Azriel turned in a slow circle, looking at the sky. Serana could hear the wolf howl in warning, the animal's near feral emotions eroding the last of Azriel's control. Her dull amber eyes betrayed how close she truly was to giving in to the wolf. She had never felt the tension between within Azriel so austerely. Even when Azriel had first tempted her to drink the first time, the pull within her wasn't as pronounced. Aela's voice flowed on the rapids of her mind, carrying with it her warning to Azriel. …You need to take care of yourself or the wolf will take control! Serana felt the wolf and the young dragon via for authority, her eyes raking over Azriel's visibly shaking form. Apprehension and antagonism swarmed around them like angry bees. The tuberosity of Azriel's feelings was so powerful it threatened to pull Serana into them, like the swift current of a river, there would be no escape. The stillness tied with Azriel's roiling emotions was threatening Serana's reason with the strain.
"Where are you, you bastard…?" Her voice was barely above a hoarse whisper. But, the growl in her question did nothing to ease Serana's nerves instead it made her shiver with anticipation. She brushed her fingers against Azriel's hoping it would help calm her.
Time crawled within the bone yard.
Serana glanced over to her mother as their fingers touched. Valerica was surveying the sky with visible trepidation. Spells readied in hand, Valerica's face betrayed her concern. Her mother caught her look and gave her head a silent shake.
"Serana, you still have time to leave."
Serana shook her head. "I told you, I'm not leaving you here..."
Azriel spun to face the arch behind them and her lupine spirit lunged. Her canines and nails extended, her pupils contracted, and the wolf bayed frantically within. Azriel snarled at the sky as the dragon swooped over the wall of the fortress and into the bone yard.
Landing on the arch, the enormous dragon looked between the three women. Its eyes swept over them, a rumble escaped its throat. Finally, its stare landed on Azriel. Serana could hear Azriel's heart beat twice and her inhalation of breath to shout.
"DIIL QOTH ZAAM!" The ground below their feet carried the tremor from Durnehviir's Thu'um.
Serana took couple steps to steady herself, feeling Azriel pushing back against the wolf to regain control of herself. Her inner struggle was momentary, yet disorienting, as the two personalities competed. The wolf lost, surprising Serana who was sure Azriel had only managed to get the spirit under control.
The deep tremors caused the earth to buck hard underfoot.
The clatter of bone filled the air as piles of dead began to shift. Serana could only watch as individual bones slid and stuck. The individual pieces numbered in the thousands, each bone moving into place forming hands, feet, legs, and chests. In that moment, time ceased to exist for her as the horror of what was truly happening became reality.
"Serana…!" Valerica voice cut through the racket, but Azriel surprise both of them, silencing Valerica.
She took a few steps forward, her voice louder than ever. "I've fucking had it with the dead! You have an army? Meet mine!" Azriel dropped to a knee, slamming her fist into the ground. A bright red blaze radiated outward as ripples, driving the sand into the air on the tips of the flash. The heated sulfurous stench carried by it was toxic.
"RISE! SERVE ME!" Azriel cried out over the din of the shifting bone.
With colossal clamor, limbs disentangled themselves from one another. Arms shifted into place. Legs attached themselves to torsos and heads snapped into position. Individuals began to rise from the ground having taken form and the damned shaped into legion at Durnehviir's call.
Serana was struck in awe of it, watching the remnant warriors and misty men shuffle into ranks by the hundreds. Dread made her muscles tighten as she realized how truly fucked they were.
Azriel stood, driving the point of her blade into the ground, causing Serana shift her gaze to the shifting sands of the bone yard. She watched as sand poured backwards up from the ground into small columns. She looked at Azriel to see both her hands glowed intensely with dark violet light. Azriel snapped her wrists and twin portals opened on opposites sides of the relic stone floor they stood on.
Valerica pulled her eyes from the vision around them for a second. "Serana, we need to..."
Serana didn't hear her finish her statement. She looked between the filing skeletal warriors to the soil forming legs and bodies in reverse. The bright red glow around the dozens of little creatures enthralled her. Their diminutive bodies resembled reptiles and rats. Each unique, as clawed fingers grew from hands attached to small arms. Jaws, ears, and horns stirred into place on heads. It only lasted seconds, but when they were fully formed the shrieks of the bipedal animals countered the wails of the dead.
