Ruby and Lydia rode fast for Shearpoint, stopping only when they neared the peak to leave the horses behind. They nearly ran the rest of the way up and came upon the snowy cap to see a dragon perched on top of a Word Wall. Before she could even read it, Ruby was taken in by the sight of the dragon. His scales were a shade of dusty lavender with a turquoise belly and throat, but his horns and spikes appeared to be gold, as though gilded. Then there were two curved horns that framed his jaws that looked more like tusks or mandibles. His face turned to them, and Ruby noticed that while one eye focused on them, the other was tightly closed.
"At last we meet, Dovahkiin. Frodu los het. Nu un tinvaak ni nunon un," he said while shifting his gaze at Lydia. Ruby growled and took out Crescent Rose while walking towards the dragon.
"You've been slaughtering people!" she accused him.
"And it gained your attention, Dovahkiin." He held up his wings, showing their starburst orange on blue color through the sun's light. "And so you came, to the battlefield of mine own choosing. Krosis, alok!"
An iron coffin sitting near the Word Wall burst open, and then a decayed body rose up from it, floating just above the ground. Ruby paused in her steps when she saw a familiarly shaped mask on the being's face and recalled when she last saw one of those, only then it was blue and not green.
"Oh no," she muttered. Before she could even think of falling back, the Dragon Priest raised his hands and cast some sort of spell. The air around the peak shifted, and then the dragon laughed.
"The battlefield…is ready, master," Krosis said to the dragon.
"Well done, Krosis. Now, let us put an end to this threat."
"What did you do?!" Lydia demanded, and the Dragon Priest barely tilted his head to acknowledge her.
"The mountain is closed," Krosis slowly explained. "The barrier will let none in to interfere…and none out to escape." He brought up a staff in his hand and the dragon leaped up and took wing.
"Dovahkiin, Zu'u Horvutokinah! Hi kriist ko Alduinii miiraad fah nid lingrah."
Ruby dodged aside as Krosis launched a lightning spell at her. Lydia ran up to assist her, but had to roll away as Horvutokinah's tail nearly swiped her up. Ruby went to draw Dawnbreaker, but then the dragon sharply turned and let out a stream of icy breath at her.
"Yol!" she Shouted in contest to the attack, holding it off, but leaving her open for a fireball that sent her back. Lydia tried to charge the undead being, only for him to hover away and begin releasing a stream of Frostbite upon her. The Nord pushed through while holding up her shield, but missed the building lightning spell from his staff. She was sent screaming and tumbling as the Lightning Bolt hit her, and Ruby yelled as she got to her feet. Before she could run to Lydia's aid, though, she could feel the gaze of Horvutokinah on her.
"Kun! Shul! Ag!" he Shouted. Ruby moved with her Semblance out of the way as what she could only think of as a laser hit the place where she just was. She found herself both amazed and terrified by the power of the Shout when she saw how its concentrated heat had vaporized snow for over a meter in any direction and blackened the earth half as far. The dragon suddenly turned towards her and reared his head back.
"Kun Shul!" he Shouted again. This time Ruby was forced to roll out of the way of a less intense, but no less scary version of the attack. Quickly, she pulled the bow from her back and took aim, but the moment she loosed an arrow, he was back on her.
"Zun Haal Viik!"
The bow went flying from her grasp and Ruby cursed. However, another arrow came up and hit Horvutonikah in his chest, and she followed its path to see Lydia back on her feet and gasping.
"Krosis, deal with the mortal! Permanently!" Horvutonikah demanded with a snarl.
"At once, master!" the Dragon Priest responded before going back on the offensive. As Ruby tried to go to her side, Horvutonikah landed between them.
"Tinvaaku un, Dovahkiin."
"Rokiil tol nust aav mu," she objected while drawing Crescent Rose to its full form.
"Nust krif ful mu dreh." Ruby launched herself forward, aiming for his shoulder, but his back legs shot him up and his body turned and put his head in her way so that one of his gilded mandible-horns clanged against her scythe and knocked her back. As Ruby landed, he whipped his wing up, tossing snow and ice into the air, then poked his head under while quickly Shouting up Fire Breath. Ruby met it with frost, but soon found her Voice overpowered and screamed as the fires singed her. Before she could gather her bearings, his tail came around and slammed into her, knocking her across the mountaintop and into the barrier.
The dragon laughed as he came toward her. "Part of me wonders if such a fall would have ended you, but I have seen your power Dovahkiin. I cannot risk it."
"Seen…my power?" she got out as she picked herself up to her feet.
"From the moment I heard Aakdremsot's dirge, I have kept my eye on you." The dragon smiled with pride. "To have bested a dragon with an army was one thing. Yet, I could feel it within you, and your further fights proved it. I have watched and observed until I believed I knew enough, then I chose the battlefield, then drew you in." Horvutokinah laughed. Ruby looked on in horror, then snarled as she remembered what brought her to the mountain in the first place.
"You…!" Ruby yelled as she charged him. The dragon made as though to snap his jaws, but then his face went up and his whole body seemed to leap straight into the air. His gilded talons came at her, but Ruby managed to stop to avoid them, and then jumped out of the way of his tail.
"Strun Kun Qo!" he Shouted, sending a stream of lightning chasing after her. Ruby sped ahead of it, feeling it just behind her heels. As it ended, she jumped up and turned in mid-air.
"Strun Kun!" Her own Lightning Breath collided with his belly, sending the electricity coursing through him. As she tasted ozone, her back hit the ground, but she had just enough momentum to flip backward onto her feet. Suddenly, a greenish blur hit the Word Wall's edge.
"Lydia!" Ruby screamed as she ran at the two. The housecarl was battered, scorched, and iced over in some places, while the Dragon Priest only had a few dents on his armor. The undead tried to level his staff at Ruby, but she dodged around the fire attack with her Semblance and drew Dawnbreaker with her off-hand and cut into him. As the Dragon Priest was set alight and floated back, the Dragonborn turned and went to her housecarl's side.
"Lydia?"
"I'm okay," the Nord got out while taking up a potion and gulping it down. "I'm okay," she repeated."
"Barely. Stay still a moment. I'm going to-"
"Yol!"
Ruby grabbed Lydia by the breastplate and pulled them both away with her Semblance as the Fire Breath came for them. She stopped several meters away and started gasping before going back into a battle-ready stance.
"Are you okay?" Lydia asked her as she pulled herself to her feet.
"I'm okay. This guy's just…harder than I thought," Ruby answered with a pained grimace. "I'm going to try and ground him."
