Chapter 16: Alduin's Wall
Serana had never seen a juniper tree until their journey took them into the Reach. The gnarled twisted trunks were so unlike the tall pines of the north, the berries clinging to the branches. She preferred the birches of the Rift even without being heartily sick of seeing this particular juniper tree. She glared at it. "We're lost."
"What?" Sithia looked up sharply. "Of course we're not. This is the route on the map, trust me."
"I swear I've seen that juniper tree before. And those crags."
Sithia gave her, the tree and the crags a very dirty look. "That's because they all look the same! Look, get the map out."
Serana did so. Sithia jabbed her finger at where her blood marked their position and their route. "See? We're closer to Karthspire than we were!"
Serana gave it a sceptical look. "Unless we keep it out all the time, I still don't believe it."
"It's too wet in this mist to do that. I don't want to risk damaging it."
Serana pocketed the map and walked over to the tree. She whipped out her dagger and cut their initials into the bark, whimsically adding a heart around them. "There. Now we'll see if we're really walking in circles."
Sithia shook her head, her eyes on Serana's inscription. She muttered something that sounded an awful lot like 'soppy vampire.' Serana shrugged and smiled - it was an improvement on 'stupid vampire,' and might even be true.
As they walked on Serana looked around warily. She felt it when they'd paused but it was even more intense when they were on the move. The hairs on the back of her neck raised as if someone were breathing down it. As if they were being watched, and by hostile eyes. Yet she heard no heartbeats beyond those of goats. She saw nothing either except said animals scampering away as soon as they spotted her. And more crags and juniper trees, of course.
But Serana had a feeling she didn't care to express to a surely sceptical Sithia: that the land itself was watching them. It felt twisted, much like the rocks, the very air thick and oppressive. Much like the castle at home. That felt oppressive with the paranoia and infighting of the vampires that dwelt within, not helped by the madness of its obsessed lord.
What had happened here? If it was like at home, then it was something the inhabitants had etched into the land itself through sheer emotion. Things like that could happen thanks to the magic within people, even those now long gone. Echoes left within their wake. Maybe Sithia knew, but Serana could do without being looked at as if she was as mad as her father. So asking wasn't something she wanted to do.
The question was whether it was just the hostility of the land she was feeling, or if they really were being watched from just out of Serana's sensory range. The sooner they left this wild, bleak place the better.
"Watch out for-for-sworn."
Serana blinked. "For what? Did you stutter?" That… didn't seem like Sithia.
Sithia gave her a sidelong look. "I don't stutter. The Forsworn. Native Reachmen, rebelling against the Nords. A civil war within a civil war. From what I hear, this has been brewing since Tiber Septim conquered the Reach."
For a moment Serana thought Sithia was talking about her late husband. Then the Septim part registered. "Tiber Septim… that's your Ninth Divine, right?"
"Talos, yes. The civil war started here, too, when the Jarl was overthrown and a Reach King briefly held the Mournful Throne. Jarl Hrolfdir and his son made a promise they couldn't keep to get that throne back."
"I thought you said the war against the Thalmor started it?"
Sithia's eyes narrowed at the mention of them. "The White-Gold Concordat. It's the same thing, really, as it's what the war left the Empire saddled with. Ulfric Stormcloak and his militia were promised free worship of Talos if he got rid of the Reach King. The Thalmor caught wind of it, and that was it. A couple of decades later, Ulfric had enough, challenged and killed the High King, and here we are. Brothers at war."
Maybe that was it. The bad feeling this place gave her was caused by the bitter resentful anger of this land's people. The Forsworn. That and if it was a rebellion by the Reachmen against their overlords, and then those overlords crushed it… It was surprising that her father hadn't decided to live out here with the rest of the hermits and fanatics. It would suit him perfectly: the Champion of Molag Bal in a land twisted by the struggle for domination between Reachmen and Nords.
They walked on in silence until Serana spotted a familiar looking tree. She darted over to it, spotted the carving, an 'I told you so!' on her lips, only to skid to a halt. The carving was different, done by another hand. And the heart…
"That's not a heart."
"Neither was the stylised thing you carved, really." Sithia wandered closer to have a look for herself. "That's a briarheart." She eyed the surroundings warily. "Forsworn have definitely been here. I just hope we don't run into a Briarheart."
"What's so bad about part of a plant?"
"It's what it's in that's the problem. The Hagravens take the heart out of a Forsworn and replace it with a briarheart."
Serana raised an eyebrow. "What's a Hagraven?"
"They didn't exist back before you were locked away?"
"If they did I never heard about them. I didn't exactly get out much, and there was certainly nothing about them in anything I read back then." She had to find more books about what she'd missed.
"They're what Forsworn Matriarchs become. Old woman mingled with bird. Their limbs end in birdlike clawed feet, including what should be hands, and their hair is… kind of feathery." Sithia shuddered. "They give me the creeps, and they're fond of throwing fireballs."
"Wonderful. I hope we don't meet them. You were saying Briarhearts are a problem?"
"Yes. A Briarheart comes back to life and doesn't seem to feel pain, yet isn't a mindless zombie. That makes it harder to kill than any of the other Forsworn, and considering they're all crazed fanatics? Yeah, fighting Briarhearts is not fun. It's why I tend to try to sneak up on them and eat the heart before they know what's happened." Sithia chuckled darkly. "The look of surprise on that previously blank face right before the body collapses…"
"My crazy Dragonborn," Serana muttered, eyeing Sithia and wondering again about her sanity.
Sithia huffed. "Not so crazy when it comes to knowing where we are! I told you so. Haven't seen that tree before, have you?"
"Yes, yes, you were right, happy now?"
"No. I hate travelling in the Reach almost as much as in the frozen north. I swear the place has a mind of its own and it hates outsiders. And it counts outsiders as anyone except the native Reachmen."
Oh. So maybe Sithia wouldn't think her vampire was losing her grasp on sanity with thinking the land itself was hostile. Not that Sithia was exactly the finest example of sanity… perhaps Serana should be worried about that. Were both of them losing it? Was she wrong about the feelings of inhabitants leaving echoes on places?
Sithia took Serana's hand and gently tugged it. "Come on, let's not be sitting goats for Forsworn arrows."
The rest of their journey to Karthspire was uneventful. Apart from a sabre cat Serana took down before it reached a disappointed Sithia.
"Spoilsport!"
"Sithia, you're using a dagger. I'd rather not let a cat that large get close enough for you to kill it."
"You used your bare hands!"
"So? If you tried that you wouldn't have been able to grab it by those oversized fangs and swing it over that precipice."
"I could've Shouted it off if you hadn't been in the way!"
"Let me have some of the fun, okay?"
