Chapter Seven: Another Delay from Their Adventure
"Dragon!" Anjaarra heard a guard scream. She stood paralyzed in fear as the beast roared again and dove down towards the village. It seemed to pull back and barely skimmed over the village, blowing a gust of wind over the wooden buildings. The Khajiit barely stood on her feet as she fought off the paralysis and pulled out her bow. Hulgar was already pulling out his axes, watching the beast carefully.
The dragon circled the village two more times before he thundered down into one of the fields. Hulgar immediately ran in that direction as Anjaarra ran towards one of the buildings. She pushed her claws out through the gloves and jumped onto the side of the wooden structure, her claws sinking into the old wood. With lightning speed, the Khajiit climbed up the wall and onto the roof of the house. She had a clear view of the dragon, and a clear view of the Talos-worshipping Nord who whacked at the beast with his war axes.
With a shake of her, Anjaarra pulled out her bow and notched an arrow, taking aim at the dragon. It was rearing its head back and about to snap at Hulgar as she let go of the arrow. It whistled through the air and pierced its underbelly, making it rear back and howl its pain. Seeing his opportunity, Hulgar whacked at the beast's chest, the metal axes biting deep into the dragon's flesh. The dragon howled again before flapping its mighty wings and taking off into the sky. The gusts of wind pushed Hulgar onto his back, leaving him breathless as the dragon flew towards Anjaarra. She stared at it wide eyed as it opened its mouth wide, an orange glow seen at the back of it throat. The Khajiit quickly jumped off the side of the building as fire roared out of its mouth and lit the roof into a blaze.
With a shaky breath, Anjaarra pushed herself back up onto her feet and notched another arrow onto the bow, taking aim. The dragon circled around the village, roaring out its pain and frustration on the scared villagers below it. But the Khajiit took a deep breath, steadied her arm and released the arrow. The iron bolt sang through the air, embedding itself deep into the dragon's wing-arm. It bellowed out in pain as another arrow sank its iron head deep into its joint. As if by reflexes, the wing closed up and forced the dragon into a downward spiral. A smirk crossed the cat-woman's lips as the dragon plummeted into the earth, rocks and earth flying up into the air as it skidded to a halt just on the border of the town. Now it was Hulgar's turn.
The Nord ran full force at the once flying lizard, slashing at its furled wing. The dragon screamed in protest, trying to snap at the Nord but couldn't quite reach him. Another iron arrow flew its way, embedding itself into the loose skin under its neck. In a last attempt to rid itself of one of its annoyances, the dragon took a deep breath and blasted a fireball towards where Anjaarra stood. She yelped and leapt out of the way. But the fireball had crashed into a home and forced it to crumble, completely covering the Khajiit.
Hulgar didn't hear Anjaarra's calls for help as he hacked off the wing-arm, his triumphant smirk leaving his face as the dragon screamed out in pain. He dropped his axes and covered his ears, the dragon's screech still carrying on as it tried to fly but just flopped back down on the ground. Its roar eventually quieted down but Hulgar was still stunned on his knees. The dragon, furious and hungry, it turned to the knelt Nord, opening its mouth wide to snatch him up but a guard shot an arrow at it. The beast's head snapped towards the direction of the arrow, almost looking like it was glaring at the archer as it opened its mouth and lunged forward. The archer screamed for a second as the jaws enclosed around him and snapped his body into three pieces.
Hulgar shook his head and slowly stood up, feeling his knees buckle under him. He winced but forced himself to stay on his feet as he picked up his war axes and turned towards the hobbling lizard. The Nord kicked a rather large rock at the beast, seeing the stone bounce off its hind leg.
"Hey, ugly!" The dragon's head snapped back to look at the Nord. "Why don't you come and take a bite out of me?!" He shouted, holding back his fear as the beast turned towards him completely. From the corner of his eye, he saw Anjaarra crawl out of the rubble and saw her pull out what looked to be like an ebony dagger. Turning his gaze back to the beast before him, Hulgar raised his axes at the ready, glaring at it as it opened its jaws and roared its frustrations and anger towards the Nord. He stood strong in the wake of the shout, shouting back at it as Anjaarra ran and leapt onto the dragon's back. Shocked at the second opponent it still had, the dragon tried to look back at the Khajiit but Hulgar ran forward and started swinging his axes at the fire-breathing lizard. In a howl of pain, the dragon looked back towards Hulgar but all of its efforts were in vain. With a quick and lethal stroke, Anjaarra plunged her dagger deep into the beast's skull right between its eyes. A stream of blood squirted out, covering Hulgar with its crimson red blood. The Nord grimaced but ignored the liquid as he drove his own axes into the base of its neck, hacking away until the head fell away.
Anjaarra yelped quietly and fell to the ground with the head, the rest of the dragon's body falling to the ground. A deep shudder rumbled through the ground as the beast's body came to a rest. Struggling to her feet, Anjaarra stood up and pulled her dagger out of its skull, wiping it clean in the grass. Hulgar was drenched in blood as he tried to wipe his face clean. Sheathing her dagger, the Khajiit walked over to the Nord.
"Stay still," She said softly to him, grabbing her tail. Unsure of what she was about to do, Hulgar took a step back as Anjaarra wiped his face clean with her tail. She grimaced at the sticky warmth of the dragon's blood on her tail but it helped to easily clean up the Nord's face. He flushed slightly, clearing his throat.
"Th-thanks," He stammered, turning away to clean off his axes. Anjaarra grinned and nodded.
"Any time," She purred quietly as people began to crowd around the corpse of the beast. A young boy, probably around the age of ten or so stepped forward and hesitantly reached out a hand. He looked over at Hulgar and Anjaarra.
"I-is it dead…?" The boy asked nervously. Anjaarra looked at him and at the people around him, seeing that they all were thinking the same thing. With a strong nod of her head, Anjaarra grinned.
"Yes, the beast is dead and it won't bother you good people any longer." Anjaarra said her voice full of confidence. The boy grinned and touched the dragon, everybody else doing the same.
Hulgar watched them as they swarmed the dragon, marveling at the dead beast or taking off one of its scales. This is why he had joined the Stormcloacks: to rid the world of dragons. Okay, so the Dragonborn had found out that it had nothing to do with the Thalmor bringing about the return of dragons but they could've helped it along. With a final glance at the gawking crowd, Hulgar walked towards the river and washed away the blood from his armor. Anjaarra came to his side and did the same thing, cleaning the blood off her tail and fur. After they finished, the pair stood up and looked at each other.
"Ready to go?" Hulgar asked the Khajiit. She nodded her head.
"Yes, but unless you plan on carrying me the whole way to wherever the hell we're going, I suggest you buy us a couple of horse." Anjaarra said with a grin. Hulgar looked at her before grinning.
"Fine, whatever makes you happy." He said with a mocking smirk. Anjaarra playfully punched his shoulder before walking towards the stables, finally ready to set onto their journey.