"But you-"
Ruby didn't wait to hear what her housecarl had to say and started running towards where Horvutonikah had stopped for a minute. She noticed the dark spot where her Lightning Breath had made contact and then looked at his gilded spikes, horns, and claws.
'He must not like electricity,' she figured as she closed the distance. He looked at her and readied himself, but as he prepared to Shout, she jumped and then dashed in a trio of petal clouds onto his back. One hand grasped his back spike and started pumping lightning magic into it, earning a roar of pain from the dragon, but also shocking Ruby's feet.
"Ow!" she yelled while jumping up. As her feet swung down she let go and landed on the ground, but immediately reached out and started casting the spell again at his wing claw. As he collapsed to the earth and his roars started dying down, she figured she was getting somewhere, when she suddenly felt something wrap around her shoulders and electricity began lancing into her. She screamed and let go, trying to see past her convulsions as to what had her, only to catch glimpses of Krosis having grabbed her and start doing to her what she'd been doing to Horvutokinah. As she tried to free herself, the sound of heavy wing beats signaled that the recovered dragon had taken wing and now hovered directly above them.
"Now, master!" the Dragon Priest called out.
"Kun!" he began.
'No!'
"Shul!"
Ruby tried to tear herself loose, but Krosis' dead man's grip along with his spell gave her no hope of escape.
"Ag!"
As the last word of the Shout was said, Ruby felt something smash into her side and looked to see that Lydia had charged in and slammed against Krosis' arms with the edge of her shield, knocking Ruby out of Krosis' now broken arms and out of the path of the Shout. The Burning Light came down upon the Nord, who barely had enough time to turn to it as it came crashing down. Ruby hit the snow and dirt and rolled a moment before looking up to see the Shout pouring from Horvutokinah's mouth onto both Lydia and Krosis.
"Lydia!" Ruby's scream echoed across the entire mountain.
When morning came up and the snow had settled, Mercer and Blake walked out into the powdery whiteness and began making their way through with a pair of snowshoes for both of them. When they reached the ruins, Mercer began scouting around them, stopping at the edge of a large hole at its top.
"Well, I know Karliah's still inside," he said while taking up a bow.
"How can you tell?" Blake asked.
"Her horse," he explained before loosing an arrow. Blake followed its path and then saw it hit something. A whinny called out and a horse moved from the distant tree line before collapsing. "Now, she won't be using that to escape."
Blake just nodded with a grimace. She didn't like it, but their horses were back at Windhelm. If the woman was to make it to her own horse and ride off, they'd be liable to lose her, especially with how thick the snow was at the moment. The master thief put his bow away and went down into the ruin, Blake just behind him.
"Let's get to it, then. I want to catch her off her guard. Take the lead."
Blake's ears popped up as her eyes widened. "M- me?"
"You heard me. There isn't anyone else here to do it. I want those dark vision eyes looking at every shadowy corner as we go."
"Oh… Yes sir. Understood." Mercer nodded to that as Blake went forward.
"Just keep your eyes peeled. Karliah is as sharp as a razor."
The Faunus nodded while reaching for the door, only to stop when she noticed how the doors were barred by some strange lock mechanism she'd never seen before. Mercer looked over her shoulder and hummed while rubbing his chin.
"Here, let me at it." Blake backed away and the man hunched over, a tool in each hand as he started going through the odd lock. "I don't know what the fuss is about these locks. All it takes is a bit of know-how and a lot of skill." He stood up as the curved bars moved, allowing entry into the ruin. "There. That wasn't so tough. After you."
"You'll have to show me how to get past those kinds once we're done here," Blake suggested with a smile.
"We'll see."
The two headed inside, going down a set of stairs lit by a few candles and into an atrium with several braziers burning. A heavy smell lingered in the air, and both Blake and Mercer grimaced.
"Ugh, the stench in here," Mercer complained. "This place smells of death. Be on your guard."
As they walked further in, Blake's eyes kept scanning back and forth, trying to find anything out of place. A single draugr was sprawled onto the floor, an arrow through its back. After taking a closer look at it, Blake figured the arrow and the wound it inflicted were both very new.
"Look like her work?" she asked Mercer.
"It certainly does. Definitely hers," he concluded. "We have her now."
Blake stood straight and began limbering up. As she stretched to the side, the two coffins in the room popped open, letting their occupants out to fight. Blake immediately drew Gambol Shroud and went against one, knocking its blocking axe out of the way before carving through it. From the corner of her eye, she saw Mercer draw his Dwemer sword and steel dagger, using the dagger to parry a sword thrust and then smashing the pommel of his sword onto the draugr's skull, crushing it.
"She must have snuck past these," Mercer determined. "Probably got past a lot of them. Damn!"
"I can kinda see how she escaped." Blake realized what she said and shook her head. "Sorry."
"Don't be. But it wasn't just how good she was at evading my searches." Mercer groaned as he indicated for Blake to keep going. While they continued walking, he talked in a low tone. "After Gallus' death, the Guild was thrown in disarray. Several people stepped up and tried to claim Gallus' former position as Guild Master. Sides quickly formed between these men and the Ratway became a bloodbath."
"But you came out on top."
"Yes. I wanted to use the Guild's resources to hunt down Karliah. The others didn't even care that he was gone. Fortunately, I persevered. The other groups were either killed or they left Skyrim. Unfortunately, the infighting took months to subside. She had more than enough time to go into hiding and cover her tracks. I spent thousands of septims and used every contact at my disposal, but it was as if she simply vanished." They came into a room filled with felled draugr and Mercer tapped her shoulder and pointed over to the other end. There was an iron gate with a pull chain next to it, but also a spiked swinging door, several vases set in front of it. "Pull the chain over there and watch out for the spikes. Looks like Karliah reset all of the traps."
Blake nodded and went over to spring it, jumping out of the way of the trap and then ducking under a vase that came flying at her head before smashing against the wall. They went down through catacombs, coming across urns and coffins before stopping before some bear traps that Blake disarmed with careful prodding. Just a little further in, they stopped at the sight of some tripwires, but before they could get around to disabling them, several draugr began to rise up. Looking around, Mercer cut one of the wires, dropping a pot of embers onto an oiled space and keeping some of the draugr back as he attacked. Blake went for two in front of her, beheading one and then kicking the other into the rising inferno. She turned in time to see Mercer sidestep one of the draugr before skewering it, then jumping back as he withdrew the blade, dodging another's swing. His foot then hit the wall and he bounced back, slicing into the undead and felling it. The flames then began clearing and more came, with Blake drawing the Blade of Woe as she went to meet them. Mercer jumped in as well, swinging his Dwarven sword before going into a spin and bringing his dagger into the skull of another draugr.
