Chapter Seven: Bleak Falls Barrow
Halfway to their destination, Ula was glad that Faendal had given her the fur jacket: by the time they made it to the tower that Camilla had told them about, they were already walking through ankle-deep piles of snow. The tiny girl was baffled by the drastic change climate, but she figured it was only natural since the air was colder in the mountains. It wasn't really all that surprising.
"We should stay alert," Faendal warned, pulling an arrow out of his quiver and notching it before glancing down at her with a concerned expression. "If you see anything, be certain to give me a signal... aye? There are countless dangers ahead of us."
Ula nodded before grinning at him; then she jumped, since a pile of snow fell off a branch and landed on her head. Faendal blinked when she sneezed and shook herself off, then glanced at her violently twitching ears before giving a little smirk and waggling his own ears. The girl blinked and rubbed her nose before following him through the falling snow and straight up the mountain.
Soon, however, the light dusting of the flakes somehow changed into a howling blizzard.
Ula had trouble merely seeing her own two feet, let alone Faendal... it was a storm that chilled her to the bone. Ula twitched and clung to the Bosmer's arm when wolves suddenly howled nearby, sounding plaintive. The wood elf seemed unafraid, but he kept a firm grip on his bow, and once he even raised it, sighting down the shaft with tense arms. Because of that, Ula felt extremely jittery: she knew they were going after the ornament... but was violence really necessary? After a moment, though, she realized with an alarmed jolt that it most likely was since they were trying to rob a group of bandits.
All of a sudden, Ula was very afraid, and she didn't want to keep going... but she still did so, despite wanting to turn back.
Now all she could do was wonder when she'd lost her common sense.
Had losing her home and seeing so many people die in Helgen warped her point of view on what was dangerous and what wasn't?
That had to be it... she wouldn't have considered something so reckless otherwise.
Tall rocks covered with ice and snow started slanting out of the ground all around them the further up the went. For some odd reason, the closer they got to their destination, Ula began to feel something resounding within her breast. She didn't like it: there was an unfriendly feeling in the air, an animosity that resisted intruders. Above them, growing larger with every step, loomed Bleak Falls Barrow, and its craggy precipices were deeply furrowed with snowy canyons and fallen ruins.
The snow-stained black rock of the mountain absorbed the little sunlight like a sponge and dimmed the surrounding area, leaving behind only a cold blue veil of light.
Between the Barrow and the line of mountains that formed the north side of Riverwood was the cleft they were walking along: it was the only practical path on and off the mountain, after all. Her bare feet crunched in the snow in an extremely cold fashion, making her whine in silence and hop around the patches of snow. In an attempt to keep herself warm, she struggled with all of her might to produce fire Magicka: after nearly ten minutes of suffering, her feet sparked and started glowing orange.
Faendal, on the other hand, glanced at her bare feet and gasped in horror.
"You didn't take shoes?!" he whispered, looking at her with mortified eyes. "Are you crazy?! Your feet will develop frostbite!"
Ula merely pointed at her feet, then at his own knee-high leather boots, and sadly shook her head. He blinked, trying to figure out what she'd meant even when the girl started shivering. However, when it dawned on him, he looked as though he'd been struck by a bolt of lightning: his eyes were that large.
"You don't own a pair of your own?" he asked, staring at her with an unreadable expression. "Is that what you mean? You don't own any shoes?"
Ula nodded and shivered again, then squatted for a moment and warmed up her hands using her own two feet.
Faendal blinked at the sight, then snickered in total amusement.
"That's one way to warm yourself up, I guess," he chuckled, looking at her glowing toes with a quirked eyebrow. "You are a very amusing child."
Ula happily squeezed her eyes shut and pointedly grinned at him, waggling her long ears.
When they started walking again, the snow deepened and the trail lengthened into a dangerously steep path as it skirted the base of the mountain. Ula glanced up at the peak looming over them, but she was startled to see a majestic tower perched upon it. The turret was crumbling and in disrepair, but it was still a stern sentinel over the valley. Her mouth fell open when the snow lightened up a bit... because she was suddenly able to make out ruined arches made of stone.
