And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
All around the world was waking, I never could go back
Cause all the walls of dreaming, they were torn wide open
And finally it seemed that the spell was broken
"Blinding – Florence + The Machine"
…x.X.x…
After Raelyn's success at the Valthiem bandit camp, everyone in the Companions had opened up to her, at least a little bit. Farkas, Torvar, and Ria welcomed her with open arms, while Aela, Skjor, and Athis were now at least amiable with her. Njada retained her cold mannerisms, but at least was no longer hostile. Vilkas had to admit, she had done a good job with the bandits, proving her small, harmless appearance to be quite misleading.
He told her this one day as they sat outside with Farkas, Athis, Njada, and Ria, enjoying the midday meal. She grinned, looking at him with her disconcerting unfocused gaze, her hazel eyes dilated strangely. "I'll take that as a compliment. So I'm guessing you're over treating me like a servant under your feet?"
He scowled, but before he could protest Farkas chimed in with a hearty laugh. "Vilkas is like that to all the new whelps."
Raelyn cocked an eyebrow. "So I'm not a whelp anymore?"
"No." Vilkas said curtly, still a bit ruffled by Farkas' comment. "You'll be a whelp until your trial."
Athis and Njada muttered something in agreement, obviously miffed to have still not received their own opportunities to join the Circle.
"What's this about trials?" Skjor's voice rang across the courtyard behind Jorrvaskr as he swung the door closed behind him.
"Oh, nothing." Athis called back quickly.
"Very well." Skjor shrugged. "Raelyn, Farkas, can I speak with you in the next few hours? I'll be downstairs."
Farkas nodded and Raelyn followed suit. When Skjor disappeared back into Jorrvaskr muted mutterings broke out amongst the warriors at the table again.
"Did you hear that?" Ria said excitedly. "It must be for your trial!"
"I think that's a bit of an stretch." Raelyn said. Why did she sound so uneasy? "It's probably just a regular job."
"Yes, of course." Njada rolled her eyes. "Because Skjor always asks a specific whelp and Circle member to speak to him privately for every mundane job."
Vilkas nodded, ignoring Njada's snarky remark. "Ria may be correct. Farkas, do you know anything about this?"
Farkas shook his head. "No. But if it's a job it'll be welcome in my eyes." He smiled wolfishly. "I haven't seen a good fight in a couple weeks." His smile faltered when he turned to Raelyn, seeing her worried expression. "Hey. You feelin' up to it?"
"I just…" She sighed. "I guess if this is it I'm as ready as I'll ever be, but it's kind of out of nowhere. It's happening really fast."
"Yeah. Super fast." Njada sounded wickedly jealous and Vilkas couldn't blame her. He would have preferred her to rein in the comments, though. He sent her a warning glare, and she immediately shut up, although not without a antagonistic look of her own.
"You'll be fine." Vilkas reassured her. "As long as you get out alive and with the objective complete you'll be in."
"But hold up! We don't even know this is a trial!" Raelyn protested halfheartedly.
But of course, there was no doubt anymore.
…x.X.x…
It was a trial.
Farkas was to be my shield brother, for which I praised Talos wholeheartedly. No need to have Vilkas leering suspiciously at me the whole trip or Aela asking me to shoot something with a bow, which, however competent I was with a sword, would never happen when I couldn't see my own arrow.
I got Farkas to lead the way to Dustman's Cairn with the lame excuse that I didn't know my way. It was a relatively short trip, only a few hours walk across the flat expanse of Whiterun hold.
The Cairn itself was not at all what I was expecting. I was told there was a precious shard of the legendary axe of Ysgramor, Wuuthrad, in the Cairn. I thought it would be grand shrine to the Nord dead, but we only descended some steps into a glorified hole in the ground. Inside it was musty and dank, the air heavy and suffocating from years without being disturbed.
"Be careful." Farkas whisper-yelled as we passed through the first chamber. "Draugr are said to guard these Nordic tombs."
"Draugr?"
"Ancient undead warriors. Some say that they were servants of the dragons who were cursed for treachery long ago, but no one really knows why they walk again."
Horror washed over me. Undead? Would my spell even let me see them?
My silent question was answered quite quickly. I heard the creaking of stone moving and Farkas leapt away as a glowing from lurched away from the alcove that had just opened in the wall. It let out a guttural moan, and slowly withdrew a small axe from a sheath at it's side. So I could see them. That was a relief at least.
The draugr where no problem to destroy. Their bodies were powerful and imbued with knowledge from who-knows-when, but the centuries of slow decay made them slow and ridiculously fragile. My blindness was almost a boon now; I could see which of the bodies slumbering the walls were alive, and when I silently dispatched them before they could wake Farkas praised my caution. I didn't correct him.
