Shadows of the Past

Chapter 6

Kaidan and Edna found a place near Helgi's disturbed grave to wait until nightfall, which was only an hour or so away. His companion had changed into the armor previously worn by the Morthal guardswoman, Ingrid, and while it fit, Edna seemed uncomfortable wearing it.

"It's not what I'm used to," she explained, when he asked about it. "It's a bit heavier, and I feel like I can't move about as well."

"I'm used to heavier armor," Kaidan confided. "I'd rather be encased in a skin of steel than leather, but I understand what you mean. That scaled armor is standard issue here, and it's meant to slough off the rain that always seems to fall in these parts."

"Well," Edna allowed. "I do appreciate that part, but I'll have to keep my eyes open for something that's more what I'm used to. Besides, everyone is going to think I'm one of the Morthal guard in this get-up."

Kaidan chuckled, and they lapsed into silence once more. The shadows lengthened, but it would still be another hour before full dark would descend. The clouds overhead were weeping a drizzly mist – not full rain, but an uncomfortable dampness that only enhanced the chill of the night to come.

Edna cleared her throat before speaking. "Kaidan? Could you tell me a bit more about your past? I know so little about you."

"Said the pot to the kettle," Kaidan snorted. "Very well," he conceded. "It's nothing to be proud of, but considering they were my mistakes to make, perhaps I shouldn't deny them."

"I understand," Edna replied. "If you tell me, I'll tell you something about me. Sound fair?"

"Aye," Kaidan agreed, and blew out a breath before continuing. "I didn't handle things well after Brynjar's death, and I inherited some of his worse habits. The drink, the moon-sugar, one day blurring into another. I fell in with what I thought was a band of outlaws, people like me, people who seemed to be born on the path of destruction and death. They called themselves the Blooded Dawn, followers of a Daedric Prince. I foolishly wanted to taste that power, and I learned the price."

Whether Edna had heard of the Blooded Dawn, she made no comment, but merely commented, "But you escaped it."

"How I got free is a long and painful tale," Kaidan allowed, not looking at her. "One I shouldn't burden you with. Now that I am free, I try to keep my eyes and mind on more earthly matters. One of the reasons I'm in Skyrim digging up my past. I've learned that if you feel you have no place in the world, you must make one."

"I think that's a very sound plan," Edna nodded. "I feel rather the same way myself. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for what you went through."

"I'm not," Kaidan grinned, turning to smile at her in the growing darkness.

"You're not?" Edna blinked, surprised. "Why is that?"

"Because it set me on the path that met with yours," he replied. "How could I be sorry for myself, when I'm so grateful for that?"

Edna's eyes crinkled. "Well, I had no idea you cared so much, my boy," she smiled, patting his shoulder. "I'm glad to have met you, too!"

"Well," Kaidan demurred, picking at a root on the ground as if embarrassed to have made an admission like that. "It's been a long time since I've met somebody I can trust this much." He blew out another breath, then looked at her and said, "Okay, I've shared something about me. Turn-about is fair play."

Edna nodded, and she, too, drew a deep breath. "I imagine you're wondering why I still wear – or wore, that is – my Legion armor when I'm no longer active duty?" she queried.

"It crossed my mind," Kaidan said. "I'll admit that. Are you sure you want to tell me?"

Edna sighed. "You should know," she said. "It might come up in future, and I'd rather you hear it from me." She paused as the mist lessened and the breeze picked up a bit.

"I told you I spent almost thirty years in the Legion," she recalled. "I was only fourteen when I enlisted, but I was tall for my age, and when they assumed I was sixteen – the minimum age required – I didn't correct them. My father, as you know, was already trying to marry me off, and I didn't want to go back and give him a second chance."

"Couldn't your father have used your age as a reason?"

"You forget I'd already taken the Oath," Edna reminded him. "Age or not, when you swear the Oath, you're in. Oh, they could have given me a discharge, I suppose, for lying on my admission papers, but instead they decided to make an example of me and gave me every dirty, rotten, stinking job they could think of during basic training. My first two years in the Legion were enough to make anyone quit. I think I personally knew the inside of every privy across Cyrodiil. But I was determined they weren't going to break me, and that I wasn't going to go back home and let my father do whatever he wanted with my life."

Almost involuntarily, Kaidan gave a murmur of approval. She was tough! He would give her credit for that.

"And so, with only a few hiccups along the way – Great War notwithstanding – I served the Emperor faithfully until a little over a year ago."

