Chapter 4 – The Romantic
Arkgnthutch-Sturdumz Ruin, west of Ald Velothi
"We've got company" Sten Hawk-Eye said to Varo as the pair reached the bridge that led to the ruin's entrance. Two skeletons stood guard at the other end of the bridge – both saw the pair, drew bows and fired at once. Varo ducked to avoid the two arrows, whilst Sten stepped to one side, out of the path of the arrows, and returned fire with his crossbow. His aim was immaculate – the bolt hit one of the skeleton archers in the forehead, shattering its skull. The skeleton simply fell apart and collapsed to the ground.
"Stay back!" Varo called to the others as he ran back down the hill, out of the line of fire of the remaining skeleton. An arrow sailed over his head, with small licks of flame emanating from its shaft.
Sten ducked behind the point where the bridge's wall ended, offering cover whilst he reloaded his crossbow, then fired again and took down the other skeleton.
"We're clear, Commander!" Sten called. The others ran up the hill to join him as he began to cross the bridge.
"Ralix, come up front with me and Sten" Varo ordered as the group ran towards the ruin. "Erdora, Levisson, you watch the rear"
The group reached the ruin's door unharmed. The ruin had survived the onslaught of 500 years of neglect well – one of its external towers had collapsed and the stone foundations were looking somewhat worn, but the ruin still stood.
"Sten, cover me" Varo said as he kicked down the rusted metal door, drew his sword and ran into the ruin. Another skeleton archer lay just behind the door, who fired at once. Varo threw up his shield and felt the arrow slam into it, piercing through the sheets of wooden steel and remaining embedded in the shield, the arrowhead protruding from the other side. Varo charged at the skeleton, shield-first, until he collided with the skeleton, simply smashing it to pieces. As Hermidius and Sten followed Varo in, he continued down the corridor, nearing a T-junction.
Galmina ran up to Varo and cast a spell on herself, then looked around.
"Both routes are clear" Galmina said, examining the surroundings with her life-detection spell.
"We should split up" Varo said, examining the two passageways. Both led down steep staircases then rounded a corner. "Sten, Galmina, Levisson, you're with me. Jurard, Erdora, you're with Commander Hermidius. Come and find me if you find Keening – whatever you do, do not pick it up!"
"Come on then, boys" Hermidius said, choosing the left-hand passage. Erdora and Jurard followed him.
"Ralix!" Varo called after him. Hermidius turned around.
"Stop thinking about Aurelia. You need to concentrate"
--
Hermidius had met Aurelia Mestivius just after the Legion garrison at Hlormaren had been built. She had come to the island with Romanus Ratarius and the mining surveyors, but along with several other workers had sought shelter at Hlormaren when the Dunmer soldiers arrived. Hermidius knew that Aurelia was attracted to him – she always followed him around and was constantly trying to help him with day-to-day jobs. Not that the Commander minded – Aurelia was the daughter of an Imperial nobleman and a Nord craftswoman, and was a charming and beautiful young woman.
The pair had become an item on the night when the war against the Dunmer had been won. Celebrating in the Propylon Chamber Inn at Hlormaren, and fuelled by several pints of finest Cyrodiilic ale, Hermidius had stopped resisting Aurelia's advances.
For a long time the pair had a wonderful relationship, always spending time with each other, going off exploring along the Bitter Coast and the islands that surrounded Hlormaren. Aurelia was also a popular person – she often entertained the workers building Hlormaren city. She was a bard, playing the lute and singing tales of her adventures with the Commander. Thanks to her and a clutch of other musicians, music could constantly be heard on the construction sites and in the Legion garrison. Tales of this spread across the island, and many workers came from other parts of Vvardenfell, and Solstheim, to aid in construction, tempted there by tales of Aurelia's music.
A tough time lay ahead for Hermidius and Aurelia, though. A ferocious maritime storm had damaged large areas of Moonstar, the Sun and Moon Cult's town on Azura's Coast. Hermidius deployed some of his construction workers to Moonstar to help the rebuild, and Aurelia and the other musicians decided to go with them. Aurelia had told Hermidius to come and visit her whenever he could, but Hermidius had to stay in Hlormaren to govern his soldiers, occasionally travelling to Pelagiad for matters regarding the Council.
The night before Aurelia left, and not knowing what the future held, Ralix Hermidius told Aurelia that he loved her.
--
Hermidius led Erdora and Jurard down a steep staircase, around a corner onto another flight of stairs.
"By the Gods, how far underground are we going?" Erdora remarked.
