FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Stranded Beyond Hope

Chapter 4: Frost

Krystal clutched her cloak tightly together, preventing the fierce frigid winds from ripping the warmth away as she followed Fenris through a trail of icy foothills, the vixen trudging doggedly through the high snow bluffs and doing her best to keep pace with her companion.

Fenris seemed to have no difficulty with the frozen terrain, plodding along amiably as if it was a summer’s day carrying a gentle breeze. His black coat flapped wildly in the wind as he blazed a path for the vixen.

Before they reached the glacial hills he had explained to her how to travel through the artic environment. He would go first, softening the snow and making it easier for the vixen to follow. She couldn’t tell if his plan was working, but if it was, she dreaded to think how hard this journey would have been on her own.

Krystal severely doubted of she would have been able to get this far without him.

Evening was fast approaching and they had been walking since they left the city, taking a game path up and following it into the hills. It seemed that every step they took away from the city dropped the temperature a degree. The air was deplorably dry as the cold sucked out the moisture and every ragged puff of breath left a faint cloud of frost in front of the vixen’s muzzle.

“S-S-So c-cold, I’m f-freeing my t-tail off.” Krystal stuttered irritably, stumbling after Fenris.

With the sun leaving, it was only getting colder and she didn’t know how long she would be able to keep going. How Fenris managed so well without fur baffled her.

“C-can we s-stop for the d-day?”

Fenris looked back at the struggling vixen, watching as she drudged through the snow, her whole body trembling in the bitter and icy air.

He sighed.

“Alright, there should be a small cave a few minutes up ahead. We can camp out there until tomorrow. The winds should die down by then.”

“T-thank y-you.” She huffed, shuffling faster at the promise of a place that might be warmer than the unbearably cold environment.

A few minutes of labored hiking later and she spied the lip of a cave poking out from the side of a particularly large hill. Seeing Fenris heading towards it, she figured it had to be the one he was talking about and she hurriedly followed him inside.

The cave did not look very appealing, it was damp, dark, and only a few degrees warmer, but it still beat the snowstorm raging outside. Fenris moved towards the center of the cave and shed his bag and gear, motioning for Krystal to do the same.

As she placed her satchel next to his, Fenris brushed off the layer of snow clinging to his armor.

“I’m going to head back out and grab some wood for a fire. Wait here until I return.”

The vixen did not like the sound of that, her only companion slogging blindly through a blizzard.

“Y-you should s-stay here, it’ll b-be safer.” She stammered, her teeth clacking loudly together in the silent cavern.

His mask shook negatively.

“You need to stay warm, lest you get hypothermia. The last thing I want is a frozen fox.” He jested.

Fenris did have a point; she didn’t want to become a foxsicle. But she was still uncomfortable with the idea of him searching for wood with the way the weather was at the moment. She could hear the wind’s sharp howls as it clawed against the surface of their hiding hole. Krystal wouldn’t know what to do if he didn’t come back.

Although….

There was another way she could stay warm.

It would be more intimate, but safer. She wasn’t sure how comfortable she would be with that, but she was willing to try.

Krystal slowly sat down near the back wall of the cave and flicked her tail to pat the ground beside her, signaling for him to sit.

Confused, Fenris complied, plopping down alongside the outwardly tense vixen.

“What’s the plan?”

“We’ll just have to huddle up for warmth.” She replied softly, opening her cloak and wrapping them both inside the warmth it provided. Slowly but surely, she could feel the buildup of heat generated by both their bodies as it was trapped inside the thick coat.

“Oh…okay, sure.” Fenris mumbled, hesitantly letting the vixen rest against him.

Krystal forced herself to relax, the fur on her arm tingling as it gently brushed against him. Faint shivers crawled across the vixen’s spine from the continued contact. It was the closest a male from outside her family had ever come to her. It brought an odd, yet not altogether unpleasant, sensation. The warmth his body generated was welcoming and any opposition to the idea of sharing such enjoyable heat was quickly thawed.

She rested her muzzle against his arm, basking in that same sense of security and comfort she had first experienced at Jorrvaskr when he had carried her to her bed. For a man who had been distant and taciturn upon first meeting, he was a great shoulder to lean on.

