“That’s close enough, fool. Now you die!” the harsh, dry voice rasped.
Dardeh sighed and reached for his swords.
Just what we needed. Vampires.
Roggi had shaken Dardeh awake well before sunrise so that they could go collect Alof and take care of this job. They’d needed rest. They’d expected dark. They hadn’t expected vampires.
One of them fired a spell that caught Dardeh in a cloud of blue light that was hot and cold at once, and which clung to him as he moved. He gritted his teeth against the pain and dodged right; and his attacker fell forward past him, unable to stop his own momentum. Dardeh heard Roggi growling at a figure deeper in the dark, and snarled himself as he saw the sickly red light of a vampiric draining spell reaching not for Roggi, but for him.
He rolled back to the left to face the female who raised her single short sword against him, and sneered. She was dressed in a flimsy robe. He had heavy armor and two swords, and a familiar dragonbone greatsword was coming down toward her back. A moment later, she was down. As Dardeh stepped around her corpse, Roggi swiveled to his right to attack the male who had taunted them; he had stumbled several paces into the dark after missing Dardeh and then circled around to attack from the side. Again, it took just a moment for them to dispatch the vampire. The third – the one who had been trying to drain him – reappeared from the shadows and began casting again, but Roggi sliced her open, yelling “Is that it? Is that your best?”
Dardeh sheathed his weapons and laughed.
“They never stood a chance. These three must have been new at the whole vampire thing.”
“Yeah. But it’s not funny, Dar. She was trying to drain you. Don’t tell me you didn’t see it.”
“I did. And don’t worry, she didn’t get me.”
“I don’t care,” Roggi said, reaching into his pack and pulling out a small vial. He thrust it out in one hand and bobbed his head at it as he approached Dardeh. “Drink it. Now. We’re taking no chances.”
“I will. And you?” He obediently popped open the vial and drank the cure disease potion. It didn’t feel like the vampire’s spell had been close enough to harm him but the last thing they needed was either one of them to get sick in the middle of a fight.
“Nobody was even looking twice at me, Dar. They were after you.”
“Yeah, it did seem that way. And I don’t care. You’re taking a potion too. Don’t even attempt to argue with me. I know you have plenty; I saw you making them.” It was true; Roggi had spent several hours bent over the alchemy table before they’d gone to bed.
“All right, all right. How can I argue with that?” Roggi pulled a second vial from his pack and downed its contents. “Better safe.”
“Exactly.”
By the time they found Alof in the lower level of Helgen Keep and made their way back out into the yard, the sun was just above the horizon. Yawning workers were just getting started on one of the remaining piles of stone rubble. It was going to take some time, yet, before the charred remains of the wooden buildings near Helgen’s eastern gate were gone, but even in the dim morning light Dardeh could see that progress truly was being made.
“Shouldn’t be too long now,” he said, smiling at the others. “Then we’ll be able to start putting up new structures. I can’t wait.”
“You were here the day it burned, I hear,” Alof said.
“Yeah. I saw enough death and destruction that day for a lifetime.”
“And then came the war,” Roggi mumbled.
“Exactly. That’s why I’m so happy to see things being set right again.” Dardeh looked toward the nearest of the peaks and then checked his map. “But enough of that. We need to go make sure we can get this work done without being raided. Korst said they’ve moved into Skybound Watch.”
“So, head out to Embershard?” Alof asked.
Roggi shook his head. “No, I think a better approach would be off to the east, by Orphan Rock. Come at them from the back side.”
Dardeh considered the map again and nodded. “Yeah. They’ll have a watch posted on both sides but they’re not likely going to expect anyone sneaking past the witches to get to them.”
“And if we’re careful, we can get there without alerting anyone,” Roggi said.
“Let’s go, then.”
It was quiet on the way up the mountainside. Almost too quiet, Dardeh thought, especially compared with the noise that had once come from a Stormcloak encampment just up the road. When they reached the cairn marking the path toward Orphan Rock he turned to Roggi.
“Plan?”
“Hug the left side. We should be far enough away from the witches to avoid being heard. Unless you start beating on your chest plate, Dar,” he added, grinning.
“Funny man. Ok, let’s go.” He readied his bow and started up the slope.
