An Unlikely Alliance Ch. 01

Dhaerys drew her blade back once more as she looked into those dying eyes and taking one spiked horn on that head in her hand, she swung herself up and knelt, half-straddling the thick neck. She didn't know where in her it came from, but she leaned back and howled at the sky as she plunged her long blade straight down, piercing the single thin spot in the skull's natural armor.

The sword was out and she was on her feet next to the dragon before the head fell for the last time.

Khali came running from the side somewhere and stood hugging Dhaerys for all that she was worth.

"Remember," the Akaviri said in a half-whisper, "You don't speak the common tongue. Smile and nod no matter what they say to you now."

There was a strange hissing sound and the carcass began to glow subtly. As she looked, the glow grew until it appeared that the dragon was disintegrating by being consumed in a cold fire from within. The hiss grew louder until it was all that there was to hear and Dhaerys stood in a flowing wreath of eerie glowing cold fire.

As the flames passed her by - some of them going clear through her - she heard that word again, the one from the crypt. Looking at the bony thing before her which grew less dragonlike and more bony with each moment, Dhaerys gave in to what she felt and bellowed the word.

The body of the dragon moved, as though by the force of her shout. Before she could do anything else, she repeated it twice more - just because it felt good to do it.

She looked at Khali and chuckled at the wide eyes there regarding her and she raised a finger, "You do not speak anything but Khajiiti to me. Remember."

Khali began to chatter - all of it in Khajiiti and Dhaerys laughed and nodded, hugging Khali herself just out of joy that she hadn't been harmed.

She leaned down and fought off the urge to kiss the furry head, since it wouldn't have been correct to do. There were ways among the Khajiit to better express the way that she felt without the risk of offending - and that was as one of them, done between equals.

"You know," she smiled as she rubbed her cheek against Khali's head a few times in happiness, "I have never heard of a Khajiit Dragonslayer.

I can say that it is an honor to know one."

"But it was you who killed it," Khali said as she rubbed back in delight that Dhaerys would know this, "I only helped."

Dhaerys shrugged, "If that was helping - what you did, my friend, then please help me always.

You told me that two swords are better than one. You were right, but not next to each other. I think it worked well that the swords were working in two different places. And think of it this way, Khali. To these men here, it only matters that there were two crazed fighters working together. No one saw the whole scene; not you and not me. But we have killed a dragon together and none can say otherwise, for that is what we did.

I think that the one called Irileth is known as a fierce fighter around these parts. I did not see her when we went in, did you?"

Khali shook her head, now that she recalled it.

"See? She did not do what you did. You mastered your fear. Now you need to learn that this crazy bravery has it's limits and to go beyond them is to die for nothing."

"Weren't you afraid?" Khali asked and Dhaerys nodded, "Of course I was, but not enough to root my feet to the ground. And after it is begun, who has the time to be afraid? You were not afraid in the middle of it, were you?"

Khali stopped to think about it and she looked up with a grin, "No. I was busy."

"Just so," Dhaerys beamed, "there was no time for it."

She stepped forward and began to break a few of the bones and scales free.

"What are you doing?" Khali asked in her language, "Should I help?"

"Only a few are the best ones, "Dhaerys said. "This dragon, I will do. I will tell you more later and show you what to look for. Your uncle would give much for these, the very best. The rest ... they are not worth harvesting. Here, put these ones in my pack - or yours if you wish. We killed the thing together. I think that we should share what gold we can get from it."

At the sound of that word - even in Khajiiti - Khali helped and packed away the goods with enthusiasm.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," Irileth said quietly in awe as she walked up, "I'd have never believed it."

Some of the guards made a great deal out of the way that Dhaerys had shouted. To them, it said that Dhaerys was 'Dragonborn"- one who could take the soul of a defeated dragon. It seemed to be a cultural thing to them.

Irilieth herself was more prosaic when they asked her about it, "Here is a dead dragon. And that is something that I definitely understand. Now we know that they can be killed."

She looked to Dhaerys and said, "You should get back to the keep. The Jarl will want to know what happened here. I need to look for any who were not killed, but might be lying wounded somewhere."

Dhaerys nodded and turned to walk away. There was a young guard there who smiled and said, "We taught that dragon not to mess with Whiterun, didn't we? Not quite as easy as it was at Helgen."