Outside, the winds still relentlessly battered themselves against the cave mouth, but the droning wail was much more subdued from their position in the rear end, now lowered to a mere whisper, leaving them in a companionable silence, both starting to ease into the idea of their close proximity.

“Hey, Krystal…” Fenris mumbled thoughtfully, the quiet giving him time to think.

The vixen hummed, looking up to his mask.

“Yeah…”

“I have never seen a fox before, besides the four legged variety. Where are your people from?”

He had not given it much thought before, but Fenris had done a fair bit of traveling with the caravans. And he had seen all manners of races in that time, but not a single fox, and definitely not a blue one.

His question left Krystal in a conundrum. She was uncertain if she wanted to tell him. There was no telling if he would believe her or not, and she did not want him to think she was insane. How would one tell someone that they were from another world? It had been easy with Parthanax because he had apparently already known of her world’s existence, something she wished to talk to him about when she had the chance.

In fact she had not talked with the dragon in quite some time. She thought about contacting him, but decided to wait till later. She didn’t think having conversations in her head with a giant reptile would help either.

“Krystal…?” Fenris repeated, perturbed by the vixen’s silence.

The vixen decided that she might as well stay clean. The thought of lying did not sit well with her. And she felt that Fenris, being the closest person she knew here, deserved to hear everything. He had been straight and honest with his story, she could do no less.

“Well, that is because I am not from here.” She replied after a brief pause.

“From Skyrim?” He asked in confusion.

“No, from Tamriel.” She clarified, watching as his masked visage tilted back in surprise.

“You cannot be from the lands of the deadra?” He wondered in alarm. She seemed far too kind to be one of them. He had encountered more than a few of the creatures that stalked the planes of Oblivion, and not one had qualms with attempting to separate his head from his shoulders.

“No. No. I come from a different world altogether. I came here with the help of a portal.”

“And so you cannot return…?” Fenris hazard a guess. He remembered that she told him she needed a place to stay and coin. So it was safe to conclude that the reason for her needs was because she could not return from where she came from.

Krystal was surprised that he believed her so easily, voicing it to him.

In response, the man shrugged. Portals were not an uncommon occurrence in Tameriel.

Fenris smiled. “It is not as outlandish as you might think. This world is full of many strange and unexplainable things. This is more believable than most. Besides…I trust that you would not seek to mislead me.”

It touched the vixen that he took to her words as truth so easily. Indeed it was a relief to have someone that knew her plight. The vixen grabbed one of his hands in her paw and squeezed it, for warmth she told herself.

“Thank you, for believing me.”

He simply nodded in return.

“Tell me. Is there a way to get you back?”

He liked the vixen. She was kind and appeared to enjoy his company. So if he could help her, he would do all in his power to do so, preferably before she discovered his “condition”.

“No, at least not without someone called the Dragonborn.” She replied gloomily, sighing as she did.

At the mention of the Dragonborn, she felt his body stiffen, almost unnoticeably.

“The Dragonborn you say?”

His tone was curiously neutral, bland of anything that might convey his emotions or thoughts. With her powers, she sensed that he was uneasy and felt…guilty?

“Yes, without them, I will be unable to go home. If they do not stop the dragon Alduin, then I will remain stranded here.”

She could not keep the frustration from her tone. Just the thought of that person’s inaction being one of the sole reasons she could not go home infuriated the vixen beyond belief.

“I see…” Fenris muttered thoughtfully, the eyes behind his mask intently staring at the far wall.

Still, she did not want to dump all of her baggage onto her companion and so she nudged hin playfully.

“So…since we’re stuck in this cave for a while, do you have any interesting stories to tell? Surely someone like you must have one or two.”

“Like me…?” Fenris asked, his dim demeanor fading away in the presence of the vixen’s friendly smile. It had an odd ability to make his concerns fade away for a brief time.

“Yeah, an adventurer and dragon slayer such as yourself must have something exciting to tell.”

Fenris leaned back against the wall and moved to fold his arms before realizing that the vixen still held his hand, choosing instead to remain as he was. The man gazed up at the rock ceiling, trying to recall something that might peak her interest, nodding his head slowly when he arrived at an idea.

“Well…there was the time I became the master of the Thieves’ Guild.” He stated nonchalantly.

“The Thieves’ Guild?”

That didn’t sound like a very reputable operation.

