Vallina charged up the staff in her hand, slowly aligning the tip of the staff's head with Arlas' heart. If she was going to kill this little bitch, she was going to do it right...
A small smirk grew across her lips as she readied the charge, her eyes reflected the pulsating red light on the tip of the weapon as she got ready to discharge it. Eventually, the weapon had reached its maximum charge and Vallina fired it, however, she was pre-emptively hit in the back by a spell, most likely a spark or a weak ice spike, causing her to fall forward and misfire, hitting the altar beside Arlas as she threw herself down to the ground to avoid the projectile.
The Altmer slowly pulled herself up, growling and shaking her head in disgust as she did so, wondering what the meaning of this was. She saw Wyatt stood above her, charging a lightning spell in his hand, whilst glaring down on her, looking more than a little enraged.
"D-Damn... Brat! You'll pay for- Urgh!" The Altmer groaned as she felt a 500lbs weight fall on her back, forcing her to the floor again as she was pinned down. Bologra, who was now readying his bayonet in case she tried anything funny, though, in truth, he was hoping that she'd try it, just to give him the excuse.
Arlas pulled herself up to her feet, finding that she had a number of minor cuts on her chin and hands, from throwing herself on the jagged, rocky ground. She grumbled as she did so, feeling like one of the stones jammed into her thigh...
"M-Master Za-Kir!" Wyatt gasped, rushing over to the Elderly Khajiit's side, kneeling by it and checking for any signs of life, Arlas decided to assist him, having a background in healing magic and everything...
"The Old Fool shouldn't have interrupted... Argh!" The Altmer was cut off as Bologra ground her under his boot, causing her to cry out in pain as her body was crushed up against the sharp edges of the stone that made up the floor.
"Nobody gave you permission to speak, bitch!" The Orc grunted, he could honestly do this all day, it made facing those zombies and that nut job worthwhile...
"Is he breathing?" Arlas asked, trying to look for any signs of respiration, whilst Wyatt felt for a pulse.
"Y-Yeah... It's weak but I can feel it..." Wyatt replied, moving his hand away from the Khajiit's nose before looking back to his Bosmeri companion, who was now healing the Elderly Khajiit with an expert healing spell, which swiftly rejuvenated him.
"You're a healer?" Wyatt asked, finding that to be quite surprising somehow, though he hadn't really been told what Arlas could do prior to meeting her, so maybe his surprise was a little strange.
"Yeah... I prefer conjuration though, used to be a Priest at the Temple of the One's hospital."
"You're a priest?" Wyatt asked, he honestly wouldn't have guessed, considering the language that came out of her mouth, whilst she was trying to get their attention earlier and her less than patient demeanour...
"Accolyte, training to be a Priest...
Though, I'm not sure if I'll ever get to be one..."
“Heh, you’re saving lives how can they say ‘no?’” Wyatt asked, forcing a slight smile before turning his attention back to Master Za-Kir. Arlas laughed, faintly but in truth she was still quite conflicted on the issue.
“To be honest, it wouldn’t be them saying ‘no,’ it’d be me…” The Bosmer replied, getting Wyatt’s attention.
“Oh, well… What do you want to do instead?”
Arlas paused and eventually shrugged, she had no idea, if she knew, she’d be doing it by now. She decided to drop the subject, turning her attentions back to her Khajiiti patient.
“Okay… I think he’s stable but I don’t think that we should risk moving him, we’re going to have to go back to Bruma and get a Priest.”
Bologra had, at this point, zoned out completely. He glanced down to Vallina, who simply scowled at the fact that she was trapped beneath the Orsimer’s boot. She remained silent, obviously calculating her next move, however, from the looks of things she wasn’t getting far, not with a 300lb Orc stood on top of her.
“Alright, we’re going to have to send someone back but what about Vallina?” Wyatt asked, looking over to the still Altmer, who’s eyes locked onto him as soon as her name was mentioned. Arlas also glanced over to her, not knowing what to do herself…
“We can’t just leave her, that’s for sure… Bologra has a good hold on her, so I guess that one of us will have to stay with Master Za-Kir and the other will have to run back to Bruma.” She decided, looking back up to Wyatt, hoping that he knew where she wanted him, to which the Breton already did.
“Yeah, I’ll go back to the City and rally up some help, you…”
Before the Breton could finish a surge of energy shot through the open doorway and shot Bologra in the back, he was flung forward and landed with a thud on the floor as the electricity continued to surge around his upper back. Both Arlas and Wyatt looked over to the source of the energy, to see Olan-De in the doorway, a spell ready in each hand.
Vallina scrambled to her feet, immediately looking over to the far corner of the room as she got up, seeing that Arlas’ staff had rolled over to it. The Bosmer also saw it and began to sprint towards it, hoping to beat the Altmer to it. Whoever had control of Lorwel’s staff had control over this entire situation. Realising this Olan-De readied a lightning spell in her hands but was quickly hit by one of Wyatt’s spells to counteract it. The race was on between the two Mer as they narrowed in towards each other. Arlas quickly shoulder barged Vallina, kicking down behind her and hitting the Altmer’s shins, causing her to stumble as Arlas picked up momentum. She immediately crouched down for the staff, snatching it from the ground and quickly spinning one hundred and eighty degrees, driving the wooden staff into Vallina’s left cheek, sending her spinning to the floor before pointing it at her Argonian Apprentice.
