Melanchol the Excited: A Drow Child's Story

[Jerund Rashi Kine]

This ff is based off of a mod created by Zazemel called Drow Race BETA. The drow are a very interesting race to play as, and even more so as a drow child. To learn more, check out the mod at SkyrimNexus
Disclaimer: Drow Race BETA mod is Zazemel's thing. I don't own it. Yadayada...
Now for the story.



Ralof awoke and looked at his fellow prisoners. Jarl Ulfric was bound in the same wagon as him, which both despaired Ralof and gave him pride. There was a man he knew to be a horse thief right next to him. And across was one of the strangest sights he'd ever seen.
The little one appeared to be a girl-child elf, but he couldn't tell what sort she was. Her skin was grey like a dunmer, but her irises were golden surrounded by black choroids. Her ears strangely stuck straight out, very different from most elves, and her hair was pure white to where it reflected the streams of sunlight almost blindingly. She blinked sleepiness from her eyes and yawned.
"Are we almost there yet? I'm starting to feel hungry."
Ralof didn't like elves all that much, but the Empire had certainly sunk to a new low if they were planning on executing a child. And he knew that that was just where they were headed. Had it have been anyone else, they wouldn't have cared as much, but with Ulfric in tow, they would certainly faced the headsman's block.
"Poor child," Ralof whispered before changing the subject in order to try and comfort the little elf.

Melanchol Followed everyone else off the cart and nibbled at her binds. She wasn't all too sure as to why she was tied up. And she had no idea what was going on at the moment. It was only a week ago that she had been sent out to learn about the world, and she hadn't learned much other than the fact that the sun was annoying and most animals with teeth bite. Now she had her hands tied up and some mean lady was yelling at her.
"Prisoner, cease that!"
"But I'm hungry! And these things are tight! Where's the inn at? I want some soup!"
"Be quiet and stay in line!"
A man read off names and had the other people join in a new crowd near a strange man with a big axe. Melanchol loved how the axe looked and wanted one for herself. She really like axes, almost as much as she liked hammers. But right now what she really wanted was some soup and to get these stupid things off of her wrists.
"Argh!"
She looked up and saw that the horse thief Lorick had tried to run and now had arrows in him.
"Should have serpentined," she mumbled.
"You there. Step forward," the man said. Melanchol did so and looked up at him. "Who are you?"
"Melanchol. I'm a drow. You look like a nord. Why are you with Imperials if you're a nord? Why's that Imperial lady so mean? When do I get supper?"
The man seemed to shake off her questions and wrote something down. "So I'm guessing that you're an orphan then? Captain, what do we do? She's not on the list."
"She goes to the block, same as the others."
"But she's only-"
"To the block soldier. That's an order."
"By your orders, captain." The man sighed. "I'm sorry. I'll make sure you're given a proper burial. You'd best follow the captain, Melanchol."
"Burial?"
Melanchol was trying to figure out what he meant as she followed the woman over to the group and took her place between two large nord men.
"Can you believe it?"
"Damn Imperials! Not even elf children are safe with them."
"You think the Thalmor would have tried something. They're too busy trying to kill Talos worshipers to save even their young."
Melanchol looked around the scene, trying to figure out what all of this was for. Suddenly a roar came from the distance and caught everyone's attention for a moment. They decided to ignore it and a priestess became chanting. Melanchol had no idea what she was talking about, but a nord apparently didn't like it much as he interrupted her and stood in front of a wood block in front of the axe man.
"Come on! I haven't got all morning!"
