19th of Last Seed, 4E 201

As the snow crunched beneath Ivory's hooves, Valkyrie cursed herself for continuing to go along with this mad scheme. All she wanted was to travel to Ustengrav and retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, so that she could return to the Greybeards and question them about Ulfric. She had never signed up for a crawl through another ancient Nordic burial crypt, this one likely every bit as filled with the undead as the one she had found Serana in. But then, the Dragonborn knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself having left a city full of innocents potentially vulnerable to another dragon attack. Ulfric may have killed the beast at Helgen, but Valkyrie could only assume that there was more where it came from. Considering dragons hadn't been seen for centuries, she had a hard time believing it was only the one that had returned.

The path that had been carved into the mountain side slowly began to give way to cliffs and fresh snow, Valkyrie knew Bleak Falls Barrow couldn't be much farther. She began mentally preparing herself to traipse through another dungeon, when she felt something zip right by her face, missing it by less than an inch. Before she had a chance to turn around and see what it was, Ivory began to spook, moving around erratically and whinnying with panic.

"Hey!" Valkyrie attempted to calm her horse. "Easy girl, it's alright!"

Things were most definitely not alright, as a moment later, an arrow planted itself right in the Dragonborn's shoulder, just between the cuirass and shoulder pauldron of her armor. Valkyrie roared with pain, and subsequently lost her balance, slipping off of Ivory and landing hard on the ground below. The horse rushed away, leaving Valkyrie seemingly defenseless. Or at least any ordinary bandit might have thought so. She scanned her surroundings, off in the distance further up the path was an old watchtower, dilapidated and falling apart, likely a lookout for whoever had the lack of sense to attack her. There was also a tree just off the side of the path, which Valkyrie instinctively rushed behind, just in time to avoid another arrow.

Once behind the tree, the Nord nearly strained her neck trying to inspect the damage of the arrow, but luckily it had gone clean through. With her good arm, Valkyrie reached behind her shoulder and snapped the arrowhead off, before gritting her teeth and pulling the rest of it out. The searing pain made her utter a noise that sounded anything but human, and the Dragonborn knew she was going to let these bandits have it. She took a deep breath, before using the Voice,

"LAAS SLEN HAAS,"

The blood running down the Dragonborn's arm almost immediately began to dry, and the opened wound knit itself back together. Valkyrie then lifted her own bow off its harness, drawing an arrow and stepping out of cover. The moment she jumped out from behind the tree, another arrow whizzed right by her, barely missing her face by less than an inch. This bandit was quite the show, but Valkyrie was ready for him. She pulled her own drawstring back and let the arrow fly, hitting its mark square in the man's chest.

Valkyrie sprinted, hoping to avoid any more cheap shots from whoever could have been posted elsewhere in the tower. She proved lucky, however, as no arrows grazed by her. This bandit was either working alone or his group had been careless enough to only assign one lookout. Inside the watchtower, there was little more than an old staircase, which would have been falling apart had it not been made of stone. The Dragonborn rushed upward, and as she neared closer to the top of the tower, heard the sounds of a man groaning, no, whimpering with pain. As she reached the top of the stairs, he lay there, somehow still alive despite an arrow sticking out of him.

"Huh," Valkyrie said, drawing her blade. "I just barely missed your heart. Seems I'm slipping."

The bandit wheezed, putting up a hand as if to beg for mercy. "P-pl-please," he coughed out. "Don't k-kill me."

"Didn't seem like you were about to show me the same kindness," she shot back, pointing her sword at the man. "Tell me, are you alone? Or are there more of you somewhere?"

He pushed himself back across the floor, eventually leaning up against a wall. "There... there's more," he choked out. "Up the p-path. In... the r-ru-ruins."

"Interesting," Valkyrie said, not taking her eyes or her blade off the bandit. "How many would you say? Ten? Twenty?"

He coughed, a fair amount of blood coming from his mouth as a result. "Few... f-few dozen."

"Hmm," she groaned. Carving through an endless wall of bandits was about the last thing Valkyrie wanted to do today. Retrieving the Dragonstone, getting to Morthal, and finding the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller were much higher on her priority list. As she examined the bandit, she noticed that the arrowhead had broken off when it hit him. "Well, friend," she said, reaching down to grab the shaft of the arrow. "It seems today's your lucky day." The bandit didn't even have time to ask before Valkyrie ripped the arrow out of his chest. He clutched a hand at the open wound, and the Dragonborn Shouted once more.

