Chapter Text
Midday on the twenty-seventh of Evening Star, Alyssa and Victoria arrived outside of the thick walls of the Dominion’s south eastern Cyrodiil base camp. High unscarred walls stretched across the end of the mountain pass they had traveled through. A detail of Marines stood guard with a sternness Alyssa observed as she noted the intensity of their eyes as they approached. “Identify yourselves!” barked an Altmer man in heavy plate armor with black hair sticking out under the rim of his helmet. “Alyssa Talmari, Queen’s Eye,” Alyssa said clearly and presented Ayrenn’s document. The man carefully read the document as the other Marines watched them attentively, appearing ready to draw their weapons.
“We will need to notify the Battlereeve that Her Grace is sending you into Cyrodiil,” the Marine said and handed back the document. Alyssa quietly groaned to herself as two of the Marines opened the large wooden gate. “Follow me,” the Marine instructed firmly and led them into the camp. On the other side of the doors, they were greeted by rows of ballistae and catapults with stacks of ammunition. The camp was expansive being roughly a square mile with three descending tiers, the last being a long flat land leading up to the bulwark gate that led to Cyrodiil’s war torn plains.
As they followed the Marine, Alyssa noticed the drills the soldiers were running around camp. The soldiers were divided between practicing with siege weapons and engaging in small skirmishes. The loud clashes of steel and shouts of the soldiers gave Alyssa a discouraged feeling as the passion she could hear in their shouts suggested they expected to return to war at any moment. The dirt path they walked turned to the left and ascended a small incline to where an array of tents and tables with maps being reviewed by generals. The generals briefly looked at Alyssa and Victoria as they were walked past to a tent against the wall that abutted the mountain which ran along the southside of the camp.
All of the tents were gold and silver colored, though the one they entered had a set of gold banners fluttering in the light breeze at its entrance. The interior of the tent was like a scene from Skywatch that Alyssa was familiar with. Bookcases with scrolls wedged into open spaces and Urcelmo seated at a large table with maps and stacks of documents. “Battlereeve,” the Marine said respectfully and Urcelmo looked up from the table. “Eye Alyssa Talmari,” the Marine added then bowed and excused himself. Urcelmo looked at the two women with his expression on the precipice of curling his lip.
“Why are you here Eye?” Urcelmo asked with subtle irritation. “I am on a mission which involves tracking down vampires with Queen Ayrenn’s permission and my path requires I enter Cyrodiil,” Alyssa answered dutifully and his mouth went agape. “Setting aside this supposed mission, your entry to Cyrodiil is not something I can condone. Agents of any of the alliances found wandering the wilds of Cyrodiil will jeopardize the present situation,” he stated sharply. “I understand Battlereeve, but this must be done and I will avoid contact,” she assured and he stared at her in disbelief.
“Has Queen Ayrenn’s relationship with you allowed you to lose sight of reality?” Urcelmo asked caustically and Victoria looked at him with shock. “No, it has not. I was brought before you as a formality, Queen Ayrenn’s decree authorizes my entry into Cyrodiil,” Alyssa asserted and set the document down on the table for him to see. “Excellent, so should you be captured, there will also be incontrovertible proof of which alliance you are part of,” he scoffed and Alyssa felt a twinge of irritation. “Battlereeve, allow me to appeal to your rational side. The living have heartbeats which I can keenly hear. No one is going to sneak up on me,” she explained in a restrained tone.
“Oblivious as ever,” Urcelmo criticized and Alyssa clenched her teeth. “There are mages scrying those fields out of interest for their respective delegates in Dawn Hearth. While you may have sufficient skill for evading conventional eyes, it is with great doubt that you will evade the attentive observation of the Pact and Covenant magi,” he said searingly. “I will in fact manage to do so using a cloaking spell I learned from vampires that I purged in Malabal Tor on my way here which avoided the Silvenar’s scrying attempts,” Alyssa said pointedly and he looked at her questioningly.
“You found vampires in Malabal Tor?” Urcelmo asked skeptically. “Several thousand lying in await between multiple areas, the Green Lady saw them firsthand as she assisted me,” Alyssa said flatly as she tried to rein in her irritation. “How is it you located those fiends?” Urcelmo asked in an accusatory tone. “I acquired a new gift which allows me to sense them. I can feel them in Cyrodiil which is why I need to go. In contrast to what you think, I understand handling this on my own is more optimal to mobilizing base camp and stirring up the other alliances,” Alyssa said cuttingly to which Urcelmo sneered.
“Ayrenn said you and our forces would have been withdrawn by now. Why are our forces still here?” Alyssa asked pointedly and Urcelmo’s expression showed irritation at being questioned. “That is because as I projected negotiations are proceeding poorly. The Council has failed to achieve set objectives in a timely manner and so here we remain in preparation for the possible fall out,” Urcelmo said cuttingly. “I believe there is something for each side to recognize in the fact the Council is still striving toward the goal of not returning to killing one another despite not managing to do so expeditiously,” she retorted sharply.
“Recognizing being blindly idealistic is the singular truth to glean and surviving a trivial naming ceremony is not the achievement others tout it to be,” Urcelmo said acrimoniously. “Such as keeping a vampire in our upper ranks,” he added with disdain as he shook his head. “It is my hope that one day you will stop feeling concerned that I will be the cause of something awful,” Alyssa stated in a subdued tone as she thought of Ayrenn. “That day is unlikely to ever come Eye,” he responded unapologetically and her shoulders sagged.
“Even now I wait for the fallout of Queen Ayrenn’s demonstration on your behalf in Skywatch. That the Queen is keeping one such as yourself at her side will not be so easily embraced on Summerset and will most certainly lead to Queen Ayrenn being summoned to Summerset to account for her choice. Then the Council will face a burden it is far from prepared for,” Urcelmo said and massaged his temples. “If it becomes necessary, I will leave the Dominion if Queen Ayrenn deems it so,” Alyssa remarked sullenly. “It is far too late for such choices Eye. The proof of the Queen’s choices are already known publicly, whether you are here or not it is a matter that will be addressed to the Dominion’s detriment,” he retorted.
Alyssa laid down the documents from Shazah next to Ayrenn’s. “Beyond the gates of the camp those won’t be of any use and they are the only items on my person which link me to the Dominion. If I do fall here or abroad there is nothing connecting me,” Alyssa said and Urcelmo tightened his lips as he looked at her. “While hope is not something you invest yourself into, it is something I do. I believe that things will not fall apart and if Queen Ayrenn is confronted, she will find the words as she did in Skywatch to sway the hearts of those on Summerset,” she stated solemnly and left the tent.
“Isn’t he charming?” Victoria whispered as they walked steadily away from the tents. “He is a calculating man who often expects bad things. I have been a focus of his for quite some time,” Alyssa said dejectedly. “It is impressive that the queen stuck her neck out for you to such a degree,” Victoria remarked while keeping close to Alyssa as they passed soldiers going down the incline to the commanders’ tents. “Queen Ayrenn has always been very kind to me, perhaps too kind,” Alyssa stated reflectively. They followed the dirt path northwest to the flat lands between the camp and the bulwark gates.
For several moments Alyssa stared out into the distance as she felt for the vampires. “This is disappointing,” Alyssa grumbled. “What is?” Victoria prodded. “I think I feel vampires located right next to the Covenant forces, which is the opposite side of where the Pact is that we are heading to,” Alyssa explained with a groan. “Why not cross over into Covenant territory and go to the Pact’s lands after?” Victoria suggested. “I wanted to make House Ravenwatch my last stop, or did you want to leave the hunt sooner?” Alyssa replied unsure of Victoria’s interests. “Bailing on you early was not my interest, especially as I have not secured my future,” Victoria said with a smirk under her mask and Alyssa rolled her eyes.
“I picked a route while we were walking here that I thought would be most efficient. Originally, I thought I would pass through Cyrodiil a second time, but there are boats from Eastmarch to Skyrim where we can then travel south to Craglorn which puts us in Covenant lands without returning to Cyrodiil,” Alyssa explained and returned to looking into the distance. “Cyrodiil is really large, is it not? Won’t that add a lot of time going back and forth?” Victoria inquired with concern. “Traveling back to Rivenspire from a Pact territory would be much more and I think we can try to use my teleportation glyph to save us some time here,” Alyssa replied and Victoria took a step back.
“That spell recently flung you into a wall did it not?” Victoria asked with disbelief. “I’ve made adjustments,” Alyssa said defensively. “That will lead to us being flung harder?” Victoria asked bluntly. “No, it should do what it’s supposed to,” Alyssa assured and Victoria hummed at her. “I need you to let me use some of your blood for the cloaking spell until we reach the vampires and gather some thralls,” Alyssa said bracingly. “How much?” Victoria asked fearfully. “The spell doesn’t consume blood the way fire burns wood. There is plenty of game in Cyrodiil, so I’ll be able to keep you in good shape,” Alyssa explained confidently. “Alright…,” Victoria replied anxiously.
They crossed the flat land and were briefly delayed by a squad of Marines guarding the gate. On the other side of the gate was a bridge going over a river and a large keep off to their left. “I feel the vampires over there. We’ll reach them before night fall,” Alyssa said as she pointed to the northeast. “And what do I do now?” Victoria asked reticently. “I’m going to put a small cut on the palm of one hand and start the spell. You must stay close to me because the globe of concealment won’t be large,” Alyssa instructed and then Victoria presented her left hand. Alyssa used her thumbnail and put a small slit in the center of Victoria’s hand.
Alyssa held an open hand over the cut and closed her eyes to call the memory of the spell to mind. She silently muttered the incantation and then red sparkles floated up from Victoria’s hand followed by a ten-foot-wide shimmering sphere forming around them. “Given the circ*mstances I won’t be picky about what I help you feed on,” Alyssa said and started walking. “That is a relief, I was worried you might let me bleed to death if we only found wolves,” Victoria said jokingly and slipped her left arm around Alyssa’s right arm. Alyssa turned her head and looked at Victoria.
“You said I needed to stay close and I am,” Victoria stated plainly. “We are occupying a quarter of the space, plenty of room for you to walk at my side,” Alyssa said annoyed as she tried to wriggle her arm free. “You could consider it fair trade could you not? A little bit of closeness in exchange for my blood?” Victoria asked playfully. “Very well Victoria,” Alyssa said having grown tired of trying to shake her off. “This is a weird feeling,” Victoria commented as she looked at her hand as the blood transitioned into small glimmering red lights. “Are you in pain?” Alyssa asked abruptly. “No, it feels like a tingle in my hand. I expected bleeding on-going to feel more tiring,” Victoria explained as she continued looking at her hand as they walked.
The sound of rustling in the grass far from them were the only sounds Alyssa could hear as she paid careful attention for anyone that might be near them. The area they walked through mirrored the damage Alyssa saw around the Nikel Outpost, the ground was torn up and scorched from sieges as well as having destroyed homes on the sides of the road. “I wonder what this place was like before the war began,” Victoria commented as she looked around. “I’m not sure there was a before. The bit of history I know suggests there was always war, between the races and different religious sects,” Alyssa responded as they went right at a fork in the road taking them away from the keep.
“Do you think there will be an after for you? Or will you always be out dealing with a crisis?” Victoria asked as she hugged Alyssa’s arm. “This is my last crisis. I didn’t just mean this was my last task, but that I am retiring entirely from service. It will be hard, but I think it will simply require that I force myself to let someone else step forward,” Alyssa answered wistfully. “As much as we know of the world, unless you force yourself you won’t ever get away from it,” Victoria remarked whimsically. “Have you thought about your after?” Alyssa inquired interestedly. “I thought quite a bit about how I will resume being a shopkeeper in Rivenspire as we enjoyed our quiet walk here,” Victoria said with a hum.
“What?” Alyssa asked with confusion. “It was just you and me on that road for two days. Most of which you seemed to spend in your own head,” Victoria complained. “Going from living in a monastery to working as a covert operative hasn’t cultivated a talkative personality. Besides I do have a lot to think about regarding this mission and what may come after. So yes, I do use long stretches like that one to consider things,” Alyssa explained patiently. “You could try talking to me about those things. As a merchant I do know about routes to travel and while I may not know much at all about fighting you could talk about the other parts concerning you or thoughts about your after,” Victoria said pointedly as they entered an abandoned lumber mill.
“I will credit you with the ride we secured to the Gold Coast. As for the after part, I’m not sure what to say about that with so much of it up in the air,” Alyssa said as she examined the dust covered benches inside a mill they walked by. “Such as what if you do end up settling in Rivenspire?” Victoria asked intently. “Hmm, I can’t discount that possibility in hindsight,” Alyssa said and Victoria looked at her surprised. “I’m not talking about leaving Rey for you. If I get chased out of Skywatch like the Battlereeve thinks I will, I expect Rey will come with me and settling in Rivenspire would likely be the best choice for us,” Alyssa clarified and Victoria sighed disappointedly.
“Does it seem uncertain that the knight would place you above duty to country?” Victoria inquired with interest. “Rey has a very important job. She is protecting a lot of people and I know I complicate things by being what I am. I love her very much, but I wouldn’t hold it against her if she prioritized the many,” Alyssa said in a sad tone. “Have you always been so selfless?” Victoria asked puzzled as they came to another bridge over a river. “I think so. I seem to recall frequently thinking of others first in the mining camps my family oversaw and then the needy when I joined the monastery,” Alyssa answered reflectively.
“Speaking of selfless, I could use something to eat,” Victoria said nudgingly. “Okay,” Alyssa said and panned her eyes to the left after they crossed the bridge. “You’re in luck,” Alyssa said after they crested a hill and found a small group of pigs nosing through the dirt for food. Alyssa summoned a javelin and launched it at one of the larger pigs grazing near a tree. The pig let out a shrill scream which scared off the other pigs. Alyssa quickly followed after Victoria who instantly became distracted by the smell of blood. Victoria practically lunged at the dying animal once she was in arms’ reach of it.
Victoria gorged herself as Alyssa waited patiently while watching her and thinking she was being excessive. “Ready to go?” Alyssa asked after growing weary of watching Victoria indulge herself. “Um yeah. That was pretty good,” Victoria said after leaning back and wiping her mouth. “The vampires are fairly close,” Alyssa said while looking to the northeast. The land ahead of them was very hilly with thick swaths of trees. “I have not heard anyone yet, have you?” Victoria asked and then put her mask back on. “Not yet. I honestly don’t expect to encounter anyone alive until we go near the base camps,” Alyssa answered and began walking.
They followed the road up a hill toward a weathered wooden home with some siding loosely hanging in places and a large hole in the roof as the Sun set. Alyssa paused as she clearly heard the growls of numerous bloodfiends coming from behind the house. A green light began to glow from inside the house and emanated out through the hole in the roof. A half dozen bloodfiends scurried to the front of the house and got into a line formation which surprised them both. The door to the house opened and a Dunmer woman in black and gold robes with a similarly styled staff stepped out of it. “Fellow vampires, how novel,” the woman said and then a green flare of light burst from the crystal at the top of her staff.
The bloodfiends ran toward Alyssa and Victoria as soon as the staff began to glow. Alyssa used the control glyph on them, but they paused for a fraction of a moment before continuing. She shifted her focus to the woman who she believed was a necromancer comparing the light she saw to what she saw in Northern Elsweyr. The bloodfiends running down the hill obscured her line of sight to the woman. Alyssa channeled a limited amount of magicka into her staff causing it to glow brightly, but not transform. She held it by the end and swung it like a mace, sending the bloodfiends flying to the left and right.
While the bloodfiends tried to rise to their feet, Alyssa sprinted up the hill. Long jagged shards of ice shot out of the ground toward her as she ran, but her heightened senses allowed her to side step the attacks as they began. When she neared the top of the hill where the necromancer stood a wall of ice rose in front of them faster than Alyssa was able to invoke the control glyph as she evaded the other attacks and the pursuing bloodfiends. She could hear the necromancer running and she quickly aimed her lance to vault over the wall of ice. Alyssa used the control glyph as the vampire ran with their back to her, who then stumbled onto the ground as it took effect.
The bloodfiends rabidity returned and was followed by shifting their attention away from chasing Alyssa to turning on Victoria. “Little help!” Victoria shouted as she retreated and Alyssa smashed through the weakening wall of ice with her lance. She activated the control glyph and the bloodfiends came to a stop in their running. “Thanks,” Victoria said relieved to Alyssa as she came down the hill with the necromancer following behind her. “Just one should be fine and I can feed them as we go,” Alyssa thought aloud and sent the other five vampires away to Moonshadow. “That was a bit exciting… how many more?” Victoria asked anxiously and Alyssa turned to the north.
