Chapter 26
It didn't take long for Garen and Serana to find Delvin's brother. Glover's forge was near the center of the small town. Sitting at the grindstone was the Breton they were looking for, sharpening a wicked looking sword made of a metal Garen had never seen before.
"Mallory." Garen spoke simply standing in front of them man.
"Who's askin'?" The Breton grumbled out, not looking up from his work.
"Name's Garen." The Breton looked up at this.
"Your brother told you we were coming I presume?" Garen asked and the Breton nodded.
"That he did. I was surprised to hear from him after so long, but if it's guild business you're here on I can help." Mallory replied and stood up from his work.
"It's nice to see a guild master that doesn't mind getting his hands dirty again. That Mercy Frey was always a tool in my book." Glover walked over to Garen and held out his hand.
"He was definitely a tool alright. That toolbag was the reason why the guild was in the shithole." Garen chuckled back and shook the man's hand.
"Really now? That I didn't see coming." Mallory chuckled and smiled at him and Serana.
"So, what can I do for ya?" Glover asked and Garen couldn't help but notice Mallory's eyes lingering on Serana. Garen smirked at the other man's interest, he was far from a jealous man and seeing his wife have the same effect on others as she did on him only made him feel luckier than he really was.
"We're looking for a group of cultists that worship Hermaeus Mora. Their leader is a man named Miraak, you know him?" Garen asked and Glover's eyes shot back to him.
"Miraak?" Mallory mused. "I can't say that I do. The name sounds familiar though. I'll ask around, maybe someone that's been here longer knows him."
"Fair enough. Mind letting us know anything important about Solstheim itself? I'd rather not do something that will get me killed, or worse get this one here to kill me." Garen smirked at Serana, earning a chuckle from Mallory and a small smile from his wife.
"There's not much difference between the laws of Morrowind and Skyrim. The only thing you'd really need to be careful of is the Skaal to the north. They don't take kindly to outsiders, so I don't know much about them other than they are the Nord natives of the island." Glover shrugged.
"Although If you're looking for something to do while you wait for me to get the information you need…" Glover trailed off,
"I assume you have something in mind?" Garen smirked at the man.
"Indeed I do. There is an old mine that's been shut down for centuries at the far end of the town. The owner, Crescius Caerellius, wants to go and explore it to find out why it was closed. He's well into his twilight years now and his wife doesn't want him to meet his end in that place."
"Let me guess." Garen chuckled. "She asked you to do it or to find someone that could just to keep him safe?"
"Pretty much." Glover smiled. "If you don't mind spending some time in a dark cave spelunking for a few hours, why not try and clear out the mine? I'm sure it won't be a problem for the slayer of the World-Eater."
"I don't mind caves at all, I'm at home in them." Garen grinned and looked at Serana. "My wife on the other hand might not want to join me."
Serana rolled her eyes at him. All because she had complained about being in a cave one time, Garen wouldn't let it go.
"Very funny ass. I'm not letting you fall to your death alone." She smirked at him and shoved him playfully.
"So where can we find this mine?" Garen asked, holding in a retort that he doubted anyone around them wanted to hear.
Glover pointed to a nearby road that lead to the north east of the town. "Just follow that road. At the very end is the mine."
"Say, what kind of metal is that? I've never seen the likes of it before." Garen asked pointing to the blade that Glover had been working on.
"Oh that? That's Stalhrim. It's native only to this island and it's better than the ebony stuff that can be made. Only thing better than it I've found is Daedric crafted weapons and armor." Glover spoke with pride as he looked at the blade.
"Or dragonbone." Garen shrugged and Glover looked at him with wide eyes.
"Dragonbone?" Glover asked, his thoughts of the blade discarded.
"Yep. If you take the bones and scales from a dread dragon, they make some fine weapons and armor. Only problem is that they're unnecessarily heavy." Garen shrugged.
"If you could get me the materials to make a set or two, would you mind bringing them to me? It's been a dream of mine to make armor from those ancient beasts." Glover asked, a spark in his eyes.
"I'll see what I can do." Garen chuckled and he and Serana left the man to his own devices.
"I'm not sure who I like more, him or Delvin." Garen whispered to Serana.
"They're the same in my book." Serana chuckled. "Neither can keep their eyes from wandering."
"Glad I'm not the jealous type?" Garen asked with a smirk.
"Yes and no." Serana replied with a smile.
"Yes because you don't make a scene whenever you or I catch someone staring at me. At the same time though, part of me wants you to." Serana smiled and Garen chuckled.
"Yeah, that might have half the guards in a town on me if I made a scene." Garen grinned.
"Let's see what this mine has in store for us shall we?" Garen asked and held the door open for Serana.
