Last Time: Dulurza agreed to take Meridia's beacon to Solitude with Cassia, L'laarzen prepared to enter Snow Veil Sanctum, Xander went to talk to Archmage Aren and Hjar received a threat from the Dark Brotherhood.

Betrayal

8˂

Draugr were so much easier to kill than Falmer. A brief burst of a basic flame spell took one in the face, staggering it, allowing L'laarzen to step in and drag a dagger across its throat. It was a simple steel blade, the sort you wouldn't begrudge anyone carrying for self defence. The only reason she was using it was because she didn't want to get her claws stuck in undead guts, and the fact she was unconcerned about handicapping herself in such a way proved how little a threat the zombies were.

That was all window-dressing, however. The reason it was so easy was because she didn't have to worry about taking lives. These Nords died long ago. There is no light in their eyes besides that eerie blue glow. It was a relief, after her last mission.

She elegantly finished the latest set of Draugr that had accosted them, and looked back to see Mercer walk through the carnage, barely glancing at her. She scowled at the back of his head as he passed. The guild-master seemed quite content to let her deal with everything in the way, traps, zombies and all.

Pettiness? Or perhaps he believes he should be conserving his strength for Karliah?

The much more paranoid thought, that he was attempting to learn her fighting style without giving away his own, lingered in the back of her mind despite attempts to vanquish it.

"Oh, here we are. One of the old Nordic puzzle doors." Mercer came to a stop at the end of the corridor, where an imposing door barred their progress. The stone was hewn into concentric circles, with images of hawks and snakes, and a golden plaque in the centre bearing the imprint of a claw. "Doubtless she'll have made off with the key, which would ordinarily leave this impassable. Ordinarily. There's a trick to these, if you know it..."

"Surely you do not mean to open this with a lockpick?" L'laarzen asked, half joking, as he knelt by the door and started fiddling with it.

"I'm a professional, cat. Watch and learn..."

How can I if you so determinedly hide what you are doing? She thought, bitterly. Nonetheless, it took him less than thirty seconds before the door began to rumble and turn.

"After you." He smiled, smugly, stepping aside.

Grrr...L'laarzen walked past him, tail flicking irritably.

The next room was even gloomier than the last few, only a few small cracks of daylight filtering through holes in the roof, and her feline pupils dilated significantly to bring the shadows into focus. It was a large chamber. Stairs leading upwards, and lots of pillars dotting the space. Perfect for an ambush. Wonderful. Her first foot stepped through the aperture. She sniffed the dry air, and caught a very unpleasant scent beginning to move through the newly opened door into the rest of the cave. The scent of death. Fresher than that of the Draugr, but still very old. She followed her nose, and eventually her eyes alighted on a shape slumped against one of the pillars. A grey leather bodysuit. Bloated strangely, with its lower half covered in some dark liquid. It looked very much like a corpse only barely retaining form due to its clothing, that would completely fall apart if it was freed. Months, if not years old. Gallus..? Wait, but-

She took another step forwards. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the barest glint of light on metal in the corner of the cave.

She jerked, throwing herself to the right just as she heard a quiet 'thunk' echo through the cave. Something whizzed past her, barely missing her shoulder, and she dove forwards behind one of the pillars, pressing herself flat against it.

"Mercer!" She hissed. "Sniper!"

Mercer didn't respond. He staggered forwards through the doorway, eyes wide, with an arrow stuck in his right breast.

It seemed that choosing to stand right behind her had backfired somewhat.

"Ah...sorry?" L'laarzen winced.

Mercer slipped, spun, and collapsed on his back.

̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶{o

"Ah, good to see you initiate. Tea?" Despite his pleasant greeting, Savos Aren hardly glanced at Xander as the apprentice opened the door, instead working through assorted notes at his desk.

"Oh. Uh." Suffice to say Xander was caught a little off guard, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. "I'd love some, actually. It's been a long day."

"Excellent. Please, sit down." Aren gestured with a finger, and a chair pulled itself out at his table, while with his other he gestured at a teakettle nearby, which began boiling itself. Xander felt a stab of envy as he sat down. He knew the telekinesis spell, it was one of his favourites. He just couldn't lift anything heavier than a feather with the thing.

"Forgive me if I am brusque during this meeting; one doesn't realise how much free time one has until it's gone. I thought I was a busy man before, now suddenly I'm juggling a giant Magna-Ge artefact and a haunting in Solitude's court, on top of my usual duties."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that last one, I sorted it." Xander told him, distractedly, his main focus on trying to figure out what magic was powering the kettle.

"You...'sorted' it?" Aren glanced back at him, pausing what he was doing.

