The Tale of the Opal Assassins

10: Should've Taken Ohdahviing

               ~Ireonna~
          I didn't pay much attention to the drunken elf that spoke to my sisters. However I will say that she did look fairly odd. Hair like a deathbell... I bet Gudrun is jealous of that. I looked to my sisters to see that they were staring at the man entering the room. He looked like a normal guy with blue eyes and long brown hair with a blond tint to it. I barely recognized the face. It was Josh, the Dragonborn.
          "Wassup boiiiiii," he happily said as he approached us, "I've heard a lot about the three of you. I'm glad to finally meet you. We got a very important contract."
          "I heard you can do something called a shout where you yell to create power," I began, "Could you show us?"
          "You'll see soon enough, Ireonna. We're going to have to use my thu'um to get back to Skyrim. You see, I came here on a quite nice ship, but that boat's fucked now."
"Why," Gudrun asked.
"I could show you three on the way back to Skyrim. We'll be flying anyway."
"Flying," Ingrid questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes! Follow me!"
We followed Josh out the front entrance of the Sanctuary. It was hidden deep in the woods far outside of Winterfell. Even the Black Door was covered by a large stone to keep it covered. It wasn't shocking to find that my parents went to such great lengths to keep this place a secret. They were always very thorough.
Josh looked into the woods in front of us and smiled. I could tell by the expressions on my sisters' faces that they were confused as to how we would be traveling to Skyrim through the air. I had many questions as well, but they were quickly answered when Josh used one of those "shout" things and a dragon appeared. I think the words he used were "Dur Neh Viir," or something like that.
"I can feel my strength returning each time I am set free from that prison," The dragon said.
"Ah," Josh began, "This is my dragon friend, Durnehviir. He's going to fly us over to Skyrim."
"Indeed," Durnehviir added, "Though I will not be tasting the sweetness of combat, I'll at least be free of the Soul Carin for a while."
"Do you not think that people will be suspicious of dragons flying overhead in Westeros," Ingrid questioned, "I'm just saying that dragons aren't exactly normal now."
"We can take a route that no towns should be on. Anyone who sees us in the wilds is irrelevant."
"I guess you're right then..."
We climbed on Durnehviir's back and took off into the skies. It was an absolutely wonderful feeling. The skies, the wind, everything was perfect. I'd never be able to explain the awesome feeling of flight. Although I was shocked once we flew over the sea. I looked down and saw a boat covered in blood. Josh looked back at us and smiled when that happened. That part was a bit odd. However, I can't put something that amazing into words, but the amazing feel turned into a horrific feeling fairly quickly after we flew above the sea.
"Durnehviir," Josh spoke, "I can feel my ability to shout once more returning. Perhaps we should find a place to la-"
Josh's voice was cut off by Durnehviir disappearing into nothingness. We then began to fall towards the sea.
          "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu," we all screamed in unison.
          It was fast, too fast. Falling is a very scary feeling. I was screaming very loudly, but during the process I heard Josh mutter something before he shouted to summon Durnehviir once more. The dragon definitely didn't arrive on time though. We all splashed into the cold water of what I believed to be The Sea of Ghosts. Gudrun and Ingrid may be resistant to the cold due to our their inheritance of our father's Nord blood as well that the incident at The College of Winterhold, but for some reason I think I inherited more of our mother's imperial blood. Also, I didn't go into that cold water in attempt to go get Gudrun out. The cold bothers me far more than it bothers my sisters. I also don't like to think about the sea and what could be deep in it. There's so many creatures that we don't know about that lurk down there. The fact that I was swimming above those unknowns in freezing cold water just freaked me out.
"Is everyone okay," Josh called out.
"I'm good," Ingrid yelled as she swam towards Josh.
"I'm okay too," Gudrun yelled.
"I'm just really cold," I stuttered.
"I have no solid ground to summon Durnehviir to," Josh explained, "I'll have to call Odahviing to come get us."
"How long will that take," I asked.
"I'm not sure exactly, but we have nothing else we can do."
"I guess you're right..."
"Oh Dah Viing," Josh shouted.
It didn't take nearly as long as I thought for the new dragon, Ohdahviing, to show up. I was certainly glad of that. It was a bit difficult to get on to his back though. We had to climb out of the water and up onto his hand. From there we were able to reach his back. The rest of the flight was a bit miserable due to the wind and the fact that we were all soaked. I was very happy when we arrived at the Dawnstar Sanctuary.
