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Chapter 25

Sleeping while on the road had been troublesome for Alessia; she was still wary of Serana's vampiric needs, and slept lightly. Alessia knew that she would be safe in the fort and fell into a deep but fitful sleep. The nightmares that were plagued with gore and unholy offerings were now replaced with the angry and accusing face of her lover. She awoke slowly, the grief-stricken dream fading and though she knew the bed would be cold and empty, there was a warm presence at her back. Had all of it been a dream?

Alessia rolled over and put her arm around the body next to her, smiling. Her smile faltered as she found the presence was furry and breathing foul-smelling breath on her face. She wrinkled her nose and cracked an eyelid, and was surprised to find herself staring at one of the fort's war dogs. The huge animal was black with white markings on his face and seemed to be smiling at her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

She shook her head and sat up. "Go eat some mint leaves, dog. Your breath is horrendous," she said, sitting up on the side of the bed. The dog moved and sat next to her, a pitiful whine escaping as he looked at her sadly. Alessia rolled her eyes, but pet the dog, ruffling his ears. "You're a good doggy, I suppose, but I meant what I said about your breath." The dog snorted and stood as she did, watching her strap herself into her armor.

The dog made a strange noise at the back of its throat, not quite a bark. Alessia looked down at him and he pushed his nose into the gauntlet she was strapping on, looked back at his torso, pressed his nose on the gauntlet again and whined. "Yes, I get it. You wear armor too," she replied, tightening the last straps of her armor. The dog growled, and when she looked back at him, he looked to his torso again and snorted. Alessia sighed. "Don't you have handlers or something to put your armor on you?"

The dog merely sat in front of her, his eyes growing large and sad. Alessia pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance and groaned. "Fine…show me where it is." The dog yipped happily and trotted down the hall, looking back occasionally to make sure she was following. When they reached the kennels, he nosed at a piece of leather armor and Alessia set about strapping him into it. "Alright, you're in your armor. Go find a…lady dog or something." She turned and followed the hall down to the dining room, scooped a plate of ham and eggs out of the pot in the fireplace and sat across from Isran, who was just finishing his meal.

Alessia had just begun shoveling food in her mouth when Isran snickered, gesturing next to her. "I see Bran has taken a liking to you."

"Huh?" she mumbled around a mouthful of eggs, and looked to where he was pointing. The armored dog sat next to her, and seemed to be smiling again. "Stendarr's hairy ass, dog! Sod off!" she exclaimed, trying to shoo the dog away. "He was in my bed and won't leave me alone!"

"Aye, and he won't," Isran said, eyeing her speculatively. "Our war dogs choose their handlers. If Bran here has chosen you, he will follow you till death."

"What if I tell him to follow someone else?"

Isran shook his head. "They are extremely intelligent and fierce in battle. He will do as ordered but if he thinks what you tell him won't protect you from harm, he won't do it. He probably understands everything we're saying right now."

The dog made the strange throaty noise again, and after meeting Alessia's eyes with his own, laid down at her feet.

Alessia sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. "Fantastic." She finished her breakfast and said hello to Sorine, who had just sat down at the table.

"Are you all set up?" Alessia asked politely as she filled a goblet with some water.

"I have quite a few things to sell that might help you even," Sorine smiled as she started to eat her breakfast. "I just got this. If you are fighting with a mage, it could come in handy."

The Breton set a book on the table in front of Alessia, who picked it up interestedly. "Sun Fire spell tome, huh?"

Sorine grinned. "Like I said: Very handy… for dealing with the undead."

Alessia smiled, thinking that Anders would love this spell. "How much for it?"

Sorine smiled. "I have more. Why don't you take this one for bringing me here?"

Alessia was about to protest, but Sorine shook her head. "I insist. You'll put it to good use, I'm sure. And I won't mention this again, but I like it here. It's where I belong."

Alessia smiled and stuffed the book in her backpack. Behind her Bran gave a short bark and Sorine's eyebrows flew to her head. "You've taken a husky as a pet? Good choice! They are extremely intelligent, you know."

