Skyrim - A Story

Chapter 2

I paused at the end of the corridor, a man wearing deep slate coloured armour, it had an embellishment that resembled a wolf head on the chest piece, just above where his sternum would be. The armour seemed to have a skirt to it, I noted with a quirked eyebrow. His hair was medium length, his face hardened into a warrior, his eyes were a striking ice blue. His hair was jet black.

"It appears I have a visitor," the older man, who I never noticed (and so made me flinch) spoke up. The man with jet black hair eyed me almost as if he were placing me under scrutiny. 
The older man, had white flowing hair, the eyes of a beloved leader, and a purple insignia on one cheek.
"Please, lass, do tell me why you're here?" He asked gently.

"I've come to join the Companions," I spoke.

The old man smiled, and sighed.
"Would you now?"
He paused, and checked me out.
"Yes, I do see some sense of spirit there," he muttered, "Tell me girl, how are you in battle?"
"I can hold my head, I have trained for three years, and I watched as my best friend was brutally murdered by bandits in front of me," I spoke. "It's why I'm here today, asking to join you, for I want to repay her spirit for protecting me, by protecting others, and ensuring that another woman or man never has to go through what we did, ever,"
The man was staring at me, the one with black hair.
"Master, you're going to consider this...girl?"
"Last I checked, Vilkas, we've plenty of spare beds," he spoke, "And I am no one's master,"
Vilkas, the black haired man, sighed, and stood up. "I guess you want me to test her arm then?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth," the white haired man spoke, with a grin.

Vilkas looked me up and down, and sighed again.
"Come along," he said, and lead me out the back.
We walked past the crowd of drinkers, and into the open.

"Hey guys! Vilkas has a whelp!"

Vilkas sighed, and pinched his nose.
"Focus here," he said to me. "And not on that rabble,"
I nodded.
"I want you to take a few swings at me with your needle there," he gestured to my steel sword. "Don't worry, I can handle anything you throw at me," he said, after seeing my hesitation. "Honestly, you're a woman,"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Look, kid, I know you're not going to injure me badly," he sighed, losing his patience. "Now HURRY UP!"
Galvanised into action, I swung a deadly overhead cut towards Vilkas, followed by a savage right slash, which turned into a reverse left hand side cut. Vilkas barely managed to block them.
I went to throw another overhead cut, but he called it.
"Okay okay, that'll do just fine," he called out. I froze the sword midair, and put it away.
"Now what?" I asked. Vilkas stretched, unbuckling his sword. He handed it to me, sheath and all.
"Run this up to Eorlund at the Skyforge, just up there," he pointed behind me, and I turned, following his finger. A gargantuan bird statue sat upon the hill, watching over the Mead Hall, almost protectively.
"Wow,"
"The Skyforge is below the statue," Vilkas prompted. "Don't lose or wreck it, it's probably worth more than your petite rear end," he sneered, and walked off. He went to join the rabble, and accepted a mug. Then he downed it, and walked into the mead hall. A woman, and a man followed him. The woman had fiery red hair, wild as the wind, and the man he had a pony tail, balding on his crown. He wore similar armour to Vilkas, I noted. Whereas the woman, it looked like she stole the armour from one of the undead draugr women. But, it looked well kept.  I began my trek to the Skyforge. It was a clean place, the stone looked beautiful, not a tool out of place.
"Done gawking?" A male gruff voice snapped me out of my observations.
"Oh, sorry sir, I was here to deliver this to you from Vilkas," I apologised. The man, had long flowing hair like the other older man downstairs, and had a glorious grey mane of a beard ending around his sternum. He wore some hide armour, and looked like he kept the forge running smoothly, rain hail or shine.
"Sir, eh, that's a new one," he snorted, "You must be the new whelp then,"
"I guess so, but I'm not a pup," I shrugged.
"All newcomers here are whelps, regardless of age," the man admonished me, "My name is Eorlund Gray-Mane, welcome to the Skyforge, the home of the finest steel in all of Skyrim," he held his hand out for the sword, and I gave it over. "Don't worry about being pushed around too much, lass," he commented, noticing I was quiet. "They all were whelps too, they mightn't like to talk or think about it though,"
"It's a nice forge you have here," I commented, not wanting to be rude, "I like the bird,"
Eorlund chuckled dryly. "You don't have to get flowery with me lass," he said. "I've got a bit of an errand to do, but my wife's in mourning and I must get back to her soon,"
"I see," I said quietly. A lot of people had mysteriously gone missing, either Thalmor, vampires or merely didn't come back from adventuring. Maybe one of his children had befallen some terrible fate?
"Would you be willing to deliver this shield to Aela for me?"
"Aela?"
"She wears the ancient armour, and has hair like wildfire," Eorlund supplied. "She'd be inside there somewhere,"
"Sorry, I've never met her but I can try my best to get it to her," I said.
"Good woman, but, don't always just do what you're told," he said, "There's no leader, so every man or woman is free to pursue their idea of honour,"
"No leader?" I raised an eyebrow, as he handed me the shield.
"Yup, not sure how, but they've managed to survive without another leader, since their founder, Ysgramor," Eorlund patted me on the shoulder. "I must be off," he said, "Thanks again,"
With that, the man set off, briskly.
I looked down at the shield I was to deliver to this Aela woman. It looked sturdy, and yet lightweight. I shrugged, and headed back into the building.

