I had a mild heart attack when I went to the stables and saw no sign of my baby girl. But of course not, she's back at the stables at Winterhold because I've been travelling by Vampire, Ship and Dragon these last few days.
Not that it would have mattered if Epony was here or not.
Farkas made it clear we'd be running to our destination.

Chapter 53.


The midday sun was beating down on my head as we took rest at a river.
All-day we'd been running through the plains of Whiterun, working up a sweat and hunger. That 'breakfast' if you can call it that did little more than wet my appetite, yet all I'm permitted to have for the rest of today is water.
I'll admit I felt a little grossed out drinking from the steam. All I could think about was what I'm not seeing four miles up steam. A dead animal? Someone washing their clothes? Bathing perhaps. Or maybe some Dickhole is pissing in this river, which I'm about to take a handful of.
"ugh, this is my life now…" I sighed as I meekly took a sip from my hands.

"Here, borrow this"

I looked up to see a flask of water being handed to me.

"Oh you beautiful man!" I popped the cork off and took a long drink before handing it back. "Thank you so much…" I felt so refreshed after that, but then I saw Farkas dip the bottle in the stream to refill and then I felt ill.
Sanitation is lost on these people, and this is my life now.

"We should keep moving. Not much further until we reach Dustman's Cairn"

Farkas walked through the shallow stream and climbed out of the banks on the other side to continue our long jog across the Whiterun plains.


I'm starting to think Niik might be onto something when he talks about how many sweets I eat. Then again, considering how little actual running I've been doing, my cardio is much lower than it usually is on other assignments as I'm usually not able to use a wagon or ask the hero for breaks so I can have a rest.
Maybe this little running with wolves session is what I need.
A chance to raise my fitness, overcome this physical barrier I've erected through so much reliance on Epony's wagon, and the Dragonborn's lax attitude towards his journey.
Today, with Farkas as my teacher, I begin my training to be a real asset to the team.

"Need a rest?"

"Oh god yes!" I wheezed, feeling blood pulsing in my face while every breath tasted of iron.
It may not be ladylike to spit, but I had such a build-up at the back of my mouth.
Running is Evil! Why do people do it?

"Are you hungry?" Farkas asked.

"Starving, now that you mention it…" I looked up, hoping he was going to present me with some snacks.

"Over there…" Farkas pointed out into the bush. I could see a stag and three deer chewing on some grass. "Keep your eyes fixed on them…"
I watched them, but nothing happened. Watching deer eat grass did nothing to calm my apatite.
"Feel that pit in your stomach, that growling need to eat. You're a wolf, they're your prey! Answer the call to hunt, Robin!"
Farkas sounded very into what he was saying, but it wasn't doing anything for me. If anything it was putting me off.

"I thought we were looking for Silver-Hands?"

"We are, but I'm meant to be coaching you too"
Farkas gave me some more time to watch the deer, all while muttering encouragement in my ear.
But it didn't work.
"Okay… I'm not really meant to do this…"

"Do what?"

Farkas reached into a small pouch he was carrying and produced a cheese smothered bread roll.

"oh… you bright that for me?"

"I thought you might be hungry"

"That's really sweet of you, but really… I, I can't touch that stuff now I know how it's made…" Forget my previous thought. I can't.


I took some time to stretch out my spine and the quite picturesque landscape before me.
I could no longer see Whiterun from this distance. Too many hills in the way, but I could clearly see the mountain just behind the city.
"That up there, that's where the Dragon people live, right?"

"The greybeards? Yes"

I was reminded by Niik's task of making me run a short portion of the climb, then having me fight the troll. Couldn't even get a good night of sleep after all that.

"Hey, Farkas. How much further until we arrive?" I pulled and rolled my shoulders waiting for his answer.

All he did was point to a small mound behind us. "It's in there"

"say what?" Following his lead up the mound, I found the hill was hallowed out stone.