"So I've been told," Alessia replied as she got up from the table. "I'll see you later."

She walked off in search of Serana, Bran trailing obediently behind his ward. As they left the fort, Serana secured her hood over her head and smirked at Alessia.

Alessia caught the look on her face. "What?" she asked curtly.

"The irony is just fabulous," Serana laughed. "A pet dog?"

"Shut up, Serana," Alessia replied irritably, knowing full well what she was talking about.

"His own words, even!" she continued as she tried to mimic Anders's voice. "'You send me away like a pet'-"

In the blink of an eye, Alessia turned with her dagger in her hand pointing directly at Serana's face, Bran growling at her side. "You don't need a tongue to get me the other Scroll," she said quietly, her ice-blue eyes flashing.

Serana's eyes narrowed, the smile leaving her face. The two women stared at each other for a tense moment, and then Serana nodded. Alessia sheathed her dagger and turned, stomping up the path.

Serana followed, Bran eyeing her warily and she stared back at him. "The Dragonborn really needs to get a sense of humor," she muttered to herself.

…

They reached the ruins of Mzulft at dusk. The sun rays hit the golden double doors of the entrance to the impressively large Dwemer ruin, making them glow in a soft red-orange hue.

"We have to be careful with the automatons," Mjoll said cheerfully. "But I'm sure I don't have to tell this to you. You must have seen them before?"

Anders nodded. "Spiders and spheres mainly. The largest ones are harder to find, aren't they?"

"Aye," Mjoll nodded. "But they are the most deadly."

Anders pushed open the doors and found that they were in a small foyer. Directly in front of him he saw another pair of double doors, and a person sitting against the wall right next to them bathed in blood. He knelt before the hooded man.

"Must…get…stolen crystal," the Imperial mage said breathing heavily. "Take to Paratus…Oculory…"

The man took one long breath and died. Anders's brow furrowed. He searched him and found a journal. Opening it he read that the unfortunate man was part of the Synod from Cyrodiil, who had been tasked with bringing a Focusing Crystal to another one of the Synod who was waiting in the Oculory of the Dwarven ruin. The scribbles of the man seemed to suggest that Mzulft had been an observatory in the past. The Synod had been in search of the Staff of Magnus themselves and apparently the only place that would reveal its location was Mzulft.

Mjoll in the meantime, had tried the doors to the ruin. "Locked," she said, sounding thoroughly disappointed.

Anders searched the corpse again; finding a large ornate key, which he hoped opened the locked doors. He stood up and tried the key which slipped in, smiling when he heard the telltale click which meant the doors were now unlocked. He pushed them open and walked inside, Mjoll following quietly behind.

"Apparently these ruins were used as an observatory. The man who just died was bringing some kind of crystal to another man somewhere in the ruins. But the crystal is gone," Anders murmured as he looked down the darkened hallway that led further into the ruins.

"I guess the Falmer took it," Mjoll murmured. "He looked like he had been attacked by them."

Anders nodded. "We have to get that crystal and get to the Oculory. I'm on a mission to find a staff, and the Oculory is supposed to give me the exact location. It says in the journal that there is another member of his group there whose name is Paratus Decimus. The journal says he is locked inside, so the Falmer may not have gotten to him and he may still be alive."

Mjoll took the lead and Anders followed. Soon they came upon several Dwarven spiders and the battle began. Anders noticed instantly that Mjoll fought with a longsword and a shield, and although she was good, he missed Alessia's style of fighting. When the Dwarven Spiders lay on the floor in a heap of disassembled metal pieces, he cleared his throat and Mjoll turned to him, lifting an eyebrow.

"I really think we should try to sneak around as much as we can," Anders said. "That way we'll be able to ambush them and look for traps on the floors as we go along."

"Aye," Mjoll said smiling. "Those traps are deadly. I can disarm most of them, though. And I can tell you roughly where we are in the ruins. I've been to a number of them and also read a lot about them because when I was an adventurer, I used to explore Dwemer ruins a lot."

"That's good, then. We'll go slowly and we'll find the Focusing Crystal," Anders smiled back.

