The Reach Storm

~Eleanor's POV~

Fennorian and I traveled from room to room, trying to find a way out of this wintery barrow the Icereach has trapped us. In one of the following rooms was a giant, icy-blue spider waiting. It sensed our presence and raised its front legs and bared its fangs at us, ready to strike.

"A giant frostbite spider!" Fennorian gasped, "Kill it, my friend!"

I drew my daggers and charged toward the spider. It grabbed me with its front legs and aimed to bite me in the shoulder, but I took this opportunity to stab my dagger into its large eye. The spider screamed in pain and let go of me. I grabbed my dagger and rammed both my daggers into its chest. The spider screamed once again and stood on its hind legs. I grabbed my daggers and ran them down its thorax and tail section, ripping the spider in half. The spider fell silent and dropped to the ground. Dead.

I sighed and withdrew my weapons. I turned and saw Fennorian had a look of dread on his face. "What?" I asked.

"You are a twisted character." He commented.

I smiled, "Thanks."

Fennorian raised a brow at me, but shrugged his shoulders. He looked ahead and pointed at a wooden door, "The door ahead! You go first."

I nodded and opened the door. The door lead to another cavern with a bridge above our heads. Fennorian ran ahead, "Over here! We're almost to the exit." Then he noticed something on the bridge and hid behind a bunch of rocks. "Quick, hide!" He whispered, "Look up on the bridge."

I followed his glance and saw two people walking across the bridge. A familiar woman and a male in dark clothing. I quickly hid behind the rocks before they got a chance to see me.

"As you see, the storm's effects will be quite devastating." The woman told the male.

"As long as everything's ready for the first harvest, Urgala, I will be pleased." The male answered. His voice made him sound like a regal Redguard.

With that, the two vanished from the bridge. The cavern fell quiet and Fennorian and I were able to stop hiding.

"Very curious." Fennorian rubbed his chin in thought, then turned to me, "Let's talk for a moment."

I turned to the Altmer vampire and couldn't help but ask, "What is it? Who were those two?"

"That was Urgala, leader of this branch of the Icereach Coven." Fennorian answered, "She's the witch who locked us in the barrow. The others take their orders from her."

I nodded, "I see. And the other one?"

Fennorian shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, "I'm not sure, but he's... One of my kind. They mentioned a devastating storm. We need to find out exactly what they have planned." He looked at me, "My apologies, but we're going to have to postpone our escape."

I folded my arms and smirked, "You want to follow those two?"

Fennorian smiled, "We'll make an investigator out of you yet! I need to figure out how those stolen remains, the Icereach Coven, and that vampire are connected." He encouraged, "Let's catch up to Urgala and her guest and see what we can find out."

I smiled and nodded, "Right. Let's go."

With that, Fennorian and I ran down to the other side of the cavern and traveled through another pair of large iron doors.

"We should be able to catch up with Matron Urgala through here." Fennorian told me, as we traversed through the barrow.

We traveled through a corridor and entered, what looked like, a ritual room. It reeked of death and blood, and there was black and red mist seeping across the ground. This does not go well...

"Witches and their servants are everywhere." Fennorian whispered to me, "We could sneak through if you wish to avoid more battles."

I nodded in agreement, after tangling with the Nord brute and the giant spider, I'm in no mood to fight until we get outside. So Fennorian and I crouched down and quietly sneaked past the Icereach witches and others. We entered another corridor and opened another door, which lead to the cavern's bridge.

Fennorian pointed ahead, "They should be just up ahead. Hurry!"

We charged across the bridge to another corridor and up a flight of stairs to another pair of large iron doors. Finally, Fennorian and I were outside of the barrow. I took a deep breath and started coughing. The air reeked of death, blood and rotting fungus. Why did it smell like this?

"Look, the sky!" Fennorian alarmed, pointing toward the sky, "What have they done?"

I looked up at the sky and gasped. The sky was black with crimson red clouds and there was some sort of funnel reaching toward the barrow just across the river from our location. This is bad.

