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Word count.
Original: 1,700
Re-write: 4,718
Chapter VI
Common enemy
Mortis
"Shall we?" Isran says, in a condescending way. I nod to myself, turning to the entryway that leads up to the upper floor, the balcony where Isran is waiting. I walk up the steps slowly, I still have questions for him. About the Dawnguard. About this raid. Gunmar said something about blind hatred, I'd like to know more about that.
I reach the top of the spiralled staircase and walk along the balcony towards Isran. He looks tired like he hasn't really slept, I've been gone for almost a week and he looks like he's been wide awake all that time. I hear a shallow clank and I turn around to face some of the Dawnguard. The obviously better equipped and trained of them, standing at the read with crossbows. They would've shot us if Isran wasn't pleased with the outcome of that spell.
Maybe that answers one of the questions.
"I assume it's the one you found in Dimhollow." Isran calls to me, bringing my attention away from the Dawnguard and back to him. Maybe he would sacrifice his own men, maybe he is blinded by hatred. Get paid and leave. Leave before you get dragged into his battle. His war. "It came here a few days ago." He says, leaning against the wall.
I stand there for a few seconds, looking at him. He looks frustrated, I suppose I would be to if I were in his situation. I suppose I am in his situation, at least I care little enough to not lose any sleep over it. "Why didn't you shoot her?" I ask him.
He just looks at me and takes a deep breath. "It surrendered." He tells me, he looks off to the side slightly. "Mentioned you by name." He grumbles, he looks angry. "We might be able to get more information." He tells me. "But it'll only talk to you." He grumbles the last part, seeming angrier then before.
He turns around and walks into the room opposite the keep doors, I follow him. He leads me into a back room, with a stretcher and a table covered with various tools you might use for torture. There's a couple of shelves with skulls lined up on. Not vampire skulls, some are old, the teeth smashed out and jaw cracked. I turn to my left and Serana is sat on a chair in the corner, hunched over and looking tired. At least for a vampire.
I pick up one of the embalming tools on the table, holding it up to inspect it. "Ever use them?" I grumble lowly, turning to Isran. He just nods slowly. "Not very good." I mumble, putting it back down and picking up another. "For torture." I add.
"And what would you suggest?" Isran asks, I turn to look at him and he turns his attention on Serana, I look at her and she's watching my movements closely. She has the Elder Scroll on her back, and the belt that housed her dagger is gone, hanging from the wall. Her wrists are shackled together.
"I always used what was at hand." I tell him, keeping my gaze on the female vampire. She stares into my eyes, not giving away any emotion. She might be scared, I'm not even sure if vampires get scared. Maybe they don't have any feelings at all, then again she seemed hurt at Harkon's reaction to her arrival. She has a youthful face, she was probably in her mid-twenties when she was turned. I have no idea how old she really is, she'll always look twenty five though.
"Hmm." Isran rumbles, the sound gravelly. He stares at Serana, although glare would probably be more accurate. He doesn't say anything. "Spit it out." He orders, the threat unspoken but perfectly clear.
She looks at me, stares at me. "I need your help." She says slowly, she looks down slightly. Ringing her hands, maybe she does it when she's nervous. "The Dawnguard's help." She clarifies. Really it was a foolish move to come here. She doesn't really know anything about the Dawnguard, except what I told her which was very little. Almost nowt. "I know you probably weren't expecting to see…"
"With what?" I interrupt her gruffly. She looks at me and raises an eyebrow, probably annoyed that I interrupted her but I don't have time for pleasantries.
"I'd rather not be here." She starts, still ringing her hands. "But I needed to talk to you." She says, she glances at Isran. I watch her and gesture for her to continue.
"Go on." Isran grumbles slowly from behind me. He scrapes his boot against the stone floor. I look at him over my shoulder, he flexes his jaw and runs his hand through his beard. He breathes in through his nose and then spits on the floor.
She stops ringing her hands, and lets them rest on her lap. "It's…" She pauses and looks up at me. "Well, it's about me." She pauses again. "And the Elder Scroll."
Isran grumbles something, it's too low to hear. I stand and think for a few minutes, I need to think carefully, need to ask the right questions. "What about you?" I ask her, looking down at the ground and then looking back at her.
