Sahloknir: Return to Riverwood
Arn crouched carefully amongst some bushes, taking careful aim with his bow at the crouched figure some thirty paces away.
Unless it was enchanted somehow, there was no way the greenish hued light armor would hold up against a well placed arrow.
For a moment, memories of being a hunted, wanted man resurfaced in his mind, wondering if getting on the Thalmor's wanted list was a good idea, but he pushed them out.
Not if they never knew what hit them.
Relaxing his breath, he released the arrow and heard the satisfying clack and thud as it pierced the light armor and keeled the Thalmor agent over in place.
He only had to wait a few minutes before he spotted the other two sneaking up the path, predictably investigating the noise.
He waited for them to turn parallel to him before he unleashed arrows in quick succession, downing both of them, but the second one still gasped and flailed on the ground.
Cautiously surveying the surroundings again before he emerged, Arn marched forward to loom over the bewildered Thalmor who had managed to apply a healing potion before Arn stepped on and pinned the Thalmor's left arm away from his body, bringing the tip of the crackling ebony longsword to his neck.
"Anymore of you sots around? My blade thirsts!" sneered Arn as the Thalmor angrily stared up at him.
"Barbarians...the lot of you!" the Thalmor wheezed before Arn had had enough and stabbed down through the fool's face, ending the tirade Arn knew was coming.
Making his way down the path and around to the shrine of Talos, he knelt reverently and withdrew Torygg's war horn.
Placing it carefully at the feet of the statue of Talos, Arn whispered a prayer for the deceased King's soul and rose slowly afterward, eyeing the statue as he pondered, but a slight scuff of noise behind him made him whirl and drop into a crouch with bow drawn and arrow nocked as Lydia kicked the ground in frustration some thirty paces away.
"Arrgh! Damnit! I almost got you!" She bemoaned "You have to admit I got closer this time without you realizing it" she asserted with a smirk as she sauntered up to him.
"I told you this was a personal errand. You were supposed to stay in Whiterun" Arn replied a little sourly, unsure how upset he should be with her.
"You don't have to be ashamed of worshipping Talos" she replied cheerily, kneeling and making a sign of acknowledgement at the foot of the Shrine
"I don't worship Talos" Arn replied flatly, drawing raised eyebrows from Lydia.
"Then why-"
"An errand for someone else" Arn replied as he turned and began walking back up the path to the overlook.
"So you don't think Talos is a divine or..." Lydia trailed off not daring to finish the question as she followed behind him.
"In these four months since we've been together, have you seen me pray to anyone, wear anyone's signets or amulets, pay homage at anyone's temple?" Arn replied a bit more angrily than he meant to.
"Well, no..."
"If you'd seen what happened during the Great War, people of every race and tongue praying to their gods, and telling everyone else that they were...better or more powerful than the others and were going to do this thing or that thing!..."
"In the end, none of it mattered" Arn muttered angrily as he reached the Thalmor corpses and nudged one over with his foot, looking at the shocked look on the angular face.
"Thalmor..." Lydia whispered as she saw the corpses.
"Yes, I figured they'd have someone watching the shrine. The ones below would confront anyone who showed up and if they put up any sort of fight, this sot here was up top to support them...so predictable" Arn sighed in contempt as he knelt down to search the bodies.
"So...you don't believe in any of the Divines or Daedra?" Lydia asked both cautiously and incredulously, surprisingly disinterested in the Thalmor.
"I didn't say I didn't believe they exist. I just don't think any of them much care about us lowly mortals."
"But-they interact with us" Lydia tried to reason.
"Who? The Divines? When was the last time anyone interacted with Kynareth...Akatosh...Stendarr...Julianos? And no, despite what people brag about in taverns, Dibella doesn't show up anytime a couple ruts themselves senseless" Arn scoffed.
"But you've interacted with a Daedra"
"Two of them, actually...though, I wouldn't term them gods or even benevolent, really...more like a strange distant relative. You have to be associated with them but you don't really know who they are or what they will do on a given occasion."
