Chapter 18: The Unliving

The horse was slowly trotting along, crossing the Great Plains of Whiterun. Brelyna was steering, Nephiah was sitting behind her, holding on tightly. She didn't look comfortable, focusing on keeping her balance and not falling off. Brelyna giggled. "You're so cute!"

"Shh!", Nephiah replied. The horse took a short jump over a few rocks, she instantly tightened her embrace.

"Ou ou ou! Tight Squeeze!" Brelyna yelled, unwillingly applying pressure to the horses back with a hand, making it turn around on the spot.

Upon receiving Brelyna's notification, Nephiah instantly loosened her grip but the sudden turn made her lose balance. She fell off, a dull metallic crash sounded as she landed on her back.

"Shhhhh, shhh." Brelyna stopped the horse's movement and looked down at her warrior who lay there, looking up at her in a way that said 'I told you so.' "So you want to walk then.", she giggled again.

Nephiah got back to her feet, they continued on their way side by side.

"All right, so, the Vigilants of Stendarr.", Brelyna began explaining, "They think that worshipping Daedra is a bad thing. They believe this to a degree where they get violent towards any Daedra worshippers. People like, you know, us."

"I don't worship anybody."

"Well? All Right? People like me then."

Nephiah looked up at her.

"Azura is a Daedra. Most Dunmer pray to her, she has guided our people for a very long time. And the Vigilants think that only worshipping the Aedra is the right way. I find that funny because you can't even tell if they are real! Azura talks to people. Personally. Aedra only exist 0in text books. Oh! There it is." She pointed at a cave in the distance. "The barkeep in Rorikstead told me about the place, the locals call it Broken Fang Cave. Rumor has it, there's a couple of vampires living in there, like to steal people in the middle of the night."

"Vampires." Nephiah's face darkened.

"Yes, ever seen one?"

Nephiah nodded slowly.

They stopped, Brelyna got off the horse. "So the Vigilants are leading a campaign of war against them. I figured if we leave a couple of bodies at their hall after you're done doing, you know, what you do, nobody would look into it too long and maybe we can still show our face around the Dawnstar hold after."

Nephiah looked at her for a moment. She had obviously put a lot of thought into this. But it was an inconvenience at best. Nephiah didn't care about bounties or guards, she was prepared to take on anybody who would come to put her in chains. She almost wanted them to try. But Brelyna was trying to protect something. Their life after.

Nephiah had never planned that far ahead, she only had her immediate goal in mind. But if Brelyna needed it to be this way, then she would do it. Wouldn't mind killing a few vampires in any case. She looked at the entrance.

"Wish I had a bow. Thin the herd from a distance."

"The herd? There's a couple of them in there, maybe three. And they are really vulnerable to fire, I think we can manage." Brelyna held her right hand in front of her, palm up, and let a fire ball fly into the sky above them.

Nephiah followed it with her eyes until she couldn't see it any more. Then she looked at her mage, then the cave entrance. She began to walk. As they were about to enter, they removed their backpacks and put them to the ground.

A dull impact noise sounded behind them, they turned around. A seagull had fallen from the sky, its white feathers smoldered by fire.

Brelyna gasped. "Oh no!" She placed a hand over her mouth. "What were you even doing here, so far off the coast?!"

Nephiah looked up, there were no other birds visible, the fire ball must have hit it really high up. She looked back at her mage. "Nice shot." She gave her a quick pat on the back and entered the cave.

"I'm sorry!", Brelyna whispered towards the dead bird. Then she followed her warrior through the entrance, her shoulders hanging low.

After a short steep tunnel the cave opened up. The chanting they heard immediately after entering the cave got louder. A ramp along its wall led to the larger space below, another exit on the far end. The walls were lined with wooden coffins, human bones littered the floor. In its center a group of vampires stood in a circle, a man cowering in the middle.

One of the vampires raised his hand and the large purple crystal he held in it.

Nephiah stopped, hiding at the entrance. She counted ten opponents in the circle. She looked at Brelyna who was staring at the scene with big eyes. "Just a couple, huh.", she whispered.

Brelyna didn't answer, just stared silently.

Nephiah looked back to the group. "Wish I had a bow."

The chanting of the circle intensified as the crystal began to glow. They extended their right hands towards the man in the middle. Streams of red mist began to leave his skin, one towards each of the hands. He began to scream and cough, his skin wrinkled as he was drained of fluids.

