Chapter 16

Chapter 16

     Well, that was quick.  Somehow I had expected Miraak to spend a few more months building up influence and armies or something, rather than immediately start forming camps and attacking Stormcloak caravans.  He was moving pretty fast for such an old guy….

     Ulfric didn’t miss the sudden change in my expression.  “You know this man?”

     “A little better than I would prefer.”  I hesitated, unsure of how to continue.  The whole story wasn’t really important here, and anyway, they didn’t need to know exactly how incredibly powerful Miraak was.  It really wasn’t a good idea to lower morale even further with the news that the soldiers would be fighting dragons as often as men.  “His name is Miraak.  I was on Solstheim for a while a couple weeks back, and he’s from that island.”

     “From Solstheim?  But how did he gain control of Imperial forces?” Galmar asked.

     “I have no idea.  All I really know about him is that he’s… well, he’s Dragonborn.”

     I might as well have started spinning on my head like a children’s toy top.  Such an action would probably have evoked less surprise and shock from the company than my statement did.

     “That’s impossible.”  The man who said it was probably thinking of how I had defeated Alduin practically by myself.

     “No, it is very possible and unfortunately true.”  I snorted.  “Believe me, I wish I was lying or jesting as well.”

     “How, then?  How have we not heard of this Dragonborn before?”  This general I remembered from the war.  Her name was Jalif Dagger-Hand, a name she had earned for being so adept with daggers that they were practically extensions of her hands.  I respected her highly, and I knew she thought well of me.

     “He has been… trapped, on Solstheim for the past three Eras, but he got free a few weeks ago.”  I didn’t say how or why he had gotten free, but I felt sure that someone would ask.

     “Why did he leave Solstheim immediately for Skyrim?” Ulfric questioned.

     I was about to answer, but Galmar said, “Solstheim is a small island.  A man intent upon war would not stay there, and Skyrim is the closest province to the island.”  I silently thanked Nocturnal because my tired mind hadn’t been able to think of something believable to say.

     Everyone fell silent.  Galmar strode back and forth in a straight line with his hands clasped behind his back.  Jalif distractedly scratched at a spot on the table, and Ulfric stared broodingly at the red and blue flags.  “Is this Miraak as strong as you?” 

     “Stronger.  He has had decades to perfect his Shouts, most of which I’ve never heard of,” I admitted.  By the gods, that still burned….

     “Still, he’s only one man,” Jalif pointed out, ever the practical one.  “Surely if we defeat his soldiers he will not be able to stand against us by himself.”

     Maybe not, but they didn’t realize that Miraak could control dragons.  I didn’t know how many dragons Bend Will would allow him to control at once, but I knew at least three, potentially far more.  Even one dragon could be used to devastating effect.  I just grunted noncommittally.

     “Then we will concentrate on that,” Ulfric decided.  “Galmar, where did that messenger say that camp in the Reach was?”

     From then on the conversation was concerned with protecting supply lines, moving encampments to more strategic positions, and fortifying old forts that had languished in the years since the Civil War.  Ulfric and his generals had stood in the same room and had the same planning sessions during the Civil War. 

     The first Civil War.  It seemed Skyrim was about to become embroiled in a second.

     I mostly just listened, pointing out a few weaknesses and flaws in the other’s plans here or there.  The rest of the time I was thinking about different ways of taking down Miraak myself before this escalated into full on war. 

     I literally had one plan and one plan only: find the dragon Paarthurnax had told me about.  But how in the names of all the Divines was I supposed to find one dragon in a land as vast as Skyrim? 

     Ulfric finally dismissed the generals to give out orders to captains and messengers to take to other captains.  I glanced one last time at the table and started to leave, but Ulfric said, “Wait.”  I turned around, stifling a yawn.  “Kisvar, what really happened on that island?  I know you well enough to see that Miraak being Dragonborn is not the whole story.”

     And this was one of the many things I admired about Ulfric Stormcloak.  Despite that his newly pulled together empire was falling apart underneath him with the possibility of another war, he still had the energy and concern to inquire after individuals.  “It isn’t really anything important,” I lied smoothly.  He had enough concerns, and telling him everything that had happened would only place more of a burden on his shoulders.

