A Silent Thu'um

by JoeL 1zrd

Slaying the dragon outside of Whiterun granted not only the power of the Voice, but also speech to a once-mute as well. Join an unlikely Dragonborn and the dutiful housecarl Lydia as they embark on a quest for the ages.

36. Roar fury's fire

-I actually managed to do what I promised myself and finish this chapter before the end of this month! I think it came out pretty good in the end; enjoy! -

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The eyes of both women snapped up towards the sky. The blue of the sky above greeted them like a long lost friend, having been absent for a lengthy time during their delve into Valthume. Unfortunately, the blue sky was not the sole thing Siffre and Lydia caught sight of. Their attention was drawn to that which seemed to 'command' attention.

The familiar form of a dragon, silhouette as black as night, swooping down towards them!

"Yol... Tul-SHOR!"

"LOOK OUT!"

The massive form of the dragon swooped down with its head aimed down towards the ground. At the same time its maw opened and let forth a stream of brightly colored orange-yellow fire. It seemed to 'draw' the fire across the ground even as it flew forward, this beam of fiery death advancing closer towards Siffre and Lydia!

But the two women were moving. Lydia practically threw herself backwards, allowing her body to crash and tumble onto the ground behind her. With a shake of her head Lydia focused her attention on what had just happened.

She could feel it in addition to seeing it right before her. A large wall of fire, singeing and burning the ground right where she was standing mere seconds ago. Lydia wasn't even standing that close yet the full intensity of the heat could be felt against her skin that was exposed. Instantly her nose and lungs were filled with that familiar smell of smoke, prompting her to cough a couple times. Somehow this fire and smoke felt more intense than that which she'd experienced last night when Whiterun was under siege from the Stormcloaks!

Through the fire and flames she could see Siffre, standing there on the other side of this fire wall. Both women momentarily locked eyes with each other, both mentally relieved that the other appeared to be standing and relatively unharmed. They then turned their heads up towards what exactly had created these flames.

There, flapping now in midair in the sky height above them, the dragon hovered. Its dark form cast an equally dark shadow upon the ground before them. However, it wasn't simply seeing this dragon from beneath the light of the afternoon sun above that made it appear dark in color. This dragon appeared to be naturally darker in color. Its jagged scales formed pointed edges against different points of its body, even on the tips and webs of its flapping wings.

Worse still, the eyes. Those red eyes glowing that fierce blood-red color staring down upon them. Eyes boring with such intensity it almost felt as if anything under its gaze could somehow burst into flames as well! So much hate and fury, and focused down upon the two women on the ground below.

"Sahlo jooree! Eyfur mek viiz uz dii Thu'um!"

Lydia could hear the sounds that vaguely resembled speech. It was definitely coming from that dragon! But it wasn't saying anything remotely resembling Cyrodiilic, just some talk that was likely some other language entirely! While Lydia couldn't understand what was being said, speaking after attempting to burn them with fire breath likely couldn't have been anything good!

On the other side of the wall of conflagration, Siffre stood back on her own feet. Her great sword was held and gripped with white-knuckled hands. The trail of fire beside her was largely unnoticed, the heated air was unnoticed, even Lydia was unnoticed. In fact, the world as a whole might as well have slowed to a halt. The only thing Siffre focused on was the dragon, just as it appeared to be focusing on them itself.

It was the same dragon, THE very same dragon she had seen time and again now. Even now it still struck that visage of a black, darkened terror on swift wings. This dragon that she had witnessed back at Kynesgrove, as well as at Helgen where it had nearly destroyed her along with that poor town. Both times Siffre felt her nerves, her blood, every inch of her body practically freeze up with terror. Truth be told she was experiencing a very similar feeling in this very moment with this dragon hovering above her right now. However... that wasn't entirely true in this case.

Siffre was scared, but part of her was also... angry.

Looking at this dragon right now, she didn't just feel a sense of terror. She no longer felt as a mere speck before its gaze, easily blown away by a single gust flap of its wings. No, this time she felt anger towards this dragon; this winged creature that had caused so much wanton destruction, chaos, and suffering, most of it she was an unfortunate witness to as well. Perhaps this may have been due to her true nature having not yet been revealed to her, thus putting her on unequal footing. But things were different now, she was no longer just some ordinary person before a dragon. She was a Dragonborn, capable of as much strength and power as any of them were. And with the very harbinger of destruction before her, she could feel something within her crying out. A call for justice, vengeance even.

No, she did not fear this dragon anymore. Not when she felt she had a chance to strike back.

"Mm, Dovahkiin vobalaan? Meyzvolaan revak Valthume!"

Speech could be heard from the dragon again, despite its maw appearing to not move along with its words. Having heard the word 'Dovahkiin' be mentioned, Siffre surmised that the dragon had to be addressing her directly. In addition, the word 'Valthume' was also heard. This in turn caused Siffre to quickly glance back behind her towards the crypt she and Lydia had just exited. This dragon... it knew what Valthume was? If so, did it know what once lay within?

"My priests would see to you, mortal. Hevnoraak needs... zamme."

And just like that, Siffre's head snapped back up towards the dragon. Her eyes practically widened in surprise and even terror. It spoke Cyrodiilic again?! And it also mentioned Hevnoraak? The dragon priest 'needing'... something. There was no way of knowing or telling what exactly what was said, but the inflection in the dragon's tone spoke clear enough for the Dragonborn. She remembered also what exactly she'd seen inside that crypt, and what Hevnoraak was responsible for. Every single body she'd seen in that crypt, every single thrall she'd cut down under that creature's influence... Siffre's ire grew and grew.

Her eyes locked with the black dragon's once more. She did not stare at this thing with fear anymore. No, this time she was righteously angry. This time she had the means to fight back against this beast, and she would not back down in fear again!

'Breath, and focus,' she thought in her mind as she collected herself outwardly, 'Breath and focus.'

Her mouth opened once more,

"Fus... Ro-DAH!"

The sound of the Thu'um echoed out across the land like a mighty thunderclap. There was a difference in the sheer intensity this time, Siffre could tell. She could even feel the subtle push against her almost threatening to send her falling backwards. Nevertheless, she maintained her own footing as the force of the Thu'um soared upwards towards the dragon.

To the surprise and shock of both women, not only did the visible force of air make contact with the winged beast, but the creature actually appeared to stagger! A grunting sound could be heard as its wings momentarily flapped out of rhythm with each other. For a moment it almost appeared as if the Shout had knocked it out of the air completely and send it hurtling to the ground!

Unfortunately, the dragon appeared to orient itself into regular flapping pattern again. It maintained its height and continued to hover in place. This time however, its head appeared to instantly snap towards the source of the Thu'um that had impacted it.

"Dolok! Hi nos zu'u voth hin zul?"

The words heard from the dragon this time sounded... different. The tone was still growling and threatening, yet this time carried an edge of irritation and surprise of its own. It was almost as if it couldn't fathom the notion that something like that had just happened to it!

As she gazed back up at the dragon Siffre held frustration of her own that the dragon remained in place. A part of her was hoping her Thu'um was powerful enough to have a stronger impact on this dragon, maybe even sending it crashing down hard to the ground. As a result, she could feel her own righteous fury grow and well within her as she spoke again.

"You said Hevnoraak? Well I went into that place already," she spoke unbridled with a hand pointing back to the crypt behind her, "I faced Hevnoraak, WE faced him! And we've beaten him; he's dead!"

"Hevnoraak mahlaan? Niskorah!"

Despite the words it spoke still not being understood, the tone in its voice was unmistakable. Something Siffre caught on to. It was very possible that the dragon was not only understanding what she was saying to it, but was showing a sort of reaction to it as well.

"That dragon priest served you, didn't he? But he's dead, for good this time!" All notions of restraint were abandoned, and Siffre's unbridled voice spoke loud and unfiltered. Vibrations carried upon the wind of the open air with each word spoken. Her fearless attitude was further punctuated by her raising out an arm towards the dragon to deliberately challenge it, "And now, I don't fear you! I'm not afraid of you, not anymore! Come down so I can slay you too!"

The moment Siffre finished her challenge, the dragon responded. It responded by opening its maw towards the heavens and letting out a massive roar. Siffre and Lydia nearly found themselves holding their hands over their ears from how loud this roar was, though perhaps this one wasn't quite as earsplitting due to them being outdoors.