'He's actually really good,' Blake thought as the last undead in the room fell. Several members of the Guild had mentioned his battle prowess, but she hadn't expected to actually be that impressed.
Further down they turned into a room that made Blake balk. Mercer sniffed at the sight and shook his head.
"Bone chimes," he named the dangling bones. "Clever. Rigged to wake the draugr I bet. Don't blunder into any of them." Blake nodded and carefully slinked between the chimes before opening the next door. The closest draugr stirred, but then a dagger flew in and sunk into his head, extinguishing the spark behind its empty sockets. Mercer retrieved his secondary blade as he followed Blake down, and the two emerged into a large chamber where draugr began rising and coffins began popping open.
"Take the left!" Mercer ordered as he went right. Blake went toward the large pillar and swiped at a greatsword wielder before rolling under an arrow and then stabbing up into the archer's chest. The draugr struggled, and so Blake pulled free and sliced it across the face. She turned back to the greatsword user and cleaved one of its arms off before decapitating it, then was stunned at what she was seeing. Mercer had already taken down four and was rushing the eighth, who was trying to hit him with a Frostbite spell. The Breton seemed to leap over the stream then twist in midair, slicing his blades across the undead, taking both arms and carving mostly through its body. The last draugr shot an arrow at him, but the man blocked it with his dagger, sending it off to the side before he charged and took it down with a powerful cleave. Blake went back to his side as he shifted his shoulders.
"All right, let's move," he said while shifting his grip on his sword. Blake nodded and took point again, leading them up to and through a caged catwalk at the top of the room and into another catacomb.
"Karliah was always a slippery little minx," Mercer mentioned off-handedly. "Slipping past all these draugr must have been child's play for her."
"Yeah." While part of her certainly hated the woman for what she did, Blake realized it was a kind of distant hate. She didn't know Gallus and barely knew Mercer, though she was hoping they were getting to know each other better. She could certainly say that getting through this place and only having alerted a couple of the draugr was impressive. It was also frightening when she realized that she was likely going to have to fight her to the death.
They silently stepped through the catacomb, stopping at the end where an iron bar door was closed, but with several vases pushed up against it from the other side. Mercer sighed when he realized what that meant and walked towards the pull chain.
"Get ready," he warned the Faunus. She nodded, he pulled the chain, the door opened, then the vases set against the door were sent clattering. Draugr began rising up, and Blake immediately started trying to cut them down. Mercer jumped in, literally, bringing his sword down on one of the more armored specimens before slicing up and across another. After a minute, the two stood before a pile of corpses.
"You're pretty good," she complimented the man while wiping the sweat from her brow on her shoulder.
"You too. I can see why the Brotherhood had trouble with you." Blake smirked for a second, then frowned as she turned her head away while he went and looked at the vases that had woken the dead. "We're on the right track. She's been through here."
"Yeah. Think we're close?"
"No idea. Just have to keep going."
"Right." Blake went back to the lead but held up her hand. "Trigger stone," she warned him.
"I saw that, but thank you nonetheless," he grumbled.
Halfway through a long hallway, Mercer spoke up. "That door ahead looks perfect for hiding an ambush. Be ready."
Blake nodded and carefully began to open the doors. When nothing seemed to happen, she looked back and saw Mercer nod to her, she pushed them over further then felt them hit something before the sound of vases and urns crashing down rang out.
'Again?' Blake thought exhaustively as the draugr in the room were alerted. This time there were only three, but one of them wore more intricate looking armor, likely denoting him as some sort of leader. The other two came at them, and Blake went in from the side while Mercer went head on. The second one started preparing a spell, but Blake jumped in and sliced up with Woe and Down with Gambol Shroud, slicing off the spell-casting arm and causing it to explode into an icy starburst. Mercer just as easily slayed his enemy, then the two went for the last. However, Blake recognized what it was doing as it took in a breath.
"Dodge!" she called out in warning.
"Fo! Krah Diin!" the undead Shouted, freezing nearly everything before him. Mercer had heeded Blake's advice and had gotten mostly out of the way, flipping back to avoid the last of the Shout. He then ran at the draugr, clashing his blade with the undead's axe and trying to gouge his dagger from around the deadlock, though the mummified Nord blocked that with his arm. Blake threw her Gambol Shroud in sickle mode at its back, hitting it and embedding itself. She pulled herself in and jabbed the Blade of Woe into its neck, then Mercer reared back and thrust his sword through. The draugr collapsed with that and the two started to regather themselves.
As Blake caught her breath, she noticed the Word Wall behind them and silently took out her scroll and snapped a photo of it before sending it to Ruby. As Mercer walked up to her, she pocketed the device.
"Ready to go?" she asked him.
"Yes. Door's over there. I feel like we're close."
"Yeah, these things are usually near the back from what I know," Blake told him as she moved on, being sure to keep an eye out for the things that would be too dark for humans to see clearly. Past a bend, however, they came up to a familiar-looking door.
"Oh…" she realized when she saw it.
"Ah, it's one of the infamous Nordic puzzle doors," Mercer recognized it. "How quaint. Without the matching claw they're normally impossible to open. And since I'm certain Karliah already did away with it, we're on our own." He rubbed his chin and then pulled something from one of his bandolier pockets. "Fortunately, these doors have a weakness if you know how to exploit it. Quite simple, really." He took the tool and seemed to slide it between the smallest and second ring while shifting the smaller ring over. Suddenly, the door began to slide open, and a huge smile spread across Blake's face.
"You're definitely going to have to show me that!"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get a move on."
Blake laughed a little but went forward. The chamber was large and had snow piled inside of it, likely from the hole at the very top. For half a second she wondered if the skeleton at the center once belonged to who she thought it might, then her attention was taken by the sight of an incoming arrow coming from her left. She didn't have time to dodge or block it, and she didn't want to reveal her Semblance to their opponent just yet. She instead focused on strengthening her Aura to block the projectile, but to her surprise, it cut right through as though it wasn't even there. Before Blake could voice her disbelief, the arrow had punched through her skin, right above her belly button. She clutched the shaft and looked down before a wave of weakness washed over her and she collapsed on her side.
'Oh gods! Oh gods, help! Mercer, help me!'
Time itself seemed to distort as her vision swam in and out, the room before her appearing different colors before darkening and then settling on a muted scale. Mercer was standing before her, blades in hand, and a Dark Elf woman was walking into view, an arrow nocked and ready. Mercer simply held his sword at the ready as she drew close.
"Do you honestly think that your arrow will reach me before my blade finds your heart?" he asked the elf, who pulled back on the string slightly.
"Give me a reason to try," her soft voice dared him.
