Chapter 38.
The walk down the mountain, the night spent in the local tavern and the entire ride towards Redwater was spent with only a few words at a time being passed back and forth between us.
As I drove us through the woods, Niik spent most of his time in the back studying Auriel's bow.
He was in awe of the initial warmth that came from holding it. Whether or not it can actually put the world into eternal blackness I'm not sure, but it truly was an exquisite bow and he seemed to notice.
"Robin, hand me some arrows would you?"
Without a word or a glance at him, I drew two arrows from my quiver and handed them back to him.
An arrow shot just past me a moment later and flew over a signpost down the road. The second arrow, however, hit the target and split the sign in half.
"A decent weapon" He smirked setting it down next to me. "Perhaps we should use it against Harkon"
"Maybe you should" I agreed.
"Only… I seem to recall talk that the weapon only works in direct sunlight" He grunted to himself. "How do we get Harkon to leave his castle…?"
"I'm sure you will figure that out"
I continued riding on in silence until we came to a lake where I drove Epony off near the side of the road before hopping off to unhitch her from the wagon.
"What are you doing?" Niik asked leaning off the side to watch me.
"Giving her a rest from walking" I say bluntly before leading Epony to the banks for a drink. Instead of taking some water right away, Epony poked me in the head with her nose again. "no no… drink…" I giggled trying to pull her reins down.
"You know the saying about leading a horse to water don't you?" Niik asked before stepping off the wagon and walking to the other side of Epony's head.
He looked down at her and for a quick second, I thought I saw Epony's eyes flash red. She relaxed while her head slowly dipped into the water and she began to drink.
"thanks"
Niik's head shot up to look at me. He looked cross with me, if a little confused. "No comment about me seducing a horse? What's happened to you?" He asked.
"Nothing, I just didn't think of it" I tell him as I lead Epony over to the grass to graze while we're here. I've also been thinking of putting on her saddle and going for a half hour ride just to let her stretch her legs free of the wagon. It is a nice day after all.
"Shouldn't you be in your coffin anyway? Isn't it too sunny for you?"
"The trees are keeping me sheltered"
"oh"
I kept a hold of Epony's reins as I walked her around the grass like a dog on a lead. Letting her eat the grass while I was watchful for snakes or spiders.
Behind at the wagon, I could hear Niik climbing back up. I listened for the sound of his coffin lid, but that never came. I imagined he was just sitting on it, impatiently waiting for me to seat up at the front so we can ride off again.
"Don't go off too far" He called to me. "Remember, these are the woods where the Silverhand gang attacked you. So be vigilant"
Last time I encountered them it only took two of them to get the better of me. In fact, if Serana hadn't been there I'd have been killed in the first second by an arrow to the head, but the woods looked peaceful. Colourful flowers and bushes. Streams of yellow rays coming in from above. It was hard to imagine anything going wrong simply riding Epony through it all. But that line of thinking can get me killed.
Better to assume danger, than not living to regret it.
I mean I can fight sure, but it only takes one well-placed arrow. One person with a stronger sword and better armour to end me and for what, thirty or forty minutes of riding solo just to clear my head a little?
"You're right. Let's just keep going" I sigh as I lead Epony back to tether her up again. "don't worry girl, we'll go for a proper run when we reach the dawnguard" I gave her a gentle clap on the neck before taking my place behind the reins and setting us off.
It's really not like us to be so quiet. Normally I am all the chatter and I'm sure Niik is noticing the rift between us.
I don't want us to be cold the rest of the journey and I certainly don't want Serana to be dragged into the conversation.
"Hey, Niik…" I sigh to myself, sensing his body turn to face me from behind. For a while, I'd been looking between both the woods on my left and the lake on my right.
"Skyrim is rather beautiful isn't it…" I mused quietly. "I'm still coming to terms with being stuck here, but when I see sights like these I can really see myself on those lake shores and just relaxing for a while… but then you have dragons and, bandits, spiders and…" I glanced slightly behind. "vampires…"
Niik nodded at me. "So many dangerous creatures. I don't think relaxing this far from the city will be possible. You let your guard down, you die"
"yeah, but the Dawnguard is fighting to stop the vampires at least. Do you think they can succeed?"
"Can they kill Harkon?" Niik asked rhetorically. "It's entirely possible. Will they kill every single vampire, no"
"Why not?"
