The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 28: Power of the Dragons

Volsteed.

Faniar hadn’t said much about the ruin, and nopony in Seclusion seemed to know anything either. All I got out of them was that it was a massive fortress of the ruin, Seclusion’s equivalent to Riverwood’s Blank Flanks Barrow.

Standing before the weathered stone structure rearing out of the mountainside, it seemed quite a bit larger than Blank Flanks in fact. Stone arches led to the entryway, several collapsed over the endless years that had passed since their construction. The ones that hadn’t collapsed had rearing carvings of heads both equine and draconic built upon the inner curve. An odd feeling awoke in me as I passed beneath, as if the multitude of eyes could see right through to my soul. I got the distinct impression that if any of the carved heads asked me a question, I would be compelled to answer with the truth.

At last the three of us made it through the arches, and I found I was not the only one who shivered as the feeling passed. It quickly returned, however, as we neared the doors, where a dragon head reared up on either side, staring down anypony who approached the entryway. Forging ahead, I shoved open the heavy stone doors engraved with ancient earth pony runes.

“What was that?” Steadfast asked once we were safely inside.

“I don’t know,” I replied, trying to shake the effects from my mind unsuccessfully.

“A dark enchantment lies over this place,” Mephalda whispered, just barely audible.

Indeed, I could feel it. Though I had never been particularly excellent at magic, I could feel the spells pulsing through this ruin. Luckily, it was now much duller than outside, but my horn still buzzed from the raw magic flowing from deeper in.

“Will you be all right?” Mephalda asked, seeing that the spells were still affecting me.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, hoping I was right, “Let’s just get through here as quickly as possible.”

“All right then,” Steadfast said, drawing out his warhammer, “Time to wake up the dead.”

As we trotted past the initial entry hall, I began to see a similarity with Seclusion’s Castle Dour. Had they been built at the same time, or had one been modeled off the other? I allowed the question to drop from my mind as we entered a passageway whose far door was guarded by two Draugr.
A shot from Mephalda’s bow instantly dropped one of them. The other looked down on its fallen companion, making a gruff wheezing sound. With a blast of lightning from my horn, I knocked the second Draugr against the wall. Electricity still arced over its body as we reached the door.

Pushing it open, we trotted onto a balcony overlooking a banquet hall. Below us, Draugr trotted around, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were dead. Many sat down before the tables, awaiting food they couldn’t possibly eat. Many were dressed in ragged robes that must’ve once been gowns of state.

I realized I was looking down upon a court taken from ancient earth pony days. Entombed in stone for centuries, the courtiers had recently awoken and resumed their lives as if no time had passed at all. I continued to watch as servants rushed about, bringing the remains of what had ceased to be food years ago to the assembled lords.

“Hello?” Steadfast said, waving a hoof in front of my face and snapping me out of my daze, “Are we going to take on these Draugr or not?”

“Oh,” I said, pulling out my sword, though I was saddened to end this living history lesson, “I guess so.”

“Why?” Mephalda asked, earning a look from Steadfast, “These Draugr aren’t threatening us, they’re just going about their lives.”

“They’re dead,” the stallion of the group pointed out.

“True, but why should we disturb their rest?”

“She has a point,” I said, causing Steadfast to shift his focus to me, “But we should keep our weapons ready in case the guards prove not to be as innocent.”

Mephalda nodded in agreement, and Steadfast begrudgingly conceded to our point of view. We crept along the balcony, careful to keep out of sight of the zombies assembled below. As we reached the far wall, I reached out to open the rough wooden door, only to have it flung open from the inside.

Standing just inside was a Draugr servant with a tray of mugs balanced on its back. Seeing us, it rushed back inside, dropping the tray in the process.

“Tirah gein ko dein!” the Draugr yelled as it rushed down the passage.

Quickly, we rushed after, hoping to get out of sight before any guards appeared. Unfortunately, we came face to face with a number of them as we rounded a corner.

“Wah grah! Sovngarde saraan!” the one at the head yelled in its raspy voice, drawing out a sword.

I brought Calcion’s Cleaver up to block, and the two ancient swords met. I had a bit of an advantage, however, as my sword suddenly began to shoot lightning from its tip, shocking the Draugr until it fell against the wall, thin tendrils of smoke radiating off its rotten hide.

