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The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim

Chapter 2 - Out of the depths

By Kendo Kawabata

Panting, Kassi'm straighted up slowly as he removed his hands from between hsi knees. Outside, the roar of destruction had dulled and was hard to follow. It soudne like it was coming from far away, and not just on the other side of a wooden door. But it didn't make it any the less unsettling to hear.

He stood up slowly as he regained his breathing, his breath getting back to normal as he straightene his back. He was suddenly awre of how much his legs were aching and how exhausted he was from all the running he had just done. He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly and let out a long breath before he opened his eyes.

Behind him, the heavy wooden door was secured fast as Ralof slid the bolts across it. With a grunt he pushed the heavy metal bolts in place, securing the door from being opened again. Although for what good it would do against a dragon, Kassi'm wasn't sure.

The circular room was adorned with Imperial Banners hanging from the ceiling and stuffed heads of animals mounted on large plaques. Several wolves and a couple of snarling bears stared back at him, frozen in time forever. He felt a little disturbed by them as he shook his head a little.

"Rest in Sovngarde, brother" Ralof said calmly. Kassi'm jumped a little, hearing Ralof speak suddenly. He looked and saw that Ralof was not at the bolted door, but he had crossed the room to a large wooden table set against the wall. Next to the overturned chair on the side, lay a stormcloak soldier.

From the amount of blood that had pooled around his side and down his legs, he must have run into the keep after tangling with some of the Imperials that had been outside. And he hadn't lasted long after that tangle.

Ralof slowly stood up from his kneeling position before he turned to face Kassi'm.

"It seems w'ere the only ones who made it" he said as he rubbed the underside of his chin. Outside, a roar made the door shake in its frame. For a moment, the two fell silent as they focused on the door. They both breathe a sigh of relief as they saw the door still standing.

"I guess we were" Kassi'm said with a slow nod. "And I doubt any will be coming this way. How could anyone survive an attack for this long?" he wondered as he looked around the room. There were two gates on either side of the room, both of them looking to be securely locked.

"WE'd better get moving" Ralof said as he stopped stroking his beard. "I doubt that door will last forever" he added as he pulled his axe from his hip. "Here, let me get those off of you" he said.

Kassi'm nodded as he held his arms around, glad to be finally rid of the ropes around them. The sharp blade of the axe was hooked under his wrists. With a light ripping noise, the ropes fell to the floor with a soft thud.

"Thanks" Kassi'm said as he rubbed his wrists in relief. They felt raw and ached from being tied so tightly together for so long. Flexing them back and forth a few times, he found them to have no permanent or temporary damage. "But don't think that I trust you" he said as he looked at the blonde man in front of him, his voice quite serious in its tone.

"After what just happened with the Imperials, I am not surpised" Ralof said with a nod as he hitched his axe back by his hip. "We may have to fight our way uot, his is an Imperial Keep after all" he said as he considered their surroundings. "I doubt all of the Imperials were outside before the dragon attacked" he added.

"Is there a way out of here that doesn't involve the front door?" Kassi'm asked as he looked at the two gates exits.

"There's usually a back way out of everything" Ralof said as he turned to face Kassi'm. "And if there are more imperials here, they'll be armed. And you can't defend yourselves in those rags" he pointed out. Kassi'm wasn't able to argue with that point. "Take Gunders gear. He won't be needing it anymore" Ralof said, indicating the dead soldier.

Taking the armour from a dead man was something that Kass'm would not have normally considered, but these were not normal circumstances. Shaking his head slightly he crossed the room and knelt beside the now cold body.

It didn't take long to strip the man of his armour, leaving him naked on the ground. Like the rest of the prisoners on the cart, he wasn't carrying anything else but the clothes on his back. Once the clothing was on the ground in a pile, Kassi'm removed his own ruined clothing and began to redress himself.

The leather cuirass was well made, and staved off the chilled air in the keep surpisingly well. The leather pants were snug and din't hamper his movements as he would hae thought. The blue dyed pelt that covered the front hung down his thighs and he secured the weapons belts around his hips. And the boots were leather and lined on hte inside with a thick fur that felt plush and warm against his feet.

He wasn't sure about waht to do with his old clothes. They were ripped and hard to tell what they had once been. And the stench of blood and stains from ashes made them smell awfull. He felt bad about having to discard them.

His father ahd spent what little money he had to buy them for him before he left. And his mother had washed them repeatedly to make sure they were spotless for his journey away from home. It was such a shame that they had been ruined. And to just throw them away...

"It suits you well" Ralof admitted, breaking Kassi'm out of his thoughts as the argonian stood up. He looked like a right and true Stormcloak in the official uniform. But he did not feel like one.

"Better then my own clothes, maybe. But I'm not going to make this a permanent thign" Kassi'm admitted. "Once i find some better replacements, i'm throwing them away" he promised as he dropped his ruined clothes on the table.

Ralof looked like he was about to comment, when they heard a noise. The two of them froze as they held their breaths. Ralof brought his fingers to his lips as he glanced from Kassi'm to the hallway across from them. Voices where coming down the empty hall, and they were getting closer.

"Arm yourself" Ralof said as quietly as he dared as he pushed himself against the side of the door, pushing himself out of sight. He unhitched his axe and held it against his chest.

"Don't need to" Kassi'm said quietly back as he took the other side of the door. He held his hand up and a whisp of blue smoke wrapped around his fingers like a snake around a tree branch. The smoke grew out and shaped itself as it solidified, a gleaming dark blue blade appearing in his hand.

"Conjuration?" Ralof mouthed. Kassi'm nodded, but they had to fall silent as he pushed back against hte wall as close as he could. The voices were too close for them to dare talk.

"This is completely unacceptable" one of the voices said. Kassi'm recognised it almost at once. It was the collective voice of the female Thallmar. "For the execution to be disrupted like this, there will be consequences for the parties involved."

"Oh, do'nt worry" came the voice of the Imperial Captain. "When we find out who sent that dragon after us, you'll be receiving the leftovers."

"I hope you intend to send whoever is to blame to us, alive" came the voice of the male thallmar. There was the sound of the gate unlocking and then it slid up and opened the doorway. Kassi'm and Ralof kept their backs pressed against the wall as hard as they could as they held their weapons at the ready.

"In pieces yes, but alive" the captain said as she strode through the doorway. The two ornately dressed Thallmar walked past as they followed her. "And that's after i've had the pleasure of ... who the hell locked the door?" the Imperial captain said, halting in the middle of the room. The two thallmar stopped behind her as they saw the bolted door as well.

