The Gift of Akatosh - Part 2

Second Chapter. So far, it seems like a chapter will have around 2K words. Give or take a few. Enjoy.

Going through several corridors and rooms, they were forced to kill several Empire soldiers that attacked them. Though to be honest, Martin was not all that troubled when they killed the torture master and his assistant. They also found a spellbook in one of the cages in the torture master’s room. Martin tossed it to Riku, deciding that the kid needed something to defend himself with. Riku reluctantly used the spellbook to absorb the knowledge of the spell it held. He may not like to fight, but even he knew it was better to know and never need it instead of needing it and not knowing.

They were about to continue along a corridor when the whole structure shook and suddenly, their way was blocked with rocks. Leaving them only one option – a doorway to the side. It led to another room. This one smaller and instead of empire soldiers, it held two Stormcloaks that were arguing with each other.aMartin left Ralof to deal with them and looked around the room. It was a storage room. Some barrels and sacks here and there. But that wasn’t what caught Martin’s eye. Potions, there were potions on one of the shelves. Not many, only two healing ones and one Magicka potion, but it was still better than nothing. If anything, Martin believed in being prepared. Even overprepared. It was better than to underestimate the enemy and realize that your only option was death.

Still, being a former priest, he knew some decent healing spells and after his stint with the blades and the Hero of Kvatch, he knew even more spells and became quite proficient in fighting with a sword and a bow. So he kept the Magicka potion for himself and gave the healing ones to Riku. The boy was still following him like a duckling and it was, frankly, adorable. Martin smiled to himself as they made their way forward.

Ralof and the two other Stormcloacks caught up to them before they could get too far. And together they followed the passage. Soon, they could hear voices coming from a cavernous room. Martin caught the name General Tullius and something about waiting for him. He would have preferred to avoid the empire soldiers but going through the room was the only way. The choice got taken away from him anyway as the Stormcloacks dashed past him and engaged the Imperials in battle.

“Come on,” Martin said to Riku and with a sigh followed the sounds of battle.

They entered the huge room and saw the Stormcloacks fighting the Imperials. Three against five. Martin spotted one of the Imperials readying a bow to shoot Ralof. But before he could take the shot, Martin summoned a Bound Bow and in one swift motion took aim and shot him in the eye. ‘Thank you, Hero,’ he thought sadly, thinking of his friend from the Oblivion Crisis who spent days, if not weeks or even months teaching him all the spells and skills he picked up on his adventures and while running errands for Martin.

Once the archer was neutralized, the Stormcloacks made a short work of the other Imperials, and soon, the only thing that could be heard was the stream running through the center of the room.

Martin and Riku made their way slowly to the others.

“We should continue before more of them show up,” Martin suggested.

“We will stay here and wait for Jarl Stormcloak,” the two Nords whose names Martin still didn’t know, said.

“Don’t you think it might be possible he escaped through some other means?” Martin had to ask.

“True, but just in case, we will wait here for a time,” said the female Stormcloak.

“Let’s go then,” Martin said and motioned for Riku to follow him as he made his way forward.

Riku hurried to follow him and soon was right behind him.

Ralof said farewell to his fellow Stormcloaks and then had to run to catch up to the two.

As he was crossing a bridge, they all heard a rumble and Ralof was forced to dive forward to avoid being squashed by a rock slide that blocked the path back.

“Hopefully, those two will be able to find another way out,” Martin said, a comforting hand on Riku's shoulder.

“If they don’t get ambushed by any Imperial scum, they should be fine,” replied Ralof.

“We should keep moving,” he added and made his way past the other two and into the less man-made part of the escape route.

Martin was about to follow together with Riku when he heard some weird clicking noises. Looking around, he saw nothing, only to be surprised when several giant spiders dropped down around Ralof, who was several meters in front of them.

Quickly stopping Riku from getting any closer to the monsters, Martin re-summoned his bound bow and started firing arrow after arrow at the spiders while Ralof started hacking at them with his ax at close range.

“Use that shock spell if you see any getting away,” Martin muttered toward Riku, glancing at him long enough to see him nod and for sparks to start dancing between his fingers. Then he went back to firing spectral arrows at the creatures.

Only a few minutes later, all the spiders were dead and Martin was happy that Riku only had to use his spell once. He would have preferred it if Riku hadn’t needed to use it at all, but at the same time, it was good practice. Better the kid knows not to hesitate when defending himself, he thought.

 

They continued through the caves without any more trouble until they crossed a small bridge and Ralof suddenly stopped and motioned for them to be quiet. Martin moved closer to see what Ralof saw and spotted a sleeping bear.

“I would prefer not to tangle with her,” Ralof said quietly.

“I agree, we should try to sneak past her,” Martin nodded and motioned for Ralof to go first since he seemed to know where he was going. Martin might not be completely unfamiliar with Skyrim, but this certainly was his first time here. Let's let the native lead the way, he thought.  

