Chapter Eleven
It didn't take long for Erik, Alinja and Meeko to take care of the other two bandits that were squatting inside the entrance.
"They were talking about the golden claw." Alinja muttered to Erik. "Lucan and Camilla didn't tell us about this Arvel guy."
Erik shrugged. "Sounds like he's some kind of leader of this band of bandits."
They trudged on, eventually coming to a doorway.
"Wait," Alinja pulled Erik and Meeko to the shadows. "There's someone there."
"It just looks like another bandit," Erik replied, "come on, we can take him."
"Hold on," Alinja pulled him back to her, "what's he doing?"
They watched as the bandit stalked over to a leaver that was situated in the centre of the room he was in. Placing his torch on the ground, he used both hands to pull the leaver. Both Alinja and Erik's eyebrows shot up at a hail of darts barraged down towards him and they helplessly looked on as the bandit was implanted with the needle like trap. He screamed in agony and hit the ground, writhing in pain and eventually vomiting uncontrollably before falling limp, blood slowly trickling out of his nose and eyes.
The three of them stood up and cautiously approached the room once the darts had stopped flying. The room was similar to the others, as it had stone walls and floors, with wooden ledges and ramps. A heavy iron rate stood on the other side of the room. Something to Alinja's left caught her eye. She turned her head and faced three strange looking stones. They were erect and slightly pointed at the top, but cut like a three sided pyramid. She walked over to them. They each had a picture of an animal engraved on their surfaces. The first depicted an eagle; the second looked like a whale and third, another eagle.
"Erik," Alinja called, "come and look at this."
"What are they?" He asked.
"I'm not sure." She looked hard at the stones. "I don't understand."
"Woof!" Meeko barked, his voice echoing throughout the ruin.
"Hush Meeko, there might be…" Alinja stopped when she saw what he was pointing his nose at. He was looking up at the next level of the room. Resting on the ledge were two stones that looked like the ones on the ground, however another seemed to have fallen from its perch. "Erik, look." She pointed to where Meeko was looking and he came over and stared at the higher stones.
"They look like these ones." He murmured. "This still doesn't…hang on." He glanced at the lever and then at the stones. "I think it's some sort of code? Can we move these ones?" He shifted over to the stones on the ground and took hold of the first one. "What is the first stone on the second level?"
Alinja looked up, but then realised that the first of the stones on the second level was the one that had fallen. "Um, it's…it's a snake."
Erik heaved the stone, twisting it to the right. It ground against its stone socket stubbornly, but gave way and turned successfully. The picture now depicted a snake, matching the two first stones.
"Ok," he said, moving to the next stone. "What's the next one?"
"Another snake." Alinja confirmed.
He twisted the second stone, but it was the wrong animal. He twisted again, this time matching the ground level snake to the second level snake.
"Yep, and the last one?" He called.
"It's a whale."
Erik turned the third stone twice and all the stone matched each other.
"Should we try?" He asked Alinja.
She nodded uncertainly.
"I'll do it." Erik said, bravely. "Go for cover with Meeko."
"No," Alinja replied. "We should do it together."
Erik's face relaxed into an expression on approval and they held the lever together, breathed in slowly and heaved. The lever creaked but didn't put up a fight as they pushed it to the other side. There were a few seconds as they froze, awaiting what would happen next, but to their relief, the gate opened and no darts came flying towards them.
The three companions walked past the door and down a spiral of wooden stairs, taking care of a few skeevers. As they were rounding a corner, they heard terrified voice cry out.
"Is…is someone coming? Is that you Harknir? Bjorn? Soling? I know I ran ahead with the claw, but I need help!"
"The claw?" Alinja looked at Erik who raised an eyebrow at her.
"Looks like we found Arvel." He grinned.
They hurried around another corner, but stopped dead. There was a doorway, however, it was completely covered with spider webs.
"Exactly how big does a spider have to be to make such thick and large webs?" Alinja squeaked. She had never liked spiders. Even the small ones that stay in a corner on the other side of her room. She had always had Erik or Mralki kill them for her.
"Don't worry, Ali." Erik tried to comfort her. "We've killed worse things than spiders."
