Finally got past my writers' block. Hopefully, I'm back in the swing of things. Thanking xTRESTWHOx and NaanContributor for their help. They've always got my back. Y'all enjoy.
Chapter 86: Miracles of Ancient Wonder
11th of Morning Star
"And that's when we ran into Aela, Farkas, and Vilkas. They'd gotten your message and used a teleport scroll," Ruby explained, her and her compatriots standing near the river that ran through Markarth.
"Wow, you guys used one of those?" Yang asked the three Companions, propping herself up against the rock wall. "Aren't they pretty expensive?"
"You were trapped in a silver mine prison," Vilkas dryly pointed out. "There's no way we'd let one of our own die such an ignoble death."
"Not to mention someone might have noticed your actual cause of death," Farkas added. Aela elbowed him, but the much larger man barely flinched.
"But yeah," Ruby continued, "after that, we tried to go in, but a bunch of guards wouldn't let us. I was...pretty angry at them," she abashedly admitted. "I could have probably handled that a lot better than I did."
"I think they're still scared of you," Aela declared with what sounded suspiciously like approval. "Them and half the city."
Ruby couldn't help but shrink into herself slightly, a sad frown forming across her face. Seeing this, Yang smiled and shook her head.
"It's no sweat, sis," Yang told her before pulling her to her side. "The fact you were willing to literally bust through the gates for me is actually kinda heart-warming."
"I'm serious, Yang," Ruby objected, pulling her sister's arm away from her neck, but not fighting it when the limb just went around her torso instead. "I don't want to just smash my way through the countryside and blow up every single obstacle in my way."
She sighed while shaking her head, and Yang pursed her lips in thought, letting the younger girl go before ruffling her hair.
"Hey, chin up," she told her with a light smile. "You just need some time to clear your head. Let's head over to the waterfall."
Ruby was silent at first as she stared at her sister. After a moment, she nodded.
"Okay," she acquiesced, following along as Yang took her to where the waterfall from the mountains fed into the city's channels. The three Companions continued talking among themselves, heading in the general direction of the market square. As the sisters continued on their way, Ruby's face became a little downcast again.
"Yang, am I going crazy?" she suddenly asked, throwing her sister off.
"What? No, not at all," the elder dismissed. "We're all...just in a completely different environment than we're used to. Not to mention all the crap we keep having to deal with almost constantly."
Yang let out a huff, then added, "It feels like we're going around putting out fires just for more to get started on the other side of the country. At least fighting Grimm would be consistent."
"But… Yang, I can hear them sometimes." That admission got her sister's attention zeroed in on her. "The dragons. I've told you before, but… When I get like that, when I feel angry, it's like they stop all acting aloof or ignoring me, and they...encourage it." Ruby winced while rubbing her head. "Rage, destruction, possessiveness; it's all at their cores. Sometimes I'm afraid that...I'll become like them."
Yang stopped and turned to Ruby, looking her over, a frown on her face. "So how many times have you thought about burning down a town or village?"
Ruby looked back up at her sister in shock. "Y-yang?!"
"No, seriously. Have you given it some thought?"
"Of course not!" she practically shouted, only the conscious realization of being in public keeping her from outright yelling. "How could you ask something like that?"
"Because I care, and I already knew the answer." Yang leaned over and wrapped Ruby up into a hug, the younger girl only stiffening for a second before hugging her back. After a few much needed moments, they let each other go, Yang smiling down at her. "Listen Ruby, you're a good person at heart. Some grumpy, dead dragons aren't going to change that by playing shoulder devil. Heck, look at this past week. Sure, you knocked the gates down, but when the public needed you to help keep order, wanting to watch over your sick sister didn't pull you away from protecting strangers who needed it."
"It didn't," Ruby quietly acknowledged. "I… I don't know. I feel like this isn't something I can ignore by just telling myself I'm a good person over and over again though."
"Well, let's work on it another way," Yang suggested, giving her sister a soft smile.
They continued on their walk, pausing as they reached the pool where the fall's water poured in. Yang looked over everything for a moment before kicking off her boots and then hopping over the railing that kept people from falling in.
"Yang!" Ruby called out as her older sister leaped into the water.
"It'll be fine!" the blonde said after she splashed in and resurfaced. "Clothes drying magic, remember." She smiled and then waved for her sister to come in. "Come on, it's barely ice cold. We could do some waterfall meditation so that we can say we weren't playing around."
"Yang, this is definitely…" Ruby stopped as her sister dived under and sighed. She looked around, noting the lack of people in the area at the moment, save for two guards fairly far away who seemed to be at a loss on what to do about their newest Thane's behavior. Grumbling for a moment, Ruby looked back to see Yang's head bob up close to where she was standing. The blonde smiled wide, her hands coming up and cupping against each other.
"Don't you dare… Eep!" Ruby squealed as she tried to dodge the stream of water sent at her by her sister. She glared back, then smirked.
"All right, you asked for it," Ruby declared before taking off her coat, cloak, and boots, dropping them all in a messy pile before jumping in. Rather than immediately coming back up, she activated her Semblance and began spinning around rapidly. As she re-coalesced, she started focusing her magicka into a spell that manipulated the water further, letting her make a small whirlpool around her while raising a swirling column of water that held her up in the epicenter.
"Haha! Take this, landlubber! The Crimson Tide shall-"
Ruby's playful monologue was interrupted by Yang shooting out of the whirlpool's wall and tackling Ruby out of her watery throne. The whirlpool began to collapse, pulling the girls back and forth like laundry in a washing machine as they playfully wrestled against each other, only stopping when they felt the need to go up for oxygen. Both of them broke the surface and took in a lungful of cold Skyrim air. They bobbed in the water a moment as it jostled about, laughs erupting from them moments later.
"Honestly, you two should be acting like adults, not children," Weiss continued to admonish the sisters while drying their hair with magically warm air. "Especially with the sort of expectations you have now, Yang."
"Eh, if the Jarl wanted a well-behaved Thane, he wouldn't have picked me," Yang dismissed with a shrug and wave of her hand.
"You're not just a Thane, you know. You're a Lord Thane. You have subjects, peers, and constituents to consider," Weiss reminded her. "Frolicking like this won't help with your image."
"Give me a break, I just got out of prison," Yang griped while fluffing out her hair to help the spell along. "I'm allowed to do a few dumb, fun things."
"What about me?" Ruby asked.
"Don't even get me started," Weiss groaned. "Your titles hold their own weight, though more in a representative sort of way. Then there's your Dragonborn status, which the entire city is now more than a little aware of."
"I have noticed more people acting revenant-ly to me..." Ruby muttered. She still didn't quite know how she felt about that.
"Reverently," Blake automatically corrected, "Weiss is also mad that she almost didn't get that smithy," she threw in, a smirk on her lips as the blancette gave her a light glare.
"Smithy?" Ruby asked.
"Just a small place I thought we could use," Weiss quickly answered. "It hasn't been built yet, but I managed to convince the blacksmith to base his operations in Reachwater Run near the main road before it crosses the river. Once we can find someone to build it there. Luckily the location of Old Hrolden and a shrine to Dibella helped to convince him that the area isn't totally abandoned."
"Ooh, shrine to Dibella. We should check that out," Yang figured. "Gotta thank the lady."
"Thank her for what?" Ruby asked, looking genuinely curious. Yang only offered her a toothy grin as an answer.
