The Ice Warrior Options

[redsrock]

The Ice Warrior

CHAPTER ONE


The horrifying, ear-piercing screams ran through the night, waking me up from my slumber. Upon hearing these dreadful noises I immediately rushed from my old wooden bed and entered the hallway of the fort. The others had already risen from their own cots and were brandishing their blades while running outside.

Come, Erick! The time is now! Prove your honor and your pride!

I heard someone yell those three sentences, but I couldn't make out who was talking. But I didn't have any time think. The enemy horde was on our doorsteps and I was not about to let my people down. After seeing the others rush out into the cold night, I sprinted back into my own room and lifted the lock off of my old oak wood-chest. Then I reached for my silver broadsword and ran out into the hall to join my comrades.

Outside the battle had already commenced, and the white-colored floor had by now been stained with the crimson blood of my friends...and my enemies. I ran, creaming at the top of my lungs as loud as I could. The enemy from the northeast had at last built up enough courage to attack us without surprise. I for one was not going to let this opportunity go to waste.

The untamed Nords had made their way through our defenses and were now in our camp. There were at least fifty of them; all running around setting to fire to anything they could find. Their dirty beards and hair flapped in the wind, along with the blizzard that was coming down from the dark sky.

The first enemy I came to face was a heavy-set warrior wielding an iron war axe and a dagger of the same material. The piece of scum roared at me and got into a defensive position as I charged towards him with my broadsword held high into the air. As I neared the man he swung his axe at me but I ducked just in time and tackled him to the cold floor. Snow splashed up into my eyes but I quickly wiped it away as I hacked at my adversary's face. Again and again I slashed at his face, even when I knew his death had already come and passed.

I was too crazed with wanting revenge; too distraught to even observe the other heavy warrior lumbering towards me with a giant wooden war-hammer. The weapon hit me square in the back and I instantly dropped my blade and fell to the white canvas. Then the warrior turned my body over and I was face to face with the enemy; the despicable Nordic warrior from the north...the Skaal!

The oaf of a Nord glared into my eyes with pure disgust. He hated me and I hated him. This story of revulsion between the Imperials and the Nords has lasted for many years. And this particular battle was only one of hundreds that was sure to follow.

Then the Nord opened his mouth and began to laugh insanely. Spit fell from his mouth and hit me in the forehead. I could smell the putrid stench that was his breath; but alas there was nothing I could do. He had my arms pinned to the ground. Then, a ball of green smoke came from the mouth. It formed into some kind of animal, though I couldn't tell what it was. Suddenly I heard a deep howl, and that's when everything went black and I snapped back into reality.

"Erick...Erick, wake up! Wake up, Erick!"

A dream....it was all a dream. I could have sworn it was real; the heat from the fires, the yells of the Nords, and the impact from the war-hammer...it was all so real to me. But, fortunately I was only dreaming, and now my roommate was trying desperately to rouse me up from my delusion.

"It was a dream, Erick...only a dream!"

Finally I sat straight up in my cot with my roommate's hand on my shoulder. Melvin, an Imperial soldier just as I, was looking into my eyes with a most concerned look about his hairy face.

"You don't look so good," he said, stroking his slick and thin black beard. Melvin had always been proud of his facial hair. He always kept it neat and tidy; which the ladies loved.

"I'll be fine. I just had another dream..."

I looked outside my window to see that it wasn't snowing the least bit, and there weren't any angry Nords running around with torches. Everything was peaceful for the time being

"More like a nightmare, Erick! I can't keep living with those screams, friend. Sooner or later I'll throw you in the hallway!"

I merely laughed it off, trying to forget what I saw. For the past several days I've had some of the most dreadful dreams ever imaginable. They all started out differently, but they all ended with the same green smoke and the same howl. It had really started to bug me and I had thought about seeing a mage about it.

But Melvin wasn't going to let me do such a thing. He figured the mages would think me insane. Such dreams were a sign of lunacy, you know. But I just couldn't help it. I wanted to know what they meant; if something was going to happen to me. I've talked with Melvin about it hundreds of times, but he doesn't seem to think anything is wrong. I wished I could feel the same way.

