Dawn is soon approaching. Looking at the morning sky through the window, I notice its beauty of light red color that fades to bright orange. I appreciate this before the sun rises, then I check on Azali.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well? We have a long journey ahead of us," I tell her, as I open up my bag. I grab a few sweet rolls and only the finest mead. I sit next to her, and ask if she'd like to eat and have a drink with me. I smile softly as I tear off a piece for her and pour her mead, then propose a toast: "To the death of Maven."
We then clash cups together.
"So how are we going to kill her? Do you know where we can find the Dragonborn or the best warriors?" she asks. I take a sip of mead and look out the window.
"We need to build an army, however, I am not sure where we'll obtain these soldiers. The Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood are the best assassins, but Maven has them in her pocket. And I'm not sure where the Dragonborn is these days. The last I saw him was five years ago."
"I guess we're on our own then."
"Yeah true, but I'm going to try making this a little easier on you and help you out as much as I can."
"My job is not to burden you," she argues.
"I know that. I just figured we're already facing a hard enough challenge, so no point in making it harder."
"I don't understand what you mean. What is it you think I'm not capable of?"
"No, nothing like that. I just meant that we're going to be taking on an entire army of well-trained assassins. If you don't mind, may I see your skills with a bow?"
"Would you like me to snipe a few guards through the window?"
"Yes, they would make perfect targets. Let me see what you've got."
"Then you better get ready to leave, because after that I'm sneaking out of here."
I grab the gear and unblock the back door for us, as I await her shot. "I'm ready when you are."
"I'm going to jump out this window after I shoot them," she explains. She puts on her armor over her clothes and picks up her bow.
"Would you like me to give you backup?"
"What's your plan?"
"Well as soon as you fire your first shot, I'll head out of the house and take cover behind that greenhouse. Then I'll provide backup if you need me to."
"I will take care of myself," she says, taking aim through the window.
"Ok, either way works. I'm just eager to see what your skills are."
She quickly shoots every guard in sight and jumps to the ground below. Then she starts sneaking across the bridge.
She is pretty skilled with her bow, I think to myself, as I continue to watch her take more guards undetected. I make my escape during their confusion, keeping at least thirty-feet distance to avoid getting detected.
She hides behind a tree across the bridge, waiting for me. I see three dead bodies down by the bridge as I'm following her. I loot them for gold and lockpicks.
"Hurry up before the others see you!" she whispers to me loudly, peeking out from the tree.
I notice her telling me to take cover and the guards are way too close to run, so I quickly blend in with the dead bodies. The guards stop next to me and start to notice that I'm not one of them. Before they can take action, Azali shoots them with arrows as well.
Looking up at her I smile, whispering, "Thank you for the help."
I see a guard is close behind her and point at him. Noticing my signal, she turns around and shoots him as well. "I told you to hurry," she says.
"Yeah, you definitely impressed me with your skills." I get up and brush myself off.
We notice the sky starting to get dark with a heavy storm rising fast. At that moment, a dragon appears and intense battle music starts playing in my head. Azali starts running fast away from it, which I guess would be smart if it wasn't impossible to outrun one. I pull out one of my seven swords (Raijuta the Thunder Demon) and point the blade at the dragon.
The storm starts to get worse with heavy rain pouring down, and intense lightning crackles. The dragon flies higher up into the sky to avoid the fatal blow, then immediately swoops back down for the counteroffensive. He launches the very flames of hell from his ravenous jaws, while trying to sink his teeth into us. I dodge barely but am slightly burnt from the intense flames, while my shirt catches fire. I then jump into the lake to put out the flames.
The battle becomes more intense, as the storm grows in power with lightning crashing around us. The dragon charges full speed at me and I ready my sword to counter, however, he quickly changes targets and comes after Azali. At the fear of losing her, I quickly react in a flash of time, to slide under the dragon and pierce his heart with the thunder blade Rijuta; shocking lightning from the blade, electrocuting the dragon from the inside out to ensure his death is final. With a loud screech and monstrous cry, the dragon falls. But not before falling on me.
"I killed the dragon for you. Are you okay?" I ask. She runs over to me and tries to remove the dragon. "Why thank you but you really don't have to do that."
I turn into bat form and then reform on top of the dead dragon. She is at a loss for words. "I hope I didn't frighten you…"
"How did you do that?" She stands up and steps away.
"I'm a Vampire Lord."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know how else to say this without worrying you, but I basically am a vampire in its purest form. Does this bother you?" I ask, nervous about how she might feel.
"Does that change anything?" she asks. I can't blame her for being suspicious. At least, it doesn't seem like she knows what a vampire is.
"Not really, I am still the same man as before. You just know my secret now..." I guess this pleases her because she changes the subject without a second thought.
"I wasn't any help against the dragon," she says. "Are you sure you don't want me to pay you back for the health potion some other way?"
"No, don't feel obligated to owe me. We're a team, so we're in this together and I've got your back."
She glances aside awkwardly. "Please don't think of it that way. I'm only helping you because I owe you for that. Otherwise, I would rather not."
"I think I've started growing pretty fond of you and I don't mind protecting you."
"Why not?" she asks, surprised.
"You're a pretty interesting and skilled young lady, so I know you can defend yourself, but even with that said, sometimes you are overwhelmed with a strong enemy like this dragon. So me being the gentleman that I am, I will stay by your side to protect you."
Something about my words angers her, but she quickly decides not to voice what it is. Instead she humbly replies, "I'm not interesting or skilled, but we can discuss this later. We have to go."
"I agree, let's go," I say while trying to hide my blushing face.
"Except which direction do you want to go from here?"
"Well, let's see. I think the best route would be to stay on the northwestern side, working our way above the mountains to avoid any more guards," I say, while pointing at my map.
"Alright."
