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Chapter 19:
The First Base
The journey was
longer than expected, we were already on the fifth day of the trip. The sun
shone brightly in the cloudless sky as a chilly wind blew across the deck. I
leaned against the side of the ship, staring blankly across the ocean. My
wandering mind brought back to reality as Ruby stepped up next to me.
"I always feel
more relaxed on a boat for some reason." she said.
"I used to.
After the shipwreck last week I'm a bit nervous. No clouds today though, so I'm
not too worried." I mumbled, continuing to watch the ocean. "I've been meaning
to ask... about Trelana..."
"She's fine.
Well, as fine as she can be after having her arm broken. The healer was able to
mend it, but it'll be at least two weeks before she can use it normally again"
"I see... that's
good."
"So you were
worried about her." Ruby grinned.
"Of course.
We're allies after all."
"Is that all?"
I gave Ruby a
confused look. "What else is there?"
Ruby sighed,
shaking her head. "You really are a strange one." she said walking off.
I scratched my
head, wondering what she was talking about for a moment. It wasn't long before
my mind wandered to something else. I sat on the deck, looking around at the
unfamiliar guild members. Gorub, an Orc axeman, was arguing with the Nord
warrior called Mark. They seemed to be fighting about who was stronger. Harvey,
who I had talked with a couple times before now was sitting on the other side of
the ship, sharpening his spear. The Dunmer hunter Valen was with him, saying
that arrows were like mini spears and that he should take up archery.
I didn't see
Razelus on the deck, he was a Dunmer and a skilled mage. At least from what I
had heard about him, from him. The guy had an ego the size of Cyrodiil, I felt
like shoving him off that little boat we came to this one on a number of times.
I could only assume he was annoying some other poor soul down in the hold.
Assuni was at the bow of the ship, she appeared to be meditating. She was a
Khajiit, I hadn't seen many of them at the guild before. I hadn't seen many
Argonians either for that matter, except for the one working at the tavern a few
times.
"Where is that
little fetcher?!" Ruby shouted, causing everyone to look at her. She looked
around the deck and then walked down into the hold. A couple minutes passed
before the door leading down swung open again, striking Valen's foot. He looked
as if he was going to yell at Ruby, but decided not to after seeing the
expression on her face. "When we get back to Suran, I'm gonna kill him!" she
shouted, going back down and slamming the door shut.
"What was that
all about?" someone asked suddenly, giving me a fright.
Schimmel was
standing next to me, staring at the door to the hold. "I have no idea." I
shrugged. "She's making no sense today."
"She's looking
for the Bosmer." Harvey said, walking over to us in a hopeless attempt to escape
Valen's inability to shut up about bows.
"Fargoth...?"
Schimmel wondered aloud.
"Come to think
of it, I didn't see Fargoth for the whole trip." I said, leaning back.
"This is a lot
of people, maybe he was left behind..." Schimmel said.
"I doubt it, I
remember hearing that Fargoth was afraid of boats for some reason." Bryenn said,
suddenly joining our conversation.
"Why's that?"
Valen asked, walking up behind Harvey.
Nobody had an
answer. We thought about it for a moment, but the silence was quickly shattered
by Razelus. He had come up from below deck and was listening to our conversation
without our noticing.
"Who needs some
puny little Bosmer when I've got more than enough power to make up for him?"
Razelus said smugly.
After he spoke,
I quickly got up and walked away before the urge to shove him overboard
returned. I sat down again near Assuni, who seemed to be dead to the world.
Glancing at Razelus, I saw that everyone else had followed my example and walked
away quickly at the sound of his voice. He wasn't one to take a hint however,
and was following Bryenn around the deck. I shook my head, wondering how anyone
could act like that.
A couple hours
passed, and snow began falling. The shores of Solstheim slowly passed by.