"Welcome to my little side of the family's home," Josh said, "One member went with me to Westeros to go get you three. That was the drunken elf, Vesper. Ah, but I should probably get you all some dry clothes. There's some shrowded robes in a wardrobe in my room downstairs. Go change into those for now. I'll have you some special armor very soon."
          "Special armor," Ingrid questioned, "You mean like Dark Brother Shrowded Armor?"
          "No. I mean special armor I'm having crafted for the three of you. Each set is to be made to suit your particular skills. Ingrid's heavy to suit a brute, yet light enough to move in. Gudrun's very light almost cloth-like to go with her sneaking abilities, and finally Ireonna will have light but protective armor perfect for an archer. Not to mention that all of these will look extremely nice."
          "Well thank you," Gudrun said with a smile, "I can't wait to see these armor sets!"
          "I'm glad you're excited, Gudrun. Anyway, you three are probably cold, hungry, and tired. Go get those robes on and come back to the main room. I'll have one of our initiates make you something to eat. I'll introduce the rest of the family to you then."
          It didn't take us very long to find Josh's room and the robes. Mine were definitely too big, Gudrun's were too long, and Ingrid's fit just fine. After putting on our robes, we went to the main room and gathered around the fire. It didn't take to long for an initiate to to bring us a platter of food. I'm sure Josh knew what foods we were without in Westeros because he brought us plenty of food that could only be found in Skyrim. We had steamed mudcrab legs, roasted horker, and the food item we missed the most, good Skyrim sweetrolls. Other places like Cyrodiil have them, but Skyrim has the best sweetrolls. There are just no other ways to make them so delicious outside of our beautiful home.
          "Aye," Josh began as he walked up with with two people, "You should meet some of the family, or at least what's left of it."
          The two people that walked up with him were a redguard man and a little girl. The man wore a Hammerfell garb that was designed like Dark Brotherhood armor. He had a goatee that was tied up. The girl looked fairly normal aside from her teeth and eyes. One could only assume that she was a vampire.
          "This is Nazir and Babette," Josh said as he gestured to the two.
          "I usually don't like to make friends with new members too quickly," Nazir began, "I like to make sure they're still alive after the first couple of weeks, but I've been assured that you three are very good. I guess that means I've nothing to worry about. Welcome to the family."
          "You look familiar," Gudrun said as she turned to Babette, "Have I met you before?"
          "Indeed you have," Babette replied, "We spent time together when 'we' were 'children.' In truth I was as far from a child then than I am now. I'm actually the oldest person in this room. Being bitten by a vampire when you're ten years old tends to keep one remarkably fresh. Anyway, your parents asked me to hang around you occasionally when you were little. They wanted me to sneak little bits of alchemy knowledge into your child mind."
          "I knew it," I said, "I could tell by your teeth."
          "Wait a moment," Ingrid began, "Does that make you the one that told Gudrun that eating bear claws would make you able to run for a longer amount of time?"
          "Actually I do sort of recall that," Babette answered.
         "It was quite interesting watching my eight year old sister consume bear claws and then sprint around our old manor."
          "Well at least it worked," Gudrun added.
          "Well I think that's all of the family aside from the initiates," Josh said, "Perhaps now we should-"
          Josh was interrupted by a jester running down the stairs yelling for him.
          "Listener," The jester called out, "Oh Listener, you didn't forget about me did you?"
          "Oh gods Cicero shut the fuck up before I shove a fucking soul gem down your throat," Josh muttered under his breath.
          "What was that, Listener? I'm afraid I couldn't understand you."
          "Oh nothing, Cicero. It's just that I forgot to introduce you to the Opal Assassins. They're the newest member of our family... Okay you've been introduced. Now please get out- I mean go tend more to the Night Mother."
          "Of course, Listener. I still need to oil her beautiful corpse."
"You go do that, Keeper."
The Jester happily ran up the stairs to get back to whatever he was doing. Josh and Nazir looked so happy to see him leave. I wonder why they don't seem to like him.
"Anyway," Said Josh, "We should discuss our contract now. I saved the three of you a smaller one and a very big one that has to be done a specific way. We're going to take on the smaller one first. It's actually not in Skyrim though."
"Who and where is it then," Ingrid questioned.
"A very condescending orc named Mogrul living on Solstheim. We're gonna head to Windhelm to board The Northern Maiden and set sail tomorrow. I'll provide you with advice and dank memes on the way, but I want the three of you to make this kill on your own."
I considered questioning what a "dank meme" was, but I decided not to because it was Josh. He always said odd things.