They were absolutely enormous in size... bigger than any castle wall she'd ever seen, and more majestic than any tree in Skyrim without a doubt.
Skipping forward, the girl tugged on Faendal's cloak and pointed at the incredible ruins with enormous eyes.
His eyes followed her finger before taking on a somewhat solemn expression.
"That's Bleak Falls Barrow..." Faendal murmured sadly, voice laced with bitterness. "Some believe it to be nothing more than a labyrinth full of treasure, but only a select few know the truth. 'Tis actually a resting place for the warriors who died in an era long past. There are many barrows and ruins scattered across this world... but this one has lasted since its founding. Many ages ago, something happened up here and the area surrounding it was tainted. Hence why nobody enjoys living in its shadow."
Ula glanced away from him and gazed at the enormous ruins with solemn wonder: here was a tangible remnant of Skyrim's former glory, tarnished though it was by the relentless pull of time. It struck her then just how old the lands around her really were: an echo of legacies, tradition, and heroism that stretched back to antiquity was resting right in front of her.
The girl shook her head uneasily, feeling as though she were shaking off water: she was still mesmerized by what she'd just witnessed.
"I see something up ahead," Faendal suddenly stated, grasping her arm. "Firelight... it looks like a torch."
Ula followed his gaze and stiffened in surprise, since it did indeed seem as though someone was up ahead. She was just about to run over to the person wielding the torch to see if they had a spare one when an arrow sailed out of the darkness. It literally passed by only an inch away from her throat, sailing through the gap between her ear and shoulder and tearing out several strands of her hair in the process. The girl immediately wheezed in pain and clapped her hands like a maniac in order to get Faendal's attention.
Then she bolted over to the nearest rock.
The Bosmer instantly dropped to the ground and crawled over to her, mouth pressed into a thin line: when the wood elf pressed his back against the rock, Ula touched her stinging head with her lips locked into a sour grimace. Having her hair ripped out had not been a pleasant experience, but she considered herself lucky since it was ONLY her hair that had been damaged by the arrow. Any further to the right and it would have pierced her neck. The pointy-eared companions waited with thudding hearts as a voice broke through the howling wind.
"Oi, I swear I saw somethin over 'ere!" a gruff voice snapped, sounding highly vexed. "It ain't the skooma!"
A muffled response wafted from somewhere unseen.
"No! It's not there, and I also lost the bloody arrow!" the gruff speaker snarled. "Since there ain't no dead body lyin' here, it was probably just a trick of the light! Shor only knows that storms like these can play a trick on the eyes."
"When I give the order," Faendal whispered, catching Ula's attention, "the two of us are going to run for the entrance. Stick close behind me and don't let go of my hand: I've been up here before, many years ago, and I know a side route to the Barrow Entrance that won't get us killed. However, it's highly dangerous."
When Ula swallowed and nodded, he pulled the girl to her feet, then tensed: for several seconds, nothing happened... but then, the elf jerked on her arm and the two of them took off towards the entrance to Bleak Falls Barrow. Ula's heart beat against her chest the same way it had when she'd nearly been killed by the Imperials: the realization that any moment the two of them could die had her blood pumping and her senses on full blast. She looked through the howling wind and whimpered when she realized that Faendal was literally dragging her around a small bend that barely concealed them from sight.
When they finally reached the ruin's monstrous doors and Faendal crouched down, she did the same: nearby, she could hear the bandits muttering to each other.
"Wait here," Faendal whispered, glancing at her with serious eyes when he paused right next to the enormous doors. "I'm going to take care of those fools."
And with that, he pulled out a vial, lifted his hand, and drank the contents before making an arcane gesture that caused his fingers to start glowing green.
Ula jumped in shocked surprise when the Bosmer unexpectedly disappeared, making her fall backwards into the snow as a result.
