Once they had stepped out of the Barrow and the cool fresh air hit their faces, Eivyn let out a long held in breath and laughed as he leaned against the wall of the mountain. Gilda smiled back and let out a sigh "Well, that was interesting" she raised an eyebrow "since when did you know magic?"
Eivyn shrugged "Don't know what the hell that was about with the wall" he straightened up and stretched "I suppose it just proves I am more than a mere man" he winked at her.
Gilda rolled her eyes "At least we got the Dragonstone" she said "I'm glad that I didn't go alone ... I wouldn't have been able to take down that ... that thing on my own" she shuddered.
"That should fetch us more than enough gold to get to Riften" Eivyn said looking down the side of the mountain for a safe way down, he didn't see Gilda's look of dissapointment.
"Riften? Is that really the best idea?" she asked carefully "we'd have the Black-Briars on our backs every second we were there"
"I can handle the Black-Briars" Eivyn said trying to reassure her "that assasin didn't even get close to me before I killed him"
"And she believes that you're dead!" Gilda took a step closer "we're safer in Whiterun at the moment. We can have jobs whenever we need them, take shelter at Jorrvaskr-"
Eivyn pointed a finger in her face "We are not becoming one of them" he said dangerously "it's bad enough you stayed with them while I was gone"
Gilda shook her head sadly "What was I supposed to do? Beg? Sell my body?" she cupped his cheeks "when you didn't come back .. I waited, I waited until my money ran out and I had no choice and I'm glad I did because I learned how to fight, how to defend myself" she hugged him close and was glad when he hugged her back "we're safe now Eivyn, can't we have that for a while?"
Eivyn closed his eyes and sighed "Fine" he leaned back and gave her a half smile "we can stay there just now until things get better for us but I don't want you joining The Circle and becoming a were-wolf" he warned her "we do jobs for them, help them but we don't become them. Deal?"
Gilda smiled "Deal, now let's get this blasted stone back to Dragonsreach"
The walk back to Whiterun was a long one with some treasures they had found in the bandits cave and the dragonstone itself slowing them down. It was in the middle of the day when they finally reached the gates of the city. They slipped inside and headed to the Bannered Mare where they gratefully ate some hot soup that Hulda relunctantly served them and headed to bed.
Eivyn awoke when Gilda shook him gently "Eivyn, we need to head up to Dragonsreach it's night now" she whispered pulling on some black leggings and one of Eivyn's shirts with a belt tied around her.
He stretched out and tiredly pulled on some clothes, if it were up to him, this blasted Dragonstone could wait till tomorrow but he figured the sooner the wizard got this stone the sooner he could return to his bed.
Sleepily he followed his sister up to the Cloud District and the wizard gleefully accepted the stone, while he rabbited on Eivyn noticed another person present in the room who only quickly glanced at the stone from underneath the hood they wore and whispered something to Farengar. Before he could question who it was, Irileth came running into the room breathless.
"Farengar you must come quickly!" she glanced at the siblings. "You two should probably come too, a dragon has been sighted"
"A dragon how exciting!" Farengar placed the dragonstone down on the table and excitingly followed the housecarl out of the room. Eivyn noticed the hooded figure sneaking out and he frowned after whoever it was as Gilda pushed him towards the stairs.
"I'd take this a bit more seriously if I were you" Irileth interrupted the gleeful ramblings of Farengar "if a dragon decides to attack Whiterun I don't know if we can stop it"
In the war room, Jarl Balgruuf was standing looking stricken and Eivyn felt a little sorry for him, he didn't know what was the best way to defeat a dragon but at least he didn't have a whole city of people depending on him to protect them.
A guard stood breathing heavily and trying to catch his breath quickly as the Jarl approached "So Irelith tell's me that you came from the Western Tower?"
The guard nodded and the Dark Elf rolled her eyes "Tell him what you told me about the dragon" she said impatiently.
"Uhh.. that's right. We saw it coming from the south" he said weakly "it was fast ... faster than anything I've ever seen"
Balgruuf rubbed his face and started to pace "What did it do? Is is attacking the watchtower?"
"No my Lord, it was just circling overheard when I left. I never ran so fast in my life" he looked a little sheepish "I thought it would come after me for sure"
Balgruuf clapped his shoulder and gave him a tired smile "Good work son, we'll take it from here. Head down to the barracks for some food and rest you've earned it" he waited till the guard had left and turned with a serious look to his housecarl "you'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there"
"I've already ordered my men to muster near the main gate" Irelith said.
"Good don't fail me" Irelith nodded and gave a bow before she quickly turned and left. Balgruuf looked to Eivyn and Gilda "there's no time to stand on ceremony my friends. I need your help again"
Eivyn sighed "I was hoping to sleep" he muttered.
"Anything we can do to help my Jarl" Gilda said, nudging her brother.
Far up in High Hrothgar where the ancient fortress stood strong against the wind and ice, where the Grey Beards resided. Something stopped them from what they were doing. Something had changed. They didn't know yet but they knew it would happen soon.
"I can't belive we are going to do this" Eivyn muttered as they walked towards the now burning and fallen Watchtower, "we could be halfway to Riften by now"
"Only cowards run" Irelith snapped as she took the lead towards the tower "look for any survivors"
Eivyn glared at her back but sighed and did as she said, he headed up the broken stairway and began looking for any signs of life but before he could even look inside the watchtower, a heavily bleeding guard with a scared, wild look came stumbling out of the entrance and shook his head "No! Get back! It's still here somehwere! Hroki and Tor just got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it!"
Eivyn caught him as he fell forward "It's going to be fine, we have more guards with us you're going to be fine!" Then he heard the roar.
The guard trembled "Kynareth save us, here he comes again!"