"Yeah, I know Dulurza. I found her a freelance mage talented at exorcism to hire and gave her a Daedric artefact of Meridia. She should be leaving soon. Oh, that is a fire rune on the kettle, do you just flare your magicka at it every time you want to turn it on?"

"...Ah, yes, that's how it works." Aren looked nonplussed. "I'm sorry, you gave away a Daedric artefact?"

"Well yeah, I wasn't using it." Xander looked at him, then back at the kettle. "That's boiling, do you want to-"

Aren blinked, then sighed and gestured, floating the kettle over. "You are a remarkable student, Mister Meteuse. I suppose next you will inform me that you found the Staff of Magnus just lying around in Mzulft?"

"Hah! No, of course not." They shared a chuckle as Savos Aren poured the tea. Xander blew at his cup to cool it and took a small sip, before saying "I do know where it is though."

Savos choked on his tea. Xander looked at the Archmage in alarm as he coughed violently, spilling a lot of his cup on his desk before recovering. "Eugh. Ahem, sorry, you found it? How?"

"Dwemer." Xander responded, simply. To be fair, 'Dwemer' was often a fairly good answer to 'how did this impossible thing just happen'. How did the Snow Elves go extinct? Dwemer. How come this big robot can conquer the Summerset Isles in two hours? Dwemer. How come the Dwemer all vanished? Dwemer.

Savos Aren seemed to agree. "Very well." He took another tentative sip, then carefully put the drink down before asking "And where is it, if so?"

"Not too far, actually." Xander answered, considering trying to wipe up the tea spill before chickening out. "From the looks of it, the Staff of Magnus is somewhere in Labyrinthian."

Aren stilled. His expression went from fairly relaxed to sharp and cold in a matter of moments, and his eyes narrowed. "Labyrinthian. The ancient city from Dragon times? You are sure?"

Alexander gulped, suddenly very aware he was in a room with (quite probably) the strongest mage in the country. He took another sip of tea. "Fairly sure. A magical signature twinning with the Eye, in the mountain pass between Dawnstar and Whiterun. That's Labyrinthian, right? I mean I could be wrong, I took a sketch-"

"No, you're right." Savos forestalled him with a raised hand. "It's in Labyrinthian. Of course it is. It makes too much sense. All this time..."

Um. What?

Savos stood up from his chair, walking over to one wall. "The inner confines of the Labyrinthian are locked, both by a very big door and by old nord magicks even I don't understand. Fortunately, I hold the key."

Xander brightened. "You do? Nice! So we can go in and-"

"No." Savos cut him off. "We leave it where it is."

"...Pardon?" Xander asked, flabbergasted.

Aren rapped his knuckles against four of the stone bricks making up his wall. There was a rumbling, and some of the stones sort of peeled back from the wall itself, revealing an alcove within. Secret hidey hole! Awesome!

"When I was still an apprentice here, a young mage of fifty years or so, I and a group of my fellows joined together in an expedition to Labyrinthian." Savos explained. "We were so excited, so hungry for what knowledge and power might be found in those depths...Only I survived."

Part of Xander couldn't help but be unimpressed. Oh, big deal, you went umprepared into a dungeon crawl? I've done it three times now and I'm fine! He viciously clamped down on the instinct, however. People are dead. This is serious. "But surely, you're not an apprentice now." Xander protested. "Whatever seemed like such a big danger then might not be threatening anymore."

"Hm, if only. Sadly, I fear that my increased power will grant me no new success against what I found..." Aren fished a small silver key out of his robes, and inserted it into a wrought-iron safe within the hidey-hole. With a click, he opened it. "As much as I would love to have such a powerful staff in the College's possession, I will not endanger myself, yourself, or my colleagues in an endeavour to claim it." He reached into his safe, pulling out an ornate metal horseshoe. Well, it was horseshoe shaped; on closer inspection it more resembled the ring of a door-knocker. It would fit right in with the ancient Nordic architecture Xander had recently become so acquainted with.

"Still here, I see. Good. I had to check." Savos muttered, mostly to himself. "You will remain here, and the Staff will remain where it is as well..."

Back at the table, Xander had stood up too. "Hold on. Archmage, I don't want the staff just because I want a powerful weapon! I don't even-" he stopped, halting the stream of consciousness to check if he really meant what he was saying. No, yes, I mean it. "I don't really want it at all, danger or no danger. Power or no power. As a matter of fact, I wish we didn't even have the Eye!"

Savos frowned, looking back at him. "Really? Why so? And if so, why are you insistent upon retrieving it?"

"Because-" Xander sighed. "Archmage, I assure you I'm not exaggerating here. We have the most powerful magical artefact on this half of the continent just sat in our lecture hall! Doesn't that strike you as dangerous?"

"It is defended." Aren assured him. "Wards around it prevent direct access from anyone but myself and the six masters of the schools."