For a moment, she merely gawked and looked around... but then a horrible question struck her and she crawled forward, lifting her hand to see where he'd gone.
Did he vanish and leave me all alone?! Ula silently wondered, eyes growing enormous with horror. No! It can't be! He couldn't have abandoned me! R-right...?
However, her heart flipped with a jolt when she felt two warm hands gently grasp her shoulders.
"I'm still here," Faendal's voice whispered, making her shoulders slump in relief. "I'll be right back: I plan to get the jump on them with this. I'm not a very powerful Magicka user, so it'll only last a little while... wish me luck."
Then the touch disappeared.
Ula curled up against the wall and shivered violently, burying her face in her knees as the cold wind howled around her. Everything up on this mountain was white and blue, since the majority of what she could see in the shadows no longer had any sort of warm color. The poor girl was freezing: she wanted nothing more than to curl up in front of a warm fire and go to sleep. Then... the sound of muffled shouts reached her ears and she stiffened in alarm.
Carefully sitting up, the albino girl slowly uncurled from the ground and poked her head up above the edge of the stone barrier she was hiding behind. Her ears twitched when she narrowed her eyes and tried to see beyond the snow... she wanted to know what was happening. However, the muffled sounds ended before they could really pick up... and soon, she heard an odd noise beside her. Instantly whirling to the side and looking around, the girl blinked in confusion when she realized that nothing was there. However, just as she started relaxing, a sigh met her ears and she jumped nearly a foot in the air.
"They killed each other," Faendal stated mournfully. "I had only planned to knock them unconscious, but they killed each other right in front of me... there was no trust between them. I haven't seen something so horrifying in nearly ten years... we should get going before this potion wears off."
Ula's eyes widened in horrified shock when the elf let out a shuddering sound and gripped her arm with unseen fingers.
She swallowed when he led her over to the Barrow Entrance... and together, they pushed the doors open using all of their strength.
Darkness met Ula's eyes when they slid through the tiny gap: the doors slowly ground themselves shut again soon afterwards, completely cutting off all the light. Wait... no, there was some light in here, she just wasn't used to the change in scenery after seeing so much whiteness all around. Blinking her large eyes as they finally adjusted and expanded to an almost impossibly large size, the girl glanced around and gasped in shock at the sight before her.
She was inside a collapsed ruin: pillars of limestone were bathed in pale sunlight streaming in from the crevices in the ceiling, and cobblestones were visible in the few areas that hadn't been completely strewn over with weathered debris. However, when Faendal flinched and shoved her behind one of the nearby stones, it took everything in her power not to let out a wheeze of pain. The girl felt his quiver bump her arm when he pressed against her side, breathing heavily.
"There are two more bandits ahead..." he whispered, making Ula stiffen in surprise; she instantly peered over the rock and spotted a small camp fire with cooking utensils strung out over it. "I'm going to take them out quietly... there's no need for bloodshed, and I know what I'm doing. In three seconds, I want you to hasten over to the pillar in the center of the room: can you do that?"
When Ula nodded, he took off at an unseen pace.
The albino carefully counted to three before hopping over the stone and sprinting over to the pillar like he'd instructed.
However, she paused when she heard a guttural female voice speaking in a thick Nordic accent not even six feet away from where she was now hiding.
"Are you sure it's all right to let Arvel run off with that Golden Claw?" the female bandit demanded. "It seems sort of fishy, saying that such an item is an old key..."
"If that Dark Elf wants to go on ahead, let him," a deep male voice grunted back, making Ula swallow; both of them sounded really, really big. "Better him than us risking our necks."
"What if Arvel doesn't come back?" the woman inquired, sounding a little haughty with the suggestion. "I want my share from that claw. I could care less if it's a key!"
"Just shut it," the man grunted, sounding irritated. "We need to keep an eye out for trouble."
Feeling nervous since she couldn't see Faendal, Ula slowly tried to peer around the pillar, but her heart nearly stopped when her foot slipped on a patch of ice.
