A Watery Grave - A Skyrim Adventure - AU

Chapter 1 - An Offer

Hirel walked out of the gate to Whiterun, hearing the clanging and scraping sound of the heavy wooden gates slam shut behind him. He was with a small group of other refugees that had been kicked out of Whiterun along with him. Casualties from the war were taking up too much space, and apparently people dying in the street from starvation was not a good look for people visiting the hold capital with caravans to supply it.

With him were a woman and child, along with two men who looked tough enough. One of them was comforting the woman, presumably her husband judging from how she and the child were looking up at him worriedly. The man with his wife didn't look up at the two of them, but the other man stood next to Hirel gave him a look that told him to get out of there quickly. Something about the sword at his belt said that he wasn't to be messed with.

Hirel simply walked away, making his way down towards the stables to see the cart driver, Camo, sat on his cart, waiting for the next person or cargo to be shipped across to the next hold that it would be sent to. Hirel raised a hand in greeting to see the man give him an oily smile, clearly expecting him to be a new customer to be transported across Skyrim. The imperial held out his sweaty palm, expecting Hirel to hand him coin to move him somewhere else.

'Well Camo, here we are again' Hirel sighed, reaching for his beltpurse and extracting fifty gold coins. They glinted slightly in the sunlight before being snatched from his hands by Camo, who inspected them carefully before pocketing them.

'All business is good business, even if it is from your kind' he sneered in his nasally voice, looking at Hirel down his slightly hooked nose at me. He'd heard it all before from people since he left Riverwood, even then he had heard it there.

'Up to Dawnstar please' Hirel politely requested, moving around to the back of the cart and climbing on. Camo laughed at him, tweaking the pointed ear of Hirel before he even thought about setting off. It would take a day or two to get there they both knew, and so Camo could take his time to see if any deliveries would need to be taken north. Taking one person was good but taking food or clothes up to Dawnstar as well would make him even more coin, which is why he got in the business in the first place.

'Looking to die in the silver mines?' Camo grinned, the yellowing teeth showing through his cracked lips.

'Looks that way Camo, I'd rather end up working in the mines than starving here' Hirel responded, playing with the bowstring attached to his back. He had a simple wooden hunting bow and a small iron dagger, along with a handful of arrows to scare off wild animals.

'Some people would say that it is worse than death to go work in those mines. There might be a little. Accident. If you aren't careful of course…' Camo leered at Hirel, showing the hilt of an iron shortsword strapped to his belt. Hirel knew that he didn't like him because of his grey skin, but he didn't expect the immediate threat.

Hirel thumbed the handle of his own dagger behind his back, but in truth he was terrified. The dagger had never been used for anything more violent than cutting meat and he had never been in an actual fight. People in Riverwood tended to leave him be as the half breed of the village. His grey skin and red eyes tended to make people leave him alone unless they wanted something. So this open conflict was something completely alien to him, and he almost drew his dagger before Camo fell back laughing, kicking the seat with his heels and pointing at Hirel.

'You should've seen the look on your face' he gasped through fits of laughter, pointing at Hirel some more as a couple other people walked down the road towards the cart. One of them wore strange yellowing robes, a hood pulled over his head to cover his face. He thought he saw the tip of his nose poking out from under the hood, a greying nose similar to his own.

'Can we commandeer this cart to take us to Winterhold' the hooded man rasped, extending a hand filled with gold coins, probably over fifty of them, much more than Hirel had given him. Hirel thought that he may be simply abandoned by Camo if he decided that the fee wasn't worth it. He probably wouldn't though seeing as he already took the coin.

Camo took the coins, rubbing his fingers over the coins again, inspecting them under the light before pocketing them all and waving the two men on board, laughing again at the worried look on Hirel's face. Hirel tapped on the end of his bow again, twisting the string under his fingertips as he watched the two men climbing onto the back of the cart.

The other man was just a mercenary, covered in leathers and a greatsword that he pulled from his back, lying it across the floor of the cart and slamming his dagger into the seat next to him, the handle quivering with the force that he used. The trained muscles across his arms flexed slowly as he placed his palms on his knees and leaned forwards to check his sword.

'When're we moving driver!' He shouted up to Camo, who tutted slightly under his breath before calling over his shoulder to respond

'We're moving in the middle of the day if no other people want to come or if any deliveries want making' Camo leaned forwards and scratched the horse in front of him between the ears. The horse seemed to happy with it, and even happier when Camo leaned forwards and fed the horse something from his pouch that Hirel didn't see.

The man in the robes stood up in the cart, stepping over the cart and muttered something to Camo, sliding him another handful of coins before sitting back down and slipped his hands inside his robes. It wasn't cold but it wasn't warm either. To be fair it was never really warm in Skyrim anyway.

Camo snapped his reigns quickly, glancing over at the robed man again fearfully before he turned away, the cart rocking off towards Dawnstar. The mercenary was constantly looking at his sword, making sure that it was still there and hadn't fallen off the cart. They looked comfortable enough at least.

Hirel snapped out of his daze when the robed man addressed him directly, tapping him on the knee in order to get his attention.

'Where are you headed fellow traveller' he inquired, cooking his head and running his eyes over Hirel. Hirel diverted his look as the robed man stared at him, only looking back when the robed man stopped staring at him and just sat back again.

'Dawnstar' Hirel answered evasively, glancing at the wooden boards at the bottom of the cart 'the silver mines are an easy place to make some gold'. The robed man chuckled slightly as he glanced over at the mercenary, who grinned at the robed man before turning to me and explaining nastily.

'The thieves guild runs that hold, it's practically its own nation at this point. You'd be handing over every scrap of silver that you made to that scum. You go there if you want to die working for a corrupt guild of thieves and liars.' He picked up his sword and unsheathed it, inspecting the blade as he continued his explanation.

'If it was up to me then I would've wiped them all out a long time ago, and I may do some day if I wasn't on this contract' he nodded at the robed man before resheathing his sword and leaning back again.

'That is what I wanted to ask about' the robed man continued, tucking his hands out of his pockets and turning over a gold coin between his fingers 'we are taking part in a expedition near Winterhold. Trying to recover some of the scattered artifacts from the sunken college. We are hiring people to help, and you'll get a pay not stolen by the thieves guild.'

Hirel hesitated, thinking over the offer carefully. More dangerous and temporary work but it might be more beneficial in the long run because the pay will probably be good.

'What's the pay like?' Hirel asked the robed man, who thought it over for a second, 

'Depends on the find. The quality and value of the items. If you manage to find something really valuable then you will be set for life' he explained. Set for life definitely sounded appealing to Hirel. But he might be killed. Scrounging for treasures doesn't exactly sound easy and might end his life.

Hirel nodded, reaching out a hand and accepting his offer.