14
i. Revna.
They had returned to Abah's Landing under the cloak of darkness, the moons of Nirn, Masser and Secunda, Jone and Jode, hidden by clouds that were rarely seen in the peninsula of Hew's Bane. Revna had hoped that this would stave off the possibility of crowds gathering, but some had still managed to see them.
She had bowed her head and forged on to Finds-Things-Not-Lost's compound and breathed a sigh of relief when the gates had closed behind them, tight and secure.
They had slept and then spent the day after preparing for the next part of their journey, filling their packs with food and water. Brushing and feeding their horses, cleaning the tack. They had eaten, themselves, and talked little. Each reviewing the events of the day before, or reading, or whittling wood and reeds.
Evening came far too slow, for Revna. She wanted done with Hew's Bane and its heat and the undeserved admiration of the crowds. Even now, the Argonian merchant was outside her gates, showing off the head of the troll and telling an ever expanding tale of the events in the mountains, while making it quite clear that she was a merchant with the very best prices, not only an ally of 'Scorpion Black reborn'.
The final meal before setting off to use the wayshrine once more was a quiet one. Food picked at and pushed around plates. The only conversation was about what they were to expect in the swamps of Black Marsh, an area known as the Blackwood Borderlands that few knew anything about.
"Are you saying that there's no wayshrine near the next tomb?" Tilly pushed her plate away and stared at Öenthir. "You said there were hundreds all over the place."
"I said there isn't one that we know of." Öenthir began to reach into her satchel, for a map or a book, Revna didn't know, but she stopped the elf with a hand on her arm and a shake of the head. Seeing it wouldn't matter to Tilly. "The closest one is just over the border from Murkmire."
"And how far from the wayshrine is the tomb?" Itagaki was sat far from Tilly. It was clear the dark elf had not yet taken Revna's advice.
"Anywhere else, it would be a week's ride." Öenthir seemed apologetic for something that was beyond her control. "But in Black Marsh, with all the swamps and who know's what else, I couldn't even begin to guess."
"A week? In a swamp!" Tilly threw her hands up in exasperation. "And there's no other way to get there?"
"Not unless we weren't on a time limit." The Bosmer's hand fell to her satchel and patted it, without thinking. "Give me a year and I might be able to conjure a portal. Might! Thanks to one of those spellbooks you found."
"But we don't have a year." Revna was the only one eating. She had found that she actually liked some of the strange Hammerfell food. Not all of it. She would never get used to those sugared worms, whatever Finds-Things called them. "So, it's the wayshrine and a long ride. We do it this way, because we must."
Itagaki nodded her assent. Tilly grumbled for a while and left the table, a sideways glance at Itagaki missed by everyone but Revna. Öenthir continued to play with the food on her plate, her mind now on something else, drawing, on occasion, something in the air with her knife and then 'rubbing away' what she had 'drawn'.
Night had drawn around again when they all gathered in the courtyard. Revna had swapped the brilliant white cloak for a thicker, black one, believing that the white one only made her more noticeable by the crowds. The Argonian merchant soon joined them.
"It would probably be for the best if my lazy servants take your horses to the Shrine of Doors." She saw the questioning looks. "Your 'wayshrine'. I will lead you through the back way to avoid the peasants."
"'Back way'?" Revna found herself annoyed. "You mean we could have avoided the crowds all along?"
"Well, you know, yes. But, 'advertising'!" She made a dramatic flourish with her hands. "It's better now, for me, if they think that the great Scorpion Black is still a guest of this most humble and agreeable merchant who just happens to have new, expensive stock."
"You are unbelievable." Revna gave the reins of her horse to the bowing and scraping servant that had appeared.
Finds-Things was true to her word. The back way led to a thin passage, hidden between two tall buildings, that twisted and turned for some distance before reaching a grating of some kind. It looked like the entrance to a sewer, or to a flood tunnel, but the tunnel inside was, to their surprise, quite dry.
The tunnel was unlit, but Öenthir's Mage Light was useful once again, leading the way until another grating came in to sight. This grating led outside the city walls and Revna took a second to marvel at the sheer height of them once again. Some things she would miss about Abah's Landing.