“Three… maybe four nests. The last one is the Covenant base camp,” Alyssa answered as she was now looking to the northwest. Alyssa cut the top of the Nord bloodfiend’s hand then activated the spell. “The next spot isn’t nearby,” Alyssa said pointedly and began walking hastily. The bloodfiend scampered after them as its blood transitioned into faint red sparkles that rose over their heads and cascaded out forming the sphere around them. “Was that like what you were facing in those burial grounds?” Victoria asked as she kept an eye on the bloodfiend. “Sort of. She seemed weaker,” Alyssa asked after thinking a moment.
Following the road north they entered an abandoned farm with heavily irrigated fields. A small platform with a tattered Pact banner hung from a scorched post on the farm’s outskirt. Alyssa looked around and saw deer grazing on the overgrown landscape. She then looked at the bloodfiend docilely waiting on all fours behind them. Alyssa summoned a javelin and killed a deer grazing not far from the platform. “The drawback to this plan is I don’t know when the bloodfiend is feeling low,” Alyssa remarked as they walked toward the kill. “Do you mind if I have a bit?” Victoria asked as Alyssa commanded the bloodfiend to feed. “Sure, but be reasonable,” Alyssa answered and Victoria joined the bloodfiend in feasting.
“Would you care to elaborate on your general’s remark regarding your relationship with the queen?” Victoria asked after wiping her mouth and standing up. “Queen Ayrenn could be said to show favoritism towards two of her Eyes, my mentor Razum-dar and myself. The Queen has gone to particular lengths to protect me since I was turned into a vampire, something which the Battlereeve has strongly opposed and probably resented,” Alyssa explained with a sigh as she watched the bloodfiend ravage the deer’s corpse for more blood.
“Is she seeking to bed you as well?” Victoria asked intently and Alyssa glared at her in response. “It seemed worth asking given the string of encounters I have witnessed, though the Mane seemed more prepared to worship you than pleasure you,” Victoria said reflectively with a smirk. “I have a great respect for Queen Ayrenn, I would ask you not to speak so crassly of her,” Alyssa requested pointedly while restraining the urge to strike her. “Fair enough,” Victoria responded with her hands held up in acquiescence to the instruction. Victoria began looking around them and then up at the sky which puzzled Alyssa as she observed her.
“Perhaps it is a bit late for this concern, but do you think our fight with that necromancer when we weren’t standing under this cloaking spell has caused us to be noticed?” Victoria asked with mild worry. “I don’t think that is something which we need to worry about. Anyone who did see it likely dismissed it as undead fighting among themselves,” Alyssa replied and Victoria looked at her skeptically. “If they were concerned about that necromancer in the first place and the bloodfiends she was keeping, we wouldn’t have found them in the first place. Cyrodiil has been in this state of ceasefire for months,” Alyssa assured and Victoria seemed to let go of the concern.
“Are we close to the next nest?” Victoria asked as she watched the bloodfiend gnawing on a leg bone of the deer. “No, it still feels really far and likely we won’t reach it before nightfall,” Alyssa answered then commanded the bloodfiend to start walking. They walked along the perimeter of a farm and they could both smell the scent of dried blood traveling the breeze out of the farm toward them. “Did they slaughter the farm hands?” Victoria asked with wonder as she looked at the farm as they walked by. “Probably. This is one of several farms that provided supplies to Drakelowe Keep which is east of here,” Alyssa replied with a grimace.
“I cannot begin to imagine the nerve it required to tend fields knowing enemy soldiers could attack at any time,” Victoria commented as they moved past the farm. “There is a great deal I question about the nerve required to engage in war, period. Feeling constant fear that you will lose your life is no way to live,” Alyssa stated bitterly. “You do not feel that way doing what you have done and are still doing?” Victoria inquired with disbelief. “Most of the time I was never worried about dying while on a mission. I am told that I am reckless, running head first into dangers that a person of sound mind would back away from,” Alyssa explained with a shrug.
“Do you enjoy facing danger?” Victoria asked curiously. “Not really. My mind set is I have been given great and powerful gifts for the purpose of keeping those dangers away from those who are not in as good of a position to defend themselves. I have seen a lot of horror in my time of service to the Dominion and it spurs me on to do all I can so there isn’t more than there must be,” Alyssa said resolutely. “You sound like one of the knights out of a fairy tale. Those in service I have become familiar with are driven by pursuit of money or power, the people they happen to help are just a by-product,” Victoria stated cynically.
They marched north at a steady pace through the valleys and around the small mountains in their path. As night began to set in, they reached a road heading northwest with a lake on both sides of it leading to an empty keep. “I can hear them,” Victoria said in a stressed whisper and Alyssa nodded. Focusing her hearing, Alyssa could hear the rabid sounds of bloodfiends and rushing water far ahead. They walked along the edge of the lake on their right as they moved toward the sound of the bloodfiends. As they drew closer, they saw the moonlight illuminate a small mountain with a waterfall pouring into the lake.
Near the top of the mountain Alyssa noticed a dim light behind the water. Around the base of mountain, she could see the bloodfiends lethargically moving in search of food. Alyssa clapped her hands and the bloodfiends all looked at her as did Victoria with astoundment. The bloodfiends began running at her while hissing and howling. In droves the bloodfiends fell to the ground as Alyssa used the control glyph on them. “Testing a theory of treating them like dogs answering their master returning home?” Victoria asked with incredulity. “No, just doing what was easiest. I can feel more inside that cave,” Alyssa replied and pointed to the dim light at top of the small mountain.
“You should be safe out here,” Alyssa said after dispatching the bloodfiends. “Alright, I will keep our pet company,” Victoria responded anxiously as she looked at the controlled bloodfiend drooling on the ground. Alyssa transformed her lance and vaulted her way up the small mountain to the cave entrance. Standing at the mouth of the cave she could hear whispers and growls. The cave entrance curved down into the mountain. Supports along the walls and familiar marks in the walls told Alyssa it used to be a mine. Savage growls echoed up the tunnel to her as she completed the first rotation of descent into the mine.
Bloodfiends came galloping up the tunnel and Alyssa seized their minds one after another as they crawled over each other with open mouths directed at her. She cleared the path and continued farther into the tunnel. After the next turn in the tunnel, it opened up into a cavern with numerous support posts and abandoned mining equipment. A dozen vampires, most dressed in Covenant plate armor, looked at her in unison. Animal entrails and skeletons of people long since fed upon littered the cavern floor. “Who are you?” asked one of the plate armored vampires in a guttural tone.
Alyssa used the control glyph taking control of half of them. Chanting immediately followed and javelins of ice launched toward her. Alyssa tumbled out of the way and commanded the vampires she controlled to tackle the remaining vampires. Instead of using the glyph again she tried practicing control of the vampires in restraining the others. The controlled vampires fought without concern for self-defense as they sustained wounds from axes, swords and piercing shards of ice. Alyssa’s vampires successfully wrestled the remaining vampires to the ground without her assistance, but suffered severe injuries in the process. She healed her thralls and used the control glyph after.
The transportation glyph flashed under the feet of the groaning vampires and then Alyssa left the cave. She found Victoria leaned against the tree watching the bloodfiend feeding on mudcrabs. “How was it inside?” Victoria asked as Alyssa came near. “Pretty good. I think I am getting better at commanding the vampires,” Alyssa answered optimistically. “Maybe you will be able to make a go of running an undead traveling circus,” Victoria said jokingly. “As clumsy as they move, they’d pass for jesters, not acrobats,” Alyssa said dismissively.
“Let’s make camp in the cave. The next nest is past the keep, but I’m feeling tired,” Alyssa suggested as she looked in the direction of the keep. “Think you can handle catching dinner?” Alyssa inquired turning her attention to Victoria. “I think I could manage,” Victoria answered hesitantly. “Follow,” Alyssa said firmly to the bloodfiend while thinking of Victoria. “This will be another good test of my control,” Alyssa remarked as she observed the change in the bloodfiend’s behavior after issuing the command.
“Perhaps you could add a command to have it help me carry it back?” Victoria asked hopefully and Alyssa snorted. “Good hunting Victoria,” Alyssa responded and returned to the cave. She wandered the cave looking for any suggestion of why the vampires had nested there. However, after briefly scouring the cavern Alyssa had only found remnants of previous meals to her disappointment then settled down on the ground to blankly stare at the opposite wall.
In the morning, they slowly exited the cave. “I do not hear any soldiers,” Victoria said nervously. “You mean you can’t smell them?” Alyssa asked shocked and Victoria’s jaw slacked. Alyssa choked a laugh and Victoria punched her arm. “That is not even remotely funny,” Victoria replied in borderline hysterics. “I beg to differ, seeing the fright in your eyes is a bit funny,” Alyssa said snickering as she led the way out of the cave. “What is your obsession with trying to scare me to death? There was that stunt outside Marbruk, that time almost falling to our death in that cave, and now jokes about army forces laying in wait for us… It is not funny,” Victoria complained.
“Your senses are about as good as mine, it’s not my fault you’re so gullible. And we weren’t falling to our death in that cave,” Alyssa argued as she began the cloaking spell with the bloodfiend. “I have not been honing myself like you have, so no my senses are not as good as yours and I have not yet forgotten how terrifying it was to be chased after by mobs or soldiers while hiding in Grahtwood,” Victoria said irritably. “Then it is past time to start. Your survival will be in your own hands eventually, House Ravenwatch is unlikely to spend their time guarding you,” Alyssa asserted as they followed a narrow path down the mountain.
“You said those vampires are welcome in Rivenspire,” Victoria said as they began heading northwest through the hills. “For the most part. There are vampire hunters that travel as well, I have met a few that were quite good at what they do,” Alyssa said warningly. “Is that your way of saying I cannot reasonably live where the coven resides?” Victoria asked pointedly. “The members of the House travel discreetly, which is not what you are planning in returning to running a shop. A vampire shopkeeper is likely to attract attention. While being attacked in public is unlikely, being followed away from people to avoid interference is,” Alyssa clarified as they crested a hill that gave them a view of the keep and white stone arches to the northwest.
“So, I need to watch out for them the way someone watches out for muggers and the like,” Victoria said trying to tone down the threat. “In a sense. But I think you will also need guards since you will not be able to defend yourself against them,” Alyssa responded thoughtfully. “I have seen Silver Hand members before, but not vampire hunters. What are they like?” Victoria asked anxiously as scenarios ran through her mind of being attacked at night leaving her shop. “Determined, unforgiving, and creative. Vampires are more malicious than werewolves and it seems to rub off on the personalities of those who decide to hunt them,” Alyssa responded as she thought back to Shademist Moors.
“I met a Dunmer named Mel Adrys. He lost his wife and became dedicated to hunting down vampires. I have run into him more than once while I was still alive. His anger toward vampires for losing his wife runs deep. Regardless of how you live as a vampire it didn’t matter, he killed vampires on principle,” Alyssa said ominously. “How good of a hunter is he?” Victoria pressed as they drew closer to the white stone arches. “His swordsmanship I think was among some of the best and he wielded a great sword enchanted with flame. I still remember the first time I saw him strike a vampire with it, they burst into flames and became defenseless as they flailed,” Alyssa said bitterly.
“That sounds horrible,” Victoria remarked uncomfortably. “A mirror of the horror they have witnessed. Even before the coven attacked Grahtwood I had seen a lot of nightmarish things done by vampires that cause me to understand the breaking point that these hunters have been dragged past. It is important you understand that they can’t be reasoned with Victoria,” Alyssa said forebodingly. “Do they always hunt alone?” Victoria inquired hoping she would not have to avoid a group of hunters. “No. I met a Nord named Sabonn who worked with two partners. Very skillful in baiting and killing bloodfiends. How they would have fared against a potent sentient vampire, I am unsure,” Alyssa replied with a headshake.
“Is it your opinion I need to learn how to fight, not just defend myself?” Victoria asked plainly as they set foot on a stone path that led to stairs that passed under the stone arches. “I strongly advise it; it is the reason why I got you that dagger. A criminal will move on, but the hunters won’t. You should expect to have to defend your life at some point, all the members of House Ravenwatch are trained to fight and can train you as well,” Alyssa answered encouragingly. “I thought Rivenspire being a haven for vampires sounded too good to be true, seems I was right,” Victoria remarked as they ascended the stairs to the pinnacle of an Ayleid ruin.
“Nowhere is perfectly safe, but in Shornhelm you won’t be openly attacked walking down the street is the difference,” Alyssa clarified and stopped speaking as she felt a chill in the air. Alyssa stopped their ascent and looked around carefully. She took deep breaths and smelled only a vague mustiness. “Be on your guard,” Alyssa whispered and Victoria drew her dagger then spastically looked around them. Alyssa transformed her staff then moved ahead of Victoria and the bloodfiend thrall. She stepped onto the very large dais at the top of the stairs which was surrounded by broken stone arches and a carved stone entrance leading underground. A black mist billowed out surrounding the dais and then expanded inward.
The mist receded from the dais to its edge revealing an Imperial man in a robe with black paint across his face and an emerald capped staff. With him were a half dozen bloodfiends, vampires, and other Imperials seeming to be in control of the vampires. “I wonder if you are the reason that I lost Famyne,” the imperial man asked as he sized up Alyssa. “Would that be the name of a vampire?” Alyssa asked as she assessed the field while hearing Victoria pressing on the black mist which was solid like a wall. “Indeed. A lovely Dunmer in my service tasked with gathering lost soldiers,” the man said with a grin.
Judging the overwhelming odds of eighteen on one, Alyssa was quickly dismissed the idea of gathering vampires while assuming the worst of the necromancer’s strength. “No matter, I believe you will make a fitting substitute,” the man said and extended his green glowing staff toward Alyssa. She vaulted forward before the man could begin chanting and shocked the man as she suddenly was standing beside him. Alyssa activated her cloud before any of the necromancers or vampires could react and surged additional magicka into it. The cloud erupted violently around her and flung most of her targets flat into the wall of the mist.
Only two necromancers and one each bloodfiend and vampire had been outside of the range of the cloud. Alyssa cracked a vial of kindlepitch and tossed it behind her. Victoria dropped to the ground on the bloodfiend thrall and tucked into her robe. The cloud scattered the vial’s contents and the dust spun out like a funnel to the walls of the black mist. Alyssa threw a fireball as the necromancers were preparing to attack and the entire dais flashed bright orange as flame exploded. Alyssa sheltered inside her barrier as she heard the screams of the vampires and necromancers.
The flames quickly passed as did the screams. When the smoke cleared Alyssa saw the charred bodies smoldering along the edge of the dais. “It’s safe now,” Alyssa called out and Victoria got up off the ground. “Maybe I should be worried about you before the vampire hunters. I could feel the heat through my robe,” Victoria said sharply. “You’re not burned,” Alyssa said defensively. “A miracle indeed, just like your pet not getting any ideas to feed on me while keeping it from being burnt to a crisp like these poor fools,” Victoria said vehemently. “I knew what I was doing when I treated your robe and the thrall won’t act without a command so it was never going to feed on you,” Alyssa explained in an attempt to calm her.
“I still cannot believe you took on so many alone,” Victoria said in disbelief as she looked at all the bodies. “Well, they set the trap themselves. In this enclosed place the flames consumed all the air causing the necromancers to suffocate before they burned to death with the vampires,” Alyssa said in a satisfied tone. “That powder of yours could make a lot of money provided to the right clients,” Victoria speculated while holding a hand to her chin. “I’d rather not. As destructive as it is I’d rather it not get around. I set a section of a city on fire once with it, the thought of some criminals using it for arson is an uncomfortable one,” Alyssa argued and began putting a marking on the dais with the butt of her staff.
“What is that?” Victoria asked as she watch Alyssa. “The teleportation glyph. From here we are bound west. We’ll use this to save time doubling back,” Alyssa answered with an excited smile. “Are you sure that is going to work and not do something awful to you or us instead?” Victoria asked worried. “It’ll be fine. I practiced a little last night while you were out hunting and had some success,” Alyssa replied assuring her. “Some success implies there is still room for work,” Victoria said pointedly. “It is going to work well enough. I believe I have the fatal kinks worked out,” Alyssa replied optimistically. “How comforting,” Victoria said with an eye roll.
“We are going to pass by one of the bridges into Dawn Hearth. We need to be mindful of being seen by sentries on the city walls,” Alyssa warned and began walking northwest. “Out of curiosity, what would happen if we were seen?” Victoria asked calmly. “Being vampires, they’d likely kill us on sight. If I identified myself, it would buy us a small amount of time while causing a diplomatic incident for the Dominion which I will not consent to. Either we successfully escape our pursuers or die,” Alyssa answered flatly. “I see, maybe we should not go near the bridges,” Victoria suggested earnestly.
