The Way Forward

Runa was terrified.

There really was no other way to put it. She'd checked and double-checked but the outcome of her honest self-reflection added up just the same. This feeling which kept coming up again and again every time she let her mind settle onto itself was nothing but undiluted terror.

Not that this was some alien emotion to her. She wasn't her adoptive mother, who claimed never to have been able to feel fear. Not in her youth, which she'd spent throwing herself into danger's lap whenever opportunity knocked, not even during the war. The woman wasn't boasting; she didn't care how people reacted to her admission, it was simply a detail she dropped in a conversation when her reckless past came up as a topic, which wasn't rare. People did, after all, hunger for the stories of the trials and tribulations and the triumphs of real heroes, and the woman certainly was one of those. The most celebrated of her time. Maren the Dragonheart they called her. The woman without fear. And mostly without sense, Maren tended to add. It was miracle she survived, was another refrain of hers.

But Runa was different. Yes, she also was known for her recklessness and seemingly careless attitude regarding her own life, and certainly many confused this with her being without fear. But that wasn't the truth at all. Much of the time she had been nearly crippled by the damn thing. Only her will, which she'd honed to a very sharp and persistent point very early on, kept her from succumbing to it. Kept her succumbing to reason too, truth be told, but then she was her mother's daughter. Even if they weren't bound by blood.

Will, yes. And the drink.

That's the rub. Yes ma'am, that's the rub. A drink. I really, really need one!

But there was no drink to be had, so the only thing to do was to bear the nearly unbearable feeling which twisted her guts.

What was the cause? She couldn't say. Quite possibly the fact that as soon as she'd started to sober she'd come to admit there was no way to anticipate what precisely would happen next in her life. She'd always had enemies. But her base of potential enemies had never quite been the entire criminal population of Skyrim and probably some of its ruling establishment. She could be excused if that made her little jumpy.

She felt this place, this latest madness she'd thrown herself at without too many questions, did nothing to help. Which was perhaps just a tad counterintuitive. Usually charging headlong toward the new kept the old anxiousness at bay. But this place filled her with a strange foreboding. Was it because she associated it with the Nightingale and his goons? Possibly. Or it could have been that her instincts were trying to warn her: that they were headed toward a danger that was beyond all of them. That this place would be their doom. That—

That's enough!

Spending time inside her head sure as Oblivion did not help! So she did the reasonable thing. She struck up a conversation with the person she had least in common with.

Ariadne, an orb of blueish magelight hovering ahead of her as she walked, frowned to see Runa slow her pace for her to catch up.

"Tell me about Calisto."

"What's there to say, he's a snake!" she hissed appropriately.

"I got that much. But what manner of a snake?"

"I think you got an idea. A dangerous one. And in bed with dangerous people."

"Not always so, was it?"

"I have no idea how long he's been scheming. Before that . . . well, he was just another student at the College."

"Except . . . not."

"Ariadne shook her head, obviously loath to be made think about him. "Extremely talented in the arts. I will admit that."

"Talented. More so than you?"

Ariadne paused. "No," she said curtly.

"And yet?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Come now. I know tones of voice. And yours speaks volumes with what it tries to conceal."

"Alright, I . . . There was some magic he used the like of which I've never seen. I can't explain it."

"The way he just flung you across the air?"

"Yeah! What's that about? I mean, it's nothing special, really, when you think about it. Just the manipulation of— Well, suffice it to say it makes sense to me such a spell can exist. But why have I never heard it mentioned!"

To Runa's ear, that was more envious indignation than worry.

"I got a load of it from him myself, actually," she said.

"Yeah?" Ariadne didn't sound too interested.

"It wasn't the first time, either."

That got the girl's attention. "No?"

The Nightingale. He had thrown her around like a rag doll.

She'd had a rag doll once . . .

Don't go there!

"Someone else I fought used it."

"Who?"

"It's less important. But I have a suspicion about it . . ."

Ariadne waited.

Runa shrugged. "Not that I know much about magic. But . . . " Rumor went the Nightingale was versed in Daedra magic. "Might it be Daedric?"

"I don't know anything about that," said Ariadne after a moment, sounding a lot like she very much would have liked to know.

"Did someone say Daedric?" Ariela had stopped in her tracks.

"Yeah. Daedric magic, to be exact," Runa said.

