandy colored beast with three white socks, the only one missing being on his left foreleg. As the days dragged on, Khali noticed that the horse didn't seem to like living in the desert. He snuffled through the sand, looking for grass, and snorted angrily when he inevitably found more sand, with not a shred of greenery in sight.

Khali found herself relating to the creature. She enjoyed the desert sands because they reminded her of home, but there was a wonderful beauty in the magnificent greenery of places like the Imperial Province. It was different, but a good different. If Uriel let her go work at home in the desert, or let her stay in the Imperial Province when this was all over, she wasn't sure what she'd be able to choose. She didn't have time to worry about that right now, however, as there was still the problem of Uriel being stuck in another dimension.

The group made good time, arriving a day ahead of schedule despite Khali's belief that they were trudging along at a snail's pace. By dusk of the thirteenth day the raiding party began setting up camp outside of Fang Lair. It was a crumbly mess hidden around the dunes, mirages distorting the surrounding land for miles. There was a busted statue of a dragon, heavily weathered from the wind and sand. One of the wings were ripped off and nowhere to be found, and a huge chunk had been torn off the dragon's face. There were tiny divots in the stone, suggesting the statue once held commanding details of scales and skin that had been worn smooth, and several cracks littered the remnants of its body.

Once camp was fully set up, Sornado called everyone over. His voice, which was gravelly from age and life in the desert, rang out clearly as the moon began to rise. "Attention! We stand before Fang Lair, and I know we've had a long journey to just get here, but we mustn't waste any time. We rested during our journey, so many, if not all of us, are not completely travel weary. Our group will divide into two. Ten of us, including our traveler and myself, will head inside Fang Lair immediately. The rest of you will rest with watch rotations until we get back.

"Those going into the dungeon with me and our guest will be Lesur, Limlle, Brenim, Avinzo, Nacbur, Varnael, Dorson, and Sterkim. Gather your weapons, a small amount of food and water, and we will meet at the entrance. Dismissed."

Author's Note:

Sorry about the massive delay with getting this chapter out. Life happened and I needed a little break, BUT ENOUGH OF THAT! I hope you all like this chapter. Some fun stuff is gonna be in the next one. ALSO! New chapters will be out on Sundays instead of Fridays to try and better fit my schedule so we can hopefully not have another month long delay. The new update... date.. has worked well this week, so I think everything will be able to run smoothly. That being said, see you guys next week!