They slipped along the edge of the rocks and well past the point where the path to Orphan Rock veered off to the east. Dardeh was just about to congratulate himself on his stealthy approach when a voice up ahead in a stand of trees said “I thought I heard something.”
Damn.
He was still low enough on the hill that the tall grasses in front of him provided a bit of cover; so he drew and fired at the woman he saw approaching them. A single shot was all it took to drop her to the ground. A second bandit came running out of the trees.
“All right. You want to go?” Roggi said, moving to meet the bandit.
Dardeh tried to line up another shot, but stopped when Alof ran between him and the target. He hadn’t bothered wasting breath on words, spending it instead in a mad dash up the hill to meet the woman head-on. She was already down on one knee when Roggi reached them and finished the battle with a quick swipe of his sword.
The path narrowed ahead, through a bowl-like clearing between two outcroppings of mountain. Dardeh expected it to be empty, or mostly so, since the two bandits they’d already killed had come from beyond that point; but as he reached the narrowest part of the pass he saw a figure up ahead.
Great. Should be an easy shot.
He drew and fired; but just as the arrow left his grasp movement to the left caught his eye. There were at least two more people there, and a post flying a mustard-colored flag said the entrance to the bandits’ camp was very near. The split second of distraction caused his shot to fall short and the arrow to land harmlessly in the snow.
The next second, they were three fighting against four. Or perhaps it was six or seven; Dardeh wasn’t exactly certain, as mages began casting and people poured out of the camp to defend it. He swapped shots with the bandit he’d first spotted, an archer; his shot landed, but he was able to dodge the incoming arrow. He swapped weapons and rushed her, taking her out easily, then swung left to where Roggi and Alof had engaged at least four other bandits. It was a confusing mass of weapons and spells and yelling, and Dardeh couldn’t find a good opening. Alof stumbled backward out of the clot of bodies and began healing himself; and just as well, since Roggi chose that moment to make a complete revolution with his sword, mowing down anything in his path with a mighty roar.
“Gods, Roggi! Watch where you’re swinging!” Dardeh yelped.
Roggi stopped for a moment, panting, and dropped the tip of his blade to the snow. “Sorry, Dar,” he said, looking sheepish. “I saw Alof get hurt and was mad. I’ll be more careful.”
Alof joined them. “Thanks, Roggi. I’m ok now. Take a look,” he said, pointing past Roggi and up toward the crest of the hill, where the path circled left to the front of a small tower. “We get to clear that out, I’ll bet.”
Dardeh looked at his map again. “Yes. South Skybound Watch. We’ll go in here and work our way through it and make sure the bandits are gone.”
“Let’s do it then,” Roggi said. “Lead the way.”
Dardeh was holding the door open for the other two when the first bandit attacked, running up behind him to strike a blow. He had turned just enough that the flat of her sword struck his armor and slid off harmlessly. Alof pushed past him into the narrow stairway and pummeled the woman, who fell backwards down the stairs, groaning. Roggi raised his sword vertically and skewered her, finishing the job.
Dardeh could hear footsteps approaching up the corridor from below. He swung around to the left and pulled his bow, searching for a shot over Roggi’s head. He spotted a bandit far down the hallway.
“Duck, Roggi!” he shouted; and Roggi did so as he released the bowstring. He heard the bandit grunt as the arrow struck him solidly. Alof raced down the stairs toward him. Dardeh reached for another arrow.
Then he gasped, falling backward up the stairs with a searing pain in his chest. He looked down to see an ebony arrow protruding from just beneath his shoulder. It had found that small gap between the ebony of his chest plate and the equally rugged ebony of his pauldrons – a gap covered only by heavily-padded leather.
“Dar?” Roggi was beside him, but trying to block an attack by a bandit coming up from below.
“Help. Arrow.” That was all Dardeh could manage, as he wrestled for a healing potion that would only just keep him alive until they got the arrow out and could stop the bleeding. He looked up just as Roggi turned to glance at him. Their gazes met; Roggi’s eyes widened, and suddenly Dardeh remembered how Roggi had looked up at him when the Miraak Cultist’s sword had slipped through his ribs, barely missing his heart.
I must look like that right now.
Roggi turned back to the bandit, howling, and brought his sword down, severing her head and sending it flying over the heads of Alof and his opponent. Then he dropped his greatsword and turned back to Dardeh.
