Chapter 13: Lost In A Foreign Land

Jaune's Perspective

Pyrrha pushed open the large, wooden doors leading to this unfamiliar city. I followed meekly, finding comfort in the fact that Pyrrha is a beyond skilled fighter. The first thing about the buildings that struck me is how outdated they were compared to Remnant. Wooden houses stood on either side of the cobbled street. The style was unlike any I had ever seen before; The ends of houses had wood crossed above the end of the roof. At the end of the wood, there were dragon heads carved into them, making it seem more ornate than the structural capabilities of building suggests. To my right, nearest the gate was a woman dressed in a very odd garb tanning leather. To her right was a burning pit which must have been used to forge weapons out of. She worked next to a building with a sign that was a horseshoe and inside of it was an anvil, a hammer and some tongs on it. At the bottom of the horseshoe was the word "Blacksmith". So I was right about the weapons. On the left side of the street and up a small hill was a large-looking house with a single dragon head perched on the top of the roof. Near the street was a sign that had a stein of frothing beer and various plants beneath it with the name "The Drunken Huntsman" on it.

"Are you four just going to stand there all day, or are you going to get out of the way of the door?" A guard asked us.

"Wh-Where is Belethor's General Goods?" I asked the guard timidly.

He looked at me oddly and pointed further down the street. "Down the street, on the right. You can't miss it." He said apprehensively, mostly because of our outfits.

"Thank you." Pyrrha replied, leading the way for Ren and Nora and dragging me with her.

We walked for only a minute. We passed by two kids, one running towards us and the other away. We also passed a drunk man singing drinking songs. But the weirdest thing we passed was a house that had its roof broken and had the front of it surrounded by dirt and spiked logs. I had no idea why it was like that, and I don't think I want to know.

After the broken house, was a square with a few shops and stalls. Except the street was in a circle. On our right was a shop with a scale on the sign in front of it. A different shop was perpendicular to the shop we were looking at and its sign was a cup with weird lines coming out of it. The scale looked better and we went in that shop.

"Welcome. If you see anything you're interested in, please let me know." The man at the counter said.

"Do you have any maps?" Pyrrha asked him.

"A map? Yeah sure, I have plenty. But the real question is do you have the coin to buy them?" The man asked.

"We aren't from here, so we don't have any money." She replied.

He nearly collapsed into laughter.

"So what you're telling me, is that you came into my store without any Septims? What, did you think I'd just give one to you?" The man said, laughing immediately afterwards.

"Y-Yeah, kinda…" She said quietly.

"Well, I admire the fact that you attempted, but I'm not giving away anything for free. Now get out and come back when you have some coin!" The man yelled, pointing to the door.

We walked out of the store, our heads hung. Is that the only store here? I don't think there is anywhere else that sells maps in this city. We stood outside the store for a long time, thinking about what we would do with no money and no map.

"You four! Stop loitering!" A guard yelled at us.

"Do you know anywhere we can get a map for free?" Pyrrha asked timidly. Man, this has taken a heavy toll on everyone.

"Jorrvaskr, but they only give them to Companions." The guard replied.

"Where is Jorrvaskr?" Pyrrha asked, perking up.

"Up those stairs and on the right. It's the overturned boat." He said, breaking off and walking away when he finished talking. "And no more lollygagging!" He called back as he walked away.

We walked up the stairs he pointed out and walked into another square in the shape of a circle. In the very center was a large tree which looked like it was dying. In the distance, at the top of a tall hill sat the large building we saw from outside the city. To the left was a moderately sized area of houses. And on the right was an overturned boat. That guard wasn't joking when he said that the building was an overturned boat. Pyrrha walked up and threw open the door. I was hit by the smell of ale so hard, I nearly fell over. Everyone else seemed to be fine. So I acted like I was as well.

"Welcome to Jorrvaskr, home of the Companions. Is there something you need?" A man said, approaching us from the center of the room.

"We aren't from around here and we were wondering if we could get a map." Pyrrha asked, more confidently than the last few times she asked.

"I think we have a few spares, but you'd have to talk to Kodlak about that. Since we normally only give them to Whelps after they join." The man said.

"Ok. Where is Kodlak?" Pyrrha asked, looking around the room.

