VOICES OF ANGELS

Elisif, the Fair

Our quests so far have not been difficult. Bolgeir took it upon himself to enter Bleak Falls Barrow and retrieve the Dragonstone after we spoke with Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun. The Jarl was courteous and helpful when I arrived, only showing signs of panic when I spoke of the threat of the Dragon.

If Alduin gets his way, then Skyrim will cease to exist. My people, Torygg's people, will wither away with the dragon's schemes. Sybille and Falk spoke of this threat for months. Yet, I never felt it was at my doorstep until last week, when I took the life of that dragon. We were arriving in Whiterun for other matters that concerned the Imperials when it came out of nowhere. A long shadow that fell onto the carriage and threatened to smother us whole.

I don't remember much from the event. The only thing that seared through my mind were the faces of my friends, Falk and Sybille. I would not let them die. No matter how much I wanted to reunite with my beloved in Sovngarde, I didn't feel it was my time yet. And that pressure in my chest was right, it snapped free, somehow killing the dragon and absorbing his soul.

As I said previously, the events were hazy, unrelated, and fragmented. I barely remember the carriage moving forwards, the shouts of awe and wonder at what I did, the feeling of pure power thrumming through my veins. I only remember shadowed mornings waking up to drink from a goblet Sybille would keep by my bed. And the covers that never seemed to warm with my body.

She was scared I was dying. I was ill. I might have been. Later on, I heard that the dragon took a bite out of my abdomen, aiming to kill me before my soldiers killed it. I suppose the beast knew what I was by only locking eyes on me. And I truly believe I would have died that first night.

If not for my dream. Of my beloved holding me tight and whispering in my ear. "It will all be right, Elisif. I am not there to protect you or our people. But you can. I want you to feel how strong you can be. I want you to protect them. I'm not there so you have to be."

I clutched him closer, breathing in the scent as if he were right there in the bed with me. I didn't even pull away to see the love in his eyes. I just wanted to tug him closer, closer, closer until I branded him in my skin. Folded him up so I could keep him safe from this dream and ferry him into the real world.

All he did was pry my arms from him and softly cup my face. His warm eyes filled with tears, and I knew he was right in front of me. This wasn't a figment of my imagination but a bridge from the beyond.

"Do good, my love. We will be together again someday. Not soon. Not when you haven't fulfilled your purpose."

When I opened my eyes to the hazy early morning that day, still clinging to the memory of my dead husband breathing in my arms, Sybille didn't stop me when I rose to open the bookcase. It was simple, a stray book with no words on its spine that should be pulled out, and the center of the bookcase spun outwards.

My vampire friend, the one who tasted Talos's name as if it were fire in her mouth, only stared at me from the open door with a fresh goblet of water in her hands. I knelt at the foot of the great statue. My knees scraping against the harsh floor and the cold making me shiver. But I prayed for the first time to an outsider. The outlawed. And that day I rose, feeling lighter than I had in months.

"Elisif."

My haze snaps, the memories breaking away like a storm cloud revealing the sun above the darkness. "Sorry, I am distracted after the long trek. Forgive me." Seven thousand steps was no easy feat, and if I were myself I would have crumbled after a few hundred. But to my surprise, that new woman in my skin took over. Taking the rest of the steps for me when even the well-trained soldiers behind me had to falter. Had to pause for breath. Up in the higher elevation I still felt alive, as if I were breathing at the foot of the mountain. Sybille had mentioned it a few times and I only curled into my old self when thoughts of Torygg invaded. As they always do.

The Greybeard, Arngeir, smiles at me. "I have drawn another word of power, once learned you will complete your training."

The glowing word lays at my feet and I watch as the motes of light rise to the air, only to sink into my skin. It wasn't the bone-deep power that the dragon souls gave me. It was like a prickling sensation all along the skin that raised the hair on my arms and brought to me a sort of peace.

Knowledge.

"How many words can I learn? How many shouts?" I ask him, trying so terribly hard not to think about the shouts that Ulfric collected, waiting on the tip of his tongue to be spoken against my husband.

