Author's note: the game uses the term 'legionnaires' for the Imperial soldiers almost every time they're mentioned, only calling them 'legionaries' twice, but I was born on Hadrian's Wall and to me 'legionaries' is the correct term for Roman soldiers. The Imperials are based on Romans. 'Legionnaires', as far as I'm concerned, are French.

Chapter Eight: Everybody's Looking For Something

Fort Hraggstad, a minor outpost on the northern road between Solitude and The Reach, had been left ungarrisoned because it had little strategic importance and the Legion was short of men. A bandit gang had taken advantage of the absence of defenders to occupy the castle and use it as a base from which to mount raids and ambush travelers. With the recent increase in recruitment the Legion now had enough manpower to reinstate the garrison and, although it still wasn't an important asset, at least reoccupying it would prevent other bandits using it in the future. Reclaiming it would be a small-scale operation, requiring only a handful of men, and General Tullius raised no objections when Elisif asked if she could go along. He did give her strict instructions that she was only to be an observer, there so that she could see how the Legion operated in combat, and she wasn't supposed to take any active part in the mission.

Of course, that wasn't how things turned out.

Elisif obeyed the General's instructions scrupulously, staying at the rear as the Legion soldiers fought their way through the fort's courtyard, although she did loose a couple of arrows to little effect. Lydia was more effective, killing one of the bandit archers, but the legionaries did almost all of the fighting.

Once the courtyard and guard towers were clear the next objective was to secure the inner buildings, one a prison block and the other the main accommodation building. The young officer commanding split his forces, taking half with him into the prison and sending the rest into the barracks. Elisif queried his reasons and he explained that he expected little opposition, as the noise of the fight should have brought those inside running out to join the defenders, but if he was wrong he didn't want to risk those in one building either escaping or going into the other building to attack the legionaries from behind. It made sense, and Elisif and Lydia followed the five soldiers who were going into the barracks. They had their swords drawn, just in case, but didn't expect to have to use them.

The officer's idea that those inside would have come out turned out to be wrong. Two bandits, one of them a huge Orc armed with a warhammer, met the soldiers and fought them well enough to hold their own even though outnumbered. Elisif couldn't see a clear path to go to the soldiers' assistance without getting in their way and stayed back, as did Lydia. Then two more bandits rushed into the entrance hall from deeper in the building. One was an axe-wielding man in fur armor with a kilt that looked somehow odd. The other was a tall, dark-haired, Nord woman in plate armor who bore a huge iron greatsword.

"You!" the woman yelled, looking straight at Elisif. "You killed my brother! Die!" She hurled herself at Elisif, sword raised, and simultaneously the man went for Lydia.

The bandit woman brought her sword down in a diagonal strike, right to left, throwing her full weight behind the blow. A month ago Elisif would have died. Now she moved smoothly, side-stepping and half-turning, bringing her shield up at an angle to deflect the blow without directly opposing it. The sword scraped across the shield and the point struck the floor hard enough to send chips of stone flying. The bandit was off-balance and could do nothing to parry Elisif's return strike, a thrust, which struck the woman in the side of the neck and pierced deep before Elisif ripped her blade across. The bandit dropped her sword and clutched at her throat, blood gushing from between her fingers, and toppled to the ground. Elisif turned to aid Lydia just as Lydia slew her own opponent and turned to aid Elisif. They exchanged a brief grin, as each realized that her help would not be needed, and then moved to see if they could assist in the other fights.

One was going well, the two legionaries gaining the upper hand over their opponent and getting him boxed between them, but the other three were having trouble with the big Orc. He whirled his warhammer, knocked one soldier to the ground, and sent the other two staggering back. "No-one bests an Orc!" he roared, as he raised his hammer to strike a killing blow. Unfortunately for him this opened up a clear path for Elisif to reach him. She stepped forward and thrust her sword into his side between his hips and his ribs. The blade sank in deep and when he turned, to strike back at her, it ripped through his belly and almost disemboweled him. Amazingly he stayed on his feet, his berserker rage keeping him going, but his hammer blow lacked power and Elisif was able to block it with her shield. The blow jarred her arm, and sent her staggering back a couple of feet, but she recovered quickly and struck again before the Orc could get his weapon back into position to defend himself or attack again. This time she thrust to the heart, and he toppled like a felled tree and lay still.

Elisif felt her gorge rise as she looked down at the body. Killing people was much messier in real life than in stories. She fought back the urge to vomit, averted her eyes from the grisly sight, and looked for something with which to clean her sword.

"Well struck, Jarl Elisif," one of the soldiers who had been fighting the Orc called out. "And the other you slew must have been their chief. She cried that you slew her brother. Who was he?"

Elisif turned to look at the woman in plate armor. The features did look familiar… "I think he must have been the bandit chief at Robber's Gorge," she answered, after searching her memories. "I think I see a resemblance. I'd never thought of banditry being a family business before. That must be why he wrote down in his journal where he'd hidden his treasure, so that his sister could find it if anything happened to him, although as I took the journal it wouldn't have helped her. I didn't kill him, strictly speaking, I just wounded him in both arms. It was Lydia who killed him. Lisette gave me the credit for some of Lydia's deeds in her song."

"We fought together, my Jarl, and you had saved my life mere moments before," Lydia said. She looked down at the body. "I think you are right, and this indeed is the sister of that chieftain. Her armor looks as if it would fit you, and she has no further use for it."

"It would be an improvement on this steel armor, yes," Elisif agreed, "and she does look to be about my size. Or you could take it."

"It would not be fitting for the Housecarl to have better armor than the Jarl," Lydia said. "No, it should be yours."

"I'll take it, then," said Elisif. She looked at the body in the pool of blood and grimaced. "Although… getting her out of it is going to be messy. Are you sure you don't want it?"

Lydia laughed, and helped Elisif strip the corpse of the armor. They noticed that some of the armor's buckles were not properly fastened, and then Elisif realized that what had looked odd about the woman's male companion's fur kilt was that it was on backwards. "They must have been… making love in the other room," she guessed, "and dressed in haste when they heard that they were under attack." A rumpled bed in the barrack room dormitory seemed to confirm her guess. On the bedside cabinet they found a copy of the Archery skill book The Gold Ribbon of Merit. It would have been a very useful acquisition if not for the fact that Elisif had read the book before, at the Castle Fletcher, where the proprietor Fihada kept a copy for customers to peruse. Still, it would be a useful training aid for the recent Legion recruits.

Elisif felt well content. General Tullius would no doubt be cross with her for getting involved in the fighting, but she felt it was worth it. She may have saved the life of at least one legionary, she had acquired better armor, and her reputation as the Queen of Swords had been enhanced. Altogether, a good day's work.

