The Language Of Dragons-A Skyrim Story

9. The Cathedral

The arch in the cave lead to a tunnel, a tunnel so dark I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. The only way we got through the tunnel was from the purple glow of my magic bow. "I think I see something up ahead." I heard Miraak say as we rounded the corner "Wait here." I said as I used the power of the shadow stone to go invisible, suddenly I was smoke, I felt like I could just drift away into nothing but I had a job to do. I rounded the corner and I was in another room this one large like a cathedral, the ceiling high above lined with what appeared to be the rib cage of a dragon and down on the floor, thousands of cultists all facing towards a platform where Bolek stood and in front of him on a stand was the skeleton key, the black book and the shards of mask. I practically froze where I was, hoping that no one saw me, my breath caught in my throat and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Bolek was addressing the crowd his arms raised in the air, not unlike the preacher of Talos in white run.

I turned around and ran and when I got into the tunnel entrance, I pushed Miraak back further into the tunnel my invisibility vanishing , and into that shadow of the rock. "Alye, what is it, what happened." He asked putting his hands on my shoulders as if he knew it would steady me. "There are thousands of them in there, and at the front is Bolek with the missing things." I confirmed almost out of breath, my hands shaking.

"We have to get the stuff back,"I stated, my heart felt like it was in my mouth, "who knows what will happen if we don't." I had already used my shadow stone ability so there was no sneaking in now. "This is all my fault," I whispered, "if I had just let you get on with your plan none of this would have happened."

"Don't say that young Dragonborn, everything that happens around us happens for a reason and I think we are about to find out what that reason is." I felt a single tear escape my eye, which I couldn't believe I let happen, but before I could wipe it away myself Miraak brought his hand to my face and wiped away the tear with his thumb. "Don't worry, you will think of something." He said.

I turned my head towards the room we had come from and an idea started to work it's way into my brain. "What do you think about becoming invisible." All Miraak did was give me a slightly disapproving smirk and asked "what are you thinking, little dragon." I almost chuckled and the nickname and started to head back the way we came. "You'll see."

After a while we were walking back down through the stone tunnel, straight towards the hundreds of cultists and we were wearing the clothes of the cultists we had killed. "I don't think this is going to work." I heard Miraak say, "We are wearing masks so it should be fine." Miraak just grunted in response and we continued to the very end of the tunnel and into the light of the cathedral. Up close it felt like a sea, like being swept away by the tide but this time I didn't turn back. We moved to join a group of the cultists near the middle and watched as Bolek addressed the crowd. He had his arms in the air as he said, "People, at this time our world is on the brink of collapse, civil war, dragons, threat from other countries," he spread his arms wide as if addressing the whole world, "but is this our time, our time to rise up and start anew." There were cheers from the people around us and many clapping, so we joined in so we wouldn't look suspicious, that was when Miraak turned to me, "I'll tell you now, even though that man is an incompetent pig he has managed to gather far more followers than I did." I laughed slightly and had to force my self to stop so I wouldn't draw attention.

"People, with these objects we have the power to do just that," Bolek held up the key and the book, "with this key we can open any door, the doors to Apocrypha included, with this book we have access to the secrets of the realm, and with this mask," he held up a bag with the shards of mask in, " we have the power to create a new world, and with a Daderic price in our side we can't be stopped !" More cheers went up from the cultists, and it was at that point where I knew we had to move.

I moved into what seemed to be a gap between the two crowds and when they had quieted I dropped to my knees, the hard stone floor drawing blood and shouted, "Please Bolek, show us the way to Apocrypha, show us the way to the new world." An almost evil smirk spread across his face as I said those words, a smirk that made me feel ill. He held his hand out, on the stage and commanded "Come my sweet follower and stand with me, and share the greatness that will come to us all." I rose to my feet and walked towards the front and took his hand. In front of me then was exactly what we needed but I had to wait for the signal. I had to wait for Miraak.

Bolek pulled my hand, making me stand next to him, "To the new world my friends." Now was the loudest cheers and as they cheered I felt Bolek turn to me and whisper in my ear, "Maybe I'll see you later." and he moved away and smirked. I internally cringed and the only thing I could do to stop my true feelings from showing on my face was to let our a nervous giggle from under my mask. I was about to say something back when Miraak practically ran onto the stage from the side, whipped his mask off and purred, "oh no Bolek, later she is going to be with me." And Miraak shot a bolt of lightning at Bolek until he fell to the floor paralysed.

Even though it was planned, I was still shocked by Miraak's entrance. I grabbed the things from the stand and bolted for the arch on the other side of the stage, Miraak a few steps behind. It didn't take long for cultists to be following us, shouting and casting all manner of spells in our direction. It was a long shot but there had to be a way out. After a while we were running down a spiral staircase and across a rope bridge over an underground river.

The cultists weren't to far behind so I yelled over the roaring water, "this river has to lead somewhere, we have to jump." With that we looked at each other once and knew what would happen. We both jumped.