Chapter 14
The eight travel through Skyrim's freezing cold northern mountainous region. Delphine fears that they will be lost within the unending blizzard, but Esbern seems convinced of the path.
"This is a perfect place for a frost troll ambush!" Ralof shouts from the rear of the caravan, "Be prepared for anything!"
"I wouldn't worry about that, I can see the college!" Esbern shouts, pointing forward. In the distance, Delhpine can barely make out the silhouette of a large keep.
They push on and soon find themselves at the entrance to a tiny remote village at the base of a mountain range and the edge of a cliff dropping into the sea. A large keep stands out on a pillar of land, with only a small stone bridge leading to it.
"IS that the mage's college?" Delphine asks.
"Yep, that's it. Only part of the city that wasn't damaged during the great Collapse" Esbern comments.
"the great what?" Lydia asks.
"The great collapse. Happened about eighty years ago, most of the city fell into the ocean, except the college." Esbern explains.
"Probably caused it" Vilkas growled. Farkas, Rolaf and Jon Battle-Born nodded in agreement, "Typical mages, always wrecking things."
"Typical nord brutes, blaming what they don't understand" Esbern replied.
The caravan passed through the small village slowly. There were a few homes, the Jarl's loghouse and an inn. A man storms out of one of the houses and headed towards the inn, "And you would have me do what, join the college and have me prance around casting spells all day!?" He shouts at wife, who is standing at the open door.
"Don't just walk away from me! Where do you think you're going!?" His wife shouts back.
"To the inn for a drink, of course! Where else could I even go in this gods-forsaken town?!" He spits back, before stomping off into the inn.
The woman sighs and slams her door shut.
"Guess people argue everywhere" Jon Battle-Born notes.
They stop at an open gate to the bridge leading to Winterhold. A high elf woman stands watch, dressed in elaborate looking robes.
"Cross the bridge at your own peril! The way is dangerous and the gate will not open for you. You shall not gain entrance!" She declares.
"This is the college of Winterhold?" Delphine asks.
"Yes, this place is a safe haven for mages and the pursuit of knowledge. You're kind do not belong here" She nods to Farkas and Vilkas in particular, "The companions do not value either."
"You don't about us. You don't know about respect" Farkas growls back.
Delphine steps between them, Easy now, we need to get in and see the library. It's important"
"A lot of important things happen here. And we don't anyone in." The high elf replies.
Delphine sighs, "Esbern, can you do something? You know the most about these people"
"Esbern? Esbern is here?" The high elf asks.
Esbern steps forward, "Yes, yes I am. Faralda, can you let us through?"
"Esbern! It's been a long time" Faralda is caught by surprise for a second, but then she regains her composure.
"I can let you in, but not you're company. This place is a haven from fools like them" She nods towards the Nords.
"We never said we wanted in. We'll be in the inn" Farkas growls back. He walks away, and the others follow him, except for Delphine.
"I said Esbern can come in, why don't you go back to the inn with your friends?" Faralda asks with distaste towards Delphine.
"No, this is important, I need to see the library." Delphine replies with equal distaste.
"Please Faralda, my friend here isn't some Nord brute, it is imperative she comes with us" Esbern steps in again.
Faralda glares at Delhpine for a moment, "Alright. Head on in."
The pair walk across the long brick bridge. It is slippery and treacherous, and only a long fall into freezing cold ocean waves lay below.
"This bridge must stay put with magic" Delphine notes.
"A lot of things in this world do" Esbern replies sarcastically. They reach the entrance to the keep, where a pair of wrought iron gates swing open, allowing them entrance. The inside of the college is cold and dark, and gives Delphine a feeling of loneliness. They walk through the cold sparsely populated halls.
"How many people actually study here?" Delphine asks.
"Not many. Around thirty, including the handful of students" Esbern replies with a hint of sadness to his voice.
"I knew the Nord's didn't like magic. But to be here and see it so... empty. I guess this is the truth of Skyrim's views towards the unknown." She looks out on the windows and sees only the unending cold sea on the horizon, only broken by floating sheets of ice.
"It wasn't always so empty. This place has seen better times" Esbern states, "Here we are, the library."