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Kaie glared at the stand that should have held the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. "So, this has been a waste of our time, it has," she said.

"Not entirely a waste," Jenassa pointed out. "We have gained much treasure, and you have found another of those fine steel Ancient Nord swords you like so much."

"With a Frost enchantment, too, although not as powerful as I could have put on for myself," Kaie conceded. "Yes, we have profited, but I could have used the time to better effect." She frowned and re-read the note that had been left in place of the Horn. "I wonder why whoever left this note did not take the treasure as they passed through. For that matter, how did they get in here without Whirlwind Sprint?"

"There may be a back way in that avoids all the perils that we faced, Sera," Jenassa suggested. "Beyond that door, perhaps?"

The door led to a treasure chamber, with gold coins scattered on the ground in front of a chest containing several valuable items, and beyond the chamber a tunnel led to a downward-sliding stone door operated by a lever. Beyond the door lay a room that the pair had passed through on their way into the underground complex.

"Did the thief enter this way?" Kaie wondered. She searched for some way of opening the door from the outside and found nothing. She closed the door by reaching in to operate the lever, hastily retracted her hand before the door slid up again, and tried to open it from the outside. It was impossible.

"I cannot see how this could have been done," she said. "They must have gone through by the same route that we took, sneaking past the draugr and skeletons rather than fighting them, and ignoring the treasure. Who could it have been? I got the impression, from what Arngeir said, that the only person they've taught the Voice in recent years was Ulfric Stormcloak. Yet I cannot imagine him sneaking through here alone, nor leaving a note telling me to meet in the Sleeping Giant inn. He would march through the caverns with a troop of soldiers at his back, slaying all draugr in his path, and if he wished to meet me would command that I come to Windhelm. If he knows who I am he would want me dead, and would try to kill me here, not lure me to a place where I am a Thane and he has no authority."

"If not him, then who?" Jenassa wondered.

"Perhaps there is another Dragonborn, unknown to the Greybeards, and one who does not trust them," Kaie speculated. "Or one of the Greybeards wishes to meet with me secretly, without Arngeir's knowledge, although I think that highly unlikely. Perhaps their leader Paarthurnax… but that name is on the tablets that tell the history of the Dragon War, where it says he taught men to use the Voice, and if it's the same Paarthurnax… then he must be a dragon himself, to have lived so long, and could hardly go to Riverwood inconspicuously. It makes no sense. The only way to find out will be to go to Riverwood and meet this mysterious thief. They had better have a good explanation… or the meeting will not go well for them."

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This council meeting was going very differently from any of those in the past. No longer did Elisif hesitate, and withdraw into herself, when her ideas were dismissed by her steward and thanes; her recent trials had given her enough confidence in herself to be forceful and determined. The first item on the agenda was the recent disappearances and deaths of travelers on the road to Whiterun, somewhere between Dragon Bridge and Robbers' Gorge.

"I suppose you'll be running off to investigate for yourself," Erikur said, with a barely-concealed sneer.

"Certainly not," Elisif replied. Admittedly she had been tempted, but realistically she knew that in her position it wasn't practical for her to look into everything personally. "It sounds to me like a job for the Companions. I'm planning on visiting Whiterun in the near future, and I'll go to Jorrvaskr whilst I'm there and hire them to sort it out."

"Very wise, Jarl Elisif," Falk Firebeard praised.

They moved on to discuss Elisif's proposal that a smelter be built, and put into operation, in or near Solitude. Erikur was actually supporting her, for a change, and it was Bryling who was opposing her idea.

"It's ridiculous that we don't have a smelter anywhere remotely accessible from Solitude," Elisif insisted. "Beirand has to import all his metal in the form of ingots, costing more than if he could bring in ore and get it smelted locally, and when prospectors come to town with sacks of ore, he can only pay half value as he has to send them away to get them smelted. Mostly, the prospectors keep their ore and go elsewhere. Solitude loses business because of that."

Erikur was nodding, his eyebrows slightly raised in surprise, but Bryling was frowning.

"We'd lose business if we had a smelter, from the dirt and fumes," she claimed. "There's nowhere to site one that wouldn't be far too close to shops or residences. And we'd have to import coal for the furnace so we wouldn't be gaining anything."

"We import coal for Beirand's forge anyway," Elisif pointed out. "The transport costs wouldn't go up much if we imported a greater quantity each time. And I wasn't proposing having the forge in the courtyard of the Blue Palace, or Castle Dour, or in the marketplace. It doesn't even need to be inside the city walls. It could be on the shore, provided it was close to the city, and in fact I have what might be the perfect place in mind. That clearing just off the main road where the Stormcloaks who abducted me had their camp. It's level ground, and easily big enough for a smelter and a couple of buildings to be accommodation for the workers. The path up to the road is a fairly gentle slope, if a little twisty, and there's another path, also not steep, down to the river. Coal and ore could be taken there by boat, which would be easier than carts. If it turns out not to be suitable, there's a place on the other side of the city, a little cove not far north of the Solitude Arch, that looks like it might be a viable alternative. I spotted it when I was on my way back from Potema's Sanctum. Another possible site would be the stretch of beach between the East Empire Company docks and Solitude Sawmill."

"We don't have any smelter workers," Bryling objected, "and almost anyone out of work simply joins the Legion. We wouldn't be able to staff it."

"We could bring in smelter workers from Markarth," Elisif said. "I hear they're treated terribly there, overworked, underpaid, and subjected to physical violence if they object. If we offer decent working conditions, we wouldn't have any difficulty in recruiting as many as we need. And they'd be spending their wages here in Solitude."

"That would upset Jarl Igmund," Bryling said.

"Not really," Elisif countered. "He doesn't have much to do with the mines and smelting works. They're all owned by the Silver-Blood family. They're Stormcloak sympathizers and I suspect they help finance Ulfric. Hurting them is a good thing as far as I'm concerned." She'd been told about the Silver-Bloods by Kaie, who might not be an unbiased source, but everything she'd been able to find out from other sources agreed with what Kaie had said. It had been Kaie who complained to Elisif about Solitude's lack of a smelter and since Kaie's departure Elisif had been looking into the matter herself. She felt confident she'd come up with a decent plan. "And," she added as another idea occurred to her, "if we go with my idea for the site, and build a little dock for loading and unloading boats there, we could snaffle a couple of Argonian dock-workers from Windhelm. Again, they get treated horribly there, and it should be easy to recruit them. That might hurt Windhelm's finances, and so those of Ulfric and the Stormcloaks, as another bonus."

"Well, I think it's an excellent idea," Erikur said. "What's good for business is good for Solitude." 'And for me,' was his unspoken thought. He turned his attention to Bryling. "You're only objecting because you think it would be competition for your Rockwallow Mine."

