Chapter 5 – Boosting the Ranks
"When it comes to vampires, if you're sloppy or careless, you're dead. And good people will die because of you." - Quote, Isran.
"Ugh" Tai groaned as he woke in a strange smelling bed.
The first thing he was painfully aware of was a pounding head ache. Tai groaned as the lights shone uncomfortably bright in his eyes, blurring in their torturous glow. Tai snorted then groaned again. The light snores a few rooms away tortured his ears like a dragon snarling in his face. The smells around him smelt like a trolls den, rotting flesh and horse manure. The bed he laid on felt like the stone slab Aela had chained him to on his night of turning.
"Bones" he groaned as he pulled himself to sit up, his head instantly dropping forwards between his knees. It was then he uncomfortably realised he was naked… Again.
Had Tai been in a stronger state of mind he would have wondered what he was doing naked in a strange bed where snores came from the nearby room. However Tai was more concerned with why his wrist was tied to the bedpost by a woman's undergarment.
Tai raised his brows as he stared around the room. Bed trashed. Bowls and books spread messily across the room. He was starting to put it together. Strange bed that stunk, not his own. Horse manure and rotting flesh, the stagnant water of Rifton. The snoring from the other rooms, the Inn. But horse manure caught his nose again. Not the bee and barb. His eyes widened as he stared at his make shift chain.
Haelga's Bunkhouse. That meant the messy room was from one good night for Tai. But what of his partner in crime? He didn't have to wait long to discover it was Haelga herself.
The aging Nord woman had once been a beauty; her blonde hair however was now tinged with grey. Her face slowly sinking, her blue eyes dimming. Tai guessed she was in her late forties, early fifties. He couldn't help feel sick.
"Now for your mark" she said with a seductive swing to her hip as she forced a small blue stone into Tai's hand. Tai groaned.
"I must have been drunk to tap that" he spoke as he stared at Haelga's now vanishing buttocks. She turned around on him angrily.
"What was that?"
"I must have been drunk to sleep with you" Tai groaned weakly. Haelga was annoyed as she closed the distance between them.
"Care to change that sentence?" she demanded. Tai was not in the mood to be scolded by a cougar.
"I must have been VERY drunk to sleep with you" Tai corrected his sentence. The older woman gave an irritated groan as she took the back of her hand across Tai's face. Tai fell like a true drunk, his head hitting the bed post with a loud thud.
"Ouch" he groaned weakly then fell into another drunken slumber.
It was a few hours later Tai apologised to the cougar and with a kind heart he paid his charge then left. Tai hadn't changed his mind, but his headache had vanished after a potion she had given him.
He walked the road simply, his feet unendingly moving eating the miles between Rifton and Fort Dawnguard.
What was he going to tell Isran? That he had given an amazing looking woman to a fat face with the ugliest teeth he had ever seen? That this woman had an elder scroll which was now in a vampire cult's protection?
A lesser man would have pretended he had died at Dimhollow rather than face Isran but Tai was a very brave soul. Head held high he continued down the road, towards his certain doom.
"Give us all your money!" Voices suddenly rung around him. Tai groaned as he drew his sword and spun, blade gashing down the first man's face.
"Kill him boys" another yelled.
Tai didn't think it was a fair fight as he flicked his wrist in a small circle disarming a second warrior. As a third one charged Tai spun his wrist slightly, his sharp sword cutting through his opponents with ease. As another struck at him Tai bent his elbow and flicked his wrist back, catching the opponent's blade with ease then flicking up. The bandit's blade slashed across his companion with the broken sword. Tai then flicked his blade again, across the belly of the attacker horrified at his own part in their defeat.
"Yol" Tai screamed into the oncoming six oncoming warriors. The flames quickly dropped them all screaming to the ground.
Tai turned his eyes to the final man. Tai threw his foot into the young bandits gut sending him flying into the nearest tree.
"Go home to your mother" Tai hissed. The boy looked nervous as Tai stood over him, a cryptic smile crossing his face.
"Yes sir" he smiled with an evil laugh.
Tai screamed his curse loudly suddenly as the dagger pierced his lower back, slightly to the left of his spine. Tai felt the blood rush into his mouth, the drowning sensation as his wound burned. Tai barely felt the blade slice upwards before been pulled free from his limited body. Tai fell to his knees, the horror shining in his face. His mouth agape as the crimson life flowed down his scruffy chin. Tai's eyes blinked quickly widening and closing as he struggled to keep consciousness.
"Take his coin purse" The stabber obeyed the young boy as Tai shook on his knees. He fought to keep on his knees. He wanted to be on neither his back or face.
The bandits laughed as they ran off, leaving Tai gargling on his own blood. He couldn't stop thinking over everything that had happened over this month. He had left his adoptive parents, found his family and blown it. He had betrayed the trust of the only man who had given him a chance and given the vampires the ultimate weapon. He felt most guilty at the thought he had left Serana.
What was that woman doing to his head? Somehow he thought of her as a friend, instead of a slave like he had viewed the world. Was she as noble as he was? Were they kindred spirits?
