Jump Chain Gothic 7 - Skyrim 1 - Dawnguard
Part 6
Castle Volkihar. Skyrim.
"That's a really fancy home you have there" I commented as Serana and I got off the ferry.
Serana looked down at the ground for a moment, a little embarrassed it seemed. She had to be a centuries old vampire, and yet her reaction to my comment had been very human. Which I found strange.
The ferry wasn't big enough for more than a couple of people so I'd been forced to leave Forestwind and Cameron back on the shore. Which meant I was more vulnerable than normal since I was alone. Also I had changed back into my Dawnguard armour, and I wasn't carry much in the way of advanced weapons.
However I still had my near-ascended abilities, my magical talents, and my connection to the Force, so I was hardly helpless. Not that I wanted to test how powerful I was by entering a castle that was full of vamps.
"I didn't want you to think I was just some spoiled daughter of a lord" she said "You know the type, those who act like a princess and cares for nothing more than fine clothes, and getting a rich husband".
Serana was certainly not one of those types. Still her home was impressive. Given the low level of technology in this world and the sheer size of the building I had to wonder if magic had been involved in its creation.
Then I remembered who lived here and figured that the secret of its construction could actually be magic, blood magic, who knows how many people died to make this castle. I was sure that I didn't want to know.
"Now I have to face my father" said the vampire.
From what I remembered of Harkon he wasn't the kind of person you wanted to socialise with.
"I'll leave you to your family reunion" I told Serena "It wouldn't be wise for me to enter that castle".
Going in there would be as foolish as a wounded deer entering the lair of a hungry pack of wolves. As powerful as I had become there was no sense putting myself at needless risk just because I wanted a challenge.
"Oh" said Serana "Well maybe I'll see you again".
I knew that unless events totally spiralled out of control that I would. But for now it was time to part ways. I needed to get back to Solitude so that I could finish dealing with the return of the Wolf Queen.
(Line Break)
Solitude. Skyrim
The Jarl listened with growing concern as her court mage described the history of the Wolf Queen and the horror of what a reborn Potema could do to land of Skyrim.
"Born in 3E 67, Potema was one of the four known children of Pelagius II" the magic user began by saying "Her grandfather, Emperor Uriel Septim II, is said to have exclaimed that the newborn looked like a "she-wolf ready to pounce". She was married to Mantiarco of Solitude at the age of fourteen. Though she could have been nothing more than a court pawn, Mantiarco evidently loved her greatly, and through him she wielded total control, something she apparently took a great liking towards".
Not the best of starts.
"In 3E 97, after many miscarriages, Potema had a son, whom she named Uriel after her grandfather. Her husband died three years later" the mage was now saying "It is suspected that soon after Uriel III was born, she tricked Mantiarco into disinheriting his son from a previous marriage, leaving her son as the heir to the throne of Solitude. However, Solitude was a mere stepping stone to the throne Potema truly desired for Uriel: the Ruby Throne of the Emperor of Tamriel".
The Jarl already knew most of this having long since learnt the history of the land she now ruled, but she knew that it was important to have all the information before deciding on a course of action.
"When her brother Emperor Antiochus died, Potema and her son were visiting the Imperial City, and she used the opportunity to accuse the dead Emperor's daughter of being a bastard so that son would inherit the throne" Elisf was told "However, she could not stop her niece's coronation as Empress Kintyra II, and, naturally, she was banished from the Imperial court".
"After her banishment Potema conspired with various disgruntled kings in High Rock, Skyrim, and Morrowind whose allegiance she had garnered over the years. With Potema's assistance, Uriel III coordinated three attacks on the Septim Empire" was the next part of the story "The attack in High Rock resulted in the capture of King Kintyra II. The attack in Morrowind centered on numerous Imperial coastal forts and resulted in the demise of the Empress's consort".
