VI: Dustman's Cairn

We had wearily trudged up the stairs in Whiterun after stopping to sell our loot and buy horses. At the landing with the dead tree, we turned right, climbing another short set of steps to the Companions' mead hall, Jorvaskr. It was an odd building, circular, reminding me of the Telvaani towers I had read about in my distant grandmother's journals, but there the resemblance stopped. It was only two stories high, not really a tower. Inside, there was only a single high-ceiling room with feasting tables places around three sides of a long central firepit, with a staircase off to one side leading down to the underground sleeping quarters.

We found two members engaged in an energetic fistfight in the middle of the room, with everyone else cheering them on. It wasn't what I had expected from an honorable brotherhood of warriors, but most of my expectations came from the Nerevarine's tales from old Morrowind.

While there were a couple non-Nord members, I had still been met with a mixed reception. But their leader, Kodlak, allowed us to join. Lydia had decided not to, apparently not approving of mercenaries.

They had given us a few missions to fetch items for various members, making me wonder if they even took us seriously, but then they had sent us on a mission to clear out a place called Serpent's Bluff Redoubt, so we had happily set out on our journey.

Lokir had known right where it was, as it was just a little ways west of his hometown of Rorikstead. He had insisted on giving the settlement a wide berth, so obviously he wasn't ready to see his old home again. We had attacked the place at night, and it had given us little trouble. After resting, we headed back to Whiterun.

It had been years since I'd ridden a horse, but I had a bit of experience from playing with the horses at the farms my caravan had stopped at in Cyrodiil. The two deep brown mares we had purchased were very calm and easy to handle. Lydia was stubbornly walking behind us, but she had been right about the horses not being particularly fast.

I watched Whiterun grow larger as we approached. "One more raid ought to do it," I observed absently. "Then we can have our own house and won't have to sleep in the barracks anymore."

"Yeah, I hate the beds in the barracks," Lokir said, rubbing his back for effect. "It would also be nice to have a rendezvous point, in case we need to split up at some point."

"I hadn't really thought about that. I just always imagined us sticking together."

"I'm not planning on running off," Lokir assured me. "We'd probably both get ourselves killed if we tried to fight bandits alone. But I was just wondering if the Greybeards let outsiders visit."

"Yeah, sounds like they hardly let anyone in to start with…"

A sudden roar in the distance interrupted us. It echoed strangely off the mountains and made the horses start fidgeting. We started scanning the skies and soon saw a dragon flying over the fields in the distance. It seemed to be circling one of the farms east of Whiterun.

"By the Eight, not another," Lokir moaned.

"Just stay on my left this time," I suggested, then nudged my horse into a faster trot.

Lokir soon caught up with me. "I'll never have the courage to fight a dragon again if I don't face it," he muttered.

Hitting a flying dragon was nothing like hunting elk. I wasn't used to aiming at prey above me. Doing so on horseback was out of the question right now, so I stopped my horse as we neared the area the dragon was circling. I leaped off the horse and she immediately turned around and ran away.

"Hey, come back!" I called, knowing she wouldn't listen.

"Bigger things to worry about," Lokir called as he pulled his horse to a stop beside me. As soon as he dismounted, his horse ran away too.

Several Whiterun guards were already present, firing arrows at the dragon. Lokir and I joined them, firing at the dragon's belly as it flew over us. It landed on the nearby farmhouse, providing us with a better target, and I fired arrows into it as fast as I could, sidestepping quickly as it turned its fiery breath in my direction.

The dragon leaped from the farmhouse and took off in the air, circling the farm once more, then it landed heavily as the first dragon we fought had, and we charged at it, exchanging our bows for melee weapons.

"On my left," I reminded Lokir.

"Gotcha," he responded.

I circled around to the dragon's right side so Lokir would be away from its head. I hit it in the side of the neck with my sword, and it turned to face me and breathed fire.

