A/N: Hello. Hope everyone's having a good start to their week. I'm starting the first part of my summer class today so we'll see how that goes. This one's pretty short, mostly just filler info and travel to get where we need to be for the end. So yeah, just go ahead and read and I hope you enjoy. As always, many thanks to my beta reader (and sister) GrowlingPeanut. Reviews are appreciated.
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Bethesda Softworks and George R. R. Martin.
Rating: T for brief language and vague references to violence.
Before raising Sahloknir from his grave, Alduin had done his damage to Kynesgrove, and its citizens were trying desperately to regain their bearings and begin their lives anew. Unwilling to leave them to their fate alone, Dany stayed in the village, and as such, so did Sandor.
While she soothed the fears of their battered minds, Sandor helped to rebuild their homes, using his strength to cut and heft heavy pieces of lumber, sturdy enough to withstand another attack, if one occurred and the dragon was killed before reducing everything to rubble once more.
It was nearly a week later that they returned to the road again. They only hoped that they had given Delphine enough time to create a plan.
She was waiting for them when they arrived back in Riverwood, bent over the table in her room's secret chamber, once again meeting them in the dead of night.
"I'm glad you've come," she said, looking up as they descended the stairs. "I've figured out how we're going to get you into the Thalmor Embassy."
"Us?" Dany echoed. "Aren't you coming along?"
Delphine shook her head. "That would be a bad idea, and I didn't mean both of you. Only you, Dragonborn. Clegane and I are too likely to attract the wrong kind of attention. But they don't know you at all. Not yet anyway."
"Why can't we just walk through the damn gate and kill them all?" Sandor asked drily, leaning back against the wall. The woman's insistence on meeting at an ungodsly hour was making him even more irritable than usual.
Delphine glanced over at him, lips pursed. "That's your plan? Even if you could survive, by the time you got inside, whatever documents they had would be long gone. We're there for information, remember? Trust me, Hound, I've been doing this for a long time. My way is better."
When Sandor grunted, Dany spoke again. "And what is your way?"
At that, Delphine nodded and crossed her arms. "The Thalmor ambassador, Elenwen, regularly throws parties where the rich and connected cozy up to the Thalmor. I can get you into one of those parties. Once you're inside the Embassy, you get away and find Elenwen's secret files. I have a contact inside the Embassy. He's not up for this kind of high-risk mission, but he can help you. His name's Malborn. He's a Wood Elf, so he has plenty of reason to hate the Thalmor, and I promise you can trust him. I'll get word for him to meet you in Solitude, at the Winking Skeever—you know it?"
When Sandor nodded, she continued. "While you're doing that, I'll work on getting you an invitation to Elenwen's little party. Meet me at the Solitude stables when I send word after you've arranged things with Malborn." She sighed and then nodded in satisfaction at her own plan. "Any questions?"
"What exactly am I going to be doing once I'm inside the Embassy?" Dany asked, a hint of worry in her pale eyes.
Delphine grinned. "That's when the fun starts. You'll have to slip away from the party without raising the alarm. Then you'll need to find Elenwen's office and search her files. Malborn should be able to point you in the right direction."
Dany sighed heavily. "Very well then. We'll travel to Solitude, talk to Malborn, and then meet you at the stables."
Nodding, Delphine turned back to the map before her, no longer concerned with her two companions, though she did offer a last parting word. "Good. And be careful."
The road to Solitude took them past Whiterun once again, and then to the west. They rode past the ruins of the Western Watchtower in silence, each remembering the battle there and everything that had transpired since.
Just beyond there lay a fort, and from its battlements hung the Stormcloak banner. In the time since the Battle of Whiterun, now almost a moon past, the Stormcloaks had taken control of much of Skyrim, forcing the Empire from their forts and camps as they slaughtered them in the night. There were rumors that they would be marching on Solitude soon, and that with a victory there, the war would finally be over.
They were each broken from their thoughts by the sound of approaching boots, and Dany raised her gaze to see a well-dressed Dunmer on the path before them, trailed by several mercenaries by the look of them.
"Out of my way," the man commanded with a sneer as they rode on. "I have urgent business to attend to."
Unable to ignore the man's obvious arrogance, Sandor snorted. "Urgent business? Going to be late for dinner with your mother, is that it?"
The Dunmer sniffed haughtily. "If you must know, I'm on my way to Markarth to confer with my colleague, Calcelmo. I do not have time to stop and chat." He spat out the last word disdainfully and continued. "As I'm sure you must realize, I'm the one and only Taron Dreth, the world's foremost expert in Dwemer metallurgy."
Sandor cocked his eyebrow. "Am I supposed to be impressed?"
At that, the older man's eyes narrowed. "I should have my men kill you for your insolence."
Sandor's hand dropped casually to the hilt of his sword when he replied. "I'd like to see them try."
When one of the mercenaries began to reach for his own blade, Dany cleared her throat and held up a warning hand. "Please forgive my servant's mood," she said apologetically. "We too have urgent business, so we all must be on our way. Excuse us." Without further conversation, she nudged her horse around the group and across a nearby bridge. Giving them one final glare, Sandor followed.
