The Knight of Ald Skar Chapter V

  • It is strange that I feel so at home in this land as it has almost the exact opposite of Vvardenfell. Instead of the burning hot ashstorms of Ald'ruhn, the Nords of Skyrim experience freezing blizzards. In place of the lava flows of Molag Amur, this unforgiving province boasts icy cold glacial waters along the its northern shore. It is harsh, grim and inhospitable just like Morrowind. Sometimes, like now when I gaze up at the stars and watch the northern lights, I almost feel at peace. I am reaching the end of my journey, these are the closing chapters of my saga and the final days of my life.
     
    I had disembarked in Dawnstar, the port of my choice and far from the larger cities of Solitude and Windhelm where I could travel forth relatively unnoticed. I work better alone and have never been one to crave company. There have been exceptions to that rule, of course, but this is a journey I must make alone. For that is what we are: by ourselves inside our own heads save for the fading memory of glinting eyes or the distant sound of musical laughter which even now slips away as I desperately try to cling to it.
     
    Memories.

    I sometimes wonder where they go after their significance fades. Did they drift into the middle air to be taken by Vivec and woven into the sweetest song of sadness ever penned? Or did they sink into the deep waters of Seht's domain only become part of his clockwork cycle to evaporate and fall as bitter rain later? Perhaps they go up to become the stars and be warn by Ayem like a hideous and beautiful cloak until the end of time? I guess those are questions that can never be answered. The gods are dead and my lost memories of moments with Esha Idrassi of House Indoril are nothing more than further rubble on the mountain of regret I leave behind me.
     
    One such regret was the drool. It is sad that of all the memories I likely would have rather retained I am forever stuck with one of humiliation.
     
    She stood above the quivering priest, hair whipping in the rising wind, scanning around and alert to danger. Gone was the mirth and levity of our last encounter, instead she stood calm, ready and every inch the noble knight. Still paralysed, I could only watch in awe as the morning sun shone through her glass armour and cast a glowing shadow on the ground between us. It was as if the cuirass she wore were a stained glass window surrounding the temple of her body. That's when I realised I was dribbling. The paralysis spell had left my mouth hanging agape and I couldn't even swallow, causing my saliva to pool on the paved courtyard centimetres from my neck as it dripped from inside my helmet. I prayed to Mother Morrowind she wouldn't notice.

     

    I started to feel sensations returning just as the sound of booted feet could be heard running towards our location. Two ordinators and a buoyant armiger came into my field of view and surrounded the dissident priest. After a brief exchange of words the ordinators hauled him up and, with a wquick nod at me, hauled him away. Esha bade them farewell before coming to kneel by my side. Her face was lit with a wide grin as she took in the growing puddle near my shoulders and my twitching limbs which were fighting my attempts at control.

     

    "Now we know why they call them buckets," She quipped. I was mortified. She continued to make fun in a gentle way, "we'd better take that off you before you drown." Esha reached over to remove my helmet but I managed to jerk my head away. I swear there was a slight sloshing sound. Part of me died right then and I wished the rest would follow.

     

    "Ah ha! I see our gallant Ordinator has some life in him now! I will allow you some pride and let you get yourself up. Meet me beneath the statue of Lord Vivec once you're ready. Ah, I see the healer is coming. You'll feel better soon, paralysation sickness is the worst feeling on Nirn - believe me, I have suffered it a couple of times before along the Ghost Fence. I can't say I had any more dignity then than you do right now." She smiled tenderly before getting to her feet, bowing elaborately to the the robed mer who approached and swaggering off towards the statue.


     
    "Saint Rilms, grant me your Grace so that this mer can walk in the prints left by your sacred feet. Saint Aralor, I ask for your Intervention so that this mer can repent of his sins and rise to his knees to give thanks in your honour. Saint Nerevar, I imbue me with your Spirit so that this mer may feel the vigour of life return. Almsivi, by your Restoration, your Grace, your Soul and your Mystery your Ordinator is revived!" The priest's body glowed as he incanted his prayer and within moments I was on my knees and giving thanks to the Three and all the saints. "You have my gratitude too, priest" I said gruffly to the robed old mer. "Blessings of the Three In One" he replied before returning to the Temple.

     

    I removed my hlmet and emptied the last of my accumulated spit from its folds, wiped my face and neck, then turned my eyes towards my glass-clad hero who was on one knee before the image of Vivec.

     

    I can still see her now, sword planted in the ground and hands folded over the pommel, head bowed in reverence. The sunlight glittered over her armour causing it to faintly glow with a green light. Not unlike the aurora above me now all these many years later.

     

    Goodnight Esha, wherever you are.

Comments

2 Comments   |   The Wing and 4 others like this.
  • The Wing
    The Wing   ·  August 12, 2016
    The last sentence of the first paragraph gave me chilling flashbacks to  Oblivion!  I don't know whether that was intentional, but it made me grin so widely.  :D


    The way you described memories was so poignant and bitter...  more
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  August 12, 2016
    Ah, the paralysis spell. It sucks. Poor soul. And just when she shows up too. I can feel his cringes of embarrassment, Phil, well done.  :$