Sithia subsided into grumbling under her breath about demanding vampires. She perked up again when they reached the Karth river, the resident mudcrabs snapping their pincers threateningly.
Serana picked them off with Ice Spikes before Sithia could even draw her dagger.
"Serana!"
"I'm not having a mudcrab pinch you. Those claws are sharp!"
A grumbling Sithia paused to harvest said crabs for potion ingredients.
They followed the river, past a signpost marked towards Karthwasten, Markarth and Solitude, and crossed a bridge over the Karth. Serana flinched away from the sight and aura of a shrine to Dibella beside it.
Once they crossed another bridge, Sithia pointed out the steep hill with sheer rock sides: the Karthspire. Or was it technically a small mountain? Nothing compared to the Throat or even smaller peaks. Serana remembered from the map that it was surrounded by the river, branching off into two until it joined up again beyond the Karthspire.
Beyond the bridge, the road deteriorated into a dirt track. There they found Esbern and Delphine camped beside the excuse for a road.
"Esbern." Sithia nodded at the old man and acknowledged his sullen companion with a far more grudging greeting, "Delphine. I thought we were meeting on the eastern side of the island?"
Esbern smiled, opening his mouth to speak only for Delphine to interrupt:
"We were, until we spotted the Forsworn camp there. The entrance must be on the far side of it. We didn't feel like tangling with a horde of madmen wearing animal skins, not with just the two of us."
"Let's get it over with, then. Although… maybe we should wait until after sunset." Sithia eyed the afternoon sun, and then Serana.
"It doesn't make sense to make it harder for most of you to fight just to make it more convenient for me."
"Convenient?! It'd be safer!" Sithia hissed, glaring at Serana.
"It's not as if they have a pet dragon! I'll be fine."
"You're impossible," Sithia muttered. "Have it your way." She sighed and turned back to Esbern and Delphine, both looking bemused. "We attack now."
"You don't need to rest first, Cynthia Dragonborn?"
"No," Sithia snapped. She gave Esbern an apologetic look as if she'd suddenly realised she'd been a little short with him when it was a perfectly reasonable question. "I don't care for camping out here in the open when there's what should be better shelter nearby."
"After you, then, Dragonborn," Delphine drawled, drawing her sword.
Sithia drew her dagger, frowned at it, and inexplicably sheathed it. Serana opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when purple light coalesced in Sithia's hands until she released the spells. Bound swords appeared in her hands. Serana blinked. Both hands…
"You can dual wield?" She must have sounded a little too surprised, judging by the sidelong look Sithia shot her.
"I was trained to use two daggers. But ebony daggers are expensive, and I prefer to use identical blades when wielding two - less danger of ending up thrown off balance. When I'm using a sword with weight to it I sometimes need a free hand to secure my grip or hit harder. Hence not dual wielding then."
With that Sithia started running off towards their destination. Serana sighed and followed suit. Of course Sithia would run headlong into danger… especially after conjuring swords that would vanish back into Oblivion after a while. Probably at the worst possible moment. Serana decided she had better stick close to her Dragonborn.
Serana soon heard the heartbeats of the Forsworn, at first on the edge of her hearing but quickly thudding louder as she closed the distance to them. It was difficult to count the hearts beating so close together but Serana hazarded a guess as almost twenty, with one of them beating faster yet too large to be a goat. Was that a Hagraven? She really couldn't blame Esbern and Delphine for waiting.
The camp came into view as they rounded a corner of the Karthspire, revealing crude animal hide tents on a wooden platform built over the river and ancient stone steps and pillars beyond. Stone that looked awfully familiar... Serana shook her head. That was some irony: these Forsworn claiming to be the natives when this camp was built on ancient Nordic ruins!
Serana mentally slapped herself; she could ponder on the structures after the Forsworn were dead and not when Sithia was quite possibly about to do something reckless. Like take on too many Forsworn by herself if Serana didn't stick to her like glue.
Forsworn lookouts called a warning before Serana and Esbern managed to deal with them, although Esbern's method of a fireball was a dead giveaway. Serana flinched at the fiery explosion and had to force herself to keep running towards it.
The Forsworn came swarming towards them, scantily clad in goat hide and raising crude weapons. Wood and stone or bone… which did admittedly look lethally sharp. Equally crude arrows whistled their way, a fraction slower than conventional arrows due to their forked barbed heads.
The thrum of a portal to Oblivion briefly came from behind. Serana spun on her heel, coming face to face with a storm atronach. As much as storm atronachs had faces. She almost impaled it with an Ice Spike before realising that its focus was on the Forsworn, and purple light was fading from Esbern's hand. Serana sighed. Couldn't the old man have mentioned that he could Summon atronachs?
Hopefully the Forsworn couldn't. Serana had a nasty suspicion that if they could it'd be a fire atronach just to make things hard—
Serana's eyes widened as she felt the heat. She dived aside. Too late. The spell exploded beside her, flames engulfing her.
Through the agony, her inner monster snarled at her. If she'd only let it loose she'd be fine. She'd be able to fight through this, not be crippled by a little bit of fire. Unable to do anything but screech in pain and try and fail to put it out by rolling on the ground. Pathetic!
Unable to smell anything but sickly sweet burnt flesh - her own!
Unable to see - did she even have eyes left to see with?
Hearing little through the pain, and what little she could she couldn't grasp through the…
Pain.
All she knew.
She felt a deep rumble through the ground right into her bones. Then more. Echoes?
The fire faded. The heat too, far more slowly, but soothed by… water?
Blood. The scent of it. Drowning everything out. Trickling into her mouth. The taste. Sweetest, richest blood. The heat of burning fury. Bittersweet worry.
The pain ebbed away. Serana blinked, opening her eyes. Oh good, she still had them. Or had regenerated them, anything was possible with Sithia's blood. She closed them right away when water fell into them. Heavy rain. Her clothing was soaked - that it had survived was hardly surprising, it had survived dragon fire in her other form after all.
Thunder rumbled right overhead, heralded by flashes Serana could see with her eyes shut. Hadn't the skies been clear, horrible bright sunshine?
"Stupid vampire," Sithia rasped. Healing magic brushed against Serana's skin, and when she next spoke Sithia's voice was back to normal. "I'll be fine, she said. Not as if they have a pet dragon, she said. Not as if they needed one, idiot! Next time we wait until dark."
"You Shouted?"
"This storm isn't natural, my dear stupid vampire. I'm surprised you didn't hear it, but I guess you were too busy burning to a crisp."
"All right, all right, we try to fight when night can heal me. Enough with calling me stupid."
"I'll say. Enough is enough. No more being stupid."
Serana sighed. She sat up, and a sheet of wet hair fell in front of her eyes.