“Hang on,” he said, wasting no time. He reached down to grab the arrow with both hands and braced one knee against Dardeh’s chest plate. “Ready?”
Dardeh nodded. Hurry, he wanted to say. I’m fading. But he couldn’t get the words past his lips or hear past the pounding of his own heartbeat. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, and suddenly the world went red and narrowed to a tiny, searing point of pain centered on his shoulder and in the chest beneath. He opened his mouth and screamed; but then he felt Roggi pressing on the wound and heard him calling out. Heal, Dar, the words came as if through water. Heal yourself.
He focused, and pulled all the modest energies he had into his hand, casting his healing spell. Its warmth spread through him, bringing his focus back to the present enough that he could repeat it. A third time, he cast the spell; and then he opened his eyes and smiled at his beloved Roggi.
“Go. Help Alof. I’m right behind you. It’s ok now.”
Roggi hesitated for a moment, but then nodded and turned to scoop up his sword, running down the steps back into the battle. Dardeh struggled to his feet, still unsteady, and took several sips of water as he waited for his strength to fully return.
Have to go. Can’t let them take all the beating by themselves.
He bent slowly to pick up his swords, feeling stronger by the moment; and as he walked down the steps, thought about the energy it would take to Shout at the enemy. He thought it, imagined it, felt it building insides him, knew he could do it because it was an integral part of him.
I’m a dragon – an immortal being caught in a frail, mortal, human body. But I am, after all, made up of the souls of many dragons. I will get through this, too.
He passed Alof just as the Stormcloak grunted with effort and ran one of the bandits through. Roggi was ahead of them, chasing another bandit down the wooden spiral staircase at the end of the hall.
“Shor have mercy on you!” Roggi cried.
“For we certainly shall not,” Dardeh murmured.
By the time he reached the bottom of the staircase and entered the long circular corridor leading away from it, Dardeh was feeling much more himself. There were advantages to being as well-trained and substantial a man as he was, and resilience was one of those. He may have looked as frighteningly near to death as Roggi had, but the arrow hadn’t gone completely through him, or severed any major vessels in his chest.
He sped up as he followed the bandit deeper into the barrow. As he emerged from a dark area into a lighted alcove he met the four bandits racing to meet him with the Shout that had been building inside him ever since he’d risen from the injury.
The blast of fire killed one of them outright. A second shrieked in pain and stumbled past him, raising her sword in one hand while furiously batting at her hair with the other. Roggi and Alof reached them and took off after the other bandits; and once again Dardeh’s world was reduced to a blur of strikes and blocks, dodges and thrusts and slices. The battle continued through the lowest part of the tunnel, through a puddle where water poured in from above, and up an incline beyond it with all three of them hammering at the bandits, blocking for each other, and then moving on.
At last they were surrounded by corpses and quiet. They stood there for a moment, catching a breath and sipping water, until Alof cleared his throat.
“Through there, I guess?” he asked, pointing at the iron doors near the puddle.
“Yes. And I’m going to guess that things will get even more interesting in there.”
“Yeah, we didn’t find their leader yet, I’m sure of it,” Roggi agreed.
“Ok, then. Let’s go.”
Dardeh had only enough time, after opening the doors, to register that they were in a mostly round chamber. Two bandits were coming for them and the echoes of mailed footsteps from farther on meant that more were heading their way. He had just enough time to draw his swords and Shout fire at the two bandits leading the way before the first one, a woman, took a swing at him. Alof knocked her off her feet with a shield bash just as the flames took her, and she fell to the vine-covered floor.
Dardeh stepped back just behind Alof to get a sense of the situation and found that there were now four bandits against the three of them. Roggi slipped up beside him on the right and without speaking they moved forward as one, a wall of blades that took down the next two adversaries in just a few moments. Dardeh swiveled left and saw Alof about to be skewered by the next bandit in line, who had the extra reach of a halberd. He threw his weight against the woman, throwing her into the wall where Alof was able to finish her with a single strike of his own blade. He heard Roggi shouting at one of the leaders and almost felt the concussion of their two heavy weapons colliding. He rolled around to the outside of Roggi, followed closely by Alof, just in time to meet another pair of bandits entering the room. The next few moments were nothing short of chaotic as the six people in the space fought to maintain their footing as they stumbled over bodies, slipped in water and blood and fought like the insane.