Ralof started making his way slowly past the sleeping animal, keeping an eye on her all the while. So far so good. Martin nudged Riku to follow and kept close to the kid just in case while also keeping an eye on the bear. At one point they all froze when she got up and yawned. But she just turned to the other side and went right back to sleep. Martin released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and motioned to Ralof to keep going.

And finally, without any more hiccups, they exited the cave, and Martin could see the black dragon disappearing in the distance.

“Well, there goes that,” he commented. “Now what?”

“Now we split up,” Ralof said. “If you follow this path, you will reach Riverwood,” he motioned. “Ask for Gerdur, if you mention me, she will help you. And after that? Well, maybe I’ll see you in Windhelm.”

And with that, he started down the path and soon disappeared behind a bend.

“Are you going to leave too?” Asked Riku, who was, until now, mostly quiet.

“No, I’m not going to abandon you, don’t worry about that,” Martin smiled at the boy. “We should, however, get moving. We can’t stay here.”

Martin placed his hand on Riku’s back and started leading him down the path toward where Ralof disappeared. Hopefully, they won’t miss this Riverwood that Ralof mentioned. The name certainly didn’t ring any bells for Martin. Windhelm on the other hand… He was sure it was a harbor city located on the eastern coast.

When they rounded the bend, they could see Ralof in the distance. Martin also spotted a road sign not too far ahead and when they got closer to it, he could read Riverwood on it with an arrow pointing in the direction they were walking in.

“Good to know we are walking in the right direction, hum?” Martin smiled at Riku who, somewhere along the way, got a hold of Martin’s tunic and was holding on for dear life.

Martin’s expression softened at that and moved his hand from the kid’s back and ruffled his hair.

 

They walked in silence the rest of the way and soon they were greeted by an open gate leading into a small, but prospering, village.

“Now to find this Gerdur,” Martin muttered. Spotting a blacksmith nearby, he made his way over, Riku following, and greeted the man.

“What do you need?” Weapons? Armor?” the man asked. It seemed like he didn’t expect people to talk to him for any other reason than to buy or commission equipment…

“Maybe later,” Martin smiled, “but right now, I’m looking for someone named Gerdur, maybe you could point me in the right direction?”

“Try the mill over there,” the man grunted and pointed behind his house. When Martin looked, he could indeed spot a water mill.

“Thank you,” he nodded at the man and started to make his way over.

Only to almost trip over Riku who was flush at his side still.

Martin rolled his eyes and gently pried the kid off of himself only to take a hold of his hand and lead him to the mill where, hopefully, they would find Gerdur. Even though he wasn’t entirely sure why they should… Well, if nothing else, maybe he could at least persuade her to feed the kid, he looked like he hadn’t eaten in ages.

After walking across a wooden bridge, he spotted a woman chopping wood next to the watermill.

“Excuse me, but are you Gerdur?” Martin called to her as he led Riku closer.

The woman left the ax embedded in the stump and turned to them.

“Yes, who’s asking?”

“Do you know Ralof?”

Gerdur’s eyes widened and she motioned for him to continue.

“We just escaped Helgen together after it was attacked by a dragon. He said that you would be able to help us and I’m hoping that if nothing else, you would at least consider feeding Riku here,” Martin motioned to the boy who was still holding on to his hand.

Gerdur took one look at the boy and that was all she needed to herd the two to her house, sit them down and place a bowl of stew in front of each of them.

“Eat,” she simply said. “Anything else can wait after that.

 

When the bowls were empty and put away to be washed later, Gerdur sat down and looked at Martin seriously.

“Ralof passed through Riverwood just a few short minutes before you. He mentioned you, said you might be coming by and asking for help. Forgot to mention the child though,” she grumbled.

Then she continued.

“He, too, mentioned a dragon. And Riverwood is defenseless against such a beast.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Martin asked, hand instinctively going to grasp the Dragon Amulet through his shirt.

He still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with this new empire but at the same time, he was not going to let innocent civilians suffer if he could do something to help.

“Jarl Balgruuf needs to be warned about the dragon threat. I would go myself, but I can’t leave my son alone and I think the Jarl is more likely to believe you anyway considering you were there and saw that dragon,” she said.

“And where would we find this Jarl?”Martin asked.

“We follow the path through the village and then continue until we see the city called Whiterun.”

It was Riku who answered.

Martin looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I was born here in Skyrim, you know…” Riku pointed out quietly.

“So you were,” Martin nodded with a smile. “At least one of us will be able to find their way around then.”

“Though I might not be much help outside Whiterun and the Rift…” Riku admitted.

“It’s still more than I know. I know the general location of a few of the big cities but that is all.”

“Then I’ll be your guide to the best of my abilities,” Riku smiles and moves to sit closer to Martin on the bench.

“So you’ll do it?” Gerdur interrupts their conversation.

“Of course we will,” Martin answered. “I just wanted to make sure we wouldn’t get lost on the way.”

“Good, thank you,” she sounds relieved.

Martin gets up and Riku follows. But before they can leave, Gerdur sneaks a sweet roll to Riku. Martin watches with an amused smile as Riku thanks her and then they are on their way.