I've gotten another one to you. I am...running out of things to say on these pre-chapter notes. Anyways, thanks to xTRESTWHOx and NaanContributor, always helping me out.
Chapter 77: After-Party
25th of Evening Star
Yang and Blake were first treated to a nice breakfast by Karthwasten's folks for Yang's recent work on their problems of mercenaries and a dragon. Then, they were a part of a big celebration courtesy of the Blind Cliff tribe, thanks to settling their 'political dispute,' which included a feast. After that, they returned to Karthwasten to let them know that the situation with their traditionalist neighbors should no longer bring them any trouble, as well as send off the handful of briarhearts they were gifted to Weiss' mansion in Windhelm, only to arrive just in time for their evening meal to celebrate New Life Festival.
Apparently, they had been planning to postpone it, given that their previous situation made their futures uncertain. If they couldn't mine, they couldn't pay for food, so they had to hold off. Since that was no longer a problem, they rushed to prepare and return themselves to normality. And now, Yang and Blake were invited to partake, and they didn't want to seem rude.
"Oof, I don't think I've eaten this much in my life!" Yang said with a satisfied sigh. She leaned back and patted her belly, whereas Blake had already given out and gone to lay on some grass under the sun. An Orc woman looked at her oddly, shifting her lips in thought.
"Didn't seem to eat much to me," the green woman pointed out while piling a good portion of beef, turnips, and gravy on her own plate.
"Before we came back, the Reachfolk fed us." Yang smiled at the memory of the large, motherly woman fussing over her like a doting grandmother and making sure she ate 'enough to fill her spots'. She still wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but she was pretty certain she meant to fatten her up a bit.
"Ah, they'll fill you all right. Just be careful what red meat you eat." The Orc laughed at that as she went to get her own seat. Yang wanted to retort, but it died on her lips when she recalled that nothing tasted like human meat, and she knew why she knew that.
'Oh, that doesn't feel good. Gotta lie down,' she thought to herself, stumbling up to her feet and then trudging over to where Blake lay before plopping next to her. The Faunus looked at her partner and smiled a bit before turning her head back up and closing her eyes again.
"Having a good cat nap?" Yang asked with a cheeky grin, hoping to get something of a rise out of her partner.
"Yeah. Planning to get a doggy bag?" Blake asked right back, more than used to her partner's antics.
"Hehe, good one." Yang chuckled at that before rolling onto her side and wrapping an arm across Blake to pull her close. Her partner wiggled loose and pushed her away with an annoyed grunt.
"PDA," she complained. "Wait until we've got a room for that."
Yang's prepared quip caught in her throat as she registered the implication behind those words. Blake noticed what she'd said a second later, her eyes shooting open before she waved her hands nervously.
"Not- Not like- You know what I mean. If you're going to…be affectionate, just…don't do it out in the open where strangers will gawk."
"Uh, yeah. I get you. Uh, as long as you're…okay with it."
"Um, okay." Blake felt her cheeks turning pink as she wondered whether or not to clarify that any further. Unbeknownst to her, Yang was also debating whether or not to make her own statement clear, but having already been caught in a moment, she didn't want to stumble over her words and say something that would make everything even more awkward.
"Just kiss already," a man with more than a few drinks in him called out. Both girls went to glare at him, but the man next to him had already caught his head and shook it before laughing and putting their foreheads together, both chortling.
"Let them figure themselves out," he whispered, both able to hear him. The two smiled and shook their heads, passing a few bunny kisses to each other before going back to the feasting and drinking. The Huntresses laid back down, light smiles on their faces.
"Drunk people," Blake muttered.
"Eh, it's the holidays. There's bound to be a few."
"Yeah. Just realized, this is about the time we'd have Winter Holiday back home. Guess some things are universal. Think we should call the other two?"
"Yeah, after a while. They're probably doing things, too. About nightfall is the safest time, right?"
"Mm, yeah, sounds right."
The two continued lying there, watching some of the locals celebrate in a myriad of ways, kids run around playing, or just some folks merrily converse as they walked or stood about. Time ticked by while they went in and out of little conversations, but at some point unknown to either of them, their hands met on the grass between them, and their fingers crossed one other in a gentle but firm hold.
Ruby had had a plan for the day, seeing as they made it to the lakeside house just in time for Winter Holiday, or New Life Festival, as the Tamrielics called it. It even lined up with the almost incidental event that was her purchasing a couple of hot pepper bantam guars and having them sent to the house back before they had to rush to stop the vampire army. She had almost forgotten about the whole thing, but luckily the Courier's Guild didn't. The idea back then had been to put them where they could get them later, as she wasn't sure when they could return to any storage place and wanted them fresh. And now they were here, the holiday was here, and the guars were here. They would've made the perfect main course for a Winter Holiday dinner.
"She named this one Puffy!" M'rissi happily explained to her, petting the bantam guar and feeding him some corn from her palm. "He does the puff-puff noises. And then one day she saw the other rolling, so she became Rolly."
Sure enough, the other guar responded to her name. She walked up to M'rissi and rolled over back and forth a few times. The Khajiit giggled and gave some feed to the other semi-avian reptile. Ruby was able to smile, but couldn't stop her sigh. She had a plan for dinner, but it was shot down now. They couldn't kill these guars now that M'rissi had gone and named them.
