"I... I can't believe that Lady Vespula would betray us and join with Lord Harkon," Lorthan said, slamming his fist against a wall in anger, "We knew someone had been giving Grul information on where we were meeting and everything we knew about Adagio and Aria... how did we not see that she was a traitor?"
The group had relocated to a small tower at the base of the hill, where they wouldn't be interrupted while they discussed what they should do next in their quest to save Skyrim; either go after the dragons or deal with Harkon and his vampires. From what Sonata could tell the group was split down the middle, as half of them wanted to deal with the return of Alduin while the other half wanted to teach Harkon a lesson. It fell to her, as the Dragonborn, to make the decision and choose who they would be going after, but while she wanted to find Lord Harkon and rip him to pieces, which was what he deserved, she knew that Alduin had to be her first priority... as he was currently in the process of bringing an end to Nirn.
"Well, we knew she couldn't be trusted," Kree told the vampire, though she also looked back at Alva so she could listen to her words as well, "Sonata was attacked by a group of vampires before she could reach High Hrothgar the first time, who were apparently under orders from Lady Vespula to get rid of her. She attacked us first, so we already knew that it was best that we didn't share everything we knew with the Council in case something like this actually happened... but I guess we can confirm where her loyalties lie."
Sonata sighed and pulled herself out of the chair that she had been sitting in the entire time, knowing that they had better get a move on before the guards came by and asked what they were doing in the tower.
"We'll stick to the original plan and head back to Riverwood," Sonata said, turning to the vampire that had brought them the news of Lady Vespula's betrayal, "How many people survived the attack that killed the other Council members?"
"Maybe ten, including myself," Alva replied, sighing for a moment as she answered, "Lord Harkon is purging all the vampires in Skyrim that might have the power to oppose him, before he embarks on fulfilling the prophecy he found so long ago. What would you have me do, Sonata Dusk?"
"I need you to find anyone still loyal to the Council and find someplace that Lady Vespula doesn't know about," Sonata answered, her eyes not leaving Alva for a moment, "With any luck we might be able to string together a group of vampires that might have the potential to overthrow Harkon and restore order to the vampire world. When you've found someplace to hide, and are sure that our enemies don't know of it, come find me and tell me how many you managed to unite into a single group. We'll go from there... and hopefully I'll have gotten rid of Alduin before that time comes."
Alva nodded and headed down the stairs until she was outside the tower, allowing Sonata to watch as she disappeared into the surrounding area not a few seconds later. Sonata had no idea why Lady Vespula had suddenly turned on them, but she had to consider the power of the promises that Lord Grul could give to entice people to join him. The orc was the true enemy to Nirn, someone that she needed to remove if the world was to truly be at peace, but the road to that goal appeared to run through the other enemies that wanted to burn the world to the ground.
She was going to have to deal with Alduin first, because at the rate that the dragons were returning to Nirn, according to Delphine the last time she saw her, it would have been a benefit to remove the black dragon before the dragons became an organized army.
Once she was certain that Alva was gone, and that there weren't anymore enemies in the surrounding area, Sonata and her friends returned to the road and resumed their journey to Riverwood. This time when they followed the road Sonata made sure that they didn't get distracted, because at one point they spotted a few more orcs moving into the same fortress they had cleared out twice in the past. She wasn't about to stop them a third time, not when she was sure that another group would move in once they had left the area again, so this time around they merely walked passed the fortress and left it behind.
At one point she heard Lydia ask the nordic twins how they were able to keep up with the group, when they appeared to be hauling a fairly large number of armor pieces that would make most people slow to a walk.
"We exercise while being over-encumbered," Gol replied, motioning to his muscles to prove his point, "doing a great number of pushups and squat thrusts in this mode allowed us to build our strength."
"Don't forget that we also grappled each other and wrestled all the time," Mez finished, which only made Lydia look at them in shock, "This has made the two of us much stronger and gives us the ability to carry more than the average person... which reminds me, we'll need to increase our loads at some point if we wish to get even stronger."
Sonata smiled as they continued on their way, knowing that they might actually have to fight something at some point in the future, though she wasn't sure if there would be more orcs waiting or more dragons.
When they returned to Delphine's inn they found that there were still no patrons around, giving the entirety of the group time to relax as Esbern and Sonata time to head down stairs and speak with their friend. Lorthan promised that he would keep an eye out for any enemies that might come to eradicate the town again, which Sonata wouldn't put passed Grul at this point in time. The orc had a nasty habit of attacking her whenever she thought that she was safe, so she wanted to be ready in case another invasion force came towards the town. Still, her friends were eager to keep watch after the trek they had been through, which left Sonata to deal with whatever Delphine and Esbern might tell her.
Once they were in the basement, and they were sure that they were alone, Delphine got them started on the reason as to why they had gathered together.
