Chapter 11: The Valtheim towers

The crew bought supplies for the trip to High Hrothgar and left Whiterun. Thanks to their map, they at least knew that the closest town to the Throat of the World was called Ivarstead, so they figured it would be a good idea to go there and find a way up. Thus, the trio followed the road alongside of the mountain to the north. A short time later, the plain landscape changed into a way more hilly area. A river had cut itself deep into the land to their left. The flora also changed, going from single trees and small bushes, into a light forest.

In the distance, they could see a ruin. It consisted of two towers, one on each side of the river, and a bridge spanning between them. In front the entrance of the tower on their side stood someone. When they came closer, she pulled out a dagger and approached them.

"Hey. Stop there. If you want to pass, you shall pay a toll."

"Wait? Why?" Mabel responded. The stranger looked over them and stopped at Wendy.

"Wait. I know you. Didn't we find you in the forest?"

"Oh, that were you guys? Thanks for the armor."

The woman smirked. "Yes. Nice to know you survived. We thought something, or someone, killed you." She put away her dagger and gestured to the entrance. Come in. The boss will want to see you."

They looked at each other and shrugged. Following the woman inside, they moved up some ramps and then over the bridge. Inside the other tower was a man in a heavy looking armor sitting at a table. A big warhammer, made out of steel, was sitting next to him.

"Boss. Look who came back."

He looked around, still having a piece of chicken in his mouth. "Great. And you brought prisoners."

"WHAT?" Mabel, Dipper and Wendy yelled. He stood up and picked the twins up by the collar.

"Wait, they aren't prisoners!" Wendy shouted.

"And why did you bring them here then?"

"Wendy! Why? I thought we were friends!" Mabel screamed, and the leader of the group threw her into a cage. He then opened another one and threw Dipper in it. The woman from the entrance began to tie them up, and covered their mouths with a piece of fabric so they couldn't scream fro help.

"Stop! Why are you doing this! This is all a big misunderstanding!" Wendy yelled.

"What? We said to you to stay at the street, and should someone walk by bring them here."

"What? Why did you do this, Wendy?" Dipper yelled.

"I didn't listen to them! I never listen if someone gives me orders!" Two bandits tied the twins up and covered their mouths.

"So, they are not your prisoners?" the boss asked.

Wendy knew she needed to do something. Just trying to fight wasn't an option. There were to many, and they all had more experience than her. But maybe she could trick them. She sighed. "Yes, they are!" The eyes of the twins widened. "And the Dragonborn, in case you want to know!" Her first hope was that he would let them leave with that information.

"Is this so?" He looked at the twins and stroked his beard. "Well done. As first order of business, you'll watch over them. Try to prevent them from doing anything funny." He left, leaving Wendy and the woman from the entrance alone, to Wendy's dismay. She hoped to escape with the two when no one was here, but now she couldn't even tell them about her plan.

Mabel and Dipper tried to yell something at Wendy. She wasn't able to understand anything, but it was obvious that they were angry.


It took two whole hours, until the boss came back. In that time, she tried not to look at the two.

The boss walked towards the cages and took them with him.

"What are you doing?" Wendy asked him.

"Doing my job. Someone at Windhelm made a good offer if we were to execute the Dragonborn." Two more bandits entered the room, and grabbed Wendy. "And, he wants you to be gone too."

"NO!" Wendy yelled, and struggled to get free.

The Boss of the bandits knocked the twins out with his fist. "Men! Hold her back!" He walked outside, and stopped in the middle of the bridge. He held up Dipper, and put a dagger to his throat. The two bandits led Wendy outside, so that she would have to watch it. "Say goodb-"

He stopped when a roar echoed over the region. Every head turned south. A giant dragon was closing in. Although he was still to far away to make out details, Wendy could clearly see that he was completely dark, and bigger than Mirmulnir. The two bandits who held her were to scared, and let go off Wendy, so that they could run back inside. "Come back you cowards!" The boss of the bandits yelled, before he began to touch Dipper's skin with his dagger.

