Chapter Ten
"What would you have me do then? Nothing?" Jarl Balgruuf the Greater was lounging in his throne, lazily addressing his steward as Alinja and Erik approached.
"My lord, please," the steward shifted uncomfortably and glanced to see who had entered the throne room. He exchanged a worried but suspicious look to a dark elf warrior who nodded and drew her sword and blocked the two nord's passage to the Jarl.
"What's the meaning of this?" She asked hastily. "The Jarl is not receiving visitors."
"We have news from Helgen about the dragon attack." Alinja explained, warily eyeing the drawn weapon.
"Well," the elf muttered, "that explained why the guards let you in." She sheathed her sword. "Come on, then, the Jarl would want to speak to you personally."
She lead them up a few stairs to stand before the throne. Jarl Balgruuf raised his head and studied the faces of the people in front of him before speaking.
"So, you were at Helgen? You saw this dragon with your own eyes?" He half glanced at the husky sitting obediently next to Alinja.
"Yes, my Jarl." She replied respectfully. "We caught it just as it flew out from the attack. Last we saw, it was heading this way."
"By Ysmir Irileth was right!" Balgruuf snapped his head to his steward, scowling. "What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?"
"My lord," The elf stepped forward. "We should send troops to Riverwood at once. It is in the most immediate danger, if that dragon is lurking in the mountains—"
"The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation!" Proventus interrupted. "He'll assume we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him! We should not…"
"Enough! I'll not stand idly by while a dragon burns my hold and slaughters my people!" Jarl Balgruuf stood. He looked at the dark elf. "Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once."
"Yes, my Jarl." Irileth crossed an arm across her chest and left the hall.
"If you'll excuse me, I'll return to my duties," Proventus sulked, but bowed respectfully.
"That would be best." Balgruuf dismissed. He sat again on his throne and turned his attention to Alinja and Erik. "Well done," he beamed, impressed. "You sought me out on your own initiative. You've done Whiterun a service, and I won't soon forget it." He chewed his bottom lip slightly and averted their gazes for a few seconds before looking back up at them and standing once more. "There is another thing you could do for me. Suitable for your…particular talents, perhaps? Come, let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking inter a matter related to these dragons and…rumours of dragons."
He walked past the nords and beckoned them to follow him. They strode to a room entered by through a giant doorway. The room was decorated with wooden tabled with piles of paper and strange ingredients Alinja had never seen before. At the back of the room was an alchemy lab as well as an enchanter's arcane. Great tapestries of dragons, battles and kings were hanging on the walls along with maps and alchemy instructions. A great chandelier made from brown metal and fine wax and oil candles hung from the incredibly tall ceiling and white goat-horn wall lamps clung to the wall beside the doorway. A man dressed in a blue hooded robe was leaning over one of the wooden tables. When he looked up he grinned and closed the book he was pining over. A bushy brown beard covered the sides of his head, leaving his chin free.
"Farengar," Balgruuf spoke, "I think I've found some people who can help you with your dragon project. Go ahead and fill them in with all the details."
Farengar turned his attention to Alinja and Erik. "So, the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons. Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me. Well…" he averted their slightly confused gaze, "when I saw fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not actually be there."
"What does this have to do with dragons?" Erik asked.
"All right. Where am I going and what am I fetching?" Alinja said at the same time.
The two looked at each other, cheeks slightly burning.
"Ahaha," Farengar laughed heartily before speaking. "My, you two are quite the pair, aren't you?" He chuckled again before continuing. "You see, when the stories began to circulate, many dismissed them as mere fantasies, rumours. Impossibilities. One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything that falls outside his experience as being impossible. But I began to search for information about dragons—where had they gone all those years ago? And where were they coming from?" The wizard stroked his side beard and cleared his throat. "I, uh, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow – a Dragonstone, said to contain a map of dragon burial sites. Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet—no doubt interred in the main chamber—and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."
"All right," Alinja agreed. "We'll get this dragon tablet for you."
