Day Nine

In the morning we awoke rested and headed for Dragonsreach. It was raining pretty hard but the thought of the money from the bounty cheered me up. I did not even feel a tremendous need for skooma. At Halted Stream, I had found a green tunic with a hood and it worked perfect in this weather.

On the way, I paid a visit to Ysolda and presented to her the mammoth tusk I had found. She was so happy to see it she gave me a tight, prolonged hug. I don't know if it was the thrill of talking to me or maybe the cold rain on her blouse but I could tell she was definitely excited. I let her talk and tried to listen but it was hard to keep my eyes from wandering back down. For finding the tusk, she finally gave me some pointers on getting the upper hand in most simple trade deals. They should be helpful with all the loot we had been finding. Ysolda finished by giving me a kiss then returned to her booth. I adjusted my breeches and found Lydia looking at me and shaking her head.

"What?" I asked innocently then continued to the keep.

Inside Dragonsreach I located Avenicci standing next to the jarl's throne by himself. I reminded him of the bounty he told me of and presented him the ears of the bandit chief. He took a step back, disgusted.

"Next time you need only inform me and I will verify the bounty with a guard's inspection. This time, I will take your word for it and check later. Here is your reward."

He tossed me a coin purse. It felt substantially lighter than I thought it should. I opened it and counted out the coins.

"One hundred septims?" I asked him, thinking maybe he gave me the wrong purse. "That's what almost getting killed in some fire pit of a mine is worth?"

"The jarl is feeling very generous lately," he said, oblivious to my ire. "If you're interested I also have a bounty for..."

"Blow it out your Avenicci," I said and stashed my coins away. Instead of leaving, however, I turned and found Farengar in his room.

"Come to learn the...oh, it's you," the frail mage said. "What can I do for you, Thane?"

"I know we've gotten off on the wrong foot, Farengar, but after recent events, I was wondering if you could help me with a few things concerning magic."

He raised one eyebrow. "Well, I'm no Winterhold Scholar, but I may be able to instruct you on a few finer points. If you are to be of any help to the jarl I suppose you should know something."

I tried to smile. "Exactly. Also, is there a way to heal other people with magic, instead of just yourself?"

I flinched as he put a hand on my shoulder. My skin still crawled.

"Come, sit down, Thane. I have some books you may be interested in."

A short while later I was leaving Farengar's office, a little wiser in magic and a lot lighter in the purse. Information and books were quite expensive in Skyrim. Lydia, who had had some people to visit while we were in Dragonsreach, was waiting for me by the jarl's throne talking to Irileth. I shook Farengar's hand and he was shocked by the gesture.

"Oh, I have one more question," I said.

"As always, your money is good here."

I thought better of it. He was getting a little too smug for my liking. "Never mind. I'll figure it out."

"All right, hold on, Thane," Farengar said as I walked away. "I'll throw one answer in for your help with the Dragonstone. What is it?"

"Well, if you know, I found this sword and it had some enchantment on it that made things suffer damage from the cold. Yesterday, it stopped working. Any idea why?"

"Of course, Thane. How simple. Magic weapons lose their enchantments with each strike, like a hilt loses it's leather over time. You must simply recharge it with a soul gem. The bigger the gem, the more charges it will have."

I rummaged around in one of my pouches and pulled out one of the crystals I had found. "You mean these?"

"Yes, yes, but not all are charged. Some are empty and waiting to be charged. Let's see, this one looks to have a small charge. Simply hold it to the weapon and the enchantment will take care of itself."

I did as he instructed. I held the gem to the blade of the sword and the crystal dissolved in my hand. The blade, however had its bluish aura back.

"Amazing," I said. "And I've been leaving these gems behind. Oh, well. Thank you again, Farengar. You're not nearly as evil as I thought you were."

"And you're not nearly as...tall...as I remember. Didn't you used to have eyebrows? Good day, Thane."

With all that I had recently learned, I disregarded going to Riften. It could wait. I waved Lydia over to me and told her we could head towards Ustengrav now.

