The Valkyrie

Chapter I

My name is Havlstein. I am a Nord, and the Thane of Riften, my home. I have been pretty quiet most of my life, but recently found some work that benefited the whole of the Rift hold. Ever since I was a young boy, I had the utmost respect for our holds Jarl, Laila Law-Giver. A highly asteemed woman whom is revered by most who live within the walls of the Rift. I speak of her because I do admire her so much. However, this story does not revolve around her, but another female whom she partnered me with to take care of personal matters within the Hold. Perhaps it would be best to go back to the beginning, when I first met her. This is the story of a woman named Jytina, Jytina the Valkeryie.

It was the 27th of Last Seed in the year of 211 4E and Skyrim has entered a golden age. The Stormcloaks had reclaimed Skyrim, the Thalmor have retreated back to Summerset Isles, the dragons have been erased from Skyrim and best of all, the Theives Guild and The Black-Briars have been removed from Riften permanently. Life is good now in Riften, more now then it ever has been this age.

One day, Laila comes to me and tells me she has a special assignment for me.

"Havlstein, I must speak with you in my private quarters. It's urgent." she announced to me. "Yes my Jarl, right away".

We both started to make our way upstairs to her quarters. When we got inside, there stood a woman whom I had never seen before. She was big, even for a Nord. Her sand-blonde hair was flawless and whispered of the many battles I am rather sure she has fought. the crimson red warpaint on her face spoke of a seasoned warrior whom has slain many and has no pity for any enemy that stand in her way. She stood right at my height of 72 inches. she was well built in her body, arms and legs. she wore Balimunds signature steel plate armor, boots and gauntlets and had a large glass warhammer resting on her back. She was the perfect figure of indimidation.

"Havlstein, this is Jytina the Valkyrie. She is an old friend of mine. You will be working with her from here on out on any special tasks or assignments I have for you." stated Laila.

"Woah, woah, hold on a second, my Jarl. I you ensured me that I had proven my worth to your court and to the people of the Rift. So why do I need someone to tag along with me on your special requests?" I asked.

"Perhaps you misunderstood me, Thane. YOU will be tagging along with HER, and helping HER in anyway SHE deems necessary," she said with a more stern and demanding voice. "I wouldn't have called her out here unless I was absolutely certain that this job required two of the best warriors I know. Now if you are done complaining, Havlstein, then I would like to brief you on your assignment."

" Yes my Jarl. Please, go on."

Jytina just stood there in silence with her arms crossed the whole time, giving me a rather stern look, like she knew something that I didn't.

"Now, around evening time last night at about 11, we had a Stormcloak soldier come riding into town. He was badly wounded, but we managed to treat his wounds to stable condition," stated Laila, "After we gave him some food and water, he told us that he had just come from the ancient Nordic ruins of Forelhost."

I looked up at her in dismay, "Forelhost? What reason do would anyone have for going to those accursed ruins?"

"That is why I am sending you two out there. I need you to find out what is going on out there and put an permanently lay those ruins to rest."

"As you wish, Jarl. It shall be done."

Laila Law-Giver left the room leaving only myself and Jytina. We both measured each other like we were two lions ready to do battle with eachother. Finally she spoke up for the first time.

"Listen to me. I don't like you. And the only reason I accepted this job was becaus of how much respect I have for Laila. You made a bad first impression with me when you talked down to her like that. So here is whats gonna happen..."

At that moment she grabbed me by the throat and pinned me against the wall. I was shocked at how strong she was but yet I couldn't help but admire her directness and dominance.

"I am taking point the whole time we are at these ruins. You will do what I say, when I say. You give me any back talk or go against one of my orders and I will leave you for dead. Know this, I do not need you for this, but Laila is pretty much making me go with you, so I am going to get as much use out of you as I can. Stock up on whatever you need and meet me outside the north gate tomorrow morning at 6am sharp. Got it?"

I nodded my head to confirm I heard everything she said to me. She let go of my throat and walked out of the room. I left the Jarl's quarters shortly after still thinking about Jytina. After I caught some food at the Bee & Barb, I headed home. It troubled me some, thinking about her. Something wasn't right about the relations between Laila and Jyrita. Maybe it wasn't my business, but I'm not gonna try and hang myself over it. So I crawled into my bed and fell asleep, wondering what the next week will bring me.

Chapter II

The sun rose over the eastern mountains of Skyrim on a cold, crisp morning. I was rather tired as I barely caught any sleep last night. I picked out my best set of steel armor and my most favored war axe for delving into ruins containing undead that I simply named "Durkrenfeyn", a unique dwarven war axe that burns undead and causes them to flee for half a minute. I was ready for whatever this ancient Nordic tomb had in store for myself and for Jytina. As expected, she was standing outside the north gate just before 6am. I was a little early, but made it at the meet time just fine. She looked rather annoyed to see me.