With her hair decently dried now, Yang walked over and sat on the couch next to Blake before pulling her in practically on top of her. Ruby looked the two over before smiling and taking her own seat in a nearby chair.
"Hmm, did Miss 'Don't even like girls' discover something while we were away?" Weiss rhetorically asked with a teasing smirk aimed at Blake, whose blush betrayed her attempts to ignore her snide teammate.
"Well, I've gotta admit, this is a nice place," Serana's voice resounded as she walked into the main room. "Not what I expected from Dwemer design, but I suppose a few millennia going between Nord and Reachfolk redecorations can leave some permanent changes." She made to sit across from the cuddling couple, taking up the last free seat in the room, leaving Weiss with the options of standing or sitting next to Blake and Yang, which the younger vampire seemed to notice with annoyance.
"So, what's our next move?" the vampire princess asked.
"Kinda want to check out my holding," Yang said, idly running her fingers through Blake's hair. "At least look at the northern border of it."
"And Artur needs to return Red Eagle's sword," Ruby pointed out. "It's on the way up north from Reachwater to your castle, and the supposed dragon nest should also be on the way there."
"Once those stops are out of the way, we'll be able to infiltrate Volkihar Castle," Weiss continued. "While you and I...might be able to sneak through the place, I doubt we can get anyone else in."
"We can if we use the back way," Serana pointed out. "Hardly anyone uses the back docks anymore, and as long as we scout it out beforehand, we'll be fine. Not to mention that everyone will likely be in the main castle." The vampire princess hummed in thought and brought a hand up to her chin. "If nothing else, we may have one or two 'allies' that will keep an eye out for us, though I wouldn't depend on them."
"We'll need to be more careful than we've ever been with anything else," Weiss warned them all. "The Bloodfiends that attacked Fort Dawnguard might have had great numbers, but these vampires are all very powerful. Most of them are Vampire Lords or on their way to becoming one, and their numbers are nothing to scoff at, either. We can't let the castle become aware of our presence, so once we're in there, you all need to be on high alert."
"So, don't get caught, and don't underestimate anyone when things inevitably go FUBAR," Yang figured with a nod.
"Don't be so flippant," Weiss chastised her, but Yang only flashed a toothy grin in response.
"Our record of things going wrong notwithstanding," Blake spoke up, "going over the layout of the castle a few times first might help us."
"Of course." Weiss looked over to the elder vampire. "Do you have something to help us there?"
"It's been a while, but it should be mostly how I remember it." With that, Serana focused, calling forth magicka before forming it into a spell. Blue light took shape before falling onto the table, looking much like a 3D map. A few adjustments, and then parts of the map were made into different colors. "All right, so here is the area where everyone tends to stay congregated…"
After a couple of days of regathering themselves, the team headed out, leaving Markarth behind for the time being. Along with Team RWBY, Lydia, and Serana, they still had Artur with them, and now the three Companions were coming along before heading back to Whiterun. While they had expressed interest in participating in the infiltration into Castle Volkihar, it soon became clear that it was not the best idea. Aela was the only one of them with a sneaky bone in her body, and having more people would likely make the mission all the harder.
Just before the day ended, they found themselves at the bridge that marked out the beginning of Yang's new holding, about a mile upriver from the back entrance to the now-destroyed cannibal cult's lair.
"Geez, so everything east of here all the way to Falkreath belongs to Yang?" Ruby asked, looking across the hilly horizon with her scope.
"Technically, she doesn't own it, per se," Weiss explained. "While she can potentially do whatever she wants with it, within reason, it still belongs to the Reach Crown. Legally, she can't sell any of it, though she can rent it out, act as mediator for any actual purchases from the Jarl, and collect taxes from residents."
While Ruby tried to absorb all the information she was being given, Yang was looking over her map and digging through her sack. Something about the place was tickling a point in her brain, but she wasn't quite sure what it was. After a moment, she fished out one of the old journals she had collected and flipped through it, finding the reference she was looking for.
"Hey guys, you've still got those Gauldur Amulet fragments, right?" Yang asked her friends, holding up the Fragment of Courage from her chest. Weiss and Blake both turned to her, looking at their own pieces of the ancient artifact. "Thought so. Anyways, this waterfall is called Reachwater Rock. The guy who was looking for these things figured it was important."
"I'm supposing you want us to head in?" Weiss asked as Daynas' notes were passed to her.
"Might as well," Yang answered. "We already got the three pieces, so maybe something else is stuck in here."
"If we've already beaten the three sons, and Geirmund was entombed with Sigdis," Blake began to figure, "then all that leaves is Gauldur himself, but I don't see him needing an intervention like they did."
"Hm, no, but there may be something of great interest there," Weiss spoke up in defense of the idea.
"What are they talking about?" Farkas asked his twin brother.
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, it has to do with the long-dead Archmage Gauldur."
"Who?"
"All right," Yang said while clapping her hands. "Who's up for a quick session of casual grave-robbing and possibly fighting ancient horrors of untold might and magic?""
"I'll help Artur set up camp," Ruby offered while taking Chocolate Hooves' reins. "Lydia, you want in or out?"
"I'll stay with you for now, my Thane," the Nord answered.
"You guys coming?" Yang asked the Companions.
"Ancient tomb, likely fraught with danger around every corner?" Aela considered for a moment idly raising her hand in a weighing motion before smiling. "Count me in."
The twin werewolves nodded their assent, a notable smile on the less emotive Farkas' face.
"Then let's head in. Looks like a path leading right behind the waterfall is over there," Yang pointed out before leading the procession.
As they skirted the edge of the cascade, they came into a cave, the bottom of which was filled with water flowing out to join the waterfall and river, and a pillar jutted out from the center of the pool and was connected to the ground and part of the cave wall by land bridges. Weiss looked the cave over in interest, opening her senses to the flow of magic around them.
"This place wasn't formed wholly naturally," Serana declared. "Someone shaped it."
"Makes sense," Yang said while leading them up the path to the pillar's top, sniffing along the way. "We got a body."
"Orc, by the smell of it," Vilkas noted.
As predicted, there was an Armored Orc's corpse next to a podium with a note and an Emerald Claw upon it. Yang quickly plucked the claw up while Weiss took the paper, noting the magical preservation spell tied to something else that seemed to connect to their surroundings.
"Let this place be forgotten forever," she read it aloud,
"Let it be struck from the rolls of history.
"Let it never be spoken of by man or mer.
"Let its very name be lost to the ages.
"Ye who enter here, know:
"This place was sealed at great price.
"Honor those who perished here.
"Turn back, and leave them to their rest."
"Looks like we're ignoring that," Aela said, taking out her bow and stringing it.
"Surprised you're so blasé about it," Blake told her, stringing her own Blackbow, taken from the very same undead from whom she received her Fragment. "I'm actually feeling kind of guilty now after hearing that, like we're disrespecting the sacrifice of the people who sealed the sons away, even if we do defeat them."
"Eh, it's not like this isn't something you three haven't already handled. From the sounds of it, the danger has already passed."
The Faunus just shrugged, her head turning when she heard the stones of the large puzzle door rings scraping against one another, courtesy of Yang. When the blonde got it all straightened out and unlocked the door, it fell away to reveal three more behind it dropping down in sequence. The ones more experienced with these doors went a little wide-eyed at the sight, but were even more caught off guard by the appearance of the fifth one, which was yet another puzzle door.