"But…"
Before she could finish her protest, Erik cut through the webs, giving them an entrance. Erik charged in, beckoning his partners to follow him. Meeko trotted through and Alinja carefully shifted uncomfortably through the webs, trying not to touch any them.
"It doesn't look like there are any spiders here." Erik said, looking around. "Come on Ali, it's fine."
She nodded uncertainly, scanning her surroundings. "O-Okay."
"Help me! Help!"
They snapped their heads to the other side of the web filled room. A dark elf man was stuck in the spider web that was blocking the other exit.
"Are you Arvel?" Erik asked as they walked towards him.
"What?" Arvel replied, struggling to get out of the sticky webbing. "Who are you? Oh, never mind. Cut me down before that thing gets us!"
"What thing?" Alinja asked hastily, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"No…" Arvel whispered. "Not again…" His haze rose above the heads of the nords. "Help !"
Slowly, Alinja and Erik turned around and looked up. Alinja thought she would faint for hanging by a web from the ceiling that was as thick as a rope, was a Giant Frostbite spider. Its enormous overgrown fangs were dripping with acidic venom. Each of its eight legs were as thick as a house beam and each ended with a sharp hook. Hairs sprouted out of its legs and large snapping pincers erected from its abdomen. Six blazing hot red eyes focused on its intruders. It landed right in front of them and screeched, renewing any fear Alinja may have lost of spiders.
"Keep it away from me!" Arvel screamed, fear roaring in his voice.
"Come on Alinja," Erik said, trying to keep calm, but sweat was beading on his brow.
"E-Erik…" Alinja stuttered, "I'm…I…I'm afraid."
"Just keep—" Before he could finish the Giant Spider attacked.
It smashed its front legs towards them. The three were able to dodge the attack. Meeko barked and leapt to attack the spider from the back, but because of where its eyes were situated, it saw the husky coming and used its back legs to sweep right, knocking the dog against a wall. Meeko yelped in pain and fell the ground.
"Meeko!" Erik cried, running towards the spider. He swung his blade at the beast, cutting off one of its legs.
Unfortunately, spiders have seven more and it didn't take long for it to recuperate and focus its anger on its new attacker. It screeched and lunged towards him, knocking him to the ground. Erik's sword was flung out of his hands as his head hit the wall, the force caused blood to trickle from his nose. The spider's mouth opened, revealing sharp pointed teeth, fangs excreting venom. Erik looked at where his sword had landed and tried to reach for it, but the beast's hooked leg smashed the ground in front of it.
"Alinja!" Erik cried for her assistance.
"I'm coming!" She drew her sword and bravely headed towards the Giant Spider.
She swung once and sank her blade into one of its back legs, but unlike Erik's attack she didn't cut the whole thing off in one strike. The spider hissed and turned its attention from Erik to Alinja. She immediately lost her grip on her sword so it remained in the spider's leg as it turned around to face her. Alinja felt the colour drain from her face as her hear skipped a beat. She looked the creature dead in the eye. She was too afraid to move, but she couldn't do nothing. Her companion's lives were in danger. She gathered all the courage and strength within her and faced her opponent. Breathing in, her hand rolled into fists.
"Leave us a-LONE!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.
Just as she was about to reach for her dagger, the walls and ceiling around her shook violently. Part of the ceiling cracked and began to fall. Both Alinja and the spider looked up to see a large chunk of stone fall towards them. Alinja was able to nimbly move out of the way, but the large, lumbering creature couldn't move out of the way quick enough and fell victim to the heavy object. It landed on its head, smashing it like one would do to a smaller spider. Green liquid sprayed everywhere, painting the walls and floor. The shaking ceased as soon as it started. Panting, Alinja looked around for her friends.
"Erik!" She called. "Meeko!"
"Yeah," Erik emerged out of some debris. "I'm okay. Where's Meeko?"
"Meeko!" Alinja called.
"Woof!" Meeko came out of a corner and shook off dirt.
She breathed a sigh of relief and patted his head, affectionately. "Are you okay, Erik?"
"Yeah," he looked uncertainly at her. "But what happened? Everything just…shook when you shouted. Do you have some sort of super power that I don't know about?"
