» Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:15 pm A story of Lydia... Like rick.Halfon's story, this one is true as well, but not so funny.
I mounted my horse, then I turned to Lydia and said "Let's go"
She turned to face me and spoke as she always did. "As you wish, my thane. I will protect you with my life." It's funny, but as I look back on it now, I'm almost certain that what she meant was "I'll protect your enemies with my life." I'm unsure why she was angry with me, but it did seem as if she was indeed miffed.
At any rate, she mounted her own horse, and together we rode out of Markarth following a lead to find an unknown power. An unnamed friend had sent me a note giving me the location of this power, and I had decided to investigate it before continuing on to other things. Before long, I left the road hoping to travel cross-country and save some distance on our way.
Of course that decision brought us rather quickly into contact with a few Forsworn, and a pitched battle ensued. Being an illusionist/mage, I was at a steep disadvantage in combat. Bow and dagger were the only weapons I had that were usable, and frankly my skills with either one are far less than optimal. What was worse though, is every time I'd get in position to loose an arrow, the only target available would be the rear end of Lydia's horse, or Lydia herself. When the battle was over, I had managed to loose perhaps three or four arrows with minimal effect. How can one improve skills when never allowed to use them?
Later in the day, we came across a skeever in the road. "Well, here we go!" I thought, because Lydia had fallen behind... but no, I missed the first shot, and by the time I'd wheeled my horse, the dead skeever was laying beside the road... and so it went for the rest of the day. At every opportunity Lydia made certain to protect my enemies from any spell or arrow I might be able to use, until my frustrations had nearly become simple blind rage.
As darkness fell, we entered the ruin that the note had indicated, and shortly after getting inside we encountered a vampire. I readied my spell and just as I was about to cast it, the only thing visible was Lydia's seemingly unmissable posterior. She, and the flame atronach I quickly summoned were able to dispatch the vampire with little effort and no assistance from me. Not because I didn't want to help, I just couldn't hit anything but Lydia no matter how hard I tried.
At length we came into a room where there was an altar, some scattered bones and oddly, a pull chain on the wall. Well, I hadn't been able to do anything else all day, so I walked over and pulled the chain. There came a huge rumbling, and grinding, that ended with a yell of pain from what sounded like Lydia. Whirling around, I could see that a whole section of floor had risen up to meet the ceiling, crushing Lydia between the stone of the floor and the stone of the ceiling.
As I watched, the stone column lowered back to level floor with an apparently unhappy Lydia squarely in the middle of it. I felt really bad that I had pulled the chain and crunched poor Lydia, so I pulled it again, and heard the grinding rumble accompanied by an oddly satisfying yell of pain from Lydia. I could barely resist a smile as we continued on.
Coming to a long hall, I noticed that there was a pressure plate on the floor, and I stepped around it so as not to trigger whate'er trap was laying in wait. I'd taken only a few short steps when a huge log fell from the ceiling striking me a glancing blow that hurt like the devil. I was thinking to myself "What the heck, I didn't step on any trigger!" as I turned around to see Lydia standing on the pressure plate, wearing a sweetly innocent half-smile. Well, I could see that this had already been a long day, and it was going to get longer before it was done...
Finally, we came to a room that held the Master Vampire. As he came into sight, I quickly summoned a flame atronach, and then hit him with a couple of ice spikes. Lydia rushed past me and laid into him with the Axe of Whiterun (an enchanted battle axe), which I had given to her to use since my skill with it is non-existent. I moved around the fighting trio, and up a flight of stairs on the other side of them, loosing more ice spikes as I went.
On reaching the top, I resummoned the flame atronach who had been dispatched by the vampire, and cast a fire rune on the floor in front of me. I knew that when Lydia was overwhelmed, he would come for me, so I set my trap and continued my assault with ice spikes. It really wasn't long before Lydia went to one knee, and the vampire headed for me.
I waited as he climbed the stairs, then when the rune exploded and filled that part of the room with flame, I shouted "Fus Ro Dah!" and he flew from the top of the stairs, down past Lydia, who was still kneeling off to one side, and farther yet down the entrance hall.
Quickly, I summoned yet another flame atronach, and loosed two ice spikes at the fallen vampire... but of course, Lydia immediately recovered enough to stand, and jumped in the way of those deadly spikes to save the vampire from their fury. I watched as she fell, knowing there was nothing I could do if she was dead, and again retreating laying a fire rune trap as I went. I heard the explosion of the dying atronach, and turned again to face the stairs up which my blood-thirsty enemy must come.
He topped the stairs and stepped onto the rune, and as it burst into flame I hit him again with "Fus Ro Dah!". I then summoned a final atronach as I rushed forward and finally killed him before he could get back to his feet. I ran down to check on Lydia, but she was beyond any aid I could give, and suddenly I regretted the anger I had felt toward her earlier, and my pettiness with the pull chain. I rather wished I had taken a different route, but it was too late.
Too late for regret, or to make amends, I carefully laid her to rest there on the cold stone. and set her sword an shield beside her bidding her farewell. As I turned to leave, though I wondered... What if it were true that those who suffered the wounds given by a vampire really did rise from the grave after a time? What if I met her again on some dark night... Would she seek my blood, and the vengeance my blood on her lips might bring bring?
Enough! I must away, and leave the dead behind.
Poor Lydia.
