June reached the shrine near the Skaal village, she approached it and saw many of the Skaal villagers working on it. She blinked as she watched them, they were like mindless zombies. June looked up at the stone that was in the middle of the shrine. It had a strange glow to it just like the one near the town Raven Rock. But it's glow was white, looking at it made her eyes burn.
June walked closer to the stone and walked around it trying to find a clear spot. She didn't want any of the workers getting in the way of her shout. She found the best spot and took a few steps away from it. 'Here goes nothing...' June took in a deep breath. "GOL!" As soon as the power of her shout hit the stone the ground beneath them began to shake and the light that was coming from the stone expanded till it was almost blinding.
The wind around them picked up and all at once the villagers grabbed their heads as if they were in terrible pain. June held her arms out in front of her face shielding her eyes from the light and the wind. The light quickly soaked back into the stone and than exploded out of it knocking anyone back who was too close to it.
June quickly sat up and looked around for all the villagers. They were knocked down on the ground but they all seemed to be okay, confused. But okay. June let out a small sigh of relief but it was quickly cut off when a black oozing portal appeared by the stone and a strange monster jumped out of it. "By the gods!" One of the villagers screamed.
June got up from the ground pulling out her bow, the monster looked directly at her and screeched a painful high pitched screech. June winced in pain but tried to ignore it, it felt like knives were being stabbed into her ears. It was monstrous, the head of it looked like some kind of mutated fish with long dripping fangs.
The smell of it wasn't very pleasing either, June was more disgusted with it than afraid of it. 'Lurker.' Was a good name for it, it was the first word that came to her mind when she looked at it. The Lurker screeched at her again and charged right at her swinging its large claws in the air. June quickly dodged it and shot a couple arrows out at it. It guarded itself with its arm, on its arm was some kind of hard exoskeleton so the arrows bounced right off.
It was smarter than it looked. June furrowed her eyebrows down as she tried examining it quickly. The Lurker didn't give her long, she had to keep jumping back from it and dodging its giant claws. Each it time it paused to turn towards her was the only time she could get a chance for a quick look. So far pretty much every part of its body was protected with exoskeleton.
June was thinking to herself for too long, by the time she realized that the Lurker was charging at her she didn't have enough time to dodge. She tried to move as fast as she could but it was not fast enough, the Lurker swung its claw at her and sliced her chest open. "Ah!" She yelled in pain and fell back on the ground. Her armor protected her for the most part but it still got her pretty good. She put her hand on her chest and looked at it seeing blood covering her palm. 'Great..' She winced in pain as she slowly sat up.
The Lurker was already on the move again, it was just about to bring down another attack on her when a rock hit the back of its head causing it to fall to the ground. The rock seemed to hit a soft spot on the back of its neck. June furrowed her eyebrows down as she looked up, it was from one of the villagers. The Lurker slowly got up and turned around glaring at him. The villager quickly regretted his action once he saw the anger in the monster.
The Lurker rushed for the villager, June quickly got on her knees grabbing her bow and an arrow. She aimed the arrow carefully, she could see the soft spot. It was swollen from the rock hitting it, June let go of her arrow and watched it fly into the air. Right when the Lurker was about to slice the villager in half the arrow hit it right in the spot. The Lurker let out a small gurgle and than fell limp to the ground.
June let out a relieved sigh, she dropped her bow and fell onto her hands from the pain in her chest. She put her hand on her wound again and looked at it seeing that the bleeding has increased. She heard rushing footsteps running towards her, she looked up seeing it was the villagers. "Are you alright?!" One of the women knelt down beside her. "I'm fine.." June mumbled. "Are you guys okay?" She looked up at them all. They were scared and confused but they seemed to be okay. "We are now, thanks to you." The woman grabbed June's arm sitting her up so that she could look at her wound.
June groaned in pain as she slowly sat on her butt. "What was that thing?" A man asked with fear in his voice. It was the man who threw the rock. "I don't know...Thanks by the way. I wouldn't of found out where to hit it if you hadn't got it with that rock." She gave him a small smile. He still looked scared but he nodded.
One of the villagers took off their coat and shirt. He gave the shirt to the woman. "Here, for the bleeding." He nodded. The woman smiled at him and began to wrap up June's wound the best she could with the shirt. It didn't take long for June to get back on her feet, the villagers helped her walk and they all headed back to their village.
Farkas finally made it back to Raven Rock, he got lost a few times but managed to find his way. He walked into the Inn and up to the Inn keeper. "There you are." The Inn keeper spoke. "You three left and never came back. I wondered if you outlanders got eating or something." The Inn keeper chuckled but Farkas didn't find it funny. He just stared at him making him uncomfortable. The Inn keeper cleared his throat feeling awkward. "I need directions." Farkas said plainly.
