Skyrim: Rise of the Dragonborn

Chapter 16: Out of the Woods

"You alright?" Beric asked for the hundredth time on their trek down to Riverwood. It had to be several hours until sunrise. Beric doubted that Hadvar's Uncle would be awake, but he didn't know who else to turn to. He knew Drake needed to recover and the long trip to Whiterun wouldn't help.

"I'm fine," Drake whispered as his head drooped. He had obviously taken quite the beating. Beric's hand felt like it was on fire, but he knew Drake couldn't walk by himself. He was barely walking as it was. Beric struggled along as he supported most of his weight. The only thing keeping Beric going as fast was the sickening feeling that the bandits had followed them out of the cave. He could have sworn he heard booming voices behind them after they had left the cave.

"Almost there," Beric said to himself as he caught a glimpse of the village rooftops.

"There they are!" came a strong voice a good bit behind them. Beric almost panicked wondering how they saw them in the darkness of night, but panic wouldn't help them, getting to the village would. He quickened his pace as they approached the river. Beric switched his grip on Drake's arm and wrapped his good hand under Drake's arms and over his chest. He eased into the freezing cold water as quietly as he could and started the difficult swim to the other side. It wasn't just Beric's hand that felt like it was on fire. His whole body felt like it was about to give, but it couldn't, not yet. The cold water started to numb his body as his lungs started to ache.

After the painful swim, Beric struggled to pull Drake out of the water. He was exhausted, but he couldn't stop. He glanced up and saw the movement of bandits approaching the other side of the river. Beric gritted his teeth as he summoned all the strength he had left to pull Drake from the water. Beric collapsed as soon as they made it to the road. As he tried to pick himself up, he coughed out what would have been vomit had he eaten recently.

"Hey, are you alright?" came a rugged voice above Beric. The rugged voice sounded familiar.

"Bandits," Beric struggled out as he pointed behind him.

"To arms!" the familiar voice shouted, "We're being invaded! Guards, to arms!" Beric looked back to see a guard in a yellow tunic parry and strike down a bandit. He then heard a horn blown. The guards were being called.

He picked himself up and looked back to the river. Several guards had already engaged the bandits on the beach. It was then that he made eye contact with the burly Nord that wanted Beric's blood. Beric groaned as he grabbed Drake and tried to pull him up. He slowly dragged him to the house that Hadvar had led them to several days ago. There had to be something he could fight with. Evan if it were all for nothing, he wasn't going to die a coward.

As he entered the smithy's shop, he looked around for a place to hide Drake. The Nord would undoubtedly want them both dead. He dragged him to a corner and threw a blanket over him. He heard footsteps on the wooden stairs. He was close. He grabbed the smithy's hammer and a one-handed axe and hid by the table next to the entrance. The creaks came closer as Beric saw a glimpse of a broad silhouette in the doorway. He didn't move a muscle. The silhouette walked in and looked around with his axe ready. Beric was surprised the Nord hadn't noticed him. Beric slowly moved to another table as the Nord continued his search. Beric put his head to the floor and saw the Nord's feet stopped and pointed to where Drake was. Beric's heart stopped. He could see Drake's feet. In his rush, he didn't completely cover him up.

Beric quickly stood up and chucked the hammer at the Nord and hit him in the shoulder. The Nord screamed in pain as Beric leapt over the table and swung the sword onto the same arm. Beric felt the grotesque thud of the sword cutting into the fleshy arm. Beric felt different as he continued to slash at his opponent. He actually felt that he stood a chance. Perhaps it was because he had to. He surprised himself with the different variety of slashes he gave. He was even more surprised that the Nord seamed to struggle to keep up. Beric then put everything he had into the fight and started slashing away, actually hitting him every few strikes. Eventually, he was able to hack the Nord's knee out from under him. The Nord squirmed on the floor holding his leg and screaming in pain. Beric raised his sword as he considered ending the bandit's life. As the Nord cursed through gritted teeth, an orange light shone from behind him.

"Stand down, boy. It's alright," came the same rough voice. As Beric lowered the sword and leaned back on the table, he realized the familiarity of the voice.

"Yes, sir," he whispered to the guard. As much as he hadn't cared for the high ranking guard from Whiterun, he was happy to have him there.