jmsdragn: No its not, 'You can add short author notes to the beginning or at the end of stories' – the last AN was like 10% of the chapter, that's still fairly short. If you don't like it just scroll down.
Thorndsword: Did you miss the part about Nuclear War and Ginny getting her heart cut out then?
Brogatar: You'll see in about 3 chapters, but in answer: Significantly.
RoyalTwinFangs: Might have to take the wings off, but sure. Good point with the animals, however, to be fair, the Draugr are perfectly good for guard duty and fighting, and there's like thousands of them buried all over Skyrim. However, I've already got a menagerie planned (for alchemy), which could be used for war.
DarkArmour: Already planned the illusion, pretty sure you'll like it.
T1mmy: It was really me being annoyed at the armour in game. Dragonplate looks really bulky and horrible, and the hat for Dragonscale is ridiculous. But it was mainly me just thinking about something cool.
AN: This was originally going to be much longer, but then i thought just leave it at this, it seemed a natural break.
Footsteps echoed off the rough stonework in the night. Above them the glowing eyes and beak of the eagle of the Skyforge glowered against a pitch black sky.
"So whats this about?" asked a young white haired man by the name of Kodlak.
Jergen shrugged, small flickers of red from the firelight issuing from the brazier they were standing around reflected in Harald's old armour that he had given the Companion.
"It's another mission, one that needs all of us. Clearly." Said Rollo, tugging at his beard.
"None of the Circle apart from the Harbinger and Ular made it back from wherever they went." Put in Yvette.
"And Ular came back with half an arm."
"Where'd you hear that?" asked Kodlak, the newest member of the band, brought back by Askar from Hammerfell after working with a mercenary band.
"Saw him being carried into the Temple." Replied Yvette, nodding past the Gildergreen toward Kynareth's sacred House.
"Think we're going to avenge them or something?" asked Jergen, his armour grinding loudly as he leant against the rock the Skyforge was built on.
"Doubt it." Harald put in. He had also looked in on Ular as he came into the city, or rather, dropped in, much to the surprise of Olaf Gray-Mane who brought his hammer down wrong on a sword and broke it in two. Harald ha repaired the sword and collected his own, a beautiful black blade with a roaring dragon's head picked out in carven ivory for a hilt.
The Companions looked at him.
"How do you know?" asked Kodlak.
Harald was not offended by the question, as the only thing that shone out from the young man's eyes was honesty, Harald would have betted that he might be Harbinger in the future.
"He tends to about this sort of thing." Said Yvette in Harald's defence.
"Aye." Put in Rollo, "And there's always a complicated but correct explanation."
Kodlak looked hesitantly to Jergen, who shrugged. "And he can fly."
The other's eyes widened in proportion to the time they had been around Harald, and he chuckled softly.
"Well we have several variables here do we not?" he asked rhetorically, "One, the Circle departed and did not return." The other nodded, "Two, the Circle is the advisory council to the Companions, they are the figureheads." He hesitated to use the word leader, as the Companions had no central command, just he Harbinger who 'advised'. It was less a guild, and more an arrangement of friends. 'Act honourably, and the rest of us will help you out when you need it.' – That sort of thing.
"Three." Harald continued, "We are the senior members now."
"So?" asked Rollo without preamble after Harald had finished.
Jergen opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it, reconsidering.
"I get it." Yvette said suddenly. "Harald thinks the Companions need a new Circle."
Harald nodded magnanimously.
"He would be right." Sounded a deep voice from the shadows and the swarthy, thick set form of Askar walked out.
"Ular is likely to die this night, if not tomorrow," continued Askar. "So says the healers."
"And you need people to show the new recruits the ropes?" put in Yvette.
Askar nodded. "This is the entrance to the Underforge, a place carved out on the orders of Rundgar, seven hundred years after the death of Ysgramor.
Harald raised a finger to his temple, his eyes glowed briefly and he could see through the rock into a smaller chamber, a large stone basin inside. "Well hidden." He complimented.
Askar touched a place on the rock near Jergen's shoulder and the rock receded. Jergen stumbled slightly as he regained his footing, and they all followed Askar inside. Taking up station around the basin the Companions waited for their Harbinger to speak, Harald noted the extensive carvings of hunts and great wolves on the walls and ceiling, whilst the basin itself was supported by four snarling muzzles.
