I awaken to the familiar feeling of cold, wet cheeks. But this time I can remember my dream. I dreamt of Ralof, Erik, and the dragon we all saw at Helgen. We all fought at against it and during the intense battle, the dragon slaughtered both Ralof and Erik. Ripping them both to shreds. And there was absolutely nothing I could do to save them. I remember screaming so loud, thunder crackled in the distance, and the ground shook.
I lay a hand over my chest, and try to rub the aching sensation out. It's no use. The haunting feeling of loneliness lurks over me, carrying over from yesterday. No doubt that feeling isn't going to go away anytime soon. I sigh and rub my face. Time to get up, and start the day. I glance out the small window, it's still dark out, but instinct tells me that dawn is just a few minutes away. I quickly dress and make my way down to the main chamber.
Nobody else seems to be up yet, except for the castle staff of course. They're all buzzing about getting prepared for the day. I sit at one of the gigantic tables, and wait for Erik to make his way down. A pretty wood elf notices me and skittishly makes her way over to me.
"Would you like breakfast, my lady?" The little elf asks timidly. I give her a warm smile and nod.
"Yes, that would be lovely, thank you." The elf quickly turns on her heel and begins to scurry off to the kitchen. "Under one condition." I say, stopping her in her tracks. She turns back giving me a worried and curious look. "You let me help you." I smile. She shakes her head profusely at me.
"That is not necessary, my lady. And it seems inappropriate." She says quietly. I frown.
"Come now, I'm not royalty or anything of the like." I protest and stand. She takes a step back and looks away deep in thought.
"But you are the Jarl's guest." Her voice barely a whisper, and her hands clasped together in front of her.
"And? I make my own breakfast all the time back at home. This will be fun, besides, I won't tell anyone." Before she can respond, I'm already walking past her and into the kitchen. She follows close behind not saying a word. We wash our hands and put aprons on.
As I mince dried elves ear, she carefully cracks a dozen eggs into a large bowl. That lonely feeling makes my shoulders tense. I initiate conversation with the elf.
"What's your name?" I ask hoping I sound polite enough. Her back slightly stiffens at the sound of my voice.
"My name is Nivae." She stammers.
"Nivae." I say trying out her name for myself. "That's a beautiful name."
She tries to hide her red cheeks from me, a small, shy smile tugging at her lips. "Thank you, my lady."
"My name is Eleora. You can call me Ellie, if you'd like." I pause for a moment. "No, I insist. Call me Ellie." I chuckle. I scoop up the finely minced leaves and bring them over to the bowl and dump them in.
"Ellie," she says softly. My heart warms at the thought of her getting more comfortable with me.
"Yes, ma'am?" She raises a brow at me. Then the the thought dawns upon me. Nobody probably addresses her as "ma'am," being a servant and a wood elf. Elves aren't exactly loved here in Skyrim. The Mer folk tend look down upon each other as well, Bosmer (Wood elves), tend to be treated the worst. She blinks a few times before gathering her thoughts.
"Can you stir the eggs, as I go down into the larder to get the sausage?" She asks me, still a little thrown off by my kindness. I grin at her and scoff.
"Can I stir the eggs? Pshh, you're looking at the best "egg stirrer person" this side of Skyrim." I jest. She lets out a cute giggle, quickly covering her mouth and glancing around with wide eyes.
"Thank you," she mutters as she scurries away.
Nivae and I share a few more laughs, as we prepare breakfast. I learn that she has been working here at Dragonsreach for about two years, and is in love with one of the guards. I tell her all about Ralof, and Erik, and this stone tablet that Farengar wants me to fetch. We quickly become good friends and it's- refreshing. When we're done gossiping, we make our way to the tables. My blood freezes as I see Erik sitting at one of the tables, watching me curiously.
I straighten my shoulders back and walk over to him, he isn't going to ruin my day.
"Good morning, Erik." I say dryly.
