Sorry for the long delay! This was a tough one. Describing dungeons... I'm glad that's over. Might cut this into two parts later. Enjoy!
10.
The road twisted and turned between rocks and high land and the higher they went, the less green there was. Occasionally there were neat little piles of stones laid out on the edge of the road. Gorr and Lio were quiet most of the way. She had lost any desire to chit-chat and focused on the bigger troubles waiting ahead instead.
Lio turned to look at the view on their right – the mountains far away that bordered Skyrim were touching the skies with their snowy tips. The sky was growing darker, the sun painting stones, trees and land orange. High spruce forests were poking out between the mountains. Light puffs of clouds swam around the tops of the trees like fog on a hayfield. Looking straight, a high tower made of grey stone was slowly appearing at the end of the road, and once Gorr noticed it, his face lit up.
"Finally! Some action!" he yelled and grabbed his warhammer from his back and readied it. Yells sounded in the tower and a couple of armoured men ran out, wielding their blades and yelling challenges to Gorr and Lio. Lio unsheathed her weapons and ran into battle after her companion.
Gorr was as skilled as he had boasted. The bandits were like ants before him, crushed by his mighty hammer within seconds. He swept them away, the cracks of their breaking bones piercing the air. Lio didn't even have time to blink before Gorr was already inside the tower. Unfamiliar voices cried out in pain and loud thumps and bangs echoed in the air. Lio ran in after Gorr, but only found two more dead bandits. Gorr was looking at them with a frown.
"Only four? Bandits these days ain't got the guts they used to," he whined and poked a body with the tip of his boot. Lio wanted to wince away, but ignored her turning stomach and willed her face to stay emotionless.
"You'll get more, believe me," she said and made her way to the very top of the tower. It didn't have a roof and the floor were covered in a layer of snow. A last set of stairs brought her to a little crow's nest, where she could see over the edge of the tower. She looked around, mesmerized once again by the view. The magnificent and tall trees, massive and high mountains took her breath away and even snow did nothing to ruin the view.
Lio's third lockpicking attempt went far better than before. The lock wasn't complex and she broke only a couple of lockpicks before getting the lock off and tossing it away.
"Need any help, friend?" Gorr's voice thundered from downstairs and she refused him. She was already halfway down the stairs, a purse of shingling gold in her hand. She hopped down, skipping the last stairs and he smiled slightly. They left the tower.
"This wasn't Bleak Falls Barrow yet, now was it?" Lio asked and Gorr chuckled, the first soft laughter she heard from him.
"No, not yet. I'll take you to it." He took up front, leading them around rocks onto a tight road. A blizzard was beginning to develop in those heights, but thankfully Lio's newly-repaired armor protected her from the cold. She delighted in the warmness of it and almost couldn't bear to look at Gorr, who was wearing sleeveless armor and only what seemed like a light tunic underneath it. He didn't seem to be affected by the temperature at all.
Lio could only see his profile and noticed a smile. He turned the corner. Then Lio turned after him and saw what he had been grinning at.
"Here we are," he said and threw an amused sideways glance at Lio. She stood beside him, her mouth completely open and eyes wide.
The Barrow was magnificent and so much more close up. It stood right before the top of the mountain, which was casting long shadows over the huge structure. The Barrow itself was of stones shaped into long and thin arches. The arches, most broken down, formed a hallway around the stairs that led to the Barrow's entryway. Half-arches were standing along the way to the main structure; on some of them were eagle head statues. On the main arches stood long figures of more birds, facing away from the Barrow itself, as if to keep an eye out.
They walked up the stairs, toward the grand arches. A few bodies were laying around here and there, some torn up and bleeding. Their wounds were fresh. Gorr and Lio shared a look and pulled out their weapons. A bandit was standing at the end of the grand stairs. Lio quietly moved in on him, grasping her swords tightly. Suddenly Gorr, ignoring Lio's attempt at sneaking, roared and brought his huge hammer down on the man. The sound of his skull and spine breaking echoed through the air and he crumpled down, gasping his final breaths. Gorr smiled proudly.
"Hey, I wanted to sneak!" Lio moaned, trying her best to look courageous.
"I might have noticed, I might have not. I'll leave some of them for you too, don't worry," he said, his voice slightly mocking. Lio half-scoffed and Gorr smiled crookedly.
Another bandit had noticed them. She charged at Gorr, screaming, but before her strike could land, he stepped aside, as if he was playing around with a kid. An angry blush appeared on her face and Gorr shrugged at her, laughing. He pointed at Lio, who was standing behind her, with a playful smile. The bandit whirled around, confused, and before she could react, Lio punched her nose in. Gorr stood by, his arms folded and his chin raised, gaze measuring the events unfolding before him. Lio waved her hand around, hissing in pain.