My ear twitched as an arrow shot past it, fired from Mephalda’s bow. Her aim was true, impacting a Draugr right in the center of the forehead and sending it stumbling back into the others. Those that hadn’t been knocked over by their companion came rushing forward. I directed a slash across the chest of one with my war axe as Steadfast knocked another to the side.

Two Draugr wielding greatswords advanced. As one swung at Steadfast, he blocked using his warhammer’s shaft. Using both my war axe and my sword, I blocked the other. Pulling my sword back, I kept up the block with my war axe and aimed a swing toward the Draugr’s neck. As my weapon left the Draugr blade, I was suddenly forced back. Reapplying my sword to the block, I was able to stop the greatsword from drawing any nearer to me.

Both my weapons were needed to hold this Draugr back. I would have to rely on something else to defeat it. It would’ve been convenient if Mephalda could simply shoot the zombie, but she was busy holding off the rest that filled the tunnel.

Luckily, with my magic I didn’t need to be physically attached to my weapons. The same did not apply for the Draugr I was fighting. Holding back the greatsword with sheer willpower, I slowly advanced. At last, I was nearly touching the blade with my nose. Bending down, I swiftly swept out the Draugr’s forelegs with one of my own.

The block was broken as the undead pony crashed to the floor. My weapons free again, I swung my war axe down at the fallen zombie. The Draugr reacted, lodging the greatsword’s blade beneath the axe’s. Quickly shifting its head, it threw the axe from my magical grip. As it did so, it was forced to pull the greatsword away from its body, allowing me to strike with Calcion’s Cleaver.

Tugging my sword from the lifeless body, I blocked a strike with a mace from another Draugr guard. Pulling my sword back, I aimed a swipe at its side. My blade nicked the rotten flesh as the Draugr moved out of the way, smacking its mace against my helmet. As the steel collapsed into the side of my head, my vision blurred. Swinging through the fog, I was able to cut down the Draugr with a swipe through the neck.

Tenderly pulling my helmet off my head, I massaged my temple. It would bruise, and I’d have a nasty bump, but there was no permanent damage as far as I could tell. My helmet, however, refused to go back on my head without causing pain, so I stowed it in my saddlebags to repair later. As I retrieved my war axe from the wall, Mephalda shot an arrow into the last Draugr, right before Steadfast crushed it into the ground.

“That one counts as mine,” Steadfast protested, looking down at the corpse that may or may not have been dead before he attacked it.

In reply, Mephalda simply gave a shrug before retrieving her arrows from the bodies. Once she had finished, we passed through the tunnels until we entered the banquet hall through a lower door. Once again, I was struck by how similar this place was to Castle Dour. I could almost visualize the tables covered in General Cuirass’s maps, his Legates pacing around urgently.

The servants had made themselves scarce by the time we entered the expansive hall. Only the nobleponies of the past still filled the room. Most of them were cowering behind the tables, chairs, and each other. A few began to rise unsteadily as we entered. Four wearing long-rusted crowns began to take cautious steps toward us. The one at the front looked around with uncertainty before speaking.

“Fah Drog Voldehorse!” it croaked out before drawing a sword from under its ragged robes.

Its three fellows followed suit, advancing as one with blades ready to impale us. Mephalda flapped up into the air, readying her bow. One toward the back fell, choking on an arrow that pierced its neck. The rest advanced at a quicker pace now, closing the distance in moments. Steadfast swung his warhammer up in a long arc, shattering the jaw of one of the Draugr lords before slamming it back down on its head.

The one at the front advanced on me, blue fire burning in its eyes. I countered its sword slash with Calcion’s Cleaver, sending sparks flying as the blades slid against each other. It swung around again, this time toward my flank, and I flicked my blade beneath its sword, sending it flying off its target. I jumped back as a slash came toward my throat. Before the Draugr could counter, I slammed the Cleaver into its side.

The blade bounced off with a loud thunk, easily slicing through the tattered robes, but not whatever armor the Draugr had beneath. I had counted on my swing killing the Draugr in one fell swoop, and had left myself open. The Draugr took advantage of it, swinging at my neck.

