The Tale of Cara, the Tenth Divine

Chapter 9

 Chapter 9

"They won't help. They want nothing to do with it all," Cara said as she stood in the main hall of Sky Haven Temple. Her companions stood nearby, with Auri noting how many recruits that Esbern and Delphine had brought in to their cause.

"Because they believe that keeping isolated to themselves on that mountain is enough for them. They'll never get involved unless they're forced to," Delphine remarked with a sigh.

"Yeah, and that outlook isn't helping us find a dragon to take me to this Skuldafn place you told me about..."

"What you'll need to do is to summon one. You're not going to find one that won't simply fight you to the death and count on Alduin to resurrect them again. That's the way we'll have to approach it. I scoured the texts when Delphine told me our problem and I found a name. That's how you'll get your way to Skuldafn."

"You mean if I call one, they'll be forced to come to me?" Cara asked in confusion, feeling the dragons were too sentient for such a thing.

"No, but he'll be compelled to. It's not quite the same thing. Either way I found a name... and you can shout it to summon him. You need to go to your Dragonreach and call for 'Oh-dah-ving'."

"Oh... dah... ving?"

"That's the one."

"Alright, then we need to get going," Cara said as she looked to Lydia.

"Hold on just a minute," Esbern said.

"What else is there?"

"I know you've come a long way and had to rely on some... unusual allies, including us. We know you've met the leader of the Greybeards," Delphine stated.

"Paarthunax? Yeah, what about him?"

"We don't trust him," Esbern replied.

"I do. He's helped me a lot so far. He taught me some words of power, and he helped us against Alduin," Cara said, Serana and a few of the others nodding in agreement.

"Be that as it may, he's still a dragon. He's still responsible for many deaths back in the ancient days... deaths he needs to answer for."

"What now?" Sofia asked, not liking where this discussion was going.

"What I'm saying is that if you want to continue to have the Blades at your disposal, you're going to have to cut ties with this Paarthunax... and kill him. He must pay for what he's done."

"You're joking... right?" Atlana questioned as she folded her arms and looked down at the pair.

"He's not. Paarthunax is responsible for a lot of evil done upon mankind back in the day, and-"

"Or so you believe, right?" Serana asked, cutting her off.

"Either way, he was Alduin's right hand. He has to pay."

Cara drew a long breath in response to the request and then looked over to Alduin's Wall before she turned her gaze back toward the two Blades.

"You get that from your wall?" she asked.

"Some information is there, yes. The rest I got from ancient texts that penned down the legends of old," Esbern replied.

"Cara, don't tell me you're serious about this," Caesea said suspiciously.

"And there's no room in your heart for redemption, since he's trying to help us stop the end of the world?" Cara questioned.

"Good intentions or not, he has to face justice for what he's done!" Delphine snapped.