Chapter Five
"What would you say to joining the Dawnguard, and fighting to stop the growing vampire menace?" The orc with a patch of brown hair pulled into a ponytail asked the two women. Vex smirked, tilting her head to the side with a hint of interest while Yosa'Min remained silent besides her. They wore leather armor, making it look at least like they knew how to fight in some form, but nothing to garner too much attention from every one that passed by.
The orc had hit them up not long after they'd come out to the surface of Riften, the two just past the Temple of Mara before he'd called over to them. His fancy looking armor was a mud brown color, nearly the same hue as his just faintly green skin in the noon light. If it weren't for the tusks and general brutishness, they might not have realized he was an orc from behind.
"What's the Dawnguard?" Vex asked curiously, Yosa'Min standing besides her after they'd walked close enough to hold a conversation with the mer.
A snort came from the orc and he rolled his eyes, "What else? Vampire hunters, we kill every last one of those damned monsters."
Vex snickered, "Why would we bother fighting vampires? Aren't they just some myth mothers tell their kids to get them to behave?"
Sighing, the orc seemed to fight the urge to berate her, not good for getting recruits. "The vampires weren't active again until a few weeks ago, but let me assure you that they have returned. The Hall of the Vigilant has been burned to the ground, and all the evidence leads to vampires. Also, more people have gone missing in the night only to come back a few days later with little memory and some undeniable marks on their body." He informed them.
"Still sounds like a bogeyman to me," drawled Vex.
"Then you better open your eyes," he said with the slightest restraint.
"Hol, maybe he's right," spoke up Yosa'Min, using the name she'd decided to use for Vex while they were trying to get inside the castle. "Vampires sound like a pretty serious threat. Someone fighting them sounds better than mindless adventuring. At least if we die it'll be for something."
"You should listen to your friend," the orc smiled warmly, relieved he wasn't just getting harassed by a few women who seemed to hold themselves high and above him. "She's a smart one, though if you join us you'll be trained, I promise you'll have a harder time dying with us than out there on your own."
Smiling reluctantly, Vex nudged Yosa'Min a bit, "Yeah, she is."
"What are your names ladies? You can call me Durak." He held out his hand.
Vex took his hand and shook it. "Hol, the short redguard is Plim," she said with a serious tone.
"Glad to meet you," Durak responded, looking them both in the eye before he stepped a bit back. "So then, interested in joining our cause?"
Vex shrugged a bit, "We can leave if we decide against it, saying we try it out?"
With a faint grimace, he shrugged, "Why would you want to leave what might be your only hope against the undead blood suckers? But yes, if you two decide against it, supposing you've actually tried, I suppose no one could hold you there against your will. An insubordinate soldier is worse than not having one at all right?"
"I suppose so," agreed Vex.
"We should do it," Yosa'Min said softly.
Vex glanced at her, and then looked back at Durak. They couldn't seem like they were willing to jump down for their cause already else they arouse suspicion, after all who is ever that happy to run off to battle aside from young fools? She bit her cheek, seemingly debating it, and then nodded her head. "Where do we go?"
Durak smiled broadly, and pulled a sheet of slightly worn parchment from one of his pockets. It was a map, leading from Riften to Dayspring Canyon to the southeast. "Fort Dawnguard, in Dayspring Canyon. Talk to Isran, our leader, a redguard like yourself Plim." Yosa'Min nodded mutely, "It's in the Velothi Mountains, past a river and on the other side of that mountain there." He pointed to the looming figure of stone southeast of Riften, the duo's eyes followed silently.
"We've got a guard stationed outside, wears armor just like mine, so you should be able to find it. Just show him the map and say I sent you, and he'll let you right in," Durak finished instructing.
"Got it," Vex said, taking the offered map. "We'll take care of some things and then head right out."
"Good, we'll need you two training as soon as possible, don't delay too much," he responded.
Nodding their heads, they moved away from him along the boardwalk towards the bridge that would eventually take them to Yosa'Min's home. "Hol?" Vex snorted.
"Plim," said back Yosa'Min flatly.
"Those are such horrible names," Vex snickered quietly, "Why in blazes did we pick them?"
"I don't know," Yosa'Min replied, a faint laugh in her voice, "just did."
