บท 10: The Standing Stones (Part 2)
"How did you do that" Hadvar gasped in shock!?
"I just touched it" I looked down at my hand and felt a strange warmth spreading throughout my body from the stone.
Hadvar from his daze and looked at me with a serious gaze "The Legends say that only those blessed by the gods themselves are able to obtain the blessing of The Stones."
"Pfft" Luna laughed.
"What's so funny cat" Hadvar glared at Luna angry by the thought of her laughing at his peoples legends!?
"I'm just wondering which god thought it would be a good idea to bless a mage with what is obviously the Warrior Stone." The Khajiit looked and the carving of the burly warrior on the rock and then to the skinny breton mage standing next to it and broke out laughing again "I'm betting it was Sheogorath! Only he'd do something this ridiculous!"
Hadvar had an awkward look on his face when he realized what stone had reacted as well.
"Hey" I stamped my foot "You don't know maybe I'm actually a genius swordsman!"
"Yeah, and I'm Emporer of Cyrodiil" Luna giggled.
"Whatever" I sighed knowing I wasn't going to win this battle "Do either of you want to try?"
That shut both of them up and they looked at the stones longingly.
"No" Hadvar eventually shook his head "I've already tried it before, nothing happened and I doubt anything has changed since then."
"Suit yourself" Luna shrugged and walked up bumping me out of the way. "I might not be a devote worshiper of the gods but, I refuse to believe I can't make a silly rock light up."
Luna placed her paw on the stone and just like what happened to me it lit up and shot another beam of light high into the sky blasting a hole through a passing cloud.
"Seriously" Hadvar's eye twitched and he marched up to the stone as well "Since when is it so easy to get the blessing of my people's sacred stones!"
As the light once again faded Luna moved out of the way as Hadvar stepped forward and placed his hand on the stone the same way as we did before.
Seconds passed and it became increasingly awkward as we all realized that the stone wasn't going to activate for Hadvar.
Eventually he let a sad sigh and gave up and stepped back "I suppose you two are just lucky" he shook his head.
"I don't know about him" Luna nodded towards me "But, for me luck had nothing to do with it, it was all skill!"
"Well your a cocky one aren't you" I rolled my eyes.
"Hey, It's not arrogance if I really am that good" she puffed her chest out making me laugh.
"Alright you two enough flirting" Hadvar huffed "We've been delayed long enough and I would prefer it if we made it to Riverwood before sundown."
"Right" Luna agreed before sitting down on a nearby rock and fiddling with her boots. "I'm not going to suffer the whole trip with these things on! And we're far enough from Helgen that I don't think we have to worry about being ambushed anymore, so I can go without a little armor for a while."
"What exactly about the boots bothers you" I asked?
"They're too small" she responded popping one of her feet free and wiggling her toes "We Khajiit have pads on the bottom of our feet making them just slightly thicker than the feet of most other races. Which means that most shoes aren't built tall enough for us, it's usually not a problem with more flexible shoes but, sturdy iron ones like these chafe like heck!"
"Makes sense" I nodded while wondering how many small details like that I was going to find now that this was a real world.
"Here" Luna tossed me her boots which I struggled to catch.
"And what am I supposed to do with these" I glanced down at the boots before recoiling from the stench and looking up at Luna in shock?!
"Don't look at me like that" she hissed! "They already smelled like that when I found them in the barracks!"
"Soldier's boots are notoriously smelly" Hadvar agreed.
"That's fine and all" I held them away to avoid the smell "But, what am I supposed to do with them again?"
"Put them in your invisible backpack thing you idiot" Luna scolded!
"Oh, right" I blushed and disappeared the boots into my inventory.
"Now that that's sorted we should really be getting a move on" Hadvar said while eyeing the sun.
"That's probably a good idea" I agreed "We don't want to be stuck out here in the cold."
"By the way Hadvar" Luna spoke up after we started on our way again "What kind of blessing did those stones give us exactly? I felt a bit warm when it happened but, other than that it doesn't feel like anything is different."
Hadvar scratched his cheek "Like I said I've never actually heard of anyone actually receiving the blessing before. So I don't have any more of an idea than you do about what it did."
"Fantastic" she groaned.
"Hold on" I said getting everyone's attention "I have a bit of experience with this kind of stuff and might be able to tell you what it did if you give me a second."