The resounding thud echoed throughout the entire interior of the Barrow Entrance, and she heard the sound of swords being drawn.
"What was that?" the woman hissed in a low voice, sounding alarmed. "Did you hear it?"
"Yes," the man retorted just as quietly, making the albino's hair stand on end. "Let's go see what that was..."
Covering her mouth in horror, the fifteen-year-old frantically looked around and spotted the shadows the bandits were casting on the ground. Her ears twitched and she slowly began crawling around the pillar, heart pounding in her ears. She pressed her back against it and slid to the side when the two of them walked around the edge of the stone and looked around: she had barely made it out of that one... it was giving her gooseflesh.
"I know I heard something," the male bandit stated in a slow tone, making the girl press her head back against the pillar with terrified eyes. "Soling, see anything?"
"No," the female bandit grunted, sounding confused. "There's nothing h—OOF!"
Ula twitched when the sound of a crack and a loud thud split the air: almost immediately, the male bandit whirled around with an arrow already notched... but Ula could hear his breath hitch when he realized that he couldn't see the enemy. Her heart flew up into her throat and she clasped her hands, praying to all nine Divines—yes, she did believe that Talos was worthy enough to be revered if he could actually grant blessings—that Faendal would take care of everything.
"Who's there?!" the bandit barked, rushing over to his fallen comrade. "Show yourself!"
However, only a split second after Ula saw his shadow kneel down, Ula saw another shadow ripple out of nowhere just as two arms holding a huge rock came down on the bandit's head. Another crack split the air, and quite abruptly, both of the hostiles had been knocked unconscious. Ula shakily crawled out of hiding and dusted her backside off, wincing when she realized she'd gotten her new clothes wet with dirt and mud.
She already felt guilty about it.
"The potion wore off," Faendal panted, tossing the stone aside and rubbing his forehead. "Good thing it lasted until that moment... I was afraid it would wear off before I had time to incapacitate them. If that had happened, bloodshed would have been unavoidable."
Ula swallowed and nodded in agreement... but then, out of nowhere, it happened.
For the first time in her life, the melodious vibrations of life that had always been resonating in her ears fell still... and slowly, but surely, it was replaced with a pulsing sensation that rippled through her soul, making her eyes go blank and her shoulders tense in alarm. Slowly turning and facing the tunnel leading further into the Barrows, the girl shuddered violently since this sensation was somewhat familiar. She'd felt it when the dragon that had attacked Helgen had roared... this unidentifiable desire.
The desire to sing... to resonate... to channel Nirn through her being and let the world hear it.
Faendal watched with furrowed brows as the girl slowly and almost robotically headed for the tunnel that led down into the ruins.
"I'll assume you're ready," the Bosmer murmured, hefting his bow and notching an arrow with wary maroon eyes. "I'll guard your back."
Ula didn't acknowledge his statement... in fact, she barely heard it. The pulsing was drawing her, step by step, to its source: her eyes had become devoid of emotion, her face was blank, and she looked as though she'd gone into a trance. The pointy-eared acquaintances headed deep into the tunnels, one on full alert and the other not even realizing that she was moving any longer. However, when Ula rounded a corner and started to head down into the next room, Faendal spotted another bandit directly ahead of them and jumped forward.
The girl didn't even twitch when he grabbed her wrist, pulled her back against his chest, and gently covered her mouth.
The wood elf watched the bandit with a wary expression as he approached an ancient pulley-lever resting in the very middle of the room. His maroon eyes snapped to the crumbled statue resting beside the closed gate the bandit was eying, then gasped quietly in horror. He instantly covered Ula's eyes and turned his face away, for not even a second later, the bandit activated the ancient switch. Instead of hearing metal grating against stone, odd whisking noises and a bloodcurdling scream filled the air.
Then another scream... and another... and another... and another... and another...
