The next week passed in a blur full of muscle soreness and barbaric mercenaries hollering at her during morning drills, but she got used to it. She'd gotten around to learning everyone's names, too.
In the fight Haldis quite literally stumbled into that first day, Njada was the one doing the beating and Athis, the Dunmer, was the one getting beaten. Njada was a complete mystery and had a chip on her shoulder a mile wide, whereas Athis was charismatic Dunmer from Windhelm's Snow Quarter. There was Torvar, the mead hall's indebted drunkard, Ria, a young Imperial and the newest recruit until Haldis came along, Vignar, an old and mildly senile relative to the Skyforge's blacksmith, Eorlund. Then there was the Inner Circle, made up of five members; Farkas and Vilkas, obviously, were among them, along with Aela, the willowy huntress, Skjor, the one-eyed Great War veteran, and Kodlak, the Companions' Harbinger.
The Harbinger, according to Skjor, wasn't a leader, but a mediator, and didn't give orders to anyone, in spite of the apparent hierarchy within the band. Regardless of that, the others always gave way to Kodlak's presence. The lower-ranking whelps like herself would give up their seats for him at dinner, move out of the way without so much as a look from him, and yet he still kept that perfect composure and slight smile of any other old man. He moved like a young lad, too, even though he rivalled stiff, ancient Vignar in age.
Strange, but still interesting.
Training for that first week focused entirely on getting Haldis strong enough to wield a proper weapon without getting tired immediately. She almost couldn't believe it, but she was already gaining some muscle; it was horribly painful at first to wield that greatsword, but when she went to spar with Ria, when Vilkas finally allowed her to, her axe felt like nothing.
She slept well, didn't feel so sick, though she still had to rely on the anti-nausea salve she bought from Arcadia when her nerves got bad. The threat of dragons possibly lurking in the mountains overlooking the White River still nagged at her when she wasn't out training. She tried not to think about that, just focused on meditating when she was too stressed to sleep and becoming a better fighter for when the time to confront Alduin came.
It was early in the morning of the tenth day when Aela came to wake her up.
"It's time to go hunting, sister," she whispered to her.
Haldis stirred in her bedding and gazed up at Aela with stickily blinking eyes.
"Wha… Hunting?" she echoed. She started to get up and yawned. "What time is it?" Aela stepped away from the bed.
"A little after four. Farkas and Ria are ready to go, so get moving."
Haldis mumbled an "okay," and she went groping under her bed for her travel clothes.
She met Aela and the others waiting by Whiterun's main gate. Upon seeing that Aela and Ria had their bows, Haldis suddenly realized she didn't know the first thing about archery, but didn't say anything.
Aela led them out north of the Whiterun Plains, past Whitewatch Tower. Since Haldis didn't have a horse, she ended up doubling with Ria, just to make the trip out there a little faster. Where they stopped, the scrubby grass and sparse cotton was just starting to give way to the spruces and frost coming down from The Pale.
Aela hopped off her horse and led him over to a fallen tree to tie him, then beckoned Farkas and Ria to do the same.
"I've been seeing a herd of elk running through this area, on my past few rounds here," she breathed. She pointed to Ria. "Ria, you're coming with me. Your archery's been getting shabby." She then gestured to Haldis and Farkas. "Farkas, you and the whelp are on traps."
Farkas groaned. "Aela, come on, you never trust me with my bow anymore…"
Aela glared at him venomously. "After you shot me in the foot last year, icebrain, I'd say it's with good reason!"
They ended up splitting up from there. Aela and Ria headed west, Farkas and Haldis went east, towards the river. Haldis rubbed her arms to keep warm, for her coat wasn't exactly doing its job. She found it rather funny that she was a Nord who had grown up in one of the coldest places in the world, and yet she still couldn't deal with a little chill.
"You ever been huntin' before?" Farkas asked softly as they walked along, looking for a good place to set up. Haldis shook her head. "You might like the traps. Good way to learn. You can just take your time, y'know? No pressure."
She shrugged. "I guess."
"You don't sound all that excited."
She shrugged again. "I've never really liked the idea of hunting." She then puffed a laugh. "If I end up financially comfortable enough, I just might become a vegetarian!"
