Arven never slept well, and last night wasn't an exception. He did manage to get at least a few solid hours, primarily thanks to Lydia, however there was no way he'd be able to relax considering his current circumstances. After waking and rubbing the sleep from his eyes he exited his room, his hand extended in front of him as it gently radiated a white light to give him some vision.
When he exited his room, he instantly saw Lydia. She was wide awake, reclining on a chair with a book in her hands. She looked up with a gentle smile as Arven approached.
"Good morning, my thane. Did you sleep well?" She asked.
"As well as I normally do, I suppose," Arven responded as he rotated a shoulder, a solid crack coming from the joint.
"Your… travelling companion? Is already awake. I believe she's waiting out the front for you," Lydia continued.
Arven nodded, that sounded about right. Looking outside it was still night time. He couldn't tell how close it was until dawn.
"Thanks Lydia. I appreciate your help," Arven said. Lydia simply nodded in reply. After splashing some water on his face and loading up a small sack of food for the day, Arven stepped out the front door. The second he did Lydia slumped down in her seat, her façade breaking as she let out a long, tired yawn. A few moments later, she was asleep.
Arven found Serana waiting right outside the front door, resting on one of the wooden poles supporting the house. She had her hood back, arms folded across her chest. Her eyes seemed to be following a rabbit as it cautiously hopped between different houses and vegetation. The moment it saw Arven, it fled.
"You ready to go? The sun's about to rise," Arven asked. He was still strapping his gauntlets on as he walked, flexing his fingers in them to ensure a proper fit.
Serana didn't respond. Instead she just started to walk back to the entrance to Whiterun at a rather quick pace. Arven had to jog for a moment to catch up to her.
I'll take that as a yes, then, he thought.
Even though the sun was barely starting to come into view over the horizon the carriage driver was there and waiting. It always made Arven feel slightly creeped out, he'd never actually seen any carriage driver doing anything except sit on their carriage. As he walked up Arven swung his food sack up onto the back of the carriage before climbing up himself, Serana following shortly after.
"Morning," Arven said through a stifled yawn as he settled down.
"Morning. Ready to be off?" The man replied. He seemed fully alert. Arven nodded in response, and a few moments later they were on the road again.
The trip was much, much quieter compared to the previous day. Serana had put her hood up and was mostly just watching the scenery. She didn't initiate any conversation, and only responded with what was necessary not to be rude when the carriage driver tried to strike up a chat. Arven thought to ask if anything was wrong, but he decided against it.
At least this way he could relax with a clear mind during most of the trip. After roughly an hour the carriage came across Fort Greymoor, an Imperial outpost along the road to Rorikstead. The carriage driver cursed under his breath, clutching his gold purse close.
"You'll be fine, these men won't be after your gold," Arven said to the driver. He'd actually helped the Imperials take the fort earlier, during the civil war. It wasn't a fond memory, but then again no fight really was. As they approached two Imperial soldiers stood out on the road, one holding up a hand signalling them to stop.
"Hold, friends!" The man called. He was wearing simple Imperial leather with a sword strapped to his waist. After the carriage came to a halt, he approached the driver. "Good morning to you, mind if I ask what you're doing out this way so early?"
"That's none of your business, Imperial," the driver responded in a less-than-agreeable tone.
Not clever, Arven thought. The soldier's expression darkened upon hearing that reply, his hand coming to rest on the pommel of his blade.
"I only ask due to the reports of bandits in the area as of late. It's early, and I wouldn't want innocent citizens to be harmed," the soldier said. His voice was still calm, but there was a clear indication that he was making an effort to keep it that way.
"Oh? Bandits?" The driver asked. "Or other soldiers like yourself?"
Oh, that's really not clever.
Before the situation got any worse Arven hopped off the back of the carriage and approached the soldier. He took his helmet off as he did so. The soldier instantly braced up.
"Sir! I didn't realise that was you, Dragonborn," the soldier said.
Oh god, why did you say that, Arven thought.