Sithia laughed but helped push it back out of the way. "So that's what your hair looks like when down. I knew part of it had to be a lot longer to be put up in braids but it looks so strange… no offence. I'm amazed it regrew too."
It was no surprise to hear the fire had briefly taken her hair too. Hair was pretty flammable stuff after all, even more so than the rest of a vampire.
Serana winked. "Well, your blood is powerful stuff." She called on the one Alteration spell she knew, and her hair wound itself up into her customary crown style.
Sithia didn't look impressed; she must have witnessed magical hair styling before. She sounded even less impressed when she spoke: "You need to be more careful. And we need to get you those supplies of bottled blood. I can't always rely on Shouts to give me time to feed you."
Behind Sithia the Blades looked disapproving and suspicious. They clearly didn't approve of Sithia using her blood, blessing from Akatosh that it was.
"Cynthia Dragonborn, are you sure it is wise to use your blood? I am glad our friendly vampire's control seems to be enough to resist taking more than she's given, but…"
Sithia turned her head and glared back at him, an expression Serana could almost feel more than she could see. "Enough! My precious dragon blood is mine to give as I will."
Delphine huffed. "Stupid Dragonborn," she muttered. Esbern bowed, conceding the point, but the way he looked at Serana made it clear that he'd be watching her every bit as carefully and suspiciously as Delphine now.
The rain slowed and stopped, the clouds clearing unnaturally fast as Sithia's summoned storm faded away. The renewed sunlight made Serana hiss, but at least it didn't really hurt much - she had just fed after all!
Sithia pulled Serana up onto her feet.
Esbern cleared his throat. "I shall dry us off now. Please don't move, any of you."
Serana suppressed a whimper and a flinch as Esbern sent his fire magic whipping around them all. It helped that Sithia didn't let go until the flames subsided, leaving them mostly dry.
Serana's eyes widened as she took in the carnage around her. Scorched bodies. So many of the Forsworn, struck by lightning. A few bore sword cuts, but not many. One of the latter Forsworn had her head cleaved off. The way Sithia glared at it made Serana suspect it was the one who'd set her alight. And that Sithia's bound swords had beheaded the hapless Forsworn mage.
"You really weren't happy with them, were you?" Serana murmured.
"Of course not. They hurt you. Nearly killed you!" Sithia growled, a hint of her Voice behind it. "They're just lucky I didn't have time to make them suffer. Calling my storm was the quickest way - to deal with those vermin, and to put out the flames."
Serana had to smile. Her Dragonborn's protectiveness made her feel warm inside, and was flattering to boot. In this instance she had to admit she'd needed it. Without Sithia… she shuddered. Fiery death had been far too close an end for her. She shoved that horrible thought aside and focused on the dead Forsworn, now that it was safe to take a closer look at them. Not that those struck by lightning were particularly representative of their living state, but there were those few Delphine or Sithia must have felled by sword alone.
The headdresses were strange, even more so than the rest of Forsworn get up. Men and women wore different ones, with the men's far more impressive. It consisted of goat head skin topped with antlers, and saber cat canines protruding behind the eyes and down through the mouth, open to the neck of the wearer with their face hidden inside the gaping maw. Another set of canines lay on the Forsworn's collarbones.
Serana prodded a female Forsworn with her toe, shifting the body so she could examine the headdress. Just feathers with coils of… something braided around the head. It looked ridiculous to Serana, not intimidating in the slightest like the male version could be.
Her gaze shifted lower. All Forsworn seemed to have a thing for necklaces featuring claws or bird skulls, worn over their scantily clad bodies. It wasn't as if it was that warm in the Reach! Definitely madmen to dress like that in any of Skyrim's Holds, even Falkreath and the Rift could be distinctly chilly in winter. Completely mad here in the Reach with the cutting wind as sharp as the jagged outcrops of the crags.
Serana frowned. Something she'd thought had been just the wind wasn't. As it came close enough, her ears picked up wheezing breathing accompanied by a rapid heartbeat. A Forsworn to put out of their misery? But no… there was something strange about the heartbeat: a slower, more normal human tempo within the same body. She abruptly remembered what she'd heard amongst the Forsworn heartbeats before her far too close encounter with a fireball. A rapid heartbeat, too large to be goat's...
"Si-ynthia, I'm hearing a very weird heartbeat - fast and slower at the same time. And breathing as if the lungs are crippled. Over there." She pointed towards an unseen corner shielded by the Nordic ruins.
Sithia exchanged a dark, knowing look with the Blades. "Must be a Hagraven. They're always wheezing as if they can't get enough air. You stay here, Serana, remember what I said about fireballs." She banished her bound swords before they could fade away and immediately summoned them again.
Serana watched Sithia run over, feet disconcertingly silent of course with those enchanted boots of hers. Sithia rounded the corner and—
"WULD NAH KEST!" The Shout was broken by a crack, the last two words left where Sithia had been standing.
A startled squawk abruptly cut off, and something hit the ground and bounced. A head? Serana darted after Sithia and saw the Hagraven's body collapse, the head rolling to a stop. Serana blinked at the sight beyond to another gory spectacle: a giant's body sprawled on the ground, chest torn open and heart almost ripped out. Had the Hagraven been trying to turn it into an overgrown Briarheart?
Sithia wandered closer to it, banished her swords again and this time drew her dagger. She took hold of a giant toe. Serana watched, disgusted, as Sithia cut it off. Ew.
"Do I really have to carry those for you?" Serana reluctantly took the pack off, miraculously untouched by the fire - it must also be enchanted to resist that.
Sithia cut off the next toe and glanced back at her. "Come off it, there's far more disgusting things in my alchemy ingredients in there. How're giant's toes any worse than skeever tails? Or Daedra hearts come to that? You didn't seem revolted by the idea of those."
"Next you'll tell me there's spider eggs in here!" Serana held the pack away from herself, eyeing it as if it might start wriggling.
"Don't be daft, I wouldn't want to risk one hatching." Sithia shook her head. "Didn't you say your mother's an alchemist? I'm amazed you're squeamish when it comes to some reagents."
"Why do you think I'm not the alchemist she is? I had plenty of time to become one."
"You preferred necromancy, my dear contradictory vampire."
"...My mother's a more powerful necromancer than I am too."
"Why do I get the feeling you don't give yourself enough credit?" Sithia came over with an armful of giant toes.
Serana shuddered and opened the pack for Sithia to stash them inside. "She's more powerful than I am. That's all there is to it. Flattery will get you nowhere."
Sithia raised an eyebrow.
"All right, because it's you it'll get you somewhere. I suppose you want the feathers and claws from that Hagraven too."
"That I do! Thanks for reminding me."
"Me and my big mouth," Serana muttered, following Sithia to the feathery body. She held the pack open again, resigned to her lot in life: Sithia's keeper and pack mule.
