Part VII: Consequences

I walked out of the Riverwood Trader, a few coins heavier and with some more work. The dragon didn’t attack either, so everything was looking up.
I walked straight into a wall of muscle. I had to crane my neck to look at the nord towering over me.
He said, “We’re here to teach you a lesson.”
Fuck. My. Life.
I managed to duck under the first blow and make it out onto the main road where I had more room to maneuver.
Khash said, “You take those two, I got this one!”
I said, “Kid, wait!”
The other two thugs weren’t giving me any space. They had their warhammers drawn so they weren’t playing around.
Neither was I. The first opening I got, I hit one of them in the face with a fury spell. It took effect immediately and he swung his sword in a wide arc, forcing his “friend” to block the blow.
Now that those two were at each other’s throats, I knelt and quickly traced a fire rune on the ground. Once that was done, it only took two well-placed arrows to down one of the thugs. The other, still under the fury spell, waltzed right onto the rune and was turned to ash.
I said, “Khash, where are you?!”
Khash said, “Right here.”
I jumped at the sudden sound of her voice behind me. Further down the road lay the other thug with three arrows in his chest.
I searched the thugs and found a contract on one of them. Apparently, I pissed somebody off and they wanted revenge. I had no idea who it was though. Well, hopefully, these punks would be the last of it.
Khash said, “So who were those guys?”
I said, “No one important.”
“Are the guards even gonna do anything?”
“They probably spoke to the guards before and got permission.”
I crumbled the note and tossed it in the bushes.
Getting to Bleak Falls Barrow was pretty simple. We ran into a few bandits but they were fodder. The leader was so eager to split my head open, he didn’t even notice the rune I had placed beforehand.
Honestly, I worried about Khash. I didn’t like that those thugs tracked me down so quickly or what have happened if they hadn’t caught us in the middle of a crowded town. Great, now I’m worried about this kid? She’s fine. She can handle herself. But why do I get nervous after every fight? Why do I look for her and make sure she’s okay?
Dammit, kid, I don’t have time for this.

This is a non-profit fanfiction. The Elder Scrolls and Skyrim are registered trademarks of ZeniMax Media Inc.   Khash the Argonian was created by the talented RabbittWinri. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/40122