By: The Orange Mask
Once again, I found myself trekking through snow drifts toward a place no one particularly cared about. This time I was headed to Nightcaller Temple, to talk to a priest of Mara named Erandur. I hated priests for the most part, but I needed help if I was to go to Mzinchaleft and make it back out in one piece. Dwarven ruins were particularly dangerous, as many of the Dwarves’ machinations were still functioning. I’d rather not get beat to a pulp by a centurion.
I made my way up to the entrance to the temple and tried to push open the door, but it was jammed. I backed up a few steps to get a running shot at the door. I charged toward the door to open it, only to fall forward as a dark elf, who I assumed to be Erandur, opened the door before I hit it. My face slammed into the ground with a thud as I groaned and got up, rubbing my head.
“Are you all right?” he said, helping me up.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Erandur, I presume?” I asked, almost certain of the answer.
“Yes, that’s me. Now what do you want? The people of Dawnstar don’t come up here to pray.”
“I’m not from Dawnstar, though.” I said, smiling slightly.
“Ah, you’re the mage from the college, then?” Erandur gave me a quizzical look.
“Correct. Nice to meet you, Erandur.” I said, extending my hand.
“And it’s nice to meet you too, er…” Erandur said, trying to remember my name.
“My name is-“ There was a rather loud thud as a Nord busted through the door, not falling on his face as I did. He was clad in heavy armor, but didn’t have the stony face of most warriors. He was out of breath, and had obviously been running.
“Bjorn!” Erandur shouted. “Where have you been?”
“I was coming back from town when I saw a frostbite spider attacking a Khajiit caravan.” Bjorn then took a few moments to gather his breath.
“Oh, for the love of Mara! Please tell me you didn’t-“
“I tried to help, to divert the spider, but…” Bjorn fainted then, and collapsed on the floor. I quickly rushed over to help, but Erandur got there first. He lifted up Bjorn’s head and looked at his face, then went to go look at the exposed parts of his body. Erandur stopped when he looked at Bjorn’s left hand.
“He’s been poisoned. Quick, help me get this armor off of him.” Erandur said, somewhat frantically. I immediately took off Bjorn’s helmet, and we quickly moved Bjorn to a more open place on the floor. Erandur began to cast some healing magics on him. I would’ve helped, but I had almost no practice in the Restoration School. Healing poison was far beyond me. Erandur kept on healing Bjorn for a few minutes, until Bjorn gasped. Both Erandur and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“You know,” Erandur said, “sometimes I wonder why I even bother healing you. It seems like you’re trying to kill yourself.” Bjorn laughed. I walked over and helped Bjorn up while Erandur brought over some chairs. We all sat down without a word and sat for a minute in silence.
“Now, then, I believe introductions are in order. This is Bjorn. He’s a priest of Mara like me, but he fancies himself a paladin. I guess it’s that Nord blood of his.”
“For your information, Erandur, I killed that spider in one swing of my mace!” Bjorn said, smiling.
“Yes,” I added, “but not before it hit you with its fangs. Without Erandur here to heal you, you’d have been as good as dead.” Bjorn stopped smiling and looked at me.
“Ah, yes. Bjorn, this is the mage from the college.” Erandur said before Bjorn could say anything too hurtful.
“Ah, it’s nice to finally meet someone who isn’t from Dawnstar. As you can imagine, we don’t get many visitors up here.” Bjorn said, chuckling.
“Well, now that introductions are out of the way, why don’t I start to tell you about the nightmares a few years ago?” Erandur said.
“Actually,” I said, “I’ve got a story for you. Maybe you’ll understand it better than I do.” I went on to tell Erandur and Bjorn about my strange dream, while they listened in silence. When I finished, they just looked at each other for a few moments.
“I’m not quite sure what to think about that.” Erandur said. “From what I understand, you’re being urged by… something… to go to Mzinchaleft. For a spirit to contact you so directly, though… something dangerous is there, to be sure. Why are you telling us this, though?”
“I’m telling both of you this because I don’t have anyone else to turn to. The Jarl’s almost certainly not going to listen to some mage from the College, and I’m damn sure not going into a Dwarven ruin alone.” I was quite grim about the whole situation, and Erandur’s thoughts didn’t help me at all.
“Well, I don’t know about you, Erandur, but I’d love to go. There’s no way a machine can beat out a Nord!” Bjorn seemed excited about this. I had begun to question why he had become a priest in the first place.
“While I really should be looking after the temple… oh, fine. I’ll come with you, too.”
“Thank you, both of you. I know I just bet you two, but it really does mean a lot to me.”
“As a priest of Mara,” Erandur said, “I am to help whenever I can with love and compassion. Although, I still think we should check with the Jarl and make sure he can’t send anyone with us.” I almost sighed out loud, but caught myself.
“All right, then. Let’s start heading back to Dawnstar,” I said, getting up and turning for the door. I realized just then that I still hadn’t gotten any sleep, and it was probably nearing midnight. “but can it wait until morning? I haven’t had a decent sleep in days.”
“Sure, we’ll be down there just after daybreak,” Erandur said, turning toward Bjorn, who was yawning silently. “won’t we, Bjorn?” Bjorn groaned and nodded a yes as he made for his bed roll. I opened the door and headed outside, back into the freezing cold of the Pale.
To be continued…
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