20demayo Chapter 335: Chapter LXI: Frustrating Confrontation And Sky Haven Temple
Chapter 335: Chapter LXI: Frustrating Confrontation And Sky Haven Temple
Chapter 335: Chapter LXI: Frustrating Confrontation And Sky Haven Temple
(Minthara's POV continued)
Our steps echo throughout the ancient halls, the shallow staircase curving sharply to the side and making it impossible to see more than a few meters in front of us. I could feel Lydia growing apprehensive at the claustrophobic space but thankfully the world did not force me to deal with that as we soon reached an engraved stone doorway without incident.
Delphine went to open it but Esbern held her back "Hold on just a moment, I believe a bit more... caution is preferable after our earlier blunder."
His fellow Blade just huffs in annoyance and waves for him to get on with it.
No feeling of danger is forthcoming though and my instincts are proven right as Esbern sighs in relief "We are in luck!" He turns to us with a smile "The only magic I can sense is the concealment spell."
"Done wasting our time then, Esbern?" Delphine narrows her eyes.
And the jovial atmosphere around the old man disappears in an instant "Wasting our time are we?" He repeats gravely "Are you truly so quick to forget your duties, Delphine?"
"Our duty is to kill the dragons and protect the world." She retorts curtly "Not waste our time on every small engraving you want to document."
"No." Esbern states simply.
Delphine almost recoils in surprise before calming herself and glaring "No?"
"No." The old man nods as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "Our duty is to the Septim dynasty, not whatever foolish glory hungry quest you seem to have decided to undertake and volunteer me for it while you were at it." He adds that last bit with a huff. Before she can retort Esbern turns to me "Apologies for this foolish delay, my lady." He gives his colleague a sideways glance "It would seem some of us yet refuse to grow up."
"Oh don't mind me." I grin a cruel grin "Please do continue with the pointless drama, we have all day after all."
Marco snorts.
Even Delphine, the fucking idiot, winces at this and looks down.
"Besides." I add with a chuckle "I can't wait to see your reactions when you meet Krein." Esbern stills as I pass him by on my way to the doors "And who might this... Krein be?" "Oh you know, just Reyvin's sworn dragon." I outright giggle as I push the doors open, completely uncaring for the wave of dust that attempts to escape the great chamber waiting beyond.
"HIS WHAT?!" Delphine yells.
I turn to her with a raised eyebrow, my face showing amusement that did not reach my eyes "Did you mishear me, Blade?"
I do have to stop myself from bursting into laughter as I see Lydia mouth 'That man has a dragon?'
Seeing that no one was about to say anything more I turn around and go to enter the main chamber but the low mutter of "No..." Stops me as I once again look back "I refuse to accept it." Delphine mutters and Esbern palms his face.
"I am sorry?" I mutter harshly.
"Every dragon is just a war hungry beast waiting to slaughter everyone it gets its hands on." The Breton Blade says "Whether Dagoth things he controls it or not it matters little, all of the beasts must be put down."
The air suddenly turns very chilly "Are you presuming to give me orders, Blade?" I mutter but my volume matters little as the very walls begin to shake, sending even more dust flying, much to my frustration.
I do not give her the opportunity to speak as I go on "You want me to kill a valuable ally, someone who is by divine decree my spiritual sibling and a valuable teacher at that, for what? Your pitiable little vainglory? Your desire to leech off of my abilities so that you can earn a bit of value in your life of exile?" Each question makes her wince harder than the one that came before "Well Blade? Explain yourself!"
She composes herself and grits her teeth "Leaving beasts that won't ever die when we have the chance to kill them is a foolish decision."
"Foolish is it?" I narrow my eyes, and being done with this idiocy snap my fingers.
Delphine does not get to even twitch before the pommel of a dagger smashes into the back of her head and she is out cold, Junia standing over her with a gleeful expression while Marco cautiously positions himself to cast a spell at Elsbern just in case.
"Stupid bitch forgets that I am one of these 'beasts' in human skin." I almost growl out and my eyes snap to the old man's, who was thankfully not stupid enough to escalate and even looked disappointed "You will deal with this or I will. Am I understood?"
He bows immediately "By your command, Lady Septim." And grabs his fellow Blade like a sack of potatoes.
Marco whistles with relieved levity "Well, that escalated quickly~"
Lydia sheathes her sword and sighs, giving Esbern a pitying look "Is she... well?" The question was not about her health.
He too lets out a tired breath as he hefts his fellow "Delphine has had a particularly hard life since she joined the Blades at a very young age. It was not long before the Empire was embroiled in war with the Dominion and we were forced to abandon our purpose." He turns to me with an almost pleading look "She just wishes to do something with her life that she doesn't feel is another task bereft of meaning."
"How is committing wholesale slaughter upon every dragon out there more important than her duty of protecting the future of the Empire she is sworn to?" I ask blankly. I pause and chuckle, the joke coming to me unbidden "Don't tell me she thinks me 'unworthy' or something equally asinine because I am half Altmer?"
