I stopped at the halfway tavern for lunch. I sat at a table in the corner until an Imperial woman asked what I was eating. I opened my mouth to answer, only then realizing that I had no appetite. I politely told her I didn't need anything and dumped Itermerel's pack on the table to sort through it. I set the books aside. Who knew whether they were worth anything? Instead, I focused on the many sheaves of paper inside. Most of which were notes and pamphlets on a number of subjects which I set aside, but one folder was clearly more important than the rest. It was tucked inside an oilskin covering. I untied the leather string holding it closed and looked at the report. It spoke of Oblivion streams and lots of complicated magic. I had to hand it to the old researcher. He'd been right. His research was far beyond my understanding.

In addition, he had a number of potions in his bag. I took two that were dyed blue for my own bag, knowing they were potions to speed the recovery of magic. The rest of the trinkets and instruments could be pawned. Much to my pleasure, I found a pawnbroker in town. I lied and told the store owner that I'd inherited the things from my father who'd just passed away. I didn't get much, seeing as I didn't know what half of it was for. The remaining potions were the only valuable things. After pocketing the change, I left the shop and consulted my map where I'd marked the location of the tomb I had to raid for the Orc.

The Andrano family tomb was only a stone's throw south of Pelagiad, so I made my way there immediately. The sky was overcast, but no rain fell at the moment. With each step, I wondered what the Orc could want with a skull, or for that matter, why she wouldn't have gotten it herself. After all, it was just a dusty old tomb, right?

I was fifteen minutes out of town, just past some farmers fields when I spotted the entrance to the tomb at the base of a hillside. The door was wood with a smooth finished adobe frame like the buildings in Balmora and the path out of town led right past it. I checked my surroundings, making sure nobody was watching before darting to the door. I lifted the heavy iron latch and swung it open, hurriedly closing it behind me. Just enough light shone from the cracks at the edges of the door to show me a dark empty stairway leading downward. A torch hung on the wall and a flint and steel striker sat on a shelf next to it. I took the flint and steel, striking them together at the torch, hoping it wasn't too old to burn. I was rewarded with a growing flame that lit the way for me.

I slipped the firestarters into my pocket, thinking they might come in handy for somebody with no skill for destruction magic. I hesitated, staring down into the cold damp below. The sound of the wind whistled from the door behind me, but I could swear I could hear something down below too. I shuddered. "It's just an empty tomb." I told myself again. However, I couldn't force myself to believe it. I came to a decision, and left my cumbersome bow and quiver at the top of the stairs. I then drew my orcish sword in my right hand, holding the torch in my left and slowly descended into the tomb. The entire tunnel was made of adobe with no outer dirt or rock poking through. Wooden beams supported the structure.

The stairs ended in a long room with one door on each end and one across from the stairs. The only decorations were tables lining the walls with rows and rows of urns. I stopped, the light of the torch flickering. "If the local dunmer cremate their dead, why would the orc think there would be a skull in here?"

My attention was stolen by a light clattering sound like dry wood on dry wood. It came from the door across from the stairs. I approached it cautiously. My breathing was forced as I tried to keep my nerve. With my sword arm, I lifted the latch and cracked the door open. The torchlight revealed a skeleton, standing upright with its back to me. A rusty old sword hung from his right hand and an ancient looking round shield from his left. A small circle of stones was built just beyond him holding what I assumed to be ash.

I concentrated on the skeleton. I needed to search the room, so naturally, I had to kill it. 'There's no reason my weapons shouldn't work,' I thought. The orcish steel would break bones just fine. It wasn't like this was a spirit that would require a purer material to banish.

The skeletons head rotated with the creaking sound I'd heard earlier. There was no cartilage to cushion the movement so the rasp was purely bone on bone. It seemed to have noticed the light and was turning towards me.

