I fell as quickly as I expected but the sudden drop and the fact that my foot came down on nothing was more surprising than I expected. Within seconds I tumbled away into a freefall and even with my vampiric senses and abilities I quickly lost sight of the pair of islands as they receded into the nothingness above me. For those panic filled seconds I writhed against the grip of the void, finding myself trapped within its depths with absolutely nothing visible to my sight.

  Gasping and tearing my eyes open I felt the sudden impact of stonework as I landed on my back. Sound and light had returned, and with it I could easily hear the mild chuckling from Mazoga and Viconia, especially when my sight of the ceiling was replaced with Viconia’s amused expression.

  “How was it?”

  “A little terrifying.” I replied, trying to remove the sensation that I should still be falling.

  Alexi laughed but nodded in agreement. “That it is. No matter how many times you try it’s just as bad each time.”

  “Good to know.”

  Viconia watched as I rose to a crouch before staggering to my feet. “You saw the mace?”

  “Yes. It’s definitely one of the Relics.”

  She stood silently for a moment, her eyes narrowing. “How far were the islands apart?”

  “Thirty meters or so, but no greater than forty.” I could feel her scrutiny as I dug my collection of coins out of my pouch and counted them. It wasn’t as surprising as I thought to discover that I was indeed missing a copper septim. “I also wouldn’t throw anything important in there.”

  “How about you all?” She asked the others. “How much distance was there between the islands?”

  “About the same.” Alexi shrugged, and gestured to Falid who also nodded.

  “I would guess that it is the same for everyone who has ever attempted this test. Surely I’m not the only one suspicious about this?”

  “It is a test of faith.” As usual Falid’s voice was deep and threatening without meaning too but there was no emotion in his tone. “Whether the distance is thirty meters or three thousand, it is too far to jump or otherwise travel across and therefore you must rely on your faith.”

  The dark pall on Viconia’s expression grew as she looked back at the tomb, her gaze lingering on the simple carved message on its base.

  “You don’t think that it’s a test of faith?” I said hesitantly, receiving nothing in return for several moments as she concentrated.

  “I will return.” She said after some time, resting her hand on my shoulder before walking towards the tomb’s entrance. “Keep trying in the meantime. You might be lucky, but make sure you try everything you can think of.”

  I caught her hidden meaning again and nodded as she left our small group looking amused and somewhat confused as she left.

  “Is she normally like this?” Carodus asked as she disappeared, and he was obviously trying to decide whether to be concerned or amused.

  “Usually worse.” My own chuckle was enough to break the tension and one of the Iron Knights caught himself before a smile broke his stern expression.

  “She thinks that there is a trick to the test?”

  For the first time I sensed the faintest hint of unease or insult in Falid’s tone, and the way that he stood filled the air with a predatory tension. I could barely meet his gaze as he watched how Mazoga stepped forward and knelt.

  “The test to retrieve the boots was not as straight forward as it appeared. Hundreds, if not thousands had gone to that place, seeking the shield and trying to slay the unslayable. In the end it was not a test of strength or a battle of arms, but one to see who would be willing to offer respect and fealty to Kynareth.”

  “So it is a trick.” He growled.

  Shaking my head to the enormous Redguard I watched as Mazoga mouthed the words and relaxed as though falling asleep. “I don’t think that it’s a trick, but maybe that it is not what everyone thinks it is.”

  One by one our group knelt before the tomb and undertook the test under the watchful gazes of the two Iron Knights and Carodus. Each resulted in the exact same thing; failure. Mazoga fell backwards in a clatter of metal and an expression of the utmost terror before bursting into laughter, and Falid tried once as well. When he experienced the sensation of falling into nothingness he had simply grunted and opened his eyes, barely twitching in comparison to Mazoga’s exclaimed “Bwuh!” and colourful swearing in Orsimer.

