Dragonborn Saga 255 Rise in the East 5 : Voice Masters

This extra chapter comes to you by the Good Graces of Matthew Landin. He chose to add a character that will be introduced soon.

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The night siege was something Jon orchestrated for the Bloodsails to give them one sleepless night. In front of his camp, Jon held a meeting with the Imperials and the Stormcloaks to plan for the siege.

A small band of Imperial battlemages, Stormcloak berserkers and Dare troopers used the night as a cover and hit the camp of the Bloodsails causing their alarms to ring across their fort then retreated immediately. One hour later, the attacks were repeated again and again until Dawn.

The Pirates were exhausted from the random pattern of the attacks. Inside their camps, they started to notice that their supplies were lacking. It seemed that the hired pirates started to rebel against the Bloodsails and a fight broke out just as Jon expected. The food they have now was only vegetables that were barely edible.

The next morning came and another siege started against the fort. This time, the Imperials and the Stormcloaks were more organized and managed to pick up the pace with the Dare Troopers. Another barricade was brought down easily and received a duel request by Kjer Bloodsail.

"Thane of Winterhold! Duel me!"

Kjer Bloodsail was a hot-blooded young man and he was really vexed by how Jon was always standing behind his troops calmly. He requested a duel after Haldyn convinced him to cut the head of the snake or shame him in front of his people when the cowardly mage doesn't come ahead.

Jon sighed after he received the duel, he put down his cloak and Staff then held Bloodskal firmly and walked ahead towards Kjer.

The fight was held down and all the sides stepped back. A duel between the leaders of both factions was a very important event.

"You… you killed my brother and my father. You won't get away with this."

"Stop being acting like a cliche villain and fight."

Kjer was infuriated with the word he didn't understand and attacked Jon immediately. As both of them wielded longswords the difference between their skills would appear right away.

And so it did…

Kjer long stab was met by Jon's parrying the sword away and stabbing back. Kjer avoided one step to the back and swung with both hands after closing in. Jon acted lazily and dodged to the back then swung with one hand at Kjer's neck, Kjer sensed danger and tried to dodge but he noticed the red gleam coming out of Jon's sword and jumped to the back yet the red gleam jumped out of the Bloodskal and chased him in a beautiful red ribbon of energy. Kjer activated his Aura and bloodline ability at the same time granting himself the needed speed to dodge and counterattack lightning.

Jon wasn't oblivious to the bloodline ability of the Bloodsails, [Blood Boil] was a berserk ability similar to that of the Orcs' and was really great in battle but it left the opponent's mentally weak and here came his specialty. He doesn't even need Aura to read his opponent or keep up in speed. His body was akin to steel after advancing to 'Level 2, Ironbone Tier of the Dragon Frame Realm' not too long ago. He simply raised Bloodskal high and shewed Kjers sword away with the back of his gauntlet then slashed down as Bloodskal gleamed with Red Aura.

The lightsaber-like blade carved Kjer's armor open with its mere tip and a long line of blood spurted down from Kjer as he retreated away crawling on the ground like a dying hog.

Jon calmly walked to him and raised his blade to behead Kjer but from the enemy lines, a certain short figure walked forward.

"ZUN!" A shout came from the short figure that seemed to be a female and a force was unleashed towards Jon.

His eyes widened from the surprise yet his reaction wasn't late.

"WULD!" Jon dodged the shout that came towards him with another. [Whirlwind Sprint] moved Jon fifteen meters away in an instant.

As the woman's shout hurled towards the men behind Jon, their hands loosened and their weapons fell on the ground, it was the [Disarm] shout.

The exchange was too fast and too shocking for some parties around the island. The Imperials were shocked to see the strange power that they are not familiar with while the Stormcloaks gasped as they witnessed and exchange by the legendary Thu'um.

Jon looked at the short figure who shouted towards him and glared with interest. That voice master seemed to be an old lady.

The old lady was wearing a black hooded robe and seemed to be like the average grandma from the hood but her Thu'um was good. Jon's interest grew further as the woman glared at him back.

"Tsk! That old hag still lives!" Alina and Bjorna had the same words on their mouths.

"That is?" Jullanar asked.

"Groa Bloodsail, a crone that is somehow still alive." Alina replied.

Between the two parties, Jon faced the old woman and understood her intentions, he then raised his hand and issued a command to step back.

Not only the Dare Troopers but the Stormcloaks also stepped back and the Imperials felt threatened by the action that seemingly going to happen so they retreated too.

"Thane of Winterhold, is it? I hear your voice loud, strong, you must be very proud." The woman spoke in a strong voice.

"Why wouldn't I? Shouted your people many times to death and it is working well for me."

"Yes yes, you killed some of my sons and their sons too, made quite the name for yourself with our blood."

"At least they died fighting, hateful as it sounds, they may have found their way to Sovngarde."