Bryling glared at Erikur, and drew breath, but any reply she was going to make was pre-empted by an interruption.

"Jarl Elisif!" a guard cried, approaching at a walk so fast it was bordering on being a run. "It's General Tullius! He's here to see you!"

Elisif sat up straight and her eyes widened. General Tullius never came to the Blue Palace. He always summoned her to Castle Dour, on the rare occasions when he wanted to see her, and she had been starting to resent that but hadn't felt able to object. For him to come to her must mean that it was something important and urgent.

The general was accompanied by Legate Rikke and escorted by four legionaries. He wasted no time on formalities. "Jarl Elisif, I need to speak to you at once," he said. "In private."

"Of course, General," Elisif said, and stood up. "My apologies, gentlemen, Thane Bryling. Falk, prepare a feasibility study and a… cost-benefit analysis, I believe it's called. I'm sure Thane Erikur will be willing to assist you."

"I will indeed, Jarl Elisif," Erikur agreed, sounding much more respectful than usual. He pursed his lips as he watched Elisif lead the General and Legate off to her chambers, with the four legionaries and the ever-present Lydia following. Elisif's proposal about installing a smelter was undeniably a good idea, with the potential to make a decent profit for Solitude, and, if it went ahead, he would invest in it himself. The new, more confident, Elisif was proving to be less of a liability than he had believed her to be and just might make a good Jarl after all. He almost regretted having contacted Astrid and put a contract on Elisif with the Dark Brotherhood.

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General Tullius posted his legionaries outside the chambers with instructions to bar entry and remove any eavesdroppers. He frowned at Lydia; Elisif could tell that he wasn't happy about her being in the room, but he could hardly order the Jarl of Solitude, the Empire's candidate for High Queen, to send away her sworn bodyguard in her own palace. Elisif simply ignored the obvious hint and Lydia took up her usual place just behind and to the side of Elisif.

"I'm not convinced this is quite as important as Legate Rikke believes," General Tullius began, after declining Elisif's offer of refreshments, "but it's best not to take chances. This must remain absolutely secret."

"Of course, General," Elisif agreed. "Go on."

"Have you heard of the Jagged Crown?" the general asked. "Apparently it's some sort of ancient Nord relic that used to belong to the High King of Skyrim."

Elisif's brow furrowed as she searched her memory. "I have," she confirmed. "It was lost when the last king to have it was killed. There's a poem about it, something about a maw and razor snow. They made another crown to replace it, but that's been lost as well."

Tullius nodded. "That's about what Rikke told me, although she went into a lot more detail. She informs me that Ulfric's right-hand man, Galmar Stone-Fist, believes that he has found the location where the king who wore it is buried and that the crown was buried with him. Apparently if it could be recovered it would be a powerful token of legitimacy for the holder. Ulfric is sending an expedition to retrieve it. If he gets it, it would be a propaganda coup that could cancel out all the benefits we've gained through you getting a reputation as the 'Queen of Swords'. She wants to send an expedition of our own to beat Ulfric to the crown, and says that, if you accompany the expedition, it will further prove your right to be High Queen."

Elisif noted that everything Tullius was saying had originated with Rikke and wondered why he wasn't letting her speak for herself. Even as the thought crossed her mind Tullius brought Rikke into the conversation.

"I'll let Rikke give you the details," Tullius said. "She's the one who knows the background and came up with the idea. I'm not altogether happy about suggesting you go into a situation that might well be dangerous, especially after what happened the last time, but she's persuaded me that the rewards might outweigh the risks."

"Thank you, General," Rikke said, and turned to Elisif. "I knew Galmar in the War. He looks, and often acts, like an uneducated and unthinking barbarian but he's no fool. If he believes he's found the resting place of King Borgas he's probably correct. Our spies report that he's convinced it's located in Korvanjund. That's an old Nordic ruin in the south of The Pale, not far from the border between The Pale and Whiterun Hold, and quite a bit closer to Windhelm than to Solitude. He's sending a party to explore it and retrieve the Crown. He must expect it to be a dangerous mission, because apparently the men being sent are all… brutes, basically. Violent criminals freed from prison and promised pardons, and reinstatement in the Stormcloaks, if they can find the Crown and return alive. Expendables."

"The ruin is probably full of draugr," Elisif said. "That would be where I come in, right? I probably have more experience fighting them than anyone in the Legion – and I have Dawnbreaker."

"Actually, I hadn't thought of that," Tullius admitted. "When I agreed to Rikke's suggestion, I was only thinking of the political aspects of you accompanying the expedition. I wasn't intending for you to do any actual fighting. I don't want it to be like that expedition to Fort Hraggstad where you completely ignored my instructions."

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy," Elisif quoted. "I can't see how me tagging along at the back, avoiding combat, would be feasible. If I go, then I fight."

Tullius frowned. "I'm not sure that's a good idea," he said. "It's too much of a risk. You're the only viable candidate for High Queen and we can't afford to lose you."

Elisif thought about the other Jarls. Those who had declared for the Stormcloaks were out, obviously, and of those on the Imperial side… Siddgeir was incompetent, lazy, and probably corrupt; Idgrod Ravencrone was… strange, and though Elisif liked her and thought she was a genuinely good person, she was unpopular in her own hold; and Igmund was overly harsh and, if Kaie was correct, was being played for a fool by the Silver-Blood family. There was only one Jarl who was universally respected, although he hadn't committed to the Imperial cause, but he was by far the best prospect.

"For High Queen, perhaps, but Jarl Balgruuf would make an excellent High King, if something did happen to me," Elisif declared. "In fact, you should have picked him as your candidate in the first place. I really wasn't up to the job… before Helgen." She was fairly sure that the Empire had seen her as weak and biddable, and that was the very reason they had chosen her in the first place, and she was beginning to suspect that they had supported Torygg for the same reason… and that their assessment had been correct. Torygg hadn't been a good king, she now knew, and she would have been a terrible queen if she hadn't gone through her baptism of fire and been forced to find previously hidden reserves of strength and determination within herself.

"He hasn't committed himself to the Empire, and he still isn't allowing us to station troops within Whiterun Hold," Tullius said, still frowning.

"His very neutrality would make him a good candidate," Elisif countered, "and I'm sure he'll declare for the Empire before long. Has the Thalmor prisoner, Thorald Gray-Mane, been released yet?"

"He has," Tullius confirmed. "We completed the prisoner exchange just yesterday evening and were going to inform you today. The Stormcloaks returned a captured legionary in exchange, a Solitude citizen, Private Fura Morrard."

"Angeline's daughter? Oh, that is good news," Elisif said, breaking into a smile. "We all thought she was dead, and Angeline was devastated. Getting her back will lift the spirits of a lot of people in the city."

