Chapter CXLIV – Misguided Heroics

The sunrays began to seep from behind the horizon a little too sharply.

A morning mist fell over the whole lake, covering it in a milky white duvet. The critters and bugs began to wake up, buzzing around and chirping around them. The morning was so peaceful. And while the sun made both of them stir a bit from their deep slumber, it wasn't exactly unpleasant.

The aches of the previous day let themselves be known soon enough – oddly satisfying strains of muscles and lingering heat of the occasional bite, scratch or a scrape. They had spent the entire day and night reminiscing about their last time here, tangled together in a passionate embrace or resting peacefully, nuzzled into each other. They almost didn't have it in them to even interrupt their enjoyment for food or to set up camp, but necessity forced them to it eventually. But they didn't let those things take up too much of their time. Not when they had even more enjoyable plans for the day and night.

"Morning, love," Bishop murmured with his head buried in Aeyrin's hair, a bit muffled by it. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, trying to keep them closed to stave off the morning sun, but he knew she was awake by how she squirmed in his embrace in an attempt to work out some kinks from her muscles.

"'S not even mornin'," Aeyrin grumbled with a groggy voice. Granted, it was much earlier than they usually woke up. It could barely be called a morning. But now that they were awake, it was hard to fall asleep again with the various little annoyances of the humid environment of the small island in the middle of a lake in the morning. It was serene and quite calming, but it was also not exactly made for a pleasant sleep. It was much better to admire the sights with lucidity.

Bishop planted a few lazy kisses on her head, cheek and the side of her neck before he disentangled himself from her and sat up in the bedroll. Aeyrin instantly shivered at the lack of his body heat and she was forced to get up as well to nuzzle herself into him again.

"Might as well get something to eat," Bishop smiled a bit. He was kind of hungry. That may have been another reason why he woke up. They kind of skipped dinner last night, though their lunch was much later than usual. The whole schedule was all warped because they had been reluctant to do anything but indulge themselves in each other.

"Yes, I'm starving," Aeyrin gave him a wry smile.

They put on their clothes somewhat reluctantly and started to prepare some breakfast. Mostly Bishop did while Aeyrin tended to the fire. He wasn't really making anything elaborate, they usually only ate uncooked supplies for breakfast, but since they had this nice place all to themselves for however long they wanted, there was no harm in grilling some bread and vegetables from their supplies.

It was done very soon and they dug into the food silently.

But as nothing but the soft sounds of sloshing water and the chirping of morning critters filled the area, suddenly something much more disturbing interrupted the serene scene.

It was a scream. A guttural scream that echoed all across the lake. Like someone was being attacked.

Aeyrin looked around instantly, peering at the shore. It definitely sounded like it came from there. It sounded like it came from the nearby sawmill, or that general area.

Bishop turned around to look too, but he couldn't see anything from this distance. Not even a single person. It was so early, even the lumberjacks were probably still asleep.

"Did that come from there?" Aeyrin scowled, still trying to make anything out through the mist.

"I can't see anyone there," Bishop shrugged.

"Maybe we should check…" she bit her lower lip. That really sounded bad. Something dangerous might have been prowling around.

"Whatever it is, it will be gone by the time we get there," Bishop sighed. The skiff took too long for a quick rescue mission, if that was even necessary. It may have been someone just playing a joke, scaring someone else.

"Well… maybe we can at least ask the people there when we get there," Aeyrin gave him a hopeful look. It may have been a large bear or something. Those could get very dangerous. "Maybe the Jarl will even pay us if we get rid of whatever's attacking his people here."

Bishop only chuckled at her trying to tempt him with money. Though, granted, they could definitely use some more drakes. They didn't have much left.

"We can check it out," he smirked. As if he would refuse her even without the promise of some septims.

They were already almost done with their food anyway and they weren't planning on staying long. They still wanted to have some adventures in the area.

Why not start there?

…

"Hello?" Aeyrin called out, letting her voice echo around the sawmill. There was nobody there and the morning mist still hadn't eased. The place looked quite eerie like this. "Is anyone here?" she called out again.

"There's blood here," Bishop noted. He was standing right by the sawmill and he noticed a trail leading up to the sawing platform. It wasn't much blood, but some. He couldn't tell how fresh it was, but the mist didn't seem to erase it much.

