In the few weeks I had been traveling with Sheo, I had learned a lot about him. There were times he would have deep and meaningful discussions on a variety of topics. His thoughts filled with nuance and insight.
"Burn! Burn as I have burned! No taxation without representation!"
Then there were times like this, that reminded me he was mad as a clown on a bad batch of Skooma. Idly, I wondered what taxes had to do with this. Then dismissed the thought, not wanting to get into the habit of analyzing anything Sheo said while in this state.
The poor bandit hadn't even gotten through her speech about this 'being a toll road' Before she was in flames. Who does that?
The rest that followed were just lambs to the slaughter.
"Give me liberty! Or give me death!"
Another bandit died in agony. We hadn't even entered the battle. Sheo was eating through them at a rate that it would be pointless.
Didn't he just learn flames? How was he this proficient at it? Beside me, our temporary companion winced. I couldn't blame her. The smell of burned flesh was in the air, wafted towards us from the current of the river. I scrunched my nose, and my company did the same.
Finally, he exited the tower. A massive smile on his face.
"Ah. That felt nice. I should probably be worried about that. The last thing I want is to become a murder hobo. But still…" He trailed off with a look of bliss. I just rolled my eyes.
"You done." I asked in the most deadpan voice possible. He looked at me and nodded.
"Yep." He said enthusiastically.
"Wonderful. Get any loot?" I asked. Surely they had gold at least. They were charging 200 septims to pass. And since they were alive when we came by, people had been paying it. I looked at the river, and saw the bodies being carried away by the stream. Or, perhaps not.
Sheo's eyes widened, before he mouthed something like 'Oh crap', and he hurried back inside. I resisted the urge to facepalm. Only barely. But from the slapping sound slightly behind me, Lydia hadn't.
A glance back at Delphine showed she was slightly pale. Odd, I would figure someone in her position would be used to bloodshed. But I had no idea how long she had been in hiding. Maybe it had made her go soft.
A loud clatter informed me Sheo had come back, and stubbed his toe on a table on his way down the steps.
"Ow. Shit. Fuck." He cried as he hopped on one foot. I couldn't help but snort at his theatrics.
"You alright there?" I teased. He looked at me and scowled, which only made me snicker harder. Even Lydia thought it was funny, if her small snort was anything to go by.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up! I guess I'm keeping the gold then. And the armor."
My attention was focused when he mentioned gold. The thought brought a jealous pang to my chest. But I smothered it. I didn't know why, but lately I had been feeling weird emotionally.
When he tossed me my share in a pouch he had…liberated from a bandit, my heart sang with glee. Which was weird. I had come from money, so I shouldn't feel this happy at gaining it. I chalked it up to that it was earned instead of given. That sounded like something someone had written, or something I had been told.
Sheo was quick to off load the full set of steel plate onto Lydia. In truth, though both he and I were wearing armor, our true strength was in our spells. Though, Sheo seemed to be wearing enchanted robes under his armor. An odd, but inventive solution to the age old traditional mage garb. It invoked an image of the battle mages of old. At least in my mind.
"And this is for me." He said holding up a destruction tomb. At this rate, he would have more destruction spells than me. And the ass would probably destroy it when he was done too. "I'll learn it later when we camp."
I nodded and we continued on our way. Delphine led us, and it wasn't but a day before the snow began to fall.
Snow wasn't new to me. It snowed often in Cyridil, some places all year round. But skyrim's snow was different. It was harsher, it bit deeper, and it seeped into ones bones. Making them ache, even after warmed.
In contrast, Cyridilian snow was a novel thing. It brought festivities and merriment. A symbol of the change. Of life, and rebirth. Of a life in the womb, birthing into spring. An endless cycle of reincarnation. Or, that was what it felt like anyway.
But this cold wasn't like Cyridil. Skyrim's cold didn't bring with it the promise of spring. It covered the land like a frigid blanket.
Here, the snow was not a sign of good things to come. Only death for those not strong enough to endure it. A bitter force of stagnation. Sheo had used a word for it. Entropy, I think.
He had said that the cold was the natural state of the 'universe'. I wasn't even going to ponder the idea of that word. The vastness of it made my head hurt.
But he had said that with every action, energy was expended. That eventually, all that energy would become inert. It was a scary concept. But I was assured by the fact he said it would take trillions, a number I didn't even know existed, of years for that to happen.
