5. A Plot Revealed

5. A Plot Revealed

Aug 18, 2022

Making his way cautiously over the plains, Skavild was no longer very angry.

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If not for the last years of occasionally uncomfortable travels with Second Archivist Eldaline, he would have found such a journey quite difficult.

Although, he reminded himself, if not for the last years of doing anything with Second Archivist Eldaline, this journey would have been completely unnecessary.

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Now it was dark, and a friendly crab fisherman offered him a roof to put his bedroll under.

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The crab fisherman was a little nervous. The strange Nord was asking him a great many questions, and seemed wary of being pursued or observed.

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It was a relief to him when the Nord left again before sunrise.

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Skavild was used to silence when travelling. Eldaline was not always talkative. Now, she was simply absent.

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Eldaline's night had been much more disturbed in nature. As she and Agent Aralina had run from the ruins of Helgen, on foot, for their horses were nowhere in sight, every half-imagined sound from the treetops made the Second Archivist stop and watch the sky.

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She had spent most of their hurried walk through the woods straining her neck towards the evening clouds, and Aralina had been helpfully steering her around trees.

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Eldaline had been looking forward to the fall of night, but now that it was arriving, she tried to shrink away from its approach.

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"Second Archivist Eldaline, are you hurt?" enquired Agent Aralina, remarking that Eldaline was now on the ground.

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"No." said Eldaline. "Not at all, did you hear something?"

"No, Madam, it is only the birds. Let me help you."

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"I don't want..." Eldaline unsteadily rose from where she had somehow tumbled onto the road. "Are you sure you didn't hear something?"

"Yes, Second Archivist, very sure, and I have very good hearing, which is not to say that yours is lacking at all, and I did not mean anything by..."

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"Is that a house or a wood-shed?" Eldaline demanded, of a building in a grove of nearby trees.

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"Either way, I'm going in there until it's gone."

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"Until what is gone, Second Archivist?" Aralina said quietly, now rather worried. She wished then that she hadn't asked this question, for she knew the answer. She had also been deeply startled by the dragon, but she had never seen the Second Archivist try to run from anything.

"Open!" shouted Eldaline, and hammered on the door with a moonstone gauntlet.

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"Perhaps there is nobody at home." said Aralina. "Perhaps... perhaps they are frightened of the dragon."

To her soldier's horror, Eldaline whimpered. "Perhaps? I should bloody well hope so."

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She knocked again, harder than before.

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"They mean to kill us out here." she said. "Or leave us to die. That is how it is, then? I see. Well, we'll see about that."

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Aralina stopped protesting. Eldaline seemed very eager to be inside the house, and was trying to see through the keyhole.

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"Can you see who lives there, Madam?"

"Yes. A moose's head. Break this lock off, we're going inside."

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Immediately, their sharp elven eyes could see that this dwelling was neither house nor wood-shed, but a cleverly disguised mine, or else tunnel.

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A book case had already been roughly pushed aside to reveal the doorway, and a narrow downward path.

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"Well, this is unusual." said Eldaline, stepping over a bucket of wine bottles.

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"Down we go."

"Hadn't we better hurry to the city of Whiterun, Second Archivist?" Aralina suggested.

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"No, we hadn't. There is a mysterious tunnel, and I am eager to stay in... I mean, explore it fully. For all we know, it may be inhabited by bandits, murderers, Talos cultists, or delicious ghosts."

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"Delicious?"

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Eldaline seemed to be trying to use every possible spell to light her way at once. "Yes, delicious. Ectoplasm. A hearty meal between meals, can be drunk from a flask while travelling, and keeps my vast reserves of magicka fully stocked."

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"Hello, you're not a ghost, you're just a dead body. Why am I talking to the dead body, stop talking to the dead body, Eldaline."

"Madam, are you certain the tavern did not fall on your head too?"

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"Quite certain, I was over there. Silly me, you can't see where I was thinking. I was thrown over by the tower when the tavern exploded and Wilfred was there. He thought it was my dragon but I think I talked him round. Search this dead body, Flopsy, there might be clues. I am going over there to have a drink."

"Clues to what, Second Archivist?"

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But it was no use. Aralina searched every dead body she could find, but found nothing that could possibly be used to coax Eldaline back above ground.

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"This is fun, isn't it, Flopsy?" Eldaline drank. "Investigating a mysterious tunnel instead of running about up there."

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Aralina despaired again and attempted sympathy. "It was a very scary dragon, wasn't it, Second Archivist? Don't you think the dragon was very frightening?"

"Yes?" Eldaline peeped.

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She poured the last of the mead bottle into her mug and drained it. "All right. Just five more minutes down here. And we'll go to bloody Whiterun."

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In truth, they had discovered a clue within two minutes. It was a letter that said, 'you smel. i am a better bandit than you. give me al yor stuff or i wil come down into yor tunel an kil you'. And thus Eldaline and Aralina had taken the time to solve the dullest and most pointless mystery in Skyrim's rich and exciting history. But at least they had been indoors to do it, and there had not been a dragon anywhere for fully three hours. Eldaline would grow to treasure these times.

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There was a very tall aqueduct running across the White River just south of a small village with a sawmill.

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"It is very strange that this aqueduct is so often ignored by guide books, Second Archivist."

"Yes, Flopsy, I think so too."

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"And it provides such an atmospheric view of the mountains and the old ruin."

"It also provides passing dragons with a wonderful view of us, Flopsy, so let's hurry across before one arrives."

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Eldaline hurried off across the long walkway. Being high up never worried her. As a rule, she rather liked it, but today she preferred to cling to the ground.

"The people in the village look like insects, Second Archivist." said Aralina.

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"I know. We must be terribly high up." Eldaline stopped to look.

"Oh, I meant, generally, Madam. Yes, even more so for us being so high up. Madam, please do not wobble like that, I worry that you are going to fall off."

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"Dagon's Eyes! Flopsy, I can't!" Eldaline cried, throwing herself, thankfully, onto the walkway. "Go on without me, I can't bear it."

"Good gods! Second Archivist Eldaline, you frightened me! Please, take my hand, and I shall guide you across."

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Eldaline stayed where she had sunk onto the stones, gazing not down, at the jagged rocks far below, but up, at the soft and empty clouds overhead. "I can't! I can still hear it up there! It is coming back for us! Why can't you hear it, gods be damned?"

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"Because it is not there, Madam! Come with me. Come with me at once, Second Archivist! Stand up!"

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"Agent Flopsy?"

"I do not wish to die on an Imperial aqueduct, my mother would be furious and my demise would be regarded as shamefully unpatriotic. Get up and stop being afraid of an invisible dragon. It is childish."

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"How dare you give orders to a superior officer?" demanded the Second Archivist.

"I am sorry, Second Archivist, my duty is to defend you from all dangers, including those you present yourself while overwrought."

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Eldaline very slowly crawled upright and drew herself up to once again resemble a senior Thalmor dignitary. "Very well, Flopsy. If we ever see Solitude again, I would be very happy to see if you can use that very compelling tone on Thalmor under your command, as well."

"Yes, Second Archivist."

"An officer like you could make an excellent career for herself if her fervour could somehow be directed at her actual soldiers."

"Thank you, Second Archivist."

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They had now reached the north side of the aqueduct, and a little path led down, sloping around the eastern edge of the incline. "Overwrought, am I? That's how it's going to be, I suppose?" Eldaline muttered, and slunk off down the hill.

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Continues!

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