The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 43: The Hunt for Death

Chapter XLIII: The Hunt for Death
“In the end, all valiant earth ponies can enter Sovngarde”

Jorrvaskr.

I’d been to the Companions’ headquarters only twice before. The first time I had met Steadfast, and the second was when he’d been confirmed as a full Companion. Needless to say, he was eager to return to the place where he had devoted the last few years of his life.

Passing through Whitetrot also allowed us to drop a few things off at Breezehome, including the Equine Scroll. Our party now grown to four, I considered speaking to Protocus about buying a few new beds for my home. If we ever had enough time when we weren’t adventuring to stay at Breezehome, my current accommodations wouldn’t cut it.

Steadfast lead us through the mead hall once we arrived, taking us to speak to the Companions’ leaders, the Circle. They were meeting downstairs when we found them, finishing up a discussion on something pertaining only to Horizon’s premier fighting force. Steadfast approached the elderly white stallion that stayed behind as the others dispersed.

“Harbinger Whitemane,” he addressed the pony, giving a slight bow of respect, “I have some questions for you.”

“Ask away, Steadfast,” the pony answered, “You know I’m always eager to teach the younger generation.”

“I want to know about Sovngarde,” he said.

“Ah yes, the land of paradise,” Whitemane said longingly, “Where Ysgroomar greets all great earth ponies and welcomes them into his mead hall for joyous celebration.”

“Is there a way to reach it without – you know – dying?”

“Hmm,” Whitemane said, furrowing his brow, “I cannot think of any reason one would be permitted to enter the sacred grounds without dying a warrior’s death.”

“We ask because we believe Alduin has been traveling to Sovngarde to feast on the souls of the dead,” I explained, “We want to stop him from doing so, but he is only vulnerable when he is in Sovngarde.”

“We believe the ancient earth ponies may have built a portal to reach Sovngarde so that Alduin could travel there,” Steadfast added.

“Feasting on the souls of the dead, you say?” Whitemane said, stroking his beard, “That’s not right. Sovngarde is meant to be a place earth ponies are safe from the threat of death. If this is true, Alduin must be stopped.”

“Come,” he said, rising from his chair and slowly making his way down the hall, “Perhaps you are right. If so, the only way you could find such a portal would be to use ancient earth pony maps.”

Whitemane led us to the archive room where I had first found Steadfast. Pulling a large and dusty book off the shelves, he began to page through it, finally stopping at a list of names.

“There were three ancient earth pony lords who were obsessed with mapping Horizon,” Whitemane said, flipping through the book again until he stopped at a map of Horizon covered in unfamiliar markers, “Their fortresses were here, at Mare’s Reach, here, at Broken Horn Redoubt, and here, at Dreadguard Bastion. There’s sure to be a map of Horizon in at least one of these places, and it should have the location of this portal on it if there is one.”

“I think we’ll try Mare’s Reach first,” I said, marking the ruins on my map, “If it turns up empty, at least Broken Horn Redoubt is also in the Karth.”

“May the ancestors guard your path,” Whitemane told us as we left Jorrvaskr.

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

Though Protocus didn’t have any beds immediately for Breezehome, he did promise to order a few for me. I also arranged to have a few changes made to my house while I was gone and purchased a few bedrolls in the meantime. It would take nearly half a day to reach Mare’s Reach, so we decided it’d be best to rest up in Whitetrot and depart in the morning.

Once again the nightmare of the ship haunted me, though this time there were even more dead ponies covering the deck. I hadn’t had such a nightmare in weeks, and it took me by surprise, coming out of nowhere. I laid awake for some time with their faces haunting me before I could finally return to my uneasy slumber.

After heading off to the forge in the morning to repair our weapons and armor, we left Whitetrot and headed west, toward Rearikstead. A short distance past the tiny town we left the path and crossed through the wilderness. Mare’s Reach was an ancient earth pony fortress built not too far from Uragbashar. I saw it in the distance, with a few Griffins wheeling around the mountain, as we traveled.