I couldn't see a woman with firelike hair inside anywhere. So I walked over to a woman, she had black warpaint painted intricately on her forehead, and chin. She looked Breton, much shorter than my nordic self.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"Yes, my dear?" She asked politely.
"Could you tell me where I might find Ay--um, Ayrella?" I couldn't remember the woman's name.
"Aela? Oh, she's probably downstairs. Um, just follow the corridor, and before you get to Kodlak's room, turn left and then left again," she said. I thanked her, and walked downstairs.
I hesitated, before knocking, but the door was wrenched open.
"What do you want, whelp?" The balding man asked, well more like demanded quietly. He was blind in one eye, and had a scar that came down vertically over the same eye.
I held up the shield. The woman smiled gleefully.
"Ah, my shield! You must be the new whelp that came today. I'm Aela," she held out a hand, walking to me. I shook it gently. "My, you've the grip of a fairy," she commented.
"Not the muscles of one, I saw her training with Vilkas, she gave him a fair thrashing," the man glanced to the side at Aela.
"I see," Aela hummed. "This is Skjor, you've already met Vilkas, and Kodlak," she said, "Tell me, do you think you'd be able to best him in a real fight?"
"To be honest, I'd put up a fair fight, but I know when my opponent is much stronger than me, and he's bound to kill me in maybe half an hour, depending on how I fare the fight," I analysed it.
Aela and the man shared a glance.
"Well, that's certainly forthright about your skill, compared to Vilkas's but would you actually best him?"
"I don't really give much for boasting. I fight for the spirit of my best friend, who fell protecting me," I answered, "I'm here today in your mead hall as a testimony to her spirit, as a way of thanking her for saving me,"
Aela nodded.
"I see," she said quietly. "A fair and noble cause,"
"An honourable cause," Skjor commented.
Aela cleared her throat.
"Anyway, let's get Farkas to show you your bed,"
"FARKAS!" Skjor yelled.
The sound of jangling armour approached, and a beefy hunk of a guy appeared in the hallway. He had icy eyes like Vilkas, and beautiful long hair, jet black. He looked good natured, and dependable.
"You called me?" His voice was deep and burred, completely different to Vilkas's smoother one.
"Of course we did, icebrain," Aela rolled her eyes. "We need you to show this whelp where the rest of the whelps sleep,"
Farkas looked at me, and hummed.
"Oh hello, I'm Farkas," he greeted, "Come, follow me," he walked and I followed.

"They like to joke, but they're good people," he brushed the 'icebrain' comment off. "This can be a rough life," he warned, "I really hope we keep you,"
I nodded, and kept following.
He stopped beside the doorway to upstairs, and turned right, into a sort of dormitory.
"Now, this is your room, guys to the left, gals to the right," he said, "Just pick a bed and fall in it when you're tired," he instructed.
"That's it, and welcome to the Companions," he said.
"Thanks,"
"No problem," he said. "Oh,"
"Yeah?" I asked.
"If you're after your first job, we need someone to go be hired muscle somewhere in Whiterun," he said, handing me a note.
"I'll do it," I said, "What do I need to keep in mind?"
"I don't want to hear that you've killed them," I heard him growl. "Just go and look tough,"
"Okay," I said, and walked to the doorway.
"Tomorrow, kid?" Farkas said. "It's night time," he said, watching me like I had three heads. I picked the bed furtherest to the wall, and climbed into it. It was comfortable, and smelt like puppy smell. But faintly. I raised an eyebrow. Farkas bade me goodnight, and walked off. I closed my eyes, and settled into a restful sleep