Chapter 26 - Kindred Judgement - Part 1
I have to convince Isran to help us. I fear he will be characteristically unreasonable with me, but we need the firepower of the Dawnguard. Without them, attacking Castle Volkihar by ourselves is suicidal.
The Dragonborn was bursting with nerves and an overwhelming tide of guilt as she tread through the waist-level golden grasses of Dayspring Canyon.
The walk was lovely, with moonlight shining down upon her instead of the sunlight that would have drained the energy from her every limb.
Her thoughts, more precisely the impending consequences of her actions, were less lovely.
What have I done..?
The woman ground her teeth together as she strode on, creating a terrible grinding within her skull that was quickly developing into a headache.
This.. this was too much. This was possibly the stupidest thing she had ever done in her life, and the Dragonborn figured that she had done a lot of moronic things in the twenty seven years that she had walked this land.
This was bigger than herself. She admitted this after having defeated the harbringer of the apocalypse himself, Alduin, or maybe it was just her childish sense of justice holding her back.
Either way, what she had done had been a decision made out of pure passion and not much thought.
She was a logical woman, she planned ahead, she strategized. It was difficult to do that when her own damn mind and body betrayed her. But.. whenever something involved Serana, she could hardly think clearly.
In frustration, the woman kicked at a rock that was in her path, sending it spiraling off the dirt trail and tumbling somewhere into the sea of grass.
The end of the canyon was fast approaching, but the long walk from the gates of Fort Dawnguard had done nothing to calm the sharp stabs of anxiety in her stomach.
She had done what she had done to protect she and Serana, but the long-term affects of it could potentially put them in even more danger.
Ugh. The Dragonborn lifted one palm to her face to cradle her forehead, brushing away her bangs she did so.
Damn Isran, damn him and his unyielding ideals and stubbornness. Why couldn't he just have been reasonable? Why couldn't he have just.. understood?
Isran may have been rude, uncompromising, and dour, but the last thing the Dragonborn had ever wanted to do to him was hurt him.
The Dragonborn was surprised at how willingly Isran had let her enter Fort Dawnguard.
There were no threats, no swords or axes pointed at her back, not even the promise of the atrium that focused sunlight so intensely that it could have brought her to her knees.
The leader of the Dawnguard had met her at the entrance of the fortress, and now, he climbed the staircase with her, a vampire, at his back.
The worst she received were untrusting looks from unfamiliar Dawnguard members, and the occasional pitying ones from the people that she had met before.. before leaving with Serana.
Isran led her to his study, its doorway right next to the railing that overlooked the chamber below. He entered, and she followed a little ways behind, the orange flames crackling in the fireplace on the far wall creating a silhouette around the Redguard man.
Isran stopped at the foot of the fireplace, his broad shoulders flexing stiffly as he crossed his arms over his chest. The Dragonborn could already feel the grim frown on his face before he even turned around to face her.
She figured she would take the initiative to break the frigid air around them, but had only managed to part her lips halfway before Isran's growling voice filled the room.
"You're here for a reason, aren't you, girl? I suspect it's too much to hope that you've decided to abandon that vampire and return to us, so what do you want?"
The Dragonborn recoiled slightly, her confidence flickering and her mouth closing. She had been expecting a lot more.. belittling on his part. He wanted her to be straightforward, then? She could do that.
She squared herself, trying to appear more self-assured. "Harkon. I want to defeat him, and I need the Dawnguard to do that."
Isran's dark eyes narrowed at her, creases forming on his forehead. "I recall quite clearly your claim of not needing the Dawnguard. Sound familiar, girl?"
The Dragonborn forced down the indignant lump forming in her throat. It was time to swallow her pride. The safety of Skyrim was leagues above her own ego and hubris.
"Isran," She started, her voice low and wavering."I was wrong." Agh, did that sting. She tried to not wince too obviously when the words left her mouth. "I need the Dawnguard's help to defeat Lord Harkon. I cannot do it on my own."
Isran considered her concession, the severity of his expression softening as he did. The Dragonborn could see his options clicking into place when the look in his eyes sharpened.
"You will have the Dawnguard's support." He told her.
The Dragonborn was, once again, shocked. No way it was going to be this easy, there had to be some catch.
"If-" There it was. The Dragonborn flooded with exasperation. "-If you cure yourself of this.." His gaze lowered from her face down to the rest of her body, and back up. "-curse, and slay that lover of yours along with her kin."
