Chapter 7.
Because of the light being cast from the fireplace and the chandeliers, I woke feeling as though I barely slept. Recorder was awake already and sitting at a table with a quill in her hands. Adding to her journal I suspect.
I rose from our bed and moved to sit next to her.
"OH! Oh! you frightened me" She yelped with a pained expression as she held a hand above her hip. "Could you warn me next time?"
I found it amusing that both those statements could be down to my bite and my sudden appearance while she was working.
"How do you feel?"
"Still sore. Haven't eaten yet, had some water..." I watched her touch the tips of her teeth with her right pointer. "I'm, not going to be a vampire from your bite am I?"
I didn't feel like getting into the ins and outs of vampirism with her yet so I answered her with a simple 'no' and she was quite relieved.
"Thank god, I mean... Talos? whatever... Hey!" She caught me taking a small peek at her notes and moved her arm to cover them. What I did manage to catch looked written in short worded sentences of facts about events as they happen.
"I have at least seven young mages who write like you do" I told her as I leapt up onto the beams going across the ceiling. I could see through a small skylight that the sun was about to disappear behind the horizon, almost time to go. "No I take that back. One of them is in her forties now and grows all our ingredients"
"What are you talking about? I write just fine" She said.
"If you handed that to one of my lecturers, they'd throw it right back at you" I slid back off the beam and landed next to her again. "Actually, there is something for us to talk about. I didn't peek at any of your little files last night"
"You did just a second ago"
"Yes, you're quite right and I'm sorry. But when we get to Winterhold, there are things there that I need to keep out of your reach. This armour I'm wearing, for example, is representative of a Nightingale. I belong to a few other summarily powerful groups and when we converse at the college it's just going to be us in the room. Do you understand?"
"Sure but... isn't telling me you're a Nightingale problematic for them?"
"Not at all. It would be if I told you more about the other members. Anyone who singles me out ends up buying me a drink"
She nodded. Actually easier than I thought.
"Well. all I really need for this is how you're going to defeat Alduin" She explained. "Everything else is just side stuff as far as the academy is concerned"
"You mean that big dragon from Helgen?" I asked trying to figure out of she was serious. "To hell with him. I killed that one dragon from the watchtower, that's enough. I go where I'm called, I kill what I see, but I'm not looking to throw my self into the jaws of another dragon, especially one literally called the Eater of Worlds!"
"Wow, you won't jump in to save the world, but you did it for me. You're so sweet" She said tapping her quill off the page making an awful smudge.
"We're leaving soon" I told her not wanting to dignify her statements with a proper response. "Gather your things and eat something. Quickly now, I'll be at the stables waiting"
"Okay" Recorder said as she quickly finished up her work. "And don't eat my horse!" She yelled as I reached the top step to start going down. The out of context reminder got me a few odd looks from everyone sitting around the central fire pit.
Walking through Whiterun streets and even in the less busy roads to the stables I kept hearing wishers of 'dragon born' and 'dragon slayer'.
I suspected I'd get some notoriety for dealing the final blow, but I wasn't even convinced that I was dragon born myself.
I believe that with the right skill and even luck, dragons like all other living things can be killed no matter who holds the sword.
Dragon born are said to be the best at slaying dragons, for they can absorb the soul thus ensuring it never comes back. When I fill soul gems with a human soul all the power goes into the gem, not me, but even then I at least feel some residual power from it. Whereas with the dragon last night, I felt nothing at all. So I can't be Dragon Born.
As I approached the stables, I could just overhear a conversation taking place. The stable boy sounded panicked and it didn't take me long to see why.
"I've been tempted before, but the guards…"
"If the guards are scarring you, meet my associates at Redwater-den west of Riften and they'll sort you out. No guards and the skooma is made from only the finest moon sugar, much better than what those traders are selling"
Normally when I hear of someone trying to peddle skooma it is a caravan troop with enough combined wealth to pay the 'tax' to whatever guard finds their illegal supply to keep it going.
This, however, seems a little more interesting than the simple promotion of a product like it was made out to be.
"Hello. I'm here for Epony" I said standing behind the dealer as I spoke to the stableboy.
"Uh, yes sir" He said frantically dashing to saddle up the steed for me.
The dealer let out an grieved sigh through his teeth before eventually giving me a glance over his shoulder. Then done a double take. He was pissed off that I scared off a customer, but things have changed now.
"Oh, can I help you?"
"Maybe" I said. "But I only take it clean"
We both checked back at the stable boy. He looked was way too busy. With a hand into his satchel, the dealer pulled out a small bottle of pure human blood.