"Oh, so the only people who can get it are those good enough to break your wards or good enough to deceive, control or coerce master level wizards." Xander crossed his arms. "So all you've done there is limit its access to the people who would actually be able to misuse it if they could access it."

"Misuse how?" Aren demanded. "Do you know of any particular way it is a threat?"

Xander coughed. "Well, no. But you wouldn't leave a scroll of fire storm around some infants just because they probably don't know how to use it, would you? The Eye is clearly incredibly powerful and we have no idea what it is, what it does, or how it works!"

Aren tilted his head. "You're truly afraid. Hypothetical worry isn't enough for that. Is this...something to do with what the Psijics wanted?"

Xander grimaced. Nodded.

"I see..." Savos turned away, looking towards his garden in thought. "Oh, by the Daedra. I knew something was wrong. The most secretive magical group on Mundus doesn't visit for idle matters..." he looked back. "And you think, what? That bringing the Staff here will do something other than make the threat greater?"

"'To see through Magnus' eye without being blinded, you will require his staff.'" Xander quoted, looking to the floor. "I think that we can use it to control the Eye somehow. Understand it better." He looked back up. "But even if not. What's the alternative, leave the Staff there, just putting it off until the end of your lifetime and pass the duty on to someone else? It's irresponsible! Even if you lost-"

He cut himself off, eyes widening, what in Oblivion are you saying do you want him to set you on fire?

But Savos wasn't preparing the incineration spell. He was looking at Xander very, very carefully.

"...Men and their short lifespans." He mused, after a while. "Always in a hurry. But this time, I think-"

He was interrupted when the room suddenly shook around them.

The teacups on the table spilled over completely, the magical lights flickered, and both Xander and Aren struggled to maintain their feet as something rumbled beneath them. Both also felt the hairs on their skin prickle, in response to a powerful magical surge in the air.

Xander looked up at Aren. "Ten septims says it's the Eye."

"I'd have to be a fool to bet against that." Savos shoved the ancient knocker in his robes, ordered "Follow me." and stormed out the door.

̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ Ϫ

Margret had always felt that there was something incredibly embarrassing about picking locks. Of all the skills she'd been taught during her training it was the one she'd enjoyed the least, and the one she'd taken to the slowest. Most spying skills could be glamorous, even in failure. If someone catches you in a lie, you can smile and watch the horror dawn in their eyes as they reappraise who they think you are. If someone catches you after an assassination, they still see you stood over a man's bed with a bleeding dagger. Amazing image. Less of that when you get caught hunched up by a locked door with your tongue stuck out.

But hunched up by a locked door with her tongue stuck out she was. Using a hairpin she'd purloined from a drunk Betrid and and a spike she'd stolen from a Dwemer timekeeping device on one wall, she carefully but hurriedly tried to pick open the lock to her room.

Now ordinarily that would be pointless, given that there was always a guard just outside. But something was clearly happening outside her walls. There had been a period of loud shouting and stomping footsteps, and her pounding on her door had yielded no response from the man usually present.

In other news, it was an opportunity. Margret loved her some opportunities.

With a click and a whispered "YES!" the door came unlocked, and Margret took one last look through the keyhole to check the corridor was clear before slipping out through into it.

Okay, freedom. Now, let's rob this profiteering prick for everything he owns, find out exactly what he's doing, and get back to Hjaalmarch.

For once, she found herself thankful of the massive amount of land the Silver-Bloods owned. Big houses; so bad for getting lost in but so good for not getting caught! Most of the chaos seemed to becoming from the main entrance and reception, so she made sure to go not there as she crept through the Dwarven halls. One voice echoed louder than the others, and it was captain silverpants himself. "HOW!? YOU HAD EIGHT MEN ESCORTING HER! HOW ARE THEY ALL DEAD?"

Oh, that sounds bad. Okay, come on. Why aren't there signs in here? Treasury, head office? Give me a hand here!

She did get a hand. One grabbed hers from behind and spun her around.

Now, Margret had three reasons to be startled at that moment, which hit her in sequence over the course of a single second and basically caused her adrenaline system to just give up.

Reason one: TALOS' LEFT TESTICLE I'VE BEEN FOUND. She gripped the vaguely sharp things she'd used to pick the lock, preparing to use them as makeshift shivs (is there any other type of shiv?) as she turned to break the grip of the person who had caught her-

Reason two: TALOS' LEFT TESTICLE IT'S HJAR.

Hjarnagredda was right there, why in Oblivion was she there, with one hand clenched around Margret's and the other pressed to her lips in a clear gesture to shut up. "Hjar?" Margret hissed. "Why-"

That was when reason three hit. "TALOS' LEFT TESTICLE, WHY ARE YOU NAKED?" Margret could barely stop herself screaming it.