I flung the door open and rushed the creature. I brought my sword in an upward arc, hoping to chop the lower spine in two. It brought its shield to bare before I could strike and my sword clanged loudly off its edge. The creature followed up with a hiss and a sideways swing. I used the heavy wooden handle of the torch to block the dull old sword. It's edge stuck fast in the wood and I was able to yank the weapon from his weak grip. I dropped the torch to the floor and kicked the heavy shield flat footed. The creature recoiled and I struck low, chopping the leg at the knee. It tumbled to the floor and I stomped its exposed rib cage, shattering the brittle bones. The frame lost any sign of animation and lay still, the round shield clattering to the ground.

I picked up the torch, prying the sword from its handle and whipped around, making sure the rest of the room was clear. Once I was sure I was alone, I turned to the altar of ash. A few dried herbs and trinkets surrounded the pile, but I couldn't see anything of obvious value. I ran my sword through the pile, hoping the skull might be buried, but there was nothing but ash.

I turned to the dead bonewalker. "I don't suppose you're Llevule Andrano, are you?" I shook my head. I'd read about ancient cultures using necromancy to guard their tombs, but I'd assumed the practice had been long abandoned. Not here obviously. I scanned the room once more, finding nothing but the tables of urns.

I left the room, leading the way with the torch and hoped that reanimated skeletons were the worst I'd encounter. I tried the door to the right of the stairs, once again cracking it open to peek inside. Something thunked heavily into the door frame and I recoiled at the sudden noise in the quiet. I cracked it open further to see a skeleton with a bow, drawing an arrow from a quiver.

Instead of charging it, I withdrew behind the door, leaving it open. As I hoped, it pursued me. When it stepped into the doorway, I threw my weight into the door and crushed the skeleton in the door jam. I smashed the door closed multiple times, making sure to disable my opponent before swinging it open to see the broken bones at my feet.

I caught the sight of a dark shaft dart through the doorway and felt pain bloom in my chest. I recoiled backwards a pace at the pain, feeling the sword catch in my rib and then dart back. I hadn't noticed the second bonewalker in time to avoid the wound. The skeleton followed me, but lost his footing at the threshold, tripping on his companion's remains and giving me just enough time to square off. I ignored the wound for the moment, fully experiencing the sting and the wetness of welling blood.

The skeleton hid behind his shield, keeping the sword next to it in a position to stab at me. The tip was red and wet with my blood. The torchlight reflected off it with a sickly glow. I circled to his left, avoiding the sword and probing for a weakness in his defense. The creatures attention remained on me as if eyes still filled its sockets. The dry teeth rattled together as it scraped its jaw from side to side. I once again kicked the shield flat footed, trying to knock him off balance. It took the strike by shuffling back to absorb the blow and swung at my leg with the sword, just missing as I withdrew.

I swung the iron sconced torch like a makeshift mace and landed a hit on the skull while his sword arm was extended. He stumbled against the wall and swung crosswise at my midsection, forcing me to retreat again.

I shuffled back as he fell back into his defensive stance. I reached out with my sword to one of the tables and scooted a whole row of clay urns to the floor, some cracking and some shattering. I watched intently as he shuffled through the debris, hoping he'd stumble and give me an opening, but the bare bony feet stayed stable, scooting the clay fragments out of the way rather than walking over them. He backed me up to the stairs and I climbed them backwards, gaining height on him. I kicked at the shield again, bashing the sword aside with the torch and tackled him to the ground. I landed on him with his shield between us. As we connected with the floor at the bottom of the stairs, his ribs crunched and he became immobile.

I climbed off of him and looked to the wound over my heart. I'd gotten lucky with that strike. If he'd been a bit stronger, I'd have died very quickly. I guided my magic to the wounded area, making a mental note to buy potions to fight infection. I didn't like the thought of what that dirty old blade might have left inside me.

