THE CHIEF OF THIRSK HALL

The Listener

I kind of forgot why we came all the way out here. Up these frozen peaks all to endure the frigid temperatures I was, frankly, happy to leave behind. All I know is I just took another hit to the face and now I'm back down on the sticky ground, trying to fend off an impending headache. I roll to the left when the little blue thing comes at me again.

He speaks, some language I can't even begin to understand. I just have to keep from laughing at how high pitched their voices were. I once saw a kid take a whiff of this balloon my real mother had imported from some mages for my seventh birthday party. He was talking like a chipmunk for days.

Chief guy yells again, "Fight chief! Fight chief! You strong. Don't lie down!"

"He wants you to raise your fists again." Teldryn sits on the guy's throne with one leg crossed over the other, and his head leaning back on his hands. At least he took his helmet off.

"Looking mighty comfy over there." I grumble as I scrape myself off the mead hall floor.

"I wasn't the one who suggested we help the little riekling's that was all you." He points out.

Yeah, okay, so let me set the scene and explain myself. I was dog tired from walking straight uphill for several hours. Teldryn had said there used to be an old Nord Mead Hall around here. I can always go for a glass, so I suggested we take a break. To our dismay, instead of one of the various Inns and bars I find all around Skyrim, brimming with people, good taste in music, and drinks as far as the eye could see, we found a bunch of riekling squatters taking up the whole damn place.

It was fine at first. The Chief guy found a way to speak our language, so he was telling us to do all these things: The first was to get their prized pet. Which took a long time, the damn thing wouldn't budge, even when I showed him some skeever meat. Apparently, the animal had taste. Then, I had Teldryn show me where there was a little forest of scathecraw plants. We had to harvest them for a kind of rain dance they have. Once that was completed, I asked for some mead. Instead, I got the slap in the face, the verbal bitch slap of, "No mead. We fight the Nords."

After that interaction, Teldryn sighed, "We have to go all the way down the mountain to get to their camp. They're waiting to take back this Hall as their rightful place. Which they are…correct. This was built and should be for the Nords…"

I shrugged, "Let's go talk to them, maybe we can strike a deal. They can have it cut in half. Half a boozy mead hall for the Nords and half the place can be a camp out for the rieklings."

The Dunmer just laughed in my face. When I got outside and ready to head downhill, I saw all the little blue guys squared up and ready for battle. They even had spears. Chief seemed to be finished with his speech because all the others began running off. He turned to me with a huge smile on his smaller face, "Fight Nords. You strong. Stronger than them."

"Might want to get there before they do." Teldryn had begun strapping his helmet on.

"Right in front of you." I shot back and raced like my life depended on it.

I could hear them yelling to each other and speaking in the softer language, it also helped I could see their blue outline against the white snow like paint on paper. I leapt ahead of them.

The Nords were startled when I landed right in their encampment. "Guys. Watch out, rieklings are headed your way and they aren't happy." I had moments before they struck. "I have an idea though, maybe you can make a bargain? How about half the mead hall?"

One of the Nord men stood up, his mouth agape at my suggestion. He was barely forming words when the spear landed him straight through the chest.

I did my best. I tried to keep them from killing all the Nords but those little dudes had a vendetta against them. I had to intervene when a few Nords tried to gut one of the little guys, which ended up with their own deaths. I should feel bad about this. But I was defending myself and the rieklings.

They crowded around me. All the blue bodies surrounded me in a weird communal hug. "Thank. Thank. Traveler." One said. I winced with that old nickname but kept a bright cheery smile on my face. Now that that was over…we could get down to business. Get a little mead and some directions, then we could be on our way to Miraak's Temple.

"You strong. Too strong. Must fight Chief." The guy said to me when I walked through the doors. I gave Teldryn a look of pleading. He just smirked at me. "I would very much like to see you dig yourself out of this one." Is all he said.

And that, is why I'm now rolling around on the sticky floor. I have no clue what this substance is but it sure doesn't smell like mead. "Fight Chief!" He screams again and comes at me.

I kick out to put him in his place. He goes flying, way over the big fire pit in the middle of the room and lands in Teldryn's lap. My companion props the guy up and gives him a good little pep talk. "Hit her right in the chest, that might work. Or slap her again. Might get some sense into her." He laughs.

I give him the middle finger. But soon the relentless riekling is on me again. He landed right on me face and is clawing and biting. I shove him off and leap so I'm as far away from him as possible.

