Sabine was granted the time she needed by her companions. She strode towards the dragon, charging between her hand and the head of the Staff of Magnus another biting mass of swirling frost. She did not release it in the same way as before. She held it and lent it more power. Focussed on the dragon, she waited for just the right opportunity.

If the dragon exposed its maw, to shout or to bite again, Sabine had ready a large icy spear to shoot into its throat.

If his awareness and behavior was any indication, the dragon was beginning to take his opponents more seriously as a threat. He was not leaving himself open to attack as readily, and was watching them more closely than he had at the beginning of the fight. He noticed Sabine, and more importantly, the spell she had charged.

For a few moments, the dragon kept his head low, growling at Sabine. However, he knew he could not simply refuse to act while the others were recovering. As he turned his body towards Sabine, he swiped his tail at Yerig and Do'rhajul, then started to charge right at Sabine, watching for her spell all the while.

Sabine had intended to keep her distance. With the dragon's attention on her, closing into biting distance, launching a spell into its mouth carried a far greater risk. She cut her losses and shot the spell out towards the dragon's low-bent head without waiting for its mouth to open.

Even if it did not puncture its tough hide, it was powerful enough to inflict superficial damage at least.

But if the dragon was going to get close, Sabine would charge payment for every monstrous step. She drew yet more from the virtually bottomless reserve in her staff to draw her hands around the air around her. A shallow mist rose over the scorched grass and rime frost whitened patches on the ground. The air in her proximity grew chilled to a freezing cold limit. All the while, power swirled in her hands.

She kept her eyes on the dragon. If she timed it just right, she could bring about a blizzard to engulf at half -- if not more -- of the great creature's body at once.

She paused, and released.

Since Do'rhajul and Yerig had been batted away by the dragon's tail, with unknown injuries, Sabine was, for at least a moment, facing down the dragon alone. The beast, though he was taking the battle seriously, was still confident. At least, until Sabine released her spell. The icy spear was deceptive in its strength. It was not a large, overwhelming spell, but the magic concentrated within the ice spike was enough to split apart even a dragon's scales. The spell hit the top of the dragon's head at an angle, cutting a long gash from between his eyes to the back of his head. It did not quite have the power to break through the dragon's exceptionally tough skull, but it was clear from the dragon's roar of pain that even he had been surprised by the damage it caused. Blood poured from the wound down the side of the dragon's head; although, something the size of a dragon had a lot of blood to lose.

What was more, the dragon was close enough to Sabine to be caught within the intense blizzard she had summoned around herself soon after. The dragon could feel his very bones start to chill, and even the blood from his open wound started to freeze. He had already survived far more direct damage than any normal opponent, but even a dragon was not invincible. Sabine would be able to hear more, heavy steps from the dragon, but this time moving away from her as he tried to get away from the blizzard. It would be difficult to see through the frost, but she would be able to hear his shout: "Yol-Toor-Shul". Following the words came an intense and forceful wave of fire through the ice, towards Sabine. His change of tactics showed that her magic was strong enough to keep even a dragon at bay, and perhaps that he did not yet understand how the staff could turn his own magic against him.

Sabine's response was the same as all the previous shouts. She brought up a ward and watched the bright orange wave split in a roaring stream around her. This was not like the shout that tried to drain her. It was the same fire as the dragon started with. And that let the staff feed on its magic.

When the fire ended, the blizzard had dissipated, and the smoke cleared to reveal Sabine laden with so much magical power that an orb of swirling frost encased her. Her eyes and hands lit up. With one movement, a surge of ice like crystal rushed up across the ground between Sabine and the dragon, at once striking the dragon's underbelly and growing around it until trapped and numb wherever the ice touched.

Sabine, now with the winds calmed and her demeanour focussed as a predator, raised a ward, prepared another icy spell, and briskly made paces towards the dragon. If still trapped by the ice, Sabine could kill the dragon, she knew. The dragon likely knew as well. This was its last chance.

The dragon struggled against the ice, roaring in anger at Sabine. Do'rhajul and Yerig had recovered by this point, but they were keeping their distance from the trapped beast. Yerig was at the dragon's right, holding up his blade, while Do'rhajul circled around to its flank.

