Chapter 19: The Changing Times

  Asha took the road west, following the trade routes around the plains until she reached the Brittle Mountains and the pass between them and the Throat of the World. The country was wild and the path steep as it climbed up the foothills of the mountain to the pass. On the second day of travel, she spotted the smoke of a fire over a hill and drew her bow. If her brief travel with Hakon had taught her anything, bandits were roaming the plains desperate to take supplies from an unwary traveler.

  She soon arrived at the small campsite, set up along the road by the rushing river. Half a dozen men were standing around a campfire, warming themselves from the morning chill. A seventh stood on the bluff and, when he spotted her rounding the bend, he whistled and pulled an arrow to his hunting bow.

  Asha followed suit slowly. Neither one of them drew their bowstrings to aim but stared warily at each other. The rest of the crew took notice and rose from the fire, lifting weapons from beside their seats. They wielded rusted chopping axes, clubs, and makeshift spears. None of them had any weapons made from a forge, only simply crafted tools. Asha gripped her fine, Hunters bow and kept the arrow knocked. Whether they were bandits or refugees was yet to be determined.

  “Good day to you,” she said, her voice cracking and showing her fear.

  “Who are you?” asked the man at the head of the group, one with a two-handed ax and wearing rough fur skins around his muscular frame.

  “I am Asha from Summer Falls,” she responded. “I am a Hunter of Krosis.”

  She was unsure if the name would earn her respect, anger, or at least fear. It seemed to be none of these things. The man kept a tight hold on his ax. “That title means nothing to us. We do not know who that is.”

  Asha tilted her head. “You are not from here?”

  “We are from the Northern shores of Skyrim,” said the man, his beard shifting in a light breeze.

  “I see…” Asha wasn’t sure what to make of this. “You are far from home. Which dragon priest do…or did you serve under?”

  The entire group bristled at this and shifted nervously. Their eyes flicked to the man leading them. His eyes remained fixed on her, studying her intently. “Lord Vokun. He rules High Gate Fortress.”

  Asha struggled to remember the name but was too nervous to focus. “And why have you left his service?”

  The intensity increased among the men as they shifted in ready stance. They looked ready to attack. Asha knew the answer before it was even given. “We do not serve under his tyrannical rule anymore.”

  She nodded, “I see.”

  An intense silence followed. Asha’s mind raced. Here were more examples of Atmoran’s fleeing the rulership of a dragon priest, claiming they were tyrants. Concern filled her heart. She needed to speak with Krosis more than anything now. The men were now waiting, expecting her to speak, to act, maybe even attack. She studied their faces and saw, in many of the younger men, a sense of terror. The older men only exhibited a weary, gruff exterior. All of them seemed almost too tired to fight.

  “Well, I serve the Lord Krosis of Summer Falls,” she said, finally deciding on a course of action. “You are at the borders of his territory. No doubt, his hunters are watching you even now. This pass through the mountains is guarded by them if you are seeking to make your way south. If you wish to get through, I would suggest following the Brittle Mountains west until you reach an inlet. There you will find a cave that leads through the mountains to the southern side and Lake Ilinalta. There is fish there if you can catch them and, if you can cross it or circle it, a path to the southern woods of Skyrim or the Reach…if you feel so mad as to venture into those forbidding mountain valleys.”

  The men were silent, staring at her in bewilderment. The leader lowered his ax a fraction. “You…aren’t going to report us to your master?”

  “I have no desire to do so,” said Asha. “I have urgent news of injustice from the plains that I must report to him. Dragon attacks and Dragon Priest transgressions.”

  The men murmured among themselves and the leader finally lowered his ax. “Well then…we will let you be on your way, Asha. You swear by Shor that you do not play us false?”

  “I swear by Shor and Kyne, I do not,” said Asha, putting her arrow back in its quiver. “If that is all…?”

  The men stepped back and the other followed suit. Asha remained tense and ready to spring into action if any moved toward her. They simply watched her with equal wariness as she passed their camp on the road and continued uphill. Asha breathed a sigh of relief when their camp vanished around a bend and only the sounds of the running water filled her ears. She quickened her pace. No more delays. She would reach Summer Falls by evening and get answers from Lord Krosis.

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  ***

  Asha’s return to Summer Falls was received with no ceremony and a grim reception. As she walked up the acropolis, a senior member surrounded by an entourage met her at the top of the stone steps. “You are to be taken to Lord Krosis at once,” the huntress said.

  Asha followed them willingly into the sanctum and down into the mountain's depths. They passed through the great hall and the tunnels with the bedrooms. Then, they entered halls and tunnels she had never seen before. Large natural columns held the roof in place and ancient carvings were set into the wall. The wolf, the eagle, the bear, the owl, and more were carved in scenes of glory and worship. They finally walked down a large corridor with so much iconography, that she wished she could loiter and look at it. They stopped before a large, rounded stone door set into the rock face. The huntress and her hunters step aside and she gestures through the open doorway. “Proceed.”

