The Forgotten Ch. 01

Voices interrupted her thoughts as she walked. Instinctively, Talon crouched low to the ground, slowly stepping toward the road in front of her. They were men's hushed voices, and they didn't sound threatening. Straightening up slightly, she continued around the bend, cautious still.

Settled up in the rocks, a small stand of pines stood, closely packed in a ring of cover. Three men had made the tree's relative cover into a camp site, their hide-wrapped tents standing around a steady fire. The largest of the men was busy chopping wood with slow, methodical strokes.

Talon moved along the road slowly, using the rise of the hill to hide her a bit as she tried to sneak by them. Moving along the trees, she took a step forward, trying carefully not to trip on any of the exposed roots.

Crack!

A small twig had broken under her weight. Talon froze.

"What was that?" asked one of the men at the campfire. The other listened momentarily, but just shrugged his shoulders. The first man sighed, "Well, I thought I had heard something."

Not one of them had moved. Maybe her luck was improving, though she doubted it.

Talon breathed, as she realized she had been holding her breath. Closing her eyes for a half second, she tried to steady her nerves. Opening her eyes again, Talon caught sight of something. It really shouldn't have caught her attention, but the way the man had moved... she was sure he was protecting something. Something tucked into his belt. Maybe that something was worth five hundred septims...

He was the closest to her.

Talon sighed. She could try to talk herself out of this, but she was not sure desperation wouldn't get the better of her anyway. Or maybe that was what this was... either way, she was going to do it.

Talon moved slowly, her muscles allowing her only an inch at a time. She made sure to watch her feet, to evenly distribute her weight so that her footsteps were almost silent. One foot forward... two feet... three feet.

She moved her hand to her boot, finding the small stolen dagger she had placed there during her flight from prison. She was almost right behind the man, and as she got closer, she saw that it was a folded piece of parchment tucked into his belt.

"Hey!" The larger man who had been chopping wood yelled in her direction. Talon paused for half a second in fear as the other two men turned to look at her. The Big man had picked up his axe and was moving toward her menacingly. The men at the fire jumped up as well, drawing knives. Talon stood, jumping away from the Paper man just in time to dodge the first swing of his knife. Spinning, she whirled her elbow up into the man's face, hitting him with full force. She sensed him crumple to his knees, and she turned her attention to the second man. Mid-swing, Talon brought her knife hand around, releasing the blade to send it flying toward her next adversary. The blade struck home and lodged itself in his right shoulder with enough force to knock him backward in pain.

The Big man had reached her by then, swinging his axe at her head. Ducking, he only just missed her. Scrambling not to lose her balance, Talon placed herself behind the Big man. His powerful swing had slowed him down, but it had also unbalanced him severely. Reaching out, she pushed the Big man forward, tumbling him toward the fire. Unfortunately, it was not the fire that he had to worry about. In an effort to keep himself out of the flames, he had tried to make himself fall to the side. When the Big man did not get up, Talon found that the axe had made that impossible.

Talon walked around the fire to the last man, who was struggling to push himself to his feet. Not wanting this to go any further, Talon helped the man up roughly, bringing his face about chest-level. Then she punched him squarely in the face, letting his unconscious body fall back to the ground.

Talon sighed. She hated killing people.

Returning to the Paper man, she pulled the folded page from his belt.

The parchment was torn and smudged and the ink faded slightly from constant handling, but the contents were clearly visible. It was a map, crudely drawn. Depicted was a river, the western bank bordered by mountains. A long oblong island interrupted the flow of the river, buildings scattered across it. Two small bridges connected the island with the eastern bank. A small X was placed low on the western bank.

Something about the map looked familiar, but Talon was not quite sure. Her brow furrowed as she looked over the details of the drawing. Two small bridges...

"Oh!" she exclaimed softly. Riverwood. She had been there a few times in the past. It was a small village, one that was close enough to home to warrant a day trip when supply options in Falkreath were low. The single road that passed through its center is a frequent path for those headed for the great city of Whiterun.

Well, she thought, it wouldn't hurt to see if the treasure was still there...

Folding the map, she tucked it into her leather belt. She glanced at the two unconscious, snoring men and then the body of the one she had killed. They would take care of their friend when they awoke... at least she hoped they would. Bandits did not always hold fond memories of their companions. Talon sighed. It was the best she could do.

Waiting for them to wake could be fatal to her.

Walking back down to the path, she looked first left, then right, taking in her surroundings.

Riverwood was northeast of Falkreath. Sighing one last time, Talon turned right and began the trek toward what she hoped was her first lucky break in weeks.

The Guard-wall lining the southwest entrance to Riverwood was the first thing Talon saw as she approached. The yellow fabric of the Whiterun hold flags waves in the gentle breeze, the dragon's head giving her a now unsettled feeling.

