Day Five

In the morning, Lydia roused me from my bed as I had instructed her to do the night before. I started to fall back asleep and she threatened to yank the sheets off and dump me on the ground. I turned over onto my back.

"Go ahead," I said, my arms thrown wide.

Lydia glanced at my clothes lying neatly folded beside me and actually blushed. "I'll wait downstairs."

I laughed just enough to wake up but getting out of bed was not easy. The room was spinning and there was no way I would be able to eat until it stopped. I searched my pack for a bottle of skooma and for a moment I feared they had been stolen. Then my fingers locked on one and I emptied it in moments. It stopped the room, and my stomach, from spinning but the fear remained. I knew I was down to one left. This trip would not go well if I exhausted myself. Hopefully these Greybeards were not too far up in the mountains.

We left Whiterun after eating and headed east over a bridge then topped a rise where two wolves ambushed us from behind some rocks. Lydia took out one with her bow while I stopped one in its tracks with a slash to its head then put it down for good with another blow. The magical properties of my sword made me leary of it but I liked the results. The wolf at my feet was partially frozen.

"You're damn good with that bow, girl. Who taught you how to shoot?"

"My father taught me when I was a girl when my mother had taken ill. She went to live with her kin and I went hunting with my father when no one else was home. But I'm a girl no longer, my Thane. You would be wise to remember that."

She marched past me and I hurried to keep up. Just past the top of the hill, she turned almost south at a rock marker and we followed a winding trail past a Stormcloak camp and up into the mountains. At times the path was barely visible but she seemed confident in her directions so I only protested a little bit, just to keep her focused. Besides a quick snowstorm the only things we encountered were three goats who did their best to flee from us. We got to the other side and it was still early. The mountain pass had not taken nearly as long a I feared. Because of a light rain that began to fall we stayed near the pine trees at the base of the mountain and followed another clearer path.

"I thought the Greybeards were up in the mountain?" I asked.

"Not this mountain," she said then pointed to another behemoth of a mountain. "That one."

The mountain was so tall I could not even see the top. I cursed loudly, which only made her smile, and continued on.

We passed by a ruined gate along the road and I noticed something inside one of the stone structures. I discovered some baskets, one with a book on top. The title said, 'The Warrior's Charge'. Hoping for some fighting instruction, I opened the book and began reading. It was nothing but a book of poetry! My head began to tingle like it did when I read that book of magic in Dragonsreach. I tossed the book back, knocking over the basket. Underneath the basket was a hidden lockbox. A moment's work with the lockpicks, breaking two in the process, revealed a single purple amethyst. I kept the gem from Lydia's sight. She may be sworn to protect me, but growing up I learned thieves took all forms. I placed the basket back over the box and kept us moving. She shrugged and followed.

Around a bend I could hear a small river rushing passed. I heard something else, too. A beast-like grunting was coming from the other side and I spotted a hairy creature moving around beneath a rocky overhang.

"What in the Nines is that?" I asked Lydia.

She moved next to me, "You've never seen a troll before?"

"Troll? No. Sounds as ugly as it looks. Time to put it out of its misery."

I splashed across some rocks in the river to confront the animal. Lydia yelled something but I could not hear her over the water. The troll heard me coming and let out a roar. Before he finished I slammed my sword into his chest. It barely seemed to faze him. He reached back then knocked me first left then right with his long, powerful arms. I could not believe it could hit so hard. My ears were ringing inside my iron helmet. He wound up for another shot but I instinctively used my new power and Shouted at him.

"Fus!"

He reeled back, but not as much as I would have liked. I saw an arrow land in his throat and I took the opportunity to retreat into the water and head back towards Lydia. From the water I could actually see the gash I made with my sword begin to heal.

The enraged troll did not seem to like the water but it did go to the rocks I used to cross and came after us.

"How do we fight that thing?" I asked Lydia as she planted another arrow in its stomach. "It heals itself even as it fights."

"We just have to press the attack," she said, "Do more damage than it can heal and don't let it run off."

The troll approached and Lydia dropped her bow and unhooked her axe. I was not completely healed so I chugged one of my healing potions and tossed the bottle at it. Between my sword and her axe we were able to keep the beast at bay but not by much. Suddenly I saw arrows start to appear in the troll's hide, first two, then four. I took a chance to glance over and saw two Stormcloaks standing in the river shooting at it. With the four of us on him, the troll roared in defiance but then succumbed to his wounds and fell face first into the water.
Luckily, Lydia and I suffered only minor wounds that quickly cleaned up in the water. I even learned a more effective way of using my gauntlets for protection. I went to the Stormcloaks to thank them for their assistance. They said we should go to Windhlem and join Ulfric in his fight. They walked off without waiting for a response. I let them go. I have my own war to fight.

