Naspia, Casius, Lydia, Serana and Tolfdir had set out early that morning. The sun had not yet risen when the Dragonborn's home had emptied. Gunjar, Naspia's carriage driver had filled his wagon with everyone, save the Dragonborn herself, who had opted to summon Arvak, an undead horse she had 'saved' from the Soul Cairn back while she was helping Serana deal with her father.
The ride had been uneventful, to say the least. Tolfdir kept going on and on about how the Eye of Magnus, a relic Naspia had helped find, was so immensely powerful and mysterious. Only Casius, however, was actually interested in what was being said.
"I guarantee, Master Tolfdir, that the Synod would be most appreciative of a chance to study such an artifact." Casius told the wizard. "It sounds like it could benefit all men and mer throughout Tamriel."
"Perhaps but that is not my decision to make, you understand." Tolfdir assured him. "The Arch-mage would be furious if he even heard me talking about it now."
"Then why are you, Master?" Naspia asked with a playful grin.
"Because I am free to do as I please, young one." Tolfdir replied matter-of-factly. "And further more, if this mage of the Synod proves as trustworthy as he seems, then I would be delighted to invite him and him alone to the College to view the Eye of Magnus with the hopes that he would allow me a visit to Cyrodil to see some of their wonders."
"If all plays out well here then I have no issue with that, Master Tolfdir." Casius replied with a hint of excitement in his voice. "I must admit, Dragonborn, I didn't expect you to be an apprentice in mage-craft. Every time I asked about you, it was your prowess as a warrior that was talked about more often then not."
"Which you probably also found hard to believe, huh?" Naspia asked, no malice hidden in her voice.
"When I finally met you, yes, actually." Casius stated, giving the young woman an appraising look. "I mean, no offense, of course."
Naspia smirked and gave him a wave showing she took no offense. She understood all too well that she didn't look like she was fit for battle, spell casting or anything other than perhaps being a bard in a tavern. Her short red hair was styled in a typically Imperial way that was popular with the younger women. She was short and thin, looking so fragile she could barely hold a dagger. The only give away that she had any power to her was in her bright green eyes that seemed to pierce the souls of any who looked into them. Other than that she looked almost comical. She was naturally pretty, with skin as pale as any Nords, even though she was an Imperial, born and raised in Cyrodil, as were her parents. What made her look so funny was the heavy dragon bone armor she wore. The Dragonborn, at first glance, had no muscle to her whatsoever, yet she carried the heavy armor, the massive, enchanted Dwemer shield on her left arm and the bright blade that glowed as intensely as the sun at her hip.
"If you don't mind my asking, Dragonborn, how old are you exactly?" Casius inquired.
"I have seen 22 winters." Naspia replied, receiving a rather shocked look from the Imperial Mage. "Is that a problem?"
"Oh, well... no." Casius responded. "But you understand you were... not what I was expecting."
"You were expecting... a Nord." Naspia teased. "With big muscly arms, a big battle axe and a commanding voice, right?"
"Uhm... yes. That's exactly what I expected."
Naspia giggled in a way that seemed far too child like, even for such a young woman. Her laughter was stopped as the neared Katla's farm, just outside of Solitude. The place was burning and Naspia drew her blade, Dawnbreaker and looked around.
"By Ysmir, what happened...?" Lydia mumbled, stepping down from the wagon and drawing her own blade. "The city!"
"Let's go!" Naspia bellowed. Arvak reared up and began charging up the hill toward Solitude. The gate had been battered open and the outer portion of the gate was strewn with mauled bodies. Some of them were Legionnaires, some were Solitude guards but then some of them looked to be Draugr. "Undead? Attacking a city? Something isn't right here."
"You mean besides the obvious?" Serana asked as Naspia stepped down from her summoned horse. As the undead steed disappeared, Naspia stepped into the city to see that the gates for Castle Dour were barred with archers on the roof tops.
"Is that the Dragonborn?" One of the Imperial soldiers asked form atop the wall. "Quick, open the gate!"
The gate shot open and Naspia and her party ran in. General Tullius was seated outside the door heading into the castle with his left arm bandaged and a few arrow stubs sticking out of his right shoulder.
"You're looking the worse for wear, General." Naspia said, walking up to him with a confused expression on her face.
"Dragonborn?" Tullius muttered, pain etched in his words. "I didn't expect to see you today."
"And I didn't expect to see that." She replied, jerking her thumb back at the corpse strewn city. "What of the townsfolk? And the Jarl?"
"We don't know." Tullius stated with a touch of shame. "We haven't been able to push them back and every time I order the gates opened they come back in a larger wave than before. The ones we killed already seem to rise up once more along with them."
"We'll see how well they accomplish that after dragon fire fells them." Naspia replied, turning to head to the Blue Palace. As soon as she left the gates of Castle Dour, the fallen Draugr were, indeed, rising back up. Naspia looked toward the main gate and saw at least a score more coming. Shaking her head, Naspia turned her head skyward and took a deep breath in. "Od-Ah-Viing!"
Naspia looked back toward the gate and took in another deep breath. "Yol-Toor-Shul!" The nearest few Draugr weer set alight and turned into ash within seconds. Serana closed with a small group of them and plunged her dagger into the skull of one, the fire enchantment on the weapon burning the undead creature to a crisp.