Once I'd staunched the bleeding, I stood to explore the room, ignoring the fact that my shirt was wet with blood. The room was more like a small balustrade over the room one floor below. A rotten stench drew my attention. There was nothing else on my level so I lowered the torch down towards the floor below. What I saw was a hulking mass of flesh that seemed to have broken bones sticking out of it. The creature was vaguely human in shape and shambled to the spot right under me. It turned its wretched face to moan at me. I gagged at the hideous thing and withdrew. I took the old bow from the smashed skeleton and hung the torch in a sconce. I drew a rusty old arrow from its quiver and shot it into the creature's face. It recoiled with a hellish shout of pain, before roaring at me. I took another arrow and placed it right next to the first.

The thing raised its hands towards me and sent a bolt of magic past my head. I ducked before loosing another arrow at it and drawing another. I crouched and made my way to a different spot to avoid getting hit by his mystery spell. As I popped up to take a shot, I could see another ash shrine on its level, lit with candles and decorated with a skull. I let the arrow loose, the creaky old wooden bow dutifully sending it on its way. The undead creature howled again. How many arrows would it take to kill the thing? I drew another, staying behind cover as a barrage of colorful bolts struck the room around me. There was a loud crack as the walkway under me was broken by one of the spells and I was dumped unceremoniously onto the lower floor in a pile of rubble. I landed painfully on my hip and looked up just in time to see the creature cast a spell on me. A red bolt hit me straight in the chest and my limbs turned to lead. I struggled to my feet feeling 200 pounds heavier. I drew my sword and heavily stepped towards the hulk. It was even uglier up close. It opened a fist, sending another bolt of magic at me. Too slow to dodge it, I prepared for whatever it may do. With horror, my vision went dark as my eyes stopped working.

I did the only thing I could think of. I scrambled over the rubble as best I could by feel, grabbing for my sword until I plowed into the creature. Ignoring the sharp pieces of protruding bone that poked me, I blindly chopped at him with my leaden sword arm. A huge fist smashed into my shoulder and I crumpled back into the rubble of the ruined walkway.

As soon as I could get my feet back under me, I made my way back to the creature. The heaviness in my limbs left me as suddenly as it came only for me to feel another bolt of magic to my chest. I felt tired in a different way now. My head swam and I felt uncomfortably hot.

I scrambled on hands and knees toward the creature, desperate to kill it. I couldn't take much more of this. I reached out with my empty left hand to locate the creature only to stab my palm painfully on a jagged piece of broken bone. I withdrew my left protectively while lunging forward with my sword, impaling the horrid beast.

I felt resistance as the tip of my sword caught on misplaced bones that shouldn't have been in the place they were. I braced my right hand with my now bleeding left and shoved on the sword with all my body weight, forcing it through the maze of human or elven remains. The creature howled weakly and seemed to collapse. I savagely withdrew the sword, placing one boot on the creature and prying the blade out. I then fell unceremoniously to the floor, unable to regain my balance without my sight.

I crawled to a corner, keeping my sword in hand and hyperventilated in the panic of the unknown. Surely my sight would return, right? I jumped at an echoing clatter, pointing my sword into the darkness. As the echo faded, logic returned to me and I decided it was just rock from the broken balustrade. In the quiet, my heart slowed and the sound of blood pounding in my ears faded.

I thought through what I knew of alteration magic. It was possible to curse someone and disrupt one of their senses, but it did wear off. I confirmed this by remembering Gildee in Suran and her charm spell. It was much the same principle. Once the magic behind the spell was spent, the spell would fail.

So I waited, and waited. Then I doubted myself and struggled not to panic before waiting some more. I finally rose to my feet, hugging the wall and did my best to search the room. I found the skull I'd spotted earlier. I could feel characters carved in the bone and decided that it had to be the right one, so I stuffed it in my bag. I then felt for the door, finding it closed and latched from my side. I left it latched, as it was my only defence against more attackers at the moment.

"Come on, come on, come on!" I whispered. I needed to be able to see. My words echoed slightly in the room before fading to silence. Complete silence. I frowned, listening for a specific sound. The flickering of a torch. I didn't hear it.