"What happened?"

"I had never been promoted higher than Sergeant," Edna continued. "Not for my lack of effort, of course. I did try my best, but it always seemed to me that something outside of myself was preventing my advancement. So, as a Sergeant, I was sometimes called upon to act as courier and deliver sensitive documents between the higher-ups and the forts." She drew a deep, ragged breath before resuming.

"I was headed to Fort Empire in the Chorral sector when a troop approached, headed by a Thalmor Justiciar. They stopped, and I heard that sneering voice again – the same voice that mocked me right before he…before he abused me. It was Captain Lindorian, with a group of Dominion soldiers. 'Well, if it isn't the naïve little bitch from Bruma,' he said to me, laughing. 'I thought you'd have died in the war. Pity that. Seems I underestimated you.'"

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to," Kaidan said quietly. He could see how much it upset her to remember.

"No," Edna said, shaking her head. "I need to get this out." She drew a shaky breath and kept going. "He kept taunting me, goading me, calling my courage and my parentage into question. I let it all slide. I tried to keep walking, but he turned and followed me, keeping pace all the while he mocked me. I knew he was trying to get a reaction from me, and I refused to give it to him. Then he said, 'Maybe you miss it? Maybe you secretly liked it and want more of the same? I'm more than happy to oblige. Maybe even get my friends here involved?' They all started laughing then, and not in a nice way, and something inside me snapped. While he was still laughing I drew my sword and cut him down. His friends jumped me and conjured swords of magical energy and began casting lightning, and I gave myself up for dead, determined I was going to take as many of them with me as I could."

She paused, making an effort to get herself under control.

"What happened?" Kaidan asked softly.

"A troop of Legion soldiers was coming up the road," Edna said. "I didn't see them, because they were behind me. They stopped the fight and their Captain arrested all of us. I don't know what happened to the Thalmor soldiers, but I'm sure they spun their lies about what occurred and their Dominion superiors got them off any charges. I wasn't so lucky. I was brought before a military tribunal and they tried me for murder. Luckily, the Captain who stopped the fight, Captain Marius, testified that the Dominion soldiers had followed me for several minutes – he'd seen them do it – and that before he intervened, he'd heard them threatening to do me harm. That was the only thing that prevented my execution on the spot."

She took another deep breath. "But the Dominion was putting pressure on the Commander, and he was forced to issue me a dishonorable discharge and court-martial for having killed a ranking Dominion officer. I was sentenced to a year in a Legion prison – which wasn't the worst place I could have ended up – and the only thing that made it bearable was knowing I had taken out a disgusting piece of filth who had abused me."

Edna fell silent, and Kaidan digested what he'd heard. At length, he spoke.

"I think you're an amazing woman, Dragonborn," he said. "You've proven you're a survivor, not a victim, and I personally feel that the Legion failed you. You shouldn't feel obligated to wear their armor or feel any loyalty to an institution that wasn't there for you, and didn't have your back when you needed it. It's your decision whether to continue to do that, but if it were me, I wouldn't keep wearing their armor. We can always find something better for you, something that's more your style, something that's uniquely you."

"Oh?" Edna gave a slight smile. "You mean something like…oh, I don't know…dragonhide armor, if such a thing exists?"

"I'll help you slay every dragon in Skyrim," he vowed, "if that's how much it takes to make you a set!"

Edna chuckled, her good humor restored, but a movement back in the swamp beyond the graveyard caught Kaidan's attention, and he put a finger to his lips. "Someone's coming," he warned softly. "Not…a…sound."

The figure in the darkness moved closed, and both Kaidan and Edna pulled back as far as they could while still being able to see. The figure crept over to the opened grave and grabbed onto the coffin attempting to pull it clear of the hole in the ground.

Something rustled in the bushes beyond where Kaidan and Edna hid, and it turned its face their way, searching the darkness with red glowing eyes.

"Vampire!" Edna hissed, drawing the longsword. She rose and rushed forward, and the creature growled and stretched out her hand. An evil, red beam of light struck the Imperial woman and pulled back to the vampire as she attempted to draw out Edna's life force.

"You will feel the wrath of my blade this night!" Kaidan shouted, moving swiftly forward. The nodachi swung easily, and the vampire shrieked, just before Kaidan lifted her off the ground as he ran her through. Edna gasped as she recovered, but knelt swiftly to the coffin to see if any damage had been done.

"You found me!" Helgi's voice echoed, though she didn't make an appearance. "Laelette was trying to find me too, but I'm glad you found me first."

