If anyone is actually still reading this story then sorry that it has taken me so fucking long to get this chapter done, it is a fairly ridiculous amount of time. If you like the story, the characters or anything then reviews would be appreciated. Alternatively if you think the story is fucking terrible and you hate everything about it then go ahead and review it. Next chapter will be up a lot sooner than this one (hopefully). Also sorry if this chapters a bit dull but not much really happens in Darkfall cave in the game, other than the conversation with Gelebor. Got rid of the first part of chapter 1, so instead of having dialogue at the beginning it just gets straight into the story properly.

Word count.

Original: 2,190

Re-write: 2,423

Chapter XVIII

Darkfall

Mortis

Darkfall is easy enough to find, the walk was long, we didn't say much to each other but at least now the long silences are comfortable and not broken by questions about the past. Serana for whatever reason hasn't really questioned what Orthjolf said, I don't really know if I should be thankful of that. We made a brief stop at Volunruud, been a long time since I've set foot in the ruins but we needed somewhere to store the scrolls, somewhere no one would think to check. Darkfall unfortunately lives up to the name, being pitch black and containing a number of pitfalls. I grip the crossbow tightly, keeping it low while I hold a torch up high.

I lift my boot and feel a rock scrape against the sole of it, scratching against the hard stone ground. It's loud and echoes around the cave, I quickly pull my foot back and raise the crossbow, holding it ready to shoot with one hand. I hold the torch higher, trying to illuminate more of the area around us. Apparently Serana doesn't need the torch to be able to see in the dark, but she's not very good with a bow and expects the same amount of skill with a crossbow. We stand in silence as we wait to see if there's any movement. There's nothing, I let the crossbow drop slightly as I glance back at Serana. She nods slightly and I start to move forward again.

We come to a turn in the cave, a dead end and a narrow tunnel. Serana goes ahead of me, slowly approaching the corner. She looks round and then turns back to me, she holds her knife at her side. "Nothing." She calls back to me in a very hushed whisper.

I slowly walk over, gripping the crossbow tightly. I look round the corner as well but the torch light doesn't reach far enough and I can't see anything but the dark. "At all?" I grumble, turning to look at her, she nods sharply. I go in front of her, walking down the tunnel with the torch held high. I hold the crossbow up, aiming with it. If something comes round then I should be able to shoot it.

Serana's hand lands on my shoulder, gripping it softly. "Shh." She whispers, bringing me to a stop. I look at her over my shoulder. She points up with her free hand, she mouths something to me. Maybe hear that? "Like a scuttling sound." She whispers.

I take a step to the side, looking up at the ceiling. Holding my crossbow ready, I can hear it now. A scuttling sound, fast and getting louder very quickly. Something scuttles passed behind us, I turn around quickly and bring the crossbow up. There's a hiss from somewhere to the right. Serana turns to the direction it came from, I do to. I let the torch drop lower so I can see the hole in the stone better. That's when I see it. "Spiders." I grumble as the leg of a frostbite spider arches over the edge of the hole, another following very closely. The monster pulls itself up out of the hole. Serana stumbles back slightly. I look up to the end on the tunnel, another crawls in to the tunnel on the ceiling, another crawling through a crack in the wall. It scuttles down onto the ground, some more quickly following it. "Move!" I shout to Serana, she starts to run to the end of the tunnel.

We run quickly, the spiders following us closely. She pulls her knife out and I grip the crossbow tighter. I turn a tight corner, seeing more spiders crawling towards us. I raise the crossbow and steady it, readying the shot. Serana grabs my shoulder and I turn to look at her, seeing more spiders coming behind us. I drop the crossbow and turn on the spot slightly, they're coming from three directions, we're boxed in. She acts a lot quicker than I can and lights a circle of fire around us, the spiders shrinking back from the flames. "We need a way through!" She shouts at me. I nod to myself as I look around at the creatures.

I look around quickly, there's a crack in the stone wall, a slight breeze blowing through. Tight fit but big enough to pass through. "This way!" I shout, leading the way through as Serana lights more fire behind us. I push my back flat against the rough stone and go through as quickly as I can, crossbow held out in front of me as high as I can get it. I come out the other side, onto a ledge I rush along looking for another route. There's a rope bridge over a very fast flowing river, lit up by the sun moonlight shining through the holes in the caverns ceiling. Serana stumbles out behind me, lighting fire in the passage to stop the spiders from following. There's a hiss and one of them throws itself at me, I raise the crossbow as quickly as I can and manage to shoot the bolt into it. It sinks in deep at the very close range and the spider is thrown back with some of the force. I kick it hard while it's on the floor and Serana sets it on fire.

I move onto the bridge quickly, trying to load the crossbow as I do. The bridge shakes frantically as we both move across it, the spiders follow us closely. I look up and there's more in front of us, I drop the crossbow, abandoning the idea of even loading it. Serana pushes into my back and I can hear the crackle of lightning as she tries to hold them back. I draw my sword I hold it out in front of me. The spiders move in closer, their hisses fill the cave, echoing around us. It's deafening as one of them lunges at me, I use my sword and bat its fang like pincers away the edge of my sword sliding through the flesh as it runs against it.

Another lunges at me and I'm not quick enough this time, luckily it falls straight into my sword. I fall onto the rope support with the spider impaled on my sword, holding its weight up as I try and regain my footing. I push myself up, the bridge wobbling as I push against the support. The spider slides off my sword the blade dropping against the rope. I shouldn't have had the bastard sharpened so fucking well as the blade makes quick work of the old rope and the support snaps, the bridge deeps down dangerously. I quickly step back to the other side, where the support is still relatively intact. I pull Serana to me harshly, she stumbles into me and I swing the sword into one of the spiders, severing two of its legs.