Hjar blinked, and looked down at herself. "Ah." She muttered. "Right. My bad, see I just finished a transformation and I forgot to-"

"You forgot?" Margret was in hysterics, blushing furiously and looking anywhere except the fully naked Breton in excellent physical shape-NO. Stop it! "How do you forget to put clothes on!?"

"I was a wolf for a few hours! Sometimes it takes a while to kick the animal instincts after I'm done!" Hjar was now also blushing, relinquishing Margret to use her arms to cover herself as best she could.

Right, yeah. A werewolf. She's a werewolf. You're chatting to a naked werewolf while crouched in the house of a silver tycoon who wants you dead, in the arse-end of Skyrim. I just want to go back to Cyrodiil where things make sense... "Why are you here?" She finally was able to ask. "What did you do out there? I thought you'd gone for good, then they said you were in prison, I- Everyone's going crazy!"

"Long story." Hjar hissed back. "Some guards took me out the mine to kill me, there were some Forsworn there, there was also another werewolf who just happened to be an assassin. Now everyone's dead and I'm free."

"Oh. Concise."

"Yeah, thanks. So, I was thinking..." Hjar shot her an embarrassed, nervous smile. "This might be coming a little out of left field, but would you like to run away together?"

...Aaaand there was reason four to be startled.

"Excuse me?" Margret gaped.

Hjar's expression immediately changed to that of a kicked puppy. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything weird or bad by it, I just-"

"Slow down." Margret pushed past the nudity to put a hand on Hjar's shoulder, making the woman flinch. "Just...explain? Please?"

"Okay so." Hjar gulped. "I'd really like to get out of this city, and by 'really like' I mean I have a week before I get hunted down by assassins. Also long story. But everything in here's about to blow up, Madanach's planning something, Thonar wants me dead, and I've only managed to get worse at controlling my wolf since I last saw you. So I just..." she let out what sounded like a whine, though that might just be Margret subconsciously looking for werewolf traits. "I just want to get away. It was stupid for me to come here in the first place. All I've done is hurt more people and escalate things further. The only reason I came back was to save you."

"You...me?" Margret's heart fluttered. "But why? I'm a spy! You don't even know me, I don't even know you, and you broke into a city that wants you dead to save me?"

"Well...aye." Hjar smiled, shrugging. "I have no idea who I am or what I want right now, but the one thing I'm certain about is that I like you. So...want to run away with me?"

...A naked murderer werewolf with dubious allegiances and an unstable psyche had just asked Margret to elope with her. And the redhead had never wanted to say yes to anything more in her entire life.

However...

"Hjar, I...I can't." She winced, watching Hjar's face fall. "I want to, I'm so grateful that you've tried so hard for me, but I can't leave yet. I still have a mission."

"You-" Hjar whined. "Is that not completely botched at this point?"

"No, Hjar, you don't understand. This city is crazy." Margret emphasised.

"Yes! I know!" Hjar pointed out.

"No, crazy crazy. I think Thonar is working with the Thalmor! I need to figure out what's going on between the Silver-Bloods and the elves, if the Aldmeri have their fingers in one of Skyrim's richest exports then everyone is in big trouble. I need evidence, either from Thonar or the elves, and I'm still supposed to try and get the deed to the mine. I was going to leave when I thought it was just a Forsworn uprising, but now? Unless law and order comes crashing down completely I have to stay in the city."

Hjar growled and turned away, before taking a deep breath. Then said, "So if I can find the Thalmor's diary I can get you out?"

"Hjar!" Margret was about to protest, but then Hjar's head snapped up, looking to the corridor behind her.

"People are coming." The werewolf hissed.

Margret winced. Damnit, she'd wasted her whole opportunity talking. "Just...get out of here. Don't you dare get yourself killed on my account, you hear me?"

"I won't." Hjar started backing up along the corridor. "Margret, I...if I can't pull this off by the end of the week, I'll have to leave."

"If and when I get out, I'll be in Dragon's Bridge." Margret told her. "Will you be able to find me?"

"Of course I will." Despite everything, Hjar smiled. "I know what you smell like."

"...That was-"

"A little weird, yeah, I noticed the moment it came out of my mouth-"

"Just go!"

Hjar bolted out of the house. Margret bolted back to her room. When guards finally came in to check on her a few minutes later, they found her lying on her bed with a book open, boredly asking what was going on. They didn't notice how much she was shaking.

8˂

L'laarzen didn't waste any time after Mercer fell, just started sprinting towards the location she thought the bow had been fired from. If Karliah poisoned the arrow, he may already be dead. If L'laarzen tries to move him, Karliah will shoot her. If L'laarzen hides, Karliah will likely take the time to ensure Mercer is dead. The best bet is to keep her attention and track her down.