"I'm happy they're doing well. I'll be sure to get some books on bantam guar raising next time I'm in town. Maybe we can order one?" Ruby offered.
"Ooh, that would help her. S'ahara is not always sure how to treat little birds. App-air-antly," M'rissi winced at her struggle with the word, muttering something in Ta'agra Ruby was sure was a curse, "she says that back in our homesands, she helped raise bigger birds called ostriches, so she always feels like this one's chickens are too small."
"Ah, ostrich farming." Ruby had heard about that. More popular in Vacuo, where they have to do more with less resources than in Vale, where the problems were more to do with space. She entertained the possibility of having one of those around, but quickly banished it. Skyrim's climate would not mix with the savannah creatures at all. At least these tiny dinosaurs (because what else could they honestly be) originated from a similar climate and had feathered friends to cuddle up to for warmth.
As Ruby helped her friend tend to the farm animals, she noted that Inigo had been glaring at the chickens while M'rissi was near them, as well as the guars. She could've sworn that she heard him mutter something about 'they're getting allies,' but wasn't sure what that was about. She chalked it up to one of his crazy ticks, left it at that, and focused on helping to gather eggs for their next meal.
Weiss wasn't surprised that some vampires still celebrated the Winter Holiday, or New Life Festival as the locals called it. Many of them wanted to cling to the familiar way things used to be, and one of the best ways to do that was to continue the traditions and habits from when one was alive. It was part of the reason she continued to eat at least one meal a day, even when there was no one in or out of her circle to keep appearances up for. However, she didn't expect so many vampires to be…vehemently against it.
Someone had tried to put up decorations in one of the main chambers, and others took issue with it. It led to a shouting match that had pulled in more and more members of the Haven until it looked like a civil war was going to break out, but luckily Jarmak and Svoldyn had broken up the dispute by pushing their power onto the others. No one could really stand up to it…except herself and Serana it seemed. Weiss no longer felt like Jarmak was miles above her.
The Altmer vampire looked around at the dispersing group and his eyes landed on Giladie and Leslie. The hound was licking the cowering vampire's face, bringing her out of the fearful ball she had rolled into when Jarmak had let his presence loose. Svoldyn, likely his only senior in the whole underground complex, had gone into a full Vampire Lord form to match him, looking like a demon with icy horns, claws, wings, and a carapace. She reverted back as quickly as she had changed, but Weiss was still wondering just what her bloodline was to give her such a form and what all its capabilities might be.
"Sorry if I startled you, child," Jarmak apologized to Gilly as she rose up. "This situation…repeats itself. There are those who feel they do not deserve to celebrate a festival of life, given their states, but there are also those that…violently reject it." He groaned and rubbed his forehead. "They feel…rejected by the world of the living and its gods, and so they reject them in turn, even if they go to lengths to not bring it undue harm."
"I don't understand why that man was so upset," Serana stated, walking over to where he knocked over a small pine tree, the incident that turned the arguing into a near-brawl. She stood it back up and looked it over, crossing her arms as she took a few steps back. "New Life Festival's one of the few things I remember from back in the day that's still mostly the same. Never had any special feeling for it, but I never hated it."
Jarmak hummed as he walked up as well, scooping a decoration from the floor and setting it on a table. "Every story is different. As I said, many feel as though they are rejected. Hm, some are not wrong in that regard. We are certainly rejected by the majority of the living, but some would say we are rejected by the gods themselves. That by being embraced by the Dominator, all others have thrown us away. I…am not sure how true that is." Jarmak sighed as he looked upon the tree, standing in silence a moment longer before leaving the room, passing through the ice itself rather than walking down the halls. Weiss watched him go for a moment, then looked over as Gilly came over and picked up the ornament, a sort of stylized bronze disk. She looked up to the tree, then the former heiress.
"Do you…th-think the gods really rrrejected us?" she asked, going through the words as if they were hard to process.
Weiss sighed and shook her head. "I honestly don't know. I was never really…religious before I turned," she admitted, not for the last time wondering how much of the old myths and tales held grains of truth back on Remnant. "Even in my homeland, I barely acknowledged any of our gods except as a cultural thing. Didn't even get to know the ones here before I was bitten." She laughed humorlessly at that, rubbing her neck where those fangs sank in all those months ago.
'I wonder if they're celebrating back home? Or has time moved far ahead with several Winter Holidays gone by? We'd have been declared dead if they had. Guess it'd be partly true.'
"I d-don't think they would," Gilly stammered out after rubbing the disk with her thumbs for a few moments. "I don't think… My grandma…used to say that Akatosh loves all his children, and Shezzar wants the best for all mortals. It's o-o-one thing they could agree on." She reached up and set the ornament in the tree's branches, taking her hands away and letting Weiss see that it was a depiction of a dragon and a serpent in a circle, both ready to bite the tail-tip of the other as they circled around a depiction of Tamriel. "Maybe they're waiting… M-m-maybe, they'll save us all someday."
Weiss wasn't sure if Gilly believed what she was saying, but feeling the tug in her heart as she remembered the cold, burning landscape that haunted her, she honestly wanted to.
