The mountains snowcaps echoed with the soft howls of the wolves, their cries for hunger resonating between the cold stones. Snow twirled around their muzzles as their paws sank into the snow below them, fur matted with wet snow. The barks and huffs of the creatures was followed by the snapping of jaws, a rabbits squeal was cut short as red flecked across the pure white snow. Ylva's eyes watched the snow as she brought her lute to herself, fingers running over the strings lightly as she listened to the wolves successful hunt not to far from them. She would have been able to deal with a few wolves without to much issue, though hunger starved wolves seemed to posses a ungodly power when pushed that far to the brink of survival. Her daggers moved lightly against her hip as she shifted her position, her lute coming up more to her chest.
The sounds of the hunt were slowly tuned out as a haunting melody floated from the alcove. Fingers plucked the strings lightly as the bard looked down at the fire, the song coming from the place she grew up. White eyes reflected the dancing orange lights as she played, the tune carried an eerie air to it, as if it was a death march for the animal that had died out in the world. Oren would not wake, she knew this, she had learned a while ago that though he complained about her song at times, he enjoyed it and never minded if she played while he slept. Her movements slowed slightly as she closed her eyes, retreating to her thoughts momentarily as she played a simply slower tune.
"The far hills and mountains, majestic and wild.."
The winds outside the alcove picked up, shoving larger bits of snow and debris into the small shelter they had made. Ylva shifted closer to the fire, her fur boots, slowly absorbing the heat from the flames.
"Have claimed more a man than a war or a blade"
Oren shifted slightly with the change in the winds, his large two handed sword, clunking against the rest of his armor as he moved. Why he didn't remove it from his person before sleeping, Ylva would never understand, and to bring it up would be met with some sarcasm to be sure.
"Venture alone or together, though the mountain cares not how many you bring"
She felt a slight shiver run down her spine, her tune hiccupping in turn at her response. She looked down at her lute, and ran her fingers down the strings against lightly.
"For one man or ten, neither can best the beast"
The female paused and lowered her lute into her lap quietly, looking over the remaining colors again. It had been a while since she sat down and tended to her instrument, she was amazed that it had even been holding up this far at this point.
"I'll get you fixed up when we get back down to Markarth. A fresh set of paint and some new strings might do you good." Giving a smile to the inanimate object she moved it back over to her pack and strapped it back into place. The winds had died down, leaving the soft whistling of the snow just glancing over the ground. Brushing her pant legs off, she slowly stood, looking at her sleeping hire to make sure he was still doing alright. A sharp sound came from behind her though, she turned on her heels, the ground under them grinding slightly from the dirt. It sounded like the softest creaking of old boards, her brow scrunched up in confusion as she took a small step towards where the sound had come from. The creaking turned into a grinding, stone on stone as the alcoves ground gave way to the hollowed ground underneath them.
A surprised scream left the girl as she felt herself falling, grit and dirt falling into her robes. Oren having been caught by surprised, having been woken by the event, seem completely flabbergasted. No sounds left him as his armor scraped the rocky walls, grinding of stone against metal followed them down. The pair hit the ground with a solid thud, dirt, debris, snow, and embers from the fire lay in a heap now in the hollow area.
Oren was the first to move, the drop felt so far, though he could look up and still see where they had come from. The hole down now dripped with water from the snow that had been melting near the fire. Armor dented and pain shooting through his body, Oren stood up, never one to let himself be hindered. The dark area was lit by only what the hole above them allowed. Ylva groaned softly as she sat up, pain raged in her side as she moved, hissing between closed teeth.
"Sounds like you're still alive" Oren said from his place as he observed the route they came in, trying to see if the hole provided any means of being able to climb back up. It seemed useless though, there were spaces to grab and the height wouldn't make it easy to scale even if he could make a reasonable stack of rocks. He folded his arms and grumbled quietly as he tried to look around. "Make yourself useful and cast me some light here"
Ylva gave a quick nod, though it wouldn't quite have mattered due to the current lighting. She raised a gloved hand, the small white light appearing and slowly flourishing like a flower in her hand. The small orb bounced from her hand and up into the air a ways, flooding the space with the blueish white light that swayed slightly.
A table surrounded with broken chairs sat to the side of the room, plates scatted across the table, some sat in small shards. The smell of rot was evident, though it was hard to make a distinction between the food that sat shriveled on the shelves, or the bodies that were no doubt in the dark spaces of the room. The woman stood up, reaching to her pack to fetch the few healing potions she had, though she should have tossed one to Oren first, she doubted that she would be able to force herself very far with the way her ribs were feeling. It wouldn't heal them fully, but it would make it more bearable. It tasted bitter and a little heavy on the stem of the plants rather than the flower itself, she would have to make sure to trim the plants better next time before brewing them. Taste aside, she was able to fully stand now, the pain more in the back of her mind now. Walking over some of the rubble she held out another potion to Oren, his larger hand took it, dwarfing the small glass container. He was quick to uncork it and drink it down, with no comment on the taste. He was not an alchemist himself, so he was not attuned to what potions should and shouldn't taste like, as long as they got the job done that was what he cared about.
"How many more of those do you got?" He asked handing her back the now empty container, she took it and stashed it away into her pack.
"two and a few raw herbs if it comes down to it" She sighed, she would have loved to of made more potions before the journey, but time had been limited with when Oren had wanted to move, and so here she was with limited supplies. She could only hope that her magicka might be able to hold out through this. The light in the air bounced lightly again as she turned to look around the room again.
"let's get moving, we can't go back up, so we are going to have to hope this place has a way out" Oren said stepping into the darkness as the light followed him, getting rid of the shadows quickly. The previous observation had been right, corpses laid against walls, some tucked up to themselves and others looking as if they had simply sat down to relax and died peacefully. They all shared the same appearance though, the sunken skin, lack of eyes or any sort of organic pieces from the looks of it, and what looked like the imprint of small trees along their bodies. Oren walked past them, towards a splintering wooden door. His hand pushed against the wooden door, though it only creaked slightly. The Nord didn't plan on letting the door get the best of him, he backed up a bit and lowered his shoulder, charging the door. It was a low echoing wham as he made contact, the wood split where it had been splintering away, the sound of bones breaking behind it gave away what may have been holding it shut. Ylva placed a hand over her mouth and shook her head as she followed over to where he was, he got the door open and all, but if he was reckless she wouldn't end up having enough healing to get him out alive. The larger brushed the edge of the shoulder off and used his boot to push to the door the rest of the way open and slip inside, the other slipped in through behind him.