"You too strong! So strong! Chief knew one day, you want his place." He growls lowly.

"Look, dude. I don't want this. I just wanted some mead and then we'd be out of your hair." I tell him straight.

"Lies! Lies from outsiders! They always take! Always want. Never give! Outsider! Evil! Bad! Nobody Nord! Chief think that- aaach!" He freezes mid rant, his face screwed up in a strange expression, and falls flat on his stomach.

I stare at him with saucer eyes then look up to Teldryn. "Did you do that?"

He shrugs, "No, maybe he had enough ranting, and his heart couldn't take it?" He walks confidently around the firepit to crouch next to the riekling. "You good there, buddy?" He lays a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Travel! Dark! Evil!" The dude starts screaming. Teldryn backs off, both hands in the air.

"Evil! Evil! Nothingness! Evil! Darkness!" He sits up on his knees and pins me with his gaze. "Never take. Never come back. Evil in the darkness!" He raises his hands to rage at the sky, "Be gone darkness!"

"Did he have a hallucination?" Teldryn glances at me.

I shrug, "Yeah that or…he saw something." I have to swallow the lump in my throat. Sure, hope it wasn't that one. "Do rieklings have a religion? An afterlife?"

Teldryn rubs his chin, "Not that I have heard of. I was wondering if there were some scholarly studies on their lifestyle but no one of that prestige would ever come to this island." He mocks, "I guess they do but it's nothing like the Aedra or Daedra we worship."

"Figures." I keep watching the guy rant. I can't help it. I hold my hand out and let my palm cover his whole face. He stops talking. "We will make the darkness go away. We will leave and never return. Do you have some mead?"

"Dhhdd." His words are jumbled but I take it as a yes.

It was outside, in the back around the corner, near where they kept the boar pet. They had a barrel full of it. The Chief stands on the shoulders of another riekling and scoops out another glass for me and Teldryn. "Drink. Good. Darkness disappear." Chief says. Sounds like he's warming up again.

"Will do." I say and take another drink. The others surround me. Petting my armor and saying soft words in their language.

"We best be off, unless you want to stand on your head and recite their rain dance backwards? Or, maybe they'll send us off to Morrowind to get them more supplies? Boethiah knows I love to spend as much time in Blacklight as possible." Teldryn drawls.

I give my glass to one of the riekling's who downs the rest of my drink. "Nope. Let's get to this Temple."

"Wait!" Chief turns to me. "You. Honorary Chief. For all time. Make darkness go away. Take three of people here." He says to me. I feel the others begin chattering and cheering around my feet.

"Might be too dangerous." I start. This only prompts the little guys at my feet to cheer and stomp their feet.

"Take with you! Will be stronger. No one kill you now." The Chief continues. He dances around on his feet when I look like I'm considering it.

"Are you really sure about this?" Teldryn asks me.

"Doesn't look like they're taking no for an answer." I settle with. The clan begins to dance again before handing me another glass of mead. I smirk at Teldryn, raise my glass and down it. "Let's go then. Daylight's burning."

Teldryn sighs and readjusts his helmet. "I thought you would never say that."

One unintended consequence of the new cargo is the time it takes to get to the Temple. Turns out we were right in its backyard. I have to go slower so they could scramble up the path behind me. They kept chattering to one another.

"Bilgemuck!" One of them yells behind me. I ignore it. They keep saying their pet's name, I think. At first, I thought it was a signal to get my attention but now I've learned its…

"Duck!" They all scream. I duck just in time as a hammer goes flying over my head. I stay crouched for a moment, hold my hand behind me to signal to Teldryn.

"I don't think they were attacking us." He says in his normal pitch.

I guess he's right. I stand and make my way up the path. Try to avoid some dragon skeletons while I'm at it. I let out a low whistle when I get right under the giant awning of this monstrosity. Someone certainly took the time to make a few levels and add elaborate carvings to the scaffolding. Not sure if this is the end result or if they still have a few months to go.

When I check out the interior of the place, I find a perfect circle with people working diligently on certain aspects of the building. The sound of hammer echoes through this new cavern. "Damn. Just look at what Bryn and Cicero could accomplish if we left them for a few months."

"No doubt they'll have the whole thing finished with this riekling side quest we went on." I can just feel him raising his eyebrow when he saddles up next to me. I just can't see it behind those goggles.

