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Word count.
Original: 2,105
Re-write: 3,678
Chapter XVII
The Scroll
Mortis
I sit there for a minute, let myself rest while I catch my breath. I look up at Serana, she walks towards me, I stand up and put my boot on the man's chest, pull the sword out. She comes to stop in front of me. She just stands there, staring at me.
I don't really want her to say anything but I'd prefer it to the silence. I look around at the group of "hunters", some are still groaning, bleeding out from their injuries. I nod to myself, there's still blood from the vampire on my face, dried onto my skin and into my beard. I have fresh blood on me as well, I look back to Serana.
She has both of the Elder Scrolls slung onto her back, she walks towards me, looking around the area, at the bodies. "Sorine?" She mumbles to me, not looking at me. She continues looking around, slides her knife back into the sheath at her waist.
"Dead." I tell her, she looks up at me. I glance around and point to the man with the mace, on the floor, dead. "He killed her." I point at her with my sword. "She wouldn't tell them where you went." I walk towards her and she takes a step back.
"I thought you were dead." She says simply. She stares at me, looks straight into my eyes. "Isran said you left." She walks around the injured keeps looking at me periodically. "Got your payment and left." She looks away from me now.
"I came back." I grumble. I walk over to the one of the hunters, sword held at my side. The man on the floor looks up at me, mouthful of blood and a spear of ice in his stomach. I press the tip of my sword to his throat, lean my weight onto the hilt and let the blade stab into his neck.
"That makes it fine?" She asks, I turn my attention to her. She's stood with her arms spread.
I go to answer but a loud groan interrupts me, I turn around to see the Orc trying to get back on his feet. He grips his stomach with his left arm, wrapping it around to try and hold his wound. Blood pours down the front of him legs. He grips one of his axes in his right hand. He grits his teeth, blood in his mouth. "I kill you or you kill me." He grumbles as he walks over to me. "You do not leave me to die."
I walk over to him, my sword held ready. He tries to rush me, his wound making him stumble forward as he swings his axe at me. I block the attack easily and slash down at his thigh. The sword cuts deep and he drops to his knee, the axe forgotten at his side. I follow the strike up by hacking at his neck, the blade cuts through the flesh easily enough but the spine stops it dead. His head rolls back, hanging limp from the partially severed neck. I kick him in the chest to free my sword.
Serana walks over to me and the now dead Orc. "Dragons are extinct." I mumble as she stands next to me. I look down at the Orc. "I was almost killed by one." I pull a rag from my pack and wipe the blood off my sword. "I thought this was too much for me." I flip the sword over and wipe the other side of the blade. "It's not." I put the rag back and sheath my sword. "That makes it fine." I turn my head to look at her.
"We have to get to the Ancestor Glade." She tells me, looking off into the distance. "We should be close." She looks back to me. "I thought it was too much." She mumbles, looking down slightly. She starts to ring her hands. "It is too much." She says.
We stand in silence. I was wrong before I prefer the silence, people can't judge you in the silence. I wonder what Alisanne would think of me now. I was never the best assassin in the brotherhood but now I've more or less abandoned them. I know how Astrid would judge me and I know what Dagmek would say. Probably something about how you don't owe anyone anything except what you owe yourself, something like that. Something about whores or killing before you die. I don't care what they think anymore, I care what I think. That's what matters and if I'm to be judged then it'll be when I'm dead.
"It doesn't have to be." I grumble, she looks up at me. Stops ringing her hands. "Unless you make it." She nods and unslings one of the scrolls, passes it to me and leads the way to the Ancestor Glade.
We walk through the mouth of a cave, Serana leads us into a small cavern, overgrown with plants and grass. There's a large log, covered in moss between two slabs of rock, acting as a make shift bridge. There's weeds and small clusters of shrub all around the cavern, it smells of rotten meat. Probably a dead fox or something in here.