"What, Dragonborn? You're the Dragonborn?!" The driver said, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Sorry for the trouble, we're just passing through to Rorikstead," Arven said. He kept a soft smile on his face, but he wanted to clip the soldier over the head.
The soldier nodded, stepping off to the side. "Of course, sir. Please be on your guard though, there have been reports of people going missing recently."
Well, that's never good.
As the carriage got moving once more Arven waited for it to catch up, and when alongside it he climbed back on. The second he sat back down the carriage driver turned to him, an expression on his face similar to that of a fascinated child.
"Are you really the Dragonborn? Why didn't you tell me?" The driver asked. Arven just let out a long, deep sigh. Walking all of a sudden became a seriously viable option. He looked over to Serana, but she was still watching the scenery. She was being worryingly quiet, now that Arven thought about it.
"Can you shout for me?" The driver asked. With the way he was looking at Arven, the Imperial knew that this topic wasn't going to be dropped anytime soon. Just as he got ready to respond, Serana reached out with a hand and placed it on the forearm of the driver.
A moment later, after a look of confusion, the driver turned back to the road and dropped the subject entirely. Not another word came out of his mouth. Arven blinked a few times in disbelief before he realised what happened. His instinct was to feel anger, he hated seeing anyone be manipulated by a vampire no matter the circumstances.
On second thought, and after seeing the expression on Serana's face though he decided against it. Instead he just mouthed a silent "thank-you" to the woman.
Serana didn't respond, but her expression lightened ever so slightly.
A few hours later and Rorikstead was finally in sight. The rest of the trip was just as silent. Arven wasn't sure how strong the magic Serana used was, but the driver didn't speak another word. Besides having a short meal Arven was content to simply relax and enjoy the scenery.
"Looks like we're getting close now. Rorikstead is only a few minutes away," the driver said.
Arven sat up straight on his seat, stretching his upper half as he looked over to the town. He'd only been there a few times, but he didn't mind the place. The walk to Dragon Bridge could most likely done in the afternoon as well.
Just as he relaxed back into his seat to enjoy the last few minutes of being off of his feet, his heart-rate spiked in an instant. His breathing increased rapidly, almost to the point of hyperventilating. A cold sweat broke out under his helmet. A second later Serana noticed as she could hear the pounding of his heart. She looked at him with a worried, confused look, but a moment later she understood.
The roar of a dragon echoed throughout the valley. Off in the distance, men and women walking around Rorikstead froze in panic before they came to their senses and scrambled to get indoors. Guards ran for cover as they scanned the sky, bows held at the ready. The driver of the carriage had gone pale and he pulled up, his horse whinnying and trying to pull the carriage away from the source of the noise though it just ended up confused by the repeated echoing.
Serana looked to Arven. He was sitting on the spot, deathly still except for his head which was tracking the beast in the air. He'd seen it a decent distance away as it circled around. For a moment, it looked like it was heading towards Rorikstead but it slowly banked away to once side.
Fly away, fly away, fly away…
Just as the beast seemed like it was going to return to the mountains, it banked once more and headed directly for Rorikstead.
Shit.
All the pent-up energy in his body exploded in an instant. Arven vaulted over the carriage, passing the driver as he began to sprint directly towards the town. It was still a couple kilometres away, but he could close that distance faster than the carriage would.
Serana was stunned for a moment but she quickly followed. She seemed faster than Arven on foot but just as she was about to catch him, he tripled the distance between them in a second.
"Wuld nah kest!"
The warrior jumped forward in a blinding burst of speed. He felt the wind rushing past him with enough force to knock a regular man clean off of their feet, but he powered through as if it was nothing. The dragon was still getting closer to the town at a rate much faster than Arven was though and guards had drawn their bows, all aimed at the monster. Now that he could get a closer look at the thing Arven cursed to himself once more. It was huge, an ancient dragon.
With his shield on his back and sword at his side he held an arm out as magics began to swirl around his extended fingers. A few seconds later a shadowy, ethereal bow had formed in his grasp. Conjuration magic wasn't a strong-point for him but he knew enough to get by, and after figuring out that fighting dragons was going to be some-what common Arven decided that he'd need a reliable way of fighting the beasts at range.
