U.O.T.W. Chapter 2 A Fresh Start

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    Sotek let the current carry him downriver, all that was required from him was a few arm strokes to prevent himself from being thrown upon the various rocks which protruded from the riverbed. As he was naturally a very strong swimmer, that was easy, the river done the rest of the work.

     

    After a slight bend, the river started to speed up so he swam towards the riverbank. The river started foaming as it crashed and roared its way over rocks forcing its way through a small rapid. Sotek watched as a few salmon tried to clear the rapids as they struggled to make their way to the lake further up the river. Sotek climbed out onto the riverbank where a path followed it downstream for a few hundred feet before it turned and snaked its way towards a settlement. As he went along the path he noticed some different flowers and plants. Some of which caught his eye as he had some degree (although only a small amount) of knowledge in the practice of Alchemy. He picked up the ones he thought could contain some properties, mainly red and blue mountain flowers. Once he had gathered a good handful, he placed them in his pack then he headed towards the town.

     

    Riverwood was a small town located in the valley. It had all the basics for the area, a blacksmith, sawmill, general stores and even a small Inn for the townsfolk. The Inn had two rooms spare which weary travelers could rent out, not that Sotek had enough spare gold for a room. Unfortunately it also had protection. The guards had garrisoned a gatehouse on the edge of town. Two archers stood on the top platform watching the road. Backing them up were a few guards scattered around the town. Sotek watched for the first signs of recognition from the night before. He entered the town slowly walking underneath the arch, slow enough not to draw too much attention to himself, but not so slow as to look like he was trying not to draw attention to him. At least that was what he hoped he was doing. As he passed underneath the archway he breathed a quiet sigh of relief and headed to the traders shop.

     

    Just as he was about to enter the shop a guard passed him, he called out to Sotek in a rough unfriendly manner

    “Oi! Watch where you’re going lizard!”

     

    Sotek froze, he didn’t even dare to draw breath. He summed up his chances in an instant, two archers on the gatehouse, one guard behind him, and another two further up. If they went for him, he wouldn’t stand a chance, his fate was sealed the moment he passed the gatehouse. He slowly turned to face the guard, who himself was now leaving the town heading towards a guards camp. Breathing a massive sigh of relief Sotek opened the general store and entered.

     

    Inside, the store was dimly lit. The shop keeper was behind the counter, but as soon as Sotek had entered the store, the man started arguing with a woman.

    “There’s nothing I can do about it”. He sounded fed up and desperate.

     

    She shouted back at him pointing to the door.

    “Tell the guards to get him, get it sorted out”.

     

    “They won’t go with all the dragon attacks. You know they have to stay at their posts, they won’t leave Riverwood undefended”. He spoke to her quieter with a sense of despair.

     

    Sotek made his way to the counter, from there he glanced across to the woman then looked back across to the shopkeeper. The shop itself was full of an odd assortment of swords, bits of armor all of which were of no matching sets, spell books, potions alchemy ingredients even a pile of baskets filled one corner.

     

    The shopkeeper glanced at Sotek, noting what Sotek was wearing. His keen eye suspected that Sotek was poor in an instant, as he couldn’t help but notice the minimal armor which was ill fitting at best, a rusty sword which was hanging wrong and no shoes. He knew that the Argonian standing before him had very little money.

    “Can I help you” he asked wearily.

     

    “What is it you need sorting out?” Sotek asked, he was desperately hoping that he would be able to earn a few gold.

     

    “A thief ran off with a golden claw, pure gold it is. He’s holding up in bleaks fall barrow” the shop keeper explained.

     

    “I think I can help with that, if it’s just a simple thief”. Sotek noticed the Innkeeper's voice was somewhat wooden, almost as if it was rehearsed.

     

    The shopkeeper looked at him hard then spoke quietly.

    “Look if you can retrieve that claw for me then I will give you a reward, the guards can’t help!"

     

    Sotek dismissed the way in which they were both acting due to the stress he thought they were under. He did however see a window of opportunity to earn a few coins.

    “I will try and see what I can do, but I will need some supplies. However I don’t have much money”.

     

    The shop keeper looked at Sotek half expecting a con of some sort.

    “Well how much have you got?” Sotek turned to face the woman. She was slender, medium length brown hair, fair skinned. Pretty but she wore a weathered complexion. Sotek emptied his pouch on the counter. The shopkeeper was far from impressed and looked disapprovingly at the small amount of gold on the counter.

     

    He counted it up not taking his eyes off the woman for a second.

    “Twenty seven septims here, you’re not getting much with that I’m afraid.”