On the other side of the river we inspected the troll's lair and found two dead Stormcloaks. Lydia found an iron warhammer which she seemed to prefer to the axe. I had no objections, I told her, as long as she did not lose the axe. I found some plant that was ringing and plucked it to stop the noise. I also found a book titled, Chimarvamidium. I had no idea what it was but I was not about to risk another headache. I asked Lydia to read it. She said it detailed working on heavy armor. Finally, something worth reading! I read the book as we moved on since she said we are almost to Iverstead where we could find the steps leading to the Greybeards.

We stopped at the inn to have lunch and so I could find out more about High Rothgar. Before I could say much, however, the innkeeper, Wilhelm, started talking about the barrow we passed on the way there and how it was haunted and ruining his business. I brushed off his superstitious stories and bought lunch for myself and Lydia. Afterwards we headed towards the bridge she said lead to the Greybeards. On the way, I heard another of those plants. Lydia said they were called ninroots and are quite valuable, for plants. I went to collect it and I noticed a man on the other side of the river talking to himself. I listened for a moment and shook my head because he reminded me of someone I once knew. I waved for Lydia to follow and went to talk to the man.

I found him inside his ruined home, talking about how his sister had gone and not come back. He called himself Narfi and was obviously very distraught, on the verge of panicking. I saw no evidence of anyone else there to calm him.

"Narfi's very sad," he said. "Narfi needs Reyda to say goodbye. Reyda. Reyda."

"We should probably get going, Thane," Lydia said, looking sadly at the disheveled man. "It will not stay light much longer."

"I think we should help him find his sister first."

Lydia stared at me for a second. "What?"

"Do you see anyone else coming to help him? Would you want us to leave him like this, yelling out for his sister?"

"Well, no, but... you want to help him?"

I squared my shoulders as best I could while keeping Narfi in sight. "When I come to rule, I want everyone to know that no detail is too small to escape my notice. If you let the little things go like a missing sibling, next thing they will try to usurp your throne right out from under you. Understand?"

"It makes sense, I suppose. But...you?"

"Stop saying that," I commanded. "Wilhelm says that barrow is haunted. I'd bet my sword if she's missing that whatever is going on in there has something to do with it. We'll look for her there first."

I turned to the troubled young man. "Do not worry, Narfi. We'll find Reyda for you. All right? Just wait here and rest?"

Narfi calmed down and began eating some bread at his table.

I pulled Lydia by her arm. "Let's go...and stop staring at me."

The barrow, Shroud Hearth Barrow, Wilhelm had called it, seemed much smaller than Bleak Falls. It should not take long to cipher out this mystery and find Reyda for poor Narfi. It must be small inside since there were desecrated coffin left out in the entrance. I pushed open the rusty doors and we cautiously climbed down a set of rickety spiral stairs. I saw one preserved corpse standing in a crypt and I got my sword ready and told Lydia to do the same with her hammer. The dead reminded me of the ones I had recently returned to the grave. These did not move, however, as I looked around. To our right a light appeared and a ghostly image resolved behind a barred gate.

"Leave this place," an eerie voice demanded, "Leave this place."

The ghost walked away and disappeared.

"That was a ghost, all right," Lydia said, looking a little scared.

"Ghosts are just another form of the dead," I said. "I killed the dead before, I'll kill this one. Reyda!"

Silence. "Let's keep looking."

I found a room with several levers and eventually figured out the pattern, getting nicked by a poison dart in the process. I felt ill for a moment but I bled the wound and the poison seeped out. We moved on and I found a room with a fire trap that would have cooked me in my armor had Lydia not clamped a hand to my shoulder in time. Woman's intuition, she claimed. Beyond it I opened a chest that I did not realize was rigged with a dart trap. I heard the snap of the line, though, and managed to dive out of the way in time. I looked back at Lydia. She shrugged. So much for intuition. I found a bit of gold for my trouble. We located another gate and beyond it we cornered the ghost. Immediately he attacked with a fire spell, casting a shield at the same time. I did not know ghosts could work real magic. I ducked to the side and Lydia rushed in with her steel shield in front of her and the Axe of Whitrun in her hand. I assumed there was not enough room for her hammer. The fire blasted against the shield even as Lydia advanced. I took the opportunity to circle around and climb a table beside him. At the last moment he saw me but it was too late. I leapt and came down on his head with my ice sword. Instantly he dropped his magic shield and fell back against the wall. The ghost turned into a normal flesh and blood man. Lydia moved in for the kill but I stepped in front of him and grasped the man's hair.

"Where's Reyda, mage-scum? What did you do with her?"

The mage recovered a little and said, "She's right here."

I felt coldness against my stomach then a wetness under my shirt. I looked down to see the hilt of a wicked dagger jutting from my armor. "Bastard," I hissed.

He managed a short laugh before I crushed his unprotected skull against the stone wall. I stood and Lydia saw the dagger.

