DISCLAIMER: I don't own Warhammer or Elder scrolls or their characters.
The Von Carstein Wake's
Chapter 3: Escape
With the door now shut Vlad and Hadvar quickly moved some nearby furniture to barricade it with that done the three survivors took a moment to rest.
"Well, you certainly put up a good fight with the beast, vampire." Said Hadvar as he rested against a wall.
"Perhaps, but a dragon is not so easily felled, we should move before it brings the keep down upon us." Vlad replied as he took stock of the room, a barrack if he had to guess.
"Aye, that would be best. Hey Arlin, was it, come over and I'll get those bindings off." Wanting to be free again, the giant Nord made his way over to Hadvar. The rope was quickly cut with a knife, Arlin rubbed his wrist to sooth the markings left behind. "In the chest in the far corner by that gate is some armour, and you can grab that sword on the rack." Arlin just grunted and made his way to the chest and retrieved a set of Imperial leather armour as well as an under shirt, socks and breeches.
It took only a few minutes for him to be ready and as the other 2 were finished checking the room for anything of use Arlin was giving the sword a few practice swings to get a feel for the weight.
"Ready to go?" Arlin just gave a quick nod. "Good, with any luck Ulfric and his lot would have moved on by now." With that said Hadvar unlocked the gate and the 3 went deeper into the keep, occasionally there was a rumble and an echoing roar. Soon they came to the next room, from within 2 voices were heard having an argument. The 3 made their way to the gate unnoticed and Hadvar took a glance within.
"Stormcloaks. Maybe we can reason with them?" He whispered, as he reached for the handle. As soon as he opened the gate the argument ceased, and when the first thing they saw was an Imperial uniform they got ready to charge.
"Death to the Empire!" Bellowed one of the Nord's as he swung an enormous great sword. Hadvar stepped back just moments before his head could be separated from his body, before quickly swinging his shield into the blade throwing the Nord off balance. Next to this Arlin was franticly dodging and blocking the half-crazed strikes of a nimble Nord woman wielding twin axes, the sheer number of attacks stopped him from doing anything other than defend himself. At the other side of the room Vlad was having his own bout with a third Stormcloak that had been silently leaning on a wall out of Hadvar's sight.
Vlad was the first to dispatch his foe, plunging his sword into through their heart after knocking their sword away with several powerful yet fast strikes. Hadvar was second, stepping back to avoid a horizontal swing, he then sprinted towards his opponent and collided shield first into their overextended side, knocking them to the floor before finishing them off with a well-placed stab in the chest. As this happened Arlin was still doing everything he could to avoid the near constant axe swings. The woman clearly had experience in the way she fought, using the momentum of her swings to follow through with another, allowing for a steady flow of deadly strikes while using as little energy as possibly to continue her assault as long as possible.
But soon she made a mistake, as Arlin grew progressively more tired from the never-ending defence, his opponent became more confident in her victory. Finally wanting to end it she used her momentum once again she brought both her axes up for an overhead strike. Arlin seeing this waited just a moment till she was committed to the movement, then moved just to her side avoiding the strike. Then he raised his off hand as a ball of fire began to form in his palm leaving its own mark on his already heavily flame scarred hands, before releasing a jet of fire across his opponent's body. She quickly began to scream and flailed about trying to dowse the flame as it ate up her flesh, but it the blaze only grew as it spread across her fur clothing. Her misery was put to a stop when Arlin came up and quickly slashed her throat open.
Arlin went and leaned his back against the nearest wall as he got his breath back. Hadvar took a glance at Arlin for a moment before beginning his search for the key of the locked gate ahead, before the smell of burning flesh became too much. From Arlin's side Vlad approached.
"So, thou art a mage?" The Nord raised his head to meet the vampires' eyes.
"I know one spell, haven't even mastered the damn thing, don't think that makes me much of a mage." He said bitterly looking down at the many burn scars on his hands.
"Did thy not seek out a trainer to develop thine gift?" Asked Vlad as he surveyed the numerous thin layers of burn scars.
"Gift, no this ain't no gift. Least that's what my mother and father say. They see all magic as evil, and those that practice it as no better than those rotten high elves down south. Probably didn't help that I hurt myself any time I used it. Anyway, enough talk, looks like Hadvar found the key." Arlin then get up as the Imperial finally got the gate to open.
They each began going down the stairs to the lower levels of the fort, each still on guard for Stormcloaks. As they rounded a corner at the bottom of the stairs the found themselves in a long hallway with several doors on the walls. At the end of the hall were 2 Stormcloaks that had already began to charge. As the 3 began to form a defensive position the entire hallway shook throwing everyone off balance a rumbling roar filled the air as the roof between the two groups collapsed.