"Me neither," she mumbled.
The captain pushed the man down and kept a foot on his back as the axe man lifted up his heavy blade and brought it down on his neck. Melanchol jumped at the sight and blinked a few times.
"Wait, that means he's..."
The capatain kicked the decapitated corpse away and Melanchol saw the exposed bone and reed flesh as blood poured from the neck and made a crimson puddle.
"Next up, the little elf!"
A louder roar sounded.
"There it is again. Did you hear it?"
"I said next prisoner."
A guard shoved her forward from the crowd and made her stumble. Suddenly, citizens took notice of her.
"Is that an elf?"
"She's just a little girl!"
"What's the Empire thinking?"
"Captain," the general yelled, "what's the meaning of this?!"
"A murderer sir. Don't let her young looks fool you, she's dangerous. I saw her kill two men with her bare hands myself."
"Well, continue then, but make sure people know about that."
Melanchol was pulled up and pushed down like the man before her had been. She felt the warm blood on her cheek and saw the headsman standing over her. A tear escaped her eye as she came to realize this was the end.
"Mother, father, sister, brother, I leave this world now. Good-bye."
She shut her eyes and waited for the inevitable pain that would cease her life. As she thought for sure she could feel the man bringing the axe up, the general yelled aloud.
"What in Oblivion is that?!"
"Dragon!"
Melanchol opened her eyes to see the headsman stumbling with a dragon on the tower right next to them. It looked almost directly at her, it eyes seemingly gazing into her soul. Its mouth then opened and she could feel force and heat blow her away from the block and land her face first in the dirt.
Everything after became a blur that all ran togther. Someone had pulled her away to safety, and now she was inside a tower with Ralof and Ulfric. They were talking about the dragon, but Melanchol wasn't paying them any heed. The bonds on her wrists were getting on her nerves again and she had started gnawing on them. Ralof turned and tapped her on the shoulder.
"We need to go!"
"I've got to get these off!"
"In a moment. I'll be able to find a blade once we reach safety."
"But this place..."
The tower rattled and a loose stone the size of a chicken fell and hit a man on the head.
"Let's go!"
The two ran up the stairs towards the top. Melanchol stopped as she heard the flapping of giant wings outside.
"Wait!"
The wall burst open and the dragon stuck his head through.
"Yol!"
Fire bust from the dragon's mouth and set an unfortunate blue-clad soldier ablaze. It withdrew just as quickly as it had burst in and flew off to find targets elsewhere.
"Yol?" Melachol said with familiarity. "Yol? What is yol? I'm thinking hot, but..."
"Quickly, jump over to the roof of that inn?"
"What about you?"
"We'll be fine. Just go!"
Melachol lept from the tower and landed on the exposed top floor of the inn. Struggling to not trip over with her bound hands, she got out of the burning inn and ran into Imperial soldiers trying to keep the dragon at bay. The nord who had read out the list was there, trying to help a boy to safety. He recognized Melanchol immediately and went up to her.
"You're with me prisoner. Stay close."
Melanchol was in no place to argue. She had no idea where she was headed at this point. At least this man was from this country. She followed him through the ruined streets as he led the way through towards the keep. More than once she had to watch as someone was burnt alive or caught by the dragon and tossed through the air like a child's doll. Her heart was about to explode from her chest by the time they made it to the keep.
"Ralof, you damned traitor! Out of my way!"
"You're not stopping us this time Hadvar."
Melanchol stopped as she realized they were going to different entrances.
"Oh gods!"
The feeling of hot flames at her back compelled her to make a quicker decision. She decided to keep going like she had been and followed Hadvar.