She tensed up first on the word slay, but lover was what really drove the stake in. The Dragonborn felt her spine go rigid, and she fought with her instinctive reaction to lash out at him by biting her own tongue hard enough to sting.
No. Was the immediate response that her mind provided her with, and the Dragonborn agreed completely. She did not speak it aloud, though, both of her hands curling into fists by her sides due to the effort.
Isran was telling her to kill Serana.
No. No, that was out of the question.
Perhaps she did not need the Dawnguard after all. She had the power of the Ancient Nords and Dragons at her finger tips, not to mention the inhuman abilities of a vampire. She could.. probably.. take on an entire castle full of almost equally powerful enemies. Probably.
There was also the matter of taking down Harkon...
Isran, mostly likely fed up with her speechlessness, shattered her thought process.
"That's what this is, right, girl?" The Redguard sneered at her, his voice dripping with malice. "That vampire seduced you, and now you're one of them."
The Dragonborn arched a brow at him, willing to take the harsh words, until he added: "Pathetic." Isran then spit at the stone floor by her feet, and her anger flared.
How dare he speak to her like that? He may have been older, but that did not make him better than her, that did not make him any more deserving of respect than she was.
Isran did not have the moral high ground here just because he was a mortal and she had let her humanity go. The Dragonborn decided that she was not going to accept this treatment, or any threats aimed at Serana from him.
"Well, have you decided?" Isran grunted, unfolding his arms and lowering them to his sides.
All the Dragonborn could really recall in that moment was an incredible sense of power. She was higher on the food chain than this feeble mortal man; she could end his miserable life with ease, and that fact was exhilarating. It must have been what a Saber Cat or Wolf felt like when they had finally cornered their prey and were preparing to pounce, she figured.
She had her rabbit right where she wanted him, and she was ready to sink her teeth in.
Isran barely had time to react before she lunged forward, one her hands closing around his throat, and the other clapping over his mouth to muffle his responding shout of alarm.
She must have lifted him completely off his feet, because through the red haze over her vision before she went for his neck, she saw the Redguard up against the grimy brick wall in front of her.
She had never done this to a person before. Usually it was bottles of human blood that Serana presented to her to sate her thirst, and somewhere deep inside herself, that last speck of humanity within her, cried out in outrage at her actions.
This was wrong, she knew that, but it was also so thrilling.
The Dragonborn sank her fangs into the mortal man's neck, and she bit down. Isran thrashed against her in futility, but he went slack as soon as the coppery taste of his blood began filling her mouth.
She then stepped back, pulling her hand away from his mouth and swiping her tongue over her top and bottom lip to gather whatever blood that had escaped.
Isran, proud, steadfast, grumpy Isran, blinked at her languidly and peered at her with hazy eyes. It felt like he was looking straight through her.
"Mistress." His voice was monotone, his expression empty. "What will you have me do?"
An hour. She thinks it must have been at least an hour since the Dragonborn had left.
It felt like eons, especially since Serana had nothing to do but wait and worry.
The vampire sat upon a moss-covered boulder with her legs crossed, having picked the spot due to the willow tree that loomed over it. It wasn't much use now that the sun had sunk below the horizon, but she did not see any reason to move.
She was too busy fretting over the Dragonborn to think of much else, nevermind relocating herself.
The entrance to Dayspring Canyon was straight ahead, across the cobblestone road from her, and all Serana had been doing this entire time was bore a hole into the shadowed tunnel.
It would have been incredibly stupid to follow the Dragonborn right into the middle of a cult of armed vampire hunters, but her skin was just itching with the thought that her partner was in there alone. Serana should have been by her side, ready to defend her, ready to fight with her.
She despised this waiting, and each minute that crawled along only added to the weight growing in her chest.
What if this was a trap? What if they had turned on her and captured her, or even worse, what if they had killed her?
No, stop that. The vampire shook her head slowly, drawing in a long, relaxing inhale.
She was being paranoid. The Dragonborn would not be defeated so easily, and if that Celann fellow was anything to go by, the Dawnguard were too fond of the woman to just kill her.
But that other man.. Isran, he was their biggest obstacle. That mortal loathed their kind; how in Oblivion was the Dragonborn going to be able to convince him to put aside his prejudices and help them? There just.. didn't seem to be any good outcome to this meeting in her mind.
For first time since she had sat down, Serana lowered her gaze from the mouth of the canyon. She untangled the knot of fingers that she had her hands in, and began picking restlessly at her nails.