"Zu'u Al-du-in! Diistkiin Akatosh! Mulaagi zok lot!" The dragon proceeded to once again speak that indecipherable dragon language. And while yet again what it was saying couldn't be understood, the tone in its voice suggested all that was need to be known. It sounded furious, appalled, angry even. It spoke as if an adult reprimanding to a child that questioned its authority.

"Dii rel fen daal..."

Curiously, as the dragon trailed off its speech, it paused for a moment. It then turned its head slightly to the side, almost as if it were looking over its metaphorical shoulder. The sound of what could only be interpreted as a light chuckle could be heard before it spoke again,

"Ahrk kiirre fen alok!"

The dragon's long, serpentine neck arched upwards for a moment. In that moment Siffre flinched, expecting it to let out another Shout of its own. However, she watched as it instead curved its head and neck down and thrust itself forward before sharply turning in place. It was moving? Rather, it was flying away?

"Hey! Come back here!" Siffre called out. The dragon did not heed her words at all. Instead it let out another roar across the skies as it flew off. Curiously, it was flying in the same direction as...

Siffre's eyes widened in realization. That's where Rorikstead was!

"It's heading to another town! Lydia!" she cried out before snapping her head to the side towards the housecarl.

The other woman by now had seemingly been in a dumbstruck state from watching that entire exchange take place. She witnessed Siffre actually conversing with a dragon? But not just any dragon, 'the' dragon that the two of them and Illia had encountered a couple days ago? Why was it seemingly exchanging words with them at all? Shouldn't it have been mindlessly trying to destroy them?

Having been broken from her state she now witnessed this same dragon flying away. At the same time Siffre's words also bringing her back to reality. As a result, realization hit her as well.

"That's... towards Rorikstead...?" she found herself voicing as well.

"Come on!"

Movement caught Lydia's eyes again. She could see on the other side of the trail of fire Siffre was already running. She was running in the direction of the dragon that had flown away from them! From how many times this was happening so far it was starting to become unsurprising at this point.

Lydia hastily shook her head and brought herself back to reality. She willed her legs to carry her as fast as they could after Siffre. The trail of fire left by the black dragon thankfully didn't extend too far, and the two were able to join with each other again. Thane and housecarl broke into a run after the dragon, the latter a few steps behind.

Reaching the river once again Siffre didn't even pause for a moment. She was already hopping across on the flat rocks that served as literal stepping stones. By the time she reached the other side Lydia was only now starting to hop across herself.

"Come on, come on...!" she muttered to herself. There was a subtle contrast this same moment from before. Earlier the two of them hopped across this river with hints of excitement, now though they were hopping across hastily and with little regard for anything else. In fact it was somewhat strange how much more disconnected Siffre was acting in this-

Lydia's foot suddenly sank down and felt moisture all around it. Snapping her head down she looked to see what had happened. In the process of hopping across she had nearly reached the dry portion of the other side, but it seemed she fell just short. Her foot made contact with mud sank a little bit within, causing fluid to seep in slightly all around her foot within.

"Urgh, damn...!" she cursed slightly. She quickly made her way onto more solid land before attempting to shake her foot as best she could. Droplets fell all around the submerged boot, but Lydia could still feel fluid within. She'd have to take this boot off to clean it better. Still, as disgusting and mildly embarrassing as this was, falling completely into that rushing water would've been so much worse in comparison.

Siffre was still had a decent head-start on her, prompting her to quicken her own pace. Each step she took she could feel a slight squish in her one boot. It wasn't slowing her down, but it was still a rather uncomfortable feeling.

"My thane! Siffre, wait up!" she tried to call out. The Dragonborn however did not slow down. She maintained her current running speed towards the rising hill of land they'd crossed before.

"Come on, Lydia! We've got to hurry!" she called back.

Lydia forced her legs to sprint just fast enough to finally catch up with Siffre. By now the two women were running at as much speed as they could up the natural inclining land. Listening to the sounds in the air they could still hear the rhythmic flapping of wings as well as a roar or two carried on the wind. At the very least the dragon must still be on its own course forward and not attacking anything yet; they still had to hurry!

As she was sprinting beside her Lydia could hear words being mumbled from Siffre's mouth,

"-not... letting it burn... another town...!"

"We're not letting that happen, don't worry! And neither will the guards and soldiers there either!" Lydia tried to reassure her. She could see Siffre's eyes glance towards her out of the corner of her own. She didn't reply, or if she did Lydia couldn't tell over the sounds of panting from either one of them.

'Yeah, the guards and the Imperials will get the townspeople to safety!' she mentally reassured herself at the same time, 'Facing a dragon... It's no different anything faced before, like wolves or giants! Course, those creatures couldn't talk...'

"Wait, Siffre!" she said in the middle of the both of them running, "What was that back there earlier? It was making noises and you were... were you 'talking' to it?" This time Siffre actually turned her head to face Lydia in full. The housecarl could see confusion written plainly on the other woman's face.

"Yeah I talked to it, and was actually speaking words in our language!" she said, "Didn't you hear it?"

"Understand the-?! No, I couldn't! I wasn't trying to understand words being spoken by a dragon!"

Wordlessly, Siffre's facial expressions narrowed. Her eyes drifted ever so slightly to the side so as to not look directly at Lydia. She turned her head facing forward again, leaving the housecarl all the more confused at what was happening.

"Siffre, what did you mean it was 'talking our language'?" she asked.

"I swear, I'm not crazy...!" Siffre said, "It spoke words I could understand! Some of them I could!"

"Only you could?" Lydia said, "Wait... could this be something related to you being Dragonborn?"

"I... I don't know... I really don't know," Siffre replied before shaking her head and looking forward again, "But we'll think about that later; we have to stop that dragon!" Lydia followed her example and resumed running up and forward along the natural rise of land. She was right- talking dragons at this point in time wasn't really the most important thing here. A dragon was about to attack innocent people again, and by Shor they had to do something!

Eventually the two women reached the apex of the land's rise before it began to level out again. Rorikstead still couldn't quite be seen from where they were, but it was still a straight shot to get back to it. Unfortunately, the dragon was nowhere to be seen either.

"Where in the world...?" Lydia said as she scanned the skies. While the serpentine beast could not be seen, the two women could still hear its tell-tale signs. The flapping of its leathery wings, and the occasional roar echoing out across the skies.

"Where did it go?" Siffre said, "It better not be there already...!"

Despite legs burning and hard pants from both of them, Siffre and Lydia continued to run forward. Hearts were racing both from the pumping of blood but also from slight fear. The fear the two of them might somehow be too late.

Looking forward and ahead however there wasn't a single smoke cloud to be seen. There was also no scent of smoke or even fire in the air to be smelt either. A faint ray of hope began to rise: maybe the dragon wasn't actually attacking and destroying Rorikstead?

By now the two women had passed by the derelict bandit's camp they'd passed on the way before. Not a soul to be seen here either, either criminal nor even of the soldiers that were supposedly patrolling around here. From the lack of fire and smoke to be seen here either, it was hard to tell if this was exactly a good thing or a bad thing.

Finally, the familiar view of buildings could be seen. Just like the nearby camp however, there was no fire nor smoke to be seen anywhere. Every one of the buildings was untouched; completely the same as they had been when the two women had first came there.

And despite the undamaged image of Rorikstead as it currently was, the sound of wings flapping persisted, albeit relatively distantly.

"The dragon's not there?" Lydia said, "But, where did it go? I can still hear its wings flapping!"

"Look there! Guards and Imperials outside!"

From this distance, the familiar form of red and yellow garbed Imperials and guardsmen could be seen. There only appeared to be a handful as they scrambled this way and that. None of them appeared to be moving around in combating anything; they were in fact directing a smaller number of civilians into one of the larger buildings. It was clear to see that Rorikstead had been alerted to the dragon, however briefly, and was already evacuating its non-combatants to safety.

"Come on! One of them must know where the dragon went...!" Lydia said.

The two women hastily dashed forward, cutting off from the uneven natural ground and eventually touching down on the flat of the stone road. Lydia was reminded of her soaked foot squishing down with each step she took. With the exception of a few curves here and there it was a straight shot to return back to Rorikstead.

"Get in, get in! Hurry!" one of the guards hastily called out.

"Move, citizens! Let's go!" one of the Imperials also said.

By the time Siffre and Lydia had moved close enough all of the civilians had completely entered the building, 'Frostfruit Inn' as the nearby sign indicated. One of the guards quickly turned his attention to the approaching women.

