"That's Northwatch Keep," Serana says, pointing to the partly ruined fortress. "It's in the hands of the Thalmor. We should tread carefully."
The words have barely left her mouth or I hear horses.
Three elves appear out of nowhere.
The middle one is seated on a white horse and wears long hooded robes. They are black with silver accents. The hood is raised, but white hair spills out from beneath it. On his face is a quite arrogant look.
He's flanked by two elves in light elven armor with glass swords. They are sitting on brown horses.
"Well well," the middle one says, lowering his hood. "What do we have here?"
"Is there a problem?" I ask, trying to sound calm. I can almost feel my heart beating in my chest. I wonder how good the hearing of elves is? Not good enough to hear those things, right?
"Depends. Who are you?"
"Rigor. Just a mercenary. This is my partner, Alia."
The elf studies us for a moment. He looks at the werewolf pelt draped around my shoulders, the steel armor beneath it, the bonehawk amulet dangling on a silver chain and the plain steel sword on my hip.
Then, he shifts his attention to Serana. Because we had to hide her vampire-nature, we decided we would go with an assassin look. A tight black bodysuit with leather bands covers most of her body. Above it, she has a cloak with a hood which is raised to hide her eyes. If you get close enough, you can see the faint orange glow of her eyes, but let's hope no one gets that close. On her hips are two dragon priest daggers. A normal hunting bow and matching quiver is on her back.
"And what brings two mercenaries so far north?"
"Some farmers at Dragon Bridge hired us to take care of some bandits. They fled north until they arrived at the sea. Then they were trapped and we took care of them. Now we're on our way back."
"Well be on your way then. This is Thalmor territory."
The horses wheel around and leave.
I release my breath. "Looks like our disguises work."
"For now," Serana says.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What exactly are you planning to do? You know as well as I do that there is no way to beat the Dawnguard with just the two of us. Even if we gain the support from the Dark Brotherhood somehow."
She sighs. "I know that. As long as I'm...you know, alive, people will hunt me. Vampires derive their strength from their coven. A vampire on its own has little chance of survival."
"So, you're planning on making a new coven then?"
"No. I think the Dawnguard is right, this world would be better of without vampires."
"But you're opposing them."
"There's a difference. The power of vampires is dangerous. It's by definition a cruel thing. Vampires prey upon humans. But that doesn't give anyone the right to start killing all of them. We should judge people of all kinds on their actions, not their potential actions. Besides, I'm a vampire. Whether I want it or not, I'm like this. I have to defend myself, don't I?"
"You know, I heard Falion of Morthal-"
"Is dead. Killed by the Dawnguard over twenty years ago."
"I see."
We continue in silence.
It's almost nightfall when we reach it.
"There it is," Serana says.
My night vision isn't nearly as good as hers, but I can vaguely see some wooden palisade and something that might be a longhouse.
"Can you get in?" I ask.
"It's not as empty as we had hoped."
"How so?"
"Bandits."
"I thought you could handle bandits."
"Of course I can. But something feels-"
"Wrong?" A voice says.
I look back.
A tall man in leather armor is standing there. Well, to be precise, it's not a man.
It's an orc.
His brutal face is twisted into a grin as he shifts his grip on the orichalcum longsword he's holding.
"I thought the orcs that lived here were wiped out by a disease."
With a grunt, he kicks me. This orc is perfectly healthy, that's for sure.
The snapping sound and excruciating pain leaves little doubt as to what happened: my nose is broken.
My head jerks back and hits the ground. Everything becomes blurry.
"Dawn." Serana calls out to me.
"Don't try anything funny, vampire. This sword has a fire enchantment. One wrong move and I'll burn you."
Enchantment?
With a supreme effort, I force my body upward. I quickly have to put my hand on the ground to prevent myself from tipping over.
"What are you planning welp? Get down and-"
The rest of his words are drowned in a scream.
On the motion of my hand, his sword was engulfed in flames. In his surprise, he dropped it. When it hit the ground, the flames quenched.
I quickly pick it up and try to stand. That last bit turns out a bit difficult.
The orc launches his fist straight down my gut. I fall down and he falls on top of me. His weight is massive. It's like I'm being crushed by a mountain, that is, if I knew what a mountain looked like.
He quickly grabs my hands and tries to pry the sword from it.
Before he can do this, I hear a gurgling sound and his grip weakens.
His weight is thrown of me.
"Are you okay?" Serana asks. She holds out her free hand. In the other hand is her dagger.
"I'm okay." (Lie). "I just need some healing."
"I'm a vampire," Serana says, supporting me. "Not my speciality."
"Then I need a spellbook to learn healing."
"How about some rest first?"
"That could work too."
Leaning on Serana, I walk. Wait, where are we walking to?
We don't go far though. Soon, Serana enters a cave.
"Welcome," she says. "To Darkfall Cave."
"It is dark in here, that's true. I should cast some light."
"Don't bother," she says. "That won't work in here."
The only source of light are some strange purple plants. They remind me of the Soul Cairn. But I guess I don't have much else to be reminded off.
She guides me a bit further. We go down, past a waterfall and then back up. Then, she takes a bend and we go back down until we reach a collapsed bridge. Only one of the ropes remains. Beneath that is fast flowing water.
"Do you trust me?" Serana asks.
"Completely," I say without hesitation. "What are you-"
She pushed me down.
We plunge into the water. The current immediately drags me through a tunnel. At the end of it, we drop down. For a few seconds I fall, thinking I'm going to die, and then we fall into another pool of water. This one has a current as well, but less strong.
Still, the two of us are dragged towards the edge, down another waterfall. towards the edge.
We fall down a different waterfall and the current doesn't stop there. Immediately, we are dragged towards another waterfall and then another. The last one is a very short one however and the cave broadens. This causes the flow of water to broaden a lot and slow down to a trickle. Two ankle deep rivers flow on through the cave.
We get out of the water. Now I'm drenched as well. Damn, it's cold here.
"Are you insane?" I ask, surprisingly calm.
"Sorry. But we should be safe here. No one knows about this cave, let alone how to get here. That bridge leads to a dead end. To only way to get here is jumping down like we just did."
"Then how do we get out of here?"
"There's a secret passage. I'll show you later. But first I need to show you something else. It's just a bit further. Around the bend."
The water has washed away the half dried blood on my face, but now I'm kinda cold.
"I'll make a fire when we get there," she says, noticing my shivering. "Sorry about all this."
I sigh. What am I doing? I don't owe anything to this world. Let alone to a crazy vampire.
No, I do. This world needs me. If the Dawnguard succeeds, Eternal Night will fall upon the world, just not the Eternal Night Harkon intended. And I - images of the burning sword flash in front of my eyes - am the only one who can stop it.