Chapter 14: Mirmulnir

[22nd of Last Seed 4E 201]

After our adventure in Bleak Falls Barrow we, that is Fiona, Freya, and I had walked from Riverwood towards Whiterun, and when we had been about to pass a farm after the meadery, a giant had been attacking three people, specifically threatening a warrior lady who had tripped. We had helped to kill the giant together with three Companions, and we had walked to the city gates from there. Rather than entering the city together with the two ladies I had decided to explore the Western Watchtower, and I had found a few killed and some injured guards there. I had helped to heal the wounded, and now we were waiting for additional guards to arrive from Whiterun.

We did not have to wait for very long until the detachment from the city showed up, headed by Irileth and with Fiona and Freya tagging along. The Jarl՚s housecarl did of course not know me and was surprised to see a big Khajiit here, but nodded politely when one of the guards reported how I had helped with healing the wounded. Irileth, the Dunmer, questioned the guards on the recent events, and she got told:

"A dragon attacked the watchtower, a real dragon! Get back! It's still here somewhere! Hroki and Tor got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it!"

"Where's this dragon? Quickly now!"

"We don't know where it is now! It's gone, but maybe it's coming back soon!"

Right at this moment one of the guards on top of the tower shouted:

"Kynareth save us, here it comes again!"

"All right" the housecarl replied and gave her commands: "Here we go! Find cover and make every arrow count! We've got a dragon to kill!"

Easy to say – I did not have a bow, and even if I had, I would not know how to operate it properly; besides, with my paws, I might not even be able to use it at all. For now, I could only wait, and soon the arrows from the guards hit the approaching dragon, just to be deflected by the scales on its body. The dragon hovered, and while it was not quite as big as Alduin, his size was still impressive, and watching the beast through one of the tower's crenels made me shrink back with both fear and respect. At that moment I started to have second thoughts. Why had I decided to come here on my own will and face another dragon? I wasn't the Dragonborn, and I surely could have waited at the stables or so until everything was done, right? So, why was I here? Thinking about that again, I realized that the Dragonborn was here, too, and wasn't assisting her and protecting her part of my job description? But what could I do against such a beast? This wasn't a two dimensional image on a computer screen, this was a live 3D fire breathing dragon, and as opposed to Alduin in Helgen, it was apparently determined to kill us all. Obviously I was not the only one being in awe when seeing the dragon, as I could hear one of the guards close to me uttering:

"Talos save us! It's a dragon, indeed!"

A Thalmor might have interpreted that as illegal Talos worship, but none was around to listen and react accordingly, and this would likely not have been a major concern right now anyway. The archers had released quite a few arrows by now, but even those which hit the beast failed to deal a lot of damage. The dragon's body was all covered with scales, and almost all of the arrows were stopped by those and deflected. On the other side, the dragon's fire breath had already claimed a few casualties, and the guards quickly learned that standing outside without any cover was very dangerous.

Looking at the dragon's body again, I assumed that the wings were likely not so much covered in tough scales, and maybe arrows had a better chance to inflict some injuries when they found their targets in and around the big wings? I'd need to let the archers know about it, so that I shouted:

"Try to hit the wings and joints!"

Some of the archers looked at Irileth for confirmation, and when the Dunmer nodded, they followed my advice. This turned out to work better; the dragon wings were, naturally, less protected, and after a few more minutes the beast landed close to the tower, jolting the ground like from an earthquake. It turned its head to the right to attack a few soldiers who approached from there, blasting fire in that direction, exposing its left flank. I am not sure what came over me – there was nobody around I'd need or want to impress, after all – but all of a sudden I sprinted down the stairs, out of the tower and forward, approached the beast's left side, cut a deep gash in the wing next to me with my axe and retreated as quickly as I had come. Even so I barely missed being hit by the dragon's tail, but I had at least done something. I repeated the action a few minutes later when the dragon was blasting fire sideways again, but this time I was not quick enough, and the long tail caught me and threw me to the side, until I landed in the grass, fortunately. My head throbbed and I felt bruises on my limbs, but it appeared that the Khajiit body I now occupied was sturdier than I had expected. With my human body I would have been ready for a hospital, but here I was still mostly all right. I limped back to the tower and healed my minor injuries, whereas the dragon managed to rise again, though with obvious effort only. For now, I decided to rein in the courage which had for some reason flamed up inside me. Having some magicka and healing potions was great and very much appreciated, but those would not help if the dragon managed to get me; once I was between the beast's teeth or got a full hit with the tail, none of those would be able to revive me, I assumed.

