An Unlikely Alliance Ch. 01

"So, you were at Helgen? Did you see the dragon there?" he asked.

"Yes, my lord. I had a fine view of things as the Imperials there were about to cut off my head," Dhaerys said, "His arrival put an end to their foolishness and the dragon tore through that place like a hot wind."

"Well," the jarl smiled in surprise, "You're not shy to discuss your criminal past, are you? It doesn't matter to me. So long as you do not break any laws here, there will be no trouble."

Khali thought that Dhaerys made a fine performance of straining to keep her indignation from getting the better of her. It was well-played to her mind.

"I did nothing wrong, my lord," Dhaerys seethed quietly, "I walked into the middle of a battle between their army and the Stormcloak one, that is all. I did not take part on either side, not knowing what it was about.

The record keeper didn't know what to do with me when we got to Helgen as I was not even on his list of prisoners, but an Imperial bitch captain wanted to show how little she cared about anything but impressing the general there.

It was her alone who sent me to the block. She wasn't at the battle. She knew nothing of it. She just wanted another person to kill with the rebels in order to look good. It didn't matter that I am an Imperial myself.

If I committed any crime, then it happened afterward - after I'd gotten away in the confusion."

"And what was that, then?" The jarl asked, looking thoroughly entertained for the moment, thinking that this female was obviously a warrior as well as being rather easy to look at and admire.

"That same captain proved her quality to me by running away into the keep, just as I'd done. The difference was that I had no sworn oath to uphold as she did.

Forgive the error in my judgement if you can my lord, but at that moment, there was no order there, only an opportunity for me to deal with another Imperial who should have been outside doing her sworn duty as an officer to defend the people and fight the dragon. There were still plenty of troops alive outside for her to be commanding in Helgen's defense by the sounds from outside.

I was there by bad luck and condemned by her for no reason and there she was running! She was leaving her troops leaderless when there were innocent people to defend."

"What did you do?" the armored elf asked, "In the circumstances that you describe, I'd have cut her down, if I could."

Dhaerys looked over and nodded, "I thought the same way. Considering my earlier plight - and at times I ran within a few feet of the beast - I thought that she should have been outside leading, not running."

"What did you do then?" the jarl asked.

Dhaerys didn't shy away from the issue, but neither did she put her foot in anything. "The gate downward was locked and I couldn't get any further. She had the key with which to do so.

You might say that we settled things between us there, woman to woman.

I showed her some of my quality."

She wasn't looking for it, but Dhaerys saw the elf's unconscious nod peripherally and knew that she'd scored some points with her just on principle.

"So you killed her?" the jarl asked.

"What I did there in that place with a dragon tearing the world apart just outside, is something which remains there in that ruined place," Dhaerys said in a quiet but deadly tone, "My head was bleeding," she said as she lifted her hair at the back of her head, "over nothing that I did.

I did not even know who or what these rebels were about before all of it. Yet she condemned me to die.

What would the Jarl of Whiterun have done in such a circumstance, once you were free with your own sword in your hand? Kneel down to allow her to finish it?"

She glared at the jarl and those around her, "I was still dizzy and I made my way outside, running along the road to Riverwood. There, I received aid as is only proper among civilized people. No matter that I am an Imperial and they were Nords. The people there are decent folk and did not look to see what color my flag was, so to speak. I came stumbling up the road and they offered me aid and their care. You have fine people in your hold, my lord.

From there, I ran here with their request for aid - straight here to you so that something might be done to save those people if the dragon goes there. I owe them that much."

"Now," she said in a low voice, "Tell me ...

Have I done wrong by your lights?

Should I have just walked on, tossing their plight to the wind and continued on my way?

I would hear your judgement, lord. Perhaps I have made another mistake - to trust in your name."

He looked angry for a moment but the storm there on his brow passed in an instant, "No, you acted rightly, better than that captain. You mentioned something about her quality in what you said. It sounds to me like you have some experience at such things."

He shifted in his seat there on the throne, "No matter. You came to me to tell me of the plight over in Riverwood and it reminds me that I've wanted to place troops there for a while.

