Chapter Eight: Fang Lair

Khali cautiously slid down the crumbly slope into Fang Lair, a few paces behind Sornado and the rest of the group behind her. Digging her claws into the cracks of what she could only assume to be the remnants of stone stairs, she shuffled down to the floor, meeting the general where he waited. She turned to watch the rest of the group slide in, and her tail twitched in amusement as Dorson slipped, sliding down the rest of the way on his rump.

Once everyone was down, Sornado lit a torch and they started their trek further into the abandoned Dwarven mine. There were a few Dwarven coins littered about, and one of the soldiers picked them up as they passed, tossing them into a burlap sack. Everyone except for Khali had a sack, since the Khajiit was only allowed to take three things, they figured she didn't need one. This further drove home the theory Khali had that if she wanted to take anything too valuable she'd find herself unable to leave Fang Lair alive.

She pricked her ears and grabbed Sornado's shoulder, forcing him to stop. The rest of the group paused too, watching the Khajiit's ears swivel around. After a few moments she let go of the general. "Heard something with claws," she explained, still rather nervous about the wyrm Ria had mentioned.

"Could you pinpoint where?" Sornado asked, his eyes squinting through the dark tunnel ahead.

"No," Khali confessed. "There's too much of an echo."

Sornado nodded in understanding and signaled for the rest of the group to keep their eyes and ears open before leading them further into the darkness. After a few more minutes of walking and tripping over rusty minecart tracks, Sornado spotted an opening to a room and led everyone inside. The room was large, and as Sornado lifted his torch higher, the glint of gold and jewel dazzled their eyes. "Grab everything valuable," Sornado instructed his soldiers. "Khajiit, you can see if there is something you want."

The group passes newly lit torches around as they spread out, the Redguards filling their bags to the brim with gold goblets and jewel encrusted amulets, a pleasing clinking sound reverberating around the room as the objects were retrieved. Khali stalked around the room, moving silver platters and tossing aside jewels. She got a few curious glances from Dorson as he picked up the valuables she discarded. She could feel his dark eyes burning into her fur as she opened a dusty and rotting chest, the iron lock long rusted away.

She wasn't entirely sure what a piece of the Staff of Chaos would look like, or where it might be hidden. Recalling what Ria had shown her, the piece she was looking for could very well appear like a dark stick. She found herself praying to Alkosh that the piece in Fang Lair wasn't the top of the staff, which was carved from gold and definitely looked valuable.

Shuffling through the rotten papers of the chest, which appeared to be logs of the mine, Khali uncovered a worn leather tome. She picked it up and blew the dust off the cover before opening it up. The pages were worn and yellow, but held together with the cloth that was woven into the parchment. It was a spellbook. It was similar to the one Kewlith had, with the fiery hand of destruction magic on the cover. She skimmed through the pages, discovering this was a spellbook for Sparks, which was a novice spell.

She closed the book, staring at it for a moment. Khali had never personally tried to learn magic, honestly being rather terrified of the thought of flames shooting out of her fingers and accidentally setting her tail on fire, but maybe Ria could show her a few pointers. Magic wasn't a gift everyone possessed, but even if Khali couldn't learn magic she could still sell the book in another province. The main point was that the Redguards would most likely have no complaints of her taking a spellbook that they were likely to abandon or burn.

Stuffing the book into the leather bag on her back, she stood and waited for the room to be emptied, standing by Sornado who was keeping watch. Once the room was properly ransacked they made their way back into the corridor and deeper into Fang Lair. They walked along until they came to a dead end.

"Where do we go now?" a soldier, probably Sterkim asked. "I didn't see any other corridors."

The group started mumbling to themselves, but Khali knew better. She had heard claws on the stone ground, echoing off the walls to her ears. There was more to this Dwarven mine than one room and a long corridor. Ears swivelling, nose in the air, and whiskers pricked, she began retracing her steps while the men argued. She paused when she felt the tips of her left whiskers move. There was a draft somewhere. A warm draft.

She drug her hand across the left wall, feeling for inconsistencies in the stone. Before long, she found it. "The way forward collapsed a bit," she called back, feeling the broken stone with her claws and fingertips.

Sornado strode forward, placing his torch near Khali's hand. "Appears that way. We need to make an opening."

"That'll be dangerous," Khali cautioned. "This area has already collapsed once. If we aren't careful, it'll collapse again."

"I know. That's why we're only making the hole big enough for us to get through, and we'll only move the loose rocks."

"Start here, then," She advised, pointing to a crack in the fallen rocks. "There's a draft and I can see through to the other side."

Sornado squinted through the crack. "Are you sure? I can't see anything."

"Khajiit have night vision. I can see through," she assured him.

After a few hours of painful straining and fearful movements, an opening was finally made, and the group was able to squeeze through to the other side. As the last person made their way through, the group began moving again when the loud clacks of falling boulders and a pained yell from Lemlle made them stop. Sornado whipped around and ran back to the opening. Khali gazed past him, fearful that their exit had been cut off, but the doorway they made was still there. Lemlle was collapsed next to the opening, trying to push a loose boulder away from his ankle. "I tripped," he growled, clutching his injury.

Sornado bent down to inspect it. "Can't take any chances," he decided. "Avinzo. Take Lemlle back out and have that ankle tended to. Make sure it isn't broken."

