Author's Note:

Thirty chapters left to go! In the first book… :D I hope that you're all excited. Not that those thirty chapters won't take months to publish, but still :D

I hope that you're all ready for the Reach arch, because I'm gonna keep you teased a little more yet :)

Don't worry. Next time, I promise :D

Enjoy :)

Chapter CXX – Coming Up in the World

Bishop and Aeyrin still had some time to kill before they needed to head back to the road to travel across the entire province.

Karliah had mentioned that Enthir was a somewhat promising enchanter, making Bishop instantly ask her for getting his bow enchanted for him for a considerable discount, since he had been risking his life and limb for her missions readily. This would take some time, however, so he and Aeyrin had to pass it somehow in Winterhold.

They decided to visit the College the next day and, this time, they were greeted amicably by a mage guarding the gate.

They stopped by the Hall of Attainment first, searching for J'zargo instantly. The Khajiit was properly penitent, apologizing over and over to them for the instability of his scrolls. He promised to work on his studies before he would attempt more of these experiments and gave them a magical ring as recompense. He claimed that it held the enchantment of waterbreathing, at which point Bishop instantly asked whether it was Brelyna who had made the ring. Seeing Aeyrin turn green from her waterbreathing spell once was more than enough. Luckily, that was not the case and they, at least, got a useful trinket out of the ordeal. They didn't mention how useful the scroll proved to be in the end – J'zargo definitely shouldn't get it into his head that it was in any way a successful application of magic.

The strange teal orb was still decorating the main building of the College with its menacing glow, but it didn't seem to be doing anything aside from that. The mages were apparently studying it thoroughly, but Tolfdir claimed that they made no actual progress on determining its use.

At least it hasn't blown up the town… yet.

With not much else to do at the College, the two of them decided to head back to the tavern to see Enthir and Karliah before their journey and check whether the bow was ready. But before they could exit the courtyard, an unfamiliar voice interrupted them.

"Hold on!" the voice boomed across the yard, making them both stop in their tracks and turn around to determine the source.

An Altmer was making their way towards them. His face was hidden by a black cloak and his robes were similarly dark, bearing the golden symbol of the Thalmor.

Bishop and Aeyrin shared a somewhat disturbed look covertly. What was a Thalmor doing at the College? And, more surprisingly, what was a Thalmor doing in the region controlled by Ulfric's rebels?

"Afternoon, citizens," he bowed a little before them as he kept looking them over with a measured eye. "You are the two who had discovered the Eye, correct? The Dragonborn and her… companion?" he raised his brow with strange interest at Bishop.

"The 'Eye'?" Aeyrin asked instead of answering his question. She wasn't sure why she got instantly nervous at a Thalmor asking a question, but she did. She certainly had a lot to hide from them, with the entire embassy business and her plans with Jora. And now it seemed that the Dominion was interested in something else that involved her.

The Altmer sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Very well, I will adjust my speech to your level. The giant glowy thing," he rolled his eyes in disdain.

Ugh… Thalmor.

Bishop and Aeyrin shared an exasperated look before they nodded in response. There was no reason to hide the fact. He probably already knew all about the expedition to Saarthal anyway.

"Tell me, was there something guarding the Eye… the glowy thing? A mage? Some creature? A lich perhaps? I mean… a magicky undead," the elf snorted contemptfully again.

Was this really the right approach to get answers?

Still… how did he not know? Tolfdir knew. All the apprentices knew. If he wanted to know, he could have asked them. But maybe nobody wanted to tell him for some reason.

The two of them shared a look again before Bishop answered with a shrug of his shoulders: "Draugr."

It was vague enough, just in case.

"What kind of draugr?" the Thalmor insisted as he gritted his teeth in impatience.

"An undead one," Bishop grinned at him, eliciting a deep scowl from the Altmer.

The man sighed exasperatedly, shaking his head. Apparently this tactic was efficient in making him give up the line of questioning. Whatever the reason for his ignorance of the events was, they probably didn't want to ruin the mages' efforts on keeping him out of the loop. When Thalmor became curious, it never meant anything good for the object of their interest.

"Never mind. I doubt that you'd have anything substantial to tell me on that matter in any case. To my other inquiries then…" he grumbled in annoyance.

"Inq… Inquieries?" Bishop tilted his head at him in mock confusion while Aeyrin tightened her lips into a thin line to prevent herself from giggling. It was pretty fun to feign ignorance and stupidity more and more adamantly. His annoyed face was priceless.

"By Magnus… resorted to deal with simpletons," the man mumbled angrily, almost silently, before he tried to clarify again. "Question! I have questions regarding the return of the dragons. You should have some knowledge on that subject!"

