AN: Hey!
To Undeadmonkey8: All your questions will be answered... pretty much immediately. These last two sections are going to move faster than the prior two. Luc did indeed retrieve the Word for Bend Will off screen since that was the reason he headed there. As for Octavian, his connection with Luc'll be explained in this chapter.
Jul
Lucius
I had placed myself in between Dorthe and Thera, for one simple reason – Dorthe was, simply put, even more likely to murder her than I was. And that was no easy level of hatred to match, much less surpass. Thera, for once, was not being terribly talkative. The silence was both welcome and incredibly uneasy, given all murderous desire that was in the air. I could have cut it with a damn sword if I felt like it. As it was, I was too busy holding onto the string of Auri El's Bow looped around my shoulders; she was giving it some hungry looks that were making me even more uncomfortable. We had decided on a truce thus far, but with Thera I knew to expect a betrayal before our business had been fully concluded rather than when we no longer had to worry about our common enemy. "Ugh, these stones again," Thera groaned as we approached the one that rested on the outskirts of the Skaal village.
"Miraak is using them to channel his control over all of Solstheim," I explained gruffly. I examined the light shooting out towards the sky before shivering: the familiar feeling was even more prevalent this close to the standing stone and the disturbing chant sounding from the brainwashed Skaal working on it. I sighed and began to move towards the stone.
"I wouldn't touch it, Lucius," Thera said, her voice filled with hidden laughter. "I wouldn't mind you as a mindless thrall, but I hope that I'm the one doing it."
I stopped and turned around, narrowing my eyes on the elf woman's smirk. The only way she could know that was if she had been brought under Miraak's control at one point. "I'm well aware that the magic Miraak is using would even be able to control me – a Dragonborn – if I touched it," I told her. It was my turn to smirk as I turned away from her and continued walking towards the stone; the only way she could know that was if she had touched the stone herself. "Only a childish fool would touch one of those stones without thinking."
I could practically hear her brain working over time to come up with a retort, only to come up short. "Now, I think it would be best to test my... My..."
"Your what?" Thera growled, though I barely heard her, distracted as I was. I cleared my throat and shook my head. "Your what?"
I cleared my throat and took a step back. "It seems the energy is more powerful than I thought," I lied. Thera accepted it as truth, likely because she wants to assume she's better than me at everything from swordsmanship to resisting the mental domination of an ancient warrior who is aided by one of the most devious and powerful of the great Daedric Princes.
I turned away and let my eyes drift for a moment to the figure working on the stone structure magnifying Miraak's control. Serana. She was working tirelessly on the structure, her golden eyes vacant as she focused on the task for which she had been enslaved. It made her look so different, the complete lack of fire in her eyes. It made her sharp and attractive features seemed... slack with the disappearance of her will. Besides that, she was wearing the customary clothing of the Skaal people. The only reason I had even recognized her was because of that pressing feeling of familiarity I had mistakenly ascribed to Miraak's energy. It was not magick, for wizards had failed to find any evidence of such connections for millennia. No, it was... Well, at the risk of sounding like a cliché, it was love, the entwining of our fates. It was pointless to hide that I had found her, knowing that Thera would inevitably learn. During our battle, during the following betrayals. It didn't matter which. It would happen, the only difference in the actual act being a few minutes at most. But they were my minutes, precious few as they were.
"Well, are you going to get going?" Thera demanded angrily. "Or would you prefer to just stand there like a foolish human. Woops! Tautology!"
I rolled my eyes, but acknowledged she was correct. I took a deep breath and held it in my soul, bathing it in my power for a moment. Then: "GOL!"
Yellow energy flew from me in a single massive wave, the energy filling the world. Upon colliding with the stone, there was a loud, echoing peal that rang through the air. The standing stone shuddered in time with the clear noise, the movement and sound giving off the feeling of something being wiped away. The ringing noise continued for a few minutes, every continuing second driving another of the people working on the stone from Miraak's grasp. It wasn't long until a pair of golden eyes blinked rapidly, growing more lucid every moment. They locked on me and a look of recognition, then joy filled them... quickly followed by fear when they found the Vampire standing a ways behind me. "Sh," I mouthed, shaking my head imperceptibly. Serana let a small smile tug the corners of her mouth up for a moment.