"This is good" Jurard said. "If the Ash Vampires did indeed take Keening somewhere safe, it would have been somewhere far underground. The surface was at the mercy of lava, ash storms…"
"Be quiet, you two" Hermidius whispered. "We don't know what – or who – might be living in here"
As if right on cue, a figure appeared at the bottom of the stairwell and hurled a lightning bolt at the three. The bolt hit Jurard, sending him crashing to the ground, convulsing wildly. Hermidius reacted immediately, leaping down the stairs and landing on the creature, crash-tackling it to the ground. Hermidius rolled to his feet and plunged his sword into the creature's chest. The creature let out an inhuman cry as it twitched for a few seconds, before lying motionless.
"Jurard?" Hermidius said, concerned, turning around. He saw Jurard getting shakily to his feet.
"I'm alright" Jurard said, dusting his robes off. "I'm a Breton, remember? I can handle magical attacks – to an extent"
"What in the name of all that's holy is this thing?" Hermidius said, examining the creature more closely. It was around the same height as a child, with blue skin, wearing a loin cloth and possessed of inhuman facial features.
"I don't know, but I bet there's more" Erdora remarked.
"You're right. We'd better stay close"
Hermidius carefully led the three around the next corner. They emerged in a large cavern, lit a vivid purple-red colour by a combination of red candles and purple crystals.
"There! Look!" Hermidius called, pointing to a stone platform at the opposite end of the cavern. It was a shrine of some sort – there was a plinth on the stone platform. Embedded in the plinth was a dagger, its blade forged from a clear crystal and its handle seemingly made from gold. Brilliant white light radiated from the dagger.
Keening.
The three began to slowly walk across the cavern, until Hermidius froze as he heard a scuttling sound behind him. He turned around…
"Look out!" Erdora cried. Suddenly Hermidius was struck from behind by a colossal blow, which sent him crashing to the ground. Erdora swung his staff hard at the creature that had attacked him – the same type of creature that they had encountered in the stairwell. The staff hit the creature in the head as the sound of breaking bone echoed around the cavern.
"They're everywhere!" Jurard shouted. Erdora barged past Jurard to take down another creature who was about to attack Jurard, as Hermidius got to his feet just in time to dodge a lightning bolt. He raced towards the creature that had attacked him and plunged his sword into its chest.
Silence fell on the cavern.
"I think it's clear…" Hermidius began to say until a gruesome-sounding roar filled the air. It had come from somewhere close. Hermidius and Erdora turned to face the passageway they had come from, brandishing their weapons, as another creature rounded the corner. It was taller than the others, wearing a pale grey robe, and it had a grotesque tentacle protruding from its face. It hurled a bolt of magic which enveloped the three, causing a painful, high-pitched wailing sound to fill their ears.
"Take it down!" Hermidius yelled over the noise, ducking to avoid a lightning bolt. As Hermidius and Erdora raced towards the creature, Jurard summoned a Frost Atronach. The Atronach strode towards the creature and punched it in the forehead with its huge, icy fist. The creature's neck snapped backwards at 90 degrees and it fell lifelessly to the ground.
As the noise subsided, the three gathered around the fallen creature.
"What are these things?" Erdora asked.
"They fit the description of ash creatures" Jurard said. "But that's impossible…"
Jurard bent down and removed an amulet from around the creature's neck. It had some sort of inscription engraved on the back.
"I don't know what this means but I can find out" Jurard said.
"We should go and find Commander Sinclair" Hermidius said. "I hope he didn't get attacked as well"
--
Varo, Galmina and Levisson raced down a corridor as Sten back-pedalled behind them, firing his crossbow and taking down a Bonewalker, one of the creatures that was pursuing them. As Varo rounded a corner, his blood froze.
It was a dead end.
"Shit!" Varo shouted. "Come on, Levisson, we need to fight our way out of this one!"
Levisson nodded and turned around, running to catch up with Sten. Varo followed him.
Two creatures ran around the corner and fired off bolts of lightning at once – Varo and Levisson both leapt back around the corner to avoid them, Sten diving to the ground whilst frantically trying to reload. Another lightning bolt exploded off the ceiling of the corridor in a shower of sparks.
"They fight well" Levisson said calmly. "They've got us pinned down"
"We can handle them!" Varo shouted. "Sten, cover us!"
The pair raced around the corner as Sten fired his crossbow, nailing one of the creatures in the forehead, killing it instantly, just as two skeletons rounded the corner.
"Take that other… thing down!" Varo ordered Sten as him and Levisson charged at the three creatures. A crossbow bolt flew between them, striking the creature in the chest and sending it flying backwards into the wall.
Varo reached one of the skeletons just as it produced a sword. Varo swung his sword at the skeleton, but the skeleton managed to block his attack. Holding the skeleton's sword in a lock with his, Varo kicked it hard in the chest, shattering its ribcage and snapping its spine. The skeleton collapsed to the ground.
As Varo turned to face the next skeleton, in the shadows he could see more figures approaching them.
"Levisson!" Varo shouted. He momentarily turned to see Levisson collapsed on the ground, Galmina leaning over him whilst Sten covered the pair.
