Author's Note: Hey guys! New chapter! Enjoy! I do not own Skyrim.
Karthspire
"Duck, Will!" Lydia shouted. I dove for the ground nearly missing the dragon's tail swipe. I felt the tail horns scratch against my armor. Shite. I really liked that armor. I quickly leapt up and grabbed onto the tail as it continued to swing around the barren field. The dragon took note of this and brought its tail towards its head, intending to snatch me with its monstrous jaws. As soon as I got close enough, I Shouted. "FUS… RO… DAH!" The blast hit the dragon square in the face and it went down. I jumped off the now falling tail and scrambled to the dragon's underbelly. Delphine and Esbern had advised us that dragons are less armored in that area. I plunged my greatsword straight through and a bright flash and a few wisps later, I was standing in front of yet another dragon skeleton.
I sheathed my sword as Lydia came up to me. "Are you alright?" She looked concerned. "He barely scratched me." I responded. She frowned and tapped my backside. I struggled to hold back a yelp of pain that shot up at her touch, as if she was lighting my insides on fire. She took note of this and marched me to a safe area where me made camp with Delphine and Esbern. "No bleeding." She said as she removed my armor. "You're lucky, my thane."
"The Dragonborn needs no luck, wench!" Esbern grumbled as he cooked a pot of whatever food he found. I hoped it was at least edible. There was no telling with this senile expert on dragons. "He is our savior! He will provide the miracle we need to fight against The Eater of Worlds!" Lydia shot him a look that shut him up. He grumbled about respecting elders and went back to his stirring. Delphine was too engrossed in the old man's books to pay any attention to us.
"As I said," Lydia returned her attention to me," you were lucky." She applied the healing potions to my back and held it with bandages as I grimaced.
"I don't need luck." I grunted, trying to act stronger than I was. "I need you."
"What?" She asked, confused and sudden. I realized what I said with horror. Shite the pain's really getting to me.
"I need you to… watch my back. In battle." I stammered. "I would've been killed if not for your help." She grinned and applied more pressure on the swollen area.
"Don't ever forget it, my Thane." She responded. I grinned. Thank the gods she bought it.
We arrived at Karthspire the following morning shortly after dawn. I crept into the cave after Esbern and Delphine with Lydia taking up the rear. "Hold." Delphine raised her hand in caution.
"Trouble?" Lydia silently moved forward and unsheathed her short sword. Delphine nodded and pointed to the shadows of bandits flickering against torchlight in the supposedly abandoned cavern. Lydia signaled to me to take up a vantage point. I nodded and went into my pack to grab my longbow and quiver stock full of arrows. I'd been practicing my archery for a while. Time to see if it had paid off. Lydia stepped forward into the light and lunged at the first bandit. Delphine came out right behind her and blocked a second bandit's attack. I saw a bandit with glowing hands readying a spell to catch the women off-guard. I nocked an arrow and drew back with all my strength. I made a silent prayer to the gods and let the arrow fly. It soared and lodged itself into the bandit's eye. He howled in pain until a second arrow hit him in the throat. We kept moving forward killing every enemy in our way. We eventually reached a corridor where we encountered dead skeletons coming back to life and forming an attack formation. I gave up the longbow and switched to my greatsword and proceeded to smash their bones to bits.
I continued to hack and smash the skeletal monsters to bits until I shoved the last one into the next corridor. The stone tiles around it lit up in a bright orange light, and within seconds the skeleton burst into flames before being burnt to bits. "That presents an issue." I commented as the others caught up in time to witness the fiery mayhem.
"Those tiles are pressure plates." Delphine realized. "One wrong step and we'll end up like that skeleton."
"It must be some sort of trap or puzzle." Esbern gathered. "If you'll give me a moment to look over my notes…" While he went digging around his pack, Lydia and I crouched down to study the tiles more closely.
"Do you recognize any of these symbols?" I asked her. She shook her head.
"None." Her head, which had been moving back and forth in surveillance, suddenly shot forward. "Save for that one." She pointed to a symbol that looked like some sort of horseshoe with dragon wings and claws at its top and bottom and an arrow in its center. "I've seen that now before. At the Graybeards." I studied it for a moment.
"Delphine, Esbern." I called out. "Do either of you recognize that symbol?"
"Yes," Delphine answered, "that's the symbol of the Dragonborn."
"Than that must be it." I stood up.
