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"Far away from cities, free from taxes and levies and without a boot of the nobility on your throat? Many people would and choose to live in places like this." |
"Sounds like this was the sort of place you would have been found if you didn’t get caught." |
I couldn’t help but laugh at her tone as I looked about the stables, poking my head into each but seeing little more than piles of dirt and the crawling forms of dead roots, creepers and mosses throughout. "It would have been, and I would problably still find myself in such a place. It would be peaceful living away fr... |
"A family? A tiny herd of children scampering about? And perhaps some dull-minded wench with cow like eyes and boobs for better suckling infants?" |
"For a moment there it sounded as though you were making an offer." |
Stepping over to the remains of the smithy and smelter, I could see where someone in the past years had turned the forge into a cooking fire, as everything that was of value had long since been stolen or scavenged. Viconia moved alongside me, looking about with distaste. |
"You might want to retire to some shack in the middle of nowhere, but that life is not for me." |
"What would you like then?" |
She shrugged, tucking her hair back over her shoulders. "A castle at a minimum, preferably a palace with as many servants as possible. I don’t ever intend on living a future where I have to cook my own food, let alone have to hunt or harvest it." |
"Takes all the fun out of it." I replied simply. "The best meals are the ones you earn for yourself." |
Moving across the courtyard, we made our way to the other side where an obvious spire rose that doubled as a belltower as well as a tiny watch post. The doors to this particular building were more intact where someone had attempted to right them months or years before, and they creaked threateningly as we shifted them... |
"Do you desire children?" |
The question took me aback as we entered what was undoubtedly a small chapel and Viconia rolled her eyes as I turned to her. "That is not a suggestion or a request wael, merely a curiosity on my part." |
"Not right now at least." I replied truthfully. |
"But it is something that you wish in your future." |
"It was. I don’t think it is something I can achieve anymore." |
Her question went unspoken as I moved further into the room, looking at the collection of stone pillars set in even spaces along the walls. "Have you ever heard of any vampiric children or offspring?" |
She shook her head. |
"Neither have I and in a few books I have read there had been... let’s say experiments to determine whether vampires can breed." |
"Sounds like there have been a few surfacers who have had fascinations befitting the Underdark." |
"That might be the case, but as far as anyone has been able to determine vampires cannot bear children, nor can they impregnate mortals or each other." |
The silence that fell between us dragged out and I watched as she moved across to one of the walls, reaching up and wiping away the accumulated grime and dust of the ages away from a painted mosaic. "It has come to mind a handful of times over the past months how despite our, enthusiasm that nothing has eventuated." |
Stepping back she looked over the words that had been revealed, mouthing them to herself and scrunching her face with the effort. "Non furta... furtum facies... non erit..." |
I caught the glance she gave me out of the corner of her eye and I stepped forward, squinting to read the letters. "Non furtum facies, non erit mundus cum tetigerit vos. Never steal, or you will be punished." |
I couldn’t help but laugh. "In its own way. It’s one of the Ten commands of the Nine Divines. Zenithar’s to be exact. Work hard, and you will be rewarded. Spend wisely, and you will be comfortable. Never steal, or you will be punished." |
"Finally, one of your gods with a worthy commandment. I think I prefer this to Be kind and generous to the people of Tamriel." |
"Not a fan of the god of Mercy?" |
"Mercy gets you killed. or leaves an enemy alive to stab you in the spine later." Turning away from the writing and looking at the nine stone pedestals evenly spaced through the tiny chapel, Viconia sighed. "It truly is simpler in the Underdark. Kill or be killed. Live or die. No real concerns on mortality or morality... |
"Satisfactory?" |
There was no way that I could doubt the carefree swing of her hips as she moved past, or the way that her fingers trailed up along one shoulder, caressed my jaw in passing and continued on with the merest flick of her wrist. "Of course. We certainly wouldn’t find ourselves living in a shack. Banish such notions from y... |
"As you wish. Madame DeVir." I said with a mocking bow and I couldn’t help but grin at the expression on her face. It was dark but there was humour behind the cold expression. |
Moving into the central building we soon began seeing more signs that the building had been occupied in recent history. It had been abandoned for a considerable time though, creepers, vines, moss and fungi grew in places throughout, windows were broken and various animals, birds and vermin had made their homes through... |
A pair of beds on the second floor had been crudely constructed from local trees, stuffed with mattresses made of straw and vegetation and pillows of plucked feathers. A cooking fire had been made in the enormous hearth on the ground floor that had been filled in with fallen soot and feathers from the birds’ nest buil... |
"It is increasingly likely that this is the priory that we seek." I said simply, seeing Viconia’s nod in agreement as she gracefully moved down one of the staircases to the second floor. |
"A mouldering ruin it may be, but that magicka is still here." |
"Can you tell where it is coming from?" |