Eivyn dragged him inside and left him in the corner shaking "Stay here!" he said "we'll come get you when it's safe" he ran outside and saw Irelith and her guards stood ready looking to the sky. Gilda looked at him her eyes wide and she looked a little scared.
"It's here"
she mouthed.
He looked up and saw the large black shape surge towards them faster with every beat of its wings and his heart began to beat faster. With another roar it circled down and opened its mouth. "TAKE COVER!" Eivyn shouted grabbing Gilda and taking shelter under the broken bridge as the dragon blew fire over the area they had just run from, the heat was unbelievable and Eivyn shook a little as the reality of the situation hit him: he was fighting a near invincible furnace.
"Okay, whats the plan?" he asked as he watched as the dragon swooped down and pick up a guard who screamed as it dug its talons into him.
Gilda breathed out and rubbed her head "We need it to land" she said frowning as she thought "even a good shot like me will find it hard to hit it in the air"
"Nows not the time for gloating" he smiled weakly.
Gilda returned his smile but grew serious, she took her bow off of her back and took out an arrow "We need to join in the fight" she said glancing past him "they're getting slaughtered out there"
"Wait till it eats the Dark elf at least" he muttered as they got to their feet. The ground around the watchtower was scorched and several bushes were still on fire, Eivyn took out his sword and watched as the dragon hovered as it continued its fiery attack.
Gilda took aim and her arrow sailed through the air and sunk into the dragons wing and it roared and fell to the ground, looking for the source of its pain. "Go!" Gilda shouted and continued to fire arrows as quick as she could.
Eivyn ran around hoping to keep out of sight until he had the perfect oppertunity to try and kill it. "If you stab it enough times it could work" he thought. Irelith was firing lightning at it and shouting orders to her men who were still alive.
"Keep it on the ground!" Gilda shouted, "aim at the wings!" she quickly ran and did a forward roll to take cover as the dragon aimed the next roar of fire at her.
Irelith ignored her and continued to attack the face which just irritated the dragon more, Eivyn ran forward and slashed the wing as many times as he could while it was distracted but its wing suddenly came towards him and threw him against the stone wall of the watchtower. His arm throbbed in agony as he tried to come too. He watched in a daze as it marched towards his sister who desperately tried to keep out of the way of the fire and teeth.
Eivyn gritted his teeth and took a run up the broken stairway of the tower, Gilda, Irelith and the guards who were still alive were distracting the dragon, lifting his sword above his head he gave a shout and jumped. Just as the dragon looked up, his sword sliced through the thick scales and embedded itself into it's head. As it thrashed its head about he put all of his strength into stabbing the head as much as he could.
It gave a scream and Eivyn rolled off of the head onto the ground, hissing when his arm flared in pain again. He had probably broken it.
He was about to make sure the dragon was finished when it seemed to say something "DOVAHLKIN NO!" everyone stood in shock at the thought of the dragon talking when it slumped to the ground and stayed still.
"Make sure the overgrown worm is dead" Irelith said in her cold voice, Eivyn took a step forward and put one hand on the beast and was surprised when he found the body to be warm.
Too warm.
"STAND BACK!" One guard shouted and he seen the scales light up and catch aflame, he took a step back and before he knew it an essence rose up from the flames and encircled him similar to the one that had risen from the wall in Bleak Falls Barrow. He felt the dragons strength inside of him and feel its power ... it was an amazing feeling.
He heard gasps and when it was over he turned around, his sister was staring with wide eyes and everyone looked at him like he was strange.
"I ...I can't believe it" one guard said removing his helmet to reveal his bewildered face "You're ... Dragonborn!"
Eivyn stared at him "What do you mean-"
"In the very oldest tales, back from when there still were dragons in Skyrim, the Dragonborn would slay dragons and steal their powers" the guard continued.
"Thats what you did isn't it? Absorbed that dragons power?" another chipped in.
Eivyn's head was racing. Dragonborn? Absorbing a dragons power? He pushed his hair back from his sweaty face and looked to Gilda who looked just as confused as he did "I don't know what happened to me" he said honestly not looking at any of them.
"There's only one way to find out, try to shout!"
As the guards babbled amongst themselves, Eivyn watched as Gilda sunk down on the ground bewildered and holding her sore shoulder. Irelith continued to watch Eivyn with her red eyes and said nothing, he looked back at her and could tell she wasn't buying into this dragonborn business. "Come on Irelith, tell us do you believe in this dragonborn business?" an Imperial looking guard asked with a tone that said he didn't.
She rolled her eyes "Some of you would be better off keeping quiet than flapping your gums on matters you don't know anything about" she said her lip curling "here's a dead dragon and that's something I definetly understand. Now we know we can kill them"
She walked forward and sneered at Eivyn "but I don't need some mythical Dragonborn. Someone who can-"
But he never heard the rest of her insult as he felt something rise within him. It was a strange feeling and one hard to describe but he could see a word ... feel a word rise beneath him and he felt the tightness in his throat grow and then suddenly he got a feeling of knowing like when you remember something that you were struggling to recall for a while and he opened his mouth.
"FUS!"
he shouted and the force of his voice made Irelith and a couple of guards stumble.
Gilda jumped up and she widened her eyes as she watched Irelith and the guards get to their feet shakingly, she went over and gave him an amazed look. "How did you do that?" she whispered.
"No idea" he whispered back.
"We'll leave you to tell the Jarl" Gilda said suddenly out loud to the Dark Elf "my brother needs his rest as do I after fighting a dragon for most of the night".
Irelith said nothing but watched as they left and Eivyn felt her eyes on them even when he was lying in his bed in the dark. He was about to fall asleep when there was a rumble like thunder that echoed through the night and a single word could be made out that made him feel both nervous and excited.
"DOHVALKIN!"
