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Word count.

Original: 1,971

Re-write: 3,466

Chapter XI

Lead me home

Mortis

We both just sit in silence, Serana hasn't been as talkative as she normally is the only sounds are my breathing and the dull lapping of the waves against the side of the boat. The oars clank against the boat every now and then as I row towards the small isolated island. I look up from the bottom of the boat and at her. She stares over my shoulder. At her home.

The air is cold and there's a thick mist sitting on top of the water. The moon lights the way, illuminating just how pale Serana is. I watch her as she just blankly stares at the castle on the island. So this could be it, the last thing I have to do to get her home. Help her find the scroll and then I'm done, I can go back to sitting in that brothel and killing low life thieves for money. The good old days.

"Where's this dock then?" I ask her, the first time either of us has spoken since leaving Fort Dawnguard. Serana shifts her eyes over to mine just looking at me, maybe through me.

She looks back to the island and points to an area over my shoulder, I look at the spot, following her gaze. "It's on that side." She answers. There's a pause as I row the boat. "There." She grumbles, I look over my shoulder again and can now clearly see the slightly sunken and cavernous stone dock built into the rock.

The silence returns. Although I don't believe in talking just to fill up a silence I still feel uncomfortable sat here in silence with someone who I know likes to speak. She's pretty much been talkative from the moment we've met only really leaving out the non-stop chatter when she knows that I won't give her an answer.

At least the waters are calm, makes this trip only just slightly more comfortable. I stare at her again, she's still just watching the castle. This is it, I'm leading her home this is what I promised to do and I'm doing it right now. Really I could argue that I did this exact same thing that first day. No, this is my chance to do something that doesn't just result in death, my whole life has been leading up to this point right now. I've cut a very bloody path to get here and I'm not about to let the opportunity pass me by, you're supposed to only get one of these chances and I've already wasted two of them.

The boat hits the gravel and rock of the shore, bringing us to an abrupt stop. Serana gets out straight away her boots splashing through the shallow water. She walks around to the bow and wraps her fingers around it. I quickly pull the oars in and follow her lead, helping pull the boat onto the shoreline.

As soon as that's done she starts to walk towards the dock, moving as quickly as she can. I follow her, lagging behind as I keep my hand on my dagger. We turn the corner of the rock outcropping and the dock comes fully into sight, I grab her shoulder to stop her she looks at me over her shoulder, looking confused. I quickly peek around the corner and scan the area. Nothing. No guards, none of those dog things not even any gargoyles to dissuade people from approaching.

I look from the right to the left and then back again before I finally conclude that the dock is entirely empty. I look back at Serana and raise an eyebrow, she just walks forward towards the dock, shrugging my hand off her shoulder as she does. She walks quickly, looking from side to side as she does.

"Father used to guard it." She calls to me as I follow behind her, I step over an old skeleton, the bones brownish with age. There's some other skeletons shackled to the side of the dock, half hanging in the water. I stop by one and crouch down to get a better look at it. "When the tide comes in it swallows the majority of the dock." I stand up and look at her. "These men would have either drowned or died of starvation." She starts to walk away again. "It was the latter for most of them. I used to come down here and hear their screams." She walks over to heavy wooden door. "And then I used to come down here and hear nothing."

She opens the door, the hinges screaming in protest as it swings open. She walks in, glancing around at me to make sure I'm following. "Find a torch." I tell her, staying by the door where it's reasonably lighter. I pull my pack round and start rifling through, searching for my flint. Serana walks back over to me and holds the torch out, I quickly use the flint to light it and then take it out of her hands, holding it out in front of me.

Serana starts to lead the way, not bothering to check any of the side rooms, she must know exactly which way to head. She's gone completely silent again, a cold, detached focus settling in as she leads us through the dilapidated corridors. "What was it like?" I ask her, saying the first thing I can think of to break the silence and make anything about this even slightly more bearable for myself. Besides when you start acting cold and detached, you become cold and detached. "Living in the castle." I clarify for her after not receiving an answer.

She doesn't answer for a few moments, instead focusing on moving forward, ignoring my question or just thinking carefully. It's a personal question and I suppose she's probably wary about how much she gives away. I was. "Lonely." She finally tells me. That single word carrying so much meaning, so much weight there's no need for her to continue but she will. "Do you have any idea what it's like? Living without friends, really without family?" She asks me back and I do. I know all too well what it's like. She stops walking and so do I, out of instinct more than anything but my feet feel heavy now and I just listen to what she has to say. She searches my eyes for an answer but I look away. "You do." She mutters. "Don't you?"

"I know what I know." I tell her looking up to meet her gaze. The world is a cruel place and most of us aren't lucky enough to grow up in a castle and have a family and friends, seems to be one or the other and in my case neither. "I was born in Cyrodiil, I never knew my mother or my father." I nod my head forward, gesturing her to start leading the way again. "I've made peace with that."

