“My dear Samantha, we must take you to a grindstone to be sharpened soon.” Aelein spoke silently to herself while drying off her silver gemmed dagger. After drying off her silver dagger, she took out a really fancy large circular locket that fit in her entire palm. Truly the work of a master artisan, the locket was made with mostly silver and had a center inner circle that was made of gold. In the very center was a rather large flawless diamond. Around the diamonds in the golden circle were eight smaller round circle gems in an alternating pattern of Sapphires and Amethysts. On the outer, silver ring, another set of gems. Once more eight gems but this time they were in an oblong shapes and alternating between Emerald and Rubies. If you looked at the locket the same way you were to look at a clock or sundial, the Emeralds were in the 12 3 6 and 9 positions and were larger than the rubies where were in the 10.5 - 1.5 - 4.5 and 7.5 positions. On the tail end of the locket was a clip that allowed the locket to open or close but it had to be open a certain way. The top end of the locket held an even fancier assortment of gems that attached to a golden ring that held the silver chain. The gems were fashioned like a flower. The center gem was a amethyst in the shape of a sphere. To its left and right were a set of cylindrical cut emeralds. The whole piece glew brilliantly, like a royal crown but fit inside the palm of one’s hand.
A set of brown eyes immediately spotted the beautiful piece of artistry. His eyes were only distinguishable from his skin as they were a lighter shade of brown. He was exceptionally dark for a Redguard and he wore the Nord’s taste in hideous Noble clothing. He had some brown fancy linens with a long light brown quilted coat wrapped around his shirt and pants. On his feet he wore boiled leather shoes. He adorned himself in the finest silver and gold jewelry he could find and afford.
Aelein barely paid him any attention, to her he was just another human noble. Human Nobles were unlike elven nobles and vampiric nobles. Human nobles didn’t live long and most felt the world owed them. The ones in Skyrim, namely the lesser nobles, tended to be the most annoying. But Nazeem wasn’t like other nobles. He felt entitled to everything short of the Jarl’s palace and position ever since he made a little money through owning a farm. The amount of money he made wasn’t enough to cover his self-entitled pampering so he took money meant for saving up for a good house and clothing equivalent for his wife whom he treated like crap. In the end his wife wore rags and befitting a peasant not even a working class while he spent everything on himself.
Nazeem decided he wanted Aelein’s locket. Because Aelein, despite her current appearance resembled a High elf, was an elf Nazeem felt as though the guards would take his side due to the war commonly blamed on all high elves. And with that…
“GUARDS! GUARDS! THEIF! THEIF!” Squacked the self-entitled Redguard. When the guards came up wondering what was going on he continued to squack “SHE STOLE MY LOCKET I DEMAND YOU GET IT BACK FOR I AM THE JARL’S PERSONAL ADVISOR!”
“What an annoying little liar” Aelein spat, “Why would I steal my own family heirloom?” She got up and glared at the annoying Redguard.
“Please,” Stated Nazeem, eager to get that locket for himself, “You elves took skyrim from the Nords, you’ll steal anything, even mighty Talos!”
“Yeah He’s right, you high elves think you’re so high, you took our son of Skyrim from us!” Stated one guard.
“Yah, she’s probably lying about the locket too!” As guard number two said that both him and guard number one approached Aelein.
“LEAVE.HER.ALONE!” The guards and Nazeem looked towards the booming voice which came from Farkas bounding up the steps. Following close behind was his brother Vilkas.
“Companions!” Both guards nodded to the twin brothers in respect. “We were just about to deal with this theif” They spat at Aelein.
Both Farkas and Vilkas easily recognized the murderous look in her eyes, they didn’t remove themselves from Nazeem’s lying frame. Both Farkas and Vilkas slightly shuttered after hearing the short, yet important tale from Kodlak who seemed to still be holding quite a bit of information back.
“That’s right” Nazem sassed and put his lef arm at his hip and pointed towards Aelein, who was now clenching her fist angrily. “She stole my locket” He had his nose stuck up in the air, yet theoretically it was very far up his rear end. “I shall give you two a reward for getting it back to me” He kept up the lie.
Even Farkas, who was renowned for being slow, could sniff out this lie. Before Aelein could say anything more Vilkas spoke up. “This woman is no thief for she is a Companion!”
“Boys what are you doing?” Aelein asked when Farkas was helping her up to the Bridge.
“Poppycock! Everyone knows your newest member is that Nord lass from Cyrodil.” Nazeem stated, slightly taken aback that 2 of the Companions strongest came to the elf’s aid.
“My brother means from 35 years ago” And with that Farkas took a protective stance in front of Aelein.
“I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself” Aelein spoke, feeling a mixture of confusion as to why these two became suddenly protective of her when not more than an hour ago they were beyond suspicious and hostile and the sense of annoyance because she felt that these two males mistook her for a standard damsel in distress.
“We protect our own,” Vilkas stated, also taking a protective stance in front of Aelein “By the way what is this about?” and he looked at her.
“He wants my locket, a family heirloom and the only thing my family has left of my Grand-Uncle.” Aelein stated and held the locket protectively to her chest.
“Liar! It’s mine! She stole it from me!” Nazeem continued to croak.
Yet the guards were now unsure. “She’s from the companions, they have never stolen from us” and both guards nodded. “How come Kodlak has never spoken of her? We trust you companions but she is an elf!” They both stated.
“It was five years before the great war” Aelein stated with an overwhelming headache. She was reminded why she detested human settlements so much
“I have an idea,” Vilkas whispered to Aelein, “But I’ll need your locket”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he won’t steal it” Stated Farkas.
Aelein hesitantly gave it to Vilkas. “You better not.”
“Ah now that’s settled, hand it over.” Nazeem stated walking towards Vilkas. “And guards while you’re at it, throw that piece of elven trash in the dungeon!”
“Hold it right there.” Vilkas stated, stopping Nazeem in his tracks. “If you’re the rightful owner surely you can explain what this locket looks like.”
“And when exactly she stole it from you” Farkas added.
