When they reached Helgen, Dardeh had to stop for a moment to look around and smile. There were banners. Stormcloak banners, several of them on tall posts in strategic areas placed in such a way that nobody could miss who was in control. He could see several soldiers in the familiar blue-draped armor moving about the keep’s yard and out into what was left of the town proper.
“Ulfric came through for us,” Dardeh called back over his shoulder.
The sound of pickaxes connecting with stone carried across the open yard. Dardeh looked for the workers and found them breaking apart rubble that had fallen in front of the door into the central tower. He stopped for a moment and shuddered.
“What’s wrong?” Roggi said, coming to stand beside him.
Dardeh pointed.
In front of the tower, still dark from the blood of its previous victims, the headsman’s block sat exactly where it had been the day Alduin returned. Dardeh stared at it and found bile rising up into his throat.
“I … had my head in that depression. The headsman had his axe raised, Roggi. That’s how close it was.”
Roggi slipped an arm around him and gave him a quick squeeze.
“But you survived. And you destroyed Alduin. So there’s no need to worry about that anymore.”
Dardeh nodded. “It’ll never completely go away, though. You know what I’m talking about. Maybe we can convince Marcus and Valerius to get rid of the thing. It’s just a reminder of bad times.”
They continued into the keep itself. There was a woman sweeping the entryway, and a soldier watching her do it. Voices from the lower level became clearer as they approached the kitchen room.
“Ha! It’s good to see you three old soldiers again!” That was definitely Shadrick Oaken-Heart’s voice. “I never dreamed we would all be here in Skyrim.”
There had been some work done in the mess area since Dardeh and Roggi had last been there. It had been cleaned, for one thing; damaged items had been removed, and Stormcloak banners hung from the walls. Korst, Valerius, Marcus, and Shadrick stood in a circle in the center of the room.
“Yes, Shadrick, it’s good to see you too, old friend,” Marcus said. “Now, tell me. Is there anything else you need to get settled in?”
“Well, Korst and I will need to meet, to discuss the guards’ schedules. But there is one thing, if you could help me, Korst.”
“Certainly,” Korst rumbled. “What is it?”
He certainly looks better than he did the last time I saw him, Dardeh thought. The steel plate armor Korst and Valerius both wore was painted with the hammer and anvil of the Keepers of Hattu. Interesting that they should have fought with the Redguards, while I fought with the Nords. Different times, different war, I suppose.
Shadrick sighed and crossed his arms. “My men have become bored and restless after being in that camp for so long. They’re itching to get in some field time. Practicing on targets is one thing, but there’s nothing to get your blood pumping and sharpen the senses like real combat. I’d like for them to get into the field somehow.”
Marcus nodded. “Well, there are these reports we’ve been getting. Korst?”
“Yes. We’ve been getting reports for some time now of trouble all over Skyrim.”
Dardeh couldn’t help it; he chuckled. “This does not surprise me.”
Korst nodded. “I’ve been too busy to do anything about them. But… maybe our friends here can help us out.”
Behind him, Dardeh heard Marcus say “Shadrick? Valerius? How does that sound to you?”
“Well, I guess that would work, if they’re willing to help,” Shadrick replied.
Dardeh looked at Roggi, but couldn’t read anything in his expression. He looked around the room at the others. It annoyed him that they would simply assume he and Roggi would do … anything at all.
“I think it will depend on what you need. We’ve been putting out fires all over Skyrim for people, for ages now. And we do still have our own obligations.”
Out of his peripheral vision he saw Roggi nod. That was it, I guess. Don’t just agree. Don’t be too full of myself, but don’t be a pushover, either.
Shadrick nodded. “I understand, but it would be a great help for the morale of my men. It would also allow me to start their individual training.”
Yes. I need to remember that Shadrick is not some escaped Imperial prisoner from the Great War, he’s a Stormcloak officer who was reassigned directly by Ulfric. Ulfric has no love for me but I know he must see the wisdom of their plan, and must trust Shadrick. Shadrick wouldn’t waste the kind of talent he knows that Roggi and I have. And he recognized Roggi. He must realize Roggi could train his men. That’s why they didn’t put us to chipping away at rubble.