It was like standing inside an oven. The heat was almost unreal. I found myself recoiling and backing away, but I knew I had to stand my ground. Fighting the urge to turn and run, I braced myself against the onslaught and forced my way forward.

Suddenly the dragon roared and jerked its head up, ending the fiery breath attack. Through the haze, I saw that Lokir had struck it in the neck. He attacked again before the dragon had recovered, plunging his sword into the base of the dragon's neck, aimed down into its chest.

The dragon's body convulsed, rearing partway up before falling heavily to the ground. Its head thudded down right in front of me, in range of my sword, but I could see it would not be necessary. The strange flames were beginning to form along its back. In a matter of seconds, they consumed everything but its bones, and I felt the energy rushing into me again.

I walked over to Lokir and clapped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, that wasn't too hard," he said thoughtfully. "So it looks like you don't have to be the one to deal the deathblow in order to absorb the dragon's soul."

"Maybe I just have to be standing close enough…"

"You're the Dragonborn!" one of the soldiers called. "Aren't you supposed to be meeting the Greybeards?"

I sighed in exasperation. "Look, it's on my to-do list, but it's not at the top. I'm working my way down to it."

The soldier absently kicked one of the dragon's leg bones. "You know, I heard they used to make the strongest armor and weapons out of dragon bones and scales. Legend says the thigh bones were the most desirable. You ought to see if the blacksmiths know about it. I bet they'd pay good money for them."

"Too bad all the scales burned away," I sighed.

"No, look, the belly scales are still there on the ground."

Lokir and I set to work harvesting the scales and femurs. As we finished up and turned away from the skeleton, we heard Lydia approaching, leading our two horses.

"This is another reason I don't like horses," she called. "You always have to run them down after a fight."

I sighed and came forward to take my horse's bridle. "Thanks for fetching them, but we could have used your help with the dragon."

"I had faith in you," she said in a tone that didn't sound sincere.

"Too bad you can't stay," the Whiterun soldier said. "It would be nice to have you around to help with the dragons. I wanted a little excitement around here, but this is too much. I'd rather face bandits or vampires."

"We'll probably be hanging around here when we take breaks," Lokir said. "But I agree with you. I'd much rather fight vampires." He gritted his teeth. "They killed my parents and left me homeless. I'd like to personally see their numbers reduced."

"I heard they're reforming the Dawnguard. You should see if they'd let you join."

"The Dawnguard? What's that?" I asked.

"Vampire hunters. I hear they're setting themselves up in the old fort east of Riften. Might see if I can be transferred there."

"Yes, we'll check that out when we're in the area," Lokir said. He seemed excited by the prospect.

"Okay, once we've procured Breezehome and I've spoken with the Greybeards, we can check out this Dawnguard," I said.

"We might have enough to buy it now, if those bones and scales are worth anything," Lydia said as we headed back to Whiterun.

"Are you Proventus Avenicci?" I asked the man we found seated at a desk in the room behind the jarl's throne, sorting documents.

"Yes. I'm the jarl's steward," he replied. "What can I do for you?"

"We're interested in purchasing Breezehome."

"Ah, yes. That's a very nice little house. Three bedrooms. Perfect for raising a family… or…" he faltered, looking us over.

I sighed. "We're going to provide a home for the little orphan girl Lucia, and we need someplace to store things we don't want to sell. Beyond that is none of your business. 5,000 septims, right?"

"Yes, let me get your deed," he said, moving to a chest against the wall as we took out our coin purses and spent a few minutes counting out coins.

He handed me a quill and inkpot and showed me where to sign the document. After reading it over, I signed my name, Ra'wati Indoril, and passed the quill to Lokir.

Lokir paused when he looked at my name. "Indoril? You're a descendant of the Nerevarine?"

"Yes. Haven't I mentioned that?" After she dealt with Dagoth Ur and the Tribunal, grandmother Ma'hini had decided that if she was supposed to be the reincarnation of Indoril Nerevar, she was going to claim his family name for herself and her children, since she had none of her own and knew nothing of her parents.