"After reinforcements left for these two provinces, the third attack in 3E 121 was a siege of the Imperial City itself. The city held out for a fortnight before they capitulated, and Potema's son crowned himself Uriel Septim III that same evening" the Jarl was told "His coronation is generally marked as the start of the War of the Red Diamond, though some sources take into account the hostilities that began the year before".
"The civil war pitted Potema and her son against her younger brothers Cephorus and Magnus. Potema commanded the allegiance of Skyrim and northern Morrowind. Cephorus and Magnus managed to sway all of High Rock to their side" the mage said "The other provinces were divided, but most leaders supported the brothers. In 3E 127, Uriel III was captured at the Battle of Ichidag in Hammerfell"
"At the time the now sixty-one-year-old Potema, was fighting against Magnus at the Battle of Falconstar, she flew into a rage when she heard what happened to her and led the successful assault herself" the Jarl was informed "While en route to Uriel III's trial in the Imperial City, a mob overtook his prisoner's carriage and burned him alive within it. His captors and uncle continued on to the Imperial City, and by common acclaim was proclaimed Emperor Cephorus I, ending the War of the Red Diamond. Potema finally died in her castle during the siege of Solitude ten year later".
"The reason it took Cephorus an additional ten years to defeat his sister, nearly his entire reign, was because Potema's fury and increasing madness led her to use extreme measures" the mage was now explaining "Her spirit was evidently extraordinarily strong, and she used her innate talent in conjuration and necromancy to inflict as much pain upon her brother's empire as she could".
This part the Jarl listened to even more closely as it would clue her into what the spirit of the Wolf Queen might do to Skyrim now that she had returned in some form.
"Potema summoned daedra as minions and mounted attack after attack on the forces of the Emperor Cephorus I, employing necromancers to use her enemy's fallen against them. She turned Solitude into a "land of death" and terrified her subjects. It's said that eventually, even her chambermaids and generals were undead monsters"
The Jarl felt herself shiver, and it wasn't due to the cold.
"How can we hope to defeat such a monster" she wondered.
It was Falk Firebeard who had a suggestion.
"Jarl I've spoke with Styrr, the priest of Arkay" said the adviser "He believes that that Potema has not truly returned to life, and that the man who interrupted the resurrection ritual may be the key to defeating Potema before she can return fully to life".
Elisf knew who Falk was referring to, and since Arkay was the Divine of Funeral rites, as well as other things, it made sense that Arkay's priest might have some knowledge of how to deal with a vengeful spirit.
"The man from the Dawnguard, Gothic I think his name was" the Jarl was now saying "I want him found, but Falk do so quietly. I don't want to cause a panic".
(Line Break)
Solitude. Skyrim.
It was once more morning when I arrived at the Blue Palace. Most of Jarl Elisif's Thanes hadn't yet made it in, so it was mostly just servants hurrying about the palace's halls, as they prepared for what would be another busy day.
The guards that stood watch looked bored, and made no notice of my arrival as I hurried up the stairs and into the throne room. The Jarl herself wasn't there yet, but Falk Firebeardwas. He caught sight of me, and then let out an audible sigh of relief.
"The courier must have found you," he said.
Indeed he had, and his timing could have been better as I'd been hoping to finally get shopping down. I needed a lot of alchemy and enchantment equipment, and while paying for the stuff was easy enough so far I'd visited a dozen different stores.
At the rate things were going I might have to join the College of Winterhold in order to get what I wanted, but I should worry about after dealing with the vampires, as it would be nice to join the College with Morgana at my side.
Thankfully I could entrust my companions to finish the shopping for me, and I was sure that I'd have some time for the further buying of things once the big bad was dealt with.
"The message you sent mentioned something about Wolf Skull cave" I said "So I assume this has something to do the ritual I brought to an explosive end".
Falk Firebread glanced around and lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Yes" he confirmed "and I'm afraid it's not good news".
It never was.
"What happened?" I asked.
I had to act as if I didn't know in order to keep the plot going in the way I best knew it. Also people might start to wonder how much I'd been involved with events if I showed too much knowledge of them.
