Chapter 7
Thankfully I didn't have any trouble falling asleep when I returned to my tent, but the bad thing was that I wasn't able to sleep for long. Soon the sun's rays were shining brightly through the tent forcing to me to wake up.
I got dressed and then waked the other three. Although they were very tired they also understood the importance of finding Dalamus. The longer we waited the greater chance he'd be dead once we [idid[/i find him.
Skeemo was the first to exit his tent and when he did we walked right up to me with the same angry expression he always had with me. I thought he was about to get on my case yet again, but fortunately for me I was wrong.
"I saw what you did last night." He said.
"Oh yeah, you were watching me pee huh?" I said sarcastically.
He frowned slightly, and then continued.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. I just wanted to say that even though I'm not your number one fan; I respect what you did last night." He said seriously. I could tell what he said was true. He really didn't like me that much, but my actions last night at least made him respect me.
"It's no big deal. I would have done it for any of you three. It's my job you know."
"Yeah, well let's get one thing straight, I still don't agree with Venim's decision of making you Captain. Don't think that I'm your best friend now just because you made one right move." He said.
"Of course, I wouldn't want it any other way." I said while smiling.
He walked off and that's when Cyro and Jolda finally came out ready to go.
We walked for about three hours through the cold forest when we reached a snowy path leading through a large mountain. The path was leading upwards and somehow I knew we were heading the right way. I wasn't exactly sure where Dalamus was, but I was almost positive it was somewhere in these mountains.
"We're heading the right way, I can feel it." I told the troops. They nodded in agreement.
"Keep your eyes out for anything out of place. We don't want to get ambushed." I told them as we began our trek up the mountain side.
We traveled for nearly an hour when I noticed something lying in the snow. The snow was covering most of the object but I could just barely see it. I picked the item up from the ground and held it out for everyone to see.
"That's some fancy clothing right there. If you ask me it looks like something someone from House Redoran would wear," suggested Cyro.
I had to agree with the Redguard. It did indeed look like something House Redoran members would wear. It was obvious that this piece of clothing belonged to Dalamus, but then again I wasn't for sure.
Bolvyn never told us where the boy lived. I was sure he didn't live in Ald' Ruhn, but other than that I was clueless. Just because Dalamus was Bolvyn's son didn't mean he acted just as his father did. Who knows, maybe he was a necromancer. Or perhaps he was a rogue thief, or a valiant warrior from another province. That was what made this mission so difficult; we virtually know nothing about the boy besides his appearance.
"Let's not automatically think this clothing belongs to Dalamus," I said pointing to the tattered shirt.
"Who else's would it be then?" Skeemo demanded loudly, a little too loud for my taste.
"It could be anyone's Skeemo. It could be the captors that are probably hearing you yell! Keep you're your voice down!" I said sharply.
He nodded, both agreeing and disagreeing. "Well we ought to keep moving. Staring at the shirt won't get us anywhere." He said sarcastically.
I nodded back and we continued on the journey, traveling uphill the whole way. The snow was now falling as hard as it was yesterday, and this time we didn't have the trees to protect us. The blizzard was causing us major difficulties in traveling. Several times I found myself inches away stepping off the edge of the cliff we were climbing up.
Finally we made it to a cave and I decided to call it quits for a while. It was our safest bet to just wait the blizzard out. It was too dangerous to travel right now. Inside the cave we checked for any dangers and the place was safe.
"How long do you think we'll be staying here sir?" Cyro asked.
"There no telling really, but I want to wait out this blizzard, that's for sure." I replied to Cyro.
"Don't you think waiting around in this cave is a bad idea?" Skeemo said.
"If you wanna travel through that storm, be my guest. Nobody's stopping you." I said.
He sighed and then sat down to rest. For nearly two hours we sat in the cave, waiting for the snow to die down, but it never did. If anything it only got stronger as the day went on, until finally it was nighttime.
"Good job Captain, we managed to waste half a day sitting around in this cold cave," Skeemo said mockingly.
"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right Skeemo. Tomorrow we'll have to travel, blizzard or no blizzard." I said. Everyone nodded and then set up tents for the night. I didn't know about them, but I wasn't the least bit tired. We'd sat in the cave for so long I decided to go outside and take a short walk.
"I'm going outside for a bit. You three stay in here and don't leave, okay?"
"But it's so cold out there!" Jolda claimed.
"I know, I know, but I needed something to do. I'm not a bit tired right now."
When I exited the cave I was no more than ten yards when the snow finally started to slow down. If course this would happen, it was just my luck. Oh well, at least I wouldn't have to shield by eyes anymore.
I was about to walk around a corner when I heard voices coming from the area beyond. I stopped in my tracks and listened for them to sound again. I poked my head around the corner and noticed two men wearing dark clothing and a hood covering their entire face. I couldn't exactly make out what they were saying so I leaned over the corner a bit more, but a little too far. I stumbled a bit and kicked a couple of rocks by accident.