Sithia shoved the last feather in and fastened the pack up again. She turned to the Blades where they stood, Esbern waiting patiently, Delphine... not. The surly little Breton had her arms crossed and foot tapping. Sithia smirked at her - Serana didn't need to see her mouth to know - before looking to Esbern.
"What are we looking for, Esbern? The entrance. I don't see anything that looks remotely Akaviri."
Esbern stroked his beard, brow furrowed. "I do not know. The book did not mention that, but I imagine it will be disguised. Look for a canyon or cave entrance into the Karthspire, perhaps covered with hanging moss."
They crossed the platforms over the river to the Karthspire side and hurried up a flight of stone steps. The only entrance was a cave, and not covered by any moss. In fact it was marked by an impaled goat's head next to a flaming torch mount on a small pillar. Serana could hear faint heartbeats inside. More Forsworn...
"Um. I don't think this temple of yours is secret any more, Esbern." Serana tried to break it to him gently.
"That is where you are wrong, companion of the Dragonborn. Serana." Esbern added her name as an apologetic afterthought. "The ancient Blades had many secrets and knew how to keep them. We should be careful. There's no telling what traps and wards they may have set."
They crept inside the cave and found a Forsworn camp, lit by fireplaces. A strange sickly sweet scent hung in the air, like a freshly washed corpse mingled with some sort of fragrant herb. A human corpse… were the Forsworn cannibals?
Serana could hear the inhabitant of the camp, a single heartbeat thudding away. Wait… she could see two shadows moving. Did the Forsworn practice necromancy and attempt to prevent the zombie from rotting? Wait… they did. Sort of. Those things where Hagravens replaced their hearts with briarhearts.
"Do Briarhearts have a pulse?" Serana muttered to Sithia.
"Can't say I've ever tried taking one. Why?"
"We have company, at least two, but I can only hear one heartbeat."
"Right. I'll sneak ahead and deal with them."
"Hey, I'm the one with invisibility, let me!"
"Oh all right, you did miss out on the fun earlier."
After a moment of concentration, Serana faded from sight. She had to pause a few times to avoid creaky floorboards but managed to make her way to the Briarheart with him only looking around with blank eyes. She considered crushing the briarheart but ripped it out instead. Sithia might want it for her alchemy supplies after all...
The Briarheart choked and collapsed. His companion cried out, abruptly choked off with a bubbling rasp, blood pouring from her cut throat. She fell to the floor, revealing Sithia behind, nonchalantly cleaning her bloodied dagger.
"I thought you said something about letting me deal with them."
"I got bored."
"Of course you did." Serana sighed, walking over to hand Sithia her bloodied prize. Serana eyed her hand distastefully afterwards. Cold, dead blood. Not remotely appetising even if it wasn't tainted by briarheart juice. She washed it off with some melting ice.
"This way," Delphine called, pointing deeper into the cave. The path was cut through the rock, spider webs blocking the way. The small variety thankfully for Sithia, easily brushed out of the way.
It opened out into a narrow cavern open to the sky, with stonework cut into the sides - large pillars, far squarer and neater than ancient Nordic style, and easily three times Serana's height. Serana breathed deeply, trying to detect any threats - she couldn't hear anything alive beyond the Blades and her Dragonborn, but there could be clues left by lingering scents. So far there was nothing beyond the smell of damp stone. The cobweb had been an old one, clearly the Forsworn didn't venture this way. Maybe Esbern was right and they wouldn't find Alduin's Wall shattered or covered with Forsworn graffiti…
A flight of steps led up to three small pillars, shorter than a man and three sided, with strange symbols in the centre. They stood on bases that looked like they might rotate. To the left across a dry moat was a drawbridge covered in ivy, held upright between two of the massive pillars. On closer inspection the surface of the large pillars were carved with the same motif, a man in strange clothes and a snake or something similarly sinuous above him.
"Yes, definitely early Akaviri stonework here," Esbern mused, brushing a hand over it almost tenderly.
Delphine grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the small pillars. "Come on, Esbern, we've got to get this bridge down. These pillars must have something to do with it. Any idea what to do with them?"
"Yes. These are Akaviri symbols," Esbern said. "Let's see… you have the symbol for 'King'… and 'Warrior'… And of course the symbol for 'Dragonborn'. Given that Sky Haven Temple was sealed against the return of the Dragonborn, I would try—"
Sithia inhaled deeply. Serana covered her ears, recognising the warning signs.
"FUS RO DAH!"
The bridge almost fell backwards, rocking on its hinges, stone groaning in protest. Pieces of ivy went flying as the bridge came crashing down across the moat.
"...A bit of warning first, Dragonborn? Or are you trying to deafen us?" Delphine rubbed at her ears, grimacing.
Sithia shrugged. "It worked."
Serana poked her. "By some miracle. I thought the entire place might come crashing down!"
"Eh, if this place was built for Dragonborns to return to it should've been built to withstand Shouts." Sithia tested the bridge, nudging it with her foot. "Seems solid enough."
"I'll go first, Dragonborn. We can't risk you breaking anything, much as you'd deserve it." Delphine shoved Sithia aside. Serana caught her shoulder before she could cross the bridge.
"Let me go," Delphine snarled, hand touching the hilt of her sword.
Serana steered Delphine aside before she did. "You're too light to test if that bridge will really hold under all of us."
Sithia cleared her throat. "Are you calling me fat?"
Serana blinked at her. "You're taller than Delphine, that's all. There's more of you."
Sithia laughed. "I know. Just messing with you. The bridge is fine. Besides, I can cross before it can collapse in the unlikely event that it does."
"Only if you let yourself recover before you Shout again." With that, Serana walked across the bridge. She didn't like the lack of barriers, but it was wide enough not to be in too much danger of falling. The stone beneath her didn't shift at all - sturdy stuff to survive Sithia's Thu'um and the heavy landing into place.
She waved the others across and they headed through another opening covered with webs, and up another passageway cut through the stone. It opened out into a chamber with the floor covered in tiles marked with the same symbols as on the rotating pillars.
Esbern held an arm across Sithia's chest before she could wander over. "Wait. We should be careful here. See these symbols on the floor?"
Delphine hummed thoughtfully. "Esbern's right. Looks like pressure plates."
The pillar with chain and handle hanging from it across the tiles did look rather like a trap even to Serana, so it probably wasn't just the Blades' paranoia at work.
"We'll cross once it's safe. Try keeping to the tiles—"
"FEIM!" Sithia walked straight through his restraining arm and across the tiles in her ghostly form. She pulled the handle, solidifying as she did. The tiles all depressed as one, clicking as they did.
"...Or you could do that." Esbern shook his head, looking a little put out at being interrupted again.
'Rude Dragonborn.' Serana shook her head, smiling despite herself.