Nazeem was taken aback but tried to keep up his lie. The guards nodded to each other thinking this was a fair statement.
“Yes you didn’t even explain to us what this locket looks like” The guards spoke.
“She stole it from me one hour before the commotion in The Banned Mare. With all the ruckus she proved difficult to find. I thought she had left the city. But on my daily walk to the Cloud district to advise the Jarl on important political matters, I find her washing away her crime in the Jarl’s pond.” Nazeem lied. Nobles, especially minor ones, tend to be rather good at that.
“You still didn’t describe to us what the locket looks like” Farkas half barked.
“I was getting to that, mind you. Patience is a virtue” Nazeem stated.
“And silence is golden.” Aelein stated under her breathe. Farkas and Vilkas could hear the preditor stir within her.
“It’s a silver locket you see, been in MY family for generations. It is adorned in all these fancy gems with a long silver chain.” He stated beginning to move closer.
“Oh if it’s been in your family that long then why don’t you tell us what’s inside of it” Aelein stated. Farkas and Vilkas both looked at her confused.
Nazeem stopped momentarily. “Why it’s broken, havn’t been able to open it for years really. It was passed down from my father you see. Been hoping to catch Eorland on a good day so he could fix it” And he started coming closer again.
Aelein whispered to Vilkas “To open it you merely move the clip to the left on the bottom there” and she pointed, Vilkas nodded. And with that she spoke up “There are two pictures in there. The top one is of My grandmother and her brother and sister, my Granduncle and Grandaunt. The bottom picture is of me 35 years ago with the man who worked very hard to win my heart and trust.”
Vilkas then moved the switch to the left just like Aelein had said. His eyes opened widely as he stared in shock. Farkas looked over too see what could make his brother go wide bug eyed and even his jaw almost hit the floor.
“Oh would you look at that, you fixed it for me” Nazeem stated, trying get himself out of the lie. The guards were immiedtly suspicious when they saw the locket open and Nazeem’s lies began to unravel.
Nazeem tried to grab the locket from Vilkas’ hand which would of resulted in Aelein loosing all patience and killing the man right then and there but instead Vilkas took care of the problem.
A loud crack was heard as Vilkas punched Nazeem directly in the face and sent him flying back. “You lying filthy piece of cow dung!” Vilkas and Farkas were both beyond irate with the pathetic little man. Vilkas gave the locket back to Aelein, who quickly closed it and hid it in a pocket within her robes.
“How dare you hit me!” Nazeem stated as he tried to get back on his feet. The guards came over to help him up, “Guards I demand you throw them all into the dungeon!”
“Shut up Nazeem! The only reason why we don’t throw you in the dungeon for waisting our time is because we are required to give only 1 warning to nobles even ones who live out of a tavern.” And the guards escorted him back to the Drunken huntsman. Before they left they nodded in their apologies to the twin brothers.
“He will die for that.” Aelein stated, “I do not forgive something like that.”
The twins were in a bit of an angry shock. Angry at Nazeem, and even angrier that Kodlak made no mention of this.
“You knew our father” Farkas stated and looked directly into Aelein’s eyes.
“Yes.” Aelein stated. “Many years ago”
“He disappeared when we were but lads” Vilkas stated. The picture brought pain to both the young men’s faces.
“I was already gone by then.” Aelein said, she too had a look of pain in her eyes.
“You never even looked for him?” Farkas asked, of the two he loved his adopted dad so much. Vilkas tried to hide the pain away though. Vilkas felt betrayed but Farkas was left confused. Both had questions.
“He chased me away.” Aelein stated, “In fact it was him that lead the Companions to attack me once he found out what I am, who I am”
“But the picture in the locket, has you and him in it. You were already…”
“White, yes. He was under the impression I was an albino high elf. They all were actually.”
“They?” Vilkas asked.
“Jergen wasn’t the only one vying for my attention. Kodlak and Skjor were too. And to an even more annoying extent, Vignar.” When she said Vignar’s name she shivered as he creeped her out the most. “Jergen was just the most persistant. Too persistant” Both brothers watched a tear come down her eyes.
“You didn’t come for the companions…” Vilkas stated.
“No. I came because when I was exiled I knew I had to make my way here, to the place where Wuuthrad was taken and destroyed into many pieces during the Oblivion Crisis. I came here because I knew I would have to find two boys, one of them in particular who would vouch for and drag the last known dragonborn into the Companions when the time was right.” Aelein looked at Farkas when she stated the last line.
Farkas and Vilkas looked at her in partial disbelief. “I arrived early though. Those boys were not yet born. My clan knows things many should not know, for if the wrong people were to have that knowledge they would be more powerful and more dangerous than the Thalmor are now known. Your father, Jergen, decided that he didn’t want to leave me alone” She then took the look of an annoyed girl. “He hassled me every single day. Determined to hunt and run with me. He was also more determined to get me to join the Companions. However I refused that every time.”
Vilkas and Farkas looked at her, part shocked part angry and part confused. “I, like many of my clan, HATE YSGRAMOR. Demon of Altmora. Murderer and rapist of women and children.” Aelein had anger in her eyes and clenched her fists tightly. “Your ancestors were little more than parasites. We helped them survive here, then some of their own cause trouble with us. They use that as an excuse to murder us in the thousands, take our homes destroy our ancient cities. They drove many underground for them to become mutilated by the dwarves. And worst of all, they killed my Granduncle, a last source of hope for my people. As if taking his body from us and hiding it in an unmarked half dugged burrow wasn’t enough only to allow it to be robbed and destroyed the moment he died and his sons took over, they also stole something from his body. Something up until 35 years ago we thought was lost.” Tears came down her face. Before the twins could say or do anything more she continued, “Your people know him more as ‘The Snow Prince’. Despite his strong bond with my Grandmother and my Grandaunt, he didn’t listen to their warnings he wanted to fight for his land. And he would of succeeded to had he not killed the wrong Blacksmith who brought her 12 year old daughter, Finna to the battle that day. 12 year old little Nordic girl kills a member of my family and a leader of our people, yet you reaped the rewards and forgot all about her. She never lived to see her 18th birthday. We wanted something to honor him by and we wanted the one thing that truly belongs to us, to my family. We thought she had it.”
