Dragon of the East - Arc 1, Chapter 3

  • Chases-The-Wind

    ~ ~ ~

    From the dragon’s maw came a menacing shout.

    “KREN… SOS AL!!!”

    It rang out with power enough to shake the nirn beneath our feet. The beast took to the air with a stroke of its wings and circled the town as a hackwing circles its prey. Ears ringing, I bent my gaze aloft to see dark red clouds blot out the sun, forming a cyclone in the sky that whirled violently. Flares of light exploded from the haze as sweltering fireballs reigned down upon the village. Stone towers crumbled, homes were torn asunder, and trees set ablaze. The screams of panicked Nords and Imperials cut off one by one as the dead mounted in number.

    I stood paralyzed as the world around me fell apart.

    The dragon flew and assaulted the village of Helgen, unleashing fire from its very breath. This order of being was like nothing I had ever seen before. Legionnaires were madly attacking the beast, frantic and disorganized, while General Tullius hollered orders to protect the town’s people.

    A meteor struck the tower above me. Its explosion knocked me over. I slowly recovered myself, feeling a trickle of warm blood run down my muzzle. I beheld the scene in the village square. Men and women lay dead, Imperials and Stormcloaks alike, their bodies consumed by combustion or gored. One of them was still moving – dazed but very much alive. It was Ralof.

    I ran to him, tail swaying in counted measure with my legs. I refused to remain a spectator to this madness. Coming to a halt, I knelt down before the Nord and pulled at his arm.

    “Get up!” I yelled. “Come on! There’s no time!”

    Ralof reeled at the sight of a clawed hand grasping him. I imagine a reptilian creature with sharp teeth and scales was the last thing he wished to see. Fortunately for him, this one was on his side. Ralof looked to the clouds above, his eyes reflecting a glint of light. I snapped my own gaze skyward. A fireball was plunging toward us.

    I stood and shot my arm upward, palm outstretched. Pale blue light shimmered as a shield of magicka expanded over us.

    The meteor struck. My ward held against its force. Had there been any physical matter within that fireball, my ward would not have protected us. It can only block magic. Unharmed, if not somewhat shaken, I dropped my spell and pulled Ralof up, drawing my knife from its scabbard. I cut loose the binds on his wrists, frantically searching for a place to take shelter. My sights set on the tower that had been my hiding spot earlier. It was damaged but still standing, doorway open. Ralof and I glanced at each other.

    “Can you run?” I asked.

    He began sprinting to the tower.

    Seeing my question answered, I ran close behind him. We burst through the entrance, slamming shut the wooden door behind us. A small company of Stormcloaks had gathered inside. Two were lying on the ground, seriously wounded. Among those still standing was Ulfric, ungagged and unbound.

    “Who are you!?” one of the rebels barked at me. He had been tending the injured and approached me with a dagger. I readied my claws in defense. Ralof suddenly seized the man’s arm and restrained him.

    “Control yourself, dammit! This Argonian saved my life,” Ralof exclaimed angrily. He released his grip, turning to me. “I’d wager that makes him a friend. No pox of the empire would risk his hide to save a Stormcloak.”

    The other man grumbled and withdrew. I remained silent. Ralof’s visage grew solemn as he drew to his leader.

    “Jarl Ulfric,” he said, “what is that thing? Could the legends be true?”

    “Legends don’t burn down villages,” Ulfric replied, peering out of a knothole in the cobblestone wall. Without his gag, the man wore a thick goatee upon his face. His expression was grave. Ulfric shifted away from the window and faced his men.

    “We need to move, now!”                                                                         

    “Does this tower lead anywhere?” I asked.      

    “No,” answered one of the injured Nords, her voice hoarse as she clutched her side. “A wall collapsed above, blocking the stairway. The only way out is the way you came in.”

    “Kaah… I was afraid of that,” I muttered.

    “Then let’s clear out of here,” Ralof said. “We’ll use the buildings for cover!”

    “And go where?” I replied. “None of us can outrun that monster. We will all be dead by the time we reach the gates.”

    “And if we stay here, it’ll bring the whole tower down on our heads!”         