Now, tell me, if you would - exactly what happened to you there with regard to this dragon?"

The Jarl was pleased to hear a firsthand account of what had happened and he issued instructions that troops be sent to Riverwood at once. He thanked Dhaerys and rewarded her with some light armor before mentioning that there was maybe something else that she might be able to help with.

He motioned them to walk with him and he asked about Khali, who didn't look over.

"We met at Helgen in the confusion," Dhaerys said, "The soldier who was with the craven captain was just as much the coward that she was. He was dragging Khali along by force. I do not know what his intent was, but I have my suspicions. I didn't think much of it, but I saved her life. For that, she has declared that she will serve me."

She lowered her voice a little as she went on, "I really think that she said that not only because of what I did there for her. I've learned that she doesn't know the common tongue, having gotten separated from the one that she'd been given to for marriage a few days earlier. I happen to know her language because I studied under a language scholar in Cyrodiil. She's not one of the Cathay."

"I see that," The Jarl said as they walked, "I think that you are a good person to take her on until she learns. Ah! Here is Fahrengar, my court wizard."

The man looked up and began to explain that he needed someone to go to Bleak Falls Barrow to seek out something for him. When she inquired as to the nature of what was wanted, he spoke of something that he called a "Dragonstone". It was a map of the ancient dragon burial mounds and where they were situated within Skyrim. The Jarl took his leave and went back to the business of running a city from his throne room.

Dhaerys set her pack down and opened the flap. "Is this something like what you wanted?"

The wizard's jaw fell open as he took the stone tablet. He only needed one look to tell that it was the thing he wanted.

"How did you come by this?" he asked.

Dhaerys shrugged, "I sometimes like to collect ... antiquities. I traded for that with a roadside merchant outside of Darkwater Crossing last week. So what now? I'd like to be paid a little so that I'm not out of pocket for helping you."

"Oh," Fahrengar said, "Speak to the Jarl's steward, Avenicci."

Just then, the elf was back, calling Fahrengar to tell him that a dragon had been sighted near the western watchtower. As Fahrengar chattered excitedly over the opportunity to see a live dragon, the elf - who was called Irileth - looked at Dhaerys and said "You should come too."

As she led them all up some steps toward where the Jarl stood waiting for them, Dhaerys reminded Khali about not understanding. "Remember not to open your eyes wide, no matter what is said."

"I cannot help it," Khali whispered, "I try, but you lie even better than a Khajiit who craves Moon Sugar!"

Dhaerys didn't look over, she only walked and said in Khajiiti, "I spoke only a very few lies, Khali. Other than the part to explain how we came to be together, it was the truth, everything."

Khali almost landed on her nose, though she kept her wits and managed to follow with her mouth open in surprise.

The Jarl stood listening to a guard as he told of the dragon and after dismissing him he turned and told Irileth to gather some troops and head to the tower.

Turning to Dhaerys, he asked her to go as well. "You survived Helgen," he said, "so you know better than anyone here how to deal with it. I hate to ask it, but I need your help once again. Please, show me your quality now and help my people if you truly can."

But then he displayed a little noblesse oblige as he told her that he'd been pleased to learn that she had the very thing that his wizard had wanted and as a result, he'd instructed his steward that she was allowed to buy property in the city henceforth.

Dhaerys smiled and said her thanks though inside, she didn't think it was that large a gift - if she didn't survive whatever happened now.

Well, she told herself, she'd been sent to kill dragons.

And here was a chance to kill her first one.

Maybe.

While Irileth listened to the Jarl's instructions and his barring Fahrengar from going along, Dhaerys took her leave, telling Khali to come with her as she ran down the stairs and along the long expanse of gleaming wood flooring back the way that they'd come.

Outside, she led the way down the many steps and through the streets to the gate.

"Which way to the watchtower?" Dhaerys asked.

"From the bottom of this road, it is to the right. You'll see it even before you get to the road," the smarter of the two said, "But you don't want to go that way now. We heard from another guard when he ran back that a dragon has been seen there."

"That's where we are going!" Dhaerys said, "Open the gates please."

The guards stared at her and then at each other, but they opened the gates and the two ran out and down the road together.