“Cut the spells!” She demanded, pointing the staff’s tip at Vallina’s head.
“Now!”
The Argonian glanced down to the Altmer, seeing that she wasn’t going to be getting out of this very easily, she eventually sighed and did as she was told, dispersing the two shock spells in her hands as Vallina rolled around on the floor, holding her recently whacked cheek bone.
“Okay, the two of you, up on your feet! Face the wall!” The Bosmer demanded, shunting the staff forward as a threatening gesture. This prompted Vallina to do so, though she was a little slow on the mark as she was still recovering from receiving a hard wooden stick to the face. Arlas was less than sympathetic as she had them turn around and face the wall, keeping the tip of the staff trained on them until they placed their hands on the wall.
“Wyatt?” Arlas asked, prompting the young Breton to step forward as he rubbed his arm nervously.
“You need to get going, get back to Bruma, get the Guards and a Healer! If you run into any trouble, look for a Khajiit, Nair Quicksilver, he’s a friend of ours and he’ll help you!” The Bosmer instructed him, looking over her shoulder so that she could address him properly. As she finished, she turned her attention back to the two Cultists, the eldest of which was still scowling at the prospect of being held hostage by a girl who was but a mere fraction of her age.
Wyatt nodded, though he stopped to look over his shoulder, seeing his Master on the brink of death, he worried that this would be the last time he ever saw him alive as it was more than possible that the old Khajiit could slip away at any moment.
The Breton turned to the front door and began to make a move but quickly ground to a halt as he heard growling and snarling up ahead, causing him to freeze on the spot, Arlas, Olan-De and even Vallina were somewhat unnerved by it.
“What in… Mora’s name is that?” Vallina demanded, prompting Bologra to sigh as he shook his head and approached Wyatt from behind.
“Dammit, thought I’d taken care of this… Looks like we’ve got some Werewolves left over.”
“Werewolves!?” Arlas snapped before sighing heavily and turning her attentions back to her prisoners.
“Oh great, that’s all we need… We’ve got a pack of feral tribals on top of this snooty bitch as well as the zombies!”
“Ha… And for a moment there, I thought that you had the situation under control…” Vallina replied, smugly, hoping to get under the young Bosmer’s skin even more.
“Shut it!”
“Urgh… I’ll go deal with it!” Bologra grumbled, getting sick of all of this bickering already, the green giant stumbled onwards, hoping to nip this werewolf problem in the butt.
“C’mon kid…”
Wyatt looked reluctantly over to Arlas, not feeling comfortable about leaving her alone with two devious and conniving witches but he figured that he didn’t have much choice, that and Bologra would return soon and watch her back.
Bologra lead Wyatt through the dark, narrow tunnels of the Alluvion’s hideout, keeping communication to a minimum as he still didn’t trust the little runt and Wyatt was too afraid of pissing the eight ft tall Orsimer off.
As they got closer to the entrance the snarls and growls grew more intense as did the sound of claws tearing through flesh and snapping bones. Bologra grinned as he heard the carnage up ahead, it sounded like that asshole from earlier brought his buddies along for the ride…
Wyatt could feel his whole body tensing up as he ventured deeper into the tunnel, terrified that he’d run into a werewolf and get ran through by its giant claws. He was just as scared that his torch was going to give their position away and get them pounced.
Eventually the two of them reached a small clearing at the center of the cave’s complex structure, prompting them to stop as the room was slowly illuminated by the torchlight. The Breton found himself frozen on the spot as he stared at the pack of wolves, that were stood over a mass of maimed zombie corpses, holding the severed limbs in their hands. Ymir took a look at the mort flesh and sniffed it before dropping it down to the ground, noticing the flickering light on the wall, prompting him to look up and growl.
As he did so, two more Werewolves appeared in the darkness, sprinting towards Wyatt at top speed as they jumped up, the Breton yelped and wrapped his arms around his face, getting ready for the impact but he was somewhat surprised by the fact that it didn’t come, instead he heard a wolf’s whine as the creature received a heavy cut from Bologra’s hand axe.
The Werewolf was knocked down to the ground, clutching the large gash in the side of its head as the other one lunged forward and drove both of its claws down on the Orc. Bologra raised his giant tree trunk-like arm up to protect himself, leaving the werewolf’s midriff exposed to a gouging from his bayonet. The arm mounted blade sank deep into the creature’s flesh, causing it to cry out in anguish as the intense pain shot through its body, prompting Bologra to jump back.
“Go on kid, fall back!” Bologra called, figuring that he’d need more light and some help from Arlas to take these things on. Wyatt nodded and turned around, making a sprint for it as he lead Bologra back the way they came, the small orange strobe of the torch lit the way ahead, guiding the Orsimer through the darkness.
