A Stranger in Skyrim 5

Chapter Five: The Road

In which everything is calm for a moment.

“Wait!”

There came a loud whoosh from above – she shielded her eyes against the sun, looking up, to see the dragon winging its way across the sky.

Hadvar had more sense. He crouched in the shadow of a big rock until the dragon passed with a roar.

“Looks like he's gone for good this time … but I don't think we should stick around to see if he comes back.” The soldier smiled at her, a tired laugh escaping him. “The closest town from here is Riverwood. My uncle's the blacksmith there, I'm sure he'd help you out.” He started walking away, then. “It's probably best if we split up. Good luck. I wouldn't have made it without your help today.”

She followed, catching up at a slow jog. Split up? Hell no.

They traveled down a broad, ill-defined path from the snowy mountain. “Listen,” Hadvar said after a while. “You should head to Solitude, join up with the Imperial Legion. I'm sure we could use someone like you. And – if the rebels have themselves a dragon, General Tullius is the only one who can stop them.” No … she didn't think the rebels were responsible for the dragon. She didn't say as much though; let him believe what he wanted, for now. But, she remembered that Blondie and the Jarl had been just as surprised at the dragon's appearance as anyone.

“See that ruin up there?” He stopped, and she leaned down, hands on her knees, catching her breath. She wasn't cut out for the 'run everywhere' sort of lifestyle, no. “Bleak Falls Barrow. When I was a boy, that place always used to give me nightmares.”

“Oh?” She looked up at the ruin. It looked like a series of tall arches crawling down the distant mountainside, from here.

He nodded. “Draugr creeping down the mountain to climb through my window at night, that sort of thing. I admit, I still don't much like the look of it.”

Their ill-defined path met up with an actual, cobblestone-paved road. Hadvar kept up the relentless pace until they came to a set of three tall, black and gray stones. “These,” he said, gesturing at them. “These are the Guardian Stones, three of the thirteen ancient standing stones that dot Skyrim's landscape. They're said to grant blessings to those people who prove themselves worthy – go ahead, see for yourself.”

The one to the left had a picture of a masked man wielding daggers on it. Some kind of ninja. To the right, she saw an armored warrior. Straight ahead stood some kind of wizard.

The blessings should correspond to the pictures, right?

She wasn't any kind of sneak-thief, and she wasn't really trained as a warrior. The only thing she had going for her, really, was her mind. She promised herself, then, that she'd study that spellbook – she'd learn magic, if it killed her. Walking forward, she put both hands on the mage stone.

At first, nothing happened. It was just more silly superstition. She sighed, pulling away – only to find that she couldn't. It was like her hands were glued to the stone. Light shone then, tracing the picture of the mage, dotted with lights that were brighter than others. It looked like some kind of constellation map, but she knew there were no stars in Earth's sky that matched that shape – she would've remembered hearing about a mage, warrior, or thief constellation. The light shone then in the big hole in the stone, before shooting upwards into the sky.

A tingling crept up her arms, fizzing in her blood, calling to something inside her … and something inside her responded, opening like a flower to sunlight.

This – this was what she was meant for. She knew it.

A smile crept across her face, as the stone released her. Magic. That was the only explanation for it. She looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers. They fizzed with power, but she didn't know how to use it yet. She'd learn, though.

It would come easy to her, she was sure. Everything else did.

“Mage, eh?” Hadvar asked, drawing her attention back to the present. “Well, to each his own. It's not for me to judge. Come on, there's still a ways left to Riverwood.”

She nodded, following once more.

This place, this “Skyrim,” was truly beautiful. Their path ran alongside a river, and it didn't reek. There wasn't a bunch of trash in it – it looked pure, and clean. She was sure she'd never see a washing machine floating downstream in it, if only because such things didn't exist in Skyrim, near as she could tell. Big pine trees lined the road, along with flowers and ferns she couldn't identify. She was looking up at the wide-open sky, admiring the fluffy, white, cotton-candy clouds, when Hadvar spoke again.

“Listen – as far as I'm concerned, you've already earned your pardon.”

Considering she hadn't done a damn thing to be pardoned for, she agreed wholeheartedly.

“But, until we get that confirmed by General Tullius, just stay clear of other Imperial soldiers and avoid any complications, all right?” He turned back to face her, waiting for her response.

She nodded. “Understood.”

“Good.” He continued on down the road.

There rose a howl from the forest, and it rose the small hairs on the back of her neck. Wolves? They wouldn't attack humans, surely. Right?

