The Thu'um Chapter 2

"Do you believe that could really be a dragon? The end of all time?" the list-man wondered aloud as he rested his back on the closed door with closed eyes. After a moment, he stood up straight. "Here, let me cut those binds off. Then you can search in some of these chests, it should have some armor and clothing you can wear. You look pretty scrawny and young, but I don't think they'll be too loose or big on you. I'm Hadvar, by the way."

Hadvar cut the ropes on Danny's wrists, freeing him. Danny rubbed his wrists, where the rope had cut into his skin some. He finally noticed how he was in old rags, and not his DP suit. He opened a chest, and pulled out some of the equipment Hadvar had mentioned. After a quick glance to make sure Hadvar wasn't looking, he changed into the white shirt and brown pants before Hadvar helped him put on the leather armor. He tossed the sword at him, making Danny stumble and awkwardly hold it for a moment before he held onto it tightly in his right hand. He then sheathed it into it's compartment on his armor belt.

"Ready?" Hadvar asked. Danny nodded, and Hadvar pulled a chain, revealing a secret passageway. He followed Hadvar down the hallway, where he heard voices. Hadvar immediately pulled out his sword and shield, and Danny followed, a tad slow and still awkward with the iron weapon.

Hadvar gave a battle cry and charged into a circular room, where two Whitecloaks were debating on how to leave before the dragon killed them. With a powerful swing of the arm, Hadvar immediately took one out. Danny randomly waved his sword at the other Whitecloak, only to have it immediately knocks out of his hand with their battleaxe. Danny ducked as another swing of the axe came for him. Then Hadvar came up behind him and slayed his neck with his sword. Hadvar pried the battleaxe from the corpse's hands.

"Maybe you're more of a two handed weapon man," he suggested, handing it to him.

"Uh...I'm not really...fond...of killing...especially people," Danny replied a bit awkwardly.

"Only the Dark Brotherhood is. Don't worry, it's not wrong if it's self-defense, Danny. These people aren't out to hunt or just capture you. They want to kill you, and you need to kill them first if you want to live long enough to stop Vlad and his Whitecloaks," Hadvar told him pointly. Danny gripped the two handed weapon before dropping it and picking up the sword that was knocked out of his hands.

"I'm more of a one-handed weapon," he said a bit quietly. Hadvar smiled and they continued to find their escape. Together, they walked along the path before they came upon a path. The earth roared and rumbled before the walls crumbled down the main path.

"Damn! That dragon doesn't give up easy," Hadvar mused. "It's alright, we'll just go this way."

He opened a door, then walked through. Danny followed. He saw up ahead some Whitecloaks collecting supplies. Hadvar immediately jumped into action, slashing at them. Danny fired ectoblasts at one that charged at him, then used his sword hand to slash the final blow. He did the same to the last one, before Hadvar sheathed his weapon, Danny following his lead.

"The Whitecloaks may have known good. We should see if we can find any supplies," Danny told Hadvar.

"Good idea. Start looking."

After a half hour of searching, they found a few healing potions. Hadvar opened another door leading to another room. They walked down some stairs and to Danny's disturbance, screams were loud. Very loud.

"Ugh...the torture chamber," Hadvar grumbled. "I wish we didn't need these."

Danny winced heavily and paused as Hadvar ran down, sword drawn and helped two men kill three Whitecloaks. Danny stood on the sidelines as the conversation took place, just out of ear's reach. Hadvar motioned for Danny to come over.

"Ah...a young one," the strange man replied coldly, taking notice of Danny.

"We need to leave. There is a dragon on the loose!" Hadvar argued with the man.

"I'd rather not. I have things here to attend to," he said.

"I'll come with you," the smaller man replied to Hadvar. "I'm not taking chances."

The man scoffed and waved them off.

"Run along then. But you won't find a way out."

Hadvar, the man Danny was soon told was the torturer's assistant, and Danny jogged on passed several cages. He felt queezy to his stomach at all the poor, tortured victims. They walked a bit further, seeing a ton of Whitecloaks. Hadvar and the assistant ran off to fight them as Danny looked down, taking notice of a bunch of oil that was laying on the ground from a broken lantern.

"Hadvar! Stand aside!" Danny yelled as he fired an ectoblast at the oil. Hadvar jumped aside, letting all the Whitecloaks and the poor assistant burn in the raging flames. After five minutes, the fire died and the Whitecloaks laid dead with them.

Danny ran to catch up with Hadvar as he continued on the way, lowering a drawbridge. They crossed. As soon as they dropped down into the pathway, the ground trembled again, and the pathway behind them collapsed.

"Looks like we can't go back the way we came," Danny reported. Hadvar nodded, and they walked down the stream before making a right, down into the a room filled with spiderwebs. Really big spider webs.

A giant spider suddenly jumped down from the ceiling, and it lunged at Danny. He called out in surprise and jumped to the right, before blasting him with ectoblasts. He also withdrew his sword and slashed at it. Hadvar himself was dealing with the spider's babies. After ten minutes of slashing, blasting and kicking the spiders, they finally all laid dead. Hadvar sheathed his sword once more, walking down a narrow pathway, which Danny followed. They encountered a natural bridge over a small steam, which Hadvar crossed while crouching. Danny followed suit.

"Shhh...a bear's up ahead. I'd rather not mess with it," he told Danny in a whisper. "Let's just sneak past it."

"I can take it," Danny offered. Hadvar grinned and took his bow and arrow off his back.

"If you wanna try, take the shot," he told the young halfa. Danny awkwardly fumbled with the bow for a bit before he managed to hold it properly. He lined up his sight carefully and then pulled it back slowly. After a few seconds, he released the arrow, hitting the bear. "Quick! Fire another!"

He handed Danny a second arrow, and Danny repeated the process a tad faster as the bear began to raise and charge. The second arrow was a head shot, and killed the bear instantly.

"Good shot!" Hadvar praised as Danny handed him his bow back.

"Look! There's light! It's a way out!" Danny cried out, pointing.

"Let's not stand around here like idiots then!" Hadvar replied, running for it. He slipped out, and Danny glanced back into the cave before he slipped out as well.