Eventually we made it to the point I had marked on my map as Mare’s Reach. Through the pine trees I could see a set of weathered stone stairs leading up through a set of arches to a grand entrance set into the mountainside. Deer wandered through the arches, taking off as we approached. Climbing up the steps, we pushed into the ruin.

Immediately inside Mare’s Reach was a grand hall, complete with pillars, though a few had fallen down over the years. Rugs and banners still decorated the hall, though time had taken its toll, leaving behind little more than faded and ragged scraps of what must’ve once been items of great beauty.

In the center of the hall, among the remnants of tables, many of which had been chopped to pieces, burned a campfire. Around it sat several ponies wearing bandit armor. Before attacking, I wanted to make sure things were what they seemed, so we inched closer and listened, hiding behind one of the fallen pillars.

“What do you think those pegasi are doing down there?” a unicorn mare with a silvery coat asked.

“Searching for treasure, most likely,” said a scruffy red earth pony with a battleaxe strapped to his back, “And if they do find some, we’d better make sure they share.”

“That’s foolishness,” a bat-pony in mismatched pegasus armor said, “You really think we’d be able to take them down? And besides, we’ve already been paid to make sure nopony sneaks up on them.”

“I know,” the earth pony grumbled, “But it’s not like we’re making a lot now anyways, what with Jarl Glamus hardly ever sending out caravans anymore. A little more gold to fill our coin purses wouldn’t hurt.”

I’d gathered enough evidence to make my decision by this point. These ponies really were bandits, and as such needed to be put down to protect other ponies. Caution had also yielded a surprising bit of information. Not only bandits and Draugr inhabited this ruin, in our search we could expect to run into a group of pegasi as well. Hopefully they’d be friendly, and willing to work together to cut through the Draugr, but I wasn’t holding my breath.

Drawing out Calcion’s Cleaver and powering up my horn, I prepared to attack the bandits. My friends spread out, taking up positions around the fire. At my signal, we all charged it at once. My ice spikes flew through the air, some melting as they hit Mystic’s fireballs.

My sword met the stallion’s battleaxe as I reached the group. Using his size to his advantage, he pushed my sword back. Whipping out the Blade of Hoofingar, I knocked his weapon out of its block and into the floor.

He swung his battleaxe at me again, but I managed to block it before it was able to hit my side. Pushing him back with my swords, I forced him to abandon the block and rear up for a strike. My ebony sword blocked his swing as it came down at me, and my ancient earth pony sword slammed into his chest. As the blade pierced his heart, he fell over, his battleaxe falling from his jaw and my sword sliding out of his chest.

The bat-pony was already dead by the time I finished, her armor bent out of shape by Steadfast’s strikes. At the end of the hall, the unicorn was fleeing while attempting to repair the damage done to her by Mystic’s magical blasts. She fell, sliding across the floor, as one of Mephalda’s arrows shot through the back of her neck.

Passing through one of the doorways that the unicorn’s body wasn’t lying in, we entered the next chamber of Mare’s reach. A grand hall met our eyes, far larger and more ornate than the room we’d come from. Great stone banquet tables still stood in rows across the floor, though age had been rough to them. At the far end of the hall was an imposing throne that appeared to be carved to look like it was made of bones.

Behind us, just in front of the wall separating the entry hall from this one, was a massive statue of a rearing pony. The mare depicted had a warlike gleam in her eyes and was clothed in armor that appeared to be a more elegant version of Draugr armor with a cape draped over it. More than likely, this statue depicted whatever Draugr lord had once ruled here, who we would probably meet in the depths.

Moving on, we passed down a series of tunnels where flames still burned from the braziers mounted on the walls. Here and there were the mutilated forms of Draugr, bearing testament to the pegasi that had already passed through here. A set of small blades embedded into one of the walls caught my attention.

“Blackwing wing-blades” Mephalda said, extracting them from the stone, “I don’t think we’re dealing with just any pegasi.”

