Arc 3—Uncivil War—Chapter 3:

Not wanting to scare Flugeal or his family or to bring them pain in the middle of the night, we made camp a short distance from their farmhouse and waited until daybreak to approach.

The man's face lit up as he saw us approaching with the horse, and he shouted to his wife and family, but he saw the boy wasn't riding the horse just a moment later and started shaking his head when he saw the shroud. We gave our sympathy and the letter from the captain before we took our leave of their farmstead, the sounds of crying following along behind us for much further than I expected or would have preferred.

North and east we went into The Pale, reaching Dawnstar around noon. The guards, on alert due to reported Imperial activity nearby, questioned us as we sought entry, but not so diligently that a few septims failed to buy our way into the city without revealing our purpose. We ventured into the Windpeak Inn, where, on taking a rear table, I purchased lunch for me and a glass of wine for Serana. While she had no need for human food, she enjoyed wine and other drinks and would occasionally even partake in a sweet confection or a favorite pastry.

"Molag Bal changed me in many ways," she said, "including my tastes but he didn't mess with certain parts of my taste buds. Unfortunately, my digestive system no longer functions the same way so—"

"Serana! Please! I'm trying to eat."

She grinned, having once again succeeded in making me uncomfortable with her condition. "So why are we here? I've studied your map enough to know that we should have gone south at the end of the Morthal road if we wanted to go to Windhelm. We've already lost most of a day and now we seem to be losing another one."

"Possibly," I agreed, "but I have an idea. And here he comes now."

A young boy of about 12 or 13 had entered the inn carrying a pail. "Lunch order!" he called. "A special and a bottle of ale!" He set an empty bottle on the counter and then started pacing impatiently.

"Alesan!" I called out, only to see his head swivel toward me before he approached at his usual, near-run.

"Master Aerik!" he exclaimed as he finally recognized me but I quickly quieted him. In barely a whisper, he asked, "What are you doing back in Dawnstar, sir?"

"Checking in on my favorite young man. How are things with you? Are you keeping up with your studies?"

"Very busy, sir. And trying, sir. Miss Frida and Master Rustleif both try to spend a little time with me, but Master Rustleif is very busy, particularly now that the baby is walking. Mistress Seren has little time to help at the forge, so he's doing more of that while she cares for little Viilki. Don't tell anyone but I think she's going to be having another."

"Really?"

He nodded with a grin, but looked back as Thoring, the innkeeper called out, "Alesan! Order's up!"

"Gotta' go, sir."

"I'll talk to you later then, but I have an order for you after you finish this one. Swing by Harlaug's ferry and see if he is here. Let me know as soon as you can." I slid several septims into his hand to appreciative nods.

When he was gone, Serana stared at me. "A ferry? You didn't tell me this town had a ferry."

I grinned back at her. "You didn't ask."

~ESV~

It had been a long, grueling voyage in the little boat, but it was nearing its end.

Harlaug took one final stroke of the oars to move us into the end dock at Windhelm's waterfront. Even in the dark of night with clouds filling most of the sky, he knew just how the current would affect his boat. We were barely moving as we closed on the dock, allowing Serana and me to use our hands to catch the pier and then climb out without Harlaug even needing to tie up. Having been paid the balance due and a nice bonus when we were still a little way out, he allowed the current to carry him back downstream without saying goodbye and no one else on the Windhelm waterfront ever knowing that he'd been there.

We'd landed behind a group of barrels, so Serana and I walked hand in hand, as if we were lovers out strolling on the dock. We made our way to the main wharf that ran along the waterfront and slowly walked along that for a while before turning back and then going up the steps to the gate to the city. Torches cast a dim, flickering glow revealing a pair of guards, one of whom was leaning against the wall and appeared to be asleep while the other looked to be only marginally more alert.

"Good evening to you," I said, startling the guard while Serana hugged my arm tight and leaned in to kiss me on the neck. "Ahem, they're givin' us a hard time on the ship, so we're gonna' go get a room. Mind openin' up for us?"

"Very good, it seems," agreed the guard, resisting a yawn while he tried to fight off a laugh. With no new ships at the docks, he did as we'd hoped, assuming we were from one of the ships already there. He quietly conferred with the guards inside before letting us in. "Have fun," he called.

"Believe me, we will," I said in response with a wave even as Serana flicked my earlobe with her tongue.

Staying close, she whispered in my ear, "Told you it would work." Seeing me shudder, she added with a giggle, "Does the princess know you're ticklish there? Remind me to tell her."

I growled at her softly, hoping she wouldn't realize I'd actually enjoyed the brief moment of illicit camaraderie. "Come on. We need to get there before more people see us."

Minutes later, after a couple of close encounters with guards or late night revelers, we made it to the market square and to the door of The White Phial. I tapped on the door and cringed at how loud it sounded in the night. I started to knock again but Serana caught my hand.

