And then there was Hermaeus Mora.\u00a0 Was he really in service to a Daedric Prince?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t intend to do his work, but who knows how he may influence things. Here I was chiding the soldiers for killing each other and losing their souls.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n He shuddered and walked slowly up the stairs toward the heart of the city. There were voices nearby; he ignored them until a familiar name caught his attention.\u00a0 A Dunmer man was bemoaning the state of his people\u2019s standing in Windhelm to an old Nord dressed in scale armor. \u201cUlfric wants Skyrim for the Nords,\u201d the old man said.<\/p>\n Dardeh sighed. Some things don\u2019t change<\/em>. Home again, and<\/em> Ulfric\u2019s still being a bigot.\u00a0 And yet there are so many willing to serve him without question. I suppose it\u2019s not all that much different than the Cultists following Miraak.<\/em><\/p>\n He trudged slowly up the stairway into the central city, toward Candlehearth Hall.\u00a0 I\u2019m tired. I need to sleep. But first I need to take care of something that I\u2019ve been neglecting.<\/em><\/p>\n He made his way past the inn, to the Temple of Talos, and pushed open the door.<\/p>\n The Temple was an enormously tall space that might have been too somber and dark if not for the dozens of lanterns and candles surrounding the shrine at its far end. It was silent, in the Temple, and it smelled of whatever incense the priestesses burned, a rich, calming fragrance, and he needed calming more than he could say.<\/p>\n Dardeh made his way down the side of the space toward the shrine.<\/p>\n There it was, the huge statue of Talos standing victorious over \u2026 a serpent.<\/p>\n Dardeh walked forward, perplexed, and stared at the statue.\u00a0 That\u2019s so odd. It really is a serpent. My whole life, I\u2019ve looked at this thing. I knew it was either a dragon or a snake but I always assumed it was meant to be a dragon. It\u2019s a snake. <\/em>He looked up at Talos, at the stern but triumphant face.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it true?\u201d<\/p>\n He sat in the front pew and stared at the serpent.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t know as much about Redguard beliefs as he probably should, but he did know about Sep, the Second Serpent.\u00a0 Sep was said to have tricked the Aedra into creating the world and becoming mortal.<\/p>\n But Sep was also another name for Shor, or so Dardeh\u2019s mother had told him.\u00a0 And Shor had sided with mortals after the creation of the world. \u00a0He now reigned in Sovngarde, where Nords hoped to spend their afterlife.<\/p>\n Dardeh\u2019s own ancestors worked with snakes, if the visions and the books were to be believed.\u00a0 At least on one side.\u00a0 The other side, the Nords\u2026<\/p>\n What does it mean? Do both sides of my heritage slay serpents?<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh looked at the statue again.\u00a0 My head hurts. I can\u2019t figure it out.\u00a0 But this is important, somehow.<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh knelt before the shrine.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been too long, and I have been too full of myself.\u00a0 Forgive me. Here I am before you, Talos.\u00a0 Guide me, for I am lost and I do not know what to do. <\/em><\/p>\n He wanted, more than anything, to fly down the road to Kynesgrove, to find Roggi if he was there.\u00a0 But he dreaded it.\u00a0 And he dreaded returning to Whiterun, to face Lydia and Lucia.\u00a0 What can I tell them all?\u00a0 How can I make them understand what happened to me?<\/em><\/p>\n He tried to calm his mind, to meditate, to remember what he\u2019d been before Helgen, before Solstheim, and he couldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been too much between then and now.\u00a0 Too much killing. Too many bodies.\u00a0 I can\u2019t go back ever again. I\u2019m sorry, Ma.<\/em><\/p>\n He left the temple, intending to head straight to Candlehearth Hall, but voices caught his attention and he turned, down toward the graveyard, to see what was happening.\u00a0 Four people \u2013 a city guard, a Priestess of Arkay, a beggar and an older man \u2013 were clustered around a tombstone, staring at the nearly-nude, mutilated body of a young woman.\u00a0 She had several large slashes on her torso and was lying in a large, spreading pool of her own blood.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the Nine,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n \u201cStop right there,\u201d the guard said, holding up his hand.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnother murder. This is the third.