Nodding, Avinzo helped Lemlle onto his good leg and led him back out into the corridor, the injured Redguard cursing under his breath after every painful step. With their group reduced to ten individuals, Sornado continued to lead the party. The new tunnel eventually sloped down with stairs in much better shape than those by the entrance. When they reached the bottom, an ominous red glow came into view and the temperature of their surroundings noticeably rose.

"That's… That's lava!" one of the Redguards gasped as the corridor opened up into a massive room. Rivers of slow moving lava flowed in lazy rivers around the edges of the room, creating an island in the center that held a pile of treasure. Smoke billowed up from the molten rock, filling the room with the putrid smell of sulfur and making their eyes water. The smoke seemed to be thickest around the pile of treasure, but it flowed in a way that almost made it seem alive.

"Hell hounds," Sornado said in disgust, confirming Khali's fear that the smoke was actually alive. "A sorcerer has been here, and conjured them to guard their treasure."

Khali's ears bent back. She had a good idea about who had visited this abandoned mine and left fiery dogs to guard it. Maybe he had collapsed the tunnel as well, but one thing was for sure.

If there was a piece of the staff here, it was on that island, protected by the hounds.

"I see a bridge!" Nacbur called, extinguishing his torch and putting it on the ground to draw his sword. The rest of the party did the same, and Khali padded over to Sornado.

"I've never encountered a hell hound," she confessed. "Any pointers?"

Sornado stood at the threshold to the bridge, the rest of the group gathering around him. "Aim for the eyes, but steer clear of the mouth. These things breathe fire. Spread out. Don't give them a big target. They also won't strike until we step on their territory, so be prepared. Lastly, don't die."

"I'll definitely listen to that last part," Khali replied, staring across the lava river at the black dogs, their red eyes staring at the intruders. She did a quick head count as Sornado lifted his hand. It looked like there were eight dogs, yellow teeth bared with an orange light beginning to glow at the back of their throats.

After a moment Sornado brought his hand down and everyone charged forward to engage the beasts. Khali wasn't sure what was worse; the hell hounds, or the lack of handrails to keep anyone from falling into the lava. The moment the general stepped foot onto the island, the dogs roared and orange flames erupted from their maws. Khali rolled out of the way, keeping her tail close so it didn't catch on fire. It was disgustingly hot on the island, but she could still feel the temperature change as the fire shot over her head.

Jumping to her feet, Khali made a run for it, sprinting closer towards the center of the small land mass and away from the other fighters who were locked in combat with the vicious black dogs. The Khajiit spun on her heels when she heard the thumping of paws behind her and faced the hell hound that had selected her as a target.

The beast lunged, flames licking its teeth and threatening to burst out of its mouth. Khali shot forward to meet it, sword tight in her grip. She dove to the floor as the dog got close and raised her sword to cut its belly. She felt resistance meet her blade, but didn't hear a howl of pain from the animal. Turning as the dog landed, she saw black blood spilling from the wretched creature's gut, but it didn't seem phased. It pointed its snout at her and in the next second fired a blast of flame. Ducking, Khali felt the fur on her left arm get singed. She rolled again, simultaneously putting out the embers and getting out of the way as the dog lunged again.

The hell hound snarled in anger as its claws struck empty stone and charged again as Khali stood back up. Glancing behind her and realizing she was right on the edge of the island, lava bubbling dangerously a few feet below, Khali dropped her sword, side stepped, and shot extended claws at the hound's face. Her claws struck true, slicing through greasy black fur and cutting through the beast's red eye. It shrieked as it lost its vision, landing roughly as one paw slid off the safety of the island. Khali, seeing that it had lost its footing, kicked the hell hound's shoulder, sending it flailing into the lava.

With her hound killed, Khali looked at the rest of the fighters. Her eyes widened as she spotted Dorson on his back across the island, a large black dog had his sword between its teeth, fire bubbling at the back of its throat. Swiftly, Khali pulled one of her throwing knives out of her belt, took aim, and threw it. The small blade sailed through the air and pierced the dog's red eye. It yelped and slumped over, lifeless.

Dorson pushed the body off of him and looked at the knife, then up at Khali, shock in his dark eyes. She ran over and helped him up. "You alright?" she asked.

Dorson nodded. "A little burned, but I can't complain."

"Is that the last hound?" Sornado called. "I only count seven bodies."

"Mine fell off the island," Khali said as she walked over to retrieve her sword. "That's eight."

"No one dead? Injured?" Sornado asked, inspecting the members of the party.

"Khali saved me," Dorson said, staring at Sornado meaningfully. "So I'm alright."

The general stared at Dorson for a bit, then glanced at everyone else and gave a slight shake of his head. Khali breathed a sigh of relief. If that wasn't a command to not kill her, then she didn't know what was.

She sheathed her sword along with the others as they gathered around their prizes. "Let's begin looting," Sornado ordered. "We don't have to get it all in one trip. The next group can continue gathering."

Khali began sifting through the items again. She pushed a complete set of Dwarven armor aside, revealing a small box. The Khajiit broke the lock on it with a dagger and opened it. Her eyes widened. It was a dark stick with a gold arrowhead on the bottom and a thin ring of gold capping the other end. She touched it gently. The wood felt warm. This was it.

She had the first piece.