"What about it?"

Runa shrugged. "Maybe Calisto knows it."

"What makes you say so?"

"You sound uneasy."

"Well certainly! Daedric magic is . . . well, basically just a rumor. No one knows it these days, far as I know."

"Times change. If it was once known . . ."

"By barely anyone who would have been recorded in history."

"Anyone I heard of?"

"There were rumors of Martin Septim dabbling with it in his youth."

"Savior himself!"

"But the Oblivion crises at the latest must have shown him what folly it is playing with the Daedra."

"It's not like he invited them!" said Ariadne.

"No. No. But the main thing is he shut them out! For the most part."

"Be that as it may," Runa said, "I think we can all agree that folly fits very comfortably with our young friend. You told me yourself he summoned Mannimarco!"

"Well, not him personally."

"But the people he's in bed with."

"Yeah." Ariela's expression was somewhat haunted. "That was rather . . . insane."

"You should have seen her!" said Ariadne with unexpected delight.

"Ariadne, please," Ariela tried.

What's this, then? "No, no. I wanna hear this!" Ariela had failed to mention anything about her own involvement.

"Oh, she was amazing! So, the moment we stepped in this—"

Even in the dark light, you could see the scholar grow red-faced.

Ariela tried to not listen as the grinning young woman described to the incredulous Runa what had transpired that night. Well, at least she wasn't glowering for once.

As soon as the cult had summoned the spirit of the great late necromancer, he had proceeded to chastise them for fools who imagined that they could compel him. And then he'd been about to proceed to do more than chastise them.

That's when something had taken over Ariela. In Ariadne's words, "And she completely lost it and started telling him off!" I wasn't not true . . .

"Really?" Runa said with eyes wide. "Y'know, the first time I saw her I knew the girl had spirit! But that much spirit!" She whistled. Reached out to thump Ariela's arm.

She tried to reply with a polite grin.

But more than anything, the memory filled her with dread. The way the spirit had then proceeded to regard her. Like he had seen through her, into places that were hidden from even herself. He said he knew me! Certainly it was a lie. Certainly . . .

And yet.

While she had closed her ears from what she decided to call lies . . . she was dying to know what the demon had seen. Had it been something real? "The Wheel spins around you in most . . . curious ways." The words still echoed in her ears. Why would he say that?

"He actually spoke to you!" Runa slapped her again. "Well you're the first person I know whose argued with a god. Unless you count Haming the Dragonslayer. And you really shouldn't."

"I'd rather not think about it," Ariela said faintly.

But no one seemed to be listening.

Erik listened with mounting astonishment. Astonishment and admiration. As many times as he had made note that the little scholar was far more than she looked on the outside, there kept being another thing that took him by surprise. To challenge a god! Even the bravest man or woman he'd known could not have attested to such a feat! Well, Maren Dragonheart was one other person he could have seen doing so, but alas she had never been given a chance. At least not to his knowledge.

So now, listening to Ariadne's account, even overlooking the likely flourishes she added to the retelling, Erik found himself in awe! He liked sensitive women, quiet women, humble women. But he loved strong ones. And here was undeniably one that was all of those things.

She would be far too good for you!

He feared that was absolutely true. And yet, now being given the chance to be close to her, he would be damned if he let the chance slip though his fingers.

He was about to say something, to add his piece to the chorus of adoration.

"I'd rather not think about it," Ariela said.

And just like that she was so small in his eyes again. She seemed troubled by all the attention suddenly on her, especially by Runa's eager crowing. Runa, of course, did not notice anything.

Erik felt for Ariela. If I could just gather her up and put her in my pocket!

"Runa," he said.

Didn't look like she heard.

"Tell you what," Runa was saying. "Whatever awaits us there, I say we put Ariela in the lead in case—"

"Runa!"

That got her attention. "What's with you?"

"Could you please bray just a little louder." He gestured ahead. "I don't think quite all the goblins and wraiths have quite heard we're on our way."

Runa snorted. "Didn't take you for the jumpy sort."

Erik met glances with Ariela and gave a little wink. His heart leapt at her shy but grateful smile.

Ariela felt a surge of happiness at that simple gesture. Not so much the wink—though she certainly did not mind that—but the way Erik had come to her defense without drawing attention to her discomfort. Someone did hear. Someone did listen. And that someone happened to be the most desirable man she had ever laid her eyes on. At least how she saw him at the moment.