Sithia walked across a few tiles without anything happening beyond them clicking down below her. She beckoned impatiently.
Esbern sighed. "It seems safe enough. I think we must be close to the entrance."
It was disconcerting for the tiles to sink down when stepped on, but then they were pressure plates after all! They hurried across all the same, just in case the trap reset.
The path took them across two narrow bridges high up the narrow cavern. Serana could see the drawbridge they'd already crossed below them when she paused to peer over the edge.
"Serana! C'mon." Sithia beckoned impatiently from where she stood beside two more of the large pillars, with another rock cut passage behind her, winding further up.
They emerged into another cavern, this one large and open to the sky, with an elaborate chest in the centre and a very large carved head set into the far wall, positioned like a door. As they drew closer to it Serana reckoned it must be twice her height.
"Wonderful! Remarkably well-preserved, too." For an old man Esbern sounded like a child on his birthday, darting over to touch the head. "Look here! You see how the ancient Blades revered Reman Cyrodiil. This whole place appears to be a shrine to Reman. He ended the Akaviri invasion under mysterious circumstances, you recall. After the so-called 'battle' of Pale Pass, the Akaviri went into his service. This was the foundation stone of the Second Empire."
A stone circle was carved into the rock in front of Reman's overgrown head.
Esbern looked at it. "Ah... here's the 'blood seal'. Another of the lost Akaviri arts. No doubt triggered by... well, blood." He turned to Sithia. "Your blood, Dragonborn."
"If you need some help drawing blood, let me know." Delphine sounded far too eager for Serana's liking.
"Thanks, but the only one who draws my blood other than me is Serana. Care to do the honours?" Sithia offered her hand to Serana.
Serana took her wrist and gently bit it, holding Sithia's gaze all the while. She resisted the temptation to feed - not in front of Delphine and Esbern! That was private, and Sithia would probably be mortified. Even with a mere bite, Sithia's breath caught.
As soon as Sithia's blood touched it, the circle glowed with light as if the sun were shining out of it.
"That's done it! Look, it's coming to life!" Delphine stepped back as the stone head fell backwards, on a hinge, exposing a passageway and another flight of steps.
"You did it! There's the entrance. After you, Dragonborn. You should have the honour of being the first to set foot in Sky Haven Temple." Delphine bowed to Sithia. It only had a hint of mockery to it.
"There's no telling what we might find inside!" Esbern rubbed his hands together.
Serana followed close behind Sithia. Just in case. The place did look as if it had been lost to the ages, but what if there was a feral vampire locked away in here?
Sithia almost walked into a door in the dark, blundering around as she was without bearing a torch like the Blades were. Serana grabbed her just in time, saving her Dragonborn's nose.
"Stupid door," Sithia grumbled, kicking it with a toe. Thankfully not hard enough to stub it.
"Hey, it's not the door's fault you can't see in the dark. It's a kind of pretty door, you know. It has stylised dragons carved on it." Come to think of it, those dragons were rather sinuous… perhaps that snake motif on the massive pillars was actually a dragon?
Sithia snapped her fingers, summoning a Magelight. She shoved the door open and stormed up more steps, too fast to let Serana linger to inspect the carvings lining the walls. She hurried after, despite only smelling musty stone. That door hadn't been opened in a very long time, and there was no trace of anything alive or undead. Good...
Serana heard Esbern's voice drifting up the stairs behind them:
"Fascinating! Original Akaviri bas-reliefs… almost entirely intact! Amazing... you can see how the Akaviri craftsmen were beginning to embrace the more flowing Nordic style…" His heart was racing with excitement. Serana hoped it wouldn't give out.
"We're here for Alduin's Wall, right, Esbern?" Delphine said, and judging by the dragging of feet was pulling Esbern away from the carvings.
"Yes, of course. We'll have more time to look around later, I suppose. Let's see what's up ahead."
Serana pushed down a twinge of irritation at Sithia rushing her too. It wasn't like Sithia had dragged her away, she'd simply gone at her normal impatient pace. It also wasn't like Serana couldn't look around later, while Sithia slept.
They emerged into another cavern, this one mostly enclosed except for a few shafts cut through the ceiling to the outside. Two more pillars held up the ceiling. Thanks to those holes, it smelled of damp stone if still musty.
The obvious route into the cavern was up a wide flight of stairs. Serana almost tripped over when Sithia went for a narrower set of stairs to the left. She sighed and followed. It brought them out onto the same platform as the main stairs but right next to an anteroom which Sithia seemed drawn to.
Serana glanced across the cavernous chamber to take in the long table and the carved wall beyond it, miraculously not covered by ivy. She ducked into the anteroom after Sithia to find her reaching for a sword similar to Delphine's. It rested on a wooden table, covered in dust. An Akaviri katana, according to Dexion. Sithia pulled her mask down to blow the dust off, holding her breath to ward off a coughing fit. Serana stopped breathing too until she waved the cloud of dust away.
The air thrummed with the magic of a powerful enchantment emanating from the sword. Sithia picked it up. The blade lit up, shock magic dancing along it.
Sithia gingerly touched the blade and yelped, snatching her hand away. "That's not just a shock enchantment."
"Shor's bones! Here it is!" Esbern's voice echoed across the chamber.
Sithia turned on her heel to see what Esbern had found, taking the blade with her.
Esbern stood by the wall at the end of the chamber. It had to be Alduin's Wall. It did seem to feature a dragon that looked much like Alduin. Or three dragons, rather, at each end of the Wall and in the middle.
Esbern reached out to gingerly and reverently touch the Wall, torch held up high. "Alduin's Wall... so well preserved... I've never seen a finer example of early Second Era Akaviri sculptural relief…"
Delphine cleared her throat. "Esbern. We need information, not a lecture on art history."
"Yes, yes. Let's see what we have…" Esbern walked along the Wall, examining it closely. "Isn't it amazing?" He looked around at them, beaming.
"I just want to know how to defeat Alduin," Sithia grumbled.
One of these days, Serana promised herself, she'd persuade Sithia that it was worth taking the time to appreciate things like art and history. Just not today.
"Ah. Of course." Esbern sighed. "Not everyone has an appreciation for the artistic wonders of the world. Let me see if I can find the right panel…" He wandered back to the middle of the Wall. "Here it is. Alduin's defeat is the centrepiece of the Wall." He pointed. "You see, here he is falling from the sky. The Nord Tongues - masters of the Voice - are arrayed against him."
"So, does it show how they defeated him? Isn't that why we're here?" Delphine… every bit as impatient as Sithia, without the excuse of having a dragon's blood and soul.
