Riverwood (Part 1)

I gasped for breath as the adrenaline left my system and the pain came in full force.

"Are you alright Aaron" Hadvar knelt down next to me?

"Well" I moved my robe aside and looked down at my bloody chest? "My organs aren't spilling out so I'd say I'm fine" I hissed as the cold air burned my wounds "But, this still hurts like hell!"

"Can't you heal yourself with magic?" Luna asked while wiping the blood from her swords.

I shook my head "I'm out of mana right now and won't be able to heal myself properly until it recovers."

"And how long will that take" she asked?

"About twenty minutes till I'm completely full again" I estimated "But, I don't need that much to heal so maybe... five maybe six minutes?"

"That's too long" Hadvar started fishing through his pack "The smell of blood is already spreading and we don't want to be here if it attracts any more predators. Here take this" he handed me a small red bottle that I recognized as one of the healing potions we found back in Helgen.

"Allright" I took the bottle without complaint and popped the cork flinching slightly at the disgusting medical smell but, soldiered on since my wounds were really starting to burn and chugged the whole bottle down in a single breath. "Gah" I choked "That's disgusting!"

"Of course" Luna answered her face scrunched up from potions noxious odor "Do you know what kind of crap they put in those things?"

I did and the thought of Giant's Toes and Hagraven Feathers didn't help my queasy stomach.

To distract myself I decided to look down at my bloody wounds and watch as they slowly stitched themselves back together. A minute later the wounds were still there but, had already started scabbing over and the pain had died down enough for me to move.

Getting to my feet I frowned at the disgusting feel of my blood soaked clothes and unwillingly switched out my nice comfy robes for the ratty prisoners tunic I woke up in. Unfortunately, the blood had also soaked into the boots and was sloshing around inside but, I wasn't willing to switch back to the footwraps after stubbing my toe earlier and decided to just deal with it until we made it Riverwood.

Sighing I went up to the dead wolf that caused me so much trouble and placed my foot on its head for leverage and ripped the sword from its skull.

"That's a rookie mistake" Hadvar look down at the wolf and shook his head. "In the future remember never to aim you strikes at areas with thick bones or armor because even if you kill your enemy there's a good chance your blade will become stuck. You're just lucky you abandoned your blade right away, I've seen more than a few soldiers cut down while struggling to retrieve their weapons from slain foes."

"Thanks for the advice" I stored the sword away and went to work picking up the loot from all the wolves.

And ended up collecting eight different sets of Wolf Pelt's and Meat along with a Sapphire and a couple Gold for some reason. I guess my system just materialized them from thin air since I was a hundred percent sure none of them were carrying anything like that unless they ate them but, I found that unlikely.

By that point my mana had recovered slightly and I started casting Heal on myself as we finished the last leg of our journey. Just a bit later my wounds were completely healed and we hurried forward to get to Riverwood before anything else happened.

"I'm home" Hadvar smiled as we saw the small village come into view in the distance.

"Finally" I Luna groaned "I can't wait to get something to eat!"

"Agreed" I felt my stomach rumble and cursed myself for forgetting to grab some food while we were still in Helgen.

"I'll go talk to my uncle" Hadvar smiled "He's a kind man and I'm sure he'll set us up with a warm meal and beds for the night."

As we entered town I saw the passing villagers giving me and Luna the stink eye It was easy to see that the people here didn't like outsiders foreigners even more so but, as much as we were distrusted nothing came of it as everyone calmed down once they recognized Hadvar and saw he was leading us.

As we walked through town I couldn't help but, look at everything with interest. Unlike in the game where there were less than a twenty people living in Riverwood. From the amount of homes I counted there had to be at least a couple hundred villagers living in this small village maybe more.

It made me excited to see what places like Solitude and Whiterun looked like!

"A dragon I saw a dragon! I really did" I turned and saw an old woman shouting in the middle of the street!

"Please calm down mother" a middle aged man was dragging the woman through the streets as she struggled in his arms.

"It was as big as a mountain! And as black as the night! It flew right over the barrow! I swear!"

"Please mother! You're going to cause a panic!"

The three of us shared a look and Luna spoke up "Should we do something?"

"No" Hadvar shook his head "That young man is right, confirming her story would only cause a panic. We'll keep that information to ourselves until we reach my uncle Alvor he has a lot of power in town and will be able to arrange things so that the village doesn't fall apart after finding out."

"Besides" I spoke up "It's not like knowing would help them any, if a dragon wanted to destroy this village there would be absolutely nothing they could do about. So it's probably better to let them live in happy ignorance a bit longer.

Hadvar frowned but, didn't say anything.

