Chapter 64
Party Crasher
Rona sang her song as beautifully as she could, hitting every note perfectly, singing Auri-El's praises in the mother tongue so well she was almost sure the god himself had come down and blessed her right then and there. Who was she kidding? He had already blessed her long ago, he'd given her the soul of a dragon, because Auri-El was Akatosh and he was also Bormahu. He was the soul of Anu, the Everything.
She'd never really believed in him before. Her father had prayed to the deity occasionally, but she'd always believed that was just a throwback from a time when it was just common to believe. Now though, with her power, with everything she could do as the Dragonborn she couldn't help but believe he was real.
She sang his praises asking for his blessings and to bless those around her. She hoped in her heart that he really had heard and would help her with the burdens he'd placed on her shoulders because it was all getting very difficult. She felt like she was struggling, drowning in it all, and dragging those who tried to lift her from the depths right back down with her. Bishop and her father both suffered greatly because of her. She'd have given anything to remove the burdens she'd inadvertently placed on them.
When she finished her song, the small crowd clapped loudly and one of the thanes she recognized as Erikur cried, "Encore! Encore!"
The drunk redguard man slurred, "Girl's got quite the set of pipes on her."
Jarl Idgrod went up to her and said, "Your voice is even more beautiful than your mother's. You are very blessed."
Her father gave her a warm smile and she returned it. Then Elenwen went and ruined it all with her snark, "Hm, yes, that was riveting Miss Thoraminh. I can tell all that, what do the nords call it? Shouting? Has really strained your voice."
Rona put on her fake smile and said sweetly, "Just a bit."
Elenwen clasped her hands together and said in Aldmeri, "(Well then, Miss Thoraminh, Serlas, if you two would follow me there are some things I wish to discuss with you, concerning the dragons.)"
Both Serlas and Rona raised their brows curiously. Rona almost couldn't believe it, Elenwen might actually part with their deeply held secrets? Not without a price of course, she suspected.
They fell into step behind the Ambassador as she led them out into the bitter courtyard. They followed her across the grounds to her Solar and Rona shivered fiercely as it steadily snowed and chill winds blew around her. As the sentry made way for their procession Rona felt something warm at her side and glanced down, then realizing she was seeing the thin outline of a certain invisible ranger she quickly turned her gaze back to the woman in front of her.
They went inside and heard some people talking off in a side office. Elenwen quickly went in and told them to take their discussion elsewhere. A grungy looking nord man came out and left, looking very disgruntled. The other Thalmor Justiciar took his leave as well, heading towards some stairs leading down into what appeared to be a cellar.
Elenwen invited her and Serlas into her office and closed the door over. She went around her desk and motioned for them to sit in the empty chairs, before sitting in her own high backed chair. She laced her long fingers together and said, "(So, tell me, Miss Thoraminh. I've heard you've been quite busy of late battling against the dragon menace. What is your progress on ending the scourge that plagues this fetid wasteland?)"
Rona rolled her eyes, of course. First the bitch would see just how much information she could get from her before even considering giving up some of her own. Rona decided to take a leaf out of Delphine's book and spoke vaguely, "(I still have quite a bit of training to do. I'm not sure how much more there is to go. There's still so little I know about them.)"
Elenwen sniffed, "(Oh? Really? Because my sources tell me that you know all about the return of the World Eater and the fact that he's the one resurrecting these foul beasts.)"
Rona quickly said, "(That's right. I don't know how to stop him though. Do you?)"
Elenwen narrowed her eyes at her then looked over at Serlas, "(Something to do with the Elder Scrolls I imagine, considering you spent three months studying up on them, writing letters and asking about them, do I presume correctly Serlas?)" She smirked.
Serlas didn't seem to care for this game as he went in more forthright, "(That's absolutely correct. We need to find an Elder Scroll so that Rona can defeat the World Eater before he destroys everything, including the Aldmeri Dominion. So if you have any information on its whereabouts, Elenwen, it would be in the best interests of everyone that you tell us.)"
She looked between the both of them before she said, "(I won't give up my information so freely)," she looked straight at Rona and said, "(You already know what we want. Join the Imperials, end the war. Then you can go back to this dragon slaying business of yours and we'll even hand over the Scroll you've been so desperately seeking.)"
Rona looked at her stunned, "(You have it!?)"
