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// 5. The silence that cuts 
// Story: Unrelenting Voice and Soul 
// by The Library 
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	The night gave way for the morning to arrive. The forest was quite since most creatures were asleep. Even the birds were silent in the early morning which came to a lovely surprise to the Nord who only just awoke from the sun that shone through the windows to the side of the room. He sat up straight and stretched out his limbs earning a few pops from his joints as he breathed a sigh of bliss.
Once he was fully dressed he set out to find a meal for the early morning. "Perhaps a fox or wolf, though I think those wooden wolves aren't edible since they are made out of wood after all. And I haven't seen any normal wolves around either." But before he could even cross the wobbly bridge a sound of wings gained his attention. His senses on high alert, he ducked behind a heap of fallen marble blocks which were likely from the wall behind him.
Once he was behind concealment he carefully peaked his head just past the blocks to see a small group of leathery winged equines approaching the castle. As he looked closer he noticed they were looking for something, or someone in this case since their ears were moving from side to side while their eyes were scanning the tree line.
"They caught up with me..." He breathed, keeping his voice as low as possible. Luckily for him he had his sword with him. "Curses, how to avoid them without getting seen." He watched the group carefully descended to the ground as they landed at his side of the bridge.
A blood red maned stallion was leading the small group. They were wearing a dark colored set of armor which almost fitted them perfectly. He could hear some sounds, he knew they were talking since their mouths were moving, but only typical equine sounds were heard. He cursed his luck since it would have been nice to be able to understand them.

Crimson Moon and his platoon of Lunar guards were tasked to find the creature that evaded capture by the Solar guards, which was something he found greatly amusing. But he had no time to voice his amusement since they had a mission to complete. They have been scanning the entire Everfree Forest since the early rise of the moon to make sure the creature was not roaming around. They purposely avoided the old castle ruins to evade possible detection if the creature was awake. But their task was nearly complete for only the castle remained to be searched.
"Alright everypony, touch down in front of the castle." He called out towards the others who all responded with a "Yes, sir." as they slowly descended to the ground. Once on the ground they all surrounded Crimson to hear his plan of action.
Crimson looked at the four thestrals as he cleared his throat lightly. "Alright listen up everypony." He started. "We have been chosen by our mistress of the night, princess Luna, to seek out and capture an escaped creature which was caught intruding on castle grounds. As many of you have heard, the Solar guards failed to apprehend said creature, allowing it to escape into the forest. The princess suspects that the creature is most likely somewhere within the ruins of the castle, hiding from our sight."
The four around him listened carefully, with their full attention aimed at Crimson, while they failed to notice the Nord looking at them just past the pile of stone.
"Princess Luna gave me a warning. This creature is not to be underestimated, for the Solar guard did such in the Ballroom. It is powerful enough to absorb tier two sleeping magic with a single barrier of sorts and then proceeds to disarm every guard within the room with one. Single. Roar." Crimson explained as some of the ponies looked rather surprised. "So we are asked to find it, catch it and bring it back to Canterlot for questioning. Are we clear on that?" He asked the ponies who nodded in response. "Good!" Crimson turned around and faced the entrance to the castle, all the while he was still unaware of the Nord cursing his luck behind the same pile of stone where he has been the past five minutes.

The Nord was starting to sweat a little since it was only a matter of time before they will find him. And simply leaving wasn't an option either since these equines were smart enough to leave one of their mates outside to keep an eye out should attempt to make a run for it. Then a thought came to mind.
'Perhaps this Thu'um might be helpful for once.' He thought as he weighted his chances of fooling the equine. If he is able to avoid being detected it was worth a shot.
With his idea in mind, he collected his breath as his eyes glowed once more as he opened his mouth, as only a whisper is heard. "Zul Mey Gut." He called out in a hushed almost silent voice as the Thu'um came in effect a moment later.
"Hey pumped up troll fart!" Yelled out an unknown voice directly to the left of the equine who turned his right ear to locate the source of the voice. But the equine remained unmoved, which was bad news for the Nord. 'Why didn't it work!' He cried out in his mind only to mentally slap himself as he remembered that they both spoke different tongues, so perhaps him talking sounds like grunting or making raspberries, all he cared about was that it didn't work.
Now his options were limited and it wasn't looking good for our Dragonborn. His mind raging with thoughts on how to avoid being caught. Fighting wouldn't help for it will only worsen his already terrible reputation with these equines, for accidentally killing one of them would probably result in him being executed. He had to think of something fast, for time was running low. The only thing that he could do was to fight and win without killing them and make a run for it after they were defeated. 'Alright, here goes nothing. Better to go down in a glorious battle than going down like a coward.'
He took hold of his greatsword and pulled it from its sheath, slowly rising to his normal height. The sound of metal being pulled across a surface caught the attention of the single equine that was guarding the entrance. His eyes deflated at the sight of the towering Nord and quickly turned his head around and yelled out something that only sounded like frightened neighs to the Nord. Soon the other four, including Crimson Moon, arrived at the entrance with a worried look on their faces which soon turned to one of determination as they saw the Nord standing before them with his sword drawn. The tension was high and it could be felt miles away from the group. This was going to be either victory or defeat. And not a second later the Nord charged.