One Shots and Short Stories

Skyrim - Argis (part 1)

Aetella and her two personal guardsmen walked through Understone Keep to meet with the Jarl.

The Jarl stood up when he saw her. "Lady Aetella Elmhollow." He bowed slightly. "It is a great honour to have you in Markarth."

"Thank you Jarl Igmund." She bowed back. "I am pleased to be here."

"I have organised a residence here in the city, as well as a personal housecarl to watch over you during your stay." The Jarl sat back down. "My steward will take you to your new home."

"Thank you." She inclined her head in the Jarls direction.

"Please follow me, Lady Aetella Elmhollow." Jarl Igmund's steward walked out and stopped just outside the room. "This will be your housecarl during your stay." He gestured to a large nord man that stood beside him. "Argis, this is lady Aetella Elmhollow of Valenwood. You are to protect her with your life."

Argis held his right hand over his heart and bowed. "Lady Aetella Elmhollow of Valenwood, it's an honour."

Aetella studied the nord man as he greeted her. He had a Nordic tattoo on the side of his face and shoulder length blonde hair that had a braid on one side. But the most interesting part of him was his left eye. He had a long scar that ran over it and his eye was cloudy, indicating that he was most likely blind in that eye.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Argis."

Aetella turned to speak to the Jarl's steward. Argis looked on curiously. She was a rather small creature, very delicate looking She had big orange eyes and long rose gold hair. Her skin was pale and flawless with a slight glow to it. She wore a long green dress that hugged her small waist and hung loosely from her hips, falling all the way to her feet.

Aetella turned to Argis. "We are going to be spending a lot of time together, Argis. So please, just call me Lady Aetella Elmhollow. You need not use my full title." She smiled. "It tends to leave one lightheaded." She added with a light giggle.

"As you wish, Lady Aetella." Argis gave her another small bow. Aetella acknowledged him with a sweet smile.

"Shall we head to your new home, Lady?" The Jarl's steward asked.

"Yes. Please, lead the way." She replied, gesturing to the stairs that lead out of Understone Keep.

The Jarl's steward then lead Aetella and her personal guardsmen out with Argis trailing behind. They walked up and down countless steps and eventually made it to Vindrell Hall. The steward unlocked and opened the door to allow everyone inside.

"We've furnished it as best we could, Lady Aetella." The steward said as he stood in the main hall. "I hope it is to your liking."

"It's nothing like home." She stated.

The steward panicked.

"It's perfect! I love it! Thank you." She beamed.

"I'll take my leave then." The steward bowed. "Goodnight, Lady Aetella."

"Goodnight and once again, thank you." She bowed back.

As soon as the steward closed the door, Aetella dropped into the nearest chair and sighed.

"My, oh, my. Wasn't that tiring? You can just drop that in my room, boys." She said to her guardsman while gesturing to her bags.

The guards picked up her things and left it in her room. Coming out, they gave her a quick wave as they walked towards the door.

"Be sure to tell father and mother that I was extra regal." She waved them out. "Safe travels!"

Argis looked on in confusion. Aetella turned to him and, noticing his confusion, quickly explained herself.

"Oh, Argis. You must be terribly confused. Now, listen. Forget everything I said before. Please just call me Ella. There is really no need to be so painfully formal."

Argis frowned but stayed silent, allowing her to continue.

"You see, my father is a very important man in Valenwood and my mother insists on me being very proper." She sighed. "But I hate it. So everybody that knows me well enough just calls me Ella, and they don't expect me to be so utterly boring. I really hope you'll understand."

Argis didn't know what to say. He was so taken aback, he just ended up nodding, earning a big smile from Aetella.

"Fantastic!" She exclaimed. "Now. If you don't mind, I'm off to bed. The journey was long and tiring, especially all the nauseating pleasantries." She turned to leave the room. "Good night, my dear Argis. I'll see you in the morning." She disappeared into her room.

Argis retired to his own room. Lying in bed, he thought about his new job. He figured that he might like having Ella around. She seemed like nice company and her bubbly personality was very exciting to him. He had never met such a strange noble woman before. He smiled to himself as he fell asleep, wondering what she might want to do tomorrow.


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The smell of freshly baked bread woke Argis up. He walked out into the dining room to see Aetella in custom elven armour, humming to herself as she braided her hair in a long braid that fell to the small of her back. She turned to see Argis standing near the table, bare chested, only wearing the trousers that he slept in.

"Oh. Excuse me..." She blushed.

Argis looked down at his lack of clothing. "Oh, Sorry. I'll go..." He turned to leave.

"No!... I mean, it's okay Argis. It's just I didn't hear you come in. Please, sit and have breakfast." She gestured to the table.

Argis pulled out a chair and sat down, grabbing a piece of bread and some cheese, he looked up to see Aetella smiling at him. He cleared his throat and started eating.

"I thought maybe we could go hunting today?" She asked as she sat down opposite Argis.

"Of course, all though, The Reach is not a safe place. There are Forsworn about. They're very dangerous and I wouldn't want something to happen to you."

