Scarlet Scale Ch. 004

"Say, you're a traveler, right?"

I nodded, unsure of where this was going.

"I heard from another one," he continued, "about a group of vampire hunters called the 'Dawnguard,' been thinking it might be a good way for me to help protect the Rift, especially after last week's attack. I don't suppose you know where I might sign up?"

"No," I replied "this is the first I've heard of them, but now I'm interested myself. Thanks."

"You're welcome. If you don't mind, may I ask what's your business in Ivarstead?"

"My friend and I are going up your mountain here, but first the inn."

He looked over at Lydia, and smiled.

"Ah, a pilgrim eh? The path of the Seven Thousand Steps is a great way to celebrate our culture as nords, glad to see that you'll have someone to watch your back while you're reading the tablets along the trail. Enjoy your night."

"Uh... but-" Lydia was suddenly waved to silence by me, I suspected that she was about to mention the Greybeards, but I felt like I needed anonymity as this "Dragonborn."

"Er, yes... thank you." Lydia awkwardly finished, and we walked to the inn as I quietly explained what I thought about me probably being Dragonborn. She agreed to my wishes with a nod.

We almost bumped into another nord opening the door to go out, who had a VERY sour look on her face.

"You had a bad day?" I asked out of simple curiosity.

"Me?! Oh no," she retorted "my assistant never seems to be serious about his job, those lousy bears want to tear all the trees apart, and now the guards are talking about dragons!! It almost feels like Morrowwind might be better!"

After my killing of the dragon by that watchtower, I wasn't caught by surprise about dragons, but this "bear" thing sounded like a good mercenary job for me.

"Maybe I could go hunting after these bears for you."

"Would you?" She blinked in surprise, but in an angrily delighted way, continued. "Tell you what, bring me ten of their mangy pelts, the ones I see around the Rift's forests here, within one month, and I'll give you all my lumber profits for the past 2 months. If those roaring pests are put down, I'll get it back in the year, so you'd be more than worth it."

"They're really that bad for you?" Lydia asked.

"You a city girl or something?" The other nord was still irate, but seemed to be restraining herself.

"Formerly a Whiterun city guard." Lydia evenly replied.

"Well," the inn's patron explained "they've been clawing up the trees before I can get them to my sawmill. For marking their territory or something, but its getting harder and harder to find unspoiled lumber. I'm Temba Wide-arm, for when you're bringing in the pelts, but can you do that in the time I need?"

"Yes," I assured her "I'm well practiced in the use of my Detect Life spell, so I can track them down easily. I'll probably get other jobs to do too, but I'm going to try for your bounty's deadline."

"Great!" I think it was the only time I saw her smile, but we had only just met.

Lydia and I walked in for our room.

"Welcome to the Vilemyr Inn," the barman said "what do you need?"

"A room," I answered, "along with dinner for myself and my companion."

"Yes, Ma'am. I have a list of what we have tonight."

He reached under his counter and handed the chalkwritten slate to me.

"Two loaves of bread, and two bowls of rabbit stew. Ale for me. Lydia?"

"I'm happy you've got some this side of the mountain. Honningbrew Mead, please."

"Yes ladies. The room is the first one to my left."

"Thank you. Is there anything here to make small talk over?"

In my past experience, I'd always found inns or taverns to be invaluable sources of news, since they were often the places where most villagers would come to relax, or just gossip.

"I'd advise you stay away from the barrow on the outskirts of town, they're haunted..."

That sounded interesting.

"Why do you say they're haunted?"

"I had gone near it," he gulped, "looking for firewood. I saw a spirit, and it screamed at me. I swear when it looked at me, its eyes pierced right through my soul!!"

Lydia and I exchanged looks, he actually looked very terrified of the memory, but somehow it didn't sound quite right.

I spoke. "My friend and I, we must make the trek up mountain, but when we come down, I'm sure it would be easy enough to investigate. Here, I'll mark it in my journal."

"Really? I'm sure I'll find some kind of way reward to you. My name's Wilhelm, just so you know."

I wrote down the information, then Lydia and I settled enjoyed our meals. We were both tired, but closed the door for our room, and reveled in another quick bit of fun, as she ate me out this time. It was so nice, that I coiled my tail tightly around her waist while she licked my petals, and then kissed me so that we could taste my cum together. Then we contentedly fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, we donned our furs and made sure the weather exposure staves were fully charged with soul gems. Wilhelm had some roasted venison for us along with bread and carrots. As we got closer to the other end of the bridge at the start of the trail up the mountain, we saw another traveler coming down. He seemed surprised that an argonian would be going up to such a cold summit, but then seemed to think that Lydia simply being another nord explained it, as though it was I who was her servant, and not the other way around.

"How difficult was the trail?"

He seemed surprised that I asked, not Lydia, but responded politely enough.

"Cold as ever, though the skies were clear. I saw some recent frost troll's tracks, but no other signs, might have been an hour old when I noticed. I'm Klimmek, if you're interested. Not surprised to see another nord trying the steps, but I thought argonians like yourself can't survive well in that climate."

"That's what I thought too," I replied carefully "but that was before I arrived in Skyrim. Aren't there any others of my people in Skyrim?"

