Chapter IX: Grabbing A Few Blades
"See to it that the people are provided anything you deem necessary for their recovery. In times such as these, they must know they are cared for by their leaders." I tell the imperial quartermaster as he finishes with his report "A couple of words on the High King's efforts would also not be remiss."
"Aye sir, no need to tell me how to do me job." The old quartermaster grumbles and offers a lazy salute.
Tullius had left the town half a day ago as he also got news about the Dawnstar front, leaving Helgen in command of the combined forces of Falkreath and Whiterun and immediately commanding his troops into a forced march and leaving a message of apology for further borrowing my automatons for the rapid maneuver.
Not like I minded, those were only spiders and if they did manage to reverse engineer them then all power to them.
Not that they would.
"I must have misheard you because I swear I just heard you volunteer for dragon scouting duty." The smarmy fuck suddenly realizes just how tiny he is compared to me as I loom over him with a threatening glare.
The salute he offers in the next instant is crisp enough to lead a parade "Yes sir, Court Mage sir!" He shouts in perfect military cadence.
"Excellent." I grin and shoo the man away "Go on, get on with it."
The fool almost topples over himself as he tries to get as far away from me as possible without making himself look like a complete idiot.
"Done terrorizing the authorities?" Marco calls out from nearby.
"That will do for now." I relax my posture and give him a questioning look "You lot done?"
"Just about." He waves his hand as if to say 'so-so' "There are some of them still in need of healing but Minthara has been going through them faster than they could gather so she should be done by now."
"Excellent." I clap my hands and start moving toward the designated shelter area, signaling Marco to follow after me "Can't waste too much time here, we need to be in Whiterun by evening and we have another stop to make."
We linked up with Minthara and Junia as the former finished healing the final scraped arm for the day, and after barely convincing the surprisingly ecstatic populace that forming a procession to see us off would be... counter productive, we left the crumbled town and headed north.
Except just as I was about to teleport us to our next destination we were met with a somewhat surprising sight, at least to myself, namely a heavily laden cart towed by a stocky draft horse, driven by a familiar stringy Nord man from Whiterun's wider hold.
"Well now, I did not expect to see you here." I say in lieu of greeting "How is your daughter doing, my good man?"
Lokir of Rorikstead practically leaps from his seat after making sure his cart was stopped, and immediately offers me a deep bow "An honor to meet you again Flame-Tonuge." He smiles "She is in perfect health, both my wife and I are eternally grateful."
He was dressed in far better clothing than the last time I saw him, and that cart was downright bursting with different goods. It would seem the man had gotten fortunate and managed to profit from the current conflict.
Not that I had any right to judge him for that.
"You earned that help by helping me in the first place." I clap his shoulder, shaking him slightly and then pulling him up to face me "There are no debts between us."
He smiles genuinely "You honor me."
"Enough about that, what are you doing all the way here? I am afraid that the town isn't all that good for trade at the moment." I point at the ruins.
"I came here to see if I could help and make a bit of gold while doing it." He shrugs "So long as they don't try haggling me down to nothing I'd still make a profit with all that I've brought, and I figured the Empire wouldn't mind."
"They won't." I assure him and just as I am about to continue with the conversation I am distracted by Minthara clearing her throat. Looking up at the skies and wincing slightly I offer the man an apologetic look "Sadly we are in a bit of a rush, it is good to see that you are moving up in the world after that whole debacle."
"It feels much better from here." He jests lightly, and as we are about to leave I hear him call out "Talos be with you, sir!"
"Ballsy." I offer a respectful nod at his back and turn to the rest of the group, who were mostly bemused by the idea of me knowing some random merchant "Ready?"
A trio of nods is their response and waiting no further I clap my hands, cracking the space around us.
------
My hand flicks forward before we even appear at our destination, crushing the moonstone dagger going for my neck into tiny shards and grabbing the offending arm with insulting ease, twisting it around and pinning the owner to the ground and then just to add insult to injury I place my foot on their back, not allowing them to move even a bit.
"You will find that I am completely unarmed." A balding old Nord on the distant side of the room carefully spreads his arms in surrender "And that my arms are facing well and truly away from you."
"Esbern, what in oblivion are you doing?!" My assailant snarls from below my feet.
"Unlike you, I am ensuring that we are not turned into fine piles of ash, Delphine." The elder Blade chides, his eyes fully focused on me "One does not easily survive the likes of our guest, especially after trying to gut them."
"Yes, Delphine." I drawl mockingly "Where are your manners?"
"You." She hisses "Can you not use the door like a normal person?"
"Normal person?" I tilt my head "Pardon me madam, but who exactly do you think you are talking to here?"
She turns silent and simply lets herself slump onto the floor, accepting her fate.
"Well, that is no fun." I step off her, allowing her to get up "You can stop doing that now old man, I am not going to murder your ass."
He immediately relaxes and takes a seat "What a relief." He notes happily "And might I say what a great honor it is to meet you in person, Lord Dagoth. Your agents were very helpful in evading my pursuers."
"Whoever wishes to fuck the Thalmor over shall have my aid." I proclaim grandly.
"A worthy outlook, by any measure." The elder nods, fully serious, and then glances at the group behind me "I do hope you will forgive me for asking after the identities of your companions?"
