Chapter 61

I don’t mind waking up stark naked in bed if I’m wrapped in the arms of someone I love. Finding myself naked, with my arms and legs tied down, gagged, and with nothing covering my modesty or lack thereof isn’t something I think I care for. That, and seeing a man sitting in a chair near the bed just reading a book. If I’m going to be tied up and on display, at least he could be leering at me, after all.

I tried to speak and the gag felt like I was spitting dry sand out of my mouth. He heard my efforts, saw that my eyes were open, and dropped his book.

“Thank Talos!”

I recognized him then, it was Lortheim. He pulled the gag from my mouth, then grabbed a rag by the bed and dipped it in a bowl of water.

Placing it at my lips, he said, “Here, this should help. The rag is moist and will help you get your voice back. Once you’ve had just a bit, I’ll get some help and we’ll get you out of this.”

I tried to say, “What happened?” but it didn’t come out that way. It sounded mostly gibberish to me.

He took the damp rag from my mouth and ran to the door. “Come quick, she’s awake!”

The first one through the door was Lydia, followed closely by Delphine and Rikke. “Are you with us now, my Thane?” Lydia asked.

I nodded, making a little bit of a gagging noise as I tried to talk with a dry throat.

“Come, get those ropes off her, let’s get her something to drink and to wear,” Delphine ordered. The ropes were undone quickly. Lydia grabbed a robe that had been sitting folded in the corner and helped me sit up and put it on. I felt very weak, like I’d been ill. Rikke got a water skin and goblet, giving me little sips of water that tasted like the sweetest wine ever as my throat soaked up the moisture.

After several minutes of just sipping water, I felt like I could speak again. “Thank you. Tell me, what happened?”

“You nearly died on us is what we think happened, my Queen. You had a vision in the Temple of Talos, we’re not sure what that was all about. Lydia said it wasn’t quite like the one you had before, this time you completely passed out. Thing was, no one except the priest and his wife could touch you. Not Lydia, not Gelebor, no one. It was like Talos himself had put a shield around you. The two of them carried you into their bedroom to tend to you while a rider was sent back to Riften to bring me and some of the other priests.”

Delphine paused, then continued on. “What happened next is my responsibility. The local priests didn’t know, they only knew that it was apparent only a priest of Talos could help you. And one had just arrived in the city earlier in the day, so they called her to help care for you. It was Nura Snow-Shod. No one with you knew her, so they let her in to help you. There was always someone else in there with all of the priests, but Nura sent the watcher out to get a fresh bucket of water to bathe you, something innocuous. For a brief moment you were alone in the room with her, and she did ... something.”

Delphine grew quiet.

I looked at my arms, my hands. “What did she do? I don’t feel harmed in any way.”

“Honestly, we don’t know. All we do know is that you started shouting, and by that I mean using every shout possible, even ones we’d never heard you use before. Flames, frost, force, going ethereal ... Your companions came running back in, Lydia bore the brunt of most of it, holding you down simply with her own body while Lortheim and Jora tied you down and gagged you. I got here the next day and was able to identify Nura ... or ... what was left of her ... so we knew something bad had happened to you. You ran both fever and chills, acting like you’d been poisoned, but nothing, no spells, no potions, nothing could help you.”

“Aren’t you two supposed to be with my wife? How long have I been like this?”

Rikke said, “We are with your wives, well, one of them, anyway. The council of Jarls had ended, and we were actually escorting the western Jarls home when Sapphire came blundering into our group. Acting in your name, Serana ordered the rest of the Jarls home with most of our regular troops as escort, but had Delphine and I, along with mostly the Dragonborn’s Own as escorts, come here. Since they were former Stormcloaks, she felt that would make a better force here.”

“As for time, it’s been five days, Your Majesty. My army ... your army ... has been patrolling the city, keeping the violence down. Word had leaked out that someone had tried to kill you and the Dunmer decided enough was enough, this was their city, too. Brunwulf ... you chose wisely with him. I’m not going to say things didn’t get tense for a bit. But Nord honor prevailed, especially with Ulfric dead. He even kept Galmar on as his housecarl, once everything had been explained. That Gelebor is something else in negotiating, I tell you.”

