The first stop of the day was about ten miles from the castle. A short teleport to the nearby road, a place Nora had stood before. Graywinter Watch it was called, a small cavern, its entrance overlooking the White River. People in the area said that the cave was bad news. People had been disappearing near it for the last month, and the guards, rightfully afraid of the supernatural, had refused to investigate.

 

I wonder what they would do if the Jarl ordered them to check out the cavern? thought Nora. They would probably lie, and nothing would be done unless the Jarl or Irileth came down in person to supervise.

 

Having a general idea of where the cave was didn't mean they could find it immediately. It took almost an hour before they found a likely entrance. Feeling the evil radiating from that opening, Nora was sure it was the place. Either that, or someplace that needed clearing out anyway. She braced herself for entry, not sure what to expect. Weak zombies and skeletons, or powerful Daedra. She readied her bow, her shout and a spell, and led her people into the cave, Eldawyn right behind her.

 

There was a small cavern with a tunnel opening up on a larger one. Nora wanted to pick out the living targets, the ones that needed to go down first, and so she cast Predator Vision. Suddenly anything with body heat was visible before her, right through the rock. She grunted as she noted only one image was a strong red. The rest of the dozen odd figures standing in the cave glowed the light purple of undead. That told her a lot, since Daedra would glow just as strong in red as men or mer. With her target selected, she shouted Slow Time, then rushed into the cavern.

 

There were skeletons, a troll, and a number of humanoid figures. Four of the walking dead were wearing the robes of mages. With a chilling realization Nora knew that those had been young mages lured here, thinking they were going to help in some great experiment. Only they had been killed and became part of the experiment. Nora sighted in and loosed, her arrow going right through the chest of the one living being in the cavern, a woman who was in the process of casting something. The last casting she would ever attempt in this life.

 

“I presume that's Melisandre,” said Eldawyn, looking down on the body as the undead either fell apart or crumbled into dust.

 

Nora nodded, then knelt by the body, finding a pouch of black soul gems and a small purse with the missing page she was looking for. She tossed the gems to Eldawyn. She still didn't like the idea of using the energy from men, mer or beast races, but they had already been taken, and this energy was not going back to them.

 

They teleported back to the castle, gathered the horses, then jumped again, this time heading for Morthal. Since Nora had not been into the mountains directly north of that city she had to take a round about route. There were a bunch of ruins and altars in those mountains, visible from either side, and supposedly word walls. After meeting with Delphine and doing whatever task the Blade wanted done, she was determined to spend two or three days searching for those walls.

 

The party teleported the two hundred and fifty odd miles to the Dawnstar/Morthal crossroads in seventeen jumps, then the hundred and fifty miles to Morthal in another ten. Nora was tired at the end of the two hour jaunt, but not as much as some of her lesser excursions. She figured it was her body and mind getting used to the spell, and unless someone told her different, she would continue to believe that.

 

“Okay,” she told the others as they popped into existence on the main road outside of Morthal. “I suggest we spend the night in Morthal, which will give me a chance to talk with the wizard here today. Then I want to go to Labyrinthian and up to the altar way above it. Maybe I can get another word.”

 

They had four days before they were to meet with Delphine, so Nora figured they had the time. They rode into Morthal using Thundering Hooves, slowing to a walk before they actually entered the town. The inn was as before, mostly empty, and she secured four rooms for her people, along with baths and meals. She thought it a good idea to pay a courtesy visit on Jarl Idgrod, but was told the old woman had traveled to Solitude to attend a reception at the Thalmor Embassy. That set off alarm bells, and Nora wondered if Delphine wanted to get her into the embassy that way. Nora wasn't sure she liked that idea. She would rather go in with a company of mages and mercenaries if it had been left up to her.

 

Falion was home, and invited Nora and Eldawyn into his house. Eldawyn uncorked the bottle she carried and took a deep swig.

 

“Well, you have advanced so fast,” said the mage, gesturing the pair to seats at his table. “And the Altmer is drinking yet again,” he observed, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Master Falion. My friend has a problem. I've asked Master Gestor at the College...”

 

“Ha. That hack couldn't find a ghost if it were hanging out under his bed,” said Falion, sneering. “And the man is no master. An expert at best, though very good for his level.”

 

“But, he gives the master's quest in his school.”

