A new chapter, yay! I want to thank everyone who reads both my stories. All the feedback makes my day, so thank you guys so much.

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The darkness of the dwarven ruins pressed in around them as they continued further down. Fae trailed behind the column of scholars, her bow drawn. Vilkas led the group, his keen, ice colored eyes watching every shadow in front of them. Two of the three scholars – Mathius and Cyric – held torches in front of them. The final scholar, a weathered old Breton named Thom, had an old scroll open in his hands, glancing down at it every few moments.

"It looks like all of this has been explored before," Fae murmured to Thom, who was nearest her in the group.

"Mmm," he murmured distractedly. "It has. Where we are going is further down."

She kicked a dwarven sphere construct gently, and fell silent.

It wasn't long before she started noticing something glowing in the corners of the darken halls. Frowning, she stepped over to it. It was a small mound of glowing blue orbs. She frowned. "Vilkas," she called. He turned, along with the other scholars. "Charus eggs," Fae called, holding one up for him to see.

"That explains why the other expeditions never came back," Vilkas answered calmly.

"What do you mean?" Mathius asked. "Surely they just became lost."

"Charus' are very territorial, and very dangerous," Fae answered.

"You mean they were killed?" Cyric gasped.

"No one ever said exploring was easy," Vilkas answered, turning back to the dark hallway in front of them. Fae silently had to agree with him.

Thick stone steps were leading them farther down in to the darkness beneath Markarth. Everything aside from the scrapes of their own steps was silent. It was getting colder, and the heat of the torches on Fae's face was a welcome difference from the chill of her fingers. The air was going from crisp and musty to truly rank. Something was ahead of them. Fae slipped to the head of the group, coming up beside Vilkas.

"Do you smell that?" she whispered, her dark eyes darting around the shadows.

His reply was a quiet growl. "Falmer."

"I think so," she agreed. She fitted an arrow onto her bow string.

There was a shift in the darkness ahead, like a lightening, that suggested a larger area. Vilkas motioned for the scholars to stay a little behind them, and then moved purposefully toward the end of the hall. Fae kept up with him, moving carefully to avoid making extra noise. Vilkas, in his heavy plate, made enough noise for both of them, and she worried about an ambush from whatever else was down there with them.

The hall ended abruptly into a room so large that the floor, ceiling, and other walls were all lost to shadows. The path they walked would have stretched across the room like a bridge, but it had long since collapsed only a few feet in front of where they stood. Fae could see most of the rubble from it not far below them. A few other bridges crisscrossed in and out of view, spiraling from several tall, circular towers that she could see shadows of. There was some kind of incandescent fungus on many of the surfaces around them, throwing dim blue light that made it even more difficult to judge distances and shapes. After a few moments of staring out into the darkness, her eyes adjusted slightly, and she could see that a few of the bridges ended in doors along the wall to her right and left.

"Amazing," Vilkas breathed.

Fae glanced over at him, then looked back out over the huge plaza. There was movement from a bridge below and to her left. She squinted through the dim blue glow, making out a hunched, pale figure. Falmer. She carefully went down on one knee to steady her aim, and drew the bowstring back. When she released, the arrow took the Falmer in the neck, knocking it off the platform, dead. The whole attack was nearly silent. Fae rose and looked at Vilkas who was watching her, his expression slightly impressed.

"Well, now we know what smells," she whispered.

"We need to be careful," he said.

Fae glanced back toward the scholars. "Agreed." She turned back to the plaza and considered the darkness for a moment, then slung her bow onto her shoulder. "Lower me down, I'll scout around and come back, so we know what we're up against."

Vilkas' intense gaze turned on her, studying her for a moment. "Are you sure you're capable of not being heard?"

"More than you are," she replied. "Now come on, help me."

The Nord sheathed his sword across his back as he followed Fae to the edge of the path. The tip of pile of rubble seemed to fairly far down, but it was hard to tell. She guess it was close to six or seven feet down, maybe less. She sat down on the edge of the bridge and reached up for Vilkas to take her hands. He gripped her tightly around the wrists instead. As soon as his grip was secure, she slipped forward, sliding from her perch. He lowered her down slowly, going down to one knee to lower her even farther. She was small and light, so it wasn't hard for him to hold her, but she was afraid that the rubble was farther down than she had anticipated and he would have to drop her. Just as she was certain that she would have to drop, she felt the jagged edge of stones under her boot. She made sure she was stable, then pulled her arms away from Vilkas.

Carefully, she crawled down the pile of rubble, trying her hardest to be as quiet as she could. There were sure to be more Falmer around, and she didn't want them to hear her climbing. The rocks weren't very stable under her feet, and several of them shifted down with soft clacks.Her foot slipped, wedging between two rocks. Unbalanced, she fell backwards, twisting her ankle sharply. She hissed through her teeth. Leaning back against the rocks behind them, she kicked at the larger ones pinning her foot. After a few kicks, the piece of rubble came loose and tumbled down the pile. It made a huge clatter as it fell. Fae held her breath as silence swept in to replace the loud noises.

They came out of the darkness like ghosts, running in loping, twisted movements. They wore armor made of the carapaces of chaurus's, and bore swords and daggers made of something similar. They peered up at the pile, though they were blind, tipping their heads from side to side. Fae's heart hammered in her chest as they poked at the rubble. If they sensed her, she had no hope of drawing her bow before they were on her. One of the falmer climbed up the first few stones, looking up toward her. She bit her lip. Slowly, they began to shuffle away in to the darkness. Fae let out the breath she had been holding.

It sounded like someone was calling down to her from above, but she couldn't tell what they were saying. Taking a deep breath, she carefully straightened and began to climb down again. Her ankle hurt badly, and felt swollen in her leather boot. She could feel the seams pressing into her skin. Flinching, she made it to the floor and crouched down. She took a few deep breaths and began to scout around the room, limping badly on her hurt ankle.