Chapter Ten
Beneath Saarthal
Three months later…
I hopped over the slush on the road to reach the Winterhold barracks with relatively dry feet. I knocked and waited several moments for a yawning guard to answer.
"What is it now, mage? Another fireball that needs cleaning up?" she grumped and I held up the axe I'd so far been carrying wrapped in cloth under one arm.
"Actually, I've brought the new weapon your captain requested."
The guard's demeanour changed instantly and she took the axe eagerly.
"Finally! Took you lot long enough."
"Grand soul gems aren't easy to fill," I sniffed. "Master Sergius will take payment in the usual way."
The usual way meant waiting a few weeks for the captain of the guard to scrape the coin together, and then a few more weeks before he decided to actually pay. I'd done this song and dance enough times by now to know the drill.
The guard shut the door in my face without thanking me and, with a sigh, I headed back to the collage. It had been an interesting yet trying few months. On the one hand I was happy to be among my fellow mages and especially my friends. On the other, I hated the cold damp of Winterhold. And coldest of all were its people.
Something came flying at me out of the corner of my eye and I threw up a shield instinctively. The snowball bounced off I glared up at the culprit.
"Oi!" I cried. "Knock it off!"
A boy and a girl perched on the roof of the Jarl's longhouse and the boy stuck his tongue out.
"No loitering, elf!" he called, hucking another snowball which I easily deflected.
"As I've told you before, Assur, I'm not an elf, I'm a Breton. See?" I pushed back my apprentice hood and tapped my ear. "Only slightly pointy."
"Elf lover!" the boy amended and I rolled my eyes. The innkeeper's daughter beside him plucked his sleeve.
"Come on Assur," she muttered, embarrassed. "We'll get in trouble."
"No we won't," he scoffed, squashing another snowball so tight it might as well be ice. Snot-nosed brat, I thought and concentrated on the snowball. Before Assur could throw it, it melted into a puddle in his lap.
"Hey! Dirty mage trick!" he squealed but I kept walking with a smirk.
This wasn't my first run in with the Jarl's son. His father fed him elf-hating venom daily so it was no wonder he harassed the members of the college relentlessly. Most of the mages had very little to do with the rest of the town but I found staying within the high stone walls suffocating after all my months adventuring. I took odd jobs to go into Winterhold as often as I could and as the Enchanting master Sergius said, offering arcane weapons and armour was the best way to remind people of our worth.
When I entered the courtyard I found a flurry of activity around Shalidor's statue. Tolfdir stood with his hands on his hips and an excited gleam in his eyes, talking to Mirabelle. Onmund, Brelynna and J'zargo crowded around a set of crates and packs and the latter waved to me when I approached.
"Did you hear the news? We're finally heading to Saarthal," he said and my eyebrows shot up.
"At last! I thought the thaw would never come."
Saarthal was Tolfdir's pet project and he hadn't stopped talking about it all winter. He and a few of the more experienced apprentices had come across the ancient nord ruins three years ago whilst out practicing frost-resistance spells on the tundra. He had lectured us on the history of the site several times since then and I could hear him enthusing now to Mirabelle.
"It's remarkable, simply remarkable!" he beamed. "The oldest human settlement in Skyrim, probably in all of Tamriel! It matches all the descriptions in the sagas. You really must come out and see it, Mirabelle."
"Maybe I'll find time this dig season," Mirabelle allowed. "But do be careful this time, Tolfdir. We don't need another draugr incident. You've had the apprentices review their Restoration spells, haven't you?"
Tolfdir gave mild assurances whilst my friends and I shared a smile. When Tolfdir hightailed it across the bridge, I thought it was because he was too excited to wait for the equipment to the packed, but then I noticed Ancano striding towards us.
"Ah, I was hoping to catch master Tolfdir before he set off for the dig," he sniffed. "But he seems to have vanished."
"Funny that," I said and Onmund repressed a snort. Ancano glared at the pair of us.
"Saarthal could prove to be a highly important site given its connection to elven history. Tell your teacher I expect a full report when he returns, apprentice."