Regardless of whether or not the dragon now understood how the staff worked, he certainly understood that Sabine was no normal mage. She was stronger than he had assumed, and he was paying the price for underestimating her. He tried in vain to struggle free from the ice once more, then stared her down with a low growl. "You...are not Dovahkiin. Am I to be slain by my bait? Orin brit ro. Do it! I will not surrender to a joor!"

It seemed the dragon did not intend to give Sabine a choice in the matter, as he raised up his head and let out another shout to the sky. "Strun-Bah-Qo"

Within seconds, the dragon showed the true potential that the Thu'um held. Thick rain clouds suddenly materialized in the sky in what had been a sunny day. A downpour of rain fell from the sky, and they could hear the roar of thunder above.

"Lightning!" Yerig shouted from behind the dragon to warn the others.

Sabine angled her ward towards the freshly opened heavens. She was unsure exactly how powerful natural lightning was, but if it was anything like Meesei produced, she could deflect it. The split second decision she had to make was whether to kill the dragon.

She stopped near it. She poised herself to cast a spell to pierce its neck. But she did not release it.

"I am stronger than you!" Sabine shouted over the rain and thunder. "Tell me your name!"

A deafeningly loud bolt of lightning struck down from the sky straight onto Sabine's ward. The storm was at least as powerful as some of Meesei's stronger spells, but that only meant there was more magic to be absorbed into Sabine's staff. The dragon roared at Sabine in her hesitation to continue to fight, which continued into a low growl as she continued to ask for his name.

"I am...Faasnuhenvokaal. I was a champion of Alduin, a commander of his armies, a ruler of his subjects. I…am a warrior. And it is not the fate of a warrior to live in fear of mortal armies.” He raised up his head, staring down Sabine in a few moments of silence.

“Dezi saraan. It is the fate of a warrior to fight!” With those words, the dragon opened his maw and lunged his head towards Sabine, to end the fight in one way or another.

Sabine jolted upon the bolt striking. Fortunately, it was only in surprise. Sabine's surprise was only compounded by what the dragon said. She had no idea that the one she fought had been so close to Alduin. It gave some explanation as to its wish to fight the Dragonborn.

Then it lunged. "No!" Sabine released her ice spear on reflex into the roof of the dragon's open mouth.

Sabine had heard the story of how Janius and Kaleeth killed Leaps' mother and she figured the underside of the skull could be similarly thin on a dragon. Even then, if it glanced, the deadly cold icicle would go right down its throat.

With Sabine's well-aimed spell, the dragon did not have the chance to understand what happened before his head suddenly dropped to the ground just in front of Sabine, lifeless. Sabine had guessed the dragon's weakness accurately, so his death had been fairly immediate. Do'rhajul was not entirely convinced that it was dead until he cautiously stepped up closer to Sabine and looked into the beast's unmoving eyes.

Yerig stepped around from the other side of the dragon with his arm held in front of his face to keep the wind from the torrential rainstorm out of his eyes. The dragon's death had not ended the effects of his Thu'um, so the lightning was still a threat. Lorig concentrated for a moment and took in a deep breath as he looked up to the sky. "Lok-Vah-Koor"

With Yerig's shout at the sky, not only did the rain and lightning stop, but the clouds themselves parted above them to reveal the sun once more. Even though the fight had not drawn on for too long, Yerig looked tired and sore. The rainstorm had soaked his robes, but his attention was more on the dragon itself. Yerig had never seen the kind of magic that Sabine had used to trap him. The large spikes of ice pressed against his body, and ripped into his wings in places. He did not doubt that the dragon would have had the strength to break the ice, but the way it surrounded him removed most of the leverage he could have had on it. But, even with all of the power she had over the dragon, Yerig had the feeling that Sabine had not wanted to kill him until the dragon gave her no other option.

"So it's over then." Yerig stated as he looked over the body. Now that he had a chance to look closely, he could see the scars on the dragon from a long life of fighting. His pride and stubbornness, even in the face of death, was perhaps not surprising considering the pieces of his history that he had revealed to them. "And another Dovah falls. It's a shame he didn't give you a choice. I suppose it was necessary, though; who knows how many he killed trying to lure the Dovahkiin here? High Rock will be safer, at least. Hopefully this axe you're after is here somewhere."

Sabine jumped back just in time to avoid the dragon's head landing on the mud with a wet thump. Through the shimmer of her ward fanning out and peeling above and around her, she stared at the instantly killed face. The dragon's large, glassy eye.