The vampires closed their eyes and twisted their necks back, hissing loudly, exposing their fangs.

As the victim dropped to the floor, his body lit up in a purple aura which began to rise to be absorbed by the crystal that was held above it. As it was done, the crystal was glowing, the light within it seemingly shifting and moving. The vampires opened their eyes and looked down to the corpse in front of them.

Nephiah gestured Brelyna to step closer. "Fire.", she whispered. After not getting a reaction, she turned to look at her. In a split second she saw her being held from behind, looking back at her with fearful eyes, a clawed hand over her mouth.

A split second later she identified the shape to her left.

A split second later everything was dark.

Screams echoed through the darkness. And cries for help. And whimpers. It was an atmosphere Nephiah was so familiar with that for a moment she thought she was 13 years old again. She slowly opened her eyes. She was in the dirt lying on her side, iron bars right in front of her face. As she was trying to move she noticed her hands were tied behind her back with iron cuffs. Her head was aching, there was a wound from whatever hit her to knock her unconscious.

As the blurriness of her vision subsided, she turned her head to look around. She was lying in an iron cage just high enough to kneel, the steel plates of her armor were missing, so were the gloves and boots, only the chainmail was left. She couldn't tell if this was the same cave they had entered or a different one. There were several cages besides her own, six in total. The ones across from her contained a Nord woman, a man and a boy, five or six years old. That's where most of the noise was coming from. The one to her left was empty, the one to her right held Brelyna. She was sitting, her back leaning against the bars, she was bound in a similar manner.

She looked at her with tired, sad eyes, her cheeks dirty from dust that had become wet from tears and dried again. A faint smile appeared on her face. "I thought you had gone again...", she faintly said.

Nephiah pressed her back against the bars and pushed herself up to a sitting position. She looked around again to get the full picture. Her heart started to pound, this all seemed so very familiar. She squeezed her eyes shut and twisted and turned her wrists to try to break free from her restraints. But the iron chain between the cuffs was too thick to break. Her breathing became faster as panic settled in.

"Nephiah!" Brelyna shouted as she realized what was happening to her love. "Look at me!" She opened her eyes. "I'm here! Please stay with me!"

Her breathing remained fast but her eyes remained locked with Brelyna's.

"Stay with me...", she whispered.

Nephiah's breathing began to slow down.

"What is all that noise in the middle of the day?!" A vampire walked in, she looked like she was an Imperial before she was turned. "I am trying to get some rest over there, you know."

She walked over to the cages that held the Nord family and looked at the father. "You aren't the top of the food chain anymore, my sweets, that's all there is to it." She looked at the mother. "Now I prefer my dinner fresh. But if you won't shut up." She looked at the son. "I can kill you all right now." The boy's whimpers got louder as his fear was intensified. Still looking at him the vampire stretched her arm out towards the father.

A stream of red mist began to leave his body towards her hand, where it was absorbed. The mother and child began to scream as his face fell in and resembled that of a Draugr more and more. His skin turned grey, his eyes black, he eventually fell to his side, dead. The vampire twisted her neck as she seemed to enjoy the newly acquired life force running through her body. "Mmmmm."

She looked back at the mother. "Now do you want to silence your child or should I."

The mother instantly swallowed down her pain and turned to her son. "Ragni? Listen, my boy, we have to be very quiet now.", she said with a quivering voice.

The boy was crying bitter tears, having just witnessed his father getting murdered in this gruesome way.

"Ragni, look at me!", her voice was high pitched in fear as she tried to get him to calm down.

The vampire put her hand on the boy's cage as a reminder.

"Shhh, Ragni, mommy is here, look at mommy!" Eventually he looked up at her, still sobbing.

The mother pressed her face against the bars of the cage to make sure he could see her. "We have to be very quiet now, can you do that for me?", she pleaded with him.

He sniffed and nodded, his sobs quieted down as he kept looking at his mother who smiled back at him, trying to provide some comfort.

"Good.", the vampire said.

She turned to her other captives. "Oh you're awake." She walked to Nephiah's cage and crouched down. "You know usually I have to catch my food, they aren't stupid enough to come to me."

Nephiah's breathing intensified again as the image of a vampire looking at her through iron bars sent shocks of panic through her spine.

"I enjoy a little Elf blood here and there, it's so rich."

Brelyna helplessly watched her love get overtaken by paralyzing fear, her present being replaced by memories of the past.

