Chapter Twelve: The Sixth House Cult
With his last strength, Merlac partly walked, partly crawled back to Urshilaku camp. There had indeed been some danger. The caverns were filled with undead creatures, like skeletons, ghosts and beasts of large variety. Most of them Merlac had handled with little trouble, as the longsword of Vivec cut through them like if they were thin wood. But the ancestral guardian of Sul-Matuul's father's grave had possessed great magical powers far beyond Merlac's skills.
No matter what Merlac did, the wounds just didn't stop bleeding, and his leg was also badly burnt. The ancient spells made the pain ten times as powerful, and Merlac used his last strength trying to stay conscious. As he crawled to the edge of Urshilaku camp, Sul-Matuul heard the screams of the people who saw Merlac, and rushed out of his hut.
Sul-Matuul ran to Merlac and kneeled in front of him. Merlac collapsed to his feet, handing the old tribe leader his father's bow. Sul-Matuul was able to do nothing, but stare the bow for few seconds in astonishment. Merlac closed his eyes but did not pass out yet.
"Quickly, carry him to Nibani's hut! Do it!", Merlac heard Sul-Matuul yelling to his men.
Six warriors grabbed Merlac gently and carried him to the nearby hut. They carefully put him down on the ground and Merlac laboriously opened his eyes again. Sul-Matuul and a old woman were kneeled next to him and the woman was doing something to his leg. Merlac tried to speak, but he only felt the taste of blood in his mouth. Then, Merlac lost his consciousness.
Following night was most likely the worst Merlac had ever had. Though unconscious, vast amounts of pain still disturbed him. The poison in his leg caused fever to rise and Merlac started to see nightmares again.
He was sitting on a cold, wet stone floor, inside a dark corridor. Suddenly, the torches on the walls lit up. The corridor looked familiar, it was the same corridor Merlac had seen during another nightmare few months ago. Merlac stood up and looked around. Then he heard it again; footsteps coming his way. A shadow of some huge creature rose slowly to the wall, as it moved closer.
Merlac breathed quietly and stared at the end of the corridor, waiting for the creature to show himself. This was the point where Merlac had woken the last time, but this time the nightmare continued.
Just before the creature became visible, everything blurred around Merlac. As they sharpened again, he wasn't in the same corridor anymore. He was standing somewhere outside, though it was very dark around him. Merlac looked around again, but didn't see much. The ground was filled with dark ash, and only pale source of light was a glowing volcano in distant horizon. Merlac heard something walk behind him and quickly turned around.
"Who's there?", Merlac yelled to the darkness. Nobody answered.
Merlac was just about to yell again, as everything blurred again. He was still outside, but this time the weather was clear and sun was just above the horizon. He was standing on a high cliff.
Suddenly, a bombastic sound of some kind of big horn filled the air. Few seconds later, another sound like it was heard, this time a bit farther away. Merlac walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.
Down in the valley, hundreds, maybe thousands of people walked in straight formation towards another, even larger group of people. It was a battle. The larger group was standing in front of a huge, orange fort, clearly a dwemer stronghold. Those were dwarves? But… that would mean the other group had to be Chimer.
Another large horn yelled to the cold air, and like as a reply, the attacking army yelled, and rose their weapons. After few seconds, Merlac heard another smaller horn tolling in the fort. On the wide walls of the fort, the dwemer warriors pushed large war machines to their positions. One after another, they were fired and large, deadly arrows were thrown upon the Chimer army, mutilating rows of warriors every time they hit ground.
As Merlac looked more carefully at the attacking army, he saw them. On the other side of the valley, stood a long-haired man, with white armour set, observing the battle. Could he… could he be…?
Merlac didn't have any time to wonder longer, as everything blurred around him once again. The smell of guar skin filled his nose again and pain returned to his body. Merlac was back in the ashlander camp.
"Calm down, calm down!", said a woman voice next to him. Merlac looked around. He was in a tent, sitting on the bed he had been brought to.
"You need to rest, lay down", the woman said. Merlac realised he had almost stood up when he woke up, and allowed the woman to lay him down again.