There's a man on the far side of the cavern, Dawnguard armour. An arrow embedded in his leather covered chest, blood running down from the wound, another arrow in his stomach. I crouch down in front of him and lift his head up slightly. I don't know his name but I've seen him at the Fort, manning the gate. There's a broken crossbow not too far away from him, a sword at his hip. Dead before he could draw it.
I look back to Serana. "Was he in the party?" I ask her, she nods her head. "Probably killed by Harkon's men." I stand back up and walk over to her. "Most likely left when they couldn't find you." I look to the mouth of the cave. "Might still be lurking."
She nods and walks away, heading around the edge of the cavern. "Not much to look at." She mutters, running her hand over a leaf. She stops walking and looks around. "Where are all the moths?" She asks, I don't bother answering, seems like she's talking more to herself then me.
I climb up onto one of the stone slabs, walk towards the moss covered log, connecting the two slabs. I lean forward and Serana grabs my hand as I help pull her up. "There has to be more than this." I grumble as she comes to a stop next to me. "This can't be it."
She rushes across the log as I follow behind, heading round to the other side slowly. She starts heading around the edge till she disappears from sight. "I found it!" She calls from what must be a large hole in the rock wall. I walk over and follow her through the hole, ducking slightly to get through. "Oh wow, this is beautiful." She sighs, looking around the massive cavern. I hum a response as I look down to the waterlogged floor and the beam of moonlight from the ceiling. "I'm glad you're here with me." She says lowly. I turn to look at her and she's staring at me, she quickly composes herself. "There's a path there." She mumbles, pointing to a rough cobbled path.
We walk down, there's moth flying around the cavern. Trees overgrowing all around, large plants everywhere. It's bright, unnaturally so. The beam of moonlight illuminates a small stone podium at the bottom, clean water slowly flowing around it. "We need bark from these trees?"
"Canticle trees." Serana clarifies. "Need to scrape it with the draw knife." She tells me, picking it up and passing it to me. I walk to one of the trees and start scraping some bark off, the shaving drops to the ground. "It's this scroll." She mumbles. "Brought both in case Dexion read the first one wrong."
I nod slightly as I pull the knife down again, forcing more bark from the trunk. "I'll do the reading." I tell her. I pick up the bark and walk over to the beam of moonlight, moths flutter around the podium, drawn to the bark.
"Dexion wasn't lying when he said they like the bark." She mumbles, a slight chuckle to her voice as she says it. I grab the scroll and hold it at my side, walking around the small island of stone that separates us from the shallow water. The moths flock to me, surrounding my body. "You're glowing slightly." She says, taking a few steps back.
I step into the light and hold the scroll up. "Do we need to do owt else?" I grumble, holding the metal covered scroll up and putting my fingers on the bottom part of the scroll. I look to Serana and she shakes her head. I turn my attention back to the scroll, the moths around me. I look back to Serana, she looks worried. I take a breath and steel my nerves, pull down on the scroll and stare into the blinding light. There's nothing except a goldish white light, burning something into my head, a map. Black lines are scorched into my eyes as I struggle to keep looking at it. A voice that's not there tells me Darkfall cave, it's like hers but more comforting, Darkfall cave. Whispers in my head repeat it over and over and over again. Darkfall cave, it feels like their tearing my skull apart. Dexion went blind I feel like I'm going to go deaf with all of the voices. All of the whispers.
I see an old man, an old bastard. He says something about knowing what comes next, about how it can't be stopped and it comes to all men. He tells me he forgives me and I press my dagger into his chest. A man with an axe in each hand, an iron arrow buried in his back, he drags himself along the floor. Another arrow hits him in the back and he gasps from the pain, dying slowly on the floor. A burned woman lying on the ground, begging for my forgiveness, begging me to lead the family, begging me to end her life and complete the ritual. A man I don't know. Younger than me, iron armour and a steel sword, he looks like a Nord, something lands in front of him. There's a burst of fire but I don't know where it came from. Darkfall cave. I close my eyes tight and drop the scroll.
