Maldinokdur had looked death in the eyes before. She had faced foes larger, fiercer, stronger than the one before her now. Yet, it had never occurred to her that she may die by the hand of someone who shared the same blood as her. There was no longer the doubt or hesitation in the Nord's eyes that she had once seen before. The dagger was drawn in a lightning quick movement, it's blade cutting through the thick, choking air like it was butter. She prepared herself for the feel of the cold edge against her skin, piercing through hide and bone, slicing across her airways. She almost felt a shimmer of relief at the thought of the blood bubbling up through her mouth and the light fading from her eyes as she was released from this world.

Unfortunately, this relief became short lived.

'Dovahkiin!'

The voice was quiet but it hissed and whirled around the pair like an ice wraith. For a moment, she thought Alduin had returned, but something about the voice seemed to calm the pair and it gathered them up like a mother would a child she had just scolded.

Immediately Ollric pulled away from her as if she had become a sacred being he wasn't allowed to touch. His grip on her loosened until she was able to drag herself away, her primal instinct to stay alive suddenly took over and she scrambled over the snowy steps. His blade lowered but his furious gaze stayed transfixed upon her for a few moments before he sheathed the dagger and turned away.

Wordlessly, they continued on up the mountain. She had debated turning around and fleeing, however the night became a blanket upon them and the blizzard shrieked and battered the pair that by the time High Hrothgar loomed out of the darkness, even Ollric shivered beneath his furs.

As he stepped up to the first slab that made up the staircase, the heavy iron door swung open with a sickening scraping sound. A slither of light emerged from inside and fell over his face. He raised a gloved hand to block it out and was faced with the grave expression of Arngeir.

'Dragonborn,' the priest spoke slowly, 'we have been expecting you. Please, bring her inside. Hurry.' His eyes scanned the skies behind Ollric. 'We don't have much time.'


They sat at the large meeting table. The four priests sat at one end, Ollric in the middle, and then the dragon sat at the very far end. Behind her, a fire roared and spat in its hearth. She had moved her chair so far back that she was almost sat within the flames and she basked in the heat. Her eyelids were heavy and drooping as she tried to focus on the curious gazes of the priests.

'You have not visited us for a long time, Dragonborn, yet the day you finally decide to return…you bring danger to our very door.' Arngeir fixed Ollric with a stern look from beneath his hood. 'Please, what are you planning on doing with your new companion?'

'I apologise, Arngeir, we had nowhere else to go. You know I have to take her to him.'

The monk's gaze slid over to the dragon. She stared back defiantly. 'Your name is not your own.' Arngeir spoke but it felt as though the words were being said by all four of the priests at once. Her gaze faltered and instinctively she glanced towards Ollric.

The Nord's brow furrowed. 'What do you know of her?'

'There is nothing we know that you won't find out yourself.'

Ollric's frustration bubbled away inside of him and he stood suddenly. His chair was tossed behind him and he slammed his fists down upon the table. The solid stone shuddered. 'Why must you always speak in riddles?!' He growled.

Arngeir ignored the outburst and leant forward in his chair. His hood lifted from his face slightly, revealing a pair of bright, shining eyes that told a thousand different stories. His skin was worn and lined but nothing about this man seemed frail. Old, yes, and wise, but never too tired or too slow. Maldinokdur met his eyes with her own reptilian regard, however she couldn't shake the feeling that she was looking into the eyes of a very old friend.

'Be warned, Maldinokdur, Alduin has never come as close to our walls as he has this night. It has been many years since we have had to defend High Hrothgar and defend ourselves,' the dragon glanced at Ollric whose brow furrowed. Neither of them had known the monks had been protecting them with their own magic. 'Something is connecting you to him. He will not be so easily swayed next time.'

'Blades are on our tail.' Ollric interrupted, sending the dragon a questioning look when she jumped at his gruff voice. 'Maybe someone else.' He cast his mind back to the stranger on the horse in the forest. Had Vuljotnaak sensed the man too and killed him? Or had he just slipped back into the shadows that he had emerged from?

They will not follow you up here.' Arngeir seemed to shrink back into his chair and slowly closed his eyes. Unused to guests, the short and unexpected meeting had tired him. The flames from the hearth outlined his wizened face. 'You must go now, both of you. Time is running out.'

The unlikely pair were bundled out into the courtyard at High Hrothgar, the wind shrieked in their ears and clawed at their skin as it whistled down from the Throat of the World. The storm had not let up its endless onslaught of the mountain and now thick droplets of frozen rain began to torrent down around them. Her flesh burned where it hit her and as they walked, her eyes drifted to the skies and a disordered mind took her away on imaginary wings.

'Can you remember him?' Ollric's gruff voice carried through the air. 'From before?'

Her brow furrowed at the question. Could she remember?

Paarthunax.

They were infamous. Powerful. Fuelled by rage and vengeance. Alduin and Paarthunax. The captain and his lieutenant. Brothers.

In the beginning they had been inseparable, tearing through the skies, sending down wave after wave of molten fire upon the world. No one supported Alduin's crusade more than Paarthunax, and so it was the other way around. As the war raged on it seemed there was no stopping the dragons with the two formidable dragons at the helm.

Faded memories flickered back and forth across her mind; a shadow in the sky, a blurred face and a voice calling a name she didn't recognise. The frustration appeared on her face in a grimace as she tried to make sense of everything inside of her head but the more she tried, the more distant the memories seemed to be until they were just specks of dust from a different life.

A gust of wind sliced at her cheek and stirred the snow at her feet until it was spiralling into a flurry around them. The familiar beat of wings against the air pulled her from her memories and sapphire eyes gazed upwards, narrowed, as the huge dragon lowered himself to the ground. He landed and the ground shuddered under his weight. A heavy head swung itself to face the pair, a calm expression meeting her own scowl.

Paarthunax.