"Okay, this is weird," Weiss spoke up as they approached the barrier. "I don't think any of us ran into a tomb like this with multiple doors."
"They really didn't want us to get in," Yang said as she kneeled down to rummage through her pack. "Although I've got a theory." She then took out the Ivory Claw and passed it to the vampire. "Here, try this on for size."
"Is it because of the poison darts?" Weiss deadpanned as her teammate backed away, a toothy grin on her face.
"I mean, aren't poison darts just prickles to us anyway?"
Weiss sighed then entered the combination on the claw to the door, pushing it into the centerpiece before moving it back and forth. Like they all half-suspected, it fell away just like those before it.
The group walked down the magically lit stairway, stopping and turning at the bottom, quickly coming into a burial chamber, in which dozens of bodies were laid in the slots in the walls or coffins upon the ground. At the head of everything, however, was a sort of altar with three plaques upon it, each one just the right size to lay the amulet fragments upon, and with ancient runes inscribed just in front of them.
"Courage, power, and wisdom," Vilkas read each one out while gesturing to them, causing Yang to do a double-take. She opened her mouth to make a quip, only to deflate and let it go unsaid after seeing the complete lack of recognition on her friends' faces, realizing that nobody else present played enough video games to get the reference.
"This doesn't look like something you'd set up to keep people out," Farkas pointed out. "Almost like they wanted them brought here."
"Could have been set up beforehand, but I see what you're saying," Weiss noted while walking forward, taking off her own fragment and placing it upon the altar's rightmost plaque. The entire tomb seemed to shudder as the amulet glowed with power, causing the vampire to step back and look around with everyone else in concern.
"Well, that definitely did something," Yang commented while approaching and doing the same, placing the Fragment of Courage opposite of the other. The tomb shook again, loosening dust from parts of the ceiling to spill onto the floor below. Aside from the disturbed dirt, however, the crypt seemed no worse for wear. Everyone then looked to Blake expectantly. The Faunus sighed then took off the amulet on her neck.
"Forgot what it felt like to not wear it," she said as she approached.
"Eh, I'm sure Weiss can cook you up a new one," Yang told her.
"While I appreciate your faith in my ability, I highly doubt I can make anything that can match an ancient Archmage's opus," the blancette said while slipping on the jade and ebony jewel that was the Necromancer's Amulet. She then began casting a few spells which summoned up a partially translucent breastplate, form-fitting gauntlets, and armored leggings.
"You'll get there," Yang encouraged her.
Blake merely shook her head while setting down the Fragment of Power. The catacombs began shaking even more violently than before, but as it ceased, three ghostly figures appeared before them, standing on the ledge behind the altar, their arms crossed and eyes gazing down. For a moment, the three Huntresses and the Companions were confused about who they were facing, but then the former began to recognize the armor that the spectres wore.
"It's the Gauldursons," Yang quickly concluded, looking at the ghostly visage of Mikrul. While it was no longer that of a mummified corpse, it was still twisted by an angry sneer that turned an otherwise handsome face ugly. His two brothers were similar, though their attentions were directed at their own slayers.
"Well, at least this time there's no magical shield," Weiss noted as she readied Strahlendjuwel in her left hand and brought the Staff of Magnus to her right with a telekinetic pull. Jyrik, in response, drew out his axe and staff.
"Be ready for the bowman's tricks," Blake warned everyone as Sigdis strung his translucent bow. "He can teleport and summon copies of himself, but they're not perfect. They're weak, but can still hit you, so take them out fast."
"Thrice-damned cat," the spectral bowman hissed. "You and yours die here!"
"You're not laying a finger on her, buddy," Yang taunted him before shaking her arms and getting into a ready stance.
"Almost seems unfair," Farkas commented while drawing his sword, his brother doing the same a moment later. "Six on three."
"Go," Jyrik said to his brothers.
The other two teleported in a swirl of energy. Seconds later, Mikrul reappeared at the entrance, a gate shutting behind him and trapping everyone within. Sigdis and two copies appeared at the sides upon the raised platforms, each one drawing and nocking an arrow. As the first missiles flew, Mikrul raised up his free hand and tendrils of magicka leaped from his palm and split, reaching towards the many bodies laid to rest in the tomb. As Blake jumped out of the way of two arrows and Weiss slashed the third out of the air, the multitude of raised draugr and skeletons were crawling out of their holes to assail the six.
"Crap! We gotta get Mikrul or- Ah!"
Yang was sent flying by a ball of fire launched from Jyrik's staff, the ghostly mage chuckling at the results. Weiss grimaced, baring her fangs before pointing the Staff of Magnus at him.
"Much better," Jyrik muttered while shifting his aim at the vampire. Streams of lightning and magicka left their foci and collided, pushing against each other in a battle for supremacy.
"Yang!" Blake called out as she flung Gambol Shroud through one of the Sigdis clones. "Are you okay?"
"All good!" the brawler called out while getting back up and trying to charge towards Mikrul, smashing three zombie-like corpses out of her way as she did. As the twins sliced and hacked through the horde, Aela stood between them and took aim at one of the Gauldursons and loosed her shot. However, the arrow went right through the being, confusing them both for a moment as Aela recalled the mundanity of her weaponry.
"Damn ghosts!" she cursed.
Luckily, Blake was already leaping over to the revealed Sigdis' position, sheathing her chain scythe and taking out the Blade of Woe and lightning dagger in either hand. She sliced them both through the spectre in a cross slash, visibly harming him. He teleported away, and three spheres of violet magicka began swirling into being, indicating that he was using his favorite trick again. Blake put the daggers away and pulled out the Gauldur Blackbow she had taken from Sigdis back when he was corporeal, and immediately sent three arrows out at each one. Two hit the clones and dispersed them as quickly as they appeared.
"My bow!" the ghost called out indignantly after the magically infused shot pierced his chest. Blake then tossed the bow over, and Aela caught it, nocking one of her own arrows and firing it at Sigdis. The projectile punched into his throat, and he fell down to one knee while clutching at it. The ghost then teleported away, but this time reappeared at the head of the room where he had first appeared.
Yang burst through a small crowd of draugr, rushing at Mikrul with flames coating her fists. Her first punch landed solidly on his face, making him stumble back and cry out, more from the magic than the force behind her hit.
"You don't have that super powerful medallion this time," she mocked him before punching again and again, summoning fiery explosions with each hit. Soon, he was down and teleporting away, the mass of undead he summoned dropping as he did.
"Deconstructing ectoplasmic object," Weiss heard as she unmade Jyrik's axe with the Staff of Magnus. The ghostly mage dropped the dissolving weapon and sneered at Weiss while taking a step back before jumping back onto the platform between his beaten brothers.
"Damn you!" he cursed them all while holding out his staff. "Even if you defeat us now, we will return. But I can still-"
Suddenly, the lid of the ornate coffin behind them unsealed with an ominous hiss, and the three brothers spun around in surprise.
"Gauldur?!" Sigdis gasped.
An explosion of blue magicka erupted from the coffin as another ghost appeared, this one of an older figure in robes that looked almost exactly like Savos Aren's. The blast obliterated the other three spirits instantly, leaving behind nothing but wisps of magic that quickly evaporated.