"Well, do soemthign about it" the male thallmar said in a calm yet annoyed voice. Nodding quickly, the captain walked to the door and began inspecting the bolts. The male thallmar crossed his arms over his chest as the female thallmar looked impatient.

Ralof took the chance to strike. He brought his arm up and the axe swung up, then swung down as it buried itself into the back of the male thallmar. He let out a cry as Ralof pulled the now bloodied axe out of the mans back. The female Thallmar turned around, shock across her face as Ralof swung the axe sideways.

"What the...." The Imperial Captain said a she turned in time to see the female Thallmar fall backward,s blood blossoming from her now open neck. Her eyes travelled up as she saw Kassi'm step forward, his glowing blade in his hand.

"you, the lizard" she snarled as she went for the sword at her hip. But Kassi'm didn't give her the chance. She didn't have the chance to even wrap her fingers around the handle of her sword as the gleaming blade sliced through her chest armour like it was fresh butter.

She gasped, a look of shock across her face, as if she wasn't believing what was happening. Blood forced its way up her throat and began to trickle from the corners of her mouth as the blade lodged itself in her ribs. She looked up slowly, her gaze meeting that of the angry argonian before her.

"My name, is Kassi'm, you bitch" he snarled as he pulled the blueish blade from her chest. She fell to her knees in disbelief, her arms falling to her sides as she chocked on her own blood in her throat. The blade glimmered in the pale light of the torches as Kassi'm plunged it into her stomach.

The end erupted out of her back, a spray of blood splattering onto the ground behind her as she could feel the ethereal blade pass through her. With a wet squelching sound the blade was pulled out, crimson coating the shimmering edges as her vision began to blur. The last thing she saw was his boot connecting with her face.

"So, you can do magic?" Ralof asked as he watched the corpse of the Imperial Captain fall back on the ground with a clatter of armour. The gleaming blade faded from Kassi'ms hand and the blood fell to the ground once nothing was there for it to hold onto. Ralof knelt down over the male thallmar and began to look through the dead mans pockets. "Check her pockets. The keys might be in there" he added.

"I was studying magic before I travelled to Skyrim" Kassi'm said as he slid his hands into the pockets of the dead captain. Blood trickled through the armour and the pockets were damp."I liked magic a lot, and wanted to join the mages guild there" he admitted as he felt his fingers stick ot the inside of the pockets.

"So what happened?" Ralof asked as he found nothing in the males pockets. He was about to check the females when Kassi'm stood up and tossed him the keys. Ralof caught them, feeling the fresh blood that had coated several of the metal keys

"They wouldn't accept me" Kassi'm admitted as he wiped his hands on the female thallmars ornate robes. "So I decided to come here" he added as he got as much blood out from between hsi fingers as he could.

Ralof nodded as he got up and headed to the other locked gate. Kassi'm heard him turn the keys in the lock as he felt the pockets of the female Thallmar. Unforunately, the only thing he found in her pocket was a large sheet of folded parchment. But something felt promising under the robes themselves.

Ripping a hole in the side of her outfit he found a weaposn belt secured around her hips. He found the metal buckle on the side and untied it, sliding the belt out from under her. On either side of the leather belt was a sheath with a dagger secured in it. With a smile he secured the belt around his own hips.

"Got it" Ralof said as he pushed the gate open after finding the right key. It swung open with a loud creak and banged against the opposite stone wall. "Right. Lets get out of here before that damn dragon brings down the keep above us" he said as he pocketed the keys.

Kassi'm nodded as he followed after him, passing through the gate without a backwards glance. The stormcloak armour was starting to warm him up rather well, and he was slightly surprised to find himself starting to sweat lightly.

"Imagine, sweating in the snow" Kassi'm thought to himself as they found a set of steps at the end of the hall. The stone steps were short and they continued deeper into the keep. Ralof hurried ahead down the hall, passing a closed door at his side. Kasis'm hurried after him, reaching the door that Ralof had passed before a rumbling echoed around them.

Ralof stopped just in time as the walls visibly shook, and the stone under their feet tremoring. Above them, the ceiling cracked apart. He took a step back as the ceiling caved in before him. With a heavy and loud crashing noise, the tunnel collapsed, a cloud of dirt and dust blowing into their faces.

"Damn" Ralof said as Kassi'm coughed from the dust cloud that had swept over him from the debris. He got a good look at the tunnel before him, and the size of the rubble that had filled it. It would take them hours to dig even halfway through it. "Guess we try this way" Ralof said as he pointed the door beside Kassi'm. Kassi'm nodded as Ralof tested the door. It was unlocked and he pushed it open.

A wave of heat hit Kassi'm in the face, and for a moment he thought the place was on fire. He brought his arm up to shield his face, but the wave of warmth vanished quickly, and he realised it was the heat emenating from a very large fireplace in the opposite cornor of the room. Strings of vegetables and the corpses of rabbits and fish hung in bunches from the ceiling around it. All around them sat barrels of food and tables groaning with plates and heavy metal mugs.

"Grab everything you can" came a voice from across the room. The two of them looked over to see several Imperial soldiers rummaging through barrels and shelving, hastily stuffing anything they could find into large sacks. Obviously, they were stocking up to leave as soon as they could.

Ralof brought his axe up and pressed his finger ot his lips. The soldiers hadn't seen them yet, so they had the element of surprise. Kassi'm nodded and pulled the daggers from their sheathes. They were golden in colour and intricately designed. Showy, but very sharp. He figured they were elven in design.

The stormcloak soldier crept up slowly to one the soldiers. The man had his back turned and was pulling down several large red bottles from a shelf. He let out a cry as Ralof buried his axe into the very surpised soldier in front of him. Kassi'm ran past as the other soldiers realised something was wrong, and without hesitation he threw his daggers upwards, burying them up under the solidors armour and piercing his insides.

Behind him, the third Imperial dropped his sack as he realised the others had already been cut down. He yelled as he drew his sword from its sheath and ran at Kassi'm, his sword raised up high. Ralof was pulling his axe from the body on the ground, but he was too far away to intercept.

Kassi'm left his daggers where they were as he turned, the now dead imperial sliding to the ground with blood pooling around him. Turning, he brought his hands up . His hands lit up as they crackeled in static bursts of blue and white. The imperial didn't slow down as he brought his sword up to slice through the argonian before him.

A thick shrill sounding beam of light zigzagged from each of his hands and streamed across the room, colliing with the imperial. The man cried out in pain as he was struck by the powerful lightning and he was blown backwards off his feet. His body was shocked both inside and out as he fell the ground in a twitchin pile of spasming muscles. Stray lights of lightning flickered around his body as it finally stopped twitching.