"Ellie." He nods, and then thanks Nivae as she sets a plate down in front of him. She bows and glances at me before walking away. He digs into his breakfast and stops as he takes a bite of the eggs. "You made the eggs, didn't you?" His question more of a statement than a question.
"Yes. Why?" I ask. He shrugs.
"I'd be able to recognise your cooking anywhere." He simply says. We eat our breakfast in silence. The Jarl finally emerges from the stairs and makes his way over to me.
"Lady Eleora." He smiles. I stand and curtsey to him. But he quickly dismisses my greeting with a wave of his hand.
"No need for that. I hope breakfast was suited to your liking, as you have a long day ahead of you." He beams at me with hopeful eyes. I smile and nod.
"Yes, my Jarl. The elf, Nivae, I think is her name, is an absolute delight. This is the best food I've ever tasted." I say a little louder than normal. I quickly glance at the kitchen and see Nivae poking her head out from the kitchen, beaming at me with a bright smile. The Jarl chuckles.
"Thank you, lass. I'll have to reward my staff later for being on top of things, and working hard." He responds as he crosses his arms. I look at Erik and notice his plate is empty and he's standing as well. Now that we're both done, we should probably be on our way.
"Well, my Jarl," I begin with a sigh, "we should probably be heading for Bleak Falls Barrow now that we're done with breakfast." I insist. He nods at me uncrosses his arms. He offers me his hand and take it.
"Aye, be careful, lass. Danger lurks deep within that place. Bring me back that tablet. That's an order." He commands as we shake hands.
"Yes sir." I say as Erik and I start for the Barrow.
Erik and I ignore each other for most of the trip to Bleak Falls Barrow, and that breaks my heart even more than if we were fighting. I wonder if his mind is going as crazy as mine. Stop it, Eleora! I need to get my priorities straight and focus on the task at hand. One thing, and one thing only matters for the time being- retrieving that damn tablet.
Erik and I take in the giant, foreboding building as we cautiously walk up the steps. There are three bandits outside that we quickly dispose of, and take whatever gold and potions we could find before we lurch towards the ginormous doors of Bleak Falls Barrow.
We carefully make our way inside and notice the lit candles. They're still fairly tall, not melted down. Someone recently lit them. That means we're not alone. Erik seems to notice too and readies his bow. The inside of the building is what I expected it to be. Enormous, and in ruins. Just one look and anyone can tell that this ancient place, was once a beautiful and impressive building. I wonder what our ancestors used this place for.
We lurk forward, hearing voices drifting from deeper inside. We see a light illuminating the back wall of the room. Erik hides behind some rubble and aims his bow as I stealthily move to hide behind a pillar. I only hear two voices. I glance at Erik, he blinks twice to confirm my suspicions, there's only two people. I ready my dagger and nod. Erik shoots his arrow and a strangled cry fills the room as the other person cusses.
"What the fuck?" The person screams as I hear him unsheathe his blade. His footsteps become louder, as he makes his way towards the entrance. I have to time this right. "Who's there?" He yells out, as he approaches the pillar I'm hiding behind. I leap out in front of him, shoving my dagger up into his head. He doesn't even have time register what's happening, as I quickly yank my dagger out and spin, decapitating him. His headless body falls to it's knees, falling forward as his head rolls away. Erik and I loot the bodies, and grab whatever we can find useful from the camp they made. I make quick work of the chest, and I'm rewarded with several potions. Erik and I glance at each other, nodding to signal that we're both ready to proceed deeper into the cave-like ruin.
We walk down the steps of the tunnel-like hallway, walking into a few cobwebs along the way. Large, branch-like vines cover the walls and the floors, that are littered with dead skeevers and a number of burial urns. I walk ahead of Erik to scope out the path, as he follows quietly behind checking all of the urns for any treasure. The lit candles and blazing fire pits didn't go unnoticed by me and Erik, there are definitely still other people in here.
