Chapter 5

Chapter 5

     I kicked a patch of snow violently, sending a little puff of it into the air.  It may not seem like that snow deserved it, but trust me, that was a very offensive patch of snow.

     Did all the Skaal talk so much, or was it just Frea and her father?

     Apparently Frea had disdained to tell Storn what had happened at Miraak’s temple, so I was left the tedious process of explaining what had happened for a second time.  When I had finished he professed that ‘what he feared had come to pass’ and asked for ‘the All-Maker to protect us all’.  I almost asked what the All-Maker was, then realized that would be the stupidest question ever and that it would give Storn yet another reason to talk me to death.  I did however ask if he knew what the place I had been was. 

     I had guessed it was a plane of Oblivion, but I hadn’t known it was Apocrypha, the plane of Hermaeus Mora, Daedric Prince of knowledge and memory.  Every single encounter I had had with one of these beings had ended badly for someone, either me or another, and here I had a book in my pocket that could transport me to the domain of one at any time.

     Storn Crag-strider had considered for a few minutes, then finally sent me to a location called Saering’s Watch to learn a Shout that Miraak had mastered the first time he walked the earth.  Apparently it could somehow free all the enchanted people if I used it on the various stones around Solstheim.  How learning another Shout would help me defeat someone who probably knew a few thousand of them was beyond me, but I certainly couldn’t defeat him now.  This wasn’t an admittance of defeat, just a simple logical fact.  My magic was much weaker than his, and he would take me down before I could close with hand to hand combat.  It hurt to admit it, but he was stronger than I was.

     Did that mean I couldn’t defeat him?  No.  When I found out I was Dragonborn there was no way I could have killed Alduin, but nearly a year later I had become strong enough even to follow the beast through a portal into Sovngarde and kill him there where he had enslaved the dead.  I did not doubt that somehow I would find the power to kill Miraak as well.

     And I wanted to kill him, very badly indeed, and not just for personal reasons.  Yes, he had made me feel like a ten year old boy who couldn’t even lift a sword, and yes, he had annoyed me by first complementing me for slaying Alduin then made it an insult by saying he could have done it himself, but these personal issues didn’t blind me to the truth of the thing.  I may not have heard of Miraak before, but I knew his type.  Guys like that wouldn’t stop at conquering an island with two settlements on it and a length that I could traverse in a day.  As soon as Miraak conquered Solstheim, trust me, he would be on his merry way across the sea to Skyrim.  I had saved Skyrim once, and I’d be banished to Oblivion if I was going to let it be destroyed now.

     I glanced up from the uneven terrain that I had been keeping an eye on and stopped abruptly.  I had reached Saering’s Watch, if the stone structures built into the mountainside were anything to judge by.  Torches glimmered from sconces set into the rock, a sign I took to mean that there must be draugr somewhere nearby.  Ducking behind a rock, I carefully scrutinized the entire place.  Not a dragon in sight, but I had no doubt one was around somewhere.  They were attracted by word walls, cold, snowy heights, and animals to hunt.  All three conditions were right; I had passed several wild goats roaming the hills.  Maybe it was off hunting….  Yeah right.  I never get that lucky.

     There was still no sign if a dragon, either in the skies above Saering’s Watch or sleeping near the word wall.  Well, there was nothing for it.  I wasn’t going to wait here in the cold forever to find out whether there was actually a dragon here, so I sidled out from behind the rock and cautiously made my way to the right side of the location where I could see a way up.

     To my relief, surprise, and suspicion, I made it to the wall without incident.  The crackling power of the word distorted the air in front of it as I stared at the word, the knowledge and power entering me in a rush of wind.  Gol.  Earth, I realized as the word fused with the soul of the last dragon I had slain, filling me with understanding as the last of the wind faded away. 

     The growling of draugr reached my ears as it did, and I ducked just in time to avoid the war axe that whistled over my head.  I drew my sword and sliced off the arm that held it, then spun around and impaled the owner through the gut.  An arrow clinked off the wall beside me, causing me to jerk in reaction.  I located the offending draugr just in time to dodge another arrow, then retaliate with a fireball.  Even though its bow was on fire and its bones were blazing into dust, it still tried to fire one last arrow at me, but the bowstring was consumed before it was released.  I happened to glance up and dove behind the partial shelter of one end of the word wall as blast of withering flame struck the draugr behind the one I had hit, accompanied by the furious roar of a dragon whose territory was being encroached upon.  The enormous beast swerved around in midair and hovered in place, beating its wings to stay aloft. 

     Instead of looking into the blazing eyes of one of the Skyrim dragons I had become all too familiar with, I found myself looking at a creature that was as much snake as dragon.  Muscles flexed underneath a smooth dark gray hide as the beast beat it wings.  A ridge of dangerous looking webbing ran down its neck and back, reminding me forcefully of a mountain range, while atop the neck was placed a head with a jutting lower jaw and mirror-smooth nose.  Small but cunning eyes surveyed the draugr, some of which were lining up bows on it.  The dragon gulped in an enormous breath of air and blasted more fire at the draugr just as many of them released arrows at the creature.  With a pained hiss it beat it wings violently and twisted about above Saering’s Watch, roaring out its annoyance to all of Solstheim. 

     I wisely decided to stay safely in my little corner.  I didn’t really think it was cold enough to warrant getting set on fire, and anyway, I could come out and finish off the dragon after the draugr had worn it down a bit.  Sure enough, the ones that still had bows were firing arrows at it and the ones that didn’t were hacking at it every time it landed.  I used this opportunity to observe how these new dragons fought.  It seemed to know the same Shouts as a normal dragon, but delivered devastating bites with its powerful jaw.  I would have to remember to stay very far clear of those teeth.  It used the same strafing flights and tail slams as any other dragon, along with the same general fighting tactics. 