Gauldur looked over the six warriors, seemingly taking in the sight of them before looking down at the three assembled amulet fragments. Without any words or ceremony, the ghost began waving his arms, gathering magicka in a masterfully complex weave, then released the spell while disappearing in the process. Red, blue, and green energies came together above the fragments and united into a pillar of golden light, the fragments being drawn in with them and fused together seamlessly into a single amulet. It was still carved ivory, but more intricate and with glowing teal inlay. To the sides of the main pendant were twin carvings shaped like horns twined to the necklace and dyed blue. Above them were green and red stones sticking out from the cord itself.
Cautiously, the three Huntresses walked up to the floating talisman, Yang reaching out to take it in hand first. As her fingers touched the artifact, she gasped and flinched back, but then quickly steeled herself and took hold of the object.
"Bride and Brothers!" Yang loudly cursed while holding out the reforged amulet towards Blake. "I never understood people going mad with power, but I can see someone getting a bit manic with this thing."
Blake took it and her eyes went wide. "This… This can't… I thought it would just be the sum of its parts! This is something else."
Weiss was then passed the amulet. Unlike the other two, she was far more adept at making out the nature of enchantments, but even she was mildly befuddled by what she felt in the Gauldur Amulet.
"It's… The magicka expansion from each of them have combined, along with the strength, intelligence, and constitution all being stronger than before. Spells… Wait, there's something else there."
"Wait, you mean there's more?" Yang asked, genuinely curious.
"Yes, I…" Weiss took a moment to remove the Necromancer's Amulet and place Gauldur's upon her neck. The other five watched in anticipation as Weiss seemed to go into a mild trance, her hand hovering over the pendant while thin lines of magicka streamed from it into her fingers. Suddenly, Weiss' hand was out, holding a spell none of them recognized, which she then released, wrapping her in a swirl of violet energy before it disappeared entirely, taking Weiss along with it.
"Weiss? Weiss?!" Yang called out frantically, looking about the catacombs.
"What in Oblivion happened?" Aela asked, almost as alarmed as her fellow werewolf.
"It looked like a summoning spell," Vilkas quickly stated while walking up to the space Weiss had vanished from, searching for any clues he could find. "Only she cast it upon herself. There's no telling where it sent her."
"Wait," Blake cut in, "did it...take her to Oblivion?"
"It may have," Vilkas admitted, "but I'm not picking up any traces of where she might have gone. Usually there's a sign like the smell of brimstone or-"
Another swirl of energy appeared at the same place, making Vilkas leap back and leaving a bewildered Weiss behind.
"You guys won't believe what we just found."
The entire team was rummaging through the strange place Weiss had taken to calling Gauldur's Refuge. There were dozens of weapons and armor pieces from ancient times, and only a few of them were even a little rusted. Several were ebony or dwarven with the majority just ancient Nordic steel, but there was even a Daedric dagger, mace, and gauntlets among the finds.
The entire structure seemed to be part storage space, part lab, part bedroom, and even part kitchen. There had been a sort of magical refrigerator-freezer, but everything in it had long gone bad. If Yang hadn't opened the freezer portion first, she might have mistook it for a petri dish holding space that was part of the laboratory portion.
In two corners, there were setups for alchemy and enchanting, with a scattering of soul gems, preserved ingredients that stood the test of time, books on a multitude of magical subjects, spellbooks, scrolls, and tons of other useful equipment. There were also a few unique items that Weiss had never seen before. Luckily, one of the books had instructions left for them, penned by Gauldur himself, it seemed. The strange, bronze pots that seemed to be collecting magicka and possibly creatia were described as Soul Gem Growers, designed to grow Petty Soul Gems into Grand Soul Gems after a twenty-four hour period. The oddly glowing chest in the alchemy area was able to create nine copies of any object placed inside after the same amount of time. Weiss was barely able to understand the beginning of how the latter worked, but the Soul Gem Growers were giving her ideas for an array of experiments.
"Look at this edge!" Ruby said while showing off an ebony saber to her partner. "I don't know if he used magic or if there was some special smithing technique centuries ago, but this thing is sharp enough to… Well, look."
With her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth, Ruby plucked a single, short hair from her head then held it over the sword. Slowly, she lowered the tip towards the blade's edge, and, when it touched, the hair began to split down the middle. Weiss was actually impressed by that demonstration of the sword, and began to look over it herself, noting as well the carvings etched into its side.
"Why are these gauntlets growling at me?" Yang asked, holding up her hands which were now wearing the red and black Daedric gauntlets.
"Well, to put it in a word," Weiss began, thinking about what she was about to relay, "they're alive. Daedric armor is made by forging a living Daedra, body and soul, into ebony-based armor. The same with Daedric weapons."
Yang looked at her hands in mild horror, slowly taking the gauntlets off and gingerly placing them on the table.
"Is that why everybody says that my dagger snarls at them?" Blake asked while drawing the weapon she'd taken from the wicked elf during the rescue of M'rissi. Weiss looked at it for a moment before nodding.
"Most likely. Do you not hear it?"
"Not even once," the Nightingale admitted.
"Well, it most likely has to do with your other equipment. That, or you've managed to dominate it in some form or fashion."
Blake looked behind her back to the one sword that wasn't a part of Gambol Union, then recalled how she felled the last owner of the dagger. Cautiously, she took the Ebony Blade from her back and set it down near the stack of Soul Gems. She felt something within the dagger stir, and a sound like a low growl resonated in her mind, like a small dog seeing one of its chosen enemies a distance away. She frowned and gave it a squeeze, and the sound ceased.
"Okay, that's disturbing," she mumbled, looking back at the black daikatana. "Here I was thinking I only had one backseat passenger to deal with."
"It shouldn't be nearly as invasive, if you're worried about that," Weiss explained. "I went through several lessons about these things, but the most important one was making sure you aren't possessed by the Daedra within. The ones used to make small things like daggers and gauntlets shouldn't be strong or smart enough to affect any of us, but I wouldn't let a regular citizen touch them. On the other side, large weapons or full suits of armor might have intelligent Daedra inside of them. Few people have ever been able to wear such, and the ones that do are often historically noted figures, for better or worse. I personally wouldn't risk it."
"Seems kinda cruel to have living souls trapped inside of armor and weapons," Ruby said as she went over and took the Daedric mace from the weapon rack. "Oh, wow, that's a lot of bad words! Yang, the mace called me a bunch of stuff that sounds nasty."
"Okay, so how do we get them out so I can punch them in the face?" Yang questioned as she began cracking her knuckles.
"The only real way I know would be to destroy the item, like melting it down, but that might only free them back into Oblivion to reform. It wouldn't make the inner Daedra appear before us or anything like that."
"Bummer," Yang muttered in disappointment. "Well, put that one back. We don't need potty-mouthed weaponry."
"Well, I've looked around," Serana called out before jumping down from above. "We're definitely in a pocket of Oblivion. Looks to be self-sustaining, and the trees on the islet are all natural. That small forest probably grew from whatever Gauldur planted here. There's enough room for expansion, though the logistics might be difficult if you want to build anything."
"Maybe, or maybe not," Weiss wondered while cupping her chin. "We are in Oblivion, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of this place was made with chaotic creatia…"
"I...guess it would be more permanent in a world like this," Serana admitted. "It would take a lot of effort, though, and I imagine there's still more to this than what we're seeing."
"Seems like a safe spot, though," Ruby pointed out. "If we've got this thing with us, then we wouldn't have to camp out so much."
"Magical mobile home," Yang concluded with a wide grin, even as Weiss rolled her eyes at the concept. "Sweet!"
