Ustengrav was an old tomb buried deep in the misty swamps outside the city of Morthal. Between the necromancers that had moved into the ruin's upper levels, the hordes of draugr below, and the numerous traps that filled the halls in the middle, I was tired and irritated by the time I reached the last chamber.
I pulled the chain and the metal gate slid up into the ceiling to allow me to pass through the doorway. On the other side was a burial chamber. Several pillars lined the room, holding up the vaulted ceiling. A set of stairs led down to a stone walkway that ran down the middle of the room, flanked on either side by pools of water. At the far end I saw what I could only assume was Jurgen Windcaller's tomb set onto a short platform.
As I crossed the walkway, carved stone statues of what I assumed were dragons rose from the water with a loud rumbling sound. I tried not to shiver as I felt the statues' eyes staring down at me.
The coffin itself was also made of stone and carved with reliefs of flying dragons as well as the word Windcaller in daedric script. The platform was covered in long-since burned out candles covered in dust. At the top of the tomb was a stone hand lifted upward, fingers curled in to grasp the horn.
Except it wasn't there. In its place was a rolled up piece of paper. Unlike everything else in the tomb, it seemed new. Heart racing, I snatched it out of the hand's grip and unrolled it. My eyes scanned the page.
Dragonborn,
I need to speak to you. Urgently.
Rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood, and I'll meet you.
– A Friend
The paper crumpled in my fingers as my lips twisted in irritation. What was so important that they had taken the damn horn? And how in Talos's holy name had they gotten down there before me?
There was only one way to find out.
The innkeeper was sweeping near the hearth when I approached. Her blue-grey eyes narrowed with suspicion. "If it isn't that visitor been pokin' around."
"Friendly."
She kept sweeping. "I'm the innkeeper. It's my business to keep track of strangers. Now what can I do for you?"
"I want to rent the attic room," I said.
The monotonous scrape of bristles against the flagstone abruptly ceased. The woman's pale eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline. "Attic room, eh? Well, we don't have an attic room, but you can have the one on the left. Make yourself at home."
I stared at her and wondered if I should ask again. Then I shook my head and went in anyway. Maybe she was working with whoever took the horn. I sat down in the chair, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my thighs. There wasn't really anyone else at the inn, so I figured I had to wait. It didn't take as long as I'd expected. Footsteps approached moments later and I looked up. It was the innkeeper again. Gods, the woman was getting on my nerves.
Before I could say anything, she whispered, "So you're the Dragonborn I've been hearing so much about. I think you're looking for this." She dropped an object into my lap. An old horn.
I floundered for a moment. "How–"
"Not here. Follow me."
I got up and she led me through the main room and through a door on the other side, which she promptly shut behind us. I tried to speak, but she shook her head again. Going over to a wardrobe, she opened it and reached in. There was a click and the back panel slid away, revealing a hidden set of stairs. She stepped in, and I followed.
"Now we can talk." She said once the ground leveled out. "The Greybeards seem to think you're the Dragonborn. I hope they're right."
We were in a small chamber lined with stone walls. I walked around, taking it all in. It wasn't what I'd expected to find anywhere in Riverwood. There was a rack of weapons, shelves full of potions and ingredients, a training dummy in the corner.
"So you're the one that took the horn," I murmured.
"Surprised? I guess I'm getting pretty good at my harmless innkeeper act."
I turned to face her and spread my arms. "Here I am. Now what do you want?"
She scowled. "I didn't go to all this trouble on a whim. I needed to make sure it wasn't a Thalmor trap." With a sigh, she pinched the bridge of her nose and said, "I am not your enemy. I already gave you the horn. I'm actually trying to help you. I just need you to hear me out."
"Well, you'd better start explaining. Fast."
"I'll explain what I want, when I want, got it? You'd already be dead if I didn't like the look of you when you walked in here." I doubted that. "But I had to know if the rumors about you were true… I'm part of a group that's been looking for you… well, someone like you, for a very long time. If you really are Dragonborn, that is. Before I tell you any more, I need to make sure I can trust you."
I wasn't sure I could trust her either, but I kept that to myself. "Why are you looking for a Dragonborn, anyway?" I asked. One of the swords on the wall caught my eye. I walked over.
"We remember what most don't; that the Dragonborn is the ultimate dragonslayer." She watched me walk away and continued, "You're the only one that can kill a dragon permanently by devouring its soul. Can you?"
"Can I what?" I was busy staring at the sword on the wall. The style of the one-edged blade was very, very familiar. But it couldn't be the same. It couldn't possibly. Not here.
"Can you devour a dragon's soul?"
I shrugged. "I absorb some kind of power. Beyond that, I can't say."
"This is no time to play reluctant hero. You either are or you aren't Dragonborn. But I'll see for myself soon enough."