And then the peal died out, replaced by a thundering roll. I drew Dragonbane and looked around, wondering where this noise could be coming from. I received my answer a moment later when the rock structure connected to the standing stone shattered without provocation and the yellow glow disappeared. The water surrounding the stone bubbled and hissed, turning black as the deepest night – no, more like ink. The color seemed to drain a moment later from the water, congealing in one spot. A large claw tore its way out of the ground, a moment later followed by another. I narrowed my eyes on the large, fish like creature. "Lurker," I growled. I swept my sword to the side and angled it directly at the Daedra, both Thera and Dorthe following suit a moment later.
The Daedra roared angrily and lumbered towards us, the ones who had disturbed its master's power. The people who had just awoken from their stupor shrieked in fear, aside from the Vampire who stood stock still with her eyes locked on mine. She lifted her right hand to rest on the stone for a moment before her eyes widened in fear, a different kind than that of the others, and she bolted towards the Skaal village. "One of us should make sure that the Skaal get to their village safely," I said as the creature continued to lumber around.
"Running from a fight?" Thera asked. She scoffed at me."If you're that afraid, go."
Well, that worked out better than I had hoped. "I hope you get maimed," I told the elf while sheathing my blade. "Dorthe, come on." I turned and sprinted after the Skaal villagers. Dorthe looked around worriedly for a moment, then sighed and followed me.
Fahiil
Thera
I watched my opposite run from the battle and towards the village of weak pacifists. I smirked and angled my twin blades at the lumbering Daedra once again. It groaned and looked slowly between me and the retreating Lucius, then turned to try and follow him. "E-excuse me!" I snapped at the Daedra. I let my blades fall and watched it take another few seconds to follow Lucius. "I'm being insulted by a fish monster..." I sighed and walked up behind the Daedra as quietly as I could, then slashed through the tendons along the side of its knee. The Daedra roared in surprise and toppled forward, throwing out its other leg to try and retain its balance. It failed, as it was already heading down a hill, and it tumbled down until sliding to a stop at the bottom.
"I absolutely despise being ignored by lesser creatures," I snarled as I walked down to stand above the Daedra. It roared angrily and lashed out with its arm, a swirl of black tentacles following the movement. I spun beneath the attack and jammed one of my blades into the Daedra's ribs. I let it go and continued spinning until I was on the side of the creature that I had already crippled with my weapons. It hissed and tried to turn towards me, until I stabbed my remaining weapon through the back of its throat. The monster hissed angrily for a moment and locked its eyes on me – Daedra never die, so I made an immortal enemy. Joy. The creature groaned and slowly faded away into formless ink. It flowed away like a black river, and my other blade crashed into the ground. I lifted the blade and resheathed it. "Ah, it feels good to take part in a battle so one sided."
I turned and looked towards where the Skaal villagers had run off with their tails between their legs. Silly humans. Now that I was free of any pressing matters, I thought about how odd it was that Lucius had not engaged in battle as well. He hadn't behaved normally. Well, normally for him. He was always so obsessed with following through on things, and doing them himself. By Bal, he went out in the guise of a commoner to fight alongside his own soldiers because he believed he needed to be at the forefront of our war to win even a single battle. He would not leave even a single Daedra to me alone...
There was only one thing in all the world that would convince him to ignore such a battle. "So, this is where she ran." I grinned to myself. It was like a gift from the gods, Aedra, Daedra, or otherwise! The Bow and a Daughter of Coldharbour together in one place, within my reach after only a single well placed betrayal? I could not wait for that. Unfortunately he knew that as well. He probably knew that I would figure it out myself... Well, might as well find out what else he could be hiding from me.
I began to walk up the hill towards the village slowly, humming happily to myself the tune of Ragnar the Red. The immortal tale of a boastful male warrior decapitated by a woman. It was going to be almost prophetic soon enough. I smiled to myself at that, the fact that one of the human's oldest songs would mirror the death of their Emperor. Well, I mean, after all this business with Miraak was concluded.