"My quarrel is not with you, thief!" A woman's voice called out, making that second part a lot easier. "Surrender or leave, you will not be harmed!"

L'laarzen quietly scoffed. She kept moving, strafing between pillars as quickly and quietly as she could.

"Mercer Frey is lying to you!" Karliah called, voice full of anger. "He's a traitor to the guild! Stop, and I can explain!"

Stop, and you shall kill L'laarzen. Honestly, do you think her stupid?

The voice came from a different place to the last time, Karliah had moved. L'laarzen quickly calculated her speed and direction, extrapolated where she was likely to go, and ran, pushing herself to the closest pillar to Karliah's location. She finally got a glimpse of the figure wielding the bow-

Just in time for an arrow to bury itself into her shoulder. She hissed and threw herself behind the pillar, frantically twisting her head to either side to see if Karliah attempted a flanking manoeuvre. High on adrenaline and breathing almost as quickly as she was thinking, L'laarzen brought one hand up and yanked the arrow out of her shoulder, eliciting another hiss from her. Normally that would be a terrible idea, but if the arrow was poisoned she couldn't risk leaving it in a second longer than necessary. Her other arm came up to the wound and fired a simple healing spell at it, not able to repair the puncture but at least clotting the wound and stopping the bleeding.

"I'm warning you." Karliah spoke up. The woman had backed herself into a corner, but in doing so had granted herself a perfect view of the pillar L'laarzen hid behind. "I've got no problem seriously hurting or killing you in order to bring him down. Come out with your hands in the air."

If Khajiit moves, she takes another arrow. "Do you expect Khajiit to sell out her allies at the first sign of threat?" L'laarzen finally spoke up, buying herself time.

"Pretty much." Karliah responded. "There's no honour amongst theives anymore."

Golden eyes narrowed, and sharp teeth grinned. "Perhaps. But L'laarzen is not a thief. She is a hairdresser."

Gripping the arrow covered in her blood, she threw it left, then ran right.

Karliah's next shot split the shaft of L'laarzen's arrow in two, but she didn't have time to knock another before L'laarzen collided into her.

A bash from the bow was blocked with L'laarzen's forearms, before she launched a strike at Karliah's face. The thief ducked, and L'laarzen pivoted, swinging her claws horizontally to try and cut into Karliah's chest, but the Dunmer jumped, fully vaulting over L'laarzen's back and rolling along the floor behind her. L'laarzen just kicked backwards, and caught her in the face with a boot.

She crashed into a pillar, then ducked past L'laarzen's claws slashing at head height, tearing gashes into the stone. The thief sheathed her bow in a fluid movement and pulled a dagger from her hip, but didn't get the chance to use it; L'laarzen was a whirlwind, knocking the blade away with a palm strike to the wrist and digging her claws into Karliah's shoulder.

The Dunmer woman cried out, and L'laarzen grinned. Revenge for Khajiit's shoulder, traitor.

Karliah counter-grappled well enough, and L'laarzen disengaged, raking claws along a gauntleted forearm for the trouble. She blocked the dagger again, twisted Karliah's wrists in a lock to make her drop it, punched her full in the face to stun her and then viciously stomped down on her inner leg, bucking it.

L'laarzen raised one claw, preparing for a lethal downstroke, as Karliah fell back to one knee-

And vanished.

L'laarzen gaped as the woman stood before her simply disappeared into thin air, not so much as a ripple belying her presence.

What? Impossible! She drank no potion, cast no spell! And even with illusion magicks, there is always a small outline, my eyes are more than sharp enough to catch it. I've killed the invisible before!

But she could not find this woman, and blind swings into the air she had once occupied met no resistance. A quick glance showed her that the dagger was gone from the ground too. Curses. Does she make sound? If I cannot detect her firing I have no chance to-Mercer!

She took off back to her employer.

Mercer was where she had left him, with still just the one arrow sticking out of him. His eyes were darting about rapidly, but his body was locked in position.

"If you know how she does this, now would be a wonderful time to tell Khajiit." L'laarzen grit out, crouching atop him protectively and scanning the room. Where, where...She felt her eyes once more drawn to the body slumped against the pillar. It had to be Gallus, the uniform he wore was identical to Karliah's. Something was bothering her about the corpse, but she couldn't place it.

Is now really the time? We are being hunted.

"I can loose one arrow before you see me." Called Karliah, voice echoing in an odd way. "Leave, or surrender, or I will bury it in your skull. You have ten seconds."

L'laarzen responded with the worst curse in Dunmeri she knew, and glanced back at the body. Fine. What's wrong, intuition? Dead, where he's supposed to be dead, disembowelled, yes, so why-

Disembowelled.