"So...was it the smoke again?"

"Yes."

"The howl as well?"

"Yes."

Melvin had jumped back into his bed by now, but when I told him it was the same dream, he turned around to meet my sweaty face.

"I know I've said this just a few seconds ago, but you look awful, Erick."

My friend's ‘kind' words weren't doing me any good. I couldn't keep living like this. At that very moment I told Melvin I was going to talk with the local mage first thing in the morning. He got out of bed and stretched his arms into the air.

"Where you going?" I asked him.

"Taking a piss, if that's okay with you," he said playfully walking out the door, closing it gently behind him.

I was lucky to have a friend like Melvin. I remember the first time I met him here in this desolate snowy island of Solstheim. It was three years ago then, just shortly after I had arrived from the mainland. Melvin was always the smartellic type. He never let anyone tell him something he didn't want to hear, but he was always one to voice his own opinion.

And you know what; I almost feel grateful for getting sent here to Fort Frostmoth. Sure, I'd be much more comfortable back in Caldera, stealing ebony again. But what good would that do me? By coming here and working my tail off I've become a better man and a better human being. No more thieving for me; my life as a criminal was over the moment I set foot on this island. Since then it's been a lot of hard work, but at least I can say I now have control over myself.

But Melvin...well, he's different story. Though he's stopped his skooma addiction, he's also still a heavy drinker. Mazte is his favorite and I could almost bet you a hundred septims there's a couple bottles of it under his bed right now. But at least he can control when he drinks. It's not like he does it in broad daylight. No, he's way smarter than that. If you ask me it's his intelligence that's allowed him to survive so far. Everyone has their own personal attribute that compliments themselves. Melvin's is his charm and intelligence, and mine is...well I'm not quite sure just yet.

Captain Falx Carius seems to be respectful for my hard-working nature, but that has only gotten me the title of "Captain's Pet" from the other soldiers. Of course, none of us are really soldiers. Everyone knows Fort Frostmoth is where all the trouble makers go to spend the rest of their lives working for the Empire. It's not really that much work if you ask me; a little bit of construction, a little bit of mining, and some other minor chores.

The life of a prisoner isn't so bad I guess, but I can still can't help but wonder if there's something else out there for me. I realize that my life as an inmate is eternal, but still...I've got a feeling something's about to happen. Something big...but I just don't know what; nor if it's good or bad.

"You still awake?"

Melvin had walked into the room and flopped onto his bed. It was likely a little after midnight, and I had awoken my friend from his sleep for the third night in a row.

"I'm sorry, Melvin. I'll...I'll wait on speaking to the mage if you want me to."

"Yes, I'm glad to hear it, my friend. Do NOT tell them about your dreams, Erick. It will only lead to more problems. They'll lock you up in a cell, and before you know it they'll throw you out into the wild. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

No, that didn't sound like a good life to me. Perhaps my dreams would fade away?

"Don't worry, I'll keep quiet."

Only time would tell.....

This post has been edited by redsrock: Feb 7 2008, 05:11 AM

[redsrock]

Here is a skipped chapter. My bad....This all hapened before going to the Udyrfrykte's lair.


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t sleep a bit that night. For one, I was wide awake, reflecting on all the events that have recently occurred. And two, my friend’s head was resting on the table downstairs, and his body lying who knows where. In fact, I really didn’t want think about the possibilities of where it could be.

And now here I stand, with a spear in one hand and my sack in the other, about to set foot into the heavy downfall of snow. I had not a clue where this Thirsk place was, nor did I have a map of the area. I was essentially running around blind, guessing on where to turn next. Such a thing didn’t make sense to me and I was beginning to feel frustrated. But what was I to do? There weren’t any other options, and it’s not like Madila was going to be of help. She only came when she wanted to, and I had a funny feeling she was now laughing at me somewhere, watching me wander around not knowing what to do.

I was still a bit curious to everything going on. Madila, who seems to be very powerful herself, is sort of ‘slave’ to this Lord Vero. But that would only mean that Lord Vero is extremely powerful, for the simple fact that he is apparently easily able to control the witch.