The road led them north a ways and then ended in a graveyard, with nightshade blooms growing between the headstones. Sighing, Dany extended a hand and then unrolled the map that Sandor offered to her.
After a moment of peering over her shoulder, he spoke, jerking his chin toward the west. "This is the Karth River. If we follow it, it will lead us straight to the Solitude docks. The journey may not go as quickly, but at least we'll have a guide."
Nodding, Dany handed back the map and set off on a narrow dirt trail, following the edge of the river. Carefully, they navigated the many stones that lined its shore, occasionally walking the horses through the river itself, and by the time they reached the waterfall where one of its many tributaries joined the river, they had been on the road for hours, and the sun was beating down on them from above.
"Could we stop here?" Dany asked, gesturing toward the hill down which the waterfall flowed. When Sandor nodded, they rode to its peak and then dismounted.
As the sellsword retrieved some food from his saddlebags, Dany tugged off her boots and the stockings beneath before wading into the stream and walking to where the water tumbled over. Sitting atop one of the rocks, she dangled her feet over the edge, and the falling water washed the dirt from them as her companion walked over to sit beside her.
They ate in silence for a few moments before Daenerys spoke. "Who are the Thalmor, exactly?"
Sandor sighed and tossed the core of his apple down into the river before replying. "They're the High Elves that rule the Aldmeri Dominion. They've spent centuries trying to destroy the Empire so they could have its land for themselves, but then with the White-Gold Concordant, they became allies, if not somewhat reluctant ones. The Thalmor are on the side of the Empire in this bloody civil war, but Lannister isn't nearly foolish enough to trust them. I can't say what they have to do with the Blades, however. I suppose that's a question for Delphine."
Dany nodded. Though she had told them she would answer all of their questions with complete honesty, she knew that the innkeeper still had her fair share of secrets, and there was much that they still had to learn.
They had been riding for nearly another hour when the river dropped over the edge of a cliff, tumbling down at a height that would certainly mean their deaths. Below, on the other side, the main road was visible once more, and so it was with great care that they descended. Once, Stranger slipped on the slippery stones that led the way to the path, but the courser regained his footing easily enough and when Sandor stopped to see if he had been injured, he found no sign of any lasting damage.
A wooden sign beside the road pointed the way to Solitude as they made their way onto the cobblestones once more, and as they crossed the nearby bridge across the river, a hastily erected encampment rose to meet them. They were halfway across the bridge when a voice called out to them, and they slowed the horses to a walk as they continued to approach.
"By the command of Ulfric Stormcloak, I order you to halt and state your business!"
The few soldiers that were stationed at the waypoint were young, and Dany couldn't help but be glad that they were there rather than in the midst of battle.
"We are on our way to Markarth," she called out in reply, pulling her mare to a stop. "To meet my husband. He is waiting there for me." Though she wished the lie were true, she knew that giving their true destination could mean their deaths.
"And what about him?" The soldier responded, pointing his sword toward Sandor. Thankfully, he had put the battered iron helmet he carried with him back on after stopping for their meal, and beneath it, his burns were only just visible.
"A sellsword I hired to make sure I arrived there safely," she answered. "Skyrim is a dangerous place to wander alone these days."
At that, the young soldier nodded in agreement, and after eyeing them for a moment longer, he allowed them to continue on their way. On the road just beyond, a carriage lay overturned and empty, the horse that led it and its driver both dead beside it, their bodies filled with arrows marked by familiar blue and gold fletching. Apparently, they had been deemed enemies of the rebels and weren't fortunate enough to pass the soldiers with their lives.
Once back on the road, their journey grew far easier, and the sun was only just beginning to set when they reached the town of Dragon Bridge.
"We'll push on to Solitude," Sandor said as they rode through the quiet streets. "Sansa told the innkeeper here that we were married on the night that King's Landing burned, and if I show up again with a different woman at my side we're like to get suspicion that we can't afford."
Dany nodded in acceptance, though she was already beginning to doze in her saddle, and when the walls of Solitude rose up before them, she was thinking only of a featherbed inside the inn.
After helping her to dismount and leaving her to stand beside a slowly turning windmill, Sandor took his coin purse and their horses and settled them into the stables for the night before returning to her side and leading her within the city.
Even after dark, the streets were lined with Imperial soldiers, and Dany could see them slowly patrolling the battlements, bows drawn and arrows ready. The air felt thick and tense, as though the men were simply waiting for the night that they would die.
Keeping his helmet securely atop his head lest he be recognized, Sandor purchased a room for the evening, and after glancing about for the man they were supposed to meet and seeing no one but the innkeeper and his wife, they ascended the stairs.
After removing his armor and settling onto the floor against the far wall, Sandor fell asleep, and Dany listened absently to the sound of his snores as she struggled to find sleep herself. When she finally did, it was restless, and she woke often, her mind whirling with fearful thoughts. Though she knew not what would transpire in the Thalmor Embassy, she knew that she would be alone. And Dragonborn or no, she was afraid.