Time went by without Sabine for a while; she did not respond to either Yerig or Do'rhajul's initial actions. She had killed with her magic plenty of times before but never with this much power at her disposal. And so, like one who had never killed before. She started to shiver. Her jaw quivered. Her knees lost some of their stability. She had to clutch her staff tightly to keep hold of it.

Finally, the axe was mentioned. Sabine nodded, turned, and made steps towards the pile of luring treasures the dragon had haunted. She only realised the sky cleared and released her ward once the warmth of the sun seeped onto the water in her hair. Reaching down to pull aside the first errant hide that was covering some other items made her show how much her hands were shaking.

Do'rhajul and Yerig soon joined Sabine in searching through the crates and piles of other goods. Some of what they found were reasonably valuable East Empire Company trade goods, like textiles, spices, and alchemical ingredients. There were crates of weapons, like crossbows, swords, and even enchanted staves. Yerig found a crate full of soul gems, of various sizes, which might have been a more exciting find before the clan established themselves in Blackreach.

While most of what was present did seem to come from the East Empire Company, it did also appear that the dragon had been hoarding goods from any other source he could find. There were several mismatched chests and crates, along with some loose items simply scattered on the ground. Some were quite valuable, like gold and jewels. Do'rhajul broke open a crate with an insignia depicting a ram, and found it packed full with bars of silver. He stopped for a few silent moment, staring down into the crate contemplatively. "To think, this would have been such a wonderful find for me naught but a few days ago. Do you know how many weapons could be forged from this silver? I suppose it could still be useful to you as a resource, if nothing else. All of this that the dragon had collected...and you said there was a bounty on the dragon's head, yes? I cannot imagine it would be a small one. It seems like this will be quite the windfall for your clan."

Yerig, meanwhile, walked up to the watchtower itself, after finding no trace of the axe in the area he had searched. It was a tall, circular structure made mostly from stone, but its entrance was a simple wooden door. It looked like its purpose was simply to provide a good vantage point on the surrounding seas, rather than to actually be defensible. Yerig opened up the door to the watchtower, only to immediately cough and turn away, holding his hand over his nose. "I...think I found the bodies." He said aloud, while looking as if he was only barely holding down his lunch. The floor just inside the watchtower was covered in corpses strewn haphazardly on top of one another, in various stages of decay. The smell was truly something awful, but he still managed to steel himself enough to hazard another glance into the room. Flies were swarming inside over the bodies, some of which were blackened, bloated, and maggot-ridden, while others were almost skeletal. It appeared that not everyone inside had been killed at the same time, but rather, it was simply where the dragon had been piling the bodies. Yerig was not quite sure how the massive dragon managed to get the door closed, but he certainly understood why he went through the effort.

On the far side of the room, in the stiffened hands of one of the corpses, Yerig thought that he could see an auspicious weapon. "I...think the axe might be in there. I think I see it, but it's hard to tell from this angle."

Sabine only gave the crate of silver an errant glance. After going back to her searching, she gave a quick, quiet comment. "Could be."

No matter how much they searched through, Sabine never quite stopped shivering. A keen eye saw that she was breathing shallowly.

Yerig's announcement turned Sabine's head. She stood upright to hear him. Perhaps in too much haste, she trotted over towards the tower doors. The smell hit her hard, making her slow down and pinch her nose. She held her breath. She was almost afraid to look inside. When she did, she spun and walked stiffly away several paces.

She stood, holding her breath and scrunching her eyes shut. After a cramp hit her stomach, she doubled over. Just one attempt to breathe and she gagged. She tried to resist again but it was too late. Bile-covered substances shot up her throat and pattered onto the mud. The vomiting only lasted as long as Sabine had volume in her stomach. Dry gagging followed for several minutes, delimited by her desperately trying to catch her breath and spitting.

Tears were dripping off her nose. She was oddly pitiful and vulnerable to look at in comparison to just a moment earlier when summoning forth the strongest frost magic likely seen in Tamriel for decades.

"I can...I can use..." Sabine paused as another dry gag constricted her abdomen. "Telekinesis...I can pull it out..." she said tiredly.

