Scales and Hearts | A Skyrim Fanfiction

Chapter Twelve: High Hrothgar

Druthza

Our trek up to the monastery had gone relatively fine during the first half hour, but as we continued to go higher up the 7,000 steps and expose ourselves to the more brutal parts of the mountain, we realized just how ferocious the elements in Skyrim could be, the winds beginning to grow brutal and cold and the temperature steadily falling.

Even with the insulated robe surrounding my body and the hood over my head, I was beginning to lose feeling in my fingers despite the many times I'd spark up a flame spell in the palm of my hand, only managing to raise my body temperature slightly and have it drop once my Magicka levels declined, and the flame dissipated without a trace.

And, on top of that, Derkeethus appeared to be shivering just as bad as I, which could be seen by the violent lashing of his tail and the audible chattering of his teeth, his arms hugging his body as we trekked further up towards the monastery, causing me to frown in concern before I decided to shuffle closer to the male.

Only to hook my arm around his shoulders and lightly tug him closer to my form in a chaste attempt to try and keep him warm with what body heat we still possessed, with him doing the same as he murmured gratefully: "th-thank you. A-At least you're trying, b-but I'm not sure how long this w-will work for."

"Better than n-nothing, r-right?" I asked, but then began to wonder just how much longer we'd be walking for, that sack of supplies from Klimmek still gripped tight in the hand not present around Keeth's body. "Hopefully, we'll be there soon... and out of the cold. At least for a moment... kaoc, this is not my idea of a good time. Then again: whoever said that it would be?" I commented with a wry chuckle, our feet crunching through the snow while I spared a glance down at the ground, being sure to keep pace with the fellow Saxhleel and not lose my footing on the icy stone steps.

I then proceeded to take a good look around us for about the third time during our pilgrimage up the mountain, finding that the landscape itself had only become more rocky and snowy, nothing else had truly changed. Relatively bland, I'll say that, I commented mentally, but the sudden voice of Lydia broke me out of my staring. "My Thane, how are you fairing?" She asked upon trudging closer to me, and I turned to look her in the eyes. "Cold, if this is any indicator of it," I gestured to Keeth, who was still nestled close to me with his arm hooked over my shoulders, who gave a low grunt as I vaguely mentioned him. "And you, Lydia? You don't seem too fazed by this cold."

"And you would be right," she responded, "Nords are hearty, and all of our armor is lined with pelts and furs, so it only furthers our ability to fend off Skyrim's chill. I can imagine that the marshes you come from are far from chilly."

"That it is..." I rumbled, my memories of my adolescence in Gideon flashing in my head before I put them aside, not wishing to dive too deep into the past as I instead turned my attention back to the path ahead of us, my depth perception telling me that the path would soon dip within the next few feet, only to slope upward from there, and take us closer to High Hrothgar.

Alas, besides the biting cold and the howling winds, the relative tranquility we had established while trekking up to the monastery was soon broken by the distant roar of... something. That was no dragon. I realized, only for the roar to sound again. It sounded deep, and it seemed to be emitted from some sort of mammal. "Does anyone else hear that?" I asked over the sudden gust of wind that blew our way, catching the scent of something similar to those skeevers down in Bleak Falls Barrow, and I scrunched up my snout in disgust.

"Up ahead is a troll, my Thane." Said Lydia, drawing her blade in preparation for a possible battle, "they're to be taken down with speed and aggression before your skull's caved in by their fists. I've read that they're best taken down with fire spells." She informed me, causing me and Keeth to disconnect ourselves from one another, causing a chill to sweep over our bodies once our shared body heat dispersed.