The woman was very old, and her tent was filled with different kinds of decorative clothes and animal skins. The woman softly tried Merlac's forehead.
"Good, the fever is almost gone.", the woman spoke again.
"Where….where am I?", asked Merlac with rather weak voice.
"You're safe now. You were badly injured and I'm very surprised you managed to crawl back to the camp by yourself."
Merlac leant forward and looked at his leg. The wound was almost healed, though his trousers burnt around it.
"How long have I been unconscious?", asked Merlac.
"You've been sleeping for almost three days, luckily some of my grandmother's old herbs healed your leg…"
"What?! Three days!?", breathed Merlac. "But… I'm extremely thankful to you and everything, but… why did you help me? I thought the ashlanders didn't like outlanders?"
"We don't.", a voice spoke from the hut's doorway. "But though I very much doubted you would manage to retrieve my father's bow, you have succeeded."
It was Sul-Matuul. For the first time, Merlac saw the old man smiling. The old tribe leader kneeled next to Merlac's bed.
"You have proved your worthiness, young imperial. I shall declare you the clanfriend of Urshilaku and you will always be welcome here."
Merlac didn't know what he was supposed to say or how to react, but before he said anything, Sul-Matuul continued.
"You keep wondering, whether you are the one they mention in the lost prophecies, do you not?"
Merlac nodded.
"Allow me to introduce Nibani Maesa, the wise woman of the Urshilaku.", Sul-Matuul said, and pointed at the old woman sitting next to him.
Nibani smiled to Merlac and spoke with kind voice.
"You indeed have the potential to become the one, young imperial.", she said.
"To become?", asked Merlac.
"Yes, during last few centuries, many have tried to take their place as the Nerevar reborn, but only one, true incarnate can take his place as the real saviour."
"So, how do I know whether I am the Nerevarine or not?"
"I will tell you as soon as I know myself, but to make sure if you are the general himself, I must first read the lost prophecies of the Dissident Priests, in them it is written how to test the candidates. Unfortunately, I do not know where the lost prophecies are, it is up to you to find them and bring them to me."
"When can I leave?", asked Merlac.
Sul-Matuul and Nibani gave a laugh.
"Patience, young imperial.", Nibani said. "Your leg must heal first. I believe you may leave after resting two more days."
***
In the evening of the third day, somebody knocked at the door of Caius' house. As the spymaster opened the door, Merlac was able to see great surprise on his face.
"Merlac? But…how…already here? What happened? Come in, tell me everything!", Caius hurried Merlac.
They both sat down again and Merlac started telling. He told Caius about his battle with Zabamund and his first meeting with Sul-Matuul. He also told Caius about his little "visit" to the Urshilaku burial caverns, at which point Caius was able to do nothing but stare in astonishment, as he heard about Nibani's healing powers.
"So, now I must find and bring Nibani the lost prophecies and she will test me whether I am the one or not.", Merlac finished his story.
"Hmm.", Caius though himself. "I will contact Gilvas Barelo, the high priest of the dissident priests. He, if anyone, will know where the lost documents are. While he searches for them, there is another matter that requires our attention."
"Yes, master? What is it?", Merlac asked.
"Something worrying is happening near Ald'ruhun. Two days ago, Buckmoth Legion Fort sent a patrol of highly trained soldiers to check rumours about a lately built sixth house cult meeting point somewhere in the western coast of Vvardenfell. Twelve men left the fort, only one of them returned."
"What had happened?"
"We don't know exactly, because the soldier who had survived, died soon after arriving back to the fort. He died in the terrible corpus disease."
"Corpus?", breathed Merlac.
"There is no cure to corpus disease. Everyone who has it, will eventually, usually very soon, turn into a creature-like monster, like the ones who walk in the ridges of Red Mountain. They are brutal animals, deformed creatures who live in great pain, and die soon."
"How did he get it?"
"That is what you must find out. It is most worrying that corpus disease is found outside the ghost fence. And this is only one of the worrying events lately; I have received several reports from cities in southern Vvardenfell, that they have encountered severe ash storms."
"What's unusual in that? Almost every time I've been in Ald'ruhun, there is a huge sand storm making everyone crazy."
