Skyrim(c) Bethesda.
Forgotten Paladin, Chapter III: The Western Watchtower.
Kaylee reluctantly followed this Vilkas outside to the court yard. She glanced around seeing the various members of the Companions. It seemed they had heard the fight and wanted to watch. She heard a slurred voice say, "I wager fifty septims that Vilkas defeats her." She frowned. That was definitely a confidence booster right there. It didn't help that the others joined in as well.
She stood at least seven feet from Vilkas. He rolled his shoulders, "The old man said to have a look at you. Doubt you hurt that much." She gritted her teeth. Oh she wanted to rip out his intestines and skip rope with them so bad right now. Unsheathing her sword, she waited for Vilkas.
Vilkas took a side step to the left. She went right. He swung at her to left, but she managed to block with her shield. He had to jump back as she swung upwards with her sword. He swung to the right diagonally and managed to swipe her. He watched as a little bit of blood appeared. She grunted, and a feral grin appeared on his face.
Kaylee watched as some blood dripped out of the wound. Oh the bastard! Her eyes looked around at his stance and caught his wolf like grin. She felt uncomfortable about that grin and decided that she needed to remove it. She lunged forward with her sword going down. The tip her blade went through his armor, giving him a nice scar. He stumbled back, surprised at the sudden attack. She took that moment to bash him with her shield effectively knocking him down. Quickly moving before he could get up she put her left knee on his chest, making sure not to get the wound, and put her blade to his neck. "Yield!"
Vilkas stared up at the whelp in shock. So she could use a sword, and pretty damn well too. He knew he wasn't going to live it down, but he knew when he was beat. "I yield." As she got up, the sound of clapping was heard. "Impressive!" He was about to get up when a hand came into his vision. "Here, let me help you up at least." Reaching forward, he grabbed her hand and felt himself pulled up with half effort. "Whelp," he handed her his sword. "Take that to Eorlund to get it sharpened."
"What is it Kodlak?" "Not here Skjor, tell the Circle to come to my room. Immediately." A nod was Skjor's answer. Skjor turned his head towards Vilkas, and two people whom had been watching the fight. Making a movement with his head, he walked behind Kodlak. The rest of the Circle wondered why he wanted to speak to him. Had they found more pieces of Wuuthrad? It is possible he found a cure? Could it even be about the new whelp's performance?
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As Kaylee grabbed Vilkas' sword, she saw Kodlak talking to the male that she met before. She sees urgency in his eyes as spoke with the male from before. She briefly wonders what it is. Maybe it was about her performance. Did she not meet the requirements?
She had only seen the Skyforge at a distance, but never up close. Calling it massive would be an understatement. A stone eagle, with wings spread open, surrounded the forge. There was a grindstone near the farthest wing, and using it was an older male Nord. He must be Eorlund. "Are you Eorlund? Vilkas sent me with his sword."
Vilkas was last of the Circle to walk into Kodlak's room. "Shut the door Vilkas, please." He obeyed. The only woman in the room crossed her arms, "What is so important? Is it about that new whelp?" Kodlak sighed and nodded. Vilkas frowned. "What could be so important about that whelp?" he asked. Kodlak stared at him for about a minute or two. "She just isn't any whelp Vilkas. She is of Paladin descent."
Skjor turned toward Kodlak. "Paladin. You mean..." "Aye, I do." The last male in the room cocked his head to the side. "What's so important about these Paladins?" Vilkas leaned against the closet wall before speaking, "The Paladins were a great clan founded in 3E 137 by Raiden Whitestrake. The Paladins were blessed by Arkay and were one of the most powerful anti-undead based groups. They hunted down vampires, witches, necromancers, undead, and of course, werewolves. You can tell if you're talking to a Paladin because of the pale blue eyes that they have. Speaking of which, why were their eyes like that?"
