Day Twenty-six

I awoke before everyone else, most likely because the rug on the floor I was lying on was making me itch. Everyone else in the room was in a bed. I found a book on one of the dressers titled, 'Battle of Sancre Tor'. Right away I was enthralled with the descriptions of the battles and even learned a trick or two to use with my sword. I was about to put the book down and get some more sleep when we were all startled awake by a scream. I grabbed my sword and ran out into the inn's main room wearing only my smallclothes. Skuli, who was standing by the counter near Eydis, saw me with my weapon bared and ran away again.

"What the Nines was that?" I asked Eydis, "Who screamed?"

"I beg your pardon, my Lord," she said, blushing, "That was me. There's no need to have that out. Or that."

Lydia and the others appear at the doorway.

"Sleep-flashing again, Ralos," Lydia said.

"You were right, Lydia," Delphine said, "He does like waving that around."

"Have you no decency, man?" Esbern chided.

I rolled my eyes and adjusted myself appropriately. "Why did you scream like that?"

"I saw a ghost, wandering around like it owned the place. I had heard rumors this place was haunted but I never saw anything until now. I think it was one of Tiber Septim's men. Look, there it is."

Eydis pointed to the far end of the room. I did indeed see a spectral form sitting in a chair. He was dressed in older armor with a horned helmet and sporting the full beard and mustache of a seasoned campaigner. I sheathed my sword and approached it cautiously. The others crept behind me.

"Hjalter, is that you?" the ghost said, "I've been waiting."

"What do you want?" I said.

"Give me your sword and we will be sworn brothers once again."

I had no idea what he was talking about. But for a warrior to return from the dead, the sword must be special in some way. It would be nice to add to my budding collection. "I'll find it," I told the ghost.

The ghost merely nodded and started walking around the room.

I approached Eydis and she told me she heard of a missing sword from a passing Bard once. She marked on my map where it might be.

"We don't have time for that now," Delphine said, "Alduin must be dealt with first, then you can go on your little treasure hunt."

"I'm well aware of my priorities, Blade," I told her, "I'm merely gathering information. This weapon may be of use for my ultimate goal. I am Dragonborn but my legacy will not stop when the dragons have been dealt with. Isn't that right, Esbern?"

The old man hesitated, looking from me to Delphine and back, "You are indeed Dragonborn."

Delphine scoffed then she and Lydia went back into the room, closing the door behind them.

"Thanks for your support," I said to Esbern. "Hope you're quicker with your magic than you are with your tongue."

Esbern tried to mumble some sort of apology. I ignored him and went to the room but the door was locked. Delphine yelled that they are preparing for the day, whatever that meant. "I need clothes," I yelled back. They ignored me.

I turned back to Eydis. "Do you see what I'm dealing with?"

"Indeed I do," she said, looking down and grinning.

I turned back around and readjusted myself again. I banged on the door. "Clothes, please."

As soon as I stepped outside I heard a dragon roar. It sounded like it is pretty close, too, but I did not see anything flying around. I led the party back to the main road and took the bridge across the raging river and past the falls. I scared a goat lying on the road but it did not get far before it was set upon by two wolves. Still hungry from their kill, they turned towards us. I let them get close enough then force shouted them into the river. That never got old. I watched them tumble down into the water but I also caught sight of a dragon on the other side. It must have been the one I heard and it must also have heard me. It circled once then headed straight towards me. I was not ready to shout again so I got my bow out as did Lydia and Delphine. Esbern's hands began to glow, one blue, one red with flames. A flame atronoch appeared nearby and I almost aimed at it before I realized it must be Esbern's.

The dragon swooped in fast and left a trail of fire in its wake that enveloped me and Lydia. I managed to get off one shot before I stopped to drink down a few healing potions as well as a purplish potion Esbern said helped regenerate health. It tasted like bile and felt like pine needles going down but it did seem to help. I prepared for another pass of the dragon but it wheeled off and started attacking something further down the road. After a moment I saw magic being hurled back at it. Whatever it was, it was no animal.