Serlas stood up and said, "(You must give it to us! She must use it to defeat Alduin and restore order to our world immediately!)"
A wicked smile curled at her lips, "(Not until you kill Ulfric. I know you were close once, in Whiterun? Hm? But you held back. Not this time girl. This time you seek him out and wipe that repulsive speck from the face of Nirn with all the power you have in your scrawny, little body.)"
This didn't make any sense. Alduin was by far the greater threat to all of them, why would she be so insistent on ending the war first? Unless...
"You're lying," she said, "You don't have the scroll, you're just trying to blackmail me into ending the war for you. Just like you tried to blackmail Bishop into pushing me to join sides!" She got more heated and lashed out at the woman, "You disgusting, vile bitch!" Rona seethed furiously as she gripped the arms on the chair.
A wry smirk pulled at Elenwen's lips and she returned the exchange in Cyrodillic, "So he did tell you. Hmph, I was wondering what happened to the tails I set on you," she glanced at Serlas who held a glare that looked like it would start the Oblivion Crisis all over again. "You killed them, didn't you?" She gathered.
"You threatened to have a despicable man kidnap, violate and torture my daughter. Yes, naturally, I killed them," his hands crackled electrically in his anger.
Elenwen also stood up from her chair and her eyes looked even darker and more sinister at that angle as she stared right at Rona and said, "You will end this little uprising, half-breed. I will make you end it one way or another. In fact, that ranger? The Thrice-Banished? I think we'll keep him here for an extended stay until you do just that."
Rona stood up, toppling the chair over behind her and made to shout when they heard an explosive shock and a low groan just outside the room. Rona knew it was Bishop, he must have been caught. She looked right at Elenwen and shouted with all the force in her voice, "FUS RO DAH!" Elenwen saw it coming though and threw up a powerful ward which immediately shattered on impact from the shout.
Rona and Serlas ran out the door and she yanked it shut behind her then shouted, "FO KRAH DIIN!" blasting ice at it, freezing it over and locking the bitch inside.
They looked over and saw the Thalmor Justiciar from earlier looming over Bishop, his hands alight with shock magic. Serlas threw up a ward just as the Justiciar made to attack them, blocking the electrical blast. Bishop leapt right up onto his feet from his spot on the ground, grabbing his dragon bone dagger and violently buried it into the Thalmor's neck. The elf was utterly surprised and said through a choked voice, "B-But... how? You can't..."
He dropped to the floor and Bishop growled, tearing his white shirt open, "Enchanted armor, fuck face."
The frozen door to their left cracked as Elenwen started casting powerful magic against it from the inside.
"Move quickly!" Serlas urged them.
Bishop knelt down and threw open a chest that was there, he grabbed several neatly sealed dossiers and stuffed them into the pockets on his vest. They ran to his side and he pointed to the stairs, "Delphine said there's an old sewer we can escape through that way."
He made to lead the way when, suddenly the entire building lurched around them and they heard a dragon roar so loud that it made Alduin's deep voice sound like a kitten's mewling.
They all stopped and Rona felt a terrible shudder crawl all the way up her body. She could literally sense this creature's ire. Its murderous yearning stabbed at all her senses. She'd never felt anything like it before. Her blood boiled, definitely, but her fear gripped her like never before.
The building lurched again and part of the roof caved in. They all ran back towards the stairs and then dared to look up at the colossal beast peering through the gaping hole it just created in the building.
It was completely unlike any other dragon she'd met. In fact, it looked more like a wyvern than a dragon with its serpentine appearance. It had no horns, only long sharp spines going down its neck and back. It had smooth and silvery skin instead of a rough, scaly hide. Its jowls were composed of a large under bite, curling up and over the top of its mouth while its gums were flecked with hundreds of sharp and pointed teeth jutting in a mostly even pattern along its jaws. It had crystalline blue eyes with thin black pupils that kept dilating and contracting, searching for her. It was also at least three times the size of Alduin, a hulking behemoth of a creature.
She watched as its long thin neck snaked around the opening in the roof and she whispered, eyes very wide, "Do you think Alduin's mad about his eye?"
Bishop swallowed hard, "I'm gonna take a guess and say he's real pissed about it, Ladyship."
Serlas grabbed the both of them, taking them toppling down the stairs just as the wyvern spotted them and roared a blizzard at them. They scrambled under the stairs and watched as the walls were enveloped in the most unnatural looking blue ice she'd ever seen.