"That wasn't a good idea," she mumbled and blew on her fist. Gorr's hearty laugh filled the archway. The bandit had recovered and was touching her tilted nose. Then she roared in anger and spat blood. She raised her sword and attacked Lio from above. Lio blocked it barely, the heavy hit overpowering her weak muscles. Lio had forgotten to rest and now the ache of all the past days was getting to her. They pulled away from each other, but Lio didn't have time to breathe as the bloodied woman swung at her from the side. She hit Lio and the shock wave of the blast rippled through her and made her gasp for air. Thankful for the multi-layered ebony armour that had stopped the hit before it split her ribs, Lio got up. One of her swords dropped to the ground and her free hand grabbed her aching side.
The bandit spat and struck again. Lio evaded and circled her, her sword protectively between them. This time Lio attacked and punctured her unguarded leg. The bandit screamed in pain and fell to her knees, grabbing at her thigh. Lio stood before her, gasping and looking down on her.
With a heavy arm Lio pointed her blade at the bandit's neck. Still gasping for air, Lio stood there and stared down at the crying woman, gripping the hilt of her imperial blade. Her fingers scratched at the leather and her muscles contracted, but fought against her will. The blade shook and quivered in her hands and she bit into her lower lip.
"Kill me already if you're going to do it," the bandit slurred through the blood. Forcing her eyes closed, Lio tried one more time to end the bandit's sufferings, but once again nothing happened. Then Lio hit the ground and the bandit was grappling her, keeping her down. Lio struggled to push her away, but her strength greatly overpowered hers. The next moment, the bandit's weight was already gone and Lio opened her eyes to see the woman on the ground and Gorr looming over her. Lio pushed herself up and past Gorr, back to ground zero. She took her sword and pointed it back at the bandit's neck, ignoring the woman's that burned into hers.
Lio willed her hand to move. Then she tried again and again, until the bandit's angry gasps disappeared into background buzz and there was nothing in Lio's mind but her inner turmoil.
Sudden sounds of steps ringed in her ears. Gorr was standing next to the bandit now, his eyes staring straight into Lio's unfocused, glossy ones. His strong look brought Lio right back into reality and she dropped her sword.
"If you're planning to survive in this land, friend, then you better get used to killing," Gorr said.
"Look away." Lio looked at him, confused.
"Turn around."
Lio plainly did as she was told. She could hear the bandit's cries get louder for a short moment and faint shuffling. Then her voice was cut and with a thump Lio heard her body fall.
"That was a good fight," Gorr's voice sounded. He patted Lio's back heavily and stepped past her, disappearing behind an engraved stone wall in the middle of the archway. Lio was wide awake now and sighed.
"Coward," she mumbled to herself.
She drank a healing potion and felt the pain in her ribcage and in her limbs lessen. After picking up her second sword Lio followed in the steps of Gorr and found him on the other side of the stone wall. He was standing before the entrance of the Barrow. It was a double door, metallic, wide and as high as the archways. The metal was engraved with thousands of small details and two huge dragon heads that were facing away from each other. After Gorr and Lio nodded to each other, together they tore one of the doors open enough for them to press through.
They stepped into what looked like a huge cave. There were stony, tiled pillars from the high ceiling to the ground. Everything smelled of decay and moss. Dead skeevers and bandits were laying around.
"We have to sneak," Lio said and Gorr reluctantly nodded. They crouched down and hid behind a pillar in the middle of the room. Two bandits were at the end of the cave around a fire, talking.
"That dark elf wants to go on ahead, let him. Better than us risking our necks," the man said and stirred something in a kettle over the fire. The sweet smell of soup reached Lio and Gorr and she heard both her and Gorr's stomach's grumble quietly.
"What if Arvel doesn't come back? I want my share from that claw!" the woman answered and folded her arms.
"Just shut it and keep an eye out for trouble," the man answered with a finality in his voice, which seemed to choke down the woman's next retort.
Lio's brain was working in hectic ways. They could sneak around the camp and attack both bandits behind their backs. Maybe they could distract them somehow and then attack…
Gorr's leg slipped on some loose rocks. He shrugged apologetically.
"I'm not the sneaking type," he whispered to the fuming Lio.
"What was that?" a bandit hissed and took out her weapons, as did the man. They slowly sneaked towards the centre of the cave, looking around corners and checking places suitable for hiding. They parted and passed by the pillar that Gorr and Lio were hiding behind.