Rolling her eyes with a shake of her head, Vex led the way to Honeyside. They'd just passed Haelga's Bunkhouse when Yosa'Min froze. A familiar voice was laughing inside, the loud uproar blasting out the window near the dining area. Vex tensed as she recognized the pause, muttering a curse under her breath that they should have gone the other way to Honeyside, and turned around.
Yosa'Min had turned, and walked up to the yellow stained window, a hand just an inch from the glass. "Yosa," sharply hissed Vex, trying to get her to move on.
Blue eyes stared inside, the redguard hidden mostly behind the wooden frame of the window, only a portion of her face peering inwards. Considering how dirty the windows where, Vex doubted anyone inside would see out and actually recognize the redguard, but the thought still made her skin crawl. Yosa'Min however, didn't care for the risk. Rather she was only concerned on seeing Mjoll inside, and as she searched the couple heads within, the darker room making it hard for her to pick anyone out. Eventually she found her though, and the redguard's chest tightened as the golden haired Lioness was in sight.
She was smiling, holding a tankard in one hand and a fork in another. She and Aerin were seated at lunch, the nord's body parallel to the window, giving Yosa'Min a good view of her face. Mjoll was telling some story, and obviously was enjoying it as another loud bit of noise came from inside. Straining just enough, Yosa'Min could make out a bit of what she was saying. "-then J'Zargo slipped on the ice and fell right onto his face." Shock flooded Yosa'Min's face as she realized Mjoll was actually talking about their journey together in some form or fashion.
Despite the imperial hissing at her to move, Yosa'Min pressed her ear against the wood and listened further. "Do you still talk with them?" Aerin was asking.
"We write each other, sorta. I send a letter to the College, but a note for each of them separate, and they send me one back together as well. They're a pretty good group of kids, a bit naive perhaps, but good hearts."
"Perhaps you'd like to visit them soon? It'd be safe for me to travel with you up there even."
"I'd like that Aerin, very much so."
"Of course Mjoll, anything for-"
Vex had grabbed Yosa'Min's wrist firmly, and wrenched her away from the window and down the street. Yosa'Min struggled against her, glaring furiously at the interruption. The imperial looked just as angry however, and didn't stop dragging the redguard until she'd shoved her through the doors of Honeyside, interrupting the conversing housecarls inside.
"I just wanted to know if you'd like to- Vex? Yosa?" Lydia had been the one talking when Vex had practically kicked the door in and thrown Yosa'Min inside. The redguard skittered to a halt, hands outstretched to steady herself as she gained her footing.
Dropping her arms to her side, Yosa'Min looked up at the two women and nodded her head. "Hello Iona, Lydia." She looked at the two who were sitting at the table confused.
"What happened?" Iona questioned as she took in the furious imperial.
"She heard her," gritted Vex.
The two shared glances, and then sighed. Iona decided to get to her feet first, and reached for a bristling Yosa'Min. "I'm fine dammit," she growled in warning at the redhead's approach.
"I'm certain you are, but let's go downstairs. I wanted to show you something with the potions anyways," Iona said, the redguard reluctantly being led away to the stairs. Once they were down below, the sound of flasks clattering together occasionally assuring both remaining woman, Lydia stood up and looked at Vex firmly.
"What did she hear?"
"I don't know," Vex huffed, "We were walking past Haelga's Bunkhouse on our way here when she heard the bitch laughing. Pressed herself against the wall and peeped in the window, and I don't know what she heard but it seemed to only make her worse. I had to drag her away and to here."
Muttering a few swears herself, Lydia started to clean up the kitchen area. She picked up a few set aside plates and put them in a pile on the sideboard, and then poured herself a drink of mead from a nearby bottle. "So now what?"
Calming down as Lydia poured a second one and offered it to her, Vex took it and slowly drank it down. "I'm not sure. She and I already have plans, so we'll be getting out of the city for a few days, no more than five, but I'm concerned this will throw us off. If Mjoll starts to fill her thoughts when we're on the job... It could get dangerous."
Hazel eyes looked at her with obvious judgement, but she didn't voice her disapproval. Despite both Iona and she's opinions, neither of them could deny that thieving was at least helping Yosa'Min keep from going utterly mad with despair. "Do I want to know where you're going?" The brunet asked before downing a swig of mead.
Vex shrugged, "Probably best if you don't, but it's not far."