His brow furrows, "There is no limit. As one with Dragon Blood you have the endless power of your brethren. It is Akotosh's gift to mankind."

I smile, it's slight, and it doesn't make a mark on my face for long. But that thought brings the other woman joy. Some sense of peace that I can collect words like my husband collected flowers and love letters for me for me, then collected the hearts of his people. I can use these words to shield them from devastation. No one will ever have to feel the heartbreak that has afflicted me for these past few months.

"If you know so much of these words and power, why stay up and here while the great dragon takes our world?" The thoughts are at my lips with out much contemplation and the way Arngeir's eyes shutter, I know I made a mistake.

A terrible misstep. I still feel like the shoes I wear are too big for me to grow into. As a Jarl I need to practice diplomacy with all my friends, acquaintances, and even enemies. I've always been able to maneuver the political landscape of a room effortlessly. So much so that Sybille didn't even blink when she heard I was to take the title of Jarl. It appears my skills have weakened over time.

Before he can tell me his reasons, Sybille leans in close. "My Jarl, we must go. There's a disturbance outside."

The man before me pinches his face further. "A disturbance? It's probably one of those frost trolls. They come knocking at our doors from time to time."

"No, it's something in the air. A dragon." Sybille snaps.

I can barely process it, the fact that this creature found us all the way up here in a great sanctuary. It's like my mind is split, the other woman is gearing up for battle, but the Jarl in me, the broken part, is trying to remedy her mistake. "Sybille, we should be safe, I'm just having a simple conversation…"

The roof cracks and shutters. A loud booming noise shakes the ground and I fall to my hands and knees. Shouts ring out around me. I know what to do. I know what to do. I remind myself even as Sybille lifts me in her stronger arms and races away with me. Even as the monastery crumbles around us. The Greybeards all stand in a circle in the middle of the room as the hole above opens up.

"No!" I scream but maybe it's the other woman. The one who isn't scared in the face of adversity. I claw at Sybille, begging me with my hands and shouts for her to put me down. But the last thing I see before she ushers me away and readies me for the quick trek down the mountain is Alduin's glowing eyes.

The great dragon bears down on us. His growing smile showing teeth that salivate for my flesh. "Dovahkiin." He states, staring right at me.

My fractured self can't think. I can't tie the two people together: the Jarl who pleads for safety so she can help her people, the woman who always had a stronger man to defend her from all the world's plights, and the new woman who stares down the dragon with a challenge in her eye. Ready to take any power he throws at me and fling it right back.

They all scream at me to do something. And since I can do nothing, I let my best friend and greatest ally usher me to safety while the dragon tears into the sanctuary. Tearing it from its roots that reach down seven thousand feet.

Rune Allister

I wanted to tell the great dragon to dive. I mean, who wouldn't want to dive right into the tall building and rattle it at it's foundations when you're a giant flying weapon? That's what I would do if I were a dragon. Forget scheming, sneaking in the shadows, and waiting out your enemy into the crack of dawn when they're finally asleep. I'd just go through like an ox in a glass shop.

He does it without reading my mind. When High Hrothgar comes into view, I took a moment to study it, really appreciate that it's far above the clouds blanketing the world below. I could build a castle there. With tall towers that reach high up to the heavens and I'd be my own king. Lording over the scraps of people who dare climb the place. I'd have paid for it with my own fourteen thousand, thank you very much.

Although it would cost way more than that. I would have had to clone High King Torygg and kill him about five times over to accumulate that kind of wealth. I'd want a golden throne in all rooms if you get my drift. But the chump change like the measly pay I got stolen from me wouldn't cut it.

My thoughts blew away with the wind in my face. I was smart to put on a black mask before getting out here. I almost forgot it, but the strange Dunmer maid, Vivnasa, absolutely insisted I have it. Makes me think she might have ridden some dragons a time or two.

My eyes water with the cold air slamming into my face. My stomach drops with the claws gravity has on us, pulling us down, down, down until the crazy bastard does what I wanted him to. He slams into the stone monastery, chipping away some of the pretty detailed work. Oops.