"There it is," Artur wheezed out, yet again fighting an oncoming wave of coughing. "Rebel's Cairn. Final resting place of Red Eagle."
It didn't look like much to most of the group, a pile of rocks and bones next to a cave mouth with a banner wedged into the cairn, and a rusted sabre jammed into the topmost stone. Yang looked over the skulls stacked in a half-pyramid at the base of the cairn, noting how many at the bottom were aged and weathered with some that looked rather fresh at the top. They only came up to her waist, but it was still a lot to reach that point. She wondered if this was a warning to stay away, or if the bones were part of a religious ritual she didn't understand. Either way, it was a morbid sight.
"It's not far from the redoubt," Ruby pointed out. "You think Sisca is still there?"
"Actually, I am here," the crone's voice spoke up from above. Everyone looked up to see the Hagraven standing above the cave's entrance, a smile on her face.
"Hagraven!" Yang shouted in alarm. She readied her gauntlets while Blake reached for Gambol Union and the Companions each drew their own weapons, but the rest either remained calm or looked at their fellows.
"It's all right," Weiss spoke up, mostly directing it towards Yang and Blake. "This one is...nice. Somehow."
"Ah, I seem to have startled you, young ones," the witch realized, looking at the assortment of weapons drawn against her. If she was nervous, she didn't show it.
"Mother Sisca," Artur began, looking downcast "forgive me, I...have yet to return Red Eagle's Blade."
"Ah, fear not, my child. You are not too late. Neither are you early. You are precisely on time," she countered, then gestured to the cave below her. "Come now. Faolan awaits."
Artur nodded, then looked forward, taking a slow, deep breath as he steadied himself before walking in. Ruby followed after the Reachman, with Lydia by her side as always. Weiss waited a few moments, then trailed after them with Serana following as well. Yang looked back up at the Hagraven and took a calming breath as well before looking back to her friends from the Companions.
"You guys mind standing guard?" she asked, the three catching on immediately.
"We have your back," Vilkas assured her. She nodded, then looked over to Blake before gesturing that they should head in. The two then brought up the rear and followed the rest of their party.
Not too far within the cave, it opened up into a wide chamber where a beam of light poured in from a hole in the ceiling and onto the one object of note in the place. It looked like a sort of pedestal with a slot at its top which Artur was looking over while occasionally scanning the walls.
Ruby turned back to her sister as they caught up with them then asked, "Don't like the Hagravens?"
"There's nothing to like," Yang bit out, trying to not sound snappy to her sister's innocent inquiry. "Rubes, when we first met a Hagraven, she was sacrificing children for her 'ascensions.'"
Ruby's eyes widened in shock and horror while Artur sputtered and turned back to them, his eyes wide. He then incredulously asked, "Where in Oblivion did you run into that?!"
"Uh, Orphan Rock," Weiss offered. "Southeast of Whiterun." She started stroking her chin in thought. "Come to think of it, that's far, far away from anything in the Reach."
"Banished," Artur muttered, coughing a few times while holding a cloth over his mouth. "Damn them! Sacrificing a child… Not even the most depraved tribes would allow it. If they were out there doing that, it's likely they were wanted."
Yang's eyebrow went up. "So...Hagravens don't have to sacrifice children to...change?"
"Don't even have to sacrifice a person," he told her. "They're supposed to go out and ritualistically hunt over the course of days. Sure, using a person is faster, but I don't think I need to say why that isn't allowed. Anyone caught sacrificing people is either banished or killed."
For a second, Yang could only blink as she had to rethink her view on the bird-like witches, every other thought and action concerning them coming back to her. When she managed to look around, she noted Weiss in a similar situation, though Blake was more mortified-looking, her face taut and muscles clenched.
"Hey," she said, reaching out and gripping the Faunus' shoulder gently but firmly, pulling her out of her thoughts. "It's okay. Don't think too hard about it."
"But… I…"
"Don't think about it," Yang told her. "Not right now."
"I see…" Artur muttered, drawing Red Eagle's sword and holding it up.
"For you, Duncan," he said before turning the blade around and sliding it into the slot on the pedestal. As soon as it was in place, a door opened up on one of the walls. Everyone looked over to it in surprise, then most gazes trailed over to the Reachman.
"Uh, I think something else is going on here," Ruby spoke up.
"Yes, I...believe so as well," the Reachman said while looking over the motley crew. "A little further, friends. I feel my quest is almost over."
Everyone followed Artur down into the hidden entrance, candles magically lighting themselves as they went deeper, and a series of torches and braziers doing the same when they entered another chamber. This one was decorated with painted symbols, carvings, and totems, all in Reach style. Many depicted an eagle or a man with one tattooed upon him, often engaged in battle where the medium had room to allow such. At the center of the room, a hearth-altar lit up, with what looked like charred corpses - or very convincing carvings of them - within it. At the far end, a stone sarcophagus rested between two shelves of various offerings. Everyone stood at the ready for a moment, but when nothing happened, they began to relax.
"Phew," the Dragonborn sighed in relief. "Usually at this point in a tomb like this, something would've-"
Ruby's words were cut off when she noticed something moving along the walls. Everyone else began to notice as well, and soon they were all witnessing crimson red liquid flowing from some unknown source and along the walls, filling the carvings and emitting a soft, red glow. The same happened with the ceiling, and then even the floor below them. Every crack and crevice filled with running red liquid. Soon, the whole chamber was filled with the red glow, and the lines of red began reaching the coffin, sliding up its sides and around the opening.
"Wha- What's going on?" Blake asked, trying to find a spot that didn't have liquid running through it.
"I- It smells like-" Yang began while sniffing rapidly. She then exclaimed, "It's blood! Human blood!"
"This feels… I feel the weave of it, but it's like Restoration and Alteration and...something I've never felt before," Weiss quickly filled them in. "I have no idea what kind of magic this is!"
"Guys, the coffin," Ruby pointed out, stretching her arm towards the object in question.
The blood had slipped under the lid and pushed it up, allowing it to flow almost freely into the box. The glow became a shimmer, and then it all came to a climax before them, the last dregs of blood quickly and audibly gathering like a whirlpool into the sarcophagus before it suddenly dropped back down. A moment of heavy silence passed before the stone slab was shoved off to the side and a bloodied skeleton rose up, a briarheart fruit pulsing in its rib cage as muscles, nerves, and organs formed from the rippling red liquid. Everyone stared in horror and awe, though the young Dragonborn averted her gaze when the reformation neared completion.
Bare feet hit stone and a deep breath resounded throughout the chamber.
"I...live?" a voice questioned, coming from a dark-haired man with tattoos of eagles, lynxes, and a myriad of runes running across his form from head to toe. He was nearly as tall as Farkas, with lean muscles that spoke of strength and speed. He looked at his hands and surroundings in interest and confusion for a moment, before steeling himself with clenched fists and looking forward to the ones standing opposite of him in the chamber.
"Faolan," Artur muttered, falling to a knee.
"Do not kneel, man," the deep voice of the revived Reachman king boomed out. He looked around himself then grabbed some red cloth from one of the shelves, quickly fashioning it into a loincloth before studying the group arrayed before him once again.
"So, you have brought me back?" he growled out at them. "I thought I was finally at rest, but if I am back, then the Reach must need me."
"Yes, great Ard," Sisca said from behind them all. Everyone looked to see the Hagraven trailed by her apprentice and the three Companions, Vilkas behind her looking on with wide eyes and a finger pointed at the barely-clothed man ahead of them.
