I am Laeilwyn Riverpool (A Skyrim Adventure)

Chapter Eleven: Feisty Trees

-Brynjolf's Perspective-

As I went back to the wagon, I remembered that Elle didn't have her bow with her for this trip. How is she supposed to fight these things?

I began to jog back. "Elle?! Elle? Elle!" I cut through bushes and trees with my dagger. I came to a clearing with a little pond of water. A burning spriggan was lying next to the water. I looked around the clearing, but it was hard to see because of how dark it was. "Elle?" I whisper-shouted. 

Just then, a loud buzzing noise began behind me. As I whipped around, a spriggan backhanded me to the ground. My dagger flew into the pond. Fantastic. I thought. They were massive creatures, at least two or three feet taller than man. Their claws were 3 times larger than those of bears or sabre cats; significantly sharper too. These foul creatures were one of my few fears. I felt them absorbing my health. Then, it stopped. I heard the spriggan shriek and fall to the ground. Elle stood behind it with fire in her left hand and an elven dagger in the other. It glistened with yellow, sticky sap. "Brynjolf. What did I say?!" She asked before helping me up. 

I rubbed my shoulder. "I remembered you didn't have your bow with you!" 

She punched me in the arm. "I told you to stay at the wagon! By the Twelve, you never listen! Can you even see anything right now?" 

"Not really..." I admitted grudgingly. "But-"

"No 'but' Brynjolf. You so owe me one." She went over to the pond and got my dagger. "You think you would have been able to do anything to those creatures with this hunk of rusty Dwemer metal?"

"Hey, hey, hey. That's been my dagger since I was a boy. Leave it alone." I snatched my dagger from her hands. 

"I'm not insulting you, I'm insulting the dagger. You should get it sharpened at the Skyforge when we get to Whiterun. Or, there are some really nice elven ones at the Scorched Hammer..."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Just because you are better at smithing you think you can boss me around on what metal I should be using to fight my foes?"

"No, I'm saying this because you almost got murdered by a walking tree..." She laughed and ducked away before I could reach out and punch her arm. We both hopped on the back of the wagon and continued on our way to Whiterun. "Thank you for waiting, Sigaar. We lost some time we have to make up." She said. 

I watched her, baffled at what just happened. She didn't seem to have a scratch on her. Minutes passed, and neither of us spoke. She quietly cleaned her dagger and began sharpening it. 

"You still have one more guess to get those 20 septims. Go for it." She said, breaking the silence. 

I thought for a moment. I can't wait to win this one I thought. "Deal." I thought long and hard between my options; the Reach, Hjaalmarch, and Falkreath. "Seeing as how your day job was killing Forsworn before you came back here, I think it safe to bet that you have some contacts in the Reach."

"How do you know that?" 

"Word travels fast in Skyrim. Suddenly, the vendors in Riften are talking about this duo of mercenaries for hire who will take care of anything and anyone. Rumor has it they cut the hearts of their targets out as proof of kill." 

She laughed loudly. "That's an admirable story. How can such a team exist?" 

"That's the catch; this hero isn't from Skyrim. Most rumors have you pinned as a man, but they must mistake you for your Errand Boy." 

"It's Erandur. Very well thought out, but that's still not a guess." 

I thought long and hard. I thought back to stories I heard, rumors spread, and letters I had been handed by courier. I thought of songs by Bards, posters in town squares, drunken stories from Inns; anything for a sign of Elle. My problem was I had no reason to visit Falkreath or Hjaalmarch in my travels with the Guild, making it difficult for me to place why Elle would go to either of them.

"My best guess is Falkreath. Why would anyone have a reason to go there? Especially when it's said that the Dark Brotherhood makes it home there, according to Delvin's stories at least."

"What would Delvin know of the Dark Brotherhood?"

"He has a connection with their leader, Asterisk or whatever her name is. Knowing Delvin, he probably fancied her." 

She laughed. "You're a hard man to fool Brynjolf..."

I smirked. It's about time! I thought, ready to reap my rewards. 

"... thank the Twelve I've known you for so long; it was a piece of cake really!" She finished. 

"No lass, don't do this to me! How can you possibly know someone in Falkreath?!" I slammed my fist on the side of the wagon. 

"The blacksmith. I helped him look for his dog one day." She said, continuing to laugh at me and my despair. "Maybe you'll win next time."

"I will. You may be a good gambler, but I'm better at winning in general."

"Except when it comes to fighting trees...." She pointed out. I rolled my eyes at her and she laughed even harder.