"Run!"
The only word Eren heard Mikasa say before being shoved toward a hallway leading deeper into the crypt. The only thing he heard before the female draugr released the arrow from its taut position.
The entire world seemed to become a meaningless blur as he raced through the chamber. He could hear the hoarse call of another bony threat from behind him, but he was unable to turn his head to find its icy pair of pale eyes.
Mikasa's not going to let me!
"Keep going! AND WATCH OUT!" the dark-haired girl commanded as she thrusted him into a stony wall.
Before Eren could reply, he whipped his head toward the sound of metal against stone. All three of the weathered pursuers lay in a messy heap on the floor, their bodies twisted into odd positions. Though no blood pooled around them, the light in their sockets had faded. An enormous metal grate retreated from the pile of corpses, creaking ominously before finding its resting place centimeters away from the wall opposite Eren and Mikasa's place of refuge. Its rusted spikes, still sharp enough to kill after thousands of years of decay, stood in tight rows like a titan's teeth.
What was that?!
"Trap." Mikasa's voice came in a breathless whisper. "I forgot most of these old tombs have them. Be careful where you step. That's probably not the only one, but at least it took care of the draugr."
"Draugr?" Eren stared at the skeletal warriors that had sought to greet him with an axe blade in his skull and an arrow through his heart.
"Undead warriors who guard ancient Nordic tombs," Mikasa replied. "Unless you know how to sneak past them, they wake up. It's why most people avoid going into places like this. Don't you remember your mother explaining them to you?"
"They look like titans…." he whispered, shuddering at the bodies' toothy mouths.
"Oh, Eren…."
He braced himself for another scolding, another "What in Oblivion are titans?!" To his surprise, Mikasa's exasperating denial of the existence of titans never came. He turned to face her, cocking his head in confusion at his companion.
Mikasa sighed deeply before slowly rising from the stony floor. She reached her hand toward him, but he swatted her offer for help away from him.
"I can get up by myself," he complained as he stood. "And how are we going to be able to fight, if you hold onto me the whole time?"
Mikasa never spoke, only gave a silent nod and readied the iron sword that had remained in the tight grasp of her dominant hand.
Wait…my sword!
"Damn it!" Eren growled after scanning the floor for any sign of his weapon. "My sword! I think I lost it!"
"Here," Mikasa replied, handing him her blade. "Take mine."
"But what are you going to do? You need one, too."
"One of those draugr had a sword. Besides, that thief said we won't be able to get into the treasure room without the golden claw. Stay right here. If I trigger the trap, I want you to run as fast as you can. Take my pack…." She slid her backpack off of its resting place between her shoulders and thrust it into his arms.
Eren stumbled under the additional weight of her bag of supplies. With Mikasa's sword still in his hand, he awkwardly balanced her backpack on his arms. After a few seconds of struggling, he managed to sheathe his new weapon and sling the load of camping gear and healing potions over his shoulder.
Panting after his miniature battle with the supplies, he focused on Mikasa. Her tentative steps made almost no sound against the floor as she approached the pile of fallen draugr. After a few seconds of observation, she snatched a purplish-black blade from the midst of the corpses and sprang away from the perilous area. As soon as she had escaped the range of the treacherous spikes, she tiptoed to Arvel's remains. The golden claw rested on its side centimeters from the dead thief's hand, partially soaked in blood. Mikasa quickly grabbed what Arvel the Swift claimed to be the sole key to the barrow's main chamber. She took a deep breath before streaking across the perilous strip of stone containing the pressure plate that could trigger the crypt's trap. The sinister contraption never flew from its resting place, but the rapid pulsations of her heart echoed in his ears.
How can I hear that?!
"Are you okay?" he asked, unstrapping a water skin from the side of her backpack. He gently removed the blood-covered claw and slipped it into the bag before placing the container of life-giving liquid into her now-free hand. "Your heart…it's beating pretty fast."
"You…you can hear it?!" Mikasa dropped the water skin, allowing its precious contents to spill onto the floor. "Eren…open your mouth!"
"Why?"
"Just open your mouth! We don't have time for this!" she commanded, her voice rising in pitch.
Before Eren could respond, the familiar rasp of the undead pierced the air, and he felt Mikasa's hand over his mouth. A single pair of cold pools of light peered from the darkness of the crypt's depths, followed by three more piercing gazes of what seemed to be anger.
Another horde of draugr had found the pair of intruders and were now approaching their easy prey. Swords and axes rose into the air, gripped by bony fingers. The clattering of blades was joined by a host of insults in an ancient tongue.
"I…I don't think I can fight them off! A couple of bandits wandering around on their own is one thing, but this…." Mikasa gently walked Eren backward, keeping her body in front of his in order to shield him from arrows that could be fired at any moment. "Eren, as soon as we get past that trap, I want you to run! I'll distract them as long as I can."