They were surprisingly long and elegant, despite the rather violent things that she tended to use her hands for.
That would soon be undone, because if the Dragonborn did not return soon, she was probably going to pick them off down to stubs.
Serana was in the process of bringing one of her thumbnails to her mouth to be chewed to pieces when she caught movement in front of her.
The vampire bolted upright, slipping off of her perch when the figure emerging from the canyon on the other side of the road was close enough to be recognized.
The Dragonborn had returned in one piece, thank the Gods.
"Hey!" She called breathlessly, rushing forward and making it to the other woman in only three strides. Serana placed her hands on each of the Dragonborn's shoulders, and studied her expression now that they stood face-to-face.
She looked.. disturbed.
"Are you okay?" Her eyes traveled lower, all the way down to the other woman's feet and back up. She had some thorns stuck onto her and dead grass in her hair, but otherwise was completely unharmed. "They didn't hurt you, did they?" Serana asked anyways.
The Dragonborn attempted to give her a smile, and failed miserably. "I'm fine, Serana," She paused and gave up the effort, the sides of her mouth pulled into a frown. "Isran agreed to help us."
That was good news, but she sounded far from pleased about it.
Serana raised a brow. "He did? It can't.. it can't have been that easy."
The Dragonborn rocked forward a little on her feet, and she looked away off the side. "It wasn't," She sighed dully, "He only agreed to help us.. if... if I cured my vampirism."
What? Too shaken by the Dragonborn's words, Serana let a pause stretch between them while she tried to recollect her wits. She blinked a couple of times, hard.
"What?" She asked aloud this time, her touch falling away.
The Dragonborn reached for one of her dangling hands, and grasped it between her two palms. To Serana, it felt like the woman were clinging to her in an effort to ground herself. She was trembling like a leaf.
"I.. enthralled him. He is under my spell, and he commands the Dawnguard... so they are ours to control now."
What? Serana was speechless, her lips parted, but she couldn't find any other words than what? to say.
The Dragonborn's hold tightened around her hand, a hint of panic seeping into her voice when she spoke again.
"I had to do it. He told me that the only way he would help was if I killed you." She was trying so desperately to justify her own actions, and it was heartbreaking to Serana. She had absolutely nothing to feel guilty over.
This outcome was unexpected to say the least. Serana found it to be a pleasant surprise more than anything, but the Dragonborn did not think like her. The woman had a heart of gold, and what she had done was obviously tearing her apart. Isran had been her ally, and this probably felt like she had just plunged a dagger into his back.
Also.. her heart gave a little flutter at the realization of what this woman would do for her.
"Hey," Serana uttered softly, and the Dragonborn reeled back a little. "You did what you had to." She raised her free hand to drape it over the other woman's, who continued to clutch her left hand firmly.
Her words had the calming effect that she had been hoping for, some of the tension falling from the Dragonborn's shoulders and her expression softening.
"This means.. that we're ready to storm Castle Volkihar, right?" Serana went on, offering a consoling smile.
She could see the determination igniting inside the other woman's eyes, her brows drawing together and the corners of her mouth curling upward.
Right, they were, weren't they? They could do this. They could defeat Harkon, together.
"Yes," The Dragonborn spoke at last, intertwining their fingers. "It seems our moment of fate is nearly upon us."
Serana squinted at her, before throwing her head back in a short bout of soft laughter. "Encouraging words. Must you be so morbid and cryptic?"
The other woman flashed her teeth at her in a fleeting grin, giving Serana's hand a little squeeze. "I can't be stoic all the time. I have to mix it up every now and then."
Serana exhaled with amusement through her nose, tilting her head to face down the length of the cobblestone road that stretched out before them. Their next stop was Riften, but surely they didn't have to leave right now?
She then tilted her head back, towards the sky. It was velvety black, sprinkled by stars and painted by green and red auroras. It was lovely.
An unspoken agreement must have passed between them then, because the next moment Serana felt herself being gently tugged past the treeline. She and the Dragonborn emerged, hand-in-hand, into a clearing with a quaint pond in its center. Lily pads rested on the water's surface, which gleamed brightly with moonlight.
She was led to its bank, where the Dragonborn released her hand and lowered herself into the pillowy grass. She sat with her legs crossed, palms resting over her knees.
Serana soon joined her after she had finished appreciating the scenery, close enough that their arms brushed once she had settled herself.
"Serana," The woman beside her began in a grim tone, "Are you ready for this? To kill Harkon?" Serana did not hear the jingling of her earrings, and she felt no eyes seeking out her own, so she continued to peer into the reflective surface of the pond as she contemplated.
