This far north meant the nights closed in with abrupt swiftness, and even as they moved to the edges of the town the last remnants of the sun were snuffed out. As easily as blowing out a candle or snapping shut the covers of a lantern the daylight had faded, leaving them moving carefully in the gloom until Sofia managed to 'acquire' a lantern from the side of one of the buildings they passed.
The long night had set in, and while the days were noticeably longer than what they had been during the winter, the all-encompassing darkness seemed to last forever no matter the season. It was especially evident as they made their way past the outer buildings and the heaped earthworks and rows of thick posts laying in neat piles on the ground. Even for a town such a Morthal in its relative isolation from the comings and goings of the rest of the province, steps were being taken to ensure security and safety for its population. Depending on the whims of fate, the potential of a dragon attack or an all-out bloody assault by the Stormcloaks, the palisade that had been born as nothing more than an earthen mound could very well end up as a rampart capped wooden wall. If the civil war lasted as long as some suspected, it could then it could very well end up made of stone by its end.
It truly was a sign of the times that the handful of lumber mills continued working into the early hours of the night, sawing logs and planks for use in the construction of a palisade. Built into the side of a creek that snaked its way through the northern portion of the town, the mill they walked past was lit with lanterns and occupied by a handful of men and women repairing and maintaining it for another day's labour.
Those within didn't seem to pay much attention to Sofia and Lydia as walked past towards the nearby graveyard. The light from Sofia's new lantern was partially rendered useless from the number of lanterns and the iron-capped braziers set at the site of Morthal's future north gate.
"What a miserable evening this has turned out to be." Sofia muttered, feeling the chill as clouds finally won the struggle to hide the moon and stars from view. Judging by the reactions of the guards at the gate's construction site the dim light, rapidly dropping temperature and the thickening fog was a normal occurrence for the town.
Thickening, the fog covered them and made a mockery of the mists that had greeted them during their arrival. The midday fog was enough to blur the vision and leave the sensation of moisture, but the evening's one almost felt thick enough to cut with a sword.
"Where do you think he would be?" She asked, glancing between Lydia and the lantern in her hands as she adjusted the shutters for more light. It wasn't much of an improvement but it at least let them see the way the graveyard seemed to stretch infinitely into the mist.
"Searching for the ghost I guess." Lydia moved along the tiny path between the gravestones, her boots impacting lightly into the soil worn flat by countless feet. "Maybe we should find someone to ask where she was buried?"
"Sure beats wandering around a graveyard at night." The sudden chill she had caress her spine had nothing to do with the temperature. "And the sooner we find her the sooner we get to go back to the inn. And mead."
"The amount you drink is going to get you killed."
"And following Kaius isn't going to?"
Lydia returned to her usual silent self at that, and Sofia couldn't help but grin. Another point for me. She thought while completely failing to hide her grin.
Continuing on, they moved past row after row of gravestones and both soon found themselves wondering just how many were buried here. Whiterun's Hall of the Dead was dug into the hill that the city was built on, threading several layers deep into the rock but for the most part the locals practices cremation. Partially to save space. Morthal appeared to bury theirs and after so many centuries since it had been founded it had grown and spread until it covered a substantial area. Within the first minute of walking they had come to an unspoken agreement, angling their way deeper into the cemetery and moving towards the centre.
"We really need to find someone."
Other than the jingle of chainmail, and the sounds of their footsteps on the packed soil and the handful of paving stones there was little noise in the growing mist. The lights of the lumber mill were just over a hundred metres away, turning into glowing, indefinite balls that provided little illumination and no ability to discern details.
Lydia stopped in place, peering through the darkness with narrowed eyes as though she was forcing the fog away with willpower alone. "The gravedigger's house should be near. We find them, and get them to tell us where Hroggar's kin were buried."
Rolling her neck and stretching her arm holding the oil filled lantern, Sofia nodded. "That's probably where Kaius is too. Don't suppose you have any idea where the house is exactly?"
"If Morthal is anything like Falkreath, then the digger's quarters will be close to the centre…" her voice trailed off, and she paused in place.
"What is it?"
Lydia's eyes were narrowed ever further, her head turning back and forth very slowly as she listened. There were no crickets, no noise of the creatures of the night and other than their soft breathing and the sounds of their clothing and armour there was total silence.
"Someone is close by." She continued turning, looking over the tops of the gravestones surrounding them. "There."
Turning and looking in the direction of the Housecarl's arm, Sofia saw a shadow moving slowly in the night, a shadow that was blending into the darkness but moving against it right at the very edge of their vision. "Is it Kaius?"
There was nothing but silence from Lydia as she watched the figure pick its way through the tiny paths threading between the grave markers. Sofia lifted the lantern high, flicking the shutters open fully and squinting through the increased light.
"I don't think it is."
"One way to find out." Some gravel crunched under her boots as she took a few steps forward, lifting the lantern a little higher and waving with her other hand. "Hey Kaius!"