“I am leading us to Chalman Gate. It is a pass through a mountain range that separates Chalman Keep from Covenant territory. The alternative is to go around the keep to a northern pass which would add almost an entire day to our travels,” Alyssa said in disagreement. “Then I will hope there are plenty of hills to hide behind. These cloaks rather stand out in broad daylight,” Victoria stated bluntly. “We should manage,” Alyssa remarked as she looked at the topography on her map. They clustered in the cloaking spell and began hiking northwest from the Ayleid ruin through the hills. Victoria’s gaze was fixed to the southwest as she could see the walls of Dawn Hearth.
Alyssa weaved a path between the hills that separated Nord keeps as they headed northwest to the pass. At a cottage near a lumbermill they stopped as they were soon to be easy to spot by anyone in Chalman Keep which commanded an unhindered view of its recessed surroundings for a few miles. “A spy glass would be useful about now,” Alyssa complained as she stared intently at the keep and then glanced at the road which passed nearby leading to Chalman Gate. “All of the forces have pulled back to the base camps, did they not?” Victoria asked not sharing her concern. “That is what is supposed to be what happened,” Alyssa replied skeptically.
“See that grey stone wall on the road?” Alyssa asked as she pointed to west. “I do,” Victoria replied expectantly. “That is the pass. If we can reach it, there won’t be any problems,” Alyssa explained. “And what is the problem?” Victoria inquired pointedly. “The northern base camp travels by the road that comes down both sides of Chalman. If someone appears on the westside of Chalman, there is nowhere to hide. So, we need to move quickly,” Alyssa advised and started sliding down the hill from the cottage toward the keep. “I do not hear anything,” Victoria said confidently as she jogged behind Alyssa.
Alyssa’s eyes watched the ramparts of the keep as they ran along the walls toward the pass. At the end of the wall, they stopped and Alyssa looked around the corner to see if the road was clear. She motioned for Victoria to follow and began running for the pass. Alyssa ran with her eyes closed to amplify her hearing. The rippling of leaves in trees and the crunch of the dirt under their feet was all she could detect as they sprinted forward. When she could smell the metal gates of the pass, she opened her eyes and looked behind them upon reaching the stone steps. “I will count that as a gift from the Divines,” Victoria commented as she followed Alyssa through the gate she had unlocked.
The other side of the gate was a thick lush forest. “Now we head for the snow, we can lower our guard for now,” Alyssa advised and began following the road west. “It feels like I am back in Grahtwood,” Victoria remarked as she looked at the many oak trees to either side of the road. “I’m honestly surprised given how destroyed the land was in the southwest by siege weapons,” Alyssa commented as her eyes left the road. “Do you think I will ever be able to return to Grahtwood?” Victoria asked as she came alongside Alyssa who shook her head.
“Not for a very long time. I don’t think the Bosmer will forget what happened for a few generations and a masked shopkeeper would be too suspicious,” Alyssa said grimly as she thought of the many that had died. “I am not sure which angers me more, being turned into this or losing the livelihood I had spent so much time building,” Victoria said with a click of her tongue. “I agree with you there. Being what we are is very difficult, but having a normal life stripped away is rather difficult as well,” Alyssa said bitterly. “I was left with the impression you were moving back towards a normal life,” Victoria remarked confused.
“Maybe I didn’t choose my words well. When people in the city see me, I can see the fear or nervousness in their eyes. My reputation of past service is probably all that keeps it from devolving into terror. There is still the matter of Summerset. They could dispatch Thalmor or possibly the Sapiarchs to execute me before or after Queen Ayrenn faces a tribunal for allowing me to live,” Alyssa stated simply.
“Would they really do that?” Victoria asked with disbelief as they passed a stone outpost with many burn marks and holes in the ground around it. “The Altmer have a strict stance about daedra. Currently the Queen is flaunting that rule by allowing me to live. She never spoke of waiting to hear of a summons to Summerset, but perhaps that is because she is confident about dealing with it. Fortunately, I am on this long mission so I can imagine her telling them I am no longer part of the Dominion,” Alyssa explained with a small laugh at the end. “Unusual to hear that a monarch would compromise themselves to such a degree for a subordinate,” Victoria said surprised.
“Queen Ayrenn isn’t a hardline follower of Altmer beliefs, she chooses not to see things as black and white, separate from not tethering herself to some of the more impractical views of the Altmer,” Alyssa stated as they neared the hill behind the outpost. “I had heard the warrior queen was cut from different cloth than her predecessors,” Victoria remarked as she grabbed onto tree trunks to steady herself in following Alyssa up the hill. “She is a very exceptional individual which is capable of a greater degree of compassion than most Altmer,” Alyssa said praising her. “She seems worth meeting. My experiences with Altmer in business is as you say, strict in decorum and dealings,” Victoria said amused.
“It could also be an opportunity to tell this knight of yours my intentions to take you off their hands,” Victoria noted boldly. “I will wish you the best of luck Victoria. I warned you before, she might draw her weapon on you,” Alyssa said while grinning at the scene of Ayrenn staring her down. “Oh? I thought only Nords stooped to violence in such matters,” Victoria remarked with amusem*nt. “She is well traveled and had the opportunity to expose herself to a variety of influences,” Alyssa explained and helped Victoria up to the top of the hill. “Well, I am making progress with my small blade,” Victoria said with a smile and Alyssa snorted.
“You do not think I could rise to the challenge?” Victoria asked indignantly. “I think she has a significant lead given her years of experience. It may prove a monumental challenge to compete,” Alyssa stated bluntly. “I would argue you are worth the effort and I will try to rise to the task. At the very least, I do not have to worry about running out of breath in a fight and just let her tire herself out,” Victoria said pridefully. “Mhmm and hope she doesn’t lop anything off before she gets to that point,” Alyssa said smugly with a smile. “You are so very good at keeping me inspired,” Victoria said sarcastically.
They continued northwest through snow-covered valleys once they left the hills. Alyssa led them to the other side of the valley to a dirt road that went up an incline toward very large grey rocks. As they neared the grey rocks Alyssa paused to look at Victoria who nodded and drew her dagger. Alyssa transformed her staff and moved farther ahead to avoid attention falling on Victoria or her thrall. The area in front of the grey rocks was cleared off and had tan-colored tents pitched in rows with vampires loitering around them holding conversations. She held a hand to her mouth as she noticed small black metal cages with corpses inside them with their arms and legs dangling out.
Alyssa glared at the vampires and activated the control glyph. She swatted her hand to the ground and all of the vampires she had taken control of dropped to the ground startling the other vampires who were behind the tents. The vampires looked at their compatriots then spotted Alyssa and sprinted toward her. Those closest were claimed and the remaining vampires panicked then hid behind the tents, concluding being seen was the danger. Alyssa approached the camp then held out her palm and released a funnel of flames, igniting most of the tents. The vampires fled the fire and she enthralled each of them as they left their cover.
Victoria and the bloodfiend thrall approached the smoldering scene as Alyssa had begun sending the vampires to Moonshadow. The fires on the tents soon died out and Alyssa walked up to one of the cages. “They were feeding on them like a keg,” Victoria remarked as she looked at the numerous bites on the arms and legs. “I’ll open the cages, could you do something about the bodies while I go inside?” Alyssa requested fervently. “Of course,” Victoria responded swiftly seeing the pain in her eyes. Alyssa severed the locks on the cages with her lance and entered the cave under the large grey rocks behind the tents.
Inside of the cave Alyssa could sense numerous vampires and the scent of death was heavy in the air. The stench of rot became more severe with each step and she chose to stop breathing to avoid the distraction of the odor. Blue daedric flames burned on the torches of the cave walls casting a pale light. Seeing those flames struck Alyssa as unsettling for being outside of Oblivion. Moans echoed from an adjacent hallway accompanied by shuffling feet. She continued forward to where she could feel vampires nearby, but paused to look down another hallway and saw dozens of zombies in varying alliance armors idling.
The zombies showed no reaction to her examining them. Alyssa decided they could wait and continued forward. The hallway opened into an area resembling a laboratory. A skeleton in a black robe floating a few inches off the ground was surrounded by vampires with one on a table being experimented on by the skeleton. The skeleton turned around and showed its glowing red eyes and rusted crown. “A lich,” Alyssa muttered quietly. “Another sample, wonderful,” the lich lisped and extended a hand toward her. Alyssa felt a tight grasping sensation around her throat and the vampires moved toward her, but not of their own will.
Alyssa released a beam which broke the lich’s concentration when it burned into their ribs. The hold on her throat released and she activated the control glyph. The vampires paused in their advance, but did not fall under her control. “Those are my puppets!” the lich said angrily and began summoning a ball of lightning in its hands. Alyssa dove out of the way as the lich released the spell and its stream of lightning followed after her, cutting three of the vampires in half. Alyssa vaulted toward the lich and a thick wall of ice rose up out of the ground before reaching the lich, deflecting her strike. She prepared to thrust through the ice and heard a snap of the lich’s staff.
The ice burst toward her, cutting her body multiple times with shards of ice and threw Alyssa to the ground. She gasped from the pain of the many cuts she sustained. “Lesser beings should know their place,” lisped the lich and then summoned lightning again. She scrambled to her feet and vaulted to the left to evade the lightning and then again along the rear wall of the laboratory as the lich guided the attack behind her. The lightning struck a support beam and rafters fell from over the lich’s head. The lich ended its attack as it glided out of the way of the falling beams. While the lich was distracted Alyssa threw one of her fireballs.
The lich was too slow to react and its body became engulfed in flame. It screamed for a brief moment before the remnants of its body fell to the ground while continuing to burn. The control the lich held over the vampires passed and Alyssa’s glyph fully seized upon them. She drank from one vampire to heal her wounds before sending them on. “New experiences make us stronger, little one,” Alyssa said imitating Raz. She looked down at her shredded robe and groaned. Alyssa sighed and backtracked to the tunnel with zombies then released a funnel of flame, incinerating all of the zombies in her path.
The tunnel curved like a snake and soon she heard the chiming of blades. At the end of the curve, she found thirty vampires in plate armor sparring with swords against skeletons. Smelling the blood on Alyssa they turned immediately to face her. Before they could speak Alyssa turned them into thralls and the skeletons attempted to move past them to attack her. With a simple gesture of her hand the vampires attacked the skeletons and smashed their bodies into pieces. She directed the vampires to proceed ahead of her into the tunnel leading farther into the cave. Zombies blocked the way as they had in the previous tunnel. With a thought she compelled the vampires to cut the zombies down.
The small army of vampires trampled the zombies and restrained the vampires in the next section of the cave for Alyssa to take possession of. She stood surrounded by close to eighty vampires attired in plate armor and holding various weapons, some with shields. Alyssa commanded them in her mind to raise their right hands and stopped to watch as they executed the command. She then commanded half to sit and the rest to take a knee. As she commanded them, she took note of the impact she felt on herself from the act. Alyssa felt it was akin to physical exercise, but not overly exhausting.
Alyssa marshalled the vampires into ranks and had them continue the march into the depths of the cave. The army grew in size as it proceeded, making it an easy task to overwhelm the remaining vampires’ numbers and the weak undead. The final section of the cave resembled a temple with a single wide pillar in the center bearing carvings depicting worship to daedra. The floor was covered in bones and a single vampire occupied the room, a Breton woman in brown leathers wearing a silver circlet with a staff bearing blue daedric flame on its head. “What have we… here?” asked the woman as she looked at the array of vampires flanking Alyssa.
The control glyph was invoked, but had no effect on the vampire. “Attempting to invade my mind? Best of luck my dear,” the vampire said and raised her staff. Skeletons assembled themselves from the bones strewn across the floor. The vampire snapped her staff forward and the skeletons glowed green then attacked the vampire thralls. The skeletons attacked with an unnatural ferocity, sending vampires flying from their blows. Alyssa commanded the vampires to contain the enchanted skeletons and then vaulted over the swarm to attack the necromancer. The woman looked at Alyssa angrily and braced with her staff.
The necromancer tried in vain to parry Alyssa’s lance, but was pierced multiple times. The woman’s focus broke from the pain and the skeletons fell to the floor. Alyssa looked at the circlet while pinning the necromancer’s chest down to the floor with her lance. She used her foot to restrain the necromancer’s right hand then then pulled the circlet off her head. “No!” the woman shouted then succumbed to control glyph. Alyssa had the vampires cluster together and then cast the transportation glyph under them. As the vampires vanished, she turned her attention to a table next to a small bookcase against the wall.
The tomes on the bookcase were arcane in nature with most involved with necromancy. On the table numerous documents were spread out. The necromancer had been tracking troop movements when the war was active and now was making records of movements from the Pact base camp into Dawn Hearth. The last item to catch Alyssa’s eye was a letter. It was addressed to a sister named Raelynne, which instructed them to raise an army and that the author of the letter would raise one in Lipsand before joining them together in Twilight Woods to sweep through northern Cyrodiil. Alyssa recalled Twilight Wood was farther into Covenant territory and in the direction of where she sensed the last nest of vampires.
Alyssa retraced her steps out of the cave to rejoin Victoria. She found her under the moonlight with a shovel in hand adding dirt to the shallow graves for the bodies that had been pulled from the cages. “How was it inside?” Victoria asked pausing in her task. “A bit rough. They were amassing an army out of the soldiers of Cyrodiil and a letter I found suggests a sibling has done the same in the place we are next bound for,” Alyssa explained as she moved to stand beside Victoria. “This is everyone, you will forgive me for not digging a proper grave,” Victoria said with modest regret as Alyssa stared at the ground.
“It’s fine. I appreciate you laying them to rest. It is better than leaving them in those cages,” Alyssa replied bitterly. “Did you notice anything while you were alone out here?” Alyssa asked as she glanced around and Victoria resumed adding the last of the dirt to the grave. “Not a soul out here except us,” Victoria affirmed as she packed the dirt with the back of the shovel. “Then let’s find somewhere to camp. I’d rather not camp here,” Alyssa urged and Victoria dropped the shovel to follow her west into quiet hilly terrain. Victoria looked over her shoulder at the gloomy scene of cages, burnt tents, and the graves which seemed all too familiar to her.
“You know this is quite a charming setting,” Victoria said as she looked ahead at the lush grass and verdant trees around them. “It is nice,” Alyssa said with an exhale as she chose to focus her mind on the peaceful landscape. “A pleasant stroll… Just you and me… and our dog,” Victoria said as she glanced at the bloodfiend following them and Alyssa let out a choked laugh. “I will give you recognition for a refreshing perspective,” Alyssa commented while holding her sides. Victoria attempted to link arms with Alyssa, but she tightened her arm against her body as Victoria tried to slip her arm in.
“No need to be bashful,” Victoria teased and Alyssa looked at her with dismissive eyes. “It’s not bashful Victoria, it’s uninterested,” Alyssa corrected with a raised eyebrow. “I am quite content to challenge your position by inviting you to join me for a bath in the river and fully evaluate your lack of interest,” Victoria said pointedly while maintaining eye contact as she walked. “Where you say evaluate, I hear your intention to pounce on an unguarded moment,” Alyssa said cuttingly. “You vilify my character Alyssa,” Victoria said defensively. “Oh? In case you were wondering I have stopped counting the number of times you have attempted to crawl into my bed roll,” Alyssa said flatly and Victoria’s mouth gaped at the remark.
They stopped at a small clearing on top of a hill which gave them a view of the land around them for miles. “The stars are really beautiful here without the lights of the city to dull their brightness,” Victoria commented as she unpacked her bag to make camp. “I was on Summerset the last time I enjoyed such a view. Camping illegally in a vineyard and admiring the night sky,” Alyssa said and smiled. “Your knight is willing to commit crimes for you, is she?” Victoria asked interestedly. “She is very dedicated to our relationship,” Alyssa said with a grin.
“Does that mean a bit of thievery would put me in a favorable light?” Victoria asked playfully and Alyssa looked at her suspiciously. “Trespassing isn’t really hurting anyone. Stealing however is,” Alyssa chided. “No romance in committing a crime for another?” Victoria queried continuing her playful tone. “No, I know how hard people work to bring things to market,” Alyssa retorted. “Well, I did not steal it, but was willing to spin a tale of clever deception for you,” Victoria said giving up on cultivating the mood and reached into her pack to pull out a rolled up dark blue cloth.
“It caught my eye while in the market with the Mane’s aide. Seeing the state of your robe it seemed like a good time to give it, though I was hoping for a more inspired moment,” Victoria said as she handed it over. Alyssa unfurled it and saw it was a hoodless robe with a turban of matching cloth. A glimmer inside the robe caught her attention and she saw two moons with surrounding stars had been stitched across the front and back. Alyssa looked at Victoria with curiosity in her eyes regarding the design. “I was able to turn it inside out. The intended way would stand out too much while hunting, but will look good in town,” Victoria explained.
