“Dar.”
Roggi’s whisper just behind his head brought Dardeh slowly out of what had been one of the deepest sleeps of his life. His brief brush with Sanguinare Vampiris had left him more exhausted than he could have imagined, making the stop at Mammoth Manor an absolute necessity. He could feel, now, that his strength had returned; he would be well able to tackle the necromancers at Brittleshin Pass.
“Dardeh.” Roggi shook him, very gently, by the shoulder.
He smiled at the sound, but didn’t open his eyes quite yet. He just wanted to feel the warmth of the man and hear his deep, gentle voice before he had to deal with the rest of the world again.
“Dar, wake up. Everyone else is up and we need to go take care of Brittleshin.”
“Mm-hmm,” he grunted. I suppose I do need to get moving. He heard Roggi start toward the door of their bedroom.
He sighed. “Too bad,” he mumbled.
The footsteps stopped. “Too bad what, exactly?”
Dardeh tried not to grin. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe we should have just let it run its course. Can you picture me with fangs?”
It went dead silent in the room. He rolled over to face Roggi, grinning, and then stopped when he saw the stricken look on Roggi’s face.
“Tell me you’re not serious about that.”
Dardeh pushed himself up to a sitting position and held out his arms. “Of course I’m not. I thought I was being funny. Guess not. Come here.” He stood and pulled Roggi in close to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” He leaned forward to kiss his husband and felt the barely-concealed panic just behind the warm lips. He pulled back to look at Roggi again.
Roggi was … afraid. There was no other conclusion he could reach from the look in the man’s eyes. The only other time he’d seen anything like it was that awful moment in the pass near Haemar’s Shame, when Roggi had been struggling simply to live after being skewered by a Miraak cultist.
“What is it?”
Roggi shook his head. “I keep thinking about Brynjolf sitting beside that pile of ash in Dawnstar. I don’t ever want to be in that situation.”
“Roggi, I’m not going to let some vampire turn me. And I’m sorry I joked about it. We’ll make sure to have lots of potions on hand, yes?”
“Yes.” Roggi expelled a loud sigh. “There’s something about the whole thing that bothers me. Like there’s more to this than we know. But I’m probably worrying for nothing. Let’s get those potions and some food and get going.”
Roggi left the room, and Dardeh slowly dressed himself in his armor and situated his swords. It wasn’t like Roggi to be shaken. Not about anything. Roggi was frequently concerned, or deep in thought, or even angry sometimes; but he’d only rarely seen him quite so on edge.
I wonder what he’s not telling me. He never tells me everything. I guess I’ll just wait and see.
He descended to the kitchen, where Rayya was pulling a batch of meat pies out of the oven. Smiling at her, he helped himself to one, still steaming, and sank his teeth into it. Savard had come up behind him; he also grabbed a delicious-smelling dumpling and began working on it.
“Mmm. Wonderful,” he mumbled around the pie.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, my Thane,” Rayya said, grinning at him. “After going to all the work of making the pies I’d hate to see one choke you to death.”
Dardeh swallowed before he laughed. “Yeah, me too. Sorry. I have no manners. Ma used to nag me about it, too.”
Rayya smiled at him again. “So where are you all off to now?”
Dardeh opened his mouth to respond, but Savard beat him to it. “Brittleshin Pass. Necromancers.”
Rayya frowned. “Do you want me to come along? Or Lydia? It only takes one of us to watch the girls and I’d like to keep an eye on you.” She stood there, wiping her hands with a cloth and looking like she was ready to gather up her scimitars at any moment.
Dardeh snorted. “There are already three of us, Rayya. Thanks, but no, we’ll be fine. Roggi and I travel together, you know that by now; and with Savard along… well, any more of us and we won’t be able to fit into the pass.”
Rayya frowned. “Alright. But be careful.”
The door opened and Roggi stepped back into the room. “I just told Lydia we’re off. She and the children are going fishing. Let’s get moving.”
They started on their way, taking the path down to their dock and then working around the edge of the lake, heading for the southern entrance to Brittleshin Pass. It would take a bit more care than simply following the roadways to the north side, but would cut a good chunk of time off their travel.
They’d not been on the move for more than a couple of moments before Savard spoke. “Something about that girl bothers me.”
Dardeh laughed. “She’s my housecarl, Savard. Appointed by the Jarl.”
“Yes, and something about her bothers me. The way that she looked at you.”
Dardeh chuckled again.
“Don’t laugh, Dar,” Roggi said quietly. “He’s right. She always looks at you like she wants to devour you or something. It’s bothered me ever since we met her.”
