XIV: Night Vision

Back outside, the light through the mist had dimmed slightly. Fultheim decided there was enough light left in the day for us to make it to Morthal. None of us really wanted to sleep inside Ustengrav, even if it seemed to be cleared out now, so we let him lead the way.

We reached our destination as the sun was setting. I was expecting another walled city like Whiterun, but Morthal was a run-down collection of rickety wooden houses built on the banks of a small lakethan ran through the middle of town. A stone bridge was built across the river leading away from the lake.

We heard a commotion coming from the far side of town. Numerous people were standing in front of a three-story building, facing off against a man who seemed to be preventing them from entering. We didn't get a chance to hear what they were arguing about, as the crowd turned and stomped away angrily before we got within earshot.

Deciding it was none of our business, we headed to Morthal's inn, the Moorside. We were greeted by a Redguard woman standing behind the counter.

"You lot adventurers?" she asked, looking us up and down.

"Yeah," I said, "we're looking for somewhere to spend the night. I just found out I'm really weak against poison, so we can't stay out in the swamp with all those spiders. Do you have an empty room we could rent?"

"Of course. We didn't get much traffic through here before the war started. Now hardly anyone passes though."

"Is there some sort of unrest in town?" Fultheim asked as I was fishing coins out to pay for the room. "Looked like a group of people were arguing with someone in front of the jarl's hall."

The Redguard sighed. "Yeah, we're having some trouble. You may have noticed that burned-out house on your way here. That belonged to Hroggar and his family. The place burned down last week. His wife and daughter died in the blaze. Hroggar survived, and the very next day, he moved in with Alva…"

"WHAT?!" Alea snarled.

The Redguard winced at her volume. "That's what everyone in town thought too, but we couldn't prove anything. The jarl said to leave it alone, but it just didn't seem right. So Thonnir went to the house to see if he could find anything to incriminate Hroggar. Thonnir's wife Laelette was last seen with Alva, though Alva insisted she left to join the Stormcloaks. Two nights ago, Thonnir was digging around the burned-out house and discovered the ghost of Hroggar's daughter Helgi. From talking to the ghost, Thonnir learned that Laelette was a vampire and had been the one to burn down the house. She showed up and Thonnir had to kill her in self-defense. They went to Alva's house and found out she was a vampire too and had turned Hroggar into her servant."

"So what are the townspeople unhappy about?" I asked.

"Well, they killed Alva and Hroggar, but they found letters in Alva's possession suggesting there's a mob of vampires holed up in a cave nearby, ready to take over Morthal. Everyone wants to take them out now, before the vampires make the first move, but Jarl Idgrod thinks we should wait until we're sent reinforcements."

"When are the reinforcements supposed to get here?" I asked.

She shrugged. "The jarl sent messengers to Solitude yesterday. We don't even know if they're going to help us yet. Everyone's getting scared. We hear odd noises out in the marsh at night. The jarl's men insist it's just frostbite spiders, but it doesn't sound like spiders."

"I hope you hear from Solitude tomorrow," I said. I handed her some coins and we followed her to our room.

The room only had one bed, so the innkeeper brought us two deer hides to spread on the floor. Fultheim and I each picked one up right away. Alea frowned at us suspiciously, not sure how to interpret us both assuming she needed the bed.

"Hey, you're probably the only one of us used to sleeping in a bed regularly," I said as I shook my deer hide out and spread it on the floor.

She growled softly. "Whatever. Any idea what we're doing tomorrow?"

"I have to get back to Riften and join back up with Lokir before I meet this stranger in Riverwood," I said. "But first, I need to stop by Whiterun. I need to see how the two orphan girls I took in are doing."

"Did you leave them by themselves?" she growled.

"No, my housecarl is watching them," I said. I quickly explained about Breezehome and how I had taken the girls in. "I could use Lydia's help now, but I don't want to leave the girls alone again."

"I can go with you to Whiterun," she said. "My house is in that direction."

"What about you?" I asked Fultheim. "You going to Solitude to find a new contract?"

He looked at me, seeming nervous for reasons I couldn't figure out. "Er, well, I could… Or I could come to Whiterun with you… Maybe someone there needs a shipment guarded from thieves…"

I nodded. "Then I guess we can all take the cart tomorrow morning. Right now, I think I'm going to take a bath before it gets too dark…"

"What if you're attacked by another spider?" Alea asked.

"Well… I still have that other Cure Poison potion you gave me…"

She shook her head. "Why don't we go see if they have an alchemy lab in town? I know a few potion recipes you could use."