Dhaerys nodded and smiled, though when she turned away she looked a little troubled as she began to walk back toward the city.

"What is it?" Khali asked quietly in her tongue.

"Something I just thought of," Dhaerys said, "And I need to think on it a little more. Do not mind me."

"What happened at this Helgen place you spoke of?" the Khajiit asked, "If this one is allowed to ask such things?"

Dhaerys looked over and pointed, "This one is allowed to ask anything at almost any time."

She gave Khali a quick sketch of her time at the doomed village, leaving nothing out this time. "That was the first dragon that I ever saw alive."

Her companion was confused, "But ... how did you know HOW to kill it if you had never fought one before?"

Dhaerys shrugged, "My people ... where I come from. They were dragonkillers long ago. The way is still passed down among us. I was taught as were all of my relations before me, even though it has been ages since there were any dragons there. We think that the smarter ones among them all came here long ago. That was what was told to us all before we came."

She looked at Khali, who asked, "We?"

Dhaerys nodded, "There were twenty of us sent here. I do not know what might have happened to ten of us, since they swam ashore in other places before I was to go with my five. I am the only one who lives out of my group and I am almost sure that none of the others live. I saw the wreck of the ship which brought us a few days later.

Maybe I am all that is left, I do not know. You are now the only one who knows even that much about me. We were told not to announce ourselves here. We were sent for a single purpose and after it was done we were not ever expected to return."

"Can this one ask what was this purpose?" Khali asked, "I would not tell anyone. I am also alone here, no?"

Dhaerys shrugged, "To find and kill any dragons that we could until none are left. That is all that I can tell you for now."

She looked over and Khali's eyes seemed to be getting larger, "To kill dragons? That is why you are here? That is what we will do, you and this one?"

Dhaerys nodded somewhat hesitantly, "Khali, you are not bound to this purpose. You did not swear any oaths as I and the others did. In a few days your uncle will return before he leaves for the eastern coast. I will not hold you to anything since I really cannot. If you wish, then go back to him and I will vouch for you that you did not fail me.

When I needed you, you were there. It is more than I could have gotten from that elf back there, isn't it?

I am sorry," she sighed, "I should not have agreed to take you with me. Your uncle knows nothing of my intent - or he would not have permitted it. I only ..."

She looked down and sighed, "All of my life I have known war. From when I was seventeen, I was in the army. One cannot have many friends there, for life can be short. All that you can have are comrades, fellow fighters. It is not the same thing. You can laugh together and drink together.

But you cannot talk much of other things, since there is nothing between you but the fighting.

When I was a girl, I had friends; real friends and I miss that so. I now find that I like having you along and even teaching you as I can makes me happy. I had a hope which I now see was foolish, and that was that I might have a friend just once more. Any of my party is gone, either far from me or dead.

I am alone."

Khali nodded, "I am the same. Mother did not approve of my friends and neither did Uncle. That is really why he took me along with him on his travels - to teach me, surely - but also to break my friendships."

She looked up, "I now see that their concern for me was not wrong. But it is a lonely life for a Khajiit girl who does not fit in with her family."

She stepped nearer as they walked and put her arm around Dhaerys' waist, looking up.

"I will not go back, Dhaerys.

Khali has decided this for herself. She wants also to have a friend. A lonely dragonkiller might make a good one, she thinks.

I care nothing for the ones whom you are sworn to for this purpose. Teach me the oaths so that I understand and I will swear them to you, only to you, and I will be sworn to you. I also have this want for a friend."

Dhaerys looked over in a little surprise and then she put her arm around Khali's shoulder. "Then we are not alone if we are together."

"You should not tell Uncle that I should go back," the cat said quietly. "Khali would not like that. She wishes to stay with her friend."

They walked on in the deepening gloom and once more, Dhaerys thought that something had gone wrong with her her internal clock. It now seemed like a week since she'd left Riverwood, not only a single day which was not over yet.

As they reached the turnoff and the path which led up to the city gates, there was a sound, far off and yet near at once. It was a sound like distant thunder and after that, she thought that she could make out a word in it, one which she did not recognize.

"What was that?" Khali asked as she looked around.