"Hey, we got mead out of it. We need that for motivation." I snap back.

"You certainly aren't as concerned for their well-being as I thought…" He trails off.

I have him by the throat before he could say another word. "Enough wise cracking. Listen good, if I knew that weirdo Miraak would show up right were they were working and blow them to kingdom come, we'd be back there by now. But based on how dangerous this land is, and how blood hungry those two have to be, I figured I'd listen to you and leave them. It's the safest place for them to be."

He chokes out a laugh, "Right you are. My mistake. You seemed…determined at the Mead Hall."

I drop him. Don't really want to talk about my coping mechanisms anymore. "You there, what brings you to this place? Why are you here?" A Nord woman decked out in badass ebony armor approaches us.

I stand up a little straighter and I notice Teldryn brushes the dirt off his armor. Gotta look presentable. "No comment. Who are you?"

She seems confused but she doesn't ask. "I am Frea of the Skaal. I am here to either save my people or avenge them."

I open my mouth, but Teldryn beats me to it. "Save them from what?"

"I am unsure. Something has taken control of most of the people of Solstheim. It makes them forget themselves, and work on these horrible creations that corrupt the Stones, the very land itself. My father Storn, our shaman, says Miraak has returned to Solstheim, but that is impossible. But why are you here? Were you brought on by the call of the stone?" She asks again.

"Sort of, we're trying to get people out of it. And we need to talk to this Miraak. Apparently, he's been dead for years." I say.

"Then you and I both have reason to see what lies beneath us." she says. "Let us go. We need to find a way into the temple below."

"I see it." Teldryn races ahead of me. I follow quickly with Freight right behind me. We snake down the passageway then I see them. Three men rush out with long robes and strange looking masks. Looks a lot like Miraak.

"The cultists!" Freight. Or Frea, whatever her name is yells behind me.

The cultists. "Wait! I know them. They should know me." I say and stupid me, I don't have my Blade out in time. One of them bores down on me with flames in one hand and a sick looking dagger in the other. I don't even have time to move.

The guy groans then falls dead at my feet. Teldryn stands behind him panting from the exertion of killing all of them. "I didn't know you were privy to the deer in the headlights look in battle." He mentions as he sheathes his blade.

I just watch the small pool of blood begin to form around the man. "I thought they knew me. Cicero, the jester, told them we were coming here."

"They must not have gotten that message, or Miraak's people do not care." The woman lays a hand on my shoulder, "To them, you are an outsider intruding on their land."

I guess that's correct. I shake off the strange feelings I have. I thought they'd escort us right to Miraak himself but if what Freight said is true, then we have a long way ahead of us.

"We should check these rooms before heading further into the temple." Frea walks around to peer into each one. I glance at Teldryn.

He just rolls his shoulders, getting them nice and loosened for the fights ahead. "She has a point. You might need some potions if you want to continue unscathed."

I stick my tongue out at him for that little remark. "I said, I thought they were looking for us. And I'll be fine, I never really needed a potion before."

"Suit yourself." Teldryn shrugs then joins the woman scouring each room. I tap my foot a bit, play with one of the strange bricks on the wall, anything to pass the time.

No, I don't really want to go dumpster diving in those holes because I need to think. If the cultists outright attacked me without asking who I was first, or doing a double take, then Cicero's "description" of me was inaccurate. That, or he just decided this was the best way to get rid of me. Let the cultists kill me and Bryn then he can walk back unscathed to Mother.

It would be just like him, wouldn't it?

"Here." The woman comes out with potions abound in her arms. I spy all the glossy and brightly colored bottles. I take a few to lessen the load for her.

"Stamina is a good one. Keep a healing potion on you at all times." She passes another bottle to me then one to Teldryn who has his own stash. "Do you perform magic?"

I blink. "What?" I thought she was talking to the Dunmer at first.

"Magic. Do you prefer to wield it?" She's holding out one of those pretty blue bottles. And it's huge. Extreme magicka.

I think back to the power I had with Mother. I never figured out if it was an inborn thing not from this world, or if it was similar to the spark magic some mages like to use here. "Sometimes. I have a mean ice pick when I want to." I grin and take it.

The woman has a look of confusion on her face but Teldryn just laughs. "Ah, if you ever meet my mother someday, please don't say anything of the likes of that. I promise you, in the surrounding area of Blacklight, they might have a different meaning for those words."

