All Hail the Dragonborn

by RedtheDestroyer

Chapter 6: Journey to the Dragonlands

I woke from my slumber to be greeted with two things: a small pain in my back, and the smell of smoke in the air. I open my eyes a little groggy. It appeared to be light outside the rays of light actually warming me up. Something smelt awful though like a year of dirty sweaty socks was shoved in my armor.

Then the realization hit me. I must not have taken a nice shower. I glanced to the stream beside me seeing that it appeared to be deep enough to soak me to my waist. Carefully, I began taking my gear off. Once the piece was taken off I stepped into the refreshingly cold water. Because of my Nord blood, I barely felt anything, so I fully settled into the water. Before I went too far, I grabbed my helmet and sat in the middle of the stream. The water gently crashed against my back as I assembled a rocky chair of sorts on the river bed.

I then used my helmet to scoop up some water inside pouring it down my hair and face. The coolish water felt good to me. I took another look at the stream to stop and think how pure and crystal clear the water appeared to be. I also noticed how the edged inside rune was working making sure to dry up all water particles almost instantly. A soft smile appeared on my face remembering who taught me how to make runes.

---

"So you want to learn runes, huh? Well, this is unusual to here from the usual brute." Farengar Secret-Fire stated.

I felt slightly insulted that he would assume I am a simple mindless idiot. I calmed my nerves before continuing. "Yes. I would like to specifically learn healing and rune magic."

He hummed to himself before nodding. "I'm not good at healing magic. You'll have to ask Danica Pure-spring for that lesson. She goes to the Temple of Kynareth if you are still interested in that magic. Rune however..... that can be arranged. For a price of course."

I sighed a little annoyed at sacrificing a few Septims for something so trivial, but if it paid off somehow then it could be worth his time. "Sure. What is the price?"

"A thousand two hundred Septims." He replied.

I tried to hold my shock at the ridiculous price, but decided to just do it already. I sighed again counting out exact change handing it to Farengar. "There, now teach me already. I don't have all day."

Farengar chuckled lightly to my dismay grabbing the money with a smile. "Good now lets begin basics right now. When some one first starts out they usually have a rune blow up more than once in their face before getting it right."

From the basics, it became one of the few lessons in magic I'll never forget.

---

I shivered involuntarily at the thought of remembering how powerful rune magic can be if used properly. I never regret learning that lesson, too much. I could not smell the stink on me after soaking in the stream, so I got out and put my armor back on one at a time.

One of the main reasons for keeping this blasted armor on was how over complicated it is to put back on. Otherwise, it is the best armor I have ever made to date. I caught a glimpse of a woman form looking around a tree staring intently at me from a far.

I shrugged it off before collecting my logs and weapons heading out of the forest. Strangely, the forest seem to listen to me and even guide me through the thickest parts of its woods. I didn't see why I couldn't follow the laid out path before me. Eventually, a opening to the exit of the forest emerged.

I went back into town to find that the markets seem to be open today, so I head to the closest stalls to start bargaining. Through all my journeys around Skyrim, I would say that knowing your way around how to milk every last Septim out of someone is crucial to know and master. Because you better believe they will be hard pressed to do the same. Surprisingly though, these ponies seem to be easier to bargain with then most races I have encountered.

Wasting two hours of negotiating earn me two thousand more bits to my growing pocket change. It was starting to get a bit heavy, so I decided to end the trading. I head up to Twilight's crystal tree castle before knocking on her door. Her assistant, Spike, answered to call. Seeing me made him smile and sigh in relief. "Twilight has been looking for you all morning. Where were you?"

"Out getting more money. I'm here now, so we should probably begin our journey on foot." Spike chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"Well, you see, since the Dragonlands is so far, Twilight had suggest teleporting to their to see what is going on." Spike replied.

Oh yeah. I forgot. Seriously advance mages could just teleport from place to place in an instant. I nod stepping inside and heading into the throne room. In there, Princess Twilight was doing something with her horn magic while the Royal Guard members were organizing a few documentations.

I cleared my throat catching Twilight's attention. Her eyes beamed in excitement. "Oh! You're here now. Good. We are running the last bit of paper work you will be carrying with you. The three Royal Guards from yesterday, during the dragon attack, stepped forward, all of them with stoic expressions.

"I'm guessing this is my escort team?" I asked.

Twilight nods as she hands me a baclpack filled with paper work. "Yes, I need you to find what is going on. You'll need to talk to Dragonlord Ember about the situation. The free paper is for you to collect as much information about Alduin and the other dragons as much as possible. Think you can handle it?"

Being a warrior at heart made me cringe at how casually she just asked to almost dissect these dragons..... with words. "Uhhhh, sure. I got the message." He quickly passed the notes to his guard escort which made them mumble in anger.

"Right, hold on a second." Twilight said before her horn lit up again.

Nothing seem to happen for a while until her horn grew brighter in an attempt to put more power into the spell. Nothing.

To everyone's confusion she ended the spell gasping like she lost her breath underwater. The nearby Royal Guards rushed to her aid, but she waved them off managing to keep her composure after a moment. "For some reason, good knight, the Dragonlands can't be penetrated with magic alone. Something is blocking the flow of magic around that area of land."

I sighed heavily enough for everyone to hear. Of course this wasn't going to be that easy. "Then we will have to walk to our destination. Let us start now. Gather any needed supplies for the treck ahead." The three Royal Guards agreed with me and we head into the market.

