Lost Legends

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"It can't keep going on like this!" A young woman's voice gasped as two figures dove over a snow drift to avoid detection by passing guards. "We have been fighting for so long that no one even cares anymore!" She added, running her fingers through blue black hair that had already become brittle with the cold.
"Of course they remember, Dex." The young woman's companion replied in an annoyed whisper. "We fight for freedom from the imperial invaders who seek to make us bow down to them!"
The woman who had just been referred to as Dex rolled her grey eyes. "What does it matter who sits on the throne as high emperor? Either way, we're still left down here in the dirt." She added, poking her head up to see if the coast was clear. "The rebellion is just pushing back the tide, sooner or later the imperials will find us all, and execute us as promised."

Ulfric's brow raised when he heard this suggestion, and he smiled slightly. "I cannot imagine how a massive beast could possibly mate with a Nord woman." He replied, though he gave imagining a good shot.

Dex rolled her eyes, then shook her head. "No, I mean the art of killing! I've heard the stories, about you appearing out of nowhere to claim the target." She replied. "I mean, I'm rather good at sneaking myself, given my profession, but to be practically invisible..."

Galmar waved the image away as if it were hanging in the air between them. "No. No. Sir, you're needed at the battle site. I can take the queen to the hold but you need to go. Now."

"I suppose I can teach you using your target to practice." The green eyed man sighed. "How does that sound to you?"

For once, Ulfric agreed with his right hand man. He trusted him with his life, so why not his Queen? "Her safety is paramount, understood?" He asked. "She is still rather fragile, be mindful of yourselves around her."

"Most agreeable." Dex replied, already imagining the ways she was going to kill Draco herself.

"I will join you as soon as I get her settled in." Galmar agreed, already pushing out of the tent and cleaning up the campsite. Poppy stood not far away from everything, looking confused and out of place.

"Shall we start now?" He purred, offering his hand. "Or should we make time for a little preview for me?"

Ulfric moved over to where his wife stood, and gently took her delicate hands between his own battle worn digits. "Poppy, my love, I have some business I must attend to. Galmar is my most trusted man, he will keep you safe until I return." The Jarl breathed, touching his lips to Poppy's with a ferocity he had been afraid to show her thus far.

Dex smiled sweetly and placed her hand in her tutor's. "As Brynjolf used to tell me... Don't give the milk away for free, when the cow can lure more than one buyer."

Poppy was left touching her lips in shock, feeling as if she'd missed something. She stood with Galmar, afraid she was watching her new husband ride away for the last time.

The man snorted at this. "And does the cow have a name?" He snapped.

Ulfric didn't dare glance over his shoulder as he rode away, as he knew his resolve would waver. No, the sooner he destroyed this dragon, the sooner he could prove to Poppy that he was more than the Jarl, he was her husband too.

"Dex." The young woman replied with all the pride of someone who was far more worldly renown than she was. "Don't worry, you'll be calling it out soon enough." She added with a grin.

The dragon was still in full fury when Ulfric arrived at the graveyard. The enormous red beast had trapped the last of his men in a tiny mausoleum that led into a catacomb. Several of the men had perished just trying to see if the beast was still waiting outside for them.

The light haired man's grin returned as well. "They call me Alex Grey-beard." He said darkly. "But it means little to me. And should mean the same to you."

Ulfric left his horse some distance from the burial ground to travel on foot. He was rather find of the beast, and didn't wish to see it killed by the dragon. That done, he was now watching the dragon bear down on the mausoleum. It seemed so... Angry. Angry in the way he didn't think an animal felt.

"Grey-beard? I know that name from somewhere..." Dex murmured, inspecting the dagger she had taken from Alex without him even realising.

The dragon was blowing waves of flame onto the stone doors, roaring each time he had to stop and breathe. Arrows covered his thick hide, but he didn't seem to notice. Or maybe he was simply too angry to.

"Give that back!" Alex shouted, bearing his teeth at her all over again. "If you want me to teach you, woman. You will not steal from me!"

Ulfric knew his men could not last much longer, and so did something rather stupid. "Dragon!" He called to the beast as he stepped out into the open. "Do not bother yourself with such meaner meals! Come and have a taste of a king!"

"Woman?" Dex echoed thinly, her pale grey eyes narrowing. "It is not wise to antagonise the person who has your weapon." She snapped, resisting the urge to skewer Alex as she had done Draco.

The sound of the dragon's laughter ran through the graveyard. It was a rather strange sound, more like a human than an animal. The great beast turned his head toward Ulfric, the golden eyes gleaming in challenge.

"Give it back." Alex pressed. "And don't do it again or I shall teach you nothing and tell your intended that you are planning to kill him." He threatened.

Ulfric's golden, two handed sword was poised in front of him, silently asking Talos to grant him victory in battle. This creature was different, he already knew that much. "Leave this place, beast! Do not return to Skyrim, and I will spare your life!" He declared.

"I already told him." Dex reapplied coolly, tossing the dagger back to Alex, as though she was already bored. "A thought occurs to me... You seem to be less than, shall we say... Proficient." She observed. "You're a fresh initiate yourself, aren't you?"

The dragon lumbered toward him, the golden eyes flashing. It lifted its upper lip, showing him a row of teeth that made even his own sword look dull.

Alex's cheeks went impossibly red and he coughed slightly. "Perhaps...but...I am still better than you!" He shouted.

