Tom thundered down towards the shore, the most evil grin he'd ever shown in his life on his face. He had the perfect plan, a certain shout that would end these fuckers now and send them to the bottom of the sea.

It was one of the most powerful shouts that the Dovahkiin of Skyrim ever learned calling down the power of nature itself to strike down all caught within it's shadow. STRUN BA QO, or in the tongue of men, Storm Call.

As he walked down the hill past rushing men and women either fleeing towards the walled hall or down to the ships to fulfill his orders and secure the ships, a niggling feeling of apprehension entered the back of his mind. Try as he might to crush the doubt he felt it refused to be quashed and continued to gnaw at him until, water now lapping at his feet as he came to a stop at the shoreline, he could no longer ignore that doubt and acting on that feeling he used a different shout than he'd intended.

"Lass Yah Niir..." Immediately the world around him flashed blue and the multitudes of lifeforms now detectable with the use of 'Aura Whisper' entered his senses. Wrangling the sensory deluge under control, he then directed his focus to the two quickly incoming ships. His heart sank as he found what all were in those ships. "Damn..." He hissed through gritted teeth, utter frustration tinting his voice.

"Is something the matter, m'lord?" Rolf asked, having come up to tell him that the ships had been secured.

"Plan's a no go," Tom muttered before turning to the older man, a wry grin on his face, "I guess I'll have to play this one from the hip."

"What?" Rolf asked stunned at his lord's answer, "Why can't your plan work?"

"Because," Tom said, pointing out to the ships, "That ship is coming in from another raid itself, there are women and children onboard."

Rolf frowned slightly, "If I may be so bold as to ask, sire, why would this negate your plan?"

"Because my plan would have destroyed both ships and claimed the lives of everyone aboard them."

There was moment of silence before Rolf continued, "Are you sure my lord?"

"No, but if I was sure to the contrary then mark my words, those uppity Cthulhu cultists would already be feeding the unspeakable horror they worship as a god!" Tom growled in anger, his frustration etched into every part of him.

The others actually took at least a half-step back from him. Clearly able to see the fury coming off of him in waves. Interestingly enough it was Visenya and Rhaenys thas that were backing away the quickest. Despite being the ones least likely to be even vaguely impressed by the temper tantrum of somewhat dumpy, shaggy-haired youth, they seemed to unconsciously sense something primal about him and react most accordingly.

Tom on the other hand was boring holes into the sides of the oncoming Ironborn ships with his eyes, his mind desperately trying to find some plan or method of attack that could get rid of the Ironborn and keep their captives safe. Become Ethereal? He could avoid getting hit until he wanted to strike, then when the effect faded because of the strike he could quickly use it again and repeat the process. It could work, but he didn't trust himself to be able to time it skillfully like that for TWO ships of Ironborn. Maybe if he'd been doing it for years... no.. it was still a good idea, but it wouldn't work alone. He needed something else... hmmm... something else...

But what?

Elemental Fury...that might be what he was looking for, the shout would make him move at a rapid pace and even as unskilled as his strikes were, if they were moving fast enough it shouldn't make a difference. Still he'd have to know EXACTLY when the effect faded, and he didn't trust his own reaction time enough to make up the difference...

He smiled. Of course his untrained reflexes wouldn't be quite the detriment if he was faster, or rather, everyone else was slower. Slow Time. If you can't speed yourself up, then just slow down the goddamned Universe.

Still though, he wasn't sure. He needed something else. Something that even if his other tricks failed, then at least he'd have a chance to withdraw and approach if from another angle...

It had to be something big. Something really big. Monstrous even.

Fuck, this would be so much easier if he could just turn into a goddamned dragon and roast them all. It was then a new shout bubbled up from the depths of his subconscious and a smile came to his face that could only be described as cruel in its effect.

Yes, that might be JUST what the doctor ordered, he thought, his smile changing from cruel to one that reminded Rhaenys of, if nothing else, Meraxes after he'd spotted an especially plump looking bullock...

He turned back to the others who were valiantly resisting the instinctual urge to run away and climb the tallest tree they could find, and said, "Get ready a crew to work those ships, I'll be right back."

Then he took a deep breath...

Rhaenys stood in place, silently considering the form of the man before her. While he seemed to have some ability of some kind, has he'd been able to wrench her from the grasp of death, and lead this rag tag group of peasants to victory, the idea that he'd be able to not only fight, but defeat two full shiploads of Ironman raiders on open terrain in personal combat was not only suicidally overconfident, but even dignifying the idea with anything greater than silent contempt was sheer folly for those around him.

