On the way down the mountain the next day, Marcurio and I talked about the "test" that the Greybeards had decided would be my final admittance into their group. I wasn't exactly thrilled at that, I either was a dragonborn they could instruct or I wasn't. If they wanted the horn and couldn't or didn't want to go get it themselves, they could have just asked. Marcurio suggested it could be a test to see how committed I was, well their might be other reason's also.
"Marcurio, I wanted to explain about the spell's I used to make the ice cave. While they are almost the exact same spell's that you know, "flame" & "frost", they are also just slightly different. "Flames" require less power and "Frost" requires more power, both require so much more in control. That is the main reason I haven't showed or told you how to do that in the past. Chances are if you hadn't been their, I wouldn't have done that. I was about exhausted had I crossed the line, I knew I could rely on you to take care of me. That is the problem with this particular spell ,once you start, the spell will keep drawing power until it is completed and that could mean death if your not very very careful."
Marcurio nodded and said he would think about that and I said that was good because after he mastered the ice cave spell I only had one more that He needed to know and I wouldn't teach it until I knew he had control and experience to know when to and when not to use the spell, it could be the difference between winning over and enemy and loosing, but you could win and still die, that was why it needed experience.
He let me know he understood that and would practice the spell's. When she thought he was ready for the last spell then he would be ready, until then what did she have in mind. Where they going after the Horn or was their something else she wanted to do?
For now we would just get down the mountain and see, I just didn't like secret's or being sent on task's that could either wait or should have been done a long time ago. Their's no way that reclusive as they are in all the time the Horn as been in the tomb, they could not have went after it themselves.
We got back down to Iverstead mid-day, I wasn't sure we should leave, but I really wanted time to think before we just up and left. So we went to the Inn and ordered lunch, with our lunch the Inn Keeper brought a note that he said was brought by a member of the Dawnguard. She had given a description of the person he was to give it to, well descriptions as he had gotten one for her partner also, but not names.
So I took the note and opened it,
"Zyne,
If in your travel's you pass by Morthal, please check out the area for a Master Vampire. From a couple of account's their is one feeding in the area, but either their is a cover up or he is a very smart vampire. ( From Isran)
I thought you would like to know that some Thalmor agent's came to the Fort and wanted to look for you. Isran told them they should come back in force because they were not coming in an disturbing his people. So now they know you are part of the Dawnguard, if they were only speculating before. Everyone that is out has taken to wearing a hood, the same as you do. Where it me, I would find a different kind of armor to wear and loose the hood's.
Your Friend,
Sorine Jurard"
I cursed under my breath and handed the note to Marcurio, who cursed out loud but in a couple different languages that he probably figured the people here didn't know.
"So you were right about changing armor's, but somehow I don't think you gave me the whole story. So spit it out and tell me."
" You know that Thalmor patrol that we passed several months ago? The one that helped up with the bandit's in the reach?" Marcurio nodded, " I recognized the Justicular and he only leave's the Imperial City when he is after someone that they have placed a death warrant on, that is important and dangerous. I know he looked right at me, but this isn't how he would remember me, so I think it took a bit for him to realize exactly who I am."
"Well then, he may not recognize you in that outfit, it's very Nordic and you are about the height of a tall man." Marcurio said.
"Yeah well, I probably should have said something earlier, but I ran into him when I went into Falkreath. He won't be a problem, either him or his patrol. He recognized me as I went to walk by and told me about the death warrant and that he was sent to track me down. Wasn't like I had much of a choice, him or me and I prefer to be alive."
Marcurio stared at me for a minute and said, " Fine, he's dead, someone else will take his place. You should have told me so I knew to watch your back, don't do that again please, let me know what is going on."
I told him that I would and we decided that we would be better off out in the forrests rather than in a town. So when we finished we headed out towards Morthal, the Nordic barrow that held the Horn was in that area anyway. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.
We traveled the rest of the afternoon, heading in a direct fashion for Morthal. We stopped for the night in a small clearing right down the road from Helgen. Even though we had cleared out some bandit's before didn't mean that more hadn't moved in. Camp was set up before night had completely closed in. I cooked our meal that night, Marcurio usually relying on stew packet's that I made up anyway. I was in the mood for a good meal, so we had rabbit roasted over the fire with a snowberry sauce, potatoes roasted on either end of the spit. along with a gourd that I threw in the fire and rolled over a couple times, once split open I put some cheese on it and along with a bottle of mead it was a fairly good meal for the road.
I could see Meridia's unsmiling face in front of me, beckoning me to follow, Marcurio was beside me, as we walked across a verdant land, the color's bright enough to blind. She turned and beckoned us closer and she walked through a rift or door, the two of us following. She had stopped and marcurio and I walked up to either side of her. We were looking at a small girl child she was very obviously dead. I looked around and realized we were in Morthal. "The vampires here have gotten out of control, killing children. You will rid the town of them. You will go their quickly", with that she disappeared and I was back in my bed roll. I sat up and looked at Marcurio, who gave me a sideways grin and said it was a good thing we had already planned on going to Morthal.
"It is, you know in all my time hunting vampires, I have never run across one that would kill a child. Usually they are smarter than that. I don't understand why the whole town isn't in an up-roar, you can do alot of things, assassin's get away with their murder's, because they don't take mark's on children. So it's not just the run of the mill ,find vampire layer kill vampires. We will have to look into the child's death, find out who and why." Marcurio nodded and we both laid back down and wen't to sleep. If Meridia wanted us to get their faster than our feet, leaving in the morning, she could have put us down right inside the town, camp and all. After all, she had done that to Marcurio and I before, nothing like waking up right in the middle of a vampire layer.
