This is purely for disclaimer purposes, as I wrote in the prologue and the 1st chapter, I do not own any part of the Elder Scrolls video game series. Also using inspiration from popular Xbox ONE "mods," this story is written purely for fun.

*****

My eyes flashed open, my mind still fuzzy as my self-waking spell I cast woke me on time, about an hour before dawn. Since I was still laying naked, next to my new slave, I needed to get my armor on, and the rest of my equipment ready. One may have thought that I should have a horse for carrying most of what I used for when I needed it, but too often, I found them all too easily killed by bandits, or predators in general when traveling the wilderness. Or if not killed, then frightened off. As I said to Carlotta, the world is a dangerous place. The fastest way for a sellsword dependent on their horse to become hindered in a bad way, is for said horse to be killed. Of course, I could stash all of it with the spell my shaman taught me, but I also couldn't keep it personally on me, if I don't trust the wilderness to a horse. So, I pack light instead.

But, next to me was a large, decently muscular nord man who could carry all of the food for Uthgerd and I. Also, if Mikael proved himself a well-behaved slave, then he could have more "rewarding" time from myself, and Uthgerd, assuming she would also enjoy it, of course.

"Wake up Slave!" I lightly scratched him with one of my claws.

"Ah!!" He said in shocked surprise, rather than pain.

"I concede that you have had, and still do, have a life outside of my presence. BUT, when you ARE in my presence, your concerns are to thought of, only AFTER mine. My concern right now, is that you can serve me, and fighting companion, by carrying our food and possibly whatever valuable items that Uthgerd and I find in the ruins of Bleakfalls. I understand that even if you are a nord, that you're a bard, and not suited to exploring ruins. So, you will carry what we want, until we arrive at the ruins, have I made myself clear?"

"Uh, Mistress?" He cautiously tried.

"Yes," I confirmed "that is the ONLY way you are to address me when you are my presence, until I tell you otherwise. Ask your question."

"Uh... Mistress, may I know what you will do with me when we arrive at Bleakfalls?"

"I haven't decided yet. I give you leave to dress and eat a breakfast for the morning, but then you WILL meet me outside the Bannered Mare when you are finished. Understand me?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Good. Get to it. NOW."

He hastened to grab his clothes from the room's floor as I dressed in my ebony suit. Again, I had no care at all for his embarrassment at his seeing my nakedness while dressing, and made no attempt to hurry or hide my intimate parts.

Soon, Mikael, Uthgerd and I were all standing outside the tavern. Uthgerd was wearing the same steel plate she wore last night, of course, but she also kept an unusual shield clipped to the left side of her waist. I was in my ebony, with my daedric bow hanging on my right thigh, my black glass sword in its sheath on my left.

"You're taking him along?" Uthgerd was confused. "You know he's just a bard, not a fighter right?"

"Yes." I replied "But after I saw how he talked with Carlotta last night, I felt a sense of sisterly camaraderie for her. So, I've taken it upon myself to 'help' Mikael here understand women better. Since he has apparently often thought of himself as Mistress Dibella's 'gift' to women, it has occurred to me that perhaps he should understand that a more meaningful 'gift' is in 'servitude.'"

Then I quickly turned to Mikael, "Isn't that right, 'SLAVE?!'"

"Er... y-y-yes, Mistress." He answered timidly.

"Good!!" Uthgerd laughed loudly, clearly enjoying this "With your permission, 'Mistress' Scarlet, maybe I could participate in his 'training...'"

"Oh," I grinned broadly "but of course, 'Mistress' Uthgerd..."

Then after we had our fill of laughter much to my slave's discomfort, I spoke again.

"Please, lead the way, fellow 'Mistress.'"

"Thank you..." Uthgerd smiled as she obviously enjoyed the idea of what I was suggesting "The marketplace has a nice selection for extra supplies that your slave can carry easily, such as the food, lockpicks and soul gems. You're probably going to want to be the one to carry the climbing rope and spikes. I believe I may know of a shortcut to Bleakfalls, that would take us faster than the main road, but the trail is steep there."

"Alright," I said as we started browsing through the stalls who were opening earliest "what about this shortcut then?"

"Oh," Uthgerd explained "all the best sellswords look for ways to get to our clients' targets quickly. Whether they are a bunch of farmers asking about getting rid of a bandits harassing their rural community, or perhaps the guard wanting some extra help in tracking an escaped criminal, it's essential that you know the layout of the land. The shortcut is a trail that the frost trolls made as they come down to look for deer, or other prey in the fields. The mountains are lower there than the Throat of the World, but cold enough for them to be comfortable there."

