Chapter XXIX – A Friend
Aeyrin spent another day on an adventure with Farkas while Bishop recovered in the temple.
His wound was surprisingly not as bad as it initially looked, but she insisted that he has it fully treated nonetheless.
While clearing out a cave from wild animals, she was again reminded how uncomfortable she was with the Companions' pace.
Perhaps it was time for them to move on.
She had found a home and friendship among them – that was more than she could have hoped for, but she knew she would appreciate it more as a place to return to, rather than a place to spend all her days.
When Bishop returned from the temple that evening, she told him of her intention to get back on the road and he didn't even bother masking his relief.
He never told her about Vilkas's role in his injury – he wasn't about to stoop to that coward's level. It wasn't as if he was concerned for his safety – neither of the overgrown ice-brains had anything on him, but he was more than happy not to have to see their faces again, even if it was only for a time.
He even gladly suggested heading north to retrieve that relic the Greybeards wanted.
He never thought it was possible, but even the old fossils were somewhat preferable to the slobbering dogs at Jorrvaskr. Besides, he was curious to see Aeyrin standing up to the old men.
Hopefully, they would get a chance for her to train her Shouts a bit more, to show them just how little need of their 'restraint' she had.
Aeyrin told her newfound comrades that she and Bishop would leave in the morning.
The brothers tried to convince her otherwise, even suggesting that she needed more training. If that were true, she would certainly not get it by hanging back and watching their tails. Besides didn't she actually defeat Vilkas in combat? Why did they still act like she was an inexperienced whelp?
Aela and Skjor seemed to take the news more in stride, ensuring her that she had a place to stay whenever she returned to Whiterun. Aela even went out of her way to tell Bishop that he was always welcome in Jorrvaskr, and that if he ever decided to join their ranks, they would be proud to accept.
She did seem friendlier towards both of them once the initial suspicious glances subsided.
Bishop even found a worthy drinking companion in her – he rarely met someone who could match him drink for drink and still remain standing. She even promised that the next time they made their way to Whiterun, they would celebrate together and then go on a nighttime hunt to see which of them would return with more prey after getting plastered.
They all feasted and celebrated that night, enough to not be able to set out on their journey until the next afternoon.
…
"YOL!"
The tall marsh grass turned to ashes in a matter of seconds, but a nearby tree wasn't spared the flames either – the wood was damp from the humid air but it still caught fire easily.
"Is that our new campfire?" Bishop smirked in amusement.
"I didn't think it would reach the tree…" Aeyrin sighed, it was only the second time she tried that Shout, but it somehow seemed more potent than last time. Was that even possible?
"It's fine, now you know. Just go on," he gave her an encouraging nod as she turned back towards the piles of ash on the ground in front of her.
"FUS RO!"
The ashes were sent flying in the air with great force, far enough not to catch in their noses and throats. The burning tree was again not spared, toppling down fast and igniting another patch of tall grass.
Aeyrin sighed – that wasn't planned either.
"Didn't they say that more words meant more power?" Bishop asked, watching the flames subside slowly.
"I tried! It's like they come out on their own. I wanted to only say the first one," she huffed in frustration, burying her head in her hands.
"Relax, you barely started practicing this. Besides, you already managed to control it once, you'll manage again," he placed his hand on her shoulder in encouragement briefly before crouching down in the middle of the now cleared patch of ground and setting up a campfire.
She considered lighting the campfire with a Shout, but it would likely send all the stones and wood flying. Instead, she spread out her bedroll, fishing in her pack for some meat and mushrooms to throw on the fire.
Karnwyr finally approached them tentatively, lying by their feet. He seemed uneasy with Shouting, always looking around for danger, as if he wasn't aware that it was Aeyrin making those sounds. He was likely worried about dragons – he did retreat every time they encountered one.
It was for the best, battling dragons was difficult enough without having to worry about another member of their little band.