"Some in Windhelm, and Riften, I think. Perhaps some former slaves of the dunmer, and I think in Riften, they also migrated from Blackmarsh through Cyrodiil. Well, I'm sorry if my surprise about you being tolerant of the cold seemed like I was inconsiderate of you. I usually find myself daydreaming about someone here anyway, so I don't reach out to others a lot."

He looked ready to head for the inn, but then turned around as if he had an afterthought.

"Say, if you're going up the mountain, could you do me a favor? I take food and supplies up to the Greybeards, as they don't come down from their peak, which is understandable, considering their power. I expect some people might have unintended feelings of fear if they did visit."

"Why aren't you able to do it yourself?"

"I'm not the young teenager I was, and my old wound from hunting a bear at that time, well, my leg just doesn't have the strength it used to."

"Okay, I'll do it. You said the Greybeards are... powerful? Why?"

I had heard a little about them from Jarl Balgruuf, and experienced firsthand this "shout" power, but I felt certain that there was MUCH more to it than that.

"Well," Klimmek explained, "they're masters of the Voice. It's difficult for most foreigners to understand, but I'll try. With magic, you understand that you concentrate, and the energy is released in your spell out through your hand, right?"

I nodded and he continued.

"Well the Voice projects energy like that, in a 'shout,' as in a literally shouted word, but it's the meaning, and the person's willpower that gives the shout its power. Some of these are powerful enough that they can shake and destroy much, the Greybeards, if they wanted to, could devastate all of the land with their words. Not that I think they would, they've always been peaceful as far as I could remember, but the old tales, they speak of how the men and women of long ago fought back against the dragons that sought to enslave mortals to their will. If anyone can fight against a dragon, I would NOT want to provoke them. But I'm sure they don't have any shouts that can conjure up food or mend torn cloth, and an old nord proverb says that peace is best repaid with peace. My other carrying sack, which I left there the night before, should be already empty and waiting for you to take back down in the large, decorated chest, just before the front doors."

"Okay, we'll be off then."

We had just crossed the small bridge over the river by the mountainside, when I noticed a small stone plinth. It was decorated with many swirling whorls, and some ancient looking text. I stopped to consider all of it. I was sure that I had no idea how to read it, but the meanings flowed out from my mouth anyway.

"Before the birth of men, the dragons ruled all of Mundus. Their word was the Voice, and they spoke only for True Needs. For the Voice could blot out the sky, and flood the land."

We were both quiet for a moment, I think out of surprised silence.

"Scarlet..." Lydia asked, a sound of amazement in her voice "did you... read that?"

"I..." I was shocked too, because I was certain that as I had stared at it, I wasn't focusing on any words, not to mention that it probably was an ancient verse, of another people with a different way of writing than what I had grown up with. "I... I don't understand how either. But I've already had a few strange events somewhat like this before. Argonians, we believe that while our bodies come into being physically, our souls are actually splintered off from the collective of the Hist, the sacred trees of our people. When we die, our souls return back to the trees to await new life in a new argonian body. I... I was told something... by my village shaman. I... I'm not exactly comfortable with trusting this secret to others, because I don't understand what it means and how all of it relates to me. You told me that the Jarl said you were to be my housecarl, and in that, you are sworn to serve me loyally?"

"Yes, my Thane." She sounded VERY solemn in that.

I looked around, even though I had already been aware that there was no one else with us.

"What I would share with you, do NOT mention it to ANYone else. Not even the Jarl please. You know how serious I am about this, yes?"

"Yes, my Thane." Lydia affirmed "I swear, by all sanctity of the Divines, that I will not betray you. I... I love you."

I smiled, I loved her as well, but she had also assured me of the intensity of her loyalty.

"Th-thank you. While I was living in my native Blackmarsh, I had been having strange dreams all my life. Of flying, of many things appearing much smaller than they were when I was awake, of unfamiliar words coming from my mouth, followed by torrents of fire, or ice, or other things. There was a lot more, but what made the dreams so strange, was that they kept centering around these same experiences. There was also one that I kept having repeated. When I talked with my parents about it, they might have thought it wasn't anything more than just strange dreams, but after some time, they took me to visit the shaman. She had just started settling in with the village, but was called by the Hist to her position. So what the Hist told her was something that she was instructed by them, to NOT explain to me, until I was just passing into my 24th year. So I lived with it, my dreams, and a frustrating secret foreshadowing my whole life up until then. When that birthday finally arrived, I was stunned to hear that my soul did NOT come from the Hist. That it was reincarnated from a DIFFERENT source, but that I was not allowed to know what it was, until I found out on my own in Skyrim. Whatever seems to be happening, I think it's related to whatever I was, in that 'past life.'"

"Scarlet, my Thane," Lydia spoke up "if you are dragonborn, then... I think... I think that means that your soul is the literal soul of a dragon. I don't know enough about why we nords have this in our stories, but as a dragonborn, instead of a typical mortal's soul, yours was a dragon's. Whether you came about by having once been a mighty dragon that was slain, and now reborn in your mortal body, or if Akatosh himself came to bless your expectant mother with his spirit, I cannot truly know. The greybeards may have the answers."

"Yes," I agreed, still trying to understand the idea of ME being a... dragon, "let's move on then."