 

“You don't need to be a master to do that,” said the Redguard mage. “All he has to do is give you a spell tome, along with some instructions, and you can do the quest.”

 

“Well, then maybe you can help us?”

 

“With a spirit possession? It would be easy if it were a common spirit. One spell and she would be free.” Falion cast a spell on Eldawyn, stared at her for a moment, then whistled. “But this is no common spirit. You made a deal with this thing, didn't you girl?”

 

“Why, yes. It was either that or die,” said Eldawyn, her words slurred.

 

“You might have been better off dying. At least then you wouldn't have been touched by such a dark force. Know this, Altmer. This spirit will either completely take you over, ejecting your soul from your body. Or you will go mad. And though the drinking helps you keep it at bay, you won't be able to do that much longer.”

 

“So you've analyzed the problem,” said Nora. “Now, what's the solution?”

 

“And if it's difficult and dangerous?”

 

“She's my friend,” said Nora, shrugging her shoulders. “She has saved me innumerable times.”

 

“As have you me, darling,” said Elda, a slight smile on her face.

 

“I wish I had friends like you when I was adventuring,” said Falion. “So, you're willing to make sacrifices. Even risk your lives to drive out the spirit. The cure may be as bad as the condition. The Altmer could die, but at least her own spirit would be free.”

 

“That's up to Eldawyn,” said Nora, looking at her friend.

 

“I want this thing out of me,” she said, then cried out in pain.

 

Falion cast another spell, and the pained expression on Elda's face left. “You are free of its influence, for the moment. It will not last long, and it may punish you further when the spell wears off. But at least now you can speak freely. So, you will take the risk. But will you risk your friend's life as well?”

 

“That's not up to her,” said Nora, raising a hand to silence her friend. “That's my decision. And I say I'm willing to take the risk.”

 

“Even if it means the World Eater is free to destroy everything?”

 

“I can't live my life hiding from what's in front of me, just so I am guaranteed to be around later.”

 

“Well said, and nothing less than I would have expected from you, Nora. Okay. I don't have the solution, but I think I know where to look. Not in any tome, but communing on the Planes of Oblivion with powerful forces. I risk much as well, but if you two are willing to try, I can do no less. Give me a month or two and I should have something that can help. No guarantees, but I say we have a fifty-fifty shot at it.”

 

Nora left the wizard’s house with hope for her friend. Maybe they would be risking much for nothing. But it was no less than she had done for close friends in the past. And as far as she was concerned, Eldawyn was the best friend she had in Skyrim.

 

*     *      *

 

The next morning the party teleported into Labyrinthian in three jumps. The ruins were mostly quiet, though some undead showed their ugly faces and were taken down. The group rode through the pass to the south, then up the winding path to the mountain on which Skyborn Altar sat. They rode up the path at a normal pace, feeling that it wasn't worth skirting tragedy in falling off the path into the long drops to one side. Halfway up the dragon appeared, a blue that shot waves of cold from its mouth. The four mages did their best to keep it off, sending fire magic at it, mostly missing but hitting enough to keep it from pressing its attack.

 

When they reached the steps leading up to the altar, over a mile in length, the dragon finally pressed its attack, coming into a low hover and blasting everything it could reach with cold. The party fanned out as they had trained, giving the dragon too many targets to settle on. Arrows and spells hit it, and Nora got in a Marked For Death shout, weakening it. The dragon fell, right on the path behind them, and Valdimar and Jordis finished it off. Nora absorbed the soul in a rush of power, pain and pleasure, adding it to her contained energy, at least temporarily.

 

There were some injuries, some people who had been near frozen, but with four healers it wasn't long before everyone was back on their feet. They left the horses under the watch of Elesia and J'Zargo, while the rest trudged up the stairs. And into the face of an enemy that was more dangerous than the dragon they had just killed.

 

Nora didn't know what they were called, but they were horrific undead beasts. At least nine feet tall, with long snouts and bone wings, not a bit of flesh on them, they walked forward holding large weapons. But their greatest weapon was the use of the Thu'um, shouts that were more powerful than Nora's own. Two of the three creatures shouted, sending the entire party falling back. A couple almost going over the edge.

 

“Fire,” yelled Nora, calling up the fireball spell and sending globe after globe into the creatures. She wasn't willing to close with them, not with not as much power as they had in their shouts. So she, Eldawyn and Sofia burned them, blasting them into bone fragments.  Some more skeletons appeared in support, but they were blown apart as well, and the path was open to the summit.

