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."

"Sovenguard is only for the worthy." Ulfric hissed. "Not for small minded fools who cannot see beyond their own desires!"

"Looks can be deceiving, as they say." Dex whispered, staring down at her feet now. "Your approval... Matters to me. If I don't make you happy... I worry that I am failing you."

"So what are you going to do, Ulfric? Imprison me? There is not much else you can do! I have left you with nothing!" Galmar shouted, now trying to get away from his old friend.

"Why? I don't understand why you've always been that way? Making yourself happy should be all that ever matters to you." Draco shook his head. "You are the one who confuses, girl."

"I could quite easily castrate Yu and lock you in the hall of the dead with your whore's body." Ulfric hissed. "Forcing you to watch her decompose little by little."

"See... You have all these memories of my past lives, and barely have any good memories of this one." Dex breathed, looking up at Draco again.

"You wouldn't..." This very thought horrified Galmar and it was evident in his voice. "Ulfric, no. It wasn't that bad. You're still alive...no harm done!"

"You are with me now. I will protect you with my life, Dex. I should think that is as good a place as any to start one good memories. Wasn't burning that village fun?" He asked her, feeling as if he were steps away from tumbling off a cliff.

"No harm done?" Ulfric echoed in a hiss. "You sanctioned genocide, Galmar! You took pleasure in it, and you betrayed me!"

Dex sighed quietly and simply embraced Draco, not remembering she had squashed her cake against his chest until she tried to rest her head there and got it matted in her hair.

"That's what this is about?!" Galmar scoffed. "Those disgusting Dunmer? Ulfric, have you lost your mind?! Those elves are disgusting! All of them! There's not a one of them worth mercy!"

Draco threw back his head and laughed. He couldn't help himself. He wasn't sure he'd ever laughed so hard.

"You know every single Dunmer personally, do you?" Ulfric asked thinly. "They are being persecuted, just as we were by the Falmer all those centuries ago!"

Dex pouted slightly, trying to pull the cake from her long hair. "I guess I should find someplace to bathe, so I can wash this out." She told Draco with a dramatic sigh.

"They want us dead! You should hear them...they are the Falmer! Don't let them fool you! I think you should know what that's like. Look what happened to you recently. That Dunmer girl enchanted you and forced you to be her slave."

"I can think of somewhere." Draco purred, his thoughts taking another direction entirely. "As long as you promise to take your clothes off and let me watch."

"No! You had poppy enchant me and cloud my mind! How else could I allow myself to be betrayed by the man I thought of as a brother?" Ulfric responded. "I should have known... She was exactly your type."

Dex blushed a little, despite her usually outgoing nature. "What if someone else saw me? Would you protect my honour?" She asked with a wry little smile.

"Does it matter now?" Galmar snapped. "You ran off with some Dunmer bitch. The people will never let you live that down!"

THe fire that was in Draco's eyes would be unmistakable. "I would murder anyone who got near you." He promised her.

"And they would rather have a man who takes pleasure from violating a woman while she is bound and unable to defend herself?!" At this point Ulfric pierced Galmar's shoulder with his blade. "I did not run off! I was righting the wrong that you created!"

"Suicide is frowned upon." Dex replied sweetly, reaching up on her tip toes to touch her lips lightly to Draco's. "So... This place I can bathe, is it far?"

Galmar howled, bringing the WIndhelm guard running. They said nothing when they saw what was happening. It was obvious that everyone knew what Galmar deserved.

"It's a good distance from here." Draco confirmed. "But I will transform and we will be there within the hour."

Ulfric twisted his blade roughly, then pulled it out. "I won't kill you, not this day. After what you did... The dragon deserves his vengeance." He took a step back, aware that the guards had arrived. "I will restore order. Not just to Windhelm, but to all of Skyrim."

"We're going to fly there?" Dex asked, filled with what could only be described as apprehension. "What if a fall? Or someone sees us and attacks?"

"As long as you keep that Dunmer...you will restore nothing." Galmar snarled, falling to his knees. "You will fail. You will fail as long as you keep company with freaks and monsters!"

"You really think I would let you fall?" Draco asked, his large fingers reaching out to remove some of the cake from her hair. "And are you really worried about someone attacking us?"

Ulfric crouched down by his former friend and without a word pushed two large fingers into the wound her had made. "I failed, because I kept company with a rapist And a megalomaniac." He hissed, twisting his fingers inside the wound.

"Well... When you transform, you're so big... And in comparison, I'm so small." Dex replied, looking up at Draco as his finger touched her dark hair.

Galmar screamed. Finally a the house carl stepped forward and placed his hands on Ulfric's shoulders. "That's enough. We'll get this straight, jarl. We'll set this right. Calm down for now. Maybe...you need to rest."