“Indeed, but I personally was never partial to thievery. I did however, manage to help them out and in the end they made me their leader. Since then of course, I have told them to be a little more…ethical in their pursuits, from the rich to the poor and all that.”

“That still sounds pretty immoral.”

Fenris rolled his shoulders. “The way I see it, you’ll never be able to get rid of them. So you might as well make sure that they are doing some good rather than none. I rather have a thief taking from those that can afford to lose something and give some of that to those who have nothing, then a thief that takes from anyone and keeps it all for themselves.”

Krystal had to agree with that.

Fenris then went on an hours long tale of how he met a man named Brynjolf, unwittingly became the master of thieves and ending on the note of restoring the guild’s good luck.

“Now they have never been better, even having a nobler aim. Since then, Riften has actually become a pretty decent place last I heard and Brynjolf is taking good care of the guild in my absence, which is good considering I am not much a thief myself.”

The vixen yawned as she checked the mouth of the cave. The wind had departed, but so had the sun and she could barely make out the moon’s light as it bathed the cavern in a soft white glow. Krystal was mesmerized by the pale silver light as it danced strikingly across the grey stone and reflected back onto the ceiling, sparkling brightly like a roof of endless starlight.

She was wonderfully warm inside their makeshift blanket and snuggled up against Fenris and his warm body contentedly. “That was a…nice story.” Krystal claimed as she yawned part way through. Unthinkingly, she rested her muzzle in the crook of his neck, feeling her twitching whiskers brushing against his throat, the man having taken his mask and hood off part way through his story.

She couldn’t get enough of his heat. Being furless, his body radiated warmth like a furnace, probably how he managed to stay so warm. His skin was a smooth heated surface, keeping her muzzle thawed even in the cold air of the cave.

“I’m a…I’m a take a nap.” She mumbled drowsily, sinking slowly into slumber.

Fenris snored in response, already slumbering, his shining golden eyes hidden under their lids and face pulled into a peaceful mask of sleep.

‘Must have dozed off after telling such a long story…he’s a nice guy.’ The vixen thought happily.

Krystal beamed and placed a soft affectionate kiss, just on his brow, letting her furred lips linger for a moment longer than necessary, Fenris smiling in his sleep at her touch.

As she sat there, bundled up tightly with the sleeping human, she could not help but notice how romantic the setting was, the two of them nestled together with the moon lending its light in a breathtaking display of nature’s beauty. It reminded her of some of the many fantasies she had imagined before coming here, but not in the way she had envisioned them.

With a sigh, she curled closer to him and closed her eyes, joining the man in slumber.

*****

‘Krystal…’

The vixen groaned, not wanting to be awoken from such a pleasant rest.

‘Krystal…wake up.’

“Ugh, not now Fenris…just a few more minutes.” She begged, rolling to the side.

‘I am not this Fenris that you speak of, it is I, Parthanax.’ The familiar voice rumbled and the vixen’s discombobulated thoughts finally piecing it together.

‘Parthanax!’ She exclaimed, opening her eyes wide and shooting up. Instinctively, she searched around the cave expecting to see a massive golden serpent, but of course she and Fenris were the only ones inside, the both of them still huddled together. It looked as if she had woken up first. Krystal had all but forgotten that she could communicate with the dragon in her sleepy daze.

‘Indeed, I just wished to inquire on how your journey went. I trust you made it to Whiterun?’

The vixen took a few minutes to fill the dragon in on all that had happened, listening as the dragon hummed, the mental sigh reverberating in her head.

‘It is relieving to hear that you are doing well. As for the Dragonborn they have still not arrived at High Hrothgar I am afraid.’

Krystal frowned, but found that she was not as disappointed as she thought she would be, she glanced down at the sleeping form of Fenris, who was peacefully sawing logs, his mouth hanging wide open.

Living here was not turning out as bad as she had expected.

‘I will contact you again if they appear, but if you wish to speak sooner or have need of my aid, do not hesitate to call for me.’ The dragon’s voice faded slowly until the last few words he spoke were more akin to a whisper.

The vixen sat next to her sleeping companion, wondering when she would have a chance of getting back. How long would it take? Weeks? Months?

…Years?

Before she could think too hard on that, she heard Fenris begin to awaken.

