"Okay,so here's what we know about queen Elsa...she has power over ice and snow,which can unintentionally triggered through certain emotions,she spent thirteen years in isolation after some otherwise obscure accident,her parents died three years ago..." He stopped there when he remembered the last time he was in Arendelle.
"Hmm...could be a coincidence,I doubt Mannimarco would actually try to control a dragon...or would he...?" He asks himself as he stares into the eyes of his helmet like he was having a debate with someone else. "Young royal dealing with the pressures of ruling a kingdom while trying to keep her constantly growing powers in check...what exactly does he want with her,though...?" He debates for a minute before hearing a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" He calls out. "The queen's steward." A male voice answers,making him get up and open the door to see the plump man who escorted them to their rooms. "Whatcha need?" He asks,making Kai study him for a moment. "Queen Elsa has requested that you and lady Serana join her for dinner." He answered,making Hjalti nod.
"Right now or is it going to be later?" He asked. "It should be ready before you get to the dining hall." Kai answers. "Sounds good...tell her we're on our way." He said calmly,making the plump man nod simply. "Of course." He says simply before looking back at him.
"Can I ask you something,my lord?" Kai inquired curiously,making him raise his eyebrow a bit. "As long as you don't say "my lord" again...I'm a soldier,not a noble." He answered simply,making him nod lightly. "Can princess Anna truly be saved...?" He asked in a worried tone.
"If we can confirm where she is and get out of there alive..." He answers simply,making Kai give him a hesitant nod. "But,we'll just have to see where the coming days take us before making any wild predictions..." He says calmly,making the man's face brighten up a bit.
"Strong words,sir..." He said,making Hjalti chuckle lightly. "I ain't one to use words lightly..." He said before Kai bows lightly. "I'll see you at dinner,then." He says before leaving him to his business. "If I were a power hungry lich looking to become a god and use a seemingly unstable queen who was born with distinct powers in a foreign land to achieve that goal,what would I look for...?" He debates before sitting back down and concentrating on the thought.
"We've got leverage...a launching point for an invasion,that is if he succeeds...what's missing...?" He mutters as he starts staring at his helmet again. After a few minutes,he places a couple of small candles in the eye sockets of the helmet before igniting the wicks and watching them burn down,steadily trying to figure out what he was missing.
The more the thought raced through his head,the more the light flares seemed to grow and flicker,making the already demonic helmet look even more terrifying as he simply stared at it in deep thought. That's when he started thinking back on what he told Elsa about the last time Mannimarco took over an entire city and Molag Bal's invasion of Tamriel.
"Maybe he's trying to tear the veil again and thinks she can help him accomplish that...the daedra that were with that necromancer would justify that,but what's his motive?" He starts mumbling before noticing a shadow behind him. He turns around to see Serana studying him curiously.
"Are you alright?" She asks with a hint of concern in her voice before he nods lightly. "Yeah...just thinking." He says simply,making her nod reluctantly. "We need to head downstairs...don't want to keep anybody waiting..." She says calmly as he puts the candles out.
"Let's go..." He said simply as they leave the room and make their way to the dining hall. "So,what did you come up with...?" She asks as they walk through the corridors. "Probably a repeat of the Interregnum,that's the best I've got right now..." He answers simply,making her nod lightly.
"He's looking to tear the veil again...what does this have to do with the queen?" She asked,making him shrug. "Don't know,maybe something to do with her powers...or the connection between them and her feelings..." He kind of debates to himself again.
"True...she is unique,even compared to mages in Skyrim,but what connection would she have to the plains of Oblivion?" She inquires as they thought on the idea for a minute. "Unless one of the daedric princes gave them to her...but to what end?" He suggests,making her shrug lightly.
"Maybe Mannimarco made a deal with one of them to provide him with some kind of conduit to tear it beyond repair..." She said,making him nod a little. "And by conduit,you mean sacrifice...makes sense..." He says as they entered the dining hall.
Elsa looks up when she heard the door open and gives them a light smile. "I'm glad you could make it..." She said in a friendly tone,making Hjalti shrug. "Well,it wouldn't be right for us to not join you,especially in your own castle." He says simply,making her nod a bit before motioning them to their seats.
They each took their seats,with Hjalti sitting between Elsa and Serana,which made him kind of glance between the two for a minute. "Well,interesting seat..." He mumbled to himself as he settled down in the chair. Kristoff studied the two curiously when they sat down before Hjalti noticed him.
"Leave your formal clothes in Skyrim?" He asked in a kind of hesitant tone,making Hjalti grin a bit. "These are my fancy clothes...just because I meet with royals,nobles or anything like that doesn't mean I'm gonna wear something different...ain't trying to be rude or anything,but that's kind of wasting time worrying about clothes,ain't it?" He answered,making both the queen and the mountain man study him.