"I don't know," Dhaerys answered, "But it doesn't seem to have come from any dragon, so that means that we are not needed anymore this night, if I can hope for it. I am tired now and want only to sleep."

"But," Khali wondered, "Where are we to do that? Oh! I know of two places where we might rent beds in the city. We should go to tell the king fellow what happened and then we can get some sleep."

"He is not a king," Dhaerys said, "He is only the Jarl who runs the hold of Whiterun. That means that he is like a little king, but that is all. I like him, so far. He would let me buy property here. Do you think that you'd like to live here for a time? I think that Whiterun is in a good place to search out dragons in every direction. If I have enough, we would not have to pay to rent beds if we were close enough to return home. What do you think?"

"I do not know," Khali said, thinking aloud, "I have never had what is a home - not like I think that I see the people here living in. Does living like that keep Khali dry if it begins to rain as she sleeps? Can she be warm when the little white flakes fall from the sky?"

Dhaerys laughed, knowing enough about the natural homeland of the Khajiit since she'd been there before, "When the wind blows cold, moaning in the night and the little white flakes feel like hard rain against your pretty fur, then if we can buy a place for our home here, I promise that Khali can be almost as warm as she was when she was a kitten playing on the hot sands of Elseweyr - but without the sands and the sunshine, of course."

Khali let out a wistful sigh and leaned against her friend, "Ohh, you make it sound so good, Dhaerys. Khali would give much for a place like that. How is it done?"

"It is not the same, but it is as close as one can come here," the woman smiled, "Imagine a great fire to be warmed by. Think of that first."

"That is what Khali always wants, but no matter how much wood that she chops, Uncle never lets her have the fire big enough." The little whining moan that Khali allowed to escape her throat caused Dhaerys to grin. Though they might be covered in fur, coming from the hot climate of their homeland left them ill-equipped to really deal with the Skyrim winter.

"You would not need it to be so big," Dhaerys smiled, "for it would burn our house down like that. The secret is in having the fire inside the house and tending it carefully. New wood is added to the firepit in the center and when it is turned to coals, you rake them out to the sides and add more to the middle, only a few pieces at a time so it doesn't get big. You don't need it big, and it warms you even like that. After a time, you have a large bed of coals and the heat pours out.

The walls around keep out the wind and the night air. After a time, the heat from the fire gets all over the house. I will show you how to keep the fire just right. Did you see the large firepit in the keep? We need one like that, only smaller, since we would not have a big keep to warm."

"I want it already," Khali smiled, "It is long since this one has been able to sit and eat and feel good with no clothes on. Can she do that?"

Dhaerys nodded, "I have been to Elseweyr, Khali. I have run on the warm sand and played in the ocean with no clothes. I remember it still. I would want that too."

Khali laughed freely and it sounded so different to Dhaerys somehow. Still, she liked to hear it.

"I am already learning much!" the cat exclaimed, "I would not have said it as we began, but to me, it sounds as though we are not really very far apart. I think now that we are the same kind of girl, or almost. How do we start this house business?"

"We may have to rent our beds in an inn for tonight," Dhaerys said, "but tomorrow, I will see how much something like that costs. I do not think that we need a large place. I only hope that what I have is enough."

"Khali is smaller than her friend," the Khajiit said, thinking out loud once more, "We should try to save whatever we have together as much as we can. If it happens, then we will rent only one bed. Khali wants to learn to sleep in a bed some night and she hopes it is not hard to do and not fall out. If she has to, she will sleep on the floor. She has slept on the ground all of her life so far. Another night, she can do."

She looked across again, "Can ... would Dhaerys teach Khali how? Sometime?

Sometime, could Khali learn this? She thinks that it cannot be too hard. She sees some very stupid Nords and THEY can sleep in beds.

Or do they fall out onto the floor often and tell no one of it? That is what Khali would do."

Dhaerys rolled her eyes and laughed, "This one thinks that Khali thinks too much about it. Khali, you are a lovely Dagi-raht who tries to live as a Cathay. But somewhere inside, there must be enough Dagi to be able to sleep in a tree.

Have you ever slept in a tree before?

Khali nodded, "Oh yes. It is easy. You climb up and you get as settled as you can, then your claws must come out and be on the wood. That way, if you begin to fall, you wake and your claws go deep in to hold you still."