Freight's cheeks just burn red with the newfound understanding. Looks like she'll have a hard time with us if she can't take the jokes. "Let us go. But keep your guard up. These depths are perilous."

I don't know how they got lost but right when we're in the thick of another battle with the cultists I see them. I'm just impaling one of the boneheads and swerving to get their prized zombie they just resurrected.

"Duck!" I hear the squeals of many rieklings.

I duck just in time as the zombie draugr swings his axe over my head. "Thanks, not like I didn't see that." I grumble, then stab him right through the stomach too.

"Bilgemuck!" I hear their battle cry. The zombie falls dead again, and I have the great pleasure of watching the three of them take down the nearby cultists. He screams and kicks around but it's no use. They just climb all over him like a jungle gym.

"Rieklings. They're with you?" Frea is still panting from battle, but I see the stern look she gives me.

"Yep. Don't hurt them." I shoot back to her.

She nods. "I think they will be an asset to us. Miraak is draining this place to use for his power. With all these traps, he's surely barricaded himself."

Teldryn wipes his blade and pats a few of the rieklings on the head. "Good one, boys."

"Or girl." I mention as we enter another precarious cavern.

"They all look male to me." Teldryn says again.

"Don't assume what they are. Or how they wanna present." I shoot back.

"Fine. Maybe I'll just ask them. Get a better answer for once instead of 'Bilgemuck!'" I hear him laugh behind me, but it just turns to a groan when I hear them echo: "Bilgemuck!" They begin to chatter amongst themselves when Frea, up ahead, holds up her fist.

I never learned much about hand signals and combat. But it sure looks like the signal for "stop". She slowly moves forward, her weapon drawn. I do the same, keep the Ebony Blade ready and in my sights.

Frea gasps. I follow her line of sight to see all the bodies. They're hanging from these cages suspended in the air. Does not look like fun.

"I do not wish to imagine the kinds of things that happened in this chamber. Who were the poor souls trapped in these cages?" She sheathes her weapon to lay her hands on the railing. I look over the edge to find the staircase descends a long way down.

"What tortures did they suffer at Miraak's hands? Was it in service to the dragons, or for his own purposes?" Frea continues. I'm getting the sneaky suspicion that this Miraak guy is not so…noble.

She leads the way, taking our group down the staircase and into a draugr infested crypt, no doubt. "Say, what do you know about Miraak? All I heard is that he's a Dragonborn?" I have to ask.

Frea doesn't stop once, not even when the draugr start showing themselves. She just starts swinging her blade. "He's power hungry. Holed himself up in here and forces people to built temples for him. It's why the stones are now corrupt." She slices the head of a draugr. I begin a fight with one of my own. When an ice spike is impaled through his head and the rieklings are now rejoicing around the kill she looks at me. "Why is it you want to find him?"

"Thought he might be able to help with a little something." I fling an ice spike right over her head where one of the dastardly cultists lurks.

She looks impressed. "Then you might want to lead the way. It sounds like you have more questions than I do."

This maze was long and winding. Once the cultists seem to give up on trying to cut our heads off, we had to deal with the draugr's and man, they are a bitch! Every time I thought we had them all dead, a new door would break down unearthing a newly awakened corpse.

I was pretty tired of it by the end. And guess where we had to go to the inner sanctum of his temple?

I'm just getting the key in place when Teldryn laughs, "You're not too unfamiliar with sleeping in one of those are you?"

"Very funny. You know we had a coffin brought all the way here from Skyrim for me." I joke.

Frea gawks, "You still sleep in one? I thought that was for the more…lavish individuals."

Not sure if that should be an insult or compliment. I let it slide. "Sort of." I break open the door, finally. The rieklings run right through my legs and ahead before I can stop them.

"Hey! I told you guys not to do that!" I yell after them. Frea just laughs behind me. "So much like children they are. Don't worry, they are quite adept with their spears."

We enter some macabre dining room. Looks like the last time a person ate here was not in this century. "There's no way out. Go look ahead, I'll keep looking in the dining room."

"Duck!" Yells one of the rieklings. I duck instantly but nothing happens. Teldryn is starting to laugh when the sound hits.

"There! I knew there was a secret passage somewhere!" Frea moves over to the newly unearthed entryway. The rieklings come scrambling around from whatever pit they found that lever in. "This must be it." Frea continues, "Let us move quickly."

