Well, this turned out to be a two-parter. I did not expect it to get (or take) this long, but what can you do? Good help, as always, from xTRESTWHOx and NaanContributor.
Chapter 69: Coagulation
20th of Evening Star
Fort Dawnguard was becoming a hectic mess. Dawnguardsmen were running back and forth with different supplies, preparing the defenses for the imminent attack by stocking bolt and arrow racks, placing pitch in strategic areas, and setting up spiked palisades and barriers. While the first entrance was a deathtrap for any attackers, they weren't leaving things to chance and had begun making the second and third gates just as deadly. Blake was helping with getting some of supplies to high places quicker, as she was far more mobile than anyone else in the fort. She deposited a load of arrows at one of the defensive towers' tops and then leaped off the side, swinging from Gambol Shroud towards one of the open windows and rushing in to see if there was anything else worth carrying out. She paused a moment when she saw Yang at the workshop, putting together yet another rapid-fire crossbow. She lost count of how many of those things she'd made by now, and she wouldn't be surprised if Yang lost count as well.
The blonde did a quick firing test and then nodded, setting the finished weapon to the side and beginning on the next one. As she worked, Blake kept the speed of her craft in mind. Rather than hammering away as fast as she could, Yang was taking her time to make sure that her weapons actually worked. Even if it took twice as long, having fifty fully functional crossbows were better than a hundred that were just as likely to fall apart in your hands than they were to actually fire. Getting off the wall, Agmaer walked over and took the newly-made crossbow in hand, gulping as he tried to hold steady. Despite his effort, his was visibly shaking in fear. Yang noticed and stood up before putting a hand to his shoulder, gaining his attention in a sudden jolt.
"Hey," she said to him. "It's okay to be scared. We all are. Just don't let it lock you up."
"R-right," he got out before nodding. He still seemed scared, but he was definitely holding on better now. "We'll… We'll make it. I know we will."
"That's the spirit," she encouraged him before patting his back. "Now get that to Durak, stat."
"Right." As he rushed off, Blake walked up to her partner.
"How is everything looking, really?" she asked, already knowing the answer. It wasn't hard to see how dire things were from the outside, but part of Blake hoped Yang would have a bit more knowledge to assuage her fears.
"Weiss and Ruby reported to Ulfric, but he can't really get an army mobilized down here quick enough. A few runners made for Riften, but we won't know how that turned out until either a purple army is seen coming, or we finish up the battle and check ourselves." Blake blinked and then looked forward. Yang sat back down and started bringing out the pieces she'd need to make the next crossbow, but looked up at her partner as she did. "You okay?"
"Yang, this is… This isn't like anything we've been in before." Blake leaned back against a wall and slid down, bringing her knees up to her chin. "We've fought people, vampires, Grimm, monsters of all kinds, but this…is an army. It's not a fight or a hunt. It's a war, Yang. There's hundreds if not thousands of enemy soldiers ready to siege this place and…there's less than a hundred soldiers here to fight them off."
Yang's construction slowed, coming to a near halt as she took in Blake's words.
"Yeah, it's different, but what can we really do right now?" She set down the pieces she was working on before turning toward the Faunus. "Should we run?"
"Wha- What?!" Blake could hardly believe she heard Yang of all people suggest that. She sprung back up and shook her head. "No, we- We can't do that! If they take out the Dawnguard, nothing will stop them from marching on Riften and then taking all of the Rift. They could cut off Windhelm's supplies and take it before just rolling through to the west, and the Volkihar are right at the other side, ready to box in all of Skyrim. We can't! They have to be stopped!"
"Exactly," Yang agreed, smiling a little. Blake blinked, and abashedly realized that that was exactly what Yang was working towards. "Fort Dawnguard is probably in the most defensible position in the province. This is the absolute best place to make a stand. And we're here to make sure these guys get through the night." Yang took a breath and gained a steely gaze as she looked towards a window open to the mountains. "There may be thousands of undead marching our way, but with the way we're set up, they're just going to give us a target-rich environment. Trust me. They'll be climbing over piles of bodies before the first five minutes are up if they go for a frontal assault."
"Then…what do we do?" Blake asked. In response, Yang raised a finger to count with.
"One, hope they don't fly too much. Two, wait for backup. Three, fight like hell. Like I said, if they attack, they will die." Yang smiled again, much more brightly this time. "We'll make it through this. For now, let's just get as prepared as we can."
"Speaking of prepared," they heard and turned to see Gunmar leading Toggle toward them, only now the boar was wearing a full 'suit' of armor, segmented plates of steel lined up down his back and sides, a sort of helmet over his cranium, and pieces guarding his limbs. There were even blades fitted over his tusks. Yang chuckled at the sight, and Blake cracked a smile.
"You ready for battle, boy?" The great boar jostled his head in excitement, causing Yang to smile as she affectionately scratched under his chin. "Well, you'll be behind the third wall, so I'm sorry. Tell you what, once we send 'em packing, we'll let you chase some down." Toggle let out some grunts that sounded annoyed but accepting, and Yang laughed again.
"Well, I've still got to get Yngvarr's bear ready before I make a final check with the trolls and dogs," Gunmar said as he turned towards the exit, waving from behind his back at the same time. "Let me know if anything could be fixed up better."
"Sure thing," Yang told him as he went back to his forge. Snorting what could only be a farewell, Toggle went by them and Yang patted the armor as he did. "Hope Weiss likes it."
"She'll probably have something more…aesthetically pleasing than bent plates commissioned when she gets here." Blakes ears then went up. "How far are they?"
"Don't know, but I imagine they're at least past Kynesgrove at this point," Yang answered without looking up from her project. "You'll need to text them to be sure, but if they're in half the hurry I think they are, they might not check their messages."
"I'll do it in case. Then I'll…figure out other ways to help." Blake nodded at that and sped off while taking out her scroll. Yang just continued on with her work, hoping to get another five out before taking a lunchbreak.
