(A/N: for those of you who have read this story before this chapter, I have made a character change. Brae's name is now Sortiara. Why? Because Brae just doesn't sound quite right to me as a mage's name, and sounds more like a guy's name to me the more I say it. The new name was also inspired by a very powerful female mage. The name has been switched in my previous chapters as well. Thanks, ~Nano)
Chapter 7
Awakening
I was the first to come to after my outburst of magic. I spotted Owain and Dyce in the snow nearby, the white powder spotted with red. "Oh, by the Divines, don't be dead…" I whispered as I ran over to them, shaking Dyce's body.
To my relief, he opened his eyes. "My head… warn us next time you're going to do that, okay?" Owain shifted next to us.
"Yeah, sweetheart… you nearly caused the end of the both of us." He moaned. "You wouldn't happen to know some healing magic, would you?"
"Y-Yes, of course…" I said. The drug that Connor got me with may be on its way out of my system, but I'm still limited to the most basic of spells. I quickly sealed up Dyce and Owain's wounds with that basic magic. "I've only sealed up the top layer of skin, I haven't recovered enough for anything too advanced."
"That's fine, Sortiara. It feels tons better already." Dyce said. He stood up, as did Owain, and they started checking the bodies littered around the ruins.
"What are you doing? You're disrespecting the dead!" I yelled.
"Sweetheart, they're not going to use it anymore, and they tried to kill us. Think of it as… compensation, for trying to kill us." Owain said, taking a crossbow from one of the thieves guild members, as well as a helping of bolts. He also took any coin purses they had on them.
"Hey, this guy's still alive," Dyce said. He was hovering over the body of General Tidus, who was breathing. "What should we do?"
"Let's leave him. He tried to kill us, but I don't want my hands any bloodier. At this rate my poor feathers will turn red." Owain whined.
I couldn't believe the heartlessness of these two. They're just going to leave someone hurt in the snow? And what about those bodies they killed- wait, no… I killed them…
I killed them.
The words rung in my head. I killed these people. Sure, they were going to kill me, but… "I feel sick…"
"Here, sweetheart, let me carry you, then." Owain said. "No sense in having you fall behind as we go into the crypt."
"You're going into Bleak Falls Barrow? What sort of madmen-"
"We are the sort of madmen to do this, I guess. Right, Owain?" Dyce said. They both laughed. I declined Owain's offer, and followed them as we entered the burial grounds. Inside it was dark, warm, and it smelt of death.
"Sweetheart, do you have any spells to make light?" Owain asked.
I shook my head. "I haven't recovered enough to use them." I spotted some unlit torches piled in a corner of the room. "But I can light those."
Owain and Dyce both grabbed torches, and I lit them with a fire spell- it's so basic that my magicka reserves didn't drop at all. They led the way into the crypt, and I knew I'd have to ask Dyce about Dawnstar sometime. But not now.
(POV change- Dyce)
It's a crypt. It's dark, dreary, large, and full of dead people. My kind of place. The hallways were getting narrower, and I could have sworn I saw some of the corpses moving slightly. Trick of the light, I guess.
"So, what exactly are you two here for?" Sortiara asked.
"We're here to track down the legendary Dragonstone for an eight-year-old." Owain responded.
"Why does he need it?"
I answered this time. "Because the dragons are returning to Skyrim. It could give us invaluable knowledge to use."
"Wait, did you just say dragons?"
"Yeah, one of them killed my parents and the rest of Dawnstar. I was there." I said. Sortiara stayed quiet. She obviously was thinking about her newfound info. However, I heard something.
"Help! Is anyone over there? Help!" I heard a voice. Male, probably in his late twenties. I drew my blade, taking caution. I turned a corner, to see a wide-open room, covered with spider webs. A nord was trapped in the webbing on the far side of the room. "You there! Quick, help a kinsman out!"
His armor wasn't the same as the thugs outside, so I decided to help the poor guy out. However, when I started to move across the room, a frostbite spider fell from the ceiling. This one was gigantic- I could fit five of myself inside. "Sortiara, get back!" I said, the mage retreating into the previous room. "Owain, I need you to-"
"Sorry, Dyce!" I heard the Avon call. Turning around, I saw him hiding behind Sortiara. "Spiders really freak me out."
"Owain, don't be such a chicken." I said. I turned and slashed outward, severing the bottom half of a leg. The spider cried out in pain, and advanced with godly speed, its pincers snapping in anticipation. I could see the venom dripping down onto the ground.
I turned and ran towards the wall, using my momentum to jump off of it and onto the back of the beast. The carapace was hard and hairy, and getting a grip was difficult as it tried to shake me off. My sword flew out of my hand, landing on the floor and clattering next to Sortiara.
"Dyce, catch!" she shouted, hurling the blade back at me. Point first. I had to duck to the side to avoid being decapitated. "Sorry!"
