A/N: Sorry that the chapters are coming out slowly. Not as much time to write these days. I promise to keep updating as I can though.
Hope you enjoy this newest one.
-E.K.
He flinched and tried to push himself even further against the stone cave wall and away from the door as he heard it open. He no longer knew how long he'd been imprisoned; only that every day was the same thing. Punishment. There was never any questions asked, just pain. And now the door was opening for the third time that day. They must have been feeling especially nasty.
"Sionis?" A female voice shot through his frightened psyche. He knew that voice. And at that moment it was the loveliest voice he'd ever heard.
"Sable." The mage coughed out. "Please tell me this isn't some awfully cruel trick."
"No, I'm … I'm taking you out of here." Her voice sounded like she was trying to keep back sobs of joy. "The help I sent for arrived."
"Thank the Divines. Get me up and I'll help in whatever way I can." Two shadowy figures – a taller one and the other about the height of a child came over to see about his manacles. A moment later he was free.
"Now that you mention it," Sable said, "do you know much healing magic?"
"A little." Sionis replied. "Why? Are you hurt?"
"A little." She replied with pain in her voice. "Can you take a look?"
"Of course." The mage said. "Get me out into some better light so I can see what I'm working with."
The pair took him out of the dark cave and into the torch lit tunnel outside the door. They laid Sable down and Babette helped Sionis with the wrappings. Upon seeing the incredulous look on his face as he took in the apparent child, he was offered a simple "We'll explain later" type explanation.
"Oh gods!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw the damage. "What in Oblivion happened!?"
"They had … had a mage that tor … tortured me." She answered wincing as the pain was flaring up again with the wrappings removed. "He used frost … frost magic and then fi … fire to do this." The crippled assassin wasn't able to tell him much more than that and just hoped it was enough for her companion to understand what had been done.
"I'm sorry, Sable but this is well beyond my skill in restoration. You need at least an expert in Restoration magic."
"We have one," the tall blonde Nord cut in. "But she is at least a day's journey from here."
"That's too long." Sionis argued. "She could lose the foot by then."
"Can you do enough to get her to our healer?" Astrid pressed.
"I'll do everything I can, of course." The mage replied. "Hopefully it will be enough. The fact that the mage used the frost magic works in her favor though. It looks as though he got her foot cold enough to cause cauterization in place which should curtail the blood loss some. Infection and severe damage deep in the flesh are the bigger worries for her right now."
He turned back to Sable. "This will … well, it will …"
"I know," she cut him off. "Just do what you can."
Sionis put his hands just over her foot and closed his eyes tight in concentration. His hands began to glow in a golden yellow light. Sable clenched her eyes closed and didn't even try to stifle the scream.
When she came to, Sable found she was in the same underground corridor. Sionis and Babette were still hunched over her and Nazir and Astrid were still standing watch on either side of them. She tested her re-bound foot and found that she was able to move it through a greater range of motion before the pain forced her to stop.
"How long was I out?" She asked.
"Only a couple moments." Sionis answered. "But now that you're back, we should get moving."
"Indeed, we should be on our way back to the Sanctuary." Nazir agreed.
"No, not yet." The mage argued. "I need to get my sister first."
"We need to leave." The Redguard replied, frustration seeping into his voice. "We've had enough delays."
"Nazir is right." Astrid stated. "We should … "
"Then go," Sable interrupted. "But I'm staying to help Sionis."
"You will not." The assassin leader countered, her silken tones becoming hard. "As your leader I'm telling you that we're leaving." She turned her gaze to the mage. "Do you even know where she is being kept?"
Sionis dropped his face to his chest in defeat. He may not have known it, but Sable could still see his face and she saw tears begin to rim his eyes. She heard him begin to chant softly and he brought his hand up ready to ignite it with some form of destructive energy but try as he might, it wouldn't come to his call. He had spent what little he had on healing her foot. She reached up and touched his wrist and gently pushed it back down. He looked up to her, but her gaze had already returned to the two standing above him and it was filled with a steely determination.
