The next day dawned bright and early and Isran had us all up well before daylight. Other than a bear that had decided we were to close to him, nothing bothered us in the Reach, which bothered me. Really I had only half expected to make it through the Reach with out getting attacked by Forsworn. One of the younger members with us made a comment about the Forsworn being afraid of so large a group, his friend agreed. I sighed and Isran who had been talking to me took a couple quick step's and smacked both of them in the back of the head. He told them that was just about the stupidest thing he had heard in a long time.
He then explain to them that the Forsworn weren't afraid of us, what they were was smart enough to know who we are and what we do. They would have a much larger problem with vampires than those living in a walled city. Knowing what we do, they used us as they would any tool, but if he had decided to take one of the old fort's here and make that our head quarters, we would have problems. It was a rather simplistic explanation, but would do for the young men.
Isran then dropped back to talk to me again. He asked when I thought we would make it to the shore near the castle and would the people be their with the boats, so we could cross. I told him they weren't really boats, but raft's and no, they would not be their. I had arranged for them to wait around the headland until I signaled and come the next morning. While he was not happy, Isran did decided that attacking in the morning would be much better than in the late afternoon after an all day march. He was too focused, on the end, to think strait, which was the main reason I had arranged things the way I had. Plus we were called the "Dawnguard" for a reason.
We got to the beach were I wanted to make camp at a couple hours before dark. We kept the fire to one small one, that could easily be mistaken for the campfire of a single person, which was my intention. On the way to the camp Marcurio and I had fround exactly what I was looking for, a small hill near the headland. Two hours after the sun had set, he and I walked back to that hill and he climbed to the top. We then proceded to have a mock mage dual, that anyone watching would think was the real thing. As ice spikes hit the rock next to me I concentrated on the firebolt spell I would need to cast, at a certain angle and in a specific sequence. As the four fire balls lit up the sky well behind and above Marcurio, he sent a couple more ice spikes at me. I then cast a fireball's that hit the ground enough to his left or right that he was never in danger of being burnt. After about a half an hour of tossing spells back and forth, we both headed back to camp. Serana laughed and said we had put on a pretty good light show. That had been my intention, along with letting our ferrymen know we expected them in the morning.
That came all to soon, with the raft's ashore and waiting for us before first light. As Serana and I would be going on the last raft, fearing that her father might be able to sense her, I talked to the youngest member of our group. I knew he wouldn't be happy, but as someone needed to do the job, I had picked him. I told him he would wait here with the horses and if we were not out of the castle by dark, he was to ride as fast as the horses would allow back to Fort Dawnguard and let those remaining know what had happened. I did try and make it seem like he was the best person for the job, by telling him that I had picked him because he knew how to ride and was the lightest member of our group and had the best chance of getting their. Not just because he was the newest and youngest member, both were equally true though.
As Serana and I walked off the raft onto the shore of her father's island, I activated the binding spell I had put on the thin cord wrapped around Auriels Bow, if for some reason it left my possession, it would transport itself right back to the Inner Sanctum Chantry. I had not tried this spell in a couple hundred years and with a much smaller item over a shorter distance, It should work though. I was using two grand soul gem's to fuel the spell, one in the quiver on my back and it's twin in the Chantry.
As we got to Isran and Marcurio, Marcurio looked back at me and warned me not to try and conjure a familar of any type, as someone up their could turn them. I laughed and told Isran to pass the word not to be startled, as I heard the message passed back, I summoned the one creature that they would never be able to turn. I gathered the power I would need and then said his name "Durnehviir", the very air made a sound like it was being ripped apart as he appeared. He turned and looked at me and then beyond at the rest of the amassed Dawnguard and then turned his head the other way and looked at the vampires, gargoyles and death hounds on the upper part of the bridge. He gathered his will and summoned bonemen and wraitmen from the Soul Cairn and then froze the weaker of our enemies as he took off.
I started walking forward and pulled Auriels Bow and a sanctified arrow, took careful aim and hit a vampire dead center, watching as a ring of light spread outwards as she screamed, then exploded. Serana caste the ward spell I had taught her, to keep the bow's effect's from harming her. Marcurio was busy casting the Sun spell's I had taught him, while the rest had pulled out their crossbows and were making pin cushions out of thralls and vampire's alike.
Once we got through the castle door's Serana, Marcurio and I held back some to look for her father. When we didn't see him in the main hall, Serana said he was probably in the chapel. Isran came up to us and asked Marcurio to see to the wounded and protect them. So the three of us went towards the chapel, I lead the way with Serana right behind me. I had traded Auriels Bow for a crossbow with special bolt's that would burn when they hit, it was much easier to use at close range, plus I had put in the blades that made it a lethal weapon. I had found long ago that the sturdy construction of crosbow's meant that they could be used to bash something if you couldn't load fast enough, add in some blades across the front and it made a really good slashing weapon also.
I went through the door that Serana said was the chapel and sure enough I spotted Lord Harkon towards the back. As Soon as Serana walked through the door and before Isran could, the door's slammed shut. I was semi frozen in place as Lord Harkon started to talk, Serana walked in front of me and to her father. I did notice that she stayed directly in his line of sight. He then went into a speech that could have been written by any power hungry crazy person throughout history. There were some specific's and after a short time even Serana was tired of listening to him.