"I've faced off with some of Cyrodiil's forest trolls, they seemed worse than bears."

"Yes, trolls are worse, because they're just about as strong, but they can stand on their hind legs all the time, so they're faster. They also recover their health and stamina faster than any bear would. But- uh... how good are you with Destruction magic anyway?"

I thought about it. I was fairly certain that I may have mastered my skill with Alteration, and knew a good variety of Destruction spells, but figured that I there were still more I could learn. I knew about four Restoration based spells too.

"I know quite a few in Destruction, though I think I haven't mastered it like I have in Alteration. I don't know many Restoration spells, though one of those I have is Grand Healing."

"Ah your style is that of a spellsword then?"

"Yeah." I answered, buying a few strips of a darkly colored jerky. The wood elf said it was "horker," though I hadn't ever heard of them before entering Skyrim. "Trolls are weaker to fire than the average beast, correct?"

"Yes. We shouldn't have a problem if your flame is 'hot,' and you can 'keep it up.'"

I answered Uthgerd's comment with turning around to face empty air, and created from my hand, a constant, concentrated stream of fire pointing into the sky. It resembled the dragon's that I saw yesterday afternoon, except that this was in miniature.

"That'd probably do it." Uthgerd said with real admiration. "Along with some swings from my big axe if they can still get too close. You might want to be careful with your magic here though. Most people in Skyrim are distrustful of magic in general."

I extinguished it with a puff, and a pout, but I had to admit she might have been right. Soon, we had the extra supplies we needed, and left the city gate by seven. Uthgerd led me and my 'slave' past a battle-scarred watchtower in the field an hour's walk out from Whiterun. It had definitely seen better days, but still looked strong.

As Uthgerd said, the barely noticeable trail was steep. A simple, slight, depression in the slope of the low mountains' sides, with the shape of a switchback. Even with the thin layer of new snow on the rising flanks, we could see trolls' prints, and I noticed the subtle stench in my nostrils, but none were visible now. They may have seen us, but trolls don't usually seem to have the patience for ambush tactics like lions had in Cyrodiil. Still, we were watchful.

After another hour of climbing though, I found the reason. Apparently frost trolls(or these, anyway), seemed more nocturnal than their forest cousins. I saw three of them, all sleeping in a couple sheltering overhangs of the rock. I wanted VERY much to kill them and take the heads in for what I expected would be a nice bounty, but I had to be pragmatic, especially if Mikael was hopeless at fighting.

I also kept an eye out for any path that Carlotta's man might have used for his mine, but didn't see any connecting with our trail. However, I did see a particularly craggy area further off on our right, maybe 600 feet away, that had some poles standing a bit askew. They might've been old snags stripped bare by the wind, or they might've been old mine timbers. I couldn't tell from here, but I clearly saw there was no easy way to go get a closer look, and I certainly didn't want Mikael to know what I was looking for. Not that I didn't trust him to follow MY orders about MYself, but I didn't trust him completely in regards to Carlotta.

A few hours later, the trail had leveled out, connecting with a much wider one on the plateaued top of the mountain. The snow was deeper, the wind, a continual blowing of whitish cold, skidding eddies through the drifts, and against our faces. I had heard that nords had a stronger resistance to the cold than the other races, but I didn't ever really see it until the snow-blanketed city of Bruma. As for myself, most argonians, our reptilian natures meant we slowed down and got tired more often in the cold, though strangely, I barely noticed it in myself. I had first noticed, and thought about it in Bruma, but I had no idea exactly what it might mean.

I had learned from the Captain of the Count's guard there, that just before the Oblivion Crisis, the Fighter's Guild had an argonian member who seemed acclimated to the cold, but he still needed special clothes treated with Dragons Tongue flower extract, and a resist cold enchantment. I had wondered why he would have gone to that length just to live in Bruma, when his climate would have been warmer some other place, but that was around 200 years ago, so it's not like I could ask him.

But I never expected that my resistance to the elements would be this comfortable for me. Uthgerd and Mikael didn't seem curious about it either, although I knew that this was another reason why I personally believed that I was somehow "different" from a typical argonian. I was about to ask my fellow sellsword more about argonians in Skyrim when my thoughts were suddenly cut off by an arrow clinking off a rock as it had missed my head by an inch.

"Xhuth!" I shouted, and immediately cast, then held a Detect All spell. "They're up on the rock ledge directly ahead of us! One looks like he or she is charging down through the blowing snow!"

