Chapter 66: More Thalmor

[21st – 22nd of Evening Star 4E 201]

Our group – Fiona with her housecarls, Janina, and myself with my housecarls – had managed to get out of Solitude after General Tullius had tried to get us arrested, and rather than using one of the main roads to get home to Whiterun, we had headed southwest from Dragon Bridge. After getting involved in a fight between Imperials and Stormcloaks we had met Ralof again in the local camp, and we had decided to travel together.

Ralof woke us up early in the next morning, as he wanted to be on the road well before dawn. Well, literally there was no road, of course. Rather, starting from the Stormcloak camp in The Reach, we crossed the small river again, headed south and met the road close to Karthwasten. Far away we could see some troops, but they had torches lighted and we did not, so that they should not be able to see us in the semi-darkness of very early dawn. We crossed the river once more, and we were far away from any road and soldiers when the sun started to rise. On the other side Ralof guided us towards a very narrow path up the cliffs, and eventually we were on the high plains northwest of Rorikstead. I got the feeling that this was not Ralof՚s first trip into The Reach, as he seemed to know exactly where to go. Except for a few traders on the path and the troops in the distance earlier, we had not met a single soul yet; up here on the plains nobody would have a chance to get close without being seen. In addition, my saber cat cubs were running around all of the time, and they'd certainly warn us if they smelled danger. After we had seen a tower in the distance - 'Sundered Towers', as Ralof knew – we passed not far from a cave entrance; Ralof claimed that it was called 'Rebel's Cairn', and Jordis mentioned:

"This place is rumored to have a rock with a slot like for a sword to fit in, and some people claim that once the proper sword is found and used there, access to a special treasure will be allowed. It seems that nobody has found that sword yet, though. Maybe it's indeed just a rumor."

From there we moved further southeast, close to 'Bleakwind Bluff'. Obviously we got too close to that place, as suddenly a small group of Forsworn and Hagravens approached; apparently they did not like us to travel across their land. Due to our numbers, the fight was a quick one; as we could see them coming in time, I had a chance to work my crossbow and got two of them on the ground before they were close; my companions took care of the others.

"That's one of the risks when traveling in The Reach" Ralof explained. "There are Forsworn almost everywhere, and many travelers have died by them."

"Are they something like the original owners of the land?"

"That's debated. They do call themselves the true sons and daughters of The Reach, and I admit that the fight against them in 4E 176, lead by Jarl Ulfric, was maybe not so wise. Since those times they hate us Stormcloaks, and there is some justification behind that. I believe that Ulfric himself regrets what he did decades ago, and he is certainly much wiser now."

Janina chimed in now:

"What did he do?"

"In the year 4E 176, Igmund, son of the former Jarl of The Reach, made a deal with Jarl Ulfric, who was a very young man at this time, suggesting that free Talos worship would be restored in the hold if he helped to drive back the Forsworn again. The Stormcloaks, as I learned, took the city and killed many Forsworn; some were tortured, and the worst ones were put into Cidhna Mine, including their king, Madanach. Of course, the Thalmor found out and were furious about the Talos worship; Igmund was forced to arrest Ulfric and many of his followers, but since that year the Forsworn hate Nords and Stormcloaks in particular."

I assumed that this was similar or even identical to the lore in the game, but I had no way to actually verify that. When playing the 'Skyrim' game earlier, I had sometimes made an effort to read books to gain a better understanding on the events, but my memory had not allowed me to recall many details; thus I was gladly listening to the Stormcloak summarizing the history.

We had rested a little while Ralof explained, and now we moved on. With the sun behind us in mid afternoon, we now had 'Bleakwind Bluff' to our northwest and we used the remnants of an old and barely visible road leading east. First on that road and later on open tundra, we started a slow descent into Rorikstead, and not far from us some small groups of wild horses were grazing; I had to stop Hanni and Nanni who wanted to go 'play' with them. It did not take long until we could see the town of Rorikstead in the distance, and we were all looking forward to getting to the inn to sit around the warm fire and get a nice dinner served. Alas, when we had just passed a dragon mound southwest of the town and the buildings in the town were temporarily hidden by high rocks, a group of four tall people turned around those rocks and approached us. None of us had seen them coming, as we had just looked at the dragon mound, and we were all shocked by suddenly hearing:

"Surrender! You are with the Dragonborn and with Talos worshipers, and you are all under arrest!"