The day came to a slow crawl when the fort found itself running out of preparations in the afternoon. Men were being made to rest before switching shifts in order to give everyone as much energy as they could. Yang and Sorine had nearly run themselves ragged with the sudden production of the rapid-fire crossbows, getting one to almost half of the Dawnguardsmen, which left several normal crossbows open to usage by the volunteers from the refugees. While all of the non-combatants had been taken as far into the fort they could manage – all the way back into a cavern Isran had been setting up for training purposes, now the ultimate line of defense – a good few of the able-bodied among them were willing to put their lives on the line. They had lost their homes to vampires once before, and now that their nightmare scenario had come, they were ready to die defending what little they had left.
Yang was awoken about four hours after forcing herself (or rather, being forced) to lie down. While she didn't really sleep, general rest was better than complete exhaustion. She quickly strapped on her armor, holstered her four axes, and headed out while grabbing one of the rapid-fire crossbows. As she made her way towards the first gate, she paused when two familiar faces focused on her and approached.
"Thane Yang?" one of the men asked. Yang narrowed her eyes as she sifted through her memories, then smiled lightly in recognition.
"Thonnir? Hey, I haven't seen you in a while." She looked to the other man and gave him a smile. "You too, Hroggar. How've things been for you guys?"
"We've been well," Hroggar answered, nodding with a stoic look on his face. "Thonn's boy is staying with family south of here."
"I had brought him to the Rift thinking it would be safer, but it seems nowhere is safe from these vampires," Thonnir admitted, frowning slightly, but Yang gently placed her hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
"It will be," she reassured them. "We'll win this, trust me. I'm heading up to the front. Where will you guys be?"
"Second line, on the gate," Thonnir told her. "We'll be ready to cover your falling back."
"Hopefully, you won't have to." She waved to them as she continued on. "I'll talk to you later."
"May the Gods watch over our battles."
Yang soon found herself in the cavern holding the first gate. Thanks to its placement, a garrison couldn't rightly fire from above. Instead, the men had to stand behind it and fire at any attackers through the portcullis, thus it had been made with bars more spaced out than the other two, just wider than most heads, but narrower than most shoulders. Maybe a Goblin or small Bosmer could slip through, but even those would have to squeeze to fit in most cases. Yang walked up to a cooking pot suspended over a fire and smelled the meaty soup within.
"What's for supper?" she asked before Durak walked up and handed her a bowl.
"Eat light," he answered, not bothering to fully describe the soup. "No more than half. If you still feel hungry, you can get more after nightfall."
"All right." She could understand the logic. Fighting on an empty stomach was bad, but fighting while stuffed could be worse. While she was sure her metabolism would burn through it quick enough, she didn't want to be insubordinate just to prove a point. At least, not with the current situation. No spoons were available, instead she was given a piece of bread and used it to push the soup to her mouth, copying the motions she saw other Dawnguardsmen doing.
"What's with yer armor?" one of them, she wasn't sure who, asked.
"Dwarven scales with orichalcum chain," she explained. "Flexible and defensive." 'And expandable. Great for werewolves!'
He whistled. "A nice piece. Wish we got armor that good."
"I had to dig up half the parts myself and get help from Eorlund Greymane to put it together. It's not exactly standard issue, even for Companions." Hopefully, though, they were working on that. Otherwise it was just a matter of time before someone transformed and didn't have spare clothes around. Her inner wolf already tended to get restless around the twins sometimes.
Tension seemed to have melted among the men and women. Everyone was beginning to feel somewhat relaxed when a cry went up right before something slammed into the portcullis. Everyone went to their feet and took up arms, all eyes on the gate where an emaciated being was pulling at the bars while letting out yells and shrieks, fangs visible among its bared teeth.
"The hell?" Yang muttered.
"Is that a vampire?" someone asked.
"Looks more like a zombie to me," another noted, a slight tremor to her voice.
"Bloodfiend," Durak answered, crossing his arms. "Mindless vampire. Get rid of it."
A few of the Dawnguardsmen obliged, bringing up their crossbows and firing a bolt each into the undead's body. Several hit, with only a couple missing or bouncing off an iron bar. The vampire went still for a moment, then shrieked and pulled and pushed at the bars while trying to shove through.
"Shor's bones!"
"Gods above! It's still going!"
"I got this," a man declared before taking up his runed axe and chopping into the creature's skull, splitting it like a melon. It finally stopped and hung suspended where its life had ended. The man harrumphed and started walking back, but then something else slammed into the gate, and he turned back to see another Bloodfiend. As a few people shot it, another came, then another, and another. The soldiers were beginning to panic a bit as a mass of bodies like the first couple rushed from the trees and the side to assault the gate. Yang noticed that the daylight had slunk away, and the blue hour after twilight was beginning to cover the world, even as she fired a clip into the vampires then took out Holy Ardon to start chopping back the mass of grasping limbs reaching through the portcullis. Shrieks and screeches had filled the air now, and soon no one could see beyond the mass of undead pushing against the gate. Metal began to creak and groan, and Yang swore she saw the iron beginning to bend inward.
"Shit, shit!" one Dawnguardsman screamed as some arms pulled him in close and teeth began biting into him. Yang grabbed him and yanked him loose, chopping one persistent arm off in the process. The man was bleeding in places, but his armor seemed to have protected him from the worst of it.
"Get him back and heal him," Durak ordered some men. "Back up from the gate and switch to crossbows." Once everyone had done so, he aimed and shouted," Loose!" and a wall of bolts was sent into the mass of bodies, killing some and injuring almost all of the visible ones. "At will!" he then commanded, and the soldiers began firing every bolt they could at the enemy forces.
"Spread your fire!" Yang added. "Suppress them! Hit everything at once!"
The men and women obeyed, hitting nearly every open space with vampires on the other side. Some of the undead went still and served as cover for their comrades before falling down while others were either pulled and trampled out of the way or pressed so hard against the metal that they were torn apart by the pressure. However, after what felt like a minute of constantly launching bolts into the army, part of the portcullis at the top started to clear. There was a small moment of elation among the men and women, but it was quickly extinguished when a hand grasped the open space, the fingers on it as large as the average arm. Another one appeared opposite of it, and then other pair grabbed the other side. Even as the smaller vampires pushed, those four hands pulled, and the portcullis began to give. The metal cried out as it was ripped from stone and bent in ways it wasn't meant to. Some stared in shock and fear, but Durak's voice cut through their stupor.
