That's right, I'm back!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

.

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*coughs*

Will and Hadvar went through the room, picking up anything that they needed. Potions, gold pieces, even a few bottles of Ale, for 'If we make it out alive.' Will looked into the barrel that held the potions. He grabbed the health and stamina potions, placing them in his bag. Then he looked down at the mana potions. Something about the way they shimmered made Will instinctively grab them and stow them in his bag, alongside the other potions. He felt like he would need them, eventually. He met next to the door, meeting up with Hadvar.

"You grab everything?" Will nodded. "Good. Let's keep going." They opened the door and went down the hallway, turning left, then right again, until the hall filled with the sounds of a fight. Hadvar and Will rushed ahead into a torture room. Inside were two Stormcloaks fighting two men in imperial armor. Will didn't recognize them from up above, so they must have stayed in this... place. Will nocked his bow and fired, nailing one Nord in the throat. He went down a midst a spray of blood, temporarily halting the fight so that everyone turned to him. Will stared, aghast at what he had done. Yes, these men were trying to kill them, but Will had little experience killing those who weren't actively coming for him, or were truly evil. As he returned his attention to the entire room, so did one of the imperials. He raised up his hand, and a blue light started glowing there. Thrusting his hand forward in the direction of the Stormcloak, the man shot a stream of lightning into the remaining Stormcloak's chest. He was blown back, dead and charred. The two men turned to look at Will and Hadvar.

"Why, hello there." The man with lightning spoke first. His skin was an odd shade of dark blue, and his face was very angular. He looked similar to the elves that Ralof had called out while on the carriage, but those men weren't blue. Hadvar, assuming Will would be confused, leaned over to Will.

"Dark elves. Distantly related to high elves, who were in Helgen with us. While High Elves are masters with all magic, dark elves prosper with both a sword and destruction." Will nodded to him, grateful of the help. He turned back to the dark elf.

"These Stormcloaks didn't like what we were doing with their friends here." The dark elf gestured over to three cages, all containing dead bodies. Will was appalled. The room was for torture! However, this dark elf was talking as if it was nothing but a game, and a fun one at that. Hadvar stepped up to the elf.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know a dragon is attacking?" The dark elf laughed.

"Dragons? Don't be silly. There are no dragons. They're a children's story."

"Actually, that would explain the roars we heard..." Will looked to the other man, probably an assistant to the torturer. The torturer snorted.

"You too? You've all gone mad, I say." Will shook his head. He wandered back over to the cages. There was something in the middle cage that intrigued him. The man in here, instead of wearing a tattered robe, wore odd, blue-colored robes with a cream highlight. Will turned to the torturer and asked him about it.

"Lost the key to that cell weeks ago. Fellow screamed and screamed. The cages were proofed against magic, though, so he couldn't do anything to us." Will turned back to the man. He tried to open the lock, but found it locked, as was told. Hadvar walked up behind him.

"Do you know anything about picking locks?" Will shook his head and Hadvar continued. " What you have to do is go to the lock, take a lockpick and a tension wrench, place the tension wrench in the lock, and take the lockpicks and run them around the edge of the lock, pressing at the tumblers. If you hit the correct place, the door unlocks. If not, the lockpick will be hit with a great amount of tension, usually forcing it to break. Usually it will take a few lockpicks to get the door. A few for finding the correct spot, and one for opening it all the way. Try it out." He handed Will a tension wrench and 10 lockpicks. Behind him, Will heard the torturer muttering to himself, "Fine. Take all my things. I don't mind." That was the last straw. He flung around, pulled out his bow, and fired an arrow. It slammed into the stone wall, leaving a dent a centimeter above where the dark elf was currently leaning. Surprised and terrified, he flung himself out of the way, only to realize that that was the only arrow Will was firing. He looked up to Will's eyes staring at him, cold and unforgiving. However, he also shut up. Satisfied, Will turned back to the lock and tried out what Hadvar had said. He placed the tension wrench into the lock, and placed in a lockpick. Will pushed the lockpick upwards and felt it give just a small bit before stopping. Will relaxed the pick and moved it a bit to the left. Trying again gave a click and the door swung open. Will stepped inside. In the cage, along with the man, were a few gold pieces and a book. Will picked up the book and looked at it, confused. He held it up for Hadvar to see, and he replied by saying, "That's a spell tome. It can teach you magic when you read it. But only if you have the aptitude." Will shrugged and stowed the book in his pack. He turned to the man and looked through his pockets and his satchel. He found a few gold pieces, but nothing more. He was about to turn away when he saw that the man's clothes were shimmering.

"Hadvar! Come have a look at this man's clothes." Hadvar turned over to look. He knelt into the cage and caught his breath.

"These clothes are enchanted. Magic has weaved into the very fabric it is made out of. Very rare, and very valuable. We should sell these to an enchanter. He would love to have more magic to play with." Will was skeptical.

"Take his clothes? That seems a bit..." Will trailed off. Hadvar, obviously getting the hint, began another explanation.

"Taking this man's clothes may seem odd to you, but here... Nords are a race of warriors. While they do respect their dead, they are also not ones to let good equipment go to waste. This man here, he doesn't need his armor anymore. We, however, could still use it to our gain. To the Nords, this is a common practice." Will nodded, partially mollified, and began to remove the magical robes. He stowed them in his pack and came pack out of the cage. The torturer and his assistant were standing idly, as if waiting for Will. He looked around a bit more and found a shield in the back room. Pocketing his find and returning to the main room, he began heading down the hallway they hadn't come out of. They moved on for a bit longer, until reaching a large cavern. Inside was a handful of stormcloaks, about five in total, all waiting for something. Probably Will and Hadvar. Unfazed, Hadvar charged into the room, immediately engaging the closest enemy. Will moved in behind him, quickly spotting two archers in the back of the room. HE drew, aimed, and fired before the two could react. The archer on the left flew backwards, pushed to the ground by the arrow in his chest. The other archer had just enough time to see Will and raise his bow before he, as well, was dispatched. Ahead of him, Hadvar had subdued the first axeman and was moving swiftly onward. He crossed a small bridge onto the second of three small rock ledges. To the right was a small sunken area with multiple springs flowing inward. Hadvar, surprising the second Nord, quickly stabbed forward with his blade, cutting the man down where he stood. Hadvar looked up to see the last man quickly fall to an arrow strike to the leg. Hadvar ran forward and finished the man off. Regrouping on the far side of the cave, Hadvar and Will took stock. Neither of them was injured, but Hadvar was confused.

"Why did you hit him in the knee?"

"It's this bow. I'm used to a full length longbow. This is more of a short bow. I have less power and control while using it. Actually, while I'm on the subject, once we're out of here, I really need to regain my tools. I'll need a longbow, at least two dozen arrows, a horse..." Will paused at the thought of a horse. He briefly wondered if he could bare using a horse other than Tug, but he would have to. If this land was anything like Skandia, he would need a horse to traverse it. Hadvar, noticing Will's pause, was wondering whether to press Will about the subject of horses. He thought better of it though. It may be a sore point, and he didn't want to be at the receiving end of that bow, inaccurate or not.

AN

That's right, I'm back. Hopefully for good. Obviously, I have some explanations to give, but the short answer is a bad dose of the real world. However, now that it is summer vacation, I have a lot more time on my hands to write, so with any luck, updates should be returning to once a week. Best case, one chapter every Wednesday. Also, while I'm on the topic of writing again, I've been struck with the classic writer's dilemma; The chapters I've written beforehand, I hate. Hopefully, you and I both will see an increase of both quality, and quantity.

Welcome back to the world of "The Rangers Of Skyrim."

See you next week.

/AN