No blood had been shed yet by the time he stepped outside, but it seemed a near thing. There were a lot of raised voices, not quite to the point of yelling. "I would like to remind the Justiciar that just because the Knight has finally revealed himself, it does not render him somehow incapable of Shouting you off the mountainside," Penn spoke. Emmet had to stifle a snicker. The Thalmor gave her a disdainful look before wisely retreating down the path.
"I was right about this being fascinating," Balthazar mused.
"Yeah no kidding," Lucy agreed, shaking her head.
"I'm still finding it hard to believe you're his brother," Sirius complained.
"And I'm still mad at you for hiding all these years," the General growled. The Knight only smiled back at him.
"So what's your name?" Emmet finally interrupted, giving the Knight a curious look.
"It's Alastar," he answered. "And the sniggering brat over there is Keelan."
"It's nice to- to finally meet you in person," the youngest triplet greeted him.
"In person?" Emmet echoed.
"I sent you a letter, once."
"Wait, so you're the mysterious 'friend' that told Emmet where to find a Word Wall?" May asked. Keelan smiled and nodded at her.
"He's been helping us from behind the scenes since Watevra and I started the rebellion," the Knight (Alastar, Emmet reminded himself) added. The General gave his brother a scandalized look.
"I didn't share any military secrets," Keelan assured. "Just- just kept him updated on how y-you were doing."
"So what are we going to tell the Emperor?" the Legate asked.
"I don't know," the General sighed. "I doubt he's going to take 'so it turns out the rebel leader is my brother and I refuse to fight any further' very well." Both of his brothers grinned at him for that.
"He's already furious with the Thalmor for what Ondolemar pulled in Windhelm. Perhaps you could use that to persuade him to discontinue pursuit of the rebels and redirect your focus to where it should be."
"Windhelm?" The rebels seemed surprised at this news. "What did he do to Windhelm?"
"They're Thalmor," Sirius sighed, giving his new allies a weary look. "What do you think he did to Windhelm?"
"Nothing good," Keelan confirmed. "The whole city was a m-mess."
"I did evacuate as many as I could," the General assured. "I had a feeling he would try something like that."
"I bet the Thalmor representative down there had all kinds of pretty rhetoric to respond to that inquiry," the Knight sighed.
Sirius quirked a smile at him. "Elenwen is very wordy," he agreed. "But let's get off this mountain before we decide anything further, I'm freezing." The Knight chuckled and motioned for his people to follow, looking over in surprise as the Legate looped an arm around his.
"Barbara?"
"It's hard to believe it's actually you," she spoke softly. "We both mourned you for so long..."
"I missed you too," he told her. "There were so many times I wanted to just give up and come home."
"We're glad you didn't. We needed you," Penn said.
"Oh!" Emmet gasped. "I got so distracted by the Knight I completely forgot! Vitruvius, you said you found something that could help?"
"I did, didn't I?" the old wizard mused, and stroked his beard. "While you were busy setting up this meeting, Penn assisted me in studying the contents of the library in the Temple. One of the things we discovered was that the Blades recorded the names of many of the dragons they slew. After cross-referencing it with the map of the dragon burial sites that you and Lucy retrieved, we believe we may have identified one of the dragons that Alduin has resurrected."
"How does that help us?" Lucy asked.
"If you're going to trap a dragon in Dragonsreach, you need to first find a dragon. And the names of dragons are always three Words of Power."
"Shouts," Emmet realized.
"Indeed. By calling the dragon with the Voice, he will hear you, wherever he may be."
"Why would a dragon come when called?" Lucy pressed, skeptical. "Last I checked, they're not dogs."
"Certainly he's not compelled to," Vitruvius agreed, "but dragons are prideful by nature, and loath to refuse a challenge." He turned back toward Emmet. "Your Voice in particular is likely to intrigue this dragon, after your victory over Alduin. I think it very likely that he'll be unable to resist investigating your call."
"So what's his name?"
"I'm no master of the Voice, but I will pronounce it as best I can. Od-Ah-Viing, 'Winged Snow Hunter' if memory serves me."
"Odahviing," Emmet murmured to himself, committing it to memory. "Thank you for all your help, Vitruvius."
"Of course, Dragonborn. It's what I'm here for, after all."
YOU ARE READING
Murphy's Law
Fanfiction[Skyrim Crossover] As if Skyrim wasn't already hectic enough, with its inhabitants fighting both the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire. Now there's dragons, too, and Emmet finds himself unwittingly roped into the whole mess. What else could go wrong?
