Fallen Bridge

The cavern boomed with the roar of falling masonry and the air clouded with
powdered bone. As the Hall of Bone behind collapsed, so did the great span of
stone across the black waters ahead. First, its keystone gave a sharp crack,
then fell, bringing the rest of the bridge down like a great house of stone
cards. A wedge of ceiling came down, following the ruinous bridge into the
water. The pale blue lamps flashed out far below. The rain of stone hardly
caused a ripple in the implacable surface of the river.

"Now what are we going to do?"

The khajiit's question was rhetorical, but her husband looked sharply at her.
His jaw was tight and his massive shoulders bunched like foothills under the
wrack of an earthquake. His brow drew down as he roughly grabbed her arm.

"You should have gone with the Balefire!"

Inwardly, she shrank. He was using the warmage's name as a title, slipping
into the old mode of speech. He was as wrathful as ever she had seen him, but
this was the first time he had directed such anger at her. Her arm felt on
the verge of breaking as his thick fingers pinned nerve to bone. She ground
her teeth to end a shout before it reached her dry lips. She had learned long
ago that the best way to deal with the warrior was never to back down, but
somehow she wondered this time.

"Balefire and the rest had done their duty. The Master is slain and the First
forever laid to rest. But you are my husband, and I go where you go! I am not
Werre, but I am every bit the warrior you are!"

She bared her teeth, cutting her lip on the jagged half-tooth. She was a neat
person, but she let the blood run. This was no time to be dainty. Tears
welled in the corners of her eyes from the pain in her arm. She let Cromm see
them. He was a very closed man, and she fought him with her nakedness. Her
tail lashed violently.

K'tarin came up, put a broad hand on Cromm's shoulder. His touch looked
light, but he was squeezing the shoulder mercilessly. This was no time for
infighting.

"To'Khar K'than! She is with us. I accept it and say we must move on!"

His voice was no match for the cavern's death throes, but Cromm only needed
the squeezing hand to understand. Before he turned from his beloved, he let
a sliver of emotion cross his face. Loriella saw the pain there. He was
afraid for her...but also afraid for himself. She represented one more person
to keep alive, and it hurt all the more that she was so close to him. His
eyes were wet and gleamed in the half-light. The leader gave a hand signal
for all to pair off. Loriella and Cromm remained a pair, but K'tarin turned
to find only Joran. Holm'ka was nowhere to be seen.

"We lost a man in the mad race through the desert storm," Cromm growled to
himself even as he picked his way through the shifting debris to the ruined
bridge. "Talnan fell engaged with a Denigroth. And now another warrior is
taken from us! In battle or under stone, he died bravely."

They reached the foot of the bridge, now only a broken spar jutting out from
the cliff before them. On the far side, the water came to gentle shores, but
here, the land was higher and only a shear drop lay between the men and the
water.

The thick mist had blown away on the dusty front of the storm issuing from
the Hall of Bone. The black water gave back no reflection but deep under the
surface were faces, pale and remote. K'tarin looked deep at them, but they
did not hold the same deadly fascination for him as they did when first the
Werre crossed the water. The spirits had lost their power.

They were fleeing.

Even as the warriors looked on, the faces were receding into the depths. A
long shadow-whisper went up that only the khajiit could hear as, one by one,
they left for the bliss of Oblivion. They were finally released from their
long imprisonment. Rock continued to scream down.

"We must swim!"

Cromm heard these words escape his mouth, but he was terrified. He hadn't
swam since childhood. Would he remember? Would his armor be too much to bear?
Before these thoughts unmanned him, he stepped off the edge and plunged into
the dark water. He was aware of the others hitting the surface as he quickly
sank.

The water was freezing! The biting cold went straight into his bones. He lost
half of his air with the shock of it. The rock crashing into the water above
was a terrible roar, sourceless and omnipresent. The darkness and sound
disoriented him and only the slow fall of stone striking him told him which
way was up. Up! He needed air.

He kicked off his boots and shook off his pack. There was a moment of panic
as the straps pinned his arms behind him, then it was off. Still, with his
powerful legs, he could not tell if he was rising or not. His air almost
spent in this frigid water, he pulled out a short knife and cut the straps
from his breast plate. Light flashed at the edge of his vision.

A firm hand grabbed him by the neck, pulling him up. With effort, he kicked
and broke the surface. Air rushed into his burning lungs and a brief fit of
coughing shook him. The air was choked with dust. He turned to look into the
eyes of K'tarin. Loriella swam up, looking very cross.

"At least K'tarin thought to strip off his armor!"

Rock pelted them and larger chunks ruffled the quiet waters about them.
Without further words, they gathered close together and struggled out into
slow river. Immediately, a strong current took them, dragging them under.
Only Loriella was expert enough to get her head above water now and then for
a desperate gasp. A sharp rock glanced off her shoulder, though she felt no
pain. She was numb. Intellectually, she knew she was cut and bruised most
everywhere, but her body was only concerned for the next breath. Beside her,
Cromm had just come up for air with a helping hand. He grunted and became a
dead weight on her arm. The rock had struck him on the forehead, knocking him
unconscious.

She dove under him and pushed his head clear of the water. He would breathe
as long as she could hold her breath. But the current had them all in its
firm grip and both shores were lost to sight as they passed from the cavern.

'My love," she thought. Her brain was too benumbed from cold to finish the
thought.

Her lungs were about to betray her when a firm hand pushed her up. She was
too weak to fight, and broke the surface to see two large feet go under.
K'tarin. He had taken over for her. She felt a pang of shame which quickly
passed as she tasted the thick air. Something so rank never felt so sweet
before.

Her renewed hope was short lived. Either the water was rising or the tunnel's
ceiling was lowering. She could not face going under again. With painful
strokes, she made for what she hoped was a shore. In the dark, her ears
discerned a different sound to the water to the left. After some minutes,
she dragged herself onto high shelf of rock, followed by the Werre. Cromm
was only semiconscious, mumbling blurred nonsense. She held him, as much for
warmth and for comfort.

Suddenly, the roar in the cavern behind increased and what little light there
was from that place was blotted out. The roaring came upon them with terrible
speed. A surge of water crashed through the broad tunnel, nearly sweeping the
sodden wastrels from their perch. Then came the rock. Boulders and smaller
debris ground through, pinning the warriors on the ledge. The water continued
to rise. Loriella clutched her husband as a cairn was raised about them.

She moved her lips silently. "Naugh, if there are any left of you here, help
us! You were traitors to the Werre. Don't be traitors now!"

As water lapped about her legs, her last thoughts were of sun and warm sand.

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Alduin dor Lammoth