"Wait, I was with you at Meridia's temple last week. So I remember that, but who and when was the other one?" she asked, surprised.
"Sheogorath...in the Pelagius wing of the Blue Palace in Solitude"
"INSIDE the Blue Palace?!" Lydia asked, stunned.
"Look, it's a long story. I'll tell you when we're on the road sometime. Right now, we need to get everything off these corpses and get rid of the bodies" Arn replied, glancing around.
A day later, they were on the road again, finally bound toward Riverwood after a delay of nearly two weeks setting out from Solitude.
The horses made the trip go by faster, but Arn still felt conflicted.
Detouring to deal with Meridia's temple had been somewhat necessary, not to mention getting the finest looking longsword Arn had ever seen out of it, as he looked down at the reddish white glowing crest just above the handle of Dawnbreaker.
Getting forcibly bedridden by Lydia for a week hadn't been part of the plan. He had underestimated her resolve to make sure he got healed when they got back to Whiterun and after the first night's rest, found himself without any armor or clothes besides his smallpants, forcing him to remain in Breezehome until she deemed him 'ready' again.
He'd never found out where she'd hidden his things but he was almost positive Ysolda in the marketplace had something to do with it.
He had to admit it wasn't too terrible to rest for a week while Lydia doted on him like an invalid. The biggest problem was having her in just her leathers that close to him that often. He would frequently have to turn away from her or huddle himself so that she wouldn't notice his loins responding as she tended him.
Hard to believe he was that affected by her still after everything with Elisif in Solitude.
On a positive note, Lydia seemed to enjoy every minute of it. No more moody looks or snide remarks like the sort he'd gotten in Solitude.
As they approached Riverwood now, Lydia piped up for the first time since he'd finished the story about the Pelagius wing and Sheogorath.
"Can I ask you a personal question?" she wondered cautiously.
"I guess so" Arn replied, keeping his eyes on the surrounding area.
"You said back at the Shrine of Talos you didn't believe the Divines cared or interacted with us. Are you still sure about that after becoming the Dragonborn?" she eyed him worriedly.
Arn wanted to just dismiss her concerns like earlier. It was far easier to just deny it and move on, but there had been a nagging in his mind since Helgen.
Between Idgrod's prophecies, the Dragons, and his own sudden abilities as Dragonborn, Arn was no longer sure of a lot of the things he'd known before and felt there was far more that he wasn't aware of.
It was a similar feeling to when he'd found out his father had been killed in a Thalmor raid, except this was gradual instead of sudden.
It wasn't supposed to happen. It didn't make much sense, and it totally destroyed whatever plans he had made or expected in life up to that point.
"I used to be very sure...now Dragons roam the land and I've discovered a strange power in my veins. So...No...I guess I'm not sure anymore" Arn replied thoughtfully, though it came out more sadly than he intended.
He was surprised by the firm touch of her hand on his gauntlet as she looked at him with concern.
She opened her mouth to say something, but instead closed it and simply patted his forearm before withdrawing her hand, trying to give him a reassuring smile as they trotted into Riverwood's outskirts.
Arn was happy to let the matter drop.
Making their way to the Inn, Arn was greeted by some of the same sights from last time as he entered, immediately drawing Delphine's attention as they moved across the room.
Attired in the same bland peasant frock he'd seen her in before, she bee lined to them and looked as if she was going to say something until she noticed Lydia, both women eyeing each other before Arn spoke up.
"We'd like to rent the attic room" muttered Arn sourly, remembering the note.
"We don't have an attic room here, but you can have the last one on the right there" she responded curtly, pointing as she continued eyeing Lydia critically.
Not wishing to be caught up in anything else that would slow them up, Arn pushed by and Lydia followed suit as they made themselves comfortable in the aforementioned room.
