Chapter 17: Haven
Moving quickly, Argon prepared for the journey. Argon flung his sword and a quiver of Sunhallowed Elven Arrows on his back. To accompany the arrows Argon grabbed Auriel's Bow from its place above his bed. After getting everything ready he grabbed Katja and they left.
Argon and Katja rode off to the temple on Argon's horse, Shadowmere. Katja held on tightly to Argon's back as he directed the horse where to go. Shadowmere was a fine steed, he was trustworthy, strong, fast, and was incredibly smart for a horse. Argon never had to direct Shadowmere all that much, the steed already knew where they were going and how to get there. Argon just controlled his speed and kept him from running into things.
"Why couldn't we just take my wagon?" Katja complained, "There's room for both of us."
"Shadowmere is faster than any wagon, I assure you." Argon told her.
"So why couldn't we just attach him to mine?" Katja asked.
"I tried that once. Shadowmere does not like wagons." Argon explained.
"I just feel kinda bad leaving my horse behind like that." Katja said.
"She'll be fine. We unbound her from the wagon and let her roam around my property. There's plenty of feed, the stables are nice and cozy, you have nothing to worry about." Argon assured her.
"Except the end of the world." Katja muttered, "You still haven't explained to me exactly what's going on. Why is the world ending, and why are The Blades so sure you are the only one who can stop it?"
"Do you remember all those stories Dad used to tell us?" Argon asked.
"Of course I do. They were what inspired me to protect Bruma." Katja said.
"There was one story that Dad used to love telling us. Mom would tell us it too when we would visit her in Anvil, you know before she died." Argon said.
"Okay..." Katja said confused, "They both told us a lot of the same stories."
"Well this was a special one. It was about an ancient Nord hero called The Dragonborn." Argon told her.
"I remember that one! I loved that story. It always gave me hope, even when I was feeling my lowest." Katja recalled joyously.
"And remember, there was a prophecy that went along with it?"
Instictively Katja recited the prophecy, "When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world, when the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped, when the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles, when the Dragonborn ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls, when the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding, The World-Eater wakes, and the wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn."
"Exactly." Argon said, "Now, what if I told you that prophecy was about me?"
Katja laughed, "You're kidding, right?"
"No, I'm not." Argon said, "I am The Dragonborn."
"There's no way. That's an ancient prophecy the odds of you being the one it was about are terrible." Katja said.
"Well it had to be about someone. Let me prove it to you." Argon brought Shadowmere to a sudden stop and climbed down from the horse. Katja hopped off and stood next to him. "You might wanna stand back." Argon told her.
Argon took a deep breath before letting out a great roar, "FUS RO DAH!!" he shouted. The blue power flew forth from his mouth, and out the hole he had cut in Konahrik so that it wouldn't fly off everytime he wanted to use the Thu'um.
"No. Way." Katja said.
"Told you." Argon said and he climbed back on Shadowmere.
Katja climbed on behind him and squealed, "My baby brother is The Dragonborn!"
"We're twins Katja, I'm not your baby brother." Argon said.
"You are by ten minutes." Katja laughed, "So tell me, how did you find out you were Dragonborn?"
"Well, after the incident in Bruma I didn't know what to do. I knew I couldn't stay in Bruma anymore, I just didn't know where to go. Eventually, I decided to make a fresh start in Skyrim. In my haste to leave the province I didn't want to deal with the hassel of going through one of the points set up for crossing between provinces, so I decided to illegally cross. It just so happened, that I stumbled across an ambush. Skyrim was locked in a Civil War between the Empire and the rebels know as the Stormcloaks. During the confusion I was captured and taken to a town for execution as a rebel. Right before my execution a dragon, Alduin, swooped down and unintentionally saved my life. A man named Hadvar helped me escaped and I went to the village of Riverwood, from there I went to Whiterun and my journey began."
