Of Snow and Bone - Part Eleven

27th of Last Seed, 4th Era 201

I ate a light breakfast of a sweetroll and tea, lounging around the inn for a while before going to get Blacktail from the stable and set out for Markarth. The sun had risen bright and clear into a sky scattered with clouds. It looked to be a warm day. The horse neighed as he caught my scent, and I gave the stable boy a gold septim for a huge carrot, feeding it to the dark chestnut gelding as he was saddled.
I was in a fine mood as Blacktail's hooves clopped along the road. Taking a gulp of water from a skin, I examined Dawnbreaker. I had learned a fair bit of smithing at my stronghold, and even more since leaving it; yet I could not identify the metal of the blade. It was very finely grained, and if it wasn't so light I thought it might be ebony. The weight felt more like forged glass, and the color was similar to moonstone.
With a sigh I slid the shimmering sword back into it's sheath. Likely only Meridia herself knew what it was forged from. It actually reminded me a little bit of Dwemer alloy, though lighter in weight or color. I took another swig from the water skin and watched some squirrels chasing each other in the trees.

Snow began to fall lightly as I headed further up into the mountains, trying to find a more direct path to Markarth. The main road, as marked on my map, required one to travel far south, past Rorikstead and almost to Falkreath, and then back north and west. It seemed like a roundabout way to go, and I was sure one of these mountain paths must link Markarth to Solitude.
A short set of stone stairs led to an old wooden door just off the road I was following, and I decided to head inside and explore. What was I, after all, if not an adventurer? The cave was empty, and I followed it's tunnel until I reached a large room. A stone ceremonial table had been set up, with some pieces of iron armor and two books on it. Off to one side, a large brazier smoldered gently.
One of the books was a historical account, and the other described someone who had been buried here, and mentioned something about the glowing mushrooms on the walls. I noticed the charred, smoldering remains of what might have been mushrooms in the brazier, so I tore one off a damp cave wall and tossed it in.

The mushroom erupted into blinding flame, and I could hear the sounds of stone scraping on stone. When my eyes readjusted to the darkness, I could see a secret passage had opened. These people always went through so much effort to lock things up or hide them, then they went and left obvious clues or the key right in plain sight!
Past the secret door, in a hall lit by glowing mushrooms, were more of those hideous blind elf creatures and their strange chitin structures. Dawnbreaker seared their flesh with flame wherever the blade touched them. Enchanted weapons bothered me, since they required constant recharging, but I figured it would still be a good blade even once it's enchantment ran dry. I moved deeper into the tunnel, past the two corpses.
There were more of those damned poisonous giant insects, too, and I had to down a healing potion to keep from keeling over when one of them spat venom in my face. It was worth it though; one of the chitin huts had a chest, and inside was an enchanted iron dagger and necklace. I returned to Blacktail, pounded the dents out of my shield and helmet, and then continued searching for the road to Markarth.

I spotted a squad of Altmer ahead, one in robes and two in elven armor. It was something I had seen before, and I expected to pass them peacefully as I had done before. Then out of the blue the one in robes started shooting lightning at me! I quickly galloped ahead, dismounted, and then doubled back.
I had no idea what I had done to provoke this attack, but I wasn't going to let it go unanswered. I killed the two in armor with brute strength and unrelenting blows, but the mage proved more difficult. Even behind my shield, her lightning made my muscles scream in pain. Eventually she ran out of magicka, and came at me with a dagger. A foolish mistake.
I took her cloak and robes, since they were enchanted and would sell decently, and stuffed them into Blacktails saddlebag. In the pocket of her robes was a note; an execution order with my name all over it. I wondered what the hell I had done to piss them off, then shrugged and burned the note with a flame spell.

We ran across some ice wolves, too, near an old collapsed watchtower. Blacktail struck one in the head with a massive iron shod hoof, killing it instantly, and I skewered the other on Dawnbreaker as it jumped for me.
I cursed as I reached the end of the path a short while later; it looked like it had once led through a tunnel, but a rock slide had closed off the entrance. I pulled out my map and tried to figure out where I was. As best I could tell, I was plenty far west, almost directly North of Markarth. Maybe I could just head south cross-country.
Backtracking to the fallen tower, I found a path south that wasn't too steep for Blacktail to climb. The sky had cleared, and the sun streamed brightly down, reflecting off the snow with a blinding light. After carefully plodding up a rocky slope and down the other side, we emerged in a green valley with a dirt path leading to what seemed to be nothing other than an orc stronghold.
I felt a pang of homesickness as I approached the wooden palisade, taking off my helmet and cradling it in my lap. I was welcomed inside by a woman on small wooden platform,  she called their stronghold Mor Khazgur. I was taken to see the chief. The homesickness didn't last long; he reminded me much of the one I had left behind. All talk about keeping all the women for himself and murdering anyone who challenged his authority.
But there was a woman warrior there, practicing swordplay. She reminded me of myself, and when I greeted her she spoke with regret of her fate of being married off to some other chief.

She claimed her name was Borgakh the Steel Heart, and I explained that I had left my stronghold, though for different reasons. When I asked if she would like to come with me, she claimed that it would be too great a dishonor to her chief and mother. I offered to pay a fair dowry, 200 septims, in order to buy her freedom. Borgakh was thrilled, and ran off right away to give the gold to her chief.
Before long we were on our way south, her walking beside Blacktail as I rode. We talked about life in the strongholds, and I warned her that I led a dangerous life. "Perhaps it will be best if we part ways at Markarth." I suggested. Borgakh grunted, and asked "Do you think there will be honest work for me there?".
I shrugged, and told her she could probably find work escorting caravans, or at the very least go to Solitude and join the legion. We travelled in silence after that, and I had the feeling she was weighing her options. I wondered if she regretted leaving the stronghold.