"Go kill those on the perimeter and meet me in the center. Make sure no one escapes." Alduin hisses. He leans his head down, ripping the damn stone out with his teeth.

As impressive as a sight it is, I don't have to second guess him. I slide down his scaly body when his tail curls just so I can sail off and roll on the snowy ground without a bruise on me.

I pull the bow with ease, loading and shooting one arrow, two, three, four. Every arrow pierces where it should. Blood rains down on the wet stone when the soldiers fall. I notch another arrow and am ready to let the bad bitch sail when I falter.

It goes flying above, far above, and I'm happy for that because I almost have to rub my eyes with the sight I see. A freaking vampire with a hood and long cloak bolts out the crumbling monastery with someone in her arms. The woman is screaming and tearing at her, flailing with no cause in sight. But her reddish-brown hair that fans around her face, the way her mouth curls in that soft pout, even when she's mad, clues me in. I don't have to see her sorrowful eyes to know who it is.

Instead of shooting again I drop the flimsy bow Vivnasa gave me and pull out the Bloodthorn dagger, stabbing the guy next to me and race after the vampire and her captive. I have to see. As much as they beat it out of me, the street rats and thugs in the city of Solitude couldn't stop me from taking a peek when I was curious. A terrible habit. It gave me a few black eyes in that time and a hobble when I ran away and sprained my ankle. It also almost lost me a few contracts, only for Astrid to rip me a new hole after I got home.

I was, to no avail, allowed to stray from the terms of my contracts, not even to sneak away and see what my marks were doing. What they had hidden in those chests. Why they had secrets meetings in the dead of night. Who they were cheating on their spouse with. Sometimes I'd peek through the curtains to see what kind of person could tear an "honest" man or woman away from someone who seemed, well, decent. Can't say I'd cheat if I had something nice in the palm of my hands. I never really got the chance to hold something so lovely.

Maybe that's why I chase after the vampire and the Fair Elisif without getting an arrow ready. I sink into a crouch behind a large boulder as she shoves the Jarl onto a carriage. The poor horse looks dumbstruck that is has to make the trip down this mountain after coming up all the way. But with a mouth full of carrots, it can't be too angry.

The men and women behind me don't even see me. The soldiers don't turn my way because the bigger threat is absolutely gutting the sacred place those Greybeards call home. I hear the claws pulling at the stone and the harsh shouts and screams from within.

And yet, I can't turn away when I see her face. She looks wrecked. Absolutely devastated as she stares at the lizard ripping apart the building she was just in. She was just there….

No.

I take in a small breath, praying to any gods who will listen. I'm not that religious, never have been, don't plan to be. And I don't think my Unholy Matron will help me where this is concerned. But I try this time, just this once to stop the words tumbling out of Fair Elisif's mouth. "I have to go back!" She screams at the vampire.

The woman cages her in with her strong arms, blocking her path off the carriage. "You can't. You could get hurt."

"I can help them!"

"You can't. I cannot allow the Jarl of Solitude to enter the premises."

"But I'm the Dragonborn! I have the power! They just taught me!" She screams in her face.

That's all I need to hear. This is the mark. The person I'm supposed to kill so I can get my reward: Ulfric's head on a platter. It's a damn shame too. The way Elisif pouts at Sybille is absolutely tantalizing. As grimy as it is, I feel a connection. Even though she was the wife of my previous mark. Even though I don't know her, that day in the rain I felt like I did. I felt like she needed comfort.

Well, apparently not now. Apparently, she's taken care of. I shrug to myself, before pulling up the bow I snatched from some fallen soldier. I notch another arrow and am just steadying it against the wind when a scream riddles the air behind me.

It's loud and fuck and it is so startling, I almost turn around. It sounds like a scream from someone who's been quiet for too long. Then she's on me. I yell out when I go tumbling backwards, the rough body slamming into me and her fangs sink into my throat.

I act on instinct. I grab my dagger, letting the bow and arrow go, and stab at her. She moves under me, like she's in pain but this bitch is strong and steadfast. Good thing Elisif had someone like her to protect her. Too bad Torygg didn't.

"Sybille!" Elisif screams.