As I walk further, I hear the sound of a sword being sheathed. I quickly press myself closer to the wall and hear the man hum to himself. I peek my head from around the corner and see a Nord staring at something intently, through the doorway. He shifts his torch into his left hand and walks further towards the middle of the room, not knowing that he's being watched. I stick close to the walls and watch him walk towards a lever, he stops just before the lever and studies it for a few more seconds, before deciding to pull it. Nothing happens. He steps away when suddenly bolts shoot out from the ridge above the door in front of him, and from the sides of the doorway behind him. He lets out a piercing scream and quickly falls to the floor. I cautiously make my way over to him and check for a pulse. I don't find one.
I glance at the lever and then towards the barred gate. I notice the symbols above the stone doorframe and observe them. There is a man with a symbol in his mouth on the floor in front of me. I glance from him, to the ruined part in the middle of the other two similar men.
Snake. Snake. Whale. Erik nudges me with his elbow, and nods to three pillars standing along the wall. I wonder… I walk over to the first pillar and notice that it has three sides, each have a different animal on a side. I reach my hand out to touch one of the pillars, it rotates on its own. I glance from the stone men, to the pillars and make the connection. I turn the first two pillars to snakes and the third one to a whale. I make my way back to the lever and look at Erik, nodding towards the wall. He gives me a challenging stare. I angrily point to the wall, urging him to move out the line of fire from the poisoned bolts. If I'm wrong about the pillars, then I'd die and he can find another way forward to the tablet. I hold his stare, until he finally gives up and grudgingly walks towards the wall, watching with an angry glare. I relax a little knowing that he's out of the way, and pull the lever.
The bars shoot up, opening the passage for us. I shoot Erik an "I told you so look," and he rolls his eyes with a smirk. Something inside my heart swells and I smile. It feels just like old times. We enter the next room and I immediately spot a book on a table, with a potion next to it. I read the cover of the book, "Thief." Intrigued I grab the book and stuff it into my bag to read later. I can almost hear Erik's thoughts. "Bookworm!" I look back at him, he is still carefully checking around for anything I might've missed. I grin to myself, before turning towards the spiral staircase that leads further into the ground.
I almost scream when a skeever jumps out to attack me, followed by it's two little buddies. With my quick reflexes the little bastards were dead before they had the chance to try and leap at me a second time. I hate skeevers. I glance back up the stairs and see Erik hunched over, with one hand covering his mouth and the other bracing himself against the wall. The bastard was laughing at me. I make a quiet humph sound and continue forward.
I crouch towards the next room of the massive underground building, and spot a table in the middle of the room. Everything is covered in cobwebs. Everything. I notice a little bottle filled with a black substance. I remove the cork and waft the fumes towards my nose. Poison. I quickly recap it and place it in my bag. A small lump of web on the table captures my attention. I use my knife to cut the web, and see a small scroll hidden beneath. I take the ancient looking scroll and see the letters of the word 'Fireball,' glow a fiery orange. This might come in handy later, so I put that in my knapsack as well. It's crazy how much my bag can carry. I walk around the table and notice a few candles aren't lit. I debate if should light a torch on not. If there are more people here, they'll see the glow of the light before I round a corner. I decide against lighting a torch and use the darkness in my favor.
I slide down the edge of the walls, sticking close to the shadows. I hear a smashing sound come from behind me and still myself. Not even a second later, I hear two knocks. The signal to let me know that Erik was okay. I roll my eyes and fight the smirk that tugs at the corner of my mouth. He can be so clumsy sometimes.
"Is someone coming?" I terrified voice calls out. I frown and wait for Erik to hurry, he seemed to hear the man too, because he's beside me in the next second. "Is that you Harknir? Bjorn? Soling?" He cries out. Erik and I frown at each other, slowly making our way forward. We round the corner and are met with thickest web we've ever seen, covering the only entrance into the next room. I get out my sword and begin hacking away, as Erik readies his bow and faces the opposite way, watching our backs in case this is a set up.
