Lorkhan's Eclipse [A Skyrim Fanfiction]

13. Hjeralt's Eyes

"Backtrack, see if there's another way through,"

I look at Ralof as he falls back, moving down the passage we just came from. Hadvar is still holding Killian back, stopping him from running into the blade trap, and he nods at me.

"Go with him, lad; tell us if you find anything."

I drop Brighid's gear beside him and run after Ralof, trying to catch up. I can't see him in the passage he just turned down, though, and keep going back - all the way to the entry hall with the big brazier. That's confusing - surely he didn't get that far ahead?

I pull open the doors of the sanctum, but there's no sign of him. Maybe I missed something. I turn back to the hall and start to retrace my steps, paying close attention to every corner and crevice - I guess he found a hidden passage, but where is it?

"I can't find him!" I tell Hadvar, who's pulled Killian back from the trap and forced him to sit down. Hadvar swears, but as he does the blades stop.

"Found a way through," Ralof calls, rounding the corner at the far end of the hall beyond. Killian is on his feet, charging for the wooden steps where we last saw Brighid, and Hadvar swears again as he runs after him. I grab Brighid's gear and try to follow, but I'm slower than the others with the extra gear and it doesn't look like Killian intends to slow down.

"Hjeralt?" Ralof calls, stopping at the top of the steps.

"I'm coming! I just—" I swear as I drop the quiver and arrows scatter across the floor. "Go on, I'll be fine!"

I scramble to pick up the arrows and look up as Ralof joins me, grabbing the last few and stuffing them into the quiver.

"They won't get through," he tells me quietly, "We're already too late. If they're going to kill her, she'll be dead by now."

I look up at him as he takes the quiver, slinging it over his shoulder as we stand. "How do you know?"

"Same way I knew you were still alive in Helgen," he shakes his head, putting a hand on my shoulder. "We need the claw from that elf; how fast can you run?"

"The claw?" I try to remember what elf he's talking about, and realise. "Wait, the elf we saved from the spider?"

Ralof is nodding, and takes Brighid's things from me, as well as my pack. "None of us grabbed it when we left that room; be as fast as you can, it should be with the elf's corpse."

I nod, feeling the weight of responsibility on me now.

I don't wait for more orders. I'm not exactly the fastest sprinter, but I can run for a long time. I backtrack through the underground creek, the waterfall room, and try to remember my way through the catacombs.

When I reach the first room, I see the pile of bodies that was shoved into the corner. There's not actually as many bodies as I expected - I swear there were four draugr that they killed in here, but the only corpse I see is the elf. The brazier we all camped around has been moved back to its original spot, too, and as I look around the room I realise the hollows are all filled again.

Creepy.

I grab the elf's body, checking it over for the claw, but all I find is a journal. If... if the draugr put everything back to rights in here, what if they also took the claw?

Delphine's mentioned how some of these old tombs work, how they need a specific dragon claw to get into the room where the master of the barrow is kept. Without it, we're locked out and the final master - dragon priest or otherwise - is locked in.