There was certain skill that Astaria naturally had, and right now, she was glad she did. Her and her older brother had both been gifted with an ability to be almost silent, for Astaria, many said this was normal because she was so short, but her brother, a fully grown proper Nord, was almost seen as much as a freak of nature as she was.

It had been a long time since she had heard from her brother Gabriel. The ever charming Nord with blonde hair and blue eyes, he had been the attention of many of the other nobles daughters. But, like Astaria, the noble life and the control of their father, was not suited. He left five years ago to find his own way in the world and it had been a good year since she had heard from him.

Not that she was worried, it had taken him two years to write to her in the first place. He was successful in what he was doing and that was all she needed to know, not that she didn't want to know more, but he said it was all she needed to know.

They had both discovered their ability to sneak fairly young, quickly noticing that their mother never heard them when they snuck into the kitchen for food, and when they learned that they both could do it, they got into all sorts of mischief with it.

Right now, Astaria was missing those days. She had managed to sneak past the bandits holding the small tower along the path to barrow, but now she was standing just back from the stairs leading up to it and she could clearly make out three more bandits guarding the top.

She would not be able to sneak past them.

Her tutor, who also had the ability to sneak, not through talent but sheer practice over years and years of stealing off the streets, hadn't seen it necessary to train her any further in it. Impressed as he was, there was little jealousy there, and she was pretty sure that he just didn't want her to become better than he was. As it was, she could almost sneak up on him unnoticed.

Growling, she dropped the pack and held her bow tightly, stretching out her shoulders. She wasn't a natural archer, she could shoot, but it wasn't her best quality. She had gotten pretty good at stationary targets, but these were moving men, patrolling back and forth. Astaria gritted her teeth and drew an arrow, knocking it on the string. Hopefully she could at least take two of them down before they reached her.

Pulling the bow back, she focused, watching the closer of the three. They stopped. She let the arrow fly.

Whack.

The bandit went down screaming as the arrow pierced his neck, alerting the other two. Astaria almost couldn't believe her luck before returning her focus to the other two bandits, knocking another arrow and letting it fly.

This one missed.

Cursing, Astaria hurried, firing another arrow, the bandit in the lead, deflecting it with his shield. Astaria fought down the panic and had time to get one more shot off, just skimming their shoulder before he was upon her.

Astaria didn't go for her sword though, she went for the two knives in her belt, both curved and both equally as viscous. A final gift from her tutor before they were forced to part ways.

She dodged out of the way from the heavy swing of the steel sword just in time, giving herself room to move. She ducked the second swing, the bandit furious, but this was her height at its advantage. She moved forward, fast, the two knives ducking under the shield and finding the gap beneath his armour.

The man gasped and staggered back, his guard dropped as he tried to clutch the wounds in his stomach and Astaria took the opportunity to slit his throat. He fell, gasping and gurgling for air now and she was would have finished him quickly went a loud clatter made her jump and look up.

The third bandit had a bow and arrow and was hurriedly going for a second shot.

She was glad that at least someone was a worse shot than she was.

Grabbing the dropped shield, Astaria used it to protect her body as she charged forward, two arrows clanging uselessly off the shield before she reached the bandit. They pulled out a knife but it was much too late. Astaria smashed the shield into them, taking them off her feet before her knife came in and finished the job.

Breathing deeply, Astaria dropped the shield. Blinking, she refused to look at the dead bodies. She sheathed her knives and hurried back to her things, picking them up and placing them back over her shoulders.

She took a moment, closing her eyes and getting her breathing steady again. The adrenaline rushing through her wasn't helping her fear, nor was it helping her annoyance at herself.

Astaria had promised herself that she would learn to properly use a sword if she was going to join Ulfric's cause, and this had meant not using her knives. She had been practising non-stop for months leading up to her ultimately joining, and while much improved, the sword still did not feel natural in her hands.