Tai realised he had crawled a certain way as he straightened up. His voice echoed throughout the valley as he screamed.
"Serana!"
Tai couldn't tell how long he had been gone from the world but his eyes opened in the early hours of the morning. He groaned as the early morning light streamed through a tiny crack in the stone walls of Fort Dawnguard. The jail cell he had first woken up in had become his room, despite a door more suited for comfort than holding the room was unchanged.
Tai ran his hand down his bare chest, noticing no wounds he repeated this over his back as he straightened to a sitting position. The result was reasonably the same, save a tiny scar where his back had been stabbed. Tai widened his eyes as there was a knock on the door.
"You awake?" Isran's gruff voice came as he opened the door. Tai nodded.
"I'm awake" he groaned.
It was then Tai was able to finally get a good look at Isran.
He was a Redguard; somewhat more subtle coloured to the common place redish brown. His skin was quite muddy highlighting his harsh, always glaring tortured pale blue eyes. Isran's brow was harsh, angled with a natural anger to them. His nose bridge was thin to a larger nasial, obviously broken several times. A dark moustache worked directly beneath it, trimmed to dangle down off his chin yet not up his harsh hollow jaw. His forehead was wrinkled, his head shaved bald yet the hair was growing back slightly. His lips were large yet venom dripped in his gruff voice.
"What happened?" Isran demanded. Tai winced. This was the moment of truth.
"I found the relic. It was a woman" Tai sighed as Isran appeared very confused.
"A woman? What would vampires want with a woman… unless"
"She was a vampire. Their leaders daughter" Tai sighed.
"I'm guessing you took care of it" Isran's gaze showed how he didn't believe it.
"I took her home. But it gets worse sir" Tai winced at Isran's glare.
"How could it be worse? You didn't kill a vampire woman and cuddled up to her all the way home" Isran was fuming. He didn't know about the elder scroll.
"They have an elder scroll" Tai mumbled.
"What!" Isran barked. The werewolf winced.
"And you didn't stop them!"
"There were over thirty there. I'm lucky I made it out alive" Tai growled back. Isran screwed his nose up.
"Like a coward" he retorted. Tai stood up snarling in return.
"You needed to know. I sacrificed my honour for the cause and you dare criticize me?" Tai felt the words erupt from him as Isran took a step back.
"You're right" Isran ran his hands through his thick beard thoughtfully.
"We are going to need some serious help. I need you to track down these two people" Isran started. Tai nodded.
"Give me their descriptions"
"The first is a pretty Breton, sharper than a whip. Her name is Sorine Jurard. She'll be around Markath. Since she's obsessed with Dwemer technology and culture. Especially weaponry" Isran seemed to admire her.
"The second is a big Nord by the name of Gunmer. Hates vampires almost as much as I do. He's a master trapper, especially trolls. He'll be around the country somewhere" Isran didn't have as much admiration in his voice as respect when talking about Gunmer.
"Give me a few days. I'll find them" Tai replied. Isran nodded.
"Good. Don't fail me again" Isran was picking a fight. Tai glared but said nothing as he stood up, reaching for his sword and pack.
It took Tai a few days to reach Markath, in which he regrettably didn't stop. Tai had heard stories of Markath, the giant stone city built by the Dwemer. But alas he had never laid eyes inside the apparently cold appearing city famous for its silver mines.
First he would find the Breton woman Sorine Jurard.
He felt the tug between Darkfall Cave and Druadach Redoubt, so he travelled in that direction. Tai's instinct has barely let him down. His luck was another matter. The only let down over his life was in truth the vampire woman he had escorted home.
Tai found her at an old stone pillar, near the river. The woman he saw was in armour like the dark elf he had seen months before.
Her light brown hair was cut short, framing her rounded face. Her high cheekbones almost framing her wide brown eyes. Her nose was rounded, somewhat flat.
"Have you seen my pack? I swear some mudcrabs stole it!" the woman's voice was high pitched but educated.
"No. I need your help" Tai's voice is softer, seductive as he moves his body language from an aggressive stance to a more open inviting pose. Sorine noticed and closed her stance, a silent rejection.
"Who sent you?"
"Isran. We have a vampire problem" Tai's response annoys Sorine.
"No you must be mistaken. Last time Isran insisted that I was crazy when I proposed three ways vampires could overrun the world" Sorine held that Breton way of smartness that Tai despised. He gritted his teeth as Sorine continued on with her theories.
"They have an elder scroll!" Tai finally interrupted with an annoyed if not distant tone.
"That… I would not have expected" Tai was satisfied with Sorine's shocked tone and face. Finally a Breton put in their place.
"Look I can't just abandon my research. Find my pack and I'll go to that old Fort… Is Isran still there?"
"Yes. I'll find it. But you should go ahead. There's no time"
"Oh no. You're not tricking me that easily" Sorine's reply drove Tai insane.
Tai walked away, hands in the air towards the river, his eyes soon falling on her pack. God she was such a clumsy woman. She had just forgotten where she left her pack. Tai nearly screamed as he hoisted the heavy pack.