He scoffed, and he gave her a playful nudge. "Seriously? What, are you afraid of blood, or somethin'?"
"No, I just…" She paused and thought before she answered. "I'm not big on violence, you know? It's just not necessary."
"Sweetheart, I think you mighta joined the wrong guild…"
"I know, I know!" she cut in. "It's… hard to explain why, but I didn't have much of a choice in all this. I mean, until I came to Whiterun, I didn't even really know how to hold an axe properly. And with these dragons coming back and the civil war, I'm on my own. I have to know how to take care of myself."
He hummed and nodded. "I guess that's fair enough." He suddenly stopped and looked over at an opening in the path. "I think we have a good spot to start."
Haldis followed him over, and watched closely as he set up a bear trap. He did it with an incredible deftness, in under a minute, no doubt having been experienced.
"So…" she started. "Do you like to hunt?" He looked up at her after he was sure everything was right.
"Uh, yeah. I like to go at night, though."
"By yourself?"
"Uh-huh. Gives me time to think."
Haldis couldn't resist the chance to jab. "Farkas, I was sure you didn't think at all."
He wheezed a little. "And I was sure you didn't have a sense of humor!" He stepped around the trap and waved for her to follow. She helped him with the next few traps, setting them both along the path, for bigger prey, like elk, and in the brush for smaller prey, like rabbits.
They headed back to where the horses were tied after all the traps were set. At that point, all there was to do was wait. Haldis was still groggy from waking up at four in the morning, and apparently quite noticeably so, because Farkas even offered to watch over her while she took a nap.
"The ladies are gonna be a while," he murmured. "When I hear 'em, I'll wake you up. You're gonna have to act like you've been up the whole time." He then chuckled. "Aela's not gonna like you sleepin' on the job."
Haldis smiled at him a little, and she settled down on the other side of the log from the horses.
Aela and Ria came back with a small cow elk shortly after the sun came up. Haldis was awake by then, having roused on her own with the help of the tree-filtered sunlight hitting her eyes. Aela ended up sending Farkas and Ria away to harvest whatever was caught in the traps, and kept Haldis with her to teach her how to skin a deer.
The deer was splayed out on the floor, all four of her legs spread out to reveal the soft belly. A gaping arrow wound in her shoulder showed an obliterated right lung. Haldis gazed at that sadly, only to snap back when Aela motioned for her to pay attention.
"You are going to make two 'y' cuts; one between the hips, and one between the forelegs," she ordered, and she handed Haldis her dagger. Haldis crouched by the carcass and listened intently to Aela's instructions, following along, although disgusted. "And be careful of the intestines. Nick them even slightly, and you'll ruin the meat."
It took about forty-five minutes to gut and harvest the deer. The skin earned a few holes and the meat ended up with some hair in it, which Aela scolded her for, but she was just glad it was done. To Haldis's relief, Aela insisted on not wasting a single part. Of course, that meant taking the head off for a wall mount, and Aela saw Haldis's handaxe as the perfect tool to do this. The skin was taken, meant to be a payment to Eorlund for repairing a shield. The hooves and some of the bones were harvested for the stray dogs living around Whiterun, and even some of the organs Haldis would have left initially were taken for food.
According to Aela, deer hearts and livers were rather tasty when cooked with onions. Haldis wasn't about to judge, nor was she about to deny her eagerness for dinner that night; fresh venison always had been a special treat to her.
Two rabbits were all that came of the traps, not enough to feed an entire band of mercenaries, but good enough for a few days worth of jerky.
Overall, the hunt was a success.
They returned to Whiterun at around nine in the morning, just in time for drills, then had dinner at around six. Haldis was just going to go to bed early, until Skjor pulled her aside in the berthing. She initially flinched when he called for her, and then tried to remember every screw-up she'd made since she walked into Whiterun, only to ease up when she saw his grin.
"The Inner Circle's been watchin' you closely," he started. "and you've been learnin' quick. So, we've decided you're ready to go on your first real job, show us what you're made of."
"Alright. What is it?"
"Have you heard of blessed Wuuthrad?"
She nodded. "Ysgramor's battleaxe, right?"