"Padding," she whispered. "It at least muffles it on our side, but the rap carries fairly well to those inside." She gave three more knocks with her hand wrapped in something; personally, though it might have sounded a bit quieter, it still reminded me of a battle of quarterstaves.

Moments later, as she was about to try again, we heard a muffled query. "Who's there?"

I gave a distinct but very lightly tapped staccato in reply. A moment later, the bolt was thrown, and the door opened, welcoming us in.

Quintus was wearing his nightclothes and holding a club in one hand and a lantern in the other. I didn't have time to say hello because I wasn't even all the way in when Sofie threw her arms around me. "Aer—"

"Shhh!" said the rest of us at the same time. Serana and Quintus closed the door and locked it behind us while Sofie continued to squeeze me.

"Girl, you've grown even more since I was here last," I told her, feeling womanly curves continuing to replace those of childhood. I gave her a hug in return and then patted her back as Serana shook her head with an amused smirk.

"Aerik, you came!" Sofie exclaimed, much quieter this time, but with equal excitement. "Did you get our note or did you come to see me?"

"I'm always glad to see you, dear, but, yes, we received your note in Morthal and headed this way. We ran into some trouble on the way but made it safely."

"Trouble?" asked Quintus, as I picked Sofie up bodily and set her down an arm's length away. She frowned at me.

Turning to Quintus, I replied. "The war continues to get bloodier, claiming innocent victims who should be home safe with their families. Still, Serana and I made it safely, which counts for something." Nodding to each I added, "Serana, this is Quintus and missy there is Sofie. This is Serana, my associate."

Probably remembering Lydia having once received a similar introduction, Sofie's frown deepened but getting no attention for it, she did a polite curtsy while Serana and Quintus shook hands.

Not waiting to be asked, I moved to the table and had a seat, with Serana right behind me. I helped her out of her boots while glancing toward Quintus. "We may not have much time in Windhelm, so let's get on with it. The letter said you'd discovered something. What can you tell us?"

"Nurelion, as ill as he's been, has stayed after me to continue searching the archives in the Palace of the Kings for what we believe will be the last ingredient needed to repair the matrix for the phial. It's a fine powder made from mammoth tusks."

"I've seen powdered mammoth tusks before," I agreed, but Quintus was shaking his head.

"Same concept, but different product," he said. "You've seen the ivory produced by the mammoths, right? That stuff's as hard as iron. The key is that it's said that the giants of the Hjaalmarch have improved on the typical milling process. According to what I found in the old records, it looks like they found a way to make it yield, to be maybe as small as a tenth the size of the typical powder."

I must not have looked suitably impressed with his report, so he leaned closer and stared at me as he added, "Aerik, if what I've read is correct, they grind the mammoth tusk powder so finely that we can infuse it into the lattice of the packed snow. The result will have the delicate nature of the fresh powder snow but will have the strength of the hardest steel. We need you to go get it, quickly. Master Nurelion...well, he doesn't have much time."

We went through it carefully, exactly what it would look like (or, at least, Quintus' best guess, based on the description in the archive) and how much. When we were done, I gave Quintus a list of potions to pack up for us. Sofie recorded them with her florid handwriting as we pulled our potion satchels from our bags.

"We're leaving before daybreak, so please pack these and leave them here on the counter. For now, we need to get some rest since tomorrow will be another long day."

"I'll get it together for you, Aerik," promised the girl. "You can sleep on my pallet and I'll rest in the morning."

She sounded almost hopeful as she said it, but I shook my head. "No, dear," I told her. "I didn't come here to steal your bed." Or to displace you to Quintus', I thought. Turning to him, I said, "Quintus, we'll bed down upstairs, if that's okay?"

"Just don't wake the Master," he agreed. Stifling a yawn, he added, "I'll help you with those things, Sofie, so we can both get back to bed."

Once we were upstairs with a candlelight spell going just inches above the floor, Serana grinned at me and gave a little shake of her head. Leaning in, she whispered to me, "The Dragonborn, a matchmaker. I'd have never believed it."

I rolled my eyes at her and unrolled my blanket, put it down on the hard floor before removing the rest of my armor and lying down. She did the same, but with her vampire physiology, it wasn't the same for her. I was almost asleep when I heard her whisper, "At least one of us will get some rest."

~ESV~

We rose, gathered up our things, and slipped out an hour before sunrise. Moving quietly through the dark streets, we made our way to Candlehearth Hall and went inside to find Elda, the tavern keeper asleep on her pallet behind the counter, a single candle burning on the counter.

Going behind the counter, I nudged Elda and gave her a "Shhh" when she stirred. With a low whisper I said, "Innkeeper, here's 10 gold for our room and 20 septims more for your silence. If anyone asks, we were two lovers and we were here from around midnight on until now. You gave us a bounty sheet so we could go out and earn some money. Okay?"

With the gold in her hand, she nodded, apparently happy to have concluded such an easy agreement. However, I wasn't done.

"The bounty flier?"

She rose up with a tired yawn and reached for a small stack of papers under the counter before handing them to me. "This is all I have."

