7: Dragon!
"You, Imperial, follow me!"
Lysandra blinked in surprise when the Whiterun guard bellowed at her, gesturing her forward and then ran off. She and Vilkas had been making their way up the stone steps that led to the Cloud District of Whiterun when he –the guard- had appeared.
Vilkas simply shrugged his massive shoulders when she shot him a bemused look. "You had better go." He said flatly, frowning and stepped aside when several guards darted past them. "I'll come with you." He then added, watching the guards as they headed for the gate. Obviously something was happening.
Nodding, Lysandra started jogging towards Dragonsreach.
The Jarl's castle was in disarray. Servants were running towards the stairwells that led down into the lower chambers and dungeons while Jarl Bulgruuf was bellowing orders, Irileth following his every move agitatedly.
"Farengar! What good are you, wizard, if your magic cannot help us?" Balgruuf demanded, whirling on his court mage.
"My Jarl… you- She's here, the woman you-"
Lysandra nearly cringed when Balgruuf rounded on her next, feeling Vilkas right behind her and steadied herself. "I brought you the Dragon Stone, Jarl." She said in a mostly even voice when he was close enough to hear her without needing to shout.
"Damn the stone, give it to that worthless wretch who calls himself a mage!" Bulgruuf growled, all but ripping the small sack she held out to him, passing it immediately off to Farengar who then vacated the main hall. "A dragon's just been sighted circling over the farms outside the gates."
Lysandra's heart plummeted at those words. "Dragon?" She echoed in a muted tone, pretty certain they –she and Vilkas, had not seen a dragon overheard when coming in. Dragons were pretty noticeable.
"Yes, a dragon, did I not just say that?"
"When was it spotted?" Vilkas asked, sounding much more calm then either of them.
"Within the past few minutes, I'm sending Irileth out and I want you to meet her." Balgruuf directed that towards Lysandra, and then glanced at Vilkas. "You're a Companion? Your aid would help greatly."
"You shall have it, Jarl."
Dragon. It all started with a dragon and it looked like it was about to end with a dragon. Lysandra figured she had already used up most of her good luck when she had survived not only the chopping block but the dragon who had torched said chopping block. She wasn't going to go another round with a new dragon and survive, fate wasn't that kind.
Vilkas had gone to Jorrvaskr to recruit the other Companions for the battle while she had gone on ahead to meet up with Irileth. Irileth gave a short but apparently rousing speech to the guard and like idiots; they had all run out the gates.
She had followed, keeping an eye on them but also staying away from them. If there was a dragon, and they were running like fools in one large band, then she preferred not to be a part of their moving target.
She head the creature before she seen it. Its massive wings beating the air and the roar it gave as it seen its mobile meal approach cued her to the general location. Then it appeared and Lysandra automatically came to a stop, crouching low. She swallowed down bile, glad she hadn't eaten anything yet today because undoubtedly it would be all over the ground before her.
Feeling helpless, she tried to remember Helgen, how the guard there had taken on the dragon. She supposed it didn't really matter as the blasted beast had rained fire from above and destroyed Helgen along with most of its inhabitants.
There hadn't been much of a chance against it, she thought sourly, eyes watching the dragon as it looped through the sky, taking its time in attacking. The problem was, dragons had the advantage of being able to attack from the sky with their ability to breathe fire. They could kill at their leisure and arrows… well; she did recall seeing arrows bouncing off the tough scales that made up its built in armor.
Their best chance was to somehow ground the dragon…
Lysandra shrieked when columns of fire began igniting the high grass directly before her and threw herself sideways into an ungainly roll. The fire caught and began spreading; she could hear cries coming from the others and shrieks of 'water', knowing all it would take was a good strong wind to begin spreading it towards the farms.
They needed to ground the dragon before it flew towards the city.
Trying not to wet herself, she began running madly for the watchtower. It was hard not to think of Helgen, or the similarities between what had happened there and what she was doing now. Such as… running up a circular staircase. Only this time, she wasn't looking to escape a dragon but attack one.
It was hard to think clearly, whenever the dragon roared or spewed its flame, the sound was deafening and paralyzing. Her knees were threatening to give out under her and she was pretty sure whatever spine she had was now mush. She felt like a weak, puny Imperial woman, she'd have to inform Vilkas of that later, he'd be pleased to know he was right.
From the top of the tower however, she had a great view of the disaster that was occurring on the ground. Arrows were being fired as quickly as possible and everyone was scattering when the majority came rebounding back.
One arrow in particular caught her eye as it zinged towards one massive wing and… pierced it. She dropped her own bow in order to clamp both hands over her ears when the dragon let out what sounded like… a curse, a curse of pain and outrage.
Letting out her own curse, she retrieved the bow and leaned over the stones, trying to make herself heard over all the noise. "Aim for its wings!"
She wasn't sure if she had been heard but there was no more time for warnings, now it was time to act.