“Thanks. I was wondering what I was going to do about this,” Alyssa said as she stuck fingers through the holes in her robe. She pulled off her abbey robe and Victoria looked at the blood-stained wrapping over her chest and panties. “Are you alright?” Victoria inquired looking at the amount of blood that had stained her underwear. “The wounds have closed,” Alyssa replied unconcerned and pulled her new robe on over her head. “Wearing silk to hunt vampires, my Altmer roots are shining true,” Alyssa said amused. “It looks good on you and I will look forward to seeing it worn properly or lying beside my bedroll on the grass,” Victoria said with a grin as she admired how snuggly the robe fit Alyssa which was received with an eye roll.
They broke camp with the rising of the Sun. “How far is it to the den of an army of vampires?” Victoria asked sarcastically. “We are about here… by midday we will reach Lipsand Tarn. I find it incredibly odd the degree of concern the Battlereeve had for detection when the vampires are nesting up against their base camp. All of their activity going unnoticed seems impossible,” Alyssa answered baffled. “Maybe they have found an effective means of hiding themselves as they did in Grahtwood and Malabal Tor or maybe they think they are a trivial threat to dispense with later?” Victoria suggested with a shrug. “I wouldn’t like to imagine the possibility of tunnels under the Covenant’s camp,” Alyssa said uncomfortably.
Alyssa moved at an aggressive pace toward where she sensed the vampires as her fears of the past spurred her on. At noon they arrived at a high standing cliff which was the beginning of the Covenant base camp. Ayleid ruins decorated the ground leading up to the rock wall where there was a stone door bearing runes. Alyssa carefully looked at their surroundings before approaching the door. “Do you think there is a ward on the door like that other place which is why the army doesn’t know there are vampires under them?” Victoria guessed as she followed behind Alyssa. “Probably. I have a bad feeling and think it would be safer for you to stay close to me,” Alyssa suggested with some hesitation.
“Alright. Maybe you could command our dog to guard me when we are inside,” Victoria requested and drew her dagger. “It’s worth a shot,” Alyssa replied and considered the limited usefulness of a bloodfiend attacking a vampire. Alyssa stared intently at the door and perceived the faint scent of blood coming from it. She commanded the bloodfiend thrall to come to her and then pressed its cut hand for the cloaking spell to the door. When the bloodied hand made contact with the door it withdrew into the ground revealing a long hallway lit with Ayleid crystals. Alyssa led the way in and the stone door closed behind them after a moment.
The odor inside the ruin reminded Alyssa of a morgue, rot and blood were heavy in the air. Alyssa implanted the command for the thrall to protect Victoria and it moved to stand close to her. “Victoria it will serve as a distraction at best, be ready to kill anything it tackles,” Alyssa instructed in a serious tone. “Alright,” Victoria replied stiffly and made a few stabbing strikes for practice with her dagger. “I can see how concerned Rey needs to be,” Alyssa said teasingly to relax Victoria who glared in response. Alyssa transformed her staff and took point proceeding into the ruin. The hall opened into a large antechamber which had a table against the left and right wall with chairs. Alyssa froze as she looked at the sigil on the banner hanging on the right wall.
“Does that mean something?” Victoria asked seeing Alyssa’s expression. “I saw this once before in Daelon Octarian’s sanctuary, when the Dominion was conducting its hunt for the coven in Malabal Tor,” Alyssa answered with irritation creeping into her voice. “Maybe this is my chance for a little revenge for how they ruined my life,” Victoria said angrily. “I’ll hold one down for you,” Alyssa said in a darkening mood. Her eyes next went to the floor where a drained and crumpled corpse laid. The body was nearly desiccated from how much blood had been taken and the chest plate was sunken in by an unusually large fist. Not far from the body was a broken sword and a gnawed-on satchel.
Alyssa rifled through the satchel finding a small amount of money, medicinal herbs, bandages, a lockpick set, and a journal. She opened the journal and went to the last entry in it. “What does it say?” Victoria asked seeing Alyssa reading the journal silently while moving her lips. “He was hunting a specific vampire, but not a vampire hunter himself. This vampire had slayed his mother, father, and sister while they were in Wayrest. It says he had learned the vampire was resurrecting horrors in Ayleid ruins to serve him,” Alyssa answered as she briefly skimmed earlier entries. “That is determination to have come so far to avenge his family,” Victoria said sympathetically.
“We will see to it for him,” Alyssa said and stood up. “They must have smelled him as soon as he entered to have only gotten this far,” Alyssa commented as she focused her senses on the whereabouts of the vampires. “Maybe that means we will have the element of surprise since they are mistaking us for one of them,” Victoria said optimistically. “His note about horrors gives me an idea about what the large fisted attacker was,” Alyssa said and headed toward the next room. Echoes of creaking sounds reached them as they entered the next room. “That sound is not vampires, it is like something rough rubbing against something similar,” Victoria commented as she followed Alyssa to stairs descending into the ruins.
“It’s bone on bone, skeletons,” Alyssa answered tersely. They knelt down on the stairs against the right side. Alyssa could feel the presence of vampires everywhere ahead of them. “There are a lot of them Victoria,” Alyssa said forebodingly. “What is the plan?” Victoria asked tensely. “Take those I can, kill all others. Keeping us alive is the priority. If the thrall runs off, don’t chase it,” Alyssa instructed and slowly went down the rest of the steps. They stood on a large L-shaped floor with another floor below connected to it by stairs at the far end of the room. Vampires to their right were feeding, straining her eyes Alyssa could make out Covenant scout armor on the three bodies.
Victoria patted Alyssa shoulder hard and pointed to the lower floor at an oversized skeleton, seemingly the size of a giant. “A bone colossus, a necromancer’s pet. Slow, but extremely strong,” Alyssa whispered into Victoria’s ear. The section of floor ahead of them were skeletons and armored vampires casually milling around. Alyssa activated the control glyph and seized the vampires closest to her which alarmed the vampires past them and turned their attention toward Alyssa. Vampires and skeletons began racing toward her and those that had been feeding abandoned their meals as well.
Alyssa commanded the vampires she controlled to act as a wall to hold back the advancing undead. With the brief delay they provided she used the control glyph on the small group that approached from their right. The bloodfiend thrall left Victoria’s side and leapt over the vampire barricade. The skeletons and vampires cleaved the thrall apart before turning their blades on the vampires impeding them. The wall of vampires parted before blades fell on them and gave Alyssa an opening to seize another swath of vampires. Having close to half of the vampires on the current level, Alyssa commanded them to fight against the remainder.
The undead on the lower level took notice of what was going on above them and were running toward the stairs with two bone colossuses leading the charge. Alyssa directed some of the vampires to engage the colossuses. Skeletons ran toward Alyssa as the vampires shifted their focus. The colossuses swung their massive fists, flattening the vampires against walls and the ground as they headed toward Alyssa. Alyssa vaulted forward to meet the skeletons and swiftly smashed them with repeated spins of her lance. Vampires hung off the massive skeletons as they lumbered onward.
The first colossus co*cked its left arm and struck at the ground where Alyssa stood. She evaded the strike with ease and vampires flew from the left side of its body from the immense torque. More vampires leapt onto the colossus’s back while it was momentarily stationary. It twisted in place in an attempt to shake them off and slammed its back against the wall, splattering several vampires into a bloody mass. While the first struggled to liberate itself the second colossus began its attack. The second colossus struck the ground with both clenched fists and an eerie moan. The concussive blow sent stone shrapnel flying and Alyssa used the vampires near her as shields as she dove for cover.
Alyssa lunged forward from between two vampires, targeting the left knee of the second colossus. Effortlessly her lance severed the magic binding the knee together and caused it to begin falling. The monstrosity reached out to grab vampires to halt its fall as Alyssa turned her attention to the other colossus which was preoccupied with swatting vampires that were crawling onto it to pull it down to the ground. While it remained distracted, she took careful aim and released a beam from her palm towards it head. The massive skull crumbled after having a hole burned through it along with the vampire that had been hanging onto the back of its skull.
The beheaded colossus collapsed to the ground as the other was crawling toward Alyssa and making savage swipes with it massive hands. She deftly leapt back evading the creature’s attempts to grab her then flooded her lance with magicka and vaulted forward, burrowing a large hole through the middle of the colossus. The vampires stood idly once they finished dismantling the last of the skeletons. “Nicely done,” Victoria said as she came over to Alyssa. “Thanks. Controlling the vampires’ movements is a little difficult while fighting at the same time, but I am starting to get the hang of it,” Alyssa replied and began heading to the stairs for the lower level.
The lower level’s walls were littered with corpses of unturned Covenant soldiers stripped of their armor and weapons. “That certainly is a lot of bodies…,” Victoria said as she took in the macabre scenery. “They say not everyone turns, but seems like quite a few,” Alyssa commented while looking at the mounds of bodies lined against the walls. As they descended the stairs Alyssa noted hallways to their left and behind them to the right where she could sense vampires. Instead of entering either hallway she went to take a closer look at the soldiers’ corpses. Some of the flesh was missing from the corpses and on many there were long gashes the length of the body.
“The bones are missing,” Alyssa muttered as she pried open the gashes on one of the bodies. “Do you think someone made those skeletons with these poor souls?” Victoria asked uncomfortably as she imagined the horror of the process. “The vampire in the last nest was a powerful necromancer. I think she was the sister and the other vampire, Gaston, is a necromancer as well ‘raising horrors’ as the journal suggests,” Alyssa replied and stood up. “Simply disgusting,” Victoria said as she recoiled from the bodies. “Let’s get going. This is starting to turn my stomach as well,” Alyssa said and headed for the hallway behind the stairs.
The vampire thralls formed ranks and marched ahead of Alyssa into the hallway. For her amusem*nt she had them swing their arms and high step like soldiers in a marching parade. The stomping sound of the vampires’ boots echoed in the high-ceilinged hallway. The hallway connected to a large square room with a phalanx of vampires and a female Redguard vampire with a mace and shield standing in command behind them. Alyssa’s vampires outnumbered those who stood against them. She thrust both hands forward and to the side while issuing a command to the vampires with her thoughts to form two rows facing the other vampires.
Like a stampede Alyssa’s vampires ran at the defensively positioned vampires and gradually forced them against the wall. The Redguard watched indecisively as her guard was stripped away, but shook her head and shifted her focus to Alyssa. The woman co*cked her mace which confused Alyssa given they were on opposite sides of the room. As the woman brought her mace down, she was enveloped in black mist and disappeared, reappearing in Alyssa’s face to complete the strike. The mace sparked off of Alyssa’s staff and the Redguard leapt back. Alyssa attempted to use the control glyph, but the woman teleported and appeared on her right side to strike.
Laughter accompanied each unpredictable teleport as the Redguard struck at Alyssa. Alyssa’s irritation grew with each strike as the woman evaded being taken by the control glyph or being hit by her staff. Taking note of where the strikes were primarily aimed, before the next strike came Alyssa dropped to a knee and activated a scaled down purification glyph as the next strike came. The Redguard screamed at the searing pain on her flesh. In the brief moment given by the distraction of pain, Alyssa plunged her sharp black nails of her right hand through the woman’s stomach.
The Redguard gasped and coughed blood as Alyssa clutched her spine with a feral expression. Alyssa’s eyes glowed blue and the woman went still as she withdrew her bloody hand. She snapped her hand, shaking off the blood, and used the control glyph on the restrained vampires against the walls of the room. “It is amazing you were able to keep up with that. I thought you were going to get your head caved-in,” Victoria said in shock as she followed Alyssa around the room. “I relied on my sense of smell more than my hearing. Everything about her disappeared when she teleported. I could smell where she was reappearing before I heard the sound of her weapon,” Alyssa explained with lingering irritation.
“That vampire was moving so quickly around you I could not make that distinction, I have no idea how you were able to,” Victoria commented with amazement. “I think that is because of how Azura enhanced my vampirism,” Alyssa guessed and began leading her expanded host of vampires to the other hallway. “Feeling like a general yet?” Victoria asked as she looked at the two hundred vampires following behind them. “I wouldn’t go that far. Using them like an extra pair of hands is the limit of what I can get them to do. It isn’t like given them orders and them lying in wait to execute a plan,” Alyssa replied disagreeing.
“Just be sure to let me know when I am supposed to start addressing you as commander so I do not find myself handed over to the execution squad,” Victoria requested humorously and Alyssa closed her eyes then shook her head. The group swept through the north hallway claiming small clusters of vampires. The hall dead ended in a larger room with four massive pillars supporting the ceiling. Skeletal colossuses and flesh atronachs stood along the walls and near the altar in the center of the room stood a black robed Breton vampire with a familiar silver circlet, staff, and a ring bearing a sizable green gem.
“Ah… the vessel,” said the vampire as they looked up from the body of a soldier they were dissecting. “Vessel?” Alyssa repeated as she cautiously looked over the room. “Perhaps it is hard for you to remember. You were so very endearing to observe inside your cage,” the vampire said amused. A blurred image came to mind of robed figures watching her from outside a cage she had been held in while being starved. “Daelon is dead, Gaston,” Alyssa said as the rage began to build and her lance crackled from a surge of magicka. “So I’ve heard. Master Octarian was a true visionary, but had a penchant for overestimating outcomes. Such as your failure to slay the Aldmeri queen,” Gaston said with a sigh and she clenched her teeth.
“What I see now is quite curious… did you turn to the necromantic arts in your passage to undeath?” Gastion asked interestedly as he looked at the vampires idling behind Alyssa. “I do not share your or your late-sister’s desire to profane life,” Alyssa spat as she poised her lance and he curled his lip at the remark on his sister. “You slayed Raelynne… I will show you your place and then see what potential your parts possess,” he said seething and dark energies pulsed in his staff. The flesh atronachs and skeletal colossuses awoke then began moving as a swarm toward Alyssa.
Alyssa commanded her thralls to attack and vaulted over the first wave, landing on the altar to Gaston’s surprise. She swung the tip of her lance at his neck, but as the lance made contact he transformed into a sickly green mist. When she pierced the mist, it burst releasing a spray of acid which ate into the pillars and altar. The acid sizzled on the surface of Alyssa’s barrier as Gaston reformed several meters back from the altar. Gaston cursed when seeing she was unharmed and redirected some of his creatures to attack her instead of the thralls. Alyssa ignored the approaching atronachs and vaulted forward to catch up to Gaston.
Gaston watched with a smile as she flew toward him and summoned a pair of wraiths out of the ground which emanated a frost onto the floor. Alyssa skidded to a stop as ghostly chains rose out of the ground and the wraiths used them as whips. The floor cracked where the chains struck and burst forth with sharp spikes of ice. Alyssa danced as she narrowly evaded the four chains that tried to either break or ensnare her body. Loud footsteps warned her she would soon be boxed in. Alyssa retreated back from the wraiths and the atronachs stepped into their lashing chains with no concern for the damage caused to their bodies.
Quickly Alyssa grabbed a vial of kindlepitch and crushed it in her palm. She launched herself over the atronachs, wraiths, and Gaston, who showed confusion at her going past him, while allowing the dust to fall from her hand. Alyssa spun on her heel and tucked away the hand that was covered in dust before summoning a blazing spear in her other hand. She launched the spear at the atronachs on the other end of the room and the flames of the spear ignited all of the dust as it traveled toward them. The wraiths were untouched, but the atronachs and Gaston became consumed by flame. Chains were snapped once in Alyssa’s direction and then the wraiths disappeared in addition to Gaston’s other creations collapsing to the ground.
The flame soon sputtered out and Alyssa went over to Gaston’s body while looking to see that Victoria was alright. She kicked the body over and knelt down to look at the green ring on his right hand. Alyssa saw that a silver tree ornamented the emerald stone and slipped the ring off then put it on her right hand. “Taking a trophy?” Victoria asked as she came over to join her. “No. It was mine to begin with. I lost it after I fell in Grahtwood while hunting them,” Alyssa said while wiping soot off the sides of the ring. “All done here then?” Victoria inquired feeling unsettled by the sight of the flesh atronachs.
“Let’s find out,” Alyssa replied and gathered the vampires together to send them to Moonshadow. She then closed her eyes to focus her senses. “Seems we are. Now to get to Stonefalls,” Alyssa stated bracingly. “Is this the part where you get us both killed with your experiment?” Victoria asked antagonistically. “It’s going to be fine, come on,” Alyssa said and led Victoria back outside. She created the glyph on the ground and it glowed brightly with a bluish-white light. “I’ll go first,” Alyssa said which didn’t appear to ease Victoria’s fears. Alyssa stepped onto the glyph with their new bloodfiend thrall and vanished.
When Alyssa opened her eyes, she was inside an Ayleid ruin and wondered if she had somehow ended up back inside Lipsand Tarn as she stepped away from where she arrived. Victoria appeared in the next moment with her eyes and fists clenched shut. “We are not dead,” Victoria said astonished. “But I’m not sure where we are,” Alyssa said and began walking. There were four connecting hallways to the room they were in, in three of them the ceiling had collapsed. “I am going to hope we are not trapped underground,” Victoria commented as she looked at the rubble. “I’ll find a way out, don’t worry,” Alyssa said sincerely and headed into the one hallway that wasn’t collapsed.
