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Chapter 6

The Elder Scrolls: The Battle for Gryphus
Chapter 6

"Alright then, this is what we know so far," Iron beak says as I open the folder and look at the papers inside.

The reports inside say that the dragons arrive and leave in a red portal, kind of reminds me of Odahviing's portal... Wait... Odahviing! He'll know what to do.

"Iron Beak, I think I have an idea on how to find them," I tell him.

"You'll refer to him as your majesty!" an old looking griffin in a robe says to me.

I just give him a deadpan look. "I've willingly come here to help defend your kingdom from the dragons, so don't get snappy with me. I'm sorry if I offended you, I'm not used to talking with royalty and such, I even call the Princesses by their names without any titles and they don't seem to mind, in fact, I think they find it refreshing to be treated as friends instead of rulers," I tell him.

He was about to argue but Iron Beak holds a talon up. "It's alright, besides, he may be the future king of Equestria," he says with a chuckle. "And I agree, it is refreshing to drop titles now and then, so what is this idea of yours?" he asks.

"I have an ally who may be able to tell us where the portals go to," I reply.

"Did he come with you?" Iron Beak asks.

I shake my head. "No but I can call him here within a few minutes," I say.

"Well go on then, the sooner we find out what's going on the quicker we can end this," Iron Beak says.

"Alright then follow me, I need to do this outside," I tell him and head for the door.

We all head back up to the platform and I step to the edge. "OD... AH... VIING!" I shout out.

A red portal opens up and Odahviing flies out of it, the king and his guards are shocked as they surround Iron Beak in a defensive formation.

"It's alright, he's the ally I was talking about," I tell them as Odahviing flies overhead, the griffins are still on edge but don't make any movements to attack.

Odahviing then lands next to me. "Dohvakiin, why have you called for me? I see no danger here," he asks looking at the group of griffins with a raised brow."

I can see scars on the back of his claws and feet. "Yeah, what we need is advice and information this time," I reply.

"Oh? And what would that be?" he asks again.

"The dragons attacked by portals similar to yours, is there a way to track where they go to?" I ask.

"Hmmmmm, yes it is possible, but only if they left or arrived within the last twenty-four hours," he replies looking around the city. "I can sense two recently opened portals nearby." At this the King gasps.

Iron Beak walks over to Odahviing, the guards protest but he shrugs them off. "That's not possible, we have the city on lock down right now, my guards would of reported any sightings within or around the city," he says.

I frown. "Some of your guards might be working with the dragons..." My eyes widen as I realize something. "Unless they're working with Razor Beak, he might of told them how to get in without being seen and he may have some of his lackeys posing as guards."

Upon hearing this, Iron Beak looks enraged, I look to his guards, they look nervous except for one who reaches into his armour and pulls out a dagger.

My helmets face plates slide back. "Tiid Klo Ul!" {0%} I shout out, a white orb forms at my mouth and expands out surrounding everyone within range.

I bolt forward {80%} and reach the griffon as he raises his dagger above his head ready to stab the King in the back, I grab his arm with my left hand and this throat with my right, the look on his face as he couldn't react fast enough was amusing. I cast a Sparks spell with my right hand for only a second to stun him {90%}.

His grip on the dagger tightens as the electricity flows through him, but lets go as soon as it stops. I twist his arm back and give a hard pull, dislocating it from his shoulder, I then place a knee on the back of his neck and grab his right wing with my right hand, I then cast a Flames spell with my left and roast his wing {75%}.

The Thu'um wears off and he roars out in pain, the other guards just finish turning around in time to see the end result, the King sees the dagger on the floor and then at the guard, he now looks furious.

"You dare attack me from behind like a coward?" he yells as he draws his sword ready to take the traitor's life.

"WAIT!" I call out. "I want to find out what he knows," I tell him.

'Ready for another interrogation?' I ask Solnara.

'Of course,' she replies.

I remove the Amulet and place it on the griffon while still kneeling on his neck. "You won't get me to talk!" he says which only makes me smirk at him.

After a few seconds his eyes widen as he looks around a pained expression still on his face from his shoulder and wing. After five minutes, I remove the amulet and put it back on.

{100%}

'So what did you find out?' I ask Solnara.

'He is indeed one of Razor Beak's subordinates, he was sent here to keep watch over the King to make sure he doesn't find out too much about what's going on, and if he does, he was to assassinate the King, even at the cost of his own life, but that's all he knows,' she replies.

'Thank you, now to let Iron Beak have him, he looks ready to kill everything in sight,' I tell her while looking at Iron Beak, he looks absolutely livid.

"Well he's definitely Razor's lackey, he was sent here to keep an eye on you and kill you should you find out something you shouldn't." The griffon looks surprised that I knew that.