“Val, what do you think?” Shadrick asked.
Valerius looked to Dardeh for his answer. Dardeh glanced at Roggi and saw him smile slightly; then he turned to Valerius and nodded. Valerius smiled before he spoke.
“If our friends can help, it wouldn’t interfere with the soldiers’ schedules much, so it should be fine. Korst, please coordinate with them on the reports and schedule the guards for a little field time.”
“We’ll be glad to see what we can do,” Roggi said from the far side of the room.
Dardeh smiled at him. This is so much better. Everything works better if we rely on each other’s strengths. Roggi’s the soldier. That’s what I need to remember. And he defers to me when they start dragging out the Dragonborn title for things.
“Then it’s settled!” Marcus said, his voice cheerful as it always seemed to be. “Excellent! Shadrick, please don’t hesitate to ask if there’s anything else you need. Now I need to get back to work on those drawings for the town.” He left the group.
Dardeh turned to get Korst’s attention. The big man looked at him and shook his head. “How is it that you can absorb the soul of a dragon?”
Dardeh laughed. Well that didn’t take long, did it? “I really don’t know, Korst. It just happens. I never have understood it. Roggi helps me kill them, and it just… happens. So what is it that we can do for you?”
Korst pulled a journal out of his armor and looked at it. “Ok, let’s see. This says that vampires have taken over an old ruin near the lake west of here, and have been abducting travelers along the roads. See what you can find and report back to me. And no matter what you do, don’t let them touch you!”
“Vampires, eh?” Roggi asked. “It won’t be the first time. You’re in luck, Korst, we have experience.”
“And we’re familiar with the area,” Dardeh added after looking at the spot Korst marked on his map. It was an old barrow high on a hillside not far from the town of Falkreath, a place they passed every time they travelled the road to their home. Dardeh thought he knew of entrances on both the south and north sides of the mountain and was already planning their route to the northern entrance when Korst spoke up again.
“That’s good,” he said. “Take Toralf with you for training. He’ll be able to handle vampires.”
Korst made for the stairs out, and Roggi turned to Dardeh.
“Vampires, Dar? Will you be alright?”
What?
“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”
Roggi frowned. “They’ve seemed very anxious to make your acquaintance the last few times we’ve run across them, that’s all.”
Dardeh grinned. “Well, they can try. I won’t let them get close, Roggi, don’t worry. Besides, I’ll have you with me, right?”
Roggi grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “You know you will. Now and forever, Dar.”
They made their way out into the brilliant day, stopping to say hello to Balfring on the way by.
“Which one is Toralf?”
Balfring pointed to a dark-haired, bearded Nord practicing his sword techniques on a dummy in the yard.
“Thanks.”
“Not one of the old guard,” Roggi whispered as they made for him. “I hope he won’t be a liability.”
“Well, I’m not either, and you don’t seem to find me a problem, do you?”
Roggi laughed. “Good point.”
Dardeh tapped Toralf on the arm. “I have a special assignment for you from Korst. You’re to come with us.”
“Oh! Uh, what? Where are we going?”
“To kill some vampires. Sound like fun?”
“Yes it does,” Toralf said, grinning broadly. “I hate filthy vampires! Let’s go!”
It was a simply beautiful day, very like the day on which Alduin had returned to Skyrim. The oddness of it didn’t escape Dardeh as he led the way west from Helgen. It was so incongruous, yet again; this time they were travelling in the brilliant sun to face creatures of the dark.
Vampires. Why is it always vampires? Why is it that everyone always thinks of them as ravenous, bloodthirsty and incapable of controlling their impulses? In the time that I was acquainted with him, Andante never even hinted that he might harm any of us. He was a bit strange, that’s true, but even on the day he died it was Brynjolf, not Andante, who threatened to drain someone. And I can’t believe he would have done it. He was just angry.
Maybe there are different types of vampire, and I just don’t know about it.
Their trip west from Helgen was completely uneventful, all three of them keeping their thoughts to themselves. Dardeh led them across the hill next to the home known as Pinewatch, around to the northern face of the mountain, and before long they were facing the old barrow in question.