---

One long session to find meat, good strong ale, and snacking food (bread, close-to Sweet rolls) later, and we were on the road to the Dragonlands. Nothing much say about the road trip except a manage to learn the guards names over time.

The white unicorn mare of the group is named Short Spear. As the name suggests, she is good with any kind of spear she is given. She seems to always be on a short fuse with everyone which is why I don't tend to talk with her much. Luckily, she doesn't talk much in general. The gray pegasus stallion is the tallest of the group and level headed. His name is Longsword Burst. Not much could be said mostly because he is straight forward about everything. He uses a Greatsword like I have, so he is skilled in my field of expertise. And lastly is the real blue Earth pony of the group, Lion Heart. She likes to use two daggers and charge straight first into the fray. She's not a tactician, but she gets the job done with brute force. No questions asked.

After suffering for three days on the road, we caught a glimpse of volcanic activity up ahead. The guards confirmed that meant the dragonlands were approaching, so I prepared my limited knowledge of magic just in case.

"Um, not meaning to complain, but aren't there supposed to be thousands of raging destructive dragons roaming around?" Lion Heart asked getting impatient with waiting for a fight.

"From my limited knowledge, only a small percentage of the dragons living on Equis lives in the Dragonlands. It's mostly because the dragon race largely operates in solitude better rather than as a civilization." Longsword Burst said.

Lion Heart whinned in disappointment that made her deflate a bit. "That doesn't make them any less dangerous. The ones I fought in Ponyvile were not used to fighting against fighting small skilled warriors like me. They lacked practice like most dragons from my lands have. They are fierce warriors in their own right taking out thousands at a time." I commented.

The ponies seem to pale at my words realizing just how severely they underestimated the dragons' prowess. That seem to keep them quiet for a while. Then the distinct sound of a dragon's roar penetrate the air. This time, it was much more menacing. A warning. I growled in response scaring the nearby ponies with my sudden outburst.

"Looks like they finally noticed us."

"Fo krah DIIIIINNN"

I turned to the source of the noise just as a powerful Frost Breath came straight toward us. "Spread out!" I shouted. Short Sword reacted faster lighting her horn and making a large shield in front of the attack. The ice breath slammed against the barrier making Short Sword flinch under the sudden pressure. I past the shield running in the direction of the shout. A dragon was continuously using the thu'um. Strangely, this dragon was more colorful than what I remember. He also seem to have the shape of a nord rather than a dragon body shape. This made him more maneuverable than modt dragons, but he blindly kept shootong the thu'um at the ponies not noticing my advancement.

I let waves of electricity run through my right fingertips before forming a sphere out of the energy. I then released a torrent of electricity directly into the dragon's right wing. The dragon roared in unexpected pain falling soundly on the volcanic surface. I then summoned my bound sword running up to the behemoth. The dragon barely had anytime to react before I plunged the sword into its shoulder before pinning the dragon down with my foot.

The dragon writhed in agony. I leaned in and growl, menacing by its sheer ferocity. The dragon looked surprised at my outburst. "Tell me where your kind has hidden Alduin, worm. Your kind is not worthy of the thu'um you so carelessly wield that of a true Dovah's tounge." I said in a voice not my own, but I couldn't stop the words from flowing out.

The dragon trembled at my venomous tone. "H-He is not here. I-I don't know where he went! I-I was never told!" The drake try to explain.

Every word he uttered made my anger raise violently. The dragon took this chance to attack me using its free claw to skin me. However, my arm was faster, I dodged slicing the offending claw off its appendage. I pushed forward grabbing the dragon's neck using my combined nord and dragon spirit strength to squeeze it hard. The dragon struggled for air.

"I showed you a small taste of what I could do and yet you choose to suffer my wrath for a Dovah that you just met. Here is a more simpler question that you can answer. Where is Dragonlord Ember?" I asked.

The dragon seem to suddenly almost switch personalities; he smirk confidently at me as if the drake had won. "You think that you can get out of the Volcanic Catacombs alive with the former Dragonlord?! You are all foolish mortals who can nev-"

I squeezed harder making him go speechless. After a moment of thought I simply release my firm grip watching the drake cough up a storm. I waited until he gathered enough breath to speak again. "Oh, I know you won't speak to me willingly which is why I will strip that from you, for now."

Both the ponies and dragon were confused at my statement until I commanded. "Gol hah dov."

As soon as I said those words a bright orange burst of energy left my mouth and made contact with the drake. There was a brief silence as my bound sword was disspelled. The drake stood up before me bowing in front of everyone. "Your wish is my command, dovahkiin."

I could almost feel the ponies' mouths drop at this revelation of magic I displayed. I directed my attention to the dragon I have at my command. "Lead us to the Volcanic Catacombs and tell me all you know about your plans for Former Dragonlord Ember."

"As you wish, my lord." He replied solemnly rising from his bow before heading to the destination.

I glanced behind me to see the stunned looks of the pony guards. I rolled my eyes behind my helmet before gesturing to come. "Come quickly. We don't have all day to save Dragon Ember from these extremely loyal, weird dragons." They nod in agreement and follow behind me deeper into the Dragonlands.

Author's Note:

Hello everyone another update for this story! The third chapter just in this month! That is a record so far for me. Hopefully it would be just as great, if not better than the previous chapters. Let me know what you guys thinks so far. I always like to read the comment section.

Comments

[RedtheDestroyer]

9488825

Now, without further a due, back to our regularly scheduled program!

[Kanna]

Very good

[RedtheDestroyer]

9493242
Thanks.