Ironically, all this had started when he had looked at his spell tomb. I tried not to grit my teeth as I added on 'after he destroyed it. Asshole'.
It had been ice spike.
Flashback to the night prior.
Sheo's perspective
We had set up camp for the night. A fire roared in the center of our simple tents. I opened the book to learn my new spell, eager to learn more about the laws of this land.
A short aneurysm later, and I had the knowledge of how to preform Ice Spike. And in combination with the knowledge of how flames and lightning bolt worked, I was confident I could create a Fire Bolt.
But none of that mattered. In fact nothing mattered. More than usual. Because, I had come to the conclusion that Magicka was bullshit.
Now, I may have only made it as far as Chemistry II, and only taken Physics as a class course, but Causality and Entropy were pretty basic concept when you thought about it.
Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but it could be spread across infinity until it reached a near zero value. Now, I know all of that sounded complicated, but don't worry. That doesn't matter.
In fact, nothing matters. Because the process of creating an Ice Spike involved removing all of the heat energy out of a localized area. Completely. Just, poof. Gone. The cold of the void then freezes the air that takes up that space, and an ice spike is formed.
Looking back, I should have seen this coming. Back in Iverstead I had done something similar. By spiraling the air, I was in effect pushing all the thermal energy outward, creating a small void while also pushing it forward in a stream. Gods, If I had know the forces I messed with, I would have been more careful back in that inn.
Whatever, lesson learned. I was pretty sure I using the spell wouldn't kill me. Or even do any active harm. After all, Mages used this spell all the time. Its just, it was terrifying because of the implications.
Was fire magic just creating heat without atomic stimulation? Or was the atomic stimulation focused on a local level by what I theorized was a separate type of particle I had mentally dubbed 'Eithernano'. Yes, from fairy tail. It fit, ok?
Where was the heat coming from? And how much energy was being used to create such heat. Was it the Eithernano? We're they physically vibrating the atoms to create heat? If so, how did I avoid rapid atomic destabilization? Was It possible to accidentally nuke myself?! And where was the radiation from the electrons and neutrons that must have been rapidly detaching and flying about? Did I need to worry about cancer!
None of it made any sense?! I was hyperventilating at this point. I forced myself to calm down and think this through.
It must be the Magicka. The Eithernano must be acting as both a stimulant, and a stabilizing agent. It was clearly an acting force on this world, and bent the laws of physics in yet unknown ways. At least from my perspective.
But the truly horrific part was the localized area where Ice Spike would just delete the thermal energy in the space that took up the spell.
One does not create a localized zone of absolute zero in the span of a second, without a significant transfer of heat. I say delete, because the thermal energy just disappears. Which is terrifying. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy it just disappears. The alternative is a violent mass shift of that thermal energy outward from the center point. It should boil my hand and everything in a 10 yard radius every time I cast this spell. Yet it doesn't.
Just, gone. Into the void. Out of this plane. Which means every time some jackoff uses an ice based spell, they accelerate the heat death of the universe.
It pushes Entropy by violating the first, and most basic law of thermal dynamics! 'Energy cannot created or destroyed.'
Well Fuck that! Because as I cast an Ice Bolt experimentally, I literally watched as the heat left Nirn. I was left to assume that the introduction of heat via Fire based spells made up the difference. I hoped.
And that didn't even factor into effect the idea that lightning based spells could achieve a plasma state while being so low in power. A single lightning strike could power a small city for a weak. Yet more often than not, it took several to put down most nonhuman enemies.
Nothing made any sense! Up was down, left was right, black was white, and Yin was Yang!
"Hey, what's with the faces your making." Lydia said rudely from her place by the fire. "Something you want to share?"
I paused for a few seconds, looking at her. My brain trying to process the information I had tried to work through. It's response was what could be equated to a mental 'Error: The Error could not be completed because the Error is an Error.' And I gave up after that.
"Well? You gonna stare off into space like an idiot, or you tell us what's wrong with you now?"
My eye twitched. Fine.
"Well, since you asked-" I then went on a full lecture talking about Basic physics, and how magic treated them like it was an abusive partner. Playing nice until it was inconvenient. Doing whatever it wanted until it needed something. Then beating physics into a quivering, submissive wreck to achieve it's goal.
Honestly, I was just venting at this point. And it seemed to go over everyone but Aerana's head. Lydia looked like she regretted asking. The less said about Delphine's reaction, the better. I was starting to think she didn't like me.
Flashback End.
