Of Rats and Men 2/2

Lucius knocked on a heavy wooden door, ladened with chained reinforcement and metal bracings.

"Go away!" An elderly voice yelled out

"He really is paranoid, huh?" Ciri spoke.

"Esbern! Open up we're friends of Delphine. The Thalmor is here to take you way and do gods knows what for your information on dragons." Lucius tried using logic with the man.

"I'm not Esbern. Who's Delphine!" He tried acting ignorant.

"Does he think we're stupid?" Ciri asked with a raised brow and crossed arms." Should i just blink through?" She asked with a small point.

"Sure, just don't give the old man a heart attack." Lucius grinned and leaned on the adjacent wall.

Ciri flashed a quick thumbs up before blinking through the door. A shout of extreme surprise and some banging later, Ciri opened the door with a bright smile and the old man tied to a chair.

"Done~" She chirped.

"Never change, Ciri. Never change." Lucius laughed a little before walking in and sealing the door with a barrier of translucent magic.

"So. Esbern, how do we convince you we're with Delphine? Tell you about the dragon burial mounds?" Lucius calmly asked sitting backwards on a chair facing Esbern.

"So Delphine keeps up the fight, after all these years. I thought she'd have realised it's hopeless by now. I tried to tell her, years ago..." He murmured. "I believe you. Those burial site were told to her in code by me... before the fall of the blades." Esbern spoke with a sorrow filled voice.

"Then let's go, the Thalmor are in the tunnels looking for you as we speak. We killed one group but there's bound to be more." Lucius softly replied as he cut the ropes.

"Yes, yes, so you said. But so what? The end is upon us. I may as well die here as anywhere else. I'm tired of running." Esbern commented.

"What are on about?" Ciri asked.

"I'm not talking to that crazy women." Esbern quickly spoke.

Lucius sighed before asking. "What do you mean 'the end is upon us'?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? What more needs to happen before you all wake up and see what's going on? Alduin has returned, just like the prophecy said! The Dragon from the dawn of time, who devours the souls of the dead! No one can escape his hunger, here or in the afterlife! Alduin will devour all things and the world will end. Nothing can stop him. I tried to tell them. They wouldn't listen. Fools. It's all come true... all I could do was watch our doom approach..." Esbern rambled on.

"Alduin... the dragon who's raising the others?" Ciri probed, dread brewing.

"Yes, yes! You see, you know but you refuse to understand! Oh, yes. It's all been foretold. The end has begun. Alduin has returned. Only a Dragonborn can stop him. But no Dragonborn has been known for centuries. It seems the gods have grown tired of us. They've left us to our fate, as the plaything of Alduin the World-Eater."

"So, much for not talking to me..." She mumbled. "Well, i have got good news for you! This magically inclined muppet is the dragonborn!" Ciri cheered putting an arm around Lucius's neck.

"Muppet?" Lucius looked confused.

"Just something i picked up on my travels." She whispered.

"You're... can it really be true? Dragonborn? Then... then there is hope! The gods have not abandoned us! We must... we must... We must go, quickly now. Take me to Delphine. We have much to discuss." Esbern's eyes brightened as he focused on Lucius's form.

Esbern jumped up, surprising the duo, and began talking to himself while darting across the room with a small bag.

"But, give me... just a moment... I must gather a few things..." He said sprinting to a book case. "I'll need this... No, no, useless trash... where'd I put my annotated Anuad?" he continued rambling and slide under his bed.

"One moment, I know time is of the essence, but mustn't leave secrets for the Thalmor... there's one more thing I must bring..." Esbern swiftly turned to face the weirded out pair.

Ciri with her arm still around Lucius neck stared at the scene amused, while Lucius stood their with his mouth hanging open.

"He's mad." Lucius muttered under his breath.

"I'm actually impressed he's so fast..." Ciri drawled, just loud enough for Lucius to hear.

"All done. Let us be off." Esbern voiced.

"Right..." Both Ciri and Lucius slowly spoke.

Lucius dispersed his magical seal and opened the door only to shut it immediately as a fire ball came flying at him. "That's not very nice." He muttered and prepared a ward in his left hand.

Peaking out the door with his ward in front he spotted 2 archers and a mage at the other end of the large room. "Hey Ciri. want the wizard this time?" He asked over his shoulder.