Uthgerd readied her axe, and clove into the bandit's side as soon as he appeared out of the mist of powder. I fired off a couple of my black ebony arrows, using my quick memory of where my spell showed their archers. I was rewarded with the sound of one, gasping in agony. I might have hit the throat of that one, but this was a kill or be killed situation.

"Nivan! No!" The other bandit cried above. Then I heard her screaming in rage, leaping towards me from the ledge, daggers drawn.

I had only enough time to physically throw my arrows instead of shooting, but it was enough. One of those was in her forehead, another caught her collarbone just above the top of her leather armor.

When she crashed, I had already dodged, and the wood elf was crumpled in the snow. I cast Detect All again, but didn't see anything this time. I took no pleasure in killings, and when I was the one being ambushed, I certainly had no pleasure in that. At least not in a ranged fight like this.

Just to be sure she didn't suffer long in the snow, I also thrust my sword in her neck. Mikael was throwing up in the trees about 30 feet behind us, and I didn't blame him. Honestly, I would have been a little disturbed if he wasn't, as he hadn't seen fighting like this, from the sound of his bardic background. Then when we had let him recover enough, Uthgerd and I shocked him again as we started looting their bodies.

"What are you doing?!"

"Collecting our gold and other things obviously." I answered. "They were bandits, and going to do the same to us unless we stopped them. The reason why we're better people than they were, is because they would have done that to anyone, not just us as we invaded their 'territory.' You, me, Uthgerd, we're still alive, but they're dead and so, they don't need their loot either. We can't find their families to give them the belongings, so we might as well be the ones to 'inherit' those."

"Yeah... I... I suppose."

"Suppose what?" I wasn't sounding harsh, mostly for consideration of what he had just witnessed, but I was 'authoritative' in my tone. "I DID say at ALL times, did I not?"

"Mistress? But this isn't exactly a... 'comfortable' setting?"

"The real world," I explained my point of view, "the one outside of many cities like your peaceful Whiterun, the one involving places like this," I gestured at the blood-spattered stone "rarely has 'comfortable' settings, as you put it. The sooner you can handle that, the better the chance you're going to have when a thief or some other enemy tries to hurt you. Trust me, the guard in Whiterun would not cry over there being fewer bandits in their lands, or of said bandits also being 'robbed.'"

"Yes, Mistress..." Mikael sighed.

"Good."

After we were courteous enough to cover the looted bodies of the bandits who had attacked us, with stones and snow, we walked up the stairs to the ruin's entrance. The doors were huge panels of oak, gilded over with ebony metal. The ancients who built the thousands-of-years-old structure must have used some kind enchantment on the wood to keep it from rotting, even in this cold, dry climate. It hadn't stopped the left half of the double doors from falling partway off the hinges though, but it was clearly stuck, so Mikael, Uthgerd, and I all tugged on the other one, which opened easily enough with us all pulling.

The first room was a mess of fallen debris, rubble, dead skeevers(the giant rats of Skyrim), and also dead bandits, along with the bodies of draugr that had already been remade dead, again. At the far end of the room, I heard a couple more bandits arguing about how the one thought that exploring the tombs was probably a dangerous waste of time. The other more loyal one insisted that if their leader, an "Arvel," was correct about what they were looking for, then they would riches undreamt of before.

And then I let fly a couple black arrows from my shadowy corner, their sharpened tips easily penetrating the chests of their light armor. I ordered Mikael to bring out our food, and we sat on the firewood that the now dead scoundrels had kindly brought in earlier. While we ate, I was also listening closely for any sound of footsteps approaching us, and casting my Detect All spell, but none came at us. The spell had a range of 400 feet with superb concentration in Alteration, so I decided that we had the time and space I wanted for rewarding my slave for his patience and good behavior.

"Slave," I said, "remove your clothing."

"Here? Now?" Mikael was clearly confused, expecting that we were going to be exploring the depths right after our lunch.

"Of course!!" I screamed, already getting my whip out. "Or I could just send you BACK to Whiterun, with more lashes, you obstinate nord!!"

"Okay, okay!" His eyes were quite wide with agitation "I'm sorry to question you, my Mistress!! Please!"

"Please, WHAT?!"

"Please Mistress, don't punish your humble slave!"

"I'm not sure..." I said, toying with my whip in hand "Uthgerd, he thought to question my authority, but now he's 'humbly' begging. I think..."

I paused more so than I really needed as I pretended to "think" on my response, so as to "encourage" anxiety in Mikael about whether I would punish or reward him. I was going to do both.