I finally manage to break through the dense web and push myself through into the next room. I'm met with largest spider egg sacks I've ever seen in my entire life. My attention turns to a Dark elf, that's squirming around in the web. The elf managed to get himself tangled up. "Quickly! Help me, before it comes back!" He says as I make my way over to him. Suddenly the light that was shining in through the ceiling turns black. My head whips up, and I see the largest frostbite spider I've ever laid my eyes on. I fall flat on my back as it lands, hovering above me. It's sharp black stinger is protruding from its abdomen, and glistening with poison. I quickly roll to my right as it gets ready to strike me with its stinger. The dark elf is yelling bloody murder as I continue to roll around dodging the gigantic spiders stinger. "Ah! Help me! Don't let it come near me!" The elf cries. I refrain from yelling at him to shut up. Like, he's the one rolling around for their life under a giant death spider!
I notice blood dripping from what I would guess is it's side, and quickly thrust my blade into it. It let's out a pained screech and rolls over folding its legs into itself as I scramble to my feet. Erik leaps through the small opening in the web, rolls and quickly takes in the situation. He glances at me breathing hard, Arvel caught up in the web, and the giant wounded frostbite spider. In the next second he's loosening arrows at the eight legged beast. It screeches and hisses at Erik's arrows and moves around trying to avoid him. It scatters up the side of the wall and looks like it's about to leap at Erik. I rush to push him out of the way as I also pull out my dagger. Everything seems to happen in slow motion, I shove Erik out of the way in time, and aim my dagger at the beady little eyes. The spider crashes into me and goes limp, falling on top of me. I close my eyes trying to think I'm at some sunny place, instead of being under a giant fucking spider.
"Ellie!" Erik exclaims. I hear him shuffling to get up, as he rushes towards me. He grunts as he pushes the spider off of me. "Ellie are you alright?" He asks, my eyes are still closed.
"Yes." I say quietly trying to keep my cool. "Just go check on that damn elf." I say not caring if the elf heard me. Erik hesitates for a moment, but I feel him leave my side to talk to the elf.
"You! You did it!" He exclaims. "You killed it. Now cut me down before anything else shows up." He barks at Erik.
"You're welcome, you little bastard." I whisper under my breath, as I continue to lie down with my eyes closed. The elf says his name is sounds familiar. Why does that sound familiar? This is the guy that those bandit's were talking about earlier, the one with some claw thingy. Erik seems to remember too. I vaguely hear him speak about the claw with Arvel.
"Yes, the claw. I know how it works. The claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. I know how they all fit together! Help me down, and I'll show you. You won't believe the power your ancestors have hidden in here." He exclaims brightly. I can hear Erik hacking away at the thick web. "It's coming loose, I can feel it!" Arvel falls to the ground, laughing. "Sweet breath of Arkay, thank you!" He says breathlessly. I hear footsteps approaching me and finally open my eyes. Erik is standing above me looking down on me. He offers me a hand and even though I don't want to get up, I take it. He pulls me up with ease and I dust myself off. I turn towards the spider to retrieve my dagger and sword, when Erik growls.
"Shit!" I turn to see what he's cussing about and notice Arvel is missing. Son of a bitch… When I find that little elf, I'm going to ring his neck.
"Come on, he couldn't have gotten far." I say already running after him. Erik following closely behind. We run through the twisted hallway, the webs becoming less and less dense. We stop running as we enter a crypt. And I know for a fact that we entered a crypt, because there are rows and rows of dead, dried-looking bodies resting in their own little hole in the wall. A shiver runs down my spine as I take another step. I've always had this irrational fear of the dead coming back to life. When Erik and I were younger, Mralki would tell us stories about the dead coming back to life, called Draugr. I had nightmare for years. Years! I hesitantly walk forward.