He hummed, and he pointed to the display near the stairs, where several scraps of metal had been mounted to the wall. "That axe is over four thousand years old. After the Harbinger's death, it was smashed into pieces and scattered all over Skyrim. Ever since, the Companions've been lookin' for them." He then reached into one of the pockets in his leggings to pull out a letter, which he handed to Haldis to read. "Right before you came to us, a scholar tipped us off about a ruin near Labyrinthian, called Dustman's Cairn, said there's one of Wuuthrad's fragments buried in it. Kodlak's pairin' you up with someone tomorrow, and you're gonna go out there and find it."
Haldis couldn't sleep that night, not even after taking that anti-nausea salve that made her so drowsy. If she had learned anything from delving into Nordic ruins, it was that Nordic ruins involved the restless dead.
So, she simply meditated.
At some point during the night, she must have fallen asleep, for the next thing she knew, she was awakened by the careless ruckus of the others getting ready for drills. So, she stretched and heaved herself up from her bedding to grab her leathers. She was fully dressed, packed, and upstairs with her travel bag by eight. Skjor and Vilkas were lingering by the door. When she caught sight of Vilkas staring at her, her innards knotted up, and she started praying that she'd be paired with literally anyone else.
Njada would have been preferable.
To her relief, her prayers were answered.
"Since you two have been workin' well together," Skjor started, "Farkas will be your Shield-Brother today. He's already down by the gate, waiting for you." Vilkas dipped his head. Skjor started away, and Vilkas went to follow him, but before Haldis could slip through the door to leave, he called for her. She looked at him.
"Don't get my brother killed," he grumbled.
She stared, mildly put off, but just shook her head and left.
"Yeah, thanks, Vilkas. Best advice I've ever gotten…" she mumbled as she paced down the street to the gate. "Way to help my nerves, mey... " She ran her hand over her braided hair and just kept on.
They arrived at Dustman's Cairn in about half a day's ride from Whiterun Stables; Ria was nice enough to lend her horse to Haldis, though she didn't know the first thing about riding horses, come to find out. Farkas didn't mind, though, and ponied her off his saddle for the trip there without complaint.
"Just another thing to teach ya!" as he put it.
The "cairn" wasn't exactly a mere cairn; not a pile of stones, but an inverted mound surrounded by a henge of pillars. The entrance to what Haldis realized to be quite a crypt stood within the walls of the mound. The entry chamber to the ruins was dank and smelled strongly of death and mold. Pickaxes and cracked stones littered the floor. Fresh torches were lit in the sconces, with some stuck into the sediment for light on the ground.
"Looks like somebody's been diggin' here," Farkas uttered. "and recently."
"Should we worry?"
"Eh. Just be careful. I don't wanna have to haul you back to Whiterun on my back."
She nudged his arm with her elbow. "I don't think that would be too big of an issue for you."
Haldis scanned the room before she followed him further, beyond the entry chamber and into the hallway. The lovely aroma of what Haldis knew immediately to be Draugr grew stronger the more they advanced, but none came running at them. They each trode lightly around the burial stones, only to find them empty.
"Weird…" she whispered.
They trailed along the path that wound through the crypts. Not a noise came from the rest of the ruin.
Haldis suddenly tripped and nearly fell on her face. Swearing in Dovahzul under her breath, she righted herself, then looked back to see what made her stumble, only to promptly shut her mouth.
"What?" Farkas murmured, then looked.
It was the crushed, severed leg of a Draugr sprawled on the floor nearby. They both stared at it, then exchanged glances with each other, the gazed down the hallway, which had a gap at its near end. They made their way down to the opening into a much larger chamber. Some bodies littered the floor, but none were human, only undead.
A chill cascaded down Haldis's spine.
The room was very open, with a tall ceiling, and had three doorways. One was, obviously, the entryway they were standing in, the second led into a dead-end room, likely for storage, and the third led somewhere else into the ruin, but was sealed off by an iron gate.
"Fun," Haldis piped up to break the silence. "Puzzles."
Farkas snorted, amused, and went striding down the stairs to the floor of the room, once the coast was clear. "I'm sure there's a release somewhere."
Haldis hummed and followed him. "You sound awfully sure of that. Do you go tomb-robbing often?"
"Nah. Draugr give me the creeps."