Argon continued on with his tale of battling Alduin, stopping Harkon, and defeating Miraak. He also told Katja about how he managed to bring peace to the world by promising the Daedra his soul in return for them not interferring with mortals. He then told her about the Soul Wars and the formation of his team and he also told her that it consisted of Tamriel's greatest heroes, he also explained the reason he still looked in his twenties was because when the Divines restored his life they also restored him to his younger age, he then told her about his team's fighting against The Shadow King, their fights against Apocapher, them dealing with the Dwemer, fighting a possessed Talos, and how Lorkhan had returned and was now threatening the world.
"This team of yours, they're dead, right?" Katja asked.
"Yeah." Argon sighed, "Along with my wife, my adopted daughters, and my daughters' husbands."
"Argon, I'm so sorry." Katja comforted.
"I miss them, I really do." Argon sighed.
~~~~~~~~
A few hours later the twins arrived at the Karthspire. Outside of the cave was an old Forsworn camp, when Argon helped rediscover Sky Haven Temple he along with two other Blades members cleared out all of the Forsworn. Today, The Blades used the spot as another training area. Inside the cave near the front entrance was the other part of the Forsworn camp, The Blades didn't have much use for it other than the bed that had been set up so that the night guards could watch in shifts. Argon and Katja wandered through the cave and past the inactive obstacles that had been set up to keep out unwanted guests. Argon had also helped disarm those during the rediscovering, but given the situation it might be best to reactivate them.
After passing by all of the traps the twins came to the entrance of the temple. An empty chest sat in the middle of the room, behind the chest was a blood seal that had been used to reveal the doors to the temple, and behind the blood seal were the doors to the temple. Argon approached the doors and upon them was the Akaviri symbol for the Dragonborn. Argon shoved the stone doors open and entered into the long hallway. Argon and Katja walked down the hallway and inside they saw many Blades warriors wandering the temple. They were all equipped with the standard Blades armor, an Akaviri sword, a quiver of arrows, and a bow.
"It's been a long time since I was last here." Argon said as he gazed around the room.
"It has indeed. Too long, in fact." said the voice of an older woman.
Argon turned to see the Grandmaster of The Blades walking towards him. "Lydia!" Argon called out as she walked towards him.
"Argon Stormblade, it's so good to see you again." Argon's ex-housecarl said as she neared him.
"I haven't seen you since the Battle of Cheydinhal. You look good." Argon said.
"As do you." Lydia replied.
Years ago after Argon helped kill a dragon outside of Whiterun he was named a thane of the hold. As a thane he was entitled to a housecarl, or bodyguard, Lydia was the one who had been assigned to be Argon's housecarl. For a while Argon and Lydia traveled together, they took down bandits, cleared caves of beasts, and delved into ancient Nordic Crypts. Eventually, as Argon was helping to reform The Blades he recruited Lydia along with two others, a vigilante from Riften named Mjoll, and a Dunmer priest of Mara named Erandur. Eventually the Grandmaster of the Blades, a woman named Delphine, passed away and the title was handed down from her unto Lydia. Under Lydia's rulership and with the assistance of Argon, The Blades increased their numbers and they played a key role in the Second Great War during which Mjoll and Erandur fell.
Lydia, like the other Blades members wore the regular Blade armor. As always, she kept her hair short although given her age it had changed color from brown to grey. Her face was only slightly wrinkled and her left cheek was left scarred from a fire spell that had been thrown at her. On her right cheek she had a diagonal scar going from the bottom right of her lower eye down to the upper right of her top lip.
"I'll let you two catch up." Katja said and she wandered off.
"Well," Lydia said," let me show you around."
The temple had changed a lot since Argon had last been there. Most of the carvings in the walls reamined but at some points The Blades had dug into the walls and created additional rooms. Lydia showed Argon to the room he would be sharing with Katja it was a small square room with two beds, a table in between them, and a chest at the foot of each bed. As Argon and Lydia walked through the temple members of The Blades would stop and stare at Argon as he passed them by. At one point one of the newer recruits walked up to Argon. "Mr. Stormblade," he said, "it's really great having you here. I mean wow, The Dragonborn standing right in front of me. I can't wait to learn from you, it's an honor sir."
Argon chuckled and shook the recruit's hand. "Be ready," Argon told him, 'it's not going to be easy."
