"Vera," Salyan said. "You're a seasoned and fearsome huntress of beasts and men alike; any guess as to how old these bloodstains are?"

Vera crouched and ran her gloved finger over the red stain, bringing it up to catch a whiff of it despite the helmet concealing her face. She had to admit her armor had its uses. Being in the darkness was no bother to her, but her eyes had a habit of glowing when light shun on her eyes.

The stygian darkness was just as clear as day to her. She could see every drop, every plant in a shadowed area and just about every small insect that crawled and scattered away from the presence of the humanoid giants.

She got to her feet, ready to give the other Imperial an answer until amidst the drops of water, the rushing current, the sounds of what seemed to be large insects was a familiar sound. Music to Vera’s ears, yet nothing pleasant about it in this case.

An arrow ready to be fired. Aravi didn’t have any arrows ready, nor did anyone in the group carry bows. Vera’s ears turned her head over the other side of the river where she spotted a gangrel-looking creature hunched down that was pale as the snow and without clothes. It wasn’t its monstrous face or the lack of any normal eyes . . . but rather the fact that it was pointing an arrow.

At her.

Damn Vera murmured.

She reached for an arrow but was interrupted by a heavy shove.

“Move!"

Vera fell over, as did the arrow that nearly missed her. The next occurance happened like a blur but Vera registered it all as she jumped to her feet with surprising speed. Kayla jumped in to save Darnand from another arrow, one that found its unintended mark.

All she saw was Kayla standing there, a look of confusion on her face. But it wasn’t as shocking as the arrowhead sticking out from her chest.

This isn’t good, Vera thought.

Salyan thought the same and acted upon it. From her own instrumental tool that Vera now realized was a weapon, the bard sent out a jolt of magicka toward the two creatures and in a blink they were not upon the group but upon each other in a frenzy.

Aravi took one out. The other was also hit. Its death unconfirmed.

The khajiit asked a question and Vera’s ears made her nod.

“Yes,” she said bluntly. “I hear them.”

The shouts from her comrades and the two fighting Falmer, as well as the smell of fresh food, was all leading them to their location.

Vera prepared her arrow and turned to the scurrying sounds of insects. They were the size of large dogs . . . dogs with six legs, mandibles and a body almost like that of a centipede.

They were both disgusting looking and deadly up person. Vera would never understand why her and Lycus enjoyed the meat so much . . .

Vera looked over the edge where Kayla had fallen and she considered diving in the water or climbing down to rescue her. But with the Charrus on the way, she didn’t make it an option.

Better to have one fallen ally than two more. Kayla’s fall was regrettable and even though she wasn’t sure if she survived or not it was still unfortunate. She was a gifted fighter and one extra arm is always better.

Yet, she welcomed the challenge. After all, this is what she’s being paid for. No one said it was going to be easy.

“Kayla!”

Darnand’s fingers closed over air as she toppled back into the river. He dropped to a knee to provide a smaller target while he downed a nighteye potion. Ward magic hummed in his left hand. His eyes searched the water.

The Falmer and their chaurus immediately reclaimed his attention. Salyan took the archers out of the fight. Darnand prepared the soul trap.

Though twisted and foul, they are still mer. He cast the spell at the chaurus instead.

Poison arched out in a stream, hissing against his hastily raised Ward. A few hot droplets made it through, but most of it splashed to the ground. He ignored the burning on his hand and throat.

Fire was his favored method of dealing with chaurus. Sheets of flame and some hearty explosions. But that would temporarily blind all of them and bring the rest of the colony down on their heads. He doubted that these two lived alone. Their best hope for recovering Kayla lay in their presence going largely unnoticed.

Diving over the waterfall into a Falmer nest would also be ill-advised, likely resulting in two dead adventurers rather than rescue.

The cold water will slow her bleeding. For now she is out of our reach.

Chaurus were deadly with their slashing mandibles and poison spit. But their heavy chitin exoskeleton made them slow. Even Darnand could dodge them at close range.

He cast a charm of poison resistance, hoping it would reach the others. The surviving Falmer yanked the arrow out of his leg, but Darnand saw no healing spell surrounding him. He dragged himself backward and then flopped to his side.

That one will bleed out.

He kept a Ward ready in his left hand and moved out of the way.

Glancing up from where she was crouched by the stream, Salyan saw more trouble approaching in the distance. Armoured in carapace of slick blackness, chittering and slavering mandibles belying their vicious intent, a pair of insects were scuttling towards them, movements undulating and slick as if they were formed from oil and malice. Where she was crouching by the stream, Salyan knew that she was exposed to the creatures, whatever they were, and as much as she wished to find Kayla as swiftly as possible she knew that the beasts would cut her to ribbons if they caught her alone.

Scrambling back, Salyan darted to the rear of the small party, putting Vera and Aravi between her and the entomous nightmares that approached. She called upon her reserves of magicka, plucked the right notes and began to sing a wordless song, one that would grant strength, endurance and courage to her three companions.

“Yes, I hear them,” Vera answered Aravi.

Damn damn damn! She hated charrus nearly as bad as she hated spiders. Instead of staying in the rear where she was, she moved up where the others have gathered. Where’s Kayla? Cold dread shot through her momentarily. Darnand and Salyan were near the waterfall, before Salyan turned and ran behind her and Vera. She heard the other woman stop and begin playing and singing.

Darnand’s magic shot out and revealed where the charrus were for Aravi. She recognized the soul trap spell and aimed her bow at the one he hit. Her first arrow skidded off of the top of the creature’s tough chitin. She hissed in frustration and aimed lower. It’s getting too close, two shots and if it isn’t dead, swords.

Aravi’s arrow bounced off the chaurus chitin and clacked into the wall. The two creatures scuttled closer.

They have already been domesticated by the Falmer, Darnand thought. Perhaps I will be able to control their minds.

Darnand decided not to risk further injury to his teammates. He cast a Command spell at the closest chaurus, causing it to turn and attack its mate. The beasts knew their own weaknesses. The attacker’s razor sharp mandibles bit into the soft place between the other’s armored plates. After a moment’s struggle one ceased its movements. An eerie note from inside his pack told Darnand that its energy had been successfully captured.

He cast another soul trap at the survivor. It reared up, exposing its underbelly. Its jaws opened as it made its chittering challenge.

“There,” said Darnand. There’s your target.

Darnand’s spell announced the death of the first charrus at the jaws of its former ally. Darnand threw another soul trap spell just as Aravi was drawing back her fourth arrow. The other charrus reared up when Darnand’s spell struck it. She didn’t have time to wonder why; she took the opportunity for a shot at its lightly armored belly.

The arrow struck as the creature was coming down on its legs, but Darnand’s soul trap let everyone know that it was dead.

Aravi stool and listened a moment. There was not a sound, save for Salyan’s lyre and voice. When that stopped, she was hit with her own nervous energy. A slight tremor went through her arms. The song must have been fortifying her. Without it, her body’s own devices took over.

She stalked over to where she saw the falmer fall. It was weak but still alive, and demonstrated that by snarling at her as best it could.

Aravi went to Darnand and took a soul gem from his pack, then went back to the creature. She kicked a crude dagger from its hand and jabbed her own under its jaw. The enchantment bound its life energy to the gem in her other hand.

The last one dead, she went back to her companions and handed Darnand the filled gem.

She looked at the rest of them. In a soft voice she asked, “where’s Kayla?” Her voice faltered before she could ask did she die?

The battle unfolded quite pleasantly, as no one was injured save for Kayla. Vera found herself somewhat inspired ever since Salyan began playing her instrument and singing a song sans words. She wasn't sure why at the start. True, men and women felt braved when marching into battle at the sound of battle-drums and the call of their commanders but this was a different kind of song altogether.

It didn't matter. She felt far more a better fighter than she did when she first arrived.

