The whole while I spoke to Serana, every now and then I'd hear a distant shout of Niik's. Serana explained that they'd been practising his dragon powers, which was why I needed to change my sodding clothes from that storm.
Chapter 58.
"After Clavicus told me what happened to her, he opened the door and let me leave. If the dog hears or wish, it'll be granted on the spot but… Niik's got an impossible choice to make…"
Serana looked deep in thought as she considered my dealings with the Daedra.
"I admit, father was very impatient with children of other houses. He liked them to behave a certain way, and if they stepped a toe out of line he gets very angry… but I didn't think he'd go so far as to kill child vampires… the poor thing"
I started at the floor, imagining it.
We were there, in the courtyard. Some of those ashes were Betty's.
We all walked by them. Niik and Helgi had no idea.
"What am I going to tell him?"
"Hmm…" Serana looked up at me. I was hopeful the next words from her mouth would be the best advice someone with experience with Daedra could muster, but…
"Why can't Niik wish to bring Helgi and Betty back to life?" Serana asked with a snap of her fingers.
I'd thought of that too. Must have forgotten to include that in my summary.
"Clavicus isn't able to take things from other Daedra. Molag Bal owns Betty's soul"
"So… hmm… Then, what choice is there to make?" Serana crossed her arms. "At the very least we can bring Helgi back"
"Not without a host body"
"So what were you thinking?"
"I was th-"
"Robin!" Called a scared voice from outside. "Robin help!"
"The dogs around here are so loud" Serana muttered.
The door swung open before I reached it and a wet, matted ball of dirty fluff jumped at me.
"He's trying to kill me!"
"Clavicus?" I put the dog in the corner and pulled out Dawnbreaker. But instead of a Daedra lord, Niik came marching in with his sword in hand but his eyes shut.
"There he is…" His lids opened and he locked eyes with Barbas. "Out of the way Robin, that creature is undead!"
"I know that!" Well, I didn't know he was undead. I just knew he wasn't a normal doggy. I stood like a shield between the two of them and asked Barbas why in the world he'd tell Niik. "I told you to stay out of sight!"
"It's not my fault! I was hiding in a bush, he just found me!"
"I know that feeling…" I sighed before turning my attention to Niik, who looked unsure as his blade was lowered.
"Are you able to talk to animals now?"
"Just this one…" I waved Serana to come closer before asking her to take Barbas and leave me with Niik.
"Are you sure?" She looked at him. Her mouth twitched as she imagined Niik taking the news. There's no way for us to judge how he'll react. I like to think we're beyond this, but I still hope he's not the 'bite the messenger' kind.
"What's going on?" Niik demanded. "How do you know this creature?"
Despite Niik's suspicions, he stood aside to let Serana walk out with Barbas staying close at her side. His tail comically between his legs.
Just before the door to the outside shut, I noticed Serana do a U-turn and hide behind the wall. I know spying isn't her intention, I'm glad she's in earshot in case something bad happens.
"Niik, I have to tell you something. Take a seat…"
"I'll stand" He crossed his arms.
"If you like…" I ogled the stool for a long moment while I gathered my thoughts on how to break this to him. It got to the point where Niik took me by the shoulders and insisted that I sat down instead. I stared at the floor, wording how to say this.
How to even begin, maybe I should start with Helgi.
"So, that dog is partners with the Daedric lord, Clavicus Vile. I did him a favour, so now I'm owed a wish… but it comes with a sacrifice…"
"What was the wish?" He eyed up my hand.
My ring's still there, at least I know where his head is at.
"I negotiated with Barbas' help. Clavicus will allow Helgi's soul to go to Sovngarde"
Niik's eyes widened for just a moment. I could see him thinking this over.
"You'd do that for her?" A weak smile appeared on his face. He was delighted beyond words, but as he kept his eyes on me, he seemed less sure. "You don't seem proud… why not?"
I took a breath.
"Clavicus will do this, but in exchange… Helgi will forget ever meeting you and B-… Betty..."
That smile faded.
Since I was occupying the stool, he leaned against the support beam. This was the sacrifice owed. To be forgotten by someone you love is a cruel fate. I can still hear the cackling laughter of that bastard statue.
But Niik. He pulled himself together.
"Helgi would be where she wants to be. Dining in the hall of heroes. Meeting Talos, and hearing tales of old. Who knows, maybe she'll find her… her real parents…" He smiled weakly to himself. "Must I do it now or do we have time to say goodbye… not that it'll make a difference to her, I suppose"
"You have time…" I said with a slight nod.
