Chapters Throm Scar-Hand,
The Snow Elves’ forces have been broke, but there are still forces of resistance scattered throughout the land. We have recently learned of one that is merely a day’s trip away from your current position. Do what you have to do.
Harald Hand-Free, Windhelm
The letter he had received a couple of days before repeated itself over and over. The Elves had been defeated. No longer would they threaten the Nord people, unless the resistance groups were allowed to rebuild and retaliate. For the sake of his future family, he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let that happen.
“General, we can’t breach the inner halls!” A man, a soldier under his command, brought his attention back to the present. His brothers- and sisters-in-arms scurried about under the cold lighted sun that reflected beautifully of the snow, eager to serve the army of the High King. Before him there was one of their ancient burial sites from the time of Ysgrammor. That these Elves dared to invoke the wrath of their people even more said much about their desperation.
Throm nodded to the soldier. He’d hate to do this in the tomb of what could be his ancestors, but it would be more honorable to let the Elves die in battle than from starvation; the power of the Thu’um would sing through the stone halls.
Through the outer entrance he walked and looked at the bodies as he passed by them. Most of them were old and partially mummified, still with pieces of armor and in the hands folded on their chest they held a weapon. Weapons and armor of the same make he himself had. Draugr, most people called them. The ones who rose from their grave anyway; these seemed docile.
There were a few bodies of tall men and women with snow-white skin and pointed ears. The Snow Elves. Most of them had fresh wounds. Courageous warriors who had defended the retreat of their kin from a superior force. If there was any fairness to be had, he expected to meet great numbers of these Snow Elves in Shor’s Hall of Valor, where they could learn to know each other without the past getting in the way. Ever since Saarthal, their people, Elf and Nord alike, had been faced with an endless circle of retaliation. If Ysgrammor hadn’t taken the path of vengeance, or the Elves hadn’t sacked Saarthal in the first place…
“Sir, you got my message?” a woman with a bow by her side asked as he approached her and a group of warriors with her. “You are ready to tear this gate down with your Voice?”
“Yes,” Throm looked at the obstacle: A metal gate forged by the masters of their craft, impervious to any attempt by Human or Elf strength to force open. But he did not wield Human or Elven strength. He wielded the Thu’um, the power of Kyne and her mighty Winds.
“Fus… Ro Dah!”
The whole room shook as he unleashed the Shout, and the gate that had barred their progress landed on the other side of the hall it had protected. The Nord warriors rushed in to greet the Elves who dared to stay behind. This was no real battle, it was a slaughter.
When the Elves still could defend themselves and strike back, it was different. They fought soldiers and mages, people trained for war. Now they fought makeshift resistance groups, and soon, if Lord Harald had his way, they would hunt down the women and children that might have survived. When that time came, he would have to do so without Throm.
While the other Nords ran through to the next chamber, Throm noted that there was a small, almost invisible, staircase. He wondered if he should get someone to follow him, in case of an ambush, when he went in there… No, he should be fine. It would take more than a few Elves to kill a Tongue.
The staircase itself went up in a long spiral, but far too soon he could see the end of it. It led to what would once have been a large treasure room, but now it was only occupied by a single Elf who knelt before a makeshift shrine to Auriel. He heard him whisper “give me strength”. A swift motion rush would end the Elf’s life before he would be able to react. Throm’s battleaxe felt a lot lighter in his hands at that thought.
“To your feet, lad,” the Nord said. “No one should have to die without a chance to defend themselves.”
At best the Elf had a type of leather armor, maybe even just a thick robe, and a short sword. For his sake, Throm hoped he had been trained in magic. And he quickly showed that he was; a fireball flew in Throm’s direction as soon as he turned around, but alas it was to no effect.
The Nord had whispered “Feim” in case he tried something. As the spell hit his chest, he felt neither the heat nor the impact. The Elf tried it again with no more luck that the first time. A smile spread across the general’s face. The heat of battle allowed him to let the troubles of this world go, if only for a moment.
