The Bound - A Tale Of Tamriel

24

24

i. Öenthir.

The first thing she saw was the throne in the centre of the room. A large, stark, stone throne with no adornments. Sat upon the throne, she could see a draugr. This one was fully armoured, gripping a large, two-handed sword, by the hilt in one hand, its tip resting on the floor. The other hand held a long, thin, white staff. A globe of energy seemed to surround the draugr, a powerful magickal shield of some kind. The draugr was tall. Very tall. Even amongst Nords, this creature, in life, would have been head and shoulders taller than anyone else.

"Come in. We've been awaiting your arrival." Loremaster Dukhat emerged from the other side of the throne, almost casual, walking before the seated draugr. "Before you attack me, let me just say that my colleague and I are fully prepared to defend ourselves. With deadly force, if we must, but we would rather this all end amicably."

Another figure emerged. This one cloaked in shadow, they're features blurred and unidentifiable. The second figure joined Dukhat and, together, they stood in front of the draugr, eyeing the four companions with disinterest.

"You want the last Gem of Unison. We, I, can't let you have it." For once she found herself standing in front of her companions, stepping forward to confront her old mentor. "You betrayed me and I'd rather die than let you have it."

"Would you rather an innocent child die for your injured pride?" Dukhat raised an eyebrow and smiled in that kindly fashion she had once felt so comforted by. "Finish your task and then walk away. We won't stop you. Unless, that is, you try to stop us."

Öenthir looked back at her friends. None of them seemed to know what to do, instead looking towards her for inspiration. Dukhat was, after all, her old mentor. Revna and Itagaki were fine if something needed needed hitting. Tilly deferred to anybody else most of the time, anyway, but this was, for certain, not something she could deal with. The dark elf's eyes were darting around the room.

"We need to talk about it." If the consequences had not been so dire, she would find it comical that she was asking for time to talk in such a situation.

"By all means, old Æfiror isn't going anywhere." Dukhat reached out and tapped the draugr's shoulder through the globe of energy and the blue eyes in the dead mage's head flared in impotent anger. "But you know there is only one way this can go."

"What do you think?" She turned her back on Dukhat and his shadowy colleague in a deliberate show of defiance. "How can we trust what he says? He's already betrayed me. Lied to my face. I don't think I can make an unbiased decision here."

"I say we return the Gem and then kill them." Revna had to lean down as she whispered, trying to hide what she was saying. "We can't let anyone have all these Gems, they're too powerful."

"You have a point, sister, but if we die trying to stop them, they will have all the gems anyway." The Redguard scowled at what she was about to say. "But the mage also has a point. We must save the child. All other matters mean nothing until that is done. We can alert the Mages Guild about Dukhat and the Gems once we are out of this place."

"Well, one, I think I know where the exit is in this room. There are counterweights at the back wall. I've seen things like that before, for opening heavy doors." Tilly nodded in the direction of the counterweights. "And, two, why didn't Dukhat and his friend just take the Gems from Borgun? They could have broken the curse, if that's what they wanted to do, and made off with the Gems and no-one would have been any the wiser."

That gave Öenthir pause for thought. She wheeled around and stared at Dukhat as he and his colleague conversed between themselves. It was true. Dukhat was a powerful mage and, presumably, so was his comrade. They could have taken the Gems of Unison from them at any point before and after they left Riften. Why didn't they? Why this game of cat and mouse?