"Now!" Lio yelled and together with Gorr they jumped out of the shadow of the pillar to their enemies, who jerked back in surprise.
The male bandit was Lio's opponent. He was wielding a huge double sided axe and was directing it at her head. If the hit would have landed, it would have sliced her in two. She jumped out of the way and in a flash circled around him, as he raised the heavy axe from the ground. Lio heard Gorr's grunt, but it faded and she quickly turned her attention back to her opponent and kicked him in his rear. He tumbled over, but was quickly back on his feet, the axe still in his hands.
"That was nothing!" he yelled and made a huge swing at Lio's side. She crouched and the axe missed her head, but cut a few of strands of her hair. She was up quickly, already skipping around him, evading the long and heavy moves of his axe with ease. Her light body moved fast, and while the man was swaying his axe through the air, she crouched under it and turned around to his exposed back. In the heat of the battle and without a single thought, she plunged her sword deep between his shoulder blades.
A dark, murky liquid burst out of the wound and covered her hands. Lio let go of the sword's hilt, staggered back and stared at her palms. The man fell to his knees, but her unfocused eyes couldn't lock onto him. Her hands shook as she turned them slowly, examining them as if she was seeing them for the first time.
Suddenly, someone's hand was on her shoulder. She had forgotten about the other fight. Lio whirled around and looked at the man in front of her. Gorr stood with a small smile on his face, his hands now holding her from collapsing.
"Let's go, fair maiden. We still have battles ahead of us," he said, pulling Lio along. She stared at him, dumbfounded once again.
"You… can leave. I'll go on by myself," she said and turned around, still a bit dazed.
"Now, now. I'm a man of my word and I will help you through this, as promised."
"But I'm dead weight. Don't waste your time here."
"Riverwood and horker stew can wait. This is much more exciting. Come on, friend." Lio nodded, a small smile creeping across her face.
Together they made their way onward. The crypt consisted of stony, circular tunnels with walls covered in ancient and eroded symbols. Spider webs and vines coated floors, walls and any furniture. The air was moist and stuffy. Lio emptied some chests of a few rings and satchels of gold.
They carefully made their way over the layers of vines. A thick mist of dust rose every time their feet touched the floor. The entire barrow was silent like a graveyard. Soon enough, when the first black, carved tombs started to appear, it was clear that the Barrow was an actual graveyard.
An unusually well-lit room was before them. A man was standing guard at the door with his back turned to them. Gorr's eyes were on Lio, saying "let me", but Lio took out one of her swords, slipped to the guard's back, and, with all her strength, hit the man in the back of his head with the sword's pommel. He gurgled and fell to the floor. Once he became motionless, Lio let out a shuddering breath. Gorr was standing behind her, ready to step in, but there was no need. Lio's look was one of determination.
The chamber they were in had a barred door in the opposite wall. Three alcoves were in the left wall, under which were triangular and carved rock shapes. They were on platforms and Lio noticed circular patterns in the dust around them. An animal was depicted on each of the three sides of the stones.
Over the barred entrance, in the wall were another two animal depictions. The middle had collapsed to the floor below. Unlike the others, these didn't stand on a platform, but were carved out of the ceiling. In the middle of the room was a lever.
Gorr went to pull down the lever, saying, "Let's see what happens."
"Stop," Lio said and Gorr's hands stilled on the lever right before pulling it down.
"These are movable," Lio assumed and grabbed around one of the statues on platforms. She gritted her teeth and tried turning it with all her strength, but it didn't budge. She grunted and tried again, but it wouldn't move an inch.
"Let me," Gorr said and turned the statue with remarkable ease to show the snake figure on one of the three sides.
"I knew it," she said victoriously.
"So what now?" Gorr asked, his face showing how clueless he was. Maybe he was as dumb as Lio as deemed him to be. A clever smile appeared on her lips. The upper stones were carved from left to right as followed: snake, snake and what seemed like a whale.
"Okay, listen here, Gorr," she said and he turned the stones as she commanded, till they were in the exact same order from left to right as the upper ones. She stepped to the lever, her mouth now a frightful thin line, and slowly pulled down the lever.
The iron bars in front of the door slid up and opened the entrance.
"Well done, friend!" Gorr led them onward.
On their way Lio found books and scrolls, which she decided to take with her, and emptied some old, dusty chests of their treasures. Gorr led them down many circular wooden stairs and through many more tunnels.