"Hey guys," Ruby greeted her friends as they all came onto the joint call she'd made. M'rissi was practically snuggled right up against her cheek while Lydia sat at a more respectable distance behind her. Yang and Blake were shoulder to shoulder, sitting comfortably close together and looking at the same scroll while Blake held it up and Yang nursed a drink. Weiss was the only one sitting alone in some icy room somewhere, looking prim and proper as always.
"Happy Winter Holiday, everybody!" the team leader declared cheerfully.
"Blaaaaaake," the Khajiit girl moaned. "You were supposed to stop by and see M'rissi before you did more adventures."
"Sorry, but things came up," she tried to placate her counterpart. "Once I'm done helping Yang in the Reach, I promise I'll come over."
"Unless the world's ending or something," Yang butted in. "Very real possibility given our track record."
"Do not jinx us," Weiss warned the blonde. "Anyways, Duskfall has the Redguard. Jarmak's sorting through the man's mind, possibly as we speak, though he did promise him a decent dinner if he cooperates."
Weiss personally wasn't a fan of using hunger as an incentive but, given the prisoner was on the side of the unrepentant bad guys bent on world domination, she wasn't losing sleep over it.
"That's good. Lydia's having a blast by the way," Ruby pointed out while indicating her Nordic housecarl, who gave a short wave while her expression remained as flat as ever.
"Yeah, she looks it," Yang remarked, half-sarcastically.
"Really, she's been smiling since we unpacked," Ruby told them. "Kinda reminds me of when Weiss was giddy about the Vytal Festival. Just as weird, too."
"Hey!"
"It's my favorite holiday," Lydia defended herself, letting out a ghost of a smile along with a wistful sigh. "Lots of good memories through the years."
"I bet," Ruby added, smiling warmly towards her housecarl. "Dexion's been having fun, too. He keeps feeding Lirry bits of his food."
"She is sure he is doing it so she does not eat him," M'rissi pointed out as she shifted from being cheek to cheek with Ruby and instead rested her chin on top of the teen's head.
"Lirry doesn't eat people, though."
"M'rissi told him the same."
"Please don't torture the Moth Priest," Weiss calmly requested of her leader, giving a half-lidded stare.
"I'm not, I swear! He's upstairs in the guest room, and Lirry's curled around our feet." Ruby moved the scroll to point the camera down at the large sabrecat, her eyes closed and purring loudly.
"More like you're using her as a couch and blanket," Yang said with a laugh.
"That thing…is huge. What are you feeding her?" Weiss asked.
"Salmon, trout, roe, deer, moose, mammoth, not-mammoth…" the Kahjiit began listing off.
"Wait, not-mammoth?" Blake inquired.
"It is like mammoth, but it is wild, taller, and eats tree leaves instead of plain grass."
"Mastodons," Weiss intoned, pinching her nose and sighing. "You fed her…mastodons and mammoths."
"Only one that we hunted because it kept stealing Kimma's feed when we were not looking. It took a few arrows."
Both Khajiiti bowmen leaped over a log and aimed their weapons over it at the source of thunderous footsteps.
"Loose!" Inigo cried out, rapidly sending arrows at their pursuer. A trumpeting sound rang out, and the thunderous steps became more rapid. "Run!"
"She runs!"
"But we got it. There was so much meat, we did not know what to do with it all. So, we left most of it to Lirry."
The panther growled in satisfaction at the memory.
"What about the mammoth?" Blake asked.
"We found it. Inigo said it looked like it broke a leg and died away from its herd. It was sad, but fresh."
"Mm, mammoth steak," Yang thought while smacking her lips.
"After all you ate?" her partner grumbled.
"Hey, I've basically got two bodies, and both have mega metabolism," Yang argued. "Don't judge me."
"Okay, that's neat and all…" Weiss seemed to be thinking about something with anger at a low simmer. "Never mind for now. How goes the mission for a briarheart?"
"Packaged and ready to send to ya," Yang proudly stated, showing her teeth in a wide grin. "Just waiting on a courier to take it in the morning. Thought about making a second package, just in case, but I feel like they'll get it there all right. How about the tusk powder?"
"Yeah," Ruby began, rubbing the back of her head, "I tried to powder the tusk we got, but the best I could do was get it down to a sandy texture. Sorry, Weiss. It looks like only Giants can do it right."
"It's all right. Hmm, there is a Giant clan close to here, somewhere between here and Dawnstar… Pretend I didn't say anything. I'm going to check with these Giants and hope they're open to trade."
"Don't forget the amulet," Ruby reminded her.
"I won't forget the amulet," Weiss replied flatly. Ruby giggled at her partner, and a comfortable silence followed that was quickly dispelled by Yang humming.
"You know, I feel like I should've given you guys gifts before we left," Yang contemplated, her eyes going over to Blake after saying that. "Anything you want in particular?"
"Nothing I can really think of at the moment," the Faunus admitted. "I just got a massive unexpected weapon upgrade, so if there's something I could use, I don't know what it is."