"Pft! I doubt it, my boys only worshipped gold, Oblivion takes them all."

"..."

"But you… you are a hero of your people. I hate to say it but Jenna, that blood witch, has better sons than I. What a regret!" The woman called Groa mentioned Jenna, Jon's grandmother.

"How are your parents by the way? That girl Hilda and your father… what's his name? Jonrad?"

Jon narrowed his eyes to the woman's words, his secret seemed to be something she knew but even though they were around a large crowd of people, the woman spoke in a low tone.

"I told them… I told my foolish son that you won't die and the Firemane would come for blood one day… and I was right, here you are. Once I heard about a rise in the hold, I knew… How can they kill a boy the Gods on his side?"

Jon didn't reply or loosen his guard but he wanted to listen more to the woman.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Hehe, you are nice for a Firemane… you see, I know that you already know that some of my children have escaped. Would you give an old woman your word to not seek them?"

Jon thought for a while.

"... I normally leave no grudge to live on but as long as they don't look for me, I am not looking for them."

"Aaah, you give an old woman hope. Well then, shall we continue where we left off?"

"Gladly."

Jon Dare and Groa Bloodsail faced each other and each breathed in deeply.

"FAAS!" (Fear)

"FO!" (Frost)

At the second round of shouts, Jon canceled the [Dismay] shout with [Frost Breath].

"KRII!" (Kill)

"YOL!" (Fire)

And canceled the [Death Mark] shout with [Fire Breath] shout.

"GRON!" (Bind)

"FUS!" (Force)

Jon noticed a new shout and he faced it with the [Unrelenting Force].

"RII!" (Unleash)

"VEN!" (Wind)

Another new word was faced with the [Cyclone] shout.

The exchanges were all heaven shaking and earth-shattering, the snow between Jon and Groa has long since melted and the space around them was too dangerous to stay into.

Jon was not retreating in the battle of Thu'um and he was gaining more momentum. He countered every word Groa shouted with ease. She, on the other hand, has already worn out. It wasn't surprising due to her age but still, the Thu'um grows stronger with time and yet the youngster overwhelmed her in all aspects.

Jon was ecstatic as it was his first battle with the Thu'um. He understood that using an only single world is important as the cooldown time for two and three words was much greater. It was a way the Voice Masters used to spar with but it would also show who is superior. The weak's voice will be broken by the will of the strong.

Groa was shocked to see how each and every word she cultivated in her long years were broken down one by one. She traveled many times across Skyrim and gathered many words to learn, she attacked other clans and stole the Words of Power they passed down yet her defeat was swift. Jon's Thu'um was simply unparalleled.

Even though those two were having great emotions about the Thu'um, that verbal exchange they had just now made the people around them shudder in fear. It was too mighty to be called a normal duel.

The Dare Troopers, yet they saw Jon shout many times, they were in high spirits Nords and Non-Nords. The Stormcloaks knew about the Thu'um and Jarl Ulfric was a mighty Thu'um user, the name of Jon Dare was being engraved in their memories a fellow Nord who sought a great endeavor they all dream of. The Imperials were in conflicted emotions, the Imperial Battlemages had prior knowledge about the Thu'um but never in their wildest dreams have they ever expected to see such a wild exchange of words. The common opinion about the Thu'um outside Skyrim is that of some Nords shouting foolishly at each other with some magic in the process yet few had a proper knowledge about the art and fewer witnessed it. Today, they witnessed it from the tongue of Jon Dare.

Groa and Jon were ready for the final exchange and their eyes were gleaming.

"It is an honor to taste your voice, Firemane."

"Thank you."

They both inhaled and spoke the next words.

"LOK BAH QO!" (Sky Wrath Lightning)

"YOL TOOR SHUL!" (Fire Inferno Sun)

Groa shouted the [Stormblast] and Jon shouted the [Firebreath]. A Lightning Arc revolved around Groa and blasted towards Jon whose shout manifested a gigantic Fire Stream that shot from his voice destroying everything on its path.

The [Stormblast] collided with the [Firebreath] and strong whirl formed in space. The Earth shook and the mist of the sea went blown away, people on their knees and sea waves intensified, the air started to get enraged and the clouds of the sky darkened. The [Firebreath] met the [Stormblast] in a breathtaking scene. Jon felt the power of Groa put behind that shout and couldn't help but feel his blood boiling, it was then when he focused the strength of his 'Dragon Frame Realm' and pushed his [Firebreath] further. Three 'Fire Wyrms' appeared around Jon and moved in swirls pushing his Thu'um further and putting all what a level 3 Ironbones tier expert on display.

Ancient Roars came from the Fire Wyrms and the hearts of men almost broke. Just like that, the [Firebreath] obliterated everything in its path… Groa, her kin and all those who met the shout of Jon Dare were burned to a crisp.

The wall of the citadel of Japhet's Folly was blown away.

Chapter end

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