The Bound - A Tale Of Tamriel

13

13

i. Öenthir.

Once again, lights sprang into life as they entered the next chamber. This one, however was not as grand, or as large as the others they encountered. It appeared to be a square room, some twenty feet by twenty feet and, in the centre of the room, there was a great stone chair, upon which sat another skeleton.

The group all edged forward, wary after the encounter they had had with the four skeletons that had attacked them. The skeleton did not move, its skull, resting on its fleshless fist which, in turn, rested by the elbow upon the arm of the chair.

The skeleton had been tall, when it had been alive. Taller than Revna, Öenthir thought. Remnants of fine cloth, now rotted and threadbare, still clung to the skeleton and a tall crown rested upon the skull. The crown had what looked like thorns made from metal rising up from the base and, in their twisting, delicate detail, there appeared to be a small, empty space.

"That must be the Ayleid mage." Öenthir stayed beside Revna, despite itching to examine the skeleton.

"Indeed, it was." The voice had come from behind and the entire group turned, as one, to face the way they had come. "I am Gwinilden and this is my tomb."

The door had closed in silence behind them and there stood the ghost-like apparition that they had seen before. It seemed to be more distinct, here in the chamber with its skeleton. Less like a ghost and more like a figure made from morning fog.

"You are one of the mages that cursed these gems?" Revna had stepped between the mage's ghost and the others, holding her axe at the ready. "Innocent people have died because of you and those Shor's damned stones!"

Öenthir put her hand on Revna's arm, pulling her back. There was no telling what this mage could do. The sheer power the mage must have had to create the Gems of Unison must have been incredible. Even now she could feel the raw magicka of the gem inside her satchel, waiting to reunite with its master.

"I assure you, that was not the intent." The mage's apparition wavered and it bowed its head. "The curse was a deterrent. A last barrier to keep the gems from the hands of mortals that would misuse the great power we had infused within the stones."

"Intent or no, the curse is killing people that had no part in their taking." Itagaki had sheathed her sword, sensing that there would be no battle here, or, at least, no battle that steel could win. "Why?"

"The curse was supposed to have been an irritant. A repeating message that would grow louder and more insistent the longer the gems were not returned to us." The spirit, its hands clasped as if in prayer, glided from the doorway towards the stone chair and its skeleton. "Little did I know that Æfiror, the Nord mage, had changed the effect of the curse without my knowledge. If I had known, I would have stopped him, of course."

"Why didn't you change it when you found out?" Tilly had been examining the crown and, disappointed that it wasn't of a precious metal, had rejoined the group. "If this Effieroar bloke had changed it, why couldn't you?"

"Unlike Æfiror and the dwarf, Onzngknd, I had put my all into the gems, as I thought they were also doing. Alas, I was wrong. I was diminished almost completely. They were not." The spirit looked upon the bones that were once his and Öenthir realised that that was what the skeleton looked like. It looked tired. "I was barely able to create this tomb before my strength, and my body, failed me, while the others lived on. For a while, at least."

"Did you make your tomb the easiest to find purposefully? So that whoever was cursed could find you and break the curse?" Öenthir had so many questions to ask the Ayleid ghost that she didn't know where to begin. "Where are the other tombs? How did you know we were coming? The lit torches, the lights leading the way."