From just outside the doorway, a lightning spell sizzled and crackled across the room, aimed at Roggi. One of the leaders raised a greatsword and leapt toward Roggi, putting himself squarely in the path of the shock. Roggi ducked and swung in a huge horizontal sweep that opened the bandit and sent his intestines spilling out over the floor. The man screamed; and even as Dardeh turned at the sound of even more magic from beyond the doorway he caught a glimpse of Roggi’s eerie smile, and shuddered.
Once more he Shouted flames at the bandits massed in the archway. Once more he sent one of them to an immediate death and two more stumbling backward to escape his Voice. He heard Alof cry out and turned back into the room only to realize that once more his Shout had brought forth the wraith-like dragon of flame, and that Alof had cried out not in pain, but in fear. The wraith snaked through the small space, singeing bandits as it went and biting the bandit leader over and over.
Still the man refused to fall. Alof and Roggi were both fully occupied. Dardeh needed to get to them, but the bandit was in his way and swinging at him. He growled, inhaled, and Shouted.
“MUL- QAH DIIV!”
Pottery flew as the glowing armor of Dragon Aspect wrapped him in its power. He watched as the bandit’s eyes grew wide and the man shrank back in fear. Then he laughed, long and loud, as he stepped forward and brought his double-edged sword down across the man’s neck, the Shout lending its extra power to the blow.
“Die!”
The bandit split open and dropped like a sack to the floor. Dardeh looked up and caught Roggi’s gaze once again, his expression somewhere between shock at what Dardeh had just done and admiration for the sudden, vicious end he’d brought to the foe. Roggi turned, then, and ran through the arched opening to the next chamber, to join the flame wraith and Alof in attacking a woman who was not backing down.
“I’ve had enough of you!” Roggi screamed, swinging; but he missed the woman, and Dardeh recognized by the short arc of his swing that Roggi’s arms were getting fatigued. He sprinted across the room, ignoring the burning of his own muscles, relying on his extra power to carry him into her where a backhanded swipe with his left hand brought the ebony scimitar across her neck, sending her head flying.
It was suddenly quiet in the room aside from the three men panting heavily. They looked around, weapons still raised in case more bandits were about to attack; but after a moment they all lowered their arms and sheathed their weapons.
“That’s the end of that,” Roggi said quietly.
“Except for that,” Alof said, inclining his head toward Dardeh’s Dragon Aspect.
“It’ll go away eventually,” Roggi said. “Don’t worry, it made me queasy at first too.”
“Just be happy I have it,” Dardeh said. “Otherwise you’d be peeling me up off the floor. That arrow really hurt.”
Once he had caught his breath Dardeh led them onward into a warren of near-identical, interconnected, circular burial chambers. He wandered into a room that confused him because it looked exactly like the spot they’d just fought so many bandits, and turned this way and that, wondering if he’d lost his mind.
“You picked a bad time to get lost, friend.”
The huge Orc in a thick white fur cloak came out of the shadows, swinging a greatsword. Dardeh was startled enough that he jumped, and that saved him; for the orc’s blade clanked to the floor in front of him. Dardeh swung around in a wide circle to his own left, drawing his swords as Roggi rushed in, sneering.
“I’ll try and make this quick.”
Roggi took a huge swing at the orc, who raised his own greatsword horizontally just in time to keep from being butchered.
“Ha! Easily blocked.”
Alof had slipped in behind Roggi while the two larger men were trading blows. He raised his arm and brought his blade down in a massive blow that had the orc crying out; he followed up with his shield, landing a resounding smash to the bandit’s face. The orc fell onto his backside, leaving himself open for Dardeh to step in and swing his own swords. He got in one quick set of strikes and then stepped back while both Alof and Roggi held their swords at the ready, waiting to see what the orc would do. When he didn’t rise, Dardeh stepped back in and finished him with another quick flurry.
“Ok,” he said, “Where in Oblivion are we going?”
“Back the way we came I think, Dar,” Roggi said. “There was a set of doors, wooden ones, back there.”
“Okay, let’s go find them.”