Lydia joined in, hacking limbs off with her own weapon while Tolfdir reduced the Draugr to smoldering ruin with destruction magic. In a few moments there was nothing left to the attackers and Naspia was pushing forward, toward the Blue Palace. Outside was yet another pile of corpses and the Thanes of Solitude stood shoulder to shoulder, looking haggard and disheveled, as did Sybille, the court wizard. Naspia greeted them and checked them all over.
"Is everyone relatively okay?" Naspia asked with concern etched into her youthful features.
"We're fine." Replied Falk Firebeard. "Most of the citizens made it to Castle Dour already and the rest managed to get here but..."
"But?" Naspia echoed.
"Look at the place." Sybille stated sadly. "Nearly half of our forces, Imperial and Solitude, lie dead..."
"They'll be avenged." Lydia assured her.
"She's right." Naspia affirmed. "We're going to burn all of these corpses and find out where they're coming from, then make sure there are no more bodies left to burn."
"Talos guide you, Dragonborn." Falk stated, ignoring the sharp gasps from the other Thanes at his blatant use of a heretical term.
Naspia and her party followed the Draugr corpses until they were all turned into piles of ash but fresh ones seemed to be coming in groups of five or more almost as soon as another group was burned down. Naspia looked back at her companions and the lot of them seemed exhausted beyond measure. Casius stepped forward, sweat lining his brow like a waterfall.
"Dragonborn, something tells me we're nearing our end of this chase." He stated, looking toward a small hill. "They are most likely coming from there."
"But that... that's Ustengrav." Naspia told him, shaking her head. "The Grey Beards sent there as my final test to be recognized as the Dragonborn. They couldn't be coming from..."
"I don't mean to interrupt but there's another group heading for us and they are coming from the place they can't possibly come from." Serana replied bitterly.
"That's... bad." Naspia muttered and charged into the group of them. Dawnbreaker's fury burnt through them like they were made of tinder and then she stood atop the mound leading into Ustengrav, staring at the closed doorway. When it began to open, revealing yet more Draugr stepping out, she took a deep breath in. "Fus-Ro-Dah!" She Shouted, blasting them back inside and slamming the door shut. "Casius, Tolfdir! Can either of you seal the door?"
"Of course, my dear." Tolfdir stated, waving his hands in front of him, casting a blueish green glow on the door in front of him. The doors themselves glowed for a moment and then locked. Naspia could hear the Draugr bashing against the door but they couldn't get the enchantment down. "That will hold them until a mage more powerful than myself manages to break it down."
"Then we should be alright, for there's no reason any mage of considerable power would want to open this door." Casius replied, taking a knee. "Gods I'm exhausted."
"No time to rest, Casius." Lydia told him, offering the man some water. "We need to get back to Solitude and tell the Jarl and General Tullius everything."
"She's right, I'm afraid." Naspia stated flatly. She reached into the small ruck on her back and handed Casius a green vial. "Here. This potion should restore some of your stamina."
Casius gratefully accepted the potion and drank it down, slowly rising. The party looked at one another, checking to make sure everyone was alright, consumed a few of their own potions and then began the rather agonizing trek back to Solitude on foot.
It was late. Very late. Naspia and the others had made it back to Solitude just after dusk. Gunjar met them at the gate and brought them to where the Jarl and Tullius were discussing what to do next. Elisif looked up to see the Dragonborn and let out an audible sigh of relief.
"What news do you bring back?" Tullius asked, his skin pale from blood loss. "I pray that it's good."
"Well... sort of." Naspia replied, shrugging at the two of them. "We traced them all the way back to Ustengrav, General."
"Ustengrav?" Elisif echoed. "So far away?"
"Yes my Jarl." Naspia replied. "Tolfdir sealed the door so that no more could come out and we burned every Draugr along the way, but there were more within trying to come out."
"This can't be a part of the prophecy, though." Casius stated. "Draugr can't be anything resembling the Eldest or Youngest."
"Prophecy?" Elisif asked. "What prophecy?"
"It's the reason we came here in the first place, my Jarl." Naspia informed her. "It's a long story."
"Well then if it's all the same I'd suggest telling it quickly." Tullius said.
"Very well." Naspia replied and turned toward Casius who nodded and then began going over the details of the prophecy.
"So what you're saying is the Dragonborn's actions caught the attention of something more powerful then even the World Eater, Alduin?" Tullius asked in disbelief. "Gods, I thought we were finally going to get the world to return to normal."
"Not quite yet." Naspia replied. "We meant to come here to attempt to get you and Ulfric to both agree to keep the non-aggression treaty going and possibly lend us aid in dealing with this issue."
"And what makes you think he'll agree?" Elisif asked, clearly not convinced.
"Kodlak Whitemane has promised to help me convince him." Naspia told her with a wide grin. "Ulfric would be a fool to disrespect the Harbinger of the Companions."
"Smart move." Tullius replied before looking over the map. "So, Dead Men's Respite, huh? I'll have a battalion of Legionnaires sent to garrison the area with a host of battle mages. That should keep anything from getting out of there long enough for us to figure this prophecy out."
Naspia nodded and said her good byes to everyone. Serana, Lydia and Tolfdir agreed to stay behind in Solitude in case another Draugr attack from elsewhere hit the city while Naspia and Casius began the long wagon ride to Windhelm. Naspia visibly shuddered as they passed by all the ashes of the legions of undead they'd had to kill that day.
"This is only going to get worse, isn't it?" She asked, looking at Casius.
"I'm afraid of the answer to that, Dragonborn..." He replied.