     

    The woman walked over to Sotek and enquired about his needs.

    “What is it you need to get?” she asked.

     

    The shopkeeper just rolled his eyes then turned his back on them both.

     

    Sotek thought about the few supplies he had before answering.

    “I need healing potions if I am to try to get this claw back”.

     

    “Well my dear you can’t buy many with that but you can buy this”. While she was talking she approached an old looking bookcase which had various books and scrolls on the worn shelving.

     

    “Damn it this is a shop, I can’t make a profit if you sell things under value.” The shopkeeper moaned as he scrutinized Sotek’s armor one more time.

     

    “And we can’t protect the shop from thieves, but at least he might get it back for us. I don’t see any rich warriors at the door do you?” After dismissing him, she gave Sotek a slight smile, knowing full well that she won the argument. With that the man sat on a chair dejectedly not saying another word.

     

    The woman reached over to a spell book.

    “Tell me, what spells do you know?”

     

    Sotek sort of half looked down, as a sense of pity and shame filled his heart.

    “I don’t know any”.

     

    The shopkeeper looked over to him.

    “I thought most Argonians could do some magic at least”.

     

    Sotek just looked blankly at him.

    “Oh not everyone can. Just because he's an Argonian it don't mean he can cast spells”. The woman stated before looking at Sotek as she wondered about him. “Have you ever tried to learn one?”

     

    He turned to face her but found himself looking at her shoes instead. Solemnly he answered “I don’t know how to learn them”.

     

    She just laughed.

    “Learning them is easy, as long as you have some magical ability”.

     

    While she was playing with the book in her hands she asked him a follow up question

    “Have you used a spell book before?”

     

    He simply shook his head.

    “No, what’s a spell book?”

     

    She laughed again, but this time it was far louder.

    “Well if you never looked at a spell book and you don’t know any spells... Then how do you know you can’t cast them? Everyone is blind until they open their eyes”. She opened the book towards Sotek who glanced at the words in front of him. As soon as he read them, they seemed to dance on the page then they faded and disappeared. Excitedly the woman slammed the book shut. “See, you do have some magical ability. He’s read this book a hundred times”. As she spoke she pointed to the shopkeeper.

     

    “Yes, and I got sick of reading the bloody thing”. He grumbled as he stared at the book with disgust.

     

    The woman gently tugged Sotek’s arm, drawing his attention away from the shopkeeper.

    “Now try it”

     

    Sotek said the words but nothing happened. He tried again and again, but still nothing. At this point the woman was chuckling and the man had a big grin on his face.

    “Hey” he said as he approached Sotek. “You don’t just say the words you got to think the words as well, in here”. He tapped the top of Soteks head as he talked. “Try again but think of the words as well”.

     

    Sotek concentrated once more. He spoke the words as he thought them then a gentle heat followed by a golden light surrounded him.

     

    “Yes! I told you, you could do it”. The woman exclaimed as she clapped her hands excitedly. “That’s a basic healing spell. It’s not great but it will get you out of trouble”. She explained gleefully.

     

    Sotek looked down at his hands, he thought about the spell as he spoke the words again. As before, the spell took effect. Looking up at the shopkeeper with a broad smile on his face, he reassured them that he would do all he could to retrieve the claw.

     

    “I don’t doubt your sincerity but are you really capable of getting it back?” The shopkeeper asked as he had a look of pity and concern. “I mean no disrespect to you, and you have a brave heart...” Then he paused as he looked at Soteks scabbard. “But you can’t even wear your sword properly”. With that comment, he roared with laughter.

     

    Sotek looked down at his sword for a few seconds then looked back at the owner and with a matter of fact tone, blatantly replied.

    “It’s not my sword!” He then headed to the door and left.

     

    The woman quickly followed him out of the shop. She found she had to walk at a brisk pace to catch him up.

    “Wait up!” She called. Sotek stopped and half turned towards her. He waited patiently to see what she wanted. “I’ll walk you to the bridge. You know, to point out where they are”

     

    Over the next few minutes, they walked far slower than what Sotek would have liked. She talked consistently, but her voice wasn’t annoying. In fact Sotek found the company quite refreshing. It made a pleasant change from the journey in which he had travelled for so long alone. During that brief moment, she informed him that her name was Camilla and the shopkeeper was Lucan. They moved to Riverwood some years ago where they set up the shop. She then spoke of a city, Whiterun. Which laid beyond the valley and was built on a large rocky plateau on the edge of the plains. Nearby were flowing rivers and farmsteads all situated around Whiterun. Also near Whiterun but on the eastern side was a mountain. In fact the mountain was the largest mountain in Skyrim. Sotek decided once he returned the claw back to the shopkeeper, Whiterun would be his next destination.