Quickly I darted back behind the corner, listening to whether the two heard my mistake. The talking definitely stopped but I didn't hear any footsteps coming near me. I peered around the corner once more to see the two men walking in the opposite direction. I decided to follow them and see where they were going.
I didn't go too far until the men stopped at an unusually large rock. The two men looked around and thankfully they didn't see me crouching behind a bush. Then one of them grasped something on the side of the rock and pulled down. The rock lifted up and then they entered through a hidden entrance. Once they were in the rock closed down and I was on the outside.
I stood up and walked over to the boulder, looking for whatever object had made the entrance appear. That's when I noticed a weird looking root sticking out of a small tree stump. I pulled down on the root and the entrance revealed itself once more. Inside was a dark hallway lit by only a few torches here and there.
My feet quietly splashed through the puddles as I made my way down the dark corridor. At the opposite end I could see a door lying in wait, just begging me the open it. I knew the dangers that most likely awaited me, but I just had to find out who those men were.
I reached the door and held my left ear up against its rough wooden surface. I couldn't hear anything so I carefully and quietly opened the door slowly, all the while with my silver long sword in my right hand. It was a good thing I brought it along.
Through the door was a small room with a fire lit in the middle. Around the fire were several chairs and plenty of empty bottles. It looked to be a hideout of some sort, but there was a door in the right hand corner.
I peeked through the keyhole and saw another hallway on the other side. I opened the door and started to walk down the path. Another door at the end of the corridor led to yet another room, but this one was different from the other. In the middle of the overlarge room was a tall statue of some sort. It looked like someone wielding a giant war axe, but I wasn't for sure.
Looking closer I saw the two men that I had followed. They were knelt down beside the statue, muttering some sort of chant that I couldn't understand. They were speaking in a language unfamiliar to me.
Thanks to the dark atmosphere of the room I was easily able to make my way towards the men without alerting myself to anyone. I got close enough to attack but then they stood up right before I had a chance to end their lives. Quickly I ducked behind a broken table before they could see me.
"I think it's time to leave. The Khan will want to learn of our findings. It's best if we move along." One of the men said to the other.
"But what are we going to do with him?"
"I'll take care of him?"
All of a sudden the table that I was hiding behind was struck by some kind of spell. The enchantment splintered the table into a hundred pieces and sent me flying backwards into the wall behind me.
I got up swiftly and readied myself for the next attack. The two men simply laughed at me. That's when I got my first good look at their faces. Though it was extremely dark inside the room and they were wearing hoods their eyes were shining with the color of bright gold. It was something that I had never seen before.
Next one of them rose from the ground and lifted into the air, almost touching the ceiling. He brought his left hand up and a ball of flame came crashing down towards me. I got out of the way but the explosion from the blast sent me flying into the air once more, this time landing on my side.
I was in pain from the fall and my right rib cage hurt dearly, but I wasn't about to give up the fight. I couldn't give up, I wouldn't give up.
The other man that had not ascended into the air came charging towards me, sending a bolt of lightening at me as he did. I dodged this blast as well.
I swung my sword as he neared me but he did a flip and landed behind me. He swung his silver mace at my head but I ducked just in time. Apparently the man in the air must have sent another fireball at me, because when I ducked the ball of flame flew right over me and connected with the other man's chest, killing him instantly.
I turned to see the man in the air give a ferocious cry, both with sadness [iand[/i sheer anger. He gritted his bright white teeth and came back down to the ground, and unsheathed his steel claymore.
He walked slowly towards me with an evil expression. I could see that his teeth were very sharp, which reminded me of the battles with vampires I had back in Cyrodiil, in my much younger years of course. The creatures were extremely fast and agile, just like these men were. Although something inside told me that they weren't vampires. I don't know why but I had strong feeling they were something even more sinister.
When the man brought his blade down on me I made a swift sidestep and kicked his legs from underneath him. The ease of what I had just done surprised me greatly, for it had been a long time since I'd been in battle.
Before he could get up I jumped on top of him and held his hands down, disallowing him to retreat. I wanted to get all the information I wanted out of him…before I killed him of course.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I demanded.
He laughed at me insanely and said nothing. I punched him in the nose, causing a fountain of blood to our out, yet he still managed to hold the same psychotic expression.
"Who is Khan? What were you doing in here?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"You will get nothing out of me fool." Laughed the man. When he spoke it sounded awfully strange; almost human in a way, but not totally. It was like he was from another world or something. Perhaps he was.
The "creature", I now called him, opened his mouth and chomped down on my right wrist that was gripping his forearm. I lifted my hand in agony and stood up from the ground. Then the creature formed a ball of fire in his hand and held it to his face. I looked at him and he was smiling crazily. The ball exploded and I flew back into the wall. That's when everything went dark…