How to Pickpocket a Pickpocket

Chapter 6

Artis' sword and bow rattled against the steel armor she had on her body as she followed Irileth and the guards toward the watchtower. She didn't have any say in the matter. The jarl was convinced and utterly sure she had experience with dragons just because she survived to escape one. Yet I never killed one in my entire life before! She wanted to make the jarl understand that she merely saw the dragon and turned to run the other way, but he insisted that she should kill the beast with his small army of guards and made her put on this more protective armor. It was comfortable though. Now they were crouched behind a rock a few yards away from the tower, their eyes searching the skies frantically for the fire breathing beast.

"What did the dragon that attacked Helgen look like?" Irileth whispered lowly.

"Big, long horns and spikes, dark." Artis answered nervously, "Too dark to even spot in the sky."

It was dark out, the only light that led them were the tongues of fire that were still ablaze after the dragon attacked. Irileth signaled them to follow her and they scurried over to the tower. A guard was still inside, shaken and rattled to the point where he could barely stand and function properly.

"What happened here?" Irileth questioned him, "Where's the dragon? Speak, man!"

"I-it's still here!" he panicked, "Be careful, it might have seen you. Oh, Kynareth save us!"

Irileth wanted to snap at the guard to pull himself together, but all of the sudden the guard on the lookout fell backwards into the tower, pale faced and body shaking, "It's here! It's here! Talos, it's here!"

The entire tower shook as the dragon flew past it, its wing hitting the stone walls and making them crack and crumble. Irileth was quick to order everyone to fall in and attack. Guards scurried outside and split up, each one finding their own cover and trying to take the beast down with their bows and arrows. Irileth perched herself on top of a rock and shot at it, not even bothering taking cover. Artis' eyes were wide with fear as she watched the dragon circle them. It wasn't the same one that attacked Helgen. This one was smaller, less spiked, had rust-colored scales...

The dragon felt the arrows hitting its hard scales and grew annoyed. It drew in a breath and breathed a cloud of fire at three guards standing below. The guards screamed in agony as the flames ate away their flesh until there was nothing, but burned and scorched corpses left. Only then did Artis snap out of her fearful trance and decided to take action. With a swift motion she grabbed her bow, quirked an arrow into it and aimed. When she found her mark, she let the arrow fly and successfully hit the dragon's wing.

"Aim for the wings!" she called over to Irileth and whoever might hear.

She aimed again and kept the arrows flying, all hitting the same wing and making the hole grow and tear. The dragon roared in pain and dove head first into the soil, sending dirt and rocks flying everywhere. The remaining guards charged at it without considering the danger. The dragon was unfazed by the attack and swatted them away like flies with its tail. Some guards came off lightly, only rolling for quite a bit, but others had hit rocks or fell on their necks and snapped them, dying instantly on the spot.

There was about three guards left, plus Irileth who still chose to attack the dragon from afar with her bow. Artis experienced a brief moment of bravery and charged with her ebony sword. She had enough time to study the dragon to see how it defended itself and knew how to dodge its tail, wings and snapping jaws. The three remaining guards had already backed away, choosing to do the same as their captain and shooting it with their bows, leaving Artis the only one charging at the dragon.

"Idiot!" Irileth shouted at her, "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Artis ignored her, ducking as the dragon swung its wing at her. It gave her a gap to roll underneath its tail, forcing it to turn around to breathe fire at her. The dragon was slow on the ground as it maneuvered its body and wings to get close to its attacker. Artis knew that and used it to her advantage. She raced to the dragon's head, grabbed the nearest horn and hoisted herself onto it.