"Y-yes sir!" the recruit said and ran off.
"Nice kid." Argon said to Lydia.
"That's Alan. He's one of our newer recruits. After Lorkhan took Solitude a wave of people came knocking on the temple door looking for protection. It's an easy exchange really, we give them protection and they fight in our army." Lydia informed Argon.
"Speaking of, how about you show me what you got?" Argon requested.
Lydia led Argon out the back door to the back courtyard. All around the courtyard were Blades warriors dodging obstacles, practicing their techniques on dummies, increasing their skills with a bow, and some were even dueling with magic or swords. "So what do you think?" Lydia asked.
"They're good." Argon said.
"But?" Lydia asked.
"There's not enough of them. Katja was telling me you have a total of what, thirty people? In most cases if you send in thrity Blades sure they'd be able to handle the situation in five minutes, but not in this situation. I've experienced Lorkhan first hand and I can guarantee that he is pushing his army to the max. Thirty Blades won't be enough, we need more people. Not to mention the fact that even with their extensive training these warriors won't stand a chance against Lorkhan's army." Argon told Lydia.
"Well, that's why we brought you in. I could've just sent Katja to renew your spirit, but I sent her to renew your spirit and bring you here. I want you to lead this army. You call the shots, you decide the training, you control everything. What do you say?" Lydia offered.
Without hesitation Argon said,"I'll do it, but I want you to be my advisor. I've never led something this big before. I've led my team and small squads during the Civil War and Second Great War, but there was never much more than ten soldiers at most."
Lydia accepted his offer.
"Okay then, we start planning tomorrow." Argon declared.
~~~~~~~~
Later that night as everything quieted down and people began going to bed, Argon leaned against a stone pillar atop Alduin's Wall. From his perch Argon watched as Katja, surrounded by six Blades members, sat at the table and engaged in a drinking competition. Lydia walked up to Argon and stood beside him.
"It's strange, seeing you without your armor on." Lydia joked.
"I took it off and left it in the chest in my room." Argon told her.
For the next few minutes they just stood there in silence watching Katja.
"You should really go get some sleep." Lydia said to him.
Argon shook his head.
"It's alright Argon, she'll be here in the morning." Lydia said.
Argon continued watching in silence as Katja took another drink from her tankard.
"All of the members love her. Both men and women." Lydia said, "She's really helped boost morale around here. As you can imagine morale has been pretty low these last few weeks, the world is losing hope."
"She has that affect on people." Argon smiled and paused for a minute, "Thank you."
"For what?" Lydia asked.
"Bringing her back to me. After she 'died' I hit a really low point in my life, it didn't help that soon after that I got thrown into a world of fighting dragons and other enemies. Then after Lorkhan took everything from me, I haven't been myself."
"Which is undertstandable." Lydia reasoned.
"Having Katja around, it hasn't made the pain go away but it has made it easier to actually stand up. Can I ask you something?"
"Anything." Lydia answered.
"How long have you had her here?"
"Around twenty years." Lydia answered
"And how'd you know who she was?" Argon questioned, "I've never told anyone the truth about my life before Skyrim. I made up some other story that there was a fire that killed my Dad and Grandma when I was a lot younger and after they died I moved in with my mother in Anvil until she died even though in reality my mom died first. I always cut out Katja and the necromancer. It has always been too painful for me to talk about."
"Well you told me. I remember, it was one night after we cleared out a particularly dangerous fort of necromancers. We were at a tavern and I commented on how you were acting strange and you told me the truth." Lydia reminded Argon, "After the Second Great War, I wanted to move The Blades back into Cloud Ruler Temple at Bruma. So I took about ten men and we went to Bruma to see about fixing up the temple. I wanted to see what shape the place was in, how much work we might have to do, could we fix the place or would we have to build a completely knew temple, things like that. During our time there I remembered the story you told me and I figured we were there so why not look and see if we could find the cave. I thought that maybe if we could find some piece of her like her dagger then maybe it could give you a bit of closure. After some digging we managed to find the collapsed cave, but what we found inside of it wasn't her dagger, it was her. We rushed her back to Sky Haven Temple and completely forgot our plans of moving into Cloud Ruler."
