Torbin

It took less than a day to get into Winterhold, even having to sneak past the Thalmor and Imperial soldiers only put a few more hours on our journey, but we finally made it inside.

Urag was helpful enough, although he hadn't recognized me at first. It had been some years since I'd been to the college, I wasn't very welcome in Winterhold these days. A simple cloak over my head and most of the guards hadn't even spared me a second glance, however. Most of them were simply trying to keep warm. I had convinced Serana to leave the scroll at Fort Dawnguard. She had been understandably hesitant, but relented when I swore to her it would be safe with them and we would draw less attention without it.

Urag had heard rumors of a Moth Priest in Dragon Bridge. I would've prefered more than rumors, but if it was all we had to go on then rumors were better than nothing.

We covered the trip to Dragon Bridge in about half a day, but by the time we arrived in town I was sure the Moth Priest would be gone. Sure enough, most of the townsfolk knew nothing of any Moth Priest, but urged us to stop by the Inn.

The man behind the bar counter was much more informed than the people he was serving.

"A Moth Priest?" The barkeep asked "Aye, seen one a few days ago, headed south along the road. Not sure where he was heading."

"Anybody else been here looking for him?" I asked

"Now that you mention it, yes," He said thoughtfully "There were three others, strange armor, very rude, and seemed in a hurry."

Serana and I exchanged worried looks before thanking him for his time and leaving. We mounted our horses and hit the road hard, headed south out of the town. We had only gotten a half mile out of the town before we saw smoke in the distance.

"That can't be good." Serana groaned

"No," I agreed, spurring Midnight to a run "It can't."

Once we had arrived, we discovered a carriage that had clearly been ambushed. There were several dead guards wearing Imperial uniforms, some of them badly burned. The carriage itself was still on fire, and just off to the side was a body not wearing Imperial armor. I dismounted Midnight and kicked the body over, revealing a pale faced Orc, his fangs still dripping with dried blood, and I noticed a folded bit of parchment fall from the pack on his waist

"A letter," I said leaning down and taking it "I have new orders for you. Prepare an ambush just south of Dragon Bridge. Take the Moth Priest to Forebears' Holdout for safekeeping until I can break his will. Malkus."

"Doesn't sound familiar to me," Serana said, taking the letter "What about this Forebears' Holdout?"

"I know where it is," I said grimly "Just up the road. We had scouts watching it but lost contact with them a few days before we got the information about Dimhollow Crypt."

"Let's move then," Serana said, mounting her horse "Sounds like we don't have any time to waste."

I nodded in agreement and mounted Midnight again, turning her east. I broke into a gallop with Serana following close behind. We covered the distance in about ten minutes, stopping to dismount and approach on foot.

"Go find some water and rest a little," I told Midnight as I hopped off "Something tells me we'll be getting out of here in a hurry."

She huffed in response and turned away, wandering off back towards the road where we had spotted a creek some ways away, Serana's horse trotting after her.

"That's it," I said, pointing to the cave "There's two vampires out front, I'm willing to bet the rest of them are inside."

"I can handle this," Serana said "We should try not to alert the others."

With that, she slipped off to the side. It was dark outside, so even though the terrain was somewhat open, she kept a low silhouette and managed to avoid detection as she crept up to the guards.

She was full of surprises, that one.

As she neared the cave entrance from the right side, I watched with fascination as she slipped up behind one of the guards, drawing her dagger and burying it in his back before shooting the other clean through the heart with an ice spike before he could even open his mouth.

As they fell, she waved over to me indicating that the coast was clear. I rose from the rock I'd been hiding behind and walked over.

"That was impressive, " I told her "Maybe there's a little thief in you too."

"I snuck around the castle a lot as a child," She shrugged shyly "Got pretty good after a while."

"I'd say more than pretty good." I smiled slightly

"Come on," She said, smirking a bit "The Moth Priest should be inside. Hopefully they haven't killed him yet.