Olan-De focussed on her hands, occasionally glancing up to her mentor, who was obviously deep in thought. The Altmer always had a plan, something that the young cultist envied about her as well as her more obvious qualities such as her intelligence, her power and her charisma and leadership skills.
The Argonian was somewhat desperate to ask her but Arlas was watching them like a hawk, though Olan-De despised her, she could see why Lorwel made her his champion. She wasn’t the best mage, far from it but she was determined and more than capable.
“Arlas!”
Wyatt’s voice echoed throughout the cave, prompting the Bosmer to look up as she heard the faint patting sounds of feet filling the hallow halls. She frowned and turned her attention towards the door as he ran through, tossing his torch to the floor and readying two spells, one in each hand as he turned to face the door, backing up to be side by side with Arlas.
“Werewolves! They found us!”
Arlas just grimaced, this was all that they needed… She scowled and readied her staff, pointing the tip of it at the doorway as Bologra came barging through. He saw the two mages and threw himself to the floor, allowing Arlas to fire a shot from her staff, hitting Ymir square in the chest and sending him stumbling backwards into the nearest wall.
Immediately after him followed Tait, who was still sporting the large scratch behind his ear. Wyatt fired a lightning spell at him, sending a prickling chain of lightning towards the beast, which jolted throughout his entire body, causing him to recoil and stumble back into the wall.
Bologra rolled over onto his back, just in time for the Watchman to enter the room, who immediately proceeded to throw himself on top of the Orc, falling onto his raised knees, one of which dug deep into his stomach wound. The creature cried out in pain before snapping at Bologra’s face, its teeth missed his nose by mere inches, growing closer with each snap as Bologra found himself helpless, using all four of his limbs to hold it back.
Arlas raised the staff and pointed it at the wolf, hoping to kill it outright or at least injure it enough to release Bologra. She pointed it at the wolf and blasted at him, however, no blast came as the staff didn’t seem to have any power in it.
Arlas cursed as she tossed the wooden stick to the ground, charging up a flame spell in each hand as she dashed forward and began to unleash an inferno on the creature. The Werewolf whined as the fur on his right shoulder ignited, setting ablaze and causing him to roll off of the Orc as he tried to put it out, whacking it repeatedly and pelting it with the dust found on the cave floor.
Wyatt watched from a distance, firing lightning bolts at the weakened Ymir, hoping to keep him down. At this point, he remained oblivious to the fact that he had his back turned on his prisoners, forgetting that Vallina always had a plan. Wyatt felt the Altmer’s arm wrap around his chest, with Vallina’s hand resting just beneath his left pectoral as he was pulled against the Altmer’s body, being held hostage. He then heard the sound of Vallina’s knife leaving its sheath on her belt and saw it slowly emerge from behind him, though he was too in shock to do anything to prevent it.
The Altmer moved her right hand up, so that it was now wrapped around his mouth as she sunk her dagger into his belly, causing him to give out a pained cry, that was muffled by her hand. Vallina repeatedly shushed him as he was pulled down to the ground, sinking the blade deeper into his stomach to ensure that the deed would be done as the Breton was slowly pulled down to the ground, at this point he didn’t have the energy to vocalize and simply stammered and shivered as he was lay out on his back, looking up at his former mentor as both his eyes and lips trembled.
He could see a form of sadness in her eyes as she watched him bleed out before her and sympathetically placed her hand on his shoulder as his eyes rolled back into his head. The Altmer respectfully dragged her fingertips over his eyelids, closing his eyes before his head rolled to one side and he exhaled for the last time.
Olan-De charged forward, zapping Arlas in the back and sending her stumbling forward, the Bosmer fell to her knees, yelping in pain as she landed on top of Bologra, shuddering at the prickling sensation in her back as she kept her hands firmly on his chest. The Bosmer remained still for several moments, panting heavily as the whole room fell silent, with only the heavy breathing of the werewolves filling the void.
She looked up to see the four wolves looking across the room, swiftly prompting her to turn around and see Vallina, covered in blood and stood over Wyatt’s pale corpse. Her eyes widened at this site, seeing that Wyatt was the same age as her, if not younger and yet Vallina killed her so easily. It was then that she knew, that Altmer wasn’t capable of mercy, if she saw the chance, she’d take it, making her just as dangerous as the werewolves.
The beasts began the snarl and howl in Vallina and Olan-De’s direction, trying to intimidate them away from their prey, however, Vallina did not look impressed, readying two lightning spells in her hand, which she shot off along the ground, causing the creatures to lunge forward and snarl some more, taunting her to throw a bolt their way and start a battle.
Bologra slowly sat up and rubbed his head, looking from side to side as he saw the situation that they were now in. A pack of vengeful werewolves, fighting a band of mad cultists and they were the prize…
Bologra grabbed his hand axe as Arlas took her staff, waiting for the first of the two factions to make their move. Ymir, who was eager for his revenge simply snarled at Vallina, growling intensely through his teeth as he twitched his fingers in recognition. Without any prior warning or trigger, the werewolf lunged forward, with an earth shattering roar.