The figure stopped in mid movement, and for an uncomfortable second Sofia felt the presence of eyes resting upon her. Whoever it was they were too far away to identify and despite her best efforts it still remained on the very edges of her vision. That was right up until it vanished like it hadn't existed at all.
"Um… What?" blinking in confusion, she lowered the lantern down to her side and took a step backwards. There was no trace of anything or anyone in front of them. "Must be just seeing things."
Turning back to Lydia, the uncomfortable pricking sensation on the back of her neck increased as she saw the way that the Housecarl was standing. In the time between calling out and turning back around Lydia had unclasped her helm from her belt, pushing it down onto her head and was now dragging her axe from its leather loop.
"That wasn't the Thane." She said as her fighting axe and round shield found their way into her hands.
"Thank you Legate Obvious, I kinda figured that out for myself."
Both of them instinctively began moving closer together, looking in the general direction of the figure while the rasping of metal of metal left their jaws clenched. It did make Sofia feel better at having her sword in hand though.
"I love it when dinner walks right into my arms." The hiss came from their right, making them both twirl in surprise but by the time they had turned there was nothing there.
"So sweet… So succulent…"
Cackling, the unseen speaker floated around them in the mist, hidden and invisible in the shadows. There was no physical sign of them but the words and the tone were distinctly feminine.
"Lydia…" barely a whisper, Sofia had to choke the word out and she soon felt the reassuring presence of the plate armoured housecarl only centimetres from her spine.
"I know. Quiet."
"Yes. Be quiet. Cattle shouldn't speak."
Threatening and terrible, there was no mistaking the unnatural aura of dead that was holding them tight, seeping through the pores of their skin in a foul sweat despite the cold. Sofia found herself gripping her broadsword tightly, trying desperately not to think of the way her palms were growing increasingly damp in her gloves. Fighting the fear was strangely easy as after facing a dragon everything else appeared mild in comparison but that wasn't a state of affairs that she found particularly comfortable with anyway.
On the very edges of her vision like a shadow refusing to take form, the flitting movement continued drawing her attention. There was something about it that built pressure into the back of her mind similar to Kaius' magicka but it was not the same as casting a ward, creating a ball of light or even summoning the shades of the dead.
"Open your lantern." Lydia hissed between clenched teeth, her set jaw and the glints of eyes the only parts of her flesh that were visible under the spectacle helm.
Without thinking or hesitating, Sofia flicked the shutters with a thumb, opening the metal slats and letting the light from the burning wick to fully pour out. While it wasn't much and did little to break the stifling pressure of the night it was enough to suddenly reveal the darkened figure less than five metres away.
Yelping, Sofia stumbled backwards as the being lunched itself at her. There was a split second's image of fangs, pallid flesh and burning eyes within the depths of fluttering hood before it was replaced with the interior of a round shield and a fleshy thump.
Roaring out a Nordic battlecry on the top of her lungs, Lydia immediately went on the offensive. Her shield had smashed right into the humanoid creature in mid leap, stopping it from falling upon Sofia and dropping it to the ground in a head of writhing limbs and hissing pain. As quick as the housecarl was, the creature was far quicker, pressing taloned hands into the ground and springing up as graceful as an acrobat while dodging the hissing axe that sunk into the earth.
"Sofia! Get it!"
Snarling and spitting with rage, the vampire twisted and weaved between the two women as they struck and hacked at it. The blackened hood had fallen away from Lydia's shield bash revealing a woman's face twisted and foul with an overwhelming thirst. The bones of her face seemed to be pushing out against the confines of its skin, lips peeled back in a grin of the damned and not hiding the fact that both incisors were lengthy and needle sharp.
"Why fight me?" She hissed, gliding away from the lantern in Sofia's hand. "Your blood is already mine."
"I think not bitch!" the lantern clattered as she placed it on the ground. For a moment her heart skipped a beat as she thought that it was about to topple over or have the wick extinguish itself but it sat in the dirt shining brightly.
A dagger appeared in one hand, being held in a sturdy, if uneasy grip. It was the first sign that gave both women facing the vampire some comfort. Despite its unnatural strength, speed and abilities it was no trained fighter. On top of that, Sofia found herself grinning manically. Six months of travel with Kaius equated to six months of training with a vampire; one who was a master with a blade and as such her confidence increased considerably.
It came in swinging and both Lydia and Sofia dropped into their own fighting stances. Lydia, with her massive shield shifted into the defensive, drawing the beast to her with careful footwork and ensuring that the metal rimmed shield was between her and it at all times. Sofia instead moved onto the attack, twisting around and trying to get around to the creature's side where her broadsword could strike home.