"LAAS SLEN HASS,"

Blood ceased to drip from the man's chest wound, and in a moment he was as good as new, yet utterly shocked.

"Wha-" he stammered, throwing a hand over his chest where a gaping wound had once been. "What in Oblivion?"

Valkyrie put the tip of her blade to his chin. "Reach for your weapon and you're going to lose a hand." The bandit said nothing, only letting out an involuntary whimper. "You're going to escort me up the pass and make your friends let me through."

"Wait, what?!"

"Do I look like I want to repeat myself?" The Dragonborn said menacingly. "Get up."

The man reluctantly did as he was told, his hands in the air as he rose to his feet. "Listen," he said. "The people I run with, they're not gonna care about losing one of us. They'll slaughter the both of us before they let you go."

"I'd like to see them try," said Valkyrie.

The two of them marched up the snow covered path, further into the mountains at a pace that Valkyrie decided was entirely too slow. But then, they could only go so quickly with her blade pinned against the bandit's throat the entire way. The Dragonborn hoped in the back of her mind that her plan would allow her to get past without having to resort to further bloodshed, but she wasn't holding her breath. Eventually among the snow and rock of the mountains there began to appear structures clearly left by the ancient Nords. They were getting close.

"So tell me," she said to the bandit. "What kind of crew do you have stationed up here?"

"Err-" he stammered. "What do you mean?"

"How many of them are Nords?" Valkyrie clarified. "Honestly, the more of them, the better."

"Well, we... uh..." the bandit was clearly confused. "Most of us is Nords. We got an Orc or two, I think one Khajiit. Oh, and this one Dark Elf that just joined up with us a week or two ago."

"Good," she said. "Means most of them might be willing to listen to me."

"Is it 'cause you're a Nord, too?" He asked. "I told you already, they ain't gonna care."

"You just let me worry about that," said the Dragonborn. They continued to march ever so slowly, and Valkyrie couldn't help but shiver just a bit as snow began to fall. Gods how she missed the Armor of Auri-El, and cursed the dragon that had destroyed the tower with her things in it. But at last, Valkyrie and her captive began to sight the crypt just off in the distance. Bleak Falls Barrow lived up to its name, the gargantuan stone structure clearly not having stood the test of time.

"Oi!" Valkyrie heard someone yell in the distance, a woman's voice. "Bjorn's got himself taken captive!"

"Well, what you waitin' fer?" Another voice, male this time. "Kill 'em both!"

The imprisoned bandit began to squirm, trying to break free, but Valkyrie's grip was far too tight, and her blade much too close to his neck. From the stone ruins, at least half a dozen bandits came running, weapons drawn, but the Dragonborn only smirked. She let go of the bandit named Bjorn, and before he could even flee, she sent him flying at his fellow vagabonds.

"FUS RO!"

Bjorn flew straight forward, crashing into two other bandits and knocking them to the ground. The ones leading the charge stopped dead in their tracks as soon as they heard Valkyrie Shout, though their weapons were still drawn.

"What in Oblivion...?" The Nord in front said aloud. "Did you just..."

"Shout?" Valkyrie finished for him. "You're damned right I did. I've trained with the Greybeards on High Hrothgar. You know what kind of power they possess, that I possess. Let me pass and I'll spare you." Most of the bandit group exchanged glances, seeming to agree that she was not to be trifled with, all except for one Orc, who scoffed.

"Please," the Orc said, stepping forward with his battleaxe drawn. "Some girl does a few parlor tricks and you're all scared shitless." He readied himself, looking as though he were about to charge. "I'll kill this stupid little cun-"

"WULD!"

Faster than any of the bandits could blink, Valkyrie closed to distance between herself and the Orc with another Shout, and her blade was now thoroughly embedded in his gut. He coughed, and blood escaped from his mouth as he dropped down. The Dragonborn pulled her blade from the now lifeless corpse and took a good look at the rest of the bandits. "Does anyone else want to try?" She asked, almost an invitation. To her surprise, no one did. "Good. I'll be on my way now."

"Damn Arvel and his golden claw," she heard Bjorn say, which piqued her attention. "No loot is worth this kind of trouble."