"Don't bother." Delphine speaks up after having gotten a very diluted health potion to deal with the pain of getting slammed into the ground "The children are his apprentices while the other one is one of our replacements." Her voice turns bitter at that last bit.
Marco snickers and palms his face while Junia looks far too smug for a professional agent.
"Children?" I hear Minthara mutter in genuine surprise, and gives me a look of confusion "I though the Blades were supposed to be competent?"
"They must be having an off day, the whole dragons appearing seems to have shaken even them." I offer lamely, completely ignoring the confused stare/glare of the duo.
"I have been informed of your love of mind games." Esbern speaks up, his eye twitching slightly "But would you be so kind as to inform us of what exactly is going on right now without turning it into an elaborate verbal game of cat and mouse?"
"I trust you have heard of the recent events in Helgen?" I ask instead of answering.
"Yes." The elder's expression turns grave "A massive black dragon shattered the entire fortified town, only pushed back through the efforts of the King's Court Mage and his apprentices. I have several theories on who the dragon may b-"
"It is Alduin." I cut him off without mercy.
The expression on his face says more than his words ever could, as he looked like his entire world crumbled before his eyes "Then we are doomed, only a Dragonborn can face the end and there are none."
"Hold Esbern." Delphine stops him from spiraling and turns to me with suspicion in her eyes "I have only a vague understanding of that prophesy but seeing you standing there without even the slightest bit of worry tells me you know more than you told us."
"Use your sharpened mind, Blade." I say mockingly while tapping the side of my head "I am certain that you will catch up quickly enough."
She frowned deeply, her thoughts no doubt going wild as she stood there and stared at me. It was only after her eyes shifted to my companions that she started to realize what was going on "Dragonbane..." She mutters and looks to me again "It wasn't you who slew the dragon, was it?"
"It has less to do with the slaying and more to do with participation but yes." I explain vaguely and wickedly add "I do believe someone is owed an apology~"
Delphine looks like she had just swallowed a lemon but still looks to Minthara "My apolo-"
"Are we done here?" The Dragonborn interrupts, completely done with this charade.
"Hold on a second please." Esbern stands up, suddenly a lot more energetic "Are you two saying what I think you are saying."
"Indeed." I grin and enter my 'proclamation' pose "It is my honor to intro- ugh!"
I feel something akin to a missile slam into my shin as Minthara groans and shoves me away, placing herself in front of the excited Blade and simply stating "Minthara Septim, Dragonborn."
"Septim?!" Even Delphine finds herself momentarily stunned.
That is until she notices Esbern, who was already kneeling on the floor "What is your command, my lady?"
"What are you doing?" Delphine hisses at him "They could be-"
"I will remind you, Delphine, that I am the elder here." Esbern states gravely "The Blades have failed once, we will not do so again." He looks up to the unimpressed Dragonborn "We are yours to command, Lady Septim."
Even with all her training, Junia fails to hold back a quiet snort of derision.
"You talk as if you are certain I want the service of two bickering codgers." Minthara scoffs, making the both of them look down in shame. She gives me a look and we share a silent conversation, namely me indicating to her that waste is bad and her pouting.
Before the two try and justify themselves she preempts them with a tired sigh "Against my better judgment I will not deny you out of hand, you will get the chance to prove yourselves." She stares at them for a moment longer before barking out "Pack up, we are moving out immediately. That dragon is not going to wait for us to prepare."
The duo were still reeling from the revelations but still got to packing up almost mechanically. A good three minutes later, our group was fully prepared and I once again denied the laws of the world, appearing where I was not.
---
As our sight cleared, we were met with the image of Court Wizard Farengar visibly relaxing after seeing us appear in front of Dragonsreach "Court Mage." He bows respectfully "I trust that your... unannounced incursion, is not without its due reason?" There is a slight edge of irritation in his voice as he asks that.
Appearing before a warded fortress via teleportation was usually a sign of attack so people tended to get rather skittish about that, making the genial old mage's reaction perfectly understandable.
"An emergency, I am afraid." I confirm swiftly "Is the Jarl in?"
"He is." Farengar nods, and starts leading us to the keep "The hall is heated with debate on how to deal with the rumors of that dragon attack." His eyes twinkle with curiosity as he looks at me "I hear you had an opportunity to examine the creature up close?"
"I have." I hum "And so shall you, before long."
He stops for a moment before muttering "Oh." And suddenly walking a lot faster than before.
The guards pushed open the gates of Dragonsreach, leading us straight into the scene of Balgruuf debating with his people about the appropriate reaction to the sudden threat, until he suddenly stopped and turned straight to me.
"Balgruuf." I greet him merrily "I am afraid I bring ill news-"
The doors are once again pushed open, a huffing guard rushing in, completely ignoring us as he passes us by "My lord! Terrible news!"
Balgruuf gave me a look that was a mix of accusation and being happy I was there to help with whatever he was about to hear, before looking to the young guardsman and asking "What news do you bring, soldier?"
"A dragon!" The lad shouts " A dragon has attacked the Western Watchtower!"
Well, talk about shitty timing.
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For a stone or three you too may ball with Jarl Ballin'!
(The House of Dagoth does not guarantee the stones will reach their intended destination due to the previously established n'wah tax.)
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