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Word count.
Original: 1,111
Re-write: 2,743
Chapter X
Chance
Mortis
I pant heavily, breathing hard. Serana's in front of me, leading the way at a half run half sprint. I grip my dagger and glance behind me, trying to keep steady as I follow her at a distance of around fifteen meters. There's the shadow again, between the trees. My hood falls down, letting my wet hair fall in front of my eyes. I grit my teeth, struggling to breathe and force myself to keep going.
I can feel the sweat dripping down my face, running off my hair and beard. The suns beginning to shine through the trees not yet bright enough for it to be a danger to Serana but still enough for her to worry. There has to be a hunting shack or a cave or something, a cottage, an inn, anything. There's a shout from behind us, I glance back. Nothing I can see.
I slip in the mud, grabbing a tree to keep myself from falling over it doesn't work and I roll with the fall quickly getting back to my feet. Serana stops running, turning to look at me. "Keep going!" I call to her getting back to a run.
She sees it before me, a small wooden shack lying in the middle of the woods, between the trees barely visible. She runs straight at the small building and without slowing down she slams her shoulder into the wooden door and it flies open, Serana falling onto her hands and knees inside. I reach the door and ready my bow and arrow, nocking an arrow and aiming for the treeline. The man, the vampire that's been shadowing us for the past thirty minutes comes into view. I let go off the arrow and it slams into his knee, splitting the bone and throwing him to his face.
I drop the bow down to my side and push my wet hair out of my face. I turn to look at Serana and she ducks back into the deepest, darkest corner. Her eyes are visible in the shadows. I drop the wooden recurve bow to the floor, it lands with a heavy thump. I draw my dagger and walk out to the injured vampire.
"Heretic!" He snarls at me. "Bastard and heretic!" He growls, rolling onto his back. "Honourless bastard!" He shouts, bearing his teeth as he says it. "Fight like a coward and not as a man!" He continues shouting at me, gripping the arrow as his screaming continues.
I hang my head a bit, letting out a long sigh and sliding my dagger back into my sheath resting my hands on my belt. "The sun will be visible through those trees." I interrupt, pointing at where the sun will completely shine through. "You've got ten minutes." I grumble crouching down to his level. "You're going to die." I let him know. He watches me carefully. "Whether that's slow or quick is on you." I tell him.
He nods his head, seemingly calmer than before. "Very well mortal." He spits at me. "Ask your questions." He demands.
I lean back on the balls of my feet. "Harkon." I grumble. "How many has he sent?" I rasp, I'm still breathing heavily having not caught my breath back completely.
"You'll die mortal." He says, his voice rumbling in his chest. "It's only a matter of time. We all used to be like you… slow, weak, messing with things we didn't understand." He snarls at me, showing his elongated teeth, his red eyes.
The sun starts to shine brighter near the shack. "Hmm." I mumble, glancing back down at the vampire. "Seems I was wrong." I grumble. I stand up and start to walk back to the shack, I hear a guttural scream and then the crackle of flames and a loud raspy growl. I slam the door behind me, looking at Serana as she walks over to the back of the room.
"Someone's been living here." She mumbles, I raise an eyebrow and lean against the door. "That plate." She says gesturing to a small wood plate with a few small scraps of meat and some small bones on it. "Still warm." She tells me. I walk over, pulling my gauntlet off and picking up the plate. It's only just warm but when I pick up one of the bones I can feel the slight heat on it. "The fire as well." I put the bone back down and look at her. "Still embers." I slowly place the plate back where I found it.
I walk over to a chair in the corner and slump down into it Serana sits on one opposite me, in the dark. I lean back and start to twist the ring on my finger. I look up at her and she's just watching me mess absently with the ring. I pull my other gauntlet off and tuck that one under my belt with the other, rubbing my hands together I look down.
"Where did you learn how to fight?" I ask her looking back up as the last word leaves my mouth. She looks at me, thinking hard. I don't push for an answer, we've got plenty of time and if we're going to have a conversation I might as well drag it out a bit.
