Cearbhail: Well, after taking a short break to reexamine my 'ability' to draw, I am back. Previously, I stated that I had no ability to draw, at all. Ask me to draw a stick figure, I'd mess that up. Now, with one try, I drew a character from my Bond Summoner's series. Not perfect, I might add. Face is a little...basic, but everything else wasn't bad. So, I can draw, somewhat.
Anywho...back to the author notes. What was the last chapter about? Oh, i forgot, I was too busy drawing. Anyway, once I get better, I will draw the little book cover. If you want a specific character up front, I will most likely take requests, but I was originally going to go with Ruby and Maleek trying to push each other out of the frame while Lydia face-palms and Asger laughs his ass off. And there to the left would be little Cecilie and older Cecilie, both glaring up at each other. Just what I was thinking of doing for fun.
Anyway, enjoy. Oh and... Chapter 50 surprise coming up!
Dear journal,
My gods, you'd think I would have run out of paper by now. Anyway, this day has gone from vampires that grow wings to hunters that grow fur. And not only that but on the way to hunting for this bow, we now have an unheard of nest of dragons. Six of them. Enough to defeat an entire legion of Imperial soldiers and to quiet a whole village. And now, four Companions, plus my team are going to go up there and kick their asses. If only either Asger or Cecilie were here to eat their souls. Unlock new Shouts and all that. Oh well.
Hmm, a little short for a normal journal entry. So…I heard Zaliika tell me about her past with Pantu. She was being picked on by some Nord boys one day down by the dock in Riften. They were doing stuff to her like: stepping on her tail and beating her up, making her drink that polluted water; you know bully stuff. Well Pantu dropped from the top of a building and beat the Nords up, scratching them with his claws, dancing around them with his feline grace. This is all according to her words, at the very least. Then once he made the bullies cry and run home to their mommies, he bent down and took her hand, helping her up. Then he passed out and Zaliika took him to her father, the jewelry maker in Riften. When Pantu woke up, it was to a warm bowl of soup that she had made herself. After that day, they became friends and she went onto join the Soup Guild. Nice backstory, I like it at least.
Oh and there was the whole camp's reaction to the Companions coming in with no clothes on. Everyone reacted their own way. Ruby covered her eyes and ran off screaming about the past. Esbern pretty much glued his eyes to the leader, some woman by the name of Aela. Babette's glued onto Farkas, and Zaliika threw herself onto Pantu, covering his eyes for him. And then there's the whole…Thalmor guy. He merely coughed in his hand and looked away, suddenly interested in the twin moons. I still don't know his name. Hmm…
Lydia…
…
In closing my journal, I was able to look around the party. Thalmor guy was jotting notes down. Notes that was probably a journal like my own. A journal that was more like a dossier, a mission report. Every move we made was probably going to be reported back to the Aldmeri Dominion. We were going to be targets. Worse off, he knows that Esbern is a Blade. We discussed it within earshot. I saw him jot down the notes. That and the armor. He's seen my armor, whether it's busted or not. Brelyna's too. It's a mistake having him along. But, as luck would have it, he is following us now and we just kinda letting him. I don't know why we let this stuff happen to us. Maybe I should take the initiative and solve this matter myself.
While everyone else was preoccupied with the coming of the wolves, I was standing up and walking over to the Thalmor. Skinny but overly tall Altmer with light golden skin, bright red eyes, and long white hair that was pulled back into a ponytail that reached his knees. He noticed me walking to him and pulled out a gracious smile before I snatched up his arm and pulled him away from the group. He did not look offended in any way but the look in his eyes hardened as we came to a stop right inside the woods.
The leather clad Altmer smiled as he dipped into a graceful bow. "May I help you, Lady of the Battle-Born clan?"
As he reached for my hand to kiss it, I pulled my hand out and smacked him with it. "Don't do that. You're a Thalmor, I can tell by the robes. Why are you following us?"
He looked at me as if I was stupid for not figuring it out earlier. "Auriel's Bow. You're going after it. A powerful relic given to the devout followers of Auriel. A powerful weapon that is strong enough to blot out the sun or use the sun for the user's means. By all that is right, the Aldmeri Dominion should not let such a weapon be mistreated. It could upset the delicate peace we've worked so hard to achieve."
