Lorkhan's Eclipse [A Skyrim Fanfiction]

15. Change

I wish I could say that dying gives you a new perspective on things, but the world doesn't seem all that changed to me now. I find myself tagging along at the back of the group, watching the other four as my mind wanders.

A week ago, I had never killed anything except maybe bugs. Now, I've killed wolves, giant spiders, a troll, draugr, and most disturbingly (at least to me), people.

I look up at the stars sprawled overhead. The twilight has mostly faded into the darkness of night, with starlight glittering down from the inky expanse. One of the moons, the larger of the two, is peeking over the eastern mountains, but even without its light we can still see fairly clearly, probably because we've been in dim caves for the better part of two days. This world is so different to our home, but cave-crawling and violent dangers aside, I like it here.

We follow the river from Lake Illinalta, fording it near the mill at Riverwood. As we gather in the single roadway that leads into town, a guard stops us, looking us up and down.

"You look like you've had a fight," he remarks, holding a torch aloft to better see us. We've all shed our armour since leaving the cave and now the cuts, scrapes, nicks, and bloodstains on our clothes are more easily visible.

"When you wander about at night, you're bound to run into trouble," Ralof tells the guard, shrugging. "We're fine, nothing we couldn't look after ourselves."

The guard moves on, no news to share. I'm not sure if this is a relief or not.

"Brighid, come with," Killian grabs my arm as he moves towards the Riverwood Trader, not even giving me a chance to protest. "We'll meet up with you guys at the inn," he adds over his shoulder to the other three.

The shop's door isn't locked, and Killian shoves it open, pulling me into the shop with him. I haven't been in here yet, spending most of our last brief stay in Riverwood at the forge and the inn. A gravelly voice greets us as we step inside, and I look around Killian to see Lucan Valerius. His smile, obviously the type for a customer service gig, falters as he recognises Killian.

"I thought you left for Whiterun?" He asks, then hastily corrects himself. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, of course – Camilla's at the Inn if you're looking for her, though."

"Actually, we had some things to trade," Killian says, "Oh, by the way – Lucan, this is my sister, Brighid. Brighid, Lucan Valerius."

"A pleasure," Lucan inclines his head towards me, the smile softening ever so slightly. He looks over us again, at the stains on Killian's shirt and the marks and cuts on our arms. "Well, you two look like you've had an interesting day."

"Went through Bleak Falls Barrow, took down those bandits, opened an ancient tomb and killed a bunch of draugr." Killian replies as he unslings his pack, approaching the counter. Lucan stammers, his demeanour shifting to surprise suddenly. He looks at me as if to confirm the story and I nod.

"Balgruuf asked us to help his wizard with something, He sent us up there. Lots of draugr, big spider."

"Well I'll be," Lucan chuckles nervously, "You're not bringing me haunted artifacts, are you? Goods stolen from the resting places of good folk?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Killian replies with a chuckle, and a sharp look at me. I opened my mouth as Lucan spoke, but y'know what? If Killian wants to be cursed, that's Killian's problem. Sure, he dropped most of it in the large chamber before we left, but I wouldn't put it past him to have kept a few smaller things.

"I found something you might appreciate, though." Killian tells Lucan, withdrawing the claw from his knapsack. Lucan stammers again, staring at it, before taking it eagerly.