She had to look away before she blushed.

"Of course," Runa said. "Not all of us can be as fierce as—"

"Cut it out!" Erik said.

Ariela smiled. She knew Runa didn't mean to make her feel bad. But the woman was used to talking to very different sort of people and was not able to adjust to someone sensitive like Ariela. She didn't hold it against her. But I'm glad someone shut the bitch up!

Her smile turned to a mischievous grin. There just a little bit of guilt behind it, but she whisked it away.

After a pause, Runa snorted with a shrug. "Big brothers, am I right? Hey," she nudged Ariela, "didn't you say you had one too?"

"Yes," Ariela said. "I did." She was not in the mood to talk about family. Even thinking about it made her ache with homesickness and worry. "Listen," she said, addressing everyone behind her. "While I appreciate that we are able to banter," insofar as she did, "I think it'd be better we don't talk. You know, for—" She wanted to say respect, for whatever this place was that they were about to enter. But she didn't think the others would get it. "The, uh, fact that we don't know what awaits us."

"With that in mind," said Runa, shouldering her way to the front of the line, "I think better to have someone up front who can take the blow if one is due, am I right?" She offered Ariela a smile, which somehow came across as somewhat embarrassed.

"Of course," said Erik, taking his place between the two. "Better you walk a step or two after us." His grin, on the other hand, had a touch of guilt.

"Please," Ariadne said. She shuffled past all of them, the magelight following her like it was her pet. "I think we all know who should be in the lead." She wasn't smiling.

"Of course," Ariela said, as though anyone had asked.

They proceeded to file out in silence toward the light still a ways ahead.

Not that Ariela complained about people volunteering to protect her from any danger which might or might not have awaiting them, but being left last in line did make her feel uneasy in a different way. With only the dark, cool passageway which they left behind them at her back, she felt the constant need to check over her shoulder. Feeling as though a monster could snatch her without anyone's notice. But as she did, of course, there was nothing but darkness. Which didn't help overmuch. So she decided to not think about it and just focus on what was ahead.

Runa could not deny feeling just a little bit ashamed. Not before Erik had silenced her had she realized that she was making the scholar feel uncomfortable. But of course, the girl saw the world in a very different way. Taking her blunders and turning them into something to laugh about just wasn't her way. Not that standing up to an immortal being was objectively a blunder. That would depend on the outcome, and in this case she'd come out in one piece. But certainly there was little disagreement about there being a fine line between bravery and stupidity—I ought to know!

In any case, making a joke of it was what Runa was used to, but she realized that wasn't always the thing to do. With her friends, sure. The more you mocked someone the more you showed your respect. It was perhaps a funny way of going about it, but in her circles everyone got it. Probably the circles of academics were just a little bit different.

No denying it, she felt more than a little ashamed! She wanted to apologize, to explain, but she felt that it would have just made it worse.

Then of course, she had allowed Erik to play the hero . . . She'd seen them trade looks. She could see the spark.

Runa grinned slowly. Yeah, now that I think about it, I did pretty good! Gotta play the villain at times. After all, it ain't all about what you do, it's what you make happen.

There. She was glad she got that settled.

At length, they finally reached the end. After the decrepit old passageway, the culmination point offered quite the contrast indeed.

Ariadne had never seen a Dwemer ruin with her own eyes, but based on the way she'd heard others at the College describe them, this place seemed to be align with the portrayals. Unlike anything else she had ever seen, that much had to be admitted. People were always going on about them in such awed and puzzled tones that she had assumed they were exaggerating. But even she had to admit being taken aback by the spectacle.

A sort of sickly greenish glow, the origin of which could only have been magical, bled out of utterly alien-looking chandeliers, reflected by the myriad brazen decorative elements and mysterious thick tubes twisting all around the ceiling and walls overscoring the artfully sculpted, rune-adorned masonry. The room was a foyer of some manner, perhaps some hundred yards in perimeter, with a row of five double metal doors to their left and one more waiting at the very end. Across the other wall ran a stone shelf, nothing on it save for the tubes slithering in and out of the floor like a sea-serpent in a depiction found in an old children's fairy tale.

"Whoa!" said Ariela as she entered.

"First time?" asked Runa.

