Chapter 13

Beras woke, but kept his eyes closed. He didn't know where he was, but it was warm, and he was lying on what felt like a bedroll. Recalling the events of the previous days, he felt nothing but relief, knowing for the first time in almost a week that he was safe.

Rolling over, he opened his eyes to find that he was in the sewers he had been trying to escape to. A fire was crackling a few feet in front of him, casting shadows across the murky brown floor. A river of water and sewage flowed nearby, the sound of water echoing throughout the cavernous tunnels.

Two figures stood sat on stools behind the fire. Their faces were turned away, and their heads covered in grey hoods, so nothing could be made of them. Hushed whispers were being passed between them, and from the sounds of the voices, they were a man and a woman.

Taking a deep breath, Beras smelled something. Cooking food. Suddenly, his stomach growled painfully, and his mouth started watering. It had been days since he had eaten anything. But he couldn't simply ask them for it, he thought, his ears turning red just by the thought. For all he knew they weren't willing to go that far to help him. Shutting his eyes, he pretended to be asleep and tried to shut out the pain.

Suddenly, a loud roar erupted from his stomach. Clenching his teeth, Beras prayed that no one had heard. The gods clearly hadn't been with him these past few days though, for he heard one of the two say, "Go wake him up before he starves to death."

Moments later, Beras felt the toe of a boot poking his shoulder. "Hey," a male voice said quietly. "Get up, we need to get going."

Opening his eyes again, Beras looked up to see an argonian standing above him. His scales were a dark teal color, and he had orange stripes above his eyes. Grey robes flowed over his shoulders, and a black sash ran from one shoulder to his waist. Bright blue eyes looked down at him from the hood that was thrown over his head.

The argonian held out his hand to help Beras up, which the latter accepted. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Beras looked around. The other figure was a redguard woman. She had pulled down her hood, revealing short curly black hair and deep brown skin. Her eyes were so dark they were almost black.

"Come over here," she said with the voice of a mother. "Have some food before we head out."

Beras nodded and made his way over to the fire. The woman handed him a clay plate with bread and potatoes on it, which he thanked her for. Taking a moment before eating, he inhaled deeply through his nose, capturing the warm steam coming off of the potatoes.

It tasted as delicious as it smelled. It had been so long since he had had a hot, cooked meal. It tasted like a dish that Malia sometimes made, when they had potatoes back at the temple. Malia.

Before he knew what was going on, he had his hands and knees on the floor and was sitting in a pool of his own vomit. Looking down at his hands, eyes wide opened in shock, he retched again, flooding the floor with a fresh coat of vomit.

The redguard woman looked over, distressed. "Oh, no," she said. "My cooking wasn't very good, was it?" She rushed over and put her hand on his forehead, checking for fever.

The argonian sighed, and sat down on the floor. "Alix, calm down. It wasn't your food. He's in shock." Stretching himself across the damp ground, he grabbed a stone and began throwing it up and down. "Not only has he been being tortured for a few days straight, but remember that group of Blades we heard were killed? They were probably his friends."

"Well if we can't get some food and water into him he's going to die!" Alix, the redguard snapped back. "He's going to have to bring himself to it and accept it soon. If he vomits whenever he remembers, he'll never make it."

Beras just wanted them to shut up. Shut up shut up shut UP. Everything was pain, a physical tugging in his chest, like some sort of prisoner trying to break free. It hurt. His knees were shaking, and after a few seconds he collapsed. Lying in his own gastric juices, he let out a choked sob, tears now streaming from his eyes. He was filthy and looked pathetic, but he didn't care. He was already dead.

"He's burning up," Alix whispered to her comrade. "Sabona, do you know any spells to cure diseases?"

The argonian, Sabona, sat up. "Yeah, I do, but it won't work on this." He threw the rock against a wall, and it bounced away into the sewage. "It isn't a disease."

Help me, Beras thought, his mind burning with the images of death, of his friends dying. Make it stop. I don't want this. Please. It felt as though his heart was melting and dripping down into his stomach.

"Then what is it?" Alix shouted. "We need to help him, he can't die here! What about-"

"Shh!" Sabona cut her off. "We'll have time to discuss that later, we don't want to distress him even further." He swung his legs onto the ground, propelling himself into a standing position. In moments he had crossed the room to where Beras was lying.

Holding him by the shoulders, Sabona rolled Beras onto his back. Putting his hand on Beras' chest, he felt his accelerated heartbeat. With two fingers, he gently closed his eyelids, then opened them again.

Go away, Beras thought. Leave me alone. Leave me to rot. He wanted to push the stupid man away, but he couldn't move himself. More tears erupted from him. He was useless, and stupid, and weak, and a waste of time and resources. Why did he survive, when he wasn't any use to anyone at all?

"He's not going to be able to walk for at least a day," Sabona decided after thoroughly examining his patient. "The stress and fear needs to flush out of him before he can even hope to accomplish anything."

Alix looked panicked. "But in a day those elves will surely have found a way down here!" She looked around, as if expecting Thalmor agents to burst around the corner at any second.

Sabona nodded. "Yes, they will. We're going to have to move out, whether or not he can move." He looked down at the barely-conscious Beras, sizing him up. "I guess we'll have to carry him."

No. This wasn't happening. He wasn't going to let them carry him like some sort of, of… He didn't even know what but he was not being carried out of this place. Beras opened his mouth to protest, but all that came out was a pained squeak.

"You think you can carry him?" Alix said doubtfully. Beras was somewhat bigger than Sabona, and even if the latter could lift him, they would still move very slowly.

Sabona nodded. "It's not like I'll be doing any running, but he should be easy enough to move." He looked down at the vomit-covered mess that was Beras. "We had better get moving or they'll catch up with us."

Beras felt scaly hands reach under his shoulders and hoist him to his feet. In a second, he had been thrown over the argonian's shoulder.

"Ugh," Sabona complained. "He smells awful. Like blood, sweat, and vomit."

Alix rolled her eyes. "There's a reason for that," she replied, sassily.

This was horrible. This was humiliating and unfair. None of this should be happening. He should be at the temple, in his bed, worrying only about the cold, chores, and staying out of people's ways. This was beyond him. He was already stretched to his limits, and any more would break him. Who were these people anyway, and why did they care about him? Why couldn't he just have his friends back? Why couldn't he be sitting in front of the fire in the main hall, innocent and oblivious to the evils of the world?

Whenever Sabona took a step, his shoulder jabbed into Beras' stomach painfully, causing him to wince. He hated himself. Why, why after all this, was he actually concerned about physical pain? His mental pain was far worse, this should be insignificant. Yet he couldn't help himself but let out involuntary sounds of pain.

"Alix," Sabona called. "Do you still remember that spell you learned to put people to sleep? Because I think it would make everyone feel better if he got some rest right about now."

The redguard nodded and held up her hand. It was glowing with a soft purple light. Just looking at it made Beras feel drowsy.

"There there," she said comfortingly as she put her hand on her forehead. "Everything is going to be alright."

Beras felt himself slipping away, the world going black around him. His eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell fast asleep.