"Two more? Quick, get inside with the others!" the Imperial hastily said.

"We saw the dragon come this way! Where is it now?" Siffre asked.

"By the Eight, yes we saw that dragon! I still can't believe those things were real!"

"It flew over the town, but it could possibly swoop back around for an attack!" the Whiterun guard said.

"But where did it go?" Lydia pressed.

"Citizen! Get inside!" the Imperial said.

"Towards the old dragon burial mound, that's where I saw it go!" the guard replied.

"Dragon burial..." the housecarl found herself trailing off. She knew the place being spoken of. Only once during her visits to Rorikstead had she actually gone there in person. A circular plot of land that she was told 'had a dragon buried in the ground.' Back then she'd been awed by such a superstitious tale, only to grow more skeptical of its validity the older she got. She began to see it as hardly more than a wild tale to explain such a natural phenomenon.

But now, things were definitely different. She had not only seen a dragon burial mound at her current age, but bore witness to possibly those old tales actually being somewhat true! Kynesgrove in Eastmarch, where a dragon had actually risen from the grave. All while a black dragon was present then too.

Her eyes widened- that black dragon then was the same black dragon as the one they saw earlier!

"Citizen, if you don't get inside with the others, you'll be in danger of-"

"We have to get over there! Now!" she declared while also turning her head to Siffre, "My thane... it's gonna happen again!"

"What's going to happen again?"

"What we saw in Eastmarch: a dragon rising from the grave...!" To her credit Siffre's eyes widened in shock and horror rather quickly. It seemed she picked up on the severity of the situation immediately as well.

"Where is this mound? We have to stop this!" she asked the guards.

"Stop what? Don't tell me you're planning on going 'towards' that big monster?" the Imperial incredulously said.

"We are! Only I can stop what's about to happen!" Siffre pressed.

"If it's the thane of Whiterun and her housecarl... then I'll vouch for them," the Whiterun guard said, causing the Imperial turned to his yellow-garbed counterpart in surprise. The guard addressed him directly, "You Imperials stay and guard the civilians here. I'll take my own men with me along with these two." The Imperial shot him a look as if to protest, but he pursed his mouth as he acquiesced. He then turned to enter the building himself, calling out further commands to those inside before the closing door silenced all further sounds.

"By the Gods, thane and housecarl, if you two are really as doom-driven as you claim... we'll support you as best we can," the Whiterun guard said. Though the helmet he wore covered the entirety of his head, the earnest heard in his voice was still easy to tell.

"You'll really help us?" Lydia asked.

"I'll assemble the lot of us so we can-"

"Shor's Bones! What is that?!"

The attention of the three was drawn to another voice. They turned down towards the main pathway to see one of the soldiers standing in place. His attention seemed drawn towards something away from town completely. His face was similarly covered by a helmet, but the tone in his voice spoke clearly the shock he must've been experiencing.

Siffre and Lydia quickly made their way away from the building and back to the main road where the other guard stood. Looking out, they could see it too.

A beam of light, rising towards the heavens. There was no source from above providing this light; this beam definitely originated from the ground itself. The light was also just faint enough so as to bear transparency beyond it. And finally, the familiar form of a winged black dragon could be flying and swooping around this light while making strange non-discernible noises.

Siffre and Lydia exchanged looks with each other. Memories of mere days ago at Kynesgrove flooded back into the minds of the both of them. Both could see the looks on the others' face; nothing needed to be said.

"We're getting up there! Assemble the men!" Lydia called out even as she and Siffre proceeded to run again. Whatever the bewildered guard said was lost on her; the housecarl's attention was focused solely forward.

The beam of light rose up from another natural rise of land a few meters away from Rorikstead as a whole. In order to reach the dragon burial mound they'd need to traverse up the main road, then break off to the left. All the while Lydia watched in awe the black dragon continue to hover and fly around the light beam.

"So that's why Rorikstead wasn't under attack..." she said, "That dragon... it was heading for the dragon burial mound... It's gonna raise another one to attack it instead!"

"I won't let it...! I won't let it get away...! Not again!" Siffre said in between her own rushed breaths.

"Well we're not gonna be alone this time! We've got the Whiterun guards to support us!" Lydia reminded her.

Finally after passing by the remaining buildings of the settlement the main road began to curve ever so slightly to the right. But Siffre and Lydia broke off to the left towards where the dragon was. They navigated around the fence of one of the plots of land with green cabbages being grown and began to ascend up yet another natural rise.

The dragon burial mound itself came into view at last. The beam of light appeared its brightest at the very base where it rose from the top of the mound while growing more and more faint the further it reached for the clouds above. A whoosh of air could be felt as the two women saw the black dragon fly nearby to their position. For some reason its head remained fixed on the burial mound as if completely oblivious to everything else.

"Hey! I said come down here and face ME!" Siffre called out again. One hand gripping the hilt of her great sword held the weapon high as a challenging declaration. Yet again however the dragon's attention remained fixed on the mound.

"Nahagliiv, zil groh dovah ulse...!"

An involuntary shiver ran down the spines of the two women. It was only days ago that a very similar moment like this occurred, before their very eyes no less, with this same dragon speaking these exact same words. They both knew what would inevitably be happening next...!

"No! Stop-!"

"Slen... Tiid-VO!"

The women once again instinctively held their arms up in a recoiling motion. No outward force acted upon them however, reminding them that neither the dragon's attention nor apparent attack was focused on them. Instead, its maw held open in the general direction of the burial mound. A wave of energy could be seen rushing towards the base...

Soon after the mound began to rumble, followed swiftly by yet another explosion. An explosion of dirt and rocks burst from the base of the mound, flying in all directions. Siffre and Lydia not only held their arms up to shield themselves again but found themselves stumbling in place, barely able to maintain their footing. Both were peppered with stray bits of loose rock on their heads and arms, though thankfully none of them injuring them.

The dust began to settle, only for the sound of another roar to fill the air. The two women lowered their arms to gaze upon the burial mound. This time the form of dragon's skeleton could be seen raising its bony wings out around and its maw held up high. Once again a dragon was roaring as nothing more than bones.

The dragon's skeleton lowered both its wings and its long neck as it proceeded to pull itself free from the now vacant burial mound. As it did so, bright flashes of flecks began to fly from all directions and coat themselves upon the dragon's bones, giving it a progressively brighter glow.

The skeleton slowly turned its neck up to face the black dragon hovering above it.

"Alduin thuri!" The jaw of the dragon's mouth could be seen moving even before the glowing flecks began to envelop it as well. Siffre and Lydia watched on in shock and horror yet again.

"Damn, it's happening again!" Lydia said.

"Shor's bones! What is that?!"

The housecarl broke her gaze away from the dragons before her to glance behind her. She could see the handful of Whiterun guards having just rejoined the two of them. One by one they proceeded to draw forth their various weapons.

"Not Shor's bones, actual dragon bones! How is this possible?!"

"Dragons rising from the grave!"

By now the body of the skeletal dragon had been given more solid form due to the glowing specks having surrounded the entirety of its body. Following one last brilliant glow its body began to dim drastically, revealing the body of this dragon to be of a different color. Scales shone rich orange in the afternoon light, with slitted eyes a fierce shade of yellow.

"Nahagliiv, kaali mir, ag daar joorree!" the black dragon spoke, each word increasing in intensity. As it turned its head to face the general direction of the Nords in attendance, the risen dragon did the same.

"We're so dead!" one of the guards could be heard saying.

"Stand firm, men!" another one said.

The grounded dragon suddenly spread its wings away from its body then flap them down. Thrusts against air could be both heard and felt with each flap. The mortals watched on as the dragon quickly rose itself into the air. There were now two dragons, one orange and one black, flying in the air directly above the people below.

"It's taking to the skies!" one of the guards said, "Archers, hurry! Get your shots in!"

Two sets of roars filled the air from the maws of both dragons. Both of the flying serpents were practically floating through the air as naturally as a slaughterfish swam in water. While the orange-scaled dragon turned itself to face the Nords below and the town behind them, the black dragon turned itself opposite and was flying... away?

Siffre's eyes remained locked on the black dragon even now. Everything else seemed to just fade away as her own vision zeroed in on the black-colored menace. She had been so dead-set on destroying this thing, to finally putting to rest the deep-seated anxiety she'd had within her. How badly she wanted to finally prove to... to whoever that this thing no longer had fear over her.

