Halfdan couldn't believe how strong this vampire was. Others had tried to influence his mind before, but between his half-elven blood, Astrid's training against such spells, and the wolf medallion given to him by Kodlak that was enchanted to protect him against such magic, it should've been impossible. He knew he was being compelled yet he could not bring himself to rebel against his mistress. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder if this was simply his natural state, doomed to always be a tool for others' ambitions. Perhaps the freedom afforded to him by the companions was too much, and his spirit secretly surrendered itself to this vampire's command purposefully in a desperate attempt to avoid the burden of choice.
Regardless, these thoughts had been pushed far into the back of his consciousness as his priority lay with the safety and desires of his new mistress. The pair had just made it out of the cave and into a small blizzard in the night. Through no small effort, Halfdan barely managed to hide the terrible chill he had as his mistress stretched and basked in the outdoors for the first time in gods know how long. He breathed deeply in an attempt to take control of his body and avoid chattering his teeth, then stepped up to the vampire, currently with her eyes closed and a content smile as she embraced the weather.
"My lady, if I may?" He paused and waited for her to nod, a tinge of annoyment in her face, possibly over interrupting her moment. "Where exactly is your home?"
"Right, sorry. It's on an island near Solitude. Hopefully, we can find a boat to take us there." Her gaze turned distant. "It's my family home. Not the most welcoming place, but depending on who's around, I'll be safe there."
"Why would you not be safe there, my lady?" The magical compulsion made Halfdan prioritize his mistress's well-being.
"Let's just say that my mother and father had a bit of a falling out. Don't worry, I'm not in any danger or anything like that. It'll just be less pleasant to run into my father." The powerful vampire spoke with a hint of uncharacteristic nervousness that failed to relax Halfdan.
He left the subject alone for now. Halfdan took a moment to observe his surroundings and determine their location. They were in a snow-covered forested area. Having entered the crypt near the Hall of the Vigilants, he concluded he must still be somewhere in the center of The Pale.
"So, my lovely nameless companion, any idea where we are?" The honeyed voice of his mistress broke through the howl of the wind and she stared at him expectantly.
"I believe we are somewhere in the middle of The Pale. If we make our way to one of the main roads we can follow it to Dawnstar, the port capital of this hold. From there I'm certain we can find a boat to take us to your home, my lady." He spoke in a mostly even voice, the cold however was certainly taking a toll on him.
His mistress stared at him with a look of concern that surprised him. "That sounds fine, but first, we'll wait back in the cave for the storm to pass. You look like you are about to shatter, you're no use to me frostbitten, alright?" She didn't allow him to protest before heading back inside the cave entrance. He whistled for his horse, Shadowmere. Despite this blizzard, the black steed would hear his whistle as they'd been magically bound. Hooves were heard crunching the snow after about a minute and the shadowy horse appeared at the entrance carrying some saddlebags that contained a few tools that Halfdan could use to build a small campsite on the mouth of the cave.
He began setting up a small campfire when his mistress spoke. "That's quite the horse you have there." She stood resting her back on the cave wall with her arms crossed. Halfdan nodded at her and couldn't help the slight warmth that rose to his cheeks as his gaze momentarily stopped at the shapely cleavage visible by the rather revealing neckline of her top and accentuated by the positioning of her arms. He hurriedly returned to the task of building a fire, not noticing the small smirk that had formed on his mistress's face.
"Does it have a name?"
"Mhm, Shadowmere." Halfdan nodded and replied, keeping his tone polite.
"Oh? That's a wonderfully dark and romantic name. You're just full of surprises, aren't you? I can also sense strong necromantic energy from it; but, no offense, you don't seem to have the magical chops to be the one that cast the spell. So how did you come to acquire such a fine specimen?" The vampire's eyes shone with intrigue.
Halfdan was surprised by her interest in him. Ordinarily, he would've attempted to dodge or ignore the question but he was being magically compelled to satisfy the vampire's requests, including answering her questions.
"Shadowmere was a gift from…" he struggled for a moment unsure of how to describe Astrid. She was like a mother to him, yet she had tried to kill him, and he was currently trying to honor his birth mother, his true mother's memory so it felt wrong to call her that. "The woman who raised me." He settled for that. It was the most accurate description he could muster.
"I see… And this woman, she was a necromancer?"
"No, she was a master of death certainly, but her focus was more on making corpses rather than reanimating them." A bittersweet chuckle escaped him before he continued. "I'm afraid the knowledge of Shadowmere's origin is lost to me, I only know that he and I share a certain kinship, and I believe that is why he has stuck with me, even though I believe he is no longer obligated to do so." It's true, ever since he used Mehrunes Razor to slay the Night Mother, what was left of the brotherhood: Nazir and Babette had disbanded and gone their separate ways.
The spirit of Lucien Lachance cursed him and plagued his nightmares at times but would no longer aid him in battle or respond to his summonings. Shadowmere, however, had strangely remained loyal to Halfdan. He suspected the creature, like him, was so accustomed to serving a master, that when the Night Mother was slain, and the brotherhood's connection to Sithis severed, it chose to latch on to Halfdan as his new master. However, Halfdan saw him as more of a partner, a friend even: the only one that stuck with him, and was grateful for the beast's loyalty.
