Skyrim is the property of Bethesda Softworks. This is one of the few chapters posted so far that hasn't changed significantly since I started posting here. I feel it's always done a good job of showing of Ieago's glaring character flaws.
"Forsworn," Aela reported as she came back into our makeshift camp just before sunset. Delphine's broken ribs were set and a few healing spells had begun the process of mending them. After Delphine regained consciousness, I was thankful to find Lydia not seriously hurt, just badly knocked around.
"Who are they?" I asked.
"Breton tribesmen," Aela explained, "They used the Great War to seize control of Markarth and the Rift for a few years while the Empire was preoccupied. When the Great War ended, Jarl Ulfirc was asked to put down the insurrection. It's said he used the Voice to blast the Reachmen right off the walls of Markarth. None of the Reachmen in the city survived the Markarth incident."
"So Ulfirc brutally put down a people trying to self-govern their ancestral lands?" I asked rhetorically. I found the hypocrisy of Ulfirc was staggering at times.
"What's done is done Ieago," Aela growled at me with a look that said "Drop it." "None of that brutality decades ago justifies the Forsworn's cruelty now and they hate Imperials just as much as Nords. If we approach that camp in our current state, they will kill us."
"Does anyone know if there is another way around?" I asked the group.
"Why not just Shout them back?" Lydia asked, "A shout like the one that forced that dragon down would win the fight before it began."
"Uh, it's not that simple Lydia," I replied, "A shout of that force takes allot out of me. I'll need several hours before I can do one of those again."
"Well we need to do something. The sun will be down soon and when it goes, those Bretons will send out patrols. We are in no condition for a fight with a group that large," Lydia said.
"Markarth is only a few miles away. Do you think you could make it Delphine?" I asked.
"I can barely breathe right now Ieago." She answered. The Healing Hands spells cast by Esbern and I had set her ribs to rights, but they would be fragile for days while her body caught up to the magic's superficial healing.
"Shit, we better find a place to hide for the night then," I said as a newcomer appeared around the bend in the road.
She was a woman with Lydia's build, but lacked her good looks. The iron rim of the shield worn casually on her back was notched and the axe at her side was carefully honed. She was in her middle thirties with cropped brown hair that looked filthy in the growing dark of the canyon road.
The strange woman dismounted, came up to me, and pulled a letter from her duffle bag, "Are you the one called Ieago?" she asked me.
I nodded and took the letter. As I read it she introduced herself, "I am Iona, my Thane. Madam Black-Briar has convinced Jarl Laila to name you a Thane of the Rift. Maven has arranged for the house called Honeyside to be bought for you and I have been selected to be your housecarl."
"You have tracked us a very long way," Aela observed as Lydia read the note over my shoulder, "How did you find us?"
"Your Harbinger is not a discrete traveler. An Imperial traveling with three warriors and a wizard gets lots of notice. Only these last few miles were hard until I heard all the shouting."
"Are you rested enough to fight Iona?" I asked.
"Of course my Thane!"
"Good, we need to move around the perimeter of that Forsworn camp down there. You'll be locking shields with Lydia. Aela and Esbern will support you two and I will be moving Delphine."
Armor of skins and swords of bone, the Forsworn were the savage remnants of a war lost years ago. Our path took us around the utmost edge of their camp and they directed the whole of their fury upon us and kept up the pressure until we had killed their brairheart champion deep in the booby trapped cave that concealed the entrance to Sky Haven Temple.
The six of us came at last to a large natural chamber open to the sky above. The whole area was bathed in a deep purple twilight as the night came on. Before us was a large iron-bound chest and beyond it a strange circular carving on the floor. A man-high sculpture of a head gazed out at us from the other side of the room.
"Wonderful!" Esbern exclaimed, "And remarkably well-preserved too." He advanced to the strange carving in the ground before the gaunt face. "Ah! Here is a blood seal. Another of the lost Akaviri arts. No doubt triggered by, well, blood. Your blood Dragonborn."
"If you need some help drawing blood let me know," Delphine interjected.
"And look here!" Esbern continued before I could snap back. He gestured at the giant stone head, "You can see how the Akaviri revered Reman Cyrodiil."
"Fantastic," I said while drawing my knife and kneeling over the seal. I made a quick cut on the palm of my hand, letting some of the blood drip onto the seal.
The great face moved in response, swinging back into the ceiling to reveal a flight of stairs leading up into the heart of the Karthspire.
"You should have the honor of being first, Dragonborn," Esbern said.