The man yawned loudly and leaned forwards, shedding the vixen’s cloak and stretching his arms as he scanned the cave. When his attention landed on her he smiled.

“Good morning.” He greeted cheerfully.

She could tell that he had enjoyed his rest as much as she had.

“It is indeed a pleasant one.” She agreed as she took in the sun’s bright light shining down into the now warm cave. Outside her sharp ears could catch the faint steady plinking of water as the snow began to melt. The weather had had undergone a complete reversal it seemed. The rest of their journey would be far easier.

Fenris traveled over to their packs and pulled out Kodlak’s map, glancing at it briefly. “We should be about a day’s walk from the burrow, most of which is downward trails and open plains. And with this weather it should be a smooth journey.” As he spoke he folded up the map and returned it to his bag before slinging the whole thing onto his shoulders.

Krystal stood up and dusted herself off, Fenris handing the vixen her satchel as she reached for her staff.

“Thanks.” She gratefully grabbed her weapon, using it as a walking cane.

“Let’s go, the sooner we get this done the better!” Fenris exclaimed energetically.

The man slipped his mask back on and pulled up his hood, once more concealing his features.

Krystal felt a slight tinge of disappointment, but could not figure out what for. Shrugging off the odd feeling, she followed after her companion as he exited the cave.

With the warmer environment, they made far better time than the day previous, reaching the halfway point in their journey before midday.

All this walking gave Krystal more than enough time to ponder. As she gazed pensively at the vale of trees and hills around them, she wondered what she would do after the quest. Originally she had wanted to do all this so she could have a place to stay. Yet she had that with Fenris and he had given her a hefty sum of coin, most of which she still had. So she wasn’t too worried anymore about money.

All that left the vixen with was figuring out what she was going to do now.

What could she do to occupy herself in this world?

That was a tough question. All she had wanted when she had been back in her own world had been becoming a guardian…well that and finding her soulmate. Yet she no longer had the desire to become a guardian. It was strange. All her life she had wanted it. But now, after coming to this world and living here for a brief time. That drive no longer pushed her. Yes she still wanted to go home, but she just didn’t want that job.

She had been so confident that was what she wanted. Now she wasn’t sure what it was she did in fact want.

The vixen turned her attention back to the path and Fenris’ cloaked back.

Of all the people she had met since coming here, he was the one she liked the most. The man hadn’t given a second glance at what she was and treated her like a friend. Not only that but he had given her gifts. In Cerinian culture, it was tradition for male suitors to offer two gifts. The first was a present of some kind and the second was most often money, showing that they cared for and could provide for the woman in question.

He had done both of these. While she knew that Fenris was not a Cerinian and would have no knowledge of what his gifts meant…perhaps he didn’t need to. Krystal wondered if the man liked her. After all, he had been watching over her from almost the moment he laid eyes on her. From caring her to her bed till now, where he was helping her on her quest.

The more she thought about it, the more she wondered what she would do if he did.

Maybe that was why he had done all the things he had for her?

Or maybe he was just a nice individual?

It was probably the last one she decided.

The distracted vixen would have kept walking if not for the man in question, who grabbed her shoulder roughly, stopping her from advancing.

She looked up at him to question why when she heard something off into the forest to their left. It was a sharp heavy sound, something large impacting a tree.

Fenris took a step in front of Krystal and reached behind his back, unsheathing the massive obsidian greatsword. He scented the air and growled, which surprised her.

Sometimes, he seemed more like a beast than a man.

“I smell a frost troll, male, six hundred pounds at least!” He announced excitedly. She swore she saw his golden eyes shine brightly beneath his cowl.

Krystal thought he was insane! Who would be thrilled at the prospect of meeting a troll of any sorts? She had never seen a troll before, but the myths back home did not paint them in a good light. They were the creatures that devoured kits and guarded bridges with riddles as their defenses.

The sound loudened, a trail of rolling thunder bludgeoning its way towards them. A piercing roar boomed close by, judging by the pitch and length the troll had to be huge. All she could imagine was a maw packed with razor sharp teeth and claws the size of daggers.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest and the vixen had to adjust her staff in her sweat slickened pads.

“I hope you are ready. A frost troll is no easy prey and can gut a man faster than he can turn tail and run. But do not worry. I have slain more than a few of these frosty beasts in my journeys.”