I jumped out of the way, shooting fire from my horn as the blade came at me, slicing a gouge in my neck. I quickly wrapped a bandage around the wound to slow the bleeding, and cast a healing spell to seal the gash. Even so, I had lost a good deal of blood, and was feeling a bit light-headed. Everything snapped back into focus as I brought my sword up to block the Draugr’s next swing.

My flames had burned off the royal robes, revealing the shining steel armor beneath. It shone as if it had been forged days ago, hardly tarnished by age and clearly enchanted. Still, it wasn’t invulnerable; I could see the break where I had cut through with Calcion’s Cleaver.

<KRII!> I Shouted, marking my opponent for death.

The effects were almost instantaneous. The Draugr’s face suddenly contorted as if it were experiencing brutal internal pain. Its armor, which had been so pristine a moment ago, suddenly began to experience the aging effects of centuries. While the Draugr was distracted, I slashed through the decaying armor with the Cleaver. The blue light faded from its eyes as it crumpled up on the floor.

No more Draugr in the room seemed willing to fight us. The rest were all cowering as far away from us as possible. Unexplainably, I found myself feeling sorry for these living corpses. Did they even know they were dead? Had this undeath been forced on them, or had they accepted it willingly? Questions like these flooded my mind.

“What of them?” Steadfast asked, gesturing with his warhammer at the undead nobleponies.

Mephalda looked at me expectantly, seeing what I would do.

“We’ll leave them in peace,” I announced, “I don’t think they’ll threaten us unless we attack first.”

I was proved to be correct, as the nobleponies did nothing but cower against the wall as we passed. Passing through the kitchens, the servants scattered as well. After wandering around through the labyrinth of tunnels that made up the keep, we finally found one corridor that was different from the rest. It opened onto a grand entryway complete with a towering stone door decorated with swirls of gold. Unfortunately, there were a few Draugr guarding the door.

<FO!> I Shouted, sending a wave of ice over the undead guardians.

It didn’t cover all of them, and a few managed to break free only to be shot down with arrows from Mephalda’s bow. I knocked one down with a slash over the head from my sword as it got too close. With the Draugr dispatched, we hurried down to the massive doors, which Steadfast helped me to open.

I couldn’t believe the view that met my eyes. The doors opened up onto a huge cavern carved into the mountain. Natural light slanted down here and there, but the majority of the illumination came from a tall tower in the middle of the cavern topped with a giant brazier filled with purple fire. Mirrors directed the light below, where the real wonder existed.

Within the cavern was an entire Draugr town. Rough stone buildings covered the ground, and cobblestone roadways snaked between them. Draugr trotted about conducting business just like normal, living ponies. Looking closer, I could see the building pattern was almost identical to Seclusion’s layout. I would definitely have to ask Jarl Radiance about that when we returned. It was just too similar for it to be a coincidence.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly the same. The tower in the center was different, for instance. Also, on the other side of the town, built into the far wall was a massive stone structure covered in statues of dragons, which I could only assume was some kind of temple.

“Well, what do you think? The tower, or the temple?” Steadfast asked, apparently coming to the same conclusion as me, “Where’s a word wall more likely to be?”

“I don’t really know,” I admitted, “I guess we’ll just have to check both.”

“I have an idea,” I barely caught Mephalda say.

I nodded for her to go on.

“You two head to the temple,” she said, “I can fly up and check out the tower.”

“Sounds good to me,” I told her.

“So,” Steadfast said as she flapped off, “Time to crush some Draugr?”

“Hopefully not,” I said, looking down on the walking corpses, “Most of them seem to be townsponies. If we leave them be, they shouldn’t hurt us. Of course, if we run into any guards, it’ll be a different matter entirely.”

Cautiously, we made our way down from the keep. A long flight of stone stairs had originally led down, but they were worn and chunks of the ceiling had fallen, smashing large portions out. The Draugr looked at us curiously as we entered the streets, as if not sure what to make of us. We were trespassers here in the realm of the dead, but I hoped our presence would go unnoticed.