“Shriekwind.” Roggi said. “This is a dangerous place. We’ll have to be extra careful.”
“Aren’t we always?” Dardeh grinned at him.
Roggi didn’t laugh. “No. You’re not always extra careful, Dar. But you will be this time.”
Dardeh held up his hands in mock surrender and grinned at Toralf. “By all means! Don’t cross this guy, Toralf, he’s dangerous.” He lowered his hands, then, and shook his head. “Seriously. We may both have fought in Ulfric’s war recently but I’m a rank amateur compared with Roggi. He’s been on the front and he’s worked behind the scenes as well, and you could do a lot worse than to take instruction from him. I’m just the loud one.”
“And that’s the gods’ own honest truth,” Roggi said, flipping his helmet up over his hair as Toralf chuckled. “The loud part, I mean. Let’s go.”
It only took a few moments after entering the barrow before the first vampires attacked. One was leaning against the wall halfway down the corridor. She straightened up as Roggi rushed ahead and began casting spells at him, both the life-draining spell and ice spikes. Dardeh and Toralf ran to join him in the attack, which for just a few moments was a breathtaking mass of confusion. Dardeh noted that Toralf really did hate vampires as he caught the look of almost animal rage on Toralf’s face.
The vampire didn’t last long at all; but they had no chance to rest as a second was casting at them from within a room just off the end of the corridor. They couldn’t all fit through the doorway at once, so Dardeh hung back for a moment. In the next moment he saw both Roggi and Toralf being pierced by ice spikes and pushed past them, enraged, barreling into the vampire. Dardeh was angry enough to take the vampire down with little help from the others, slowed as they were by the frost magic.
“Odd,” Roggi said, staring down at the remains.
“What?”
“Both female, again.”
“Well they are all standing out on the narrow end of a completely wrong limb,” Dardeh grumbled. Toralf looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “Heh. Roggi and I are married, that’s what I’m getting at.”
“Oh! I didn’t realize.”
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s keep going. If this was the welcoming committee I can only imagine what’s behind those doors.”
The doors were locked, as it happened, and Dardeh was determined to pick the lock himself. He fussed with it, not quite finding the position half a dozen times and yet not breaking the pick.
“Want me to do that?” Roggi asked.
Dardeh grimaced. “No. I need practice. I’ll never be as good as you are, but there’s no time like the present.”
Another female vampire and her raised thrall held the chamber just beyond the doors. The thrall ran past Dardeh to attack Roggi and Toralf. The vampire, a Dunmer, licked her lips and murmured “Soon your blood will be mine.”
Dardeh sneered. The space between him and the vampire was clear. Almost without effort he leaned forward and filled the space with a fireball. She crumpled in on herself, bent over in agony; and as Dardeh worked on finishing her with his swords he heard the others’ swords slicing through the thrall. “Free… again,” the thrall murmured as she died.
Yet another vampire rushed out from the next room, shouting “I’ll drink you dry, mortal!” She focused on Roggi, aiming the sickly red life-draining spell at him. Dardeh stepped around Roggi and struck her with an enraged, backhanded sword blow that knocked her off her feet, and then sliced her to bits.
“Damn, Dar,” Roggi said, coming to stand beside him. “Remind me not to make you angry.”
A moment later an arrow clattered to the floor at their feet. All three men swiveled around, trying to find its source. As a second arrow narrowly missed his head Dardeh found the enemy: a skeleton appeared in the doorway at the top of a narrow flight of stairs.
Skeletons were nearly nothing to Dardeh at this point of his life. He ran up the stairs and took the creature apart with a nonchalant chop at it. A second stood just behind, and Dardeh used the off-hand sword to dispatch it, as well. He was about to sheathe his weapons when a third appeared from around the corner. He ruined that one as well.
It was a typical barrow they were in. Each chamber held a finite number of dead, and when it was full a passage to the next chamber had been dug. Some, like the one before them, were up a flight of stairs, or around corners. Neither of the next two areas they entered held any adversaries, but when they emerged into a larger chamber a single skeleton met them. Roggi shouted “Look out!” but Dardeh laughed and broke the skeleton with one blow.