Despite our efforts, the dragon had risen again, and from the air it shouted:

"This is fun – I had forgotten what fine sport you mortals can provide!"

Yep, that might be fun from the dragon's point of view, and it was up to us mortals to make that 'fun' end as quickly as we could. We tried our best, and the guards had realized by now that shooting at wings and joints worked reasonably well; just a few minutes later the beast was down on the ground once again. Fiona had overcome her initial fear and now also released arrows from the cover of the tower; Freya covered herself and a few guards multiple times when the dragon blasted fire, using her big shield. Finally, after what felt like hours of fighting but was probably only like twenty minutes or so, we saw signs of the beast being severely injured; the fire blasts came less frequently and were weaker than before, and the dragon reacted more slowly to our attacks. In addition, some wounds were clearly visible, most of them on and around the wings, but some even on its body, maybe caused by some lucky hits. I had intended to be more careful after my previous attacks, but when I saw three Whiterun guards being threatened by the beast, I overcame my hesitation and I did my stunt with the axe once more; I succeeded and the beast cried out from pain. I was able to safely retreat, as the dragon's reactions were slower now, and I saw the maw opening wide, maybe for another fire breath, but right at this moment Fiona and some archers shot arrows directly into the gaping maw. The dragon cried out loud:

"Dovahkiin, No!"

The battle was over, as I suddenly realized, and we had a collapsed and very dead dragon on the ground; after calling out one last time, the beast had shuddered twice and than dropped down. The fight had been a challenging one, and we had three casualties on our side, one archer and two swordsmen of the hold guard, in addition to the two who been killed in the first attack. That was sad, and they would be surely missed by their families, if they had any. However, now came the fun part for us, I hoped, with the soul moving out, and I was not going to be disappointed. The dead dragon, illuminated by the last sunshine of the day, started to disintegrate into a heap of flames, offering quite a show and making the guards step back, although the fire was more subdued, more like a nice campfire than a fiery pit or even explosion. After a couple of minutes, the flames were gone and only the skeleton remained; a large and very colorful whirl assembled over it and moved towards Fiona. The Bosmer girl seemed to absorb it without taking any visible damage, although she looked very puzzled, and some of the guards started to talk between themselves. Yep, Fiona was indeed the Dragonborn, no doubt about it, and one of the older guards realized that as well, claiming:

"In the very oldest tales, back when there still were dragons in Skyrim, the Dragonborn would slay dragons and steal their power. That's what you did, isn't it? Absorbed that dragon's power?"

Irileth could not care less, and Fiona appeared to be very much confused, just shrugging her shoulders. The same guard encouraged her:

"There's only one way to find out. Try to Shout... that would prove it. According to the old legends, only the Dragonborn can Shout without training, the way the dragons do."

Although she looked like she did not know what she was doing, Fiona opened her mouth and shouted 'FUS', fortunately not against a person, but just blowing various stones and leaves around. The older guard looked like he had seen an apparition, and he happily commented:

"That was Shouting, what you just did! Must be. You really are Dragonborn, then…"

Fiona still looked very puzzled, and I could hear her muttering:

"Why can I suddenly do that?"

Irileth finally provided her own opinion:

"Hmph. Some of you would be better off keeping quiet than flapping your gums on matters you don't know anything about. Here's a dead dragon, and that's something I definitely understand. Now we know we can kill them. But I don't need some mythical Dragonborn. Someone who can put down a dragon is more than enough for me."

She did have a point, but herself being a Dunmer and not a Nord, she likely wasn't that much into the Nord legends.