Morthal only had one shop, an alchemy shop in the middle of town called the Thaumaturgist's Hut. As Alea had hoped, it contained an alchemy lab. The owner of the shop was happy to have customers, so she let us stay after she would have closed up shop for the day. Alea taught me how to make Restore health, Restore Magicka, Restore Stamina, Cure Poison and Poison Resistance potions. Under her guidance, I didn't blow anything up, making me feel a little annoyed at my parents' lack of confidence in me. There was nothing about making potions that having only one functioning eye would interfere with, as far as I could tell.

Once we had used up all our ingredients, Alea let me head off to bathe in a secluded spot by the river, far away from the torches and wall sconces that lit the streets. I would have liked to stay under the stone bridge across the river on the edge of town, but there were houses on either end of the bridge. I walked a short way along the riverbank instead, out of sight of the houses but not too close to the spiders. Just to be safe, I left a Cure Poison and Poison Resistance potion sitting beside the new set of clothes the alchemy shop's owner had sold me.

After I had soaked long enough, I climbed out onto the bank to dry. Having fur meant this took a while, so I had a long time to think.

My thoughts kept returning to the Dark Brotherhood, the assassin and Vasha. Had he been telling the truth? What if he had just been bluffing? I had taken "defiler of daughters" to mean he might have been a rapist, but what if he just meant he was promiscuous and didn't really respect his partners? What if Fultheim was the real criminal? Could I have beaten that assassin and spared them all? How long would they wait for me to visit their hideout before they came after me, or the girls?

I was so caught up with the turmoil inside my head that I barely noticed motion far off in the marsh. My mind dismissed it as wind blowing the marsh grass at first, then I thought it might be a small frostbite spider. I tentatively reached for a Resist Poison potion and my underclothes as I turned my full attention to the area where I thought I had seen movement.

I noticed movement again, and this time I saw a dozen human forms approaching though the marsh. They were sneaking.

I froze and watched them, considering. Were they travelers trying to avoid the notice of the swamp's frostbite spiders? Or bandits? Should I try to sneak back into town and alert the guards? No, I couldn't do that while I was naked…

Cursing my prohibitive modesty, I began pulling on my underclothes as stealthily as I could, keeping an eye on the approaching strangers. They were still a good distance away, far enough that I couldn't make out anything but human shapes moving through the mist.

I had just gotten my underclothes on and was about to pull on my pants when one of them seemed to notice me. He motioned to the others, and they all stopped and seemed to confer. With a sense of dread, I grabbed my clothes off the bank and tugged them on. I was about to make a dash for the city when they turned back to me. They all stood up and gave me friendly waves, then started approaching me casually.

I slowly picked up my cuirass without taking my eye off them, wishing I had just forgotten about the chafing and put the armor on first. My fur would have absorbed some of it…

My thoughts were interrupted rather abruptly when the nearest man raised his hands in my direction. I instantly realized he was about to cast a spell, but before I could react, streaks of red light seemed to project from his hands. When they struck me, I could feel my strength draining.

"Vampires!" I screamed as I tried to jump out of the way, lost my footing and fell over. I had never seen Vampiric Drain used before, but I had read about it, and it certainly felt like they were sucking out my life force. Flashing lights were starting to billow around the edge of my vision, but I refused to give in. If I passed out now, I was dead. I started to crawl back to my pile of gear.

Another vampire jumped on my back and grabbed my wrists. I fought desperately, and his neck-bite landed on my shoulder instead. I flailed and kicked, but he held on, tearing at my shoulder like an angry dog.

"Feim!" I shouted in desperation. The vampire's grip and the pressure of his teeth suddenly disappeared. He snarled in surprise and confusion. I darted out from under him. I swiped at me, but it felt like little more than the breeze against my back.

I started to head back for my sword, then reminded myself I couldn't touch it right now. I cursed as I realized I had two options. I could lead the vampires into Morthal and let the guards deal with them while I watched, or I could lead them out into the marsh, turn into a werewolf and hope I was a match for them.

I circled the confused vampires slowly, letting the others catch the scent of my blood. Once I was sure they were all focused on me hungrily, I turned and bolted out into the marsh. As I had hoped, three of them came after me.

As I ran, I put my left hand on my mauled shoulder. I realized I hadn't thought to see if I could use magic while this particular Shout was running. I decided to risk it, since I wouldn't be able to fight so well with my right shoulder torn up.