She winced. She knew Ulfric had noticed this. She could tell by the scrutinizing look he gave her after she had left Ralof flat on his back. Astaria hadn't really used her sword, she had taken advantage of Ralof's weakness, something that had been so trained into her she wasn't sure if she could learn any other way.

Sighing, she shook her head. She didn't have time for self-pity, she would have to deal with that later. Right now, all she had to think about was what lied ahead of her in the barrow.

Opening the heavy doors, Astaria slipped inside. Rummaging through her pack, she ate a mouthful of bread and placed the three health potions in her side bag before hiding the pack out of site. The less she went in with, the better.

Moving silently, she rounded a column and noticed two bandits talking. How they hadn't noticed the door opening and closing was beyond her, but this gave her and advantage. Neither was moving.

Drawing the bow again, Astaria took out the male first, catching the female off guard, who just stopped and stared at his body for a second too long before Astaria's second arrow found its mark.

She moved quickly, heading deeper into the barrow, her footfalls silent. She stopped in the darkness at the bottom of some stares, another bandit ahead of her. Astaria goes to draw her bow, but at that moment, the bandit pulled a lever and was pierced by darts shooting out of the wall. He fell with a horrible gurgle that made Astaria wince.

Approaching cautiously, she looked around the room. It was clear it was puzzle, high above the door was a snake and a whale, the middle piece missing, looking to the ground to her left, she saw another snake and three movable pillars with animals on them.

Rolling her eyes, she walked over and moved the three pillars to match the symbols above the door, snake, snake, whale, and returned to the lever and opened it. With a grating sound, the bars opened and Astaria entered.

Deeper and deeper she went, taking out several skeevers. One had managed to bite her ankle, barely breaking the skin, but she didn't take any risks, dapping it with a health potion and drinking the rest. The last thing she needed was a disease weighing her down.

Part way down, she began to hear a voice, pausing, she noticed it was panicked and scared, but she still continued cautiously.

Coming to a large cobweb, she cut it out of the way, knowing what was probably coming. A Dunmer male was trapped in a web at the other end, he was the one crying for help. It took Astaria a second to realise what from when the giant spider crashed down from more webbing above. Had she any sense, she would have run screaming.

Drawing her sword however, she charges in and starts to hack away at the creature, quickly dodging its attacks, the last thing she wanted to do was to be poisoned by this thing. Although over relatively quickly, it felt like a long fight. The spider lay crumpled at her feet and she rested her hands on her knees drawing in long deep breaths.

"Get me down! Get me down!" The Dunmer was yelling at her.

"If you don't shut up for a minute I'll skewer you where you stand." She growled threateningly. It probably wasn't a bad idea anyway, he didn't exactly look welcoming, but she wasn't in the habit of killing men when they were at a disadvantage.

Having caught her breath, she walked over and cut him down.

He, however, laughed maniacally and said. "You think I'm going to share the treasure with you!? You'll never catch me alive!" And took off into the tomb.

Astaria sighed and headed after him. Even with only basic knowledge of barrows and tombs, she knew that charging blindly ahead was always a bad idea.

Sure enough, she found him sprawled on the ground not much further into the tomb. He'd activated a trap of a spiked wall that had flung him backwards, killing him instantly.

It had also, much to Astaria's despair, had awoken the Draugr.

She stood silently, trying to will herself forward, sword in hand as the Draugr patrolled. She'd never felt more terrified as the dead walked around, their eyes glowing. They were only meant to be legends, the dead patrolling the tombs around Skyrim. They were meant to be, well, dead.

Trouble was coming.

Astaria licked her lips. Her knowledge of the ancient legends wasn't the best, she'd been focused on learning about other things, seemingly more important at the time. Now she wished she knew more about the legend.

Knowing that the longer she stood there, the less likely she was to continue, Astaria rushed forward, decapitating the first Draugr, the other three staring at her with blank eyes and charging forward.

She parried one blowing and sliced through it, it too collapsing on the ground. Darting forward, she dodged the pressure plate and ran far enough that she was out of range of the trap. Sure enough, one of the Draugr stepped on the plate, the spiked wall springing forward and giving them the same fate as the Dunmer.