As promised, their horses were, indeed, at the wayshrine waiting for them. At this time of night, not even goats were around. The city, that never seemed to fail to have large, thronging crowds, was for once quiet. At least from the wayshrine.
"And now we must make our farewells." Finds-Things took Öenthir's hand. "May all your spells be powerful ones, little one."
"Good bye, Finds." Öenthir gave the Argonian a hug that Finds-Things did not expect.
"May all your enemies fall before your blades." Finds-Things bowed to Itagaki and the Redguard, silent, returned the gesture. "And you, my sweet Dunmer princess!"
"Keep your hands to yourself, you thieving bugger." Tilly stepped back with a scowl and then, after a second, both she and Finds-Things erupted into huge grins and gave each other powerful hugs.
"And my beautiful Scorpion Black." Finds-Things took Revna's hand and kissed it, her eyes never leaving Revna's. "If only I had been a tall, blonde Nord. And male, I suppose. What beautiful lovemaking we would have made. Forgive me? For my greed?"
"Never." Revna didn't pull her hand away, but gave a small smile to the Argonian. "But I won't kill you for it. This time."
Finds-Things laughed and patted Revna's hand before kissing it once again and then letting go with great reluctance.
Öenthir had already started the process of working her magicks, using one of her remaining soul gems. The slight blue flame in the brazier-like bowl had begun to flare, to grow and brighten, even before she added the soul gem. Then the glow expanded, widening and brightening, until the entire wayshrine became bathed in the warm blue light.
Tilly jumped through first, after patting Finds-Things on the shoulder, tugging her horse along by the reins. Öenthir followed, leading her horse into the wayshrine's glow and then Itagaki strode forward, her grip tight upon the reins.
Finally, it was time for Revna. She looked at the wayshrine and its blue glow and then glanced at Finds-Things. She raised her hand and cupped the Argonians face, smiling as Finds-Things curled her head into the palm. How could one not forgive someone with such a cheeky face?
Straightening her back, she pulled on her horses reins and stepped forward into the glow of the wayshrine. She didn't see the happy tear that Finds-Things-Not-Lost wiped away.
ii. Tilly.
It was a swamp.
She knew it was going to be a swamp. She'd heard several times that it was going to be a swamp. It was only now, when she looked out across the landscape, with what seemed like millions of insects chirruping and buzzing and flitting about, and her boots were ankle deep in murky, stagnant water that it actually became a reality.
It was a swamp.
Her long noble's coat was only hanging above the water by the barest amount. The insects, after only a very short time, had become ceaseless and annoying. There was an ever present smell of rot assailing her nostrils. In the distance she heard the roar of some unknown creature, which was probably ghastly, angry and as smelly as everything else. She hated it.
"We should probably get some rest here until the morning." Itagaki had made a quick reconnaissance of the area. "There's nowhere above water anywhere near, that I can see. The wayshrine platform is the only thing close to being dry."
"Aye. But there'll be no space for the horses." Revna checked the fetlocks and hooves of her horse. "This water won't do their hooves any good."
"Bugger the horses." Tilly wrinkled her nose yet again as another whiff of rot passed by. "How are we going to make a fire? There's nothing dry anywhere."
"I can use my flame spell, but it won't last." Öenthir had not set a foot past the edge of the wayshrine, clutching her satchel and looking into the dank water with a mournful expression. "I'd have to keep recasting it."
"Just cast it long enough for our feet to dry." Revna stepped up onto the platform and settled down to sit against one of the uprights. "Dawn shouldn't be too far away. We'll set off as soon as we get our bearings, eh."
They all followed suit. Taking a position each against one of the damp uprights. Tilly couldn't settle. The floor of the wayshrine, covered in vines, tubers and creepers, criss-crossing, mingling and mixing, made a rough, uncomfortable carpet. And those damned insects seemed like they wanted to eat her alive! She'd lost count of the number that she had crushed against her skin with the slap of a hand.
"I'll take first watch." The others looked at her with shocked faces. She hadn't volunteered for almost anything, up to now, but she doubted she was going to sleep much, anyway. "I'll wake you up when your spell runs out, Wen."
She watched as the wood elf cast the spell near the feet of Tilly and the other two. She didn't need the heat as much because she hadn't got her feet wet. Tilly wouldn't have thought of that. She'd have cast it near her own feet, near to Itagaki's too, at a push, but that wasn't something she would immediately consider.
