AN: Wow. You guys responded to the last chapter BIG TIME. Glad you're loving to read this as much as I am writing it. Here you go.
"Turn back…"
Ketar tried to ignore the whispers in his head as they entered the ruin, he really did. The problem was, he wasn't the only one hearing them.
"Kay…I'm not going crazy, am I?"
He frowned. "No. There's something here…or someone." He glanced around and slowly drew the Blade of Woe in an underhanded position. "Be on your guard."
She gave him a small nod, left hand glowing with magical energy as she no doubt primed one of her kinetic bolts while her right brandished her Elven dagger. Together, they silently proceeded through a large stone passage, flanked on either side by massive pillars, some of which were toppled. The passage led to a fallen pillar laid over a running stream, with a waterfall on the right and a massive open doorway ahead. Quickly moving across, the same whispered voice was heard once again.
"Turn back…"
Ketar sighed hard and muttered, "Perfect."
Serana arched an eyebrow at him. "Ghost?"
He threw her a deadpan look. "Ghost."
As it turned out, the entrance of Arkngthamz itself was gigantic, because three passages later, they ended up in a chamber with another stream, this one large and open, with a long opening above them letting sunlight in. Serana and Ketar came to a stop sixty feet above the stream, on one of two opposing sides of a ravine overlooking the water. Below, on a rock in the middle of the stream, there was the partially decomposed armored body of a Nord woman, body bent at an odd angle. Ketar wondered at it until he looked up to a higher level and saw a thick log hanging over the drop. He winced.
Ugh. Bad way to go. Probably instantaneous though.
His high-gazing eyes were suddenly drawn by movement from the other side of the ravine, and they widened slightly a moment later when he identified the mangled, twisted forms of several Falmer. He grimaced, as he usually did at the sight of the repulsive creatures, and sheathed his dagger while preparing a plasma bolt in his left hand. Then, he noticed that none of them were snarling or pulling out weapons, and let the spell fizzle out. He motioned silently to Serana, who followed him toward another downed pillar that led down, away from their line of sight and to the Nord's body.
Frowning, Ketar bent over the armored corpse, his hand stopping when it touched something hard and pulling out a journal. Seeing as how this expedition was her idea, he handed it to Serana and let her skim through it. Well, that is, until she showed up. By appearing quite literally out of thin air.
Ketar nearly leapt out of his skin, hand immediately going to his knife when a pale, transparent blue silhouette mirroring the dead body appeared right in front of him.
"Turn back," she said firmly, finally loud and clear.
"What the hell…" Ketar sighed hard, trying to calm his breathing. "Look, lady, I don't know who taught you manners, but sneaking up on unsuspecting travelers is—"
"You should not be here. This place consumes all who enter."
Serana stepped forward with a smirk. "We're hardier than most, trust me, Katria."
Ketar glanced back at her. "Who?"
She held up the book. "This journal. It belongs to someone named Katria. I'm guessing that's you." She pointed at the ghost.
The ghost nodded. "I came here looking for power. All I found was death. An earthquake…" She looked up, pointing to the log Ketar had seen before.
He winced again. "That couldn't have been fun."
"Apparently being dead screws with your memories, because I don't actually remember much of the fall." Katria turned back to him. "Just the impact. Word of advice: if you go further in, trust nothing. Not even the ground beneath your feet."
Ketar bowed his head slightly. "Understood. Any other advice?"
She frowned and looked to the side. "I…no…like I said, my memories…everything's a bit of a fog."
He nodded. "That's pretty common with ghosts, especially when they're killed by accidents." Ketar looked to the other end of the rock, seeing the beginnings of Dwemer metal and large pipes, one of which was bridging the gap between him and a long metal passageway. "Come on." He waved them forward, Serana taking point while Katria stood watching them.
"Wait," the ghost called, stopping them. "If you're still going in…I want to come with you. This was my life's work." Her lips pursed. "Even in death, I would see it done."
Serana exchanged a look with Ketar before shrugging and replying, "Hey, the more the merrier."
Katria pulled an Aetherial weapon from her back, a bow of Dwarven design, and sidled up next to Ketar, who she gave a sideways look. "Why did you say that ghosts lose their memory when they die by accident?"
Ketar frowned as he followed Serana into a flooded chamber. "When it's an accident, it's a surprise, not usually much time to process before it's over. But when it's a violent death, especially from someone they know…there's a lot of visceral emotion that comes with that, and it keeps their memories sharp."
"I see…"
"So, to sum up: dying sucks, but at least you don't really remember yours."
Katria snorted a laugh. "Right."
