Chapter 17

Everyone met outside the gate as agreed, early the next morning. Ahmon had a permanent grin on his face, and when inquired about his night, meekly replied that the girl he was sweet with looked even prettier than he remembered. Nazgurat had laughed and clapped the Nord on his back, nearly pitching him forward. Lynne grinned and rolled her eyes, and Jane figured she knew what Ahmon had done last night. She also noticed there was a new tenderness between Nazgurat and Lynne, Jane watched while they walked the plains of Whiterun; and she was burning to know if they had kissed.

Glancing at Bo, Jane sighed inwardly; wishing every day Bo would kiss her. After all their time spent so close together, she thought he would surely have tried to kiss her by now, and she wanted him to. Hell, she had even slept with the Orc, literally! What more of a hint could he want? Jane had never been kissed before, and she really wanted her first to be from Bo. She wondered curiously what Bo's past relationships had been like, assuming someone had broken his heart before and he was merely being cautious. That thought troubled her.

It was a mild day; the sun was shining and the warmth felt pleasant on Jane's skin. Together the companions traveled through the plains and around the side of the mountain quickly, nearing Riverwood by midday. They stopped to eat a brief meal before beginning the trek up the mountain leading to the Barrows. As the air began to cool, and the sky became a dull gray, they were drawing nearer to the ominous building and it's stone arches when Bo raised his arm for them to stop.

"Bandits," he whispered.

They drew their weapons, Jane drew her bow, and crouching low, they spread out to tackle the bandits. Jane stuck close to Bo, nervous, but when they came within shot of a Nord man she grabbed his arm.

"Let me try," she whispered in his ear. He nodded, and stood back.

Jane raised her bow and drew an arrow from the quiver strapped to her back. Aiming, she remembered to aim higher than lower, for the arrow would drop slightly as it flew through the air. She let the arrow loose and watched as it flew towards the man and hit him squarely in his ass, sending him flying off the edge and out of sight. The pair fought off a laughing fit and tried to focus, tears springing from their eyes as they tried to keep quiet. Jane knew that even if her shot hadn't killed him, the fall surely would. Then it hit her… she had just killed someone.

Get used to it Jane, she scolded herself, as the other bandits nearby spotted them. Behind them Jane could hear the roar of Nazgurat, who sounded like he was enjoying the fight immensely.

Once that was done with, everyone regrouped at the doors that lead into Bleak Falls Barrow. Jane ran her hand over the carvings, excited and nervous for what lay inside.

"Is everyone okay?" Jane asked, receiving four nods in response.

"Lets get this over with," Bo muttered, pushing open the doors.

Inside they found a few dead Skeevers and bandits, and continued down the path, occasionally hitting dead ends and always keeping an eye out for traps and enemies. At one point Nazgurat had to wrench Ahmon back so the young man did get a volley of arrows in his back when he triggered a spring on the floor. A little while later they rounded a corner and voices drifted over to them. Bo waved for them to stop and crouch down. Two men were discussing someone named Arvel, arguing really, and were easily dispatched by the two charging Orsimer. With Bo in the lead, they continued through the stone labyrinth, until they reached a room with a gate and lever. Several pillars stood off to the side, depicting various animals, which Jane knew were Nordic puzzles.

"Don't pull it!" Lynne cried, and Ahmon froze with his hand on the lever. "These pillars means it's a puzzle, and if you get it wrong you'll get shot."

Lynne studied the pillars for a couple minutes, and then moved a few around. She walked up to the lever and pulled, releasing the gate.

"Good job," Nazgurat praised, and Lynne blushed, mumbling something about ruins and having to solve one similar to it before.

So far the only creatures they encountered were Skeevers and then the two bandits, but Jane knew it was only a matter of time. Heading deeper into the ruins they reached a room absolutely covered with massive amounts of spider webs, which made Jane's skin crawl, and the largest spider Jane had ever seen rushed at them.

Resisting the urge to scream, Jane conjured flames to her hands and aimed at the spiders, jumping aside when it turned to her and spat venom. She swore continuously in her head. She absolutely loathed spiders, and always killed the ones that invaded her bedroom back home. Finally it dropped to the floor, still burning slightly from the flames, and its poison had hit only Ahmon. Lynne was quick to give him a powerful potion to cure it.

"Help me!" cried a man's voice.

Reaching the source, a Dunmer man hung suspended in a ridiculously thick cobweb.

