“Dammit! Pull back! Get to the cave!” Swordsinger cut through the dragon’s icy blast but it hadn’t been aiming at her, so she only managed to keep some of it from hitting the backs of the retreating squad. Someone’s scream was cut short as his lungs flash froze and his lifeless body crashed to the ground.

 

 

 

Swordsinger cursed, only able to spare a glance as she was forced back. The hagraven popped back out of the leather hut it had hidden in when the dragon approached and launched another fireball at the retreating squad. The cries of fear and pain were subsumed by the ear-ringing blast and two more of her soldiers collapsed, their armor melted into their blackened skin.

 

 

 

Swordsinger glared up at the three lizards that wheeled above as she ran and shouted, “Dammit, dragons, why don’t attack them for a while?!”

 

 

 

As if in response, the red one dipped and dove. Fire spewed from its mouth, catching the hagraven in mid-cast. It screamed as it was engulfed; Swordsinger had just enough time to stop, face the dragon, and adjust her stance to split the trailing edge of the flame before it reached her. Then she yelled, “Thank you!” as she turned and resumed her sprint. She reached the cave entrance and paused to make sure everyone was in before entering herself.

 

 

 

Well, everyone who could.

 

 

 

“Head count!” She yelled it to no one in particular as she strode through the cave, eyes searching every face she came to, fighting to keep desperation from leaking into her voice. “Who have we lost?” Who have I lost?

 

 

 

She reached the back of the cave and her eyes lit on Hammerleaf kneeling over an injured soldier. He looked up and their eyes met and her relief blocked out all other senses for a moment. She just restrained herself from running to him and burying herself in his arms. The day had been a disaster of unprecedented proportions for her regiment and she wanted nothing more than to weep into his strong chest while he told her it would all be okay.

 

 

 

But it wouldn’t. Nothing could be the same after today.

 

 

 

She settled for walking to the spot beside him but then stood, turned, and faced her regiment as an openly weeping Wooly handed her the list of names. Her eyes widened as she saw it.

 

 

 

“That many?”

 

 

 

Wooly nodded, not bothering to wipe away his tears. Swordsinger shifted so Hammerleaf could see list.

 

 

 

“Fourteen.” Hammerleaf shook his head. “We lost an entire Company.”

 

 

 

Swordsinger nodded as she scanned the names. “Just about.” Then her heart caught in her throat and she pointed. “See that?”

 

 

 

Hammerleaf glanced then cursed as Swordsinger gently touched the paper next to Poke and Primrose’s names. She shared a glance at Wooly and he grimaced and looked away.

 

 

 

She sighed as she folded the paper, then took a step forward. Time to be a leader.

 

 

 

The cave stilled as she faced her troops.

 

 

 

“We lost…” she paused and cleared her throat of the thickness that filled it. “We lost a lot of good soldiers today. And we will recover their bodies and mourn their losses as soon as we can. For now…” she cleared her throat again. “…we need to get prepared. I don’t know why the Foresworn dare not enter this cave even when being attacked by three dragons, but I’m not going to take the chance that they might change their minds. We need to set up barricades at the narrowest point of the cave entrance and establish a defensive perimeter. We need our scouts to search the rest of the cave system but be careful! Whatever it is in here is something the Foresworn avoid at all costs, so take no chances. We’ve…we’ve lost enough soldiers.”

 

 

 

She nodded to the Company leaders and turned away as she heard orders being given. The cave burst into something almost resembling normalcy as her Regiment went to work. She only needed a quick nod at Wooly and Hammerleaf to get them to follow her to a point farther away from the rest.

 

 

 

Once there, she allowed herself to slump. Just a bit. She took off her helmet and drooped as she ran a hand through her sweat-soaked hair. Hammerleaf wrapped an arm around her and she allowed her head to rest on his shoulder as she sighed.

 

 

 

“An entire Company.”

 

 

 

Hammerleaf’s voice sounded rough as he responded, “It wasn’t your fault. We were winning until the dragons showed up.”

 

 

 

“Three bloody dragons!” Wooly shook his head, eyes staring toward the distant entrance to the cave. “I have never heard of such a thing!”

 

 

 

“Aye. Most we’ve seen is two at once, and they were miles apart.” Hamerleaf’s arm gripped Swordsinger a little tighter. “Seems there are more of them by the day.”