The tunnels ahead were full of spider webs. The webs stuck to her boots and made her want to gag. Even the sight of webs made her sick. A few skeevers were in their way, but it only took one swing and Gorr's had swept them all away. The empty metallic cupboards and clay pots were caked in webs. The air smelled sick and rotten. Lio emptied another healing potion to let the remaining damage in her side heal completely and maybe help remove the turning in her stomach, but the empty bottle slipped from her hand and the sound of breaking glass echoed throughout the whole tunnel.
"Is… is someone coming? Is that you Harknir? Bjorn? Soling?" a frantic voice yelled. Gorr and Lio shared a look.
The way was blocked by a thick wall of webs. Lio gritted her teeth and her lip curled in disgust, but she forced herself to move and cut through the sticky mass. It was strong and her weapons kept getting stuck. The blades she pulled back were covered in white sticky tangles.
"Stand back," Gorr said and broke the netting in one strong swing. He grunted and pulled his hammer back, now all white too.
"This will take days to clean," he mumbled as the Breton stormed past him.
Lio gripped her stomach. The huge room they had come to was coated in webs from ceiling to floor. Some pots, stuck between strings, were swinging in a weak wind gust that blew in through a hole in the ceiling. Shiny, wet and soft-looking spider eggs were everywhere, some slightly open and oozing revolting smells. A man was flailing around in thick netting covering another doorway at the other side of the room. He was a dark elf with a rather unlikeable face and was desperately trying to pull himself free. Lio started towards him. After two steps she recoiled and fell to the ground.
A huge spider, nothing Lio had ever imagined, slowly came down from the hole in the ceiling, its' huge feet making a soft thump as it landed on the floor. Its' huge mandibles moved up and down and it was looking at Lio and Gorr with its' multiple eyes. Its' huge, hairy and orange feet made soft scuttling noises as it moved closer to them.
Lio panicked. She tried to pull herself back and away from the foul creature. Her fingers gripped cool metal bars –she was on a trap door, a dark tunnel below her. The spider closed in and Lio crawled further away, praying for the trap door not to fall open, and didn't notice one of her swords slipping between the bars and down into the dark. With horror-filled eyes she stared at the spider closing in on her, poison dripping from its' mandibles.
Gorr grunted and crushed its' huge head with his hammer. It squirmed and screamed and flailed its' many legs around to get away from the man. In a flash it pounced and pinned Gorr to the ground. A deep grunt rumbling in his chest, Gorr tried to push off the spider's feet, but the arachnid trapped his arms using its' many limbs. It overwhelmed Gorr by sheer mass and they both cried out as they tried to hit each other without success. Lio stared at them in horror, immobile.
She then noticed the long blade wound in the back of the spider's hairy body, near the being's sting. With a grunt she pushed herself up from the floor, ignoring the cries of the dark elf, and pulled her remaining sword from spider webs. She stumbled backwards and after a short inhale, she jumped to the tangled mass of Gorr and the arachnid. Lio raised her blade above its' body as soon as Gorr was pushed back to the ground and she thrust it deep inside the spider's already swollen wound. It screamed in pain and skidded away from them, inevitably pulling Lio's sword from her hands, further widening the wound. The spider spat venom at Lio and would have hit, but at the last second Gorr ran and pushed her to a safe distance, letting the acid burn into his iron armour. Lio rolled and hit a wall, grunting.
Before she could regain her focus, Gorr was already across the room, pulling his hammer free from webbing. The spider was still squirming and shooting balls of venom when Gorr attacked again, directing his hammer to swoop its legs from underneath it. Lio pushed herself up and used the diversion to pull her sword from the spider's body. It hissed in pain again and pushed Gorr away, turning to Lio. She aimed the tip of her sword at its' multiple eyes and charged.
Lio had judged wrong – the being easily pushed her aside in the middle of her attack, as if it was swatting away a fly. She stumbled over her legs and fell in front of the arachnid, completely unguarded. With a hiss it pulled Lio's limp body up along the wall and started wrapping her in webs quickly, before the Breton could even realize what was happening.
"Help!" she shouted, but her voice was muted by the sticky strings that now covered half of her face. The whitening world kept turning and turning.
"Help me!" Lio panicked and wiggled between the spider's legs without any result. A glint of silvery steel flashed from the other side of the room – her sword. Then all became white.
The turning stopped and suddenly the ground greeted her side roughly. After a moment of dizziness she tried to squirm free. Someone's hands pushed her down and turned her body around, ignoring her muffled protests. A tip of a dagger pierced the whiteness suddenly, hovering dangerously close to Lio's nose bridge. Fresh air blew in through the cut and Lio inhaled, having not even noticed that she'd been holding her breath. The dagger tore the webbing from her face and Gorr's smirking face looked back at her.