"Is- Is that…?" he sputtered, but he didn't finish his question as the answer was obvious to everyone present.
"Matron, you honor us," Red Eagle said to the Hagraven. "But what of these Nords? Are they here on pillage or mercenary work?"
"They are no enemies, my king. A little cautious of us, but that is merely sense," she said with a chuckle. "My daughter and Augur saw your revival, and so we came to witness it and send out word to the tribes. It has been many centuries since you've been entombed here."
"Has it?" the king rolled his shoulders and sighed. "And does the Reach need me?"
"It greatly needs leadership," Sisca said. "A strong leader to unite us and to face our enemies."
He gave a wearily determined nod. "Then it shall have it. When they arrive, let them know I shall accept any challenges to my rule for a fortnight, or until the challengers have dried up."
"A fortnight of challenges, my king?" Sisca repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds excessive, but it will be done."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Yang suddenly called out, catching everyone's attention. "We just… We literally saw this man come back to life a minute ago, and now you guys are planning some big tribe gathering, and we've got… I'm sorry, but a lot is happening right now. Can we start slow and… Just how are you alive?"
"The briarheart," Faolan answered shortly, gesturing to the hole in his chest where metal bars held in the magical plant. "Matrons, witches, and sorcerers of every clan worked tirelessly to create it. I thought its magic had been pushed to the limit against the legions of Cyrod, but it seems that it just needed to be refilled." He then nodded at Sisca. "Please, have the necessary preparations seen to. Does my redoubt stand?"
"It does," Sisca confirmed, then Faolan nodded.
"Then that is where we will hold the challenges." He then looked over to Artur. "You were the one who returned my sword?"
"I am," the sick man answered, struggling to hold back a cough.
"Good man. While I wanted rest, I cannot let such a debt go unpaid." The larger Reachman then clapped his hands and whispered something that sounded almost like singing. There was a short whistle of air followed by something zooming in from the tunnel, which Red Eagle quickly grabbed out of the air, revealing it to be his sword. "Ah, my old friend. It feels good to hold my blade once again." He then quickly slid his thumb against the edge, then pressed it to Artur's forehead. The smaller man gasped as Faolan left a drop of blood on his brow, and then held his hands to his chest as his breath quickened for a moment.
"It is temporary. I can feel your infection runs deep, but you shall breathe easy in the coming days."
"I- Thank you! Thank you so much!"
As Faolan made to leave, Farkas looked around in concern.
"Wait, hold on! We can't just let him go!" he shouted while drawing his sword. The Reachman King looked at him while pausing in his steps, seemingly unperturbed by the sudden hostility.
"What are-" Aela began.
"If he goes and gets all the Reacher tribes together, he's going to go to war with the rest of the Hold," he pointed out. "People are going to die!"
"Okay, yeah, that-" Yang started, trying to think of a way to keep the situation from defaulting to violence.
"He hasn't done anything wrong," Ruby pointed out to the Companion. "In fact, he just helped Artur."
"It doesn't matter if he helped one man. If he goes out there, then he'll kill thousands," Farkas warned them. "He could plunge Skyrim into another war!"
Team RWBY each felt conflicted by the statement. On the one hand, they had basically all sworn themselves to noninterference when it came to the political struggles of Skyrim, but here they were faced with a possible sea-change that had huge, sweeping consequences for which they'd be responsible for.
"We don't...know if-"
"I could. I'm willing," Faolan said evenly, dashing a good bit of the Huntresses' hopes. "But know, son of Skyrim, that any war I fight is one started by the other side. I swore to defend the Reach!" he suddenly shouted, pointing his sword toward the Companion, his eyes dilating for a second with a look of rage and madness. Calm returned to him quickly, however, and he lowered his blade.
"If you so fear me, then I will let you attempt to strike me down," he offered, but the tone in his voice betrayed nothing but confidence. Confidence in both himself, and his cause.
Red Eagle turned his blade and stuck it into the ground, taking his hand from it and backing up a few steps.
"Come, and see if you cannot fell me, Nord," he challenged the larger man. For a moment, Farkas' nostrils flared as he gripped his sword, then he began to charge the Reachman with a fierce battle cry.
"Farkas, wait!" his twin called out to him. But it was too late, for the larger sibling was already within reach of the revived king who nearly matched him in height, swinging his sword with a shout.
There was a soft thunk as the greatsword was halted not by Faolan's body, but by the fingers and thumb of his left hand that had caught the blade between them. Farkas' rage dissipated as he realized what had happened, then shock ran through him as Faolan grasped the bottom of his chestplate and lifted him up above his head. Weapons were quickly drawn, and the other Reachfolk within the cavern chamber quickly fled to another side. Faolan looked around as he effortlessly held up his challenger, then laughed.
"You're all so quick to come to your friend's aid after seeing this," he noted with a small chuckle. "I cannot fault your bravery, but you should all be smarter about this."
He shifted his left hand around, grabbing the sword between his thumb and two fingers, then wrenched it away from Farkas' grasp before setting him back on his feet.
"Skyforge steel? A good blade. Hold onto it," he advised the werewolf before handing it back to him and returning to his march, grabbing his own sword and pulling it from the stone as though it was resting in butter. Farkas just looked at his own sword then stumbled over to lean against a wall and slide down it to the floor, his brother coming up to his side to check on him.
"Holy crap," Yang muttered as they all watched the ancient King of the Reach walk out of the cave. Sisca and Ritta were the first to follow him out, leaving most of the others to stand dumbfounded at what had just happened.
"Did we…" Weiss struggled to find the right words for her thoughts. "Did we just unleash some ancient power onto the world?"
"Yes," Lydia answered succinctly. "We just revived and let loose the First Briarheart, who once single-handedly routed the armies of the First Empire of Man. So the legend goes."
Ruby looked over to Artur, who still seemed amazed that he could breathe without pain and effort again.
"...Well, he's kinda nice," she offered, only to receive a few stares from the others.
"How does this kind of thing happen?" Capric asked in bafflement, La'shaina and Syndergoth standing several paces behind him. "Didn't you just accidentally release the Forsworn leader and King of the Reach, and now we have the ancient, legendary Red Eagle himself back among the living?!" he asked while gesturing towards the meeting of Reachmen tribes that was forming.
"We get up to some crazy things, huh?" Ruby asked while twirling a toe in the dirt and holding her hands behind her back.
"Look, there was no way to know this would happen," Yang pointed out. "We literally were just going with a guy to return Red Eagle's sword."
"Yes, that only adds to the confusion. Not only that, but what brought him back wasn't so much necromancy as it seems to have been actual resurrection." Capric closed his eyes and stroked his chin. "I heard rumors that some Hagravens were powerful enough to resurrect the recently fallen, but this… Doesn't matter right now. We've got a...moot? What's a word for this sort of gathering?"
"No idea, but La'shaina sees Giants coming," the Ohmes Khajiit reported while turning in the direction of an oncoming procession of black-haired Giants, some of whom were leading along furry beasts with large horns.
"Wooly rhinos?" Ruby asked.
"Neshorns," Lydia told her. "Giants in the northwest Reach herd them. Very deadly and thick-skinned."
"Welcome, World-Cracker Clan!" a man greeted them, dressed up in bones with a satchel full of tomes and a staff in one hand. He seemed to be the chosen greeter and/or master of ceremonies. He had been referred to as a lore-keeper by several members and Vateshran by others, though they had eventually come to understand it was a title and not his name.