We would have no such luck. As we passed a blacksmith hammering ancient steel, realization seemed to dawn in the zombie’s eyes. Leaping to its hooves, it rushed toward an oversized bell in the center of the plaza we were in and began to ring it urgently. The other Draugr all turned to the source of the noise, and also seemed to catch on to the situation.

The townspony Draugr rushed into their homes as a column of their heavily armed kin marched into the square. As one, they all drew their weapons. These Draugr were different than any I’d encountered before. They were well-trained, skilled, and they all bore a mysterious crest upon their armor that had somehow managed to survive long after the armor itself had rusted away.

“Fah Drog Voldehorse!” the lead Draugr shouted, echoing what the noble back in the keep had said.

The call was soon taken up by the other Draugr, who began to advance on Steadfast and me. It didn’t look good. There were at least twenty of the Draugr and only two of us. I conjured a Flame Atronach to increase our chances of success, but three to twenty was still not very good odds.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>>

The first row of Draugr went stumbling back from my Shout, knocking over the row behind them. As the Draugr were temporarily held up, I shot lightning toward the ranks farther back. My flame atronach joined in, roasting the Draugr in front before they could recover. Between my atronach’s attack and my own, we had taken out eight of the undead. Three to twelve was better odds, but still not ideal. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a choice.

Steadfast charged in, swinging his warhammer into one of the recovering Draugr in the second row, smashing its head against the head of its neighbor. Ten were left, and that number dropped to nine as I sank my war axe into one’s head, lighting it on fire.

The flame atronach took out two more as we advanced. The next Draugr I faced had a pike clenched firmly in its teeth and blocked every swing I took at it. I drew out Calcion’s Cleaver and swiped out its forelegs as it blocked a high swing of my war axe. I blasted it with fire from my horn as it collapsed.

Steadfast dropped another of the Draugr with his warhammer, smashing the rusted armor to pieces and crushing the flesh beneath. As I blocked the sword of another, my earth pony companion rushed in and finished it off from the back. Another of the Draugr fell to my flame atronach before it was sliced through with a sword. Falling into two halves, it soon disintegrated to ashes, leaving nothing more than a pile of soot behind.

Three more Draugr remained. I charged the one that had killed my atronach as Steadfast swung his warhammer in the direction of the other two. This Draugr had slightly better armor than the others, as well as a much better sword. It was obviously one of the captains, and it knew its swordplay well.

I was forced to stay light on my hooves as the zombie directed a flurry of slashes at me. Even with two weapons, it was hard to keep from being hit. After a few close calls, my war axe suddenly became lodged beneath the Draugr’s blade. Not wasting any time, the Draugr sent my axe flying away from me, out of reach.

I continued to parry with Calcion’s Cleaver, sweat beading on my brow. Sparks of lightning flew from my blade down the Draugr’s, but it seemed unaffected by it. The fight came to a close as the undead soldier managed to catch its blade beneath my own and flip my ancient earth pony sword away.

As it loomed over me, prepared for the killing blow, an arrow suddenly sprouted out of its neck, followed by two more in quick succession. I was forced to roll out of the way to keep the Draugr’s now still corpse from landing on me. Looking up, I could see Mephalda slowly flapping her way down.

“I can’t leave you two alone for a minute, can I?” she teased.

“Anything up there?” I asked about the tower as I retrieved my weapons.

“Just more Draugr,” she replied as she settled down onto the stone beside me, “Nothing that looked like a rune wall.”

“Then I guess we move on to the temple,” Steadfast said as he looted the Draugr bodies.

I nodded my agreement and joined him in retrieving the assorted coins and jewels the undead earth ponies had on their corpses. When we’d finished, we made our way through the town as quietly as possible. Most of the Draugr townsponies had retreated into their dwellings after the attack in the plaza, but occasionally we saw one peeking through the windows, or rushing out of sight down an alley.

Only a few guards appeared during our journey, and they were easily defeated by the three of us combined. Still, I noticed these guards all also bore the mysterious crest the previous ones had, and were better organized even in small groups. My pondering on the meaning continued until we finally reached the temple at the far end of the cavern.