Hesitantly, she walked back over to them, they didn't really have anything special on the them, but a glint of gold did catch her eye on the Dunmer. She knelt down and pulled out a solid gold claw.

Her eyebrows raised, she looked it over. The claw had three symbols on it, a bear, a moth and an owl. She knew this obviously meant something, so she pocketed it.

Continuing, she was careful not to wake anymore of the Draugr, the things terrified her, not that she was going to admit it to anyone. However she eventually found her way blocked by three swinging blades.

Astaria stared at it. This hadn't been in the job description. They were in a set rhythm and she knew that it was just a matter of timing. She watched, counting the times between the swings. Slowly she got closer until she could feel the air move past her as the blade swung.

One, two, swing, step. One, two, swing, step. One, two, swing, step.

She let out the breath she'd been holding. The blades now swinging behind her. She prayed that there were no more of those in here.

Three Draugr were in this room. She stepped up to the first silently and cut it down, alerting the other two. She stepped back, drawing her bow and aiming for the pot hanging from the under the walkway above. Timing it, she shot of the pot, causing it to drop and shatter, fire leaping up and engulfing the two Draugr.

Waiting patiently, the fire died, allowing her to continue.

She came to a room with a stream. Pulling the chain allowing her to continue quickly on. There was only one more Draugr along her path, which was quickly cut down and kicked over the walkway to the cavern below.

Then she entered a completely different room.

Astaria paused. There was a certain air about this room. She could see a door at the end, but there was something about this place that chilled her. She looked at the murals on the walls depicting ancient scenes of ancient battles. Shuddering, she slowly walks forward, taking in each one, feeling like she should know these scenes.

The door before her was solid, three rings with different animals placed above the lock. She looked at it before pulling out the claw and looking at the symbols again. Hoping that this was the right key for the right door, she turned the stone rings to match the claw and pushed the claw into the wall, turning it.

With the noise of stone against stone, the door slowly opened.

The air beyond was cool.

Astaria drew in a breath. The feeling had had in her chest now worsened and she walked slowly into the cave.

Bats swarmed around her and she could see a raised platform ahead with an ancient stone wall raising above it. Atop the stone wall was what was unmistakably the figure of a dragon.

Astaria stared at it as she approached, suddenly aware of a low thrum echoing around the cave. If she wasn't mistaken it felt like it was originating from the wall.

Walking up the steps, she noticed that several symbols in the wall were glowing and that was indeed where the noise was coming from. Shivering, she stared at them and the glow seemed to grow brighter, the word almost burning itself into her minds eye. Blinking back the light, it faded and Astaria was left slightly shaken, not understanding what had just happened.

A crack got her attention and she whirled around. A Draugr was rising from the tomb that she hadn't even noticed. She could tell that this one was different from the rest, she could almost feel the power coming off it.

She leapt out of the way as it swung its great sword down, but before she could recover, it opened its mouth and let forth a shout.

"Fus!"

Astaria felt a wave hit her and she staggered back, almost losing her sword. Breathing hard, she regained her feet and ready her sword. The Draugr laughed.

It moved forward and Astaria felt her heart racing. Somewhere she knew that that shout should have done more, after all, she had heard of what Ulfric had done to the High King, but this was different, it didn't seem to have as much an effect on her.

She leapt forward, swinging her sword in, the creature blocked, but the blow made it slip. Using it to her advantage, she rebounded and swung again, lower this time, aiming for its legs, again, it blocked but she pushed it further back.

With a cry of anger and fear Astaria made blow after blow. The creature opened its mouth to shout again but now she was ready, she rolled away as the shout echoed throughout the cave again, coming up behind it and knocking it down with a heavy hit of her blade.

On the ground, she made sure it stayed down with another heavy blow to its neck, its head rolling away.

Breathing heavily now, Astaria collapsed to her knees, her sword scattering to the floor. Her vision swayed before her and before she could stop it, she disappeared into darkness.