The journey to Riverwood seemed particularly long.
Not only did they have to traverse the freezing Stonehills again, much to Aeyrin's dismay, but the constant pondering and anticipation about who would be waiting for them as this mysterious 'friend' was making the time pass slower.
They finally reached the Sleeping Giant Inn and left Karnwyr resting on the porch at its entrance.
When they got inside, Aeyrin headed towards the innkeeper immediately. She was not able to stand the not-knowing any longer.
"We want to rent the attic room," she said hurriedly without even as much as a 'hello'.
Orgnar looked at her in bewilderment for a bit. He noticed Bishop and nodded to him in greeting before he turned back to her: "Do you see an attic, lass?"
An awkward silence ensued and none of them knew how to proceed.
"There's no attic, but we have a very nice room available, follow me, please," a voice called out from the corner of the tavern suddenly, breaking the awkwardness.
Bishop frowned at the woman. He saw her before. There was a rumor that she actually owned the inn but Orgnar was taking care of it. She was never this polite or courteous.
He and Aeyrin shared an uncertain look, but they followed the woman into the large room regardless.
"Close the door," she said quietly when all of them stepped across the threshold.
Bishop closed the door behind them, but he hid his hunting knife in the sleeve of his armor as he turned his back to them. That woman was being too suspicious. She walked over to a large armoire and opened it – it was empty and she pushed against the back of it to reveal a hidden passage.
"This way," she commanded and the three of them made their way down the narrow stone stairwell into a small room filled with various travelling supplies, books and maps.
The woman stepped behind a table and gave them both an appraising look before her eyes settled on Bishop with a scowl: "Was it really necessary to drag the girl along?"
Bishop threw an amused look at Aeyrin who just sighed in exasperation. Of course no one would think the elf was the Dragonborn rather than the Nord. "Some 'friend' you are. You don't even know who you're calling here," he smirked at the woman, earning only a questioning look of surprise.
"You wanted to see me?" Aeyrin sighed. Hopefully that insinuated her identity clearly.
The woman's brows shot up in surprise, but a second later she narrowed her eyes dangerously.
"An elf? A Bosmer? This is a fucking joke right?!" she suddenly reached the hem of her dress and swiftly pulled out a dagger and pointed it at Aeyrin. "They sent you, right? You're not going to get me!" the woman was ranting, flustered and, luckily, distracted.
Aeyrin quickly grabbed at her wrist and squeezed her armored hand around it strongly. It made the woman gasp and release her hold on her weapon instantly.
"What are you doing? You asked to see me! You're the one who sent me here!" Aeyrin exclaimed without letting go of her wrist.
"I know you're a spy! It's too much of a coincidence!" the woman spat angrily, piercing Aeyrin with a hateful glare.
"A 'spy'? For who?" Aeyrin shook her head in confusion while Bishop moved towards the woman and pointed his knife at her throat so that Aeyrin could let go of her hand safely.
"Your precious Dominion!" the woman spat angrily again, earning a laugh from Bishop. She glared at him with narrowed eyes, as if she was trying to discern whether the laugh was amused or actually malicious.
"What?! You think I'm a Thalmor spy just because I'm a Bosmer?" Aeyrin asked in bewilderment. "Do you just assume that about every elf? Isn't there a Bosmer here in the village? Is he a spy too?" she couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the situation, both in frustration and in bafflement at her behavior.
"Faendal checks out, I already investigated him. But a Bosmer coming here, claiming to be a Nord hero..." the woman huffed in indignation and she tried to move a bit, but Bishop promptly pressed his knife closer to her neck in warning.
"Well... what do you want me to do? I'm not Thalmor... Praise Talos and all that, if it makes you feel any better." Bishop laughed again while Aeyrin scoffed. She wasn't really sure how to convince someone that she wasn't a spy. The Stormcloaks at the border certainly didn't believe her either.
"Don't be ridiculous!" the woman shook her head but she didn't speak further. She obviously didn't know how to make sure either.
"I can Shout, if you want... but here's really not a good place for that," Aeyrin shrugged again. She had half a mind to walk away from that woman, but it was quite possible that she knew something about the Dragonborn and maybe she would be of some help.
The woman seemed to ponder for a bit before asking: "Can you really? Are you really the Dragonborn? Then tell me how you found my note in that ruin." She gave her a challenging look.
