LotS: Frost Moon - Chapter Twenty-Seven - Northwind Mines

  • Northwind Mines

     

     

    Reidar stifled a yawn, watching with a drowsy tracking of his eyes as a courier walked into Shor’s Stone. It took only a second to realize the courier came from Windhelm —and another second to realize he was walking straight for him.

     

    The urge to nap in the shade vanished, and he reached out a hand -  heart tattooing in his throat - for the letter in the courier’s grasp. “Is that what I think it is?”

     

    “From Yrsarald Thrice-Pierced,” replied the courier with a bob of his head.

     

    Reidar tore it open. It was short, but everything he wanted to hear:

     

    White-Paw,

     

    You are hereby relieved of guard duty. The company of Ashílda Shatter-Shield will pass through Shor’s Stone on the 2nd of First Seed.

     

    Report to her. Keep your nose out of trouble.

     

    Galmar will be watching.

     

    Yrsarald Thrice-Pierced, Palace of Kings

     

    Yes! I’m out of this skeever hole in two days. Reidar looked skyward, grinning at the warmth of the sun on his face. Wishing the day would pass quickly.

     

    Galmar will be watching, huh? Good. He’ll soon see I’m not playing a game or wasting my time. He was more than an ‘insolent little gloryhound’; he was Leiv White-Paw’s son. He was going to live up to his namesake, and he’d even bring pride and honor to Ulfric Stormcloak’s cause —whatever it took to start getting his family the respect it deserved.

     

    “New orders?” The courier had been replaced by Odfel.

     

    Reidar started, and grinned despite the sour look on the miner’s face.

    “Damned right. I can be done with this place for good.”

     

    “Lucky you,” said Odfel, and there was enough bitterness on his tongue to make canis root tea seem sweet.

     

    Reidar snorted. “No one’s forcing you to stay.” Why didn’t Odfel just leave? His house was in ruins, his job was in the same pot—and nothing was going to change.

     

    Reidar almost felt sorry for him. Odfel’s whole life was here, and he lacked the stones to make something of himself.

     

    Odfel’s eyes flashed. He drew his pickaxe.

     

    Reidar took a half-step back. “Watch it—” he growled a warning, his heart stampeding like deer at the thought of striking back. He would defend himself, but Odfel was just a civilian.

     

    The axe was thrust right beneath his nose.

    “See those bands? The carvings?” Odfel demanded, a blackened fingernail pointing them out.

     

    “My family’s been mining rock in Skyrim since before your father’s father. Every band is a generation. This pickaxe has been in my family for years.”

     

    “Congratulations,” said Reidar dryly, pushing the tool away from his face. There were seven bands on the handle in all. Despite his annoyance, Reidar was a little impressed. Just a little.

     

    Odfel glowered. “Ungrateful milk-drinker! Just remember, the next time you’re sitting cozy by the inn hearth or buying a new set of armor, or putting a sword through an Imperial’s gullet—all of that stone and ore came from somewhere.” Odfel fastened the leather loop around his pickaxe, freeing up his arms to cross them, shoulders squared.

     

    “You might fight for Skyrim, Stormcloak, but it’s folks like mine that built Skyrim.”

     

    Reidar’s face burned. A country wasn’t made by its soldiers…

     

    He looked at the letter in his hands. I have two days. Enough time to fix this.

     

    “Odfel!” he shouted, tucking the letter into his trouser pockets.

     

    The miner turned back, his jaw set proudly. “What do you want?”

     

    “What do you need to get Redbelly open again?” Reidar demanded.

     

    “Carts,” said Odfel, his eyes narrowed. “To help clear the rubble.”

     

    “Where do we get carts?”

     

    “Riften, and they’ll charge an arm for each one, the greedy bastards.”

     

    Great, more money. Reidar scowled. “Can’t you just build some?”

     

    But Odfel wasn’t listening. Instead, he was looking in the direction of Windhelm, clearly seeing something Reidar could not.

    “Might be some at the old Northwind Mines. But it’ll be a laugh for the Daedra, trying to get them down the mountainside in one piece.”

     

    “Are they going to be any good? How long has Northwind been closed?” asked Reidar. Why work so hard to bring a bunch of rickety carts to the settlement if they’d break as soon as they were put to use?

     

    “Since my grandfather’s time. He was one of the last.” Odfel’s eyes were bright now, carrying that same proud light as he had during the speech - but this time with an edge of certainty.