"Fall back!" he commanded while aiming at the fingers. Some were hitting, but it didn't seem to affect the hands at all. "Fall back to the second line!"
Several ran for their lives, but a handful made a more orderly retreat, taking turns to look around and shoot behind themselves. Yang was among them, putting herself at the very back with Durak and a few others. They were exiting the cave when the gate was finally ripped away and the Bloodfiends rushed in like a tide of flesh and fangs. Yang charged up a Firebolt in her left hand and threw it at a wooden construction that went up in flames and then exploded outwards, sending flaming pitch across the cave and covering many of the vampires with it. Shrieks of agony went up as they caught fire, and the Dawnguardsmen made a full tilt retreat to the second line. Yang stopped a moment to look back and saw some of the vampires coming out into the passage while on fire, seemingly trying their hardest to ignore their burning bodies to keep pressing forward, but they soon collapsed. She turned back and kept running to the gatehouse at the end of the narrow passage. As soon as she was through, the portcullis dropped and the gate was shut.
"What happened in there?!" a Bosmer woman asked.
"They've broken through!" Durak reported. "Damn Bloodfiends!"
"Bloodfiends?"
"Mindless vampires. But the fact they're attacking en mass like this means there's someone pulling the strings."
"Like a master vampire?" Yang asked.
"Yes, but this is way out of the ordinary," he contemplated. "Vampires usually create Bloodfiends by mistake, and put them down on their own to keep them from bringing too much attention or killing their food before they've had a chance at it. For there to be that many…"
The ground shook ever-so-slightly as something walked over the diminishing flames, crouching out of the cave and standing to full height once it exited. Yang blinked at the sight of a Giant with ashen skin and glowing orange eyes. Another one joined it and the first practically roared at them, baring fangs the size of shortswords. More of the regular sized Bloodfiends then rushed through, only just avoiding the flames before sprinting down the passage towards the second line.
"Take 'em down!" Durak ordered. Crossbows began loosing bolts while the Bosmer sent arrows almost as rapidly. The narrow ravine did the vampires no favors, making them a dense target for the men and women. One after the other began to collapse at the head of the running line, sometimes tripping up the ones behind them and being trampled by their fellows. Slowly, however, the line of vampires closed in, unperturbed by the rate at which they were being slain.
They hit the gate, and for a moment, the Dawnguardsmen thought the approach was done. They fired straight down into the mass of gathering undead, killing more and more even as the horde of vampires grew. Suddenly, several started climbing up the wall, and they knew then the coming danger.
"Archers step back and keep firing!" Durak ordered. "Warriors, get ready to fight them off!"
"Damn!" Yang quietly cursed. She hadn't imagined it coming to this. The second line was meant to be a death trap that only a determined shield wall and maybe a siege engine could approach. But now, it was being overrun by bodies being thrown into the meat grinder until they simply clogged it up. Even now, the dead at the wall were just giving the still-going Bloodfiends a platform to start higher.
She took out Fiery Kain just before some of the vampires crested and swiped it through them, sending them back down in flaming pieces. One from further down leaped at her, and Yang deployed the left half of Ember Celica before slamming it against the undead's gut. It was sent back and slammed into the canyon wall before falling limply. Several were being fought back by the warriors, but for each one they killed two more were ready to take its place. Durak was expertly slicing through one after the other, and both the widowers from Morthal were watching each other's backs. One man got his axe caught in a rib cage, then he was being tackled on both sides, nails clawing into him and teeth digging in. He cried out in pain, and other Dawnguardsmen tried to free him, but the vampires converged on him as though they were sharks with blood in the water. The man then leaned and shoved forward until he went over the edge, taking the half dozen vampires clinging to him with him, the crunch of their landing lost in the cacophony of battle
With a shout, Yang chopped through one vampire, uppercut another, then sent out an arc of fire before kicking forward and shoulder-checking two heading toward the archers. Suddenly, a giant hand shot past her, knocking one man off the other side of the wall and grabbing another. The Giant vampire brought the screaming man up to its face, staring down at his capture before opening its maw and bringing him in. The man screamed and wailed, beating against the hand holding him, but then the teeth came down on his neck, decapitating him instantly. The Giant then tilted its head back and squeezed the body, pouring the blood into its throat.
Yang screamed in rage as she ran at the creature, jumping off the gatehouse and bringing her flaming axe down. The massive vampire looked forward in surprise, letting her hit it right in the eye. As it screamed in pain and thrashed around, Yang moved to its shoulder and reared back a fist, readying a spell right over it. While the Giant was still clutching its injury, she punched forward, the fast-spinning fireball burning and ripping through its temple. It let out a pitiful groan and fell, Yang yanking Fiery Kain loose and leaping off as it did. As the Huntress came down, she lit another spell between her hands and slammed it forward with her landing, causing an explosion of fire to join the force of her punching the ground. Vampires were sent scattered and aflame, clearing the immediate area around her landing zone. The axe was then on her back as she pulled forth another pair of spells, throwing them both forward and hitting the incoming forces in the narrow passage, causing small rockslides that impeded any progress from those further back.
A roar sounded out and Yang looked to see the other Giant vampire swinging his foot at her. She ate the blow and was sent across the chasm, and the Giant ran at her, rage in its eyes. Yang got to her feet and slammed her fists together, her hair glowing with flames. The Giant's fist came at her, and Yang met it with her own. The two collided, and the vampire's arm shook as it backed away. Yang yelled as she jumped up, throwing a Fireball behind her to give her extra lift and punched the Giant's jaw before grabbing its beard and swinging around. When she was on the back of its neck, she gripped tightly and put all the power of her Semblance into her next move, yanking the vampire Giant's neck around. There was a resounding crack, and its body went limp. As it fell over, Yang stood atop the head and leaped from it back to the gatehouse, where the rest were finishing off the last of the Bloodfiends from before Yang's stunt. She helped to take out the last few, and the Dawnguardsmen had a moment to breathe. Before anyone could really enjoy it though, some of the rocks from the blockage were pushed down, and the vampires began coming once again.