Her expression told me exactly what she thought of me for even questioning her abilities in such a way. "Of course. Beneath the ground, under the courtyard." |
"A basement." |
"Your words wael. Not mine" |
It didn’t take long at all to find the stairs leading down, and like most buildings throughout Cyrodiil this one contained an extensive basement. The stairs lead to a passage that branched off into several rooms, each with their own purpose and each of various sizes. One was obviously designed as a larder of some desc... |
The largest basement section though was an empty expanse half the size to the courtyard above, but made in such a way that it was obviously used for training as well. Stairs dropped the floor down another metre which allowed those within to wield their weapons to their fullest and in my mind’s eye I could easily pick ... |
"Mrannd’ssinss." Viconia said softly as we moved into the training hall. "Over there." |
Following the direction of her arm, I saw the recessed portion of the wall and where an obviously sturdy door was set. While made of wood it was extremely well built, reinforced with steel and decorated with a single blood red diamond that covered a majority of its surface. Other than the grime of the years it was in ... |
"Looks like we really are in the right place then." I said simply, recognising the symbol of the Order of the Nine. We moved together, approaching the door and looking at the way the years had been unable to wear or corrode it. |
"Magically reinforced and with wards of protection imbued into the materials. Whoever built this wasn’t taking any chances." |
Viconia nodded, scuffing her feet in the dust at our feet as I held a magical ball of flame in my hand to allow us to see. "I wouldn’t recommend trying to batter it down with brute force. The feedback from the energies would kill you quicker than a stab to the heart." |
"I’ll keep that in mind, but thankfully we know how to open it." |
"The ring." I replied, patting my way through the handful of pouches I still were and my pockets until I found Sir Amiel’s ring. There was a tiny recess in the very centre of the diamond, a circular crevice that looked very much like a lock. Putting the ring on my middle finger, I pressed the ring and my fist into the... |
There was a grinding of stone, the faint hints of metal clinking and groaning as the moving parts came free for the first time in centuries. There was no enormous shift into the floor or sliding away into a hidden recess, instead the door simply came loose on its hinges, shifting away into the void behind and allowing... |
"So far so good." |
"The door wasn’t the source of the magicka though." |
Viconia’s face was slightly pale and I looked between her and the darkened passage beyond the door. "It isn’t?" |
"No. Something else through there is extremely powerful and enchanted, and I can’t tell what it is." |
"I’m hoping that it’s a relic." |
"I’m hoping it doesn’t get us killed." |
Chuckling darkly to myself, I lead the way, holding the tiny ball of magical flame in my palm like a lantern to allow us to see where we were walking. The passage behind the door was small, angling down a handful of stairs before opening up against into a room of similar dimensions to the training hall. This was not a... |
Each of the tombs were sparely decorated, each bearing nothing more than names and dates. Moving over to the left I stepped close enough to read the engravings, feeling Viconia’s presence at my back as I leaned in closer. |
"Never allow the beauty of the world to be lost on your eyes." My words were soft but sounded extremely loud in the silence of the under croft. "Gregory Arcio. Born, 3E96. Died, 3E124." |
"We’ve found them." Viconia said softly and I nodded. |
"Which means that with luck the cuirass is here also." |
"The far end." |
Aided with the ball of fire in my hand, I used my vampiric sight to peel away the shadows and I could see that in the direct opposite of the entrance door that another, smaller alcove was set where an armour stand was situated. It was tiny, purposely put out of the way and like the rest of the tomb it was devoid of or... |
There were however only seven marble caskets in their recesses which left the under croft feeling almost entirely empty. It was obvious that it had been constructed specifically to house dozens of fallen knights, with the option of further excavations to allow for many more. Of the original Knights only two did not la... |
My hesitation was obvious, and Viconia stood beside me as I made no attempt to move deeper into the under croft towards the armour stand at the far end. "I might just be overly suspicious but does this seem all too easy to you?" |
"It feels like a trap." She replied simply, watching me carefully unclasp my cloak from around my throat and setting it and some of my travelling pouches on the floor. |
"Exactly. Is the magicka still active?" |
There was brief nod from her. "Yes. From the far end and it has been building slightly ever since we entered." |
I could sense the same thing. It was a building pressure growing in the back of my mind and I could feel it beginning to throb. Unlike Viconia I couldn’t sense where it was coming from but I could feel it growing. "That’s one thing I was afraid of." |
Carefully I began making my way forward, keeping my eyes looking about carefully and taking each step only when I was certain was wasn’t going to be setting off a pressure plate or engraved rune. Other than the series of perfectly smooth red tiles making an enormous red diamond in the middle of a sea of white tiles, t... |
Carved into the series of support columns were a collection of tiny half-bowls where various flammable oils would have once been put to provide light, and as I reached the centre of the room they all suddenly, and spontaneously burst into ethereal flames. The blueish-white lights suddenly lit the room in an intense, b... |
