Fleet's Journal Entry One: Chapter 15 - Part 2



Fleet's Journal 

The dragon attacks have been sudden and unexpected. Delphine warned me of this but I had not realized how real the threat was until this day. They are hunting me. No sooner had we left the stable then we were set upon by the biggest dragon I have fought to date. The first dragon nearly made a meal of the old man. I found I had to resort to old military commands to get his attention. I gambled that they would still be ingrained in the man enough that I might be able to spur him into action.

I don't believe this was a random attack, the opportunistic onslaught of a hungry beast looking for it's next meal. There were tactics at work here and I fear we nearly played right into them. He appeared to be using his breath attack to box us in. In fact, when the battle concluded I found I had to brush the dust of my flame spell to free my horse from his icy trap. Were it not for the narrow canyon forcing him away from us I am not certain we would have survived the attack.

Haldir was dumbstruck by the attack but could anyone blame him? I recall my first encounter with Alduin and the fear it struck into my heart. Despite his hesitation in the battle he rose to the occasion and bought me the moment I required to bring the beast down. By the second encounter he was ready.

When we met with the second attack we faced the threat on open ground. Haldir displayed confidence in this battle and charged the creature each time I was able to drive it to the ground. His spell work afforded him a level of protection I cannot match. The open ground allowed us to avoid being penned up for a time but this proved difficult by the end of the fight. with each pass the dragon fenced off more and more of our escape routes.

Haldir stood like the warrior I recalled from my youth countering the dragon's attacks as they came in. This was the man I had looked up to and idolized as a child. I wanted to BE him. As I watched him face down monster nose to nose I suddenly had the feeling again. Haldir the mighty, Haldir the stalwart warrior mage.

I loosed arrow after arrow trying to squeeze every drop of speed and power from each pull. As my arrows cut the air I realized I was doing this as much to make his proud as I was to kill this beast who lusted for our deaths. This was the moment that I had always dreamed of as a child. To stand beside this man on some lonely field of battle and fight back to back with the only person who ever cared whether I lived or died.