"When you broke up the binding Potema escaped," he told me. "We've encountered some of her minions. Styrr says she's still in spirit form or we'd all be dead already".
All as expected.
"You've already done us a service in stopping the binding" Firebeard said next "but I need you to go talk to him, to see if Styrr can tell us what to do next. Styrr thinks you have some sort of link to Potema. I trust his judgement on this. As a priest of Arkay he's had to deal with necromancy before. Nothing as dangerous as Potema, though".
If memory served Arky was basically the god of funerals or something like that.
"All right. I'll talk to this Styrr. We'll figure something out" I promised.
"I wish you well, friend". Falk said as I turned to leave "Be careful".
Sure I'd be careful, but more importantly I'd be prepared.
(Line Break)
Dead Drop Falls. Skyrim.
Morgana Pendragon considered herself to be a kind and understanding wife. She didn't complain about her husband having an open marriage while she remained loyal only to him, as odd as that was for someone who'd grown up in a kingdom were adultery was harshly punished.
Nor did she raise a fuss when the Jumper went off and had adventures without her, and she didn't demanded attention when Gothic played with his toys, as that was just what men were like. But she'd now reached her limited.
Gothic had been gone for so long now and he'd barely messaged her. That partly had to do with the lack of advanced technology in this world, and the interference caused by the environment, an issue that would soon be solved by some cloaked probes, however this didn't prevent Morgans from feeling left out.
So she'd decided to do some exploring on her own. She'd found cave system that was only accessible through the southwestern section of Fort Dawnguard. The entrance she found between three practice dummies and the paddock for the armoured huskys.
There are few glowing mushrooms growing on the wall to the right of the entrance, which she had already harvest for future alchemy experiments. She needed the right equipment for that work, which her husband should supply in the near future, however there was nothing stopping her from gathering raw materials right now.
Upon entering the place known to some as Dead Drop Falls, the sorceress found herself in a natural cave system. She followed the passage found a waterfall directly ahead. She could see it clearly enough thanks to lantern she carried.
There are many types of fungi in the cave including blisterwort, imp stool, Namira's Rot, and fly amanita. Morgana came out of phase long to harvest all of these plants. She would make good use of them later, but for now they would be stored the knapsack which she carried. She'd paid a 100cp for it so it was damn well going to be used.
Once she had gathered the fungi Morgana looked around and realised that the only way to proceed was to drop into a hole formed which had been formed the water. Which of course she jumped down, knowing that she could use her powers to levitate back up. She was even able to use her powers to slow her fall so that she landed with some grace and didn't get her nice dress all wet. .
At the bottom of the hole there was some dry land with a unlit brazier off to the side, which Morgana lit with the a few whispered words and a hand gesture. To someone with her powerful magic it was a mere trick.
Morgana soon found herself in a huge shallowly flooded chamber which contained many rock pillars that were sticking up out of the water. The magic user found a path a dead skeever, which she was thought was a huge rat, caught in a bear trap. She decided to ignore this.
A search of the land beneath the pillars yields only a few fungi, that she added to her growing collection. While she was out of phase she could still get wet, and the water was cold, so she limited her time standing in the water.
Oddly she didn't pass through water like she could do solid matter, she could only assume this had something to do with how she could breathe.
At the top of the a ramp was a pressure plate that triggered a poison dart trap, however Morgana remained ignorant of this as she didn't trigger the trap.
On the wooden table was an empty chest, an iron dagger, and three loose septims, with some food barrels and a sack beside it. All of this she ignored as old sacks, a few coins and a rusty old dagger meant nothing to her.
Continuing up she reached a raised wooden bridge that was in two halves and there was a lever on the left. With her own telekinetic powers, which were magical, she pulled the lever, lowering the second half of the bridge, but this also raised the first half so Morgana had run and jump in order to cross.
At the far end there was another raised wooden bridge and a lever that lowered it, forming a ramp to a ledge above. Which led to a tunnel blocked by a metal gate, but since Morgana was out of phase she simply stepped through the gate.