"Oh, he's not up here. He's downstairs, allow me to show you." The man said, walking towards a set of stairs on the far right side of the room.

Pyrrha followed him immediately and walked down the stairs behind the man. I shrugged and followed her. Ren and Nora ambled after me. We all, besides Pyrrha, were concerned about the validity of the guard's tip. We walked through a door, our hands resting on our weapons in anticipation of what was on the other side of the door. It was only a hallway with doors to bedrooms. So it's just quarters? I relaxed my grip on my sword and so did Ren and Nora. We walked down a hallway lined with tables ladened down with food. When finally, we reached a doorway that he led us into.

"Kodlak's sitting at the table in there, ask him any questions you may have." The man said. We hesitantly walked in and saw an older man sitting at a table and just relaxing.

"So, I overheard that you have some questions that I can possibly answer. Come, take a seat." Kodlak said, pointing to the chair on the other side of the table.

I looked at the rest of my team. There were four of us. And one chair. I motioned for Pyrrha to sit. She pulled it up and sat down.

"So, we aren't from around here, so we were wondering if we could have a map." Pyrrha asked him, politely.

"Ah, I see. Well, what province are you from then? Cyrodiil? High Rock? Hammerfell?" Kodlak asked. Pyrrha's eyes widened with each name he rattled off.

"Oh...I see. Where are you from then?" Kodlak asked, a bit concerned.

"Not here!" Pyrrha said, eyes as large as dinner plates.

"Look, girl, I need specifics. Names, places, etc." Kodlak said, his patience clearly winding down.

"Uh… Remnant." She said hesitantly.

Kodlak's eyes lit up.

"Do you by chance know a Ms. Rose and Ms. Xiao Long?" Kodlak asked.

"Ruby and Yang!" We all said in unison. We then devolved into asking if they were okay and where they were.

"Ah yes. Those two are some of the best warriors I've seen in a long time. I remember when they first walked in here, so lost and confused. But after a moment's talk, they were out in the yard tossing Vilkas around like a Werewolf does to a poor lost child. They claimed that they're even better fighters when they use a crystal they call 'Dust', but I've yet to see that for myself. Oh! how could I forget! They've also gone a few rounds with the Dragonborn! Even though he came out on top every time, it was still interesting to watch as he tried his best to fight against them. I honestly thought he'd have more trouble with Ms. Xiao Long, but Ms. Rose gave him quite a run for his money with that transforming scythe of hers! I must say, if all your weapons can do something similar to that, then I am thoroughly impressed with what your world has to offer! Now then, just a few weeks ago-"

"But where are they? Are they ok?" Pyrrha interrupted.

"Are they ok? They're perfectly fine, girl! We've treated them like family, after all, we're all Shield-Siblings here." Kodlak said.

"Where are they?" Pyrrha asked.

"Ah, I believe they were sent out to Cracked Tusk Keep to clear it of bandits. Jarl's tend to pay well for things like that." Kodlak said.

"Where is that?" Pyrrha asked.

Kodlak pulled a map out of a bag next to him and marked a spot in the southwest, by a city called "Falkreath".

"That's where you'll find them. Now, you could always wait until they get back-"

"No, I think we'll go after them." Pyrrha interrupted.

He seemed to go wide eyed at her sudden interjection.

"Are you sure? The journey shouldn't take too long for them and they've already been gone-"

"Then we'll see them on the way there." I replied.

"Then I won't stop you. I admire your determination, it's something many people here lack nowadays. Here." Kodlak said, rolling up the map and handing it to Pyrrha. She hesitantly grabbed it and put in her pack.

"Thank you very much for your help. We won't soon forget it." She thanked him genuinely.

Does anyone ever rest here? We walked from god-knows-where and now we have to go halfway across the province. Granted it is to meet up with our friends, so it isn't as bad. I told everyone to stick to the roads neatly labeled on the map because they would be safer, in theory. On our left were a few farms with farmers lazily tending to their crops. To the right was a large expanse of plains. Beyond the farm was a meadery that sat silently next to the bridge we were about to cross. Light shone softly through the windows as the smell of fermenting mead wafted to us courtesy of the wind. After a fair walk, we reached a humble village next to a river that was named, get this, Riverwood. Much like any small village, it had a central path that was bordered by numerous shops and inns. In this village's case, it was shops and one inn. You could hold your breath as you walked through it.