We follow behind her. I would have had more jokes to swap with Teldryn but we're both at the ready. This feels like the end of the nightmare of the temple of doom.

There isn't much. No draugr or cultist to do a jump scare on us. Instead, there's some sort of fish looking statue that has Frea up in arms. "They're getting more common the further we go. It's almost like they will come to life at any moment." She gives the lever in front of it a suspicious glance. "I give the honors of pulling that lever to you, Eve. I don't want to get my hand anywhere near the mouth of that statue."

Teldryn gives me a look. I don't need to see him without his helmet to know what that is. I just wave him off and pull the lever. Sure enough, a trap door opens, leaving a staircase with our names on it.

Down the staircase and through another windy hallway, we find more of those strange statues, some even have fire coming from the center of it. I notice Frea cringes away when we see them. Soon, we come into a larger room. This is certainly where we will get ambushed.

"Duck!" Yell the rieklings. I duck just in time as an arrow flies over my head. The three of them scramble up the steps and start their killing spree. I snipe a few baddies with my ice spike then lay into them with the Ebony Blade. When the final draugr dies at Teldryn's blade Frea looks to me.

"We are close. I can feel it."

"Then let's not waste more time." I race ahead, not looking back to see who is following. I know everyone made it from the battle without a scratch on them, but whether their curiosity piques them and they just have to look around at all the pretty art down here, they're on their own. I barrel through the long cavern. Not paying much attention aside from whether there were any coffins around. The end does near. And on its pedestal lies a black book.

I come up short. "There are dark magics at work here. Ready yourself." Frea says right behind me. I just walk up enough to peer down at the thing. This is what we've come all this way for? A book? Why I could have just gotten one in Raven Rock and be done with it! Or better yet, have stolen one from one of the pompous Dunmer assh-

"This book…" Frea drags me from my thoughts, "It seems wrong somehow. Here, yet…not. It may be what we seek."

"I'm not sure if I would open that if I were you." Teldryn looms over me. I feel the rieklings crowding around my legs.

"I have to. Or else we just wasted all this time." I reach out for the cursed thing.

Teldryn chuckles, "Now you're concerned…"

Yet, his mocking voice melts away before I can say anything back. My last image is of looking at the first page of the book, trying to decipher the words when something drags me in. It's like something literally wrapped its arm around my head and pulled me in…

"The time comes soon when… what! Who goes there?" My vision comes back to me, perfect timing too or else I would not have gotten the lovely sight of Miraak, I presume, electrocuting me. I fall to the ground with the shivers of that power. I've known worse.

"Who dares disturb me?" He looks down upon me. His mask is really odd, like he's trying to emulate the ugly looking floating octopi next to him. "Ahh, it's you. The one who is not Dragonborn."

"I'm not, but I've been looking for you." I say quickly, before he can electrocute me again.

His head tilts, "Is that so? I heard Alduin has been slain, I would have done that when I had walked the earth…"

"No. Not that. I need you to go after her. The Dragonborn that slaid him. I want her dead." I don't really think about my words, just spew them out as they come to mind.

He laughs. "Is that so? I'll have you know I am a very busy man. It is only a matter of time before Solstheim is also mine. I already control the minds of its people. Soon they will finish building my temple and I can return home."

"Yes, but it's only a matter of time before she comes here and takes all your new treasures." I say it and I shouldn't have. He pins me with another volt of electricity. I shake on the ground but clench my teeth.

"Who are you to come here and insult me like that? Explain yourself. Who is this new Dragonborn I should be so weary of?" He asks when the magic subsides.

"Cicero talked to your cultists members." I say without hesitation. "They should have told you about us."

"I don't recall that, not that those fools bring me anything useful anymore. What else? What of this Dragonborn?" I see the octopi men near him float closer to me. I scoot back an inch.

"She's the Night Mother and she wants to rule all of Tamriel. This little island out in the middle of nowhere included." I see he takes minor offense to calling this place little but my words stopped the next round of electrocution.

"The Blood Flower? You must be joking."

"I wish I wasn't." I keep my eyes on him, but I can't take anything from his expression or stance now. He's a blank slate, staring off into the abyss.

"She wants Solstheim?"

"Eventually, yes."