Bishop had half a mind to mock him on the Thalmor's lack of knowledge on that particular subject, especially since they were short a few important documents from their embassy, but he thought better of it. It would have been too suspicious.

"What questions?" Aeyrin gave him an uncertain expression. This was dangerous territory.

"For one, I am very interested to know how you gain the knowledge on the dragons' locations. Reports claim you have slayed many already. How do you locate them?" he folded his arms across his chest expectantly.

"We… don't. They 'locate' us. They attack people, you know," Aeyrin scowled at him. Of all the questions he could have asked, this was probably the stupidest one.

"Hmm… perhaps. However, there are some people who are very proficient… skilled… at locating these beasts. Largely due to their extensive knowledge on the creatures, their hunting patterns, usual places of slumber and such. I was curious to know whether you have already found this group. Joining forces with them would be… most helpful in your endeav… in your efforts," the Thalmor peered at them curiously before he again looked at Bishop for quite some time, as if he was trying to discern where he fit into all of this.

Did he mean…?

"Have you ever heard of the Blades?" the man asked finally.

They didn't dare to share a look this time, too wary of raising suspicion. It was really starting to look like Delphine's paranoia wasn't all that irrational.

"The Blades? Aren't they like the Emperor's bodyguards?" Aeyrin asked, hoping that her voice betrayed nothing of her knowledge on the subject.

"They were dragon hunters, in their time. The Dominion believes that there are some in Skyrim now, attempting to resolve the current situation. It would be very wise of you to seek them out. The Dominion would be very interested in cooperating with you and the Blades closely. After all… this chaos harms everyone." It looked like the Altmer tried to give her an encouraging smile, but it came out rather snide.

"Oh… that… that sounds really helpful! How would we find them?" Aeyrin tried to sound excited at the prospect. Hopefully it would convince him that they haven't found the Blades already.

The man's brows shot up in realization and he pondered for a long while.

"I… do not know, unfortunately. Perhaps ask around. If you come to hear some rumors of their presence, it would be best if you informed any of our representatives. They would help you search for them. Then we could join the might of the Dominion to their valuable knowledge," again he tried to smile.

"That's great! We could use the help. We'll be sure to let one of the Thalmor know, should we hear anything," Aeyrin returned the smile. Hers must have been way more convincing than his, right? At least she hoped as much.

The Thalmor only nodded with a pleased smirk and he mumbled a brief farewell before he turned on his heel, heading back towards the Hall of the Elements.

They watched him leave for a while, making sure he was out of earshot, before they dared to talk to each other at last.

"That… did not sound good," Bishop sighed. The Thalmor were definitely hunting the Blades again. After all, Delphine insinuated as much in her letter after her Riften mission.

Aeyrin only nodded thoughtfully. She watched the large doors of the central building where the Thalmor had disappeared for a while before she turned back to Bishop.

"Yeah… I don't want to make her more paranoid, but we should probably mention this to Delphine."

…

After they spent another night in Winterhold, they agreed on taking the road back around Nightgate Inn, then continuing down to the Whiterun plains to spend as little time as possible in the freezing north.

Bishop was all too eager to test the new enchantment on his bow throughout their trek, shooting at anything which was visible to them from the road. He even targeted creatures far away that would be of no real threat to them.

The paralyzing effect did look really useful. It would make their battles so much easier.

With the discount, they weren't in urgent need of more funds, so they could journey on towards the Reach without much need to gather loot, ensuring their timely arrival without plundering any ruins and caves.

They almost made it all the way towards the edge of Whiterun Hold with no other distractions, before they decided to set up a camp near a small river east of Rorikstead.

"Mmmm… you are getting sooo good at this…" Aeyrin let out a little involuntary moan as she bit down on the piece of venison seasoned with dried elves ear and garlic and soaked in snowberry sauce.

Bishop gave her a pleased smirk while he watched her wolf down the food he had managed to prepare with nothing but a worn pot and fire. He really has been getting better at this. He wouldn't have bothered, ordinarily, but the look on her face whenever he made something good was too irresistible.

She guzzled down the rest of her serving and started suckling the remainders of the sweet sauce off her fingers, capturing Bishop's attention completely. She licked the little drop that was escaping down her wrist before she turned her attention to the old pot by the fire and peered into it with eagerness. When she found it empty already, after the assault on the food by both Bishop and Karnwyr, she sat back down on the cold ground and huffed in pouting disappointment.

