Dragon (I)
Elisif burst through the door to her quarters just as Xander and Dulurza skidded into the throne room from the right, L'laarzen and Hjar mimicking them from the left.
"What in the name of Saint Alessa-" she started-
"DRAGON!" Bolgier Bearclaw repeated, panting, standing in the doorway. "It was spotted flying in from the west! Burned down Katla's farm like it was nothing!"
"How big?" Xander demanded, grabbing him.
"Very big!"
"What colour?"
"Do I look like I was paying attention to what colour it was?"
"Oh for-" Xander growled. "And the Dragonborn's halfway across the bloody country-"
"He's real?" Hjar asked. "I thought-"
"Enough!" Elisif snapped, as another roar echoed through the palace. "Can we kill it?"
"Not as easy a question as it sounds!" Xander shot back.
"Can we fight it?" Dulurza corrected.
"That? Yes." Xander turned away, trying not to panic. "But it's a dragon, I don't-"
Blood on the floor, empty smiles. Alduin's wall, the end of the world, time to stop being a little bitch Alexander-
He narrowed his eyes. Looked up to Elisif. "Give me tactical command."
"What?" Octavia demanded, her and Cassia appearing at the top of the balcony. "Xander, are you out of your mind? You've never-"
"You may know strategy, but I know dragons." He asserted. "You or Tullius can give the orders, I don't care, but you need to listen to me or people will die."
"Sis..." Cassia warned.
Octavia grit her teeth, and looked across at Elisif.
The Jarl of Solitude grimaced, then nodded. "Agreed. What do you need?"
"I need your squishy behind out of harms way. If you have tunnels that won't collapse when the castle does, go to them." Xander told her, moving out of the way to let Bolgier rush to his Jarl. "I need everyone relevant to come with me, now. And I need a weapon."
Wait, was that. Was that my cue? Please tell me that was my cue, I've been sitting here for weeks, please tell me-
Xander heard the voice, grinned, and stretched out his hand.
There was a ringing noise, and then the doors to Elisif's room slammed open again.
A slash of sunlight came spinning out the doorway, cutting straight through the bannister as it beelined for Alexander, dazzling everyone in the room.
Dawnbreaker crashed into his waiting palm, hilt first, and pulsed with golden light.
Hi Meridia. Been a while.
You forgot about me!
No, I was just busy.
I can't believe you actively put off a Daedric Quest! From me!
Look, I'm here now, we're sorted.
It was rude!
I'm sorry. Come ooooon. I'll be the instrument of your cleansing light~.
He got the distinct impression that Meridia was trying not to smile.
Those Dragons are technically undead, you know. I'm gonna smite one of those-
Alright I'm in.
Xander swept the sword around once for show, then stabbed it into the sheath that had apparently just appeared on his belt for it.
"Well? Come on!" He shouted, at everyone's dumbfounded expressions, and made for the doorway.
"I, uh." Dulurza coughed. "I also need a weapon, but I'll just grab one off a guard, or something-"
̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶{o ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶ ̶͜͡| ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ Ϫ 8˂
Of all the stupid things Alexander Meteuse had ever done, standing in an exposed spot during a Dragon attack was one of the stupidest. Actively getting that dragon's attention was even stupider.
Well, when in Skyrim, do as the primitive natives do...
The Dragon was just toying with them so far. Xander knew this because all it had done was fly overhead and set a few parapets alight, instead of razing Castle Dour to the ground.
The soldiers' desperate but frankly pathetic attempts to shoot it had all ceased, now, as Xander stood alone on the walkway above the city's gates. He sucked in a breath.
"DOVAH!" He shouted, and while it wasn't quite a Shout, he did his best to give it the force of one. "WO HI LOS?"
Who are you, dragon?
He knew it heard, because he saw its head twist around to focus on him. Uh-oh.
It dropped into a glide, swinging around until it hovered before the gates of the city, beating its mighty wings. Xander's cloak was sent billowing by the wind that was whipped up, even more so when the creature opened its mouth and spoke.