“The locket.” Farkas stated.
“Yes.” Aelein continued. “I wasn’t born yet you see. But my Grandmother, who still lives, she sent out a small but very effective party. Some of those members still live to this day.”
Vilkas shifted uncomfortably. He could see the hatred of the Nords in her eyes, and of Ysgramor in particular. “We knew the locket would not be on his body. As you can see it’s too valuable. Whoever took it kept it a secret and hid it so well. We thought the girl had it as she was closest to him, my Granduncle. His name was Patherion, prince of my people much like a High King is to you. But his presence along commands more respect, more honor than any of your High Kings had in a long while.”
“The girl, Finna…” Vilkas began
“We murdered her and her entire village. Because of what she did on the battlefield, her status from Blacksmith went to Noble. She was given a clan, a house despite being young and not 18 yet and the village was named in her Honor…” Aelein took a sigh “Finnavoria”
“Never heard of it” Farkas said bluntly.
“You know it now as Falkreath, we named it that. It’s snow elvish, it means ‘In death you repay, your home and your worldly possessions to rot away’ You can understand why the Scholars have kept the translation out, even the Nords who knew our language at the time. In short, Falkreath means ‘The place of death’”
Farkas and Vilkas Both looked at her at to the ground in silence. None took noticed to Andrea, who had just come out shortly before Aelein began this history of the past. “We wanted to leave the children alone, but knew with so many of us killed and raped by Ysgramor only for them to burn the evidence away leaving us with nothing to bury nothing to honor our dead, the children they died too. We did leave the children’s bodies mostly alone though. When the party my Grandmother sent killed the entire village we dressed the children as to what our young would look like. Using our own clothes, the party brought them along because they were going to kill this village and then continue on to our new home specified by my Grandmother. They dressed the children up in the snow elven clothes and added cute ear pieces, ear muffs, in the shape of elven ears and then put wigs on them. They also put some of salvaged burnt and broken toys from the children taken from us and added them to your nord children’s bodies.”
Aelein paused and continued. “The adults and young adults weren’t so fortunate. We stabbed metal rods into their heads where their ears were and we added green leaves to them in the shape of elf ears. We then impaled all of their bodies on stake. On their garments we embroidered the words ‘Fel eilto na riven alos fal’ which roughly translates to ‘At least we give you the bodies of your dead, but not before we remind you of what you took from us’”
Aelein then noticed Andrea, who came and stood beside Farkas and continued to listen to Aelein. “She looked a lot like you Dovahkin,” Aelein said but then continued “We found out she was engaged to Ysgramor’s most favored son, who also was there and he too was killed. Ysgramor was still alive at this point in time so the party knew he would send a contingent at some point in time. On a note found neaby him we learned of a stone that Ysgramor gave his favored sons, those who proved themselves in battle and what not. He called it “The Seeker’s Stone” meant to seek out Wuuthrad in case of Ysgramor’s death and the weapon fell in to the wrong hands. We took that stone and the note, in his very handwriting which we still have preserved to this day. But we left him in the worst state. I’m told they carefully separated him and cut out his torso, replacing it with a replica of Wuuthrad, namely the elven place holding the weapon’s “blades” as you say. They also castrated him and threw that muscle into the river, the same river where they chopped up Finna’s body into many pieces and fed them to the slaughterfish. That river has dried up considerably since then. We did leave a note near the son’s body. We wrote it in their language not ours that time. ‘You killed someone of great honor and respect to us, and hid his body from us. You stole something of great culture value to us. Now we took Finna, whose body you’ll never find, and we took your son on top of slaying this village. We also took the stone you gave to your son. May the name Falkreath forever remind you of what you took from us in greed and in lust. For this place will go down in history as a place of death.’”
“Why did we never know this, no history book known has this information in it.” Andrea spoke, the only brave one of the trio.
“Because we left nothing for them to track us down with, Andrea, we were already long gone. That party made it back to our home with no one killed. Ysgramor sent out many to avenge his son’s death and Finna’s, yet none were successful and they kept the name hoping for answers. No elf trusted him or the nords of that day though. Survivors of that party that destroyed Finnavoria and renamed it Falkreath also gathered a few more members. 200 years ago that party took Wuuthrad and shattered it into many pieces. It was seen as an act of great honor to us and great embarrestment to the Companions. We knew where to find it as we had the stone. That stone was given to me upon my exile; I was to follow it to a particular powerful shard, the hilt of Wuuthrad itself which is in Kodlak’s room.”
Andrea tilted her head a bit, most of her scholarship came in learning in Cyrodil before she came to Skyrim, “Something tells me you knew about the Oblivion Crisis before the whole world did”
“Yes, indeed we did. Our whole clan knew. For you see our clan is strong, stronger than Orcs. We don’t worship Deadra, we worship only the Nine Divines. Holy Kynareth our mother and her husband Akatosh take favor on us. Outside of Whiterun, we are the only known place in Tamriel to have a full Shrine to her, ‘The Grove’. Because of what we achieved and evolved into, we attracted many Daedra. Mehrunes Dagon is quite possibly the worst and more annoying than Sheogorath. Even Daedric princes need to practice their ‘toys’ especially when they plan to form a full on invasion even with the help of The Mythic Dawn. He chose us. We closed 2 great gates and many smaller gates. We have the remnants of one of the siege crawlers, this was the machine used to destroy Kvatch in Cyrodil in 3E 399. However he only got to destroy on teeny tiny farm started by the dark elven family ‘Sateenve’ They didn’t like any of the houses in Morrowind and got fed up with the Tribunal. They packed up and left, got lost in the snow where we found them and invited them in to our clan, but they had to follow our rules. They agreed and rather liked their adaption and change. They weren’t in their farm at the time, they were in the city selling wares and buying product as well as general shopping. Mehrunes Dagon summoned the gates there culminating in the great gate which rose up and destroyed the Sateenve’s very home. At that point we went on the attack. We started by killing off his initial wave of dremora and strange daedra including Xivilai’s and massive reptilian like Daedroths. Because of the advancements we have made we were able to quickly find out how to close them. Closing gates at that time was like a “coming of age” it brought great honor and respect. For each gate we closed we saved the sigil stone and added it to what is now known as “The hall of Sigil” glorifying our many accomplishments. It angered Mehrunes Dagon greatly in the process.”
