The Elder Scrolls: The Battle for Gryphus

by Urimas Ebonheart


Chapter 11

The Elder Scrolls: The Battle for Gryphus
Chapter 11

My vision returns as the bright light fades away, we're back on the ship which makes a few of the ponies on deck jump a bit.

The unicorn I left in charge walks up to me. "Sir, Odahviing has almost erected the temporary shield so no more portals can be opened in or out of the city... Including ours," he reports to me.

"Thanks for telling me... Erm... What's your name?" I ask a bit sheepishly, should have asked for it when I left.

He chuckles. "My name is Stalwart Star, Sir."

"Alright, can you take me to Odahviing and Iron Beak?" I ask him.

"Sure," he replies, Honour says his goodbye and heads below deck to get himself orientated and settled in.

We both head back into the castle, but just before we enter, Rainbow Dash lands next to me with a griffon next to her.

"There you are Farengar! I've been looking around for you... Dude what happened to your hand!? It looks sooo awesome!" she says looking at the scaly limb.

"Dragon bit it off, so I grew a new one. While you were gone, Canterlot got attacked, so I went and helped defend it, just got back actually."

"Canterlot was attacked? Is everypony alright?" she asks with worry.

"Not really, there were a lot of casualties," I honestly reply.

Her eyes go wide, I'm guessing she might of had some friends in Canterlot, her expression turns to anger. "Who did it?" she asks.

"Razor Beak and his followers, they were trying to kill Celestia and Luna, almost succeeded as well." If she looked angry before, now she looks furious.

"THEY WHAT! Oh now they crossed the line! When you go after him I'm coming with you!" she tells me.

"Sure, but it will be a few days before we hunt him down, during that time I'll teach you another spell, maybe the Frostbite spell and some sparring practice," I tell her.

"Fine." She looks like she's calming down. "But for now, I'd like you to meet my friend Gilda," she says looking toward the griffon next to her.

"Sup, cool armour," she says looking at my armour.

"Thank you, so how do you know each other?" I ask.

"We met at flight camp, at first we weren't very friendly, always trying to out do each other, but after a few weeks I decided to hang out with her and from there we became friends, but just a few months ago we had a... Falling out, but to be honest I'm glad she came back, she's really the only friend I've got," Gilda replies.

"Well if you weren't so... bitchy, you might make more friends," Dash says.

"Yeah well, bite me," Gilda replies with a slight tinge on her cheeks.

"Well it's nice to meet you, but I have to go see the King now, I look forward to talking with you some more," I say with a slight nod.

They say goodbye and fly off while I head into the castle.

I walk through the hall and reach a back garden with Odahviing clutching a small red gem and muttering words.

Iron Beak notices me and smiles. "Ah, Farengar. I take it you were successful in Canterlot?" he asks.

"Yes, but at a cost," I say and show him my right hand.

He raises an eyebrow as he looks at it. "Looks like you took the claw from a young dragon and replaced your hand with it."

"Nope, it was bitten off by a dragon though, and with magic I grew a new one," I reply.

"Hmmmm, curious, but no matter, as long at the Princesses are safe then that's all that matters," he says.

I turn to Odahviing and watch as he continues chanting, Stalwart Star notices one of the servants acting strangely by looking around, but mostly at the gem Odahviing is holding, he points his horn to her which starts glowing lightly and the griffon is engulfed in green flames. In her place is a changeling who stands there looking confused.

I react quickly and tackle the changeling while it was stunned from being revealed, I wrap my legs around her waist and with my left hand grabbed her horn while my right gripped her throat. The moment my sharp nails dug into her neck, she instantly froze and whimpered.

From what I can see of her face, she looks like she's crying. "Please don't kill me!" she whispers, begging me not to kill her.

Something tells me she's not here to hurt me or anyone, but I can't take that risk.

"What are you doing here?" I ask her, guards swarm around us both.

"I've been living here since the Queen was killed in Canterlot! The hive fell apart when she died and without her we lost our connection with the hive mind, we're finally free to follow our own dreams now," she says getting hysterical.

"So you aren't with Razor Beak?" I ask her.

"No! I've been living here for *hic* a week now, I just want a normal life! *hic*" she replies as she starts trembling.

'Take a look and see if she's telling the truth,' I ask Solnara.

'Alright.'

I take my hand off her horn and put Solnara's amulet around her neck.

She keeps crying for five minutes, then I put the amulet back on.

'She's telling the truth, she's just been living at the castle as a maid for the past week, she's had no contact with Razor Beak at all, in fact she's even dating a griffon.'

I hum in thought. "Iron Beak, I need to have a chat with you," I tell him.

Iron Beak just glares at the changeling. "What about?"

"She's not with Razor," I simply say.

He now looks surprised. "What?"

"She was just living here, though to be honest I still don't trust them after the whole Canterlot attack, but Solnara says she's just trying to live her own life now," I tell him.

He glares at her. "Be that as it may, we're in a state of war and I'm not taking any chances, place her in a cell and keep an eye on her until this is over," he orders a guard to take her away, she has her head hung low as she is dragged away into the castle.

"Well that was interesting," a voice behind me says.

