A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ?? https://linktr.ee/donovel ??

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  "This is unbearable! Unbearable! A Dragon plots to murder a Jarl and devise a plot? You want me to believe that?" General Tullius shouted as he strode left and right in the Throne Hall of the Blue Palace.

  "It is quite hard to believe, yes, but Thane Jon has shown us the truth of the matter." Sybille Stentor refuted the General's frustrated remarks.

  "But it is still hard to believe. It feels as if the world is getting stranger. Politics with Elves I can handle… but Dragons…" Legate Rikke took a seat and put her helm down as she seemed lost in thoughts.

  "I know what it seems like but Thane Jon always told us time and time again that Dragons are no brainless beasts. All of us heard the stories of the intellect of the Dragons. Is it hard to imagine them plotting and scheming?" Thane Bryling said.

  "But why can't just a Dragon come from the sky? Use his superior strength and speed to kill one powerless human like Lady Elisif in plain sight rather than all the scheming and witchcraft? Jon Dare is a wizard and I know he employs Magic a lot to achieve his purposes. And let's not forget that he commands a beast that looks like a Dragon." Brina Merilis attacked Jon immediately.

  "Are you mad? Thane Jon has exposed something that we all felt. The presence of a Dragon… I don't think there's magic that can fake such a thing." Falk Firebeard responded aggressively.

  "Goddammit! Thane Jon this, Thane Jon that! Why can't the lot of you speak a single sentence without mentioning him at least twice? Are you all officials from a Court for real or are you just some twats that follow whatever that man says?" General Tullius couldn't endure it anymore and started shouting.

  "General, this is disrespectful!" Falk Firebeard lashed back.

  "Really? Then tell me, Falk. In this time of emergency, where in Oblivion is that dear Thane Jon of yours?" Brina Merilis asked.

  "I'm here!"

  The response came directly from Jon whom no one expected to be around. As they all looked in his voice's direction, they discovered that he was sitting behind some wooden room divider with a ton of maps and papers around him.

  The group moved and watched what he was up to which added more to their confusion. He hung a big map on the room dividers and started putting notes, drawings, pins, and strings all over that map.

  From what it seemed, he was trying to figure out something regarding the current predicament as many of the small notes he put on the map carried words like "Jarl Elisif", "The Dragon Cult", "Dark Arts", "The Dark Brotherhood", "Vittoria Vici", "The Secret Dragon Horde", "Alduin the World-Eater", and many "???" notes pinned around the Map.

  From what they could tell, he's already started investigating and looking for the missing pieces.

  "What are you doing?" General Tullius asked him.

  "Looking for a Dragon." Jon replied.

  "Are you expecting me to believe this facade?" General Tullius asked again.

  "I am going to pretend I didn't hear you." Jon replied even calmer than before without looking at the General's general direction.

  "Stop wasting our time and contact the Dragonborn then. Don't try to act sincerely. We all understand what you're up to!" Brina Merilis said as she raised her voice.

  "Good for you." Jon replied calmly again.

  "Don't you see?" Brina Merilis pointed at him, "He's doing it again. Calculating his winning and losses before deciding whether or not to send his pet Dragonborn after it."

  "This is blasphemous!" Bryling retorted at Brina, "What gives you the right to point fingers when you are here in Solitude for your own benefit as well."

  "I am here to stop this maniac." Brina replied, "And he's playing all of you like a fiddle."

  It was the first time for Jon to look away from his document and look up towards the people around him.

  "Is that all there is to it? Stop me?" Jon asked, "I don't even feel like slowing down, Brina."

  His smile was there but sure as hell he wasn't smiling. He wasn't happy or pleased like his usual self but he was very focused.

  "You see the problem here, right? A Dragon wanted the Jarl of Solitude dead and without even trying to do the effort himself, he just did it." Jon said.

  "Then hunt it down." Brina spoke back.

  "And here's the problem, you see? You say "it", I say "him". Do you realize the difference?" Jon asked.