     There was only a handful of draugr left to resist now, but the dragon appeared to be panting and was covered in small wounds all over.  As it felled the last draugr with a vicious snap I leapt out from hiding and shot a double fireball at it.  The spells struck with their signature explosion and the dragon was bowled completely over onto its back.  I dashed after it and stabbed it through the eye with my sword before it could even get back up.  With a last weak growl it finally died, its whole body catching fire.  I looked away from the bright glare, and when I looked again, there was nothing but bones and the blast of light as I absorbed the soul.  The power rushed through me, spreading across my entire body until even my fingertips tingled and I had the sudden ridiculous urge to roar.  The feeling finally passed, leaving me feeling somehow incomplete without the violent power.

     Feeling suddenly tired even though I had done barely any fighting, I turned away from the remains to start the trek back to the Wind Stone near the Skaal village.  This Shout had better work.

     Some hours later I stood at the edge of the circle in which the Wind Stone stood.  I sent a brief prayer to the Divines.  “Gol!” I Shouted. 

     The earth instantly started shaking as the stone glowed yellow, then released a wave of energy that blasted the structure around it to dust.  I jumped back with a startled yelp as a large rock smashed into the ground where I had just been.  The people who had been working held their hands to their heads, looked around, or otherwise showed expressions of confusion.  This confusion quickly escalated into terror as an enormous black shape emerged from the stone.  I recognized it as a creature from Apocrypha that Storn had described: a Lurker.  With stomping steps it ran down a fleeing bandit and swatted him, sending him tumbling head over heels down the mountainside.  Not finished yet, it spat a stream of black fluid at a woman, the acid melting her down like steel in a forge.  I gagged as the acrid smell reached my nostrils.  Yelling a wordless war cry to try and focus its attention on me instead, I shot two fireballs at it.  Some heroic fools were trying to slash at it with knives; they were quickly eliminated.  Soon there was nothing for it to vent its rage on other than me, and it lumbered toward me, clearly intent upon doing just that.  Backing up rather quickly, I shot two more fireballs at it, then drew my sword, dodging neatly as it swung a clawed hand at my side.  I dodged less neatly a second time as it followed up with another swipe of its other hand, then stabbed it through the back as it over swung.  It fell without a sound, the wispy darkness around it fading to nothing but a normal black creature. 

     I sheathed my sword, breathing a little hard.  That last swipe had come closer than I would have liked.

     Well, at least this was a start.  This Shout could at least break Miraak’s hold over people, although it would probably do absolutely nothing useful when I fought Miraak himself.  I guess Storn had come up with something useful, though; I probably owed him an apology.  Thinking of which, I should probably get back to the Skaal village and let them know what had happened here. 

     The village was quite close, just a short walk from the Wind Stone.  I entered it, sold off a couple extra valuables to the villager working the forge, then spoke to Storn.

     To my complete lack of surprise and extreme annoyance, he told me that I should now go free the rest of the people enslaved by the Stones, which were of course located all over Solstheim.  Not that I didn’t want to help them, but still!  Couldn’t anyone else ever do anything?  Even as I thought this I knew that obviously they couldn’t, because they weren’t Dragonborn and couldn’t Shout.  So, giving up, I agreed grudgingly to go free the rest of the Stones.

    

     I stayed that night in the Skaal village, then departed early the next morning, hoping to reach all the Stones that day.  Storn had marked them on my map, so at least I knew where to look.  I had also already been to the Earth Stone, but I planned to free that one last and stay in Raven Rock afterward. 

     Several hours, four Lurkers, and many freed and confused people later I had finally freed all the Stones and was in the Retching Netch.  I had carefully avoided Veleth, remembering suddenly my promise to check out Fort Frostmoth.  I felt a bit bad about that, but with Miraak probably growing stronger in power and desire to conquer every passing hour there was no way I could take the time to go explore a fort right now.

     After taking a short and rather unrestful sleep, I headed back to the Skaal village.  Storn was… meditating? outside his hut, but he looked up as my boots crunched in the snow.  “What news do you bring, Dragonborn?” he asked.

     “I’ve freed all four Stones,” I replied.  “What should I do next?”

     “Frea has brought back another of the black books,” Storn informed me. 

     Forget what I said about having to do everything myself.  I didn’t know where Frea had gotten this book, but I was pretty sure it hadn’t come from a market vendor. 

     “It is the one that Miraak himself read, and it will help you find the knowledge that he found.  You must read it and return to Apocrypha to find this knowledge.”

     I hesitated.  Returning to Apocrypha was not even something I had considered.  One typically had a better chance of defeating an enemy if the battle was fought on familiar soil.  Perhaps Miraak had once belonged to this world, but now he was a resident of Apocrypha, a land I was completely unfamiliar with.  Fighting him there would give him a distinct advantage, and he already had most of the advantages to begin with.  But I’m not going there to fight him, I reminded myself.  I was going to retrieve knowledge.  The odds that I would run into Miraak were fairly small, but not as small as I would prefer.  Yet, I saw no other choice.  I needed something more than what I had to defeat him, and this course of action might get me that. 

     “Where’s the book?”  I had made up my mind. 

     He looked at me gravely, then reached into his coat and pulled out the book.  I took it gingerly, holding it as though it might explode at any moment and instantly having second thoughts.

     I opened it before I could change my mind.

Yes, I know Storn doesn't tell you about Hermy, you can't get near the word wall without seeing the serpentine dragon first, Frea doesn't bring you the book, and that I skipped the entire part of the main questline with Neloth.  I also know I kind of glossed over a bunch of stuff.  Trust me, I have a reason.