Chapter 5 - Time to grow up.
The inside of the cave was dark and damp. Reflections on the moist moss covered walls danced in an eerie tribal chant from the linen wrapped torches mounted on old rusty iron brackets. It smelled cold as a light breeze moved through my hair pricking my cheek with its cold touch. It would be dead silent were it not for the cracking of the flames on the burning cloth. With rickety old wooden beams holding up the rocky passageway, grimy colors of brown and green illuminate the stark darkness of the walls. We start moving down the passage at a snail’s pace again, but this time Faendal indicates with his 2 main fingers to look out and on the ground. I figured we must be looking for traps of some sort, so I try and adjust my eyes as much as possible to the dark, and not without cause it seems either. Faendal was standing with his hand in the air indicating for me to halt; he appears to have found a thin piece of yarn pulled tightly across our path. He shows me how to carefully step over it to not disturb the trap and we continue onwards until we hear voices in the direction in front of us.
Its two bandits, the one slightly taller than the other one. They appear to be discussing the security of the mine and the trap we just passed by. "That one.", Faendal whispers to me while point to the shorter bandit with his arrow, then he points to me. "I'll take the big one.", with that he knocks an arrow on his bow and readies the shot. I do the same, but I could already feel my hands trembling. This is it, this is the first time I'm going to attack another human being with the intent to kill. My mouth suddenly felt very dry and I could hear my heart pound in my ears. With my bow ready and pointing at my soon to be victim, the Bosmer nods and we both release our arrows at the same time. The larger of the two highwaymen stubble back uptruptly and crashes into some barrels behind him. I could see a well placed arrow sticking out his throat. "Huh?", says the smaller bandit, turning to see what happened to his friend.
Yes, I completely missed, hitting the rock surface right next to his head. In hind sight, it would probably have been a better choice to have aimed for his body instead that such a small target as his head. "Why you... You can' hide from me!", the bandit shouted while un sheathing his Steel hand axe and a hide shield. I could see nord runes engraved on the blade of the axe and realized it was probably lifted off some poor victim to this man's thieving ways. He was approaching our position at a rapid pace, when Feandal suddenly stood up and shouted out loud: "Unless you want to be next, you best get out of this mine now!" The bandit didn't flinch at this at all and suddenly charged at the elf with his shield raised. I think Faendal misjudged the distance and tried to sidestep out of the way, but the bandit swung his shield to the right and bashed the Bosmer into the wall. With Faendal falling to his side the bandit started a backwards swing with his axe to the elf's throat.
I'm not sure what happened next, but everything started to move very slowly all of a sudden. I could see the slow trail of the short thief’s ponytail moving in an arch in the opposite direction of the swing of his axe. Sweat sprayed in small droplets towards the cave wall in a random slow-motion rain. Without thinking I punch with my hand holding the bow and connect the cranium of the bandit on the side of his head. I could feel the bones in my fingers crush under the impact and a sharp pain shoots up my hand into my elbow, causing me to nearly drop my bow. The bandit staggers to the side and drops to one knee with a heavy groan. His axe slips from his hand and the sharp blade rips off the soft hide from the back of my boot, leaving a large wound on my calf muscle. I shriek in pain and bite my lip, but in the same motion I place my healthy boot right in the short man's face.