Delphine started talking again. “Anyway, the reason we kept you tied up and gagged was so you couldn’t shout anymore. You’d still try to do that every so often. You’d also try to fight someone as well at times, even with no one there. Erandur said that he thought you’d come out of it in your own time, but we didn’t know how long it would take, or even if you would.”

I shook my head a little. That was when I noticed Mjoll standing in the corner, silent. I hadn’t noticed her before. Her eyes were glistening with tears. I took a sip of water, then asked, “Mjoll? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, my Queen! I ... I am...” She broke down crying then.

“I’m guessing that you were the one deceived by Nura, then. Come here, little Lioness.” I held my arms out to her.

She came running over, putting her head in my chest, letting her tears fall. While her armor dug into me a little, it was nothing compared to the pain and anguish she was letting out. “How can you trust me now? How will my Jarl trust me now?”

“Mistakes happen. You had no idea, not with the Temples all pledging to support me, and in the house of my own family here. It’ll be...” I realized she wasn’t listening to me, she was softly snoring. I looked up at Lydia.

“She’s been in here for five days solid. Even if Karliah or I were in here with the priests, or once reinforcements from Riften arrived, she’s been here and been on duty. Said she’d left you once, wouldn’t do it again until you recovered.”

“Nord honor, for certain. Well, help me get her down. While I’m weak, I suspect that’s from not eating and drinking and thus easily remedied. It sounds like I have a city to calm down.”

“Not exactly,” Delphine said. “They’re actually rather calm now, although Rikke is doing a good job of making sure of it. I think the minor detail that, um, well, as I said, it’s my responsibility. Two days ago the mob found the rest of the Snow-Shod family and ripped them to shreds.”

“So much for my hope of no violence, when we talked in Riften. I suppose it’s too much that all of my wives stayed away? No, you did say Serana is here, didn’t you?”

Rikke laughed. “You’re joking, right? The only reason it’s the three of us in here now instead of the three of them is that we ... ha, we sort of threatened them. With duty, actually. With Astrid and Elisif both Jarls, they were needed to get their holds ready for the impending war, so they’re waiting, albeit sort of impatiently, for word about you. And because of the time of day, right now Serana is asleep in the Palace of the Kings. She wanted to be like Mjoll, but as an expectant mother, we wouldn’t let her.”

Lortheim said, “Definitely not. I’m just happy that I was able to heal Lydia after ... damn, I’m sorry.” He stopped when he saw my face. “I forgot you didn’t know.”

I turned my head to her. “How badly?”

“I am your sword and shield, and as this bigmouth said, he healed me. It wasn’t nearly as fun as when we’ve healed in the past, but it still worked. You didn’t kill me, and that’s all that matters. That’s all that I’ll say about it.”

I looked at her armor, realized that it had some dents in it. Considering how tough that armor was, I looked down at my own hands. “Okay, I’ll let that drop. Just one thing. How did I not break myself if I did that to your armor?”

“That’s actually a good question. We’re honestly not sure, and we’ve talked about it. You know how you normally shout, then have to wait a bit until you can shout again? Not while you were ... whatever. You would shout, then immediately shout something else.” She snorted. “I think we were more afraid that the walls of the Temple were going to collapse. I know the people outside were running around in fear about what had been unleashed, thinking that maybe Talos himself had come back.”

“He did.” My simple statement shut everyone up. “Just a moment, please.” I closed my eyes, gathering my resources within. I felt them now, all of the dragon Shouts, all the Words of Power. They flowed within me. I felt the love of my mother and father as well, both their human aspects as well as their Aedric and Daedric. I took a deep breath, held it, then slowly let it out. I opened my eyes again.

I then simply hopped out of bed, not nearly as weak as before. “Enough time spent lying down. Time to finish the preparations for the war against the Thalmor. I am a bit hungry and thirsty. If she’s been asleep long enough, I would go to the Palace of the Kings to eat, meet with my wife and then the Jarl as well.”

Lortheim looked at me in shock. “How ... that’s not possible, you were...”

