Disclaimer: I do not own Skyrim! Bathesda does!

Beta'd By: No one yet..

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Skyrim: A Cautionary Tale!

The Dragonstone and The Dragon!

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Light, but where was it coming from? I had no idea, all I knew as the sharp pain in my backside. I grunted before the darkness took me once more.

-''-

Smack! I grunted opening my eyes as I was being shaken awake.

"Oh good, your alive," Bishop's voice, made me want to punch him so bad. I swung but obviously missed. "Oh come on, princess. You can do better than that." I glared at him until I realized I was completely naked. I jerked away from him and looked around, this was not the chamber where the trap was. "Don't worry I didn't undress you, something else already had." He pointed to the dead draugr, or at least deader draugr beside me. "You don't want to know what we caught that thing doing to you." I felt my body go cold in that instant and I wanted to throw up. From the pain in my behind, I already knew what that thing did to me. Shit, I need to be more careful in this land. The suspicious male handed me my clothes and I checked the pouch. I glared and held out my hand.

"Claw," I growled. The male frowned then sighed, placing the claw in my open palm. Seriously, how stupid did this guy think I was? I quickly redressed, trying not to show any weakness in front of these two.

"This is the door," the male replied. "I can open it for you if you want." I shook my head and walked forward. I grinned before moving the top ring twice and the middle ring once until the symbols match up with those on the claw. I then used the claw. The rings spun and landed on a symbol of a bird before the door slid into the floor. I looked over at the bandit who just gaped, like a fish at the open fish market. I began to walk forward with my companions following closely behind. We followed the stairs into a large cavern with tons of natural pillars, stalactites and stalagmites. I surveyed the chamber only to find it practically empty save for some sort of coffin, a table and a wall with strange writing on it that looked.. I felt drawn to it. I couldn't stop once I looked at the wall, it was like it was drawing me in and all else meant nothing in comparison. I could hear and feel the word highlighted on the wall, as though it were a living breathing thing. I didn't know how long I stood there transfixed but suddenly a rush of understanding hit me, I knew this word. I didn't know what it meant but I now knew this word. A sound of breaking stone had me turning to find the thief staring at a corpse that was now rising from the coffin. Great, I thought. Another one. I pulled out my twin swords and intercepted the armored nightmare. What I didn't expect was to be blown back against the wall by a single uttered word.

"Fus," It shouted. I grunted as my back collided with the wall and the creature rushed at me. I dodged while trying to get my bearings, luckily my companions were backing me up with arrows that hit nearly simultaneously. I grinned and sliced at the corpses legs, forcing it to take a knee. Being on it's knee didn't slow it down however, it sliced at me with it's large battleax. I rolled to get out of it's path, the rush of wind sailed through my hair mid-roll. That seriously could have been my head, I got to my feet as quickly as possible before facing my opponent. The creature rushed at Bishop but I cut it off and blocked it's attack with my twin blades. Two more arrows hit the abomination, still the thing stood and I was already getting tired. No way we make it out of this one, not if our attacks don't do a thing to this monstrosity. I pushed it off me and sliced into it as two more arrows hit, well one arrow hit. Bishop was an amazing marksman but the other wasn't as great, I dodged the next attack. It's battleax stuck fast in the rock wall, I took full advantage slicing into it's sides. Another arrow and the thief joined me in close combat. He sliced then I would strike at the creature as it flailed it's arm and attempted to free it's weapon. "FUS." It shouted, flinging me and the thief back. I slammed into the ground and slid off the edge into the river.

The thief wasn't much better off and in fact had flown farther. I got up as quickly as I could trying to get back to distract the creature. As I reached it the battleaxe came free and nearly cut me wide open. A arrow slammed into it, followed by another and couple more slices from my blades. The corpse finally collapsed, I breathed a sigh of relief. I walked over to the table and coffin, where a large stone tablet caught my eye. I quickly packed it away into my bag, I wasn't about to let our resident thief make away with it. Thankfully, he was busy looting whatever he could find in the area and was too distracted to notice what I had pocketed.

"Not too bad a haul if I do say so myself," the thief said, as he rejoined me and Bishop. "Names Arvel the Swift by the way, maybe we can go for a drink later?"

"I don't really have time for a drink," I replied, heading up the nearby stairs. "And I'm keeping the damn claw."

"Fair enough," he agreed easily. "I think I'll uh.. tag along with you for a while, if you don't mind that is."

"Do what you want," I answered. "Just don't steal my loot, if you do I'll hunt you down and kill you."

"Right," Arvel whispered. I opened the secret pathway and followed it to a small cliff that led to a small shrine of some kind. I ignored the shrine and moved on, heading out into the bright sunlight. Arvel was a little slow to follow but he caught up as I slowly led the way down a much taller cliff-face. I then followed the river, it was almost dark again when we finally reached the town of Riverwood. I decided to stop in at the local shop to sell my merchandise. I walked into the Riverwood Trader only to walk headlong into a fight between a man and a woman.

