I sit crossed legged on the bed in one of the Bee and Barb's rooms. Valierus left a few hours ago to sell some of the surplus supplies we picked up during our journey from Whiterun. Snow paces the room, sniffing at the corners and butting his head into the table and chair legs. I stare down at the pages of 2920, Hearth Fire, v9, I've been reading and rereading the same line repeatedly, unable to focus on the book enough to progress in it. After a few more futile attempts to read, I throw the book aside, and move to get off the bed. My feet touch the floor of the room, just as someone knocks on the door. It swings open and reveals Valierus, he looks mildly uncomfortable as he tosses me a small bag of gold.
"Whats this?" I ask. I open the bag, easing loose the draw strings. The gold glints brightly in the candlelight.
"I made a bit of gold in the square." Valierus shrugs uncomfortably and starts gathering up our baggage. "I managed to get an invitation to the guild based here. Wheres Adalicia?"
I decide to allow him to change the subject, deciding that I'll question him more later. "She left shortly after you did. She said she was going to the College of Winterhold." I snap my fingers and Snow jumps into my lap and watches Valierus, with a slightly tilted head. "She left a few scrolls in your pack so be careful, she also said if you ever need anything, just send a message with Snow, he'll know how to find her."
"Alright, thanks." He picks his bag up slings it on his back next to mine, and then looks over at me. "Are you ready to go?"
"Where are we going?" I ask lifting Snow into my arms. His only response is to turn and leave the room without a backward glance. I follow behind him, leaving the door to swing shut behind me. He stomps down the stairs and out of the tavern without looking at anyone. I stop to wave farewell to Talen-jei and Keerava, both of whom treated me with kindness when we arrived. Outside the tavern Valierus waits over by the market square. As I draw level with him, I spot a Dunmer man being led off by one of the City Guard. "Whats that about?"
Valierus gives me a queer look, and crosses the market place quickly, ignoring the friendly greetings of the shop keepers. Once we reach the railings on the far side of the marketplace, he descends another flight of steps down to the canals. I follow hesitantly, uncertain of the wisdom of his course. He stops and waits by a barred door. He glances at me uncertainly, seeming to second guess himself. "I don't know how safe the Ratways are so you might need..."
I nod to show understanding, and Snow jumps down onto the ground, and follows just behind me as we enter the Ratways.
The tunnels are dark and poorly lite, the walls ooze a moist slime, and water drops echo through the sewers. Torchlight flickers up ahead, casting the shadows of two lowlifes. "This is stupid!" A voice echoes through the sewers towards us. "You said we'd have a house as big as the Black-Briars by now."
I ignore the response of the voices compatriat, and instead flex my left hand activating a summoning spell, drawing on the powers of the Oblivion planes. The air warps and swirls and an ethereal bound longbow slips into existence. I catch the bow as it falls and nock an ethereal arrow, I take a deep breathe and draw forward until the men come into view. I release two arrows in quick succession at both figures. The first collapses with a single shot, but the other manages to withstand the first arrow and draws his massive two-handed waraxe and charge towards us. I frown, only mildly annoyed and with a word I slow time to a near stand-still, and with another word I move behind him drawing two daggers simultaneously. A quick strike as time speeds back up finishes off my foe before Valierus has a chance to draw his blade.
"How did you....?" Valierus asks, slowly as the lowlife collapses. "Have you always been able to do that?"
"No." I answer uncertainly, as I begin to realize what I just did.
Valierus gives me a queer look, and steps over the fallen bodies. We head further into the ratways, forced down a level wen we end up on the wrong side of a raised bridge. Fearful of my new abilities I stand back and allow Valierus to take down the Skeevers and Lowlifes we come across. The Ethereal bow remains slung across my back, glowing brighter every time we engage an enemy. Finally we reach a room, with tree roots descending from the ceiling and big leafy growth on the floor. I find myself feeling more at home among the plant life. At the center of the room a large two handed axe is buried in a tree stump.
"This place, it feels, wrong." Valierus mutters, moving around the edge of the room.
"How could this feel wrong?" I mutter. I move further into the room drawn by a feeling I can't explain. I reach the center of the room, brought by the resonance of the room, I reach for the axe, but the feeling of peace quickly turns to dread as a hand reaches into the light and grips the shaft of the axe. The hand seems inhumane, almost skeletal. A face leans into the light, and I gasp. Its the face of a monster. Massive horns Sprout from the maw of the beast. Its eyes glow with a feral light, a cold, cruel intelligence gleams in its eyes.
I stumble back with a scream, Valierus appears suddenly between me and the beast. His blade cuts through the air aglow with a green light. He severs the hand of the beast and it releases a bloodcurdling scream. As it's cry fades, I recover my wits and launch an arrow into one of its eyes. The arrow clatters into the wall, the creature disappears down a side tunnel, and Valierus ushers me out of the cavern through the only other exit.
"What was that?" I ask him, partly scared that it might return.
"I- I don't know. I believe this is where we're going." He points at a door on the far side of the room. He quickly crosses the room and passes through the door. I follow closely behind him, and glance back momentarily, as I cross the threshold. Pale blue eyes glow in the tunnel behind us.