They passed dead Falmer along the way, and arrived to another set of doors. "These have a trap," Mjoll called out. "Let me see if I can disable it."

A short while later, Mjoll pushed the doors open and Anders could see a wooden scaffold some distance away. This area had overgrown plants growing around the walls, and the stone floors had disappeared entirely in some places, revealing brown earth and more plants. A clicking noise was heard up ahead and Mjoll warned Anders that it was a Chaurus or possibly two.

Anders immediately encased them in a protective arcane shield, his eyes scanning the plants around the wooden scaffold. A black Chaurus reared its ugly pincers, seemingly smelling the air before it, and Anders quickly cast a Winter's Grasp spell, encasing the creature in a sheet of ice. Mjoll advanced quickly and bashed it with her shield, and the insect shattered into small pieces. Another Chaurus nearby spit out some poison, but Mjoll used her shield to protect herself, while Anders quickly froze it also and Mjoll finished it off.

"By the way, I cast an arcane shield on the both of us. This means that the poison won't even touch you. It protects against fire, ice and lightning as well."

"I've never heard of magic like that before," Mjoll mused with a smile. "Where did you learn it?"

Anders grinned. "Let's just say I like to travel a lot."

Next to the scaffold was the body of another mage. Anders then looked at the wooden steps that led to the top of the scaffold. He climbed to the top, discovering a second corpse lying between two bedrolls. Several Falmer arrows protruded from the dead man's chest. He also found another journal and some gold septims in a backpack, which he pocketed. After reading the journal, he turned to Mjoll, who was standing next to him.

"Well, you're right," Anders said dryly. "The Falmer killed them."

"Or the Chauruses," Mjoll replied nodding. "If the Falmer took the crystal, then we'll need to look in every single chest we come across. There's no telling where they could have put it."

…

Alessia looked at the glowing blue orb that was emitting a humming sound and at the mages that were standing around it. Anders was not among them. She smiled at the Nord apprentice she kept bumping into.

"Hello! I'm looking for Anders?" She asked with a smile.

"The last time I saw him, it looked like he was heading to the Arcanaeum," the mage responded cheerfully. "You come here a lot! Are you sure you aren't thinking of joining?"

Alessia shook her head, a chuckle escaping her lips. She bade the mage goodbye and turned to open the door, climbing the spiral staircase that led to the vast library, with Bran and Serana following her close behind.

Urag gro-Shub was standing at his desk and smiled when he saw Alessia, recognizing her immediately.

"Hello," Alessia grinned. "I was wondering if you've seen Anders around here." Her eyes darted around the room, but the library was empty.

"He's gone off to Mzulft as far as I know. Something to do with finding a staff," Urag promptly answered.

Alessia took out the spell tome Sorine had given her and put it on the desk in front of the Orc librarian whose eyes widened when he saw it.

"A Sun Fire spell tome!" He exclaimed his voice slightly strangled with excitement. "Where did you get this?"

Alessia had considered leaving the tome with Urag, so he could give it to Anders, but now she hesitated. The hungry look on the orc's face told her that he might 'forget' to tell Anders about the book altogether, preferring to keep it in his library instead.

"Oh, umm," Alessia chuckled. "I wanted to…umm…speak to him urgently." She picked up the book and put it back into her backpack. The orc sighed, the disappointment on his face making Alessia grin.

"That book would be a great addition to our library," Urag hurried to say. "Could I buy it from you?"

"I'm sorry. This copy isn't for sale," Alessia replied. "But I know where to get another one. I'll bring it to you the next time I come here."

Urag's face lit up and Alessia chuckled again. "That would be fine," he said nodding.

"Could you tell Anders that I came looking for him, please?" Alessia said. "Maybe he can visit me if he has time. I'll probably be in Riften or at Fort Dawnguard."

Alessia heard the sharp intake of Serana's breath behind her and she smiled inwardly.

"Sure, I'll let him know! No problem!" Urag said cheerfully.

…

Anders had a frown on his face as they paused to catch their breaths at the entrance to one of the many rooms in Mzulft.