"So, Kassi'm was it?" Ralof asked as he sheathed his axe at his hip, seeing the group of Imperials were all dead. "Where did you come from? It's obvious you're not from around here" he said as he picked up the sack the man had been carrying. It felt full and heavy.

"From Cyrrodiil" Kassi'm said as he brought his hands down, the lightning magic fading from fingers. He left the corpse on the ground as he turned. "I lived near Chorrol with my family."

"Cyrrodiil?" Ralof said as he looked up, his calm voice breaking slightly with the surprise. "That's where the Imperial City is. If you're from there, then why would you not be with them? I thought the imperials stuck wit htheir own kind?" he asked.

"You mean aside from the fact that they tried to kill me several times already?" Kassi'm ai as he pulled the blades from the mans corpse. They were coated in fresh crimson blood and he wiped them on the dead mans kilt.

"I guess you really aren't with them" Ralof said with a thoughtfull scratch under his blonde stubbled chin. "We'd better stock up" he said finally when Kass'm sheathed his daggers. They slid easily in with a soft clicking noise. "There's no telling who else is left in this keep" he said.

With a nod Kassi'm picked up one of the sacks the soldier had dropped and held it up as he took a look inside. Several red bottles lay on the bottom of the bag, and a few bottles of what appeared to be alcohol. A large loaf of bread and what looked like ham lay beside them. He figured they'd stock up on the alcohol before the potion bottles that restored health.

He started to search through the shelves and barrels to see what he could loot from the keeps kitchen.

He found some purple flowers known as Deathbells, and small bunches of bright red Jazbay grapes in bowls. Small piles of salts and plates of honeycomb sat on the shelves further back. From the strings on the ceiling he pulled down bunches of garlic and strips of rabbit haunch and fillets from fish.

The bright red healthe potions he handled with care. Potions like that were the best for internal injuries. They helped to speed up the bodies recovery systems and restore the delicate insides. He had carried plenty in his pack when he was travelling, but had lost them all. Kassi'm felt glad that he was able to restock something important.

Kassi'm dropped a bottle of something labelled 'Blackbriar Mead' when they heard, and felt the stone ceiling above them shake. Strings of dust fell down above them as they saw the stone work rumble above them.

"Who could possibly be left out there by now?" Kassi'm asked quietly as his eyes travelled over the ceiling. The dust settled onto the floor as silence filled the kitchen around them.

"There can't be anymore" Ralof said as he tied the top of the sack. "I know it would sound horrible, but they should all be dead by now" he added.

"All that destruction. And from one dragon" Kassi'm said as he tied the top of his sack. He tested the weight of it gently, moving it around a little to make sure that nothing was going to break if he carried it out of there.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Kassi'm asked as he suddenly heard something in the distance.

"What, what did you hear?" Ralof asked as he looked up and turned his head a few times to look around the empty kitchen.

"I thought i heard something" Kassi'm said as he strained to listen closer. He could hear something, something close, but it was muffled.

"Do you think it was the dragon again?" Ralof asked as he stepped up next to Kassi'm. The argonian shook his head as he kept listening closely.

"No, it's too close by. If it was that dragon, it would be louder" Kassi'm said as he heard the noises again. His eyes widened slightly as he heard seomthing very similar to the clash of steel, and someone screaming.

"I hear it too" Ralof said as he unhitched the axe at his hip. "Someone is still alive in the keep, and they're fighting" he said as he dropped the sack on to the floor.

"We'd better go help" Kassi'm said as he dropped his sack on teh floor and pulled his daggers from his belt. With the two of them armed, Ralof opened the door at the far end of the keeps kitchen, and the two of them stepped into the hall.

They emerged on the other side of the rubble that had caved in earlier, and the sounds of fighting were louder. The two of them hurried down the hall, their weapons at the ready as they passed down a flight of steps that led them deeper underground.

The clash of steel upon steel. The cracks of lightning hitting stone. The cries of pain from the victims. It was the sound of battle and it just around the cornor.

As they reached the last step and turned the corner in the hall, they emerged at the doorway of a large room. The room was rather expansive, and the stench of blood, both old and new hit their noses like a punch to the face. The walls were lined with cages, some were empty, and some were full.

"Trolls blood, it's a torture room" Ralof said as they two of them realised where they had walked into. The full cages held bodies, some fully dressed and some completely naked. But none of them were moving, and they were covered in blood and the marks of ongoing and slow torture.

A scene very quickyl unfolded before them. Two men in blood stained robes were casting lightning at two nords, a male and a female, and an orc, all three in stormcloak armour. And they were looking beaten down.

The two men in the robes, one hooded and the other with blood across his face from a broken nose, were constantly casting lighting at the group of stormcloaks. Black and blue zig zags of energy filled the air, crackling around them as it struck the metal cages with showers of sparks.

"Quick, they need our help" Ralof said as he jumped forward. The male stormcloak saw him and shouted his name, and paid for it with a lightning strike to the side. He cried out in pain as the side of his uniform was blown open and dark red blisters began to sprout over his exposed skin.

Ralof roared as he ran forward, his axe held up above his head. The hooded man turned in surprise as he saw the charging nord. His hands glowing blue and white, they raised up as he prepared to cast his lightning at the charging man. But the magic fizzled and faded from around his fingers as he ran out of the magicka essence to cast his magic with.

Ralof buried his axe into the hood of the man, the sound metal meeting skull echoed slightly in the room. The torturers arms fell to his sides as his legs grew limp. Ralof grunted as he pulled the axe out of the mans head, a spray of blood erupting like a fountain out of the wound. With no axe holding him up, the torturer fell like a sack of potatoes.

The stormcloak female fell to the ground as she was struck in the back by the unhooded man. She fell with a cry as she landed face first onto the dusty floor. The orc, the top of his torso laid bare and his uniform in tatters, lifted his heavy looking mace up, his face a mask with rage as he roared out and charged forward.

The unhooded man struck his hand out, and the air crackeld with lightning around his fingers as streaks of blue and black burst from his hand. With a roar of pain the orc was struck against his vulnerable chest. The force of the magic was powerful enough to launch him off his feet and send him crashing to the wall. Smoke began to unfurl from his blackened front as his mace landed with a clang onto the floor.

Ralof went to charge at the other man, but streaks of lightning cracked at his feet, singeing black streaks across the floor. The lightning flickered back and forth in front of him as it forced him backwards.

Obviously, the other torturer had enough magicka left to keep Ralof and Kassi'm back from entering the room further. With a gleefull grin on his face he held both his hands up, a second mass of blue and black lightning lining up with the first. Suddenyl, the lightning seemed to merge together, creating one huge flowing mass of blue and black that was starting to crack the stone before them.