Thalmor, of course, once again. While they were more tolerated than accepted in Whiterun hold and had to operate carefully here, they apparently believed that they had a legitimate reason to arrest us, and likely one of us being in Stormcloak armor gave them additional justification, knowing that Stormcloaks were Talos worshipers in general. As they had surprised us – the wind was from the west, as I found out later, so that Hanni and Nanni had not smelled them earlier – the mage in their group got off a paralysis spell and fully hit Fiona, who dropped to the ground and was out of the fight for now. Apparently, the Altmer had realized that her shouts were dangerous and wanted her down early. However, we still had numerical superiority, and Rayya and Janina were the first ones to react. Even before Fiona was hit and going down, they both had their scimitars out and were racing down towards the Thalmor; before they realized the danger, two of them were severely injured and on the ground, so that they only had the mage and the Justiciar left. Antonius shot an arrow, but missed and got hit by another paralysis spell instead; the Thalmor mage seemed to be quite a capable one, and now the Justiciar got involved. He had Lydia and Jordis against him, but seemed to cope easily even against two trained warriors. While my own reaction time was slow, as usual, the Thalmor wizard charged another spell, and only because I was looking in the right direction right at this time, I saw that he was summoning an atronach.

"A storm atronach!" I heard Lydia shouting next to me.

I had not seen one of those before, only in the game in my earlier life, and I had usually "allowed" my followers to deal with it. Thus, unfortunately, I had no idea how to best fight against such an elemental. Obviously, neither had my companions, and the summoned creature started to attack with chain lightning, as I quickly realized. This got us into a predicament, as it was very difficult to evade those attacks, and the Justiciar attacked as well. Hanni and Nanni got shocked early on and could not help further, and when I summoned Spirit, I feared the same, but to my surprise I found out that my spectral saber cat was immune to shock attacks. She was able to bypass the atronach and distract the mage, so that at least there weren't any additional magic attacks coming. With the mage being busy with Spirit and the Justiciar fighting against Lydia and Jordis, I finally managed to focus and jumped behind a rock. I got my crossbow ready, and in a swift move I stepped out of cover, aimed at the Justiciar and fired. I failed to land a critical hit, but the Thalmor leader turned around to face the new danger, and while Jordis was wounded and unable to use the advantage, Lydia jumped and landed a good hit with her sword. The Justiciar turned around again, I quickly reloaded my crossbow, and just before Lydia got in trouble, I managed to release my second bolt, getting a full body hit this time. Normal arrows were not able to penetrate Elven armor, but steel bolts were, and the Justiciar yelped and got down on his knees; Lydia swung her sword again, and this fight was over. However, the mage was still alive, and the storm atronach was still attacking with shocks spells and occasional chain lightning. Both of my saber cats plus Fiona, Antonius, Ralof and Jordis were out of the fight, and the next attack got right into Janina and Rayya, who had wounded the atronach already. I was most sure that a bolt would not get such a monster down, but weren't summoned creatures going to dissolve once the conjurer was dead? The mage was still defending himself against Spirit, and right at the moment when Spirit was defeated and vanished, I was ready to send my next bolt, and I got a full hit on the mage. He wore robes instead of armor and thus had nothing to protect him, so that we was down on the ground within seconds. However, I had only gravely wounded him and he was not dead yet, and the atronach was still there. I needed to end this quickly, and somehow I managed to bypass the monster, run over to the mage at my top speed, drop the crossbow and hit the mage with my glass battle axe full force. There was no way he could survive this, and when I looked at the atronach, which was charging another attack spell, I could see it dissolving within a second.