Aerana's perspective
I wasn't entirely sure he wasn't just making things up. The idea that everything was made of itty bitty flying balls, and that they were individual elements that made up a larger part of the whole, kinda made sense. But, I was still skeptical of the scale. He had said they were a thousand times smaller than a grain of sand, and I had a hard time imagining that.
We walked sometime before we created over a hill. A snow cat attacked us, but it was no threat. It's claws raked across Lydia's new armor leaving just the barest hint of a scuff. Her response was to burry her mace in it's skull.
But once we were done being distracted, from atop the hill I saw a beautiful site. Windhelm stood in all it's glory. Like a defiant god against a storm. I wanted to explore there. I wanted to see the sites, meet the people. But I had to steady myself.
We had a dragon to kill first. I couldn't get distracted when it might cost lives. After this, I might have time. It would just encourage me to kill this dragon faster.
Sheo's Perspective:
As we made our way up the hill towards Iverstead, I idly played with the ice spike spell. I was determined to not die in this battle. So to see my conviction through I had been trying to make an ace up my sleeve.
I hadn't had a chance to test it, but I was pretty sure it would work. All the individual components worked, it was just a matter of putting them together.
A woman came running down the hill, here face an expression of horror. "A dragon! Don't go up there! A dragon! It's attacking!" she cried as she ran past.
We prepared our gear and rushed forward. I cast Stoneflesh to give myself an extra bit of durability. All around us magic permitted the air. It was heavy, like humidity. But on a spiritual level. Like a pressure on the soul instead of the body. A hum could be heard in the air. Like voiced chanting. Even without dragon blood, I could hear it. It must have been quite audible to Aerana.
Cresting the hill just in time for Alduin to shout one last time at the mound, we came to an abrupt halt as he sent a wave of purple energy into the grave. It was then I had a chance to get a good look at him. Before, I hadn't been paying all that much attention. On account I thought this was all a dream. I was disillusioned to that notion now. Leaving only the coldness of reality.
I eyed Alduin, sizing him up. And I had to say, I was impressed. Scary impressive. He was a shadow over the sky. A black behemoth that blotted out the setting sun, casting all underneath him in shadow. Yet his eyes burned in crimson malice. The hate clear in his every movement. He longed to conquer, to subjugate, and enslave. A monster, no, a tyrant. That was the only word for him. One who reigns by force. I looked forward to assisting Aerana in ending him. To snuffing out this blight upon creation.
But for now, we had bigger problems. From the earth, a skeletal dragon burst forth. Pebbles and Boulder alike doing nothing to stop it. It's eyes being the first thing to regenerate, then it's muscle layered, then it's scales. How all that happened before the brain, don't ask me. I assumed magic. It was always magic.
It raised it's head to it's master and lord and gave praise to the world eater in Dovahzul. My companions were waiting tensely. I could hear the slight squeak of leather under Lydia's grip. Her knuckles had gone white gripping her sword. The others reactions were similar. Delphine pulled out her blade like a practiced samurai of old. Aerana allowed fire to collect in her left hand, while her right gripped her sword. As for myself, I began the mental gymnastics nessisary to preform my more original spells. We stood there, a sort of Mexican standoff. We were hesitant to attack with a second dragon hovering above. And the dragon's were too proud to attack us together, I was sure.
I wasn't worried about Alduin interfering. As a dragon, Alduin would not accept a plea for help from a subordinate. And this dragon in turn would not ask.
" Daar wo krif Zu'u Kriist us Hi. Krii niin, arhk aav Zu'u" Alduin boomed.
The dragon, whom I recalled was named Sahloknir(Or Phantom liar hunting)nodded his head, before attacking with a torrent of fire at us. We scattered and the stream melted the ground where we once stood. Alduin left then, content to let his underling handle us, and we were left to face Sahloknir.
Delphine and Lydia did a blitz, attacking either side of it's wings. Probably in an effort to confuse it. Meanwhile Aerana used a mixer of fire and swordsmanship to keep it off the two. Coming in and out, attempting to aim for the eyes when safe to do so. But the fire just passed over Sahloknir's scales, and he just batted away any attempt to stab or slice him.
Sahloknir raised his head to snap down at Aerana, but was prevented from doing so when I hit it in the nose with an ice spike. It broke against the hardened scales, but the impact was enough for her to dodge back. Enraged by the missed opportunity, he lashed out at the misquotes pricking at his sides.