The monstrous insects were finally killed with Aravi and Darnand showing splendid teamwork. One of the chitinous creatures rolled over and Aravi delivered the killing blow, trapping its soul in the gem she held in her hand.

Vera hated to admit it to herself but she began to have a growing sense of curiosity as to why exactly they wanted the souls of these creatures. Not all of them had enchanted weapons or jewerly from what she can tell.

She handed the filled gem to the Breton and then with a look that expressed worry and dread, she asked the whereabouts of Kayla. When no one spoke right away, Vera cast a fleeting glance over the edge where the Altmer had fallen.

"She gone," Vera said. There was a chance, a slight chance, that she did survive and is drifting off in the frigid water. If that were the case then she didn't have much time to live. Either the water kills her after preserving her bleeding body for a moment or the cavern's carnivorous dwellers get to her.

She approached Aravi, face and expression hidden. "I know she was your friend. If you want to send someone to go find her . . .," her voice trailed off and she looked back at the edge where Kayla was last seen standing. "She may have a slim chance of survival."

The battle managed to conclude without further loss of blood on the side of the adventurers, Darnand's magic and Aravi's bow proving sufficient to deal with the abominable insects that they had encountered. The two insects now lay dead, stinking black ichor drooled from their wounds, viscous and noisome, no longer a threat.

"I know she was your friend. If you want to send someone to go find her . . .," Vera began, before trailing off. "She may have a slim chance of survival."

Salyan looked at the stream and the falls that Kayla had toppled down. There was, she noticed, an incline by its edge, a slope that might give relatively safe passage to its bottom.

"I say we should look for her," she said. "If it was any of us who'd fallen instead she'd be searching for us already."

Darnand held the warm gem in his hand, struggling to keep his jaw from dropping. If a Falmer’s soul energy could be trapped so easily, they must have degenerated to the point of becoming animalistic. The other possibilities made the back of his neck prickle. An entire race outside the grace of Arkay…

He tucked the filled gem into his bag and handed a few empty ones to Aravi. With Kayla possibly bleeding to death down in the black water this was no time to ponder theology. It would be wasteful not to capture their dying magicka. Falmer souls held a great deal of power.

The others suggested what was also on Darnand’s mind. He moved to the sloping path. The sound of multiple waterfalls beyond suggested a large, open cavern. As his eyes adjusted to the glowing mushrooms along the far walls he found himself in awe of the sight.

“My spells of life detection will not reach the limits of that space,” he said. “I can walk on the water with a spell once we get down there but we should expect that the cavern is occupied. I should not like to get caught out on open water with no cover. It is too cold to simply drop below the surface and use a water-breathing spell for more than a few moments. And once we have recovered Kayla, we will need to warm her beside a fire.”

They would need to secure the area. There was little point in fishing Kayla out of the water only to have her shot again at the lake’s edge.

Silence roared.

Energy swirled, hot and flaring, around her body as she was carried towards...what?

Darkness.

She thought her end would be bright, brighter than all of the suns and stars, burning the impurities away, scathing her body as she begun anew. Instead, she ducked and dove, tumbling, twirling, as if her body was being tossed from the hands of two giants playing catch.

She suddenly felt a tug as the white hot energy became cold and cruel, stifling her breathing. She choked, clawing at her throat as her limbs became heavy, the air thick. a quick inhale told her she wasn't breathing in air as she tried to claw her way up to the surface of the icy water. She'd never learned to swim, and never thought she'd needed to know.

Her boot hit the bottom of the underground lake, and with all of her strength, pushed up with both feet as firmly on the bottom as she could. Making her body a point, she rocketed to the surface, sputtering and choking when she broke through. The deafening roar of the waterfall covered up any sounds of her muted struggles as she struggled to keep afloat. Her armor was light, but her boots were not. Her sword was not. And bogged down with water, she sunk several times.

Determined, she finally made it to the water's edge. She pulled herself up onto the shore, her arms shaking from exertion, her gasps audible only to her. She lay on her back, shivering, gulping in air like a fish gasps for water. Too exhausted to move, she lay there, motionless, her chest rising the only movement.

She finally mustered up the will to reach for her potion bag, only to find it was gone. She briefly remembered she had set it down next to Aravi. At the memory, pain flared in her chest, and she felt along her chest for the arrow. It had pierced her lung, right below her left breast. She remembered that she had small vials tucked away in her pockets. With shaking hands, she reached into her left pocket and pulled out a vial. She tried to muster the magick to light a spell to see, but nothing came. She was too tired. she briefly tried to identify the bottle's contents by feeling the bottle, but again, nothing. With much trouble, she uncorked the vial and drank it, hoping for the best.

Luck was with her as the tissue inside her began to mend, and Kayla yanked the arrow out of her ribs. She clenched her teeth to bite off a cry of pain as she tossed the arrow aside. She was thankful there was no poison on the arrow.

She debated on moving. Out in the open, where the Falmer could "see" and she couldn't, she was vulnerable. But hiding would hinder her allies from finding her. she bit her lower lip in thought. Falmer couldn't see, but her friends could. Knowing Darnand and Aravi, they'd have spells or use their normal nighteye to see.

Taking her finger, she drew an arrow pointing in the direction she was going to head. When she went a few feet, she did the same. She continued in the manner until she hit a tunnel. Judging by the decline, it went lower. She hesitated, then turned. Her legs wobbled and gave out, and she tumbled downwards, letting out a brief cry of pain as a sharp rock bit into her thigh. She heard hisses and the unmistakable clicking of mandibles. Kayla drew her sword, panting, and lit a weak light spell. There was only one Falmer and charrus.

She would be fine.

Nobody spoke for a moment. Then Vera answered Aravi’s question. “She’s gone.”

It hit her like a physical blow. Her breathing felt constricted, and for a few moments while the others talked, she struggled to calm herself. Vera offered to look for her. Salyan spoke next, saying that she desired to look for Kayla and pointing out she would be searching already if anyone else had gone over.

She would, Aravi knew.

Darnand offered his spells to search, but also pointed out some difficulties that he would face with them.

Aravi’s breathing returned to normal, and she felt she could finally speak. “We are going to find her.” And if she’s gone, then we will bring her out. She loathed the idea of leaving her friend’s body in the cave to be eaten by vermin.

She turned and followed Darnand down the path and saw a massive chamber ahead. It was filled with water, with a narrow strip of stone high above it, leading deeper into Nirn. A small island was in the middle with a path to the water level. She reached Darnand and held a hand out to prevent him from going forward with her. She wanted a look without another person tagging along. Perhaps this time they would surprise the enemy and not the other way around.

She sneaked forward on silent feet. She skirted the edges of the walls, keeping her body in the deepest shadows, but keeping careful that her armor doesn’t scrape the rough stone.

She reached the edge of tunnel and looked around the chamber. A waterfall was on the far side; its noise would help them go undetected even longer. The ceiling rose high above her head. Lumps hung from the ceiling that gave Aravi an unsettling feeling. They didn’t look like rocks… What are they?

Another walkway was overhead and followed the edge of the chamber. She could see falmer up there. This could be tricky. At least three of them up there.

She returned to the others in the tunnel and told them what she found. Including the strange lumps. Perhaps someone else had seen these before.

Kayla's limbs dragged as she huddled near the fire the now dead Falmer had made. She needed fuel, food, and she had no idea what could be eaten. She had nothing but potions, and she'd left her warming potions in her pack. Were she to venture deeper, she would have to kill the inhabitants, and render their expedition moot. She decided to make her way upwards.

As soon as she was warm. She peeled off her armor and set it near the fire to dry. The top layer of her skin was numb, and her lips were blue. She shivered, her body trying to keep warm. She thought about slipping her undergarments off as well, but they were light and airy, meant to not overheat under armor. The fire had been built inside a tent made of a material that Kayla didn't want to think about, and the area was warm. She would be dry in an hour or so.