"I had thought that before," I measured out my words long, and slowly "that you may have been ready for instructions of how to properly use your tongue in pleasuring a woman's flower, but now I see that you need 'correction,' first."

I looked at Uthgerd.

"Mistress Uthgerd, I believe that YOU should enjoy Slave's squirming this time."

"With 'pleasure,' Mistress Scarlet..."

She hadn't even finished her sentence before her breastplate's straps were pulled loose, the twin melons hanging freely under her thin shirt, which really only acted as an insulative barrier against her steel plate if it got hot while marching in the sun. The undershirt did absolutely nothing to support them when in battle, apparently her molded chestplate was being used for that entirely. Uthgerd's were actually a little bigger than mine, at half a hand's width larger than the diameter of a pair of heads of cabbage, which was surprising, from the concealing effect of that chestplate. Still, even if I felt slightly jealous, I was also QUITE 'pleased' too.

By the time Uthgerd was straddling my slave, I was under and behind Mikael, inserting while wiggling my claws in his arse. During my experimentation with Destruction magic, I had discovered a curious effect of low-intensity shock spells. One which I was all too happy to demonstrate to both of my partners here, as they thrust back and forth.

"Now," I said, "both of you, I'm going to do something. Uthgerd, you needn't be concerned, but I don't want you to be startled. As for you, Slave, I will simply tell you, do NOT 'question' my authority again..."

Then before either reacted, I was using a touch-based shock spell. I was sure that I not mastered all of the typical Destruction spells, but this one I had already attained a precise control of. Somewhat like that sense of what happens when a person has rubbed their legs and rear end on a woolen carpet repeatedly, very fast, then grabs the brass pommel of their sword. Except, that the feeling is kept up with a constant, and controlled rate.

I had also discovered shortly after developing this spell, that it would cause a man's penis to become uncontrollably rigid, and swollen nearly instantly to its maximum, despite that it was nothing but painful for him. Mikael was suddenly groaning through his locked jaw and gritted teeth, while his abruptly maximum fullness spurred Uthgerd to a new sort of insanity in her bucking.

Mikael tried to pull out from under, but my scaly hand firmly kept his hips in place, the claws digging into his skin, drawing a little blood. Uthgerd seemed to have a newly frantic, vice-like grip on his shoulders. Mikael knew he was truly MY slave, of course, but Uthgerd was also acting in complete mutual compliance with my will as well, making her into something of an "extension" of my being, in a sense. I had the impression that if she were made aware of this, she would also be quite "pleased" with the arrangement.

In a very short span of about five minutes, my Slave was cumming into my fellow Mistress. Fortunately, my low-level shock spell was sterilizing his seed before it even left his cock. If anyone would become pregnant from my Slave's seed, it should be me, and only when I wanted to. But I was very happy to have Uthgerd and I bonding together over our mutual control of my Slave.

I let them continue for another couple more climaxes from Uthgerd, and then spoke up.

"Alright, my turn now."

Uthgerd nodded, and stopped herself reluctantly. I handed her my double-ended toy, and then pointed to my Slave's strained mouth. Uthgerd seemed to understand well enough, pushing in and out of her pussy for a moment, then sat it onto Slave's face.

"Suck me Slave..." she commanded, while I lowered myself down over Slave's hips.

He obediently sucked on the end of the toy, though understandably confused with why. But just as understandably, his coordination was getting more difficult as I cradled his member, the patterns of my inner flesh continually kept his mind awash in pleasure. Uthgerd and I passionately kissed, our tongues dancing over each other, as we dominated my Slave.
Unknown to Mikael, though Uthgerd had figured it out easily enough, my double-ended toy was enchanted with a very special type of effect. When it was surrounded by a person's flesh, no matter what kind it was, that person would feel a sort of touch sensation from whatever type of "contact" it's phallic nature was involved in. Uthgerd likely had the feeling of her own temporary "cock" as realistic and sensitive, as if she were born with one herself. It also was not only like this for any orifice, but also could be just as applicable to a man as much as a woman.

While in the mouth, such as my slave's, it not only imparted the sensation of touch, but also the taste of whatever it was touching. So that Mikael probably had the impression of his tongue somewhat "extended" in length, to about a foot from his mouth, and 2 inches thick, even as he deepthroated Uthgerd's "spear." As we continued like this, the two women that we were, kissing each other, straddling over my slave, our rhythms began to synchronize. My slave's thrusts began to slow with mine, as I knew they would inevitably. Uthgerd's hands were tracing over my curves in all the right places, mostly because she also knew where she also liked to be touched, I was sure.