"That's good to hear," Tullius said, "but we must get back to the matter of this… Jagged Crown. We don't have a lot of time. Hmm. I'm still not happy about you taking part in any fighting if you go. I was thinking of you being more of a… an observer. Like you were supposed to be at Fort Hraggstad."

"A figurehead, you mean," Elisif said. "That would be… counter-productive. The legionaries would think that the stories of my previous deeds were lies, or wild exaggerations at best, and my reputation would be ruined. They'd think we're trying to make fools of them. When I went to Fort Hraggstad the soldiers were somewhat dismissive of me at first, when I was keeping out of the fighting, but their attitude changed dramatically after I killed the bandit chief and the big Orc warrior. As I said earlier, if I go… I fight. And if I don't go… some of your soldiers may well be killed by draugr I could have slain. I assure you that I have no intention of dying, but my experience of fighting draugr could save the lives of some of your legionaries, and I'm not going to hang back and let others die in my place – especially if I would be better fitted to prevail and survive."

"You Nords and your bloody sense of honor," Tullius grumbled.

"What's wrong with honor?" Elisif asked.

"It doesn't win wars," Tullius said.

"Doesn't it?" Elisif replied. "If it draws men to our cause, then perhaps it does."

"She's right, General," Rikke said. "We're getting more recruits since the tale of the Queen of Swords started spreading, and I hear that fewer are joining the Stormcloaks. And Jarl Elisif is becoming a good fighter. I've seen her sparring, and she really is significantly better with sword and shield than the average legionary, and the legionaries who saw her in action at Fort Hraggstad spoke highly of her skills. She won't be a liability, General, and I feel the potential benefits justify the risks."

"Hmm, well, if you're sure," said the General.

"I am," Rikke said, "and in fact I think we need her for more than just propaganda purposes. If my intelligence reports on when Ulfric's expedition is setting out are correct, the only way we'll get our people to Korvanjund in time is if they ride. The Stormcloaks will be going on foot but they're starting out from much closer. That means we can't send as many as I'd like. Galmar is sending eight men, according to my spies, and I'd have liked to have at least a two to one advantage in numbers, but I can only come up with enough horses, and men who can ride them, for a dozen including myself. Jarl Elisif and her Housecarl would be valuable additions, especially if, as Jarl Elisif has suggested, the ruin is infested with draugr." She paused. "I'm assuming that Lydia can ride?"

"I can," Lydia confirmed. "I can get from one place to another, that is, but I have no experience in fighting from horseback."

"Neither have I," Elisif added.

"I can't see that being a problem," said Rikke. "We'll be inside Korvanjund for all our fighting, unless things go very wrong, and if we do encounter Stormcloaks on our way there or back we'll avoid them rather than fight. Ulfric's just as short of cavalry as are we and we can outrun any foot soldiers."

Elisif thought about the possibilities this mission offered. She had been intending to make a trip to Whiterun in the near future anyway, as she had things to discuss with Jarl Balgruuf and she wanted to hire the Companions; continuing on to Whiterun after getting the Jagged Crown would enable her to fit in that visit with the minimum of time away from Solitude. Efficient time management, an important skill for a ruler according to the books she had read. Also, Torygg had wanted his war horn laid on the Shrine of Talos near Shimmermist Cave east of Whiterun, in the event of his death, and that would be only a small side-trip. There were quite a few advantages to this excursion even if there turned out to be no Jagged Crown to be found. Her brow furrowed as another thought struck her. "I wonder… should I ask Lisette the Bard to accompany us, assuming she can ride? If we want to take full advantage of the propaganda value of this mission, she could be a valuable asset."

"She might be regarded as too close to you to be an impartial witness," Tullius pointed out. "Perhaps a different bard might be a better choice."

"I've fought alongside Lisette," Elisif countered. "I know what she can do, and what she can't. I wouldn't feel as comfortable with any other bard."

"A good point, Jarl Elisif," Rikke said, with an approving nod. "Sir, I think we should approve Jarl Elisif's suggestion."

"Oh, very well," General Tullius said, "unless it would mean her taking the place of one of our soldiers. We only have enough horses for twelve, and that's assuming Jarl Elisif can provide horses for herself and her bodyguard."

"I took four horses from the Stormcloaks, so we'd have one spare even if Lisette comes, and if you have another soldier who can ride, he can take that one," Elisif informed him.

"We do," Rikke confirmed. "That would be very handy. It would bring us up to sixteen, giving us the two to one advantage that I would prefer, although we'll have to detach a couple of men to guard the horses. Excellent. Well, you'd better collect your bard friend, if she's willing, and get ready to ride. We should get moving as soon as possible. We don't want them to beat us there and find the Jagged Crown before we can stop them."

"It might be just as bad, or worse, to arrive too early as too late," Elisif said. "If we were first to enter, we could be fighting draugr and then find ourselves attacked in the rear by Stormcloaks. If they go in first, they would be the ones caught between two foes."

"True," Rikke said, "but my estimate of when the Stormcloaks would reach Korvanjund is hardly reliable. If we get there first, perhaps we could find a place of concealment from which to observe, and then make our move when we see the Stormcloaks arriving."

"That would work," Elisif said. "Very well, I will don my armor, pack some food, and as many healing and stamina potions as I can gather together."

"See, General? She knows what she's getting into," Rikke said.

Tullius pursed his lips. "I suppose so," he said. "This isn't quite the way I envisaged Elisif's participation, but I suppose it's the way it will have to be. Unless… Elisif, what if your friend the… Dragonborn… came with us instead of the extra legionary, or even instead of you? She's some sort of legendary hero to the Nords, I gather, and her getting the crown for you would carry just as much weight as if you got it for yourself."

"There are two problems with that," Elisif said. "One is that Kaie can't ride. The other, and more important, is that she isn't here, and I don't know when she'll be back. The Greybeards sent her to retrieve something from a barrow in Hjaalmarch and bring it back to them. Right now, she's most probably in High Hrothgar."

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Kaie glared at Delphine. "I should be in High Hrothgar by now," she said. "I have much to do, and little time in which to do it, and you have delayed me. Why have you done this? You must have gone to great effort. There was a gate in Ustengrav designed to keep out any but a Dragonborn. How did you get past it?"

"The one that opened when you passed through runestones positioned far from the gate, but shut again before you could get to it by running? It wasn't easy," Delphine replied. "I had to lure a skeleton into passing through the stones to attack me, at just the right angle to activate the stones and just far enough behind, and it took me a dozen attempts before I got it right."