I agreed, though I was puzzled why the Blackwings were here in the first place. This was the second time I’d found them in an ancient earth pony ruin. The first time had been back at Blank Flanks Barrow, when one of their agents was trying to get his hooves on the Golden Claw. Come to think of it, the Blackwings were also after the Emerald Claw that had once belonged to Splitten’s Jarl and was now in my saddlebags. Why were the Blackwings interested in ancient earth pony ruins?

That question would have to wait for later, as we had a Draugr ruin to explore. Who knew how long the Blackwings had been here, and how far ahead of us they were. If they were here to make off with whatever was in this ruin, we’d have to make sure they didn’t take the map of Horizon before we did.

Rushing ahead through the passages, I didn’t notice the trap placed on the floor of one of the rooms. Something I stepped on must’ve triggered it, for the ground suddenly opened up beneath me. The piece of floor I’d been standing on was actually a grate that swung open to drop me into a pit. Steadfast too fell with me, but Mephalda was able to grab Mystic and pull her back from the edge before she too was taken by the trap.

At the bottom, Steadfast and I landed in a pool of water, which broke our fall without breaking any bones. We appeared to be in a cistern, and I climbed out of the water and onto the ring of stone that surrounded it. Across the pool of water, where Steadfast climbed out, I could see a door set in the stone that would let us out of this trap. Looking up, I could see that Mephalda and Mystic were peering down through the grate into the darkness.

“We’re fine!” I called up the shaft, my voice echoing as I did so, “Just keep moving and we’ll meet up with you!”

Circling the pool, I made it to where Steadfast was smashing the door to splinters with his warhammer. I passed through the newly opened hole as he gestured for me to go first. Calcion’s Cleaver held in front of me, I looked around the room.

Here, braziers filled with the purplish flame burned brightly, illuminating my surroundings. On one side of the room were cells set into the wall, though time had caused the doors to fall from their places as the hinges and locks rusted away. On the other side of the room were stone tables covered in rusty blades that looked like torture equipment. I guess it only made sense to build a torture room right next to the trap pit for catching trespassers. Still, I didn’t want to stay here any longer than necessary.

As I was about to open the door at the far end of the room, it began to shake on its own. Draugr grunts came from the other side as the undead rammed themselves against it. I backed away as the door began to pull off its hinges, eventually coming completely free. Before the door even hit the ground, Draugr began to pile through.

<YOL!>

My dragon breath incinerated the crowd of undead, turning them to cinders. In the back the fire spread, igniting the Draugr in the hallway. Steadfast knocked one away with his warhammer as it charged toward me.

“Come on,” I said, leaving the torture chamber, “We’ve got to catch up with Mystic and Mephalda.”

I drew both my swords, spinning them around as I charged down the passage. Draugr still on fire from my Shout quickly fell to my blades. Charging ahead, I stepped into a room lined on both sides with sarcophagi. The Draugr awoke immediately, crawling out of their coffins to defend the ruin.

I swung at the first one with the Axe of Whitetrot as it came at me, hooking my war axe’s blade over its. The zombie pulled away before I could disarm it and swung its blade toward my neck. It missed as Steadfast’s hammer lifted it off the ground. A swipe from my axe killed it for good after it landed against the nearby wall.

Another Draugr charged me, a spear strapped to its side. Before it closed the distance between us, I shot ice spikes at it. The Draugr dodged each of the freezing missiles, picking up speed as it drew closer. Changing my aim, I shot an ice spike through the zombie’s foreleg. Veering off to the side, it impaled another Draugr with its spear before I sliced its head off with a swipe of Calcion’s Cleaver.

An arrow bounced off the shoulder of my armor, and I looked in the direction from which it had come. A Draugr was busy loading another arrow into a bow that had stood up ridiculously well to the ravages of time. The next dart fired at me nearly took out my eye, and I shot lightning at the Draugr before it could reload again. Writhing with power, the corpse returned to death.