They had to kill Harkon. It had been the obvious solution to this problem for what.. months now? Her father had to die to ensure the safety of Skyrim.
Of course, Serana's stomach did give a tiny little twist at the notion. Harkon had been her father, and she had loved him greatly. But that was in the past, the very distant past. Whoever this man was who called himself Lord Harkon, he was not the man she had once known.
The vampire sighed, letting her weight fall into the Dragonborn's side as she did so. "Harkon.. he stopped being a real father to me a long time ago. I'm ready."
This time, she did hear the rattle of the other woman's earrings, and Serana turned toward her. They were face to face, and Serana could see the stress etching lines into the Dragonborn's skin with her troubled expression so close.
Ah, she really was worried about this, about how this would effect Serana. It made warmth swell within her, but a tide of anger overpowered it.
She was prepared to kill Harkon. He had hurt the Dragonborn and so many others. He'd had this coming for ages.
This damn woman was just far too forgiving.
"He's.. still your father..." Far, far too forgiving. Serana kept a cynical chuckle to herself. "I'll kill him, so you don't have to."
The words stabbed her right in the dead heart, but in a pleasant way. She was just aching with how much she loved this woman.
She expressed her breathlessness with a pithy chuckle, raising her hand to cup the Dragonborn's left cheek. "I appreciate that," The pad of her thumb brushed along the woman's skin, over that darling little mole that was underneath her eye. "But we're in this together."
Serana hovered even closer, their noses nearly touching and their mouths just a couple tantalizing inches apart. "You know I'd follow you to Oblivion and back."*
The air was suddenly so charged around the two of them. It was palpable, restless, and the Dragonborn could not make sense of it. All that she could comprehend was the need to have Serana's lips on her own.
She had already made one impulsive decision today, what harm would be one more?
Huffing impatiently, the Dragonborn closed the distance between them herself, a hunger unlike anything that their kisses had possessed before making itself known once their lips made contact.
She reached for Serana, draping her arms over the back of the other woman's neck, acutely aware of the touches that were placed upon her as well.
They had never shared such a passionate kiss, not even back in the Forgotten Vale, on that Gods-forsaken frozen lake. This setting was much more romantic, and that was not anxiety weighing in her stomach, it was.. desire, hot and vociferous desire snaking its way down to the space between her thighs.
Had she ever felt genuine desire for another person? Had she ever wanted someone as much as she wanted Serana?
Certainly not, she thought, when a shiver traveled up her spine as Serana slid one of the hands upon her waist further downward.
Eventually, they both had to break apart for air, and Serana took in a sharp breath that she blew out against the Dragonborn's ear, evoking another shudder from her. Stars were already flashing underneath her eyelids when Serana pulled her even nearer, the touch of her lips ghosting down from the side of her jaw to her neck.
Instinctively she tilted her head to allow more access to her neck, and a faint gasp escaped her when Serana's teeth grazed her. She was fully anticipating what she expected next, a feeling that she only experienced a time before while slowly fading into unconsciousness and laying in a pool of her own blood.
It never came, Serana had hesitated, her cold breath blowing across the Dragonborn's skin.
Was something wrong? She thought that things had been going rather well..
"Do you want this?" Serana said softly right at her ear, her alluring voice thick with concern.
Oh. Serana was asking for permission. Permission was something that neither of them had been offered, once, wasn't it?Gods. She nodded against the other woman.
"Yes, I do." The Dragonborn answered steadily.
Now given her consent, Serana descended upon her like a starving wolf, the twin pin-pricks of her fangs an electrifying feeling that created shivers through her very bones. The small amount of pain it brought was pleasurable in a way, even more so when she heard the appreciative purr that was coming from the back of Serana's throat.
Did her blood really taste so divine, to illicit a sound like that from Serana? She was going to end up making her jealous if she carried on like that.
Serana pulled away, the tip of her nose trailing against the Dragonborn as she drug her tongue over the marks that she had just made.
The action evoked a sound from the Dragonborn that she never thought she'd make, her every sense and thought melting into pure bliss.
When Serana moved her hands to grasp her shoulders and push her flat onto her back, the Dragonborn let her.
*:O She said it!
And shout out to the last Guest that reviewed! I really hope you remember what your account's password is because I would have loved to PM you a thanks for that review you left. I appreciate you taking the time to comment and I'm glad you're enjoying the story!