Finally I got a chance to look around and see how my companions were doing. Fortunately, none of them had died, but I had to use almost all of the remaining healing potions to get them into a state enabling them to walk on. Similar to a previous Thalmor attack, one of my saber cats was still out and in shock, and I wrapped her around my shoulders; the other one wasn't fully recovered yet, but could at least walk on her own. Fiona was very dizzy, and Rayya and Janina supported her from both sides, while Antonius got assistance from Lydia. Ralof had mostly recovered, and while we started to slowly walk towards Rorikstead, he muttered:

"That was quite a hairy situation. I have to admit that I have not been in an encounter with such a strong atronach before. Was that really a storm atronach? I admit that I probably missed the most interesting parts."

"Yes, this was a storm atronach" Lydia confirmed. "During my housecarl training, Farengar conjured such a monster a few times to help training us. Chain lightning is usually not deadly, but it can get several people out of a fight for some time, just as happened here."

"Can each Thalmor wizard conjure such an atronach?" I wanted to know.

"I don't now" Lydia admitted, "but probably not. The court wizard used to mention that the spell to conjure it requires a lot of magicka, and although I'm far from being an expert on magic, I believe that a mage who can cast two paralysis spells followed by such a conjuration within less than one minute is rather rare."

"I sure hope so. Nonetheless, maybe we should learn how to defeat such a monster."

"Well, we did, after all, didn't we? Going after the caster was probably the best approach."

"Maybe so, but I wonder if there is a spell to send such a monster back to where to came from?"

"This is something you'd better ask Farengar."

Eventually we managed to reach town, just after the sun had gone below the horizon, and we all more stumbled than walked into the local tavern, the 'Frostfruit Inn'. Mralki, the owner, was happy to get so many people ordering dinner, and he took our orders quickly. While the maid started to serve drinks and we enjoyed the heat from the fireplace, the owner's son, Erik, who looked like a strong lad about twenty years old, helped in the kitchen for some time and later served our meals. Once we had indulged, he looked at us and said to nobody in particular:

"You look like you've seen your share of adventure; I envy you that."

I looked up at him and asked:

"You are looking for adventures?"

"I do, yes. I imagine that I could be a strong warrior and fight with courage and strength, opposing evil where I find it. Instead, I use my strength to do farm work and help out here in the inn."

"Don't think that getting adventures is always fun! Some of them can be quite dangerous indeed, and you might end up dead quickly if you're not careful. So, you believe that you have strength and courage enough to be a warrior?"

"I want to be a warrior and adventurer like you, yes, but my father says that I can't. He says that he needs me to stay here and work the farm, and even if he did let me be an adventurer, we couldn't even afford to buy armor."

I was not sure about that; it should not be me advising him on how to shape his future and what to focus on. On the other hand, I was a Companion, and maybe Kodlak would know what to do with him. This I I found a compromise and suggested:

"Well, if you have the strength and the spirit, you could try to get accepted by the Companions of Whiterun. If they do take you in, they'd get you proper armor and weapons, but of course you'd have to talk to our Harbinger first."

"Really, you think that I could do that?"

"It might be worth going there. Say, does somebody here in town sometimes deliver food to Whiterun?"

"Sure, about once a week a cart or two are going there."

"Why don't you ask your father that you go with them next time? When you are in Whiterun, you can talk to Kodlak, and he will surely listen at least. It will be up to him to decide if you are suitable for the Companions or not."

"Can you talk to my father that he allows me to go?"

I promised that I'd do that, and he replied:

"Thank you. I can't stand the thought of being trapped in this village for the rest of my days."

Mralki came over to ask how we had liked the food, and I asked him right away about his son; he replied:

"The world is a dangerous place, and I have seen some of that. Erik has no idea what he's getting himself into."

"I understand that and agree, but don't you think that there's a risk that your son grows bitter and starts to resent you?"

"I... I cannot deny the truth of what you say. Erik is all the family that I have left, but maybe it's wrong to hold him back as I have. So, you suggested the Companions of Whiterun? Can they be trusted?"

"I guess that I am prejudiced because I am a Companion myself. But yes, I believe that your son should have a chance to talk to our Harbinger at least. If Kodlak agrees to take him in, he probably has potential. If not, you get him back, and he will understand that he may have over-estimated his own capabilities."