It wasn't until we were a bit deeper in the tomb that there was a serious problem. The room was sealed, and Farkas decided that we should split up and find a way to continue. I couldn't use him as a guide, but he would be here to see me stumbling around the room. I strayed carefully away from him when he turned his back, finding the wall with me hand. I slowly followed the wall, hoping Farkas would find something before I made a full circle around the room. When he asked me what I was doing I shrugged, quenching the panic in my chest.
"Checking if there are any secret buttons or switches. You never know, right?"
He nodded. "That's an excellent idea. I'll check if there's another door in here somewhere."
The line of the wall was broken by another doorway. I stepped in hopefully, but was painfully aware that is was only a small side chamber. My hand brushed a smooth stone device, and I wrapped my hand around it realizing that it was a lever. I pulled it hoping it would open a door somewhere but only heard the terrifying sound of metal sliding against stone, slamming on the ground behind me. I whirled, fear filling me, and walked into the door that had shut behind me. It was cold, with thick bars like a cage.
"Farkas!"
I heard rapid footsteps, and he skidded to a halt in front of the door, the bars blocking his body making him appear like a strange puzzle of Farkas with pieces missing.
"Now look what you've gotten yourself into." He clucked his tongue. "Hold tight. I'll see if there's a lever anywhere…"
In the middle of his sentence something went horribly wrong. More forms were slipping into view behind him, each holding wickedly long swords. They weren't draugr- more bandits?
"Farkas, behind you!" The warning ripped it's way up my throat in a panicked scream, as the warriors laughed.
"Time to die, dog." One voice snarled.
"How do we even know it's him?" One hesitant voice asked.
"It doesn't matter." The first voice whipped back in response. "He wears the armor, he dies."
Armor? Did the Circle have special armor? The only thing I really heard was 'die'. I couldn't help him, not behind bars against five armed warriors.
"Killing you will make for an excellent story." A female voice cooed maliciously.
"You won't be alive to tell it." Farkas growled. How could he possibly be making threats against these men and women? He didn't have a chance!
But then I realized something was wrong. Farkas had bent double, and for a split second I though a bandit had thrown a dagger in his stomach. But his life force was changing, filling the room with a wild, uncontrollable hum of power. He was growing, fingers elongating and torso growing bigger, if that was even possible. When he uncurled, it wasn't a man that stood before the warriors.
It was a beast.
He let out an ear-splitting howl, and leapt.
…x.X.x…
Vilkas was practicing in the courtyard when Farkas and Raelyn returned, looking rather bedraggled. Raelyn had a strange haunted look in her eyes, as if she was still seeing something she'd seen in that godforsaken tomb. She walked over to him, her shoulders slumped with exhaustion, and placed a wrapped parcel in his hands. She slipped back into Jorrvaskr like a ghost, not completely in the present.
Vilkas unwrapped the parcel, and was greeted by an engraved piece of metal, black and silver, sharp and jagged where it had been broken from the whole piece. It was a shard of Wuuthrad, all right.
Farkas approached him, downright energetically after Raelyn's greeting. His eyes were heavy with fatigue, but he clapped his brother on the back heartily. "Brother! The mission was a success!"
"Aye." Vilkas said, looking at the shard, and then back at the door that Raelyn and vanished through. "But not without a hitch?"
Farkas' friendly demeanor disappeared, replaced by nervous reluctance. "Vilkas… the Silver Hand attacked us."
Vilkas froze, his blood turning to ice. "What?"
"Raelyn was trapped. I may be a Companion, but I would not have made it out of that fight."
"You turned." Vilkas' voice was tight, as if he needed to get the words out as quickly as possible.
"Aye."
Vilkas sucked in a deep breath. "How could you trust her with that kind of knowledge?"
"That's the thing." Farkas rubbed the back of his neck, a familiar twitch that he got when he was keeping a secret. "We… traded information."
"Don't tell me that you promised to keep it secret? You can't just tell me that and then expect me to sit by and guess what it is." Vilkas sighed. "What leverage could possibly make that even?"
"I'm only sharing this because you have the beast blood as well." Farkas said ,uncharacteristically stiff. "So it's your secret too."
"Get on with it!" Vilkas growled, unnerved by his brother's unusual cryptic manner.
"She's blind."
The news hit Vilkas like a giant's club. How could it be possible? She could get around Jorrvaskr fine, although he was sure that after a while she would surely be used to the layout. She had gone on jobs! They had confirmation that the Valthiem bandit camp had been eradicated. But some things made sense too. The strange unfocused look of her stare, the way she always seemed lost in new places before going there a few times, the way she always got a frightened look in her eyes when he was about to leave her alone in the empty courtyard.
"Are… are you sure?" He can't keep the anger out of his voice. This was not the kind of thing you kept from your shield-siblings!