Near the door, one more Draugr stood, a greatsword held in its mouth. Drawing out both my swords, I charged and knocked the zombie’s blade to the ground. It recovered surprisingly fast, pushing my blades away and forcing me back. As it swung for my side, I used both my swords to redirect its much larger sword to the floor. As it began to lift its blade off the ground, I swung both mine around until they were beneath it. The greatsword was quickly thrown from the Draugr’s mouth, and I finished up with a sword strike to the neck.

Through the door at the far end of the room was a long, bare tunnel. At the end of it was an exit to a small break in the mountains. Around us, the walls of the mountain reared up to a small gap above where sunlight came in. A few small trees sprouted in the miniscule mountain valley, and snow covered rock unaltered by pony hooves. A ramp-like formation of rock provided a way to reach another door carved into the mountain across the enclosure.

As we started off toward it, a roar shook the trees, causing snow to spill onto the ground. From a cave near the door, a snow white manticore emerged. Snarling, it launched itself of its ledge and flapped down toward Steadfast and me on its bat wings.

I rolled to the side as the beast swooped over us, and Steadfast did the same in the other direction. The manticore’s claws ripped at air, and it slammed into the cliff face, causing more snow to rain down. Giving a roar, it turned back around toward us.

I began to shoot fire at it using my horn until it got too close for comfort. I ducked down as a mighty claw swiped over my head. As the stinger from the manticore’s scorpion tail swung at me, I dodged to the side. Drawing Calcion’s Cleaver, I slashed through the tough exoskeleton and managed to take the manticore’s stinger off. Roaring in anguish, the beast pounced at where I was pinned against the cliff face.

<<FEIM~ZII!!>>

I became ethereal, and the manticore’s face slammed into solid rock instead. While I was invulnerable, I trotted out of the beast’s reach. While I waited to return to physical form, Steadfast slammed his warhammer into the manticore’s hindleg, snapping the bone. Pulling itself away from the cliff, it lunged at Steadfast.

Rolling out of the way, he swung at the manticore’s paw. It roared in pain and leapt toward him. As he rolled to the side, the beast rammed its head into a tree. At that moment, my Shout wore off, and I sent a blast of flames into the pine’s needles. The flames quickly spread, catching the manticore on fire as well.

Ripping the tree apart, the creature gave a wail and turned toward me. I shot ice spikes into its face, one striking its eye, before it began its charge. As it leapt at me, I ducked down and crawled beneath the beast. Sliding in the snow, it managed to turn itself back around remarkably quickly.

I galloped away as the beast pursued me across the tiny valley. Steadfast had begun a climb up toward the door, and jumped off the stone ramp as the manticore passed him. Warhammer clutched tightly in his teeth, he brought it down upon the manticore’s head, gravity doing its fair share of the work. Bone crunched, and the manticore stopped its pursuit of me, lying dead in the snow.

Now that the threat was nullified, we trotted up to the doorway out of the valley. Pushing the iron doors aside, we passed into another grand hall. Here a few Draugr milled about, their eyes latching onto us as intruders as we stepped inside.

With a blast of lightning, I knocked the first one to come at me away. A blast of fire incinerated another before I was forced to draw my swords. A Draugr with a mace attacked me, but I was easily able to hold it off with the Blade of Hoofingar while cutting through the zombie’s side with Calcion’s Cleaver.

Holding my ancient earth pony blade out before me, I sent lightning flying into a group of charging Draugr, reducing them to little more than piles of ash. Marveling at the power of my sword, I continued on, cutting down another of the Draugr before it could draw its weapon.

With that, all the Draugr in the hall had returned to their eternal slumber, and we could move on. Leaving the grand hall, we traveled through narrow and twisting passages, taking out Draugr as we did. Steadfast smashed down the wooden door at the end of the tunnels, making an opening into a larger passageway.

“You two made it,” Mystic exclaimed in a whisper as we exited the tunnels we’d been traveling through.

“Blackwings up ahead,” Mephalda explained also in a whisper, and also with a smile on her face.