She raises an eyebrow, she looks slightly surprised I didn't ask about the Elder Scroll. "The reason I was down there… why I had the Scroll." She answers, ringing her hands together. "It all comes back to my father." She pauses and stares deep into my eyes. "He's not a good man." She tells me. "Even as far as vampires go."
I tuck my thumb under my belt, glancing at Isran. He's still glaring at Serana. "What does this have to do with you or the Scroll?" I ask her, she nods her head, bringing her hands back and leaning forward in her chair.
"He wasn't always like that." She tells me. "There was… a turn." She pauses, probably thinking about how best to continue. "He stumbled onto this obscure prophecy." She looks at Isran and then back to me. "He lost himself in it." She clarifies, trying to defend her father.
"What was the prophecy?" Isran barks gruffly. Shattering the quiet and any sense of calm discussion. She just looks at him, looking like she's going to refuse to answer.
"It's pointless and vague like all prophecies." She answers shortly, glaring at him. She turns back to look at me. "The part he was really focused on said that vampires would no longer need to fear the sun." She pauses and glances to the side slightly, obviously disbelieving of the prophecy. Can't say I buy much into them either. "That's what he's after, he wants to control the sun." She tells me and Isran.
Isran laughs lowly. I turn to look at him, there's a small grin on his lips. "Control the sun?" He growls, he points at Serana and looks at me he goes to say something but Serana interrupts him.
"Look I know it sounds ridiculous…" Serana starts, looking at me for help, then at Isran.
"Try impossible." I interrupt her, she looks at me disbelieving. "You can't control the sun." I tell her, leaning against the wall and looking at Isran, he nods in agreement.
Serana looks between the two of us. "Regardless if it's possible or not, my mother didn't want to invite a war with all of Tamriel." She says quickly, trying to convince us. "It doesn't matter if the prophecy is true or not, my father believes it is and he will stop at nothing to reap the rewards."
Isran is silent, leaving me to ask the questions. "That's why the Scroll was sealed away." I mutter, looking at her. "Why were you?" I ask her, she looks up at me.
She starts to ring her hands again, glancing down. "Protection." She murmurs, looking back up at me. She's either lying, or her mother was lying or that's all she knows. I glance at Isran, he doesn't seem like he's going to ask any questions.
"Seems like a lot to go through." I tell her. She just shakes her head slightly. Isran just glares at her. "And why do you need to talk to me?" I ask her, she looks at the floor. Starting to shake her head again.
She looks at me and raises her eyebrows, looking down slightly and then back up, with a lot more resolve. "I don't know who I can trust." She answers, I glance at Isran from the corner of my eye, he looks like his patience is wearing thin. "I was hoping you would help." I've been in that type of situation, not know who you can trust and who will stab you in the back. I don't think I'm the kind of help she wants though. I suppose at the very least I can get more money out of Isran.
"You've heard what it has to say." Isran says, Serana looks up at him sharply. "Is there any reason I shouldn't kill this thing right now." He demands an answer. So does Serana, she's defenceless or at least close to with her hands shackled like that.
"I don't believe her." I mutter, Isran goes to grab a knife from the table. "But. You can't afford to just ignore everything she just told you." I tell him, he stops moving, his hand resting on the knife. "It might not be true but if her father believes it and is willing to go to any lengths to bring a prophecy to fruition then that's a problem in itself."
Isran drops the knife on the table, and walks towards the doorway, thrusting a set of keys into my hands. "You'd better know what you're doing." He tells me, he's furious. "It can stay for now." He stares at Serana. "If it lays a finger on anyone here, I'll kill it." He points at me, turning his full attention on me. "And you." His hand shakes slightly, he glares at Serana. "You're a resource, an asset." He tells her. "And if you run out of usefulness then you're going in the ground."
"I'll remember that the next time I'm feeling hungry." She replies. Undermining Isran and his threat, from the vague information I've heard from Gunmar and Sorine I wouldn't be so quick to write him off. He huffs something out and walks out the room, he shouts something to the Dawnguard and then he's gone. Serana turns to me and lifts her hands up slightly. "Are you going to unlock these?" She shakes the shackles to make her point.
I hold the key, and look down at it, turning to her slowly. "You have the Scroll." I mutter, crouching down in front of her chair and pull her hands to me, unlocking the shackles.