"Welcome back, friend," Gorr said and Lio swiped away her tears, laughing. He helped tear the webs off her body, offered her his hand and pulled her up. As soon as she was up, she leaned over again. Her breakfast came up, the acidic aftertaste following. The giant spider lay dead not far from her.
"That was poor play," the dark elf supposed, cringing. He was still stuck in the webs, but seemed to had given up on struggling and was now tangling there as if he had a reason to. Lio glared at him from her position, but then looked back down when a shudder ran up her spine and another wave overcame her. Gorr stood before the elf with his web-covered hammer now over a shoulder. A glare on Gorr's part was all that was needed to destroy the elf's attitude and to make a small, mercy-begging smile appear. Gorr snickered. Once the elf looked as if he was never going to say a word again, Gorr returned to Lio, who was wiping her mouth.
"Disgusting being," she mumbled, sighing.
"The elf? Sure is. Did I tell you the story of an elf charlatan who tried to…" Gorr said, but Lio shook her head, grinning.
"I meant the spider."
"Oh."
"Don't leave me, for Arkay's sake!" the elf yelled behind them. Lio conjured up a smile and stepped closer to the elf, mock-inspecting him and the webs he was stuck in. Lio, who was much less scary than Gorr, only made the elf roll his eyes.
"Get me down! Get me down!" he insisted impatiently. His impatience turned into anger and he was about to say something, but as soon as Gorr moved behind Lio with a menacing gaze, he stuttered.
"You did it. You killed it," the elf praised them with a weak, trembling smile. "Now cut me down before anything else shows up."
"Where's the golden claw?" Lio asked, getting straight to business.
"Yes, the claw. I know how it works. The claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. I know how they all fit together! Help me down and I'll show you. You won't believe the power the Nords have hidden there."
"Hand over the claw first!" she said. Lio knew better than to trust him. The elf rolled his eyes.
"Does it look like I can move? You have to cut me down."
Lio sighed. She walked over and took her sword from the ground and started cutting the elf down. Gorr joined in.
"It's coming loose! I can feel it!" the elf said excitedly. As soon as Lio cut the last strings and the elf dropped to the ground, he bolted into the entryway behind him.
"You fool, why should I share the treasure with anyone?" his voice echoed in the tunnels. Lio had had it for one day. She stormed after him without giving a look at Gorr.
"Wait!" Gorr thundered after her, but she was too fast.
The elf was always a few steps ahead of her. They ran through a half-circle shaped room filled with urns and pots and through tunnels that went down even deeper into the mountain. Her stamina was at its end and he was slipping away, running through the maze-like tunnels with remarkable speed. She raced down a set of stairs into a room full of holes in the walls. It took a moment for her to process what this place was.
It was a room full of graves. Inside the walls lay corpses and skeletons, decaying and rotting.
The elf was in the middle of the lowly lit room, disappearing behind a few pillars. He grunted and swung at something armoured. His enemy was decaying and rotting too. It was an undead.
The bodies of the dead rose from their graves, grabbed their chipped swords and raced into battle. Just as Gorr caught up with Lio, gasping for air, the elf was impaled. He fell to the ground, whimpering and clutching his stomach.
The dead turned to Lio and Gorr. In their empty and dried eye sockets shone blue lights, piercing the darkness. Their greyish, dusty and dry skin glowed in the lights from the fire bowls. Their almost teethless jaws dangled as they ran towards the two, swinging their dull swords and axes around in the air above their heads. Their old leather and steel armour clinked and their bare feet made soft noises as they ran.
"Draugr," Gorr hissed and Lio remembered what Hadvar had said. "See that ruin up there? Bleak Falls Barrow. When I was a boy, that place always used to give me nightmares. Draugr creeping down the mountain to climb through my window at night, that kind of thing." These were the undead he had been talking about.
They looked a lot worse than Lio had imagined. She had imagined weak and almost decomposed beings, who could barely walk. Beings, who probably couldn't even hold a sword without their arms dropping off. These mummified Nords were strong and fearless, their armour still protecting their dried bodies and swords still serving them after many years. Lio stepped back and clashed with Gorr. She looked up at him and inhaled sharply.
His look was one of utter determination. He wasn't afraid of the beings. He gripped his warhammer and stormed into battle, kicking the draugrs left and right. His grunts filled the room and awoke more undead. Lio chased after him and impaled one draugr, who was flanking Gorr. He whirled around and nodded thankfully before bashing another draugr's head in. Now Gorr and Lio were back-to-back, fighting off the undead surrounding them. Most were weak, their armour already ripped to bits and weapons to halves. Together they fought off the beings, escaping the fight with minor injuries.