"We should leave and find a healer," she said.

"No." I pulled the dagger out and quickly drank one of the bigger bottles of healing. I felt weak so I sat on the edge of the table.

"Reyda!" I got no answer.

Lydia put her axe away and switched to her warhammer which she then leaned on. "So tell me, Thane, why so adamant about helping this Narfi fellow? Do you know him?"

I sighed. I wanted to leave but between the wound healing and my desire for some more skooma, I was too drained. "I don't know him, gir...Lydia. But he reminds me of someone. I had an older brother, Tam, who worked at a mill before my family became influential. He suffered a blow to the head and was never quite all there after that. He had a girlfriend at the time, Varlata, and she was so sweet she stuck with him. My parents were too busy to care for him properly, my sister could not care less, and I was too young. Varlata disappeared one night and my brother went insane trying to find her. When we did, purely by accident, she had been the victim of a mage ritual. Tam ended up killing four wizards before meeting his end. I like to think if someone had been there to help him, he might not have died."

"I'm sorry, Thane...Ralos. That must be why you hate mages so."

"No, they just creep me out."

"Well, I see you truly cared for your brother. So why are you so..."

I waited for her to finish then suggested, "Charming?"

"No."

"Handsome?"

"No."

"Well-endowed?"

"An ass, if you must hear it. I'm sworn to protect you, not coddle you, so I'm just wondering why I have to deal with you the way you are, so insufferable."

I felt better now that the puncture in my stomach had healed. I stood to leave. "I'm the way I am because it's what people need. They don't need a soft-hearted, give free food to everyone, lets all live in peace ruler. They need one who is confident, sure of himself, and knows how best to use people to achieve what he wants. People respect power. It's kept me alive this long. We've wasted enough time here talking. I've healed sufficiently to walk, let's go. We have a woman to find."

I noticed a book on the table next to a satchel and a blue potion. The satchel did not have much but as I cautiously read the book it turned out to be a journal of the mage I just killed. I shook my head at the thief's deceptions and pocketed the journal along with the potion he had been using. We searched the barrow more thoroughly now that the 'ghost' was gone. Reyda did not turn up but I did find a long chamber similar to Bleak Falls with another of the circular door locks. I wished I still had the claw but it probably would not work on both. The mage, Wyndilius did not have one on him, so unless we find where he hid it, we were locked out. I decided to pay Wilhelm another visit to reveal what his ghost really was.

Wilhelm was shocked by the revelation, and a little embarrassed. For our silence and as a reward he offered a small, bluish item he had found near the barrow. I stared in amazement as I turned a sapphire claw around in my hand. This must be the key to the barrow.

"It is too fancy to leave lying around here," Wilhelm said, "I've just been using it for a backscratcher. Rakes the skin right off, it does. Feels great."

I looked at the claw differently and held it away from me by two fingers. I offered it to Lydia. "Here, why don't you carry it?"

Lydia grimaced but took it and put it in her pack. "I'm sworn to carry your burdens."

It was not very late so I ordered us a small dinner, intent on returning to the barrow. Lydia did not argue. She could tell I meant to resolve this, or perhaps she was eager to help Narfi now as well. She was doing well as a follower. Perhaps there would be a place for her in my court, as well as other, more horizontal, places.

The sun was near setting as I lead Lydia back into the barrow. We returned to the locked door and the claw worked the same as the other but in a different pattern. Once inside I called out for the woman. My voice echoed through the dark chambers.

"Perhaps we should be more cautious, Thane," Lydia suggested, "until we know more about where we are and what awaits."

"Fair enough. We don't want them doing anything rash if they know we are coming for them."

I lead us into an odd chamber with a type of alter in the middle. On a podium I found a book and a glance told me it was a spellbook of some kind, something about oakflesh. Sounded evil enough. I left it. The only way out seemed to be a locked gate. I quickly found the lever for it nearby. As the gate opened, so did the top of a crypt. A dried up draugr armed with an axe rushed me but Lydia was quicker and intercepted it. One blow to the skull and it collapsed in a heap. I acknowledged her skill with her hammer and we moved on. At the gate was a spiral staircase leading up. I took the lead but Lydia misstepped and fell through a water trap at the bottom. Her steel armor and weapons threatened to drag her down but she held on to the edge long enough for me to grab her forearm and pull her back up. She acknowledged my skill with my hands.

"You have no idea," I quipped and continued on up the stairs.

Skeletons seemed to have infested this barrow but we took them out easily, including five skeletal archers waiting for us in a pit. Unfortunately for them the pit floor was laced with oil and after a few exchanges of arrows, I sent one shaft to cut down a lamp from above them. All but one, who was coming up the stairs, burned up instantly. Lydia took out the last with her hunting bow. We gathered all their arrows, some coins, and continued on. I called out, softer this time, for Reyda, but still got no reply. I was worried we were already too late.