"Yeah. I mean, I've read about these aplenty. Looked at drawings. But . . . whoa! You can hardly believe something like this even exists!"

Runa shrugged. "I guess."

"It's true," said Erik. "Once you've seen them enough you get sort of used to them. But even you got to admit, they do have a rather special atmosphere."

Runa snorted. "Special, alright." She spat. "Can't spend enough time out of these bastards myself."

Ariadne rolled her eyes. Leave it for the Nord to barge into an ancient, previously unearthed ruin and start spitting at it.

Honestly, though, you could hardly call this place a ruin. In fact, it seemed to be better kept than many of the contemporary places of Skyrim. Guess it helps to have kept the Nords out of it for so long. Well, so much for that.

Runa scowled. "What are you smirking at?"

"You," Ariadne admitted.

The woman stared at her a moment, then gave a sniff. "Can't say I'm sorry to make a pretty girl smile."

Ariadne rolled her eyes.

"How do these lights keep burning?" Ariela marveled at one of the chandeliers. "Some sort of magic?"

"Must be," said Erik. "Whatever also keeps everything else running." Gesturing at the pipes all around. As if to demonstrate, one valve let out a hissing puff of steam. Somewhere behind the wall, there was the district crunch and clang of gears continually turning.

"Yeah," Runa said. "Like the damn automatons." Looking around as if expecting one to pop out at any second.

"It's all just such a mystery!" Ariela said. "Imagine, being the scholar who could shed light on the secrets of the Dwemer." She shook her head. "Unfortunately it may be we'll never know."

To Ariadne it was a mystery why anyone ever cared. I mean sure, they're cool in their own way. And who doesn't like unanswered questions. But that's just it, though: if no one knows, why not just let it go?

Erik eyed the doors. "This place seems huge. How can we tell which way to go?"

Ariela frowned at them too. Then her eyes went wide. "See the markings above each one? Daedric alphabets!" She pointed at each of the five doors in turn. "Ayem to hefhed."

"Why Daedric?" asked Erik.

"You said it." She shook her head. "Just one more confusion."

"Maybe that's the point," Runa offered. "To throw you off."

"Difficult to see the point of that," Ariela muttered, still frowning at the squiggles.

"You said they're in alphabetical order?" Ariadne said. "Well then I say we take this one first." Pointing at the closest door. Solid logic if there ever was any.

"Unless," Runa said with eyes narrowed and one finger tapping on her chin, "that's exactly what they'd want us to do."

Ariadne shook her head. What a buffoon!

"I think Ariadne has a point. Might as well proceed in order." Erik took a step toward the first door.

"Hold," Ariadne said.

"What?"

"I should go first." Making to shoulder past him.

Erik stopped her with a firm hand. "You're not the only one here who can fight!"

"We're not expecting no mages anyhow," said Runa.

Ariadne stared at the hand still lingering above her bosom. Just a little lower? She gave him a look, but she wasn't sure if it was one of ire or of sudden lust. Honestly, she could barely tell them apart at this point.

In any case it was enough to make him retreat his hand. And look down at his feet. She couldn't tell about the nature of his reaction either.

Erik felt himself wither underneath the mage's burning gaze. Honestly, he couldn't even tell what kind of burn it was, but he knew for sure it made him feel ill at ease. Well, seeing that I nearly groped her boob . . . He felt a pang of shame. A nice boob, though, his mind saw it fit to add, and he cursed inside. Behave, old boy!

"I say I go first," said Runa.

Erik scowled, laying a warding hand on the woman's shoulder. "Look I said already that I should—"

"It's not a pissing contest!" Ariadne cried. "Look, we all know that of the three of us I have the greatest—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Runa. She stopped the mage with a hand of her own, and there they were, Erik's hand on Runa, Runa's on Ariadne. "Just because you have some tricks up your sleeve don't mean—"

The fire in Ariadne's eye was far less ambiguous now. "Tricks?," she spat. "You've got some nerve you little spit—"

"Calm down, guys!" said Erik, laying a hand on each's shoulder. "I'm the oldest so I think it makes sense—"

"It's locked."

All three heads swung in the direction of the door where Ariela was standing. Her hand was tugging on the handle, and the door didn't as much as budge. She was looking at them with a neutral expression. "See?"

"Oh," Erik said.