Clearing his throat, Kodlak gazed at Vilkas, "It's said it is a sign of Arkay's blessing. It also shows how pure a Paladin is." There were four confused looks. "What I mean is, the more honorable a Paladin is, the paler the eyes. If the eyes grow too dark, than the Paladin in question is corrupt and losses Arkay's blessing until they have changed their ways. It became a good way for the Paladins to keep track of who was close to falling off the edge, and into corruption. Anyways, I want you to watch the new whelp closely. Keep her from the Thalmor, or any other Altmer for that matter, they will want to kill her if they find her. Altmer and Paladins do not like each other. Oh, and you will find yourself getting angry near her. Don't be alarmed. It is another of Arkay's blessings. They have this effect on those whom are undead or other."
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It would be two weeks before Skjor would give her Trial. She was to retrieve more pieces of Wuuthrad. Farkas, the twin of Vilkas, would be her shield-brother. She wouldn't lie and not say she wasn't nervous. She was. All eyes were on her. However, it wasn't the fear of disappointing majority of the Companions. No, it was disappointing Kodlak. In the two weeks she had been at Jorrvaskr, Kodlak was the one she with the most. If she wasn't training with Vilkas, or out on a job, she would be with him learning as much Skyrim's history and lore. Or listening to the many stories he accumulated on his travels. She glanced over to her partner, her shield brother. He was a Nord, with black hair that fell to his shoulders, wore steel armor and used a steel great sword. He was Farkas, twin to Vilkas and she would make sure she didn't get him killed.
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Shock was the first emotion to appear as she watched Farkas transform. Then it was this intense hatred. She didn't know how or why this hatred came up, but all she did known is that she wanted to kill Farkas. Something screamed at her to kill him, but she resisted, fearing the disappointed look Kodlak would give her. Gritting her teeth she watched as he decimated this Silver Hand group. That intense anger flared as she watched the amount of damage that was done.
Farkas ran up to Kaylee as the door that imprisoned her opened. He watched as anger flared from her. "What was that?" He shifted his weight. "It's a blessing to some us, a curse to others. We become like beasts. Fearsome." Out of the corner his eye, he noticed her right hand was clenched tightly. He reached out with his right hand to stroke her hair, to calm her, but she turned away. "Relax, I won't hurt you." Her eyes softened briefly, before she sighed. "You're right. You wouldn't. It just isn't your nature." She gave him a light hug before releasing him as that hatred from before appeared.
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She immediately became warily as they crossed into this room. Coffins. There were coffins everywhere. And touching the farthest wall was a huge wall on its own. Despite the hate that came from being next to him, she found herself inching closer to him. "Don't worry sister. It will just be more draugr." She shook her head. It wasn't the draugr. It was the wall. She could feel its power, and she swore she saw a bright blue light on it.
They walked closer to a table that was set next to the wall. She flinched as chanting filled her head. Trying to find its source her eyes landed on the wall again. Her eyes widened as a word on the wall became bright blue. She felt herself drawn to the wall, it cried out to her. Blue tendrils danced around her, some pulling her close to it. Yol. The word repeated itself over and over. What did it mean, and why did it feel like she was on fire?
"Sister." Farkas' words pulled her down from her trance. The word repeated itself once more and ingrained itself in her head. Yol. As she turned to face her shield-brother about four coffins popped open. Unsheathing her sword she waited as more draugr appeared. Nodding to Farkas, they charged into battle.
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Another two weeks pass since her Trail and acceptance into the Companions. Two slow weeks as there weren't many jobs to take. Luckily she had training to keep her busy, and if not training, she spent more time with Kodlak. She shifted in her bed. By the Gods she was sore. After she had come back from Dustman's Cairn, Vilkas gave her almost no mercy during training. He kept telling her it was for her own good, but she swore he was out to make her suffer.
At least she had today off from training. Or that's what thought until Skjor came through the door. "Kaylee." She looked up. "Got another job for you. Get your gear on." Cursing under her breath she got up. She was hopping to spend the day resting but apparently the Gods thought otherwise. Five minutes later she appeared in front of Skjor. "What is it?" "Jarl Balgruuf's court wizard needs someone to retrieve something from Bleak Falls Barrow." She cocked her head to the side. "Let me guess, you thought it would be prefect for me?" He nodded in response. "Very well. Anything else I need to know?" "Just be careful." "I will."