Kassi'm knew he couldn't reach him with his own magick, not with that amount of lighting filling the space between them. Ralof held his hands up before him, unable to move forward, not with that much lighting blasting away in front of him.

"Please, work" Kassi'm said as he focused his mind on his power. He narrowed his eyes at the torturer, letting his mind focus on that one sole point in his view. But nothing happened.

"Come on" he thought desperately as he tried again. He forced himself to calm down as a streak of lightning snapped next to him and shattered the stonework near his head. He forced himself to ignore it as he tried to call on the power again. But nothing happened as the murderous man lifted his hands, the energy of lightning crackling around his fingertips as it lifted up off teh ground and danced right in front of them.

"COME ON" Kassi'm thought angrily, and he finally felt it.

As Kassi'm stared at the torturer before him,the noise around him began to dull. The noise of the lightning began to slowly die down like until it fell silent. Kassi'm heard his breath exhale in a fluid, single motion as everything around him slowed down to a crawl.

The lighting froze in mid air before him, filling the air with solid streams of deadly light. The light reflected off of Ralofs frozen gaze as the soldier braced himself against an attack that wouldn't come. The torturers face was frozen solid, a trickle of blood hanging from the side of his face like an icicle on a cave roof.

It was a gap in time, to everyone else, spanning nothing more then the blink of an eye. It was enough to pass through a single thought. But a thought that was powerful enough to alter reality itself and change it to his wishes.

The gap in time stopped, and everything around him was still. Kassi'm was unable to move, frozen within that minute space of reality. But he was aware of everything. No-one else would notice this pause in their lives, but Kassi'm was not only aware of it, he wanted it.

Time was his.

Reality was his.

One word was all he thought, his eyes focused on the torturer before him. He didn't deserve to live.

"KILL"

He heard the sound of death collide within itself. Everything that could kill a person happened all at once. Heart stopping, exploding, dying, overloading. Neck breaking in two. Lungs suffocating. Brain blacking out. Every possible natural reason for a person to die happened in that instance. The noise of death, the noise of bones breaking and organs rupturing echoed in that space of time, just before reality returned.

With a rushing roar of sound and imagery, reality sped back to normal.

The torturer crumpled over almost at once as the lightning fizzled in the air, the brightly dangerous beams crashing into the stone work around them , showering them in a brief display of sparks that fizzled in mid air.

Ralof watched in surpsie as the man fell to a heap on the floor, the body landing with a thump on the cold stonework. Blood started to leak from the mans wide eyed face, trails of dark red drooling out of his ears, his eyes and his open mouth.

"What in the world...?" Ralof said as he brought his arms down slowly, his gaze never leaving the body that had just dropped dead on the floor. Hesitantly, he took a step forward and nudged the body with his boot, just in case it was some sort of trick. But the body didn't move. All that happened was that the blood seemed to flow a little faster from the sudden movement.

"Kassi'm, what..."Ralof said as he turned to look at the argnong. But Kassi'm was doubled over, his hands clutching the sides of his head as he screwed his eyes up at the pain he was feeling.

It felt like every vein in his head was on fire, and each of those veins was a firey hot finger that was digging its claws into his brain. His stomach churned as he felt himself on the brink of being sick and he felt his body shivering as it suddenly grew cold.

"Kassi'm, are you alright?" Ralof said as he put a hand on the boys shoulder, and he was surprised to find him covered in a sheen of cold sweat. He knew that argonians were a cold blooded race, but he had never thought one could feel like he was touching wet ice.

"I...I'm fine" Kassi'm said as the almost blinding pain vanished as quickly as it came. The pain faded and he felt he claws of pain pull away from his head. His body stopped trembling and he was able to move without upsetting his stomach as he slowly stood up. He braced one hand on the stone wall beside him as he took a long and deep breath.

"Kassi'm, wath just happened?" Ralof asked as he heard groans coming from the other end of hte room. He turned to see the male and female stormcloaks starting to pick themselves up. The male was trembling from head to toe, and the female was holding onto her side and a look of pain across her face.

"Long...story" Kassi'm managed to get out between breaths as he leant against the wall. "Just...help the others..." he said as he closed his eyes for a few moments to get his bearings back.

Ralof decided he could ask questions later about what he had just witnessed. So he merely nodded as he sheathed his axe against his hip and stepped over the torturers corpse to check on his fellow stormcloaks.

Kassi'm panted as he felt his body shiver from the cold sweat that had started to soak into the borrowed uniform he was wearing. He felt slightly dizzy, and he swallowed a hard lump in his throat. He had to swallow several more times as he felt his stomach settle finally and he was able to hold himself up without feeling like he had to fall over.

He knew it was a risk using the power too often and too soon. And forcing it out like he had, although he had no choice, made the pain worse. It was hard enough for him to use at the best of times, and at times it felt like he was rolling a dice, trying to get it to work the other times.

"A dying ability that feels like it's trying to kill me" Kassi'm muttered to himself with a weak chuckle. It was kind of ironic. But he was gratefull that this ill fated ability had been able to work for him. If it hadn't, he was sure either Ralof or himself, or possibly both, would be dead by now.

He opened his eyes to see Ralof helping the male stormcloak to his feet, the female holding her side and leaning against one of the large metal cages. The male was coughing rather hard and he looked pale as the snow outside the keep.

The orc though wasn't moving, and that began to make Kassi'm worry. He hoped that he hadn't wasted too much time getting to him, and Kassi'm wondered if he was really dead. With a soft groan he stood himself up and forced his legs to move across the floor. With each step he took his legs moved a little bit easier and he pushed himself to move.

The orc was laying against hte wall, a dark black stain across his well muscled torso. His greyish green skin was cracked across his hard looking pecs, and his defined abs were smoking slightly, light tendrils of grey still rising into the air.

But as Kassi'm knelt before him and looked more closely at him, he could see the orc was alive and was most likely just knocked out. A healed over scar ran down the orcs left eye and his dark hair was smoothed back across his head. Two menacing looking fangs protruded out of his lips, which were partly open as he breathed.

"Good, he's alive" Kassi'm thought to himself as he breathed a sigh of relief. But the orc was still out and injured. He couldn't just force a healing potion down the orcs throat, especially if he was knocked out. But he could take care of the outside injuries.

Kassi'm held his hands out and they glowed softly with a gentle light that seemed to move between hsi fingers like lightly coloured smoke. The smoke moved through his outstretched fingers before it swirled into his palms, forming two small swimming balls of light.