"You're a clever girl, Karliah," he said as he began to circle her, the Dunmer's step matching his. "Buying Goldenglow Estate and funding Honingbrew Meadery was inspired."
"'To ensure an enemy's defeat, you must first undermine his allies,'" she seemed to quote. "It was the first lesson Gallus taught us."
"You always were a quick study," he growled as he seemed ready to spring into action.
"Not quick enough, otherwise Gallus would still be alive."
Blake's head seemed to ring with confusion, not sure if her ears were working right. She couldn't respond to their words in any meaningful way, but she knew that if she could, her cat ears would have gone straight up as her eyes widened.
'What?'
Mercer seemed to be taken out of it for a moment, then scowled. "Gallus had his wealth and he had you. All he had to do was look the other way."
"Did you forget the Oath we took as Nightingales? Did you simply expect him to ignore your methods?" Karliah shot back.
The Breton scoffed. "Enough of this mindless banter!" He stopped and began stepping forward. "Come, Karliah. It's time for you and Gallus to be reunited!"
The Dunmer seemed to take aim, making Mercer pause, but then her hand went from the bowstring to a vial at her neck. Already opened, she quickly swallowed its contents and disappeared from view.
"I'm no fool, Mercer," her voice seemed to say from several directions. "Crossing blades with you would be a death sentence. But I can promise the next time we meet, it will be your undoing." Mercer sighed in disgust and began stepping back from the room. However, his foot nudged against Blake's leg, which the girl felt to her immense relief.
'Oh thank everything, I'm not dead!' For a moment there, she was beginning to question whether or not she had actually already died and was just sort of viewing the world from her corpse. Mercer looked down at her and sighed again.
"Well, this…turned out to be a waste. Here I was actually growing a little fond of you. Well, Belladonna, you were…useful, while it lasted.
Blake felt a chill running up her spine as he shifted his grip on his Dwarven sword, then she saw him focus, and a grey-black field surrounded his body and weapons for a split second, unexpected, yet unmistakable.
'What? How? How could…' Her questions halted as she saw him rear back his sword and then plunge it towards her chest, unable to call up her own Aura like he just did to defend herself. Pain shot throughout her body, and as the sword was withdrawn and Mercer began walking away, Blake's vision faded into black.
For a moment, Ruby's eyes couldn't see. All was white and white was all there was. Then it faded and she could once again see the miserable terrain around her. The barrier around them was fading, likely because of its caster's destruction. Horvutokinah landed atop the Word Wall and shook his head before looking at the smoke pillar where Lydia and Krosis had been before wincing and leaning his body up.
"Krosis, aari, your sacrifice shall be rewarded, despite the slight mistake, for you have freed your master of a great nuisance. Dovahkiin, now our battle can truly-" The dragon's words halted in his throat as the smoke was blown away. Ruby gasped deeply and jumped to her feet when she saw her housecarl and friend standing unharmed.
A glow of yellow surrounded Lydia, slowly fading away, and a large, translucent yellow circle that seemed to have a horse surrounded by rose vines inscribed upon it was superimposed over her shield, where she had tried to block the Shout in what little way she could. The Nord took a deep breath and the circle above her shattered and dissipated. She then looked at her hands and saw the residual glow upon them.
"What- What happened?" she asked quietly.
"What is this?!" the dragon screamed in rage.
"Lydia, it was your Aura! Your Aura activated!" Ruby laughed with tears running down her cheeks as she ran up and wrapped the older woman in a hug. "And your Semblance, I think!" A second later, they remembered what was currently going on and separated while looking over at the one-eyed dragon. He snarled at them and shook his head violently before roaring.
"Kun Shul Ag!" he Shouted at them. Ruby and Lydia grabbed each other's hands and shot around the Burning Light. His maw fired at them again, but Lydia's shield arm came up and the circle from before reappeared, intercepting the searing beam without a mark. The dragon's jaw lunged forward to try to physically crush through it, but the ephemeral barrier did not so much as buckle or crack. Ruby dashed around it and drew Dragonbane before slicing it across the blind side of his face. Horvutokinah roared as he lurched back and began to take wing. But Ruby followed him up in a cloud of petals. As she came down, the dragon frantically spun and kicked her away, sacrificing his upward momentum as he did and having to force himself into a full spin in order to land on his feet. Without missing a beat, he began running away as fast as he could.
"He's going to run for it!" Lydia called out.
"Not if I can help it," Ruby responded before taking off after him, scooping up Crescent Rose as she did. Lydia shot after the dragon as well, surprised at her speed but able to avoid stumbling. Ruby came up and stabbed the ebony scythe blade into the dragon's thigh, eliciting a roar before having to jump over a Frost Breath and return a blast of Fire Breath that singed the wing he blocked it with.
"Vonir!" he cried out before trying to ram her with his head, only for her feet to push her off the cranium to move with the momentum harmlessly.
"Niid!" she responded before dashing back at him, slicing towards his wing only for him to pull it away at the last second and hobble away from her. Lydia came in and sliced at his tail with a two-handed swing, cutting almost to the bone. The dragon then hopped off of the mountain cliffside and managed to catch air before plummeting. Ruby rushed to her housecarl's side and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Hold on!" she commanded. Before Lydia could respond, they were going out in a cloud of red and yellow rose petals that stopped just before they were over his back. As they began to succumb to gravity, Ruby held on even tighter.
"Wuld Nah!" Rather than the swirling sensation Ruby's Semblance gave, the Whirlwind Sprint blasted them through the air at high speeds, yet it almost seemed like the very air parted for them as they shot ahead. The dragon looked up at them in surprise, and then Ruby let go before catching Lydia's arm and throwing her forward. Rather than flounder uselessly like a small part of her mind wished, as the dragon lord opened his maw in a desperate attempt to intercept her, Lydia focused in and summoned the mystical disc inside of his mouth, wedging and blocking his jaws. As she dropped past his dumbfounded snout, she brought her orichalcum broadsword around, swiping it across the dragon's face and even his eye. As he roared in pain, the Nord's shield met his back and acted as a sled while her momentum slowed, stopping entirely as she pulled the handle with her index finger, deploying the spike and dagger that dug into scales and halted her slide.
"Dii miin! Miini!" the dragon cried out as he shook his head. Ruby then landed and hooked Crescent Rose around one of the mandible-horns and pulled, turning him back around even as he fought against her and tried to shake her loose. "Munax joorre!"
"Logein!" Ruby yelled back at him before switching to the other horn and pulling again. As they neared where she wanted, she spun the scythe and stabbed down behind his skull. At the same time, Lydia plunged her blade near the base of the tail, aiming for the spinal cord. Horvutokinah roared and bent in on himself, and Ruby positioned herself on his head and held on tight. "Wuld Nah!"