"Well one of us has to do something!" she shouted.

"I said no!" he argued. "No adventures, no theatrics, no thief-chasing!"

"Well what are you going to do then, huh?" she asked. "Let's hear it!"

"We are done talking about this!" he yelled, then cleared his throat as he looked over at me. "Oh, a customer. Sorry you had to hear that."

"So, are you open?" I asked.

"I don't know what you overheard," he began. "but the Riverwood Trader is still open, feel free to shop."

"Did something happen?" I asked.

"Yes, we did have a bit of a... break-in." he admitted. "But we still have plenty to sell. Robbers were only after one thing. An ornament, solid gold. In the shape of a dragon's claw."

"Dragon's claw?" I asked, nodded. "I just so happened to of found a Dragon's claw." I pulled out the claw and set it on the table.

"You found it? Ha ha ha." he laughed, happily. "There it is. Strange... it seems smaller than I remembered. Funny thing, huh? I'm going to put this back where it belongs. I'll never forget this. You've done a great thing for me and my sister."

"I also have a few items to sell while I'm here," I mentioned.

"Yeah of course, what do you have?" he asked, cheerily. I pulled out a few odds and ends for him to inspect. We came to an agreement on them and I walked away with some more septims to my name. Arvel also traded in his items for septims also, I was surprised that the thief wasn't recognized. Once we were all set, we began the trek back to Whiterun.

-''-

"You see?" Farengar asked. I couldn't see them yet but his voice carried well into the hall as I approached. "The terminology is clearly First Era or even earlier. I'm convinced this is a copy of a much older text. Perhaps dating to just after the Dragon War. If so, I could use this to cross-reference the names with other later texts."

"Good," a female voice replied. "I'm glad you're making progress. My employers are anxious to have some tangible answers."

"Oh, have no fear," he assured her. "The Jarl himself has finally taken an interest, so I'm now able to devote most of my time to this research."

"Time is running, Farengar," she said. "Don't forget. This isn't some theoretical question. Dragons have come back."

"Yes, yes. Don't worry," he answered. "Although the chance to see a living dragon up close would be tremendously valuable... Now, let me show you something else I found... very intriguing... I think your employers may be interested as well..."

The female looked up noticing me, "You have a visitor."

"Hmm? Ah, yes, the Jarl's protege!" he exclaimed rushing over to me. "Back from Bleak Falls Barrow? You didn't die, it seems."

"No I didn't," I held out the dragonstone.

"Ah! The Dragonstone of Bleak Falls Barrow!" he gasped excitedly. "Seems you are a cut above the usual brutes the Jarl sends my way. My... associate here will be pleased to see your handiwork. She discovered its location, by means she has so far declined to share with me."

"Her?" I asked.

"So your information was correct after all," he said to her, ignoring my question. "And we have our friend here to thank for recovering it for us."

"You went into Bleak Falls Barrow and got that?" she asked, I nodded. "Nice work. Just send me a copy when you've deciphered it." She had turned to speak with Farengar at that point. He might have answered save for a bit of an interruption.

"Farengar!" Irileth shouted, as she approached. "Farengar, you need to come at once. A dragon's been sighted nearby." she then turned to me. "You should come, too."

"A dragon! How exciting!" Farengar exclaimed, he seemed way to happy to hear about a flying, fire-breathing lizard. "Where was it seen? What was it doing?"

"I'd take this a bit more seriously if I were you," she admonished. "If a dragon decides to attack Whiterun, I don't know if we can stop it. Let's go." We followed her as she spoke, up a set of stairs to where Jarl Bargruuf awaited with a guard.

"So, Irileth tells me you came from the western watchtower?" Balgruuf asked the guard.

"Yes, my lord." he answered.

"Tell him what you told me. About the dragon," Irileth pressed.

"Uh... that's right," he said, seemingly frightened form the ordeal. "We saw it coming from the south. It was fast... faster than anything I've ever seen."

"What did it do? Is it attacking the watchtower?" Jarl Balgruuf asked.

"No, my lord," he answered. "It was just circling overhead when I left. I never ran so fast in my life... I thought it would come after me for sure."

"Good work, son. We'll take it from here," Jarl Balgruuf said. "Head down to the barracks for some food and rest. You've earned it. Irileth, you'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there."

"I've already ordered my men to muster near the main gate." Irileth replied.

"Good. Don't fail me," Balgruuf ordered. "I have need of your help again.." he began as he faced me.

"Let me guess, you want us to kill the stupid Dragon," Bishop said, beating me to the punch.

"Yes, I know it's asking a lot but the guards of Whiterun really need your help. I need your help."

"Alright, I'll help," I said, giving in.

"Thank you," he said. "Oh and a gift from the armory as thanks for retrieving the Dragonstone for Farengar." I accepted the weapon, not that I would ever use it.