Someone had gone and dug out a small tomb in the middle of this massive field.
Not as bad as erecting giant limestone triangles in the middle of a sandy wasteland, but still a bit random for all the effort.
Then again, the dead do tend to wake in this world.
Having their tomb this far out might be a good call.

"We tracked branch of the Silverhand here, but with so many of us dying off, most want to find the rat that's feeding us the poison first"

"So we break in, find them, interrogate them, then get stab happy?"

"Exactly"

I nodded along with the plan. I don't have all the details of what's going on, so I'll leave the questioning to him.
I'll handle the stabby bits. For Niik and Serana, for those who died under my protection, and for spooking my baby!

After climbing down the into the inner part of the mound, I had to pick the lock on the stone door, but even then it wouldn't open.

"Let me try" Farkas pulled out his sword and slipped it between the double doors.
He slipped the blade up to about halfway before meeting resistance.
"Hold this" He gave me the handle then sat against the door, letting the blade rest on his armoured shoulder as if it were a fulcrum.
I was to pull down on the hilt like a leaver, and with enough pressure, the blade shot up on the opposing side suddenly, and we heard something hit the floor on the other side of the door.
"Darn, I hope that wasn't too loud…" Farkas stood back up and placed his sword back in its scabbard. "Watch the door, but don't go until I make the torch"

Deep within I could hear grizzling and snarling. Sounds I recall from close encounters with zombies under Windhelm.
The wooden beam securing the door woke them, but I didn't see movement.
Maybe if it's too dark for me, it's too dark for them?
Then again, I'm in the light. They should be able to see me, assuming the corridor is straight.
But after a minute or two, it quietened back down.

"See anything?"

"No…" I turned to see what was keeping him. But he was hard at work fashioning a torch out of some linen wraps and a thick branch he'd picked up along the way. "oh, and there I thought you brought that because you wanted to play fetch~"

"Very funny" He muttered as he sparked the torch alight. "Keep close, we already have an idea of what's waiting for us down there"
Farkas led the way with the torch while I kept a watchful eye on the various cobwebs clinging to support beams and encasing urns near the walls.

"Probably a bad time but, I'm something of an arachnophobe. If you see a spider, try to destroy it. Otherwise, your friends back home are gonna hear my scream"

Farkas looked over his shoulder to me.
Niik would have given me some offhand comment, or just smirked to himself.
But he stayed silent.

As we walked deeper, I noticed the smell. It was reminiscent of the Dawnguard, but a lot worse.
There, it was just uncomfortable and obnoxious. This odder was so rancid it was burning my nose.

"So eh…" I heard a crunch under my foot. Looking down I could see glinting white magots crawling around the floor. Not my biggest fear, but gross as hell.

Farkas held a finger to his lips and gestured to the corpses resting on various stone shelves in the walls.

"Just don't get louder than talking, otherwise you'll wake the Draugr again and we'll have to fight them too"

I looked around at all the husky grey bodies surrounding me.
Some of them had open tears in their long since rotted flesh and beasties were dripping onto the floor.
"I thought they need a wizard to wake up, or a necromancer?"

Farkas led me on as he explained that 'restless draugr' will wake up if someone desecrates the tomb or makes too much noise like we had earlier, but if they can't find anything out of the ordinary, they'll go back to 'sleep'.

"Okay…" Knowing this about the draugr, I found myself empathising with them more and more.
Sometimes you just want to lie in. I'd definitely start snarling and swinging my sword at anyone breaking into my bedroom, making noise and waking me up.
"Me and the draugr have more in common that I-…" Because I was musing to myself, I didn't notice Farkas duck under a hanging cobweb until my face was tangled. Some of it even got sucked in my noise and mouth from the fright it gave me.
Shivering as though an icicle had formed in the middle of my ribs, my face scrunched up so tight my jaw could crush coal into diamonds.
I tried to back away, but it clung to me.
"g-get off!" I cried breathlessly as I pulled my head away and wiped the evil silk threads from my face.

"Are you hurt?" Farkas set the webs alight. They smouldered out in milliseconds. "you want to use this?" He offered me the torch.