She found it infuriating that Öenthir fell asleep almost immediately after casting the spell. This pampered, aloof Bosmer who had turned her nose up at everything that wasn't silk and eiderdown, now found sleeping on the floor of a wayshrine, in the middle of a filthy swamp, was easy. And Tilly, who had spent most of her life living on the streets, thought she wouldn't be able to sleep if the mage had managed to conjure up the bed of a king! Maddening!
Soon, everybody was asleep and Tilly was alone with the constant night sounds of the swamp.
Itagaki slept with her swords clasped to her armoured chest. She looked so beautiful, even in the darkness. The flickering of the mage's flame spell made shadows dance upon the Redguard's features and each flicker, each new shadow, brought another part of Itagaki's beautiful face into focus. She was mesmerising, to Tilly.
There had only been one other person that had made Tilly's heart sing in this way, but that was a long, long time ago, now. A different life. Now, the streets of Morrowind, of Mournhold's back alleys, of the things she had done, had had to do, were all gone. She had carved a better life for herself, even leaving the life of a thief behind for a greater calling.
But, Itagaki! She made Tilly feel like even that greater calling was a poor imitation of what her life could be. Itagaki made Tilly want to be better. To do better. The steadfast, honest straight-forward Redguard had a way about her that made Tilly want to be ... good. To think beyond her own needs and wants. To, and Tilly found this difficult to believe, think and care about others!
She considered what the big oaf had told her the day before. It was possible she was right (and admitting that to herself almost made her retch). It was also possible she did need to show Itagaki what she was feeling, what she was thinking. Showing feelings, growing up, had usually got her hurt. Others had died through feeling too much. But, now, after all this time, it wouldn't hurt to show some feelings, could it? For certain people, at least.
She continued running the same thoughts through her head until the mage's flame spell began to dim and sputter out.
"Wen!" The mage stirred as Tilly kicked her booted foot. "The spell's run out. Your watch."
"I'm awake." The mage still wasn't used to the odd hours of sleeping outdoors and keeping a watch. She struggled and fought to wake herself up, stretching and yawning. "Is everything alright? Nothing to worry about?"
"Yeah." Tilly looked once again towards Itagaki before settling herself down. "Everything's fine. Everything's good."
She slept then, somehow, as if all the sounds, smells and creatures didn't exist anymore. Like everything was going to be good for once in her life.
iii. Öenthir.
How she had slept so well, under the circumstances, eluded her. She had performed her watch until her flame spell died out again, woken up to reignite it again when the watch changed once more and had slept like a baby in between.
Now, as dawn broke through the gnarled, knotted and twisting vegetation around the wayshrine, she felt almost refreshed. Revna, during her watch, had gathered up wood nearby that wasn't as wet as the rest and left it to dry beside the flame spell and now there was a small, but warming fire on the platform.
She had awoken to the smell of bacon and sausages, that they had brought from Abah's Landing, frying and it smelled wonderful and mouthwatering. Nibbling at a well fried rasher of bacon, she consulted her maps.
The ones that covered the Blackwood Borderlands were sparse and showed little detail, yet she could make a good guess that the next tomb, the tomb of Onzngknd, was to the north-west of this wayshrine. If the maps were anything to go by, the swamp should give way to flat land after half a day's journey. Land that was not as damp, she hoped.
"We should set off as soon as we have finished eating." Itagaki looked over Öenthir's shoulder at the map, looked at the position of the sun and then back at the map. She pointed in a direction. "That way, according to the map."
"We should lead the horses until we reach higher ground." Revna, wolfing at two cuts of bread with three sausages stuffed between them, had checked the horses once again. Their well-being seemed more important to her than to any of the others. "The footing in these swamps could be treacherous for them with us on their backs."
"Great. This place is that bad, I almost miss Skyrim." Tilly looked at the swamp water from the wayshrine platform, in disgust. "I'm going to need new boots after this."
They were soon on the way, tugging their horses along, slogging through the slimy stagnant waters, almost having to fight to lift their legs from the mire. They had to alter course several times due to deeper waters, areas with crocodiles, Kotu Gava and even a huge, bone armoured Haj Mota. Revna had taken one look at the Haj Mota and stated that, one day, she would fight one of those beasts, for the fun of it.