After some time of losing track of who was cumming, let alone of how many times, the special feature of my customized Detect All spell let me know that a few skeevers were starting to wander into the boundary range of the lingering effect. Mikael was starting to tire more easily, so I decided that perhaps this was the time to slow down and get back to the main reason we came here. "Came." Haha.

We all drank a bit more water, and ate a bit more of that horker meat jerky the wood elf had sold us. Then, finished with dressing again, we pressed onwards. The bandits that had arrived before us had already taken out most of the draugr apparently, so it wasn't long before we were arriving at another small room. I had kept my Detect All spell going intermittently, balancing it with the reserves of my magical energy, which started showing as depleted when the edges of my vision started becoming blue. By using the spell, I could easily see that there was another bandit in the room ahead, but he wasn't in a fighting stance and I knew we were out of earshot for him to hear us.

So we crept up quietly, for the sneak attack, but unexpectedly, the bandit started moving towards a lever in the room. I was certain that he hadn't noticed us, so I waited to see what would happen when he pulled the lever.

He did, and then immediately hundreds of poisoned darts were shooting from concealed launchers in the walls. The bandit collapsed in mere seconds. Fortunately, being an argonian, I had a strong resistance to poisons and diseases, so I'd have probably had five or ten minutes, at least enough time get an antidote out that countered most poisons. In certain rare cases, my resistance would be so strong that I wouldn't even need the antidote. Though, just as rarely, the antidote itself wouldn't be effective at all, and fortunately... well, I had not had that happen to me yet. The poison was actually of less concern than the actual striking of all those darts. Even with my armor, and weaker than arrows, they could still shred a little way into my scales, being especially dangerous if they struck an artery.

I looked around carefully to see what the foolish bandit missed. The heavy metal portcullis was still down, the lever was to raise it, but there was also something else. Along the wall on my left was a row of three stone plinths, each with an image of a different animal on them. It seemed vaguely similar to argonians' use of stone balls that would roll into the corresponding pressure plates, since those also, were decorated with images of certain animals. There was also three large stone heads, with the same animals in their mouths, as on the plinths. But these were in a different order than the others, and since they were very large, I assumed that they were important.

It was the arrangement, I was sure, but how...

I stared at the plinths, and spontaneously had the notion to rotate them on their bases. I applied my hands, and... success!

After the plinths matched the order of the mouths, including the one that lay where it had clearly fallen down from the upper ceiling segment that held it, I tried the lever by tugging on it with my Telekinesis spell. This way, I was safely out of shot from the darts, but I expected that the plinths were the key now. Indeed, we were rewarded with the sight, and groaning sound, of the portcullis going up into the top of its opening. The bandit may have been foolish about his surroundings, but he had a surprisingly large pouch of coin on him, and a few healing potions.

Shortly after the portcullis, we were seeing the signs of large spiders that must have moved in sometime during the crypts' millennia-long abandonment. Silk was strewn in many places over the walls, and floor. As we got closer to the end of the tunnel, somehow our presence must have attracted attention, because we all heard someone screaming for our help, even though he obviously couldn't see us.

I reasoned quickly that as we were stepping through the silk, the giant spider that must have made it sensed us as we disturbed the strands, and the spider's actions started whoever it was to screaming. I drew my sword and readied a Fireball spell, but stopped sneaking. If we were noticed already, there was no point in creeping along. I turned to Mikael.

"Slave, stay there in the tunnel. Do not worry, none of these spiders will get past the doorway."

"Yes, Mistress." He agreed, not needing to be told twice.

Uthgerd and I charged in, and hacking up the smaller arachnids, but just as suddenly, the largest descended on us. I threw another fireball into its head, while slicing off through two of its legs. Uthgerd cleaved her greataxe into the chitin, and it staggered, then stopped twitching.

We took a moment to catch our breath but were interrupted by the man who was screaming.

"Is it over? I'm safe now?"

I looked at him, a dunmer, held fast in the trap of the silk.

"Slave!!" I yelled. "We've killed the spiders! You can get in here now!"

As Mikael ran in, I turned back to the dark elf.

"You're the leader of these bandits? Why are you here? What are you looking for?"

"Why does that matter?" He returned, annoyed "You can see that I'm stuck, so if you want any help with what I know, you're going to have to cut me down first."

"A couple of the other bandits were saying something about a claw? I could cut you down, and then you could show us, or..."

"Or what?" He demanded.

