All Roads Lead To You (A Skyrim Romance Mod fanfic)

Chapter Forty-Three

Author's Note: I'm sorry this update is a bit later than usual-- enjoy!

Aruna picked the lock, surprised that it opened with her mediocre skills. She dug through the chest, finding a lot of important-looking documents. She flipped through them quickly, choosing anything that seemed relevant. She also snatched up a key that had been laying on top of everything else in the chest. When she was done, she headed down the flight of stairs in the back of the room, where the elf had gone. She didn't know where this prisoner of the Thalmor was, but that door seemed as good a place as any to start looking. She only hoped the key she found was the right one.

The stairs were wooden and had seen better days, and they creaked under her weight. She winced and tried to step lightly. A sound from above made her freeze. Footsteps, coming from upstairs, headed her way. Again.

Aruna cursed silently and reached for her throwing knives. Only three left now. She slipped one out of the pouch and drew back her arm, readying herself for the throw. If she missed, she was dead.

Bishop appeared at the top of the stairs, snow in his hair and a shallow cut on his forehead. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her taking aim with her knife.

"Shit!" she hissed in relief and exasperation, dropping her arm. "I nearly killed you!"

He smiled at her. "Everyone met with terrible accidents outside. They kept running into my arrows. Oh, except for the guard I met on my way here. She ran into my dagger. It was a damned shame."

Aruna slipped her knife back into its pouch. "We aren't out of here, yet. There's one more thing we need to do before we can escape."

Bishop frowned. "The documents Delphine wanted weren't where she said they'd be?"

"No, they were. I have them right here. Put them in your pack, would you? I've got nothing to carry them in."

Bishop took the papers and stowed them in his pack, while giving her a quizzical look. "What else did you need to do? Please tell me we're burning this place to the ground."

"No, but I like your enthusiasm. We need to stage a quick rescue before we leave."

Bishop looked skeptical. "And who are we rescuing?"

"I overheard one of the Thalmor talking about a prisoner," Aruna said as they crept to the bottom of the stairs and approached a door. Aruna reached into her knife pouch, where she'd hidden the key. "They think he's who we're after."

"So we're going to walk right in there, where they're expecting us to be, and try to rescue someone they expect us to try to rescue?" He shook his head. "Have you been taking skooma, ladyship?"

"I know, I know. But they're going to kill him, Bishop. We have to help."

"The only thing we have to do is get the hell out of this shit hole," Bishop said sourly. Then he held up his hands. "But I know arguing with you is a waste of time, so let's just find this guy and try to get out of here before we end up with the entire Aldmeri Dominion on our asses."

"I love it when you make things easy." Aruna unlocked the door and opened it slowly. They found themselves on a wooden landing in the dungeon. The reek of sweat, urine, vomit, and blood hit them at the same time a man's cry of pain reached their ears from somewhere below.

"Let me guess...that's your prisoner?" Bishop whispered as they crouched behind a wood partition.

"We can surprise them," Aruna whispered back. "They don't know we're here, yet."

"I'll ask you again," Rulindil's voice carried throughout the chamber. "Perhaps I haven't been insistent enough."

The man screamed again. "Please! Stop! I told you what I know! There's an old man in Riften. I think he lives in the Ratway. I don't know anything else, I swear I—aaaagh!" There was a sickening cracking sound.

"Again." Rulindil's voice was cold, detached.

"Again, what? I don't know what else you want me to say!"

"Just answer Master Rulindil's questions, thief!" A woman's voice this time. "Things will go much easier for you if you do as you're told."

"What is this old man's name?" Rulindil asked.

Another scream of pain. "I don't know! Dammit, go to Riften and ask him yourself, I don't—" The sound of another blow reached Aruna's and Bishop's ears, and this time the man's scream barely sounded human.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Bishop hissed at Aruna.

"Shhh." Aruna crept down the stairs from the landing to the main floor. She found herself in a short hall with a doorway before her which led to the cells. She crept forward, aware that Bishop followed her, though his footfalls were silent. From where she crouched in the doorway, she could see a guard standing in front of an open cell. When Aruna shifted her position, she saw Rulindil standing inside the cell, towering over a bare-chested man who was shackled to the wall. The man was slack in his binds, whimpering softly, his face covered in bruises and cuts which oozed dark blood. She also noticed that Rulindil's glove on his right hand was covered in jagged bits of metal. He clenched that hand into a fist and slammed it into the prisoner's nose.

"Son of a bitch," murmured Bishop from beside her.

"Bishop, can you slip past them to the other side of the room?" Aruna whispered.

"Yeah," he said slowly. "What's the plan?"

"We've got no choice but to fight them," she replied, her eyes still on the Thalmor. "We need to flank them, take them by surprise. I need you over there; when I signal, take out the guard."

"And then what?"

"Then we take down this bastard, grab the prisoner, and get the hell out of here."

Bishop nodded and slipped through the doorway. Aruna held her breath the entire time as he crept, low and quiet, behind the Thalmor. The prisoner was weeping now, his head hanging low, and didn't see Bishop as Bishop reached the other side of the chamber, taking position on one knee, his bow at the ready, arrow aimed steadily at the guard.

Aruna pulled out another knife. It was bittersweet that she was losing so many of them to the Thalmor. Taran would have wanted it that way, she was sure. She met Bishop's eye and gave him a nod.

The first arrow struck the guard in her side. As both she and Rulindil whirled around to see Bishop, he let loose another arrow, and hit the guard in the throat. Rulindil snarled as he hurled himself out of the cell towards Bishop, electricity crackling in his hands. Aruna threw her knife and struck Rulindil in the back of the neck. He cried out and spun around, even as his hands reached for the knife lodged in his neck. Bishop let loose an arrow into Rulindil's back.

"Over here, you ugly bastard!" Bishop shouted.

Aruna's sword was already drawn and she moved to step out of the passageway.

"Dragonborn."

The voice behind her immediately sent icy chills down her back. Aruna whirled around.

She stared in surprise and confusion at Ondolemar, who stood in front of her, a cold smirk on his face. She felt an odd, painful pressure in her abdomen and when she looked down, the Justiciar was just releasing a dagger, stuck hilt-deep in her belly. She raised her eyes to meet his.

He took advantage of her distraction to yank her sword from her hand. His narrow lips stretched into a satisfied smirk. "If you can stop the bleeding in time, you might even survive this. If not, I suppose Skyrim will just have to do without another Dragonborn. What a pity."