Skyrim: Fall of the Dawn

23. Last Rites

Three competitors stood proudly as the next challenge approached. The guards have seperated them into small, dirty and dark cells. Alesan felt the old stench of blood and filth that was dancing around the sewery and prisons.

Torches were estinguished, not a finger in front of the nose could be seen. None of them knew what will happen, what awaits them.

The crowd wasn't able to hear or see them anymore. They could only wait for the two winners to arrive.

Alesan heard only his heartbeat and dead silence of the soon-to-be-grave. He could feel it in his bones that this is not going to end up well. He didn't even bothered what happend with Helval and that Dunmer. His problems will soon be in the cell with him.

The raven-haired man closed his eyes, shutting down that little light that came to him from small holes between wooden planks. It was no use of that light, for this was the test of senses and hearing.

A heavy sound of metal rang dully outside his cell. Then another sound, a bit louder - it was his cell that was opened, or at least some small doors.

Soon, the ringing of metal wasn't the only thing he heard. Soft and fast sounds of small claws filled the small room. The smell has gotten worse. Sick and deadly scent filled his nostrils, making him make a face which wasn't visible to anyone in the dark. The smell was known to him too well - skeevers.

Before they could smell him, he quickly but silently moved backwards, until his back touched the cold brick wall. At that place, he lowered himself into crouching position and gently moved his fingers on the cold, wet mud. He grabbed a fistful of it and applied it on his skin, his face and hands, covering up his body heat and scent so that skeevers got confused. Now he could manipulate with them by sound.

Alesan grabbed a small stone and threw it in front of him. Having his eyes still closed, he focused on the sound of small stone as it bounced back from the wall and laned in mud, creating a silent sound of water dripping. However, the noise was loud enough to make skeevers ran toward it, making a loud noise as they squalled and scratched with their  claws.

The raven-haired man tried to count them, but they were too loud to be precise. In the end, he circled the number of about five skeevers in the cell. Less than that wasn't possible.

By the time when the squalling got silent, he took out his small iron dagger and gently tapped the stone of the wall next to him. The silence got into the cell, it seemed as if these rat-like creatures froze.

Suddenly, Alesan heard the one on the left move toward him, fast, but steady. It circled around Alesan until he felt his scent of fresh and healthy flesh, but by then, it was already too late. Alesan grabbed the skeever and stabbed it making it scream and make other skeevers run through entire cell, making the noise so maddening that Alesan wanted to just mindlessly run with them.

He heard another skeever jumping toward him, this time on the right, but the man rolled over and the skeever lost the trace of him. Alesan used this as an advantage and killed the skeever with inhuman speed.

Something woke inside him and he felt the pulses of this vermins. He slaughtered them one by one, letting them only to scream in horror as he got rid of them.

He suddenly stopped after he couldn't hear or feel life around him anymore. He panted like an animal and almost growled when he heard again the sound of metal as another animal was let inside his cage.

The roarings of wolves, screams of skeevers, growlings of sabre cats...He didn't care anymore. Dark was his friend now. Without opening his eyes he felt where he needs to move and where he needs to strike. Nothing could pass by him, nothing alive.