They used a set of large pipes as a catwalk to ascend to a higher level of the Dwemer-constructed structure, a sudden burst of steam grabbing their attention as a port in one of the pipes released a small, golden spider with a gyro where its body should be.
Serana sighed hard and looked to Ketar. "Do you want to take this or should I?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "This was your idea."
She sighed again and charged up her kinetic bolt, releasing it a second later and shattering three of the machine's legs. Unable to function properly, the spider fell limp a few moments later, presumably to wait for repairs. Several other Dwarven constructs attempted to waylay them, but between the three companions (Ketar mentally noted that there was no way Katria would've gone down in a fight), they posed little threat. Probably the worst part of the whole ordeal was tangling with the Falmer—as it was every time he entered one of these ruins. Perhaps it was just how gods-awfully ugly they were. Or maybe it was the knowledge that those twisted creatures had once been a proud race of Elves, corrupted by time and horrors untold.
Either way, every time his blade or magic cut one of them down, he felt a tandem surge of pity and satisfaction as he laid to rest another tortured remnant of the Falmer civilization. Throughout their journey through Arkngthamz, Ketar never once drew his sword, preferring to use the Blade of Woe or magic, and even he had to wonder why. After a while, he figured he simply didn't want to waste that power slaying subpar enemies. Serana's knowledge and Katria's journal proved invaluable, since the Dwemer apparently had something to hide and sealed the paths ahead with locks only meant to open when subjected to a certain sound.
It was small fortune that the Dwemer's tonal triggers (that's what Katria called them) were still standing and able to be activated simply by being struck. One metal passage after the next yielded to the three companions, their weapons and magic practically rolling over anything in their way. It felt like such a routine event that Ketar barely even had to think to stay out of harm's way, instead letting his mind wander.
After this…I don't even know what we'll do. Taking down Isran probably burned my bridge with the Dawnguard, and there's no way I'll be able to take Harkon's clan down alone. Aside from that, the last Elder Scroll is still missing, which means either Harkon already has it, or it's so well-hidden that no one can find it. Either way, neither side has the complete picture just yet, which puts us in an…awkward stalemate.
Ketar was suddenly snapped from his thoughts by Katria's voice.
"Here's where I fell," she said, standing at the edge of a drop. "Feels like ages ago."
Ketar blinked several times before really stopping to observe their surroundings. He immediately identified the room as the very top of the ravine they'd seen coming in, with an open rock ceiling and several conifer trees scattered about.
"Hey, there's my bow!" She pointed at a log a short distance off. "There, out on the log! I wondered what happened to it."
He exchanged a glance with Serana, who shrugged and said, "I've never really been a bow person."
Ketar's tilted his head briefly before saying, "Suit yourself," and moving toward the log.
"Be careful," said Serana.
He threw her a wide, cocky grin before slowly making his way to the end of the log, where a beautiful Dwarven bow sat, perfectly balanced on the log's center, as if it wanted to be there. Carefully, he bent down and reached out, grabbing it by the handle and lifting its surprisingly light metal form in his left hand.
"Zephyr is its name," Katria said. "Take good care of it for me."
Ketar nodded his agreement, then caught sight of Serana's mildly worried gaze and felt a small surge of vindictive mischief. Right before he intentionally swayed on the edge of the log, as if to fall, then easily steadied himself when Serana called out his name in alarm and started to lunge forward. He laughed and easily strode off the wooden ledge, hopping his way back to solid ground as she just stared at him, that stare quickly morphing into a full-on, furious glare. He barely had time to register danger before he was gasping for breath from a powerful punch to the solar plexus.
"That is not funny!" Serana yelled, her voice cracking on the tail end of the sentence.
Still coughing, Ketar looked up to see a mixture of anger and pure terror in her eyes, and immediately felt red-hot shame wash over him. Fuming and breathing heavily, she turned away and started pacing, prompting him to lay down the bow and cough his way over to her. She resolutely refused to face him.
"Sera—"
"I am not talking to you right now."
He sighed and mentally kicked himself. Hard. "Fine," he said quietly. "Then just listen. I'm sorry."
Serana stayed facing away from him.
"I wasn't thinking, I just—" Another sigh as he cautiously wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "I don't know what I'm doing," he admitted softly.
Her breathing stilled.
"Growing up, I was taught how to fight, how to think, how to survive." He leaned into her, his head coming to rest against the back of her head. "I never learned this. So…be patient with me?"
She turned in his grip to meet his eyes as he looked down at her pleadingly.
"Please?"
Serana's eyes closed as she sighed and shook her head. "What the hell am I gonna do with you?" Her slender arms wrapped around his midsection as she pressed her head into his chest. "Don't…do that again."
"Done," he said, unable to keep the relief from his voice.