If he was attempting to reassure her, he was doing a very poor job.

Without warning, Fenris pushed her backwards and backpedaled rapidly as a huge snowy figure burst from the wooded vale.

Krystal gasped in shock as she laid eyes on the beast.

The frost troll was covered in a thick, grimy and snowy coat, the white fur sullied by caked on mud and what looked a lot like dried blood. Its upper torso was packed with dense muscle containing deadly power. From the looks of it, the troll would have no problem ripping her limb from limb.

Its claws were larger than she had first thought, a brace of sabers on each hand. Its giant head had three eyes, two normal ones and a slightly larger third in the center of its low brow and an arsenal of razor sharp fangs was jammed in its maw with no real sense of order, just rows upon rows of jagged incisors.

‘How are we going to fight that thing?’

The vixen was partial to keeping her limbs where they belonged, attached to her body.

This being her first real taste of combat, Krystal turned to her companion, panicked.

The troll roared and smashed its knuckles into the dirt path, challenging the ones that had stumbled onto its territory.

It seemed that the creature was preventing them from progressing, and would soon attack.

“W-what do we do?” Krystal stuttered fearfully.

“Alright, frost trolls are incredibly strong. If it hits you, it will probably break a bone or two and its claws can easily slice through that leather armor.”

Krystal gulped.

“I’ll keep it occupied while you get under its guard. Frost trolls have insane regenerative abilities. We’ll have to keep up our attacks in order to combat that.”

The troll howled one last challenge before it charged.

“Quick, move!” Fenris barked as he jumped to the side.

Krystal speedily leapt to the right and rolled, watching as the troll lumbered past, swinging its claws wildly.

Fenris recovered quickly and snarled, rushing towards the monster and swinging his giant sword like a club. The bladed weapon slammed into the troll’s side, staggering it. But its thick waxy coat absorbed most of the damage and Krystal watched in fear as the thin wound sealed in front of her eyes.

The troll favored its wounded side and lurched a paw-like hand out to crush the man who had injured it, but Fenris managed to evade the deadly swipe, retorting with another heavy crash of his blade, with similar results.

Seeing he needed help, Krystal hesitantly moved forwards.

‘This…is probably not going to end well.’ She twirled her staff and slammed it against the side of the troll’s head.

Seemingly absorbing the attack, the creature swung a meaty limb in her direction and she was forced to throw herself to the ground to prevent her disembowelment, the taste of dirt lingering in her muzzle.

‘I stand corrected.’

Fenris attacked again and Krystal timed her next blow to hit the troll while it was dazed. Their coordinated strike seemed to have more success as the pondersome beast reeled from the blows.

The duo kept up their combined assault, trying to keep the troll staggered and prevent any more of its dangerous strikes. Dozens of cuts manifested on the troll’s furred hide, but they did not linger long, sealing almost moments after they opened. It seemed to be almost unkillable.

Krystal saw an opening and cracked her staff against the troll’s head, briefly stunning it.

Capitalizing on its moment of weakness, Fenris lunged his weapon forwards, using his prodigious strength to drive the greatsword through the troll’s natural armor. The blade dug into its side and emerged in a violent spray of crimson blood from the other end, just missing the spine.

Howling in pain, the troll backhanded the man, sending him careening violently into a tree, his sword still impaling the fiend.

“Fenris!” Krystal cried out in terror as she watched her companion rebound of the tall oak and roughly slam into the dirt where he remained unmoving.

Seeing one of its foes on the ground, the troll bellowed in triumph and moved to finish him off.

“You monster!” Krystal snarled wrathfully as she ran forwards, raining a flurry of strikes upon its exposed back, ending her barrage with a bone cracking hit to its knee. Smashing her staff so hard she felt the bones in its leg give, the sound making the vixen shudder in revulsion.

The beast folded and squealed in pain, nursing its broken appendage. But its weakness did not last long. The creature ripped the large blade out from its torso and threw it aside, rising unsteadily on its good leg.

It would not be defeated so easily.

Krystal watched again as the wound in its side slowly began to seal, her anger burning hotly.

The vixen froze in thought, wait that was it…heat.