As soon as I called up Healing Hands, I felt my body become solid once more. I snarled in frustration as I kept running, holding the healing spell on my shoulder as long as I could. It only took a few seconds for the wounds to close up, but by that time, the nearest vampire was almost close enough to touch me.

I dropped flat to the ground. The nearest vampire had no time to reach and tripped over me. I paid him little attention, as I had turned my full attention to the transformation.

The vampires attacked me as my body began to change, but now I was strong enough to throw them off. I stumbled to my feet as the transformation finished and lunged for the first vampire I focused on. I got my jaws clamped onto his neck and shoulder and started shaking him, just as one of the others had done to my shoulder. He clawed at my body for a few seconds, then I felt him dissolving in my mouth, and he went limp and turned into a pile of ash.

I started reflexively wiping at the ash in my mouth in disgust, but another vampire took the opportunity to attack me from behind. He dug his teeth into my back, but I shook him off and whirled to face him. I brought one of my fists down onto his head. He stumbled back, stunned, and before he could recover, I slashed him deeply across the torso. He fell over and dissolved into ash. I whirled and caught the last one across the chest as he leaped for me, sending him flying through the air, already leaving a trail of ash behind him.

With my opponents dead, I checked my wounds. My fur had provided some protection when the vampire had jumped on my back, so none of my wounds were serious. Just as well, since it looked like the vampires had dissolved completely upon death, leaving no hearts to consume.

I started rummaging through one of the ash piles, but my attention was drawn to Morthal, where I heard screaming. It looked like a fight had broken out on the stone bridge into town.

There was no time to worry what the villagers would think of a werewolf showing up. I bounded through the marsh and onto the stone bridge, where I saw Fultheim and one of the guards fighting a trio of vampires. The guard had been driven to the ground, where one of the vampires was tearing at his leather armor, trying to reach his neck. Beyond him, Fultheim was holding his own against two more vampires.

Still running, I leaped at the vampire attacking the fallen guard, I tore him off the guard as I flew past. We rolled around on the bridge for a few seconds, but he was no match for me, and soon I climbed to my feet covered in a new layer of dust.

One of Fultheim's opponents came at me. I pounced on him, carrying him off the side of the bridge and into the water. After a brief scuffle, his body dissolved in the water, leaving an empty pile of armor behind.

I hooked my claws into one of the bridge supports and climbed back up. Fultheim was backing the last vampire in my direction. Once it got close enough, I lunged forward, clamped my jaws down on the vampire's head and jerked my head back as hard as I could. Next thing I knew, I had a huge mouthful of vampire dust where the vampire's head had been.

Note to self: Stop killing vampires with your mouth, I thought self-deprecatingly as I inhaled some of the dust and started coughing and wheezing. I dropped back into the water to rinse the dust off my face and out of my eyes and mouth, then lurched up onto the bank, still coughing.

Fultheim approached me cautiously, still brandishing his battleaxe. I sat on the ground and turned the left side of my face in his direction with my head cocked to the side, hoping he'd notice my white pupil in the dim light from the nearby torches.

Thankfully, he did. "Ra'wati?" he asked, starting to lower his battleaxe.

I nodded, then gestured at the fallen guard, who was still lying on the ground, moaning.

"Thank the Nine. I heard you screaming…" Fultheim said. He knelt beside the guard. "I take it werewolves can't use magic,"

I shook my head.

He began healing the guard while I kept watch for anymore vampires. The marsh seemed quiet for now, but I still felt uneasy. There was no telling how many vampires lived in the nearby cave the innkeeper had mentioned. I know I had seen more than six before they attacked me.

While I didn't hear vampires, I did hear a few of the townspeople hurriedly putting on armor inside their homes. The door to a nearby house opened and a man wearing armor darted out. "Werewolf!" he shouted.

"No, she's on our side!" Fultheim shouted back. I gave the newcomer what I hoped was a friendly wave before turning back to scan the dark marsh. I continued surveying the darkness as more armed people emerged from their houses.

Everything seemed to be calm right now. I could see the spot across the river up ahead where I had left my weapons and armor. I was debating going to get it when a noise from the other side of town caught my attention. I turned and saw vampires on the roof on the other side of town. They seemed to be carrying something, but it didn't look like a weapon.

