DovahTale

Chapter Twenty Nine

A box sat close to the beginning of the hallway. It sat on the edge of a... waterfall. How was there a waterfall here?

The path before me was on a sharp edge, that seemed to go down who knows how far. It was too dark to see a bottom. 

The waterfall in front of me plunged into the ground, then continued off the edge, falling endlessly down. Multiple rocks joined in the water's journey, slamming down into the pathway before rolling off of the edge.

A bridge thing was built precariously over the drop, being randomly placed and ending before circling around to the other side of the water, where the path continued.

Entering the Ratway was like entering a new world. The walls seen from the outside disappeared, leaving only a cavernous dark space over the deep drop. There was a wall on the other side of the path though, giving me a little more comfort.

I approached the box, noticing it was the one from Winterhold. I opened it to find all of the items I had stored in it before. Being interested in the box yet not needing it nor any of its contents, I closed it, and further inspected the waterfall, trying to find a way around it.

The bridge went over the darkness but didn't give any help to crossing the rapid water. I carefully walked along the bridge anyway, keeping a watchful eye on my footing so I wouldn't fall.

I suddenly heard a monotone whisper coming from underneath the bridge.

I stopped to listen. Suddenly, a little lizard scurried to the top from the bottom of the bridge. Its little lips whizzed in a constant repeat of worthless whispers.

I gingerly approached it, and before it could scurry away, I seized the Echo Wyrm.

The little things were here too... how nice.

I held it up to my ear to listen to what it had to say despite having called its whispers worthless before.

"I swear I saw something behind that rushing water."

I instinctively glanced over to the waterfall. Nothing was there.

I set down the little lizard and he fearfully ran to the underside of the bridge again.

I walked back onto the dusty path. It seemed that the only way over to continue on the other side was to go through the water. I dipped three very tip of my right boot into the water. The cold water instantly flooded the tip of my shoe and pushed it quickly to the right, where the water was rushing.

Walking through this water would prove more difficult than I expected.

I kept my boots on to act as weights to keep my feet anchored against the constant pushing of the water. In addition to the pushing of the cataract, the rocks also continued falling and thrice had I tried to dodge in vain. The boulders crashed into my legs and I slipped into the water, thrashing my arms to push myself up. It reminded me of the various rock-fall traps that many bandit groups would make to ward off trespassers.

When I finally managed to pull myself to the other side I was soaking wet, cold, and my legs hurt. Terribly.

I just sat for a moment before continuing on.

A large patch of some sort of plant stood in my way. A ledge I hadn't noticed hung over the road.

I sighed and started pushing the long leaves aside, sloshing through with puddles in my boots.

A sudden voice stopped me from moving further.

"H... Hi, Undyne! I'm here with my daily report," Papyrus said. "Uhh... Regarding that human I called you about earlier..."

A soft grumble came from another figure. Their shadows loomed over me, and I crouched lower.

"Huh...? Did I fight them?" Papyrus hesitated, "Y-yes! Of course I did! I fought them valiantly!"

Another growl erupted from the other monster. It was a muffled grumble, like it was coming from under a helmet.

"....What? Did I capture them...? No. I tried very hard, Undyne, but in the end... I failed."

Another loud mumble. I could almost hear their words.

"...W-What? You're going to take the human's soul yourself... But Undyne, you don't have to destroy them! For you see..." I heard Papyrus step a few steps. Probably forward. "You see..."

A hard step, like metal on metal boomed, and I heard Papyrus give the smallest of whimpers.

"I understand..." Papyrus said. "I'll help you in any way I can."

I heard his footsteps grow faint as he left.

How had Papyrus gotten from Winterhold to Riften?

I knew there were countless questions to be answered about those weird skeleton brothers, but right now I had to focus on getting further without that... Undyne seeing me. They wanted to rip my soul out for Talos' sake!

I sat quietly in the large plant for a long time, trying to hear if Undyne had left yet. If they did, they can sneak quite well in metal boots.

When I thought I had sat there for long enough, I moved forward the slightest bit, causing the bush to emit a loud noise.

I heard a gasp of surprise, and more metal steps nearing the edge above. I ducked down again and peered up through the leaves at a metal helm appear over head, which stared blankly at me. An armored hand reached over, and a blue spear of light materialized into its palm.

They held the spear point down, aiming in my general direction.

They looked down, side to side, and back down. Their spear faded away as they backed from the ledge again and slowly walked away, finally leaving me alone. They didn't see me.

I tried silently to get out of the large plant, but still managed to ruffle the leaves rather loudly. When I got out, I stretched my legs from crouching for so long. I was still wet from the waterfall.

Suddenly, the plant started to rustle behind me again. I stepped around and faced the plant, preparing myself for a Fight if necessary.

A monster erupted from the bush, bouncing excitedly on its two small legs.

"Yo... did you see the way she was staring at you...?" It said. "That... was AWESOME! I'm so jealous! What'd you do to get her attention!? Come on, let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!"

It started to run off, but face-planted. It didn't have any arms but it still managed to push itself up, and kept running with its yellow tail swishing behind it.

I could have sworn I had seen that small yellow monster before.