 

The word wall was ahead, singing to her as a small part of it lit up. She ran toward it, wanting to get at the word, to increase her power. The word firmed up, then burned itself into her mind. The second word of Frost Breath appeared in her mental vision, and she used one of her stored dragon souls to unlock the word in her mind.

 

“Well, what did you get?” asked a smiling Eldawyn.

 

Nora looked at the wall and shouted, the two words of Frost Breath sending a wave of terrible cold into the stone. “The second word,” crowed Nora. She liked getting new shouts, but it was even better to get the other words of a shout and make it more powerful.

 

It was about ten in the morning, still most of the day ahead, and Nora wanted to see if she might get another word. That meant finding another close wall like at the altar, one they could get to without crawling through a Draugr infested dungeon. Later maybe, but not until she had met with Delphine. And she wanted to investigate something that was bothering her in Solitude.

 

“I've been looking over the ancient tomes,” said Lydia, who was becoming somewhat of a scholar. “There are several to the west of Solitude, which might be good targets after you take care of business in the city, my Thane. And some more south of these mountains that we might be able to explore on the way back to Whiterun.”

 

“Then we'll do that,” said Nora, decided that they would go ahead and move on to Solitude. She wished the Greybeards would just give her a list of word walls and let her get on with it. Of course, with teleport at her command, she could pop into High Hrothgar with two or so jumps from her castle. While she would really like to know what was on the top of that mountain. But having never been there, it was out of her reach. Arngeir had said that she would know when she was ready to go up the mountain and meet their leader. If the Greybeards had so much wisdom and power, what might the unseen leader possess? She might as well argue with that word wall as try to talk Arngeir into letting her up that mountain before he thought she was ready.

 

It took fifteen jumps to reach the outskirts of Solitude. Nora swallowed one of the potions Arcadia had concocted for her before their last jump, checking out her appearance in a hand mirror she had brought from Earth. Nora now had red hair, green eyes, and features slightly different from her own. Arcadia had done a masterful job, and this, according to her vision, would be her appearance for the next twenty-four hours. She had several other potions that would change her appearance again, making her look like a different person according to her wishes. The perfect accessory for covert operations.

 

“Put up the horses,” she told her people in her altered voice, a little higher pitched than her normal tone. “We'll spend this night in the inn by the docks. I want to see something, so I will be going alone.”

 

“You think that wise?” asked Eldawyn, raising an eyebrow.

 

“I won't be causing any trouble,” said Nora, smoothing out the mage robes that would be her garb for this excursion.

 

“Darling, you don't have to cause trouble. Trouble follows you.”

 

“Guilty. But I'll be careful.”

Nora walked through the outskirts into the town, moving down the crowded thoroughfare without garnering much in the way of attention. She marveled once again in the vitality of this city, which though mostly Nord, still had a cosmopolitan society. The Dragonborn stopped at Evette Sans' stall to purchase a bottle of wine, testing her disguise with someone who had reason to recognize her. San sold her the bottle without batting an eye, and Nora thought her alchemical disguise was going to fool anyone she came in contact with.

 

She took a turn further into the town and headed toward Castle Dour, passing through the courtyard along with many other citizens, heading for the multi-divine temple that was the primary place of worship in the city. There were other temples, of course. Each of the eight divines, excluding Talos, had their own halls of worship, but this temple was the most prestigious.

 

The temple was half empty, it not being time for a service to any of the Divines. Still, there were a lot of people there, praying at one of the eight shrines, avoiding the empty ninth alcove, or talking to one of the many priests.

 

“Why is one of the alcoves empty,” Nora asked a good-looking female priest.

 

“That was the shrine to Talos, the former Emperor Tiber Septim. Under the White Gold Concordant we no longer worship him. Tiber Septim was an amazing man, the founder of the Empire. But he was no God.”

 

Nora nodded and walked forward, her eyes searching for signs of Altmer in the chamber. There were several people in obscuring robes, taller than most, and she thought they might be Altmer, perhaps Thalmor. She looked over the empty alcove, just as a citizen unobtrusively dropped a piece of paper on the base of the shrine.

 

Nora moved slowly, making sure no one was watching her and picked up the paper, quickly folding it and putting it in a pocket of her robe. She noticed that the man who had dropped the paper was looking at her, nodding as she met his eyes. Following the man from the temple, she sat down next to him on a bench in the courtyard outside the temple.