Arn wasn't terribly surprised when only a few minutes later Delphine slipped in the door and made a silencing motion to them before moving to the closet on the side and activating a hidden lever which opened the back into a dark passage down into a hidden basement.
"Why am I not surprised..." muttered Arn as they silently followed Delphine down the steps into a well lit area stocked with weapons, rations, armors, and a surprisingly detailed map on a large table with books piled here and there.
"So...you're the Dragonborn..." murmured Delphine, eyeing him cautiously, with an arm across her chest while resting her chin in her other hand.
"If you'd stayed around Dragonsreach a little longer that night, you would've found out" retorted Arn.
"Is she your woman or a hired blade?" Delphine nodded at Lydia, who blushed brightly at the former insinuation.
"Housecarl" snapped Lydia.
"Where are you-" Delphine had begun to ask.
"Enough with the questions!" Arn cut her off "What's with all the codes and secrecy?! What's the point of making me travel halfway across Skyrim and back? Not finding the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller made me very...displeased" Arn hissed, toning his voice down as Delphine made a shushing motion and nodded upward toward the Inn.
"I had to make sure you weren't a...plant, decoy, or fraud" Delphine retorted
"You honestly think someone could've done the things I've done and NOT be real?" Arn scoffed, folding his gauntleted forearms angrily.
"Sure, if you had help" Delphine didn't budge.
Arn huffed in obvious displeasure.
"So you've taken the Horn, kept me from getting it to the Greybeards, and made me chase across half the land to find you, and now, you still aren't telling me what this is all about!" Arn hissed angrily.
"Before I explain anything else or give you the Horn, there's something I need you to do" Delphine stated almost formally, ignoring Arn's rant.
"And before I do anything for you, I need you to give me the Horn and start explaining" retorted Arn.
" I have to be sure of-"
"The HORN...NOW!" growled Arn, refusing to be denied after coming all this way.
For a moment, there was a palpable tension as each eyed the other.
"I respect the journey I've put you through, but you must understand I have an obligation to others in this matter. You can do and think what you like, but I owe it to them to take care of matters you aren't even aware of yet!" Delphine replied with a fiery conviction in her demeanor.
Remembering what he knew about her and seeing the truth in her eyes as she spoke, Arn finally relented after a few powerful moments of silence.
"Fine, ONE errand and then I will demand answers" Arn stated, backing up and leaning against the map table with crossed arms.
"Very well, then...You've seen that Dragons have appeared. No one seems to know why, but I have a theory. I need you to help me prove it" Delphine replied.
"And?"
"I'm trying to find out how the Dragons are coming back, and I think the next one will appear just east of Kynesgrove. I'd like you to go with me there and investigate" Delphine looked hopefully at Arn, who simply nodded "Good, I'll get changed, make the arrangements and we'll get going."
The next morning, all three departed early, but the journey was passed mostly in silence, Arn still frustrated with a lack of answers and both the women taking an instant dislike to each other for some reason.
When they were almost to Kynesgrove, a large contingent of soldiers appeared on the bluffs on either side of the road as half a dozen more stepped out into the road to confront them.
Arn had to admit they had done a good job of concealing themselves and silently began taking stock of their numbers and positions even as Delphine began arguing with one of them about being stopped.
"What business brings you into Stormcloak territory?" one of them demanded at Arn.
"Heard there was a dragon to be slain" Arn replied in a nonchalant fashion, trying to gauge the threat these soldiers posed.
"And you think you're some sort of professional dragon slayer?" came the mocking response to snickers and laughter from some of the others "Just who do you think you are?" scoffed the Stormcloak with his hands on his hips, still chuckling at the previous response.
Just as Arn was about to enlighten the fool to whom he was addressing, he caught a look of warning from Delphine, who'd apparently gotten nowhere with the soldier she was arguing with.
"Just...an adventurer" replied Arn, swallowing his pride for the moment, growing suddenly concerned as he noted two soldiers coming up behind Lydia's horse, eyeing her and her pack suspiciously.