Aelein bent down and touched her hand to the cold, snowy soil. Vilkas, Farkas and Andrea watched in shock as Aelein used a strange magic which warmed the land and suddenly the small area became full of vines, flowers, things you typically see in the warmer parts of skyrim and in cyrodil. “Kynareth taught us many magic that was thought to be lost. We formed a school called creation for the good spells and decay for the bad ones, all routed in the bigger Nature school. When we went into Dagon’s realm, it was full of lava, fire and decaying buildings. His daedra were particularly loathesome to look at, especially at that time. They are a lot better looking now though after seeing a few mages conjure them here in Skyrim over the past 35 years. When he invaded us, we invaded him. We used spells like this creation and began turning each gate we conquered into small beautiful forests filled with pretty pink flowers and we turned his daedra into pretty red elves with flowers in their hair. Upon each tower before we took the sigil stone we would add a giant stone heart. We got rid of all the lava and replaced it with water. In the heart we carved the names of the divines, with Kynareth being the greatest and biggest. Dagon essentially became the equivalent of the candy man to kids. Once he figured out that we weren’t allergic to “his candy” he stopped coming and left. So we followed. It was very fun for us. Not one of our clan was lost to an Oblivion gate.”
If it weren’t for the magic she was demonstrating to the three of them, they wouldn’t of believed her and would see her as being full of crap. “I wasn’t allowed to go far from home at that time, I was very important. So I had to stay behind while many of us went to Skyrim to close down gates, while ignoring the screaming nords in their villages because most couldn’t figure out how to close them. We were more focused on protecting specific Nordic barrows and areas of skyrim from the gates. You will see them soon, they are called Word Walls. We didn’t want Dagon destroying them, despite the fact we found fun and honor in destroying his gates and generally ticking the guy off. Though in doing so we discouraged many daedric princes from messing with us, however not all leave us alone. Sheogorath and Meridia still give us trouble from time to time. Surprisingly of all he did, We don’t view dagon as the worst daedric prince. We view Meredia as the worst. She is a fallen lesser Aedra and her story largly ties in to us, my clan.”
She then looked at the twins “But this is where the tale of Jergen and I come in. Despite the honor and respect I got in my clan, I did something that got me exiled. I can’t explain it to any of you yet, about why I was exiled. But I can tell you that I can only return by bringing the dragonborn to our clan. The divines themselves wish this after you save Skyrim. To prepare for you, Dovahkin, I first had to meet them.” Aelein said while looking at the twins, “I arrived early and Jergen really desired my company. When I told him what I told you three about why we hate Ysgramor and the companions so much, he gave me this locket. His ancestor’s took it from Patherion’s body. In doing so it protected itself by covering itself in a rusted look loosing it’s glam. But his ancestors saw this and still kept it, encouraged to keep it a secret because no one would believe that a locket would curse itself with ugliness for being taken. It was passed down mostly from father to son and sometimes father to daughter or mother to daughter. Eventually it was given to Jorgen, who gave it to me. The moment it touched my hands the rust gave way and its beauty returned. I opened it for the first time in many era’s and saw my grandmother, my grandaunt, and the man I had previously known only through artwork of what we could remember, my Granduncle. Snow prince to you, the Nords, but Patherion ‘prince of us’ to our clan. I cried and Jergen held me for many hours. I didn’t give him the stone right away. That wasn’t until after I lead him to you two” Aelein looked down at her arms. “I used to hold the both of you in my arms,” she looked at Vilkas in particular “When I breast fed you two, something unique to females of our clan even if we don’t have children yet You, Vilkas, would push your brother Farkas out of the way. Farkas, you preferred Jergen more”
Farkas used this to glare at his brother while Vilkas looked stunned with an awkward look to his face, Vilkas wondered if this is why he always seemed to have a higher intelligence than his brother and most other nords he talked to save for the Elders.
“It was a nice quiet time for me. I got to experience a taste of what I always wanted, a family. Kids to raise someone nice, warm and loving to return to and lay in his arms… It went against every principal too. A Nord, a companion and child of Ysgramor, and on top of that a descendant of the thief that stole something of high cultural significance to us. And yet the [&@%!] somehow got me to care for him. Once again my heart got me in trouble. I made the mistake of giving him the stone one day and telling him how to find Wuuthrad. I told him a bit about myself, he didn’t take it so well.”
Aelein was biting her lip and tears streamed down her face as she remembered that day. “I thought maybe my people, my clan were wrong about Nords. And this was before the great war, about a year before. I thought I could let my guard down outside of my clan something which is highly illegal due to the need to keep our secrets. He accused me of being the one that broke Wuuthrad, when I wasn’t even allowed to go far from our city. I know who did though. It resulted in a giant fight, one that both of us would regret. I never wanted to fight him or the companions, and I was so angry and hurt by Jergen’s betrayel. Jergen, I almost killed him. You don’t know what he did to me before that or during the fight. But when I pinned him to that tree, I forced him to change back to human. He saw the tears in my eyes and that’s when he finally showed regret. He knew what he did he could never undo. This picture I have of him was taken, before we met you two. I had to leave you two behind because I knew you two would help the future dragonborn.”
Vilkas then had an epiphany. “Jergen, he was very depressed when last we knew him. He disappeared when we were lads. I think…….I think he was looking for you.”
“I never saw your father again after that night. The companions blamed me for that only to learn later of their mistake. There is still tension there, I only came back to find you Dovakiin, and in all fairness to you two, I don’t want to stay here.” She said with the latter of the sentence being directed to Farkas and Vilkas “I do thank you for your help in saving my locket from that despicable cow pie skinned man. But I would rather not speak of Jergen anymore and I would like to accompany Andrea alone without any of you.”
