Corpus Tamrielicum - The Imperial Library

96 2. THE ELDER SCROLLS CHAPTER 2: DAGGERFALL
dead. Edward would have known. The bitter injustice of Moraelyn's contempt stung. "Did she
send you to me?"
"Do you take me for an errand boy!" he snapped, and spoke to his companion: "Let us take
him now and be gone; we may discuss it at leisure."
The golden elf held up his hand, "Patience, my cousin." and, to Edward, "Well, youngling,
will you come?"
Dark tales were told of human children kidnapped by elves, who hungered for young humans
"I don't know your name," Edward temporized.
"Do you love your life here so much?"
Edward looked at the palace in the distance, the banners floating lazily above the town below,
the sparkling bay, the distant mountains. "I love Daggerfall."
"Ah. And you shall return to hold it, Prince Edward. I, I'ric Harad Egun the ArchMagister,
swear it to you." Moraelyn swung about, protesting sharply in Elvish. The dragon spat a bit of
flame, but the unicorn did not move; its golden eyes regarded Edward steadily. "Unicorns do
not abide any sort of falsity." The words floated through his mind in his mother's voice.
"I'ric Harad Egun the ArchMagister, I will come with you."
"You must ride with Moraelyn. The Lord Akatosh has consented to this--necessity. The elf
made a sweeping gesture toward the dragon."
He wasn't fit to touch a unicorn, of course. "Very well, then. I...I don't suppose I could bring
my dog?" Where was he? Shag was always with him. Asleep in the grass! Shag, the everalert?
Edward knelt to touch him. A heated discussion in Elvish ensued, during which the
dragon scorched the grass. Moraelyn swung down and picked Shag up with distaste. "Very
well, then, but I warn you that Akatosh is at the limit of his patience. Mount, then."
"Lord Akatosh, I am most deeply obliged by your indulgence. If ever I may repay it."
"You will," Moraelyn interrupted; he seized Edward by the belt and tossed him up onto the
dragon. Edward settled himself between the dragon's neck and wings and the sleeping Shag
was draped limply in front of him. "There isn't room for..." Edward began, and jerked in
astonishment as the dragon shifted beneath him and grew larger. Much, much, much larger.
Moraelyn vaulted up behind with a prodigious leap for one in armor. The unicorn jumped the
nine foot wall, clearing it neatly. The dragon's great wings stretched; he crouched, then leapt
into the air. His riders swayed wildly. The dark elf muttered something Edward couldn't
understand in elvish and they steadied. The wings beat strongly and the dragon circled low
over the Keep, gaining altitude slowly. People were running about now, shouting and
pointing. Edward saw his old nurse and waved and shouted, "Goodbye! Goodbye! I'll be back
sometime..." Arrows flew through the air as bowmen shot, while the nurse screamed and
clutched at the arms of those nearest. King Corcyr ran naked onto the battlements, screaming
and waving his fists. "Child of a demon, come back and I'll thrash you within an inch of your
worthless life. Moraelyn, come down and fight, like the man you aren't."