Horvutokinah was yanked down with her, his throat being slammed against the Word Wall and cutting off his roars of pain into choked gurgles. As he collapsed to his side, Ruby drew Dragonbane again and plunged it into his chest. He struggled and thrashed a moment, but then went still. The two women stumbled away from his body as it began to combust, both falling onto their backs, but managing to pick themselves up as they caught their breath. The soul of the dragon then flowed into Ruby, who focused on taking it in.
Her enemies came, believing they would win, but they foolishly walked directly into her trap. Her loyal servants came out from their hiding places and rained arrows and magic upon the rebels and traitors while she kept them from the exit with dragon fire. The mortals tried to fight back, but their situation in the canyon made them easy targets, and the loyalists' position at the crests on both sides gave them good cover. Just as planned.
A young boy out of the group, who had yet to grow even his first whisker of a beard, aimed a bow at the dragon. Other arrows bounced off her hard scales, or managed to get between them, but rarely deep enough to hurt or draw blood. The boy, however, was a hunter's son, his aim impeccable. It was still a long shot, especially from his place, but he took it and aimed for the dragon's eye.
She was suddenly half-blinded, with pain lancing through her skull like she'd never felt before. Unable to see right or concentrate, she flew away towards where some other loyalists were stationed, believing her army could handle itself and would reign victorious even without. When reports came, however, the traitors had pulled off some mad scheme that got them out of the trap and decimated her forces. It was a blow they could not hope to recover from, and she knew it.
Ruby blinked, stunned at how much there was to go through. It was unlike most other dragons, who had a very large blank space. The only other one like Horvutokinah's memories had been Mirmulnir, who she knew from looking deeply and a journal in Sky Haven Temple had survived the Dragon War.
"Whoa, that's going to take a while to sort through," she muttered before rubbing her head. After doing so, though, she looked at her housecarl and smiled, and Lydia smiled right back. The two started laughing joyously, and Ruby knocked her to the ground with a flying hug, happy giggles still coming from her.
Blake's eyes slowly opened. Everything was blurry and her body seemed to be filled with a dull pain. After blinking for several minutes, she managed to make out what looked like the top of a tent. Once she had secured enough self-awareness, her ears began picking up the crackling of fire and she looked over to see one in the center of the tent she was in. Hides and furs lay beneath and above her, keeping her body warm, and from what she could feel, she was mostly undressed save for bandages around her torso and chest.
'Not again,' she thought blearily. The memory of what had occurred then came back to her, of the arrow that seemed to completely ignore her Aura, and then Mercer's blade plunging into her chest. She remembered his words, words that more than insinuated that he was the one who killed Gallus and not Karliah as he had led her to believe. Most especially, she remembered what he did just before stabbing her prone form. He had pulsed his Aura, a technique that gave defensive Aura and weapon reinforcement a boost, with a visual cue that anyone could pick up on when used. Somehow, that man had his Aura unlocked, even though she was certain that Nirnians couldn't do that. They tried with Lydia and nothing happened. There was no knowledge of Aura appearing in the continent's history that they knew of. She hadn't even confirmed if Capric Thorn had Aura. Even if he did, he was part-Faunus and had grown up on Remnant, which would have offered a valid explanation. But for Mercer to have his unlocked was completely unexpected, not to mention alarming.
As her head swam with confusion and pain, the flap of the tent opened and someone came inside. She looked over and nearly jolted to her feet, the sudden stinging of her chest immediately dropping her right back down with a pained moan.
"Easy, easy," Karliah warned her as she set a few pieces of wood to the fire. "Don't get up so quickly. How are you feeling?"
"You…" Blake got out past a dry mouth before focusing on relieving her throat. "You shot me!"
"No, I saved your life," she responded defensively while sitting on a log. "The paralytic potion on the tip of my arrow slowed your heart and kept you from bleeding out. It gave me enough time to stitch you back up and heal you as much as I could. You're lucky. Mercer struck the wrong side and missed your heart."
"If I was lucky, I wouldn't have had an arrow in my gut or a sword in my chest in the first place," the Faunus grumbled while running her hand across the starburst scar on her belly, feeling the freshly scabbed over spot where the arrow hit almost directly at its center. She felt a cramp hit her stomach and grimaced. "Guh, how did that- Why did you shoot me, anyways?"
"My original intention was to use that arrow on Mercer, but I never had a clear shot. I made a split second decision to get you out of the way and it prevented your death."
"I would have been perfectly fine," Blake argued. "But…if you wanted Mercer, you should have shot him instead. I might have tried to fight you, but you could have said something or disappeared like you did facing him or-"
"Trust me, I've berated myself plenty while waiting for you to wake up. Even more, now that you have. That poison took me a year to perfect, and there was only enough for the one arrow." She sighed. "All I had hoped was to catch Mercer alive."
"Why?" Blake asked as she slowly sat herself up, propping herself up on her elbows.
"He must be brought before the Guild for what he's done. He needs to pay for Gallus' murder," the Dark Elf seethed. After taking a moment to ruminate, Blake nodded in agreement.
"I don't disagree, but how would you prove it?" Blake asked. "It's your word against his, and from what I can tell, no one's going to take you at yours, assuming they don't try to kill you on sight."
"My purpose in using Snow Veil Sanctum to ambush Mercer wasn't simply for irony's sake. Before both of you arrived, I recovered a journal from Gallus's remains. I suspected the information we need is written inside." She sighed as she took out a worn, leather-bound book from her side. "There's just one problem. The journal is written in some sort of language I've never seen before."
"Well, um, I know some people that know some strange languages," Blake admitted. Between Ruby's propensity for reading dragon script and Weiss' connections, she likely could find someone who could translate it. "You have any ideas? Did Gallus have any close friends?"
"Gallus had friends from all over Skyrim. It's how he was able to... Wait. Enthir," Karliah muttered in realization. "Gallus's friend at the College of Winterhold. Of course… He's the only outsider Gallus trusted with the knowledge of his Nightingale identity."
"I'm sorry, Nightingale?" Blake remembered her and Mercer mentioning something like that before.
"There were three of us. Myself, Gallus and Mercer. We were an anonymous splinter of the Thieves Guild in Riften. Perhaps I'll tell you more about it later. Right now, I've got the beginnings of a plan to bring Mercer down for good. Are you in?"