Andrea nodded. “I will go with you, you were right, the jarl has me on an important mission.”
“It is one of your most important, Dovahkin.” Aelein said. “But before we go I have one thing I need to do” and with that she formed a white ball of magic in her hand and sprayed some powder from a pouch she carried into the magic ball. She then shot it out and it exploded without harming anyone. “Only you, Dovahkin, and the members of the inner circle of the companions are immune to the spell I just cast. Save for Nazeem, it just erased the memory of the past hour it took for me to tell you all of this. In other words I erased the memory which is why I knew I could freely tell you this outside.
Aelein was quick to grab Andrea’s hand, for an elf she certainly was strong enough to drag the slightly bulkier nord forcibly away from the wolf twins. “We’ll be back much later,” Aelein said, “We’re heading off to Bleak Falls Barrow, way up on the mountain overlooking Riverwood.” She knew the twins couldn’t come as they, being circle members, had some duties they needed to attend to. For now she could avoid them.
When they were far from Whiterun and on their way to Bleak Falls Barrow, Andrea decided to question Aelein a bit.
“How did you know about Bleak Falls Barrow? You didn’t follow me inside to learn where I was being sent.” Andrea asked,
“That’s not all I know, I also know.” Aelein stated, “I also know Lucan Valerius and his sister Camilla sent you to the same barrow to retrieve the golden claw”
“And how do you know that?! You weren’t at Riverwood when they asked me to retrieve the golden claw a bunch of bandits stole from them” Andrea came off as a bit demanding. Sure Aelein was old and knew a lot of history, but how could this odd dovahmer know so much?
Aelein was only half listening to Andrea, her skepticism was typical of anyone outside of Zeyelden, especially post-Oblivion Crisis Nords. Instead she was sniffing the air and listening to the trees swaying in the wind. “I’ll answer your questions later, right now this land is telling me that there is a group of Thalmor approaching from the road leading near Riverwood, and the trail we need to reach Bleak Falls Barrow” She then removed her Altmer makeup and looked back at Andrea “I don’t know about you but I worship the nine divines, that includes Talos. Plus I don’t wish to travel along these roads to reach our destination, for it will be much too slow especially given the fact that though the wildlife won’t bother me they will certainly bother you due to viewing you as food.”
“Say what? How do you know all of this, what are you pla…oh my,…” Andrea’s eyes widen and her face held a high level of shock and surprise.
Aelein had shifted into a giant creature that looked like a cross between a fox, a cat and a wolf. Her head was very slender and she had large ears. Her paws were huge and her legs were less muscular than a wolf but a lot stronger than that of a cheetah. She had a long cheetah like tail that ended in a tuft of hair. Her muzzle was long and slender like a wolf’s and her coat of fur resembled that of her hair, save for it having a touch of pinish red and crystal blue. She had the same eyes and looked down upon Andrea. ”Do not be afraid, Dovahkin. Hop on”
Andrea didn’t have much of a choice in the matter as Aelein took her giant muzzle and picked up Andrea then placed the shocked Nord on top of her fur-filled back.
“WHAT SORT OF MAGIC IS THIS?!” Andrea finally somewhat shouted out.
”Long forgotten magic. Ayleids once used it long ago when they worshipped light, water, earth and air. Fire was seen as light’s corruption. Kynareth reminded us of it. Maybe she will allow us to teach it to you some time. But for now you must hold on tight”
“Hold on tight, wait you can’t be se………………aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah” Andrea had to hold on tight and press her full body into Aelein’s fur. Aelein had single jumped the large cliff overlooking the field behind Honeybrew Meadery. It would of taken at least an hour to walk all the way around. Aelein was running so fast that Andrea, for a just a brief moment, saw the rather large group of Thalmor walking on the road from Riverwood with what looked like two stormcloak prisoners. It was so fast if you would of blinked you would of missed it.
Aelein bounced and jumped a lot, the motion build up would of slammed Andrea down hard had she not already been pinning herself to Aelein. The scenery moved so fast it began to cause Andrea to suffer motion sickness. Just when Andrea couldn’t take it anymore, Aelein stopped.
“Couldn’t you….*cough*….become a…..*wheeze*…..horse instead?” Andrea struggled to say while holding her belly trying to keep her lunch inside.
”Skyrim horses are too slow. Besides, we’re here.” Aelein said, Andrea looked up just as Aelein was scanning around the entrance to Bleak Falls Barrow and noticed they weren’t alone. Five bandits each looked up at Aelein’s Fire Rox form in complete shock. ”Looks like we are not alone.”
Andrea jumped down from the creepy elf’s back and then readied her hands only to discover she was feeling rather dizzy. The brief moment of weakness was enough for the bandits to break out of their daze.
“KILL HER!” the head bandit said, “And kill that, whatever that is.” He pointed towards Aelein.
Aelein briefly looked down at Andrea, ”You know, back home, we have competitions where riders prove both their worth and their Fire Rox’s worth by running over large lakes of lava.” she said partially ignoring the bandits for a moment.
“What’s a fire Rox?” Andrea asked getting her composer together.
”It’s the form I’m currently taking. Natural Fire Rox’s are a gorgeous site to behold. Naturally immune to fire and have mostly a flamey orange-yellow coat. Rare coats are a blue flame-white. They can run across lava and water as easily as a Cyrodillic Cheydinhal Black Horse can cross the land. You did well for your first time.”
“I am not going to ride you again.” Andrea stated and blasted a firebolt at the nearest bandit that came charging with a ‘RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRGH’ sound.
Aelein ran after two and grabbed one in her giant muzzle only to throw him off the cliff She use dher tale, while turning around, to send him flying into the opposite direction, nearly hitting one of the bandit archers in the process.
”You might have to. For when we go to my clan there are many dangers, lava included. It’s built to prepare for a future invasion. Some of the dangerous obsticles there are natural and have been there for almost as old as the land itself is. Others we have added over the course of many era’s. Some are randomly placed by the Aedra themselves. Fate is one thing you can’t deny, Dovahkin”
A few firebolts and pouncing of Aelein’s current form later, almost all of the bandits had been destroyed. The last one, injured, ran into Bleak Falls Barrow only to be mauled by a skeever running from two other bandits. The skeever got shot with an arrow shortly after killing the cowardly bandit.