A short distance into the hallway they found a stairwell with a few pieces of the ceiling having fallen. They crawled cautiously around the debris while watching overhead for potentially falling pieces. The staircase spiraled up to a stone door which was wedged shut. Alyssa inserted her lance into the jamb and surged magicka into it before attempting to vault through the door. The stone door shattered as her lance plowed through the jamb and she tripped on large pieces of stone on her way out followed by stumbling onto the grass. After picking herself up and looking around she recognized the Ayleid ruins she had marked with the glyph.
“Fairly successful,” Alyssa said as she prepared for a tirade from Victoria. “In the regard we were lucky it was not dirt underground that we teleported into?” Victoria asked astounded. “You say that like you still need air to breath,” Alyssa replied attempting to make light of her concern. “I would be more worried about being stuck there because I cannot dig myself out!” Victoria snapped. “So, the spell has a little more work to go. But look at how far we got,” Alyssa said and pulled out the map to point at Lipsand Tarn to where they were. “Almost an entire day of travel in a blink,” Alyssa said proudly. “Almost buried alive in a blink too,” Victoria said pointedly and Alyssa sighed.
“Now for the hard part,” Alyssa said as she looked to the mountain range to the east. “That being?” Victoria inquired with dread. “We are going to have to find a way to climb over those mountains to enter Stonefalls since the Pact will by no means allow us to pass through their base camp,” Alyssa explained. “I have never climbed a day in my life,” Victoria said flatly. “It should make you feel good to know we share something else in common now,” Alyssa said with a forced smile. “That does not make me feel better,” Victoria said dryly. “I have an idea and it’ll give you the chance to enjoy some of that closeness you’ve been craving,” Alyssa said trying to sound encouraging. Victoria looked at her doubtfully then began following her east.
By evening they reached the foot of the mountain range a few miles south of the Pact’s southern base camp. The mountain was steep with no evident path to follow. The side of the mountain they faced was jagged with small footholds very far apart. The range stood almost a quarter mile high with snowcapped peaks and clouds hovering nearby. “How are we going to get over that?” Victoria asked intently as she stared up at the mountain. “You’re going to get behind me and hold on very tight. I will vault us up the mountain, aiming for the footholds,” Alyssa explained and Victoria’s jaw dropped.
“I am very concerned we are going to fall to our death doing that,” Victoria said bluntly. “Falling won’t happen, watch,” Alyssa said and transformed her staff. She vaulted into the mountain and hung from her lance. “I’ll use the lance like a grappling hook. We’ll fly up and then I’ll sink my lance into the mountain to then get my footing for the next vault,” Alyssa explained while hanging from her lance. “Alright,” Victoria said nervously. “Just hold onto me tightly and don’t try to grab me somewhere you shouldn’t because that could result in us falling to our death,” Alyssa said sharply and Victoria gulped.
Alyssa cast the transportation glyph to dispatch the bloodfiend thrall then Victoria moved to stand up against Alyssa’s back and wrapped her arms tightly across her stomach. “Here we go!” Alyssa said excitedly and aimed her lance. They flew fifty feet off the ground and Alyssa sunk her lance into the mountain when the momentum faded. Her right foot found a foothold and she was able to dig the nails of her left hand into the mountain. “Alyssa, I have a bad feeling about this,” Victoria stammered as she first looked up and then down. “Just keep your eyes closed and hold on,” Alyssa said and pulled her lance out of the mountain to vault up again.
“We need to find something to eat,” Victoria said while shaking as they walked on a barren path away from the mountain they had crossed. It was the first of Morningstar and the year was now 584 as they arrived in Stonefalls, a core territory of the Nords and Dunmer. The arid land with the sulfur odor on the air from the volcanoes renewed the vivid memories of Alyssa’s encounter with the Covenant at Fort Virak raising the dead. “I’ll try to find us a guar,” Alyssa said as she wandered down the foothills of the mountain. “A what?” Victoria asked staggering behind her.
“A lizard the size of a pony that stands on its hindlegs. Don’t be picky, our choices in this region are limited and a bit unusual,” Alyssa warned as she made her way around the crags in their way. From the corner of her eye, she saw the House Dres ruled city of Kragenmoor, a Dunmer line which still espoused slavery though not of Argonians given the present alliance of the Pact. Alyssa spotted three guar grazing on weeds when they got clear of the crags. She paused to look around before attacking one. “What are you waiting for?” Victoria asked impatiently. “Guar are livestock used to pull carts, I am making sure they don’t have an owner nearby,” Alyssa explained calmly and summoned a javelin to throw.
Alyssa launched the javelin and the other two guar fled screeching. Victoria hobbled toward the dying guar and fell over onto it to feed. Alyssa paid no mind to the desperate manner in which Victoria fed and joined her in drinking. After feeling mostly full Alyssa began filling vials with the guar’s blood. “Let’s not cross a mountain like that again. I thought we were going to at least come across one of those climbing goats…,” Victoria said with a blood dripping face. “We shouldn’t have another rough spot like that until we take a ship from Eastmarch to Skyrim. We’ll fill kegs to keep in our room,” Alyssa said and saw Victoria’s eyes widen.
Victoria returned to feeding and Alyssa turned her attention to sensing vampires in the region. She felt them somewhat close in two areas to the north and quite far away in one area to the east. “Are we staying here?” Victoria asked after finally feeling satiated. “No. We are going to travel south to Shadowfen and work our way back to then head northeast,” Alyssa answered and stood up from their meal. “Ready to go or do you need time to rest?” Alyssa asked politely. “Just do not walk too fast,” Victoria said and stood up. “I never imagined an instance where sleeping next to you would not have been the least bit romantic,” Victoria complained as they walked toward the road.
“I’m just glad we had a spot to lodge ourselves into without needing to worry about falling,” Alyssa said satisfied. “The cracking thunder had me worried about an avalanche burying us alive,” Victoria argued as she put on her mask after Alyssa did. “You should have considered that a gift. Being packed in snow would make it incredibly unlikely we’d fall,” Alyssa said cheerfully. “Your limitless optimism is something to behold,” Victoria commented dryly. “Did clinging to me as we crossed the mountains help to get your desire for me out of your system?” Alyssa inquired as they started down the grey stone road. “I was a little too busy feeling terrified,” Victoria responded emphatically.
Four days later they entered the swamp lands of Shadowfen. Hungry flies floated in the air and Alyssa could hear the endless growls of crocodiles in the rivers that stretched throughout the region. The road they followed to Stormhold, the only city of Shadowfen, was muddy from recent rain and barely identifiable due to the encroaching growth of the swamp. “Any chance this miserable place is free of vampires like Deshaan?” Victoria asked hopefully. “No. Lady Almalexia’s influence doesn’t extend to here. Though they seem to have a limited presence given what I can sense,” Alyssa said in a pleased tone.
Victoria suddenly slapped her hand as she followed Alyssa. “Not sure who is the real bloodsucker here,” Victoria remarked as she wiped the dead fly off on her robe. “I want to go to Stormhold’s Mages Guild to send a letter back to Auridon then we’ll get on with the hunt,” Alyssa said as they neared the city gates. A Nord and Argonian stood guard at the gates bearing spears while looking suspiciously at the two women. “Hold there, identify yourselves and state your business,” the Nord asked in a rough voice while staring at their masks. “I am Alyssa, a traveling healer and member of the Mages Guild, and this is Victoria my traveling companion,” Alyssa said while presenting her Mages Guild pendant.
“What’s with the masks?” the Nord asked plainly. “I was burned badly by a house fire and my friend comes from a faith that precludes her from showing herself to men in public,” Alyssa explained timidly. “Mmm, I see. Try not to cause any trouble,” the Nord advised and allowed them to enter. Alyssa and Victoria bowed their heads and entered the city. “That was not as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Victoria commented once they had some distance from the gate guards. “I hate to say it, but the Nords can be more gullible than you,” Alyssa said teasingly and Victoria punched her in the arm.
The city center was an ancient Ayleid ruin which the city expanded out from with a river that encircled the city’s center and four bridges connecting the center to the rest of the city. The swamp which surrounded the city also filled in the gaps inside the city. Pale green moss draped from almost all of the buildings and dark outstretched trees left an oppressive feeling of being unwelcome. Remembering her time during her first visit to Shadowfen it didn’t take her long to retrace her steps to the guildhall shared by both the Mages and Fighters. The only colors on the white stone building were the respective red and blue banners hanging from the entrance.
Alyssa glanced at Victoria to see how she was bearing the presence of other people before entering the guildhall. The shared space carried a peculiar odor as alchemical experiments and strong spirits married in the air. At the front desk an Argonian with pale blue spines extended from the back of their head to their forehead greeted Alyssa and Victoria with a short bow. “How can Ahlu assist you beeko?” they politely requested and Victoria looked at the speaking lizardman with amazement. “I need to send a letter to the Skywatch Mages Guild please,” Alyssa replied earnestly.
“Of course,” Ahlu said with a slow nod and reach under the desk to provide Alyssa with quill, ink, and parchment. “Come along,” Alyssa said pulling on Victoria’s arm as she remained mesmerized by the Argonian. “Have you fallen in love by chance?” Alyssa asked as she began writing. “No. I have heard of the lizard folk, but it is my first time actually seeing them. My business travels only took me to Glenumbra, Stormhaven, and Grahtwood; places where they are never seen,” Victoria explained. “We are likely to cross paths with many of them. Why not go become familiar while I write my letter,” Alyssa suggested and Victoria shrugged taking the hint then returned to the front desk to ask culturally oriented questions about Argonians.
My Dearest Love,
I managed to pass through Cyrodiil and into Pact lands without any trouble. I was however dragged before the Battlereeve at base camp, he was quite disturbed about conducting my mission in Cyrodiil. Not that we could tell anyone, but a nest of vampires linked to the coven purged in Malabal Tor had dug in under the Covenant base camp and had been capturing their soldiers to be turned and used for necromantic rituals. In finding my way out of Cyrodiil our adventure in camping at Russafeld helped me in mountain climbing, it was quite the feat.
I have begun to notice more I am struggling with my anger. Matters which cause me irritation too easily inspire me to harm the source. I have been striving to control myself, but I feel it will take time. Please do not worry too much, I haven’t caused an incident yet with my temper. I have also been struggling with the darkness I have been uncovering in tracking down vampires. Their cruelties no know bounds, though I suppose after all I saw in Grahtwood I am stating the obvious.
At this moment I am in Shadowfen continuing my hunt, my plan is to travel north from here to Vvardenfell which will bring me to the half way point of my hunt. I miss you very much. I often dream of laying in your embrace at night and remembering your gentle scent. I hope the mountain and the Council are not troubling you too much. Each day I am moving as swiftly as I am able to get back to you as soon as I can.
Loving you always,
Alyssa
Alyssa folded up the letter and packed it into an envelope. “I erect the spine of gratitude for your time,” Victoria said as she saw Alyssa coming up to the desk. “It was my pleasure,” Ahlu said and bowed his head. “This is ready to be sent to the Skywatch Guild,” Alyssa said politely. “I will see it off this day beeko,” Ahlu said with a toothy smile. “Thank you,” Alyssa said and returned his bow. “How are you holding up in the city?” Alyssa asked as they left the guildhall. “It is not too bad. I do not have much of a reaction to the Argonians, I wonder if that is because they are cold blooded,” Victoria answered as she thought about it.
“You can choose to stay here in Stormhold then while I go out. You should be safe inside the city,” Alyssa offered. “I think I will take you up on that and practice being around people. With it being a mix, I think I can avoid being overwhelmed while working on restraining my appetite,” Victoria said confidently. “I wish you the best of luck then. There are only two places to check and then I’ll come back for you. Try not to leave the city, remember I can’t tell you apart at a distance,” Alyssa advised pointedly. “Alright. I will secure a room at the inn in case I need to isolate myself,” Victoria assured. “Two or three days and I should be back,” Alyssa said and headed for the northwest path out of the city.
The gate guards watched Alyssa as she left, but did not halt her. The wet dirt road weaved around large trees from which giant snakes coiled around branches. The sounds of frogs and birds was relaxing to her as she walked. After passing the first fork in the road she noticed she stopped hearing people which was odd as she knew Argonians settle just about anywhere in the swamp. At the second fork the right side of the road she followed went up a hill to where she first saw moss laden oak trees and then Ayleid ruins as the moons began to cast their light. “That race really did go just about everywhere,” Alyssa commented as she considered how many regions she had seen them in.
Unlike other ruins the arches over the entrance had been broken and the swamp flora had climbed over much of it. Alyssa drew her staff and climbed the stairs to the stone door entrance. She read the markings in the door before pushing it open. “Varakun,” she whispered and hummed before entering. The vampiric presence was widespread inside the ruin she noticed as she descended a flight of stairs. She noticed a sealed gate to her left with stairs behind it then released a beam on the edges of the gate to keep it from opening. The hallway led to a wide-open space and a staircase leading to the hallway on the opposite side of the room. In the space below she saw Argonians and a number of dead Dunmer and Argonians on the floor.
The smell on the air told Alyssa they were vampires, but unlike men and mer their scales did not change in color to reflect their undead transition. As she took the first step down, she captured the attention of all the Argonians. “Who are you dead one?” hissed an Argonian male with a staff topped with a piece of amber. “Alyssa Talmari. Who are the dead on the floor?” Alyssa asked as she removed her mask so her control glyph would be unimpeded. “The Dunmer received their just due as the race which enslaved our people. We Saxhleel… were chosen to expand our family to bring justice to those who have degraded our people and those who expect us to accept it,” hissed the man vehemently.
“The Dunmers’ crime was merely being Dunmer?” Alyssa asked before deciding their fate. “Dunmer live the fortuitous lives they have because it is built upon the enslavement of others. They are all fruit of a poisoned tree,” spat the man. “I see. I understand your anger, as I too have suffered at the hands of slavers. But taking your anger out on the innocent and turning on your own is not right,” Alyssa said bitterly. “Then you are against us dead one!” screamed the man and the other vampires drew their weapons. Alyssa activated the control glyph and they all went limp. Alyssa crossed the room and had the thralls follow after her.
In the next hallway vampires fled at the sight of the thralls following Alyssa, heading farther into the ruins. Alyssa could feel the vampire presence in the ruin concentrating ahead of her as other vampires fled. In a room as grand in scale as the first room she found the remaining vampires huddled together around an Ayleid well behind a female Argonian with red and green scales wearing vibrantly colored wrappings standing firm between them and Alyssa. “Come to seize our minds necromancer?” the woman asked while tightening the grip on her staff which dripped with sap of the Hist.
“I would have spared you all, but your family is harming the innocent,” Alyssa said bitterly. “The innocent? The arrogance of an elf is without limits,” the woman said spitefully. Alyssa used the control glyph and all of the vampires around the woman fell under her control. “I will wrest my egg kin from you, dry skin,” the woman snarled and then a spirit-like form of her body entered the light of the Ayleid well and her staff emitted a deep golden light. The woman’s spirit flew at Alyssa as fast as a crossbow bolt with her staff pointed at Alyssa’s chest. Alyssa attempted to parry the blow, but her lance bounced off spirit’s staff forcing her to step out of the way.
“See now your death is inevitable,” the spirit lisped before charging at Alyssa again. This time Alyssa aimed for the spirit’s head, but again her lance was knocked away when it made contact with the spirit. The spirit made two more strikes where Alyssa’s lance was deflected in turn. Alyssa groaned feeling her irritation grow from failing to wound her opponent. The spirit was opposite of its body as Alyssa summoned fire to her hand. The spirit began charging and Alyssa turned to release a billowing flame on the staff held by the spirit’s body. “No!!!” shouted the spirit.
The staff caught fire in an instant and the spirit dissipated into the air. Alyssa prepared for the woman to awaken, but she fell dead to the floor instead. She burned the body as a precaution and then dispatched the other vampires to Moonshadow. Considering the wildlife of the swamp she chose to make camp in the hallway adjacent to the room housing the Ayleid well. Alyssa stared at the wall as she began to reflect on the anger of the first vampire she spoke to as she considered her own which she harbored for Redguards and put on display on Stirk. She questioned had she not come into the care of the abbey if she would have been consumed by such blind vengeance.
Standing outside of the ruins in the morning Alyssa felt the final presence in Shadowfen far to the south. She followed the road south as far as it would go and then trudged through the swamp lands in the direction of where she felt the vampires. She pulled a vial of blood to drink from her satchel as her new robe had no pockets sewn into it. Alyssa looked at the stars stitched into the fabric under the neckline and stepped back into the memory of the final trial with Shazah. She felt the haunting feeling inspired by Raz’s words in the trial about not being found when needed before seeing Ayrenn die. Alyssa forced herself to put the thought out of mind.
