The Witcher: Age of the Dragon Redux
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Chapter 4
The scent of salt on the breeze wafted into Dragonborn's nose making him inhale it deeply. There was something quite bracing about a salty breeze, unless of course it was sloshed with the scent of sewage and refuse in cities that were located by the ocean and that stipulated the otherwise pleasant aroma of the sea.
There was another scent that mingled with the air, the smell of woodsmoke, and the sound of off-key singing pricked the Bane of Alduin's ears. This told him that he was nearing the camp of pirates. Reaching sandy dunes, the warrior crouched low to avoid being seen and poked his head over the summit of the sandy slope.
Sure enough, amidst the driftwood and wreckage of various ships and boats was a motley collection of men wearing a mixed assortment of clothes and armour. They were well-armed, ranging from short swords, spears, halberds to a few archers and crossbowmen mingled among the pirates. Some campfires were scattered about as the pirates lounged around, drinking from casks and bottles of potent booze, or eating various foodstuffs that they must've taken from ship stores.
Although he knew that diplomacy was very unlikely, the Slayer of Alduin thought it best to give the pirates a chance to leave with their heads still attached to their necks. Making sure his sword was loose enough to be drawn from its scabbard, the Dragonborn rose to his feet and marched over the dunes to the pirate camp.
What few lookouts were on guard spotted the Hero of Skyrim and gave a warning cry to their compatriots. "Ahoy, lads! We got a lubber!" one of the lookouts cried out as he fixed a quarrel to his crossbow.
"So much for diplomacy," the Dragonborn said to himself tiredly as he casually avoided the first incoming crossbow bolt by tilting his head to the side. A sharp whistle of air brushed by the Dragonborn's ear as the bolt zipped past his head. A chilly fog wreathed a gauntleted hand as the Dragonborn cast a razor tipped spike of ice and sent it flying at the pirate who tried shooting him. The spike of frost sank deep into the crossbowman's chest, going out through his back and he fell to his knees, a stunned look of incomprehension marring his features.
"Ay up, lads! He's using magic!" one of the pirates shouted to his friends in warning. "Rush him! He can't be that good up close!"
"Amusing," the Dragonborn said dryly as he drew his sword and with swift precise movements, he cut the throats and pierced the hearts of the nearest pirates that tried to rush him.
What happened next was the beginning and end of a very bad day for the pirates. But for the Dragonborn, it was just another day. To give credit where credit is due, none of the pirates retreated which had the Dragonborn scratching his head afterwards. Even the bandits and pirates of Skyrim knew when to retreat if they realised they were clearly outmatched by a stronger foe.
And as the last pirate was opened from balls to brains by the Bane of Alduin's sword, the Dragonborn then looked around. The yellow-white sand of the beach was stained crimson with blood from the pirates. Shields had been split apart by the warrior's sword and weapons had shattered against his armour for those who managed to land a lucky hit.
Wiping his sword clean of blood, the Dragonborn then sheathed his sword before deciding to search the corpses of the bandits. "Spoils of war," he mumbled to himself as he dug through the pockets and pouches of the now dead buccaneers. Finding local currency and some bottles of alcohol, the Dragonborn pocketed them before looking for what could be the lot chest the pirates might have. And sure enough, there was indeed a loot chest filled with the ill-gotten gains the pirates had taken from various ships they had raided and looted.
A decent amount of gold coins, with some ingots of various metals, some finely made armour that would likely fetch a decent amount of coin and some gemstones, the Dragonborn nodded to himself in satisfaction. Storing the loot in his satchel, the warrior prepared to make his way back to Midcopse to let the people know that the refugee camp and the coast of wrecks were now safe for the moment.
Then something caught the warrior's eye as he spotted a piece of parchment laying on a bedroll that must've belonged to one of the raiders. Curious by nature, the Dragonborn picked up the parchment and unfolded it to read what was written.
The contents of the parchment was a letter addressed to one of the pirates about the wreck of a ship belonging to a queen named Zuleyka. Queen Zuleyka's ship had been wrecked near this place and its riches were unclaimed as of yet.
