We were not far from the camp when I heard a large animal coming through the brush. I readied a calm spell as most animals make much less noise. When the deer came up and over the bushes and almost ran me over, I knew something was chasing it. I kept the calm spell in one hand but readied a shock spell in the other.
I was taken by surprise as the huge black blur knocked me down, he hadn't made a noise coming through the bushes. I tried putting up my arms to keep from being drooled all over, but Tex was rather persistent, and my face was a slimy mess in no time.
"So, I take it the dog belongs to her?" I heard Esbern ask.
"No, I pretty much think she belongs to the dog." Nelthas was laughing. Before I could get any leverage to get Tex off of me, he plopped down on my stomach and looked down that long hound nose at me. he Whined and laid his head on my chest, his nose touching my chin. I patted his head and told him I really would like to get up, he wasn't a feather.
I heard hoofs striking the cobblestone road not far away. I started pushing Tex in earnest when Nelthas grabbed Esbern and pulled him into a crouch. The sound of metal striking cobblestones got closer and when the 1st horse was almost past'
"Citizen, could we have a word with you?" The Accent was male Altmer, more than likely a Justiciar.
"And what can I do for the Aldemeri Dominion today Justiciar Gissur?" His gravelly voice was beautiful in my ears, his tone at ease.
"Who are you, to know a Justiciar by sight?" His tone was suspicious.
" I am Signar sworn Housecarl to the Jarl of Whiterun, bonded to a Thane of that City."
"And what brought you to Riften?" His tone said he wasn't convinced and I couldn't shove Tex off my chest.
"Riften? Well, I stayed the night at the Bee & Barb, but I went into Rifen to get some Blackbriar Mead, Maven wished to gift some to the Jarl and his Thanes in the hope that he would like it enough to order more." His voice had gruff patience that said he was very used to dealing with fools. " You've never seen one of Hofrir's horses? They are suitable in temperament and training for hunting." He kept his explanations short, which was good.
"Alright move along Housecarl, but we will be keeping an eye on you". The Mer's tone was condescending.
"Well Lord Justiciar, I'll be in Iverstead tonight if you would like to tuck me in?" His tone was bland and even.
"Move along citizen before I have you arrested for insubordination." His tone was threatening and I hoped Signar would just move on. I heard Signar gwaf, but the horses started moving.
We stayed exactly was we were, except Tex finally decided to get off of me. I thought quickly, I knew Signar would not be in Iverstead, but head in the other direction, the road towards Helgen seemed most likely.
"Esbern, do you have paper and ink or a charcoal stick?" He didn't answer but brought out a charcoal stick and a small roll of paper then handed it to me. I didn't put any words down but drew a Butterfly. Tex looked at my drawing and snorted.
"Well if you think you can draw better?" he whined and shook, "We spent the night at that shack on the way to Iverstead, remember, it had that Butterfly in the Jar. If Signar doesn't get it, make sure that's where he goes." I rolled up the paper tight and tied it with a red ribbon, then used a leather cord to tie it around Tex's neck. I ruffled his ear's and he took off silently through the trees and bushes.
We waited a bit more than wound our way through the woods, staying off the road unless we needed to cross it. Esbern and I used calming spells on all the aggressive animals that we ran into. We had to stop often to hide in thicker brush when a patrol of Thalmor came riding by. When it started getting towards night, I looked for a cave or a really thick patch of brush that we could hide in.
What I found was a small cave with a trickle of water out front. The brush was thick enough that after I went to a pool and caught a large fish, by laying down near an overhang and slowly running my hands up the belly of the fish I found there till I could slip my fingers in its gills. I pulled it out, killed it, and gutted it. I went and found another overhang and did the same thing.
Nelthas had a small fire going when I got back, so I took the fish I had skewed on sticks and placed over the fire. Along with some of the berries and wild onions and carrots we had found, it made a decent meal. I put out the fire as soon as we were done eating and we all decided to take turns at the cave entrance watching. It wasn't a comfortable night, but we were all got some sleep.
We were up and moving as soon as it was light enough not to stumble around running into things. It was a very tense morning, as the valley narrowed and the Thalmor patrols were in full swing looking for us. At one point I used a frenzy spell on a bear that I had just used a calm spell on when a patrol decided to go off the road and came towards us.
Even though they had made swift work of the bear, which I felt bad about, they decided to get back on the road. We moved on and at mid-day, I could see the pass that we would be going through, the Shack was only a little way away from the mouth. We came in from the backside and Nelthas insisted on being the one to check and see if Signar was there and if everything looked alright. As he said, their was only one of us who was Dragonborn and one expert on dragons.
A few minutes later he gave the all-clear and Esbern and I walked in. Signar was at the door waiting on me and pulled me into his arms. We stood there for a moment, his cheek resting on top of my head, until my stomach made a gurgling sound, because it registered the smell of stew cooking, even if my heart wanted to stay where I was.
Signar laughed and said he had a stew waiting on us if we wanted to eat before we took off. Nelthas sat on a desktop, while Esbern and I sat on the bed and ate, Signar stood in the doorway listening to our choppy account of our escape from the Ratway.
When we were finished we cleaned out all traces of us being there and Esbern got up behind me and we rode hard to get over the pass before nightfall. We spent the night in a Stormcloak camp on the other side, I had explained that the Thalmor were searching for someone and we really didn't want to be bothered. The commander of the camp just smiled and said anyone the Thalmor were after was more than welcome in his camp. So we at least had a good night's sleep. I had a very warm one, with Signar cradling me in his arms from behind and Tex stretched out in front of me.
We made it to Riverwood late the next evening. I sent Esbern into the Inn, Nelthas went with him and Signar and I cared for the horses. Signar checked over the tack and armor, while I gave the horses a second going over. I sighed and told Signar that they needed a rest, we had been riding them hard as of late. He said that was true, but no harder than we had been pushing ourselves. He came over and wrapped his arms around me and I laughed and said,.... let's get inside and get you out of that hard plate... I would rather wrap my arm's around warm flesh than cold steel.
Fate it seemed wasn't going to cooperate exactly, he did get out of the armor, but Delphine pulled us all down to her secrete room, for a chat. I grabbed a stool before we went down, knowing there weren't enough places to sit. Almost everyone was sitting down when we got down there, I put the stool so that I could lean back against the wall, but Signar moved it out slightly so that I was actually leaning against his chest, his arms wrapped around me. Tex took up all the space under the table, flat out like a rug, Nelthas was sitting on a chest, Esbern in the only chair, and Delphine paced.
I was tired and only half paying attention, but in the end, I had the gist of it... Tomorrow we would be heading into The Reach, near Karthwasten to a place called Skyhaven Temple, to look at something called Alduins Wall. Signar scooped me up and said he was taking an empty room for us, I had one arm wrapped around his neck and just smiled at them. Delphine it seemed wanted us all to sleep in the lower room. Signar turned and said that she could sleep down here and we would use her bed then. The look on her face was priceless, but she did have a bar on her door, so it made more sense than a smaller room. We did get to sleep, eventually.
No comments:
Post a Comment