"What's this about a claw?" Valkyrie asked, causing the man to catch glares from the rest of his fellows.

"Err..." the bandit stammered. "This Dark Elf who runs with us, Arvel," he explained. "He got hold of this bauble, said it's supposed to unlock a vault inside the barrow. But... well, he went inside alone and we ain't seen him for at least a day."

"The Draugr probably got him then," said Valkyrie. "Or whatever else lives in these damned crypts. Just so happens I'm supposed to find this claw, so thanks to you I can kill two birds with one stone." She turned to head towards the ruins, and faintly heard the sound of a bowstring being pulled. "Put that away before you get yourself killed," was all she said, without so much as looking back.

To no surprise whatsoever, the inside of Bleak Falls Barrow was dark, damp, and dusty, and Valkyrie longed to have the claw and the Dragonstone in her possession and be out of this gods forsaken place. True, she had faced down undead before, as well as dragons, Daedra, and even would be gods and vampires like Harkon or Vyrthur, but there was simply something about the Draugr that made her skin crawl. The Dragonborn drew her sword, ready for whatever horrors lay ahead, and summoned a ball of flame in her palm to light the way. To her surprise, however, after a few hallways and corridors of pitch black, she came to a lit torch anchored to the wall, with another some distance away, and another beyond.

"Hmm," Valkyrie said to herself. "Maybe Arvel left these? Hopefully they'll lead me to his corpse."

"Hey!" She heard a voice call out from further in, around another corridor. "Is someone there? I need help!" Valkyrie cautiously inched her way forward towards the voice, hoping but not willing to believe it wasn't a ghost or some other specter haunting the crypt. As soon as the Nord turned a corner however, her eyes grew wide with disgust. The room in front of her was covered in spider webs, cocooned corpses littering the floor from one end to another. There was only one other doorway, blocked entirely by a wall of webbing, and trapped dead in the center was doubtless none other than the Dunmer who had stolen the golden claw.

"Well well," said Valkyrie as she stepped towards him. "Arvel, I presume?"

"Er-" he stuttered. "Have we met?"

"No, but I've heard of you," the Dragonborn replied dryly. "You stole something I'm supposed to get back. Honestly, I was sure I'd find you dead in here."

"I will be if you don't cut me free," the Elf said, now panicked. "There's a frostbite spider, biggest I've ever seen."

"I gathered that from the webs," said Valkyrie. "I'll deal with the spider when it comes back. For now, why don't you tell me about this golden claw you stole from the Riverwood trader?"

"Yes, the claw!" said Arvel. "I know how it works! The claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. You won't believe the power the Nords have hidden there."

"Sounds fun," Valkyrie said. "We can find it together, after you hand over the claw."

"Does it look like I can move?" the Dunmer snapped. "You have to-" He suddenly stopped short, and Valkyrie knew exactly what it meant. Her lips were forming the Words before she even turned around.

"YOL TOOR!"

A wall of fire erupted from the Dragonborn's throat and engulfed the massive frostbite spider, its frame twitching and backing away quickly from her. Another strain of fire erupted from Valkyrie's hand, and in moments, after a fit of horrific twitching, the spider was dead. The Nord smirked. "Damn. I'm getting good at this." She turned back to the Elf, who was understandably dumbfounded. She raised her sword to Arvel, "Alright, I'm gonna cut you down. Don't try anything." A few swings of her blade and the Dunmer was free, but the laugh that escaped his mouth only served to anger the Dragonborn.

"You fool," he said, turning on his heel and sprinting through the opened doorway. "I'm not sharing this treasure with anyone!"

"Arvel!" Valkyrie yelled as she took off after him. She had to admit, the Elf was fast. But gods be damned if she was letting him get away. She sprinted through dimly lit hallways, just barely able to keep the Dunmer in sight, until the sound of his screaming made her stop dead in her tracks. The scream was followed by the sound of metal clanking against the stone floor. Arvel was dead, and Valkyrie knew exactly what had killed him.

"Draugr," she said aloud. "Fuck." She backed against the wall just next to the entrance to the next room, hearing only the low growls and moans of undead woken from their slumber. Peeking around the corner, she spied Arvel's corpse just in the center of the room, his dagger next to him. Stupid fool, she thought to herself before stepping out herself and throwing a fireball right at the head of one of the Draugr.