"thank you" In my hands, it becomes a magic wand that casts off the terror in this place. Every web that comes even remotely close to me got set on fire.
No spiders were hurt though. If I saw anything with eight legs, I'd have dropped my wand and fled already.

"Hold still a moment…" Farkas was patting my shoulder before I had a chance to ask what he was doing. "You had a tiny one on you"

I didn't need to ask what he was talking about. This is my personal hell. I've been to actual hell. This is worse.
"I can't do this…" My chest felt super tight. The reason was I hadn't taken a breath in a while.

"We've come this far"

I shook my head. "No… I can't do this… I can't…" I looked at the way we came.

We're not very far in but, between failing to complete the task and facing untold demons, I don't know which I hate more. "Are draugr hard to kill?"

"Not especially, they're just-… wait!"

I grabbed a candlestick off the floor and tossed it back towards the entrance as hard as I could.
The metal clattered and rang, prompting snarls and the squelching sounds of bodies emerging from their sleep.

"What did you do that for?" Farkas asked as we backed up away from the undead before they saw us.

"I guess… we have no choice but to keep going now…"

With Farkas at my back and a firm grip of the torch, I led the march into the deeper passages.
Fortunately, the further in we went, the fewer webs appeared. I guess all the beasties like to stay near the entrance, but just thinking about them creeps me out.

"Is that a light up ahead?" Farkas stepped in front of me so my flame wasn't glaring his view. "Put the torch down"

Doing as asked, I watched with sadness as he stomped my saving flame out.

"It can be relit, keep it for now" He handed it back to me before taking lead once again.

We listened for any sounds as we snuck up towards the light, but none could be heard. As we emerged from the tunnel, we were led to a raised walkway overlooking a wide room lit with candles and torches.
I had to keep reminding myself that I'm underground because these Skylanders are apparently master diggers when it comes to their elaborate tombs.

There were no draugr, restless or otherwise, as far as I could see. But there were piles of glinting shinies on tables. Straw targets for arrows.
But I also saw something nailed to a rack.

"Farkas, are you alright?" I asked, realising that I was looking at a dead wolf pinned to a frame with gashes and stab marks all down its body.

"Not one of ours…" Farkas growled. "The entire pack would be with us if it were"

I still gave him a moment of silence to compose himself if needed. I used some of the time to look around.
"I don't see anyone… should we advance?"

"Carefully… Someone lit those candles…" Farkas kept his wits about him, as did I as we descended the stairs into the main room.


Farkas took a minute to observe the dead werewolf up close while I investigated the tables for clues.
This is a Silverhand base without a doubt, but if they're not home right now then stealing their funds would be a start in dismantling them.
But how to suggest it without sounding greedy?
In one small room, I came across a knapsack filled with ten solid gold ingots.
"Hey uh, Farkas?" I pulled the back from the pedestal. The weight caught me off guard just a little, but I managed not to drop it. Even if I had, that wouldn't be the worst part of it.
After the weight was removed, the pedestal raised higher, triggering a gate to slam down from the ceiling between me and Farkas.
I didn't care about noise at this point, the gold hit the floor and I rushed to try and shift the gate.

"Now look what you've done…" Farkas sighed, looking at the gold on the floor.

"yeah…" I lowered my head. "I feel like a real booby for setting off such an obvious trap…"
Farkas supervised me stacking the gold back one at a time onto the pedestal, but the trap would be pretty lame if that was all it took to disarm it. It was worth a try though.
"Anything on your end you can do?" I asked.

Farkas dropped his great sword from his back scabbard and approached the bars.
Bending down slightly, he grabbed on and attempted to lift them.

"Remember to lift with your legs"

He let go for a minute, looking at himself and the bars. "How would that work?"

I didn't want to insult his intelligence, but I don't know how to explain it in a way that doesn't.
So instead, I just I too grabbed the bars with him. I doubt I'll make a difference. But together, with Lots of effort, we were able to get the bars to at least budge.

I can see this working. If we get it high enough and he's able to hold it in place, I could crawl under.