Aeyrin turned around and looked at the scene curiously. There was only blood on the wooden planks of the platform, nowhere else, not on the ground where the trail should lead and not on the sawing blades. That was a little odd.

Before they could investigate it any more though, the door of the building swung open and a man walked outside. A Nord with blonde hair and simple clothes. He was quite muscular, which was no surprise for a Nord, but he did look like typical a lumberjack.

"Good morning," he nodded at them amicably, giving them a wide grin. "That was you calling out? It's a little early for some lumber – mist's still up from the lake. Everything's damp. But if you don't mind that, I'm happy to sell to you." He spoke as he walked towards them, only stopping on a small bridge right next to a mill.

"Good morning," Aeyrin returned his smile wryly. This threw her off a little – she had been expecting someone distressed or hurt. This man looked completely fine and not rattled at all. "We're not here for lumber, actually. We were camping nearby and we heard a scream coming from here. We just… wanted to see if everyone's alright."

"Peachy, girl," he smirked at her, completely unsurprised by her concern. "Nobody screamed here, but we get this a lot. There's no reason for concern. It happens sometimes."

"Random screaming?" Bishop scoffed at him. What the fuck was he on about?

"Actually, yeah. That's exactly what happens," the man chuckled before he took a few steps forward, gesturing with his hand for them to follow. They stepped next to him curiously and the man pointed in the distance. There was a structure there. A little hard to see from all the way here, but it looked like an entrance to a Nordic barrow. "See that there? The locals call it Shriekwind Bastion. Don't ask me what's in there, I have no idea. But we hear screams from there sometimes. Some say there's monsters inside. Some say it's the wind howling through some crevices. You know, 'Shriekwind'."

It didn't sound like the scream came from all the way there, but they couldn't really tell from back at the lake, true. An ancient barrow was certainly a more likely source of screams than an ordinary sawmill, but it was still odd. Nobody usually went inside unless they could fight. And those that could fight would likely not scream before they even entered the place. Could it really be just the wind? It sounded so real.

"What's with the blood here?" Bishop scowled. None of this explained the blood.

"What do you think?" the lumberjack scoffed. "My wife cut herself on the sawing blade yesterday."

"There's no blood on the blade. Or on the ground," Bishop's scowl still didn't disappear.

"Well I ran to help bandage her here on the platform, of course. No more blood then, just on the bandage," the man scoffed, as if it was so obvious. Well… it did make sense. "And I wiped the blade. What else? You think people want bloodied lumber? I can't get blood out of wood though," he gestured to the stains on the platform.

"Does your wife need help?" Aeyrin asked promptly. That must have been an unpleasant cut.

"Nah, it's just a nick. Wasn't the first time, won't be the last," the Nord shrugged. "Really, you don't need to be concerned. If you're really itching for some mystery, go get your fill in that barrow."

Aeyrin and Bishop only shared a brief look. It wasn't a bad idea and it really seemed like there was nothing to worry about at this mill. That Shriekwind Bastion sounded much more intriguing.

If it really was just the wind, they would be sorely disappointed.

…

It was silly to suspect the wind when it came to ancient Nordic barrows.

The undead in that place were far from restful. The barrow was larger than they had anticipated and it was crawling with them.

But that wasn't the worst thing they found in there.

"So… bad news," Bishop whispered when he returned to Aeyrin at last. They had been through a few large chambers filled with draugr and skeletons and he decided to scout ahead because of the strange noises coming from further in. "There's this… hole. Like through the whole mountain. It's got several levels. It's big."

"Alright," Aeyrin let out a breath as she whispered back. Their voices wouldn't probably carry that much here, but they opted to stay on the side of caution. "Well, we wanted to explore."

"Yeah, that's not the bad news," Bishop smirked. "I saw someone."

"Some… one?" Aeyrin raised her brow. A person? A necromancer?

"She was dragging a body into the upper level and I'm pretty sure I noticed her eyes glow."

"A vampire?" Aeyrin cringed. Gods, she hated fighting vampires. Somehow it never went very well for them.

"Yeah… it might explain the screams. They must be getting blood somewhere. Sure as fuck aren't getting any from dried-up corpses," Bishop scrunched up his face.

"'They'? You saw more than one?"

"No… I just… assumed. This place is big," he shrugged. Though maybe it was just a lone vampire. That would be a relief.

