-

Elle gave him a small smile to cover up her amusement at his apparent confusion, fishing a rather hefty magicka potion out of her bag and handing it to him, thinking it would be the most useful to him. "No problem," she replied, before striding past him and going back down the stairs to the first floor, calling out behind her, "Hurry up, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we get to Whiterun." And hopefully a hot meal. The stuff they had snagged so far was great and all, but they hadn't had the time to sit down and eat anything good. One of her favorite parts of traveling was getting a taste of all the different cuisine the place had to offer. Skyrim's probably wouldn't beat that of Cyrodiil's, but anything sounded better than raw potatoes and carrots at this point.

Once downstairs, Elle went outside once more, the snow up to her knees. She hoped the rest of the trek up the mountain side wouldn't be like this, because she practically had to wade through it. But she wasted no time in trudging back out into it, heading towards the path that continued upward. She hoped the Barrow wasn't far, because as much as she did like the snow and cold, she wasn't accustomed to it, and her hands and feet were starting to complain about the chill. No wonder this place is abandoned, she thought, they probably all froze to death.

Thankfully, her wish was granted, and the snow was not nearly so deep once the path started to incline more steeply, a few drifts here and there, but she skirted around them. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure her half Dunmer companion was following her before focusing her eyes ahead again, narrowing them against the wind. Soon after, parts of the large stone structure started to reveal themselves, and she was about to plunge forward when the echoing of voices off of the rocks reached her ears. Really? /more/ bandits? How many of these guys were there? she thought to herself in annoyance.

She crouched beside a boulder, drawing her sword and peaking out of her cover to see just how many there were. It was hard to say, considering she could only see two, and there were probably more beyond the stairs closer to the Barrow's entrance. The two she could see were armed with bows, so she traded her sword for the long bow and arrows she had picked up yesterday on their flight from Helgen. She nocked an iron arrow and pulled it back close to her cheek, staring down its shaft at her target, a bearded man in fur armor. Now, she wasn't the best archer, but hopefully she could at least cripple him from this distance.

However, she didn't want to plunge into a fight if Nil wasn't ready, so she paused and glanced over at him to make sure he had seen the danger as well. She would never admit it in a million years, but she was glad of his help, because there was no way she would be able to fight so many alone. Clearly, she was no tank, so fighting more than one or two opponents proved to be more of a challenge for her.

-

After dispatching the bandits at the entrance to the Barrow, Elle had been having a grand old time. She had heard stories and read books about places like this, but had never actually had the opportunity to go in one, until now. She was sure Nilovas was thoroughly annoyed with her by this time, because she stopped to examine a carving or rummage through a vase every five seconds. Although she did try her best not to talk his ear off about her knowledge of the crypt, the information did come in useful for the traps and the puzzle door. The other upside was that she had come across quite a bit of coin and even some precious gems, which were bound to put more money in her pocket.

So far, there was only one part she really could have done without. The draugr she was fine with, in fact she was delighted to see them at first. What nearly gave her a heart attack was that spider. The monster was easily four times her size and she was sure the most hideous thing she had seen in her life. She had almost turned around and run the other way, but then she spotted the poor guy caught in the creature's web and her pity overcame her cowardice. Thankfully, it had been wounded so Nil didn't need much help destroying the horrible beast. On top of that, the unthankful bästard they had freed was going to make off with the claw again!

Once they had the thing, Nil didn't seem to have much interest in it, so Elle volunteered to carry it, mostly because she wanted to examine the artifact. She had no problem continuing down into the dark underground to see more of the place, that is, after Nil promised her there would be no more spiders. She was rather quiet after that, busy turning the golden object over in her hands and rubbing the traces of dirt off of it, putting away only to dispatch draugr or traps.

She was extremely happy once they had reached the hall with the puzzle door at the end, pausing to examine the carvings on the walls to try and decipher the stories they told. But she would have to return another day, because Nil was getting impatient and they had an artifact to return. She walked over to the circular door, examining the carvings and the indent where, upon placing the claw in it, the artifact must function as a key. But, the door wouldn't open when she tried it, so it must have something to do with the symbols above.

