Esbern still had shown no interest in talking, so I decide to give him some space.
I wanted to tell him the truth, about how I got to Skyrim. But I decide to wait until after our battle. It's already hard enough to believe, and the timing now could be critical. It could spark an argument, and our teamwork doesn't need that now.
While sitting down to wait for my magicka to regenerate, my thoughts drift toward Thalniriel, she's a high elf, and her attitude is far from easy to deal with. But I just can't seem to get her out of my head.
I wonder if she'd want to talk more about magic with me... Yes, I'm sure she would. She practically lit up when I mentioned needing to learn Lesser Ward. Being a farmer when magic is in your blood must be hard!
She definitely knew her stuff. I wonder if she has any good tips for Flames, Telekinesis, or Healing... Though honestly, I'm starting to feel pretty satisfied with my healing!
After a little while my magicka has regenerated a considerable amount. So I get up and head toward Esbern. The rest will have regenerated before we'd run into any more enemies.
I approach him with gently. "Hey... I'm ready if you are."
He turns to look at me. "Alright..." He answers lowly, while getting up.
He gazes over at the girl. "I wonder why she was so fast… There could be others like her inside the mine," he says grimly, probably fearing the battle ahead.
"It could be... but I don't think so."
Esbern turns his head toward me, eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"
I recalled what Delphine had told me about necromancy—it gave me a few ideas about what could have happened here.
"Well, I'm almost certain the girl was raised using a greater soul gem, if not stronger. The soul trapped inside the body empowers it, and its strength depends on the soul's power. In this case, it must have been a powerful one—and the girls body was light. That could explain her speed," I explain to him.
Esbern's eyes widen, clearly surprised by my knowledge about necromancy. "And why does that make you think that there aren't anyone strong like her in the mine?" he asks.
I turn my gaze toward the mine. "Well… the skeletons from Roriksteads graveyard, they were old, they're fragile. It wouldn't make sense to waste another powerful soul gem on them. If I were the necromancer, I'd rather have used it on the old man. Sure he's old, but his body was fresh."
Esbern gets closer to me and grabs me by the collar of my shirt. "How in oblivion do you know so much about necromancy?! Who are you, really?!" he snarls while shaking me.
I grip his wrists firmly, meeting his eyes. "Calm down!" I say loudly. "Delphine told me! Before we faced the last necromancer. I had to understand what we were up against, needed to know the enemy."
He let's go of my collar with a small push. "Then she might be a necromancer!"
I let out a deep sigh. "No, Esbern... She's not. She's a former soldier, so she probably has fought several of them before."
He turns to leave for the mine. "Come on, let's go!" He commands, his mood is foul.
"Wait!"
He turns around to face me again. "What?!..."
I meet his gaze again. The look on his face told me that he didn't trust me anymore. I had lied too much
"We need to talk," I say quietly. "When this is over… I'll tell you everything. Just continue to trust me, until then."
Esbern's eyes linger on mine for a moment, before his expression softens. "Alright."
He turns and walks downhill toward the mine. "Must be quite the story to warrant that much deception."
So, he was onto me after all. He probably talked to someone in Rorikstead about my roots, some must have known that it didn't add up. And my backstory as a hunter... I must have raised suspicion with every arrow I had fired.
I follow him, when we reach the entrance to the mine I pick up the arrow stuck in the ground.
Esbern lifts his head slightly, sniffing the air. "Smells like death," he mutters. "It's at least eight more skeletons inside." He glances at me. "Your magicka, has it fully regenerated yet?"
"Yeah... I'm ready." I answer.
"I can deal with the skeletons. Just support me, and maybe do that Flames thing you did, if it gets necessary." He says, talking about when I blinded the zombie girl.
Nodding I answer. "You got it. But I'll have to do it sparingly, that cost me alot of magicka!"
He nods. "I see... Well, I'll leave it to your judgement when to use it then.
He enters the mine.
