The Tale of the Opal Assassins

11: The Dragonborn Waits

               ~Ingrid~
We woke up this morning to a wonderful surprise from Josh. He gave us our brand new sets of armor. They were customized to our skills and personalities. Mine was a set of somewhat light plate armor. It was made from black metal. All I could say about it was that it was beautiful. Gudrun's was extremely light black leather. Some parts of it had a net-like material such as her gloves and collar. Ireonna's was a lovely set of archers armor complete with a beautiful red tunic. We looked like real assassins now.
"Well it looks like we're all set," Josh said as he smiled, "We're gonna take Ohdahviing this time."
          "Good plan," I replied, "Had we been flying over land instead of water, we'd be dead by now."
"Well it's a good thing we weren't over land. Now isn't it? Anyway, I believe that we should head out."
We went to the shore north of Dawnstar and climbed onto the dragon, Ohdahviing. This dragon was red and so beautiful. These creatures are so fantastic. I don't know how people can hate them. I mean I understand how people hated Alduin for trying to eat the world and all, but I don't see why some people attack dragons that aren't hurting anyone or anything. I suppose it's a fear thing. Even so, it's horrible. I say that as we head to Raven Rock to kill a man. The ride to Windhelm began with the amazing beings wings. They kicked up dust as we lifted off into the sky. This ride was a bit more smooth than our first one. It also didn't take nearly as long. We arrived at the Windhelm stables in nearly five hours.
The guards on the the bridge respectfully referred to Josh as the Dragonborn as we entered. One of them said something about taking an arrow to the knee, and one of them even got very close to him and whispered, "Pssst. I know who you are. Hail Sithis!" That made me a bit uncomfortable. How could a simple town guard not only know that Josh was in the Brotherhood, but also have the balls to tell him that he knew that? The people of Skyrim are clearly far more ballsy than the people of Westeros. Everyone here in our home carries a weapon. Most of them keep their fear concealed deep within them. If a vampire brazenly attacks someone on the street, simple townspeople charge towards them ready to fight. I'm proud of my Nordic blood. Skyrim is the most true home of all Nords. Our blood is made to handle the harsh cold, and our drinks are strong enough to keep us crazy. I'm so glad to be home.
Since it was night, we decided to wait to travel to Solthiem the next day. We ended up hanging out in the New Gnisis Corner club for the night. Josh's Dunmer friend, Ambarys Rendar very kindly provided us with supper and a place to stay for the night. I personally like the grey quarter. I know most dunmer hate it because it's considered the slums of Windhelm, but I find it to be so unique that it's pretty in a way. I remember coming here when I was very young. I was ten years old. Gudrun and Ireonna couldn't be left on their own yet. We had come here with parents who were meeting Jarl Ulfric for something important. I can't really remember what it was. After the meeting, we returned to the Candle Hearth Hall to sleep. After I was sure that my parents and sisters were asleep, I snuck out to the streets of Windhelm and roamed around. At some point I found myself lost in the grey quarter. I couldn't exactly say that I was scared or anything like that, but I felt a bit odd. I did want to find my way back to the inn though because it was getting very cold even for a Nord. Eventually I got so tired that I just gave up and sat down in the street. I was found by a Dunmer man. He asked me what I, a little Nord girl, was doing out in the streets of the grey quarter in the middle of the night. I was shy, so I didn't answer him. He eventually picked me up and began to carry me. As he held me, I reached out and touched his ear. It was like mine. At first he seemed almost offended, but then he noticed my ear peeking out from behind my hair. I remember him saying, "So you do have a little Dunmer in you, girl." I smiled and nodded my head. He then asked me where he should take me. I responded with, "Torch Mantle Room," because I couldn't remember the name of Candle Hearth Hall. He smiled and took me to that inn. He put me down once we arrived and waved goodbye as I entered the inn. I smiled and did the same. My parents never found out about any of it.
I do like this city, but I hate the racism. The way the Dunmer and Argonians are treated is horrible. I wish there was something I could do to make it stop. Wait a minute... I'm an assassin. Why didn't I think of this earlier? I still don't know of whom I could kill that would end this. Ulfric may seem like a good choice, but that would definitely cause conflict. I don't like the idea of Skyrim rules by the Thalmor. If Ulfric were killed, the Stormcloaks would basically be fucked, and the Imperials continue to lick the boots of the Thalmor. I hate both sides of Skyrim's ongoing civil war, but I guess the Stormcloaks are the slightly lesser of two evils. After all, they didn't try to cut off Josh's head and nearly kill the one person who could kill the dragon that tried to eat the world. Maybe I could just kill the Thalmor, and the Imperials, and the Stormcloaks. Agh, that would take so much time.