"Damn it! We can't hold them here," the Bosmer said. "We're too low on ammo!"
"You heard Beleval," Durak shouted. "Fall back to the third line!"
'Third line,' Yang thought as she helped to carry an injured man. 'It feels like it's only been a few minutes, and we're already getting pushed back to the third line.'
When they reached it, they had to go through the third gate and around the back to come up to the top of the gatehouse where Isran was waiting. The Redguard had a furious expression, but it clearly wasn't directed at them.
"What's going on out there?!" he demanded. "Report!"
"Bloodfiends," Durak said shortly. "Looked like thousands of them. Look starved. Probably stored."
"Damn," Isran muttered. "We weren't prepared for something like this. I didn't even think there was anything like it out there. We must be looking at years of hidden build up, because we damn well would have noticed the dozens of villages they would've had to depopulate to turn this many otherwise." He groaned and looked over at Yang. "I can feel it's about to explode out of you. What is it?"
"You guys know what this might be?" she asked. Isran's frown deepened, and he slowly nodded.
"It wouldn't be impossible for a vampire to make a mass of Bloodfiends and seal them up in a tomb somewhere," he grimly suggested. "Do it a few times, and you have a massive army that'll kill anything but you. Never thought a vampire would be willing to go through the trouble. A few hundred at most. If what we saw was any indication, then there's liable to be at least two thousand of the damned things." Everyone looked forward to see the vampires coming out of the twisting canyon. Isran looked over to one of the archers with a bow and nodded to him. "Light it!"
The man nodded and took an arrow with cloth tied to its end and held it over a brazier. When it set fire, he nocked it and sent it flying to the far side of the canyon. Yang saw a fire start where it landed, and, if anyone looked closely enough, a small trail of flames could be seen sprouting from it toward the narrow, winding way. After a few moments, explosions rang out along the top of the canyon walls and burning oil and pitch fell upon any underneath them. Vampires screamed as they were burned alive, many running for the nearby lake, only to impale themselves on the leaning wooden spikes set directly between it and them. Others kept moving forward, as if they somehow hoped to be able to reach their enemies before the fire killed them. Those who were ahead of the trap were met with a wall of arrows and bolts that took many down before they could get close.
"That should hold them a while," Isran said before looking back to Yang. "Long, your Khajiit friend is down that way. Tell her to light the pitch traps as soon as the next wave reaches the walls, then light the second the moment the one after them does the same. We can win this if we play it smart and take their army apart piece by piece."
"Right," she answered before heading to the end of the wall. True to Isran's word, Blake was there, along with Rumarin, both shooting at some of the vampires with their bows and arrows, physical and spectral. They lowered their weapons when Yang was near and looked to her expectantly.
"Did I see things, or did you snap a Giant's neck?" Rumarin asked once she was by their side.
"Yeah. Don't try it at home," Yang quipped, then turned to her partner. "Blake, Isran said something about lighting the pitch?"
"Yeah, we had some trails laid out between here and there. You walked through it." Blake pointed out her partner's feet, and Yang looked down to see some black, oily substance covering her boots.
"Damn, barely noticed that!" she muttered.
"To be fair, you were running from a horde of… Are those zombies or vampires?" the Altmer bladebinder asked.
"Uh, both from the sound of it," she reckoned. "They definitely have fangs, but they're just throwing themselves at us without regard to their safety. It's…less like fighting people and more like fighting Grimm." Yang blinked as she made the connection. It seemed so wrong that something that looked so human, even near-death as many of them appeared to be, could act so much like the monsters of darkness from Remnant. Blake's paling face told Yang that the Faunus had made the same connection, but Rumarin just looked confused.
"What's a Grimm?" Rumarin asked. Almost as though they wished to answer, a shrill scream echoed from below as the Bloodfiends attempted to push forward, and Rumarin quickly shot his attention towards them. "Forget I asked. I think I can get the gist."
It took several agonizing minutes, but eventually the flames went down enough that the Bloodfiends began charging through again. For a moment, they seemed to die as quickly as they came, a pile of bodies building at the mouth of the passage that others were forced to go over as soon as they crossed the wall, but slowly, the trickle increased enough to begin beating the force of munitions expended. The horde was coming closer, whether it was because the rate of fire had slowed from reloading or tiredness, or because so many of the Bloodfiends were ignoring the many shafts of wood and metal sticking out of their bodies and still taking more as they ran. As some began reaching the walls, Blake put away her bow and took out Gambol Shroud.
"Be right back," she promised before throwing her weapon and then swinging from the ribbon after it caught on the tower. She did it again towards a canyon wall, and Yang forced herself to stop keeping track of her friend and instead focus on firing at the vampires. A couple were crawling up right towards her position, but Rumarin decided to avoid a closer confrontation by leaning between crenelations and firing his bound bow straight down at the wall-crawlers. While it was giving him the right angle, more were still coming despite his efforts.
"Not good," he complained. "Not good at all!"
Suddenly, a fire began about halfway between the second and third lines. It roared like a living thing as it spread from one side to the other, consuming several dozen vampires as it went. Some kept running straight into the flames or were pushed by their fellows behind them. Several ran out of it completely ablaze, either thrashing about wildly or running as though they didn't notice it. Some of them even caught their fellows on fire in their death throes, spreading it somewhat beyond its original parameter. A moment later, Blake was landing back next to her friends, frightening a handful of volunteers and Dawnguardsmen, then taking out her bow and loosing arrows once again.
"What'd I miss?" she asked.
"Rumarin's ingenuity," Yang said while pointing out the elf leaned over the side of the wall, his exposure out of cover rendered meaningless due to the lack of enemy projectiles.
"You laugh, but this gives me the perfect opportunity to pierce their dead skulls," he called back.
