Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Chapter 141 Don’t Be Willful

"Helgi, get up and walk with me, okay?"

I wiped the tears off the little girl's face and led her to stroll around the warehouse slowly. When I met the night patrol sentry, I said that my sister was crying because she missed home. Helgi had a sweet face, and her tears were even more distressing. The sentinels knew that we were the followers of an important person, so they didn't make things difficult for us, but just reminded us not to play with fire in the warehouse. The soldiers guarding the baggage were all wearing the standard uniforms of the Rich Territory, but it was hard for me to conclude that the Imperial Legion had not stationed in Snake Cliff Ridge, because they could have arranged a stronger legion to take charge of the combat mission and handed over the logistics work to the lord's men.

Back outside the tent, Helgi and I sat on the ground again.

"How's it going? What do you think?"

The little girl shook her head and said nothing.

"Do you think I'm just taking you for a walk?"

Helgi's starry eyes reflected the moonlight. She stared at me for several minutes before she opened her mouth and uttered a few words in a hoarse voice.

"We...can't win..."

"Yes. You just saw that they have good weapons and plenty of food. You are a worldly-wise man. We have been to Whiterun and Solitude, and I can tell you that Markarth is a city as big as them. I have no doubt that Lord Igmund can easily supply an army of nearly a thousand people. How many people are there in the Snake Cliff Tribe? If we remove the old and young who have no fighting ability, how many will be left? How much food do you have stored? Zoltan's betrayal only accelerated the defeat of Chief Xinanmon, but it was not the decisive factor. The irony is that if he had not taken the elite of the tribe to the Sunny Garden Fortress, you might have suffered the tragedy of genocide."

Helgi's tears began to flow again. She stood up suddenly in a state of excitement, forgetting even to keep her voice down.

"You mean, what Zoltan did was right?"

I suddenly realized that my words were too harsh. As an outsider, I could see the fate of the Snake Cliff Ridge tribe. But they were Helgi's family. Although this girl looked innocent and romantic most of the time, she actually carried a blood feud for the destruction of her family. What was even more terrible was that this hatred was mixed with her regret for her mistakes. It was too cruel for me to poke at the scar in her heart. I held Helgi's thin shoulders, which were shaking constantly, and pressed her to sit down.

"Helgi, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, and I don't think what Zoltan did was right. However, this is not the place to discuss this issue. When we get back, I will tell you all my thoughts on the matter. Now, let's finish the task at hand."

Helgi wiped away her tears angrily, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled it. She repeated this action three times before she managed to calm down.

"It's a deal, brother. I'm going back to rest."

The little girl took a few steps and turned her head back.

"And you owe me an answer to that story about old Haldane."

"I remember. And you said you wanted to discuss the history of the Reachmen with me. I remember it all."

Helgi nodded with satisfaction and went into his tent.

I lay on my bed, half thinking about how to explain the disastrous defeat at Snake Cliff to Helgi in a tactful way. Half asleep and half awake, I seemed to be on the battlefield at that time. The hags of crows summoned huge fireballs, blowing up the hastily built camp of the soldiers of Markarth. The fearless Reachmen ran on the mountains, their longbows emitting deadly hums. The dead soldiers in simple animal skin armor wielded weapons woven from vines, suddenly jumped out from the dark corners, pounced on the unsuspecting sentinels, and snapped the necks of the poor prey cleanly.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Desperate cries rang out everywhere, but were soon drowned out by the roar of magic. The tents and chevaux de frise were set on fire, and the flames that shot up into the sky illuminated the entire camp and the attackers. The crow witch laughed strangely, waving her huge claws to encourage her men to charge.

"Snake Cliff Ridge is ours!"

The Reachmen shouted in unison.

"All of Skyrim belongs to Nords!"

The Nords responded.

After the chaos of the surprise attack, the soldiers of Markarth stabilized their position. A team of warriors raised their shields engraved with the emblem of the argali and squeezed the Reachmen who rushed into the camp in front of them. Teammates wielding war hammers and axes broke through from the flanks and chopped the invaders to the ground. Before they could cut off the enemy's head, which symbolized their merit, they were knocked over by someone. The next second, a blazing fireball hit the shield, and the warrior who tried his best to save his teammate fell to the ground.