Shortly after leaving the village, we reached a mine that had weird stones by it. The stones stood upright and had carvings on them depicting various things. One was a warrior and I never looked at the others. I followed Pyrrha along the path, as per usual, and the river that ran beneath the path now widened, becoming a full lake. On the lake was a house that sat vacant. The darkened windows cast a gloomy look over the house as the light reflected from the water danced across the walls. The house was very large; a cylindrical structure towered over the rest of the house, making it seem more like a castle than a house. As the lake faded out of sight, odd things began popping up. Specifically, small pillars sticking out of the ground. Weirder still, the stone arch and stone dragons by the mountains. I wrote seeing them off as fatigue and continued walking. Around the bend from the weird ruins was a large watchtower. Strangely, it was collapsed partially. The very top of the watchtower was broken, but the bottom half was intact. Strange men dressed in furs ran around in it and around the outside. I told my team to steer clear of the strange men and the collapsed tower. They didn't need to be told twice.

As we walked along the road, a small ruin with numerous pillars standing in front of it appeared from the woods. Like all the ruins we saw in this strange land, this one was extremely old. Moss grew on the roof, vines clung to the walls. The age wasn't easy to distinguish due to the age of "new" buildings nearby. The fact that I saw it was astonishing because of the amount of trees growing directly around it and inside of it. Pyrrha pulled far ahead of me, so I hastened my pace to follow her. To get to our destination, we had to leave the path that I had grown accustomed to walking on.

Somehow, Pyrrha found a side path that lead us up a hill. Now that we weren't on the path, I started to enjoy the feeling of autumn, or at least what felt like autumn. We followed Pyrrha up the steep path as it wound above pine trees quietly waving the breeze. Not long after we started walking up the steep path, it leveled out. A broken fort lay in front of us. Walls lay crumpled and decaying. The only thing that kept the fort feel was the wooden ramparts and walls at the gate.

Pyrrha cautiously approached the gate, but relaxed when she saw that it was abandoned. Overturned wooden buckets were spread about the ground. Despite the eerie feeling this place gave me, Pyrrha walked right into the compound. Immediately, four green men jumped up and attacked. Pyrrha casually deflected one strike with the shield on her back and kicked him in the throat. He fell to his knees clutching his throat and catching his breath, but was forced to the ground by a pommel strike by Pyrrha. Pyrrha moved on to the next one, as Ren and Nora each took one on. I struggled to get my sword out, and by the time I did all of the enemies had been subdued.

"Oh come on! Leave some for me!" I complained.

Pyrrha put her hand on my shoulder with a "You'll get them next time Jaune."

"So what are we going to do from here?" Nora asked, looking around the compound.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, from the looks of it, Yang and Ruby haven't passed through here." Nora commented.

"For all we know those are their friends." Ren replied, pointing to the green men that we knocked out.

"Either way, we have to go into the fort to see for ourselves." I comment. Everyone nods in response.

Pyrrha pulled open the door to reveal two men and another green dude. She sighed and quickly subdued the green dude. I saw my chance and bashed one of the two men with my shield. It didn't work. The man was too heavy to be knocked back by me and started to swing his greatsword at me as a counter-attack. My shield was already in front of me, so I raised it to defend myself. A loud metal clang reverberated through my very essence as his sword bounced off my shield. I guess Pyrrha was right about keeping my shield up… I figured that if my shield doesn't hurt him, then my pommel will. I heard and felt a crunch when my pommel connected with his face. I cautiously opened an eye to see what happened and I saw his jaw broken. He was spitting up blood and couldn't move his jaw at all. He grunted at me and ran away, clutching his jaw with both hands. His remaining friend was knocked down as he stared at the man who just ran out.

I looked around and saw that this fort looked like a house. Minus the all-stone construction and the bedrolls by the staircase. It had a loft above the entrance that had a table covered with food on it. Now that I looked around, food sat everywhere. Dead pheasants and rabbits hung above apples and cabbages on a table near the door. I put the sanitary concerns behind me and followed Pyrrha up the staircase to the room at the top. There was collapsed sections of stone near the table covered in food. To the right of the stone was a closed door. Pyrrha shoved open the door and held it open for the rest of us. To the right was a fireplace with a small fire burning happily in it. To the left was a closed door that had the sound of someone snoring on the other side of it. Pyrrha slowly pushed it open, Miló in hand. There was a heavily armored green dude laying in the bed. He didn't move but said "Looking for the blade?" There was a short pause. "You aren't the first!" He threw off the covers and charged at us with a greatsword.