"I'll share the treasure with you if you cut me down!"

Bo drew a dagger and cut the webs holding the Dunmer, who fell with a thump to the ground.

"Ha ha!" He cried, and took off down the hallway. "You'll get nothing from me!"

Jane didn't understand why he ran, it was five against one, and once he was dead Jane searched his body, still trying to get over the shock of killing so easily, and retrieved what she knew was the Golden Claw.

"What's that?" Ahmon asked, looking at it curiously.

"It's a golden claw."

"Wonder what it's for."

"Maybe we'll find out." Jane turned back to Bo and offered it to him, but he shook his head.

"You carry it."

Just as Jane knew they would, they entered into Draugr territory. These Draugr weren't too strong of fighters, and Jane knew if they sneaked, and attacked them while they slept like she had done in the past, they were quite easy to kill.

They reached a door guarded by another Draugr, and Jane managed to sneak pretty close to it without getting detected, and shot it in the head.

"That was good Jane," Bo had whispered to her, squeezing her arm while he pushed open the door and walked through. Jane smiled smugly, and then quickly sobered up. More Draugr attacks, stronger ones this time, and they finally reached a long narrow room with a strange round door at the end. Jane walked up to it, running her hand over the holes on the bottom circle. She loved encountering these doors, and knew what to do. Removing the Golden Claw she turned it upside down and looked at the engraving. Then reaching up she moved the first ring to match the claw, and then the second and third ring. Finally, she put the claw into the keyhole, which fit perfectly, and turned it to the right. Immediately the rings started to turn all at once and stopped at the same animal, and the stone door started to scrape and move, sliding down and sending out a shower of dust.

"Incredible!" Lynne exclaimed. "How did you know?"

Jane merely shrugged. "I recognized the animal engravings were on the bottom of the claw, so I tried it out."

"I think we're almost there," Ahmon commented, as the lighting of the walls started to change from a bright yellow to a dull grey blue. They climbed a set of stairs and entered into a very spacious room, where a mysterious wall stood at the back and a large table and chest were located.

"Did the mage say what the Dragonstone looked like?" Ahmon asked Bo.

However Bo wasn't listening to him. He stared at the wall with a mixture of disgust and fear, shaking slightly. Then he started to walk towards it.

"No," he whispered, but despite the warning in his mind his body betrayed him, pulling him forward. Words in a language he had never heard before but understood whispered in his mind. He had heard them before, issuing from that cursed Dragon's mouth back in Helgen. Blue swirled all around him as he felt a single word soaking into his very essence, silently screaming his resistance, and then it was over. The light had gone out, and Bo quickly threw himself back, covering his face.

"Bo! Are you alright?"

"Yeah… I'm fine." He whispered, not looking up at her.

"What happened?" Lynne asked, stepping towards him. She placed a hand on Bo's shoulder and forced him to look at her. She inspected his pupils and checked his pulse.

"I don't know… there was blue light. It swirled around me… whispers in my head…there were voices. I absorbed… something."

"I have no idea what that could have been, but I think you're alright—"

Lynne's voice was cut off by the sound of stone exploding. Turning around they watched as a very large and deadly looking Draugr climbed out from the sarcophagus, brandishing an ancient Nord sword that swirled with a frost enchantment. The sight made Jane's blood run cold, she always had a hard time with the boss leveled Draugr, and was genuinely frightened. They spread out, attacking the creature from all directions. Jane decided to keep her distance and used flames, aiming at him whenever she got the chance. The Draugr spoke, its voice low and guttural, and a blue wave burst from him, slamming into Jane and the others so hard they were thrown back. Jane's head cracked against the wall. Groaning, she scrambled to get back up, her vision blurring. She could hear the Draugr laugh, which was a terrifying sound in her opinion, and she still kept her distance, too afraid to do very much. Finally, after several agonizingly slow minutes and hastily swallowed health potions later Nazgurat finished him off, grabbing the Draugr's arm and cleaving him nearly in half with his greatsword, growling happily.

Panting and sweaty, everyone gathered around, wiping the sweat out of their eyes and catching their breath.

"Search his body," Lynne spoke after a moment, "a foe this powerful at the very end of this place must have been guarding something."

Bo took a deep breath and straightened up, sheathing his sword, and turned to Nazgurat, who had knelt down and retrieved a strange looking tablet from the dead Draugr. "That looks like what he described. Loot the chest and then lets get the hell out of here."