They reached higher ground sooner than they had expected and Öenthir made a mental note to amend the maps when they stopped to rest, according to her new observations. Now that they were on out of the worst of the swamp and they could see the ground the horses would be travelling on, they mounted and Itagaki pushed them to make up time before resting at mid-day.
It was, Öenthir surmised, now almost into the second week since the cursed voices had started in the Jarl's mind, there was still another week, at least, before they reached Onzngknd's tomb and then a similar amount of time to come back and reach a wayshrine in Murkmire that they could use to transport to Skyrim for the final tomb of Æfiror. That gave plenty of time, but that was also if everything went according to plan, which rarely happened.
There had been little talk between the party through the morning. The cloying, dense and claustrophobic land of Black Marsh and, in particular, here in the Blackwood Borderlands it all felt like a heavy blanket weighing down upon them all.
Tilly had tried to lighten the mood by telling a tale of the time she found herself caught in the bedchambers of a noble's wife. She had bedded the wife, put the noble to sleep with a small cut from 'Bedtime Story', stolen the family jewellery and made off with the chambermaid and the noblewoman still proclaimed her love for Tilly through the window as Tilly and the chambermaid ran through the streets.
Both Öenthir and Revna chuckled at the story, but Itagaki sat stony faced upon her horse and her quiet fury, felt through the binding, caused the amusement to die an abrupt death. Öenthir saw a wordless exchange between Revna and the dark elf that seemed to amount to Revna urging Tilly to do something and Tilly shrugging her shoulders a lot.
By mid-day they were all past ready to rest for a short while. They each checked their horses, drying the hooves with a cloth Revna had picked up from Finds-Things-Not-Lost's copious stores. Then Revna joined Itagaki staring out through the strange shaped trees, climbing vines and squat, fat stemmed bushes.
"What is it?" Öenthir joined them, but could see nothing.
"I don't know." Revna scowled and looked to see if Itagaki was thinking the same thing. "It's just a feeling. Like ..."
"We are being watched." Itagaki finished the sentence and Revna nodded agreement.
Öenthir gave one more look to their surroundings, but the trees gave nothing away of what might be hiding within them. She made an involuntary shiver and returned to her horse. She had been about to take out her books and maps, for a short while, to make notes and changes according to what they had seen, but she left them all in her satchel.
She wanted to be able to move immediately if she needed to.
iv. Itagaki.
There was nothing there. Nothing that she could see, but she could sense it. Eyes watching from the trees. She knew Revna could feel it too, having taken one of her great swords from her weapons roll and resting it on her lap as she rode.
The Khajiit still seemed to be reluctant to use the sword on her back. She tended to it, every night, tied it to her back, with reverence, every morning and yet never took it off for a fight. Itagaki still found it strange. It was, by far, the best weapon Revna had and it should see use.
For her part, Itagaki eased her swords in their scabbards at regular intervals as they travelled, her eyes made surreptitious checks of every tree, every dip in the landscape, every rock and bush. She knew something, or someone was there but, try as she might, she could not see it, or them. They were good, whoever they were.
Tilly had trotted up, twice now, to start a conversation but, even if she wasn't concerned by whoever was watching them, she didn't want to talk to the dark elf. That night, in Abah's Landing, had been a mistake. A momentary lapse that she would not be fool enough to repeat. The Dunmer could find another notch for her bed post.
It wan't that she wasn't attracted to the dark elf. She was. But that flawless dark blue/grey skin, the perfect cheekbones, the cheeky, black eyes, the silky, white hair that fell about her shoulders and the lithe body without an ounce of fat upon it were only a shell. A picture without a canvas. Tilly could no more love someone than a horse could breathe underwater. That was a gift of the binding. When you could feel the emotions of three other people, but not those of your lover, there was nothing there to love.
And Itagaki needed love, not lust.
"It'll be dark soon." Revna's eyes never left the surroundings, calling over her shoulder to Itagaki and the others. "We should find somewhere to camp."
It took a little while longer, but they managed to find an area that seemed dry and flat, with trees and bushes surrounding it, giving cover but enough distance to be able to meet any attack if it came.