\u201d\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s always the same: young girl killed at night, and no one saw a thing. Body all torn up like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh stared at the body, wondering what sort of man would do such a thing, and then stopped short as he remembered himself looking down at the Reavers he\u2019d killed outside the barrow on Solstheim. What makes this any worse than what I did? Yes, they were bandits and thieves but I left them in no better condition than this. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSo are the murders being investigated?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLook,\u201d the guard said, shaking his head, \u201cwe\u2019re stretched thin as it is with the war going on. Nobody has time to spend on this. Unpleasant, but it\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh looked down at the dead girl, and shook his head. \u00a0How can you not spend time on this when it\u2019s happening right under your noses? <\/em><\/p>\n He looked at the girl, again, and then at the others, and sighed.\u00a0 Well I can\u2019t very well just let this go on, can I. Lydia and Lucia have been without me this long, and they don\u2019t even know I\u2019m back.\u00a0 Another few days won\u2019t make any difference. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cDo you need some help?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to help? Ask some of these gawkers if they saw anything useful.\u201d<\/p>\n Would that not have been the very easiest and most obvious<\/em> thing for you to do yourself, given that you were already standing here with them staring at the body?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n He chewed on the inside of his mouth to keep himself from saying that aloud.\u00a0 Being sarcastic certainly wouldn\u2019t help anything.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right. I\u2019ll do that.\u201d<\/p>\n He spent the next few minutes interviewing the bystanders.\u00a0 The beggar had arrived almost immediately after the murder but not quickly enough to see the murderer; the older man thought he saw someone running away, but didn\u2019t get a good look at him. The Priestess had already begun examining the body to prepare it for burial, and remarked that the murderer wasn\u2019t after gold because her coin purse was intact.<\/p>\n Dardeh reported back to the guard.\u00a0 \u201cI might be able to learn more about this, if you\u2019ll let me help. I\u2019m not involved in the war and I don\u2019t have to protect the city, so I\u2019m free.\u201d<\/p>\n The guard sneered.\u00a0 \u201cListen, friend, if you think you can do better than the Legion of Guards, be my guest.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll have to speak to the Steward.\u00a0 Can\u2019t have you just poking around claiming to be on official business without permission.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat makes sense.\u00a0 Let me go find him and I\u2019ll get back to you as soon as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh had never seen the long, unwelcoming, hollow-sounding main chamber of the Palace before and was not impressed.\u00a0 Oh it was large, to be certain, and imposing, but it was hard and cold, and most of the people in it were guards or soldiers.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t imagine Ulfric\u2019s people being eager to approach their king to discuss their problems or anything else, truly, in a space as off-putting as this one was.<\/p>\n It was hard to miss the familiar figure of Ulfric Stormcloak rising to descend from his throne and follow his right-hand man \u2013 an older soldier with a raspy voice — into a room to Dardeh\u2019s left.\u00a0 Dardeh didn\u2019t catch what the older man said but he heard Ulfric clearly. His voice was uniquely resonant, and it echoed down the largely-empty hall.<\/p>\n \u201cThings hinge on Whiterun.\u00a0 If we can take the city without bloodshed, all the better, but if not\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh stopped cold, listening.\u00a0 If not \u2026 what? <\/em><\/p>\n Are you going to rush in and burn down my home?<\/em><\/p>\n Ulfric spoke again. \u201cDo you think we should send Balgruuf a stronger message?\u201d<\/p>\n This time he heard the other man clearly.<\/p>\n \u201cIf by message you mean a sword through the gullet.\u201d<\/p>\n Lydia said things were heating up, and that was ages ago. I should have paid attention.<\/em> He walked slowly toward the Steward, who had remained in the throne room, but strained to catch more of Ulfric\u2019s conversation.\u00a0 It was clear that Ulfric wasn\u2019t ready to move on Whiterun yet.\u00a0 But he will be, especially if his right-hand man keeps goading him toward it. I need to keep an eye on this war business. I may need to warn Balgruuf. <\/em><\/p>\n Jorlief, the steward, had stayed in the throne room. When Dardeh approached him about the investigation it was clear that he was disgusted by the murders.