Upon entering another part of the network of caves the sorceress saw three pressure plates on the ground; and yet another gate, which she was easily able pass through. This meant she didn't need to mess around with the pressure plates.
Beyond that gate was a tunnel with another gate at the end, and behind it was a small treasure trove containing an unlocked chest with a straw bale to the right with two pickaxes on top. The pickaxes were now too rusty to be of us, but the treasure chest contained a small fortune in coins. This time Morgana did take the money.
In the middle of the room is a long wooden table with quivers of exploding steel bolts of fire, ice and shock, she would later discover, and a copy of the rare book: Confessions Of A Khajiit Fur Trader.
Against the northwest wall is a set of shelves holding three iron ingots, one gold ingot, a large coin purse, and several food sacks, the contents of which had long since rotted away, or had been eaten by something.
Morgana also found a wooden door which she got the sense lead to somewhere new, but she decided to wait until tomorrow until venturing down there. For now she would take the stuff that someone had gone to great trouble to secure away.
Tomorrow she would venture further from the fortress, after all Gothic wasn't the only one who could have adventures. For now she'd take the loot she'd found back to her room, and given it all a proper looking over.
(Line Break)
Solitude. Skyrim.
The Hall of the Dead sat in the very centre of Solitude. I noticed that the building was constructed of the same rough grey stone as most of the rest of the city. Patches of nightshade surrounded the place, which I didn't mess with despite wanting to stuff to make potions from, as it might be disrespectful.
Pushing the door open, I stepped into the gloomy interior. As was to be expected, the place was filled with bones, and not just human ones. Deer skulls, troll skull, and so on. There were enough skulls here to make me think that I was in a Yautja's trophy room.
Candles that had been placed in between the bones, flickered in their alcoves along the walls, casting what little light they could. While I knew that consecrating the dead was a necessary part of the worship of the Divines, and possibly a way to combat Necromancy, I still felt a bit wary of it.
Of course I'd been dealing with a lot of undead recently, and even an advanced human sometimes found things creepy. Not that I should be worried. I was well suited to protecting myself. Besides I had both Cameron and Forestwind with me. They'd watch my back.
"Can I help you?" a voice asked.
I knew this had to be Styrr.
"Falk sent me to talk to you about Potema" I said,
The priest of Arkay smiled, and it was a warm, welcoming smile.
"You must be then one Falk spoke so highly of" he then said "Yes, Potema. Former queen of Solitude and one of the most dangerous necromancers in recorded history. She was responsible for the Empire's near collapse almost five hundred years ago. I believe I have a book about her…"
While knowing your enemy was important I already knew what I needed to do, so in this case I didn't need more information. What I needed to do now was get on with things.
"And now Potema has returned" I asked, cutting in.
I'd recognised a ramble coming on, and wanted to get to the point as quickly as possible.
"Summoned in spirit form is not raised from the dead," he explained. "She'll need help before she can return to the living. For the moment, the Wolf Queen has retreated to a place filled with dead eager to serve her".
I never understood why anyone would want to serve someone like Potema. What did she offer? It couldn't be good retirement benefits if she kept killing people in order to add them to her zombie army. And if it was fear that kept her in power, then why didn't people just run away? People were weird.
"She has gone to her old Catacombs" the priest informed me "And just yesterday, one of her servants busted through a wall into the Temple of the Divines. We'll need you to go into the Catacombs themselves".
As to be expected.
"I'll do it," I said.
I took the key he offered.
"Good. Being at the summoning created a connection between you and Potema" I was told.
I didn't feel any connection. Not that it really matter. Morality and stuff like fate aside I was the most suitable person around to deal with the Wolf Queen, and if she came back from the dead then she'd get in the way of my plans to grab a lot of cool stuff from this land before buggering off.
Besides my Judgement Day Perk was now informing that Potema was a real threat to the whole world, and would end it in less than a hundred years if not stopped. However the same was also true of the vampires and dragons so this was hardly shocking to me.