  "Quit lecturing us." Brina didn't want to get dragged in Jon's circles, "You just want them all to worship you, don't you? You hold the Dragons on one hand, the Dragonborn on another, and you keep waltzing around Skyrim selling the sickness and its cure."

  "Bravo! Now you figured me out very well." Jon clapped, "People like you know nothing but suspicion and fear. You see the world ending and you just find someone to blame and make an enemy of."

  "That's being wary of the likes of you."

  "That's being ignorant. You see the sickness dropping people around you and once you see a cure, the first thing you do is to suspect it. Being wary is good but don't spread ignorance wherever you go."

  "I won't st…"

  "I am done arguing." Jon raised his hand and spoke with a voice filled with power, "Arguing is fun but I think I figured out what the Dragon is after."

  "Don't even…" Brina wasn't interested in what Jon was about to say but a hand was raised in front of her face.

  "What does the Dragon want?" General Tullius asked as he interrupted Brina Merilis.

  "General, this man can't be trusted." Brina Merilis pleaded with the General not to listen.

  "Enough! If you have something to solve this with, say it. If you don't, I'll hear him." Tullius seemed extremely displeased with the last argument as he turned to Jon again, "Answer me."

  "The Dragon clearly wants us to argue." Jon said.

  "Elaborate."

  "Well… the Leaders of Solitude all gathered in one place arguing their brains out which means that everyone here will miss something important." Jon elaborated.

  "So… a diversion tactic?" The General asked.

  "Yes. Something big is happening, I don't know where, but somehow… The Dragon was watching us this entire time and he knew what we're up to. The death of Jarl Elisif is part of a bigger scheme. The Dragons didn't come from the sky and kill the Jarl on their own because they wanted her death to be done by human hands. If that happens, the humans will start doubting each other. That's why the Death Curse used by them was meant to bring Elisif's demise and someone acted on it without fully knowing." Jon said as he realized his plan to assassinate and replace Elisif helped the Dragons with their goal.

  "So it doesn't have to be the Dragon Cultists?"

  "No. I highly doubt it. They are being wary and they wouldn't have used the Curse if they would do it themselves. Their goal is to keep humans busy with each other."

  "So you're saying that we're being distracted but you don't know more?" Sybille Stentor said.

  "Yes." Jon nodded.

  "I haven't done any scrying since the Dragon appeared." She said, "I need to go back to my duties then."

  Sybille Stentor hurried back to her room and the rest remained.

  "What else do you know, Thane Jon? Even the things you are unsure of." Thane Bryling asked.

  "The Dragon Cult is a cult that serves the Dragons as…" Jon was about to reply but he was interrupted.

  "We know about the situation of that Cult." General Tullius said.

  Jon has spread many messages about the Alduin situation and the Dragon Crisis during his marketing campaign for the Dragonborn.

  "Alright. If the Dragon Cult is still obsessed with ending this world as we know, their goal is to cause as many casualties as possible to feed Alduin. No thanks to anyone in this room, the Empire and the Stormcloak are barely able to fight each other so the Dragons should be desperate. If Solitude falls into Chaos, the Stormcloak will take this opportunity to advance and reignite the war."

  "So your plan is falling apart?" Brina Merilis asked with a faint disdainful smile.

  "Excuse me?" Jon narrowed his eyes.

  "You are the one who caused the war to come to such a stalemate, don't deny it. Now that both sides are barely throwing stones at each other, the Dragons would weaken one side enough to make those stones really deadly." Brina explained.

  As much as he hated it, Jon only let out a sigh that didn't confirm or deny her claims but there was no hiding it since he was against the Civil War from the start.

  "But killing Jarl Elisif would only confuse us. It won't achieve anything sensible… Unless…" Jon said and returned back to thinking.

  "Unless their plans are already in motion without difficulties." Bryling said.

  "If I were a leader of that third front, my goal would be…" General Tullius thought a bit before looking around, "Tsk, this is bad."

  "The Emperor?" Jon asked, "If they were to kill his Majesty, it would…"

  "Not the Emperor." General Tullius shook his head, "We have to worry about ourselves at the moment. The target is us."