"Release! Shoot that monster to death!"

Bowstrings rang, and arrows rained down like dark clouds covering the moon. The Reachmen dodged in all directions, but did not forget to fight back with their longbows. The sound of arrows breaking through the air mixed with screams, and the whistling of magic wrapped in shouts rang out in every corner of the camp.

"Brother! Get up!"

Helgi rushed into the tent and pulled me up. The little girl's voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"Aunt Moira is here to attack Snake Cliff Ridge!"

This is not a dream! What is this old witch Moira doing? Or is Falkreath also involved?

I rushed out of the tent, only to see that everyone I was with was already standing in the open space. A group of soldiers came hurriedly, and the leading officer stepped forward and saluted Sebastian.

"I apologize for disturbing your rest, sir. Don't panic, everyone. We are well prepared. Please return to your tents and don't walk around."

Helgi did not return to the tent she shared with Agis, but followed me. The little girl asked Babas and Miko to guard the door, and she walked around the tent rubbing her hands. I was dizzy because of her, so I simply sat cross-legged on the blanket and closed my eyes to rest.

"Brother, don't sleep, give the order quickly!"

"My orders are to go back to the tent and sleep."

Helgi was struck by lightning and stood still for several seconds before he jumped up and grabbed my hand.

"Brother, Aunt Moira is attacking! We should help, right?"

"Moira is making a fuss. All I hope now is that she doesn't get out of control."

"I don't care! I'm going to help!"

Helgi turned and walked out. I had no time to get up, so I could only roll forward and grab her wrist. The little girl was crying again, staring at me with her tearful eyes, her gaze was like the wind in late autumn scratching my face. But I would never allow her to do anything wrong.

"Helgi! I beg you, don't be so willful! After we pass Loristed, you can cry, make a fuss, hit or scold as much as you want. Now, I have to make sure everyone can return to Whiterun safely!"

I pressed the little girl onto the quilt and walked over to Babas.

"Keep an eye on her and don't let her do anything stupid. Otherwise, when I get the Axe of Regret, you'll know what knife skills are."

I opened the door curtain and came outside, and immediately a soldier came up to me and said that for my safety, it would be better to go back to the tent.

"Brother, what happened?"

"Ah! The wild people who used to live here are unwilling to give up and come to make trouble again. Don't worry, brother, we are waiting for them to come."

As if to prove his words, the sound of battle coming from the distance became much quieter, and the magic flying like fireworks disappeared.

"My sister is timid and is crying. Please don't laugh at her."

"How can that be true? All girls are like this. My little sister also cries a lot."

The man smiled and patted me, then grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back into the tent. Helgi was lying straight on the blanket, staring at the roof and crying silently. The sound of fighting became quieter and quieter, and in less than an hour, everything returned to silence. It was almost dawn. The officer who received us last night came to the camp again, nodding and bowing to Sebastian with an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed your rest last night. I didn't expect these animals to make such a big noise. I'm sorry. I'm sure you all didn't sleep well. How about you make up for it during the day? After lunch here, I'll send someone to escort you to Hofdierstede."

"We're not eating! We're leaving now!"

Helgi yelled in a crying voice, Sebastian glanced at the little girl and stepped out to smooth things over.

"Since a battle has taken place, Your Excellency must have a lot of things to do, so we won't bother you any more."

The officer still had a smile on his face.

"That's fine, that's fine. Don't be afraid, little sister. We have knocked down more than a dozen enemies, and the rest have run away. This is just a small scene, everything is under control. If you want to leave now, you can just go back with Hofdiersted's friendly forces, and I don't have to arrange for anyone else. Then please pack your luggage quickly, I'll ask the friendly forces to wait for you, and then I'll leave you now."

Our carriage followed the soldiers, slowly moving along the winding mountain road. Helgi refused to talk to anyone, and curled up in a corner to sulk. Sebastian obviously noticed her abnormality, but said nothing. This old man seemed to me to be an outlier. He met all my imaginations of a hermit: living alone in a deserted cave, even a little disabled, but as soon as he showed up, all the bigwigs were pleased with him. What seemed to me to be impossible was accomplished by him just by opening his mouth. He was also the only wizard I met who did not show special appreciation for Helgi's talent. He asked Helgi and I to pretend to be his apprentices just to take us in and out of Solitude safely. Except for the time when we ate chicken at Old Haldane, he had always been very calm, even deliberately keeping a distance from us.

