Awakening
The mountain peak shook off a thousand years of stillness, and craned its neck over the word wall.
Odfel and Reidar turned to rabbits, frozen by the incomprehensible size and reality of the dragon before them. The dragon's talons marred the intricate carvings as it adjusted its grip — leaning over the stonework with flared nostrils.
A long silence. Quiet enough to hear the souls of men shrink back in terror.
Reidar and Odfel spun around and lunged for the shelter of the mines. The air pressed at their backs, and the impact of the dragon's jump from the stonework to the flat terrain behind them turned their lunge into a panicked tumble.
Reidar threw a wild-eyed glance at Odfel - and saw the Nord's lips trembling frenetically. It took two heartbeats for him to realize Odfel was praying - to every divine Skyrim had to offer.
There was no time for him to do likewise.
The lanterns had gone out, so they stumbled on weak legs to get away from the entrance.
The dragon roared, and the sound chased them down the tunnel, pounding their eardrums to pulp.
Flecks of dirt landed on his nose and hair. Reidar glanced at the ceiling. "Look out!"
A terrible creak of timbers, and Odfel narrowly avoided a quick, messy death as the support beams splintered above them.
Helping Odfel to his feet, Reidar's breath came in short, painful gasps. "We have to—"
Next, came the heat.
The air shimmered, buckling under the onslaught of flame that roared through the mine. The heat was instant, turning the mine and the men inside it to ore in a smelter.
Reidar gasped for breath, his shoulder throbbing from where he and Odfel had thrown themselves down the slope. The timbers were burning. Heat shimmered overhead, flames licking the ore-veins as smoke clouded the space above them.
"Move! Move!" Coughed Odfel, hauling Reidar out of the dirt. With burning lungs, they fled for the entrance. The mines were short, but the darkness and the high stammer of their hearts made the journey seem endless. Reidar threw curses in every direction, tripping over rocks and forgotten tools as he struggled to freedom. Almost! Reidar's soul screamed at his legs to keep going - he could see the sunlight framing the doors - but the ground shuddered.
Like a cat reaching into a rat hole, the long front limb of the dragon thrust in - scouring the earth and nearly impaling them where they stood.
Without thinking, Reidar hacked at it - swinging the axe with all his strength. Terror flooding his veins.
The clawed limb was snatched back, replaced by the dragon's head. It wound towards them like a snake, and the beast, with wings tucked tight, wedged its upper body into the mine.
Odfel and Reidar were plunged back into darkness; splintering wood and a rumbling growl for company. Hot breath blew back Reidar's hair, and he nearly fainted at the snap of teeth mere inches from his face.
Odfel roared, and Reidar's pulse punched him in the throat - fearing the worst until he heard the crash. Odfel had shoved a cart right into the dragon's face, stifling the hellish glow of fire between its parting jaws.
Reidar suffered a single, simple moment of clarity. We are going to die.
But not without taking this thing with them.
"The beams!" He shouted, even as fragments of the cart shattered under the dragon's teeth. Reidar threw himself towards it, pressing tight to the wall until he was nose to nose with one of the support beams. Reidar threw his weight into it.
Already weakened by age and fire, the wood collapsed. Reidar kept going, hitting the next beam, and the next. Frenzied hacking drowning out all other thought. Odfel was on the other side, his pickaxe in hand, his eyes wild and unreadable.
The entire mine shuddered. The dragon roared, splintering beams jabbing into its neck and jaws as it thrashed. With a final frantic burst of speed, Odfel and Reidar clambered around the dragon’s head and out into the sunlight.
Reidar stumbled over the dragon’s tail, but Odfel seized him by the arm, dragging him off the path. Small bits of rock and debris rattled down the mountainside as they slid in the scree, huddling under the shadows of boulders.
Above, the mine gave a violent, collapsing exhale. There was one terrible silence as the dust settled. Reidar’s stomach convulsed, and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from vomiting.
Odfel said nothing, and it was only the sound of their pained breathing that was proof at all they had survived.
A low woosh of air, and a shadow fell over the mountainside. Reidar closed his eyes. They were dead. It had seen them.
But death never came. The shadow flitted over them once, making a wide circle as the dragon climbed higher and higher into the sky. Reidar squinted at the shape, no bigger than a sea-eagle, as it rode the currents above.
Odfel slumped, clutching at his chest with one hand.
“Mara’s Mercy.” He whispered, then uttered a short, high-pitched laugh.
Reidar’s pulse was still galloping. Again, he swallowed bile and blood.
“Does Mara fight dragons?” He panted.
“No.”
Reidar shivered, watching the dragon angle its wings towards Windhelm. It roared.
“You’d be better off praying to a god that does.”
Nothing else but a god would be a match for a creature like that.
Reidar's story will continue in Legends of the Skaal: Dragon Flame...
Comments
All I can think of now is “Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes.” I’m picturing Reidar now with a cult following.
All I can think of now is “Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes.” I’m picturing Reidar now with a cult following.