Delphine and Rikke both looked at me in shock as well. Lydia just snorted again. “Ha! I told you both, didn’t I? You’re not going to see our Martina brought down that easily!”

Lortheim still didn’t understand. “I’ve been a priest of Talos for, well, my whole life. What am I witnessing here, I don’t understand?”

I took a sip of water. “Simple, really. The term has been used by many without actually understanding what it means. I am Dragonborn. What most think is that it simply means that I can use the Thu’um without the years of training, without thinking about what it also means. While Martin Septim is, or was, my father, he was the avatar of Akatosh.”

As Lydia helped me get dressed in other clothes, I continued to explain. “Think of the connection, Talos was also Dragonborn. It’s well known that we have dragon blood, right?” Everyone nodded. “You’ve heard me called Dovahkiin, but haven’t understood what it means. Well, Lydia does. It means that we also have a dragon soul.”

While Lortheim looked shocked at that, Rikke merely looked puzzled. “Does that mean you’re not human?”

“Oh, I’m human. I think Lydia can vouch for that.” We shared a look at that. “It’s just that the Dragonborn is ... well, human plus dragon. I can be injured in combat, we’ve seen that before, too. I could be killed in combat as well, and ... hopefully we’ll never see that. But dragons heal rather quickly from both physical and magical things that don’t kill them. So do I.”

Delphine raised an eyebrow at that. “There’s more to it than that, though, isn’t there?”

“I’ll ... um ... this is not the place for that discussion. Let me ... let me see Serana, and then I’ll explain the rest to you at dinner. Before that, though, one order. Send a fast courier to Riften and another to Solitude that I’m fine.”

I found Serana sleeping fitfully in the Jarls bedroom in the Palace of the Kings. It was obvious from her pillow that she had cried herself to sleep. I heard a little noise, and saw Lydia close the door behind her, leaving me alone with Serana. I sat down on the edge of the bed and started running my hand through her beautiful hair.

Her eyes flew open at the touch. “Who, what ... oh, Martina!”

She sat up in bed quickly, taking me in her arms. “Oh, my love, we thought we’d lost you!” Her lips quickly found mine. Our tongues began to dance and I could hear a moan from deep within her throat.

She started to run her hands over my body, making sure I was all here. I could feel her caress my breasts through my tunic, then slip her hand beneath the cloth to touch my skin. She rubbed my nipples gently and I could feel myself becoming ready for her. But she then backed away, cursing.

“Dammit. I’m...” She lunged off the bed and grabbed the chamber pot, barely in time.

I found a cloth, then wet it and helped her wipe her face. “Here, rinse your mouth and spit.” She took a mouthful of the wine and did just that. “Feel better?”

“Now I do, in more ways than one. Seems like every time I wake up for the last few days I have to do that. The priests have said it’s normal, mine just hit a little earlier than usual is all. But that sure killed any mood I had for doing something other than talking to you.” She laughed a little. “So, are you all healed up from whatever happened?”

“In the short, yes. I am hungry, but is it okay for you to eat now? If not...” She was shaking her head.

“I’m fine, as long as what I eat first is light.”

I went to the door and opened it. Lydia was sitting outside the door, chatting with one of the guards. She looked shocked when the door opened. “My Thane?”

“Could you get Serana and I something to eat? Something light for her, more substantial for me? I would appreciate it.”

Lydia looked at the guard. “You heard the Queen.” He scurried off. She grinned when she looked back at me. “Somehow or other, they seem to think I have a much higher military rank than anyone here, they jump when I talk.”

I smirked. “You do. You’re my primary housecarl. I’m not saying that you outrank Rikke, but ... no, actually, come to think of it, I am.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re the housecarl to the Queen of Skyrim and Empress of Tamriel. You don’t think that you’re simply going to return to Whiterun when the war is done and live your days in Breezehome, do you? I hope you’re ready for life in Cyrodiil.”

She looked at me with a completely dumbfounded look on her face. The soldier came running back with two servants closely following him with food trays in their hands. I opened the door and let them bring the food in, while Lydia just stood there.