     “You’re a good liar, Kisvar, but I didn’t become High King by getting fooled by every falsehood I heard,” Ulfric said dryly.  “Still, if you don’t wish to elaborate, I won’t force you.”

     “I might know him a little better than just his name and that he’s Dragonborn,” I admitted, wanting to impress the seriousness of this situation upon Ulfric.  “He’s very, very strong, even for a Dragonborn.  I-” I paused.  “I honestly don’t know if you could defeat him even with all the soldiers in the army and all the Imperials destroyed.”

     “You speak like you have firsthand experience with this power.” 

     Ulfric was doing what I had done with his letter, inferring everything I left out.  If we stayed on this subject I would soon have no secrets left.  “What are these?” I asked, picking up a paper off a stack on a side table.  Not the smoothest subject change, but it would have to do.

     If Ulfric knew what I was doing he didn’t let on.  “Requests from Holds for soldiers to investigate different problems.  We were shorthanded before the Imperials rallied, and now….”  He rubbed his forehead.  “We’re spread so thin we might as well just send an invitation to the Imperials to attack half our cities.”  Ulfric gestured at the paper I was holding.  “That one is from the Jarl of Dawnstar.  He says there have been troubling reports of strange noises coming from a cave nearby.”

     “Last time there were strange noises in a cave and I went to investigate, it was Potema the Wolf Queen trying to come back to life,” I reminded him.  “I wouldn’t discount the reports so easily.”

     “I don’t mean to imply I am ignoring them.  I simply don’t have the manpower to send someone to take a look right now.  If I did, this would be the first request I would honor.”

     “Why is that?”  Noises in a cave surely couldn’t be as serious as some of these other reports in this pile.

     “They say that with each noise the ground shakes,” Ulfric told me. 

     A loud noise, then the earth shakes.  What could cause something like that?  “What does the Jarl think it is?”

     “He says the people believe the noises are made by restless spirits, and the shaking is caused by them rolling over in their graves.”  Ulfric snorted derisively.  “Superstitious milk-drinkers, the lot of them.  Most likely it’s just a troll or some large beast of the sort.”

     I started upright, suddenly electrified.  Could it be?  Could it really be possible?  “A loud noise, and the ground shakes….  What else could it be?”

     I hadn’t realized I had spoken that last bit out loud until Ulfric asked, “What else could what be?”

     It had to be.  What else could make noises so loud that a nearby town could hear them but a dragon?  And the sounds came from a cave.  An underground dragon! 

     Finally, a piece of luck!

     “I think it may be a dragon in the cave.”  I tried to contain my excitement.

     “Well, that doesn’t seem like a cause for celebration to me.”  Ulfric looked slightly confused by my reaction.

     “Actually this is the luckiest coincidence that has happened to me since Alduin’s attack on Helgen,” I laughed.  I was still tired-  okay, really tired-  saddle-sore, and worried about Miraak, but now at least I had a direction to go, something to work toward that could help in this. 

     “If you say so.”  He eyed me doubtfully.  “I suppose you’ll want to look into the report yourself, then?”  When I nodded, he continued, “Can you stop at the Stormcloak camp between here and Dawnstar and give them my orders?  After you investigate the cave, head to Windhelm for further orders.”

     “Of course.”  I could tell the request was more of an order anyway.

     “Before you go, I command you to get a good night’s sleep in the Winking Skeever.  You look like you haven’t slept properly in days.”  He clapped me on the shoulder and left the room.

     I left as well after tucking the report from Dawnstar into one of my pockets.  Now that I had some purpose and definition to my quest I allowed myself to relax a little and went to the Winking Skeever as Ulfric had suggested.  After two bottles of mead I rented a room and even let myself sleep in past the crack of dawn the next morning.

     I was on my way out of the main gates to the stables when I remember Aetra.  I supposed I really ought to go to Dragon Bridge and let her know I was really perfectly fine….  I really don’t believe I would have if Dragon Bridge hadn’t been the only crossing over the river for miles. 

     Predictably I found her in the Four Shields Tavern, sitting in front of the fire and looking very, very bored.

     “There you are!  What in Skyrim were you doing?  You could have told me you’d take an entire day,” she said peevishly.