"Wait," Delphine stepped forward, "you're not thinking that's the symbol that won't throw fireballs at you. Do you?"
"That's the only recognizable symbol on this whole floor." I pointed out. "And it's my symbol. It seems right." I started walking before anyone could stop me. I took a leap and landed on the symbol. The pressure plate went down slowly. Nothing happened.
"Pull the chain!" Esbern called out to me. "That's how to deactivate to trap! The chain on the obelisk!" I turned towards where he was pointing and used the path of the Dragonborn to find my way there. I reached the chain and pulled. The sounds of metallic machinery moving could be heard and finally stones moving aside.
"It's safe now." Delphine announced. "Let's continue."
"How much farther, Esbern?" I asked. I could feel my heart pounding the whole way.
"We must be close by now." Esbern answered, leading the way. We followed him up a stone bridge into a torch-lit cavern.
"The Sky Haven Temple." Esbern said in awe. "Wonderful. Remarkably well-preserved too." We continued forward, observing the walls and carvings around us, until we came to a circular pedestal on the ground infant of a giant head carving in the wall. "Ahh." Esbern was like a child at a fair. "Here's the 'blood-seal'. Another of the lost Akaviri arts."
"Blood seal?" I inquired.
"Yes," Esbern responded, "no doubt triggered by, well, blood."
"What?" Lydia and I nearly shouted.
"Your blood, Dragonborn." Esbern said calmly. Lydia drew her blades as Esbern went on to recount the history of the cavern.
"Listen, old man." She warned. "If you think we're going to sacrifice my Thane, then you are mistaken."
"Calm yourself, woman!" Esbern countered. "The seal only requires a drop of blood. I would never sacrifice our only chance of defeating the World-Eater."
"Why didn't you just say so?" I stepped forward and brought out a dagger. I kneeled onto the pedestal and made a cut on my palm. The blood dripped out onto the markings and soon a glow was formed in the ground beneath me.
"It's working!" Delphine exclaimed. "Look, it's coming to life!" The glow stopped and the giant head began to move backwards. Soon the way was open for us. Delphine gestured for me to go first. I stepped through the narrow corridor into a small room with markings all over the walls.
"Shor's bones!" Esbern exclaimed as he stepped through. "Alduin's Wall!" He began muttering to himself how well preserved the artistry was before Delphine cut him off.
"Esbern!" She called him back to reality. "We need information, not a lecture on art history."
"Yes, yes." Esbern seemed to answer rather in a daze. "Let's see what we have." He went to the wall's beginning to discover the rule of Alduin and the dragons over Skyrim and continued its path towards the human rebellion and Alduin's defeat by the Nord Tongues, master of the Voice.
"Doe it show how they defeated him?" Delphine interrupted him. "Isn't that why we're here?"
"Patience, my dear girl." Esbern responded, absorbed in the artwork. "The Akaviri were not straightforward people. Everything is couched in allegory and mythic symbolism."
"Imagine that." Lydia muttered to me. I couldn't help but smile.
"Yes! Yes!" Esbern exclaimed. "Here is the Akaviri symbol for Shout… but it doesn't say what Shout meant."
"You mean they used a Shout to defeat Alduin?" Delphine asked. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Esbern answered. "Presumably something rather specific to dragons or even Alduin himself. Remember this is where they recorded all of what they knew of Alduin and his return."
"So we're looking for a Shout then." Delphine realized. "Damn it."
"What's the problem?" I asked. "We were looking for a way to defeat him and now we're one step closer. On top of which, I can Shout. We have a way to defeat Alduin and the user to do so."
"Yes," Delphine responded, "but have you ever heard of such a thing? A Shout that can knock a dragon out of the sky?"
"No," I answered after a moment, "but the Graybeards might know. They've taught me everything I know about the Voice. I'm sure they have some idea."
"Damn it." Delphine cursed. "I was hoping to avoid asking their help, but we've no other choice."
"What do you have against the Graybeards?"
"If they had their way, you'd do nothing but spend your life atop their mountain talking to the sky." Delphine explained in rage. "They're afraid of power and you."
"They have a point to fear power." I told her. "It can be dangerous in the wrong hands." I held up a hand before she could protest. "Let me talk to Arngeir about what he knows."
"It's not like they'd help Esbern or I if we came asking." She shrugged in contempt. "We'll stay here and see what else we can find. Talos guard you."