"Wi-will we always need ... need to run everywhere?" Khali asked from just behind Dhaerys.

"Not everywhere," the woman replied, "just most places. I need to toughen you up a little bit, my friend. Think that doing a little more running than you are used to will make you faster if you need to run away."

Khali didn't sound very convinced, "But we are running TOWARD the dragon now, not away.

How do you kill one, anyway? Where is the best place to attack from?"

Dhaerys' small laugh did nothing to allay Khali's fears. "From the front, he can tear you with his teeth and his breath can burn you to death in a second - if he has fire.

If he has frost, he will freeze you solid and eat you then.

From the rear, his tail will always be moving for he needs it for balance. They get excited in a fight and their tails never stop then, so it is no good trying to shove your sword up his asshole.

The best place is to stay at his side, a little close in. He will be looking there for you less, but you have to watch that he does not step on you or crush you between his leg or wing and his side. Don't give in and attack if you see him raise up in the front. He will be showing you his weakest points but they do that most often as they prepare to shoot their breath."

They ran past the place where the Khali's uncle had been earlier and took a shortcut across country rather than use the road. Dhaerys was making for a low rise of rock.

They stopped behind it and saw nothing but some smoking fires which the dragon had quite obviously ignited with it's breath. Other than that, they saw nothing.

"What are we going to do here?" Khali asked.

"You are going to watch the road behind us," Dhaerys said, "Tell me as soon as you see anyone coming this way." She began to look around and settled on a spot near a small recess in the rock.

Khali watched her for a moment, "What are you going to do?"

Dhaerys rolled her eyes, "I'm going to have a piss, if you really need to know."

Khali nodded, "Ah."

They took turns watching for each other and as Khali stood up, she found that she was looking at a different Dhaerys somehow.

The furs which Dhaerys had worn were gone, lying over her pack and Khali stared at some odd-looking armor. And as she watched, Dhaerys pulled on a helmet made of the same strange material. Dhaerys looked over and tossed Khali the light armor that the Jarl had given her.

"Put on the cuirass at least. I can adjust it to fit you and it's better than what you've got on. We don't have time for anything else.

If this goes well, there will come a time when I move in. Do NOT come with me. Try to get to his side then when he is not looking for you and attack there. If I am right, he will see only me. That will be your chance. Watch out for his feet as I told you."

"Don't you want me with you?" Khali asked, "Two swords are better than one. And what is the cuirass?"

Dhaerys shook her head. "If he is paying attention and really takes a look at me, he might get mad then. This armor is made out of dragonscales.

And the cuirass is the top part. Here, I'll help."

It wasn't something that Dhaerys had planned, but as Khali took off her leather armor to put on the armor from the Jarl, she had a few moments where she was looking at the Khajiit wearing nothing but her ... well her underwear.

She took it as Khali needing better protection and they were hurrying, but it also gave her a little time to admire Khali in an offhand way and she did enjoy it and the way that Khali trusted her. The Dagi-raht was rising in her estimation as she remembered what had been said of her sneaking around Whiterun at night.

"What if it doesn't go well?" the Khajiit asked as she saw the soldiers and Irileth come running up.

Dhaerys chuckled once as she tugged the stays on Khali's armor tighter, "It won't matter then. We'll be dead."

She looked over, "Don't give in to worry. That leads to fear. Fear keeps you from moving well unless you are running for your life. If you get in from the side, try to think of a small lizard. Think of where the heart would be if you tried to kill it from the side."

"But it's not a small lizard," Khali pointed out.

"No," Dhaerys agreed, "But ... big lizard, big heart. Harder to miss and even if you do at first, you've probably hit his lungs, so you really can't go wrong from there. Just ...

Please please Khali - don't go in too soon and watch his feet and that you don't get crushed."

Irileth looked the scene over and decided that they had to get closer. "I don't know here he is now, so stay alert, all of you. Draw your swords and let's move in."

Dhaerys said nothing, but to her mind, the time for swords - if there was one - was most definitely not at the outset. She looked up and saw a guard standing on the top of the tower. She nudged Irileth and pointed, "Tell that one that if the dragon comes, not to wait until he hovers before going down the steps. Tell him just to get below."

