Chapter Three
Travelling back to Whiterun, Alinja and Erik found the redguard man and returned his sword—which was engraved with his father's family name—after they had visited the potion store, Arcadia's Cauldron, and restocked on healing potions.
"You found it?" He exclaimed. "I've been looking for that blade for months. You took on all those bandits yourselves?"
"There were only two of them." Erik replied, modestly.
"And a dog." Alinja added with a smile.
"I see," the man said, "come with me. I'll teach you two a sword and shield technique I learnt from my father, in honor of his memory. The name's Armen, by the way."
Armen lead the two to up a wide stone staircase leading to a large wooden building that looked like it was made from the bottom of a ship.
"This is Jorrvaskr, home of the Companions." Armen explained. "We can use their training dummies just over here."
For the rest of the afternoon, Armen taught Erik and Alinja skills with a one handed sword and the shield.
That night, the two Nordic friends rented a room at the Bannered Mare tavern. Once they entered their room Erik paused.
"There's only one bed…" He said quietly.
Alinja looked at him. "Yeah, but it's a double bed. Usually made for two people." When she saw the shy look on his face she smirked. "What's the matter? We always used to share a bed when we were kids. Remember the sleepovers we used to have?"
"Y-yeah, but that was when we were children." Erik replied, quickly. He cleared his throat. "Never mind…we need to get some rest. We had a big day and we need to get up early if we want to make it to Solitude."
Alinja agreed and slipped off her armour. Her very bones were aching still. She did feel much better after she drank the healing potion, but she was exhausted. She fell into the bed, savoring the soft comfort of the soft straw and feather mattress. She felt Erik slide into the bed next to her and exhale. He was tired too and was grateful to be rid of his armour for a while.
Armen had given Erik a few iron ingots to take to the blacksmith to get his armor fixed and while they were there, she fixed Alinja's broken straps. Alinja had tried to convince Erik to take the bandit chief's steel sword, but he refused saying that "it would be unfair for him to have a better sword than her if they were fighting together", so they still had their iron swords, sharpened with no extra charge from the blacksmith.
"Night, Erik." Alinja whispered.
"Night." She could barely hear him before she drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Erik and Alinja stocked up on food supplies before heading out. They decided to take a carriage to Solitude.
"First time to Solitude?" The carriage driver, Bjorlam asked. "Beautiful ol' city. Capital of Skyrim, but I'm sure you already knew that."
They had just past Dragon's Bridge when Alinja looked ahead of them. She could see a figure on the road. It wasn't a human. I looked like a wolf. Uncertain on how to react, she let the carriage roll a little closer. The animal looked up and barked. It was a dog. A husky. It stood quickly and backed away, letting the carriage drive past. Alinja turned to Bjorlam.
"Hey, stop the carriage. We'll get off here." She said.
"Are you sure?" He asked. "Solitude is just up the road."
"Yes." She confirmed. She handed him a few extra gold coins for the inconvenience and looked at Erik who was sleeping soundly. "Hey, wake up." She nudged him. "Erik, we're getting off here."
He opened his eyes and yawned looking around. "Are we at Solitude, yet?"
She shook her head. "No, but it's not far from here. I want to check something out."
She jumped off the carriage, dragging a half-asleep Erik with her. The cart rolled forward as Bjorlam continued the route to Solitude.
"What do you want to see?" Erik asked, rubbing his eyes tried to make himself more alert. "Is it a cave?"
"No. Look." Alinja pointed a few feet ahead of them. The dog looked at them, timidly, sniffing the air and trying to decide whether they were friends or foes.
"Is that a dog?" Erik asked.
"Yeah." Alinja replied. "What is it doing out here." She stepped forward and the dog took a few steps back. "It's okay." She cooed. "We're not going to hurt you."
The dog whined and turned and ran into the forest beside the road, but stopped to look at the two humans before continuing.
"We should follow it." Erik said. "It might lead us to something."
"Or someone." Alinja replied, cautiously, but she was curious, so they decided to follow him. "Hey!" She called. "Here doggy!"
The dog lead them to a small shack with no doors and glassless windows. The roof was falling off and the wood on the walls were rotting away. Alinja glanced around the room. It only had one room, with a counter, a barrel with a few ingredients and a few dead animals hanging from a metal hanger. A wooden bowl on the floor next to the bed contained some chicken bones and a bookshelf jutted out of the wall, covering a gaping hole that must have worn away in the side of the shack. An end table was placed at the end of a bed with a journal resting on its surface. Alinja flickered her eyes to the bed. There was a nord sleeping there. The dog sat next to the bed and whined, looking at what appeared to be his master and then looked back at the two.
"Excuse me," Alinja started. The sleeping nord didn't stir. "Um...hello?" She went up to him and shook him lightly. No response. She glanced at Erik who shifted next to her.
"Hey." Erik said louder, and he shook the nord harder. He still didn't stir. He felt for a pulse under his jaw. "He's…dead." He confirmed, with a confused look on his face. "But how?" He searched for injuries and checked his mouth for signs of poison.
Alinja rolled up his sleeves and gasped. His elbow joints were largely swollen to the size of apples and were tinged a deep purple-black. She looked over to the journal on the end table. Picking it up, she read:
"Well, after all my years living in these woods, it looks like the Rockjoint will finally be the end of me. I guess that's fine. All my friends are long dead. The only one left is poor Meeko. He was always a loyal companion, and I know he'll be able to take care of himself. I hope someday I'll see him again."
She looked at Erik with sorrow in her eyes and then down at the dog who hung his head and softly whining. She closed the journal and placed it back on the table. Crouching she reached over and rested her hand on the dog's head. It looked up and she seemed to see sadness in its eyes.
"Are you Meeko?" She asked softly.
The dog whined louder and leaned into her hand.
Looking up at Erik she asked, "We should take him with us."
Erik looked at the dog and then at his dead owner. "Yeah," he replied, nodding, "he has no family left."
Alinja grinned and wrapped her arms around Erik's neck. "Yes! I think this is a great idea. He can come with us and we'll have our own guard dog friend!" She gazed back at Meeko. "Hey boy,"
The dog looked up with hopeful eyes, wagging its tail at her sudden excited tone.
"You want to come with us?" She asked, tapping her thighs, encouragingly.
Meeko barked happily and stood, spinning excitedly and jumping up on Alinja and Erik who rubbed his head roughly, smiling.
Alinja stared at the dead nord. "But we should bury him."
Erik stopped playing with Meeko and followed her gaze. "Yeah, you're right."
They searched the small shack for a shovel, feeling surprised when they found one hanging on the side of it outside. Erik and Alinja took turns digging a deep rectangular grave. They wrapped his body of the nord in a few linen wraps they found underneath the bed and gently rested him in the bottom of the grave before refilling the dug up dirt. Erik found a few wide, fallen branches and tied them together in a 'T' fashion and stuck them into the ground at the head of the grave. With her iron dagger, Alinja engraved an effigy on the horizontal branch.
'Meeko's Father. You raised him well.'
They stood for a few moments in silence, except for Meeko who whined loudly to the point where he was practically howling in sorrow. When it was time to leave Alinja said a few words.
"Don't worry, nord. We'll take good care of your buddy, Meeko." She touched the top of the makeshift tombstone—or tombbranch and looked down at Meeko. "Come on, Meeko. It's time to leave."
The husky looked up at her and then back at the grave as if he knew this was the last time he'd see his master. He walked up to the branches and licked them a few times before following his new owners on their way to Solitude.
**Dedicated to L. Thompson. Too young were you when you were taken from this world. May you find peace on the Other Side.**