He watched the first volley of arrows launch towards the dragon from the town. Most missed and the majority of the ones that hit bounced off of its scales. One or two stuck in its wings but none of them did any serious damage.
The beast shouted. Flames erupted from its maw, a line of fiery destruction decimating the ground beneath it as it flew over a house and several guards. Most managed to get out of the way but one or two were caught in the inferno. They flailed for a moment before collapsing to the ground, helmets melted onto their faces.
As soon as he was within range Arven pulled up, planting his feet as he knocked an arrow. The bow he conjured was incredibly tough to draw on purpose. He needed something with enough force to pierce scales. With a grunt he managed to draw the string all the way before letting loose. The conjured arrow shot towards the dragon in the blink of an eye, tearing a patch through its wing before continuing on into the distance.
As soon as the first arrow hit Arven had already let another one loose. This time he was more successful, the barbed arrow head striking the dragon in the chest. The beast roared, a deafening sound cascading over the hills as it looked to the source of its pain.
Come on you scaly fuck, get over here.
Behind him Serana was still sprinting to catch up. She was struggling, the sun beaming down on her with its full strength. Out of any time that a dragon could attack, it did so at noon. With one hand holding her hood in place she finally managed to get in range to throw a bolt of lightning towards the dragon. It struck it on the leg, scales flying off as the beast struggled to maintain a straight flight path towards Arven.
She cursed. If it was night time she'd be able to fire off multiple spells in seconds, but right now she was seriously struggling. Not to mention, it had been days since she'd fed – primarily not to make Arven uncomfortable.
As the dragon flew closer it had arrows from the guards bouncing off of its hide and tail. A couple managed to stick but they didn't pierce in deep enough to hurt. Arven's arrows had more luck. Two more were now sticking out of the shoulders of the dragon, but it seemed more pissed than anything. Soon another torrent of fire was scorching the land, burning in a straight line aimed directly at Arven.
Arven got ready to shout once more.
"Fus ro dah!"
The sheer force projected by his voice was enough to knock the flames away. Embers landed all across the plains, starting small fires of their own but that was an issue that could be handled after the damn thing was dead. As soon as he had a clear shot with the Dragon almost on top of him, Arven fired off one more arrow. It struck the Dragon in the neck, sinking a good foot into the flesh of the cursed thing.
A cry of pain replaced the previous roar that the dragon had let out as it came crashing to the ground, blood spilling out of its mouth and neck at an alarming rate.
Letting his bow dissipate into nothing Arven then drew his sword and shield, charging the dragon from behind as he got ready to climb on its back and slay the damn thing. Just as he was about to reach it though he stopped dead in his tracks. Fear shot through him. He dropped his sword, the metal clanging on a rock by his feet as he turned around.
Another deafening roar came at him as a dragon even bigger than the first was flying towards him. A gigantic, black beast. A legendary dragon.
It opened its mouth, a terrifying noise shortly following.
"Gaan lah hass!"
Instantly Arven felt all the energy leave his body. His knees quaked beneath him and he shortly fell, one hand on the floor to support his body as his breath struggled to reach his lungs. All the vitality in him was almost gone and his vision was swimming. The legendary dragon flew directly overhead, slowly banking around to come back for another shot.
"Arven, look out!"
Serana's voice came too late. Despite being wounded the downed dragon was still very much alive. Its tail swiped across, hitting Arven in his side before it sent him flying across the plains. The man rolled and tumbled across grass and stone, a loud sickening snap coming from his left arm before he finally came to a rest.
While some of the guards had been coming to help, with the addition of a second dragon they'd all fled. They knew they couldn't help. Serana and Arven were the only two people outside, alone to face the wrath of two fully grown, deadly dragons.
While Arven struggled to regain some sense of direction the legendary dragon was coming right at him. Before it could pick his body up in its talons Serana just managed to intervene, throwing several ice shards at it. A flurry of ice followed by deathly cold winds battered the dragon from the side, its wing having parts of it encased in ice as it struggled to fly away from the source of the sudden pain it felt.