"Whatever it says will be helpful in learning more about this prophecy." She answers, staring at the shackles, the first one comes off and she flexes her wrist a bit. "Something that might help stop my father." She murmurs, I unlock the other cuff and pull them away, throwing them onto the table. I stand up and walk over to the other side of the room, leaning against it. "Of course neither of us can read it."
She stands up from the chair and grabs her belt from a hook on the wall, putting it around her waist. She looks at me, and I nod absently. We can't read it. I don't know anything about the Elder Scrolls, not really even what they look like. "Who can?" I rasp, looking at her.
She finishes fastening the belt around her waist, and starts rubbing her wrists. "The Moth Priests are the only ones I've heard of who can." She looks at me. "They spend years preparing before they begin the reading." She pulls her knife out of the sheath attached to her belt, running her finger along the edge. "They're all in Cyrodiil though." She adds, putting the knife back in her sheath.
"Hmm." I grumble, pushing away from the wall. Isran will pay me when I get back most likely, I don't care about the walk away anymore, this isn't worth it. Maybe I can bleed more coin out of him. "Scholars are always moving from place to place." I tell her. "They're always heading to the college in Winterhold, hopefully we can intercept one on the way."
I head out the door, Serana follows me closely. "Any idea where to look or go?" She asks, as we head down the spiral staircase. I head to the back room, it's too bright to head out yet. There's only about three hours of sun light left, enough time to get some rest.
I walk over to one of the small cots in the corner of the room. I unbuckle my sword belt, dropping the scabbard to the floor with a heavy clunk, the bow and quiver attached to the belt. I quickly pull my pack off and put that on the floor, more carefully, followed by my water skin. "I know someone who will." I tell her, laying down on the rough cot. I've slept on worse.
"Who?" Serana asks turning to me, sitting on the cot next to mine, I glance at her. She stares at me silently, waiting for an answer.
"An old friend." I tell her, putting my head down and closing my eyes. "I'm a light sleeper." I grumble to Serana. The warning unsaid, but she'll understand what I mean. Almost immediately I hear a slight whisper.
I'm here. Always here.
The whispers in my skull, it burns in my forehead, the constant commands and prayers to their mother. She tells me everything. She tells me that my dagger is dry, that it should be covered in the blood of the innocent. I tell her there aren't any innocent. Not in Skyrim or Cyrodiil. Nowhere. She tells me I'm worse than the last.
I can feel her now, the icy fingers on the base of my spine. Curling around the bones on my left arm. Feeling the old cracks and burning the new scars. The pain behind my eyes becomes unbearable. She tells me to fulfil my duty, my promise and to not abandon my family like those who came before.
The hands stop their groping, their search. They stop over my stomach, over an old and very painful wound. Straying to the one next to it, the mark of my own blade, then to my left arm again. My failures. They stray down my arm, cupping my palm.
You're mine, and one day, one day soon you'll be judged by Sithis.
I sit up quickly, pulling my left hand away from hers wiping the sweat from my forehead, pushing my hair out of my face. I look around the room, it's empty apart from Serana, who just watches me in silence. I hang my head slightly, sweat dripping from my hair. I stand up pressing my hand against the pain in my stomach. I stumble back slightly, groaning as I shift my weight and lean against the wall.
"How long was I asleep?" I ask, turning to look at the vampire. She watches me as I pick up my belt and fasten it around my shoulder, then pull my pack and the quiver of arrows onto my shoulder.
I turn to look at her again, she stands up from the cot. "About four hours, maybe a bit more." She answers. I watch her as she walks around the cot, closer to mine. "What was that?" She asks, I don't answer her. Play ignorant, it's always worked in the past. She won't believe it but it'll stop her questions. "So who is this person anyway?" She asks, leaving her other questions unanswered. Maybe she knows there won't be an answer or maybe she doesn't care. Either way at least I don't have to answer. I don't know how I would.
I walk to the door, Serana walking at my side. I drop a couple of steps back so that she has her back to me. "Sven." I reply, she glances at me. "Gets a lot of Stormcloaks in his inn." I tell her, she raises an eyebrow. "They watch the roads for any Imperial convoys." She nods to herself. "And unfortunately for him, he owes me a favour." She looks at me strangely, squinting slightly.
"What type of favour?" She starts pushing the door open and I give her a hand, the large, heavy door swinging open slowly.