"That's a damn blood dragon," Esbern said, "I thought I'd never see the likes of their ilk again."

"Are they different than the others?" I asked.

"Same animal, but meaner, stronger, and dumber than the others. He's the bully of the dragon world."

"Well, let's go help whoever it is over there," I said, picking up my pace towards them, "They obviously have no love for them either."

"We should be cautious," said Lydia. "This is Forsworn country, remember. They have no love for anyone who is not them."

"Karthspire is that way anyway," Delphine pointed out, "We don't have much of a choice."

That settled, we rushed headlong into the fight. It turned out the fight found us. The blood dragon broke off his attack and flew over to the other side of the river and landed. Lydia was right, again. The dragon had been fighting a group of Forsworn. With no dragon, they attacked us. Even with the four of us, the fighting is tough. The Forsworn were spread out among a tangle of ramps and tents over a pond and it was difficult to tell where an arrow or magical spike of ice was coming from. Take a wrong step and you could find yourself in the water and have to meander through posts to find the way back. I nearly exhausted my supply of potions trying to reach the archers as they pelted me with their arrows. I needed to find a way to block or evade those things.

My twisting path of battle led me to be able to sneak up on a hagraven that was engaged in a fight with Lydia and Delphine. It figured those things would team up with those Forsworn lunatics. I hit the thing with all my strength and it staggered forward but did not go down. I ran to its side and before it could recover I shouted it into a stone wall beside the piers. She hit it and bounced back where the three of us chopped her into hagraven chum for the slaughterfish beneath us. We cleaned up the few straggling cultists and I checked for any valuables or potions before we moved on.

I could not help but feel I had forgotten something.

At the top of the hill, I ran full into a blast of fire from the blood dragon. I had forgotten about it during the fight and it had lain in wait for us. I managed to drop down to a lower level and healed myself with my magic just in time. I had not fully healed from the fighting and had not bothered since the Forsworn were all dead. The lapse nearly cost me as my vision had gone almost completely red with pain. I would not make that mistake again. Once healed, I jumped back up to the clearing and got beside the dragon to plunge my sword into its side for the killing blow. Its soul actually did taste of blood.

Once I was satisfied I had found all the good loot I was going to find, I caught Esbern's attention. He was busy studying the blood dragon's skeleton.

"Now that all these little distractions are taken care of," I said nonchalantly, "where's this Karthspire? I could use a rest."

Esbern looked to the other side of the river and squinted. "That's it over there. It looks like these Forsworn have been using it for a camp or headquarters because their docks lead right up to the steps."

I looked where he indicated. "All I see is a cave. Is it on the other side?"

"No, it is the cave."

"Honestly? With a name like Karthspire I expected something grand with walls and turrets and half-naked maidens dancing around a pole in the courtyard."

Delphine started towards the cave, "I'm sure there will be more Forsworn inside. There's bound to be axe-wielders and archers, but I don't think you'll find any pole dancers."

"Pole dancers?" I wondered aloud. That gave me an idea. "Hey, Lydia, you don't care for the dress code thing but how are you at dancing?"

Inside the cave we were immediately attacked by two Forsworn camping right on the floor. As we fought them, two more showed up on a higher platform, one shooting arrows and the other one charging in like a bear, complete with a bear scalp atop his head. I started fighting the bear one and something about him made me pause long enough for him to get a critical strike in on me. His entire heart was exposed! And here I thought that would have been a bad thing, but the warrior hit harder than the rest did. In fact, I was forced to shout him across the room to give myself time to heal with magic. By the time he returned to fighting, I was healed and ready for his attacks as well as backed up by Lydia who had finished off the archer. An intense exchange of blows led to him collapsing onto his back where I could get a better look at his inside-out condition. The exposed heart was held in by leather straps and was still beating, although slower and more erratically.

"Briar Heart warrior," Esbern said, looking down at it. "Foul creation. Not alive but not quite dead either. I don't suppose he will need this any longer."

The old man reached down and cut away the heart from the body and placed it in an oiled sack on his belt.