She voiced such thoughts to her sister and added, "It might be prudent to simply advance to the rear once he's thrown himself to the raiders. If we are fortunate he may be able to buy us enough time to make the woodline."

Visenya glared at her sister, and had she been granted the time, probably would have responded with something both condescending and amusingly sarcastic, but as fate would have it, Tom interrupted her with a shout, and all hell broke loose.

"MUL QAH DIIV!"

For everyone present, save one, what came next was nothing short of staggering, that special mixture of awe inspiring and downright terrifying that could remain with a person to their dying day. The one exception of course, was Visenya, for she'd already seen his true self, but even then she was caught after guard. After all, while she'd seen him in his true glory once before, that had been on a mental and spiritual level. This was her first time seeing the true nature of his dragons soul, unconcealed and apparent for all to see in the material realm.

After all, it was not every day you saw a man take on the Aspect of the Dragon.

Tom's smile twisted with the promise of suffering as thoughts of cruelty filtered through his mind, tempting him with the siren song of domination of all who would challenge his might.

It was jarring, and for a moment he almost lost himself, for it seemed that in this state his mind was more Dov than Jul, more Dragon than Man, and his thought processes reflected this. The normal whisper to dominate that sat on the back of his mind, urging him to humble all challengers had become a shout as mighty as any Thu'um demanding that he subjugate all who would dare oppose his might.

Until now he never truly understood Paarthurnax's comment about overcoming ones evil nature to do good. The sheer force of will needed to control this instinct, this drive to dominate, well, calling it 'great effort' was quite the understatement.

Clad in ethereal armor that rendered him human in form while openly displaying the draconic nature of his character, Tom looked back to the others. "I'd say behind the walls if I were you. This is probably going to be a bit..." he paused for a moment before letting his mouth twist into a smirk that could only be called sadistic, "Messy..."

Yes. Very messy he reflected. While he could quite agree that the instincts welling from the very depths of his dragons' soul were evil by the standards of human morality, there was something to be said about doing evil until evil.

He smirked, his features etched with cruelty as a dark cast overcame his character.

Yes. He'd let himself indulge, maybe just this once...

By now, Tom was absolutely sneering at his enemies, his dragon's mind running full tilt, inventing new and creative ways to end his enemies with the power of The Voice. As they approached the shore, it was obvious to all that they knew something was wrong, for the many bodies still scattered about were a clear indicator that not all was well. As such they conducted their landing more in the theme of a raid, running their ships onto the beach and disgorging their ranks in good order.

Had it been even possible, Tom's smile would have become even more wantonly cruel, more gleefully sadistic in its cast, this would have been the time, for this was the moment he'd been waiting for.

Without even taking a moment warn the others, he loosed three shouts in quick succession.

"SU GRAH DUN!"

"TIID KLO UL!"

"WULD NAH KEST!"

With the final shout he literally exploded into action, and what came next almost defied description. One moment he was standing among them, the next the leader of the Ironmen all but exploded, torn in half by a sword blow strong enough to split him in twain clear through his armor and send his body flying through the air, showing blood and viscera over his gathered subordinates.

Not that they had much time to react, as to call what happened next a massacre would have put light the sheer erorminty of the slaughter. The bloodletting to follow could best be described as an orgy of carnage.

Even to the trained warrior eye, Tom's moments were but a blur, and every strike rent their target, making light of the weapons and armor of his enemies. Even the few blows his enemies were able to land in return were for naught. Most pass through him as if he were but an apparition, and those that struck true were deflected off of the physical manifestation of his dragon soul.

It was not a fight between men, but rather it reminded the sisters both of nothing less than the time Aegon had rewarded Balerion by loosing him upon a flock of sheep.

The reactions of those watching were mixed.

The villagers were left with mixed emotions, shocked by the true force of their new lords uncontained might, while at the same time howling in satisfaction at the grizzly fate of the hated Ironborn raiders.

The Ironborn prisoners also were howling, but for an entirely different reason: Terror. Sheer, unadulterated terror. It was not until now that they truly understood what sort of creature they'd surrendered to. Creature, for this being could be no simple man. Many were praying in thanks to their Drowned God that this monster has spared their lives, others still were screaming in terror, convinced that the Storm God himself had arrived on the mortal plain to lay claim to their souls.

Bannon for his part was silently confirming the wisdom of his change in allegiances, wondering how to more closely endear himself to his new master, as well as how to unleash his power for their shared benefit.

