A/n: mentions of sexual abuse, BDSM, and enslavement.
XXX
Madz'r eyed the Kajiit with suspicion as she growled at him. He bit back his own growl but bared his teeth. He was a guest and he knew better than to act out in the enemy stronghold.
Not that he ever wanted to be their enemy. He had been born in Argonia, and had nursed upon the Hist tree with his hatch siblings. Being born under the sign of the shadow, he was given to the assassins guild, and made to become a Shadowscale.
His first mission had been disastrous. He had been sent to the imperial border, where the Black Marsh met the Blackwood. He was to hurry across the wood to the town of Layawiin, where he would cross into the town and kill a Kajiit ambassador on his way home.
He had been caught by Vampires posing as slave traders at the boarder. They tied him and his hatchmate Gin-Tei and brought them both across the continent to Castle Volkihar.
He was accidentally turned from the cattle that had been kept in the castle by Garan Marethi, a Dunmer who had taken personal interest in him. Garan had convinced Lord Harkon to keep him alive, only to be used as a slave to his... needs. Madz'r had no doubt that Garan could rule the coven if he ever saw fit to be more than a caretaker. But he had to first prove his ability and loyalty to live. He was forced to kill Gin-Tei.
Not that Garan was unkind, but he was very forceful. He was also very possessive. Madz'r could often be found chained to the bed for months on end, Garan being the only being he saw. Not that it was always a bad thing, Garan always made sure they both found pleasure.
But then Princess Serana returned with the Elder Scroll. Garan was ordered to release Madz'r to Serana and he was made to follow and protect the Elder Scroll and the Princess. Harkon had bid his followers to find a Moth Priest and sent them all out into the realm. Serana had brought them here to beg of her rescuer for help defeating her father.
'A shame the rescuer is Kajiit,' Madz'r thought to himself as he watched those of the Dawnguard talk over their options. The Kajiit was small, almost unassuming were it not for the heavy Dawnguard armor she wore. Her short hair fell behind her pierced ears
He noticed the Orc stuck close to the Kajiit, as though to protect her. 'Why would she need protecting? Is she so helpless?' He stood silently as Serana and Isran hashed out their hatred for the other and spoke about the Moth Priest.
The Kajiit and the Orc agreed to lead them to find the Moth Priest. Not that he minded the Orc's presence; Kajiit were natural enemies of Argonians, making him uneasy with her leadership. They made their way to Riften, where after intimidating the innkeeper they discovered the Priest had been headed towards Dragon's Bridge. They decided to rest for the night, allowing the mortals to rest and the immortals ready themselves to travel in sunlight.
The next morning the headed north. The plan was to take a ferry from Windhelm to Solitude, cutting their journey time in half. While it would be faster, it would also take them close enough to Castle Volkihar for their spies to detect them. It was risky, but worth it if they could pull it off.
As they entered the city, the Kajiit spotted some one she knew and waved enthusiastically. Madz'r looked towards the inn and spotted a woman and an Orc man exiting, the woman waving back. He took in the Orc's appearance first. Shaved head on either side with long dreads running down his back. Tall, broad shouldered, green, no war paint but heavily armored and wielded a strange great sword, both made of a material Madz'r had never seen before. A bright green/gold contraption peeked out of the armor of his right leg, making Madz'r wonder at what the Orc could be hiding in his pants.
The woman drew closer, throwing her hood back and removing a face mask, revealing snow white hair atop a Nord head. Nords were known to be fair haired, but he had never come across a white haired being. She was average height for a Nord, full body, also broad shouldered, though not as broad as an Orc, pale, wearing a lightweight black armor with the symbol of a bird on the breastplate. An obviously enchanted Ebony bow was slung over her shoulder and a quiver of strange looking arrows was hung from a quiver on her belt, opposite an enchanted Ancient Nord sword.
As he looked closer at the woman he found himself drawn to her side. Deep within him he knew, should anyone attempt to destroy her, they would first go through him. He didn't know why, but he knew he would follow any command she might give. He looked to the Orc, who held the same respect for her in his eyes, a desire to follow her and fight beside her.
XXX
The group snuck through the underbelly of Castle Volkihar, the Orcs in the lead, Madz'r and the Nord behind them, followed by Serana and the Kajiit covering their backs. They were on the trail of Serana's mother, Valerica, and the Elder Scroll she had hidden away. They finally reached what had to be the woman's labrotory and split up looking for her journal.
This was the time Madz'r decided he would ask about his instinct to protect the Nord woman. He approached the second Orc. "May I ask a question?"
"Of course. What's wrong?" The Orc was always short and to the point but could be humorous at times with the Nord and the Kajiit. As though they had some secret only they shared.
