Chapter 85

If it were at all possible, this particular part of Hermaeus Mora’s library seemed even less pleasant to be stranded in than any he had ventured through so far. Gaeolin had to navigate nearly exclusively by torch light. He held his sword out ahead of him as the ever present whispering made the hairs on his neck stand tall.

The halls were narrow, snaking this way and that. There were occasional pools of water along the path. From these watched strange, wandering eyes. Whether they belonged to the Prince himself, or served him as independent observers, he could not tell. The rustling of pages made him jump, as some of the parchment that littered the floor rose in a great swirling column before him. Distracted by these, he had not noticed a large tentacle emerge from the pool behind him. It came down, only missing the elf by about an inch. Gaeolin rolled out of the appendage’s range, his heart racing. He silently scolded himself for getting himself into this mess.

Faendal had mentioned that he wanted to leave the tomb, and yet here he was keeping them there while he poked around in a labyrinth of books. And for what? Why had he decided that he needed the knowledge that was being kept here? There was no guarantee that it would be helpful in the battles to come. He could imagine Auroth and his previous warning about the people who had lost themselves to the temptations of this realm. He had to be careful about becoming enthralled with this place and its secrets. With a fortifying breath, he held his light higher, moving forward.

The path sloped upwards, carrying him to a large chamber. Unlike the other places in the library, this one seemed to have a ceiling, though he could not even guess at how high this roof might be. The farther he tried to look, the deeper the blackness seemed to be. The stacks of books here were mountainous. Gaeolin guessed that they were at least a hundred and fifty feet high. It was impossible to be sure. These faded into the black as well. He returned his attention to the ground, the sound of something moving in the dark making him pause.

Whatever it was moved just out of sight. Gaeolin knew that it could have attacked him already, had that been its motive. He was being watched. He sheathed his sword, swinging his bow free. He reached within himself, finding the word and the power. “Laas.”

Though the room itself remained dark, two large masses of glowing red made themselves visible at his thu’um’s urging. The forms must have noticed that they were discovered, shrinking away to follow another path upwards. Gaeolin allowed them their retreat. He wasn’t looking for a fight, if it wasn’t needed. Keeping his bow ready, he waited for one of the strange floating lights to move toward the next hall. The lamps seemed almost as if they were alive. The glowing orbs at their centers were almost as bright as the sun, though much smaller and focused. Whenever one flew by, they would cast a pool of light that spanned perhaps ten feet or more. They moved quickly too, making it difficult to stay within their radius.

Gaeolin had to jog to keep up with the light source. Even with this, he found himself falling behind. As his back began to slide into the dark, a searing pain began to shoot through his spine. He gave a yell, jumping to return to the light. The pain subsided once he was illuminated. He checked on his torch. It was almost spent. Digging in his pack, he pulled out a fresh length of cloth. After pouring oil over it, he lit it off of the old one, letting the flame die out on the floor.

How could darkness cause pain? Gaeolin had never heard of such a thing before. He was growing pretty confident that whatever power was hidden here was of some value. Why else would it be defended with such ferocity? He pressed on, taking an inclined path even higher into the library. The next open area seemed to be above the one he had come from. The stacks of books continued upward, again disappearing into nothingness. There were catwalks leading along the pillars of paper. These were much better lit, but only on the walkways themselves. Gaeolin walked carefully onto the spindly wire bridge. He could hear the footsteps of something larger above. He knew it was probably one of the lurkers that he and Auroth had faced the last time they were here. He crouched down, trying to look for some way that was more secluded than the path ahead.

But there was no such way to be found. Resigning himself to his fate, he rose, drawing back an arrow. His target was one level up. It stood at a height of eight feet above its platform, lumbering arms hanging lazily at its sides. He waited for a moment to gauge how far his shot had to travel. It seemed like a good sixty yards. After using all of his focus, he released.

The shaft spun smooth and deadly, sailing through the air in silence. It hit the mark, causing the beast to howl in pain. As soon as the noise shook the room, Gaeolin knew that he had made a mistake. Many voices rose out of the quiet, the air itself seeming charged with fury. He could see more creatures materializing on the walkways. Seekers.

He began shooting as fast as he could. His arrows buzzed through the air as if being sent from an entire unit of archers. Most found their marks, but none of the beasts stopped their determined march toward the intruder amongst their books. The line of enemies grew closer. The Seekers at the front were larger than the rest. Like the one they had faced in the barrow, these wore heavy chains on their bodies. The books on the chains began to glow with magical energy as their alien voices formed a chant.