Lio crouched down to the elf. He had already drawn his last breath and was lying in a puddle of his own blood, a grimace twisting his face. She pulled the golden claw, engraved with symbols in its paw, from his frozen grasp.
"I'm taking this back," she said and put the claw into her own bag. She was about to turn when she noticed something else peculiar on the dead body. A leather-bound diary was stuffed half-way into a crevice in his armour. She took it.
It was full of random ramblings, written in hectic handwriting. Turning to the last page, it read:
"My fingers are trembling. The golden claw is finally in my hands, and with it, the power of the ancient Nordic heroes. That fool Lucan Valerius had no idea that his favorite store decoration was actually the key to Bleak Falls Barrow. Now I just need to get to the Hall of Stories and unlock the door. The legend says there is a test that the Nords put in place to keep the unworthy away, but that "When you have the golden claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands"."
She laid the diary back next to the elf.
"I got it," she said and Gorr led them forward with a nod. A tunnel was ahead. Something seemed wrong with it, though.
"Stop!" Lio yelled and Gorr stopped mid-step. He looked back at her with a confused line between his brows.
"Do not take a single step forward," she said, examining the floor in front of Gorr.
He turned his attention to the floor now. There was a small circular pressure plate in front of him, a lighter colour of stone than the rest of the floor. Against a wall next to it was a wooden wall covered in spikes.
"I'm guessing you step on it and you're impaled by all those," Gorr said, pointing at the spikes.
"Interesting," Lio said. Then a clever smile appeared on her face.
"Step back," she said and Gorr, with little surprise, backed away into a safe distance.
"Don't waste too much time, I'm getting hungry," he mumbled and Lio grinned. After a deep inhale she jumped, smiling like a maniac, on the plate. A loud metallic crank echoed through the tunnel and the wall started moving towards her fast, the spikes gleaming in the fire light. Before she could be made into minced meat, she rolled from the wall's path, sacrificing the armour covering her shoulder. The wall slowly retreated back into its previous position, all the while screeching grimly.
Lio gleamed victoriously at Gorr, gripping her shoulder as nonchalantly as possible.
"Impressive. You avoided suicide by an inch," he said, a slight sarcastic tone to his voice. Lio looked at him, mock-annoyed.
"Let's go, my horker stew is waiting," Gorr said with a grin and led them forward.
The further they went, the more there were graves. Draugr rose to their feet and took their weapons. Gorr and Lio went back-to-back again and took them out one by one. The undead were weak, almost nothing when compared to the bandits before. They had no wit and no cooperation and it made them as vulnerable as the skeevers who had attacked them before. Only their looks would create fear in their enemies.
The Redguard and Breton were already walking down a set of stairs. A sound echoed from the tunnel before them, like swords slashing through air repeatedly and in a constant rhythm.
"People get tired of hearing it, but in the Arena you take one battle at a time. Same goes for ruins like this. Too big to think too far ahead," Gorr was idly saying behind Lio. He was picking the spider webs off of his hammer. Lio stopped before him and he raised his gaze to her.
The tunnel before them was a lot smaller and was the origin of the sound. Rows of scythes were falling left and right through-out the tunnel one by one, making it almost impossible to pass through without losing at least a limb. There wasn't a break between their swings and the only way to make it through was to run at the perfect moment.
"We should find another way. I don't think one can make it through that," Gorr mumbled, but Lio threw him a crafty smile.
"Just watch me, Gladiator."
Just after the first scythe swung and retreated back into a wall, Lio started. She ran on a single breath, watching scythes fall and retreat perfectly before her, and before she knew she ran into the wall at the other end of the tunnel, gasping for air. Gorr, narrow-eyed and smiling manically, stood still on the other end. Lio pulled down a lever, half expecting a trap, and the scythes disappeared into the walls. Gorr caught up with Lio and they continued through the tunnels, excited grins plastered on their faces.
They passed through many tomb-type mazes of chambers. Sometimes draugrs stepped down from alcoves or broke out of their graves, but Gorr took down most of them quickly while Lio was up ahead already. They happened by a draugr wielding magic. Lio hadn't seen an undead woman before; she had long grey hair and barely recognizable feminine features, which didn't make her look any more humane. This draugr seemed to be a bit wittier than most and shot ice at Lio when she tried to turn the corner, but the human proved smarter and faster. Once the draugr paused, Lio jumped and sliced her feet from below her, while Gorr made short work of her draugr ahead were fearless, but witless, and opposed no danger.