"As to Potema herself" the holy man was now saying "find what's left of her body, likely a skeleton. Remove it from the Catacombs and bring it back to be sanctified by Arkay"
Already heading for the door, I called over my shoulder,
"Get everything ready. I'll be back" I promised.
Leaving the Hall of the Dead, I climbed the hill leading to Castle Dour. A handful of legionnaires were training in the courtyard as I passed, and I heard their captain barking orders at them, yet I paid them no mind.
The Temple of the Divines, which was located at the far side of the castle's courtyard, happened to be empty aside from a few priests when I entered. As I passed through the chapel, I noticed the empty place where Talos should have been represented.
From the chapel, I headed down into the basement, my companions right behind me. The key Styrr gave me fit the lock in a gate blocking the final room. It opened with a creak and I stepped inside, shutting it behind me. I didn't want whatever was down there to get out if I could help it.
Then I turned around and used my Jumper Key to access to the Cosmic Warehouse.
"Keep an eye on the door" I ordered the robots who guarded this place.
I then turned to my companions.
"Okay let's suit up" I said.
For this mission we would need all the best toys. Disruptor rifles, grenades, armour, pistols, knives, and of course plenty of spare power packs.
(Line Break)
Catacombs. Skyrim.
One of the walls at the very back had been a hole in it. A lot of rubble littered the floor and I got the impression that whatever it was that had burst through the wall, it must have been strong.
Beyond the hole in the wall was a dark passage, which I could see into just find thanks to the helmet I wore. It could grant me many forms of vision. I switched to night vision so that I could see where I was going.
While raising my rifle I cautiously climbed through the rift and headed inside. The short tunnel led into a series of abandoned chambers. Some light came through ancient, grime-coated windows that were set high into the walls, but there was not enough light to see clearly by.
Dust and cobwebs coated every surface. In the layer coating the floor I saw several sets of footprints besides that of my own and my girls. The source, the undead servants of Potema I was sure.
I'd not been gone from the city for very long, yet already the dead were moving. This Wolf-Queen was clearly a very active woman even when in spirit form.
Metal bars blocked the doorway ahead, yet footprints marked the ground on either side, showing that the undead servants had passed through here. It had been closed recently, and the lever was in sight so I was able to open up the way using one of my super powers.
Normally the gate wouldn't have barred my way, or that of Cameron's, as we had phase cloaks, but as of yet I'd not had the time to teach Forestwind how to use the technology, that would change in the future.
Not that it was a good idea to use them right now. We needed to destroy the undead minions of the Wolf Queen, not sneak past them, and unless they sensed us they wouldn't move and expose which was a corpse and which was a zombie.
Also from experience I knew that being out of phase didn't always protect me from powerful users of supernatural powers, and Potema was very powerful.
"You've arrived at last. The hero who prevented me from being bound returns to my fold. I have much to thank you for, little one. When you die, I will raise you and you can take your place by my side"
While ignoring the voice that came from no where. We kept going through the abandoned halls. Slowly everything became darker as the old chambers gave way to the true catacombs. Shrivelled up draugr rested in alcoves along the walls.
The instant I felt one begin to stir, via a warning given to me by the Force, I shot it and it vanished into nothingness, or at least seemed to. Matter couldn't be created or destroyed, not really, so the people or things that got vaporised were actually turned into vapour.
Some of the floors of the catacombs further down were filled with water and some sunken areas were completely flooded. I saw a number of decaying bodies lying below the murky water. These ones didn't move, thankfully.
Following the faint sound of running water, I stepped out of a ruined doorway at the end of the passage. On the other side was a natural stone tunnel with a high ceiling. Cages hung all around, each one of them filled with mangled bodies.
The back of the tunnel was blocked off by a sealed doorway. I pushed down the nearby lever. An instant later there was a loud rumbling sound and the stone obstructing the doorway turned, as if it were part of a giant wheel set into the wall. When an opening appeared I held the door in place while everyone went through.