"So why didn't you ever tell me you had her here?"
"When we got her back here I had my mages take a look at her and they explained there was a powerful enchantment keeping her paralyzed and comatose. The spell was unlike anything they had ever seen before and they weren't sure they would be able to break it. I didn't want to tell you about her because I didn't want to get your hopes up and then have you lose her again if we couldn't save her. I was determined to free her though and for years I had the mages trying to free her, we only found out how to break the spell two months ago, we were just too scared of failing and killing her in the process so we just left her like that." Lydia explained.
"So why did you pull her out?"
Lydia turned and looked Argon straight in the eyes and said, "Because you needed her."
Argon leaned back and watched as Katja won the drinking challenge and another man stepped up to challenge her.
"She's just like I remember her being." Argon said, "Everything about her is the same as it had been before I lost her."
Lydia began talking, "You know, after we brought her back we watched her for a few days in case the spell had effeted her in any other ways. I explained to Katja exactly what had happened to her and told her that we were decades away from the last year she remembered. During the days that we watched her she was in a state similar to the state you were in. She didn't really want to do anything, she barely ate, barely moved around, her entire world had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Eventually I told her the world was ending and explained the situation. When I got to the point of telling her that you were still alive, suddenly it was like nothing else mattered to her. All she wanted was to see you, to see something familiar, after days of looking like she was dead she was suddenly so active and full of life. You're just as much a crutch to her as she is to you."
There was suddenly an outcry of cheering as Katja beat yet another opponent. During the cheering Katja noticed Argon standing there watching her and she smiled at him. Argon smiled and gave her a small wave.
"I think I'm gonna turn in for the night." Argon said to Lydia. "Tomorrow we begin work."
"Alright, Argon. Sleep well." Lydia said.
Argon straightened himself up walked away towards his room.
~~~~~~~~
The next morning Argon awoke to the feeling of someone pushing on his shoulder. "Hey, you ready?" Katja asked when she saw Argon's eyes open.
"Well no, I was busy sleeping." Argon said.
"Yeah, I don't really care." Katja laughed.
"Let's get to it then." Argon said.
"I'll be waiting for you outside." Katja told him before leaving the room.
Argon stood up from the bed and stretched his arms. The previous night had been the best he had slept in weeks. Even though his family and friends were still gone he had hope again and he had something to fight for. Argon looked out of the doorway and saw Katja standing outside the room with her back to him.
The cold stone floor chilled Argon's feet and reminded him that he needed to change out of his sleepwear and into his armor. He walked over to the chest at the foot of his bed and began to put his armor on. After putting on his armor he turned around, picked up his weapons, and put them on his back. After getting ready he met Katja outside the room.
"So, did you make that all yourself?" Katja asked him as they began walking.
"I made the Dragonplate Boots and gauntlets, the Ebony Mail is actually a daedric artifact I got from Boethiah. The sword I got after defeating Apocapher, and as for the bow and arrows, the bow was actually used by Akatosh and the arrows I got from a friend of mine. He's a Snow Elf. It's a long story."
"Right Gelebor, you told be about him on the way over here." Katja said, "What about the mask? You didn't tell me how you got that."
"It's also an ancient artifact. I got it after collecting all the masks of the more important dragon priests in Skyrim." Argon explained.
"Well, I have a pretty special story about how I got my armor." Katja said.
"Oh, is that right?" Argon laughed.
"Yeah, one day I woke up, went to the shop, bought a lot of leather and then," Katja got into Argon's face and whispered, "and then I made it."
"I rememeber." Argon said, "I was there."
"That's right, you were sitting in the corner like you always did." Katja laughed.
"Well I'm sorry not all of us were born heroes." Argon laughed also.
Katja joked, "Just the good ones."
"Sure because I remember that time when I was trying to stop Alduin, and I got paralyzed for a couple decades." Argon joked back.