Shaking her head back and forth slowly with thought, Lydia rolled her eyes. "Right, well, just keep her safe," she ordered.
"When do I not?" Vex smartly replied.
"When you get too jealous to think straight perhaps?" Jabbed Lydia.
Taking it with a surprising grace, Vex let the attack roll off her back and instead put the drink down half finished on the wooden sideboard. "Right well, I think it's time for she and I to get going. Just wanted to let you know she's not vanishing without someone." With that, Vex left Lydia in the kitchen to fetch the redguard from below.
A few minutes later, Lydia watched the three women come upstairs, Iona crossing back over to where she'd been sitting earlier, and the thieves making towards the door. "Wait," Iona piped up, both halting for a breath in the doorway, "keep each other safe," she urged.
"Love you too Mom," replied Yosa'Min without looking before walking out, Vex lingering for a split second as if she wanted to say something and then followed her.
Dayspring Canyon was much larger than either of them had been expecting, a long winding pass with a very thick aroma of early winter about it. At first, they'd walked into a snowy pass with howling wind, but as they moved down the sloping path, they were met with a beautiful sight. Three separate waterfalls that fell into a pool of water, large chucks of ice floating on top of it. Half the waterfall itself seemed frozen, long icicles that bent towards the pool but didn't quite make it. They were surrounded by mountains and frosted pines, the waterfalls coming from the east from one very large cliff that was at the bottom of a mountain as well.
The path had shaken the snow off, but there was still plenty of the white powder clinging to the smooth rocks that were about them. There were a lot of trees, not all of them pines either, and the ground sprung thick grasses and ferns. They followed the trail as it sloped back up and then turned east once more, in the distance between two jagged mountains was a castle tower. Already they could tell it was enormous, the first tower which they could see was connected by a covered walkway to the rest of the castle standing half the size one the canyon walls. The rest of the fort, which seemed only to go up as the walls of the canyon did, grew taller.
"This is going to be interesting," remarked Vex as they followed the trail that they moved towards another tower, circling the first. They were met with a wooden palisade, a guard post platform on a set of flat rocks. They could see a catwalk of wooden make along the cliff directly in front of them, a man garbed in Dawnguard armor watching the road with a bow at his hand.
The trail continued, and they found a large set of piles of firewood, a blazing fire already going, and a dawnguard soldier using a crossbow. He was firing at a large tree that had long since lost its upper half, a sort of improvised target they figured. Turning as the dirt path sloped upwards towards the castle-like fort, winding past rocks and wooden barricades that might have been in part holding them back, Vex and Yosa'Min drew close to the entrance of the intimidating structure. Two more rounded towers that were at the end of the stone brick wall, a door in the center. They could see a turret perhaps above the keep.
A kindly looking breton man with brown hair and beard awaited them by the entrance. "Welcome friends," he said, "I trust Durak pointed the way well?"
"Well enough," replied Vex as they walked up smoothed steps.
"Head on in, and talk to Isran, our leader. He'll probably be in the center of the fort, so easy to find," he instructed, "Oh, and my name is Celann."
"Hol, and this is Plim," introduced Vex with a gesture to them both. He nodded his head in greeting and they carried on inside.
He had been right, Isran was talking with someone in the center of the room right before them, a third man standing to the side. There was a spiraling roof that opened up to a hole in the ceiling, vegetation hanging inwards. There were two curved grates in the center floor, forming a circle with two ends that made Vex think a bit of the Cistern. Cobwebs and tattered banners with the Dawnguard insignia on them littered the place, any impress the two woman had held vanishing in a moment's notice.
They'd walked in at the end of the conversation, a man in Vigilant robes walking away with a sullen expression. "Come here," he said to the three, each of them walking up. The man besides them, who Yosa'Min realized was more like a boy than anything else, nervously followed besides them. "Who are you?"
"Agmaer," he stuttered.
"Hol, she's Plim," Vex spoke up.
"Can she not speak for herself?" Isran asked, a deep gravely voice echoing in the mostly entry circular room. He was redguard, bald head with a long black beard. He reminded Yosa'Min of her brother, which had essentially stunned her into silence more than usual.
"She... doesn't talk much," Vex replied, covering for the blank faced Dragonborn.
