Author's Note: Alright I COULD just fast travel to Winterhold buuutttt I was looking at a map and I got an idea. Cause you know what most quests and dlcs need? Foreshadowing and set up. Anyways updates will likely slow back down to weekly soon as my job is going to pick up when the musical in town opens. Just in time to finally get us to Winterhold I know.
Chapter 20: Constant Vigilants
Harry pulled his cloak about himself as the cart entered the whipping winds channeled through the beginnings of the Red Road Pass which went between the mountains of southern Hjaalmarch and those of northern Eastmarch. Their only real path to Winterhold, as the other option was east towards Windhelm and then around those same mountains and up the coast on a road that was in some places, according to the cart driver, little more than a hunting path nowadays.
Thus, Red Road Pass and Dawnstar.
They had stopped to rest the horses at dusk underneath a rocky outcropping of the pass on the second day, the driver assuring him that the next day would bring them to Dawnstar just before suppertime.
It was just as they were settling in with a campfire that there was an eerie piercing howl in the distance followed by a scream of pain and agony.
Harry was on his feet in an instance and glanced over to the driver, "Stay here, and stay safe, if I'm not back after five minutes of silence take the horse and go!"
Pulling his fireball staff from his pack he quickly took off towards the noise.
His night vision was not phenomenal, therefore Harry slowed his pace to gather the mix of energies, so unique a combination of Alteration and Restoration that the spell used to be labeled as Mysticism, for the Detect Life Spell, utterly useless to him in a draugr infested barrow, but eminently useful now.
As he continued forwards he filtered out the small life signatures of fleeing animals and eventually as he moved another two hundred paces out into the rocky pine forest of the pass he spotted three life sources sized for humanoid beings.
Staff in hand he got a shock as a suddenly for a moment everything around him seemed to slow down when a glint of two yellow eyes to his right popped out of the darkness, his Detect Life spell not reacting at all he somehow in the briefest of moments managed to pull up his other hand and cast Sparks straight into the face of the figure ambushing him from the shadows.
The crackling electricity from his hand cast an eerie glow upon the scene, but it was enough for Harry to see the snarling fanged grin of his attacker and understand.
"Vampire!" He hissed out, the longer he stayed in Skyrim the more and more he was beginning to detest the undead on a whole. Harry had done his research, Voldemort definitely qualified as a lich of some sort. So it was a prejudice he came to honestly.
Switching tactics Harry sent Flames out next, causing the fiend to scramble back with its own magical ward thrown up.
This was of course a mistake on the vampire's part, for Harry not only had a significant amount of his own Magicka, but a staff in hand.
As soon as the creature had backpedaled far enough Harry let loose a fireball from his staff, it punched through the remaining strength of the creature's ward and sent it flying back, to slam spine first against a tree.
This did not deter the, what Harry now saw was an oddly emaciated seeming Nordic vampire, who quickly sent out a strange stream of magical energies which Harry blocked with a basic ward of his own.
He was hesitant to engage a vampire in close-quarters combat, but he was in a bad position for using area of effect spells, so making a split second decision Harry dropped his staff and summoned a Daedric spear just as he had with the initial werewolf attack.
With no chance to switch over to a Protego variant Harry was forced to rush forward with just his standard ward flickering out in front of him as he moved to strike.
The vampire's glowing eyes widened as Harry charged, but the expression quickly twisted into another hungry grin as Harry neared.
Noticing the creature of the night begin to brace for an attack Harry attempted to aim for center mass with his thrust.
While nominally such a strike minimizes the chance of missing, especially against an opponent armed only with hands and magic, the supernatural reaction speed of the vampire allowed it to flow around the spear and strike out with its claws like a snake.
Once more the odd sensation of wind and lightning coursed through Harry and the world slowed for a split second, or perhaps, Harry reflected as he twirled his spear so that the haft would deflect the clawed strike, he was speeding up.
While once again surprising the vampire with his seeming ability to keep up with its speed, Harry did not create more than a split second's opening from which he could attempt another attack.
To this end he attempted to force the vampire back once more with his Flames spell.
The creature growled at him and used its claws to pull itself up onto the lowest hanging branch of the tree above.
Harry had no compunction about setting the entire lower section of that tree on fire as a distraction as he ducked behind an outcropping of rock and dirt.