She really hoped it couldn't breathe fire too.
Bishop edged his way over to the door at the side and hastily dug a lock pick into the keyhole and Serlas cast a very powerful resist frost spell over them all. The lock clicked and they scrambled inside, leaving the Thalmor to take on the hulking party crasher as they heard their yells and the creature's bellowing shouts.
The door clicked noisily behind them and they heard the snotty voices of more Thalmor down below. "Did you hear that?" a man said.
"It didn't sound like what we heard earlier," a woman muttered.
"No, but it did sound like someone coming in. Who's there?" He called, "Rulindil? Ambassador? Go see what it is," the man said anxiously to the woman.
"Why me?" She argued, "You're a battle mage, you're by far the stronger of us."
"That's just it," he said sneering, "I'm a step above you, now do as I say footslogger."
Serlas cast invisibility over the three of them and they all kept quiet as a Thalmor guard came up the steps, hesitantly. Then another loud boom rumbled and shook the entire building, making it seem like it was going to collapse.
The Thalmor woman took a sharp and fearful breath. Serlas appeared right in front of her, his invisibility gone as he held a hand to her chest and said, "My apologies," before he released a powerful shock to her body, sending her backward with a jolt and knocked her unconscious.
The Thalmor man below called up apprehensively, "Well? What is it?"
Serlas stepped towards the railing and said, "It is a dragon."
The Thalmor man snarled at Serlas and started launching a barrage of icy spikes, electricity and fire at him. Serlas easily deflected all of it with his wards while Bishop snuck down, going up behind the elf and quickly slit his throat.
Rona and Serlas hurried down the stairs and stood by Bishop who was looking in on some poor man who was chained to a wall in a cell. He was looking worse for wear with his skin literally flayed horribly in sections of his body where he'd been whipped. Other parts of his skin had been seared heavily with burns and he was covered in new and old blood. His head hung low against his chest and his breathing was ragged.
Rona went right over to him and pressed her healing hands to his wounds. He flinched terrified but she said softly, "You're alright, we're here to save you."
He looked up at her then and she got a glimpse of the awful damage they'd done to his poor face. He had a bloodied and bruised nose, both eyes were black and swollen and he was missing plenty of teeth. He looked at her like she wasn't real, like he couldn't believe she was helping him.
Serlas stepped in as well and when he saw the tall altmer before him he cried, whimpering, "Please, I told you already, I don't know where he is. Please, I beg you, don't hurt me anymore, just end it."
"I promise you I mean no harm," Serlas said sadly, "I realize I look quite a bit like your captors, but I only wish to heal you."
The man looked at him in disbelief and shook his head slowly, "Is this some kind of trick?"
Serlas pressed his own glowing hands to the man's wounds and said, "Come see if you can unlock these irons, Bishop."
He went to work picking at the lock on the wall irons. It clicked and they helped the man down to the ground. The prisoner leaned against Rona's shoulder as she sat by him healing his wounds.
They listened to the sounds coming from above. The Thalmor were definitely hard at work fighting the wyvern outside. They couldn't ask for a better distraction, giving them time to heal the poor man.
"What's your name?" Rona asked him as she traced her fingers over the gashes in his arms, sealing his flayed skin back together.
"Etienne," he breathed.
"My name is Rona," she said kindly.
"The name of an angel," he said, almost delusional.
She smiled, "No, not an angel. Just a friend. Why did they bring you here?"
"Wanted to question me about some old man hiding out in the Ratway."
"In Riften?" Bishop asked.
"Yeah," Etienne breathed, "They grabbed me in the Ratway, the nerve of these bastards..."
"You're Thieves Guild then?" Bishop gleaned.
Etienne glanced back up at Bishop with his swollen eyes, he squinted slightly and said, "Don't I know you?"
"No," Bishop said firmly, turning his face away from the man.
Etienne blinked and let his head fall back against Rona's shoulder, "They seem to think I know something and just kept asking me the same damn 're after some old guy named Esbern. Something to do withthe dragons, I gathered that much from listening to them talk when they thought I was out. I've seen a guy in Riften who they seem to think is him."
Rona and Serlas finished healing up the poor man and Bishop gave him one of the healing potions he was carrying.