The Bosmer girl seemed to be totally confused about her own powers, though, and she obviously had no idea about what was going on here. Irileth ordered us, Fiona, Freya, and me, back to Whiterun to report back to the Jarl, and one of the guards was commanded to go with us. Before we left, the housecarl had a word of encouragement for Fiona:

"That was the hairiest fight I've ever been in, and I've been in more than a few. I don't know about this Dragonborn business, but I'm sure glad you're with us. Actually, this applies for you, too, Freya and B'lushona; your help was invaluable. You better get back to Whiterun right away, all three of you. Jarl Balgruuf will want to know what happened here. I'm taking command here for the moment, while you head back to Whiterun".

Okay, at least we all got some credit.

Fiona needed support from the shield-maiden when walking, as she looked almost like being drunk. Had the soul absorption done something to her? In the game, you only had the visuals and some sound effects, of course, but maybe absorbing a dragon soul did something inside your body, like some stomach queasiness or so? I was about to ask her she was doing, but stopped myself, partially out of shyness, and partially because I just did not want to bother her with questions.

Looking at the two young ladies from the side, I could not help myself smiling, as I noticed how Freya looked at Fiona. Her eyes were full of adoration, and she was obviously very happy that she had found the person she had been looking for. She might have expected a strong warrior, but she did not seem to mind that Fiona did not fit that description at all. When Fiona whispered something to her, she guided her companion – her ward? – behind a large bush, and they reappeared a few minutes later, obviously after relieving their bladders. As dusk had settled in and a light drizzle impacted visibility even further, I took the lead on the way back to the city; my Khajiit eyes were best suited to not get lost, and the others gladly followed. The guard lit a torch and held it so that the two ladies could see where they stepped.

In the game – I did not recall if that was vanilla or from a mod – most major roads had roadside lanterns which were magically lit during the night, but none of that here; the entire road from the Western Watchtower to Whiterun was dark, and although one of the moons seemed to be up, the dark clouds and the drizzling rain did not allow for much light at all. Only when we got close to the stables, I could see a few lanterns illuminating the area.

Just when we passed the stables outside of Whiterun in the early night, about two hours after leaving the watchtower, a very loud thunder like voice was sounding over the plains, making the ground tremble like from an earthquake, calling out "DOV AH KIIN!". Fiona covered her ears for a moment and looked very confused, but I smiled when I heard that; of course I knew what it implied, but I would not tell the others; that was going to be the Jarl՚s task and prerogative.

The city of Whiterun! In the game, at least without mods, it had always been not so very impressive, and it had felt like a small town rather than a city, partially due to the necessity to not overload weaker hardware with too many structures and NPCs. Come on, in the vanilla game the entire city had like 50 or so citizens? So right here now, how would such a city look like? Sure it wouldn't be like a real metropolis or even any decent sized city in Earth, but a hold capital was going to be at least somewhat larger than it was depicted in the game, right? Also, would most of the citizens have the same names and occupations? From what I had seen in Riverwood, they probably did, but as I had already seen from outside, the city looked at least somewhat larger than in the game, so that there should also be more people inside.

While we had walked from the Western Watchtower to Whiterun in the evening, I had had a chance to calm down from the scary fight against the dragon, Mirmulnir, and now I was really looking forward to seeing the city. Somehow I almost felt like I was going sightseeing, and I'd better keep in mind that this land had not only beauty, but also many dangers. In addition, darkness had fallen and a light rain continued to come down, so admiring the city might be somewhat limited. Vampire attacks were not supposed to happen at this early stage, or were they?

So, finally, we got to the city's main gate, and as a hold guard was with us and told the gate sentries about Irileth՚s orders, I was allowed to pass this time, together with the two ladies. One of the gate wings was opened slowly, accompanied by some creaking, and we stepped into the city.

Directly on the left a channeled creek came down from the city's higher elevations and vanished underground. Further ahead a set of stairs were dimly visible, and on my right there was a large building with a forge – Warmaiden՚s, as the nicely crafted wooden sign outside advertised. The forge was next to a smelter and placed at some distance to the house, and despite the late time an athletic woman was working at it. She had medium dark skin, or at least that's what it looked like being illuminated by street lights and the forge fire; I was actually not quite sure if she was a deeply tanned Imperial or a Redguard. Anyway, I could not resist the temptation to step closer and admire her work, stating:

"You like to work the forge, don't you?"