"GAH!" I turn around with my hand on my sword’s grip and see Discord standing behind me. "Don't startle me like that, and where have you been? We could've used your help in Canterlot!"

"Canterlot? What happened in Canterlot?" he asks with a confused expression.

"It was attacked by Razor's lackeys, Celestia and Luna were almost killed," I tell him, Discord’s eyes go wide.

"Well, for your information, I was busy here trying to find Razor Beak’s location by the King's request," he retorts with a huff.

I sigh. "Sorry, it's just been a long day and I'm tired," I say as I rub my temples.

Discord looks at my new hand. "What happened to your hand?" he asks.

I tell him what happened in Canterlot and how I lost my hand. He cringes at the part where it was ripped off, but turned a shade of green when I told him when I bit out a pony's throat, I left the part about almost killing Celestia out though.

"Well, all's well that ends well. Anyway, I've located where Razor is hiding and it's not easy to get to, he's at the far back of the catacombs with a large force in between him and the entrance." He sighs as he continues. "The only way I can think of getting to him is teleporting to him, but when Celestia sealed most of my power I can only teleport myself now or one other on their own, problem is I won't be able to bring you back."

I hum in thought, that could work. While Iron Beak's forces distract them from the front, I slip in and deal with Razor myself, problem is how will I get out?... Wait, if he can teleport another person why not teleport Razor into a cell?

I ask him that. "I can't because Celestia made it so I can only teleport a willing person, if they're not willing I get a large zap," he explains.

"So you could get me in, but I'll be on my own from there on." He nodded. "Well, I've been in worse situations before," I say, but that's not true, I've never had to face an entire army by myself and the thought of doing that ain't a pleasant one, but after the fact that Luna and Moonbeam were almost killed, I really want to kill Razor personally.

"Is there any passages or other tunnels that lead out from Razor's position?" I ask Discord.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure, but I would say yes, I doubt he'd corner himself without a backup plan." I have to agree, I think he only got caught the first time is because he thought I'd be dead.

I then turn to the King. "Iron Beak, do you have a layout of the catacombs?" I ask him.

His gaze goes from the changeling to me. "Yes, it's true that there are a few secret passages, if you can point out which room the traitor is in I can show you the passage into it." And with that, Discord, the King, and I head back into the castle. Before I enter though, a large red flash is seen and a transparent red dome expands from the floating gem engulfing the entire city.

Ohdaviing yawns and just curls up on the floor, we all head in and enter the castle's archives. I wait at a table while Iron Beak goes and gets a few scrolls, he returns and places them on the table. At the table is just us three as me and the King don't want any chance of Razor catching wind of this.

"So, Discord. Where is Razor hiding?" I ask him.

"Hmmmmm, ah-ha! There, in the farthest room of the catacombs, from what I saw he has three minotaurs inside with him as well as two unicorns, and from the door to the entrance is about over one-thousand of his troops," he says, I look to Iron Beak then to Discord, only to see him dressed up in a griffon military uniform.

I smirk and look back to Iron Beak. "Where's the passage entrance to that room?" I ask.

Iron Beak glares at Discord but then turns to the map. "Here, just past the royal cemetery, there's a hollow tomb that has a stairwell leading into it, he must have used it to get down there since the entrance to the catacombs is guarded in the castle."

"So we wait for a few days to get ready and then while your forces attack from the castle, me and a few others attack from the passage," I say.

Iron Beak nodded. "Yes, pick those you can trust, we don't need a traitor backstabbing us when you go down there."

"I've got just the ponies in mind for this." I'll bring Rainbow, White Star, and Honour with me along with Discord.

With that settled, we all head up for dinner which is eaten in silence, I say my farewells and head back to the ship, we're met with Dash standing on the deck.

"Hey, Farengar. I take it everything is alright now?" she asks.

"For now. By the way, I need you to meet me on deck in the morning, I have something to tell you, White Star, and Honour," I reply.

"Alright, oh are we still on for learning more magic?" she asks with a large grin.

I chuckle. "You're starting to sound like Twilight," I say teasingly.

Her grin is instantly gone as she scowls at me. "TAKE THAT BACK!" she yells and tackles me onto the deck while I'm laughing hard.

She sits on my stomach with a frown but I can see a faint smile on her face. "Hehe, as amusing as this is, can you get off me?" I ask her.

She looks down at the position she's in and then around the deck to see everyone staring at her with raised eyebrows, she blushes and jumps off me quickly. "Eh-hee, yeah well, see ya tomorrow!" she says and rushes down the stairs to her cabin.

I get up and dust myself off, I then stretch before heading below and into my cabin. I spot Sheogorath's staff on my bed along with a note.

Farengar, please don't leave this on the deck again, this is a powerful daedric artefact and could be misused in the wrong hands. Also, I've noticed it's bonded itself to you.

Just be careful with it, from what I've seen it do, its effects are completely random, and if you do use it against anyone, do let me know.

Your chaotic friend, Discord.

I frown as I remember I left it on the deck when Razor escaped, Discord must have put it on my bed for me. I'll thank him tomorrow, but the fact it's bonded to me is worrisome. I strip out of my armour and weapons and lay down on my bed and fall asleep.