He held his hands over the orc before him and the balls moved away from his hands and hovered over the blackened torso muscles. The light seemed to bathe itself over the darkened skin and the orcs face twitched a little as he began to stir.

As the light of the healing spell shone over the damaged muscles, the burnt skin began to glaze over as the darkened spots began to disappear. Cuts that were evident on his body began to stitch themselves together, the tough skin sealing itself over and closing itself.

The orcs eyes fluttered before they opened slowly, his dark coloured eyes starting to focus as he grunted. He hissed a little as the muscles on his body flinched and twitched under the healing light of the spell.

"What....what's going on?" the orc muttered as he opened his eyes slowly. His voice was deep and had a roughness around the edges as he focused on the kneeling figure before him. "Who...who are you?" he grunted as he tried to sit himself up.

"Dont move. Your hurt" Kassi'm said as the soft glowing light continued to shine on the orcs damaged body. The dark blackened skin had almost faded and the exposed bruises were starting to shrink away. The orc hissed in pain as the bruises faded, the aches in his body beginning to fade away just as quickly.

"Sorry, that's all I can do" Kassi'm said as the light in his hands suddenly disappeared rather suddenly. Like a candles flame being snuffed out, the light did too and Kassi'ms hands were left empty. "I ran out of magicka" he said with an apologetic tone of voice.

"Stupid torturers" the orc growled as he slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position. He ran a large hand over his abs slowly, feeling no more pain in his body. But his stomach did feel like it was on teh verge of being sick. With a grunt he tried to push himself up, but the argonian held him back.

"not yet" Kassi'm said as he stood up, and hurried out of the room. The orc looked after him in confusion for a moment as he sat back against the wall.

"When did you guys get caught?" Ralof asked as he saw Kassi'm disappear down the hallway. He knelt beside the male stormcloak and helped to remove the top of his cuirass to take a look at his damaged body.

"Two days ago" the orc grunted as he shook his head slowly, taking in a few gulps of air to help settle his stomach. "We were heading to Falkreath to see the Jarl there, to inform him that Jarl Ulfric would be arriving in the next day or so to see where his allegiance lay."

"Stupid Imperials" the female stormcloak said as she wiped blood from her face and spat on the ground, a dark red spot suddenly appearing between her boots. "They ambushed us from all sides and beat us into submission. Then they dragged us here and started trying to get information out of us" she said.

"what did you tell them?" Ralof asked as he inspected the males wounds. They were fresh, but they were not life threatening. Ralof ripped off a strip of cloth from the inside of the nords armour and began to wrap it around his torso.

"i said they tried" the female said in disgust as she glared over at the two fresh corpses on the floor. The look on her face suggested that she wanted them to return to life, for her own reasons. Ralof nodded, as if he expected nothing more from her, before he heard footsteps behind them. He put his hand on his axe as he turned to the doorway, but he relaxed when he saw Kassi'm walk through it.

"Where did you go?" Ralof asked as Kassi'm stepped into the room. "Did you suspect trouble back there?" Ralof asked as he stood up.

"I went back to get these" Kassi'm said as he held up the sacks that they had dropped earlier. He crossed over and handed Ralof his sack of pilfered goods.

"Ah yes, the healing potions" Ralof said as he understood. Kassi'm nodded as Ralof opened his sack and turned back to the injured man on the floor. Kassi'm reached into his own sack and pulled out one of the bright red vials.

"Here, drink this" Ralof said as he helped the injured man to drink the vial. The mans hand shook and most of hte potion spilt over the front of his uniform before he was able to take a drink.

"You're not one of us, are you?" the orc asked as he looked a bit sceptical as Kassi'm knelt beside him as he sat against the wall.

"How did you guess?" kassi'm asked wtih a small smile as he pulled the stopper out of hte vial and handed it to the orc.

"there aren't any argonians in the stormcloaks" the orc said as he took the bottle in his large hand. "It is mostly nords. Few outsiders are welcome in the ranks" he admitted as he took a heavy gulp that drained most of the vial in that single swig.

"Really?" Kassi'm asked in surprise. He didn't know that. But then again, there was much that he didn't know about Skyrim or the people in it.

"It's true" Ralof said as he made sure the other two stormcloaks were ok as they drank their potions. "Only Nords were made stormcloaks when the rebellion first started, as they are deemed the true sons of skyrim" he pointed out.

"But non nords can join, once they pass a test to prove they have what it takes" the female stormcloak said as she stood up. She was rubbing her side as she inspected it. The wound had already started to heal over from the inside out. "And it's not an easy task. Grolug passed first time. Not many do" she added.

"are you going ot be ok?" Ralof asked her as he stood up beside her.

"I'll be fine. That damn lightning was strong, but they were torturers" she said to him. "they weren't looking at killing us quickly" she added as she spat on the floor with a furious look on her face.

"So you're Grolug?" Kassi'm asked as he watched the orc drain the rest of the vial rather quickly.

"Yes" Grolug said with a grunt as he felt the healing potion drain into his body, and the internal warmth began to spread through his insides as it made his injuries heal themselves over faster then they normally would. "Grolug Gro-Brash, but my name was changed to Grolug Ice-veins. What's yours?" he asked.

"Kassi'm Sunder-Wolfbane" Kassi'm said to him with a nod as heeld out his hand. Grolug grabbed it and Kassi'm pulled. But he had to quickly use two hands as the orcs body was much heavier then he thought it would be. "why Ice-Veins?" Kassi'm asked as Grolug righted himself on the floor.

"It was given to me after I completed my trial and I became a Stormcloak" Grolug said as he rubbed his neck a little. "And I also helped take out an Imperial camp near Riften that had started to capture Stormcloaks in the area. Jarl Ulfric christened me Ice-Veins, as he said the cold ice of Skyrim ran through my body like a true Nord."

"Wiat, should we even be talking about this to him?" the female said suddenly. "He's not a Stormcloak. For all we know, he could be an Imperial spy" she said accusingly. "We can't trust him."

"we can. He helped me, and he helped you" Ralof said to her as he rounded on her rather quickly. "and i do'nt know how, but he saved you from that torturer."

"if you do'nt know how he did it, then how do you know it was him?" she said as she turned to ralof. "He could just be a very good spy if he's wiling to kill his own people."

"i do'nt see who else it would be" ralof said calmly, but his eyes were narrowed in anger. "And I trust him. That's good enough, considering I'm your superior."

"He is not a stormcloak, so why should we talk about our customs and private details around him? And why is he in a stormcloak outfit? Did he steal it off one of our brothers?" she said, her voice getting louder with each word. "I do'nt care if you trust him. He's not one of us, so he either leaves, or we get rid of him now" she said as she grabbed her axe from the ground.