Hopefully her friends would find her by then. She lay back, her head against a rock, wishing for a blanket. Instead, she rubbed her chest and arms and stomach with her hands, hoping the friction would warm her skin.

"Strange lumps?" Salyan asked, in response to Aravi's report. "I can't say I know anything of the kind; you were certain they were alive, though?"

She shrugged.

"In any case, if we keep an eye on those we can easily deal with just three falmer," she said. "And the sooner we fish Kayla out, the better; that water looks freezing."

Aravi was as silent and nimble as a housecat and Salyan remained behind along with Darnand. Vera barely spoke as they trekked through the dark interior of the caves and while Aravi set her gaze up, Vera looked down. Bootprints.

Not from Aravi, as she had a different set of boots than these. These left a kind of marking that couldn't of been made by metal . . . she can tell that much from the strands of fur sticking out of the mud.

They weren't the only people in the cavern.

Vera pulled an arrow from her quiver after Aravi notified her of the lumps. She followed the movements of the Falmer just above the walkway. The snow-white monstrous mer were oblivious to their presence and there was no telling how long they would remain that way.

There were only two options; remain hidden and fetch the other Mer or kill the three falmer. Vera chose the latter. If they didn't pose problems right now they would later and she was here to make sure not a single threat was left breathing or at least moving.

She turned her head over to Salyan. "They are so easy to deal with. It is better to take them out now than to do it later when they've alerted the entire cavern."

She set her arrow for a shot but didn't pull back. She looked over at Aravi. "I can take two arrows from my quiver and kill both of them. I don't want to risk the third jumping into the water . . . give the one in the far right my regards?"

Darnand knelt on the raised path, watching Vera and Aravi prepare to kill the three Falmer. His spells told him that the lumps on the ceiling high above were living creatures.

He had no idea what they might be. Chaurus reapers were one possibility, but they nested in crevices. He had never seen them hanging like bats.

Giant bats? In the dark he didn’t try to hide his shudder. At least they are not spiders. A moment’s contemplation brought other possibilities to mind. One didn’t need wings to reach that height. All manner of horrors might creep upside down along the rocky surface. Anything that high would be safe from the Falmer and their chaurus. But if the creatures were carnivorous and untamed, the Falmer would not allow them to live in their hive.

Darnand brought his spells to mind and hand. Stealth demanded that he refrain from casting the soul traps until the Falmer noticed them, and by then it might be too late to capture their dying energies. Still, he would be ready.

He also prepared the spell that fortified his magicka and hardened his skin. That arrow had pierced Kayla as if she had not been wearing armor. He did not wish to share her fate.

"Strange lumps? I can't say I know anything of the kind; you were certain they were alive, though?"

"I have no idea. It doesn't look like any natural cave formation that I have seen. Maybe some kind of fungus?"

Nobody else had any further insight as to what these could be. Maybe it is nothing...

They moved forward without further debate. Aravi lead the way again with Vera close on her heels. Darnand and Salyan stayed farther back, but within easy earshot.

"I can take two arrows from my quiver and kill both of them. I don't want to risk the third jumping into the water . . . give the one in the far right my regards?"

Aravi nodded and set an arrow to her string.

Her arrow was released half a second after Vera's first arrow. The mercenary barely paused for a breath before her second shot was out. Aravi drew another arrow from her quiver, but found no targets. Aravi briefly marveled at the mercenary's speed and accuracy with the bow.

Her eyes followed a shape falling and hit the water with a splash. She cringed at the noise and pulled the arrow she had in hand to her cheek. She didn't release when there was no movement in the water. The target was already dead. It was one of the falmer from above.

She stood frozen, listening to every little sound she could, wondering if anything else heard the splash in the water...

The splash echoed around the cave, and high up the noise reached the ears of creatures clinging to the rock ceiling. Sensitive instruments, attuned to hear a range of frequency most things would find inaudible, the noise was picked up with ease.

Eyeless heads, crowned with curling horns, swivelled from where they had been tucked between hairless chests and slick rock, turning at impossible angles. A series of clicks, at a hypersonic frequency that other creatures could not hear, sounded out, and judging from the sounds that were returned to them, the nightmares clinging to the cave roof came to a conclusion; prey, four of them.

There was a swift and silent unfurling of bodies; roundish grey lumps unfolded into a membranous wings of pale grey, two metres in their span, and long tails uncurled, tipped with dagger-sized spikes of envenomed bone. Their bodies were devoid of hair, pale and milky, thin but sinuous with flight muscles. The claws on the elbow of their wings and on their legs gripped at the ceiling, equally adept at holding onto slick rock or rending flesh, as they scanned one last time.

Satisfied that their prey was in optimal position, the seven cavern ghasts clicked a signal to each other and swooped down to attack.

Her ears strained, but she heard nothing... Wait, what was that? Something like -

Something slammed into her breastplate, hard. She found herself looking up at the cavern ceiling, gasping for breath. She could see shapes fly over her before a wave of nausea overtook her. There was a burning in her chest. She propped herself up and looked. A piece of a barb was sticking out of her chest. Later, she would reflect that her next action was very foolish, but at the time she wasn't able to think.

She took the barb and pulled it out. It left a hole in her armor. A small trickle of blood showed that it broke her skin, but the moonstone plate took most of the damage.

What was that? She thought as she got back to her feet and armed herself with her swords.

A second wave of nausea almost brought her to her knees, but she remained standing.

"I... I think I've been poisoned."

Salyan

There was barely time to react before the shrieking forms of several creatures, winged and hideous, swooped down on the roof of the cave towards them. Acting on instinct, Salyan stepped back and unleashed the one destruction spell she knew, Thunder's Tongue. A booming wave of sonic force echoed up from her, knocking two of the swooping shapes off course and sending them reeling and tumbling, recovering in midair but their momentum lost.

She didn't see what happened to Darnand or Vera, but she saw one of the flying creatures swoop by Aravi. The khajiit toppled as it lashed out with a long, prehensile tale, doubling over and clutching her stomach. Salyan staggered back as one of the creatures slashed at her with curved claws, the natural weapons scoring a line across the hardened leather shoulder pads she wore, and she scrambled forwards towards Aravi, the khajiit still standing.

"I... I think I've been poisoned," she managed to gasp out.

Salyan swore, and glanced over to Darnand and Vera, then checked the air to see whatir the attackers were doing.

"Does anyone have a cure poison potion?" she asked. "Anyone?"

The creatures’ wings snapped open as they dropped from the high ceiling. They swooped down to attack.

Darnand’s life detection spell adjusted almost without his conscious effort, defining their forms with a pale glow rather than the indistinct blaze that had betrayed their presence at a distance. The creatures split off in a formation that suggested they were communicating. Good. Intelligent creatures yield more magicka. I did not come here to capture the souls of skeevers.

His soul trap met one and clung like a dark mist. Darnand cast his protective spell as he dove out of the way of its claws. The spell hardened his skin against the impact when his shoulder met stone floor. He rolled up in a crouch, staff ready for defense.

An explosion of sound echoed through the cavern, answered instantly by shrieks from the ghastly creatures. Salyan. Circumstances allowed only a grim smile in appreciation. Darnand swung his staff like a club as a bat-thing whipped its tail at him. Bones crunched. The barb sliced through his spell and robe, barely grazing his skin. The creature plummeted out of sight to the water below.

Aravi stood with a sword in each hand, her stance oddly rigid. Darnand heard Salyan ask for a poison potion.

The skin along his side began to tingle. Dammit.

The remaining monsters circled at the far end of the cavern. Within moments they would resume the attack. The hum from a soul gem announced that at least one was out of the fight. He cast another trap while he readied his next defense.

Darnand braced his staff against the ground and closed his eyes to help himself focus. His free hand made a gesture that allowed him to reach into the Void. His flame atronach waited there.

