A/N: Hello again! It's been a while. Life has been crazy, and I've actually had most of this chapter written for the past year. I do apologize for the wait. I'm still working on this fic. It is not abandoned; it will be finished. The recent splurge of one-shots in other fandoms helped inspire my writing, so here's to the next chapter being out in less than a year!
"Son of a-"
"Where did you pick up such a mouth? Besides, there was a clear, if small, opening you could have walked through."
Elana brushed sparks off her armor. "I'm a dragon. I think fire helps to relieve the stress. Besides. I was referring to that." She gestured towards the obvious signs of a small Falmer nest. "Maybe we could nap in-between the door and the fire jets before tangling with more blind elves?"
"Do you think it wise?"
"Just a quick nap for the two of us. Quick re-fuel for two weary warriors, one of whom at least is sick and tired of these elves."
"We are more likely to be groggy. Better to push forward and rest when there is less danger."
Elana shrugged. "I yield." The two entered the Falmer nest, swords at the ready, and quickly dispatched the three elves they found inside. She gestured towards the platform with a bar sticking out. "Think that's the entrance we're looking for?"
Vilkas smirked. "One way to find out." He bounded up to the level and opened the gate ahead of them, only to be rewarded with the hiss of a centurion wakening.
"Strike now!"
The centurion slowly pulled itself free from its restraints but the two Companions were there, hacking at its joints.
"Avoid the steam!"
"Learn that the hard way, did you?"
A well-placed Shout managed to knock the contraption over, and Vilkas sliced the bond that connected the core to the machine. Its energy fizzled away, and he dug the glowing red sphere out with excitement.
"This almost makes it worth it."
"Whatever you say."
A triumphant cry marked the discovery of the actual trigger, and when the staircase opened, leading down, Elana good-naturedly punched Vilkas in the shoulder. "Found it."
"Should we try the lift first? Less walking?"
"Fine."
The lift brought them up to an enclosed tower, happily locked from the inside.
"While it is cold up here, it is rather secure. If we jam the lift gauge we should be able to get some peaceful sleep, both of us together, and then venture back down into Blackreach to find the kel."
Vilkas replied by wedging his pack in the gears surrounding the level. "There. No one should be coming up after us, and anyone trying to get in will make enough racket we'll wake easily. Let's get our sleeping rolls set out."
"Do you think we should share again?"
"It would conserve heat-"
"But would we fit?"
"And would we be comfortable?"
Elana paused and glanced about outside the tower. "I don't see any shelter out there, so unless you'd like to sleep back down there, with dwarven machines able to return to life, we'll make the best of it. Besides, if we wake up freezing, we can just pull the lift and head back down. It's warmer underground where there's no wind, anyway."
"You're the boss."
Vilkas was lightly punched for his comment, but he set about unrolling the sleeping pack all the same.
The two bundled up together in the pack, and ungainly as the pack was not meant to hold two warriors. Once the snarky comments about size died down, Elana quickly dropped off to sleep, warmed by her own internal heater and the fading burn of embarrassment. Vilkas took a little longer, as he kept listening for danger, but he finally drifted off, pulling Elana a little closer as he did so.
Vilkas woke first, ears straining to hear any sounds of danger. As nothing seemed to be attacking, he relaxed and rubbed as his cheeks. He was sure they were red with the cold, for they stung a bit, but everything below his neck was toasty warm. He slowly started untangling himself from Elana and the sleeping pack, trying not to rouse her.
He busied himself with packing up what he could, once his limbs were his own. She was stretching as she woke, and Vilkas waited until she was ready to pry his packs out of the lift gears.
He mused to himself, as they re-descended, that the two liked to start their mornings quietly.
They kept going down, down the staircase discovered the day before. They instantly were thankful for the rest they had taken, for now, after pressing open the doors at the base of the stairs and found themselves in Blackreach.
"Oh," Elana murmured before they fully stepped out onto the wide ledge before them.
Sure, there were common paved stones beneath their feet and spreading before them, and some Dwarven contraptions just at the edge of an obvious drop-off.
But Blackreach looked eerily beautiful. A blue light, tinged with green, covered the entire vista. Stalactites dipped down from the ceiling, oh, no, they're the roots of giant glowing mushrooms, the only light source Elana could see. The rock carvings amazed her as well. A few buildings in the distance beckoned and her few cautious steps forward only revealed a sprawling testament to the skills of the long gone dwarves who had carved the cavern from the stone.
She took two more steps forward, and then both her and Vilkas snapped to face the building closest to the ledge. A dwarven sphere had clattered to life and was rolling towards the stairs.
Grinning, the two unsheathed their swords and raced to meet the machine.
"A warm up fight? Charming."
Elana laughed, loud and clear as her sword met the sphere's arm and knocked it back. Vilkas slashed at the joints, stepping back as Elana drew breath to Shout the machine back with all her force. They charged after it, down the steps onto the cobblestone path to chip away the dwarven machine until it finally stopped moving.
A falmer arrow thudded into the ground as Elana took a step to the right to loot the sphere.
It never ends, she thought with a smile as both Companions turned on the fallen elves.