The farmers and the village elder stood in stunned silence as we simply shouldered our packs, gripped our weapons and strode through the carnage on the trail of the minotaurs. I was angry, and frustrated and the brief conversation that Viconia and I had before going silent in contemplation of the task ahead was purely focused on how we had no real choice in the matter. We had to undertake the contract as if we failed or defaulted we would be considered to be the same as the other cowards and the Guild would not support the Blades. If we had managed to undertake other contracts successfully before this one then it wouldn't have been as much of an issue. As it was the very first paying contract it was even more of a test than our battle against goblins. Whether either of us thought that it was a foregone cause was a secondary issue, as between Viconia's pride and my determination not to fail neither of us were going to simply turn around and stay in a tavern for the evening.

  Thankfully the task of tracking the minotaurs was surprisingly easy, the towering brutes didn't so much as leave tracks as smash their way through anything and everything in their path. Snapped branches, uprooted trees and churned earth was left in their wake and we could've followed the path even a month after with no issues. My nervousness of following creatures capable of such feats of strength was building with every destroyed tree or smashed log but I felt somewhat confident in my own increasing abilities granted to me by my curse.

  Viconia didn't seem to be overly concerned, merely liking the carnage around us to a time where she and a handful of other Drow had hunted down and defeated a Fomorian in the depths of the world. Her brief description of killing a creature ten metres tall and strong enough to crush boulders in its hands made me feel a little more confident about hunting down a dozen bull-headed humanoids twice our height. My nervousness was still increasing however as we found ourselves making our way between enormous moss and grass covered stone blocks and crumbled walls of a city long since dead and abandoned.

  The ancient elves; the enslavers of humanity had built cities and settlements throughout Cyrodiil and the southern regions of the Empire. Only some were still in good condition due to being utilised or lived in by the younger races. Cities such as the Imperial City were far and few between, and most of the old cities were little more than the mouldering ruins that we now found ourselves slinking through. The signs that we were not the first living things in the ruins recently were everywhere, moss and creepers had been scraped away from the ancient stones and between the broken walls of Ayleid buildings the grass had been neatly cropped and grazed upon until only a few inches poked up from the soil. Dung was piled in several places, wrecked piles of bones from trespassing creatures and people alike were scattered about randomly and the scent of enormous animals was growing more potent with every step.

  Neither of us made a sound as we made our way carefully into the long dead city, placing each foot with care and ensuring that we remained downwind of any potential threats ahead of us. For the better part of an hour we moved deeper into the ruins, watching and listening for any signs of our quarry. It was not long until the traces of their presence materialised into physical forms and both of us watched in awe as one of the giant creatures stomped its way down an overgrown thoroughfare with a massive bundle of wheat and other vegetation crushed under its arms. The sight of such a creature made me suddenly very concerned about our chances, the giant beast over four metres tall, arms as thick as beer kegs and reverse jointed hooved legs as thick as pines. The massive horned head snorted and panted as it moved, each horn over a metre long and strong enough to gore a fully plated knight to death with a mere flick of its solid neck. Traces of clothing and a crude loincloth of rough hides and woven grasses covered parts of its bulk and revealed a base level of intelligence that only increased the level of threat that it represented.

  We followed behind the towering brute as it made its way unerringly through the ruins through a path worn through the grasses and into the stones beneath. Going by the belief that the creatures' few numbers would mean that they would live in a central location somewhere we simply followed it, keeping to the afternoon shadows and ensuring that the wind was in our face as much as possible.

  Carefully creeping in its footsteps, we soon found ourselves near what appeared to be the central structure in the heart of the city. Long since abandoned, the tumbled masonry and overgrown debris revealed that a tower once stood above the central complex and while not overly tall it still left an entire street filled with its remains. At the base, the rounded and age-smoothed stones were separated and broken up only by a single darkened tunnel that lead into the depths of the constructed mound and the undercity beneath the ground.

  "Looks like this is the place." I murmured to Viconia and we hunched down behind some jumbled stonework and a crumbling wall.

  "Certainly looks as such." She stared at the gaping, inky black hole within the side of the structure. "How many do you think are in there?"

  Shrugging I glanced around and saw the wind flowing through the few strands of white hair dangling from under her hood. For a moment it waved briefly, rolling the errant strands over her shoulders before suddenly changing direction and pushing her hair forward of her face and in the direction of the minotaur's den.