The undead seductress started with intense curiosity at the former assassin, digesting his words. He felt a bit unnerved by her gaze, as if he was naked in a crowd, while he finished setting up the kindling and lit the campfire with a small flame spell.
"Oh, so you do know some magic after all?" Her face lit up in amusement.
"Only the very basics of some elemental destruction magic, I'm afraid. And I've only ever been able to perform small fire spells. The strongest I've been able to muster is rune traps but I can only place them very close to myself, which puts me in danger of being harmed by them if I'm not careful; and they take a lot of focus and magicka to create." Halfdan's face naturally returned to a polite smile that masked any true emotions.
"Nothing as powerful as I witnessed you perform earlier, my lady." He sat cross-legged next to the fire, warming himself.
Serana scoffed "I realize at the moment you probably think I'm the most wonderful creature in Nirn or whatever, but I'd appreciate it if you kept the boot-licking to a minimum." I had enough of that back home she considered adding but stopped herself.
She sounded annoyed as she had spoken but he sensed she probably enjoyed the compliment more than she let on, noticing how she straightened her back a little and her face gained a somewhat haughty expression. Halfdan also took note of her strange accent but chalked it up to her being however many hundreds, or most likely thousands of years old.
"While so far you are proving to be quite the interesting character my little… Well, do you even have a name, or should I just call you thrall?" She noticed the boy began to have some sort of internal debate again as his eyes closed and expression morphed into one of uncertainty and discomfort. "You know what forget it, the point is I need you to-"
"Halfdan!" A serious and determined look replaced the boy's pained expression. "It's Halfdan. My name is Halfdan." His voice was calmer now, yet it still sounded more like he was trying to convince himself, rather than Serana. "Of course you may address me however you like, my lady." His gaze fell to his hands as he warmed them by the fire.
A smirk grazed the vampire's beautiful features. "Well, that's a nice name, not what I would have pegged you as though. Anyway, as I was saying: I need you to sleep. I'd like to set out for my home as soon as this damn blizzard passes and I can't have my guide slowing me down. So take advantage of this chance for a break." She spoke pointedly, noting the bags under Halfdan's eyes.
"Very well, my lady, as you wish. However, are you certain you would not like me to remain guard while you sleep? I am quite accustomed to operating with little sleep and can go several days without it if needed…"
"Believe me, I've slept more than enough; I'd rather use this time to gather my thoughts and get used to being back among the living, so to speak." She stood from her corner in the cave and walked back to the mouth of the cave where she sat down cross-legged in a meditative pose, staring out at the blizzard outside.
Halfdan looked at her one more time, then pulled out a sleeping bag from Shadowmere's saddle and set it down next to the fire before stripping off his boots and the top layers of his outfit, and crawling into the warm make-shift bed. Just before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep, he heard the mistress's voice one more time: "My name is Serana by the way, you can drop the honorifics now." She spoke evenly, the echo of the cave helping her melodic words reach the already half-asleep Halfdan.
"As you wish, lady Serana." Halfdan whispered just before surrendering to unconsciousness.
Even though he spoke in a small whisper, the vampire's heightened senses allowed her to make out his words clearly. She sighed in resignation at his use of an honorific again but couldn't hold back the small pleased grin that followed after hearing someone speak her name again for the first time in a very long time…
A few hours later…
After taking the opportunity to strengthen her charm over the sleeping Halfdan, Serana sat silently contemplating her elder scroll. She wished she could just destroy it and be done with it, unfortunately, the damn thing had proven indestructible. She lazily stuck it in the fire hoping its magical durability somehow failed but alas, no such luck.
She realized the blizzard outside had died down a bit, but looking at the peaceful expression on Halfdan's sleeping face she decided to let the boy sleep a bit longer and even fed a bit of kindling to the fire to keep it burning a bit longer. With the blizzard no longer impeding her senses, she walked back to the mouth of the cave to observe the outside area again. The sun still hadn't come up thankfully, but the moons were fairly low on the horizon. She had probably about an hour or less before dawn. Not that she couldn't handle the sun, being a pure-blooded vampire; but it would be irritating, and she'd have a harder time maintaining a mortal disguise.
Then she caught a scent in the air: blood and death. She felt slight vibrations in the ground and the wind carried faint sounds, sounds of war. They were getting closer.
She hurried back to Halfdan and somewhat gently shook him awake. Vibrant purple eyes opened and looked up at her, first in confusion then alertness.
"Lady Serana-"
"Time to move. The blizzard's gone, and something's happening outside, some kind of battle, and it seems to be getting closer." She then used a simple frost spell to put out the fire before grabbing her elder scroll and strapping it to her back
Halfdan quickly redressed and rolled up the sleeping bag before placing it back on Shadowmere's saddle. Then he pulled out a black linen cloak and offered it to Serana. "My lady, that scroll on your back, if you wish I can put it in Shadowmere's saddle, it might be safer and more comfortable for you."