He said nothing. Just smiled at the floor before his eyes looked at me.
"I only meant the evil…" I stopped. He was smiling because he already knew I was specifying evil vampires. But after yesterday, they'd have every reason to group him with the evil ones. "aright be straight with me Niik. You've done a lot of horrible things"
"That's right"
"So why are you siding with the Dawnguard and not Harkon?" The thought did cross my mind that he doesn't want the world to be plunged into eternal darkness, but as a logical woman, I can't bring myself to believe for a moment that a bow and arrow will put out the sun.
"If I sided with Harkon back when I encountered Serana, the Dawnguard would have been eradicated within a day" He said, smug as you like. "But then what do I do? Exterminate every person I see and scorch the ground as I go before finally taking my seat upon a throne of skulls? No. I can destroy a city in a day, or protect it for a lifetime, so I occasionally play the part of hero because Nirn will never run out of villains seeking power and bloody conquest, thus I will never find myself in a position of having nothing to do"
Niik went on to explain in his own words that to accept the formal title of a hero himself would do a disservice to those who actually fight with a righteous heart. But I have to say, it was quite disheartening to know he sides with good sometimes because going full renegade would be boring for him.
"What about when you were human? You've mentioned a few times that you were worse back then"
"Oh, I was" He said with a smirk. "You saw my Namira ring in my college didn't you"
"Remind me"
"It's a cannibal cult"
Epony neighed loudly as I pulled the wagon to a sudden halt.
"WHAT?" I yelled turning to him but he looked more confused than I'd ever seen him. "You ATE People?" I demanded.
"This is shocking to you?" He asked, raising his eyebrow at me. "You've seen me drink blood, you've Served me blood in a tankard"
"Well, ugh… You're a vampire!"
"And? Whether I consume someone's blood as a vampire or their flesh as a mortal is completely irrelevant from the victim's perspective"
"oh, you…" I growled before curling up on my seat to press my hands against my eyes as I had a think.
Niik eating someone's flesh. It gave me flashbacks to the silver hand man he tore open like fried chicken. I felt like I was going to be sick.
"Want me to take the reins for a while?" He offered.
"Sure, whatever…" I threw my hands up, letting the leather strip fall to my lap before I stepped over the backrest to sit on Niik's coffin while he took my place. "You know the most annoying thing about you Niik?"
"What's that?"
"Your moral views are messed up! Yet difficult to challenge" I sighed.
Because he's right. I've sat by and watched him drink blood over and over and I have actually poured some for him. I didn't even question who's blood it was, I just did it because I knew he was a vampire and vampires drink blood.
In my world, vampires are sometimes idolised and romanticised, which I'll admit did influence my feelings towards him when we first met. But when you stand back and accept that the vampire Was human at one point, they are cannibals in method.
When my friends and I talked about vampires, we always made rules on what type of people we could justify feeding from. But if I woke up tomorrow stuck in the body of a lion, I can't even begin to think about tearing into a person and eating them.
Around afternoon time we arrived at Redwater Den. Niik fire blasted his way through a wall of ice to let Serana and Valerica out.
From what I could tell, Valerica wasted no time engulfing herself in the evil super blood Redwater has to offer. Like a tourist on her way home, she had bottles of the stuff in her arms and loaded the wagon with them.
Once Serana was with us, I immediately settled into my usual chatty self, showing her the maps and scrolls given to us by the greybeards while Valerica retired to Serana's coffin for the rest of the trip and for some reason, she took her little linen wrapped package in with her as she slept.
"Do you know what that thing she's carrying is?"
"I did try asking her, but she just snaps at me and says she'll maybe tell me later"
"She was sleeping when we arrived, you never took a little peek?" I teased, jokingly gesturing like I was about to look inside the coffin.
"I wouldn't if I were you" She answered with a foreboding feel of mystery to her. "I never looked because 'wandering hands' can be removed"
Valerica strikes me as someone who'd make good on that threat, so I quickly sat back where I was.
It didn't take long for the walls of Riften to come into view. It was as we approached that Niik asked me to hand him Auriel's bow.
"I trust you know the way back to Fort Dawnguard from here?" He asked, looking like he was ready to jump ship.
"Where are you going?" I ask as I climb back into the driver's side.