"Why do you protect the Nord, so? Is she not capable of protecting herself?" He tilted his head to the side, his feathers brushing against his horns as they moved with him.
"She is more than capable of defending herself."
"And yet you protect her?"
"She is my Queen. I am honor bound to protect her."
"Queen?" He snapped his head straight to the Nord who was following the other Orc who had found the journal they were looking for. The others gathered near the stairs as the two spoke across the room. "She is a Queen? Of who?"
"Of dragons and their kin," the Orc said plainly before he moved to join the others as they all made their way up the stairs, having already found the ingredients to open a portal to the Soul Cairn. Madz'r stood in astonishment, his jaw nearly falling and his eyes wide, as he took in the Nord again. She looked young, yet she held wisdom in her eyes that came with age and experience.
The portal opened, the stone from the ritual circle rising to become steps leading down into the Soul Cairn. The Kajiit went first, only to backtrack as the entrance began to pull what looked like her soul from her body. Serana surmised the the Cairn was hungry for souls and the only way to enter was to be a Vampire or partially trap a soul.
While the Kajiit had her soul split it was decided that the Orcs and the Nord would stay behind and keep watch over the laboratory. Serana, Madz'r, and the Kajiit would go into the Cairn and find Serena's mother.
XXX
Madz'r, Serana, and the Kajiit ascended the steps fro the Soul Cairn, the Kajiit cradling the Elder Scroll in her arms, Madz'r holding an ethereal horse skull. Arvak had been a gift from a lost soul after some wraiths had been destroyed. The soul taught him how to conjure the horse, and now he cradled the head of the beast like it was his most precious gift.
As the three reached the upper level of the laboratory, they noticed that only the Orcs were in sight. The Nord, 'Adrayla,' Madz'r thought to him self, was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's your friend?" Serana eyed the Orcs, slightly suspicious of the absence of the woman.
"She's outside, waiting for us to leave," the older Orc said as the younger took the Elder Scroll from the Kajiit.
"There's no way off of that bridge," Serana argued. "We have to go back the way we came."
The elder Orc smiled. "You don't know much about the modern world. Come, she's excited." He opened the door to the outside.
As they gathered on a bridge that led to a ruined tower, they heard the beating of leather wings. They collectively turned their heads and saw a large black and purple scaled dragon headed for them. All but the Orcs readied their weapons. The dragon flew to them and hovered by the side of the bridge.
"She's waited too long to fly again," the elder orc Chuckled at their reaction as the dragon clung to the ruined tower and lay a tail on the bridge. "She'll fly us all out, but we should hurry. They spotted her and are walking the perimeter to determine if she's nesting here."
Madz'r looked to the Orc incredulously. They were to ride the dragon off of the island? And where still was Adrayla? The Orc had said she was outside. Then the dragon snapped. He could almost hear words come gruffly out of it's mouth. "Asnir, mu kent bo!" (Hurry, we must go!)
The Kajiit seemed to understand first, sheathig her sword harnessing her shield across her back before climbing the tail of the great black dragon. The rest followed and soon the five of them were clinging to the dragon as it flew through the air, towards the south-eastern part of the country.
The dragon circled Riften once, then he added more east towards the border. The Kajiit seemed to direct the dragon on the location of the fort that the Dawnguard had made their base of operations. The dragon landed on the sone cobbled roof and the passengers dismounted, sliding off the rough scale.
After they all were off, the dragon was engulfed in a bright wight light. The five of them had to look away momentarily before Adrayla appeared where the dragon had stood. Eelegant black horns sweeping away from her face and delicately pointing upward, her white hair braided around them as though to pull them further away from her face. Black wings and a tail stretching themselves to shake the transformation's shock away. Black and purple scale crawled slightly down her forehead, giver her the look of a circlet upon her crown.
"Sorry to startle and confuse," she said as she stretched her arms over her head. "But going through the castle again seemed very tiresome. "And I saw that the patrols were beginning to crowd the basement entrance in curiosity before they saw me."
"You are Dovahkiin?" Serana looked shocked.
"Jud, actually," Adrayla said as Isran and a few of the Dawnguard came rushing to the roof. "Let's go inside and discuss our next steps."
XXX
The dragons flew around the five of them as they tried to shoot them down from the skies. Adrayla had taken to the air and was attacking them head on by landing on them and driving her sword under their scales in an attempt to pry the scales from and pierce the delicate skin beneath them.
The first fell to the ice almost breaking through it again. As the younger Orc, the Vampire hunter, swung his war axe through the beasts maxilla, effectively breaking his jaw. As the soul rose to the sky the second dragon crashed into the ice, Adrayla flipping off of its back before she was dragged into the icy water with it's carcass.