"No thanks, I'd rather hold on to my things. Besides, this is an elder scroll. The damn thing's pretty much indestructible." She spoke in a bitter tone, but grabbed the offered cloak and wore it around her. She guessed he offered it to her thinking she might be cold but in reality, the cold didn't bother her, being a vampire and her particular bloodline having an affinity for cold and ice. However, soon it would be dawn; and the sun, while not deadly to her, was quite bothersome and weakening. The pair exited the cave, Shadowmere following them. Halfdan sniffed the air before pulling up his mask and mounting his horse. He reached out a hand to help Serana onto his horse.
She hesitated, debating something in her head before ultimately accepting the gesture and wrapping her arms around his torso. While Shadowmere was by no means a common horse, it was still less conspicuous than a fiery, bony undead horse like the one Serana could summon. She'd rather avoid unwanted attention like that.
Halfdan then gave a light kick at Shadowmere's side and they began galloping down the slope of the mountain where the cave exited. Keeping in mind Serana's warning of there being some kind of battle nearby, once Halfdan reached the main road he directed Shadowmere to the woods beside it, keeping to the trees in a cautious gallop rather than a full sprint, to avoid being caught by any surprises.
As they approached Red Road Pass, the stench of death started reaching Halfdan as well. He slowed to a trot, Serana understanding that they were nearing the site of a battle. However, she didn't hear any clashes or screams, which meant that the fight was probably over.
Finally, they reached the source of their worries.
The scene that greeted them reminded Serana of the days back when her father was king, and in a particularly foul mood, he ordered some poor farmer's entire village razed due to a perceived slight. Bodies littered the entire road and surrounding forest in about a half-mile radius. The coppery scent of blood permeated the air as Shadowmere carefully waded through the carnage to avoid slipping. Serana looked at the bodies and noted their outfits, as well as a few tattered banners that were strewn about.
Half wore a uniform of strange layered-scales kind of style armor she'd never seen before. The other half were dressed less uniformly, with more variation in the armor from individual to individual, with most wearing leathers and chainmail. A few had fur accents, and the most uniform aspect was all of them had blue sashes somewhere on their armor. She noticed one kind of banner was red, with a black dragon motif; while the other was blue, with the image of a white bear head.
Her eyes drifted from studying the bloody battlefield to peaking at Halfdan's face with curiosity. She found his eyes emotionless and staring ahead, seemingly unaffected by the gore.
"Well kid, care to explain what all this is about?" She nudged him lightly, pressing into his back. She hoped the closeness would make him uncomfortable in order to tease him a bit, but his eyes remained looking as if his mind was far away.
"It seems we stumbled on the aftermath of a skirmish between the empire and the stormcloaks, my lady."
"I'm sorry the storm-who? And what's this about an empire?"
"The stormcloaks, my lady. They are the rebel faction that supports Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak's claim to the title of Skyrim's High King and wishes to secede from the Cyrodiilic empire. The empire, in turn, supports Jarl Elisif the Fair, widow to the previous High King, who also has a claim to the throne; and favors remaining annexed."
"So a war of succession then; and Cyrodiil's the seat of another empire, wonderful. At least the world didn't get boring while I was gone!" She grins sarcastically but it's clear Halfdan's mind is still occupied with something. He clicked his tongue and kicked his boot, making Shadowmere speed back up again and cutting off any further conversation leaving Serana wondering what had bothered him so much but not caring enough to force him to tell her.
The sun began to rise as they rode, and so did Serana's hood. Thankfully it was still a few hours before noon when they finally reached Dawnstar so they could avoid meeting people at noon when Serana was at her weakest and wouldn't be able to compel anyone or magically disguise her eyes and fangs.
They dismounted the horse and Halfdan told Shadowmere to hurry off back into the woods, to avoid being spotted by some stable hand or guard who might, upon closer inspection, wonder why the horse had glowing red eyes or left a shadowy trail behind.
At the gates Serana used her vampiric charm to persuade the guards to allow them inside the city, no questions asked. She marveled at the port city and the state it seemed to be in. Before she was locked away, this city used to be a thriving trading hub. Now it looked more like a large war camp, with warriors wearing the same random assortments of leather, chainmail, and blue sashes she'd seen on half the dead at the site of the skirmish walking to and from a small fleet of docked war longships. Even at this early hour, the place was lively with the sounds of men carrying supplies and smiths working on their craft. Thankfully, her companion was resourceful and quickly spotted an old fisherman, who seemed blissfully ignorant of the tense atmosphere surrounding the rest of the city.
At first, the old man was hesitant, saying the island they were headed for was cursed, and even seasoned sailors steer clear of it. But after the promise of coin and a bit of her feminine (as well as magical charm) Serana convinced the fisherman to ferry them most of the way there at least. She figured she could ditch Halfdan at that point and easily swim the rest of the way if needed. Thankfully, though, such measures weren't needed as their ferryman dropped them off at a small isolated fort with a dock and an old rowboat that was nearly a stone's throw away from the island where the castle was located, hidden by a permanent fog.
She had Halfdan row them to the island, letting him know exactly where it was located, while mentally preparing herself for what or who she might find waiting for her.
A/N: For reference I use the armors from nordwarua's replacer mods rather than the vanilla versions, and for Dawnstar I visualize it like Kattegat from the show Vikings.