It swept out of the south on silent wings. Trendil’s only warning was a rushing of wind, and then the balmy air froze around her. For a moment, she couldn’t move, as a layer of frost covered her body and her feet were flash-frozen to the ground. Panic lent her the strength to break free, and then she was running, though her body felt sluggish from the chill.

Then the dragon made its presence fully known – a roar that shook the air, another woosh overhead as it rushed past. Its scales twinkled iridescent blue-grey in the sun as it rose, its grace belying its huge body. It was the most beautiful thing Trendil had ever seen.

It twisted in the air, switching directions at the apex of its parabola, diving once again with effortless, deadly ease. Trendil turned and ran up the hill to her left. The slope slowed her already-sluggish steps but the trees offered some amount of cover. Not enough to keep the next spray of killing frost that erupted from the monster’s mouth from reaching her, but perhaps enough to forestall its full fury, and thus she was able to struggle on, though the cold bit into her flesh like gnawing rats.

She reached the peak of the hill, where the trees disappeared but the ground was flatter, and made better time. She only glimpsed a figure of a man coming toward her from the corner of her eye and paused not even a heartbeat, but just yelled, “Run!” as she continued on. Whether he heard or not, she did not know, or care. She heard the wings approaching from behind just as she reached the other end of the hill, only to find that it dropped off to a steep shale slope on the far side. She launched herself feet-first over the edge just as the dragon struck again.

The shale slowed her descent as it slid with her, a mini avalanche of thin rock, as snow wafted over her head, the remnant of the dragon’s attack, she assumed. She reached the floor of the stony valley and rushed forward once again. She heard the dragon call out but, though it sounded slightly more distant, she did not slow her pace, pushing instead as hard as her shivering limbs could manage.

She felt the cave, more than saw it, though it was a near thing. Just the slightest change in the air, a gentle cross-current waft of moss and mud. She turned toward it and, four steps later, stumbled through the cavern entrance. She did not go far – just enough to protect her from clear view from outdoors. It would not do to wander too far into the unknown pitch-black fathoms.

The dragon rushed by the entrance, lower to the ground, its passing marked by a rumbling like a hundred running horses, but it did not seem to notice her hideway. She allowed herself to relax, just a little, easing to the ground as she fought to catch her breath while rubbing her still-numb limbs. It would be something, she mused, to get frostbite in the temperate southern zone of Skyrim. Of all the…

“Ah, you made it. That’s good.”

Trendil looked toward the entrance, which was now partially blocked by a figure. The man she had yelled to.

“It is my lucky day, it would seem. I was going to head for the auction in Riften but then you just stumbled into my arms. The divines are smiling on me today!”

Trendil frowned as the man came closer. He carried a lantern, which set up a pool of radiance around them. He wore a thick black robe and carried a staff in his other hand.

“What are you talking about?” She asked the question more by rote than anything else – she wasn’t particularly concerned with whatever his response might be, but he seemed to be in a chatting sort of mood.

“Why, isn’t it obvious? Well, probably not. I know your type isn’t much for thinking.”

“My type?”

“Yes. Women. Good for bearing children and cleaning. Excellent for fucking. Not much use for anything else. Oh, don’t look at me like that.  In fact, don’t look me in the eyes at all. From now on, you will look only at the ground, unless I say otherwise.”

“So you think me some sort of slave?”

“So you do understand! Excellent! It is tedious to have to explain things so much. Now, we can do this one of two ways – you can strip and kneel before me now, or I can do it for you. I promise, you will not like…”

He never got a chance to finish his sentence – he was rather rudely interrupted by the sudden insertion of three feet of sharpened metal through his jaw which, having nowhere else to go, continued on through the back of his head.

“I would have liked to teach you a more thorough lesson,” Trendil murmured as she lowered the sword before kicking the body off it so it wouldn’t spew blood all over her, “but I don’t have time right now.”

She wiped the blood off on his robes before sheathing the sword, then moved to the entrance of the cave. There didn’t appear to be any signs of the dragon. She forced herself to wait another sixty even heartbeats before moving cautiously back into the valley, then another thirty before she felt it safe. She shook her legs to relieve the last of the freezing cramps, then turned right and resumed her trek.