Plus, all of this was just so weird. I wanted to know what exactly it was Madila was looking for in the cave. Maybe whatever it was has something to do with these ‘tasks’. Though I’m not sure, I could be completely wrong; it’s happened more than once.

So a little after five o’clock the following morning I just got out off bed, realizing I wasn’t going to fall asleep anyway. It was still dark outside, but I knew the sun would begin to appear shortly, so I then began packing items into my sack. Thankfully I now had this house as my ‘base’, so there wasn’t a need to pack a lot of things. I simply packed a loaf of bread, raw carrots, and some raw beef. I figured there was always a chance of me getting lost in a blizzard, and if that was the case I would use the beef and cook it over an open fire. Therefore I brought a cooking pan and wooden spatula as well, which I ‘stole’ from the now-dead Nord cannibal’s kitchen drawers.

After finishing my packing, which only took twenty short minutes, I had everything I wanted, or needed for that matter. This included Teemee’s wooden spear, my Imperial broadsword, full leather armor minus the helm. (I had a simple hat that covered my entire head and ears.) And of course the food I told you about. Other than that I had nothing else. I was actually feeling quite light, for during the trek from Raven I had been hauling about fifty pounds worth of stuff, maybe even a little more than that now that I think about it.

When I stepped outside, the sun was about halfway up into the sky. It was not snowing thankfully and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. It looked as if the day was going to be a good one, hopefully that was going to be a sign of good fortune for me and my mission of finding Thirsk Either that or it was a bit of irony; that no matter how good things may seem, I will never accomplish my task. But I prefer to think on the positive side of things.

I decided to start north, and there was a good reason why. If you think about it, north just seems like the right way to go in every situation. North means going up, which you can compare to being successful. South would be going down, which I would compare to be being unsuccessful. East and west can be compared to staying level; not getting worse, but not getting better either.

I marched for nearly two hours and found nothing, absolutely nothing. I ran across several wolf corpses, gruesomely destroyed, likely by either a snow bear or the Udyrfrykte itself. I never passed any settlements, nor did I see any in the distance; and like I said earlier, it wasn’t as if today was an overcast and cloudy day. Now, it was clear as crystal, perfect even. But alas I was still searching blindly for this Thirsk place.

And then, from atop a large hill, there stood a figure raising something long high in the air. I looked to be a spear or something, but it was very hard to tell. All of a sudden I heard heavy footsteps behind me and before I could react I was hit in the back of the head once again. Needless to say this was becoming something of normalcy for me…


+++++ +++++ +++++ +++++ +++++ +++++


I awoke sometime after that in a dark room, with a tattered rug spread across the floor. The only light came from a dimly lot torch on the wall that looked as if it were to go out any second. I rubbed my eyes with my hands and noticed they were not binded together, nor were by feet or any part of my body for that matter. I had not a clue where I was, and my sack and other items were nowhere to be seen.

And though my left knee was still a bit achy from yesterday, no further pains were noticeable, telling me that if I was indeed a prisoner of someone, at least they weren’t as painfully cruel as the cannibal Nord had been.

Using my good knee I pushed myself from the ground and walked across the room, which was not very large at all, and attempted open the door at the other end. The knob was steady, signaling that I was locked in. I cursed out loud and that’s when I head a voice from outside.

“Andrel, the Imperial is awake!” The voice was rather loud, and it seemed as if it was that of a male Nord. I then heard footsteps, seemingly going down wooden steps. Silence filled the air for several minutes, and then suddenly the door knob jiggled. I stepped away and the door opened, revealing a tall Nord with blue markings all over his face.

“It’s about time you woke up. You’ve been here since the early morning, and it is now seven thirty at night.”

The Nord talking to me was not very large, just extremely tall. He was easily a foot taller than I, and unlike many other Nords I have met, this particular one did not have a ruffled beard. Instead he had a nice, cleanly shaped blonde goatee. I could somehow tell this Nord was not like any other I had ever met. The way he spoke was one thing, in that he actually sounded intelligent.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“My name is Andel Bear-Claw,” Chieftain of this fine place of Thirsk.