"Eh, I'll think of something. Hey Ruby, you eat those gu-"
"We had ham!" Ruby suddenly shouted, smiling nervously while patting M'rissi's head and rubbing her hair. "We had ham and eggs and stuff for dinner! Also, M'rissi made new buddies."
"Eeh, yes, those scaly chickens are cute and adorable! They are part of her flock now."
"Oh," Yang muttered while both Weiss and Blake fought to not burst out into laughter. Yang looked over at her partner, now rolled to the side, and reached up with her free hand to begin tickling her. Blake yelped and tried to escape, the video from their end becoming chaotic while Ruby and Weiss shared a look.
"Well," Weiss said through a smirk, "I'm glad M'rissi has new friends to play with."
"Yeah, friends are always good," Ruby agreed, then asked, "Speaking of, did your friends ever get to celebrate?"
"Yes, though we essentially had to split the Haven in half to do so." Weiss sighed and closed her eyes. "I guess others were able to forget it, but it still bothers me how they acted. Gilly got over it fairly well. I guess she's just always trying to be positive, no mater how much the world tries to bear down on us."
"Well, optimism is always a good thing, especially on this occasion. Any good treats? Or did the vampires bother?"
"Actually, the spread everyone made was pretty typical, except in one way." Weiss let out a huffed chuckle and shook her head. "Apparently, blood can be used for an egg substitute."
Ruby blinked at that. "Heh?"
"Indeed. Blood meringue pie is a thing. It's actually very good, though I'm obviously biased in that aspect."
The Dragonborn was stunned by that. "Eh?"
"Okay, that just sounds awful," Blake cringed. "Maybe that could work for vampires, but I can't imagine that being a thing."
"Actually, that's totally a thing back on Remnant," Yang pointed out, to the surprise of both her partner and sister. "Some people have egg-related protein allergies, and a lot of stuff uses eggs. I mean, obviously they aren't using people blood, but still, it's a thing."
"World looks a little weirder all the time," Ruby quietly said in contemplation. "Well, at least Weiss can still have regular food. When we all get some time, we should get together and make up the holiday. It sucks we couldn't really slow down for it."
"I know what you mean," Yang concurred. "We were mostly too tired to enjoy that dinner Capric gave us, and now we're on three different sides of the country for what feels like the tenth time this month."
"True, but there's much to do and little time to do it in," Weiss explained. "We know we're going to have to head into that Blackreach place soon, and we'll need time to prepare for that."
"Perfect!" Ruby cheered. "We'll group up then. That'll be… What do you guys think? A week?"
"Optimistically," Weiss maintained, "but let's get there when we get there."
"Think Vulgahrotru will have any luck teaching that guy?" Yang asked as she and Blake continued down the road. Well-rested and fed, the two girls felt ready to take on whatever they ran into as they followed the shakily given directions towards Ragnvald, the Nordic tomb Capric had directed them to check on.
"Vulgahrotru is pretty much the best example of a dragon that's integrated into modern society," Blake cited. "Up until recently, he was the only example. If Kahgraanpaar can learn it from anyone, it'll be him."
"Well, not like we had much of anyone else to send him to. Especially if he's going to want goods and services from people," Yang pointed out, then smirked a little. "Hey, imagine if Vulgahrotru gave him a loan and expected it to be paid back with interest? Start of the First Dragon Bank?"
"I…don't know if I want to think too much on that." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Considering what he did last time he tried to get some of his money back, could you imagine what he would do to someone 'late on their payments'?"
"Come on, who would be late on their payments to a dragon?" As Yang chuckled softly at her thoughts, she looked to the side and up the mountain next to them. "Ooh, hey, I remember someone telling me about a landmark up there. Something called the Lover Stone. Wanna check it out?" she casually offered while indicating a place where the steepness of the mountain declined somewhat. "It could be a shortcut."
"'The Lover Stone' huh?" Blake murmured softly to herself, trying not to read too far into this seemingly spontaneous invitation. Instead she distracted herself with surveying the proposed path and considering their mounts. Going up an incline like that would be a difficult hike. There was a reason people went around mountains rather than over them. Or built tunnels, in many cases. "Won't it be hard going over?"
"Well, these guys are bred for that sort of thing." As though to demonstrate, Yang steered Lucky Day off the road and toward the mountain. The horse seemed to naturally adapt to the change in terrain, climbing up the steep mountain as though it were flat land. Blake followed with Patches, who seemed just as untroubled about it.
"See, perfectly fine," Yang called back to her. "Actually, I think going up steep hills and mountains was part of the sales pitch the breeder was spouting off when we first bought these guys."
"Probably. We've been leaving that sort of thing to Weiss and Ruby a lot, haven't we?" Blake asked, thinking back to most of their major purchases since arriving.
"Yeah, especially after Ruby got that weird mask." Yang then shivered a bit, adding, "Seeing her put that thing on is so unnerving. It's like hypnosis or something."
Blake nodded. Daedric artifacts were something else, even if they weren't really combat applicable. Actually, the ones meant for things outside of combat might be worse in many cases.
As they crested the slope, they saw a Standing Stone down the other side a ways. Yang whistled, and Blake looked up to see where she was looking and almost gasped. Across the valley they could see Melka's tower, the perfect indicator for where the Blind Cliff tribe were generally located. The view was breathtaking, and that alone made the detour up the mountain worth it. Then, as they took in the sight of a dark tower against the fog, the Faunus' ears twitched and she was suddenly on alert, looking up at the sky.
