Discovery #9

     

I sagged down against the wall and watched as Ash walked over to make sure Adien was alright. I would be useless to Ash and myself if I went weak in the knees every time a dragon was near or died. I know I was born with the soul of a dragon and that Akatosh had something in mind for me. What that was, I don't know, but I was starting to think that it didn't have anything to do with Alduin. 

   I stood up and slowly walked over to Ash and Adien, guards were telling him he was Dragonborn and telling him to try to shout, he shrugged and said he'd try. Walking a little way away from the rest of us, he did. 

   I heard the words and felt what they did and instinctively knew I could do the same if I had to, but it would cost. I knew this word, it was the one on the wall in the Barrow we had cleared.

"I told Adien that we had planned on visiting the Greybeards and that traveling together might be for the best. But first, we will go and tell the Jarl about this dragon and the watchtower."

    Adien and I talked on the way back to Whiterun and we found that we had both gained knowledge of the word from that wall, though to Ash it was nothing but a pretty light and babbling. 

    "You know that Ulfric can use a Thu'um, but he is not Dragonborn, he learned. So you may be able to learn also, I mean if you hear the word walls." Adien sounded serious and also hopeful. 

    "It will be something to ask the Greybeards when we get there." I shrugged, " Plus a dragon only has one soul and there are two of us, so it's not a given that I can't absorb souls like you, just the fact that I don't think I can."  He nodded.

    We asked Adien not to say anything to the Jarl or anyone else. He could take all the notice and Ash winked and I told him the Ladies might find him even more fascinating. He smiled and I heard a deep rumble in his chest, internal laughter.

   Even the Jarl said Adien should go visit the Greybreads and gave all three of us a reward for our part in defeating the dragon.  We went to the Inn after selling off some of the loot and dragon pieces that the Alchemist and Smith were interested in.

    We talked over the route that we should take to Iverstead, with Adien suggesting a high pass, we would have to leave before daylight, so knew it would not be tomorrow as supplies would be needed.

    Three days later we managed to leave Whiterun, a storm that we knew would be a blizzard at high altitudes took two days to move on. It was well before dawn and the gate guards were not happy about opening up the gates.

     We climbed the high switchback trail up and over the mountain and made the pass an hour before sunset. Adien set up the Fur-lined tent while Ash and I got a fire going. He put several large flat rocks at the inner and outer corners of the tent and smaller ones along the side, front, and back. 

    "The wind blows hard up here and to lose the tent is to die. The rocks on the inside are for the ones that we are going to heat in the fire, then place on top of them." Adien explained, I blinked and told him I thought I could use a spell to heat them after they cooled down in the middle of the night. I practiced the spell on one of the cooking stones to make sure it would work.

    We slept much warmer than we would have, due to Adien's knowledge of camping in these cold climes, they were things we would remember for later.  My spell did work and when I woke in the morning, before I moved out of my furs, I heated all four rocks and the one under the tea-pot.

    I heard male chuckles as I got up and put the thicker silk gambeson over the thin one I had slept in, then my armor and cloak. I went and stoked up the campfire and put the stew pot on it, then went back inside and had a warm cup of tea. 

    We made it to Iverstead by late in the evening, a troll having slowed us down some. Another day to provision and we were on our way up the 7,000 steps. I think we were halfway up the frozen steps when the dragon attacked, all I can say is at least it was using a fire breath attack and helped to kill a troll. 

   This time I was between the Dragon and Adien and I did not absorb the soul, it passed right by me. I could feel the agony of its death and I was glad I would not have to live with that inside me. Adien said he felt no emotions, just knowledge that was suddenly in his mind. I to had felt that knowledge and looked with sadness as the history of the dragon passed quickly back out of my grasp, I could not even recall his name in moments.

   Though I felt a hollowness in my stomach and felt like crying, my knees had not turned to water and I didn't feel shaky at all. We made it up to High Hrothgar and one of them met us near the door. He looked from Adien to me and back again.