"I did not think of that," Kaie admitted. "We could have done the same, I see now, with Jenassa acting in place of the skeleton, but the Greybeards had taught me Whirlwind Sprint, and it was so obvious that the puzzle was designed for someone who knew the Shout that I used it without considering any other way to get past the gate. There's stupid of me." She shook her head. "You have not answered my other question. Why did you take the Horn and use it to lure me here?"

"I didn't go to all this trouble on a whim," Delphine said. "I needed to make sure it wasn't a Thalmor trap. I'm not your enemy. I already gave you the Horn. I'm actually trying to help you. I just need you to hear me out."

Kaie stared at Delphine, assessing her. The innkeeper was quite a bit older than Kaie, probably old enough to have fought in the Great War, but she looked to be in very good physical shape and moved like a much younger woman. A swordswoman, in fact. She would have had to be an excellent fighter, and skilled at stealthy movement, to have made her way through Ustengrav alone.

Alone. That raised a new question. This secret lair, hidden in what must once have been the cellar of the Sleeping Giant inn in Riverwood, looked far too well equipped to be used by only one person. It was more like what would be expected in a base for some sort of clandestine organization. Something like the Dark Brotherhood, or the Thieves' Guild, although probably not either of those specific outfits.

"Why did you go to Ustengrav alone?" Kaie asked. "It is obvious that you are part of a group. I recognize you now, although you were in armor and hooded when I saw you before. You were at Dragonsreach, talking with Farengar, when I delivered the Dragonstone, and it seemed to me that you were waiting for it. When Farengar spoke to you he mentioned your employers. Who are they? And why did you leave all the valuables in Ustengrav behind? Are you so well-funded you do not need any more gold? Who are your associates?"

"I left the valuables behind to make it clear that I was serious about the Horn, not just some random treasure-hunter who had stumbled upon it by accident," Delphine replied. "I did take a few odd pieces, ones that were lying in plain sight, but I didn't take the time to look for anything else or open any chests. And I misled Farengar about my employers. They no longer exist. There's just me. My associates, my comrades, are all… dead."

Kaie recognized the look in Delphine's eyes and the desolation in the tone of her voice. She'd seen and heard them far too often in her own people and, indeed, in Elisif when y Frenhines let her guard down. Delphine, it seemed, was another who knew about loss.

"So, what do you want from me?" Kaie asked.

"I want you to come with me and slay a dragon," Delphine said. "I need to see you taking its soul with my own eyes."

"You could have seen that already, if you had come with us to the Western Watchtower when you left Dragonsreach," Kaie pointed out, "and I have half the Solitude guard, and Jarl Elisif, as witnesses. But if you must see it for yourself, you can come with me when I go to kill the one at Dragontooth Crater, near Karthwasten. It is causing a lot of problems for my people, and I will go there as soon as I can find the time."

"I need you to kill a different dragon," Delphine said. "Look, have you wondered where the dragons are coming from?"

"Not really," Kaie said. "Somewhere far off, is it?"

"No," said Delphine. "They haven't been hiding out in Akavir, or Atmora, or what's left of Yokuda. They were dead, and buried, and now they're coming back to life."

Kaie raised her eyebrows. "By themselves, or by necromancy, is it?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure they're being brought back," Delphine answered. "Probably by the Thalmor. They're the ones who are gaining by the damage the dragons are causing to Skyrim. The dragons were buried in mounds, all across Skyrim, and the Dragonstone that you recovered is a map of them. They are opening, one by one, in a pattern spreading from the south-east and I've worked out where and when the next will open. Kynesgrove, in Eastmarch, south of Windhelm. If we go there, we can see who is raising the dead dragons, and how they are doing it, and hopefully stop them for good."

"I'm not keen about going into Eastmarch," Kaie admitted. "The Stormcloaks know that I am a supporter of Elisif Frenhines and that I killed one of their officers. Also, I don't want to get rid of the dragons yet. I need their souls for my Shouts. I have learned several Shouts that I can't use until I kill a dragon for each."

"There are quite a few dragons around already," Delphine pointed out. "I don't think you're likely to run short any time soon. And the further the resurrections spread, the harder it is to predict which one will be next. We must act now, and go to the one near Kynesgrove, or we'll miss the chance to watch a raising as it happens. Look, Kynesgrove is a little village; pretty much just the mine, an inn, and enough farming to support the workers. There won't be any Stormcloak presence."

"And if there is, we can kill them," Jenassa put in. "I think we should go with her, sera."

"Very well," Kaie agreed. "It would be useful to be able to activate Become Ethereal, or perhaps the second Word of Elemental Fury. We'll come with you, but it had better not take too long."

"It won't," Delphine assured her. "By my calculations the dragon will rise either during the night or early tomorrow morning. I was getting worried that you wouldn't arrive in time. I'd expected you by yesterday at the latest. As it is, we'll have to set off right away to be sure we make it. If we miss this one, I can't be certain which will be the next one to open. Most likely the one on the Aalto, but there are two other possibilities, and I'd rather not take the chance. Just give me a moment to put on my armor, and we'll be off."

Kaie grimaced. "Yet more running around from one side of Skyrim to the other," she remarked. "It's at times like this that I regret never learning to ride a horse."

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Elisif had never ridden wearing heavy armor before, but she soon adjusted to the difference in weight and balance. She had been able to mount the horse just as easily as when she had ridden wearing nothing heavier than her Jarl robes, even though there was no Heavy Armor skill enchantment on her new plate, partly because she was quickly becoming accustomed to it and

also because she was stronger and fitter than she had been before the events of Helgen.

She was a better rider than any of the others in the party and soon she was able to relax and even to enjoy the ride, at least at first. The plan was to turn off the main Solitude to Whiterun road at the crossroads beyond Dragon Bridge and head east, taking a route that led past Rockwallow Mine and then through part of The Pale, before turning south to Korvanjund. Not the most direct route, but it avoided difficult terrain and would be the fastest for a mounted expeditionary force. Just as they reached the point where they would turn east they saw something ahead that spoiled Elisif's good mood completely.

A wagon stood motionless in the road, the horse dead in the traces. The body of a woman in merchant's garb lay nearby.

Elisif insisted that they stop to carry out at least a cursory examination of the scene. Rikke grumbled but allowed it. It didn't take long for them to work out what had happened. The arrows that had killed the woman and the horse were of a distinctive pattern. Falmer.

"Now we know what has been causing the deaths and disappearances on this stretch of road," Elisif said. "I'll inform the Companions and hire them to track the Falmer to their lair and destroy them. I wish we could do it ourselves, but there is no time. Very well, Legate Rikke, we can press on."

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"This is a notorious bandit hangout," Delphine told Kaie, as they approached Valtheim Towers. "Jarl Balgruuf has hired adventurers to clear it out a few times, but they always come back. If there are bandits currently in residence the odds are that they'll either attack us or try to extort a fee for passage."

