Skyrim: Rise of the Dragonborn

Chapter 15: Strange Writings

Kazim quickly disarmed the first draugr and stabbed it with its own rusty, black sword. He finished off the other two with surprising ease. Beric wondered where this Khajiit had learned to fight. It was nothing like he had ever seen Drake do. Kazim had a way of weaving in and out of his opponents much like Beric's father did. It made him wonder if they used the same fighting style.

"Arm yourselves," Kazim muttered as he motioned to the dead draugrs' weapons, "They aren't exactly what I'd call choice blades, but they'll serve you better than your filthy hands," he said moving cautiously down the hallway. Beric took notice of how filthy his hands were as he reached for the rusty, old hilt of the draugr's sword. He then realized he hadn't bathed in over a week. He probably looked rough and most likely didn't smell the greatest, especially after this whole escapade. He glanced over at Drake just in time to see him wince in pain as he picked up an old Nordic war axe. He then remembered how he had been shot with an arrow.

"Are you alright?" Beric asked quietly.

"I can manage,"

"You sure?"

"I don't have the option not to be," Drake motioned to the dead draugr under their feet. Both of them glanced up as Kazim rounded the corner and thrust his sword into a draugr and yanked his sword out again to kick it off its feet.

"Come on, cubs, we're not out of here yet," Kazim called from around the corner. They followed him down the hallways that turned into caves, that turned into big rooms. Beric probably would have enjoyed himself if he wasn't fighting off centuries old Nordic warriors cursed with undeath. It seemed that around every corner there were at least two draugr waited for them. It wasn't exactly difficult, though. Kazim spun through them and caught them off balance, and the ones he didn't kill were easily finished off by Beric and Drake. Kazim definitely knew what he was doing. In the moments that didn't require complete focus, Beric wondered if he and Drake would have been able to get this far without Kazim. Even if they had been able to get past the bandits, neither Beric nor Drake were as smooth as Kazim was in a fight. They were truly lucky to have him on their side.

"We're getting close," Kazim said as they finished off three draugr in a larger room. As they climped a staircase that led to a bridge, Beric could see the path leading into another hallway. This hallway was much different from the other hallways. It was wider, taller, and didn't seem to have any draugr lurking alongside the walls. When they entered, Beric saw what he thought was a dead end with strange designs on it. In the center there was a strange stone circle with three holes in it lining the top semicircle. Above it there were three symbols stacked above each other in a vertical line.

"Great, it's a dead end!" Drake exclaimed.

"Don't give up hope just yet, Master Drake," Kazim responded reaching into his tunic. He pulled out what looked like a golden claw of some kind.

"What's that?" Beric panted.

"The golden claw. It's the key to this door," Kazim said looking closely at the palm of the golden claw and then grabbing a symbol on the wall and moving it. Beric watched curiously as the symbol moved circularly behind a layer of stone while another symbol appeared on the same circular piece moving to the spot where the first symbol had been. Kazim repeated this to the other two symbols and then put the golden claw up to the stone circle as its three claws fit perfectly into the holes. He then turned the claw to the right and then to the left. Immediately, the door shook and started to sink into the floor. Kazim quickly pulled the claw out and put it back in his tunic.

The door revealed a spacious cave that led into a large cavern with stairs on the other end. But Beric hardly noticed the stairs. There was a hole in the top of the cavern and the moons shone directly through it and onto a large stone platform. On this platform was a large stone wall that had carvings on the bottom and strange, black designs on the top.