Chapter 77 - Mount Anthor
[Jon's POV]
The scene didn't change much! Just me, the girl and the corpse... half corpse.
The only thing that was added to the scene was one, two, three... twelve, thirteen.
Thirteen more figure dressed in white and covering their faces, they appeared out of nowhere just a few seconds after I blew the Justiciar into bloody goo.
Their looks were unique yet similar to each other. I haven't seen an eye color like this before but it may be 'Light Grey', don't know!
They also are holding strange weapons. Some look like warpicks and others have chains in them. Kinda looked like ninja weapons but I know ninja weapons and these clearly are not.
The people themselves gave off the air of Nords, but they didn't act like Nords, which made me not so sure if they are Nords or another race.
But it is a weird scene nonetheless.
A girl with red eyes and looks like a lady from a prestigious family, standing and guarded by thirteen weird shinobi like people who probably share the same ancestry.
"Are you alright, young miss?"
"Don't worry, he means no harm!"
She spoke up for me! More than that, when she did, they eased up a bit and showed less hostility to me.
Still,
"How do you know that?" I asked in a smug way.
The girl looked at me and I could feel her smile behind the veil, "I can tell!" She said.
I couldn't hide my tired mentality, "Perfect! Another weirdo."
They people showed no reaction except for one.
"Insolent! Apologize or I'll make you!" He came out and pointed a short blade at me.
The others sighed and shook their heads, apparently, his actions are out of their norm.
I looked at the guy and he seemed to be in a close age to me. His posture and weapon holding technique are new to me. Looked interesting.
"Point that away before you injure yourself boy." A voice came from behind me. That was Jull aiming her bow at him.
The situation got frozen for a few seconds but someone broke the ice.
"Stop embarrassing yourself you fool!" A girl's voice came from one of the white figures.
The guy didn't back off and pressed further, "Yeah, stop embarrassing yourself and apologize immediately!"
Huh!
"Sigh! I was talking to you, icebrain!" The girl spoke once again.
"Huh!" The boy got taken aback as it seemed he didn't expect it.
He was at a loss from embarrassment now.
"Don't think about it too much!" I said.
"Wha! I don't need you to comfort me!" He shouted at me.
The situation was fun.
I kinda see that these people are not that shady as the look.
Still, I guess I can't stay like this all day. There is some stuff I want to do.
"I guess it all went well, but I need to be on my way now if you excuse me."
I turned around and pointed to Jull.
"Wait!" The red-eyed girl called, "The people that were being chased, please lead us to them!"
She seemed concerned about them.
"Fine, I am going back to them anyway!"
She nodded and whispered something to her people, some of them ran and brought some horses a minute later.
"I think we need to hurry, you and your friend can share the ride with us fo... huh?" She was speaking to me but suddenly halted and looked to the side. The others also followed her gaze on guard.
I was not detecting anything weird from that direction. It was just Jull bringing back... the fire horses.
Aha!
So this girl has a good detection ability too. I felt I looked down on her a little bit.
'System! Show their levels!'
The girl was <Lv.19>, that's stronger than me! The boy that acted hostile towards me was <Lv.16>. The others varied between <Lv.30> and <Lv.15>.
This is some serious force. Some of them were even stronger than the Justiciars.
Anyway, Jull came with the Fire Horses and some commotion happened between these people. They clearly didn't see this one coming.
I jumped on my horse and looked expressionlessly at them. It took them a moment to process what happened and rode in their horses silently.
"Who are these people?" Jull came close and asked.
In the same time, the boy who showed hostility towards me approached the red-eyed girl and asked. "Who is that person?"
I and the girl could hear from a long distance so we looked at each other with curiosity.
"I have no idea!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Alina's POV]
We rode with haste towards the direction that mysterious young man guided us too.
I was really in a hurry to finish the mission entrusted to me by the elders but it seemed that this young man has already done the deed.
He said he has taken care of it alone. I don't know how powerful he is but he clearly showed it off on purpose when he killed that Justiciar, maybe overkilled, I don't know anymore!
All I can tell that he didn't lie to me, the only problem is; he is very unpredictable.
Unpredictable people show many future possibilities and are hard to read. Well, he can't lie in front of my eyes so I guess there is no harm.
After all, unpredictable people are the most interesting.
More than that, this horse he is riding is clearly an Atronach.
An Atronach that can reshape itself is only mentioned in tales of 'The Three Banners War' during the 'Planemeld'.
[A/N: Planemeld: an event that occurred 'The Elder Scrolls Online'. This was done by Molag Bal when he tried to drag Nirn out of Mundus and take it to his realm.]
During the 'Planemeld', it was said that some conjurers could achieve this degree of controlling an Atronach and forcing it to take the form they want.
Best guess is, this young man is from a very prestigious faction that has excelled in the Conjuration School. Maybe the 'Children of Hafara', but these people don't come here. The nearest place that provides practice to Conjuration is the 'College of Winterhold', but those are part of the outside world and we have a good relationship with them.