Off to the side, Katria cleared her throat loudly, catching their attention. "If you two are done, I believe we're near the end."
Serana and Ketar exchanged one last look before nodding to Katria. He grabbed Zephyr on the way and noticed a switch on the upper right side of the hilt, flicking it upward and gaping when the metal arms of the bow began to retract into themselves, eventually folding inward and collapsing entirely into the hilt.
Katria chuckled at the dumbfounded look on its face. "Told you it was special. The Dwarves designed it as an assassin's weapon, highly concealable and able to draw and release faster and harder than most other bows. A 'hybrid compound,' they called it."
Ketar stared at the bow, now a small cylinder about eight inches across, and smiled. "Rest assured, this thing is never gonna leave my side."
Ketar used a small metal clip on the side of one of the collapsed arms to affix the hilt to the back of his belt, right above the sheathed Blade of Woe. With a glance at a similarly impressed Serana, they pressed on and followed the ghost further in.
…
A hundred more Falmer and Dwemer automatons later, the three companions found themselves face-to-face with an interesting conundrum. Specifically, a sequential tonal lock requiring multiple triggers to open. Five, to be precise, and in a specific order.
"Five triggers," Ketar said, "a hundred twenty possible combinations."
"And knowing the Dwemer," said Katria, "getting a single answer wrong will reward us with a nasty surprise."
He nodded in agreement, spotting the corpse of someone else near the locked door, various scorch-marks all over his body. Ketar hummed in interest as he rifled through his pockets, running across a bloodstained note scrawled in surprisingly neat handwriting.
"Got something," he called out. "Apparently this guy tried a few combinations and managed to get the first few nailed down before the defenses killed him."
Serana, meanwhile, was looking through Katria's journal. "Yeah…Katria had something in here that might help too. Take a look."
Ketar jogged over and stood next to Serana as they perused the book, the ghostly form of their companion pacing idly next to the door and looking for any active defenses.
"If we take this one…"
"Uh huh."
"And then consider the tonal step between these two…"
"Yeah, yeah, I see it."
"And then overlay this one—"
"Oh—that's genius!"
Serana grinned up at him saucily. "Flatterer."
Ketar smirked. "Have to get my points in somewhere." He reached to the back of his belt and pulled Zephyr free, triggering its activation sequence and watching in muted awe as it unfolded into a full weapon. A hard breath was exhaled. "Okay." Reaching over to a nearby Falmer corpse, he appropriated five arrows and tucked four of them into his belt, the last going on the drawstring. "Time to see what this thing can do."
His left hand gripped the hilt of the bow, thumb bracing the crude arrow on the right side of the handle while his right hand nocked it and drew back the string. Ketar released a long breath as he pulled back, feeling his arms and shoulders endure much less strain than usual and noting that, with his dragon blood and the strength that came with it, he could fire this thing all day and not get tired. He drew in another breath, slowly, lining up his shot with the first tonal trigger.
And then he loosed.
The second arrow was nocked and drawn back before the vibrations from the first trigger had dissipated. It released a split-second later into the second trigger, and the third and fourth followed even faster, in a torrent, as he started to get the hang of his new weapon. The final trigger was hit with a full draw, and a particularly loud vibration sounded throughout the chamber as the massive door before them opened outward with a groan. Ketar laughed at the sight, along with Katria, while Serana was just staring at him. He noticed her gaze and started staring back.
"Sera? You okay?"
She just gulped and nodded, and in the dim light, he caught just a hint of blush.
Grinning, Ketar and the others proceeded beyond the door to find a piece of glowing blue material, semi-circular and engraved with Dwemer markings.
Serana's eyebrows hiked upward. "Is that—"
"Yes," Katria interrupted. "Aetherium. Some of the last in all of Tamriel." She frowned. "But it seems…incomplete."
Serana nodded slowly. "Considering how much blood was spilled over this, the Dwemer probably split it up so no one would have enough to work with."
"As a way of maintaining the balance of power," Ketar concluded.
She gave him a nod and reached out to take the shard. Serana turned to him abruptly, holding it out. "Do you think you can—"
He held up a hand to stop her and took the Aetherium shard with the other. "Say no more."
His hands surged with magic and flowed through the familiar circular pattern of opening the rift, depositing the shard inside and keeping it sealed away for the moment. When he was done, he noticed that Serana and Katria were off talking in hushed tones and looking over the contents of the journal.
"Ladies?"
They looked up at him.
He shrugged with his arms. "Anyone want to clue me in?"
Katria cleared her throat. "Before I died, I discovered the locations of three other shards scattered across Skyrim." She glanced at Serana before turning back to Ketar. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go look for them."
"To finish what you started," said Ketar.