Ulfric was not a man to back down, even in the face of certain death. He lunged forward, his sword piercing the dragons eye. Luck, was perhaps on his side this day. He didn't know if the creature could heal it, but he wasn't pondering on that thought right now.

"Care to test that?" Dex challenged, her moonlight coloured eyes dancing at the thought of a wager.

The red dragon howled in pain, burying Ulfric in a breath of smoke. The howl shook the graveyard itself and legends would later tell that it had been heard all over Skyrim herself.
Then as if it were all he'd truly needed to do, the great head came crashing to the earth seemingly dead.
Moments later Ulfric's men were spilling out of the catacombs and all but mobbing their leader, cheering their victory.

Alex Gray-beard had opened his mouth to answer her when the dragon's dying howl swept over them. The sound terrified him more than he wanted to admit and he was doing the best he could not to run screaming into the night.

Ulfric stared at the seemingly dead beast, certain that that howl... It had almost seemed human. "Get out of here." He told his men as they gathered around him. "The creature is dead, let it have it's peace now."

As the howl reached them, Dex felt an overwhelming sorrow sweep over her. The slender woman staggered slightly, needing to hold onto something to support herself. "No... You can't be gone..." She breathed, staring ahead of her, as though she saw something Alex could not.

The man nearest to him shook his head. "Jarl, we should take this beast back to Windhelm. After what it did to our people...I don't think it has the right to peace in death!"

"What?" Alex asked, looking toward the horizon and back to Dex. "What are you talking about?"

"What you think matters little right now." The Jarl replied thinly. "The creature is dead, we shall takes some of its scales back to Windhelm as proof, that is all."

"The dragon... You didn't hear it?" Dexasked, her grey eyes wet as they looked up at Alex. "They robbed me of my revenge!"

The other men were shaking their heads. "We want the whole thing!" Another of them shouted. "Proof to our families that they won't be burned alive in their beds!"

"The dragon?" Alex asked, having not yet heard the rumors of the dragon's presence. "Who robbed you...what the hell are you talking about?"

"You are disobeying me?" Ulfric asked thinly. "Perhaps I should do to you what the imperials do to us!"

"The dragon with the golden eyes... He... And then he..." Dex could barely breathe. She had thought she wanted Draco dead, to watch him write and suffer. But with the thought someone may have actually killed him... It left her unsettled and confused.

The men scattered at this, their leader's harsh words sending them on a quick task to take nothing more than three scales and move far away. No sooner were they on the other side of the graveyard then a strange grey mist enveloped the dragon. Ulfric alone was witness to what remained when the mist cleared, a naked bloodied man.

"There's no such thing as dragons!" Alex shouted, no longer seeming menacing in the least. "You've completely lost your mind haven't you?!"

Ulfric wasn't sure what to make of what just happened. He crouched down, prodding the man, making sure he was actually real. "What did poppy put in that food she made..." He murmured, removing his own cloak to cover the naked man over.

"And if I have?" Dex challenged. "What would you do about it?" She added, turning a suddenly cold grey gaze on Alex.

The man gave a soft groan when the cloak brushed his injured face and his fingers twitched ever so slightly, revealing a bandaged hand that was thick with infection.

Alex took out his iron dagger with a shaky hand. "I would kill you. It would be for the safety of everyone." He told her, his words trembling.

Against his better judgement, Ulfric whistled for his horse and lifted the well built man up onto it. If the dragons could take human form... He would need to know of many, if any, we're wandering the holds of Skyrim.

"Safety of everyone, or because you are afraid of one little woman?" Dex asked, not even blinking as she watched Alex. "A mere moment ago you wished to have your way with me like a dog in heat."

Draco remembered very little about getting onto a horse. Fever from his hand had settled in and was spreading to his now useless eye. He had never been ill in all the days of his existence and this wasn't something he cared to repeat. In his mind he cursed the man who hadn't bothered to kill him.

"Not if you are crazy!" Alex shouted, now backing away from her. "I'd sooner fight a werewolf!"

Ulfrice had gotten back to Windhelm not long after his men, however, he didn't tell them he had a casualty. The Jarl took Draco to a lesser used wing of his home, sending word that a Mage was to come right away. Of only they knew this man's current condition was largely due to one small woman.

"And what if I am a werewolf?" Dex purred, moving closer to Alex each time he backed away. Of course, she didn't carry the werewolf disease, but that didn't mean she couldn't have her fun.

The Mage arrived quickly, surprised and pleased to find that the Jarl had returned. No one had known. He was also surprised by the man lying on a cot nearby. "Ulfric," The elder man said softly. "What have you done now?"

Alex tumbled backward over a rock and squealed in terror. It wasn't the first time he was proving that he was hardly fit to be in the dark brotherhood.

"A great service to Slyrim, that is what." The Jark murmured as he paced. "Can you fix him? He is a prisoner of war, I need him alive."

Dex smiled at this, her slender frame straddled across Alex's hips before he could pick himself up. "Oh come now, don't get all shy on me." She purred, leaning down to kiss the assassin as she had done when he had thought himself to be the one calling the shots.

"I can cure his disease but the sickness will have to wear off on its own. We're not talking about that eye, are we? That one doesn't look fixable." The Mage sighed.

"No! NO!" Alex wailed. "Don't kill me! I wasn't...I'm not...I just wanted to be part of the brotherhood. They said I was weak! I'm not! Don't kill me!"