"I am Vulbahlok." It said in Dovahzuul, and though it didn't Shout the words, it was clear just from hearing them that this Dragon knew every single one of them. "Who dares to address a Dragon as an equal?"
Vulbahlok. 'Dark hunger', where hunger probably refers to bloodlust since they don't need to eat. Couldn't have got a Dragon called 'Meadow Travelling Poet' could I...
"Alexander Meteuse." He replied, also in Dovahzuul. "I defend this city. We have no quarrel with you; leave, now, or be repelled."
His Cyrodiilic manners were screaming at him, but he held firm. This wasn't a noble who'd be offended by threats, this was a being that would crush him the moment he showed weakness.
Vulbahlok laughed, and oh, wow, a Dragon laughing was about as terrifying as he had thought it would be. "And so the dragonfly tells the dragon to stay out of its sky, for the insect too has mastered flight. Impudence. This city is mine. This continent I only relinquish to share it with my betters."
"Then have it." Xander spread his arms, trying not to panic. "I offer you Solitude's surrender. You may fly it's skies and hunt it's lands freely. All we ask is that you do no more harm to it's people." I can promise it whatever it wants; the Dragonborn will be here to take care of it soon enough.
Vulbahlok huffed. "I have a counter offer." It replied. "You do as you please. And I give you Fire."
And it did not just say 'Yol'. With the word, it unleashed a torrent of flame, the cone of fire putting even Cassia's strongest attacks to shame as it completely filled Xander's vision.
A dragon just breathed fire at me. You know, we're filling up my bucket list way quicker than I thought.
He reached out with the staff of Magnus and blasted.
Dragonfire was magic, which was good, and he set about absorbing it. But it was also fire, and while the staff gave him a fascinating further insight into how it was put together, that was only one piece of the puzzle. Fire was...
Fire is the beginning and the end. Whispered Meridia in his ear, her meaning flowing into his mind as he gripped Dawnbreaker in his hand. Life, and death. Creation and destruction. Fire is metamorphosis, the kiln. I despise undead because they are empty shells, husks, while you living mortals...you burn. Every day, tearing through your energy as you become yourselves anew. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, always beautiful. When you decided you were insufficient, Xander, and cast aside what you did not need to make room for something new...you were as fire.
Course, all those are just helpful labels for it. Xander thought, as the last of Vulbahlok's flames were absorbed into his body and lit his magicka circuits up like the fountains of the College. Fire isn't 'fire'. Fire is...
Huh. You know, this realisation is way easier the second time.
"YOL!" Xander Shouted, channelling the energy into his voice and letting fire fly.
His attack looked a lot different to Vulbahlok's; clumsier, less focused, but it still looked like it hurt. The dragon reeled backwards in the air with a roar, the flames flowing over its dark brown scales and crackling. But then it stabilised, and glared at Xander.
"Dovahkiin..?" It uttered, sounding uncertain for a moment. Then, "No. You are merely a thief. A defiler!"
"Okay, come on!" Xander threw his arms out. "Is everybody I meet just going to be mad at me when I do that? This is-"
"FUS RO DAH!"
Uh oh. The Dragon's next Shout rippled through the air. Xander tried to catch that one in the Staff but couldn't, there wasn't any magic there, the wave of force was already propelling itself towards him OH NO-
"NOW!" He yelled, as he was caught up in the attack and sent flying backwards off the wall.
L'laarzen stood, feeling rather helpless, as everybody with a ranged weapon let loose at the Dragon. By the gods, look at that thing. Majestic, yes, but...terrifying.
The guards had been set up on the walls and the road near where Xander had lured the beast, all explicitly told to stay as far away from each other as possible. 'You stand no chance at surviving it if it focuses on you,' Xander had told them, bluntly, 'but you can force it to split its attention between you. If it singles you out, run for cover. If it goes for someone else, shoot the damn thing until it stops. Don't let it catch more than one of you in its breath attacks, those are its best way to take out swathes of you at once, and whatever you do, don't panic. The Dragonborn may have the soul of a god, but it's mortal blades and mortal arrowheads that he uses to bring these things down.'
