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Word count.
Original: 1,486
Re-write: 2,343
Chapter VIII
Indoctrination
Serana
The cave is dark and damp, the ground covered in moss making the floor slippery. I stop walking and look around, there's the crumbling ruins of what looks to be an old Nord fort, why was it hidden away from sight? There's lit torches lining the walls and very bright light coming from what looks to be the most well protected part of the small fort. A small, shallow river runs through the middle of the cavern, passing between the rocks.
Mortis, steps in front of me, taking the lead. He holds his bow low, angling the arrow he has ready down. He crouches slightly and starts walking slowly, looking around as he does. I follow his lead, walking slower than him in order to allow him to keep the lead.
The way he moves and the way he's constantly looking around his surroundings it should've been obvious he wasn't just a vampire hunter. When we were at that inn he never really took his eyes off the crowd, just scanning the faces. Besides he doesn't really seem all too interested in stopping my father, maybe he isn't, I suppose it doesn't really matter as long as he's helping.
There's a death hound not too far from us, down a steep slope. The short, muscled animal standing just standing there, its rack of dagger like teeth proudly on display. Mortis lifts the bow up, pulling back and drawing the arrow till the fletching is near his ear. He moves the bow to the side slightly and takes a deep breath. He lets go of the string, it slaps back into the bow with a dull whack. The arrow sails through the air and skewers into the death hound's gut, throwing the creature to the ground.
The animal whimpers on the ground slightly and mortis rushes forward, I do as well to keep up with him. He draws his dagger and as quickly and as quietly as possible he plunges the steel blade into its skull. He pulls it out and looks up sharply as footsteps echo around the cavern. They sound like their heading our way. He pushes me back, behind a small piece of what must have been the fort's outer battlements.
I watch him as he quickly drops the bow onto the ground and ducks back behind a rock with his dagger at the ready. He holds it in his left hand with the blade pointed down. The footsteps slow to a stop. There's a short grumble, then one of the vampires or thralls takes a few steps forward. I can only just see them but it's a man, fur armour covering his body an iron axe held by his side. He pulls the arrow free from the death hound's body, inspects it shortly before letting that fall to the ground. He puts his fingers to the stab wound in its head, lifting them away to look at the black blood.
He stands up and takes a few steps back, out of my sight. I look back at Mortis, he doesn't look scared of being caught I suppose if he's an assassin he's probably been in situations like this before. He pushes up against the rock more, dagger still ready. I decide to take a leaf from his book and slide my own knife out. There's a few muffled words, I'm not sure what language there in but they sound aggressive none the less.
One of them walks between us, it's the same man as from before. I can see him better now, his fur armour doesn't really look protective at all and there's an iron sword hanging from the back of his belt. The blade looks slightly blunt, not sharp enough to sever one of our limps but definitely sharp enough to do some damage, the axe on the other hand is the complete opposite sharp enough to sever a limp with one well-placed strike.
The thrall stops walking and turns to the side slightly, I try and duck back further behind the wall but it's too late, he spots me and moves in with the axe. I use my spells and send a spear of ice at him, he lifts his arm to defend himself, the ice cutting into his skin. Another one of them moves into attack, a Khajiit with a roughly made mace. Mortis moves out of his cover and pulls the Khajiit back, stabbing into his neck and abruptly ending his life.
I send another few more ice spears at the first one with the axe, he swings the axe at the ice, smashing it in mid-air. I catch a quick glimpse of Mortis pulling his swords free from his scabbard and going to intercept another one of the thralls, an Argonian. The thrall rushes at me, swinging the axe I only just manage to block the strike with my knife. He draws his sword and swings that at me as well, I duck back out of the way to avoid the blade.
There's a lot of shouting and then a shallow sounding splash, followed by three more. I stab at the thrall and he takes a step back to avoid me, I quickly follow it with another spear of ice. I send it into the bottom of his jaw, stabbing through the roof of his mouth, and making him drop to the floor with a gargle.
I quickly move around to find Mortis, he's in the small river desperately fighting off three more of the thralls. I move in from behind, climbing down into the river and stabbing one of the thralls in the back, forcing my dagger through the back of his chest. He coughs loudly, blood coming out of his mouth. There's another shout from behind me, from the fort wall. I turn and glance at the wall, there's another thrall with a bow and arrow. I quickly move the thrall around, putting the body in front of me, there's that dull whack again and an arrow slams into the body. I let go and duck behind the slight incline of the stone bank.
I look at Mortis, the archer hasn't bothered to try and shoot him. Must not be able to get a good shot on him. The thrall fighting him swings down a sword and Mortis gets down on one knee, holding his sword up to defend himself, then dropping it away and slicing his sword at the thrall's ankles making him drop to the ground. Mortis quickly gets back up to his feet to fight the last of the thralls, he blocks an attack with his dagger in his left hand, he drops his arm to his side with a flinch and then swings his sword again down into the thrall's shoulder. I quickly end the other thrall's life with an ice spear into his skull.