We got to Whiterun early the next day, I traded in some of the herb's I gathered along the way for some healing and cure disease potions. I also asked a friend to do me a favor and go to my home and give a note to Rayya. She said that was fine and I wrote out the note telling Rayya to watch out for the Thalmor and let them search the place without any issues, but once my Aunt got their let her and my Uncle deal with the Thalmor patrols. They should be arriving soon.
We left Whiterun and headed across the tundra, skirting giant camp's and their herds of mammoths. We of course ran into alot more wild life, sabre cat's and wolf pack's, but it was a good trade off to not run into bandit's or Thalmor patrol's. We skirted the mountains and basically had a leisurely walk. Marcurio and I used calming spell's whenever possible, as I really hate killing animal's for no reason.
About an hour before sunset we were in the area I had wanted to camp at, plenty of water close by, for a bath and a rocky outcropping that we could put our back's to to keep anything from sneaking up on us. So we set up camp, Marcurio decided to cook us another stew for dinner, with some fresh beef he had gotten from Whiterun. I went to take my bath.
I had no sooner stripped off my cloths when I heard the roar of a dragon and felt the air of his wing's blowing dust across the ground. I heard Marcurio curse in the near distance and then saw the lightning bolt he sent at the dragon. I caste a mage armor spell first thing and then a flame atronach spell, hoping for a little distraction. As the dragon shot flames at me I dove into the pond, it wasn't all that deep, but it would help.
I was on the other side of the pond and climbing out when the dragon again decided to shoot flames, but this time at Marcurio. I caste a Fost Atronach at the dragon's feet, as the flame atronach disappeared, I dove back across the pond and grabbed the clothing I had planned to change into, shirt first. I'd forgotten how long the shirt was so I just stuffed my feet into my boots and grabbed my sword.
The dragon snapped one more time at the frost atronach and it disappeared, but Marcurio hit it with another round of lighting bolts and I hit it with a snow storm spell, it decided to take off and fly in circle around us for a bit. Someone in the distance was shooting arrow's at it, I could see them flying at the beast. I could only hope it wasn't a group of bandit's.
I leaned back against the rock as the dragon concentrated it's efforts at the other group of people. Marcurio looked at my long legs and asked if now was a good time to put some pant's on, or was I just going to show my ass to everything. I told him that if they didn't like what it looked like, they didn't have to look at it. I wasn't going to put more clothing on, just to take it back off when we were done, cause I knew I would want to jump back in the pond.
I thought about it and summoned Durnehviir, when he appeared he was facing the other dragon, so he didn't even have to ask what the danger was. He took off with a rush of wind that smelled like rotten flesh. Marcurio made a comment about that and asked how long I thought it would be before my pet turned on me.
I watched the two dragon circling each other, Durnehviir telling the smaller dragon to flee like a rat from a sinking ship, but no matter how fast it flew he would catch it and it would have to wait for it's soul to be reborn again. I knew the other dragon was saying something back to him, but I didn't understand a word it said, it was almost like the babble you would get from a toddler.
I heard another dragon from a distance tell them that they were disturbing his sleep and Durnehviir should just send the other dragon to Oblivion and be done with it, no sense taunting the young fool. Durnehviir was toying with the other dragon, like a cat toy's with a mouse, I knew it was so that he could stay and breath the fresh air, so it didn't bother me. They had quit the conversation, some of it about me, well at least I think it was about me anyway. The other dragon was asking Durnehviir if he owed allegiance to Alduin, whoever that was. He replied that he owed no one, he might have peeked in my direction when he said that, but I never felt that he owed me anyway. The other dragon stopped talking to him, I had to wonder at that, I would have to ask who Alduin was, another dragon to be sure.
His wing beat's were starting to slow, he was getting tired, so I threw out a firebolt at the other dragon, which cause it to pause in midair. Durnehviir caught it in a blast that sent it falling strait to the ground, which shuddered as it skidded along leaving a furrow. As it regained it's feet Marcurio and I both caught it in a blast of fire that killed it before it even knew. Durnehviir circled once more and roared in defiance, then said farewell as he disappeared back into the Soul Cairn.
I shrugged and told Marcurio I was going to take my bath and he might want to go see if he could salvage anything for dinner. He started as if stung and hurried back to our camp, cursing as he went. I slipped back out of the shirt and went into the pond, my cloth and soap at hand.
I had much to think about, why is it that I didn't understand a word of what that frost dragon had said. I understood the dragon that talked to Durnehviir, I understood Durnehviir and some other dragons. Some dragon's though, like that frost dragon, I didn't understand anything and the sound's that they made really didn't sound like words in any language. Who was this Alduin, I broke his name down and it didn't really sit well, because I knew I knew the name, but I could not remember where from. I would remember when I wasn't really thinking about it, I did that all the time.
Finished washing I got out of the pond again and dried off with the cloth I brought for that reason and put my clothing on, this time shirt and pant's. I carried my armor and gauntlets along with the sword, wearing the boots across the rocky ground. Marcurio said he added fresh vegatables to our stew, but it tasted fine.
After eating I laid out the cloth to dry and my armor to air out, I stretched, loosening muscles and then laid down and went strait to sleep, not waking til morning.
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