"Lyra," I corrected him. "It's Lyra, master Ancano. We've known each other for three months."
Ancano spared me a withering look before returning to the warmth of the main hall. Brelyna let out the breath she'd been holding and we all shouldered our packs.
"You shouldn't antagonise him like that," she murmured. "The Thalmor are not to be trifled with!"
"Nah he's a nobody," I shrugged. "The Thalmor probably sent him here to get rid of him. It's not exactly a top assignment is it? Freezing his bollocks off at the end of the world, listening to the arch-mage droning on."
Onmund shot a resentful look over his shoulder as we stepped onto the bridge.
"He's such a creep, the way he hovers over us when we're trying to work!"
We amused ourselves on the journey out of Winterhold and up into the mountains by making up theories as to why Ancano had been shunted here by the Thalmor. He never seemed to do much advising for all his bluster. He spent most of his time snooping into the professors research and drinking the arch-mage's Blackbriar Reserve.
As we clambered over boulders and climbed higher above the glacier, I understood why we'd had to wait for the spring thaw before returning to the dig site. This pass would be treacherous in winter. We finally reached our destination after an hour of trudging through the snow and when we did, J'zargo had to grab the back of my robes to save me from falling in.
"Whoah," I gasped, peering gingerly into the huge pit dug into the frozen earth. "They managed all this in two seasons of digging?"
"Glad we didn't have to do it," said Brelyna through chattering teeth.
To get out of the frigid wind we clambered down the wooden walkway and joined Tolfdir who stood before a pair of huge stone doors, a little ajar.
"There you all are, what took you so long?" he scolded then ploughed on without letting us speak. "We found this door at the end of the last season and master Arniel and I recently managed to open it. We've done a little exploring inside but today I want to really start mapping it out. Come come, no time to waste."
We squeezed through the doors one by one, they didn't seem to want to open any wider, and all lit our magelights once inside. We walked along a short stone corridor then emerged into a cavernous chamber some fifty feet high, held aloft by pillars thick as Ironwood trunks. They and the walls were decorated with the characteristic swirling art of ancient Nordic ruins.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" Tolfdir sighed and we all nodded. "Arniel believes this place was the main temple of the city. Given the art style I am inclined to agree with him, probably to the ancient nord dragon god, Alduin."
I glanced at him uneasily then studied the wall reliefs more closely. It was true that they featured dragons heavily as well as the robed and masked priests of the old cult. It was strange, most modern nords had only vaguely heard of the god worshipped by their ancestors, preferring for the most part his imperial counterpart Akatosh. But since my conversation with master Arngeir I couldn't seem to stop running across the name in tomes on ancient history in the Arcanaeum. It almost felt like the name was following me.
"Now then, a little refresher on the history of this place," said Tolfdir, clapping his hands together. The sound echoed around the chamber. "Saarthal was one of the first settlements of men in Tamriel, founded by Ysgramor in his first expedition from Atmora. As you can see his people brought with them their religious practices concerning dragons, who were widespread across Atmora and Tamriel, though they are believed to have lived far from humans and elves at this time. It was only later that they came to dominate northern Tamriel. But that is another tale, back to Ysgramor."
Tolfdir began walking around the chamber with his hands behind his back. We followed, heating our tools over our shoulders.
"Skyrim at the time was occupied by the Falmer, or Snow-Elves. A once proud race, nothing like their blind descendants one sometimes meets in caves. When Ysgramor first arrived it seemed relations with the elves were friendly, they allowed him to settle a colony here and there is evidence of trade across what is today the Northern holds. But this all changed on the infamous Night of Tears. For reasons we still do not understand, the elves turned on the men here and put each and every one to the sword, even elders and children. Only Ysgramor escaped with his sons back to Atmora where he raised an army of five hundred companions to reign down terror on the elves."
I had heard this part of the story plenty in Whiterun. The companions of Jorvaskr were fond of retelling their ancestors glory. As if slaughtering an entire race was glorious. Brelyna also shifted uncomfortably and we shared a grimace. Tolfdir continued.