  "Oh... Shit...." Her expression changed to confusion as she saw my own eyes grow wide and not understanding the source of my concern.

  The wind changed direction suddenly and in the strange ruins it was suddenly flowing towards the hulking brute and the entrance to their lair. There were only seconds before our presences would be made known and I hurriedly fitted an arrow onto the bowstring and peered over the top of the broken bricks.

  Towering in the tunnel's entrance the enormous beast suddenly stopped in place, head twitching and snuffling our scents being carried on the breeze. So close to their lair there was nowhere else to hide or to even attempt to run as it twisted about, breathing heavily and looking around the ruined city with tiny bovine eyes for the sudden smells that it detected. The surprise and shock only lasted for a short time before it dropped the bales of vegetation to the ground, head turning in our direction and knowing exactly where we were by smell alone.

  The enormous bellow from the minotaur felt like a punch to the stomach as it threw its head forward and sprayed spittle from its gaping maw. Without thought and purely from its bestial instinct it rushed forward, roaring the whole time and ignoring everything in its path as it charged. Its enormous reverse jointed legs slammed into the ground with titanic force, the impacts felt through the soles of our feet as it smashed through crumbling walls without slowing.

  My own animalistic instincts made it feel like time itself was encased in treacle. Carefully I raised the bow and hauled back on the string as though the 100 pound draw weight was nothing more than plucking at a lute string. I felt the fletching brush against my tightening jawline, the cheekbones shifting and writhing under my skin and the rippling muscle of the vampire filling my arms with unnatural strength. For what felt like minutes I held the string back, before releasing it and breathing out as calm as though I was firing into a straw practicing dummy.

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  The barbed tip of the arrow punched through one of the creature's eyes with enough force that the fletching was tangling with its eyelashes. Pride and satisfaction filled me for a moment until I realised that it didn't stop the charging brute, nor even slow it down.

  It ran forward for another dozen paces, bellowing and smashing its way through another moss-covered ruin in an explosion of dust before it finally realised that it was dead from the broadhead lodged deep in its brain. With all the inevitability of an avalanche the minotaur buckled and fell over without even slowing is pace, slamming into the ground like a felled redwood and rattling our teeth in our skulls from the impact.

  Viconia laughed, a strange sound in such a situation but one of obvious appreciation of the shot I had just made. It chilled me to the core however as the sudden booming response from the depths of the ruins echoed from the tunnel mouth and the ground began vibrating as the dead creature's kin responded to its warning howl. The drow at my side continued to laugh however, the tone darkening as her face once again scrunched into a frightening mask of determination and concentration that I was almost intimately familiar with by now.

  Hands tracing flickering lights through the air she didn't even bother to draw her sword, instead calling upon the full force of her magical powers in a series of complex incantations and gestures. Within seconds her eyes had turned from the golden-yellow to a flickering white of a forge's flame as the witch-light began to shine through. The tingle of magicka on the air was a metallic taste on the tongue and I could feel my own changes begin to shift through my own flesh. Muscles suddenly felt tight in my clothes, the chainmail sleeves of my hauberk suddenly taut as my arms and chest grew in strength and power. My bowstring was drawn back to the ear again, aiming not with the arrow but with my mind in a way that only an experienced archer could manage.

  Erupting from the depths of the earth the herd flowed in a wall of furred flesh and horns. Even the smallest of the beasts outweighed Viconia and I combined by a considerable margin and within seconds of entering the light of day they knew where we were. Half a dozen of the monsters rushed forward with blinding rage at not only our presence but at the death of their kin, bellowing through their snouts and lowering their horns for the charge.

  An arrow buried itself in one of their chests, appearing to be as effective as an insect bite to the enraged creature even as a second punched between a pair of ribs a second later. There seemed to be no stopping the minotaurs as they simply lowered their horns and battered their way through the ruins between us and the entrance to their lair. While I shot arrows as fast as I could draw them, Viconia was crackling with powerful magicka. Weaving intricate patterns that left afterglows in the eyes she roared the words of the spells before hurling enough violent lightning into the onrushing wall of flesh and horns that for a moment I was blinded. A couple of the minotaurs fell flat on their faces, flesh smouldering from the discharge and features contorted in searing pain. A fourth finally dropped as I punched half a dozen arrows into its chest in a tight cluster that had managed to skewer its heart. This still left a pair of them remaining that crossed the distance between us with frightening rapidity.

