The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 8 - Battling a Dragon
It's the moment you've all been waiting for! Enjoy!
Irileth stopped before the main gates, then turned to face the three guards that were with her. "Here's the situation. A dragon is attacking the Western Watchtower."
The three guards had various responses to this.
"What?"
"A dragon?"
"We're in for it."
The woman raised her voice a bit to make herself be heard. "You heard right! I said a dragon! I don't much care where it came from or who sent it. What I do know is it's made the mistake of attacking Whiterun!"
One of the guards looked at her curiously. "But Housecarl...how can we attack a dragon?"
Irileth thought about her response. How did one attack a Dragon? "That's a fair question. None of us have ever seen a dragon before, or expected to face one in battle. But we are honorbound to fight it, even if we fall. This dragon is threatening our homes...our families. Could you call yourselves Nords if you ran from this monster? Are you going to let me face this thing alone?"
"We're so dead…"
Irileth ignored the man and continued speaking. "But it's more than our honor at stake here. Think of it - the first dragon seen in Skyrim since the last age. The glory of killing it is ours, if you're with me! Now what do you say? Shall we go kill us a Dragon?"
The three guards cheered and hefted their weapons.
"Yeah!"
"Damn right!"
"Yeah!"
The woman grinned. "Let's move out."
Irileth caught movement in the corner of her eye and looked up, but saw nothing.
She thought about shooting whatever caused the movement, but decided not to, and motioned for her men to follow her.
There was something about having the Clawshots back in his possession that Link couldn't exactly decipher. He wondered how they had been found near the White River, and how long they had laid there before a guard found them. He supposed he was lucky any of his gear had been found at all. But one question still bothered him - Where was the Master Sword?
He was closer to the watchtower than he had been five minutes ago, thanks to the Clawshots, unfortunately, the rest of his journey would have to be on foot. Which was fine. Surprisingly, no one saw him approach and then run into the tower, where he almost ran into a lone guard.
"What are you doing here? It's not safe!"
"I came to help you."
The man gazed at him, then shook his head. However, before he could respond, the ruins of the tower shook, and then there was a roar.
The source of the roar belonged to a massive dragon, and it was heading directly towards Irileth and her men.
The lone guard ran outside, waving his arms in panic, but Link ignored him, took his bow off his back, notched an Iron Arrow to the bowstring, then lowered the bow as he realized that he was too far away. He stood there for a moment, then started to run.
Irileth and the guards were currently hiding behind various boulders, watching the tower. She risked standing up and looking around, then dropped back to her previous position. "No signs of any dragon right now, but it sure looks like he's been here. I know it looks bad, but we've got to figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still skulking around somewhere. Spread out and look for survivors. We need to know what we're dealing with."
The three guards nodded, the group got up from where they had been hiding, and started to walk towards the watchtower.
Then there was a roar. Something massive flew over the mountains and started to fly towards them.
It was a Dragon.
The massive creature swooped down, still roaring, then breathed fire.
The group scattered, running in different directions, but regrouped a minute later.
The dragon started to fly towards them again, but then stopped, and opened his giant maw.
"FUS RO DAH!"
There was an audible boom and a visible shockwave that sent the guards flying in all directions."Brit grah. (beautiful battle) I had forgotten what fine sport you mortals can provide!"
Then the beast landed - the earth shaking as he did so - before a lone guard, eyed him, reared his head up a bit, opened his maw, and -
A lone arrow appeared from nowhere and struck the dragon in the neck.
Something… Something was wrong.
Link had felt strange ever since he saw the dragon at Dragonreach's bridge, but now there was something else. The feelings he had felt then had reached some sheer intensity, and not only that, but it felt as if his blood was boiling. It didn't hurt, per say, the sensation was just there.'I don't understand, why am I feeling these things?'
He notched another arrow to his bow and fired, trying to distract himself. The arrow hit the dragon in the side and it roared, causing the surviving guards to cheer and heft their weapons.
Irileth was yelling at him, something about "the Jarl will hear about this!", but Link ignored her. He could deal with the consequences of disobeying orders later.
The dragon took to the air, circled the group a bit, then it flew even higher, then was struck by a lightning bolt and everyone, Link included, simply stared at Irileth who merely yelled. "Don't look at me, focus on fighting that dragon!"
"I didn't know you could summon lightning bolts."
Other guards started saying variations of this and Irileth summoned another lightning bolt that hit the dragon on its right wing. "Look, I will tell you later how I can summon lighting, but right now, we need to kill this dragon!"