"Scattered accounts say Saarthal was never resettled, with only sporadic mentions throughout the first era, before its location was lost to history. Now then." Tolfdir clapped his hands together. "Brelyna, my dear, why don't you search for warding magics? Anything designed to keep people out. Don't interact with them, just identify them. Onmund, please search that area over there. See if you notice any...residual energies. Alive of dead. J'zargo...what shall we have you do...Ah! Why don't you verify that we're the first ones here? Look for any amount of tampering with the tombs. As for you Lyra, hmm. Well, why don't you see if you can assist Arniel Gane? I expect he'd appreciate some help in locating any additional magical artefacts here in the ruins. Any enchanted items will do; the usefulness of the enchantment is irrelevant. If you find anything, the class can look it over."
We all jumped to our tasks but I heard Onmund mutter to Brelyna,
"I don't like what we're doing here. This is the resting place of Nord ancestors, they should be allowed to rest in peace."
I found Arniel in a side chamber bent over a schematic of the site. He distractedly told me to search the rooms nearby for artefacts so off I went, peering around for hidden traps and keeping my ears pricked for draugr. But I encountered nothing dangerous which struck me as suspicious for an ancient Nord tomb. I came across some more wall reliefs depicting men offering weapons and other treasures to a great dragon in the sky, its wings spread over them. I reached out to trace the carving with my fingers and sighed.
I hadn't heard a whisper from Delphine in months, but news of the dragons was everywhere. Lydia wrote faithfully from Whiterun but merchants and soldiers also carried the tales from the south. The dragons were wise creatures, they knew that a large force of men could kill them, so they steered clear of large cities and well-defended garrisons. But they were also cunning. One chilling tale we'd heard a few weeks ago told of the razing of Kastav, a Stormcloak held fort nearby. A strong force of soldiers had been stationed there all winter but then the bulk moved out come spring to reinforce another camp to the west. The moment they departed a frost dragon had swooped on the depleted force left behind and killed almost every soldier. The way the survivors told it, it was almost like the monster had been watching, waiting. But there was no word about the huge black dragon, although I asked each caravan who came through.
I shook my head and tried to focus on the task at hand. I found a few artefacts, broken pottery and rusted tools but nothing magical. Still I gathered it all together in a wooden pallet to be catalogued. At the back of the room I came across something a bit more interesting. A disk shaped amulet, gold by the looks of it, with faint runes etched around the edges. It had a faint tingle of magic so I cast a precautionary oakflesh spell and removed it from its bracket on the wall. Nothing painful happened but a scraping noise made whip around in time to so an iron grate slam down at the exit.
"Shit!" I hissed, rushing forward to try and lift the grate, but it wouldn't budge. I took a step back and assessed the situation. I could blast the grate open with magic but I doubted Tolfdir would be too thrilled if I started hucking firebolts around his dig site.
"Master Tolfdir? I seem to be stuck."
Tolfdir came jogging over from the main chamber.
"My word, what happened?" he asked and I held the amulet through the bars for him to examine.
"When I took this off the wall, I think it trigger the trap. I can't get out."
"Fascinating," said Tolfdir, peering at the amulet. "These markings, they are old nordic but not from the merethic era, mid-first era I'd say."
"Wait, later than Saarthal?" I asked, puzzled. "But the site was abandoned!"
"That is what the sagas tell us, but here maybe we have a hint that isn't entirely true. Hmm..." Tolfdir rubbed his chin then tapped a particular rune. "This symbol here means 'ward' and this one has something to do with opening. I've seen this kind of magic before, an object imbued with the power to see the path forward. If you wear it, perhaps it will reveal a way out."
"You want me to put it on?" I asked dubiously. At Tolfdir's encouraging nod I lowered the chain around my neck. I flinched, expecting pain, but nothing happened.
"Hm, I can't see anything different," I said, gazing at the grate which remained solidly in place.
"Take a look around, perhaps there is a fulcrum," Tolfdir encouraged.