"If not for Sionis, I probably wouldn't have survived …" she started but was cut off.
"You very nearly didn't even with his help." Astrid sniped back at her beginning to lose her temper, but Sable cut back in before it could build up in her leader.
"That doesn't matter!" She shouted, silencing her matron. "If it wasn't for him you'd be collecting my corpse instead. I'm helping him find his sister who was being held here to force him to work for them. Help me or don't. But I'm going with Sionis."
There was a long moment and the only sound was the crackling of the lit torches as Astrid stared down at her suddenly defiant protégé. Just as Sable was beginning to convince herself that her matron was going to throw her out of the Family, Astrid finally spoke.
"Very well," she stated, "we will help find your friend's sister. But nothing further. We return home afterwards."
"Agreed."
They had been searching for a short while and had found relatively nothing thus far. There was very little fight left inside of Cragslane Cavern. Most of the drug dealers that had taken up residence had been slaughtered by the Dark Brotherhood trio of Astrid, Babette, and Nazir during their first pass through to find their trapped sister. Occasionally they had run into a straggler, but each time they had been cut down quickly by the assassins. Now, though, there had been silence for a while as they methodically made their way through the catacombs looking for the cell that held Sionis' sister. Sable finally broke the silence.
"I've been wondering, Sionis. How did they manage to hold you?"
"What do you mean?" The mage asked in reply
"I mean, couldn't you have blasted your way out of the cell?" She clarified. "Aren't you a destruction mage?"
"Aside from some pursuits in other schools of magic, I am primarily a destruction mage, yes." He answered. "However, every mage, no matter how noviced or experienced, has a limit. Just like with how one can only exercise for so long, mages can force the use of magicka for so long before they cannot do so anymore and even though I can exert my will over it for longer than most, I still can only do so for so long."
"Okay, not sure why that means you couldn't blast your way out though." Sable pressed.
"Getting hit with electricity based spells not only hurt, but they have a tendency to disrupt one's ability to exert themselves with magicka." Sionis continued to explain. "Kind of like how sleep deprivation will hinder one's physical abilities. So when I was being tortured, I received a steady diet of shock spells to keep me – for lacked of a better word – drained."
"And while you were in your cell?" She asked.
"Ah, so simple that most probably wouldn't even think of it." He answered. "One of the people the cartel employed was an alchemist. This particular one specialized in two specific concoctions. Skooma being one, and the other being a devious little draught that replenished my strength while also diminishing my ability to connect with magicka. And if there was anything left after that, they would have a mage on standby to summon a dremora to force me to defend myself and make sure I was over exerted and couldn't make that connection."
The group came out of the tunnel they were in and back into the wide cavern with the dog pens where he and Sable had been overrun. There was only more one corridor to search.
"So, why not just let the dremora end you and put a stop to their sadism?" This time it was Astrid who questioned. "Why let the pain continue?"
Sionis answered with only a single word. "Clairiss."
"Your sister." Sable guessed.
The mage nodded affirming her assumption. "I'm the reason she ended up in their clutches. I couldn't allow myself to just die and let her down." He paused and closed his eyes. Surprisingly, a smile lit up his face. "I remember when we were little she was always the one to get into trouble and I was always the one to rescue and protect her. She always has been as naïve as she is beautiful. And because of it, there was always those that wanted to take advantage of her in some way. She was the perfect, tailor-made fall-guy. When I realized it, I always stayed with her to protect her. And she was always there to lift me up and encourage me. She could always smile and make me feel better. If anyone deserved a happily ever after it was her. And just look where I put her."
He choked up and couldn't speak of her anymore. It once again fell silent as they rounded a corner in the tunnel they were in and found what they had been looking for.
She was lying crumpled in a corner at the end of the corridor. A nape of blonde hair lay tangled and matted around her face and shoulders. But it wasn't hard to see how radiant and shining it would have been in the sunlight and with better care. The girl looked battered, but she proved she was alive when she looked up to see who approached.