Eventually we decided that it would be best to get some sleep. Ambarys pulled out some bedrolls for us on the second floor of his establishment. We all laid on our bedrolls and sort of did our own end of the day rituals. I studied a new book on Ornstein that was sold to me by Nyranye earlier in the Corner club. Ireonna was playing with the baby skeever in the corner, and Gudrun was writing in her journal. When I looked at her, I stopped for a moment to think what she could be writing about. I already know that she records the events of her day, but she also records her thoughts. She had an odd look on her face. I couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about. Eventually I just brushed it off and went to sleep like everyone else, or at least I thought that everyone else had gone to sleep.
          I tried to sleep, and I succeeded for a while, but then I had another Ornstein dream. It started out with him simply walking towards me, but then he showed me a vision. It started with my sister running from someone. She was being chased by some ten men wearing white robes. They were trying to kill her. She was able to outrun them and climb onto a roof. However, there was an archer up there. She dodged his arrows very well, but in the process of dodging one she fell from the top of the building. That's when it hit me. The city she was in was Windhelm, and the building she fell from was the Palace Of Kings. Ornstein showed himself and gestured to a door behind me. I quickly ran through it to wake myself up. Gudrun was not on her bedroll. It was real! My sister was in serious danger!
          I ran over to Ireonna and quickly woke her up. I didn't have time to say much, but I quickly told her what I could. We didn't even dress. We simply grabbed our weapons and hurried down to the first floor of the Corner club. Josh was just standing their, staring at a wall, not blinking or moving no matter what I tried.
          "What's wrong with him," I yelled.
          "He's waiting," Ambarys answered me, "It's what the Dragonborn does instead of sleep. He can't be interrupted."
          "We don't have time for this," Ireonna said as she pulled me out the door.
          We climbed on top of the Corner Club and ran across the rooftops to the Palace of Kings. Sure enough, about five men in white robes were on the ground below us, and an archer was attacking Gudrun above us. Ireonna began picking off the men below with her arrows as I climbed the side of the castle to get to Gudrun. By the time I reached the top, the archer was running out of arrows and Gudrun wasn't too terribly close to any ledges. I charged at the archer, but he stepped out of my way. My nightgown was a bit too long, so it got under my feet causing me to trip and fall over the edge. I was able to grab on to it as I fell, but it was going to take energy that I lacked to pull myself up. The archer walked very close to the ledge in front of me and aimed his bow at me. I thought it was the end, but something miraculous happened. From thin air, a dagger appeared and ran across his throat. Immediately after that a flash of light revealed Gudrun holding the dagger. She was now wearing her favorite mask with the little gadgets and trinkets. Somehow, that thing turned her invisible. I continued to pull myself up, but then two more of the men dropped down behind her. One quickly knocked her down with a war hammer. She was down. We were in trouble, but then we had another miracle. My ring from Ornstein began to glow and I felt empowered. I felt stronger, because I was. I finished pulling myself up with ease, and then grabbed the guy with the war hammer by his throat. I used my other hand to bend both of his legs so far backwards that they were touching his head. One of them fell off in a bloody mess. I then threw him off of the ledge. After that, I picked up my sword and finished off the other. I then helped Gudrun up.
"You okay," I asked her.
"As much as I can be right now," she panted, "What happened to you? You turned into some kind of overpowered- I don't even know."
"You turned invisible! It had to have been the mask for you. I know it was my ring for me."
"How do you know that?"
"It was glowing. Ornstein must've been helping us... Actually I know he was helping us. He showed up in my dream and showed me that this was happening to you. How did you even get in this situation in the first place?"
"Well I couldn't really sleep so I decided to go for a walk through the grey quarter. Two guys attacked me right in front of Sadri's Used Wares. I killed those guys fairly easily, but then like nine more came after me. I knew I couldn't handle that many, so I climbed the rooftops and ran up here. Then that archer guy turned out to already be up here."
"Any reason they were after you?"
"No. They just kind of came after me."
I decided that it would be best to see if we could find any information, so I decided to search the two corpses that I left with us. Sadly, I found nothing. We then decided to climb back down to meet Ireonna. She was standing next to the corpse of the guy whose leg I tore off holding a piece of paper.
"Guys," Ireonna said as she looked at the paper, "This fell out of that man's pocket as he fell. We have a serious problem..."