They passed through a huge cave system filled with glowing mushrooms and creeks. From chests they uncovered more coins, jewels and scrolls. One part of the caves had been filled with snow as there was no ceiling and the darkening skies loomed above them, reminding them to move fast. Lio had run through another scythe tunnel and a scythe cut straight through the back of her thigh, but the cut was fixed by a bottle of healing, along with the wound in her shoulder. Drinking so many potions made her head swim, but it was a nice, soothing feeling, as opposed to the usual dizziness she got from battling.
A set of large doors opened to a long chamber, which Lio could only assume was the aforementioned Hall of Stories. The walls were craved in eroded pictures of dragons and humans. They told a story Lio couldn't decipher. At the end of the room was a circular stone door and in the middle of it was a circle with three small holes in it. Above it was a circle with a bear symbol craved in it, above that was a symbol with an owl, and above the owl a symbol of a moth.
By that time all Gorr had gotten from the fights was a slight concussion and Lio had some cuts in her thighs and arms. She only had two more potions and decided to keep them for later. Instead she took the moment of quiet to tie up her wounds with pieces from Gorr's and her own shirts. Then a short moment later, Lio took out the claw and matched the three talons into the three holes – they fit perfectly. So this was the puzzle the elf had been talking about.
"Maybe we should go back now? We have the claw," Lio asked. Gorr's look was blank.
"But we already came this far. Let's finish this, what say you?" Gorr answered.
Clearly she should have turned back. There was no reason for her to go forward and risk everything.
"Alright. Till the end," she said, regretting her decision then, but deciding that she had to see things to their end.
""The solution is in the palms of your hands", huh?" she mumbled and stared at the carved door before her. Gorr sat down behind her and idly stared at the stories embedded in the walls. He was sitting this one out.
Lio smoothed over the gold in her hands. Her other hand reached out to the three circles above the main one in the bottom. She pressed on the owl and the door made a hard sound, like the moving of a grindstone in a mill. The owl started to move down in a circle, and it was replaced by a symbol of a moth.
"So that's how this works…" the Breton mumbled and looked down at her hands.
"In the palms of my hands, hmm? The ancient Nords must have been incredibly stupid," she said and the corner of her mouth pulsed as she turned the claw around, finding the symbols there. She pressed the circles on the door until the symbols were in the same order as the ones on the claw – bear, moth, and owl. She fit the claw's talons into the three holes and pushed it in. The door groaned loudly, the symbols all turned to owls, and slowly the entire stone door slid down into the ground.
Gorr got up and, with a new surge of adrenaline, they stepped into the cave before them. It was even larger than the ones before. Streams of moon light came in from the ceiling and painted stone and waterfalls silver. Bridges and platforms led up high to a wall embedded in a weird language. Stony creeks were flowing beneath the bridges, glittering in the light from above. Bowls of fire lighted the platform in front of the wall and Lio noticed a tomb and a bronze chest near it.
"By the Arena…" Gorr exclaimed and Lio nodded. The cave was beautiful and glittering, grand in its size.
By the time they were nearing the main platform, an almost magnetic pull reached Lio. It felt like something natural calling out to her, it felt like swimming towards air from the bottom of the sea. This pull felt old, ancient, and it lit up the veins under her skin, made her dizzy the closer she got to its origin – the wall. Three shapes in the wall stood out and their meaning almost seemed to materialize in Lio's mind. They bathed in a soft blue glow and her steps automatically brought her closer to them. The rest of the world faded into background noise as the only sounds she could hear were the soft blow of wind and familiar chanting echoing from somewhere far away. Finally, when she stopped before the carvings, she knew what they meant. She felt their meaning in her bones and in her flesh. It was a force, unrelenting and unforgiving, growing in her chest.
A loud crack behind her pulled her from her trance. Lio frowned and looked at the letters, but they had lost their pull. She turned and saw, with a sharp inhale, a draugr climbing out of the now broken tomb. It was different than the others. This undead's armour was of a dark metal that Lio now knew – ebony. Gorr struck the draugr before it could even lift its other leg over the edge of the tomb, but it got back up, as if nothing happened. The draugr grabbed for a long two-bearded axe, the lights in its eye sockets burning into Lio's. It inhaled, but before anything could happen, Lio let the power growing in her body go, she let her instincts take complete control.
"Fus."
Her voice burst out as pure strength, as a strong current of wind that made the draugr step back and lean down to support itself. Gorr almost dropped his hammer and stared at what was happening, his shocked face looking as if he was seeing the eruption of the Red Mountain.