     

    “Don’t underestimate the carts, Stormcloak. They’re built to haul rock and ore. They can withstand the weight of time.”

     

    Reidar, despite himself, felt some of Odfel’s energy. “Good. Which way is Northwind Mines? We’d better leave now.”

     

    ♦♦♦

     

    By the time they were halfway up the steep, rock-strewn slope of Northwind Summit, Reidar had a good idea why it had been abandoned. Black-eyed goats scampered up and down the mountainside as he and Odfel climbed. Reidar envied their agility.

     

    They passed two carts, empty and forgotten along the winding path, the wheels stuck in the scree. In the final departure, the miners hadn’t bothered to put the carts somewhere out of the elements. Abandoned mines didn’t reopen.

     

    Reidar went to the first cart, pretending to examine it - he ran blind hands over the rough wood - while catching his breath.

     

    “There should be better ones inside the mines,” said Odfel, his breath coming out in short puffs. “We’ll get these on the way down.”

     

    The way down. Reidar numbly looking along the path they’d just traversed. Greaaat. He followed Odfel higher, resorting to dry commentary to soothe some of the strain in his calves.

     

    “Fine, but I’m riding in the carts first.”

     

    Odfel snorted, and led the way to the top.

     

    Beads of sweat stuck to the back of his neck like hotsprings for flies, and he cursed, swatting the little buzzing bastards away from his ears. Why did I agree to this?

     

    Reidar set his weight down on a rough-hewn step leading to a set of old wooden doors. An empty lantern hung beside it, where it had once wrought light and shadow upon the ore-laden cart beneath it.

     

    Odfel frowned, and picked up a piece of ore. “Odd.”

     

    “What?” said Reidar, wiping a damp brow with the back of his hand.

     

    “They left a cartload of ore just sitting here.”

     

    “Good, we can take that too.” Reidar stood, bolstering his resolve for the trek back. He wanted to nudge that cart over the edge, let it break open like a gourd. Then they could put the ore into a cart that was closer to Shor’s Stone.

     

    “Got your breath back?” Odfel then shoved against the doors. “... Odd.”

     

    “What now?”

     

    “Mines aren’t supposed to be locked.” Odfel took a step back, examining it. “Could just be stuck.” He wedged the pickaxe into the seam between the doors. With a groan of wood and flex of muscle, the doors were jarred loose. A cool air seeped out of the mines, chilling the sweat on Reidar’s face.

     

    Odfel hesitated.

     

    Reidar’s eyes rolled, and he stepped around him. “You start with the carts outside, I’ll get the rest.”

     

    The Nord scoffed in the back of his throat. “Pass me a lantern.”

     

    Reidar went first, his fatigue evaporating now that they’d reached something interesting.

     

    The lantern proved unnecessary.

    "Let me guess..." said Reidar slowly, looking at the lit torches. "Odd that the mine's still lit, right?"

     

    "Aye," Odfel looked at the torches as if he expected them to bite. "There was a cave-in, obviously." He nudged a skeletal hand reaching out from beneath dark rubble. "But that doesn't explain the torches."

     

    Reidar passed the lantern back to Odfel, taking his war-axe out of the holster. He went two paces and swore.

     

    "What? What is it?" Odfel's lantern lit up Reidar's exasperated expression.

     

    "Everything's on a slope," he gestured irritably up the long throat of the mine, which climbed with the mountain. "No wonder they left."

     

    Odfel rolled his eyes. "No, it is wonder they left." The miner's hand touched the nearest wall, as if to check the pulse inside the few remaining ore veins. "Why throw away years of labor and men's efforts?"

     

    Reidar didn't answer. He raised the axe just in time; a rusted blade swiping from the dark to cleave him with supernatural ease. His arm shook from the effort to block, and Reidar pushed against his attacker -- what the? -- glowering into the familiar glow of draugr-blue eyes.

     

    Not draugr, skeletons. The hairs on the nape of Reidar's neck relaxed, and with a slow-growing grin, he lunged for the bony attacker. "Ha!" The axe swept its head from its neck, and Reidar kicked the ribcage in, sending enchanted bones tumbling down the slope after him.

     

    Odfel cursed at the onslaught of skeletal remnants showering on him, but quickly joined Reidar.

     

    Two more skeletons, brandishing a great sword and a mace-and-shield, kept them from asking the obvious question. Why?

     

    What are they guarding? Ducking low, Reidar hacked the skeleton at the knees, then the waist, and the neck for last - and was left standing over a pile of bones.