"Yes, yes.", said Caius. "But Ald'ruhun is so near the Red Mountain, it is usual there, but there hasn't been ash storms this far south in several centuries, the last time was at the time of the war between dwemer and chimer! But anyway, there is nothing we can do about it just yet… before we know what is going on. I will send you to Buckmoth Legion Fort as soon as possible."
"And what after I've arrived there, master?"
"You must contact Raesa Pullia, he will tell you all he knows about the sixth house base. You must then find the base and… well… kick the crap out of everything."
Merlac stared at his master in disbelief.
"Umm… master?", he asked.
"Yes? What's the matter?"
"Well, how could I succeed in something where twelve highly trained soldiers didn't?"
"Before the last soldier died, he told something about a wizard. Soldiers of the imperial legions can't do any spells, so they are basically just breakfast for a skilled wizard. But where they failed, you will succeed. You have learned rather useful spells from Ranis, use them and you should do fine against the sixth house cult followers."
"What about the wizard?", asked Merlac, with a bit worry in his voice.
"Stun him, kill him, do anything you wish as long as you make sure sixth house cult followers won't continue meeting each other at that location."
"Very well then, master. See you in few days", grinned Merlac.
Just before Merlac walked out of the door, Caius spoke again.
"And one more thing, Merlac."
Merlac turned around and looked at Caius, waiting.
"Good luck, once again."
Merlac gave a short smile and walked out from the door.
***
Merlac spent the following night in the South Wall Corner club, eating, resting and practising the few spells he knew. Early in the morning, just before the sun had risen, he walked up the stairs leading to the silt strider platform, paid the caravaner some septims and travelled to Ald'ruhun. As the sun rose, his new elven light cuirass shined in the orange sunlight. This chest armour was magically enchanted to be extremely magic-resistant and Merlac hoped this would help him to encounter the sixth house wizard, if there were any.
A bit before noon, the silt strider arrived to Ald'ruhun. The last hour of the journey had been suffering, as a strong ash storm had risen suddenly and Merlac was still shaking sand out of his clothes.
Merlac didn't bother to go inside the city walls at all, as the fort was only few minutes walk south from Ald'ruhun. Merlac sighed in relief as he reached the inner courtyard of the fort, where walls held most of the wind of the ash storm.
"Where can I find Raesa Pullia?", Merlac asked from a guard patrolling the yard.
"Who?", the guard yelled against the raging wind.
"Raesa Pullia!", Merlac yelled back loudly and clearly, while trying to prevent sand flying into his mouth at the same time.
The guard pointed at the nearby tower building and covered his face with a piece of cloth again.
The feeling was incredible when Merlac closed the door behind him. No more wind, no more sand, and the thick stone walls muffled most of the thundering sound of the wind.
"Greetings", said a officer who had noticed Merlac coming in. "What brings you to Buckmoth, outlander? Want to join the imperial legions? If you are just looking for shelter, I suggest you move your lazy body to the city", the officer said rather impatiently.
"Oh, hi. I'm here to investigate the sixth house cult incident.", replied Merlac
"Great, another arrogant adventurer who thinks he can succeed in something where six finest soldiers of the legions failed."
"I though there were twelve?", asked Merlac.
"Yeah, whatever.
"Are you Raesa Pullia?", asked Merlac again.
"Might be, but I'm also a busy man, so just go to the location marked at this map, called the Khartag Point. It's an old meeting place for smugglers, but now it seems the sixth house cult fanatics have invaded the secret caves."
"How did you know I was coming, you made the map and all I mean."
"You are the eleventh adventurer within 24 hours who comes here to offer his or her "help", and none of the ones who went before you, have returned, so as you might guess I don't have much trust that you would succeed. But if you want to die trying, fine. The base was found near Gnaar Mok, now go and leave me alone."
Merlac took the map and stared after the officer, as this turned around and walked away with his armour clattering.
***
Journey to Gnaar Mok didn't take many hours, and after having a quick lunch at the fishing village, Merlac continued north along the coast line, until he reached a small swamp.
