Author's note:
The chapter about Agda was quiet boring, so I decided to introduce some action by posting another chapter.
If you have any critic/suggestion/whatever, do feel free to leave a review - this is my first fanfic, therefore I'd really love to hear your comments about it.
Thank you for reading!
25th of First Seed, 4E 201
Being the newest girl in town surely had some downsides – and being forced to work during the night was actually one of them, Agda thought as she laid down in a bedroll behind the counter of the inn. It was well past midnight and she was looking forward to reading the history tome that Delphine had just lent her.
An hour later, the young Nord fell asleep with the book on her chest and a candle beside her. The rain was still falling, the inn was desert and Agda was sure that no one would bother her until dawn. She changed her mind a few minutes past two, when someone gently shook her. Agda abruptly woke up, grabbed her rusty dagger and pointed it towards the intruder.
"Sven, for Talos' sake!", she squeaked as she recognized the man who had snuck up to her bedroll.
Only then did Agda realize that she had grabbed her dagger by the blade, thus cutting herself. When the blood started trickling down her hand, the girl cursed.
"Agda, you know I wouldn't bother you if it weren't important", Sven immediately hushed her.
Tall and strong and blond, Sven worked as a bard at the Sleeping Giant. A true Nord through and through, he had deep blue eyes and was one of the most irritating people Agda had ever had the misfortune to know. In that moment, however, his usual cocky smile had been replaced by a worried expression.
"If you want to talk about Camilla…"
"It's not about Camilla. It's about my mother".
Upon hearing those words, Agda frowned. Hilde, Sven's mother, was the perfect example of a Nord woman in her seventies: she disliked Argonians, she dislikes Imperials, she disliked Bretons, she disliked Khajits, she disliked Elves… In a few words, she disliked everyone but her son.
Unfortunately, over the last few months Hilde had started to suffer from a weird illness – she would get up in the middle of the night and start screaming at everyone who tried to soothe her. On those occasions, Sven could only rely on Agda's calming spells.
Worried by the terrified look in the bard's eyes, the girl immediately stood up and went for the door. She had no time to lose: whenever Hilde had one of her outbursts, Sven would tie her to a chair. As predictable, that rough treatment only increased the pitch of her screams.
As Agda ran to Hilde's house, she hissed. It was raining cats and dogs and the twin moons were nowhere to be seen. By the time she entered Sven's house, the young Nord was panting heavily, whereas her skirt had been completely covered by mud. Nonetheless, she immediately went for Hilde and knelt down in front of her.
Ignoring the nasty insults that the crazy woman was screaming at her and her ancestors, Agda cast a weak calming spell, then gently stroked her cheek.
It took Hilde more than an hour to finally calm down.
During that long amount of time, Agda asked Sven to reach the inn and take care of the eventual patrons. That situation made her very nervous: if Delphine woke up and found her gone, Agda would probably be in for a long reprimand.
After many efforts, the young innkeeper eventually managed to tuck Hilde into her comfortable bed. The older woman immediately fell asleep, causing Agda to sigh in relief.
"You've made it!"
Agda was startled by Sven's unexpected appearance.
"I told you not to leave the inn", she hissed as the man shed his cloak.
The bard simply chuckled.
"Agda, it's raining cats and dogs, it's three o'clock in the morning and the inn is empty. You won't have any patron tonight: no one in their right mind would face this awful weather just to reach Riverwood. They'd rather stop in Helgen or in Whiterun".
Agda had to admit that Sven was right.
"You can spend the night here, if you want", the bard said when he noticed how tired the girl looked. "If you go outside, you'll only get soaked to the bone".
Although Sven's offer was very tempting, Agda didn't want to make things worse: if Delphine found out she had left the inn and slept at Sven's place, she wouldn't just lose her job - the Breton would also beg Faendal to use her as a training dummy for his archery skills.
Shivering at the thought, Agda turned down Sven's offer and faced the hell that was raging outside. The man had volunteered to go with her, but Agda didn't want him to get soaked again. Therefore, she bid him farewell and ran off into the night.
The gentle rain of the afternoon had been replaced by a scary thunderstorm. When she realized that, Agda let out a vulgar curse, which was immediately silenced by a loud thunder. A few seconds later, as the young Nord was panting under the storm, she suddenly heard a weird noise.
A rider was approaching – and said rider was galloping wildly.
Agda froze in her steps, then hid in the shadows of Lucan' shop.
Who could be so desperate to ride through a thunderstorm at that time of the night?
Agda had heard legends about demonic horses and beheaded riders, about ghosts and assassins, about criminals and thieves wreaking havoc at unexpected times. With a shiver, she grabbed her dagger and stood still for an endless amount of time.
She prayed to Talos that no one could see her.