As we walk further into the crypt I spot Arvel laying down on the floor. Why is lying on the- My eyes widen and I look around the room. Except nobody is in here. Just me, Erik, Arvel, and tons of other dead bodies. I gulp and take a step closer towards Arvel, my heart beating rapidly. I quietly kneel next to Arvel's body to check for any loot. I notice a stab wound on his stomach as I roll him over, making my shoulders tense. I open his sack and find a journal, and the golden claw everyone seems to be on about.
I thumb through the pages of his journal scanning it for any clues about how this thing works. All I find is things about his rash, and how many bar wenches he wants to "slay." I roll my eyes as I near the end of his journal. On the last page I read that the person he stole this from didn't know it was a key to the barrow. One sentence in particular captures my attention. "When you have the golden claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands." Hmm. I tilt my head trying to make sense of it all. When a moan from behind me makes my hair stand on end, and sends a chill down my straightened spine. I turn just in time to see a dead, shriveled corpse stalk towards me, with it's weapon hovering above it's head getting ready to pummel me.
It's glowing eyes are soulless as it stares angrily at me. It's broken jaw swings back and forth, hanging on by a few pieces of dark greyish flesh. I panic backing away crab style and raise my arm to cover my face. This is it. This is how I die. In a crypt, fetching a piece of rock, and then I'll have my body mutilated by the dead.
Just before the corpse swings it's greatsword down, arrow after arrow emerge from it's chest. It drops it's sword behind him, and it glances down at the arrows sticking out of it's chest. The light from it's eyes flicker, as it returns its attention back to me. The light finally goes out, and it falls in front of me, lifeless. I stare at it with wide eyes, waiting for it to move again. I don't even notice Erik, grabbing me by my arm and pulling me up to my feet. He shakes me hard, snapping me out of my shock.
"Hey! Get it together, Ellie." His voice finally reaching my ears. I look at him, his eyes filled with concerned. "What's wrong with you? Are you scared?" He asks accusingly. I feel anger bubbling up in my chest.
"No! I was just shocked. Those stories Mralki used to tell us seem to be more than just stories." I mutter as I walk past him and pick up my sword. "Let's go."
We push forward killing three more of those abominations. Each time I want to scream, and run away. But I have to prove Erik wrong. I'm not scared. Well, maybe I am. But I can't let him know that. We continue to delve deeper into the barrow, dodging swinging traps, killing skeevers, and killing even more draugr. For as long as I live, I am never, ever, coming back down into one of these damned things again.
The barrow becomes more cavernous, a stream of water runs through the cave. I pull the lever and another barred gate opens. We follow the little stream deeper into the cave and see a little drop off. I peek over the edge and notice another draugr patrolling the bridge. I look at Erik, and point down. He draws his bow, and walks towards the edge of the waterfall, and aims down. He spots the draugr and instantly kills it with a headshot.
The barrow starts to look like it did when we first entered. Root like vines, hugging the walls and covering the floor. We approach double doors, and push them open, trudging deeper into the sanctum. As we push open the doors, we're met with swinging blades and another three draugr. I don't feel as scared anymore as I once was. But I still don't want to go near another barrow, crypt, cave thing like this again.
We find another set of double doors and open them. As we enter, Erik and I freeze spotting the large door, with three rings and similar animal symbols like the ones we saw earlier on those pillars. Except these animals were different. A moth, owl, and a bear. In the center of the door was a golden circle that had three holes. I pull out the golden claw and line the talon up with holes. It definitely goes in there but nothing happens when I twist the key. I pull the claw back out and examine it. I stare at the key. "When you have the golden claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands." I say quietly to myself. I flip the claw over and notice three symbols on the palm of it. Bear. Moth. Owl. I glance back up at the door as a flashback of me rotating the pillars comes to mind. I reach out to the top ring and rotate it, doing the same for the other two rings, until it matches the symbols on the claw. I stick the key back in a twist.