A thick fog covered everything, so it took some time for Merlac to find a safe path to a small cape in the middle of the swamp. No wonder this place was so hard to find. After almost falling third time into a boghole, Merlac found a small wooden trapdoor hidden between few bushes. He wielded the longsword of Vivec once again, and quietly climbed down the ladders under the door.
In spite of the fact that the tunnels were located under a wet swamp, they were rather dry. Some small waterfalls and dripstones, Merlac was able to walk with almost dry feet.
After few minutes of careful walking, Merlac heard voices coming from ahead of him, and hid himself behind a large pile of rocks. He watched from the shadows as two cult fanatics walked past him, talking with each other. They were clearly leaving from the cave.
First Merlac though he should let them just go, but then he remembered Caius telling him that all cult followers should be either killed or taken to imperial prisons.
Merlac didn't like attacking anyone, even his enemies, from behind, so he decided to have little fun with these men.
"Excuse me", Merlac yelled to the men. "Do you happen to know where I could find Lord Vivec, does he live around here?"
As the two men turned around in fright, Merlac noticed they had no visible weapons, swords or bows, with them. He wouldn't attack unarmed enemies, so he would have to stun them.
But to Merlac's surprise, neither of the men hesitated a second, but lowered their cloak's hoods and pointed their hands towards Merlac.
Two bolts of lightning struck towards Merlac, who evaded and the spells broke the rock behind him into smoking pieces. These men were both advanced wizards.
"You could have just said no!", yelled Merlac and evaded another bolt of lightning.
The game was over, no more time for non-lethal actions. It was either him or them. Merlac shot a stunning spell to the roof of the cave, which collapsed partly and a huge pile of rock fell into heads of the men, crushing them like scribs. Luckily the cave corridor didn't clog totally and no water rushed in. Unfortunately, the whole Vvardenfell had probably heard the explosion.
Merlac decided to forget the quiet way of approach, and rushed to first cave room. Five similar sixth house followers were already running towards the sound of explosion, but they stopped as Merlac appeared on the other side of the room.
This time Merlac did not hesitate of play any games. He stunned two of the fanatics with two swings of his hand, threw a small knife into third's throat, who unfortunately evaded it, and the other two took cover behind some large wooden barrels.
In a matter of seconds, the air was filled with spells and curses. The three remaining men fired deadly spells towards Merlac, but luckily they didn't seem to have very good aiming skills. Merlac had to jump behind another barrel, as the one behind which he had been hiding in, caught fire from a spell and almost exploded into his eyes.
Over the sounds of spells, Merlac heard more voices coming his way from the tunnel on the other side of the cave. He had to take care of these wizards fast or he would soon be against overwhelming enemy. He took up a smoking piece of wooden chair and threw it high in the air. While the sixth house wizards took a short glance at the flying object, Merlac stunned another wizard, wielded Vivec's longsword and rushed towards the two remaining men.
One of them managed to shoot one more magic bolt against Merlac, which dissolved against his new cuirass, but just before he was able to fire again Merlac swung his sword, cutting man's hand from its wrist. The man screamed in pain and covered his bleeding hand into his armpit. The other wizard didn't have the courage to cast any spells this close, so he decided to run away.
Merlac took the knife from the ground where it had fell after throwing it the first time, and threw it after the fleeing man. This time the knife hit it's target and the man fell onto his face, trying to reach the knife which was sticking out of his lower back.
Merlac ran forward. Now the whole cave-network was aware of his presence, so he had to move quickly and find the one, whoever was in leading role in this place, and kill him. A pure rage flowed from within him, as three more wizards appeared from stone corridor in front of Merlac. This time he didn't want to use any stunning spells. He hadn't practised any lethal spells and Ranis had ordered him not to do so, as they were not the way of acting in the Mage's guild, but Merlac didn't care. Instinctively Merlac sheathed his sword again and pointed his right hand at the three wizards.
First the wizards looked like they were about to attack as well, but as they saw their dead, stunned and wounded friends, and Merlac whose hand had began to sparkle in blood-red flames, they turned around with fear in their faces and ran back to where they had come from. But Merlac went after them.