Nephiah was still trying to twist the cuffs, without success. "Stay with me..." The voice echoed in her head over and over, less and less recognizable as the moments passed and it was drowned out by the sound of her erratic breathing, her fast heartbeat and a different voice.

"Can we eat that one too? I love Elven blood." The vampire fledgling looked down at Nephiah who's cage was last in line of a dozen small cages filled with slaves. He licked his fangs in anticipation.

The hooded necromancer looked at the elder vampire that stood at his side. "Would you mind getting your people under control? This is a transit area."

The Elder gave the fledgling a nudge in the ribs. "The Elf goes somewhere else. Now all of these..." The mage pointed at the other cages "...are for you." He began to walk down the line of cages, the elder vampire followed, looking at his wares. "They are all young and healthy, I hear the vintage is very sweet." The vampire smiled. "Are we agreed on the payment?"

"Soulgems, yes. We can transform the lot of them into black gems for you."

The fledgling had remained at Nephiah's cage. As his master had reached a certain distance walking away with the necromancer, he crouched down.

Nephiah fearfully looked at the grimace, smiling at her from beyond the bars. His hand quickly reached in, grabbed her neck and pulled her close until her left cheek was pressed against the bars. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, she was unable to resist in any way. His fingernails were filed to sharp claws. His left hand moved through the bars as his right kept pressing her head against the cage. He extended his index finger and placed it below her right eye, puncturing the skin. A deep cut formed as he moved the finger down her cheek to her mouth, blood began to run down her face. It showed how much it hurt, how afraid she was. She remained silent however.

"Good girl.", he said impressed before he began licking the blood off his finger. Visibly enjoying the taste of it, he turned her head so the wounded side was facing him. As he stuck his tongue out to lick off more blood, an arrowhead came out his mouth alongside it. He dropped to the floor.

As the elder vampire turned to investigate the noise, he immediately moved into an aggressive stance, his hands began to glow in dark red. The bandit at the cave entrance lowered his bow.

"He damaged my property.", he said calmly.

The elder was about to lunge at him when the necromancer began to emit a dark purple aura.

"Do we have a problem?" He said.

The vampire looked at him as he began to levitate and hover a few centimeters off the ground.

He lowered his hands. "Very well." The necromancer let himself descend to the ground.

Frokwulf stepped up to Nephiah's cage and crouched down. He grabbed her chin and turned her head to see the damage. He didn't look happy. He took a wash rag from his belt pouch and began to carefully wipe away the blood beneath the cut. "You didn't cry. That's good."

She looked at him, her face showed no emotion at all. The wound hurt again when he dressed it in a clean piece of white cloth. She still didn't let him see it. As he was done, he removed his hands from her face and rested his forearms on his knees.

He looked at her for a moment, deeply unhappy about the result. "That is going to leave a scar."

"HEY!" The loud voice was accompanied by the noise of a dagger repeatedly hitting the iron cage.

It took but a subtle head movement to replace the image in front of her by the one that was really there.

"You can panic all you want. So long as you do it silently." The vampire stood up and looked back at the mother and child on the other side. The boy was still crying but it was barely audible. She nodded and left.

Brelyna shoved herself to the side of the cage that was closest to Nephiah's and leaned her left shoulder against it. A quick glance ahead showed the mother and son leaning against each other, separated by the bars of their cages.

She turned her head to Nephiah to check on her facial expression. The eyes were still wide open, the panic still there, but a subtle change had already begun to turn it into something else. She knew what this change meant, she just couldn't picture any course of action that would yield any results. Her eyes widened as she observed the slow transformation, the fury in Nephiah's heart rising, replacing fear with burning anger. She never cared for that look on her face. But she couldn't deny that it gave her a strange kind of comfort in this particular situation.

Nephiah had been staring at the locked cage door for a while. As her paralysis was replaced by the need for action, she slowly turned her head to Brelyna.

"What?!", she whispered.

Nephiah turned her attention back to the door, scanning it, trying to locate the lock. She found it to be on the top side of the cage, no way to reach it with her hands tied like that. She made a head movement to point out its location and looked back at her mage.

"Yes. There is no way I am hitting that on the first shot." She made a gesture to bring her hands into focus that were also tied behind her back. "And even if I could, it would be very loud."

Nephiah turned her head back to the door, her eyes lingered on Brelyna for a moment longer before her vision followed her head movement. She looked back up to the lock. After a moment she pushed herself over so her back was turned to Brelyna and stuck her cuffed hands through the bars to her side.