With his heart pounding in his ears and unable to feel his left arm Arven got to his feet as quickly as he could. He tried to move his left arm and got no response. Not only that but he couldn't see his sword, the blade being lost in the grass a good 20 or so metres away from where he was currently standing.
Can't shoot, only have one arm. No sword, no shield. Fuck I hate these shits.
The ancient dragon was slowly stomping towards him despite the blood still dripping from its neck and it looked incredibly angry. Not only that, but the legendary dragon had banked around and was coming straight at him while doing its best to drown Serana in flames on its way. Arven wasn't even sure if she could survive that, but he could barely see a shield of ice only a few inches away from Serana as she extended her arms in a desperate attempt to ward off the heat.
The Dragonborn wasn't sure how he could survive this, but despite the terror he felt he wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to sentence Rorikstead to a terrible death.
Inhaling deeply, he looked straight at the legendary dragon as his good hand began to coalesce magics once more.
"Joor zah frul!"
His voice boomed across the landscape. Trees around him shook with the grass flowing away from his body as if a bomb had gone off at his feet. His ears had a terrible ringing noise in them afterwards and his throat ached, with almost all of his energy being sapped out of him. It worked, though.
The ancient dragon instantly collapsed to the floor, stopped in its tracks while the legendary one struggled to flap its wings as it started to plummet. It hit the ground with a thundering crash, pulling up roots and dirt in its wake as it slid to a slow stop some distance behind the ancient one.
By the time both dragons had come to a halt, Arven had a sword in his right hand. It wasn't anywhere near as strong as Dawnbreaker, but it'd have to do. With a scream he charged at the ancient dragon, his left arm flailing in the wind behind him as he closed the distance. By the time he'd reached the beast it had gotten to its feet once more and it snapped at him – trying to crush Arven's body between its jaws. The Dragonborn fell to the floor just in time, sliding underneath its skull before slashing out. He felt the blade sever tendons and muscle as it opened a gaping wound in its neck, all of its life force spilling out onto the grass. While it still had energy left in its body the dragon tried to stomp on Arven with a clawed foot but instead it found the conjured sword jammed directly into the sole of its foot. A terrible scream accented by the gurgling of blood came from the animal as Arven rolled to the side, struggling to get to his feet in time before he had a dragon collapse on him.
With no sword and not enough magicka left to conjure a new one, all he could do was run directly at the second dragon.
Off to the side Serana was struggling to stand to her feet. She was alive, but she was just as drained. Surviving the flames of a dragon in the middle of the day had taken every ounce of strength she had and her fingers were left numb with a thin layer of ice running up her forearms. She tried to take slow steps towards Arven, but fell to her knees shortly after.
As Arven got close to the dragon he took off his helmet, waiting. The second he saw the beast open its maw, heat beginning to pool in the back of its mouth Arven threw his helmet as hard as he could. It went directly into the black pit that was the dragon's throat, causing it to momentarily choke. It was a small diversion but it was enough to stop any flames from burning him alive until he got closer
Then, as soon as he could, with the dragon opening wide to take a bite out of him the Dragonborn jumped into the mouth of the beast!
Planting both feet on the ridges of its mouth he used his good hand to catch hold of one of the many long fangs looming overhead. He struggled to maintain a good position as the dragon writhed about but he somehow managed. He only had seconds though as he could feel the heat gathering only feet away from him, flames beginning to spark in the depths of the dragon's throat.
Using the last of his strength Arven planted his feet and he heaved. Pulling on that fang, a desperate scream erupted from his lips until he managed to tear the fang free from the mouth of the dragon, turning it around in his hand before he thrust it directly into the roof of the beast's mouth.
A terrible scream came directly at him, one of shock and pain. He stabbed with the fang again, and again, blood pouring over his face as he caused as much damage as he could. Then with one final attack he reached down into the throat of the dragon, shoving the fang in deep before pulling it back towards him tearing flesh and bone along the way.
From the outside Serana could only look on in sheer horror. She didn't have a clear view of the inside of the dragon's mouth, but the screams coming from it and the man it had in its jaws was enough to make her skin crawl.
