Chapter 31: Mara's blessings - part 2

[24th - 25th of Morning Star 4E 202]

Raindrops falling down on the wooden roof of the inn in Falkreath woke us before dawn the next morning, but the sound of rain was quite soothing, so that we spent some more time in bed with cuddling, hugging and kissing. Eventually though, T'mara and I found out that we yearned for breakfast and got up; fortunately the innkeeper had something to eat ready, and we quickly ordered what we wanted. Iona soon joined us, and I suggested: "Iona, maybe you could take our collected loot and see if the local stores can take some of it; as far as I know, they have an alchemist, a general store, and a blacksmith here. You should also get a little more food for us so that it lasts until we get to Markarth. If memory serves me right, there is no other town on our way and we may have to camp outside for a night or two."

My lovely wife looked at me and asked: "Do you have an idea what I could do?"

I replied: "If you want, you could talk to a few people. If you prefer to avoid attention, why don't you go for a walk to the Falkreath Graveyard. Runil, the priest of Arkay there loves to chat with strangers, but he's unlikely to ask annoying questions. I will find out when I can talk to the Jarl."

With that I left and went to the town's longhouse. As expected, the Jarl was not yet on his seat at this early hour in the morning, so that I took my time to chat with both his housecarl and his steward. I hoped to learn more abut the recent history from Nenya, the Altmer steward: "How long have you been a steward?"

He was obviously was in a mood to talk and replied: "It was Dengeir who made me a steward, long ago when he was young. When Dengeir´s health began to fail, young Siddgeir was appointed Jarl in his stead. It was simpler just to keep me as steward. Siddgeir has no interest in running his hold, and so leaves such matters to me. As for my part, I do my best to see that folk are treated fairly."

I further asked, as I had not really learned about that before: "Why is your cemetery so large?"

The answer was: "Many battles have been fought here over the centuries. Graves were dug and monuments built, and the town grew around these. In time, Falkreath came to be known as the heroes' graveyard. Many noble Jarls and renowned warriors asked to be buried here. Falkreath´s reputation has faded somewhat, but the graves remain, reminding us of the one inevitable truth of life."

After some more chatting, the Jarl arrived and was ready for visitors. I approached, introduced myself, and told him about the bandits in Helgen as well as those at the overpass closer to Falkreath. When I told him that we had killed some bandits at Helgen and all of them at the overpass, he approved and told me: "Good to hear about that. Finally someone useful is around."

I noticed that he was waiting for a signal from me to hand out more tasks, but I took my leave and left the longhouse as quickly as I decently could, to talk back to the inn. There I found Iona just coming back, too, with a smaller backpack, but a larger coin purse, and Jordis was just having a late breakfast. When we are all ready, we stepped outside to find out that the rain had diminished to a light and tolerable drizzle, and T'mara was also coming back from the visit to the local graveyard. We did not waste any time and started to walk onward, pursuing our way to Markarth.

Passing 'Roadside Ruins' and the 'Falkreath Watchtower' to our left, I told my companions what I had learned in the longhouse and that I had managed to avoid being loaded with more work by the Jarl. T'mara told us that Runil, the priest, was looking for someone to retrieve a journal from a cave, and maybe we could help him at a later time. T'mara looked at us and asked: "Why is it that so many people just seem to wait for us passing by with lots of work and tasks and quests? Are there so few mercenaries and brave warriors around so that they all need us? This is almost surreal, and I try to avoid getting a bad conscience as we have to deny so many tasks."

Hearing that I nodded and commented: "I have thought the same before. There are a few mercenaries, but they charge a lot of gold for their service, and most citizens cannot afford that. There are also the Companions in Whiterun, but they also want to get paid. A lot of people need to get smaller things done, but can only afford to pay very little gold or, as with the Jarl of Falkreath, try to find stupid travelers doing annoying quests mostly for honor. And yes, I understand that it can feel bad that we cannot help everybody, but as Dragonborn you, T'mara, will need to stay focused, at least to a certain extent. We shall have to wisely select the tasks we do – may the Nine guide us!"

My companions smiled when they heard me saying "The Nine" rather than "The Eight"; we all knew that stating this in public would get us into trouble with the Thalmor. While we reached the main road, close to Lake Ilinalta, I continued: "The situation is a little better in Cyrodiil, where both the Fighter's Guild and the Mage's Guild have a branch in basically all cities. Citizens can come to the guild offices and ask for help. Sure, they also charge and they cannot do everything, but at least they try to charge less from poor people. Here in Skyrim, cities do not have guild offices. Outside of the College of Winterhold, you find wizards and mages only as court wizards and mercenaries, and expect for the Companions, there is no counterpart to the Cyrodiil Fighter's Guild."

Passing 'Half-Moon Mill', I further explained: "Not all of you may know that the Hero of Kvatch and Champion of Cyrodiil, who helped Martin Septim to close the gates to Oblivion at the end of the third era, was one of my ancestors. My family owns a few journals from him, and one of them tells about his rise in the Fighter's Guild. It was not mostly celebrating and drinking and having a good time, but he had to work hard for little money to get ahead and find approval by his peers. I think I read a section saying that they even had a competing organization for some time in one city."