Yang noticed her partner's change in stance. "What's up?" she asked.
"Dragon!" Blake explained, dismounting and pulling Patches over to a rocky outcropping. Yang dismounted as well, a little confused but figuring her partner had the right of it. Before they reached their goal, a silver blur swooped past them, banking up and turning around to look down at them as the horses whinnied in worry and took off from their handlers. The dragon had two, black forward-facing horns on the side of his head, with four more pointed backward lined behind them, a single short one on his nose, and a row of spines down the middle. Most of his scales were silver, with his wings and belly a light blue. At the shoulders of his wings were two, thick spikes that stood out against his silver back. As the dragon growled at them, seemingly preparing to attack, Yang calmly walked up to hopefully begin placating him.
"Hey, let's talk before-"
"Yol Toor Shul!"
The flames once again washed over Yang as Blake jumped away, the heat enough to scorch grass several feet away from the fire. The blonde was smoking when it ended, looking more than a little peeved at the short series of events.
"Okay, you wanna be that way, too?! Then come on!" she declared while smashing her fists together. "The last one was barely an effort, anyways!"
She started running towards the dragon, but he flapped his wings and went higher into the air, turning around at a new angle and taking a deep breath.
"Fo Krah Diin!"
The cold air rushed at Yang, who went wide-eyed as she summoned flames into her hands and poured them forward to fight back the Frost Breath. Fire and frost clashed and formed a cloud of steam that quickly spread out. Seeing it as an opening, Black whipped out the Gaulder Blackbow from behind her, strung it in a practiced motion, then loosed an arrow at the dragon. It hit and sank into his cheek, eliciting a roar that ended the freezing attack. He snarled at Blake, then winged forward, swooping down before banking a turn.
"Crap, need to either get up there or get him down here," Yang muttered while searching around them. "Hey, Blake, nab the hammer off the saddle. I'ma get our friend a seat."
"Right."
As Blake headed to where their horses had run to, Yang pulled the staff from her back and looked it over before heading to her own position, running through the pass to the peak opposite of her, leaping up while throwing a fireball beneath her to try and reach the top. She had to grasp a stone and practically throw herself up the rest of the way, but her boots hit the top, and then she turned to where the dragon was approaching from. Focusing on the Eye of Melka, she sent a blazing fireball from it, which crashed into the dragon's face. He roared and shook his head, but kept coming. She sent another one, this time adding her own magicka into it to cast an even larger fireball. This one nailed the dragon as well, though it didn't dissuade him from his path.
"Yang!" Blake called up to her. The brawler looked down and smirked when she saw the Faunus hefting Volendrung up to her, hopping from stone to stone. Blake practically threw the heavy weapon the last few feet, and Yang caught it with one hand as she put her staff away. The dragon was still blinded, but when he opened his eyes, Yang was no longer on the peak. An explosion sounded from above and the dragon barely had time to tilt his head to look up before Yang came down, bearing the Hammer of Might and smashing it against the back of his skull, driving the dragon to the ground with a yelp. They landed on the side of the mountain and began plowing up earth and brush with the force of the dragon's momentum, coming to a stop just before a recently emptied dragon mound.
"Huh, this where you come from?" Yang asked as she leaped off his back, spinning Volendrung in her hands in an almost casual manner. "Almost put you right back into your dirt nap then. Would've figured you'd have moved around by now, though? Maybe Fahgraanpaar popped outta this one?"
The dragon huffed as he shakily picked himself up from the ground, looking back at Yang with burning fury. "Damn…mortal!"
"Sheesh, you're a grouch," the blonde nonchalantly said while kicking at the dirt, though she began to take a more serious stance as the dragon turned to face her. Blake was already running down to help, a sword in each hand, and the dragon seemed to notice this fact. His wings came up and then down in an attempt to take-off, but failed, almost dropping him back to the ground.
"Don't know if dragons can get concussions, but you ain't walking that off any time soon," Yang quipped before humming in thought. "Hey, I just realized, you never told us your-"
With a roar, the dragon rounded on Blake and snapped at her, only to catch a copy less than a second before the Nightingale Blade and Gambol Shroud sliced deeply into his face. His head pulled back, giving Yang the chance to punch downwards onto it. She brought up the hammer, but the dragon pulled up and away from her as well before taking a deep breath.
"Tiid Klo Ul!"
Yang recalled the last time she heard a dragon Shout those words, as well as Ruby's explanation of them, and so reached with her left thumb towards her middle finger to rub a band of gold with an amethyst gem. The enchantment activated, speeding up her perception of time and putting her and the dragon on near-equal footing. She leaped back as he attempted to snap her in half, feeling as though she were moving through mollasses the whole time, and brought Volendrung around with the motion. The hammer smacked into the dragon's jaw, but not with as much force as she had hoped. Time returned to normal, and this time when he bit at her she raised the hammer in the way and he bit down on that instead. Doing so seemed to hurt as he spit the spiked obstruction out to the side before it could be fully wedged in.