     My eyebrows rose of their own accord.  “Excuse me?  Since when did I have to explain my entire life to you and ask for your permission to handle my own affairs?”

     “Since I decided to come with you to Solitude.  Do you think it has been fun hiding my face from every guard that came in here?” she demanded.

     “Fun, no.  Easy, yes.  Guards don’t come into taverns expecting to find a criminal sitting at a table drinking mead, they come to get drunk themselves.” 

     She nodded thoughtfully.  “True.”  Brushing her hair out of her face and standing up, she asked, “So where are we going next?”

     We?  “I’m going to Dawnstar to go down a cave where something that causes earthquakes lives,” I said dryly.  “If you want to come, feel free.”  I was certain she would now head back to Whiterun to do that job.  Who in their right mind wants to follow people into caves, anyway?

     Aetra, apparently.  “Perfect.  Let me saddle my horse.”  She was walking out the door before my mind even registered what she had just said. 

     Growling out a curse that made a mother sitting with her daughter at a table glare at me angrily, I stomped out after her.  It was my own fault for being so sure she would decline, but still!  Why by the Nine did she want to follow me everywhere?

     It wasn’t until we were camped slightly east of the marsh and I was lying on my back on my bedroll that my suspicious little mind suddenly wondered if Aetra could have some other motive for following me around.  That happy little thought woke me up thoroughly and I stared at the sky trying to think of any groups or people who might want me dead for some reason.  Unfortunately the list was rather long, but more fortunately Aetra didn’t seem to fit into any of them.  I was sure I had never seen her before, no matter how uneasy she made Brynjolf. 

     Speaking of Brynjolf, I wondered if he had made any headway on Aetra’s last name.  That would be something to find out when I went back to Riften to get Mirjoln’s daughter out of the orphanage.

     Probably since I was thinking about Riften when I went to sleep I had an idiotic dream that the leader of the Imperials was Grelod the Kind and that all the Stormcloaks were children from Honorhall Orphanage who were rebelling against her.  When I woke up the next morning I had absolutely no idea where I was until I sat bolt upright and saw the fog and pools of the swamp nearby.

     Aetra was stirring something in a cook pot and looked up when I moved.  “Bad dream?”

     Did all Stormcloak officers have dreams that stupid?  “Not really.”

     She harrumphed and went back to stirring. 

     I sniffed appreciatively.  “What are you making?”

     “Venison stew.  But,” she waved the ladle at me, “you can’t have any until you tell me who Miraak really is.”

     We had about a thirty second glaring match after I got over being surprised.  “Where were you?” I demanded.

     She calmly continued stirring.  “Behind the door on the left.”

     I recalled a mental image of the room, remembering the large and beautifully carven doors.  Easily big enough to hide a person.  “How in the name of Nocturnal did you get in there without being seen?”

     “We all have our trade secrets.”  She smiled brightly at me when I glared even harder.  “So, who’s Miraak?”

     I decided I wasn’t hungry after all.  “If you were in the room you heard perfectly well who he is.”

     “Sure, he’s Dragonborn.  I heard that, as well as the interesting little tidbit that you’re Dragonborn as well.”

     I’d forgotten that she’d heard the whole conversation, including all those parts about me.  Very few people in the Guild knew I was Dragonborn, and I had wanted to keep it that way. 

     “I bet not very many people in the Thieves’ Guild know that,” she continued.  “I should-”

     “No, you shouldn’t,” I interjected.  “Fine.  What do you want to know about Miraak?”  I’d rather discuss him than have her running around blabbing her mouth off to everyone that I was Dragonborn.  Too bad I wasn’t the cold-blooded murder type….

     By the time she was satisfied I had practically told her everything.  Every time I would balk she would subtly threaten to tell someone I really didn’t want told that I was Dragonborn.  So, by the time we finally finished breakfast and mounted up she knew almost everything I knew about Miraak.  I had managed to avoid telling her anything about my own dragon soul and any real discussion of Shouting, as well as my affiliation with Paarthurnax and my reason for wanting to go down into the cave.

     Aetra for once managed to look serious.  “The Imperials are coming back and a Dragonborn who is more powerful than you is leading them.  Do I have that right?”

     “Well, when you put it that way….”  That did actually sum it up, but those words were really inadequate to describe this situation.