We narrowly avoided a spike door trap due to the darkness of the barrow. Beyond it I was forced to fight a very powerful draugr after stepping on a pressure plate to open a door. These dead seem to favor frost magic. He used it to try to force me back off the ledge. The fall might not have killed me but I did not wish to find out. Lydia laid into its back with her warhammer but it did not seem to do much damage. I Shouted at it, using my new knowledge of Unrelenting Force and the foul creature was knocked back. Its magic had drained my enegy and I quickly drank my last green bottle of stamina potion. It helped me enough to land two powerful swings which, together with Lydia's attacks, brought it to its knee then laid it out completely. Inside the room was another pressure plate but I was hesitant to touch it. With no other option I tapped it with my foot. Lydia noticed four parts of the wall move, revealing carved stones. I recalled the four stones outside the room. This must be the key to their puzzle. we memorized then matched the stones and a drawbridge fell.
We went along the tunnel that eventually lead to a large room filled with coffins and was surrounded by water. Once we were inside, a gate fell behind us, trapping us in. Nothing happened at first but after we took a few steps, the coffins began to break open. First skeletons appeared and we took them down easily with our bows. Then another wave of undead appeared, this time draugr and slightly tougher but back to back, we crushed their attack. No sooner were those dispatched than more, stronger draugr appear. These took longer as they separated us, even forcing me to retreat into the water and up a side rampart to gain the high ground. One persistent draugr followed me until I hacked and Shouted it back onto the stone below where it broke apart. Lydia caught up to me just as one more coffin in the back of the room opened. Something laughed and stalked towards us. We began launching arrows at it until it leaned forward and actually Shouted at us. The force staggered us both and we silently agreed the time for bows was over. It wielded a two-handed greatsword with ease and skill and its bite reminded me of my sword, leaving a chill to the wound. We fought well together, however, and I delivered the final blow, leaving it bent backwards over a coffin. A door fell open at the back of the room. I took his sword and we headed for the opening.

We followed this to an enormous cavern. There was a treasure chest in front. This time I checked it first for a trap and find one. After disabling it, I found coin, gems, and some iron armor. On a nearby table I found a set of banded armor. It was heavy but did not seem as well put together as mine and not nearly as fashionable. I left it. Behind the chest, the cavern spread out and I saw another dragonwall, as I had come to think of them.

"Reyda!" I yelled.

No one answered.

"This can not be the whole place," I said. "Perhaps we missed a room?"

"We took our time, Thane. We missed nothing, I'm sure."

Anger took away my fatigue and I pressed on towards the wall. The words glowed as I stood before it and I saw the word 'Kaan' burn into my mind. I was not exactly sure what it meant but I felt it has something to do with animals. I would have to ask the Greybeards when I reached them. Off to the left of the wall I saw a coin pouch and a sword resting in a niche in the wall. I could not see a way to get to them so I left them for now. I wanted to find Reyda first. She must be here.

We left the room by the only other door. It lead to a hidden door. It opened and I saw the wizard, Wyndelius lying prone on the floor where we had left him. My curses were vehement enough to make Lydia put a hand on her weapon. For the first time I noticed my hands were trembling and it was not from the rage. I grabbed my last bottle of skooma and gulped it down.

"Let us leave this place," I said through clenched teeth.

Judging by the stars in the clear sky it was about midnight when we left the barrow. The air was cool against my fevered skin. I was tempted to check on Narfi but I stopped near the river instead to listen. I did not hear him talking but I could see a candle burning in the roofless home. I decided to wait until morning to see him.

I went to the inn and found Wilhelm behind the counter. I asked him about Narfi and surprisingly, he knew about Reyda missing. He probably had been wondering why Narfi was yelling so much. He said she had been gone too long and was probably dead because that was not like her. The last she was seen was heading east to search for ingredients by the river. I thanked him and bought a small dinner for Lydia and myself. We ate in silence. The only time I spoke was to say we would look along the river in the morning. If we did not find anything, we would leave and check on the way back. She agreed and we headed for the room I rented.

The room was small and the bed even smaller. Neither of us offered to take the floor. I did pay for the room, so I suggested we could both share the bed, being mature adults. She sighed and said she was too tired to argue.

"You're actually not such a pig as I first thought you were," Lydia said, "the way you care about Narfi and all."

"Absolutely I am not," I agreed, "Need some help with that armor?"

She slapped my hand away. "I've got it, thanks."

Once we are both down to our smallclothes, she extinguished the candle and we got comfortable beneath the wool blankets.

"Watch the hand, my Thane," Lydia warned in the dark.

"Oops, sorry," I said innocently, "I thought that was a pillow. Ouch!"

"That was no pillow, but that was a dagger."

"Point taken, literally. Good night, Lydia."

"Good night, Ralos."