He just laughs, "I would like to see her try and take it." Then before I can say anything more his henchmen start yelling at me. It's like the shouts Mother has but harder to withstand. It's so hard to hear with each wave coming towards me. I just clutch my hands over my ears as Miraak mounts a nearby dragon and takes off.

"You don't understand!" I yell to him but it's too late. I'm cast back out into that dungeon we took hours to traverse.

Frea is looking on me with worry. "What happened to you? You read the book and then… It seemed as though you were not really here. I could see you, but also see through you!"

I feel smaller hands patting me and realize I'm on the ground, on my hands and knees. Teldryn helps me up, me in one hand and the book in the other. "I think I saw Miraak. He was stubborn and rode off on a dragon before I could finish my spiel."

Her eyes light up. "Where? Where is he? Can we reach him? Can we kill him?"

I want to tell her we can't, not yet. "I don't know. All I know is once I stepped foot into this book I was in an area where I could see him."

She puzzles over that, "Another land. This is a dangerous thing, then. We should return to my village and show this to my father. Perhaps Storn can make sense of what is going on." She doesn't ask if we want to come along with her. Just runs off.

"You alright standing?" Teldryn asks.

"Yeah, might need a little blood but I'm fine." I say.

He laughs, "I have plenty to give if you need it."

"In a minute. Let's follow her and make sure we don't lose her. Without her, there's no way I'd be able to find this place."

With the rieklings in tow, we followed Frea out into the frigid wilderness. The sky was as blue and pure as it usually is after a harsh snowstorm. Snowmelt crunched under my feet with each step I took but I kept my balance. We followed the woman over a strong bridge, down the mountainside and soon, the village came into view.

I stop when Frea does. "Storn put a barrier around the village to protect those not yet under the influence of Miraak. To have the barrier still up is a good sign."

We follow her a ways and upon entering the village I could have sworn the place looked like a mini version of Whiterun. All the architecture was the same, those sloping roofs on large and encompassing buildings. Little designs were placed on all of the wood, marking this as a place for the Nords. And the cherry on top was the swirling fog and air above the guy meditating.

"By Boethiah, what is that?" Teldryn asks behind me.

"Might not want to swear to her." I grumble remembering her eyes from so long ago.

"What did you say?" He asks. I wave him off. The rieklings run ahead to crowd around Frea.

"Nothing. Let's go see what this is about."

"Father! I have returned! There is yet hope!" Frea is right next to him. The guy doesn't even look up. He's an older Nord with a long beard and baggy clothes. Definitely someone I could see meditating like this on the mountainside.

"Frea! What news do you bring? Is there a way to free our people?" He asks her while keeping his focus on the swirling mass above.

"No, but I have brought someone who has seen things…She has confirmed that Miraak is the one behind the suffering of our people." She says. I open my mouth to object, but the guy speaks.

"I feared that it would be so."

Frea looks pained, she turns to me. "Please, tell Storn what has happened."

I sit on my knees right in front of the guy, figured I should sit down with him instead of lording over him like some daedra. "So, you have seen things, yes? My magic grows weak and so does the barrier around our village. Time is short. Tell me what you know."

I take a deep breath and try to get it all out, "I saw him when I went in this book in the temple we were just at. Weird experience."

He interrupts me, "The legends speak of that place. Terrible battles fought at the temple. The dragons burning it to the ground in rage. They speak also of something worse than dragons buried within. Difficult to imagine, but if true…It means what I feared has come to pass. Miraak was never truly gone and now has returned. If you could go to this place and see him…are you like Miraak? Are you Dragonborn?"

I shake my head. "I wish I was. You know how powerful I would be then?" I give a slight smile, "No, I wanted…to contact Miraak. I wanted to know if he could go defeat the Dragonborn I know on Skyrim."

The guy's brows raise. "Who is this Dragonborn?"

"The Night Mother." I say, "She wants to take over all of Tamriel and that includes Solstheim."

The other men and women surrounding us give each other odd glances. Frea looks on me with sadness. The man ahead of me is unperturbed. "I have not heard of this woman taking over the land. Is it so? Could it be?"

I nod solemnly. "It sounds like you have two villains wanting to take your land. I have an idea though. My hope is to scare Miraak enough to send him straight to Skyrim. If he could at least wound her…if he was defeated in battle after taking her on…then I could finish the deed." Assuming I could scrape up those Artifacts. But I have no idea where Mjoll is. I'm hoping the Ebony Blade would be enough.