"This place is bleak," Aeyrin shivered again. It was getting increasingly cold as they traveled, but Bishop assured her that it was still nothing compared to the 'real north'. She didn't want to know what he considered 'real north', this was already a far cry from anything she even experienced in the Jerall Mountains, not to mention the grueling journey across the Stonehills to get to the cold swamps. The humidity of the marshes made the cold even worse.
"Yeah, Hjaalmarch is pretty drab. We should stop at Morthal on our way back for some supplies. Then you'll see 'bleak'," he smirked.
"You can come here, if you're cold," he grinned at her insolently, outstretching his arm in invitation.
She rolled her eyes, knowing that she would not escape the comments, but it was too tempting. The cold seemed to be seeping into her bones.
She huddled close to him, nestling her back into his chest as he draped a thick fur blanket around her shoulder, curling his arm across her stomach.
"So…"
"Stop," she interrupted him immediately, earning an amused chuckle from him.
She was a bit more at ease with getting closer to him after their talk in Brittleshin Pass, but she still had reservations. Back then, she missed the familiarity they shared sorely but now she was still not sure whether she was willing to let things get further.
Perhaps now when he wasn't the only person she had in Skyrim, things would be different, she wouldn't be that scared of losing him if their relationship turned sour.
But she wasn't ready to test that theory just yet.
…
They entered the ruins of Ustengrav in the morning, leaving Karnwyr hunting outside.
Aeyrin planned to practice her Shouts against enemies and the wolf was at times hard to keep track of in the fray.
It was another ancient barrow crawling with draugr and skeletons – therefore a perfect place to train her new fiery Shout.
They settled back into their comfortable combat routine, with Aeyrin adding her new powers into the repertoire from time to time.
She always had to make sure it was safe – that Bishop wasn't anywhere near the line of impact and that there wasn't anything that could compromise the structure of the ruin and tumble onto them.
After some time, she even managed to use only one word of her force Shout, controlling its impact.
The progress excited her.
Now she was confident that she could eventually master these powers and wield them effectively without fear of the consequences. Perhaps even absorbing the souls of the dragons wouldn't be so grueling after some time? Maybe she could eventually control that too. Not that she was complaining about the lack of opportunities – it was definitely not something that she was looking forward to.
They eventually reached an enormous, beautiful natural cavern in the depths of the ruin – the ceiling uncovered, there were tall trees springing from the ground and the sunlight made for a breathtaking scene in the eerie cavern.
It reminded them a bit of the Eldergleam sanctuary – with decidedly less greenery… and more undead.
Aeyrin heard the soft drumming, somewhere in the distance but she couldn't see the Wall anywhere.
The cavern was so large, it was hard to keep track of everything as the undead approached them from several directions. She tried to get herself into the fray but the drumming got louder and louder, distracting her and making her look around frantically every so often.
It seemed that the ancient tongue was insistent on calling to her.
She tried to calm herself, ignore the sounds and concentrating on battle, but it was becoming impossible.
She felt her heart racing in panic, her grip on her mace and shield a bit more unstable, as all she could hear was that incessant noise.
Bishop noticed her staggered movements from his vantage point. There was still a number of undead rushing towards her, but she didn't even seem to notice them, concentrating on a draugr that was already half-dead on the ground.
He did his best to thin the herd, hoping the direction of his arrows would tell her to watch her back, but she didn't even register his attacks. She turned on her heel several times, looking around, but she didn't stop her eyes at the direction of the approaching enemies.
Fuck, what was she doing?
Did she just drop her weapon?
She placed her free hand on the side of her head inexplicably. Bishop tried his best to get rid of anything that got near her but there were still several of them, running at her with weapons drawn.
"Shout!" he yelled at her, alerting the undead to his presence, but it wasn't as if they didn't have an easier target right in front of them.
She didn't react.
It was only when the creatures were upon her, one of them planting its axe against the chainmail on her flank when she yell out in pain, quickly reacting at their presence.
"YOL!"
The corpses around her burst into flames, only two of them remaining standing, easy enough to shoot in their staggered state.
He got rid of the creatures and rushed to her side.
"Ladyship, what the fuck?" he started to check her injuries as she crumpled to the ground, but there was no blood on her flank – the chainmail withheld the slash, she was likely only bruised.