He forces the thrall backwards into the same incline I'm against. He pushes his dagger into the thrall's throat. Killing him almost instantly. He moves around the body and leans against the wall. He slides his dagger back into his sheath and spits in the water. I move away from the stone and step back, sending lightning at the archer, he falls backwards off the wall.
We climb over the incline and start to head for the fort's entrance, Mortis in front. We turn the corner and a death hound throws itself onto him. He falls onto his back, holding the creature up. His forearm pressed against its neck as its jaw snaps at his face. One of the vampires moves into attack me, there's a loud whimper and Mortis gets to his feet to help me.
The vampire moves in quickly, attacking with a spear. She thrusts the steel headed weapon at me and I quickly move away. She swings it around at Mortis the shaft hits him in the side and he puts his left arm around it to try and stop her from pulling the spear away. It doesn't last long, she pulls the spear away and he stumbles forward, swinging his sword at the spear to knock it off course from stabbing back at him.
She swings it around again and I have to move away from the very sharp steel head. She starts casting a spell, one to drain the life force of a mortal threat. Luckily it has no effect on me, an immortal. Mortis quickly moves forward and slashes his sword across the back of her neck. She drops the spear and stumbles forward, I step towards her and stab my knife into her stomach. She gasps and looks at me, her mouth open in shock and pain, I keep my arm around her and she turns to dust in my arms.
Mortis starts to move, walking to the back of the fort, over to the large amount of light. I look down at the small pile of dust, brushing some off my clothes. I killed one of my own kind. Not a man or a mer, not a mortal, a vampire. I look up at Mortis, how can he do it? How can he kill his own kind? Especially for personal profit, for gold. He stops walking and turns to look at me, holding his sword at his side. He leans forward slightly. All of those thralls were mortal and he killed them without blinking, without hesitation. He said how else would he get past. Now I know what he means.
I shake my head and start walking over to him. We pass through the archway and into a courtyard. There's a massive orb of blue light, a man stood crouched in the middle. There's a staircase up against the wall, leading to a raised platform. The ground is dry dirt, small patches of grass scattered around the floor.
A vampire moves out of the shadows throwing a hatchet at me, the blades slams into my thigh, making me fall onto the ground with a loud groan and a very slight scream of pain. The vampire pulls a sword out and swings it at Mortis, he quickly blocks the attack and follows up the movement with a strike of his own forcing the vampire back.
The vampire puts his hand out, starts to cast that spell to drain Mortis' life. To leech from his body and only leave a shell. It doesn't work out that way though, Mortis swings his sword at him cutting off the vampires fingers. He collapses back slightly, pulling his hand to his stomach, he tries to bring his sword up but Mortis kicks it out of his hand. He takes a step forward, the tip of the sword pushed against the vampire's throat, making him lean back.
I wait in silence, the vampire dares not speak or even move by the looks of his extremely tense body. Mortis just stands there, his sword still pressed against the vampire's throat. "How do I end this?" He grumbles, gesturing to the orb or light.
There's a long silence, uncomfortable to sit in. Mortis looks furious to say the least and the vampire looks fearful. "Why would I tell you?" He snarls. "Mortal." He spits out the word, sneering as he says it he groans slightly holding his mutilated hand to his stomach.
Mortis just grumbles something and swings the sword into the vampire's throat, not cutting too deep but enough to kill him. Slowly. He puts the sword back in his scabbard and walks up the stairs. I pull the hatchet free from my leg, a scream escaping my lips as I do. I tear the bottom of my cloak off and tie it tightly around my leg. I groan as I push myself back until my backs against the wall.
Mortis picks up a large blue and black stone, a weystone. He holds it up, turning it around in his hands. He walks back down the stairs, over to a pedestal at the head of the orb. He holds it in both hands, standing at the stone pedestal. He looks back at me. "Do you know how to stop this?" He asks.
I sit up slightly, leaning heavily against the wall. I put my hands on the deep wound, griping it tightly. I look at him, he's watching me just waiting for an answer. "That weystone, just push it into the pedestal." I groan out, only just loud enough for him to hear. "Should work."
He nods slowly turning back to the orb of blue light. I presses the weystone into the pedestal, there's a small hum and a shallow crackle and the light disappears. Mortis walks around the pedestal, coming to a stop next to it. The priest slowly gets to his feet. He looks around quickly, spotting Mortis. He draws a long sword and rushes at the assassin. He pulls the weystone out and the priest swings his sword down, Mortis uses his left gauntlet to knock the sword to the side and then swings the weystone into the side of the priest's head. He falls onto the floor unconscious.
Mortis takes a few steps away from the priest. The priest just lays perfectly still on the ground, there's a deep groan and I turn my eyes to the vampire as he finally turns to dust. I look back to Mortis and the priest. He isn't moving but I can see the rise and fall of his chest.
Mortis kicks his foot and his leg tenses slightly in response. He walks over to the wall I'm sat at and slumps down next to me, pushing his hood back off his head. I look sideways at him and he just looks tired, he puts his left arm out and rubs his elbow slightly groaning as he does.
He leans his head back, letting it hit the wall. "Now we wait." He grumbles. I look at him then back to the priest. Now we wait.