The tunnels went on for some time, they were patrolled by more of Potema's undead minions and laced with all kinds of traps, both magical and mundane. Forestwind once again proved to me what a good investment she was by either disarming the traps or by showing us how to avoid setting them off.
Finally the caverns finally ended in a rotting wooden door, which I soon opened. Beyond was a chamber with a high ceiling. In the centre was an old grate leading to Divines-only-knew where, and I got the feeling that I didn't want to know.
There was another, and it looked sturdier than the one I'd just passed through. This room had massive, rough looking stone pillars that stood at the room's edges. A man stepped out from behind one of them. He was dressed all in black and the torch he held in his hand cast eerie shadows on his pale face.
"You've come far, mortal," he said to me with a sneer on his fast "No doubt you seek to enter Potema's Sanctum. I can see to that. We'll need plenty of fresh corpses to rebuild her army".
As soon as he made a hostile move he was vaporised. These undead freaks really had no idea who or what they were dealing with. Even locked doors did little more than slow us down and they could also be vaporised, or Forestwind could simply pick the lock with skeleton key, which admittedly was more subtle and stealthy.
At the end of another set of tunnels was a small, circular room that was lit by candles which were set into the walls. The floor was completely covered with a layer of scattered corpses in varying states of decay.
Knowing a trap when I saw one I threw a grenade dowe the underground corridor and had any of the corpses been waiting to ambush us they would now have to do that while in pieces.
"Not much further. Come, little things. Serve me in death. Your secrets will be mine".
I was sure that the Wolf Queen was observing all of this and was very interested in the devices I was using to defeat her minions. However the knowledge of them would never belong to her as even if she actually managed to kill me I'd return home so there'd never be a body for her to raise.
There was a door at the bottom of a short set of stairs on the other side. I shoved it open, and soon I found myself standing in the doorway of a long hall. Heavy stone blocks lined the walls, all the way up to the arched ceiling.
Big black metal coffins filled the room and stood on either side of its sunken middle. Hovering in the air in the room's very centre was a bright, purple-white light that held a vaguely woman-like shape.
A laugh emanated from it. Then I heard Potema's voice, her words echoing off the walls.
"You've come far, mortal, but can you stand against my inner council? Let's see!"
The ghost of the Wolf Queen waved her hand and several of the coffins opened with a loud crack. Draugr stumbled out of them. As one, they drew their weapons and turned to stare at me.
"Back to back" I said to my companions.
Moving fast I shot one of the undead before dashing out of the way as they all ran toward us. I backed up until I couldn't any more, due other people being there. Cameron and I were firing at each moving corpse rapid succession. The odd arrow fired wasn't much help, but it hardly mattered.
I took several more down before one took a swing at me with its axe. I used my telekinetic powers to send it flying into the wall. It let out an unearthly shriek as it staggered back. It fell to the ground, writhing, and soon was no more than ash and burnt bones. My power cell was running low it hadn't had enough energy to totally vaporise that last corpse.
"Don't applaud yourself too soon, worm!"
Potema shot a bolt of lightning at me. I dropped my rifle, and activated my lightsaber just in time to use the blade to block the lightning bolt. Much like Obi-Wan did when Count Dooku tried to use lightning against him at the end of the Attack of the Clones movie.
"Is that it?" I asked "And here I thought you'd be a challenge".
My goading wasn't purely for amusement. I needed a moment to more fully bring the Force to my aid, not the light or the dark, the Force as it whole self.
"Come on, show me what you've got" I said.
There was another scream and sparks danced off the walls. I blocked another bolt, and then I heard a loud rushing sound. I saw the light vanish through a doorway at the other end of the hall.
Since I had no intention of letting her get away from me I hurried through the doorway and entered a new chamber.
