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<\/p>\nThe small chamber beyond the Sanctum\u2019s doorway opened into a larger, round room containing burial urns, a chest, and a caged area behind which Dagnell could see a number of potions and a fat coin purse.\u00a0 That is coming with me, she thought, and looked around until finding, on the opposite site of the room, a chain that served to open the gate.<\/p>\n
\u201cUgh,\u201d she heard Mercer say.\u00a0 \u201cThe stench.\u00a0 This place smells of death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would you expect, Mercer?\u201d she said as she collected the potions, before she had a chance to stop herself. \u201cIt is a tomb, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n
He glared at her but, much to her relief, said nothing.\u00a0 Glare away, Mercer, she thought.\u00a0 You\u2019re good at it.<\/p>\n
The chest was too tempting not to open.<\/p>\n
And she wished that she hadn\u2019t, about a second later, when the lids of two sarcophagi suddenly fell to the floor.\u00a0 Their occupants were draugr \u2013 the dead – but they were acting anything but dead.\u00a0 They rose from their beds, swinging swords and eager to dispatch both Dagnell and Mercer.<\/p>\n
Dag froze.\u00a0 She had never seen such a thing moving before. These were terrifying, and there were two of them, and she had not much room to move. Suddenly she was fighting for balance; Mercer had pushed her aside.\u00a0 He was a whirlwind, every movement precise and controlled, an eerie red glow emanating from his sword, seeming to draw the very life essence from the draugr. \u00a0He cut through them like butter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHow disappointing,\u201d he said, loosening his shoulders.<\/p>\n
How arrogant, Dag thought.\u00a0 She stopped long enough to take the coins and a healing potion from the chest.\u00a0 It definitely hadn\u2019t been a prize worthy of the battle.<\/p>\n
They worked their way forward.\u00a0 It was stunning, the number of dead interred here, carefully laid on horizontal shelves or upright in sarcophagi.\u00a0 Some of them, wearing full armor, had been positioned upright in open niches at the corners of tunnel branches.\u00a0 Thankfully, none of them were moving; but as they entered a room containing a number of coffins and a large, spiked gate, Dag could see that some had been moving, earlier.\u00a0 They were out of their boxes, on the floor, and showed signs of having been taken down with arrows. Karliah. She shuddered.<\/p>\n
\u201cPull the chain over there and watch out for the spikes,\u201d Mercer ordered.\u00a0 \u201cIt looks like Karliah has reset all the traps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dag looked around for the chain.\u00a0 It was just to the left of the spike gate\u2019s left edge, uncomfortably close to it.\u00a0 She would need to back up really fast after she pulled it.<\/p>\n
She gave the chain a tug.\u00a0 The metal began to creak as the mechanism holding the gate in place released.\u00a0 Dag scrambled backward \u2013 and bumped into Mercer, who had changed position to stand directly behind her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMove!\u201d she bellowed at him, pushing backward as hard as she could.\u00a0 The gate whooshed past her, so close that her hair moved in its wind, so close that she could almost taste the metal.\u00a0 It slammed into the opening to the next room, scattering empty urns that had been placed near the doorway, and then clanged back to its original position.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t do that again,\u201d Mercer growled at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cLikewise! I could have been killed by nothing more than a gate!\u201d Dag snapped back.<\/p>\n
She drew her swords; that gate had made an enormous amount of noise and she didn\u2019t know what it might have raised in the process.\u00a0 She and Mercer both went into a crouch and crept forward into a passage that led down and to the left.<\/p>\n
There were two upright draugr in the next opening.\u00a0 Dagnell stopped before one of them and stared at it.\u00a0 Its eyes were not open, and it wasn\u2019t breathing, not exactly, but there was something about it that gave off a distinct impression of life. Suddenly it shifted just a bit, as though it was waking up.<\/p>\n
\u201cShor\u2019s beard!\u201d she yelped, jumping, and reflexively drew her swords and attacked it with both of them.\u00a0 The draugr snarled as it died, slumping to the floor, its eyes giving off an eerie blue glow before flickering out.\u00a0 The second draugr, on the far side of the room, was stirring.\u00a0 She sprinted across the room and stopped it with the same circular dual sword attack she\u2019d used on the first. It hadn\u2019t been a difficult battle, but she had shudders running up and down her back.<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer!\u201d she hissed.\u00a0 \u201cHow can you tell which ones are alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re moving,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
She wanted to beat on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally.\u00a0 Thanks for that.\u00a0 I\u2019ll keep it in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercer sneered.<\/p>\n