"Patience, my dear. The Akaviri were not a straightforward people. Everything is couched in allegory and mythic symbolism." Esbern said. "Yes, yes. This here, coming from the mouths of the Nord heroes - this is the Akaviri symbol for 'Shout'." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "But… there's no way to know what Shout is meant."
"You mean they used a Shout to defeat Alduin? You're sure?" Delphine's voice was as sharp as her blade.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Presumably something rather specific to dragons, or even Alduin himself. Remember, this is where they recorded all they knew of Alduin and his return."
"So we're looking for a Shout then. Damn it." Delphine said. She turned to Sithia. "Have you ever heard of such a thing? A Shout that can knock a dragon out of the sky?"
"I wish. If I had, wouldn't I already have dealt with Alduin?"
Delphine's shoulders slumped. "I guess there's nothing for it. We'll have to ask the Greybeards for help. I hoped to avoid involving them in this, but we have no other choice."
Sithia gave her a strange look. "What do you have against the Greybeards?"
"If they had their way, you'd do nothing but sit up on their mountain with them and talk to the sky, or whatever it is they do. The Greybeards are so afraid of power that they won't use it. Think about it. Have they tried to stop the civil war, or done anything about Alduin?" Delphine snorted, and shook her head. "No. And they're afraid of you, of your power. Trust me, there's no need to be afraid. Think of Tiber Septim. Do you think he'd have founded the Empire if he'd listened to the Greybeards?"
Sithia rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not afraid of my own power."
"Good. The Greybeards can teach you a lot, but don't let them turn you away from your destiny. You're Dragonborn, and you're the only one who can stop Alduin. Don't forget it."
"As if I can when he keeps trying to eat me or raises dragons specifically to do so. I'd better see what Arngeir knows about this Shout."
"Right. Good thing they've already let you into their little cult. Not likely they'd help Esbern or me if we came calling." Delphine sounded almost jealous.
Sithia turned to Serana. "Well, you wanted to meet the Greybeards. Now you will. Just not right now. I need to sleep."
Esbern had managed to wrench his attention away from the Wall and was eyeing the blade in Sithia's hands. "Cynthia Dragonborn, do you mind if I examine that sword?"
"Knock yourself out." Sithia handed it over, hilt first.
Esbern touched the blade too, but didn't yelp or flinch away like Sithia had. He smiled, and handed the blade back to Sithia, bowing. "Cynthia Dragonborn, I present to you Dragonbane. This fabled Akaviri katana is enchanted to be especially deadly to dragons."
That enchantment explained why Sithia had yelped - she must count as a dragon.
Esbern was continuing: "And has slain many. In your hands I hope it will be the end of Alduin."
"It remains to be seen if it'll survive slaying a single dragon in my hands," Sithia muttered under her breath.
Esbern didn't hear her, turning back to his precious Wall. "Look, here. In the third panel. The prophecy which brought the Akaviri to Tamriel in the first place, in search of the Dragonborn." He pointed to some figures in distinctive armour. "Here are the Akaviri - the Blades - you see their distinctive longswords. Now they kneel, their ancient mission fulfilled, as the Last Dragonborn contends with Alduin at the end of time."
So Alduin was depicted three times… Serana had suspected as much. It didn't make much sense for Alduin's Wall to feature two other dragons.
The old man glanced around to see if his audience was listening. He didn't seem to mind that Sithia was wandering away, but scowled at his fellow Blade when he caught her yawning. "Are you paying attention, Delphine? You might learn something of your own history."
Delphine scowled right back. "I'm tired. You need to rest too. Come on, Esbern, let's see if we need to set up our bedrolls or if there's anything more comfortable in here."
"Later, Delphine, I cannot sleep yet. This masterpiece is too enthralling for that."
Delphine groaned. "That masterpiece will still be there in the morning!"
Serana left them to their bickering and followed her Dragonborn upstairs from the Wall and into a room off to the left. Sithia was inspecting some rather dusty beds and selected the one furthest from the hole cut in the ceiling to the outside, and closest to the fireplace. Serana helped her by dusting off the bed while Sithia saw to lighting the fire.
Sithia changed into her casual clothing and dozed off while waiting for a quick hot meal to cook. Serana reluctantly nudged her awake to eat it - Sithia needed the rest but she also needed the food, or she'd be even grumpier in the morning.
She tucked her Dragonborn into bed after she'd eaten, asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. Serana almost took a seat in a nearby chair when she registered one of the Blades coming closer. Delphine. Her heart was smaller, and that affected heartbeats. Esbern wasn't with her, she must have failed to persuade the old man to leave his prize.
Serana looked over to the doorway a moment before Delphine appeared, whose eyes narrowed at the sight of her so close to Sithia.
"A word," Delphine growled quietly. No please, of course.
Serana sighed and followed Delphine out of Sithia's earshot if only to avoid disturbing her sleep.
Delphine glared up at her, arms folded. "I'm watching you, vampire. I'm warning you, it's my duty to guard the Dragonborn, and I will—"
"Then we don't have a problem. At least not about me. I'm no threat to her. But you?" Serana stepped closer, looming over her. "You didn't do so well with guarding her in my absence."
Delphine didn't bat an eyelash, her lip curling. "She came back unharmed. I notice her armour has been patched since Shor's Stone, so you can't say the same."
"Define unharmed. You let her get herself into trouble with vampires. That message she sent back with the one she spared - it may well have grave consequences and I'll hold you responsible if it does. Watch yourself, Blade." With that, Serana stalked away.
She took the opportunity to wander around the temple, admiring the carvings, including a closer look at Alduin's Wall, and finding everything it had to offer. There was a rather dusty enchanting station, complete with a few soul gems, glowing beneath the dust with the souls within. No black soul gems… good. Serana always felt bad about using them after learning where the leftovers ended up. She shivered at the thought of the Soul Cairn.
Serana fished out some of the empty bottles from Sithia's pack and enchanted them ready to be filled with blood. She was no enchanter but she knew how to make sure bottles preserved blood and kept it warm. All that was left was for Sithia to fill them. Serana eyed the bottles… perhaps not all at once. It might weaken her poor Dragonborn too much.
Sithia emerged just after dawn, Serana feeling the sun come up despite being indoors. She came over to Serana, munching on her breakfast. She grumbled something that was probably 'good morning', or at least 'morning'.
She blinked at the bottles and cocked her head. "Those look like potion bottles."
Serana nodded. "They are. Yours."
"I thought I discarded them."
"And I picked them up again, litterbug. They're useful. I've enchanted these so they can be used for bottling blood for your peace of mind."
"Huh." Sithia picked up one of the bottles. "I'll do it now. Pity it can't be direct, the blood needs to go into the bottles before it goes inside you."
"I could start off feeding on you, if only so you don't taste of regret."
"I'd taste of frustration instead, you know what feeding does to me so you must know what stopping would do."