She starts to lead the way again, walking quickly. I've made peace with that, I have. "Did you ever meet them?" She asks me, looking over her shoulder. After a few moments of silence she turns away and stops waiting for an answer.

"Never wanted to." I mutter to her in reply. She stops walking and turns to face me, I rest my hand on my belt and just watch her, waiting to see how she reacts. I squint slightly as I look at her, focusing on her face in the limited light.

She stares at me. I suppose if you've never really felt love from your parents then you can't understand someone who's never really wanted to know or even meet their parents. "Well, what about family… is there anyone in your life?" Anyone? There used to be, there used to be a few people. I suppose there's only really Nazir left, Babette and I never really got along. She and Astrid basically ran the brotherhood together but she's gone now.

"No." I grumble. I look down at the floor then back to her face, she looks sad, maybe she's starting to like me. I suppose I am the only person she's met after coming out of that crypt who hasn't tried to kill her. "Just me."

She turns around and starts to lead us through the corridors again. "Does it bother you that I'm here?" She asks me, glancing at me over her shoulder.

"I'm used to less noise." I answer her. I don't bother to mention that I'm also used to being half drunk in an inn, or unconscious in a brothel. I remember when I used to takes things at least half seriously, or at least got them done. "It doesn't bother me though." I add, might as well try and make her feel a bit welcome, I don't really have a reason to antagonise her.

She stops at a heavy looking wooden door. "Here." She mumbles to herself, opening it slowly. "We need to be quiet." She whispers walking over the threshold and into a new set of corridors. The stone walls are dirty, covered in moss and the majority of the ground is flooded. Serana walks slowly, trying her hardest not to splash her boots in the water. I follow behind her, moving around the water and over to the dry part of the ground.

There's a bang in the distance. Serana spins around quickly, readying a spell in her left hand. I draw my dagger and hold the torch further out. I look around slowly scanning the corridor. There's a splash somewhere in the distance, sounding like it's on the other side from the first noise.

"Scare tactics." Serana mumbles to me. I turn my head to look at her and raise an eyebrow. "The feral use them to hunt." She tells me. The feral? There's another splash a bang and then a quick scratching sound, echoing through the corridors.

There's another splash, sounding a lot louder now. I turn in the direction it came from, torch held ready in my left hand and my dagger ready in my other. A mer no a vampire rushes down the corridor on all fours. It's naked and thin, cuts and old scars covering its body. There's another splash and a heavy bang from behind me but Serana will have to deal with that. The vampire gets closer and I swing the torch at it, it ducks back with a loud screech. I see it now more clearly, its low brow covered in veins and pulled down. Its teeth are a lot sharper, it's fangs a lot longer. Its skin is much paler and looks sickly, unlike Serena and the other vampires I've seen.

It throws itself at me, and I step back swinging the torch at it again. It seems to be wary of the fire. It lashes out with its arm, sharp nails only just missing me. Maybe my armour would stop them but I don't really put much hope in testing it. This is what the feral are then, vampires that in no way act like the mortals they appear to be and instead hunt like an animal. There's a brutal honesty to that. I swing the torch again and the vampire jumps on me, knocking us both to the ground. I drop the torch and stab my dagger into its stomach. I push its body up and off me while it cranes its head and snaps its teeth at my face.

I push up again and Serana comes up over us both, she pulls the vampire up by its chest and runs her knife across the back of its neck, making it screech again, the ear splitting sound echoing uncomfortably around the stone walls. She pulls it off me and I grab my dagger from its stomach, slamming the blade into its eye and pushing through to the brain. It turns to dust on top of me and I quickly get to my feet, brushing it off.

"What was that?" I grumble, picking up the torch. Serana starts to walk again and I follow her. The corridors are now completely silent, completely empty. "The feral?" I ask her, reminding her of the question she hasn't answered yet.

She looks at me and then back forward. "The feral is what happens when we stop feeding." She tells me. "If a vampire doesn't feed for long enough then the bloodlust becomes too much and the daedra finally take the body for themselves." She rushes ahead slightly, I pick up my own pace to keep up with her. "They're not vampires anymore. We just call them the feral." She turns a corner and just carries on walking obviously she knows every inch of this place. "I used to come down here a lot." She tells me.

I don't really care about her life before she met me but I still don't really want to walk around in complete silence. I've lived in the dark and the quiet for too long. "Why?" I grumble to her, hoping for a short answer but still an answer. "What was it like back then?" I ask, might as well let her think I'm interested.

She glances back at me, a small smile gracing her features. "Well the latrine would flood every now and then." She mumbles, she gives a very short choked laugh. "The smell… well just be glad you weren't here then." She tells me.

I go to say something, but the words are lost in the wake of a loud wail followed by a few more of those deafening screeches. "We should hurry." I tell her. She gives me a nod and rushes off, opening a door and squeezing passed some rubble, long forgotten by anyone it seems.