 

“Do you believe, sister?” asked the Nord, after checking their surroundings.

 

“Talos is a God,” said Nora firmly. “I have prayed at his shrines, and felt the power of his blessing. That was no mere man.” She didn't mention that Talos was responsible for shortening the cool down on her shouts, the time between being able to use one and utilize another.

 

“I am glad you have come to that viewpoint,” said the man. “Many Nords have given up the faith out of fear of the Thalmor. Or because it is inconvenient to their dealings with the Empire.”

 

“And is there a priest I can talk to?”

 

“There is, but you must first prove to me that you are to be trusted.”

 

“How do I do that?”

 

“Keep that paper, which explains out views. But put this one in its place.”

 

That seemed like a simple request, and she wondered what the catch was. But if that was all it took, she was game. Walking back into the temple, she moved straight to the empty alcove and carefully placed the paper. In retrospect not the best method.

 

“What are you doing there?” called out a voice that had to be an Altmer. “Stop. By the order of the Thalmor, stop.”

 

Nora walked quickly to the door of the temple aware of a robed figure coming after her. She went through the door, then into a shadowed alcove, quickly casting Invisibility, while the High Elf walked out, his eyes seeking the blasphemer. Nora reached out and grabbed the man by the back of his robe and pulled him into the shadows. A quick strike to the side of his neck broke the vertebrae, and she quickly lowered the body to the ground, then walked out into the sunlight.

 

“You risked much,” said the man who she had been talking to, coming up beside her.

 

“Not the first of the bastards I have killed, and definitely won't be the last.”

 

“If you have hatred for the Altmer, perhaps we don't need you in our midst.”

 

“I don't hate the Altmer,” she said in Altmer, something she wasn't sure the man would know, but would surely recognize. “I love their culture, and many of their people,” she continued in Nord. “It's just the Thalmor I hate.”

 

“Then you will fit in. If you want to talk with our priestess, go ten miles past Meridia’s Beacon down the road to High Rock. You will see an overgrown path, with a couple of discarded torches that will never burn out. Go two miles down that path and you should see the broken tower. The pass phrase is Tiber the God. Do all of this and you will meet our most remarkable priestess.”

 

Nora thanked the man, then stepped behind a building outside of the castle, switched out her robe to the other side, now red, and took another potion. This time her hair was the color of wheat, her eyes the pale blue of many of Skyrim's inhabitants. There were still several hours of light left, and she decided she wanted to sate her curiosity. She saddled Queen Alfsigr and started down the road, casting Thundering Hooves as soon as she was out of sight of the city. Forty minutes later she was riding along the overgrown path, until she sighted the ruined tower.

 

“Stay where you are,” called out a soft voice. “We have bows leveled at you. Do not make any moves toward your weapons.”

 

“I only have a dagger,” said Nora, knowing that was not really the truth. She had many quick trigger spells at her command, the Thu'um, and her hand to hand abilities. But these people didn't know that, and she wasn't about to inform them.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Tiber the God,” said Nora. She could feel the unseen people around her relax.

 

“Welcome, sister. Do you seek the wisdom of Talos?”

 

“I do. And I understand it is to be found here.”

 

“Then follow me,” said a barefoot woman in the armor of the Stormcloaks.

 

“You're a Stormcloak?”

 

“I was. But from the wisdom I have gained here, I realize that the civil war hurts all, and the Thalmor are the real enemy.”

 

Nora followed the woman, who she learned was a Nord named Froa, into the tower. Froa tapped a cryptic code on the hatch in the floor, which clicked open. Froa lifted the hatch and motioned for Nora to lead.

 

The room below was well lit, with a large statue of Talos, standing over the snake that was time, his sword pinning it down. There were forty or so people in the room, sitting, or kneeling in front of the statue in prayer. And standing at the front of the room, a beautiful Altmer woman in brown robes, an amulet of Talos hanging from her neck. She had golden green eyes, and similar faint golden tattoos around her eyes and down her nose to what Eldawyn had.

 

“Welcome visitor,” said the elf. “What brings you to Talos.”

 

“I'm very surprised to find an Altmer here leading a service to Talos,” said Nora in the tongue of the elves.