I closed my eyes and was going to pretended to meditate or whatever for a couple seconds before explaining exactly what the stone did but, froze when I felt a searing pain in my foot.
"SON OF A BITCH" I jumped trying to try and dull the pain of my stubbed toe.
"Hahahahah, Dumbass" Luna lost it!
"You really should keep an eye on the road when you aren't wearing a proper footwear" Hadvar stifled a laugh "Especially on these uneven stone roads."
"I've had enough of these stupid things" I pulled my robe up and looked at the loose Footwraps I've had on since I first woke up on the carriage.
With a thought the dirty old wraps were swapped out with the Imperial Boots Luna handed me earlier.
"Much better" I smiled and took a few tentative steps to get used to the boots weight.
"Whoa! You can use your ability to change your clothes too, that's super convenient! I wish I could do that" Luna looked envious.
"Yeah, my ability is super convenient" I agreed "But, it does still have its limits."
"Like what" Hadvar asked?
"I can't use it to carry more weight than I could actually carry using my body. So I couldn't say pick up an entire ship or enough supplies for an army" I said while eyeing Hadvar since I didn't want the Legion to think my ability was too good.
"Well that takes away most of its strategic use" Hadvar looked thoughtful.
"True but, it could still easily used to smuggle or steal things" Luna added.
"Or carry valuables I don't want stolen" I continued "Anyway lets get back to what we were talking about before. I've basically figured out what the Warrior Stone's blessing did to us."
"Please tell me it'll give me super strength once a day or something cool like that" Luna grinned.
"Sorry" I shrugged "It's way less awesome than that but, still pretty useful. The Stone Made it so that we could learn any Warrior related skill faster."
"What skills" Hadvar asked? "And how much faster?"
"Umm" I held my chin trying to remember the Warrior skills. "They're the One and Two Handed skills, Blocking, Heavy Armor, Smithing, and by around 20%."
"That's pretty useful" Hadvar wondered aloud "Not absurdly powerful but, still enough to matter."
"Speak for yourself" Luna snorted "Aside from the One Handed Weapons Skill the only one that's useful to me would be Blocking."
"You could always go back and try your luck with the Thief Stone" Hadvar responded.
"And become a cliché, Never" she scoffed!
"What about the Mage Stone then" I added "There are plenty of support spells that would be useful to a warrior."
"Maybe" Luna pouted "But, I've never really been any good at magic so 20% boost wouldn't really help that much.
"Well if you don't like that either don't forget Hadvar said those were only three of the thirteen stones" I consoled "Meaning there are still ten stones out there that might be better suited to you."
"Oh, yeah" she lit up before looking at Hadvar "Do you know where they are? I could make some time to stop at a couple of them while I'm here in Skyrim!"
"Sorry" Hadvar shook his head "I only know there are thirteen of them and not their exact locations, though I do remember hearing that there was one on an island somewhere in Lake Ilinalta just up the river behind us.
'I think that one's the Lady Stone' I pondered.
If I remembered right the Lady Stone gave a +25% boost to Health and Stamina Recovery which would be pretty good for a skilled warrior like Luna. We might have to make a trip there after dealing with everything in Whiterun.
"Stop" Luna harshly whispered as her nose twitched slightly "I smell wolves nearby."
"How many" Hadvar drew his sword?
"Can't tell but, I know it's more than once since I'm catching both male and female scents."
"A pack" Hadvar raised an eyebrow "Not surprising since winter approaches, the hounds are probably try to catch as much prey as possible before things get too cold."
"So what do we do" I silently gulped not looking forward to having to go into combat again so soon after Helgen "Do we try to pass without alerting them or do we fight."
"Awoooo" I piercing howl echoed out from the forest followed by several more!
"It's too late to sneak past" Hadvar shook his head "They've already caught our scent we can only fight."
"Yeah, but wolves aren't all that tough" Luna grinned and struck her swords against each other sending sparks flying.
"Aye" Hadvar agreed "They can't use bows or make complicated plants like men."
"Plus you don't have to worry about being all guilty after killing them!"
"True enough" I nodded and summoned my Familiar Wolf to my side and grabbed the Longbow from my Inventory.
"Awoo" the howls continued to echo out getting closer and closer all the time and it wasn't long before I could hear the thunder of dozens of small feet as they barreled through the forest.
