And sure enough, it was just lying there. A huge stone tablet with etchings on it.
“Looks heavy,” Riku commented. “How are we gonna haul it out of here?”
“I have half a mind to just cast featherweight on it,” Martin answered.
“What’s that?”
“Another spell native to Cyrodiil,” Martin explained. “Depending on how it’s used, it can either decrease the weight of an item or possibly increase how much a person can carry. For a time.”
Riku nodded and looked expectantly at Martin, waiting for him to actually cast it.
Martin did. Extending his hand over the tablet, he concentrated his magicka and let it flow out. The tablet glowed briefly and Martin smiled and went to pick it up.
“Wow!”
“If you want, I can show you how to cast it later,” Martin smiled at him.
Riku nodded but then frowned.
“We don’t have to go back through the barrow to get out, right?” He asked.
“Most of these dungeons usually have a back door. At least it was like that back in Cyrodiil. According to the Hero,” Martin said and started looking around.
He spotted a tunnel leading somewhere atop one of the decorative staircases and pointed it out to Riku.
“Let’s try that way.”
Riku nodded and they made their way up and through the tunnel. At first, it looked like it would be a dead-end but then Riku spotted a cleverly hidden lever and when he pulled it, a stone slid down into the ground, revealing an opening they could walk through.
This took them to a ledge overlooking what seemed like the way out. They quickly jumped down and made their way to the opening that was letting sunlight in. Stepping through, they found themselves on a ledge overlooking Riverwood.
“So what now, do we make our way directly to Whiterun?” Riku asked.
“We could, but I have a feeling that the golden claw didn’t belong to the bandits. I’m thinking we could ask around here in Riverwood if anybody knows anything. See if we can find the owner. If not, then we will make our way to Whiterun. We can deliver the tablet and then ask if someone knows something about the claw.”
Riku nodded and they started to make their way down the mountain and toward the village.
When they finally reached the village gate, it was late afternoon.
“Looks like the guards the Jarl sent are already here,” Riku pointed out, looking to the side where a small camp was.
“Good, it’s better to be prepared than taken by surprise,” Martin said as they passed through the gate.
“Who should we ask about the claw?” Riku wondered as they walked on the path leading through the village.
“Our best bet would be the inn or maybe the general goods trader over there,” Martin pointed to a shop not too far away. Certainly close enough for them to read the sign.
With that, they walked the rest of the way to the general trader and Martin pushed the door open. There was a man behind the counter and a woman in the middle of the room. They were shouting at each other. Apparently arguing. And it looked like it had been going on for a while. Something about an heirloom being stolen.
“Excuse me,” Martin interrupted after a while.
The two abruptly quieted and looked at the newcomers.
“Yes, how can I help you? Sorry about that,” the shopkeeper said, a little sheepish.
“We are looking for the owner of this golden claw, from what I just heard, it looks like it could belong to you?” Martin extended his hand to Riku who took the claw out of his satchel and gave it to him.
“Oh my! You found it!” the shopkeeper exclaimed excitedly.
“So I’m guessing you’re the owner?” Martin asked, hoping for a more definitive answer.
“Oh yes, me and my sister. And now that you’ve found it, she can stop with the nonsense of going to find it herself. Just look at her, does she look like she would be able to survive one of those cursed barrows? Not to mention the bandits that line the roads these days!”
Martin smiled and handed the claw over.
“Glad we could help,” he said and turned to leave the shop with Riku.
“Wait!” the man stopped them. “Take this, it’s not much, but I have to thank you somehow!”
He thrust a coin pouch at Martin who tried to refuse, saying it wasn’t necessary, but the man was insistent and Martin was, in the end, forced to accept the reward.
They said their goodbyes and Martin and Riku walked out of the shop. While they were inside, the sky darkened considerably and after a bit of deliberation, they decided to, once again, spent the night at the inn here in Riverwood.