She nodded, "Very easy, yes."

As strange as it sounded, Dhaerys knew that it was a real concern - like sleeping in a tree would be to a human. "So you can sleep in a bed and look, I have no claws. If I can do it, you can too. You will not fall out."

"But -" Khali began, her eyes a little wide, "If I move while I sleep ... a bed is flat. I will not feel it as I begin to fall."

Dhaerys sighed, "I will teach you."

It seemed strange to her, this near-phobia that a Khajiit could have over such a thing. But when she looked, Khali was walking, looking straight ahead. Dhaerys heard her soft sigh and to her, it seemed that whatever she'd said seemed to have been a comfort to Khali somehow.

"Then Khajiit will learn this and not be afraid to fall. This one has helped to kill a dragon. What is there to be afraid of - when you have done that?"

She was silent for a few moments, but it didn't last long.

"This one knows why she sleeps on the ground. She knows why she sleeps in a tree. Trees are for sleeping in if there is something which can harm Khajiit on the ground in the night."

She looked over, "What is there that can harm you on the ground that makes you sleep only this high? Something small that cannot jump much? Why did it start, this bed-sleeping?"

"Sleeping on the ground can be done," Dhaerys said, "Often, I have had to do it. But a bed is better. You sleep better, and the cold dampness in the ground cannot make your bones ache if you sleep in a bed."

"I know of it," Khali said, "Uncle cannot move right away most mornings. Is that what it is?"

Dhaerys nodded, "So you see, there is something which cannot jump much."

"Then I want to sleep in a bed," the cat said.

"Then you can," the woman smiled, slightly amused at how Khajiit can have such circular thoughts.

The evening sky darkened as the clouds joined up in obscuring the stars. The wind picked up as well and Khali remarked on it. "It looks to this Khajiit like a night comes which will make her ache for the dry warmth of a fire and a warm bed."

It was a whole different story when the pair walked up the path toward the gates this time. When they came up the last incline, the guards came forward to meet them.

"By Ysmir," Heimrick exclaimed to Dhaerys, "You actually did it! You killed a dragon!"

Dhaerys nodded a little wearily and smiled, "Yes, we did. How is it that you know of it since you are stationed here at the gates?"

"We can see the watchtower from here," the other one said, "We took turns running up to the ramparts to see better. From there, I could see that it was you who faced the beast down alone."

Dhaerys shook her head, "Not alone. My friend here attacked from the side, close in. I still do not know how he did not step on her. But she is a quick one and is fast with a blade."

"No doubt," the guard said, looking at Khali, "Better get up to the keep and tell the Jarl.

Thank you for what you did. I am sure that I stand before the two bravest ladies that I have ever seen. I doubt that even Fahrengar would have worked magick that strongly. From where I stood, it looked to me as though you skewered him with something bright white through the chest and then ... and then you - "

Dhaerys nodded, "But I did the last to finish it, my friend. In truth, he was so far gone already from what we had already done, I'm sure that he would have died then even if I'd done nothing at that point."

The guard smiled and gestured toward the doors, but before anyone could take a step, Heimrick growled, "City's still off-limits to Khajiits. That one stays here this time."

"Don't mind him," the kind guard grinned, "He's just trying to make up for his lousy luck. He can't get a woman in here to even look at him for anything. I keep telling him that he should stop trying to look like a prick. Don't listen to him. I outrank him anyway.

Stand down Heimrick, or I'll make sure that you're not a guard in Whiterun by the end of the watch."

Dhaerys put her arm around Khali's shoulder and shot Heimrick a nasty look. "Have you ever heard of a Khajiit dragonkiller, Heimrick? Well you're looking at one right now. If another dragon comes, I'll be sure to ask for you to come and assist us when we go to kill him. We'll see then how you fare.

I'll be sure to mention you to the Jarl in a few minutes. He's already met her and he had no issue with her at all. Stop trying to see the worst in others. It doesn't suit you or anyone else."

They felt the first of the raindrops as they neared the almost deserted marketplace. When they'd reached the next level and entered the roundabout where four paths met around a large and very old tree, a young girl looked up from where she was sitting alone on a bench. She looked to be about ten years of age with a slightly dirty face bearing a hopeful expression.