  For his part, Alexi simply hung back watching. He had tried repeatedly over the years and watched with interest as I tried several more times myself, letting the handful of other faithful who were escorted by their own guides between attempts. Each time was the exact same situation, finding myself stuck on a pair of islands floating in nothingness and staring at the Mace that was sitting tantalisingly out of reach. After the second attempt I began my own experimentation, trying my more esoteric abilities to cross the space without any success. At first I tried to turn my body into a swarm of bats but for whatever reason I couldn’t control the ability for anything more than a few seconds. Simply stepping off the edge was much less terrifying than suddenly reforming into human in-between the two islands and plummeting like a stone into the shadows.

  Transforming into mist resulted in just as much success. There was no sign of any outward changes to my being while being tested but while there was no wind or air movement in the void I still couldn’t keep my mist form coherent and was forced back into my human form the same as being a swarm of bats. Even my enhanced strength and abilities were of no use, as the space between the two islands was too far to leap no matter how agile I was. It was becoming infuriatingly taunting and I could understand why Sir Ralvas died after failing multiple attempts. The whole test was infuriatingly simple and I could see how those with the strongest faith suffered the most. For someone such as myself and Viconia we knew we were not holy or had much faith, if any in the Nine and therefore we expected to fail, but for others such as the original Knights of the Nine or Falid, they left feeling wounded at the failure.

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  After my second attempt Mazoga had grown bored and wandered back to the surface level and Falid wasn’t far behind her. Only the two guarding Knights of the Order of Iron, Carodus, Alexi and myself remained alternatively watching any of the others come to make the attempts and chatting about anything or everything. Carodus was indeed a veteran of the legion having spent most of his life on the island of Stros M’kai. He, like many of the Legionaries who served there were well versed in fighting on ships and naval warfare and bringing the iron might of the Legion to the seas. The Casta in which he served could easily be counted among some of the most experienced in the entire Empire, and Stros M’Kai was well known to be a dangerous place to be a Legionary. Between the ruined Dwemer city, the tribe-horde of Goblins and the usual assortment of pirates and smugglers, Carodus had seen and fought the worst Tamriel could offer. The fact that he survived mostly intact to retire was credit to his experience and abilities.

  For almost two hours we remained with the tomb waiting for Viconia to return. When she finally arrived we were surprised that she was not alone. Several of the new Knights of the Nine had followed and to my surprise so had Thedret. Viconia’s expression was grim and determined but the Knights, Thedret included were wary and somewhat abashed when they appeared.

  “We have come as ordered Commander.” One of the young Knights said as they entered the tomb and I couldn’t help but notice the way that they had been escorting Viconia. I could do little more than nod and mentally make note of how I would need to speak to Viconia later. It was one thing to exert her influence but the newly recreated Order of the Nine could very well come apart at the seams if there was no clear leadership. As much as I hated it, I would need to exert my own influence and rein her in as well; a prospect that made singlehandedly charging into a horde of daedra more appealing.

  “Have you acquired what you needed?” I asked Viconia, trying my best to hide my annoyance and the hesitation I had.

  “I have.” In her arms was a sturdy leather bag filled with woollen wrappings that she rummaged through in an attempt to free whatever they contained. For a while she tugged and pulled until the sight of what the bag truly contained became visible and I understood the presence of so many from the Order of the Nine.

  Somehow the room became brighter as the flickering torches and lanterns threw light over the immaculate Boots of the Crusader. Those within the room fell utterly silent and the stern expressions of the Knights of Iron were utterly wiped away as their jaws fell open in surprise. One stammered for a moment, before making the sign of Zenithar across his chest in salute to the obvious holy nature of the relics.

  “Um… Viconia?” I said, moving over to her as she sat heavily on the ground in front of the tomb and began unlacing her boots. “What are you doing?”

  “The damn test is a riddle. If this was truly a test of faith than the mace would have been retrieved centuries ago with all your god-botherers coming here.”

  “But the boots?”

  Pulling one of her boots off, she threw a thumb over her shoulder to the young, nervous appearing Thedret as he obviously wrestled with his sense of duty and unease at what was occurring in front of him. “I ran my ideas past Thedret and he seemed to come to a similar conclusion to me.”