"Not bad, actually. Hold on." Blake took out her main weapon again and stabbed its sickle form into a stone crenellation then wrapped the ribbon around her waist and into her belt. She leaped up and then leaned over, standing perpendicular to the wall and looking almost straight down, where she began sending arrows with the Blackbow into the approaching vampires.
Despite their efforts though, some of the Bloodfiends began cresting the wall, the first one near them receiving a gauntleted fist to its face, courtesy of Yang. Isran was already giving the order for fighters to ready themselves, and Yang thanked her lucky stars that the wave was nearly depleted and that the pitch fire line was still raging. She punched towards another coming up, this time putting in a spark of magicka and making a mini-fireball in front of her fist that exploded with her punch. Flesh burned as bones broke, and the corpse was knocked back down. Another rose to take its place, but Yang hit it down again. And again. And again.
Yang didn't have the best gauge on her magicka, but she knew she couldn't keep this up forever, even if she was finally refining the technique enough that she wasn't going purely by instinct or wasting extra energy. Not to mention she'd left all her magicka potions with the healers near the back. Fiery Kain came out again about the same time that she was feeling low and began chopping them down like rotten trees. As blood spattered and a few close calls came and went, Yang was beginning to feel the wear in her muscles. Blake had jumped back up and started slicing through the Bloodfiends as well, bodies piling up before them before slipping off the side from the clutching of their fellows. Screams were interspersed with the feral shrieks as some unlucky souls slipped up or were overrun, but even if they fell, the Bloodfiends were quickly repelled. After Yang thrust her pommel into the throat of one lunging for her, nearly decapitating it, then kicking it away hard enough to collapse its chest, she readied herself for the next only to find that there weren't any. She looked around, breathing heavily as she took in the sight before her. A field of corpses strewn before them with many piled against the red wall that had been grey not too long ago. Red puddles slowly spilt over the edges, and a distance away the pitch line still blazed, though it had definitely died down.
A laugh rose up from her throat as she leaned back against a crenellation and began noticing the sticky feeling over her face. She went to wipe at it with her hand, but saw that it too was mostly covered in blood. She laughed at that, too, and her far less bloodied friends seemed to laugh with her. Several people were cheering at this little victory, but an interruption came from across the corpse-filled field. Another Giant had come through, this one taller than the first two by head and shoulders, with pale skin illuminated in the flames of the pitch line. The Giant bared its fangs and let out a roar while raising a weapon with its right hand, a sort of axe-sickle, with a pick-like spike at the top and blades on both sides.
It opened its mouth, and mist began to slowly flow out and sink to the ground. As the mist began to spread, Yang watched it closely and saw how frost seemed to be forming on the ground and still bodies wherever it went. As it reached the fire, it seemed to climb up its side. The fire began to diminish quickly, and then the mist was flowing over it as it was nearly extinguished. Several archers aimed to take it down, but it was just outside the effective range of crossbows, and arrows were either bouncing off its armor and skin or barely sunk in tip-deep. Unimpeded, the cloud of mist crawled forward, flowing over the corpses and coating them in frost and ice. It touched the wall and flowed up its side a moment before sinking back down. From behind the Giant, more vampires came, but now there was a glint of steel reflecting the dying fire and the moonlight within their ranks. While many still seemed without a weapon and crouched like feral beasts, just as many of this wave had a glint of intelligence and stood like men and mer.
Then the bodies began to rise. Those who still had mostly whole bodies and undamaged brains came back to unlife, now groaning and shambling forward, the ones directly under the wall climbing atop each other like an undead human pyramid.
"That's…not fair," Rumarin muttered, fear finding its way into his voice. Yang was just staring out into the battlefield with wide eyes. The Dawnguard began shooting again, trying to take down the zombified vampires a second time, only now it was far more difficult. The zombies only went down when they suffered grievous head wounds, or they simply couldn't move for all the damage done to their bodies. Right behind them came the fresh and seemingly more dangerous vampire forces, joined by two more Giants about the size of the first two, a male and female, though these wielded crude weapons, marking them as above the Giant Bloodfiends from before. The big one continued to breathe out the mist that was freezing the landscape, leaking through the gates and slowly spreading beyond, but directed them to move forward with his weapon, to which they complied. Meanwhile, the zombies below had nearly made a flesh and bone staircase of their bodies, holding on even in their final death and being replaced and reinforced by more shambling corpses even as the rain of arrows and bolts tore them apart. Yang and some others threw down Fireballs and similar spells, but it was like poking holes in a sandy beach. When it got to the point that some of the zombies were simply walking up to the wall's top, they were met with axes and swords that had the advantage of coming point-blank, but it was becoming clear that their purpose had been served.
Some of the weapon-wielding vampires climbed upon their Giant comrades and stood on or hung from their shoulders and let loose their own arrows and spells, some of them finding their marks. The Giantess even stooped over to grab a handful of frozen earth and corpses, then reared back and threw them. Two men were hit head-on and went screaming through the air. As more men began to fall, Isran shouted while he cast Stendarr's Aura around him.
"Fall back!" he commanded while the sun-like light of the spell blinded the vampires and disintegrated the zombies closest to him. The thinking vampires and the Giants shielded their eyes and shied away at its glow. "Fall back to the fort! Move! Move!"
Taking the respite his cloaking spell gave them, the fighters began to run, leaving the walls and running back to what was called the fourth line, but was hardly such. It was only a series of spiked palisades and some crudely made barriers of wood, rope, and broken stone with a group of men and women ready to cover the retreat of the third line. As Yang ran towards it, turning once every few moments to shoot a bolt or throw fire, she felt her heart sinking. The fourth line had been thought of as overkill and a joke. The people there were the greenest recruits, the animals, Yngvarr (who was still tired from his two-day fighting retreat), and Serana. The vampire princess looked surprised to see them, too. As the fighters retreated through the door, Yang turned to fully face the oncoming horde only to find they had paused at the gatehouse and were organizing themselves. Somehow, that was even more frightening than a mindless charge.