She crossed a narrow river and then found herself in a graveyard. It struck her as odd because she knew it was not the manner in which the Saxhleel handled their dead. She stopped to look at a headstone and a darkness fell over the graveyard. Alyssa transformed her staff and twelve men in black robes wearing silver medallions with the familiar visage of Molag Bal surrounded her at a modest distance.
“The Master sees you, He sees everything,” said one of the men from under their hood in a sinister tone. “Molag Bal sees me going for a walk in a swamp? Has he become bored of torturing souls in Coldharbour?” Alyssa asked mockingly. “The movements of the Queen of Dawn and Dusk have not eluded our Master, weakling,” the man spat and all of the robed men drew long jagged daggers glowing with either a red, green or purple aura.
The robed men began chanting and elements of fire or lightning formed in their free hands. Alyssa didn’t wait for them to finish chanting and launched herself at the man in front of her. The targeted man choked on his spell and swung his dagger defensively. The green aura on the dagger expanded into a cone as it struck Alyssa’s lance, before the lance passed through the man’s chest. She felt her limbs suddenly stiffen after being touched by the dagger’s aura. She heard the completion of the chanting behind her and used the lance to pull herself out of the way as spells of fire and lightning scorched the ground she had been on.
As soon as Alyssa landed, she cast the glyph of purification under her and felt freedom of movement return to her. Quickly she decided coming into close range was dangerous without knowing what the effect of the other two auras might be. Alyssa summoned a blazing spear and arced it into the group. She used her lance to swiftly reposition after each throw until the robed men were scattered by the field of spears releasing searing heat. Alyssa switched to throwing javelins as the men tried to move around the spears to target her. One after another she struck them in the chest killing them.
“I suppose the element of surprise is off the table Lady Azura,” Alyssa said aloud as she looked at the dozen men lying dead around the gravestones. She resumed heading south and thought to herself it was providence that Victoria wasn’t present for the ambush and requiring protection. Alyssa then began to consider how wise it was to bring Victoria along with her on hunts in light of what had happened. She hadn’t expected Molag Bal to be aware of her activities or to be able to direct such retaliation. She couldn’t deny that Victoria had been reliable on more than one occasion, but quite often a liability.
Her thoughts continued in circles until she arrived at a crumbling castle at midday. Alyssa could feel the presence of a horde of vampires inside, but felt it odd as she saw no evidence of victims outside of the nest in the form of bodies or dried blood. She maintained her guard and headed through a large oval hole in the wall. Alyssa felt a tingle on her skin as she passed through, but did not stop to give it much thought as she saw a sea of bloodfiends ahead on lower ground. “I pity you,” spoke someone slowly from behind Alyssa.
Alyssa spun holding her lance and saw a specter missing the flesh from their face dressed in imperial armor. “Why do you pity me?” Alyssa asked insistently. “Because now you are trapped here with the rest of us,” the specter replied slowly. “How am I trapped?” she asked and thought of the tingle she felt on her skin. “Someone… wanted us to die here… Something was brought inside our keep… First came the madness… then some of us turned pale… Eyes red… teeth in our mouths changed… then the feeding… and death began…,” the specter explained.
“Are you here spirit because you cannot rest without rites being performed for your body?” Alyssa asked earnestly feeling great sympathy for the spirit. “No… It keeps me here… as it does those which feed… and those who have died…,” the specter answered starting and stopping. “Do you know where ‘it’ is?” she asked intently. “I… do not… We remember… just being unable to leave… one day…,” the specter answered trying to think back. “I will find it and take care of it so you can rest,” she said fervently. “We never found it… I hope… you fare… better…,” said the specter before fading away.
“I hope Victoria is enjoying the comfort of the city…,” Alyssa grumbled. “I think I got it backwards. Providence was on her side; dodging an ambush and an eternal prison,” she said and groaned. Looking at the lower level she saw the bloodfiends moving like a sea fighting among themselves to feed on one another. At opposite ends Alyssa saw towers standing on raised ground. Beyond the bloodfiends she saw a door that looked as though it led to underground chambers. “The towers probably weren’t a good hiding place,” she remarked as she looked over the area. “Getting the vampires out of the way first is probably best,” Alyssa noted and then activated the control glyph multiple times over the mob of bloodfiends.
When all of the movement stopped, Alyssa went down to the lower level and cast the transportation glyph. The glyph appeared and immediately fizzled out. “That’s not helpful,” Alyssa said and clicked her tongue. Standing in the middle of the swarm it was difficult to identify where other vampires were. She sighed and commanded the bloodfiends to part to give her a path to the towers. “Knowing my luck, the moment the barrier goes down the vampires will bolt for the outside and make me chase them,” she grumbled as she marched up the hill to the tower on the west end of the castle. Behind the tower she spotted more bloodfiends fighting among themselves and seized them before entering the tower.
The wooden door to the narrow tower creaked loudly as she opened it. Inside were rusted armors and weapons which made her wonder how old the castle was. Listening carefully, she heard movement at the top of the tower. Cautiously she went up the stairs to avoid startling whatever was above her into jumping down or sending something else down. Windows in the tower along the stairs showed one of three things; the mountain the castle was built against, crumbling walls or the horde of pacified bloodfiends. Alyssa sighed as she had hoped she might have spotted something peculiar sparkling on the ramparts.
At the top of the stairs, she found two bloodfiends drinking another dry. They turned and growled at her briefly before turning docile. She looked around, but didn’t sense anything magical in the small space. Alyssa left the tower with the bloodfiends in tow and sent them to join the rest. As she walked through the horde and estimated the over one thousand men and women, she imagined how horrible it was as life began to collapse inside the walls. “I know the Imperials are not the best people, but this seems pretty cruel,” Alyssa muttered as she looked at the faces of the victims of this attack.
Her search of the second tower was identical to the first, yielding a few more bloodfiends to add to the horde. Alyssa returned to the horde and went to the door for the underground chamber. Before opening the door, she could feel a vast presence of vampires ahead of her. Hissing and growls echoed when she opened the door to the dark halls. The torches had long since burned out and it was only by Alyssa’s vampiric eyes that she was able to see anything. A short set of stairs down took her to a hallway that connected to a series of prison cells. Before the first cells she saw a hallway where part of the castle had collapsed in on itself.
In each of the cells was an emaciated bloodfiend. Alyssa grimaced at their pitiful state before using the control glyph and releasing them from their cell. After four halls of cells, she arrived at the warden’s office. She felt a similar tingle on her skin as when she entered the castle. She focused her eyes as Vanus had taught her and searched for auras and rune markings of magic. The pearlescent aura covered the room as well as she could see daedric runes floating through the air and passing through the walls. She searched the web covered office for where the source of the aura was.
Standing in front of a cabinet Alyssa had the impression what she was looking for was there, but opening the cabinet revealed nothing. She pulled it off the wall then split it open with her lance and still found nothing. She looked at the wall and noticed the aura continuing to pour out from there. Looking closely, she noticed a crack around the stone tile. Alyssa removed the tile and found a large white pyramid seated in a silver box. The daedric runes carved into the sides of the pyramid were words of imprisonment, timeless, hunger, and decay. Alyssa stood up and ran her lance through the pyramid, cracking it into numerous pieces.
The aura and runes floating through the air disappeared at the same time. “I’ll save this for Master Galerion,” Alyssa said and found a sack in the office to stuff the pieces and silver box into. Alyssa transported the weakened bloodfiends following her before returning outside. She saw that it had turned to night already, but did not believe that much time had passed. Alyssa approached the over one thousand bloodfiends and milled them slowly onto the transportation glyph. After the last of them was gone she headed to the hole in the castle wall she had entered through. She paused thinking she might see the specter again, but did not. “I hope you have found peace,” she said aloud and stepped through the hole.
Listening to the sounds of the night, Alyssa felt uncomfortable camping outside waiting to be bothered by a predator. She recalled the Hissmir xanmeer wasn’t very far and certainly closer than walking all the way back to Stormhold. She treaded the mucky waters until finding land and a road. Staring intently into the dark she could see the faint light of torches and headed toward them. As she grew close, she saw the Saxhleel temple of Hissmir, a structure resembling a tiered pyramid with raised walkways connecting the temple to stone watch towers. Argonians armed with spears in tribal leathers stood on guard to one of the entrances to the temple.
Alyssa calmly walked toward them and they pointed their spears at her. “Who are you to approach this xanmeer in the dark of night?” one of the guards asked while attentively watching her movements. “A traveler in need. Could I speak with one of your Sap-Speakers, please,” Alyssa politely requested. The guard who had addressed Alyssa motioned for the third guard to go into the temple. Alyssa patiently waited then not long after the guard returned with an Argonian dressed in red and orange robes and using a staff to assist them in walking.
“What is it you need dryskin?” the elderly Argonian asked while showing hesitation to approach Alyssa. “I am Alyssa Talmari and I am seeking a place to rest,” Alyssa said and the elders head listed to the side before their jaw slacked slightly. “Please come in friend of the Hist,” the elder said with a welcoming motion with their free hand. “The Hist whispered to me as you spoke your name. I erect the spine of deepest gratitude for your kindness to our people and aid to the Hist,” the elder said emotionally while slowly escorting her into the temple. “You’re welcome,” Alyssa said warmly as she was guided to the interior of the temple.
As it was with other xanmeers Alyssa had entered in the region, Hissmir shared the common attribute of algae from the swamp having crawled over the entire surface of the stone structure giving it a very earthy odor. Sections of the temple’s exterior had stalls for merchants, which she always considered unusual for a place of faith though it was one of the few places where Saxhleel would congregate other than their villages. Three levels of the temple were above ground and the last two were below it. The elder led her to the first underground level by way of a stone staircase that was placed in the center of the temple.
Cracks in the temples stone walls had allowed swamp water to slowly drip inside and spread the algae which had covered the exterior of the temple. Rooms on the fourth floor were square walled spaces without a door and dried straw laid out for bedding. “Have you need of water or food, friend of the Hist?” the elder asked kindly. “I will be fine, thank you,” Alyssa said and gently touched his shoulder. The elder smiled and nodded slowly before taking his leave. “I bet Ayrenn would love these accommodations,” she said to herself and laughed quietly then laid down on the straw.
Alyssa closed her eyes and began to dream. Her dream placed her inside a different xanmeer, one which the swamp had completely invaded and covered the stone with a murky pool of water in the center. “Friend of the Hist,” whispered a voice in Alyssa’s head which she recognized as the voice of the Hist’s consciousness. “Once again you have helped the Saxhleel people and weeded out darkness which threatened to corrupt all,” the Hist whispered. “I was glad to help. The angered slaves, I was as gentle with them as I could be. There words gave me things to consider,” Alyssa replied compassionately. “You did what needed to be done to protect the whole. Do not be troubled by it,” the Hist whispered and the dream faded.
The sound of a clay plate and cup being set at the entrance to Alyssa’s room woke her. She opened her eyes and saw a cleric of the temple leaving. Alyssa gathered her things and drank the cup of water then looked at the plate of food she could not eat with regret. She followed other members of the temple in finding her way out of the xanmeer. The sky was clear and the Sun shone brightly over the swamp. Merchants returned to their stalls and were already engaged in bartering with other Argonians.
As she followed the path to stairs to leave the xanmeer she overheard an Argonian man singing about being a great hunter while dancing in an amusing manner which caused Alyssa to laugh at the novel sight. Shortly after she began walking away from the xanmeer she kicked a tree root in aggravation. “Why didn’t I set a glyph!?” Alyssa said and groaned. “I’m going to blame Victoria for not reminding me to do that,” she said and sighed before beginning her long walk back to Stormhold.
By late afternoon Alyssa reached Stormhold and found the city’s tavern, Coin Brothers’ Cornerclub. The tavern was built in traditional Argonian fashion by mounding and drying mud, creating several bulbous domes which capped the sizable establishment. Stairs up to the tavern’s wood door was comprised of logs instead of steps spaced between dirt. Alyssa spotted Victoria at a table with three well-dressed Argonians which suggested either fellow merchants or vicecanons of Stormhold. She walked over and tapped Victoria on the shoulder to interrupt the conversation.
“I was starting to wonder if you left me to be adopted by someone else,” Victoria joked as she looked up at Alyssa. “I’m not sure I could give you away if I tried,” Alyssa teased. “It was a pleasure to meet you gentlemen. Best of luck with your fishing enterprise,” Victoria said courteously as she rose from her seat. “And we will look forward to sampling your wine Lady Aryette,” said a blue and red scaled Argonian seated opposite of Victoria. “Be patient and it will eventually come,” Victoria assured and left with Alyssa. “You seem to being doing well,” Alyssa commented as they headed to the door. “I wish that was the case. I proved my own theory. Argonians don’t trigger hunger, at least in me,” Victoria replied disappointedly.
“It’s not just you. I can’t say I feel inclined to feed on them separate from my preference not to feed on people,” Alyssa commented as they left the tavern and headed toward the east city gate. “So, it ended up taking as much time as you thought? Did you have a hard time?” Victoria inquired as they walked. Alyssa looked at her for a moment before speaking. “It has been only two days, hasn’t it?” Alyssa asked confused. “It has been three,” Victoria corrected and looked at her. “I think I can attribute that to the broken castle. I found a daedric artifact that trapped everyone inside and turned them into bloodfiends. I thought time had moved a little fast, but I hadn’t stepped into an Oblivion pocket,” Alyssa explained with a hum.
“You always let me miss the real fun,” Victoria said facetiously and Alyssa socked her arm with modest restraint. “On to Stonefalls then?” Victoria asked as they passed the city guards. “Mournhold actually. I have an overdue promise to keep in speaking with Lady Almalexia,” Alyssa answered in a sentimental tone. “Who might that be?” Victoria asked with piqued curiosity. “The Dunmer call her the Divine Mother. She is one of the Three Living Gods which rule over the Dunmer people,” Alyssa explained as they set foot on the wet road.
“Meeting with a ruler within the Ebonheart Pact, are you not taking a risk doing that?” Victoria pressed. “No. Lady Almalexia already knows who I really am. She sees me as an ally, so we don’t have to worry about her turning on us. Though I doubt there is anyone that would turn on me in Pact lands,” Alyssa replied and consider the many acquaintances she had made during her first sojourn in Pact lands. “That is a bit comforting considering we are deep in enemy territory so to speak,” Victoria noted with relief.
“Do you carry clout here the way you do in the Dominion as a champion?” Victoria queried while swatting away large mosquitos. “I didn’t travel as an agent of the Dominion when I visited Pact and Covenant lands for the first time. Because of that I didn’t hesitate to involve myself and help their people in times of crisis as I traveled. That did result in me making a lot of friends and connections which can get me a degree of the support I receive back home. Lady Almalexia is an example of that,” Alyssa detailed as she recalled fleeing from Bleakrock.
"This Lady Almalexia is she a friend or connection?” Victoria asked suggestively and Alyssa looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Have I somehow cultivated the image of myself as some sort of seductress? Or is this just you try to get a rise out of me?” Alyssa asked pointedly. “A little bit of both. Having an awareness of three women, excluding myself, with varying degrees of interest from the Dominion side I was wondering if your travels abroad had left some longing hearts in your wake,” Victoria said while grinning under her mask.
Alyssa paused for a moment before responding to the antagonism. “I have done no such thing,” Alyssa stated flatly. “Did your delay in response have to do with recalling if you truly had or not?” Victoria asked playfully and Alyssa co*cked her fist. “Alright, alright,” Victoria said surrendering. “If this Lady Almalexia’s greeting for you entails a very up-close welcome I will have you clarify your statement,” Victoria teased and hopped back as Alyssa took a swing at her. “How about you tell me what you did the last three days before you get yourself choked?” Alyssa suggested while being subtly threatening.
“The first day I practiced walking around the town. I did not talk to anyone, I just worked on my self-control. I went outside and fed on alligators, a truly disgusting meal to say the least,” Victoria said and put a hand to her retracting stomach. “Your hunting skills must be improving to have killed those,” Alyssa complimented. “I watched them for a bit and then got creative using a stick to get them to bite down on first, instead of my leg, and then running my dagger through their skull. It was a little nerve wracking, but I managed,” Victoria explained with her anxiety from the experience resurfacing.