"Well, we gotta put a stop to this," Aeyrin nodded with determination. Vampires or not, they weren't backing out now.

"We really better get a reward for this shit," Bishop smirked. Though he wasn't adverse to more fights, vampires weren't really his favorite enemies after all that shit – when he got charmed by that one in Morthal, or when Aeyrin got almost killed by them while she was traipsing around with that fucking tin-head.

Aeyrin only chuckled at him softly, but she didn't wait any longer before she gripped her mace tightly and took point.

She entered the large chamber. Bishop wasn't kidding about it – there were several levels there on a large structure and a hole in the cavernous ceiling, giving way to a tree and plant life to spring on the bottom of the cave. She didn't see anything up on the ledges of the levels though – no vampires and no undead.

"I got a few skeletons. The vamp was too far," Bishop whispered into her ear as he saw her peering at the structure warily.

"Alright. Start down first? You'll cover our backs?" she pondered. They were only one level above ground – it made sense to explore the bottom first and then work their way up.

Bishop only nodded before Aeyrin walked down again among the greenery there. She continued into a chamber ahead, but the strange noises started once more. It sounded like… some creature eating. It reminded her of the weird noises from the Falmer and chaurus they found with the corpse pile in Alftand.

She tried to be quiet, but her boots wouldn't allow for that. For a moment, she regretted not borrowing the ring from Bishop again when the noises stopped.

With quite impressive speed, an Altmer emerged from one of the side chambers, hands lit with a bright red light and his eyes glowing menacingly.

"Duck!"

Aeyrin's response was more panicked than actually conscious of what happened, but she did obey the command on instinct, ducking down as low as she could. An arrow swished above her head, though she was pretty sure it wouldn't have hit her even if she didn't duck – she was more than a head smaller than the vampire. Bishop was likely only making double-sure that she wouldn't come to harm.

The arrow shot straight through the vampire's face, dissipating its spells instantly and making it fall limply onto the ground, dead on the spot.

"Impressive," Aeyrin let out a weak chuckle and Bishop promptly flexed his muscles with a smug grin on his face.

As amusing it was to watch him get all cocky about this, she did want to see what the noise was. She quickly slipped into the room from which the vampire emerged and the sight there made it all clear instantly. There was a corpse there. With limbs torn off and neck practically gnawed to the bone.

Disgusting monsters.

She turned away from the sight quickly. It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, especially in Morthal, but it was always an upsetting sight to see what these things were capable of. Especially now. With… with what she was.

Bishop scoured the room a little more, taking a few treasures that he found – mostly a soul gem here or a silver goblet there. It was kind of bloody, but that could be washed off. It was still free loot. Silver fetched a few drakes. He joined her back in the hallway only in a minute or so though.

They still had a lot of the ruins to cover.

…

While the complex was big, the first few chambers they had cleared were worse than the rest. The chambers were small and there were only a few undead in each one. They did encounter one more vampire though.

The battle got a little heated when the vampire managed to cast that red spell of his, but before it managed to approach, Aeyrin gathered the little strength she had left after the spell's attack and managed to hit it with her mace. It wasn't a hard hit and ordinarily it wouldn't do any damage, but the flame of her multi-pronged enchantment caught on the blood-drinker's robe and soon, he was burned to a crisp.

The lowest level led outside onto structures embedded in the cliffs overlooking Falkreath and the forests. There was no way to get down from there and they weren't even planning on it. They still had the upper levels to explore. They didn't even get enough good loot yet.

The upper levels were much the same as the lowest one, though there were no more vampires. They still haven't found the one Bishop had seen before.

In the end, there was only one door left in front of them – at least it seemed that way from the layout of the ruins up until now, but anything was possible.

With a determined nod, Aeyrin opened the door. She knew that there must have been a vampire there.

But she did not expect what she saw in front of her when she did.

It was no small room with one vampire hiding in there. It was a very long chamber, almost hard to see the end of. That is, if at the very end, there wasn't an unpleasantly familiar light. Her ears started to drum softly and she almost had an urge to scoff. She had seen more of these Walls in the past week or two than she had in months before. Like they were mocking her about the inability to use the Shouts.

But it wasn't the only concerning thing. She could see an outline of a person in front of that Wall.

She had no choice though.

She rushed forward, her mace ready. She needed to take down the vampire and reach the Wall in one go. When she saw it like this, and the closer she was getting, the worse the sensations got. She could still see and hear, but it was getting harder and harder.

