Of Snow and Bone - Part Ten

26th of Last Seed, 4th Era 201

The gem I had picked up yesterday, at the ruined towers, was acting like a compass. It pulsed faintly to the Northwest. I decided to turn around, and follow it's direction. I assumed it was pointing me towards Mount Kilkreth, or wherever it was that Meridia's temple was located. Then I mentally kicked myself as I realized I had completely forgotten to deliver the letter while I was at Whiterun! The air was cool and pleasant in the hours before daybreak, and Blacktail clopped along placidly as we retraced our steps from the previous day's journey.

I left Blacktail tied up at the stables and entered Whiterun on foot, checking the letter to remember who I was supposed to deliver it to: someone named Danica. After a little asking around I found her, she was a priest of Kynareth up at the temple. Danica gave me some coin for my troubles and then returned to healing a wounded man. I was surprised she was up this early; something told me she didn't get much rest.
Stopping by the forge, I purchased a hammer and some steel punches to do field repairs on my armor, patched up the holes the necromancer had given me, then returned to Blacktail and set off West as the sun began to rise behind us.

I decided to stop and investigate an old crumbling fortress I had passed by when I had been coming from Rorikstead. Bandits had put up straw soldiers, to make it look as if the walls were manned. That made me chuckle softly. There were five bandits in the courtyard, all armed with bows, and by the time I had killed them all I must have looked like a porcupine!
The combat inside was more to my liking, and after I had slain a man and a woman wielding rusty iron greatswords, I found an old woman. She appeared to be a maid, "I just cook and clean and do whatever they ask of me!" she exclaimed. I thought it was odd, but I wasn't going to cut down an unarmed old woman. I had this terrible feeling she was going to blast me with a fireball or electrocute me as soon as I turned my back, but she just huddled on her bed.
Past a series of skeever traps baited with old cheese, I confronted an old, grey-bearded nord man. He swung a steel greatsword with ferocity, and I had to flee and heal myself at one point. He parried every blow I gave and countered with one twice as strong. Finally, after an eternity of blocking and dodging his blows, he was tired enough to give me an opening. I slashed at his arm, cutting to the bone, and he dropped his sword. With a grunt of effort, I drove my blade into his chest and finally put an end to the battle. A worthy foe, I wondered what he was doing among the other bandits, who had barely put up a fight.

I cleared the fort, but found little of value besides coin, potions, and a spell scroll. Remounting Blacktail, who was chewing some brown grass, we continued to head West. I stopped at a quiet inn at Rorikstead for a lunch of brown bread and chicken stew, washing it down with a mug of brown ale. While Blacktail munched some grass growing along the road, I pounded out the dings and gashes in my armor, and cleaned and oiled my sword. Then it was back onto the road.
Meridia's gem led me to her temple, and as I approached she bid me to place the 'beacon' as she called it in a cradle at the foot of her statue. When I did, I found myself lifted hundreds of feet into the air on a beam of light. There, floating in the sky, a ball of light I can only assume was Meridia, ordered me to cleanse her temple of a necromancer named Malkoran. I hurriedly agreed, since I did not wish to be dropped from such a height at the whim of a Daedra. On the plus side, the view was amazing.

Meridia set me down at the doors to her temple, and I entered. The halls were filled with a swirling purple miasma, charred and butchered corpses of Imperial and Stormcloak soldiers littering the halls. Several beacons, similar to the one I had found, reflected beams of light. When I arranged them to line up, the door to the next room swung open. I repeated this several times as I progressed through the halls, slaying several strange shadow creatures along the way. When the path took me outside, I found a chest containing several pieces of jewelry, an enchanted circlet, and a spell book. At least I would be making some money from this adventure.
At last I found Malkoran, surrounded by a guard of shades. I slew the shades quickly, then focused on the necromancer. He let loose a whirling ball of ice from a staff that knocked my from my feet and chilled me to the bone, but though his attacks were strong he was physically weak. It took only a few quick slashes to bring him down, but when his body was slain his spirit rose as a shade. I forced it back into the beam of Meridia's light, where it writhed in agony and then vanished to dust.
With the necromancer slain, Meridia spoke to me, telling me to take her sword, Dawnbreaker, from it's pedestal. When I did, I found myself consumed in light, and suddenly I was floating in the air again. Meridia instructed me to use Dawnbreaker to spread her light across Skyrim. I told her I would, it was a good straight blade, with a glowing gem set into the guard. Centuries of wear had left it a little dull and tarnished, and when Meridia set me down at the entrance to the temple I set about sharpening and polishing it. When I was done, it gleamed as brightly as any dawn.

I hurried through the temple to grab the necromancers staff and enchanted cloak, for both would surely sell well, and strapped them to Blacktail before setting out for Solitude. I was amazed at how much the mount had cut my travel times, and was sure we would reach the city before nightfall.
I spent the remaning hours of daylight trading and working the forge, practicing my smithing and repairing my armor yet again. As the sun set behind the mountains, I headed to the inn for dinner and sleep. Blacktail was being seen to down at the stables. Laying down to sleep, I decided that tomorrow, if nothing else came up I would head to Morthal.