I walked around the small chamber and then spotted a strange blue glow on the wall where the amulet had hung. Curious, I reached out to push against it. The moment my fingers touched the stone, it slid up into the ceiling, revealing a dark tunnel sloping down.
I heard the grate slide open behind me then Tolfdir joined me in squinting down the tunnel.
"Well now, this is just the thing," he said with an excited smile. "Shall we take a look?"
I kept the amulet on just in case it revealed more secrets and followed Tolfdir down the tunnel. Something about the rough grooves in the walls and the fact that the floor wasn't even gave me pause.
"Master, I don't think this tunnel was part of the original structure."
"You know I was thinking the same thing. It looks like it cuts right through the earth, a later intrusion perhaps? By the same first-era adventurers who left the amulet behind."
Our suspicions were confirmed a minute later when the tunnel ended abruptly. We emerged into a burial chamber with dozens of stone coffins. The tunnel had smashed through one when it breached the room. This room had lit torches along the walls which to me indicated only one thing.
"Draugr, for sure, still maintaining the tomb in death," I concluded and Tolfdir waged a finger at me.
"You've been reading Bernadette Bantien's work. Fascinating hypothesis she put forward."
He seemed about to elaborate but he froze mid-sentence. I frowned.
"Master Tolfdir, are you alright?" I asked venturing over and laying a hand on his shoulder. He didn't move, he didn't even seem to be breathing.
"Don't be alarmed, we have simply frozen time for a moment so we may speak to you."
I jumped as a ghostly figure appeared beside Tolfdir. He was an elven man wearing long mages robes and a hood drawn over his head.
"Who are you?" I asked, clenching my fists ready to cast a shield if needed.
"An interested party. Things have now been set in motion that cannot be stopped. Even if you turned back now, others would come and find it."
"Find what?"
"You will know soon enough. Have a care as you venture under Saarthal. You mage, and you alone can avert the coming disaster."
The man dissipated and it felt like the room let out the breath it had been holding. Tolfdir continued speaking about draugr as if nothing had happened.
"Master," I cut across him. "Did you just see that?"
"See what?" asked Toldir mildly, looking around.
"It was a time stop, I think. A man appeared, he warned me there's something dangerous here."
"Really?" Tolfdir's eyes lit up. "Remarkable. Some kind of echo of the ancient nords?"
"I don't think so, he was an elf and he spoke to me directly. Answered my questions, well, sort of. Do you think we should head back?"
"Nonsense," Tolfdir scoffed. "If there is something dangerous here, I'm sure we can handle it."
At the moment the lids of the coffins burst open and a dozen angry draugr shambled out. Tolfdir was right, deadly though they could be to common folk, draugr were no problem for me anymore. I had spent hours practising my Restoration spells, so much so that it had become my best subject, despite my initial insistence on mastering Illusion. Turn undead made quick work of the lesser draugr and we continued to descend into the ruins. As we approached a set of doors however I felt an odd thrumming rhythm in my chest.
"Can you feel that?" Tolfdir asked and I nodded, rubbing my chest.
"Feels like something really powerful," I mused. We both renewed our mage-armour and had shields at the ready as we entered the new chamber.
We emerged onto a platform overlooking a large room, with wooden stairs descending on the left and right. But our eyes were drawn to a huge sphere floating at the centre of the room.
"What in Nirn is that?" Tolfdir gasped. The orb hung without any apparent aid, rotating slowly as strange symbols cast an eerie blue glow over the chamber. I pressed my hand to my heart.
"It like it's humming," I grimaced. "It kind of hurts."
"There is immense power here. Come, let's take a closer look."
We descended the creaking stairs but as we reached the bottom I spotted a problem.
"Uh oh," I muttered, grabbing Tolfdir's sleeve. "We've got company."
A draugr, taller and better armoured than the others we'd seen, rose slowly from a throne before the orb and fixed his blue eyes on the pair of us. Tolfdir shot a firebolt at it but to my consternation, the fire washed over it without doing any damage.