"Centuries ago." Askar began, "A Harbinger named Terrfyg made a pact with a coven of witches in the dark woods of Falkreach, these witches promised incredible power in return for following their Prince."
"Hircine." Guessed Harald quietly, after all, wolves and hunts? That was the sphere of the Huntsman.
A flit of irritation went quickly across Askars face. "I will be your forebear," he said, "Are you all prepared to join your spirits in the shared blood of the wolf?"
There were frowns from some of the Companions, probably because Harald had mentioned Daedra worship, however tenuous the connection. However, Harald felt he should probably encourage it, if he wasn't here they would have taken the blood without a thought.
"Go on then." He said.
After all, there would be a cure somewhere or other.
Askar nodded solemnly, and slitting his wrist, blood pumping out. Obviously the constitution of a werewolf was more robust than a normal human; otherwise Askar would have passed out from shock by now.
The Companions drunk of the blood, each in turn going into spasms afterwards, only Jergen remaining standing, Askar pushed them out a side passage which Harald guessed led to the outside. Eventually only Askar and he remained.
"Will you accept the power?" the Harbinger asked.
"It's not going to work." Harald predicted, but dipped a hand into the basin all the same, this was reminding him far too much of a certain underground lake filled with Inferi. His knuckles brushed the bottom and he brought the hand up, pouring the blood into his mouth. Some missed and began to run through his beard, but most left the coppery taste in his mouth as he swallowed.
Immediately he felt a stabbing pain in his chest, aches all over his body, like his bones were lengthening. But then something flared inside him, fire driving the pain away. For the first time in weeks his Dovah Sos boiled, raging though his veins, burning away the impurities.
"Wondering when you'd show up." Harald growled, his hands white as he grasped the lip of the basin.
After another minute of burning pain all over, the blood receded; Harald felt fresh blood run down his lips and knew he must have bitten his tongue. As he ran the offending muscle around his mouth to ascertain if he had in fact done as he thought he cut it again, this time on his canines, which, as he inspected them, had grown slightly longer. He could also feel a strange energy filling his body, not unlike when he grew closer to something Draconic.
Harald finally looked up, seeing Askar regarding him curiously.
"Once you've partaken of the heart of a Dragon, the blood of a Wolf ceases to have power over you." He managed to say, trying not to cut his tongue again.
"I didn't believe the rumours from Winterhold." Askar replied after a while, lifting Harald's chin and peering at his teeth. "It seems I was wrong, but, you certainly have the Wolfblood in you, and you are a true member of the Circle regardless."
Harald's laboured breathing began to ease.
"Rest now, I will speak with you on the morrow, the hunt can be dangerous for mortal to join." Said Askar, and with that he closed his eyes, throwing out his chest. A strangled groan grew from Askar's throat, his arms lengthened, the bones cracking and popping clearly audible, his mouth opened, his teeth sharp and pointed, eyes a glowing amber. Then his muscles began to swell, the skin on his shoulders ripping off, skin darkening underneath and sprouting tufts of fur. Then his mouth lengthened into a snout, his face unrecognisable as Askar let loose a roar that reverberated around the Underforge like a trumpet call in a cave.
With a single bound the Harbinger left the cave, a splash of water as he dropped into the White River.
Harald was left alone afterwards, and managed to stagger out with a pain slowly building behind his eyes, then down into Jorrvaskr, finding a bed and crashing into it.
That night he dreamt of a black dragon warring with a great wolf, its coat as black as the scales on the dragon, each vying for dominance as the two bloods that ran through his veins battled for a portion of his soul. Later in the battle a huge man strode down on a bridge of bones, a bronze torc around his thick neck. The Warrior attacked both Dragon and Wolf, and the two darkness's were driven away by the light that shone from the bridge of bones, an aurora flaring in the sky, casting light on the claws of the Dragon as it rended the Wolf's flesh, on the teeth of the Wolf as it snarled at the man, and the axe blade of the warrior as he hacked at the Dragon's scales.
In the end the Dragon took to the skies, and the Wolf slunk away to lick its wound in a dark forest of pines. The man took up a stone and began to sharpen his axe, and as the dawn crept on he departed, great booted steps spanning across the bridge of bones to a great hall.