Now that they had all settled down, Yerig and Do'rhajul could easily see how shaken Sabine was. Neither of them believed that her nausea was solely because of the smell. Even so, she still offered to try and pull the axe out of the tower. Do'rhajul sheathed his sword and carefully placed his shield on the ground beside him before slowly and cautiously stepping up alongside Sabine. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and did his best to make himself seem compassionate, despite his towering form being naturally imposing. "Sabine...you've done plenty already, don't worry. I can handle this; you just take some time to rest. Besides, magic does not need to be the solution to every problem."

Looking into the watchtower, Do'rhajul took in a long, deep breath, then held his hand over his nose. The corpses inside the tower were foul, but as a lycan, it was not as if he had to worry about disease, and his nose could not pick up the scent if he was not breathing. As Do'rhajul stepped into the tower, Yerig showed his concern for Sabine quite transparently on his face. He placed one of his hands on hers after he noticed how it was trembling. "Are you going to be alright, Sabine? I know a lot has happened in only a little time, but...it's all over now. We can relax, collect ourselves. And if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm here to listen."

Do'rhajul did not remain in the watchtower for long at all. The bodies were piled close to the entrance, so it took only a few steps for him to reach what he was looking for. It was less than thirty seconds before he was stepping out of the watchtower with a large, two-handed axe at his side. He made sure to put enough distance between himself and the door before uncovering his nose, but he still ended up gagging when he took in a breath. There was no telling how long the axe had been in the watchtower, and while it was nowhere near as bad as the tower itself, some of the foul scent had still rubbed off on it. "Well, there were a few axes in there, but I believe this is it." Do'rhajul declared as he presented the weapon to Sabine. By appearance, it was a steel, double-headed battle axe with a leather-wrapped haft and an ornate head. The engravings on the head of the axe were symmetric and depicted two wolves. Interestingly, despite the wear on the leather suggesting the weapon had been heavily used, the metal itself was pristine, in terms of damage, and its edge was razor-sharp. There was no mistaking that this was indeed the Rueful Axe.

Sabine swallowed and nodded at Do'rhajul's words. She tried to find a moment to speak between the cramps in her stomach. "Okay...you are right..."

She remained looking at the new yellow puddle on the ground and tried not to notice its smell. She had to concentrate just to breathe evenly. She half-turned her head to Yerig when he stilled her hand. "I just..." Sabine had trouble wording her thoughts with all that was going on. She sniffed. "I think...I am ready to go home now." Sabine said slowly. "I want to go home." She stopped for a long pause, holding back her built-up tension. She paused as if thinking what else to say. She did not think of anything else. "I want to go home."

Do'rhajul's emergence drew Sabine's attention enough to make her stand upright again. She approached Do'rhajul and looked closely at the axe with her exhausted eyes. She reached her hand out to grasp the top of the axe lightly and closed her eyes. Small magic from her fingers explored the magic in the axe. The way it was made, what it was made from, its durability, and its purpose.

She opened her eyes to Do'rhajul. "This is the Rueful Axe. This is what we need." Sabine swallowed again and stepped back. She spoke almost in a monotone for how physically and emotionally drained she was. "I can make a portal home now. My pack will be worried. This is your last chance to decide, both of you, so what do you want to do?"

"I have already made my choice." Do'rhajul answered with hardly any hesitation. "I promised my service to you, and I do intend to keep that promise. For my fate, I trust that you will choose whatever you believe is fair for me, and I will abide by your choice no matter what. After all you have done here for your people, I would not say that any of them would have a right to deny you your choice."

Pausing for a moment, Do'rhajul gave another look down towards the axe in his hand. The relic of Clavicus Vile was a potent weapon by itself, and even Do'rhajul's limited magical attunement could feel that it was enchanted. He still could not quite understand how any simple relic, no matter how powerful, could be used to defeat a god, but he doubted that Sabine would have gone through such trouble if it was just a hunch. Holding out the axe in both hands, Do'rhajul offered it to Sabine. "Would you like to be the one to present the axe to your clan? I would not wish to give them the wrong impression about me, or...incite any violence. I would prefer not to be carrying a weapon openly when I step through your portal."