"Uh oh indeed, it seems we have a powerful fellow on our hands."
As the draugr advanced I tried shooting my own firebolt but it shrugged it off like it was a breath of wind. But I did notice the floating orb glowed briefly brighter.
"Did you see that? He's drawing power from the orb," cried Tolfdir. I could see it now, the thin strands of light connecting the draugr to the orb. We had to dive in opposite directions as the draugr charged. His great axe slammed into the stairs where we had stood and a ripple of frost magic skittered across the splintered wood.
"I'll see if I can disrupt the flow of power, you keep him occupied!" Tolfdir ordered and he ran over to the orb.
"Occupied, right, no problem," I growled. Not wanting to waste my magicka on a foe I couldn't hit, I snatched up an ancient embalming tool and chucked it at its head. The draugr snarled and swung his axe at me but I brought up shield to deflect it. Next it tried a powerful frost spell and I had to dodge.
"How's it going Tolfdir?" I shouted as I backed away from the onslaught of blows and spells.
"Just a moment, the orb is resisting any attempt to divert the flow of magicka."
The draugr slammed its axe into my shield again and the force of the blow knocked me to the floor.
"Tolfdir! Hurry up!"
My shield cracked and buckled under half a dozen strikes and at the last minute I Shouted,
"Feim!"
The axe passed right through my body and struck the floor. The dragur gave a snarl of frustration and tried again but he couldn't land a hit on my ethereal form. Knowing it would only last seconds, I launched to my feet and passed right through the draugr, turning to face it again on the other side of the room and rippling back into corporeal form.
"I've got it, he should be vulnerable now!" Tolfdir cried triumphantly.
I drew back my fist and blasted a lightning spell across the room, catching the draugr in the chest and sending him flying into the wall. I kept pummelling him until I was sure he wouldn't rise again.
"Goodness!" Tolfdir jogged over. "Are you alright my dear? I thought he got you there for sure!"
"It was just a minor illusion spell, bamboozled him," I lied. I still hadn't told anyone at the college I was Dragonborn and I was always very careful not to Shout around them. Tolfdir didn't seem entirely convinced so I pointed at the orb to distract him.
"What in Oblivion is this thing?"
Suitably distracted, Tolfdir forgot all about the draugr and approached the orb.
"I have no idea, I never expected to find something like this here. I radiates magicka like nothing I've ever encountered before."
"The draugr was drawing energy from it," I said. "How did you stop it?"
"A type of shield spell in the end. I couldn't do anything to the orb, so I had to disrupt the flow between it and the draugr. Thank goodness no one came in here alone! I can't see how it could be done without two people."
He continued to ooh and aah over the orb for a few minutes whilst I looked around the chamber. Right at the back I found a Word Wall. It's singing had been obscured by the racket of the earlier fight but now I heard the ancient voices clearly. After a quick glance back to make sure Tolfdir was still enamoured with our find, I placed my palm on the wall and breathed in the Word. Izz. I hadn't killed any dragons recently so I didn't understand it, but I had other ways to learn now.
"Did you find anything?" Tolfdir called and I straightened up.
"An inscription, I think it's in Dovahzuul."
"The dragon tongue?" Tolfdir asked, approaching. "Well that's not unexpected, what with dragons being so important in ancient nordic religion. It was the script used for epitaphs and the like. We'll need to get it translated. Beautiful language, isn't it?"
I cocked my head and hummed. I hadn't given it much thought before but I supposed there was a certain elegance to the letters. Tolfdir clapped his hands together.
"Well, times wasting. Let's get the others down here so we can start recording everything. I'll have Onmund sketch the orb in situ before we start trying to disturb it. Come come."
OOO
Hours later we apprentices returned to Winterhold, bone tired and ready for bed. Tolfdir and Arniel Gane had stayed behind to secure the site over night but had sent us home to carry the news of our discovery. We reported to Mirabelle who listened with a mixture of worry and interest before packing us off to our chambers.
"I think my fingers are going to drop off," Onmund complained. "Tolfdir must have had me redo that sketch a hundred times!"