    The tower began to shake as loose debris fell from the ceiling. A raucous roar followed.   

    “Fair point,” I relented, minding the stones above me. “What about the wounded?”

    The man who had approached me with a dagger hoisted up an injured Stormcloak, slinging her arm over his shoulder.

    “We’ll carry them with us,” he declared. “No one is getting left behind.”

    Ulfric went to another wounded man and did the same.

    “Ralof, you know Helgen better than us,” he said. “Lead the way. We’ll follow you.”

    “Right, I’m on it!” Ralof replied. He went to the door to grasp its handle, glancing back. “You coming, Argonian? Might need that magic of yours again.”

    “Of course,” I spoke coolly, nodding once. “Let’s tread swiftly.”

    The hinges of the door swung open wide as everyone in the tower filed out. Acrid scents of charring flesh filled the air, thick with dust and smoke. Piles of rubble from buildings and fallen towers blockaded the streets. Fireballs no longer fell but the storm clouds above still remained. The dragon was attacking indiscriminately. We kept our eyes on the sky as Ralof led us into the nearby inn.

    “We’ll have to cut through here to reach the gates,” he said.

    The building was on fire, supports and framework badly damaged. Rooms once used for lodging ignited like tinder. Ralof and I led , skirting ahead past broken furniture to push aside beams of splintered wood. Searing heat filled the halls, strewn burning bodies. Everyone had begun to break out in sweat, save for myself.

    “Keep moving!” I shouted to the others. “We’ve cleared the way–”

    “TOOR SHUL!!!”

    A gout of fire blasted down through the roof above. Ralof and I jumped back. The dragon had passed over the inn, its breath of flame cutting a swath straight through the middle. Ulfric and his Stormcloaks were separated on the other side of the blaze. Ralof called out to them.

    “We’re all alive!” Ulfric hollered. “Keep going! We’ll follow you when we can!”

    Ralof hesitated. I pulled at his armor.

    “This inn’s coming down!” I yelled. “We have to get clear!”

    Thatched roofing began to concave as the building combusted. We dove out of the inn by another entrance and got back on the path outside. The dragon was hovering in place in the distance, kept airborne by a constant flapping of its wings. Lightning bolts were being volleyed at the monster by Imperial battle mages out of view. Their strikes glanced off of its scales, leaving naught a single scorch or burn. Uttering another incantation, the dragon’s voice became an exhale of flame. The cries of men and women echoed beyond a backdrop of blazing buildings.

    “We’re close. The gates are over this rise,” I said, pointing to where the dragon had been floating.

    “Forget the gates,” Ralof barked. “The Imperials are holding them! Their mages won’t take pity on us.”

    I winced. Upon hearing this, I was abruptly more aware of the fact that I was helping an Imperial captive escape capital punishment. I had become, as far as the empire concerned, a criminal accomplice.

    “Then where do we go?” I snapped.

    “Let’s try the north road! I know the way,” Ralof replied.

    We rushed on, pressing ourselves against a stone wall that connected tower garrisons, avoiding the open. As we neared what appeared to be a burned out house, we came to a halt. An Imperial soldier ran through the scorched ruin, its remains a skeleton of wood, to the aid of a comrade caught under a fallen bookstand.

    “Get on your feet!” the legionnaire said, stooping down to lift up the wooden shelves. “Tullius gave the order. We’re leaving! Everyone’s heading to the keep!”

    I had a mind to help the men, against all better judgment, but the dragon quickly appeared and perched itself on the wall above Ralof and I. The creature’s neck loomed just over our heads, wings folded abreast, meshed with veins like strands of a spider web. We held our breaths. Another shout, another burst of fire, coupled with the shrieks of the dying soldiers. Dust upheaved into the air as the dragon took flight. I turned to Ralof.

    “Did you hear that?” I half asked, half coughed.

    “I did,”        Ralof replied.

    “The keep he spoke of – where is it?”

    “Beyond the other side of this wall, if I remember right. It’s a stronghold. Why?”

    “The soldier said they were leaving. That keep must have an escape route!”

    The dragon flew overheard. We flinched at its passing.          

    “You sure about that, Argonian?”                                                     

    “The Imperials would not regroup inside a building the dragon could tear down. They’re no fools.”