Thirsk, eh? Thank Talos…

“Good. I’ve been trying to find this place for the past two days…”

Andel game me a curious look, turned to his accompanied friend, and then looked back to me. “Would you mind telling why, exactly? We found you wandering the tundra, looking as if you had not a clue where you were going.”

This man’s tone had none of the normal Nordic-accent. It was actually quite refreshing come to think of it. After the last Nord I dealt with, I’ve come to have a stereotypical assumption of them. Obviously they are not all cannibals, but still…it wasn’t a very good memory if you know what I mean.

“Well, I didn’t in fact. I’m afraid I…ugh…lost my map earlier.”

I lied to the Nord simply because I didn’t want him to know I come from Raven Rock and Fort Frostmoth. The Nords aren’t too keen about foreign visitors, especially those from the Empire. But there was something different about Andel. Something told me he wasn’t the savage brute most Solstheim Nords were.

Andel then gave me another serious look, and then said to his companion, “Rolfe, go fetch his belongings.”

The Nord, this one very muscular with lots of dark brown hair on both his head and face, immediately left the room in a hurry. Andel stood there with his arms folding, staring me down as if trying to figure me out. He was trying his best to keep a friendly posture, but I could tell he didn’t trust me. He was too smart for that mistake.

When ‘Rolfe’ returned, he brought my spear and sword, plus the sack carrying my other items. He held the items in his arms, and Andel took the blade from him.

“Where did you get this broadsword?” Andel asked me.

“I bought it from a ship in the Mainlands.”

“It’s Imperial-made, the kind forged for Imperial Legion officers. Why do you have this certain kind of blade?”

He was starting to catch on, and I had to think fast.

“I am an adventurer, and I was told Solstheim was a terribly dangerous place. I figured I’d need a weapon of great quality.”

Andel snickered at my last remark and replied, “great quality? Not with this bluntly-edged blade…..”
He handed the sword back to Rolfe and then opened the sack. Then he said, “In the bag is little food, a cooking pan, and a spoon, both wooden I should add. There are no other items present, and there are also no extra clothes. Obviously this place isn’t as warm as your Imperial-owned land, and that makes me wonder why you haven’t brought any extra sets. An adventurer wouldn’t be so naïve, no matter how idiotic they appear to be.”

“Take your armor off.”

“What?” I asked, completely confused.

“Take your clothes off and let me see what you’re wearing underneath.”

He was beginning to take a more serious tone, so I obeyed his orders. It probably wouldn’t be a smart decision to make him angry, not here in his home. After I skimmed down to my clothing underneath my fur armor I knew exactly what Andel was thinking. Somehow he knew I was wearing prisoner-clothes, and he probably recognized this somehow. Likely from a scout or something of that sort…

“Rolfe, leave the room and close the door behind you,” Andel said, without looking back at his comrade. Rolfe nodded his head and left quickly.

And Andel just stood in the middle of the room with his arms behind his back, staring into my eyes. The gig was up, and I knew it. However, I wasn’t about to give in just yet.

“These are prisoner clothes.” It was a statement from Andel, not a question.

“No they’re not; they’re something I bought back in….” He then cut me off.

“No, they are not from Morrowind. If that was the case then it wouldn’t say ‘Fort Frostmoth on the left sleeve.” He pointed to my left sleeve, and of course the stitched logo of the fort was there, along with its actual name. I couldn’t believe I had been so stupid. Now the charade was over for real this time…

“Do you have any other sly remarks, hmm?”

His friendly attitude had been replaced with one of sarcasm and hatred. This Nord obviously didn’t like being lied to.

“Fine, yes, I am from Fort Frostmoth. I was a prisoner there.”

“Then what are you doing all the way out here?”

“Somehow I was able to escape. I got some things together the other night, and then I just took off. Thankfully the guard was asleep at his post, so it wasn’t hard at all.”

Somehow I think Andel was buying my story, but he wasn’t totally sold just yet.