"It will take us days to reach the spring if we walk." Draco found himself almost whining. "It won't be so bad, lovely. Give me a chance."

"No." Ulfric shrugged the hands away from him. "What I need, is for this scum to be removed from my sight. Chain him up in the worst affected Pratt of the grey quarter. Maybe the Dunmer will teach him the lesson he refuses to learn until I can deal with him again."

Dex giggled quietly at this. "You're so cute when you plead like that!" She declared, ticking Draco playfully.

The guards nodded, moving forward to take care of the problem.
Soon enough Ulfric was all but alone in the Palace of Kings. It wouldn't stay this way for long, however. Almeada had nervously made her way into his presence.

"I am not pleading." Draco snapped, scowling at her as if she'd insulted him. "And I am certainly not cute!"

Ulfric was lounged in his old throne, a leg hanging over the arm of it on one side. He was clearly lost in thought, and didn't even hear, or see, Almeada approach.

"Well then... I guess, if you're not cute, then I'm not flying." Dex replied breezily, stepping around Draco to walk on ahead. "Better get a move on, you said it yourself that we have a three day wall."

The elder Dunmar cleared her throat softly, waiting to be acknowledged. The guards had let her pass but told her to speak only when spoken to. She was doing her best to abide by this rule.

"You hard headed...stubborn..." Draco was again stomping after her, growling darkly. "I am not going to let you run me over like this! Mate or not!"

Ulfric's eyes were dark, filled with despair as he looked at Almeada. "Come to check that I didn't abandon your cause?" He asked darkly.

"And what are you going to do about it, dragon?!" Dex shot back, proving her point that her moods were entirely too erratic.

"Actually I came to apologize." Almeada said softly, lowering herself to the Jarl's feet. "You were right...what you said to me. I have been no more fair than those who persecute us. I am sorry for that." She confessed.

Draco transformed in an instant and lifted himself into the air. All at once she was being scooped up and carried high above the landscape.

"No... I was wrong... About everything." Ulfric breathed. "I was blind... So very blind..." His encounter with Galmar had clearly disillusioned the usually idealistic jarl."

"Put me down right now!" Dex screeched. "You cannot just scoop people up like this... and it's cheating anyway!"

All Almeada could do was to reach up and pat him on the knee, though she knew full well she could lose her head for even touching him. "Only about him, sire. Your people...we...we still need you. Now that you know...now that you understand. You can truly lead us. I believe that you are in the right place. Your destiny is so very close, Ulfric Stormcloak."

"It's not cheating." Draco boomed. "Just because you can't do it doesn't mean it's cheating. You're whining, my love."

"How is Bree?" Ulfric asked after a moment. "Is she awake? She should know that I am not going to abandon her." He added, not sure why he felt to need for her to know this.

Dex was holding tightly to her dragon mate's scales, worried that one glance down, and she would tumble to the world below. "I am not whining!" She huffed. "I just don't think you are being fair!"

"Actually...that's another reason I came to see you. I rested after you left...She got up and she was gone. Oh, your majesty...please forgive me."

"I guess it depends on what your version of fair is." Draco chuckled, beginning to lift them higher into the sky. "The priestess in you loved this. She would offer me herself for just one more chance to feel the air in her face."

"What?! She could be anywhere by now!" Ulfric boomed, suddenly on his feet. "That foolish girl! She's going to get us all killed!"

"Right... So when I was a priestess, I was also a whore. Great." Dex growled. "I can feel the air in my face by keeping myself on the ground on the back of my horse!"

"I could cast Clairvoyance." Almeada suggested, once she too was back on her feet. "But I think we both know where she's gone."

"Horses are weak and stupid." Draco snapped. "And no, as a priestess of Mara you were not. But Diabella..." His voice trailed off into a sultry purr. "Now that one was fun..."

"Cast anyway." Ulfric breathed, reaching to the back of his throne where he had hung his armour. "The girl needs to wear a damn bell around her neck..."

"Open your heart to the noble secrets of art and love. Treasure the gifts of friendship. Seek joy and inspiration in the mysteries of love." Dex murmured, her gaze distant now, as though remembering something. It was almost like a part of her remembered being the Diabella priestess who took carnal delight with her mate as often as she could.

Almeada did as she asked, smiling to herself. This was more than just clairvoyance. It was the magical string that tied the true king and queen together.
The other end of the string would be exactly where Ulfric had last traveled with Bree. In the place where her mother's ashes should have been.

"Love is indeed a noble and mysterious art." Draco said, listening to her every word. For a long moment he felt a sadness settle over him. He truly hated being forced to lose his mate.