Aelein warped back to her elven self, her clothes till intact. Andrea was more surpised that the elf could transform into something so large and fast only to warp back and have her clothes still intact.
“How are your clothes still intact after you transformed into something so large?” Andrea asked.
“It’s part of the Druid magic school. As you master it you can transform into what you are wearing and then transform back with clothes still intact unlike the were’tribes like werewolves. However beginner druids have a harder time and tend to destroy what they are wearing so it’s best practiced in beginning clothes and armor. They keep our seamstresses, tailors, and armorers very busy” Aelein said simply, rather proud.
“Are all of you this strong?” Andrea asked
“No, just a few are especially the leaders of each major section of the clan and thus the clan as a whole. We still train all those born in Zeyelden from birth in preparation from an Invasion we know will happen in the near future. We refuse to lose our last and only home, even from the Nords”
Before Andrea could question the Dovahmer any further, Aelein opened up the doors and went inside Bleak Falls Barrow. Andrea quickly followed. The girls arrived into a crumbling room filled with skeever corpses and the bandit that ran away.
They heard two bandits up ahead talking about yet another bandit that had gone further in. Rather than worry about their dead comrades, they were more concerned with the treasure that lay within and wanting it for themselves yet they didn’t want to go after it because they felt it would be suicide.
“Arvel has already gone in ahead, wolf went in after him.” The male said
“I don’t really care what they do as long as they come back with the treasure and share. I want my share!” The female stated.
“I should warn you the bandits shall be the weakest enemies here side from the Skeever’s” Aelein warned in a whisper.
Andrea nodded. She also noticed that Aelein, who displayed magical prowess was not relying on but rather daggers and string.
“I’m not going to bother with these, just going to knock them out” She said. She shot two of the silver pin hair clips, these ones coating with a sleeping paralysis poison, and knocked out the bandits.
“I won’t always be traveling with you to these burrows dovahkin, for there will be some you must travel alone. I suggest checking the jars when you have time for gems and lockpicks. You must also be aware your ancestors put up many traps that still work to this day.” She addressed. “But for now we must move with haste, the Thalmor are sure to have sensed our magic. Fortunatly there is almost always a second way out with these larger barrows.”
And with that they made their way down the large hall, past many broken doorways and the path eventually came to their first spiral staircase. Three skeevers came, of which the girls took care of rather quickly. “We should be approaching the first puzzle soon” Aelein spoke and they made their way down the winding staircase. At least a thousand years old the wood was remarkably stable and intact.
At the bottom of the stairs and through a few cobwebs, they came to a crumbling room filled with faces on the walls that each had a symbol in their mouths. A lone bandit stood on the bottom level in the center by a lever. Andrea was prepared to throw a firebolt at him but Aelein stopped him and whispered to her to watch.
The bandit pulled the lever and countless arrows came through the trapholes and killed him almost instantaneously. Andrea looked shocked.
“You’re a Nord but not one from Skyrim. Your ancestors made many of these burrows. And they made many of these almost childlike puzzles to open doors and keep others out. Main thing to realize about this kind of puzzle, with the pillars, is the answer is typically in the mouths of these Nordic faces. Up on the second floor the middle piece is missing, it’s down here on the first. They say Snake, Snake and Whale.”
Aelein went to the left of the door where the moveable pillars war. “Starting from left to right,” she said to Andrea, motioning her to come over, “We want to move these two to snake and the third to whale.” Aelein moved the first two while Andrea moved the third.
Now leave them be and we go move the switch. Aelein then pulled the lever and the metal gates opened.
“That was easy” Andrea stated.
“They get harder, but only slightly. Some have 6 moveable pillars and depending on which one you move the other five will move on you as well. Those tend to be the trickier ones. The nords have more puzzles too. From this point we have to be careful as draugr should be within.”
“Draugr?” Andrea asked.
“They are the mummified remains of long dead Nords that the divines themselves ban from Aetherius. It was mostly for worshipping Alduin and his evil dragons. They were known as the dragon cult.” Aelein clenched her fists tightly, “And part of the era that killed many of us off. Nords saw it as some kind of rite of passage in death to be mummified.”
They fought a few more skeevers before going down another winding staircase. This time splashing in a slightly watered cavern very thick in Skyrim’s frostbite spider webs.
“Hello, Hello is anyone there?” A voice called out. “Is that you Harknir? Bjorn? Saline?”
“Someone’s there!” Andrea stated.
“Yes stuck in a mother’s web” Aelein said. Unknown to Andrea, Aelein could hear the voice of the spider.
‘Ssso hungry. More food comesss. My children shall feast.’’
“Help me! Set me freee!” Arvel the Swift called out. Andrea and Aelein both entered the room through one of the two doorways. The other doorway was covered in roots from trees and plants that have long taken over most of the barrow.
As Andrea and Aelein moved closer, Aelein was quick to pull Andrea out of the center circle. Andrea was about to rant at Aelein for that until Aelein pointed up. Andrea followed her hand and down came a gigantic female spider. All around the room were her egg sacks with very valuable spider eggs that can be used to make valuable alchemic potions.
This spider was so hungry that Aelein could no longer understand her, let alone even attempt at communicating with her which is what a druid is capable of doing. Surely the animals outside of Zeyelden competed harder for food and space that they were more aggressive and harder to speak with.
Her mandibles were as swollen as they were leaking with wet sticky venom. She was strong enough to claim this section of the barrow for her own. Skyrim’s frostbite spiders could ward off many enemies from Falmer to old dwarven constructs and apparently Draugr, even the strongest Draugr still had issues with the spiders apparently. This one was one of the larger ones, a mother. Luckily for the two of them her children hadn’t hatched yet.