"Right," Runa added.

"Goddammit," Ariadne hissed.

Erik spread out his hands. "What now?"

"Try the next one?" suggested Runa.

And so they did. And the next one. And the next one. Each door as locked as the last.

"Damn," Erik said.

"Yeah," Runa added.

"Fucking shit!" Ariadne snarled.

Ariela scratched her head. This is inconvenient. Looking around the hall revealed no levers nor other means of opening the doors. She stared hard at the last one of them at the end wall, marked with the Daedric hefhed. It stayed stubbornly closed.

Strangely enough, while she was sufficiently piqued by this unforeseen hindrance, part of Ariela felt a strange sense of relief. It had nothing to do with their current predicament, but rather was something she had felt it as soon as they'd entered the hall. Like a noose had been around her neck for years, and only now that it was loosened did she even realize it had been there at all. What it meant, she could not for the life of her figure out. But she was still glad to be feeling it.

"Well?" Erik said. "What now?"

"Step back!" Everyone turned to look at the scowling Ariadne. Magic was brewing at her fingertips, air wavering around them like it did around a fire. "I'll blow it open!"

"Stop!" Ariela cried, stepping in front of the mage with her hands up, as though to throw up a ward. Even though she had no innate inability for magic.

"What!" Ariadne hissed, showing no sign of changing her mind.

"Let's think about it for a moment."

"The time of thinking is over! Time to do something!"

"Let's not be rash," said Erik.

Rash! Ariadne spat internally, insofar as that was possible. You people have been a rash on my backside as long as we've been on this miserable quest! "Step back!"

"You're being childish" Runa said.

Ariadne's head snapped her way to unload her most wilting glare at the Nord.

The damned bitch only smirked. As if to say, "Yeah, I said it. What are you gonna do about it?"

I've an idea about that!

Ariela shook her head, her hands still raised above her as if she could do anything if the mage actually decided to give in to her temper. This wasn't going well at all. In fact, things threatened to unravel before they had even gotten started. Not only because of these doors, but because the dynamics of their group had proven to make their quest somewhat less than smooth sailing.

She had always prided herself on being quite the diplomat. Always able to talk people to finding a common ground, no matter how at odds their ambitions seemed to be. It was exhausting work, but she'd always felt that if no one else saw the merit of it, someone had to do it. And, in the end, everyone was better off for it. She didn't expect thanks, and gods knew that she hardly ever received any. But the satisfaction of being able to see something that others seemed utterly oblivious to—the need and the way to alleviate perceived obstacles to co-operation—was thanks unto itself.

But then she was used to working with stuffy academics. As vehement as their disagreement could become, it hardly ever came to blows, and no one was ever at risk of getting killed! So in a way she was out of her element with these people with bubbling temperaments and vulnerable egos to go with murderous capacities.

Still, people were people. She would find a way.

While they argued, she closed her eyes and calmed herself. A deep breath and she focused within, awaiting the right thing to do to come to her. The right words, the path through.

Quite unexpectedly, she found herself giving a little prayer. She had never been the praying type!

Julianos! The god of wisdom, of course. Show me the way forward. Unused to praying as she was, quick and to the point seemed the surest way. Still it felt awkward.

Then her brow creased. She actually felt something! Like a shift in the way her mind perceived her surroundings. Like she was able to enact—

Her eyes flashed open with the banging sound which came from the other end of the hall.

The heads of everyone else whipped in the direction of the noise.

"What the—" Ariadne said. Her hands fell and the budding magic died with that.

The first door, marked with ayehm, stood open.

"Who did that?" Ariadne demanded. "What was that?"

For some reason, everyone then turned to Ariela. "Don't look at me, I didn't even touch anything."

Runa unsheathed her blades. "Something's coming out!"

Erik then also had his weapon drawn, and a flame ignited about Ariadne's hands. Ariela shied back against the hefhed door.

When a few moments had passed without anything happening, the others gave Runa a questioning look.

She lowered her blades and shrugged. "Just a guess."

Ariadne hissed. "Well, let's not waste any more time! It might close up again at any moment." She had been the one least inclined to come this way and suddenly she could not wait to rush deeper in.

But the wisdom of her estimate went unquestioned. They cautiously approached the door still ready for anything to come at them, but nothing did come. So they peered in. To find yet another hallway.