She roared through in a rush of heat and light. Joy and fury were the same to her. Darnand steeled himself against the contact with her mind.

Burn, she whispered. Or perhaps they said it together.

Darnand heard her start to throw fireballs as he closed the distance to Aravi.

“I know a spell,” he said.

The Falmer weren't the only thing that went down. Vera had her share of fighting winged beasts . . . beasts like imps. That was about it. Nothing prepared her to face a bunch of fast gargantuan bats that happened to fall from the ceiling as if the invisible jaws of oblivion decided to belch out these nefarious creatures.

She didn't have time to react even with her quick agility and knack for being prepared. In all her research, all of her experience in the field she had never came across them before. Everything was a blur. She heard shrieking, flapping of wings and she saw Aravi standing in one position in a moment, and then she was on the floor on the next second with a barb sticking from her chest.

Vera's heart sunk to see Aravi in that horrific situation. She seemed wounded. Hurt and in pain and that in turn made Vera feel just the same. She had a growing sense of fear amidst her concern to duck and avoid the incoming onslaught of the winged cretins and that was for Aravi's safety. Afterall, Kayla might have died and she wasn't willing to let Aravi slip into death just yet. She couldn't. How else would she get the rest of her payment? Unless Darnand was willing to bend his ass in the cave and with some unknown arcane magic, squat and produce gold, she would have risked her life for a cheap pay. And she hated cheap pays.

But the one thing she cared more about money was Lycus. Lycus wasn't around, so what's left now was her own life and that was much more important.

There were four of them fighting and just then Vera thought she saw a fourth person. If she can call a female-looking humanoid figure with a flaming body a person at all. It didn't take long for her to realize the mage summoned an atronach but it did take her long to register the force of impact that sent her reeling into the cavern wall. Her head felt light. It wasn't just the force of the hit but the fact that her helmet fell of her head.

Her bow fell from her fingers and she scrambled to retrieve it when another flap of wings came behind her after Darnand unleashed a fire spell that spread the beasts throughout the cavern. Instinctively, she rolled over to her side just as it flew over her with its tail ready to pierce her back. It missed her miraculously by just a few inches before it flapped away.

Vera rolled over again and grabbed her bow as if it was a part of her own flesh and blood. She looked to the cavern ceilings and with her vision of a predator she searched for the creatures that considered her prey. She aimed, she loosed and she felled one of the beasts.

Her victory was short-lived when more of them swept down at her. Loosing three arrows at once was impossible, so the only possible, the only logical thing to do was run. And she did. She leapt to the ground and decided that her helmet would be the best bet in protecting her. Without it, so would go unconscious if the creature so much as hit her. Or worse.

As she ran to grab it while Salyan asked for a potion, there was the force of impact once again. It felt like a boulder with wings hitting her. The pain was bearable, she's been through worse. Pain from a cut was small to one who experiences the shifting of bones and organs and the tearing of skin throughout the entire body.

The only thing unbearable as she got to her feet again with ragged breaths was that she tasted blood in her mouth and a moisture seeping from her head. She felt the blood. She smelled it. Her own infectious lycanthropic blood. But what she saw, though.

What she saw was a parted version of her own perfect vision. She saw Darnand, Aravi and Salyan but on one side. It was as if she held a hand against one eye while the other remained opened and unveiled by the hand. Except her bloody hands were struggling to even reach for her helmet and they were nowhere near her face.

Next came the physical and mental pain and the knowledge that her left eye was struck and . . . and lost part of her sight. She didn't dare touch the wound but she knew her eye was a bloody mess. She clamped her jaws and began to breath heavily. This wasn't good for her. This wasn't good at all.

She heard the unfamiliar, but recognizable sound of Salyan’s magic. She heard the familiar sound of a summoning. The crackle of fire, and the sound of destruction magic let her know that Darnand was fighting. Vera’s bow snapped. On top of all of this was the sound of flapping wings and high pitched shrieking of these new enemies.

She couldn’t spare her friends more attention than this however. The poison coursing through her veins was taking its toll on her petit body. She felt weak and nauseous. It took her strength to remain standing, with her swords up to ward the creatures off.

One swooped at her, tail extended forward to lance her body. She slid out of the way and whirled her swords. The creature crashed with a shriek, minus its tail. Before she could confirm its demise, her sickness brought her to her knees. She breathed heavy, hoping that she wouldn’t vomit. I’m going to die if I can’t defend myself. A chill went through her. She was a liability to the rest, until she was cured. A banging of metal told her that Vera wasn’t faring well either. This disaster was only getting worse. What did I get everyone into?

Shrieking and howling, the remaining bat things flitted back up, reforming themselves into a fresh wing in readiness for another swooping attack. Somehow, Aravi had kept her feet, had even killed one of the things, but it was clear the khajiit wouldn't last, while a flame atronach had sprung from thin air, probably a conjuration from Darnand and one Salyan was grateful for. Vera was struggling with her helmet and Salyan thought she could see red on the hunter's hands, but it was impossible to tell for sure.

Salyan saw the creatures rallying to swoop again, and sent a frenzy spell hissing and snarling towards one of them. It hit, and the wing lost cohesion for a few moment as the beasts turned on the member of their pack that had suddenly attacked them. It would buy them a few moments, and Salyan fumbled at her belt, downing a magicka restoration potion in preparation for more spellcasting. She kept her eye upwards as she moved towards Vera, to see if she could help or at least keep her out of harm's way; if Darnand needed time to take the poison from Aravi's wound, then it would be only her and the mage's atronach watching the enemy.

Darnand gulped Kayla’s magicka potion as he closed the distance to Aravi. He let the cap and vial drop to the ground as was his habit during a fight. As promised the powerful potion filled him with a surge of magicka.

Aravi was on her knees, ears pinned back in distress. Salyan had moved to assist the wounded Vera. The bard’s spell brought the enemy’s number down to three.

I shall first prevent the poison from further damaging Aravi, Darnand thought. They will not target us as long as my atronach defends—

His flame atronach twirled away past Salyan and Vera, tossing lazy fireballs as she went. The creatures angled their wings to avoid them. Their hideous heads turned as one toward the vulnerable Khajiit.

Traitorous wench. The flame atronach offered no reply. Darnand knew that while his gratitude was repugnant to her, she relished his anger. At least she has not attacked me. Yet.

Darnand dropped his staff and slid in to kneel behind Aravi, careful of her naked blades. “Trust me,” he said into her ear. His left arm locked around her armored waist, pulling her back against his chest. Fire leaped up from his right palm with only the slightest encouragement.

He stared past Aravi’s head at the attacking creatures. The closest began a swooping dive that would bring its barbed tail into position. The two behind banked their wings to bring their clawed feet into play. Now.

Fire erupted from his hand into a storm around them. Darnand poured his magicka into the blaze, whipping it into a circling cloak. The wind it generated blew his hair into his eyes but the heat did not harm him. As long as Aravi stayed in position the cloak would protect her, too. He noticed she had drawn her tail in and tucked it against her body. Thankfully he had not knelt on it.

Darnand could barely hear the screams from inside his roaring fire. Something was dying out there. He couldn’t tell how many.

“Aravi,” Darnand said, keeping his voice calm. “Please do not move. I would like to stop the poison. Then we can discuss how to heal the damage.”

Crouched inside the inferno, he cast the spell.

Kayla's body trembled. Her skin prickled, the fine hairs on her body raised and standing at attention, despite the continuous and vigorous attention Kayla paid to warming her skin. She was so cold, her hair ached. The fire did a lot to help, but she was chilled to the bone. In these few short moments she had been there, she had been thinking.

She crawled to her armor, slowly with an aching body, and turned it inside out. It was still freezing, the water still dripping from it. She tried her best to wring the armor of the water, the water running down her arms and splashing onto the ground. Her teeth chattered loudly and new shivers wracked her body. Her thin, strong frame trembled harder.