Reunited, we crept forward as quietly as possible until the Blackwings were in sight. Down a slope stood four of the cloaked pegasi. They were standing in front of a circular door like the ones I’d seen in Blank Flanks Barrow and Ironhoof Barrow. The lead pegasus examined a dragon claw made from what looked like iron before rearranging the door’s rings and inserting the claw.

As the door began to slide into the floor, I launched the attack. Ice spikes went flying from my horn toward a light blue mare standing on the edge of the group. Surprisingly, her wings flew up at the last minute, the blades hidden within them shattering the ice into splinters. Throwing off their cloaks, the Blackwings turned toward us.

“Mephalda the Meek, Sapphire, Steadfast, in that order,” the leader, a bright yellow pegasus with a fiery orange mane ordered the Blackwings around her.

Three of the pegasi immediately launched themselves toward Mephalda, while the other focused on the remaining three of us. As fast as Mephalda fired her arrows, the Blackwings kept dodging them as they flew closer. At the last moment, Mephalda grabbed the lead Blackwing with her bare hooves, and rammed him into the ground, using his own momentum against him.

Before he could right himself, she kicked him up off the ground and into the next oncoming pegasus, knocking her out of the air as well. In the process, she had managed to retrieve twin blades from the first Blackwing, and was somehow holding them with her forehooves.

She slashed at the leader as she came near, and blade met blade. A crackling discharge of lightning brought my attention to the fight going on nearer to me. The pegasus who’d been focused on us was now knocked out of the sky by Mystic’s magic. I aided her, blasting the Blackwing again and again until she crumpled to the ground, lightning charging over her armor.

I left Mystic to finish her off as I saw Steadfast was engaged in fighting the first Blackwing Mephalda had knocked back using his warhammer. As his partner rushed to help, I shot fire at her, forcing her to stay away from Steadfast. Turning her attention toward me, she flapped through the air, wing blades ready.

<KRII!>

My Shout caused her to fall from the sky, gripped by pain as my very voice lashed out at her. Still, she was able to block my strikes as they came, keeping Calcion’s Cleaver at bay using the blades on her wings. As my Shout wore off, she stood, and I was forced to draw my other sword to keep from being sliced up badly. Desperately, I fought to bring my thoughts together.

<SU!>

My sword strikes suddenly became much swifter as an unnatural wind came to my aid, propelling them at speeds beyond what I could attain normally. Without her landing a strike on me, I managed to knock the tips of her wing blades off before my ebony sword slit her throat and Calcion’s Cleaver stabbed up into her chest.

Steadfast was still fighting the Blackwing he had been before, but both of them now looked to be worn out. Mystic was working to help him, keeping the Blackwing busy with magical blasts, so I moved to help Mephalda instead. Both her and the Blackwing leader had taken several hits, and both were circling around, looking for the perfect moment to strike.

Shooting ice spikes at the Blackwing, I was able to distract her long enough that Mephalda could make her move. Lunging in, my pegasus friend slashed at her opponent with both her blades, cutting through the Blackwing armor and into the flesh below. Flaring her wings, the Blackwing sent knives flying at Mephalda, forcing her to back away, a few of the blades stuck in her forelegs.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>>

My Shout sent the Blackwing tumbling down the slope. She came to a stop where Steadfast was standing, and he wasted no time slamming his hammer down onto her shoulder joint, crippling her foreleg. Mephalda flapped down, blades still in her hooves, and stabbed them both through the Blackwing’s armor into her chest, inflicting life-ending wounds.

After healing our myriad wounds from the fight and catching our breaths, we searched the Blackwings. They had a decent amount of gold on them, along with a plentiful supply of potions. However, there was no clue as to why they were here, in an ancient earth pony ruin.

Once we rested up, we moved on into the cavern the Blackwings had unlocked for us. Instead of a natural cavern like in Blank Flanks Barrow, this room had been carved completely by earth ponies, though it was roughly the same size. More columns decorated with the pony from the entrance passed alongside us as we made our way to the far end of the chamber.