"Point." Serana sighed. "I guess it just can't be your blood at its tastiest."
"...I have an idea. Give me a while alone, and make sure the Blades come nowhere near me."
"What—"
Sithia put a finger over Serana's lips. "You'll figure it out." She smirked and sauntered off with an armful of bottles, away from where the Blades had eventually retired to sleep.
She reappeared maybe half an hour later, cheeks flushed and bottles filled. Her scent carried hints of… Oh. Oh. Yes, Serana had figured it out. She eyed the bottles hungrily. Sithia at her most delicious. She'd have to resist, though, those were for emergencies or when Sithia couldn't feed her directly.
Sithia held the bottles out. "Here. They'd be better off in your pockets rather than in the pack."
Serana took one of the potions. "My pockets have limits. They don't magically expand like your pack."
"Oh. I'm so used to it that I forget not every pack-like thing has the same enchantment." Sithia put the potions away and paused, hand still in the pack. She frowned. She pulled her hand out, and with it came a book. One of the dossiers. Delphine's.
"I suppose I should give her this. That or burn it." A red glow flickered in her hands for a moment as she almost gave into the temptation to do the latter. Perhaps Sithia really would have given in if Delphine hadn't walked out of the sleeping chamber at that moment. Sithia sighed and the promise of fire faded away.
"What's that?" Delphine strode over, eyeing the book.
Sithia handed it over. Delphine flicked it open, eyebrows raising as she swiftly read it. She snapped it closed and actually smiled at Sithia. "Thanks, Dragonborn. Interesting reading. I'll have to show Esbern."
Delphine shot a short glare at Serana, obviously realising who must have found the dossier and withheld it.
Delphine's attention returned to Sithia. "A word, Dragonborn. In private. Perhaps in that antechamber?" Delphine doubtless realised how much voices would echo in the main chamber and thought a smaller room would mean they wouldn't be overheard. Stupid Breton - it wasn't nearly far enough away to be out of Serana's hearing. Unless Delphine knew that and didn't care?
Sithia shook her head. "Whatever you have to say, you can say it here."
"Not where Esbern can hear it." Delphine glanced at the old man standing in the doorway of the room she'd come from. He cleared his throat and looked away, a blush rising in his cheeks. "He's already mortified enough at the thought of it."
Serana sighed. "Esbern, how about you give me a tour of the place?"
Esbern gave her a grateful smile and led her around all of the carvings, waxing lyrical about the Akaviri arts. Serana felt a little bad about not giving him her undivided attention: vampirism had granted her the ability to listen to more than one conversation at once, although she could only recall the gist of one while remembering all of the other.
'Sorry, Esbern, but I'm too busy listening in on Delphine and Sithia to pay proper attention.'
Serana didn't like what she overheard one bit, making it a strain to maintain an expression of polite interest for Esbern.
"I know it's not my place," Delphine was saying. "But you need to bear in mind that Tamriel needs more Dragonborns. You can't have them with the vampire. I'd suggest a fertility potion and a single encounter with a suitable willing man to father a strong child. Maybe one of the Companions."
"You're right," Sithia said flatly. Serana burned with raw hurt and jealousy for a brief moment before Sithia continued, "It's not your place. Besides, it's a moot point because I can't have children."
"Can't or won't?" Delphine pressed. "Look, I'm sorry about this. I'd be furious in your shoes. But you are our only chance of saving the Empire. You're the rightful Empress, and if you could have a child you'd found another dynasty of Dragonborn Emperors. The Empire needs this. So what is it? Is it a physical problem? Something might be possible, the Temple of Kynareth in Whiterun—"
"Empress? Me?! Are you out of your mind?" Sithia shook her head. "I'd be a tyrant. Anyway, it's a moot point. I can't start a dynasty. Can't. Won't. Same thing. It's because of the sins of my mother. I will not have a child."
"If you can't be a mother due to some scarring past experience at your mother's hands, we Blades could raise the child."
"I would be a terrible mother, that's true. But it isn't just that. I hoped I'd never get into this with you." Wood scraped against the flagstones. Sithia must have sat down heavily. "My mother was Alisanne Dupre. I don't know how much the Blades knew, but she was the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. She performed some sort of ritual, and… the result is that I belong to Sithis, and any child of mine would be condemned to follow me into the Void."
That was a lie about her child, with what she'd said to Serana about Tiber and their plans for children. Serana wasn't about to let on - apart from anything else, she didn't want to support any plan for Sithia to sleep with anyone else, and especially not a werewolf.
"Talos preserve us, you're telling the truth." Delphine also collapsed into a chair, heralded by another screech of wood against stone. "I knew after hearing the vampire say your true name that you probably had links to the Dark Brotherhood, but I had no idea that it had such consequences."
Sithia sighed. "If Tamriel needs the dragon blood to continue, Akatosh will have to bestow it anew."
"How did He see fit to bestow it on Dark Brotherhood assassins?" So that was what Delphine sounded like when having a crisis of faith. Serana almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
"I suspect He didn't. It's hereditary. I encountered Potema the Wolf Queen's spirit recently, and she could feel the kinship between us. Maybe it was just the dragon blood she could feel, maybe I'm the descendant of some Septim bastard."
"I'd rather believe you to be descended from an illegitimate Septim than to believe Akatosh bestowed a blessing on the likes of you." Delphine cursed under her breath. "Once Blades would eliminate any member of the Dark Brotherhood they encountered. Not now, though."
"You mean they tried. They may have even succeeded sometimes, but only at great cost."
Delphine snorted. "Keep telling yourself that. One on one, maybe that would have been the case, but Blades worked together."
"So did the Brotherhood. I may have been isolated from anyone but my Speaker, but I knew that we did all we could to avenge a fallen Brother or Sister. Or to protect them. For all the good that did in the end. Thanks to the Thalmor. Something our organisations have in common - both brought low by them."
Delphine hummed in agreement. "Strange bedfellows now. Wait. Your Speaker? Isolated? You were a Silencer! No wonder you think Dark Brotherhood assassins were equal to Blades, because you were one of their elite!"
"Thanks, I think. But considering how many Blades were cut down by the Thalmor, I don't think your friends were any better than my Family."
"Family," Delphine spat. "You consider them family."
"Er. You did hear me say who my mother was, didn't you? I was born into it. And even those who joined the conventional way were all children of the Night Mother and Sithis. Adopted ones."
Delphine heaved a sigh. "Whatever you were or still are, you're our Dragonborn. That's all that matters. I'll just have to make sure Esbern doesn't put this in the histories he's writing. Your parentage will either have to be a mystery, or he'll have to make up something suitably heroic. Maybe say that you're descended from Talos himself." A slightly hysterical laugh escaped her. "That might even be the truth."