The undead monster flew backward, crashing against the stone wall of the burial chamber, while the other two shambled in Valkyrie's direction. Steel met steel as the Dragonborn parried a strike from one of their blades, circling it around to disarm the Draugr and then promptly ramming her blade through its gut. She was only met with horror when the creature clasped onto the hilt and forcibly ripped the sword out of itself, causing Valkyrie to stumble back.

"Right," she said. "Should have remembered you bastards don't feel anything. YOL!"

The familiar burning in her throat began to return as the fire emerged from her mouth, engulfing the Draugr in flames until it fell to the ground, writhing, just in time for the other two undead to come at the Nord from either side. Valkyrie blocked a swipe from one of their blades with her own, and with her free hand sent another wall of fire towards the slightly slower of the two. The undead were down to one now, and after a few clangs of their swords meeting, Valkyrie readied herself to finish this, until the Draugr did something she could never have expected.

"FUS RO DAH!"

The force that emanated from the undead's decaying maw sent Valkyrie flying back, before landing hard on the ground and coming to a roll on the stone floor. She quickly picked herself up, but was in utter shock. "I'm sorry, did you just Shout?" The Draugr offered no answers, only charged towards her with intent to kill, and the two crossed blades once more. "Of course," Valkyrie said as they each struggled to push the other back. "I almost forgot you don't talk. FUS RO!"

While not as powerful as the undead's Voice, Valkyrie's Shout still managed to send the monster skidding backwards on its feet, giving the Dragonborn just enough time to charge forward with a swing of her blade, and cleanly separate the Draugr's head from its shoulders. Her breath heavy, she returned her weapon to its sheath and began to ponder what had just happened. This undead monster had Shouted. Valkyrie was almost certain the Greybeards or their predecessors hadn't trained any of the Draugr in these crypts whilst they had been alive. Furthermore, the creature knew a Word of Power that even Valkyrie was unaware of. Come to think of it, the Word itself had sounded familiar.

"Dah," Valkyrie said aloud. "Push? Arngeir said I'd have to understand Words like a dragon to use them, but..." she trailed off. "Wait, didn't Ulfric use this Shout at Helgen?" The Dragonborn sighed, again summoning the fire in her palm to guide her way through the crypt. "Guess that's another reason to go find him." She stepped over to Arvel's body, and with a sigh closed the Dunmer's eyes, before searching through his satchel, pulling out the golden claw a moment later. It didn't look to be anything to special, just an ornament in the shape of a dragon's claw, but this was what she was being paid for.

Valkyrie started walking again, through far too many hallways and corridors, occasionally running into another group of undead, but the Draugr all proved no match for the Dragonborn. Just when the Nord was ready to give up and turn around, she finally found herself in what looked to be a burial chamber, the walls carved ornately with ancient Nordic styled writing, at its end a sealed, circular door which, upon closer inspection, had a few small slots that looked to perfectly fit the golden claw.

"Finally," she said, wasting no time marching for the door and inserting the claw. As soon as the bauble was inserted, the door began to shake, before moving downward into the floor, stone skidding against stone as Valkyrie stepped into yet another burial chamber, cursing the never ending hallways and corridors built by the ancient Nords. But then the Dragonborn noticed something odd, rather than countless corpses stacked on top of one another like there had been the entire traipse through, this room only had one sarcophagus in the center, and behind it...

Valkyrie's eyes grew wide as she looked beyond the casket. There was a structure along the wall with runes carved across its surface, in the same fashion as the writings at High Hrothgar, and not only this, the Dragonborn could swear she heard a voice emanating from the wall. Whispers at first, but as she approached, disregarding the sarcophagus entirely, they grew louder, until the voices roared inside her head in an unknown language. Valkyrie held her palm to the runes.

"Here lies the guardian," she said aloud. "Keeper of dragonstone, and a push of unending rage and darkness." The voices suddenly stopped, and Valkyrie herself felt taken aback by some unknown force. "Push," she repeated. "Dah. I think... I understand." The sound of stone cracking caused Valkyrie to turn her head, yet another Draugr, this one larger and more menacing than the last, a great crown on his head of blackened steel, emerged from the sarcophagus. "Gods damn it," the Dragonborn said. "I'm getting sick of you undead bastards." The monster charged, but was unable to strike before the Nord filled her lungs with air and Shouted out,

"FUS RO DAH!"