"Hmm. So what's the part you aren't telling me?"
"Dragons aren't just coming back," she explained. "They're coming back to life. They weren't gone somewhere for all these years. They were dead, killed off centuries ago by my predecessors. Now something's happening to bring them back and I need you to help me stop it."
"And you're sure they're actually being brought back?"
She nodded. "I know they are. I've visited their ancient burial mounds and found them empty. I've figured out where the next one will come back to life. We're going to go there and you're going to kill that dragon. If we succeed I'll tell you anything you want to know."
"You do realize how insane this sounds, right?" I asked her after a long pause.
"A few years ago I said almost the same thing to a colleague of mine," she said with a rueful laugh. "Well, it turned out he was right and I was wrong."
"So where are we headed?"
She pointed to a map laid out on the table at the center of the room. "Kynesgrove. There's an ancient dragon burial near there. If we can get there before it happens, maybe we'll learn how to stop it."
"Right. Let's go."
"I need to get into my traveling gear. Give me a minute and I'll be ready."
I walked back up out of the secret room and waited for her above. Minutes later she returned, garbed in leather armor. A sword was strapped to one hip and a curved dagger to the other. She sealed the panel and closed the wardrobe doors.
Nodding to the inn's main room, she said, "Let's get on the road to Kynesgrove."
As we made for the door, she called back, "Orgnar. I'm travelling. You've got the inn 'til I get back."
The man behind the bar nodded and lifted the tankard he was cleaning in a kind of salute. "Right. Happy trails."
The woman led me down the street. "This way. We'll cross the White River and follow it to Windhelm. Then we can swing south to Kynesgrove."
We took the road leading north from Riverwood toward Whiterun. For a long time things were quiet except for the rhythmic sound of our boots on the path and the wind rustling through the pine trees on either side.
"So, "Dragonborn"…"
"I have a name," I grumbled. "Mara."
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked me over. Then she looked away and said, "Delphine."
"Charmed."
Her lips twisted slightly in irritation. "Well, I'm glad you were willing to trust me. I know it probably wasn't the best way to introduce myself, but… old habits. You know."
I did.
"You're younger than I expected."
I glared at her. "I am more than capable of dealing with all of this."
"Maybe. Still, I don't want you to get yourself killed before we even get there." She let out a short laugh and quickly sobered again. "I hope you're Dragonborn, I really do. We'll find out soon enough."
Upon reaching Windhelm days later we headed southeast on the road leading to Kynesgrove. We finally turned off when the road split to run through a break in a low stone wall that ran alongside the main path. Ahead I saw the outlines of a number of stocky wooden buildings.
"This is Kynesgrove," Delphine told me as we walked. "Not much to look at. There's an inn here. The Braidwood. I hear they serve a nice dark ale. Nothing on the Sleeping Giant, of course."
"Of course," I replied, rolling my eyes.
"The innkeeper ought to be able to tell us if there's any dragon mound nearby." She hesitated, frowning. "Wait. Something's wrong."
At that moment a woman ran down the hill toward us, waving her arms frantically in the air.
"No, you don't want to go up there!" She shouted. "A dragon… it's attacking!"
I looked up at the sky and frowned. "A dragon is attacking Kynesgrove?"
The woman shrugged helplessly. "Well, I don't know. Not yet. It flew over the town and landed on the old dragon mound!" She pointed up the road ahead. "I don't know what it's doing up there, but I'm not waiting around to find out!"
As she hurried off Delphine and I looked at each other.
"Come on. We might be too late."
I followed Delphine as she ran up the road the woman had indicated. Moments later I heard a guttural roar that sent chills down my spine. There was a dragon up there. Moments later I saw its massive spiked form in the sky above the hill, shadowed in the growing dark.
"Lorkhan's eyes! Look at that big bastard!" Delphine breathed. "Keep your head down. Let's see what it does."
She dropped into a low crouch and I followed suit. Together we crept forward a few feet and peered out from around a large boulder to see what was happening.
The dragon pumped its wings as it hovered in the air. Below it was a mound lined with cut stone blocks. As the dragon spoke, its words laced with power, the mound cracked. There was a loud boom like thunder.
"Steady. I don't know what's happening. Let's watch and wait." She leaned forward, one hand curled into a fist against the boulder and brow furrowed as she watched the scene unfold. "This is worse than I thought…"
The mound burst apart and from beneath crawled out the massive skeleton of a dragon. As I watched the bones burst into flames that quickly died away to reveal flesh and scales. It inclined its horned head to the dragon above it in reverence and spoke. I didn't know the words.
Then the dragon in the air turned his head and his flaming eyes fixed on me. I knew those eyes. It was the same black dragon who had attacked Helgen. I inhaled sharply and he seemed to sneer at me.