Delphine then managed to get her blade stuck in the pit of the dragon's wing just then. She wasn't able to pull it out before sever pounds of muscle and bone was thrust in her direction. He through her back with a smack of his wings, and she flew a few feet into a bush. Lydia followed her when sahloknir used his massive tail as a flail. She cried out, but thankfully her breastplate prevented her ribs from caving in.
He then splayed his wings out, and I knew what happened next. He was preparing to take flight. And I knew we couldn't handle a dragon in flight as we were. Last time, we had an entire regiment of soldiers to help us. This time we were on our own.
I dove to the side as a cone of fire scorched a hole where I previously stood. I fired ice an ice spike mid roll. It struck the side of Sahloknir's face, but otherwise did nothing. It was more an annoyance than anything else.
He opened his mouth to incinerate me. I leapt again until I was behind the cover of a large stone. The fire engulfed that stone and surrounded me. I was only saved by my crouched position.
I head a loud Thunk as what could have been Lydia screamed in furry. Abruptly, the fire stopped. Leaning my head out, I could see that the fighters had reengaged Sahloknir, preventing him from taking off. His attention drawn away from me, I noticed the stone I was hiding behind was molten on its other side. Heated and glowing slag dribbling down and lighting small fires around the grass.
Pulling back to my relatively safe position crouched behind the rock, I decided it was time for my secret weapon. It started with an Ice Spear. With a slight alterations. I added small Fins to the circumstance of the end of it, as well as flattening the end. The result was a tank shell shape. Thanks to my massive reserves, I was able to brute force my way past the significantly higher casting cost, as well as the detail work. Then, I delicately began applying my new knowledge of how this world and it's magic worked. First, I applied a small, concentrated stream of Frostbite to either side of the spike at a slight angle. Then another, then one more. Until the frostbite spell was hitting the fins around the ice Spear at a tripointed angle. This caused the Ice Spear to begin spinning. Faster and faster.
Like the Flames spell, the application of the mechanics in spell work was conceptual. The people of Skyrim, or even Nirn themselves didn't have the concept of a turbojet. The closest thing to it would probably be an invention of the Dewemer. But the Dewemer we're still in the steam age. Even they could not reach high enough pressure to cut through steel.
My Frostbite jet spells weren't steel cutting pressure, but they were close. I sweated under the effort it was costing to keep this up. It was as if I was preforming 4 concentration type spells at once. Each with the cost of an expert destruction level spell.
This would have to be a one hit kill. Anything else and I would have to reset. When the Ice Spear reached a speed where it began to shriek from its rotation, I knew it was ready.
Lydia's Perspective
I brought up my shield and batted away a snap from the beast. My Thane lunged in from my side to strike swiftly in the opening I had made. It was glorious! A Nord could only dream of a battle so great! My heart thumped and my blood boiled.
My thane and I were in perfect tune. She used the grace all Merkind possessed to dart in and out of any openings I created. And when I was pushed back, she would be there to draw the dragon away. The woman who brought us here peppered the Dragon with arrows from a distance, but they were nothing. Her sword still embedded in the creatures side.
I moved to the side to avoid another snap of it's jaws. I punished it for it's arrogance by plunging my mace into the side of it's maw. A tooth came out of the lizards jaw, and it howled in furry. But not nearly as loud as it raged when my thane plunged her blade into it's widened eye. The beast had no concept of defense, only raw overwhelming offense.
Faster than I believed it could move, it rounded and struck both my self and my thane with it's huge bulbous tail. We crashed back. And it roared in anger. Then, it spread it's wings, and began to hunch up on its hind legs. It meant to take flight. For areal combat, or to flee, I did not know. But I knew we had few ways to combat such a tactic. Arrows did nothing, and my thane only knew of a few short ranged spells.
Our only long distance combatant had been hiding behind a rock for the majority of the battle. Like a coward. I sneered at the thought. Bastard.
"Oh no you don't!" said the previously dubbed bastard. His hands held a duel casted spell of some kind. Ice in nature if she could guess at a glance.
"Ice Missi- Holy shit!" He screamed as he was launched backwards. His spell shot forward so fast I couldn't follow. One second he was casting it, and the dragon was lifting off. The next, a loud thud was heard. I looked back, and I saw the damage Sheo had done. And I could not lift my jaw after it had fallen. A massive hole made it's way from the underside of the dragon's torso, to the upper side of it's back. But that was only the start. A boom so loud my ear drums popped painfully.