"Well, he did try to murder me…" Blake thought it over for a moment, the tingle of pain in her chest worming its way into the forefront of her mind. "Okay, but this isn't really for revenge. I just don't need him coming after me and my friends now that I know about this. I had enough of that with-" A ringing sound accompanied by buzzing came up, causing Karliah to jump. Blake looked to where her clothes were piled up and fished her scroll out of them before opening and answering it.
"Ruby?"
"Blake! You're never going to guess… Wait, why are you naked?"
The Faunus realized her state and pulled up a fur to cover her chest, an embarrassed blush crossing her face. As she did, Weiss and Yang answered their calls as well.
"Yo, the gang's all here and…" Yang paused as she looked at Blake. "Are you in bed?"
"And undr-…" Weiss cleared her throat and shook her head while a small blush appeared on her cheeks. "Nevermind. I'm going to get a small distance between myself and the caravan." As Weiss started walking, the two sisters looked at Blake in confusion before shrugging.
"Well, it's not important. What is, get this guys, is that Lydia unlocked her Aura!" Ruby announced while pointing the camera towards the woman in question, who was currently testing out her newfound Aura by punching a tree barehanded. Rather than her knuckles being bloodied, there was a yellow glow appearing on them. The tree, on the other hand, was being pulverized.
Weiss stumbled and Blake felt her jaw go loose. Yang just smiled brightly and held a thumbs up for the camera.
"I knew you had it in you!"
"Wait, you know about Aura?" Karliah asked. The team froze and Blake looked over at her in shock.
"What do you mean us?!" Yang yelled from her scroll. "Who's that? What do you know about Aura?"
"Guys, this is…Karliah," Blake introduced the Dunmer while switching to double-cam.
"Wait, isn't that the murderer you were going to be killing?" Ruby asked, causing Karliah's right eyebrow to arch up.
"Ruby!" Weiss admonished.
"And now you're naked in bed with her?" Yang asked before a tsk-tsk. "'I don't even like girls' my butt."
"Yang, it's not like that! I was almost killed and she had to stitch me up."
The other three all stared at her, with Lydia looking in from behind Ruby's shoulder to join in.
"Again?!" Yang shouted, shattering the silence completely. "Freaking again?!"
"What happened?" Ruby asked in concern.
"Mercer stabbed me in the chest while I was down. Karliah had hit me with an arrow with a paralytic, and it went straight through my Aura."
"How?" Weiss interjected while Yang and Ruby adopted expressions of rage.
"I used a Soul Trap enchanted bow for the shot," Karliah explained. "I was trying to get through Mercer's Aura with it."
"Wait, Mercer has Aura?" Weiss asked. "There are two Nirnians with Aura?"
"Okay, but how did you even know about that exploit?!" Yang directed at Karliah, her eyes red. "We didn't even know about it until I got an artery nicked!"
"I learned it from an ancient tome." The Dark Elf paused for a moment to think then continued. "Well, I say it was ancient. It was definitely battered by the centuries when I found it, but from what few scraps I could read between the illegible lines, I learned the basics of Aura's functions, the Soul Trap Enchantment weakness, and that the book was apparently written in the thirty-second year of the Fifth Era."
Everyone was stunned by this reveal, and Weiss had to grasp her head with her free hand while leaning against a tree. Ruby and Lydia shared a look, and then Yang seemed to sit down on something.
"Time travel…?" Ruby muttered. "Can that even…"
"Let's not get into it," Weiss said, cutting off such a discussion before it could begin. It wasn't as though she hadn't heard of the concept before. There were theories, with substantial evidence to support them, that the ancient Nedic hero Pelinal Whitestrake had come from the future . They went a long way in explaining why he alone had steel plate armor and weaponry when everyone else was still using primitive leather, iron, or Elven tools.
"Okay, so Karliah saved you after almost getting you killed," Ruby deduced. "We'll call that even, for now. But why are you naked?"
"Ruby, when people get injured like that…" Weiss began to explain.
"No, I get why she had to take Blake's shirt off. But when she opened the call, I saw leg." Several brows rose at that. "I wasn't trying to look. She held the scroll at an angle."
"Okay… Karliah, my friend wants to know…why…"
The Dunmer cleared her throat, seemingly uncomfortable. "While I was stitching up the stab wound your…Mara's Wound opened."
"Mara's Wound?" Ruby asked in confusion before Lydia leaned to her ear and whispered something. "Oh!" she cried out in realization. Blake blinked for a second before she felt another cramp in her abdomen and realized it wasn't from her most recent injuries.
"Well… Better late than never?" Yang offered.
"That was awkward," Yang admitted a moment after hanging up. There was a lot to take in from that call, but the facets of womanhood reared up one of its uglier sides and kind of took center stage for a long moment.
"And a little frightening," Anum-La added as she followed her. "Every time I'm reminded that you furry women do that I can't help but feel horrified. Bleeding for three days straight? Every month? It's almost enough to make me think about turning a male lifephase."
"One, you've made me incredibly envious of all Argonian women ever. Two, what?"
"What what?"
"Turn a male lifephase?" the blonde clarified.
"Right. I forget. Humans and elves have to go through complex magics and face-sculpting to change genders. Argonians just have to lick a certain Histsap and request it. Then we change."
"Wow. Buddy back home would've… Wait, didn't you say they wouldn't recruit you because you were a girl or something like that? Why didn't you just do that sap thing?"
"Because I wanted to be a woman and a warrior. The ability to lay eggs doesn't make me soft. If anything, changing my lifephase would have thrown me off. I'd have had to start all over."
"Yeah, good point." Yang blew a raspberry. "Their loss, in the end." A stray thought then arose. "Uh, so have you ever…laid an egg?"
"What, do I look like a chicken to you?" the Argonian asked, a playful look in her eyes.
"Nah, too scaly. Really, though, I'm just curious."
"No, we don't lay an egg unless it has a hatchling inside. Not sure how it happens. Well, I know how it happens, but I don't know what's going on past the point of the male falling asleep and leaving the female greatly disappointed." The two laughed at that and they crested a hill. "Though, I guess…" Anum's words stopped when they saw that the smoke they'd seen was not coming from a chimney, but some burning rubble. Two wood and thatch houses had been collapsed, one of them left smoldering, and the roof over the well had been broken off, but the chapel still stood in one piece. Around a half dozen skeletons came charging at them with rusty weapons and farm tools. Anum-La drew her sword while Yang threw forward a few firebolts, hitting some of the undead and felling them. One reached her only to be shattered by her fist, and then another followed its fate. Anum-La cut three down rapidly, and then the two were surrounded by scattered bones.
"What in Oblivion is going on here?" Yang wondered.
"Unless the Vigilant decided to try necromancy while renovating, I'd say this place was attacked."