Etienne gulped it down appreciatively, then sighed and said, "Thank you. I really can't thank you all enough, you've saved my life." He flexed his arms and looked over himself.
They'd done a pretty good job of fixing him up, though Serlas insisted, "You'll still want to visit a Temple of Kynareth to follow up on your recovery."
"I will, thanks again."
"Maybe you can help us now," Bishop said with his arms crossed, "We need a way out of here that isn't back up through those doors."
Etienne was already on the move and motioned for them to follow, "I saw guards dragging bodies over here. Might be a way out."
They looked over at a trap door in the ground. It was locked and Bishop quickly set to work on opening it.
Rona noticed that the building had stopped shaking and the sounds of the terrifying wyvern had gone as well. Then she heard a few nasty voices up on the landing by the cellar doors.
"Listen up, blood traitors. You're trapped in here, and we have your accomplice. Surrender immediately or he dies."
Rona looked up and saw two Thalmor guards holding a terrified Malborn with a sword pressed dangerously to his neck.
Serlas seemed to notice too and he stepped forward and called up, "Release him to us and we'll let you live."
They laughed raucously at that notion and Serlas took the opportunity to cloak himself in an invisibility spell.
Malborn muttered miserably, "Never mind it, I'm dead already-"
"Silence, traitor! Move. Slowly."
They couldn't see much from their vantage point but Serlas must have moved quickly because in seconds they heard some loud yelling and then the sounds and the light of magic flashed from over the landing. Two loud thuds later and both Malborn and Serlas were casually coming down the stairs together.
Malborn looked extremely upset and glared at them all, "Now the Thalmor will be hunting me for the rest of my life! I hope it was worth it."
Serlas put a hand to his shoulder and said, "I am sorry for this Malborn. I have connections to many people in Cyrodiil if you wish to seek asylum out that way."
Malborn looked up at him and gave a deep sigh, "Yeah, sure. Whatever you can do, please."
Serlas nodded then said, "I'd very much like to leave this reception now, lovely as it was."
Bishop finished picking the lock on the trapdoor and threw it open. He looked inside for a moment and then figuring it was safe enough, dropped down into it. Everyone else followed suit. There was a frost troll down below tearing into an old corpse. Serlas was quick to kill it with his powerful magic, however, allowing them all to move along again.
They came out on the side of a mountain and Rona anxiously looked around but saw no sign of the wyvern. Though she hadn't taken its soul either and she suspected that it must have retreated. Maybe the Thalmor were able to scare it off.
Serlas told Malborn to meet up with them in Riverwood and he would personally make arrangements to seeing him off to his connections in Cyrodiil. Etienne was extremely grateful to them saying, "You didn't have to help me, so...thanks."
"No we did," Rona said with a kind smile, "Good luck to you."
He gave a quick wave and ran off into the forest following behind Malborn. The three of them trudged through the snow, making their way back onto the path through the flurry of a snowstorm. For once, everything seemed to go off without a hitch, or rather, things sort of fell into place neatly as they happened.
Rona smiled, maybe Akatosh really had heard her prayer. Maybe he was finally giving her a break for once. Or maybe she was just incredibly naïve because as they came over a low hill they saw the enormous wyvern heading straight for them.
They all backed up and turned to sprint off into the forest as the behemoth swooped over them shouting a flurry of blue ice at them. Serlas and Rona both threw up their wards but they shattered immediately when the icy blast crashed against them. She heard her father cry out in pain and looked back for just a second when she tripped over a root hidden under the snow and went tumbling down a tall slope with a shriek. Bishop cried out for her, "RONA!"
She landed in another pile of thick snow and rolled over, trying to get her footing as her dress tore under her. Her shoes had fallen off too and her hair came completely undone. The wyvern swept around the trees high above her, shaking the ground all around. She caught her breath and felt... angry. Not scared. She was livid.
She was so tired of it. Another damn dress ruined, her hair all tossed up again, her makeup smeared everywhere, and now she'd lost one of her nicest pair of shoes? Another day in her life of dealing with this shit. Again.
"THAT'S IT!" She screamed. "I'm sick of it! Dragons! Dragons! DRAGONS! Everywhere I fucking turn! DRAGONS! ENOUGH!"