After a few more seconds of screaming, flailing and thrashing about, the dragon collapsed. Serana got to her feet as quickly as she could, part hobbling and part running over to see if Arven had survived. Before she could get there though the man crawled out the side of the dragon's mouth then proceeded to collapse against it. He was drenched in blood, eyes wide with shock and hyperventilating.
Coming to her knees before him Serana held Arven's cheeks in her hands, trying to look him in the eye. He just stared right through her, his chest rising and falling over and over every second.
"Arven, Arven! You need to calm down or you'll pass out!" Serana said, almost yelling as she tried to get through to him. There was no response though. He was looking around, frantically, pupils wide with terribly cold skin.
"Arven!" Still no response.
Shit, he might hate me for this, she thought.
Holding onto his head with both hands she tried her best to force him to look at her. Then, she charmed him with as powerful a spell as she could conjure. Almost instantly Arven's heartrate plummeted. His breathing returned to normal, and instead of staring into the distance he just looked at her with glazed over eyes.
After holding the spell for a short while, she released it. The life came back to his eyes and his breathing began to increase once more, but not to the level it was at previously. Looking around, Arven had to push Serana away before he crawled onto all fours and threw up all over the floor, food and bile burning his throat as it came up.
Serana crouched beside him, rubbing his back while gently speaking to the man.
"It's alright, Arven. It's over. You're safe." She kept repeating 'you're safe' to him until finally he seemed calm, sitting back on his behind with his legs sprawled out before him, his left arm hanging limply at his side.
He looked at her, knowing full well what she'd done. "Thank you, Serana."
Serana let a gentle smile cross her lips. "You're most welcome."
Unfortunately Arven didn't have time to relax as a terribly familiar feeling came to his gut. He clenched over.
"Oh Gods, I hate this part," he said through clenched teeth.
"Hate what?" Serana asked, slightly panicked. "Are you okay?"
Arven nodded. "Yeah, fine. Just give it a minute."
Before Serana could ask any further questions she noticed that the dragon behind Arven was disintegrating into the air, a beautiful display of lights and magicka beginning to swirl around the human in front of her. It was coming from the other dragon at the same time, a fantastic whirlwind of colour that left each beast bare down to its bones.
The energy swirled around Arven over and over until it was eventually absorbed into his body. As it was he took in a deep, long breath, vitality coming back to him as the power of each dragon became his own.
Serana stood up, her expression one of shock and awe as she tried to comprehend what just happened.
"Gods. You really are, aren't you… D-"
"Don't you fucking say it," Arven interjected.
"What?" Serana asked, confused.
"Dragonborn. Don't you dare call me that. Say that word and I'll slap you with my dead arm."
Serana paused for a moment. Then she burst out laughing, her hands on her knees as tears came to her eyes. It was entirely ridiculous but after that fight it felt good.
Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Arven thought.
Pushing himself to his feet, Arven turned around to see a large group of guards, men, women and children running towards him. There was a loud cheer coming from them all, looks of joy and relief clear on their faces.
"Praise the Dragonborn!" One called out.
"Dragonslayer!"
"Hero!"
More and more words of praise came at him. It was the only part of the job he liked, seeing those he saved. Two guards approached him at the sides and lifted him to his feet, supporting him. One tried to take his broken arm but a cry of pain stopped them instantly. Surprisingly, a priest pushed their way through the crowd and immediately started to tend to his wounds. The relief was instant, and Arven let out a weak thank-you.
A few guards went to Serana but she quickly turned them all away, saying she was fine. She was, after all, just tired.
Some hours later Serana and Arven sat in the corner of the Rorikstead inn. Music was playing and ale was flowing for everyone. Arven had bandages all over his left arm and his head – he'd gotten a few cuts after being flung across the ground by the tail of the first dragon.
Men and women took their turns standing up to thank Arven for what he'd done. He had tried to stop the speeches, but after seeing how happy it made some of the townsfolk he didn't have the heart to interject. While they started out coherent, as more and more ale was consumed many 'speeches' turned into messes of slurred words and cheers.