"Well," she said, "We probably have to turn them in the right combination for the door to open, like the first one, only," she looked around the room, "There doesn't seem to be any indication of what that might be." She scrunched her nose in thought and scratched the back of her head, looking up at the three creatures. "Maybe, try a couple different combos and hope we get lucky? If that doesn't work, we'll have to figure out something else," she mused, "I can't reach the top two, so could you try switching the bear for the bird and that bird for the owl?" she suggested.

… At least… she thought it was a bird. No, it was definitely a bird. Between the way it was faded from age and the lighting, it was hard to tell, but she was sure that's what the second stone animal was. She couldn't see what else it could be. She still had the claw in hand, but hadn't bothered to consult it yet.

-

Elle narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips, "Um, I'm not blind, it's definitely a bird," she argued, "I don't know which one you're looking at, but it's clearly an owl, a bear, and a /bird/," she stated, shaking the Golden claw at him. She was sure she had seen enough birds in her day to know when she saw one.

Regardless, she placed the claw on the door according to the grooves, and tried to turn it. When it only budged slightly in either direction, she withdrew it and shook her head, "That's not it. Try something else?"

-

As the two of them would later discover, the animal was neither a bird or a dragonfly, but a moth. In all honesty, the pair were probably just looking for an excuse to argue over something, knowing them, but that information is currently irrelevant. Anyway:

Elle watched silently as Nil changed the combination again, once more placing the claw in the keyhole, but with the same results as before. She gave a frustrated sigh, stepping away from the door to get a better look at it, "Hold this," she said, handing him the golden claw as she did so." She planted her fists on her hips and stared hard at the door, like if she glared at it long enough, it would just open. Only, it didn't, so she gave an annoyed huff before walking over to one of the ornate walls again.

"I don't think we can," she said in response to Nil's suggestion, "I've read that the doors are made from solid stone that's quite thick. There's no getting in unless we have the right combination," she explained as she examined the carvings etched into the stone surface. Still, there was no information or any indication of the animals that comprised of the combo above the door. There had to be some kind of clue somewhere! They just had to be smart enough to find it.

-

Elle pauses her search when Nilovas started to laugh, turning around and arching an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" she asked, walking over to him to look down at the claw. Now she felt stupid. She shook her head and rubbed her temples with a heavy sigh, "Divines, I'm so dumb," she muttered.

The correct combination was neatly stamped on the underside of the claw. Somehow, Elle had failed to notice this the entire time she had been in possession of the claw. She had been far too excited by the rest of the Barrow to examine the unconventional key. Of course the answer to the puzzle would be engraved on it.

"Well," she said, "Let's get this door open. I'm dying to see what's inside," she said, her excitement winning over her embarrassment as she bottom ring, the only one she could actually reach, to the owl.

-

"Oh, just shut up and open the door," Elle waved off his smart comment, anxious to get inside. She was practically jumping up and down in anticipation as the stones clicked and locked into place before the door suddenly slid into the ground. She was too busy try to see around it to notice Nil stumble backwards, wasting no time in walking inside and looking around the cavern they had just entered.

Of course, the first thing that caught her eye as she emerged from the dark into the sanctum was the strange shrine like structure located at the weird, strange runes carved into the surface. A large stone face featured the center piece, depicting was she guessed was a dragon. In front of the shrine lay a coffin, all sorts of treasures surrounding it, making her immediately apprehensive. After trekking through this place, she had a feeling whatever was inside the coffin would bust out if she got too close.

But something felt off. As she got closer, she could hear voices, the sound of chanting. She stopped, furrowing her brow. The song didn't sound like it came from within the room, but from inside her own head. It was powerful, ancient, and she felt as if part of her understood it even though she clearly did not know what it meant. She remained motionless, deciding to wait for Nil. She wouldn't say anything about the voices unless he mentioned them. If he couldn't hear them, then she must be growing crazy. Maybe it was the chant of the draugr buried in the tomb haunting her mind or something. Maybe she just needed a nap.

