Chapter 15: Tooth and Claw
Serana was barely aware of hitting the ground. She skidded to a dizzying stop, miraculously not hitting anything herself. Unlike Sithia. Serana's mind tormented her with the echoes of that sickening snap of breaking bone and splintering of shattered wood. That strangled cry of pain.
She rolled to her feet, wincing as new aches made themselves known. Her cloak had protected her from the worst of the bruising impact with the ground, but it still hurt to move. Serana gritted her teeth, forcing past the pain. Sithia was far worse off; Serana could smell her blood. A lot of it.
Dreading what she'd see, Serana looked to where that horrible sound came from, to where Sithia's strained heartbeat and ragged breathing still came. To what was left of a dead tree. Sithia lay in a crumpled heap under it in a spreading pool of blood.
"Fuck." Serana sprinted to Sithia's side, removing the pack and retrieving an armful of healing potions as she ran. She absently wished that tree had been one of the occasional pines… the foliage would have provided some cushioning.
She dropped to her knees besides Sithia, quickly removing the worst of the splinters piercing her. Sithia wouldn't be able to heal if she didn't. She tipped one of the potions directly on the wounds, almost missed, her hands trembling—
"SLEN TIID VO!" The ground shook, and Serana almost fell on top of Sithia, catching herself just in time. Serana glanced over and saw the burial mound had exploded, and an articulated dragon skeleton was crawling out of it, flesh and scales rapidly reforming. She needed to move fast.
Sithia's wounds were slowly closing, but potions were most effective when swallowed. Serana pulled Sithia's mask down. Serana flinched at the sight of her ashen face, skin almost white with blood loss. She uncorked the next potion and carefully tipped it into Sithia's mouth, massaging her throat so she'd swallow.
If only she could heal Sithia with a spell… Unfortunately healing had never been Serana's speciality. She wasn't even sure a vampire could heal a mortal with magic. Mortals certainly couldn't heal vampires.
Serana selected another potion, this one a duller red regenerative potion to help with the blood loss. She struggled to get Sithia to swallow it - maybe it tasted nastier?
Then Sithia's heart stopped beating.
"Don't you dare!" Serana snarled.
A jolt of shock magic to the chest set Sithia's heart beating again. Another couple of controlled bursts stabilised it. The temptation to turn her was almost overwhelming, but that was a last resort. Sithia didn't want to be turned, at least not yet.
After a couple more potions, Sithia was out of danger, her heartbeat and breathing steady. But still unconscious. Until she woke up, Serana would have to handle the dragons on her own. And it wasn't dusk yet. No blessing of the night to save her in this fight, and no blood potions yet either. She'd have to rely on Vampiric Drain or feeding. And feeding on Sithia at the moment… No. Not an option.
"Vuljotnaak, krii daar joorre."
"Geh, Thuri!"
Serana watched Alduin fly away, the wind from his wingbeats almost knocking her off her feet. Now that was a relief; she could handle the resurrected dragon alone. Probably. Alduin the World-Eater? Not a chance. He was neither Aedra nor Daedra but something just as powerful, if the stories were true.
She turned to the remaining dragon, whose pale green eyes flicked between her and her Dragonborn. Serana took a step forward, drawing his attention. "Hi fent ni haalvut ek!"
Vuljotnaak blinked. "So you speak my tongue, or try to. I shall not touch her? I shall eat you both for my thur, Alduin! Now, taste my Thu'um!"
'Be a frost breather, be a frost breather, please be a frost breather…'
"YOL—"
'Damn it.'
"—TOOR—"
Serana cast the strongest ward she could, hoping there'd be just enough time for it to charge up.
"—SHUL!"
Serana flinched, head turned away from the flames, eyes screwed tight shut. The ward held. Just. And by the time the fire finally flickered out, she felt dizzy. Even her formidable magicka reserves were drained after that. If the dragon Shouted again, she couldn't raise another ward. And if he tried to snap them up in his jaws, a ward wouldn't work anyway.
Serana closed her eyes. She reached deep inside, for that part of herself long locked away. The monster. She needed it now. She had to protect Sithia. No matter what. 'The things I do for you…'
But it wasn't coming. The monster still slumbered.
The dragon roared. Serana opened her eyes, saw him tensing for a charge, sharp teeth bared.
'Oh no, you don't! No eating my Dragonborn! Mine!'
Her fangs pricked her lips, unsheathed in her anger. Something shifted deep inside. Serana hunched over, embracing the rage. Shadows clouded her sight, covering her entire body. Her heart beat faster and faster, her teeth aching. Her skin prickled. Ice cold blood congealed all over her. Bones and muscles shifted, expanding in a single blinding second of agony even as she straightened up.
She screamed a wordless challenge back at the dragon, her ragged wings spread.
Vuljotnaak sat back on his haunches, head cocked to the side. Clearly he'd never seen a Volkihar before in all her glory. He shook his head, a strange purring growl escaping him. Was he… laughing at her?
"You call those wings, sivaas? Can you even fly?" He spread his own wings and launched upwards.