"I have some chicken and cheese left if you're that hungry," I said.

"Don't be daft. These hearts are crucial for some very powerful potions and smithing applications. And they are very expensive, especially since I'm currently between jobs. Shall we proceed? I think we are getting close to the Blades headquarters of old."

We must have caught the Forsworn off guard because we did not encounter any more. The only tunnel led to large, high cavern with stairs on one end leading to a set of pedestals and a closed drawbridge on the other. I climbed the stairs to the pedestals but saw no release for the bridge. It must be some sort of puzzle. Esbern pointed out the symbols shown stand for king, warrior, and dragon. I pushed on the first pedestal and it turned from the king symbol to the dragon.

"Yes, yes," Esbern said excitedly, "the dragon is the key. This is the Blades, after all."

I shrugged and turned the middle stone to the dragon symbol also. I hear a click and the drawbridge gracefully lowered. We crossed the bridge and I assumed from the thick layer of dust on the floor that the puzzle must have stumped the Forsworn. Perhaps they should try transplanting Briar brains instead of hearts to increase their mental strength. After following a short passage, I stopped us at the entrance of an odd room with tiles on the floor showing the same symbols as on the pedestals. The room was very quiet.

Lydia stepped forward, "It is just a room," she said, "There is nothing to fear here."

I stopped her, pushing her against the wall so she could not take another step. "That's what frightens me."

I grabbed a torch off the wall for a better look. After a moment the pattern leapt out at me. The only connecting path across was by using the tiles that stood for dragon. Tricky Blades.

"Wait here," I told Lydia and the others.

"If you insist, Ralos" Lydia answered, "though we could do without the dramatics."

I smirked and started across, keeping to the dragon tiles. Halfway across I nearly lost my balance, teetering on one foot. I quickly recovered before I fell on one of the wrong ones. There was a chain at the end and I gave it a tug. The others crossed safely.

"Was all that necessary?" Lydia asked as she passed me.

"Exploring dungeons ain't like dusting corpses, girl. One wrong step and the next thing you know you're busting out of coffins in search of warm blood."

I followed the others closely and I could already hear Esbern gasping in awe.
When I joined the others I found myself standing in a dimly lit chamber with a ceiling that reached so high it was lost in the shadows. Right in front of me was a large treasure chest displayed in the middle of the floor. But the real attraction was the far wall that has an immense face carved into it. I quickly checked the chest for anything valuable while the others proceeded to the face. I took anything interesting, which was not much really except a ruby and a fancy circlet, then went for a closer look at the wall.

"Fascinating," said Esbern.

"Kind of creepy if you ask me," Lydia added.

I looked from the wall to Lydia then back, "You're right, it does kind of look like you."

"Ha. I'm sure its backside resembles a certain asinine Dragonborn."

"Some respect please?" Delphine warned, "This place may hold the secrets we need to save this world."

"So then what do we do now?" I asked, "Do we talk to it or wait for it to see us, or what? Maybe it's sleeping. It does look pretty stoned."

"Seriously?" Lydia said.

Esbern touched the face. "I think it is just a doorway, built to intimidate the superstitious or weak of mind."

Lydia put a hand on my shoulder, "Don't be scared. We're here with you."

Esbern ignored her and stepped into a circle on the floor in front of the face. "I believe this circle is what's known as a blood seal, though I've never actually seen one. My guess is to open that door, the blood of a Dragonborn must touch the seal."

Lydia whipped a dagger out, "Oh, I've been waiting for this. Now stand still and it'll all be over soon."

"I think he means a little blood," I said, backing away from the grinning housecarl. "Right, Esbern?"

"A few drops should do it, but who's to say?"

"Since it's my blood, I'm to say, now back off there Stabitha Quickknife. I'll do it myself."

I knelt over the middle of the circle and removed my gauntlets. I drew my steel dagger and made a clean slice across the side of my hand. I wiped the dagger off on my armor and gave my hand a squeeze. The blood flowed more than I would have thought but I kept it up. I noticed Lydia was still standing with her own dagger out. Was it something I had said? Nah, couldn't have been. I always watch my tongue.