Soon enough we arrived at a familiar looking blacksmith and Hadvar walked up to knock on the front door. There was some shuffling inside and a large scruffy man with unkept blonde hair and a massive beard opened the door and narrowed his eyes at us.

"Hello uncle Alvor" Hadvar bitterly smiled.

"Hadvar" he gasped!? "What are you doing here are you on leave from..." Alvor froze when he saw Hadvar's bloodstained face and ash covered clothes. "Shor's bone what the hell happened to you boy! And who are these people they don't look like legion" he eyed me and Luna warily?

"Ssshh" Hadvar placed his hand over Alvor's mouth silencing him "Uncle! Please keep your voice down let us speak inside" Hadvar glanced around making sure no one overheard.

"Okay, okay" Alvar sighed and brushed his hair back "Come inside Sigrid will get you something to eat and you can tell me what the devil is going on." Once inside Alvor called to his wife "Sigrid we have company!"

"Hadvar! By the divine's" a short nord woman rushed out from the kitchen and tackled Hadvar in hug "What happened to you!"

"Let the boy breath woman" Alvor pulled her off "He can't talk if your choking him to death!"

"Right" she blushed "I'll go get some more food ready, everyone must be hungry. Go sit down and I'll get us something to eat!"

Alvor nodded at us and we all took a seat around his dinner table.

"Now then, boy" Alvor slammed his fist on the table "what's the big mystery? What are you doing here looking like you lost an argument with a cave bear? And who are these people?"

"I-I'm really really not sure where to start" Hadvar sighed before explaining everything that happened. About how the Legion had captured Ulfric and were taking him to Helgen to be executed and how the execution was interrupted by a dragon.

"A dragon? That's ridiculous" Alvor let out a booming laugh "You sure you aren't drunk, are you boy?"

In response Hadvar only kept quiet and looked down at the table sadly.

"A-are you really telling the truth" he gulped?

"I am" Hadvar whispered "It was horrible. The dragon flew over the and destroyed everything. Fire rained from the sky and people were crushed into bloody paste. I don't know if anyone else got out alive but, I know I wouldn't have made it out if not for my friends here" he gestured to us. "I need to get back to Solitude and let them know what has happened and I thought you could help us out. Give us some Food, supplies, a place to stay?"

"Of course" Alvor pounded his chest! "You my nephew of course I'd help you. And that goes for your friends too" he grinned at us! "Any friend of Hadvar's is a friend of mine. I'd be glad to help however I can! But, I'd also like to request some help.

"Always a catch" I heard Luna whisper under her breath.

"Like I said, I'm glad to help" Alvor continued "However we need your help too. The Jarl needs to know about there being a dragon on the loose. Riverwood is defenseless and I'd like for you to request the Jarl send aid here to Riverwood otherwise... I don't dare to imagine what would happen if a dragon attacked us here."

"Fine" Luna leaned back in her chair "I'm wasn't planning on staying here in this village for too long anyway and Whiterun is the closest city from here, so I was probably going to head there anyway. Dropping off your message along the way won't be too hard."

"Thank you" Alvor sighed "I'll be forever in your debt."

"Did you really see a dragon uncle" a small girl appeared from the shadow making me jump!

"Ah, Dorthe long time no see, you've gotten so big" Hadvar smiled and pulled the little girl into his lap before frowning slightly "And to answer your question yes I did see a dragon."

"What did it look like" her eyes lit up!? "Did it have big teeth!? What color was it!? How big was it!?"

"Hush, child. Don't pester your cousin" Sigrid reappeared with a platter full of food.

"Okay mommy" the girl bowed her head and hopped of Hadvar's lap.

"Well, I'd best be getting back to work" Alvor stretched before grabbing some food off the platter and heading outside to his forge.

"He's working now" Luna tilted her? "It's almost sundown?"

"Yes" Sigrid smiled "Alvor's always preferred working in the early morning and evenings, says it helps him deal with the heat of the forge. Though he normally eats dinner in here with us first" she pouted and shook her head "I imagine this whole dragon business had got him worried, that man's always thrown himself into his work when he's stressed. The damn fool's probably thinking of smithing extra weapons and armor just in case something happens."

After that we ate dinner in silence with only Hadvar speaking up to talk while Dorthe pestered him completely oblivious to the somber mood.

Not long later it was completely dark and the only sounds were the constant thunder of Alvor hammering metal outside.

It was a bit loud but, I guess everyone nearby was already used to this so no one complained.

There were only three beds in the home one for Alvor and Sigrid, one for Dorhe, and one for guests which obviously went to Hadvar. Leaving me and Luna to sleep on the floor in a couple of bedrolls they happened to have lying around.

I wasn't complaining though, this entire day was just too exhausting and I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the floor. And as I drifted away I couldn't help wondering what tomorrow would have in store for me.