Tales Of Skyrim: The Blind Mage

Chapter Two

"Morning," Stenvar greeted as he entered the main hall.

"Good morning. I assume you are ready for travel," Sorcline replied, securing her pouch flap. She had to concentrate hard to close the clasp as small details appeared foggy in her vision. Though it was an asset to see magical objects, she sometimes wished to see clearer. Just to be able to see color again would be a gift, she thought.

"I am. Now where is it that we are headed?" he tightened the belt around his waist.

"Winterhold."

"Winterhold? Let me guess; the mage college?"

"That is correct. From what I am told, it is only about a five-hour walk. So I shall pay you 250 gold now, and the other half when we get there. I assume that when I get to Winterhold, you will leave my service?"

"Correct. Shall we be going?" he started for the door.

"Yes," she agreed as he held the door open for her.

They started down the slope, following the road out of the city in the direction of Winterhold. It was snowing and Sorcline found her vision was worse than usual. The path was covered in drifts and she had to use the outline of Stenvar's cloaked body as a guide.

"Are you doing alright back there?" he called out to her.

"I'm fine," she yelled back. In truth, she was freezing. Her novice robes that Danddal gave her when she came of age were worn thin and had holes for which the cold air seeped in.

"Only three more hours and we'll be there," he assured. Could he hear her teeth chattering? The wind was howling, but there was a new sound in the distant woods. Sorcline stopped.

"Did you hear that?" she shouted over the wind.

"I heard nothing. We must keep going, it gets dark earlier in the mountains," he pushed on a few more feet. She heard the clicking get louder and the shuffling of snow. Sorcline flicked out her fingers and fire filled her palms.

"Something is coming!" she called, and then they were upon them. Spiders of enormous proportion filed out from the timberline. They scuttled across the ground with such speed that the mage barely had time to release a fire ball before one grabbed her leg. Suddenly, Stenvar brought down his great sword on the beast's back and it let out a pain-filled screech. A few more fell under his blade before one shot out a ball of venom, knocking the blade from his hands and pouncing on Stenvar's chest.

"Get my sword!" he yelled, holding the spider's limbs away from his face and in the process, avoided its pinchers. Sorcline rolled into the ditch and searched with her hands. But she could not see it with the snow drifts and the frozen plant life. What was nature and what was metal?

"I can't find it!"

"Confound it, woman! Find my sword before this thing eats my face!" She heard the creature hiss. She was wasting time looking for his damn sword in the middle of a snow pile. Quickly she stood up and let out a fire ball, hoping that it would hit its mark. A final cry of pain rang out as the spider was blown to the other side of the road. Stenvar lay there for a few moments, attempting to catch his breath.

"Well, now that's over..." Sorcline brushed away the snow that covered the bottom of her robes, but it wouldn't help much since her boots were now filled and her legs coated in melted snow that was starting to freeze again.

"That's all you have to say? I nearly died because you couldn't find a stupid sword!" Stenvar got to his feet and joined her in the ditch. He grabbed hold of what she had thought was a barely exposed rock and pulled it from the snow bank. Obviously, what she had thought a rock was actually the hilt of his sword.