The following day, they made their way to Whiterun and up to Dragonsreach. Once inside, they walked towards Farengar’s chambers. Martin was still carrying the tablet, though he had to recast the spell several times already. Unfortunately, it simply didn’t last all that long. Thankfully, it didn’t take too much power to cast, so that was fine.
They stepped inside the room where Farengar was leaning over one of his desks. A hooded person right next to him. They were talking in hushed voices. Too low for either Martin or Riku to hear. At the sound of their footsteps, he turned and was surprised to find them there.
“Didn’t expect you to be back so soon,” he murmured, mostly to himself. “Do you have it? Was it there?”
“Yes, we have it,” Martin answered him and placed the stone on Farengar’s desk. From the corner of his eye, he caught the figure slipping out of the room.
“So what happens now?” Riku chimed in.
Before anyone could answer that, a person bursts in, panting. It’s Irileth.
“Come quick, a dragon’s been sighted nearby!” she shouts. Then she spots Martin and Riku.
“You two better come too,” she says before sprinting out of the room again. Farengar hot on her heels.
“A dragon, huh…” Martin muses. “Should we go see what this is all about?”
“Sure,” Riku nodded and stepped closer to Martin who automatically ruffled his hair.
They step out of the room and up the stairs toward where the Jarl is with Irileth and Farengar as well as some soldiers. One of them panting like he just ran the marathon.
“Tell us what you know,” Jarl Balgruuf asked the panting soldier.
“It… It came from the south… It was circling the western watchtower. I.. I’ve never run so fast in my life!” the poor soldier is about ready to collapse.
The Jarl noticed this also, as he thanked the soldier for his hard work and ordered him to go and rest. Then he turned to Irileth.
“You better gather your troops and get down there, fast.”
“I have already given the order, I will be joining them at the main gate now and we will make our way to the watchtower,” Irileth replied and sprinted out.
“Good,” the Jarl nodded at her retreating form.
“I should go too,” Farengar spoke.
“No, I can’t afford to risk both of you. If things go badly, I need you here to help defend the people.”
“As you wish,” Farengar nodded, though he did not look happy about it. Then he turned and made his way back to his chambers.
Then the Jarl turned to Martin and Riku.
“I hate to ask this of you, but would you be willing to go to the watchtower? You are the only ones who have personal experience with dragons…”
“I hate to drag Riku into this, but I have a feeling that if we don’t fight, things will be even worse. What do you say, kid?” The last part was said towards Riku.
“We can’t just do nothing,” Riku agreed. “It might be scary, but it sounds like the right thing to do.”
“Thank you,” Balgruuf nodded at them, relieved that the only people with actual dragon experience were willing to lend a hand.
Martin and Riku made their way out of Dragonsreach and jogged through the city, trying to catch up to Irileth. They managed to do so but were already very close to the watchtower. It was in ruins and there was a lot of smoke and some fire surrounding the debris.
“Do you see the dragon anywhere?” Irileth asked.
No one answered. But then they all heard a roar in the distance.
“It’s coming!” one of the guards shouted.
Martin turned to Riku.
“Take cover somewhere, don’t engage it directly, but if you can get a hit in, don’t hesitate,” he said and then he moved forward towards the beast.
Riku crouched between two pieces of debris, mostly hidden, but with enough space to comfortably aim his bow. He readied an arrow and turned his gaze toward the coming dragon. Tracking it with his eyes, waiting for it to get close enough for him to fire a shot at it.
Meanwhile, Martin found his way to the ruined structure that was, not too long ago, a watchtower. He ran up the stairs and all the way up to the roof. Once there, he summoned his bound bow and looked for the dragon. He would get one or two shots in before it came too close. Then he would switch to the Magnetic Flux spell. It definitely did more damage than a bow ever could, but it simply didn’t have a bow’s range.