"Alright, where to?" The Inn keeper leaned forward on the counter. "Haknir's Shoal." Farkas replied. The Inn keeper furrowed his eyebrows down a little confused. "Why would you be wanting to go there if you don't mind me asking?" He spoke slowly. "Business." Was all Farkas said. "Well, it's an encampment North-East from here. It's probably half a day travel." The Inn keeper pointed. "Thanks." Farkas quickly turned around. "Be careful going there." The Inn keeper quickly stopped him. "I've heard pirates are hanging around there." He warned him. "I'm not worried about the pirates." Farkas than walked out of the Inn with out looking back.
Farkas knew that the pirates weren't going to be a problem because whatever/whoever, was there first was no longer there. The Thalmor made sure of that, Farkas clenched his jaw as they came to his mind. 'What do the Thalmor have to do with any of this?' His gut twisted as his mind went to dark places.
He feared another war may be on the horizon with them. The last time they were at war with the Thalmor, his father never came making any more stops he quickly left the town and made his was North-East for the camp. He needed to find out what was going on.
It took a couple hours to reach the village from the shrine, June was growing weak from the blood and it seemed like they made it back just in time. Vilkas was sitting on a bench sharpening his sword. "There they are!" He heard one of the children cry out excitingly. Vilkas quickly looked up and saw that they were practically carrying June. He dropped his sword and ran towards them. "What happened?!" He asked in a panicked voice.
"She got hurt." The woman answered letting go of June. "I'm fine, I just need some actual bandages." She chuckled as Vilkas put her arm around his neck. "You're not fine, you're soaking in blood." He furrowed his eyebrows down at her. "Mommy!" The child that pointed them came running up and the woman scooped him up in her arms. The other villagers went to their families. June and Vilkas watched them for a moment.
Scorn smiled at the sight of his people, he was relieved to see that they were all okay. He quickly made his way to June and Vilkas. "Come, we'll get you fixed up." He led them to his house.
Scorn had June sit down on his bed as the village healer began to patch her up. "What happened at the shrine?" Vilkas asked as he sat down in a chair in front of the bed. "Well, the shout worked but once what ever spell was broken it unleashed some kind of monster." June winced from the healer tightening the bandage. "Monster?" Vilkas furrowed his eyebrows down. "Was it one of the monsters that the cultist's were summoning?" He asked.
June shook her head. "No, this one was..uglier.." June sneered as she remembered it. "I thought the name Lurker matched it just fine." She slightly looked down. "There we go." The healer finished up. "All done, let me go get you a new shirt." She smiled at June and got up from the bed and left the room. "Has Farkas returned?" June asked Vilkas. He quickly looked down and shook his head. "No, no he hasn't." Vilkas spoke with a sigh. June reached out grabbing his hand, Vilkas looked up at her. "I'm sure he's fine. He can take care of himself." She tried to make him feel better but it didn't work. He just nodded and looked back down at the ground.
The healer returned with a new shirt for June. She slipped it on and put on her Thieves Guild jacket back on ignoring the tears in it. She was about to leave the room but Vilkas quickly stopped her. "What are you doing?" He asked. "I'm going to go speak with Scorn." She raised an eyebrow up at him. "You should rest, that wound was pretty deep." Vilkas furrowed his eyebrows down. "I'm fine, sitting down was good enough and I'm tired of resting. We need to start taking action." June pulled her arm away from him and walked out of the room.
Scorn looked up hearing the door open and smiled seeing June. "How are you feeling?" He asked. "I'm okay." She answered plainly. "I'm sure you've already heard this enough after the shrine but I must say it. I can't thank you enough for saving my people." He walked up to her. "No one is safe till we deal with Miraak." June walked past him. He turned watching her walk towards his table that had his map on it. "Yes you are right. But we must take our victories when we can. Because of you, our families are whole again." He followed her.
"It's a good thing you are anxious to get back to it though." He looked down at the map. "What do you mean?" She crossed her arms. "There are stones that need to be taken care of." He started pointing to the map in several places. June thought back about the stone at Raven Rock. "They too have people under mind control." Scorn explained. "Just tell me where to go and I'll go." June replied. He nodded and began to mark the stones on June's map.
June and Vilkas left his house and went to the house they were staying in. "You really should take a night to rest. We can leave in the morning." Vilkas followed her. "No, we'll make camp on the way there." June started packing new supplies. "If you want, I can go alone on this and you can go look for Farkas." June closed her bag and turned around looking at him. Vilkas quickly shook his head. "No, I'm not letting you go alone this time." Vilkas gathered his own supplies.
"I can take care of myself." She crossed her arms. "You said that last time and look what happened." He pointed at her wound. She couldn't help but smile at him. "So are we going or what?" Vilkas slightly grabbed her chin and than walked passed her. June smiled again and followed after him. The afternoon was fading into evening quickly and they were going to try and reach Raven Rock as soon as they could.
Seradia finally reached Whiterun, she didn't stop moving since Rorikstead. She was exhausted but she was scared. She hurried into the city running past guards and citizens bumping into some of them. She ran through the Cloud District and ran up the steps to Dragonsreach. The sun was setting and she had to hurry before the Jarl called it a night. She busted through the door making everybody in the room jump. "By the gods woman!" The guard yelled at her.