A long stone staircase led up to the massive doors, bisected down the middle with statues of ponies and dragons. On either side of the climb were rows of statues with accusing eyes much like the heads on the arches outside the ruin. I focused on the stairs as we passed through, though I could still feel their gazes boring into my head. The air absolutely buzzed with magic, and I could feel the pulses getting stronger. We must’ve been nearing the epicenter.

At the top of the stairs was the looming face of the temple, two stone doors stretching up toward the roof of the cavern. Above the doors was a thick stone arch with massive draconic letters engraved on it. As I peered up, the letters seemed to morph, soon becoming recognizable Equine runes, as if they wanted to be read. Finally the twisting of the letters ceased, and I could easily read the massive inscription.

Well, that explained who this “Voldehorse” the Draugr kept referencing was. Apparently a great Draugr lord and priest, much like Calcion the Vengeful. We’d have to be extra careful to avoid disturbing him. Judging by the size and extravagance of Volsteed, he would probably be several times more powerful than even the overlord of Blank Flanks Barrow.

I tried to ignore the mounting magical pressure within my skull as I pushed the stone door open. Surprisingly, it swung inward silently and with little force applied to it. I realized it was probably enchanted. Anything magical having to do with Draugr couldn’t be good.

Before entering, I peered around the interior of the cathedral-like structure, seeing what was waiting for us. The temple interior was a single room, with expertly hewn stone walls stretching far into the distance. Braziers holding purple fire lit up the far edge of the temple as if it were day, but the path to it was lit haphazardly, allowing shadows to pool alarmingly in the places the light didn’t reach.

Typical temple benches stretched from the entryway to about halfway through the building. Past the benches, the floor suddenly fell out, leaving only a narrow bridge stretching to where the floor continued near the far end of the room. I couldn’t make out much in the distance except for a towering statue of a dragon.

As I stepped over the threshold of the door, I found the magical pressure on me increase significantly, causing me to nearly fall down under the sudden increase in arcane power.

“Are you sure you’re going to be all right?” Mephalda asked.

“Yeah,” I said, struggling back to my hooves, “It just caught me off guard is all.”

She didn’t seem to believe me, but she didn’t push the matter any further. It was obvious to everypony that the magic of the place was affecting me most of all, probably due to my unicorn status. All I knew was that we needed to get through this place as quickly as possible.

We passed the perfectly preserved temple benches without incident and were soon crossing the bridge. I only looked down once and instantly regretted it. The bottom was lost in inky blackness, making it impossible to determine exactly how far down it was.

The far end of the room was taken up mostly by the rearing statue of the dragon. Looking up at it, I swear I could see a very pony-like expression of condemnation in its eyes. Diverting my attention downward, I could see a raised set of seats behind a semicircular stone wall. All in all, it had the disturbing appearance of a courtroom. Seven seats protruded above the wall, and only one of them was empty. The rest all held earth ponies clad in ornate robes sitting in decay. Twelve points of bright blue light suddenly burst up as the Draugr awoke.

“Jahriil Drog Voldehorse!” they all shouted in unison, drawing matching ancient earth pony swords.

They disappeared for a moment behind their seats before they reappeared on the same level as Steadfast, Mephalda, and I. As one they advanced on us, their swords held in their teeth, ready for combat. One fell before it could even get close to us as Mephalda shot arrow after arrow through its eyes. As it fell, the others all broke into a gallop, one charging Mephalda, two charging me, and the remaining two charging Steadfast.

<FO!> I Shouted, freezing one of the ancient earth ponies in place.

I blocked the other’s swing with Calcion’s Cleaver. As the two blades ground against each other, lightning shot from the Cleaver’s tip, burning a line into the ceiling of the temple. I shot flames at the Draugr before our blades parted, but it moved out of the way before the fire hit it.

Swinging my sword back around, I aimed at the Draugr’s neck. Quickly, it reacted to my attack, spinning its own blade up to knock mine away. It blocked again as I aimed at its legs. I backed away from the Draugr priest, preparing to change my strategy when I heard the cracking of ice.

Glancing to the side, I saw the Draugr I’d frozen in place was beginning to break free. I quickly poured my magical energy into conjuring a flame atronach, before turning my attention back to the nearer Draugr. Its blade came swinging down at my head, and I managed to stop it just moments before impact.