Yet in this same moment, watching this black dragon turn and fly further and further away from her... She was being denied that chance? Even now the dragon was growing smaller and distant as it flew away. Why was this hurting her so much? Why was that dragon even fleeing in the first place?

"Come back here I said! GET BACK HERE!" she practically screamed. Any reservations regarding the volume of her voice were abandoned as the air before her was rippled with vibrations. Her protests were to no avail however, as the black dragon continued on its flight course well and away from where they were; where she was.

"Siffre!"

The sound of her thane's sudden scream instantly drew Lydia's attention. She turned to see... Siffre was looking somewhere else? Towards where that other dragon was going? What was she doing?

Thankfully the Dragonborn turned to regard her calls for her. Or rather, Siffre practically snapped her head to the side as she wordlessly answered Lydia's call. In that moment the housecarl was granted a raw, unfiltered look from Siffre. That look of anger, of burning, furious intensity, now looking back in her direction. Lydia was almost caught off guard by what she was seeing but quickly gave a hard look of her own to the other woman.

"Focus on here, now! The other dragon's attacking!"

Her hand indicated towards the still present dragon that was now flying about the immediate area. The orange-tinted beast was still there, likely doing whatever it was that black dragon had commanded of it.

But Siffre shook her head vehemently, "Lydia no! That black dragon; I'm not letting it get away again!"

"It's GONE, Siffre!" Lydia forcefully urged. Her own outburst momentarily surprised Siffre as well as herself, but Lydia maintained her steely visage, "We can't chase after it now! And we have to stop 'this' dragon before it destroys the town! Now come on, we have to do this! YOU have to do this!"

In an instant, the world slowed to a crawl as time itself practically came to a halt. Both women found themselves staring at the other, each one leveling the other one with a hard look of their own. Neither one could believe what the other one was saying, which only made their stares grow harder and harder.

Another roar filled the air, and the world was brought back to speed again. Siffre tore her gaze away to regard the dragon, still flying around in the air. The sounds of men shouting and calling out could be heard as well as twings of arrows being shot from bows. The nearby structures of the town were still standing, untouched from neither destruction nor fire. But the dragon was flying close by to them, dangerously close. The last time Siffre witnessed a dragon flying so close to man-made structures...

The Dragonborn's teeth clenched behind quivering lips. This decision hurt her for all that she knew it was the right one. Lydia was right as well.

"Fine..."

Her tone was evenly spoken, and she was already moving. There was no way to know if Lydia heard how she spoke just now, but she could see her moving now. Siffre gripped her great-sword in both hands and rushed forward past the housecarl.

Lydia's hard gaze followed after her even as she ran past her, but she shook those thoughts from her mind. There was a dragon to slay and a town to preserve, and she needed as clear a mind as she could muster!

By now all attention was drawn and fixed upon the orange-scaled dragon. The massive beast continued to soar through the air with occasional dips and swoops. Every time it flew even close to the ground a massive whooshing of air could be felt. The sheer size of this creature moving at such speed was almost enough to knock anyone off their feet. For the moment this dragon wasn't letting out any breath of fire from its mouth, just roar after roar almost as if to taunt the ground-side Nords.

Along with the sound of whooshes and roars, twing after twing filled the air as arrow after arrow was loosed. The Whiterun guards with bows in hand hastily shot from their bows desperately to get a fix on the dragon to no avail. It was just moving too fast!

"Stay STILL, damn you-!" one of the guards could be heard saying.

Eventually, after another round of aerial flight paths around the small town, the dragon suddenly halted in place. It brought itself into a hovering motion with both of its wings flapping up and down. The creature gradually sank in the air lower until its feet touched down... on the rooftop of a building!

The dragon was now perched atop the straw thatch that comprised the ceiling of the building beneath it. Its tail was curled up and angled towards its main body while its head remained poised and looking down at the Nords below. Upon touching down the faint sounds of screams could be heard; screams of civilians from inside most likely.

"By Ysmir, it's landed atop the inn!" one of the guards called out.

"It's not moving! Quick, hit it with all you've got!"

Bows could be heard stretching their strings back and twinging. Arrows soared through the air and arched upwards in the direction of the dragon. The majority of them missed while some of them either stuck into the roof, bounced off of the dragon's scales, or for a couple of them actually found their mark in weaker flesh.

Each arrow that found its mark earned a low grumble from the dragon. Despite each arrow that hit the winged beast didn't appear to be too bothered by it. In fact the grumbles it produced seemed to suggest it was only mildly annoyed.

The dragon once again opened its maw, this time a single sound could be heard,

"Yol..."

Siffre was the first to act as her eyes widened with realization.

"Everyone! GET BACK!"

"Toor-SHUL!"

A brilliant blast of heat and flame burst from its mouth in a beam and practically reached out towards the warriors.

Siffre and Lydia acted purely on instinct as they leapt to various sides. Siffre leaped over the nearby garden fence and rolled into the cabbage-filled garden. Lydia on the other hand spun herself to the right as hard as she could, her shield arm held to bear against what she knew would be intense heat. Her nostrils were once again filled with the choking smell of smoke, her nose scrunching instinctively at the harsh smell. Thankfully the majority of the other guards seemed to understand what was happening and moved as well. A number of them jumped clear of the fiery wall of death that enveloped most of the fence and a small amount of cabbages.

Unfortunately a couple of the Whiterun guards were not fast enough to move and were caught in the blaze themselves. Their screams mixed with the sound of crackling flames as fire enveloped their bodies. Both quickly dropped to the ground where their movements gradually slowed as they burned to death.

This entire display was witnessed by everyone else with equal parts shock and horror.

"NO!" one of the standing guards shouted. Lydia and Siffre tore their eyes away from the blaze and the burned guards back up to the dragon. The scaled beast had ceased its stream of flaming death for the moment and was staring the down at the survivors with its slitted eyes.

The sound of a door opening could be heard; the door to the inn below opened and a few individuals poured outside. The trio of Imperials rushed out with weapons in hand before quickly turning around to regard the dragon literally above them.

"By the Eight! A dragon!" one of them exclaimed.

"There's fire here! It breathed fire!" another said.

"Get it now! Hurry!" one of the Whiterun guards called out. At his call twings filled the air again. A small number of arrows flew upward towards the dragon. Just like before a couple of them managed to find their mark in the dragon's body while the others either fell short into the roof or sailed clean over.

This new attack appeared to jostle the dragon to move again. It quickly opened its wings out and flapped them down. Strong gusts of air could be felt against the warriors below with even some stray bits of straw from the roof being blown off as well. In no time at all the dragon was once again airborne and proceeding to fly about again.

The warriors below were left to watch the dragon from below once more, only this time with a wall of flames that had engulfed the fence of the garden.

"What do we do?! Slay that dragon or put out these fires?" the voice of someone called out. Given that the voice was unaccented it was likely that it was one of the Imperials who'd spoken.

"Don't let it out of your sight!" one of the Whiterun guards responded, "Somebody get some buckets of water over here now!"

"How quickly can you get water buckets-" Lydia started to ask until she stopped herself. She glanced to Siffre, who had been previously been fixed on the dragon until she noticed her look as well, "Wait a minute... My thane! You could help with this, can't you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Siffre asked, her tone suggested genuine confusion.

"Your Voice! You're able to Shout with frost too, aren't you?" Lydia clarified before pointing to the blaze, "That could put out these fires for sure!"

"Oh yeah... yeah, I could..."

For some reason her reply seemed distant, unfocused. This was accompanied by the Dragonborn shaking her head as if to bring herself to reality. Maybe Lydia couldn't blame her, so much was happening right now that it was hard to get a handle on everything that was going on.

Still, Siffre seemed to hustle and move herself quick enough. She rushed over to the very head of the fencing where the dragon's fire had first touched down and stretched outward. With the wall of flames now stretching straight in front of her, she took a moment to breath before opening her mouth again,

"Fo... KRAH!"

Once more the Thu'um echoed throughout the air as the cold air burst from Siffre's lips. The rush of frozen air rushed forward in a linear direction directly before her. The wave completely covered the wall of flames, initially fanning hard against them but nevertheless extinguishing them completely. In short time the flames were put out, leaving the fence, the garden produce, and even the bodies of the two unfortunate guardsmen charred but now covered in a layer of frost.

A couple of the other guardsmen spared a glance towards Siffre in the wake of her recent action.

