Author's Note- Here's the fourth chapter in Endurance of The Dragonheart. Sorry for posting it so late. Hope you enjoy it! And the 'reavers' mentioned here are the names of bandits on Solstheim, if you played the Dragonborn dlc. Also, I had changed the name of the story. Just a heads up. And one more thing. In Tel Methryn, there is no roof exit or back exit. I just threw those in to add them.
Teldryn, Rayne, and Thrynn entered the doorway, and were confronted by a circular pattern of runes on the floor. Teldryn stepped on it, and began to float upwards. Thrynn followed suit, and Rayne ascended last. Neloth walked into the room, furious.
"You think you can just waltz in here, now, huh? I thought I told you reavers not to come i- Oh." Neloth stopped in his tracks, a fireball spell in his left hand ready to cast. He disingited it, putting the staff in his right hand away, as well. "Pardon me for the horrible hospitality, um, come right in." Neloth began to clear one of his tables for them to gather at. Teldryn sat in one of the chairs, Thrynn doing the same. Rayne just stood nearby.
"Now, if I may ask, why do you people come into my home without invitation? Hm?" Neloth looked at them questioningly, his hands resting on the table.
Teldryn explained to Neloth what was happening, Neloth listening intently as he went along. When Teldryn finished, Neloth was quiet for a minute. Then he broke his silence.
"So, let me get this straight. You brought two fugitives wanted by the Dark Brotherhood, and a bandit clan, into my home?" Rayne tried not to laugh at his odd accent, even for a dark elf.
"Yea, that pretty much sums it up." Teldryn said, clearly knowing that Neloth was stressed. Neloth closed his eyes for a second, pondering over whether or not he should do this. After a few minutes he spoke again. "So what do you want me to do?" Neloth said, quite annoyed. Thrynn, Rayne, and Teldryn all glanced at each other for a second, then looked back to Neloth. He sighed, then began, annoyed, "Look, I don't know what you want unless you tell me what it is you buffoons..." Neloth stopped short due to Rayne's laughter. "What's so bloody funny?" Neloth said, furious.
"Oooh, so fierce. So sassy." Rayne said with a smile. She laughed some more when Neloth was at a loss of words by what she said, his mouth hanging open. Rayne abruptly stopped laughing when an explosion rattled Tel Methryn. Rayne tried to steady herself. Another explosion, shaking the room. Rayne ran up to the window nearest them, then turned to the others in shock. "It's the bandit clan." Thrynn glanced over to her. "How do you know?"
"Look for yourself," She said, backing away from the window. Thrynn approached the same window, and looked out at the ground where the bandit clan stood, catapults beside them, with projectile's covered in oil being lit iwith fire once readied in the catapult. But what really caught his eye was the symbol marked on what had to be the leaders Steel armor. The image was a simple grey-ish mace, nearly the whole head of it covered in a dark red. The image was scraggly, but recognizable. Another thing that caught Thrynn's eye was the vast number of people out there. Thrynn turned around to face Rayne and Neloth, who had their weapon's in hand, ready to fight. Thrynn equipped his own Steel war axe, and the three got ready to exit.
The bandit chief stood in the front of the group, watching as the projectiles from the catapult hammered Tel Methryn. He turned to the man standing next to him and whispered a few words, then turned back to Tel Methryn. The man beside him went to one of the catapult operators and told him to increase the rate of fire. The operator nodded and got to work with another man's help in cranking the winch faster. The bandit chief turned to look at the operator, and turned back to face Tel Methryn, a small grin spreading across his face. This is it, he thought to himself, we've finally got them.
Rayne sheathed her bow and climbed through the hidden roof exit. Teldryn guarded the back exit, and Thrynn the front. Neloth went to the back room to get a few spell traps ready. Meanwhile on the roof, Rayne moved into position. She readied her Elven bow, unsheathing an arrow and resting it on the limb, pulling back the draw-string, and setting a catapult operator in her sights. She exhaled, focused, and released the arrow, piercing the operator's neck. She smiled to herself and readied another arrow, continuing her attack on the operators. But whenever she took one out, another showed up. Mindless idiots, she thought to herself. She held her position, easing off of the catapults for a minute to focus on the ground units.
Inside Tel Methryn, Thrynn and Teldryn stood watch. After some time, they left Tel Methryn from the exits they guarded. Teldryn exited, descended the side of Tel Methryn and flanked the group of bandits. Thrynn ran straight out as a distraction, war-axe in hand, and charged into the group of bandits. He swung his axe this way and that, killing bandits as he went, all the while Teldryn jumping in, and Rayne letting arrows fly at the bandits. When she looked at Thrynn, he had a big grin across his face as he stuck his axe in the heads and limbs of bandits.
