Ch. 3 First Step to Seeking Knowledge
Here's the next chapter of Dovahkiin as promised and I won't lie but this is mainly filler dialogue but it is essential to future development. I hope you all like it and look forward to more!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, all characters copyright of Bethesda.
Marius was let go by Alduin the next day. 'Stupid dragon doesn't even have the courtesy to fly me to a town.' He though bitterly. Alduin set him on the ground in her claws and gave him a general direction of Riften. 'Wouldn't even let me ride on her back either.' She didn't want to "lower herself to a common animal" as she put it. The only good thing that came from it was he learned a new shout to call her but it was for dire situations only. "Durnehviir will have a field day after hearing this and don't even get me started on Paarthurnax, but I guess Durn needs a good laugh after being stuck in the Cairn for all this time." He sighed before his thoughts turned to the Blades. "Esbern would probably know of the contract but will not even think about discussing it and as far as Delphine is concerned, the only good dragon is a dead one to her." Marius shook his head as he walked the back roads to Riften. "When did my life get so complicated?" He questioned to the air but the only response was a gentle breeze.
-Scene Break-
Alduin was perched on a cliff overlooking Skuldafn as she watched a few of her fellow Dov fight over a dead cow. "We were once mighty and free and now reduced to squabbling over a small animal." She said with a low tone. "Curse the Akaiviri and their entire ilk. If they hadn't arrived then none of this would have happened. They called us Oppressors and yet comparing then to now is a complete backwards turn." She snarled as one of the Dov had broken another's neck with a strong bite.
"Alduin thuri, I see you have bested the Dovahkiin." Odahviing said as he landed beside her.
"I did not kill him if that is what you are thinking." Alduin replied in an even tone.
Odahviing shook his head. "It wasn't thuri but what has become of him?"
Alduin's face morphed into a smirk. "He is my slave Odahviing. He follows my command now but I have given him some tasks as a test."
"I understand thuri but if I may ask, what tasks have you given him?" Odahviing questioned her.
Alduin turned her gaze back to her brethren. "To find out about our lost history from the beginning of the Empire and restore our old contract for us to live free once more." Many dragons would say that they never get shocked or stunned in surprise but Odahviing was always quick to say that on that day he was completely in shock. The day was only rivaled by the subsequent success of the Dovahkiin many years later.
-Scene Change-
"I hate bandits." Marius said as he wiped blood from his sword. Three bandits had ambushed him on the path and three bodies were now lying on the road. 'Is this really better than what Alduin claims that happened in the past?' He thought as he continued on the road to Riften. 'I love being able to choose what I want to do but with the war and bandits and Talos knows what else is going on….did we really make the right choice in siding with the Akaiviri?' Marius shook his head as he continued on the road.
The sun was beginning to set as he made it to Riften. He was about to hire a carriage to Whiterun but then decided to see what the guild knew first but the problem with that was that they kicked him out. The only place he could go is the Ragged Flagon and that was only because Vekel liked him enough to keep him around. "Maybe Vekel knows something; he does like history after all." Marius said to himself as he walked into town. Imperial soldiers patrolled the streets but they didn't do enough as Marius saw a thief out of the corner of his eye coming out of a house. With a sigh he unsheathed his sword moved to block the thief's path and after a quick one-sided fight, Marius was approaching the gate to the Ratway. "Well I guess getting some ale wouldn't be bad either." He said before he stepped into the Ratway.
-Scene Change-
"You want me to aid the Dovahkiin?" Odahviing asked in a curious tone.
Alduin blinked. "Trouble follows him and I wish to protect my investment."
Odahviing dipped his head in acknowledgement. "I understand thuri." With that he took off to a mountain over the city of Riften.
Alduin watched him go with a small smirk. "Now Dovahkiin, let's see how you fare when you have an entire species depending on you." Her smirk disappeared when a Dov landed beside her.
"Thuri, elves are at the base of the cliff and trying to find a way up." The dragon said warily.
Alduin merely raised her wings. "Then let's show them what it means to mess with the Dov." She took off into the sky. 'The first thing we do as a free race is wipe out these pathetic elves.' She thought darkly.