"HOW DID YOU FIND THAT OUT! I SAID NOTHING!" the griffon rages at me, struggling to get me off him.

I growl and drop my elbow onto the top of his head making him face plant the platform, I stand up but keep a foot on the griffon's back.

"You don't need to know that. He's all yours, Iron Beak," I say.

Iron Beak is just glaring at the griffon and then takes his head with his sword, the head rolls down the platform with an expression of surprise. I look around and notice another one of the guards missing.

"Iron Beak one of your guards is missing," I tell him.

He looks up and looks at the rest who are also looking around, the King now looks like rage incarnate as he roars out in anger like a sabercat.

"Is there no one I can trust any more!" he yells as he puts his sword away. "Skyfury! Call all the guard in the castle together, I want to make sure there's no more of those traitors in there!" he orders one of the guards.

"Yes, my King!" Skyfury replies and clenches his right talon and thumps it to his chest, he then leaves to carry out the order.

Odahviing steps up besides me. "That was a well performed Thu'um, Paarthurnax has taught you well. But we must go now if you wish to find out where those portals lead to, they are getting weaker by the minute," he says.

"Okay, just give me a second," I reply. I walk over to Iron Beak. "Iron Beak, Odahviing and I are going to go check one of the portals to see where it heads to, we'll be back in a while," I tell him.

He nodded with a frown and heads back into the castle, I on the other hand jog over to Odahviing as he takes off and I fly after him.

We're both flying over the city towards a run down district that looks like a slum, Odaviing lands in the only open spot around, it's a small park that luckily was vacant.

He looks around for a second and spots what he's looking for and walks over to it, I can barely see a faint blur in the air like heat rising. Odahviing places a talon in front of the ripple and closes his eyes.

After a few seconds he snorts and growls. "It's coming from the dragon lands, more specifically the horde leader's lair, Seems Alduin is opening the portals himself," he tells me.

I frown as I think, am I ready to take him on? I don't know what he's capable of yet, as much as I want to finish this I'm just not sure I can win yet.

"Can you close it and prevent more from coming?" I ask him.

"Maybe. Alduin's magic is very strong, it might take me awhile to close the portals here and set up a barrier to prevent more opening, but the barrier will last at best for four days," he replies. "If I do this, there is a good chance we might be attacked, I can sense that we're being watched, you'll have to protect me while I concentrate," he whispers.

"Alright, I'll cover you as best as I can," I say and draw my bow with an arrow and pull the trigger making it expand open.

Odahviing begins to channel energy through his talon that's in front of the ripple. For five minutes nothing is happening, but it's too quiet, why have no citizens come out or scream due to a dragon being here?

I look around and notice not even the lights are on in any of the houses, I'm getting a bad feeling about this.

Two more minutes of unnerving silence later, the sound of metal hitting the floor grabs my attention, I point my bow down an alley as a bin lid rolls out and stops by my foot.

I keep looking in the alley, only to see a knife being hurled out of the darkness at me, I lean to the right as the handle clangs off my armoured shoulder.

A group of four: two griffins, one earth pony and some sort of bipedal dog rush out from the alley and attack me.

The griffins are both wearing those knife vests and both have the same colours, brown fur and black feathers just like the assassin that tried to kill me in Canterlot, each has a shortsword in their right talons.

The earth pony has a more armoured version of the vest, his coat is brown, his mane and tail are black and he's wielding a steel Battleaxe.

The dog though, I'm guessing it's one of those diamond dogs I've been told about, is wearing a chainmail vest with a pair of daggers in its hands, its fur is also brown with patches of black in several places.

I aim for the dog first since I have not fought one of them yet, meaning I don't know what it's capable of, I release the arrow piercing its chest as the arrow goes through and shatters against a wall.

I pull the trigger and fold the Bow, I don't have time to put it away so I lightly toss it next to Odahviing on the grass. I draw my Sword in time to parry the first griffon's sword but the pony hits my left arm with his axe, the armour held strong but it's going to be sore {95%}.

The pony was about to swing again, but I kick him away with my left foot to his face causing him to drop the axe. The second griffon goes to stab me but I knock the blade away with my left gauntlet.

I swing my sword with one arm and hit the first griffon in the neck which only goes in halfway, I try to pull it out but it's stuck, so I let go and punch the second griffon in the face causing him to drop his sword, I quickly duck from another swing from the pony and grab the two shortswords on the floor and stand back a bit.

The griffon looks for his blade but notices it in my hand. "Looking for this?" I say while waving it around.

He growls at me, then what he does next angers me, he picks up my sword from his dead comrade while the pony stands between us blocking my way.

No one touches that sword but me. With the enchantment of my leggings, I burst forward {75%} and ram into the earth pony with my left shoulder while impaling him with the sword in my right hand in his left shoulder, the blade sinks into him from his chest and barely poking out of his stomach.