As it flew past, I grabbed the hilt, and swung down, into the creature's neck. To one side went its head, and the body fell, twitching. Owain and Sortiara ran over to me, and helped me up. "Sorry, man, it's just… too many legs…" the bird-brain said.
"That's all fine and dandy, but could you help me down now?" The trapped man said. "I'll tell you anything you want to know- the golden claw, how it works, anything!"
"Golden claw?" I asked.
"Yes, the secret to this whole place! It's in my bag. Just cut me down and I'll tell you everything." Owain handed me one of his wingblades, it being easier to manuver around the man than my sword. I cut him down, and helped him up.
"Thanks, kinsman. Now, about the golden-" He turned and sprinted deeper into the ruins, and we gave chase.
"Owain, fly after him!" I shouted.
"No can do, Dyce. The air's too still in here for flight, couldn't take off if I wanted to." He shouted back. He did chuck a wingblade at the nord, but missed. Our target rounded a corner before we did, then came running back.
"Draugr!" he shouted. A few arrows pierced my vision, and lodged themselves in his back. The man slumped to the ground, dead. Owain walked to his corpse.
"This must be that claw he was talking about." He held up a sculpture of gold, indeed in the shape of a dragon's claw. "However, he shouted 'draugr'. What are those?"
Sortiara spoke for the first time in a while. "Draugr are the reanimated corpses of long-dead. they haunt burial grounds, mostly." We looked at her, confused. "What? I've read all about them at the college."
"Any weaknesses?" I asked, hearing shuffling footsteps and low growls.
"Mostly fire and any blows to their skulls." She responded. "I haven't the strength for many spells, but I'll help if I can." I saw her conjure up a fireball in one hand, and she threw it at the corner. It hit a corpse as it was entering our field of vision.
A Draugr has no intimidation next to a dragon. But a horde of them, in a tight, narrow space, well… that's unsettling. Owain chirped nearby, and drew his mace. We charged the walking dead, and I was surprised by their frailty. One swift swipe across the chest was all it took for most of them, some requiring two. Owain bashed skulls in, and we charged through the horde in no time, finding respite in a chamber at the end of the hall.
"I have officially seen it all." Owain said. "I've seen mountains, goats, plains, what an argonian's loins look like… and now walking corpses."
"Yeah. Let's hope Ricken's tablet is actually here, too." I said. We headed down a small spiral staircase, down deeper into the crypt. Owain and I led, weapons drawn and creeping along quietly.
"We don't want to alert those things." He said.
"Yeah, so stay quiet. I don't fancy fighting-" I was cut off from a female scream and a small explosion.
"Sweetheart, what did we just say- oh, my." Owain said. Sortiara was on the ground, clutching her leg. Near her was a charred, unidentifiable corpse.
"Damn skeever… bit my leg…" she panted. I took a look at the wound. That skeever was definitely sick, and the wound showed it.
"Here, drink this." I said, handing her a healing potion. "I don't have any potions that cure disease, since Owain here drunk the last one in Whiterun."
"Not my fault…" he muttered. We trekked on through the crypt, fighting minimal draugr until we reached a long hallway. "What do you suppose this is?"
"No idea, my books never mentioned anything about this text…" Sortiara said. She was limping harder, her injured leg definitely getting more and more infected.
I looked around, and saw some writing. "Hey, look at this…" I said. "It reads, welcome, those who slay Dovah. Wonder what that means."
"I don't know what you're talking about, mate." Owain said. "All I see is chicken scratch." I looked back at the wall, and noticed that the words were indeed, just scratches in the wall. But I could read them a second ago!
"Never mind that, I found this!" Sortiara called. She was standing in front of a carving of some sort. "I've read about these, at least. They're ancient Nordic puzzle doors! But, they're impossible to solve without the corresponding key…"
I looked all over that carving, or door, as it apparently is. "Hey, Owain, hand me the golden claw." I said, noticing three notch marks. I pushed the claw near it, and the grooves matched up with the talons on the claw. I pushed it in and turned the dial.
Arrows flew out from the side walls, and I barely made it down fast enough, dragging my companions with me. "That was too close," Owain said.
"Let me see the claw." Sortiara said. I handed her the object, letting her think about it.
(Our injured mage's point of view)
This door had three symbols on it. The claw also had three, on its palm. However, they were different ones. So let's make them the same. "Dyce, could you rotate the top section of the door?" I asked.
"They can rotate?" He asked. He tried it, and the stone slid past to reveal another animal symbol- bear, like on the claw. I had him rotate the other two sections to match the claw as well. When we were done, I approached the door once more.
"Let's try it now." Dyce grabbed the back of my robes. He apparently wanted to make sure I could get down quick enough if the arrows flew out again. Owain was already on the ground. I pushed the claw into the grooves, and the door rotated, slid down, and opened up a path.