Pyrrha lifted her shield to block his swing before it reached full speed. His swing was stopped and she stabbed through the crescent shaped holes in the rim of her shield. She caught his left shoulder with her sword and drew blood. His left arm fell to his side, clearly hurting him too much to hold it up. Before he could swing the sword with his free hand, Ren shot his other shoulder. The sword clanged as it collided with the ground after slipping out of his hand.

"You'll reach Sovngarde once I'm done with you!" He spat at us.

"Calm down, man, we were just looking for our friends." I said to him.

"You lie! You want the Blade! I won't let you have it!" He shouted at us. He started to step towards Pyrrha, but Pyrrha put Miló against his neck, making him falter slightly.

He regained it quickly. "You can never kill a protector of the Blade!"

"What do you mean by the 'blade'?" I asked him.

"Feigning ignorance will get you nowhere!" He shouted at us. He lunged again and Pyrrha pushed her sword against his throat and slashed his neck. He fell to his knees, blood gushing from his neck and staining his armor red.

Nora wandered into his room and picked up a key off his nightstand. She showed us it and asked what we thought it was for. We had no idea. She ran off and we sat in the room near the fireplace and talked about what we should do. Right after Nora left she shouted at us.

"Guys! I found something!"

We ran down the stairs and found the door that was on the lower floor was wide open and Nora was looking extremely happy.

"Oh cool, the door's open." I said outloud.

"Let's go in it." I said after everyone stared at me for stating the obvious.

Pyrrha motioned for me to lead the way and I hesitantly tip-toed down the stairs and into a room with many barrels of what I assume is alcohol. I stopped to tie my shoe and Pyrrha, Nora and Ren walked ahead of me. Score. I quickly, and quietly, grabbed a metal mug lying around and tried to pour myself some of the alcohol.

"Put it down." Pyrrha said commandingly. She must have eyes in the back of her head…

I put it down gently. I gulped. "S-Sorry, Pyrrha."

"I'll take that!" Pyrrha said, snatching up all the mugs in the room and throwing them in the corner. "And you are sticking with me." She grabbed my arm and locked it against her side. She was blushing with anger. I've never seen someone blush with anger, so she must be really mad.

We saw a door in front of us and a small set of stairs to a metal cage that also leads to a door. Nora threw open the door in the room, after unlocking it with the key, and just saw that it led outside. It also let out all the warm air. We all convened in front of the cage and looked at the strange vent on the wall near it.

"What's up with this vent?" I asked everyone as I pulled on the bars with one hand because my other hand was still held firmly against Pyrrha's side.

"I think it's just a vent." Ren commented.

"There's a keyhole." Pyrrha pointed out with her free hand. I tried to pull my arm free as she pointed it out, but she just tightened her grip on my arm.

Nora pulled the key out of nowhere and within a millisecond, jammed it in the hole. She turned it, causing the vent cover to fall open. There was a button inside and Nora slammed it before I could even see what color it was. There was a loud grinding noise and the metal spears that blocked the stairs down to the door dropped. Now I could clearly see the collapsed stone on the walkway and the burnt out candles that were scattered around the area.

"Come on, Jaune." Pyrrha said, pulling on my arm.

Nora sprinted ahead and unlocked the door, throwing open a door leading to…

A turn in the path.

When we turned we saw the fallen stone blocking half of the staircase. The torchlight in the area at the end of the stairs reflected against something liquid, probably water. My internal question was answered when I stepped in the water at the bottom of the stairs. As my right shoe squeaked as we walked past rooms full of stone and random materials. To our front is a room that was no different from the ones on the sides of the hallway, except for two levers and a gate that led to a pedestal with some kind of metal glistening on it. Pyrrha pulled one lever and Ren pulled the other.

