From the North

“Who, or what, is that thing?” Luna asked no one in particular. The mysterious creature that had been found over her guards in the forest was chained up and gagged in the dungeon. Whatever it was, it was dangerous. By the time Luna and Celestia had arrived, her guards were already dead.

“I don’t know,” Celstia responded. Luna didn’t seem to notice it though; her mind was focused on the creature. It had taken a lot more to subdue it than it should have. It had showed able to breathe fire like a dragon, reverse the effect for freezing and she suspected it was the source for the storm that had come out of nowhere.

It had light skin and dark blond hair, with a braid on its left side. It also had a thick beard that was tied in a knot. Other than that, it seemed to be mostly without hair, though it was hard to be sure when it wore armor.

Luna shrugged each time she threw her eyes at it. Fur. This creature wore the skin of another creature, along with plates of metal at its chest, legs, thighs, shoulders and forearms.

“What should we do with it? It killed two ponies…” the Princess of the Night turned her attention to her sister. “And for no reason.”

“Perhaps. He seemed to be afraid. I recall he shouting the word Daedra at us.”

“He?” Luna raised an eyebrow.

“Just intuition,” Celestia replied. “He seems to be a male, though we won’t know for certain until we talk to him.”

“Talk to him!? Sister, I know you want to show compassion to everyone, but this… thing… breathes fire and kill without hesitation!” And possibly summon storms. While it was nothing new, Luna herself had been known to take control of the weather at times, this creature seemed to be different. It made the storm hostile, if that even made sense, to anyone but himself. “If you ungag it, you risk the life of everyone here!”

“And if we don’t, we will never learn how it came here and if we are in danger of being invaded. I want to avoid another catastrophe like the Changelings. Please, Luna, you have to trust me. I would never take such a risk if I didn’t have to.”

She didn’t answer. Celestia was right, they had to find the answers, but this seemed like a horrible idea. If it hadn’t been confronted by two of the most powerful ponies in Equestria, it was hard to say if anyone short of Twilight and her friends with her Elements would have been able to stop it. Most everyone in Equestria would hesitate to take its life, even in a dire situation. This thing… it went for the kill right away.

**

Throm looked at the two Daedra that had managed to subdue him. What did they plan? What did they want from him? He couldn’t hear what they said, but they did pass some dialogue back and forth, or so their lips suggested. They could also just be chanting a spell of sorts.

If he could just get this thing out of his mouth, he’d be able to fight back. There was no way he’d let them win like this. He would not die in prison and be denied access to the halls of Sovngarde.

The room he was in looked like a typical prison; made from stone, with chains and everything. He saw the two creatures through metal bars that were clearly not made for someone like him. If he got free, he might be able to get through them. And of not, he’d shout them apart.

Then there was the two who had fought him, but refused to kill him even when they proved more than capable of it. Magicians. Their horns seemed to make them powerful beyond what his Thu’um could handle on its own. But why had they spared his life and not subjected him to torture? If only half the stories about the Daedra were true…

**

Luna looked at the prisoner as Celestia went back to her chambers. With the prisoner locked up, it should be safe for them to return to their habits, at least until further notice. Yet, the moon-flanked mare couldn’t see herself let this one out of her sights just yet. It was something about the way he looked at them. Is seemed to be a mixture of hatred, fear and something else she couldn’t quite place.

Should she… No, absolutely not. She would not enter his cell without Celestia. It was her sister, not her, who wanted to talk to him. He was a murderer and should hang for it.

“Great,” Luna mumbled to herself. Now she referred to it as a he. As if they had any idea if this sort of creature even had genders. Or, if it did, they would be able to tell the males and females apart. And why did she even care about what gender it was referred to as? All these small, pointless issues seemed so much more important when she couldn’t do anything about them.

**

One of the Daedra left, but the darker of the two remained and just stared at him. He couldn’t help but to wonder why, even the other one seemed to have gotten bored of that. And it was not like he would be able to do anything to entertain her now.

“Remove this gag, on the other hand,” he thought to himself. That would mak- Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. He had already been captured once by these two. No, he had to escape first and then he had to make a plan for what to do next. Brute force would not avail him here. Nice thoughts to distract himself with though.

He returned his focus to his surroundings when the door to his prison opened.

**

She would probably hate herself for this, but Luna opened the door to the cell and walked in. She tried to make sure she seemed as confident as possible, but if she was successful was hard to judge. He didn’t seem to have any particular reaction to her presence. Then again, he was in no more of a situation to do anything to her now than when she was on the other side of those bars.

“Can you understand me?”

He nodded in response and looked her right in the eyes. An intense and determined look. She used her magic to apply force to his throat to show that she had no problems choking him, if need be, before she let him go again.

“As you can see, I can prevent you from… whatever it is you do when you shout. Now, are you willing to answer some questions?”

No response, he just continued to stare.

“Very well. Are you at least willing to consider my questions and not cast your witchcraft if I ungag you?”

They continued the staring match for a while, before he lost the intense stare and nodded. Luna used her horn to take the gag out of his mouth, halfway expecting to be greeted with a mouthful of dragon fire. Instead, she was greeted with a question.

“Who, or what, are you?”

“You may address me as Princess Luna; I am the Princess of the Night in Equestria,” she made sure to emphasize her role, so he understood who he dealt with.

“I will not bend knee to you, if that is what you are after,” he didn’t seem impressed, just more spiteful in his tone than his question had been.  “I will only bend knee to the Jarls and the High King of Skyrim.”

“Suit yourself. I am more interested in this Skyrim than you accepting me as your Princess.”

That had gone a lot easier than expected. He seemed all too happy to tell her where he, presumably, came from. Hopefully he’d be willing to tell more.

“Why would you be interested in Skyrim? What good does it you to know that we have hundreds of people like me, performing our ‘witchcraft’,” the last word seemed to be spoken in distaste. “And leading armies against the ones we perceive as a threat? That we have broken the people who once drove us from the land and only pocket resistance groups remain?”

Luna unwillingly took a step back. The thought of an army of people like him, at the head of an even larger army? Celestia was right, they needed to know as much about this as possible and how to prevent more to reach their fair Equestria. A people so powerful and warlike would surely spell their doom.

“Sister, I did not expect you to be so interesting in our prisoner that you’d talk to him without me,” Celestia walked in and positioned herself beside her.

“So,” the sun-princess continued and turned her attention to the prisoner. “You come here with tidings of war and death? Why?”

“I came with nothing,” he shot back. “I, Throm Scar-Hand of Eastmarch, have more important things to do than to deal with Daedra. I have an oath to my High King; my allegiances end there.”

“Then why are you here?” Luna asked, beating her sister to it. “And why did you murder two innocent ponies for no reason!?”

“No reason? You expect me to not defend myself when demons of Oblivion approach me? Innocent is the last word one would use for anything Daedric.”

The princesses threw a glance at each other. Daedra and Daedric, two terms that seemed to be at the core of all of this. Demons of Oblivion? Was that what the Daedra and Daedric were? Surely he would have more sense than to think the peaceful people of Equestria to be demons…

Suddenly something was made clear to Luna; he had probably only met the guards, who would surely have tried to arrest him, and themselves. He would have had no chance to see this place for what it was.

“Sister, a word with you?”