"By all the Gods! What did she just do?!" one of the Imperials called out.

"She Shouted! She's the Dragonborn!" one of the Whiterun guards said.

"She did what?!"

"She put out these fires, that's good enough for me!"

Siffre, Lydia, and the rest of the warriors' attention quickly turned to the dragon still circling the sky above them. Thankfully at the moment it was not breathing any fire and was only letting out roars to echo throughout the sky.

"Sahlag Thu'um! Sahlo ruz wah Alduin!"

Siffre and Lydia could hear it, this dragon was speaking words again in strange language yet again. The same language they'd heard dragons before speak. While it was completely indiscernible, on familiar word stuck out from how frequently it had been spoken. 'Alduin'. Neither knew what that word meant, nor did they care to think about it; the dragon before them demanded their immediate attention.

Arrows once more sailed through the air towards the dragon. And once more with the dragon flying at the speed it was going, it was nearly impossible for any one of them to find their mark.

"It's moving too fast to hit...!" Lydia voiced.

The dragon by now appeared to hang a right loop as it soared through the air. From this angle and from the precise height in the air it was, it appeared that it would be angling back around to seeming attack.

"Lydia! Get ready!"

The housecarl's attention was drawn to the voice of her thane. She glanced over to find that Siffre was now standing a few feet away from her, a healthy distance now between the two of them. Her great-sword held in her hands and she stood in a stance that suggested she was ready for... something.

This only served to momentarily confuse Lydia.

"Siffre? For what?"

"I'm gonna Shout at it- get ready!" Siffre hastily replied. Of course! Siffre had the Voice as well! Well, if ever there as a time to use it, that would be very soon!

The housecarl's eyes shot back towards the dragon again. The scaled creature with its outstretched wings flapping on both sides steadily grew and grew with its approach. There was no doubt in at all that it was coming straight for the lot of them. But what would it do when it reached close enough? Breathe its fire again? Snap at them with its claws, or even its massive maw? Lydia instinctively held her shield in front of her and her sword arm cocked at the ready.

"It's coming straight towards us! Everyone brace...!" one of the guardsmen called out.

By now the dragon had nearly reached them, its current size a reflection of just how close it was getting. Lydia's white-knuckled hand gripped her sword hilt even harder.

'Whatever you're going to do, Siffre, do it NOW!' she screamed in her head.

"Fus... Ro-DAH!"

The sound of a thunderclap once again rang throughout the air. A burst of energy and rushing air exploded from the mouth of the Dragonborn, rushing forward at high speed. This wave was seen by all warriors present on the ground as they watched it fly forward.

The dragon on the other hand continued its course and was completely caught off guard by this sudden external force applied to it. The wave of the Shout could be seen making contact, resulting in its head curving to the right in an apparent recoil with a growl. Even its rhythm of its wings flapping was momentarily disrupted, yet the beast managed to remain airborne. But more importantly, ever so slightly its flight pattern was altered so that it curved outwards to its right.

Closer towards where Lydia and a handful of the guards were standing.

"She managed to hit it?!" one of them called out, "Now's our chance! Strike it when it gets close-!"

Lydia needed no further prompting as to what needed to be done. All was understood within a manner of seconds: Siffre's voice had struck against the dragon, impacting it, redirecting its flight path towards her, and leaving it open and possibly disorientated for an attack! By Shor, Lydia was not about to mess this one up!

As the dragon's form flew above her, the world around her darkened and a rush of air could be felt as well. She cocked her sword arm back and swung it up and over as hard as she could. A guttural grunt of pain could be heard from the dragon. She wasn't entirely sure what it was she was striking, but she did feel her sword slash against something. Some part of the dragon must have been struck by her sword.

Just as quickly, the dragon's form had passed over them. A quick glance around her showed that the guards near her had gotten the same idea and struck the dragon with their weapons as well. All eyes watched as the creature flew outwards, just outside of the reaches of the settlement... where it hit the ground hard.

All felt a low rumble through the ground beneath them the moment the dragon unceremoniously crashed. Not only did the dragon crash into the ground, but it also proceeded to leave a massive trail of broken ground behind it the further it skidded.

Cheers from the guardsmen filled the air as they watched.

"By Ysmir, we did it!"

"We brought down a dragon!"

"Wait a minute..."

By now the dragon's body had ceased its ground skid, only to find that it was still moving. Appendages like its wings, clawed legs, and tail flexed outward from its body as it shook off dust and dirt. Its head could be seen shaking as well even when viewing it from behind. The dragon had no doubt survived that crash to the ground, and likely was none to happy as a result.

"I don't believe it; it's still alive!" one of the Imperials could be heard saying.

Next thing Lydia knew she witnessed someone rush past her towards the dragon. Siffre's form was dashing forward with her sword gripped in both hands charging towards the scaled beast. Memories of the previous dragon encounter momentarily filled her head; if this was anything like back then, they needed to finish this quickly!

"Hurry, you all! Let's get in there and kill that thing for good!" she called out even as she rushed forward after Siffre.

The Dragonborn on the other hand paid heed to little else around her. All that mattered was what she focused dead-set on directly before her. Her plan had worked, and even Lydia helped in bringing this dragon down to their level, but still...

Her thoughts still lingered on the black dragon. The one that had retreated, again.

'How does Lydia not see?! That dragon caused so much more destruction and suffering!' she mentally screamed, 'She didn't see what I saw; all that fire, that blood... those screams! And it's still out there!'

Her attention was brought back to the downed dragon once more. This 'lesser' dragon, one that was raised up by that black dragon, and was intent on carrying out the same grand-scale destruction as the other. They were aligned with each other, weren't they? If so... Could it by chance know where the other one was? Where it was going? True it had been 'raised from the dead', but there was a chance, wasn't there? A long shot, perhaps, but Gods willing, Siffre was going to get it to talk!

She swiftly reached the dragon's downed body and deftly navigated around to its front. Its wing flapped all about rather unfocused in its clearly disoriented state. Once Siffre cleared the front however, the dragon's head ceased extraneous movements as it focused on her.

The Dragonborn tilted her great-sword forward and pointed its tip directly at the dragon's head, a threatening poise to strike.

"You! Where did that black dragon go?! Tell me!" she exclaimed. The head of the dragon held its gaze on Siffre for a moment, yet the only sounds to be heard from it were low growls. Every non-intelligible sound fueled a burning fury within her.

Then came movement. The head of the dragon suddenly snapped forward, its mouth opened with the clear intent of biting at Siffre. The Dragonborn had mere moments to jump back to avoid being chomped by the scaled beast. Looking back up at the dragon's head its expressionless face looked back at her, yet somehow it felt almost as if the beast were mocking her.

With gritted teeth and blood boiling Siffre dashed forward with both hands raising her great-sword over her shoulder and bringing it down in a diagonal slash. The metal struck against the dragon's snout, actually forcing the dragon's head to turn along with the blade's strike.

"Talk, damn you! I know you can understand me!" she said.

The dragon's head turned back to face the Nord, a noticeable gash running along the side of its snout. Despite the clear injury, the dragon did not make any sound resembling pain. Instead it produced a rather rhythmic huffing sound. Unless Siffre was misinterpreting it, the dragon was 'laughing' at her?

"Joor mey! Alduin zeim him halvuut-"

The dragon actually produced familiar sounds resembling speech, only to be swiftly cut off with an actual grunting roar of pain. Siffre had found herself focusing in on its words only to be surprised by what clearly was an interruption. The dragon's head then proceeded two wave side to side for a moment before craning it to its left. This in turn prompted Siffre to turn her head to see what had drawn the dragon's attention in such a manner.

It was Lydia! She could be seen standing far off to the side yet just close enough to the dragon's wing, the whole of her sword buried up to the hilt through the wing's fleshy webbing. The dragon was waving its winged appendage about in an effort to shake loose the sword and its wielder, but somehow Lydia managed to stand firm and not be shaken off.

In the midst of her struggles her face snapped up to look towards her own. That same fierce, hard look seen before was leveled.

"Siffre! What are you doing?!" she called out, "Stop talking and slay it! Slay the dragon!"

The sounds of other people could be heard along with movement from where Lydia had come from. The Whiterun guards and the handful of Imperials had swiftly rejoined the two women in confronting the downed dragon. The many men held their weapons at the ready; sword, ax, and hammer men up close and the few bowmen hanging back and nocking arrows.