     

    Soon they reached the bridge that spanned the river. The river itself was a deafening roar as it flowed through and over large rocks before following the path down the valley to the plains below. In the distance he could see the tundra mammoths slowly grazing towards the west while giants watched over them. Sure enough to the east was a large town built on the rock plateau Camilla told him about while scattered farmsteads spread out to the south from the town.

     

    “Whiterun?” he asked pointing out to the distant town.

     

    “Yes, that’s it. It’s not a bad place to visit. Mind you they got plenty of guards and of course the companions are always willing to give the guards a hand”.

     

    “Companions? Who are they?” Sotek asked as he had never heard of them.

     

    “Oh, you don’t know?” She was genuinely surprised so she thought for a moment before telling him all about them. “Well they are sort of like ermm... Ah, the fighters guild. Their similar to the fighters guild. Now you must have heard of them?”

     

    “Oh yes!” Sotek assured her as he nodded. “Everyone’s heard of them” he stated.

     

    She smiled then pointed to the top of the mountain.

    “There it is” She stated. “Bleaks Fall Barrow”.

     

    Up high in the mountains, it stood alone and desolate. An old Nordic ruin half covered in mist. With towering arches covering a large courtyard. Almost like a church, a giant church with no walls or roof, but just stone joists protruding skywards. And of course, full of the dead. Sotek waved farewell and crossed the bridge heading towards the path that would take him to the steps of Bleaks Fall Barrow all the while reassuring himself that he could actually pull this off. That in itself wasn’t going to be as easy as he first initially thought. Only now did he start to realize that this thief was no ordinary thief, and he was defiantly not alone.

     

    Quelling the doubt that was building up inside which threatened to overwhelm him, he suddenly stopped and gave a small chuckle to himself when out of nowhere a thought occurred about the earlier conversation entered his head.

    “What the hell is a fighter’s guild?”

     

    With his healing spell and sword at the ready, he resumed his journey up the mountain path.

     

     

Comments

19 Comments   |   SpookyBorn2021 and 1 other like this.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  June 16, 2016
    Anything which you pick up on. It's a learning process. You might see a missing comma or a misspell or even come across a line which might not sound right to you. You could even read a word and feel there's a better word I could use. It might even be a ca...  more
  • Tim
    Tim   ·  June 16, 2016
    No, no, not the writing. I think it was something I ate.
    Do you mean like misspellings or missing commas? Those I can look for. I do understand not wanting to change things, though.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  June 16, 2016
    I hope it's not the poor writing which made you feel like that. (Yes, it's poor... I am reluctant to change it though as readers can see how much of an improvement I've made).
    If you find anything you feel is off then please tell me and I will have ...  more
  • Tim
    Tim   ·  June 16, 2016
    You know, it's funny, as soon as I started reading your first and second parts I started feeling like shit. Now I'm questioning whether I should read any more :P
    But I'm definitely enjoying your story so far, Sotek. I'm glad I finally started reading it!
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  January 14, 2016
    Yep, I'm actually more likely to get frustrated if no one points out any errors, because I know I make a lot. I should go hunt for some critiquing handouts, my methods are pretty disorganized right now.
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  January 14, 2016
    Damn that's a lot of errors! I'll need to go back through your chapters and see what I can dig up.
  • Idesto
    Idesto   ·  January 14, 2016
    I'd just like to echo Sotek's sentiments here. Most of us here are inexperienced writers and really welcome constructive criticism. I know I do! How else will we get better? Tamriel Tales is a great little community and it's getting better all the time.
  • SpottedFawn
    SpottedFawn   ·  January 14, 2016
    Thank you for the discussion link! And I didn't realize these chapters were so significant. I actually wasn't aware of the dark times you and your wife went through until I read the spotlight today. I wish nothing but good things for you and your family, ...  more
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  January 14, 2016
    Awwwooo SF
    You've delved into the start of U.O.T.W. which is my first attempt at writing. What you will find should you follow the story is a change in my writing style as my writing skill has developed over the last year.
    These first few chap...  more
  • SpottedFawn
    SpottedFawn   ·  January 14, 2016
    And so begins the first of many adventures for our Argonian hero!
    Enjoyed it! Though I noticed a few little things:
    He summoned up his chances in an instant, two archers on the gatehouse, one guard behind him, and another two further up.more