The innkeeper nodded and responded:

"All right. Tell Erik that I've changed my mind, and I'll even visit Whiterun together with him. I will only allow him to become a warrior, though, if your Harbinger actually takes him in."

Erik was more than happy when he heard the news, and with that task completed, we retired to our beds for the night. The ladies got the available rooms in the inn, and the men claimed the straw in the barn, and that was good enough. I preferred to sleep outside anyway, and my cubs did so as well. The night was cold, but the straw provided some insulation, and one my cubs, the one I had had to carry back to town, was still barely conscious and very happy to be in my arms.

On the next day we all met in the inn in Rorikstead for breakfast, and our first action when we left was to visit the town's general store. Contrary to the vanilla game, there was one, and it had just opened up for business. As Rorikstead was too small for a dedicated alchemy store, they also had a few potions available, and we restocked our supply on healing potions. Soon we were on the road again, heading southeast towards Granite Hill. Now, on the road, chances to meet an Imperial patrol were higher, but we were in Whiterun hold, which was neutral. According to what I knew, neither Imperials nor Stormcloaks were supposed to move around in the hold, at least not in larger groups. Once we were close to 'Gjukar՚s Monument' and had our lunch break, I asked after I had looked at my map:

"What do you think about heading straight east now, leaving the road? We can save some distance and camp somewhere in the wilderness, and we'd be less likely to encounter a patrol, I think."

"Aren't there other dangers out there instead, like wild animals?"

"Aye, sure. But for our group that should not be an issue; look, there are eight of us, and I don't think that any wild animal will bother us."

Well, maybe I should not have been that confident. Only minutes after we were finished with our break and left the road there was a roar in the air, and we could see a dragon approaching. At first the huge beast blasted fire down on an unfortunate bear close to the monument, but as soon as the poor animal was roasted, the dragon's attention turned towards us.

Like in similar fights before I shouted: "Try to hit the wings and joints!".

I already had my crossbow out and started to release the first bolts, while Antonius, Fiona, and Ralof used their bows. The dragon shouted something in dragon language and breathed fire, but the distance was good enough to allow us to evade that by jumping to the side. I scored a hit on the beast's neck with one of my bolts; I had aimed at a wing, but had 'missed' due to a change in flight. The beast roared, and the next fire breath was weaker than the one before. Finally, it crashed into the ground, and our housecarls attacked with vengeance. Lydia was getting a little bit too close to the head, and she got flipped away, with her body dropping into the grass. Jordis was hit by the tail once and met a similar destiny, and the dragon managed to recover and took to the air again. Rayya received two healing potions from me and took care of the two wounded housecarls, and I continued to release my bolts. Contrary to arrows, at least the standard iron and steel arrows, my steel bolts usually managed to penetrate the dragon scales, in most places at least. At one time the beast came quite close to Fiona, and the Bosmer shouted 'FUS RO' directly on it. That got her some respect, and the dragon now kept more distance to her.

A few minutes later the dragon crashed to the ground once more, and now Janina and Rayya both kicked into action. While we kept the beast distracted and attacked from multiple directions, Janina attacked from the front, nimbly avoiding the dangerous head, and Rayya managed to climb on the neck and head from the side; before the dragon knew what was going on she drove both of her scimitars through the beast's eyes. Right away she jumped off, leaving her weapons behind, and thus evaded being thrown off by wild head movements. The beast thrashed around a little more, and once Janina had also pushed her weapons into the neck, the dragon succumbed and died.

While some of us sat down to rest, the dragon soul swirled into Fiona, and I was glad that this fight was over. Rayya retrieved her scimitars from the dragon corpse and I was just about to congratulate my companions on their heroic effort and their impressive fighting style, when Hanni and Nanni suddenly growled again; I saw them looking towards the road we had left minutes ago. The fight with the dragon had attracted spectators, and an Imperial patrol now approached. They were about ten soldiers, and the leader shouted:

"That's the Dragonborn and the big Khajiit! Surrender!"

Once again? Really?

[Author's Notes: Getting home to Whiterun is not going to be easy at all.]