Chapter 18: YOL TOOR SHUL

Asha and Hakon ran down the steps of the Skyforge as the dragons circled above. The cries of the revelers below echoed to the heavens to meet the roar of the dragons. The crowd scattered, running for the hall or the village. Many others cowered under tables while the bravest went to grab weapons and hold their ground. The companions rallied together around Jorrvaskr and formed a shield wall.

Jarl Hamvir was at the front of the companions, raising his hands and yelling, trying to calm the crowd. The three dragons swooped lower, one landing on the roof of the hall. The boards creaked and moaned under the dragon’s weight. It hissed, its bronze scales flashing in the firelight and its short spikes telling, indicating its young age. Its roar reverberated through the air. It dug its claws into the boards, and the companions howled in anger, causing it to laugh. “BeiN MUN!”

Asha and Hakon spotted the second dragon flying low, its giant spikes rippling as it roared, shaking its silver-scaled neck. It spotted the pair and aimed for them, swooping down and causing them to dive to the ground. As it passed them, it roared, “YOL!”

A burst of flame erupted from its mouth and engulfed the stairs above them. It circled and landed on the top of the rock formation of the Skyforge. It peered imperiously down at the inhabitants, its eyes gleaming.

The largest of the dragons landed with an earth-shaking thud in the central courtyard and called again, this time in the tongues of men. “Jarl Hamvir! Come forth. The dov summon you.”

Hakon reached down, helping Asha up to her feet, and scanned the crowd. “Where is my father?”

Asha scanned the crowd around the courtyard, picking through strangers' faces. She spotted him by a set of tables, sitting frozen in his seat. She pointed. “There.”

The dragon stepped between them, blocking their view as Jarl Hamvir approached the dragon. “How is it that you honor us with your presence, lord?”

The dragon had dark green scales and massive spikes, many broken from age or perhaps from fights long past. Its voice was cracked and deep as it hummed before speaking again. “You know why I come, MAL DROG. Your dragon priests from the city of stone, BORMahii, what you call Bromjunaar, sent me. You are late on your taxes of grain for your village and openly defy his call.”

“Lord Morokei has my fealty,” responded the jarl. “But he asks too much of his people. We do not have the grain he requests.”

“DUKaaN!” hissed the silver dragon from his perch.

“A likely story,” said the old, green dragon. “We saw you plant the grain meant for shipment these last days. The sun and moon shone down on your work as we watched from above.”

“Without that grain, there would be no harvest for next year,” said Jarl Hamvir. “We would starve and he would have no grain shipments for years to come.”

“That is his prerogative as your DROG,” said the dragon. “You humans are so MALTiiD. Your lives fleeting, as dust comes and goes. Shall it not be for great beings to have food, they who last longer than most?”

The jarl was shaking, though with rage or fear Asha was unsure. She and Hakon had taken cover behind a table and watched the scene unfold. Dread filled her heart and she felt constantly aware that the silver dragon hung just over her head, its neck craning above as it let out a sibilant hiss. The jarl finally spoke, “I understand your confusion, oh mighty dov. Your kind have long lives, longer than any of us can imagine-”

“DEZ LOS FUL,” the dragon rumbled. “Before your father’s father was, I flew the SU and fought in many battles.”

“And yet,” said the jarl, “We cannot survive without our grain. And if we are gone, there are no more of us to worship the dov as is proper. Surely the lord in his wisdom can see our cause is just?”

“Yes,” said the dragon from atop Jorrvaskr, laughing, “Bow to your betters and flatter them with your desperate ROT.”

“MeyZ GRON,” snarled the elder dragon, a wave of dark energy emitting from his maw. His words struck the young dragon and had the immediate effect of freezing him. The dragon’s body jerked into an unnatural stiffness and he nearly toppled from the roof. He regained control of his body just in time to spread his wings and maintain balance. The young dragon glared at his superior but merely lowered his head in submission.

The older dragon returned his gaze to the jarl. “Your statement is not false. But you forget, Morokei serves the will of higher beings. Alduin World Eater directly speaks to the SONaaK. Do you not think the World Eater has the ONIKaaN, wisdom, to give him orders that have reason?”

Jarl Hamvir had gained control of the tremble in his voice as he stood, tall and proud, before the terrifying beast before him. The dragon raised its head and gazed down at him like a giant serpent as the jarl spoke again. “Well, mighty dov, I do not think Morokei speaks with the words of the World Eater. I believe he works for his own ambitions and defies the will of the dragons.”