Krystal clutched her staff in steady paws and began to draw on her power. She focused all her fear and anger, the fear at seeing her friend fall and the anger at the monster that had hurt him. She fed both of the strong emotions until they were a bubbling cauldron of potent rage. Aiming her staff at the troll she channeled it all into the orb at the top and watched in satisfaction as a huge fireball erupted from the gem and sailed right into the troll with a whoosh of crackling flames.

Its fur acted like dry tinder and soon the monster was wreathed in a blistering inferno. Howling now in fear, the colossal abomination stumbled wildly, gouging its claws in itself to futilely try and tear out the hungry conflagration. The strong scent of scorched fur filled her nose and Krystal could not help but feel a sense of pleasure as she watched the creature crumple to the ground lifelessly, the fires too much for even its lauded regenerative properties.

But her pleasure in victory did not last long.

Krystal rushed to her fallen companion, sliding to her knees at his side and propping his chest in her lap. The vixen ran her trembling paws across his body, looking for any broken bones.

She was in a panic, desperate to make sure he was still alive.

Krystal pulled his hood back and ripped his mask off, gingerly running a paw across his cheek. His eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow.

“Fenris! Fenris can you hear me?!” She pleaded, gently shaking his head.

In response, he groaned and painfully opened his eyes, the golden orbs gazing up at her deliriously.

“Lucky shot…” He muttered jokingly.

Krystal chuckled in relief, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and propping her muzzle on top of his head, gladdened that he was okay. But, she could not help but wonder how. Such a powerful blow should have by rights broken at least a few bones and drew blood. The vixen had seen how hard he hit that tree, yet he was fine, not even a scratch. But in the end she didn’t think too hard into it, thankful that he was alive and well.

“I thought you were a dragon slayer?” She mumbled teasingly. “Yet you get taken down by a frost troll on the first hit.”

“Dragons are easy…they talk too much. I fear this foe was far too hungry to spar with verbiage as its weapon.”

Fenris leaned up and turned to his left, examining the charred remains of the frost troll.

“Did you do this?”

“…Yeah.” Krystal replied slowly, unsure of how he would respond.

The man looked to her and chuckled.

“I was unaware of your impressive magical talent. Next time, I suggest you start with that eh? Then perhaps I won’t get tossed around as much. As you may have noticed, they are quite susceptible to fire. The oils in their fur protect from Skyrim’s harsh winter, but it is also exceedingly flammable.”

She nodded and blushed in embarrassment, logging that knowledge down.

“Well, with that settled, I think it’s time we continue on our journey. Trolls do not often travel in packs, but I have no desire to see if that is true for this one.” Fenris rose from the ground and helped the vixen back to her hindpaws, leading the way back onto the trail and giving one last unimpressed glance at the charred remains of the frost troll.

*****

The rest of the day went much smoother and they made good time to the town outside the burrow, arriving just before nightfall. It was a homely little village with little more than a hundred locals and a single-story inn which they decided to stop at for the night.

Krystal followed Fenris into the inn, passing tables of rugged individuals nursing mugs of ale. Their burly physique, soot stained clothing, and gloomy dispositions marked them as miners, probably the survivors of the draugr attack.

Fenris stepped up to the bar’s counter and rapped on it with his knuckles.

Shortly after, a strange man slipped in through the rear door. He was tall rugged and covered in dark green skin and tusk-like teeth jutting from the sides of his mouth. He must be one of the orcs Arngeir spoke of.

The burly orc polished a mug with a clean white rag and leaned onto the countertop.

“What can I do for you strangers?” His voice was as harsh as his appearance.

Seeing as Fenris was the more experienced individual of the two, she deferred to him as their interim spokesperson.

“I am Fenris Wolfram, and this is my companion, Krystal. One of the locals here sent a letter to the companions of a recent draugr attack in the mines?”

“Aye, that would be me.” One of the miners spoke up as he stood from his table, a dark grey skinned man with pointed ears and red eyes, a dark elf to be sure.

“Name’s Faleran Bethalius, the mine’s foreman. And I’m damn glad to see you. Come, have a seat at my table.”

Fenris thanked the barman and turned to the foreman, Krystal following as they sat at his table.

“What’s the situation? I want to hear it from the beginning.”

Krystal sat beside Fenris and listened to the foreman’s tale.