"You're awfully well off for JUST an adventurer" replied the Stormcloak, nodding at Arn's armor, weapons, and pack.
"Some adventurers kill some overgrown spiders and brag about it while spending their few coins in taverns. Others kill dragons, clear ruins, and wipe out bandits. You judge which is more profitable" Arn tried to assert as he kept eyeing them.
"HEY! Back off!" Arn bellowed angrily as several of them had tried to grab the reins on Delphine and Lydia's horses, prompting several to draw weapons and Arn found himself targeted by half a dozen archers before calm settled again.
"We haven't heard of any big name adventurer in these parts for a long time. Anyone around here with half a fighting sense has joined the war, as any true Nord should" scoffed the Stormcloak.
"Don't start on the speeches. I already had enough trouble from the Imperials. I HAD thought Stormcloak territory would be more hospitable" Arn retorted, trying a different tactic.
"Just what sort of trouble?" asked another.
"The damn fools tried to kill me at Helgen" Arn huffed.
"Helgen's a ruin. You'll have to think up something better" they chuckled.
"And do you know how it became a ruin? A dragon. Laugh if you want now, but ask your Jarl Ulfric. He was a prisoner there with me, bound and gagged for fear he would use his voice. If it wasn't for the Dragon attack, you might be leaderless right now" Arn retorted, growing impatient.
At the mention of Ulfric's name, most of them stopped laughing and the foremost of them that had done most of the talking eyed Arn cautiously, probably weighing whether the story was true.
"You could be an Imperial spy with knowledge of the incident" he mused.
"Would a spy ride around armed as I am?" Arn retorted, gesturing at his armor and making sure to turn so that the glowing crest and hilt of Dawnbreaker became visible.
"Gods! What is it?"
"Where did he get that?" came the responding murmurs.
Arn saw the leader's eyes widen in surprise at the radiating light emitting from the powerful longsword and regarded Arn with surprise.
"Very well, then" he relented, motioning the others away from Delphine and Lydia's horses "But tell me. How came you by such a blade as that?" the Stormcloak asked incredulously.
Just as Arn opened his mouth to answer, a booming roar echoed through the sky and around them in the woods, making them all look up.
Arn had only a brief moment to register the large dark shape swooping by before a massive fireball exploded off to their left, incinerating the Stormcloaks that had been there and exploding the trees into flaming shrapnel, sending fragments flying everywhere.
In only a matter of seconds the roadside stop had become a flaming inferno, filled with the cries of the dying and pieces of flaming trees flying everywhere.
Arn had instinctively huddled on his horse which startled and darted forward even as he felt small shards of wood plink off his armor.
As he got the horse back under control, he turned to see both Delphine and Lydia had followed suit and looked unscathed.
Arn looked back at the scene of burning trees, bodies, and scurrying Stormcloaks.
"Come on! We have to get to that Dragon!" urged Delphine, putting the spurs to her steed once she'd checked on Arn.
Following suit, they all rode at full gallop the remaining short distance into the small hamlet of Kynesgrove.
The Dragon had just been here too. Several houses lay in flaming ruins and a few bodies lay here and there.
Following Delphine further, they galloped out of Kynesgrove and up the large hill on the opposite side before she halted suddenly on her horse and dismounted, motioning them to cover.
Taking up position behind some large rocks, they peered through the openings cautiously at the valley below and there Arn saw it.
It was the same Dragon he'd seen in Helgen, huge and black with orange zig zagging patterns on it, far larger than even Nahlslennir had been.
It was hovering over a large mound, bellowing waves of force down into it, words echoing in the Dragon tongue, but Arn couldn't decipher them.
Then even Arn felt himself inhale sharply along with Delphine and Lydia as the mound caved in on itself and another Dragon emerged glowing with magical energy from it.