Faendal turned Ula around and covered her ears with a grim expression, brown face turning extremely ashen: the bandit's screams lasted nearly ten minutes before they finally cut off with a gurgling whine. When the wood elf turned around, the man was lying on the ground with his intestines puddling on the ground.
"Acid darts," he muttered, shuddering and trying not to vomit. "These men aren't very clever... he should have known that all of the levers and switches in this place are rigged with traps of all varieties. Spike pits... swinging walls with barbed poison... boulders the size of village huts... and acid darts, the most common. Come, girl... let's deactivate the trap by aligning the pedestals in the manner they are supposed to be in. The Nords of Old were very fond of little puzzles such as these."
When he glanced down at Ula, however, he jolted and immediately stepped away from her when he noticed that her eyes were glowing with blue light. Her hair had also become weightless, somehow. Then he stepped back a bit further and gasped, covering his mouth, because it wasn't just her hair... the girl's entire body looked as though it had been submerged underwater. There was an odd mark on her throat that was pulsating with azure luminescence, making him frown in a serious manner.
Ula merely stood there when he headed into the next room and started examining a set of rotational engraved stones.
Then he started turning them.
"Snake... snake... whale..." Faendal muttered, panting as he finished hauling the last stone around. "Divines, I hope this is correct... I'm afraid of what might happen."
There was no response from Ula, although, the weightless effect seemed to have died down quite a bit: the glow in her eyes was slowly, but surely, fading away.
The ash-haired male hesitantly approached the switch and jerked it back before diving out of the way, landing heavily on the ground with his hands over his head.
However, only the sound of the gate rising filled the air this time.
Ula immediately started walking, stepping clean through the dead man's blood without noticing and leaving bloody footprints behind her. Faendal immediately turned bone white and halted, staring at the path she was leaving behind. The girl's beribboned white hair swirled behind her like a glistening cloud as she turned left and headed for a spiraling staircase made of rotting wood. Not breaking her stride, the girl started descending in a slow manner... almost, Faendal noticed, like a woman possessed.
He swallowed, not knowing how to react... but then a blinding violet flash exploded from the depths of the stairs, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap that shook the entire Barrow and made several of the stonework supports crackle weakly. Sneezing violently, the wood elf hastily hurried down the stairs only to find that Ula had literally slaughtered three Skeevers that had apparently tried to attack her. She was already almost to the bottom of the stairs.
"What on earth has gotten into her?" he wondered aloud, hopping down through the center of the stairs and landing lightly just below her feet.
However, the farther in they went... the more Faendal started to notice signs of something living in the barrows.
Signs that couldn't be ignored.
He swallowed a second time: the walls were completely covered in spider webs.
They soon found themselves walking through a few of them that had been strung out across the tunnels, but Ula didn't even notice them and merely paraded right on through. However, the two of them had only been walking for about five minutes when a fearful voice called out from somewhere close by.
"Is... is someone coming?!" a lightly accented male voice cried. "Bjorn?! Hakir?! Soling? I know I ran ahead with the claw, but I need help!"
"Hold on!" Faendal called, pulling his sword out and hacking away at an extremely thick web that had blocked their path. "We're coming, so hold still. We're not your companions, but there is no need to fret. You may rest your conscience, since we did not kill them: merely disarmed them."
"What?!" the male voice shouted, sounding horrified. "Who are you?!"
"That is none of your concern," the wood elf called back, rolling his eyes as he hacked the last of the webbing away. "We'll be there in a moment."
However, when he finally managed to crawl through the hole he'd made, his face went slack: Ula, who slowly followed, froze as well and her expression twitched.
Then the glow in her eyes went out like a candle before a storm.
The girl's ears instantly flattened back against her skull and she rubbed her eyes, looking as though she'd just woken up from a dream. However, when she realized where they were standing and what was around them, her muscles froze and she collapsed to her knees... only to look down at the floor and burst into tears. She instantly leapt off the ground and smashed into Faendal's back, wrapping her legs around him and shuddering violently.
