"Go away!"
"Esbern! Open the door! I'm a friend!" Svala bellowed, continuing to beat upon the door. Brynjolf chuckled behind her, shaking his head. "You know, instead of laughing you could always help."
"Where's that gift of gab, little Lala?" Brynjolf was laughing harder now, clutching his sides. She scowled. She had always hated that nickname; Bryn had taken to calling her 'Little Lala' when she first trained under him. He said she was too mouthy to be a good thief, constantly making too much noise and talking at the wrong times. He had been made to eat those words, however, when her smart mouth and quick mind had gotten them out of more than a few scrapes. She settled for ignoring Brynjolf in the present and growling, pounding on the door even harder.
"What?! No, that's not me. I'm not Esbern. I don't know what you're talking about."
"For Talos' sake, Delphine sent me!" She was seriously beginning to lose patience with this man. Using her thu'um to knock the door down and pummeling the old man into submission before tying him up and carrying him to Riverwood was starting to sound like a better and better plan.
"Delphine? How do you...so you've finally found her, and she led you to me. And here I am like a rat in a trap." Svala bit back a groan. What had Delphine told her to mention? She wracked her brain trying to recall... "Delphine said to remember the 30th of Frostfall."
A pause. "Ah. Indeed, indeed. I do remember. So Delphine really is alive, then? You'd better come in then, and tell me how you found me and what you want." Both Svala and Brynjolf exhaled deeply in relief at that. There was the sound of locks and latches being undone, all the while accompanied by Esbern's muttering, until finally the door swung open. "Oh!" The old man said in surprise, clearly not expecting to see Brynjolf hulking there. "I didn't know there was someone else with you. Can he be trusted?'
Svala nodded. "I trust him with my life," she told Esbern evenly, watching Brynjolf's expression carefully out of the corner of her eye. She could see he was startled by her admission, but she also saw the small smile he tried to hide. "Now can we come in?"
Esbern's "home" was small and cramped, filled from floor to ceiling with various old books and spell tomes. Bottles of empty potions and elixirs rolled around near her feet, and the entire space smelled like the sewage of the Rataway. Clearly, she and Bryn were some of the first people to step inside, other than Esbern himself, in gods knew how long. "So Delphine keeps up the fight, after all these years. I thought she'd have realized it's hopeless by now. I tried to tell her, years ago..."
"The Thalmor have found you. We have to get out of here." Svala cut him off, her hand already going to the hilt of her sword. How true her statement was she had no way of telling, but that didn't mean she was in any mood to stick around longer than she had to to find out.
"So what?" The old mage shrugged. She wanted to throttle him. "The end is upon us. I may as well die here as anywhere else. I'm tired of running."
"Lass, are you sure you want to be wasting your time with him?" Brynjolf asked her under his breath. "I don't think he's...all there, if you catch my drift."
"What do you mean, 'the end is upon us'?" She asked Esbern, ignoring Brynjolf once more.
"Haven't you figured it out yet? What more needs to happen before you all wake up and see what's going on?" Esbern was pacing, his voice rising as he continued his tirade. "Alduin has returned, just like the prophecy said! The Dragon from the dawn of time who devours the souls of the dead! No one can escape his hunger, here or in the afterlife! Alduin will devour all things and the world will end. Nothing can stop him. I tried to tell them, they wouldn't listen. Fools! It's all come true...all I could do was watch our doom approach..."
"The end of times?" Brynjolf laughed. "Come now, old timer, let's just relax. It's been a while since you've been on the surface; things aren't nearly that bad up there."
"He's right," Svala shook her head, thinking of the large black dragon she had seen at Helgen. Alduin. It had to be him. There were twice as many dragons appearing every day since she had encountered him. "Could the Dragonborn defeat Alduin, Esbern?"
"The Dragonborn is the only one who can stop Alduin," Esbern replied solemnly. "But unfortunately for us, no Dragonborn has been known for centuries. It seems the gods have grown tired of us. They've left us to our fate, as the plaything of Alduin the World-Eater."
"What if..." Svala wrung her hands in anxiety. She hadn't wanted it to come out like this, she had wanted to tell Brynjolf privately, after Esbern had been sorted. But with every second that passed, it appeared as though there were no other option, and the more time that passed gave the Thalmor ample time to close in on them... "What if I told you I was the Dragonborn?"
"What?" Esbern's head snapped back up and Brynjolf echoed him with a much louder exclamation. "You're...can it really be true? Dragonborn? Then...then there is hope! The gods have not abandoned us! We must...we must...we must go, quickly now. Take me to Delphine. We have much to discuss."