"Or I could just as easily leave you there. I'm sure that not all of these tunnels might be caved in, I can try looking for another. While you'd be stuck, until some other spider comes along and-"

He was frantic then.

"Yes, the claw. I know how it works. The claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. I know how they all fit together!"

"How do I know there wouldn't be some secret that you'd be keeping to yourself?"

"Help me down, and I'll show you. You won't believe the power that the Nords have hidden there."

"I want this claw first, for... 'safekeeping.' I'm sure you understand."

"Does it look like I can move?" He retorted at us "You have to cut me down, first."

"Fine then." I pulled my daedric dagger out, and the silken strands began falling away.

"Sweet breath of Arkay, thank you." I saw him starting to tense though. "It's coming loose. I can feel it."

As soon as I cut him out of the webbing, he did exactly what I was expecting.

"You fool! Why should I share the treasure with anyone?"

"You're the fool!" I yelled as he dashed off. Also exactly as I expected, I heard him screaming and then cut short, as though of a blade thrust into his chest or throat. After Uthgerd and I quickly dispatched the draugr, I searched the idiot's body. Among his coin, I found a journal, and a claw made of solid gold. The journal said that the dunmer had stolen the claw from a man named Lucan Valerius, and its text read about a test. That if I held the claw, the "solution was in the palm of my hands."

"Cryptic..." I commented. "Maybe its fortunate that this sack of hackwing droppings-" I kicked the elf's body "-had gotten here first. Without this claw, I probably would find myself stuck and unable to move forward at some point. Who is this Lucan he mentioned?"

"Um... Mistress?" Mikael suggested.

"Yes, Slave?" I was neutral in tone, mostly so he knew that I wasn't angry.

"Lucan is the name of shopkeeper in Riverwood. One of my classmates from my time at the Bard's College, he is interested in the man's sister, Camilla."

"Good, Slave!" I said approvingly "Unless you misbehave, I will reward you! Lucan may appreciate having his claw back so much that he might give me pouch of coins and a discount at his store."

"Thank you Mistress."

We continued, the experience of Uthgerd and I keeping my Slave from injury, though there were a couple draugr who "shouted." Somehow it didn't seem as much as a surprise to me as I'd have expected. In only an hour's time, we were in a room that I had to assume was the "Hall of Stories" the elf and his journal mentioned. I stared at the unusual door. It was made of three rings of metal, marked with animals, like the switch. Again, that odd familiarity. I pulled the claw out again, staring at it, and laughed as I flipped it over. Three of the animal symbols were on it, a bear, a moth, and an owl. Moving the rings just seemed obvious to me now, so I did that, and inserted the claw's talons in the middle.

There was a clanking noise, the rings spun to a new alignment, and then the sound stone sliding against stone. The door was receding into the floor. I thought more rooms and tunnels of draugr, but now they looked more like natural caves, rather than constructed in cut stone. There were also more draugr, of course, but some were weaker than others, most scattered about through the tunnels. None were too dangerous for Uthgerd and I.

Finally, we reached what looked like the last large chamber. There was a black sarcophagus near the entrance, but the seal on it still seemed solid. But I was more impressed with the stone structure towards the far side. A huge, curving half-circle with a darkly colored metal sculpture of a strange creature's head at the top. It didn't look like a dragon's, or well, anything. It still looked EXTREMELY familiar.

I was sure that somehow, I had already seen it many times before, but it was such a vague impression, it seemed like countless years ago. There was line after line of mysterious scratches, arranged as they were, obviously it was a text, characters of a language I had not seen before, and yet I HAD seen it before. It looked like daedric, but I recognized it wasn't, even though I had that same strange feeling of vague familiarity. The Hist, of my people, the trees that we coexist with, they are... they are our closest connection to the makers of our world, Nirn.

A simplified explanation is that the source of the argonian's soul is the Hist, a forest of hivemind-linked self-aware trees. Each tree has its own unique personality, but each are connected to each other. In that sense of connection, we argonians are also connected to them, through our dreams. We believe that when the world was young, the argonians were only a type of simple-minded lizards living wild in the forest and the swamps. At some point, our primal ancestors had began licking the Hist's sap as it dripped along the different trees, and it "changed" us. This was both physical and mental, but that there was also something else about the sap. I won't explain how, but it "distilled" the souls into those ancient lizards.

