The sprint back to the xanmeer was fast, even by the pack's standards. Despite the fact that most of them had been awake for about an entire day with no rest, they moved as fast as their legs could possibly carry them. As well, Neesa had absolutely no problem keeping up, as she could levitate about as fast as they could run. Neesa was the one taking the lead, especially once they reached the fog, as she knew the area well.

On the surface, it seemed like nothing at all was wrong, but even if the attack had already begun, they would have no way of knowing from above. With as much haste as they could muster, they climbed to the top of the xanmeer, then down into the catacombs below. Directly beneath the entrance, nothing seemed immediately wrong, but as the others were climbing down, Neesa caught something in the air. "Smell that? Smoke, this direction." She observed. It was faint, but the others could detect it as well. Frighteningly to Ahnasha, it was coming from the direction of the bedrooms. 

As the group ran through the catacombs, the smell of smoke in the air grew stronger until it was visible, collecting near the ceiling. The majority of the catacombs were made from stone, which would limit how far any fire could spread, but there were definitely flammable items around...especially in the rooms. As they reached the cultists rooms, the smoke was plainly visible in the air, as well as the signs of battle before them. There were bodies of cultists and mercenaries alike littering the hallway, but it was ultimately the cultists who had emerged victorious, namely because of the Dunmer vampire lord before them. He held up one of the last surviving mercenaries in his telekinetic grasp as he tilted back his head with his hand, then sunk his teeth into his neck. Once he had his fill of blood, he tossed the corpse aside. 

"You missed the fun, it seems." Llarvan commented when he saw his wife approach. "I have to give these pests credit for their ingenuity, but it did not make up for their weakness. Though, they did manage to inflict a few casualties and burn our living quarters."

While Neesa was content to stop and talk with her husband, since the battle was evidently over, Ahnasha bolted past them. She was the fastest member of the pack, so she was the first to reach the guest quarters. Just like the cultists' rooms, the there was smoke coming from each of the open doors, including her and Fendros' room, but even more, she heard it. The screaming in the air; too high pitched to be one of the cultists. It was Rhazii's frightened screams. she was sure of it. As she stormed into the room, she saw that much of the furniture was ablaze. The Khajiit who had been caring for her son was dead on the ground, caught up in the flames, but she did not care about her. Only Rhazii mattered. It was only seconds after she heard his screams once more that she saw him in the corner of the room, with flames on all sides of him. Ahnasha did not give so much as a moment's hesitation to run straight through the fire to reach Rhazii. His screams were piercing in her ears, as they carried not just fear, but pain. Terrible pain. Ahnasha scooped him up in her arms and sprinted back out of the room. Parts of Ahnasha's fur had caught fire, and her legs and arms were partially burned, but the others were not far behind. 

As Ahnasha fell to her knees outside the room, the rest of the pack caught up. Foreseeing the issue of the flames, Meesei had transformed back into her normal form as she ran and was able to wash a weak frost spell over Ahnasha to put out the flames and push away the smoke. Even so, it did not stop Rhazii's blood-curdling screams. Ahnasha held him tightly to her chest as she shifted back into her Khajiit form in an attempt to calm him, but it was not until she finished her transformation and looked down at him that she saw the source of his cries. Rhazii had not been spared entirely from the flames. Unlike Ahnasha's brief exposure, which left her with a few moderate burns, Rhazii had been trapped with the flames surrounding him. His upper chest, neck, most of the left side of his face was burned severely, almost to the bone. It was a gruesome injury, which sent Ahnasha into tears. She held him tightly to her body and sobbed uncontrollably, only relinquishing some of her grip when Meesei rushed to kneel beside her and frantically began to heal Rhazii's burns.