“How did your walks turn out?” Alyssa asked wanting to know how she was progressing. “Mostly okay. It was then I learned about Argonians were safe to be around. Where there were too many Nords, it got a bit difficult. Their lack of self-hygiene is probably why it was only a bit difficult,” Victoria said emphatically and Alyssa laughed. “Thank the Divines for small favors?” Alyssa inquired amused. “Something like that. I was genuinely afraid of it becoming more difficult than that and removed myself from the crowds to recover myself,” Victoria responded with sincerity. “It took me quite a bit of practice. Eventually you will get used to the smell of people and will be able to suppress it from turning into a craving,” Alyssa assured.
“On my second day I spent half of my time going on walks and the other half mingling with the Argonian traders,” Victoria stated as the swamp began to recede from their surroundings on the road. “Acquiring new business contacts?” Alyssa queried with casual interest. “Not really. One look at this swamp and confidence is the last thing it inspires when considering the transportation of goods. I learned there are only two ports in the region, one of which is owned by criminals,” Victoria said astounded. “What I saw of the swamp makes me shiver at the thought of transporting goods for distribution on their so-called roads,” Victoria stated with distaste.
“What were you up to then?” Alyssa asked to get Victoria back on track. “Having never met Argonians I was interested in knowing how they conduct business and if there was anything for me to learn from their methods to incorporate into my own,” Victoria explained with her savvy tone returning. “And did you?” Alyssa prodded. “I regret that I did not. The non-business Argonians I spoke with were unusually open and honest, once you get a grasp on their unique form of speech,” Victoria answered and Alyssa gave a short laugh understanding what she meant.
“The merchants however were very familiar, but with a broader band. Some were simple and honest like the other Argonians I spoke with, the rest however could be incredibly shrewd and borderline deceptive. I was told that style of salesmanship stems from how hard life is here in the swamp,” Victoria said cynically. “Life is quite difficult here. Alten Corimont is that other port you heard of, occupied by bandits and pirates. They imposed tariffs as they chose to phrase it on any who wish to make use of their port. The criminal life is attractive because of how hard it can be to make money. Argonians are tribal in nature and never really involved themselves with money until the end of their enslavement changed that part,” Alyssa explained wistfully.
“Even more of a reason not to bring business down here,” Victoria remarked with a head shake. “And today was spent occupying the tavern?” Alyssa queried as the land finished its transitioning from swamp lands to grass lands. “Yes. I found conversing with the Argonians to be quite agreeable. And as they did not trigger my appetite it was a treat to spend time speaking with many different people without needing to excuse myself to regain my composure,” Victoria affirmed happily. “I’m glad you had a pleasant time in the city,” Alyssa said candidly.
"Was my position enviable compared to your time in the swamp?” Victoria asked teasingly. “You could say that. First, I encountered freed slaves who wished to punish the races that allowed them to suffer, then I was ambushed by cultists of Molag Bal, and there was that castle where Imperials were trapped and made to eat one another,” Alyssa said dourly. “Those cultists have anything to do with your hunt?” Victoria asked with concern. “Specifically. It was a fairly dangerous encounter. It was good you weren’t there and it made me think about whether you should be following me on the hunts when I consider if that could happen again as they literally appeared from thin air,” Alyssa stated plainly.
“Hmm. I know I am far from a trained fighter, but I know how hard it has been. I will not promise I will stand my ground, but I know how to run for my life when necessary and to avoid being a burden while you are fighting,” Victoria said openly. “I want you to keep it in mind that when it is an option, you can just wait in a nearby city or village while I go hunting,” Alyssa offered frankly. “I will. If I get to see it first hand and think it is a little too much, I will lean towards waiting to stay out of the way,” Victoria said resolutely.
On the tenth of Morningstar before it had become noon, they arrived at the walls of Mournhold, the capital of the Ebonheart Pact. High dark grey stone walls surrounded the city and at the gates stood the renowned protectors of the Tribunal, Ordinators, Dunmer men and women garbed in golden armor and a gold helmet molded to imitate a Dunmer face. “I wonder how much money their armor is worth melted down,” Victoria whispered as they followed the dirt road up to the city gates. “I don’t suggest you ask them to find out. They are very stern people,” Alyssa warned before climbing the short set of stairs to the gates.
Two of the four Ordinators guarding the gate moved to block the women’s entry to the city. “Hold there, you two look suspicious. Remove your masks, identify yourselves, and state your business,” a male voice sharply demanded and the other three Ordinators appeared ready to draw their weapons which caused Victoria to step back. “I am Alyssa Talmari and I am here to see Lady Almalexia,” Alyssa said simply and presented the enchanted lantern. She could hear from underneath their helmets the gasps at the sight of the artifact. “Please follow me,” one of the Ordinators said in a tone of reverence.
The other Ordinators returned to their positions as Alyssa and Victoria were escorted in. As Alyssa took in the view of the city, she felt it had not changed since her last visit. Victoria was fascinated by the gothic architecture and high towers throughout the city which drew the eye with long narrow stained-glass windows running the buildings’ length. The first set of establishments they passed were the Mages and Fighters Guild. Both guildhalls were designed to blend into the city with grey stonework and curved roofs instead of bearing their typical characteristics of design. The only contrast to their somber exterior were red and blue colored silk flags with gold stitched insignias.
Despite the quality of the work, Alyssa felt the Dunmer style of architecture felt oppressive with the dark color schemes which stood at a sharp contrast to the arboreal selections and the vibrant red and purple flowers which grew wild inside the city. “I suppose it is not just the Altmer which take great pride in the appearance of their city,” Victoria commented as her gaze continued to wander. “It is driven by the perspective that it is a reflection on the Tribunal which all Dunmer have a profound respect for, whereas Altmer are driven solely by an intense view on propriety,” Alyssa said in a critical tone.
They were guided to the city center where Ebonheart Pact banners, a black dragon on a red cloth, decorated a three-tower building with a stone arch over the beginning of the long staircase to the front door. “That is their central bank and where the government councilors work,” Alyssa said as they went around the building’s perimeter. “Given the swarms of people it seems like an ideal location to open a business. Does their bank make loans to non-Dunmer civilians?” Victoria inquired as her eyes were fixated on the intricate design of the building’s walls. “I am told the paperwork is a bit of a nightmare according to a Nord acquaintance of mine named Rigurt,” Alyssa warned and Victoria hummed.
The city bazaar on the western side of the city was the next area they passed through. Rows of leather tents with banners of purple and bronze bearing a symbol identifying the type of business flooded this section of the city almost resembling a war camp. “That is a lot of competition,” Victoria remarked as she began counting the number of vendors she could see. “All of the Dunmer businesses are here, the one exception being the tavern. Theft is a persistent issue, despite it being Lady Almalexia’s city,” Alyssa commented as they headed up to stairs that passed by a lake before nearing the Tribunal Temple.
“A rather palatial temple,” Victoria said in awe as she looked up at the massive structure. The temple was triangular in shape with a spiraling tower at each corner and a walkway near the top of the tower connecting one tower to the next. As with the other buildings in the city it bared numerous stained-glass windows on its front, but these depicted images of the Living Gods and lessons to the Dunmer people. They ascended two sets of double-sided stairs before to reach the temple’s courtyard. In the courtyard a dozen Ordinators stood guard and their attention fell on Alyssa and Victoria as there was no else present.
Before the Ordinator opened the door to the temple Alyssa lightly tapped them on the shoulder causing them to stop and turn to face her. “Victoria, I want to stress that our conduct in front of Lady Almalexia is very important. Please be considerate with your words,” Alyssa counseled. “Warning duly noted,” Victoria replied with a nod. “We are ready to enter,” Alyssa said and the Ordinator opened the temple’s double doors. Inside acolytes of Almalexia calmly walked the halls engaged in pious discussions of faith. The interior was gilded with gold and fine silks hung from the walls which draped over the various altars and tables that contrasted the simple shale floors.
The Ordinator led them to the north tower of the temple. A curved wall of the tower that came down through the roof created two short hallways for entering the tower. Inside several rows of pews faced a dais where a golden obelisk bearing Almalexia’s symbol stood with three banners also bearing her symbol. Almalexia floated with her legs crossed in a meditative state in front of the obelisk. Her garb had gone unchanged since last meeting Alyssa, a bronze bustier, chain mail arm coverings with gold embossed plates over the upper arm and forearm, and a long band of cloth hanging from the front and back of her waist which did not cover her legs.
“Lady Almalexia, a visitor bearing your sacred lantern has come to see you,” the Ordinator said while kneeled down. Almalexia opened her eyes and looked at Alyssa. “You may leave us,” Almalexia said warmly and the Ordinator stood to salute before leaving. “Greetings Alyssa Talmari and her companion,” Almalexia said and descended onto her feet. “It is a pleasure to see you again Lady Almalexia. How do you fare?” Alyssa replied respectfully. “Much is well among my people. While the transition to peace troubles their hearts, it also soothes them,” Almalexia said as she walked toward Alyssa.
“Much time has passed since we last spoke and it seems misfortune has touched you again,” Almalexia said with deep compassion and Alyssa removed her mask. “It did Lady Almalexia. It has been a difficult time, but I did not have to face it alone,” Alyssa said graciously. “Your spirit has expectedly remained resilient and the air about you speaks to your continued toils,” Almalexia stated regally. “I admit I have not been able to frequent the river as often as I would normally,” Alyssa said reservedly and Almalexia smiled at her discreet humor. “Please sit,” Almalexia invited with a gesture to the front pew and moved a bench from the dais closer to her with another wave of her hand.
“Tell me of your current toils, Child of Azura,” Almalexia entreated. “Azura wishes to remove vampires from Nirn, to make it a safer place in the wake of Akatosh’s protection returning. Dremora in her service are traveling other parts of the world while it has fallen to me to travel the domains of Tamriel. Then, like a general, I am expected to march them through Coldharbour and destroy a new device that Molag Bal is going to threaten our world with,” Alyssa explained and Almalexia put a hand to her chin. “Hmm, an ambitious undertaking. What is this device which concerns Azura?” Almalexia inquired with keen interest.
“Molag Bal acquired an Ayleid relic almost one year ago which was tainted with death and capable of creating vampires with exposure to its aura. He has been studying it and working towards infusing that aura into smaller dark anchors. His intention is to corrupt the land and turn everyone, thus causing Akatosh to revoke his protection of Nirn and allow him to seize upon it,” Alyssa detailed to Almalexia’s deep concern. “That you are traveling without a significant force makes it apparent the warnings of a Daedric Prince could not be relied upon to move the powers of Tamriel a second time,” Almalexia said with disappointment.
“Unfortunately, though the Mages Guild, albeit in vain, is attempting to find a way to prove the threat is real. A task they have been engaged in since Frostfall,” Alyssa said with a sigh. “Your fortitude and bravery are an inspiration, Alyssa. That you do not shrink from such a grand task speaks well of your character,” Almalexia complimented. “I will be honest with you Lady Almalexia, this is a frightening burden I have accepted. I know it must be done to protect everyone, but I expect it will cost me my life which I do not feel ready to give up,” Alyssa said bitterly.
“None who face such burdens are ever ready to give up their life, but bear the risk for the greater good. At no time should you expect to give up your life in this task. At the moment in which you choose to believe your death is predetermined you snuff out the hope yourself of it being otherwise,” Almalexia counseled. “I try not to lose heart, but I remember that place well and the nightmarish things I witnessed,” Alyssa said earnestly. “The extent of Molag Bal’s cruelty is a part of his method of conquest. He seeks to break the spirt to ease the task of breaking the body,” Almalexia explained sympathetically.
“One of my experiences in Coldharbour is why I have come to visit you Lady Almalexia,” Alyssa said and folded her hands in her lap. “You have my attention Alyssa, share what has brought you to me,” Almalexia bid her respectfully. “At the beginning of the expedition into Coldharbour the members were scattered across Molag Bal’s domain. I and a few others searched vigorously to find and rescue them. In a laboratory where dremora were conducting experiments I found two members of the Mages Guild, Zur a Khajiit alchemist and Gadris a Dunmer mage,” Alyssa said and grimaced.
“The dremora had forced their souls into one body and it was slowly killing them. I worked with both of them to reach the machine which had violated their persons and repaired it. It was made clear that only one of them could survive when it came time to use the machine. Gadris said it should be Zur to survive, because there were so few alchemists on the expedition,” Alyssa said and the grief grew in her face. “He was so brave when he chose to sacrifice himself. I promised him I would tell you of his sacrifice… it brought him such comfort Lady Almalexia,” she said and tears streaked down her face.
“As the Divine Mother I love all of my children and I am grateful one as compassionate as you were there for one of my children at the end of their travels,” Almalexia said and reached out for one of Alyssa’s hands to comfort her. “I knew all of the children which did not return from that dark place, but not the story of their loss. I thank you for sharing Gadris’s final moments with me and I will share them with others so that he can be an example to others,” Almalexia stated graciously. “I am sure he and anyone he left behind would appreciate it,” Alyssa said and sniffled.
“Tell me how you have fared in shouldering your present affliction,” Almalexia requested caringly. “It was very difficult in the beginning. My appetite to feed on anyone was a great challenge to overcome. Being feared by the people is another challenge with which I still cope. The Queen of the Dominion spoke on my behalf to try to quell the fears of the people so that I could live in the open instead of concealed as I travel now,” Alyssa said and held up her mask. “I regret to say that fear may never pass as it is well justified by the atrocities which can be attributed to their kind and that any can boast to be as kind and just as you are is unlikely,” Almalexia said consolingly to which Alyssa forced a smile.
“As time has passed, I have gained a greater mastery over myself, but it feels as though I have started over as Lady Azura deepened my vampirism for this task,” Alyssa stated with disappointment. “In what manner did Azura change you?” Almalexia pressed with concern. “To sense other vampires, she elevated my vampirism to make me into what is called a blood matron. It did allow me to begin tracking other vampires, but it also came with feral side effects as it made me more daedric. Now a daedra’s volatile nature is what I struggle to overcome. I had a taste of how angry and violent they feel in the sewers of Dawn Hearth, now I am living with it daily,” Alyssa explained with a frown.
“Was this change forced upon you Alyssa?” Almalexia asked with a subtle anger in her eyes. “No, I was given a choice and I volunteered. I weighed the risks of doing nothing and could not accept the potential harm that could have been brought to the people I care about,” Alyssa replied firmly. “Were you of the Dunmeri I would have you recognized as one of the Greater Saints for all the self-sacrifice you embrace for the sake of others void of ambition for yourself,” Almalexia lauded. “As I have told the love of my life, I look forward to the day I am recognized as nothing more than a diligent fisherman,” Alyssa said with a small grin and Almalexia smiled.
“Your rest will be well earned when it comes. I know well the history of the Chimer which worshipped the daedra and fled the Altmer who vehemently denounced the daedra. Know that each of the Living Gods will welcome you into their domains should the Altmer seek to cast you out or seek your life,” Almalexia said sincerely. “Thank you, but I will pray the day never comes that I must flee from my own people,” Alyssa replied discomforted. “For that I will pray as well. No one should have to endure being chased from home, but should you you will be welcomed here and, on my word, none shall raise their hand to you for what you were changed into,” Almalexia asserted unflinchingly.
Alyssa looked at Almalexia and let out a relaxed exhale. “Is your quiet companion someone waiting to be removed from Tamriel?” Almalexia asked with dry humor. “I certainly hope not,” Victoria said emphatically and Almalexia grinned. “Introduce yourself,” Alyssa prodded. Victoria pulled back her hood and removed her masked followed by clearing her throat. “I am Victoria Aryette, originally of Wayrest in Stormhaven. Like Alyssa, I was a victim of the vampire coven that attacked Grahtwood while plying my trade as a merchant,” Victoria said unwaveringly.
“If she is not destined for the fate of other vampires, has she taken up your cause as well?” Almalexia inquired with interest. “No, Lady Almalexia, Victoria is traveling with me to a place I believe she can live safely while assisting me on my journey. She has been reliable on more than a few occasions in dangerous situations,” Alyssa answered plainly and Almalexia hummed as she looked at them both. “In sparing this woman and your civil association with the Tribunal it causes me to wonder if you are becoming comfortable with defying Azura despite being one of her champions,” Almalexia remarked thoughtfully.
“I don’t believe it is a matter of being at ease with it and I never made a vow of unquestionably following her will. I will always do what is right in my heart. Stripping Victoria of her mind and marching her into Coldharbour would be cruel when she, like myself, has not turned to harming others after becoming a vampire,” Alyssa said impassioned. “If you have read the histories, you know that Azura can be quite wrathful towards those who fail in their loyalties to her. I have a constant reminder of that each time my eyes fall upon the Dunmer and see how she changed them with her vengeance. You should exercise caution,” Almalexia said coolly.
“A Prince changed your people?” Victoria asked surprised. “It is common knowledge among the Altmer and Dunmer. When the Dunmer, at that time known as the Chimer, turned from the three Princes they worshipped after the Tribunal’s ascent to godhood, Azura’s wrath darkened their skin and turned their eyes red out of sentiments of feeling betrayed. Though through my own power I have retained the appearance of our Chimer ancestors,” Almalexia explained to Victoria’s amazement. “That is frightening,” Victoria said and looked at Alyssa.