Serana smiled and walked in. Garen followed her in and heard a couple arguing after only a few steps in.
"...you almost feel to your death! I'm not spending the rest of my days as a widow!" Garen heard the angry and concerned voice of a woman chidding a man who was no doubt the person they were looking for.
"And I'm telling you that I'll do whatever it takes to find my great-grandfather's remains. He's down here, I can feel it." Garen heard an older Imperial man reply.
"That was almost two centuries ago. There may be nothing left to find." The dunmer woman replied soothingly when Garen and Serana found the two. They were arguing in front of the entrance to the mine itself.
"Perhaps we can help." Serana smiled to the two, drawing their attention.
"Who are you?" The elder Imperial snapped.
"We were sent by Mallory." Garen supplied and the Dunmer perked up.
"Really?" She asked hurriedly, her face brightening up.
GAren nodded. "See Crescius? Let these young people take care of it for you."
"Fine." The old man grumbled. "Here's the key to the mine. Let me know what you find when you're done."
"Thank you so much." The dunmer hugged both him and Serana eagerly before the older couple left.
"Ready?" Garen asked and twirled the key around in the air.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Serana sighed.
Garen opened the mine and they began their descent into the depths of the island.
"Did I mention how much I hate spiders?" Garen shivered after he had finished turning the last of the Frostbites they had come across into a pile of ash.
"Don't worry love." Serana gave him a sly and mocking smirk. "I'll protect you from them."
"You better!" Garen joked. "Why do you think I married you? Some men marry for love, I marry so that I'll have someone to kill spiders for me."
Garen laughed after Serana hit him with the flat of her blade. She gave him a look that was both joking and disapproving of the joke. He couldn't tell if she really took offense to it or not.
"The fact that I fell head over heels for you also has nothing to do with it." He smiled sheepishly and she gave him a smirk.
She shook her head at his poor save and lead him deeper into the mine.
"The path's blocked." She told him over her shoulder and Garen spotted the wooden barricade blocking their path further in.
"I got it." He groaned and stepped up to it.
"FUS!" He shouted at the wood and it splintered inward. Luckily the earth around him shook only slightly.
Garen stepped past the now destroyed barricade and found himself in familiar surroundings.
"Nordic ruins." Serana sighed out while Garen shook with glee. Nordic ruins always held surprises and the best treasure he could think of.
"Now we know why the mine was shut down." Garen supplied, poorly hiding his excitement.
Garen sheathed his Blade of Woe and pulled forth, from a pocket that had no rights to hold it, the sword Dawnbreaker.
"Good thing I brought this beauty." Garen smiled and Serana gave him an odd look.
"What is that?" Serana asked, eyeing the light that it shed around them.
"Dawnbreaker. The sword made by a Daedric Prince to kill undead." Garen spoke with pride. "I never had the chance to get it while we were trying to stop your father."
"Glad I'm not a vampire anymore." She spoke and looked into the ruins.
"Come on. I bet there's something good in here. I can feel it." Garen beamed and lead his wife into the ruins.
Garen was definitely right on both accounts. They needed Dawnbreaker to help them kill the small army of Draugr that were entombed in the ruins and they also found a large amount of magical items. Garen figured the items would get them a couple thousand gold on their own.
They came across a small river that flowed through the tomb and it was the only way to go deeper in. At the end of the river was a small cavern with an odd door had spiderwebs of red energy running through it that seemed to originate from some odd glowing cracks in the frame.
"Well." Serana spoke leafing through the journal of a corpse in the cavern. "We found Crescius' ancestor."
Garen looked over to Serana kneeling by the corpse. He caught an odd red glimmer from under the corpse.
"What do we have here?" Garen asked himself and pulled out a massive greatsword from under the body.
Garen let out a low whistle as he held the blade in his hands. It was light and balanced perfectly. It was even still sharp after two hundred years of being in the ruins. Along its blade, there was a spiderweb of red energy that ran through it.
Garen swung it a few times experimentally and found it to be one of the best crafted greatswords he had ever had his hands on. He swung it in a mighty swing and a wave of red energy lashed outward from it.
Serana and Garen both looked at the blade in astonishment.
"What the…" Serana began.
"Yep. This thing is awesome." Garen grinned at the blade.
A light went on in Garen's mind and he looked at the door, his grin widening. He swung the blade towards one of the red lit cracks. When the wave of energy struck the crack the light died and part of the frame moved.
After repeating the action a few more times, the door opened to reveal a long passageway.
"Let me go first." Garen cautioned and took a step into the hall. He had a bad feeling about the passageway.
After two steps in, Garen heard a soft clink of a mechanism triggering.