"Here's your damn pack!" Tai growled, thrusting the pack into her chest roughly. His mind didn't even register he had been touching her breast until she walked off in a huff. Then he smiled.
The second man was easier to track down. He found the man near Ivarstead, a small town on the way to the Greybeards. Men that Z had held in poor respect and Vale had honoured above all else.
The cave was almost hidden, Tai walked around a dying tree with a sigh. The voice of a male shocked him.
"By the eight stay back! This bear has claimed many lives. I won't allow it to claim anymore!" The voice belonged to Gunmer.
Gunmer was a big Nord, easily closing in on Tai's size. His face was square, cheeks aged and low set. His cheeks only hollowed right beneath the bone in a line to the corner of his mouth. A shaggy beard covered this as did his flaming messy hair. His nose was hawklike, however not at thin. A big thick beak. His green eyes shone defiantly as he levelled a war axe in threat, his muscles flexing like something out of a woman's day dreams.
"Isran sent me. He wants your help" Tai didn't even bother introducing himself.
"Well…" Tai cut Gunmer off.
"The vampires are planning something huge and have an elder scroll"
"Oh. Well I've been tracking this bear for weeks and I can't just let it kill people. Help me with it and then we can talk" Gunmer sounded fair. Tai nodded.
The two crept to the cave mouth, Gunmer pointing to the bulking bear facing away and roaring. Tai sighed as he drew a harshly curved dagger and flipped it in his hand. The dagger felt so natural in his hand, every groove moulding to his flesh. The weight perfectly balanced from blade to hilt. It wasn't a light dagger but it suited Tai, he liked the challenge of wielding such weight.
Tai was low to the ground as he quickly and quietly closed the distance between him and the bear. Gunmer's eyes went wide as Tai reached it safely. Tai took a deep breath before he leapt.
Tai landed on the bears back, arms around its throat and legs wrapped around its belly. Tai grunted quietly as he allowed the dagger to plunge into its chest. Tai almost sighed at the warm sticky feeling of blood staining his hands. He smiled at the weakening bear beneath him as he unwrapped his legs from its thick body.
The bear fell forwards as Tai's feet hit the ground, leaning back violently the dagger tore through the bears flesh.
Tai looked over his shoulder with a satisfied smile at Gunmer. Gunmer pointed as he jogged in. Tai followed his point and gasped angrily.
Five more bears stood in front of him roaring. Five big bears.
"You said one bear" Tai yelled as a bear threw itself towards him.
Tai rolled, his shoulders landing on the ground as he rolled forwards, his left knee landing on the ground followed closely by his right foot. Tai looked over his shoulder at the bears; he was intending to have words with Gunmer after. Gunmer allowed the crossbow he held to fire, the steel bolt burying itself in the creatures skull. It falls, tripping up a second bear.
The other three charge like a small army of teeth and claws weighing an incredible amount. Tai allowed the flame shout to erupt from his mouth again, it seemed Tai was a fan of this shout more than any other.
Tai turned his blazing eyes upon Gunmer and flinched. Gunmer was under a bear, punching desperately at it with poorly glad hands. Tai would have allowed his mind to roll in the mud of his imagination had Gunmer not been a necessity to Isran.
Tai leapt, somehow picking up his dagger as he slashed the back of the bear. It roared as Tai leapt, his rump pushed into the wound of the bear. The bear was in agony as Tai wiggled, thrusting the dagger between the shoulders of the bear as an anchor. The bear stood up with a roar as it then fell backwards onto Tai, then rolling to the left as it struggled for its feet. Tai held on with one arm around its neck. With a huge strain Tai twisted, there was a resounding snap as the bears neck broke. It fell to the ground as Tai tore his dagger free from its now dead body.
"Done and done" Tai said in a satisfied tone as the bears blood ran down his entire body. Gunmer looked a little queasy as he nodded.
"Good. So Isran is still at that old fort?"
"Yes. I'll take you there"
Sorine, Gunmer and Tai stood in the large circular room of Fort Dawnguard, their eyes staring up at Isran. Tai felt uneasy as he stared at the gates holding them in this section, inward pointing spikes preventing their escape.
"What is this Isran?" the three asked in unison.
"Now" His voice grated.
A huge golden bowl above them twisted, projecting the golden sunlight into the entire room. So a trap Tai assumed, for vampires. The golden light bathed Tai and the newcomers in perfection as Tai raised his defiant eyes to stare directly into it, the blue of his own eyes almost combating the light. He saw the silhouette of Isran nod. Just like that the light ended leaving Tai blind for a few moments.
"I had to make sure you weren't infected. Gunmer you can armour up some trolls and Sorine you can start working on our crossbows" Isran was glaring at Tai.
"And you can tell me why a good for nothing vampire has come here asking for you"
Tai's eyes widened in joy, uncontrollable joy as a few tears from the light poured from them. His voice however betrayed him in a pleading whisper.
"Serana?"