Suddenly the circle started to glow and swirl beneath my feet. I stepped away and used my healing magic to fix my hand.

"Look," Delphine said, drawing her sword, "It's coming to life."

I reached for my own sword but then I noticed the face was not moving, only the wall it was attached to. It raised up a little then swung inside, allowing us entry. Delphine put her sword away, looking chagrinned, "Sorry. Guess I'm a bit anxious."

"Better cautious than cut down," I said, "Keep your sword ready. Who knows what's been waiting in here all these years."

Beyond the face wall was a staircase leading up to a door. At least it was going up instead of down. I took the lead.

More stairs lead to an expansive dining hall. It seemed the only thing waiting for us was a thick layer of dust. It was past midnight so the hall was dark save for some starlight seemingly amplified coming through the openings in the ceiling. Along one entire wall was a stone mural depicting warriors, dragons, and even what looks like the Greybeards.

"Incredible," Esbern said, his words barely audible. He cleared his throat. "This is something I've waited my whole life to see and study. Give me some time, Dragonborn. I will do my best to interpret it and find for you the answers you seek."

"Fine," I said, "Lydia and I will have a look around to make sure nothing surprises us."

In the first room on the left I find a small armory of weapons and armor. In a chest I found a full suit of armor unlike any I had ever seen. This must have been what the Blades wore during their heaviest years of fighting. They had some decent style, at least.

"Lydia, help me put this on," I said as I began to shed my old steel armor.
She looked it over. "You actually like this? Isn't it a bit gaudy?"

"Gaudy? It's the best armor I've seen since I've been in Tamriel. It's black with overlapping pieces that make it look like scales. It's definitely in better condition than what I've got. I might just make this the trademark armor of my reign when I take over."

"Will I have to wear it?"

"Of course not."

"Then by all means, do what you what."

"I'm glad to hear you say that. You'll be my full time Housecarl by then. I'll have a nice, form-fitting maid's type outfit for you. Not too revealing, perhaps, but not covered up either. I'll have some priestess of Dibella work on it for me."

"As you wish, my Thane. Will I be doing your cooking, too, by any chance?"

"Eh, not with that attitude. In fact you're banned from the kitchens altogether. Now help me with this codpiece, eh, on second thought, I've got it."

Outfitted in my new armor, we finished the sweep of the hideout and found no one and nothing about. I did find some barrels with apples in them that were still good. Will the wonders never cease?

We joined the others back at the Wall and Delphine noticed the armor right away.

"Now you're looking respectable," she said.

"Looks can be deceiving," Lydia quipped.

"I can see why the Blades lasted so long," I said, "This armor is exceptional, and fits perfect. I can't wait to try it out in a fight. So, Esbern, what did you find out?"

"This wall is a history of the Blades and how they dealt with Alduin's rise and fall. This part in the middle though is the most surprising. It appears that the Greybeards had a vital hand in the Blades victory. It looks like they used a shout to set him on fire or something like that to bring him down."

"Is that possible?" Delphine asked me, "You've been accepted into their club. Do they know of a shout that will bring down a dragon?"

"They didn't go into much detail about all they do. I was not much interested in hanging around on a mountaintop listening to them shout either. You sound kind of bitter, Delphine. Did they turn you away because you're a woman, despite, you know, they way you lean?"

"Lean? Do you ever make sense? I resent the Greybeards because of how they keep their power to themselves even while the rest of Tamriel burns. I don't trust them and for some reason they fear me and the influence of the Blades."

"My guess is they know something," Esbern said, "You will have to go to them and demand they tell you the truth about their abilities in fighting dragons. Since they have accepted you, you are the only one who can do this. Delphine and I will wait here for your return and see if we can find out more ourselves."

I could not help but sigh. "I thought I was done walking for a little while. You didn't happen to have seen a carriage and some horses around, did you Esbern?"

There was no way I was going anywhere tonight. I headed for the nearest bed and left Delphine and Esbern to study the Wall.