"Huh. It could be. Or more likely from his brother like most of the Septim line were."
"What?" Delphine sounded startled.
"For a Blade you don't know much about the Septim dynasty. You see, while I seem to have little interest in history that's only because I already know it."
Serana took back every exasperated thought she'd ever had about Sithia's apparent disinterest in history while Sithia added: "After the forty first year of the Third Era every Emperor or Empress descended from Tiber Septim's brother."
"...Pelagius. The first Pelagius was assassinated by the Dark Brotherhood before he fathered a legitimate child. You're the reason most of the Septims weren't direct descendants of Talos." Delphine paused at Sithia's sharp intake of breath and continued in a regretful tone: "Sorry. That's unfair. It was centuries before you were even born."
"I think you'll find it's the fault of the one who performed the Black Sacrament." Sithia's voice was distinctly frosty.
"And of the assassin who did the deed. But we can agree to disagree. Thanks for trusting me with this. You could have lied, said you were sterile."
"You'd only have dragged me to a healer to see if anything could be done," Sithia scoffed. "Make no mistake, I don't trust you. And you don't really trust me."
"You do make it very difficult to like you, you know that?" Delphine had never sounded more exasperated in Serana's admittedly limited experience.
"Don't care. I prefer to be feared than to be loved."
"Ugh. You're impossible." Another sigh escaped Delphine. "Well. We have a headquarters of a sort now. We'll rebuild the Blades. Someday."
"Good luck with that," Sithia said, insincerity dripping from her voice. "I have too much on my plate already without doing your job for you there. Speaking of which I should move. High Hrothgar won't come to me, much as I wish it would."
"Thanks," Delphine said, her tone quite the opposite as well. "We'll look around Sky Haven Temple and see what else the old Blades might have left for us. It's a better hideout than I could have hoped for. Talos guard you."
Sithia's footsteps heralded her approach for once - she didn't have her enchanted boots on. "Esbern. Much as I hate to deprive you of a willing audience, it's time for us to leave you."
Esbern inclined his head in a respectful bow. "Cynthia Dragonborn. It has been an honour. I only wish we could accompany you and perform our sworn duty to guide and guard you. Sadly we would not be welcome where you are going."
"...No offence, Esbern, but I wouldn't want your company anyway when it comes with Delphine."
"Ah. A pity. She is a fierce, brave and loyal warrior. Much like it seems you are, Dragonborn. Cynthia Dragonborn, I mean. Perhaps you are too similar to get along."
"Full offence, Esbern: Shut. Up. I'm nothing like that - that - HER." Sithia stalked off.
"Oh dear. She really doesn't like Delphine."
Serana shook her head. "No. She hates her, and the feeling appears to be mutual. Goodbye, Esbern, and thanks for the history lesson. The Akaviri were - are? - a fascinating culture."
She found Sithia already changed into her armour, apart from lacing it up. Serana stepped close and did it for her, 'accidentally' stealing a few caresses in the process.
"So, did you overhear? Delphine and her opinions about my childbearing duty."
"I did. I won't let on that you were lying, don't worry."
"I wasn't. I can't have children. It was different with Tiber - he was a priest of Talos and his blessing would hopefully have given our children the chance to escape the Void, if they trod the same path as their father." She sighed heavily. "Moot point anyway now."
Serana frowned. It occurred to her that if Delphine knew that, she'd suggest that Sithia find another priest to procreate with. But she wasn't about to even mention the possibility. Apart from her own personal feelings on the subject, it'd be completely tactless when the loss of Tiber was so painful.
"I was wondering about something," Serana said instead. "If Blades and Dark Brotherhood assassins are natural enemies, were you raised the same way?"
"No, because the Blades were disbanded before my time as Silencer. The Penitus Oculatus, however, were a different matter - they replaced the Blades as the Emperor's bodyguards after the last Septim sacrificed himself."
Sithia strapped on her new-yet-ancient-and-legendary sword and adjusted the way the scabbard rested against her leg. "Right. Let's be off. I want to see if there's another way off this glorified rock."
She headed up another staircase to three large doors next to each other and pushed one open.
"Uh, Sithia? There isn't one." Serana had already wandered out into the courtyard beyond during the night to admire the strange architecture of the Akaviri shelter things outside and bask in the moonlight. "Not a safe one, anyway."
Sithia ignored her and approached the edge of the courtyard platform, peering over it.
"Sithia. I already looked."
Sithia turned to Serana and grinned. A mad grin.
"Sithia, no." Serana darted forwards, hand outstretched to grab her. Too late.
"Catch me up. FEIM!" Insubstantial as a ghost, Sithia jumped.
Serana groaned. "I'm going to kill her. Stupid, stupid Dragonborn." She turned and hurried back through Sky Haven Temple, fuming. What if that Shout wore off before Sithia landed at the bottom? Was she going to find Sithia in a crumpled broken heap? Serana sprinted back the way they'd came, leaping across the pressure plates of the trap room too fast to trigger them, assuming they'd reset.
As it turned out, Sithia was nonchalantly leaning against the rock wall beside the entrance to the cave formerly inhabited by Forsworn.
Serana glared at her. "I hate that Shout. You take too many risks. What if it wore off too soon?"
Sithia smirked. "Relax. I know exactly how long that Shout lasts, and how many words I have to use to land safely. I used it to get down quickly from High Hrothgar, remember?" Her smirk slid off her face and she grimaced. "Oh, Void take me, I have to go back up there. Again. Up the Seven fucking Thousand Steps. For the third time."
"If you use that Shout to get down from there again, I'm going to kill you."
"I think I'd rather you kill me than have to climb up and down those sodding steps again." Sithia dug out her map. "I'm so very tempted to get a horse, but it wouldn't survive the climb. I know it. Let's see what path we're supposed to take…"
"Skyrim's horses are sturdy beasts. They can manage any mountain."
"Not what I meant. There's trolls and bears up there. I tried it with a horse last time and barely managed to jump clear when it panicked and bolted off a precipice."
"I could enthral it so that wouldn't happen."
"And if the weight of the pack kills it? No, Serana, let's spare the horses."
"All right." Serana shrugged. "I could carry you, you know."
"Not during the day, you couldn't. And it's dangerous up there, we can't afford the delay of you putting me down to fight. That and it's a little undignified."
"You and your pride," Serana muttered.
"Hey, I'm sparing you from being my horse in addition to pack mule."
"I volunteered. Your loss."
"How will I ever survive. Come on. Enough talk, and more walking."
Serana fell into step slightly behind Sithia. High Hrothgar awaited. And a no doubt spectacular view.
AN: Many thanks to Gaunty for betaing! Feels good to finally update this. Hopefully the next chapter will come with a far shorter gap between posting than this one.