She did however make things easier for the girls by webbing up Arvel the Swift, the thief with the Golden Claw. Unfortunately the big female spider webbed him up in the only available doorway which they needed to access to make it further in the barrow.
For being so large she webbed herself down from the never ending ceiling with grace. Aelein wondered about the interior of some of these barrows and how they usually never seemed to match the exterior.
The foul ten legged creature, standard eight legs that spiders have, and an additional two legs in the front which functioned as a sort of ‘hands’. Despite being so large the mother spider moved with extreme grace and speed.
“No, not again, don’t let it kill me! Help! Help!” Arvel shouted.
The spider seemed to sense something about Aelein but she was too hungry to care. She attacked Andrea first, attempting to pin the Nord spellsword to the floor. Andrea whacked at the oversized arachnid’s legs, cutting one off.
The Arachnid screamed in pain, if you can call a blood curdling twisted high pitched screeching hiss a scream. Aelein used a stone shelf against the wall as leverage to do an aerial summersault onto the arachnid’s back.
“I’m sorry, my friend. I shall honor you in death by giving one of your unborn children a good home.” Aelein stated.
Working together it wasn’t long before the girls were able to kill the giant arachnid.
Andrea lifted an eyebrow at Aelein. Aelein looked at Andrea confused, wondered if she needed to explain that higher ranked druids, such as herself, often had a hard time finding true animal companions that could fit a variety of climates. One might think a skyrim bear or sabre cat would suffice but they, as strong as they were they were usually slow and solitary and couldn’t handle a really hot climate for long lengths of time. Frostbite spiders, despite their name, are one of few animals that can handle a variety of climates and they were faithful IF they are raised from eggs. They also lived longer than bears, sabre cats, or even wolves. Also they could be enchanted and exposed to magic to be made stronger, especially in their first year of hatching, which aided them in being a higher druid’s companion. Plus they could easily hold their own against werewolves and other were creatures.
Andrea shook her head while watching Aelein place the egg safely in a magical pouch filled with warm sand. The egg would be protected no matter what damage would be inficted and safe from being swung around like if Aelein needed to run.
“You killed it! Now free me!” Arvel the Swift continued to pester the two girls until they came closer. Arvel’s eyes narrowed when he saw Aelein. “You! The treasure is mine! I rightfully stole this claw! And only I know how it works!”
“What is he talking about?” Andrea asked looking at Aelein suspiciously.
“Oh? I caught this guy and the group of bandits we defeated intending to sack The Riverwood Traders where they would surely kill everyone to and from sacking the store including the owners. But I convinced them that the Golden Claw is the only thing of value as it leads to a greater treasure, here in Bleak Falls Barrow.” Aelein said.
“Which it does, and only I know how it works. I made sure to burn the papers too!” Arvel said gloating despite being strung up in a dead spider’s web.
Aelein rolled her eyes, Arvel may be a dunmer but if there is one thing she knew is he knew less than he let on.
“Why would you tell him to steal?!” Andrea demanded to know.
“It’s better for a bandit to steal than someone who wishes no crime on her hands. Stealing is bad” Aelein said. “I encouraged it because it’s better for one of these rare claws to land in their specific barrow than to have them melted down or torn apart by overly rich people. You may not believe this but these claws act as keys for very specific doors.”
“The hall of stories! Ancient Nords built them to keep out thieves and grave robbers. But I’m smart, I alone know how it works, free me and we’ll work together to get it.” Arvel said, he would say anything to get out of the spider web.
Andrea glared at Aelein, under her breath she said “You are so explaining this to me after”
Aelein frowned and put up a pouty face, “This whole day has been spent in explaining. I suppose I’ll add this as the two things left to explain to you today. The other one will cause the whole world to eventually address you as Dovahkin, not just me. And perhaps then I can give my voice box a rest.”
The girls worked together to get Arvel out of the sticky situation, where he proceeded to laugh at them, call them fools, and run off.
“Why that little…!” Andrea stated angrily.
“He’s a bandit, they do that. He won’t get far though.” Aelein responded.
The two girls didn’t have to go very far. For the bandit stirred up a room full of Draugr and a spike-gate trap. Trying to run from the zombie-like mummies, Arvel ran over a pressure plate and was immiedetly impaled and slammed to the stone wall. The gate went to reset itself.
Andrea was the first to burst into the room, a look of shock at seeing her first spike gate/ Nordic Trap.
The Draugr saw her and began charging with their axes and swords at the ready, they were just low ranked foot soldiers compared to the other Draugr.
And then Aelein entered the room. The Draugr froze in their charge to attack Andrea when they spotted the odd Dovahmer. “SNOW…ELF!” They managed to say despite their zombie-ness proof that they are no ordinary zombie creatures. They immiedietly charged for Aelein instead.
Andrea managed to burn one to ash, she then summoned a ghostly wolf familiar which distracted another long enough for the nord to impale it through the chest before removing her sword and beheading the foul creature.
Aelein side stepped the much slower ancient Nord, which shouted at her to die. She then stabbed it in the back of the neck and drove her dagger up, splitting its skull in two. It fell do the floor and the blue trapped soul finally left the creatures eyes. “Dovahmer” She correct.
Andrea looked at the fallen bodies while Aelein held one of the ancient Nordic swords in her hands. “Over one thousand years ago these were used to wipe out my people to the point of near extinction. Now they are used to kill the random unweary adventurer and the standard grave robber. Over one thousand years and still functional, but yet so weak.” She then angrily threw the sword so it shattered into a million different pieces against the wall. “And today’s human population continues to question why we hate the Nords so much.”
“Not all Nords are evil” Andrea said feeling the need to defend her race of Skyrim.
“No but your race is very war hungry, even after all these years we still consider them primitive especially in comparison with other races even Argonians and Khajiit” The site of this place, of very bad memories, Aelein knew she was going to enjoy killing the killers of her race.
Aelein then approached the body of the dead Arvel and shuffled through his clothing before she found the claw. “Good its unharmed I was worried for a moment that the idiot might of harmed it.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you encouraged him to steal it.”