"What do you mean? We just... went through the ruins... there were some rooms that could only be traversed with the help of the Thu'um if that's what you want to hear," Aeyrin shrugged as the woman slowly nodded. She suddenly seemed a little more trusting than before.
"How did you get in?" Bishop narrowed his eyes.
"The back entrance... I got some information about its location," the woman sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not going to attack you. It was just... a shock. The Thalmor have... made things difficult in the past," she said dejectedly before shooting Bishop a strangely pleading look.
"First, tell us who you are," Aeyrin retorted determinedly. This woman was changing moods like smallclothes. Who knew what she was capable of?
"My name is Delphine. I own the inn here. I'm also a... member of the Blades."
Aeyrin remembered reading some books about the Blades back at the chapel. They were somewhat popular in Cyrodiil. The Blades were an order sworn to protect the Emperor long ago.
"I've heard of them. I thought they were gone," Aeyrin pondered.
"Most of us are... mostly at the hands of the Thalmor. What remains of our order has been looking for a next Dragonborn for a long time," Delphine answered, still glancing warily at Bishop's knife.
"Dragonborn? Why? I thought you protected Emperors."
"We protected the Septim line... the Dragonborn Emperors. Before that, we were dragon hunters, and now... now we need to return to our true purpose," determination glinted in Delphine's eyes as she spoke.
"You're awfully chatty now. What if she's a spy?" Bishop smirked while pressing the blade a bit closer to her neck again.
"Then it wouldn't matter, would it? A Thalmor would know these things anyway," anger returned to her voice as she answered him. "Why is he here anyways? I only asked for the Dragonborn," she turned back to Aeyrin.
"He's my companion. And your precious Dragonborn would already be dead several times over without him," Aeyrin replied somewhat coldly, but she still shot Bishop a brief warm smile.
"Seriously? I've seen him around before. All he does is drink," Delphine scoffed derisively.
"It's a fucking tavern, what else would I be doing here?!" Bishop shook his head with a wry smile.
Delphine sighed in resignation, then her tone turned more gentle again: "I know that this... didn't go well... but, please, if you really are the Dragonborn I have important information for you. But I need proof."
Aeyrin nodded at Bishop who finally lowered his knife, eliciting a deep sigh of relief from Delphine.
"We can go further from the village, I can Shout there," Aeyrin nodded, now sorely curious about the alleged information.
"That's... not enough," Delphine sighed again, shaking her head. "Anyone can Shout, the Greybeards, even Ulfric Stormcloak. The Thu'um can be learnt. No. I need a different proof. I need to see you absorb a dragon's soul."
Aeyrin frowned at the notion. She wasn't exactly eager to throw herself on a dragon voluntarily.
"No fucking way," Bishop piped up suddenly. "We don't even know if you have anything useful. The old fossils claimed to be of use too and weren't. Why the fuck should she suffer for you voluntarily? Where's your 'proof'?" Bishop was wearing a deep scowl. It was somewhat touching that he was worried about her. Then again, it might just have been his paranoia talking.
"Suffer?" Delphine raised her eyebrows in confusion.
"Absorbing the soul... it's kind of... painful," Aeyrin flinched as she explained. She still wasn't sure if the ordeal could kill her – after all, she had a myriad of feelings during every consuming of a soul that felt all too real, but luckily they weren't.
"That's... unfortunate... but likely necessary to overcome," Delphine sighed. She grabbed one of the maps and splayed it on the table.
"I do have some information that I should give you... you can take it as my 'proof'," she frowned at Bishop briefly before she turned back to the map. "Do you remember the stone you retrieved from Bleak Falls Barrow? Another thing that made this too much of a coincidence..." she mumbled the last part mostly to herself.
"Farengar decrypted it and confirmed our suspicions. The dragons are not just coming back. They're coming back to life. They weren't gone somewhere for all these years. They were dead, killed off centuries ago by my predecessors. Now something's happening to bring them back to life," Delphine paused a bit, letting her information sink in.
"The Dragonstone was a map of ancient dragon burial sites. I've looked at which ones are now empty. The pattern is pretty clear. It seems to be spreading from the southeast, down in the Jeralls near Riften. The one at Kynesgrove is next if the pattern holds," she paused again as she pointed out the crossed out marks on the map with her finger.
"Here. Kynesgrove. There's an ancient dragon burial near there. If we can get there before it happens, maybe we'll learn how to stop it... or how it happens at the very least."
...
The journey to Kynesgrove was long and uncomfortable.