"Woof!" Meeko barked in agreement and received a rough rub on his head by her.
The Jarl and Court Wizard bid them off and the three were back on the road, adventuring once more.
The three companions ventured back into Riverwood, unsure of how to actually get to the ruin.
"We should have asked Farengar or the Jarl for directions." Alinja complained.
"Let's just head into one of the stores." Erik suggested. "I'm sure someone in this town knows about Bleak Falls"
Alinja, Erik and Meeko stepped into the general store, but immediately paused when they caught two Imperials arguing.
"Well one of us has to do something!" The Imperial woman said, folding her arms across her chest. She had lightly tanned skin with brown hair pulled back into a Nordic ponytail. She wore a pale yellow belted tunic with soft brown shoes.
"We're done talking about this!" The man replied angrily. He looked similar to the woman with the same features. He wore a pale red merchant tunic.
"Well what are you going to do then, huh? Let's hear it!" The woman snapped.
"I said no!" the man yelled, oblivious to their company. "No adventures, no theatrics, no thief chasing…!" He looked up and caught the eye of his customers. "Oh…customers. Sorry you had to hear that."
"Is something wrong?" Alinja asked walking up to the wooden counter.
"I don't know what you overheard, but the Riverwood trader is still open." The man said, rubbing his neck.
"But did something happen?" Erik pressed.
"Yeah…we had a bit of a…break in. But we still have plenty to sell. Robbers were only after one thing. An ornament, solid gold. In the shape of a dragons claw."
"We could try to find it." Alinja offered.
"You could?" The man exclaimed. "I've got some coin coming in from my last shipment. It's yours if you can bring my claw back. If you're going after those thieves, you should head to Bleak Falls Barrow, northeast of town."
"Oh," Alinja grinned, "we were just heading there. We actually came in to ask for directions."
"So this is your plan, Lucan?" the woman asked, looking at the nords excitedly.
"Yes." Lucan replied, wiping a hand over his brow. "So now you don't have to go, do you?"
"Oh really?" the woman raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "We'll I think your new helpers here need a guide."
"Wh—no…" Lucan groaned, defeated. "Oh by the Eight, fine. But only to the edge of town."
The woman smiled with victory and beckoned for them to follow her and she lead them out of the store and down the road and out of town. As they walked the woman introduced herself as Camilla Valerius.
"Those thieves must be mad hiding out there." She continued. "Those old crypts are filled with traps, trolls, and who knows what else! I wonder why they only stole Lucan's golden claw. I mean we have pleanty of things in the store worth just as much coin. Lucan found the claw about a year after he opened the store. He never quite explained why he got it. He's a tricky one." Once they passed the town's entrance, Camilla kept talking. "We had to go through town and across the bridge to get to Bleak Falls Barrow. You can see it from here, though. The mountain just over the buildings." She pointed to the mountain above them and in the near distance were enormous, grey ruins that looked like giant arches. The finally reached the bridge leading away from Riverwood . Camilla stopped and gestured towards the bridge. "This is the bridge out of town. The path up the mountain to the northwest leads to Bleak Falls Barrow. I guess I should get back to my brother. He'll throw a fit if I take too long. Such a child…" She looked up at the companions and smiled warmly. "I wish you luck. And please be careful."
She waved them off and once again, they were off on another adventure.
The three companions soon reached the giant, looming ruins of Bleak Falls Barrow, following the path that Camilla pointed them down. Now, they were standing at the bottom of a large and wide stone staircase that lead to the doors of the catacombs—which was large enough to fit even a dragon through. As they were about the trek up the stairs, Meeko suddenly flattened his ears and bared his large, white canine teeth. He growled viciously.
"What's wrong, boy?" Alinja asked. "Is there someone here?"
He barked savagely and raised his head to the left and pointed with his snout. Erik and Alinja followed the dog's gaze to the bottom of one of the ruins. Something just moved out of sight as their stares reached their destination.