Ther vertical metal pillars dropped and rose, respectively, and the horizontal pillars retracted into the sides. Nora's hammer racked the stone flooring as she threw it out, prepared to strike any baddies in the room. She prepared to sprint off to the pedestal on the other side of the room, but Ren grabbed her arm. He quietly pointed to the tripwire strung over the ground. He motioned for Pyrrha to defuse them. Pyrrha calmly walked up and disabled them both as easily as breathing. She didn't get on the front of the Pumpkin Pete's box for nothing. She walked over to the pedestal and picked up the metal.

"It's a really old blade." She said, cautiously holding the shards in her hands.

"It looks like it was broken outside of battle." Ren commented, after looking at it.

"Oh well, let's just keep it anyways." Pyrrha said, putting it in her pack.

I waited out front with Nora, mostly so I could watch over her, while Pyrrha and Ren looked around the fort to make sure that Ruby and Yang weren't there. After a few minutes, Pyrrha walked out and shook her head. Pyrrha said only one word before she led us down the road again. "Whiterun."

We came close to Falkreath and because of the late hour, we decided to stop in an inn. Pyrrha pointed us to the only inn in Falkreath. Dead Man's Drink. It even had two steins of beer next to each other with froth covering the tops of both of them. Pyrrha opened the door and held it so the rest of us can walk in.

"Are you four going to buy something?" The innkeeper asked without looking up from her accounting book. Some random man walked up to me and threw his arm around my shoulders.

"How are you, kinsman?" He asked, as if asking a family member.

"I'm alright, what about you?" I asked nervously. He laughed.

"Don't be so nervous, kisman, we're both Nords. Be loud! Drink with me!" He said so loud that everyone in the whole room heard him.

"What'll we be drinking?" I asked, with a very false calm.

"You mean you don't know?" He seemed shocked. "Mead, of course!"

"Oh yeah. Sorry. It's been a while since I have seen a fellow… Nord." I said the word very cautiously. He patted my back hard.

"I understand. With all these bloody Imperials around, it makes finding your kin very hard. Tell you what, first round is on me." He called over the innkeeper and order two meads. Before the innkeeper could return with the mead, Pyrrha grabbed my arm and dragged me away.

"We're going, Jaune." She said forcefully. I pitifully waved to the man who looked sullen now that his drinking partner was gone.

"I didn't know non-Nord women were this forceful!" He joked. "Watch yourself, kinsman, having her as a wife will be interesting." He warned. I started to say something, but Pyrrha pulled me into our room and closed the door. She was blushing from what he said, and I probably was too.

"Well, Nora and I will be sleeping on the bed, you and Ren can sleep on the floor." Pyrrha told me as she reclined into bed. "Tomorrow, we head to Whiterun." She added.

We walked back to Whiterun like soldiers marching back home after a crushing defeat. We neared the meadery and I smelled the sweet scent of mead in the air. Once we reached the bridge, however, we saw a man on a carriage pass by and Pyrrha instigated conversation.

"Excuse me, sir?" She called up to him.

"What do you need, miss?" He asked.

"Have you seen our friends?" Pyrrha asked, describing them to the man.

"Yes I have, they passed me the other day. Seems like they were headed for Winterhold." He replied.

"Thank you very much, sir." Pyrrha thanked him and motioned for him to continue his journey.

My lungs burned and my legs felt like jelly as we ran towards Winterhold.

"How much further?" I ask in between gasps.

"Not far. There's a shortcut through a place called 'Wayward Pass'." Pyrrha replied, also in between gasps.

"How long should it take to get there?" I asked her.

"Not too long." She replied.

I gritted my teeth and pushed on, knowing that Pyrrha was always right and we would be done running soon.

I finally felt relieved as I fell back into the snow on the mountainous area. My breath was finally returning to normal. But I soon lost the calm that fell over us because of the loud screeching sound that seemed to come from the mountains themselves.

"It's the weird building that we saw sticking out of the ground over there!" Nora shouted, pointing to a small building with a bronze gate. Something was rising up it, like an elevator.

Blake was on the elevator.

She looked at us with uncomprehending eyes and then collapsed, her face falling into her arms. We called to her as we ran up and what we saw couldn't be put to words.

/AN: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Actually, this chapter was supposed to be out a few days ago, but some personal issues came up so I was unable to. Anyway, my friends and I are getting closer and closer to the final few chapters of this, but you guys won't have to worry for a while, because you're still a couple chapter behind us. Now then, see you guys in the next chapter!