Her stomach growled, and she looked around the tent, huddling closer to the fire. She propped her armor up, leaving the stiff chitin pointing away from the fire and the cloth inside towards the heat of the fire to help dry the inside. She ran her fingers through her damp hair.

Never again will I turn down a hot bath, she thought. I'm gonna have myself a large meal when I get back to-

Her thought was cut off when she heard a soft shuffling on the outside of the tent. She froze, quieting her ragged breathing. her exhausted body tensed, her senses alive again.

She heard a soft hiss, and the shadow of a Falmer danced on the wall outside. A second later, a pale, wretched monstrosity entered the tent, its steps careful, head cocked upwards, sniffing the air. Kayla held her breath, and for a moment, as the head turned towards her, her heart pounded so loud, she thought the Falmer would be able to hear her. When it turned out of the tent and crept away, she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

She quietly crawled over to Dawnbreaker and reached for it. She let out a gasp of surprise and pain when a hard object hit her cheek, then a slash of pain ripped across her face. She fell backwards as a cold hand gripped her throat and threw her onto her back.

She saw the blade coming. The creeping Falmer had nothing on his person besides the dinky dagger now pressed against her throat, and his loincloth. But the combination of exhaustion and the putrid stench of the Mer's breath made her want to vomit. The Falmer held her there after assessing she had no weapons in her hands. Blood dripped from the scratch on her face, though none got in her eyes, luckily. Three angry gashes from the Falmer's ragged claws screamed in anguish from her left cheek to her chin, missing her lips.

She began to look for an escape. She'd heard of adventurers coming back with tales of Falmer thralls, human and mer brainwashed to serve the twisted creatures. She didn't plan on allowing that to happen. She knew better than to wrestle the dagger from the creature. Her best option was killing in one blow. Unfortunately, that was also her noisiest option.

She took a deep breath and summoned a fireball, a new rush of will and magick coming to her aid.

Trust me.

Aravi didn’t hear Darnand approach, so his voice in hear ear was a surprise. His arm slipped around her and pulled her close. What-? Her fevered mind wondered before they practically ignited. Fire leapt up around them, blinding her to what was around them. She curled into a ball and squeezed her eyes shut while the inferno raged around them. The sounds of pain and dying creatures penetrated her mind.

“Aravi,” Darnand said, keeping his voice calm. “Please do not move. I would like to stop the poison. Then we can discuss how to heal the damage.”

She nodded, but kept her eyes squeezed shut.

She felt his magic go to work on her, removing the poison from her body. Her strength was returning, the nausea receded. Her eyes came open. Darnand’s fire still whipped around them, but it was no longer overwhelming to her. She pushed herself to her feet, her swords braced against the ground. She wasn’t feeling healthy, but she felt more and more functional as Darnand’s magic flowed into her.

The flames of Darnand’s fires receded, leaving an afterimage in Aravi’s sensitive eyes that temporarily blinded her.

Thankfully, luck seemed to be on their side this time. No shrieks of enraged flying… things could be heard. Not even the rustle of a wing.

Darnand must have timed it right. Divines know, he saved me.

His magicka cleansed the poison from her body. His fire killed the remaining creatures.

As her vision slowly recovered, she saw Vera kneeling on the ground, her hands on her face. A chill swept through Aravi when she saw blood dripping from Vera’s fingers. It’s her eye.

Aravi went to her and kneeled. “What happened? How bad is it?”

Vera removed her hand from her eyes and it still felt as if the hand was there. There was no vision from that injured eye. She couldn't see. She was blind. At least she wasn't a cripple.

Salyan came to her, evidently knowing something was amiss with the Imperial huntress. Soon after Aravi followed, and knelt down to ask what had happened and how bad was the condition of the injury.

She kept her head down while her ears tried to pick off the sound of the monstrous bats. She heard nothing at all. Darnand and his spells must have made short work of them.

She blinked and the pain flared in her skull. She winced and breathed, nearly touching her wounded eye in hopes to stop it. It was agonizing.

Vera looked up to Aravi to reveal her left eye. It was black and bloodied and instead of one perfect member like the other, it was just a mass of scarred tissue with yellow within. By all means, her left eye was gone. "I'm can't see with this eye."

She wasn't too worried, though. Not as much as she should be. "It'll be fine," she said, with a hopeful voice.

Though she's never had this sort of injury before, she wasn't certain for sure. Scars and cuts often healed with time. Flesh wounds knit themselves closed only if she was in her other form. If she was injured in that form, and she consumed another person . . . she would be healed. But now . . .

Now only a powerful spell could restore her eye, but with time she could fix this. There were other things to worry about. "We must press onward."

Vera sounded optimistic about the state of her injured eye. Darnand was no healer, but it seemed quite serious to him even at a distance. Unfortunately he had no expertise to offer beyond what a simple spell or potion could do. Seal the skin over the socket and stop the bleeding. Between the three of them he was sure that Vera, Aravi, and Salyan could more than handle it. His regret over her loss would have to wait. He pushed those thoughts aside until later.

“I see a way down to the water,” he said, pointing. “I shall search for Kayla.” He cast his water strider spell as he jogged down to the water.

His spell made the lake’s surface feel springy. He moved carefully so as not to trip over the small waves caused by the waterfalls. Life signs glowed under the water when he renewed and strengthened his detection spell. None of them could have been Kayla.

Slaughterfish, he realized when they began to surface and bite at his feet. Wonderful. He quickened his pace.

After the search he rejoined the group.

“She is not within this cavern,” he said. Then he pointed toward the far side of the cavern where a raised walkway led to tunnel-sized openings. “I expect she has been washed into an underground river in that direction, either alive or dead. I found the opening under there. Even the surface current is strong. Additionally if her body was still here in the water, the slaughterfish would be gathering to feed. They are not doing so.”

Darnand sent a longing glance at the cave-flyers’ corpses. With Kayla missing he would not spare the time to examine the bodies.

He looked to Aravi for direction.

Vera reacted to Aravi’s voice and looked up at her. She moved her hand from her face, and Aravi couldn’t help but flinch. Vera’s eye was destroyed.

“I can't see with this eye. It'll be fine.”

Darnand announced that he was going to search for Kayla. Aravi nodded to him and turned back to Vera.

“We must press onward.”

“We must. But I don’t know if you should come with. Your eye is gone. Nobody here knows the magic needed to repair an injury like that. My magic would seal your wound, which would only guarantee the total loss of your eye.”

Darnand returned and reported he didn’t find anything to indicate Kayla’s whereabouts. Dead or alive.

Aravi sighed. This was a catastrophe. Her better judgment told her to turn around now. A member was lost, another seriously injured. I can’t leave Kayla without knowing.

“Anyone that wants to turn around now, may do so, but I am going to find Kayla.” She looked at Vera. “I can’t make you leave, but you risk much if you remain with me. You will be at a disadvantage in any fights, and you may not be able to repair your eye if you wait.”

Darnand nodded his agreement. “We shall go forward.” He moved along the raised walkway to the passage beside the waterfall. Spray had made the ground slippery with mold and moss. His night-eye spell showed him a lookout perch above the entrance. Empty of significant life signs. Surely this was once a bandit stronghold of some kind.

Sprung trip wires and a rickety wooden platform trap inside confirmed his suspicions. The Falmer who lived here now had their own security devices. They had not reset the ones they had found. Darnand shaded his eyes against the glare from glowing mushrooms along the walls, no doubt seeded there by the Falmer. The twisted mer had no need of the mushrooms’ light, but Darnand had seen the fungus used for food and in potions.

The path turned back on itself. Darnand could see the upper lookout with the waterfall ahead, but it was the wooden platform and corridor above and behind them that claimed his attention. Webs glistened along the floor and walls. Eggs sacks clustered thigh-high near the doorway, and oblong shapes wrapped in white silken strands hung from the ceiling. Desiccated skeever corpses lent their characteristic mustiness to the air.