When an argonian is born, he or she is taken to a tree, and then consumes the sap. But since the world is a big place, and the trees do not cover it, the shamans use their secretive magic to insert two Hist seeds into the developing breasts of every young argonian woman. When an argonian mother nurses her infant away from the trees, the child develops more slowly, but it can still grow up intelligently. The few cases where a young argonian was denied either, they grow up without a "mind," and do not respond to anything.

But through this, we find that our people are "reincarnated" by the trees. The only reason why I understand it, is the dunmer have a concept of reincarnation, but theirs is "given" to mortal life in a different way.

This was why I was wondering whether I was truly having "past life" experience, but what did that mean if I did not have an "argonian" soul?

I thought about this, but found myself focusing on a specific word in the scratched text. It was beginning to GLOW. A strange sort of compulsion seemed to demand that I approach it, and all thought of anything else faded as I walked up, staring intently at the word. There was also a strange sort of chanting that I "knew," and as I continued getting closer, it kept glowing brighter, the chanting louder. As I started touching the scratched text, it's meaning suddenly flashed into my mind, and I truly KNEW it then.

FUS, force...

Just as the word's glowing light and chanting were fading, there was a sudden groaning, breaking noise.

"Scarlet!!" Uthgerd was shouting frantically "The draugr!"

I whipped around, pulling my sword out in time to see the undead with the long blade of a greatsword in its hands. He heaved it down onto my head, but the weapon was stopped by the black hardness of my daedric helmet, its horns defiantly trapping it from swinging to the side. The blow was enough to set my head ringing, but there was another effect, an intensely cold feeling. The greatsword was enchanted.

I staggered, my sword thrust glancing off the draugr's torso. Uthgerd hacked into the body from the side, her axe's momentum easily penetrating the opponent's armor by a few inches. The draugr was staggered, and I plunged my sword into its chest. But it laughed, and used a shout at us.

Uthgerd was knocked over by its force more so than the previous ones, thrown against the other wall and I nearly fell down myself. Enraged, I grabbed the haft of my sword and wrenched upwards, slicing as much of the dried flesh as the draugr's armor would let me. Then I yanked the sword free, and hacked at its collarbone, being stopped only an old iron lip of its torso armor. At the same I punched it with my hand in a fist, a magical fireball carrying flame into the undead's face. The walking corpse collapsed and didn't seem to be getting up again.

Knowing that he couldn't fight, Mikael had been hanging back from us as we explored, but now he and I ran to Uthgerd. She had the good fortune to have landed in a pile of old straw that a family of skeevers might have been using as a nest, so her impact was probably softened.

"Uthgerd?" I asked, shaking her gently.

"Owww..." she groaned, struggling to sit up "that was strongest I'd seen yet of ANY draugr... Scarlet, what happened to you? As we got closer to the stone sculpture, you seemed to lose all awareness around as you walked up to that wall."

"I don't understand it either," I said as Mikael and I started getting supplies out "you're right, I did lose all awareness as I walked up. The only thing I could focus on, was a word on the strange wall. There was some sort of chanting I could hear, and the word was glowing brightly."

Uthgerd was thoughtful as I talked, appreciative of the water, food, and healing potions we had brought along. I was surprised to see that Mikael seemed to know more treating injuries than I expected. We had taken Uthgerd's armor off carefully, and checked for bruising on her naked body. Her right shoulder was dislocated, and the lower back's muscles seemed strained badly. She also seemed to have broken her right foot.

Conveniently, there was a brook with ample amounts of fresh water running near the left side of the mysterious wall. So we unrolled the leather sheet I used for my camping gear, and helped Uthgerd onto it. Then we carried her, with the sheet to rest by the brook.

One of the essential spells that every traveler must know, is the Purity spell. No one, not even the best mages, none seemed to know what physical substance that caused different diseases, though whatever that substance was, it's believed to be from Peryite, Daedric Prince of tasks and pestilence. The Purity spell, in the school of Illusion, is used by the caster to determine if water or other things were safe to eat or drink, as far as if someone got a disease because of it. It didn't show things like poison, but it did, if it was "touched" by Peryite.

After casting Purity over the cold water in the brook, I saw it was clean, and it tasted that way too. We used it to clean Uthgerd's wounds, bandaging them, and made splints. She gritted through this as much as she could, and sipped the healing potions we gave her. I had a little experience with Restoration magic, using my Healing Hands spell, but Uthgerd would probably need a day or two before she could put walking pressure on her foot again, even if it had the splint.

We chatted about the experiences, and eventually she fell asleep. Mikael had already tried looking for a way out, and found a secret passage leading up behind where the brook formed a short waterfall. After the hidden stone door had reluctantly moved aside, Mikael had reported back, saying it did lead back outside, but to a low cliff with a sharp dropoff. He said that he could see the road leading into Riverwood, and with some of our rope, he let a line down.

