{"id":112,"date":"2017-09-23T22:56:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-23T22:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/?page_id=112"},"modified":"2022-03-27T01:07:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-27T01:07:07","slug":"chapter-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/volume-i\/part-1-survivors\/chapter-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was tiresome to retrace her steps to the south, Dagnell thought, but better than getting lost on a road she didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 She passed by Kynesgrove, pondering another night in a decent bed.\u00a0 No,<\/em> she decided. I don\u2019t want to chance running into Roggi empty-handed.<\/em>\u00a0 Instead, she hiked a short way up into the hills above the town, and camped out again.<\/p>\n

She got going early the next day.\u00a0 The road took her back through the stench of the bubbling pools and past the wreckage of J\u2019hall\u2019s cart. He was no longer there.\u00a0 Well at least he\u2019s not rotting in the sun, she thought, hoping that some passerby or the giant, and not some animal, had seen to his body.<\/p>\n

Not far beyond, the road turned east and began to climb, steadily, through foothills and then sharply up into the mountains themselves.\u00a0 At one point, a dirt path took off straight up the mountain, heading directly south.\u00a0 She stood and pondered it for a moment, but then looked herself over. She was barely equipped and certainly had nothing extra with which to get herself out of a tight spot.\u00a0 No, better to keep to the road. If nothing else she could see what was coming that way.\u00a0 She sighed and set out again.\u00a0 Climbing mountains on foot hadn\u2019t been part of her original plan.\u00a0 She wished she had J\u2019hall\u2019s horse. On the other hand, boots that fit surely made the climbing easier than it might have been.<\/p>\n

A few hours of slow uphill trudging and several wolves later, Dag saw what appeared to be a guard tower. Something about it felt wrong.\u00a0 There were no signs of guards patrolling the area, and it seemed much too quiet. Was it deserted?\u00a0 Was it an ambush waiting for the soul stupid enough to be travelling alone, like her?\u00a0 She dropped into a crouch as she neared, and crept along in the brush at the roadside.\u00a0 More bandits were not what she needed.<\/p>\n

When she reached the base of the tower she discovered that there had been no need for all her attempted stealth. There was a fire burning just outside the entrance, and a guard propped up against the tower wall.\u00a0 Dead, he was, and recently so.\u00a0 He\u2019d been pierced by at least three arrows and showed signs of having more plucked out of his dead body.\u00a0 The ground was covered in his blood.\u00a0 Another equally-dead guard sprawled in the grass nearby.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dagnell entered the guard tower and crept cautiously up a set of blood-spattered stairs. There were two more dead guards, one at a landing halfway up and one at the top of the tower. She stood and ran a hand through her hair. \u201cWell this sure is ugly,\u201d she murmured.\u00a0 There were things here she could use, though: a bow that she grabbed eagerly, some iron arrows, and a couple of swords, and a few septims of gold tucked into an old chest.\u00a0 For a moment she pondered the dead guards.\u00a0 Stripping their armor off to sell it was more than a little unsavory, but they wouldn\u2019t need it any time soon. And she was basically destitute. Sighing, she gathered up the armor and headed back down to revisit the guards outside.<\/p>\n

On a table just inside the door, she spotted a note. \u201cWe\u2019ve word of Legion soldiers advancing on your position,\u201d it read. \u201cReinforcements are on the way. Talos guard you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah, Talos, she thought. Emperor Tiber Septim; Ysmir. He was the ancient hero who had united Tamriel and, according to legend, had been elevated by the divines to take his place alongside them. The Empire had banned Talos worship, though; they held that no man could be divine. According to J\u2019hall it was one of the reasons there was a civil war going on.\u00a0 Dagnell didn\u2019t know whether that was really the case or it was just a handy excuse for the Nords and Imperials to kill each other, but it was good to know how this part of Skyrim leaned.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to open her mouth the wrong way, especially in a place where guards were being left lying around full of arrows, probably by Imperial soldiers. She bundled the looted gear into a package with some of her leftover leather strips, heaved it onto her back, and headed south again.<\/p>\n