"OH FINE" Kassi'm shouted in anger, the outburst making all four of the stormcloaks jump in surprise. Furious, kassi'm puilled his dagger from his hip and began to slice the armour off his body. The elven daggers were very sharp and they made quick work of the well made armour.

"what are you...?" ralof said in surprise as he watched the argonian tear the uniform from his body. It fell to the ground in ribbons and tatters, completely ruined and unsalvageable, until he was standing naked. He didn't seem to care that they could see him like that as Kassi'm bent over and picked up the ruined remains of the clothing.

"There. Happy now?" he shouted at the female stormcloak as he threw the pile of ruined scraps at her. She brought her hands up as the clothes thumped against her and they fell to the floor at her feet.

"What in sovngardes name is wrong with you?" she shouted at him in surprise, but also in anger that someone like him would dare throw scraps at her.

"next time i try to kill the person attacking you, i'll miss and hit you instead" kassi'm shouted at her. Fuming and looking furious, kassi'm turned his backs on them as he walked ot the other side of the room.

"Gundra, that was no way to behave" Ralof said to the female soldier with anger in his usually calm voice. Kassi'm just walked off to a gap between two of the cages, each of them containing a dead body or two of past victims. He sat down and pressed his back against the wall as he buried his head in his arms.

"He is not a stormcloak. He is not one of us" Gundra said angrily back as she kicked the scraps at her feet to the side. "and i don't trust him why should i?"

"well, i do" ralof said to her as he pushed her back against the wall. She looked surprised at the sudden shove, but she didn't dare raise her hand against her superior. "and you sohld be thankfull. He did save your life. Even if I don't know how he did it" he shouted in her face. Obviously, he was capable of anger.

"I'm not sorry, and I don't see why I..." but she didn't get a chance to finish as Ralof shoved a red bottle into her hands.

"Drink this and keep quiet" he ordered her, the fury evident in his face.

Gundra did not look pleased as she took the health vial from Ralof. But she did not say anything back as she gave him a dirty look, before she drank it down.

Kassi'm felt like giving up as he sat there, staring at the floor between his legs. It was beginning to seem that he waqsn't welcome anywhere he went. First everything that had happened back home in Cyrodiil, and now things were even worse off up here in skyrim.

"I just want to go home so badly" he thought to himself as he stared at the floor. He didn't listen to the stormcloaks as they talked, the noise just becoming a background buzzing in his ears.

He thought of his mother and father, the two of them in their cramped little hovel of a house at the edge of the Imerial Citys waterfront. The house was old, neglected, a dying ramschackle of a building that had housed many families over the years.

His mother and father had gotten so old over the last few years, and they looked as old as they had felt. The only son left amongst his siblings to leave the home. He thought of his mother, mending the clothing with tears in her eyes that the time had finally come for him to leave.

His father, so old and slow now, packing his travelling bag for him with what little he could manage to spare. Kassi'm knew his father just wanted to cry too, but he held his tears back that day. Although he did hug his son longer then he had ever before.

"I miss you so much" Kassi'm thought as he closed his eyes. He just wanted to open his eyes up and find himself back home, back at that horrible little smelly, cold and broken hovel they had been forced to live in. It may have been a horrible little shack in a shanty town of beggars and the poor, but it had been his home.

And he just wanted to go back so badly.

"Here. You look cold" a voice said, startling kassi'm out of his thoguths. He looked up and saw he that Grolug was holding what looked like clothing in his hands.

"Where did you get those?" Kassi'm asked as he looked up. He reliased that he must have been sitting there deep in his thorughs for longer then he had expected. The torches in the sconces had burned lower then they had before, and the torture chamber was darker. The two torturer corpses were in a cage now, and all that remained was the blood stains on the floor.

"From that storage room over there" Grolug said as he nodded across the room. Kassi'm looked over and saw a large caged room opposite a heavy metal grate on the other side of the room. He hadn't noticed it before, but then again, he had been occupied. "That's where they keep everything they take from the prisoners."

"From the prisoners?" Kassi'm asked as he stood up, a sudden thought crossing his mind. He took the robes from Grolug and felt grateful that the big orc had thought of him. It was only then that he realised he was still naked, exposed, and quite cold.

"Yes. They strip everyone they bring in here and leave us in the prison cells until they need us" Grolug said as he let Kassi'm dress himself. He couldn't help but notice the argonians rather lean body. He wasn't built as big and bulky as a warrior, or covered in the hard corded muscles that came with combat. He was built lean and slender, with a light definition in the right areas.

In the orcs opinion, he looked puny.

"And don't mind Gundra. She's just very upset, and she can't take it out on the torturers" Grolug said as he waited for Kassi'm to finish dressing.

"I'm not sorry I spoke to her like that" Kassi'm said as he slid the robes over his head. "I don't see why I should be sorry. I didn't deserve to be lashed out at" he said as he tugged the robes over his body. They fell around his body and he worked on securing the belts around his waist.

The robes were a light blue and golden colour, and they hung around his body quite well. Instantly, he felt the cold shut off around him, and he felt grateful to be clothed again.

"She was tortured for a long time about the movements of the stormcloaks" Grolug said as he watched Kassi'm fix the weapons belt around his waist. "But she refused to tell them anything. Even after they...violated her" he said with a light grunt in his throat.

"they violated her?" Kassi'm asked as he looked up in surprise.

"Yes. One of their methods of torture" grolug said in a low voice as he looked over his shoulder. Ralof and gundra were talking on the other side of the room, talking together as the leant over one of the occupied cages. The other stormcloak was sitting with his head buried between his legs. He was rather pale, and he was shaking rather visibly.

"Once they realised that she was not going to talk, they decided to try something else" Grolug said as he stepped a bit closer to Kassi'm so he didn't have to talk so loudly. "They strapped her down, and then ..inserted a wooden spike into her" Grolug said with a tone of disgust in his voice. "It didn't kill her, but...she cannot conceive anymore" he said.

"They do that to prisoners here?" Kassi'm asked. He knew that prisoners faced a hard time for their crimes, but to do that to someone?

"to stormcloak prisoners, yes" Grolug said to him. "She took the punishment and refused to talk, even when they couldn't undo what they did. So they started torturing Nomar in her place" grolug explained. "they pulled his tongue from his mouth, so that she had to talk instead of him. "

"Did she?" kassi'm asked as he leant against the cage beside him. He wondered how she could have managed to not talk after seeing someone else get punished instead of her. He looked over at NOmar, who was still lying hunched on the floor and shaking as he held himself. For him to be shaking so much, he must have gone through a lot.