Wrong.

Two of the beasts lunged out of the forest. “Hadvar!” she cried, bringing the bow to bear. She was slow. He blocked one of the animals' snapping jaws by bashing its face with the shield. It limped to the side, momentarily stunned. She shot for the other one, her arrow sailing over its back to clatter uselessly off the rocky cliff beside them. Frustrated, she dropped the bow and drew the greatsword, One of the wolves bit down on Hadvar's unprotected leg.

She brought the sword down on its spine. Something cracked loudly, and the animal let go, yelping in pain. She thrust her sword at it, but she missed. The wolf limped back, looking between them. Hadvar brought the hilt of his sword down on its muzzle. It fell to the ground, stunned.

The first wolf ran off, deciding, apparently, that they were too tough of prey to handle alone.

“Are you all right?” She sheathed her sword, collected her bow and the arrow she'd shot. He seemed to be favoring that leg, but he nodded once to her question.

“Fine, fine. Glad that wasn't a little bit higher, is all.”

She laughed a bit. “You don't want to be singing soprano, I take it?”

“Exactly.”

They pressed on.

Her skin itched a bit, where her arms were caked with blood and spider guts. She paused by the stream, looking over at Hadvar. “I don't know about you, but I have to get clean before I talk to anybody else.”

“Ah – right, you're right.” He looked down at himself, apparently only just realizing that he, too, was covered in gore. “I should probably wash up, too.”

After some deliberation, she pulled off the boots – which were too big for her anyway – then turned away from Hadvar, walking up to the edge of the stream. It wasn't likely she was going to get much in the way of privacy out here, but she decided that even if it wasn't a dream, she wasn't going to get all worked up over it anyway.

She set her boots on the ground near the water's edge, the bow next to them. Her quiver went next, then the backpack and the greatsword. She unfastened her belt, gently setting it on the ground beside the rest of her things. Tugging the helmet off next, she wriggled her way out of the leather outfit with some effort. It had been much too tight across the chest, but then, it was obviously cut for a man. She breathed a sigh of relief to be free of it.

Hadvar coughed politely. She looked back at him. “What?”

“I – that is, I didn't expect you to ….”

She tilted her head to the side. “Leather shrinks if you get it wet, doesn't it?”

“It depends on if it's treated properly first … but … you ….”

A deep sigh. “Look, I have to get clean. You don't have to watch. In fact I'd kind of prefer you didn't.”

Because I'm ugly.

It wasn't true, not really. Months later, and she still had thoughts like that from time to time. She wasn't particularly body-shy, but she knew she wasn't exactly the definition of beauty, either. Suddenly, being naked didn't sound like such a great idea. She ignored the misgivings that brought warmth to her cheeks, and strode purposefully into the water.

She decided not to voice the second half of that statement. Her therapist would be so proud.

She only had her hands to scrub with, and the water was frigid, not scalding hot like she preferred, but she managed to get the worst of the gore off of her face and arms, and out of her hair, and off of her legs, and everywhere even a little skin had shown itself.

After what felt like forever, she heard splashing behind her. Half-turning, she saw that Hadvar had decided that washing just his face and hands was enough.

“So, I didn't think this through,” she admitted. “If I get into my armor now, it'll still end up wet.”

He laughed slightly, looking at her – and then quickly looking away. “You could try that robe we found, instead?”

“It still smells like ...” She paused. “Right, washing.” She waded to the shoreline. Opening the backpack, she found she had to empty it entirely to reach the hooded robe. The smell wasn't actually that bad, either. To her surprise, the potions had remained corked, so she didn't have a multicolored mess in there. Fantastic. She drew the robe out last.

It took quite a bit of work, but she got it as clean as she was going to get it. Holding it up to her nose, she could still, faintly, detect a whiff of something, but she assured herself no one else would be able to smell it. Mostly, it smelled like water. After she was done, she stepped out of the water, drawing the soaking wet robe over her soaking wet body. All better. Hadvar still wasn't looking at her, though. “Done,” she announced. There was no way the Imperial armor was fitting in the backpack, though she tucked the rest of her things back into their proper places. Strapping the rest of her gear to her body, she opted to carry the armor to Riverwood. Maybe she'd be able to pawn it?

“You know,” Hadvar said abruptly. “I'm glad you decided to come with me.”

She blinked. Well, that was sudden. “Thanks, I think?”

“No, really. It's … you're interesting.”

She didn't really have a reply for that.