  Upon entering through the round, stone door, Asha found herself standing in a cave, uncarved and unmarked by human hands. Stalagmites and stalactites filled the cave and a consistent dripping of water filled the air around her. The rustle of bat wings above indicated that she was far from alone. She looked back at the entrance and watched the stone slide back into place with a grinding echo. She was left in the dark with only a light from ahead to guide her way. She stumbled over the rough-hewn path, around the rock formations that rose to the dark ceiling to act as pillars.

  She felt her mouth fall open when she reached the source of the light. A giant cavern rose around her, lit by a hole in the ceiling of the mountain above, much like her home back at Shriekwind Bastion and its main hall. A river ran through the cavern, falling in a cascading waterfall on two sides of a central platform and continuing deeper into the mountain. Across a stone bridge spanning the flowing river, she saw a raised dias and Lord Krosis sitting cross-legged in the middle of the stone floor. The last light of day from the hole gently rested on him. Floating around him were several orbs of light, each hovering and bobbing ever so slightly, matching the smallest movement from him. The whole effect caused him to have a sort of glow.

  Asha crossed the stone bridge and walked up the steps. She stopped when she reached the top, staring hesitantly at the bronze, unreadable mask. Its arrow on the brow seemed more menacing in the shadows cast by his floating lights. When he made no move, she decided the best thing she could do was to practice what he had taught her and remain patient. She sat cross-legged on the floor across from Krosis, closed her eyes, and took in the world around her.

  She was unsure if her nervous energy and thoughts were affecting her senses but the world around her felt…unbalanced. The stone floor was cold to the touch. The air around her held a stillness and chill to it. The sounds of the flowing water carried an ominous tone and the dripping of water echoed louder than usual. A darkness fell upon her, a heavyweight that caused her to shiver. “What do you sense?”

  Asha opened her eyes in surprise. Krosis had spoken to her from his seated position, still unmoving. She also realized the light of the sun had disappeared from the hole above, casting them into darkness save for his glowing orbs of light. “Speak Asha, what do you sense?”

  She snapped herself out of her stupor and spoke. “I do not know, lord. But it feels…cold. I feel that Kyne has abandoned me in this moment and the world has grown darker for it.”

  “It is fear you sense…and death,” he said. “You carried it with you into the chamber when you arrived. The world around you breathed it in and knew the truth.”

  Asha felt stunned at this. “I…I’m hardly important enough to affect the environment.”

  “It isn’t about importance,” said Krosis, rising to his feet. “It is about what is true. Nature can sense the truth about you and perhaps a taste of what is to come from it. Tell me what you have seen.”

  Asha rose to her feet and stood by him, beginning her tale from the start until the moment she arrived in this chamber to the best of her knowledge. The only part she skimmed over was all of her interactions with Hakon at the party…and all that was said. It was too close and personal to talk about and she was unsure the dragon priest would appreciate her fraternizing with a poor farmer from the plains.

  Krosis made no commentary but remained silent from start to finish. He paced the floor as he listened, his bobbing lights following him, mirroring each step and turn. When she finished, Krosis shook his head. “I knew Lord Vokun to be a violent and unstable man, but Morokei’s actions confuse me most. What could drive him to push such harsh punishments on the people? Perhaps the dragons, even Alduin himself, have put him to this task. But for what purpose is beyond my understanding.”

  He paused, ceasing is pacing as he stared at the ground. When he spoke again, his voice was filled with concern. “One thing is clear, trouble stalks these lands unchecked. Perhaps I have remained absent from my brethren for too long…”

  This second pause was met with nods as he stood tall. He had come to some sort of resolution. “It is decided then. I must make the next council meeting. I have been absent from the court for years now and it has done no good for anyone. I had hoped to stay out of the politics of my brethren…but I suppose it was foolish to hope I could. It is one of my duties as a dragon priest.”

  “You are…going, my lord?” asked Asha.

  “To Bromjunaar,” he said, “And I won’t be going alone. You will accompany me there.”

  “What? But why? I mean…yes, Lord Krosis.”

  Krosis nodded. “It is fair to ask why. It was you who witnessed these events. It was you the world moved for when you came with this news. You have a part to play in these events, no matter how big or small.”

  Asha tried not to smile but a small one slipped out as she said, “I thought you said it wasn’t about importance.”

  For the first time, she heard a chuckle from Krosis. “Well…not always. But sometimes it is.”

  He swept past her, headed for the steps. Then he stopped and turned back to Asha. “Get your things packed for tomorrow. See to both our provisions for the trip. We must make Bromjunaar in a four days time if we are to make the summit of Dragon Priests.”

  “I am going with you, then?” she asked, still not believing her ears.

  He nodded and continued walking down the stairs. “Indeed. We leave at first light.”