Getting pretty cocky, aren’t I. Well at this point if I can’t wreck a skeleton I might as well hang up my swords for good.
The skeleton had been guarding an odd, almost well-like chamber. A dead tree in its center overlooked a grated hole that doubtless held some grisly death trap or other. Dardeh kept well clear of the grate and hugged the walls, heading for the stairwell opposite them. He looked up.
The interior of this place was vast, not in circumference but in height. He followed the path up with his eyes; the stairs led to a ledge hugging the wall, thence to a doorway. The pattern repeated time and again, all the way up. Most impressive was that this was not a natural cavern. The walls, steps and ledges were all man-made, lined with carefully placed stonework. He couldn’t help but shake his head in awe before heading up to the first ledge. As he reached the level he heard the unmistakable creaking of a skeleton somewhere far above him.
So it’s going to be like this. Fair enough.
The first doorway back into the barrow proper was blocked by heavy iron doors. As soon as he pushed them open a distinctly elven male voice said, “I love it when dinner walks right into my arms.”
“You think so?” Dardeh snapped. He followed that up with a Fire Breath Shout. The vampire went down on one knee, giving Roggi and Toralf an opening to attack. They had him nearly down when Dardeh joined the battle and finished him with a flurry of strikes.
As it had been at the very bottom of the barrow, a side room held another female vampire. Dardeh was pulling his swords out of the vampire he’d just killed when he heard the others fighting her. He ran to the doorway and saw Toralf riddled with ice spikes and Roggi backing up the stairwell behind her; he pushed Toralf out of the way and attacked with everything he had, growling as he went.
A few moments later, Roggi poked the body with a foot. “She was a strong one, Dar. Be careful with these. They all want a taste of you.”
“Yeah, well they can’t have one.”
There was a small cylindrical landing at the top of the stairs, a closed iron gate on its far side. A skeleton stood on the other side of the gate, waving his sword and shield in the way. Toralf snorted. Dardeh found a chain pulley near them and activated it; Toralf stepped forward as the gate rose and cut down the skeleton almost as easily as Dardeh had the others. And then the familiar sickening red aura of a life-draining spell flowed around him. Toralf cried out and backpedaled; Dardeh rushed into the room and sliced the vampire to ribbons. He was about to ponder how it was that he could have gotten so much better with his swords so quickly when a sword crashed down onto his shoulder. He swung right and dismantled the skeleton that had been wielding it with a single blow.
“Ow.” He cast healing on himself, frowning as he noted again how much more powerful Hermaeus Mora’s influence had made his spellcasting.
It’s hard to argue with how useful this is. But I hate that he gave me the ability.
The room they were in was interesting. Two lowered metal gates held back angry-looking skeletons. Two other oddly shaped stones looked as though they could be doors waiting to be opened. And in the center of the room was a circular disc made of three layers of stone, with three pull handles mounted on the top. Dardeh pulled the one nearest him and heard the grinding of stone being raised, his hunch about it being a door having been confirmed. He reached for the pulley to his left and watched as Roggi dashed into the chamber behind one of the gates, knocking down the skeletons that waited there. There was a chest there, with three chain pulls on the wall above it.
“Don’t pull the middle one,” Toralf said, coming into the room behind them.
“Why not?”
“Middle one is always a trap. Well, almost always. Often enough. Don’t pull that one.”
Dardeh chuckled. “Ok. How about the left one, then?” He tugged on it and heard the mechanism release, then turned in time to see the other two men rushing back into the center chamber toward the second, now raised, iron gate.
“Yeeearrgh!” Roggi snarled, bringing his greatsword down onto a skeleton and disintegrating it.
The skeleton had been at the foot of another short flight of stairs, which led to a long, circular tunnel. Dardeh admired the beautiful stonework of this passageway as he pulled out his bow to dispatch the skeleton at its far end, perfectly highlighted against the light coming from beyond it. One arrow was all it needed.
“That’s got to be the center again, do you think?” Dardeh asked.
“I’m certain of it,” Roggi said.