"she started to, then they stopped when they brought Jarl Ulfric into Helgen. They promised to be back when they had witnessed his execution" Grolug said to him.

"and then the dragon attacked" kassi'm said with a small nod.

"yes" grolug said with a nod. "although i'm not sure if i can believe that part. But the keep caved in around our cells, so if that was cuased by the dragon attack, then l'll believe it" grolug said. "They came back in here and I think they intended to get answers out of us about the attack. But, you can see how that turned out" Grolug said with a light shrug.

"Jarl Ulfric managed to escape" Ralof said as he stood up. "He escaped into the mountains with most of the other brothers. He'll be on his way back to Windhelm by now, and most likely plotting a counter attack. He never did like to be attacked and let them get away with it" he added.

"Aye" Grolug said with a nod as he turned back to kassi'm. "At least something good came out of this. The torturers are dead, the Imperials have suffered a blow and Jarl Ulfric will strike back" he said as a grin spread across his face.

"Yeah, and we're all alive too" Kassi'm said with a nod. He looked over at Gundra as she stood against the wall. He did feel sorry for her, at least a little. For someone to go through what she did and survive, he was able to feel some sympathy for her.

Just a little though.

"Well, thank you. For...saving my life" Grolug said as he brought a big hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. Kassi'm was surprised to see the big orc suddenly look embarrassed. "Even if..you know. I don't know how" he added.

"You don't like being saved?" kassi'm asked with asmall smile.

"No, not really" grolug admitted, the dark skin around his face suddenly got darker, although kassi'm wasn't sure it was just the dying light of the torches. "I guess I have too much pride to let me like it" he admitted, his face flushing rather visibly.

"at any rate, we should look at getting out of here" Ralof said. "that dragon must be long gone by now. And I'm willing to bet Helgen will be swarming with Imperials and THallmar looking to find out what happened."

"We should go topside" Gundra said. "at least see if we have any more surviviors up there. If there are, we can get them out of here."

"Good idea. You, Grolug and Nomar go ahead search up top. IF there are survivors, help them out. If not , report back to Windhelm as soon as you are able too. Jarl Ulfric will need all the men he can use" Ralof said in his calm, but authorative voice.

"yes sir" Gundra said as she and Nomar stood up and gave him a salute, which was a thump of their fists over their hearts. N omar thumped his chest, looking pale and rather sick, but he also looked determined as he picked up his sword from the floor at his feet. With a light nod in Ralofs direction he and Gundra quickly hurried up the stairs.

"Well...thanks again" Grolug said in an embarrassed voice, the orc unable to really look Kassi'm in the eyes as he unnecessarily adjusted his axe on his hip. His face flushed, the big orc turned and quickly hurried after them.

"your welcome" kassi'm said after him as he watched the big muscled orc hurry up to catch up with the other two. He felt slightly amused that such a big and tough looking orc could get embarrassed over something like having his life saved. But knowing the orc was thankful made him feel glad to be there.

"guess we're on our own for now" Ralof said as he walked up to kassi'm once they were alone together.

"Ahould we follow them?" kassi'm asked.

"Not yet" ralof said. "Best to let them get a head start. But I do want to ask, are you alright?" he asked him.

"I'll be fine" Kassi'm said to him with a nod. "I guess we're all on edge today. For good reason" he added with a weak smile. Ralof merely nodded to him.

"Gundra is not a bad person. But even after going through what she did, she was in teh wrong to attack you like that" he said to him. "But anyway, this is a military keep. They always have a back way out."

"They do?" Kassi'm asked.

"of course" ralof said to him. "Many of the keeps and even the ruins within Skyrim have a back way out. Although with most of the ruins, it was because they could lock it from the inside and still get out. But the exits are usually well hidden. We just haven't found it yet"

Kassi'm considered it for a moment. It did make sense. Most military constructs were sure to have a back way out, in case of sieges. Or possibly perhaps dragon attacks. It wouldn't make sense to not have a back way out, unless they wanted their men cornered and killed.

Leaving Ralof for a moment, kassi'm walkd over to the caged storage room. From what Grolug had said, all the prisoners goods were stored inside, and that could mean that his travelling things were there. If they were, he wanted them back.

The door opened with a loud screech as he stepped into the small enclosed space. The area was filled with large shelves, and each of those shelves were filled with various items. Stacks of clothing and weaponry and things ranging from potions to spell ingredients covered the shelving. All of the items once belonged to the people in the cages, who would never use them again.

"Oh by the nine, thank you" kassi'm said as he suddenly noticed his travel bag sitting on one of the shelves. He had to reach up to grab it, but the disappointment was clearly written on his face as he realised the weight of the bag.

"its empty" he said in despair and disappointment as he pulled open the top of the backpack style bag. Even turning it upside down and shaking it just continued to prove that the Imperials had taken everything.

"They took all your things?" Ralof asked as he poked his head through the doorway and saw Kassi'm shaking his bag around.

"yes" kassi'm said glumly as he stood there wit hhis bag in his arms. "all my books, my bow, my gold. Everything" he said.

"is none of it on the shelves?" Ralof asked. Kassi'm put his bag on the ground and did a quick sweep of the shelves. But nothing there looked familiar.

"no" he said as he left the store room. He crossed over to where he had dropped the sack from earlier and opened it up. "Guess i should refill" he said as he started to transfer the goods from teh sack into his travel bag.

Once it was full, he swung the travellers backpack over his shoulders and adjusted teh straps. It felt comforting to be wearing something familiar once more, even if it was just his pack.

"well, we should find that way out of here" ralof said to him as he stroked his chin in a thoughtfull manner. "Where should we start looking?" he asked.

"grolug said the cells had caved in during the dragon attack" kassi'm mentioned. "maybe they caved in over the entrance to the way out" he added as he thought on it a little.

"that is a good point. We should check there" Ralof said as he strode across the room with Kassi'm following him. "I will not miss this place" he said as he felt his boots squelch in the congealing blood puddle on the floor.

Ralof opened the heavy grated door and it swung open rather easily with a long creaking sound. Beyond that lay a short hall with multiple metal doors on either side of the room. At the end of the short hall, a large pile of rubble blocked their way once more.

Some of the cell doors had crumpled under the roof that had caved in, and one had been knocked in on itself by a large piece of brickwork. Obviously, this was how Grolug and teh others had gotten out. Upon closer inspection, they both noticed the body of a fourth under the brickwork, who hadn't been so lucky in his escape.