In a flurry of movement the old man began to pack while Brynjolf grabbed her arm tightly, pulling her just out of ear shot. "When were you going to tell me, lass?" He all but growled at her, his eyes shining with anger. He was always so so sexy when he was riled up... "The Dragonborn? You're the Dragonborn?"
"I was going to tell you tonight," Svala argued in a whisper, monitoring Esbern at the same time. Anxiety gnawed at her. They really needed to get going. "But Esbern needed more convincing so I had no choice. Please, Brynjolf, I'll fill you in on everything later but I really think we should leave. I don't have a good feeling."
"I completely agree!" Esbern materialized between them carrying a few belongings in his knapsack. "We should make haste to Delphine. Let's move."
They had barely made it out of Esbern's room when she heard them. Thalmor soldiers. Svala held out her arm to halt her companions and raised a finger to her lips. "You're sure she came through here?" That damn Altmer accent always sent chills down her spine. They began to creep down deeper into the Rataway, remaining undetected, when Esbern lost his footing on a loose cobblestone. He fell to his knees with a surprised cry of pain.
Shit.
"There she is!" One of the Thalmor cried, rushing toward Svala with their blade drawn. She whirled out of reach, brandishing her own weapon, striking them across the chest. The soldier stepped backwards, stunned, giving her the opportunity to slide her blade under the elven armor and between their ribs. Esbern had conjured a frost atronach and was using it to fend off two soldiers at once, while Brynjolf had managed to down a few of his own. Their odds were improving by the minute, though it did little to quell Svala's anxiety. Grabbing the fallen soldier's sword, Svala jumped back in the fray, sliding the sword Ulfric had given her through the neck of one of the Thalmor attacking Esbern, while driving the elven sword into the Altmer's leg. The other fell as an icicle impaled him through the helmet, and there was the unmistakable sound of bones cracking as Brynjolf bested his opponent from behind them.
The battle was over as quick as it had begun, but Svala wasn't finished.
Calling upon all the magicka she possessed, she resurrected the Thalmor agent she had just killed. An eerie blue glow encompassed the elf as it resurrected, staring blankly at Svala with a gaping hole in its neck. "Who sent you?" She growled, keeping her focus and concentration sharp. "What do you want with me?"
"Justiciar Trearil Granor sends his regards," the dead Altmer spoke in an echoing, hollow voice. "He will be visiting you soon, Dragonborn."
With bile rising in her throat, Svala closed her fists. The dead soldier dissolved before them into a pile of glowing ash.
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They had made it outside of Riften, barely outside the city gates, when she felt the ground tremble. "Go back to Riften," she told Brynjolf without looking at him. "Now."
"Fat chance," Brynjolf scoffed. "I lost you once, lass, I'm not about to let you slip away again."
There was a roar, far off in the distance. There wasn't much time before the beast would appear. "Brynjolf, I promise that I will write to you and let you know everything, but you need to go back. There's a-"
"Dragon!" Esbern cried, staring at the sky with an equal look of wonder and terror. "Too late," Svala spat at the thief before sprinting towards the threat. She could see the dragon was readying an attack, flying lower to the ground, its mouth opening. "Wuld Nah Kest!" She shouted, using the force of the whirlwind sprint to launch herself onto the dragon's snout. She could hear Brynjolf's cry of her name, Esbern's horrified gasp, but it meant little to her.
She was the fucking Dragonborn, after all, and this was her duty.
The dragon thrashed its head wildly, trying to buck her off. She held onto its scaly head, digging her fingernails into its hide. She unsheathed the dagger from her thigh, taking a risk to free her right hand, before wrapping her thighs around the top of the dragon's jaw and plunging the dagger into its eye. Its roar of pain was deafening, and its wings beat wildly, sending them spinning. Svala could feel her grip slipping as they spiraled through the air, the wind whipping her face as the dragon thrashed. She twisted the dagger deeper into the beast's skull until she could feel the soft squish of the brain. The dragon let out one final roar as it careened toward the earth at an alarming rate. Right before impact, Svala leapt gracefully from her perch on its snout, landing in a perfect crouch. She wiped her dagger on her armor before placing it back in its sheath.
"All hail the Dragonborn!" Esbern cried, falling to his knees. Brynjolf appeared to be too stunned to speak.
"If you thought that was impressive, give it a minute," Svala smirked, her heart beating wildly with the adrenaline of battle. She watched as the skin of the dragon disintegrated, its soul glowing a brilliant gold as it became mist. She could feel it calling to her, singing to her blood, as the mist swirled around her, filling her, consuming her. The rush of knowledge and raw power was intoxicating. She felt dizzy, lightheaded.