"I don't think so." He scrawled his name under mine.

I shrugged. "It hasn't done me much good. All we have to show for it is her journals. We never could bring ourselves to sell those. I need to go back to my cave soon and get them." I leaned over his shoulder, curious what his family name was.

Lokir Thorkelson.

"Thorkelson," I said, starting to giggle.

He frowned at me. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know, I…" I started giggling harder. "I'm sorry, it just sounds funny…"

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess it does," he said grudgingly, still giving me a reproachful look.

Proventus took our pile of gold and put it in the chest. He took out a pair of keys and laid them on the table. "Here's the key to your new home. Now do you want to purchase furnishings for your new home?"

"It doesn't come with furniture?" I asked.

Proventus shrugged. "The previous owners cleaned it out, but we can sell you replacement furniture."

He laid out what we could purchase and how much it would cost: 300 septims for the kitchen, 250 for the dining room, 250 for the living room, 300 for the master bedroom, 200 for a smaller bedroom, 500 for a bedroom for two children.

I groaned. "We don't have that much left over. I had hoped we could get Lucia off the streets tonight…"

"The Companions might have something else for us to do," Lydia suggested.

Proventus sighed. "I wouldn't normally do this, but if it's for the welfare of a child… I can, just this once, authorize a loan for you so you can buy the furniture now. You seem to be doing well with your raids, so I'm confident you can have it paid back soon."

"Oh." I glanced at Lokir, who nodded. "Okay. We definitely need the child's room."

"And the kitchen," Lokir said. "It'll keep the house warm. Everything else could wait until we return."

"I'll see to it at once," Proventus said.

We thanked him and made our way out of Dragonsreach and down the stairs to Jorvaskr. We found one of the Companions, Farkas, out back in the practice yard with one of the higher-ranking Companions, Skjor. Farkas had given us the mission to clear out Serpent's Bluff Redoubt.

"We've cleared out Serpent's Bluff Redoubt," Lokir announced.

Farkas shrugged. "Already heard. The guy who asked for it seems pleased with your work. Here's your reward." He handed us each 50 septims.

"Do you have anymore work for us?" Lokir asked.

"I do," Skjor said. "You've proven you can take out petty bandits, so I think you're ready for your Trial, your chance to prove yourselves to us. We've heard of a location that may hold a shard of Wuuthrad, and we need you to retrieve it."

"What's Wuuthrad?" I asked.

"It was the blade of Ysgramor, founder of the Companions. He used it to drive the elves out of the land, though he could have done a better job. I want you to go with Farkas and investigate."

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"Dustman's Cairn," Farkas said. "It's an old Nord burial mound northwest of here."

"So that means more draugr, I guess," I said.

"This land is crawling with draugr," Farkas said with a nod. He looked our group over. "I prefer stealth missions. I can't bring all three of you with me. It would make too much noise."

Lokir and I looked at each other. "But we're both being tested, right?"

"I can stay here," Lydia offered. "I can be getting the house set up while you're away."

Farkas sighed. "I'd prefer only one follower, but I'll take both of you. Just try not to make too much noise. Meet me at Dustman's Cairn at dusk." He showed us where it was on the map and walked away.

We headed back down the stairs. Lucia was seated on a bench under the dead tree again. "You're the best!" she called when she saw us. "Can you be my parents?"

Lokir and I side-eyed each other briefly. "Ah, that's sort of what we're here for," I said, stepping forward. "How would you like it if we adopted you?"

"Really?" she asked. "Are… are you sure? Do you have a place for me to live?"

"We just bought the house across from Warmaiden's," Lokir said. "It's not furnished yet, but it should be ready by tonight."

"Oh, thank you! Thanks so much… Mama and Papa."

We had a few hours to rest and supervise the installation of the new furnishings, and explain to Lucia that Lokir and I weren't a couple but she could still call us her parents, but we soon had to take our leave and make the short journey northwest to Dustman's Cairn. We left Lydia at Breezehome with Lucia, who was overjoyed at having her own bed again after months of sleeping on the ground, and being able to have a hot meal without having to work for it.