     

    Odfel flung an empty barrel at the other, and the skeleton crumpled like dead branches in a storm.

     

    "Where are you going? Have you forgotten the carts?"

     

    Odfel's voice followed him deeper into Northwind mine, and Reidar didn't pause to respond. "Those skeletons are guarding something - I'm going to find out what."

     

    "May the gods have mercy on you then," grunted the miner, and Reidar kept walking until the creak and rattle of old carts being wheeled to the entrance were too faint to fully hear.

     

    There were traps along the way. A mammoth skull - huge and with eye sockets bigger than Reidar's head - nearly crushed him to the floor, a hasty forward roll all that separated him from a messy death.

     

    Who puts traps in a mine? As the tunnel continued upwards, Reidar's theory began to crumble, bits and pieces of it falling away now that he could smell open air. So they didn't break into a crypt. Why skeletons? What was the point of them? Maybe the crypt was above, not below, and the skeletons had wandered from their original place of guarding to harass the miners.

     

    Or it was someone's idea of a joke.

     

    Reidar thought of Marcurio. Mages.

     

    "Enchant the mine with skeletons, convince the miners to pay you to clear them, then spend all your coin on booze and women." He muttered to himself, and snorted. Now that sounded like a plan -- for a man with no integrity or honor to his name. Pausing for breath, Reidar squinted through the cave mouth leading to the open summit.

     

    He was now up so high, the air felt a tad thin; when his eyes finally adjusted, and the sweat on his brow cooled, Reidar found himself breathless. By the All-Maker, the view! One of his favorite things to do as a child had been to climb as high as he could into the mountains, and then to gaze upon the island from every angle. It was his way of turning an enormous place into something conquerable.

     

    A way of not feeling so small. If he could see where the island ended, then he knew exactly where he was.

     

    But this was not an island. Reidar stared as the country of Skyrim stretched to the horizon line as far as he could see; there seemed no end to the trees, to the plains, to the bony backs of mountains and clefts and hills the maps had only ever hinted at.

     

    A long way from home. He could not see the coast. Not anymore.

     

    When he was finally able to tear his gaze away, Reidar found a short set of steps leading up the slope. Three shacks slouched within their frames on either side of the path. There were no more skeletons.

     

    A tall funereal structure jutted from the end of the path like a crown, carved completely out of stone - the texture rich with swirling designs Reidar could not make sense of. It towered above him, forming a protective half-circle, with a dragon's head carved in the middle - protruding like a mounted animal skull. Funny markings were etched along the base of the structure.

     

    Reidar knelt in the shadows, and touched the carvings with cold fingertips.

     

    It was a series of lines and dots, as if made by the talons of birds. Or dragons, thought Reidar with a snort.

     

    Why would a dragon waste their time writing anything?

     

    One of the words shimmered, and the lines began to glow at his touch. Reidar's pulse quickened, and chanting filled his head so loudly - he thought he would go deaf and dumb by the end of it.

     

    He couldn't pull his hand away.

     

    What is this? Why can't I move? Ancient magic flowed like wisps of white smoke from the word on the wall, and Reidar could feel it being etched into something other than stone. It was as if he had known this word all along - he just needed to be reminded that he knew it.

     

    Whatever breathlessness he had gained from the journey here, was replaced by so much air and power and strength in his lungs, he thought he might burst.

     

    With a gasp, Reidar stumbled backward - and crashed into Odfel.

    "Did—Did you see that? Do you hear it?"

     

    His heartbeat had replaced the chanting, the summit suddenly as quiet as it had always been. "Go touch that wall, tell me what happens!" Reidar tried to shove Odfel towards it, but the miner wouldn't budge. He wasn't even looking at him.

     

    He wasn't looking at the wordwall either.

     

    He was looking right above it.

     

    Reidar, feeling jittery and alive, had to will himself to stand quietly next to Odfel and look at what the Nord was seeing. "I don't see anything," he muttered. "This tomb-thing belong to an ancestor of yours?"

     

    Odfel's mouth was hanging open.

     

    Reidar looked again, this time taking a few steps back to get a better view.

     

    He looked beyond the word wall, at the way the mountain peak behind it seemed to curve and jut towards the sky. There was a distinctive ridged pattern to it, as if the carvers had taken the time to decorate it after they'd finished with the burial site. All the air suddenly squeezed itself from his lungs, as the mountain took shape before him.

     

    It's so life-like.

     

    Life.

     

    The word found its way to his tongue, and Reidar, without thinking, spoke it.