T'mara looked up at me and started to muse: "You know, it would be good to establish a guild here in Skyrim, something like the 'Helper's Guild' or similar. We would help people, fight bandits and beasts, and do good deeds. This could be really nice!"

I nodded and agreed "Yes, it would. Maybe we can get back to that after the Dragonborn business is done."

Jordis cut in: "But the brave and altruistic guild members will have to eat something and maintain a place to sleep. Surely there must be some payment?"

Iona suggested: "Maybe they could take just a little money, and the respective Jarls might also be willing to provide some funding as compensation for the fights against bandits and such; kind of tax money at work."

Jordis, who had learned about the behavior the Jarl of Falkreath had displayed, objected: "Can you imagine Jarl Siddgeir actually paying money to a guild? I can't."

I nodded and commented: "No, probably not, but some other Jarls might."

For some time we walked silently and enjoyed the environment. The drizzle which had started early in the day had stopped, and the cloud cover was getting less dense, with occasional sun rays piercing through. While there was a lot of snow around us, the road was clear, and the ubiquitous mountain flower bordered the road on both side again. Another hour brought us the main road between Whiterun and Markarth and an old and very small settlement called Granite Hill. The sun was fully out now and we found a nice meadow for our lunch picnic close to the hamlet. T'mara asked how far we planned to walk today, and Jordis was the first to reply:

"Between here and Markarth there are no real towns or cities. However, there is an isolated inn few people know, and it is called 'Old Hroldan'. Some people believe it to be haunted, but if we hurry and walk until dusk, we could sleep there tonight – what do you think?"

After a quick discussion we agreed to head for that 'Old Hroldan Inn' and soon started walking again. Passing Fort Sungard, supposedly inhabited by Forsworn, the road was gradually descending down to the next river, and several mines were pointed out on both sides. Jordis had just mentioned casually that we had not encountered a dragon recently, when we heard a suspicious roar close by, and of course we all looked at Jordis accusingly, except T'mara, who said: "Don't blame Jordis – I would not mind getting another dragon soul – what are we waiting for?"

The dragon, which looked quite small, approached from the other side of the river and blew a frost path ahead of it. As we could see and hear the beast approach in time, we were able to properly coordinate our attack, and three flame balls of different intensity hit the beast almost at the same time. This was enough to bring it down, and it managed to crash on a tiny island in the river, just to be hit by bolts and arrows now. It had just enough time to raise its head and road once before it was hit by a "YOL" shout and perished. Jordis and Iona did not even had a chance to get involved in the fight.

Our destination was not far now and we managed to get there just when the sun disappeared behind the mountains. We were greeted by Eydis, the innkeeper: "Ah, visitors. Welcome to Old Hroldan Inn." We also greeted her and her son and asked for two rooms and dinner. When she noticed T'mara and me being quite close and found out that we were newlyweds, she smirked and asked: "I suppose you'll be wanting Tiber Septim´s room and bed, then?"

I was not sure that I had heard correctly and asked: "Tiber Septim´s room?"

The innkeeper smiled and confirmed: "That's right. In the Second Era, Tiber Septim himself led the army that conquered Old Hroldan from the barbarians of the Reach. Septim would later found the Empire that united Tamriel, but his first known battle and victory was right here. And this inn has the very bed the great general slept in on his first night as Old Hroldan's liberator. As good as it was hundreds of years ago. It's the big room with the double bed."

Her son Skuli added, looking proud: "Changed the linens myself. They're fresh."

Of course T'mara and I took the room, but first we sat down for a nice dinner. There was a choice of salmon and rabbit stew, and we all opted for the salmon. It was fresh from the river, and we enjoyed eating it. We seemed to be the only guests for the night, and no locals came in for a drink or two. Considering that this inn was, contrary to most other inns, not in a city or town but in a rather isolated location, this did not come as a surprise. We enjoyed the opportunity and relaxed around the fire with our drinks for some time before retiring to our rooms.

-

When my wife and I arrived in our room, she looked at me and smirked: "I have absorbed a dragon soul today – I guess you know what that implies?" I pretended to look sad and said: "Not a lot of sleep for me, I am afraid." She looked up at me and, while slowly undressing, replied: "You are correct! But I think that I may have to provide some more motivation, with the way you look like right now." As she was now getting out of her underwear, I utterly failed to look sad any longer and started to smile: "Well, it looks like you are already about to provide that motivation!"

I guess that we were just done with our third round of cuddling and making love, probably just past midnight, when I heard a loud scream from the inn's main room. T'mara and I looked at each other, quickly got dressed in tunics, and looked out of our room. The taproom was barely illuminated by the embers from the fire, and Eydis, the innkeeper, was staring at something which looked like a ghost at the other side of the room, sitting in a chair and drinking something. Eydis looked scared, but seemed happy to see us and excitedly told us: "Mara have mercy that gave me a fright. There's a... ghost. Just wandering around my inn like it owned the place." After a short break she continued: "I've heard stories that Old Hroldan was haunted, but no one´s seen a ghost here since the Great War. He's from the battle, I just know it. He's one of Tiber Septim's soldiers... back from the dead."

