This time she turned round to see several proud Blades all watching and a massed troop of Forsworn all staring with expressions ranging from horror to awe to outright adoration. Madanach just grinned and turned to face them.
“You see, macharai? Now do you see why we're here, now do you see why I let outsiders into this camp? No one else can do what she just did, no one! And I am assured she has brought down living dragons and served them the same. Her fight with the Dragon-King, a fight she won, is why these dragons haven't come back, and her fight with the Stormcloak is why we've come all the way out here! She's going to win that fight too, and we are going to help her do it, and then, tegmai, we are claiming our land back and if they will not give us the Reach, we will take theirs in keteen! What do you say, Rhanteg??”
“FOR THE FORSWORN!” someone shouted at the back. “ALL HAIL THE DRAGONBORN!”
“ALL HAIL MADANACH! ALL HAIL THE AP DAVRHA!”
“Oh my goodness,” Elisif whispered as the camp took up the refrain. “They're going to be horribly disappointed if this doesn't work.”
“If this doesn't work, an awful lot of us, you and me included, are probably going to die,” Madanach murmured in her ear. “You focus on Ulfric and the dragons, let me worry about the Forsworn. Deal?”
“Deal,” Elisif whispered, trailing after him as he started ushering everyone back into camp before the Stormcloaks turned up to see what all the fuss was about.
Then there'd been the last of them, the one that had risen from the dragon mound near Kynesgrove and whose corpse was still lying in the ruins of the village, and that had been the hardest to bear. Homes, tents, the village inn, all shattered and burnt, all the little things that had made up a community scattered around. No bodies but there were charred circles around with silhouettes in them where someone had fallen to dragon fire.
Elisif put a hand to her mouth, tears in her eyes as she stared at the remains of what had been an innocent town once. She'd heard a dragon had destroyed Kynesgrove but seeing the reality was a horrible shock.
“Were there any survivors?” she whispered, surveying the scene.
“A few,” Vilkas said quietly, patting her on the shoulder. A good portion of the Blades had turned up for this one, as if they knew this one would be hard. Aela was here too, and Ria and Erandur, and Argis and Farkas of course. “The innkeeper Iddra and one of the miners, a man called Roggi. They escaped to Windhelm. Iddra helps out at the Candlehearth now, and Roggi spends most days in there drinking to forget.”
And it all happened because of her, because she wasn't there to protect them. She was their Dragonborn and Queen and she should have been there fighting to keep them safe. But she'd not been able to do a thing because this was Ulfric's territory and it hadn't been safe for her. Another crime at Ulfric's door, but at least half the blame was hers for not being brave enough to come out here anyway.
Elisif stayed long enough to take the dragon's soul and activate the second word of Slow Time before turning and running back to camp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was Delphine who came to find her. Elisif was sitting alone under a pine tree, or as alone as one ever got on a Forsworn camp. There were guards in the treetops, and that little hut deep in the woods that the Hags seemed to be using as their own little gathering place. Once Elisif would have felt uneasy and revolted at the very sight of it, but it seemed she was getting used to it. The Reachfolk were as they were, and whatever they were, it was still better than the site of what was left of Kynesgrove.
“There you are,” Delphine said softly. “They told me you'd just got back from Kynesgrove. Are you all right? Not an easy sight to see, I know. If it's any consolation, it was worse before the Forsworn got here. Madanach had his people deal with the bodies. Very little revolts a Forsworn, it turns out.”
That didn't surprise Elisif at all.
“They're my people, Delphine,” Elisif said softly. “The Nords, I mean. They're my people, those villagers were my people and they didn't deserve to die, not like that! But they did, because I wasn't there to save them.”
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timeasmymeasure
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 28.2
Date: 2014-04-26 12:34 pm (UTC)“You see, macharai? Now do you see why we're here, now do you see why I let outsiders into this camp? No one else can do what she just did, no one! And I am assured she has brought down living dragons and served them the same. Her fight with the Dragon-King, a fight she won, is why these dragons haven't come back, and her fight with the Stormcloak is why we've come all the way out here! She's going to win that fight too, and we are going to help her do it, and then, tegmai, we are claiming our land back and if they will not give us the Reach, we will take theirs in keteen! What do you say, Rhanteg??”
“FOR THE FORSWORN!” someone shouted at the back. “ALL HAIL THE DRAGONBORN!”
“ALL HAIL MADANACH! ALL HAIL THE AP DAVRHA!”
“Oh my goodness,” Elisif whispered as the camp took up the refrain. “They're going to be horribly disappointed if this doesn't work.”
“If this doesn't work, an awful lot of us, you and me included, are probably going to die,” Madanach murmured in her ear. “You focus on Ulfric and the dragons, let me worry about the Forsworn. Deal?”
“Deal,” Elisif whispered, trailing after him as he started ushering everyone back into camp before the Stormcloaks turned up to see what all the fuss was about.
Then there'd been the last of them, the one that had risen from the dragon mound near Kynesgrove and whose corpse was still lying in the ruins of the village, and that had been the hardest to bear. Homes, tents, the village inn, all shattered and burnt, all the little things that had made up a community scattered around. No bodies but there were charred circles around with silhouettes in them where someone had fallen to dragon fire.
Elisif put a hand to her mouth, tears in her eyes as she stared at the remains of what had been an innocent town once. She'd heard a dragon had destroyed Kynesgrove but seeing the reality was a horrible shock.
“Were there any survivors?” she whispered, surveying the scene.
“A few,” Vilkas said quietly, patting her on the shoulder. A good portion of the Blades had turned up for this one, as if they knew this one would be hard. Aela was here too, and Ria and Erandur, and Argis and Farkas of course. “The innkeeper Iddra and one of the miners, a man called Roggi. They escaped to Windhelm. Iddra helps out at the Candlehearth now, and Roggi spends most days in there drinking to forget.”
And it all happened because of her, because she wasn't there to protect them. She was their Dragonborn and Queen and she should have been there fighting to keep them safe. But she'd not been able to do a thing because this was Ulfric's territory and it hadn't been safe for her. Another crime at Ulfric's door, but at least half the blame was hers for not being brave enough to come out here anyway.
Elisif stayed long enough to take the dragon's soul and activate the second word of Slow Time before turning and running back to camp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was Delphine who came to find her. Elisif was sitting alone under a pine tree, or as alone as one ever got on a Forsworn camp. There were guards in the treetops, and that little hut deep in the woods that the Hags seemed to be using as their own little gathering place. Once Elisif would have felt uneasy and revolted at the very sight of it, but it seemed she was getting used to it. The Reachfolk were as they were, and whatever they were, it was still better than the site of what was left of Kynesgrove.
“There you are,” Delphine said softly. “They told me you'd just got back from Kynesgrove. Are you all right? Not an easy sight to see, I know. If it's any consolation, it was worse before the Forsworn got here. Madanach had his people deal with the bodies. Very little revolts a Forsworn, it turns out.”
That didn't surprise Elisif at all.
“They're my people, Delphine,” Elisif said softly. “The Nords, I mean. They're my people, those villagers were my people and they didn't deserve to die, not like that! But they did, because I wasn't there to save them.”