(The Song is Iron by Within Temptation)
The musical rage within her exploded all around, echoing loudly through the forests, adding more tremors to the already shaking ground. She felt her blood truly boiling then and allowed her wrath to wash over her. She glared right at the thing as it swooped down, aiming for her and an incredible force within her broke forth as golden flames erupted from her body, spinning wildly around her, melting the snow in a wide circle and fending off the steady blizzard in the skies. She roared at it, "YOL TOOR SHUL!"
Golden fire shot through the sky and the beast met it with its blue ice. The two shouts collided and burst in the air. Rona broke into a sprint as the beast plunged through the resulting dust cloud, still chasing for her. She had no weapons, but plenty of magic. She needed more fire. She let her hands go alight with flames.
She wasn't afraid to use it anymore. She was going to take that damn magic into herself and cast it right back out with more power than she knew how to use, she was going to lose control of it like she did back in the vampire lair.
She sang furiously;
"Left in the darkness
Here on your own
Woke up a memory
Feeling the pain
You cannot deny it
There's nothing to say
It's all that you need to find the way
Oh Damn, the war is coming!
Oh Damn, you feel you want it!
Oh Damn, just bring it on today!
You can't live without the fire
It's the heat that makes you strong
'Cause you're born to live and fight it all the way
You can hide what lies inside you
It's the only thing you know
You're embracing that, never walk away
Don't walk away"
She sprint along, weaving through the trees, watching as the golden flames pouring from her body licked at the foliage and melted all the snow around her. It didn't harm the shrubbery though, it only enveloped it, clung to it and worked almost like a shield as the wyvern made to swoop down on her again and it faltered, flapping its wings trying to move backward and instead crashed down onto the ground and hissed painfully whenever the golden fire touched its body.
She nestled herself in a spot within a thick growth of trees allowing the flames to envelope them and protect her. The wyvern snaked its serpentine head back and forth before raising its wings and shouting blue ice at her. She returned it with her own shout of fire.
They did this again and again, her anger only mounting as she glared dragon's fire at the beast. She threw her hands up and started blasting an inferno against the creature and was surprised that the fire from her magic was just as bright a gold as the fire from her shout.
Bishop looked on at the petite woman of four foot eleven inches as she faced down the biggest dragon they'd ever seen in their lives. He listened to her energetic song as golden flames spiraled around her and almost couldn't believe his eyes at what he was witnessing. She was completely holding her own against this colossal monster. He kept running though, intending to do... something, though he didn't know just what yet. Without his bow he wouldn't be much help.
Serlas ran with him, looking just as stunned before he said, "Fire. We need more fire."
"Burn it down," Bishop snarled.
They moved in, sliding down the snowy slope and ran off to the side of the behemoth. Its attention was so focused on Rona though that it did not notice them. Bishop stood back as Serlas began moving his hands in intentional patterns as he spoke a spell swiftly in Aldmeri. His palms lit up with flames which only grew larger as his voice grew louder and more ominous.
Bishop watched as Rona shouted and blast golden fire at this monster over and over again, looking like a fiery, sexy mess.
Her words became flames themselves, each one angrily sung and crashed against the creature. Finally, Serlas seemed ready to cast his own fire and Bishop ran back, giving the old elf a wide berth as a firestorm surged around him and shot from his hands. It hit the behemoth in full force from the side and the creature roared in pain then Rona hit it again with her own golden fire.
They both scorched it with burning intensity making its flesh sear. The rumbling howls and roars it released seemed to shake the world around them as the behemoth was engulfed in flames. Rona shouted out,"Never walk away! Don't walk away! Don't walk awaaay! Don't walk away! Don't walk awaaay!" empowering the blazing inferno to grow even stronger.
When her song ended and the flames subsided they revealed a very dead and charred dragon. Whatever remained of its flesh seared up and its soul washed over her. She stood for a moment, catching her breath and watching as the golden fire she'd made dispersed all around her. The trees still stood as though they were never touched by the flames.
Then she saw her father, holding a hand to his chest, on one knee. She ran to him, terrified and cried, "Ata!"
She knelt down beside him and Bishop hurried over. He pulled the last healing potion from his vest, uncorked it and quickly gave it to the elf. Serlas took it and drank deeply from it.
His breathing was ragged and his face was covered in heavy perspiration. He knit his brows together looking into the eyes of his extremely concerned daughter as he uttered, "I'm not as young as I used to be velvyn."
