~The Power of Music~
15th of First Seed
5:12 pm
The Ruins of Dawnstar
Dyce
"Dyce, we have a problem!" I heard Owain shouting. I was busy tending to Sortiara's unconscious form, while Edgar gave the recovering Scarecrow medicine. She was up and about now, able to move, but I doubt she could fight. Sighing to myself, I grabbed my sword, belted the scabbard to my waist, and headed out. Owain was running at full speed, his wings trailing behind him.
Behind him, on the ridge, was a small army of monsters. Each one of them was a grotesque abomination of flesh, with rusted armor and sharp fangs. Some of them had wings, and were flying this way. "I can see the problem, Owain!" I cried out, drawing my blade. There were about thirty monsters, and I knew we had to fight; we couldn't move Sortiara and Scarecrow in the short amount of time we had.
"Don't let them bite you!" Owain said, drawing his mace and spinning around quickly. "I saw one bite a poor nord. He foamed at the mouth and died in less than a minute!" he readied his stance for battle.
"I'll keep that in mind." I said back. We charged the army, and I let out a powerful "Fus Ro Dah!" to scatter some of them. I could see three different kinds of monsters present here- there were ones that looked like humans, ones that resembled Avons, and then small, hunched-over ones that liked to stay out of open conflict and try to sneak hits in.
Owain battled the group of airborne monsters, leaving me to deal with the ground assailants. "Yol!" I shouted quickly, setting quite a few of them on fire, the monsters dropping their weapons and screaming as the flames took them. Owain was strategically striking enemies so that they would fall on top of others, knocking them out of the fight, even if for only a few seconds.
I made progress in hacking away at the monsters, felling half of them with Owain's help. However, it was then we had to go more on the defensive. When the last airborne thing fell, drowning in a pool of its black blood, the rest stepped back a few feet as a bloodcurdling roar made itself known. Behind the monsters rose another- which happened to be taller than Owain and I combined. Its diseased skin was a dark purple, and two large, curved horns rode from its skull. It wore no armor, save for a leather loin cloth and giant, spiked steel gauntlets.
"Dyce," Owain asked. "What the hell is that thing?" My friend hovered in the air next to me, and I couldn't answer him. The monsters cheered as the lumbering beast made its way to us, stepping aside to let us challenge it. It roared in our faces, flinging spittle and mucus as foul as its breath. It slammed the ground when it finished, awaiting our acceptance of its challenge.
"Owain, stand back. It's obvious this thing wants a fair fight." I said. He went to protest, but then I snipped back, "If we don't fight this thing one-on-one, the rest will join combat and probably storm the inn!" That got him to back off. The monsters formed a circle around the giant and I, negating any sort of escape as Owain hovered overhead.
The beast roared again, slamming its fist where I once stood. I had rolled to its left, slicing its knee with my blade. It seemed unfazed at the wound, merely roaring again as it tried to swipe at me another time. "Fus Ro Dah!" I yelled, but to no effect; the shockwave of pure Dragon Force merely dissipated around it. The monsters in the circle cheered in their guttural language when the beast struck me with a backhanded swipe, flinging me across the small arena.
The wound wasn't too serious, but the puncture one of the spikes made was deep in my stomach. Blood was pooling out of me, and I had no choice but to pause combat for a second to chug down a potion of healing. The wound stopped bleeding, but stayed visible in all its goriness. Frantically thinking, I spotted a dead body of the monsters, one of Owain's wingblades lodged in its head. Before the monstrous beast could harm me, I had grabbed the cool metal in my offhand and wielded it as a dagger.
"Hyaa!" I screamed as a battle cry, jumping onto the beast's chest. I sunk both my weapons into it, as the monster roared in pain. Quickly, I pulled the wingblade out and used it to climb higher on the beast, as did my sword after I stabbed the other blade back in. I kicked off the monster when I got to its head, knocking it off balance onto its back.
As swiftly as my crazy idea worked, it failed. The monster got up faster than I had anticipated, and grabbed me with its massive hand. It simply squeezed, causing blood to rush out of my already-numerous wounds. I felt faint. That was, until a feathered friend flew down at astonishingly fast speeds with his mace.