Motivating as the speech was, most of the men weren't hitting one arrow in three. The Dragon had taken to swooping through the air, lighting up great lines of earth with fire, and never stopping the entire time. Karliah, stood a few metres from L'laarzen, was putting them all to shame. She'd not missed a shot yet, and was putting arrow after arrow into the hide of the monster (even if some of those clattered harmlessly off it's scales).
"I've filled this thing with enough poison to kill a mammoth!" The Dunmer shouted, rubbing another arrowhead in a pouch at her side before knocking it. "It's not stopping!"
"See, the friend's mistake is that we are not trying to kill a mammoth!" L'laarzen called back. "We're fighting a Dragon!"
"Oh, har har!"
L'laarzen turned back to the Dragon, then ducked as it flew not ten metres over her head, snatching up a soldier on the opposite side of the road and tossing him out into the river below. We need to get it out of the air...
"The wings!" She shouted. "Aim for the wings!"
Up on two adjacent towers, the two Meteuse sisters heard the call.
Octavia tossed her bow to one side, bringing her hands together above her head and then slowly pulling them apart. Space distorted, and one of the Daedric arrows appeared between them. Then another, and another, and another, until there were dozens of the bolts between her palms.
Sweat beaded on her brow, but when the Dragon next came soaring down past her, she thrust her arms out and blasted the spray of projectiles at one wing.
Cassia's attack was a little simpler. She summoned a fireball between her hands, grew it until it was almost half the size she was, and then threw it.
Both attacks smashed into the Dragon, one to each wing, and the damage was noticeable. It roared in pain as the arrows tore one wing into shreds, while the other wing was almost completely blown out by the fireball.
Blood and scales rained down on the ground below as the Dragon spiralled, wings almost entirely empty except for the fibres around its bones.
Which was why it was such a surprise when it righted itself, remained in the air, and then turned and blasted a gout of pressurised flame at the towers the attacks had been launched from.
"Feim!" Xander forced the Shout through his aching throat just before he slammed into the floor, bouncing on the cobbles and coming to a stop in the middle of Solitude's Main Street.
Ugh...anytime I start to get an ego, the universe just, immediately goes-
"Xander!"
He watched an arm reach for his shoulder and pass right through him, and he grunted, pushing himself up onto his knees. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
"You're a ghost!"
"Ghost is normal!"
It was Hjar who was trying to help him, he saw, with Dulurza stood nearby. Both on standby, as ordered.
He got to his feet, etherealness vanishing, and leaving him with the full effects of the damage from Vulbahlok's Shout (and his own). "How-" his voice came out as a wheeze, and he coughed. "How's the fight-"
The gates to the city blasted open. At either side of it, the towers crumbled, both blown out at their base, and atop those towers-
"Oh no-CASS! OCTAVIA!"
The two sisters' platforms crashed into each other, the towers colliding on their way down. Cassia went flying, but Octavia was somehow able to keep her footing for a vital few seconds, running across to grab her sister before jumping across to the roof of a nearby house.
Cassia threw up a ward around them both at the last minute, and the lethal drop was reduced to a merely very painful crash. They hit the roof-tiles, rolled down to a lower balcony and then spilled out into the street.
They were hurt. But they were alive. And so Xander forced himself to turn away from them at Hjar's urging and run back out through the gates.
"They tore its wings up!" Dulurza shouted, as he passed her. "But it's still flying! How does that work?"
Above them Vulbahlok had briefly stilled in the air, floating on the beats of broken wings in total violation of all common sense. It laughed.
"You fools think to tear me from the sky with cheap tricks?" The monster roared. "Do you think it is air in my wings that keeps me above you? I fly because I am not bound by the constraints of Nirn! I am a son of Akatosh, Dragon God of Time! You could no sooner force me to land than rip away my immortality!" And then it started setting fire to guardsmen again.
