It has always been my dream to journey to Skyrim and to join the Companions at Jorrvaskr, ever since I first heard of their exploits and deeds, and was old enough to swing a sword. It has been my dream, and now it has come true. I have been inducted into their ranks after the completion of my trial with Vilkas. We were sent to retrieve a fragment of the great axe Wuuthraad, the one wielded by Ysgramor himself. It is wonderful; however, I do wish that the circle would stop referring to me as whelp, Vilkas especially. I mean, hadn't I shown that I was almost as brave as they were? Delving into Bleak Falls Barrow to retrieve the fragment, fighting off all those Draugr, not to mention the gigantic Frostbite spider we encountered down there. But no, all the members of the circle, apart from Farkas, insist on calling me whelp.
"Ria!" Farkas' deep voice jolts me out of my reverie. "Ria, we've got a job to do, a giant is attacking Pelagia farm outside of Whiterun and the owner has asked us to deal with it." I shook in an attempt to clear my head. A giant, and I was being asked to help deal with it, perhaps the circle were coming to respect me at last.
"Come on whelp," Aela's voice shattered this idea, "If you don't get moving we'll leave you behind while we go off and win the glory."
"Aela, don't tease her." Farkas defended.
"I'm not teasing her, if we wait much longer, that giant will destroy the entire farm." Was Aela's reply. I quickly grabbed my sword from where I had left it after polishing last night.
"I'm ready, let's go." Aela snorted,
"Finally." I shot daggers into her back, gods that woman was annoying. Not as bad as Njada, but still. I hurried after the two older companions. As we climbed the stairs I passed Athis coming down. I have to admit, after I read about the companions and their deeply Nordic legacy, I had been worried that they wouldn't allow an Imperial to join them, but when I tentatively opened the doors to Jorrvaskr for the first time and saw Athis, I knew it was all going to be alright. As we continued upstairs I saw Torvar passed out on the floor by the hearth, no doubt caused by his drinking the night before. I stifled a giggle at the expression on his face, and at the fact that someone had put a tankard on his head. Torvar wasn't allowed near bottles like the rest of the companions.
When Aela swung the doors open, I shivered slightly, the air outside was much colder than inside Jorrvaskr. Farkas saw the shiver and a wolfish grin crossed his face, if it had been Aela that had seen the shiver, I would have been subjected to a barrage of teasing on the subject. I glanced forward, fortunately Aela seemed to be completely focussed on the task at hand.
We proceeded past the dying Gildergreen and entered the Plains District, townspeople and guards called out "Hail Companions." and similar, and congratulated Aela and Farkas on their most recent triumphs. Aela largely ignored most of the calls, but Farkas acknowledged all of them with a smile and a nod of his head. As we neared the gates, I heard one guard mention to his friend that the Jarl was worried about the rumours of dragon activity near Helgen and Riverwood, and that the gates would be closed to people not from Whiterun. Fortunately the guards recognised Aela and Farkas and let us through with out any trouble. I was of course slightly annoyed by the fact that they had no idea who I was. Farkas chuckled. "What is it?" I demanded.
"The expression on your face Ria, you look like you've bitten into a sweetroll and found it to be garlic." I groaned, that didn't sound like something Farkas could come up with off the top of his head, there fore it was a trick of some kind that he had played, most likely on Torvar, recently.
We continued down the path outside Whiterun, heading towards Pelagia farm, as we passed under the drawbridge we could already see the farm. And the giant. It didn't seem to be damaging the farmhouse, rather it was kicking at the crops, and lashing out at livestock with its enormous club. Aela, Farkas and I broke into a run, as we neared the beast I suddenly realised how big it was. I'd heard descriptions in the over companions' stories of course, but they hadn't prepared me for the sheer size of the thing. It stood almost a metre taller than Farkas, and was almost twice as broad. In addition to the tree trunk and boulder it carried as a club, the giant wore a loincloth made of numerous animal hides strapped together. Aela drew her bow, I drew my sword, and Farkas his greatsword, but even that seemed like a toothpick compared to the giant's club. Regardless Farkas and I charged in, whilst Aela hung back and took shots at the beast with her bow.
I sunk the blade of my sword into the soft flesh behind the giant's left knee, and was rewarded with a growl of anguish for my efforts, whilst the giant's attention was turned away from him, Farkas swung his greatsword in a large arc, hitting the giant in its ribs. Roaring in anguish, the giant swung its club into Farkas, sending him flying across the farm. Aela ran forward and arrows sprouted from the giant's armpit. The giant roared again, and spun to face this new attacker, as it did so it swung its club around, catching me in the side, sending me flying across the farm away from my shield-siblings, I heard a thunk as my head impacted against a tree stump, and black spots and lines crossed my vision as I fought to remain conscious. I watched as the giant charged Farkas and Aela. Aela dropped her bow and drew her dagger. Farkas Swung his greatsword, wreaking a vengeance of steel and blood whilst Aela darted about striking the giant with her dagger, eliciting small grunts of pain from the beast with each strike.