I bolted in that direction, doing my best to gesture at the people I passed to alert them of the danger. A couple of them just emerging from their homes swung at me with their weapons, but I dodged and kept running. I bunched my muscles and leaped up in the air, landing halfway on one of the roofs. I clawed my way up, ignoring the damage this did to the thatch, and lunged at the pair of vampires on the roof. I caught one of them a glancing blow across the chest, sending her toppling off the roof. I tackled the other one, and we rolled off the roof together, biting and clawing at each other.

In a matter of seconds, I had ripped him apart. I paused to check on the other vampire, but the townspeople had caught up with her. The item she had been carrying lay on the ground nearby, splintered, but I could tell now that it had been a bucket.

Why would they need buckets? I wondered, then it hit me. The torches. They were going to douse the torches.

I frantically scanned the rooftops. A dozen more vampires were lurking up there, carrying buckets. Before I could figure out how to warn everyone, they started tossing water down onto the torches and wall sconces.

Most of the town was now dark, and Nords weren't known for their night vision.

The vampires started jumping off the roofs, and the townspeople started panicking, unable to see then in the sudden dark. I had no trouble in the dark, so I was able to survey the battle and determine where I was needed most. I went for the nearest vampire, then started picking off the ones that seemed to be getting the upper hand.

I felt Vampiric Drain hitting me from behind. I turned and saw a vampire casting it on me from the nearest rooftop. I lunged at the house, catching the edge of the roof and clumsily clawing my way up. The vampire backed off but kept his spell on me.

Mages never seemed to plan on what would happen if the opponent charged through the spell and attacked them head-on. This one had the presence of mind to fall flat to the rooftop as I pounced on him, so I missed my target. I scrabbled at the thatched roof to keep from rolling off the edge and turned to face the vampire. My next pounce hit him straight-on, but he fought viciously, and we rolled around on the roof briefly, making a ruin of the thatch. I kept kicking at him with my heavily-clawed feet until I tore his belly open, and he soon dissolved, leaving me bloody and close to wheezing.

I crouched at the edge of the roof, looking for more vampires. One came rushing by the house, and I pounced on him from the roof. The impact was enough to finish him. I crouched over the latest ash pile, panting, wishing I had a heart to consume. I couldn't keep this up much longer, even if I wasn't about to turn back into a Khajiit at any moment.

Fultheim ran up to my side. "Do you need healing?" he asked.

I nodded and let out a weary sigh. I looked at the mass of roof thatching my last fight had strewn all around the ground. It looked soft. I wanted to lie down, but I kept my head up, watching for approaching vampires. We had killed at least half of them now, and the rest had retreated, preparing for a second assault. The villagers were gathered in the center of town, staring uneasily out into the darkness.

I looked back down at the loose thatch, then up at the villagers, nearly helpless in the dark. I dropped to the ground and started scraping the thatch into a pile. I pushed the pile out into the open and turned back to Fultheim. I gestured at it, wishing I could talk.

He got my idea and held his hands out, casting Flames on the pile. While it wasn't as dry as I would have liked, it soon caught fire.

The villagers saw what we were up to and some of them came over to gather more loose thatch. I clambered back up onto the roof and started tearing out more and throwing it down to the ground for them to use. I stopped to rest a moment and watched them lining the path through town with piles of thatching and setting them on fire.

A rustling behind me drew my attention. A vampire had climbed up on the roof without me noticing and was rushing at me. Before I could react, it was struck with an exploding fireball and sent flying off the other side of the roof.

I looked where the fireball had come from and saw Alea standing with her back against one of the far houses, holding the staff I had given her in Ustengrav. I looked down at her thoughtfully, then hopped to the ground and loped over to her.

She pointed the staff at me as I approached. "Stay back. You smell like a wet dog."

I puffed out my cheeks and blew out my breath in exasperation. Where were her priorities? I pointed at her, then at the jarl's three-story hall, the tallest building in Morthal.

She looked at it, then back at me. "What? Are there vampires up there?"

I shook my head, then sighed in resignation. I had no idea how to explain this without words. I grabbed her and threw her over one shoulder before she could protest, then bounded toward the jarl's hall. I leaped, caught the first overhanging roof, pulled us up, then repeated it twice more.

I set Alea down on top of the sloped roof and turned to scan the distant marsh. Sure enough, I could see a few vampires lurking out in the dark.

I turned to Alea and started to point out at the distant vampires, but she cracked me across the head with her staff.

I yelped and grabbed the end of her staff, then deliberately pointed it at a spot past the outskirts of town.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snarled, trying to tug the staff out of my hand.

I let it go, mimed shooting a bow and arrow, then pointed back at the spot I had been aiming the staff at.