"Who's Laelette?" Kaidan asked, confused. He'd thought they might find Alva here.

"She's Thonnir's wife," Edna said. "Her son, Virkmund told me she'd left without saying good-bye to him, while I was at the alchemy shop, and asked if I'd seen her. The poor child couldn't understand why she didn't come back."

"Laelette was told to burn mommy and me," Helgi explained, 'but she didn't want to. She wanted to play with me forever and ever. She kissed me on the neck, and I got so cold that the fire didn't even hurt. Laelette thought she could take me and keep me, but she can't. I'm all burned up." There was a sound like a little girl sighing. "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep for a while now."

"I think I'm more confused than ever," Kaidan complained. "Did Helgi say Laelette was 'told' to start the fire? By who?"

"I don't know yet," Edna said, "but it seems our activity here has attracted some attention. We have company coming."

That 'company' turned out to be Thonnir himself. "I heard the shouting," he said as he came running up, torch in hand. "What's going on?" He took in the scene in one swift glance and his mouth dropped open. "Laelette?" he whispered brokenly. "Laelette! Ysmir's beard!" he exclaimed in shock. "She's…she's a vampire!" He held the torch closer, recognizing the red, staring eyes, the split, blackened lips and the protruding bones of the skull that indicated her transformation, as if the distinctive armor wasn't evidence enough.

Edna rose and put her arm around the man's shoulders in sympathy. To his credit, he didn't outright reject the gesture. "Thonnir," she began gently, "my friend Kaidan and I are investigating the house fire that killed Helgi and her mother. We found Laelette here, trying to dig up the child's body. What can you tell me about your wife?"

"About Laelette?" Thonnir choked. "I thought she left to join the Stormcloaks…oh, my poor Laelette!" He buried his face in his hands, as if to block out the sight of the creature his wife had become.

"Did you notice anything strange before she left?" Edna prompted.

Thonnir thought back, wrinkling his brow. "She…began to spend a lot of time with Alva," he recalled. "Yet, just a week before, she despised her. Said she was a loose woman and such. I don't know if that's true, but it's what my Laelette believed."

"Anything else?" Kaidan asked.

"The night before she disappeared," Thonnir said, "she was supposed to meet Alva. Alva told me later she never showed up. I never got to tell her good-bye." He broke down at that point and began sobbing his heart out, as Edna put her arms around him and comforted him as she might have done to a child, patting his back and murmuring soothing words. It was several minutes before Thonnir was able to get himself under control.

"Thonnir," Edna said softly, choosing her words carefully. "I think your wife may have met Alva after all that night."

Thonnir frowned. "You think Alva…" He left the thought unfinished, as if putting together what the Dragonborn was suggesting. "Ye gods! You think Alva is a vampire?"

Edna shrugged. "I don't know," she replied, "but it's a possibility we can't ignore."

Instead of making Thonnir feel better, having a possible answer for what happened to his wife, it only served to anger him. "No! You're wrong!" he denied. "You must be wrong! Laelette may have met her fate out in the marsh. I refuse to believe Alva had anything to do with this. There's no way you can prove it to the Jarl!" He stormed off and headed back to town, but both Kaidan and Edna heard him mutter, "I hope Alva is not what you think."

Kaidan gave a snort of disgust. "The proof is right here in front of him, yet he denies the evidence of his own eyes," he said in a voice laden with sarcasm.

"It's really not proof, though," Edna reminded her friend. "We know that Laelette was turned into a vampire, but we really don't know that Alva had anything to do with it. And don't forget that Jonna at the inn told us Alva pretty much had all the men in town enraptured with her. Thonnir's right. At this point, we can't prove anything to Jarl Idgrod."

"So what do we do now?" Kaidan asked. "Is that the end of it, then?"

"Good gracious, no!" Edna chided him. "We just need to get the evidence."

"And how do we do that?" her companion demanded. "What are you planning to do?"

The Dragonborn put her hands on her hips and said firmly, "I'm going to search Alva's house!"

Searching Alva's house meant several nerve-wracking moments for Kaidan as he waited outside for Edna, who insisted she go in alone. "I can move more quietly than you can," she explained. "And I picked up a few potions today at the alchemy shop in case they might be needed."

"Potions?" Kaidan echoed. "What potions?"

"Oh, just a little something to help me move more quietly, invisibly, and help get locks open, if I need to. I'd rather not alert the city guard, or anyone inside about what I'm up to."

