Chapter Thirty-Four:

Alduin's Wall

It was a long hour after the fight with the Dragon that we decided we were fit enough to enter the Karthspire. In that time, Javin taught me a ward to (hopefully) hold against any Forsworn who happened to favour magicka, and that was only if they were inside, as well. Hiemdall's arm was causing him some grief despite that Javin had healed it, so I offered him my sword to use. He was grateful for it. My hope was that he didn't break it.

As soon as we entered, Delphine charged ahead with her sword raised and blew our cover. I could have strangled the woman if I had the use of both of my arms, but while she killed the Forsworn sleeping on a bedroll, I had to leap in front of her and cast a ward to protect her from the fire spouting from another Forsworn's hands. Milos cut down a second Forsworn on the way up the wooden ramp to the one casting fire at me. The Forsworn's deer head just barely got out of the way of Milos' greatsword, but he was unable to evade Aldren's twin glass daggers as they were buried into his back. Javin was awarded the killing blow as his hand struck forward, buried into the Forsworn's chest, and he ripped something out. The Forsworn remained on his feet a scant few seconds more before he toppled from the make-shift bridge, dead.

"Did you just rip his Gods-damned heart out?!" I exclaimed at the Arch-Mage.

Javin turned the thing in his hand over a few times to examine it. "In a manner of speaking, yes," the Redguard replied. "That was a Forsworn Briarheart, second only to the hagravens. They sacrifice their true hearts for these briar hearts in order to gain more magical powers."

Milos examined the body from his standpoint. "Would he have died if you hadn't...?"

"Oh, yes," Javin admitted. "He's still a mortal as any one of us. But I didn't want to look strange by taking out the heart after he'd died. I need it for my alchemical ingredients and supplies. I'm running low."

"Beardsy, you have a very odd way of thinking what's strange and what isn't," Hiemdall remarked, grinning.

Delphine glanced at me, shrugged, and then grabbed a lit torch from the wall that hung from a sconce. I regretted saving her Breton ass.

We followed Delphine and Esbern through the smaller Forsworn camp and into a cramped tunnel. From there, we emerged into a large and spacious cavern with an open ceiling. Old pillars with aged stonework stuck out from the rocks with intricate and complicated symbols. I could spot thick bridges standing vertically, and immediately decided that we'd have to figure out how to lower them.

"This looks promising," Delphine mused as she took in the Karthspire.

Esbern's eyes were on the pillars. "Yes. Definitely early Akaviri stonework here."

The two Blades hurried up the few stairs to our right, their eyes on the first of the bridges. It, like the rest of the cavern, was covered in a thick moss. It probably hadn't been used in... years.

"We've got to get this bridge down," Delphine said (stating the blatantly obvious). I rolled my eyes automatically at her. "These pillars must have something to do with it."

The pillars in question were the three that stood at the top of the steps. Delphine's torch lit up the strange symbols that were etched into the stone. They reminded me of the ones in Bleak Falls Barrow, although they had been less complicated (being animals and such), and the pillars themselves had been thicker. Something told me that the trick was the same though.

"Yes," Esbern affirmed for Delphine. "These are early Akaviri symbols." Esbern approached the one on our left. "Let's see... You have the symbol for 'King'..." He began to examine the one in the middle. "... and 'Warrior'..." His eyes darted to the last. "And of course the symbol for 'Dragonborn'. That's the one that appears to have a sort of arrow shape pointing downward at the bottom."

"Well, if Sky Haven Temple was built for dragonslayers, I assume that the symbol for 'Dragonborn' would mean something?" I approached the middle pillar and began to turn it. As soon as it reached the Akaviri symbol for "Dragonborn", it locked into place.

"Yes, that's it," Esbern said. "The symbol on the pillar on the left now."

I spun the last to do the same and received the same result. The bridge groaned loudly to our left as the ancient gears began turning. I grinned at the Blades. "Ta-da!"

Delphine, ever the serious, paranoid Blade, rolled her eyes. "Whatever you did, it worked. Let's see what those old Blades left in our way."

As soon as the bridge set down, Esbern crossed. Milos took a position beside the old man, likely to protect him from old traps, as we entered another narrow passageway. Just as we turned to the right, Esbern held his arm out to stop the Argonian.

"Wait," he cautioned.

Delphine shot a look at Esbern. "Why are you stopping?"

"We should be careful here." I managed to get beside Milos and Esbern. The next room was infinitely smaller than the cavern, and about as large as the area the Forsworn had camped in the Karthspire before. A stone pillar stood erect on the other side of the room, and another passage lay to its right. "See these symbols on the floor?"

Delphine glanced at the ground at the same time I did. Some symbols were familiar, like the "King", "Warrior", and "Dragonborn" symbols from before. Others were unfamiliar to me. I almost hoped that Esbern would explain them.

"Hm, Esbern's right," she admitted. "Look like pressure plates."