Regardless, the closer she got to the shrine, the louder the sound became. She looked back to see if Nil had followed her, not so eager to continue forward now, though that wasn't revealed in her expression. Speaking of her mer companion, she had discovered that as this little trip had worn on, he wasn't acting as uppity toward her and they were starting to get along more like friends. True, he was still giving her grief if she did the slightest thing wrong, but it felt more like teasing than being critical.

-

Elle remained motionless for a moment, watching as Nil tested to see if a draugr would appear before going about looting the treasure room. She hesitated, waiting for him to say something about the voices, but he never did. He must not hear them. Maybe she was going crazy.

With hesitant steps, the small Breton girl carefully walked forward, her eyes not leaving the dragon shrine. With every small stride, the chant became louder and louder. How could Nilovas not hear this? She wondered with amazement as she walked up the stairs. She paused once more, looking back at her companion as he examined a rather odd looking sword, clearly not aware of the war cry that echoed in her mind. She looked back at the stone runes carved into the smooth surface beneath the artistic dragon face, a light catching her eye.

At first, she thought that it must be a trick of the light, but as she took another step closer, she realized that a few of the runes were glowing, and now a faint whooshing noise accompanied the song that only her ears could hear. Now more fascinated than concerned, Eilonwy walked up to it, the chant reaching a loud crescendo, tendrils of light energy pulsing from the words and swirling around her.

"Um, Nilovas?" Elle called, walking up the the word and running her fingers across it. Suddenly, the light died, and the chant started to taper off. Her vision grew blurry and she felt rather dizzy, putting a hand on the carving covered wall to keep herself from falling. Then something in her mind clicked. The rune that had been glowing, she knew what it was. She knew what it meant. She didn't know how, she had never seen it before, but she just… knew. She couldn't speak it, she didn't know how to say it, but she could tell you what it meant.

It only took a second for her to feel normal again, normal and very perplexed. She turned around and was about to speak again, but her words instead came out as, "Watch out!"

The coffin had burst open, a draugr sitting up and grinning at them. This one was different, dressed in armor and possessing a heftier weapon. Whoever he had been before death, he had been powerful. Her bizarre experience suddenly forgotten, Elle drew her sword and prepared to attack it, glancing quickly around for anything she could possibly use to give her an edge.

-

As the creature attacked Nil, Elle quickly circled around behind it, a horrified cry escaping her lips when the half-mer was stabbed. Now quite infuriated, she darted forward and delivered a heavy slash to its back, quickly getting out of the way as Nil blasted it with fire. But despite their efforts, it seemed relatively fine, albeit more charred then before.

It turned on Elle, and suddenly spoke two words, directing them at her. The were loud and strange and… familiar? Suddenly, she felt as if someone had forcefully knocked her back, something unseen causing her to stagger backwards. While temporarily off balance, the draugr rushed toward her, weapon raised, but she dodged, barely, the blade catching the should of her armor as she whirled out away. Her advantage was that she was faster than it. Other than that, she had nothing.

She thrust her blade at it again, but its armor got in the way, deflecting the blow. The undead turned and raised it sword, slashing it downward toward her with both hands. Elle raised her weapon just in time, the sharp end of the draugr's strange sword clashing against the steel. She pushed as hard as she could, but it had the advantage of strength, driving her backward until she felt something against her lower back. Chancing a look down, she realized she had been back against one of the tables.

She did the first thing that came to mind, grabbing something from the stone surface, which just happened to be a little soul gem, and driving the pointy end into the draugr's eye. But, that didn't seem to do much but make it angrier, although now it had a pink rock sticking out of its skull since the thing was wedged in there pretty good. It stumbled back, chattering angrily at her, before the telekinetic sword flew from its hand, aimed straight for her heart.

