Cedric's body touched down gently on a bed of wooden splinters. The same black hand that had prepared the funeral pyre guided his now naked corpse down. A quiet crackle could be heard just above the wailing wind as Cedric's head eased into the kindling, black hair entangling with slivers of wood. The creature's hand seemed to linger for a moment, its plated fingers, scraped and speckled with bone fragments, hovering over Cedric's face. Over his eyes, still faintly coated in frost, never to open again. His lips, set in a pale smile.
Serana turned away, a stony line holding her own lips rigid. Wood creaked beneath her boots as she shuffled towards the front of the boat she was in, arms aching as she toed over the oars resting on the floor. Blankly, her eyes inspected the hull, every color-stripped inch, as she had countless times already.
Her mother had used boats like these for transporting gargoyle statues to the castle, and at least half of the dozen vampires that Sarpa had come with had to have been held within its confines as well. No damage was visible, and its front end floated gently upon the icy seawater.
Yet still she prodded at the ribbed boards of its interior with her boot.
Both of her legs strained with the useless gesture, her bones creaking like the wood beneath her.
Her boots stepped over the front seat as she turned back around, pacing towards the back of the boat. Looking back towards Cedri- towards his corpse.
The creature stood like a statue over his body, in the howling wind. Its armored hands rested at its sides, each grasping a sword hilt- one chained, the other forged for her hand. Her boots rocked to a halt at the edge of the boat, the water sloshing gently against the hull and the gravel shore.
The creature's gaze turned up, glancing off of her eyes. It lingered for but a few seconds, those teardrop lenses of red as cold and hard as the ice coating the gravel that the creature stood upon.
Her fingers curled in towards her palms as its visage straightened out once more.
It raised its arms, holding the two swords out in front of it. The ebony edge of the blade it had taken from her straightened out parallel to the cold length of Cedric's body, the stony silver blade of its own weapon crossing over it.
Her lips remained sealed, her breath unable to escape to the wind even through her nostrils.
The metallic scrape of the two swords striking each other cracked like thunder to her numb ears, the sparks that were drawn from their cold surfaces flashing like lightning to her stinging eyes. Her body trembled, aching muscle fibres begging to be given some small reprieve. She did not budge, unblinking, as sparks dribbled down into the bed of kindling that Cedric's body laid on.
The sea itself seemed to stand still as the creature's arms drew back to its sides. Embers began to dance in the mess of bramble beneath Cedric's body.
The creature's leg raised up, armored boot planting down on the edge of the boat which cradled Cedric's body. The wood creaked, only gently bobbing in the icy water, under the metal-clad foot that had nearly ground her body into the ice.
Thin trails of smoke started to snake out from beneath Cedric's body, wispily tracing through his messy black hair. Kissing upon his cold brow before rising up to the winds.
She could feel her tongue moving within the dry confines of her mouth, straining to say something- anything- as plumes of orange began to ignite.
But there were no words left, no thoughts left. All there was to do was watch as the flames grew brighter and hotter, in pure spite of the winds combing over the ocean. The creature's boot must've pushed forwards, in a motion that her eyes could not catch in the glaring blaze cast by the pyre.
Her eyes followed the burning boat as it drifted out into the water, its gruesome reflection writhing on the surface of the sea. The rigid smile etched into Cedric's face held its shape, in a twisted mockery of contentness. And then, in a flash of flame, it too was carried off to the wind.
0-0-0
"Your wound. Will it hinder you?"
The creature's voice shook her from her firelit reverie, the hollow reverb left in the wake of its cold tones prickling at her skin. The orange tongues of flame in the distance continued their glimmering strobe on the water.
She blinked, eyes still faintly stinging by the time she finally turned her back on Cedric's funeral pyre. The creature stood on the shore, steps away from where the boat lounged in the icy water.
Her good hand trailed down over the bundle of blood soiled cloth on her arm, the sting of barbs lodged within her flesh underneath faintly registering as her fingers pressed down. Uselessly testing for something she already knew.
"It still hurts," she responded, barely able to hear her own words.
The crackle of burning wood, distant as it already was, seemed to echo in her ears. Her eyes drifted down to her boots as her shoulders slumped. "But it'll heal. It's just… going to take some time."
Her fingers picked absentmindedly at the embroidery on the front of her coat. Flickers of orange reflected off of the silvery patterning.
"Are you fit to travel?"
Her breath left her in a wispy sigh, her eyelids relaxing and falling shut.
"Yeah. Just give me a moment."
Those words rolled off her tongue with little feeling or thought. She half expected the creature to deny the request, alien maw snarling with barely concealed vehemence.
It said nothing.
0-0-0
They cast off without ceremony, the creature wordlessly taking up the front pair of oars of the boat. Their wooden handles were held firm in its armored hands as it sat facing her. Their departure passed in a blur to Serana, the open sea and swarming snow enveloping them in what felt like mere moments.
The creature's two arms moved in uncanny tandem with her one good arm, matching the awkward rhythm that she turned her oar with. Adjusting its movements to account for the imbalance of force pushing the boat forward.
Its own blade was fastened down to the floor next to hers, both of their points angled towards her. Her sword's scabbard remained empty, strapped to her waist as the boat bobbed over the currents of the sea.
Neither that detail nor the creature's silent gaze fazed her. Nor the strain that coursed through her arm, nor the sting of lingering thorns in her wound, nor the weight of the Elder Scroll on her back.
Her eyes were set forwards, peering out as far she could into the swirls of snow that howled over the water, watching for the distant silhouettes of the glaciers and cliffs which stood on the northern shores of Skyrim.
She didn't dare break her focus away from that, lest she catch another glimpse of fire on the water.
Apologies for the short chapter, I'll admit this was more wrapping up some things I probably should've thrown into the last one.
Never imagined it'd take me this long to get to this point in the story but hoo boy lol
Thanks to everyone who's stuck around since then. I'm not sure if taking this much of a snail pace with the story was appropriate, but I'm glad it paid off for a few people.