     “And you’re caught up in this war, the Guild’s problems, and finding a way to kill Miraak all at once.”  She shook her head.  “And I thought I had a busy life.”

     I caught a new note in her voice and looked up from Gormlaith’s mane to see her staring at me, a funny look on her face.  It took me a brief moment to realize it was pity.  “I don’t need your pity,” I said roughly.  “I followed Alduin into his own domain in Sovngarde to kill him.  I can handle this too.”

     “I never said you couldn’t.”  She looked away, and neither of us spoke for a while.  I glanced at her once more and saw that her eyebrows were furrowed in thought, forming a pensive look on her face.

     “What is it?”  I could swear I saw a guilty expression flash across her face, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

     “Nothing.  I just don’t like the cold.”  She pulled her cloak closer around her.

     That I could sympathize with.  It wasn’t snowing at the moment, but the road to Dawnstar was one of the coldest in Skyrim.  I missed Riften already….

     About a half-hour’s ride away from Dawnstar we rode into the Stormcloak camp.  I waved at Aetra to stay with the horses at the hitching line and headed over to the command tent.

     “General Kisvar!” the captain greeted me.  “I must admit it’s a surprise to see you out so far north.” 

     “I have business in Dawnstar, so High King Ulfric asked me to bring these orders out to your camp.”  I held out the scroll.  The woman took the paper and unrolled it, her eyes following the lines of words down the paper.  “I’ll take my leave, then.”  She looked up and nodded to me as I turned and left the tent.

     We remounted and steered our horses to follow the road to Dawnstar.  I needed to ask exactly where this cave was.  Though Aetra might find it amusing if I led us down the wrong cave….

     A guard eyed us as we trotted past.  “Stay out of trouble!” he called after us, looking like he’d actually be happier if we did cause some trouble.  Guard duty in Dawnstar was not a coveted position.  I knew their work consisted more of protecting the townsfolk from ice wraiths, trolls, and the like than actual crime or fighting. 

     I slid of Gormlaith at the inn and handed her reins to Aetra.  “I’ll be right back.”  Before she could complain I pushed open the door, instantly relaxing a bit as warm air rushed over me.  Maybe I should see how long I can stay here before Aetra gets impatient and comes looking for me….  Not long, probably.  Sighing, I headed over to the innkeeper.  “What’s the rumor around here?” I asked.  Innkeepers were always willing to gossip and knew a surprising amount of information.

     “I guess you’re new around town?”  When I nodded, he continued, “Then you haven’t heard about Howling Cave.  It’s not much more than a crack in the rock, but the sounds that come from it….”  He shivered.

     “Can you tell me where the cave is?” 

     “It’s just south of town, close to the road.  But why do you want to know?  You aren’t thinking of going inside, are you?” 

     He didn’t look particularly concerned for my safety, only curious.  I assured him I was only curious and left.  The cold air hit me with a blast as cold as the rush of air coming in had been warm.  I regretfully took Gormlaith’s reins back, lamenting that I couldn’t stay longer.  And it would likely be even colder in the cave.

     “Well?  Did you find out where it is?”  Aetra’s face looked very cold burnt. 

     “Of course.  Are you sure you don’t want to stay here and warm up?” I asked innocently and secretly hopefully.

     “I’m fine,” she said grumpily.  “Let’s just go.”

     I led the way back around the inn and up the hill to the flatter tundra above the town.  “The innkeeper said it was somewhere around here near the road.”

     “Is that it?”  I followed her pointing finger to what looked like little more than an outcropping of rock.  On closer inspection I could see that a fissure split it neatly near the bottom, opening up a gaping hole to... somewhere.

     “I guess so.”  We dismounted and the horses walked off, presumably to dig in the snow for grass roots or something.  I knew they would be back in Dawnstar by the time we came out, so it didn’t concern me.

     I led the way into the cavern, slipping and sliding on the icy surface.  I halted at the top of a steep incline and looked down into the inky darkness.

     I hate being an adventurer….

So here's chapter 16 of Not Alone.  I'm updating this morning, like I promised.  Aren't I such a good person?  ....What do you mean, no?

Thanks for reading, especially if you started at the beginning and got this far :D