"All right?", Brelyna whispered not sure what to do.

"Melt the chain."

She looked at her still unsure of what she meant. "What, with fire?"

Nephiah nodded.

"Are you serious? Do you know how hot I would have to make that? As hot as a forge! Do you know how badly that will hurt?" She looked very worried. "What if she hears you?!"

Nephiah looked over her right shoulder, the scar on her cheek an exclamation point to the fire in her eyes. "Shhhhhhhh."

Brelyna hesitated a moment as she read the resolve on her face. Eventually she sighed. "All right."

She turned so they would sit back to back.

Nephiah pulled the cuffs apart as far as the chain between them would allow, Brelyna grabbed it with both hands. "Azura guide us...", she faintly said, looking up at the ceiling. She ignited her spell.

The heat between Nephiah's wrists quickly turned from uncomfortable to painful. She pressed her lips together and kept pulling the cuffs apart with all her strength, waiting for the chain to break. It began to glow in orange as the flames that engulfed it increased its temperature at a steady rate. While destruction mages are protected from the spells they cast, they are not protected from the world they affect with them. So Brelyna started to feel it too, the heat given off by the glowing iron in her hands. She gave off a few faint moans, trying to contain the volume as much as she could. Nephiah wasn't protected at all. She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as the pain intensified. She pulled harder and harder, wanting it to be over.

Finally, a link in the chain softened enough for it to break open, freeing Nephiah's hands in a swift move.

Brelyna instantly stopped casting the spell, releasing the breath from her lungs that she had held for a few moments in an effort not to scream.

Nephiah grabbed an iron bar to her left, one to her right and pulled as hard as she could, her face in agony, her voice silent. Eventually the cuffs on her wrists stopped glowing. She let go and dropped to the floor, breathing heavily.

As the pain in Brelyna's hands lessened, she turned to her warrior. "Azura..." She noticed little puffs of smoke rising from her cuffs. "Are you all right?"

Nephiah looked up at her, her lips pressed together.

She pushed herself back into a sitting position, grabbed the chainmail she was wearing by the neck and pulled it over her head, leaving her in the nude.

"What are you doing?!", Brelyna whispered confused.

Having gained access to her upper left arm, she began to scratch open a particularly thick scar halfway between shoulder and elbow. Blood began to spill, she stuck a finger in the wound, audibly sucking in air as she went along.

"Nephiah!"

Eventually she began to pull out a thin metal object. The expression of worry on Brelyna's face gave way to surprise as she identified the object to be a lock pick. "Have you been planning for this?!", she said in disbelief.

Nephiah looked at her, her usual stern, goal oriented look returning to her face. "You never know." With that she kneeled up and began to work on the lock. Brelyna gave off a short laugh, a mixture of shock and amazement. The lock sprang open.

The rusty door gave off a loud squeak as it was pushed open.

Nephiah instantly moved to pick the lock that secured Brelyna's cage. "Watch out!" Brelyna yelled, looking at the exit.

The vampire that had entered was taken off guard by the image of a naked woman charging her, so that by the time her hands were raised to cast a spell, her stomach had already been introduced to a shoulder digging deeply into it. Nephiah used the momentum to lift her up and let herself fall backwards, letting the vampire crash onto the rocky floor head first. The crack that sounded on impact confirmed the breaking of the neck. Nephiah turned around, grabbed the vampire by the collar and raised the other arm to strike. Recognizing the unnatural anglethe vampire's head had towards its shoulders, she let the lifeless body drop to the floor. She searched her pockets to find a set of keys, big ones for the cages, little ones for the cuffs.

Back at the lock, it didn't take long for Brelyna's cage to open. She crawled out on her knees and was then helped to her feet by Nephiah's hand under her arm. She reached around her to unlock the cuffs, Brelyna began to display an embarrassed smile. "Would you mind putting the chainmail back on? You're making me feel unseasonably warm."

Nephiah looked down on herself and back up at her mage. She hadn't even noticed. After removing the cuffs from her own wrists, she slipped back into the chainmail.

"We should find you some linen wrap to wear under the armor. You know, in case this happens again..."

They turned for the exit.

"Please..." The Nord woman began to speak. "Please don't leave us here!" The Dunmer turned to look at them, her plea reminding them of their presence.

