Of Snow and Bone - Part Nine

25th of Last Seed, 4th Era 201

I awoke feeling fuzzy and contented from good sleep. The sun was not yet out. Warming the last of the venison by the hearth, I ate breakfast, drinking the last of the alto wine from last night. According to my map, Rorikstead was not far to the south, and then Whiterun lay some miles to the east. If I kept a decent pace, I might make Whiterun by noon.
I left before dawn, with Masser a huge crescent in the sky. Rorikstead was silent, a single guard patrolling with a torch just as dawn began to break, the sky lighting a soft violet and pink on the eastern horizon. As I walked down the road, a Khajiit, dressed all in black leathers, jumped from behind a rock and assaulted me with sword in one hand, dagger in the other.
She had none of the good humor Mai'q had shown, and got several minor glancing blows on me before I took her head clean off. I must be getting stronger. A small coin purse and a simple note were all I took from her. The note held scant information: only that I was to be killed, and that failure would not be tolerated. With a grunt, I crumpled the note and tossed it aside. They would have to do better than that if they wished me dead.

Discovering a cave along the road, I paused and wandered inside. I was making excellent time towards Whiterun, and my bloodlust was up from the assassin's attack. Adventure called.
It proved to be a near fatal mistake; a vampire clad in elven armor had risen several skeletons from their crypts, and I had to flee and heal myself before I was able to kill her. Another vampire, deeper within, I took by surprise as he slept, and was easier to kill. I got some gold and jewelry for my efforts, and an enchanted amulet that made me feel a little more energetic. The entire ordeal took perhaps only ten minutes, and before long I was back into dawn's light.

I noticed a film of rust on my blade, and felt a pang of shame. The blade was nicked and chipped in several places, and my armor was full of holes, gashes, dents and scrapes. I vowed to do no more adventuring until my equipment was back in top shape, and headed to Whiterun at a brisk pace.
A band of three merrymakers passed me going towards Rorikstead on the road, and a Redguard with a Nord accent offered a bottle of Honingbrew mead. With a hearty thanks and a toast to the enjoyment of fine drink, I downed the bottle and bid him a good journey. It was nice to meet some friendly people on the road, for once. When I offered a few septims for the brew, he declined and said it was his pleasure to spread joy.
A thief attacked me as Whiterun grew in the distance, but I slew him with ease. Blocking his initial flurry of attacks, I lashed out with shield while thrusting with sword, blade shearing through his tarnished and worn elven armor. Thankfully I reached Whiterun without any further trouble, and found a Khajiit caravan camped outside it's gates.
They were very polite, and more serious than Mai'q. I traded several small things I had picked up on the way from Solitude; soul gems, potions and poisons, small gems of low quality. It reminded me that I needed to pick up a cure for diseases at the alchemists, after my earlier run in with the vampires, and I headed inside the city.

I traded for the disease cure and downed it, and also purchased several healing potions. Afterwards, I quickly made my way to the smith; the sun was still fairly low in the sky, and if I was lucky I could complete my gear repairs before noon. The smith had several Dwemer ingots, and I was able to repair and even reinforce my armor. I honed my sword to a razors edge, and sewed up some tears in my pack and haversack. The smith woman did not have enough raw materials to forge a shield of Dwemer alloy, but had one already made by her hand. Purchasing it, I took the last bit of Dwemer metal and tweaked it to my liking.
With my equipment seen to, I headed to the general store to sell off the last of my goods, a few pieces of jewelry and some magical spell scrolls. The owner of the shop, a Breton man, grated on my nerves, but he paid me a decent enough price.

When all this was accomplished, I stopped at the inn for a light supper of bread and cheese and tea. Then I continued on my journey east, deciding to visit Windhelm, and explore anything of interest along the way. On a whim, I stopped by the Whiterun stables. One thousand septims for a horse, which seemed a reasonable price, especially since it included two saddlebags, the saddle, and a horse blanket. I picked a likely looking dark-haired gelding, and with some instruction from the stable keeper and an hours practice, was soon on my way.
The stable keeper told me the horse's name was Blacktail, since his tail and mane were darker than the rest of him. Although knowing my luck, he would soon be slain from under me! I hoped Blacktail lived a good long time, otherwise my coin was wasted. When a wolf sprinted down from a cluster of rocks to attack us, Blacktail only startled a little, and I was able to lean down off my saddle and hack the wolf to death. I was grateful the horse was proving well-behaved and easy to handle.