Once the fight began it was utter chaos, Lord Harkon summoned gargoyles and skeleton's, I summoned a Wraithman, Serana reanimated a couple dead thrall's, she got lucky with one that appeared to have some magic, the other used it's fists as it had no weapons. I kept casting Stendarr's aura around myself, though I made sure to stay well away from Serana while it was in effect. I blasted Lord Harkon with various sun spell's, as he never seemed to let me get close enough to use my sword. I didn't have enough of the sanctified arrow's for general use, so I figured to use them to best effect when Harkon was weakened.
We seemed to be going around in circles in the chapel and I figured out Harkon's pattern, once he was so weak he would go back to the blood fountain in the back of the chapel. In the course of our next round, I made sure to go up onto the dais and I caste a fire rune on the floor right were Harkon had stood/floated the last two times, all it would take is one drop of blood to fall on it, one stray pebble blown by his wing's.
As He weakened again he called a couple skeleton's, I called a wraithman to take care of them and then started casting the strongest sun spell's I knew at him, even to drinking a potion to keep my magic level up. When he decided to teleport to the dais, I was ready with Auriel's bow, The rune went off and staggered him only slighly, which was ok, I knew it wasn't strong enough to do alot of damage. Before he could gather himself to caste a ward around him I managed to get one sanctified arrow into him. I kept firing them as fast as I could and the ward broke, I moved towards him from one direction and Serana from the other. Both of us hitting him again and again, keeping him off balance. I pulled two arrow's out of the quiver and knotched one, laying the other right on top of it. I wasn't really sure this would work, but it was worth the gamble. Both arrow's flew toward him and both hit in the core of his body, exploding in a ring of purified sunlight.
When the spot's disappeared from in front of my eye's, Harkon's corpse was laying on the dais. I looked for and found Serana and went over to her, I pulled a bottle out of my pouch and gave it to her. I told her it wasn't blood when she looked at it with loathing, it was something an old vampire friend had created that would help her to regain her strength. She downed it and said it was the worst tasting stuff she had ever had the misfortune to swallow. I handed her a couple snowberries, that were both sweat and tart enough to hide the flavor of almost anything, saying just to bite once to let the juice out. I sat down on a stone block and pulled another small bag out of my pouch and unwrapped some honey-nut clusters.
I asked Serana if she was alright and while she didn't look happy, she said she was fine. As she sat next to me I put my arm around her, she laid her head on my shoulder and started to cry. I tucked her head under my chin and wrapped my other arm around her. Harkon may have turned into a monster, but he was still her father. I rocked her back and forth slightly and hummed an old song. Once the racking sob's had stopped, I pulled out a cloth and my water flask and wiped her face clean.
I asked her if she would be fine, because if we didn't go open the door's, chances are Marcurio would blast them down. She laughed and said she was quite sure he would. so we got up and walked to the door's, making sure we weren't in their direct line incase they came flying. I then told eveyone to stand back as I opened the doors. Marcurio was the first though the door, spell's in both hand's ready to caste. When he saw Serana and I standing their, he let them go and came and hugged first me then Serana. No one could ever say he wasn't observant and he kept his arm around Serana as the rest of the Dawnguard members came in and looked around. Isran, thanked us and said he had been trying to beat down the door, when Marcurio finally showed up and told him their was a ward on it, that he would be better off trying to tear down the stones surrounding the door. They had both sat down and waited, til Marcurio said the ward was gone, then tried opening it again, but couldn't. I told them all of what had happened while Marcurio held Serana and patted her on the shoulder, I did mention that the door had been barred as well as warded and Serana and I had needed a moment to recoup after Lord Harkon was killed.
I told Isran that the three of us had something to do and would then take a week or so off and if he needed us in the mean time, send a message to Falkreath Hold, they would know how to find me from their. Isran said that they would be checking the entire keep for hostel vampires. Serana looked at me and inquired what it was that we needed to do now. I started walking to her mothers lab and told her that she needed to go and let her mother know that her father was dead. I would wait with Marcurio in her mothers lab.
Before She went through the portal, I handed her Arvak's skull and said it was a loan, so she could get back quicker. However we would wait til she and her mother came out. As she walked into the portal, Marcurio said good luck. The two of us then wandered around the lab for a minute and then I went a couple room's away and grabbed some chair's and broke them up for firewood. I walked out on the balcony with a couple bowls and placed them so that the rain would fill them.
Marcurio started making a stew with the dried foods and water in his pouch and flask, I added a couple herb's that would taste well and add some restorative properties to our dinner. I re-hashed the fight with Harkon, blow by blow...keeping an eye out for Serana and her mother. Marcurio asked what our next plan was, he couldn't imagine that I planned to take a very long vacation. I laughed and told him no, long enough to fix my armor and sword and actually relax.