"Then we shall kill them," Kaie said. "I liked Jarl Balgruuf. Aiding him by removing the bandits would please me."

"I have no objections," Delphine said. "I'd be interested in seeing you two in action before we face the dragon. Just take care not to get yourselves killed."

"I thought of becoming a bandit," Jenassa remarked, "at the time when I hated the world because of my treatment at Honorhall Orphanage. Then it occurred to me that I could kill just as many people if I became a mercenary, without needing to worry about the law, and I would be able to sleep in warm beds and drink fresh mead. Let us kill these bandits, sera, and show this innkeeper what the Dragonborn and the Artist of Death can do."

The bandits had noticed the approaching trio by now and archers were taking up positions on the towers and the walkway between them. An axe-wielder and a swordswoman were running to the attack. Kaie conjured a Flame Atronach, which began to launch bolts of fire at the bandits, and the fight was on.

Ten minutes later the bandits were all dead and the victors were going through the rooms and the bodies for the most valuable, and least bulky to carry, items and weapons.

"Don't take too long," Delphine urged, as Kaie snatched up a Potion of Vigorous Healing and stuffed it into a pouch. "We are on a tight schedule, remember."

"These potions might save our lives," Kaie replied. "Don't worry, I'll be quick, although I want to change my armor here before we head into Eastmarch. I don't want the Stormcloaks to think that I'm one of the Forsworn, do I? Ah, what's this?" She picked up a book that lay on a bedside cabinet and read the title page. "Now this could be useful. The Black Arrow Volume 2. An enchanted Archery skill book… oh, dim gwerth rhech dafad! I've already read it. Elisif frenhines picked up a copy at Robber's Gorge and passed it on to me and Jenassa when we went to Solitude."

"Well, I haven't read it," Delphine said, "and although I'm not bad with a bow, there's always room for improvement. You're obviously on good terms with Jarl Elisif. How true are those stories about her, calling her the 'Queen of Swords', that are going around?"

"Perhaps a little exaggerated," Kaie answered, "but the core of them is true. Elisif frenhines is brave, and tries to be a good ruler, and works hard to better herself. She isn't yet as good a fighter as any of us three, but she trains hard, and already she'd beat the average Stormcloak as easily as we went through this bandit rabble. Give her time, and she'll be up to our standard, at least with sword and shield. Archery is her weak point, even after she read this," she added, holding up the skill book, "and it's a pity this wasn't a different volume."

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Elisif finished reading the book and felt knowledge flooding through her. "Thank you very much for letting me read this," she said to Gestur Rockbreaker. "May I pass it on to my Housecarl Lydia?"

"Of course, Jarl Elisif," the foreman of Rockwallow Mine replied. "I am only too happy I have been able to be of service to the Queen of Swords."

Elisif passed the book, Orsinium and the Orcs, to Lydia; the Housecarl was well accustomed to fighting in heavy armor, of course, but a little additional skill couldn't hurt. This brief halt at the mining camp, mainly so that the expeditionary force could grab a hot meal and relieve themselves, had paid an unexpected dividend in the shape of the Heavy Armor skill book that the foreman had brought out of the mine for Elisif to read.

The mine foreman had gone out of his way to be helpful, seemingly won over to Elisif's cause by the reputation she was earning as the Queen of Swords, but the mine manager had a very different attitude. Sorli the Builder was an exceptionally good-looking woman for someone old enough to have an adult son, and she must have been truly beautiful when she was young, but the scowl on her face as she strode toward Elisif made her look ugly.

"I would thank you not to distract my workers from their duties, Jarl Elisif," Sorli said. "Surely your time would be better spent finding out what is interfering with my deliveries to Solitude rather than poking your nose in where it is not wanted."

Elisif didn't know why Sorli seemed so antagonistic, but she could make a guess. They had met on a couple of occasions in the past but had barely interacted, and there was no cause for hostility there, and it was impossible for her to have found out about Elisif's plan to have a smelter installed close to Solitude, which might have an impact on Rockwallow Mine's business, as Elisif had only announced the plan immediately prior to her meeting with General Tullius. That left Sorli being a Stormcloak sympathizer as the most likely cause. "I've already found out what is causing the deaths and disappearances on the road to Solitude," Elisif informed her. "Falmer."

Sorli sniffed. "Then why aren't you doing something about it? You're supposed to be this great warrior Sword Queen, aren't you?"

"I am doing something about it," Elisif said, in the iciest tones she could manage. "I'm hiring the Companions to remove the threat. They're the professionals, and the best people to deal with it. That's why I'm going to Whiterun."

"With a Legion escort, and your own personal bard, I see," Sorli said waspishly.

"We're passing through The Pale," Elisif said. "If we meet any Stormcloaks I want the odds to be on my side." There was no way she was going to reveal anything about their true mission to someone who might well be an enemy sympathizer. She saw that Lydia had finished reading the skill book, which was only a couple of pages long and couldn't have been much over a thousand words, and the legionaries seemed to have finished their meals. She had every excuse to cut this conversation short. "It's time we were on our way. Goodbye, and thank you again, Gestur."

Sorli watched as the so-called 'Queen of Swords' and her Housecarl went to join the legionaries, and as they mounted and rode off, the scowl still on her face. As soon as they had gone out of sight Sorli went back into her house and spoke to her husband Pactur. "I have an errand to run," she told him. "I'll probably be an hour or two. Keep an eye on those lazy, untrustworthy, workers, would you?" She belted on a sword in place of her usual dagger, left the house again, and set off to the north at a steady run.

Half an hour later, slightly out of breath, she arrived at the hidden Stormcloak camp in Hjaalmarch. "Sorli the Builder," she identified herself, when a sentry challenged her. "I need to see Arrald Frozen-Heart." She was allowed to pass and soon was telling the Stormcloak camp commander what she had seen and heard.

"So, the pretender Queen, with an escort of fifteen, including Legate Rikke," Arrald mused. "She claimed she was going to Whiterun, did she? No, I don't think that's where she's going, at least not directly. How long ago was this?"

"I came straight here, and ran all the way," Sorli answered. "It would have taken me about half an hour, I'd say."

"We've no chance of catching them ourselves, with that big a start," Arrald said, "but they'll be sticking to the roads, I expect, and if I send my fastest messenger by the shorter route past the Hall of the Vigilant and Fort Dunstad I should be able to get this information to someone who can make good use of it. You have done the Stormcloak cause a great service." He opened a chest that stood near his map table and took out a coin purse. "Take this reward."