With a good look at her face, it was easy to see why Sionis described her the way he did. The best word for her was pretty. It still seemed as if she was a girl – not quite yet an adult – with large eyes, a button nose, and a thin but cute mouth. The bruises didn't suit her at all.
"Clairiss!" Sionis cried out through a sob in his voice. He lurched forward towards her before breaking into a run.
But something didn't feel right to Sable. She couldn't quite figure out what it was though. She scanned passage for any trap but did not see any. Everything appeared to be clear, but there was just something that felt wrong. The white-haired assassin noticed that her brother and sisters had tensed as well; they felt the same sense of apprehension. Her mage friend had already made it to Clairiss and knelt down to talk to her, no doubt assuring her that whatever nightmare she had been in was over. A small smile snuck its way on to her face as her gaze lingered on the reunion.
It was gone a moment later when a wail of sheer horror mixed with profound despair ripped the silence of Cragslane Cavern asunder. It was so chilling and off-putting it actually took the band of assassins a moment to realize it came from Sionis. The group ran over to him, with Sable wincing and growling through the pain from her foot. As they got there, it didn't take them long to figure out the issue.
Her once blue eyes were now lifeless. Her once glowing pink skin was now deathly pale and there was even a patch of skin hanging loose under her chin. It was clear what she was now. Clairiss was no more, a lifeless zombie raised by some mage on the way out as one last stab of unbearable torture.
"Sionis," Sable breathed. "I am so sorry. I … I …" No further words would come to her. Another scream erupted from the mage, startling them all again. But this one was different. Whereas the first had been one of amazing agony, this one was filled with such rage that it felt primal and frightening. He raised his hands and without speaking any incantation brought fire swirling all around his fingers and hovering above his palms. There was a menacing quality to it and it was made particularly more fearsome when she remembered his stating that his connection to magicka was over exerted and faded and that he would not be able to make that connection again without an extended rest. And yet, there it was; dancing in his hands.
"You all should leave the cave now." His words were chillingly cold and when he finally looked up from his undead sister the wrath filling his eyes was palpable.
"Sionis, I …" She started again still not knowing what to say to the man.
"Leave now, or perish." He cut her off. "All of you. And I would advise you move quickly."
As they gathered her up and began moving as fast as they dared towards the exit, Sable saw the flaming energy in Sionis' hand begin to swell. She also heard him apologize to what had once been Clairiss before his voice was lost to distance and the clamor of their escape.
Outside, they were greeted by a hulking dark gray bipedal wolf standing over a slew of torn, mangled bodies.
"Arnbjorn! You came too." Sable exclaimed.
The monster nodded his head in the affirmative before speaking. "Don't get to thinking I like you tidbit. My darling wife made me come." His voice was even more gruff than usual while in his wolf form.
"Did any escape, husband?" Astrid asked. She received a growl in reply. "I was simply asking, dear. Not doubting your abilities. At any rate, we should probably move away from the cave. There is another one that we rescued who seems about to do something rather … extravagant."
The troop of assassins moved a fair distance away from the cave. A moment later, an explosion rocked its way through the cave, shaking the ground and blowing a grand gout of fire out of the entrance. They were all taken aback by force of the magical blast.
"You should probably relinquish your wolf, husband." Astrid requested. "If the one we are waiting for survived that, you might be a bit much for him to take in. He's had quite the soul withering ordeal."
They remained there for a while, waiting to see if the enraged mage would emerge. The minutes passed by slowly making it seem like ages. Sable was surprised to feel her anxiety rise with each passing moment that Sionis didn't emerge. Right when she thought she could not handle it any longer and would head back into the charred cave system to look for him, he emerged from the entrance. He stepped haltingly through the smoking still wafting from the opening looking as if every bit of his strength was gone. The complexion of his face was darkened from walking through the soot and smoke caused by his destructive outburst. He looked out and spotted them, coughed once, and then fell unconscious to the ground.