"Hey, ugly!" Owain screeched, as he swung his mace. The second it made contact with the side of the monster's head, he yelled out "Bonk!" with surprising confidence. The titan fell as he dropped me, and Owain landed to help me up.
"What did you just…" I started to ask, already chugging down another healing potion.
"Grass grows, Avons fly, the sun shines, and Dyce," He said in a serious tone, "I hurt people." The monsters, now enraged that he broke the trust of the duel, fought us all at once again. The large one got back up, even after suffering the nasty blow to the head, and charged us again.
"It's been nice knowing you, Owain." I said. I could barely lift my sword, let alone fight. And I knew Owain couldn't fight them off. I closed my eyes, bracing for the worst, when the cold metal of enemy weapons didn't come. What did was a powerful sound, a drumbeat to be precise, that echoed around us.
"I know we don't quite agree on land," I heard a voice say, "But it did look like you could use a hand." Looking around, I saw the bodies of the monsters trying to get back up from the blast, and behind us was a Khajiit, draped in brown robes and holding a large drum in one hand. His fur, though, was a combination of black and white I knew all too well.
"Xenos?" I asked.
"Indeed, it has been a while, hasn't it, my friends? Now, move out of the way, and let me deal these creatures their ends." He spoke in his usual way. Not complaining, Owain took this as the chance to drag me away from the battle, and as much as I liked causing my foes pain, I was glad to be alive.
Xenos struck his drum once more, sending a beat that echoed throughout the area, and the monsters seemed to feel pain from it. He struck the musical instrument in a rhythm that I guessed wasn't made up on the spot, and the ground broke under the monsters' feet, sending spikes of stone into their bodies.
It was then that he put the drum into his Bag of Holding, and drew out his lute. The string instrument's melodies were different than before. With a few notes, Xenos's body glowed for a second, and then he played it faster, adding more notes as an electric force built up on the strings. With one final note, the lightning erupted from the end of the lute, zapping the nearest monster and chaining to most of the others.
All of them fell to the flurry of musical attacks, even the big one. More lightning strikes, and more quakes from the drum, were more than enough to fell the beasts. Taking note of this, Xenos bowed to the fallen enemies. "Thank you, thank y one and all! But, I'm afraid you all had to fall." He intoned, trying to get the dead monsters to cheer for his musical performance.
"What… the fuck… was that?" Owain asked for both of us. Xenos simply laughed as he pulled out a third musical instrument- a flute.
"I am glad you asked, dear Owain, for I am known by many things in this day and age. Although it tends to get in the way of any fame, I am known by many as both bard and Sonomage." He bowed to us, then immediately started to play the flute. A slow, soothing melody escaped it and entered my ears, and I felt rejuvenated from listening to it. When the song ended, I felt stronger- to my surprise, my wounds had all but disappeared!
"Xenos, could you play that again, for our friend?" I asked. After a nod from the bard, we reentered the inn, approaching Scarecrow's room. She was still asleep, but Xenos still played for us- we saw her wounds closing as the enchanted melody played. "So, how come your music didn't do this the last few times we met?" I asked.
"A question as to why you did not receive that boon? It is simply because I must play a specific tune." The bard said. "As for why I am here, of great treasure from a good friend did I hear. Little did I know I'd be spying you good folk, as I made my way from valleys and forests of oak."
"Xenos." I said seriously. "I know you're not the type to stay with us, and I know you always tend to show up when we need you…" I found this hard to ask somehow. "But… could you join us for the time being? We need the help."
Owain added on, "As much as I don't have a thing for Khajiit, or bards, I agree here. We need help, Xenos. Could you give us some?"
The cat thought for a second. A smile broke out on his lips. "A Warrior, a flier, a mage; a child, an archer, and me, all on the same page…" He stood up. "I will help Dragonend with your plight!"
"Thanks, Xenos, you're a lifesaver…" I sighed in relief.
"But only if you permanently add me to your might." He added on, completing his rhyme. Owain looked at me for a split second.
"You want… to join Dragonend?" he asked. Xenos nodded. "Well, we are a real guild now, I guess…"
"I don't see the harm in it." I answered, holding out a hand for Xenos to shake. "Welcome to the team."
~End of Chapter~
