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ALEX
I unsheathed my sword a moment before I recognized the screams for what they were. My sword was a simple iron sword that had a powerful fire enchantment on it. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jash taking his simple silver sword with a paralyzing enchantment on it into his hands. It almost looked like the sword was just another of his limbs.
I turned my attention from my husband to the city of Solitude. The sounds of the festival had quickly been replaced with the screams of bystanders being slaughtered by the Thalmor. They had no clear target except the closet commoner to them.
Some Thalmor used magic while others tore the innocent people apart with their swords and daggers.
“They knew when to attack.” I said. “The one night every week that no one is watching out for danger.”
“Most didn’t know Elisif is about to make Skyrim independent.” Jash said.
“We did and we were ******* blind.”
Jash paused and looked around as the streets started to turn red. I hated the fact I should have known something would happen. Tonight, besides Saga’s odd appearance, had been perfect. Why hadn’t I expected something to ruin it?
“It is ours to want every Thalmor dead.” Jash said as he used an Elemental Bolt on a Thalmor who had come too close. “But even with such a tempting meal in front of me, I highly doubt they would risk their lives without a target in mind. Perhaps they expected my darker nature to take hold and become distracted.”
“The citizens of Solitude weren’t expecting an attack, but a siege of a city isn’t done by pure chaos.” I agreed. “They have a target in mind.”
I ran after Jash who had his sword in one hand and a spell ready in the other. My own hands grasped firmly on my sword as I went over all the lessons my husband had taught me. I could see why he had panicked in the Siege of Whiterun. The screams and people that ran in front of me in a desperate bid to flee their attackers made my pulse rise.
The Thalmor had had years to siege cities. Before Jash had slaughtered all their spies, they had an even greater force to use. Yet now all they had were themselves without an ally in sight. So they couldn’t have decided to attack the whole city tonight.
So the only possible reason for this slaughter was because Skyrim was about to become independent. Which meant that the Thalmor’s siege of Solitude was merely a distraction of their real target: High Queen Elisif.
I turned from Jash as my attention was drawn to a helpless woman. She was already bleeding and her arm hung broken at her side. But the Thalmor held his blade high and swung it down slowly to make sure the woman could see every movement.
Just as his sword was about to tear into the woman, my own blade met his. I gritted my teeth as the reverberations nearly made me lose my grip. The Thalmor glared at me and started to move nearly too quickly for me to see.
I remembered the many training sessions Jash had given me. I remembered each of us barely able to walk after each one. He hadn’t wanted me to wander Skyrim alone and helpless. So even though I couldn’t see each of the Thalmor’s moves, I recalled the most likely ways he would attack me.
As our blades continued to clash, I worried that this brief distraction would cost the queen her life. I noticed a brief opening that in any other circumstance I wouldn’t have tried to exploit. But there was too much riding on this night.
The Thalmor’s wrist was just far enough away from the rest of his body so a brief swing broke it. His blade lost its momentum and I managed to step back out of the way. The next swing of my blade saw his head rolling down the street.
“Proudspire Manor.” I told the woman as she weakly stood up. “Stay there until Jash or myself comes to declare the attack over.”
“Thank you, Husband of the Dragonborn.” The woman said and then raced towards the house.
Once she was out of sight, I turned back to find Jash. While I wasn’t defenseless, he moved as if bloodshed was more valuable than the air he breathed. When he couldn’t reach an attacker with his sword, he used a spell. Usually his spells burned but at other times he conjured creatures.
Jash noticed me approaching and changed his attacks to include me. As we moved towards the Blue Palace, I killed anyone who came too close while he focused on clearing the way forward. Soon enough my sword had become soaked in blood and the scent of burned flesh filled the air.
“I’ll focus on making sure Elisif is safe.” Jash said as we approached the palace’s entrance. “The most skilled Thalmor should be focused on her.”
“And I won’t leave a Thalmor standing.” I replied dryly.
Jash grinned wickedly and showed all of his sharp teeth right before entering the palace. If he had been violent in the street, there was a new fervor to his attacks. In another life he could have married Elisif and the energy in his attacks clearly stemmed from that.
I gripped my sword tightly and stepped over the threshold. The moment I did I felt a pain that was more than pain. Something more intense than I had ever experienced.
Runes started to light up around me. Or maybe they had already started to light up before I noticed. Although it was rare, Jash did work with runes and so I could tell these were extremely advanced. It had taken a lot of talent and expertise to make them.
But being so powerful, the Thalmor must not have wanted them to go off for every person that passed by. It could have been the fact I was the first human to cross the threshold that made them go off. Or maybe it was the fact I had been their target.
At least they hadn’t been activated by Jash. Either because he was a Saxhleel or he wasn’t their target.
Runes never took this long to go off. So time had been slowed down for me. No, not slowed down. My body was experiencing events in real time while my mind was giving me a few precious moments to comprehend what had happened.
The pain started to catch up with my mind and became worse. But time must be going more quickly than I could comprehend as I could tell the pain was there and yet not really feel it. It was like when you got novocaine at the dentist.
As I started to lose focus on the world, I prepared myself for the Mountain. But why was there only dar-
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