"Okay, I'll be back tomorrow" Niik spun and approached the door.
"T-Tomorrow?" I question, rising up and following him out.
"It depends…" He said with a sudden look of doubt. "I know where the Brotherhood hideout is, if Betty is there, we'll be back by tomorrow"
He looked to the skies. His body started to break apart.
"NO!" I jumped onto his back, clinging to his neck just as his swarm started to scatter. Part of me expected I'd burst into bats too, but instead I hit the ground with a wet squelch.
The fluttering of a trapped bat tickled as it tried to escape from under me.
"You okay?" Niik pulled me up to my feet one-handed. I just managed to see the trapped bat fuse into his other hand, adding the last three knuckles and fingers to his incomplete form. "Why the futile attempt at stopping me?"
"Because Betty is dead!" I told him straight. With all the subtlety and gentleness of a brick to the face.
Niik's grip on my arm tightened as he stared into my very soul.
"Explain" He simply said.
Serana stayed at a respectable distance, but Niik had let go of me already.
He didn't look angry. Never lost his balance as he stood listening. I don't even think he blinked even once as I accounted what I was shown. I explained how Clavicus's vision allowed me to see Betty's last moments like a fly on the wall.
"I don't know why she went to Harkon's castle… but she never left… I'm so sorry Niik"
I watched his face, waiting for him to say something. To do something.
But I couldn't read him. He just stared at me.
After a minute, his eyes dipped to Betty's dagger. The blade spun slowly between his fingers as the point edged ever deeper into this thumb.
"How…" He shut his eyes, his lips twitching as he forced the words out. "how, Ironic…" He chuckled with a toothy grin. "Betty was hired to kill someone… And ends up getting herself killed by the person who hired her…"
Niik clutched his sides as his chuckles turned to a laughing howl to the sky.
Serana tugged at my hand to put space between us and him.
"Stop worrying!" Niik demanded, watching us with wild eyes. "Neither of you is to blame…" His gaze fell just behind us. "Dog!"
I looked at Barbas behind us. Even this Daedra in canine form looked as scared.
"Tell your master to make the deal. Helgi goes to Sovngarde, Today!" Niik demanded.
"Right now?" Both Barbas and I asked together.
"Could you repeat that, please? The dog was barking"
"Don't you think we should find a clear space to call the dragon? People will freak out if you call it here"
"I'm not calling Durneviir. The dog can send her soul with her being 'physically' present, yes?"
"I think so but… Niik, you have to say goodbye to her at least…" I looked at Serana, but she remained silent. "She's your daughter" I told him.
"It's best this way" He insisted. "She won't remember it anyway…"
"But you will! And you owe it to yourself to-"
"And she'll ask where Betty is" He spat. "And in the final moments before crossing over, I'll need to look her in the eyes and say her sister is in Coldharbour with Molag Bal!"
I had no answer for that. Niik's last words to her shouldn't be a lie, and Helgi's final moments shouldn't be that of grief.
I thought giving him this wish would be a gift. It's not that he's ungrateful, the wish is difficult by design.
"Then why don't you wait?" I asked, feeling doubtful in my own words. "You were always intent on getting her to Sovngarde yourself. Maybe that's still possible, and if it is, maybe we can use the wish for something else?"
As I understood it, a trapped soul feels no passage of time. It's not like the girl is suffering for every moment we delay.
"fine… back to the college then" Niik took a deep breath, ready to summon the dragon.
But before calling our winged ghost taxi, both he and Serana stared down the road, reacting to a noise that I hadn't even heard yet.
"guards…" Serana turned to Niik. "Summon the Dragon and take Robin, I'll grab our bags!"
"hold! in the name of the Jarl!" Called the approaching guards as Serana dashed off inside the Windmill.
"Why are they…?" I just recalled that the guards I met on the road, they said were looking for escapees. Niik and Serana were hiding out in a random windmill when I got here. "What did you do while I was gone?" I asked Niik.
"Killed a few people" Niik stated. "Strun Ba Qo!" His voice boomed like thunder, causing the skies to go black with rain and I got soaked again.
"You Made That Storm?!" I yelled over the roaring rain. "Whyyyy?" I growled.
Niik took my hand and pulled me along.
"Hurry up, Dog!" He called back Barbas at the mill.
It was hard going to run in the heavy rain and wind over the marshy grassland.
Although it was slowing the guards down more, it wasn't enough. Arrows were whistling past us.