"I'm going to have a word with the blacksmith" He explained. "I might be a while, if you make it to the fort before I do, let Isran know that I might need whatever spare silver sent down if possible"
"Oh that should be easy, should they come with diamonds too?" I asked rolling my eyes. How in the world was I meant to say to Isran of all people to send a precious metal and his best ammunition against vampires to Riften on the request of a vampire, and my and Serana's word alone?
"Is it for arrows?" Serana asked. "Silver tips?"
"Silver tips…" Niik said grinning. "Tell Isran if he can't send the silver, I'll need to write home to the college and have it sent by carriage. Which takes more time obviously"
"What are you scheming Havod?" I asked narrowing my stare on him.
He looked up to the clouds above. A silver outline was shining brightly around each and every one of them. "A victory" He said before taking the bow and approaching the two guards at the door.
He was let in without paying visitors tax.
"that son of a bitch" I growled remembering how I got fucked out of fifty septims when I tried to enter. "Think I should start wearing all black? Dye my hair and rub lemons in my eyeballs until they turn red?"
Serana, lost on what I was driving at listened as I explained my past experience with Riften before laughing. "They tried to get me to pay too"
"Really?" I felt myself getting more annoyed.
"Remember, Niik knows people in there. The thieves guild"
That's right. He's got people on the inside that actually knocked those two extorters out and got me my money back.
"I need to make a list of contacts in Skyrim. Make friends in high places and then I'll get to walk into smelly fishing cities without harassment!"
Serana nodded approvingly at me. "Don't give up on your dreams" She said jokingly as we pulled off.
We spent most of the ride just chatting with each other about nonsense. Her about growing up in a daedra worshipping hold, while I, now that there's less constraints on me, spoke about the academy.
But although I couldn't ethically understand Serana's life, I could still follow the basics.
She, however, not so much.
We tripped at the first hurdle, and I had to try and explain future tech to an iron age princess.
"Imagine a lantern made of glass"
"Alright…"
"But the flame sparks up by itself whenever you walk in the room, or when you ask it to"
Serana thought about that for a moment. It seemed clear she was interested in it but slightly unsure. "Didn't you say magic doesn't exist in your world?"
"It's not magic it's… hmm, well… Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" A quote from somewhere. I know one lecturer is shaking his head right now sensing my lack of knowledge.
"That's pretty profound Robin, did you just make that up?"
"…yes" I say with a nod. "anyway, the lantern basically uses uh, lightning… Manmade lighting to brighten the place up almost as good as the sun itself, only localised to one room at a time"
Serana seemed impressed. The very basics of my civilisation are fascinating to her, and I haven't even touched the cross-dimensional transporter, not that I intend to because explaining lightbulbs in terms she'd understand was hard enough.
Plus I'm not a tech girl. To me, it is all magic left for smarter people to build and laugh at my ignorance.
"Could you build those things?"
"Ha! Not a chance" I laughed. "Although… something brilliant but more low tech might be doable…"
I started thinking. I might not cut it out here as a warrior while wizards and orcs and dragons are floating about. So maybe a career change is in order once this business with Alduin is settled. Advancing a less developed world is highly frowned upon though, so I might need to be sure that the Academy isn't watching me before I introduce things to Skyrim.
When I explained this idea to Serana, she asked for an example of what I had in mind.
"I dunno. What do people need?"
"You're asking me what people need?" Laughed the immortal vampire, but then hissed when we entered a sunny ray peeking over the cliff peaks.
"Maybe something to block out the sun?" She asked. "without shooting it I mean… Vampires would be happy if you had something for that for us"
"uh… yeah…" I should have read the bottles. "I'll invent the umbrella for you, how does that sound?" My mind was on all the things that might make me rich in this time, the only sad part was putting them into production. But in the end, I ended up laughing to myself with the image of goth chick Serana strolling along with an umbrella.
"Robin, how long were we away?" Serana asked.
"I'm honestly not sure. Between losing my mind and turning night into day back and forth, I'm not sure, why?"
With her hand over her brow, Serana nodded forward.
The sun glare was difficult to see through, but it looked like we were approaching a barricade.
"Halt! Who goes there?" Yelled a voice from up high.
Serana and I looked up to see several crossbows pointed our way.