-Scene Change-
Marius walked out of the Ratway an hour later with his head hung low. An hour of talk and nothing he had learned helped at all. Vekel had suggested the College but that would lead to questions he didn't want to answer and the Blades would sooner run him through if he so much as mentioned anything good about dragons. He toyed with the idea of asking Valerica but discarded that as she was more than likely in the Soul Cairn during the time and Serana was stuck in a pillar so they were out. The only options were the Library of Solitude or the College of Winterhold and with a heavy sigh he went to the Bee and Barb for the night. When he entered the tavern he made his way to Keerava.
"Here for a drink? If not, then hit the road." She said when he sat down.
Marius sighed. "I said I was sorry and even paid your rent for a year, how much longer are you going to hold this over me? I already feel bad enough about it."
Keerava didn't even flinch. "When you finally realize that the Thieves Guild are nothing more than a blight on Skyrim and deal with them."
Marius put his head on the counter. "A room for the night and the strongest drink you got."
"I thought you didn't drink that much." Keerava said with a raised eye.
"Things have happened that warrant it. Apart from getting thrown out of the guild for reasons beyond my control, I am now the property of that damn dragon." He said as he grabbed the drink she put in front of him and chugged it down.
"Property of a dragon?" Keerava asked as she made him another. She wasn't going to pass this up as a chance to hold something else over him.
Marius only sighed as she put the drink in front of him. "I go to fight the World Eater only to get my ass handed to me and now she's saying that she wants me as a mate. What did I do in a past life to get this as a punishment?" He chugged down the second drink just as quick as the first.
Keerava barely held in a laugh. "That seems a bit too hard to believe. Are you sure you didn't pass out from stress and dream it?"
Marius shook his head. "I'm positive about it. The sad part is I agreed to help her with it."
Keerava couldn't stop the laugh this time. She doubled over the counter as Marius put his head on the counter again. "Now I'm the laughing stock of a bar. How low the might have fallen." He lamented as Keerava struggled to breath.
Keerava managed to straighten up somehow. "I haven't laughed like that in a long time. You as a dragon's mate, that is a funny story."
"Should I start from the beginning?" Marius asked politely.
"It would make for a good start." Keerava said as she poured him another drink.
Marius then told her all about the battle and the subsequent waking up with a dragon beside him. He even told her what Alduin had said about the past and his new task to restore the dragons as a species to Tamriel. Keerava was silent when he finished. "If I didn't know you I would swear that you had a few brain cells missing, how do you lose a four-on-one battle?"
"If I knew I would tell you." Marius said with a sigh. "Can I get that room now? I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow."
"Pay your tab first." Keerava said with a smirk.
Marius set a pouch of coins on the counter before grabbing his room key and somehow making it up the stairs before passing out on a bed in the aforementioned room. No one noticed a Khajit slip out the door after Marius finished his story.
Marius woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. "What did I drink and how much did I drink?" He asked himself as he rolled off the bed and went face first onto the floor. After stumbling around for a few minutes he finally felt well enough to walk down the stairs without tripping down them. After another round of laughing from Keerava at the floor mark on his face and a scathing look from Taleen he left the Bee and Barb in high spirits and set off for the carriage. 'That library better hold something.' He thought vainly. 'If it doesn't then the College is my last bet unless I want to take a trip to the Imperial City.'
High above him was a red dragon watching his progress while a group of Thalmor stalked him from behind.
And cue the end of chapter. Mainly filler here but it did set up for some events down the road. It will get back to the Thalmor of what Marius is trying to do and they will see it as a threat to them and act, so don't count out fighting yet.
Some people have said that last chapter is a bit mellow and not a lot of anger. They will go back to getting angry as enemies should but that doesn't mean it can't have moments of heart to heart between Alduin and the Dragonborn. They will have some squabbles and fights especially since Marius will be able to call her to him in a fight. You know….I want someone to make that a mod on the Skyrim Nexus. A Call Alduin Shout and a change in the Dragonslayer quest, instead of killing him you should be able to ask him to join you in the path of destruction. How badass would that be?
Either way, read and review and stick around for the next chapter. Were It So Easy will be posted by Friday or Sunday depending on how it goes.
Till next time fellow Dovah!