She nodded.
Serana shrugged. "Hey, well, this was your quest to begin with. If that's your choice, we're not gonna get in your way."
Katria smiled. "Thank you. Both of you. I hope to see you again soon, but until then, good luck in your ventures."
"You too," Ketar replied, watching as she thinned out and vanished into thin air. A long sigh passed his lips. "Well…now that that's done, what do you say we get outta here?"
Serana groaned. "Oh, yes please. I've had just about enough of Dwemer ruins for one day."
A smile came to his features as he took her hand in his, both walking back where they'd come from before Ketar stopped suddenly and started to grin when something to the side caught his eye.
"Kay, what are you—oh no. No-no-no—"
"Come on, Sera. It'll be fun!"
"Your definition of fun and mine seem to be very different!"
Ketar just laughed as he half-dragged Serana to the edge of a drop overlooking the river near the entrance, laughing harder when he protectively curled both arms around her and leapt off the side.
He Shouted, "Feim!" right before they hit the water, causing Serana to gape at her sudden incorporeal nature for a split-second before they were both utterly drenched.
…
She was faking her anger.
Ketar knew it as soon as they climbed out of the water and she started glaring at him—which was usually intimidating but not so much this time, considering she looked like a drenched puppy. His side-stitching laughter got him a hard smack to the shoulder, but not much else. She didn't retreat or even grumble when he planted a loud, playful kiss on her wet cheek. By the time they got outside it was already nightfall, so a great deal colder, and though she said the cold never bothered her, Serana did not look comfortable in her wet clothes. To say nothing of how the very-mortal Ketar was feeling.
Needless to say, as soon as they found Stormbreaker and a decent clearing, Ketar set up a tent and piled up dry wood, lighting it up with dragonfire as he was unwilling to further exert himself after the day they'd had. Seeing as how he would quickly catch hypothermia if he stayed in his wet clothes, he'd quickly removed his Guildmaster armor and stayed in his damp tunic and trousers while Serana excused herself to the tent. At present, he was poking the fire with a stick and chewing strips of dried meat from his saddlebags as he waited for the flames to rise high enough to cook with. Serana was still busy doing something in the tent when he heard a branch snap somewhere in the forest.
Ketar was on his feet in an instant, dark blue eyes scanning the empty darkness as the silence of the night was only broken by the crackling of the fire and the occasional hooting of an owl. A loud rustling thud sounded on his left, causing him to jump and turn toward the source only to see Serana's armor lying next to the fire, looking wrinkled from being tossed. Turning to the tent, the only likely source, Ketar's jaw dropped halfway to the ground before he caught it and forced himself not to stare as Serana strode out in little more than a pair of form-fitting black trousers and a small chest wrapping covering the important bits.
Quickly sitting back down at the fire's edge, Ketar coughed softly and stared into the flames, hoping the glow of the fire would hide his massive blush.
I knew she was strong, but I thought it was mostly, you know…vampire, and all that. Those abs…
He was snapped from his thoughts by a quiet, tired sigh from behind, the log he was sitting on rustling and creaking as Sera stepped over it to sit next to him. She leaned against him and actually started cuddling his side as her raven head laid on his shoulder. Without even thinking, his left arm came up around her shoulders, gently pulling her further into him while she reached over to his right hand and threaded her fingers through his. A quiet, contented breath exited his lungs as he took in the heat of the fire and the woman curled up against him.
I never knew vampires could be so…warm.
Ketar made the mistake of looking down at her, his breath catching and blush intensifying when he met her glowing eyes and caught sight of her pale lips slightly parted. Softly, without a single exchanged word, he leaned down and captured her lips with his, moving against her with tender, reluctant advances. Her left hand came up to caress his cheek and jaw, her body angling to be facing him more directly as she turned her head and deepened their embrace. A soft mewling noise came from his throat when he felt her tongue flicker against his, her gentle, confident motions steadily turning him into butter even as an unfamiliar and infuriating feeling filled his veins.
With a quiet gasp, he broke the kiss and pulled away, his breathing heavy with both excitement and frustration.
"Kay?" Serana asked softly, voice barely above a whisper.
Ketar resumed staring into the fire.
Serana shuffled and took his right hand in both of hers. "What's wrong?"
"I…" His earlier words came rushing back in a whisper. "I don't know how to do this." His eyes reluctantly met hers. "Any of this. This is…the first time in my life where I feel…completely lost." He barked an incredulous laugh. "All my power, all my skill and…a little romance is what lays me low?"
She chuckled warmly. "Trust me, you wouldn't be the first to say that."