"First is on the house" He said handing it to me. "See you at redwater" He said walking away from me to do business in the actual city. I saw him take a good long look at Recorder as she ran passed. Once he saw she was with me his eyes went forward again.
"Did you see the way he was looking at me? Creep"
"Yes I did" I said leading her away quickly so the two of us waited while Epony got ready, but I couldn't stop watching the stableboy. Not even twenty-five I bet. If he goes to redwater, the best case is a lifelong skooma addiction. The worst case is becoming cattle.
If he leaves to experiment with this drug, he'll not tell a soul. Nobody wants to admit that they take skooma. So a random person goes missing from Whiterun, nobody would ever think to check a small shack outside Riften. So he'll definitely be picked out of the line up to wake up in a cell where he'll never get to leave, be fed the minimal requirements and have his blood bottled for over the counter sales.
I could be drinking him next time. I thought as I downed my bottle while Recorder wasn't looking.
She probably still has some notion in her head that I am a hero, or anti-hero as she put it. Only because she doesn't know that I chose this life of a vampire. I wasn't ever bitten, I never caught vampirism in the traditional sense like those at Redwater. I went to every shrine of the Daedra lords that I could find. I listened for their voices until I heard my objectives and followed through until I got my reward. Harkon's cult of vampires suggested they got their gifts from Molag Bal. I'm sure getting that gift was a fun experience, but the thing's I've done to get mine. Recorder would think of me as a truer monster than even the dragons out there.
Along the roads away from Whiterun Recorder was doing a fine job steering the wagon down the roads of Skyrim. I didn't have my coffin back yet so as she drove me, I sat quietly at her side to give directions since she pointed out she wasn't too familiar with these roads.
"Niik, I have a question for you. Why did we go all the way south to Whiterun just to ride north again to Windhelm? Couldn't we have continued along near the coast? There has to be faster routs surly"
I glanced at her clothes. She was wearing a skirt and a shirt that barely covers her back. If we went her way we'd have to ride miles over ice and snow, at night with the north sea wind battering off of her. But it wasn't the only reason.
"Whiterun make good wagons. This one will be replaced by tomorrow"
"Hmm, yeah. A frozen tundra doesn't sound too reliable for lumber… what do you mean replace? Did we just steal this wagon?"
"Borrow" I told her "Just without permission, compensation or any intention on bringing it back"
"That's Stealing!" She yelled.
"Oh, thanks for clearing that up. In all my years of daedric worship, killing and draining people of their blood just to satisfy my own ends, I've never been all that clear on the small details of legal possession over a thing"
She lowered her brow at me before returning her eyes to the road ahead of us. My last driver didn't ask about my business because he knew he wouldn't like the answer and her job is literally to ask me about it all.
"You're fine with killing though aren't you? When killing those bandits last night it looked like you were having fun"
"I know. It's a problem alright…"
"I wouldn't say that"
"No, I can get a little crazy sometimes. Remember when I called in my little robot Omnico? He talked about my, transgressions"
Learned a new word, but at least I know what she calls that little thing.
"But enough about me. This is about you, dragon born" She clasped the reins between her knees as she pulled out her journal and a quill. "What happened after I passed out?"
"I used your blood to heal myself, then…"
"I'm not putting that part in, I'm not here remember. So you healed yourself and then?"
"Yeah… about that. When I brought you to Whiterun, the guards denied me access until they saw you. They, of course, wanted to let the little hero who reported Helgen into the safety of their hold. You're famous among the guards, friend. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"transgressions… I'll pay for that later..." She sighed. "But you were saying about the dragon?"
"We fought off the dragon. When I put my sword through out's skull it burned up and left only a skeleton"
"That sounds exciting" She said writing away. "Then what?"
"Then nothing. I took you to see the priestesses, but you're not putting that in are you?"
"Nope. But tell me how people reacted to you sucking in a dragon soul"
"I didn't. There was a lot of wind and light, but I didn't get anything from it"
"Have you tried using the power? you should have two souls in your hands now. One from me and one from the dragon, do you know any dragon shouts?"
I rolled my eyes. They've never worked before but for the sake of arguing I tried the most basic one I knew.
"Fus-Ro-DAH!" I called out to the sky. I didn't actually expect the thunderous pressure to be so powerful.
"du Duh Tha THA! You got a shout" Recorder sung with a combined expression of fright and joy. "Told you didn't I?"
I didn't know what to say. I couldn't give credit to years of practice as I haven't tried in decades, so the only other way was if I did in fact take a dragon's essence.