I reached the crest of the hill a moment later and sighed in disgust. The humans were all milling about like fools, saying hello to their 'loved ones' or some such nonsense. One was even fawning over the child with whom he was reunited for the first time in some boring and unspecified amount of time. And even worse, the entire village smelled like fish. No, I would enjoy never, ever coming back to this damn island with either only ash or ice.
And that was when I saw the two.
They were hugging, acting all... human. If I were not in need of his assistance regarding our mutual adversary at the moment, I would want nothing more than to decapitate them there and then. I began to turn away, but then I noticed another, shorter creature standing between them. I raised an eyebrow suddenly. Well, I could honestly say that I had not been expecting to see a creature such as that.
Jul
Lucius
I sprinted away from Dorthe despite her intense protestations about how far away I was getting from her. I could not quite hear what she was saying over the sound of my heart pounding in my ears; she was here. She was here! I had been separated from her for far too long, and now that she was within arms reach it was as if every passing moment was poison and she was the antidote for all these years of strife. "Emperor! Emperor, slow down!" I did not slow down.
I reached the crest of the hill and looked around anxiously, terrified that I had somehow, inconceivably, lost her in the few minutes since I had lain eyes upon her. Still, the fear pounded through every nerve in my entire body as I swung my head around until, finally, I caught sight of her. She was standing at the center of the village, looking over the heads of the reunited Skaal for someone. Her eyes passed right over me, and I wondered for a moment just who she could be looking for. There was mindless panic that we had been separated for too long, that she had...
Dorthe slid to a stop beside me and laughed. "Oh, Luc... Delphine and the others will be happy when we get back," she stated with a grin. I looked at the ground and bit my lip, afraid of what I might say if I opened my mouth. Dorthe caught on rather quickly, and placed her hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"I made her leave, Dorthe," I explained.
"Aye. And you've pined after her every day since," the Blade pointed out mockingly. I scoffed and looked over at her for a short moment, catching sight of her eye roll. "You've defeated entire flocks of Dragons on your own and erected an empire through force of will. You're scared to talk to one Vampire now?"
"Obviously, it sounds stupid when you say it like that," I admitted. I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair. "How do I look?"
"Less angry and depressed than I've seen you in five years."
I sighed. "I suppose that'll do," I muttered. I took another deep breath and walked with purpose over to the woman I had sent away to protect her from our enemies.
I put my hand on her shoulder as I approached from behind, and she turned to me with eyes full of worry. She smiled for a moment. "Luc, it's..." I pulled her into a hug.
"I'm so happy to see you, Serana," I interjected. I placed my face on her head and breathed in the scent of her hair for the first time in half a decade. She pushed away from me after a moment and smiled, though it didn't seem to reach her eyes. I frowned and clutched her shoulders. "What's wrong?"
"I haven't seen -"
"Mother!" I turned when I noticed that word was coming towards us. A young man was sprinting towards us, arms stretched out to his sides. Serana pushed off from me and ran up to Octavian, picking him up and hugging him to her body. She crouched and the tall boy's feet touched the ground and they continued their hug. He looked over Serana's shoulder at my incredibly stunned face. "You saved her. Thank you."
"Oc-Octavian is your boy?" I asked. I walked up behind her as she stood up and placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. I looked between them. "I... congratulations."
Serana scoffed. "You've gotten dumber, then?" she asked dryly, eyes twinkling gold as they met mine.
I shook my head but kept eye contact anyways. "How old are you?" I asked the boy.
"Five," he responded with a friendly smile.
"You're tall and mature for your age, Octavian," I said, a smile growing across my face as I knelt down to be face to face with the boy so I could examine his features. I looked up at Serana and smiled; he looked just like me. "So..." I stood up. I looked back down at Octavian. "How do I introduce myself here?"
"This is... Heh, this is your father, Ock," she said, running her hand through the boy's hair and grabbing my hand with her other one and squeezing it gently. "Luc, this is your son. Octavian Isran Ashcroft."
Dorthe walked up at that moment to ruin the moment. I sighed when she stood beside me, gesturing behind her with her head. I looked over and saw a woman glaring at the three of us, an evil smile on her face. "And that is the woman who wants to kill all of us," I muttered under my breath. Louder, so the boy would hear: "And that... that is a very big and very inevitable problem."
