Komidrot

Aila hoped the dragon would fly past them, that it would not see them in the dark, but she had no such luck. It was as if it was looking for them. It flew straight towards them, and landed not five feet away. The ground shook as it touched down, and Aila would have fallen had Kathryn not caught her. Aila stared at the dragon, and it seemed stared back at her. It was not the black dragon she had seen at Helgen. This one was much smaller, and it had no spikes. It's scales were bronze coloured and smooth, unlike the black dragon's jagged ones. It opened its mouth, and Aila flinched, thinking it was about to spout fire, but instead it spoke.

"Drem yol lok, fahliil. Thuri Karsten hind hi mul. Hi los wah kuz sili, waan hi vis. Zu'u fen ni krif vothni grav."

Aila thought she must be dreaming. A dragon had not just landed in front of them and started speaking to them. It was impossible. Yet here it was. All Aila could do was gawk at it. It was Kathryn who was able to speak. "Who... who are you?" she asked. "What do you want?"

The dragon blinked at her. "Zu'u Komidrot. Zu'u laan wah aam Thuri."

Aila could feel her shaking. She couldn't blame her, Aila was shaking as well. Anyone would in their situation. Kathryn spoke again. "We... We can't understand you."

The dragon made a low rumbling sound. "Then I will make this simple," it said. It turned its head and looked at Aila. "You will fight, or you will die". It took to the skies.

"Aila, get your bow," Kathryn said.

"What? No, we need to run!"

"We can't."

"Why not? We can just get on the horses and..."

"Look." Aila looked where she was pointing. The horses were running away. "They got loose somehow. We can't outrun a dragon."

"But... but..."

The dragon let out a roar. Aila saw it coming fast. It opened its mouth. "YOL"

Kathryn pushed her aside just as it flew past them, spewing flames where they had just been a few moments ago. "Aila, get your bow!" Kathryn said again.

"We can't fight a dragon! We can't!"

"Aila, you need to calm down. We don't have any other option."

Aila tried to get her breathing under control. She nodded "Okay."

The dragon flew towards them again and hovered above them. "Krif! Uv los hi rem nivahriin?"

"Run!" Kathryn yelled.

Aila ran for the tent as fast as she could and grabbed her bow. She slung the quiver across her back and ran back out. Kathryn was throwing an ice spike at the dragon. She had good aim, but it simply bounced off its scales. When Kathryn saw her she yelled, "Shoot it!"

Aila nocked an arrow and took aim. Her hand were sweaty and shaky, and when she fired, she was far from close. The dragon noticed her shot, and turned its head toward her. "YOL"

A fireball came hurtling at Aila. She tried to dive out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough. It hit her in the leg, and Aila yelled out in pain as it burned. Kathryn took the chance to throw another ice spike at it. This time it hit the soft membrane of the dragon's wings. It pierced through, and the dragon roared. It staggered for a moment before regaining its balance and turned its attention to Kathryn.

Aila took a deep breath and nocked another arrow. She pulled back and aimed carefully. She fired and the arrow went straight through the dragons other wing. The smaller arrows left smaller hole than Kathryn's ice spikes, but every little bit counted. Aila quickly nocked some more arrows, her hands shaking all the while, and fired them, and each one left a hole in the dragon's wings. It snarled in pain, and Aila could see it struggling to keep aloft. As two more ice spikes pierced its wings, they couldn't support the dragon any more, and it went down.

The ground shook from the force of the dragon's crash landing. Aila saw Kathryn draw her sword and run at it. When she swung, however, the sword only bounced off its scales, just at her ice spike had. The dragon snarled at her. "Thuri Karsten lost nid nuft fah hi, mungrohiik." it said, and raised its wing and swatted Kathryn down.

"Kathryn!" Aila screamed. Suddenly, all her fears melted away. She ignored the pain in her leg and nocked an arrow. The dragon turned its head at her, and Aila saw what she had to do. It's scales were too thick to penetrate. She pulled back and fired. It threw its head back and let out a thundering roar as the arrow pierced its eye. Aila dropped her bow and ran for the dragon. As she picked up the sword Kathryn had dropped, the dragon's tail lashed out and whipped her in the chest, sending her to the ground. She stood back up despite her body's intense protest and picked up the sword again. The dragon was roaring, so Aila swung at it, only to get its attention. The blade bounced off its scales just as always, but the dragon looked at her and growled. It opened its jaws. "YOL"

As the flames filled the dragon's mouth, Aila stabbed at it. The blade went through the roof of it mouth and sprouted out the dragon's head. The flames died away as the dragon did. Aila let go of the sword and pulled her hand out of the dragon's mouth. She winced and looked at her hand. It covered in burns. She suddenly realized how tired she was. It didn't matter. She was too worried about Kathryn to care about herself. "Kathryn!" Aila ran to her. She was struggling to stand when she reached her. Aila helped her up. "Are you okay?"

"Me? What about you? How can you even move?"

Aila looked down at herself. Her hand and her leg was burned, and her ribs were most likely broken. Her arm hurt the most, though. When she looked, she saw blood flowing from a circular wound. One of the dragon's teeth must have punctured her arm when she stabbed it. She was in pain. A lot of pain. But all that would only worry Kathryn. She clutch her arm and said, "I'm fine."

"Fine?" Kathryn said, incredulous. "You are not fine. We need to get you to a healer. Come on, let's..." She stopped and stared at the dead dragon.

"What?" Aila asked.

"Something's happening."

"What is?" She looked at the dragon and saw for herself.

Its flesh was burning away. As its scales melted, a light emerged from within the dragon. The light suddenly rushed towards Aila. It swirled around her for a moment, and then seeped into her skin. Aila suddenly felt better. Her chest stopped hurting. She looked at her arm and saw her burns fading away, and the wound closing up. By the time the dragon's flesh burned away, leaving nothing but bones, Aila had been completely healed. Aila could hear words echoing through her mind. They weren't her words, though, they were the dragons. The dragons last thoughts. Zu'u dir ko ahmik wah Thuri. Stranger still, Aila understood the words. I die in service to my overlord.

Overlord. At the word, Aila saw a man. His hair was black as ink, and his eyes were the color of charcoal. His face was slim and pale. Aila saw him, and felt all of what the dragon felt about him. Ancient and young. Weak, but strong. One, yet many. And above all, eternal.

He faded from her mind as soon as he came. Aila realized Kathryn was calling her name. "Aila? Aila? Are you alright?"

Aila shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well, you wounds are gone. Are you sure your alright? I... I don't know what just happened."

"Neither do I. I feel fine, though. Great, actually." She felt better than ever. Stronger than ever.

"Well, if you insist."

Aila looked at the dragon skeleton. "What do we do now?"

"I... I'm not sure. The horses are gone, and all our stuff has turned to ash."

Aila sighed "This can't get much worse."

"Hey." Kathryn pulled Aila close and wrapped her arms around her. "At least we're still alive."

They stood silently for a moment, wrapped in each others arms. "I wonder what that dragon was saying earlier." Kathryn said after a while.

"I think... I think some on sent it after us."

"What? How could someone command a dragon? And why would they send it after us?"

"I don't know, but after the dragon burned I saw something."

Aila told her about her vision. "So you think this man sent the dragon after us? Why?" Kathryn asked.

Aila shook her head. "I don't know."

Kathryn thought for a while. "Well, it makes no matter. What does, it that we have no food, no gold, and no horses."

"How far are we from Riften?" Aila asked.

"On horseback, about a two days. I'm not sure how long on foot."

"Well, we're not going to get anywhere just standing here."

"No," Kathryn agreed, "we're not." And they started walking.