As for the sisters, the younger was standing in place, absolutely gobsmacked, staring blankly at the scene unfolding before her, her mind almost blank in its lack of comprehension. The elder was just standing there looking very smug, silently lording the events over the other.

As swiftly as the violence had begun, it ended. Not a single man had survived save Tom himself. Looking over the killing field before him, his aura faded and he collapsed to one knee.

Rolf, Bannon, Visenya, and Rhaenys were the first to approach him after the glow of the dragon-shaped armor faded.

Bannon cleared his throat and asked, "My lord, are you... alright?"

Tom suddenly snapped his head up and looked towards Bannon and the others who flinched, all of them swore there was a golden glow in his eyes for an instant before they all set it aside as them merely imagining things. Tom looked at them for a moment studying them like a wolf might an animal he could take down if he wanted to but he just didn't feel like it at the time. Then there was a subtle shift, one that none of them could point out and Tom's eyes were once again those they had seen for the days they had known him.

He picked himself up and after brushing off sand from his trousers he examined the carnage he had wrought. It was then that the others noticed that despite killing at least a hundred Ironborn, there wasn't a mark on him from the fight and neither was there a drop of blood on his body, that ethereal armor seemed to have prevented any of it from getting on his more mundane armor or his person.

They were shaken from their personal musings when Tom suddenly said, "I might need to avoid that one unless I need to...I might start liking it..."

He sighed again and turned to Bannon, "What was that Bannon?"

Bannon recovered quickly enough and responded, "Erm ...I was merely asking if all was well my lord."

Tom looked at him then nodded, "Yes, I'm alright, not a scratch on me and don't even feel tired." He looked back to the bodies bleeding on the sands, "Nor am I feeling much of anything over that" he gestured towards the Ironborn, "for some reason, and that scares the hell out of me..."

There was an awkward silence for a while, then the young warrior, for warrior he was and none could gainsay that, especially after his most recent display, but rather than let the others ruminate over what he'd done, he instead decided to put them to work.

"What are all of you looking at?" he snapped, "Rolf! Drag those ships ashore and give me an inventory of their contents."

Then he turned to his ginger mistress and commanded, "Mya. I want you to take the servant women to attend to any thralls on the ship. I want you to clean them up, tend to any injuries, and see that they are fed."

Lastly he turned to Bannon, "I want you to take those idiots," he glanced to the Ironborn prisoners, "And strip the bodies of everything of value."

"And what if some of them should try to escape?" he asked, "After all, you are ordering them to gather up arms and armor."

Tom's eyes narrowed and without thinking, he stated, "Then you tell them that I'll tear out the soul of the first idiot who gets any cute ideas."

Bannon blinked, maybe a bit off put by both the venom and the terrifying implications of the statement, said, "That is quite the creative threat, m'lord?"

"Threat?" Tom growled, "No Bannon, that's a promise."

"Wait, what?" Bannon blinked, his face losing maybe a little bit of color, "You can actually do that?"

Tom frowned for a moment wondering if maybe he'd spoken a little too rashly in his anger. Still, he always considered honesty to be the best approach so he responded truthfully.

"Yes."

Bannon's eyes went wide and he coughed slightly, affirming once again that he was quite pleased to be standing behind Tom and not in front of him. "Yes. My lord. I will make it very clear."

"Good."

"And what would you like done with the bodies?" he asked looking towards the massive field of the dead.

Tom thought for a moment. Normally he'd just have them thrown into the sea, but he was feeling maybe a bit more vindictive than usual, so he allowed a somewhat cruel smile spread across his face. "I want the bodies impaled on stakes and lined up along the shore line so that the next Ironman ship to arrive find themselves with a most grand greeting party awaiting them."

He then looked to Visenya and Rhaenys, the only of his entourage not to have been tasked with a duty and thought for a moment before holding out his sword to them.

"All this exercise has made me hungry," he said lightly. "I'm going back to the hall to wait for the others to finish their tasks. Be dears and fetch me something to eat..." he paused and then embedded Blackfyre into the earth before them, "And see to it that the blade is cleaned."

Both were slightly taken aback, especially when he turned around and left them without even a buy your leave.

Rhaenys glared daggers at him for a moment before muttering, "Does he take us to be common servants?"

"Sister," Visenya replied coolly, "I strongly suggest that you turn your eyes to the beach... and shut the hell up."

Reminded of the carnage that this man had committed only moments ago, then considering he'd done similar just the day before, and taking into account the fact that he was here entirely for her benefit, the younger Lady Dragonstone relented, and with a sigh, said, "I believe I know where to find some meat and cheese..."