Not Alone (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

As I dropped lightly down on the other side of Whiterun's wall, I couldn't prevent the corners of my mouth from twitching upward.

"What is so amusing?" Cerawyn asked, her voice barely audible over the pouring rain.

I turned to her, the slight expression slowly morphing into a smile. "It's just... I'm having fun."

She gave me a look that somehow managed to convey condescension, annoyance, and confusion all at once. "This is a serious mission and should be treated as such. Don't risk our lives any more than we must."

I tugged at a strap on my Guildmaster armor, forcing the ill-timed smile off my face. "You're right, of course. Let's get moving." I glanced up at the looming wall, ensuring that the sentries' backs were turned, and made a dash for the nearest stone large enough to hide two people. Cerawyn joined me a split second later, holding the corner of her bow to prevent it from clacking against her back.

Glancing at the sentries again, I darted out from behind the rock, leapt a small stream, and slid down a steep but short hill. This place could not be seen into from the wall, as I discovered when patrolling the structure myself. At the time I had decided that while I would prefer there to be as few blind spots as possible around Whiterun, the dip was only deep and wide enough to hide five or six people, so we needn't fear any kind of concentrated Imperial force finding a use for it.

A little farther and they won't be able to see us through the rain. I abandoned the small dip, this time moving slowly and carefully, crouch-walking to stay below the tips of the rocks that rested all around Whiterun.

By the time I finally slid to a stop behind the Chillfurrow farmhouse and stood straight, arching my back to stretch my muscles, the wall was little more than an indistinct, dark shape in the distance. A sharp-eyed sentry might be able to pick up on something moving this far out, but they would never be able to tell whether it was an Imperial, a Stormcloak, or even just a stray horse or a deer.

"So what are we looking for?" Cerawyn's voice was quiet and even.

I turned to her, going back into my crouch. We had gotten far enough to cease worrying about Stormcloak sentries, but now we would have to contend with Imperial scouts. "Something is causing the tremors, and we need to find out what it is. Clearly they're coming from underground, so I suppose we ought to look for some sort of hole somewhere, most likely in a place that's hidden from the sky and hard to find even on the ground."

"That makes sense. I know of a few places that would fit your description, and most of those are to the east of the city." Cerawyn brushed her soaked hair out of her eyes. "Have you noticed that the rain has again increased?"

"I had," I said, glancing at the sky from under my hood. "With it raining this hard, no one inside the walls will be able to tell tremors from catapult stones. If we hadn't started feeling the tremors before the bombardment began, I'm not sure if we would even be able to tell the difference."

"Then the Imperials made a mistake that we must capitalize upon. We need to move." Without waiting for my consent Cerawyn moved out from under the meager shelter of the house walls, her head swinging from side to side like a hunting sabercat as she watched for Imperial scouts. I followed, avoiding puddles in the attempt to move as silently as possible.

We managed to check one large outcropping of rock before the telltale clacking of hooves on stone and water reached our ears. With a swift glance to find the source of the noise I slipped quietly behind a rock, leaning against the side opposite of the dark shapes moving toward us. Closing my eyes and concentrating on listening, I counted the number of hoofbeats as they came closer. Three... no, four horses, I decided after a moment.