“You do know how foolish this sounds, right?”
Roggi sighed. “Yeah, I guess so. But remember, it’s always been my job to listen to my gut.”
Savard slipped a sideways glance at Roggi. “You, um, worked for Ulfric Stormcloak way back, yes?”
Roggi’s eyebrows rose. “I’m surprised you would know that.”
Savard chuckled. “I’ve been around. You do look a bit older than you did back then but I’m good with faces. And glad I never needed to meet you personally.”
Roggi snorted. “So much for any attempts to keep a low profile. I’m beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t let Lydia do what she’s always threatening with my hair and beard.”
“Don’t you dare,” Dardeh said. “I like your hair the way it is.”
“Doesn’t really matter anymore these days,” Savard said. “But it is good reason for you to listen to the man, Dragonborn. He’s got instincts.”
Dardeh smiled at Roggi. Yeah, well so do I. And my instincts told me to stay with him from the first moment I laid eyes on him. I’ve been right about that so far.
“You’re right. But I still don’t think you two need to be worried about me.”
“I hope you’re right, Dar,” Roggi murmured.
They worked their way around the north shore of the lake. It was a long slog, particularly when a driving rain started late in the morning. All three of them managed to fall into the water at least once around the long-submerged towers known as Ilinalta’s Deep. By the time they made it to the base of the path up into the pass they were sodden, and Dardeh for one was in a foul mood.
The evidence of necromancy met them at the foot of the hill in the form of two skeletons bent on stopping their progress. Dardeh snarled and slashed the first one to bits. Roggi passed him on the right and tackled the other. Just as it fell, though, an ice spike flew down the slope and pierced Dardeh with its magic, leaving him gasping. He forced himself off the path, glancing up the hill at a necromancer accompanied by her reanimated thrall. There was a dead frostbite spider between them and Roggi; and to his dismay it began rising in a blue cloud of magic. The thrall was also a necromancer, it seemed.
Roggi took a powerful swing at the once-dead thrall; and as she moaned and died once more so did the spider, both of them disintegrating into ash. Dardeh, having recovered his breath, dashed up the hill to assist Roggi with the second necromancer. He stepped in just to Roggi’s left, whirled around to avoid Roggi’s greatsword and the mage’s spells, and drove his double-edged sword straight down into her chest. It pierced the mage’s armor and squelched wetly through her body; she shuddered and dropped to the ground.
“Well there,” Roggi said. “What was it you were saying about being strong?”
Dardeh chuckled. “I do alright when I’m not sick with the vampire flu, I guess.”
Savard came crunching up the path behind them and swore when he saw the aftermath of the skirmish.
“Damned slippery rocks,” he grumbled. “I got my foot stuck and couldn’t get it freed up in time to help. Sorry about that. I hope you won’t hold it against me.”
Dardeh grinned at him and shook his head. “I’ve had stupider things happen to me. Don’t worry about it.”
Savard examined the dead mage and the ash piles below and frowned. “If there was a necromancer this strong outside the cave what do you suppose we’ll find inside?”
“Worse,” Roggi said flatly.
They crept into the tunnel that created the pass through the mountains. Brittleshin was actually a series of caves, connected over ages by excavation and flowing water. From the south side, the path descended through the mountain to emerge near a giant camp at the southern edge of Whiterun Hold. It wasn’t a heavily traveled route, and tended to attract rogue mages because of its protected interior.
Dardeh couldn’t see anyone but he could hear the quiet clinking of a mortar and pestle just around the corner. He drew his bow and advanced slowly until he had a clear shot at the target, a woman busy at an alchemy table. He took two quick shots at her; she crumpled to the floor, moaning. An Altmer voice sounded from around the corner to the left.
“Is someone there?”
Dardeh took another step into the chamber, noting the shock rune placed on the floor just in front of the far doorway. The mage was reanimating a body from the embalming table before him when Dardeh’s first arrow struck him. He fired a second arrow and then, as the mage cast a healing spell, pulled his swords and rushed the man, being careful to steer clear of the rune. Behind him he could hear Roggi and Savard engaged with someone who was casting frost spells.
Must have been someone tucked into that side chamber we passed.
Dardeh slashed at the mage. It wasn’t a difficult battle; even wearing heavy armor the man was no warrior. Just as he fell, though, there was an explosion that sent a shock ripping through Dardeh. Someone, he wasn’t sure who, had tripped the rune. He groaned as Roggi and Savard rushed past him and into the deep cave beyond.