"It's…quiet." Erik said softly, a serious expression crossed his face as he strained his ears to listen for anything out of place.
"You're right." Alinja agreed and slowly drew her glass sword.
Suddenly an arrow pierced the air and landed right in front of Meeko. He yelped and leapt away, but turned and faced the direction of where it came from. He barked loudly, alerting Alinja and Erik of their attackers. Standing to the left was a Redguard bandit, wearing the traditional bandit apparel—fur armour. She was holding a longbow ready with iron arrows. Before either Alinja or Erik could react, Meeko barked once and bolted up the stairs, charging for the bandit. She drew her bow and aimed at Meeko with surprising speed.
"Meeko !" Alinja cried and thrust her sword at the bandit, it imbedded itself into her leg, piercing flesh and bone. Blood spurted from around the blade as she screamed in agony.
She snapped her head to her attacker. "Go! Get them!" She screeched, eyes wild with anger and pain.
She screamed again in fear and the husky pounced on her and tore at her face and neck, shredding the flesh and skin until she was unrecognisable. Just as she thudded heavily to the ground, pooling fresh, dark red blood around her, another two bandits appeared. One was a male wood elf, half his head was shaved with a tuft of brown hair covering the other side of his head. He also held a longbow with iron arrows. The other bandit was a female Imperial with dull blonde hair that was tied back by two braids. Green war paint streaked across her face. She held a steel great sword in front of her, ready for a fight.
Alinja fell to one knee and ripped a dagger that was strapped to her ankle and thrust it at the Imperial bandit. "Yah!"
The Imperial smirked and stepped out of the way, letting the dagger fall to the ground. "Was that it?" She questioned, raising her eyebrows. "You seem too…amateur for that expensive looking armour. Maybe we should swap…or I can rip it off your dead body." She raised her weapon high above her head. Alinja went for the hilt of her sword, but remembered it was still stuck in the Redguard bandit.
The sword swung downwards towards Alinja, but just as it was about to split her in two, Erik strode in front of her, his midnight ebony sword held horizontal, blocking the attack. He pushed against the attacker, sending her stumbling back.
"Forget about me?" He asked, eyes blazing. "Seems like an…amateur mistake." He cast a glance over his shoulder. "Get to your sword," he said to Alinja, "I'll worry about this one."
Alinja supressed a grin as she nodded and ran past him to the dead Redguard on the floor. She gripped her glass sword and heaved it out of the bandit's leg, breaking the leg in the process.
Her ears pricked up as she heard the sharp whistle of an arrow. She looked up and watched the iron arrow hurtle towards her. She cringed, waiting for the horrible pain to arrive, but instead the arrow simply bounced off her glass armour and fell uselessly to the floor. She heard Meeko growl, but hushed him.
"Stay her, boy." She whispered. "I don't think you can get to him at this distance without getting a few arrows to the gut."
Meeko moaned disapprovingly, but lay down next to his victim. Weapon dripping with thick blood, Alinja faced her foe. The wood elf aimed another arrow at her, but she was ready this time. Just he released the arrow; she ducked and charged with all her speed towards the bandit. He was so surprised by the sudden burst of speed, all he could do was raise his bow horizontally in an attempt to protect himself. Alinja raised her sword as she ran and put all her Nordic strength into the blow. She cut cleanly through his bow, breaking it in half. He looked in fear at his bow, and just as he looked up, the last thing he saw was Alinja's sword before it forced itself into his head.
Alinja ripped the green tinged blade out of her opponent and looked towards Erik who had shoved his sword though the throat of the Imperial bandit.
"Done, then?" She asked and he looked up and nodded at her, wiping the blood off his blade and sheathing it.
"You're getting better at this." Erik complimented. "Uh, let's go inside and get this stone thing for Farengar."
"Yeah." Alinja agreed and whistled to Meeko to follow them. They finally reached the enormous doors and pushed them open, entering the ancient Bleak Falls Barrow.
*Dedicated to the victims of the Nepal Earthquake*