Karliah had definitely been there ahead of them.\u00a0 She had laid bear traps out on the floor, placed cleverly in the shadows where a person would be most likely to step without thinking.\u00a0 Dag crouched down and disabled them as quietly as possible, then looked to the far end of the room.\u00a0 There was a single standing draugr there, and she wasn\u2019t going to wait to find out whether it was one of the living ones.\u00a0 She drew her bow and shot; the draugr crumbled to the floor, the blue glow from its eyes revealing that yes, it had been a threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are two more ahead,\u201d Mercer told her.\u00a0 \u201cBe careful.\u201d\u00a0 He had keen senses, for certain, she thought.\u00a0 And he\u2019s been here before.\u00a0 I wonder why the draugr didn\u2019t come out to play that time?\u00a0 She didn\u2019t have time to ponder the question, though; she heard the snorting, growling sound she\u2019d heard earlier, coming from an area to the right of the draugr she had just destroyed.\u00a0 She was swapping her bow out for her swords when Mercer rushed past her, yelling \u201cyour death will be my triumph!\u201d<\/p>\n
For all of his arrogance, Mercer in battle was a ferocious thing.\u00a0 He was brutal.\u00a0 The draugr were done as soon as they came within range.\u00a0 Every motion was precise, controlled, its energy put to its greatest effect, and his dwarven-make sword was deathly sharp.<\/p>\n
She would not want to end up in a battle with Mercer Frey.<\/p>\n
Another chain-operated gate led down a set of stairs to a room with several long strands of what looked like human pelvises, hung from the ceiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cBone chimes.\u00a0 Rigged to wake the Draugr no doubt. Don\u2019t blunder into any of them. \u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the second time, she thought, drawing her bow. No, I won\u2019t blunder <\/em>into anything, Mercer.\u00a0 There were three upright draugr and a closed gate beyond them on the far side of the room, the only other exit. Just as Dag was setting an arrow to the bow one of the three draugr stirred.\u00a0 Mercer rushed past her into the room, yelling \u201cI\u2019ll spit on your grave!\u201d\u00a0 His shout brought the other two out of their slumber to attack him.<\/p>\n Dag tried to get a bead on any of them but Mercer was moving so fast that she was afraid she would hit him.\u00a0 She watched in fascination as he obliterated them.\u00a0 Sure enough, that sword of his was draining the life from them.\u00a0 That in addition to his natural abilities made for a frightening combination.<\/p>\n Through the next gate was another flight of stairs downward into a narrow corridor that made Dag uneasy.\u00a0 She inched forward, pulling out her bow.\u00a0 The corridor emptied into a large room with a central, elevated landing of some kind. As they emerged into the opening, the lids of several sarcophagi on that landing burst open and draugr erupted.\u00a0 And Dag\u2019s blood froze.\u00a0 These were not the same type of draugr they\u2019d been fighting. They seemed more well-preserved, and some of them were speaking. She didn\u2019t know the language, but just the fact that they were speaking was enough to set her completely off-balance.<\/p>\n One of them raised a fist and summoned a very obvious ice spell.\u00a0 She pulled her bow and slammed several arrows into it as fast as she could; it dropped, but not before getting off one blast, one horrid ice spike that caught her in the arm.\u00a0 Dag groaned but whirled to find her next target, hoping the circulation would come back to her arm quickly.<\/p>\n Mercer had run into the room.\u00a0 At the top of the stairs, a draugr rushed toward him; several more were surrounding him from behind and the side.\u00a0 Dag flew at the nearest of them, pulled her right-handed sword, and chopped him down, then ran toward the second.\u00a0 Mercer had taken down his first adversary, and calmly pivoted and sliced the next draugr in half as though it was nothing at all.<\/p>\n Dag just stopped and blinked.<\/p>\n \u201cThat wasn\u2019t a fight, that was an execution,\u201d Mercer said over the remains of the draugr.<\/p>\n This is getting tiresome, she thought.\u00a0 He was worried about me making too much noise and all he\u2019s done since we got here is talk. I mean, you earned the right to brag about that kill, Mercer but my gosh do it later. Or silently. Thump your chest if you must, but be quiet about it.<\/p>\n There were two sets of stairs, one on either side of the platform where the draugr had been.\u00a0 Dag decided to explore the left side up, through a winding corridor, and finally to an open, square room that held a thing she simply must have.<\/p>\n On a pedestal, in the middle of the room, was an exquisite model of a ship.\u00a0 She would have darted into the room to grab it but for the familiar, pungent odor of oil. The center of the room had a slight depression in the floor, and it was full.\u00a0 Just above the model ship was a hanging firepot.\u00a0 A trap.\u00a0 There were no tripwires, no other obvious mechanisms for dropping the firepot, which meant only one thing:\u00a0 the ship was sitting on a pressure plate.<\/p>\n She knew Delvin would want this ship.\u00a0 She was certain of it. And she wanted what he would pay her for it.<\/p>\n Dag stood, walked over to the ship, took a deep breath, grabbed it, and ran as hard as she could for the doorway.\u00a0 She reached it just ahead of the fireball that erupted when the trap triggered.\u00a0 So close were the flames that she smelled burning hair and reached up to check her head; it had just been a few stray strands that got singed.<\/p>\n The other set of stairs from the main chamber led to a narrow elevated walkway enclosed by caging.