There were mages everywhere, it seemed. At the top of the cave was a man in dragon scale robes, trying valiantly to protect himself with a ward spell that did nothing to stop either Roggi’s dragonbone greatsword or Dardeh’s dual weapons. From farther down the ramp, though, came waves of frost as at least one mage and perhaps more worked to keep Dardeh’s group from advancing. Dardeh ground his teeth against the ache of cold in his muscles and struck the man in dragon scale a final blow, then took a moment to step out of the line of fire and heal himself a bit.
He moved back into the action just as Roggi destroyed a revived corpse, and gasped at what he saw. There were no fewer than three mages on the landing just below him: one wielded a staff, a second was gathering what looked like frost magic into his hand and a third was fully engaged in trying to roast Roggi alive while Savard attempted to get past him into the open.
Dardeh took advantage of the fact that their enemies were in the open, and Shouted. A huge fireball enveloped the mage holding the staff. Dardeh didn’t wait to see what damage his Shout had done, but instead jumped down into the room and rushed at the woman trying to burn Roggi. A couple of quick swipes with his sword were all it took to stop her; it seemed that she had also been a revived corpse, for she groaned and disintegrated as he pulled his swords away.
A plume of frost struck them, and they pushed forward to engage the woman casting the spell. She was tough; after escaping the brunt of Dardeh’s first attack she rolled sideways into a corner and attempted to fight back. The frost had Dardeh’s arms moving slowly at best, but he grinned as he saw Roggi rush up behind the mage and raise his sword. Savard slid up beside Dardeh. For the last few – very brief – moments of her life the mage faced all three of them.
Dardeh moved back into the open, trying once more to magic some warmth into his sluggish limbs. Roggi shot past him, raised his sword over his head and brought it down, slicing through the last of the three mages in one bone-crushing blow.
Savard harrumphed. “You might give a man a chance to get in on the fun, Roggi,” he grumbled, earning a chuckle from Roggi.
Dardeh looked at his husband and shook his head. “Aren’t you supposed to be something like ten years older than me?”
Roggi was breathing heavily after the exertion, but he laughed. “It’s your fault, Dragonborn. I’d never have gotten back into shape if not for you.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s always my fault.” Dardeh grinned. He’s remarkable. He makes light of it but he seems to keep getting better and stronger by the day. I don’t know how I can take any of the credit for that, but I’m surely glad he’s on my side, and not my enemy. I’m pretty sure the only advantage I’d have in that situation would be the fact that I can Shout.
Dardeh drew his bow again and led their way cautiously down the steps into the next area, which seemed to be empty. As he remembered from previous trips through, there was a set of cages just in front of him to the right and a short flight of steps up to an enchanting table on his left. Beyond the cages, an opening led into the brighter expanse of Brittleshin’s central chamber. Movement there caught his attention; a skeleton was patrolling the narrow stone walkway. He fired one quick shot at it and watched in satisfaction as it crumpled.
A moment later his muscles cramped painfully. A man popped up from the ramp the skeleton had been guarding and ran across the stone walkway, casting shock spells at him. Dardeh gasped; his arrow struck the man but the cramps in his arms had kept him from fully drawing the bow.
The mage snarled at him and started crowing about the awesome power he had. His boast came to an abrupt halt as Savard caved his skull in with a well-placed blow from his warhammer. An ice spike from just beyond the opening to the walkway struck Savard, and the mage who had cast it continued up the ramp toward them. He howled, more in anger than in pain, Dardeh thought; then he ran to meet her with Roggi on his heels.
Dardeh stepped out onto the walkway to join them just as the mage dropped down off the ramp to the floor below, and chaos erupted. There were people shouting and spells flying; Dardeh had just pulled his swords when a massive fireball exploded practically in his face. He cried out and pulled back. The only thing he knew that cast that particular kind of fire spell was a hagraven and sure enough, once his vision cleared enough to look again he saw her climbing the ramp toward him. He tried to take a swing at her, but she threw another fireball just in front of him and his reflexive jerk backwards had him tumbling off the ramp. As he landed, another mage pierced him with an ice spike. He doubled over in agony, only to hear the distinctive clatter of skeletons to either side of him.
Talos help me or I will die.
He hacked apart the skeleton on his right with a massive backhand delivered from knee height, then forced himself painfully to his feet and stopped the second with a similar, left-handed blow. Then he made for the shadows.
I’m not as strong as I thought. I need to heal or I’m going to…
His thoughts were interrupted by a groan as another ice spike struck him, sending him stumbling forward into a gap between the wall and a stone pillar. There he met the mage who was casting the magic. He didn’t have the strength to strike; he didn’t have time to cast healing. He looked up at her and did the only thing he had left.
