The Price of Vengeance- A Skyrim Fanfiction

Three: Farengar Secret-Fire and the Dragonstone

The Jarl beckoned me. "Come, let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and... rumors of dragons."

We made our way into a room full of enchanting and alchemic apparatus. A man in a blue hooded robe stood there, frowning at a parchment on the table. The Jarl got his attention. "Farengar, I think I've found someone who can help you with your dragon project. Go ahead and fill her in with all the details." I glanced at the parchment. It was filled with complicated diagrams and I couldn't make head or tail of it.

Farengar noticed my confusion and sneered at me. "Come to to discuss the ongoing hostilities, like the rest of the 'great warriors'? It seems this damnable conflict has claimed everyone's passions of late. Me, I prefer my books, and my spells. There's a tranquility in magic, don't you think? It is simply energy, to be harnessed by those with the will and knowledge to do so." I smirked at him and thought to myself, there was nothing a cold steel sword through the heart couldn't solve.

The Jarl went off after impressing again upon me the importance of this mission and promised me- "Succeed at this, and you'll be rewarded. Whiterun will be in your debt." It was irksome how I had spent the past few days being treated as an errand girl, but after seeing that terrifying black dragon, I knew that someone had to do something. Farengar spoke up. "So the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons. Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me. Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not actually be there."

Lovely. Ruins meant traps and draugr. This sounded like a hell of a trip. I sighed and asked him what needed to be done. Of course, the damn man took that for eagerness. "I, ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow - a 'Dragonstone,' said to contain a map of dragon burial sites. Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet - no doubt interred in the main chamber - and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."

If it was so simple, why don't you go? I almost asked him, but bit my tongue and asked him instead if he had any spelltomes. After looking through his vast collection, I ended up buying two of them-leaving me bereft of most of the gold I got from Lucan- one for summoning a Flame Atronach and another for Fast Healing. I knew the latter would be extremely useful in the long run. I went out of Dragonsreach and stopped in front of an inn. The Bannered Mare was fairly crowded that evening and after paying the innkeeper some gold for a room, I thought about the quest I was going to go on. Someone to watch my back would have been useful, I wistfully mused and the first person to come to mind was Ralof. I wondered if he had met up with Ulfric yet.

I took a quick bath, grimacing at the black colored water remaining after I was done, and went to my room. The armor was dumped on a chair, and I carefully pulled out my swords. The Imperial bastards make good steel, I grudgingly noticed as I set about sharpening the mismatched weapons. That was something Kharjo had drilled into me. I remember sitting on a ledge beside him near Riften, our legs dangling as he lectured me about the importance of keeping one's weapon in perfect shape.

"Khajiit with blunt steel is dead Khajiit.", was the constant refrain, and I wondered how the caravan was. Resolving to find them and say hello after this dragon mess was over, I pulled out the horrendously expensive spelltomes and began learning first to heal myself. The process was arduous but I knew it was going to be well worth it. I finished it an hour later with a huge yawn. I started to open the tome of summoning an Atronach but I was so sleepy, I gave it up as a lost cause. I practically fell into a coma as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The next morning, I got up early and sat on the steps outside the inn. I enjoyed watching the merchants set up their little stalls and after buying a fresh loaf of bread, made my way towards the place where the annoying priest had been screaming about Talos. Fortunately he wasn't there this time and I sat on a bench placed beneath a gigantic tree that seemed to be dying. Chewing mouthfuls of the warm bread, I finished learning how to summon an Atronach as well. I tried it out and a fiery humanoid creature appeared. The spell drained most of my magic though. It vanished after a minute and after stuffing the remaining portion of my loaf in my travel sack, I went back to the inn to pick up my armor and weapons, then started on my way out of Whiterun. Bleakfalls Barrow awaited me.