It was already evening when we entered the town of Loristed. The town was quiet and didn't seem to be affected by the war. The soldiers returned to their camps, and we went straight to the Ice and Fruit Inn. This store would not be prosperous until the summer and autumn when the grains matured. At present, only some garrisons who were not on duty were drinking and chatting. I took a quick look and didn't see any familiar faces, so I went straight to the boss and casually lifted the hood on my head.

"Uncle Mularkey, give me two rooms, more spacious ones."

Eric's father's eyes widened, and he looked over my shoulder, scanning the lobby warily.

"Guest, please come with me."

Mularky led us into the nearest guest room, closed the door, and spoke in a low voice.

"How dare you, little bastard! Do you know that the Empire is looking for you?"

"Ah, huh? How much did they offer? If it's higher than 15,000 Septim, uncle can consider it."

Mularkey rolled his eyes.

"You're not worth that much. You have to cut off a zero. Why are you disappointed? Isn't this worth much more than a horse?"

Everyone laughed except Helgi, and the room was filled with a cheerful atmosphere. Mularky was quite satisfied with his joke and continued.

"You are safe here with me. No one dares to cause trouble in the territory of the Companions. But once you leave this room, you have to be careful."

When Sebastian heard the words "Comrades", he immediately jumped up and shook Mularkey's hand.

"Brother, are you from the Companions? Do you know what happened to my girl? Madeline, Madeline Lott."

Mularkey patted old Lott's hand and helped him sit down.

"How can I be a member of the Companions? But they do have someone here, I can introduce them to you."

He then turned to me.

"You guys stay in the house and behave yourself. I'll get you something to eat and drink."

Sebastian was on pins and needles. If it weren't for his disability, he would have walked back and forth in the room. Not long after, the door opened again, and Mullarkey led a short-haired girl back. It was Eric's junior sister, Leah. She recognized me at a glance and nodded slightly. I quickly stood up to return the greeting and introduced the identity of old Lot. Leah didn't finish her greeting because Sebastian caught her and pressed her on a chair. The old man asked about Madeline's current situation in detail, and I called Mullarkey aside.

"Uncle, how are the villagers doing? How did this inn become the comrades' group?"

Mullagi pretended to be regretful and sighed, but his ever-increasing mouth corners betrayed him. If it weren't for his ears, his smile would have already spread to the back of his head.

"This kid Eric brought a lot of food to us last winter and earned a good reputation. I thought he was promising, but who knew he would starve. So I had no choice but to mortgage this inn to the Companions to pay off their debts. But with the Companions in charge, those soldiers dare not come here to make trouble, and the villagers finally have a place to hide. Others are okay, it doesn't matter who they pay rent to, but poor old Lori! His life savings have all gone down the drain. If Joanne hadn't been watching over him, the old man would have committed suicide."

"Uncle, do you know how many soldiers are there in this town? Are they General Tullius's men or Lord Igmund's men?"

"They should be the lord's men. They are the ones who collect taxes and their clothes are not in the style of the legion. I don't know how many people there are. Their base is on the west mountain. There are usually only about twenty people in the town, but they change shifts every day. So, there should be at least fifty people, right?"

I nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Such rough information can't be used as the basis for decision-making. It seems that I still need to find a professional. If it doesn't work, I can go to Cindy and spend some money.

"Oh, by the way. Eric got married. He said it's not convenient for you and Lund to come, so he didn't invite you. The couple is back to Yuevaska now, you brothers should find time to get together."

"Congratulations, uncle. You should give us a few bottles of wine so that we can share in the good luck."

Mularkey slapped his forehead.

"Look! I forgot what I was doing because you interrupted me. Wait, I'll get you something to eat."

Sebastian also sent Leah away and came to my side with a serious look on his face.

"Lord Locke, can we set off early tomorrow? The girl just said that Madeline is not in good condition. I want to get there as soon as possible."