I feel the blood pooling and it sends this vampire into a frenzy. She holds me down and starts to suck the blood from me. I kick out at her and we move along the slippering ground when I bare my throat.

She buys the bait, sinking her fangs into my jugular when I feint right and roll us. I stand over her, holding the blade to her throat. A few inches down and I got her heart. Just one plunge should do it. I've done it a million times. I know just how hard I have to push and what kind of resistance I must meet.

All this and her eyes are blazing with hunger. Blood dribbles down on her face, and she seems to salivate for it. Her fangs are fully bared. I push the blade down but the air shifts.

A wrecking ball slams into me, stealing my breath when I go soaring. I'm weightless, just like when I was flying, and then I'm scraping along the ground like I'm hitting a cheese grater. "Fuck!" I moan when the skin peels from my arms and torso. My mask almost rips off.

But it's not too bad. I can still move, and as Astrid said, if I can move; I can kill. I roll and get back up on my feet, ignoring the twinge of sharp pain in my ankle. Beyond me, Elisif stands in front of Sybille, her arms spread out and her face pinched in anger while the snow falls in flurries around her.

She's too lovely for such an emotion.

"You sing that song, sweetheart?" I ask, a lazy grin coming to my face. Yeah, I'm stupid cuz I know she can't see me. But even if I'm wooing the blind, I can still turn on the charm. Don't need to see me to know I'm someone you'd want around for the rest of the night. I saunter towards her. And truthfully, I think I'm still surprised she has this power.

Her eyes narrow and she shouts. In an instant, she's right in front of me. So close, I can feel her breath, drink in her floral scent. "Leave my family alone." She growls. As if a beast has awoken in her.

I grin, flip my blade up in the air before catching it. The silver ridge gleams. Right through the heart. That's where I need to aim, but curiosity kills this cat, remember? "Family? I thought you lost yours."

Wrong thing to say. Stupid thing to say. But I truthfully haven't gotten a second to breathe since I got on that carriage destined for Helgen. So, I should cut myself some slack. Her eyes blaze with the same fury I've felt, the same fury that drives Alduin to rip apart the centuries old building behind me.

I don't need to be a trained assassin to know she wants blood and I'm the closest thing here.

She lunges, I parry back. She moves, holding a sharp dagger in her hands but I duck. She jerks left, trying to swing around me, I spin and parry back. A dangerous dance we perform and I have to say, I'm impressed. I though the snow and ice would slip her up. But her fury, that fire in her eyes, has made her hyperfocused.

That should have been my first clue this won't be an easy fight. Because another shout and she's suddenly behind me, holding that deadly blade to my throat. Thing is, though, she's short. She only comes up to my shoulder in height. She has to lean forwards to try and threaten me, so I use that.

I kick out at her ankle and use her momentum to roll her forwards. She tumbles, face planting in the snow. I chuckle, flip my blade again. When she doesn't move, I sink into a crouch next to her and run my black gloved hand over her hair.

"It's okay, sweetheart, I'll cut you some slack. It appears to be your first fight afterall. I will say, from the bottom of my heart, I'm impressed. I've never seen a princess like you move that fast."

Her head raises, slowly and she moves her forearms to push herself up from the snow. First thing I zero in on is the bloody mark above her left eyebrow, a single drop of blood drips down near her eyes. I frown, ready to wipe it away when she speaks.

"I'm the Jarl of Solitude, scum." And she shouts with that unintelligible dragon language.

I go flying out into the air, another scream leaving my body when wings tear across my field of vision. I can't get in another breath when Alduin sinks his claws around my body. Scraping at the armor that seemed so strong once before. It now rips in his grip as he soars upwards, dragging me with him.

"What the fuck?!" I scream into the air, watching as Elisif's form recedes. She slowly gets up and I watch as the vampire and some other soldiers surround her. The image grows hazy as the icy clouds whip past us.

"Hold on, Kril Krivaan. We are being hunted. Paarthurnax has found us." Alduin yells. I can barely make out the words but I sure get the picture when I look behind us.

Right into the face of the golden dragon hurling through the air, flying fast on our heels and looking to take our heads.