So he waited outside for nearly twenty minutes before she returned, clasping something in her hand.

"Any trouble?" he whispered.

"No," she murmured back. "Hroggar was asleep, so he never noticed me. Let's head over to the inn."

Back at the Moorside, Edna showed Kaidan the journal she'd found.

"This was in the basement?" he asked, paging through it.

"Yes, in an open coffin that had a layer of dirt in it – grave dirt, I have no doubt," Edna said. "And that journal pretty much confirms that it was Alva who told Laelette to get rid of Hroggar's family. Only she botched it by setting the fire instead of doing something less scandalous."

"This journal suggests she's in league with some other vampire," Kaidan frowned. "It looks like they're planning to enslave the entire city to use as a food source."

"I read that, too," Edna worried. "I know it's late, and I don't know how far along their plans are, but I don't think this is something that can wait until morning. We need to let Jarl Idgrod know right away."

"If we can get past that Steward husband of hers," Kaidan said sourly. "He kept giving me the stink-eye the whole time we were there earlier today."

But they were unable to get in to see the Jarl that night. Not only did the Steward refuse them admittance to High Moon Hall, but the guards themselves wouldn't let them in.

"Sod them all!" Kaidan stormed. "Let 'em all become cattle to a bunch of blood-sucking demons. Serves them right!"

"Kaidan, please," Edna said wearily. "That isn't helping. We'll just have to go there by ourselves and take them out. I had hoped that Idgrod could provide us with a few of her guards, but we can't wait until morning. I stocked up on several healing and cure disease potions this afternoon. We should be alright."

"If you say so," Kaidan replied, having more faith in the Dragonborn than in a troop of city guards. "I'm right behind you.

With Kaidan's help, they tracked Alva's footprints in the sandy, muddy soil along a path through the marshes to where it ended at a large cave.

"She went in here," he said, pulling his bow off his back. Edna followed suit and nodded.

"Let's get in there," she said, "but be careful! We don't know what we'll find."

Death hounds. They found death hounds to begin with. These huge, mastiff-like creatures had glowing red eyes and slavering jaws, with a bite that could chill to the bone right before crushing them. There were two in the small tunnel that led to the stairs leading down deeper into the cave system, and it looked as though this might have been an abandoned mine at one point. There were two large spiders at the bottom of the pit, and Edna hung back, using a ranged attack, letting Kaidan wade in to take the brunt of enemy attacks, since his armor was better.

Edna's Imperial bow and steel-tipped arrows did little damage, and she made a mental note to herself to try and find something better soon. The Imperial longsword that had been Balgruuf's fared better against the thralls – those unfortunate humans who had been subjugated like Hroggar to be slaves to the vampires who had charmed them.

The eventually came to the main chamber of the complex, where a ramp and walkway had been erected partway around the edge of the excavated cave. As they crept up the ramp, they could see a large, long dining table had been set, with a throne-like chair at one end, and there sat the master vampire, Movarth.

To their left and behind them, a tunnel doubled back further into the complex. On the other side of the main chamber, another ramp had been built to access a tunnel higher in the wall. To either side, large passageways led to the left and right in the farthest corners, no doubt leading to other areas of the abandoned mine.

Kaidan tapped Edna to get her attention and motioned to the far-left passage ahead, and the tunnel behind them, moving his hands around to meet in the middle. Edna nodded her understanding. Those two areas were likely linked up, and there might be other vampires or thralls in those areas that it would be wise to eliminate before dealing with Movarth. She tilted her head at the tunnel behind them and led the way, but the both froze in place when they heard Movarth call out, "Is someone there?"

They waited several tense, blood-chilling moments before they finally heard footsteps in the main chamber retreat, and Movarth muttered, "I must be hearing things."

The vampire just down the ramp in the next chamber never heard Edna approach behind her as she drove the longsword cleanly through the woman's body. Likewise, the one sleeping in the bed only just roused to the danger they were in, but had no time to react before Kaidan lopped off its head.

"No!" a voice Kaidan recognized cried. "I won't let you destroy what we've taken months to build!"

Alva rushed forward from the next sleeping area, where several hay piles and furs had been laid down. She stretched out her hand towards Edna, clearly seeing her as the weaker of the two, and she wasn't wrong. The life-drain hit the older woman, who staggered again as she had done with Laelette. Kaidan wasn't close enough to slip in front of the Dragonborn, but Edna withheld using a Shout that might alert enemies in the next chamber. Instead, she dragged the longsword forward and swung with everything in her. It connected with the arm Alva had extended, and the life-drain ended abruptly as the hand flew off into a corner. Alva shrieked and crumpled, clutching her stump to her chest with the other hand, and Edna muttered, "This is for Helgi," as the longsword connected with Alva's neck, and her head followed her hand.

