The arrow has been set loose—no turning back now.
I had felt the breeze, and accounted for it—judged that the arrow would drift slightly to the left. It did… just more than I expected.
The arrow thuds into the earth near the figure by the mine. Whether man or zombie, he turns to investigate. If he has the brains to notice, the arrow would betray our position—its fletching should be pointing straight at us.
I turn to meet Esbern's gaze. "I'm sorry..." I say lowly.
Esbern doesn't meet my gaze. He stays silent, his expression unreadable—neither angry nor disappointed. I have no idea what he's thinking.
The silence is broken by a horrible shriek. Both of us immediately turn our attention to the mine.
The figure in front of the mine is staring into it as well.
A blur bursts from the mouth of the mine—someone sprinting toward us with terrifying speed. It's hard to see much at this distance, but I can see the long, fair hair of the figure.
"It must be the girl he raised—the young teenager! But what's with that speed?!" I burst out, drawing my dagger and raising my shield.
Esbern draws his great-sword. "Get behind me! Give me support—and heal me if I'm hit!" he barks, his voice snapping back into the old tone I remember from when we first met.
I cast a quick glance towards the mine, the girl is closing the gap between us quickly, she has already started ascending the hill we're standing on. Further behind her, two skeletons are also heading our way, along with the figure that had been keeping watch in front of the mine.
At least at this pace—we can take down the girl before the three others join in!
I do as Esbern had commanded, I get behind him—just far enough to stay clear of his blade's reach, letting him fight freely.
Sprinting up onto the hilltop, the girl comes at us with speed greater than what any human could attain—unless some kind of magic could help.
Only fourteen winters… that's what her tombstone said.
If her hair hadn't been trailing behind her as she sprinted, it would've reached her elbows. Her eyes—milky white, just like the first zombie I'd seen. But the worst part of all of it… was her expression.
I knew she was dead, but her face still held a look of innocence—she even looked frightened.
She closed the gap to Esbern fast—but, being an elite fighter, he'd already begun building momentum for a swing. She was quick, yes—but his timing was flawless.
Esbern swung his greatsword in a wide arc. I could already see that the swing would decapitate her—she would run into the blade herself at this rate!
At the last split second, Esbern shifted his feet, lifting his blade higher just as it was about to make its impact—he had missed on purpose!
The girl reached him in an instant, driving her dagger into his stomach!
"ESBERN!!!" I shout—dashing up to his side and kicking her away as hard as I could.
She didn't weigh much at all—she tumbled away quickly, rolling uncontrollably. Her grip on her dagger had been strong, she took it with her, turning the stab wound into a deep cut instead.
I immediately put my hands on the wound and cast Healing. "Hey! Snap out of it! She's already dead!" I yell at him, knowing she'd be back on her feet shortly.
Esbern grits his teeth, wincing as I press my hand against his wound. "Shut up... I already know that!" he barks. Something was clearly bothering him.
She was back on her feet, dashing toward us again. I didn't have enough time to completely close his wound, but I had at least lessened the bleeding.
Esbern pushes me quickly behind him. "Move!" He shouts.
As she is about to strike him with the dagger a second time, Esbern lets go of the hilt of his sword with his left hand. He blocks her dagger with the metal of his iron gauntlets, risking further injury! He kicks her too, but he visibly holds back—only pushing her away.
No way! He doesn't want to hurt her?! Is it her appearance of innocence that stops him?! If he can't deal with her, then I will! Both the skeletons and the other figure will be here soon!
I sheathe my dagger and rush in front of Esbern, focusing on channeling a huge amount of magicka into my palm.
I notice that she's about to dash toward us again, so I raise my palm.
I knew it wouldn't be powerful—I hadn't practiced this spell much at all. But pumping magicka into it should at least increase its size and volume.
As she started her dash, I shot a wide wave of flames toward her. It wasn't intense, but it didn't have to be! I wanted to block her view—I wanted to sear away the lingering appearance of a child. Maybe then Esbern would snap out of his mercy for her!
The girl shrieked. It didn't sound like a shriek of pain, but of frustration and fury.