"I did it for the cause of Ulfric, the true High King," Sorli said, "not for the money, but I'm not going to turn it down. Thank you, Arrald, and I hope your people catch that arrogant bitch and wipe that smug smile off her face."

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"I want people to be able to see my face," Elisif explained to Rikke, who was trying to persuade her to wear a helmet. "Half of the reason for me being here is to build up my reputation, after all, and for that to work I need to be recognizable. Also, my circlet has enchantments to increase my Archery skills, and I don't have an enchanted helmet."

"Very well, Jarl Elisif, have it your way," Rikke said, reluctantly, "but I hope you don't suffer for it."

"I have become quite proficient at guarding my head with my shield," Elisif said, "and I think the risk is worth taking."

"Legate Rikke, I see a small party approaching the ruins," a scout reported. "Eight men, I make it. One of them is a really big bastard… oh, sorry, Legate."

"Forgiven," said Rikke. "That would be Brandir Troll-Fist, according to what our agents discovered. He has a reputation as a dangerous fighter and not someone you can treat lightly. A really big bastard, as Private Memmius said. Well, this is it. As soon as they're all inside… we move."

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"Lorkhan's eyes! Look at that big bastard!" Delphine exclaimed, as the immense dragon flew toward the mound. "Keep your head down. Let's see what it does."

"I've seen that dragon before," Kaie said. "It's the one that attacked Helgen."

"Really? What's it doing here?" Delphine wondered. The question was soon answered. The dragon aimed a Shout at the mound, which burst open, and a skeletal dragon clambered out. Its flesh and scales reformed and in moments a fully alive dragon, much smaller than the one in the sky above but still huge, stood atop the remnants of the burial mound. The two dragons exchanged words, in a language that seemed oddly familiar to Kaie but was incomprehensible to Jenassa and Delphine, and then the big dragon turned its attention to the watchers.

It spoke in its own language and then switched to Tamrielic. "You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah." Its gaze swung back to the other dragon. "Sahloknir, krii daar joorre!"

The smaller dragon launched itself into the air and attacked. The big one flew off and they were far too busy to notice where it went. Arrows flew, Kaie's Flame Atronach launched fiery bolts, and the dragon retaliated with Shouts that produced blasts of icy cold. The two Stormcloak guards stationed in Kynesgrove ran up and joined in the fight. The dragon killed them in moments, and destroyed the Flame Atronach, but Kaie, Jenassa, and Delphine were far harder to kill. The three women were all agile enough to evade almost all the frost blasts, and they had potions to minimize the effects of what they couldn't avoid. Eventually the dragon, wounded by a dozen arrows and tiring of chasing the mobile targets around, landed and tried to finish them with its jaws.

"It's to be a real fight, then," the dragon roared. "Good!" It had no time for further speech as the women rushed in and hacked at it. Their one-handed swords might not have been the ideal weapons for breaking through the scales, but they didn't impede mobility the way two-handed war hammers or battle-axes would have done. The three attacked from every side, trying to slip their blades between the scales, and inflicted several wounds that, although not deep, made the dragon bleed profusely.

The Frost enchantment on Kaie's recently acquired sword didn't seem to affect the cold-using dragon, but at least it was of the same high-quality steel as her older sword and of the same balance. She wielded the matched pair with all her skill, and they were getting through the scales, but it was taking too long to inflict crippling damage on the huge beast. She used her Elemental Fury Shout to speed up her blows but found, to her annoyance, that it didn't work on the blade with the Frost enchantment. Presumably the Shout counted as an enchantment, and you couldn't enchant a weapon twice. She grimaced, dropped that sword, and concentrated on doing as much damage as she could with the non-enchanted blade and shooting Flames spells from her other hand.

The dragon roared in pain and decided to abandon ground-fighting and return to the air. It took off but then found that Delphine had managed to slice a long rent through one of its wings. It slewed sideways, its wing touched the ground, and it crashed down again. Kaie vaulted onto its back and, just as she had done to the dragon at the Western Watchtower, hammered blows down onto its head. Jenassa thrust her Dwarven swords into its mouth and, as it reared back, Kaie stabbed down through one of the beast's eyes and reached the brain. The dragon jerked convulsively, reared up and dislodged Kaie, but then collapsed and lay still.

Kaie landed on her feet, stumbled but managed to stay upright, and went to retrieve her discarded sword. By that time the dragon corpse was starting to glow, and Kaie stood still waiting to absorb its soul.

Delphine joined her. "I'm getting too old for this business," she said. She was breathing heavily, but showed no other signs of physical distress, and Kaie, who was breathing heavily herself, took it that the self-deprecating remark was not meant seriously. Certainly Delphine was a dangerous fighter, very skilled with her unusual long, slim, slightly curved sword, and Kaie wouldn't feel totally confident of beating her in a sword-fight without cheating by using the Thu'um. Then the dragon soul rushed from the disintegrating corpse, and entered Kaie, and Delphine's eyes widened. "You took its very soul," she breathed. "You really are… Dragonborn."

"I told you that at Riverwood," Kaie said, "and gave you references. If you had believed me then we could have saved ourselves this journey."

"I did believe you," Delphine said, "but seeing it with my own eyes is another matter. And this has not been a wasted trip. We now know what is raising the dragons… and it is another dragon. I was certain that it was the Thalmor. I still suspect that they have something to do with it. They might have raised that big dragon first and given it the power to raise others."

Kaie shook her head. "You might not have noticed, but the big dragon used a Shout, what the Nords call the Thu'um, not any kind of Necromancy spell," she said. "According to the Greybeards, the Thu'um is natural to dragons, and they don't need to be taught. The only others who use it are Nords trained by the Greybeards… and me. The Thalmor couldn't have anything to do with it."

"You have a point," Delphine conceded, "but I still think they're involved. I had a little training as an investigator and the first question I was taught to ask is 'Who benefits?' The Thalmor, that's who. When the dragon attacked Helgen, the Imperials were just about to execute Ulfric Stormcloak, weren't they?"

"I know," Kaie agreed. "I was there."

"It would have brought an end to the insurrection, civil war, call it what you will," Delphine said, "and keeping the conflict going benefits only the Thalmor. They want the Empire to be weakened as much as possible. Even if they aren't directly raising the dragons, I think they might have some way of directing them."

"The dragon we slew at the Western Watchtower seemed to be after Elisif frenhines in particular," Kaie said. "She thinks it might have mistakenly believed that she was the Dragonborn, but if it was after her because of her position, how does that fit in with your idea?"

"Hmm. I didn't know about that," Delphine said. "That was before she started being called the Queen of Swords, wasn't it? I'll have to think about how her removal at that stage would have affected the civil war. By the way, what does that word you keep using for Elisif mean?"

"Frenhines? It means Queen," Kaie explained.