We approached the ghost, which did not look that scary to me, but before I could say anything the ghost, who looked like an old warrior, confronted me: "Hjalti? Is that you? I've been waiting." I sure wasn't Hjalti and told him so, but he didn't get it: "You promised me, Hjalti. You promised that when we sacked Hroldan, you would make me your sworn brother. And I've waited. Even after the enemies' arrows dug into my chest and their hammers crushed my bones. I've waited. Give me your sword, Hjalti. That we may become brothers as you promised." I responded: "I do not know where this sword is, but maybe we can help getting it back for you?" He concluded: "I long to taste battle again" and told us that the sword should be hidden in a placed called 'Red Eagle Redoubt'. With those words the ghost was gone again.

By now, of course, Iona and Jordis had also arrived in the taproom. Eydis had calmed down, and we promised her to see if we could find this sword, to hopefully redeem the poor ghost. As it was the middle of the night, we agreed to get back to our beds and discuss further plans at breakfast; with my wife´s needs for cuddling now satiated, even the two us were able to get some sleep.

We arrived for breakfast later than usual, but that was not a surprise after that night. Also, Markarth was less than a day's walk from here, so that we could afford to dawdle. While we were eating, Jordis looked at me and said: "My Thane, was there also a fight involved last night? You seem to have quite a bruise on your lower neck! That's not a vampire bite, or is it?" I was not aware of that and tried to look down, but this was not really in my area of view. T'mara also looked at me and suddenly turned away, quickly leaving the room. I was quite confused now; neither could I remember a fight nor did I understand my wife´s behavior. Iona finally had a look, too, and she started to chuckle, telling me: "Sorry about that, my thane. Judged by your wife's behavior and also as I have seem similar bruises before, I am quite sure that your lovely wife inflicted that upon you during what I assume to be an extended make out session last night." Suddenly I understood that it must be a hickey, and when I finally found something remotely resembling a mirror, I noticed that it was indeed big enough to be confused with a bruise from a fight or even a bite from a vampire. When the others found out that I had understood, they couldn't suppress some giggling, and I also started to laugh.

Right after the morning meal Jordis spread our map on the table and pointed out: "Look, that place 'Red Eagle Redoubt' should be accessible either from the south via 'Karthspire Camp' or from the west via the 'Kolskeggr Mine'. I'd suggest that we make that side trip on the way back from Markarth."

We all agreed to that plan and soon marched along merrily in the early sunshine towards Markarth. Just south of the inn we passed a few travelers praying at the Shrine of Dibella and then walked along the river. Just when we felt relaxed, we heard a whiz and an arrow hit T'mara, fortunately just nicking her skin and mostly scraping her armor. Immediately we all looked for cover and dove away; I had noticed that the arrow had come from a greater distance across the river and thus looked for a higher elevation on this side – I rushed around a corner and climbed up a small hill. From the top, after calming my breath, I soon saw a figure in dark clothes, barely visible thanks to probably a partial invisibility spell, sending more arrows to our side. I carefully aimed my crossbow and fired, hitting the person directly in the chest. Iona quickly crossed the river when they received a hand sign from me and dragged the corpse over to us, while I climbed down again.

To my horror, my wife was on the ground and not looking well. Jordis, who had stayed with T'mara, explained: "The arrow was most likely poisoned, so that even the small scratch got her down. However, I just fed her a 'cure poison' potion, and she should be up again soon."

While T'mara recovered, assisted by some healing spell cast by me, we searched the assassin's corpse and found out that the Dark Brotherhood had tried to assassinate T'mara again. Fortunately, my housecarl Jordis had had the potion ready quick enough, and half an hour later T'mara was ready to move on. A few hours later we were quite close to the city of Markarth, and for a few minutes we admired the sight of the stone city, which looked like it was carved out of the mountain. While we looked at the city and slowly proceeded towards the stables, I told T'mara that I had a home here – Vlindrel Hall – and a housecarl, Argis the Bulwark, as I had achieved the status of 'Thane of the Reach' a few years ago. I had not spent a lot of time here in Markarth at all, but it was a nice base of operations if one wanted to explore the Nordic and Dwemer ruins in the hold. I had given Argis permission to do some mercenary work and work on bounties while I was away, as it would not make sense for him to wait in the house all of the time while I was mostly busy somewhere else.

After entering the city, we proceeded to my home right away, and I invited everybody in. The house was large enough that we could all sleep here, and earlier on I had the stone beds enhanced by some softer layers on top. Argis was not here right now, which was all right for me. The larder was nicely filled, and Jordis volunteered to prepare dinner. After walking for several days, visiting the local inn and meeting Calcelmo could wait until tomorrow, and right after dinner we went to our respective rooms. I asked my wife if she was feeling fine again after the poisoning, and she confirmed, so that we could rest peacefully.