Serana snarled. He dare call her a beast and then mock her? She'd tear out his throat! When she could reach it. Her wings folded as she fumed. She couldn't fly. 'Not with these wings, anyway…'
Nor could she transform into a cloud of bats just yet. Her magicka was still recovering, faster than in her pathetic normal form, but still painfully slowly with a fire breathing dragon swooping around.
Serana darted back to her delicious mortal's side, taking her glass sword. It would do until she could cast spells again. Especially if the overgrown flying lizard flew low enough for her to jump up and hack away…
He swooped closer. Serana sprinted to a safe distance from her pet. Shit, he wasn't looking at her, but at—
"No! Mine! My prey! You can't have her!"
'Wait. Not prey. Not a pet either. More than that. Much more.' Serana snarled, squashing that weak inner voice. She couldn't afford to be distracted.
The dragon soared overhead, out of reach, flames streaming again from his gaping maw.
Serana leapt into the inferno instead, shielding her morsel. She hissed. The pathetic owner of her conscience still nagged at her. The weak Serana would be screaming. Couldn't she see she needed this monster's strength?
The flames scorched her for what felt like forever. Beyond the pain she felt the rush of her magic returning. Just in time… no fiery death for this vampire! She blasted the bastard dragon with blood magic, healing herself, and tossed aside the useless lump of molten glass the sword had been reduced to.
'Sorry Sithia.'
'Shut up! Busy!' Perhaps it was madness to talk to herself, even inside her thoughts, but that weak excuse for a vampire was so annoying!
'Then kill that beast already!' Her pathetic self had a point, much as it rankled her pride to admit it.
Serana glanced back at her precious mortal. "You make this look so easy…" As Dragonborn she'd have killed it by now. But then she was the ultimate dragon slayer. Currently covered in delicious dragon blood… Serana lapped at her claws, covered with the same blood, and hissed. Not enough. She took a step towards her prey—
'NO!'
Serana flinched. For a weakling that had been strong. And that weakling had a point. There would be no more tasty blood from her prize if she fed now… and there was another source of blood almost as good. She looked up, eyes finding and fixing on the dragon. She licked her fangs.
Vuljotnaak swept down again, the first word of Fire Breath leaving his mouth. Repeating the same trick as before… how unimaginative.
Serana's eyes narrowed in concentration. Humiliating as it was to admit, she was out of practice, all thanks to her weaker self's reluctance to use her true form. Her father would have killed this worm by now. The thought prickled her pride. Her skin prickled too. The second word of power left the dragon's lips (did dragons have lips? Serana pushed away the thought, she couldn't afford to be distracted, damn it!), and—
Everything splintered apart. She was many, a screeching cloud of bats. She kept her myriad parts together and flew straight up at the startled dragon, fluttering around behind his head. A moment of confused focus later, and she was one.
"SHU—" Vuljotnaak's outraged scream cut off his Shout.
Her claws and fangs tore at his scales, piercing them. She lapped hungrily at his blood.
The dragon roared. He tried to throw her off, even twisting to fly upside down. Serana slipped, claws scrabbling, her own excuses for wings flapping in an attempt to keep herself in place. She found a handhold, sharp claws piercing Vuljotnaak's eyes.
His agonised scream split the air, and he plummeted. Serana wrenched her hands free and lunged. She just avoided being crushed under Vuljotnaak as he ploughed into the ground, still upside down, instead landing on his throat.
Serana groaned at the crack of bone she felt deep inside as she hit hard scales. She snarled, biting at the scales beneath her until she tore open his windpipe. She feasted on hot dragon blood until her bones snapped back into place and the ache vanished.
Serana leapt away as the dragon burnt, his soul soaring straight through her. A gasp of relief escaped her. He hadn't landed on top of her prize. She turned to see the light of the soul sinking into Sithia where she lay just behind the dragon. She winced. That was far too close for comfort.
'Sithia? Where did that come from? No, let me stay free, let me be strong, you need me—'
Serana collapsed to her knees, gasping in relief, back in her true form. Her monstrous self safely locked away again, so deep inside she couldn't even hear that horrible twisted voice so like and unlike her own. Her heart no longer pounded, returned to its normal sluggish beating.
The bloodlust wasn't receding though. For a confused, panicked moment, Serana tried breathing deeply to calm herself down, but it only made it worse. The blood still surrounding Sithia caught her eye.
'Oh.' Serana held her breath. That did the trick, as she managed to sheathe her fangs. She shuddered. Her father's overuse of that form explained a lot about him. No wonder he was crazy, with the way he embraced it.
Sithia groaned. Serana wasn't even aware of crossing the distance between them. One moment she was the length of a dragon skeleton away from her, the next she was on her knees beside her Dragonborn.
Sithia's eyes cracked open, almost immediately scrunching closed again. "Nil kun nii…"
A golden glow formed in her hands before spreading. The advanced healing spell dealt with lingering splinters left in the wounds. Serana hadn't had time to remove them. She could see the golden glow surround some minute dark spots in the healed wounds until they vanished. That explained why healing spells were superior to potions…
Sithia blanched, her eyes snapping open, and sat bolt upright. "Alduin!"