"You recognize her as the High Queen of Skyrim, then?" Delphine queried, her eyebrows climbing. "I thought you part of an organization that, shall we say, has its allegiance to an entirely different power structure. The armor you were wearing when you turned up at the Sleeping Giant was a bit of a giveaway."

Kaie had been wearing her enchanted Forsworn armor then, although she now wore a set of Scaled armor to be less conspicuous in the Stormcloak stronghold of Eastmarch, and she no longer saw any reason to hide her affiliation from Delphine. "I am of the Forsworn, yes," she admitted, "but that does not mean that I oppose Elisif frenhines. Quite the opposite. She is willing to grant us a measure of independence, perhaps not full independence right away, but a step in the right direction. She suggests a Reachman Jarl as the first step. She is the best hope we have… and my friend."

"A Reachman Jarl? What will Elisif do about Igmund? I doubt he'd be willing to just step down," Delphine said.

"She intends to offer him Eastmarch, in place of The Reach, once she has overthrown Ulfric," Kaie said. "She believes he would accept that."

"She doesn't think small, does she? She's probably right," Delphine said, "but getting rid of Ulfric won't be easy."

"Nothing worthwhile ever is," said Kaie. "Now, I have told you of my allegiances, but what of yours? You said that your associates are all dead, but you act as if you are carrying on their mission. Who were they?"

"The Blades," Delphine revealed. "I'm the last of them, as far as I know."

Kaie frowned. "Who? The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't remember where I heard it."

"We were protectors of the Emperor," Delphine said, "but Titus Mede disbanded us because of pressure from the Thalmor. We regarded the Thalmor as the greatest threat to Tamriel, and we fought them in the shadows. We thought we were more than a match for them. We were wrong."

"How did you survive?" Kaie asked.

"Running, hiding, killing any who found me," Delphine said. "I don't think any of my colleagues made it. The thing is, we weren't always the bodyguards of the Emperor. We were set up to aid the Dragonborn in fighting dragons. That's how I knew the Greybeards would send you to Ustengrav after the Horn, because it was the traditional way of a new Dragonborn proving their worth, and the Blades kept a record of that. Later, after the dragons had gone, we found a new purpose in serving the Emperor, as the Septim Emperors were descendants of the Dragonborn, and after the last of the Septim line died we stayed on with the new dynasty. Now the dragons are back, and there is a new Dragonborn – you – and I can return to our original objective. I must guide and protect you as you fulfill your destiny as a dragon-slayer."

"That's nice to know," said Kaie, "but dragon-slaying isn't my top priority. That remains fighting Ulfric and winning freedom for The Reach."

"The dragons are a more urgent problem," Delphine insisted. "Ulfric wants to rule Skyrim. The dragons want to burn it down. If we don't stop them, you won't have a country, independent or otherwise. Just ashes and charred ruins."

"Oh, very well, I suppose you have a point," Kaie conceded, "and killing dragons is useful to me anyway because they power my Shouts. I think I'll use this one's soul to unlock Become Ethereal. So, what do we do about the dragons? What's our next move? After I take the Horn to the Greybeards, and arrange a meeting between Elisif frenhines and my uncle to discuss terms, that is."

"Even if the Thalmor aren't behind this, they're bound to have useful information," Delphine said. "They have the best intelligence network in Tamriel, and they'll have investigated the dragons to work out how they can use this development to their advantage. If we could get at their secret files it would be a big step forward."

"You're obsessed with the Thalmor, aren't you?" Kaie commented.

"They killed all my colleagues, all my friends, and my parents were killed when the Dominion stormed the Imperial City," Delphine said. "Wouldn't you be?"

"That's how I feel about Ulfric, it is," Kaie said. "He killed my father and threw my uncle into prison for twenty years. Fy Mrenhines Elisif feels the same about him, too, for he killed her husband in front of her."

"The Dominion killed my parents in the Battle of the Red Ring," Jenassa put in, "and Ulfric treats my people like trash, like n'wah, even though I was born in Windhelm and my parents died in the service of Skyrim and the Empire. I feel the same as both of you."

"Despite what you think about my Thalmor obsession, they're still our best source of information about the dragons," Delphine said, "but they're not going to respond if we just ask nicely. They have a kill on sight order out on me, for a start, and I doubt they'd treat a member of the Forsworn with respect."

"The Thalmor promised us aid when we rose and took Markarth," Kaie said, "but then did nothing to help us. They just wanted us to revolt so that it would weaken the Empire and their promises were empty."

"Typical of the Thalmor," said Delphine. "I don't think your friend Elisif would have any more success with an open request. She might be able to help us gain access to the Embassy so that we could sneak a look at the files, though."

"The Thalmor would not look kindly on her aiding such a mission and might even take it as an act of war," Kaie pointed out. "I will not ask her to do anything that might cause her trouble."

"Of course not," Delphine said. "I have some contacts of my own. I think I could get you access to one of Ambassador Elenwen's parties, in disguise and using a false identity of course, and all Elisif would need to do would be to cause a distraction that would let you slip away deeper into the Embassy. It will take some time to plan and get the details sorted out."

"Good," Kaie said, "for I have much to do."

"Come to the Sleeping Giant when you are ready, then," said Delphine, "and hopefully I'll have a plan put together. Don't take too long. I think there's an Embassy party due in about a week, maybe ten days, but I'm not certain of the date. If we miss it, it might be a month before the next one."

"In that case, I will head directly for Whiterun after seeing the Greybeards, and then meet you in Riverwood," Kaie decided. "I will put off my visit to Elisif frenhines until I go to Solitude on my way to this party. I expect she'll be able to keep herself occupied while she awaits me, no doubt with politics and with practicing with her sword."

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"I see them, Commander," the Stormcloak lookout reported. "I count sixteen."

"Just as Arrald Frozen-Heart told us to expect," Yrsarald Thrice-Pierced remarked. "Good work, soldier. Can you identify any of them?"

"Not at this distance," the lookout replied, "but I can see that three of them have long hair and no beards as far as I can tell. Women, I think."

"There should be four women," Yrsarald said, "but Rikke keeps her hair short. The ones you see will be the pretender queen, her Housecarl, and her tame bard." He moved to where he could see the approaches to the Korvanjund ruins for himself. "Ah, they are leaving two to guard their horses," he observed. "We'll take them out first, with archers so that they have no chance to run inside and warn the others." He raised his voice so that his men could hear. "Right, Stormcloaks, time to see what this so-called 'Queen of Swords' is made of," he said. "Take her alive, if possible, but dead is acceptable. Do not take chances, for she is said to be passably skilled, and her Housecarl is very dangerous. Ready? Let's move out. For Ulfric and Skyrim!"