"Damn, that dragon doesn't give up easy." Muttered Hadvar.
"The beast is likely seeking me; a dragon's ego is a fickle thing." Commented Vlad as he went through a side door, within was a large open room that seemed to be where the cooks would reside. Over in the far corner Vlad saw 2 Stormcloaks rummaging through a barrel, suddenly the door let out an immense creak as it ground to a halt on the aging hinges. Both men quickly spun to the door hand already on their weapons.
"Alright come at us Imperial do-" The bellowing from the Stormcloak ceased the moment he laid his eyes upon Vlad. Both men before him suddenly grew very tense, no doubt remembering the one-sided massacre he performed upon the Imperials.
"Make no move against me and mine fellows, and no trouble will find you." Vlad the motioned for the two behind him to come through. Arlin quickly made his way through only sparing a few cautious glances at the 2 Stormcloak's, the 2 Nord's themselves barely gave him a second preferring to keep their eyes upon Vlad and the doorway.
Unlike Arlin, Hadvar was a lot more cautious as he entered, though he did sheath his blade to appear less of a threat. This didn't stop the Nord's from both tensing up, the only thing stopping them from charging was the prospect of having to go through the vampire first.
"We find ourselves no longer thou war, but a natural disaster, no more fruitless slaughter. Our best chance to make it out of thine keep is an alliance of convenience, save thine bloodlust for the beast that slaughtered both of your kill in cold blood." As Vlad addressed both party's the Stormcloak's slowly lowered their weapons but the tension was barely lessened.
"Fine, but if the Imperial goes for our back, I'll kill him on the spot." Said one of the men ahead as they all began to move forward.
"If any man here decides to break this parley, I'll kill them myself." Vlad assures all those around him.
The now group of 5 set off deeper into the keep, the corridor eventually led to a stair case to a torture chamber, currently occupied by another battle, once again Vlad got their attention before making his case for a temporary alliance. The small crowd ahead looked behind him at the mixed group that stood behind him. The 3 Stormcloak's slowly put the weapons down and cautiously made their way to their fellows, the torturers assistant doing the same towards Hadvar.
The torturer himself though had other ideas, charging up lightning through his hands, the man must see this as a chance to down all his enemy's at once, however Vlad's magic was faster. The man was afflicted with the 'curse of years'.
All watched with varied degrees of horror as the sorcerer began to rapidly age before them. His skin becomes dry and covered in wrinkles, the hair quickly grows and becomes white before falling out entirely. The man begins to hunch over as he screams with a voice decade older than what it had been but a few moments ago. Eventually he begins to topple over, just before he hit the floor his appearance appeared akin to the oldest of draugr. When he finally hit the floor, his husk collapsed in on itself, all that was flesh and muscle became dust, the skeleton remained for a few moments more before that too crumbled to dust. All this happening over the space of about 20 seconds.
As Vlad turned back around to address the crowd behind, they all looked at him with shocked faces, though Arlin still had a stone-faced look, it held a few hints of fear, too small for any of the others to notice.
"As I said, nobody breaks the parley." Vlad calmly stated before turning and marching towards the door on the other side of the chamber. All of the other were frozen for a few moments before Arlin decided to move over to the charred corpse of a Stormcloak. In their lifeless hand was an iron headed warhammer, still in good condition despite the slight charring of the handle. Dropping the sheathed sword, he takes the hammer and its leather carrying strap form the body putting both onto his back before following Vlad's trail. The rest of the crowd follow cautiously in his wake.
As they continue through the fortress, they come across another group of stormcloak, and through a combination of Vlad's silver tongue and the slightly frantic urging from the Stormcloak's already in the group for them to just go with them. The group that number at 12 quickly make their way over a bridge before it collapses and their way back blocked off by a final interruption form the dragon. As they push forward to their hopeful escape the only holdup being some large spiders, and a bear, all killed by blade or arrows.
As they make it out of the cave, they are greeted by the setting sun colouring the sky a deep orange and a wave of fresh air. The mortals all take it in with a sigh of relief, but as the do this Vlad's enhanced ears make out the sound of wing beats, too big for any bird.
"Get down by cover." He hissed the group as he does so himself. The group quickly follow his action. Not even a few moments later an immense shadow pass over them. The dragons wing beats deceptively silent as it makes for the north east. Once it was out of sight, the group came out once again. Before anything more could be said the 8 Stormcloak's quietly made the way into the undergrowth eastwards, some giving quick glances back to see if any of the other pursued. Once they were out of sight silence again descended between the 2 Imperials the Nord and the vampire. Arlin was then the one to decide to break this silence.
"So, now what?"