"You know, if you didn't devour it faster than a mountain lion, you wouldn't be having this problem now," Bishop laughed at her before he bit into his piece smugly. Besides, if she did all that more slowly, he would have had more time to enjoy the show.

"But…" she pouted again. She suddenly moved to her hands and knees and crawled the short distance towards him swiftly. "Then I wouldn't be able to do this." With a mischievous smirk, she bit down on the slab of meat in his hand and tore off a piece with her teeth before he could react.

"Hey!" Bishop narrowed his eyes at her, but he couldn't really contain the amused grin that was spreading on his face. She chewed the meat hurriedly, swallowing with an audible gulp, before she moved even closer. She locked her hands behind his neck and planted her lips over his eagerly before her tongue flicked over the corners of his mouth, savoring the sweet taste still lingering on them.

He chuckled against her lips. The food in his hand was all but forgotten as he slipped his tongue inside her mouth after a while and his clean hand grabbed at her hips and pressed her closer into his lap.

His palm roamed over her back for a while as the other one outstretched away from their bodies not to stain her clothes with the sticky sauce. Aeyrin could feel the outstretched arm twitch occasionally, as if he needed to touch her with it too, but there was nowhere to put his food away without breaking their embrace. She dislodged her lips from him with a wry smile and she grabbed that arm, dragging it towards her to take the rest of the meat away from him before she turned her attention to cleaning off his fingers of the sweetness. She instantly began suckling gently on his digits and flicking her tongue over his skin tantalizingly.

Bishop was completely mesmerized by watching her as his clean hand started squeezing her buttocks hungrily. She could have sworn that she even heard a grunt escape his lips when she sucked on his middle finger languidly.

She worked diligently to remove every little drop of sauce before she gave him a sly wink and let his hand drop down from her grasp.

"I win!" she giggled. She disentangled herself completely from Bishop's embrace and scrambled further away with the last piece of the venison in her hand, held tightly like a battle trophy.

"Damn…" Bishop raised his brows at her, but a grin was still plastered on his face. "Fuck… you kinda earned that for that performance," he let out a hearty laugh at her antics.

He scurried closer to her and grabbed her by the hips. He promptly planted her back onto his lap while she bit down on the meat, this time much slower, savoring each second of the taste. Bishop nuzzled close to her and his tongue gently flicked on the drop of sauce escaping her mouth before she jerked her head away from him with another giggle.

"Stop! It's mine! All of it!"

He laughed at her in response again before he wrapped his arms around her stomach and pressed her into his embrace firmly.

"Yeah? Well… you know what's all mine?" He nipped at the tip of her ear while his hands snaked up over her breasts, squeezing her to him again. She let out another satisfied moan, but it was a little disturbing that he wasn't sure if it was because of his touch or because of the food again.

Aeyrin mostly ignored his antics as long as she still had food or sauce-stained fingers to contend herself with but, shortly after she was done, she turned over in his lap, facing him, and she wrapped her arms around his head to let him kiss at her cleavage eagerly.

They didn't get to enjoy themselves further however.

An unpleasantly familiar roar echoed from the mountains nearby, making them jerk up and disentangle from each other instantly.

They started to scramble for their armor right away. It was definitely close, even though they couldn't see it yet. The mountains were right by their camp.

The last time they encountered a dragon near these particular peaks, it was that powerful colorful one. And it got away. They needed to have every advantage. It was bad enough that it was already night time and they couldn't really see well into the distance. They wouldn't see it approach soon enough.

They managed to throw their equipment on rather haphazardly and they began looking around the night sky, trying to locate the beast. The roars were definitely getting louder now and their fire would attract it.

"Stupid fucking overgrown lizards… interrupting…" Bishop grumbled. His voice drowned out by another roar, this time even closer.

Aeyrin wondered briefly whether to douse their fire, but it was likely useless. The creature could have probably smelled the smoke. And who knew how good the dragon's vision was in the dark? In any case, it would definitely leave the two of them at a disadvantage.

A strong gust of wind made the fire flicker and, just as they suspected, they saw the creature too late for their comfort. It was already right above them, only visible when the glow of the fire illuminated its shiny scales.

Bishop wobbled on his feet, caught off guard by the gust of wind coming from its wings which made him almost fall over. Aeyrin managed to stay grounded well enough by her armor, but she felt like she couldn't see a thing when the fire flickered.

A large shadow landed right by them and its large claw stepped right on their campfire, dousing it utterly while the ground trembled at the impact.

Aeyrin reacted immediately. She wasn't sure what kind of dragon it was yet, but it looked rather big. Bigger than the lithe one, it seemed. That was a significant relief.