Within seconds the air was ringing with rippling snarls and the sounds of metal on metal. The knife the vampiress wielded wasn't much more than a butcher's blade but with such unholy strength behind the blows Lydia was grunting and shifting backwards with each one. Time and time again it would twist its edge in attempts to get it around Lydia's defence, only to find the experienced housecarl moving slightly, shifting her bodyweight and deflecting the knife on the metal rim or feeling it bite home into the wood.
Sofia sliced and stabbed, alternating between one and both hands on her sword and remembering all of the techniques that Kaius had spent the months of travel drumming into her. Against a foe that was stronger, faster and more agile it was useless and almost suicidal to make any attacks that were at all extended from the body. He had taught her to fight close, to stab and slice in short sharp movements that left the blade close and where she could easily roll the wrist into a block or parry of her own. By the time she had managed to close with the vampire she was thankful she had actually listened to someone for once and hadn't been too drunk to remember his lessons.
Fabric and cloth ripped as a slice managed to cut part of the robes that billowed like smoke from the writhing vampire. A chunk of hood fluttered lazily into the air as Sofia came within centimetres of cutting ear and scalp but with its characteristic speed it had managed to duck right at the last second.
"You're just lucky that I have company so I can't do unspeakable things to your corpse!"
Lips like blue-grey leather peeled back over the fangs and highlighting the mottled bruising that was already flaring from Lydia's shield. Sofia's taunt struck home and for a split second the vampire's attention was drawn to her.
The distraction cost her though, as the flared head of Lydia's axe chopped down as though she was trying to hew a fallen pine in half. Again the creature's agility saved it from an attack that would have killed a lesser being but blood was drawn nonetheless. Fabric ripped and tore under the descending axe, and a jagged flesh wound opened in its shoulder that coated the rune etched weapon in black gore.
"Not so fun now is it?"
Hunching and clutching its wounded shoulder in its free hand, the female vampire growled, a deep note that could have put fear into a sabrecat. Lydia and Sofia weren't as affected, taking measured steps forward almost shoulder to shoulder as they stared it down.
The darkness seemed to reach in and wrap itself around the vampiress and like the minute before. In horror, they realised that they had moved a little too far from the light of the lantern and without its light the vampire could move at will.
Moving with all the speed of a lightning strike, the rictus grin of the vampiress appeared, unfolding itself from the shadow by Lydia's side and sinking its claws into the housecarl. She stiffened as the dagger vanished from sight only to reappear a second later sheathed in crimson, and with the talon-like fingernails of its other hand it ripped the shield away. Even the wood and sturdy construction of the shield wasn't enough to entirely hold the creature's attack at bay, splinters of wood and peelings of lacquer flicked into the air as a series of parallel grooves appeared on its face.
"Lydia!?" Sofia spun and hacked her sword at the vampire's throat, realising almost before she committed to the strike that she was overbalancing herself. Momentarily and fleeting, there was the slightest unease from the creature as it leapt back into the shadows again with the keen edge millimetres away from opening its throat.
"Get back towards the light!" Forcing the words out, Lydia struggled to raise her shield once more with the streak of blood running down her hip. In her armour a knife could do little more than slip between plates and nick the flesh, but it was enough to slow her down.
Drawn out and with a mouth unhinging like a snake, the vampiress reappeared directly in front of Lydia as she tried to raise her shield to cover herself from throat to groin. With the pain and the bloodsucker's proximity she was unable to react fast enough to dodge the open palmed strike that hit her in the chest like a kick from a mule. Even the sound was forceful, making Sofia for a moment feel like she too had been struck as the housecarl was thrown backwards in a clatter of metal.
Questioning shouts and bouncing lights were quickly making their way through the mists from the direction of the town. Sofia knew that in the best case those coming to investigate the disturbance would be able to save them from the vampire, but in the worst case would be little more than fodder for the beast. Within a heartbeat of Lydia being thrown backwards in a dazed tangle of armour plating she had stepped sideways, moving closer to the lantern and vampire while putting herself between it and the housecarl.
"Lydia! Get up!" she shouted, fending off a pair of blows from the knife and feeling the wind on her face as a handful of sharpened fingernails only just missed blinding her.
Unable to turn or see what was happening at her back, she could only dance about on the balls of her feet, twisting and parrying away the creature in the most economical and short movements possible. Kaius had managed to teach her well and all the nights and mornings of training were showing their value. She had nearly managed to break even with Vilkas those months ago when they joined the Companions and now she was able to hold her own against a creature of the night.
She managed to fend it off just long enough to see the mist break and the jogging figures of sawmill workers and the few armed guards in their chainmail and maces. Only half a dozen or so were rushing to their aid; the others were either too far away or were running about spreading the alarm through the town. Bells were tolling at watch posts and men and women would be arming themselves but it would come far too late to be of any use.
Flicking the knife away as it sought out her mailed stomach, she found herself completely unprepared as the vampire chose to leap upon her once more. This time, without a shield or the distance to move aside, she felt its full weight slam into her, both hands scrabbling for purchase on the chainmail and brigandine armour she wore over her tunic. Finger sized pieces of metal ripped or popped away from where they had been riveted to the chainmail, and as she jammed her elbow into the vampiress' throat she could feel a series of links begin to part and give way under its feral strength.
Shouting and curses of horror and shock rippled around her over the panting and hissing less than a dagger's width from her face. Her entire vison was filled with the sight of salivating jaws, teeth and fangs gleaming with whiteness and the pale tongue twitching in anticipation of her blood. Despite their comparative weight and how the vampiress was roughly the same size, the unnatural nature of the curse afforded her a much greater strength. It was all she could do to lock out her arm, keeping it up and the drooling maw at bay as those running to her aid drew closer.
Roaring wordlessly with rage and despair, Sofia could feel her arms giving way as her strength faded. Saliva splattered onto her face in the increasingly desperate pants and snaps of the mouth only centimetres from her neck, the droplets feeling frozen in the night time air. It was the only thing that seemed to keep her focussed in the struggle but she was losing very quickly.
A sickening crunch suddenly filled the air and the creature's struggles stopped instantly with the tremor that flowed through its limbs making itself felt to Sofia. The eyes that were once burning with hunger and glowing with an unnatural light suddenly faded, rolling into the back of her skull as the twitches grew more pronounced.
With the sudden lack of resistance, Sofia rolled her attacker away and spun onto one knee, seeking and looking for anything to use as a weapon. Instead she found herself facing one of the men who had rushed to their aid, a broad shouldered Nord with his hands grasped firmly on the handle of a forester's axe and tears streaming down his face.
"By all the gods I am glad to see you all!" Her breath was coming out hard and ragged now as her body finally caught up with the overwhelming adrenaline and it didn't help when the creature that had come so close to killing her began burning from the head down.
Heavy and designed for splitting sawn logs into firewood, the axe had done quick, if brutal work of the vampire. Especially when wielded by a man who had obviously spent his entire life hauling logs and working within one of the local sawmills. The axehead was almost completely buried within the skull, chopping through bone and brain with ridiculous ease but Sofia could only stand bewildered as the big man dropped to his knees with a howl of anguish that ripped through the night.
The looks on the pair of guards and the other two sawmill workers mirrored that of their friend as he knelt over the slain vampire, cradling the remains even as the dissolved in fire. Like all others of its kind, the vampire's body burned from within until nothing but ash and dust and blacked bones was left inside a pitiful collection of smouldering fabric. Confusion ate away at her just as the flames consumed the vampire, especially when faced with the nord holding the creature he had just killed despite the way his hands were left raw, blistered and bleeding from the heat.
Lydia staggered to her feet, gasping and wheezing from the vampire's blow to her chest. The incredible strength of the cursed being had been enough to buckle the breastplate in slightly and Sofia didn't envy how the housecarl would be feeling. Or looking come to think about it as she was going to have an extremely bruised chest come morning.
"You okay?"
Her voice was little more than a pained wheeze. "I feel like I just got kicked by a destrier."
Using her fur lined cloak and ignoring the way that grave dirt clung to it from the impromptu wresting bout, she wiped the vampires drool from her face, looking between Lydia and the men who had come to their assistance. "What's the go with him?" She said simply, nodding in the direction of the weeping nord and staring at one of the guards.
Instead, the distraught man looked up at her with eyes framed red and tears streaming freely. The pain of his burned hands didn't seem to register in the slightest. "She's dead. Laelette is dead."
"Laelette?" Lydia hissed, looking between the group of them and dragging her axe from where it had fallen.
"My wife." The look of suspicion that Sofia and Lydia cast between him and the others was venomous but it faded at the sight of his grief. "I… I killed her. I thought she had gone to join the Stormcloaks!"
Another howl of pain ripped from his throat and he doubled over the body, the shuddering breaths he was dragging in puffing up the ashes. One of the other workers stepped forward and lightly rested his hand on the sobbing man's shoulder, giving him a squeeze while looking almost as distraught and uneasy as he did.
"Well, looks like she didn't" The bluntness of the tone was enough that even Lydia shot her a darkened expression. "What? It's true! She was a vampire!"
"What the hell was she doing out here then?" One of the guards spluttered, looking about the darkness and peering about with the burning torch he had brought with him.
His fellow guardsman hissed. "A better question is how and why was she a vampire?"
"You." Sofia walked over and nudged the crying nord with her toe. "What's your name?"
Through the shuddering breaths, he looked up at her again. "Thonnir."
"Well Thonnir. What can you tell us about this bit- Your wife? Did you notice anything strange about her before she disappeared?"
Like a beached fish his mouth opened and closed, eyes darting between the burned remains, Sofia and those who had come up with him. "I… I don't know. She began to spend a lot of time with Alva. Yet just a week before, she despised her. In fact, the night she disappeared, she was supposed to meet Alva."
"Oh… Fuck…" Sofia breathed, mouth opening and the now all too familiar sensation of fear turning her guts to ice.
"Yeah." With a voice as cold as the night Lydia grimaced at the thought. "Alva..."
"No…" her arm lifted and she pointed in the direction of the town where the bells were screaming their chorus of alarm into the sky. "Fuck..."
The guards, Thonnir's friends and Lydia turned to where Sofia was pointing, and there was a collective gasp of astonishment at the sight of another pair of individuals moving towards them from the town. At first glance there was nothing untoward about the two of them, until they saw the strange ruby like glow burning in one of the sets of eyes.
Instinctively shying away from the newcomers, there was a shuffling of feet and both guards dragged their maces from their belts. A man with solid shoulders and taller than the others by a few centimetres strode towards their collection of lights at the heel of a woman who was significantly underdressed for the climate. A long flowing dress of silks and furs clung to her frame with every step, streaming from her with every step like smoke. The cut of the dress and the way it flowed left very little to the imagination and while this would normally have been enough to draw attention, there was no mistaking the way her eyes burned with a similar hunger that had been in Laelette's.
Stepping over grave plots and around tombstones she moved with a sublime grace, appearing to effortlessly float across the ground almost as though she was walking slightly above its surface. Every movement was perfect and pronounced, from the sway of her hips to the way her legs slightly crossed over each other with each step she was alluring, mesmerising and yet sent fear into the minds of everyone who gazed upon her.
"Alva." Dragging the word from his throat with some unease, one of the guards stepped forward hesitantly with his mace held in a shaky grip. There may have been doubt before, but her appearance before them there was none remaining. Like the late Laelette, she too was cursed.
"By the authority of Jarl Ravencrone, stop there Alva!" he spared a glance to the man standing at her back who seemed to be staring off into his own world. "You too Hroggar!"
Sofia groaned, moving over towards Lydia who was standing with her free hand pressed into her chest. "Oh, we're in deep shit."
All the housecarl could do was nod, flexing her grip on her axe and shaking the tension out of her arm.
Like burning coals, Alva's glowing eyes turned and looked at the guard and the weapon he held in his hand. Little more than a wooden club studded with metal bands it was used more for ensuring compliance with prisoners and wasn't much use against a creature infected with darkness.
"How quaint. It seems you have managed to put Laelette out of her misery." The eyes passed over each of them in turn and the power of the creature in front of them was obviously greater than that of the recently slain Laelette. "Good for you."
"I said stop!" injecting what little force and authority he could into his voice, the guard stepped forward with the mace raised threateningly but Alva simply stopped him with a glance. The lights in the depths of her eyes burned intensely for a heartbeat and the mace clattered to the ground with the guard frozen in place.
"Looks like I'll be feeding well tonight, wouldn't you say so husband?"
Hroggar's expression was all but blank except for the stupefied grin of devotion and adoration of the vampiress. "Yes my love."
"We best be quick though. Won't be long before others arrive." One step at a time she moved closer, gliding over the ground and Sofia found herself unable to do anything but stare at her. All strength and control had been lost to Alva's overwhelming willpower and the sudden reddish stream of magicka that flowed from her fingertips, swirling over everyone in the group and soaking through their skin. They were all affected, even Thonnir who whipped around when she got close with a grip on his axe. He too was forced to stop in mid motion, a look of terror suddenly etched into his features.
"Well, aren't you the pretty one." Sniffing the air as she moved closer, Alva's eyes roamed over Sofia with a look of someone appraising an expensive piece of jewellery, or a fine cut of meat. "I bet all the men chase after you."
Unable to move, neither she nor Lydia were able to do anything as she moved in the group, all the while relishing her power over mortals. Following dutifully in her footsteps like a loyal hound, Hroggar was collecting the weapons one at a time, stowing them in the leather pack slung over his shoulder.
Unlike the others, Lydia's grip on her axe had not lessened and was still grasped firmly. For several seconds Hroggar struggled to pry her fingers open, finally resorting to move one at a time until the axe clattered to the ground.
"Now, time to be good little sheep and follow your shepherd." Alva's voice was seductive and alluring and when combined with her corrupt will and vampiric powers there was no real defence.
"How about they stay here instead?"
Overwhelming like a storm rolling in off the sea of ghosts, both Lydia and Sofia would have sagged with relief if they had control over their own bodies. Instead Alva and Hroggar shifted in place, looking curiously at the newest arrivals coming from deeper in the graveyard. Kaius' voice was an extremely welcome sound to his two travelling companions, but the man he was with remained utterly silent.
"You…" Her words were little more than a hiss of anger as her fangs slid further out of her gums and split her face into a mask of savagery. "I know what you are. This town is ours…"
"I don't think so." Threateningly, the sound of his armour creaking as he folded his arms was audible to them all. "I'm not going anywhere, neither are they." With a simple gesture to Alva and Hroggar he smiled. "You two however are going to the afterlife."
Appearing as though conjured, a dagger appeared in Alva's hand and the point of it pressed into the flesh under Sofia's jaw. She may have been holding the dagger in a hand held like a wine connoisseur holding a glass but there was no mistaking her unnatural strength as she lifted Sofia's head.
"Really?" The eyes burned into Sofia's own for a moment and she had a strange fluttering sensation. "This one belongs to you. Are you going to risk her death to stop me?"
Kaius snorted. "There's no risk involved."
The distance between them was over twenty metres, and even with his own vampiric abilities Sofia doubted he could move fast enough to stop Alva from cutting her throat with the dagger. Already it was pushing hard enough to draw a tiny bead of blood that trickled down and under her collar. "You can't possibly hope to get to me in time to save her. What do you say about that?"
The predatory grin that Sofia had seen several times over the previous months reappeared, framed in his hood. In the darkness there was no possible way that any of them could see the way his eyes began darkening until there was nothing left but shadow. Slowly he uncrossed his arms and placed them by his sides, fingers clenching and unclenching.
"What do I have to say?" he said, the hints of teeth visible in the flickering light of torches and lanterns. "Just this."
"WULD!"
In a heartbeat, Alva went from standing with an expression of smug superiority on her face to simply vanishing. The dagger against Sofia's throat vanished as well, the point scouring a red line across her throat as the wielder was suddenly and abruptly ripped from view. Little more than a scratch from a fingernail and now that the invasive willpower of the vampire was gone, Sofia was left grasping at her throat and the others sagging with relief.
With the power of the Thu'um infusing the tackle, Alva was hit with a force comparable to that of a projectile flung from a trebuchet. Only her vampiric nature ensured her initial survival; the curse imbuing her with strength and resilience far greater than that of a mortal. However, being hit by a hundred and twenty kilograms of muscle and metal, especially when Kaius dropped his shoulder into the charge ensured that she was left with a sternum turned into fragments, ribs almost turned to powder and lungs shredded from the impact. She had been thrown six metres away from Sofia and through a pair of gravestones, sprawled on top of the slight rise of a grave and feeling Kaius' full weight on top of her.
Bloody froth bubbled from between her lips and over her lengthened incisors and she tried desperately to drag air into her lungs. Even from several metres away it was obvious how her chest had been caved in from the impact of Kaius' shoulder but despite the terrible damage that would have killed a lesser being she was struggling against him. Razored fingernails swiped at his face, a hand digging into his throat in the attempt to strangle him but he seemed to completely ignore her. Almost as though he had all the time in the world, he simply slapped her trembling arms away, covering her bloody mouth with a gloved hand and pressing her head flat into the grave. His face was grim, almost expressionless as he simply drew his dagger and casually pushed it into an eye.
It took less than three seconds for the vampiress to die and begin burning from the bloody hole that was her eye. A terrible, almost inhuman sound ripped from Hroggar's throat as he saw the emotionless, sudden death of his mistress, the bag of weapons he was carrying forgotten as he went to charge Kaius. While he had been the first to react to the situation, Lydia was the second. Before he could move, react or realise what was happening she had snatched her axe of his hand, grabbing a fistful of shirt and slamming her helmed head onto the bridge of his nose, breaking it in a wash of blood.
"I'm glad to see all that time you spent on the mountain is paying off." Sofia said, the sarcasm being drowned in the relief at his appearance "You took your time showing up."
Kaius rose from Alva's immolating corpse, dusting off the powdered tombstones, grave dirt and vampire dust. "I was otherwise indisposed."
He moved over, ignoring the amazed looks and the half-heard whispers of 'Dragonborn' from the locals. The man who he had come with had moved over to their group less magically, walking along the paths and taking care not to step on or over the graves. Unlike the others he was dressed in long flowing robes, arcane sigils and runes sewn, stencilled or otherwise marking the entire length. His cowl was pulled back further than Kaius' that revealed a middle aged, but stern expression of Redguard ancestry.
With a simple gesture he motioned between his travelling companions and the Redguard who he had come with. "Sofia, Lydia? Meet Falion. Falion, Sofia and Lydia. He's been helping me with investigating the fire rune."
Relief was fighting a somewhat losing battle against the waves of adrenaline that were battering against her, and she sagged over, holding her knees.
"You okay?"
Waving him off while she continued sucking in deep breaths she looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Yeah. If you ignore the way that I nearly got my face bitten off and throat cut by a pair of vampires."
"Um…" One of the guards had moved over to them, making a gesture to Hroggar who was lolling drunkenly on his knees in front of Lydia. The only reason why he was still remaining upright was her iron grip on the front of his shirt. "What do we do about him?"
Kaius turned, taking a careful look at the man with his face covered with blood and nose crushed horribly. He was barely conscious from the vicious headbutt from the housecarl. "There's not much you can do I'm afraid. If the vampire's influence was broken sooner there would have been a chance, but now…"
"So there's no way to cure him…" As the guard who had stepped forward to face Alva he didn't seem to have any lack of courage, but the uncertainty of the situation left him unable to decide how to refer to Kaius. In the end he simply chose the ubiquitous 'Sir'.
Sadly, Kaius shook his head and appeared downright sorrowful despite the resolution in his eye. "Unfortunately no. He's too far gone."
"Well… I suppose the Jarl will have to decide what to do with him." Between him and his comrade, the two of them moved over and gripped the insensible, bloodied man by the shoulders. "The town owes you all a lot of gratitude."
"If only it was truly over." Despite how quiet Kaius' voice was pitched it left them all feeling the tickle of fear and their guts turning to ice.
"It isn't my Thane?"
Very slowly and carefully he shook his head. "No. It isn't."
As the guards dragged the mostly insensible Hroggar away, Kaius and Falion lead them further into the cemetery. The fog was thickening and by now more people from the town were gathering, making their way towards the sound of the disturbance. Most were armed, and the majority of them were the local guard thinking it was an attack by Stormcloaks but they were left behind in the darkness as they converged on the sight of the fight. In the small group they passed by the gravedigger's house and only stopping as they came to a pair of fresh graves on the far side.
The gravedigger was there, leaning against his shovel and looking thoroughly bored at the group as they appeared. His lantern illuminated the lined expression of someone who had spent the majority of his life dealing with those who were dead. It was this experience that allowed him to stand there without the slightest hint of shock or unease at the tiny figure sitting with her legs dangling in a recently unearthed grave, silently kicking them back and forth while appearing as insubstantial as the mist around them. He had seen much in his decades of caring for the dead, and Helgi wasn't the first restless spirit that he had encountered.
"Hello Kaius." She said as they approached, smiling with all the innocence of the youth that had been stolen from her.
"Hello Helgi." Stepping around the overturned gravestone that had been knocked over in the process of unearthing the grave, he returned her smile.
"Did you dig her up?" So shocked was Lydia that she missed addressing Kaius as Thane, instead stopping in midstep at the sight of the ghost and the tiny, child sized coffin unearthed in the bottom of the pit.
Helgi shook her head and looked between Lydia, Sofia and the pair of horrified sawmill workers who had followed them. Thonnir was one of them, his axe held in shaking hands and eyes swollen from grief but slowly being consumed by rage. "Laelette had found me first." The tiny voice was tinged with sadness as she looked down into the blackened pit her feet were being swallowed up in. "She was told to burn mommy and me, but she didn't want to. She wanted to play with me forever and ever."
Moving over to the grave, Kaius sat down next to the spectre and his eyes were hard as diamonds in the dim light. "She set the fire rune and when Erisena went to stoke the fire she triggered it."
There was a tiny nod from Helgi and she turned back to look down into her grave. "Laelette was there. She kissed me on the neck, and I got so cold that fire didn't even hurt. She thought she could take me and keep me, but she can't. I'm all burned up."
All of them could feel the tears staining their cheeks, and both women were clenching and unclenching their jaws in an effort not to weep. Behind them, Thonnir's grief had turned to a dark rage that left him trembling, running his fingers down the edge of his axe and staining their tips black with his wife's ashes. Even Kaius, normally so stoic and as unyielding as the Throat of the World was shuddering in an effort to control his emotions.
Hair floated in ethereal wind and Helgi turned and looked at the armoured figure sitting by her side. "There are more."
"I know."
"Will you stop them?"
Chewing on his lips, Kaius nodded. "I will."
For a moment she paused, tilting her head as though listening to something that only she could hear. "Thank you. Mother feels better knowing you are here to help everyone. She says that your children are proud of you."
There was no mistaking the sudden surge of emotion that choked Kaius and his fingers dug deep into the ground by his sides. Sofia especially felt uneasy not only at the ghost's words but the way that the tiny hand, wreathed in blue-grey ghostlight moved and came to rest on top of Kaius'.
"I'm tired." There was a tiny pat-pat of a spectral hand on top of his thick leather gloves and Helgi turned to smile at them all. "I'm going to sleep for a while now."
"That's okay." Somehow with a supreme effort of will Kaius managed to keep his voice from wavering as looked at the ghost. "We're going to take care of everything."
Like the smoke rising off a campfire, the wraith of the young girl faded, dissipating and the faint glow first flickered and softly vanished like the last rays of light before the sun slipped below the horizon.
"Xal dosst quortek ul'plyr Aetherius…" he whispered softly as Helgi faded away.
Very, very carefully he rose to his feet, looking into the open grave and struggling to remain calm. Of all the battles he had fought in his long life it was obvious that the emotional turmoil was one of the hardest he had fought.
"Can… Can someone help me with this?"
"I'll help." Sofia said softly, and she saw his nodded thanks as he carefully dropped down into the open grave. Laelette had used her vampiric strength to claw and shovel the loosely packed dirt of the grave away to unearth the coffin within, and Sofia saw that she had gone to great lengths to do so. The lid was ajar, resting against the side of the roughly hewn hole and she didn't want her eyes to linger on the tiny blackened figure resting within the wooden box. The struggle against the river of tears was one she had managed to reach a stalemate with but there was a dribble rather than a torrent as she and Kaius managed to place the lid back and shift the coffin to where it belonged.
The hours of the night were a blur, half seen images and indeterminable sounds struggling for domination that their minds struggled to hold onto. They had spent several hours refurbishing the grave, using their hands, boots and the gravedigger's shovel to return the soil on top of the coffin and the pitiful remains it contained. Both Alva's and Laelette's remains were buried as well, but only after Kaius and Falion ensured with a handful of spells and incantations that there were was no corruption left in the burnt remains. Thonnir had vanished briefly after they buried his wife that he had long since considered lost. A wife that was now dead by his hand. The grief would break and pass with time but for those long hours of darkness he worked and stood in silence, eyes red and wet with tears until there were no more left.
At some point during the night, shortly after the guard rang the all-clear Jarl Ravencrone appeared, moving slowly due to her age through the night surrounded by a handful of her guards. With her personal bodyguard by her side she listened to stories told by those who had seen what had happened, face grim and foreboding. It had not taken long to come to decisions. Kaius, Sofia and Lydia were lauded as heroes for uncovering the plot but they were also tasked with finishing the job. Several dozen locals had volunteered to help at the proclamation but the stories that were quickly travelling through the local populace ensured that not many hung around for too long.
The mist clung close to the ground, covering the land in a blanket of chill and deadening all sound within. It rolled and heaved, swirling with clutching tendrils within its ethereal mass. What light managed to pierce the grey-clad depths left whispering beams that turned the air into the hints of rainbows. Peaceful and serene, it was broken only by the tiny movements within.
The sun was rising, the wolf dawn filtering slowly through the mists and caressing the handful of individuals who stood in its depths. They stood in a semicircle, facing inwards at the single individual who stood before the disturbed pile of earth at his feet. Nothing could be heard but the far off cry of birds awakening to a new day in the marshes and bogs and the soft muttering of the group.
Stepping away from the grave, the robed priest of Arkay bowed slightly, pressing the small collection of beads and symbol of his god to his lips and turning to one of the others. The rites were completed, the grave was reconsecrated and his duties were completed once more. For those standing nearby, watching him as he conducted the ritual their duty was beginning.
Kaius moved over to the grave, fumbling with his armour for a moment before resting his hand on top of the rectangular tombstone resting at the head of the grave. From the heart of the town the echo of wood banging reached their ears and while they couldn't see it from their position in the graveyard, the crowd facing the gallows in the town square watched impassively. The figure dangling through the opened trapdoor in the platform writhed and twitched for a few minutes before finally ceasing all movement.
In the graveyard there was nothing but silence and expectation. They all remained quiet as Kaius looked down on the grave and the other resting close alongside it. The gravedigger was already hard at work, spearing his shovel into the earth and scooping it into a heap as he dug a third grave alongside the other two. Broken apart in life, the family would now be united in death.
With eyes wet with tears and darkened with sadness, those watching him were able to see the shift in his emotions as he turned to face them. The tears would take time to dry, the redness of the eyes to fade and the deep shadows under them to vanish but there was determination in them now.
The scrape of metal echoed through the thinning mists as he drew his blade partially from the scabbard, testing the edge of the skyforge steel with a gloved thumb. Satisfied, he looked over those facing him with a scowl of building anger.
Out of the dozens who had volunteered, only a few remained. Sofia; eyes hooded, but bright and completely sober. Lydia; standing favouring one leg from the minor wound on her hip and axe sharpened and ready. Falion; a bag at his hip filled with scrolls and a new set of robes that seemed to faintly glow with energies. The gigantic orc bard from the Moorside inn; a weighty axe from his homeland hanging by his hip and chest covered with an orichalcum breastplate. Thonnir; a suit of mail dragged over his torso and the forester's axe he had used to put down his late wife slung over a shoulder. There were only a couple of others; a collection of guardsmen and a few of Thonnir's friends who had come to support him, but they all were looking and waiting for Kaius.
"Let's go hunt some vampires." He said, seeing the determination in their eyes as they began following in his footsteps.
Behind them, resting on top of the grave marker an ancient amulet of Talos sat, slowly beginning to gleam with wetness as the morning mist clung to the sword shaped pendant. Its weathered, handmade leather loop hung down, swaying lightly in the breeze as though caressed by an invisible hand while it began its silent vigil over the graves of a young girl and her family.