A Stranger in Skyrim 16

Chapter Sixteen: The Dragonstone

In which things get heavy.

The staircase led up, into another cave-like area. Stone pillars held up an uneven stone ceiling, and as she passed through, the flutter of wings alerted her to look up. Bats flapped away into the main chamber, before disappearing from her line of sight. She didn't mind bats, as long as they weren't flying around inside her house, anyway.

A bridge led over a small chasm. She had to test her weight on it first; it was thin, and it didn't look particularly sturdy.

But it held, and she crossed, and did not get dumped into the water below. So that was good.

Another short staircase led up to a half-circle of stone that was inscribed with strange writing. It was foreign to her eyes; she couldn't begin to read it. One word stood out among the rest. She recognized it immediately, understood it without knowing how. Walking up to the stony wall, she ran her fingertips over the indents in the stone. “Fus,” she murmured quietly. Force.

The dragon had spoken Force, and the headsman had gone flying. She remembered.

Behind her, she heard stone grinding against stone. It crashed to the ground with a noise that echoed throughout the chamber.

She turned slowly, and came face-to-face with a much more intimidating zombie. It seemed … slightly bigger, than the others, and it wielded a greatsword that she would swear bore some kind of enchantment. It brought the weapon down, the tip grazing her cheek as she scrambled out of the way. The wound felt … cold. She would swear her blood froze as it oozed from the cut.

So, a frost enchantment. Otherwise useful for keeping mugs of beer cold, she was sure.

She dropped the torch, holding both hands out before her. Flames burst from her hands, engulfing the zombie. It caught fire, but that didn't even slow it down, not even a little bit.

“Fus … Ro Dah!” The zombie apparently spoke the dragon's tongue. He spoke Force, and she braced herself for the impact. It still knocked her to her knees. He brought his sword down again, and she barely scrambled out of the way. The robe developed a slit up the front where his weapon tore the cloth.

Another desperate burst of flames, and he staggered. A third, a fourth. He fell to his knees, then flat on his face, his dry flesh burning like so much kindling.

Mummies were supposed to be weak to fire, since they were just dried-out people.

Apparently that was true facts.

Good to know.

She traded the zombie's greatsword for her own, fastening it into place on her back.

That done, she looked around. There was a chest. Presumably, she'd find the Dragonstone in there. If not, she wasn't sure where she'd find it; this felt like the main chamber.

Hesitantly, she cracked open the lid.

Gold filled the bottom of the chest. On top of the gold rested an old, cracked stone that resembled nothing so much as the home plate in a baseball field. She was pretty sure it was even the same size. It bore an odd sigil toward the bottom point, and a large map with various points marked on it. This would be the Dragonstone, then, and those points would be dragon burial sites. It looked heavy. No one had bothered to inform her that she'd need a bigger backpack to become an adventurer … apparently she was supposed to have figured that one out on her own. Ah, well.

She lifted the heavy stone out of the box, setting it aside for a moment. Then, she looted the chest of all it was worth. The gold alone had started to weigh her down. That, she assumed, was how she'd know she had enough. Well … she probably didn't actually have enough for anything great, but she had, for certain, more than a single night's stay at the Bannered Mare.

After she'd finished looting, she picked up the stone again. It required both hands, because it was large and rather awkward. What would she do if something attacked her while she was carrying the damn thing? Oh right. Beat its head in with the massive rock. Duh.

That done, she looked around. The obvious exit was back through the entire temple. That didn't really appeal to her, however. She didn't want to face the pile of corpses she'd left behind, and not only because they'd probably started to reek. Not only that, but she was sure the vermin she'd scared off had begun to feast on them, and that was something she really didn't want to look at.

There was also a staircase that led up, though. She figured it was worth a shot, so she hefted the Dragonstone and began her ascent.

She came to a dead end quickly enough. Focusing on the idea of fire, she conjured flamelets around her body to light the area around her. That done, she spotted an odd sort of podium, with a circular device on top. Setting the Dragonstone down at its base, she lifted the handle inside the circular device. It seemed to twist, so she twisted it, then let go. It spun back to its starting position. The sound of stone grinding against stone greeted her, and the wall to the left sank into the ground.

Cool, a secret exit. She picked the Dragonstone back up and began feeling her way along a narrow tunnel. She made it quite a ways before the ground fell out from under her. She yelped as, for a moment, she hung in midair.

She landed poorly, and she was fairly certain she'd sprained an ankle or twisted something wrong. Her legs hurt. Fortunately, she knew healing magic, so after a moment or two of lying on the ground in pain, she conjured the minty green light to soothe away her aches, and she was good as new. That trick was becoming seriously useful. She sat up with a slight groan, inspecting the tablet. Nope, still good as … well, she couldn't say new, because it was still weathered and cracked, but good as when she found it, anyway.

The tunnel led outside, to a crisp, clear morning.

The tunnel also led to a sheer cliff face. She found herself falling again, skidding down the rocks awkwardly. Landing in a heap on a pile of bones, she once again had to summon the healing light because she'd acquired a bad case of road rash.

What fun this whole damn trip was turning out to be.

At least she was still alive. That had to say something for her.

She looked around, but she didn't really recognize where she was, not even in a general sense. She saw a large lake in front of her, and a forest beyond that. Some trees lined this side of the lake, but not enough to qualify as a forest.

She was lost. She was really, truly, lost.

She did the only thing she could do. Water generally meant people; she made her way down to the shore, carefully picking her way across the field of large boulders and smaller rocks. When she finally made it to the shore, she picked a direction. She chose left, and began walking that way.

Eventually, she spotted a campsite across the lake, and the Guardian Stones beyond that. She was so relieved she could have cried. She'd picked the right direction; she was practically back at Riverwood.

There was only one problem. She'd have to cross a large body of water to get there.

Well, whatever. She was sure she could find the bridge again.

She continued on. She was faced with the choice of climbing a hill or letting herself be swept away by the river; she climbed the hill.

Making her way back down the hill, she spotted Riverwood directly across the river.

A man's voice called out behind her. “All right, hand over your valuables, or I'll gut you like a fish.”

What.

“Where did you come from?” She looked back at him, confused. Her confusion only increased as she realized he was not human, elven, or khajiit, but some kind of lizard person. “And … what are you?”

He looked at her like she was stupid. She was getting that a lot. “I'm the man who's about to kill you,” he explained, keeping his voice slow and even. “I've been following you for a while now.” Well, that explained where he came from anyway – how had she missed that she was being followed? Gah. Stupid.

“No, really,” she said, keeping it conversational. “I've never seen anyone like you. Where are you from?” She sat the Dragonstone on the ground, brushing her hands off.

She hadn't come this far, nor had she killed all those zombies and bandits, just to die five minutes from her goal, thank you very much.

“Does it really matter? I'm the man with the knife.”

She sighed loudly. “Look, you don't want to do this. I guarantee you won't like the outcome.”

“Stranger, I'm about to kill you and take your things. You're the one who won't like where this is going.” He wasn't really expressive, but then, lizards didn't seem to have a wide range of expressions. His voice sounded a bit exasperated, though.

“Your choice,” she said, smiling softly. “Either you walk away right now or …” She shrugged slightly.

He just looked at her. “Okay, I'll bite. What happens if I don't walk away.”

“This.”

Lightning arced from her right hand. The lizard apparently had a nervous system just as fragile as any human's. When she found the exact right strength, he began twitching uncontrollably, unable to move past the first step he'd tried to take.

When she was sure he wasn't getting up – being a human Taser was awesome! – she collected the Dragonstone and ran for the bridge.

He was too busy lying on the ground and flopping like a fish to follow.