Another volley of arrows went up, hitting the dragon in various places.
After several minutes of being hit with arrows and lightning bolts, the Dragon landed again, scattering the guards, then pinned Link to the ground with his left wing claw.
The creature's orange eyes gazed down at him, then the beast spoke. "Hi Lost Ahraanaani, Kiir! Zu'u Werid Hi Ahkrin, Fah Muz Bovul Noli, yet Hi Kriist Ahrk Lufti Naan Hinvomindok! Hi Bormah, Rok Fenaan Koss Kahaan Wah Tinvaak Hi Ok Kul!" (You have wounded me, child (young drake)! I praise your courage, for men flee from me, yet you stand and face me by yourself! Your father, he would be proud to name you his son!)
The Dragon then reared his head up, and titled it to the side a bit. "There is something different about you, Kiir (child). What, I do not know."
"What...What do they call you?"
"They name me Mirmulnir, however, you shall not live to tell the others this!" Mirmulnir opened his maw and brought his head down, only to slam it against Link's shield. The dragon shook his head. "RUTH! You are strong, but not strong enough!" Mirmulnir reared his head back and opened his mouth again, then whipped his head around and lunged towards five guards, thus allowing Link to finally get up.
The Dragon grabbed a guard in his claw, took off into the air, then dropped him.
Without even thinking about it, Link went wolf, and tore across the battlefield, eyes tracking the falling guard. He had only ran this fast before one another time. "We need to get to Hyrule Castle! Zelda can help us!" The wolf shook his head to clear away the memory and kept running.
At the last second, the wolf shifted upwards and caught the guard just before he hit the ground. The two fell to the grass and simply looked at each other.
"I'm...Alive! Did...Did you…save me?"
A nod.
The guard got up, and ran off after thanking Link for saving him.
But yet, something was wrong, Mirmulnir seemed to be planning something, but what?
"You are brave. Balaan hokoron. (Worthy enemy) Your defeat brings me honor." The Dragon roared as he was hit again in the side, then shook his head. "ENOUGH! I have toyed with you for too long!" Mirmulnir drew his head back, then roared. "FUS RO DAH!"
Everyone was sent backwards, including Link, as the shockwave struck the group.
"Thurri du hin sille ko Sovngarde!" (My lord will feast on your souls in Sovngarde!)
"He's going for the tower!"
Link found himself staring up at what appeared to be a stone roof. No, it was the second floor of the tower. He couldn't exactly move, however, there were wooden beams running up the walls.
'...I could use my Clawshots.'
The Hylian primed a long Clawshot, aimed it at a wooden beam, then fired the weapon.
They were still fighting the dragon. They had no idea how long it had been, but the beast just would not die.
"Ralof! With me!"
The Nord ran over to his friend and helped him carry an injured guard behind a boulder, then they ran back to the battle.
Then Hadvar grabbed his shoulder. "Link followed us."
"What?""Yes! He's the one that shot those two arrows at the start!"
Ralof smiled. "...Well...For his age, he has a pretty good shot, do you know where he is?"
Hadvar shook his head. "A guard said that he was thrown backwards into the tower when the Dragon shouted, I haven't seen him since."
The smile faded and the two Nords looked towards the ruined tower.
"There's nothing we can do about it, we need to help the others." Hadvar started to run towards the Dragon, which had landed, and Ralof followed. Before they reached the beast, it took again, towards the tower, and the guards and two Nords looked up, only to see someone leap from the top of the tower and land on the dragon's back.
"...No...It can't be…"
The figure currently dodging the dragon's attacks and stabbing its neck was Link.
After several minutes, the dragon shuddered in the air, then fell to the ground. The figure on the beast's back was thrown forward and hit the ground, but then got up a minute later and stood before the downed beast.
The Dragon snarled, then froze. "Dovahkiin?!...No…No, no, no, no!" He roared. It was the last thing the beast ever said before his head hit the ground.
The guards slowly walked forward a little.
"Is it done?"
"It's finally dead!"
"Wait, something's happening!"
Tendrils of gold-blue energy rose from Mirmulnir's skeleton and swirled around the young man standing before the dragon's skeleton, then the tendrils vanished. Then, the dragon's body started to catch on fire and burn away.
A few moments later, the dragon's killer yelled something, a word, Fus, and the dragon's corpse was thrown away from the group, coming to rest in a distant field.
It was completely silent, then a lone guard removed his helmet and shook his head. "I...I don't believe it! You're...Dragonborn!"