L'laarzen looked down at Mercer, and frowned. "Wait. You said Karliah shot-"

That was as far as she got. Mercer's arm darted out and grabbed her about the throat. She gasped at his strength as he groggily stood to his feet, dragging her up with him and holding her aloft. "Y'know..." he worked his jaw. "You...are far too clever for your own good, hairdresser." He released her, and then kicked her in the stomach.

The force behind it was not 'staggering'. It was sufficient to throw her metres away from him, cracking her back against a pillar and making her gasp in pain and surprise. He...he had broken ribs. He had kicked her and it had broken ribs. What?

There came a Dunmeri curse almost as bad as L'laarzen's own from behind her, and an arrow went flying past her towards Mercer, but he casually leaned past it. "Well would you look at that, Karliah. Your plans have failed again."

"How?" The woman shouted. She reappeared, crouching beside L'laarzen with another arrow knocked. "That poison should have left you incapacitated for days!"

"How unfortunate for you, my dear." Mercer grinned, for the first time drawing his sword from its sheath. "Don't worry too much about it. There's a lot of misfortune about, or so I hear."

"You killed Gallus." L'laarzen gasped out, trying to stumble to her feet. Breathing was hard, and she was bleeding from places she'd much rather not be. "You killed him and took his place."

"Yes, thanks, let's not state the obvious now." He rolled his eyes. "Didn't Karliah just tell you? There's no honour amongst thieves."

"We can take him." L'laarzen hissed to Karliah, flexing her claws. "If you can-"

"No. We can't." Karliah's eyes (purple, how unique) were sharp.

"Khajiit can still fight."

"Then Khajiit had better be able to run." The thief looked up at Mercer, who was slowly approaching them. "I'll never stop trying, Mercer. I will destroy you."

"Oh, I've already resigned myself to having to kill you." He agreed, sighing at the inconvenience. "Could you do me a favour and make that happen today?"

Karliah tilted her head, as if thinking about it. "...No."

She aimed her bow up at the ceiling, and fired.

L'laarzen couldn't make out exactly what it struck, but the result was an explosion. The entire room rumbled, and the roof began to collapse. L'laarzen and Karliah both stumbled backwards, and Mercer (glaring at them both) did the same, retreating back through the corridor as the ceiling and walls began to fall in, leaving gaping holes in the infrastucture. The outside world became visible.

"Run!" Karliah shouted, over the crashing and the sound of the wind that was now pouring in. "We can lose him in the storm!"

L'laarzen didn't need telling twice.

̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶{o

The College's walls shook once more, and Xander stumbled down into the hall of the Elements not two steps behind Savos Aren.

"Archmage! Thank the Divines you're here!" Mirabelle Ervine was the first thing he noticed upon leaving the spiral staircase. The second was the GIANT TRANSLUCENT BLUE BARRIER blocking their way to the Eye, which itself was spinning at a massively accelerated rate and flickering with electricity.

"Report!" Savos snapped, looking through the barrier, "What in the name of Shalidor is happening in there?"

"We don't know!" Mirabelle shouted. Shouting was necessary, for a loud drone was emanating from within the room along with the crackle of electricity. "Ancano was in there casting spells at it while all the masters were out of the room! Apprentices came to notify me and now this!"

"Who the heck is Ancano?" Xander shouted, but was cut off by another explosion of sound from within the room. A dozen or so bolts of energy blasted out from the eye, flying out in all directions. Some remained in the room, but many flew out the windows of the hall, smashing through the glass in their way and vanishing into the snowstorm outside. One even flew right past them, ignoring the barrier entirely and nearly clipping Xander's head as it rocketed through the doors and out into the courtyard.

Savos narrowed his eyes. "Alright, that's it. I want this barrier down now. We need to get in there."

"Try lightning! Xander advised. "Tolfdir used it against a similar shield in the cave, it worked!"

The two mages glanced at each other, then nodded, and then raised their arms at the shield, and twin blasts of lightning tore from their fingers against it's surface.

Ohoho, damn. That's adept, if not expert level magic. Okay, well, at least I have these two here to do all the heavy lifting. It was at this point that Xander noticed with rising concern that he was almost completely unarmed. Beside the dagger at his hip, he had nothing; no sword, no staves, and his scroll bracer was empty. He hadn't felt this naked since...well, that one time the werewolf lady had caught him naked. Grimacing, he tried to conjure up a shock spell in his hands. Wait, no, you idiot! You want them to see you using that? They'll realise! He let the light fade.

"Not feel like helping, apprentice?" Savos snapped at him, maintaining his own assault.