Not far beyond the guard post the road ran though a settlement.\u00a0 A smelter and piles of unsmelted ore told Dag that it was built around a mine; and, like Kynesgrove, it was small and tired-looking. Outside one of the few buildings, a group of men had gathered around a cooking fire. An old man sat roasting a rabbit, frowning at a dark haired Nord and a hefty green Orc who were arguing loudly about, of all things, housekeeping.\u00a0 \u201cCut it out, you two,\u201d he snapped at them.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re just going to have to live with it until we can build another house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dag smiled and approached the group. The old Nord looked up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you\u2019re not here looking for work in the mine,\u201d he said, frowning. \u201cIt\u2019s closed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dag shook her head. \u201cI wasn\u2019t, no.\u00a0 I\u2019m just passing along the road, but you\u2019re the first folks I\u2019ve seen in awhile. Tell me about the mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRedbelly Mine.\u00a0 It gets its name from the red mist that\u2019s always in there.\u00a0 Nobody really knows where it came from, but you get used to it after awhile.\u00a0 Smells a bit like those hot pools out on the tundra.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lovely, she thought.\u00a0 \u201cSo what\u2019s wrong with the mine that you\u2019ve had to close it up?\u201d she asked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s full of spiders, that\u2019s what\u2019s wrong with it.\u00a0 Moved right in and made themselves at home. Almost killed Grogmar and me when they showed up.\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid they\u2019re going to come out looking for food soon and then we\u2019re in even bigger trouble. If we can\u2019t get back into the mine soon our little town will be done for.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s strange, she thought.\u00a0 Spiders? Killer spiders?\u00a0 She knew some people were deathly afraid of spiders but how likely was it that a whole group of grown men would be?\u00a0 And Grogmar was an Orc name, undoubtedly the man sitting here at the fire. Orsimer men \u2013 Orcs – were large to begin with, but this fellow was big even for an Orc. The spiders had nearly killed him?<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t you ask the guards for some help?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPfft,\u201d he snorted.\u00a0 \u201cThe town guards are as useless as a fifth wheel on a wagon.\u00a0 Always handing me some line about needing to keep an eye out for enemy soldiers on the road. Idiots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not idiots from what I just saw at the tower, Dag thought; but she decided to keep quiet about that. \u201cWell, um\u2026 how about if I clear them out for you?\u201d\u00a0 How hard could it be? She\u2019d certainly squashed plenty of spiders in her lifetime, after all, some of them pretty big and disgusting.<\/p>\n

He looked at her. It was clear that he didn\u2019t think much of her chances, but Dag saw a hint of desperation in his eyes. \u201cIf you hold true to your word, I\u2019ll give you as much as I can scrape together. But I don\u2019t want to be responsible for sending you to your death.\u00a0 Be careful in the mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was thoroughly puzzled. Spiders. A coin was a coin, though, so she shrugged, dropped her bundle at the door, and entered the mine.<\/p>\n

There were rope-and-plank bridges leading across the main shaft, but she couldn\u2019t quite see across to the other side for all the red mist.\u00a0 It smelled bad, alright; she had hoped not to revisit that scent for some time, but there it was again.\u00a0 And there were definitely spiders.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These weren\u2019t your average cobweb spinners. \u00a0These were half her height and at least twice as big around, and they spat gobs of venom that seemed to freeze the skin when it landed.\u00a0 For a second, she wanted to turn tail.\u00a0 She had a bow now, though, and decided to have a little target practice.<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t, actually, too hard to kill.\u00a0 Each arrow connected with a juicy splat, taking the spiders out with a single shot apiece.\u00a0 She crept across the bridge and started down a side ramp, feeling more confident, listening to the skittering sounds beneath. \u00a0There were lots of webs, lots of huge spider egg sacs, and a lot of spiders, none of them any harder to drop than the first had been.<\/p>\n

Until she got to the bottom.<\/p>\n

An enormous spider, fully three times the size of the others, was pulling itself up into an aggressive stance and moving forward, getting ready to spit.\u00a0 She had never seen anything like it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy Stendarr!\u201d she yelped in surprise, and started unleashing arrows as fast as she could draw the bowstring.\u00a0 The spider flinched, but didn\u2019t seem to slow much as it approached her.\u00a0 Panicked, Dag drew her sword with one hand and started slashing, and fired off as much flame magic as she could muster with the other.\u00a0 The creature, smelling horrid as it burned, advanced, gnashed its fangs, and spat its poisonous venom at her. She mostly dodged, but when she couldn\u2019t, it hurt. It hurt a lot, and it froze the affected part, slowing down movement. Finally, just as she was running out of any energy to cast more flames, she managed to find the spider\u2019s brain with her sword; it shuddered and slumped to the ground.<\/p>\n