"We must reach that clearing!" Fennorian told me.

I nodded, "Right!"

With that, Fennorian and I traveled down the hillside, across the bridge and up the stairs toward the clearing of the storm, taking out anything or anyone that got in our way, whether it was feral vampires, wolves or Icereach warriors. Eventually, Fennorian and I reached entered the barrow through another pair of large iron doors.

"This place is thick with coven members." Fennorian told me, "Be on your guard."

I nodded and kept my daggers drawn. Fennorian and I traveled through the barrow, taking out the Icereach and feral vampires inside. Up the stairs, through the doors, through the corridors, take out the Icereach, through more doors, until we entered a room with more strange urns.

Fennorian noticed and gasped, "These urns! They bear the same symbol as the ones I saw in Bangkorai!"

I rubbed my chin in thought, "That must mean that they have some importance to what's going on..." I shook my head and continued out of the room and down the corridor, through another pair of doors and outside once again. Only this time, we were in the eye of the storm.

The woman, Urgala, and the Redguard in dark clothing were standing before some sort of large, wooden and moving pike. I wrinkled my nose and covered my mouth. This was where the nauseating scent was coming from. I had to stop this from getting worse.

"The harrowstorm ritual is a thing of beauty, Urgala." The Redguard praised, "I'll be in touch after the harvest."

Thinking quickly, I threw my dagger at the Redguard. However he vanished before my dagger could touch him.

"Damn it!" I cursed under my breath.

Urgala gasped at the sight of my dagger and turned to see me and Fennorian. She frowned and glared, "You escaped?" She shook her head, "No matter, for soon all of Skyrim will fall!"

I picked up my dagger and Urgala struck me with her magic, knocking me to the ground.

"Kill Urgala!" Fennorian told me, as I got back to my feet, "Maybe that will stop the storm from growing!"

I growled at the witch and dashed to attack her with my daggers, however Urgala blast me with her magic and gained some distance while I was blinded.

"Your efforts mean nothing!" Urgala gloated, "The harvest will succeed!"

Angry and annoyed, I grabbed my dagger by the blade and threw it at Urgala while she was gloating. The dagger's blade hit her square in the forehead. The blade sank deeper into her skull and she fell to her knees. She fell face-first into the ground, plunging my dagger deeper into her skull. I walked over to the witch and kicked her, motionless and unresponsive. Dead. I moved her head to the side and removed my dagger from her skull.

"The storm!" Fennorian alarmed, "Somehow that pike is involved! Destroy it, quickly!"

I grabbed Urgala's staff and stabbed into the pike. The staff burst into flames and engulfed the pike along with it. With a loud scream, the pike exploded into pieces and small twigs. The storm cleared and the sky was blue and calm once again. Even the scent was gone. I took a deep breath and sighed in relief. Fresh air at last. It feels good.

"You did it!" Fennorian smiled in relief, "The storm's dissipated."

I turned to the Altmer vampire and smiled, "I couldn't have done it without your help, Fennorian."

Fennorian shook his head, "I wish we could have learned more before we killed Matron Urgala." He rubbed his chin in thought, "I still don't understand what the coven has planned, and it's the not knowing that worries me."

I rubbed my chin in thought, "Well, we learned the Icereach Coven created a storm ritual for that vampire. That's something, right?"

Fennorian nodded with a smile, "That's true. And we stopped that storm. My investigations have led to darker corners, but progress has been made." Then he pointed toward a tunnel the lead outside, "Now, let's get out of here."

I nodded in agreement. Fennorian and I traveled through the tunnel and out of the vale. Once outside, I found a body laying on the ground, across the road. My gut told me to go and investigate.

I walked over to the body and it moved. It was a female Dunmer and she looked scared when she saw me. She muttered something, but I couldn't make it out.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I asked.

"It's a trap!" She whispered more loudly.

Suddenly something hit me at the back of my head hard and I blacked out.