Chapter 26: Back in Riften
After defeating the dragon in Whiterun, the trio resumed their way to Riften. They decided to rent a carriage instead of walking, since it would be a lot faster.
Once they arrived in the City, the guard at the gate recognized them and opened the door.
"So, where do we start?" Mabel asked, and looked around. Riften was still as unsettling as ever.
"Maybe we should ask the Innkeeper." Wendy suggested. "I've heard him mentioning the ratway."
"Uhm, didn't Delphine tell us to speak with someone named Brynjolf?" Dipper said.
"Do you know who he is?" Wendy asked him, and he shook his head. "See. We can't talk to him if we don't know what he looks like. Now let's get to the Inn."
They entered the Bee and Barb and talked to the Innkeeper. Their old friend explained to them that the Ratway is under the market, and can be accessed through the door under the blacksmith. They followed his description and found the door.
The stench inside the Ratway was pretty bad, and garbage laid around everywhere. They followed the tunnel until they were attacked by two people. The first one hit Wendy with an axe, but the weapon didn't get through the Ebony Armor. She countered the attack and killed him with a swordslash.
The other one attacked Mabel, but was defeated with an Ice Spike through the chest. While wandering through the catacombs, they had to admit that it was pretty much a labyrinth. Remains of camps were scattered all over the place, and at one point there even was a opening in the ceiling, letting in sunlight.
A couple more lowlifes attacked them along the way, but were all dispatched easily. After half an hour of searching and getting lost, they finally arrived at the Ragged flagon.
The Innkeeper told them this place was some kind of tavern, and the place they would most likely get information about Esbern. The tavern had a big pond of water in the middle, and a counter withs some chair and tables in the back.
Lowlifes and thieves sat everywhere, and they randomly asked one.
"Hey there. We are looking for some old guy, hiding down here." Mabel said.
He took a swig from his drink. "Huh. Lot of old guys around. I don't really know how I can help."
"Please. We need to find him. His life is in danger." Mabel looked at the guy with big eyes.
The thief sighed. "Maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age, but I actually believe you. Who do you search for?"
"His name is Esbern." Dipper answered.
He thought about it for a moment. Dipper could have sworn to see someone leaving as they asked that. "He's holed up in the Ratway Warrens. Be careful. You're not the only one looking for him."
He got back to his drink and the trio left towards the Warrens. "You think the Thalmor are already here?" Wendy asked, while they walked through the tunnels.
"Probably. We need to be careful."
As they entered the Warrens, they were instantly attacked by a Thalmor soldier. He swung his sword above their heads,but he didn't expect them to be so small, and nearly tripped. This opened an attack window for the others, and an arrow dug into the Thalmors spine.
Along the way they were attacked by another Soldier, but won too. After some time, and getting lost again, they found a heavily locked door.
Mabel decided to knock. "Go away!" A voice yelled from behind the door.
"Esbern? Is that you?" Mabel asked.
"What?! No, that's not me. I'm not Esbern. I don't know what you're talking about." If one thing was sure, this guy was a bad liar.
"Open the door please. Delphine sent us!" Wendy yelled.
"Delphine? How do you… so you've finally found her, and she led you to me. And here I am, caught like a rat in a trap."
"Say what now?" Mabel asked.
"You're most likely with the Thalmor. And this is just a trick to open the door." The three looked at each other confused. Delphine really wasn't joking when she said he was paranoid.
"Delphine is save. She needs your help to stop the dragons." Mabel yelled through the door.
There was a pause, as he was thinking. "So Delphine keeps up the fight, after all these years. You'd better come in and tell me how you found me and what you want." They heard the clicking and opening of locks, and judging by the number of noises, there were a lot of them. "This'll just take a moment…" They heard him working on a particulalyr heavy lock. "This one always sticks… There we go. Only a couple more." Around twenty seconds later, the last lock was opened. "There we are." He finally opened the door. He looked like they expected. Old, and dressed in torn up clothes. "Come in, come in! Make yourself at home! That's better. Now we can talk." He quickly closed the door again. "So, Delphine sent three kids to find me? I guess she realized how hopeless it all is."
The eyes of the three widened. "What do you mean by hopeless?" Dipper asked.
"Haven't you figured it out yet? What more needs to happen before you all wake up and see what's going on? Alduin has returned, just like the prophecy said! The dragon from the dawn of time, who devourer the souls of the dead! No one can escape his hunger, here or in the afterlife!"
"I'm sorry, but you sound more like a crazy preacher right now." Wendy told him.
"Wait, isn't Alduin the dragon that resurrects the others?" Dipper pointed out.
"Yes! Yes! You see, you know but you refuse to understand! Alduin will devour all things and the world will end!"
"Wait a moment. Do you mean the literal end of the world? Like, there is nothing left?" Mabel wanted to know.
"Oh yes. It's all been foretold. The end has begun. Alduin has returned. Only a Dragonborn can stop him. But no Dragonborn has been known for centuries. It seems that the gods have grown tired of us. They've left us to our fate, as the plaything of Alduin the World-Eater." He sat down, sinking his head into his hands.
"But there is hope!" Mabel said while patting him on the back.
"Yeah. Me and Mabel are Dragonborn." Dipper explained.
Esbern looked at them speechless. "What? You're… can it really be true? Dragonborn? Two of them? Then… there is hope! The gods have not abandoned us! We must… we must… We must go, quickly now. Take me to Delphine. We have much to discuss."