"What? I don't see any vampires… Oh. You can see in the dark, right?"

I nodded excitedly, took the end of the staff and aimed it for her again.

She got the message and shot a fireball where I indicated. It hit a clump of brush where a vampire was hiding, setting him on fire. Others broke cover, and I quickly pointed the staff at them. If the fireballs didn't kill them outright, they marked the vampires for the rest of the townspeople to find in the dark.

Soon I could find no more enemies hiding in the darkness. There might still be a couple hiding behind the houses, but the real danger was over. Now I could relax and see about getting the rest of my wounds healed.

Alea lowered her staff. "Looks like that might be all of them. I only have a couple more charges on this, anyway."

I slung her up onto my back and carefully climbed down the roof. I set her down and wearily headed back to the middle of town. The immediate danger was over, as far as I could tell. Now maybe I could take a short nap…

Movement in one of the windows of the Thaumaturgist's Hut caught my eye. Probably a villager who didn't know how to fight, I thought, starting to turn away, when I heard someone inside start screaming. Forgetting my weariness, I charged and took the door down with one blow. Inside, I saw a vampire break away from a screaming woman and bolt up the stairs. I charged after him. I was right behind him as he smashed out one of the second-story windows and jumped outside onto the second-floor landing. He climbed onto the rail and hoisted himself up onto the sloping roof. I followed, and he never had a chance to turn to face me before I fell on him and tore him to pieces.

With my last opponent dead, I started to feel incredibly weary. I sat down on the sloping roof as my limbs started shaking. I really needed a nap. I couldn't see myself facing one more vampire, as tired and shaky as I suddenly felt…

Then it hit me what was happening.

My limbs suddenly started to tremble violently and my enhanced strength began fading. I lost my grip on the roof and slid down, falling into the pond below.

I was fully Khajiit again when I surfaced, half-stunned from the impact with the water. I was mortified when I saw a mob running in my direction. I desperately felt around in the water for my clothes and pulled them on as quickly as I could.

I was too sore, tired and dazed to put up a fight, so I swam over to the bank and let them pull me out. Fultheim shoved his way to the front of the mob. He hovered around me protectively, but none of the villagers seemed to want to hurt me. They helped me over to one of the burning thatch piles to warm up.

An older Nord woman walked up to us. She ordered most of them to find something to use as torches and start patrolling, then turned to me. "So you're the visiting werewolf?" she asked. I assumed this must be Jarl Idgrod.

I gritted my teeth. "I don't know if there are any laws against it, but I was in complete control…"

"And Morthal might have fallen without you here," she interrupted.

I stared at her blankly. "Really?" I asked numbly.

"My people say you killed half of the vampires on your own. Looks like you were the only one who could see them after they put the torches out."

"Yeah, my people are more than just thieves and traders," I muttered.

She nodded. "I think you've earned a place as thane of Morthal for your work tonight. We have no spare house for you to live in, but there's a plot of land I could give you to thank you for saving my people."

"Free land?" I said dumbly. I had saved the village? Killed half the vampires? They were making me a thane here too? And giving me land for free?

"The ceremony will have to wait until tomorrow. We can't let our guard down yet. We still have to make sure there are no vampires hiding in the shadows or the other houses, and…" she suddenly trailed off, looking at me strangely.

I looked around. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing…"

"You have your clothes on backwards," one of the men behind her said.

I froze. Very slowly, I looked down at myself. I let out a heavy sigh and squeezed my eyes shut. If I didn't look at it, maybe it wouldn't be true. "I need to go lie down," I said softly as I squeezed through the crown with my head down and my shoulders hunched and practically ran back to the inn to fix my clothes.

SOUNDTRACK: "Nobody Gets Off In This Town" by Garth Brooks, "Scared" by Three Days Grace, "The Howling" by Within Temptation, "Night of the Hunter" by Thirty Seconds to Mars, "Leader of the Broken Hearts" and "Warriors" by Papa Roach, "Mad Season" by Matchbox 20

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've cleared out most of the caves in Skyrim, and none of them gave me as much trouble as Movarth's Lair. It holds the record for how many times I lost and had to reload. I really didn't want to go through it again right now, so that's why I had the vampires come out to fight.

One thing I absolutely hate about Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters is how the authors love to have all the other characters speechless in awe over how awesome they are. Barf. I'm determined to keep Ra'wati grounded. Thus the "clothes-on-backwards" thing when anyone else would have had the townspeople gushing over how cool she was.