A few of the guards followed Lydia's example and proceeded to assault the dragon's wings and tail. Each strike against an appendage earned a grunt of pain from the dragon. A couple of twings filled the air again with each arrow that was shot, all of them managing to find their mark either in softer flesh or ricocheting off of the harder scales.

Suddenly, the dragon's tail snapped horizontally, smacking the guards behind it. The men tumbled to the ground with most of them losing grip of their weapons. With a quick glance of its massive head to the side the dragon then proceeded to push out its right wing, striking against the guards positioned there as well. Similarly the guards were knocked aside and to the ground, though some managed to maintain their footing as well as their hold on their weapons.

The dragon performed the same action with its opposite wing.

Lydia was half paying attention to what was happening around her as her own attention was focused solely on her sword still embedded in the webbing of the wing in front of her. She could vaguely hear the sounds of grunting and battle cries as the men hacked and slashed away with their weapons. There was a moment when their sounds quickly became that of pained grunts, but she didn't turn her own head up to see what was happening.

As such, she herself was caught off guard when the wing before her suddenly thrust out. The massive appendage of the dragon pushed hard against her as well as against the other two guards standing near her. She could feel the wind momentarily forced out of her from the sudden impact. Finally, the wing came to a stop as far as it had stretched out, leaving her to unintentionally dislodge her sword from the webbing as she found herself tumbling backward.

"Oof!" she grunted as her back hit the ground. For a moment there was a feeling of panic with her having fallen backward. In this relatively vulnerable position, that dragon could do whatever it wanted to her! She had to move!

Back at the front the dragon quickly turned its head to face Siffre again. The Nord quickly brought her sword to swing horizontally, only for the dragon to quickly open its maw and catch the blade in between its teeth. Siffre's eyes widened as she found her weapon held in a surprisingly iron grip. This dragon was biting her sword with its teeth!

"What?! Let... go!" she called out. She tugged and she tugged, all the while trying to keep a solid grip on the hilt of her weapon. But no matter how hard she pulled, the dragon would not release its hold. The most she managed was ever so slightly tugging the massive head along with her yanks for mere moments, but the dragon simply nudged its head opposite as if in direct response.

Just then, Siffre felt it. In the form of the tiniest of vibrations through the weapon itself, she could feel a very subtle 'ting' along the blade. For some reason, this filled her being with even more concern. While she herself was no metal worker or weapon smith, a thought crept into her mind of the sort of damage might be happening to her weapon at this very moment! Divines' sake, it literally being chomped on by dragon's teeth! Any harder and... her weapon might actually break!

'I gotta... get it... loose!' her mind raced, 'Focus... focus...!'

"Fo... KRAH!"

Her mouth opened again and she breathed super-cooled air. The massive rush of freezing air blew forward in a massive gust. The world immediately in front of her became white in a flurry of swirling air, while the sounds of grunts from the dragon could be heard.

Resistance suddenly lifted and her sword-wielding arms suddenly shot around while holding her weapon in hand. Her mind registered in an instant: the dragon had released its teeth-hold! She quickly maintained her footing to avoid falling to the side and turned her attention back to her massive opponent.

A fine layer of white colored frost and ice coated the scales of the dragon. It proceeded to shake its head, a motion reminiscent of one shaking themselves from a dazed feeling. Minuscule flakes of ice fluttered off of its horns and scales. Almost immediately it turned its head to face Siffre again, where another sound could be heard from its maw,

"Yol..."

But Siffre was already moving. She brought her great-sword to bear and slashed it horizontally as hard as she could. She could feel the satisfying impact of her blade cutting into the dragon. From the blurred motions in front of her she couldn't see exactly where her blade had cut; all she could see was dragon's head being forced to the side and turned away from her. A long red gash now lined the side of the dragon's head just behind its maw line.

A sense of euphoria filled Siffre's being; her strike against the dragon managed to hit, but at the same time she'd managed to stop this dragon from Shouting back at her. She did manage to hear a distinct sound of 'yol', which while she didn't know what it meant, it always seemed to prelude the breath of fire that followed.

Siffre then proceeded to shift her great-sword in her hands so the blade was now facing downwards. The dragon's head was still turned away from her, leaving its neck rather open and exposed. She took a couple steps forward, leapt upward with her arms and sword held above her head, then stabbed down as hard as she could.

A loud 'shink' filled the air as the sword found its mark. Steel cut through the softer tissue of scale and the sword was nearly hilted into the neck of the beast. Almost instantly the dragon's movement became absolutely erratic. Roars and other various noises practically burst from its open maw, though this time sounding more choked than before. It shook its head back and forth, desperate to free itself from what it no doubt knew was killing it at this moment.

"By the Gods, she's doing it!"

"Stand firm, Dragonborn!"

Siffre could hear various voices of fellow Nords around her. She held her her stance against the harsh movements as best she could, but still found herself ducking every time the swinging head of the dragon brought one of its back-turned horns to almost impale against her. Finally, she proceeded to harshly twist the blade in her hands. She could hear a satisfying rending of flesh and snapping of scales beneath her. One more twist the opposite direction, then she ripped the blade out of the neck as hard as she could, a trail of blood staining the grass and even splattering her armor in sparse places.

While she herself maintained her footing, the dragon fared far less fortunate. The cries from its maw were purely in panic and terror mixed with a death rattle here and there. Whatever it was trying to say during this moment could not be understood in the slightest. All eyes remained fixed on the dragon as its movements steadily began to slow with each passing second.

The massive serpent turned its head to look at Siffre one last time before lurching its head forward with its mouth open. Siffre took a single step back to avoid being directly snapped by the gnashing teeth. The dragon however did not attempt any further snaps with its mouth and in fact proceeded to gently lay its head tilted slightly down on the ground.

"Huzzah! It's slain!"

"Praise the Gods, we're still alive!"

"That'll show that overgrown bastard!"

No further movement came, and Siffre breathed a sigh of relief. While her eyes remained focused on the dragon, a thought of realization suddenly crept up back to the forefront of her mind. She was trying to get this creature to talk! To get it to say where that black dragon had gone! Why had she killed it so soon?!

Just like that, anger and frustration flooded her being again. She stabbed the tip of her great-sword into the ground, residual drops of dragon blood falling off and dotting the dirt ground around it. Her hand remained on the sword's hilt in a tight grip, squeezing it as tight as she could. She couldn't control herself, could she? She'd ended up slaying this thing before she could properly learn what she needed to know again because she'd acted impulsively? That had to be it. And now because of this, that black dragon was still at large and likely to cause... another Helgen...

Her vision directly before her began to change as she noticed the dragon's corpse. As with dragons previously slain by her, this one began to glow as pieces of its flesh began to flake off as bright as fire. A complete reversal of the very way she'd witnessed this dragon be brought to life with flesh and scales on its bones. She'd almost forgotten that this was to happen as well; absorbing the soul of a dragon.

This was then followed by those familiar swirls of translucent orange and blue waves seemingly being siphoned from the dragon's body directly towards her. There was no pain, no sensation of any feeling with what was being done to her. She came to know this now as a simple transfer of knowledge. This dragon knew something related to a Thu'um, likely even the Words of Power she herself had found in Valthume, and the gift of the true meaning of those Words was now being granted to her.

In spite of her residual frustration, Siffre took a breath, and allowed herself to learn.

The words 'laas', 'yah', and 'nir' were brought to mind once more. This time however they appeared as more than just dragon words; Siffre could see that they were in fact the words for 'life', 'seek', and 'hunt' in her own tongue. The knowledge that flooded into her mind and her being, that became a part of her very soul, it revealed so much more.

Life. Life was everywhere, all around her, all around everything. It was always there, ever present. The foolish or dull of sight could scarcely see life despite its grand abundance, but for those with open and focused eyes, life could be revealed to them as clearly as the very sun in the sky. She herself would be able to see the very life forces and energies of all living things if her eyes were properly attuned. Clear, unclouded sight, of both body and mind; nothing could be hidden from her.

Finally, the swirling waves of transferred light and energy ceased. Once more the massive skeletal body of the dragon lay stretched out before her, before everyone present. The bones themselves could be seen steaming slightly. Aside from that however, the once living dragon was most certainly dead again.

Sensing someone approach off from the side, Siffre glanced out of the corner of her eye to see Lydia rejoin her side again.

"You did it... You saved a town... again..." she spoke in between hard breaths. Siffre could only nod once.