Dragons now seemed a poor symbol of strength too her, having recently almost died an attack. She laughed inwardly at her own ridiculous thoughts. Passing under the arch of the wall, Talon took a moment to look around. The town itself had always been quiet, and today was no different. A dog barked a few buildings away, and the faint lapping of the river was the ever-present heartbeat of the small village. The steady clanging of iron on iron rang from the blacksmith's forge to her left. The rest was silent.

Talon let the feeling of comfort and familiarity wash over her. It felt momentarily as if a friend had wrapped her in a warm embrace, lifting much of her worry from her for a wonderfully peaceful moment. Too bad it couldn't last...

Taking a deep breath, she removed the treasure map from its place in her belt. Holding it up, she turned her body toward the river, just as the map was drawn. According to what she was seeing, it was across the river. Folding it back up, Talon made her way over the small bridge to the island in the middle of the river that supported the lumber mill. She ignored the men at work, as she made her way to the bank of the little island. There did not seem to be any way to cross without having to wade through. Talon pursed her lips. Well, the current here was slow, it looked like. That was good at least.

Talon sat under a tree on the bank to pull her leather boots off. She may have just pulled them off of a dead man a few hours ago, but they were all she had at the moment. She was not much worried about the rags she had on. They were old and torn and would need replacing, but they would hold her for a little while longer. Standing, she wiped the dirt from her trousers, mentally preparing herself for what was probably going to be a very cold swim. Taking one last moment, she opened the treasure map once more, taking in the final details. After crossing the river, it seemed like the stash would be further downstream, to her left. In the corner of the map, near the symbol indicating where the goods were hidden was a small sketch of exactly where it would be. It seemed she was looking for a fallen tree. Talon carefully placed the paper inside one of her boots for safekeeping.

Stepping carefully into the water, a shiver went up her spine. She was right. It was very very cold. Talon tried to ignore it as she waded out into the water further, the gentle current making small waves around her calves. Pushing ahead, she made it to the opposite bank, grateful that she would not have to be in the cold water for a bit. Walking down the bank, Talon kept an eye out for her fallen tree.

It took her another five minutes to find it; it was a lot further down the shore than it had looked on the map. A large tree had fallen on its side, its roots sticking out of the end like gray, knotted claws. Approaching the end, Talon peered inside. There it was! A small wooden chest lay inside, ineffectively hidden by a pile of leaves. Crawling inside, Talon tested the latch. It was unlocked, thank goodness.

Opening the top, Talon could not help but feel a gush of excitement. It was all still here! Well, what little there was... Talon picked up the coin purse, opening it to find more coin that she had seen in a long time. There was probably two hundred septims here, maybe more. There was another small bag in the bottom. Pulling that one out, she found it was full of precious gems. In it were a couple amethyst, a few rubies, two emeralds... and a diamond. Talon felt her excitement bubble into her chest again. The last piece of her treasure was a sword. Wrapping her slender fingers around the leather-wrapped pommel, she felt a small shiver run through her fingers and up her arm. It felt well balanced, and light. Much lighter than the Imperial blades she had acquired in Helgen. The blade was covered in a smooth black leather sheath. Drawing the weapon, Talon marveled at the sharpness of the ebony stone it was made of. Odd etchings adorned the edges, but they seemed merely decorative. It was the constant humming that was the most interesting to her. It was enchanted. She would have to find herself a mage or an enchanter to tell her exactly what it was enchanted to do. No matter what, it would be worth a lot. She re-sheathed the sword.

Gathering up her new wealth, Talon scooted back out of the fallen tree, tying the coin purses to her belt. Slinging the sword across her back, she made her way back up-river. Taking a deep breath, she waded back into the freezing cold water. Pushing against the current, she carefully picked her way across the river bed.

Reaching the small island, Talon removed the sword from over her shoulders and gently tossed it toward the bank. At that moment, the current caught her foot, almost knocking it out from under her. Catching herself, Talon attempted to catch her balance. The rock here was slippery, and she took a moment to settle herself.

Talon moved to take a second step toward the bank. The rock under her foot shifted, its slippery surface making it impossible for her gain purchase. Her balance off, she felt herself falling forward and she reached up instinctively to grasp for something to catch herself. An arm caught her, supporting her as she caught her balance.

Gasping as the chilled water soaked even more of her clothing, Talon allowed the strong arm to pull her out of the water onto the bank. Looking up, she opened her mouth to thank the stranger.

"YOU!" she practically shouted, shock hitting her square in the stomach.

Liam chuckled, flashing a charmingly arrogant smile at her, making her heckles rise in irritation. "Me."