Ketar gave her a vexed look. "But here you are, right here, this…incredible, beautiful creature, and you know the steps. We've barely started, and you already know how to play me like a fiddle. A-And me?" He huffed and shrugged. "What can I do? Scare the crap out of you trying to get even for that little…stunt you pulled on the road."
"…that's what that was about?"
He groaned. "You're missing the point." His eyes met hers, a desperate note to his tone. "I have no idea what I'm doing. Or what you're even doing with me." He snorted a bitter laugh and turned his gaze skyward. "I feel like a complete idiot."
Serana's left hand drifted up to his neck and turned him back to her, her thumb stroking his pulse point. "Stop."
He blinked. "Stop…what?"
"Just…stop," she sighed, eyes warming with compassion. "You don't have to know everything, Kay, and you don't have to be the best all the time. I know you're used to it; you've even come to expect it from yourself…but you need to stop."
Ketar looked away.
"Back in Whiterun, you told me you wanted to be open. Well, being open means letting yourself be vulnerable to someone else. To me."
He shrugged despondently. "And I have…or I've tried to."
Serana smiled. "And where am I right now? Sitting with you, in the middle of a forest, half-clothed and trying to make out." Her grin widened as he blushed even brighter. "So trust me, you're doing just fine."
Ketar gaped and stared at her. "But I—and you—you're so good at—"
"I know," she interrupted before he could descend further down that line of thinking. A cocky grin came to her lips. "I'm good at most things." She repeatedly tapped a finger against his chest. "Just—like—you. But like you, I have my own faults and shortcomings. Like I said before…we all have our insecurities. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you."
He gulped and looked down.
"I showed you mine, and you accepted it." Serana tipped his head up with a finger on his chin. "My turn." She leaned in closer, gazing directly into his eyes. "I—do—not—want—perfection. I don't care." She drew even closer, her lips brushing against his and making his breath catch as her voice went quiet. "I want you."
Ketar held her gaze for a few silent moments before he visibly gulped and answered softly, "Okay."
Slowly, tenderly, even more so than before, their lips met once again, Ketar surprised anew at the warmth that flooded him at her touch, both in his mouth and with her hand on his chest. Her fingers danced over the dark blue fabric of his tunic, brushing against his pectorals as her tongue flicked over his and one of her fangs gently nipped his lower lip. The same infuriating inadequacy tried to rise up again, but the echo of her words quickly struck it down as he drank in her overwhelming affection with a silent promise to catch up.
Because if she did this to him every time they kissed, he was going to die long before his twenty-first birthday.
…
When they finally pulled away, Ketar's face was completely flushed, and Serana was pleasantly surprised to find her own burning up quite a bit. She preened a bit at his dumb, awestruck stare, letting a small grin come to her lips as she carded one hand through his hair and leaned back in with the intention to cuddle against his chest.
She never got the chance.
Ketar shoved her off, both falling in separate directions when she heard a telltale whistle through the trees, an ebony arrow lancing through the space where his head had just been. A deep, profound silence overtook the clearing for about a second after the arrow flew past.
And then they came out like a flood.
Two, three, four vampires sprinted into the clearing toting various weapons, while a fifth one stayed in the shadows of the tree line taking potshots with a bow. All vampires, no thralls. Serana had the misfortune of recognizing their leader, a bat-faced female vampire with a wickedly jagged sabre of Daedric make. Serana looked around wildly for her dagger, remembering a split-second later that she'd left it in the tent. Seeing this, and that Ketar was also unarmed, the vampire leader gave them a grin that was all teeth and surged toward the Dragonborn with a snarl.
Serana's orange eyes darted about, landing and stopping on a glossy obsidian form sitting next to her armor. Her half-clothed body became a blur as it lunged toward her new ebony sword, the shing from its draw ringing through the air even as she dashed past the fire. A loud clang sounded in the clearing as she intercepted the vampire leader mid-lunge, stopping her from reaching Ketar and leaping up to nail another one in the face with a vicious jump-kick. Two blows were deflected and countered with a shallow stab to the gut that would've landed had the other vampire not thrust her hips backward.
The rest of the assassins continued on undeterred, despite Serana's attempts to waylay them, and she looked back, briefly panicking when she saw Ketar just standing there, still unarmed. And then she caught sight of something in his hand, and saw the downright predatory smile on his face.
An expression that was quickly mirrored in her own when he slapped Nocturnal's Embrace to his chest and became one with the darkness.
…
The old familiar touch of his Nightingale armor clung to every inch of his body as the vampires who'd been eyeing him like a meal suddenly stopped short in uncertainty.
"What are you fools waiting for?!" their leader roared from where she was tangling (without much success) with Serana.
Ketar answered that question first.