Varo swore to himself and turned to face the skeleton, blocking an axe-blow then smashing his shield down on the skeleton's scalp, snapping its neck.
Suddenly, Varo felt magic envelop him. He winced in pain and fell to the ground, helpless.
"Commander!" Sten shouted desperately. Three creatures rounded the corner, seeing Varo but presuming him dead, and turning to face Sten and unleashing a ferocious volley of lightning. Miraculously, all three bolts missed and Sten took one of the creatures down with his crossbow.
"How's Levisson?" Sten asked Galmina whilst quickly reloading.
"I don't know what's wrong with him!" Galmina cried. "He just collapsed!"
Sten swore to himself and lined up another shot. There were now two of the creatures and the Bonewalker that had cursed Varo racing towards him. An immaculately-aimed shot to the forehead of one of the creatures took it down, but they were getting closer…
Suddenly the Bonewalker froze and toppled over forwards, an axe embedded in its back. Sten then saw Hermidius plunge his sword between the shoulder-blades of the remaining creature.
Silence fell over the corridor as Galmina got up and raced towards Varo. He was still conscious, breathing heavily.
"Varo, what happened to you?" Galmina asked, falling down at his side.
"I don't know…" Varo said weakly. "My armour… it's so heavy… I can't get up…"
Jurard examined Varo. "It doesn't look like he's been burdened, though…"
"He's been cursed by that damn Bonewalker" Erdora said. "There's not a lot we can do until we can get him to a healing house. He needs divine power to cure him. His strength has taken a hit"
"Did you find it?" Varo asked weakly, looking at Jurard and Hermidius.
Hermidius smiled and nodded. "There's some sort of shrine at the other end of the ruin. It's in there. We were about to come and find you when we got attacked by these… things"
"Ash creatures" Galmina said ominously as she ran her fingers over one of the fallen creatures. When she took her fingers away they were covered in a pale grey powder. "They're covered in ash salts"
"How can this be?" Jurard said to himself.
"I don't know" Sten replied. "But I figure we should probably get Keening then make our escape. I don't want to wait to see if any more of these bastards turn up"
"You're right" Varo said, speaking slightly more clearly. "But only I can carry Keening. I'm afraid you'll have to carry me there"
Levisson, now healed by Galmina, walked over to Varo then turned to Jurard.
"Come on then, Professor. You take his arms"
"I'll take him, Tertius" Hermidius said, heaving Varo up over his shoulder. "I owe him a favour"
--
The month of First Seed of the 512th year of the Fourth Era had been difficult for Commander Ralix Hermidius. At the beginning of the month, Aurelia had returned to Hlormaren having spent the previous five weeks in Moonstar. Hermidius could not wait to have Aurelia back in his life again, but when she came back she acted strangely and distantly, and kept asking Hermidius what he saw in her. That night, she told Hermidius that the next morning she would be returning to Moonstar, and she wasn't sure if she wanted her difficult long-distance relationship with Hermidius to continue.
The next morning, Hermidius told Aurelia that he knew everything would work out. Aurelia said nothing as she boarded her ship back to Moonstar.
Two weeks later, not knowing what state his relationship with Aurelia was in and being driven mad with anxiety, Hermidius turned to the only man he knew would be able to help him – Varo Sinclair.
"You mustn't go to Moonstar after her" Varo had told him. "She needs time to be on her own. Perhaps when she comes back, she will fall for you once again. In the meantime, you need something to take her off your mind"
"What is it?"
"I am taking Fariel to see Red Mountain, so she can gaze across our little piece of the Empire from its highest point. The journey will take some time from here – we can stop overnight in Pelagiad, then go north through the great forests of Molag Amur, then over some of the most spectacular mountains you'll ever see. Ralix, I want you to come with us. The clear mountain air will do you good"
So the three set off on their journey to Red Mountain, raising Ralix's spirits once again. He saw Molag Amur for the first time, once a desolate rocky wasteland but now cleared of the Blight and reclaimed by nature. The abundance of natural heat from the lava beds that scattered the region had meant that plant life had flourished and turned Molag Amur into a stunningly beautiful forest, which Hermidius had described as 'the garden of Vvardenfell', a name which was still used to the day in reference to the region.
A week later, when Aurelia returned and told Hermidius that she wanted their relationship to end, he was not particularly fazed by the revelation – he dealt with the break-up by letting Varo buy him a drink in the Propylon Chamber.
--
With much effort, the group eventually reached the shrine. Hermidius carried Varo over to the plinth, where he weakly raised his left hand and picked up Keening. He then dropped it into a thick cloth sack that Jurard had brought along for the safe transportation of the blade.
"Let's go" Varo said. "When we get back, I want all of you to go to the Council Chambers as soon as possible, and tell Father Indarys to come as well. Jurard, bring whatever findings your researchers have found with you. There are a lot of issues to deal with at the moment"