Suppressing a yelp, she was able to knock it away with her sword and jump away from the table. Should this be modern times, it would have looked like she was playing a very twisted game of American Baseball of an unconventional sort. But that did not deter the now floating sword. It righted itself in the air and attacked again, proceeding to fence with Elle despite lacking the person to hold it.

-

Elle hesitated when the blade dropped, turning to see that Nil had literally smashed the creature under a slab of rock and proceeded to fry it in an inferno that he had generated. She immediately snatched the enchanted sword from the ground and stumbled away from the searing heat as she did so, The flames were furious and hot, and she couldn't see a single thing through the fire.

Her eyes were round with anxiety as she watched the blaze die down to leave behind smoke, ash, and a basically dying Nilovas. He was bleeding badly and looked like he was about to collapse. She dropped the swords, both blades clattering to the ground and echoing around the chamber as she rushed forward, putting one of his arms around her shoulders and pressing her free hand to his side to try and slow the bleeding. She was muttering something under her breath as she guided Nil to a chair and sat him down.

"Hold on, just hold on," she said, remaining calm as she rummaged through her pack for a healing potion. It wouldn't do much, but maybe it would at least relieve some of the pain. She found one potion of healing, handing it to him before looking around for anything to use as a bandage. She had none with her, the Imperials had taken all those supplies, so she would have to make do with something here. All that was available were a few embalming wraps tied neatly in paper to protect them from the elements. She picked one up, expecting it to crumble at her touch, but surprisingly, it didn't. They would have to do for now.

She rushed back over after grabbing a few of the makeshift wraps, setting to the side for a moment as she carefully, but quickly, undid the straps of his breastplate and gingerly slipped it off so that it wouldn't get in her way. "It's not that bad," she said, but her tone was rather hollow. She had said it more to comfort herself than him. She picked up one of the old cloths and pressed it to the wound in an attempt to halt the bleeding, but the rag was soon becoming drenched in blood.

She looked up at him, expression calm, but blue eyes filled with worry. "You're going to have to lay on your side so you don't bleed out," she said, "My restoration magic isn't strong enough to stop it." If she could at least get him out of mortal danger, she would be able to heal him enough to where they could get out of here and get him real medical attention. Oh why hadn't she paid more attention when her mother was trying to teach her healing magic?

-

Elle shot him a venomous glare when he tried to shoo her off, otherwise ignoring the gesture. "Nil, you just had a freaking sword driven hilt deep into your midsection, you're not fine," she stated bluntly, "just stay still, I know what I'm doing if you'll just let me." She hadn't really thought about it when she called him by the nickname she had given him in her mind, it had just kind of slipped out. She didn't care how hurt his vanity was, she wasn't going to just let him bleed out all over the place. At this point, she wasn't sure what had suffered more because of all this: his pride or him. Either way, he wasn't going to die, not on her watch. She figured he would hate being killed by a draugr more than being saved by a human.

She tossed away the now useless wrap and quickly replaced it with a new one. Hopefully there were more of these things lying around. I mean, it is a giant tomb, there should be a ton of them. She would look around in a bit when she went searching for potions. Both of her hands were now covered in his blood from applying steady pressure to the wound, but she didn't really care. What mattered right now was making sure he didn't die of blood loss.

"We've got to at least slow this bleeding first," she replied in response to his suggestion, "Otherwise they won't do a damn thing." She grabbed yet another piece of the ancient cloth to join the one she already had, "Hold these on there and I'll take a look around," she said, making sure he had them before letting go and rushing over to the chest, leaving bloody handprints on its lid as she opened it and dug through its contents. There were definitely some useful things in here, and she made a mental note to grab them later, but she was more focused on finding a potion. Her search yielded one potion of major healing, much better than what she had before, and she quickly brought it back to him.

She placed the potion in his hands and took over applying pressure to the stab once more, lifting the cloth away from the wound slightly to see if it was still gushing blood. Thankfully, the bleeding wasn't nearly as profuse as it had been before, which was a very good sign. Between that potion and her magic, he had a good chance of walking out of here still breathing.