"Now then. I assume you know about..." Delphine started, though Sonata could tell that the woman hoped that she had informed Esbern on the situation.
"Oh yes! Dragonborn! Indeed, yes." Esbern replied, his hands moving to his bag as if he was looking for something, "This changes everything, of course. There's no time to lose. We must locate... let me show you. I know I had it here, somewhere... Give me... just a moment..."
After a minute of searching Esbern pulled out one of the books that he had insisted he grab when Sonata had met him, though she was glad to see what was so important about the book that the old man couldn't leave it behind.
"Here it is. Sky Haven Temple," Esbern continued, "constructed around one of the main Akaviri military camps in the Reach, during their conquest of Skyrim."
"Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" Delphine asked Sonata, though after a few seconds she seemed to think better of the question, "Oh why am I asking you? Your not a native to Skyrim, so you wouldn't know about the Wall."
Sonata would have smacked the woman upside her head for her disrespect, but she held herself back, because she didn't want to make the Blades hate her or turn on her. She had no idea what Esbern was talking about, though she did know that if she gave the old man some time she'd understand whatever he wanted to tell them.
"Shh!" Esbern told Delphine, causing Delphine to huff for a moment, "This is where they built Alduin's Wall, to set down in stone all their accumulated dragonlore. A hedge against the forgetfulness of centuries. A wise and foresighted policy, in the event. Despite the far-reaching fame of Alduin's Wall at the time - one of the wonders of the ancient world - its location was lost."
"Esbern. What are you getting at?" Delphine asked, not really understanding what her old friend was even getting at, though she had the feeling that he might be getting insane.
"You mean... you don't mean to say you haven't heard of Alduin's Wall?" Esbern asked, turning to see a similar look on Sonata's face, "Either of you?"
"Let's pretend we haven't." Delphine said, crossing her arms for a moment, "What's Alduin's Wall and what does it have to do with stopping the dragons?"
"Alduin's Wall was where the ancient Blades recorded all they knew of Alduin and his return." Esbern explained, telling them every thing he knew about the legendary Wall, "Part history, part prophecy. Its location has been lost for centuries, but I've found it again. Not lost, you see, just forgotten. The Blades archives held so many secrets... I was only able to save a few scraps..."
"So you think that Alduin's Wall will tell us how to defeat Alduin?" Delphine asked, hope filling her voice as she realized that they might actually have a chance at stopping the end of Nirn.
"Well, yes, but... there's no guarantee, of course." Esbern said, though it appeared that the 'no guarantee' part didn't even seem to register with Delphine.
"Sky Haven Temple it is, then." Delphine said with a smile on her face, "I knew you'd have something for us, Esbern."
"We depart in the morning," Sonata finally said, taking the moment to speak before either of them said anything more, "We'll find Sky Haven Temple, discover what it takes to defeat Alduin, and then figure out how to use that knowledge against our foe... and then, once he's head, I'll turn my focus to Lord Harkon."
"You still haven't told me about the Siren Queen," Delphine commented, causing Sonata to round on her for a moment, "Why does Lord Grul want that person so badly? You clearly know something about her and aren't sharing it with anyone."
"I'll say it once more Delphine," Sonata growled, anger flashing in her eyes for a moment as a bit of lightning appeared in her right hand, "LEAVE the Siren Queen alone. You had best not meddle in affairs that are not your own. I will deal with Lord Grul when the time comes."
She could tell that she might have gone a little overboard, because there was a hint of what she assumed was fear lingering in Delphine's eyes... almost as if she had seen something that terrified her. Sonata sighed for a moment and calmed herself down, before heading up the stairs behind her and rejoined her friends that happened to be sitting around the fire. They had reported that there were no enemies in the immediate area, though they all knew that the situation could change in an instant if one of Grul's lieutenants came knocking on their door.
In the end the group merely spent the rest of the afternoon resting and restoring their energy from what they had done that day, though they went to bed knowing that they'd have to get up early to reach their destination before someone noticed them.
When the morning arrived Sonata and her friends left Riverwood as a whole group, despite the fact that Delphine believed that they would attract too much attention that way. Something Sonata noticed as they traveled towards their destination was that there happened to be a storm system blocking the sun, one that continued to remain in the sky as the hours ticked away. She didn't mind the fact that there was a potential storm above their heads, because she could always use it to her advantage if she had to fight something that was seriously annoying her.
As they moved towards their destination Sonata also heard the sounds of at least one dragon, maybe two, in the area that was surrounding the road they were on. She had the feeling that Alduin might have noticed that she slew one of his minions a day or two ago, despite the fact that the dragon had been corrupted by Grul, and was likely going to try and remove her with a two on one battle. Delphine also apparently noticed that there might be dragons in the surrounding area, because she pulled her bow out and kept an arrow nocked in case they were attacked.