A shocked expression came over Katja's face and then she laughed. "That's a low blow Argon." she said with laughter in her voice.
The twins approached the table in the Main Room and already Lydia was standing there with an assistant waiting for them. "Good morning you two." Lydia said to them.
"Good morning, Lydia." Argon and Katja said at the same time.
"So you're THOSE kinds of twins." Lydia joked before becoming serious and saying, "Let's get to work."
"First off, I want a status report. I've been... occupied for the last few weeks and I haven't really been paying much attention to current events. What's going on in the world? How are the riots, which cities have fallen, are there any resistances, what is the overall morale, things like that." Argon said.
Lydia gave the status report, "Each day more and more cities and villages across Skyrim are falling. I've been sending two scouts out to a small camp out near Markarth each day and they pick up the latest status reports from around Skyrim. Two days ago some mysterious men were spotted in Helgen, not surprisingly the village fell not long after. Lorkhan himself has not been spotted anywhere. As far as we know there are no resistances except for us. That's probably due to the fact that everywhere Lorkhan's army goes they end up killing almost everybody that doesn't join them, which leaves almost no one around to start a resistance. The hold capitals Markarth, Morthal, and Falkreath are still standing and holding strong. For some reason Lorkhan hasn't really taken much interest in them it seems. Regarding the riots, once it was revealed that Talos was innocent and Lorkhan was behind everything the riots changed from people being angry over Talos to people rioting out of fear of Lorkhan. There's not many riots left in Skyrim, mainly because there's barely anywhere left in Skyrim. In Falkreath there are no riots, everyone is just barricading their houses although you alreay know that. In Markarth, in order to prevent people from rioting the Jarl has struck down with an iron fist. A curfew is being enforced, the guards are a lot stricter and more swift in dealing out punishments, if someone even acts like they're about to riot they are instantly thrown in Cidnah Mine, and finally no one is allowed to enter or leave the city. Morthal seems to be the calmest out of the three remaining capitals, the citizens are mostly trying to go about their normal lives however there are a few doomsayers around the city, the Jarl has grasped the reigns a little bit tighter but not as much as in Markarth. Not much is known about the status of other provinces although it can be assumed that there are riots all over Tamriel. We do however, have an idea about what's going on in Cyrodiil. Before it went dark, The Black Horse Courier distributed one final issue about Cyrodiil. It seems that despite the change in what people are rioting over, the riots have not lessened at all. In fact they seem to have gotten worse, at one point in the issue it talks about how the rioters finally managed to break the blockade at the White-Gold Tower and now it has fallen to the rioters. The status of the High Council is unknown. In Anvil it seems even the Count joined in on the riots and he began ruthelessly murdering his staff before a city guard managed to put him down. The guard was promptly thrown in prison. In Kvatch citizens began taking city officials into the arena and executing them, similar to The Imperial City. Not much is known about the other cities in the province."
"By the eight..." Katja said.
"I've experienced the riots in the Imperial City, one man even resorted to cannibalism and tried eating me and my team." Argon said, "I hate to admit it, but there is really nothing we can do about the riots. These people can't be reasoned with and it seems even the promise of heroes is not enough to calm them down. Can't say I blame them. The only way to stop the riots and prevent the fall of any more cities is by defeating Lorkhan."
"Which is what we're trying to do." Lydia said.
"The thing is, Lorkhan has an entire army. To get to him we'd have to go through his army." Katja said.
"That's why we are building an army of our own." Argon stated, "What we have here is a good start to an army, but it's not the finished product."
"So what do you suggest?" Lydia asked.
"Alright," Argon began, "so from what I've observed here you have thirty well trained warriors. They're strong, they're fast, and they're dedicated. However, that's not enough. Not against Lorkhan. We need more soldiers, more warriors, and we don't have enough time to take in someone who has never wielded a sword before. What we need is people who are already warriors, people who can match the training these warriors already have and can also handle the new training I'm going to implement. Have any of the other factions survived Lorkhan's onslaught?"
"You want to bring in other factions? What if they don't work together?" Katja asked.
"The world is ending and we're trying to save it. They'll work together." Argon promised.