"Yeah…" Yang looked around, but the only things she could see were rubble, a graveyard, and the chapel. Seeing as anything remaining would have to be inside, she headed to the door. "Well, haven't been to church since the last time Granny Long dragged us to the Church of Ash and Dust. Guess I'm overdue." Inside the stone building they were greeted by the sight of bodies on the floor and knocked over pews. One of them was a Vigilant, his throat cut so deep he was nearly beheaded. The other had a sword sticking straight up from her gut, and she could tell from the scent it was a vampire. Yang reached for the sword's hilt, but flinched back when her skin contacted the pommel and sent a sharp sting into her.
'Silver,' she realized. Anum-La didn't notice her sudden movement and reached for the sword instead. She had to tug it hard as it seemed to have its tip embedded in the floor, and then looked it over when it was freed.
"Seems blessed. Mostly because someone etched 'Blessings of Stendarr' on the blade, the hilt, and the cross guard. Also, it's silver, but seems to have been enchanted to keep its edge like steel. Mind if I hold on to this?"
"Help yourself," Yang told her while she checked over the dead vampire. In one of the woman's pockets, she found and pulled out a piece of parchment and unfolded it.
We attack tonight, my dear. We have teased them long enough. It is time to show them the same 'mercy' that they showed our family. They will suffer as our children, our sisters, and our brothers suffered, simply for existing.
We did nothing to them, and they repaid us with slaughter and suffering. We have hidden, unseen by the Vigilant for long enough. There will be no forbearance, no restraint.
Yang sighed after reading the short letter then went over to check the Vigilant for any other clues. Oddly enough, there was a letter in his pouch as well.
Dearest Turius,
Father Gradius is sending me to The Beacon to bring aid from our brothers and sisters there. I dare not wake you, as I must depart immediately if help is to come before whatever evil is happening here grows worse. Know that I love you and that I will return as fast as I am able.
I will be thinking of you this long journey. Keep the chapel safe while I am gone. I have faith.
Yours as always,
Gwen
"They sent someone to The Beacon," Yang said as she put the letter away with the vampiric one. "Looks like some vampires wanted revenge."
"I don't think we crossed paths with a Vigilant on the way here," Anum-La recalled.
"Yeah, I got a bad feeling about this." A book nearby caught her attention and she picked it up to see it had Gradius' name written on the first page. She looked at a door leading to an adjoining room and reached for the knob. "Careful, there was at least one more vampire."
"I'm ready."
Yang nodded and read the latest page of the journal, seeing that Gradius was apparently on to Gwen and Turius' relationship, and thought that something skulking around might have been them meeting up in the dead of the night. They said they were in their beds and it couldn't have been the others of the chapel. He figured it might have been a wild animal. Yang closed the book while figuring that it definitely wasn't.
The light from the main room of the chapel dimmed as they went further in until it disappeared with them going down a level. Yang noticed how they seemed to go below ground level and concluded that there was likely about to be a lot of underground portions. The journal and letter indicated there were at least four people at the chapel, five before Gwen left. They turned a corner and came across a third body, this one of a priest with a greatsword rammed through him and into the floor. Yang didn't even bother trying to pull it out, but did check him for any more clues, finding none. The clattering of bones sounded out as she did and the two went forward, taking another turn and going further down to come across more skeletons. Not bothering with her axes in such close quarters, Yang jumped in and began thrashing them. Several more showed up as they smashed through the brittle bones, going through the crisscrossing hallways until they came to a door and entered a storage room where a few more awaited. Yang was almost bored of the things by the time she finished them off, then opened the door at the other side of the room to find a dead elven priestess laying at the top of the stairs, a burning torch lying beside her and blood pooled around her head.
"Damn it!" Yang cursed.
"I feel like we should be ready to find no survivors here," Anum quietly told her. "If there were any, they wouldn't be waiting in the bowels of this place."
The blonde sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Kinda prefer rescues over…this," she said while gesturing at the dead mer.
"I understand, but not every job is so glorious or glamorous. Let's just see if we can do a little to prevent this from happening in the future."
Yang nodded and pressed on. Down the stairs and past another turn they came upon the body of a Dunmer Vigilant. Yang checked him, but only found a recipe for poison treatments. Further down the hall and to the right they came into a large chamber where another dead priest lay, a bag next to him with some of its contents spilled including golden platters, goblets, and candlesticks. Across from him a dark-robed man was leaned against an old crate while seated on the ground, a bloodied Daedric dagger next to him. Yang leaped down and readied herself, only to pick up the scent of a fair amount of his undead blood among the blood of every slain Vigilant and priest in the chapel. She could see that he was extremely wounded, perhaps fatally so. He looked up at her with baleful eyes, but it softened as he gasped for breath.
"They're dead," he growled out. "All of them, like…the monsters they claimed us to be." He leaned up and pressed his shoulder to the crate behind him, even as his blood spilled more freely around him. "Vengeance. Tell me, werewolf, does it look like it was worth it?"
Yang looked back at the last dead priest. She didn't know if he was running with the golden pieces for greedy reasons or if he was hoping to salvage what he could. She remembered coming by every corpse and thought of the letter and journal.
"No," she said simply, ready to deny him.
"You're…damned right." Yang looked over at him in surprise and saw the tears flowing from his eyes, sobs wracking his body.
"They killed them… All of them!" he cried. "My whole family! My children, grandchildren, brothers, and sisters! We all lived in the isolation of the Velothi Mountains. We made sure to stay away as far as possible from the living, even with the hunger trying to pull us. But it wasn't enough. They came and killed and killed… I heard their screams, every time I closed my eyes. I gave in to the thirst when a hunter stumbled into our cave, and…I felt so powerful. Powerful enough…to exact my revenge." He hissed in pain and clutched a wound that seemed to be pouring blood, but Yang could tell was slowing, and not from healing. "But…it was pointless. I feel…nothing. No satisfaction. No relief. My wife is gone… My family is gone… I'm dying… Werewolf, heed me. It's not… It's not worth it." He began to sag over, his eyes going glassy. "Not worth it."
Yang bent down and picked up the dagger while holding onto his shoulder. Closing her eyes, she stabbed the weapon into his heart, ending whatever remaining suffering he had. Cursing the world in the back of her mind, she stood and turned around and almost leaped out of her skin when she saw Anum-La a few feet back.
"H- How much of that did you hear?" Yang asked nervously.
"I've been behind you ever since we got in here," the Argonian answered. "If you're wondering, I already figured as much. You smell like a dog when you work up even the slightest sweat. You stay away from even the littlest silver things. And I'm fairly certain I saw you attempt to wag your non-existent tail on several occasions. If you're not a werewolf, then I'm a harpy."