Neither of them trusted each other fully so they were constantly on alert. Luckily, Karnwyr was there to be vigilant whenever they needed rest, but it wasn't enough to ease their fears.
They finally reached Kynesgrove in little less than a day and a half. The roads have been blessedly peaceful through their journey.
Delphine did ask for some details about Shouting and absorbing souls and Aeyrin obliged her. She didn't really see a reason to keep the information secret, but the woman herself was stubbornly tight-lipped about her order and any further information.
She still seemed somewhat convinced that Aeyrin was a pretender, likely leading her to a Thalmor ambush. Bishop did mention that if they wanted her dead or captured, they already had a million opportunities, but that didn't seem to ease her mind.
When they reached the lone large building near a campsite littered with tents, they noticed a dark-haired woman running towards them frantically and crying out: "Quick! Get inside! A dragon!" She hurried towards the building without waiting for them to follow.
"Looks like we're too late..." Delphine sighed.
"Well, we at least need to kill it. The people here are in danger," Aeyrin frowned and continued up the hill quickly.
As they made their way towards the burial ground a strange deep voice rumbled through the air: "Sahloknir, ziil gro dovah ulse!"
"What the fuck was that?" Bishop frowned.
After a while, a haunting sight could be glimpsed behind the trees.
Aeyrin recognized it right away – the ominous swirl of fiery-gold and deep ebony black glinting through the thick needles of the trees. The colors were hard to forget. They covered her entire view when the giant black dragon spread its wings right in front of her as she lay on the executioner's block in Helgen.
She wasn't sure whether there were more like him, but she desperately hoped that it was only the one. The destruction of the entire city was, hopefully, not a feat that every dragon could perform.
"It's... the one from Helgen," she whispered, too wary of attracting its attention.
"Let's investigate," Delphine hissed with a furrowed brow. She was likely already aware of the havoc that the dragon wreaked in that town.
Each of them made their way carefully to a different cover, choosing so that their view was not obstructed. The dragon didn't seem to notice them, fortunately, but it continued its strange deep speech: "Slen tiid vo!"
A terrifying sight unfolded in front of them as a skeleton of a dragon animatedly crawled out of the burial ground. The black dragon was soaring above it, almost proudly, its fiery wings shimmered dizzyingly in the setting sun and its black scales glistened like the Void itself.
The black dragon opened its maw and a strange purple orb made its way towards the animated skeleton, stretching around the ancient bones upon impact.
Then the familiar warm white light appeared, traveling across the dragon's body.
They have seen it before, how the light stripped the dragons of their flesh before making its way to Aeyrin – it was likely the dragon's essence – its soul.
This time, however, the flesh gradually appeared on the skeleton instead in a twistedly reversed process.
In a little while a healthy brown-grey dragon lay on the burial mound, gazing at its black life-giver: "Alduin, thuri! Boaan tiid vokriiha suleyksejun kruziik?"
It spoke too. Could all of them speak? Maybe they were more intelligent than they appeared.
"Geh, Sahloknir, kaali mir," the black beast rumbled.
It soared higher after a while, then it turned around. Now its attention turned to the tall rock behind which Aeyrin was peeking out as she attempted to both hide and see what was happening at the same time.
Did it know she was there? Did it see her? Did it remember her?
"Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi," it spoke again, the tone was almost... mocking.
She heard the word.
'Dovahkiin'.
The Greybeards called her that from time to time.
It knew.
It knew she was there and what's worse, it knew who she was.
Eerie quiet rained upon them for a while.
She considered showing herself from behind her cover since the dragons knew about her anyway, but her legs refused to obey her. The dragon knew her. It spoke to her.
Then... the next rumble to come out of the black beast left her chilled to the bone: "You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah."
The creature actually knew Cyrodilic. She thought they were monsters, no more intelligent than bears or trolls. She thought that the 'dragon tongue' was an invention of men, trying to understand the beasts they worshipped in the ancient times. But the dragon on the Throat of the World did Shout at her.
The Greybeards told her nothing about this. Maybe they assumed she knew. They only ever told her of Shouts having the power of dragon's attack. She assumed it was a weapon, a spell to take down the dragons, but it wasn't. It was their own tool, used against them.
She really should have read up on Skyrim history before coming here.
"Sahloknir, krii daar joorre," the black beast roared when it apparently lost interest in Aeyrin.
It soared high into the sky and disappeared from sight rapidly.
It was likely for the best. After what she saw in Helgen, she was convinced they were already dead when the black dragon appeared.