We start walking down the steps towards the dirt path. "You know what Orc mercenaries do to a traitor?" I ask her, she thinks for a few seconds before shaking her head. "It's that type of favour." I tell her.
We walk along the dirt path in silence. Isran is stood on a small watchtower, leaning heavily against the wooden beams supporting the roof. He watches us as we walk past, Duraks training some new volunteers further along the path, showing them how to aim and fire a crossbow.
The volunteers actually look like they might know what they're doing now, not that it'll make much of a difference. Harkon's little army is bigger and his "soldiers" have actually killed before. His thralls, or at least the ones I've seen weren't as well equipped as the Dawnguard but better equipment will only take you so far. Isran's Dawnguard will be slaughtered if he tries to attack anytime soon.
That same boy, Agmaer is watching the gate. This time from the inside, maybe Durak doesn't trust him to watch for people heading towards the fort. I don't know why he isn't training with the rest of the volunteers, maybe Isran and Durak think it won't make a difference.
He starts to ask me something, tripping over his words slightly when he looks at Serana, he starts to raise his crossbow slightly. "Open the gate." I order him. He looks at me, hesitant to do as I've told him, his eyes stray back over to Serana, I glance at her and she has a small smirk on her face. "Now boy." I tell him gruffly. He looks at me and I rest my hand on my dagger.
"But it's a…" He starts, he trails off as he looks at me. Raising the crossbow up, half aiming it at Serana.
I look at her and she just starts at the young Nord, sizing him up. I wait for them to stop staring at each other. This little standoff, neither of them will attack. The boy looks at me again, I just tilt my head slightly, still staring at him. "Open the gate." I grumble, he looks back at Serana before finally concluding that both of us are getting annoyed. He lowers the crossbow and starts to open the gate. The wooden gate swings with a loud creak, shaking the wall slightly as it does.
We walk out, the boy probably watching us as we do. Serana walks next to me. "You're not walking behind me." She says, falling in step with me. "You don't trust me." She states. She's right, can't take that away from her. "I don't trust you. So we'll walk next to each other."
I look at her and she just stares forward. "We'll head to Riften." I tell her, she glances at me. "Get a carriage to Windhelm." She nods and looks forward again. The walk to Riften shouldn't be too long and I want to get this over and done as quickly as I can. That walk away isn't looking as good now.
Sven's inn doesn't have name, or if it does I have no idea what it is. The walk from Windhelm has been silent, Serana tried to start a conversation on the carriage but I just ignored her until she shut up. We walk up to the Inn, the sign outside is weathered and unreadable, whatever it said is long gone. I go straight up to the door, Serana a few paces behind, looking around slightly.
I push open the door, the inn's full. It normally is, Sven has cheap ale and mead. It doesn't taste nice at all but it gets the job done, the skooma doesn't hurt business much either. Serana stops moving, standing in the doorway, I grab her arm and lead her to a table in the corner. She nods slightly and sits down once we get to the table. I walk around and sit down opposite her.
We sit there, Serana watches the crowd and I just watch the bar on the far end of the room. Sven's hired help mills about, she's swaying her hips just like the last time I was here but it's not the same woman. He probably didn't tell her what happened to the last one and the one before. I look at Serana she's looking around in wonder. "Even been to an inn before?" I ask just loud enough for her to hear.
She snaps back to reality, looking around at me. "No… I haven't." She watches me as I turn my attention back to the bar. "What are you doing?"
What am I doing? What am I doing here? I don't need to be here, I need to be back at Fort Dawnguard, get my coin and leave. Leave Isran to his pretend struggle with an enemy that isn't there, or at least isn't as powerful as he's made them seem. Leave him to fight his enemy. Leave them and wait for what will happen to happen. That would be the smart thing to do. "Watching." That's all I've ever done. "What you think of the inn?" I ask quickly.
She looks around, focusing on a man with a lute who walks over to the fire and sits down. "It's… alright." She answers looking back at me. I nod slightly and lean back in my chair, pulling out my waterskin and taking a quick drink.
The man, the bard starts playing a song on his lute. It's rough sounding although I suppose that's the Nord way. Serana watches it carefully, I turn away from her and watch the bar again. Sven's stood there. "Not long for this world." I mutter to myself. Serana looks at me over her shoulder. I stand up and walk around the table to her. "Won't be long." I grumble to her, marching over to the bar.