"They got busy" I muttered to Serana before announcing ourselves. The sad thing is I didn't recognise any of them. "We've returned from a mission! We need to speak to Isran"
"Remove your hood! Or we'll shoot!"
I looked to Serana, who was breathing sharply through her teeth in preparation for having to bluff her way through the sun.
"There's blood in it for you if you can make it through this" I promised as she stood up and pulled back her thick leather hood.
I could hear her struggling through the pain. What's worse, I heard laughter from up above.
"I hate these people…" Serana growled as she sat back down.
"Where's Niik?" Durak the orc called down to us having just emerged up top.
"He's in Riften!" I yelled back. "Can we come in? Open the gate!"
A moment later, the wooden log gate was pulled open. Nothing too sophisticated. On the way in I spotted two Dawnguard members pushing the doors shut again before two more ran up beside the wagon to escort us up the rest of the way.
"Do you have any water?" Serana asked holding her hand against her face.
"yeah…" I handed her my flask wondering what she intended to do with it, but she simply poured a little into her cupped hand before washing her face over with the cool water. "Want some blood?"
Serana looked to the crossbow walking to our right, while I stared at the one to my left.
"That little stunt with the hood made my friend sore, I'm offering her blood on my own volition, so don't shoot her"
The glance I got from her annoyed me. Little miss crossbow walked faster to point the arrow at us. "We have blood for her inside. No humans was the agreement she made with Isran"
I made a face at her before covering my forearm again.
But then Serana tapped her hand on my knee. I stared at her and despite still being a little hurt, she was giving me a smile that said she had an idea. Her eyes burned from yellow to orange for a moment, as she turned between the two guards on either side and they slowly turned their stares to the ground.
"Good job, be quick" I whisper as I pull my wrist back out for her.
"no" She reached back and pulled out one of the bottles of daedra blood. "it's been over a thousand years since I've had a taste" She bit the crock off and let the red, ink-like liquid pour into her open mouth. She only took about half the bottle before sealing it once again. "now then…" Her eyes reopened, colour inverted with whites a soulless black and gradually turning to red then bright yellow at the centre.
"Serana?" I asked feeling nervous.
She blinked at me and her eyes went to how they were before. "Sorry, I'm adjusting to this, it's very potent"
"How does it taste?" I ask, wondering if it has the same flavour properties as regular blood for her.
She explains that it's a little more 'nippy' than human or animal blood, but still matches whatever craving she has. In this case, it was like spiced water. She described it like someone taking a cup of unboiled water from a soup pot.
Once at the stables outside the fort, Serana used her mind powers to convince one of our escorts to fetch Isran so we could talk about Valerica in the coffin. The other seemed intimidated by us now that he was by himself and now that we were in the shade, Serana was more relaxed and up for chatting again. However, I didn't like how the guard kept staring at us.
When he caught eyes with me, he looked away.
"wanna have some fun?" I asked nodding back to our suddenly bashful guard. "Sonny" I call over leaning past Serana. "What's on your mind lad?"
Serana was unsure, but I gave her an assuring nod.
"Sorry, I…" He gulped with his eyes filching back and forth from me and Serana. "I just… I've never seen a vampire before… I only joined two days ago"
"oh" I suddenly felt bad for planning to wind him up. I guess knowing you share a world with vampires known to kill people, then signing up for a private army training to fight back, letting a vampire in your walls and being this close must be terrifying. "We're not going to hurt you-"
Just as I was saying that, the coffin behind us was pushed open as Valerica started to wake up. "Where are we now?" She asked as she crawled out of the side.
The sound of metal quickly snapping against each other rang in our ears. Serana and I saw the guard fumbling with his crossbow. I didn't see where he was aiming but luckily for him that he missed.
Or… maybe not so much.
"Mother Stop!" Serana yelled.
"What is she, doing?"
Valerica had her hand out to him. There was a slight red glow in her hand, but the young dawnguard soldier was standing there with his face turning red and veins popping out.
"Is she choking him?" Vampire Jedi kept coming to my mind.
"no it's... Mother stop it now!" Serana urged grabbing her mother's hand.
"He tries to shoot me and you defend him?" Valerica demanded.
"Mother" Serana growled before turning to face the half dozen guards pointing arrows at us.