"Can't say I disagree."
They split off in the middle of the room; Farkas went for the sealed door while Haldis went to sift through the storage room.
There were a few shelves in there, and while they didn't hold much, there were a few salves here and there that had yet to gather dust.
Any sensible adventurer would have kept these close… She took one and popped the cork off to give it a sniff. "Still good." She moved the unlabeled salves aside and kept looking through until she noticed something sticking up from behind one of the shelves; a lever.
She inspected the area around it for spiders or any other indication of danger, looked over her shoulder, back out at the chamber. She shrugged, gripped the handle, and yanked it. A loud crash behind her made her startle violently, and she whipped around to find that a barred gate had sealed her within the room. She ran up to the bars of the cage and peered through them to gawk helplessly at a laughing Farkas.
"Look at what you got yourself into!" he wheezed.
Haldis blushed. "Don- don't laugh at me! Get me out of here!" He turned to face away from here, leaned against the gate, and shook his head like a toddler.
"Nah, I don't think I will."
"Farkas, I swear-"
"The trap went off! Hurry up!"
They both froze and looked to the open gate. Farkas yanked his sword off his back. " That don't sound good.."
A group of five came running into the room, weapons drawn. They circled around him and closed in until his heels hit the bars of the gate.
"It's time to die, dog!" one of them elected. Haldis's fingers went cold and her face burned. "We knew you'd be coming here."
"Your mistake, Companion," said another.
"Which one is he?" asked a woman.
"Doesn't matter," said the first. "He wears a Companion's armor, he dies!"
The woman scoffed. "Killing him'll make for an excellent story, I think."
Farkas cracked his neck, popped a few of the buckles holding his armor together, and dropped his sword to the ground.
Is he surrendering?
Her answer was quickly thrown out the window when he doubled over with a cry.
"Shit!"
The thugs sprang, their weapons raised. A desperate Thu'um itched at the back of Haldis's throat, but before she could unleash it, Farkas surged up from the floor and send the nearest two of his assailants flying with one swipe of a weirdly elongated arm.
The other three were quick enough to evade the attack and looped around to his other side. His shoulders swelled up to the point his armor ripped and cracked apart. Within the blink of an eye, his neck thickened and his face stretched and his legs lengthened until he towered over them. They scattered, but Farkas caught one of them and lifted her up to his face by her neck.
His body changed more, muscles rippling and joints shifting. A tail matted with blood thrashed out of his pants, over the back of his belt. His hands broadened, nightmarishly clawed fingers stretching over the woman's head to squeeze until it popped like a grape. White chunks of brains and bone fell to the floor.
One of the remaining thugs, with a loud cry, charged up behind the creature and jumped up onto its back. The creature roared and dropped down to all fours and bucked around like a wild horse. It leaped, rolled onto its back, crushed the attacked under its weight, then pounced back on top of him to start tearing him apart, ripping away what shouldn't have been seen outside of gut. The man screamed until his cords fell hoarse and quiet.
The last of the assailants cowered by the gate. When the beast turned to stare him down, Haldis retreated to the far wall of the room and covered her ears, finally out of the initial shock.
She didn't look, not even after the shadows stopped moving. Only when the gate screeched open did she finally open her eyes, expecting to see that wolf-beast on the other side gearing up to lunge and tear her apart, but she saw no such thing. It was just Farkas standing there, wiping blood out of his eyes. He sneezed, then started buckling his armor back together.
"I, uh…" he started, then cleared his throat and tried to force a chuckle. "I hope I didn't scare ya…" Haldis swallowed the salt-water taste on her tongue, tried to hold it down, then lurched and coughed her guts up onto the floor. Farkas grimaced at that, but stepped around the mess to come closer. "Hey, you okay-"
Haldis pressed herself up against the wall, the lump in her throat beginning to swell in anticipation. " What, in the name of Akatosh, was that? " Her chest started heaving. "What, are you some kind of… of… Daedra ?"
He held his hands up sheepishly. " No! I just-" He took a deep breath, then gripped her shoulders, firmly but gently. "Look, I'm sorry you had to see…" He looked over his shoulder with a cringe at the carnage he just wrought. "that ." He turned back to her. "I can explain, but you've gotta calm down first."