Chapter 10

The circular mound rose from the moor, open at the top, with a set of stairs set into the curved wall descending to the bottom. The body of a bandit we had not killed lay sprawled below. “My Thane, I’ve never heard of bandits cooperating with wizards before. We should be careful, we could be walking into a war zone.”

I smiled. “Excellent. Let them kill each other, and we can walk through unhindered.” I paused. “Of course, if this is like every other crypt in Skyrim I’ve been in, I’m sure there are plenty of undead inhabitants there already. I never have quite understood what makes necromancy so popular.”

We entered the crypt. The pathway leading down had a curved ceiling, almost like a tube. The age of the walls was apparent, as the coating of dust on everything but the floor was incredibly thick. What did remain of the dust on the floor also helped hold the fresh blood from a dead bandit that lay just inside the doorway, and did nothing to conceal the many footprints of others that had recently gone this way. I took the lead, bow at the ready. A short distance in was the corpse of another recently killed bandit. A large room opened ahead of us, an archway visible in the distance, and as well we could see some altars to the sides.

In the far distance I could make out some human shapes. Discretion being the proper course, I took aim at the furthest from me.

I whispered, “Fly true” and let loose.

The arrow sailed into the distance, and I saw the sparkle as it hit the target – a resurrected corpse of some kind, that immediately crumpled to dust as the magic fled. What I had hoped would happen did, as another figure, presumably the necromancer who’d created the walking undead, came running up to examine his creation. I’d already nocked another arrow, and let that one seek it’s mark as well. It was almost anti-climactic when a third figure approached the first two and died by my hand as well.

I hoped Mother would be proud of how sneaky I had become. Her training of me as an assassin had been erratic at best, but arrow work was a skill I was relearning quickly.

Crossing the room, I saw that there had been combat here recently. The two I had slain were both mages, as was the now pile of glowing dust. Yet two other corpses also lay here – more bandits that had been killed by the mages. A passageway out of this room led off to our left.

That passageway went down a bit more and at a landing lay two more corpses – another mage and a draugr. I could hear the sounds of battle from ahead, so I carefully crept around the corner. A mage casting fire was desperately attempting to hold off several draugr. While I debated internally about helping him or not, the choice was taken from me as two of the draugr sliced his chest open with their axes. Since they were distracted by what was in front of them, it was easy to put them down with bow shots.

Several more draugr corpses littered the hall, the mage had put up a fight. Ahead, I could see even more dead bodies on the floor. This Ustengrav had been a veritable battlefield recently! Continuing on, the main hallway led straight, while a small side corridor went off to our right. I knew better than to possibly leave enemies to our rear, so first we went down the small corridor. It ended in a chamber with a table and some coins, but a small chain was on one wall. I pulled it, which caused a hidden door to open. I had hoped it might lead to a chamber where this Horn I was to find would be, but no such luck, the passage simply dead ended.

Retracing our steps, we continued into the depths. The room ahead had several crypts along the walls. As we entered the room, the lids opened and draugr stepped forth. Since we were prepared, Lydia and I simply shot them all before they became a threat to us.

“My Thane, I can’t believe that this should be this easy.”

I smiled. “Lydia, you are seeing the difference between what happens when simple bandits without training come together as a mob, versus when two professionals work at their trade. I almost can’t wait to see what will happen when we gather a small group of our own together – which we’ll surely need if we go against dragons.”

“Even more so if we all get along both in battle and in bed, eh, my Thane?”

I grinned at her enthusiasm. Reaching out with one hand, I pulled her close to me and gave her a resounding kiss. “No distractions about pleasures now, dear Lydia.”

We came up to an iron door with a skeleton laying on the floor before it. “See, I bet he got distracted.” She snorted in reply. We opened the door and the stairs beyond continued down. A landing was ahead, and we could feel fresh air blowing from somewhere further inside. Off to our right an enormous cavern opened up, with daylight streaming through holes in the roof and water falling. There was a giant tree growing in the middle. Our pathway led away from this, but quickly circled round such that the floor of this giant room was much closer.

I heard the awe in her voice as Lydia said, “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” I smiled at that.

A draugr was standing ahead along our path, guarding it. “I bet you’ve seen something like that before, though.”

She nodded, then shot him with an arrow.