 

 

 

“Sure does. I…” Swordsinger stopped and frowned as the sound of hasty bootsteps approached. She turned with reluctance out of Hammerleaf’s grasp and straightened as a soldier approached. “You’re…Crowbar, right? Company M, Squad Three?”

 

 

 

The man stopped in front of them, his still-fresh-looking face betraying his surprise. “Aye. You know who I am?”

 

 

 

Hammerleaf snorted. “Of course. You think we’re like the Imperials and just see our soldiers as arrow fodder? She knows the names of everyone in the Regiment. You have something to report?”

 

 

 

“Ah, yes, sorry. I found out why the Foresworn don’t come in here.”

 

 

 

“What?” Swordsinger looked around, half expecting some monstrous creature to leap into the cavern to carve up more of her Regiment. “Already? That didn’t take long.”

 

 

 

“Well, there’s only one path farther along and it doesn’t go far. She said she wants to talk to you.”

 

 

 

“She? She who?”

 

*********

 

“My name is Delphine. This is Esbern. I hear you had a tough time with some dragons out there.”

 

 

 

Swordsinger studied the woman. Breton, by the looks of her, with dirty blonde hair cut short and keen eyes that screamed danger. This was not a woman to be trifled with. Behind her stood an older man, mostly Nord, although narrower than the usual bulky Nord archetype. His eyes screamed nothing at all.

 

 

 

“Aye. We’ve killed any number of dragons in the past three years but we’ve never seen three together.”

 

 

 

She forced herself to keep still – her brief glance at the cavern when they entered had been enough to make her want to crane her neck in every direction and she was glad she was wearing her helmet so the woman – Delphine – could not see her gape.

 

 

 

The cavern was immense, twice again as large as the one the Companies now rested in, with a vaulted ceiling that rose fifty feet or more above. It had clearly been carved out and polished by hand - the walls were smooth, making it feel more like the grand hall of a palace than a cave, but it held no furnishings save for the packs and bedrolls of Delphine and Esbern along one wall. The only décor was a six foot circle with intricate channels in an unrecognizable pattern carved into the middle of the floor.

 

 

 

Esbern shook a little as if he was rousing himself from sleep. “You will need to get used to multiple dragons, I’m afraid. Three together is just the beginning. By my calculations, it is only a matter of a handful of years before dragons are a daily occurrence everywhere in Skyrim.”

 

 

 

Swordsinger shook her head. “Where did they come from? There were no dragons and now they’re everywhere. And immortal, it seems.”

 

 

 

Delphine and Esbern exchanged glances, then Delphine smiled as she ran a wry hand through her hair. “That is a long story. It’s good to know you know they come back to life. Not many believe that.”

 

 

 

Swordsinger laughed, then reached up and tugged off her helmet to run her own hand through her matted hair. “Well, it’s hard not to catch on after the fourth time…” She froze as Delphine’s expression changed to something akin to shock. “What?” Swordsinger looked around, swords already half out of their sheathes.

 

 

 

“Is this some kind of cosmic joke? How can there be two people who look exactly like her?”

 

 

 

Swordsinger’s attention swung back to Delphine. “What? Look like who?”
 

 

“The Dragonborn. Other than your eyes – hers are yellow, not blue - you may as well be twins. Triplets, actually, because we met another one who…”

 

 

 

“You know the Dragonborn?” Hammerleaf’s unexpected insertion into the conversation made Swordsinger jump. She glanced back at him.

 

 

 

“We do! We’ve been looking for her for…how long has it been? Over a year. She…”

 

“Four-hundred-sixty-eight days.”

 

 

 

Delphine glanced back at Esbern and laughed. “You know exactly how many days?”

 

 

 

He simply shrugged and Delphine turned back around, still chuckling. “She got put in prison in Falkreath for something that should have been just a small fine and then…disappeared. Turns out a lot of people have disappeared mysteriously in that region over the years.”

 

 

 

Delphine’s eyes took on a calculating look as Swordsinger tried to think of how to respond. “I wonder…”

 

 

 

“She disappeared?” Hammerleaf’s voice sounded aggrieved. “She needs to be found! She is exactly what we need to deal with these dragons!”

 

 

 

“Why?” Swordsinger glanced between the two. “I’ve heard stories about this Dragonborn but no one has been able to tell me what, exactly, they can do.”

 

 

 

“She can shout.” Hammerleaf mimicked yelling. “Like the Greybeards.”

 

 

 

“Shout? Anyone can shout.”

