16 Accords of Madness, v. VI

Sixteen Accords of Madness
Volume VI
Hireine's Tale
Ever proud and beautiful, Oblivion's Mad Prince stood one fifth day of mid year among the frigid peaks of Skyrim, and beckoned forth Hireine for parley. The Huntsman God materialized, for this was his day, and the boldness of Sheogorath intrigued him.
Wry without equal, Sheogorath holds in his realm giggling loons, flamboyant auteurs, and craven mutilators. The Mad Prince will ply politless bargains and promote senseless bloodshed for nothing more than the joy of another's confusion, tregedy, or rage. So it was that Sheogorath had set a stage on which to play himself as rival to Hireine.
Without haste, the coy Prince proffered his contest; each Prince was to groom a beast to meet at this place agian, three years to the hour, and do fatal battle. Expressionless behind his fearsome countenance, Hireine agreed, and with naught but a dusting of snow in the drift, the Princes were gone to their realm.
Confident, but knowing Sheogorath as a trickster, Hireine secrelt bred an abomination in his hidden realm. An ancient Daedroth he summoned, and imbued it with the foul curse of lycanthropy. Of pitch heart and jagged fang, the unspeakable horror had no peer, even among the great hunters of Hireine's sphere.
In the third year, on the given day, Hireine returned, where Sheogorath leaned, cross-legged on a stone, whistling with idle patience. The Prince of the Hunt struck his spear to teh ground, bringing forth his unnatural, snarling behemoth. Doffing his cap, sly as ever, Sheogorath stood and stepped aside to reveal a tiny, colorful bird perched atop the stone. Demurely it chirped in the bristling gusts, scarcely audible.
In a twisted, springing heap, the Daedroth was upon the stone, leaving only rubble where the boulder had been. Thinking itself victorious, the monster's bloodied maw curled into a mock grin, when a subdued song drifted in the crisp air. The tiny bird lightly hopped along the snout of the furious Daedroth. Sheogorath looked on, quietely mirthful, as the dimuntive creature picked at a bit of detritus caught in scales betwist the fiery eyes of the larger beast. With howling fury, the were-thing blinded itself trying to pluck away the nuisance. And so it continued for hours, Hireine looking on in shame while his finest beast gradually destroyed itself in pursuit of the seemingly oblivious bird, all the while chirping a mournful tune to the lonesome range.
Livid, but beaten, Hireine burned the ragged corpse and withdrew to his realm, swearing in forgotten tongues. His curses still hang in these peaks, and no wayfarer farries for fear of his wrathful aspect in those obscured heights.
Turning on his heel, Sheogorath beckoned the miniscule songbird to perch atop his shoulder, and strolled down the mountain, making for the warm breezing and vibrant sunsets of the Abecean coast, whistling in tune with the tiniest champion in Tamriel.
Category:The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles
Category:Books