A mixture of dust and dirt falls from the ceiling, and the deafening sound of stone rubbing against stone fills the air as the door slides down, opening the passage for us. I can't help the smirk that plays on my lips, as I continue up the stairs. I can hear a waterfall, and spot a large stone wall at the back of the cave.
Erik and I cautiously approach closer, when suddenly my head starts buzzing. I shake my head trying to focus. I stop and Erik looks at me confused.
"Do you hear that?" I ask quietly. Bats fly out from the ceiling, flying past us after I speak. Erik strains his ears to hear what I'm hearing. He shakes his head, and watches me with a furrowed brow, confused. We get closer to the little bridge, when the noise becomes a soft hum.
When we approach the staircase, the soft hum becomes louder. It sounds like men chanting. I turn to Erik who still looks at me confused. "You really don't hear that?" I ask annoyed. At first I don't believe him, but I've known Erik long enough to know better. He isn't lying.
I walk up the rest of the stairs, my eyesight blurring, and a blue light beaming from one of the symbols etched into the stonewall. The light tugs at my body, and the chanting becomes louder, putting me in a trance-like state. As I draw near the wall, I can feel a force tugging at something deep within my soul. The light becomes even brighter, as everything else turns black and blurry. The chant fills my mind, becoming so loud that I don't hear anything else at all. If Erik is calling out for me, I don't hear it. The glowing word beckons me towards it, the blue light radiates off it and towards me, enveloping me in its light and caressing my body, my very soul. It feels almost painful, almost. I've never felt more powerful than I do know. It becomes so overwhelming, and I feel so full that I feel like I'm about to burst. I open my mouth to scream but nothing comes out. Then, just like that, it's over and I'm down on my knees.
Erik flies by me, and smashes into the wall hard, slumping down and falling face-forward. In the next second, my sword is drawn and I'm facing a very ugly, mean, and powerful looking Draugr Overlord. I don't even think. I charge at him and dig my sword through his stomach, pulling it out, spinning, and slicing the back of his knee. He falls forward on one of his knees and I use the opportunity to plunge my sword between his shoulder blades. I twist my sword, until I hear a sickening crunch and jerk it out. He slumps forward, falling to the ground, not moving.
I run over to Erik and search for a pulse. I sigh, and relax when I find one and notice the steady rise and fall of his chest. That Overlord knocked him out cold. I walk back over to the Draugr and search it's body for the tablet. Nothing. I search the chest next to his coffin and don't find anything in there either. Then it dawns upon me that I don't even know what this thing looks like.
Something urges me to look in the coffin, and there I see a diamond shaped stone with golden etchings and ancient text on the back. If this isn't the stone tablet, then I don't know what is. I grab it and place it in my almost full bag.
I warily gaze at the wall, wondering what in oblivion happened to me. Whatever happened, it caused me to lose my senses, causing Erik to get hurt. But the power that I felt- that I still feel coursing through my veins, my soul, was extraordinary. My eyes fall to Erik's resting form. I frown and easily pick him up, and throw him over my shoulders. Holy shit. I quickly rush up the side of the stairs next to the waterfall, and make my way out of the barrow. I run until I come to the edge of a cliff, I take a deep breath before exhaling. Here goes nothing…
I jump and land on the ground without so much as a thud. Whoa. Erik doesn't even stir. I can get used to this newfound strength. I smirk to myself and continue to run for the silver glowing mouth of the cave.
It's night time, as I emerge from the cave. Cool fresh air, hits my face and fills my lungs. I've always loved the outdoors, but after being in that damn place- it made me appreciate the outside even more. I whistle for Allie, before I jump down the steep mountain side.
I'm now suddenly aware of how much heavier Erik is starting to become. Allie races around the mountainside and jogs towards me and Erik. I quickly throw him over Allie, using the last of my strength, and not feeling as powerful as I did before. Aww… I sigh before struggling to leap onto Allie and race back towards Whiterun to deliver this Godsforsaken tablet to Farengar.