"This is… heavy!" Farkas grunted.

"Yeah, no kidding…" I could see his face turning red when I opened my eyes for just a moment. Long enough to see we weren't alone anymore. "Watch out!"
I pulled away from the bar. Farkas looked behind himself and saw the eight guards watching us with wide grins.

"Oh no, please continue!" One laughed. "I have fifty septims on you actually getting it up"

If I wasn't helplessly trapped with my only ally outnumbered, I'd have tried to deflect that comment of his.
But Farkas, he stood still.

"Let's go, dog!" One of them charged at Farkas.

Farkas grabbed the man's sword arm and punched him in the throat before taking the weapon and slicing him with.

With the sword held above his head, Farkas threatened to toss the blade at them.

That threat was enough to keep them from advancing at once, but they were ready to pounce at once as soon as the blade leaves Farkas' hand.

Instead, Farkas started coughing. Deep, throaty coughs that got louder and more violent, starting to sound more like barks.

Finally tossing the blade at the one closest to him, Farkas used the seconds he had left to tear off his armour and burst into his werewolf form.
He stood tall on his hindlegs, outstretched claws threatening to tear apart anyone bold enough to come near him.

Farkas roared so loud I thought the sound was inside my own head. It was terrifying.
He tore one's arm off, while three others ganged up on him.
Farkas bled from several deep stabs, but his claws may as well be swords themselves. He tore through armour and flesh alike before pouncing on the last one.
His open jaws bit down on the man's shoulder and tore off a huge chunk of flesh.
None of them died right away, but all died gargling their own blood.

I got Cinder Mines flashbacks. This is the second time I've watched behind closed bars as a monster tore people apart.
Farkas's wolf approached the bars, so I backed against the wall.
His fingers were like long black bananas with claws like knives.
He reached under the bars and with much less effort, lifted the door open.

"F-Farkas!" I screamed, cowering low. "It's me!" I took a silver sword and pointed it at him. There's no way I can beat him.

I should have seen this coming. Death by hulking wolfman from another dimension.
Darn that oddly specific and impeccably accurate fortune cookie.

Farkas stared at me from under the gate. Baring his teeth more as he looked on angrily then barked at me.

I kept the sword drawn, and pointed at him. But he just stood there, his knees starting ht buckle under the weight. But why isn't he attacking yet?
"are… you letting me out?"

He barked again, nodding his wolf head.

"oh…" I lowered the sword and slipped out from under the bars.

Once out, I gave him space to drop the gate. At this point, I felt safe enough to ditch the sword and see if he was okay.
The slashes all down his body remained, but the bleeding stopped.
Only now did I notice the bag attached to his back. It actually does work. If he were chasing someone long distance, he'd have a change of clothes for when he turns back.
Speaking of which, Farkas knelt on all fours. His body shook and started to break inward. Bald patches in his fur appeared more and more, showing that his cuts had become mere scratches until soon he had fully turned into the man I knew five minutes ago. Sans his clothes, and showing of his muscular frame.

"Nice..." I muttered before I could think.

"You say something?"

"Ice! We should put ice on your wounds when we get back!" I looked away to hide my blush, but watched from the corner of my eye as he got back into his armour.

The thought now occurs to me that this will be me, once or twice a month at random intervals.
What if I don't have my bag with me? I'll be outside in the harsh climates of Skyrim, naked…
"This is my life now…" I sighed to myself as Farkas retrieved his greatsword and led our assault deeper into the tomb where no doubt, more Silvers await.


Author: Hey Record. I have a question.
Robin: Oh not this again… for the last time, I'm not a robot! Idon'tthink…
Author: So you're a time traveller. Not allowed to interfere with events of the past. You work for higher ups, at the Academy, where you were sent at a young age.
Robin: yes...?
Author: Are you a Timelord?
Robin: … Yes, Author. I'm a f*cking Timelady from Gallifrey!
Author: Cool #Cannon!
Robin: Wouldn't be the worst retcon in recent memory…