"Those doors must lead to the Boilery. I'm sure of it," Mjoll said, pointing to the double golden doors ahead. "It must be teeming with Falmer, just like the rest of the areas we've been through."

"And where does the Boilery lead to? Do you know?" Anders asked as he opened a chest and looked inside.

"Possibly to the aedrome, since this used to be an observatory," Mjoll replied advancing to the double doors. "We will probably encounter Falmer bosses here, because we haven't so far."

Anders took the gold and precious gems he had found in the chest and put them in his backpack. So far he had found no crystal of any kind in any of the chests they had come across.

"Maybe the Falmer bosses have the Focusing Crystal?" Anders wondered.

"Maybe," Mjoll replied, smiling at him. "Are you ready to go inside?"

"Let me just put up an arcane shield for us. I'll nod when I'm ready," Anders replied.

Mjoll felt the energy envelop her and smiled to herself. That spell had protected them from the poisonous Chauruses and Frostbite spiders very well so far. She kept her eyes on Anders and opened the doors when he nodded.

The vast area they were in had several large chambers with stone stairs leading to them, and some corridors leading away from the central chamber. The Falmer were patrolling the area, and one of them turned its blind eyes towards the direction they were standing.

Anders immediately cast a sleeping spell on all the visible Falmer, and Mjoll quickly attacked, managing to kill a few of them. There were others that arrived, however, and Anders cast a Tempest spell that had all of them jerking around for a few minutes, giving Mjoll enough time to continue her assault on the creatures. He immediately continued with a Cone of Cold spell, freezing two others and ran to the right side of the room to get a better view of any other Falmer coming from that direction.

When the battle was over, they got busy looting the bodies. Anders called out to Mjoll and held up a blue-green crystal he had found on one of the dead Falmer which had also been carrying a powerful Paralysis staff. "I think I found the crystal, Mjoll."

"Excellent!" Mjoll exclaimed as she walked towards Anders. "Now we just have to climb the stairs leading upwards. The Oculory will have to be on the top of the whole ruin, since it is used to study the stars and sky."

As they climbed the stairs to a landing, one of the Dwarven Centurions – a massive golden machine that looked like a metal armored giant awoke, and stepped slowly forward. Steam came out of an opening in its helm and Mjoll quickly moved out of the way.

"Use all the ice spells you know, " Mjoll called out to Anders. "It will slow it down even more!"

Anders quickly flung a Winter's grasp spell on the gigantic human-like machine, and it froze. Mjoll took advantage of this and attacked with her sword, dislodging some screws that flew out and fell to the stone ground with a musical tinkling sound. She continued to hack away at the Centurion, using her sword and shield, until it broke free of its icy prison. Anders, however, was ready for this, and flung a Cone of Cold spell on it, and the monstrous automaton froze again. This time, Mjoll succeeded in dislodging one of its great forearms, and it clanked noisily to the stone floor.

The fight went on until the giant mechanical guardian fell to its knees, and stopped, several of its parts now lying on the stone floor around it. Anders smiled as he walked forward, looking around to see if the construct had anything worth pocketing. He found a key and took it, thinking that it could come in handy on their way out.

They continued climbing the stone steps, until they reached a stone ramp. They followed the ramp, and arrived at a locked door. Several Falmer corpses lay on the floor before them. Anders stepped forward and tried the latch.

"Gavros? Is that you?" A quavering voice was heard coming from the other side. "I was worried the Falmer had gotten you!"

Anders was about to reply, but the voice continued on. "I locked myself inside after I managed to kill some of them. I'll open the door for you, just a moment!"

The huge door slowly opened and the man who had spoken to them, who was obviously another member of the Synod, was taken aback.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? Where is Gavros?"

"We found Gavros at the entrance," Anders quickly replied. "Several Falmer arrows were embedded in his chest and he died as soon as we got to him. I'm sorry."

"Damned vermin!" the man spat out. "Well, you have come to the wrong place. I have no patience in listening to strangers. And without a Focusing Crystal, I cannot finish my work here!"

At these words, Anders took the crystal from his backpack, lifting it so that the man could see it. "You mean this?" he asked with a smile.