"And... you absorbed the dragon's soul as well?" she added, "That means... you can shout that Shout you learned in that crypt?"

"It can't be. You took it's very soul!"

"By the Divines, I don't even know what to say."

Movement could then be seen all around them as the Whiterun guards and the handful of Imperials rejoined where they stood at the front of the dragon's corpse. Many of them held a few cuts and bruises on their bodies, but otherwise were very much alive and standing.

"Just like the old legends: Dragonborn!" one of the Whiterun guards said.

"A Dragonborn? You mean those ancient heroes that project magic with their voices?" an Imperial spoke up.

"It's called Shouting," a guard corrected him before turning to Siffre, "Can you do it now, thane? Surely after you just slain a dragon, too!"

"I um, I think I can..." Siffre responded. She turned herself so her entire body faced the skeletal body of the dragon. In the slim off-chance the Shout she had just learned might cause harm to anyone, at the very least the already dead dragon would bear the brunt of it. Many of the other guards seemed to get the same idea as they took a few steps out and away from Siffre's 'cone of view' before her.

'Alright, breathe...' she forced herself. She could feel herself slowly coming down from the high of anger and frustration during her fight with the dragon. She now needed herself to be calmer and in control, 'Breath... Focus... Here we go-'

"Laas... Yah-NIIR!"

The sound of Siffre's voice called out in a mighty cry. There was no mighty force that 'pushed' the skeleton in front of her away, nor was there a wave of super-cooled ice air. Instead there was... nothing? Siffre blinked once, then twice; disbelief gave way to confusion. Was something supposed to happen?

She instinctively looked all around her for any sort of changes. Unfortunately all she could see were the Whiterun guards, the Imperials, and Lydia. All were looking back at her, likely expecting something from her as well. The housecarl's face in particular held confusion, a mirror to the very confusion on her own face. Siffre found herself growing more and more self-conscious.

"Laas... Yah-NIIR!" she called out again. Just as before though, nothing of note occurred and nothing changed. The dragon skeleton remained in place, unmoved.

"Um... Siffre? What's supposed to happen?" Lydia spoke up. Siffre was barely able to return the housecarl's look herself.

"I-I don't know. Am I not doing it right...?" The feeling of self-consciousness and even embarrassment mixed within Siffre's being.

"What's that Shout even supposed to do?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know!" Siffre said, "One of the Words for it is 'life', but... What could that mean for a Shout? And why is nothing happening...?"

"Hail, Dragonborn! You've served Jarl Balgruuf and Whiterun Hold once again!"

Siffre's attention was brought to her other side from one of the guards clapping her on the shoulder. The guard's face couldn't be seen underneath his helmet, but the tone in his voice spoke of his joyful and jovial tone. The Dragonborn's self-consciousness grew a little from the praise, but she did manage a single nod of acknowledgment.

"Life you say? I hope there's no more life to be found in this giant pile of bones!" another of the guards said before giving the massive skeleton a good kick with his foot.

"It's a shame about that other dragon though..."

And just like that, Siffre's attention perked up. At the mention of the 'other' dragon she spun in place towards whom had spoken. One of the Imperial soldiers standing off to the skeleton's side was looking back and forth towards their mass group and towards the sky itself. Previous feelings from before flooded back into her being again, as well as a heavy sense of urgency.

"Other dragon- Where? Where did that other dragon go?" she said, "Did anyone here see where it went?!" A few of the other guards were surprised by Siffre's sudden exclamation.

"Siffre?" Lydia said.

"There was another dragon?" one of them said.

"That big black dragon? Aye, I saw it take off with my own eyes!" another of the guards said, "Big as a house and eyes as red as blood! Might've even been a Daedra for all I-"

"You saw it? You saw where it went?" Siffre hastily said. Her attention focused solely on the man who had spoken; one of the yellow-garbed Whiterun guards, "Where did it go?!"

"Where did it go?" the man turned his head up towards the sky, the setting sun in the sky to his left, "Thought I saw it go... that way?"

"I saw it go that way too!" another of the guards said, "Took off north, it did!"

"What could it be after going that direction? Nothing but mountains and the marshlands of Hjaalmarch up that way..."

The Dragonborn followed pointed fingers in the indicated direction. She looked outwards towards the distant horizon. She could see a set of white-tipped mountains; they were a little on the smaller side, though that may have been that the Throat of the World made all mountains look much smaller in comparison. Additionally she could just barely see the faint outline of fog and mist surrounding the more flatter section of land off to the left side. There was just enough of a distinction between this layer of mist closer to the ground compared to the very clouds in the sky above.

Sadly, the black dragon itself was nowhere to be seen. It had really taken off shortly before hers and the others' own battle against the resurrected dragon. But if what these guards said was to be believed...

"Hjaalmarch? What's that?"

"It's one of Skyrim's Holds," Lydia spoke up, causing Siffre to turn her head back to her, "I believe the only real settlement is its capital of Morthal."

"Wait, so there is a place up that way?" Siffre said, "Lydia... we have to get there!"

"What?"

"If that dragon's gone that way, then this 'Morthal's' in danger!" she urged, "We have to get there; I have to get there!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, hold on a second," Lydia said, "You really think that dragon would fly off to attack Morthal? If it's even gone that way?"

"Lydia, I'm not taking any chances... I'm not letting another settlement be burned...!"

Her anger and frustration from before resurfaced, as was shown through the look on her face. Siffre leveled her hard look at Lydia, almost daring her to beg to the contrary. Lydia almost found herself taken aback by this side of her thane, the sheer intensity of the look displayed upon her face. For a moment, Lydia almost felt the urge to challenge her on this notion.

Nevertheless, she still nodded her head sharply to deliver her affirmation across.

"As you wish, my thane," she said. She then turned to address a couple of the Whiterun guards standing nearby, "You lot send word to the Jarl; the dragon's been slain, Rorikstead is safe, and the two of us are traveling northbound towards Morthal."

"Aye, housecarl, we'll take care of things here," one of the guards said, "But, you're really traveling north-bound?"

"If that's where you claim that black dragon flew towards, then yes, that's where we're headed," Lydia replied.

"I wish the two of you the best of luck then. I am sorry that we don't have anything to offer you on your trek up there; Rorikstead hardly had much to offer aside from crops."

"We should be fine enough, for the time being," Lydia said. She glanced to her side and pointed down the road that lead straight through the settlement, "The road to Morthal is up down this road as well?"

"That's right, just head up this road northbound, then hang a right when the sign ahead tells you," the guard instructed, "You'll know you're in Hjaalmarch when you can scarce see five feet in front of you."

"By the Eight, we actually slew a dragon!" one of the Imperial soldiers called out as well, "General Tullius will need to be informed of this!"

"Easy, soldier, let's make sure the civilians are safe first," one of his fellows spoke up.

With that the group began to gradually disperse; the Imperials made their way back towards the main buildings while the Whiterun guards mostly remained close to the dragon's bones. A couple of the guards made their way to the massive scorch line in the ground. The worst of the flames had long been extinguished from Siffre's breath of frost, save for a few scattered patches of flickering flames here and there. Unfortunately the damage had already been done: one of the main fences along the largest of the gardens had been completely destroyed, along with a fair few of crops within the garden itself.

In addition were the couple of guards that had perished from the dragon's fire. A couple of living guards were knelt at the sides of the corpses and attending to them as best they could. Lydia caught sight of them as she neared them while walking with Siffre along the main road.

"-need to see to these pour souls," she could hear one of them speaking.

She then caught sight of movement near the main building that was Frostfruit Inn. A couple of individuals could be seen emerging, including Jouane and even the reclusive Rorik himself.

"By the Eight!" the elder Breton said after catching sight of the two perished guards. Jouane hastily made his way towards the perished guards, while Rorik himself slowed down as he neared Siffre and Lydia next to them on the road.

"Housecarl Lydia? And… Thane Siffre?" the Nord spoke. The two women came to a halt as the man had addressed the two of them, "Is it safe? Is it really safe?"

"It's alright, Rorik. The dragon has been slain, and Rorikstead is safe." The man's eyes appeared tired, yet still carried a healthy amount of fear and alertness to them. Lydia knew this man to be relatively withdrawn, yet even something like this would've no doubt rattled him.

"We could all hear the fighting from inside…" he said, "Even with the Imperials in there with us; I swear, it sounded like something was trying to claw inside from the roof!"