  The insight of General Tullius was strangely on point.

  "We're all gathered in one place like putting all the eggs in a single basket! DAMMIT!" Jon caught on immediately.

  "MY LORDS! MY LORDS!" A guard came running towards the throne room as all the figures in there looked towards him.

  They all felt their hearts sink.

  "Report, soldier." Thane Bryling responded.

  "There's a man… an Adventurer. He said that he encountered the Dragon not too far from the city. He came running to report." The guard said.

  "Let him in." General Tullius spoke.

  "No! He can be…" Bryling wanted to stop the General but was quick to respond.

  "Trust me." He said then nodded towards the guard.

  The guard retreated and the General looked at everyone present in the room and spoke faintly.

  "I suppose you all feel it right." He then looked at Jon, "You too."

  "Yes." Jon nodded.

  "I don't feel anything." Falk Firebeard said.

  ""Exactly!"" Jon and General Tullius seemed to be agreeing together.

  "We took the silence for granted and now we got isolated in the palace." Jon said, "We are under attack."

  ***

  In front of the eyes of the people present in the court, a frail-looking man walked in while wearing a large cloak that seemed to have been torn and tattered from various spots.

  "Approach." Thane Bryling called for the man to come up the stairs in order to speak his piece to the lords.

  Two stairways were leading up, one left and one right. Both were a replica of the other so one wouldn't really bother with the choice if he was at an equal distance from both stairs.

  But that man had to bother because the one on his left was riddled with all sorts of hidden magical traps while the other one was empty.

  What sort of test is this?

  If you are onto someone's trick, you don't make it this obvious.

  The moment this man hesitates, he will be seen through. And he has already taken a moment to think about his next action so he has been found out.

  It wasn't easy to infiltrate Solitude, hide away from the strong Court Mage that is scrying all the hostile actions inside the Hold, wait for the targets to get together, and strike.

  The plan itself was supposed to be put on hold when the Jarl of Solitude was killed by unknown assassins and not the Dragon Cult but the Dragon Overlord decided to go on with the plan either way.

  And here they all are, facing the targets like they were supposed to be but their disguise was seen through since only Thane Bryling was the only one to show herself.

  The man finally dropped the act and took out a small knife.

  "Guards!" Bryling spoke and raised her hand, "Arrest him!"

  Two guards, who were supposedly stationed outside the hall, walked in and unsheathed two knives similar to the one held by the assassin.

  In unison, the three of them threw their knives with extreme precision towards Bryling's head, throat, and heart.

  *Swoosh* *Swooshswoosh*

  The knives passed through Bryling whose body started flickering but seemed completely untouched.

  Obviously, someone played with illusions.

  The three assassins decided to take the right stairs and immediately rush whoever is up there but something was way faster than them.

  The runes which they discovered on the left stairway just a moment ago suddenly started moving and reached the right stairway faster than them.

  Actually, it wasn't racing them or moving from its place, it was spreading. The runes of the magical script no longer seemed to be trying to hide and filled the walls, halls, and ceilings with an array of circles and colors. Even the ground under the assassin's feet was consumed with runes.

  It was an array of almost everything, from small Novice runes to large Expert runes, from powerful Destruction runes to harmonious Restoration runes. And when the entire fabric of runes was connected together, it started spinning and moving like clockwork.

  *Bzzzt* *Flash* *Bang*

  Right from where no one expected, three runes were activated and a bolt of lightning, a flash of light, and a burst of fire struck the three assassins leaving them with holes in their bodies that dropped dead and unmoving.

  Up above the Throne Hall, Jon stood as he held his staff with both hands and put all his focus into his spell. Around him was everyone from Solitude's elite.

  He just displayed a spell that can only be described as a marvel of magic that no one less than an Arch Wizard is capable of casting.

  The spell was called "Belly of the Beast" and it was given that name for a good reason as it was ready to devour everything in its path.

  But no one was out of the woods yet.

  "Three down, a hundred more to go."

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  A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ?? https://linktr.ee/donovel ??