"I'm not leaving you here to die!" He glared at the advancing group of undead, the beginnings of a growl forming in his throat.
"Eren, you're sick! Don't—!"
The crude insults of the ancient warriors drowned Mikasa's voice, assaulting Eren's ears.
"Bolog aaz, mal lir!"
"Kren Sosaal!"
"Aav dilon!"
The meanings of the words were as clear to him as if someone had said them in the common tongue:
"Beg for mercy, little worm!"
"Break and bleed!"
"Join the dead!"
Another voice rose above the taunts, its familiar dark tone reverberating in his mind.
"Daar sahlo joorre dreh paak. Drun niin quiilan!"
"Those weak mortals act shamefully! Make them bow to you!"
Baring his teeth, Eren shoved Mikasa aside and approached the draugr. His fiery gaze flitted across each undead warrior—
No! Not warriors! Servants!
"Quillan!" His deep bellow echoed throughout the chambers of the crypt. "Quillan, uv dir!"
He unsheathed his sword and raised it above his head. The iron blade gleamed dimly in what little light the tomb's candles offered. Nostrils flared and eyebrows lowered, he continued to make his way toward the horde of undead. His feet thudded heavily against the floor, marching to a long-forgotten rhythm. Stopping centimeters away from what seemed to be the leader of the group, Eren sighed deeply through his nose.
Immediately, all of the draugr lowered their weapons and kneeled before the young cadet. Their eyes seemed to hold a terror as old as life itself as they submitted, each pair dimming to a faint glow.
After a final nod, Eren turned his back to the ancient warriors and trudged to Mikasa's landing place beside a nearby wall. Numbness had seized his body, his muscles dead weight as he dragged himself onward. Flopping down beside Mikasa, he allowed an odd mix between a groan and a sigh to escape him. The deep voice had receded from his head, leaving him in a thick haze of confusion.
What is this? Why does it keep coming to me? …And why does it feel so right?
"Eren, are you all right?!"
"Huh?" Jolted out of his haze by the chill of Mikasa's hand against his forehead, he shifted his gaze to the dark-haired girl. "I…think so…?"
"What you did…. It stopped the draugr," she whispered, nodding to the group of undead behind him. "They're not trying to attack us…."
Eren turned to face the ancient warriors. Every skeletal figure lay face-down on his stomach, not even daring to lift his gaze from the floor. None of them had kept their weapons unsheathed; some of the draugr had even thrown their weapons onto the floor in front of them.
A sour scent crept into Eren's nostrils, overpowering the stench of decay. A smell that he had never detected, though he identified it immediately.
Faas…fear…. They're afraid of me!
"What did you do?" Mikasa's voice was barely audible.
"I…I told them to submit to me…that they would die, if they didn't," he replied as he struggled to his feet, turning his attention to the horde of undead.
A single member of the group of draugr rose from his position on the floor. Eyes still cast toward the ground, he crept toward Eren before stopping at a respectful distance. He gave a single raspy cough and motioned toward the pair of invaders who had entered Bleak Falls Barrow.
Without a word, the rest of the ancient warriors stood from their submissive bows and began to surround Eren and Mikasa. Though their weapons remained sheathed, their eyes blazed coldly in the darkness of the crypt.
"What are they doing?!" Mikasa readied her sword, pointing her blade at a nearby undead warrior. "Eren—!"
The chestnut-haired boy gazed at the small army of draugr surrounding him. The scent of fear still hung heavily in the air.
"I don't think they're attacking us," he answered as he watched the ancient warriors fully assemble into a tight circle around the pair of cadets.
It's…it's like they're guarding us.
After a few seconds of silence, the leader of the horde of undead uttered a command in the old tongue. His subordinates at the front of the formation began to march deeper into the depths of Bleak Falls Barrow without a word.
Eren quickly followed them, head held high and eyes focused on the path ahead of him. Every one of his muscles relaxed as the draugr led the way to the crypt's inner sanctum. Upon feeling the tight squeeze of Mikasa's fingers against his arm, he bared his teeth and pried the dark-haired girl's appendages off of him.
"Just keep going," he whispered. "I think they're taking us to the treasure room. Then, we can search for the…what was the name of that thing Farengar told you he wanted?"
"The Dragonstone," she replied, shaking her head. "I don't know how we're going to find it. It'll probably be guarded, maybe sealed up in a tomb. I doubt it's just in a chest for anyone to take it."
Eren did not respond, only continued to follow the ancient warriors through winding hallways and small chambers. At first, he gasped sharply at the sight of the other undead residents of Bleak Falls Barrow stirring from their slumber in their shallow crevices, but he soon found no need to pay attention to them. The leader of the ring of guards simply waved his sword at the skeletal figures, pointing the black blade at the source of any threatening sound.
Turning to face Mikasa, Eren could say nothing to persuade her to sheathe her own weapon.
