Not Alone (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter 40 (Part II)

Chapter 40 (Part II)

So this had been Miraak's plan. Every tactic the Imperials had employed suddenly made inescapable sense in my mind, from their oddly-timed attacks to their efforts toward keeping us from scouting the plains. Clearly, somewhere out there on the plains was the starting point for the tunnel these monstrosities had been digging. The catapults had been brought into play to disguise the true nature of the tremors as Unrelenting Force Shouts.

It was a masterful plan, and to the horror of my completely numb mind, it was pulling off with absolutely no hitch.

The two skeletal dragons hesitated a moment, twisting their heads about to get their bearings, then both started down the road straight for the main gate.

They're going to break it down for the Imperials, I realized with a sudden jolt of sheer panic that finally unfroze legs that had felt held in place by master-level locks. I dashed after the two dragons, praying to all the divines that the only plan I had left would just work.

I slid to a stop just as the dragons themselves stopped about twenty feet away from the gate, their eyeless sockets turning to watch the fleeing Stormcloaks with something almost resembling curiosity. "Gol Hah Dov!" I Shouted, putting all my fear, hope, and anger into the Words of Power. If Bend Will didn't work, nothing would be able to save the gate.

It didn't work. One dragon turned its head toward me, jaws parting slightly in a toothy, bony smile, then the two dragons turned together and rushed the gate with a speed that I had never seen any dragon possess on the ground.

Whiterun's main gates exploded outward in a spectacular mass of splintered wood, bent iron, and human body parts from the unlucky soldiers that didn't move fast enough.

And it didn't stop there. I stood helplessly, grasping the handles of my swords so hard that my hands hurt as the dragons kept their momentum going, hurtling down the road toward the drawbridge. A second, even louder crash echoed through the city as the dragons bulled through the drawbridge, Whiterun's last defense.

A roar came from the collective throats of the Imperials, the sound of triumph repeated again and again as one of the skeletal dragons leapt with incredible dexterity to the top of the walls, swiping an entire line of archers over the edge with just one thrash of its tail. The remainder abandoned their posts, jumping off the scaffolding rather than face the skeletal terror as it clambered up and down the wall and scaffolding, destroying both as it went.

The second dragon came dashing back into the city, moving in a strange, shuffling gait that straightened its legs out, raised its hipbones almost even with the roofs of the houses, and somehow allowed it to move with the speed and maneuverability of an attacking wolf. It headed straight for the forge, somehow managing to gain even more speed before it crashed through the side of the building, scattering half of the house across the street without even losing momentum.

Some of the more hardened warriors had gathered in the market square, and they held up their weapons in preparation to meet the creature's charge.

Weapons might have been able to harm the thing, but they couldn't protect their wielders against the withering blast of fire that preceded the dragon's charge. When the fire dissipated, most of the soldiers were either so charred as to be unrecognizable or rolling on the ground in agony as their bodies burned before their eyes. The dragon crashed into those that were left with the strength of a hundred battering rams, sending many flying and crushing even more. It proceeded to trample and tear at the entire mass of bodies with the gleefulness of a dog playing in water, wings waving in the air as it practically rolled in the carnage.