\u00a0 \u201cDifficult times indeed, when men stalk their brethren like beasts.\u00a0 My men are stretched thin as it is. If you offer your aid, I will gladly accept. The guards will be told to assist you as necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you. I hope I can help.\u201d<\/p>\n I do hope I can help. But first I need sleep.<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh rented a bed at Candlehearth Hall and was asleep almost instantly.<\/p>\n And then he wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Or at least he wasn\u2019t fully asleep.<\/p>\n Suddenly he was standing beside the shrine to Talos in the heart of Whiterun, facing a familiar, massively-built Redguard man. This time he was not dressed as an Alik\u2019r, but in a barbarian style armor that bared his chest and arms, strangely out of place in the middle of the city, making him seem even larger and more frightening than he had the first time Dardeh had seen him. Dardeh felt something odd, and reached his hand up to find that his hair and beard were short once again.\u00a0 He looked down at himself and realized that he was wearing a set of armor unlike anything he owned; gleaming, black, probably made of ebony.<\/p>\n A dream. Another dream.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cJine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSon of my son.\u00a0 You did not believe me when I told you of our long line of men filled with power. I could tell that you did not. Now you have felt it within you. Used it to clear your path. You see it before you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it that you think I see? I see Whiterun. I see Talos, standing over a serpent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have killed one of them, the men who stood in your way.\u00a0 Now you must kill the other.\u00a0 Do it well.\u201d<\/p>\n And then he was gone, and the dream was gone, and Dardeh woke and sat up, blinking.\u00a0 What was that? What did he mean? Who does he want me to kill?<\/em><\/p>\n I killed one of them. Miraak?\u00a0 And who is the other? <\/em><\/p>\n He sat with his head in his hands for a moment, breathing deeply.\u00a0 All right.\u00a0 This was just a dream.\u00a0 And it followed hearing Ulfric talk about taking Whiterun, and I am nervous about that, to be certain.\u00a0 No wonder I had such a strange dream.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a dream, it\u2019s not real.<\/em><\/p>\n He tried to go back to sleep, and did, to a certain degree, but he was crafting armor in his dreams and couldn\u2019t get it quite right.<\/p>\n The next day was a nightmare of a different sort.\u00a0 A trail of blood led Dardeh from the graveyard to the former home of one of the victims.\u00a0 He retrieved the key from her mother and let himself into the mostly-empty house.\u00a0 The few chests and wardrobes left in it were largely empty. One of them, though, led to a concealed room holding a table set up for a macabre necromantic ritual, body parts arranged on top of it and discarded pieces littering the floor. The place reeked.\u00a0 A journal described the \u201cingredients\u201d its author was looking for and pointed to the most recent victim as the next target.\u00a0 The journal, and a strange jade and ebony amulet he found in a bookcase, had him running back and forth between the palace, various citizens, Callixto \u2013 the older man he\u2019d met at the murder scene \u2013 and then finally to Wuunferth, the court mage.<\/p>\n Everything pointed to Wuunferth. The amulet, he\u2019d been told, used to belong to the court mages.\u00a0 A woman he\u2019d spoken to maintained that Wuunferth had dabbled in necromancy, though other people seemed to consider her a bit strange and definitely not a reliable source of information.<\/p>\n He was a cranky old man, and Dardeh approached him cautiously.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever you\u2019ve heard about me is probably true,\u201d he said, looking up from his enchanting table.<\/p>\n Dardeh had no idea how to begin the conversation.\u00a0 One just didn\u2019t say \u201chello, I think you\u2019re the Butcher.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat kind of magic do you study?\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s not going to say \u2018necromancy.\u2019 What am I thinking?<\/em><\/p>\n Wuunferth narrowed his eyes and peered out from under his hood at Dardeh.\u00a0 \u201cWhatever kind I don\u2019t already know.\u201d<\/p>\n Well that doesn\u2019t exclude necromancy. And it\u2019s a pretty cagey answer.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSo, um, does Ulfric have much use for magic?