"Fair enough..." He said before he went back to eating. Elsa kind of chuckles to herself as she looked between them,lightly raising her eyebrow when she noticed that Serana wasn't eating much. "Is something wrong...?" She asks in a concerned,but quiet tone,making her look up curiously.
"Hmm...? No,your majesty,I'm...just not that hungry..." She answered simply,making Elsa nod reluctantly. "You can save it for later...if you want to." She offers,making a light smile barely cross her lips. "I appreciate that,but...I don't want to seem rude." She says calmly.
"Well,if you change your mind..." Elsa starts before Serana gives her a light nod. "Thank you..." She says simply as she kind of picks at the food on her plate. That's when she turned her attention back to Hjalti who was alternating between eating and playing with his food,the look on his face suggesting that he was in very deep thought about something.
"Can I ask you something...?" She starts hesitantly,turning his attention to her. "I don't see why not." He says simply,waiting on her response. "Your methods...how extreme are they...?" She asks,trying not to sound rude or ungrateful when she did.
"I ain't gonna lie,in this line of work,things can and will get brutal...but,I'm guessing you're worried if I'm gonna start interrogating innocent people or something like that...it ain't gonna happen,if anybody gets brought in for questioning,I can assure you that they're connected to Mannimarco's worm cult...and I'll personally show you the evidence that supports that connection before questioning them...does that satisfy you?" He explains in a calm,true tone,making her nod contently.
"It does...thank you." She says,letting out a kind of nervous breath when she does. "And for future reference,if you want to know anything about what's going to be done about these prisoners or anything like that,don't be so shy about it...I'm here to help you find your sister and kick Mannimarco out of Arendelle,therefor it wouldn't be right to keep any information involving this from you...wouldn't you agree?" He said simply,making her nod in agreement.
"I agree..." She said calmly before turning her attention back to her plate. Things got quiet for a moment and Hjalti was about to take another bite of his food until he and Serana started sensing some kind of magical anomaly. They looked to each other curiously,which drew Elsa's attention back to them.
"What's wrong...?" She asks quickly before a dark energy starts surging on the table and manifests into a human looking figure,eventually revealing Mannimarco himself. "Well well,this is an interesting gathering...the rebel king of Skyrim,the snow queen of Arendelle...and of course,one of the dreaded daughters of Coldharbour and let's not forget about the fabled hero of the dragon blood..." He sneers before turning his attention to Kristoff.
Serana and Hjalti look between each other before exchanging nods as Hjalti quietly slides out of his seat and disappears from sight,waiting for an opening. "Ah,Kristoff,is it? Your little lover has been dying to see you again...so,I figured I'd take the liberty of delivering you to her!" He declared before using his magic to lift the mountain man from his chair and starts trying to rip out his soul,making his eyes flicker white as his life essence was drawn to the lich's hand.
Everyone else stood up and looked for an opportunity to stop the horror until... "WULD NAH KEST!" A voice thunders through the room,drawing Mannimarco's gaze to the source as he was forced from the table in a blur with a spectral sword sticking out of his back.
Kristoff drops to the floor as his soul shot back into his body as all eyes went to Mannimarco and Hjalti who picks him up with the demonic looking ghost blade and flings him outside into the courtyard before following suit. Elsa's jaw dropped when she realized what just happened and how fast it happened before she noticed,Ulfric,Serana and Kristoff rushing outside,following them when she got over the sudden shock.
Mannimarco stumbled to his feet as Hjalti emerged from the castle with the spectral great sword propped on his shoulder. "It seems the stories about you are indeed true,Dragonborn...but tell me,how far are you really willing to go to save this pathetic kingdom...?" He says with a cold glare as they each took a battle stance.
"I'm about to go toe to toe with the infamous king of worms...you tell me..." He responds sarcastically,making the lich laugh. "Then you're either brave or foolish..." He declared coldly,making Hjalti smirk and shrug. "Or a damn brave fool...either way,I'm gonna liberate your "hostage" from where ever you're hiding her and send you back to where ever you came from with your tail between your legs...whether you kill me or not..." He said wittily,making Mannimarco grimace wickedly.
"We'll see about that...Come,Dragonborn! Prove to me that you're everything the stories declare!" He taunts as he ascends from the ground. Hjalti smirked before taking a breath,his eyes locked on the king of worms as he readied his next attack.
"GAAN LAH HAAS!" He shouts as a dark purple wave of energy tears through it's target and drained some of the lich's energy back to him and forcing him back to the ground. He charged with the spectral blade raised and tries to cleave Mannimarco in two before he blocked the blow with his staff and swings the top at his head only for him to deflect his attack then elbow him across the face,tearing into his cheek and cracking his jaw when he did.
His head reeled back when draconic spikes on his adversary's armor tore into his flesh before planting the end of his staff into his chest and sending him backwards. Hjalti's gauntlet bites into the stone under him when he catches himself before he stands up,banishes his sword and starts throwing fireballs and lightning bolts at Mannimarco.