The resurrected beast turned to her instead, flapping its wings.
The next thing she could feel was the unbearable heat surrounding the rock she was hiding behind. The dragon apparently tired of conversation and decided to attack.
Aeyrin left her cover right after the fire subsided and she faced the floating dragon.
Both Bishop and Delphine pulled out their bows and started to rain arrows on the beast while Aeyrin decided to test bringing the beast to the ground herself.
"FUS RO!"
The dragon staggered in the air, pushed back with the invisible force.
It seemed hardly fazed, however, maybe mildly annoyed if anything.
"Dovahkiin, your Voice is no match for mine!" the dragon roared.
It taunted her? Why did none of the other dragons speak before? Maybe they didn't bother since they didn't know she was the Dragonborn.
Now they knew.
She wondered if word traveled as fast among dragons as it did through Skyrim.
As she pondered, she noticed the beast charge at her, plummeting towards the ground.
It was too late to get out of its trajectory. Or was it?
"WULD!"
She appeared at the dragon's side just as it ended up face-down in the ground.
Perfect.
She started to claw herself up onto its neck without thinking. It was not about to escape her again.
She threw away her shield promptly and straddled the beast's neck while it thrashed violently. One of her hands gripped firmly at the spike protruding from its scaly skin. It reminded her of her first horse ride. That horse did not like her. But she couldn't fight the dragon if it didn't make its way down again.
This needed to be done, no matter the danger.
Be bold against enemies and evil.
The words were ringing in her ears. Well, she did come here to learn more about the ways of Talos.
The hand that wasn't desperately clinging to the spike started to descend with her mace between the dragon's eyes, pummeling it furiously. The dragon roared and suddenly she felt its thick neck press up against her heavily – the monster was taking off.
She didn't let up, even as it raised its neck, nearly making her fall. She continued to smash her mace into its face with her remaining strength.
The dragon didn't fly yet, but it did raise itself on its hind legs, forcing her to drop her weapon and cling to its neck for all she could.
It wasn't that high, she would survive the fall, but she was not about to let go.
She needed to kill it. The need was familiar, like the one that overtook her when she consumed a soul.
She lifted herself up with a cry and lodged her armored boots into its scales. She felt the inertia as the dragon's legs left the ground and the wings below her started to heave and flap furiously.
It had to be now.
She dared to let one of her arms loose, relying on her footing in the scales to carry her weight.
She gathered her strength and thrusted her armored arm, right into the beast's eye.
A sickening squishy sound echoed through her ears as she felt warmth and wetness envelop her hand while she pushed in resolutely. With a furious roar the dragon received several more arrows into its underbelly, until the sounds subsided.
The heaving of the wings suddenly stopped moving the dragon's body and in a split second, she realized what was to come.
She let go. And then the wind howled in her ears deafeningly as she fell.
"FEIM!"
The last cry of survival instinct set in as her glowing translucent body stopped falling.
She noticed she was on the ground, but she stayed on her back, breathing heavily.
The corner of her eye registered the crumbled beast near her, lighting up with the familiar flicker as fire engulfed its body.
She braced herself, but she felt so exhausted.
No.
She had to overcome it. She couldn't let the soul kill her now, after what she just did. She was bolder in battle than she ever thought herself capable of.
She felt the lightness and tingling of the ethereal form leave her body as she shut her eyes tight.
A strong hand gripped hers in a second, and a second one rested on her shoulder.
She still didn't feel strong enough to move so she preserved all that she had left to survive the pain.
It came to her swiftly. Sweat pooled everywhere when the horrible heat engulfed her again. She thought she heard sizzling. Was her blood actually physically boiling? She wondered if there was smoke coming out of her skin. She noticed, after a while, that she was screaming and she willed herself to stop, a moment later though she noticed she was screaming again. It was taking so long.
Finally the heat was starting to subside.
She didn't get back up from her back and only opened her eyes weakly, her heavy breathing still refused to calm down. She saw Delphine standing near her, staring with her mouth ajar and she felt Bishop loosen his grip on her.
She focused her eyes on him after a while. He got up from the ground with a deep angry scowl on his face.
"What the actual fuck, woman?!" his voice was so loud, it made her head hurt.
"Are you fucking trying to kill yourself?! Fuck?! That was insane! You are insane! Fuck!"
She saw him pacing back and forth in fury but her eyes soon started to close involuntarily.
She was so tired.