According to Paarthunax, Alduin has retreated to Sovngarde. Right, okay! Not hard to follow him, Parthy says, we just need one of Alduin's buddies to tell us how to get there. As in a dragon. Not a soft plushy dragon like Paarthunax, a mean cranky one like Alduin. This is going to be easy!
It turns out that my old hangout Whiterun actually has the facilities to trap a dragon. The Jarl is apprehensive but he seems to trust me. It might have been that Calm spell I quietly dropped on the floor but I'll always deny it.
Paarthunax taught me a shout to call this ally of Alduin's. His name is Odahviing, and that's exactly what I shout into the sky. We all gather on the expansive back verandah and wait for him to arrive.
It doesn't take long, and he's a rather impressive specimen really. He's a beautiful wine red, not a colour I've seen on any other dragons, but unfortunately he's in a bad mood. It seems the shout I used is a battle challenge, not an invitation to go out for some mead.
Using Dragonrend, I force him to land. Then he comes for me, crawling forward on those awkward wings of his as I lure him into the building. A friend might have yelled 'It's a trap!' but I'm not his friend of course, and it's my trap.
Boom! The yoke comes down and snaps closed around his neck. His head hangs in defeat and he's actually rather gracious about the whole affair. He praises me on my cunning and admits that he was too eager to fight me. What a gentleman.
It seems I'm a bit of a sucker for this well-spoken scaly creature as I fully appreciate and accept his ridiculous notion for me to release him, having just caught him.
Apparently the only way for me to follow Alduin is for Odahviin to fly me to Alduin's portal in the ancient temple of Skuldafn. Well, that sounds reasonable and rational and totally insane. Still, this entire place is insane and nobody else is volunteering to save the world so I figure I can make my own decisions. I let him loose and hop on his scaly back. He's surprisingly warm, and the scales I expected to be rough are smooth as satin. He effortlessly raises his head and I can feel his great strength. They're magnificent creatures, these dragons. It's a real shame that they're trying to kill everybody and destroy the world...
As the sun rises over the plains of the Whiterun Hold we fly into the frosty north by the only path that goes to Skuldafn. The one that passes through the sky...
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