Bishop stayed behind, aiming at the vampire, but then he saw an unexpected light in the distance as well. A purple one. The vampire's hands lit up with lightning magic. Did Aeyrin see it? Or could she no longer see with the Wall there?

"Watch out!" Bishop called out to her as his arrow shot from his bow. The vampire saw him though and she instantly jumped out of the way.

Fuck. Aeyrin only ran forward. He needed to catch up to her, she wasn't that far yet and she was much slower than him in her armor.

Instead of trying to shoot again, he opted to get Aeyrin out of the way of that spell. He dashed forth, catching up to her quickly, and just as the lightning shot from the vamp's hands, he toppled her to the ground, barely evading it.

It would have been well executed, if the vampire wasn't so ready.

She didn't hesitate a second. And before the two of them could even collect themselves off the ground, bright red lights started to circle them and suddenly, all their muscles felt like jelly and their bones brittle like thin twigs.

Bishop staggered back, trying to stay on his feet, but he fell to his knees again soon.

Aeyrin couldn't even attempt such a thing. She only saw outlines around her, consumed by the bright light, and she could not hear a thing. She was on all fours, breathing heavily and trying to crawl closer to the wall.

But instead of her eyes finally managing to focus on absorbing the Word, she noticed something else. Out of the corner of her eye, in almost complete darkness, she noticed a shape with a long pointed thing protruding from it, rushing. It didn't look like it was rushing towards her though.

Gods, she had no idea what state Bishop was in or if he would be able to defend himself. She needed to do something. Now!

Her hand plopped onto the ground heavily. She could still faintly see where the vampire was running and it was within reach, but she needed to concentrate. She was so tired, so weak. Casting magic in that state was so draining, but she had to. She couldn't think of anything else. And this spell was easier than her other one.

She could have sworn she saw faint light on her side, but it was so hard to tell. The bright one from the Wall was so overwhelming. She was doing the spell like she had learned though, she couldn't be sure that it was working, but she was trying.

It only took a second. The intense and painful drumming was drowning out everything, but there was a faint scream behind it. A female one.

She did it? Gods, please, let that thing be dead. She couldn't take any more. Not the uncertainty, not the Wall's effects. She started to crawl forward as her strength was slowly returning, but it was still hard to move.

She wasn't even sure if she was moving, but she hoped so. The light seemed so near.

SU

At last.

She let out a weary breath and she let herself fall down onto the ground limply. That was so exhausting. So overwhelming. She still couldn't hear or see much, but at least it was over.

It took a long time for her to start to perceive the world around her again. The first thing she felt was a leather gloved hand on her cheek.

"You alright?" she felt like she had been hearing this question a lot lately with all those dragons and the Walls. She must have worried Bishop endlessly with these things, but she was more relieved that he was alright.

"Y-yeah… what… happened?" she huffed, still a little short of breath. Bishop kind of sounded exhausted too, but he tried not to let it show.

"Fuck, that… was amazing. You conjured that… rune… right below her feet. Burned up… like that," he tried to snap his fingers, but no sound came out with his gloves on.

Thank the Gods it worked.

She still wasn't sure how she managed to cast a spell in that state, but she put all her concentration into it. It was the only thing she could think of then. She wasn't even strong enough to raise her mace.

But it worked.

They took a few minutes to collect themselves properly. It took a while before the effects of the spell dissipated completely, but in the end, they got out of this with nothing but a few scrapes. That was a little encouraging.

"You wanna try to Shout?" Bishop asked as he returned with their packs after a while. They had only been recuperating and getting their things together before they would look around the room for loot properly.

"It's not gonna work, but fine," Aeyrin sighed. This was pointless. Every single time.

She took a breath and parted her lips, fully expecting the silence again.

"Su."

She flinched with a start as her voice echoed through the chamber. It didn't sound nearly as loud as it usually did, but she panicked nonetheless. Her eyes went to Bishop right away, watching him for any ill effects.

But the only thing that happened was that her whole arm began to tingle and buzz unpleasantly. She tried to shake it several times, but it wouldn't pass. Bishop only watched her with bated breath, but fortunately, it didn't take longer than a minute before the feeling was over.

"What was that?" his eyes went wide at her.