I don't know why I had my hands up, it's not like they'd shoot me… right?
"Why have you brought yet Another monster to our home!" Isran demanded. I could feel the hatred and disgust in his voice and if not for his darker skin, I'm certain his face would be just as red as Valerica's victim of torment.
"Niik's in Riften right now, so please let me summarise" I say clearing my throat, believing that anything Serana says will probably be dismissed. "The one in the coffin is Serana's mother. She wants Harkon dead too and has not only provided us with a weapon that we might be able to use against Harkon, but she's also willing to read your elder scroll for you"
Isran shook his head before Gunmar stepped forward.
"And how do we know we can trust her? She might steal the scroll from under us"
"I'm sure we can come to an arrangement" I announced turning to Serana, hoping she'll support me on this as well as hoping Valerica won't be a total bitch about it. "You can hold both of us at, bow point…? is that a thing?" I muttered to myself. "If she tries anything, fire away"
"Thank you for dragging me into this" Serana sighed.
"Sorry but, killing me won't matter to Valerica" I told her. "I volunteered myself so you wouldn't have to do it alone"
Serana and I shared an awkward stare for a moment. She clearly didn't like the idea of a silver bolt pressed against her neck, and obviously, there was the idea that even if I'm kneeling beside her, the Dawnguard might just kill her and spare me.
"if that happens, Harkon will be the least of their worries" I promised. "I'll have Niik vamp me up and we'll make mincemeat out of them"
Serana rolled her eyes with a smile starting to come through. "Whatever… let's just get this over with"
"Attagirl"
"What?" She asked.
"nothing, let's do this!" I cheered pulling out my journal. "Get the elder scroll Isran, wherever you've hidden it"
"You expect me to believe that this creature can truly read the Elder Scroll?" He demanded. "And what do you expect to learn?"
"You never know with Elder Scrolls" Valerica said as she stepped from the wagon. "They're elusive, and mysterious. Those I trained under taught me as much. For centuries I trained myself to read them and in that time I learned much, most of all that Elder Scrolls often like to play games with the reader. Words change day to day, telling different events each time. Anything not already happened is a possibility of the future. So after my training, I pursued the black sun prophecy's origin. I retrieved Auriel's bow and know how to make it deadly towards vampires. But Serana's scroll was buried with her before I learned how to read it so I never got the chance. If there's a possibility it contains additional information I'd rather like to know"
"if the scrolls change day to day… how can Serana's have different-"
"Enough!" Isran said.
"oh, ignored then" I mumbled quietly.
"Make no sudden moves, and follow us" Isran ordered as we were lead in by all the surrounding guards, making it feel kinda like marching down death row.
"Between you and me Serana, this prophecy sounds like the biggest load of sh-"
"No talking" Isran snapped, so I gestured zipping my mouth shut. A pointless exercise as he doesn't know what a zipper is.
Honestly, I wish this would all be over so we can go dragon hunting. At least with them, I know better where we all stand.
Inside the fortress, Valerica stood centre of many, Many crossbows both on the ground floor and up top on the balcony.
Serana and I were made to stand in attendance, but we merely had knives at our necks, a silver one for Serana.
"I recommend that the knives vanish if Niik bat-swarms in" I announced while I had a chance. "He gets murdery when we're in danger"
"eh?" Whispered the man holding me. I guess he's heard a few things in our absence.
"Oh yeah, while we were gone he killed a Daedra single handily. Literally, he used one hand" I said smiling back at him.
"Twice" Serana added matching my cocky tone. "He killed that same Daedra twice, remember? After cutting his head off, Niik summoned him back for a second try"
"Ah, of course, you're right" I said back and suddenly, the grips on us felt looser by the second. Didn't take long for the knives to go away completely.
Serana and I shared a smirk at each other just before Isran entered the room, cradling the Elder Scroll in his hands like a newborn baby. I saw the shiny white material reflecting colourful rays around the room along with the glittery gems on the inside.
He presented the scroll to Valerica and we all budged forward to hear, though those in the back tried to avert their eyes for their own safety.
Valerica opened the casing and pulled out the shiny scroll from within.
A few moments passed that felt like forever.
The room was silent.
Not even a breath could be heard as we all waited for the words to pass her lips on what she'd say.
Her face flinched as she lowered the scroll. "It's blank…!"