Lunging forward, ebony dagger clutched in his left hand and the Nightingale Blade unfolding in his right, Ketar wasted no time in laying on the heat, his weapons clashing with theirs as his midnight-encased form weaved in and out of the three that were assaulting him. A slash aimed right below his ribs was deflected by a wing-block with his sword and countered with a backward stab with his dagger. The blade dug into the thigh of the attacking vampire, the two at his front moving in from opposite sides, one dual-wielding axes, the other toting a greatsword. They swung in opposite diagonal directions, with strength that would give him no chance of blocking and leave him no room to maneuver.
If he couldn't withdraw, he would simply go through them.
"Wuld-Nah-Kest!"
Ketar streaked past and between them, his weapons trailing behind and slicing both vampires across the lower chest as he shot toward the far end of the clearing. He heard the whistle of an incoming arrow from behind and spun toward it a split-second too late, a shock of agony lancing through his right shoulder when the barbed arrowhead dug through a chink in his armor. The pain alone made him drop his sword, and only a hastily-erected ward with his suddenly empty left hand deflected the second arrow to fly his way. The three other assassins were rapidly recovering, and this archer was too skilled for him to bend down and retrieve either of his weapons.
His left hand dipped to his side and deployed his Nightingale Bow, a quiver forming at his back as he ducked under another arrow and used an arm of his bow to snap the arrow in his shoulder in half. The arrowhead was still buried under his skin, but the shaft at least wouldn't get in the way. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Ketar twisted around another shot and pulled three arrows from his quiver, nocking all of them at once and aiming at the incoming vampires. He released the shot a second later, only two of them finding their marks as the third—the one with the axes, managed to deflect it with his weapons.
A rapid draw and release got the archer to back off for a second before Ketar sent more arrows at the other assassins, his shoulder aching more and more with every shot. When the three started closing to striking distance, the pain got so bad that he actually let out a cry of pain, catching Serana's attention for a moment and allowing her to be clubbed in the temple with the pommel of the leader's sword. A spark of rage ignited in Ketar's gut as he ran out of arrows, his bow swinging and catching the first vampire in the chin as he ducked away from a swing that would've taken his head off. His Voice flared in his chest and released when two vampires tried the same opposite-end move as before.
"Feim!"
Their weapons passed right through him, their attacks colliding with each other and leaving them completely exposed as the severed arrowhead in Ketar's shoulder fell from his intangible body. When he became solid once more, the ache was still there, but muted and not growing. He was almost sure the presence of the arrowhead had less to do with it than the strength of his anger. Two rapid bow strikes to the vampires' heads sent them reeling, but he knew that without something sharp or extremely hard, there was no way he'd be able to kill them. Well, physically anyway.
So when the third vampire lunged forward with a strike that separated him from his bow, he leapt and lithely climbed up his attacker's form, one leg curling around his weapon arm, the other bracing knee-first against his neck. And then Ketar twisted his hips, dislocating the vampire's shoulder and causing him to scream in pain and drop his mace as he collapsed to his knees. Ketar rolled for the weapon, grabbing it on the way up and using it to deflect an incoming arrow while spinning into a strike in the same motion. The first mace-blow dented one vampire's greatsword, and a second was caught between the other vampire's two axes. That leverage was used to wrench the hammer from his grip, once again leaving him utterly disarmed.
Dual-axe pressed the attack, forcing Ketar to withdraw by the step and actually jump over the campfire as his hands flared with magic and came together in a powerful channeling. When the attacking vampire leapt over the flames in a falling double-strike, Ketar released the spell with a yell, a searing-hot bolt of glowing plasma burning straight through his chest and incinerating his heart. Two steel axes fell to the ground with a massive pile of dust as the clearing fell silent for just a moment, everyone having stopped. And then the vampires surged forward with renewed fury, inhuman power lending speed to their steps. Another ebony arrow nearly tore a hole through Ketar's neck, his stance low and primed for a dash in any direction when suddenly, a gentle blue glow caught his attention.
Behind the midnight-black mask of his hood, Ketar's eyes widened and his predatory smile returned.
The light from the tent began to intensify as the sapphire on Ketar's ring also began to glow, his right hand flaring with power as an unusually defined shing split the air. The advancing vampires stuttered in their steps for just a moment, stopped in their tracks by the sight of his new weapon slapping against his palm, midnight-black save for the glowing sapphire in its pommel. Then, foolishly, they kept coming. The vampire with the previously dislocated shoulder was up first with his mace, swinging twice and snarling at the way that Ketar practically danced around his now-clumsy strikes.