"NOOO!..." Esbern shouted, as I torched her.
I must have successfully blocked her view, because she dashed right past me, going after Esbern again. She must have followed the sound of his shout, unable to see.
What came sprinting out of my wall of flames wasn't the girl anymore. I doubt that her skin was much damaged yet, but she was ablaze—a shrieking, burning enemy.
This time, when she had almost reached Esbern, he stopped her with a swift, light kick—staggering her—before giving his blade a quick swing and decapitating her.
Her head hits the ground and rolls. Esbern's gaze meets mine, his expression is gloomy.
"You ok?..." I ask him softly.
Before he could respond, we heard the clatter of bony footsteps drawing closer. The skeletons had reached the hilltop, the other figure trailing right behind them. Now that we had a closer look, it was easy to see—he was just another zombie, likely the only other fresh corpse from the Rorikstead cemetery, or so I assumed.
I drew my dagger and stepped backward, closer to Esbern. "Let's just take these guys down first! I'll heal you after—just don't take any more damage!" I said sharply.
As the skeletons and the zombie approach us, I notice that I'm not as scared as I have been. Maybe it's the combat experience I've gained, or maybe it's because I know I can heal myself now, should I get hurt.
All I know is, I can't rely on others to save me all the time—I need to learn how to fight my own battles. I yearn to become stronger!
I roar as one of the skeletons gets closer to me. He raises his sword, preparing for an obvious downward strike.
When he strikes, I push in closer as I lift my shield to block him.
*Clank*
The moment his sword hits my shield, I bash it aside and quickly stab at his skull with all my strength. I crack the bone, but the blade doesn't penetrate.
It stuns him for a moment, and I seize the opportunity. I tackle him to the ground, climbing on top of him. Putting my weight behind the dagger, I stab hard a couple of times until the skull breaks—that stops his movements.
I turn to check on Esbern, just in time to witness his final swing against the zombie. The skeleton had already been taken out.
We're both short of breath.
"This dagger sucks against the undead," I say to no one in particular.
I sheathe my dagger and grab the skeleton's iron sword. It might not be sharp or of great quality, but at least I can put some decent weight behind my swings with it.
I move over to Esbern and begin casting Healing on him.
I notice how much magicka the flame spell had drained from me. Spamming the ward all night hadn't helped my Destruction magic much, but at least focusing had become easier.
I heal Esbern until I'm nearly out of magicka. "There, you're all good now, right?..." I ask, still panting.
"You shouldn't have done that..." Esbern replies in a grim voice.
I look at him, unsure what he's talking about. I take a guess.
"The girl?" I ask softly.
"Yes, the girl!" he snarls.
"I had to... You wouldn't take her down..." I say, again with a gentle voice.
"I was going to," Esbern says. "I just had to find a way without destroying her..."
"But why?..." I ask..
"She's only been dead for about a week. Her parents must still be in deep grief..." Esbern answers, his voice soft, his gaze turning toward Whiterun.
Fatherhood must already be softening him, I think to myself.
"Yeah... Let's bring back what we can," I say, trying to show understanding.
With a short huff, Esbern turns around and walks to the edge of the hill.
"We should take a break! I'm out of magicka, give it about 20 minutes!" I say loud enough for him to hear.
He doesn't answer, but stops at the edge of the hill, his eyes fixed on the end of our mission.
I sit down to get some rest.
I look over at her, the zombie girl. The flames have now gone out now...
Most of her hair is gone, and her skin is seared, but she isn't charcoal. She is still recognizable, even though this is all such a shame.
This is the necromancers fault, not mine... I think to myself. But still, if we bring her back, I want to apologize to her parents...
The truth was, they could either have had her back like this—or not at all... But I'm not going to say that.
I notice that Esbern also sits down. But he doesn't say anything, he's been irritable all day. I suspect that he knows that my alias is a lie.
When this is over, I want to tell him everything!
We had started off on the wrong foot, but it almost felt like we were buddies yesterday evening. "Feast and drink ourselves silly," we had said. Somehow, I can't picture it anymore.
I'm sick of lying...