"His magicka reserves will be far smaller than ours, Aren, let him conserve them!" Mirabelle defended him, shooting him a reassuring look. The barrier faded, weakening, before eventually the lightning hit nothing but air. "He may need them for this."

"Sensible. Come, with me." Savos stalked through the aperture, not dropping the spells from his arms, and Xander and Mirabelle followed him.

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"What in Julianos' name is going on in there?" Cassia shouted from the bridge to the college of Winterhold, hearing the rumblings coming from the ancient castle. She was about start walking right back to it when Dulurza grabbed her by the hood of her mage robes. "None of our damn business is what. Come on, we're leaving."

"What?" Cassia whirled around. She seemed remarkably unintimidated by the fact that Dulurza had almost two feet on her. "You might not know much magic missus Orc, but that there is not normal!"

"Then we let the magic people deal with the magic and we get ourselves far out of the way." Dulurza clamped a hand firmly on Cassia's shoulder and started moving her along the bridge. "You were the one who said we had to leave immediately, so let's leave immediately, come on."

Seriously, Dulurza had expected the girl to want to wait until the snow cleared, if she even agreed. But the moment the phrase "job for the Jarl of Solitude" had been uttered, Cassia had stood up, demanded they get going as fast as possible, and started packing her things.

"Okay, I did say that," Cassia began, "but I wasn't expecting there to be-"

She was silenced by a strange, broken, chittering sound. Dulurza looked up and gaped as a multitude of small blue lights went flying out from the College's main hall, some spinning off into the snow while others beelined for the city of Winterhold. One of them crashed down onto the walkway just beside the two of them, making more chittering noises. It moved erratically, ramming itself into the floor and walls before slipping over towards them.

Dulurza put a hand on her axe, but wasn't as fast as Cassia, who shrieked loudly and brought her hands together, flinging a great ball of fire at the thing. The attack collided with it and sent it careening backwards, trailing flecks of light.

"What is that thing?" Dulurza shouted.

"I don't know!" Cassia replied, suddenly seeming very intent on moving behind the six feet of Orsimer armour. "I've never seen anything like it before!"

"Okay, how do we respond to new things?"

"Kill it! Kill it with fire!"

"Well I can tell you're an Imperial!" The anomaly started to fly back at them, and Dulurza stalked towards it. Cassia threw another fireball, but it went wide, and Dulurza reached out to try and grab it about its glowing blue tail.

That was a mistake. It was like trying to grab a molten rod of metal, she cried out as the energy started melting through her gauntlet and burning her palm. She yanked her hand back, then used the other to unsheathe her axe and swing it down at the anomaly with a roar. The metal bit deep into it's form, and Dulurza carried through with her swing until she was pinning it against the floor.

"Move!" Dulurza pulled her legs back at Cassia's command, just in time for an extended wave of flame to crash into the anomaly. It's chittering increased in pitch into a shriek, but after a few seconds it disintegrated, leaving a myriad of crystal shards spread across the stone.

Dulurza yanked her axe back the moment it was dead, giving the overheated steel a suspicious look. Don't want to try that again... "As I was saying." She grit out. "Now would be a great time to go."

"Are you insane?" Cassia shot back. She pointed to the College, "That's bad! People in there are in danger, my brother is in danger-"

"Your brother," Dulurza cut her off, "is more than competent enough to sort whatever's going on in there! He specifically asked me to get you out, so that's what I'm doing!"

Cassia gaped at her. "Xander wants to keep me-"

"Yes! So if you don't start walking right now then I swear to Malacath I will pick you up and carry you to Solitude!" Twig of a girl can't weigh much more than this damn Beacon thing anyway...

Cassia grimaced. Then looked past Dulurza, out at the city of Winterhold. Dulurza followed her gaze, and saw a number of the lights flying around the city, smashing through walls, harassing guards. As they watched, one building collapsed entirely as a flash of blue light tore two walls down.

Cassia looked back up at her. "Fine." She agreed. "But we're making sure Winterhold is safe first! These hicks aren't dying on my watch!"

"Grr...Fine! Stay behind me!"

The two of them took off running across the bridge, rushing to the defence of the city.

̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶{o

"You meddling Thalmor rat!" Savos roared over the chaos. "Cease this madness at once!"

"Hah! Ahahaha!" The elf (whoever in Oblivion he was) looked like was having the time of his life. A cord of electricity connected him to the Eye, and his entire body was alive with glowing energy. "Pathetic fools! The power to unmake the world at my fingertips, and you-"

He was interrupted by a fireball colliding against his face. Xander winced as the elf staggered backwards, but amazingly he seemed completely unharmed. There's not a flesh spell known to Man that can tank an attack like that without any burn damage! What is he doing?

"Do you mind?" the Mer spat. "I wasn't finished!"