Milos took a step forward, but Esbern's arm remained out. "Be careful."

"If you look closely, there's a pattern with the 'Dragonborn' symbol..." Javin murmured. "It may go all the way to that pull chain attached to that pillar."

"Then I'll go," I said, planting a foot on one of the "Dragonborn" pressure plates. "After all, it's got my name on it."

Esbern nodded. "We'll cross once it's safe."

I very slowly made my way from pressure plate to pressure plate, keeping a firm eye on the ones that read "Dragonborn and the ones that didn't. In no time at all I was at the end and gave a tug on the pull chain (it was stuck from several years of being unused).

"Looks safe now," Delphine affirmed. "Let's move."

Esbern took the lead again at a jog. I was worried for the old man's health, frankly. "Yes, yes!" he exclaimed excitedly. "I think we must be close to the entrance!"

Not only had the pull chain deactivated the pressure plates, but it also allowed us to cross the next set of bridges in the open cavern. We followed the Blades across, took a left into another narrow passageway, and then emerged into a large room with a chest just before its centre. A large, carved head stared blankly at us from the end of the room, cast in the gloom and shadows that the room reflected. Only Delphine's torch shed any light through the slight fog around us.

The older Blade looked live he was already in Sovngarde. (No, not dead; just really, really happy and excited.) "Wonderful!" Esbern breathed. "Remarkably well-preserved, too." Esbern approached the large head, although he stopped short when he reached yet another strange symbol, although that one was carved into the floor. He stooped to examine it further. "Ah... here's the 'blood seal'. Another of the lost Akaviri arts. No doubt triggered by... well, blood." The old Nord stood up again, albeit not without a few notable cracks in his back and knees that echoed through the hall, and then Esbern directed his attention to me. "Your blood, Dragonborn."

"If you need help drawing some blood, let me know," Delphine offered, hand already on her sword.

I shook my head. "I trust you drawing my blood about as much as I trust a madman with a butter knife."

Esbern's focus then zeroed-in on the head at the front of the chamber. "Look here! You see how the ancient Blades revered Reman Cyrodiil? This whole place appears to be a shrine to Reman. He ended the Akaviri invasion under mysterious circumstances, you recall."

I approached the blood seal and unstrapped the ebony dagger that Kodlak had given me. I knelt on one knee in hopes that I wouldn't miss... wherever I was supposed to hit with my blood, and then drew the blade across my right palm. I cringed a bit as it cut through flesh, but then my blood dripped onto the seal.

"That's done it! Look, it's coming to life!" Delphine exclaimed.

A bright light sprang forth from the seal, brightening more as the seal itself began to seperate into sections and come together in a new pattern. I strapped the dagger back to my boot, stood, and cast some healing magicka onto my palm to knit the skin back together. A massive clicking noise came from behind the face of Reman, and then the head began to swing back and upwards, revealing a spiral, sloping staircase beyond.

"You did it. There's the entrance!" Delphine began to walk forward, and then stopped short, her eyes focusing on me. "After you, Dragonborn. You deserve the honour of being the first to set foot into Sky Haven Temple."

Esbern grabbed a torch from the wall inside Reman's head. "There's no telling what we might find inside!"

I led the way up the staircase and opened the doors to allow everyone entry. Esbern basically blew past everyone else to examine the walls. His torch was held a little higher above his head in order to examine the stone carvings on the wall.

"Fascinating!" The old Nord ran a hand gently down one of the carvings. "Original Akaviri bas-reliefs... almost entirely intact!" Esbern walked up to another on the opposite wall. "Amazing..." He looked at me, pointing to the carving as he did. "You can see how the Akaviri craftsman were beginning to embrace the more flowing Nordic style..."

"We're here for Alduin's Wall, right, Esbern?" Delphine brushed past the old man, leading the way up the steps with her torch.

Esbern shook his head, as if to clear it. "Yes, of course. We'll have more time to look around later, I suppose. Let's see what's up ahead."

There was a gloom in the next room we entered, despite the light that came through the few holes in the roof. Delphine lowered her torch to a pedestal full of ash and oil to illuminate the room a bit better. It worked, although it was still dark.

The room was vast, with staircases and rooms adjacent to it all over. We actually had to climb another set of stairs to get a full view of the room. A long stone table laid at its centre, with old and rotting wooden chairs strewn around it. But the light from the ceiling managed to direct our attention to an intricate mural carved deep into a wall facing the table on our right.

"Shor's bones!" Esbern's hand shook as he approached the wall of carvings. "There it is! Alduin's Wall..." The old man sighed in contentment. "... So well-preserved... I've never seen a finer example of early second era Akaviri sculptural relief..."

"Esbern! We need information, not a lecture on art history!" Delphine snapped at him.

"Yes, yes." Esbern sighed. "Let's see what we have..."

