Not Alone (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

     A Shout with five words.  I hadn’t even known such a thing was possible.  The Greybeards had never mentioned something like that either, and I wondered if they even knew.

     Argnier looked grave when I asked him that question the next day after I had spent the night in High Hrothgar.  “Through meditation and sending our thoughts far and wide, we have indeed felt whispers of a Shout such as you say.  I know many Words of Power, and much of the dragon language besides, but never have I felt a more sinister and malevolent grouping of Words.”  I started to say something, but he went on, “No, before you ask, I cannot say what these words are nor where they located.”

     That was exactly what I had been about to ask, so I asked a different question.  “Do you know where this dragon Paarthurnax spoke of might be?”

     “If Paarthurnax does not know the location of his own kin, how can we?” Argneir said reasonably. 

     I sighed inwardly.  I simply didn’t have time to trek all over Skyrim and go down every single cave entrance large enough to admit a dragon.  Nevertheless, I thanked Arngeir and started the treacherous descent down to Ivarstead.  Once there, I mounted Gormlaith, who was patiently waiting for me, crossed the bridge, and started to follow the Treva River southeast.  The river ran all the way Riften where it was situated on the far side of Lake Honrich.  I had followed this road a dozen times before and I knew it led straight past Treva’s Watch, an old fort that the Imperials had abandoned during the Civil War.  It was now overrun by bandits, so I gave it a wide berth to avoid it.  I needed to get to Riften and rendezvous with Brynjolf and Vex at the Thieves’ Guild, not get caught up fighting scum.

     It had taken me nearly until noon to descend the mountain, but the ride from Ivastead to Riften was an easy one.  Thus, when I dismounted Gormlaith at the stables it was still a few hours until sunset.  The guards at the gates had their helmets in their hands and were fanning their faces, looking far more concerned with the heat than the trickle of travelers moving in and out of the city.  I pushed through a group of Khajiit and went through the gates without incident.  Not that I particularly expected an incident, but I’ve been waylaid at the gate before.

     Riften was exactly the same as the last time I had been here, which had been… two, three weeks ago?  The same smell of fish and stagnant water pervaded the air, the same voices shouted their wares in the market, and the same inhabitants hurried around on business known only to themselves.  Everything here was the same except me.  Last I had come here I had been fresh from completing a quest, free as a hawk.  Now I was encumbered with thoughts about how impossible everything I had gotten caught up in was going to be to resolve.

     I headed straight through Riften to the very back of the city where the shrine of Talos was located, and more importantly, the secret entrance to the Thieves’ Guild.  The first time I had been to the Ragged Flagon, the tavern beneath the city where the Thieves’ Guild’s main headquarters was located, I had been afraid I would have to go there through the Ratway every time I wanted to speak to someone from the Guild.  Pretty much all the killers, thugs, and nutjobs in Riften made their home in the Ratway, and getting through unscathed was no simple process.  When I had voiced my concern to Delvin, he had laughed heartily and shown me the ‘back door’ as he called it.

     Pushing the Guild Shadowmark on what looked like a common tomb inward, I stood back as the casket moved back into the wall on oiled stones.  Knowing it would slide shut once more behind me I pulled up the trap door and stepped down the ladder, lowering it shut behind me.

     The Cistern was dimly lit, and after the brightness of the noonday sun my eyes needed a moment to adjust.  Once they had I caught sight of Cynric Endell, a jailbreaker, practicing archery on the targets just inside the Cistern like usual.  I walked toward him and asked, “Is Brynjolf back yet?”