“Let’s go,” Toralf added. Dardeh wondered for a moment why it had been that Shadrick was so concerned about this man having training. He might well have been cold and bored up near Winterhold, but he was far from unseasoned or ineffective.
The corridor did open onto the central well of the barrow, to a ledge leading roughly a third of the way around its perimeter and into another corridor. The skeleton guarding that ledge was finished before it could draw its bow. Dardeh crept down the hall and to the left, where a doorway led to a small chamber and more stairs. He hesitated at the doorway, for pools of blood lay in the uneven stones of its floor. He peered left, catching a glimpse of a very bloody torture rack before movement to his right had him on alert.
A man wearing a horned iron helmet and bearing a full body shield rose from the throne tucked into a niche. “Hey!” he yelled, readying himself to attack Dardeh. Inexplicably, the man swiveled to the right instead of using his shield, leaving himself completely exposed. Dardeh attacked with both swords and was startled when the man went down almost instantly.
“Did you hear something?” Roggi asked, moments before an ice spike pierced Dardeh’s chest plate. He groaned, trying to turn to face the enemy; Toralf had already made for the ascending stairwell with Roggi right behind. Dardeh heard a female voice taunting them from above.
Dardeh had a couple of weak frost resistance potions in his pack and maneuvered one out, swallowing the bottle’s contents before running up the stairs. The vampire fired an ice spike at Roggi, who fell back a few steps, groaning. Dardeh pushed past him and once more quietly watched himself turn into a veritable machine, slicing the vampire apart in a fury.
This is what I must have done on Solstheim. I don’t know what it means that I’m aware of doing it, now. I certainly don’t seem to have any more control over it than I did then.
He didn’t have time to ponder it further. There were two more female vampires in the larger stairway leading up from the next chamber and for a few moments all three men were completely occupied in trying to survive.
After the final enemy was down they stood catching their breath, casting healing spells and drinking potions as needed. Dardeh looked at Toralf and smiled.
“You didn’t need more training,” he said.
Toralf snickered. “I always need more training, but what I needed more was an excuse to do something besides put dents in a practice dummy.”
“You’ve been doing well,” Roggi said. “I’m glad you’re here.” He looked around and loosened his shoulders. “It’s strange to think that some of my own ancestors might be buried in here.”
“Not mine,” Dardeh said.
“What do you mean? I thought you were half Nord.”
“I am. But they were from the Reach and eastern High Rock. And the other half – well, I don’t know where most of them are but Sayma and I laid one of them to rest in Hammerfell not long ago.”
“Hmm,” Roggi said. “You never said much about that trip. So who did you find? Dadarh?”
“Jine. He’s now in a coffin northwest of the town of Ben Erai. That trip was really something, Roggi. I needed to do that.” He smiled and then moved forward, up a staircase and into a tunnel.
This higher-up portion of the barrow was rougher, the tunnels partially collapsed or not well finished to begin with. For whatever reason – pressures of war, dropping population or maybe even one of the great plagues that had swept Tamriel – the people who had built the barrow had stopped giving it the kind of exquisite care that lower areas showed. Still, it was impressive; the rough tunnel they moved through led to another doorway with finely chiseled brazier pedestals on either side. The passage beyond that door turned right, overlooking the great central well of Shriekwind. Once again, a skeleton stood sentry before the opening. Once again it crumbled with a single blow.
It was only a short ledge hugging the wall at this level. In fact, there were three short flights of stairs only a few paces away, leading left and up to yet another grand entryway. Dardeh was listening carefully for a skeleton while at the same time taking in the grand expanse of the central chamber, and so did not hear the male vampire silently waiting for him at the entryway. He nearly bumped into the man.
This vampire had shock magic and wasted no time striking Dardeh with it. The air rushed out of his chest and a wave of nausea rushed over him even as he attempted a sword strike, and he was forced to roll aside to let Roggi and Toralf attack. He was once more grateful to have both of them with him, as they made short work of the enemy.
“You ok, Dar?”
Dardeh nodded. “Yeah. That’ll teach me to pay attention to where I’m walking, I guess.”