“FUS- RO DAH!”
The mage was lifted in the air and flew backward, fully halfway across the cavern, into the midst of the battle going on between Roggi, Savard, and at least four more enemies. The edges of the shock wave continued past and caught two more mages, knocking one of them down completely and staggering the second. Dardeh surveyed the area quickly but then slunk back into the shadows.
I’m sorry Roggi! I’m sorry! I have to heal!
He could hear one of the women shrieking and knew Roggi was still holding his own, but it seemed like a lifetime before Dardeh was able to move back into the fray. When he did, it was to finish off the two mages who were trying their best to kill Savard. One had been a reanimated corpse; she went down quickly. The second was wielding a staff. Between Dardeh and Savard it took several long moments to break her. Just as she crumpled to the ground Dardeh heard another shriek behind them. There was a chuckle, and Roggi stepped out from behind one of the ferns clinging to life in the dim light at the bottom of the cavern, waving a pair of hagraven feathers in the air.
“We sure showed them, eh?” he said. He was dripping with sweat and had a bad cut on his forehead, but seemed unconcerned as he fished in his pack for a potion.
“Well you did. You and Savard. Sorry I was such a liability this time.” He frowned.
“What are you talking about, Dar? That was a lot of enemies and you took out your share of them. The Shouts made the difference a couple of times.” Roggi wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve and grinned. “This looks like a good Wumpus cave.”
Dardeh snorted. “What is this world coming to? You just got sweat and blood on your sleeve on purpose?”
While Roggi laughed, Savard harrumphed again. “You two are like some old married couple, alright. No doubt about it.”
“Well, yeah,” Dardeh said, looking around. “Ok, so you keep saying we should listen to our gut. Mine is saying we’re not finished yet.”
“Mine too, Dar,” Roggi nodded. He sighed. “Wizards. Why is it always wizards?”
Dardeh laughed. “It’s not. Sometimes it’s vampires.”
“Good point.”
Dardeh trotted back up the circular ramp in the center of the main chamber and across the stone walkway where he’d dropped a skeleton on their way down. There was a set of iron doors set back into the wall, where he hadn’t seen them before. He pointed.
“There we go. Ready?”
“Let’s go clean it out,” Savard rumbled.
Dardeh thought for a moment. “Listen, I’ve had kind of a hard time with this bunch. I’m going to do something to give myself an edge, ok? Don’t be startled.”
He drew in a deep breath and Shouted, enveloping himself in the armor of Dragon Aspect. He heard Roggi make a noise.
“I’ll still never get used to that, Dar. Doesn’t matter how many times I see it.”
“I know. It’s kind of flashy. But maybe I’ll be semi-useful this time.”
Dardeh pushed open the doors, with Savard just behind him. Before them was a crude tunnel, carved into the rock but lighted with torch sconces at various intervals. There was a cool breeze moving through the space, hinting at another large cavern ahead of them. They worked their way to the right, and then left; and the tunnel opened onto, as he’d expected, a large circular cavern. There was a raised wooden bridge just in front of them.
Dardeh stepped forward, intending to examine the bridge, but before he had taken more than a few steps a distinctly Dunmer voice hissed “What was that?” He looked to his left just as the mage cast an armor spell. Dardeh fired an arrow at him, and then another; but the mage got close enough that when he cast a flame cloak spell Dardeh’s eyebrows were scorched. He yelped and stepped backward.
Damn flames! At least the Dragon Aspect kept me from going up like a torch!
Savard stepped forward and swung as hard as he could with his warhammer. The mage dropped like a stone.
There was an ice mage down on the floor of the cavern, beyond the base of the drawbridge’s supporting structure. Dardeh looked down at him just in time to see him cast an ice spike, and was able to step back and dodge it. Then he dashed down the dirt ramp before him to attack. He was met halfway down by a skeleton and a fiery explosion from a second mage. He growled, even as he backhanded the skeleton into a pile of disassembled bones.
“FUS- RO DAH!”
The shock wave dissipated the flames, rolled down the ramp and knocked over one of the mages. A skeleton standing next to him disintegrated to ash; Dardeh wasn’t sure whether his Shout had done that or the mage had died and his conjuration expired. He rushed to finish the downed mage with a few quick strikes. His left-side peripheral vision caught a revived corpse disintegrating into ash. Before he could much more than register that piece of information another fire mage ran in from his right, along with a skeleton.
One swipe took the skeleton down. Three more finished the mage. Dardeh whirled left, caught a cloud of frost directly in his face, and howled. Roggi and Savard, who had switched to a lethal-looking war pick, were wrestling with a pair of mages at the end of a narrow corridor. The woman yelped and then began healing herself, shouting that she yielded.