“It started just a couple of days ago after we uncovered a chamber, one of those burrows the nords used to be fond of building. At first, we just left it alone, but one of my miners, an imperial who used to go by the name of Marcial, got a little too curious for his own good and went in searching for a bit of gold or something he could trade with the wandering caravans. Curse that foolish man.” The dark elf hawked and loudly spat on the ground beside his boots.

Krystal winced at the barbaric action and leaned a little farther back in her seat.

“And he must have stirred the draugr?” Fenris concluded.

“Damn right he did!” Faleran declared angrily, slapping the table with an open palm.

“The greedy fool awoke the entire burrow with his bumbling. The monsters killed Marcial and flooded into the excavation, killing my miner’s indiscriminately. All we had were rusted pickaxes and leather jerkins. We had no chance against those undead abominations and so we picked up our wounded and ran, blocking off the mine’s entrance with some wooden beams.”

Fenris’ cowl bobbed as he listened to the foreman.

“Is it still blocked off?”

“Of course…or at least I’m sure it is. No one’s been back there to check and since we haven’t been overrun by nordic zombies, I suppose that’s true. We’ve all just been waiting for you fighting folk to show up. We ain’t no warriors, Sir. I’ll gladly leave all the danger to you and your furry companion here.” The dark elf gestured to Krystal, the vixen slightly offended by his offhanded remark.

“Very well, we’ll head out tomorrow at midday. For now, we’ll need lodging for the night.”

“You can have one of the rooms here at the inn, free of charge and I’ll even through in a free meal for both of you. It’s the least I could do. Although I’m afraid there’s only one bed that you’ll have to share. All the other rooms are full. Not that I suspect you would mind with such a beautiful lass like that to share it with.” The orchish innkeeper offered with a chuckle.

Krystal blushed at the elvinkin’s crude insinuation, turning to Fenris to gauge his reaction. But whatever expression he might have made was hidden behind his mask.

Krystal was starting to despise that thing.

“That would be most welcome.” Fenris replied evenly as he slid his chair back and rose from his seat. “Come on, Krystal, let’s check out our room.”

The vixen nodded quietly and trailed after her friend. The innkeep showed them to a small room at the end of the little tavern, a quaint little thing with a single bed and a few accessories to go along with it.

“Have a good night, and keep the noise down eh?” The orc chortled uproariously and slapped Fenris on the back as he left to tend his bar.

The man shook his head softly and ushered Krystal inside.

The duo looked around before they both stopped and stared at the bed silently.

“Orcs, a curious race, not very subtle and almost oafish to a fault...” Fenris muttered conversationally in an effort to break the awkward silence.

“Yes, they are rather….forward.” Krystal agreed, doing her best to keep a straight face.

Silence loomed.

“You can have the bed, I’ll take the chair.” Fenris suggested, breaking the quiet and eyeing the wooden seat pulled up next to the dwarfish table by the bed. In appearance, it was perhaps the most uncomfortable looking thing Krystal had ever laid eyes on. There were visible splinters on the armrests and bits of varnish flaked off the finish.

The vixen would rather have the bed, but her good manners made her at least attempt to counter his offer.

“No, you’ve done so much for me. The least I could do is let you have the bed.”

In response, Fenris shook his head firmly.

“No, I insist, Besides, I have something I wish to take care of. I’ll be gone for most of the night anyways.”

Take care of, what was he talking about? Krystal asked him.

“It is nothing you need be worried about, just a personal matter.”

The vixen was surprised to feel slightly wounded that he wouldn’t tell her.

“Please, don’t be concerned. I’ll be back before you awaken on the morrow.” Fenris attempted to sooth the cobalt vixen.

With a sigh of disappointment she nodded.

“Very well, if you must go I will take the bed.” She relented.

That seemed to satisfy him, as Fenris bid her farewell and stepped out of the room, the vixen watching as he departed the inn to parts unknown.

Now alone with just her thoughts, Krystal sat on top of the bed sheets and began to get ready for bed.

*****

Sometime late into the night, Krystal found herself suddenly awakened. Curious as to why her body had chosen to wake her, the vixen rose up rose up from the bed and looked about the darkened room, the candles long extinguished.

Outside the door the inn was deathly silent, not a sound to be heard.

Seeing nothing to explain the strange phenomenon, the vixen was further confused.