She pointed to the doorway lower in the old tower, "And that one should be ready to run up the stairs if he sees the dragon near the doorway. Ducking inside won't save him."

As Irileth barked out her commands, one of the guards who'd been there from the first warned them not to come too close. "He came from nowhere and took Rocky and Tor. He might still be here, though I don't know how he did that."

The guard on the tower roof called out that the dragon was coming back. Dhaerys looked in the direction that he was pointing in and she saw him come.

"Try to find some cover!" Irileth yelled.

"Whatever you do," Dhaerys told the elf, "Don't be anywhere near me. If I can, I'll turn his attention away from your men. If he's got eyes and a brain, he'll want me first."

"Why?" Irileth asked, thinking that what she'd heard sounded ridiculous.

Dhaerys looked at her, "My armour is made of his relatives, Irileth."

Khali was beside Dhaerys, "Where should I be?"

"With me at first," Dhaerys said, "and behind something thick if you can be. You can't do much until he commits and comes down to attack something. See the men with the bows? They're shooting and he hasn't landed yet. They're missing their shots for nothing. There is a way to do that and they don't know it."

As though on command, one of the running archers ran right into a broken stone abutment from not looking where he as going. The dragon was working over the top of the tower. Dhaerys hoped that the one up there had listened, but since the dragons kept at it, she had her doubts.

Unslinging her bow, she nocked an arrow and drew back all the way until her lips were kissing the bowstring. She settled on the side of the chest, timing the dragon's bobbing up and down from his wingbeats and then she let it go.

To her amazement, he hadn't moved much while the arrow was in flight and she felt it as it hit him and went deep as the dragon flinched when the shock went through him. The flames weren't of any consequence at all to a fire drake. All the same, the dragon keened out in pain and turned to look in her direction.

"NOT with me now!" she told Khali in her language, "Get behind that rock and keep your eyes open. Be ready to run around it if he comes in from behind you."

Dhaerys slung her bow onto her back and began to taunt the dragon as she walked toward it evenly. The beast now pulled up, flapping it's wings and turning toward her. She raised her fists from a crouched position as the dragon flared in front of her just off the ground not fifteen feet away.

She was thinking of something, now that she knew that this beast could breathe fire. She was thinking as she clenched her fists so tightly that they hurt, thinking of something long and frozen hard. There was the noise of the dragon's wings and his breathing as he began to draw in the air that he'd use to light her up into ash.

But underneath it all, Dhaerys heard only the sounds of frost squeaking quietly against ice as she held her fists tightly clenched.

The great head came up and Dhaerys saw what she wanted for a target.

Flinging her fingers out, she released the magic that she'd been holding back so much. There was a bright flare from each of her hands as two spears of solid ice shot from her palms and pierced the dragonscales on that great, scaly chest, going in deep, almost all the way in, to her surprise.

The dragon dropped the last few feet to the ground and recoiled from the pain.

"Now Khali!" she screamed out in Khajiiti as she ran straight in, drawing her long and slightly curved blade.

She sidestepped the head on that long neck as it began to turn toward her and she ran inside of it's reach as the jaws snapped shut on nothing and ...

Her blade sank deep into that chest in just the right place - she guessed.

But she didn't twist it.

Not ever with a blade like hers in the chest of a dragon. The old wisdom that she'd been taught told her that it was a sure way to snap the blade. Akaviri swords were made to pierce dragons and slash men, so she pulled back and gave the side of the neck the hardest overhead swing that she could summon up.

What came to her ears in the confusion and the shouts of the men was the shrieking anger of a Dagi-raht Khajiit girl who had suddenly found her courage in the faltering rage of a dying dragon.

"Rah!" she cried out with effort as she swung her sword. "Rah! ... RRrrrrAAAH!" were the sounds from the side of the beast as Khali went at it again and again with her blade. Suddenly, the dragon shuddered and the head came up again in what Dhaerys recognized from her lessons - taught by others who'd never seen a dragon in their lives as well, but who had passed on what had been learned long before.

The beast was almost done. This was it's final agony.