"I hadn't even considered other factions. That's brilliant. I'll send out scouts to learn the status of the other factions, I'll have a report for you as soon as possible." Lydia turned to her assistant and made him write that down.
"Good." Argon said, "Have it for me when I get back."
"Get back?" Katja asked, "Where are you going?"
"WE are going to visit my friend Gelebor." Argon said.
"Who's Gelebor?" Lydia asked.
"He's a Snow Elf residing at a place called the Forgotten Vale, the old Chantry of Auriel. He's the one who provides me with all of my special Elven Arrows. I want to recruit him. Having him on our side would be a major advantage. He's a strong warrior, an experienced mage, as well as an amazing craftsman, plus he has knowledge of old Snow Elf weapons and armor that could be very beneficial to our army."
"So, when are you planning to leave?" Lydia asked.
"I would like leave as soon as possible." Argon said.
"Alright, I'm in." Katja told Argon.
"Bring a few Blades with you." Lydia commanded.
"No, I don't want Gelebor getting the wrong idea and thinking we're there to invade. He is very protective of the Chantry, he's been guarding it for thousands of years." Argon denied the command.
"So what makes you think he'll just up and leave it?" Lydia asked.
"Because," Argon said, "if the world ends then so does the Chantry."
~~~~~~~~
Lorkhan was sitting upon his throne in Solitude enjoying the sounds of his army out in the city.
"M'lord." Artis said as he kneeled before Lorkhan.
"Arise Artis and tell me what it is you require." Lorkhan said.
Artis stood up and began to speak. "One of your soldiers requests and audience with you."
"Oh?" Lorkhan said, "Very well, send him up. I'd be more than pleased to meet the man with enough courage to request an audience with me."
Artis walked over to the top of the stairs and called down for the soldier to come up. The soldier walked up the stairs and stood before Lorkhan with bowing or kneeling. Lorkhan raised an eyebrow; he was curious about this man.
"So, you request an audience with me yet you refuse to kneel? Tell me, what is it you want?" Lorkhan leaned forward in his throne.
"I demand an explanation." the soldier said forcefully.
Lorkhan cocked his head, "You are not within your power to make demands from me."
"But I just did." the soldier said, "I demand you explain to me why you continue to slaughter innocent civilians and burn down villages."
"Innocent civilians? Have you no eyes? There is no such thing as 'innocence' in this world. Everyone is corrupt, everywhere is corrupt, the world was run by corrupt rulers, they worshipped corrupted deties, there is no innocence." Lorkhan said.
"Not even in children? The children whom you kill, whom you orphan, whose homes you destroy?! My daughter lived in Helgen you sick bastard!" the soldier raised his voice.
"Especially not the children! The children are raised by corrupt parents! For years they bathe in the corruption of their parents! They are the most corrupted out of everyone!" Lorkhan shouted.
The soldier drew upon all his anger and shouted,"Even so, why kill them? Why cause them so much harm?! Why do you continue to kill people if they will already die when you end the world?! All of these acts are unnecessary! I think you do it because you enjoy it! You enjoy when your troops return and tell you of the cities they destroyed, of the people they slaughtered, of the lives they ruined. You enjoy every second of it, every gut wrenching detail, every drop of blood that runs down the swords of your men, you love it. You are the corrupt one. Not this world. Not the people in it. Only you."
"I AM NOT CORRUPT! I AM THE ONLY PURE BEING IN THIS WORLD. I AM SALVATION. I AM SAFETY. I WILL USHER IN A PERFECT WORLD. A WORLD THAT YOU WILL NOT BE A PART OF!" Lorkhan held his hand out and Artis quickly handed him his sword. With one sweep of his arms Lorkhan slashed the soldier in half from the should to the waist. Lorkhan then turned to Artis. "Pick him up. Go throw his remains in the courtyard of Castle Dour. Let it be a warning to all who will doubt me. There will not be a second warning."
Artis quickly scrambled to pick up the remains of the soldier and then ran out of the Blue Palace.
Lorkhan walked back to his throne and sat down.