The Bound - A Tale Of Tamriel

18

Whether the contraption had seen them or not, she couldn't tell. It hadn't so much as looked over towards the door and, for certain, had made no move towards it. It was possible it had not seen them, or did not consider them a threat. Regardless, if the rest of this Dwemer tomb was half as docile, this could be the easier of the two tombs they had encountered.

"How much further can this hall go?" As impatient as ever to get to some kind of fighting, Revna was becoming annoyed. "If it goes on for much longer, maybe we should have brought down more supplies with us."

"There's no way of knowing." She tried to placate the Khajiit. "It can't be too much further before we find something."

"What supplies did we all bring?" It should have been something that Itagaki would have thought about sooner and Öenthir could see the Redguard felt annoyed with herself for it taking this long before she considered it. "I have my water skin and perhaps a day's worth of salted meat strips."

"Same." Revna replied.

"I have water." The dark elf shrugged. "Well, half of what I had. It's been a long walk."

"I have some food and spare water in my satchel, but I don't know how long it will last." She watched as Itagaki considered this.

"We should continue. If it starts looking like this place is too big to continue without more rations, we go back. Agreed?" There was a series of nods towards Itagaki and Öenthir added her own.

If push came to shove, she could always summon her rain cloud for water, but food, down here, could be very scarce. Metal environments were not well known to house animal life. At least, not the kind of animals that are generally considered edible.

There were only two options; continue on, or turn back. Neither Itagaki or Revna were the kind of people that abandoned things well, although, as warriors, they understood the benefits of retreat. The dark elf would, most like, turn back now, if she could, but her concerns for that woman ended there. As far as Öenthir felt concerned, if it wasn't for the binding, the dark elf could have run away weeks ago.

And so they continued on, following the seeming endless, almost featureless corridor to whatever there was at the end. She only hoped they found something soon.

ii. Itagaki.

The length of the corridor was becoming monotonous with nothing to show whether it was going anywhere or if there was an end at all. She paid serious consideration to turning around, to return to the surface and get their full set of supplies. The last thing they needed was finding themselves caught far from the entrance without any food or water.

"What is the point of this?" The dark elf had kept up with them, but she seemed to be tiring more than the rest of them. She leaned against the metal wall and took a drink from her water skin. "Why not just have the entrance near the actual tomb? This is ridiculous."

"Maybe it's to discourage tomb robbers?" Revna stood beside the dark elf, worrying as usual. "If you were a tomb robber and faced this journey, wouldn't you give it up as a waste of time?"

"With a chance of gold and riches at the end?" Accepting the Khajiit's offered hand, the dark elf stood upright again. "Not bloody likely."

Öenthir made a derisive snort at the dark elf's money grabbing ways. She had continued on up the corridor for a short distance, staring ahead, tilting her head a slight. She clutched her new staff with both hands, leaning against it.

"The light is different." She looked back over her shoulder. "Down there. I think we're close to something. A junction, or a room."

"Then we had better go see." Itagaki adjusted her grip on the Argonian hammers she carried. They were heavier than her swords and, even with the amount she had practiced with them, they were difficult to carry. "If it is nothing significant, I think we should turn back and get properly supplied."