The pathway led us into a narrow corridor with a floor pattern I didn’t recognize. I stepped forward, hearing a click, I realized I’d stepped on a trap. Flames shot up from the floor as I jumped backwards. The air was hot from the fire, but I avoided being seriously burned. “Damn, that was close.”

I looked around, but didn’t see any way past it. This was going to hurt. I pulled out two potions of healing, giving one to Lydia. “Sorry, my dear, but I don’t think we’ll have much choice. If we hurry, we should be okay.”

She nodded, a grim look on her face. The enthusiasm she’d had earlier had been muted by reality. We quickly ran across the trap, flames shooting up around us. I could feel the heat burning my feet even through my dragon scale boots. We hit clear air, and both of us quickly downed the potions. I could feel the magic of the potion soothing my pain and healing my slight burns.

The room ahead appeared to be a dining hall. Two draugr were in it, one at either end. Lydia slipped on a stone shard, alerting the draugr on our end. Rather than try to hide back in the shadows, she leaped at the undead warrior while pulling her sword. While she had this one distracted, I killed the other with an arrow.

As she quickly finished off her opponent, I could hear some optimism returning to her voice. “We make a good team, my Thane.”

The room ahead held several draugr crypts, but only two of them popped open when we entered. We used swords to kill these, as it was much closer quarters. The exit from this room led back into the large cavern. I don’t know what purpose this room had served in the past. Several half collapsed walkways hinted at a multi-story chamber. It looked like at one time our pathway would have been above the floor, but our way ahead led down a broken and treacherous looking walkway.

As I started to descend this walkway, the slippery footing was too much for me and I unceremoniously ended up on my butt, sliding down. The only thing physically injured from my fall was my pride. Unfortunately, the clattering as I slid on the rock alerted several skeleton warriors that were patrolling this area. “I’ve the close ones, engage those further away with arrows!” I yelled to Lydia.

I pulled my sword and readied my shield, then sprinted towards the closest enemy. The eyes of the undead glowed with the magic that powered him as he readied his axe. He swung it towards me, but I used my shield to block him, then bashed him back with it. He staggered backwards, and I swung across his body, my sword slicing through his bones and scattering them across the floor. His axe rung as it hit the floor.

Two more warriors were closing on me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lydia engaging two skeletal archers on the second floor. I focused on the warriors coming at me. To separate them, I shouted, “FUS RO!”, which staggered one of them back. The other actually turned and looked behind him for his companion, which proved to be a deadly mistake as my sword turned him back into an inanimate pile of bones. The one I had shaken with my shout recovered his footing and approached me at the ready. I saw a bench off to one side, moving so that it was between us. He didn’t see it, and tripped on it. I chopped his skull from his spine.

Turning quickly so I could come to her aid, I saw that it wasn’t needed. Lydia had killed both of the archers. Looking around the room, I saw another skeleton sitting in a chair in the corner. I pointed at him, Lydia nodded, then shot it with an arrow just in case. The sudden collapse into a pile of bones showed that he also had been ready to attack.

Now that the immediate threat was dispatched, it was time to examine the room closer. I realized that there was not one, but two trees growing from the cavern floor. And behind those trees I saw another dragon word wall. I looked around, and saw the pathway down. The stone path leading down was a gentle slope. At the bottom, I looked up ... and up. The hole in the ceiling was hundreds of feet up. A small waterfall lay just past the word wall, emptying into a pool at the bottom of the cavern. At least I knew how the trees got water and light to grow.

I felt the word wall calling to me as I approached. Lydia and I were both on guard, but surprisingly enough, nothing jumped out to attack us. I felt the power of the word flow into me. ‘FEIM’ ... fade, become ethereal. Now if I could just gather more dragon souls to be able to use my powers, I would be set.

We continued to search this level, but other than running across another draugr hidden behind the waterfall and a small vein of silver ore, there was nothing vaguely resembling a horn. With the fresh water source here, and no enemies in sight, I decided it was time to eat. Who knew how much further we would have to go, and it had been a long time since we’d left the comfort of Jonna.

While eating our rations, I looked at Lydia and said, “I don’t understand, I would have thought we’d find the Horn here.”

“What about the rest of the level above, my Thane?” At my look of confusion, she continued. “Ah, I suspect you didn’t see it while you were attacking those skeletons, and then seeing this pool would have led you here. There’s another door on the level above, off to the right, past where you slid into battle. I assumed you knew about it and were merely resting before proceeding.”