Pushing the Draugr’s blade away, I swung my own around and into its neck. It pulled back, hissing, before any permanent damage could be done, however. It jumped toward me, sword raised, but I easily blocked and pushed the Draugr back. As it prepared itself to charge me again, my flame atronach stepped in and bathed it in fire. The burnt corpse fell to the floor, lifeless once more.

My flame atronach suddenly burst into spark and ash as the formerly frozen Draugr cut through it with its sword. My flame atronach had not been standing idly by; the second Draugr bore marks of fresh burns, but they seemed to be hardly fazing it.

“Voldehorse aak zey!” it said as it turned its gaze toward me.

Its blade burst into flame as it swung around at me. I ducked, but could feel the heat pass over my head. With Calcion’s Cleaver, I blocked the next swing, and bands of magical fire and lightning momentarily intertwined. A magical explosion expanded out from where our weapons met, and both the Draugr and I were thrown backwards, afflicted with a number of small burns.

<KRII!> I Shouted as it prepared to charge me again.

The robes on its back molded, and the flesh of its chest seemed to twist in agony as my Shout sealed its death. Even so, it managed to block my next swing, not moving, but not allowing me to get within range for a finishing strike. I wasn’t sure how long the effects of the Shout would last, and I wasn’t willing to wait around to find out.

I hooked the Axe of Whitetrot around one of the Draugr’s forelegs and pulled it out from under itself, causing it to fall to the ground. With repeated strikes of Calcion’s Cleaver, I was able to knock the Draugr’s blade from its mouth. I impaled the zombie in the chest as it lunged up at me, teeth snapping.

Steadfast was still fighting a last remaining Draugr, while Mephalda assisted, shooting arrows into the corpse to cripple it. I added my own help, bathing the Draugr in magical flames. At last, the final “Disciple of Voldehorse” died.

Casting a few healing spells, I patched myself and my teammates up before I went exploring. Behind the massive dragon statue was what we had come here for. A word wall towered up against the back of the temple, and I eagerly approached, welcoming the glowing blue text and the stream of knowledge that accompanied it. In moments I experienced a tempest from the inside, and learned all there was to know about one. But instead of tempest, I know knew it as the dragons did.

~KEST~

As the thoughts finished sinking into my mind, an unnerving sound came from behind me. Spinning around, I could see cracks rapidly forming on the statue of the dragon. I rushed around to where Steadfast and Mephalda were to get a better look at what was happening.

The cracks were spreading out rapidly from the dragon’s open mouth, which was now glowing with an unholy magical light. The cracks themselves also began to glow, and the stone shifted as something within tried to push its way out. At last the ancient stone gave, and the dragon’s chest exploded outward.

I shielded my eyes with my foreleg from the falling debris, which rained down around the three of us. Pulling it away, I saw dragon statue had been completely annihilated. Where the stomach had once been, an earth pony in long, flowing, and exceedingly ornate robes levitated.

I couldn’t believe my eyes as the Draugr settled to the ground. It gazed at all of us with its cold unfeeling eyes, before sending a blast of fire lancing out at me. The fire in itself wasn’t remarkable; the Draugr simply had a staff, one of the ways earth ponies could cast magic without horns. This staff seemed to be pure gold, and carved in the likeness of a dragon, but that wasn’t the most alarming part.

The staff was floating to the side of the Draugr, surrounded by a sickly green magical aura. Looking closely, I could see an amulet carved in the shape of a dragon’s head was draped around the Draugr’s neck, also glowing a sickly green. Somehow, the dragons had given this earth pony the ability to use magic, real unicorn magic.

Voldehorse (who I assumed this powerful Draugr wizard was, seeing no other alternative) shot another blast of fire at me before I came to my senses and returned fire. As I blasted a lightning bolt at him, he lashed out with his own lightning. The bolts met in midair, and massive energy discharges arced out from the point of contact.

Arrows began to sprout out of Voldehorse’s neck as Mephalda took to the air and proceeded to shoot at him. Keeping his focus on me, the Dragon Priest waved his staff through the air, the dragon at the tip belching fire. Steadfast ran around from the back as we kept him distracted, moving in for a strike with his warhammer.