"So none of the civilians are dead or harmed?" Lydia asked to which Rorik shook his head, "Thank goodness. We did everything we could. Though I am sorry about the damage that was done..."She stepped to the side to allow a clear line of sight towards the nearby destroyed fence and crops. Upon seeing this, Rorik's eyes fell downcast again.

"No… first the war, now an actual dragon?" he said, "Our town has been prey to enough already..."

"The dragon that was responsible has been dealt with," Lydia said with a firm nod. She then turned around to point a finger towards the massive skeletal structure that was the dead dragon. Rorik's eyes widened a little at the mere sight.

"By the Gods… Where did such a thing even come from?"

"It was… It 'rose' from the dragon burial mound over there…" Lydia pointed up towards the natural rise, "It had been brought to life by another dragon."

"That same one is still out there," Siffre spoke in a hasty tone to serve as a reminder, "We have to find and stop that one as well."

"Another one?" Rorik said, "Then, I shan't keep you. Jouane and I will see to things here…" Without saying another word or leaving any room for additions, Rorik stepped away. He moved to rejoin his fellow Jouane and the other guards tending to the fallen. The two women took this as their cue to leave as well, with Siffre maintaining a decent step in front of them.

"So… what did he say?" she suddenly said with a head turned towards Lydia, "That guard, about where 'Morthal' is?"

"He said we must take this road northbound, and a sign ahead will direct us when to turn right." Siffre wordlessly nodded and resumed her rather urgent walk. Lydia could only purse her lips but follow after her.

It was in this moment that Lydia's attention was brought back to something literally with every step she took. Her foot felt a sensation of moist and liquid. After a moment she was reminded of a mere hour or so ago when she and Siffre had initially given chase after the black dragon upon exiting the crypt; she'd misjudged the jump she needed to clear the Karth river and her foot was submerged slightly in the water. Now she was left with a slightly soaked foot and the unpleasant sensation of walking upon it. They really needed to find a place where they could just stop, rest even, so at the very least that could be attended to.

The road they walked upon began to gradually curve to the right while also declining as it fed between large rock formations on both sides. Dead trees and sparse vegetation decorated the rock walls here and there. This 'trench' of rock extended out before the main road fed out onto natural land again. Siffre and Lydia soon beheld the vast expanse of Skyrim land before them once again.

'I hope they'll be alright back there…' Lydia said to herself while casting a sideways glance over her shoulder back towards Rorikstead's direction.

The two women made their way down the steady decline towards lower ground. The surrounding landscape held numerous rock formations, both jagged and smooth, that rose from the ground and broke the natural flat of the ground. There was no doubt in Lydia's mind that they were nearing closer to the mountainous regions of the western Reach.

As they walked, movement could be seen in the distance. A pair of shaggy and woolly rams could be seen literally bucking heads with their massive thick horns. The clashing of horns produced a small echo that Lydia could hear even from here. Lydia almost found herself entranced, entertained even, at the sight of these two creatures engaging in this rough-housing action between themselves.

Just then, the silence was broken by a sound that momentarily surprised her,

"Laas... Yah-NIIR!"

Siffre's voice once again cried out and saying those same three syllables Lydia had heard earlier. As before, no noticeable effect was produced as far as she could see. And as a result, Siffre's echoing voice was heard by the two rams. The two swiftly ceased their horn-bucking to glance towards the source for a second before instantly running away.

"Still nothing?" Lydia asked, to which Siffre shook her head.

"I still don't understand it; I feel like this Shout will allow me to 'see' life all around me, so why is nothing any different?" She let out a groan of frustration as she took a quick breath, "Maybe with this… I could've 'seen' where that black dragon had flown off too myself..."

The black dragon. The seemingly bane of everyone's existence thus far. The one that Siffre seemingly had developed an obsession with in Lydia's humble opinion. The housecarl still hadn't forgotten the look on her thane's face at several times ever since they'd come out of that crypt. Ever since that dragon had appeared, something had changed within her. She'd been focused on this dragon and her desire to see it slain, even in the midst of actual catastrophe occurring.

Lydia's eyes narrowed at the mental reminder; she had not forgotten.

"Siffre, we need to talk."

Lydia brought herself to a halt. Siffre turned around to see Lydia had stopped walking and ceased her walk as well.

"What?"

"Back at Rorikstead, when the black dragon was there, you were more focused on it than the other one," Lydia said in a semi-accusatory tone.

"Yeah, that was the one that destroyed Helgen! It'll probably destroy another place given the-"

"But the black dragon wasn't attacking Rorikstead though!" Lydia cut in, "It was the other one; the bronze one was actively attacking it!" Words momentarily failed Siffre in that moment, and she found herself leveling a stare at the other woman. Teeth grit behind pursed lips as she shook her head.

"Lydia... You don't understand. You don't know what I saw…"

These words were not spoken in anger, nor in frustration. For the first time today, they were spoken in a fearful tone. They were spoken of one who was witness to a horrific, catastrophic event; the sort of thing that even the strongest man would have nightmares over. And Siffre, she'd made it exceedingly clear that she was witness to such a thing. The dragon attacking and destroying Helgen.

Lydia took a quick breath before speaking again.

"No, I don't know what you saw then," Lydia admitted. "But, what I did see was a dragon trying to attack a town. What I did see was you, 'all' of us, coming to its aid. What I did see was you stopping the immediate threat before the worst could happen." She pointed a finger towards Siffre, not in any harsh or accusatory manner, but more to simply emphasize her point.

"Don't you see? It's because of your actions earlier that… That you kept it from happening again. You prevented another Helgen from taking place."

Siffre's eyes widened as Lydia finished speaking. The housecarl could see it on her face: the look of surprise and realization. And even if Lydia herself hadn't been present at Helgen at the time, what would have happened at Rorikstead most likely would've been a horrible repeat of that event. Surely her thane had to see that logic herself.

"Maybe… Maybe we did save that town… But that black dragon," Siffre said, "Lydia, that black dragon did FAR worse! And I… I cannot let that happen again-!"

"And we won't. Do you understand me?" Lydia cut in, "In fact, we're going to Morthal right now to hopefully head it off. We're not about to let another town be destroyed. What I'm saying is you can't lose sight of what's really important in certain situations."

"Alright, alright, I get it…" Siffre held her hands up as she cut in, "I'll… I'll try to remember. But we need to get moving again, you know to catch up with that black dragon?" Lydia silently nodded in agreement.

The two women turned their attention back to the road, briskly walking in relative silence. The stone walkway stretched out and downward along a gradual decline and curved along the nearby river on the left side. The guard had mentioned that they'd know they were in Hjaalmarch when they could scarce see through the fog. As the world was still plenty clear all around her, they likely still had a way to go before they'd arrive.

The words spoken between the two of them still hung heavy in both of their heads. Both women had a lot to think about and consider, especially with what was to come in the near future.

"Siffre… Do you remember what we talked about a few nights ago?" she spoke up while continuing to walk, "At that tower outside of Riften?"

"Hm? Where we first met Ilia?" Siffre said, "I… I told you of my past back then. What of it?"

"Yes, and I accepted you for what you were, but also for what you were meant to be going forward," Lydia clarified, "You're a Dragonborn, probably even have some destiny of being one as well. You atone for the sins of your past by helping the innocent going forward, as a Dragonborn. Remember?"

Siffre turned to glance at Lydia in full, prompting the housecarl to do the same. Gone was the hard look of anger and frustration, replaced instead with a softer more gentle look. No doubt she did recall those words from those nights ago.

"Yeah… I remember…"

Lydia waited, expecting Siffre to follow up with something, but nothing came. The Dragonborn remained silent after that admission, turning her head back and resuming her walk forward. Lydia decided not to press the topic any further, trusting that Siffre did in fact understand what she was trying to tell her. Instead she walked alongside her thane as they resumed their trek in continued silence.

A quick and unconscious sniff of the air, the smell of fire and smoke once again was fading away. What Lydia could smell was now predominantly that cleaner, more crisp Skyrim air with a small hint of mist. While she herself had never set forth in Morthal, much less traveled there herself, she hoped it wouldn't take too long to get there. In fact, here's hoping Morthal was still standing and not attacked by any dragon thus far…

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-How's this for an early Christmas present eh? And yeah, probably expect the next chapter to be put out some point next year, hopefully rather early on. At least I'm hoping it'll be early on since I've got a rough but good idea for how it's to be written. But anyway, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all, and keep on reading! -