"Sunken treasure, eh?" the Dragonborn remarked to himself with a slight smile as he put away the parchment. "Might be worth looking into," he added casually as he prepared to wade out into the water, downing a potion of water breathing as he did so. Walking as far into the water as he could before being forced to swim, the Dragonborn dove into the water and swam through the roiling currents that pushed and pulled in all directions. To the Hero of Skyrim's mild surprise, there were creatures swimming about the waters; their skin was in varying shades of teal-blue and their bodies were vaguely humanoid with bulging white eyes and fanged mouths. The sea creatures saw the Dragonborn floating in the water before them, baring their teeth in angry snarls and swiftly swum towards him. Drawing his sword, the warrior killed each of the creatures, their blood a purple-black cloud in the water as the warrior's sword cut into them. Swimming away from the cloud of monster blood, the Dragonborn looked around for a ship's wreck and annoyingly, there were quite a few languishing at the bottom of the ocean floor.
Quickly drinking another water-breathing potion, the Dragonborn calmly and patiently searched the wrecks until at last he found a kelp covered chest in the hold of a ship. Gripping it firmly, the Dragonborn hauled it out of the ship wreck and towed it behind him towards the beach. Seawater dripped from the Bane of Alduin's ebony armour as he dragged the chest out onto the sand. Setting it down, the Dragonborn grabbed the lock around the latch and ripped it away cleanly before lifting the latch of the chest and opened to examine the contents.
There was some decent loot inside the chest; some more gold and gemstones, along with some fine looking jewellery. There were also some rolled up pieces of parchment where upon opening revealed diagrams of some armour. More interestingly was a fine if rugged looking axe nestled in the confines of the chest. The handle/haft was a red oak finish with a leather and fur wrapped hilt. The wooden pommel was carved in the likeness of some king of serpent or dragon. The blade was a stony grey colour that looked a little dull but engraved into the flat of the bearded blade on both sides was a detailing of a tree and stars.
"Wonder who made you?" the Dragonborn remarked as he took up the axe by the haft. Then a sharp sensation hit the warrior making him grunt slightly as his hand suddenly felt like it was being welded onto the axe's haft. The tree engraving on the blade glowed a bright blue-white light and a layer of frost grew on the axe blade. Then the sensation subsided as the light on the blade dulled and the frost flaked off. Panting slightly, more out of adjustment than exhaustion, the Dragonborn examined the axe more carefully.
"Clearly a magical weapon," he muttered to himself as he ran his free hand's fingertips along the haft of the axe. "But who made you?" he asked as if the axe were sentient and the weapon glowed slightly in response.
"Hm. A mystery to solve later," the warrior remarked as he slipped the haft of his new weapon into his belt. "Time I was on my way." Heading back for Midcopse, the Dovahkiin was hopeful that he could collect his reward and then begin his trek to Novigrad to find Keira's supplier.
In the nearby trees, ravens sat along the boughs, eerily silent as they watched the warrior stride away over the dunes. If the warrior had noticed the birds watching him with interest, he did not say anything. But needless to say, the Dragonborn had caught the attention of beings very old and very powerful ruling over Velen.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! At long last, I finally got around to updating this. I know it was a very short chapter, but at least I'm not dead in this as I imagine many of you were wondering if or when I was going to update this story. Like all the rest of my works, I cannot promise regular or speedy updates, but positive and otherwise helpful reviews do encourage me to update more frequently and suffice to say, negative and otherwise disparaging reviews discourage me from updating more often.
In other news, I have an idea regarding my Justice League of Amazons stories and the idea is to incorporate GI Joe into the JLoA universe and therein lies a dilemma. In that regard I have set up voting poll of how to incorporate GI Joe into the JLoA universe. The first option is to already have GI Joe and its related media already a part of the universe, but as you can guess, all the male members of GI Joe have died to Aresia's Virus and the remaining Joes now work for Cadmus under Amanda Waller and Cobra has suffered much the same and is now under Baroness' command and entered an alliance with Roulette's Intergang. The second option is to have GI Joe be in a separate universe where the hero of JLoA (i.e. Master Chief, Aegon, Dragonborn, etc.) ends up after testing an interdimensional teleporter and needs the help of the Joes to get back. So if you have not already, please d cast your vote and we'll see which option is the most popular.
And apart from that, I haven't got too much more to say, so I'll see you all next time.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.