"Sure. Trying to get a new sword are you?" She asked while drawing her blade.

"Am i that obvious?" He smiled.

Ciri didn't respond and dashed out the doorway, sword in hand and deflected a golden arrow. Lucius quickly followed, telling Esbern to wait inside.

"Fus!" Lucius released his shout onto the archers, stopping them from nocking another arrow, and leaped onto the closest archer with both hands alight in dark flame.

Shrieking screams echoed in the hall as Lucius melted the elven helmet to fuse with the mans face, grinning as he did so, while the other archer looked on in horror, clumsily drawing her sword with trembling hands.

"M-monster." She stuttered, shakily walking backwards.

"Your damn right i am." Lucius snarled, and released another shout of unrelenting force that slammed her into the stone wall. Her sword dropping the floor in a small clank.

Lucius picked up the fallen weapon and gave it a few analysing swings.

'Good weight. Sharp edge. good enough for me.' He mused and slight the downed she-elf's throat.

He looked over to Ciri and watched her easily cleave the mage apart now that no armour was there to stop her blade.

"Esbern! Come on, it's clear." Lucius called back, wiping the blood of his newly acquired sword and taking the sheath from the corpse.

"You truly are dragonborn." Esbern hushed in awe.

"Yup he is, now let's go." Ciri spoke up, twirling a black and gold dagger in her hand.

Ciri and Lucius retraced their steps back to the cobbled opening from before. Two leaning guards stood idle by the exit, and a pile of burnt bodies in the corner.

"What a way to treat dead comrades, though, i suppose it stops disease." Lucius whispered to himself.

Ciri tapped his shoulder and pointed at him with a raised eyebrow, to which he nodded.

Lucius went invisible briefly and stood opposite the guards before casting a shout that made his world spin.

"Wuld!" He flew directly in front of them. With his left hand he absorbed the life of one guard, while his right hand went straight through the others chest and pulled out his heart.

Two loud thumps echoed off the walls before he spoke up. "Ciri, i got you an ingredient!" He happily shouted over to the girl, waving the heart around with a smile.

"Dumbass." She smiled.

.

.

.

"Delphine! I... it's good to see you. It's been... a long time." Esbern said looking at Delphine.

"It's good to see you, too, Esbern. It's been too long, old friend. Too long. Well, then. You made it, safe and sound. Good. Come on, I have a place we can talk." Delphine replied.

"Orgnar, hold down the bar for a minute, will you?" Delphine called out to her barman.

"Yeah, sure." Orgnar spoke up.

Ciri and Lucius followed the two down into her secret room as Esbern placed some books on the table in the middle of the room.

"Now then, i assume you know about..." Delphine began, looking at Lucius.

"Oh, yes! Dragonborn! Indeed, yes." Esbern happily replied. "This changes everything of course...We must act, to locate the...Let me show you." Esbern began his rambling again, and started flipping through pages of the book on the table. "Here it is! Alduin's wall." He finished.

"Alduin has a wall? Is it some form of inscription wall with the dragon language on it." Lucius asked, thinking about his experience in Bleak Falls Barrow.

"Oh no, It's a story wall made by the Akaiviri when they invaded Skyrim. It's located deep within Sky Haven Temple." Esbern explained and show the map in the book. "It's a wall of history and dragon lore...It's our key to stopping Alduin." He exclaimed.

"If you knew all this... Why were you so hopeless before finding out Lucius was dragonborn?" Ciri asked, not understanding the sudden change in attitude.

"Hmm, i'm curious too." Lucius piped in.

"Only a dragonborn. The LAST dragonborn can truly stop Alduin." Esbern explained. "When we find the wall you will see." He finished.

"So we need to go to this Sky Havens Temple and find Alduin's wall. Do you want to travel together or meet us there?" Delphine asked Lucius and Ciri.

"Meet them there?" Lucius asked Ciri.

"Yeah. We'll meet you there." Ciri said to Delphine.

"Okay, i'll make sure Esbern get's there safely." Delphine assured.

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Might not be able to write a chapter tomorrow, i have to clear out a lot of stuff in order to move houses.

Have a good one.

your "patently evil" Author ;)