She stood, panting, rubbing life back into the spots where the spider\u2019s venom had splashed her.\u00a0 No wonder the miners hadn\u2019t wanted to go back in. If that thing had gotten its fangs into her she\u2019d have been a goner.\u00a0 For that matter, the little ones \u2013 if \u201clittle\u201d was the right word – wouldn\u2019t have done her much good either.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t blame the miners at all for being afraid.\u00a0 She climbed back up the ramp and headed out to the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cNasty little buggers, aren\u2019t they?\u201d said the old man as she neared the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, but they\u2019re gone now. That big spider was really something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re gone?\u00a0 All of them?\u201d He looked astonished.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s incredible! Well you\u2019ve more than earned this!\u201d He handed her a pouch with what felt like at least 100 septims inside, a good payment for her efforts.\u00a0 \u201cThank you!\u201d he said again. \u201cNow we can reopen the mine and put Shor\u2019s Stone back on the map!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you\u2019re welcome.\u00a0 I was happy to do it.\u201d\u00a0 No, I wasn\u2019t, she thought. I was absolutely appalled to do it.\u00a0 But a coin is a coin.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortune to you and your children,\u201d he said, waving as she shouldered her bundle and walked away.\u00a0 She laughed to herself.\u00a0 No children here and nobody to make them with.<\/em> The coin purse felt good in her pocket, though, as she continued along and up the road, passing through ever more rugged hills. It was beautiful country up here, but stark, and very slow, strenuous climbing, especially carrying a heavy load of gear. Still, the sounds of birds fussing about in the tree tops and the wind whispering along with them made for a peaceful climb.\u00a0 At least it wasn\u2019t snowing here.<\/p>\n

Not much more than an hour down the road, the peace ran out. \u00a0Dagnell heard the battle before she saw it \u2013 shouts, men\u2019s screams, and swords clashing against shields.\u00a0 Stepping off the roadway into some shrubs nearby, she crept toward what looked like an old but substantial fort. In front of it, soldiers in two different uniforms \u2013 one set draped with blue, the others red and brown – were doing their best to slaughter each other, and appeared to be succeeding. Dagnell watched for a few moments, amazed at the skirmish\u2019s intensity.\u00a0 It was clear that skirting the fort would be the best bet. It would be the only bet, in fact, because as she got closer she saw that the road ran through the fort, and was barricaded. She made it past the area safely, but was appalled by the number of men and women on either side of the fort who hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The civil war was real. No wonder J\u2019hall had wanted some backup on his trip through Skyrim.<\/p>\n

The road on the far side of the fort took a series of switchbacks up the side of a steep rise, snaking past three more towers like the one that had held the dead guards.\u00a0 The guards here were alive and well, thank you, and looked her over carefully as she passed but didn\u2019t challenge her.\u00a0 The road turned sharply right, through a deep cleft in the rock.\u00a0 On the far side, the terrain opened out into an enormous plateau with dozens of yellow-leaved trees filtering the sun.\u00a0 She could hear birds calling and caught the unmistakable scents of water and fish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The familiar sounds of city life drifted out from behind a large wooden gate set into a substantial stone wall.\u00a0 A road sign set near the point where the cobbles split into paths around the outside of the walls read \u201cRiften.\u201d<\/p>\n

At last, another city.\u00a0 And this one, she knew from what J\u2019hall had told her, was the closest one to the border with Morrowind and the route to Cyrodill.<\/p>\n

Finally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Part I: Survivors<\/a><\/div>\n
Previous<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was tiresome to retrace her steps to the south, Dagnell thought, but better than getting lost on a road she didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 She passed by Kynesgrove, pondering another night in a decent bed.\u00a0 No, she decided. I don\u2019t want to chance running into Roggi empty-handed.\u00a0 Instead, she hiked a short way up into the … <\/p>\n

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