Seradia ignored him and ran up the stairs, the Yarl sat up in his throne seeing the panicked woman rushing for him. She stopped in front of the steps towards his throne to catch her breath. She leaned down putting her hands on her knees. "Take a deep breath girl!" The Yarl got up from his chair and walked down the steps. He grabbed her shoulders straightening her up so that she would look at him.
"I-I'm sorry to just barge in like this but-" She had to take another deep breath. "It's alright. You look like you've come a long way." He looked at her a little worried. "I have, and I come with a warning!" Seradia's voice started to shake. "Warning?" He furrowed his eyebrows down. "The Thalmor plan to attack the city." She got straight to the point. "They're also going to burn Rorikstead!" Tears started to form in her eyes.
Everyone in the court gasped and all started to mumbled to each other. "What proof do you have of such an accusation like this?!" Proventus marched down the stairs towards her. "Here, I have this!" Seradia quickly got out the letter she took and gave it to Balgruuf. Balgruuf opened the letter and smoothed it out. He rubbed his beard as he began to reach it, she could see his expression quickly change while he neared the end.
"What do you think about this Proventus?" Balgruuf gave the letter to him. Proventus read it and Seradia could see him shift around a bit uncomfortable and worried. "We..We shouldn't jump to anything my Yarl." Proventus slowly spoke. "If we are going to be under attack we must be ready." Irileth the Housecarl rushed to the Yarl's side. "No, if we show any kind of restraint or power we might be attacked by-" Balgruuf quickly cut off Proventus. "Enough!" He silenced them.
Balgruuf grabbed the letter back from Proventus and read it again. "This..Is definatly unsettling.." Seradia could hear the worry in his voice. "But why would the Thalmor attack us? We haven't claimed a side yet and I thought they were staying out of the Civil War." Proventus looked at Balgruuf. "I don't think this has anything to do with the war." Seradia quickly cut in. "I think they aim to start their own." Seradia looked at the three of them.
"But it doesn't make sense." Proventus scratched his head as he began to pace back and forth. "Can we really take a chance in calling this bluff?!" Irileth glared at Proventus. "No, no we can't." The Yarl finally decided. Seradia a little relieved. "Irileth, I want you to send soldiers to Rorikstead at once and gather our foces together after words. Tell them to be prepared for anything." Balgruuf ordered her. "Yes my Yarl." Irileth nodded and quickly left.
"Well done my girl." Balgruuf put a hand on her shoulder. "Who knows what is going to happen and when so I want you to stay here in Dragonsreach. Proventus, show her to the gues quarters." He looked to Proventus. Proventus nodded and walked over to Seradia. Seradia looked at the Yarl still worried. "Don't worry, we'll get everything figured out soon." He tried making her feel better but of course it didn't work. Seradia just slowly nodded and followed Proventus out of the room. The Yarl sighed as he rubbed his forehead. Not only were Ulfric and Tulius breathing down his neck now he had to worry about a possible Thalmor attack.
The General returned later that night to Rorikstead, he got off of his horse and entered his home. He walked into his room and was about to walk to his desk but he quickly stopped and furrowed his eyebrows down as he saw that the drawer he kept locked was no longer locked, in fact it had been broken open. He quickly got down on his knees and started to dig through all his papers. His neatly slicked back hair became messy as he started to panic. "It's gone!" He yelled in anger.
The guards outside heard him and ran in. "What's wrong sir!?" They looked at him. "Someone came in here and broke into my desk and took something that was top secret!" He yelled in more anger as he quickly stood up. The guards looked at each other realizing who it was. "What?" The General noticed them. "The last person that was in here was a girl from the Inn, she brought the dinner." He pointed at the platter that was full of spoiled food from sitting out too long.
The General glared at them and quickly stormed up to them both. "Which girl?" He sneered at them. The guard nervously cleared his throat. "I-It was the girl who spoke out against you the other night sir..." He slowly answered. The General just stood there for a moment remembering and once he did remember he slowly glared at them again. "Find me the girl! Look everywhere! Tare the houses down if you must!" He yelled at them. "Yes sir!" They both quickly turned around and left the house.
They searched the town inside out and could not find her. One of the guards slowly came back inside the house. The General was sitting in a chair in front of the fire place. "Well?" He asked as he heard the door open. "No luck sir, she's no longer here." The guard slowly answered. The General rubbed his forehead as his breathing slowly increased with fire boiling in his belly. He quickly got up from his chair and knocked it down and than he threw glasses across the room at the wall breaking them.
The guard winced from every glass shattering. The General stopped and took a deep breath, he moved his hair back behind his ears. He than walked over to the guard and stopped right next to him. "Gather the soldiers and burn this place to the ground." He whispered in a sinister voice. "Yes sir." The guard obeyed and quickly left. The General grabbed his sword and left the house as well.