"What did you do?!" Viconia growled from her position near the entrance. Her eyes were looking about in all directions at the strange flames burning impossibly in bowl sconces, long since containing anything flammable. |
"I didn’t do anything!" |
"You did something, you triggered whatever enchantments are down here." |
Pushing through the sense of unease I began taking a few steps backwards, first moving as carefully as before and when I hadn’t been struck down by a magical bolt of energies I turned and began to run instead. I made it less than five paces before I came to a sudden and sickening halt as the air itself seemed to solid... |
"What the fuck is that?" |
"Magical wards you wael. You triggered everything down here." Viconia moved back and forth, her hands outstretched and feeling along the invisible wall of energies that had been erected in the room itself. To my own growing horror as well as hers I soon realised that we were on opposite sides. |
"Can you breach it?" |
"Not without understanding how it is being generated or sustained." She replied, the snap in her tone partially annoyance and the rest building alarm. "Spells like this should be short lived." |
"How short are we talking about?" |
"Ten or twenty minutes." A hand wreathed in glowing energies pressed into the invisible wall and I was left with after images of glowing lights as the entire length of the barrier was revealed for a heartbeat. It was solid and without a single breach, cutting the tomb in two and trapping me within it. |
Viconia’s expression was one of growing concern at the way the barrier had reacted to her magicka. "Maybe longer." |
Out of the corner of my eye I suddenly saw the way the air was growing thicker, and I could feel the temperature beginning to drop as the magicka began sucking all the energies out of the environment itself. My breath began steaming and it wasn’t long before mist began wafting up from the floor, appearing to somehow g... |
"I don’t think that we have that long." |
She too saw the mist and nodded simply, her face growing tight with concentration as she began probing the magical wards for weaknesses. Even with the distance separating us I could sense the stabbing sensation in my mind as she drew her magical reserves into herself for the task ahead. |
"Do you hear that?" I asked simply, catching what I could have sworn were whispers emanating from the coiling mist as it rose up around my ankles. There was a strange rumbling that could be felt through the soles of my feet and I was left watching with growing dread as the unnatural fog began boiling out of the tombs ... |
As though being formed from nothing more than memories and will the shapes condensed out of the fog, growing some semblance of outlines as they moved in from all sides. I counted five, then six figures rising from their tombs and striding forward to face me on either side of the vault, until the seventh appeared out o... |
It started off slowly at first. A chain mailed forearm here, bonemold greave there, impressions of facial features growing stronger and thicker with more substance until I found myself standing face to face with seven armoured, armed and long-dead knights in all their finery. Surcoats and tabards were flapping silentl... |
There were three standing to my right, and four to my left, all watching me and only me. I didn’t dare to move a single muscle, nor did I reach for Sunchild clasped to my hip lest they break their strange statue-like stillness of the grave and attack. |
"Viconia?" I hissed between my teeth, not allowing my gaze to leave the sight of the ghosts. |
"I’m working on it." |
Appearing from the armour stand’s alcove, the eighth and final ghost appeared, striding from the very wall itself and I noted how this one and this one alone didn’t appear directly from a tomb. There were seven tombs and seven tombs only and this knight, like all the others was dressed in all the accoutrements of war.... |
As he moved forward the other nine bowed, each bringing a fist to their lips in salute to their fellow warrior as he stopped in the direct centre of the under croft. |
"By the strength and guidance of the Nine," the long dead warrior growled at me, eyes almost blazing with a combination of righteous anger and corpse-light. "who comes before us upon this sacred ground and dares desecrate it with their unworthy presence?" |
Desperate to buy Viconia time to break the wards I straightened myself up, almost standing to attention and trying but failing to look the ghost in the eye. "I’m Kaius Desin. Knight of the White Stallion." |
The ripple of unease through the assembled spectres was impossible to ignore, as was the way they looked between each other and more than one hand flexed towards a weapon. |
"A Knight... The world must have slipped far into decadence and chaos if a beast claims to be a knight. You are a creature born of sin and darkness. What make you think you are worthy to stand in the presence of the Cuirass of the Crusader?" |
A strange tingling sensation was creeping up the back of my legs and growing from my fingertips and I resisted the urge to shake it away. Through the transparent being in front of me I could see the armour stand, and knew with utter certainty that what lay on it was indeed another Relic. |
"Give me a minute..." |
"I don’t have a minute. Show them the Helm." |
Without turning even for a second, I knew all too well that Viconia had stopped her probing and feverish investigating of the enchantments within the tomb and had pulled the helm from its bag. Judging by the reactions of the ghosts it was one of the last things they were expecting to see. |
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