She smashed her mace against it and it ended up colliding with what she believed must have been its neck. Her eyes were starting to adjust at least a little, but the sky was unfortunately cloudy and the only thing that seemed to glisten, in whatever faint light the sparsely visible stars provided, were the creature's eyes.

She had no idea what Bishop was doing, but she heard the creature flinch and grunt, as if it was hit by an arrow. Good. He was up on his feet and fighting.

"KRII!"

The dragon's body got outlined with the red aura, making it so much easier to battle. Now she could see its maw opening as a little pale-green light started forming at the back of it.

Wait… green?

Before she could realize what was happening, something sprayed from the beast's jaw onto her boots and the thigh plates recklessly fastened around her underchain.

She could hear… sizzling. There was something happening to her armor. If only she could see what!

Finally she could feel something eat through the small rings of her underchain, stinging her legs as if it was trying to get through to her skin. Like relentless fire or lava or… some sort of acid.

She needed to make it stop instantly! It would eat through her armor and who knew what else!

The river was too far. She needed to think of something else. Anything!

The beast roared under a volley of arrows, but sadly, the paralyzing enchantment seemed to be too weak to affect the large powerful creature.

"IIZ!"

Aeyrin's desperate attempt at a rescue from the green substance encrusted her entire lower half in ice, making her topple to the ground helplessly.

Well… better than letting it eat through her armor. She'd thaw out eventually… unless the dragon decided to eat her. She considered crushing through the ice with her mace, but she was too worried that it would damage her plates or even shatter them.

Although… her legs were kind of… freezing. A lot.

Gods the Shout was powerful! What if her legs just… froze off?!

She could feel the beast thrash near her and another gust of wind assaulting her as it swiftly turned over, flinging its enormous tail across the plain.

It missed her by a hair's breadth, but she heard Bishop grunt loudly.

Oh Gods, she needed to get out of this mess!

"YOL!"

It was probably so stupid, but what else was there to do?! She couldn't really fight dragons with her legs frozen solid!

The whole area lit up with the fire and the dewy grasses around burned down instantly while the ice on her legs melted under the heat. Not completely, but enough to get rid of the majority of the block of ice. Anything more would probably just burn up her armor – that wouldn't have been very helpful.

She could see the dragon, now free of the red glow. It looked really wounded, but it still thrashed around before it located her with its gleaming eyes.

She couldn't see Bishop anymore.

Since the ice hadn't melted entirely, she needed to break it apart while it was still a little warm.

She started to smash her armored hands against the ice that didn't touch her skin. It was better to use her hands, she was too wary of the force of her mace. Her legs vibrated unpleasantly after each blow and they were almost completely numb now.

At least it was working. But it was so slow… and her hands hurt so much from the rings of her chain digging into her knuckles.

She could feel the beast turning to face her again and she quickly snapped her head up to look at it. It was staring at her, craning its neck, making a weak wobbly step towards her.

Divines! She was done for!

She quickly felt around for her mace but, suddenly, the beast let out a wild roar, screaming in pain.

Bishop?

The dragon tried to turn around to see its assailant, but before it could manage, it let out another loud roar and it finally slumped to the ground weakly. Aeyrin could still hear the sound of slashing and chopping against the scales, but the beast appeared to be dead already.

What was he doing? She needed him to be with her instead of… attacking the carcass.

"Bishop!" she called out while she desperately continued punching at the ice around her legs. She finally managed to split apart the ice between her shins – she was at last able to move them separately. She took a hold of one of her leg and began smashing it against the ground to get rid of the last remnants of ice. It could not move on its own with how frozen it still was.

It was almost done, but she'd need a lot of heat before she could move the legs again.

She heard the uncomfortably familiar sizzling and she turned her head warily towards the corpse, watching the pale-green light. This time it was glimmering and eating through the beast's flesh steadily.

Was it really some kind of acid? Oh Gods! She didn't even want to think about how that would feel!

"BISHOP!" she cried out desperately while she was still unable to move from her spot. Bishop's silhouette was illuminated by the spreading light, standing by the beast and staring at it. Why wasn't he going to her? Didn't he see her?

The familiar strong arms that suddenly embraced her startled her. Bishop dropped to the ground beside her and promptly hugged her from behind, whispering consoling words in her ear: "I'm here, love."

But that figure was still there by the dragon's carcass. Who was that?!

Aeyrin wasn't left with much time to ponder as the light shot out of the beast towards her and invaded her flesh quickly.