Occasionally a wolf could be seen walking among the trees, but other than that
there were no signs of life. The ship came to a stop just west of Hvitkald Peak,
and the eleven of us left the ship to find the ASP's base. Mark and Barbarius,
both being from Solstheim, led us through the rocky landscape. They helped us
avoid any unnecessary fights with wolves and monsters. We trudged through the
snow for what seemed like hours, Razelus constantly complaining about the
freezing temperatures. Parven had told us to buy some warmer clothing before
leaving, Razelus was the only one stupid enough not to. If his toes fell off
from frostbite it was his own fault.
"I guess this is
it..." Barbarius said, pointing to a hole leading into one of the mountains. It
was half covered by icicles and was barely large enough for a person to fit
through.
Razelus was, of
course, the first one to speak. "That dinky little hole? Nords really are stupid
aren't they? Why would they make their base in a place like that?!"
"Raz, do
everyone a favor and shut the hell up!" Valen shouted at him.
"How dare you
speak to me like that! You should respect your older, more intelligent brother.
Now apologize!" Razelus scolded him.
"I will not. I'm
trying to keep you from being lynched. If you haven't noticed, half the people
here look like they'd gladly remove your head to stop the noise coming from it.
I bet the only thing stopping them is being expelled from the guild!"
Razelus looked
around the group, just noticing the irritated looks he was getting from almost
everyone. Assuni was preoccupied by the cave Barbarius had pointed out, and Mark
was checking to see if Razelus's shouting had drawn any monsters. Razelus looked
like he was about to say something, but the sound of ice breaking distracted
him. We all looked over just as Assuni disappeared into the cave. The rest of us
quickly followed after her.
It was much
deeper than it appeared on the outside. The cave descended for a while, widened
a bit and forked. There was a small tunnel to the right, and a large one to the
left. Before anyone could offer the suggestion of splitting up, a faint voice
came from the left path. We all crept along the left passageway, listening for
anything else. We soon came to a large, empty room. Schimmel took a couple steps
in, and promptly fell on his face.
"Schimmel, you
are such a klutz..." Ruby sighed, walking over to help him up.
"Ruby wait,
it's-" Schimmel was cut off as Ruby slipped, landing right on top of him.
"It's....
ice..." Ruby groaned, rolling off Schimmel and unsteadily getting to her feet.
"Sorry about that."
"Sure..."
Schimmel mumbled, standing up.
Assuni walked by
him with no problems, looking around the room. The rest of us followed, doing
our best not to slip. We searched every corner, but no other paths could be
found.
"What now?"
Bryenn asked.
"I know I heard
a voice coming from here..." Mark said.
"I don't see
anything." Harvey muttered.
"I think we went
the wrong way." Razelus grumbled.
"No we didn't."
I said. "Look up."
Six people were
standing on ledges a few yards above us. After they heard me speak, a hail of
fireballs rained down around us. The ice began to crack where the flames struck.
Everyone that was able fired back at the mages. Barbarius and Ruby were hurling
throwing knives, but unable to get very accurate shots. The same was true for
Valen, who was firing arrows wildly at where the fireballs came from. I was
about to try my shockball spell, when there was an explosion. Two of the mages
attacking us fell from the higher area and right through the ice. There was no
splash, we weren't standing on a frozen pond, below us was a pit with no visible
bottom.
I looked up
again as a another blast knocked one of our attackers from his perch.
Unfortunately, he landed right next to Schimmel. The ice underneath him
shattered, and Schimmel was lost to the darkness. There was a scream to my
right, I turned in time to see Mark and Assuni fall through the ice as well.
"Get back to the
tunnel, we'll all be killed at this rate!" Valen shouted just before a fire
blast struck him. He was thrown backwards and slid across the ice, falling down
the same hole that Schimmel did.
"Brother!"
Razelus yelled, "Damn you all!" Razelus created a large orb of lightning in his
hand and threw it upwards. There was a massive explosion from his spell that
threw me backwards. I landed hard and fell through the ice.
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