    Ralof caught on to my line of thinking. We needed to reach that keep.

    “Alright then,” he muttered. “Tell me how we’re going to get there without being shot at or burned to death.”

    I scouted the dragon’s position. It was circling high above, no doubt seeking its next kill. A portion of wall near us had crumbled away, blocking further passage behind the buildings. The rubble, however, looked easy to climb.

    “While the dragon is high in the air, we’ll use this collapse of rock to scale the wall and sprint toward the keep,” I said. “The soldiers will be too focused on the beast to bother with us.”

    Ralof looked incredulous. “That’s quite a gamble, Argonian. What happens if the keep is swarming with Imperials?”

    “It’s either them or the dragon,” I growled. “We can fight one but not the other.”

    The Nord grumbled to himself.                      

    “Ysmir’s beard… I hope you’ve thought this through!”

    I had. The thoughts gave me no comfort.

    We waited for the dragon to attack again. It swooped down to another wall further away. The dragon opened its wings and snatched an Imperial archer in its talons. Ralof and I began our run, clambering up the rubble. As we reached the top of the wall I caught a glimpse of the dragon before dropping off. It let loosed grip at high altitude, sending the archer plummeting down to the cliffs below. I shuddered at the sight.

    The two of us dashed at breakneck speeds toward the keep. It was a fortress build beside a spire of mountain rock, made of the same cobble as Helgen’s walls. Smolder, fumes, and the sounds of a dying battle enveloped us. The adrenaline was inundating. My only thought was to reach the keep before the dragon could cut us off. Ralof had a good start and reached the door first. He turned back, alarmed.

    The dragon landed behind me. Its impact sent a quake through the ground. I stumbled and fell, skidding across the gravel. I pulled myself up and looked behind me. The black beast appeared through a clearing of dust. Our gazes locked. Its glowing red eyes were filled with malice.

    Of the many people the dragon sought to kill, it seemed I had the honor of being next to die.

    AUTHOR’S NOTE

    The shout Alduin uses at the start of this chapter exists in the game, but there are no official words for it. I decided to fill that gap and create my own words of power, for both story and literary reasons. Just to be more authentic, the words themselves are actual words in the dragon language, courtesy of this website.

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Comments

12 Comments   |   Fallout Night likes this.
  • The Wing
    The Wing   ·  August 30, 2015
    Don't worry about it. A writer is always particularly bad at something, and you're lucky yours is very easy to spot and correct, and it doesn't even impede the quality of your writing. 
  • Okan-Zeeus
    Okan-Zeeus   ·  August 29, 2015
    There. You should be able to hear that extra l now. 
    Thank you, by the way, for pointing it out. I seem to be very bad at spelling names.
  • The Wing
    The Wing   ·  August 29, 2015
    In the previous chapter as well, by the way.
  • The Wing
    The Wing   ·  August 29, 2015
    You keep spelling 'Tullius' as 'Tulius'. Thought I'd let you know. 
  • Tolveor
    Tolveor   ·  October 25, 2014
    Enjoying your story thus far. And I found a little typo in there. After the first body of dialouge 3-4 paragraphs down there is this sentence:
    “Are the gates are over this rise?” I inquired anxiously, pointing to where the dragon had been floating.<...  more
  • Raid
    Raid   ·  January 19, 2014
    Brilliant work mate! You're easily one of the best writers on the blog.
  • Harry
    Harry   ·  January 15, 2014
    It's finally here! Another great post, this is probably my new favourite blog on the site. Congratulations on the spotlight.
  • Okan-Zeeus
    Okan-Zeeus   ·  January 15, 2014
    @Soneca

    Fixed. Sorry I missed that again...
  • Okan-Zeeus
    Okan-Zeeus   ·  January 15, 2014
    Thanks, all: Rob especially, for helping put this story on on the front page! Can't wait to release the next chapter - I'll finally be introducing another character.
  • Soneca the Exiled
    Soneca the Exiled   ·  January 15, 2014
    hey Okan, when you edit your post please don't forget to change the date to the same one as the one you first posted it, if you don't it appears on the feed as a new post