The library is lit up warmly with candles and lanterns. It is a large circular room with tall bookshelves and a few small tables. An old Orc with a long grey beard sits at the far end.
He eyes them as they enter, "Disrupt my library, and you shall be torn apart by angry Atronachs. I give only one warning." He growls threateningly.
Esbern snorts, "If I had a septim for every time I heard that. Listen, we're looking for a book."
They approach the old Orc librarian.
"You've come to the right place. I am Urag gro-Shub. What are you looking for?" He asks.
"I need a book called "Troll Slaying" Delphine inquires, "It is a very old story, from when the blades-"
"Yes, yes ,I know about the great troll hunts. You think I wouldn't? You're out of luck" The Librarian replies.
"What?!" Delphine shouts.
"Silence in my library!" The old orc bares jagged teeth, "We had the story you were looking for, but it was stolen."
"Stolen?!" Delphine feels much more angered than ever before, "We came all the way from Whiterun! Who stole the book!?" She demands.
The old orc laughs, "A savage woman not from these lands."
"Not from Skyrim?" Esbern asks. He has remained indifferent to the news of the book being stolen.
"No, not from Tamriel. From a different continent altogether. I don't know how she got here."
"Is she still here?" Delphine asks, "We really need to find this book"
"I believe so. From her brief visit here, she mentioned living up in the mountain ranges behind Windhelm."
"Has anyone from the college gone after her?" Delphine asks, "We can help them track her down, maybe bring her-"
"Not worth it. She stole an old book from another era about a threat long dead. No one here cares enough."
"Well it is a big deal now. Rivfader has returned. Riften, Morthaal and Falkreath have all been ransacked, and Whiterun could be next." Delphine explains.
this catches the orc's attention, "The Troll king is back? You should have opened with that. I never did like any of those cities... but if he can destroy Riften, he could pose a threat to the college..." The orc's voice trails off as he thinks to himself, ignoring Delphine's stressed expression.
"Listen here. I don't really believe you, but I believe you need this book more than we do. The woman who stole it is a dangerous druid savage. She goes by Masha Arhipova , and she is very dangerous. She rarely travels to Skyrim, but when she does, she lives in some cave overlooking Windhelm with a pack of wolves. I would only go after the book if it is of utmost importance, otherwise I would drop the whole attempt-"
"Master Gro-Shub! Master Gro-Shub! Winterhold is under attack! Frost trolls are attacking the village!" An apprentice rushes into the Library, "We have to do something!"
A frost troll smashes down the door to the inn and roars at the inhabitants.
"TROLL!" The innkeeper screams, pointing in disbelief at the snow white monster. It grabs the man who had been arguing with his wife and wraps his arm around his neck. With it's free claw it rips off the man's head, and blood fountains out across the inn.
"Kill the beast!" Farkas and Vilkas jumps to theirfeet, tossing aside two mugs of ale and drawing their swords. They charge the frost troll as a geyser of blood splatters against them from the decapitated torso. They hack and slash the beasts, cutting off one of it's arm and slicing open it's muscular abdomen, allow intestines to spill out onto the floor. It howls in pain and falls forward. Lydia draws her bow, sticks the end of one arrow in the fire and launches the flaming arrow into the dying beasts skull, igniting the body.
"We got it!" Jon Battle-Born punches the air in success, "This is a tale for the ages!"
"Gods, there's more of them outside!" Farkas shouts. He charges out into the street, quickly flanked by his brother.
"There's never only one" Ralof sighs. He draws his sword while Mjoll the Lioness grabs her battle axe, and they charge out into the freezing outdoors.
Esbern and Delphine sprint across the frozen bridge with a handful of battle mages who chose protecting Winterhold over their own safety, as the rest of the mages stay within the confines of the college.
"Someone help! To arms!" Faralda the high elf shouts as a frost troll charges her. A blast of fire erupts from her palms and explodes into the trolls face. The force of the blast propels it backwards into the air and it explodes on contact with the dirt.
The few guards of the city are struggling to hold off the monsters, as they freely pillage through the few homes and feast upon the residents.