I leveled my bow ready for a fight.
The first black wolf leapt out from the tree line rushing towards us with reckless abandon followed by seven of its kin.
Hadvar jumped in front of the first charging wolf bashing it with his shield snapping its neck and sending it flying. While Luna an I stood back to back as the remaining wolves circled around us looking for an opening.
I wondered why the wolves were being so aggressive It made sense while this was still a game since you needed enemies to attack you rather than run away but, this wasn't a game anymore. In my old world wolves normally never attacked humans unless they were injured and starving so I couldn't help but, wonder if there was some magical shenanigans going on here.
Maybe Hircine was causing this?
It made a weird bit of sense because he was the Daedric Prince of the Hunt and what were the wolves doing right now if not hunting? Plus he was also the guy who created Werewolves which showed that he already had a preference for wolves. So who's to say he did use his powers to make the wolves of this world more violent and prone to attack?
Anyways I could think about this later after we dealt with the attack.
The wolves ignored their dead comrade and tightened the circle around us slowly inching forward as Hadvar retreated back towards us. I tried firing a couple arrows at the wolves but, they were too fast and easily avoided my amateurish shots.
Luckily, I had a plan.
Ordering my Familiar forward it rushed out of our group and into the tide of wolves causing the nearest to change direction lunge. But, this was what I was waiting for! I took control of my familiar and easily helped it evade the attack with my outside point of view before having it charge back in and rip the wolf's throat out. While this was happening two other wolves jumped my familiar sinking their teeth into its back.
"Whoosh" I released an arrow that imbedded itself one of the wolves chest throwing it to the side.
I then drew a second arrow and prepared to fire again but, my familiar let out a sad whine and faded back into nothingness freeing the remaining wolf. Still I fired regardless but, the wolf easily dodged to the side and rejoined its pack in circling around us.
Disappointed I put the bow away and drew my sword since even I could tell the wolves were getting tire of the stalemate and wanted to finish things.
But, I wasn't to worried now even if they all attacked at once.
There were eight wolves originally but, now there were only five after me and Hadvar took down three of them, a completely manageable number considering how skilled he and Luna were.
And it seemed like Luna realized that too since she rushed forward like a streak of lightning and decapitate another wolf with a singe strike.
Seeing Luna take the initiative Hadvar decided to move too and charged at a pair of wolves kicking one away and skewering the other as Luna finished of the one he kicked away.
Leaving only two wolves left, and as luck would have it they decided to attack me.
I didn't know if I was just unlucky or if they could somehow tell I was the weakest member of our group but, that didn't matter as they rushed at me without the slightest hesitation.
My heart was in my throat since even after everything that happened I still wasn't comfortable in combat and could only force myself to keep calm.
Thinking fast I equipped the Sparks spell to my off hand and blasted a stream of lightning at the nearest wolf which seized on the spot tripping over itself. This was something I noticed earlier when I used Sparks on that Stormcloak earlier, my electric spells could temporarily paralyze opponents just like a tazer would.
"Ffzzfz" The sparks fizzled out as I ran out of mana freeing the wolf who struggled back to its feet before charging at me again.
But, the short time I was able to stall it was enough to make sure I didn't need to face both wolves at the same time.
Gripping my sword I swung down with full strength as the second wolf leapt for my throat. The blade met the wolfs skull and sunk into its flesh with a disgusting squelch. The wolf limply twitched a few times before falling to the ground as the light faded from its eyes.
'One down' I thought looking back up at the first wolf who was now only feet away.
I moved to defend but, my heart skipped a beat as I realized that my sword was stuck in the dead wolves skull and that I couldn't pull it out!
Time froze as I tried to figure out what to do.
I could see the wolf's sharp teeth which were only moments away from tearing me apart and a jolt of adrenaline flashed through my body moving me to action!
I pulled out the Book of the Dragonborn that I stole from the Torturer and jammed it into the wolf's mouth blocking its snarling jaws and pushed the wolf to the ground struggling to contain it as it thrashed violently around. It's sharp claws raked against my flesh as it fought to free itself but, I held firm because I knew that if I let go I'd die!
I repositioned myself so that my knee was keeping the wolf pinned and reached back into the quiver on my back and pulled out one of the arrows I still had equipped and jammed it into the wolf's eye ending our fight once and for all!
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