It felt like the entire room had been shaken. The pure force that tore its way out of Valkyrie's throat sent the undead creature flying, slamming into the wall with such force that a particularly wet crunching noise could be heard. When the Draugr didn't get back up, a moment of shock came over the Nord, unable to believe that such power had come from her. But the unease soon gave way to a smirk across her face. "So this is the full power of that Shout," she said to herself. "I like this one."

She stepped forward slightly, leaning into the casket, now empty except for the other reason she was here. When Farengar had described a Dragonstone, Valkyrie had expected a shiny rock, not an ornately carved tablet hidden in the depths of a burial crypt. She took the stone into her hands, examining it thoroughly as she could. "If I didn't know better," she said. "I'd say this was a map of Skyrim. But what are all these markers everywhere?" She flipped the tablet over, surprised to see even more runes in the strange dragon language. "Interesting. Let's see here," she said. "Here lie our fallen lords, until power of Alduin revives."

Valkyrie dropped the stone, her head suddenly very light, vision blurred, all at the mention of the name Alduin. She backed away from the tablet, her breathing heavy and irregular, bumping into the wall behind her as the voices began to return.

"Zu'u Alduin. Zok sahrot do naan ko Lein." Valkyrie could not move. She could not scream. She could only watch in horror as the massive black dragon hovered above her, its wings beating the air viciously. "Di kiirre fen alok. Hin sil fen nahkip bahloki." The Dragonborn understood not a word of what the great beast was saying, and had no time to even attempt to run as the dragon nose dived towards her, its maw open wide ready to devour her.

Valkyrie's senses returned to her at last, she found herself lying on the cold stone floor, against the wall that had gifted her the Word of Power. Her forehead was dripping with sweat, and she found her legs weak as she tried to stand up. Despite the ease of tearing through undead inside this foul crypt, the Dragonborn now found herself to be uneasy. Merely the mention of this Alduin had been enough to cause her to collapse. Although previously unaware of what this name had meant, she now remembered vividly.

"Alduin," she said, picking up the stone tablet. "The dragon from my dreams. What do you want from me?"

20th of Last Seed, 4E 201

It was well past midnight when Valkyrie finally stumbled into Dragonsreach. Between the visions of Alduin, tracking down her precious Ivory, and finally returning the golden claw to Lucan in Riverwood, the Nord was ready to collapse into a bed. As she had expected, the place was nearly empty save for a few servants cleaning. The Jarl was nowhere in sight, nor was his Dunmer lap dog, but as luck would have it, she could hear Farengar's faint voice coming from his study just off the main foyer.

"You see? The terminology is clearly First Era or even earlier," Valkyrie heard the wizard say as she stepped through the doorway. She was surprised to see that Farengar was not alone, accompanied by another woman, a hood over her head obscuring her face. The Dragonborn leaned against the wall, awaiting their conversation to finish. "I'm convinced this is a copy of a much older text," Farengar continued. "Perhaps dating to just after the Dragon War. If so, I can use this to cross-reference the names wit other later texts."

"Good," said the woman quietly. "I'm glad you're making progress. My employers are anxious to have some tangible answers."

"Have no fear," the wizard said proudly. "Even the Jarl has taken an interest, so I'm now able to devote most of my time to this research."

"Time is running, Farengar, don't forget," the woman briefly turned her head towards Valkyrie, but said nothing to her. "This isn't some theoretical question. Dragons have come back." This got Valkyrie's attention. Who on Nirn was this woman and why was she so interested in the return of the dragons? On one hand, it seemed everyone was interested in the sudden return of deadly beasts long thought extinct, but this woman spoke as though it were a personal matter to her. The woman turned towards the door, seemingly making ready to leave, but not before announcing the Dragonborn's presence. "You have another visitor."

Farengar's head whipped around. "Ah, the Jarl's protégé!" He said, almost seemingly surprised. "Back from Bleak Falls Barrow. You didn't die, it seems."

"Nice to see you too, asshole," Valkyrie shot back. "Who's your friend?"

"Someone you don't need to concern yourself with," the woman snapped, before turning back to Farengar. "I'm gone. Send me a copy once you've deciphered it." She promptly marched out of the room without another word.