“Your Thane isn’t perfect. I missed it completely. Let’s finish this food and drink, then relieve ourselves before continuing on.” I didn’t want to get into another battle and find myself needing to pee right in the middle of combat.

A stone bridge led across the chamber. There were three triangular shaped stone posts rising from the floor with iron gates behind them. As we got closer, Lydia spotted a skeleton archer on a walkway above. She quickly killed him, then we investigated the walkway to make sure nothing else awaited us up there. It was empty, so we went back down. As I closed upon the first stone, it began glowing red, and the first gate went up. I walked past the second, and the second gate went up. I got to the third stone, which raised the third gate, but the first one came down again. With my way blocked, I stopped and watched the other two gates come back down.

Annoying. I went back the first stone, and started running. The first gate came up, then the second, then the third, but as I got closer to the gates, the first one came back down again. Apparently they only stay up for a short time. It hit me. WULD. “Be ready by the gates, Lydia, I think I know how to get them all open.”

She moved into position as I went back to the starting one. I started running past the stones, and as I passed the third one, I shouted “WULD!” My whirlwind sprint allowed me to make it through all three gates before any of them could close. A set of steps was ahead of me, and I stopped at the bottom to make sure Lydia was still with me. The gates had stayed up once I was through, so we were still together.

She looked ahead, and smelled something in the breeze she didn’t like.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

We got to the top of the stairs and stopped. A platform lay before us. I didn’t like the looks of it. I realized something, and looked at Lydia. “Another fire trap. And from the looks of the walls, I’d guess we’re going to run into spiders as well. Be ready with potions and arrows, we’ll probably need both.”

Unlike the previous trap, these floor panels didn’t activate as soon as I stepped on them, and I knew we had a chance. “Come on, let’s hurry through this!” We ran through the first room, the flames leaping up behind us. “Quick, off to the side!” A small ledge gave us some respite. I could see ahead of us a large room with some spiders in it. “Bows!”

We both had our bows ready and quickly punctured the spiders before they could get us. “Off to the left, and then jump on the platform. They were walking on it without a problem.” We scurried across, flames toasting our backs, then leaped onto the platform. From above, a giant spider began descending towards us. “Get it!” It was dead before it hit the ground. I sighed with relief.

Lydia gave a nervous chuckle, “That was almost too close, my Thane. I’m glad I was wearing this helmet, I think my hair would have been singed off.”

Webs covered the pathway we needed to traverse, so I switched to sword and spell. While the flames coming from the floor were bad, the flame spell I cast was good in burning the webs out of our way. A wooden door lay behind them.

I opened the door, ready for combat against whatever lay in wait. The room beyond was empty, with another gate with a chain beside on the other end. I crossed the room and pulled the chain, raising the gate like I expected. A large chamber lay before me. A pool of water was in the middle, with a bridge running down the middle. Just past the other end of the bridge, I could see a ceremonial coffin, and in my soul I knew this was the resting place of Jurgen Windcaller. I could see some opened draugr crypts in here as well.

As I entered the room, the floor began rumbling. I stopped, and took up a combat position, ready for an attack. The water began to boil, and from it, four large stone carvings that obviously represented dragons emerged from the water. We waited, and after a minute, the water ceased boiling and the rumbling stopped, only now the carvings were fully out of the water.

I giggled nervously. “Okay, that was unexpected.”

We crossed the bridge and as we got closer, I could see that the draugr were already dead. The crypt of Jurgen was decorated with dragon heads, and a clawed hand was reaching up from it.

“What in Oblivion?”

There was a note sitting in the hand. This wasn’t a funny joke.

The note read, ‘Dragonborn – I need to speak to you. Urgently. Rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood, and I’ll meet you. - A friend.’

“I have seen you smile many times with happiness and pleasure, my Thane. That expression on your face now is so far from that beautiful smile that it frightens me.”

I wanted to act petulant and simply throw things. Perhaps if I hadn’t had my shield-maiden with me I would have. Instead, I simply took several deep breaths, and tried to release my rage that way. After several tense moments, I felt that I could speak without screaming. “Apparently someone else has decided that they need to speak with me. And rather than simply approach me like a reasonable person would do, they’ve taken the Horn. We have to go to Riverwood.”

Oh, well, it won’t be all bad. I think I could introduce Lydia to Camilla while we’re there. Presuming we survive the moors and however long it takes us to get back to almost where we started. I think that’s what irritated me the most.