They picked their way back through the rooms, and over the pile of bodies to where the doors were. Dardeh frowned as he pushed them open, because they were cold to the touch.
Behind them, the corridor was full of snow and frost; and at the very end of it sat a gigantic frostbite spider. She rose up into a defensive posture at the sound of their movements and spat venom. Dardeh ducked but still was hit by droplets of freezing poison. He scrubbed furiously at his watering eyes as Roggi and Alof ran past to engage the beast. By the time Dardeh joined them she was nearly dead, and it took only a moment or two more for her to collapse.
They continued down the hall and around a dogleg to the right, toward another set of doors. He stopped before them, frowning.
“What is it?” Roggi asked.
“Those don’t look like exterior doors. I would have thought, with the frost and all…”
“Nah,” Alof said. “That was just the spider’s doing. Bet there’s company waiting for us on the other side.”
Alof was right. Dardeh pushed open the door to find a woman seated near a flickering fire. She never had a chance to come out from behind it. First Dardeh reached across the flames and sliced at her with both swords; then Roggi heaved a great sigh, said “I’ve had enough of you!” and brought his sword down and through her.
Beyond them the passage turned left and up a half flight of stairs. Dardeh started that way and then plastered himself against the wall as a swinging log trap descended, missing him by no more than a few hairs width. An arrow clattered to the floor just behind him.
“Archer!” Alof yelled as both he and Roggi slipped past Dardeh and up the stairs on either side of the log, into a group of four or five more bandits. Dardeh waited for the log to retract, ran to the top of a second staircase, and ended up hacking apart a woman he cornered beside one of the glowing braziers. The others joined him just as she fell. Beyond them were several bedrolls and what was, this time, clearly an exterior door.
Once his eyes had adjusted to the bright of day Dardeh stood awestruck for a moment, absorbing the view from the top of this mountain spur. Below them in the distance he could see Lake Ilinalta stretching away to the west, and across the river valley the foreboding arches of Bleak Falls Barrow dominated the vista as it always had.
Amazing to think how much more of it there is than I saw that first day.
They had no more than a few moments to enjoy the view, though. Directly behind Dardeh were steps leading to a balcony above the door they’d come through. From that balcony and through an opening in the structure behind it poured another wave of at least five bandits. Once more he launched himself into a seemingly never-ending series of weapons, and bodies, and spells to dodge or slice or heal from.
The structure was a stone shelter, open on both sides, in which the bandits had set up camp. Dardeh heard Roggi snarl “I’ll rip your heart out!” A chill ran up Dardeh’s spine at the sound of Roggi’s voice and the sight of him chasing a bandit through the shelter and onto yet another set of stone steps beyond, then slicing her in half. Roggi then turned and raced up the steps like a man possessed, with Alof close behind and Dardeh bringing up the rear, not knowing what they were facing. He reached the top of the stairs and saw a witch there, who climbed a rock nearby and taunted Roggi.
“If death is what you want,” Roggi snarled, “you’ll have it.” He had his bloodied greatsword before him at an angle, and smiled the terrifying smile nobody who knew him ever wanted to see. Then he licked his lips.
Dardeh caught the look on his husband’s face and sprinted for the woman; for Alof was behind Roggi and couldn’t reach around him.
No, Roggi. Don’t go to that dark place again. I’ll do it.
He raced up the side of the stone and reached around Roggi with his double-edged sword, using its long reach to skewer the woman before she could react. Then he whirled left, circling to catch her with the razor-sharp edge of the ebony scimitar and open her up, dropping her to the ground.
He stopped, panting from the exertion, and raised his head to meet Roggi’s gaze. Roggi blinked – once, twice – and slowly lowered his sword, reaching around to secure it to his back once more. He looked back up at Dardeh and shook his head.
“Thanks, Dar,” he said quietly. “I’m ok now.”
Dardeh smiled. “Yeah. Don’t worry about it.”
“What did I miss in that?” Alof asked, sheathing his swords and reaching for a water skin.
“Nothing to be concerned about,” Roggi said. “Dar just kept me from doing something I would have regretted.”
Alof looked from one of them to the other and shrugged. Then he grinned.
“That’s good, then. At any rate, I think we did it. Let’s go back and see Korst, what do you say?”