Then he fell right over and Rona screamed for him. Bishop quickly knelt down beside the man and made to flip him over when he noticed something wrong with his shoulder. He yanked Serlas' robes back revealing a large section of his shoulder and back that was a splotchy purple and black color. He looked like he'd been severely frostbitten and Bishop looked at Rona with just as much fear on his face.
"We have to get him back to Solitude now," Bishop said.
Rona started crying and panicked as she got up and looked around. They were up in a forest in the middle of nowhere, a two hour carriage ride away from Solitude and who knows how long by foot and stuck in a horrible blizzard that was not subsiding. She shouted to the skies, "LOK VAH KOOR!" But just like in Winterhold, the storm would not stop.
Bishop looked at her shaking his head, "Try to heal him."
She quickly pressed her hands to the wound on his back and steadied her breathing, trying to focus her magic. Her hands were shaking madly, a combination of fear and adrenaline pulsing through her veins. She used her grand healing over and over again to no avail. The mark remained and her tears flowed even faster. Bishop rolled him over onto his back and looked him over. He was still breathing, still alive, but for how long? What was this wound? She didn't know what to do. She was completely helpless.
"Ata, ata please," she pleaded through her sobs.
Bishop ran a hand through his hair, looking up at the tall snowy slope and then back at the tall altmer. "I won't be able to carry him up." Then he looked over toward the north and said, "I need your help Lightfoot. There's an old house not far from here. An old bandit hideout, it's usually got supplies and food, there's a hidden cellar inside, we can take him there and then one of us can go for help."
She looked into his face and nodded fervently. Bishop stood up and hoisted Serlas up under his arm. It was going to be awkward, but luckily they didn't have to go far, "Grab him under his other arm. His legs will drag but he'll be alright I think."
Rona did her best to hold her father up. The poor old elf held up between them at a sloping angle due to their height differences. They managed somehow and made their way towards a broken down shack in the distance.
Rona was barefoot and very cold. She ignored it, letting the biting numbness take over her fingers and toes. They had to get her father to safety, that's all she cared about in that moment. She wouldn't let him die because of her. Because of this godsforsaken curse.
After a twenty minute walk they made it to the shack. Bishop and Rona set Serlas down and he said, "Give me a minute, gonna make sure the place is vacant first." Rona stayed by her father's side as Bishop disappeared in the broken down home, scoping it out. After a few minutes he came back and said, "It's clear."
They lifted Serlas again and carried him over to the hidden hatch leading into a gloomy cellar down below. Bishop climbed in first and Rona used her magic to make it so her father's descent was slowed and made it easier for Bishop to ease the elf in through the opening.
They brought him down into a large dreary stone room. It looked like any other old cellar in Skyrim with stone walls and flooring, however it was much dirtier and messier. There were four bedrolls laid out in various places on the floor and several shelves with some old dishes and knick knacks and even some food. A pair of dressers said against opposite walls, one of them more banged up than the other with a broken drawer. There was a hearth in the corner of the room with a few old logs sitting by it. It was a mess but it would be a suitable shelter for her father to rest in until they could get help.
Bishop dragged Serlas over to one of the bedrolls, leaving him to lay on it.
"We need blankets," Bishop said, "He gets just as cold as you do in this kind of weather. Search the place for anything useful."
They both walked around the room, rummaging through drawers and yanking things off of shelves. There were a few fresh food supplies and Rona said thickly, "I think someone's been coming and going, these look new."
Bishop yanked some blankets out of a drawer and put them over Serlas, "I'll be our lookout tonight."
"Tonight?" She cried, "One of us has to go back to Solitude though!"
"We can't go out in this snowstorm Ladyship and I'm not about to leave you in this place all alone through the night. He'll be alright for one night."
"No he won't!" She sobbed, "He's... he's going to," she clasped her hands to her mouth and rubbed at her damp eyes with her fingers.
Bishop stepped over to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her, pressing his face to the top of her head as her held her to his chest, "I swear to you I won't let him die Rona. I promise you."
She clung to him and just sobbed. She couldn't do anything else, it was all so hopeless.
Once they'd finished ransacking the place for anything useful, they made sure to wrap Serlas up tightly in several blankets and Rona used her healing magic on him for a while. Bishop put together a small fire in the broken down hearth in the corner of the room giving them some warmth. He put together a measly meal for them out of the few things they had and made her eat. "Got to keep your strength up," he said.