"Get in front of me…" Niik ordered, taking up the rear since he can sponge arrows for me and just regenerate his injuries.
"Wait Niik!" I looked at the guards from over Niik's shoulder. I'm soaking wet from all the rain, so it makes sense that they'd be also. "Blast them with magic! With all the water, it'll get them more!"
Niik looked back.
"Smart thinking…" He told me to back off while he charged his hands with magic.
"What's your plan, Robin?" Barbas asked.
"Just sit back and Chill, because this going to be rather Cool to watch because there's Snow hope in hell they'll enjoy this"
Niik waited for Serana to catch up with us before he threw his hand forward. A blast of lightning struck forth and lit up the dozen guards like no one's business, making them drop like flies.
"Smart idea, I don't know why I never thought of that"
"Sure… no problem, hehe" I laughed nervously, looking at the lifeless bodies.
"That was your idea?" Serana questioned.
"Yeah… Totally… that's exactly what I meant for him to do…"
Once we found a wide empty space I asked Niik why he didn't just summon Durneviir instead of the storm.
The reason was that Durneviir's ghost has less physicality than other dragons, meaning in theory, arrows have a better chance at killing him. In battle, this might not matter as much since he'll be flying around and attacking back. But on the ground waiting for us to mount and get secure, he's a giant target.
In short, we cannot fast travel when enemies are nearby.
I just wished he'd used another shout. Because once again, I'm soaked all the way through and it's all his fault.
"I'll need to change when we get to the college…" I sighed as Durneviir took off with us on his back.
As we got out of Niik's storm, we flow into an actual blizzard. The frost – wind - water combo I wanted Niik to use on the guards was now in full effect on me. I couldn't even hold onto Durneviir, instead, I had to hide as much of myself as I could under Niik's cape as I held on to his waist.
The flight only felt longer because of the conditions we flew under, but before I turned into an ice sculpture, we touched down outside of Winterhold.
No one reacted to the dragon landing outside. Maybe they're just hiding from the blizzard.
"Call you later, Durneviir" Niik said, giving the dragon a small salute.
I wish I wasn't too cold to comment on how cute him saying that to a dragon was. But there was one thing that needed to be said, and I'm glad Serana remembered.
"Niik, don't forget about the dog"
"Oh, right…" Niik looked back at Durneviir, who leaned forward and opened his jaws, allowing the petrified Barbas to fall from his mouth and into the snow.
"Never do that to me again!" Barbas yelped, shaking all ectoplasm at us.
He smelled how my mouth tasted after I got a kiss from… myself. Still weird to think about being two people at once.
But I had to just let that thought go as Niik took led us through the ghost town.
"I always thought Winterhold would be bigger than this…" Serana mused much like her mother did. "This can't be right… Where's the temple? The city walls?"
"I th-th-th-ink-k-k-k…" My teeth were chattering too much to finish my thought I need warmth before I die.
It's almost like being soaked with rainwater and dozed with frost makes mobility and general survival harder.
Shame no one thought of that when we were being attacked by guards… maybe they too could have lived.
"The tavern has a fire on all day. Go get warmed up and I'll send someone down with fresh clothes for you" Niik commanded with a rather cold tone in his voice.
"C, co-co-come w-w-w-ith…" He was already gone.
I wanted to thank him, or at least I felt he shouldn't be alone right now.
But as selfish as it is, it's hard to think about him right now. Staying alive was my main concern, so I tried blowing hot breath into my hands in desperate attempts at keeping warm.
"I've only read about this city, so I'm going to walk around a bit…" Serana was about to turn away, but saw the weak steps I was taking to Inn. "You're like an old woman…" She chuckled, lifting me into her arms like a baby. "Where's the Tavern?" She asked, carrying me into town while I meekly pointed her in the right direction.
"No smoke from the chimney…" Serana warned as we approached. "I'll get the fire lit for you, I'm sure I figure out how"
I'm just hoping it's open. If not, Serana better be able to run up to the college quickly before I literally freeze to death.
Then again, I doubt Serana can be halted by a locked door anyway. I'll pay for the repairs myself if needed if it means I get out of this snow.
As she stepped up onto the raised flooring just outside the tavern, Serana let me walk inside on my own.
When it's just us it's fine for me to be carried, but people might wonder how such a dainty lady like her could haul my ass about with such ease. Not to mention how embarrassing it is for me.
"It's very quiet inside…" Serana mused as she reached for the handle.
We opened the door.