"At least you won't wake up tomorrow covered in bruises," I countered, wincing as I rubbed the spot when the draugr had bashed against me.
We were just passing Drevis' office when he stuck his head around the door and cried,
"I thought I heard your voice! Come in, come in, I have a new idea I want to try."
He beckoned to me with an enthusiastic gleam in his eye.
"Oh, uh, sorry master but we just got back from Saarthal and I'm pretty bushed," I said but Drevis was not to be deterred and he ushered me into his office, ignoring my weak protests. I sat on the proffered chair with a sigh. Well, maybe this time it would be worth it.
"It came to me in the bath this morning," Drevis chattered as he gathered odd bits of equipment from all over the office. "Just needed to modify an old experiment of mine from my time in Cyrodiil. We'll try amplifying your harmonic energies, and hopefully that will expand the space in your brain to fit all your lost memories!"
"You – think my brain is too small for my memories?" I asked slowly.
"Just a little hypothesis I'm working on. Maybe the interference we keep detecting in your mind is some kind of compression. Put this on."
He handed me an iron helmet, heavily modified with bending metal tubes connected to a bracket on the desk which held a filled soul gem.
"Uh, sir are you sure this is safe?" I asked, eyeing the crank he had now started to turn vigorously. "Cause last time..."
"This won't be like that time, trust me!" Drevis cried breezily.
I sighed again and after a moment's hesitation, I slid the helmet onto my head. It was far too big for me and almost covered my eyes. I watched with growing anxiety as Drevis turned the crank faster and faster and the soul gem began to glow and emit sparks.
"Sir, this thing is getting really hot," I complained.
"It's supposed to, hold still!" Drevis grunted as his arms worked like a windmill.
I gripped the edge of the stool beneath me and screwed up my eyes. Then I heard a bang and felt pain lance through my skull.
I must have fallen off my stool and blacked out because when I opened my eyes I was lying on my front on the stone floor. Drevis coughed violently and waved his hands to disperse the thick black smoke pouring out of the shattered remains of the soul gem.
"Oh blast, not again!" he lamented, hurrying to throw open a window. I picked myself up groggily and cradled my head in my hands. The room was spinning before my eyes.
"Did it work?" I groaned and Drevis put his hands on his hips.
"Well, do you remember anything?"
I concentrated but all that came to mind was the swirling white fog and then the great black dragon's shadow.
"No."
I left Drevis to pick up the pieces of his failed experiment and tottered to the Hall of Attainment. Once alone in my room I changed out of my now singed robes and pulled on a nightgown before collapsing on my bed.
For the past three months I had been Drevis and Collette's guineapig. I was very grateful for all their help but after so many failed attempts and dead-end theories I was losing hope that they would find an answer. Perhaps I was doomed to never know if I had a home or a family.
"Don't start the pity party," I muttered to myself. I could end up in a very dark place if I went down that road. I forced myself to sit up cross-legged and took a deep breath through my nose, just as Master Arngeir had taught. I closed my eyes and spoke the words of power softly.
"Haas Ahraan."
Heal the wound. I had found the ancient shrine to Kyne exactly where Master Arngeir had indicated on my map. Unlike most barrows and temples from the merethic era I had encountered, this one had not been full of draugr. Much of it was open to the elements, given over to ancient trees and vibrant shrubs. I did encounter a Spriggan which I needed to subdue to reach the Word Wall, but the inner sanctum had been a peaceful place that hummed with life.
I had meditated on those words for months and only now was I beginning to get the hang of them. I hadn't had much chance to practise in the field, but just speaking the words aloud and feeling the power on my lips calmed me. It was a different way to learn a Shout, less violent and requiring more patience, but I preferred it. I wondered about the new Shout I'd found at Saarthal. Izz. Unless I went hunting for dragons I would need to learn it the hard way too, but not tonight. I was so bone tired and barely managed to finish my ten minute mantra over Haas Ahraan before sleep wrapped her arms around me and I slumped against my pillows.