"I've heard enough." Savos Aren replied, in an incredibly awesome way. He charged up a pair of lightning bolts and fired them, but another blue shield blossomed in front of the Altmer, negating the attack entirely.

Mirabelle and Savos stepped up together. Xander stepped back.

"Very well! I have heard enough from you as well!" The elf pointed his arm out, and flexed his fingers. Xander's senses had a moment to scream WAY TOO MUCH MAGIC before an enormous wave of power blasted out to hit the two mages. They both brought up wards, but it was blatantly insufficient. The shields shattered like glass under the blue wave, and both Savos and Mirabelle cried out in pain. The difference being that while Savos staggered, then remained standing, Mirabelle was blasted completely off her feet. Her body convulsed, and she collapsed in front of Xander in a heap, twitching in pain and groaning.

Oh, no. Oh, no no no, not good, not good.

Savos Aren looked back with a harrowed expression. "Just like Atmah and Hafnar..." he exclaimed, barely loud enough for Xander to hear. "I was right. They are linked..."

Before Xander could ask what on Mundus he was talking about, the Thalmor man launched another blast of energy at the Archmage. Savos caught it; not with a ward, some other spell Xander had never seen before. Whatever it was, it wasn't enough to stop him being forced backwards step by step by the Eye's power.

"Alexander!" He shouted, turning back to the apprentice who had (until then) been just standing slack-jawed watching events unfold. "Get Mirabelle out of here! I will attempt to contain him!"

"R-Right!" As the battle raged, Xander leaned down and looped one of Mirabelle's arms around his back, trying to lift her back towards the exit and freedom. She was still clearly in the throes of some kind of electrical shock, breathing in gasps with wide, dilated eyes, but was able to put shaky legs underneath herself. It would be too generous to call it walking, but at least Xander didn't have to drag her.

"Come on, come on, almost there." He panted in exertion, staggering towards the doorway to the courtyard-

Only to crash into an invisible wall, and fall flat on his back. Mirabelle crumpled next to him with a cry, and he looked up to see flickers of blue across the doorway.

Oh no. Oh no no no.

"The shield's back up!" He shouted, at nobody in particular. "We're trapped in!"

"I'M A LITTLE BUSY AT THE MOMENT!" Savos called back, still grappling with unknowable eldritch powers.

"It's-s-s-still weakened from our-r entrance." Mirabelle spoke, haltingly, still recovering. "I-I-I can't form sp-spells. It's-s your turn."

Oh no. "But-"

Despite everything, Mirabelle was able to smile at him. "Don't w-worry. I believe in you."

Xander gulped. Turned to the ward.

He could feel it radiating heat and magicka our at him, could see it being part of a sphere surrounding the room. He understood what it was, knew how it worked, knew how to work his spell to resonate with it and bring it down with maximum efficiency.

There was just one problem.

He faced the door, struggling to focus rather than turn and face the madness occurring behind him, building up energy in his palms the way he'd practiced a thousand times. He ran through the matrices in his head once, twice, then three times; he knew how to do this. He could do this. He inhaled, pointed his arms out, and fired.

Lightning blasted from his fingers. A weak trickle at first, but then more forcefully, purple streams of electricity clashing against the blue swirls. Swirls that began to shudder, eddy, dip...

Xander shuddered. His body burned. His magicka reserves smarted, even after a novice spell for a couple of seconds, no no no no come on come on you useless creature-

The streams of electricity began to spurt, and die.

The ward weakened...

Shuddered...

Then began to stabilise.

"More!" Mirabelle shouted. "N-No more conserving power, Xander, just-"

She didn't understand. She still hadn't realised.

"SAVOS!" Xander shouted, desperately, eyes watering. "HELP!"

"ARE YOU MAD?" The Archmage shouted back. The magical storm intensified, his left leg buckled and started to disintegrate. "BRING IT DOWN!"

"I CAN'T!" Xander screamed, tears running down his cheeks.

Savos turned to meet Xander's eyes, the flesh on his face flaking away. For a moment, the Archmage was just confused, and then...

Savos' eyes widened in understanding. "Of course." He muttered, a smile tugging at his mouth. "It's...it's that simple." Then he focused again.

As Xander watched, he yanked one hand away from his defences, corralling all the energy from the Thalmor's storm into his left arm. While that arm began to burn, crack and break, his other reached into his robes, and withdrew the Nordic knocker from where it had been stored. "ALEXANDER!" He shouted. "LABYRINTHIAN! I LEAVE THIS FIGHT TO YOU!" He released the knocker, and it flew through the air, catching Xander in the chest.

Then Savos Aren returned his attention to the Eye. He let out a roar of defiance-

And everything went white.

The next chapter will be uploaded tomorrow.