He evades the blast from the fireballs and deflects the lightning with his staff before firing ice spears and lightning at his foe,who dodge them with ease as he casts something from his left hand and summons an armored,skeletal figure with glowing purple eyes and wielding a primitive looking great sword which charges towards the lich.
Mannimarco starts sparring with the creature while Hjalti summons a spectral bow and starts firing on him as he starts strafing to the side. Elsa watched uneasily before turning to Serana. "Shouldn't we help him...?" She asked,making the dark haired woman smirk.
"If he needs us,he'll let us know..." She said simply before they heard bones collapsing and lightning crackling through the courtyard before they noticed Mannimarco firing a stream of lightning from his hand that destroyed most everything in it's path then catching Hjalti in the beam.
He stumbled to his knees,but all in all the training he had with magic dampened the blow enough to where he could retaliate. "YOL TOOR SHUL!" He shouts,engulfing the king of worms in flames when he did and making him stumble back,therefore interrupting his spell.
Hjalti got back to his feet as lightning flickers through his fingers before taking a breath and letting the energy run through his body before catching Mannimarco in the same beam,the combination of the energy and dragon's fire almost destroying the lich's physical form as he dematerialized in a cloud of ash.
The stream stopped after the worm king disappeared and Hjalti turns back to the awe struck queen of Arendelle before returning to the group with a light grin on his face. "He can pack a punch..." He said wittily as he walked past them and went back inside,returning to his spot at the table and getting back to his meal like nothing even happened.
Elsa,Kristoff,Ulfric and Serana looked between each other and Hjalti for a minute,none of them really sure what to say before they finally shrugged it off and returned to their individual spots at the table and eating in a somewhat awkward silence until they each had their fill.
Most everyone had settled in for the night,but Elsa couldn't sleep from thinking about Anna and what she saw in the courtyard earlier. "How did he even survive that...?" She asked herself as she paced through the corridors until she ran into Hjalti,who was leaning against the door to the throne room.
"Trouble sleeping,your majesty...?" He asked,making her nod reluctantly. He opens the door for her and motions her into the room. "Thank you..." She said in a light tone before going through the door with him a few paces behind her.
"Welcome..." He said as he closed the door and follows her to the throne. "So...what's on your mind...? If you don't mind my asking..." He inquired curiously as she sat down,making her look to him sleepily. "Anna...Mannimarco...what you did in the courtyard..." She said dully,making him nod lightly.
"Well...I don't know if any of this is gonna help any,but...I intend to question our guest first thing tomorrow morning to find out where she is...as for Mannimarco,no that didn't kill him...it'll dematerialize him for awhile,but we ain't seen the last of him...which brings us to what you saw in the courtyard..." He says simply,making her nod contently then start focusing a little more as he continued.
"Where do you want to start?" He asked calmly,making her shrug lightly. "Maybe how you managed to catch him off guard so fast when he attacked Kristoff..." She said calmly. "One of a couple of shouts that I used tonight..." He answered,making her raise her eyebrow curiously.
"Does that have anything with me hearing thunder...?" She asked,making him nod. "That's one of the reasons it's known as the Thu'um...it basically means dragon shout...and they tend to echo in a way..." He explained calmly.
"I heard Mannimarco call you "Dragonborn"...what does that mean?" She continues. "I'm possibly the only person alive that can absorb a dragon's soul,life force and knowledge upon killing it and like I said earlier,I can learn how to use the thu'um as naturally as dragons do." He answered simply,making her study him for a minute.
"And...you were born with this power?" She asks before he nods lightly. "Yes,but I didn't trigger until I discovered my first word of power...then killed my first dragon." He answered,making her drowsy eyes widen a bit. "That's...quite a way to discover your powers..." She said calmly,making him chuckle lightly.
"It was interesting,nonetheless." He said simply,making her laugh lightly. "I bet..." She says sleepily. He studied her for a minute when he heard the drowsiness in her voice. "You need to rest...we've got a long road ahead of us,now." He suggests calmly before she yawns lightly.
"It probably wouldn't hurt for you to rest a little yourself..." She said calmly,making him smirk a bit. "I've taken worse beatings than that,your majesty...I promise you." He said with a light chuckle as they each stood up and went back into the corridors.
"Thanks for that little talk...it helped ease my mind a bit..." She said with a light smile,making him nod contently. "No problem...and if you ever wanna talk again,let me know." He said simply,making her give him a light nod.
"I will...goodnight." She said sleepily before heading back to her room. "Sleep tight..." He said as she walks off before making his way back to his room...
Okay,these updates are probably gonna start taking awhile,been busy busy lately and kinda started back on Skyrim to refresh my magic lore a bit.
Anyway,here's another chapter,hope ya enjoy it and I'll have another as soon as I can...