"I'll try to find some dry wood." Öenthir offered as she began to circle the clearing.
"We need to talk." Tilly caught Itagaki unawares, the Redguard's attention being on their surroundings. "There's some things we need to say."
"I have nothing to say to you." Itagaki continued to clear away debris from the area, still watching the trees. "You had your fun. You fought past my barriers and we slept together. Now you have your big story to tell your thief friends."
"It's not like that!" Tilly grabbed Itagaki's arm and turned her to face each other. "I just want you to know that ... that ..."
There was a scream. Itagaki unsheathed both her swords, pulling her arm away from Tilly, and turned in the direction of the scream. Revna had also turned, the great sword held in a one-handed grip that few could manage with such ease. Then Öenthir ran from the trees, her satchel flapping against her side, panic in her eyes.
"Bugs!" She ran like the hordes of Oblivion were on her tail. "I disturbed some big bugs!"
"Bugs? You scream for bugs?" Revna relaxed, dropping the sword to her side and laughed at the Bosmer. "Then you'll be screaming a lot here, mage."
"No, no, no! Big bugs! Really, really big bugs!" Öenthir pointed back the way she came and now they all could hear the furious buzzing of flapping wings and they saw them. Some the size of big house cats, others even dog size. Kotu Gava. "That big!"
The Kotu Gava made strange creaking, croaking sounds as they flew from the trees, straight towards the group. There were so many of them that Itagaki couldn't count, swarming towards them, around them, above them.
Immediately, she swept her sword outwards in a wide arc, slicing one of the bugs clean in two and taking one of the wings from another, sending it spiralling to the ground. Revna moved away from the group in order to use her great sword like a windmill, spinning it around and around with ease, hitting some of the Kotu Gava, but not enough. There were still so many.
Tilly had drawn both her daggers, 'The Sisters', and had begun wild slashing at anything that came near her. The buzzing was so loud, it made thinking difficult for them all. Itagaki saw Öenthir trying to get space for herself so that she could cast a spell, but the Kotu Gava followed too fast.
They started making headway, though. A pile of Kotu Gava had begun to form around Revna as she continued windmilling her sword with such ferocity and speed that even the manoeuvrable insects were being caught, even by glancing blows. Itagaki, herself, had flitted and danced avoiding the sharp needle point proboscis' of the insects and slicing and dicing her way through the cloud.
Soon, their efforts began to tell. The insects were almost all dead or retreating. Itagaki made her way to Öenthir, who was still stalked by some of the Kotu Gava but, as she carved them apart, the mages eyes widened at something behind Itagaki.
She turned and there, much larger than any of the others, its abdomen huge and bloated, was the brood mother. Before Itagaki could react, the abdomen exploded sending hundreds or larval Kotu Gava flying towards her.
Only she found herself knocked out of the way, tumbling sideways until she could regain her feet but, by the time she had, the swarm of larval Kotu Gava had hit. Tilly. The dark elf was the centre of a cloud of larval Kotu Gava, screaming in pain. 'The Sisters' fell from her hands and the Dunmer soon followed them to the floor, curling up into a screaming fetal ball.
"No!" It was Öenthir that yelled, her face turning from panic to a pure rage that Itagaki had never seen in the Bosmer.
And then Öenthir raised both her hands, held like claws pointing at the swarm of Kotu Gava around Tilly, and the brood mother, and flame appeared. Not the small flickering flame that the mage had used the night before to keep them warm, but a great ball of red hot, furious fire, writhing and twisting in the air. It encompassed the cloud around Tilly, burning them, incinerating them, exploding them.
Öenthir turned her attention, then, to the brood mother. Encircling it with the fire, leaving it space within the globe of flame. Then, almost with cruelty, closing her clawed fingers into fists, the globe of fire following suit, growing tighter and tighter around the brood mother burning it from the edges right to its body, until it fell from the air, nothing more than a twisted, torched corpse.
Itagaki had watched this all in a state of shock and was slow to move, even as Öenthir's eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed in a heap next to the whimpering form of Tilly. By the time Itagaki could move, Revna had joined her to fall to their knees beside their friends, both now deathly silent.
It was no wonder, then, that neither of the warriors noticed, until far too late, the spears that were being pointed at them.