Ketar's form flickered eerily as the vampire charged toward him, then vanished for a moment before reemerging to the left of where he'd swung, body and cape twirling in a whirlwind of black as Dragonborn's Fury cleaved the fiend's head from his shoulders. The hiss of rapidly forming dust split the night air as Ketar's most recent kill gave the others a moment of pause and him a moment of rest. A moment to look and see Serana expertly dueling the master vampire and twisting around her in an inhuman display of skill and grace.
And then he noticed she was still half-naked and forced himself to focus.
Roaring in fury, the greatsword-toting vampire lunged forward with an overhead strike that would likely have cut him directly in two, armor or no armor. Smiling malevolently, Ketar coiled up and surged toward him, sword swinging horizontally and aiming for the dent he'd created earlier. His expert aim was rewarded with the sound of shattering metal as the greatsword was cleaved in two, the dragonbone blade pushed far enough back that it only made a shallow slice across the vampire's right arm. The effects were immediate. It only took a split-second for the wounded vampire to begin shrieking in pain as a burning hiss filled the air, the cut on his arm sizzling as if on an open fire.
Ketar's eyebrow shot upward. Now there's an idea.
He lunged toward the reeling vampire with a vicious side thrust kick, knocking him clean off his feet and into the campfire, where he continued shrieking incoherently as his body was burned up and turned to ash moments later. An enraged shout rose up from the forest, snapping Ketar's attention toward the archer as another arrow flew his way, a rapidly formed ward managing to deflect it into the ground behind him. He started sprinting for the tree line, amazed at the lightness of his sword and how perfectly it fit him, like an extension of his body. Two more arrows were sent and dodged before he got close enough to hear the grind of the drawstring—too close to maneuver.
Then he Spoke. "Tiid-Klo-Ul!"
And suddenly, time stood still for all but him.
The grind and strain of the drawstring reached a fever pitch as yet another ebony arrow was released, its aim perfect, as he'd expected. The sound of it whistling through the air was almost disorientingly strange compared to what he was used to, but such things always happened when he used this Shout. He'd closed to about twenty feet, and could see the archer well enough through the eyes of his Nightingale mask: a Bosmer vampire, short and lithe and unsurprisingly afraid. The Wood Elf's glowing eyes went visibly wide as he saw Ketar moving faster than any mortal had any business being, and the Dragonborn could almost see him praying for his arrow to land.
Dragonborn's Fury drew back as its master juked to the left at the last possible moment, the blade held out horizontally as he charged toward and past the missile's sender—splitting the arrow lengthwise in the process. When time resumed its normal course, Ketar was four feet behind the archer's position in a crouch, ears filling with the sound of ash hitting the ground, sword held out horizontally in front of him. With smooth, fluid movements, he twirled his sword into an underhanded grip and held it at his right hip as he turned back to the camp. Ketar calmly strode into the clearing, seeing Serana twirl around the master vampire with all the skill and grace of a dancer, then fall into a deep crouch when she swung backward and pierce the vampire's calf with her ebony sword.
Screaming in pain, the lead assassin barely had time to process her injury before she had a new one, and was staring at the severed half of her sword arm currently sitting on the ground. Serana sliced her right hamstring, forcing her onto her knees as Sera pointed her ebony sword one-handedly, a vengeful fire in her sunset eyes. Then, in a single fluid motion, she dispassionately grabbed the collar of the kneeling vampire and thrust the black blade through her chest, a supernatural fire consuming the assassin from within and reducing her to dust in seconds.
Even from this distance, Ketar could see Serana's shoulders rising and falling, and sure enough, when he got closer, he could hear her breathing heavily. Slowly, she turned toward him, sword still held at her side, and let her face sag in relief before she began to look for the sheath. Ketar also found the sheath for Dragonborn's Fury and set it aside with a contented air as he pulled back his hood, the mask receding into the amulet as he looked over the various piles of dust. Spotting the master vampire's Daedric sword, he hummed curiously and scooped it up before sending it to the rift for safekeeping. By the time he turned back to Serana, she was already donning her now-dried armor, finally saving him from having to muscle his eyes away from her incredibly well-defined torso.
She soon joined him next to the ash piles, looking down at them pensively. "Harkon must've sent them to kill you."
Ketar nodded silently.
Serana sighed. "He's not gonna stop until you're dead."
"He did warn me what would happen if I ever came near you again."
She snorted. "Not like you had a choice."
Ketar smiled. "Sure I did." He met her gaze. "And I don't regret it."
Serana smiled back before looking toward the tent and frowning. "I wonder…he's undoubtedly had his vampires looking all over for the three Elder Scrolls. He must think you have the other two."
Ketar shrugged and smirked. "Well, technically…I do."
She stared at him. "Where do you—oh."
He nodded, grinning.
"I thought you gave them to Isran."