"When you gave me a dragon soul at Riverwood, I felt the power course through me. But that didn't happen last night"
"Maybe you didn't feel it because you were still powered up from the one I gave you. I mean there's no denying what you just did was a true dragon shout, I'm just glad it wasn't aiming at me"
"Indeed. Ulfric Stormcloak used a shout to murder the last high king"
"You mean he was shouted to Death" I heard her giggle as she gently nudged me. "You'd think a married man would have developed an immunity before o'l Ulfric showed up"
"Yes" I said joining in with her laugh, but up ahead I could smell burning wood and a stew cooking in a pot somewhere out of sight. I looked forward through the darkness. We were approaching an old bridge that bandits like to extort travellers simply for going passed it.
"Get your money ready. I'll be back" I said before jumping off.
Recorder kept the wagon going as I asked and I could see her looking all over trying to see where I went to after jumping off the wagon.
"Stop! You got enough to pay the toll for this road?" Someone asked her after appearing.
"Um, okay… Just let me get it together, how much?"
"Fifty Septims"
"Sure thing, but you know what I think?" Recorder asked as she counted the money. "I think watching this road, taking money from honest people… I bet its a real Pain in the neck yeah?"
Unbelievable. I could see her cheering herself for getting to say her little joke before I appeared and stuck my fangs in the bandit's jugular.
When I was done with the bandit I went find where he was hiding and returned with a small lock box of stolen money in one hand and a hot cooking pot and a ladle in the other.
"All good?" She asked when I returned.
"Jump in the back, this is yours if you want it"
Recorder swung her legs over the back of her seat to make room for me at the front before I passed her back the cooking pot and lock box.
"You know how to pick locks?" I asked.
"I'm not any good at it, why?"
"When you're done eating see if you can get that box open"
"You didn't find a key?"
"Yes I did" I said holding up the key for her before tossing it off the cliff and into the river below. "Testing your skills"
I heard her mutter to herself as she took small sips of the questionable stew.
"Could use salt" I heard her say. "but it's nice"
I told her the meat was fox and rabbit, and even then she wasn't too keen. But in truth, I only found the skins of skeevers. As sure as blood is blood, one meat is just as good as another. So long as she never finds out she's eating a stew made from rat meat.
When we were getting close to our next stop Windhelm, the cold was starting to pick up again. It was part of the reason I wanted Recorder to eat something hot when she still could. She spent a lot of the journey sitting in the back with the lockbox on her lap with two lock pics angling their way through the keyhole. I have no idea though why her tongue was sticking out at the side of her lips, but it seemed to be part of her concentration.
She looked like she was just about to turn it all the way open before a bump in the road cause the pick to drop its grip.
"Damn it!" She cursed looking ready to lob the box off the wagon. "I'll get it open and there'll only be a few gold in here!"
I could relate to that experience. Wasting hours of time on a stupid lock knowing the secrets inside would not be worth it in the end. But it would often become more about the principle than anything else and the refusal to be defeated by a piece of metal. But it looked like she'd finally realised that her hands were shaking just as much as the wagon itself.
"I don't suppose I could get a heat off you?" She was already wrapped up in the think fabric cloak of my armour. Only thing I could maybe give her is a longwinded lecture on wearing a skirt in Skyrim of all places.
"Maybe you should lie across Epony?"
The horse was pretty much barebacked apart from the harness keeping her attached to the wagon. If Recorder can hold onto the straps with cold hands she might get away with cuddling on to her until we arrived at the city.
"She'd carry me to the river just to kick me off" She said with a forced laugh. "Can't be too far to go"
"Seven miles"
"bloody hell" She pulled all the fabrics tighter around her and curled up into a ball behind me. The sides of the wagon acted as a windshield to protect her from some of the cold at least.
"I'm afraid I'll have to insist on getting you a new attire soon"
"okay… I heard Solitude has a good clothing store, should have stopped on the way here"
"No, I'm getting you something that'll save you from steel as well as the cold"
Recorder and I rode the rest of the way mostly in silence. She did ask me to make sure she doesn't fall asleep though, so I'd reach back and give her a quick push every minute or so just to make sure she hasn't died already.
She didn't take my joke offering for making her a vampire too well. Made me regret not telling her back at Whiterun that she had in fact turned as a result of my bite. Might have been a funny first entry for me to write a journal of my own about her believing she's a vampire.
Next time. I thought fantasising about her trying to stalk someone for blood. But my mind went back to the cannibal eating his ally's neck at the castle. It really wasn't something for Recorder.