"What happened to the second pitch line?!" someone shouted.
"It was frozen solid! It wouldn't catch!"
"The damn Giant's going to freeze the whole valley!"
"What's going on?!" Serana demanded from the Huntresses as they took defensive positions.
"Did your father have an army of Bloodfiends hidden somewhere?" Yang asked, trying to get her mind to stop focusing on the feeling of dread.
"What? No! He hates those things, and he would've said…" Serana saw the mass of vampires and zombies beginning to come through the gatehouse and over the walls, the Bloodfiends rushing past their twice-dead brethren. Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head. "No way… Majorn is dead. Natha, Feran, and even Orthjolf all said he was killed in the Second Era."
"What about him?" Yang asked, genuinely curious as to what Serana was talking about.
"He was the only one I knew who could control so many Bloodfiends."
"Well," Yang muttered as she readied her fists, "wouldn't be the first time I helped to kill a vampire that was supposed to already be dead."
As the Bloodfiends came near, a trio of blurs crashed into them and sent many flying. Toggle rammed through one side of them before going into a spin, the spikes and blades attached to his tusks helping to slice and stab the enemies, and his massive hooves crushing flesh into paste with his near-rhino weight behind them. Bjarni likewise smashed into view, but then began clawing and biting his way around, the armor on the bear deflecting many blows. Yngvarr was between the two of them, swinging his axe around as though it was a weapon of only half its actual weight. Yang then ran in as the huskies, Sceolang and Bran, hopped in behind the two beasts and werebear and started bringing down distracted vampires before biting out their throats, working as a team while their blessed armor infused them and their bites with holy power. Blake had engaged as well, moving away from the two warhounds and attacking vampires at the edges just before a trio of trolls were unleashed onto the undead. Warrior and beast alike tore into the horde, which actually found itself on the backfoot. Durak and Isran had joined in the melee, the Redguard's spell still going bright with Stoneflesh rippling beneath it, protecting him from anything that his armor didn't already stop, and Stendarr's Aura making the undead shrink away from him, if not outright run or simply fall. His hammer bashed body after body away, usually contorted in unnatural angles as they went through the air. Arrows and bolt flew again from the direction of the heavy doors, which the men were now slowly closing as the retreat continued.
The male Giant stomped forward after ducking through the gatehouse and made a beeline for Isran, hatred in its eyes. The Redguard saw him coming and stood his ground as the Giant vampire swung his club. Isran's hammer came around and smashed into the crude weapon, cracking the stone at its head and sending it away from him, tugging the Giant's arm as it did. The massive undead seemed surprised, but went back on the attack, swinging form the side, which Isran deftly ducked under while moving in. A vampire with a sword leaped from the Giant's back towards the man, but Durak came up and blocked the attack before shoving him aside and squaring up.
"You're mine!" the Orc declared while bringing his axe to bare. Shadows then seemed to zip around from out of the crawling mist. Men they went by cried out and fell as something cut into them, one woman screaming as she was dragged away into the mist. Some of them began flowing around Yngvarr, a couple hitting him before stopping around him, revealing them to be a trio of vampires with wicked sickle weapons in hand. Bjarni and Toggle moved in by his side, and the vampires blurred. They slipped by him, hitting his armor as he moved just out of the way of killing blows, and the two animals snapped at the shadows as they slipped by. Another pair came towards Serana and Rumarin, and Yang made to rush towards them, only for something to come at her from the corner of her eye. The Giantess had charged towards her and began swinging her club down. Yang brought up her hands and pushed all of her Aura into tanking the blow. Luckily, she was still standing when it hit, and she could feel the power rippling through her from her Semblance absorbing the impact and doubling it even as the stone sundered beneath her boots.
The vampire looked surprised to see Yang still standing, and the blonde ripped the club out of her hands and threw it at her. As it bounced of the Giant's skull, she ran forward and prepared a pair of fireballs that she threw behind her as she leaped up, sending her towards the stumbling vampire's head. She landed a punch to her jaw, stumbling her further, then landed and turned around. The Giantess was fuming as she shook her head and yelled as she punched down at the smaller woman. Yang met her fist with her own, but unperturbed, the Giantess made another swing with her other fist, which Yang also met. Their fists collided three more times before the vampire made a double swipe to grab Yang, only for the brawler to catch her thumbs and twist them. Shouting in pain, the Giantess was then yanked down, and her face met with Yang's foot. She reached up and grasped her sore mouth, but then managed to grab Yang with her other hand.
As the blonde started successfully prying herself lose, the Giant threw her to the ground, making a crater with the force of the impact. Yang started to pick herself up, but the Giantess had raised a foot and brought it down to crush her. Yang caught the incoming foot, deepening her crater, but with balance on her side. The Giant swung her arms around as Yang held on and got up to her feet, then she twisted hard, bringing the vampire down. Holding on tight, she spun her body and pulled as hard as she could. The Giantess shouted as she was tossed through the air and sent rolling through the bypassed barriers and over many of her smaller fellows.
Yngvarr kept his eyes open as the shadowy vampires moved in. He ducked and slid out of the way of two of their strikes and met the third with an armored backhand. The vampire stumbled back and was almost caught in the jaws of the massive bear. Another paused while pulling out a dripping throwing dagger, but before he could send it into Yngvarr's back, a hoof kicked up into his face and knocked him down. Toggle then quickly spun around and smashed his snout down onto the vampire before scooping him into his jaws, biting down, and then shaking him violently. The vampire screamed in pain and tried to stab his poisoned dagger into his enemy, but luckily for the boar, he was met with steel armor. The pig then tossed him aside and an axe came down onto his neck midair. Another vampire stabbed at Yngvarr, but the old Nord spun with it and caught his overextended arm into his elbow before spinning him around and towards Bjarni, whose maw caught his head and bit down.