I need to start learning how to 'Scry' from now on. But it is also another lost art.
While I was sinking into my thoughts, my clansmen halted their horses which alerted me.
There seems to be something ahead! I saw three of Frost Atronaches standing ahead and guarding a place.
"Please give me a second." The young man jumped from his horse and went to them, he then started 'Banishing' them back to Oblivion.
"He is good!" The team leader said.
I can see that too!
The team leader is just temporary working under me but he is the one who is actually giving orders. As the third young miss, my role is only to act solemn and look pretty.
Anyway, the young man seemed to have done and signaled us to come ahead.
"Young man! You really took all of them on your own?" The team leader asked.
"Hehe! Nothing really special, I just hid a lot of Frost Atronaches around and they walked right into the trap."
"Well done!" The team leader said, "Listen, these elves have a lot of quality armor and some valuables, I will offer you a good price for them!"
"Fine!" The young man agreed without thinking.
"Good! You, you, and you. Loot the bodies the burn them!"
Three of the team went down and started the work, the rest of us kept following the young man.
Not long later, we caught up with the Talos worshippers. They looked fine!
"Sir Mage, you are back, did you find the Thal.. who are these people?" One man stepped up quickly but halted when he saw us.
The young man glared at us and his hand touched his sword, I guess I had to mention this before. Dammit! I forgot to tell.
"Ehem! Wel-met, I am a traveler and these are my guards, this morning we came across a boy who was wounded in the snow, his name was Vulkur and he said that Thalmor were chasing his family so we rallied to aid."
"Vulkur is alive! Talos bless you my lady, where is he?"
"He is back at the camp with some of my guards, you can rest assured."
This was not completely true, but also I didn't lie, we found the boy in the clan's territory and when we found out that some Talos worshippers were in distress along with a Thalmor infiltration to our land, this had to be responded at with firmness.
We also carried some orders and supplies for the matter of those people.
But the problem occurred quickly, or I guess this was only natural. These people have already decided to escape to Windhelm and be protected by Ulfric Stormcloak. This will cause problems in the long run.
We can ask the 'Firemane Clan' to take them in but that needs a prior contact even though they are our sworn allies.
What a headache!
As I was thinking of a way out of this, the young man took part in the conversation, "Sigh! You can just go to Winterhold!"
Winterhold? This place is doomed within a few years, doesn't he know that?
The people tried to tell him this but he said, "I wasn't going to help in this matter but if you folk went to Windhelm, you may cause a political problem. Don't ask about the details but you can actually go to Winterhold. The place started to change three months ago. Some fellow rebuilt a part of the old town, he is looking for people to work for him there. Take this token to Winterhold and ask for Trudvar or mistress Elishka, tell them what happened and everything will be fine!"
He didn't lie!
My eyes told me that.
This is news to me and clearly news to the whole clan.
Winterhold is under the mercy of the 'Bloodsails Clan'. Even the College doesn't operate openly in the town, if someone managed to control that puppet of a Jarl then the town can be liberated.
I looked at the team leader and we both understood what needs to be done.
"We will also send two men with you to Winterhold! This is the number we can spare for now as we are under an important mission at the moment!" The team leader said.
Whoever that person is, we must make contact with him. This is clearly of great importance.
This young man is indeed from the College, he wanted to hide it but indeed we are lucky to meet him.
I can't thank him enough now.
After this and that we parted with the Talos worshippers and said our thanks to the young man.
He got paid for the elven armor we looted and he seemed to want to part quickly!
Sigh!
Interesting people are indeed rare!
I guess I'll take this guard and pay the sacred ground a visit before I go back to my boring clan.
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[Jon's POV]
I hate to put my identity into situations like these.
I had to help the worshippers of Talos by preventing them from going to Ulfric, this is a headache but it was worth it.
Problem is, these white shinobi like people and the red-eyed girl may figure something out about me.
I hate this!
I have a phobia regarding my identity leak. This is something that was hammered into me by uncle Delvin himself. He taught me the importance of secrecy when it comes to dealing with people, and also the importance of fame.
That's is why my name as Jon Dare is my famous one, the one I look good in.
And even though I don't want anyone to find out about me now, yet I had to put it on the line for the sake of those people.
To tell the truth, I shouldn't have acted. I could only give directions to Winterhold and nothing more.
But when I saw the red-eyed girl giving a distressed look like that, I felt the urge to act.
Did I really have to be the hero?
Stupid! Stupid!
You are no hero.
"Aaaaah!"
My brain is overheating right now.
"Hooman! Want a kiss, nya?"
Nefertiti woke up and is making a cute face.
Sigh! Not angry anymore.
Can't be.
"Yes please, kiss me!"
"Nya, you kiss me, nya!"
"....."
"Hooman!"
"....."
"If you kiss me nya, you be happy nya!"
What's with that logic?
"Kiss me nya!"