“Very well, but why have you come here? And why have you lied to me up to this point?”

This was tricky one. Fortunately for me I was a terrific liar…

Yeah, I did plenty of that long ago…

And again the past was coming back, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Besides, Andel was waiting for an answer.

“I came here because a friend of mine told me of this place. I figured I could come here and maybe join your clan?”

It was risky, but also worth the chance in my opinion. Besides, I couldn’t think of anything else anyway…

But then I realized that apparently it wasn’t worth the risk. Andel reared back his fist and punched me across the chin. I fell to the ground, feeling rather dizzy. I tried to get up but he pushed me back down, plus I was still woozy from the blow anyway. So I just sat there on the ground. I looked at Andel’s face and he was furious, to say the least.

“Stop with the [censored]ing lies, and tell me the truth…”

His anger was pure, but fortunately it was a ‘calmed anger’, and he wasn’t simply yelling at the top of his lungs. As it is probably easy to guess, it definitely makes for a more civilized conversation.

And so I told him the truth, every last bit of it. Everything, even Madila, Lord Vero, these task, etc…etc… etc…..But of course I didn’t expect him to believe, not in the least. I mean, who would believe something like this? I know I wouldn’t…

And when I was done, some ten minutes or so later, he walked across the room and pulled up a chair. Then he offered me a hand and helped me up from the groun, and then motioned for me to sit. Next he opened the door and told Rolfe to fetch an old towel and a bucket of water for my chin. I felt the skin, and blood was lightly trickling down and there was a small wound from where he hit me.

After Rolfe brought the towel he left again and Andel closed the door. He walked over and handed me the towel and placed the bucket of water on the ground. I dipped the cloth into the water and dabbed at my chin. It stung of course because the wound was still fresh, but it also felt good nonetheless.

“I apologize for the cut, I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

I didn’t say anything, nor did I look at him for that matter. I was thinking too much about what was to happen next. It appeared as if the end was near and I was either to be killed or held prisoner forever, likely used as a slave for these Nords. But on the other hand, he did just apologize. Not for the hit, but for the scar. Maybe that meant there was still a glimmer of hope for me?

“I hit you because I wanted the truth, and that is what I got. Maybe you don’t agree with that, but hey, it works.”

Still I looked at the ground while treating my wound. And still Andel continued his little speech.

“And because of what you have told me, I will let you go.”

But of course after hearing that my head immediately lifted up and I stared directly into his eyes, trying to see if he was lying or not. Judging by his expression I’d say he wasn’t; that and that fact that he didn’t seem like a person who’d joke at a time like this.

“I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, but for some odd reason I believe every word of what you’ve told me,” Andel said while moving his right hand through his long blonde hair. “It anyone else it would make absolutely no sense of course, in fact it would all sound ludicrous actually. However, I do know of witches on this island, and therefore I believe you.”

“You know Madila?” I asked.

“I don’t know any of them personally, nor have I had any run-ins with any. I’ve heard the stories, and unlike many of your foreigners we Nords believe in them. Or at least the majority of us do. I know my men do…”

“So…may I leave now? I thank you for your kind actions, but as you can probably tell I need to go.”

“Yes, you may leave. But I want you to forget about the cannibal Nord’s house. Use Thirsk as your ‘safe-haven’. I would be honored to have you hear.”

“Really, why is that?” I asked.

“Simply because I marvel at you. Despite everything that’s happened, and all the dangers that await you, you’re still determined to save your friend. That is something not seen by many in this day and age. The world is a selfish one, ‘everyone-for-themselves’ if you will, especially by your Imperials, no offence to you of course. I can tell you are a very good person.”

“Well, thanks for the offer. The last thing I need is directions to the Udyrfrykte lair…”

“I shall have Rolfe accompany you in this battle. He is my fiercest warrior and he will do you good. I swear to you that his skills in battle are not matched by anyone, not even those of the Skaal.”

This was going great. And Madila had never said anything about not getting help for this task. Thankfully I wasn’t going to have to fight the Udyrfrykte all by my lonesome self.