Nephiah slowly stepped close to the cage that held the boy and crouched down. She stared at him as his shape brought back memories of another boy. The mother nervously looked at her child and back at Nephiah. "Please?"

Brelyna stepped up behind her love. "Nephiah...", she said softly.

She looked up at her, tears forming in her eyes. Then she jumped up and hastily opened the boy's cage. She grabbed him and sat him down on top of the cage and opened the cuffs. Then she took a step back and froze, staring at him. The boy didn't dare move, he stared back.

After a moment, Brelyna took the keys from Nephiah's hand and proceeded to free the mother. As soon as she was standing and her hands untied, she took her son and embraced him dearly, ready to carry him out.

Nephiah's eyes were still fixed on him.

Brelyna took her hand. "Come on." She turned to the mother. "Stay behind us." She then moved to the exit, dragging Nephiah along by the hand.

After passing through a short tunnel, another cave opened up, the arrangement of coffins on the walls let them know they were still in the cave they had entered. They stayed low as they spotted two more vampires entering the cave from the tunnel that led to the surface.

Nephiah gestured behind her, signaling the mother to stop moving. They all got close to the tunnel wall in an effort to not be spotted by the creatures that had already been conversing as they walked in. The younger one was carrying a bloodied linen sack.

"You said we should come get you if ever a Dunmer girl walks in on us, so here we are. What is this all about?"

"Do you remember that necromancer?", the Elder said to his younger companion. "I remember many necromancers. I remember they taste strange."

"No, the slaver. The one that had every bandit from here to Riften fall in line behind him some twenty years ago."

"I was only turned a few years back."

The Elder looked to his side condescendingly. "You younglings."

Eventually they arrived in the middle of the room, the fledgling put the bag on the floor beside a table and began to remove organs from it. Different types, different sizes, most of them were hearts. He piled them up on the table. "His people called him 'The Unliving' which I always found amusing considering that between the two of us I was the one without a heartbeat. He supplied us with the freshest of livestock." He pondered a moment. "Just thinking about it makes me thirsty." He licked his fangs, the fledgling looked at him and grinned. "In return he wanted their souls transferred into black soulgems once we drained them."

"What did he want them for?"

"I don't know. I didn't care, his supply was reliable, we remember it as the 'fat years'."

The fledgling turned back to sorting the contents of the sack on the table's surface. "Anyway the High King eventually organized an effort spanning the entirety of Skyrim, wiping out his organization. He escaped unscathed though and after all was said and done, he met up with me."

Nephiah was listening closely to his words. As she realized the necromancer was still alive, her eyes widened, her breathing intensified. She made fists, not realizing that she was still holding Brelyna's hand. She was tapped on the shoulder. As she turned her head back, she saw Brelyna franticly pointing at her hand. "Tight squeeze!", she whispered. Nephiah released her hand and turned her attention back to the room. She spotted her gear resting on a wooden crate behind the vampires.

"He wanted to let me know that the guards wouldn't be able to find anything to link us to their operation. He was hoping to do business again sometime but that never happened. And before he left he warned me that some of his product had gotten loose and might come after us. He specifically mentioned a Dunmer girl with a branding on her hand."

The fledgling stopped the work on his inventory and looked at him.

"Precisely.", the Elder continued "I never knew why he singled out that particular one. But after all this time, here she is."

"I would have killed her right away."

"See that is why you will probably die a fledgling. Because you are unable to spot an opportunity to learn."

A fire ball shot across the room and hit the fledglings arm. He instantly lit up, the flames engulfing him like he was made of dry paper. He screamed for a moment but he was consumed in seconds, leaving a pile of white ash on the floor.

The Elder quickly looked in the direction from which the projectile was fired, only to spot a second one quickly closing in on him. As it was about to hit, the vampire dissolved into what looked like a cloud of black dust at first but soon revealed itself to be a swarm of bats which made way for the fire ball to pass right through them. As it hit the wall behind them, they reassembled into the black cloud which revealed the Elder as it dissipated.

His eyes began to glow in a dark red color as he spotted the Dunmer emerging from the shadows, charging him. He growled and as her shoulder was about to impact on his stomach, he dispersed into the swarm of bats yet again, which moved a few meters to reassemble him at a different spot in the cave.

Nephiah stumbled a few steps as her movement wasn't stopped the way she anticipated. As she came to a halt she found herself in front of the crate that held her equipment. She looked over her shoulder, spotting the furious Elder a few meters behind her, growling at her. She grabbed her swords.