"So, you just want that weapon for the Thalmor's use only. To be used against your enemies. I get it now." I said back, crossing my arms.
He looked even more confused. "What? No. Such a weapon should not be held by anyone. Once we are done with whatever we need this bow for, I'm going to destroy it. A weapon made by a god…being used to kill… it's not right. Auriel's bow was given to us to be used against Daedra, not men and mer. Once we use it to kill the vampires that are trying to destroy our world, I'll return it to the god Auriel. If such a thing were to be needed again, Auriel will return it to us when the time is right."
I stood there…frozen. What the hell kind of Thalmor was this? I had to shake my head at him and say, "I'm sorry. Did…did you just offer to destroy a powerful weapon that the Thalmor could use to end any uprising?"
He looked taken aback. "Why would I want to use a divine weapon to end an uprising? More importantly, why would I want to end an uprising with such force? If people are protesting, there must be a reason for it." He shook his head and stepped back. "I am sorry, Lady of the Battle-Born clan, but it appears that our new comrades are eager to begin their 'hunt'." He bowed gracefully to me and smiled. "I will talk to you later as to the reasoning behind your assumptions of me being a dictator." With that he walked past me and back to the camp.
I stopped and turned around, surprised at just how he had answered my questions. He did not seem like the other Thalmor I had grown to hate…and I hated that. I wanted them all to be the same so that when it came down to throwing the axe, I wouldn't care which head it lobbed off. Dammit. I bet this was his plan, to make me like him. Then, when my guard is down, he'll stab me in the back. Bastard.
I started following behind him, Aela already walking through the brush to meet me. She looked at the Thalmor and smiled. "Your eyes are soft, innocent. You're prey. You should stand behind the real warriors as we carve through the dragons."
The Thalmor smiled and bowed. "I apologize, but I cannot allow myself to stand in the back twiddling my thumbs while you beautiful ladies are out fighting dragons. I am a wizard and a strong one. I will assist in any way I can. I can also heal if someone gets hurt."
Aela grunted/scoffed at his word 'heal'. She patted her chest and said, "Companions don't need magic. We will not stop you from fighting, but respect our ways and do not render Restoration aid."
The Thalmor nodded gracefully. It actually disgusted me. Was he always this way, or was he just pretending to be 'chivalric'? "If that is your wish, I shall not attempt to heal you."
Ruby walked up, smiling. "It is above you to render aid to a small Khajiit?"
His eyes narrowed onto Ruby. Since he was so tall and she was well, a Khajiit teenager, the size between the two was amazing. He had to physically bend over just to look at her. He smiled and patted her on the head. "If you become injured I will lay hands upon you."
She snickered and walked away. "I never get tired of hearing that."
…
The walk through the mountainous terrain was not a long one. From what Aela told me it was right over this mountain and we'd actually see the six of them flying around in circles, blasting their fire everywhere. They had chosen this place to nest for some reason and normally the Companions would be more than willing to just go in and kill them. Heck, they already tried. The entire collection of Companions charged in to fight. Only some of them were werewolves, and it was an initiation for Ria as a werewolf herself. The greenest of all werewolves.
The Companions had already attacked the dragons a night ago and lost one of their werewolves and a few lesser Companions in the process. They managed to take down three dragons, though. So, there were nine originally, now there were six. Aela was hoping that by bringing us not only would she uneven the odds, but keep anymore werewolves from dying. The rest of the Companions had to go back and lick their wounds, under Kodlak's suggestion.
The werewolf that had been mortally wounded was some man by the name of Skjor. He jumped in front of Ria, shoving her out of the way, as a dragon swooped down and snapping its mouth shut around his shoulders. The dragon then just flung its neck and threw Skjor as far as he could fly before disappearing. Since he hadn't returned, Aela assumed he was dead.
It was only a few miles into the walk that I could hear that calling sound. That light rumble through the air, the silent scream that roared like distant thunder. It was the call of a dragon. Eerie, like wind brushing through a thousand branches. Now, imagine six of those all roaring at the top of their lungs. Now, imagine all that with large shadows dancing along the ground, shadows that only exist because of the bright overhead full moon. Now, glance up and see dark shadows morphing in and out of the night sky. Nearly invisible because of how fast they move, only illuminated by the moon as they fly past.