“So it wasn’t that you just used the tools to become the Living Gods?” Alyssa interjected as she recalled the lessons from Abbot Durak. “No. When we ascended, we felt confident that we could fulfill the role of caring for our people and told them it was time to move on from the Daedric Princes and their fickle whims which could as easily harm or aid our people. Our ascent angered Azura because it broke a promise which was made, but leading the people away from her, Boethiah, and Mephala was the final insult,” Almalexia said solemnly. “I am sure you were just trying to do what was best for your people. I have seen for myself how you have used your power for the good of the people,” Alyssa commended and Almalexia nodded with a smile.
“Speaking of the good, we were recently in Shadowfen and I had a length of time where I was able to associate with Argonians, a race I had never encountered in my life before a week ago. Alyssa has spoken of you before as a benevolent individual. How is it the Argonians were used as slaves for so long?” Victoria asked and Alyssa looked away not wishing to project her inner feelings on the matter onto Almalexia. “Slavery is a long existing practice which has occurred among most races and in some cases persists. Some fall into debt while others which have embraced criminal motivations find themselves placed under the yoke of slavery,” Almalexia began to articulate.
“It is responsible for building and maintaining societies, as is the case for the Dunmer. The concept existed for the Dunmer before they settled in Vvardenfell to build our first great empire. The Dunmer having aspirations greater than their populace could support relied upon the tradition of slavery to build their cities and maintain their economy. When we settled here in Deshaan the practice traveled with us as we established our new capital, Mournhold, and the other lesser cities. I have never espoused the practice of capturing people and forcing them into servitude as it was in the beginning of establishing Vvardenfell, but I found no fault in the use of slaves justly acquired through debt, justice or even born into it,” Almalexia explained casually.
“It doesn’t strike you as immoral to force a child into servitude?” Victoria asked puzzled. “It is neither custom nor law that slaves breed to create new slaves, that would be immoral, but slaves forgetting themselves and fornicating made that choice for their child. All that slaves have comes from their masters which created an extension of ownership over the life which was able to exist due to the food and shelter provided to them. The status of their slave parents was thus imposed upon children and by that logic was written into law,” Almalexia explained coolly.
“The Argonians of Shadowfen shared their perspective on the topic. Recounting stories of raids into Black Marsh where their egg-kin were seized from their homes then forced into servitude and their young becoming part of the workforce by the terms of your eloquently described onus placed on their slave masters. Hate would be a subtle way of describing the way one of the parties to the Pact feel toward the Dunmer,” Victoria stated bluntly. Almalexia’s features sharpened as she did not appreciate being lectured on the leadership of her people.
“I acknowledge in the wake of the formation of the Ebonheart Pact that the Argonian people bear significant ire toward the Dunmer for their treatment. Given their tribal and bestial natures they were given the same degree of regard as the Altmer did for the goblins which they used similarly when targeted for servitude. A reflection on the depth of their society has led me to ban all forms of slavery in the regions I rule over and migrated toward imprisonment for criminals and indentured servitude for debtors,” Almalexia stated as she set aside a spiteful inclination out of regard for Alyssa.
“In considering Alyssa’s…,” Almalexia began to say and stopped seeing a singular shake of Alyssa’s head. “Arguments against the practice, the strength of her words and compassion in her heart have further solidified my stance on the matter of omitting slavery from the future of Dunmer society which I preside over,” she said pointedly as Victoria glanced at Alyssa. “Alyssa certainly has a way with her words and I have heard several stories of how she has swayed others to action,” Victoria remarked and looked at Alyssa again.
“Her words and actions since her first visit to Deshaan have become part of the Tribunal library. Now as an immortal I expect she will have the opportunity to fill many tomes with her endeavor to render aid and provide heartfelt counsel,” Almalexia commented piously. “Speaking of aid Lady Almalexia,” Alyssa interjected seeking to move away from the uncomfortable topic. “Your lantern has been incredibly useful. I was able to rely on it so many times in Coldharbour and during my current trial. I don’t believe you intended for me to hold onto this long, did you want me to return it?” Alyssa asked holding out the lantern to Almalexia.
“No. It gladdens my heart to know my invention has supported you in your travels. Continue to use it until you feel your travels have reached their end,” Almalexia replied courteously. “Thank you, Lady Almalexia. I have encountered quite a number of darknesses where your lantern was an invaluable asset,” Alyssa said graciously. “You are most welcome Alyssa. Your services to my people and myself more than warrant it. Though I believe I shall provide for you from the Tribunal armory unless your style of combat requires you to don such thin, delicate fabric,” Almalexia stated as she looked at the silk robe she was wearing inside out.
“Uh no. The robe is a gift Victoria acquired for me that I am wearing because an encounter with a necromancer left my previous robe in an unfit state to wear,” Alyssa said awkwardly as she considered how embarrassing it would have been to be seen in the shredded garment. “I will make arrangements. If you wish you are welcome to rest here before continuing on your path,” Almalexia said pleasantly as she rose from her seat.
“Your hospitality would be most welcome,” Alyssa said with a nod and Almalexia’s eyes moved to the wall behind them. A moment later an acolyte hastily entered the chapel. “Milyne will attend to you, and stay to rest for as long as you see fit,” Almalexia said cordially. “Thank you, Lady Almalexia,” Alyssa replied with a smile and Almalexia nodded before vanishing. The acolyte was a slender woman in red and gold robes with long brown hair braided down her back. “The Divine Mother instructed me to see to your needs. Do you wish to visit the temple baths or shall I escort you to your rooms?” Milyne inquired attentively. “The baths,” Victoria answered swiftly before allowing Alyssa to respond.
“This way,” Milyne said and turned to lead them out of the chapel. They followed the garishly decorated hallway to a door on the left which connected to a stairwell that led to the basem*nt. Alyssa noted fragrances and steam in the air as she followed the acolyte down another hallway. A brilliant-colored red rug lined the hallway with detailed paintings of Vvardenfell’s alien landscape. “Through here you will find the baths. There are baskets for your garments and please wash yourselves before entering the bath. I will attend to the Divine Mother’s request to acquire an Ordinator’s robe for you Lady Talmari in the meantime,” she said after opening the door for them.
“Thank you,” Alyssa said modestly as she looked into the empty bath hall. Woven straw baskets were in two rows down the center of the wide room. Against the side walls were basins of water, wash cloths, stools, and herbaceous scented substances in flasks. At the back of the room was a steaming pool of water gently reflecting the light of the lanterns which hung along the walls of the bath. “Could I trouble you for new wrappings as well?” Alyssa asked before Milyne walked away. “Of course, I will see to it,” Milyne said with a bow and excused herself. Alyssa looked at Victoria as the door shut behind her. “What?” Victoria asked confused by her gaze. “If you try anything you’ll be a thrall before you can blink,” Alyssa threatened plainly.
“Is offering to wash your back a malicious deed among the Altmer?” Victoria asked amusedly. “No, but your hands wandering would be. I will manage on my own and don’t use this as an opportunity to gawk at my body,” Alyssa answered curtly and began to undress. “And how many times have you had the opportunity to do just that with my own?” Victoria asked offended. “Removing your clothes, unsolicited, in an attempt to bait me into intimate relations isn’t the same thing,” Alyssa said sharply and Victoria gave a deep sigh. “Given the smiles of the Divine Mother, would you solicit those eyes?” Victoria taunted and Alyssa glared at her a moment before going to a stool on the opposite side from Victoria.
After washing their bodies, they entered opposite ends of the pool. “You were risking your life with that line of questioning Victoria,” Alyssa commented with concern. “Is she above being questioned?’ Victoria asked indignantly. “As a monarch, in her mind, yes. She sets the law of her people and takes her own counsel. I expect Emeric would have guided you to the guillotine for questioning his style of rule,” Alyssa said simply. “What was Almalexia going to say before she looked at you and stopped mid-sentence to say something else?” Victoria pressed with curiosity. “Nothing. The topic of slavery just upsets me,” Alyssa said and stroked her arms with the warm water.
“Two vampires bathing in a holy temple seems rather ironic,” Victoria said as she stretched her legs in the water. “It is a pleasant change from the river,” Alyssa replied and laid her head back on the stone tiled edge of the bath. “Agreed. The stark contrast between Shadowfen and here is staggering,” Victoria said as she looked at the polished silver lanterns and marble floors of the bath. “The Saxhleel are people of the land, much like the Bosmer. They wouldn’t appreciate the comparison, but the Dunmer and Altmer are like a mirror of one another. At times I find it hard to tell which side is more arrogant,” Alyssa said as her mind began to relax.
“I could hear the merchants as we passed the plaza on our way here. I can understand what you mean. Elves have perfected the art of looking down their noses,” Victoria said with a short laugh. “Both races have made grand achievements, I just don’t understand how it translates into justifying such pridefulness,” Alyssa remarked as people of Summerset came to mind. “A bit of pride is good for character, but they really do take it too far with that air of superiority,” Victoria said in agreement.
“Have you thought anymore about my offer to stay in town?” Alyssa asked opening her eyes. “I am still willing to take my chances in the field until I have an experience where it seems far too much for me. You never know when an extra pair of hands might prove useful, as with times before. Sitting on my hands while you are hunting alone seems both inconsiderate and irresponsible. Though if you happen to recruit another to our merry band, then I will happily sit out,” Victoria replied thoughtfully. “I doubt there will be. A non-vampire being accepting of us is incredibly slim and sparing anymore vampires than I already am will likely worsen the conversation I will have with Lady Azura,” Alyssa said uncomfortably.
“Do you think it is going to get you in a lot of trouble?” Victoria asked concerned. “I don’t know. But I’m not willing to blindly make thralls of people I know who haven’t chosen to be monsters,” Alyssa asserted. “I appreciate the risk you are taking for my sake. It has already been a long road and I know there is far more ahead. I can imagine how you feel being away from your knight. As a reward for the choice you made for me, I am willing to provide you with comfort if you so desire,” Victoria offered earnestly void of her usual salacious tone.
“It is kind of you Victoria. I miss my wife a great deal, but she did ask me to promise to stay true to her on this expedition,” Alyssa replied politely. “The offer stands if you change your mind. If your knight is understanding of the midget, I expect she would also be understanding of you seeking solace on this long dangerous road,” Victoria said and stretched her arms over her head to distract herself from the rejection. “I believe that understanding is already at its limit with Gwaering,” Alyssa said taking on a tone of remorse.
They left the bath and found Milyne waiting in the hallway for them. In her hands was a folded robe and white cloth on top of it. “Your rooms are prepared and sustenance appropriate for your specific needs has been placed in your room,” Milyne said civilly. “If you would follow me,” Milyne instructed after handing the clothing to Alyssa. “Thank you,” Alyssa said and Milyne nodded then turned to lead them back upstairs. “You do not think they have a prisoner in chains waiting in the room, do you?” Victoria whispered and Alyssa jabbed her with her elbow.
Milyne led them past the chapel dedicated to Sotha Sil and to a door in the adjacent hallway which led to a lower level. The hallway below had many doors with lit lanterns between them with an identical red rug from the hallway of the baths adorning the floor. Milyne opened the door to the fifth room on the right. “If you have any further needs, you may request assistance from any of the acolytes in the temple,” Milyne said and bowed before returning upstairs. Inside the room at its center was a green and brown circular rug. On opposite sides of the room were single beds with a dark green blanket bearing gold stitching for the symbols of the three Living Gods.
Alyssa laid the hooded robe out on her bed and admired it for several moments. It was armor meant for a battlemage as she saw it. The robe was a combination of leather with narrow bands of quilted dark green cloth which connected the leather sections. Over the front of the torso was a molded steel plate matched to a female’s figure with an ivy design emblazoned onto it and over the groin and hips were steel faulds. Holding up the robe the weight of it was noticeable because of all the steel, but she expected it was wise to wear when considering shrapnel of rock and ice. She then turned to look at Victoria.
“We aren’t in the bath anymore, turn around,” Alyssa said pleasantly and Victoria curled her lip with a groan before turning around on her bed to face the wall. Alyssa slipped off the silk robe and torn wrappings then donned the clothing Milyne had given her. She moved her arms first which moved easy enough despite the thickness of the leather. Next, she twisted her torso and felt grateful the chest plate and faulds were two separate pieces. “I’m done changing,” Alyssa said and Victoria turned around. “Could not wait to get out of the robe and put on the Divine Mother’s, hmm?” Victoria prodded with an undertone of envy.
“You very well know that delicate cloth wasn’t well suited for hunting and I was wearing it because it would have been indecent walking in public in my destroyed robe,” Alyssa argued to Victoria’s show of jealousy. “It is an attractive robe and I am willing to wear it when I am not needing to defend my life,” Alyssa assured her. “Mhmm,” Victoria replied dissatisfied. Alyssa’s eyes went to the silver flask on the nightstand with a cork in it and two bronze goblets next to it. The scent of guar filled the room when she uncorked the flask. “Is that what we have to look forward to throughout this leg of the trip?” Victoria grumbled and Alyssa began pouring.
“Hmm, for the next month most likely. When we leave Vvardenfell it will be for Bleakrock. We’ll be able to find an antlered selection there,” Alyssa said attempting to be encouraging. Victoria grimaced and began drinking from her goblet. “You didn’t seem so averse to guar in Stonefalls,” Alyssa remarked as she watched her begrudgingly drink. “I was also starving to death,” Victoria said pointedly. “I should take that back. Vvardenfell has a very peculiar amount of criminal presence. So, feeding on bandits will be an option,” Alyssa noted after sipping from her goblet.
“I wonder if I could bring myself to feed on a person,” Victoria commented as she thought about it. “I am not particularly open to it and have decided I will only do it if I must to survive. Even then only on enemies or criminals,” Alyssa stated solemnly. “What about them turning after?” Victoria queried. “I burn the bodies after to prevent that problem,” Alyssa clarified after sipping from her goblet. “I see. I will keep it in mind, but the trauma of remembering being fed on makes it hard to consider feeding on another person even if they are an enemy per se,” Victoria said unsettled.
In the morning they returned to Almalexia’s chapel before departing the city and found her floating in a meditative state again. She opened her eyes as Alyssa and Victoria came near her. “Is it time to continue your travels, Alyssa?” Almalexia inquired in a passive tone. “Yes. Azura does not know how much time we truly have before the dark anchors are ready for use. I need to hurry,” Alyssa answered with a sense of urgency. “Does your new attire agree with you?” Almalexia asked as she looked at her robe. “Very much so. I expect this to be quite helpful. Thank you,” Alyssa replied as she patted the chest plate.
“Is there anything else I can do to assist you in your travels?” Almalexia offered as her eyes met Alyssa’s. “I will be traveling to Vvardenfell after passing through Stonefalls and Bal Foyen. If you would warn Lord Vivec of my coming so that his Ordinators do not trouble me, I would appreciate it,” Alyssa requested humbly. “It will be done. Safe travels,” Almalexia said firmly with a nod. “Stay well Lady Almalexia,” Alyssa said and bowed before leaving with Victoria avoiding looking at Almalexia. Milyne escorted them to the entrance of the Tribunal Temple and bid them farewell.
Alyssa received longer glances as she walked through the city wearing attire reserved for the Ordinators protecting the city. “I wonder if what is under the mask would shock them more than what you are wearing,” Victoria whispered. “Probably. The Dunmer have a particular dislike for Molag Bal as he is a member of the House of Troubles which they accuse of attempting to corrupt their bloodlines. A shared source of pride for both Altmer and Dunmer,” Alyssa answered as they headed for the southwest gate they entered the city from.
Once they were a short distance away from the city Alyssa placed a teleportation glyph on the ground. “What are you doing?” Victoria asked nervously. “I remembered this time, come on,” Alyssa said excitedly and Victoria’s eyes filled with dread. Alyssa stepped onto the glyph and Victoria reticently soon after. They appeared in a darkly lit space with crates and barrels which resembled a basem*nt. “Hmm,” Alyssa said as she looked around and Victoria stomped on her foot. “Experiment on yourself at shorter distances,” Victoria snapped.
Sudden thudding sounded over their head and came closer to them. A door swung open casting light down rickety stairs. “What are you doing in my house?!” shouted a middle aged Dunmer man in peasant clothes. “An unfortunate detour, sorry,” Alyssa said sincerely. “Get out!” the man shouted and the two women scurried up the stairs and out of the house’s cellar. “Satisfied?” Victoria snapped again. “Alright, alright. I’ll work on it. Wish I could figure out how I am teleporting down…,” Alyssa replied and began thinking to herself as they headed west on a road heading back to Stonefalls.