She smiled back at me and replied:

"Aye, that I do. I've got to, if I hope to be as good as Eorlund Gray-Mane some day. In fact, I just finished my best piece of work. It's a sword. I made it for Jarl Balgruuf the Greater. It's a surprise, and I don't even know if he'll accept it."

"So, are you going to find out soon?"

"I'd love to, but I need to get a few sets of armor and weapons done first, and I really can't afford to go up there now. Nowadays I need to work into the nights to provide all of the armor and weapons which have been ordered, with the civil war and all. Of course, it can wait a day or two, but if somebody could do this for me, I'd be grateful."

"Well, we are going up to Dragonsreach now…"

"Is that so? Listen, could you take the sword to my father, Proventus Avenicci? He's the Jarl՚s steward, and he'll present it to him at the right time. Tell him it's from his daughter, Adrianne. Would you do that for me?"

I nodded and agreed:

"Sure, I'll do it. My name is B'lushona, by the way, and it has been a pleasure talking to you, Adrianne."

"Thanks; I really appreciate it. You know, in a few days, when I am not so busy any longer, if you want to learn a little bit about smithing, stop by if you want."

That was an interesting offer, and I would have liked to chat a little more, but Freya and Fiona were already quite a few steps ahead of me now, with the wood elf's arm still leaning on the tall Nord for support. Thus, I just took the sword from Adrianne, nodded, and followed the others.

The next house on my right looked small and not occupied, and this might be Breezehome. On the other side of the street there was a larger building on a small elevation; wasn't that one of the city's inn? Next on the right side, though, there was a row of more houses, and the street was nicely lit by homely streetlight lanterns. We took another five minutes or so to get to the market and found the market square to be larger than what I recalled from my memory, and there were five or six houses around it. I recognized the large inn, the 'Bannered Mare', right away. The other houses were probably mostly shops, but they had their doors closed and probably locked at this late hour of the day. One of them had something which resembled a shop window, and from the variety of wares displayed there I deducted that this was likely to be general store, just to my right side.

Despite the late hour, there were still quite a few people around. The market stalls were all deserted, of course, but some citizens were walking in the streets, and specifically I noticed a steady flow of people in and out of the inn. The people around did not look concerned or worried; considering that a dragon had been around, that was amazing, but the Western Watchtower was quite some distance away, and most citizens had probably not even noticed the threat, or maybe they had assumed that the city guard would protect them. Our group, and probably specifically my person, caused quite a stir, though, and I felt many eyes on me. As far as I knew, they preferred Khajiit to be outside of the city walls, and I was quite a big one, too.

I felt tempted to get something to drink right now. After all, we had just defeated a dragon, and we had walked back the entire distance from the Western Watchtower to the city with barely a break. As the distances were larger than in the game, that had taken almost two hours, with Fiona slowing us down, and I would have loved to get a coke or a glass of tea and sit down somewhere, at least for ten minutes or so. Of course, finding a coke here was wishful thinking, and Freya had already started to follow the guard climbing the stairs. Apparently the soldier had clear orders to get us to the Jarl without delay, and reluctantly I followed them up to the Wind District.

The round place ahead was dominated by a large and very beautiful tree – Gildergreen, apparently. In the darkness the tree seemed to radiate some kind of magical aura, although that could also just be my vivid imagination. To my right more steps lead to what I immediately recognized as Jorrvaskr, but the upturned boat looked even more impressive than I had expected. A short glimpse to my left showed, once again, more houses than in the game, and I would have loved to sit down on one of the benches around the gorgeous tree for a moment, but time seemed to be at a premium, and so I followed the others up the long sets of stairs ahead, even further up, right to the Cloud District.

[Author's Notes: Was the fight against Mirmulnir too easy? What do you think? I would love to read a few more reviews and get some feedback.]