 

[Jerund Rashi Kine]

Author's Note: I hope people really like this. Whenever I play as a child drow, I can't help but think how people would see it all real-worldly. A child is the Dragonborn? The new Thane is a child elf? Is that little girl carrying a warhammer? Well, this is basically how I see that, loosely based on one of my characters.

 

[Jerund Rashi Kine]

Author's Note: I know some of my recounting of events is off, but think of it as an inaccurate retelling though the eyes and ears of the main character.






As soon as Melanchol caught her breath, Hadvar came up and cut her bonds loose.
"You should look around and try to find some armor. You may need it."
Melanchol nodded and looked around the room. There were beds with chests between them, so he looked there first. To her surprise, there was some Imperial armor close to her size, though she still had to take the belt off of someone's tunic and tighten it up a good bit. She looked around for a good weapon, but didn't see anything to her liking. She finally settled on a pair of swords and gave them a few experimental swings.
"Not bad, but I still miss my hammers."
"If you're ready, we should move on."
"All right. Let's go."
Melanchol followed Hadvar as he ventured further into the keep.
“I hope what happened here today hasn’t dented your view of the Empire. Don’t know what the captain was thinking.”
“It’s okay. You helped me out of there. I’m sure we’ll give her a piece of our mind if we see her again.”
“Well, we won’t have to worry about that. She was one of the first to fall to the dragon.”
“I guess some good comes from evil.”
Hadvar stopped and looked back at her. “You seem a little too wise for your age.”
“I’m probably as old as you are, you know.”
“Then you’re not a child?”
“Yes, I am. Drow just stay as children for a hundred years. I’m not going to grow up for a long time. And when I do, I’ll return home with the knowledge of the world and its ways. Just as my parents did, and theirs before them.”
Melanchol’s ears perked up as she heard something.
“Whoa! That’s an odd trick I’ve never even seen elves do.”
“Hush! I hear something.”
The voices were too muffled to make out words, but it was definitely nord voices.
“I think some of the blue soldiers- Stormcloaks right –are headed this way.”
“Damn!”
Hadvar ducked down and hid behind a door. Melanchol scrunched up against the wall and listened as the soldiers came their way.
“Hurry up with that lock! We’ve got to get out of here!”
“I’m trying. Just hold on.”
Hadvar readied his blade and nodded to Melachol.
“Get ready. Now!”
Hadvar jumped out at the male soldier and started attacking. The woman pulled out her blade but Melanchol was already in front of her with duel swords at the ready.
“Sorry about this. Try to forgive me in Sovrngarde.”
Melanchol used what training she could recall having and began to give strike after strike. The woman tried blocking, but it proved to be ineffective as the blades cut through her thighs and arms.
“Gods no!”
The woman couldn’t even keep standing. She fell to her knees and started gasping.
“Mercy!”
But Melanchol was too far into it. Her sword technique was far too fierce for mercy. She sliced through the woman’s back, severing her spine in two places. She took a step back and looked at the blood soaked floor.
“By…by the gods! Did you have to be so…brutal and messy?”
Her battle had ended up nearly coating the floor with blood from her enemy. If she hadn’t had finished her off, then the woman would have certainly succumbed to blood loss. Hadvar’s opponent had faced one killing blow after several back and forth bouts of strikes, blocks, and parries.
“Sorry. It’s the way I was taught to use smaller weapons. I was trained not to think about fighting, plan fighting, or anything. They just trained me to fight so that I would win.”
“Well, we should still press on. This way.”
Hadvar led her further down into the keep. They saw some soldiers ahead, but then suddenly everything shook and the ceiling where they were collapsed. Afraid of their spot being next, Melanchol opened a door. “This way then?”
“All right.”
They went through the door then halted at the sight of two more soldiers, one with a greatsword and the other with a warhammer. Melanchol’s eyes set on the hammer for a moment and then she licked her lips.
“Damn rebels!” Hadvar said as he pulled out his blade. “Let’s take them at once. “I’ll get the-”
Melanchol ignored him and charged forward with a scream. Her fist connected with the hammer wielder’s stomach and caused him to spew as he doubled over. Her knee came up to his face and crushed his nose in as she made a grab for his hammer. The other swung his blade at her neck, but Melachol was already ducking. As she felt the breeze of the greatsword go over her, she pulled the hammer up and smacked it against the soldier’s chin. He stumbled back in pain as she reared the hammer back and brought it over and down against his skull. Hadvar stood in astonishment at her feat and almost felt like clapping.
“How are you holding that thing like it’s a toy?”
“It’s not that heavy. It probably weighs only thirty units at the most.”
“And that’s not heavy to you? Oi, what do they feed children where you come from. Never mind, I don’t want to know. Look around and see if you can find some potions in here. We’ll move one right after.”
Melanchol nodded and started tossing the tops off of barrels and reaching in them to grab any vials within. “Blue ones are for magic, right?”
“Yes.”
She tossed the blue vial away and placed the red and green ones within her pouch.
“Won’t you need that?”
“I’m no good with magic. All that’d be good for is something to drink, but with all the dripping going on I doubt I’d need it.”
Hadvar shook his head in disbelief. “An elf with no talent in magic. By the gods I’ve seen it all.”
They went on through and started heading downstairs. Melanchol could hear the sounds of battle and sped up.
“Fighting!”
She hopped down the last few steps and saw two men fighting off a pair of Stormcloaks.
“The toture chamber. I wish we didn’t need this place.”
“Melanchol readied her hammer as one of the soldiers turned to her.
“Skyrim belongs to the nords!”