Maybe I shouldn't. She knows about these…draugr. But…but why don't I know?
He slowed his pace, staring blankly ahead of him.
Why don't I know? And why doesn't she remember the titans? We were both there at Shigonshina and Trost! It's not like she didn't see it, too. Unless….
Closing his eyes tightly, he silently pleaded to wake up in one of the Survey Corps' rough beds. He stretched his fingers, searching fervently for the scratchy sheets that were surely beneath him. He knew he would only open his eyes to the dusty hallways of Bleak Falls Barrow and the icy stares of draugr, but he would have at least a few seconds of blissful hope….
"Eren!" Mikasa's voice jolted him from his thoughts.
"Huh?" He opened his eyes to a large chamber.
Nothing lay on the dusty stone floor except for a few dim candles and two long-forgotten burial urns. Tired cobwebs hung limply from the ceiling and in the corners, mangled by rock fragments and dead insects. Ancient carvings covered the walls, their complex designs reflecting the history of the people who had dwelled in the frigid lands Mikasa and he now wandered. A rounded, midnight-black door stood in between the decorated walls. Adorned with the symbols of different animals, it blocked the passageway to the deepest chambers of Bleak Falls Barrow.
"This is it," Mikasa murmured, pointing at the sealed entryway with her free hand. "We're here."
The rasp of the undead rang out in the still air, and Eren watched as the group of draugr disbanded. Shuffling across the dusty floor, they vanished into the darkness. Though the icy light of their eyes faded from view after a few seconds, Eren knew that he would always see those pairs of pale blue moons every time he looked upon a dead body.
"What was that?" Mikasa had not moved from where she stood, though her sword had been readied. "They didn't kill us."
"I don't know," Eren answered. "Whatever it was, they got us here. You said this was it, right?"
"No! Something's not right! This has to be a trap!" She edged toward the darkness where the last pair of pale blue eyes had disappeared. "They've probably led us to a false door, but…. This looks like the Hall of Stories…."
"Huh?" Eren cocked his head quizzically. "Hall of Stories?"
"A long time ago, Nords carved their histories into certain walls in their tombs," she replied, nodding to the images covering the pale stone. "Could you please hand me the claw? You still have my backpack."
"Sure." Eren dug through her bag of supplies and pulled out the golden claw.
The artifact's warm, golden hue reminded Eren of the illustrations of hoards of treasure in one of the books that Armin had read. Images of piles of coins messily scattered inside of ancient rooms and forgotten caves, all gleaming warmly in their dimly-lit holds, filled his mind.
But that's not all. Armin always showed me the pictures in his books, and he even let me read a few pages sometimes…. Never found it as interesting as he did, but…. How is he? Is he even alive?
Eren shuddered, hearing the frantic pounding of his heart in the eerie silence of the barrow. Eager to cast away the doubts of Armin's wellbeing, he allowed Mikasa's brief explanation of the walls' ancient carvings…and the question that she had not bothered to answer when they has met Arvel the Swift.
"Mikasa…what's a Nord?" His voice echoed around him as he spoke, and he flinched at his breaking of the ancient crypt's stillness.
"They're the people of Skyrim," the dark-haired girl explained, keeping her voice at a whisper. "You're a Nord, because your parents came from Skyrim."
"Arvel didn't seem too happy about it."
"Many of the Nords living here treat the dark elves very badly, especially in Windhelm." She dropped her gaze from Eren to the golden claw she held in her hand. She had sheathed her sword and was now studying the supposed key to the treasure room. "…There has to be something we're missing. I know the claw has to fit there…."
She walked toward the blocked entryway and hovered the golden artifact's talons over a silver plate that had been embedded into the center of the door. Underneath the sharp tips were three tiny holes.
"Why would they do that?" Eren could not help but ask, eyes widened in shock. "The Nords? We can't fight with each other! Not when it's bad enough, as it is!"
"Eren…." Mikasa gave a long, heavy sigh. "I don't know. I can't tell you why. It's not important right now. We need to get out of this tomb before something else happens."
Eren opened his mouth to protest, but he quickly closed it again and nodded.
She's right. Those draugr might come back, if we stay too long.
"This claw has animal carvings on it," she continued, turning the golden claw upside down to reveal the tiny creatures engraved into its palm. "And they match the ones on the door…."
Mikasa gently touched the animal carving sitting just above the key plate, sighing in relief as the tiny image slid to the left. The engraving of a bee quickly took its place above the three holes.
"If we match the symbols, we can—"
Eren heard nothing more from her, inhaling sharply at what seemed to be a faint whisper emanating from the other side of the door. He could not distinguish any words, and yet...he knew the message embedded within the deep murmurings.
"Come..."
He barely saw the door gradually disappear into the ground, barely felt his feet pounding against the ground. Only one thing mattered to him, as he charged into the main chamber of Bleak Falls Barrow:
Find the voice….