"Seriously, who was that?" Valkyrie asked.

"Delphine," the wizard answered. "She runs the inn in Riverwood."

"What does an inkeeper care that much about dragons?"

"I asked her, but..." Farengar trailed off. "She didn't deign to share that information with me. Regardless, her coin is good, and so I share my research with her."

"Right. Speaking of your research," said the Dragonborn. She stepped over to Farengar's desk, setting down the Dragonstone which had previously been strapped to her back. The man's eyes were wider than she had ever seen anyone's, clearly he had not been expecting her to succeed.

"The Dragonstone!" Farengar couldn't help but laugh. "Seems you are a cut above the usual brutes the Jarl sends my way."

"Somehow people are still surprised at that," Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "So I got you the stone. What now?"

"That is where your job ends and mine begins," said the wizard. "I must work on deciphering this tablet. Who knows what secrets it contains?"

"Well, if you get a moment," the Dragonborn said, revealing the coin pouch Lucan had given her in exchange for his claw. "Could you do something for me?"

"And that would be?"

"I need a new satchel," she continued, placing the pouch on Farengar's desk. "One of those magic ones you can fit anything in. My last one was destroyed at Helgen." The wizard couldn't help but smile wide as he took the purse.

"Of course," he said. "Shouldn't take more than an hour or two." Valkyrie didn't even have time to thank him before another voice made itself known just outside the study. If the Dragonborn wasn't mistaken, it was none other than Irileth, the Jarl's bodyguard.

"Farengar!" The Elf said, now resting her hands on her knees, breathing heavily, looking as though she had sprinted halfway across the province. "You need to come at once. A dragon's been sighted nearby!"

Shit, Valkyrie thought to herself.

"You should come as well," Irileth said as she turned to the Dragonborn.

Gods fucking damn it, Valkyrie thought again as the three of them rushed out of the study, into the main hall, and up a flight of stairs where a few guards were waiting for them. The Dragonborn was exhausted, the last thing she wanted was to be fighting a dragon, but she knew she simply couldn't turn away when others could possibly be in danger.

"A dragon!" Farengar exclaimed. "How exciting! Where was it seen? What was it doing?"

"I'd take this a bit more seriously if I were you," said the Dunmer. "If a dragon decides to attack Whiterun, I don't know if we can stop it."

I don't think you'll have to worry about that, thought Valkyrie. While it was true the last time she battled a dragon, she had been aided by two powerful vampires, as well as had vampiric blood herself, the Nord was confident in her newfound power to take one down by herself, although hopefully without giving away her true nature. The last thing she needed was the entire province knowing that there was another Dragonborn, at least until after she had questioned Arngeir and Ulfric. As the trio reached the top of the stairs, they entered into a smaller room, where the Jarl was hunched over a table that contained a map of Skyrim, red and blue markers dotting various locations. Balgruuf looked none too pleased, as though he had been woken from sleep for this, but he maintained his composure and began questioning the guards.

"So," said the Jarl. "Irileth tells me you came from the western watchtower."

"Yes, my lord," the guard answered, out of breath.

"Tell him what you told me," said Irileth. "About the dragon."

"Uh... that's right. We saw it coming in from the south. It was fast, faster than anything I've ever seen."

"What did it do?" Balgruuf asked. "Is it attacking the watchtower?"

"No, my lord," said the guard. "It was just circling overhead when I left. I never ran so fast in my life, I thought it would come after me for sure."

Balgruuf placed a hand on the guard's shoulder. "Good work, son. Head down to the barracks for some food and rest. You've earned it." The guard bowed and promptly did as he was told, and the Jarl now turned to his bodyguard. "Irileth, you'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there."

"I've already ordered my men to muster near the main gate," said the Elf.

"Good. Don't fail me." The Jarl then turned to Valkyrie, who already knew what was about to be asked of her.

"I know, my lord," said the Dragonborn. "I'll go with them."

"Thank you," said Balgruuf. "I'm sorry to call on you again so soon, but... you survived Helgen. You have more experience with dragons than anyone else here."

More than you realize, Valkyrie thought to herself as she nodded.

"I'll have an appropriate reward waiting upon your return," said the Jarl. "May the Gods protect you."