Holding my saber like a torch before me I stepped in. Lydia was behind me helping Delphine while the rest followed with torches. The air was stale behind the centuries-old seal and the torches flickered green in the gentle breeze of the outside air starting to move into the opened temple.
"The preservation is remarkable, original Akaviri bas-reliefs," Esbern commented as he paused to sweep his torch over one of the wall carvings that decorated the landings of the broad stairwell. "You can see here how the Akaviri were already beginning to adopt the more flowing Nord style."
"We need to find Alduin's wall Esbern. Save the art lesson for later," Delphine grunted.
The old man frowned, "Yes of course. There will be more time later to look around I suppose. Let's see what's up ahead."
A few moments later, the winding tunnel opened into a vast cavern. A distant flight of stairs, broad and open this time wound up behind a large natural column to passages beyond. Another set nearer by led up to a shelf on which our goal stood. In the glow of our torches we stood in awe at the sight of Alduin's Wall.
"You don't see that every day," Lydia remarked.
"When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world," Esbern recited.
"When the brass tower walks and time is reshaped
When the thrice-blessed fail and the red tower trembles
When the dragonborn ruler loses his throne and the white tower falls
And the snow tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding
The world-eater wakes and the wheel turns upon the last Dragonborn."
"This is amazing," I breathed, gazing at the wall of granite ten feet high and nearly thirty feet long. The whole surface was delicately carved with figures of men and mer and dragons in various stages of conflict. I couldn't even begin to make sense of it all.
"Does it tell us what we need to know?" Delphine pressed.
"Nothing so direct, Delphine," Esbern said, falling easily into the role of a teacher, "Akaviri writing and art was steeped in allegory and mythic symbolism. Let's see what we have."
He led us to the far left hand corner of the wall, "Look! Here is Alduin at the beginning of history, when Alduin and the Dragon Cult ruled over Skyrim." A few paces later to the right he stopped again, "Here, the humans rebel against their dragon overlords. The legendary Dragon War. Alduin's defeat is the centerpiece of the wall. You see, here he is falling from the sky. The Nord Tongues - masters of the Voice - are arrayed against him."
"So does it tell us how they defeated him? Isn't that why we are here?" Delphine asked.
"Patience, my dear," Esbern admonished, "The Akaviri were not a straightforward people."
Another few minutes went by. Delphine's impatience was becoming more unbearable by the second.
"Yes, yes," Esbern mused, "This here, coming from the mouths of the Nord heroes: This is the Akaviri word for 'shout.' But there is no way to know what Shout is meant."
"You mean they used a Shout to defeat Alduin? You're sure?" Delphine asked.
Mentally, I shouted at the bloody-minded woman to shut up and let the man work.
Esbern was unfazed, "Hmm? Oh, yes. Presumably something rather specific to dragons, or even Alduin himself. Remember this is where they recorded all they knew of Alduin and his return."
"So we're looking for a Shout, then. Damn it," she fumed.
Delphine turned to me, forcing my eyes away from the work of art before me. "Have you ever heard of such a thing? A Shout that can knock a dragon out of the sky? She asked me.
"My knowledge of the dragons' language is only dozen words or so. I have no idea what the Shout might be," I answered.
"Was afraid you were going to say that. I guess there's nothing for it. We'll have to ask the Greybeards for help. I hoped to avoid involving them in this, but we have no other choice."
I rolled my eyes. "By Talos," I swore, "Is there anyone you don't have a problem with Delphine?"
I hindsight, I ought to have been more tactful with her. "If the Greybeards had their way, you'd do nothing but sit up on their mountain with them and talk to the sky. Or whatever it is they do. The Greybeards are so afraid of power that they won't use it. Think about it! Have they tried to stop the civil war, or done anything about Alduin? No. And they're afraid of you. Of your power," She said. "Trust me, there's no need to be afraid. Think of Tiber Septim. Do you think he would have founded the Empire if he'd listened to the Greybeards?"
I was not impressed by her rant. "Tiber Septim heeded their words while your order was banging rocks together on the shores of Akavir," I replied. "Only a few months ago they taught me how to unlock my gift and unleashed me on the world. That's what they did. While the Thalmor were slaughtering your order to the last man, the Greybeards lived publicly and in peace."
She was livid, "Good thing they've already let you into their little cult. Not likely they'd help Esbern or me if we came calling." She said to my retreating back.
"I'm right and you damn well know it," I called over my shoulder.
Believe it or not, I do have a shred of sympathy and understanding for Delphine. Keep an eye out for the next chapter and post a review if ever you can!