Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
The Lost Race
"How much longer do we have to be out here?" came another unyielding question. "Its freezing! Can't we find some cave or better yet, an inn?" The recipient of the inquiry, a thirtysomething Redguard, heavily sighed. He had recently been hailed as the hero of legend, the dragonborn. In fable, it was he who felled the greatest vampire threat in Tamirel's history, as well as slaying the bane of kings; Alduin. Now, the Dovahkiin was rethinking his previous zeal about this mission. There were reports of a beast killing livestock, Zaheer assured himself, despite the letter ominously stating that something was murdering livestock. And, now his undead beloved was cold. "Only a little bit further!" he called from the head of the party. A series of grumbles and belly groans from the Dawngaurd, as well those of the beast blood, forced the dragonborn's hand. "Zaheer!" Isran cried out. "Mikael is in shock! We must find shelter or we'll all be statues by the time this lets up!" The dovahkiin scrambled to the front of the line, where the best huntress in all Tamriel, the fair Aela, stood atop a snowdrift. "See anything?" Zaheer asked her hoarsely. As always the red-haired nord was in her element, evident in her steely calm. "I can't see a damn meter in all this wind." she replied coldly. "What about…" the dragonborn trailed off. Aela gave him a look that told Zaheer that she was damn near carving the blood eagle in his body if he wasn't careful. "My nose isn't that good." she retorted. "You want a bloodhound, go dig up Skjor." "What about shelter?" "I saw a bit of a precipice further up." she replied evenly. "Then that's where we'll camp." Zaheer shouted the call to trudge forward, despite knowing that a flash of Akatosh's wrath was arcing across the sky.
"Farkas! See if you can gather some wood, or kindling!" The dragonborn shouted. "Anything that can burn!" The ice-brain grunted his acknowledgement, knowing it was hopeless to find any flammables in this icy hell. He sauntered off, wondering as to how it was possible for any weather to be this bleak. Windhelm was beachfront property compared to this! A peal of thunder demanded Farkas's attention, cursing at the skies, he wondered if the Harbinger was attempting to out-shout the storm. He didn't have time to consider the aftereffects, though, as the sky cracked and lightning shot down to dislodge the top of the cliff from from its base. Farkas watched in horror as his friends were buried alive in the slide of rock, snow, and ice. He raced back, frantically digging through the avalanche, but he halted his futile efforts. They were gone.
After he sent the ice-brain on a mission, Zaheer attempted to immerse himself in the role of delegator. He set to work, purposely setting his haversack next to Serana's. Struggling with her canvas, the vampiress muttered a curse to Molag Bal under her breath. Gently gliding over to her, Zaheer took her elegant, pale hand in his dark, calloused ones. They stood still for a pregnant moment, simply gazing into each other's eyes, while their hands unknowingly tied the rods to Serana's tent. A loud roar from the heavens broke the star-crossed lovers' trance. "We'd better hurry." Zaheer gently told Serana. "Before that overhang comes down on us!" As if on cue, a flurry of lightning shot down from the sky to fracture off enough of the cliff to bury all of Solitude. Zaheer shouted the tongue of dragons, attempting to slow time to a crawl to give his party time to escape, but Serana caught him in a vise-like embrace, not wanting her last moment to be without the man she loved. And in that split-second, all the two saw was white, then nothing at all.
Minutes later, some of the party began to arise from the rubble. Isran, Mikael, Aela, Durak, Gunmar and Sorrine. They shook themselves free of the biting frost about them, and set to work finding their leader, the only one who could save them from this quagmire. However, after hours of digging, delving, and mining, the survivors found nothing. So, they gathered what they could, and set off into the unknown.
It had been fortnight since the monster had found their trail. The creature had discovered a small army in his territory. But rather than try to tear them apart and devour the intruders, the thing decided to sit and wait. He tracked them, albeit slowly, so as not to give himself away. Still, eventually these shielva had to be dealt with. So, the giant waited. And waited. Until a blessing from Andraste herself showed him the opportune moment. So, he began silently and swiftly gliding down the mountain, until he came to a pile of stone, and hid himself, for some of these strangers were rising from their icy grave.