From the portals stepped two armored Dremora warriors Serana had seen fight with Azriel before. Their glowing red eyes match the glow around the smaller creatures Azriel had summoned. Serana finally understood what Azriel meant about an army. She never intended dragons as such, but an army of Dremora, the army of Mehrunes Dagon.
"Vyrrny! Nymarr! Protect the Daughters of Coldharbour!" Azriel's voice rang out through the shrill cries.
For all that Azriel had summoned, Serana realized it wouldn't be enough against the hundreds of boney men gathered now in front of them. Her mother had been right, the Keepers had been no easy task. But, Durnehviir would be impossible.
The scrape of their weapons snapped Serana from the spell of watching the last of the sand flowing over the throng of Clannfears and Scamps that had formed. The two Dremora ran swiftly to her and her mother's side. Serana stole another glance at her scowling mother's face, hoping for a bit of courage against the impossible odds that they faced.
Azriel whispered to the wind and the sand suspended in the air swirled around her like a cyclone. She held out her glowing hand tinted by the conjuring spell. The cyclone constricted and sank into her palm.
The ranks of wasted men waited for the Durnehviir's next command.
"KRII NIIN!"
In unison, the throng drew their weapons, the sicken sound of metal being drawn from scabbards filled Serana with horror. Never before had she face so many foes that had no sense of fear.
The damned began their march, their chattering teeth and bone resounded around the yard. The sound echoed and collided with wails, ringing in the vampire's ears. It deafened her to what Azriel whispered to her left hand, as she clutched the grains tightly. Serana watched as she threw them, the particles soaring towards the legion. Wings sprouted and imps formed by the hundreds from the individual grains.
"Wage destruction upon the dead! Scatter their bones so they cannot reform!" Azriel growled angrily with sweat pouring down her face with her effort of will.
Snarling wails filled the air, a battle of its own against the dead's chattering and yowls, as Azriel's demons raced forward to meet the damned in battle. Squawking like oversized birds, the imps flew over the claws and snapping heads of Azriel's animalistic army leading the charge.
Valerica grabbed her daughter, drawing close to her ear. "This mortal is in league with the Prince of Destruction. Let her creatures attack Durnehviir's and save your strength. Wait until they break through!"
Serana shrugged her mother off just as Azriel buckled from another wave of cramps. She caught Azriel as she doubled over in pain, while swords and talons clashed. Explosions of ice and flashes of electricity lit the fight in front of them as the two armies clashed.
Azriel gripped her stomach tightly and tried hard to stand.
"Don't fight me." Serana drew her close. "You're doing too much with…"
"This dragon is different." Azriel grit her teeth through the pain. "I can feel it." Sweat poured down Azriel's face. She looked directly into Serana's eyes. "How much do you trust me?"
The battle that raged in front of them made Serana question what she heard. But, the look on Azriel's face told her she had perceived her correctly. "With my life…"
"I need your blood." Azriel grabbed her bag from Serana and pulled it free of her. "I'm going to open an Oblivion gate."
Serana's mouth fell open. "Here?! Now?"
Azriel pulled out a bright blue glassy-hexagonal stone and a glowing Sigil stone from her bag. Azriel cut her hand on her blade, watching the two sides rip each other to pieces. "There's not much time… I need your help! If I only use my blood the gate will only last minutes... You have the blood of a Prince in your veins." Azriel surveyed the fight and looked back at her. "Please! I need your trust!"
Serana nodded and bit her hand as Azriel held out the sigil stone.
"Serana, are you mad?!" Valerica shouted as she let a wave of ice flow towards the first of the bonemen to make their way through Azriel's already thinning force. Valerica's storm shattered the skeletons and scattering the bones in every direction.
Serana ignored her mother as she wiped her blood onto the sigil stone. The reddish glow became livelier, blazing to life, but Azriel confirmed her thoughts. "That was the distraction to buy us time." Azriel took a breath and pointed to a random bone pile. "If he raises those dragons, we're fucked."
Serana felt the shocked look she was giving Azriel, realizing she was right. There were already too many of Durnehviir's forces in the yard, and he had barely used any of the piles of bones that decorated the landscape.
"The spell will take a minute to complete. I can't be distracted." Azriel stood when Serana nodded with her agreement and summoned her own dead to protect Azriel. Piercing the side of the sigil stone with the glowing blue gem, she began the incantation. The purple light of the grave yard seemingly sank into the spiraling sigil stone that drank in light.