I curiously reached for the flint and steel in my pocket and struck them together, causing a bright shower of sparks to jump into my field of vision. I wasn't blind, the torch had just gone out. Feeling sheepish, I felt along the wall, hoping to find another torch. There were none. Instead, I went to the shrine where the candles had gone out. I took a sizable candle and the flint and steel, biting my lip. A flint wasn't designed to light a candle wick. It was designed to throw a spark into a nest of tinder or pitch, but at this point, I had to make it work.

I broke the candle, leaving short sticks of wax connected by the long wick. I broke away the wax piece by piece until I was left with the long string of the wick. I used two fingers to unbraid the fibers until I had created a small nest of frayed fibers. With the flint and steel, I struck sparks into the nest again and again until one of them caught the fibers and a small flame grew, casting the room in a dim light.

I hurried to light the other candles before tending to myself. My hand shook as I took one and desperately held it to the flame. My heart soared when the flame caught and I soon had a half dozen candles lit. Finally, I turned to my injuries. I had a couple of small stab wounds from the jagged pieces of bone sticking out of the creature. I healed them the best I could with the magic I had available. I'd left smears of blood on the walls and floor from my right hand while feeling my way around.

Now to look at my options. I glanced up at the walkway above. If I could climb up there, I could walk right out. The ledge was too high to jump, however, an ancient banner hung from it. I secured my sword and jumped, grabbing at the old cloth. It was far too old to support my weight though and it ripped away from its tethers. I tossed the useless cloth away, turning to face the door.

The problem was that there could and most likely would be more creatures out there. I drew my sword and unlatched the door, peeking through the crack. My hand shook this time. It shook worse than it had in the dwemer ruins. Chills ran down my spine and I dreaded what I might find.

To my relief, the hall was empty, save for a torch on the wall. I ran to it, held the candles flame to it, and traded up.

Up ahead, there was a spot that seemed to resist the illumination of the torch. An inky blot floating in the air. As I inched forward, the mist seemed to pull together and slowly coalesced into the shape of a person. I sprinted past before it had a chance to do anything else. "Nope!" I yelled. "No way!" I'd never encountered a ghost before and I I was unprepared to deal with one now. My sword wouldn't have any effect on it as it was a spirit with no body. If I could conjure a weapon, I could fight it, but my magic wasn't as reliable as it used to be. That said, I kept running. There was a room with two skeletons in it which I promptly skipped by sprinting up the stairs on the other side. To my great relief, their efforts to follow where hampered by slow movement. "Just try to follow you arthritic…" I was cut off when I found a door at the top of the stairs. I went for the latch, but to my horror, the thing was locked.

I dropped my sword and torch, grabbing my knife and the lockpick I'd stolen in Seyda Neen. I only had one and there wasn't much time. I could hear bones creaking after me. I stuffed my equipment into the lock and started prodding. Oh it had been so long since I'd properly practiced this. I added lockpicks next to anti infection potions on my shopping list when I felt a sharp snap and a pang of horror. I looked down in shock at the broken lockpick in my hand. This place was a trap. It was meant to lure people in and trap them down here.

"Oh Azura, give me a break!" I screamed in frustration, throwing the broken pick down the stairs. I turned to see a couple skeletons rounding the corner, spears in hand. I took up my sword and torch again, banging them together loudly to rally my courage. I roared a challenge at the top of my lungs to the undead warriors, not knowing if they were even capable of feeling fear. "Come on then! Kill me if you can!"

The undead advanced, unwavering. What they lacked in strength and agility, they made up for in blind obedience. Suddenly, the door behind me swung open loudly and I was yanked through by my collar. I sprawled on the floor in the next room while Caius Cosades relatched the door. He held the latch down in case the skeletons tried to follow.

"Move kid. Your things are at the top of the stairs."

I scrambled up the stairs and out into the fresh air, grabbing my bow and quiver from where I'd left them.

Caius flew up the stairs behind me, wearing cheap commoners clothing and a wide straw hat. We stared at each other for a moment, trying to catch our breath. Caius got ahold of himself and rose to his full height, looking down on me with a heavy gaze. "We've got a lot to discuss boy."