Leaving Fort Dawnguard with Marcurio we headed towards Riften as I had some alchemy reagents for a couple of the vendors their. I paused at the center of the bridge to take in the view of the waterfall. Marcurio looked a me couriously and asked, " How long have you known Isran, you seem to have more lee-way than he gives anyone else."
"That my friend is because I have known Isran since he was a young Deadra hunter with the Vigilant. He has always been driven. He doesn't much talk of his past. It's not pretty." I said with a firmness in my tone, I would not talk of his past, it was his. The wizard nodded and with a thoughtful look on his face asked.
"You have been to Skyrim before?" I shifted my gaze over his shoulder as I saw movement, I narrowed my eye's and saw a blur infront of a bush. I answered Marcurio, with a distracted air, pulling my cross-bow from my back slowly, but keeping it between our bodies. His eye's narrowed and I noticed his hand's glowing as he readied a spell.
" Yes, I've been here several times. I own two houses here, one outside of Falkreath, though it's been empty for about 100 yr's. The other in Solitude". He understood the nod I gave him and moved quickly to the side as he spun around, trying to catch sight of our enemy. I lifted my cross-bow, took aim and fired at the center of the blur. Marcurio followed the track of the bolt and sent a fire-ball following along after, both hit the Mist-walker squarely in the center of her chest. As she hit the ground burning up, I continued talking,
"where their is one their is at least two. The house in Solitude I have owned for about 200 yr's, the Steward keep's a house-carl there."
" Wait, the Solitudes steward? She's 200 yr's old?" He sounded surprised, but he was young. As I lifted my cross-bow again, he followed the track.
"You get the one on the left, " I said in a low voice, "No, I think she's older than that actually. And yes, she is a vampire." The bolt I sent, was the type that explodes in a fire-ball. I quickly reloaded in case that one didn't do the job, but I didn't need to bother, it died. Marcurio sent two fire-ball's after the second mist-walker, both hit, but I think the first one did it in anyway.
"You know and just leave her there? Why" He asked, "Are we not vampire hunters". We walked to the 1st mist-walker and I squatted down to look through her armor. Not finding anything more than odds and ends.
" She's really only served the Jarl for 20 yr's or so, but she has served Skyrim for much longer. Which doesn't answer your question." I paused and checked the pocket's of the next vampire, " It's a little complicated, but I feel that just because one is a vampire it doesn't make one evil. Action's often speak louder than words and her's have. Let's just say I knew her before she was a vampire and abrasive as she is, she was a good person then. She love's Skyrim and now takes the long view on looking after her people."
As I bent down to check out the third vampire, Marcurio flung a spell over my shoulder, I felt the heat as it passed. I stood and looked in the direction of the fire-ball and saw a troll. Drawing my sword, I ran at it and swung as I passed, Kruziik Dilon slicing it's head cleanly off, the body turning to ash before it hit the ground.
Before I could even put up my sword a gaint spider spit poison at us, I threw up a ward with my off hand as it came at us. Letting down the ward just as a bolt of lightening hit the beast, I swung at it, connected and gut's flew everywhere. As a second gaint spider came at me, Marcurio hit it with lightning bolt after lightning bolt, unlit it was a smoking husk, the Third one hit just as I heard Marcurio yell "Bandit's!".
The Lady Nocturnal must be giving some poor thief all the luck the two of us had, because we were receiving our share of mis-fortune on this trip. Trying to keep myself between Marcurio and the bandit's, so that he could throw out ranged attack's, was taking it's toll on me. I was slowing down slightly and could feel the burn of my muscles with each swing. I let out a curse at the Lady as I felt the pressure wave and the ground shudder as a Dragon landed, blasting one of the bandit's with it's icy breath.
This gave me a little respite as I worked my way around the dragon to where Marcurio was. "Save your magic, except to defend, til we know which way this battle is going." I shouted at him over the sounds of battle. I sheathed my sword and brought out my cross-bow, keeping tract of where I might want to shoot next. Putting in one of the bolt's that would freeze the target, I took careful aim at a rather impressive bandit wearing plate steel, just as the dragon also took aim at him, one icy breath then the dragon snatched him up and flung him up over the tree tops. It took off and flew in a circle around us, as it passed over our head's Marcurio flung a fire-ball at it and then another at a bandit taking aim in our direction. The dragon shuddered as a couple arrows and the fire-ball hit it at the same time. It flapped it's wing's a couple times more, then taking a sharp turn back in the direction of the bandit's, it seemed to shrink as it hit the ground, plowing a furrow into it and taking out some of the bandit's out in the process.
We dispatched the last of the bandit's and quickly looted them for valuables that we could sell in Riften. It was a pretty heavy haul, but Riften wasn't all that far away. I bundled everything up and made a sling for it, something easily dropped, if needed. Marcurio didn't seem all that pleased when I handed him his pack, saying he wasn't a pack mule, but an apprentice wizard. He would be a poor wizard with that attitude, I would try and help him with that.
I'm not really even sure why he decided to become a vampire hunter, he didn't really seem suited to the life. Perhap's the life as a court mage. I couldn't really help him with that one, but I would find out just what it was he really wanted. I had very few friends, I lost tract of many of them over the years, but I knew a great many had passed away. I really liked the Nord people, they are very strait forward people, say what they mean, quick to anger and will give you the sword off their hip if your need it.
The rest of the trip into Riften was quiet, we sold off all the thing's I had looted from the bandit's, then headed down to the Alchemy shop, where I sold of some of the rare reagent's that I came across, plus some of the dragon bones and scales that we had just acquired. I bought some health potions in exchange. We then went to one of the food sellers and I gave her the Ice-wraith teeth that she wanted, the Smith got his fire salt's for the forge. I sold a couple of the weapon's that, we had grabbed off of the bandit's.
After grabbing a bite to eat in the Bee & Barb, we headed out to the carriage to hire it to take us to Markarth, where the priest of Arkay had said we would find information about a coven of vampires.
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