Darnand could see one large life sign beyond the web-festooned doorway.

He leaned forward to speak quietly to Aravi. “Spiders. I can see that there is one of significant size, and they are usually attended by their young. It is impossible for me to determine how many. Shall I investigate?”

Vera now began to feel the foreboding whispers that she may just lose that eye forever. No one there knew the healing spell that would restore her sight, and even if they did it would result in it being permanently damaged. A flicker of doubt registered on Vera's eyes as she looked at the khajiit woman. The spell she used to heal herself completely was not within her power, for she had used it hours ago while trekking through the wilderness.

How much time is too much time? Her wounds often closed themselves, and any cuts or bruises lingered for a few minutes. Something as dire as the loss of a limb or sliced bone took much more dramatic efforts to heal.

The huntress sighed with frustration and bent low to pickup her helmet, though she didn't put it on. It would only hinder her vision even more and she was in no position to put herself in a more weakened state. She turned to Aravi as she followed Darnand but she kept considerable distance from him. She was losing some blood and if so much as a few drops somehow gets in contact with any of his open cuts, he'll be infected with Sanies Lupinus.

She didn't think a mage like him would go a day without curing any diseases or treating infections. She didn't want to take the chance, though. Some gifts aren't meant for others and as far as she's concerned, she's never passed her condition to anyone yet.

He doesn't want what I've got, Vera told herself.

"We had a deal," she said. "I'm honoring that agreement. I'll fight for you until I get my pay. As long as I am breathing, you hired my whole self for the task. I can still fight . . ."

Ever the headstrong woman, she kept pace with Darnand and walked beside the waterfall. She reached out to the cold water and allowed some to gather in her hand before drinking some of it. The cool liquid felt refreshing.

Darnand walked ahead, inspecting the cavern around him. Eventually he stopped and notified Aravi of spiders somewhere in the cavern. She was aware Aravi hated spiders. She remembers quite well what transpired back in Cyrodiil. She was certain she would sent the Breton or Salyan to investigate.

As of right now she's not as useful as before. Her damaged eye was a great downside. She knew she had to find a way to heal herself that same day otherwise she'll lose one of her most valuable members and she didn't think there would be any fresh corpses to dig into and use their hearts as healing.

With the company of the three, she couldn't possibly raise the option. They'd kill her on sight if she so much as began to carve a dagger through some poor sod's chest.

Damn bats, she murmured inwardly. Flying bastards.

Darnand went ahead to look while Aravi spoke with Vera. The damage to the woman’s eye was a frightening sight to behold. It was another gruesome reminder of what they risked. A reminder of what they all did. Their enemies, past and present, deserving or not, lost more than an eye.

Vera retrieved her helmet with a sound of frustration on her lips, but didn’t put it back on. Aravi began to think this meant she was turning around.

“We had a deal, I’m honoring that agreement. I’ll fight for you until I get my pay. As long as I am breathing, you hired my whole self for the task. I can still fight . . .”

That’s more like what I expected.

“Spiders. I can see that there is one of significant size, and they are usually attended by their young. It is impossible for me to determine how many. Shall I investigate?”

She froze immediately. It felt like one of the creatures was crawling up her spine. Fetch. She wiggled to be rid of the phantom spider. Why did it have to be spiders? She reached for her bow. The farther away she was, the better.

To Darnand she said, “Yes please. I suppose we wouldn’t be able to go around them?”

“It is likely that they have nested in a closed portion of this cave system, so we could quietly pass them by and search further on for Kayla. However I would prefer not to leave them at our backs. Perhaps a command spell to turn the largest one on the others? They might do much of the work for us.”

Darnand glanced around to see if Salyan would volunteer her lyre. He intended to trap the energy of as many as possible while they were there.

“And of course I shall finish the survivors with fire.”

Darnand worked his way cautiously through the webbing, cutting the thick supportive strands with his belt knife when he needed more room. He had once had the opportunity to observe a nest of the beasts for two days while trapped inside a Dwarven ruin. Now he considered that time well spent, for he readily identified which sections were sticky and which were dry. The spiders were able to fold and angle themselves through the narrowest openings. Though he was smaller, he needed more room to get through.

And I should not like to get stuck during a possible rapid egress.

Something tugged on his foot. Darnand’s heart stopped for a moment before he looked.

His shoe had gathered a mat of trailing silk and debris. Dammit. He managed not to fall into the webs when he yanked himself free.

When Darnand reached the end of the passageway, dim light from some unseen crevice above showed him the large, circular cavern. Life detection magic illuminated the beings scuttling within. He felt a crawling sensation along his neck. Though he had no pathological fear of spiderkind, he had a healthy concern about things that wanted to paralyze and bind him before sucking him dry.

Also, they looked creepy.

Darnand braced his feet and positioned his arms for casting. “Ready,” he whispered.

The frenzy spell impacted the mother spider in a splash of red light. She turned on her spiderlings with a vicious hiss. Darnand moved forward casting soul traps as she tore through the nest. She moved more quickly than he could work, but the constant hum from his bag told of energy filling the magicka gems there.

Most of the smaller spiders backed away in confusion, but a few fought back. The matriarch threw strings of venom from side to side as she thrashed in a frenzy. Black ichor splashed out of her wounds and the pierced bodies of her young. When Darnand stumbled over one, he realized that he had entered the nest.

The light was behind him. He had nearly passed through it.

The spider queen had backed two others into a deep alcove. Darnand watched her forelegs pump up and down as she shattered their exoskeletons and pulped their insides. He took a slow step back.

The big one let out a clicking moan. Her movements stilled, but she lived.

The frenzy spell has lifted. I shall try to make it quick. He drew fire into one hand and cast the soul trap. Then he shot a ball of flame at the grieving spider.

The gem in his bag sounded its note. Darnand turned to make his way back to the others.

A rustling sound filled the chamber, and shadows danced in the dim light from above. Darnand’s skin iced with panic as he looked up.

The mother spider had been as large as a covered wagon, and her young had ranged from sabrecat to wolf in size. Now a dozen of them descended from where they had sought refuge in the webs above.

Darnand let out an involuntary howl and sprayed the webs with fire. Thin shrieks sounded along with hissing pops as the spiders began to burn. Venom shot at him, boiling into jets of steam in the blaze.

The dry sections of webbing ignited. Fire raced up and down the strands. The dried husks of old prey exploded as they caught. The cavern ceiling became an inferno.

Darnand ran.

What the…?

Minutes ago, Aravi watched Darnand disappear into an obvious spider lair. Now, cherry red light came from the nest. Flames licked the walls, and a very red Breton came running towards her and Vera. Sweat ran down his face, ash and spider webs clung to his robes.

She fought down her panic. Spiders are chasing him. Lots of them. The largest were the size of dogs rather than sabre cats, and most of them were burned to one degree or another.

An arrow appeared in her fingers without her thinking of it. The fletching tickled her whiskers as she sighted beyond Darnand. She hoped he didn’t think she was shooting at him.

Kayla’s potion. She should have drank some, now it was too late. She released her arrow at the spider closest to Darnand. Another arrow embedded itself into the one behind Aravi’s target.

Despite her eye Vera proved to be an effective, if slower, shot.

With Vera still shooting, Aravi put down her bow. A gulp of potion banished her fears. She saw them for what they were, overgrown pests. Dangerous only to the slow and unaware. I am neither.

She unsheathed her swords and placed herself between Darnand and the wave of legs and eyes. They could spit venom, but she ducked her head. The venom splashed onto her helmet. It was still painful and would need washing, but hardly debilitating.

The first one that leapt at her skewered itself on her sword.