If you can imagine all that and the ground shaking as one by one they land all around you…you can imagine what I was feeling right now. Needless to say, I needed to change my pants.
The Companions who had walked with us all started to change into their beast forms. It was about time. I was sick of seeing them all naked. Aela looked back at me, now a towering wolf. I could see her grin through teeth as large as my hand. When she spoke, it sounded like a growl. "Now, it begins." As soon as she finished, she launched herself forward, breaking into something close to a flash.
The dragon in front of Aela did not waste any time. It pushed off the ground as fast as it could to get distance between itself and Aela. It didn't work. Sure, the dragon got about 20 meters off the ground, but Aela was already pushing off her feet, flying right up into the dragon's throat. The dragon hissed in rage and took to the sky, Aela still clinging on as she attempted to rake his throat open.
Ria, the quiet and kind woman around my age, was still struggling to transform. A dragon who saw this was getting ready to breathe onto her. "YOL!" I heard as the dragon pulled his head back.
I flashed up to her, throwing myself in front of her as the dragon finished. "TOOR SHUL!" I focused all the energy into unsheathing my katana, snapping open one of my limiters. I felt a sudden rush of energy as soon as a giant wave of fire descended upon me. Flashing, I grabbed the handle, fed my energy into the blade, and unsheathed it into a slash. The slash was so fast and so powerful that it had created an air vacuum. The river of fire expanded into a giant bubble and then blasted away from Ria and me in two different streams. This occurrence was only for a second, but it gave Ria all the time she needed to finish transforming.
In the other second where the fire started to collect and threatened to cook me alive, I felt giant hairy claws around my waist. I looked down to see giant furry arms wrapped around me. "Hold on!" I heard a growl from behind. Suddenly, air and gravity shoved down on me. The giant river of fire was at least 50 feet below me before the pull wore off. Now, I don't care if I leapt 200 feet to save Asger from Alduin. I still remembered crashing 400 feet later. Now, even knowing that I could survive this, it did not stop me from screaming like a little girl as gravity started pulling me up instead of down. As in…we were falling.
I looked down to see the dragon looking right at us as we fell for it. The dragon opened his mouth and I could see the flames starting to build up. I looked up at Ria, whose giant wolf-like eyes were focused on the dragon. "We're falling right into the dragon's mouth!" I screamed to her.
"I know!" She growled back, pulling me closer. "Hold on and close your mouth."
"YOL…" The dragon started.
The dragon grew bigger and bigger as did the ground. And his mouth kept growing brighter and brighter. Seconds just seemed to stretch on as we came upon our final approach.
"FIRE STORM!" The Thalmor screamed from underneath us. The dragon screeched out in horror as a giant fireball consumed its head. "LIGHTNING STORM! BLIZZARD!" With one hand a giant bolt of lightning sprout stormed over the dragon, while the other hand blasted Frost magic started working its way over the wings.
Ria held me closer. "Change of plans." She spun us around and pushed me away. I continued to 'look' down as I started tumbling through midair. I could feel the wind take me and I knew that this landing was not going to be pleasant. I could feel my bones shattering already.
"Feather! Telekinesis!" The Thalmor shouted. I felt my body become lighter and it started falling slower. That did not stop me from crashing into something. "Oof." I heard the Thalmor grunt as I collided with him. We both crashed onto the ground, I was safely on top of him, and he was squashed under me. A true gentleman after all.
I patted him on the head. "Thanks." I pushed off him and watched as the werewolf Ria fell onto the giant howling head of the dragon, both her claws out and extended. I must have been watching very intently because I could see the individual lines of the dragon's head/neck peel away as Ria fell on her way down its throat. Then, the bottom of the stomach exploded and out came the werewolf. She crashed into the ground with an audible whimper. I thought she had died. But then she moved, shook herself off, and started to get up. And then a dragon crashed on top of her. Which later exploded into a bright fire. A fire…that only a Dragonborn can produce.