Damnit. We really need Esbern's made-up miracle Shout. Xander thought, coming to a helpless stop in the centre of the road. We don't have the firepower to kill it up there. This is the heart of the Imperial freaking Legion but by the time we try to organise a proper army it'll have set the city ablaze, and I don't even know if an army will help!
We need it in smite range. Meridia declared.
Yeah, but we can't force it to land. Xander thought back. We have to make it...want to...
He wasn't going to be able to talk for days after this. Still, he opened his mouth, sucked in a breath, and shouted "NIKRIIN!" as loud as he could.
Say what you want about Dragons, they have some damn impressive hearing.
Vulbahlok practically turned on a septim to stare back at Xander.
"WHAT?" It demanded. "Who dares call Vulbahlok a coward?"
"I DO!" Xander continued in Dovahzuul. "What else do I call a beast who flits through the sky instead of fighting their foes head on? You name us dragonflies unfit to claim your sky, yet you flee through that same sky the moment we challenge you! Come down and face us!"
"You desire for me to cripple myself. Do you think me a fool?" Vulbahlok retorted, enraged and clearly not falling for it.
"Would you rather be a fool?" Xander shot back, voice cracking. "Or the one-ack-the one Dragon in history who feared to fight a mortal man?"
Vulbahlok thought for barely a second before it tucked its wings and dove.
"Uh, Xander." Hjar asked, stepping away from him. "What in Oblivion did you just do?"
Xander smiled at her. "Obviously, I just goaded the dragon into coming down and fighting us-oh Divines, what in Oblivion did I just do?"
And Vulbahlok crashed into the ground not ten paces in front of him, the shockwave it produced sending him stumbling. It opened its mouth and blasted another wave of fire, and once again he pointed the Staff of Magnus forwards, this time barely managing to absorb and redirect the energy enough to keep his clothes from burning. That was, until the Dragon's jaws clamped about the shaft of the Staff, and wrenched to the side. Xander had to either lose the Staff or lose his arm, and so watched helplessly as Vulbahlok tossed the thing metres away. He grabbed Dawnbreaker in two hands and brought it high, as the Dragon's jaws reopened and lunged for him-
Only for a weight to slam into his side, knocking him flat on his ass and away from the beast's maw.
He had a split second to stare in horror as Hjar grinned at him and winked, before the dragon's jaws clamped around her torso.
The telltale flicker of a stoneflesh spell was the only reason the six-inch teeth didn't bite her into three pieces. But she was so dead, she was so freaking dead, she screamed and blood went everywhere and then the Dragon tossed her in the other direction, sending her smashing into what was left of the city walls.
Vulbahlok turned back to Xander, only to flinch as a steel axe collided into its neck. Dulurza came in with a roar almost as loud as the Dragon's was, bringing her borrowed weapon down again and again onto the side of the beast's neck. It's wing came out and slammed into her, sending the weapon flying, and then Xander gathered all the magicka he'd taken from the latest fire breath and put all of it into a lighting bolt that struck Vulbahlok right in the face, leaving a black burn-mark there.
It roared in pain and turned to face him, its tail lashing out and catching Dulurza in the stomach, knocking her to the floor.
Xander pushed in, and at that moment, a figure jumped up from behind. L'laarzen leapt up onto the Dragon's back, ran straight along its spine, grabbed its two horns and jumped, twisting around until she landed right on its nose. Vulbahlok barely had time to look confused before the Khajiit's claws flashed and she started scratching at it's eyes.
This time, it produced more of a howl than a roar.
L'laarzen was in the perfect spot where no matter how much it snapped its jaws, it had no way to actually get her. It shook its head violently, but L'laarzen just gripped onto the convenient handles its horns provided, refusing to be moved. But even half-blind and wounded, the Dragon wasn't stupid. It twisted its neck around almost a full half-circle and slammed its own head into the floor, dragging it (and its passenger) across the road. That had more of an effect. L'laarzen had to let go to avoid being crushed, and was sent rolling across the ground with a hiss. Xander replaced her a moment later, swinging Dawnbreaker like a man possessed.
