Chapter 3- The Giant Slayers
"So you seriously know nothing about where you are?" Raddin asked Govegein as they left Riverwood, after a night slept in the Sleeping Giant Inn, following the river, for which the town is named, towards the city of Whiterun. Raddin had considerably calmed down from the series of events that had occurred the day before.
The two had discarded the stolen soldier's uniforms only to replace them with less conspicuous armor taken from bandits. Raddin had taken an iron helmet, gauntlets, and boots from the bandits as well as a set studded armor. "Let's just say I have not been paying attention to recent events." He'd probably think that I was even more insane if I told him I came from the past. He had taken a full set of iron armor, keeping the mage's hood he had swiped from Helgen. His new steel sword was strapped above the war axe he kept from the ordeal, while Raddin kept the battle axe and sword, also finding a banded shield amongst the bandits.
"Well I guess that explains why you didn't know about the war, but what about this place you say you came from, Bro- no, Bar- no, whatever you called it? I asked around the inn about it, and no one knew anything about it."
"Save your questions for later, we have more important things to do, Whiterun may already be ashes. I told you we didn't need to sleep." Govegein said, brushing away Raddin's questions. The night before, Raddin had complained to Govegein about sleep then night fell as they reached Riverwood. As they rounded a bend in the road Whiterun came into view on the horizon, not on fire.
"Told you that we could take our time with it." Raddin said running ahead and looking around, "See, no horrifying, flying, black lizard in sight." Raddin stopped dead in his tracks causing Govegein to walk into him. "A giant," Raddin mumbled racing forward.
"Oh for the love of Mara, where are you going?" Govegein shouted, running after Raddin. Then he saw them, a small group of people approaching a large, club wielding giant standing in a nearby farm. The biggest of them, clad in steel armor, rushed the giant, screaming a war cry. As the giant reached down to grab him, arrows were shot into its hand by a red haired huntress in familiar looking armor. The steel armored man was followed by two women in hide armor cutting at the giants legs.
Raddin, uncharacteristically jumped into the fray, embedding his axe in the giants back, breaking the handle, and drawing his sword and shield to continue the onslaught. In a short amount of time, the giant fell. The huntress walked up to Raddin and congratulated him as he retrieved his broken battle axe. She seemed to be offering him something but he shook his head; that was when she noticed Govegein.
Rage began to cloud her face, pleasing features warped and began to look almost wolfish. The woman walked towards Govegein. Where have I seen that armor before? Govegein thought watching her movements.
"And where were you while your friend fought for his life?" the huntress said as she reached Govegein.
"One, he was fighting for your lives. Two, you had it covered. And Three, why is your armor so familiar?" he listed in response. Govegein then proceeded to grab at the cloth covering her chest.
The woman jumped back and punched Govegein in the face. "What are you doing?" she shouted at him. The large man in steel armor backed away, holding back a furious woman in a hide helmet and shielding the other woman.
"I swear that I've seen this before," Govegein said wiping blood from his mouth. He held up a gauntlet and began to inspect it. It was old, from his time even, and well made. It could use a little maintenance, but was still in amazing shape for something that was at least a few centuries old.
The woman looked at her now bare hand and exclaimed, "How did you do that?" The more she got angry, her nails seemed to extend and sharpen. She lunged for the gauntlet, but Govegein held her back.
Peeling back the old fabrics, while holding the woman away, Govegein's eyebrows rose. "Oh," he simply said tossing the gauntlet back at the woman and walking away. I made it. Early work, that explains much.
She looked at the now revealed insignia in the inside of her gauntlet, a strange face with tusks. "What do you know about this?" she asked, "This armor has been passed down from mother to daughter in my family for generations."
Oh, it may be that one. "Then it should be in a museum," Govegein replied as he lead Raddin away. Then to Raddin he said, "What was that about?"
Raddin looked at him dumbfounded, "Nord women don't like it when you try to take their armor, and women in general don't like people they just met . . . undressing them! Why did you do that anyway?"
It was just a casual armor inspection, it was routine in Govegein's time. "I had to check something, and not that. Why did you run into battle instead of away from it?" Govegein inquired.
"When people are in trouble I … I don't know, I just . . . have to help." Raddin said, "It's not like I wasn't afraid, I was terrified, but before I knew it my axe was in its back." Raddin had been like this for a long time, it often got him into trouble and was the reason of his time alone in the wilds of Skyrim.
Govegein looked behind them. One of the women was still trying to calm down the other two, and the large man was off to the side. All four of them were walking in the same direction as the duo, towards Whiterun. Seeing Govegein watching them, the huntress's face grew red and, seeing this, the large man began to run towards them. Govegein faced forward, "We might be in trouble."
The large man caught up with them and picked them up by the backs of their armors and pulled the two to the side as the three women passed, pushed along by the calmer one. "Hello, I'm Farkas, and why would you do that to Aela. One of the very few rules of the Companions is never, and I repeat, NEVER get Aela angry." The mountain of muscle said. "She is liable to hunt you down and drag you into her own personal plane of Oblivion, and it makes Coldharbor look like a paradise."
As Farkas was going over his theories on what he thought Aela could to the Govegein, a rather stringy looking Orc approached them. "By the Nine! Are you Farkas?" the excited little Orismer said looking up at him. "I am a huge fan of the Companions and their adventures. Is there any chance that I could join?"
"Uh . . . you would have to talk to Kodlak about that, but I don't think that you are quite Companions material," Farkas said examining the Orc's thin arms.
"I know that I'm not that impressive, but I can train and get better," the Orc said looking at Farkas's unexpectant expression. "I bet these whelps can help me train," gesturing to the iron clad duo.
"Who are you calling a whelp, skeever bait?" Govegein said approaching the Orc. Even next to an average person, this Orc would look small, not to mention the average Orc. His hair was shaved along the sides, leaving a strip at the top that was tied at the back of his head. The little Orc's tusks seemed almost too large for his mouth and seemed to impede his speech a little. Small horns peaked out of seemed to line his brow, but they barely broke the surface.
Black eyes widened in fear, but the Orc did not back away. "No, no, no, that's just what they call the new guys in the companions, right Farkas?" he said looking at the empty space where Farkas was. "If I take back the whelp comment, will you train me?"
Pulling Govegein to the side, Raddin whispered, "It can't be a good idea to bring the guy, I mean just look at him. How well will he stand against a bandit, let alone a dragon?" They looked over to the Orc, fighting against a breeze.
"You look at him he has more courage in the face of danger that you. How long do you think he traveled to get here only to have his dreams shot down by that huge guy? What do you think he encountered on his way here? And if we're talking about dragons, you're still here aren't you? Plus, I've trained worse." Govegein said thinking back to his days in Bromjunaar with Raghot before turning back to the Orc, "So what's your name?"
"I'm Ugdulub gro-Galrag, and even though I might be weak now, I will become the strongest Companion." Ugdulub said. He stood proudly, now that the wind was gone. Govegein rubbed his eyes, this might be a bit more difficult than he thought.
"Well Ugdulub, we should probably buy you some armor," Raddin sighed walking towards Whiterun.
"I can make some," both Govegein and Ugdulub said. Both Govegein and Raddin looked at the little Orc surprised. Orcs are handy around a forge, if I recall.
"I can at least help," Ugdulub amended. And the three walked towards the gates of Whiterun.
And now we bring back Ubaloo, uh Ugjug? How ever you pronounce that Orcish name.
You guys should be getting how this goes now.