"Trust me," Alinja replied, "if I had any type of super power, you'd be the first to know." She moved closer to him and licked her thumb, wiping away the blood from his nose. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Nothing but a headache." He joked. They smiled at each other, holding each other's gaze until they heard struggling.
"You! Over here!" Arvel shouted angrily. "Get me down! Get me down!"
"Okay, we're coming." Alinja called heading over to the squished spider and retrieving her sword.
"You did it, you killed it." Arvel breathed a sigh of relief. "Now cut me down before anything else shows up."
"Where's the golden claw?" Erik asked, sheathing his sword.
"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!" Arvel struggled a bit. "Help me down and I'll show you. You won't believe the power the Nords have hidden there."
"Give us the claw first!" Alinja demanded.
"Does it look like I can move?" Arvel barked. "You have to cut me down first!"
"Fine."
"Sweet breath of Arkay, thankyou"
She took her sword out and cut around the elf.
"It's coming loose. I can feel it." Arvel remarked.
He was finally freed and he grunted as he hit the ground. Erik, Alinja and Meeko stood back and the bandit leader stood…turned and ran in the other direction.
"You fools! Why would I share the treasure with anyone?" He called over his shoulder.
"Did he really try to run away?" Alinja asked Erik.
"Yeah." He sighed. "Meeko," he looked at his furry companion. "Fetch."
"Woof! Woof!" Meeko barked, bared his teeth and chased after the escaping Dunmer.
The Nords leisurely walked after them, knowing that Arvel could never outrun a canine. When they caught up with them, Meeko had already taken care of the elf and was holding the golden claw in his mouth.
"Good dog!" Alinja cooed and rubbed his head and retrieved the claw. "We have the claw."
"Now all we need to get is the Dragonstone." Erik said, placing his hands on his hips. "Wait a minute." He bent over and looked at the pack Arvel was wearing. "There's something else in here."
"Well it is a pack, Erik." Alinja said dismissively.
Erik took out a journal from the pack and opened it. "Apparently his name was 'Arvel the Swift'." He looked closer at the book. "Hey, Ali, listen to this: 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 now idea that his favourite 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…"
"Erik where is this going?" Alinja asked impatiently. "We still have to—"
"Wait listen to this part!" Erik was getting excited. "The legend says there is a test that the ancient 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'." Erik looked up from the journal. "I think that the claw is some type of key. It may be an important piece to this treasure thing he was talking about."
"Erik," Alinja's eyebrows slightly furrowed in thought. "Do you think that the treasure is…the Dragonstone?"
Erik's eyes widened. "You may be right. We'll definitely need it if we are to get to the Stone, then."
They walked past the dead and mangled body of Arvel the Swift and into the next chamber. They both gasped and stood frozen.
"Erik…do you see this?" Alinja breathed.
"Well, it is to be expected in a place like this." He replied, gazing slightly fearfully at the dead bodies laid to rest on the tomb shelves.
"You…" Alinja almost stopped herself from saying it. "You don't think that they'll…come alive will you? Like Hadvar had said?"
"You mean those dreams he talked about having of draugr waking up and climbing through your window at night?" Erik muttered. "Nah, I…don't think so."
"Even though we just fought an overgrown spider?" She pressed. "I really don't feel comfortable in a place like this…"
"Come on, let's just keep going." He grabbed her hand and lead her past the bodies and to the other side of the room, however they stopped when they came to the doorway. "Who put traps here?"
Swinging before them was a trap that consisted of blades attached to long poles that was swinging from side to side dangerously. On the other side of the trap was a lever.
"Hey, do you think that lever on the other side stops this?" Erik asked.
"I think the draugr put this trap here." Alinja wasn't listening.
"Alinja," Erik sighed. "There is no such thing as draugr. That's just a tale to keep children in line. These are just the bodies of the ancient deceased. Now come on, we have to time this right if we want to get to the other side."
"Ha ha ha ha."
"What are you laughing at?" Erik frowned.
"That wasn't me…" Alinja squeaked, a chill running down her spine.
They slowly turned around to be faced with three walking draugr.
*Dedicated to the Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan who were executed in Indonesia and their family and friends. RIP*