Farkas was waiting for us when we arrived. He was standing beside a large circular hole in the ground. There were decorative stone pillars ringing the outer rim, and a stone staircase built into the sides, spiraling down to the tiled bottom.

"You're a bit early," he observed.

"Might as well get this over," I said. "For the first time in my life, I have an actual bed of my own and an actual house instead of a tent and a bedroll. I'd like to get back and see how it feels."

He nodded. "Follow me and try not to make too much noise. We may not be the only ones exploring this cairn. Others may have heard about the shard of Wuuthrad."

I hopped down from my horse's back and looked around. "Do you think they'll be okay here?" I asked Lokir.

He scanned the surrounding field and the mountains north of us warily. There were giants and mammoths in the distance, but nothing nearby. "It looks quiet. We should be able to just leave them here. They won't run off unless they're attacked."

I patted my horse's shoulder nervously, offered each of them an apple out of my pack, and headed down the spiral stairs after Farkas.

We went through the ornate metal double doors to the tomb and down a stairway carved out of the rock. Inside it was very similar in structure to Bleak Falls Barrow, carved out of the rock. We came to a room with several upright stone coffins around the sides, all of them broken open, with dead draugr sprawled on the floor in front of them.

"Looks like someone's been here recently," Farkas observed with a sigh. "They might still be here. Be on your guard."

We crouched down and slunk through the room and down a set of stairs. Up ahead, I could see a dead draugr on the floor of the next room, but I could hear the rasping breath of live drougr nearby.

I almost groaned when I realized the next room was a large burial chamber, but I managed to stay quiet. This one had rows of burial niches along the walls, and it also had central pillars with niches for upright draugr to rest. The draugr who had been in these upright niches had awoken and were patrolling the room.

I heard one of them approaching. He walked into view and turned his back to us. I aimed and fired, taking him down with one arrow. I heard snarls from either side of the room, and three draugr appeared. I aimed for the first one and fired two arrows into him as he came at us with his war axe raised. Farkas darted in front of me and cut the wounded draugr down with one blow, and I took the opportunity to draw my sword. Lokir and Farkas each went after one of the remaining draugr. The tunnel was narrow, so I hung back and watched until Lokir's opponent backed him in my direction. The draugr made a bold swing at him, which he ducked, and I lunged forward and hacked the draugr across the face, finishing him off.

I heard Farkas cut his opponent down in the next room, so I relaxed and knelt to check the draugr for loot.

We continued down the tunnel and into another room with more dead draugr on the floor. I walked over to a bookshelf and picked up a wicked-looking dagger with a long curved blade made of a piece of flat, corkscrewing metal. "This doesn't look like it would be much good in battle."

"Yeah, I don't think those were weapons, exactly," Farkas said. "They have something to do with the ceremony that produces draugr, I've heard. I don't really know. Sometimes you find them in torture chambers."

My stomach churned and I quickly set the blade down.

We turned right and emerged into a large round room. A set of stairs led to a lower level. There were several alcoves carved into the walls here, bookshelves, an Arcane Enchanter, and two stone thrones set at one end of the room. There was a heavy barred metal gate in front of the only other way out of the room. On the other side, too far away to reach, was a lever for raising the gate.

"There should be a switch around here to raise it," Farkas said. "The old Nords always left a switch on either side of a gate like this."

I walked over to the gate and noticed an alcove to the left with a few healing potions on a table. Lokir and I walked into the room and noticed a lever set prominently into the wall.

"That seems a little obvious," I said warily.

"They didn't always hide the switches," Farkas said dismissively. "Go ahead and pull it."

I pulled the switch. I heard the gate in the main room raising, as another gate crashed down in front of the alcove, trapping Lokir and me inside.

I looked up at the new gate for a moment, over at Lokir, then down at my feet. "Well, I feel stupid now."

"Just sit tight," Farkas said. "I'll be right back…"

Five figures suddenly charged through the gate with weapons drawn, surrounding Farkas. He backed up against the gate. "We knew you'd be coming here," one of them said. "Time to die, dog."

"Killing you will make for an excellent story," another said.

Farkas snorted. "Too bad none of you will be alive to tell it."

He started to crouch, and his whole body began shifting and wavering. His arms grew much longer and sprouted claws, his whole body enlarged and he sprouted a canine tail. His clothing and armor were replaced by dark brown fur. In a matter of seconds, he had shifted into a huge bipedal wolf, at least seven feet tall.

The newcomers attacked him, but he fought with his huge hands and claws, taking each of them down with a single mighty blow. In a matter of seconds, they were all dead. The wolf loped into the next room, and a few seconds later, the gate locking us in was raised. Farkas strolled back in the room in human form.

I backed up a step as he approached, glad I still had my sword in my hand.

"Hope I didn't scare you," he said casually. "You coming or not?"

"What was that?" Lokir asked warily, not moving forward.

Farkas shrugged. "A gift given to some of us."

"So… are you planning to turn us into werewolves?" I asked.

"No. Only the Circle, the highest-ranking Companions, are given the beast blood. You have to prove yourselves first."

Lokir and I glanced at each other warily.

"I know what you've probably heard about werewolves. Not everyone can handle the beast blood, just like not everyone can handle mead. Some of them lose control, and it gives the rest of us a bad name. People would attack us if they knew, so we can't come forward and clear our names. I assure you I'm in complete control, and I can only shift once a day."

"Oh. Okay." Still wary, we followed Farkas out of the alcove. We stopped briefly to loot the corpses.

"Who were they?" I asked as I nudged one of the corpses with my foot.

"They call themselves the Silver Hand. They're a group dedicated to eradicating werewolves. They don't believe it's possible for a werewolf to be good."

Since they were members of a werewolf-hunting organization, they were armed with silver swords, which were more valuable than steel blades, so we collected them before following Farkas past the first gate. It was still raised. I had expected it to be lowered by the second lever, but I had no idea how this ancient technology worked, so I put it out of my head.

The cairn was very long and meandering, even more so than Bleak Falls Barrow. We occasionally ran across a few draugr, either sleeping in their niches or pacing the rooms restlessly, and a few more Silver Hand members, but nothing particularly difficult to deal with.

Along the way, after breaking quite a few lockpicks, I opened a master-level chest. Inside we found a dwarven sword and war axe. They were better than our current weapons, so I took the sword and Lokir took the axe.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we came upon another set of ornate metal doors. But this set was different.

"The chanting," I said softly. "I can hear chanting again."

"What chanting?" Farkas asked, looking at me warily.

"You know they say I'm the Dragonborn. In Bleak Falls Barrow, we found a stone wall with ancient runes carved into it. I heard voices chanting as I approached, and I learned how to use the Voice from it. It was in the very last room of the barrow. So that might be our destination through those doors."

Farkas nodded and led the way through the doors.

The room ahead was large and long. On either side of us, three upright coffins lined each wall. Past them, the room more than doubled in width. Steps were carved into the rock, leading to a stone table in the middle. A further eight coffins ringed this part of the room, with a ninth horizontal coffin on the floor right below the last few steps leading to the table. A set of wooden steps led up to a second level carved into the wall on the left. It looked like there were more coffins up there.

Behind the table, the wall bowed in a semicircle, with runes carved along the curved surface. It was another Word Wall.

I turned in a slow circle, counting the coffins. "I don't like this."

"I don't hear any breathing," Lokir said.

"Remember what happened last time you relied on the sound of them breathing?" I sighed.

"Draugr are easy to deal with," Farkas said. He waved at the far end of the room. "So that thing behind the table, that's a Word Wall?"

"Yes, definitely," I said, focusing on it instead of all the coffins.

"You first, then," he said.

I eyed the coffins warily, but I heard no movements as I walked up the carved steps. There were a few soul gems and potions on the table, as well as a shard of metal on some short flat pedestal, but I ignored those, walking around the table to the wall behind it. Everything seemed to go dark and the wind rose up again as I absorbed the knowledge from the wall.

I thought back to the first time I had used the Voice. Absorbing the dragon's soul had awakened the knowledge of the Shout in my mind. I thought about the other dragon we had fought, concentrating on the power I could still feel from its soul. Slowly that power changed into the knowledge of what I had just learned from the wall.

"Yol," I said softly. "It's a fire spell."

"Fire spells are always handy," Lokir said from behind me. I turned to see him looking at the blade shard apprehensively. "That thing it's resting on… Is that a pressure plate?"

"Doesn't really matter. That's what we came here for." Farkas walked up to the table and picked up the piece of metal.

There was a grating sound from the plate it rested on, but after that, silence. I slowly let my breath out.

Farkas put the shard in his pack. "Come on, let's get back to Jorvaskr…"

He was interrupted by the crunch of stone breaking as three of the coffins burst open.

"I should have known," he snarled. He drew his sword and ran down the stairs to meet the approaching draugr.

"Hey, wouldn't it be safer up here?" I called. At least they couldn't get behind us.

"Use the silver blades!" Farkas called back. "Silver is especially good against undead!"

Lokir and I quickly drew silver swords from our packs and stood on either side of the alcove with the stone table in front of us. Farkas had begun fighting with one of the draugr, while the other two came for us. I focused on the one who came for me, blocking his first attack with my shield and delivering a lethal strike to his chest as he drew his weapon back again. Lokir and Farkas finished off the other two just as quickly.

I glanced around the room and was opening my mouth to comment on how anticlimactic that was, when more coffins cracked open. Another draugr Overlord emerged from the horizontal coffin between us and Farkas, while four more regular draugr came out of the walls.

The Overlord went for Farkas, while the others came for us. Lokir and I stayed in the alcove, blocking and striking as the draugr advanced. Two of them came at us straight on, while the other two climbed over the table and got between us, so we each had a draugr on both sides. I tried to attack the one on my right while blocking the one on the left, but my vision was too limited on the left, and he got past my shield, hitting me in the ribs. I gasped in pain and stumbled, letting myself fall to the floor. Once there, I quickly struck the left one's shins, knocking him to the floor. I spun back and just barely blocked the other draugr with my shield, then turned back and stabbed the fallen draugr's neck. He stopped moving. The other one struck at me again and I rolled out of his reach, leaping to my feet behind one of Lokir's opponents and stabbing him in the back of the neck. He also went down.

The excitement was rising in me, but it was dulled somewhat by the sound of more coffins opening. I ignored them as I turned back to my other opponent, determined to worry about them when they were close enough to attack me.

Pain suddenly exploded in my side as I was struck by an arrow. I glanced over to the second level on the left of the room and saw a pair of draugr armed with bows, but I had no time to pull out my own bow and take them down. "Archers!" I shouted at Lokir, and he looked my way just in time to see the threat and duck an incoming arrow.

I heard Farkas cry in pain and heard a thud as he collapsed to the floor. I looked past my opponent to see the draugr Overlord turning away from Farkas and coming toward us. Farkas was sprawled on the floor, but I could see him panting heavily.

I saw Farkas' hands start to glow as he began healing himself. The Overlord started to turn back to him. Lokir ducked, picked up an axe from a fallen draugr, and threw it at the Overlord's back. It struck him handle-first, not causing any real damage, but it accomplished the intended purpose of drawing the Overlord's attention off of Farkas. It snarled and came running up the stairs, leaped on top of the stone table, and used its Voice on us, knocking us over. It jumped down to the floor in between us, joined by three other draugr.

I rolled away as it brought its battleaxe down where my legs had just been. I had to back out of the alcove to escape it, finding myself out in the open, surrounded by draugr.

More coffins cracked open behind me.

I had found the best way to fight draugr was to block their initial blow and strike as they were recovering. I crouched, waiting for the ones in front of me to arrive while listening for any coming from behind. I blocked the first one and struck him down, but as I did, another arrow struck me in the back. I lost my balance and fell to the floor.

I quickly forced myself up to my knees and slashed the draugr in front of me across the belly. He collapsed, but as I was regaining my balance to stand, I was struck from behind by another draugr. I fell down again and tried to roll out of the way, finding myself tumbling painfully down the stone steps.

I came to a rest against Farkas, who had pulled himself up into a crouch and was drawing his bow. "Get the archers," I panted, forcing myself to my hands and knees.

Six draugr advanced on us. Lokir was still holding his own against the Overlord, having dispatched the other weaker draugr he had been fighting.

Let's see what this does, I thought. I focused on the advancing draugr and shouted, "YOL!"

A ball of fire shot from my mouth, striking the draugr in the front and setting him on fire, then spreading to the draugr beside them. Within seconds, four of them fell down dead. The other two stumbled, still burning.

I heard Farkas firing arrows behind me. He struck one of the burning draugr with the first arrow, finishing it off, then rapidly fired two at one of the draugr archers, killing it. I left him to finish off the other archer and stumbled to my feet to face the last burning draugr. It was badly wounded by the flames and was easy to kill.

Just the Overlord now, I thought, then heard more coffins cracking open.

Only two emerged this time. My head was spinning from the pain and blood loss, overpowering the excitement, but I couldn't rest yet. I crouched down, set my sword on the ground and grabbed my bow. Farkas and I hit them with several arrows as they charged at us. At the last second, I dropped my bow and grabbed my sword, lunging forward under the oncoming draugr's blade and impaling him. My momentum carried me to the floor in a heap, where I lay panting for a few seconds, listening to Farkas dispatch his draugr.

One left, I reminded myself wearily, sure I wouldn't be able to force myself to my feet after this. I rose and stumbled back toward the stone table, where Lokir was still wearily fighting the wounded Overlord. I wasn't sure which of them looked to be in worse shape.

"Down!" I shouted to Lokir. He dropped without question, and I quickly shouted, "FUS!"

The wave of force hit the Overlord and threw him back against the Word Wall head-first. He cracked his skull against the stone wall, bounced off, landed on the floor and didn't move again.

I flopped to the ground and put my fingers around the arrow in my side, wondering if I still had the strength to pull it out.

"Let me get that for you," Farkas said. I gratefully relaxed while he pulled the arrows out and healed me. But first I looked over to make sure Lokir was still able to heal himself.

"That was unreal," Lokir said wearily, leaning back against the stone table.

"This might be the closest I've ever come to dying," I said weakly.

"Yeah, never thought wimpy draugr would be the ones to take me out," Farkas grumbled.

"That had to be more than twenty draugr, but there aren't that many coffins in here," I panted. "That's cheating."

Lokir rose to his feet. "Hey, at least they all carry a few coins."

"Go ahead and loot them if you want. I need a couple more minutes to rest." I looked up at Farkas. "So, did we pass?"

"Yeah, you passed," he said gruffly.

SOUNDTRACK: "Burn" by Papa Roach, "Unity" by Shinedown, "Whisper" by Evanescence, "This Is Gonna Hurt" by Sixx:A.M., "Get Thru This" by Art of Dying, "Pain Redefined" by Disturbed,

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I only counted 16 draugr corpses in the end of Dustman's Cairn, but I've increased that number here because the plot requires Ra'wati to be burned out on fighting draugr for a little while.

I decided dragon femurs make the best armor and weapons so it would make sense to only get 45 pounds of bone off a huge skeleton. They should be long and thick enough to yield armor plates, long blades, axe heads and such. Also I decided the belly scales are toughest as a tribute to Smaug.