I cried out and went to place my hands over them, but I could hear nothing but the sound of a perpetual bell ringing. I asked if everyone was alright, but I couldn't hear my own voice. I could feel the vibrations in my chest, but nothing other than the ringing could be heard. I saw the others had done the same as I, and covered their ears.
Then the dragon was engulfed in fire. I tensed, prepared for further fight, but there was no need. The skin of the dragon was molten flakes transforming into a kind of energy. That energy then raced to swirl around my thane. It entered her, and then it was gone.
Looking at the rapidly cooling skeleton, I saw that it was in two parts. The spine, and sections of rib, had been punched clear through.
It had been bisected. Having done my damnedest to break through the bones of this dragon, I could appreciate the effort it took to do such a thing.
I had barely scuffed it, Sheo's spell however had been so destructive it had killed the beast in one shot! Why had he not opened with that? Did it require time!? Was that what he was doing? Casting a powerful spell, and not hiding?
She would have to place more faith in him in the future. In battle at least. He was still a raving lunatic, despite his talent with magic.
Aerana's Perspective
That. Was. Awesome!
How did he do that? Could I do that? Or something similar? I was feeling amazing after taking the dragon's soul. I Wasn't exhausted at all.
But my hearing was still weird. Whatever spell Sheo used had a mighty shockwave to it. So great that I didn't see him. He had flown off and hadn't come back.
I was sure he was fine. Probably.
' Is everyone alright' I tried asking. But all I could hear was the dull ringing. I tried again, but I heard nothing. Lydia looked like she said something, but I couldn't hear it either.
I felt a tapping on my shoulder. I turned and saw it was Delphine. She was using her retrieved and sheathed sword as a brace. In her hands, she held a piece of paper, a charcoal message hastily scrawled on it.
Boomshock
Saw often in war
Happens when near explosion
Hearing will return in few hours
I blinked at the message, then nodded. That made sense. Still, what exploded? I was watching, but I didn't see an explosion. Just Sheo shouting something as the dragon lifted off, then a blue streak that went in and out of the dragon before I could even blink.
Then the dragon fell and I heard the boom. Delphine scribbled on the note with her charcoal fragment, then presented me the note.
Inn at mountain base
Recover there
Talk later
It read. Once more, I nodded. Lydia was on her feet, and from the brush, I could see Sheo. He said something, but I couldn't hear. I tried to say something back, but he just scrunched his brow, and thought for a few seconds.
He shrugged and tried speaking again. He was upon us by this point, so Delphine just handed him the front side of the note.
He squinted, then made an 'Ah' shape with his mouth. Delphine then flipped the paper, and he read it before nodding. He said more, but nobody could hear him. He then made a 'After you' gesture, and we began making our way down the mountain. All the way down I was pretty sure he kept talking.
Sheo's perspective (A few minutes earlier)
I leapt out from my cover just in time to see the dragon get up on its hind legs.
"Oh no you don't!" I screamed in defiance. I took aim and shouted the name of my new super attack. "Ice Missi-" was as far as I got into my Ice Missile before the recoil threw me back. Hard. "Oh shit!" I screamed as I flailed through the air. Mid air, I was able to witness my greatness. In between one heartbeat and the next, the Ice Missile had blasted through the dragon's spine just under it's wing, before continuing on to Gods know where. I landed hard on my back, several meters back. I groaned. I heard the Sonic boom, and I realized what I had done. I had broken the fucking sound barrier! It hurt my ears, and I felt the shockwave, but thankfully I wasn't deafened.
That was less of a Ice Missile and more of an Ice Sniper round or an ice cannon. I thought humorously. Still, I had gained some valuable data. For example, I didn't need nearly that much power. That was the equivalent of using a railgun from a battleship to take out a gecko.
In the future, I could make them much smaller, and much slower. They still wouldn't be cost effective, and would still take time to cast. But they wouldn't deplete my entire magicka pool. And they probably wouldn't take several minutes to cast.
Still, it were a great option for sniping. The idea of taking someone out from a large distance was appealing in the right circumstances. Pulling my aching self off the ground, I began to limp over to where I assumed my team was. And we were a team now. Me, Aerana, and Lydia against the world. Delphine less so. She wanted to kill Paarthurnax. I waved at the throat of the world as a internal joke.