Merlac didn't bother to use the stairs leading to corridor in the upper corner of the cave. He memorised the ancient runes in his mind and closed his eyes. His feet rose from the ground and he walked, partly just floated up to the corridor. The running wizards looked in horror behind them as Merlac landed only few meters behind them and rose up his hand again. Merlac cast a huge red fireball after the wizards, who were literally burnt alive when the fireball hit them.
But Merlac did not stop there. He continued walking fast with a determined look on his face. He followed the straightforward tunnels few more minutes, killing two more wizards on the way, until he reached a room where was no other tunnels leading away. On the walls where two fireplaces and numerous shelves filled with dark books, burning candles and daedric items. In the middle of the room stood a tall, rather old wizard with devil-like look on his face.
Merlac stopped on the doorway and stared at the wizard. The wizard stared back.
"You have slaughtered my every follower, you fool!", the wizard spat, but there was no anger in his voice, just disgust.
"And now I will kill you, and your pathetic little sixth house cult", replied Merlac.
The wizard burst laughing, and as the fire reflected from his face, Merlac saw it was slightly deformed face of a old dunmer man.
"You ignorant fool", the wizard continued. "I am barely a humble follower of the House Dagoth, the so called "sixth house". But like the ones before you, you will fall against the wrath of Dagoth Gares, the cousin of Dagoth Ur himself!"
"Yeah, right, I believe you will die like the rest of your men.", Merlac replied with confident voice.
"Oh, really?", the wizard said in quiet, calm and calculating voice. "But I am no man, nor am I dunmer. I am an ash vampire, loyal servant of my lord, Dagoth Ur, and you will die before his wrath!"
Without further warning, a purple spell flashed from Dagoth Gares' hand and struck Merlac's chest with enormous power. Though Merlac's cuirass absorbed most of the power, he still fell to the ground and almost broke his neck.
Merlac watched in horror as the cuirass cracked and started slowly turning into ash around him. He rose his hand again and started shooting every spell he knew against the ash vampire, who kept blocking everything with his bare hands while laughing like a madman.
Anger fled from Merlac's mind and panic replaced it. He had used every last spell he knew, but the wizard was still completely unharmed and started walking towards Merlac with his hands sparkling red. But Merlac rose up with his last powers, he would not die without a real fight.
Merlac threw away the remainings of the destroyed cuirass and wielded the Vivec's longsword. In his mind he memorised the friend's soul spell, which brought warmth and happiness into his body, and took away the desperation. Merlac imagined his friends in Mage's guild around him, and touched the amulet hanging in his neck. Yellow shining shield appeared around him and the whole cave bathed in bright light.
Dagoth Gares shot the red fireball against Merlac, but it was absorbed completely by the shield. Unfortunately, the shield vaporised after this shot and Merlac knew it wouldn't stop another strike, so he attacked. Not with anger, but with self-confidence, Merlac swung his longsword hit after another, forcing the ash vampire move back while blocking Merlac's hits with magical barriers.
At the same time as Dagoth Gares' back touched the wall behind him, Merlac turned quickly around, swung his sword, and stuck it right through the ash vampire's chest. Gares roared in rage, but his voice faded away ash his body dissolved into ash and his clothes fell into ground, empty.
Merlac sheathed his sword and leant to his knees, breathless. He had killed a very advanced dark wizard, but he knew how close to death he had been. Merlac was just about to turn around and walk to the door, as he heard crackling sound from the air. A thick, orange smoke rose from the ash vampire's clothes.
"What the…", Merlac started, but then the smoke suddenly charged towards him, surrounded him and no matter what Merlac did, it penetrated his nose and forced Merlac to breathe it. As the smoke vaporised, a loud, deep voice spoke from thin air.
"This foolish act shall not go unpunished, and the blessing of the Sixth House will be your curse, and follow you to your grave!", the voice echoed inside Merlac's head.
At first, Merlac didn't feel anything, but then in horror he realised it. The colour of his hands started turning patchy and he felt shooting pain in his neck. He walked to the shelves and took up a small mirror. Merlac stared at the mirror in horror, as he saw blisters appearing into his face and his eyes turning red.
He had caught the corpus disease……