"Wait, the Giants are Reachmen?" Blake asked, confused at their inclusion.
"As much as anyone is," a new voice answered them. Yang immediately turned towards him and felt her gut twist at the sight of her fellow prison escapee.
"Madanach," she said in greeting.
"Yang. It's good to see you well. Hardly expected to find you here, but I just caught wind that you're partly responsible for all this." He grinned while looking over her gathered teammates and associates. "Thanks again, elf."
"Don't mention it," Capric responded. "Seriously, do not ever talk about it. Problems will never end."
"I'll keep my lips sealed on the matter. So, these are your friends?" Madanach asked the blonde.
"Yeah, they are. Capric's just an associate, though."
"Well, I'm wounded," the half-elf began, a false melodrama in his voice. "I know we weren't the closest, but I thought we were at least on good terms."
"Dude, I don't think we've ever talked."
"I remember the raven-haired girl, at least," Madanach pointed out, ignoring Capric. "You two were...quite close." He chuckled as Blake blushed and Yang cleared her throat awkwardly. "Ah, and the show-stealer herself."
"Hi," Ruby greeted him quietly. "Thanks for, uh, not being mean to my sister in prison."
"Think nothing of it."
"Actually, I just thought of something," Yang spoke up. "How does the formerly dead king coming back while you're technically the king work?"
"Well, seeing as I'm an old man far past his prime, and Faolan is an ancient warrior revered by all Forsworn, and blessed with magics that make him equal to armies, I decided to decline all claims to the kingship, peacefully." He harrumphed while looking toward the cleared ground of the arena partway up the hill, where Red Eagle had planted himself in the middle like a tree to await challengers rather than mingle with any supplicants. One of the Giants had gone up to challenge the revived king while they were speaking. "Seems not all of us are so smart."
The group watched as Red Eagle took to the opposite side of the ring. The lore-master introduced the challenger to the audience, though they were all mostly too far away to hear. The battle started quickly, with the Giant doing something that seemed to infuse his club with fire, which he then swung down at Faolan with earth-shattering results that even they all felt within their knees.
Faolan had side-stepped the blow almost trivially, then jumped up while swinging his sword. The Giant pulled up his club, blocking the first blow and shoving the king away in mid-air, but the Briarheart charged back as soon as he hit the ground. He ducked under a swing and sliced towards a leg that was barely pulled away in time, but the Giant was off-balance, allowing Faolan to cut upwards while jumping with nothing to stop him. The blade bit into flesh and came out of the Giant's shoulder, carving a furrow into the challenger and causing him to shout and fall onto his back while clutching his wound. The victor was called when he was unable to get up, and then several of the Giant's clansmen came to drag him away while healers looked over him. Yang's eyes drifted over toward the lined-up bodies of previous challengers covered in white cloth just below the stone cairn, which had occasionally been added to throughout the day, reminding her that not all were as lucky as the thick-skinned Jo'Tunn.
"I don't think there's any Reachman who could honestly challenge that man," Syndergoth spoke up from his spot near Capric.
Weiss and Serana popped into existence within Gauldur's Refuge, the rest of Team RWBY already there and preparing for supper.
"I'm honestly a little more than disgusted," was the blancette's first words upon entering the pocket realm.
"I've met worse," Serana tried to throw in.
"That doesn't help matters. They basically… Oh, I just… Nevermind. I won't bring any of it up."
"Uh, what happened with you guys?" Ruby asked the two vampires.
"We...met with representatives of the Ghostblood Clan," Weiss told her, a deep frown on her face.
"Molag Bal followers," Serana explained. "They serve vampires and such. One of them sensed us and wanted to talk. And invite us to an orgy."
Ruby squealed in distress while Weiss smacked a hand onto her face.
"I told you she wouldn't take that well."
"Yeah, but it was funny."
"Please tell me you weren't serious," Blake spoke up from where she had been reading.
"No, really," Serana told her, shaking her head. "Ghostblood vampires usually stay in torpor. It's their specialty. Since they don't have to be awake very often, they don't drink much blood. When they're awake though, they live it up, so to speak."
"I'm surprised you aren't telling her off for possibly corrupting your sister," Lydia said to Yang.
"Hm? Oh, I figured you had it," the blonde absentmindedly responded. The housecarl hummed at that, leaning back against a column and crossing her arms.
"Is everything all right, Yang? You seem distracted," Lydia asked after a moment.
"I'm fine, just...a lot to think about." The blonde stood up and waved over to Weiss. "I think I need to take a walk outside."
"All right. We'll call your scroll if anyone else wants out," the younger vampire said while passing the Gauldur Amulet over to Yang. One of the first things they determined was whether or not they could make calls from outside the realm to inside it and vice versa, and the scrolls and their enchantments once again proved their worth while also adding more evidence that they probably worked with some sort of connection to Oblivion.
A moment of concentration and channeling the unique spell within the amulet later, Yang was back out in Mundus. More representatives from the multitude of Reach tribes had gathered, showing her a bright patchwork of people. Among the various humans was also a smattering of Minotaurs, Orcs, Ogres, Centaurs, and even another group of Giants that averaged about a head taller than the World-Crackers that had shown up yesterday.
The Giants seemed to be in an argument with one another, and Madanach and a handful of others, including Borkul, were trying to mediate between them. At least, as far as Yang could tell without having a translation amulet on. The elder Reachman was speaking the Giant's language, which from what she was told, was a tongue that could take a full-grown man's entire lungful of air just to get out one word at times.
"Everything okay?" she asked as she approached, the Giants barely giving her a glance. Madanach finished saying whatever he was trying to get across to them and then turned back to Yang while clearing his throat.
"Just a small dispute. The Cloud-Drinkers here brought some of their own neshorns, but their old bull got in a fight with one of the World-Cracker's steers and killed it. We're...trying to find a resolution here."
Yang hummed in thought and looked over the two Giant clans. The World-Crackers were shorter with darker hair on average, looking almost like big Bretons, whereas the Cloud-Drinkers were more like the Giants she was used to seeing across Skyrim. Somehow, she had a feeling this wasn't the first time the two Reach Giant clans have had a confrontation like this.
"Okay, so...Cloud-Drinkers definitely owe the World-Crackers here. Why not…? Hold on, let me get some help." Yang took out her scroll and dialed up her sister.
"Hey Yang. All good?"
"Yeah Rubes, just wondering if you could grab a Giantspeak Amulet and help me out here."
"Uh, okay, sure."
While Ruby dug out the amulet, Yang explained the situation and her thoughts on it. Their form of communication had caught the eyes of everyone in the vicinity, stalling the argument enough for her to hold up her scroll for all the Giants to hear Ruby's translated words.
"Give over the bull that killed the youngling. The World-Crackers will have restitution for the slain, and the Cloud-Drinkers need not worry over it anymore."
The taller clan seemed miffed by the idea, but agreed to it in the end. Most of the World-Crackers were happy with the exchange, walking away while chatting in their deep language, likely about what they were going to do with the bull.
"Well, that went better than expected," Madanach said as the Cloud-Drinkers began to head back to their group's campsite. "Thought for sure there'd be some jaw-breaking before the end of the day. Thanks for that, Yang."