The last one tried to learn from his fellows' mistakes and only attacked as a blur. The shadow passed by Yngvarr again and again, making nicks against his armor and small cuts in some of the gaps. The old man waited, keeping his senses focused on the attacker even as the two beasts snapped at its trail. He took a breath, then began to move, winding up a swing that seemed to be going in front of him, but came all the way around, smacking the running vampire mid-stride and causing him to spin through the air and land on his stomach. He tried to look up, but his life was snuffed out when a giant hoof landed on his head, smashing it like rotten fruit. Toggle then let out a triumphant bellow, joined by his bear counterpart and the old werebeast.
Blake dodged and jumped away from another of the shadowy vampires. She had pulled one away from the others towards the side where no one was fighting, but now she had to figure out how to end her. The vampire certainly wasn't like the Bloodfiends. For one, she was smiling. That just meant Blake couldn't underestimate her.
A sword swiped at her and she ducked under it and slashed with her own, caught in a parry as she did. The riposte was side-stepped and then Blake jumped away from a slash. The vampire then moved in a shadowy blur, getting behind Blake and stabbing into her back. As she smirked, the image of the cat-eared woman disappeared, leaving the vampire flabbergasted. She then shouted as she felt something coming towards her and moved, but nothing was there…despite the bleeding cut on her shoulder. She kept moving, feeling something coming at her and barely dodging or blocking it each time. Suddenly she recognized twin pinpricks of light like stars looking at her, then she felt herself being skewered from the front. She cried out and grasped for her killer, grabbing something that felt like shadows and cloth for a moment, then a passing firebolt came close and she finally caught sight of it, a being that looked like they were carved from the night sky. She fell off the blade, a small smirk on her lips as life left her.
Blake reached up and de-summoned the Nightingale Armor. It was good in a pinch, but she wasn't planning to reveal the presence of a Nightingale to the Dawnguard just yet. Still, the dead vampire was more than a little disturbing. Who died with a smile on their face like that? She shook her head and went back towards the battle.
Rumarin deflected blow after blow from the maniacal vampire out for his blood, backpedaling as he did.
"Not so strong, are you, elf?" he taunted while shoving back against him. Rumarin groaned as he fell between two spikes of a barrier and sighed.
"Of course, my killer's going to be the racist vampire. I couldn't get the nice, gentlemanly one, no. Had to be the rude one," Rumarin joked with a shaky tone, if only to keep himself calm. The vampire laughed more as he brought his sword down. Rumarin raised his bound blade to block it, and the two were caught in a deadlock. Rumarin bent back and then used one hand to hold himself up from the construct, even as the one holding his conjured sword began to shake from the effort. The vampire then laughed as he brought his face closer.
"No magic, little elf? Are those robes only for show?"
"Well," he grunted while wincing, "they're fairly fashionable. But they also have some surprises." He flicked his hand and then brought it up around their locked swords, and a small iron dagger stabbed into the vampire's throat. The surprised undead started to choke and gurgle as the Altmer got himself back up to his feet, looking down at the vampire. "For example, they have some spacious sleeves." He pulled the dagger back while pushing the vampire away, gasping as he fell back from the thick of the fighting.
Isran smashed another swing aside then ran up towards the Giant vampire, who kicked out at him. The Redguard rolled under the incoming foot then spun around as he jumped back up to his feet, bringing the force of his runic hammer to the Giant's shin. The was a crack that overshadowed the meaty impact, and the Giant was screaming and stumbling to his knees. He tried to bring a fist down on Isran, but the man met it with a hammerstrike that seemed to spark with sunlight on contact. The Giant yelled in pain as his knuckles came back steaming and scorched, then he was brought further down by Isran knocking his knee back. He roared in defiance, but the hammer then hit his jaw, spinning his face around. As he tried to shake himself from his daze, an axe came down and split open his temple, the twist before it was yanked out ensuring his demise.
"That was mine," Isran quietly griped to the Orc.
"Didn't claim it," Durak joked right back. The two managed a smile for each other before looking back at the oncoming undead. The Bloodfiends seemed to have been beat back for now, but the zombies were still coming with the mist rolling right in front of them. It reached their feet and the two stumbled back when they felt the cold sinking into them, Durak also noting how the hot blood on his axe had frozen solid almost instantly. Back at the third line, the big Giant had gotten over the wall like it was a pasture fence. Its beard and chest were covered in ice, but it seemed to be no impediment to the beast. Once it was over, it began making its way toward them with large strides.
"To the keep!" Isran commanded as he turned back. Almost everyone was inside now and the doors were nearly shut. Others ran into the fort before him, but Yang began to walk up to his side. He had seen the woman just toss the other Giant and was thinking about commending her on that, though part of him thought that commendations could wait until they were in a safer position. Figuring a word wouldn't hurt, he was about to utter a 'well done', when the stomps ceased a moment and his instincts screamed at him. Yang seemed to have the same idea and she spun around before moving and shoving Isran aside. Before the Redguard even hit the ground, a giant arm rushed by, the hand yanking the blonde from the ground. The massive Giant had made a leaping dive to catch him, but caught Yang instead. He seemed satisfied enough with his catch, and his fist tightened even as Yang pushed back and screamed.
Isran wanted to do something, but his legs weren't listening to him right now. He frothed at the mouth with frustration at how weak they felt, then someone was pulling him away and towards the fort. He looked on either side of him to see that Celann and Durak were dragging him away from the fight, and he thrashed a moment against them.
"No! Stop that thing!"
"We've got nothing for it!" Celann shouted, though it seemed to hurt him to admit it. "She's already gone!"
"Yang!" Blake screamed when she saw her partner's straits. Without hesitation, she threw Gambol Shroud forward onto the Giant's arm and brought herself up to Yang. She immediately tried pulling Yang free, but they seemed to be getting nowhere, even together. She pulled out the Blade of Woe and tried stabbing at the Giant's knuckle, but it was like trying to stab into granite, the blade hardly cutting into his skin by even an inch. Mist began leaving his mouth again, only now he was blowing it towards them. Blake's breath hitched when she felt the cold blow over her, but she hardly paused in her efforts to get Yang free. The blonde, on the other hand, was slowing in her struggles. Frost started to form over Yang's armor, and Blake felt the sweat on her freezing solid even through the adrenaline pumping through her body. The Giant vampire seemed to be smirking as his other hand reached up over to them, and Blake made the horrible realization that she could either leave Yang to be frozen and crushed, or get caught herself.