I found Mai'q along the road again, and hailed him. This time he claimed he had heard it was dangerous to be my friend, and that the people of Skyrim were more open minded than people of other places. I supposed both of those things were true to an extent. I told the Khajiit that I hoped to see him again soon, and lead Blacktail onwards.
The road along the White River was infested with wolves, but Blacktail did well. Still, he received several bites to his legs, and I had to soak a cloth with healing potion and apply it to his wounds. Perhaps, if I got the chance, I would need to learn a spell to heal others. It would certainly help with these sorts of situations. When I noticed two ancient stone towers, one on each side of the river connected by a thin bridge, I tied his reigns around a rock and went to investigate.
A few bandits had taken up residence, and many arrows thunked into my new shield. I slew them all easily enough, though, even the one who appeared to be their leader. He was too cautious, and barely fought back. An old chest, hidden in the tower on the far side of the river, held a strange gem. When I picked it up, a voice flooded into my head; it reminded me of when Vaermina had tried to get me to kill that Dunmer priest in Nightcaller Temple.
This voice claimed to be Meridia. She demanded that I be her new champion, and cleanse her temple at Mount Kilkreath of invaders. Why the Daedric goddess could not just banish them all to Oblivion, I did not know, but it is said they often work in strange and insane ways.

With a shrug, I put the gem into my haversack and began looting the corpses of their coinpurses. The findings were meager, but the fight was thrilling, even if it was easy. Slipping a rough, unpolished amethyst from one of the bandits pockets into my haversack, I returned to Blacktail and continued down the path. It was nice not having to carry a pack around all the time; I just strapped my equipment to the horse.
When a troll appeared around a bend in the path, Blacktail nearly bolted. I yanked him around and galloped the other way for a time, then quickly dismounted and ran back to face the troll on foot. It took several deep hacks, and one of it's blows nearly tore shield from arm, but soon it was slain, and Blacktail and I were back upon the trail.

A while later, when the sun was beginning to get low in the sky, I took a detour up a small dirt path. At the top was one of those ancient Nord burial tombs, and I decided to explore before bedding down for the night. The half rotten doors creaked and showered the stone floor with rust as I opened them, and much to my surprise a Nord man sat beside a fire just inside the entrance!
He jumped up, startled, and said he thought I was a necromancer. The man said his name was Golldir, and his aunt had gone inside to kill a Dunmer necromancer who was raising his ancestors from the dead. He begged my help, and I gave it gladly, saying that in truth I had planned on exploring the tombs anyway. Golldir seemed nonplussed at that, but he unlocked the door to the tomb and we went inside.
Most of the risen corpses proved rotten and frail, falling apart in just a few blows. A few of them were tougher, and took a bit of effort, but it was nothing I couldn't handle, especially with Golldir providing backup. Sadly, we found the torn body of Golldir's aunt, laying in a pile of blood in the middle of a larger room.

We cut through a small army of dusty corpses, fighting to reach a secret passage Golldir knew of, since the necromancer had barred the main door. At last we fought our way to the Dunmer, and he summoned one Draugr after another, until at last we slew him. My armor had a few new holes, where the necromancers ice bolts had pierced, but Golldir gave me a large coin purse and the key to a chest as a reward for my efforts. He proved to be tougher than he looked, and I commended his fortitude.
The chest held a circlet of copper and moonstone, an enchanted hunting bow, and a spell tomb. I left the bow and took the other two items, stuffing them into my haversack, which already clinked with some random potions and other loot to sell. I joined Golldir at the fire by the entrance to the tomb for the night, tying up Blacktail nearby. I slept uneasily, hoping bandits would not attack us in the night and slay Golldir like had happened to the Vigilants. I seemed to be bad luck for other people.