Ch. 5 - Riverwood {3}

Sam sat up in a panic, as his vision, and thoughts came back to him. Looking down, at the bed he was in, he became perplexed. What happened in there?

"Finally awake, Eh?", a voice called to his right. As Sam looked, he saw Ralof, wrapped in bandages nearly head to toe, bites littering his body. But he was alive.

"Ralof, how... how are you..?", he asked, tearing up at his comrade's condition. Ralof however grinned, patting his chest lightly.

"A Nord always wins in the end! Although, it was thanks to you, and our... friends, that both of us are even alive. As much as I hate to admit it, that old man sure knows how to keep someone from dying. I think he enjoyed my looks of pain though.", Ralof grunted the last part out as an after thought, causing Sam to laugh.

"Why yes, Indeed I did. How are you Sam? You gave us all a fright.", Emmet spoke up with a chuckle, as he walked in, healing tonics in hand, as well as a book.

"I'm alright now, now that I know Ralof is safe. I don't want to lose any of the friends I made down there, that includes you.", Sam said, chuckling weakly, as he sat up, looking down at his bandaged arm and chest.

"Thank you, Sam. Once I get you out of here, you'll be stuck in Riverwood for a few months, but while you recover, you can chop some wood to make a living. We already got Cronk and Sylvia working on some chopping as well to fund our stay at this inn, but that won't be enough for food at the same time.", Emmet stated, as Sam nodded in understanding.

"Well, old geezer, I must thank you. When can I get out of here? I can speak to my family, to let them know of the situation.", Ralof spoke up.

"Hadvar already spoke to both his, and your families. They are unsure of what to do, but are more than glad to help, but anything further than some mild help, they don't want to cross that line just yet. We are walking an unknown line, since we are working together now, rather than fighting.", Emmet said.

Looking to Sam, he poured some of the healing tonic into a wooden cup, with a bit of berries within, and some leaves, before mixing it.

"This is some Berry Tonic, way tastier than the standard healing potion, and somehow better too. Drink up, we've gotta get prepared for the coming months. You too Ralof, but it'll tale you a little longer to heal.", He said as he passed the cups over to the both of them, and once Sam tasted it, he nearly died on the spot because of how good and sweet it was, but not with pure sugar. That was pure fruity sweetness, the best kind.

He immediately started feeling the effects, he didn't feel quite as sore anymore, and his body felt a little lighter.

"You're already starting to look better. But you still need another day or two to heal up, so rest easy boys. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Oh, and Sam, your duffle bag is right there for you to sell whenever you get the chance to.", Emmet finished, before walking out, closing the door.

"Well... sure can say we got our work cut out for us, hmm?", Ralof chuckled, as Sam laughed as well, before they went back to sleep, in order to rest easier.

{Time Skip}

It took a whole week before Ralof was fit enough to get out of the bed, but once he was, they chopped some wood. Life was peaceful, for a time.

It took three months of saving, chopping wood, and defending the small village occasionally from bandits, later, and trading now and then with the usual traveling merchants, which helped boost their money, before they had enough to leave.

Finally they could have decent gear. Eighteen thousand septims for steel armor, three thousand septims for swords, and twelve thousand septims to get into the city of Whiterun. All for six people.

The reason it would cost so much is cause unlike in the video game, it was ten times the size it actually was, truly befitting the title of a city. Three thousand for Armor, per person. Five hundred for a sword, per person. And two thousand for the privelage of entering the city, per person, luckily only a one time fee.

Emmet, Cronk, Sylvia, Hadvar, and Ralof all followed Sam. They had all grown closer as friends, even with Hadvar and Ralof rekindling their old friendship.

"Alright guys. We're almost there, we just need to get past this farm... Hey, is that a giant?", Sam asked, squinting further ahead. And indeed it was, over twenty feet tall. The giant was fighting against ten people, but he could easily tell who the leader was. She had striking, beautiful red hair, and was shooting her bow from a distance.

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, they all unsheathed their weapons, Sam pulling out his bow first, before firing three arrows at once, one striking it's eye, the other two striking it's chest.

Surprised, the others halted for a second, looking over at them, as the Giant roared, before continuing their battle.

Everyone roared back, making the Giant flinch back, disoriented. Emmet fired a fireball at the Giant's groin, while Hadvar and Ralof cut into its ankles, making the monster fall.

The monster punched the ground, getting back up, very unsteadily, but managed to kick Hadvar into another armored guy, his weapon flailing, and managing to cut into the red woman's shoulder a bit, where she cried out in anger.

Cronk, and Sylvia both slammed their steel maces into the giants knee caps, making it howl in pain, and anger.

The Giant roared once more, swinging down at two of the red haired woman's partners, both getting launched into another field, now heavily bruised.

Finally, it was up to Sam, where he locked eyes with the red haired woman, and they both nodded, seemingly understanding each other's motives.

The woman launched off of two of her partner's backs, notching three arrows at once, while Sam slid under her, towards the growling face of the giant, two more arrows notched. At the same time, they released them.

The Giant's stray hand swung up to meet the red haired woman, before launching her back down into Sam the moment they fired, which caused heavily bruising to her side, but it's struggles were all for nought.

One arrow shot through the Giant's eye, another down it's throat, before finally, the other three arrows from the red haired woman slammed into its brain, fully putting the thing out of its misery.

All remained quiet, as the red haired woman huffed, once she got her bearings again, fully straddling Sam like a horse, her hands on his chest to stabilize herself. She was dizzy from all the hits.

Sam huffed in turn, letting his bow go on the ground, looking up into her eyes, which were looked back at him, but were hazed. He looked at her fiery red hair, which shone brightly in the sun. He wanted to reach out and-

"Well.. that certainly was a difficult fight.", groaned one of the men off to her right, and everyone started laughing, cheering now at their victory.

Sam chuckled in turn, before fully bursting with laughter, his chest in pain a bit, but it didn't matter, they beat their first Giant!

The red haired woman still stared down at Sam, before caressing his face, causing Sam to look up in surprise.

"You... have a strong aura. You need to come with us, Join the Companions!", she said, her face actually a little red.

"Uhmm... sure. But.. as much as I love a beautiful woman on top of me, could you get up, so I can stand? We kinda just met.", Sam said, blushing a little himself at the thing he just said.

"O... of course. My name is Aela.", she stammered, at first, before getting up quickly, punching one of her team mates on the head when he began to laugh. She didn't know what was causing her to act like this, but she could tell that Sam was strong.

Getting up from his spot on the floor, Sam stretched, before cheering once more with his companions, and the Companions themselves. It was tme for them to go into the city of Whiterun.