The Daedric artefact finally got a chance to draw blood, and oh boy did it draw blood. The blade seemed to sing, cutting through the dragon's scales like butter and its bones with only a little more effort.
He sliced once, twice, then Vulbahlok reared back, desperately pulling its (now profusely bleeding) head away from the onslaught.
It didn't get far. A great white form crashed into it, as Hjarnagredda (Yes! She's not dead!) raised a meaty claw and smashed it into the Dragon's face, before grabbing its horns and wrestling its head to the ground.
Vulbahlok's wings flared, and it made one last desperate attempt to fly. But it was much too late for that now.
Dulurza came in from the right, wielding the remnants of her original weapon as a handaxe, and brought it crashing down into the Dragon's exposed neck. L'laarzen sprinted in and then slid underneath, digging her claws into the new wound and dragging them across until the beast's throat was slit completely open, copious amounts of blood gushing onto the stones.
It shuddered once.
And then Xander thrust Dawnbreaker straight into its skull, burying the sword up to the hilt in the Dragon's brain.
After that, the beast sagged, and was still.
They all stood there, panting, for one...two...three seconds.
"Okay. So the Dragonborn...isn't here." Xander gasped out. "Meaning...I think that's it?"
A guard let out the first whoop. He was quickly joined by others, all the remaining soldiers nearby cheering and clanging their weapons into each other.
Hjar (still a wolf) looked up to the sky and howled in victory, as Dulurza yanked her weapon out of the Dragon and proceeded to hack at its throat another few times for good measure. L'laarzen stepped backwards until she was on the grassy verge beside the road, then simply flopped onto her back, groaning. Xander didn't even make it that far, collapsing onto the blood-drenched cobbles as everything in his body rushed to tell him it hurt the most.
All four of them looked at the carcass.
"Did...did we win? L'laarzen thinks we won."
"We did. Hircine above..."
"Eh. I've killed bigger."
"Dulurza, you have not killed bigger!"
"Giants are bigger."
"They're taller, they don't have as much volume and they certainly don't weigh as much-"
"Oh, Divines, I've got to check if my sisters are okay. Hey, do you think I can get get someone to carry me?"
An hour later, Castle Dour's main planning room was starting to feel a little cramped, all things considered.
"So it is dead?" General Tullius demanded.
"Yes and no." Xander replied, stood with his friends on the other side of the table.
"And what exactly does that mean?"
"Dragons are immortal. You could break every individual bone off the corpse and scatter them across Tamriel, but it's soul would still be hovering angrily around the mortal plane, waiting for Alduin to come and reform its mortal vessel."
"Hold on, hold on." Tullius held up a hand. "You're telling me that they're coming back from the dead?"
"Yyyep." Xander nodded.
"That's completely ridiculous!"
"Sir." Octavia interjected, from Tullius' side of the table. Her chest was heavily bandaged, but her posture was perfect. "In the long history of the Empire, is resurrecting dragons really the strangest thing that's happened?"
Tullius huffed.
"General, I'm the Archmage of the College of Winterhold." Xander said, and damn did it feel good to have a proper title to flex at people. "Dragons are a speciality of mine. I've heard firsthand accounts of Alduin approaching Dragon burial grounds and returning them to life. Alduin being the World Eater; a great black Dragon who's basically a God."
"Yes. We've met." Tullius narrowed his eyes. "Sounds like the beast that destroyed Helgen. It's the only reason this blasted war's still going on..."
"A dragon just obliterated the front of your city and you're still worried about your little war?" Hjar snorted.
"My duty as General of the Empire is to protect it from all threats." Tullius defended. "I assure you, I will not be neglecting this one."
"Didn't see you out there fighting it..." Dulurza muttered.
"I was leading the evacuation efforts."
