Change Log

19/04/2014: Ver 1

AN: thanks to Y-ko for their review, in my rush to get a new chapter out I was less than diligent with my proofreading, chapter seven has been updated and most of the grammar and spelling mistakes fixed.


Of Dragons and Daedra

Intermission 1: 'Making a mockery of plans'

Emperor Titus Mede II was not a happy man. Usually the Emperor was a man in control, able to present whatever front he chose, that he could not spoke of the severity of the situation, at least that was the feeling of Legatum-Consularem Prodidit Tradidisset

"Has it been confirmed?" the Emperors face was bone white, almost as white as his hair

"I...sir Helgen has been destroyed in its totality, the possibility of survivors is...slim" Commander Maro, in Prodidit's opinion an unmitigated asshole, was less shocked than the Emperor, but he had had more time to consider the shocking news

"and the Dragon?" the emperor pressed, seeking the confirmation all three men dreaded

"Yes, Emperor, our scouts in the Whiterun Hold, who were waiting for our man saw what was described to me as a 'Huge scaly thing, roaring and flying around, coulda bit a Giant in two'" he tapped a pile of parchment "I have the transcripts of the interviews we conducted, if you wish to look at them"

"No, no" the Emperor turned to Prodidit "what do we do"

"What can we do? I put our third and fifth on high alert, and I've sent runners to Solitude with orders to whoever is now in charge of the fourth. But quite frankly there's only so much me can do without arousing the suspicion of the Thalmor, if they think we're organizing for a counter-invasion..." he trailed off "if only the previous High-Commissioner hadn't met such a...brutal end" Prodidit threw a glance at the Commander

"gentlemen, I'll remind you, we all signed off on that, besides how could we have predicted that a dragon would come out, from wherever it was hiding to attack and destroy Helgen"

"is it possible our man survived?" Prodidit asked

"possible but unlikely, they have proved themselves surprisingly resilient, but surviving a dragon attack, nice as that would be I wouldn't put to much hope in that outcome"

"but your men hadn't seen them, they all went back to Solitude when they heard the news" Prodidit pressed, sensing an opening

"that was the decision of our man on the ground, your man, I might add"

"but under your command, this was your operation"

"that is true enough, but think, Ulfric is almost certainly dead, either executed before the dragon, or killed by it, not even Ulfric's Voice could match a dragons, that means we get our opening, we have people in place, get one up and into Winterhold, burn marks the lot, then 'lose' a prisoner manifest with their name on it" The Emperor considered this in silence for several seconds before nodding

"I presume you have a man in mind"

"I do, they're in Skyrim, they can be in Winterhold in a few days"

"good, go, send the message as soon as possible" the Commander bowed to the emperor, gathered up his parchment and left the room

"how bad do you think this is?" the Emperor looked tired, more tired than Prodidit had ever seen him.

"if it is only one Dragon sir, then we can, with the support of both legions, probably hold off its attacks, but without a miracle, actually killing it will be hard, if not impossible. But please, notice how many qualifiers were in that statement"

"we need advice from people knowledgeable in these matters, perhaps if the Blades still existed" the Emperor trailed off, staring into the middle distance, considering his options "but they don't, and there's no point in might-have-beens. Ready both legions, quietly, and if you think of some source of information that might help, let me know as soon as possible, now go, dismissed" Prodidit bowed and left the room, leaving Titus alone with only his increasingly dark thought for company.


These intermissions are and will, as you can probably guess, take place at the same time, or shortly after the previous chapter, there short and will cover several different POV's.

As ever comments, criticisms and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.