After 3 hours later, Mikael returned with the burly blacksmith. Alvor and had a couple of poles that we tied to the leather sheet. Alvor and Mikael carried my fellow lady-at-arms out to lower her on the rope down the cliff. I was resolved that when I got back to Whiterun, I was intent to understand WHY I was suddenly SO focused on that mysterious wall that I didn't help fight off the draugr when I should have. I didn't know how many questions I had for Farengar, but I was going to get them from him, one way or another.

I told Mikael to stay with Uthgerd at the inn, and paid their cook for their room and extra for anything else I expected she might need. I was a bit confused about where the innkeeper had gone. The man I paid said his friend who was also the innkeeper, had gone out for some business that she had kept to herself, and didn't tell him more than that. But I didn't care about much more than getting to Farengar and dropping off his Hist-forsaken stone so I could next ask him what the xhuth happened, as well as how to fix it. I can NOT afford to let myself be caught unawares like that again, especially if people are depending on me.

So, even though it was still night, and despite my tiredness, I jogged back as much as I could with the heavy stone in my pack. I had tried using my loot-stashing spell on it, but for some reason it didn't work, so I had to carry it on me instead. My stamina potions were immensely helpful for this, and it was morning again by the time I arrived back at the city gates.

When I got to Farengar, there was a stranger in a sturdy brown leather armor there, but I ignored her, hefting the stone out. The mage was excited, but I spoke quickly before he could begin.

"Not so fast!" I said, irritated "Something happened in there, and it nearly cost me my life, as well as nearly that of my fighting companion! I'm sure that your stone here is related, but when I had started towards a strange wall near it, ALL of my attention was suddenly forced onto it, instead of the powerful draugr that attacked us. WHY was that? What has it to do with me?"

"Really?" The stranger asked instead of the wizard. "Impressive..."
"And who in Oblivion are you? That draugr nearly killed Uthgerd, all because of my 'distraction,' and I am demanding answers."

"Okay," the leather-clad woman replied, holding up her hands "I don't want her hurt either. I also don't want to explain more about myself, but I also have good reason for that. But even if it doesn't seem like it, what counts most of all, is that Farengar can have that stone now."

"So..." the mage commented, as the other woman blanched at his attention "your information was correct after all... and we have our friend here to thank for recovering it for us."

"Hey!" I yelled "I want to know about what happened to me!"

"Well-" Farengar was cut off suddenly by the Jarl's dark elf bodyguard, Irileth, who came dashing into the room.

"Farengar, Jarl Balgruuf needs you're advice right away!" Then she noticed me also. "Perhaps your help as well... he's in the hall's loft."

Then without another word, she ran back out, with us close behind.

The Jarl was speaking with one of his guardsmen "So, Irileth tells me you came from the Western Watchtower?"

He paused for moment, but the dunmer urged him on, "Tell him what you told me. About the dragon."

"Uh... that's right." The guard answered, out of breath. "We saw it coming from the south. It was fast... faster than anything I've ever seen."

"What did it do?" Balgruuf asked "Is it attacking the watchtower?"

"No, my lord. It was just circling overhead when I left. I never ran so fast in my life... I thought it would come after me for sure."

"Good work, son. We'll take it from here. Head down to the barracks for some food and rest. You've earned it. Irileth, you'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there."

"I've already ordered some of your men to muster near the main gate."

"Good. Don't fail me." Then he turned to you and say, "I'm sorry this is postponing your payment for helping Farengar, but we have no time to stand on ceremony. I need your help again. I want you to go with Irileth and help her fight this Dragon. You've survived Helgen, and so you have more experience with dragons then anyone else here. The reward for retrieving Farengar's artifact will be waiting for you, but this fight will be more than I would typically ask of a mercenary. Succeed at this, and I will inform my House Steward, Avenicci that you will be permitted to purchase a home in the city."

Farengar spoke up excitedly, "I should come along. I would very much like to see this dragon."

"No. I can't afford to risk both you and Irileth. I need you here working on ways to defend the city against these dragons."

The mage was disappointed, but accepted the decision. "As you command."

"One last thing, Irileth. This isn't a death or glory mission. I need to know what we're dealing with."

"Don't worry, my lord." She said as she ran down the steps, myself at her heels, "I'm the very soul of caution."

Somehow, I expected that neither she nor I were going to be "cautious" about this fight...