“It is likely that they have nested in a closed portion of this cave system, so we could quietly pass them by and search further on for Kayla. However I would prefer not to leave them at our backs. Perhaps a command spell to turn the largest one on the others? They might do much of the work for us.”

He glanced at Salyan, but she shook her head.

"I need to give this a quick tune," she replied. "Make sure its working at its best."

“And of course I shall finish the survivors with fire.”

"Sounds like fun."

Darnand disappeared into the cave, and as Aravi tended to Vera's injury Salyan looked to her lyre. She plucked the strings a few times experimentally, listening with intense care to the noise the delicately woven Madness Ore made. She made minute adjustments, altering the tone in the way that those who were not musically inclined would probably never hear. Casting spells through an instrument disrupted the tuning of an instrument far faster than simple playing would, and for the most effective casting, she needed it to be perfect.

Immersed in her work, she lost track of time until it was complete, and glanced up to see Darnand had not yet returned.

"Does anyone have any idea when Darnand-"

Whumph!

Pursued by spiders and a veritable inferno, the Breton in question was dashing down the tunnel. There were strands of web stuck to his robes and he looked slightly scorched, but the main issue were the spiders in pursuit.

Aravi and Vera drew and fired, and Salyan scrambled back as huge invertebrates approached, putting the two much better armed and armoured warriors between herself and the hungry predators. She thrummed the strings and channelled arcane energy into her lyre, loosing forth audiomantic energy that would boost the strength, endurance and resolve of her three allies.

Darnand dashed past the archers and slid to a halt on his rear behind Aravi. He scrambled around to see a pursuing spider skewer itself on her blade. Others dropped in their tracks as they scuttled forward, finally overcome by their burns. Perhaps they are trying to reach the water.

Salyan’s lyre sang out. Darnand rose to his feet, feeling invincible. He raised his hands and strode back toward the spiders. Instead of more fire he blew them backward with bolts of lightning.

The angry light began to fade as quickly as it had flared to life. Most of the webs must have burned, he realized. There was little else in that chamber to feed the fire. Its roar became a fitful crackle.

The spider carcasses seemed pitiful in their burned and shriveled state. They look much smaller now. Darnand’s bruises and venom burns began to sting, but he had spent the last of his magicka. His wounds were merely annoyances. They could wait.

His life detection spell had flickered out, but he could not imagine any spiders had survived that inferno.

Darnand hesitated to approach Aravi. In her heightened spider battle state he feared a sword through the gut. Also she might not be happy about the way his plan had worked out.

“Is anyone injured?” he asked from a distance. He winced at the thought of Vera’s mangled eye. “That is to say, does anyone require healing before we move on?”

Darnand voted to inspect the area while the three other women remained behind. Whether it was an act of bravery to impress the women or because he wanted to be helpful, she couldn't tell. Maybe he was curious and wanted to see what dark secrets the caverns had besides spiders and . . . those damned bats.

The very thought of them made her eye hurt.

What remained of her eye began to throb some more and she clenched her teeth and seethed, breathing a hiss through her helmet in a vain attempt to endure the pain. The growing discomfort only made her mind whirl and nothing else right now seemed stable.

Behind her helmet Vera was facing the direction Darnand went . . .

Maybe I should stalk- follow him.

She blinked one eye and it turned to Aravi.

How would it feel to chase a cat. . .

She looked at the human woman with her instrument. Funny . . . she doesn't smell like any woman I've met. But how fast is she? How does she taste . . .

She cleared her throat and averted her mind to something else. Anything else. These were dangerous thoughts she couldn't afford to have pumping through her mind right now. If she so much as embraced the whispers of the hunt . . .

Though her helmet shrouded much in darkness there was a bright flash and the sound of hungry flames tearing through the air. She whirled to the direction and heard footsteps rushing toward them. She didn't need to know it was Darnand.

He emerged with webs thick in his clothes and it appeared something beat her to the chase. Arachnids. A bunch of them. Aravi's must be pissing her garments right about now, but ever the tough feline she is, she made short work of them.

Vera felt empowered too. Her shots were more efficient; she took less time to aim and less time to pull another arrow from her quiver. Salyan's music was working wonders. She felled two spiders in a single shot and managed to injure a third before lightning from Darnand's fingertips roasted the rest.

It was quick.

Aravi seemed distraught, or at least seemed thrilled in the heat of combat. The other blond woman stood there with her lyre. Darnand inquired if anyone needed healing. Vera shook her head and headed off deeper into the caverns, leading the way.

I'm keeping my eye.

Salyan’s quit playing her lyre when the last of the spiders died. Between Vera’s bow and Darnand’s lightning, few of them reached her. Those that did, fared no better than the first.

Venom coated her armor like a thin veneer of oil, burning at her skin where it got through her fur. A drip ran down between her eyes. She caught it with a thumb before it could hit her nose.

Slowly, anxiety replaced her calm demeanor. Kayla’s potion was wearing off.

“Is anyone injured? That is to say, does anyone require healing before we move on?”

“No. let’s move before… let’s just move on.”

Vera took the lead, moving quickly. Aravi tried following, but the spiders! She jumped when one of the dead ones twitched a leg. Her heart hammered as she tiptoed passed the others.

***

Roughly crafted furniture, moldy sacks of food, and old crates were stacked in any place that could hold it. This place would have been well stocked, if the food wasn’t all rotten. She wanted to check the crates, but she didn’t want to delay looking for Kayla either.

The path wound over them going back to a waterfall. A crevice led somewhere deeper. Aravi pointed it out to the others in case they didn’t see it.

They squeezed into the narrow opening that went back a short distance before opening up again.

Aravi didn’t see the whole room. All she saw was Kayla, and the Falmer knife at her throat.

Though blind, the Falmer could still smell, still hear. It heard Kayla light the fire in her palm and pressed its knife against her throat, intending to slice it. Kayla rammed her hand into its mouth until it stopped. Blood steamed from the open maw, and she woulsnt realise untl later it was hers.

The Falmer dropped the knife and gagged, then began flailing. A look of concentration came over Kayla's face before the Falmer let out a pained gurgle. A hiss emanated from the flattened nostrils and Kayla quickly yanked her hand from its mouth, gasping in pain. She cradled her hand, glancing down to see deep, painful gashes in her hand. Several rotted teeth were stuck in the back of her hand. A bottom tooth has sliced the vein in her wrist. The Falmer fell over and writhed and convulsed in pain, the smell of burnt flesh making her gag.

She grabbed the knife and with a grunt, lodged the knife deep into its eye socket. A twitch, and it was dead. It seemed like hours, but the deadly exchange had taken seconds. Kayla cradled her hand and picked out the teeth, trembling in pain. Pained hisses came from her mouth through clenched teeth. She turned and Saw a familiar face, and her coldness, pain and near nudity were forgotten.

"Aravi! Aravi!" She slowly began to stand up, the cold stiffening her limbs still. She meant to give the Khajiit a hug.

Aravi was momentarily stunned. At first it looked that they had found Kayla alive, only to watch a Falmer slice her throat open.

But the High Elf wasn’t idle. Perhaps a creature with eyes would have reacted faster, perhaps this one was inexperienced, but whatever the reason, Aravi was thankful. Kayla drew fire into her hand and shoved it into the Falmer’s mouth, burning it from the inside. Then she lodged its own knife where its eye would have been.

Aravi rushed to her, the others close on her heels. The Altmer tried to rise, but Aravi gently pushed her down. She’s ice cold…

“Gods, I thought you were dead. Don’t try to get up. Did you break anything when you went over the waterfall?”

To her companions she asked, “Does anyone have a cloak with them? She’s freezing.”

She turned her attention back to Kayla. Her limbs looked intact to Aravi, but there could be damage inside that she couldn’t see. An angry red splotch on the Altmer’s chest showed where the arrow have been. Kayla had managed to remove the arrow partially heal the wound. She's so pale. Her almost nude body was covered in bruises, scrapes, and other minor injuries.