"I don't know… my arm felt weird. But… it's over now. I'm pretty sure it didn't do what it was supposed to," she sighed. Fine, some Shouts still got out, but they were hardly worthy of the name. "You're alright?" she looked at him with concern again. Who was to say the Shout didn't affect him too?

"Yeah. I felt nothing," he shrugged. "Let's look it up."

Aeyrin took out her book from her pack and studied the runes for a while. She located this one quickly, but it only made her crease her brows more.

"'Air'. It means 'air'," she sighed. "I don't know what any of these mean or do. Gods, it's just… frustrating."

"I know," Bishop let out a sigh of his own and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder comfortingly. "But hey, it's not like you need those Shouts for anything anyway. So many fucking dragons, vamps and all that shit. Who fucking needs them? You kill shit just as well without them," he chuckled.

Aeyrin couldn't help but smile at that. He was right. Why was she getting so worked up over this? There was still time before she actually needed a Shout – she didn't even know that one yet, or what to do with it. And she should really be glad that she was weaning herself off the dependence on these powers. She never needed them. She never wanted them. Maybe it was good not to rely on them anymore.

"Yeah," she pressed her head into his neck briefly. "Thanks."

"Come on. Let's take a look around. And there's still one more door to go through," Bishop pointed to one almost hidden by the side of the Wall.

Hopefully nothing else was lurking there.

…

The vampire had some expensive stuff on her, mainly her ebony claymore and some quality leather armor. And that wasn't all. Aside from the mangled corpse, there were more treasures in the large chamber – clearly dragged in by the vamp. Some gold, some more silverware and several large soul gems. That only made them think that the sword was enchanted on top of it all, but they weren't going to test it or waste a soul gem trying to charge it. They would have someone appraise it eventually.

Not only that, the last door held a pleasant surprise.

It led outside again, this time on something that was clearly an overlook over the western edges of Falkreath Hold.

The forests looked so peaceful from up there. So serene and beautiful. One would never know just how traitorous they could be. They could also see the entire lake from here, glittering in the noon sun.

It was a gorgeous view.

The green treetops, the paved road barely peeking out between them, the tall watchtower by that road that… what was that?

Bishop only pointed to the scene and they both watched in silence. The watchtower was right in front of their overlook, leaving their view unobstructed as they observed a woman forcibly dragging another down the road. The second woman looked like she tried to run, tried to wiggle out of the first woman's grip. She even had her hand light up with flames.

But the second that happened, the first woman grabbed her by the shoulders, steadying her. The second woman suddenly calmed down entirely, standing still and kind of stiffly in place. That was a quick solution, whatever it was. Bishop and Aeyrin almost stopped watching and turned back, but then, the first woman did something else.

She leaned in towards the other one's neck. They couldn't see from their vantage point – she was either kissing her, whispering into her ear or… biting her. But the last one proved to be right when, after a while, the second woman's knees buckled and she fell onto them.

The first woman stepped back and gestured with her hand. Then the second one stood up.

"That… was another one," Aeyrin whispered. She wasn't sure why she whispered – there was no way the woman could hear them. But the scene seemed clear to her. Another vampire.

"Looks like it. We could wait for it inside," Bishop nodded. "Or… this cliff looks easily scalable," he pointed out. There were so many outcroppings and it wasn't even that high, only a bit above the treetops. It would really be mostly like walking down some stairs.

"Let's do it," Aeyrin nodded with determination. She was eager to get rid of all of these monsters, freeing Falkreath from their depravities once and for all.

Bishop took the lead this time. He was more nimble, whether in or out of his armor, and he could catch her if she stumbled in her heavy equipment.

It took them a while to make it down the cliff and onto the road. The women were long gone, but the road was straight and they could still see them in the distance – they were almost at the fork by the lake. Bishop could rush ahead and shoot the vampire easily, saving the woman in the process.

But before they did, they noticed something unexpected.

"Where are they going?" Aeyrin gaped as the women turned towards the western road unexpectedly. Shriekwind Bastion was east, wasn't it? "Did I get turned around or something?"

"No. They're going somewhere else," Bishop confirmed while he took off his glove. His muffling ring came off in a second and he handed it to Aeyrin promptly. "Come on, let's see where that is."

She promptly took off her own glove and slipped the ring on, though it was big enough to probably fit on her glove too, she wasn't sure if it would work that way. Those were irrelevant concerns though. When she was muffled by the ring, both of them rushed down the road, trying to catch up a little so that they could observe the vampire from a distance.