 

“You speak our language,” said the delighted elf in Altmer. “And very well. But to answer your question, I have never felt constrained by my heritage to worship certain gods while ignoring others. Talos represents the battle to maintain linear time against those who would collapse it, and unmake this world. I, for one, have no wish to dissolve my personality into an amorphous mass of spirit. I will live my life and go on to a reward of my own choosing.”

 

“I can get behind that philosophy,” said Nora, noting the questioning looks from the congregation, switching back to the common tongue. “I believe much the same. Not all Nords can go to Sovngarde, but all have a pleasant afterlife ahead of them if they don't turn to evil in this life.”

 

“Though you look like a Nord,” said the priestess, looking closely at Nora. “I sense there is more to your story. I am Arilwaen, and it is my honor to be the shepherd of these people you see here. Many of my people would like to see creation unmade, but not all.”

 

“I am very familiar with that philosophy. I have an Altmer companion, a mage. She does not subscribe to that philosophy, and hates the Thalmor with a passion.”

 

“I do not preach hate here,” said the gentle elf in her soft voice. “I know the Thalmor are the enemy to my cause, to strengthen the God Talos. But it is from mistaken beliefs that they advance their agenda. They may get what they want, but what about the other peoples. Now,” she said, turning back to her congregation. “I want to talk to our visitor in private.”

 

Arilwaen walked Nora to another chamber, closing the door behind her. “Please, make yourself comfortable.” When Nora was seated the elf leaned forward. “I sense much magical power in you. More than one your age should have, but I also sense no evil.”

 

Nora told the elf her story, feeling that this was a person she could trust. How she came to this world, how she had become Dragonborn, then her work at the College. And her stopping Ancano from using the Eye of Magnus to unmake the world.

 

“A most unbelievable story, Nora. But I sensed no falsehood in you. And I, myself, felt the reverberations through linear time from the event you mention. I find solace in the fact that the Psijics took it away. They may be secretive, and they may be my people, but one thing I can say that is truth, they oppose the Thalmor with their whole beings.”

 

“I felt comforted telling you my story, my Lady Arilwaen. You have a way about you. A power that is used to do only good.”

 

“Thank you. And may I ask you. Are you going to Markarth in the near future?”

 

“I might find myself heading that way. There are word walls down there, and I'm going to need everything I can get to face Alduin.”

 

“You are so brave, Nora. I would hide under my bed if that monster approached. Though I have some thought that he is not really a monster, but a creature with a destiny.”

 

“And it's my destiny to stop him, so that time can continue to advance. I have to tell you, though. That monster scares me to death.”

 

“Yet still you will face him. That is true courage. Now, my request. We ask that everyone who finds a pamphlet of ours that leads them here, leave two more elsewhere. I would like you to leave one at the Shrine of Talos in the city, and another at the primary inn. Would you do this for me, when you find the time to get to Markarth?”

 

“I will, Lady Arilwaen.”

 

“Thank you, Lady Nora. I am so glad that you found us. You give me more hope for this world.”

 

“As do you for me.”

 

Nora left the hidden temple with a light heart. The Thalmor were trying to destroy Talos worship, so they could stop his influence on time. All they were accomplishing was driving that worship underground. Still, they were hurting the power of the God, and Nora was determined to strengthen him as much as she could. As long as it didn't hinder her primary mission, Alduin.

 

 

*     *     *

“How did your search go?” asked Eldawyn as Nora walked into the common room of the Drunken Pirate Inn.

 

“How did you know it was me?” asked a surprised Dragonborn. She had been hoping to play with her friends a little before doing a reveal.

 

“Nora, you might have changed your facial features, your hair and your eye color. What you didn't change was your carriage, the way you move. You are as relaxed as a saber cat just before your coiled muscles send you into action. You might want to work on that some in the future, when you’re pretending to be someone else.”

 

“Oh,” said Nora, feeling embarrassed at being caught. “But yes, I found out more about Talos worship in Solitude. There is a secret temple here, led by an Altmer priestess.”

 

“An Altmer? Well, that's surprising. While I believe most of my people don't want to rejoin with the primordial, most don't subscribe to other Gods. Mostly we only call upon them when we're inconvenienced, or about to die.”

 

So Nora explained the concept of linear time, and how Talos was instrumental in keeping it linear. Eldawyn smiled as she finished.

 

“Makes sense. And I see that this Altmer priestess has caught a new adherent. So tell me, is she pretty?”