Dovahkiin (Discontinued)

Chapter Nine

Most of the walk on the path, me and Simon do not communicate, for we feared that someone would recognize our voice and bring us in. I still have that word in my head we saw in Bleak Falls Barrow. Fus. Other than that word, I didn't recognize any other word on that wall. Just that one. It was almost like it was supposed to happen like I was supposed to see it and—

"Hey," Simon bumps me, making me lose my train of thought. "You ok?"

"Huh, oh yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." I say.

"What about?"

"Just what our life will be like now."

"Well don't dwell on it. Instead, look over there." Simon points off the path to a stable. Inside the stables is one lone horse. The horse is big with light brown fur with black and white spots scattered on it. Next to the stables is a house. The house is made like other houses, square and made of wood. But there are houses that are completely made of stones.

Hanging over the path a ways away is a solid wooden bridge with an outpost to its left. On the bridge and outpost are a couple guards in full suits of armor and shields. Their shields are circles and made of wood with a horse painted onto the front in white. The guards stare at us for a bit but look away to continue with their morning shift. As we pass under, we hear the guards talking about how they don't get paid enough and how they wanted something exciting to happen.

Then, one of the guards says "I don't really like the look of those two just coming in. They look fishy to me." We continue walking pretending not to hear the guard.

We decide that we should take off our helmets, so I take off my helmet and hang it on the handle of my sword.

The path bends to the right around a pillar of stones that is probably another watchtower. Going around, the sound of a river grows louder and louder. When the path straightens out, we cross a drawbridge and underneath it was a small stream coming from inside Whiterun.

To the left after crossing the drawbridge is the outermost wall of Whiterun and a massive door into Whiterun. On either side of the door is a guard. As we approach the door, one of the guards walks towards is. "Halt!" The guard shouts. We stop. "State your business here."

"Look," Simon goes up to the guard. He hands him 50 gold pieces. "Would you kindly let us into Whiterun?"

The guard stashes away the gold. "Enjoy your time in Whiterun"

"Thank you," Simon goes through the gate and I follow. On the inside of Whiterun, it is really big. On the other side of the stronghold is the castle in all its glory. The path forks off to the left leading deeper into the city, but we don't take it. Continuing down, the blacksmith forge glows brightly to the right of us that we can't help but check it out.

We enter the house to an open room with a man behind a bar with an abundance of weapons hanging behind him.

"Welcome to Warmaiden's." the man says. "Now don't let the name worry you, we got plenty o' steel for fighting men. You two are different faces, new in town?"

"Yeah, just got here," I say walking up to the bar. "You make all these yourself?"

"Well, not all of them, my wife made half of them."

"Nice," Simon says, stepping up. "Small talk aside, can you help us with something?"

"Depends on what that something is." the man walks around the bar.

"We found something made of gold hoping you could tell us that it's solid gold." Simon pulls out the golden claw.

"Hmm," he grabs it out of Simon's hand to inspect it closer. "This is in fact solid gold, I'm guessing I don't want to hear the backstory so I won't ask," he hands it back.

"Well, how much is it worth?" Simon impatiently asks.

"I was getting there." He says a little annoyed. "It's worth, I'd say around 1000 to 1500 gold pieces."

"What! That's a lot." Simon exclaims. "Would you want to buy it?"

"I don't have the gold to accommodate that price." The man walks back behind the bar. "All I got is 500. Even if my wife pitched in, I still wouldn't want it and neither would she."

"Oh, I see. Do you know someone who would buy it?"

"The castle wizard would buy it and have enough to make both of you happy."

"Thanks, we'll go to the castle then."

"Be careful, the Jarl doesn't like new faces in his castle without a good reason."

"Thanks, we'll keep that in mind," Simon says walking out, me following.

Once outside, I whisper to Simon "We need to think up a story on why we're there Simon, we have nothing."

"That's where you're wrong, Smith." Simon smugly said. "We witnessed everything that happened at Helgen up close. That's our story."

"Holy shit, you're right. We got attacked by a dragon. But, do you think the Jarl would believe us?"
"You have a point, but why shouldn't the Jarl believe us?"

"We're wearing imperial armor that is supposed to be on a guard. Why should the Jarl believe us?"

"Right. Hey, I know," Simon pulls out a small bag of gold coins. "We could go back in the shop and buy some new armor, so we aren't in this imperial armor."

"Great idea," I say eagerly. So Simon and I go back into the shop and with some bartering, buy a new full set of armor.