  We both threw ourselves aside as the first barrelled through our meagre protection with as much difficulty as I would pushing aside a curtain. Bricks and shattered mortar exploded as it shouldered its way through, followed closely by its last surviving clanmate as they chased after our darting forms. Viconia moved as quickly as a shadow being chased by the light, dancing and leaping her way up over ancient buildings with her usual liquid grace and making me appear clumsy in comparison. In a single smooth motion she snatched Dragonbane from its sheath, slicing and chopping at the grasping hands as large as her chest. Another bolt of lightning caught one in the face, followed by several centimetres of perfectly forged metal that seemed to pass through flesh, muscle and hardened bone like mist.

  The last surviving minotaur, a young male only a few years old at the most bleated with anger and panic as it found itself alone and facing the killers of the majority of its herd. Where most creatures would've given in to panic and fled, the young minotaur instead charged blindly on, lowering its head and short horns at the lithe drow who was suddenly stuck in place trying to free her trapped blade from the grip of bone.

  Before I had even realised what I was doing I had crossed the space between myself and the creature, tackling it and spearing it in the back with the point of Sunchild. The resistance of its flesh only lasted for a second before the sword was buried to the hilt in the creatures back, sending a roar of pain that hurt the ears and buffeted both of us with the volume.

  Twisting in my grasp the enormous brute flicked me aside as I lost my grip on my sword, falling to the ground and suddenly finding myself the sole subject of attention to the minotaur. Enormous despite its relatively young age, it was still three metres of rippling flesh in the amalgamation of a Skyrim ox and a wrestler. Torn between opponents it chose to face me as the one who had injured it, roaring and totally oblivious to the sixty centimetres of elf-forged metal lodged in a lung that left its breath pink and frothy.

  As it charged I found myself stuck between it and a wall and less than six metres separating us. Half a tonne of enraged muscle and dense bone rushed me with outstretched arms that could've crushed a mortal man, breath steaming in the air and blood splattering its chest. Both of us were just as surprised as the other when I simply roared back, catching both enormous arms as they went to grasp me around the chest in a crushing embrace. Gripping it by the wrists I felt the unnatural strength of the vampire grow, fuelled by the dark blood-taint of the daedra that left me suddenly able to check the creature's enormous strength with considerable effort.

  The shock of my actions did little to the blood-savage mind of the minotaur as it simple pressed down hard with its full bodyweight that left every muscle of my body trembling with the effort of just holding it back. The fact I could even hold my own against a young juvenile was enough to show how potent and impossibly strong the vampire within me was. As I struggled I could feel my entire body rippling with the changes until links of my chainmail began to split and tear from the exertion and the swelling mass of my upper body expanding.

  I was forced to my knees, groaning and roaring through a face split and terrible with fangs erupting from my gums. My face was tighter than the muscles in my arms and my bones were beginning to creak from the strain of holding such a creature back even for a few seconds. For those handful of seconds I had somehow managed to hold back an enraged minotaur calf with nothing more than my bare hands.

  A blade point erupted though the minotaurs open, salivating mouth and suddenly the pressure ceased. Eyes rolling into the back of its skull, a fountain of high pressure blood suddenly gouted from between the enormous chisel-like teeth and I twisted and rolled away from the falling corpse.

  "That was impressive." Viconia stated simply, making and effort not to look at me and I thrashed with the sensation of the vampire returning to my subconscious. Quickly and carefully she wiped Dragonblade clean on a mane of fur, looking over our handiwork and raising an eyebrow as I bent over dry heaving.

  "It always feels weird." I explained quickly, wiping my mouth on the back of a glove to clear the minotaur spittle that had splattered my face. "Not exactly painful, but not without sensation."

  "But effective nonetheless. You know that you don't have to show off by wrestling such a brute?"

  "I thought you needed help." I said, feeling stupid at saying it as the flash of indignation crossed her face.

  "You presume much wael. You might have wrestled one and shot two but I managed quite well against the rest."

  Murmuring a poor apology as she glared at me, I rolled my neck and looked over our handiwork. Several tonnes of dead flesh lay scattered around us but it was obvious that only young calves and mature cows were among the dead. "I don't think we're finished though."

  "Neither do I. I doubt that any of these specimens are the alpha male that we are seeking."