The pummel of his axe found itself in the chest of the mage and sent him to his back. Fire and lightning shot in all directions, except in that of the general. The Elf rolled to the side as the axe came down upon him and turned invisible.
“A real trickster, this one,” the Nord mumbled to himself. No matter. Invisibility had never posed a challenge to a Tongue. “Laas!”
A red outline of the Elf appeared at his left, headed in his direction. Gotcha. With the handle of the axe, he parried the strike from the elven blade.
“Krii!” Throm shouted as the red mass was replaced by the real parson. A feint purple light spread across his veins, before they faded. His doom was spoken, literally. “Yol Toor Shul!”
The Nord’s fire was met by a ward. Behind it one could see the Elf sweat and fall to his knees, before the spell broke
down. What was left of the shout didn’t kill him, but he was cast to the ground once more. This time he didn’t even try to move.
“What is your name, lad?” the General asked.
“V- Valindil.”
“Then rise, Valindil, your battle is not over yet.”
“I- I can barely stand,” the Elf panted heavily. Burn marks had taken hold of his face and clothes, and his blade had landed out of his reach. “Why would you mock me like this?”
“Mocking you?” Throm shook his head. “You have fought as bravely as I could expect of any Nord. You deserve to die as a warrior should: On his feet.”
When Valindil heard this, he rolled over to all four and slowly got up. He almost fell over in the process, but turned to the Nord with acceptance. And a scroll of paper in his hand.
“Yol…”
The Elf held it up and started to speak something in the elven tongue.
**
“Good night, dear sister,” Luna said as she passed by Celestia on the way to the balcony. The night had grown late and the white Alicorn had decided it was time to rest. Luna didn’t mind though. The night was lovely, even when enjoyed alone.
Once outside she glanced in the direction of Ponyville. Twilight, one of the few friends she had, had insisted on returning after her crowning ceremony. She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened since then.
Her thoughts were quickly driven out of her head. In the corner of her eye, Luna saw a part of the Everfree Forest go up in flames. She had to do something before it got out of control.
**
“… Toor Shul!” The trees in front of Throm was set ablaze. Trees? What dark magic had that Elf unleashed? He was not in Skyrim, that was for certain. This time of year, all of Skyrim was covered in snow, yet here there was nothing to be found.
“Playing tricks on my mind are you?” he said loudly, but no answer came. This is what he got from giving the Elf a chance to die honorably. Fine, if Valindil wanted to play that game, he was more than happy to oblige.
“Strun Bah Qo!”
**
“By Nightmare Moon, what was that?” Luna asked herself. She hadn’t been able to even call her guards to deal with the fire, before a shockwave spread from the same place.
“Princess!” her guards came flying as fast as they could. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, I…” she felt her mouth was left open. From nowhere storm clouds started to form over the forest. Flashes of lightning and the drums of thunder filled the air. This was no natural storm.
**
The skies above him darkened and the rain started to fall. So it wasn’t an illusion. But then, where was he? Valenwood? Cyrodiil? Throm had no idea. Wherever it was, he had to be careful. With the storm shout, everything in miles radius would know something had arrived.
“Hmm,” he said to himself. “What should I do?”
The options seemed limited. He didn’t know the area and he was in a thick forest; if he started to walk about, he would surely get lost. If he stayed here something would sooner or later come and look for whatever had caused, but if it were Elves…
“Halt, by Royal Decree!” two voices from behind said in unison. That was a lot faster than expected. Too fast. Throm turned around.
Two… creatures stood, dressed in dark armor, and stared at him. The closest thing he had seen to their like was horses, but these hardly looked like the ones of Skyrim. And they talked. This was had to be the work of a Daedric Prince. He was trapped in a realm of Oblivion.
“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?”
“He is a most strange creature,” Luna walked alongside her sister. They has just left the dungeon and she thought it might be best to not talk more to this Throm Scar-Hand for now. But she had to talk about him all the same.
“Yes, dear sister, he is, but what was it you wanted to talk about?”