It took a while for them to get to the intersection, but once they turned west, they spotted the two women again. Just in time. They were still far away, but right then, they turned once more.

This time they were going straight towards the sawmill.

"What the fuck?" Bishop muttered under his breath. "Maybe there was something to be 'concerned about' back there."

"Come on, we have to help that woman!" Aeyrin gasped. There was something shifty going on at that mill, but more importantly, the woman from the watchtower was still alive and still in danger.

They broke into a run again, but only after a few strides, the air got filled with a distant scream, no less gut-wrenching than the one they heard on their little island.

They were probably too late, but they still didn't stop. They only slowed occasionally to catch their breaths. The sawmill wasn't exactly close. The only reason they even saw the women was how flat and straightforward the road was.

But eventually, they made it to the sawmill again, out of breath and confused. There was nobody there but that same man from before.

"Ah. It's you again. Where are you rushing to? I told you, it's the wind or the beasties in the ruins," the man shrugged at them. He looked a little peeved now though. A little on edge.

"Where's your wife?" Bishop snarled at him as he finally managed to catch his breath. He wasn't sure if the man even knew about what just happened – he could have had wool pulled over his eyes by that vampire too. He could be charmed.

"My wife? I told you, she's fine," the man scoffed.

"We saw her drag a woman here. And now there was the scream. It came from here," Aeyrin scowled at the man fiercely and stepped very close to him, staring him down. He was either really charmed, or he knew something that he wasn't telling.

"'Drag'? Nobody's dragging anyone. My… oh forget it, you're more trouble than you're worth," the man waved his hand dismissively at them and, only a second later, his other hand lit up with the familiar red light.

What was with vampires and this spell? How did they all know it?

Aeyrin quickly unclasped her mace and smashed it against the man's side. The red lights managed to spring from his hand right before that, but Aeyrin's blow still landed, making him gasp in pain and drop onto the ground instantly, trying to douse the flames.

While that worked, Bishop was far enough for the lights not to affect him. He instantly drew his bow, adjusted his aim based on the added obstruction of his pack on his back, and he shot. The arrow pierced the vampire's back precisely, making him yell out in pain. He didn't even manage to react anymore as another arrow pierced his skull this time.

Aeyrin was breathing heavily, on all fours again, trying to overcome the spell. But it would soon be over. Bishop merely notched another arrow when he heard a noise come from a nearby woodshed. The door swung open and a woman stood in the doorframe. Her face was covered in blood and her eyes widened when she saw her dead husband, presumably, lying there a stone's throw away from her.

She didn't get much chance to mourn though. Bishop's arrow shot through her neck, making her let out a sickening gurgle. Blood rushed from her neck in streams and she would bleed out soon. There was no need to waste any more energy on her.

Bishop left Aeyrin to gather herself a bit more as he walked into the woodshed curiously.

He was kind of glad that Aeyrin got hit by that spell again.

There were body parts and actual buckets of blood there instead of wood. And there was one entire corpse. The woman they had seen before – with her neck bleeding out and a vacant look in her eyes. She was no longer breathing though. These vampires clearly didn't rely on live victims. No wonder with the setup they had here. It would get suspicious with brain-dead victims walking around.

Bishop merely nudged the vampire wife's body inside the shed again and closed the door. There was no reason to let the stench out. He returned to Aeyrin promptly as she was trying to stand up and he helped her out by grabbing her under her shoulder.

"Thanks," she gave him a weak smile. "What was in there?"

"You know what was in there. No need to look," he nodded at her somberly. "The woman's dead."

"Y-yeah… guess I expected that," she sighed. They weren't fast enough to help her. They couldn't have been fast enough. But at least they prevented these monsters from doing any more damage. "Why do you think they sent us to the Bastion?" She couldn't help but wonder now.

"Hmm… maybe they thought their blood-sucker friends would do us in," Bishop scoffed. "Or they were rivals here and wanted us to wipe them out. Or… it's just their usual excuse for the screams and they didn't even know who was there." It could be any of these, really. And it didn't really matter anymore. They were all dead.

"Can we go inside their house? Maybe there's someone alive there," Aeyrin suggested. She knew that sometimes vampires had live victims around. It was definitely worth a look.