Kassi'm followed ralof into the short hall and stopped behind him as Ralof knelt to pay his respect to his fallen comrade. The smell of blood was suddenly drowned out by the smell of bodily fluids. Holding his fingers against his nose in digust, kassi'm took a look in one of the small cells. The only things inside were a very filthy looking bedroll, and a full bucket of excrement.

"it smells disgusting, doesn't it?" ralof said as he looked like he was trying not to breathe too hard either. They suddenly became aware of the buzzing of flies, and it sounded like a lot of them.

"Don't they clean down here?" kassi'm asked as he looked into another cell. The same things were inside it, except the bucket was on its side and the contents had soaked into the bedroll and stained over the stonework.

"No" ralof said as he bent before the pile of rubble at the end of the hall. "It's part of the torture. Either hold it in, or add to the odour" ralof commented. "It does work. Eventually the prisoners become so sick they'll do anything for an empty bucket."

"Do the stormcloaks torture their prisoners like this too?" kassi'm asked as he tried to breathe through his mouth, but the smell was so strong, he could almost taste it. And he felt like he was about to gag.

"Only after they started to torture us in this way" ralof said to him as he looked over his shoulder. "We used to treat our prisoners with some level of dignity. After all, they are like us. Fighting for their cause and something they believe in. Only, they don't share that view about us" he added as he turned back to the rubble.

"When the rebellion was just starting, people were disappearing. Mostly Nords who were openly voicing their opinion on opposing the Thallmar and the Imperials. We didn't know what was happening to them. Out here in skyrim, people disappear all the time. Bandits, trolls, ogres, giants. Anything can happen."

"so, how did you know it was the imperials?" kassi'm asked. "Didn't you fight back?" he asked.

"Good news" ralof suddenly said as he pulled a rock from the wall. "there's a breeze behind this rubble. There must be a cave system behind here" ralof said with a grin spreading over his face. "And it should lead us out of here at last."

"A cave system? Does it lead out?" kassi'm asked as he knelt beside ralof. The soft breath of fresh air that was blowing against his exposed flesh and scales was most welcome. Although it did nothing to lessen the stench of the cells.

"It wouldn't if you couldn't feel this breeze" ralof said as he started to dig through the rubble. "A breeze means the cave entrance is wide open, so that is a good sign."

"so, did you fight back?" kassi'm asked him as he knelt beside Ralof and began to help dig through the rubble. Thankfully, the rocks were loose and they started to come out rather easily.

"One day, a priest of talos appeared in the castle courtyard" Ralof said. "He started to speak to the people. He told us that people were not bound to their beliefs by orders or treaties, but by what their hearts believed. He spoke that the Thallmar had their beliefs, but that did not make them wrong. And we had our beliefs, but that did not make us right" ralof said as he swept pieces of mortar and dust from the rubble.

"What he was saying made a lot of sense. Man is mean to be free to choose his beliefs, but no belief was better then another" ralof continued. "Jarl Ulfric allowed him to continue to preach his opinion, since he wasn't openly favouring either side. We did notice a Thallmar woman in the streets listening to him, but she didn't seem to care what he was saying. Then one day, he disappeared."

"The imperials, or the Thallmar?" kasis'm asked as he removed a heavy looking rock and let it crash to the floor beside his feet.

"Yes" Ralof said with a confirming nod. "A group of imperials and the thallmar drove a covered cart up the Windhelm castles courtyard. The called out for everyone to gather around, and demanded Jarl Ulfric to join in and see what they had. When Jarl Ulfric heard about it, he walked out to meet them and demanded what was going on."

"What was going on?" kassi'm asked as the hole suddenly seemed to open up before them. Stone and rubble began to tumble in front of them and at the other side of the hole and dust blew up in their faces as the rocks crashed against each other. Once the dust had settled and the two of them had stopped coughing the dust from their lungs, Kassi'm peeked through. He could make out a dark interior on the other side, but the breeze was getting stronger.

"The THllmar pulled back the cover and pulled the priests dead body off the pile of corpses they had piled the cart with" Ralof said. "It was all the people who had gone missing for voicing their opinion against the empire. And from the looks of their bodies, they had been tortured for a long time. And then she looked Jarl Ulfric in the eye and said "he finally shut up".

"What did Ulfric do?" kassi'm asked as he wiped his hands on his robes.

"Ulfric killed her on the spot, and the imperials that were with her. Then he rode to Solitude and challenged High King Toryg to combat" ralof said as he stood up and dusted himself off. The hole was now large enough for them both to crawl through.

"He killed him, though, didn't he?" kassi'm asked.

"Depending on who you ask, yes" ralof said to him as he dusted his hands. "Then he declared to the Thallmar that he would drive them back out of Skyrim, and take her back."

"Well, did he kill him?" kassi'm asked, but Ralof was already manoeuvring himself through the open hole and onto the other side.

"if you see Jarl Ulfric again, why don't you ask him?" Ralof said as he pulled his feet through the open hole. Kassi'm watched as Ralof disappeared into the dark hole and for a moment he waited, before he began to crawl through after him.

The hole was large enough to fit Ralof through, and Kassi'm, being a little more slender, was able to easily push himself into the recess. Thankfully the rest of the rubble didn't cave in on him and crush him to death, which he was quite thankful for.

Sliding out a little awkwardly into the dark opposite side of the rubble, Kassi'm pulled himself to his feet. Straightening himself up and dusting the layer of grim from his robes, he looked up and tried to make out what was on the other side.

"i should have brought a torch" ralof commented as he squinted in the darkness. The cave was too dark to see beyond the dying light coming through the hole. But the breeze was good and cold and was a literal breath of fresh air from teh smell of the torture chamber.

"Here" Kassi'm said as he held his hand out. A soft glowing ball of light appaeard in his open palm and he cast it up into the air. The ball of light struck the low hanging roof and with a sudden burst of light, the inside of the cave was illuminated. "Magelight. Never leave home without it" he said with a hint of pride in his voice.

"You are definitely a mage" ralof said to him with a nod as they were able to see into the cave much more properly now. The walls of the cave were covered in a light sheen and it glistened in the light of the magic. Moss covered the floor of the cave and pillars of rock hung above their heads

"Like I said, I practiced" kassi'm said to him as he gazed forward. The cave was long and it darkened the further that it went down. But the breeze was coming from that direction, and hopefully that meant they didn't have far to go.

"Well, now that we can see where we're going, how about we get out of here?" ralof suggested as he looked eager to get out of the area for good. He started to walk forward, testing his feet on the thick layer of moist moss on the ground. He didn't slip as he cautiously made his way forward.

"Amen to that" kassi'm said in agreement as he followed the nord through the cave, not looking back as he moved on.