Fine! Here.
"See, you feel good nya!"
"Just stuff this in your mouth and go sleep!"
I gave her a dried fish and put her back in the basket. She became really cheeky!
"Me too!" Jull rode beside me.
"Want a fish?"
"No, kiss me!"
Sigh!
This will not end.
***
After half a day of fast riding, we reached our destination.
Mount Anthor!
Mount Anthor is a mountain southwest of Winterhold and west of the Shrine of Azura.
Ancient Nords built a Word Wall just a few meters beneath the summit of the mountain.
The mountain is most famous as the site of the battle between Olaf One-Eye and the dragon Numinex during the War of Succession.
Olaf One-Eye was the Jarl of Whiterun at that time, after the death of the last king of Ysgramor's dynasty, a civil war broke out between the holds and the victor was Olaf. One of his deeds was slaying Numinex, a dragon that was told to be a foul-tempered one that wiped out entire villages, burned cities and killed countless Nords.
I came for this place for only one reason. The Word Wall.
A Word Wall is a wall etched with a set of words in the Dragon Language. Multiple Word Walls can be found in various locations throughout Skyrim.
In the game, on each Word Wall, one of these words may be highlighted. A highlighted word is a Word of Power, it is associated with a certain Shout the player can use in the game.
Most importantly, the Word Walls out in the mountains are dragon lairs. I can consider that my arrival at such a place is already an attempt to gain the words before the dragons come back to the world.
As I arrived to the place, it appeared as a large yard with few stones here and there, as well as a long stairway that leads to a higher area in the mountain.
I found some burial urns and some flowers here and there. Apparently, some Nords cremated their dead kin and kept the burial urns here. This may be some sacred grounds now.
Anyway, I need to copy the words on the wall and be on my way.
I walked through the place in respect for the buried dead and advanced to the stairway immediately.
On the top of the ridiculously long stairway, I found the Word Wall.
A half circular stone carved in the mountain with Nordic decorative carvings on the top and draconic alphabetical runes all along the wall.
This is it!
Just what I was looking for.
"What is that nonsense?" Jull approached the wall and looked at the characters she did not understand!
"You ignorant! This wall is priceless, the amount of knowledge recorded here can't be valued with a normal human sense of value!"
"What do you mean?"
"Every word on this wall is a possible word of power, but there is only one I am looking for right now, it should call for me!"
Where is it?
Will this be like the game where the word calls for the player or I should find it on my own, I reall...
Wait!
Here.
This word is emitting power.
This word is four runes, I recognize them, it is 'SLEN', if I remember it means 'Flesh'.
'SLEN' is the second word of the 'Ice Form' shout.
It is 'IIZ SLEN NUS', which means 'Ice Flesh Statue'. It is a Thu'um to freeze the opponent solid.
I haven't practiced this Thu'um yet. But it's ridiculously strong.
One can turn a man into a solid ice statue, a mammoth onto a preserved mammoth, it may be used in preserving food... ok I'll stop right here, there is already a spell for that.
Anyway, I need to understand this word like in the game. Any ideas?
Should I call the Augur, no not yet!
I'll just channel Magicka to the word, let's see...
What is this?
Why does it...
...wah!
"Aaargh!"
"Jon, are you okay? Can you hear me?"
I can here Jull but.. I feel.. I can't.. my flesh..
This is..
The flesh..
The word.. is affecting me?
"Aah! Aah! Huff! Huff! That was, extreme!"
I fall on my butt after this experience.
I understood!
The 'Flesh'! It was like this after all.
My head gained a lot of knowledge. I gained an understanding of the term of 'Flesh'.
Not a human understanding, but a dragon understanding.
This was strange.
The flesh to the dragons is something entirely different than mortals.
What a profound way of thinking!
I can't even describe it in mortal language.
Scary!
"I am alright now!"
"What was that just now?"
"I gained some knowledge!"
"Sigh!" Jull sighed, "I told you studying is be harmful!"
This idiot, well, whatever!
"Anyway! I'll copy these words on the wall in dragon language, for your sake and if you one day want to learn the Thu'um, write what I am going to say."
I stood and started copying the words on the wall in draconic alphabet while Jull was copying after me with the common alphabet.
After we finished, she handed me her note and I started correcting her mistakes and writing a translation. The final product is this..
___________________________________
NONVUL BRON DahMaaN DaaR ROT DO FIN FODiiZ BORMah-ORIN: "PRUZaaN DWiiN aaL KREH ahRK KREN NUZ *SLEN* DO VahZah MUZ LOS SINDUGahVON."
Noble Nords remember these words of the hoar father: "Even best steel may bend and break, but *flesh* of true men is unyielding."
___________________________________
[A/N: These words are legit from the wiki.]
It looked good, I may create my own Thu'um one day with words like this.
I double checked the words and packed things up.
As we were finishing up, we heard a voice calling, "Who dares trespass the sacred grounds of Clan Moonblade?"