"What in Shor's Blood are you doing?" the elf squeaked, flailing around to get her off of his back. "Get off me!"
However, she only clung that much tighter.
Her eyes were frenzied: she had no idea how she'd gotten where she was, and on top of that, she felt as though she'd found herself stuck in a hellish nightmare. All around her were spiderwebs and egg sacks resting in gooey corners... they were everywhere, and on the floor were ensnared lumps and husks—presumably creatures that used to be alive.
"Hey, you!" the ensnared bandit called, flapping his leg to get their attention. "Help me out of here! Please! I'll make it worth yer while, I promise!""
"Get... off!" Faendal growled, struggling to pry the girl's arms off his throat. "Gods! Stop being a child and let go of me already! NOW!"
Ula gasped when the elf bent over and used the momentum to throw her over his head: she landed on her back and cracked her head against the floor.
However, as a result, their lives were saved: the moment Ula opened her eyes again, she saw what was crawling on the ceiling above them.
Mouth dropping open in horror, the girl let out one of her weak little wheeze-screams and thrust her hands out with a terrified kick of her legs: two lightning bolts exploded from her palms, lancing an enormous arachnid that had been getting ready to pounce on them. The girl flailed around when it slipped off the ceiling, then rolled out of the way and baby-crawled to the farthest corner in the room. Her ears roared black as she buried her head in her knees. She couldn't scream... she could cry... she couldn't do anything. She felt as though she were going to faint... the world was spinning... spiders, spiders, gods, how she hated spiders!
Make them go away, she whimpered, rocking back and forth. Go away go away go away go away go away go away go away—
When something finally touched her arm... it wasn't a spider leg, it was Faendal.
He was holding out a hand to her, and the giant menace was lying dead on its side with twitching legs and green fluid oozing from it's stomach.
Shuddering violently, the girl allowed him to help her up... but then, he turned and hastily whisked towards the bandit, Arvel.
"You did it! You killed it!" the dark elf gasped, looking at them with frightened yellow eyes. "Now cut me down before anything else shows up!"
Faendal merely scowled and whipped his blade up like lightning, pressing the tip against the dark-elf's throat and making him tilt his head away from it.
"Where is the Golden Claw?" the Bosmer demanded in a low tone. "Answer me!"
"Yes, the claw! I know how it works!" Arvel babbled, making Faendal frown in confusion. "The claw, the markings, the door in the hall of stories—I know how they all fit together now! Help me down and I'll show you! You won't believe the power the Nords have stored in there!"
For a long moment, Faendal merely leered at his face with narrowed eyes.
Ula shivered and watched with bated breath, not knowing what to expect any longer.
"Fine," her companion finally muttered, lifting his sword and hacking at the webbing. "Let's see if I can find away to get you down from here."
"Sweet breath of Arkay, thank you!" the other male groaned, sounding extremely relieved; within moments, he was able to move his arms... and soon, he started helping with the hacking process. "It's coming loose! I can feel it! Thank you! Thank you!"
Faendal sighed and continued hacking away at the webbing... but because of that, he didn't see the bandit's grin.
Soon, Arvel slid out of the webbing... but then he lunged forward, brandishing a dagger that neither of them had seen being clutched in his hand. Ula jumped away and covered her mouth in horror when Faendal let out a shout, but it was too late: the bandit ran him through, then whirled around and took off into the tunnels.
"Thank you!" the dark elf's voice cackled somewhere far off. "You really saved me!"
The albino's heart nearly stopped when her friend clutched his chest and staggered forward, collapsing to his knees and planting one hand on the ground.
He coughed... and her throat locked up with terrified tears when she saw blood streaming onto the cobblestone.
"Help... me..." he whispered, falling over on his side and curling into a ball; he shifted his gaze and looked right at her, maroon eyes glazed. "Help... my heart is..."
Blood was pumping through his fingers: Ula's face rapidly turned pale, and she lunged over to his side, focusing with all the willpower inside her body.