Arven even had more than one woman propose, shockingly. One was more subtle, wearing an amulet of Mara while making sure it was in plain view as she struck up a conversation about wanting to see the world while another had simply come up and demanded that he marry her. She was very, very drunk. Each time Serana ended up turning them away, much to their disappointment. One of them asked Serana if she'd already taken Arven, to which the vampire responded by hurrying them out the door.
He wasn't much of a drinker normally, but after a day like that Arven couldn't resist having a few ales. Nothing excessive but just enough to let him relax, and to reduce the dull throbbing pain throughout his entire body.
"How're you feeling?" Serana asked after dragging her chair closer to Arven. She had to speak up to be heard, considering just how loud the inn had gotten.
"Like absolute hell," Arven said, smiling. "How about yourself? I saw you get roasted at one point, honestly wasn't sure if you'd walk out of that."
"Oh please, I'm fine. Figures something like this would happen in the middle of the day, though," Serana said.
"Yeah. Not really the best timing. At least the damage to the town was minimal."
Serana nodded. "You saved a lot of people today, Arven. They're all incredibly appreciative."
Arven didn't respond, his head towards the floor as he held his mug in his right. He had a gentle smile on his lips but the memories were still incredibly fresh in his head making it hard for him to relax.
"Some of them more-so than others…" Serana continued as she motioned to a woman on the other side of the inn, a particularly busty Nord who hadn't taken her eyes off of Arven all night long. The woman was twirling her hair around her finger as she gave the Dragonborn an uncomfortably intense stare.
Nine Divines have mercy, Arven thought to himself. After a moment he slowly pushed himself to his feet with a few soft groans of discomfort.
"I think it's time I retired for the night," he said.
"With or without your friend over there?" Serana asked, still observing the Nord in the corner.
"Without," Arven replied. "Definitely without."
The two walked over to the innkeeper who was frantically trying to keep up with everyone's orders. Despite the celebrations being centred around Arven, everyone had gotten so drunk that they hardly noticed him moving away.
"Evenin," Arven called to the man who didn't notice them until the last second.
"Oh! Dragonborn, what can I do for you?" The man responded, causing Arven to flinch.
"Two rooms, if possible. It's been a long day."
The man thought to himself, scratching the thinning hair on his head for a moment. "Don't have two, the place is almost booked. Got a single room with two beds, though," he said.
Serana clicked her tongue, but just as she was about to suggest they look somewhere else, Arven spoke up. "That's perfect, thanks."
Serana was slightly surprised but she followed along, the two of them entering the room with the music and celebrations only getting marginally quieter in their accommodation. After he'd locked the door behind him Arven sat down on his bed. It was uncomfortable as anything, but at that moment it felt like heaven.
"Hey, are you going to be able to sleep like this?" Serana asked as she stood awkwardly in the corner.
Arven looked up. "What do you mean?"
"Me, in the same room. You know, the whole trust thing – which I get, I do, just-"
"It's fine, Serana." Arven said. He took a long, deep breath before he spoke any further. The voice in his head screaming at him not to trust the woman was still there, but it was much weaker than before. "I trust you. And thank you, again. I'm pretty sure you saved me twice today."
The second Arven's head hit his pillow he was out. He didn't even bother removing his boots or gauntlets, lying on his back with his left arm in a make-shift sling.
Serana stood still, shocked as she processed what Arven had just said. She thought she must've heard wrong, but it was hard to argue with the sight of the vampire hunter willingly sleeping defenceless in the presence of a vampire lord.
Taking care not to wake him she sat down on the bed on the opposite side of the room, kicking her boots off before lying back and relaxing. She was almost just as drained as Arven was, and sleep came rushing up to greet her. Just before she dozed off Serana wiped her eye while she found herself unable to remove the smile that'd been stuck onto her face.
Hello again! Told you all there'd be a bit more action this time! As always I hope you've all enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Full on action-scenes with Dragons is definitely new territory for me, so any feedback is more than welcome and appreciated! :)