"Good, you made it up in time. Now lets get moving. Its a half-a-days walk to Forelhost and I really want to get there before nightfall. So let's move out."

We started to head around the walls of the city, past the fishing docks. We didn't have too much trouble getting to Forelhost. Minus some bears, frostbite spiders and a couple trolls, nothing the two of us couldn't handle. We reached the base of the mountain where the long dead ruins stood. We sat down for a bit to catch our breathe.

"So when we get up there, then what? Do you have a plan?" I asked.

"Yeah, the plan is you shut your mouth and just do whatever I tell you to do. If you have any other ridiculously obvious questions, feel free to ask them now. Because if you ask any later, I might just accidently bash your skull in."

"Okay, you know what, ever since I met you yesterday, you have been acting violent, angry and brooding. It's like I don't know what kind of history you have with Jarl Laila, but it's clearly not very good history if you are this upset about having to do this for her."

"Maybe someday I'll tell you," she began, "But for now you had better continue to do what I say and we will both leave this place alive. Got it?"

"Got it." I replied

"Good then," she said with authority, "We got a long hike up to the top, so lets get moving."

It only took us about 4 hours to reach the summit where Forelhost laid. The place of big. And I mean bigger than most other Nordic ruins I had seen before. This place I had only heard of before, but now that I am standing before it, I believe greatly how big this place really is. We walked towards the enterance when we noticed an Nord dressed in a Stormcloak officers uniform camped outside the enterance.

"You two, over here." he cried out. "Finally reinforcements have arrived, though I was expecting more."

"Expecting more? Reinforcements? What are you getting at old man?" Jytina asked.

"We have been trying to get into the main chamber of these ruins for almost three days now. I am the leader, and now only member left of the team that was sent here to recover a very powerful artifact from this place."

"Tell us more about this artifact, um, what was your name?" Jytina asked.

"My name is Alavar Hawk-Eye, Captain in the Stormcloak Army." Alavar explained.

"I am Jytina and this is my less than faithful companion, Havlstein." declared Jytina.

"Hey, what gives? What kind of an introduction is th-", Jytina clocked me in the face with her right fist and I fell hard to the ground. "That's for talking out of line." she said with a fire in her eyes. I was slow to get back up, but she ignored me and continued talking to the captain.

"So anyway, about this artifact?" she asked.

"Ah yes. But first a little history lesson. Back in the time before recorded history, there lived a group of ancient Nords that worshipped the dragons as gods. Any Nord knows this. Yet what a lot don't know is that there was one particular faction that my study group took interest in. The Great Dragon Cult of Forelhost. This group specialized in creating powerful potions that could help the dragons can leverage over the rebelling human Nords. But when their plans failed and the dragon wars were over, the victorious Nords took it upon themselves to wipe out the the very dragon cult that was headquartered within these walls."

"That is a rather impressive story. But it doesn't explain what you are looking for now does it?" Jytina asked.

"No, I suppose not. Well anyway, this dragon cult was lead by an extremely powerful dragon priest by the name of Rahgot. Legend tells of him, singlehandedly, wiping out almost half of the Nords pillaging Forelhost. It goes that he was able to defeat so many of them because of the power mask that he wore."

"What of this mask?" asked Jytina.

"In the times of Alduin's dragon cult, there were men known as dragon priests. Among their order were the nine dragon priest leaders: Konahriik, Hevnoraak, Morokei, Otar, Krosis, Volsung, Vokun, Nahkriin & Rahgot. All of these priests were gifted with special masks that were specially designed to give its unique wearer, terribly powerful magical and physical abilities. Rahgot has long since been dead but he was buried along with his mask, as all the other dragon priests did. And that is what we are after, his mask." explained Alavar.

"So you want us to go in there, retrieve the mask and bring it back to you? May I ask what you are planning on doing with it?" asked Jytina.

"Yes that is all. And don't won't worry I will personally guarentee that you two are rewarded greatly for accquiring it. And as for what I am gonna do with it, I was sent to destroy this particular mask, and no I won't go into the details as to why."

"Fine, good enough for us. We will get it back as soon as we can." explained Jytina.

I wasn't so sure about it, but unfortunately I made a promise to Laila that I would follow her to whatever end we came upon at this place, whether we both die, I die or she dies. I made that promise and I planned on continuing to keep it for Laila's sake. As nervous as I was to enter this place, I knew nothing could have prepared me for what was going to happen within the walls of the fortress simply known as Forelhost.