All watched as the first soul dove into the Kajiit, Madz'r marveling at the way it surrounded her as it folded to fit inside of her. He was so distracted by the Kajiit, that he failed to notice the second soul flying directly towards him.
He was blinded by the light. There was a slight tickle in his horns and on the ridges beneath his jaw and over his eyes. Then the full force of the soul hit him. There was a rush within him as the soul folded around him as though to fit inside. He could hear all of the words the soul said to him. "Dovahkiin, kuz dii sil ahrk mindos pruzah." (Dovahkiin, take my soul and learn well.)
"ZUN!" The words ripped out of his throat involuntarily as he fell to the ground at the force of the soul. When his vision cleared, he saw that the rest of the party was weaponless, their equipment scattered on the ground.
Adrayla looked surprised but happy. "I had not thought we would find another!"
The Kajiit looked disappointed. "Why should a Saxhleel be gifted with such a gift? It is not discerning, this power is it?"
Adrayla hummed as she folded her arms across her ample chest and put a finger to her mouth. "I wonder at so many Kiin being revealed now. Alduin is long defeated, ten years now." She turned to the older Orc, Burz. "Perhaps, once this Vampire menace is taken care of, I'll spend sometime at the High Hrothgar library. It may reveal something."
Madz'r looked around himself as the others recovered their weapons. "What did happen?"
Burz stepped closer to him. "You absorbed a dragon soul. The word you shouted was the culmination of the Dragon's life teaching you all you needed to know about using the word. Though it's not one I've heard before."
"Zun means weapon. It's part of Disarm. The full shout would have thrown our weapons much further away from us." Adrayla was still in deep thought as she explained. "Any way, we should get going. We're wasting time right now."
XXX
The others drew Harkon's attention as Madz'r set up his shot. He wasn't an expert marksman like Adrayla, but he had been commanded by Serana to use the bow. Harkon was drawing power above him on a balcony. He let loose an arrow from Auriel's Bow. With all the luck he possessed, the projectile had hit it's mark, and Harkon fell beneath the blow.
The Vampire Lord transported himself to the fountain of blood in an attempt to protect himself as he had done before, but another arrow from the Bow crashed near him, just enough to force him to stop his spell. This distraction was enough for the Kajiit to come from behind him and behead him.
The head rolled past Serana before turning to dust and ash. The others sheathed their weapons before exiting the chamber to join the Dawnguard in their victory. The Vampire Princess turned to Madz'r and the Kajiit, and Madz'r knew what the princes would ask him. She would ask if he needed an adventuring partner.
He sighed inwardly as he thought about his life. He was Dovahkiin, Dragonborn. He craved a knowledge that the Hist could not give him, but ancient men could. It was unsettling to be so without his homeland, unable to find the comforts he once had.
He also knew his life as a vampire was over. Some in the Guard had told him of a man in Morthal who could remove the Vampire's Curse from his blood. He was going as soon as he could be finished with his meetings with the Greybeards.
He then made a decision. Without a word, as Serana had turned around, he took out Auriel's Bow and unleashed a Sunhallowed arrow at point blank range, killing her instantly. The Kajiit looked at him surprised. "Why did you kill her after all the help she has been to us? To you?"
Madz'r laughed to himself. "She has been no real help. She's one of the reasons I'm in this position in the first place. I have plans on turning away from the vampire life. She, of course, had no such intent. She would have continued to live, and my have amassed followers who would have risen her up to be a Queen amongst them."
"You do not know this."
He handed the bow to the Kajiit. "It happened to her father."
XXX
He sat next to Adrayla as she scoured through the books in the small library of High Hrothgar. Not that two half full book shelves could be considered a library. She had been scouring the ancient books for a reason so many beings had been coming out as Dovahkiin after the danger had passed.
He didn't understand her need to know, but as she had accompanied him on his quest to remove his vampirism, he had felt obligated to assist her on her quest to find answers. That and Burz had threatened to disembowel him if he left her alone.
As his help was not always needed, he spent most of his time in the mediation of his people. It included the precise movement of body and mind to achieve a goal. It was something his Shadowscale masters had taught him during his training, something he could take comfort in from his homeland. With the Shadowscales he had been given the code name Blood-maw in reference to the dark red scales under his mouth and crawling up his throat. He wound bend himself in intricate knots and reminisced on how Garan had taken advantage of his flexibility.
His days were full of research, meditation, and training with Parthunax. He was amazed at the fact a dragon could live in peace so close to humans and not eat them. Apparently Mammoths and Giants were more to their tastes. He also marveled at the Dragons' knowledge of the new world Madz'r had found himself in. He had learned so much from the Master and the Jud he was sure that he could be considered the smartest Saxhleel in all of Argonia.