The bloodbath continued as more bandits came from the ash-hills. Thrynn was having fun, as far as anyone could tell, and Rayne lost all her arrows, so she descended Tel Methryn and took out her daggers, then ran into battle. Teldryn was having fun, himself, but not as much as Thrynn. In time, the bandit's decided to cut their losses and run, but Rayne had managed to drop a few of them at a distance with daggers she found on the ground, sending them hurling at their backs. The bandit chief had escaped, which meant their fight was not yet over.
When the battle had finished, bodies lie everywhere, blood splattered here and there. Rayne looked to Thrynn, who had a grin on his face, knowing that they had won this battle. Rayne smiled, and turned back to watch where the bandits had fled. She, too, aknowledged that they had finished this war... But another, one was soon to come. Sooner than Rayne had hoped. Rayne glanced over at Teldryn, who was also watching where the bandit's had fled. She turned her attention back to Thrynn, and began to walk toward him. Not before being cut off by the roar of a dragon, approaching them with haste.
The dragon landed on the ground, and Thrynn gripped his war axe, prepping to strike. Teldryn readied his bow, and Rayne stood, unsure of what to do. The dragon turned it's attention to Thrynn, preparing to attack. Rayne could hear the fire's bellowing in the dragon, so she had only one choice. She shouted the words "Yol, TOOR SHUL," sending a wave of fire at the dragon. It fazed for a second, then turned to Rayne, who was charging the dragon, a sword in her hands that she picked up off of the ground. She reached the dragon before it could attack her, and she leapt onto it's neck, slicing the dragon here and there, then leapt back to the ground, and drove the sword into the dragon's throat, piercing it's skin. She released the sword, leaving it lodged in the dragon's throat. She turned to Thrynn, and he glared at her while the dragon's soul entered her body, and said, "You're dragonborn..." He trailed of in dumbfoundment.
Rayne walked over to him, about to speak, and watched as an arrow pierced his neck, coming out the other end covered in blood. Rayne gasped, and ran up to him. He gripped the arrow, and pulled it out, slowly but surely, and covered the wound with his hand. Another arrow pierced his leg, then through his back. It went through his chest, and came out the other end, missing Rayne by mere inches. She screamed, tears rushing down her face. She followed Thrynn to the ground, slumping to her knees. She looked up at Teldryn, who released an arrow at the archer over on the crest of the ash-hill, killing him. Teldryn then ran over to a sobbing Rayne, with a dying Thrynn in her arms. Thrynn firmly gripped her hand, and said to her in a low voice, "Do not weep for me. You are strong. You will always be strong, I see it in you. You need to keep going, and wipe out those bastard-bandits. I'll see you in Sovngarde..." He trailed off, and Rayne watched as the light left his eyes. "No... No, Thrynn, don't you leave me, damnit! Don't you leave me here, you bastard!" Tear waterfalls ran down her face, her throat painful raspy from yelling and sobbing.
Rayne sat there for five minutes, sobbing, Teldryn resting his hand on her shoulder. "Look, lass, there's nothing we can do. He's-" Rayne cut him off. "Don't you DARE say he's gone!" Rayne turned to Teldryn, who backed away. She turned back to the dead Thrynn in her hands, pausing before he spoke. "I... I only knew him for a short period of time... But he saved me... From death... He taught me things... I... I just can't believe he's..." She cut herself off, beggining to sob again. After some time, she got up, and began to dig a hole with her bare hands about five feet from Thrynn's body. The ash was easy to dig, but it fell quickly. It didn't matter to her, though... She kept on.
When she finished digging, she dragged Thrynn's body over to the hold, then pushed him in. He fell face first, so Rayne bent doen to roll him over on his back. She sat there on her knees for a couple minutes, her eyes closed, then began to cover him with the ash, filling the hile. She remembed talking to Thrynn on the boat, and he mentioning that if he were to die in battle, he'd wish to be buried in that same ground. Rayne had now fuffilled his wish... A wish that she had not hoped to be the one to complete.
Author's Note: Hey, guys 'n' gals! Sorry for taking so long to post this chapter, I've been busy. And sorry for it being so short. I'll make up for it in the following chapters. Thanks for keeping up with me, and continue reading... and no, the story is not over. There are plenty more chapters to come, I promise you :) And yes, I also cried at the ending, and I wrote it. Very emotional. If you don't cry, you have no soul... jk, wo're all people.