"Esbern," Svala said after a moment of deep breathing, adjusting to the new dragon soul she now carried inside her. "You'll be continuing to Riverwood without me. If you don't feel safe traveling alone, go to the Ragged Flagon in the Rataway. Ask for Delvin, and tell him 'Little Lala is cashing in on your debt'. Delphine runs an inn in the town. You'll find her there."
"But Dragonborn I really think-"
"Go," she said, her voice like steel. Esbern met her gaze and went silent, nodding. "I will send word for you once I arrive," he said before hastily departing.
"Lass, what just-"
Svala was on him before he could finish speaking. Brynjolf let out a noise of surprise from deep in his throat as her lips captured his own. It was as though she were fighting again, all teeth and tongue and spit. She bit down on his lip and he gasped, his hand going to her hair and pulling, hard. Svala moaned, wrapping a leg around his waist and pushing her hips to hers. "Fuck me, Bryn," she gasped in his ear, raking her nails (still crusty with dragon blood and scales) down the sensitive skin of neck. He shuddered and groaned low, pressing his forehead against her own. "Lass, let's slow down for a minute. It's been 3 years and I-"
"Fus," she whispered, the slight force knocking him backwards onto the grass. They were in the middle of a field, with nothing but wild flowers and dragon bones to see them. The sun was just dipping low past the horizon bathing them in pink and purple light. "Bryn, please. I need this. I need you." She straddled his lap, feeling his hardness pressing into her from underneath his armor. Brynjolf gasped, his hips bucking into her reflexively. Not giving him time to try and reconsider once more, she took off her cuirass, leaving her breasts bare in front of him.
"Now lass, that's not playing fair," Brynjolf chuckled huskily at her, his eyes half lidded and dark with lust. Svala placed a hand on his scalp again and pushed him to her breast, moaning as his mouth found her nipple. His tongue lapped around the sensitive skin of her breast, his teeth scraping over the nub. She moaned again, feeling herself grow wetter. Struggling to remain both on top of Brynjolf and to free herself from the lower half of her armor, she very nearly toppled onto the soft earth. Brynjolf's laugh was in her ear again, smooth and rich like chocolate. "Allow me to give you some assistance." His nimble hands drifted to her waist, pulling off the last piece of armor. She laid bare on top of him, slightly self conscious. Her body had changed quite a bit since the last time they had laid together.
"Your turn," she muttered, refusing to watch Brynjolf gaze upon her nakedness. Rushing, she helped him strip out of his Guild armor, moaning in delight as she felt their skin touch. The feeling of Brynjolf's hardness against her naked thigh was almost too much for Svala to bear; she was so hot and so wet and so ready, she slung her leg over his own and pressed herself down upon him, her eyes rolling back in her head to feel him fill her. "Yes."
"Oh fuck, Lala," Brynjolf moaned, his hands going to her hips and gripping her roughly as he began to move inside her. She gyrated in tandem on top of him, throwing her head back in ecstasy. "Little Lala your body is better than Dibella's, oh lass..." She moved faster, feeling her release approaching faster than usual. She gripped his hips tighter with her thighs, now pressing her forehead to his. Their noses brushed, their hot breath mingling on her lips.
"Fuck me, Bryn," Svala groaned, feeling desperate. It wasn't enough- she needed faster, harder. She needed to feel filled, consumed. For the briefest of moments, she imagined a larger set of hands on her hips, a larger man beneath her, with hair the color of wheat and stormy blue eyes...
Brynjolf spun them so quickly it sole her breath as she landed on her back. He hoisted her legs on his shoulders before pulling out of her completely and saying with a roguish grin, "If you insist, love," before snapping his hips back to hers with all the force he could muster. Svala screamed in pleasure, her eyes rolling back in her head. Still, there was a nagging feeling within her that craved more. She wanted to be stuffed so full, so completely filled, that she would feel the ache for days.
Ulfric's cock was probably massive.
The thought alone made her so wet she could feel it trickle down her thighs. Brynjolf gasped, feeling this new development too, and took it as an encouragement to go faster. "Close," Svala gasped, keeping her legs tight around his waist. Brynjolf nodded in agreement, his shaggy red hair tickling her face as he moaned, "Oh fuck, Svala, yes..."
She came with a silent scream, her back arching and her body going taut. Brynjolf finished seconds later, moaning so loudly an elk in the nearby forrest let out an answering sound. Svala giggled, feeling drunk and sated. Brynjolf pulled out of her, pushing her onto his chest as she yawned. His hand stroked her messy hair, his fingertips tracing patterns on her skin.
Svala slept and knew no more.