I slump down, my back hits the podium that held the draw knife. She crouches down in front of me, puts her hands on my shoulders and shakes me saying something I can't hear. She gets more frantic as I stare at her, probably blankly. I grab her arm, stopping her. "Darkfall cave." I grumble, staring into her eyes.
"Are you alright?" She asks, not taking her hands off my shoulders. I drop my gaze from her face and stare down at the floor. "You're as white as the snow." She tells me. We both sit in silence, I can hear my heart beating in my ears, hear the blood rushing. "Mortis." She mumbles, getting my attention.
"I'm fine." I mumble. "It worked." I tell her, looking back up at her face, frowning with worry. "I know where we have to go." I grumble, my throat feels like its bleeding as I tell her. She looks… hopeful, her eyes lighting up slightly and a small smile pulls at the corner of her mouth. "The scroll showed me…" I look off to the side, she follows my gaze.
We stand there in silence for a little while. Everything is… murky, nothing quite seems to fit. "Where?" She questions me, I try to focus now on the word. Where? Where did it show me to go? Show us to go I suppose is the actual question. Where?
"The scroll sho…" I trail off as I come to my senses, why did I forget, why do I not know where to go. "Darkfall cave, the scroll showed me." I tell her.
I stare at her. Darkfall cave. Deep into her eyes, trying to think. Where did the scroll say? What did they tell me? The map comes to mind and I have to blink a few times to make it leave, rubbing my forehead doesn't work. Darkfall cave. It was Darkfall cave. Why does the scroll want me to forget? Can the scroll make you forget things?
"It's Darkfall cave." I tell her quietly. She raises an eyebrow and continues to watch me closely. I rest my hand on my belt, close to my daggers hilt. I cock my head to the side watching her. She eyes my hand carefully, her own edging closer to her knife.
She nods, she reaches her hand out, touching my arm. She looks like she's going to ask if I'm alright again. "We should head straight there." She says instead, I let out a small breath of relief. "Heading back to tell Isran would waste too much time."
I close my eyes. The map fades away, the murkiness goes. The fog lifted. I open them. "Time we don't have." I grumble, meeting her gaze. "Volunruud, North West of Whiterun." I tell her, she looks confused. "We can hide the Scrolls there." I clarify.
She opens her mouth to say something but a small stone tumbles down, falling into the water with a dull plop. She grabs my arm and rushes behind one of the trees, I move around her heading behind one next to her. I pull my crossbow round and pull the sling tight around my forearm and elbow. "How many?" I whisper to her, aiming the crossbow up towards where the stone fell from. She shakes her head slightly.
She pulls the knife from her belt slowly, prepares a spell in her other hand. "Eight." She mutters, she moves round the tree and casts her spell, sending a spear of ice straight towards a man in fur armour. He raises a shield, the spear stabbing into the toughened hide, he cries out and falls to the floor dropping his sword as he falls. Blood seeps into the ice, I fire the crossbow the bolt hits another man in the stomach. He carries on running forward, gripping the bolt as he does.
He charges straight at me, tries to swing a war hammer but Serana shoves her knife up into the back of his skull. I draw my sword as another one of the thralls rushes at us, two more following very closely. The first swings a sword, I parry the attack easily as Serana sends an ice spear up between his ribs. He falls to the side as I drop down to avoid a mace, swinging my sword into another legs, slicing his knees open. He falls down to them and I slide my sword along his throat.
"Hold it!" Someone shouts. A sword lands softly on my shoulder. I turn my head to look at the other five thralls behind us, the vampire who shouted walks towards us, the other three thralls following him closely. The injured one gets to his feet, leaning heavily against a tree. I feel the edge of the blade press against my neck, I look over to Serana she's in the same position as me. Only with two thralls guarding her. "Lady Serana." The vampire mutters walking towards her. "You betrayed us." He announces. "Betrayed your own kind. Betrayed your own family." He turns to point at me. "For him." He looks back at her. "Your father said to bring you to him. But I want to show you what happens to traitors." He walks over to me. "I will kill your mortal pet. I will burn down the Dawnguard. I will kill anyone you hold dear while you watch." He turns back to her. "As you would've have brought to us." He growls.