In panic, Wendy pulled out her ax and threw it towards the bandit. It hit him right in the ribcage, and got stuck between two plates of steel. Out of shock, he dropped Dipper and took his warhammer from his back. Due to the fact that she left her sword back home, so that they wouldn't have to much weight on them, Wendy was unable to block the first attack. She felt the full impact, and how all air left her lungs. However, she was able to get her axe back. After he passed her, the bandit had to turn around, which Wendy used to kick him into the leg. While the bandit was recovering, she stepped between the bandit and the twins. He charged at her again, but she got out of the way and hit him in the back with the ax. Even though he had a lot of power behind his attacks, he was considerably slower.

They heard the roar again, and saw the dragon had stopped and watched them. Before anyone could do anything, he roared again and attacked.

"YOL TOOR SHUL!"

He set parts of the bridge on fire and crashed through one of the towers. Now, Wendy just wanted to get the twins and run away, but the bridge began to crumble. She felt an impact on her back and flew towards the tower that was not under attack. As she stood up she saw the boss preparing to strike down on Dipper.

Charging forward with full force, she tackled him and hit him in the chest with her ax. Luckily, she hit an important part of the leather that held it together, and the armor of the bandit began to break.

She looked around, and saw that the tower that the dragon attacked was broken into pieces. The dragon was next to it, and breathed fire into it. Wendy was certain that everyone in there was dead now. The problem, beside the dragon, was that the bridge was now beginning to fall apart.

Still, the Bandit got up and knocked her over. He tried to break her spine with his knee, but failed thanks to her, still intact, armor. Thus, he threw her away again and tried to hit the twins once more. He was stopped by the ax again, but this time it hit his head. He stumbled and dropped his hammer, as his body went limb. His corpse fell down on the bridge, which turned more and more red.

Wendy ran up to him and pulled her axe out. But instead of cheering, she was speechless. She just killed someone. Took his life. Of course, it was to save her friends, but would they understand that? Especially since they think she sold them to those guys. There was no time to think about that now, though, since the bridge began to fall into the river. With the other tower still in flames, there was only one way to get out of here. She grabbed her friends, and jumped down into the river.

It was deep enough, and Wendy tried to swim up to the shore. The force of the water was to strong though, and she began to hear a waterfall. She held her friends tight, hoping for the best. The waterfall got louder, and they got flushed over the edge.


Although the impact on the water hurt, they survived and washed up at a little island in the middle of a lake. The redhead took the twins, and leaned them against a log, and untied them, before sitting down on another one herself, staring out into the distance.

It took a good amount of time, before the twins woke up again.

"Man, I'm fed up with getting knocked out." Mabel said.

Dipper nodded, and they looked around. Wendy was still sitting on her log. Not knowing on which side she was, both drew their weapons before approaching her. She heard their footsteps, and turned around. The two noticed the tears in her eyes. It looked like she cried for hours.

"Put your weapons away. Everything's okay." She said, surprising both Dragonborn.

"And how are we supposed to know that you won't attack us?" Dipper asked.

"It was a trick. Nothing more."

Dipper sighed, and both put away their weapons reluctantly. "What happened?"

"I- I-" She began to cry again, and both ran towards her. They sat down besides her, and looked into her eyes.

"Tell us. We can help." Mabel comforted her.

"I killed him." The eyes of both twins widened. They were shocked.

"Who? Who did you kill?"

"The banditleader. He held a knife to Dipper's throat and. And. A dragon attacked. He destroyed the bridge, and as this bandit tried to bash your heads in, I threw my ax in his head." She held her head down. "I took his life."

"There there. You did what you had to do." Dipper said. "Imagine what would have happened if you didn't kill him. When both of us would be dead, who should stop the dragons?"

"Yeah. You are our hero." Mabel added.

Wendy wiped away her tears. "Thank you." Although the talk helped, she still couldn't get the image of the dead bandit out of her head.

"Maybe we should sleep about it a bit. It was a long day. We all could use some rest." Dipper suggested. She looked up and nodded.

They prepared their sleeping-bags and made a firepit out of some wood and stones. During the whole process, Wendy was completely quiet. Mabel and Dipper were seriously worried. As they began to fall asleep, Dipper looked over to Wendy one last time. She fell asleep pretty fast. He wasn't sure what to think. On the one side, she saved them. On the other one, she murdered someone, and although he was a bad guy, he still was a human being. Not to mention what has to go on in her mind.

He decided to talk again with her tomorrow, when they were all rested well.


Sorry for the shorter chapter, I didn't have much time to write this week.

Elder Scrolls belongs to Bethesda; Gravity Falls belongs to Disney.