Dovahkiin: The Tale of The Last Dragonborn
Chapter IX:
Wicked Dreams
The bright, morning sun pulled our beloved Dragonborn from her dreams. She pulled a heavy cotton sheet down from her face and sat up, ready to greet the day. Mackenzie opened the door of her rental and trotted down the steps and into sitting area of the inn.
"How did my fiery, Nord beauty sleep?" The pesterous bard, Mikael, asked whilst pulling up a barstool next to her.
Mackenzie felt inclined to smack him upside the head but instead, she decided to humor him. "Just fine, Mikael. I can't hear your lute playing from my room so that helps." She felt a little bad for mocking his lute playing, but the Dragonborn did not want to deal with him right now.
Saadia brought Mackenzie a warm tankard of tea. "When are you setting out for the journey?" She inquired.
"Very soon. I just want to get this done and over with." She sighed, taking in a big swig of tea. "I'm going to go upstairs and pack some supplies. If I'm not back in 10 minutes, kill Mikael."
Mackenzie knew that if she truly was the Dragonborn of song and legend, this trip to see the Greybeards was not going to be easy for her. She did find comfort in the thought that she would be far away from Vilkas and the rest of the Companions.
A short time later, the blonde-haired woman was standing beside the bar saying her goodbyes to Saadia. "I'll be fine, don't worry about me." She stressed, giving Saadia a tight hug. "I'll be back in no time!"
10 Days Later:
Talking to the Greybeards was something Mackenzie never could have dreamt of, it was life changing. A gust of cool wind pulled Mackenzie from her thoughts as she walked through the city. The days in Whiterun were getting chillier and chillier.
Saadia emerged from the Bannered Mare to greet her friend, Mackenzie. "Well, how did it go?" It had been nearly two weeks since she last saw her mysterious, Nord friend.
Mackenzie just gave Saadia a blank stare. "It went." She ushered her worried friend back into the inn. "Come on, Saadia. Get me some mead and I'll tell you all about it."
The Dragonborn plopped down onto a barstool and extended her hand out, motioning for a drink. It felt amazing to finally sit down. Mackenzie had walked all the way from Ivarstead without resting her feet.
Raising a brow, Saadia examined the weathered woman. "What happened to you? You look like lost a fight with a Hagraven."
Mackenzie raised the bottle to her lips and took a sip. "Try a whole ruin filled with Draugr."
Saadia's mouth hung open ever so slightly. "You took on a ruin full of mindless Draugr? For what?"
Running a hand through her blood clumped hair, Mackenzie sighed. "The Greybeards. After climbing the 7,000 Steps and actually meeting them, they sent me to Ustengrav to retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller."
Saadia opened her mouth as though she was about to speak, but she was interrupted by her now slightly intoxicated companion. "That's not even the worst part! So, I get all the way into the ruin and the horn isn't there⦠I find a note and have to go track down the thief that stole it."
Mackenzie's head slumped down onto the bar. "I'm hungry."
The tired Skyrim native was nearly snoozing when she heard the stool beside her move. Quickly jerking her head up, she noticed that Saadia had left and was making her way toward the kitchen.
"Why don't you go lay down? I'll send Mikael over to Arcadia's Cauldron for a healing potion and Saadia will serve it to you with some dinner, okay?" Hulda said as she leaned over the bar towards Mackenzie.
She didn't have any other option but to take the innkeeper up on her offer. She'd surely pass out and die on the bar if she didn't get the healing she needed. So, mustering up all of the strength she had left, Mackenzie shuffled to the only room on the ground floor. There was no way in Oblivion she'd make it up any more stairs.
Soon enough, Saadia entered Mackenzie's room and spoon fed her some soup and a health potion. "Eat, Mackenzie. How long has it been?"
Mackenzie was silent for a few moments. "Five days."
"You haven't eaten in five days?" Saadia shouted.
Color began to reappear in the Dragonborn's complexion. "I've had the feeling I was being watched ever since I came out of Ustengrav. I took a carriage straight to Whiterun and ran the rest of the way to Riverwood, I thought I was safe then. That was the last time I ate, later that night I heard howling outside of the tavern."
Saadia offered her friend the potion and Mackenzie sipped it slowly as she talked. "I made my way back up to High Hrothgar, returned the horn, learned a shout, and booked it back to Whiterun. I was too injured to stop, if I was ambushed I'd die."
"Well, you're in the city now. The walls will protect you. Get some sleep and I'll check on you in the morning."
Mackenzie quickly descended into the world of dreams. She found herself lying in a field with her mother, watching the sun as it slipped down on the horizon. She was just a little girl. It was a common occurrence in her childhood.
After supper, the young Nord girl and her mother would take a few cow hides and lay them out in the field. They'd talk about the day they had and every so often, her mother would read her a story about Ysgramor and the 500 Companions. Mackenzie had shown so much respect and interest in the Companions during her childhood. She'd always beg her father to take her to Whiterun so she could meet them.
Mackenzie felt so relieved to be laying in her family's field, next to her mother. She could smell the aroma of the lavender perfume she wore. It was if she was actually there. Her dream wasn't all peaches and roses though. After a few moments, Mackenzie heard that dreaded howling again. It sounded a lot more malevolent than it did the night she heard it in Riverwood.
Visions and glimpses of Vilkas danced in her head. She was reliving the night Vilkas had kissed her and then lashed out. The memory of the kiss burned in her mind, the feeling of his lips on hers made them go numb. She knew she had to wake herself up or she'd never forget that dreaded night.
As Mackenzie tossed in turned in her sweat soaked bed, she eventually found herself awake. The sun was barely coming up over the horizon, it couldn't have been passed six.
As she laid there, she thought about the dream she just had and events that just took place inside the walls of The Bannered Mare that night. She nearly became a meal for Vilkas and she had no idea. She thought that he had lost his temper, he might have even been drunk but that didn't matter at the moment, what mattered was that it happened. Mackenzie knew what Vilkas was capable of, to an extent, and she knew it wasn't a good idea to toy with him. One thing was certain, he knew she was Dragonborn.
Mackenzie turned over on her side and examined a note and flower on her bedside table. "That wasn't there last night" she murmured to herself. With a delicate hand, Mackenzie picked up the note and read it.
Mackenzie,
I want to apologize for my actions that night, I haven't been myself lately. I'm not really sure how to explain it.
-Vilkas
"What in the name of..?" Mackenzie wiped her face with her hand and folded the note. She needed to speak to him as soon as possible.