I flew my fingers on the hilt of my sword, the leather creaks as I move my fingers. "Let's at least fight." I grumble at the vampire, maybe I can appeal to his Nord pride. The sword presses closer to my neck. "Less you're scared." He stares at me.
"After I kill you, Vingalmo will no longer be a challenge for the throne." He grumbles, he walks out further into the open, the thralls let me go and follow to open space. "I know who you are." He tells me. "Angelus Mortis." He calls to me. "Killed Emperor Titus Mede." He pulls his sword from its sheath. I get ready for his strike. "Are you still that man?" He circles to the side slightly. "Or are you wearing a dead man's face?"
He stops moving and I ready my sword properly. "Find out." I rasp. He swings at me, I block and jump back out of the reach of his bastard sword. He presses his advance and swings it up and down in a circular motion. Fast and powerful, I struggle to keep up with his speed, luckily the length of his sword slowing it down more than it could be. He thrusts forward and I manage to stop the blade with my crossguard.
I push forward, the blade sliding down my crossguard with a loud hiss. I get into his face, struggling against the strength he pushes against my sword. He laughs loudly. "Is that all you have?!" He shouts at me. I bring my head back and slam it into his nose, he stumbles back, more from shock then pain. I stab down at him but his easily blocks the thrust, I quickly kick him in the side of the knee. He punches out at me and limps backwards. He growls in the back of his throat.
He swings again I meet the attack easily but his superior strength forces my arm back, leaving my open for attack. He quickly follows up and takes the advantage, I manage to move back and only just out of reach of his sword. The tip of the sword slides against my chainmail as I duck back. I move back, putting a good distance between us. I ready my sword, putting it centre and standing ready for another strike. He moves to the left and stands ready, one hand on his sword, one resting on his belt near a small knife. I put my hand on my dagger, grip it loosely. No, that's what he wants, he wants me to go on the offensive. He can easily overpower me that way. I let go of the dagger and put both hands on the hilt of my sword.
He lashes at me, forcing me to move back. I block his attacks as he swings as quickly as he can. He cuts down at me and I drop the sword from my left hand, he tries to follow it up with a quick strike. I bring my left arm up and he sword runs along my bracer, I hit him in the chin with the pommel of my sword. He stumbles back and bring my arm back and thrust my sword forward. The tip of the blade hits him in the eye, I push all my weight into the sword. It pushes all the way through his skull. He slumps back, turning to dust before he hits the ground.
There's a shout from where Serana is, I look up as she slices one of the thralls throats and sends an ice spear into another's chest. One charges at me, I move forward and before he can swing his axe I run my sword through his stomach. He cries out as I kick him hard to free my blade. I look over to Serana as she buries an axe into one of the thrall's shoulders, he screams as she pushes his head back and stabs him in the throat.
The others move back and away from us, I move over to the trees and grab my crossbow, loading it as quickly as I can. Serana picks up one of the abandoned swords, readies for them to attack us. I bring my crossbow up, prepare to shoot. The man who Serana injured finally pulls the shield from his arm, screams as the ice spear pulls free from his arm. He drops the hide shield and starts to run up from where they came from. I aim the crossbow at the biggest one, I fire and the bolts strikes true hitting him in the throat. He gurgles and coughs up blood as he falls back.
One of them runs at me while the other two run at Serana. I hear the clash of metal as Serana defends herself from them, I abandon trying to load the crossbow and just throw it at the thrall. It hits him in the chest and he brings his arm up to catch it. I swing my sword at him and slice open his stomach. The blade cuts deep and opens his abdomen cleanly. I turn to look at Serana and she drives her sword through the last thrall's back.
I stand there and catch my breath, sheathing my sword. "Orthjolf." Serana says, out of nowhere. I look at her and raise my eyebrows. "The vampire." She clarifies for me. "He and Vingalmo are always fighting for my father's "throne"."
I hum deep in throat. I stand up straighter. "He was." I correct.
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