She hadn't expected she would be going back towards Riverwood this soon. In fact, she thought she would be avoiding it for quite some time. Her hand went to her forehead while she gazed at the ruins above the town. Now she understood way Hadvar had felt unnerved by the ruins. It was slightly creepy when the sun hit it at a certain angle.
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Oh no. Not another damned wall again. She clenched her teeth. Why did seem like they were Nordic Ruins specific? She walked swiftly to wall hoping to get it over with, but knowing it wouldn't be quick. The chanting from two weeks ago filled her head once more. Another word appeared. Fus. What were Fus and Yol? What did they mean? And why could only she see them?
Her gut twisted as the familiar opening of a coffin sound was heard. Spinning around as quickly as her iron armor allowed, she suddenly faced a draugr glaring at her. She raised her shield as it moved its hands to the side and took a breath. "FUS RO DAH!" A blast of air lunched from its mouth and flung into the wall. Wait. Fus? Did it just say Fus?
Seeing she had no time to think about it, she launched herself towards it. She dodged to the left barely missing its axe. Swinging to her right as she could she only made a crack. So this was a stronger draugr. She felt glad that Vilkas had pushed her as hard he did. Praying to whatever divine followed her, she hoped that this one would have the stone she was looking for.
It seemed something was out to get her. A dragon had just attacked the western watcher and the Jarl wanted her to help. He was out of his mind. She had seen what happened at Helgen. That black dragon wiped out most of the town in five minutes! Did he really think that mere mortals could take on such a thing? She had no choice in this matter however. It would look bad on the Companions, and herself, if she refused. Sighing and sucking it up, she followed the Dark Elf out of Dragonsreach.
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There were several gasps as the watchtower came into view. There were several plots of fire scattered around the tower. Most of the wall around had worsened. Kaylee could at least see about seven dead guards. "Look for survivors. We need to know what happened here." The smell of dead flesh became stronger as the group moved forward. She and two other guards gagged. "No! Get back! It's still here somewhere!"
"What's still here?" "That thing! That dragon!" She grazed over to the housecarl who shrugged. Footsteps sounded from behind them. "It's coming!" The guard pointed to the mountains that Bleak Falls Barrow resided on. Oh yes, there was dragon alright. And it was coming hard and fast towards the watchtower. "Archers!" Kaylee ran halfway down the wall before jumping off. Luckily for them it immediately landed on the farther wall. Sprinting as fast as her heavy armor would let her, she bounded up the wall to take a strike. While the sword did cut into the flesh, it didn't cut deeply.
The dragon turned and whipped her with its head causing her to fall over the wall. She landed hard on her back and let out a small cry of pain. She was pretty sure she broke something. Slinging her shield on her back she cast healing spell over herself. Taking the moment to catch her breath she looked around swiftly trying to get a handle on its movements. Its movements were erratic. The dragon landed again, this time on the ground. Pushing herself up she charged with her shield raised. The scales on its neck looked weak, in fact it seemed like the dragon knew this and was trying to keep them from hitting it. "AIM FOR ITS NECK!" She shouted. Moving right she slashed at its neck forcing it to move towards her.
"I have forgotten how much of fight you mortals are." It snapped at her only to catch itself on her shield. Arrows pierced the neck giving her time she needed to free her arm. She took a step forward and swung. The dragon roared as the tip of her sword sliced its face. "Curse you!" More arrows pierced the neck. She felt herself jump onto its forehead. She had to balance herself as the dragon tried to force her off. Gripping her sword harder she swung down as hard as she could until she felt it stop moving.
As she jumped from the dragon's head cheering rose up from the guards. "We did it!" "We killed a dragon!" She was only a few steps until she heard, "By the Gods, everyone get back!" Turning around she saw the dragon start burning. First the scales, then the skin until there was nothing left. It was happened next that made Kaylee recoil. Just like at the walls tendrils wrapped around her. Opening her mouth, she let out a loud "FUS!" Force. Fus meant force. She relieved, but confused, to know what it meant. Turning her to the left she saw several guards gaping as if they were fish.