“Well, I…” she started, but couldn’t quite find the words for it. How should she say this? That she thought this was all because of a misunderstanding? Actually, that might work. “I think this whole thing comes from a misunderstanding. He clearly thinks we are something we surely are not.”
“I agree. I suspected as much when we first brought him here, but I couldn’t be sure before we talked to him,” Celestia seemed worried and a bit distant when she spoke. Not that Luna could fault her for it, this ‘Skyrim’ and its armies sounded like they could be a more significant threat than anything they had ever seen. Maybe even Discord, with their apparent ruthlessness. “The more concerning thing is how do we reach through to him. If he thinks we are out to get him or something from him, being friendly will do little to persuade him. And if we let his hands free he might ungag himself.”
“What about Fluttershy, the friend of Twilight Sparkle? Maybe she could help? I have heard she is most excellent in her dealings with animals. And she did manage to turn Discord into a force for good.”
When her sister had first suggested sending Discord to Ponyville to be rehabilitated by Twilight and her friends, Luna had to admit that she found the idea preposterous. Discord was a creature of chaos and maliciousness by his very nature. The only way to change that would be for him to fight the very essence of who he was. A task that she would have deemed impossible, but Fluttershy succeeded, even when the rest of her friends didn’t believe in her. How she could not tell, but neither could she come up with any way to deal with this new creature.
“Fluttershy, you say?” Celestia still sounded distant in her speech, but she clearly considered what could happen. She had always been like that whenever a threat appeared, gazing in a distance Luna had never been able to see. It had led them to collect the Elements of harmony over a thousand years ago to defeat Discord, and it had led her to send Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville when the time of Nighmare Moon’s… her own… return to the mortal fold was at hand. “Perhaps. It is a possibility. She may be able to get through to this creature and convince him that we mean him no harm, as long as he won’t harm us.”
“And if she cannot, I say that we should turn him to stone, like Discord. He may not be evil, but if he sees us as such he is a danger to us all.”
“Perhaps you are right. I will send a letter to Twilight to summon her and her friends. I fear this will get worse, before it gets better.”
**
“Sister, a word with you?” the dark one said and gestured with her head for them to leave him once more. Before they left, she put the gag in his mouth once more with her horn. The dark one had almost seemed like she could relate to what he had said… No, that had to be a mistake. Some trick played by the lord of this Realm. The daedra were sly and dangerous, he couldn’t let down his guard lest he’d lose his soul and a chance to meet Shor in the halls of Sovngarde.
Still, he couldn’t help but to feel that something was not right with all of this. The two that had defeated him spoke as kin, something he had never heard of among the daedra. And they had treated the deaths of the ones that had tried to capture him before they themselves showed up as permanent. The same way the death of a mortal would be. If they were daedra, they would be reborn in the fires of Oblivion. Or so the Clevermen in the army had told him.
Throm let out a sigh as best he could through the gag. He couldn’t trust these creatures, at least not the ones who had locked him up or worked on their behalf, no matter what. The dark one had called herself the Princess of the Night, meaning she was a leader within this realm, and the white one was addressed as her sister. If he truly was in Oblivion, he was talking to those that would claim his soul if he struck the wrong bargain.
“And if he was not in Oblivion?” his mind replied. “If it was another kingdom in the mortal world?”
If it was, he’d still have no cause to trust them. If they were people, they were further from his own kin than even the cat-people of the southern kingdoms.
The image of Luna unwillingly taking a step back when he told her about Skyrim gave him something to smile about. She seemed to have been taken by surprise when he told her that his abilities were not rare among his people and that there were a great number of them, and she seemed to see it as a potential threat. How could she not, having witnessed his Thu’um firsthand?
**
“Twilight!”
A voice that sounded like Spike’s pierced her sleep. It wasn’t the first time he had woken her in the middle of the night. She couldn’t help but to wonder what it was this time, but he’d have to come to her. If it wasn’t important, she wanted to stay in bed.
“Twilight, a letter came from the Princess!”
What!? A letter form Princess Celestia? With her horn she threw aside the blanked immediately. If she sent a letter at this time, it had to be something of terrible importance. Maybe even on the threshold of disaster!