Owain stood up and grabbed me into a hug. "Sweetheart, that was brilliant."
"Uhh, thanks… Ow! Watch the leg!"
"Sorry." We walked forward, or in my case, limped forward. We found ourselves in a cavern, a bigger one. Water flowed through it, and a large, stone casket stood on a ledge. We walked up to it, and found a large chest.
"Don't mind if I do." Owain said. He got out a few lock picks, and hacked away at the chest until it popped open. Inside was a sack of gold, a map, and a few potions. I quickly recognized a cure disease one, and chugged it down. I hated the taste (like rotting meat) but my leg felt better almost instantly.
"What's this?" Dyce asked. He held up a stone tablet, shaped like a pentagon.
I saw more lines etched into it, like those Dyce pointed out earlier. "Looks like your dragonstone. I see one carved into it, at any rate."
"Wait, what does it say here? hoaardokes ske paarth yokanok…" he, all of a sudden, was transfixed by the tablet, staring at it, and muttering words in an incomprehensible tongue.
"What the hell are you reading?" Owain shouted. He then called out, "Oh, hey general." I turned my gaze, and General Tidus was walking in the room, greatsword in hand.
"I've been following you all for hours now, and I'm finally going to kill you." He said, readying himself. That's when the Draugr happened. They came out of everywhere- the ground, the ceiling, the walls. There were so many of them, and the general immediately stood next to us like we were allies.
"Any plans?" Owain said as we started to attack outward. It was no use, though- for every draugr we killed, five crawled out of the walls.
Dyce wasn't helping, either. He was behind us, still muttering away. "Tar'okim vas ork'la heka maar aartu detu tenosaara moe'mo glisnok ko'ora ro kaan tre'yark hoaardokes ske paarth yokanok esko beth'roas thaan tu shal'kan forkestal stratos!"
"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Tidus asked, slicing the head off a draugr. "He's possessed!"
"I have no idea!" I shouted, casting a thunder spell. It was all I could muster- the drug was out of my system, but the poison from the skeever acted like it. Owain bashed in a few more skulls with his mace before the head snapped off the handle.
"Well, shit." He said. The three of us backed up, Dyce behind us. "What a way to go, killed by a horde of zombies."
"Yeah. I'd say it was a pleasure to know you, but it really wasn't." Tidus said. We braced for their claws to hit us…
But instead felt something fall in front of us. It was Dyce, his eyes glowing a harsh gold color. "FUS RO DAH!" he shouted, a large wave of sound emanating from his mouth. The wind blew back the hordes, most dying from hitting the walls too hard or getting impaled on stalactites.
"What. The. Hell." Owain said. "What did you just do, Dyce?"
"I have no clue, my friend. But we have the dragonstone, let's get out of here." Dyce said. He grabbed me and slung me over his shoulder, carrying me faster than I could limp. I was looking behind us, the remnants of the horde chasing after us.
"Uhh, Dyce, could you speed up a little?" I asked.
"Working on it, Sortiara." We ran through some narrow passageways, and I saw some loose rocks near the ceiling. I obtained an idea that would save us or kill us.
"Dyce, stop for a second!" I shouted.
"Are you mad, woman?"
"Just do it!" He halted, and I fired a concentrated bolt of fire at the loose rocks. They crumbled down, blocking our pursuers. A few of them were unfortunate enough to get in the way, and their bones crumbled to dust after their expiration.
"Sweetheart, you've saved us again. At this rate, it'll take more than just a trip to the tavern to repay you." Owain said.
"Yeah… but… that drained me… I need to… need to rest…" I panted. The venom was taking its toll on me. I passed out, slung over Dyce's shoulder.
I woke up to the night sky. A small campfire was made, and Dyce and Owain were talking to each other over a map. I sat up, finding my leg bandaged. "What happened?" I asked.
Owain began, "Well, after you passed out, sweetheart, Tidus ran for it. He had no idea what the hell Dyce did-"
"I still don't myself," the man in question said.
"Well, he dropped his bag. A few more cure disease potions were in it, as well as a few other things. We gave you two of those potions, and the others went into my bag."
"Thanks, I feel much better." My magic had returned to me in full, that I knew by instinct. "What will you two do now?"
"We're heading back to Whiterun, in the morning." Dyce said. "We have a stone tablet to deliver, and I need to talk to Ricken about what happened to me. Young as he is, he's still quite smart."
"Do you mind if I tag along?" I asked. I only asked this because Dyce knew what happened at Dawnstar- the whole reason I left the college in the first place.
"Well, of course not, sweetheart! We weren't expecting it, but we'd be glad to have you!" Owain said.
"For now, though, rest up. We leave at first light." Dyce finished. I nodded, and laid back down. In a few moments, my eyes were shut.