She finally opened her eyes, but they looked out of focus.
It reminded him of the time when she almost got killed by the large draugr in Bleak Falls Barrow. It was when she saw that Wall.
Fuck, that was probably it.
He looked around the large cavern but he didn't see anything resembling the ancient runes. She said the Walls glowed, but he never saw that.
Then, he finally noticed a small ledge by the cobbled part of ruins where they were – it must have led lower into the cavern – that area didn't seem accessible from his vantage point.
He gathered her in his arms and rushed towards the ledge, noticing a winding pathway leading from it. It was strangely suspended and it looked rather unstable, but he didn't know what else to do.
Descending the pathway carefully, his feet finally hit solid ground at the bottom of the natural cavern.
There he trained his eyes on the carved Wall only a short distance away.
FEIM
She slowly returned to her senses, the incessant drumming finally subsiding and the black fog disappearing from before her eyes.
She was lying on the ground, Bishop crouching above her, looking her over worriedly.
She felt him take her into his arms before but she was too focused on the lack of sight and hearing to notice what was happening until she saw the glowing runes in front of her.
She collected herself, but flinched at the dull pain in her flank, remembering something hitting her there hard.
"An axe, didn't go through the chain," Bishop stated as she looked over her side with a frown.
"I remember, but I couldn't see or hear anything," she shook her head.
"That's… not good. Next time you start hearing that shit, let me know. Apparently we need to get you to these Walls fast."
Aeyrin gave him a weak smile, getting up with a little effort.
"You wanna try it out?" he asked and started walking away from her, putting himself a safe distance away, his back against the ancient Wall to make sure that he wouldn't be thrown across the entire room.
It would have been helpful if she actually understood those words, then they wouldn't have to take such measures for testing them.
"FEIM!"
They braced themselves for the destruction to come but instead a soft blue glow started to envelop Aeyrin's body.
There was a strange tingly feeling coursing through her and her skin started to appear transparent despite the new glow. Instinctively she reached out to a nearby rock, her hand flowing right through it as if it weren't even there.
It only lasted a short while, returning her body to normal in a minute or two with no ill effects.
"That might be useful next time a dragon tries to eat you," Bishop smirked as they made their way up the winding pathway back to the ruin.
…
The rest of the dungeon was filled with strange challenges, obviously designed for someone with the ability to use the Voice.
Aeyrin worried that they would hit a wall eventually, since she didn't really know many Shouts yet, but that luckily didn't happen.
The hordes of the undead thinned gradually, until they finally defeated one particularly persistent group of draugr in what appeared to be a significant chamber.
There was an altar in the middle with countless runes in the ancient dragon tongue all over it.
Bishop yelled out at her during the battle with the draugr, asking whether she heard the drumming again. He had no idea if the glowing words appeared only on the strange Walls or if any piece of dragon script could work like that.
Luckily, no such thing happened and they managed to dispose of their enemies with only a few scrapes and scratches.
They approached the altar tentatively, looking it over.
Four carved dragon head statues decorated the four edges of the piece and in the middle a stone hand was outstretched – empty as if waiting for an object to hold.
"Do you think that's where the horn was supposed to be?" Aeyrin frowned at the empty hand. It definitely looked like it was supposed to hold something.
"Don't know. Maybe not, maybe it's still somewhere further in. Who knows where it could be," he shrugged noncommittally, but the altar did look suspicions.
Aeyrin scoffed, again frustrated by her lack of knowledge on dragon language: "If you had a horn, where would you put it?"
Bishop's brows shot up, his expression turning into a lascivious grin in a second.
"Divines, you really need to get your mind out of the gutter," Aeyrin rolled her eyes, her cheeks flushing brightly, a small smile tugging at her mouth. She did walk into that one.
"Look!" he pointed to the ground below the altar, his smile disappearing as he picked up a folded note.
It definitely didn't spend a long time in the dungeon, there wasn't even any dust on it.
.
Dragonborn,
I need to speak to you.
Rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood, and I'll meet you.
A friend