She forced it down and immediately went back to tending to her father. Bishop sat by on one of the other bedrolls, trying to relax a little as he watched her stroke her father's long white hair and cry silently beside him. He would go to Solitude in the morning, as soon as he knew it was safe to leave her there. Hopefully the damned snowstorm would finally let up as well.
He couldn't bear to watch her fret over the old elf anymore so he fished through the pockets on his leather armor and yanked out the documents they'd stolen from the embassy. These better be fucking worth it, he thought as he opened the first one.
It was all about Delphine. All the information they had on her. The woman was right to be paranoid it seemed. They considered her extremely dangerous, which Bishop thought was a laugh. He could hardly imagine the old innkeeper being dangerous at all, then he figured he shouldn't judge someone based on appearances alone. Rona had always proved to be a feisty one despite her tiny size.
The next one he opened was all about him. He wasn't surprised to see they had quite a bit of information on his past and family history of course. They already made it clear months ago that they knew his secrets when they tried to blackmail him. There was plenty of information about him and even Karnwyr which he thought was amusing.
The wolf proves to be incredibly loyal to the ranger and a formidable and vicious adversary. Do not approach the ranger while he is in the presence of his wolf.
Bishop smirked reading that line and really appreciated the safety his old friend provided him the last ten years.
He folded away his dossier and came across one on Serlas. It was by far the thickest stack of papers in the pile with detailed information about the man spanning the last two hundred and sixty years. Bishop skimmed over it, most of it was about his youth as a battle mage when he lived in Alinor and then moved on to his involvement in the Oblivion Crisis and his quick rise in the ranks of the Mage's Guild and his unwavering loyalty to the prevailing four Emperors and even a Chancellor who served as Potentate between the Septim and Mede dynasties before he was assassinated.
He was very surprised to read that Serlas had been married once, to a breton woman named Beatrice. They'd had a good sixty years together before her passing but had no children from that marriage however. It mentioned his brief relationship with Claudia and his siring of a daughter with her. They'd even gone so far as to update the dossier to the point where he'd resigned from his position as Arch-Mage so that he could aid Rona in Skyrim.
He gave a low sigh and folded it up, looking back over at his beloved as she hummed quietly to her father and continued steadily casting healing magic over him. She looked exhausted and was a complete mess. He wanted to comfort her but knew she wasn't ready to leave her father's side.
He let her be and pulled out the next document. It was a dossier on Ulfric Stormcloak. He opened it and read it over.
He scoffed a little at what it said. The Thalmor had been using Ulfric as an 'asset' or a pawn since the Great War. Every move he made was one they seemed to agree with and only furthered their agenda.
As long as the civil war proceeds in its current indecisive fashion, we should remain hands-off. The incident at Helgen is an example where an exception had to be made - obviously Ulfric's death would have dramatically increased the chance of an Imperial victory and thus harmed our overall position in Skyrim. A Stormcloak victory is also to be avoided, however, so even indirect aid to the Stormcloaks must be carefully managed.
They wanted to keep the war going? He shook his head. It didn't make sense. Why the insistence on having Rona specifically, end the war in favor of the Imperials then?
He set aside Ulfric's dossier and took out the next one. It was Rona's and it was pretty lengthy. She only had twenty-five years worth of details and most recently, nearly a year's worth of being the Dragonborn, but it was still the second thickest file in the bunch.
He opened it. It started with the details of her childhood. Her relationship with both her mother and father were mentioned. Her failures as a mage were heavily outlined as well, but then her successes as a mercenary were noted next. Her closest allies were all named as well; Charissa Chothi, Roxlin LaRoues, Magrob Bashurn, the twins Lorrie and Linel Dorngrove, and Marco Pevicci.
His lip curled then. It even mentioned her two year relationship with the Paladin. He rolled his eyes and continued on, skipping over that part and then he got to a page about her being the Dragonborn.