    "Laas."

     

    The dragon opened its eyes.

     

     

     

     

Comments

13 Comments   |   ilanisilver and 8 others like this.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  July 15, 2018
    Been a long time SF. Glad to see more of your work.
  • A-Pocky-Hah!
    A-Pocky-Hah!   ·  April 4, 2018
    LotS is back from Write-blivion! Great to hear you finished writing it. Now all that's left for you is to go through Edit-blivion! :D
    Mou... you made Reidar the DB. And here I thought we were going to have a non-DB story.
    • SpottedFawn
      SpottedFawn
      A-Pocky-Hah!
      A-Pocky-Hah!
      A-Pocky-Hah!
      LotS is back from Write-blivion! Great to hear you finished writing it. Now all that's left for you is to go through Edit-blivion! :D
      Mou... you made Reidar the DB. And here I thought we were going to have a non-DB story.
        ·  April 4, 2018
      Sorry about that, it was actually planned from the beginning! The actual dragonborn main storyline won't be addressed immediately, I'd like to deal with the Civil War first. :) Just laying the groundwork for some later stuff!
  • Paws
    Paws   ·  April 4, 2018
    Also, forgot to say: I liked that part about the pickaxe. That's one hardy axe! Reminds me a bit of Trigger's broom from Only Fools and Horses. You know that sketch? "I've had this broom all my life. It's only had seventeen new handles and fourteen new br...  more
  • Paws
    Paws   ·  April 4, 2018
    Wait, what? Reid are is the Dragonborn?! Ha! Talos save us :D Well, he doesn't lack for courage, that's for sure, or a knack of finding a path of least resistance.


    It's a pleasure to read more from you, Fawn. Been too long. 
    • SpottedFawn
      SpottedFawn
      Paws
      Paws
      Paws
      Wait, what? Reid are is the Dragonborn?! Ha! Talos save us :D Well, he doesn't lack for courage, that's for sure, or a knack of finding a path of least resistance.


      It's a pleasure to read more from you, Fawn. Been too long. 
        ·  April 4, 2018
      Thank you, Phil! More chapters incoming. It means a lot to see everyone in the comments section again. I know it was a long wait.
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  April 4, 2018
    Great to see you post another chapter, Fawn. Haha, what a way to discover you're dragonborn. 
  • Karver the Lorc
    Karver the Lorc   ·  April 4, 2018
    Man, it's been so long since I saw Reidar and he is Dragonborn already, hehehe. Just love it that someone like Reidar, a total bungler, is a Dragonborn, heh. Who the hell stumbles on a dragon by accident, right? :D
    • SpottedFawn
      SpottedFawn
      Karver the Lorc
      Karver the Lorc
      Karver the Lorc
      Man, it's been so long since I saw Reidar and he is Dragonborn already, hehehe. Just love it that someone like Reidar, a total bungler, is a Dragonborn, heh. Who the hell stumbles on a dragon by accident, right? :D
        ·  April 4, 2018
      Oh but wait, it gets worse. XD Reidar does a lot of things by accident.
  • Wulfhedinn
    Wulfhedinn   ·  April 4, 2018
    Oh my lord. More Legend of the Skaal? Christmas has come early!
    • SpottedFawn
      SpottedFawn
      Wulfhedinn
      Wulfhedinn
      Wulfhedinn
      Oh my lord. More Legend of the Skaal? Christmas has come early!
        ·  April 4, 2018
      A lot more! I actually finished Frost Moon! :D So I'm in the editing stages of the last 12 chapters, and will be posting more frequently as a result.
  • ilanisilver
    ilanisilver   ·  April 4, 2018
    Nice! I love all the different ways we interpret that first word wall, or first dragon soul. I like the growth and humility Reidar's showing here, too. Not too much, I'm sure he's still going to be a hothead, especially now! but yes, I really liked this chapter. :)
    • SpottedFawn
      SpottedFawn
      ilanisilver
      ilanisilver
      ilanisilver
      Nice! I love all the different ways we interpret that first word wall, or first dragon soul. I like the growth and humility Reidar's showing here, too. Not too much, I'm sure he's still going to be a hothead, especially now! but yes, I really liked this chapter. :)
        ·  April 4, 2018
      Thank you! It took me a long time to figure out that 'oh look, I'm not married to canon, I can do whatever I want in my story' so I went for a less typical route to show that Reidar was Dragonborn. :P We've all played through or written about or read abou...  more