The newly formed Dragon bowed its head and growled more Dragon tongue as the two Dragons seemed to converse back and forth for a moment before the big one turned and looked straight to where Arn and the others were hiding and roared that unmistakable word Arn knew...Dovahkin!
They knew they were there, even talking about him!
In a flash, the larger dragon turned and flew rapidly away to the west, leaving the newer dragon turning to regard them behind the rocks.
"They know we're here" stated Arn before removing his bow and nocking an arrow as he moved from cover, Lydia doing the same in the opposite direction.
The dark blue colored Dragon Arn recognized must be named Sahloknir from the conversation with the other growled a few words at him before galloping forward out of the mound and up the rocky terrain of the valley, roaring loudly.
Immediately, both Arn and Lydia were firing arrows at Salohknir's left wing.
"Hah!" cried Delphine furiously as she charged down toward the dragon, sword and shield at the ready.
"NO! Wait!" Arn tried to caution, holding up his next shot as she ran through his line of fire.
Seeing the woman running down at him, Sahloknir slowed momentarily before belching frost breath up at her, causing her to dive behind a rock and duck behind her shield as the area became covered and coated with ice.
Then, with a roar of rage at the arrows repeatedly piercing his left wing, Sahloknir latched on to a boulder with one of his clawed forelimbs and hurled it through the air at Lydia, who only had a moment to dive away before it whooshed by where she'd been standing.
Turning on Arn, the Dragon leaped upward through the air with a few flaps of wings and was about to land right on top of Arn.
"FUS RO DA!"
The wave of force hit Sahloknir on his descent and knocked him backwards onto his back on the downward slope, flailing to right himself as Delphine emerged and tried to get some good strikes on the vulnerable Dragon.
But Sahloknir was too fast getting on his feet and spun around quickly, lashing Delphine with a swat of his tail, sending her flying backwards with a painful THWACK against a boulder, leaving her lying helplessly moaning in and out of consciousness.
Even as this happened, Arn was leaping off a large boulder overhead, descending on the Dragon before it turned and opened its mouth to engulf him with its breath.
"WULD NA KEST!"
Exploding forward through the air, Arn connected shield first against the dragon's snout, knocking it down just enough to avoid flinging himself straight into its mouth.
Arn tried stabbing, but still in the air, he had no leverage and simply scraped off the Dragon's snout weakly just before landing shakily and stumbling back.
Barely a moment later, the Dragon's open maw was descending on Arn from overhead, intending to crush and swallow him in one snap.
Leaping to the side, he sliced across the side of the Dragon's jaws as they missed and thudded into the ground where he'd been standing with enough force to shake the ground.
But Arn couldn't avoid the blunt force of the Dragon's head connecting with him as it swung its head sideways, knocking Arn off his feet and sending him back fifteen feet, sliding through gravel to a halt as the Dragon repositioned before turning to note the moaning form of Delphine and moved to snap her up even as arrows plinked off its head from Lydia's desperate shots.
"SAHLOKNIR!" Arn bellowed, rising to his feet, his invocation of the Dragon's name forcing it to turn and regard him just as he was about to devour Delphine.
With a mighty heave, Arn threw his ebony longsword end over end straight at the Dragon's head.
In a fit of pride, the Dragon opened his jaws and attempted to crunch the blade, not realizing the quality of it and instead succeeded only in having it puncture out the bottom of its mouth as it snapped it jaws shut.
Bellowing in pain, Sahloknir grabbed another boulder and hurled it at Lydia, who's arrows were now becoming more than a nuisance to the beast as Arn drew Dawnbreaker and charged.
But charging proved foolish as the Dragon spun and the tail caught Arn and threw him back a long way, impacting the gravel hard further up the other side of the small valley.
Arn could feel blood dripping down part of his face as he groggily tried to right himself and find where he'd dropped Dawnbreaker, even as he sensed the ground shaking with the Dragon's approaching.
Suddenly, Arn was pushed down into the gravel by a massive weight and realized with horror that Sahloknir had pinned him to the ground with a clawed forelimb as it loomed over him.