Serana summoned the closest pile to rise, concentrating her magic to ensure a small group would move quickly. Almost instantly, the bones shifted into place as her soldiers pulled themselves free of the ground. Wordlessly she pointed and her own force charged, moving faster than Durnehviir's. She caught in her periphery her mother doing the same. She readied more spells as her warriors finally broke the ranks of demons completely.
Serana's wraiths clashed with the first wave, both sides undaunted by the piles of sand and shattered bone. Durnehviir's forces moved as one, while Serana and Valerica's soldiers moved independently. Her mother's warriors converged with Serana's, blocking the dragon's legion.
"My Lord, be swift!" Serana heard one of the Dremora shout as he charged forward into the center of the line to defend them. The other followed closely, half way between the two vampires and the other warrior. Serana wove the spells in her hands intricately to match her mother's as Azriel's voice rang in her ears.
"…bind the offering and bend to my will. Rise from the soil of this land…" Serana could hear the wince in Azriel's voice, as she blasted the first opened rank on the right with icy shards. Her mother was doing the same to the left and the Dremora warriors cut their way down the middle.
"DIIL QOTH ZAAM!" Durnehviir roared, spreading his wings as his Thu'um resounded throughout the bone yard once more. The ground shook in response and Serana grit her teeth as the unearthly rattle of bones signaled the rise of more warriors.
Valerica appeared at her daughter's side and raised another wave of wasted men.
"Mother, we need to raise everything not just warriors!" Serana caught the woman's look as she nodded. As a team, they focused on raising bears and wolves from the piles. Each creature formed raced off to join the battle until another pile of bones was exhausted. The vampires stood side by side, blasting icy shards into Durnehviir's masses.
"…borne into fire and baptized by the hand Mehrunes Dagon. I command the gate… Open!" The bone men staggered backwards as Azriel's voice thundered. Serana chanced a look over her shoulder to see Azriel slam the flaming red globe into the soil.
The ground shaking harder, flames shot from the earth. The horned ridges of the gate erupted from the soil sharply. Rising, the Oblivion gate drank in light. Small fiery balls flew in every direction from it. It took only moments for it to rise fully from the soil. When it had, it flashed to life, the brilliant vermilion glow of the portal change the color of the sky to scarlet.
"Ambitious, isn't she?" Valerica muttered, but Serana heard her all the same.
The first of the heavily armored Dremora stepped through the Oblivion gate and the dead continued their march forward. Serana lost sight of the Dremora as she retreated back with her mother away from the gate and near the door they had entered from.
"Scatter the bones!" Azriel bellowed, her voice carrying over the noise of the chattering men. "The Dragon shall taste our wrath!"
The dragon spread its wings once more with a deafening roar, as ice and lightening crashed into the dead. Serana watched as the dragon lifted off the arch and she unleashed a frosty storm upon the horde. "Ful goraan gein, hi hind fah grah? Zu, Durnehviir, fen genun hi mul! ALOK DILON!"
Serana felt her stomach sink as the dragon roared at the ground. The sound penetrated everything, rumbling around them. It stole the forefront of noise and crushed the sounds of the battle. Bone piles everywhere shook violently. The earth answered, heaving and rolling with the dragon's Thu'um. Everyone, save Azriel, fell because of it. Serana looked at her mother as the bones of the all forms of dead began to rise. Valerica rolled to her side and reached out for Serana. The noise of bones taking form filled the air again as the battle field took to its feet.
"He'll never exhaust his army, we must raise more of our own!" Valerica shouted into her daughter's ear. The two women hauled themselves to their feet as Azriel sprinted past them, steel sword in hand leading the Dremora into battle.
Durnehviir swept low over the bone yard. "GAAN! LAH HAAS!" His shout affecting the first wave of Dremora that race behind Azriel into the fight.
Serana could hear the sounds of swords clashing as she raised another pile of animal bones from the ground. She threw a glance at the advancing mass as Azriel and her warriors fell into the fray. Valerica was instantly at her side once more. Both women drew towards the center of the yard as bones everywhere shifted. The dragon's Thu'um had awoken the dead all around them. No longer were they afforded the luxury of facing Durnehviir's legion from the front, now that battle encircled and trapped them. They wasted no time is raising anything that could fight.