"You're sweet, Argis, but I'm not as helpless as you might think." She said as she grabbed a apple from the bowl in the center of the table.

"Maybe we can travel further out of The Reach to hunt. Haafingar maybe? If you're prepared to make the trip."

Aetella thought for a moment, then hurried to her room. She came out with a map in her hand and, clearing a space on the table, placed the map out in front of her and leaned over it, studying it. Argis got up from his seat and stood behind her, studying the map from over her shoulder. She placed her finger on Markarth.

"We can take a carriage from Markarth to Dragon Bridge." She moved her slender finger along the path. "From Dragon Bridge, we can travel on foot to Solitude, hunting along the way." Her finger glided across the map, stopping at Solitude. "We could stay a while..." She paused. "... Or just sell any meat and furs that we have and leave. Although, considering the fact that the trip might take the whole day and the fact that we would most likely be tired... " She turned her head to look at him. "I think we should a least stay the night." He nodded and she smiled. "Then we can just get back to Markarth the same way we came. Travel back to Dragon Bridge on foot, maybe hunting along the way, then take a carriage from there to Markarth." She turned her body fully to face him.

"Sounds like a good idea. When do you wan't to leave?" Argis asked her.

She smiled up at him. "Immediately. We will be back before the Jarl even notices that we were gone."

Argis smiled at the small, excited bosmer woman in front of him. "I'll get ready." He said as he walked off to his room.

"I'll leave a note. Just in case we get delayed. Wouldn't want him to worry." She said.

Aetella and Argis left Markarth late morning. They hired a carriage that would take them all the way to Dragon Bridge. They sat in the back of the carriage and talked, well, Aetella did most of the talking. Argis was rather quiet, but he was a very good listener. They stopped quite a few times just to take in the beautiful scenery. Aetella loved the tall mountains and deep valleys that took up most of The Reach. They were coming up to a dilapidated old fort when the carriage driver spoke.

"This is Broken Tower Redoubt. A few weeks ago the Jarl had it cleared out but it shouldn't take long for the Forsworn to infest the place again."

Aetella looked on curiously. "I've never actually seen the Forsworn... What do they look like?"

This time Argis spoke. "Savages... They're all a bunch of lawless savages. They'd kill you without a second thought. So if I were you, I'd stay away from places like this."

"Oh...O-Okay." Aetella shrunk back and became quiet.

After a few minutes of silence, Argis was starting to miss the sound of Aetella's constant chattering. He looked around and noticed that they we're coming up to Robber's Gorge, a bandit camp. He told the carriage driver to stop and hopped off the back.

He turned and held out his hand for Aetella. "Would you like to help me take out some bandits, Ella?"

Aetella smiled and placed her small, dainty hand in his larger, meaty one. "I would love to."

Argis helped her down from the back of the carriage and they walked a little way down the path before hiding behind some nearby bushes. Argis surveyed the area before coming up with a plan.

"Can you take out that bandit on the bridge?" He asked Aetella in a hushed whisper.

Aetella nodded and pulled her bow off her back. She crept around the bush but stayed out of sight. She notched an arrow and aimed carefully before letting the arrow loose. The arrow found its way into the bandits neck, right on target. Aetella turned and smiled to Argis who nodded and stood up.

"Watch my back!" He said as he ran up to the encampment.

Just then, another bandit ran onto the bridge and pulled out his bow. Aetella quickly notched another arrow and took aim at the bandit. She let the arrow fly and before the bandit could pull an arrow out, Aetella's elven arrow had struck him in the chest. Aetella stood up and followed Argis into the camp, picking off lesser bandits while Argis fought the larger, more heavily armoured ones. The bandit leader came out of his makeshift cabin and pulled out his greatsword. He swung at Argis. Argis responded by bringing up his shield. The greatsword struck the shield and bounced off the metal rim, nicking Argis in the arm and making a deep cut. Argis groaned in pain, but didn't stop. He lifted his other arm and brought his sword down heavily, slashing the bandit's chest and killing him. Argis dropped his shield and gripped his wounded arm. Aetella rushed over to help him.

"Here, sit." She helped him over to a nearby bench.

She reached into the pouch on her belt and pulled out a healing potion. Argis drank it while she used restoration magic to help the wound heal completely. Once she was done, Argis looked at his arm and gingerly touched the spot where the wound had been. It was as good as new.

"Thank you." He said as he ran his finger along his skin.

"You're welcome."

He looked up at Aetella to see her smiling at him. The setting sun shined in her eyes, changing it from its usual vibrant orange, to solid gold. He only realised that he was staring when Aetella blushed and looked away, smiling. He cleared his throat and stood up, looking towards the sun setting over the horizon.

"We should get moving. It isn't safe out here after dark." He started walking back to the carriage.

Aetella hurried along, following close behind him. They went back to the carriage and made it to Dragon Bridge before nightfall. Aetella rented two separate rooms at the local inn and bought some food for Argis and herself. They sat and ate in comfortable silence, before bidding each other goodnight and going off to their separate rooms. Aetella went to bed very excited. She could hardly wait to go hunting with her new companion, who was starting to become more a friend and less than just a bodyguard.