And even if there was nobody there to save, they still did some good by killing these things.

…

The house was empty. At least of any people. It looked like a perfectly ordinary house for a perfectly ordinary couple otherwise.

Why was that even more disturbing than if it had been some blood den?

But regardless, there was not much for Bishop and Aeyrin to do here and they left the building behind.

Yet when they emerged outside, they noticed something. There was another person there, staring at the vampire's corpse by the mill.

Hopefully it wasn't another one.

"Who are you?" Aeyrin called out to the man as they jogged closer towards him, hands on their weapons in case it was yet another bloodsucker.

"W-what? I came to buy lumber!" the man squeaked, palpably freaked out by the situation. "Who are you? What happened to Hern?"

"He was a vampire," Bishop scowled. "He attacked us. If you don't believe us, feel free to look into that shed," he pointed towards the woodshed. Only now he noticed how much blood the door was covered with from when he pierced that thing's throat.

"Uhm… no… I believe you," the man stammered. "It… explains a lot, actually. He has a wife, you know? She a bloodsucker too?"

"Yeah, she's in that shed," Bishop smirked.

"Ah… well… who am I going to buy lumber from now?" the man shook his head incredulously, clearly a little peeved.

"What? What does that matter? Someone will take over the mill," Aeyrin gaped at him. "What's important is that no more people will get killed by these two."

"Hmm, yeah, sure… if you say so," the man grumbled a little. Was he really that concerned about the lumber? Couldn't he just use the sawmill himself for now? All that wood was free for the taking, technically.

"You can just take the lumber," Aeyrin scoffed at him. Who even cared about that?

"And lug it with my hands? They made deliveries, you know? Real good setup here…" a clearly annoyed groan escaped his lips before he looked at the two of them with a somber expression. "Look, I'm not gonna rat you out or anything, but I would keep this slaughter to myself, if I were you."

"What?! They were vampires! They killed people! And we just defended ourselves," Aeyrin folded her hands across her chest defiantly. This was ridiculous. They did a favor to the entire Hold! Surely anyone could run a sawmill in these monsters' stead.

"Yeah… so… I overheard Hern once…" the man scratched the back of his head uncertainly. "He was talking to some bloke, bragging about some profitable deals he has with the Jarl. I'm pretty sure now that he won't be happy."

"The Jarl? Seriously? You think the Jarl makes deals with vampires?" Aeyrin scoffed at him again. That… wasn't true, right? It couldn't be true.

"They supplied the whole damn Hold with their lumber," the man shrugged at her. "Look, I'm just saying, if I were you, I'd get out of here and pretend like you don't know anything about this. I'm sure as the Void gonna."

The man turned on his heel promptly without further ado and he started to walk away, leaving Bishop and Aeyrin staring at him in surprise.

"That… that was just talk, right? City rumors and all that?" Aeyrin asked uncertainly when the man was finally out of earshot.

"I… don't know," Bishop sighed. "Jarl Siddgeir is kind of infamously… corrupt. Some even said that he had some deals with Thorn, allowing him to run free in his Hold, but that was bullshit – he wouldn't have relinquished control of all his roads and forests. Still… he's known for a lot of shady shit."

Aeyrin shuddered at the thought. Both the one about the vampires and the one about Thorn. There were plenty of corrupt leaders out there, of course, she wasn't that naïve that she wouldn't know that. But she never imagined anything like this. She really hoped it was just talk.

But it was making her a little worried about their activities today.

"So… you think we should keep quiet?" she bit her lower lip nervously.

"Yeah… if he's covering for them, nobody will investigate this shit anyway. We really shouldn't risk pissing him off with this. Fuck," Bishop cursed under his breath. "Now we definitely won't get a reward. Not even for that Bastion. What if that was part of it?"

Aeyrin sighed as well, though she hardly cared about the money. This was just… discouraging.

But on the upside, they did not come out empty. They did do good, she had to remember that. The world was better off without these monsters, lumber or not.

And as for Bishop's concerns…

"We still have that neat sword and armor and stuff. We'll get our money's worth," she gave him an encouraging smile.

"True. At least there's that," he smirked. He took one last look at the bloodshed at their feet before he gazed back towards the road. They'd spend enough time in this place.

"Come, love, let's go back. Make some drakes and get some rest. We fucking earned it, no matter what anyone says."