Blake suddenly shot up at his neck, carving an X followed by two concurrent slices. The dragon stumbled back as he roared, then Yang jumped up at his open mouth, stepping on his lower jaw while holding the upper open with her left, then threw a fireball into his open throat. He struggled, but she managed two more before he shook her off, hacking as he violently thrashed around. Blake landed next to Yang as she took a few steps back.
"How are we doing this?" the Faunus asked her quickly.
"I still got my Springheels on. You got your Ruby slippers?"
"They're boots, and yes," she answered with a smirk.
"I'll go over, you go under. Go for the pit."
With that, they split. Yang ran up and jumped, going higher than the dragon's head. He tried to look up, but his vision was clouded by Blake blurring past his head with dark violet rose petals in her wake. She dashed in a triangular pattern around his head, earning a few snaps from him, only to catch nothing but the Aura-made petals as she dove down into the hollow of the dragon mound. Her swords swiped across the inner thighs of both legs, causing them to buckle but not drop. On her way out, she leaped up and stabbed at the joint of the wing and chest on the dragon's left side, digging into the soft flesh of the pit before kicking off as blood spurt out. The dragon roared and flailed but was able to focus on the Faunus and prepared a Shout to send her way. Suddenly a fiery fist smashed against his skull, slamming it to the ground.
"All right, was that enough for you?" Groggily, the dragon growled, but it still glared angrily.
"Gaan Lah Haas!" he Shouted, causing Yang's footing on his spiked head to go unsteady as he tried to target his power at Blake.
It missed, and going by the wilting plants hit by the purple beam, that was only a good thing. The dragon began to pick himself up, his strength seeming to return to him, but another punch interrupted his recovery and Shout. Yang then reached for Black Whisper with angry red eyes and chopped down with the ebony axe, splitting scales, flesh, and bone. The dragon roared and tried to shake her loose, and she held on, rearing her arm back and pulling on her Semblance to power her next blow. The axe hit the same spot, cracking open the dragon's skull and finally ceasing his struggles. The body collapsed and then slid into the dug-out ground of the dragon mound.
"God, it's like some of these dragons have a death wish," she complained as she climbed out of the refilled dragon grave. Groaning, she looked around at the scene of destruction their battle had caused, uprooted junipers and newly-wilted trees being the biggest indicators to her.
"At least neither of us are hurt," Blake offered as she sheathed her blades and retrieved Volendrung, lugging the hammer over to Yang. "And the horses didn't run too far."
"Yeah, but we've still got a tomb to raid," the blonde said as she took back the Daedric artifact. They looked back at the dragon corpse, both feeling a little saddened at what the encounter had come to.
"You know," Yang muttered in realization, "I didn't even get his name. They're usually upfront about that."
"Guess he didn't think two 'mere mortals' were worth sharing it with," Blake figured with a shrug.
"Yeah, well screw him, too." With that, she kicked in some loose dirt, declaring, "At least we don't have to dig him a new grave."
Ruby checked over her bags once again. Lydia did most of the packing, and she was always good at it, but Ruby just felt comforted by visually ascertaining their readiness. She blamed Weiss for getting her into the habit. Dexion was traveling light, with just his one set of spare robes that he cleaned whenever he changed, stuffed into a small pack of items.
"We're ready to go," she announced when she figured all was well and set the bags with the others on the saddle. M'rissi led another horse out of the stables for Dexion, who took the reins and did his best to climb onto the mount with assistance.
"We should make it to Ivarstead in two days," Lydia laid out for them as she easily swung onto Summer Breeze's back. "High Hrothgar we will get to either that evening or the next day, depending on when we get there."
"I've never actually climbed a mountain," Dexion contemplated as he steadied himself in the saddle. "Is it as tiring as they say?"
"We won't have to, since we've got horses, but yeah, it can suck the energy out of ya," Ruby told him. She looked over to the three Khajiit and gave them a wide smile. "Thanks for watching over the stuff and feeding us."
"Thank you for the visit," M'rissi said before hugging her tightly. Ruby grunted in mild discomfort, but she was released just as quickly. "She will be giving Blake a calling later. M'rissi was promised some more adventure, and she would very much like to go out and see what is troubling Inigo's brains."
"I would, too," the blue-furred Khajiit agreed. "It is not nearly so painful, but I see that place about once a week now. I'm starting to think I can count the stones and trees."
"Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of it. Just gotta, you know," Ruby shrugged, "make sure vampires don't eat us all."
"She would very much like for that to not happen," M'rissi mewed. "Good luck on your dragon quest, too. She does not want anything eating everyone."
"Yeah, not being eaten is always good." Ruby then waved over at S'ahara as she walked back to Chocolate Hooves, calling out, "You have a good one. Thanks again."
"Thank you, little one," the elder cat insisted. "This one would not be half as good without your graciousness. You have given her a new home, a new life. You and yours have given S'ahara more than she can ever repay."
"Aw, jeez," Ruby muttered with a slight blush as she mounted the horse. She gave one final wave then took the reins. She looked forward down the dirt trail, then she said, "Well, let's go."