Esbern tenses and pointedly looks at the wall.
Marco bursts into laughter "Are you kidding me?" He cackles "That kind of thing from a fucking Breton of all races?"
The old man, looking all manner of uncomfortable goes to respond but Marco cuts him off once again "Oh, let me guess." The Altmer Bard grins "Is it because she thinks our Terrifying Dragon Overlady was actually a Thalmor plot all along?"
Esbern somehow manages to look even more flustered "She has... voiced concerns." After a long stare from me he adds "Very foolish concerns at that."
"Hear that Marco?" I grin "I am actually a Thalmor ploy, they totally had my father make me and abandon us so that Akatosh could adopt me and then I could take over the Empire and give it to them on a silver platter!"
He cackles "Oh, I can already see their whole plan! The lonely and hated half-high elf ascends the throne after a long and bloody civil war only to have her long-lost father approach her and embrace her in return for a small donation of the entirety of Tamriel!"
Even if the jape stings a little bit I still laugh "Exactly! We have seen through their centuries long ploy, truly we are as great a group of geniuses as Delphine herself!"
Dragged in by our air of amusement Lydia also snorts and adds a quiet "We could never hope
to reach such a height."
I generously pretended not to smell the obvious sleeping draught, Junia had earned a bit of leeway unlike those her kind had replaced.
"A magnificent blade." Esbern cuts in "Its enchantments are carved in an archaic version of
the earliest Akaviri runic script I managed to find in the old archives of Sky Ruler Temple when
I was but an initiate, it is a blade enchanted specifically for slaying dragons, bearing the name of Dragonbane."
"A Dragonbane for a lady Dragonbane, no?" Marco grins.
I roll my eyes and pick it up, unsheathing it and looking at the still pristinely glinting steel "Another eastern blade... I hate their style but you can't deny their craftsmanship."
"Just give it to Reyvin for a while." Marco shrugs "Not like he can't replicate any bloody thing he sees." Esbern pales slightly "Does this replication entail... deconstruction?"
"He is a Mater Enchanter so I highly doubt it." I tell him, much to his relief, and speaking of
reliefs... "What did you find out from the wall?"
"Ah! Of course." The old man nods and approaches the carving "As we have already guessed,
this is indeed Alduin's Wall, representing his rise, his downfall, his return, and his prophesized fate." "His first appearance was marked by the arrival of the Nords and the genocide of the Falmer,
mere decades having passed since the snow elves' extermination and the dragons' emergence. The Dragon Cults tyrannical rule stretched for many centuries after that but discontent
started to brew after the dragons began committing greater and greater acts of depravity in their boredom."
He moves on to the next section "It was then that Kyne saw fit to bless the Nords with the
voice, and chose a champion of great power and knowledge in its ways to teach it to them, granting the heroes of old a chance to fight back... A chance they grasped wholeheartedly." He points at the center of the relief "Alduin was then banished through time, whether
through ploy or desperation the God of Destruction was sent forth through its currents to land upon an uncertain future." He points to the next one "Upon his arrival did the scrolls foretell the coming of a Dragonborn, the last Dragonborn if I am reading correctly."
"No pressure then." I deadpan.
He gives me a slightly pitying look at that before returning to the central relief "Now what
drew most of my attention is the manner in which the ancient Nords fought back, namely
through the use of a specific shout, created for the sole purpose of slaying Alduin himself." "Dragonrend." I nod.
Esbern scratches his beard "It could very well be... but do you not think the effects of it have been somewhat... underwhelming so far?"
I blink but then frown "It is true that the whole shout seems to only weaken the dragons
depending on the situation..." I cup my chin "Reyvin is sure it is dragonrend though... Could he be wrong?"
"Or" Marco raises a hand "You could just be using it wrong."
My lips thin as I give him a wry look but before he can defend himself Esbern lets out a gasp of
surprise and returns to the relief once again, scribbling something down and making us wait even longer.
A few minutes later he is finally finished and nods to himself "Yes, it all makes sense now."
He turns around seeming both grim and elated, he points at one specific part of the image, namely the eyes of the figure shouting at Alduin "See here, I thought this expression signified determination but the slight tilt in the eyes tells us another story."
"Come now old man, don't keep us in suspense!" Marco waves for him to hurry up with both
hands.
He huffs "As I was saying." His eyes narrow at the young elf "The eyes present another emotion, namely an immense hatred for one's enemy."
"So she just needs to hate the dragons real bad?" Marco deadpans.
I sigh after a moment's consideration "I don't hate the dragons... It is more that I pity the vast majority of them for being idiots."
"You need not hate all of them, my lady." Esbern speaks up with that damn glint in his eye
"Maybe you need but focus your hatred into only one of them."
Now there is a thought.
I am the stone man
my stones are amazing
you better pay up or I will leave your house ablazin-
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