Pushing past the brush, I noticed that the warming spell wasn't working. I just didn't have enough in the tank. In fact, I felt a dull ache as I tried reach for my mana pool. Wincing at the twinge of pain, I admitted to myself that maybe I had overdone it. Just a bit.
Never the less, I pushed the frigid flora out of my path, and saw the clearing. Damaged mound and all. Delphine was showing Aerana what looked like a piece of paper.
"Did you see that!? That was awesome!" I cried in victory.
Aerana was looking my direction. She tilted her head, then said something. I say something, because it made no sense.
"Lee canned mirror due. Hour eers art inging" she said over the distance. My brain stalled trying to process that.
"What? The heck does that mean? Did you hit your head while I was gone?" I called back while walking up to them.
But before I could get to the bottom of the newest mystery, one I was mentally dubbing 'The babble incident', Delphine rudely put spoilers in my face. Ruining the whole mystery.
It said something about Boomshock . And I had to think hard on WTF that meant. But then I remembered the Sonic boom.
"Ah." I said. "That makes sense." I said. I was then handed the other side of the note. Before I nodded to Delphine and gave a thumbs up. I guess we were heading down the mountain.
With nobody being able to hear me, I started talking about opinions I thought were too hot for people to actually hear out loud. Real issues with society that everyone knew deep down, but were afraid of talking about due to cancel culture. The things people weren't ready to talk about as a society even.
"Halo ODST was objectively a better game than Halo 3. Don't get me wrong, Halo 3 had a better story, but ODST had far superior gameplay. And while we're at it…" I was free to rant as we made our way down the cobblestone path.
Omake
Movarth overlooked the quaint hold of Morthal from beneath his hooded cloak. He sneered. Mortal was more like it. He looked to where the accursed sun would soon set. Long ago, he might have found the rays of it's light cascading across the marshes to beautiful. Now, it brought only disgust. Idly, he wondered if those valkihar had finally found a way to destroy the sun.
He scoffed. Clearly not. Soon, as darkness began to fall, he would lay waste to this place. That old fool Igrod honestly believed him when he offered peace just a few decades ago.
At the time, he had been recovering from a defeat at the hands of Vigilants. He was without thralls, without servants, and forced to survive on the blood of mere cattle.
Igrod was in her prime then. Young, foolish, but not harmless. Her visions gave her strength. Strength he couldn't match. So, he proposed a deal. Allow him to live in her hold, and he would be a 'nice' vampire. He wove a tail of half truths and twisted facts, about how he was hunted. About how he was an innocent before his turning.
He laughed at the thought. Oh, he was an innocent, 200 years ago. He had since been…not as innocent.
And over the decades, he had raised a collection of servents. Most weren't aware, but fresh vampires were actually weaker than their living counterparts.
They burned in the sun, they had weakened endurance and mental facilities, and they became bloodcrazed at the slightest scent of blood.
It took time to get soldiers out of scum. Decades even. And so here he was, on the eve of his long victory. His spy was in place. Once she reported back, the attack would begin.
His soldiers stood ready. They were hungry. It would soon become time to feast. He licked his fangs in anticipation.
"My lord." Alva said. "It is time." His general always did have good dramatic timing. He turned to face her.
He smiled. "Indeed it is. Now we-guh!" He grunted in shock. He heard a similar noise from in in front of him. He looked, and registered that his servant general Alva had a hole where her heart should be.
She had enough time to gasp before she became ash. Looking down at himself, he saw a similar hole. It was only his age that allowed him life. But it but a few seconds that too abandoned him.
As he turned to ash, he heard panic from his soldiers.
"THEY KNOW OF THE ATTACK! FLEE!"
"THE MASTER IS DEAD! ALL IS LOST!"
"WE'RE ROUTED! FALL BACK!"
The last thing Movarth could see as he faded was an oddly shaped Ice Spear. Where did that come from. Ah. Of course. She foresaw this. She always knew. It was foolish of me to think otherwise. Damn you Igrod! You Oblivion damn bit-
That was his last though as his head turned to ash and his soul was sent screaming to the land of coldharbor.
Below, Igrod briefly felt as if someone was cursing her name vainly, for something she had no hand in. Then she brushed the feeling aside. She was a Jarl, it could be anyone displeased with her policy. She did not blame them. It was her duty to lead them, to make sure they survived. If they were displeased then they were not dead. And if they were not dead her job was being done. She shrugged before going back to listening to her steward whine about this or that. So long as They weren't dead, she reminded herself.