"I'll lead," Lydia said, spurring her horse forward. Ruby just nodded and took out her map, guiding the horse along at the same time. She hummed in thought as she noted the shape of a dark crystal near their path, recognizing it immediately. It seemed that they would have a short stop to make.
In the cold, icy plains of the Pale, a long stretch of land was covered in the corpses left behind in the aftermath of a fierce battle. Stormcloaks and legionnaires, Nords and Imperials, bodies of all kinds littered the land, their rot kept at bay by the cold. Snow slowly collected atop their still bodies, covering the frozen red puddles until it seemed almost like a field of stones from a distance. A few still living souls walked among them, searching through the macabre floor.
"Has anyone found my sword yet?" Tu'kar called out to his fellows.
"Man, keep quiet. This is Stormcloak territory," Kirk admonished him. "Also, no. We would have told you if we did."
"Well keep looking. I need to find it!"
"Can't you just get another scimitar?" Kirk asked in annoyance, going back to searching despite his misgivings.
"What?! No way! That sword used to be my father's! And his father's! It's been passed down in the family since we came over from Yokuda. And one day, when I have me a little Tu'kar, I'm gonna give it to him."
"You with a child. May the Gods have mercy on all Nirn," the man deadpanned. Tu'kar was ready to fire back, but they heard someone rushing over to them. They shot their heads to the side, where they saw their Orc companion running towards them while waving his arm.
"Hey guys!" Kobulz called out to them as he stopped. "Fruglug says he found something!"
"Oh, wonderful! What'd he find?" Tu'kar asked excitedly while turning his attention to the Orc and Giant.
"Stormcloaks."
Both men looked past the two and saw the squad of enemies running towards them, a mixed group including a Dunmer, an Argonian, and a handful of Nords. A horse-drawn cart was being pulled behind them, but neither Kirk nor Tu'kar were able to figure out what was on it.
"Ah, damn! Well, at least we've got Fruglug to keep them away," Kirk figured, thankful once again for the dumb luck that got him in the team with the one Giant they managed to get to join the Legion.
"Yeah, but they got a big crossbow!" Kobulz pointed out.
As though waiting for the moment, a massive shaft of wood suddenly hit the ground a few meters in front of them, sending up ice, frozen body parts, dirt, and a curved sword, which hit and sank into a body right in front of the yelping soldiers.
"Hey, it's my sword!" Tu'kar grabbed the family heirloom and laughed before sending a few rude gestures towards their enemies. "Thanks a lot, you milk-drinkers!"
"How dare you?!" the Dunmer shouted back at him. "Just for that, we're shooting at you n'wahs again!"
"Hey! You don't get to call me that!"
Another spear-sized bolt was launched, this one going over their heads and landing behind them. Both Kirk and Tu'kar hastily ducked and covered their heads with their arms to shield themselves from the bits of snow and ice kicked up, while Kobulz remained obviously standing.
"We're not out of range!" Kirk yelled in realization. "Retreat!"
"Kobulz! That means you, too, dumbass!" Tu'kar added, already running.
"Oh, okay!" Kobulz replied, then broke out into a sprint. In short order, he ran right past Kirk and Tu'kar, both of whom were screaming for their lives. Fruglug was right behind them, going at a light jog. Behind them, the Dunmer laughed triumphantly.
A few minutes later, the group had stopped and were catching their breath. Tu'kar sat on a log and started cleaning off his scimitar, while Kirk kept a lookout around them to make sure they were safe, looking through his long lens and scanning the horizon.
"Looks like we weren't pursued," he said with a sigh of relief, then stashed away his tool. "Can't believe they were patrolling with a scorpion. I didn't even think they had scorpions."
"Probably stole it at another battle somewhere." Tu'kar went through a few katas, smiling at the familiar weight in his hands. "Oh yeah, much better! It was like a piece of me was missing!"
"If their aim had been a little better, there just might have been a missing piece."
As the two soldiers went into a short back and forth, a couple of cloaked figures approached them from the road, leaving their mounts behind. Kobulz noticed them, but wasn't alarmed in the slightest, just giving them a friendly wave as they walked up.
"Excuse me, gentlemen," the shorter one began, obviously a young woman. She cleared her throat and looked at her amulet as though questioning it, then turned her attention towards Fruglug of all people. "Would you happen to be able to direct me to the nearest Giant camp. I wish to purchase or trade for some powdered mammoth tusk."
The Giant immediately began grunting out his mother tongue, something neither Man understood, but the woman in front of them seemed to take it in like it was the common language.
"Oh yeah, the one where that really small guy lives!" Kobulz popped in. "Nice guy, but very frustrated. He drinks a lot."
"Thank you," the woman replied, giving a short bow of her head to the Giant where they caught a glimpse of her long white hair. "I will take my leave then."
She and her partner moved to turn around, only to find that Tu'kar had walked around near their mounts and was now leaning up against a nearby rock, resting his weight on it with his legs crossed.
"Hey, ladies," the Redguard spoke up, putting on airs to sound more sophisticated than he really was. "How about instead of you two heading out into dangerous territory all alone, you stick with us for a while? We can keep you safe from the bandits and wild beasts in this area."
Things were quiet for a moment as both women glared at him, completely unamused. He was already deflating, but the next words completely burst his bubble.