When they actually arrived at their destination they found that there were two dragons flying around the area, breathing fire and ice upon the Forsworn that called the place home.
"It seems Alduin wants to get rid of you before you figure out how to kill him," Delphine commented, pointing her arrow at one of the dragons as she tried to track it so she could actually hit it, "That, or Grul managed to corrupt two more dragons to fight you."
"They're not corrupted," Sonata replied, lightning crackling around her left hand for a moment as she looked at the dragon breathing ice at the Forsworn, "they're merely another annoyance I don't need at the moment..."
"Ah, I see the Dragonborn has come out to play," a voice said, to which they spotted a female orc, dressed up in grey robes and carrying a staff that looked like it had a dragon's head at the stop, standing on the bridge before them, "I, Calgora, shall take great pleasure in beating you to the ground and delivering you to the master... so that he may promote me to the position of Lieutenant and that I might join Aggronak and the others in their quest to destroy this world."
Sonata couldn't help it when she started laughing, because this one orc believed that she could actually fight and defeat her, which would go against all the orders that Grul gave his underlings. When she stopped laughing she turned to face Kree and merely nodded her head, to which her friend got everyone else to stand back and give her room to perform her magic. She then smiled as she brought her hands together, allowing her magic to gather around her as she started to form another spell she hadn't used in such a long time.
"You and your master should really stop annoying me like this," Sonata said, her hands weaving through some hand signs before lowing her left palm to the ground, to which lightning coursed between her hand and the ground while reaching all the way up to her elbow, "because, at the end of this madness, I'll kill him and his entire army... starting with you."
Before Calgora could say anything, or even raise her arms to summon a spell to defend herself, Sonata moved her left arm to her side and the ground beneath her hand shattered under the spell she had summoned into existence. Once it was ready Sonata dashed forward, the spell cutting into the ground as she approached her target, who merely stood there with a look of shock on her face. She quickly closed the gap between her and the orc, thrusting her arm forward the moment that she reached her and drove her spell right through the orc's chest. The tip of her hand was sticking out of the orc's back, dripping with blood from going through her body, though she had stopped before her elbow reached the chest.
Sonata knew it was a direct hit, because Calgora was no longer moving, so she pulled her arm free and dropped the body to the ground, not even bothering to clean off the blood as the sky above their heads flashed and started pouring rain on them.
"What... was what?" Delphine asked, not understanding what she had just witnessed, because it was unlike all the other spells that the mages of Nirn used all the time.
"That was the Lightning Blade," Sonata answered, looking up at the dragons that were still ignoring her, "I reserve it for those that truly annoy me... and I'm looking forward to using it on Grul when the time comes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some dragons to take down."
Sonata summoned the wind and leapt into the air, using part of her innate power to reach the ice dragon with ease, landing on its back and blasting at it with her lighting. This only seemed to enrage the dragon, but it allowed her to aim its attacks at the sky as the other dragon came into the picture and attacked her as well. Fire and ice danced around her as she moved through the air, twisting the very nature of the storm to suit her purposes without having to actually use more of her magic to deal with the dragons. The storm churned above her head, twisting and blasting lightning as the dragons tried, in vain, to catch her and get rid of her with their elements, giving her time to reach the point where she could use the storm to end this.
Once the center of the storm started to whirl on itself, the telltale sign that it was ready for her purposes, she connected her magic to the power she had been building and brought it down on the dragons behind her. Two bright flashes erupted from the sky as two massive bolts of lightning surged out of the storm and struck each of her targets in their chests, blasting them out of the sky and forcing them into the ground around them. The two of them landed apart from each other, but as Sonata lowered herself to the ground she sighed as both of their souls gathered around her and were absorbed into her body.
As she touched the ground she noticed that her friends were shocked by what had happened before their eyes, but she was in no mood to explain what had happened and decided to give them a short explanation.
"I was known by another name besides Sonata Dusk during my time in Equus," Sonata explained, turning to the mountain that was their destination, "Starswirl the Bearded called me the Queen of Storms, because one of my innate powers was to use wind and lightning to my advantage. I'll explain this in more detail when we have time, because we had best get this over with before any of our enemies figure out what happened here."
Grul smiled as he looked at the flames that allowed him to keep track of what Sonata was doing and who she was fighting, but his smile was directed to the power she was displaying at only a fourth of her abilities. He longed to see what she was capable of when she regained her pull power, which was one of the reasons why he hadn't captured her yet... besides the fact that he needed her to eliminate his enemies for him.
"Go ahead and grow your power, my little Queen," Grul commented, his grin deepening as he stared at the flames, "Soon I'll use your power for my own purposes... and the power of your sisters as well."