Dardeh loosened his shoulders. “Yeah. Hopefully that’ll be the last of the bandits.”
“There will always be bandits,” Roggi said. “But we ought to have some peace and quiet for a few days at least.”
There were two more witches on the way back down the mountain, the encampment at Orphan Rock apparently too attractive a place for them to have stayed away after their hagraven leader was killed. Aside from that, the return trip was uneventful. There was a light snow falling as they entered Helgen’s eastern gate and made their way to the keep.
This time, Korst was just inside the doors. Dardeh smiled and approached him.
“Bandits are taken care of. That was quite the headquarters they had up there; I’m glad we got them before they could move.”
“Very good,” Korst said, smiling. “Thank you for your help.”
“So… what’s next?”
“That’s all I had,” Korst said. Dardeh heard Roggi sigh, and laughed. “But I think Marcus needs you,” Korst continued. “Check with him when you get the chance.”
“Sure, I’ll do that. He’s downstairs? I didn’t see him outside.”
“Yes. And thanks again.”
They found Marcus Jannus in the kitchen, having a meal. He broke into a broad smile as they approached.
“Hello, friend! Good to see you!”
“Hi Marcus,” Dardeh said. “I hear you wanted to see us.”
“Excellent,” he said. “Just in time. You’ve done so much to help us that we all wanted to show you how much we appreciate it. Once we got the rubble cleared out from around the door, we found that the central tower was intact, and still in great structural condition. There’s a huge armory down below it. We added a few furnishings, to make it livable, and I think you’ll find everything you need to call it your own.”
Dardeh spent a few moments being thoroughly confused. “Wait. What?”
“I think he just said they’re giving us the central tower, Dar,” Roggi said, sounding amused.
“Exactly,” Marcus said, nodding. “And if you’re the kind of folks who like trophies, you’ll find that Paddy is an expert taxidermist. He’s the one who I sent to look for you, you’ll remember him.”
“But…” Dardeh turned to look at Roggi, who shrugged and grinned. “We have a home already. Surely someone else should have the place here. You, or Val…”
Marcus shook his head. “You live all the way out at the other end of the lake. Just think of this as your home for when you’re at this end of it.”
“Dar, learn how to accept a gift for once,” Roggi said, elbowing him.
“Well… thank you, Marcus.”
“Of course. Other than that, cleanup is going exceedingly well. We’re working on all these debris and rubble piles. Once that’s finished, the actual construction can begin.” He took a bite of bread and then looked back up. “Say, speaking of supplies – my initial lumber order is way overdue to be delivered. The new owner of the mill in Falkreath is a man named Reinhardt. I already paid him a deposit, but he’s failed to begin the shipments. If you get a chance, check with him and see what the holdup is.”
“I’m sure we could, eh, persuade him to get things moving,” Roggi chuckled.
Dardeh gave him a sharp look. Roggi needs some time off. He’s a little too close to the edge right now.
“Sure, I’ll talk to him,” he told Marcus.
“Great. I’d hate to have to take my business to Riverwood, if you know what I mean.”
Dardeh and Roggi made their way out to the keep’s yard and stopped for a moment in front of the central tower. Dardeh frowned; there was something missing, and he couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Well now,” Roggi said. “I’ll bet you’re happy to see that. Or to not see it, I guess.”
“Not see what?”
“Look around, Dar. Look down.”
Dardeh looked up, instead. He looked up at the top of the tower and remembered the enormous black dragon landing, the thunderous roar of his Storm Call shout and the way the ground had shaken. He remembered the terror of that moment, coupled with the relief he’d felt when the headsman’s axe had fallen to the side.
And then he looked down. Slowly, a smile broke across his face.
“It’s gone.”
“Yeah, it is.”
Dardeh felt himself getting emotional. After all this time, the headsman’s block was gone and the blood-stained soil where it had been, removed.
“I can’t even see where it was.”
“Maybe you can leave it behind now, my love.”
Dardeh drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. He exhaled, and felt as though an enormous weight fell away from him.
That was not quite the worst moment of my life, but it was close. Time it was put to rest.
He opened his eyes and smiled at Roggi.
“Yeah, maybe I can. What do you say we go check out this tower before we go home, eh?”
“You bet.”