He roars out in pain and starts choking on his own blood as he's launched into the griffon behind him, the griffon squawks as my sword is launched into the air.

I see the blade flying up a good five metres and drop the blade in my left hand as I fly up to my sword. I grab it with both hands in a reversed grip and drop down onto the griffon and impale him through the chest and into the ground as the snapping of his ribs is heard.

I see him give a strangled scream as his lungs were most likely crushed or punctured, and after a few seconds he stops moving, I look to the pony who has also stopped moving.

Giving the area one final look, the place looks clear, but it's still creepy that there are still no citizens around, all the buildings light are out as not a single one is lit.

{100%} {100%} {100%} {100%}

Odahviing continues for a few more minutes and the ripple dissipates. "And that does it, but from what I can feel, the other one has already collapsed." He looks at the corpses on the floor.

"Only four of them? They seem to be taking this lightly," he comments and then looks back to me. "Let's head back to the castle to set up the barrier, It'll take me a good hour to cast it."

"Alright," I reply and we both head back. Landing on the platform, Odahviing lays down on his stomach and closes his eyes.

I hear a quiet hum coming from him as his talons start to glow, for thirty minutes I keep watch over him in case there's an attack. I then hear footsteps behind me and spot the female griffon and her daughter I saved earlier walking off the ship.

"Hello again, I take it you're heading off into the city now?" I ask them, but their expressions say otherwise.

"No, there's no room in the city for refugees, due to the dragon attacks there's a food shortage and the city has hardly enough to feed itself, let alone refugees. They suggested we head to another town or village," she replies with a few tears in her eyes, her child hugging her left arm with an upset look.

I look shocked but not surprised, with the dragons attacking the farms and possibly game around the city, food will be in short supply. "If we had some bits we could buy some food, but we lost everything back in the village," she starts to breakdown and hug her child while crying.

My expression softens as I walk over to them. "You're welcome to stay on board with us for now if you'd like, we still have a decent supply of food on board," I offer her. I'm not about to let a mother and her child starve on their own.

She looks up at me with a thankful expression. "Y-You mean we can stay on board?" she asks, her voice slightly cracking due to her distress.

"Sure, we can even take you to another town or village when we move out," I tell her.

She starts to cry again and hugs me while saying thank you, I pat her on the back and tell her to go back on the ship.

After that was done, I turn back to Odahviing and see the glow starting to get brighter. Five more minutes later, a large bubble like dome expands away from him and engulfs the city and even half of the farmlands outside.

He collapses and breaths heavily. "That should do it, but it won't last, we need to find some special gems, blood diamonds, and charge them up with the same barrier spell, once that's done it'll be able to keep a barrier up for months before needing to be replaced," he says as he stands up.

"Problem is, they're only found in the dragon lands," he explains.

"So how do we get some? We don't have the time or supplies for a trip like that," I reply.

He pulls back a scale on his chest and pulls out a small red gem. "I have only one on me at the moment, but this one would only last two months at best."

"Better than nothing for now, how long will it take to set up?" I ask.

"A day, I need to cast the spell onto it and make sure it stays in it. If it's done wrong, there's a chance the magic will discharge and it will shatter the diamond," he replies.

"Alright then, can you get started on it tomorrow?" I ask him.

He stretches. "Very well, I'll stay here since I doubt I'll fit anywhere else," he replies.

A griffon guard then walks over to me. "The King wants to see you, we managed to capture another traitor and he wants you to interrogate him."

I follow him into the castle and meet Iron Beak in the dungeons. "Ah, Farengar. We managed to find another one of them. Once we found out he attempted to run and then kill himself, but fortunately, one of my best hunters managed to knock him out with a tranquillizer arrow." I see the prisoner chained to the wall with his beak strapped shut and a poorly placed bandage on his left hind leg.

He looks at me with a glare. 'You ready Solnara?' I ask her.

'Yes.' I remove the amulet and place it on him. After five minutes I take it off and put it back on.

'We have a problem, he has a surprisingly strong will and is preventing me from entering his mind, if we wish to find out what he knows you'll have to come with me as well,' she tells me.

'And how am I supposed to do that?' I reply.

'Place both of your hands on the sides of his head where his brain would be.' I do as she instructs. 'Now you'll feel a pull and see a bright light,' she warns me.

'Alright.' A few seconds later I feel a pulling motion in the back of my head and my vision turns white.

Mindscape

My sight returns to a wide corridor, I look around and see doors lining the sides but they seem to have a form of barrier on them, the walls are made of stone with a few slight cracks, I guess those are from Solnara's previous attempts to read his mind, I see Solnara standing next to my right.

"So now what?" I ask.

"Now we go find and confront him, you need to weaken his will so I can access his memories," she replies.

Well, this is going to be interesting.

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