The undead's scream of rage was music to his ears as Harry combined the energies needed to summon Prongs.
"Alright mate, let's do this," Harry, who certainly did not consider himself crazy, said to the magical construct with a confusing level of autonomy as they rushed back into the fight.
The vampire was just putting out the fire on its fine black leather armor as Harry and Prongs charged in.
Harry with one hand ready for fire and the other ready for a shielding spell and Prongs with antlers lowered.
The creature took a double take at the Patronus and barely had the wherewithal to leap to the side as it charged through the space the vampire had previously occupied.
Harry quickly sent out a burst of Flames at the undead Nord and was preparing for a counterattack until the being stumbled to the side after Harry heard a soft thunk from the other side of his Flame spell.
The opening was not lost upon Prongs however and the vampire let out a final scream of agony as antlers impaled its chest, just to the left of an arrow that had apparently come from off in the distance. The undead flesh around the antlers scorched and bubbled before after a few moments it caught in a golden fire which spread over the vampire's entire body, burning it to ash.
Harry just stared at the empty space as Prongs raised its head proudly, that was, according to what Harry knew from his home world, not a normal way for a Patronus to interact with anything.
Harry was shaken out of his analysis by two glimmering auras of life approaching from ahead, he quickly looked around and scooped up his staff.
"Are you with the vampire?" He called out, staff raised menacingly.
Two people, a Redguard man and a Breton woman, both dressed in priestly robes and yet with iron boots and gauntlets, stepped into the light provided by the flickering flames upon the nearby pine tree.
"Nah, we are servants of Stendarr the Merciful!" The man called out.
"We hunted and fought the compatriots of this one," The woman explained, "And we thank you for catching it as it fled!"
Harry nodded, allowing Prongs to disperse back into the aether, "Well, I was not exactly enjoying the fight so thank you for catching it off guard with that arrow,".
The Breton woman held out a hand, "I am Keeper Carcette, whom do we have to thank for catching the fiend and what has you out here at so dangerous an hour?"
As he shook her hand he replied, "Harald Secret-Fire, of Whiterun. I am on my way to the College of Winterhold, I heard a commotion from where the carriage driver and I were camped and came to investigate, in fact can we make our way over there so he does not take off without me? I would like to know more of the Vigilants and why these vampires were out here!"
After Harry explained that he had been worried about another werewolf after fighting one in Falkreath the previous week the Vigilants told him about the strange necromantic hounds that often accompanied vampires.
"Well that sounds bloody horrifying, I'm glad I only had to deal with the fleeing one,".
"Indeed, that was some fair good magic young man!" Carcette commented, "I am certain my mother over at the College will enjoy having you as a student!"
"Your mother is a professor at the College?" Harry asked with interest.
"Yes, Colette Marence, she'll be in charge of most of your Restoration school courses I imagine, in fact her talent in that school is why I myself developed the skills I needed to become a Vigilant and eventually Keeper. She'd prefer I lived a more academic and safe life but Stendarr has blessed me with a sense of justice. And as the Keeper of the Vigil here in Skyrim I bring His Mercy to the innocent and His Justice to the Daedra and all Daedric abominations!"
Harry nodded along, after his interaction with Hircine he was not currently the biggest fan of the Daedra, and with his seemingly fine-tuned sensitivity to the Magicka of this world, he was not the biggest fan of Daedric summoning either. Something tasted wrong when Conjuring from Oblivion to him.
They caught the cart driver just as he was packing up to attempt and escape, he seemed visibly relieved to see him.
"Ah, Harald! You did not in fact perish! I was getting worried!" He seemed nervous, as if he expected Harry to be mad at him for packing up.
Harry waved the concern away, "Your caution was warranted, I and these Vigilants of Stendarr just fought off a group of vampires, we will have to be very careful the rest of the way to Dawnstar and then Winterhold!"
As the driver was processing that the Keeper turned to Harry, "Well met, Harald. We shall be heading back up the mountain to our Hall. If ever you hear whispers of Daedra, you know to whom to speak,".
The young adventurer nodded, "And if you ever need more magical back-up feel free to send word along to the College. I have worked with the Companions before and taken quests from the Jarl of Whiterun as well, I will gladly take a short break from my studies to aid against the Daedra!"
And with that the two groups separated, and Harry and the driver attempted to settle in to their reset camp for a restless night.