When I found another set of stone steps leading to an old door by the side of the road, I asked the Orc if she would prefer to stay outside. She gave me a fierce look and charged ahead through the door. I followed with a small sigh. Hopefully she wouldn't get killed.
Just inside the entrance, an Imperial man was fighting a glowing white spider. When we helped helm slay the thing, he said there were enchanted spiders prowling the halls, and that he was leaving while he could. I guess he was scared of the things. Still, it was strange. I had never heard of animals being enchanted before.
Borgakh tried to charge ahead, but I grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Don't be an idiot. You can still fight honorably without charging off to your death."
Borgakh looked at me with distaste. "Malacath teaches us to face our deaths without fear."
"I have been on many adventures since I left my stronghold. And I have killed many men that were so afraid of giving into their fear that they nearly threw themselves on my blade with courage. Stay behind me and if we're lucky you won't set off a trap and be impaled on spikes."
I let go of her arm, and with an angry scowl she fell in behind me. She was too much the stereotypical stronghold Orc, and it irritated me. I would definitely be leaving her to her own devices once we reached Markarth.

We encountered a strange puzzle involving four levers that raised or lowere several bars blocking our path. I pulled them all randomly for a while, then reset them and began to go about it methodically, scratching each combination I tried into the stone. This worked much better, and the fifth combination pulled back all the bars and cleared the way.
There were many potions of magical resistance scattered about the area, and I stuffed them into my sack. Perhaps they had been used to enchant the spiders, somehow. I was also able to collect a large amount of spider silk and venom, which would sell for a decent price. Borgakh had pulled her bow off her back and was using it against the spiders; if nothing else, she was an excellent shot.
Eventually we found an Altmer mage, who nearly shocked me to death before I could even get to him. When I did, though, I put all my strength into finishing him. Unfortunately he had retreated into a hallway, and Borgakh couldn't get a clean shot at him without hitting me. Either way, he was dead.
I nearly died again, and Borgakh as well, when two huge spiders, one enchanted with ice, the other with fire, spun down on webs from the walls and assailed us. I had to retreat into the hallway to heal, the spiders were too large to fit inside. Borgakh charged them with her sword, and when she fell to the ground panting, I was sure she was dead. When I killed the two spiders, darting in and out of the hall, she stood up and I have her some healing potions. She refused at first, saying that a true warrior let their wounds heal naturally. When I told her she was no use to me nearly dead, Borgakh relented and drank two potions.

In what I can only assume were the Altmers quarters, I found a beautiful engraved gold necklace with a large diamond set in the middle. It would sell for a pretty penny, and I promised Borgakh I would give half the coin I got for it when I sold it in Markarth. She seemed pleased at that.
As we walked south, continuing along the path, Borgakh asked me if I did that sort of thing often. I told her it was rare for a day to go by where I wasn't exploring some cave or another, or killing bandits, or doing some random job for someone. I pulled out Dawnbreaker, which I had seen her looking at when we were battling the spiders, and told her how I had come across it.
I also told her how dangerous adventuring and tombraiding was. About Meeko, and the two Vigilants, and the many close calls I had had. I could tell it had little sobering effect though; she had been enraptured with the idea of adventuring ever since I had found that diamond necklace. So much for all that talk of honor!

The path ended up being a dead end, stopping at the banks of a river. We just turned south and followed the river instead. It led us to a mining town, Karthwasten, where some miners were arguing with some mercenaries. From what I could gather, the miners had been told they were hired to protect the mine from Forsworn, but in actuality were just there to bully the miners into selling to some family called the Silverbloods.
Apparently, the Forsworn were some sort of native hill tribe that constantly harassed anyone living in or around Markarth. It seemed silly to me: after all this time, this land didn't belong to them any more than it did to the Nords. I could understand fighting for your homeland, but it seemed to me that at this point the Forsworn were just fighting because that was what their parents had done, and their grandparents, and their great-grandparents. It was foolish.
There was no inn or anything, so I shared some slaughterfish with Borgakh and we ate a quick lunch on some wooden steps. I got the feeling from the way the miners were looking at me that they wanted me to do something about the sellswords, and I spoke with a man named Ainethach, the mine's owner. He said if I got rid of the sellswords, one way or another, I could have all the silver ore I could carry. It seemed like a fair enough deal.
I approached Atar, a Nord man in charge of the band of mercenaries. When he refused to leave peacefully, I pulled out my sword and challenged him. Fight me or leave. He drew his weapon, and I unleashed a flurry of blows, battering away his shield and then slaying him. We cleared the mine of his men, and then went to inform Ainethach.

Ainethach gave me 600 septims for my work, and I was pleased he was not upset that I had killed the sellswords. Some people had weak stomachs when it came to such things, but every mercenary knows the risks when they take a job. One of those risks is that a better mercenary might be hired to kill them. Someone like me.
I split the septims with Borgakh, and we both spent the remaining daylight mining and smelting silver. By time we were done Blacktails saddlebags bulged and clinked with a dozen small ingots of the soft shiny metal. Borgakh had at least that many, her pack must weigh a ton.
We bedded down in the smaller of Karthwasten's two mines, and chatted as we ate dinner. I decided that Borgakh would make an excellent caravan or personal guard; she had sharp aim, quick reflexes, and good eyes. But the moral ambiguities of being a sellsword or adventurer did not fit her well.  With any luck at all she could get a job guarding silver shipments from Markarth.