"Blast em apart, use fire!" Faralda orders as the few battle mages begin launching magical missiles at the trolls.
Delphine draws her sword and rushes over to her companions. Farkas and Vilkas are in the midst of disemboweling a troll in the middle of the street while Ralof and Mjoll distract another troll while the guards attempt to regroup.
"Everyone alright!?" Delphine shouts to Lydia, whose standing at the entrance to the inn with Jon Battle-Born with bows drawn.
"They ripped off a man's head in there!" Lydia shouts back, letting loose an arrow into a fleeing troll.
"I think they're retreating!" Jon Battle-Born yells excitedly. His expression changes to fear as several frost trolls charge from an alleyway straight into the flank of the battle mages. Only one is able to counter with a gigantic ball of fire, lighting the other mages aflame. The force of the explosion sends mage and troll debris flying across the small village.
"Typical Mages!" Farkas laughs while beheading a dying troll.
The Jarls longhouse bursts open and a terrifired man screams, "They've killed the Jarl! They've killed the Jarl! NO!" A troll grabs him from behind and drags him inside the longhouse. Delphine sees a chunk of his entrails fly across the room a moment later.
"Damn it!" One of the guards shouts, and he charges into the longhouse, followed by a couple others.
Faralda runs over to them, "If you've got what ever you came for, I suggest you leave now! We're sealing the college, there's nothing more to be done here!" She turns around and runs back to the bridge.
"Damn it, we can still save this place!" Ralof protests, but Farkas cuts over him, "No, she's right. Did you get the book?" He demands.
Delphine shakes her head, "No, but we know where to go. A woman living on the mountains north of Windhelm has it"
"You're kidding , right?" Mjoll demands angrily, letting out a fake laugh, "We travel all this way to leave after twenty minutes?! This is a terrible joke!"
"We're wasting time, we have to move, get to the horses!" Delphine orders.
They find the horses tied up to a hitching post behind the inn, but a frost troll is in the midst of devouring one of them. Another is already dead.
"Damn it!" Delphine screams angrily. The troll looks over it's shoulder at them, and a moment later an arrow pierces through it's eye and skull.
"Nice shot" Mjoll compliments Lydia.
"Someone's going to have to pair up, whose it going to be?" Delphine asked. Before any of them can answer, a guard starts screaming, "More trolls! God's help us!"
Farkas steps forward, "Me and Vilkas will stay behind and hold them off. We will find a way to meet up later." He draws his sword and rushes around to the pleading guard, quickly flanked by his ever silent brother Vilkas.
"Alright, let's go!" Delphine orders, and they saddle up.
As they rush out of town, half a dozen frost trolls bare down on the two companions. The guards and villagers are all slaughtered, staining the snow red.
Delphine looks over her shoulder to see the trolls surround and beat down on Vilkas and Farkas. They never stood a chance.
Farkas stabs one of the frost trolls imediately, and it's weight knocks him to the ground while two more tear through the joints in his armor, quickly eviscerating him.
Vilkas see's his brother cut down as a troll wrestles him to the ground. It bares it's fangs an inch from his face before giving into rage and beating him with it's fists.
In a stressed moment, Vilkas give's into an animal sense of hatred and anger.
Ralof is taking up the rear of the escaping crew, and he dares one look back at the falling companions. Th snow storm makes it difficult for him to see, but he swears he see's a troll getting thrown across the village by a large hairy beast that pushes it's way out of the trolls.
The six barely escape with their lives as a ghostly wolf's howl echoes through the mountainside.
Faralda escapes into the courtyard of the mages college. The archamge and a couple others are having a hurried discussion.
She rushes over to them , "Winterhold is destroyed! Frost Trolls have killed everyone!" She cries out.
"Do not fear, you are safe here!" The Archamge attempts to comfort her, but a scarred looking apprentice interrupts them.
"Archmage! Trolls have breached the college from the tunnels underneathe the midden! There's dozens of them! Maybe a hundred!"
"By the God's! Rally the Battle mages! Prepare yourself!" The Archamge orders as trolls charge through the halls and ambush the few residents of the college, proving even magic cannot hold back the return of the Trollking.