 

 

 

“Her shouts have power,” Delphine supplied. “It’s hard to explain, but her shouts are the same as dragon roars. She has dragon-like powers.”

 

 

 

“Really? Then how did she ever get caught?”

 

 

 

“She was...still learning how to use them. Also, and more important, she can take the souls from dead dragons. Which means…”

 

 

 

“…they won’t come back to life?” Hammerleaf supplied the question with what was nearly a shout of his own.

 

 

 

Delphine nodded. “Indeed. That is why we’re trying to find her.”

 

 

 

“So she is here?”

 

 

 

“No.” Delphine waved a hand. “This is the entry to Sky Haven Temple, which used to be the home of the Blades, those who were sworn to serve the Dragonborns of years past. It has been closed and locked for centuries. We came here to see if we could find a way in because once we have found and rescued Sian – that’s the Dragonborn’s name – we’re going to have to have a plan of attack ready to go. We’re hoping something in the temple will give us the key to defeating the dragons.”

 

 

 

Hammerleaf stepped forward, hefting his hammer. “I can try to knock down the door.”

 

 

 

Delphine laughed. “I have no doubt you are strong, but the door was made to withstand dragons. No, brute force will not do.” She motioned at the circle carved in the floor. “Only the blood of the Dragonborn on the seal will open them.”

 

 

 

“Ah.” Hammerleaf slung his hammer back over his shoulder. “Well, that’s unfortunate. We don’t have any Dragonborns with us.”

 

 

 

“No? Well, perhaps.” Delphine raised an eyebrow at Swordsinger.  “I wonder if you might indulge me.”

 

 

 

Swordsinger blinked. “Indulge you?”

 

 

 

“Yes. Could I…borrow some of your blood?” Delphine hastened on, presumably as she noticed the expression her request had engendered. “I know you are not the Dragonborn. If you also had that gift, surely you would have discovered it by now but…well, you look so much like her. Maybe you’re related in some way. And maybe that will be close enough. And if it doesn't work…well, we’ve lost nothing.”

 

 

 

Swordsinger laughed. “Except some of my blood.”

 

 

 

“If it helps, Esbern knows some restoration spells. He will…”

 

 

 

“He does?” Swordsinger’s gaze snapped to the old man, who looked a little nonplussed by the sudden attention. “I’ll make you a deal, then – I’ll give you some of my blood if you come back with us and heal my men. We barely survived that attack and we have a lot of wounded.”

 

 

 

“I…” Delphine and Esbern exchanged glances. After a moment, the old man nodded and Swordsinger released a breath she had not realized she had been holding.

 

 

 

“Great! Wooly, show him where the triage is, will you?”

 

 

 

Wooly nodded and he and the old man started toward the exit. Swordsinger pulled out her dagger and looked at the circle. “Does it need to be any particular place?”

 

 

 

“I…am not certain. I believe all the channels lead to the middle, so maybe just aim for that area?”

 

 

 

“All right.” Swordsinger stepped onto the pattern and crouched near the center, then took a breath and drew the dagger across her forearm.

 

 

 

Red blood welled out of the cut and she turned her arm around and watched as it dripped from her arm and splashed into the dusty circle. She frowned, wondering if she should have cleaned out some of the dust first in case the mechanism could somehow be blocked by a layer of…

 

 

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a low rumble. She looked up just as a section of the wall shuddered and lifted. Dirt billowed away as it shifted upward, somehow merging with the stone above, or so it seemed. Once the dust settled, she blinked at the graceful stone staircase that curved up and away.

 

 

 

“I…honestly did not think that would work.” Delphine’s voice was barely over a whisper and filled with the sort of reverence usually confined to temples. Which, Swordsinger mused, was exactly what Delphine had said this was.

 

 

 

She felt Hammerleaf’s hands on her shoulders, his gentle lift helping her stand. He wrapped a soft cloth around her arm and tied it in place, then gestured toward the new opening that Delphine was already halfway to.

 

 

 

“Shall we, oh mighty Dragonborn?”

 

 

 

She tossed him a glare as they started walking. “Do not start calling me that. We don’t need any rumors spreading. And I certainly don’t want people to think I can keep dragons from coming back to life.”

 

 

 

“It would be so nice if you could.”

 

 

 

“Aye. It would, at that.”

 

 

 

They reached the stairs and stopped as one to peer up, but it curved away into darkness and they couldn’t see anything. After a moment, they looked at each other, shared a shrug, and began climbing the steps.