They sit shocked by this new information, "I must think on this some more. But we need help. Frea said your companion told her you two are looking for a way to cleanse the stones, yes?"

I nod. Don't remember that conversation taking place. "You must go to Saering's Watch. Learn there the word that Miraak learned long ago and use that knowledge on the Wind Sone. You may be able to beak the hold on our people there and free them from control."

My brow furrows, "But I'm not Dragonborn, how can I learn the shout?"

The man gives a small smile. "I have heard of Ulfric Stormcloak. There is a way to learn the power of the Voice. I heard you already have that power yourself. I can see it. I have no doubt you will be able to learn the shout. Dragonborn or not."

I rise, look over every person bowed in meditation. Frea is among them. She doesn't say a word as we leave.

"What was that about? Word of power? You have one?" Teldryn sneers next to me. He's not mad, no, just surprised.

"Yep. I'll tell you all about it but first I need a little mead."

My intention was to drop off the rieklings before we go but the Chief wasn't having it. "Stay with you. Make you strong. Here." He hands me another glass of mead while standing precariously on another riekling's shoulders. I mentioned we could just get it ourselves, but the Chief insisted.

Teldryn takes another sip of his. "So, you got this power after defeating the dragon in the Soul Cairn all while Molag Bal kept your enemies from defeating you?"

"And while trying to get an Elder Scroll." I say over my own drink. Man, if only this thing could be warmed.

"Sounds very interesting. Are you ready to go to Saering's Watch? It might take a few days."

I smile, "Nope. I have another way to get there." I then send the shout.

The ground rumbles with his arrival. I made sure to shout in the largest part of the clearing possible and now the dragon Durnehviir is shaking off those shadowy particles form the otherworld. "Nikrent. I have not seen you in some time. I am glad you are out of the Witch's clutches." He looks around in surprise when all the riekling's surround him. I'm a little worried they'll attack him but nothing so far.

His massive head comes back around to find me smiling at him and Teldryn about to drop his glass. "How can I assist you on your journey? It seems it is not over yet." His deep voice rumbles.

"I was wondering if we could take a little flight somewhere. It might help us out."

He laughs, "Of course. Tell me when you are ready. I wouldn't mind some mead myself…" He looks at the barrel longingly. As if on cue, the Chief begins barreling out glass after glass for the creature. Not sure if this is wise…

"Duck!" A few of them yell.

I duck instantly only to have Teldryn laughing along with Durnehviir. "Nothing is here. Get up. You're fine." He tells me.

"Why did they say that?" I ask the Dunmer.

"They find this magnificent. A magnificent trick." He looks on the dragon with awe.

"I guess it is." I say, now realizing I should use Durnehviir more. He would like to come out and explore Skyrim some… and I don't have the Night Mother chomping at the bit to take him for her own. I smile. "Durnehviir after all this is over, we should take another flight over Skyrim."

He laughs as we climb on him to take flight. I'm at the front right behind his head. Teldryn climbs up right behind me. And I hear some of the rieklings clawing on his back to hold on. The great beast laughs, "I would love that. You mean after the witch is dead? I hope that is soon."

"Me tooooo." I say but it's lost with the wind as we take off. I hear the rieklings screeching behind me but when I turn my headm I see they're screeching in laughter. Really hope they don't fall. As we ascend, I see the Chief looking on us in utter shock. The glass he's holding is pouring some of that delicious drink onto the snow-covered ground.

I wave, "Thanks for the mead! We'll be back soon Chief!"

I can't tell if he hears. All I hear now is the wind blasting in my face. I crouch down lower so it stops blinding my eyes with tears. "We are going to drop some feet. Be prepared." The dragon yells back.

I crouch even lower, hold on a little tighter, then squeal with laughter when we go flying down. I've never felt so alive and based on the exclamations and laughter behind me, never have my companions. What a gift to give.

Observations on day 6

Nothing much to record on today. It is honestly becoming monotonous. We feed the vampires five times a day, they work as hard as any of the humans, but they have gotten a fair amount done. I'm certain they will reach something resembling the Temple of Miraak in central Solstheim by the time the vampire gets back. However, I'm not sure if this area can support such a monstrosity. The vampires are resting now and taking their sweet time. I wonder if the blood transfers are making them greedy. It is possibly taking them away from the task.

I will watch for a few more days before returning to Tel Mithryn. Maybe we'll see some more movement by then.