"Hmph. Fair."
"Mage?" Tullius redirected his attention to Xander. "What do we do with the body, then?"
"I...I'm not sure." Xander leaned his arms on the table, looking at the central map. "I don't even know if Alduin would revive Vulbahlok a second time. This might be the first time in centuries a Dragon's been slain without the Dragonborn there to absorb its soul. Speaking of which-" He looked up. "I'll need your help sending a message up to High Hrothgar. The Dovahkiin might still be there, and we need him to come and eat this thing as soon as possible."
"Him, I've heard of." Tullius nodded. "Everyone's started telling tales of some great Dragon-slaying hero who reduces his enemies to skeletons. Supposed to be quite a lightshow."
"Once he gets to the body, this threat's over." Xander explained. "But your problem is what happens in the meantime. Keeping it here might be the easiest way for the DB to access it, but if Alduin comes to Solitude to bring back his fallen brother...Yeah you're all doomed. You could try reburying it somewhere, or just taking it out into the Sea of Ghosts and dumping it a few miles off shore. But even then, if it does come back, it's going to want revenge." Xander spread his hands, palms up. "I just don't know. I'll compile you a dossier of everything important I've learned (replace that useless Thalmor one), but it's not my place to tell you how to best defend your city."
"The Thalmor have a dossier on the Dragons?" Tullius blinked.
"They didn't tell you?" Xander blinked too. "Yikes."
The Thalmor agent in the corner of the room coughed, and looked very much like she'd rather be somewhere else.
"Well, in any case." Tullius stood to his full height, clasping his arms behind his back. "I suppose we owe you all a deep and heartfelt thanks. As well as more tangible things, like some fancy new medal and a reward."
"I want first dibs on its remains." Xander said, immediately.
"Fine."
"Khajiit would like an opportunity to style your hair." L'laarzen spoke up.
"I...okay?"
"I want everyone to pretend to forget what they saw me do out there." Hjar said, flatly. She was still wearing Xander's cloak and nothing else, after transforming back at the end of the fight.
"Right. That." Tullius glanced across at Xander. "Is she...under control?"
"She can speak for herself." Hjar told him, icily (Xander just gulped and made rapid 'cut it out' motions with one hand). "I'm no threat to your city unless I choose to be, 'sir'. And I'll be gone before my next transformation."
"Hm. Then I'll allow it. The church of the Divines is going to be on my back for weeks about this..." Tullius turned to Dulurza, crossing his arms. "And you?"
For once, the Orc woman looked insecure. "You have to promise not to be mad at me for what I have to say next." She decided on, eventually.
"More bad news?"
"Aye."
"Wonderful." Tullius sighed. "The rest of you may as well clear out. Octavia, make sure they're seen to. Congratulations, and once again: Thank you. There's not many who can say they survived a fight with a Dragon, never mind won it."
The three filed out, each giving their own small gestures of support to Dulurza as they left.
Outside, the city was still in absolute chaos. The sun was approaching the horizon, and guards were rushing from the gates to the castle and back again, trying to make Solitude's front gate vaguely defensible again and clear out the masses of rubble that had been left. The streets were filled with civilians, helping each other to repair the damages their houses had taken, provide food or supplies to the working soldiers, or just gawk at the Dragon carcass.
"So..." Xander said, leaning on the wall and staring out at it all. "What do we do now?"
The other three looked at him, then at each other. Hjar spoke first.
"I'm going to get really, really, really drunk."
"Seconded."
"Thirded."
"Fourthed. Wait, I know where Castle Dour's reserve is!"
Avengers Assemble, baby! I've been waiting to do this bit for way too long.
You know, bringing your four POV characters together really reminds you just how much you can get done in one chapter. Setup, dragon fight, and immediate aftermath all clock in under 5000 words. If anyone is feeling cheated in the chapter length department, do not be afraid: Tomorrow brings a short bonus interlude chapter for your enjoyment. And I promise it'll be a fun one~