“GOLah MUN,” hissed the dragon above Asha, causing her to jump in alarm. “ROK NIS DUGah.”

The older dragon ignored him but stared at the mortal. All fell silent. It seemed completely uncertain whether the jarl would be eaten for such insolence or be ignored. The older dragon finally began to laugh, his deep, guttural voice echoing across the rocks and the hall. Asha trembled at the sound and the jarl began to shake visibly again. When the dragon spoke, his tone was mocking and slow, like he spoke to an animal. “MUN. I commend your KRIL. But you do not know what you speak. Your SONaaK live for years beyond other mortals and you do not ask why. Their devotees grow stronger and more numerous but none think to speak. They make plans in the dark and none think to hear. They take from you and you heed them. You are like to sheep, bleating for our attention as you are slaughtered. We Dov care not for we look to the SU. If you wish to defy him, do so. Be sheep no longer. I will leave you to your temporary victory over him. But this is not over. Know the STRUN you bring and how it may swallow your lands and people.”

A rumble of thunder echoed from a cloudless sky as he spoke the word STRUN. Asha listened with increasing anxiety. What did he mean? She knew SONaak meant dragon priests…but he spoke of them as a rising threat to MUN or men. She could understand little else from their language. But his words filled her heart with a fear so great, that she felt her world crumbling around her. This dragon spoke of open defiance against the dragon priests. An act that was sacrilegious to even contemplate. Yet here it was, spoken by one of the gods themselves.

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The dragon laughed again and lifted his head. His voice broke the silence and the sky around him in a deafening boom, like a cry of prophecy. “TiiD FEN YORiiK NAU!”

His words shook the air, causing it to waver, and Asha felt the power of those words. It was not an effect that could be seen but a feeling of inescapable weariness set into her being. She closed her eyes and saw, in her mind's eye, a vision. A field of battle set with dragons soaring overhead. A distant mountaintop with a grave. And last of all, a dragon with dark, gray scales staring deep into her eyes. When he spoke, two words echoed in her mind, “ZUL VOTHKO.”

“Asha!”

Her eyes snapped open and she felt like she had been pulled from a great distance. Her head spun, her eyes watered, and she discovered she had fallen over. Hakon was helping her, trying desperately to keep her on her feet while the beating of wings filled their ears and buffeted them with tremendous force. The older dragon, upon making his statement, had spread his wings and began flying away. The jarl was nearly blown off his feet and the crowds still left took cover as dust flew into the air. The massive dragon took off from the courtyard, soaring into the air with a roar. The small dragon on Jorrvaskr followed suit, pushing off the hall roof and causing it to groan under the weight.

The last dragon, with the silver wings and large spikes, did not take flight. He watched from his perch on the Skyforge rock and stared at his companions above. When they sped away toward the northern mountains, he turned back to the jarl. “You may think you can speak so freely, but Morokei knows your intent. Those who question him and Alduin should not go so unpunished. Let your arrogance be your lesson. Your people suffer for your choices.”

He took off then, leaping from the rock and slamming it with his tail. Pieces of stone fell and Hakon covered Asha with his body as they were pummeled by stones. Asha looked back up when the rain of stones stopped, watching the dragon wheel in the air and turn back to the square. The crowd began to murmur with fear and back away as the dragon swooped low again. When he was above them, he let out a roar that echoed across the plains. “YOL TOOR SHUL!”

As he finished, a spew of flames, bright as the sun and hot as the furnace, fell on the square. Tables went up in flames and the people fled from them, screaming as several of the onlookers caught fire. The deluge of flames continued as the dragon circled the square, burning a wide swath of furniture, the stage, and revelers. “Father!” Hakon screamed.

Kolak was looking up at the flames approaching, backing up in terror before tripping over his walking stick. Hakon rushed toward him but Asha reacted just as fast. It was too late.

His father was engulfed in flames and that same storm of fire was approaching them. Asha dove and caught Hakon by the legs, pulling him down to the ground and under a table.

The table caught the brunt of the flames but Asha still felt the air sucked from her lungs as the heat intensified around her. She closed her eyes to avoid the pain and await death. The pain soon passed and a rush of frigid night air raced into her lungs as the buffeting of the dragon's wings surrounded them. She rolled out from under the table and looked up. The dragon was hovering over the square, the light of the burning stage illuminating his scales. He gleamed like a gem in the night, a star bright and near to earth. He let out a final roar of defiance and flew away, turning his gaze and path to the north.