…

Alessia peered into the darkness. They had arrived at the secret entrance to the undercroft of the castle, where three armored skeletons had attacked them. She thought they had gotten Serana, but she had merely become invisible and reappeared in a different spot, enveloping one of the skeletons with an ice spell. Bran had rushed to the one farthest to them, and leapt on it, sending it flying to the wall where it shattered. The fight hadn't lasted for very long, and soon they were inside the dark forgotten wing of the castle, which had been sealed off from the rest of the place by Serana's father.

Bran bristled beside her and she knew then that the sensation of being watched wasn't just her imagination. She thanked the gods she had her night eye ring, because she made out the movements just in time and avoided being bitten by the figure that jumped towards her, screaming obscenities.

The vampire died instantly, as Alessia cut off its head and Bran whined, looking behind him. Alessia quickly hissed at Serana to watch out, but the Dread Hounds had already attacked.

The massive creatures ripped part of Serana's robe, and she jumped backwards, encasing them in ice as she quickly used a Drain Health spell immediately afterwards. Bran leapt to one of the hound's throats, tearing it open. When the battle was over, they paused to assess their wounds and catch their breaths.

Alessia cupped one of her hands and poured some of the healing potion she was drinking into her hand for Bran to lap up, while Serana's glowing eyes gazed into the dark corridor ahead.

"That vampire was feral. How long has he been living here?" Serana whispered, shaking her head. "My father probably banished him here before he sealed off the entrance to this part of the castle."

Alessia did not reply, but stood up and stretched. She was exhausted from the trip to the castle and the two battles they had just been through but did not complain. Serana, however, spotted this.

"We will rest for a moment," she suggested, her worried eyes on Alessia. This place is huge, and we won't be able to do much if we are tired."

Alessia shook her head. "I don't want to sleep in here," she said firmly, shuddering as the echoes of her nightmare stirred at the back of her mind. "We'll press on for now, alright?"

"As you wish," Serana replied in a low voice.

They advanced further into the darkness, coming upon a bridge.

"We won't be able to cross it right now. This bridge is trapped to Oblivion. We'll have to find the switch that disables the traps." Serana then pointed to a back corridor leading to another area. "The switch is probably around that area. Be careful, we don't know what monsters inhabit this place," Serana hissed.

Alessia did not reply. The room beyond was covered in thick webs and she knew that they were heading towards a Frostbite spider's lair even before they arrived there. She readied her daggers and crouched, stealthily advancing slowly through the webs.

The Giant Frostbite spider had spotted her, however, and attacked, but it had not seen Bran. The dog attacked it, putting itself between its mistress and the creature and catching it off-guard. This gave Alessia the opportunity to hack at its abdomen, and Serana immediately froze it solid. Alessia delivered the death blow moments later. She knelt to inspect her dog for wounds, but he wagged his tail and gave a sharp bark and she knew he was fine.

"Look! There's a lever back there!" Serana cried out excitedly.

Alessia pulled the lever and they heard a swishing noise coming from the bridge.

"We're all set!" Serana smiled. "Let's go!"

…

Alessia opened her eyes, waking from a restful sleep. They had so far fought skeletons and gargoyles that had come to life when they approached and she had finally agreed to rest before they continued once the room they were in was safe. She was surprised she had fallen asleep almost instantly, but had had no nightmares. She stretched looking around. Bran lifted his head and wagged his tale and she smiled.

"He watched over you and hardly slept at all," Serana said with a smile.

Alessia smiled back. "I hope we find your mother's study soon. I feel like we've been here forever."

"There's a door up there. I'm sure we're close. I can feel it."

"How do you feel about the way your father destroyed your mother's garden?" Alessia asked and Serana frowned.

"Not happy about it at all. I never imagined he would destroy it that way. Fortunately, you managed to find the missing pieces of the moondial in the center of the garden. We would have never been able to reach this area if you hadn't," Serana said quietly. "Like I told you before, that garden was beautiful once."

"Well, let's see where that door leads to," Alessia said after she drank some water.

She walked over and opened it, peering into the darkness. Here and there she could make out gargoyle statues littering the floor. She shook her head, turning to Serana.