\u00a0 It emptied into a space holding two very tempting chests behind strings of bone chimes, each resting in front of multiple layers of draugr.\u00a0 After what had happened with the first chest, Dag was quite willing to ignore these.\u00a0 A draugr just down the way, though, was not willing to ignore her; and as it rumbled into sword range, two draugr behind the bone chimes stood and rushed them.\u00a0 Dag took two of the draugr with her swords and Mercer took the third.<\/p>\n Around the corner was a closed door.\u00a0 As she approached it, she heard Mercer muttering behind her.\u00a0 \u201cThis looks like a good place for an ambush.\u00a0 Be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag nodded, and opened the door.\u00a0 Karliah had set a trap, alright; there were half a dozen large urns piled up and set just behind the door.\u00a0 There had been no way to know they were there, and no way to avoid tipping them over. The hideously loud noise they made as they flew aside brought four draugr out from atop another elevated central platform. One of them was utterly terrifying, taller and heftier than the others, waving an ancient, lethal-looking sword and wearing a great horned helmet. \u00a0As Mercer rushed into the room it stopped, leaned forward, and Shouted at him.<\/p>\n Dag almost fainted.\u00a0 The draugr Shouted.\u00a0 It was the same sound she had heard Dardeh make, coming from a thing that was supposed to be dead.\u00a0 She wanted to flee.\u00a0 But Mercer only stumbled a bit, then rushed forward and began slashing the thing, his sword draining its life force.<\/p>\n She took a deep breath, then dropped back and picked off the smaller draugr as fast as she could and tried to land an arrow or two on the Shouting one. It was nearly impossible to do; each time she thought she had a shot lined up, Mercer would whirl for another attack and step between her and the creature.\u00a0 A part of Dag\u2019s mind watched in genuine admiration at Mercer\u2019s skill.\u00a0 As unpleasant as he was, she was grateful that he was there.\u00a0 She was certain to have died in there alone.<\/p>\n Dag spotted one more chain at the left side of the chamber, and was about to pull it when the nearest sarcophagus flew open.\u00a0 This was a simple draugr.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t get more than one foot out of its resting place before Dag cut it down.<\/p>\n \u201cIs that it, then?\u201d she said to nobody in particular.\u00a0 \u201cAre there any more of you about?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBe quiet,\u201d Mercer said.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t want to alert any others.\u201d<\/p>\n She couldn\u2019t stand it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you haven\u2019t been talking all<\/em> the way down here, since the moment we entered this tomb?\u00a0 Come on, let\u2019s go.\u201d\u00a0 She didn\u2019t wait to see his face; she just pulled the chain and waited for the gate to lift.<\/p>\n Behind it, and at the end of a long, wide room with ornate carvings on the walls, was something Dag had never seen before.\u00a0 It was clearly a door; but it was rounded, with three moveable rings, each bearing one of several symbols that changed as the rings rotated. Below the innermost ring was a round plaque with oddly-spaced holes in its center.<\/p>\n Mercer walked forward.<\/p>\n \u201cAh, one of the infamous Nordic puzzle doors. How quaint,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout the matching claw, ordinarily it would be impassible. Since I\u2019m certain Karliah has already disposed of it, we\u2019re on our own. But there\u2019s really nothing much to them if you know how to exploit their weakness.\u201d\u00a0 He knelt before the central plate and did something \u2013 she couldn\u2019t see what, as his body blocked the view. There was a great grinding sound, dust flew, and the huge stone circles sank, bit by noisy bit, into a recess in the floor.<\/p>\n Dag just stood and stared.\u00a0 That door didn\u2019t look like \u2018nothing\u2019 to me, she thought.\u00a0 It looked complex.\u00a0 What in the world is he doing that he can unlock all these complicated doors?\u00a0 I know he\u2019s a thief, but\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cKarliah is nearby,\u201d Mercer said as the final ring reached the bottom of its path. \u201cBe on the lookout.\u201d\u00a0 He stepped back toward the recessed wall, leaving the great doorway open for her to enter.<\/p>\n Dag nodded, drew her bow, and readied an arrow.\u00a0 The room before them was huge, and dark, and anything could be in there.\u00a0 She stepped across the threshold.<\/p>\n An arrow slammed into her chest.\u00a0 Everything she could see looked green, a pale bluish-green.\u00a0 She fell to the floor.<\/p>\n Poison.\u00a0 Karliah used poison.\u00a0 She was an archer and her strength was the element of surprise. That\u2019s what he\u2019d told her.<\/p>\n Dag was going to die.<\/p>\n The small chamber beyond the Sanctum\u2019s doorway opened into a larger, round room containing burial urns, a chest, and a caged area behind which Dagnell could see a number of potions and a fat coin purse.\u00a0 That is coming with me, she thought, and looked around until finding, on the opposite site of the room, … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/1-2-8-2.png\")
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<\/p>\nPart II: Shadows<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"