Serana gently pushed her down. "He's gone. Just as well, I think we'd both be dead if he'd stayed."
Sithia looked at the dragon skeleton on top of the mound it had been buried in not long before. She cleared her throat, as the influence of the dragon soul wore off, releasing her from her temporary curse of speaking only Dovahzul. "Good job, dragon slayer."
Serana sighed. "You make it look so easy."
"Comes with being Dragonborn. Pity you're not one, you'd look the part of the Nordic hero of legend far more than I do."
Serana looked down at herself. Her enchanted Volkihar armour had survived her transformation, but she was plastered in dragon blood. Sithia's and the fallen dragon's. Her hands too. She licked a bit off a finger. Thanks to Sithia giving her permission to feed whenever, she was absolutely fine without explicit permission for this time, and not just because it was mingled with Vuljotnaak's. Serana grimaced. Pity it was cooling and tainted with the pain which must have knocked Sithia out. She used her melting frost magic trick instead.
"Is something wrong? You licked that Dawnstar dragon's blood off yourself. Why not mine?" Sithia looked bemused.
"Even your blood doesn't taste at its best when cooling, and a little bitter with pain at that."
Sithia plucked at her torn and bloodstained armour. "I suppose that means you won't be licking it off here either."
Serana snorted. "Certainly not. Delicious as your blood is, it's not so good when cold and dirty. But I can use the same frosty cleaning trick if you like. You might prefer to take it off first."
"I guess I need to anyway. Not much use as armour as it is."
Serana helped Sithia up, offering a hand to pull her up onto her feet. Sithia still staggered once Serana let go.
"Are you all right?" Serana caught her elbow to steady her.
Sithia nodded. "Even magic has its limits, that's all. I'll be fine to carry on after resting… and fixing my armour." She stripped off, hurriedly washing the blood off herself using a cloth and a water bottle, and threw on her casual clothes.
Serana cleaned Sithia's armour off and set it to dry next to the fire Sithia had started.
Serana also dealt with her own cloak, unclasping it to inspect it. It had somehow escaped too much damage from skidding along the ground after Alduin sent them both flying. The dirt coating it was stubborn, though, as her ice cleaning trick didn't remove it all. Serana sighed and set to work scrubbing it off.
"This is going to be more patch than armour by the time I'm finished," Sithia grumbled, already making good progress stitching it back together. She was slowed down a bit by the need to keep pausing to have a bite to eat, and to brush off the crumbs from the hunk of bread she devoured.
Serana kept watch, all too aware that Sithia was far more vulnerable in those casual clothes. And an obvious target in the dark, what with the fire and the hovering Magelight Sithia conjured after a while. She was tempted to offer to take over so Sithia could sleep, but in the wilderness like this she really needed to keep watch.
Sithia finally finished her repairs with the moons high overhead, and collapsed into her bedroll.
She awoke ravenous in the dim light before dawn, despite not having missed a meal. After her breakfast of bread that must have been getting stale, softened with a generous smear of honey, she turned to Serana. "Aren't you hungry?"
"No, I drank some of that dragon's blood before he burned."
Sithia raised an eyebrow. "Don't you need a boost for the day's travel ahead?"
"No thanks. I shouldn't take any blood after you lost so much."
Sithia heaved an exasperated sigh. "I'm fine, the potions and magic just needed a little time to work!"
"I'll ask for a boost when I need one, all right?"
"Stubborn vampire," Sithia muttered. "Leading a horse to water comes to mind…"
Serana laughed. "I'm your pack mule, not your horse. No riding me."
Sithia blushed and looked away, pulling up her cowl and its mask. Poor embarrassed Dragonborn, she'd clearly thought of riding Serana a little differently to a horse.
Serana smirked. "Ask nicely and I might just let you… although preferably not in sunlight."
"Flirt. Not before you get a certain invitation."
'Soon.'
"What was that?"
Oops. She'd muttered that instead of just thinking it. "Nothing."
"Uhuh." Sithia walked over to her pack and shouldered it. Her hand went to her side, attaching her dagger to her belt. She moved to her other side, only to come to a puzzled halt. "Serana, where's my sword?"
"Um." Serana's eyes picked out the lump of glass. Sithia followed her gaze.
"For the love of… Void take it, I lose swords to dragon fights even when it's not me fighting them!" Sithia sighed. "Never mind. I'd rather have the sword end up melted than you."
"Just my luck that it'd be a fire breather."
"Hate to break it to you, Serana, but I'd be amazed if any dragon isn't. All Shouts are just words in their own tongue, aren't they? How could any of them not know them all?"
"There's a difference between just speaking Dovahzul and using the Thu'um. But you do have a point." Serana shuddered. That any dragon they met could almost certainly roast her didn't make her feel better. Not when it meant she might have to release her monstrous side again.
Sithia double checked the route on her map, and led them onto the road where it soon forked. She took the one marked towards Markarth, the rising sun on their backs, shadows long before them.
AN: Many thanks to Gaunty for betaing! This took rather longer to finish than I intended. Hopefully the next chapter won't get quite as delayed.
Coming up next: Sightseeing in the reach, including Alduin's Wall.