Ria, in werewolf form, burst through the burning flesh of the dragon. The aurora flame rolled off the dragon and flew through her mouth, which seemed to wrap her body up in a giant rainbow aura of flame. When the dragon was fully dissolved, Ria's form started to change back. When she was back to being a naked woman, she fell to her knees and vomited something rainbow-colored up. I can only guess it was leftovers of the dragon's soul. Did that still make it dead? If you vomit up a dragon's soul, partial at the least…does he come back to life later? And if he does…is he less of a dragon, like a miniature, or is it his intelligence that suffers? I don't know, but I guess we'd find out sooner or later.
The Thalmor standing inches away from me looked in awe. "She…she…" He looked confused and then looked over at me. "What did she just do?"
I arched one of my eyebrows as I looked over at him. "Why would I tell you that? All that information will do is return to the Thalmor's base of operations in Solitude and be used against us."
He nodded at me, his eyes a little hurt and he glanced away. "If that's how you feel about it, I won't ask again." He stepped back and looked around. "There are still four of them….no wait…that Khajiit just cut one's neck off. So…nope the Argonian fed it acidic soup…" He stepped back rubbing his head. "Well, there are still…ok, three werewolves chewing the wings off, I can reason that. But…come on! Those two vampires cannot raise a dead dragon to fight for them! That's…both ingenious and cheating. And now they're using the dragon to eat the other one. Ironically, the dragon looked both shocked and saddened. I think it's because that dragon was his mate or something." He shrugged and looked over at me. "What ever happened to Aela?"
Just as he finished that a giant dragon slammed into the ground. Aela, still a werewolf, tore the throat of the dragon open and started feasting on the inside of the neck. The other werewolves started running around, eating the dragons. I guess this was their whole plan, eat the dragons until they were completely dead. Too bad it didn't work like that. Either that or they were just hungry. So was I, I just realized. I hadn't eaten since the festival, only six hours ago.
Ria, as if in a daze, started crawling forward, her mouth still dripping rainbows. She stood up, in a daze, into the center of the dead dragons. The werewolves all stopped eating and glanced at her, their eyes curious as to what she was doing. She stopped in the middle of everyone and spread her arms out. She cried out in pain as all the dragons' bodies lit up into flames. The Companion werewolves all jumped back, whimpering out of confusion.
Aela looked around, standing up on her back legs. "I do not understand. What is happening?" She growled out as all the dragons started melting away. She looked over at Ria and growled. "What type of sorcery is this anyway?"
The flaming dragons all exploded into rainbow dust and collectively flew into a giant circle that surrounded Ria. Ria stood in the middle of the giant rainbow glittery mist. Her arms were spread out wide and her chest was puffing out. I was certain that she was going to commit a bardic battle to a giant collection of floating glittery rainbow dust. But that's not what happened. Her eyes lit up and her mouth opened wide as all that glittery crap started cycloning down her throat.
The ground started to shake and I was taken off my feet. The Thalmor reached out and grabbed me, halting me from falling any further. Ria started levitating of the ground, consumed in the aura of the dead dragons. It was still pouring down her being. I was surprised her stomach hadn't exploded yet. Finally the bubble of glitter became thinner and thinner until all that was left was a floating Ria. Her body's rainbow aura started dimming and she slowly started falling to the ground.
The Thalmor quickly pushed away from me, gently I might add, and raced up to her, ripping his jacket off. The other Companions started melting back into humans. They were walking up to Ria, who was now falling into the Thalmor's arms, being wrapped up in his giant leather duster.
I walked up with Ruby behind me. Esbern caught up pretty quick and yanked us back. "Emergency conference. She's a Dragonborn, isn't she?"
I nodded, as did Ruby. I looked over at Ria and said, "I see that same reaction all the time with Cecilie and Asger. She's definitely Dragonborn."
Esbern looked serious for a second. "Don't you see what this means. If there is more than one…more will start popping up as well. Who knows who will receive the gift now…who knows who might use it for ill."
I looked at Ria, whose face was pale. Liquid rainbow goo was leaking out of her mouth and she started coughing up on the Thalmor. I smiled. I actually was hoping she puke on him. Point for her, one less for him.
I looked up at Esbern and said, "I think I know who she is. If I'm right…and let's face it, I'm not going to be wrong on this. It will keep our little nation safe from six year-old dragon slayers."
Both Ruby and Esbern looked confused as I smiled. I looked back at Ria and I just knew who she really was. It had to be.
Cearbhail: And who can guess who Ria really is? Dun dun duuuunnn...?