\u201d<\/p>\n Wuunferth snorted.\u00a0 \u201cNo, but that\u2019s all right because I don\u2019t have much use for Ulfric.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh couldn\u2019t help it; he laughed. All right. I like him. Let\u2019s see what he has to say.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe both leave well enough alone,\u201d Wuunferth smirked.<\/p>\n Dardeh talked to him for awhile about the amulet, which he recognized by its description, and then eased into Viola Giordano\u2019s statements that he\u2019d dabbled in necromancy.\u00a0 The man was outraged; he was a member of the College of Winterhold, in good standing, and they had banned necromancy.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 Some of the things I\u2019ve found looked as though they pointed at you. \u00a0If not, I apologize. Do you have any idea who it might be?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, but I\u2019ve noticed a pattern.\u201d\u00a0 He rambled on for several moments about what he\u2019d learned and then said \u201cSoon. The killer will strike again soon.\u00a0 Keep watch in the Stone Quarter this next night.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRemember,\u201d the old man said as Dardeh turned to leave, \u201cpower is the crux of this world.\u00a0 There\u2019s always more of it to be had if you look in the right places.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh stood and stared at him for a moment, then turned to leave the palace.<\/p>\n Power. That word kept coming up. That\u2019s what he had wanted, fighting against Miraak.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he\u2019d gotten.\u00a0 From the moment he had stood in awe and fear before his first dying dragon to the moment he\u2019d boarded the ship back to Skyrim, he had become almost unrecognizable to himself and all of it because of power.<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t enough, was it. Not enough for you. <\/em><\/p>\n If Miraak was the \u201cone I\u2019ve already killed\u201d \u2013 am I the other? <\/em><\/p>\n He went back to the inn and ate a hot meal while sitting before the fireplace. When it was late enough, he wandered out into the crystal clear, bitterly cold night and headed for the marketplace in the Stone Quarter.\u00a0 He had just rounded the back corner by Oengul\u2019s smithy when there was a cry ahead of him; a woman\u2019s cry, familiar, and the shape of a man just behind her.<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d Dardeh shouted, sprinting for the man and drawing his swords. He saw red; he swung at the man with all his strength. Die, scum.\u00a0 Die.<\/em> It took him almost no time and little effort to put the attacker down; rolling him over he found that it was Callixto, the man who had recognized the Necromancer\u2019s amulet, the man he had interviewed at the previous murder scene.<\/p>\n But then he turned his head and saw the woman, lying still and cold in a pool of her own blood. He stared at the body in disbelief.\u00a0 It was Arivanya, wife of the stable master.<\/p>\n \u201cI was too slow,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n He stood and stared at the two bodies, and saw dozens more, all the people who had died by the standing stones on Solstheim, the people he hadn\u2019t been able to save because he was too slow to kill the Lurkers before they could strike.<\/p>\n \u201cI was too slow.\u201d<\/p>\n He stood there for a long time, looking at what had happened and thinking about what he had imagined would happen when he ran forward with his swords, willing time to turn back just this once and knowing that it wouldn\u2019t. He turned and trudged slowly to the Palace, to wake Jorlief from his sleep and report what had happened.\u00a0 Jorlief was delighted, told him he\u2019d done the city a great service.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll\u2026 need to send someone to attend to the bodies,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cGood man,\u201d Jorlief said, nodding.\u00a0 \u201cNow go and get some rest. You\u2019ve earned it.\u00a0 Windhelm is safe because of you.\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh walked back to Candlehearth Hall in a daze.<\/p>\n I failed.\u00a0 Windhelm isn\u2019t safe because of me. Nobody is safe if I am around. I\u2019m no better than Miraak.<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh was grateful to step off the ship onto the docks in Windhelm. It hadn\u2019t been a pleasant crossing; they had run into a storm that had the ship heaving and bobbing in a way that had even some of its most seasoned hands looking a bit green by the time it ended.\u00a0 Dardeh hadn\u2019t … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/2-2-1-1.png\")
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