She rubbed her hands like Svena always did, then slapped them against the wound as her hands started glowing with a soft golden light.
No! she wailed in silently anguish, heart thudding wildly. It's not strong enough! I need more! Please, heal him! Please! Please please please please please—
Her train of thought went blank when a sudden jolt ran through her, and in an instant, a nauseous wave of agony enveloped her chest.
Head limply tipping back, the girl's eyes once again became devoid of emotion and started glowing blue; almost simultaneously, the golden glow around her hands shifted in color to a dark crimson, and the elf's wound began to heal of its own accord. Ula's hands started moving of their own accord: arcane flourishes graced the air above Bosmer's chest, causing his spilled blood to flow back inside his body. Faendal's eyes were dilated, and he was panting rapidly... but when the wound closed and his eyes rolled back, he was still breathing.
Still alive.
Then Ula came back down to earth... and she very nearly fainted.
Her body fell forward on top of Faendal's, but the smell of blood roused her before she could actually pass out: she dizzily shook the wood elf's shoulder, trying to wake him... but nothing worked. In the end, she crawled to her feet and weakly struggled to drag him over to one of the alcoves where the dead had once been laid to rest. As long as he didn't move and didn't make any noise, perhaps anything or anyone that saw him would think he was a corpse, too.
It was better than leaving him lying out in the open... because, sadly enough, she wasn't going to turn back.
She was going to keep moving forward.
After getting Faendal to a relatively safe-looking alcove, the girl shivered violently and hurried down the tunnel after Arvel. Her bare feet were silent against the stone as she darted around winding corners and twisting paths full of ancient corpses and cobwebs. Then... out of nowhere... a sword was swung at her from around a corner. The girl's knees buckled before her mind could react: still running, her body bent itself backwards and she practically crushed her own spine when she hit the ground.
"Damn!" Arvel hissed, swiping at her again; the girl flopped on her side in a clumsy dodge and scrambled back to her feet, backing away from him and pressing herself against the wall. "Your friend was a fool, little girl! Why should I share the treasure with anyone?! The claw is mine now, and since I murdered your little pal, I figure it's your turn."
Ula, however, was no longer looking at him.
She was looking behind him with an open mouth and enormous pink eyes. Her ears had stuck straight out, her already pale-skin had become almost translucent due to the blood draining from her face, and her limbs had started shaking. Arvel sneered in a cocky manner, obviously thinking it was him she was afraid of... but he was so wrong. So very, very wrong. One of the corpses lying in its resting place had twitched and flicked its eyes open. Ula jumped when it sat up and jerkily lifted her hand, frantically pointing over the elf's shoulder with a horrified expression.
"What's this?" he sneered, not seeing the mummified corpse that was approaching him from behind. "Trying to distract me so you can get away?"
The girl frantically shook her head and jumped up and down in horror, flailing at the mummy behind him with her eyes bugging out of her head.
"I'm not falling for that," he sneered, taking a step towards her. "Don't mock me, little girl... I'm smarter than you—"
He never finished his sentence... nor took another step.
A horrible squelching noise suddenly split the air, and Arvel twitched, mouth opening and closing as the blood ran down his forehead. Ula drew in a deep breath and let out a wheeze-scream, covering her mouth with both hands and eyes that had abruptly become full of terrified tears. The girl slowly lifted her eyes from the sword that had cleaved the elf's skull to the creature that had been holding it... and in an instant, her blood turned to ice and she locked up in fright.
The dead are walking, she whispered in silent horror, pressing herself against the wall with hunched shoulders as a set of glowing blue eyes locked onto her face. Gods above... dead people are walking! The dead have come back to life! What in the name of Mara is going on here?!
She had no more time for questions that couldn't be answered: lifting her hands, the girl released an explosion of lightning Magicka that blasted the mummified corpse off it's feet. The head broke off when it smashed against the wall, but when the girl whirled around, she found herself facing two more of them. Her eyes instantly flew open wide and she lifted her hands, focusing her mind and sending more Magicka erupting from her palms.