The two Dremora Markynazes Azriel had charge with their protection burst from the horde and silently Serana was thankful for their return.
The throng of skeletons pushed forward in a surge as more Kynreeves stepped from the gate, leading Caitiffs and Churl into the skirmish. Kynmarchers led the Kyn into the throes of the fight as Serana watched the formed skeletal animals smash and bite their way through the first surge Azriel led. The sky blacked with smoke and while in the very depths fire in every for lashed into the throes of the dead. The Dremora spread out, their branches moving swiftly to meet the rising masses in every direction. From every vantage point available, the Kyn archers took post. Arrows flew into the ranks. The newly formed dragons smashed the Dremora that attacked. Their claws sung through the air and jaws sliced through the Kyn's armor. Fireballs soared through the air as the Churl charged forward. The dead continued their press, making way only for the lumbering dragons. Caitiffs sent blast of molten lava into them and Kynreeves summoned more animal minions from the soil.
Durnehviir landed on the arch once more. "DIIL QOTH ZAAM!"
Serana fought with her mother as the horde of dead gained the advantage. The dragons slaughtered the Dremora as quickly as they came through the gate. The skeletal warriors however, took a beating. As quickly as Durnehviir could raise them, the Kyn cut them down.
Serana searched desperately for Azriel, her sword swinging out, catching a Wrathman's neck. She fought her way forward, with ice and dragonbone blade singing. Through a gap she could see more warriors rising from the ground. In an instant, flames washed over them, destroying them completely.
Serana took the opportunity with the gap to unleash a massive electrical arc, blasting through the multitude. Using it as a whip, she let it sweep across the dead, destroying them.
"GAAN! LAH HAAS!"
Serana could only just see Azriel and several Dremora as the wave of the shout hit them. Cracks appeared instantly in armor and weapons the Dremora carried, breaking as they clashed against Durnehviir's throng as they closed the newly formed gap.
"Serana, we must stay together!" Her mother ordered as she made to break away.
Valerica unleashed another freezing storm over the dead, frozen shards exploding with vengeance into them. She quickly raised another group of dead into the opening she had created.
The tide was slowing beginning to turn in their favor as more of the dead fell than were raised.
Serana rallied with the Dremora, pushing into the mass of dead, cutting her way closer to Azriel. Arrows sailed over their heads, the dead falling in front of them. From behind, the Catsiffs were burning their adversaries in a massive circle, keeping their advance unhindered. As they broke through the last of the damned, Serana caught sight of Azriel. She was on top of a skeletal dragon, her sword hacking at its neck.
"RII VAAZ ZOL!"
There was no mistaking the intended victim as blood spewed from Azriel's mouth. Serana cried out from the pain that ripped through her, it felt as if her soul was being torn apart as Azriel flew off the bone dragon and across the ground as the powerful shout slammed her through the old tombstones. But, the sound of her voice was lost the battle around her. She stumbled, fighting through the pain against the force of broken claws and thrusting edges as she made her way towards the Dragonborn. She caught sight of her mother, not far from where Azriel had disappeared a second before. Valerica's entourage pressed the skeletal warriors back towards the arch as Valerica herself incinerated countless lifeless warriors with lightening of her own.
Serana heard the howl of the wolf and felt the pull of the animal from within herself. In that moment she realized Azriel had lost control. A second roar shook the walls of the bone yard, followed by the haunting yowl of the werewolf. A bright red specter of a large wolf appeared instantly at Serana's side when Azriel summoned the wolves of Hircine. The large reddish wolf leapt through the air, attacking the skeletal dragon once more, her claws cleaving into bone, severing its head. She took solace in the sight of the wolf and raised her sword, charging back into the skirmish with the spectral wolf at her side.
Serana let her fighting instincts take over. Her sword parried with the warriors and electrical pulses blast them to dust. The spectral beast shredding everything in its path. In a short amount of time she was near her mother and the two Dremora Azriel had summoned to protect them.
Mother and daughter fought together, cleaving through Durnehviir's warriors. They focused their destruction magic on the dragon skeletons Durnehviir raise, as Durnehviir watched the battle from his perch. Azriel and her wolves attacked the damned with the Dremora from every direction. Bones and armor were scattered as they pressed, driving the dead towards the two powerful vampires.