She deflected the man’s sword swing and hit him in the chest with the end. As he bent over, Melachol swung the hammer around and brought it down on his back, crushing his spine. The woman saw her one comrade had fallen and tried to make a run for it, but Hadvar was already upon her.
“Oh no you don’t!”
Hadvar flipped her over his shoulders and stabbed down into her chest. She made one last cry out, then fell back and went silent.
“Glad you made it in time,” a man said to them. Melanchol immediately lost interest and began looking around the room. She discovered a few lock picks and a picking knife, and then looked at the cages in interest.
“Hm?”
She took to the first one and jiggled it around a bit until it started to move loosely. It gave off a satisfying click as she turned it a full ninety degrees and then pulled it open. Inside was the body of a mage with a few coins scattered around him. Having no money, Melanchol picked up the few coins and then searched the mage’s pockets for any more.
“You go on. I’ll stay here.”
“I’m not.”
“All right then. Hey, Melanchol, maybe you should check those…” Hadvar looked to see Melachol stuffing the last of the gold coins she had scavenged into her pouch. “Have you been doing that the whole time?”
“The whole time for what?”
“Never mind. We need to get going.”
“She’s an odd one, I’m guessing,” the torturer’s assistant said.
“Really she seems to just be a child. Though she fights like a veteran in the body of a youth. Come along then.”
They headed down further into the keep. It wasn’t long before Melanchol’s extra sensitive ears picked up on noise and she pulled her hammer from the sheath on her back.
“Get ready. There’s quite a few up ahead.”
Knowing by now to trust her sense, Hadvar pulled out his blade in preparation. The assistant did so as well, if for no other reason than because the other two had.
The three charged in through the door and saw a small group of Stormcloaks within the cavern like room. Melanchol ran and jumped off to the lower level with her hammer held high and coming down on one soldier.
“Hhhheeerrraaagghhh!!!!”
The soldier’s shoulder cracked under the force of the blow and the other one turned just in time to block Melanchol’s next blow with a shield. He grunted as it jarred him and tried to slash her with his axe, but Melanchol bloacked with the handle of her hammer. Ralof quickly cut down an archer and took his bow to begin firing at the others across the gap. Melanchol yelled as she made another powerful swipe at her foe, this time shattering his shield.
“Gah! Damn y-”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence as her hammer rammed into his abdomen, turning whatever was inside him into liquid. The man fell dead as Melanchol focused her attention on the remaining soldier. The assistant was already battling him and Ralof was on his way to help, but Melanchol didn’t feel like waiting for anything. She picked up on of her fallen enemies’ bow and took aim with a single arrow. Just as the Stormcloak rose his sword to strike the assistant, the arrow flew into his neck from the side. He sputtered and gagged as he fell down to the floor. Melanchol joined the other two and nodded.
“I better go check on the old man. You two go on ahead.”
Melanchol needed no further initiative to speed her way out. Upon seeing what looked like a large wooden wall in the way, she turned to Hadvar for guidance.
“Looks like a bridge. Here, I’ll pull this lever.”
The bridge came down right after the iron stick was pulled back and they proceeded even further. Melanchol felt the strange warmth of the cave around her and then stopped as an odd noise hit her ears.
“What is it now?”
“Look out!”
Rocks from above crashed down, blocking the way from which they came.
“No going back that way. I guess now we’ll have to find the cave entrance.”
“Guess so.”
The two went on down into the cave. After a few dead ends, they began heading down one promising looking tunnel way when suddenly Melanchol began spitting and sputtering after running through a huge cobweb.
“Yuck! What kind of- Oh dear!”
A group of frostbite spiders descended upon to two warriors and made their insect-like threats before spraying poison at them.
“Look out!”
Some of the poison hit Melanchol’s face and she spit again as she wiped it away.
“Disgusting! Now I’m going to smell like this for who knows how long!”
“What? You’re not…hurt?”
“Watch out!”
Their attention went back to the spiders as the overgrown bugs attacked. Hadvar cut off the two attacking front legs of the ones closest to him, while Melanchol went straight to swinging her hammer at their heads. They tried to jump back, but Melanchol’s persistence caught up and eventually they were smashed against the ground in a fashion resembling their smaller kin.
“What next, giant snakes?” Hadvbar said as they went further in.
“Well, I do hear a bear snoring.”
“What? A bear? I’d rather not tangle with her at the moment.”
“I do!”
Melanchol took out her hammer and licked her lips at the thought of more battle. The bear shook itself awake and roared at the oncoming intruder. Melanchol’s eyes opened wide and an evil grin showed up on her face and she struck the bear on its side, injuring it and making it even angrier.
“Never was one for sneaking myself.”
Hadvar took out his sword and began swing towards the beast, but its thick fur worked like armor against the blade. The bear stood up and whacked Hadvar in his chest, knocking him back a few feet and on his back. The bear looked as though it was about to fall and try to crush Hadvar, but Melanchol raised her hammer and swung it down on the bear’s foot. The crunch of bones echoed all around and the bear bellowed in pain. It got back on all fours and tried to turn away, but Melanchol stayed ahead of it.
“Ragh!”
Melanchol swung her hammer three hundred and sixty degrees around her body and smacked it into the bear’s face. Hadvar got up from off the ground and looked to see that the hammer had slammed into the beast’s mouth and broke its jaw while crushing its palette. The little elf yanked the hammer from the now dead bear’s mouth and watched as it fell to the ground.
“Well, that was quite fun.”
“Yes. Being almost killed by a wild animal is just fun and dandy.”
“Sorry. I couldn’t resist.”
“It’s all right. Come on, I can feel the air moving from this direction.”
Hadvar lead the way once again and soon the two emerged from the cavern and escaped from both it and Helgen.