She spread her wings and ascended the stairs, down to where she heard Spike yell from. He had probably just been up to get a midnight snack. Again.
“Here.”
Spike was at the foot of the stairs and held out the scroll for her to pick up as she landed. What could be this urgent? Had Discord broken his promise and started to cause havoc once more? Or maybe the changelings had returned? Or…
With a gasp something hit her; it might be a surprise test she had to pass now that she had been crowned. She quickly opened the scroll with her horn.
Twilight Sparkle
Something important has come up here in Canterlot and I will need your assistance and that o your friends. The Elements of Harmony may be needed to serve Equestria once more.
Celestia
The Elements of Harmony may be needed again? This could be worse than she thought. She had to collect her friends and set the course for Canterlot as soon as possible.
“Spike, I need you to wake up Pinkie Pie and Rarity and tell them to meet me here, while I get Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.”
**
From a distance she could see Twilight and her little pet leave the house in a hurry. What where they up to? What had the message from Celestia been? She had seen the fire from the little thing that signaled that a message was sent to him. Dragonfire; it had strange properties.
Once the two of them were out of reach the observer ran up to the door that they had foolishly left wide open. She didn’t have a lot of time, they might come back at any moment. But she had to get that message, it might be what she was waiting for.
Inside the library it was still mostly dark, with a single lit lamp. Hardly the best light to search for a scroll in. Maybe she should just… After some hesitation, she decided that she should.
A pale green light flowed from her horn. If anyone looked at the house from the outside they would immediately be aware that something was not entirely right, but she had little time.
On a table by the stairs a few scrolls lied. Might as well start there, she didn’t see anything else that might have been recently used.
The first one was mere notes form a book about some old magician named Starswirl. Nothing useful, unless you wanted a history lesson. What else was there? Chemistry? Interesting, but irrelevant. More history, astronomy, notes on a study of dragon. The later was very short, just a couple of paragraphs long. Seemed like the ponies knew about as much about dragons as her kind did. It came down to the last scroll ion the table.
Twilight Sparkle
Something important has come up here in Canterlot and I will need your assistance and that o your friends. The Elements of Harmony may be needed to serve Equestria once more.
Celestia
“So, something has happened,” she mumbled to herself and used her magic roll up the scroll again. This had to be the right one; now she only needed to get it back.
”Hey!”
The sound of someone she could have sworn she had met before came from behind her. An orange coated pony with a blond mane and tail stood in the entrance. Applejack.
“Get back here, ya thievin’… Oh no. Not this again!”
The intruder spread her insect wings and flew up the stairs, Applejack short in tow. If she could just get out the window.
“Oh no ya don’t!”
A piece of rope twirled itself around her hind legs. No! She had to get out! She kicked and tried to get loose, but the ropes were being held together by Applejack, who had the other side of the rope. She could use that thing well, she had to admit. Too well.
“Now, what are ya doing here? Why have ya come back to Equestria?”
“I… had no choice,” she replied and stopped struggling. She had one chance to take her off guard; she had to make it count. She let a tear escape her eye, just barely visible to Applejack. “They… they have him…”
“Have who?” Applejack sounded suspicious, but there was a hint of genuine concern in her voice.
“My… my brother,” she let her tears fall a little more frequently, turning her head slightly towards the one who had stopped her and giving her the best desperate look she could. “They said that if I- if I didn’t do this, they’d… consume him…”
She let herself let out a sob. Judging by Applejack’s hesitation, it was working. Foolish pony, trusting too easily.
“Whose got ya brother?” She leaned in beside her, concern filling her eyes and voice.
“My Queen!”
As soon as the pony came close enough, she set her eyes in hers and cast the spell. Applejack’s eyes became distant, with a slight hint of a pale green color to them. While she was incapacitated, the changeling got free of the rope and flew over to the window. Before she flew out, she threw a glance back at the pony which now just barely were about to come to her senses. That went better than she expected and worse than she hoped.