The undead went down... then started getting back up.
EEEK! NONONONONONO! the girl silently wailed, hair bristling up around her ears; after three more attempts at killing the creatures with no result, the poor girl threw her hands in the air and ran past them at top speed. NOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOO! THIS IS NOT HAPPENING! NOOOO! FAENDAL, WAKE UP! HURRY!
She nearly burst into tears all over again when she heard undead growls and crunching footsteps behind her.
But then... all of a sudden... the girl stepped on a platform she hadn't seen.
Ula's mind went blank with horror when she saw the spike wall swinging at her.
There was no way for her to avoid it.
She was going to die.
Someone, the girl whispered, squeezing her eyes shut as the world slowed down. Help me...
Her long hair and white dress slowly billowed around as she tried to skid to a halt and dodge, feet skidding across the ground.
Help me...
Her body slowly twisted as she curled herself away from the spikes, trying to prevent herself from being speared.
Help me!
Her mouth opened in a silent scream, large eyes widening as the spikes came roaring at her.
HELP MEEEEEE!
And then... at the last possible second... help came in what could only be described as an ironic miracle.
"Fus..." a mummy's gravelly voice hissed, seeming to echo all around her. "ROH DAH!"
The blue wave of energy smashed into her body, knocking her so hard into the mummies who'd been chasing her that she smashed them into pieces. The spike wall smashed against the stone as she slid to a halt only a foot from the other end of the tunnel, then slowly retracted and resumed it's original spot. The girl clutched her chest and her head thumped against the ground, breathing hard with her heart hammering up her throat.
Her entire body was shaking.
She had almost died... it had been sheer luck that she'd lived through that.
Speaking of which... when she glanced up, she spotted another undead mummy stalking towards her.
Tiredly lifting a hand, the girl pointed her finger at its head and conjured another lightning bolt.
With a flash and a bang, the now-decapitated mummy dropped to its knees and fell flat on the ground, still trying to walk forward.
Then the girl let her head thump back down against the ground, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep right there and pretend it was all a horrid nightmare.
However, she wasn't that nuts, which was kind of a pity since she seriously wanted to do it.
After catching her breath and slowly crawling to her knees, the girl slowly crawled over to Arvel's corpse and started searching the pack he'd strapped onto his back. She found the golden claw inside it, safe and sound... but right next to it, she saw a journal and blinked, frowning in confusion. After a moment of thought, the girl carefully removed the journal and flipped it open, wondering about what sort of thing a bandit might have written in it. What she saw startled her: there was only one page, front and back, that had been filled.
'My fingers are trembling,' Ula silently read, slowly calming down thanks to the familiar act. 'The Golden Claw is finally in my hands, and with it, the power of the ancient Nordic heroes. That fool Lucan Valerius had no idea that his favorite store decoration was actually the key to Bleak Falls Barrow. Now I just need to get to the hall of Stories and unlock the door. The legend says that there is a test the Nords put in place to keep the unworthy away, but they also say this: 'when you have the golden claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands."'
There was nothing else written: the girl flipped through the entire thing just to make sure.
However, she slowly lifted her head when that pulsing sensation swept through her... coaxing her to keep moving forward.
She didn't want to... but somehow, deep within the marrow of her bones... nay, even deeper than that... she knew something here was calling her.
Something was waiting for her, and her alone, just beyond the end of this labyrinth.
She felt it... it was almost as if she'd known it all along.
Against her better judgement, the girl stuffed the golden claw and the journal back inside the bandit's pack and slid it off his limp arms. Then, after slinging the backpack over her own shoulders, Ula swallowed fearfully and steadied herself. With bated breath... she took her first step forward... then her second... and her third.
She didn't stop after that: she didn't look back.
All she could do was move forward, ducking around certain unfamiliar areas almost as if she'd done it a thousand times before.
Something was calling her.
Something powerful.
And she was going to find it no matter what.