They move in quickly I bat one of them away, grabbing it with my left hand as my sword sinks into it. Another moves in quickly, to my left. Serana steps around me and stabs it with her knife, it shrieks and sinks back in the mass of spiders, taking her knife with it. I manage to get rid of the one I'm wrestling with, Serana cries out as one of them manages to lock its pincers on her arm. She falls down in front of me and I wrap my arm around her pulling her close to me. The spiders move in around us, they don't come in quick now, must know we're more or less finished. Serana moves back against me, cradling her arm, I keep mine around her torso, gripping her shoulder tightly. "Shit." I grumble as they circle us closely. I look down, Serana pants slightly, whimpering as she cradles the injured arm. "I'm sorry." I whisper to her. I cut down on the rope that's holding up the unsupported side of the bridge. The rest snaps under the weight and we drop into the river below us.

The current drags us down the river, and what feels like the over the edge of a waterfall. I drop my sword along the way somewhere but I manage to keep my hold on Serana, I try and get my head above water but the current pulls me back under. The water drags us for a while longer until we eventually come to a sudden stop. We end up laying on the floor for a short while, my arm still around Serana, I can see my sword also on the floor not too far from us. I get to my feet slowly and help Serana up, I take a quick look at her arm, blood dripping from it.

"You alright?" I mumble to her, holding her arm up so I can look at it better. She nods her head slightly and I move to pick up my sword.

She walks passed me slightly. "That was your plan?" She asks quickly. "That was the best plan you had?" She adds, she sounds unbelieving of it.

"We're alive." I mutter, leading the way through the caves. I pull my dagger from my belt and pass it to her as I carry on leading us through. I dig through my pack and pull out what remains of our map I drop it onto the floor and pull out my hunting knife, tucking it into my belt.

"Do you think the map can be salvaged?" She sighs, I turn around as bends over to pick it up, part of it breaking off with the amount of water the paper soaked up. She looks up at me with a small frown and I shake my head, she sighs heavily and drops the remains of it.

I turn back and look around slightly, squinting to try and see in the thick darkness. "Don't think a map would do us much good down here." I grumble as I look back to her, she nods her head slightly and carries on walking. "Looks like the only route." I mumble to her as we come into a large cavern, a dull light shining through from one side. "Keep low and quiet, we don't know what we're walking into." I whisper, she nods and wordlessly crouches lowly, moving towards the darker part of the cavern.

We walk towards the light and move through a small passageway, leading into a smaller cavern. There's a small dome like structure made of what looks like marble, a golden star ornament on top. I move towards one of the rock outcrops to get a better look as a man walks towards the structure. An elf. I crouch down slightly as he lights a small fire, illuminating the cavern in a dim but warm light.

"Please, come on out." He calls out to the darkness. "I do not mean you any harm." His voice is deep and has a sophisticated tone to it. "The spiders cannot reach this place."

I sneak closer and move out from the shadows, my fingers curl tighter on the hilt of my sword. "Do you know that for certain." I put my left hand behind my back slightly, spread my fingers apart to signal Serana to wait.

He steps further into the light from the fire, he's tall, taller than most high elves. His skin is pale, almost pure white with white hair. A snow elf. "Nothing in this life or in this world is certain." He gestures to himself and around the cavern. "To the outside world the snow elves are extinct." He pauses and puts his hands down. "Yet here I stand." He walks towards me. "You can tell your friend to come out." He pauses again. "I will not hide anything from you if you do not hide anything from me."

I gesture for Serana to come out of the shadows. "I'm not sure you want to carry on down this road."

He hums in the back of his throat as Serana comes out of her hiding spot. "I am certain you do not." He sits down on a rock near the marble structure. "You are tired, I can see it in the way that you move." He looks at Serana and then back to me. "You do not want to fight any longer." He pauses and looks down slightly. "Why do you?"

"Told her I'd get her home." I answer. "Might as well see it through."

Serana goes to say something but the elf holds his hand up. "I suspect I know your reasons for coming to this place." He says it calmly, if he does know where the bow is it doesn't seem like he wants to prevent us from reaching it.

Serana hums low in her throat and glances at me. "Where can we find the bow?" She asks in a clipped, standoffish way.

"When the betrayed began to outnumber us we managed to restrict their movements to the chantry and surrounding valleys." He walks to the marble structure, the golden star like ornament on the peak glowing slightly as he nears. Serana mumbles something about snow elf magic before he turns back to us. "The Arch-Curate." He pauses and lets out a low sigh. "My brother, Vyrthur elected to stay behind with the initiates." Another pause and low grumble. "He was… corrupted by the betrayed after they stormed the inner sanctum." The structure raises from the ground, spilling mud into a heap around the base. "I cannot leave the wayshrines unguarded. I would ask you to walk the same path many before you have.

Serana steps forward slightly. "Which is?" She runs her hand down the marble structure, brushing away some of the left over dirt.

"Bring peace to my brother." He says quietly. I nod to him and he walks closer to me. "Go through the caves and into the Vale. The chantry is located there and the bow with it." He puts his hand out to me. "Do not let Vyrthur manipulate you."

I grab his hand and give it a shake as I glance back to Serana and then to him. "We won't." I tell him.

He nods and lets his hand drop to his side. "Be safe and may the light of Auri-El illuminate your darkest hour."

Peace in death. I follow Serana through the newly appeared portal and into the darkness that awaits. Peace through death.