"Yeah! Also, we have time. Eating an entire planet should take years." Mabel said happily.
"Uhm, Alduin doesn't litteraly eat the world." Esbern noted, and started to pack his stuff.
Mabel frowned. "Oh. Bummer. Wait. We have to save the world?"
"I am afraid that you have to. I know it may be a lot of pressure for two kids, but I am sure Delphine knew why she send you. Say, have you already killed a dragon?"
"Four, to be exact." Wendy said, proud of herself.
"Then Delphine was right. You have a chance." He threw his bag over his hsoulder. "Now come. We have to go."
"One thing, there are Thalmor here." Wendy mentioned.
"What? Great. We have to be extra careful." They left his room and made their way back into the upper parts of the rat way, where a group of Thalmor already waited for them.
Amongst them was a nord. The twins recognized him as the guy who talked with the Thalmor at the embassy. The Thalmor themselves were well armored. Two of the three had a sword, and the last one was a wizard. The two groups charged into battle, one of the guards took on Wendy, the other one Dipper and the Wizard attacked Mabel, who had aid from Esbern. The nord tried to get a hit in when he could, and was armed with a dagger.
Esbern conjured a Flame Atronach, which looked like a woman made out of fire, and then switched to firespells. Mabel chose to use her Ward spell in one hand and the Lightning Bolt in the other. Although the Ice Spike seemed a bit more damaging, the Lightning bolt drained Magicka, which would be useful against another mage. The Wizard himself had a ward spell too, and thus a long battle started between the two. One held up his shield, then fired a spell, which was blocked by the others shield, who in turn repeated the process.
While that happend, Dipper and his opponent got up a staircase. Dipper used his bow to block strikes while he thought about a way to get a bit of distance. Thankfully his bow was strong enough to hold up against the sword.
"WULD!"
He dashed past the Thalmor up the stairs, and used the higher ground to get a good shot. The arrow burried itself into the Guards arm. The Altmer began to scream in pain, and Dipper guessed he must have hit some kind of artery, although he wasn't quite sure if Elves had the same build regarding bloodcirculation. The Thalmor bit his teeth and charged up the stairs, but his sword only hit the ground. He turned around and saw the pointy end of an arrow, before it dug into his chest. He ragdolled down the stairs.
Wendy duck under a strike, and in retalitation used her sword to slice the leg of the Elf. It was clear that this group had better armor than the two they fought before, and the nord that aided them was not helping either. Although she had to admit that he was more of an annoyance than anything. His dagger couldn't even cave her armor.
She blocked another blow with her shield, but the Thalmor used his free hand to grab her head. He then used his legs to kick her, which led her to fall down. He stood over her and held up his sword, striking at her. The blade crashed against her shoulder, and she used the chance to grab it. Thanks to the armor it didn't hurt, and she was able to push it to the side, which caused the Thalmor to fall onto her. She grapped her ax and rammed it into the Thalmors back. He cried out for a moment, and then went silent. Wendy pushed the body off of her, and got hit in the neck with the stumb of a dagger.
"I wont get my payment ruined by you!" The Nord yelled out in anger. Wendy turned around and knocked the guy out with one hit, breaking his nose in the process. She pulled her ax out of the Thalmor and wanted to help Mabel.
The Flame Atronach was a good help, as it shot fireball at the wizard. He wasn't able to hold up his shield against three enemies, and got hit by fire or lightning from time to time. As his shield failed once again, he got hit by a Lightning bolt and was unable to put it back up again. His Magicka was drained too much, and even the most basic Spells were impossible to cast. In panic, he pulled out his dagger and charged towards them, directly into the spells. Of course it didn't take long for him to fall over.
The four gathered around the unconscius nord. "So, what are we gonna do with him?" Wendy asked, and swiped the blood off her weapons.
"Gissur. I should have known." Esbern said with remorse.
Dipper looked at him. "You know him?"
"Yes, he lived down here for quite some time. Appearently he decided to betray me."
Wendy shrugged. "So, what now?"
Mabel looked at the guy, thought for a moment, and threw a Lightning bolt at him. Dipper immediatly got down and felt his pulse. "You killed him!"
"What? He could backstab us again, and we can't let information get out to the Thalmor."
As angry as he was, Dipper couldn't help but agree with her logic. But this was already the second, nearly third, time she killed someone out of anger or spite. If that wouldn't change, he would really need to get her to the College in Winterhold.
"Come on now, we need to get out of here." Esbern said. They followed him outside, where they set out for Riverwood.
Assorn and Tolgan had arrived in Whiterun. The town was being repaired, and a lot of citizens helped with the work. They had to admit their survival, but still had their mission. At the market, they encountered a blonde girl talking with a big guy, who Tolgan first thought to be a beaver man.
They approached the two. "Hey, we are searching for Mabel and Dipper Pines. Have you seen them?"
The two strangers looked at each other for a moment. "Yeah, I think they left for Riften. Why?"
"We have to ask them for help. Can you describe to us how they look?"
"No need. Here." The big one pulled out what the cultists assume to be a painting. Assorn thought that the artist was very skilled, if he was able to draw a realistic looking picture on such a small piece of paper. The guy showed them two kids in the front of the picture, which the two immediatly recognized.
"Th-Thanks. Goodbye." They left the city again.
"I can't believe it! Those kids screwed us over!"
"And I gave one of them two Spell Tomes."
"At least we now know who to search for. This time, they won't slip away."
And there's Chapter 26.
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