"Garen!" Serana shouted, having heard it too.
Garen jumped back, just in time to avoid being sliced in two by a swinging axe. All down the hallway more axes swung.
"There's probably something on the other side to turn it off. Let me go through first. I'll shout if you need to follow with them still on." Garen spoke calmly, watching the swing of the axes, getting the time of the swings down.
"You better not be thinking of doing something stupid." Serana chided him, knowing that he was.
"It's a puzzle, why would I do something stupid." Garen smirked at her before stepping through the first set of axes.
Garen slowly and carefully made his way through the hallway. All the while, he could feel Serana's eyes boring into the back of his skull, pleading for him to be careful. Had she not been there, he would have simply sprinted through while ethereal, however he didn't want to give his wife a heart attack.
At the end of the passage, an iron gate blocked his way. On the wall next to it was a lever, Garen pulled it and the gate lifted. Behind him the axes stopped swinging and retracted into the ceiling. Garen heard Serana's foot falls approaching him, but another noise downed it out. The tell tale crack and fall of a sarcophagus opening filled his ears.
Garen looked into the room that had just been unsealed. In it was a large pool of water, as if the river had flooded to room. At the far end was a word wall. Between him and the wall, a Draugr lich floated in the air. The mask covering its face confirmed that it was a Dragon Priest.
In one hand, the lich held a staff and the other was empty. Both the staff and its hand crackled with lightning.
"Garen? What's wrong?" Serana asked, her voice was louder than it needed to be.
Garen put a hand over Serana's mouth and pulled her out of sight of the room. When he let go of her mouth he held up a finger, gesturing for silence.
He peered into the room again and sighed at seeing that the lich hadn't heard Serana.
"There's a Dragon Priest in there." Garen spoke softly to Serana.
"The room is filled with water and it seems to like lightning." Garen looked to Serana and she nodded.
"Maybe if we catch it by surprise..." Serana spoke aloud and Garen nodded.
"Exactly what I was thinking." He grinned.
The two made their way around the edge of the room without being spotted by the lich. Once they had passed the pool of water, Garen let out a battle cry and charged the lich with his new greatsword.
The lich let out a cackle and sent a bolt of lightning at him. He felt the energy rush through his body, but it didn't stop him. Over his head, Serana's ice spikes found their marks in the Lich's chest.
Garen roared and swung a mighty blow at the lich. The undead however sidestepped his attack and batted him aside like a rag doll.
"Garen!" he heard Serana cry out.
Garen landed in a heap and his head smashed into the stone floor with a sickening crack. He heard a roar of anger fill the room and looked to see a werewolf Serana rushing the lich.
The lich tried to hit Serana with lightning attacks, but she dodged them. Serana pounced on the lich and tore it limb from limb.
Garen let his head fall back to the floor. In moments, Serana was at his side. She rifled through her pockets before pulling out a red flask. She poured some of the contents on his head and then pressed the bottle to his lips.
"Drink." She urged and he did so.
Garen felt the pain in his head recede as the potion began its work. Serana placed his head in her lap carefully. They simply sat there until Garen could sit up on his own.
"Why are you so stupid?" Serana asked, concern in her voice.
"They usually aren't strong in hand to hand." He replied with a sheepish grin.
Serana rolled her eyes. "Don't do it again." She scolded before pulling him into her for a kiss.
"Now." She spoke when they parted. "Let's find a way out of here."
Garen nodded and stood up. he slowly walked over to the nearby word wall and read the words written there.
"DIIV!" Garen shouted after he absorbed the knowledge of the words on the wall.
Around him a subtle glow formed. Garen looked down to see his chest had spikes of glowing energy growing from it. The spikes were akin to those on a dragon's chest and back.
"Huh. This is new." Garen mused before walking towards the only exit of the room. He noticed Serana giving him an odd look.
"What is that?" She asked and he shrugged.
"I assume that it gives me the aspects of a dragon. Once all three words are used, it'll be almost as if I was a dragon." He smiled and Serana gave a snort.
"Only thing keeping you from being a dragon is your body." She smirked. "And I like that he way it is."
Garen grinned at her and they stepped through a short hallway together. They came into a small room. In the center, a pedestal stood with a thick black book resting on it. Garen stepped up to the book and ran a hand over its cover. It seemed to have some sort of random swirling design on its cover. He felt like he should know what it was, but he couldn't quite tell.
"Garen." Serana cautioned, looking at the book as well.
Garen felt an irresistible compulsion to open the book. He opened it and the pages glowed green. Green-black tentacles shot out of the book and wrapped themselves around him.
"Garen!" Serana shouted out and tried to reach for him.
Garen let out a shout of his own before he was dragged into the pages of the book.