It was as if something was forcefully poured down her mouth. Her tongue, her throat, her stomach, all started to burn insanely in an instant. Her skin started to sizzle, sticking to her underchain while its rings began tearing off little pieces of her flesh. There was something unpleasant bubbling deep in her core and her head was spinning uncontrollably, even though her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving. She was sure that her insides were distorted beyond recognition.

Bile rose in her throat rapidly and, suddenly, she could feel her surroundings again, along with Bishop's arms holding her closely.

She jerked away from his tight embrace and pushed him off herself firmly. She could have sworn that she heard him grunt in pain at that, but she had no time to concern herself with it. Her body twisted with panicked speed and she leaned towards the ground as she gagged uncontrollably. Her burning throat began contracting painfully.

She couldn't stop herself and she let out the contents of her stomach onto the scorched ground while her arms supported her weakly, trembling.

It seemed like it took a long time before it stopped and she heaved heavily, finally getting some control over herself back. She tried to pick herself up back to a sitting position before Bishop's arm grabbed her around the waist and helped her up, pulling her back in his embrace.

"Aeyrin?" he finally broke the silence with a worried tone in his voice.

"I… I'm better… can't feel my legs though…" she sighed while she tried to focus her eyes again after tears were forced into them during the ordeal. She finally remembered Bishop's pained grunts too. "Are you…?"

"Just… that fucking tail…" Bishop grumbled in response. She had a feeling that he didn't manage to evade it in the darkness. Hopefully there wouldn't be anything broken.

Suddenly they heard the strike of a flint and a torch was lit some distance away.

She almost forgot all about that mystery figure!

The man approached closer and the light finally illuminated him properly, revealing a familiar face.

"Erik?!" Aeyrin gasped in surprise. Was this really the young man that was killing rats near Rorikstead just several months ago?

"Holy shit, kid! Did you just kill a fucking dragon?!" Bishop let out a little incredulous chuckle along with his exclamation.

"Shor's bones! Not even a little! I think it was almost dead already. Look! I'm still shaking!" Erik let the torch illuminate his armored hand which, true to his words, was trembling uncontrollably.

He approached after a while and he helped them both up on their feet, although Aeyrin fell back to Bishop's arms instantly with her numb legs, eliciting another pained grunt from him, much to her dismay.

"Come on, kid, let's get a fire going," he said through gritted teeth, clearly still in pain. "You can tell us what you're doing wandering around and attacking dragons."

…

"So, I've just been exploring the caves in the area, mostly, getting rid of the animals attacking the travelers and such. One time, I managed to kill a small group of bandits, all by myself," Erik grinned at them proudly. He fished out some dried meat from his pack and offered it to the two of them as they sat by the fire roaring a short distance away from the dragon skeleton.

Aeyrin shook her head at him vehemently. She still felt a little queasy from the strange dragon soul. She was convinced that it was like acid or poison, but without much light and with the decimation left on her armor by her Shouting experiments, she couldn't be sure.

"Anyways, everyone heard the rumors about you from Dragon Bridge. So when I heard the… Shouts, when I was coming back from one of my journeys, I knew I had to help. Honestly, I was just lucky that it didn't notice me approach, that was all," Erik smiled wryly before he bit into his own portion of the dried meat.

"Still, Erik, you really saved us back there," Aeyrin gave him a grateful smile. It really didn't look good for her after how she incapacitated herself. Then again, it may have been even worse if she did nothing about that green substance.

"I'm sure you would have managed. I… didn't see much, true, but still. The state that beast was in, you did quite a number on it," the young man chuckled. "Is… is always like this?" he turned uncertainly towards Aeyrin and he looked her over with some concern. It definitely wasn't exactly a heroic portrayal, seeing her screaming in pain and throwing up wildly right after.

"Well… it's different with different types of dragons… this one was… definitely new. But… it's always pretty bad," she sighed as she huddled her legs firmly into the fur blankets. They could finally move now, but they were still cold, even in the blanket by the fire.

"What the fuck even was that?! How many types of these shits are there?" Bishop scoffed, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes at the dragon bones nearby.

Aeyrin couldn't help but wonder the same thing.

It was strange. None of the books on dragons spoke of how many types they were. Maybe it wasn't about types. Maybe it was the spells they used… or the Shouts. Were those Shouts? It didn't sound the same as when she did it, but they always roared when they used those magical attacks. That may have been it. But if it was just the Shouts, why would their death assault her with the exact same nature of their power? Maybe it was due to the last Shout they used… maybe it was like the odd feeling she got in her throat whenever she Shouted. Maybe the essence of it just… filled them when they used them and then it was passed onto her in their deaths.

Ugh… her head was starting to hurt.

The lore-master better have some answers for her.

If he was still alive.