Outside of the walls of Whiterun, I checked my map and we headed northwest. An attack from two wolves redirected me towards a small pond where I saw a nirnroot growing. I plucked the weed but I also snagged a mysterious orcish sword being held by a skeletal arm sticking out from the water. Odd to be sure, but I gave it to Lydia to carry. A little further I spotted a large ruined keep. I stopped to see if anyone was around. These abandoned places had proven to be havens for bandits lately. I did not see anything but suddenly I heard an arrow whistle through the air. The shaft buried itself in my chestplate.

The impact startled me but it did not do much damage. I snapped the arrow off and looked for who had shot it. Lydia saw them first and met their charge with her battleaxe. There were three of them, one with a bow and another firing sparks from his hands. The third ran full speed towards me, completely ignoring Lydia. I took him out by lifting him in the air with my sword in his stomach and tossing him against the wall of the keep. The archer managed only one more hit before I slapped him in the head with the flat of my sword then hacked him nearly in half when he tried to draw his sword. Lydia left the sparky mage at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the keep.

I suggested we do a quick search for some loot but it was cut short when three more bandits came running down the steps to attack. One stopped to shoot arrows but his aim was horrendous as long as I kept moving. The other two bandits met a similar bloody end as their cohorts on the steps. The archer ran into the top part and I was forced to chase and cut him down inside.

The middle of this stone structure contained a forge, complete with workbench and grinding stone. On the workbench I found a great book called 'Light Armor Forging' and another about Lunar forging, whatever that was. A quick read of the latter showed how to make Lunar steel. I looked for an example and found two swords that were glowing green. They looked otherwise normal. I gave them to Lydia to carry. She rolled her eyes and made room for them in her pack. In a nearby chest I found a spellbook called 'Courage'. Sounded positive so I read it and learned how to inspire my companions with a spell. That would come in extremely handy once I was leading my victorious armada into battle against evil, or my sister, whichever was closer.

I checked the bandits as I left and found trinkets and coin but on Sparky I found another spellbook called, 'Fury'. That sounded right up my alley, too. I read it and the intricacies of warping a person's mind with paranoia became clear. I could not wait to try this one on a group of bandits. Stupid bandits.

We took the tasty salmon steaks they had been cooking and ate them as we continued north. I heard a wolf howling nearby and got my sword ready. It pounced from behind a large rock. I was a bit slow from eating too much salmon. The beast ripped a chunk out of my upper arm before I ran my sword through its stomach. I healed myself using the methods suggested by Farengar. I was able to narrow the focus of the energy I channeled to more quickly seal and repair the wound. At least the mage was good for something.

Shortly after the wolf attack, my hips and shoulders began to send sharp pains through my body. I had to slow down and keep massaging my joints. I nearly had to draw steel with Lydia who over-reacted when I asked her to rub something for me. I explained quickly and she put her dagger back, but she still declined. Man's best friend, indeed. Another wolf emerged from the woods and this fight was tougher. I could swing my sword but it had nowhere near the power behind it that it should. Lydia suggested I may have contracted rockjoint.
I must have looked extremely concerned so she added, "...from the wolf."

I sighed with relief and searched through my pack. I could have sworn I had a potion for diseases. I found one for curing poison, but not diseases.

Neither of us knew of a natural cure, so I decided to soldier on and hoped I could find something soon or at least before Ustengrav.

I lead the way northwest until the road took us to a pass beneath several huge stone arches. The way was choked with snow but I trudged on, that is until I heard a familiar grunting. At the end of the arches I saw two snow trolls dancing around as if eager to get their hairy knuckles into us. I might have considered taking them on but not with my joints stiffening up on me every step. I turned us back and searched for a way around this area.

I headed north until I found a stone staircase. The wind and snow had picked up so I was hoping the stairs would lead to a town soon, or at least someplace out of the elements for a little bit. All this walking and hurting was draining my reserves and I felt a familiar craving I thought I had put aside. I put my hand in my pocket to keep the bottles of skooma warm and ready. Halfway up I spotted a white fox. The pelt would bring almost as much as that crook Avenicci gave me for that bounty. I launched an arrow but it must have seen me so the shot only grazed it. I chased after it as best I could.

At the top of the stairs I crouched and lined up a shot but it fumbled loose from my fingers as I dove to the ground. A giant black shadow passed overhead and I heard a deep roar from the sky.

Lydia yelled out, "Dragon!"