"Well, okay, that makes life in the near future a bit easier." Yang rubbed the back of her neck before looking back at the dead vampire and sighed. "This is all messed up."
"I agree. What are we going to do about it?"
A few hours later, Yang had buried the last of the dead in the graveyard. Anum-La had helped with the digging, and even helped pack away the things they needed to send to Stendarr's Beacon. Each of the graves were marked with a piece of wood, their Amulets of Stendarr hanging from them. So long as no grave robbers got here before the Vigilant did, it would likely be fine. As she walked away and left the shovel behind, Anum-La made one last check to the cart they'd be dragging behind them.
"So, where to after this?"
"Once we send this off, we'll head up to Windhelm. I wanna make sure Blake's really okay."
"If anything, you're much better than last time," Collette told her as she sat back up. "Most of the impurities have flushed out of your systems. Aside from that scar, you're basically as good as you were before."
"And the stab wound?" Blake asked.
"Wasn't much to fix. Everything vital was missed, and whoever patched you up knew what they were doing. There's scarring, to be sure, but it's to be expected."
"That's good." She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thanks again, Collette. I mean it when I say I owe you one. Um, while I'm at it though, do you know someone named…Enthir?"
"Yes, one of our researchers. Sometimes a teacher. You'd be better asking Tolfdir, but I suspect he's down at the inn this time of week. Did you need something from him?"
"Got a book that needs translating. I was told he might be able to help."
"Sounds close to his field. Well then. Be sure to come and see me before you leave, dear." Blake laughed as she and the older woman separated and headed back down to the small town. She winced a little at the cold, but just bundled herself tighter and kept going.
'Gotta get this info,' she thought to herself. 'Then I'll link up with Ruby in Windhelm, and maybe Yang. Once I've got an idea of what's going on… What is going on? What's Mercer's game?How did he get his Aura unlocked?' Her eyes looked out across the horizon, seeing the Statue of Azura standing like a sentry over the realm. 'Maybe I should've gone to the temple with Erandur after all. Maybe I can get some advice from a god I could actually trust for once.'
"The eye of the needle lies in the teeth of the wind. The mouth of the cave lies in the skin of the pearl. The dream is the door and the star is the key." He looked up at the nearby peak, which was lighter than the earth around it. Not really pearl white, but certainly close enough to invoke the image. He gaze came back down to the door, then he turned the east to see the first light of the day slowly creep its way up. Seeing the dawn coming, he approached the decorated door.
"In the dawn hour of Azura's Star, the door is opened." The door then creaked its way open, scraping across the stone ground as it did. Without hesitation, he walked into the cavern behind it, seeing a statue ahead of him at its end. As he came closer, he could see mushrooms surrounding it, and shriveled corpses strewn about them. Closer still and he could see above the upturned palms of the statue was a ring, floating in a slowly-spinning circle. When he stepped just before it, it stilled. The man took a deep breath and slowly reached out to take it. As he did, he could hear the voice once again.
"Nerevar reborn, incarnate, your first three trials are finished. Now, two new trials lie before you. Seek the Ashlander Ashkhans and the Great House Councilors. Four tribes must name you Nerevarine. Three houses must name you Hortator. My servant, Nibani Maesa shall be your guide. And when you are Hortator, and Nerevarine, and when you have stood before the false gods and freed the Heart from its prison, heal my people and restore Morrowind. Do this for me, and with my blessing."
As Azura's words ended, he looked down at his hand holding the ring, shifting it between his fingers while holding up his other hand. For a long moment, he looked at it questioningly, remembering what he'd been told before about Moon-and-Star. Just to further paint the picture of possibilities, ghosts seemed to appear over each corpse, each of them a failed reincarnation. People who had worn this very ring and died from it. All of them looked at him expectedly.
Slowly, he slid the ring onto his finger, feeling it connect to him and feed him its power. As his grip left the Moon-and-Star and he could clearly see it on his hand, he clenched it into a fist and held it forward.
"I…am the Nerevarine." He paused for a moment, taking in the sight of the ring on his finger before letting his arm down. "…Shit."
Weiss awakened, her hand going for her nearby pack moments later. For a minute she searched for her dream journal, but then her fingers brushed something else and she pulled it out instead. Azura's Star rested in her palm a moment before it unwound and expanded itself to its 'ready' form. She sighed and shrunk it back down to travel form before replacing it and taking out her notebook to write down her dream.
'Thought for sure the riddle had to do with the artifact, but it just meant the time of day.' She paused in her writing and thoughts. 'Or maybe it could have also worked?'
Soon after getting down all the details she could recall seeing, she left the bunk she had been lent and exited the longhouse. Already, several of the Ashen and some others who had joined them were wide awake and working on construction. Along with several houses, they had plans to build a grange and a bath house utilizing the hot spring. Some of the Giants from the Steamcrag clan had even pitched in after promises of trade and fair treatment were brokered. It helped that there was a dragon looking over the proceedings. Vulgahrotru himself was nearby, gliding noiselessly above them all and his hill said to be laden with gold. Weiss was taken aback by the sight of the grey dragon's large nose horn, easily as long as she was tall, and how the horns around his crest were smaller than most of the others. She'd also seen how at-ease he let himself be around the settlers. If she'd heard right, he was even setting up a system where, since they were living under his direct protection, they'd be excused from his normal toll. This would let them build up their town quicker, and then the new settlement would also bring in more travelers as time went on, meaning more tolls to be paid.
He seemed all right for a dragon. A welcome change of pace, to be honest.
"Now if only we could meet more that didn't try to murder us on sight, there could actually be some hope for dragon and human relations," she mumbled to herself as she made for Windhelm.
Horvut - Trap
Okin - Wise
Ah - Hunter
Krosis - Sorrow
Frodu los het. Nu un tinvaak ni nunon un - Our battlefield is here. Yet our battle is not only ours.
Alok - Rise
Hi kriist ko Alduinii miiraad fah nid lingrah. - You stand in Alduin's path [for] no longer.
Kun Shul Ag - Light Sunlight Burn - Burning Light Shout (original)
Tinvaaku un, Dovahkiin. - Our battle (is) ours, Dragonborn.
Rokiil tol nust aav mu - Your words (were) that they (would) join us. (Rokiil was the best way I could translate "You said")
Nust krif ful mu dreh - They fight so that we may.
Aari - My servant
Vonir - Undo hunt or Stop (the) hunt (Essentially, a way to demand/beg someone stop attacking)
Dii miin! Miini! - My eye! My eye!
Munax joorre! - Cruel mortals!