Age 25 - Dragonborn Background:
Rona Thoraminh's Dragonborn powers came to light after the slaying of a dragon at the Western Watchtower outside Whiterun. Attempts to intercept and infiltrate into her confidence were thwarted by the Thrice-Banished ranger, Bishop. Tails have been set on her and her progress is steadily being observed from a distance. Her power has grown exponentially after her stay on High Hrothgar. She continues to slay the dragons with formidable prowess and only grows in strength. Her relationship with the ranger has developed from one of friendliness to one of intimacy. His continued presence in her company has thwarted any and all opportunities to join her and direct her path in accordance with the Dominion's benefit. She remains oblivious to our surveillance. She should not be approached when in the presence of the ranger, he is highly suspect and alert to potential danger and remains very protective of her. She is to be considered extremely dangerous and deadly if provoked. She can be approached when alone and remains friendly and naive to most danger.
Operational Notes:
She is focusing her journey on eradicating the dragon menace within Skyrim. She refuses to take an active role in the uprising. Her lineage as half-altmer, half-nord and her status as Dragonborn, is essential in the advancement of the Dominion. It is imperative that she be the one to end the war in favor of the Imperials. She is deeply revered and admired by members of both factions. Once the dragon threat is eliminated she is to be killed publicly by our own posing as Stormcloaks to rally the divided factions to our cause. It is vital that she become a martyr and cement the Dominion's footprints as purposeful within Skyrim.
Bishop hadn't even noticed how harshly he was scowling at the page. The Thalmor would use her entirely for their own benefit, to reinforce their reasons for presiding in Skyrim, and then turn her into a martyr to give them even more reason to send their troops in. They would stop at nothing to dominate every country in Tamriel even if it meant murdering a young woman who never asked for any of it.
He looked back up at her. She was slowly starting to nod off and he collected the documents, stuffing them into his vest again before taking the armor off and setting it aside. He said, "Hey Sweetness," she looked over at him with the saddest face ever, and her eyes were all puffy and red. "Come here. Let's get some sleep, alright?"
Her lip quivered and she sniffed slightly but relented, leaving her father's side to curl up into Bishop's welcoming arms. He pulled her into a tight embrace and they laid down on a pair of bedrolls. He grabbed a thin blanket and threw it over them, letting her bury her face in his chest while he stroked her hair and back and whispered assuring words to her, "It's going to be alright. Everything's going to be okay. I'm here now. I won't ever leave your side."
She cried again and he let her, holding her close and allowing her to release every fear and worry she held within against his chest. And then they both drifted off to sleep.
A creaking noise startled him awake. Bishop squinted his eyes, peering through the fading darkness as the hearth fire had slowly started to go out. He looked up at the corner of the ceiling across the way where the cellar hatch sat. It remained firmly shut, however he had a strong inkling it had just been opened. He grasped his dagger and pulled Rona closer to himself, making her stir in her sleep and mumble nonsensically.
He made to sit up when he felt something pointed press tenderly against his neck. He looked off to his side and saw the outline of a person standing over him, pressing the sword to his throat.
The woman said quietly, "Light that torch Qetesh."
Another figure stepped over to the hearth and stuck a torch in it. The light from the new fire illuminated the room much brighter and revealed four women in their presence. The woman holding the torch was a beautiful orcish woman with thick black dreadlocks arranged neatly on her head so that they draped long past her shoulders. She had bright yellow eyes and fairly small incisors and rather pale skin for an orc.
Another woman, a gorgeous Imperial stood by, holding a dagger in hand. She had full natural lips and mousy brown hair she'd tied to the side of her head into a thick ponytail that curled down her chest in beautiful ringlets.
Beside her was a young girl, no older than fourteen. The girl had very bushy brown hair that framed her cute heart shaped face like a lion's mane. She had thick but neatly groomed eyebrows. She stood with her arms crossed defensively and had a bow and quiver strapped to her back.
Then Bishop looked up at the thin, but curvy woman holding the sword to his neck. She was by far the most beautiful of the four, with thick, silky dark brown locks that curled around the nape of her neck. Like her companion she had full natural lips and beautiful big brown eyes that looked him over curiously.
They were all wearing similar clothing, tan tunics with brown trousers fitted to their forms though each woman had their unique preferences with the orc woman wearing some more armor on her shoulders and chest than the others, the Imperial woman adorned herself in jewelry and the young girl had a wolf's pelt draped around her waist. The nord woman with the sword had two loose golden bangles around her wrist.
She looked at him with half-lidded eyes and scoffed, "Well I'll be damned. After all these years and you still look like a horse's ass."
"And your mother's still a whore," Bishop replied with a smirk.