A second seemed to stretch on for eternity as the fingers closed in on her, but a memory came. It was only a little tale, from a happy and smiling Ruby and a slightly annoyed but still grinning Weiss. Of using her Semblance with others. Of taking people with her when she sped away as a cloud of petals. Blake closed her eyes tightly and held onto Yang as securely as she could.
As the gaps between the Giant's fingers closed, the beings in his hands disappeared. He grunted in confusion, then saw them briefly suspended in the air just out of reach. Blake instantly swung away on Gambol Shroud, carrying Yang with her through the closing doors. They came in just shy of five seconds before the heavy doors were closed the whole way, a wooden beam that was essentially a whole tree slamming into place a moment later. Blake hit the floor and she and Yang rolled a moment. Yang grunted and pulled herself up while Serana, Rumarin, and Yngvarr came to their sides. Toggle walked over to Blake and sniffed at her before giving her a nudge. Bran's sniffing however, got her to moving, crawling over to where Yang had propped herself against a wall.
"Yang," she got out.
"Hey, B," she groaned while shifting, clumps of frost falling from her shoulders as she did. "I feel like I was caught in a trash compactor. Hehe." A hiss slid out of her teeth, and then someone was pouring healing magic into them. "Ah, thanks for that." She then sent a toothy grin over at Blake. "Hey, did you clone-port me?"
"Uh, yeah. I think I did," Blake answered evenly as the healing magic did its work, repairing damage done and muscles overexerted or pulled, allowing her to conserve Aura while still getting battle-ready.
"Didn't know you could do that."
"Me neither."
"Glad you did."
"Me too." As they both chuckled a moment, shouting began ringing out from the direction of the door. The crowd split and backed away from it, allowing them to see some of that cold mist flowing through.
"Shit," Yang mumbled.
"Get some furs and stuff them in the cracks!" Durak commanded.
"It's freezing over!" a woman warned everyone. Sure enough, the massive double doors were beginning to become covered in frost. They wouldn't have been surprised if on the other side the Giant was breathing it directly onto the barrier. The final barrier.
"God," Yang breathed out as a sigh.
"So this is it, huh?" Rumarin said. "I'll admit, I didn't think it would be like this. I figured it'd be a more open area. Seems a bit more romantic than cornered in a siege."
"Aye," Yngvarr agreed, holding his axe head down at his side. "But this is still an honorable way to go, I'd say. Already from what I've seen and heard, we've cut many of the beasts down this night. That many more that won't be able to march against the rest of the living world."
"Well, true. I just hope it was enough, in the end."
"It'll have to be," the gruff voice of Isran said, catching everyone's attention. He looked tired, but the anger was still burning in his eyes. "I'm sorry we weren't better prepared, but we've done what we can with what we could. We can only hope this is enough to give the rest of Tamriel a fighting chance. Once they get through that door, that's it." He took a deep breath and looked over the crowd. "You, vampire!" Serana stood a little straighter, and the crowd looked to her. "Get out of here!"
"Excuse me?" she shot back. Yang felt like throwing her own comment in, but Isran continued.
"Get yourself and that Elder Scroll out of here. I hate to leave it in the hands of a vampire, but you've kept it safe so far, and I don't want them getting a hold of you or it. Go through the back way, and let Sorine know to lead the refugees out. She knows what to do. After that, do what you want, but keep that Scroll away from them. Fail that, and I'll claw my way from the grave to get you myself, Gods be damned!"
"You're really serious," Serana muttered after a momentary pause. She looked toward Yang, who nodded, and sighed. "Right. I'll go. Don't you go down without a fight."
"I never would," he promised. Serana began to make her way towards the back caverns, and Isran took another breath. "Now this is it. I won't hold you all here. If you volunteers think you'll do better guarding the others, then go do so. Take what you think you'll need and follow Sorine Jurard's instructions. But if you think of stealing and absconding or taking advantage of the situation in any way, then you better hope the vampires kill me."
For a moment, no one moved, but then several of the volunteers began talking among themselves. Sons with parents to look after and men with wives and children were pushed by the others to go. Those with no connections left or nothing to lose stayed. It was only maybe twenty men in the end who left, and most of them were pushed by the others until they went. It wasn't even all of them. The fathers with grown children wormed their way into staying, and more than one brother or sister convinced their sibling to go on. There were more than a few false promises made in that regard, and it tore at Yang's heart to see them made.
Sighing, she took out her scroll and texted a short message, giving Ruby a summary of the dire situation and sending it to her, letting her know what might come to be soon. She just hoped that if no miracle was forthcoming, Ruby took it well.
'I'm sorry, Ruby. I don't want to leave, but… This is what we signed up for,' she thought. Grunting, she got to her feet and stretched her healed body around, before fishing a green bottle out of a belt pouch and bringing it to her lips. She tossed back the stamina potion and sighed as the lead weights that had been building up on her limbs over the course of the battle slipped away a little. She wouldn't say she was refreshed, but she was ready to meet with the forces just past the door.
Speaking of, it seemed that they had started beating against it. The beam wasn't even showing a crack yet, but there was a sizable dent in the doors near the middle-bottom.
The mood was grim across the gathering of warriors, but resolved. Archers were taking places on the upper level and the stairs, some even simply hopping on top of tables to get a vantage point. Hard-hitters were taking point, including Yang and Isran. She shared a look with him, and they both nodded.
"You more than deserve Sovngarde, Companion," he told her, gruffly, but not unkindly. She smirked, not wanting to sour the mood by correcting him.
"You've got a place at the Far Shores."
He chuckled at that, something that seemed to lift the entire mood of the glum place. "Surprised you even know about that."
Yang felt her scroll ringing. Seeing as the door was still several hits away from being breached, she decided to take the call. When she saw the message preceding it though, she felt elation taking her.
"We've got another surprise coming!"