Lio pulled out her swords now and charged at the draugr, completely unaware of what she was doing and moving entirely on instinct. She kicked it in the stomach and brought her sword down at it from above, but the being blocked it with the heavy handle of its axe. Instinctively she raised her other sword, all the while maintaining her force on the one above, and sliced into the draugr's unguarded side. It tripped and almost fell off the platform, but got up, inhaling sharply again. Before the draugr could continue, it was again cut off by Lio, who had jumped and, with her full force, brought down her elbow in its face. Unfazed, it blocked her continuous array of attacks and brushed her away. She tripped and tried to roll away, but a crushing pain hit her in her back, dislodging something and forcing the wind out of her. The sound of metals crashing ringed in Lio's ears as she desperately gasped for air. She felt the now bent ebony in her armor prodding her in the back, allowing little movement.
The shadow of Gorr flashed over Lio and she saw his hazy figure fall to the ground next to her. Using the moment of distraction, Lio rolled over, gasping in pain, and kicked the draugr's feet from under it. It fell, but swung at her even from its bad position. Lio rolled away from the undead, but it got up and followed. She tried the same trick again, but it jumped over her legs this time, clearly showing its dominance in thought and strength over the draugrs before. She stared up at its face, surprised, and its grey skull seemed to be grinning at her with its tilted jaw bone. Then, at her moment of desperation, just as the draugr attacked, her instincts kicked back in and forced her body to get up and, while evading the sharp turn of its axe, plunged a blade through its neck. The axe fell with a clang loud enough to overshadow the sound of the water flowing in the cavern. The draugr's head rolled off the platform.
Lio fell to her knees. Gorr, who was holding onto his bleeding head, now got to his feet and ran to the Breton. She was dazed and looked at him through half open lids.
"What did you do, my fair maiden?" he asked and put his hands on her shoulders to keep her from falling.
"No, not maiden. You are a warrior, my friend," he mumbled. Lio looked at him, the expression on her face clearly telling she wasn't listening to him. She was far away somewhere in her head, probably trying as hard as Gorr to process what just had come to pass.
Gorr's arm was around Lio as they stepped out into the open. Clear air helped Lio empty her clouded mind and she jerked her head up from his shoulder, as if she had just awoken. She blinked and looked at Skyrim unfolding before them.
"Are we out already?" she asked, her voice groggy. He nodded.
"What about loot?" she asked and stood up by herself. Immense pain in her back kicked in and Gorr's hand swiftly reappeared to support her. He showed the contents of a bag to her with his free hand.
There was a sword, the type some of the draugr had been carrying, that shone with a soft blue glow. Lio reached and touched it – a sharp sensation of ice pierced the tips of her fingers.
"What's this?" she asked and jerked her hand back.
"An enchanted sword. And here's a stone that was on that draugr overlord," he said and passed it to Lio. In the front were carvings of what looked like a dragon and lots of lines and spots that made no sense. On the other side was the same language that was carved into the wall. She tried to concentrate on the characters, but nothing shone out like before.
She put it back. There was also some gold, another scroll and some healing potions.
"Can I take one?" she asked and pointed at a potion.
"This is all yours," he said and nodded. Lio stared at him wide-eyed.
"Why?"
"Because I'm following you¸not you me," Gorr said with a smile. He closed the bag and tied it around his belt.
"I wanted to ask before already… Why were you following me that far? It was risky and pointless. A few jewels and a bit of gold isn't that great of a prize."
He looked away. It was dark and Riverwood was shining through the forest, calling to Lio. He sighed.
"Because you are a good, strong person to follow. My gut tells me that you're going places and I always trust my gut."
Lio blinked at him. Never had she thought of herself as strong. And obviously, neither had anyone else before Gorr. She wanted to argue, but didn't have the strength in her for it. She emptied a bottle of healing, but it wasn't nearly enough. What had happened had drained her physical and mental power completely.
"Alright. Sure... I need some help anyways," she sighed eventually, grasping for another potion.
He laughed his hearty laugh and it echoed across the tips of the trees above them. Lio passed the half empty bottle to Gorr and he swallowed the contents.
"I need some rest. Riverwood," she exhaled and they started down the rocks of the mountain towards the village far down below.
"By the way, what was that magic you did back then against that overlord? I've never seen anyone use yelling as a weapon before, not even in the Arena, and I can say that I've seen my fair share of fighting in my life."
Lio shrugged.
"That pull, that ancient magic then… You didn't feel it?"
"Nothing."
Lio shrugged again. She was too tired to talk or think anymore.