Asha felt she was in a nightmare. Flames surrounded her. People, some still burning and screaming, moved around her in a blur. Smoke stung her eyes and she rubbed them, looking down at her new clothes which were now singed and marked with little burn holes. She felt terrible that she ruined them. But she hadn’t. Reality came back to her in a sickening lurch as Hakon, lifting himself from under the table in a daze, wiped the blood from his forehead that had been gashed in the fall. “Father!”

He ran to his father, burning his hands as he patted out the burning cloth still clinging to Kolak’s frame. The man was shaking violently but no scream came from his lips. He simply writhed in agony as his flesh, raw and bright red, smoked. His hair was gone, his clothes all but gone as well. Hakon was holding him close, patting out the flames, weeping as he repeated over and over, “Father. You’ll be alright. Hold on, father.”

Asha looked around. The jarl had survived, still standing in the center of the circle of flame and seeming to be lost in shock. The companions rushed about, pulling water from a nearby canal and splashing it on everyone and everything, especially their hall. There was no one there to help them. She bent down and took Hakon’s arm. “Quick, let’s get him to the house.”

***

The pale light of morning lit the interior of Kolak’s hut as Hakon kept to his bedside. Asha did what she could. She was not an expert in medicine but had only done what she had seen others do. Cold compresses of cloth with what few herbs she could find that might soothe the pain. She knew there was little else to be done. Kolak’s shaking had subsided to be replaced by rasping breath, each tortured and shorter than the last.

Asha sat next to Hakon, unsure what to do. “What can we do?” asked Hakon, as if reading her thoughts.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t think there is anything more we can do.”

Hakon rose violently from his stool, knocking it over as he did. He moved to the window and looked out at the town, still hazy from the smoke from the night's fire. “They did this.”

Asha followed him to the window. “Who?”

“The dragon priests. They are the ones responsible. Them and the dragons.”

“They didn’t order this,” said Asha. “The dragon did this of his own choice.”

“Because Morokei told them to punish us for refusing the grain shipment,” snarled Hakon. “No matter how you spin it, they are to blame. The dragons have always been aloof and cruel. They are gods in mortal flesh, incapable of understanding men. But the dragon priest…they are mortal. They know our plight.”

Asha was frozen again. Once more, all she was taught fought with all she had seen that night. “Surely not all.”

“They did this!” he shouted, gesturing to his father.

Kolak let out a moan at the sound of his voice and his hand moved feebly. Hakon hurried to his side. “I’m here father.”

His father did not, or could not, stir anymore. Asha stood by the window, unsure what to do. A sense of urgency entered her mind. There was someone who would act. She put a hand on Hakon’s shoulder and said, “I’m going back to Lord Krosis.”

Hakon’s shoulders slumped and he shook his head. “Of course. I suppose you must.”

“I will speak to him of your plight,” she said, “And, Mother Kyne and Father Shor as my witnesses, I will have him see what an injustice this is and he will act against it. I know he will.”

Hakon only sat in silence. She took his hand and sat next to him. “You must believe me.”

He looked at her, his eyes filled with tears. “I wish I could. I would go with you to argue our cause-”

“Stay with your father,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I will not fail.”

Asha stood with a purpose and prepared herself to leave. She would take no food, only her hunting clothes that were safely stored in Kolak’s chest. When she emerged from behind the curtain, he stood by the door, waiting for her to depart. His face was etched with sorrow and worry. “Be safe.”

“I will. And you as well.”

They stood in the doorway, the pause lingering and growing in tension. She felt lost. He seemed lost as well. A swell of emotion welled up in her and she moved in quickly, pulling him into a hug. His broad arms wrapped around her and pulled her closer. They stood there for a moment, locked in an embrace as each tried to comfort the other. Then she released him and made for the door.

He caught her hand, stopping her from leaving. When she turned, he pulled her in again and leaned in for a kiss. She didn’t stop him and pressed her lips to his. They were warm and tasted of smoke from the fire. She could feel his stubble scratching her face and his breath from his nose on her cheek. Then he let go and stepped back into the shadow of the doorway. They shared a look before she turned and walked away.

Asha held that kiss on her lips the whole trip back to Summer Falls.