She pulled a bottle out of her belt pouch then and drank deeply. "Can't be too careful," she commented as Kaidan came running up.

"Yeah," he agreed. "As to that, don't get so far ahead of me that I can't protect you," he scowled.

"Sorry, Kai," Edna replied. "She caught me off guard. I didn't expect anyone in this chamber. But you were right," she amended. "The tunnel there does lead back to the main chamber. Shall we go take out Movarth?"

"Aye," Kaidan grinned. "For Helgi."

Movarth, however, was a tougher opponent than they anticipated. There were two other thralls in the area with him, as well as two more death hounds. Kaidan handled the thralls easily, but the death hounds were tougher, and Movarth chose to turn invisible and hide until he was able to creep up close enough to attack.

Edna concentrated on the death hounds, shooting them with her bow, and resorting to her longsword when they got too close. The sword did more damage, and she finally took them down.

There was an almost instinctive sense of danger within Kaidan as he fought, through years of growing up with Brynjar, that kept his neck away from Movarth's fangs. As soon as Movarth revealed himself, Edna began pegging him with arrows. Then he would turn invisible again, and both would lose track of where the vampire was hiding. The noise of the conflict brought the last two members of the coven out from where they were hiding. Fortunately, they were thralls, and Edna was able to dispatch them, while Kaidan scanned the area, looking for any tell-tale sign of their quarry. A shimmer caught his eye; a shift or warping in the background, and he tracked it sneaking up on Edna, who was just finishing up the last thrall.

"Dragonborn!" he warned, but Movarth moved faster and grabbed Edna around her shoulders from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. His unnatural strength made it impossible for her to get free, and Movarth chuckled evilly as he opened his mouth, fangs extended, to drink of her blood.

"Dragonborn, eh?" he gloated. "I wonder what dragon tastes like?"

"You'll never find out," Edna gritted out and simultaneously stomped on Movarth's instep while she smashed her head backwards into his face.

Howling in pain, Movarth let go, Edna tumbled away and yelled, "Kaidan! Now!"

His bow already out, her companion let fly and sunk his arrow into the vampire's face, all the way up to the fletching.

Silence descended, and Edna got unsteadily to her feet, downing another cure disease potion.

"Did that bastard hurt you?" Kaidan asked, worried, seeing the bottle.

"No," she breathed, giving a slight chuckle. "Just taking precautions again. You should too, my boy," she added as she handed him another bottle. "Here."

They searched through the complex to make sure they hadn't left any survivors behind, and looted the chests of any valuables. On a table in the last chamber, they found a bow of Orcish make, finely carved with a feathery design. When Edna braced it, she grunted a little at its strength.

"Oof!" she declared. "A bit stronger than what I'm used to, but I like it. Perhaps it will do a bit more damage than my old Legion-issued bow."

"It's about time you had an upgrade," Kaidan joked. "When we get back home, we should see if Elrindir has any stronger arrows than steel-tipped. I have a feeling we're both going to need them."

"Indeed," Edna agreed. They packed up and made their way back to the beginning of the cave complex, where a small spirit stood waiting for them at the top of the ramp.

"Hello, Helgi," Edna greeted the ghost. "Kaidan and I have avenged you and your mother."

"You did?" Helgi smiled. "Maybe that's why I'm so tired." She paused and looked past them as if listening to something or someone they could neither see nor hear. "Mother's calling me," Helgi explained. "It's time for me to sleep now. I'm so tired. Thank you for making her feel better."

"Rest in peace, dear," Edna murmured as the spirit vanished. She lifted a hand to her face and blotted her eyes on the back of her gauntlet. "Let's get out of here, Kai, and let Jarl Idgrod know what happened."

They were both surprised to see the sun rising above the horizon to the east.

"I didn't realize we were in there that long," Edna said. "I don't know about you, young man, but my appetite has returned, and I'm starving! Let's get some food and then we'll talk to the Jarl."

"I'm all for that," Kaidan grinned. "I'm feeling a bit peckish meself!" As they returned to the city limits and headed towards the Moorside, Kaidan mused out loud, "I wonder if Jonna has horker on the menu?"