At the top of a short flight of stairs was an ancient throne. A skull sat on it, a crown resting on its brow. As I approached, a ghostly figure rose from the throne. A woman, wearing the same crown. She drew her sword, which was a ghostly thing.
An arrow and a disruptor bolt passed through the spirit, showing me that mundane attacks had no hope of defeating this foe.
"Leave her to me!" I called out.
"You dare to face me, you pathetic worm?"
To my mild surprise her ghost blade was able to block my lightsabre's blade, but that didn't help her much as while she may have been a decent warrior in life she was no match for a former knight of Camelot who could call upon the Force.
I was able to drive her ghost blade aside and to drive my blade into where here heart would be if she were still a living person. My weapon had a magic crystal within it, one that had been freely given by the guardian of the Crystal Cave, which in Merlin's world was thought be the source of magic. Regardless if that was true or not the sabre was able to cause the spirit some sort of harm and she faded away.
As I took a deep breath and returned my sabre to its place on my belt I knew that Potema would return if given time so I had to act now. Grabbing the skull from where it rested on the throne, I made for the door at the back of the room.
Moments later I stepped out into the sunlight, and suddenly realised that I was standing on a thin precipice overlooking Solitude's bay. Glancing down at the rocky cliff below, I sighed. It wasn't going to be easy to get down that way, so I might have to go all the way back through the catacombs, which would be a pain.
(Line Break)
Solitude. Skyrim.
"I have Potema's remains," I called out the moment I stepped back into the Hall of the Dead "Time for you to do your thing",
Styrr hurried out from one of the back rooms. I wondered what he was working on, but quickly decided it was probably best not to know.
"Excellent! These things do have a way of working out when people take action. I'll sanctify the remains at once" he promised
As he took the skull from me, he spoke again.
"In case Falk doesn't make it clear" he said "Solitude owes you a great debt of gratitude".
On that I could agree.
"She was building an army of the dead so yeah you owe me big time" I stated.
A hero would be humble at this point. I was not going to be. Not that it had really been a lot of work.
"A curious figure," Styrr told me, obviously distracted. "Unrepentantly evil and nasty, of course, but also astonishingly brilliant, and obviously quite a necromancer at her end".
A bit of an understatement really.
"She was always so close to being Empress, but despite her machinations the throne was never to be hers" the holy man was now saying "Ironically, if she were alive today, she'd be the only living member of the Septim bloodline. By all rights, she would now be Empress"
I wasn't sure if this was the case.
"The Empire still acknowledges the Septims' claim to the Ruby Throne?" I asked.
Apparently it did, but since there was no living Septims it hardly matter. Only the Septims were of the Dragon Blood, as was the Dragonborn, so I had to wonder if the Dragonborn, who I'd not heard anything about yet despite the loss of Helgen, was somehow descended from a Septim. Interesting to think about, but not really relevant to me.
I left the Hall of the Dead and hurried back to the Blue Palace. It was late in the evening, but many of the Thanes still milled about. I nodded to Falk, not wanting to discuss the matter in front of everyone, and he quickly hurried over to me.
"I've taken care of Potema," I told him in a hushed voice, once I was reasonably sure no one else could hear "Her remains are being dealt with right now".
His shoulders instantly relaxed, as if I'd removed a great weight from them.
"You've done a great thing today. Potema would have been a blight on the land" said the Steward "Without you this would have been a disaster. I should have paid more heed to Varnius's warnings. I won't make that mistake again"
Careful he handed me a purse of coins
"Take this payment" he instructed "The Jarl would thank you, but she very much wants to keep Potema's return quiet".
"I understand," I said quietly.
With everything going on the last thing Skyrim needed was another reason to get the public in a panic. They had enough to worry about. Sure I wouldn't mind some recognition for my actions, but perhaps one day the truth would come out.
"Make no mistake: we consider you a protector of Solitude" Falk then added.
He nodded to me and walked back over to join the others by Jarl Elisif's throne while I quietly slipped away and out of the palace. I still had some shopping to do before I returned to Fort Dawnguard.