   "Welcome to High Hrothgar, I am Master Arnegeir and I speak for the Greybeards. That a Dragonborn should show up at this time in history."  He looked back and forth between us again. I sighed and stepped forward.

   "While we are both Dragonborn, I think Adien is the one you are looking for. He is the one whose Thu'um you heard." Master Arnegeir went on to test Adien, showing him different Thu'um's and lending their knowledge to him. I said nothing when showing him the Thu'um's also taught me.

    I paid more attention when they lent him their knowledge because even though there was a gifting of power to Adien and none to me, I still learned the meanings and knew that if Akatosh lent me the power I would be able to use the Thu'um's also. 

   They had one more task for him to prove his worthiness to be their student, though that isn't exactly what they said. As we went back down the mountain to Iverstead, we had a good talk.

    "Adien, Brother of my soul, do not let them dictate your conscience, they have an agenda that may or may not follow your moral code. He said nothing to me, did not offer training, did not ask to hear my Thu'um."

    " You can use a Thu'um?  You didn't say, then again your right they didn't ask." I turned slightly so that I was facing away from both men and pulled the essence of my magic and projected it...* Fiik Lo Sah*" We watched as a spectral twin of myself stood looking at us.

   "For the Love of Mara. I know you have your own monsters to fight, but if you need my help?" 

    " We don't know what it is we face, so we may at some point ask for your help. If you get in a pickle, call on us. I think if you project your Thu'um in the same words the Greybeards  used to call you, I would be able to hear it anywhere in Skyrim and maybe beyond."

    "So like them, you can learn, like a newly made dragon, you can learn, but you're right, I will be careful. They should have asked."  I sighed.

    "Yes, but let's not stand on the side of the mountain debating what they should have done and what I can learn. My Thu'um will never be as powerful as yours, but Akatosh may lend me the strength if it's really needed. Warm mead is on me!"

    


   

Solitude to Discovery #8

     

 

We left just as it started to drizzle icy rain and found that our waxed linen cloaks did not stand up to it and I was soon soaked to the skin. By the time we got to Dragon Bridge, I was ready for a hot bath. Ash's leather armor was creaking and smelled of the animal's it came from. 
   
   We both spent the next day reconditioning our armor and Ash found a couple of Oiled leather cloak's that we hoped would do a better job of keeping us dry. Three days later I found that the oiled leather had its limits also and so did I.

   Rorikstead was a nice little farming town and we stayed there for a couple days, while the worst of the storms blew over us. I had dry clothes and good meals, a few friendly people to play for of a night, I was content. 

   Ash was a bit antsy and wouldn't really talk about it, just saying that he was trying to remember something he had read years ago, it wasn't a good thing and he was sure it had to do with the cultists that we had fought. 
   
   I let it go, he'd remember in time and tell me, he always does. While I was taught lore, Ash lived it. I mentally shrugged and flirted with the handsome innkeeper's son. It was something to take away the boredom.

   We rode out on a bright clear morning and stopped by a monument to a fallen hero. It was there that Ash remembered.

    "Tsuri, Hermaeus Mora, Even though those Cultists didn't fit his style, they do." He sighed and looked up at the sun, squinting. " He's using someone, a powerful mage or someone with much power one way or the other. That fits his style, to use someone else to do his dirty work. The Cultists and Alduin may be just a coincidence." I looked through him as I thought that one through.

    "Huh, well we'll have to take things as we find them. I mean, we can't deal with everything at once, and right now we had planned on asking the Greybeards about the Thu'um's that Maya was talking about and if I can learn them. Not that we don't already have enough on our plate, but perhaps they know something of Alduin."

    "You're right, we will deal with what we planned, but I'll give the twins the task of researching those cultists and Hermaeus Mora and anything he might want here in Skyrim."  I nodded, he was like a terrier with a rat.

    A few days later we rode into Riverwood, only to be hailed by the Smith, who told us the shopkeeper wanted to ask a favor of us. So we dismounted and went to talk to him. It looked like his shop had been ransacked and he told us how only one thing had been stolen, but they made a mess out of everything else.