Right. I know better.
The second mage was busy casting an armor spell when Dardeh tossed him high into the air and hard against the rock wall with Unrelenting Force. When he hit the ground he was barely breathing; Dardeh finished him off quickly.
“Ahhh! It burns!” Roggi screamed. Dardeh turned to his left. For some reason Roggi hadn’t put his helmet back on, and the mage who had run away pleading for mercy was enveloping both of them in flames. Dardeh tried to push past, to get between Roggi and the fire, but his eyes watered and he couldn’t see anything but the orange of the flames.
“FO- KRAH DIIN!”
He blinked. It was a familiar voice, but not his. The ethereal Dragonborn had materialized between him and the enemy, and Shouted Frost Breath at the mage, counteracting the fire. Dardeh stepped back and healed himself furiously, then pushed back past Roggi and Savard, whose thin Stormcloak armor was doing little to protect him from either frost or flame. Just as he passed Roggi in the corridor the mage crumpled to the ground. None of them had touched her. Dardeh blinked and looked around for the spectral Dragonborn, but he was nowhere to be seen.
It fell silent for a moment, and all three of them tended to their wounds, looking at each other in confusion.
“That Frost shout, Dar…” Roggi said, hesitantly.
“That was well done,” Savard said.
“And it wasn’t me,” Dardeh said, shaking his head. “You know what I sound like, Roggi, and that wasn’t my Voice. That’s the thing I’ve been telling you about all this time. He appears when I’m in a tight spot, sometimes.”
Roggi sighed and shook his head. “I don’t get it, Dar, but I’m glad it happened, whatever it was. That was the closest I’ve come to getting my hair removed.”
After a moment or two more, Dardeh moved down the corridor and peered cautiously around the corner. Ahead of them was a large bedroom, mercifully empty in spite of having a large cage as its most prominent feature. There was an alchemy table and a bed at one side, and nothing else.
“I think we may have done it,” Dardeh said.
“Not yet,” Savard grumbled. “There’s whatever is on the other side of that bridge.”
“Oh yeah. Damn.”
“Over here,” Roggi said, pointing to a short corridor leading up from the back of the bedroom.
“Good catch.”
Dardeh trotted up the corridor and, in the small chamber overlooking the main cavern, discovered a lever. He threw it and watched in satisfaction as half of the bridge dropped. They made their way back to the bridge and onto it. At the midway point another lever deployed another section of bridge, this one at a ninety degree angle.
No sooner had it settled into place than a mage, followed by what Dardeh thought was likely a revived corpse, ran out of an opening at the far side.
Savard was right.
He drew his bow and fired a quick shot at the mage. Then, before any spells could be cast, he used Unrelenting Force to toss the mage and the thrall backward down the passage into the room beyond. Dardeh, Roggi, and Savard chased them down and finished both of them off. Another lever, mounted on the wall, created a loud thudding from out in the cavern when it was thrown; when they returned to the bridge, they found the final section of bridge lowered and crossed it.
I’d better move. Dragon Aspect is going to wear off soon.
He wound his way through the corridor to its end. Once more a mage and a revived corpse attacked. Dardeh rolled to the right and decimated the corpse. Savard came up beside him and laid into the mage with his pick in spite of the shock spell the woman cast. He swung around to his left and Roggi rushed in from the corridor, bringing his greatsword down in the devastating diagonal slash that had felled so many other opponents. She fell and bled into the floor, and Dardeh stood and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“That was it, I believe.”
“Aye. For certain,” Savard said.
“And that was well done,” Roggi added. “You swing a mean pick, Savard.”
“That means a lot coming from you, Roggi,” he said, with one of the only grins Dardeh had seen from him.
“And I’m glad you were there because my protection wore off just as we came in. I was hurting when she shocked us,” Dardeh added. “Well, let’s get going. We can split the coin and maybe even be back to the house in time for dinner. You can stay over with us, Savard.”
Savard rubbed his hand over his beard. “Yes, I suppose so. Someone needs to keep an eye on that girl you’ve got working for you. But we won’t want to keep Korst waiting. He has a ‘to-do’ list as long as my arm.”
Savard chuckled, but Dardeh glanced at Roggi and saw him frowning.
Yeah. I thought this Helgen business was going to be an easy thing, as well. I guess that’s just not how my life is supposed to go.
Dardeh gave Savard half the coin they’d found in Brittleshin, even when he objected. Then they made their way back out into the rain to slosh back around Lake Ilinalta.