Farkas nodded sadly. "She explained all the details to me. She uses detect life spells-"
But Vilkas was no longer listening. He stormed away from Farkas, fury suddenly clouding his vision. He heard Farkas calling behind him to wait and let him explain, but he slammed his way into Jorrvaskr, planning on asking a certain Breton a few questions.
…x.X.x…
She looked up when he slammed the door to her room. She smiled tiredly. "Hello Vilkas."
"How do you know it's me?" He couldn't contain his snarl. "How do you know it's me and not Farkas or Kodlak or Torvar?"
Her smile fell, confusion taking it's place. "What are you-" Her eyes went wide and her expression crumbled into shame. "Farkas told you?"
"Yes, Farkas told me." Vilkas said, his voice low and ringing with anger. "And it's a good thing. What in Talos' name where you thinking?" His voice was steadily rising as he struggled to keep his rage in check.
"I thought I could get around if I had help!" Her voice had turned defensive. "I can take care of myself-"
"But can you take care of a shield-sibling?" Vilkas roared, exploding. He grabbed her roughly by her shirt, slamming her up against the wall. He was right, he realized as the held her effortlessly against the wall. She was small and thin, hardly to be called a warrior. She managed to keep a defiant look on her face even as she was pinned against the smooth wood. "Can you watch their back, keep an eye out for traps, help them against things other than enemies?" With every word that left his mouth the fire in Raelyn's eyes faded, until she simply hung there, her shoulders slumped as he ranted at her.
When he finished he waited, expecting her to explode back at him. She had always been quick to retaliate in arguments and banter alike, and it wasn't like her to take abuse silently. But she only looked at him solemnly, those damned eyes sorrowful and unfocused. She seemed to be crumpling into herself. He had a split second of shame. Perhaps he had gone a bit overboard.
He dropped her back to the ground and stepped away, horrified silence suddenly smothering him. He had definitely gone overboard. She made her way to the bed and sat down, the motion so much like she could see that he almost didn't notice the way she felt for the wall behind it, searching for the pillows with slim fingers. Orienting herself.
She was shaking. "I'm sorry." She said, her voice a broken whisper. "I never thought… I never thought I could get this far. You're right. I could have gotten someone killed." She clenched her eyes shut, and he absently thought how useless the gesture was. "And now I'm here. About to become a Circle member. I- I should go." She stood suddenly. "I'll leave. Go to Riften or Solitude. I'm sure there's someone there who can help-"
"Hey." Vilkas sat down heavily next to her. "Stop. Just give me an explanation. How did you even do Valthiem?" He was struck by a sudden realization. "Why did you even become a Companion?"
She sighed, leaning back against the wall, her eyes pointed at the ceiling. "I hired someone to take me there." She held a hand up before he could argue. "Before you say anything, she did not do the job for me. She took me there, and helped me get up the towers. And as for how I got here…" She sighed again. "I was at Helgen."
He straightened, suddenly very interested. "You mean when the dragon attacked?"
"Aye." She said, her eyes disappearing into the past again. "I was one of two people who got out. Me and a Stormcloak man who helped me escape. We went to Riverwood, and a woman took us in for the night. His sister, I think. When I left, she told me to take news to the Jarl." She shrugged. "I had nothing else to do. But he gave me another task. His wizard wants me to go into Bleak Falls Barrow to retrieve some stone." She laughed bitterly. "I was coming to Jorrvaskr to hire someone to do it for me."
He looked at her, suddenly remembering the hesitance when he had first met him, the way she had seemed completely unwilling to go through any initiation process. I only wanted to hire someone to help me to Bleak Falls Barrow. She had said something like that. It had seemed stupid at the time.
"Oh." Was all he said.
"That's it." She looked at him, shrugging resignedly. "You can kick me out if you want. But at least now you know how."
Vilkas was still for a moment. "I…" He wasn't sure what to say. "I think that for someone who can't see you're a damned good swordswoman. It's not like you don't have your uses."
She snorted. "Thanks, I guess. But what about the Circle?"
He frowned. "I have half a mind to tell everyone what you've just told me." Her face transformed into a stone mask. "But I won't. Some people won't take as kindly to it as me." She muttered something about him being very 'kindly' before he finished. "Especially Njada. She wouldn't be pleased to discover a blind Breton the size of a rabbit beat her to her trial."
Raelyn chuckled, ignoring his quip about her size. "I suppose. Although I would pay to see her face."
Vilkas stood, suddenly feeling awkward, unsure of how to continue the conversation. "You're expected in the courtyard in a few hours to be initiated into the Circle."
She looked up at him, a hint of surprise in her face. "Any advice?"
He shot her a cold glance before remembering that she couldn't see it.
"Don't be late."
…x.X.x…
So that happened. Complications incoming? I think yes!
Please leave honest reviews! I love every one of your comments! Ciao!
~ElderSkie