"I did," he confirmed, "but after Durak was killed…there was something in his eyes that made me nervous." Ketar sighed and pulled the amulet off his chest, then went about preparing to set off. "So, while everyone was distracted during the wake, right before I went to talk to you, I found Isran's hiding place and retrieved both Scrolls. I also asked Dexion about the exact location of the Ancestor Glade he mentioned. Of course, it's a moot point unless we find the third Scroll, but…if neither side has all the pieces, then we at least have Harkon at a stalemate."
"Yeah…" Serana trailed off thoughtfully, frowning in concentration for a moment. "I actually had a thought about that."
His gaze snapped to her. "Oh?"
She nodded slowly. "My mother…Valerica. When she sealed me away, the last time I saw her…she said that she'd go somewhere safe...somewhere that my father would never search. Other than that, she wouldn't tell me anything."
Ketar stood and frowned. "I don't follow."
Serana began to emphatically motion with her hands. "Mother sealed me away with an Elder Scroll because she knew it was needed to complete the prophecy. If I'm right…she'll know where the other one is. And if we're particularly lucky, she'll have it with her."
His eyes immediately lit up. "Well okay then. Any ideas?"
She frowned and thought for a moment. "Not off the top of my head, but…the way she said it...'someplace he'd never search.' It was cryptic, yet she called attention to it."
Ketar's head cocked slightly as he kept packing up their gear. "Could be anything then."
"Yeah…"
He stopped short. "Though…usually when someone says that about someone else they know, the most likely implication is that…they're planning to hide in plain sight."
Serana gave him a look. "Plain sight? Meaning…somewhere actually close to Harkon?"
Ketar nodded.
She thought about it for a few moments before her eyes and mouth went double-wide. "Oh gods—" she grinned from ear to ear and lunged toward him, grabbing the sides of his face, "—you're a genius!" A loud smack sounded as she kissed him soundly.
Ketar felt a blush creep up his neck while confusion reigned over everything else. "Okay?"
Serana laughed. "Don't you see? In plain sight—right in Castle Volkihar!"
His black eyebrows hiked upward. "That seems…precarious…and unlikely."
"Yes—unless you spent all of your time around her growing up. There's a courtyard in the castle. I used to help her tend a garden there."
A teasing smirk rose unbidden to his features. "You? Gardening?"
She crossed her arms with a narrow-eyed look. "Don't read into it. All of the ingredients for our potions came from there."
"Ah."
Her features softened in part contemplation, part sadness. "She used to say that my father couldn't stand the place. Too...peaceful." Her gaze sharpened. "It might be a longshot, but right now, it's the only one we have."
"I agree," Ketar replied as he finished loading up Stormbreaker.
"I mean," Serana continued nervously, "I don't think we'll actually trip over her there. But it's worth a look."
He smiled and turned to her. "Sera—we're going."
She gulped and nodded, staring off to the side. "Right…yeah…okay."
"Sera?"
"Hm?"
Ketar couldn't suppress a small chuckle. "Get on the horse."
"Okay."
With his help, Serana climbed into Stormbreaker's saddle and looped her arms around his midsection as he spurred the horse into motion.
"Kay."
"Yes?"
Her grip around him tightened slightly. "Thank you."
Ketar looked back at her curiously. "For what?"
Serana leaned forward to tenderly kiss his lips, making his breath catch for the umpteenth time that night. She smiled when they broke apart, laying her head on his shoulder and looking up at him. "Just…thank you."
Ketar smiled and briefly pressed his forehead to hers before turning forward and focusing on the road. "You're welcome, Sera."
AN: And there you have it! Finally back on track in the Dawnguard storyline. I needed to have this little interlude (comprised of the past two chapters) for threefold reasons: first, to introduce the Blades and where Ketar is in that story arc; second, to outline his relationship and emphasize his exasperation with both sides of the civil war; and third, Zephyr. Zephyr is freaking awesome, and upon realizing that the quest to get it is part of the Dawnguard expansion, I just knew I had to use this story to make it more awesome. So, advanced Dwarven technology that makes it fully collapsible and fast-firing.
I really hope you enjoyed these interlude chapters. This is where I'd always planned for the meat of original stuff—AKA the romance half—to really shine. I hope I delivered and/or surpassed expectations.
At any rate, let me know what you thought of all this in your comments. I always love reading reviews and messages from my readers. Until next time.
Oya, vode.
- CDrake
Musical Inspirations:
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Bow and Arrow: tonal locks/Zephyr's first trial
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Commanding the Fury: Nocturnal's Embrace/campfire battle/first kill
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine - I Cannot Let You Leave: Dragonborn's Fury unsheathed/Shadowcloak/time bent