The vampire had been guarding a short corridor, well-illuminated with large braziers atop stylized dragon-head sconces. There was a closed iron gate at the far end. In the center, just beyond the nearest braziers and between two stone obelisks, was a lectern-like pedestal with a pull handle mounted in the top.
“This has got to be some kind of trap,” Dardeh said quietly. “Stay here for a moment.” He dropped into a crouch and crept forward, trying to keep low enough to avoid poisoned arrows or swinging log traps or whatever might await his arrival. He pulled the handle, giving it the requisite half-turn, expecting a trap. He was not disappointed.
From at least eight locations along the length of the hall, flame jets began spewing. In the increased light afforded by the fire Dardeh could see the horribly burned corpses of several people who had clearly not waited to see whether the handle triggered a trap. Dardeh noticed that the angle of the flames was not consistent. Several of the jets, for whatever reason, were pointed toward the ceiling where they could pose no threat whatsoever. If he stayed low, and took a careful path beneath the highest point of the flames that were properly aimed, it should be possible to cross without major damage.
He worked his way slowly under the jets of fire. He got a bit too close to one of the two mounted in the floor and scorched his left arm, crying out in spite of all good intentions to stay silent; but eventually he stood at the far end, safe. He turned and watched Roggi and Toralf follow his path and arrive unharmed.
The instant Dardeh opened the wooden doors beyond the flames, a voice shouted “What was that?” and a male vampire drew red magical energy into his hands.
This guy is going to be a bastard, isn’t he? Good enough.
“YOL – TOOR SHUL!”
The vampire bent in pain, and Dardeh hissed as Toralf ran past him and into the trail of dragon fire that lingered on the floor in front of him. He heard Toralf grunt, but the massive blow he dealt the vampire said that he hadn’t been injured badly by the flames. All three men converged on the enemy and struck him, over and over. Even when he fell to the floor the vampire refused to die immediately, trying to rise and cast his draining spell at the same time. Finally, Dardeh caught a lucky backhanded swing with his enchanted sword and grinned as the vampire groaned and fell back for the last time.
They were almost at the top of Shriekwind. The vampire had been patrolling the entrance to a chamber resembling many of the smaller barrows dotting Skyrim’s landscape: an outer ring filled with what had clearly been offerings for the dead surrounded a central cylinder holding a spiral staircase up. Dardeh mounted the steps and gasped in surprise as he reached the top of it.
At the top of Shriekwind was a grand chamber. Dardeh was reminded once more of Skuldafn: great height, magnificent stonework, and at least eight of the roaring dragon-head sculptures that dated back to the earliest civilizations of Tamriel. A tattered blue runner that must once have been stunning stretched down the length of the hall and ended just before a raised platform and a large coffin. Behind all of it was a familiar curved wall. Dardeh could feel its energy calling to him even from the far side of the space.
He whispered “Draugr. Or Dragon Priest. I’m not sure which. But be ready.”
He rushed forward, swords held high, and watched the cover burst from the coffin as he had expected. From it rose a draugr. The ancient man’s red hair and beard were still remarkably intact and his muscles only slightly shrunken. Dardeh almost stopped, startled by how vital the draugr looked after who knew how many eons; but the call of the word wall drew him on. The draugr managed to stand, and reach for his weapon; but it was only halfway out of its sheath when Dardeh whirled into it with both swords. To his complete amazement the creature growled once and collapsed.
Dardeh stepped around the coffin, reaching out toward the wall and running his hands over its carvings as the word of power embedded itself in his mind. DUN. Grace. This one will do nothing much on its own but added to others… I can feel it. My sword would move through the air in battle with grace and speed.
“Well there,” Roggi said from behind him. “I wasn’t expecting that. Is that it?”
“I’m not sure.”
Toralf shook his head. “I don’t think so. I didn’t see any prisoners and we only saw that one thrall way down at the bottom. I feel more of the filthy creatures are here.”
“Alright,” Dardeh said. “I’ll trust you on that. Let’s retrace our steps and see what we find.”
They took a few moment to nibble on a bit of food and sip some water, and prepared for the long trek back through Shriekwind Bastion.