Yerig was not quite hesitant, but he did want to be cautious about returning to Sabine's clan with her. "For me, I think I am going to have to rely on your judgment. All of this about Clavicus Vile, about those Towers, it does sound important. I know I'm not physically what I used to be, and honestly, I should have stopped all this fighting a long time ago, but I devoted myself to helping the good folk of Skyrim. I would be failing them if I let some Daedra absorb all of Skyrim, and everywhere else, into Oblivion. But, I'm also not keen on ending up locked away in a dungeon somewhere. So, if you think that your people will be willing to overlook my association with your enemy and let me help, then I'll stick with you."

Sabine frowned and carefully took the axe in her free hand. She let its heavy head rest on the ground at her feet. As for Yerig, she was quick. "I think my pack will believe you. I will not let them hurt or imprison you if anyone does not believe you. Either of you." Sabine lifted her eyes to Do'rhajul to convey her point.

After a deep breath, Sabine took a step to the side. "Stay close to me. Keep your palms visible. Please let me talk to everyone."

Sabine pointed the Staff of Magnus to an empty spot behind her. Without betraying any effort, a vast flow of magicka coalesced into a rapidly growing ovular lens. The warped light behind it swirled from a purple noise of nothing into a dark space above a stone floor. Sabine nodded for each Do'rhajul and Yerig to step through into the main square of the Silent City, before she quickly stepped through to follow them.

As it was not the first time that they had used one of Sabine's portals, there was less hesitation from Do'rhajul and Yerig to step through. Likewise, both Meesei and Sabine had used portals openly in the Silent City enough that they had become mostly desensitized to seeing them. However, there were a few heads to turn once the people in the square saw the first two to step through.

When Sabine stepped through, she would see the near-simultaneous looks of awe come across their expressions. Their eyes were naturally drawn up, to the glowing orb above them, and to the dotted, glowing ceiling of the massive cavern they were in. Then, they went to the mix of restored Dwemer structures surrounding them, and the new additions the clan had been making over the years. Do'rhajul had been well-aware of how organized the lycan clans had become, but even he was left in shock as their home completely surpassed his expectations.

"In all my years...this is in Skyrim?" Yerig said in disbelief.

Likewise, Do'rhajul could not bring himself to stay silent. "This is just...there are no words. I had thought I was so close, but...I was so, so far."

Amazement was nothing uncommon among visitors to the Silent City, so neither of the men's behavior was particularly suspicious. However, there were a few attentive eyes on Do'rhajul in particular. Most members of the clan knew of their former enemy, but even a description was not enough to confirm with certainty that he was who they might expect. There were only a handful of people in Blackreach who would be able to recognize Do'rhajul right away.

In better circumstances, Sabine might have been amused at her companions' reactions. However, after having just wiped her lips of the last of her stomach's contents and holding powerful artefact in each hand, she left little time for Do'rhajul and Yerig to take in her home.

"Follow," Sabine said. She hefted the axe over one shoulder and walked almost impatiently towards Meesei's quarters. She kept a close eye on any onlookers who looked too curious.

It did not cross Sabine's mind that Meesei was probably out searching for her. She was concentrating more on what to do about guards that tried to stop them.

Both Do'rhajul and Yerig followed Sabine just as instructed and tried to avoid calling too much attention to themselves. There were some strange looks towards both Sabine and Do'rhajul along the way, but it was difficult to tell exactly what was out of place for them. The High Rock clans had obviously been informed of Sabine's capture, but they did not know if word had spread to other Tamriel clans. The Rueful Axe was quite a unique looking weapon, but the knowledge that they had been looking to obtain it had been a strict secret among the highest ranking members of the clan, so the average member of the clan would not know of its significance, even on the off-chance that they did recognize it.

Eventually, the trio moved away from the more crowded, public sections of the city and towards the quarters for the various, higher ranking members of the clan. It was midday, so most were attending to their duties out in the city and were away from their quarters. They were able to get all the way up the stairs to the highest level of the Dwemer building without running into anyone who recognized Do'rhajul.

Sabine would likely be disappointed to find that Meesei was not in her room, nor were any of the other members of their pack in any of the other rooms. Based on the scents she would be able to pick up in the hall, they had not been there all day. However, Sabine was also likely to be surprised by the state in which they found Meesei's chamber. Between the clutter strewn across the room, broken furniture, and even scorch marks on the walls, it looked almost like a fight had taken place in it. Meesei was not obsessively organized by any means, but this was no state that Meesei would normally have left her room in.

"Is this...normal?" Yerig questioned as he rubbed his hand over one of the black marks on the wall.