Aela was in her usual steely nerve, but her silence was deafening to the others. They knew what the dovahkiin meant to her, even though the huntress would never proclaim her feelings out loud. Suddenly, a flash of movement in the distance caught her keen wolf's eye. A flash of black in the distance, then, gone. "We're being followed." she reported harshly. Having salvaged what they could from the wreck, Isran called out to her saying, "It's best if we leave, lest that shadow comes down to investigate." Although Aela agreed, she still constantly glanced back at the remains of their camp, hoping against hope that the dragonborn would break free. A single tear was shed from the huntress's proud yellow eyes, knowing he never would. And so she trekked on with the rest.
Serena awoke with a cold start eyes darting in every direction. She was… rather warm for being buried under a meter of ice, snow, and rock. Then she took note of the strong arms that enveloped her. "Zaheer!" She cried out, the sound of her voice muffled. Her lover was unresponsive. She tried in vain to wake him, but to no avail. " Damn it." She breathed. What she wouldn't give to be one of the dov right now. Then she could get out of this debacle. Suddenly, Zaheer called her name, then realized he was the only thing keeping her safe from the crush of the avalanche's weight. "Don't move." He ordered. Then he spoke the word of the dov, and the small whisper sent the blanket of rubble out and away from the two, revealing their shattered companions.
The creature was content. After a blast which sent the pile of stuff away from the intruders, there were only two souls left alive to be devoured. The thing smiled, showing two rows of crooked, dirty, and jagged teeth. Taking one spindly arm from the outcropping, the monster lurched forward, utilizing all fours to get the kill quickly. The almighty would be pleased with the sacrifice.
The Udar was out hunting. Rahktor stood nearby, anxious to be ridden. However, the nightwalker had disappeared. Then a chariot of the gods blessed the ground with great fire. And that's where the new arrivals were. Diligently, T'kon mounted Rahktor and sent the Artcic Sabre Cat to where his quarry would most likely turn up.
To Serana's dismay, Zaheer's leg was badly broken, as were two ribs. The latter was evident in the dovahkiin constantly hacking up wads of blood-flecked phlegm. Serana did her best to administer a healing potion, but she knew that she needed Isran or one of the others for mending the broken bones. Serana propped her love against the wall of the cliff, and began to work on a splint with whatever rabble she could. "Serana," Zaheer called out weakly. She was at his side instantly. "What is it Zaheer?" She asked, concerned. "I never told you how much you mean to me…" his voice trailed off to something behind his beloved. "Well, now's not the time for that kind of…" Serana followed Zaheer's intent gaze, but didn't notice his good arm going for his only weapon, Nettlebane. All she saw was a black mass that towered above them, with long, fragile-looking limbs and a maw of unholy teeth. Then a roar from elsewhere forced the shadow to back down, and a smaller and more normal-appearing figure drove the thing off with a strange light-emitting stone.
The Udar had come across a unique spectacle. The shiggoua was ready to devour not one, but two unsuspecting souls. He ushered Rahktor to their aide, proffering up a kajal stone, calling on Old Mother to give him her light. And a white radiance casued an unholy shriek from the creature, and it dissipated into the cold breeze.
To the lovers' surprise the white beam that shot from the small stone seemed to wound the thing, and now the impossibly large, but rather foreign-looking human dropped off his unusually gargantuan Sabre Cat and stood stock still in front of the two lived he had just saved. Zaheer struggled to his feet, and tried to rush the stranger, only to trip himself up, and biff it face first in the snow. Serana knelt to his level, assessing his condition. Realizing that this barbarian was her only hope to save her hero, Serana uttered two simple words. "He's hurt." She pleaded.
The nightwalker had fled into the breeze, and now T'kon was standing before its prey. They were a pair, male and female, and despite having rather bland features of a non-Udar, the girl was quite beautiful. Her companion collapsed, and kneeling beside him, she stared up at T'kon, and begged him in a way he could not understand. Still, it was obvious that her friend was not well, so T'kon gathered the wrong but plain-looking man into his arms, tying him about Rahktor. He motioned for the girl to get on, but she only came to the cat's upper knee, so T'kon reluctantly boosted her into the saddle. And he gave his cat heel, and T'kon set off, back to his hovel.