"You do not even know our tongue, do you?" He asked me, his deep rumbling voice filled with disgust. "Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of dovah."
He said something to the other dragon that sounded an awful lot like an order before flying off. It didn't take much to imagine what when the second dragon threw back his head and roared, releasing a jet of flames into the sky.
"I would suggest running," I told Delphine.
I dashed off and heard footsteps that told me she was doing the same in the other direction. The dragon leapt into the sky, the wind from his wings sending dust flying. Covering my eyes, I ducked out of the way. I drew my sword and waited.
When he swooped down toward me, I ran forward and jumped, stabbing my blade through the membrane of his left wing and tearing a long hole in the skin. I fell to the ground, landing on my back and letting out a gasp. The dragon roared and crashed headlong into the nearby trees, ripping several up from the earth by their roots.
I was up first, staggering over to him. Whether it was sweat or blood I felt trickling down the side of my face, it didn't matter. Not at that moment.
Stopping before his head, we glared at each other. He opened his great jaws wide, revealing rows of razor-sharp fangs nearly as long as my arm. Without hesitation, I stabbed my sword up through the roof of his mouth. I wrenched it free and quickly stepped back as the dragon seemed to crumple.
As before the corpse started to burn. I closed my eyes, jaw clenching at the jarring feeling of the impact as I absorbed the dragon's soul. My head buzzed unpleasantly as the sensation faded.
"Gods above…" A voice gasped. I opened my eyes and turned around to see Delphine standing behind me. She stared at me and murmured, "It's true, isn't it? You really are Dragonborn."
"It would seem so," I said, lowering my blade.
"I owe you some answers, don't I?"
"That would be nice."
Delphine spread her hands. "Go ahead. Whatever you want to know. Nothing held back."
"All right. Who are you and what do you want with me?" I asked.
"I'm one of the last members of the Blades."
My first response was satisfaction. I knew I recognized the style of that sword. Then a chill crept down my spine as the meaning of her words really sunk in. One of the last of the Blades, she'd said. One of the last.
She didn't seem to notice my reaction as she went on, "A very long time ago the Blades were dragonslayers and we served the Dragonborn, the greatest dragonslayer. For the last two hundred years, since the last Dragonborn emperor, the Blades have been searching for the Dragonborn to guide and guard, as we are sworn to do, but we never found one. Until now."
My heart gave a painful twinge and I looked away. From following Martin… to following me? It felt wrong. So wrong. I had been one of them once.
"You said you're one of the last. How?" I asked quietly.
"The Thalmor, that's how," Delphine spat. "Before the Great War, the Blades helped the Empire against the Thalmor. Our Grand Master saw them as the greatest threat to Tamriel. At the time, that was true. Maybe it still is. So we fought them in the shadows all across Tamriel. We thought we were more than a match for them. We were wrong."
Everything, every problem, always came back to the Thalmor. It was both unsettling and infuriating. I'd been gone for all of it.
"All this time, the Blades have been searching for a purpose," she went on. "Now that dragons are coming back, our purpose is clear again: we need to stop them."
"So what do you actually know about the dragons coming back?"
She scowled. "Not a damn thing. I was just as surprised as you to find that big black dragon here."
"Well, I'm one up on you, then," I said, letting out a bitter laugh. "I've seen that s'wit before."
She stared at me, shocked. "Really? Where?"
"He was the one that attacked Helgen when Ulfric escaped."
"Interesting. Same dragon…" The Blades's fists clenched and she started pacing. "Damn it, we're blundering around in the dark here! We need to figure out who's behind it all!"
I leaned against a nearby boulder and crossed my arms. "What's our next move here?"
"The first thing we need to do is figure out who's behind this. The Thalmor are our best lead. If they aren't involved, they'll know who is."
"Not surprising, but humor me anyway: why are you so sure it's them?" I asked.
She stopped and faced me, hands on her hips, as she explained, "Nothing solid – yet – but my gut tells me it can't be anybody else. The Empire had captured Ulfric. The war was basically over. Then a dragon attacks, Ulfric escapes, and the war is back on. Now the dragons are attacking everywhere indiscriminately. Skyrim is weakened. The Empire is weakened. Who else gains from that but the Thalmor?"
"So, we need to find out what the Thalmor know about the dragons. Any ideas?"
"If we could get into the Thalmor Embassy… It's the center of their operations in Skyrim…" She rubbed her temples and sighed. "Problem is that place is locked up tighter than a miser's purse. They could teach me a few things about paranoia."
"If that's the case, how do we get in?"
"I'm not sure yet. I have a few ideas, but I'll need some time to pull things together."
I straightened. "Right. When you figure it out, I'll be in Whiterun. Probably."
"I'll let you know when I have something. Keep an eye on the sky. This is only going to get worse."