The dragon came close enough and Martin lined up a shot. He fired and the arrow hit the torso of the dragon. He was hoping for a shot to the head, but at this distance, he was lucky the arrow hit at all. He fired again and this time, pierced one of the wings.
He could hear Irileth shouting about shooting the wings and grounding the dragon. It was a good strategy. He fired one last shot at one of the wings and then switched to his fire spell. As the dragon flew past him, he dodged out of the way of a torrent of flame and unleashed his own inferno. The dragon shrieked and faltered, but kept in the air.
At least until several more arrows from the guards lodged themselves in its wings. It shrieked as it crashlanded amongst the debris.
Martin quickly made his way down the stairs to rejoin the fight but had a feeling that it would be over before he got there.
Riku watched the dragon crashland. It was now close enough that he knew he could make his shots count. At this range, he knew he wouldn’t miss. Riku lined an arrow and took careful aim. He found his mark, one of the dragon’s eyeballs. He wasn’t sure he could hit it exactly, but he knew that if nothing else, he would be able to hit the dragon in the head.
He quickly charged his arrow with lightning and was about to let it fly when he saw the dragon open his mouth to chomp down Irileth who got too close to it. And Riku made a decision. In the split second it took the dragon to fully open its mouth, Riku changed his aim and funneled even more magic into the arrow. He let it fly.
It hit true. The dragon let out a shriek of pure agony. It reared up and then it toppled over. As it did, it cried, in human tongue: “Dovahkiin! No!”
Then it went still.
“Nice shot kid, thanks!” Irileth shouted. “Now, let’s make sure it’s really dead.”
She started toward the dragon, several guards following, but suddenly, they all stopped.
“Everybody, get back!” Irileth yelled as the dead dragon started to glow.
The glow intensified and the dragon started to disintegrate, dissipating into glowing golden flakes. Only a skeleton was left and then the glow swirled around and got absorbed into Riku who stood still like a statue.
“What… What’s happening?” Riku stuttered after a while.
“You… You’re the… the Dragonborn!” one of the guards said in awe.
“The what?”
“A Dragonborn,” Martin said, making his way to Riku. “A man, or mer, born with the soul of a dragon. In the old days, they were dragonslayers, able to absorb the soul and power of any dragon they slew. Tiber Septim, the first of the Septim emperors had this power, and through him, so should have his descendants, but apparently, those powers went dormant and Dragonborn became just a title. At least that’s how it is for the Septim line.”
“Try shouting, that way you’ll know for sure if you’re the Dragonborn,” one of the guards said.
“How?” Riku asked.
Martin leaned toward him. “You already know that FUS means force. Now you just have to pull on that power you just absorbed and say it with intention.”
Riku nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating. Seeing as he was still facing some of the guards, Martin gently turned him so that he was now faced with open plains instead of people.
Riku opened his eyes, determined.
He shouted “FUS” and the ground shook, some of the smaller debris flying away from them in an impressive display of power. He staggered and Martin quickly steadied him.
“Wow…” Riku breathed, but then he frowned and turned to Martin. “Hey, this is the same thing as what that draugr did, right?”
“Yes, it is.”
Martin frowned. He said that Riku had to do it first… But before he could continue this train of thoughts, a rumbling sound combined with a mild shockwave came from the tallest mountain of Skyrim, the Throat of the World.
“What was that?” Martin asked the guardsmen.
“Might be the Graybeards,” Irileth said. “You should talk to Balgruuf about it after you inform him of what happened here, that is.”
Martin nodded, still deep in thoughts.
“What are you thinking about?” Riku tugged on his sleeve as they started walking back to Whiterun.
“Just something Akatosh said,” Martin replied. “I’m going to try something.”
“Okay,” Riku nodded.
And with that, Martin reached deep inside of him, feeling for the powers that he now knew were there. As well as for the knowledge. It looked like Akatosh gave him six words to use for now. And from what he now understood on an instinctual level, three words made a full shout.
He turned his head skyward and opened his mouth.
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