Brelyna stepped out of the shadows and flung her right arm back like she was about to throw a stone at him. Another fire ball materialized in front of her hand, she thrust it forward, shooting it towards her target.

Without looking the Elder transformed again, the swarm moving up and away, making the fire ball miss yet again.

Nephiah's eyes followed the swarm closely as it came back down. As soon as it was clear where it would land, she began to run towards it. As the Elder re-appeared from the cloud of smoke, she arrived to bring an ebony blade down on him, slashing his chest open diagonally.

He gave off a bone chilling scream and sank to his knees.

"The Unliving!", Nephiah yelled at him, realizing who he was. "Where is he?!"

The Elder looked up at her, his face began to form a sinister smile. She took a step back as she noticed his forehead and cheeks expanding and retracting, his robes ripping open as he grew in size, his hair seemingly retracting into his skull. Shock and confusion on her face, Brelyna fired at him once more.

Her shot hit the ground as he was propelled a meter into the air, leathery wings bursting out of his back. He growled as he came down on Nephiah, his large claws grabbing her by the neck and lifting her up. She lost her swords as she was raised above the floor and grabbed the arm she was held with to lessen the weight of her body that was choking her.

He instantly turned to hold her up like a shield between himself and Brelyna, who subsequently hesitated to fire again.

He moved her face close to his monstrous grimace. "There certainly is something about you...", he said in a deep, distorted voice.

Her eyes open, where there should be pain from the way she was held, there was only rage. Where there should be fear of the giant monster's face right in front of her, there was only determination.

"Fire...", she whispered.

"Yes, I can see it burning in you, bright as day.", the Elder said amused. "Maybe I should turn you, you might make a strong addition to our flock." His large, razor sharp fangs snapped at her, purposefully missing her by a hair.

Nephiah didn't flinch as she felt the monster's hot breath on her face. "FIRE!"

With that Brelyna let loose a continuous stream of flames from both her hands. It hit Nephiah first as she was used as a shield but soon after spilled over her to the creature.

Brelyna's face showed her concern and how much she did not like this maneuver. She shook her head as she fired, hoping that the Elder would let go before Nephias's natural fire resistance wouldn't protect her any more. And so he did.

He screamed loudly as Nephiah landed on the floor. He hovered across the room in erratic patterns, trying to stop the flames. Eventually he crashed into the ceiling and dropped to the ground in the middle of the room.

Nephiah got back to her feet and slowly stepped closer to the burning monster which had stopped moving or giving off any kind of noise as soon as it landed.

Brelyna stepped up as well, arriving opposite her. As the crackling of the fire was the only sound heard, they looked up until their eyes met. Brelyna gave off a short laugh out of relief. "I would appreciate it if you would stop telling me to shoot you."

The vampire corpse between them burst apart into a cloud of black smoke. Startled they both took a step back. But instead of forming a swarm of bats like before, the cloud separated into seven streams, each of them rushing through the air towards one of the closed coffins that stood on the walls all around them. The lids of the coffins burst open, sending wooden shards flying all across the room, the Dunmer tried to shield their faces as best they could.

As they looked back up, they found themselves surrounded by glowing red eyes, the vampire's hands all raised to release their life force draining magic onto them. They stepped backwards until their backs collided.

Brelyna looked around in panic. "Now what?!", she yelled as the fiends menacingly stepped closer, flashing their fangs at them.

"Ward!" Nephiah yelled back.

Brelyna brought her hands up, her ward manifested as a blue shield in front of her.

The vampires released their magic onto them, the ones in front of Brelyna were deflected, the ones behind her hit Nephiah. Red mist began to leave her towards the vampires that had locked on to her. She quickly fell to her knees as she felt her strength fading. She turned around, moved in front of her mage. The ward began to shield her there, the stream was interrupted. The vampires behind them began to charge their spell again.

Behind the blue flickering of her ward, Brelyna spotted the distorted faces of her foes, their claws reaching out towards her, their magic draining her power. Then her view of the horrors was blocked by Nephiah's face. She had forced herself to stand and was now in front of her, between her stretched out arms that were keeping the ward up. Before she even had time to process the confusing change of scenery, she felt her love's hands on her cheeks, soft lips greeting hers. Her eyes closed in reflex, her brows rose.

The Vampires stopped their magic, startled by the ward that instantly grew from a half to a full sphere that protected both of them from all directions. As the sphere closed it lit up twice as brightly as before.

