A/N: Okay. So I've been writing at school (like chapter25-27 ish) and I've transferred tem from paper to my kindle (which doesn't have italics and stuff) so if there are any mistakes please let me know. Sorry. I'm on spring break right now, and I've been spending most of my time out at the barn with my horse. Hopefully i can get the rest of the chapters I've written up for you guys before too long. Terribly sorry for the long wait, but school makes me want to shoot myself in the face sometimes. For a while after Christmas I got really depressed and never wanted to do anything but sleep and hang out with my boyfriend because he makes me happy. But I'm better now and I only have a week and four days before I'm out of school, and I graduate May 15th. So I should have more time to wrote and such. I'm not gonna promise anything, but I will try. And I'm not gonna give up on this story! So yeah. Thanks big time for sticking in there and hanging on. I'm sorry I make you guys wait so long. LOVE YOU ALL! review please, even though I don't deserve it! Enjoy. :)

Chapter 26

Everything was numb. I knew I should be walking, but I couldn't get my feet to move. All I could think was nonononono. Arngeir was staring at me, waiting for me to move. But I couldn't. I was frozen, sitting on the frosty ground, unable to do anything.

My heart hammered against my ribs. My stomach twisted and fluttered painfully. I could barely breathe.

"Dragonborn?" Arngeir looked worried.

Nononononono... it was too soon. I wasn't ready. A few more days, please. I don't want to die. I've barely lived!

I felt warm air against my back, lifting my hair off my shoulders. Silas placed the hard tip of his snout against the small of my back and pushed me gently toward the path down the mountain.

I can't, I wanted to tell him. Don't make me. Please, Silas, don't make me do this. But my body gave way, my right foot slipping forward over the frozen ground. I knew I couldn't fight Silas's strength, but I tried nonetheless.

When I braced myself against him, he pushed harder. The flat of his skull was against my back, and soon I was sliding forward into the snow.

"It is just a messenger, Freya," he whispered. And he was right. A simple courier, not Alduin. Not the World Eater, with his gleaming teeth and his mouth like a furnace. A man, not a dragon god. A man.

I have faced many men before.

The pressure was gone from my back. I stood, breath misting in the frigid air, and stepped forward. I could feel Silas' eyes on my back, lending his strength in whatever way he could.

The walk down to High Hrothgar was a blur. Arngeir was silent, picking his way carefully down the treacherous path. When we reached the courtyard, he pulled open the heavy wooden door and ushered me through ahead of him.

The courier stood just inside the main door to the fortress, looking very uncomfortable. He was shivering, shifting his weight from foot to foot. When he saw me, he straightened.

"Lady Dragonborn, the Jarl of Whiterun sent me to inform you that the great trap is ready, and that he eagerly awaits your arrival. He also bids that you hurry. The people are growing restless."

While he was speaking, his eyes flicked down repeatedly to the jagged tears in my armor. I ignored the looks, thanked him, and sent him on his way.

The numbness faded, replaced with determination. The fear was still there, though. I would never be rid of it, it seemed. It was constant, and had been since I had first realized my destiny.

Hurry, the Jarl had bid me. With Silas' wing still broken, I would have to go on foot. A day to get down the mountain if I encountered no trouble. Another ten if I went north to get around the base of the mountain. Five if I took the path that cut throughout the mountain range. Helgen lay on that path, though, and I had not been near the place since the day Alduin had shown up and inadvertently saved my life.

At the rate Silas was healing, perhaps he would be able to fly me down. With him, the journey would take less than half a day. And I wouldn't be alone. I could delay here for a few more days, however long it took for him to heal, and fly down when he was ready. I would still arrive at the city faster than if I had walked the whole way.

Although if I walked, I would have more time to prepare myself for the task ahead. Time to think. Time to steel my resolve and to tell myself that I could do it, that I could kill Alduin and save the people relying on me. Time, perhaps, to pray.

Silas had said that the gods had saved me and turned him into a dragon to pay for it. But why? Silas seemed to be doing fine, almost comfortable in this new form. Shouldn't the price for a life be something more terrible?

I was grateful that the gods hadn't taken Silas from me, but I couldn't help but feel like I was missing something more important.

I trudged back up to the peak of the mountain. Silas was lying where I'd left him, his head resting on a snow-encrusted boulder. His eyes were closed, but snapped open when he heard me struggling through the knee-deep powder. He lifted his spiked head from the rock and fixed one of his slitted green eyes on me.

"I have been summoned," I said. "The trap at Dragonsreach is ready. I must go and trap Odahviing."

I placed a hand on his broken wing, feeling the heat from his body seep into my chilled fingers. It was too much to ask him to go. He had done so much for me already, I could not bear to ask him to fly with a broken wing. Even if we waited for it to heal, it might still pain him.

"When will you leave?" he asked. I could not meet his eyes.

"Tomorrow," I said. "At dawn." He was silent. I didn't want to face him. I didn't want to see how he felt about me leaving. I didn't want him to see the pain and fear I was certain was etched in my face, pain and fear borne of leaving him behind and being alone again.

I walked to the edge of the mountain and stood on a rock that jutted out over the empty air. It was quiet, the sun slowly sinking so that the edge the jagged jaws of the low mountain pierced the glowing golden orb. I watched the world turn peach and crimson, the low clouds set on fire by the light, then slowly grow darker. The sunset was imprinted in my mind so that when I closed my eyes to sleep, it lingered.

But it was not the sunset. It was the dawn. I was close enough to the clouds that I could reach up and touch them. To either side, Silas' wings stretched, carrying us toward the rising sun. The breeze played at my hair so that it streamed behind me. My fear of falling was non-existent. I spread my arms wide, mimicking Silas' wings, and splayed my fingers.

Lifting my face, I extended one arm up towards the clouds. The moment my fingers made contact with the soft fluff, time slowed. I looked down at Silas. His eyes were closed, his features softer than I'd ever seen them before. He looked...content.

I heard the slow rumble of thunder. Behind us, in the darkness of the world still swallowed by the night, threatening clouds loomed. We got farther away from the storm, and it seemed to grow smaller.

In the light, we were untouchable, and I felt whole. No troubles darkened my heart. I was weightless, calm. At peace. I smiled. It was over.

When I woke in the pre-dawn darkness and chill of High Hrothgar, the weight returned. My pack, stuffed with provisions enough to last a month, sat at the end of my bed. My ruined armor sat near the hearth, the foresight dancing dully in the steely depths.

I rose, already weary at the thought of leaving, and dressed myself. I strapped a pouch of gold, full enough to buy new armor, to my waist. I preferred to make my own, but there wouldn't be enough time. I strapped a long bow to my back and my sword to my left hip.

It was time to go.

The wind was back in full force, so I had to Shout every few minutes to clear the weather and keep myself from freezing to death. When I finally reached the summit, nearly frozen and exhausted, Silas was not there.

Paarthurnax was also missing. I had never seen him stray far from the word wall. Even when he fought Silas, it had always been in his sight.

A roar shook the earth and I drew my sword, prepared to fight. But I couldn't see anything. The wind was fierce and whipped snow into my eyes. I was blind.

I saw the clawed foot too late and didn't even have time to scream before sharp talons closed around my torso and I was lifted from the ground.