Sven's stood behind the bar, wiping it with a rag. Not cleaning it really, probably just trying to look busy. I come to a stop a few feet away from it, and wait for him to say something or look up. "You want something ask her." He mumbles, gesturing to the large room absently. "I'm busy." He adds.
I put my hands on the bar and lean forward, Sven looks up and his face goes pale. "Not for me." I grumble. "Walk to the basement." I order him, he nods slightly. "Try and get help and I will kill you." I tell him, he nods gravely. He knows I will, he's a weak, pathetic excuse of a man but he's not thick enough to try and get me killed more than once.
He walks to the basement door, opens it and stands in the doorway, turning around to talk to me. "Listen, Mortis I had…" I push him and he falls down the short staircase, landing on his back with a loud thud. "Ahh." He groans, getting to his feet. "They gave me no choice!" He shouts.
I grab him and pull him up. "I don't care." I growl, throwing him into a table. He slams into it and it falls over, he falls over the back of it. "I have questions you have answers." I put my hand on the table and push on it till its upright again. Sven gets up, stands still and looks at me. "Let's see if you remember how this works."
"Mortis." He says, he sits down at one of the two chairs at the table, I do the same. "Listen I thought they would…"
"Kill me." I interrupt. He closes his eyes and mouths something. I once told Sven I would kill him, I made a lot of threats to him and tonight I plan on fulfilling one of them. "Moth Priest." I grumble, he opens his eyes and looks at me strangely. "Any in Skyrim?"
He looks down for a minute. "Yeah." He answers. "Couple of Stormcloaks were in here the other night." He tells me, he leans forward slightly. "Giving the big talk, apparently an Imperial scholar rode in three nights ago. They had to head up to Dragon bridge because of Stormcloaks on the road." He tells me. "Might be your Moth Priest."
"Any indication that this was a Moth Priest?" I ask him. I'm not travelling all that way over some scholar that may or may not be a Moth Priest. I don't have the time or the patience for that.
He leans back in his chair, looking pleased with himself. "That's why they were talking it up so much." He tells me. "Convoy had the seal of the White-Gold tower." He leans forward again. "The seal of the Emperor."
I nod slowly. "That'll be him." I say to myself, I stand up and walk over to the side of the table. "You get to keep your head." I tell him gruffly, he leans back slightly his arms outstretched on the table. He looks proud of himself. I draw my sword and before he has time to react, I slam the blade down on his forearm, severing his right hand from his arm. He screams out in pain, pulling the stump to his stomach and falling off his chair. I put the blade on the back of his neck. "Or should I take that as well?" I grumble to myself.
He looks up, panic on his face. "Mortis please." He says, putting his hand up, palm facing me and fingers stretched out. He ducks down slightly. "Please don't kill me."
I nod slightly and his looks slightly relieved. I swing the sword at his other arm, taking the top of his hand off and just leaving his thumb and the bottom half of his palm. He doubles over, screaming in pain.
I walk up the stairs, leaving Sven to bleed to death in the basement. I look back at him, he's sobbing on the floor, trying to stop the blood flow. I open the basement door and walk behind the bar. Searching for the key I know he keeps here. I put my sword away, not bothering to clean the blood off the blade. I find the small bronze key and walk back to the door, locking it. I tuck the key in my pack and walk back to the table I left Serana at.
I sit back down, in the same chair I was sat in before. Serana quickly looks round at me. "I can smell blood." She says quickly, looking at me strangely. "On you."
I sit back in my chair. "Moth Priest headed for Dragon bridge." I tell her, she goes to say something. "We should leave soon." I add.
"What about the blood?" She asks, leaning forward. I stare at her for a few minutes. She looks angry and she said it in a grave way. She stares back at me, waiting for an answer.
"I was talking to Sven." I answer, she looks away. Closes her eyes and then looks back at me and shakes her head. "We should head out now." I tell her. She doesn't answer. "Unless you want to wait till dawn." I add.
She nods and stands up, heading for the door. I follow her closely, walking out into the cold air. Serana walks down the road but I stop and pull the key from my pack, putting it on the top stair. I start to walk after the vampire leaving Sven to die and for someone to eventually find him.