Suddenly, her ears twitched as a mournful howl reverberated through the inn, chilling her soul comparable to that of a blizzard’s frigid gales. It sounded as if there was a wolf near enough to claw at the door to her room.

The sorrowful melody instilled in her a strange sense of grief that she could not rightly place. But it urged her to find and comfort the poor animal.

She listened to the lupine’s lonely croon until it gently died off, leaving her sitting in a sudden and deafening silence.

Krystal waited to see if the wolf would utter its somber howl again, but gave up as the minutes began to pass.

The vixen leaned back into her bed and pulled the covers up tight, drifting back into a pensive half-slumber.

Just before dawn, the door to the room softly groaned open and she heard a heavy pair of heavy boots trod in.

She peeped through her eyelids and watched as Fenris lethargically crossed the small room, collapsing onto the flimsy chair with a huff, the seat creaking alarmingly under his weight.

Fenris’ had removed his mask and the man was staring deeply into the room’s pine floorboards. He looked absolutely exhausted, the worse she had ever seen him, even after the troll attack. His eyes were sunken and their golden sheen had lost its once alluring luster, as if all his energy had been sucked from his body, leaving a drained husk. His armor was in similar disrepair, appearing to be haphazardly draped onto his muscular frame, as if he was in a rush to don it.

He turned to the supposedly slumbering vixen, thinking she was asleep.

And Krystal watched as he grinned softly, the smile tarnished by a hint of sadness.

For some strange reason the vixen could have sworn his teeth were much like a wolf’s, sharp, deadly, and packed with canines, but at a second glance they appeared normal.

Fenris sighed heavily, mumbling dryly, the words almost too low for her sharp hearing to make out.

“Alas…perhaps in another life…if things had only been different…”

She strained her ears to see if he would say more, but he went silent, closing his eyes and sinking into the chair. Soon, his breathing evened out and the man fell asleep.

Krystal lay wrapped in the bed’s covers, her mind a buzz with thought.

What had he been talking about?

*****

In the morning, a few hours passed judging by the location of the sun. Krystal was awakened by Fenris, the man looking nothing like he had the night before. Whatever exhaustion he previously experienced had been replaced by his usual liveliness and his armor had been returned to its tidy splendor.

As they left the inn and headed up to the mine, her eyes tracked him closely, the vixen wondering what was happening with her friend.

What had he been doing the night before? Where had he gone?

She dearly wished to ask him but was too nervous to find the courage to do so.

“I hope you are ready, a tomb of draugr is no easy task.” Fenris began seriously, drawing the vixen’s attention away from her musings as they approached a mine shaft, bars of thick lumber obstructing the doors.

“Draugr are the animated corpses of ancient nordic warriors who served the dragons long ago. Despite their decrepitude and emaciated appearances, they are not to be underestimated. Even the lowliest draugr has the skill and cunning of the person it had been before death and several can use dragon words of power. If we are to come across such a creature, you will turn back and run. You may have been able to slay a frost troll on your own and that is commendable, but a draugr deathlord is beyond your reach and it is possible that I will fall to its blade. In that event, you will return to the inn and clear out the village before returning to Kodlak and informing him of my demise, and what lies within the tomb.”

Krystal refused.

“I won’t just abandon you.” She had no intention of just up and leaving him.

Fenris shook his cowl reproachfully.

“This is not a request, Krystal, nor is it a game. Sometimes, being a companion is more than seeking glory and honor, it is about putting the needs of others before your own. And while you may not understand that, you will abide by it or I will send you back to Jorrvaskr right this moment.”

There was a startlingly amount of bite in his denial, the vixen flinching at his edged tone. This was the first time he had spoken to her like that, and she was surprised.

“Am I clear?” He inquired forcefully, eyeing her intently.

After a few moments, Krystal nodded silently, partially subdued.

Fenris sighed in relief. “Good, I hate to sound harsh, but I am responsible for your wellbeing. I could not in good conscience put you in any more danger than is necessary.”

His response lifted her spirits to a certain degree, but she still felt somewhat disappointed and more than a little hurt.

She watched Fenris as he began to remove the lumber that had been leveraged against the doors, unblocking the mine so that they could proceed.

With one last grunt, he pushed the last wooden strut to the side with a heavy thud and dusted off his gauntlets.

“Now, let’s see what awaits us inside.”