Gaeolin put his bow away, freeing his blade as they came into melee range. The nearest of the creatures began to close in on him. The folds of its flesh fluttered almost like a disgusting leather. He could see its mouth pulling open in a snarl. It raised its hands, green magic swirling around the spindly fingers. Gaeolin lunged, striking with his sword to try and stab the fiend in the chest. The seeker stopped the blade, holding its hand out in front of it. There seemed to be a barrier between the weapon and its target. The bosmer struggled to try and more, but whatever immobilizing force had been foisted upon him was complete in its hold. The seekers battered him with magic. The one in front of him lunged, sinking its teeth into his side. He screamed as the library began to fade around him. He felt dizzy. The pain shooting up his side was hot. He clutched his abdomen as the library vanished, a dark void delivering him back to Nirn. He landed on the floor of Dukaan’s chamber with a thud. He coughed, letting out pained gasps of air as his friends crowded around him. Faendal slid to the floor next to him, prying his arm away from the wound. His eyes grew wide at the sight of it.

There was a ring of teeth marks, the cuts looking as though the teeth had been moving through his flesh in a circular motion. To add to the already gruesome image, there was what looked like some sort of infection already starting to set in. “Grásta Stendarr…” He turned to Auroth. “Please, can you do anything for him?”

Auroth inspected the lesion, his own utterance of profanity uncharacteristic in its softness. “This is beyond my skill. We need to get him to a real healer. Come, gather his sword. I’ll carry him myself. He’s too heavy for you.”

Inigo turned his ear toward the exit. “I am loath to add anything to this already disastrous turn of events, but I think we should move quickly. I hear more spiders coming.” He looked terrified. “A LOT more of them!”

They rushed out into the main room of the ruins, the sound of the scuttling legs starting to be loud enough for even Auroth to hear clearly through the halls leading toward the entrance of the tomb. The altmer looked toward the tunnel to the laboratory. “This way! We can leave through the trap door and make our way to the Skaal. They might be able to help Gaeolin, and it will take less time than going back to Raven Rock, or Neloth.”

Inigo turned, the sound of the swarm now tumultuous. Just as he found the path back, the side of the room was hidden by a sight that horrified even himself.

Thousands of spiders, ranging from the pale white they had seen, to off green colours spilled in a never ending stream from the doorway. Their fangs glistened and clicked as they rushed toward the party. He threw down his torch, shoving the other two as hard as he could. “We need to go! We need to GO!” Auroth, having only one free hand to cast spells, had no intention of arguing with his friend. He quickly channeled his power, casting a wall of flames to block the room. He repositioned Gaeolin on his shoulders, running with the others toward the tunnel. He could hear the sound of frost magic behind them, no doubt some of the blue monsters had been given that power. He dared not look behind them.

They reached the cave, the large chamber raining dust from the ceiling. The spiders were right on their heels, more coming in from smaller cracks in the walls. Inigo fired with his bow as fast as he was able, taking down a few of them. Somehow, despite Inigo’s best efforts, the flood of arachnids did not show any signs of letting up. Admitting defeat, the Khajiit threw his weapon onto his back and made his way to the exit with his friends. Faendal joined inigo in the attempt to slow down their foes. Auroth struggled with the ladder to the surface. Lean as he was, Gaeolin did not make the ascension an easy task while lying over the altmer’s shoulder. Auroth’s face was growing red as a result of the exertion. After reaching the top, he burst open the trap door with an angry grunt. The cold wind bit at his skin as he tossed his companion onto the snow. “Come on you two! We need to get out of here!” Faendal did not need to be told twice. He threw his bow onto his back and leapt to the third rung of the ladder. He looked back, seeing Inigo had not yet joined him.

The cat was still shooting, doing an admittedly good job of holding back the beasts. Faendal could see that his arrows were almost gone. “Inigo! Come on! There is no quiver in the world that is big enough for this!”

“I’m right behind you!” with a final shot, he followed his elven friends to the surface. As soon as his tail cleared the door, Auroth slammed it shut. They could hear the spiders scraping against the wood in vain. The three of them sat for a moment, letting the cold wind cool them from their flight. Faendal went to Gaeolin’s side. His lover had gone unconscious from the pain. He was still breathing, but definitely doing no better than before. He tucked his head under Gaeolin’s arm, lifting him to a standing position.

“Which way to the village?” He asked Auroth.

“North East. It shouldn’t be more than a few hours walk. Let me get up, and I’ll take the lead. It might be best if you let Inigo carry Gaeolin. He has very few arrows left, and I think you might be of more help if you kept yourself free to use your bow.”