    "It was a Golden Claw like a dragon's claw, just an ornament that I picked up years ago, but it is worth a considerable amount. Not that there aren't other things they could have stolen worth the same." I blinked and looked at Ash.

    "A golden dragon's claw you say?" Ash went on to describe the one we had found in Forelhost and Lucan nodded.

    "Yeah, that sounds like it could be a twin, well except gold instead of glass. Thieves, I hate a thief! Do you think you could track it down?" I looked to Ash and nodded once, a dragon claw could mean another Dragon Priest and if they let it out, that would be so not good.
    
    "Yes, we will see if we can't find it, do you have any idea where they might have gone?"

     "Bleakfall's Barrow, I've been told a bandit crew had taken it over, but as they never came down here, I had not been worried about it." 

      And that would be how we ended up on the top of a mountain in a snowstorm the very next day. We had found some bandits hiding out at a watch tower overlooking Riverwood but sent them on to meet their destiny. 

      "How many?"

      "Too far to caste a detection spell, but I've seen two, there might be a third though."

      And up to the barrow, we went, trying to do it quietly and not be seen until we were close. The snowstorm helped, but as we were both in Black, against white, it didn't surprise either of us when we were spotted. 

      I went one way and Ash the other. I had just taken out the Bowman and pulled an arrow out of my armor when I heard the Thuuwap of a bow-string. I turned just in time to see a bandit with a Warhammer fall, right behind Ash, who at that moment decapitated the bandit he was fighting. 

      I turned quickly and looked at the man that had fired the arrow, he was holding up his hands, though the right one had a bow in it. "Peace Sister, Brother,  I mean no harm." He smiled and walked closer to us. Ash was at my side before the man got all the way to me. He had put up his bow.

      I took stock of him as he crossed the last bit. He was every bit as tall as Ash but bulkier. He needed the muscle for the heavy armor he was wearing. He had a typical Nord's face, handsome with all its sharp angles, but his eyes truly would set him apart, an amber-gold in color, they had an intensity that matched Ash's.

      "My name is Adien," he said as he held out his hand.

      "Thank you, for the save". Ash said as he gripped the outstretched hand.  I shook my head as I realized the two men were squeezing each other's hands hard, in that ritual only men understand. 

      "My pleasure and speaking of, who is this lovely young Lady?" He had a lilting accent I could have listened to half the day.

       "Tsurista, Tsuri to my friends, Knight-Priestess of Akatosh. What brings you up to this barrow?" The look on his face was rather odd to say the least, when I said what I was.

      "The Jarl's court wizard gave me a job, I'm looking for a Dragonstone, it's supposed to be a map of all the dragon mounds. He had information that the stone was here. Might I ask what two (?) Knight-Priests are doing at this barrow also?"

      " Nothing so important as a job for a Jarl, we were asked to retrieve a gold Dragon claw, bandits stole it from the Riverwood shopkeeper." Typical Ash, it was just enough information, but not all that we knew and I had a feeling.

     " If the claw is like the one that we found in Forelhost Barrow, it opens a door, and while the bandits may be after treasure, the treasure might be guarded by a Dragon Priest." Ash gave me a hard look, but I ignored it. "It was that that really had us here."

    "It seems as though I would have run into that all unknowing, so I must thank you for that, and as we are all going into the barrow anyway, it would make sense to travel together."

   I could tell from Ash's blank face and the way he was standing, that he didn't like the idea. But something was tickling the back of my mind about this man, I wasn't sure what it was, it wasn't a bad feeling though. I stifled a sigh because I knew Ash would think I was being perverse about having Adien along and, well following after two good-looking men was better than one.

   "I think that is a great idea, besides which, we might otherwise be stumbling all over each other." Ash is the one who taught me to, *keep one's friends close and enemies closer*, so I wasn't sure what his problem was. 