"I should come along," Farengar offered. "I would very much like to see this dragon."

"No. I can't afford to risk both of you," Jarl Balgruuf objected. "I need you here working on ways to defend the city against these dragons."

"As you command," Farengar replied, with a long suffering sigh.

"One last thing, Irileth," Jarl Balgruuf added. "This isn't a death or glory mission. I need to know what we're dealing with."

"Don't worry, my lord," she assured. "I'm the very soul of caution." I was already leaving, I didn't want to waste time just sitting there talking.

"You sure you want to fight this dragon?" Bishop asked, he was back to his usual grumpy self. I nodded, not like I have much of a choice.

"Once we kill it we are going to look for Karnwyr," I promised. "No stopping in Whiterun, they will be safe once it's dead and I don't want to waste anymore time."

"Fine with me, princess," Bishop easily agreed. I glanced back at him, only to see a smug look on his face. I grumbled and continued to walk towards the tower. Irileth and her men easily caught up with and she laid out the game plan.

"No signs of any dragon right now," she began. "But it sure looks like he's been here. I know it looks bad, but we've got to figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still skulking around somewhere. Spread out and look for survivors. We need to know what we're dealing with." I nodded and headed in looking around toward the front of the tower.

"I got a bad feelin' about this," Arvel spoke up quietly as we approached the tower door.

"No! Get back!" a guard shouted from the doorway. "It's still here somewhere! Hroki and Tor just got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it!"

"Guardsman!" Irileth shouted back. "What happened here? Where's this dragon? Quickly now!"

"I don't know! Kynareth save us, here he comes again…" he answered

"Here he comes!" She shouted to the rest of the men. "Find cover and make every arrow count!" Arvel thrust a bow into my hands with some arrows before pulling out another bow he must have collected. I slung the quiver on my back and notched an arrow. This was going to be one heck of a fight, I released my arrow to late and missed my target as the dragon swooped left breathing fire at the nearby guards. I ran forward when it finally landed and slashed at it's scales, it had hardly any affect though. I cursed as I dodged the fire blown in my direction, it charred a bit of the leathers and the heat singed my face. It nipped at me but thankfully I was just out of it's range. The dragon leapt up flying away, the wind knocked me on my ass. I quickly righted myself and readied the bow, notching another arrow. This time I waited til it was heading straight at me, I released it and the arrow sailed through the air striking. I rolled as the dragon breathed fire, this time I didn't get away quite fast enough as the cloth undershirt caught fire from the dragon's breath. This time I noticed something though, it sounded like a word. They dragon landed again and this time I really listened, ignoring for a moment that we were currently trying to take down a giant, winged, fire-breathing lizard.

"Yul Toor Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul," it shouted as fire erupted from it's maw. Or maybe it was the words that caused the fire breath, I wasn't sure as I couldn't understand what it was saying. I shook my head, I had to get back to attacking this dragon wasn't just going to roll over and die for me after all. I ran for it's tail and struck where I thought it would be softer, at least I thought it was softer and my guess was rewarded with a roar as my blade sank in cutting a gash of red on the underside of it's tail. It hopped trying to face me but I kept behind it as best I could, I wasn't about to let those razor sharp fangs pierce my flesh. I knew I would be doomed if I allowed it to snag me for sure. The dragon roared and flew up suddenly, I took out my bow as it flapped up as high as it could before diving back down. It looked to be heading toward a nearby guard, I shot and hit attempting to notch an arrow until I noticed it changed direction at the last moment. Too late, I went to dodge but instead was caught by a massive claw.

It lifted me up into the air, I grabbed my sword and struck knowing any attempt I made would be futile. I looked down, big mistake, we were already well away from arrow range. I knew if I fell from this height I would surely die, then it spoke to me in a strange language. I could hear the anger in it's voice, I sliced for it's underbelly but missed. It roared and attempted to bite at me mid air, I swung my sword connecting with it's face. It said something else and then I was falling, crap I don't want to die not now. I grabbed my bow and loosed arrow after arrow at the dragon most hit but a few missed entirely, as I made a desperate move to try and at least injure it before I died. I wasn't going to go out without hurting it, I couldn't let it kill everyone. It roared but I was too far away now to do any real damage, I closed my eyes as I continued to fall. The breath rushed out of me as a claw crushed down on my rib cage, damn this lizard is toying with me I realized. I slammed my blade between a couple of it's scales and I was falling again, I slammed into something hard and all went dark.

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*intercept's* hey guys sorry this took so dang long, borrowed heavily from the actual dialogue again hehe. Anyway hope this gives ya some nostalgia while giving you a fresh perspective from our hero, what is his name again? Jk let's kick butt with him next chappie. Also for the sake of my sanity these chappies will be a bit slow for release for the next little while. But I do hope to release more eventually I personally love this story and am so totally invested in it. Also we will get to join the hero for his big heroic rescue of Karnwyr next chappie!