Chapter 4: A new friend.
A/N: Yay! Writers block is gone! Gimme a WOOP-WOOP! XD Warning: Contains major feels. May cause you to; cry, explode from feels or screaming your lungs out. :P Let's continue our wonderful journey shall we? ;)
When I get to some sort of plaza, I look left and right. Spotting another staircase, I follow it with my eyes. Oh Azura preserve me.. That's a big staircase. Well, better get started. After a few minutes of walking up the stairs, I get to the doors of Dragonsreach. The guards halt me, but after telling them the same thing I told the guard at the gate, they let me pass. The doors open and again I feel my jaw drop. This place is HUGE. And all this is for the Jarl? Damn. I walk towards what seems like a throne, where a blond Nord in noble clothes sits. He must be the Jarl, judging by the circlet on his head.
Suddenly a female Dark Elf unsheathes her sword and walks up to me. "What is the meaning of this interruption? Jarl Balgruuf is not seeing visitors right now." I stare at her sword, backing away a bit. "I need to speak with the Jarl. Riverwood is in danger." The woman snorts. "Anything you have to say to the Jarl, you can say to me." The man on the throne looks up at me, and waves the woman away.
"It's all right, Irileth. I want to hear what she has to say."
The woman, Irileth, steps away and I walk up to the Jarl's throne. He looks at me, blue eyes full of fascination. Up close, he seems to be in his late thirties, but the glint in his eyes gives me a clear message; I'm not weak. Cross me and you will die. "What's this about Riverwood being in danger?" I swallow, gathering up my courage. "Gerdur send me. A dragon attacked Helgen and we're both afraid Riverwood is next." The Jarl raises an eyebrow.
"Gerdur? Owns the lumber mill, if I'm not mistaken. Pillar of the community. Not prone to flights of fancy… And you're sure Helgen was destroyed by a dragon? This wasn't some Stormcloak raid gone wrong?" I cross my arms, feeling my inner sass coming up. "Oh yes. I had a perfect view while the Imperials were trying to cut off my head." I mentally slap myself. Nice going idiot! He raises his eyebrow higher. "Really? You're certainly... forthright about your criminal past. But it's none of my concern who the Imperials want to execute. Especially now. What I want to know is what exactly happened at Helgen."
"A dragon really destroyed Helgen. And the last thing I saw is that it was heading this way." The Jarl nods, muttering under his breath. "By Ysmir, Irileth was right!" He turns to an Imperial man standing next to him. "What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?" Irileth walks up to the Jarl. "My lord, we should send troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger, if that dragon is lurking in the mountains..." Proventus seems to begin panicking at that statement. "The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation! He'll assume we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him! We mustn't.."
"ENOUGH!" I jumps slightly at the Jarl's raised voice. He turns to Irileth. "Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once." Irileth salutes. "Yes, my Jarl." She walks away and the Jarl turns back to Proventus. "I'll not stand idly by while a dragon burns my hold and slaughters my people!" Proventus bows his head. "If you'll excuse me, I'll return to my duties." The Jarl nods. "That would be best." He turns back to me. "Well done. You sought me out, on your own initiative. You've done Whiterun a service, and I won't forget it. Here, take this as a small token of my esteem." A maid comes running to me and hands me a piece of armour. I look at it, admiring its craftsmanship. "There is another thing you could do for me. Suitable for someone of your particular talents, perhaps. Come, let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and... rumours of dragons." He stands up, but I stop him.
"With all the respect my lord, but I'm not interested. I only came here to tell you this because I don't want my friend or his family get hurt by one of those monsters. And to be honest, I only came to Skyrim for one reason. To obey my mother's last wish. So, thank you very much, but no thank you." He seems confused by my answer, but nods anyway. "Very well. I understand. But do know the offer still stands." I nod as well. "Perhaps another time. For now, I only want to get to Markarth as soon as possible." I curtsy and walk to the big doors, putting the armour in my backpack. Might be handy later. Getting outside, I walk towards the gates. As soon as I feel the breeze hit my face, I shiver. "The sooner I get to Markarth, the better." I mutter. I walk towards the carriage near the stables. The man looks at me and smiles. "Need a ride?" I nod. "Where do you need to go?"
"Markarth." I dig up my coin purse, finding more than enough coins to pay for the trip. Those Imperial idiots luckily didn't take my money. I would be mother-fudging pissed. I hand him some coin, and he smiles. "Climb in the back, and we'll be off." I climb into the carriage, wrapping my cloak tighter around me. The driver begins singing a tune, and I smile. After a while, the moving of the carriage begins to rock me to sleep, and I close my eyes, giving in to the darkness.
*Time skip brought to you by the city of stone, the safest city in all of Skyrim! (NOT)*
"Oi! Missy! We're here!" I open my eyes, seeing the big dwarven city my dad used to tell me about up close. "Wow.." I mutter, getting out of the carriage. "Thank you for riding with us, have a pleasant day!" the man says with a smirk. I chuckle and walk up to the gates. One of the guards gives me a nod, and opens the gates for me. I smile and walk inside. And once again, I'm gawking at the beauty of the city. Hey, don't blame me, our cities are made out of wood and trees. This one is carved out of the freaking mountain. I walk towards a merchant lady, and ask her where the Hall of the Dead is. She merely smiles and points up hill.