She chews the inside of her cheek for a few seconds before answering. "My family were not always the leaders of the Volkihar court." She starts, leaning back. "When we first arrived there was another lord. My father wants power over mortals and he saw gaining the control of the court the best way to do that." She pauses and her eyes shift to look at the floor. "My father argued that we should keep the blood line pure, the others argued that we needed the strength that only numbers can give." She looks back up at me, leaning forward. "It was bloody and brutal but my father took power." She looks at the door. "He started a dynasty and killed any who opposed."
I nod to myself. Her father took control by killing the others, he wants power over mortals. Maybe the Dawnguard are justified in their brutal methods of trying to bring this supposed vampire menace down. Maybe the Dawnguard are just as bad, maybe they're just the lesser of two evils.
"The Dawnguard were the first organised group of vampire hunters." She tells me, she's explained some of the Dawnguard's history before, brutal and harsh. "But they were not the last. After my father took control of the court groups flocked like vultures." She says. "They had heard word of a coup through whichever means they had and they attacked." She leans back again. "We had to fight to survive and my father insisted we survive, he had his dynasty and he insisted on protecting his bloodline. He taught me how to fight and then let the hunters attack the keep."
"Bold strategy." I grumble leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees. "How many were the hunters?" I ask her, staring straight at her. If they had more man power then the Dawnguard then the clever thing would be to leave now. I grin to myself slightly, the corner of my mouth pulling up. When have I ever done the clever thing?
"I don't know exactly." She starts. "They were more than the Dawnguard." She tells me. "But not as well equipped." She adds.
The door opens, the hinges creaking. A man walks in, a Nord with a sword at the ready a bow on his back, a couple of dead birds hanging from a length of rope tied around his shoulder. He glares at me and then Serana. "Who are you people?" He demands aggressively, I stand up and he turns the sword on me, the tip at my chest. "Were you the ones behind that trouble in Dragon bridge." He takes a step forward and I take one back in response. "Seven people dead." He growls. "Good Nord men and women."
Serana backs away from the open door, letting light spill into the room. "Seven?" She asks, stopping once she gets to the corner.
"Play innocent with me." He grumbles. "I know your kind." He snarls at me. "Now you're going to kill me aren't you?" He spits at me, he looks at Serana over his shoulder. He turns back to me, looking me up and down.
Serana takes a couple of slow steps forward. She nods to me, hitting her foot against the floor the man turns to her. I knock his sword to the side and push him back into Serana, she catches his upper arms and then without hesitation bites down on the side of his neck. He screams in pain his eyes widen and he looks at me, begging for help eyes filling with tears. I turn away and close the door, sitting back down in my chair.
I start to mess with the ring.
We push open the heavy doors together, the loud creaking echoes around the hall as we enter. I hear a click and look up, one of the Dawnguard is on the balcony, crossbow aimed down at us. Their face and body masked by the intimidating armour and the deep shadows created by the torch light. The crossbow is clear enough though, easily visible at the angle their holding it. The helmet covers the entire face, not giving anything away. If they were to head to Riften and show the people who now protects them from the creatures of the night, they'd probably run from them.
There's the sound of running, armour clanking with the steps and then three more of the Dawnguard turn the corner crossbows raised. "Isran has been waiting on your return." One of them says, looking at me or at least I think he's looking at me. "Through the back." He tells me, stepping to the side with his back against the wall, crossbow pulled to his chest. I walk through the doorway with Serana not far behind.
The back of the fort is cluttered with crates, barrels and small tables with the tell-tale signs of crossbow related holes in them. Isran is in what looks like a mess, a long table with food and tankards on it, a few empty bottles of mead and ale scattered about. Isran is sat at the table eating a chunk of bread, Dexion is sat next to him reading a book.
"Isran." I grumble as I walk over to the table. He looks up at me and gives a quick, short nod. I sit down in one of the chairs on the other side of the table, opposite Isran, Serana sits down next to me.
"You've arrived safely." Dexion says, he closes the book carefully and puts it down on the table just as carefully. He looks at Serana and then to me. "I trust there were no complications." He says.