"Gargoyles," she said in a low voice. "Get ready for a fight."

As she approached the first one, it broke from the stone encasing it and screeched. Alessia quickly slashed at its vulnerable spot below the chest, and the monster went down. She advanced to the next one which burst out of its shell as the other one had. There were six other gargoyles and they fought each one as it woke.

When they had successfully killed every gargoyle in the room, they looked around and took in their surroundings. Alessia searched the cupboards and chests, pocketing the coin and trinkets she found.

"This can't be a dead end," Serana said. "There must be something!"

"A secret door, you mean?" Alessia asked.

"Yes. Let's keep looking!"

Alessia walked towards the end of the room, which had a large fireplace that covered nearly the entire wall. There was a candle stick on the right side of the fireplace, but Alessia's eyes were drawn to the one on the left side. It only had one candle, whereas the one on the right had three. She grabbed the ornate stick and to her surprise managed to turn it to the left. The wall next to the fireplace opened, revealing the hidden entrance they had been looking for.

"Finally! My mother's study will be at the end of this corridor!" Serana exclaimed with a smile. Alessia smiled back and they reached a door that Serana opened eagerly.

The area beyond lit up with magical candles and they found themselves in a large room, full of alchemical ingredients on tables, with a group of round circular stone rings in the center.

"Look at this place!" Serana exclaimed, walking around. "I know she was deep into necromancy. I mean, she taught me everything I know. But I had no idea she had a setup like this!"

Alessia was dumbfounded as well. Every single ingredient that she could think of was in this room, as well as exotic, rare ingredients she thought did not exist. She smiled as she went from table to table, to the cupboards, and inspected each and every one.

"Look at all these ingredients!" Serana continued talking. "She must have spent years collecting all of them! And what is this thing?" she asked as she stood in front of the circle in the middle of the room. "I'm not sure about this circle at all. It's obviously something. An entrance to another room, perhaps? Let's take a look around. There has to be something here that will tell us where she has gone."

Alessia grabbed Serana's arm before she could walk away. "Look," she said in a soft tone. "I'm really sorry about what happened as we were leaving the fort." Serana did not say anything, but her glowing eyes seemed to smile at Alessia. "I was completely out of line and should not have done what I did. I – I miss him…"

Serana nodded as she smiled. "I understand. You don't have to apologize."

"I do, actually. And I would feel better if you –"

"Already have," Serana hurried to say, nodding. "Besides, I shouldn't have teased you about it. It was uncalled for and I'm sorry, too."

Alessia smiled, squeezing her hand, then turned and continued to search.

"What are we looking for exactly?" she asked after a few moments.

"My mother must have kept a journal somewhere," Serana replied.

After a few moments, Bran yawned and sat on the floor. Alessia smiled at him. "You can sleep if you want to. You have to rest too, you know…"

The dog wagged its tail once and Alessia chuckled as Bran lay down, stretching before he fell asleep. The shelves of books were scattered here and there, and it was tedious looking through each and every one of them, but Alessia was enjoying herself. Serana had found an Alchemy table in a far corner of the study and was making some healing potions when Alessia walked up to her.

"When did you become a vampire?" Alessia asked, catching Serana off-guard.

"A very long time ago. My parents worshipped Molag Bal, the Lord of Domination. You know about him, don't you?"

"I only know he is a Daedric Prince, but little else," Alessia replied.

"He is the Master of Corruption and the King of Rape. The three of us submitted ourselves to him and performed a ritual. It was…not a pretty experience. We survived it and became vampires. I – I don't want to talk about the what we went through - it was very unpleasant."

"I understand," Alessia murmured. "I'm sorry to have brought it up, but I felt curious."

"It's alright," Serana hurried to say, giving Alessia a quick smile.

Alessia turned to continue her search and walked off to the other side of the room, while Serana fixed her eyes on her, battling a surge of emotion that was threatening to overcome her. She tried to busy herself with the healing potions she had been making before Alessia had interrupted her but could not. There was no way to deny it any longer…

She had fallen in love.

…