She called healing magic to her hands, bright golden light emanated from her palms. But she didn’t dare heal Kayla right away. Just like with Vera’s eye, there was some damage she couldn’t fix, and she had no way of directing her magic to specific wounds like a more experienced healer.

Salyan winced in something approaching sympathy as Kayla shoved a handful of flame into the mouth of the falmer pinning her, holding it in place as it struggled before she slammed its knife into its eye. Even though it was an enemy, it still looked like a grievously painful way to go.

Aravi was by Kayla's side in an instant, addressing the arrowhead embedded in the elf's chest, summoning healing energy into her hand but unsure of what to do with it.

"Does anyone have a cloak with them? She’s freezing."

"Here," Salyan said, unpinning her own cloak from where it was held to her shoulder. She wrapped the waterproofed cotton around Kayla, grimacing as she felt the clammy chill around her shoulders. She glanced towards the other two. "Darnand, I don't know good at healing you are but I know you're good enough with fire to put a Sister of Immolation to shame; get some heat going, she needs to warm up, fast."

Darnand thumbed open a vial of magicka potion and downed its contents. The sight of Kayla in the clutches of a Falmer had barely registered before she cooked its head from the inside. He gagged on the stench while Aravi and Salyan went to Kayla’s immediate aid.

“Kayla, will you permit me?” Darnand asked, kneeling beside the shivering Altmer. He proceeded without waiting for permission. First a spell to briefly weaken her to magical effects. Then he fished a small pouch out of his pocket.

“Just a few grains of this will warm you,” he said. “My spell will increase any magical effects on you for a short time. This, er, substance will make the fire feel much warmer. Here,” he extended the bag, “but be careful not to take too much. Oh, and, em, not to pry into your personal life, but…” Darnand fidgeted for a moment. He did not know how to politely inquire whether a freezing and bleeding near-drowning victim with an arrow wound had ever had a skooma problem.

“It’s moon sugar,” he blurted. “It may be addictive, but it works.”

Healing light filled his hand as his magicka slowly returned. While Kayla was weaker to magic he would only need his less potent spells. “I am skilled enough to close those wounds, and I can cleanse the Falmer… ugh from your hand. If you wish. But I recommend the attention of a true healer at the earliest opportunity.”

Darnand’s stomach churned, and his head felt light for a moment. Potion toxicity was a familiar condition, and he was pushing his limits with the amount he had consumed. He braced his fingertips on the floor until his vision cleared again.

Kayla took Salyan's cloak, but pushed away the moon sugar.

"I'm fine. Stop babying me. You forget where I'm from." That was the nicest way she could manage to refuse the moon sugar. "The fire is almost out, but there's one started in that tent over there." She pointed to the hut a few feet from them. "My armor and weapon is in there. I was drying it out when a Falmer came in. It surprised me. That's all."

She put her cold, uninjured hand on Darnand's shoulder. "Don't over-exert yourself, mage. You're no good to us sick."

I should talk.

"The only thing that I really need healed is my hand. Darnand, if you're willing and able, go ahead. I'd much rather not bleed to death." Her split lip pained her as she spoke, and she winced, but said nothing.

Vera watched from a distance as Kayla took the Falmer's life. The sight only made her cringe. She's had enough of eye punctures today. But that wasn't the only important thing here.

She's not dead, Vera thought the obvious as the two females and the Breton flocked around a wounded Kayla. But not in a good condition. Looks like I'm not the only one that had my ass kicked today.

The huntress saw a bloody wrist, cold skin, the wound from the arrow and other signs that she would've been dead in a few hours if not for her efforts to live or the group's arrival to the scene. Salyan graced Kayla with a warm cloak, Aravi devoted her full attention while Darnand took the time to warm her cold skin and the narcotic of moonsugar. She's in good hands. There was no way she was going to die.

Vera stood by as they helped out Kayla. Her mind began to wander and her eyes did just the same, focusing on the small details of the cavern. She had to look anywhere else but an injured person. Though quite capable of defending herself, prospect of injury and something that seemed fragile at the moment inspired unwanted(or perhaps wanted) thoughts.

She circled around the area they were in, looking at everything and anything particular that caught her eye until she came upon the Falmer Kayla had just slain just a few feet from the group. Waiting for Kayla's allies to help her, Vera gently poked the dead creature with her boot. It didn't twitch.

It was dead as dead can be.

She bent low to inspect the strange creature before her, and tilted the knife still lodged in its eye back and forth until it squeaked. So . . . just how blind would it be if it were still alive? Twice blind?

She looked back, and Kayla was still being tended by the others. They're occupied still . . . and there's no danger around here. She turned back to the dead snow-creature, and with her index finger began making the knife dance while still in the Falmer's eye.

She sighed, shrugged and a cynical smile managed to creep in as she looked at the open-mouthed and very dead Mer. She pushed the knife again back and forth, quicker this time before stopping completely. "I know just how you feel. I've been there."

Darnand didn’t hesitate healing Kayla. Glad someone else knows more than I do.

“Let’s get her over by the fire, then you can heal her more Darnand. Someone help me lift her, I can’t get her on my own.”

"Here," Salyan said, looping her arm around Kayla's shoulder. Her and Aravi lifted, Salyan grunting with effort, and they half-staggered over to the fire, placing her down with care. Salyan took a few moments to place some more logs from the pile of spare lumber on the flame, poking it with the end of a blackened stick so that the flames might burn a little hotter.

"I'm fine," Kayla insisted, even as she struggled to walk with them. "Really. This isn't the first time I've taken a plunge off a waterfall into cold water. I'm just chilly." She couldn't mask the relieved sigh she let out as the heat of the fire touched her skin. She scooted closer, nearly in the fire before stopping. Her armor was steaming, the water being scorched off by the heat of the flames.

When Darnand came close to heal her more, she put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in close to his ear.

"Thank you. I owe you. If there's something you can't heal right away, let me know. There are some healing potions in the bag I dropped. If anyone grabbed the bag, it will heal me." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and smiled at him, then patted the spot where she kissed.

"You're a good man, Darnand. And I'm very sleepy. Once my armor is dry, hand me a stamina potion from it. It'll keep me going for hours." She drew Dawnbreaker to her side and rubbed the etchings on the hilt, it still sheathed. She smiled at Aravi and Salyan.

"Thank you. Even if this was just on your way down, thank you."

Kayla’s quick kiss felt like ice on Darnand’s cheek, and her hand was even colder. Despite her insistence that she was fine, he was concerned for her safety.

His eyes went to the sword she pulled close in an almost protective gesture. The etchings on the hilt were not familiar, but they had a daedric look. He glanced away. None of my business.

Kayla’s bag must still be where she dropped it.

“I will go back for your potions, Kayla,” he said. “They are too valuable to leave behind, and it will be comforting to know that no dangers have crept up behind us.” Darnand doubted his healing skill. A flesh wound or broken bone was simple to repair, but he lacked the subtlety of a true artist in Restoration. Kayla might be better off healing the nerves and tendons in her hand with a familiar potion.

He jogged back the way they had come, keeping his steps light and searching the shadows for movement in the large waterfall chamber. The pack lay in shadow at the spot where Kayla had been shot. Darnand gave a quick thanks to Zenithar as he retrieved it.

The magical effects from his various spells and potions had unsettled him, but the feeling waned as he returned to the group. Perhaps Kayla would be ready to move on after one of her powerful restorative potions. Regretfully he thought it would take something else entirely to repair Vera’s eye. He knew a healer and a necromancer who could do it, but not without tremendous effort and supplementary magicka. And both of them were in Cyrodiil.

Darnand carefully placed the pack on the ground next to Kayla. “I saw no one,” he said. But the cave system had clearly become a Falmer hive, though its size was not yet apparent. That did not mean that no one else would come.