It was very calm inside the sphere. Brelyna didn't even notice the impact of several spells from the outside, all she felt was warmth and her love's heartbeat. As Nephiah moved her head back, Brelyna opened her eyes and looked around. She gasped as she saw the blue light surrounding them, remembering her exit from the college, realizing that it wasn't a fluke, that she could in fact reproduce the spell.

She looked back at Nephiah with big eyes. "Are you using kisses as a combat strategy?!"

Nephiah looked deeply into her eyes and nodded slowly.

Brelyna began to grin and giggle at the absurdity of the thought, at the beauty of the thought.

A vampire jumped forward to grab them but was propelled backwards as he made contact with the sphere. He landed on his back a few meters away. The sphere's occupants didn't even register it. They kept looking into each other's eyes.

"Want to see something amazing?" Nephiah asked.

Brelyna giggled again. "Yes?"

Nephiah moved her hands around Brelyna's hips and pulled her close. Their kiss more intense this time, their lips passionately intertwining, it made the ward bubble flare up in such brightness, the vampires had to shield their eyes. Its deep hum got louder and louder, the vibrations began to shake the cave, unsettling dust and earth from the ceiling. One of the vampires shouted something but the spell's noise drowned it out.

He pointed at the exit, letting his undead companions know they better leave. Pieces of rock crumbled and dropped from the ceiling, they began to move away when suddenly the sphere collapsed onto itself until it disappeared, revealing the Dunmer, entangled in a passionate kiss.

It was dead silent all of a sudden. The Dunmer didn't seem to realize the change in circumstance, both their eyes were still closed, their tongues still dancing around each other. The faint moans of pleasure Brelyna made were the only source of sound.

As they realized that their victims now stood vulnerable, the vampires jumped towards them. But before they could reach their target, the sphere re-emerged, originating from Brelyna's chest. It expanded violently, a shockwave of blue energy. It pushed back everything in encountered as it traveled outwards, furniture, rocky debris, and the vampires.

Some of them splattered across the walls they hit, some of them broke their necks and spines as they collided with the edges of the coffins. Eventually the sphere disappeared into the walls.

Slowly their lips removed themselves from each other. After a moment, Brelyna opened her eyes and looked around. Dead vampires everywhere. She took a step back and flung her arms into the air. "YES!" She started jumping up and down in joy. "We did it! Take THAT, Faralda! Take THAT, Neloth! Take THAT, father!"

Nephiah's eyes followed her victory dance through the cave. A subtle smile formed on her face.

Brelyna suddenly stopped and looked at her. Immediately after she ran towards Nephiah and placed another quick kiss on her lips. "We should experiment!", she said with excitement in her voice. "If this is what happens with a ward, what happens if I cast flames?! Or lightning?!" She gasped as her mind browsed the possibilities. "Maybe I can finally summon something bigger than a rabbit! It'll be so much fun!"

Nephiah nodded, Brelyna squealed and kissed her a few times in quick succession. Then she took a deep breath and embraced her, resting her head on her shoulder.

"Well." she eventually said. "I think we have enough corpses for our plan."

The mother stepped out of the tunnel that lead to the cave with the cages, still carrying her son. She looked baffled at what she witnessed as she slowly moved past them. The boy's eyes were fixed on Nephiah, she stared back at him.

Brelyna observed the silent exchange, its significance was not lost on her. She stepped away and looked for her backpack, their equipment was scattered all over the floor. As the mother was about to leave for the surface the boy raised a hand to wave at his savior.

After a moment, Nephiah slowly raised her hand back. They disappeared to the outside.

Brelyna stepped back up to her. "I cleaned all the blood and rust off it, it's as good as new."

Nephiah removed her gaze from the exit and looked to her mage who held up her father's dagger, its surface was well polished.

"I believe it belongs to you."

She took it and let it rest on her palm as she processed the fact that it was restored to the way it was the day it was first given to her.

Brelyna pointed at the hilt. "Those Dunmeri symbols mean 'guardian', it's quite fitting, don't you think?"

Nephiah looked up, shocked at how she just solved this ancient mystery for her in a side remark.

Brelyna's eyes widened, unsure if she said something wrong. "What? It's what it says!"

Without further delay, she found herself embraced, lifted up and spun around 360 degrees. She giggled as she was put back down and looked into the eyes of her love. "We did good today."