"Enter Understone Keep dear, and then turn left. You should find Brother Verulus there, he'll show you the way." I nod and thank her. Finding the Keep, I walk inside. Okay.. This place is dark. Like very dark. I can barely see a thing! Following the lady's directions, I find the Hall of the Dead pretty easily. I'm greeted by a young man in priest robes, so I'm guessing he's Brother Verulus. "Hello there sir." He gives me a sceptical look, but eventually gives me a nod. "What's your business in a Nord memorial miss Elf?"
"Visiting my father. Why else would I come here?" His eyes widen slightly and he scans my appearance a few times. I can almost hear him thinking. I look like a Woodelf, only my face looks slightly more like a Nord woman. And our kind aren't exactly known for inter-racial relationships. "I-I see.. Who is your father miss?"
"Gaberion Adromea." He nods, and opens the door. "Right this way miss." He leads me through the tomb, and I cough slightly. It's very dusty in here.. We stop before a simple coffin laying in a hole in the wall, and he puts it down on the ground. "I'll leave you alone for now. Call me when you need the coffin placed back." I give him a nod, and he walks off. With shaking hands, I open the coffin and there he is. The balsam ceremony must've done a good job, because it's like my father is just sleeping in the wooden box. His tanned hands are laid across his chest, covering the wound that cost him his life. Just 1 day after the soldier gave me and my mom the bad news, his body was found. I never wanted to see him, afraid I would have another breakdown.
Yet here I am.
I carefully stroke his brown hair, feeling tears leave my eyes. "Hey dad.. I.. err.. I know you didn't expect me to come but.. Mom died. And she asked me to bring her ashes to you. But maybe you already knew that.. Maybe you're in Sovengarde with her right now, drinking ale and stuff.." I grin at the thought. Mom could never handle her liquor, not even in the afterlife. I take the tiny white bag from my satchel and put it under his hands.
"I.. I miss you. Very much. Recently life has been hard for me. After mom died, the people chased me out. Said they 'did not need a black sheep in their herd'." I lower my head. "So here I am. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now.. I have some money to get around but.." I clench my fists closed and sigh. "I guess I can finally put those sword lessons to the test.. Maybe I'll become a mercenary." I smirk at the thought, and give dad a goodbye-kiss on the forehead. "Well.. Maybe I'll come visit one day again.. See you.."
I close the coffin and stand up. Walking out of the tomb, I give the priest a nod. He nods back and I walk away. I sniffle slightly, wiping my nose. Looks like I'm spending the night at an inn tonight. Sweet.
As soon as I enter the Silver-Blood inn, I see a man sitting at the bar. He's clearly drunk. I wrinkle my noise, and sit down as far as possible from him. The bartender looks at me. "And what will it be for ya missy?"
"Just an ale. And I would like to rent a room for the night."
"Sure thing. It's yours for a night." He hands me a key and an bottle of ale. I unplug the cork of the bottle and take a swig. Unlike my mother, I can handle liquor quite well. Suddenly someone sits next to me. It's the drunken man. I glare at him. "Need something?" I spit. "Don't be so grumpy gorgeous. I'm just trying to be social." I snort loudly and take another sip of my drink. "Well, I'm not in the mood for talking. Certainly not with a drunk guy."
"Ouch. I thought Wood elves weren't like High elves. Guess you guys are just as cold as ice." I roll my eyes and look at him. "Just tell me what you want or get lost." The guy grins, revealing white teeth. I mentally blush. This guy is pretty hot. From his ears hang two feathers, blending nicely in with his blond hair. In the dim light of the room, I can see two streaks of war paint on each cheek. The armour he's wearing isn't helping much either. Damn, leave some of your chest to the imagination please..
"A bet." I raise an eyebrow. "A bet?" He nods. "Hm-hm. I'm drunk, and I haven't had a good fight in while. I'll bet you 100 septims you can't beat me." I chuckle and put my drink down. "Sure.. Why not." And before he can react, I swing my fist in his face, making him fall to the ground. He lays there for a few seconds, flabbergasted. I hold up my hand. "I would like that 100 gold now."
"Not fair! I wasn't ready!"
"Doesn't matter. I beat you, didn't I?" The man grumbles. "Fine." He cracks his jaw a bit. "You do throw a good punch though." I chuckle and pull him up from the ground. He hands me a bag of coins. "What's your name gorgeous?"
"Sarafina. You?"
"Cosnach. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to lay down." I smile, shaking my head and picking up my bottle of ale. I drink it all up and go towards my room. Oh, whoopee. More stone. Even the freaking bed. Oh well, I'll make it work. I lay down, using my backpack as a pillow. And soon enough, I fall asleep.
A/N: FINALLY! Gimme a hallelujah! (Hallelujah!)
For some reason, Sarafina sleeps a lot. *shrugs* Oh well.
Don't expect the next chapter to come up very soon, I've got exams coming up.. DX But anyways.. Happy holidays everyone! See all you guys in 2015! ;D
