The Bound - A Tale Of Tamriel

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i. Itagaki.

Tilly was frantic, scrabbling at the edge of the door. She had already ripped one of her fingernails off, the blood dripping to the floor. Öenthir had collapsed against a wall, her entire body shaking, her face pale and drawn, staring at the door. Tilly pulled out one of her many knives, thrusting it into the gap trying, desperate, to pry it open, only for the knife to snap in two, the hilt jarred from the dark elf's hand and clattering to the floor. She began pounding on the door, then.

"Tilly." Itagaki ignored the pain from the arrow in her leg and reached out to the Dunmer. "Tilly! Stop!"

"I can't leave her!" Tilly returned to trying to open the door with her ripped and torn fingers. "I can't! I have to get back in there!"

"We are not going to leave her!" She finally caught the hem of Tilly's nobleman's coat and pulled her away from the door. Tilly turned on her with fire in her eyes. "We cannot get back in that way. We will go back in for her, I promise. We will find her, but we must remove this arrow from my leg first."

She turned her leg, biting her lip and tried to get a look at her injury. The arrow had passed through her leather armour like it hadn't been there, but she couldn't see the wound itself.

"Just pull it out! Get up!" Tilly pulled her coat from Itagaki's hand with a savagery that Itagaki didn't expect. "You're the stoical warrior, deal with it and let's get her!"

"I cannot just pull it out. If it is a normal pile, fine. If it is barbed, it will only cause more damage." She reached for Tilly's hand. "Please, Tilly, you must cut it out or I will be of no use to Revna."

Tilly looked at Itagaki and then the door, then spun back to Itagaki. Tilly didn't spare any dignity, flipping Itagaki onto her front, pulling out her sharpest knife and started cutting away the armour around the arrow. She wasn't gentle about it, only doing it as fast as she could.

Itagaki couldn't see what Tilly was doing, but she felt her armour pulled aside and then the knife cutting into her skin. She managed to hold in the scream, grunting in pain as the knife was dug into her flesh. Soon, she felt the arrow turning before Tilly pulled it out. She let out a whimper then.

"Öenthir? Do you have the strength to staunch the bleeding?" She was sweating now. Tilly dropped the bloody arrow to the floor. It was, indeed, barbed. Öenthir looked at her with eyes she had trouble holding open.

"I'll try." The Bosmer crawled towards her, almost unable to do even that. Öenthir held her hand against Itagaki's leg, closing her eyes and Itagaki felt a warm feeling flood the area of her injury. "That ... that's the best I can do."

Itagaki reached behind, placing her hand on the wound and then looked at her fingers. There was blood, but not as much as she would have expected. It would do, for now. She removed her long sword's scabbard from her sash, replaced the blade and used the two together to force herself to her feet. It was difficult. It was painful, but she could suffer it.

Tilly helped Öenthir to her feet and, with the aid of the mage's staff, began to move towards a nearby set of steps leading upward. Progress was slower than they hoped, especially Tilly, but it was progress. They soon found themselves at a junction with steps leading downwards in two other directions and another set leading upwards again. They climbed once more.

They soon found the door out of the Barrows and the bitter cold outside hit them as if they had walked into a solid wall. There, down a few steps, Corhan was waiting as he said he would be, sat beside a small fire, the horses tied nearby. He looked up as the three of them approached.