Just as the giant began to falter, I heard a loud growling noise from behind my position at the bottom of the tree stump. I looked around, and too my horror I saw a second giant, equally as large as the first standing with its club raised above its head. I tried to move away, but the impact against the tree had caused my body not to listen fully to what my brain was trying to tell it to do, so I could barely roll to the side before the giant's club crashed into my side and a wave of pain rolled through my body, starting from the ribs. I screamed from the pain, distracting Aela and Farkas from the first giant, giving it an opening to knock them both back. My shield-siblings were too far away to come to my aid in time, and my body was not responding properly, so I prepared myself to go to Aetherius, I would never get to go to Sovngarde, but I had earned my honour and glory during my time and Nirn.
As the giant's club began to fall and I resigned myself to death, a flicker of movement caught my eye, and an Argonian dressed in full steel armour, minus the helm, burst from the treeline, swinging a steel greatsword as large as the one Farkas wielded. The weapon took the giant hard in the backs of both knees, causing it to buckle, and fall backwards, ripping the greatsword from the Argonian's grasp. Undeterred, the Argonian charged at the giant, drawing a sword from a sheath on his hip before plunging it through the giant's eye, killing it instantly. A roar from behind me indicated that Aela and Farkas had successfully dispatched the other giant. Having retrieved his weapon from the giant's knees, the Argonian turned his gaze to me, taking in my injuries, he turned to the treeline and shouted, "Falin, come quickly, we've got injured!" A female Dark Elf clad in hooded apprentice robes, materialised from the trees like a spriggan, and ran to my side. She knelt and ran her hands over my wounds, enveloping them in a glowing, golden light. I groaned as I felt my shattered ribs and torn muscles begin to knit themselves back together. Once the spell was completed, the Dark Elf began to stand up.
"Thank you," I managed to say. She smiled, but otherwise gave no response to my words. The Argonian reached down to offer me a hand up. I took it and he hauled me up, offering me a smile,
"Easy there land-strider, you took quite a nasty knock from that giant." His voice sounded completely alien to me, used only to the voices of my Imperial family, Nordic shield-siblings, and the Dark Elf Athis. At the sound of Farkas and Aela approaching, the Dark Elf's eyes widened, and she practically dived behind the Argonian's back. Completely unpertubed by this behaviour, Aela approached the Argonian,
"That was well-timed friend, and well-fought as well-"
"You have our thanks for saving Ria's life" Farkas interrupted. Aela glared at him,
"As I was going to say before Icebrains interrupted me, that was a good fight, we could use warriors like you up at Jorrvaskr."
"Jorrvaskr," the Argonian hissed, "As in the home of the companions? That would make you three members of the companions correct?" Farkas smiled, "Aye, that we are, I'm Farkas, this Aela, we're members of the circle, and this is Ria."
"She's our newest whelp." Aela interrupted, "If you are interested in joining our ranks, come up to Jorrvaskr and speak to Kodlak Whitemane about joining."
"That would be a good idea, I think," the Argonian said, "But would you allow my friend here to join as well? She is no warrior, but she is rather good at healing spells." Farkas smiled, "I'm sure we can make space for her somewhere friend."
"If I may," I spoke up, "could I perhaps learn the names of the people to whom I owe my life?" The Argonian laughed,
"Ha! You can know our names, not that you will have heard of them. I am Ram-Ku, of Black Marsh, and this is Falin, my friend."
Ram-Ku was large for an Argonian, almost as tall and as broad as Farkas, his scales were a deep green, almost black, with red markings around his neck, and on the crests of his brow, his cheeks, and his jaw. The line along his left cheek was broken by three wide scars that barely missed his left eye. He had a long, straight horn protruding from each side of his head, explaining why he wore no helm, and long, red feathers sprouting between them. Falin, on the other hand was small and slim, even for a Dark Elf. Her skin was a very dark gray, with barely a hint of blue to it. Two thin scars curved down her left cheek towards the edge of her mouth. Any hair she had was obscured by her hood.
"Very well, we will see you in Jorrvaskr, if you feel up to the challenge." With that, Aela and Farkas turned to leave. I was about to follow them until I realised,
"Aela, wait! The guards will not let these two into Whiterun on their own." Aela stopped,
"Hmmm, the whelp is correct; you will need to come with us if you wish to enter the city." The Argonian smiled again,
"Ah we are lucky indeed to have met with you, if as you say, the guards are not allowing outsiders in, then we should have been forced to sleep outside. Admittedly, we have done so before, but it was far from enjoyable." Falin merely smiled slightly from behind Ram-Ku's back.
Characters and settings c. 2011 Bethesda Softworks LLC