"Hard pass."
And with that, the two left, heading back along the road.
"Have a nice day, scary ladies!" Kobulz happily called out while waving.
"Meh, whatever," the Redguard griped. "Probably a couple of necromancers, anyway. Could have sworn their eyes glowed."
"Just 'cause you can't get the grapes, doesn't mean they're sour," Kirk half-quoted.
"Come off it! I saw you staring at the red dress' window!"
"Ugh, that man was just leering at my chest," Serana griped when they were out of earshot.
"Sometimes I feel like men have no self-control. But then I remind myself that they do and that we need to expect them to control themselves, and berate them when they don't." Weiss patted Toggle as he came up to them, dropping an item into her hands that turned out to be a frozen bag weighty with coins. "Good boy. Where'd you find this?"
The great boar let out a few oinks and squeaks, but Weiss just giggled in response and scratched behind Toggle's ear affectionately.
"Right. Can't exactly communicate, and I can only see the present through your eyes. Still, hope nobody misses this." As Weiss packed the coin purse away, she smelled something in the air.
"Hm, smells like death."
"Probably is, then," Serana figured as she mounted her horse.
Closer to Dawnstar, the two vampires came across the Giant camp where the one with the soldiers said it would be. Not far from the road, but just out of sight. A few stones stood out of the ground as a form of warning, but they weren't as decorated as others Weiss had seen across Skyrim.
Before she could even approach, the handful of Giants who were present had their attention taken by a few attackers. Said attackers didn't last long, two being hit by clubs within seconds, a third getting trampled by a mammoth, and one further from the rest found a mace smashed into his face courtesy of a Nord man. The Nord was odd, being dressed much like the Giants and looking quite disheveled. Thick lines of red face paint crossed over his nose, giving it an unfortunately swollen appearance in her opinion. Weiss decided to see what she could glean from him while leaving immediate introductions with the Giants to Serana.
A few minutes later, after Serana had gotten the Giants to accept that they weren't here to fight (and weren't these amulets something, letting her speak to them so clearly!), both vampire and Giant were looking over at a now-screaming Weiss. The heiress was practically pulling her hair out at this point, and the Nord man looked scared, backing away while holding his hands out placatingly.
"Looks like Bergrisar has made your friend angry," the Giant calmly observed.
"That happen often?" Serana asked while fiddling with the Giantspeak amulet.
"He's a talker. He can be brave, but also says the wrong thing very much." The Giant shook his head in disappointment. "A woman kicked him last week after he told us his plan to make Dawn's Star's leader pay."
"I'm almost afraid to ask." Serana let the amulet rest against her chest and smoothed back her hair as she looked up at the… Was man the proper term? "What's his plan?"
"Cut off his ears before he kills him, wear them so he can hear in the next life, then take his woman."
Serana hissed inwardly. "By…force?"
"He thinks beating him will make her fall for him. We try to explain that little men don't think logically like that."
That might have been marginally better, but it still rubbed the vampire the wrong way. Instead, she wondered what the Giant meant when he said 'men don't think logically', but by then, Weiss was done. She had spent a few more moments in frustrated yelling, then marched her way back over to Serana's side, taking calming breaths the entire way. When she reached them, she looked more annoyed than angry, but tried to fight even that down as she looked at the Giant leader for answers.
"Why don't you all explain to that man that he is not a Giant!"
The leader huffed and crossed his arms. "You don't think we've tried?"
"Was it that bad?" The vampire princess asked as they walked into Dawnstar, freshly ground mammoth tusk powder in tow.
"Ugh..." Weiss groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It wasn't just his…refusal to accept facts, Serana. I can deal with ignorance and stupidity. It was… Well, he has ideas for…revenge."
"Heard about that. What does he even want revenge for?" She had never gotten around to asking what it was that Jarl Skald had done to earn Bergrisar's ire. They just went ahead with trading for the powder and then took their leave. Serana felt like it was either terrible or hilarious, but given Weiss' change in mood, it looked like it might be the former.
"Apparently, the jarl in these parts periodically puts out bounties on Giants. That's what those idiots who attacked their camp were; bounty hunters. But he doesn't just put bounties on killers or other lawbreakers, he'll pay the price for any Giant's head." The younger vampire ground her teeth a bit, looking furiously at the nearby board where such bounties would be posted. There were several for criminals, wild animals, and even a Dremora that was running around out east. There was also a listing for Giants, dated from the Twentieth of Evening Star to the twentieth of Morning Star. A whole month of open season on Giants, essentially.
And five-hundred septims for each confirmed kill was no small sum.
"I ought to wring that bastard's…" Weiss stopped herself from finishing her quiet threat as she caught a guardsman walking by, pulling her hood further over her face. Serana bit her lip in thought, not sure what exactly could be done about the whole thing.
"I wish there was something we could do about it," she admitted quietly.
"There will be," Weiss muttered. "But not just yet. Right now, we've got a job to finish."
The vampire looked over to the jarl's longhouse, narrowing her eyes at it. She might have fundamentally disagreed with Berg's idea of vengeance, but there was certainly a cry for justice that needed to be answered. One she was itching to provide.
26th of Evening Star