After that I wanted to go talk to the Greybeards, If Jarl Balgruuf was right, they had summoned me to their mountain retreat. Besides which I had some question's I wished to ask them. Marcurio had known that they had called and really that I found it highly ironic that I could be dragonborn. We both knew it would be a very dangerous thing for me if it was true and the Thalmor found out. That I told Marcurio was my next plan, I also told him Serana had other plan's, but she hadn't wanted Isran to know about them yet. We would ride with her to Solitude were she wanted to stay at my home for a couple days, to think thing's through with our any kind of pressure. I had no intention's of going into my house their, if he wanted to he could go and look around, I would visit Sybille at the Blue Palace.
I must have dozed off because I woke to find Serana and her mother coming out of the portal. Marcurio was eating again, so it must be the next morning. The four of us chatted a bit and I found out that Serana's mother would try and put the castle back together, but this time, with a more peace loving crowd. I did warn her that Isran would not tolerate another coven feeding off the local's and doing other distructive things. She said that she had had time to perfect a potion that, like the one I had given Serana, would feed a vampire's body and magic, but was not made of blood or anything else one could object to. It would not allow the strength that blood did, but peaceful people didn't need that kind of strength. Somehow I did not think Molag Bal would be happy that his pet vampires wouldn't be feeding off the living any longer.
After a hug and kiss goodbye, the three of us left Serana's mother and the castle behind. When we got to shore all three horses were tied loosely to a log. We saddled them up and headed to Solitude. I stabled the horses and paid the boy that was caring for them, it didn't make me happy that he was an orphan and the stable owner was letting him sleep outside and work off his keep. I didn't really know what to do though, I didn't have the time to care for a child. I gave him a few extra coin's and said that was for being very nice to my horses and if he gave them an apple, this evening, I would make sure he got a couple more coins.
I changed my mind about visiting, I was to tired and cranky to want to visit with an equally cranky vampire. So I gave Serana a letter and sent her off, with the warning that Sybille was indead very cranky and liked to put people through the wringer, both physically and mentally, so watch it. Marcurio also decided to forgo the visit and made a night of it flirting with the barmaid. I ordered dinner , drank down a potion of cure disease, just to be on the safe side, ate my dinner and slept until well into the morning.
I woke to find Marcurio sitting beside me reading a book, I asked what time it was and he looked out the window and said around 9 am. I sat bolt upright and asked how he could let me sleep so long. His reply was that when he got up this morning it was storming and while it was slacking off now, he had no intention of riding in a thunder storm so had let me sleep in, as I seemed to need to. He was of course correct and I couldn't blame him for not wanting to ride in the rain. I was informed that I had breakfast on the table and that the stable boy would bring the horses up to the gate as soon as it stopped raining.
So I got up and dressed in my armor and ate my breakfast, I had opened the window for the cool breeze, not just to see when it would stop, because it had by the time I opened the window. So we left the Inn and went through the gates and sure enough our horses where their. Marcurio and I arranged the packs and I asked the boy if he would like a ride back down to the stables. His eye's lite up like a flame cloak at midnite. I put him on the saddle in front of me and rode down to the stables, were a woman was looking at him with a frown. I told the good woman that I had wanted the boy to get back to the stables quickly as we had asked him to stay with the horses and didn't want him to get into trouble.
I had, as it happened already slipped a couple coins into the boys pockets, but I made a show of giving him the smallest coin amount as a gift, knowing she would probably take that coin away. The boy smiled and said thank you and thank you very much for the ride back. I waved at them as we left and Marcurio said it was a shame that the boy had to work for a living at such a young age, in conditions like those. I agreed, but stated I had no problems with the work itself, just that he was sleeping outside and probably wasn't getting the full amount of coin due him.
We left Solitude and had gotten halfway to Dragonbridge when a horridly loud clap of thunder sounded right overhead and cause both of us to have nose bleeds and cause the horses to panic. when we calmed them down, we both looked around and realized exactly where we were. I rolled my eye's and Marcurio laughed as we both said, "Meridia" at the same time. So we rode up the path to her Statue and Shrine and walked up the step's to it. We both bowed and asked our Lady what it was she wanted.
"I felt my token take the lives of some powerful vampires and I wanted to thank my Champion for ridding the world of such vile creatures" She really had no concept that her voice was very loud in our heads, to the point it was painful, "At the base of my Statue is some gem's that you will find useful. Go now and find more of these vile creatures to send back to their master". We both bowed again and Marcurio grabbed the gem's and whistled, as they were good ones. We walked away without hurrying, as our patron, didn't like that at all.
We walked the horses until we were a ways up the road and then started trotting them. I looked at the sun as we again walked the horses into Dragonbridge, I told Marcurio that if we pushed the horses we would probably be able to make it to Morthal right before dark.
I was right as we made it into Morthal right before the sun set. We hurriedly took care of the horses, so that I could see if the saddles had rubbed them during the day, they were fine, but I checked their hooves for stones or bruises. Marcurio bushed them behind me and I got their grain ready. We walked into the Inn and asked for two room's and use of the Bathing room, plus dinner.
After cleaning up and eating dinner, we both decided to get some sleep and leave early enough in the morning so that we could make it all the way to my house before nightfall.
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