"Thanks..." I say, before following him. That had almost felt friendly.
The mine appeared lit up all the way in, torches lining the walls of a long, narrow corridor. The air was damp and heavy, filled with earthy scent, but it didn't block the stench of the undead, it may even have made it worse, every breath felt unclean!
The corridor was narrow, if we'd end up in a fight here, Esbern would probably have a hard time swinging his sword around!
"Before long, we reach a small chamber—likely where a metal vein had once been mined. Unlit torches are arranged in a circle around the room, and at its center, runes are drawn into the ground floor, forming an inner ring
"Can't say I like the look of that." Esbern comments, his voice carrying a hint of disgust.
My eyes goes wide. "I've seen this before!"
"Where?" Esbern asks.
I narrow my eyes, trying to figure out why these seem so eerily familiar to me. "I don't know..." I say.
I crouch down by the circle to study it. Then it dawns on me. These runes resemble the ones that appeared in my bedroom. The night that purple light took me to Skyrim!
"Oh my god..." I mutter under my breath. I might not have been the only one!
"What?!" Esbern asks sharply, eager to know what I've realized.
I shake my head in disbelief, chills running down my spine. "There might be more than eight skeletons here! This is a conjuration circle!"
Esbern narrows his eyes and studies the runes. "A conjuration spell?... With drawn runes?..." He didn't know much about magic, and especially not necromancy, but that seemed strange to Esbern.
I stand back up from looking at the runes, determined to finally get some answers. "Let's go find this bastard!" I say as I start walking to another corridor leading futher into the mine.
We walk for a few more minutes, the corridor continues to remain narrow. I get lost in thought, thinking about what how many could have been taken from their homes. This could even mean there's still hope of getting back home!
We get close to cutting a corner in the corridor when Esbern suddenly grabs my shoulder and pull me back. "Stop!" He whispers sharply.
I turn my gaze toward him and whisper back. "What is it?"
Esbern smells the air. "Can't you smell it?... That's death."
I did, he was right! The air here really stunk. We had to be close to some enemies.
"A good place for an ambush, we'd walk right into them!..." Esbern whispers, while picking up a rock.
He throws the rock at the ground in front of the turn in the corridor. Just a split second later a small swarm of skeletons starts charging at us.
Esbern pulls on my shirt roughly and shouts. "FALL BACK!!!"
We start running with the undead at our heels. "We need to reach the open chamber with the torches! I can't use my sword here!" Esbern shouts.
We run, the gap between me and Esbern grows. Thankfully, I run a bit faster than the skeletons.
Not long after, we close in on the wider area of the corridor, the chamber.
I shout at the top of my lungs, while focusing a big amount of magicka to my palms again. "JUMP TO THE SIDE WHEN YOU ENTER THE CHAMBER! I'LL DO WHAT I DID WITH THE ZOMBIE GIRL—TAKE THEM ALL DOWN!"
I sprint a small distance into the chamber, passing Esbern, I quickly turn around and raise my palm towards the horde running at us!
I yell out while casting Flames as wide as I can into the corridor. "YAAAARRHH!!!"
Figures running into the chamber can be seen through the flames. Esbern who had jumped to the side, starts swinging his great-sword in a combo of relentless fury at anything that moves—every swing of his sword sending bones and fragments flying out of the blast of flames. Except for his last two swings. They made a sound that was entirely different.
After about six seconds of pumping magicka into my Flames, making them as wide as possible, every figure who had entered the chamber had been taken down. My magicka was drained completely, even though it had just been full.
Both me and Esbern tries to catch our breath, but then we hear moaning. The two last victims of Esberns ferocious attack slowly tries to get back up.
They only make their way up onto their knees, before Esbern decapitates the both of them with his Greatsword.
What I see fills me with dread. The zombies—their clothing. One of them, a young woman, wore a denim shirt. The other one was a male, he wore a sports jacket.
These two had been my people. These two were from earth.