The Bound - A Tale Of Tamriel

23

23

i. Tilly.

Öenthir cast her Mage Light spell. As soon as the doors automatically closed behind them, the darkness of the Barrows had closed in. What the light revealed was a small chamber with various sized and shaped urns lining the walls, some broken, others laying on their sides, ash tipping from within.

There was a strange warmth, inside the Barrow, and the air smelled and tasted stagnant and dry. The walls and floor were crude and featureless. The large stone flags of the floor were of varying sizes, cut to roughly square and rectangular shapes, fitting together loose with packed soil between the gaps.

A stone staircase forged its way downwards, the centre of each step bevelled by centuries of passing feet. Whether those feet had been of the living or of the dead, Tilly could make no guess, but the outside had shown few signs of human activity.

They found several old, dry torches dropped into a corner, tucked behind a large, bulbous burial urn and both she and Itagaki took one each, struggling to get them lit. Revna needed both hands for her battle axe and Öenthir would need both hands for her spellcasting, so they declined a torch.

She didn't like holding only one of her daggers, but they didn't want to strain Öenthir's magicka reserves too early. She could have expanded her light, but the larger the light, the longer she maintained it, the more magicka she would use and the closer she would come to tiring herself out.

"I suppose we should go downwards, then?" She offered, her voice taut and tense.

"Aye." Even Revna sounded strained as her deep voice echoed down the stairs and into the depths of the Barrow.

With the party having two torches burning, Öenthir took the opportunity to send her Mage Light orb wafting ahead, down the stairs. They saw it bob and weave and then level out some twenty feet down and, as they followed the light, they saw the first proper chamber of the Barrow.

This was a long room, not much wider than the stairs they had descended, but they found the first evidence of the Barrow's purpose. Three rows of alcoves were on each side of the chamber, about two dozen, in total, each containing shrouded remains.

Tilly couldn't believe herself, but she had no urge to collect any of the piles of coins and pieces of jewellery that could see within the alcoves. Offerings to the dead and the belongings that had adorned these once living, vibrant people. She wanted to get out of this dark, oppressive place.

"There are two exits. Which way, sister?" Itagaki, with a hushed whisper, made a questioning look towards Revna.

As Itagaki had done in the tomb of Onzngknd, and Öenthir before her in Gwinilden's tomb, Revna pulled out their last remaining Gem of Unison and held it up to each of the archways before her. The now familiar pulsing glow began in the Gem as soon as the Khajiit pointed towards the right hand side.

"To the right, then." She returned the Gem to a pouch attached to her belt and renewed her grip on the shaft of her battle axe, edging towards the archway.

Tilly couldn't put her finger on why, but this place seemed far worse than the other two tombs. It was possible it was the setting, or it could be it was because the chambers and passageways, here, were tighter, more constricted, but there was an intense feeling of foreboding washing over her at every step. The sense of malice they had felt outside magnified within these walls and every step they took felt like they were walking blind to their own doom.

She had to stop for a second, putting her dagger away so that she could wipe her palms on her battered noble's jacket, the jacket that she had stolen so long ago. She couldn't remember a time when she had been so nervous that her palms had sweated this much. She wiped her hand again, staring at it, before pulling out her dagger again.