A raised stone platform featured a sarcophagus surrounded by braziers burning in memorial to the pony buried here. No doubt there was a powerful Draugr slumbering inside, but my focus for the moment was on the wall engraved with Draconic behind the sarcophagus.

Mystic, Mephalda, and Steadfast all took up positions around the coffin as I examined the word wall. As usual, one word stood out for me, burning with blue fire while the rest remained lifeless and cold. Soon I found myself gliding on the current of time, experiencing the passing of ages as only the dragons could. In the end, I had a new understanding of time, only I had a new word for it now.

~TIID~

No sooner had the knowledge entered my mind than the lid burst off the sarcophagus behind me. Mephalda tried to shoot an arrow into the Draugr before it could rise, but her projectile was incinerated as the braziers sent flame high to the ceiling. As the Draugr rose, the flames seemed to wrap around her, slipping through the cracks of her armor and forming a cape along her back.

<<FO~KRAH!!>> I Shouted, hoping to immobilize her.

My ice never stood a chance as the flames surrounding her devoured them. Spinning her hooves, she caused a fireball to form between them before throwing it at me. I dodged out of the way as the stone where I’d been standing became charred.

Mystic had the right idea and was shooting lightning at her, a magic her flames could neither stop nor feed on. The Draugr sent flame billowing toward Mystic, but she pulled up a ward around herself, and the fire passed around her harmlessly. She struck back with a blast of lightning even stronger than before, forcing the Draugr to seize her flame attack.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>> I Shouted, knocking the Draugr off her sarcophagus and away from the braziers that seemed to be feeding her power.

Mephalda was shooting arrows as fast as she could at the Draugr, but most of them were burning up in the fire before they got there. The few that did, however, seemed to pain the Draugr immensely, burning right through her crumbling flesh. As she turned her attention toward Mephalda, Steadfast charged in with his warhammer, striking her side.

He was force to promptly drop his weapon and retreat as it caught fire. He had done a significant amount of damage, however, crushing the Draugr’s side as if it was composed of ash. Drawing my swords, I advanced around the sarcophagus, looking for the opening I needed to finish this once and for all.

At last I had it and, while the Draugr was preoccupied with holding off Mystic, I galloped up, both swords held out before me. The Draugr noticed I was coming a second too late, and wasn’t able to stop me as I leapt over her. Calcion’s Cleaver slashed through her neck, and the Blade of Hoofingar through her midsection, dividing her into three parts. She crumbled into a pile of ash as I rolled to a stop.

“Well, that was certainly intense,” Steadfast said, retrieving his warhammer, which was still a bit hot.

“Time to find out if it was worth it,” I said, looking around.

If the map we were searching for was anywhere in this ruin, it would surely be here, in the burial place of the master of this fortress. In some of the side rooms were maps, though they mostly detailed Mare’s Reach itself and the surrounding countryside. A few featured the far-off land of Atmarea, from whence the earth ponies had come, but there was nothing even vaguely resembling what we were looking for.

“Well, what now?” Mystic asked as we returned to the main burial chamber empty-hooved.

“Now, we go to Broken Hoof Redoubt,” I said, pulling out my map.

Level Up
Health: 250 Stamina: 240 Magicka: 240
New Perk: A Healer’s Touch [Restoration] -- Any Restoration spell can now be cast for half Magicka, regardless of difficulty level.
Word of Power learned: TIID -- Time; Slow Time – Shout at time, and command it to obey, as the world around you stands still.
New Quest: The Silent Cartographer -- Search Broken Horn Redoubt for a map containing the location of a portal to Sovngarde.

Comments

[Constellation]

Yay, finally some more, and I find the way you plan on getting them to the portal to be very interesting, I can't wait to read the next chapter, and I can't wait to see a dead Alduin, I never liked him in the first place.

Thanks for writing!

[Wolf Wytch]

My ice spikes flew through the air, some melting as they hit Mephalda’s fireballs.

Mephalda's? Or Mystic's balls? Of fire.

[Wolf Wytch]

I see that halo reference in the next quest title

[FireOfTheNorth]

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