"Aye." I mutter. "Few, we dealt with them." I tell him, picking up one of the bottles on the table and pulling the cork out. I take a swig and Isran just nods to himself.
"Are you ready?" Isran grumbles turning to Dexion. "To read the scroll?" He adds, staring the man down. There's tension between the two of them, not sure what it is. Maybe Dexion doesn't trust Isran, can't say I really blame him.
Serana leans forward on the table. "We need you to read it as soon as possible." She says to him, she leans her elbows on the table and stares at Dexion, waiting for his reply.
"Why so eager vampire?" Isran demands, glaring at her. He leans forward, getting in her face she leans back in response. "I don't know what you're planning but I will find out and I will end it." He tells her.
"Read the scroll." I order the priest, he jumps in his chair as I say it. Isran looks at me oddly and Serana just looks to the priest. "Now!" I shout at him. That makes him get up and gesture for the scroll, Serana passes the otherworldly artefact to him and he clears his throat.
He stands up and closes his eyes, slowly unwinding the scroll from its metal housing. There's a long pause, a deadly silence in which none of us dare to speak. "I see a vision before me." Dexion says, his voice sounding strange after the utter silence. "An image of a great bow. Auriel's bow." There's another long stretch of silence. "Among the night's children a dread lord will rise." There's more silence. "In an age of strife when dragons return to the realm of men, darkness will mingle with light and the night and the day will become as one." Serana looks up sharply as he says dragons. "The secret of the bow's power is written elsewhere. The potency of ancient blood there is another scroll." He stops speaking, just reading. "My vision darkens and I see no more. To know more we must acquire the other scroll."
He rolls it up, looking completely exhausted and like he's going to collapse at any moment. Isran stands up and puts his hand on the man's shoulder. "Come with me." He tells him gruffly.
I and Serana sit in silence. I just stare at the table. If Serana's story didn't seem real before it does now. Among the night's children a dread lord will rise. If that doesn't sound ominous then what does, a dread lord in an age of strife. Could that be the Empire and the Stormcloaks or the Empire and the Dominion?
"I think I might know where we can find the other scroll." Serana mumbles, I look at her and she just stares at the wall. She rings her hands.
"Where?" Fuck the money. This is it, my one chance to fix what I've done. I can rest easy, just one more job.
She looks at me. "My mother, I believe she took it with her when she went into hiding." She rests heavily on the table. "I just don't know where she went."
I look down at the table. "Where would she go?" I ask her. I need to know. I need to do this. I look at the woman next to me. She needs my help, I don't think she'd ever say it but I know she does. This is my chance, I've let too many die. Had my chance to stop it but I chose to ignore everything around me. I chose this road and now I must walk it.
She nods to herself. "Before she put me in the crypt she that she would go where he will never look." She shakes her head, looking at the wall. "I don't know." She pauses, looking at me. "It was cryptic but she called attention to it."
I stare at her. This doesn't seem like it's going to lead to any answers, just more questions. It could be considered cryptic but is it really worth chasing up. "Where wouldn't he look?"
"I can't think of any where he wouldn't look." She answers still staring at me. "He's had all this time." She adds. There's a long pause, she stares blankly at me, thinking. "Castle Volkihar." She mumbles looking away from me and back to the wall.
I stare at her, watching her just sit there. Heading back to Volkihar without an army at our backs would most likely be suicide. Maybe she has a better idea of how to get in without dying. I lean back in my chair, and follow her gaze.
"There's an old dock under the cliff." She mutters. I glance at her from the corner of my eye. "Very old, it hasn't been used for a long time at least not since my father took power." She looks at me. "His dynasty and pure blooded ideals made us cut contact with the outside world." She just stares at me for a while. "We can sneak in there."
I take a swig of my drink. "Isran won't like the thought of you heading back to Volkihar." I look at her fully now. "We'll leave at next dusk." I tell her, standing up I start to walk to the back of the fort. Towards the bunks, hopefully I can rest easy tonight.