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    Between the three of us, the bandits and draugr were no problem. The last vaulted room did have a more powerful draugr, but not the Dragon Priest Ash and I had feared. As we entered I heard a chanting, almost below hearing, that got louder and louder as we got closer to the crypt holding that draugr. 
   

    When we were almost at the wall, words seemed to jump right out at us and I knew words I had not known before. I did not have time to ask Adien or Ash if they got the words also,, because that Draugr jumped out of the crypt and though the fight was short, it was intense. I forgot to ask after.

    We searched around and found the Dragonstone that Adien was after and then followed some steps upwards. It was night when we exited out onto a ledge, where spent a rather uncomfortable night,  but with some food that we shared.

    The morning light let us climb down and we made our way into Riverwood, Adien went to sell some of the loot he had picked up at the smith, while Ash and I went to talk to Lucan and sell the rest of the stuff. We would split the gold in half. 

    Adien stayed in Riverwood that night and we met him at the bridge the next morning, traveling to Whiterun together. Ash and I had decided to tell the Jarl about the bandits in the Barrow.

    When we had a clear view of Whiterun from the cliff sides, we could see smoke in the distance, but as bandits often set fire to farms they raided, we thought nothing of it. 

    At first, the guards were going to block our entry into town, but when we told them we had a message from Alvor to the Jarl about Helgen, they let us in. We made our way to Dragonsreach, the Housecarl stopped us and asked about our business, Adien said he had something that the Court Wizard had asked him to get.

    Ash explained that we had news about a dragon that attacked Helgen and that Alvor was afraid for the citizens of Whiterun with few guards. We repeated this to the Jarl and he asked a few questions and then told the housecarl to have some extra guards go. The Steward made an objection saying that the Jarl of Falkreath Hold would think that was a sign that the Jarl was going to attack.

    The Jarl dismissed us and we went to see how Adien was faring with the Court Wizard. They were talking about the Dragonstone he had gotten. Ash grabbed my arm and whispered not to say anything. I gave a slight start, but looking around I saw Delphine in a poor disguise, but I supposed it would work if one did not know her.

   She took her leave soon after we entered the room. Adien was dickering with the Wizard over some of the magical items that were his part of the loot from Bleakfalls Barrow. We stood listening, then heard the Housecarl call the wizard's name, saying that a Dragon was attacking the Watchtower and that a guard was giving a report he should hear. 

   She invited us along and we followed and listened to the guard, who was still breathing heavily from his run. When he had given his report the Jarl asked if we all could go and help. I'm sure Ash would have gotten us an invite had he not asked, but we nodded our yes.

   We followed Irilleth and some guards to the watchtower, which was on fire and the source of the smoke we had seen earlier. She told us to spread out and look for any survivors. 

   I told Ash and Adien I would head to the Tower and they should bring any wounded there and I would use spells and potions to heal them. I had barely made it to the tower when one of the guards yelled that the dragon was coming back. 

   I healed up those who made it to the tower and went out and threw ice spikes at the dragon, I am not sure it did much good, but the arrows of the men also didn't seem to be doing all that much. Every once in a while as the dragon did a fly-by, I heard him taunt the guards, only I don't think they understood everything. He switched back and forth between the dragon tongue and the Nordic tongue. 

  When no more guards made it to the tower for a while, I decided to join the attack in earnest. I caste a Flame Ward, which would protect me better than a normal ward against the fiery breath of the dragon. 

   I continued to throw ice spikes at him and another spell when he landed. The men went at him with swords and his wings and legs were taking a beating. 

   Adien was on the tower bridge opposite me using his bow to good effect, Ash was running at the dragon with his sword drawn. I threw spells at it, while my stomach did flip-flops watching Ash so close to the dragon's maw.

   I threw one last spell, as Adien loosed his bow. The dragon let out a blood-curling yell "*Dovahkiin no*".. Just as Ash jumped on his head and stabbed down with both hands to the dragon's skull.  I felt him die, and my whole body felt lightheaded and displaced. 

   I saw the dragon's soul transfer to Adien, as I grabbed the tower wall and leaned heavily against it.