"The courtyard should be just through here." She mumbles moving a large wooden table out of the way. She opens the last door and rushes through into the night air. I'm close behind, closing the door on my way through. "Oh no…" I turn to face her. She looks around the courtyard. Well what's left of it. Most of it looks to be in disarray, rubble and rubbish littering the ground and any plants that might've been here long since destroyed. She walks over to some stairs and slumps down onto them. I walk around a bit before approaching her. "Do you have any idea how beautiful a garden like this can be when it's tended by an expert for over a hundred years?" She asks me, looking up with anger clear in her eyes.

I can imagine I crouch down in front of her. "We don't have time for this." I tell her. "You can cry over the garden later, right now we need to find this scroll." She just looks away from me, ignoring me. Probably wasn't the best tactic, though what was she expecting from an assassin. I just ignore her childish reaction and walk away. There's a large metal strut in the middle of the courtyard, looks like it's made of bronze. I step over to it. "Is this the lunar cycle?" I call over to Serana, I look at her to see if she'll even acknowledge me.

"Why?" She groans looking up from the steps. She just stares at me, annoyance clear in her expression. She gets up and walks over to me.

"Parts are missing." I grumble to her, brushing my fingers over one of this missing parts. "This isn't complete."

"What?" She crouches down next to me. "This was built specially, I always wondered what the point of having it was." She mumbles. "Maybe it's only here to cover something up." She stands up, facing me. "Maybe if we find the missing parts…" She trails off.

"Get to it." I grumble standing up and walking over to one of the destroyed flower beds. "We're running out of time." I call to her, looking up at the sky the red tint slowly swallowing the blackness. I push some of the burnt and dead bushes out of the way, there's a small circular piece of bronze lying on the floor, clouded purple glass laying in the middle, soot staining the surface. I pick it up, the glass is shaped like a crescent moon. "Found one." I call to her.

"I've got the other." She answers walking over to the strut. She crouches down putting hers in place and I walk around to find where my own goes. There. I put it on the small fixture on the ground, turning it so it locks in place. There's a loud click and a metallic clunk. I step back and look at Serana, she walks around slightly. Looking at all the pieces showing the stages of the lunar cycle. Coming to a stop at the new moon. "There's some runes." She mumbles.

"What does it say?" I ask her, walking over to stand next to her. I see it, the Nordic language. I can't read it myself but Serana should be able to.

"Valerica." She mumbles crouching down and turning the ornament, so the runes are facing the strut. There's a click and that clunk again, followed by another and then the strut turns, unveiling a stair case.

I look down the stair case and Serana moves in front, stopping at the top. "Your mother's cunning." I mumble stepping forward, stopping next to her.

"Certainly more so than I gave her credit for." She replies, stepping down the stairs and into the inky blackness. She pulls an unlit torch off the wall and I start going through my pack, looking for the flint. "I've never be in these tunnels." She tells me. We come to a door and Serana tries to open it, resulting in her slamming her shoulder into it in order to brake the lock. "We should be careful. Mother used to have a thing for magical constructs." She mutters.

"Don't think we'll find her?" I ask her. She stops walking and turns to me, I can barely see her in the darkness. "You talk about her in the past tense." I clarify, finally pulling out the flint.

She holds the torch out to me and I get to work on lighting it. "It's just been so long." She answers me softly. The flint sparks and the torch bursts to life. "Oh!" Serana exclaims, I look up at her and then around where we are. A room full of gargoyles. "It's a dead end." She mumbles, I turn to her and she's staring at the gargoyles.

"Fireplace." I grumble. "We already know your mothers adept at hiding entrances." I tell her, walking over to it, Serana close on my heels. I put my hand on the wall and feel around for a fake brick or anything. I look around at the fireplace for anything then I see them. Candle holders on the wall, directly next to the fireplace. I put my hand on one and push down. Nothing. I turn to the other and press down on it, it sinks down and so does the fireplace exposing a wooden and iron door. "Serana." I croak. She turns to me and I go through the door, she rushes through and drops a crossbar in front of it.

I walk around the room slightly, lighting a fire pit in the middle with my torch. It lights the room up, casting deep shadows in the corners. Serana walks over to one of the bookshelves and starts going through some of the old tomes. There's a stone spiral carved into the ground in the centre of the room, a balcony overlooking it.

"What is this place?" I look at Serana as she carries on looking at the books.

"I don't know." She mutters. She looks around at me and then walks over. "By the looks of it she was trying to enhance her necromancy." She tells me. Looking around the room and taking everything in. "Mother was meticulous in her… studies, she would have kept notes."

I walk over to the book shelve. "You mean as a journal?" Serana nods to me and I start pulling books off, searching for a journal. There it is, a small brown leather bound book. I pull it off and pass it to Serana wordlessly.

"This is it." She mutters opening the small book and flicking through the pages. It cracks slightly as it opens. "I never thought she'd be able to do it." She mumbles.

"Do what?" I ask her, stepping closer. She doesn't answer me just carries on reading. "Serana?" I grumble.

She looks up at me. "She opened a portal to the Soul Cairn."