Even as the phantom wolves disappeared and the Dremora evaporated to shadow, the damned were destroyed. The sounds of the bone yard diminished and the fight began to waver. Serana lost track of how many she destroyed.
Serana blasted her remaining foes to dust and spun full circle. Only her mother, the original two Dremora, and Azriel remained.
Time had ceased to exist.
The werewolf transformed back to her mortal form and faced the dragon. "Are you done with your games?"
The dragon chuckled in response. "I have only just begun." He lifted off the arch as Azriel ripped the ancient arrow from her shoulder.
The dragon's roar filled the air and the ground rumbled under their feet.
In that second, she made eye contact with Serana.
The ground under their feet began to rise like a wave traveling straight towards Azriel. Her eyes went wide as the first of the dead sprang from the ground at her.
Azriel looked straight at the Dremora as boney hands grabbed her feet from below the soil. "Get them out!" Skeletal arms appeared from behind her, wrapping around her in an instant. "To the portal! Go!" More boney hands tore at her hair and clothes. Teeth bit into her flesh, claws raked her skin. "GET OUT!"
Serana felt herself being lifted off her feet. She could only watch as the ground parted and the dead enveloped Azriel en masse. "GO!" Azriel cried one last time before the dead covered her.
"No!" She could feel the Dremora that carried her running as she blasted the dead. Her struggles went unnoticed as the large iron doors slammed shut in her face. "Stop!" Serana shouted, but she was ignored as the Dremora started down the stairs. She brought her knee into its chest as hard as she could and the pair of them fell. Serana rolled to her side and hit the Dremora with as much electricity as she could summon. He exploded into shadow.
The other stopped, letting Valerica down. "Our Lord commands us… we must obey! You will…" Serana unleashed her lightening on him and he was returned to the Deadlands.
"Serana, what in Oblivion do you think you are doing?" Valerica snapped at her.
"She's still alive and I won't leave her here to die." Serana ran for the stairs, but her mother caught her just at the top.
"She's mortal! Let her go!" Valerica barely got the words out as Serana pulled the red soul gem from her pocket.
"No, she isn't."
Valerica stared at the blood red gem for a second then snatched it from her daughter. She muttered a spell over it and smashed the gem in her hand with her fist. Golden-purple light lingered for only a minutia of a second before it disappeared.
"That will buy us time to get to the portal." Valerica's tone was completely emotionless.
Serana looked at her in disbelief. "How can you be so damned cold?"
"Mortal or not, she will die. Durnehviir has no limits to what he can conjure. She gave her life for you by ordering those Dremora to get us out. Honor her and leave the cairn!"
Serana let the sparks dance to life in her hands. "She's still alive and I will not let her fight alone."
Hot wind blasted through the metal doors, pushed forward by flames. The fire was so searing that it welded the doors shut almost instantly. The fury that pounded through Serana in the rush was unlike any she had felt before. She ran for the wall, leaping up and started to climb. She didn't slow down or look back as her mother shouted for her. Serana reached the first spiky nave roof and made use of the small spikes as handholds. Climbing onto the roof, she jumped catch a dripstone, pulling herself up onto it. She pushed off the wall, leaping out onto the next roof top. The light emanating from the inside of the large yard had changed from purple to orange. She could already feel the heat in the air and on the stones. She climbed the pinnacle and leapt onto the wall-walk undaunted.
What she saw made her gasp.
The entire bone yard had become a lake of fire. The island the dragon perched on was minuscule in comparison to the boiling contents. The stone walls reflected both heat and light. The yard itself was bathed in roiling, turbid flames. In the center stood Azriel, her form glowed white hot and it struck Serana that she had seen her like this before. Her escape from the Arena…
"Where did you find this mortal?" Valerica's whisper broke her from her thoughts.
Serana glanced at her face, lit by the inferno. "She found me, remember?"
Azriel held out her arms to her sides and the lake swirled, becoming a whirlpool. "FACE ME YOURSELF!" Every word she spoke of the ancient dialect shook the curtain wall they stood on. The dragon bellowed at the challenge. Rising from his perch, he lifted into the sky.
The flames spun back, withdrawing into the Dragonborn's palms and swirling around her like a hurricane. The ground cracked around her, scorched and baking with heat. Lightening arced through the blaze, bolts cracked around her, illuminating her face sinisterly.
The dragon circled overhead then dove.