Moving close to the candle with them, I pulled one that looked good and handed the rest back to her before turning and signing something illegible in the book. She held the candle up to her key rack and then wrote a number by my scribble. In the faintest of whispers, she said, "You were in room 4, if anyone asks. You go, and I'll go make the bed look slept in. And come back again if you ever need a room again." She was grinning as she quietly slipped off in her bare feet to muss the room.

Serana and I made it to the front gate before the guards' morning shift change.

"You're out and about awfully early today," said one.

"Yeah. The innkeeper told us about how we could earn some money by collecting a bounty so we're going out to see if we can find this guy to collect." I flashed the paper at him.

He gave an uncaring nod, but his partner came over. It was only when she spoke that I realized she was female.

"Bounty hunting, you say? Good luck with that and be careful. Seems that over half of the folks who go out don't come back, and nine out of ten who make it back are worse off than when the go out. It's a rare case where they actually deal with the guy on the flier and can bring in the proof. Remember: no proof, no pay."

"Thanks for the advice," said Serana. "And I'll do my best to protect this clod." Her voice changed to a dramatic whisper, lower but still loud enough that the male guard and I could hear. "He's not much to look at but he's pretty good where it counts when the lights are out."

The women laughed, leading me to throw up my hands for the male guard's benefit as he opened the gate. His slow shake of the head gave me an idea of his attitude on my situation and probably life in general. I was thinking about that as we made our way across the bridge out of Windhelm.

"Serana, it's a good cover, but if word of our supposed 'adventures' ever gets back to Idgrod, she'll never agree to marry me."

She giggled. "Oh, don't worry, Aerik. I'll set her straight."

I started to thank her, but she wasn't quite done. "Yes, you could never be as good as I make you out to be."

"What?" I exclaimed.

She laughed heartily as she skipped ahead, leading me to trudge behind, wondering if it was true and if I ever really would be good enough for Idgrod.

Once out of sight of the army camp south of Windhelm, we headed west toward the south road to Whiterun and Ivarstead, but as we approached that intersection, we saw a mounted Stormcloak patrol. The trees along the south bank of the River Yorgrim offered scant cover but that was all we had, so a small gully and crevice between some roots became our hiding place for a while as the troopers appeared to be waiting for something...or someone.

"At this pace, we may be here until dark," I whispered to her.

"To bad we can't take advantage of this time," she whispered back. "I have some ideas on how we could pass the time."

I felt myself blush before she grinned at me and shook her head. "You're a very good man, Aerik, but sometimes you're even easier to tease than Lydia once told me," said Serana, whispering softly into my ear. "Idgrod is a lucky girl to have your love, and, if she doesn't realize it, I'll beat her until she does." This time she suppressed a laugh, telling me immediately that she'd been teasing the whole time, but it was then that she pointed.

"Looks like they're clearing out. Want to go or give them a little longer?"

We decided to wait a few more minutes before covering the last few hundred yards to the intersection. There, instead of heading south toward the bandits operating near Mixwater Mill that were mentioned on our bounty flier, we continued west into the Pale, following the south bank of the Yorgrim until well past the little village that was growing up around Anga's mill. There, I stripped and carried my light armor and clothes above my head as we crossed the river. Serana, less affected by the cold water due to her condition, retained her outfit as it was, while taking in the sight and teasing me. I dried off as quickly as I could and dressed again before we were on our way once more.

The sun was getting low in the afternoon sky when we neared the Nightgate Inn. Usually a dreary, lonely place, it was a surprise when the sounds of revelry met us as we approached the front door. Inside, several farm families from the area had gathered for an evening of fun and games following the marriage in Riften a couple days earlier of a young farmer to the widow of a recently deceased Stormcloak soldier. After we put money on the bar for our room, the tavern keeper said we were welcome to join the celebration.

"He's only been dead for a few weeks," claimed one of the young women, speaking to Serana. "Killed in a raid on an Imperial camp, but they were fortunate that they were able to recover his body or else she'd have been wondering forever like old Elsa." The woman pointed to another woman nearby. "She thinks her husband was killed nearly two years ago, but there's no way to prove it for sure, so she sits waiting...wondering."

"Skyrim's a hard place," agreed the first woman's friend. "If you find love, a little or a lot, take it or you may find you've waited too long." She nudged Serana, with a suggestive nod to me as if I wasn't even there.

Though directed to Serana, I took the woman's message to heart as I thought about Idgrod. While technically it wasn't me that was putting us off, her mother's intransigence might well result in us never being together. I wandered away, stopping only to see the groom and bride and give them my best wishes before I went on to our room.

I was in bed asleep when Serana climbed into bed beside me. She'd removed her clothes and placed them by the fire to dry so I felt her skin as she snuggled up against me. Because she was a vampire, her body was naturally little more than room temperature; between that relative coolness and the softness of her curves, I had great difficulty getting back to sleep as I hoped Idgrod would forgive me for my wayward thoughts.

~ESV~

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading!