"Do you really think that it would be that bad if we told people?"
Aeyrin pondered out loud as they walked the road from Morthal towards Winterhold.
They had spent a long night at the Temple, trying to sleep beside seven other snoring people, cramped on one small single bed. Well… there were more beds, but it was more comfortable for them to share one rather than sleep apart. At least the Blades didn't think that it was a 'harmful distraction from focusing on the Way of the Voice", or some bullshit like that. But sleeping there was still like they would imagine sleeping in barracks was – just when one of the recruits stopped snoring or making noise, another one started.
They were getting spoiled by their lifestyle. Who knew that constant danger and sleeping in the wilderness would actually make them accustomed to delicious quality food and a good night's rest? The sounds of the forests and the howls of the winds were much more pleasant than the constant creaks of old wood and man-made noises. But then again, lately the outside was just filled with unseen and perhaps imagined dangers.
Still, the paranoia was ever-present in any place and the road was much more comfortable than this. And in the end, Bishop and Aeyrin didn't even stop by Morthal to sleep at the inn. They would get a chance in Winterhold since they couldn't really camp outside there.
But the night at the Temple wasn't the only unsettling thing that was still on Aeyrin's mind. She still couldn't stop thinking about Esbern's words. As comforting as their current plan was, she still couldn't help but ponder on what he had said about the civil war and how it played right into Alduin's cards.
"What would telling people about Alduin help? What do you think they would do besides panic?" Bishop sighed. "We've talked about this, sweetness, the cities are as secure as they will ever be already. There's nothing else that anyone could do."
"I know… but… if they knew… if they knew what the war is doing, they might…" Aeyrin couldn't help but think about other eventualities. Esbern had said that Alduin was confidently biding his time because there was no nation united and no army after him. Maybe that was what they needed.
"What? End the war? Do you really believe that, love? Do you really think that either Tullius or Ulfric would actually concede?" Bishop scoffed. This would never happen. And he didn't even start to think about how the Thalmor would take any of this.
"This is the end of the world we are talking about! Shouldn't they at least consider stopping this pointless war?" she shook her head at him.
"They might consider it, and then they will start arguing about who would be the one to concede. You know how this goes… how this ends," Bishop continued to rationalize. He was right. Aeyrin knew that he was right, but… maybe they would at least consider some temporary ceasefire or something.
"Princess… you do remember what Esbern said, right? Alduin needs to feed from those souls. I know this is shitty and that he gets more powerful but… what do you think would happen if the war stopped? You think he would just be patient and collect his souls more slowly? Or… he might just send his own fucking army to do the job."
Aeyrin scowled at him. She didn't even think of that possibility. That was… actually very plausible. Maybe Alduin would be patient – he did have the time, but… maybe he wouldn't be. He had already risked revealing himself, likely to save Ulfric. He might risk much more to get what he wanted.
"So… just let people die by hundreds so that they don't die by thousands?" Aeyrin sighed.
"We don't have a way to kill him yet," Bishop sighed. "Once we do, maybe that would be the time to smack some fucking sense into the warmongers' heads. But… until then… it would likely just be a much bigger slaughter. As crappy as it is, the war kinda works in our favor now. It gives us the time to do this."
It was crappy, but he was right, she knew that all too well.
"I know… I just can't stop wondering…" Aeyrin sighed in resignation.
"Yeah… but I think we've already established that you can't control those idiots. Let's just… stay away from the war like we do now. It's not like they'd listen to you anyway. And at least you can comfort yourself with the fact that you're actually helping people, unlike them," Bishop scoffed.
That was surprisingly… encouraging. She still remembered the times when he would yell at her for stupidly inserting herself into other people's problems. He was probably just grateful now that it was just the little problems, instead of nation-scale wars. After all, they still had one apocalypse looming over them – that was more than enough.
She shot him a small smile but, soon enough, the comfort of his words got drowned out by a loud shriek in the distance, right behind a small hill. They couldn't see what was going on over the hill yet, but they could certainly hear.
"Help! Please! No!" the voice echoed through the area. It was a girl – a young one. Very young. A child.
They rushed forward across the hill until a group of people came into their sights. There were five rough-looking men and women, likely bandits, all surrounding a small Nord girl. She couldn't have been older than ten. She had waist-long raven-black hair, all disheveled and messy, and she was dressed in drab common clothes. What was she doing on the road alone, surrounded by bandits? She didn't even have a pack. Although those thugs may have already taken that from her.
"Please! Stop!" the girl yelled desperately as one of the men grabbed her by the arm with a rough motion. If they wanted her dead, she would already be dead. They wanted to take her with them.
Without a moment of hesitation, Bishop took out his bow quickly and Aeyrin charged towards the group. Karnwyr was not with them right then, but it was not as if they couldn't take a few bandits by themselves.
"Hey! Let go of her!" Aeyrin yelled as she neared the group. She managed to unclasp her shield from her back and shake off her pack to the ground. It was so much easier to fight without it.
The bandit let go of the girl's arm and the entire group turned towards Aeyrin with surprise. Before she even managed to reach them, however, one of the women from the group dropped to the ground limply with an arrow protruding from her head.
The bandits didn't hesitate anymore and they unsheathed their weapons. Aeyrin bashed her shield into one of them instantly, sending him flying to the ground, but another one quickly attacked her in turn, smashing his mace into her back. Luckily, her armor withheld that with only a minor vibration sent through her spine.
Aeyrin twirled in place with her mace ready and smashed into her assailant. The fiery enchantment caught his fur armor instantly and the man crumpled down from the impact quickly. He barely registered the fire at first, until he started to scream and roll around in panic.
Another arrow swished through the air and the fourth bandit was downed in an instant. There was only one left now and she wouldn't prove much of a challenge either. She almost looked like she wanted to run, but she still pointed her sword at Aeyrin firmly.
Aeyrin smashed her mace into the woman's sword, sending it flying to the ground as well. It only took another second before an arrow pierced the woman's neck and she joined her fellow bandits in the pools of blood on the road. Aeyrin now only turned to finish off the two bandits that she downed before with a crushing blow to the skull.
The Nord girl was crouching by the road, trembling. She was sobbing into her hands and covering her eyes from the slaughter desperately. She was so young. What was she doing there?
"Hey, hey. It's alright," Aeyrin approached her slowly after she dropped her shield and clasped her mace to her waist again. There was no need to scare that girl any more by having her bloody weapon drawn. She dropped to one knee in front of the child and she removed her bracers and the underchain from her hands, before she gently placed her palms on the girl's shoulders. Hopefully that would be more comforting than staying completely covered in the bloody trappings of war.
"They… they said I gotta… I gotta go with them… I didn't wanna," the girl sobbed pitifully.
Aeyrin squeezed her shoulders gently, before she asked the, likely uncomfortable, question. "What are you doing here? Why are you alone?"
"They… they… they told me to run… but the mean men chased me…" the girl cried.
Bishop was already standing behind them, surrounded by the corpses of the bandits. What did the girl mean? Were there more victims of these thugs down the road? He looked around their surroundings, but he couldn't see anything even resembling some caravan or another group of people anywhere in the distance. Maybe the girl was from a settlement? Or just a lone house in the woods?
The girl finally let her hands fall from her eyes and she looked up at Aeyrin desperately. Her big blue eyes glittered with tears while she continued sobbing but she didn't say anything more – it looked like she couldn't bring herself to speak.
She slowly reached out for Aeyrin with palpable trepidation. Her hands carefully slid under Aeyrin's arms and around her chest plate, but the girl didn't move further, likely out of fear. Aeyrin quickly enveloped her into a comforting embrace and the girl started sobbing even harder now while she hid her face in the side of Aeyrin's neck. Her hands grabbed at any piece of Aeyrin's plate that they could desperately.
Bishop watched the surroundings for a while longer, but he turned back towards Aeyrin and the girl soon after. There was nothing that they could do unless the girl actually told them where she was running from and if there had been more people there with her.
She was still clinging to Aeyrin as much as she could and sobbing into her shoulder. Bishop wasn't sure what to do with himself but wait. He was still uncomfortable with stuff like this. In his family, people usually tended to hide their sorrow and frustration. Torban didn't like to see shit like that and he would give anyone even more reasons to cry readily. Bishop had no idea how to deal with a crying child.
Aeyrin was good at that though. She was always good at being comforting for anyone that needed it. Bishop watched as she started to stroke the girl's messy hair soothingly while she whispered words of consolation to her. He couldn't help but smile a bit at that.
Then the young girl's eyes opened, despite her sobs, and her gaze met Bishop's for a brief while.
Huh… her eyes looked strange all of the sudden. Something gleamed in them. Something other than sorrow.
Before Bishop could decipher the expression, he saw the girl open her mouth wide and display a set of sharp fangs.
What the...?
The girl bit down into Aeyrin's neck quickly and a scream of shock and pain echoed through the area. Everything happened so fast then.
"FEIM!"
The girl gasped and, without the support of Aeyrin's material body, she fell over, straight through her ethereal form. Aeyrin felt her body churn at the strange contact, but she didn't waste time before she stood up sharply and stepped away from the girl's body that was sprawled on the ground. Her fangs were still bared and some of Aeyrin's blood was staining them.
A vampire! A child vampire? That was horrifying! And why did she have to get bitten every damn time they encountered one of these monsters?
Aeyrin couldn't do a thing in her ethereal form, but Bishop didn't wait for it to dissipate.
He unsheathed his sword in an instant and he grabbed the girl's long hair roughly. He yanked her up to make her kneel on the ground and he readied himself to thrust his weapon into the creature's gut.
"Please! Please don't do this!" the girl continued to cry. Her lips and teeth were still stained with Aeyrin's blood and her eyes turned from bright-blue into disturbingly glowing yellow. She looked like a vampire now. But she still tried to beg. Why? What was this?
"Please! I don't know… I don't know what's happening! I'm so sorry! Please, please, don't kill me!" she was almost choking on her tears as they continued streaming from her eyes… its eyes… fuck… this was confusing.
Bishop held the tip of his sword pressed to the vampire's stomach, but he did waver. That display was… disturbing. She was a fucking vampire! And she tried to drain Aeyrin. He should just fucking kill her.
"Please! I don't know why I did that! I'm so hungry! I'm so scared! Please!" The girl closed her eyes, as if she was trying to hide from whatever was about to happen. But the tears still didn't stop flowing.
Aeyrin had already materialized, but she didn't move a muscle. She just stood there with her hand clutching the wound on her neck and her mouth slack-jawed. Her brows were creased with palpable sympathy for the girl.
Fuck… now Bishop really didn't know what to do. The girl looked so scared and confused. Somebody may have done this to her and she had no idea what she even was.
She was a monster now. But… maybe they could at least explain what happened. Aeyrin would know what to say, right? She would know how to make the girl accept her… death. She was already dead, after all.
Bishop slowly withdrew his sword. He was still clutching it firmly, but he held it at his side rather than pointing it at the girl. Maybe that would calm her down a little.
"Thank you," the girl suddenly beamed happily as she looked at him again. This time, he could recognize the change in expression – it was a victorious smirk.
Before he could react, a stream of small red lights erupted from the girl's hands with speed. They all circled him and they started seeping into him all too quickly. He felt so weak in a matter of a second.
His sword dropped from his hand and he fell down to his knees. Fuck, he couldn't move at all! He felt like just slumping down onto the ground entirely right there and then.
Aeyrin was already charging at the girl, but the child managed to jump out of the way quickly. The red lights were everywhere and they certainly didn't spare Aeyrin, but she could at least still stand on her feet and hold a weapon, unlike Bishop.
And she could still Shout.
The vampire seemed to realize that, however. She did not seem so confident now when Aeyrin was in the fray. She quickly looked the both of them over with a contemplative expression before she shook her head, likely at herself.
"Fine," she scoffed before she gave Bishop a meaningful glare. "But next time, you're coming with me, Brother."
Bishop took a surprised intake of breath, but the vampire didn't wait a second longer. She turned on her heel and ran down the road as fast as she could.
Aeyrin could have followed her by using her Shout, but she was too uncertain about her current strength. The vampire could anticipate her moves now and she could just pounce before Aeyrin managed to let out another Shout. She couldn't fight well with the strange spell's effects still in her body.
Besides, she was too confused to react. Why did she call Bishop her 'brother'? Was… was that one of his sisters? He never mentioned a vampire sister. And wouldn't he have recognized her or addressed her in any way?
"'B-brother'?" With heavy breaths, still trying to rile herself up from the effects of the vampire's spell, Aeyrin turned towards Bishop when the child had disappeared from their sights completely. "That was… was that one of your sisters?" she gave him an uncertain expression. Maybe he didn't know that she was a vampire, but wouldn't he have recognized her anyway?
"Pfft… no," Bishop scoffed. He was breathing heavily as well and still kneeling on the ground. He had never experienced this spell before, not that he remembered, but at least, from what Aeyrin had told him before, it wouldn't last very long – just long enough for the vampire to pounce, if there wasn't a Dragonborn there ready to retaliate. Still, brief as it may be, the spell made Bishop so fucking exhausted. "I think… that was another… assassin," he answered as he tried to collect himself a bit more.
"Assassin?" Aeyrin's eyes went wide. "Oh! 'Brother'. Like from the 'Brotherhood'!"
There was a moment of silence while Aeyrin managed to rile herself up and while Bishop's labored breathing finally steadied.
"She… she said that she'll take you with her… next time," Aeyrin gave him a concerned expression. The Brotherhood was still trying to recruit Bishop, even after he had stabbed the last assassin that tried.
"Yeah… but… hey, at least they're not trying to kill me," he gave her a weak smile. He kind of expected this. Well… he expected them to want him dead, so this was kind of good news… right? He did not expect an ambush like this one though. Not some fucking vampire and not this… cunning.
Aeyrin gave him a skeptical look, but… it was a little better. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to come of the entire Brotherhood business, but she certainly did not expect an encounter like this either.
"They have a child vampire…" she sighed. And the girl seemed just as vicious as any assassin would likely be. She played them completely. That was kind of embarrassing…
"Yeah… And I'm still relieved that it wasn't one of my actual sisters," Bishop chuckled briefly. No child vampires or assassins could scare him more than that. It would mean that a crapload of shit was coming his way that he didn't want to deal with. The anonymous bounty notices were as much connection to his family that he could still stomach.
Aeyrin gave him a sympathetic smile, but she decided not to dwell on any of this anymore, at least for now. She was still riling herself up from getting duped like that. She felt so sorry for the girl, even after she had bitten her. It was better not to think about how easily they were fooled.
Besides, they had other issues to deal with now.
Aeyrin's hand lit up with magic while it still clutched her neck. The wound would still stay there for a while, she knew how it worked already, unfortunately. "We need to get potions," she sighed.
"Potions?" Bishop raised his brow at her. He finally felt like he was regaining his strength and he managed to stand up straight again after what felt like a long time.
"The vampiric disease. We need to get potions to cure it, just in case," Aeyrin explained.
"Right… good point. We could probably include those in our regular equipment. There's too many of these bloodsuckers around," he snorted. They really seemed to be running into them a lot.
"Yeah… we probably should," Aeyrin smirked. "So… Dawnstar's the closest now, I think."
"Hmm… if we go to Dawnstar, we won't make it to Winterhold for the night. We would either have to camp in the snow… or… wait in Dawnstar," Bishop gave her a meaningful look. She didn't even have to answer – neither of them wanted to do either of those things. Well… Bishop might not mind the snow. "If we follow a small path behind that mountain, only like an hour-long detour, there's this small fort there. It's called the Hall of the Vigilant," he continued to explain.
"Oh? The Vigilants of Stendarr are there?" Aeyrin beamed. That was definitely a better option. They were sure to have scores of those potions in their stores. It was quite surprising that the vampire decided to attack them so close to the Vigilants' base, but… then again… they should probably expect some brevity from a Brotherhood assassin.
"Yeah. I wouldn't normally suggest dealing with paladins, but… I figured that you have connections by now," Bishop smirked. "Guess it's better than Dawnstar or having you freeze during the night."
Aeyrin nodded. Her hand fell from her neck and Bishop stepped closer to her to briefly examine the two small puncture wounds on the side of her throat. The bite was very brief and she didn't lose a lot of blood. And the vampire didn't even try to choke her like the last one, so she had a chance to Shout and get out of her grasp soon, but the wound was still there.
"Why does every vampire we run into want to take a bite out of me?" She sighed while Bishop ran his gloved hand gently over her neck.
"Who wouldn't?" he smirked. He bent down to press his open mouth against the bite marks and he flicked his tongue over her skin teasingly. That was his favorite spot! How dare that fucking bloodsucker bite her there?! He would make sure to replace that mark with his the second it wouldn't hurt her anymore. "I keep telling you that you taste good," he couldn't help but chuckle against her skin.
"Stop," she giggled slightly and she half-heartedly pushed him away. He was getting her too distracted and the sooner they got the potions, the better. They could indulge themselves in their favorite bathing room in Winterhold. Although… that felt like an eternity away now.
They couldn't get there fast enough.
…
"What do you want?" a Dunmer man in the familiar armor of the Vigilants scowled at them as they approached the small fortress. He seemed to be guarding the place.
It was a traditional Imperial fort, but it was much smaller than the usual ones. There were banners of the Vigil of Stendarr hanging everywhere and, unlike many of the forts, this one wasn't half-crumbled and neglected.
"Hi. We were hoping to buy some supplies from you, we need some potions," Aeyrin smiled at the man amicably.
"We're not traders. You have no business here," the man scoffed.
Well… that was rude. This was the best place to get the potions and they really didn't want to sleep in Dawnstar. Aeyrin pondered for a while on how many Vigilants could there actually be in Skyrim. Would these men know the group that she had encountered in the Rift? Vuaerion seemed to have been in charge of them – maybe he was someone of a high rank.
"Is Vuaerion here? Or some of his men?" she asked instead of persuading the unpleasant man. It would be much simpler to deal with any of them.
"You know brother Vuaerion?" the Dunmer raised his brow at her skeptically. Ha! She knew it! Vuaerion was well-known among the Vigilants. This may have even been their main base so he might be here. It may have been their only base.
"Yes. I'm sure he'd like to help me out. Is he here?" Aeyrin gave the man a hopeful look.
The Stendarrite scanned her doubtfully for a brief while, but then he let out a resigned sigh. "Wait here a minute." He turned towards the door and entered the fort briskly while Bishop raised his brow at Aeyrin with palpable surprise.
"You do have connections," he smirked.
"A little," she giggled. "Vuaerion and his group were the ones I traveled with for a bit in the Rift. We raided a werewolf lair together… and we got ambushed by Thorn's men," she shook her head as if she tried to move on from those thoughts quickly. "I figured that he might be someone important here. He seemed to be in charge of everyone from the group."
It didn't take long after that before the Dunmer returned with a familiar Altmer in tow.
"Honestly, Drevaso, who doesn't recognize the Dragonborn these days?" Vuaerion smirked mischievously as his eyes landed on Aeyrin. He didn't recognize her when they first met back then either. "It's good to see you again, sister." After a polite nod of greeting, his eyes almost automatically rested on her breastplate – he was looking for the amulet of Stendarr that he had given her.
"It's there," she smirked at him. She would have lost it a thousand times already if it hadn't been hidden below her armor. "It's good to see you too, Vuaerion. This is my companion, Bishop," she pointed towards Bishop who only gave the man a curt nod.
"A pleasure. Follow me. There's no need to stand around out here," Vuaerion nodded amicably before he turned again towards the door to the fort, ushering them to come with.
"'Sister'… everyone seems to want to play family with us lately," Bishop smirked. It was getting a little frequent. Everyone was so eager to have them a part of their little cults. Fame… or infamy could be annoying.
They entered the fort and made their way through a small corridor into a large hall. It was filled with men and women, both armored in the Vigilant plates, and dressed in priest robes. There were library shelves along the walls, filled with familiar religious texts and a large golden statue of Stendarr at the end of the hall with a lectern in front of it.
That lectern made Bishop think instantly on their encounters in Castle Dour before Aeyrin was poisoned there. He couldn't help but smirk to himself at the sight of it, but his recollections got interrupted by the Altmer as he turned to them in the middle of the hall and addressed them again.
"So, Drevaso says that you are here to… trade? That does not happen often. You do know that we are no merchants, correct? And I thought that neither are you," Vuaerion snickered, showing of his bright white smile.
"We just wanted to buy some potions from you. The sooner the better," Aeyrin chuckled at him and she quickly brushed the hair of her ponytail back from her neck to expose the puncture wounds.
"Ah. That makes much more sense. You have run out during your travels?" Vuaerion gave her a sympathetic nod, but when he noticed her ashamed expression, he let out an exasperated and somewhat lecturing sigh. "Sister…"
"I know! Lesson learned, alright?" Aeyrin giggled at him briefly. "So we were hoping for one for each of us and… some to spare. If you have the supplies."
"Of course. We are always prepared here," he gave her a meaningful look while he snapped his fingers at one of the men nearby.
Alright with the admonishing looks already.
The man approached them and Vuaerion asked him to fetch six potions to cure the vampiric disease before he turned back to Aeyrin again.
"So… a nest? Or an ambush?"
"An… ambush… I think. It was a child," Aeyrin shook her head. Vuaerion looked confused for a while about the fact that they got ambushed by a child and she quickly added: "A vampire child."
"Yes. I understood that. So you got caught off guard?" he asked.
"Tricked. She looked so scared even when she was…" Aeyrin stopped talking abruptly. That embarrassing episode did not need to be repeated to the paladin, but, unfortunately, Vuaerion was too sharp to miss where the sentence was going. Maybe this was something that he had heard a lot of times before.
"Even when it bared its fangs at you? Sister, you know that you cannot trust them. They have no humanity left in them," Vuaerion scowled at her.
"I… I know," Aeyrin sighed. The girl was just so convincing with the crying. It may have been her well-honed tactic for… Gods-knew-how-long. Centuries maybe. "Again… lesson learned," she sighed once more. It was humiliating enough, Vuaerion didn't need to make it into a lecture. His inner preacher was showing again.
"Did you kill it?" the elf asked after a while.
"No… she… it got away," Aeyrin shook her head and, after Vuaerion gave her an expectant look, she explained further. "It was on the road, beyond the mountain to the north. She… it ran west towards Winterhold. We were too weak from its spell and didn't follow."
"Thank you. We will be on the lookout. It must be preying on people using its childlike appearance. We will need you to describe it," Vuaerion nodded resolutely.
Well… if anyone could kill that girl, The Vigilants were probably right for the job, assassin or not. The creature didn't seem to be relying on anything other than her vampiric abilities and her trickery so hopefully it wouldn't get the better of the paladins.
"Do not worry, sister. We will have that monster's head on a spike in no time," the Altmer gave her a charming conspiratorial wink.
It would have been nice if he was right.
It would mean one less assassin to worry about. And they still had no idea how many of them there actually were. The only good thing was that the Brotherhood still didn't want Bishop outright dead.
Hopefully it would stay that way.