"Don't mention it," the blonde waved off. She then sighed again when she looked over to where the arena was. More covered bodies had joined the others, and now some Hagravens were apparently picking out body parts and organs from the slain, something a lot of them signed off on, apparently. "What's going to happen when this is all over?"
"Hopefully or realistically?" the former king asked. "Ard Faolan is likely to declare the Reach a sovereign kingdom, then fight whoever challenges that claim. Perhaps with him at the helm, and all the tribes and clans following him, we'd win."
"Not easily," Yang reminded him. "It's not just Skyrim. The Empire is here as well, and even if they aren't enough, the Stormcloaks won't like a free Reach either."
"Beset from all sides," Madanach considered with a nod. "Just like we've always been."
"Does it get tiring?" Yang asked him. "Having to fight tooth and nail just to stay even?"
"At times, I wish it were easier." He sighed and put his hands to his waist. "But it will never be easy. Every victory is hard-fought, hard-won, but worth it in the end."
"I know it won't be easy, but...I want there to be a better way." She looked over to where Faolan sat, his sword held loosely in his hand. The red glow of its runes made it impossible to tell how much blood was on it, but she was willing to bet it was covered completely at least once today. The Red Eagle himself was placid, looking more like a man sitting on his porch to watch the sunset than a king waiting on a battle-torn arena for more challengers to the throne to cut down.
"Do you think any Reachman could possibly beat him?"
Madanach guffawed a moment. "Not a chance. The only ones even trying are fools with more bravery than sense and those with nothing left to lose." He looked over to her. "Why? Thinking about trying to fight him yourself?"
Yang was quiet for a moment, but then she nodded, causing the once-king's eyes to widen.
"Yeah, I think I am."
There was a quiet moment between them, one in which the werewolf noticed Madanach's companions had skulked away, apparently knowing that they were not part of the coming conversation.
"If I'd heard anyone else say that, I'd have thought them crazy or suicidal," the Reachman muttered. "But not you. If you're thinking of doing this…"
"It's just… I've said it before, but I believe you all deserve freedom. You all deserve a fair shake and… Hell, you deserve the land under your feet that your ancestors have worked their whole lives, if nothing else. But… I don't want rivers of blood to get there, yours or the Nords."
Madanach hummed and nodded at that. "But can you take on Faolan, the king who turned armies? Can you honestly fight the First Briarheart and win?"
Yang took in a deep breath. Between the effortless way he handled Farkas - who was no pushover even without Aura - and how he quickly cut and beat down every other challenger, he was probably the deadliest human they had come across in Tamriel. Still, he was a flesh and blood Man, and like the sorcerer called Crow-Child showed when he managed to land a few cuts, Faolan could be hurt, and he could bleed.
She wasn't entirely sure if she could beat him, but she felt it in her bones that she had to try, to keep another war from breaking out when the current one could flare back up at any time.
"Yang," Madanach said softly, drawing her out of her thoughts, "when we escaped from Cidnha Mine, I saw a spark in you. I thought it was just that gleam of naivete that looks so precious in the younger folk that've yet to see the wider scope of the world, but then you leaped in between me and the Silver-Bloods." He smiled brightly at that. "You said it was to make sure you had a witness, but you didn't need me alive for that. You ran in to protect an old man with more sins on his soul than days."
She shook her head. "Maybe I just preferred the guy that actually tried to help me a time or two?"
"Maybe, but then… I don't know what to call it, but you blasted those damned cuffs off, and then you shone like the sun. You could've ripped Thonar in half then and there, and no one would have blamed you for it. But instead you battered him down, shamed him in front of everyone, and dared anyone else to try it." He turned towards her fully then. "You are strong, Yang Xiao Long. You're a lot like Faolan in that manner. People with strength like you are something special. Cyrods call them heroes. Nords call them Doom-Driven. The Reach doesn't have fancy titles for them, but we know them for who they are. You changed things already. The Silver-Bloods are all but gone, and I've heard more than one tale about how some land had been repaid to former Reachfolk owners. All because you and your friends stuck your heads into matters." He laughed again.
"What are you saying?"
Madanach stroked his beard. "Maybe I'm tired of fighting. Maybe all these years have left me feeling…stained," he mused as he studied his hands, with his skin tinged blue from the silver of Cidhna. Though Yang could tell that wasn't the color he was seeing. "Maybe I want to see how you'll do things instead." He stared her dead in the eyes for a moment. "Yang, if you're going to challenge Faolan, then I'll back your claim. The other tribes might try to shout you down, but not with me behind you. And, should you somehow miraculously pull this off, I only want one thing from you: swear that you'll fight for the Reach and its people. Be there for us. This isn't just a challenge to dethrone the king, but to take his place. Will you rule and defend this land, and see to the needs of its people?"
Yang stood in stunned silence for a long moment and took a deep breath. Did she even have the right to do this? Whatever her experiences in this land, she was still a foreigner, an adventurer who only stuck her nose into this by chance. Why would any of these people want to listen to yet another outsider trying to tell them what to do, just because she might be the best fighter around?
She wasn't meant to be some kind of savior. Ruby was the hero, the Dragonborn who was going to save the world. Blake was the freedom fighter, the activist who knew what it was like to live as an oppressed minority, and how to move past her righteous anger to do the right thing. Weiss was the aspiring boss, the professional heiress who'd been preparing her entire life to lead a globe-spanning organization. Whereas she was just…Yang. She hadn't been seeking out any responsibilities beyond the people close to her, had never nurtured any ambition beyond being the best Huntress she could be.
She looked back out among the crowd. The people here alone were nearly an army's worth, and they were just a handful of representatives from some of the tribes. There were many more warriors for each of them here, and even more for each of the ones yet to arrive. They would cut a swath through the Reach before they were routed, especially with Faolan at their helm. Many of them would die along the way as well.
The blonde clenched her fist as she steadied her resolve.
"Okay, so it made nine copies of the Burn Dust crystal," Weiss said as she took the thumb-sized samples out of the simply named Ingredients Chest. "Assuming size is not an issue, if we can compress these together, we should be able to get nine more of those after another day."
"The Growers work, too," Ruby announced after pulling out the Lightning Dust sample, which had more than doubled in size from only a few hours ago.
"Remarkable! It seems whatever link to chaotic creatia these things have, it works on Dust as well as Soul Gems and then some. While I doubt I can copy the Ingredients Chest with my current level of understanding, I could probably fashion a few more of these Soul Gem Growers, but perhaps find a way to attune them more towards Dust fabrication than Soul Gem." Weiss snapped her fingers. "I just figured out how to make artificial Dust!"
"Uh, that's good, right?" Ruby asked.
"My father's had people researching possibilities for years, since before even Winter was born, so that he could lock a patent onto it." She looked at the handful of crystals she was holding. "Remind me to patent both of these as soon as we get home."
Yang reappeared at the center of the structure, then set the amulet on the table as she walked over.
"Ah, good, supper is almost ready," Lydia said to her, stirring a pot of broth and poking at chicken on the range with a fork. "How was your walk?"
"Good, good. I think I figured out what to do."
"What'd you figure out?" Ruby asked while taking out her gunsmithing kit.
"I'm going to challenge Red Eagle."
Everyone stilled at that. Blake's book fell into her lap, Ruby let the kit slip from her fingers onto the table, and Weiss dropped one of the Burn crystals, which popped loudly next to her foot, startling everyone back into motion.
"You're doing what?!" Ruby decried loudly.
16th of Morning Star