Grunting, Isran spoke with utter authority. "Welcome to the Dawnguard, we're not an army so you're not to address me as sir. I am Isran, founder of this operation. Tell me a bit of each of you, I like to know who's in my order."
Agmaer nervously spoke up first, apparently hoping to impress the leader. "I'm from a farm sir- I mean Isran," he corrected himself, "Here in Riften."
"Can you fight?" Asked Isran.
"I mostly just use my pa's ax, you know, when the wolves bother goats or the chickens."
Isran gave a deep chuckle, taking Vex a bit by surprise considering he'd already impressed her as near emotionless. "By Stendarr," he muttered with amusement, "We'll whip you into shape boy, take a crossbow from by those crates." Agmaer instantly listened and crossed the room to the indicated crates by the wall. "Take aim, and try to knock that helmet on top off," ordered Isran. The nord lad nervously lifted it, the two woman watching him as he loaded a shot and fired, his trembling arms making it go wide and hit a nearby bucket instead.
"Take a deep breath, concentrate, and still your arms," instructed Isran, "try again."
Agmaer fired once more, not hitting the helmet but closer than last time. Nodding his head, Isran turned to Vex. "And you?"
"I use daggers, duelist."
"Give this a try too," Isran suggested, taking the crossbow from Agmaer and offering it to her. "You don't want any of those vampires getting close to you."
Shrugging, Vex took it and raised it like Agmaer had to where her right elbow was up near her head, left supporting the body of the crossbow. She loaded a bolt, narrowed her eyes and aimed at the helmet. With a pull of the trigger, the bolt sailed across and just grazed the helmet, moving it an inch or two where it sat. Vex smirked a bit, and offered it back to Isran. "Where are you from?" He asked.
"Cyrodill, Bruma to be exact."
"And you Plim?" Isran turned to her.
Vex nearly spoke for her, but the redguard did instead. "Elinhir." The imperial tried not to blink with surprise, she'd never heard this before. She couldn't help but wonder if this was the town she'd said she'd once lived in, or if she was just picking it at random from the few in Hammerfell. "Archer."
"Ah, so this shouldn't be too much of a stretch for you then," Isran said as he handed her the crossbow. She shrugged, lifting it up and holding it in a manner that almost looked like she'd done it several times before, and without missing a beat loaded a bolt and fired. The bolt sailed threw the air with a hissing noise and struck the middle of the helmet sending it flying off the crates. Yosa'Min lowered it without so much as a smirk, thought Vex was certain she saw a certain light in her eyes.
"Excellent," Isran praised. "Hol, Agmaer, I want you two to go that way," he pointed to the corridor on their left, "There's a shooting range past the dining hall. Practice with those crossbows. Plim, do you know anything about swordplay?" He turned to Yosa'Min.
"Some," she replied, and he nodded his head.
"There are some training dummies that way," he pointed forward and a bit right," that should serve you well. There is a chest with swords there, and a chest with crossbows at the shooting range." Isran informed them, nodded his head, and then left.
Agmaer quickly went off to the shooting range, while the two women lingered on. Yosa'Min found herself idly fingering the crossbow, examining the mechanics through touch instead of looking at it as Vex led her to a bench along the wall. "So, ideas?"
"This place is huge, and well fortified," Yosa'Min said with a small voice, keeping her words from echoing. "But it looks like they're just getting started up, haven't seen many people around. We should be able to gather up any crossbows they have and make a run for it in about two days time."
Vex spoke in just as hushed a tone as she was. "Aye, but how would you like to get out of here? The only real exit is the canyon."
"We can look around, but my guess is we'll have to run out the front door and traverse the rocks as fast as we can. This place is locked up tight, haven't seen a single window in here aside from the hole in the roof. That armor looks heavy, so we'll have to ditch it when we go." Vex nodded her head in agreement with Yosa'Min's words. "We should explore after we've done what Isran wants for a few hours, make him think we're good little vampire hunters and not going to take what could be their most powerful weapon."
Vex nudged her a bit encouragingly, "I know we can do this," she said, and then started towards the shooting range. "Oh, and did you have to show off with the crossbow?" She asked over her shoulder mockingly. Yosa'Min gave her a smirk that awfully resembled her old self, and shrugged as if she didn't know what Vex meant before departing the main room for the training area. Vex rolled her eyes, and went to join Agmaer practice with the crossbow.