He blinked blood out of one eye long enough to see the Dragon raise a boulder in its other clawed limb to crush Arn with.
"ZUN HAAL VIIK!"
To the Dragon's surprise, Arn's shout of power wrenched the boulder free and flung it some thirty feet away.
It turned to regard him momentarily, growling something in the Dragon tongue before Arn heard Lydia's war cry on the Dragon's flank and it bellowed in pain at whatever she was doing, moving and apparently swatting her away with its tail because he heard her cry of pain and the CLANK of metal on rock a short moment later.
Strangely, he was more worried about her at that moment than he was for himself.
Turning back to him, the Dragon's jaws descended on him, but all this time, Arn had been fumbling around for Dawnbreaker and finally he had found it and plunged it into the claw holding him down while shouting into the descending face of Sahloknir.
"FUS RO DA!"
The effect of both blows sent it reeling back and freed Arn to get back on his feet, feeling a nasty gash on his side as he did.
Even as the Dragon was righting itself, Arn was already there, slashing and cutting at its joints and weaker plated areas.
Feeling weak from using so many words of power, Arn wasn't able to capitalize on the opportunity though, and it was only a second or two before Sahloknir swatted him away with a clawed hand.
Getting to his feet for what felt like the hundreth time this fight, Arn had only a moment to crouch behind his shield as flames engulfed him from Sahloknir's maw.
The enchantments did their job, keeping him from being incinerated, surprising Sahloknir again as he let up.
Growling some more, the Dragon grabbed another boulder and rose to crush Arn with it and a combination of its upper body coming down to crush him at the same time.
Hurling the large boulder down at Arn, he only had a fraction of a second to step a little to his left before shouting it back into the Dragon's face.
"FUS RO DA!"
The boulder immediately reversed direction as if by catapult and struck the Dragon hard in the head with a sickening crunch, shattering the boulder into several pieces and knocking Sahloknir off his feet backwards.
Though his head was growing foggy, Arn charged down shakily, stabbing wherever he could into the groaning Dragon, who finally spasmed and stopped moving.
Stabbing and stabbing again, Arn roared with a war cry as his arms finally had had enough and he slumped onto the Dragon's neck, utterly spent, but dragged himself to his feet moments later and stumbled out amongst the boulders, terrified he hadn't seen or heard anything from Lydia since the Dragon had pinned him.
His heart leaped into his throat as he finally spotted her laying slumped down by a boulder, face down and unmoving.
"Lydia! Lydia!" he heard himself yelling frantically as he ignored the painful cries of his body as he ran and slid to his knees by her side, carefully rolling her over.
"Oouuuwww" she groaned, groggily opening her eyes, looking at him through a grimace of pain.
"Can you move? Are you alright?!" Arn hollered, wrenching his helmet and gauntlets off before he carefully helped her sit up.
"Is it dead?! Lydia suddenly asked, alarmed and trying to stand up.
"Yes...yes...we did it...again" Arn murmured, restricting her from standing for the moment and finding themselves suddenly hugging each other in relief, laughing for some strange reason, relief flooding over both of them as they breathed heavily with exhaustion.
"I can't believe that really just happened" came another voice, shaking both Arn and Lydia out of their embrace and bringing them back to the realization they hadn't been alone as they turned to see Delphine had recovered and was limping down the hillside toward them and the Dragon's corpse.
Arn was about to say something when the glowing light suddenly engulfed him and he was seized into the air by the soul absorption, visions and words flashing through his mind as he was suspended in midair, glowing with a golden light as both women watched speechless.
Arn found himself back in the supportive arms of Lydia as he slumped down out of the air and looked up at Delphine who was standing there wide eyed and mouth slightly agape.
"You truly are Dragonborn..." was all she stuttered out as she stared almost incredulously at Arn, who was struggling to his feet.
"Of course...now...about that damn explanation" He growled.