Esbern strode to the left-most part of the wall, where the carvings appeared to begin. He scratched his beard as he interpreted it. I was enamoured with the carvings, myself. Farther away, they could have appeared as little more than depressions within the Wall. Now, I could see the shapes—the stories behind them. Where Esbern stood, a Dragon was depicted fighting man. In the middle of the Wall, the Dragon was being attacked by three... heroes? Near the end, my eyes widened as I saw the White-Gold Tower in the background of an Oblivion gate. The Oblivion Crisis had happened about two-hundred years ago, at the end of the third era for Talos' sake! And at the very end of the Wall was a man battling a Dragon, just after the depiction of a conflict between man.

"Look, here is Alduin!" Esbern pointed to the left-most carving, illuminating it with his torch. "This panel goes back to the beginning of time, when Alduin and the Dragon Cult ruled over Skyrim." Esbern began to walk slowly to the centre of the wall. "Here, the humans rebel against their Dragon overlords—the legendary Dragon War. Alduin's defeat is the centerpiece of the Wall." His hands brushed against the Dragon depicted in its centre. "You see, here he is falling from the sky. The Nord Tongues—masters of the Voice—are arrayed against him."

"So does it show how they defeated him?" Delphine pressed the historian. "Isn't that why we're here?"

"Patience, my dear," Esbern said softly. "The Akaviri were not a straightforward people. Everything is couched in allegory and mythic symbolism." Esbern refocused his attention onto Alduin's Wall. "Yes, yes. This here, coming from the mouths of the Nord heroes—this is the Akaviri symbol for 'Shout'. But..." Esbern paused. "... There's no way to know what Shout is meant."

Delphine immediately perked up at the new knowledge. "You mean they used a Shout to defeat Alduin? You're sure?"

"Hm?" Esbern had been examining the Wall and almost completely ignored Delphine. I had to suppress a laugh. "Oh, yes. Presumably something rather specific to Dragons, or even Alduin himself. Remember, this is where they recorded all the knew of Alduin and his return."

"So we're looking for a Shout then." Delphine groaned loudly. "Damn it." She tapped my shoulder to grab my attention from Alduin's Wall. "Have you ever heard of such a thing? A Shout that can knock a Dragon from the sky?"

I shook my head. "No, I haven't. But they Greybeards might know."

Delphine rolled her eyes. "I was afraid you were going to say that. I guess there's nothing for it." The Breton looked to Esbern. "We'll have to ask the Greybeards for help. I hoped to avoid involving them in this, but we have no other choice."

I raised an eyebrow at Delphine. "What do you have against the Greybeards? What've they done to annoy you so much?"

Delphine snorted angrily. "If they 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." Of all the things that popped into my head when I thought of the Greybeards, "fearful" wasn't one of them. "Trust me, there's no need to be afraid. Think of Tiber Septim. Do you think he'd have founded the Empire if he'd listened to the Greybeards?"

I frowned at Delphine. The memories of the rich in Anvil wasn't far from me yet. I still remembered what the thought of power had done to them. "The Greybeards may have a point. Power is dangerous."

"Only if you don't know how to use it," Delphine replied coyly. "All the great heroes have had to learn to use their power. Those that shrank from their destiny... well, you've never heard of them, have you?" Delphine glanced at the Wall, absently twisting her torch in her fingers. "And then there are the villains—those that misused their power. There's always a choice, and there's always a risk. But if you live in fear of what might go wrong, you'll end up doing nothing. Like the Greybeards up on their mountain."

My frown deepened, thoughts running angrily through my mind. "I'm going to see if Arngeir knows anything about the Shout," I said dismissively.

"Right. Good thing they've already let you into their little cult. Not likely they'd help Esbern or me if we came calling." I held back a growl. "We'll look around Sky Haven Temple and see what those old Blades might have left for us. It's a better hideout than I could have hoped for. Talos guard you."

"Look, here," Esbern said, grabbing our attention again. "In the third panel. The prophecy which brought the Akaviri to Tamriel in the first place, in search of the Dragonborn. Here are the Akaviri—the Blades—you see their distinctive longswords. Now they kneel, their ancient mission fulfilled, as the Last Dragonborn contends with Alduin at the end of time. Are you paying attention, Delphine? You might learn something of our own history." Delphine rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to protest when Esbern continued, "I know the prophecy by heart. Once, all Blades knew it. 'When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world; When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped; When the thrice-blessed fall and the Red Tower trembles; When the Dragonborn ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls; When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding; The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn'."

I read that earlier, I thought. In "The Book of the Dragonborn". I remember it.

Milos put a hand on my shoulder and began to lead me away from Alduin's Wall. "Let's get moving," he suggested. "It's going to take a while to get back to High Hrothgar, especially with the Dragons."

"Yeah... You're right." I shrugged as Milos took his hand back. "We should find a place to set up camp, too. I want my arm healed as soon as possible."

It was a very silent, but very unanimous agreement that we didn't want to camp in Sky Haven Temple. Not with Delphine on our asses, anyway.