“I told you before, it’s a key. Eventually we are going to come across a giant door with pictures of animals on it, some of them include dragons. There are only 10 keys some made out of rare precious metals. Over many era’s my clan has worked to keep the claws and the barrows intact, because we knew a Dovahkin would eventually emerge that would aid us. You will understand before we leave this place” Aelein said. She then pointed the miffed nord to a chest on the rubble to the right of the gate.
“Careful with the chests in barrows, they tend to be traps.” She said.
Andrea went over and opened it, found a few gold necklaces and some ancient septims that can still be used to this day. “How are we getting past that, safely?” Andrea asked pointing at the gate.
“It’s pressure sensitive, if you don’t wish to step over the plates or if you are running for your life and don’t see it, you can always disable it. Since they are so old even something light can be used to disable it.” Aelein spoke. She took a smaller Nordic ancient axe and placed it on the pressure plate. The gate swung once then returned to its position. Aelein pressed her foot to the pressure plate and the gate didn’t move again. “Let’s go, the Thalmor don’t normally enter creepy dungeons especially non-elven ones, but I know they are curious.”
And that is sort of how the majority of their journey through Bleak Falls Barrow went, kill a few creepy Draugr that shouted at Aelein beign a snow elf here, avoid some traps there, and along the way gather a few treasures. Eventually they came to a gigantic wall that Aelein had spoken about earlier.
“Hall of stories, and now this door.” Andrea was beginning to understand Aelein’s reasoning.
“Yes, and this will be the only time we can go through this door because we need to give this claw back.” Aelein then took out the claw and showed it to Andrea. “When you do these doors it’s important to note that the door’s code is found on each of it’s claws which are very specific to the door. We have done our best over the years to ensure the claws are in their respected barrows, though some are easier to obtain than others which will activate traps. Still they have a tendency to disappear from their barrows but without them the way won’t be unlocked.” She turned the claw over to show the pattern, Bear, Dragonfly, Owl.
“So from the top to the bottom,” Andrea began,
“You turn it, Bear, Dragonfly, Owl. Then you insert this claw” Aelein nodded.
Andrea then followed and then took the claw, which found the right spot and turned itself before the ancient clogs of the door moved and allowed the door to open by pulling itself down slowly.
It opened to a giant room that was exposed to the outside. Birds and bats alike flew up to avoid the coming battle. Andrea noticed some empty sarcophagi and wondered if there would be another large group. She could also hear a low chant, which got louder as they approached the main part of the room where a large, strange wall stood.
“You can hear it, can’t you? The chant resonating from this room, from that wall, you can hear it.” Aelein looked at Andrea, who was at a loss for words.
“Yes, I can hear it. But how do you know?” Andrea asked finally finding the words.
Aelein smiled, “Today, Dovahkin, your destiny truly begins.”
They walked to the center of the room, crossed the bridge over the shallow river, and climbed the steps. Both girls noticed the center sarcophagus. “The leader sleeps in that one” Aelein said.
“What do I do?” Andrea asked, the chant was overpowering at this point.
“The wall recognizes you as do I, approach it. The words will come to you the knowledge however must yet be unlocked.”
Andrea nodded and approached the wall. The words glowed blue and then the ancient magic unlocked, flooding the young Nord in an array of colors. With the magic absorbed, the ancient sarcophagus behind them slammed open and out a stronger Draugr emerged.
((Who comes to die))
“Wo meyz wah dir?!” It demanded in the ancient dragon tounge. It’s eyes befalling Andrea at first.
((Brave Nord and dragon elf))
“Kril bron ahrk dovah fahliil” Aelein stated which made the large creature turn its attention to her.
((SNOW ELF! DIE DISHONORABLE BEAST!))
“OD FAHLIIL! DIR DUKAAN SUNVAAR!” It shouted and came charging. Andrea went to slice it but it swung the sword right out of her hand. It partially ignored the Nord to get at the dragon elf, which was a running theme for the draugr of this barrow. It was really sad actually, Andrea was feeling a bit jealous that she wasn’t getting as much love.
Aelein dodged the swing and threw a needle into the draugr’s eye. It let out a curdling scream before it stopped to pull the needle out, and out with it came one of the creature’s eyes. It then glared angrily at elf who regrouped with the Nord. “OH no, MOVE!” Aelein shoved Andrea out of the way when
’FUS RO DAH!’ Aelein was thrust into the air and sent quite a few yards where she was originally before being slammed into the dragon wall. Dazed, she rubbed her butt in pain and paused fighting to crank her spine back into place. “Oww that hurt”
Andrea didn’t have time to be shocked; she blocked the twisted remains of her long dead ancestor from reaching the temporarily stunned dragon elf.
Soon back on her feet the dragon elf was able to distract the Draugr long enough before Andrea was able to behead it shortly before it shouted again.
On its body a stone tablet dropped out. Andrea looked at Aelein and then “What WAS that?!” she demanded.
“Oh, one of the strong shouts? Th’uum. You’re going to be doing that soon. Be thankful that only the powerful draugr can shout, the dragons are the only others to do so in Skyrim, well outside of Zeyelden that is.” She walked over and picked up the dragon stone and placed it in Andrea’s hands.
“This is what we came here for. Dragon stone, map of where the Nords killed quite a few of Alduin’s followers.” Aelein then helped Andrea to her feet.
Andrea wanted to ask, to demand more knowledge. But Aelein was quick to drag Andrea out. They took the back entrance, which Aelein closed once Andrea passed through.
“The Thalmor have already entered by now, they will be making their way to this room. We need to leave, now!” Aelein was more determined to leave. She and Andrea made their way to a small treasure room, which they were quick to loot before Aelein quickly set up a trap. The two made their way outside to an opening which allowed them to enter the mountain side where Whiterun was clearly visible.
They no sooner crossed past the western watchtower before Aelein’s tripwire was activated and a loud explosion was heard to where they just were. “High Elves move fast” Aelein said. Andrea, up until now, doubted they were being followed. She had a lot to learn from this odd elf.
From there they made their way back to Whiterun, and once again Aelein put up her Altmer disguise.
End of Chapter 3.