  “And what conclusion is that?”

  Under my gaze Thedret looked slightly more uneasy and struggled to find his voice. “That the phrase “Walk in the faith” alludes to using the Boots to retrieve the Mace.”

  Viconia continued removing her boots and with some considerable hesitation slipped the priceless relics of a faith not her own over her feet. Despite her size and the size of the boots I was left blinking and feeling distinctly uneasy at the way that she was able to wear them as I knew from personal experience that they were slightly too large even for me. For those few heartbeats after she slipped them on and knelt before the sarcophagus the boots suddenly appeared as though they had been forged specifically for her.

  “Thedret.” I said softly as I watched Viconia’s breathing steady and relax after she mouthed the words to begin the test. “What do you think?”

  “I think that it’s not going to work.” Alexi interrupted, smiling like usual. “I’ll even bet a silver that it won’t make a difference.”

  Thedret stood still, flanked by the trio of Knights chosen to escort Viconia and the priceless relics from the Stallion Lodge to the Cathedral. “I think… I think I’ll actually take you up on that bet. She spoke of the magicka involved in this place and how the vision of the floating islands exists and yet doesn’t. To be honest much of what she said on the way here didn’t make much sense.”

  My questions expression was not lost on him and he sighed loudly, rubbing at his temples. “I’m a scholar-knight Sir Desin, not a mage. You’d need to talk to someone from the Mages Guilds but she spoke of tonal magicka and something about the architecture of the songs needing to be tuned correctly.”

  Alexi looked between her kneeling form and me. “Does that mean anything to you Kaius?”

  “Not in the slightest, but I know she knows more about Magicka than all of us combined.”

  We watched with a building impatience as she remained kneeling, her breath steady and controlled and eyes firmly shut. The seconds dragged on so slowly that I began wondering just how long we had remained within the tomb until without warning she sighed and opened her eyes once more.

  Thedret and the other knights looked downcast at the way that she sat there, shaking their heads sadly at the way she had simply awoken but startling themselves as she began violently swearing, writhing on the floor and wrenching the Boots off her feet.

  “Natha szithrel cha’kohken pholor nindolen axsa klezn!” She spat with almost as much force as she flung the second and last boot off her foot into the wall with a metallic clatter. Everyone in the room with the exception of myself looked aghast at the way she had treated some of the holiest artefacts in creation but I was too busy seeing the way that she was grasping her feet.

  Blisters covered her ebony flesh as though she had dipped into boiling water to the ankle. Her usual stoicism was being put to the utmost test as she sat back, groaning and more than just myself were shocked at the injuries.

  “How could the relics do something like that?” one of the Iron Knights exclaimed as I carefully lifted her feet and looked over the injuries. It was mostly superficial but still painful enough that she hissed curses through gritted teeth as I began channelling magicka into the wounds.

  “They are the holiest artefacts of your Gods.” Viconia said, grimacing and giving me a sharp look as I moved her a little too roughly in my haste. “The legends also state that only those blessed by your Gods and with pure and noble hearts can wield them. Looks like I just proved them all right.”

  “Among other things.” Fumbling with the pouch attached to his belt, Alexi was laughing under his breath and shaking his head in amazement as he flicked a silver coin to Thedret.

  The coin plinked off the chainmail of the younger knight, who’s despondent expression had changed to one of shock and unable to react to the thrown septim. Collectively everyone was staring in amazement at the base of the sarcophagus where the inscription was now partially hidden behind an object that hadn’t been there before.

  “When you’re right, you’re right.” Viconia muttered, the pain of being unworthy of wearing the boots fading with my magicka and pride in what she had done.

  I had been so intent and focussed on her that I hadn’t seen what the others had seen until I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. It drew the gaze in a similar way to the rest of its kin but there, sitting on the ancient marble less than a metre away was the Mace of the Crusader.