With a swift kick, Voldehorse bucked my earth pony companion across the room. Suddenly he cut off the flow of lightning, allowing my own spell to push through. Still, my blast didn’t strike him, instead burning the spot he had been standing moments before. He rapidly galloped toward me, and I barely had the strength after the magical encounter to levitate Calcion’s Cleaver.

His staff met my blade, and he directed the fire toward me. I struggled to push him back, and the flames blasted right beside my head. None of them struck my flesh directly, but the heat singed my flesh, and I thought my mane had caught fire. Voldehorse gagged as one of Mephalda’s arrows cut through his throat, and his focus shifted to her.

I took the opportunity to push him away, and bat out the flames licking at my head. I would need a manecut to even things out, but at least I hadn’t lost too much of my hair to the fire. As Voldehorse shot fire and lightning simultaneously at Mephalda, I swung Calcion’s Cleaver at the back of his neck.

Unfortunately, he had somehow sensed my move, and I found my sword encased by a green glow of magic over my own. I struggled to wrench my weapon free from Voldehorse’s grip without allowing it to strike myself. It seemed futile until Steadfast came out of nowhere, warhammer swinging, and knocked the Dragon Priest to the side.

Anger burning in his eyes, Voldehorse grabbed Steadfast’s warhammer from him and threw it to the side. Swinging his staff around, he pointed the business end right at my friend. A plan suddenly hatched in my mind, and without thinking it through, I executed it.

<<FEIM ZII!!>> I Shouted as I rushed toward the two combatants.

I pushed Steadfast out of the way just as my body took on the appearance of a ghost. Flames meant for my friend passed harmlessly through my new ethereal body. Voldehorse cut off the stream of fire when he noticed it was doing no damage to me. Like this, it was impossible for me to be harmed, but the downside was that I couldn’t harm the Dragon Priest either, something that irked me when I was so close to him.

As I felt the effects begin to dull, I backed out of the range of his staff. I hadn’t done any harm to the ancient earth pony, but I had saved Steadfast, and also bought him enough time to retrieve his warhammer and attack Voldehorse again.

Bones gave in the Draugr’s legs as Steadfast’s weapon slammed into them. This time, he didn’t wait around to be disarmed again. As soon as the priest turned toward him, he ran.

In my retreat, I had ended up near one of the larger chunks of what had been the dragon statue minutes before. Climbing atop it, I took advantage of my new level of height. I leapt from my perch toward the Draugr, who had his back to me at the moment. He was just beginning to turn my way when my sword impaled him through his back. The blade protruded from his chest, and he stumbled around for a moment before falling over dead, his dark heart no longer beating.

His staff clattered to the floor as the flow of magic was cut off. Cautiously, I approached his body, hoping he was really, truly dead this time. I pulled off the dragon amulet and threw it away anyway, just to be safe.

As I did so, another amulet fell out of his robes. It was a simple amulet, no more than a square jewel placed in a silver fitting. The jewel at the amulet’s heart was a drab and dull orange, as if the color had been leached out of it, or was hidden deep within. It had no obvious purpose, at least none I could figure out by observing it.

Yet, I took it from Voldehorse’s body anyway. I could feel power emanating from it, though I wasn’t sure exactly what it would do if worn. As I placed it over my neck, I felt the overpowering presence of magic. The magic from the amulet was different, however, than the magic that had been pressing down on me since we had entered Volsteed. The magic of this place was cold and heartless, but the amulet’s magic was warm and comforting. I felt instantly refreshed, as if a great burden had been lifted off my shoulders.

“What’ve you got there?” Mephalda asked, noticing me admiring the amulet I’d acquired.

“Not sure,” I admitted, “But if Voldehorse found it worth his while to wear, I guess I should too.”

“So, what now?” Steadfast asked, trotting up to the two of us.

The amulet had relieved my weariness, but I knew that this was only an artificial sensation. In truth, I hadn’t slept in two days, and my mind was beginning to complain.

“We’ll go back to Faniar,” I announced, “But first we need to stop in Seclusion. There’s a bed somewhere there calling my name.”