It had taken longer to find the vampire hunters, who he later learned were called the Dawnguard; then Blaise had originally thought. Not only had they needed to leave the horses at the Riften stables as he had been told that they would not be able to get them into the canyon that housed the ancient fort that the slayers used as their base of operations, but the opening to said canyon had been almost impossible to find.
Night had fallen before Blaise had even come close to locating their destination, which he had only managed because of the soft glow of the two braziers that were kept alight at the opening. Although he had all but forgotten the trouble they had had when he lead Alarne, who was still out of his wits all the time it had taken to get him from their camp near Ivarstead all the way to this damn fort; into the beauty of the landscape that surrounded the vampire slayer’s base. The sight of the rushing falls forcing water over the edge of the cliffs up above just for it to fall into the lake seated at the entrance to the canyon.
Alarne had stood with a blank expression on his face at the sight before them and while Blaise had been startled by a solitary deer that ran across the path ahead of them Alarne had given it as much notice as you would the trees around them. As they walked down the path from the narrow entrance the great mountain of stone that was the fort Dawnguard had come into view, Blaise had only seen one other building as grand as the one that stood sentinel over the landscape around him and that had been the Blue Palace.
While the small stable that he had been the stable boy of for most of his life had been forever in the shadow of the castle at the far end of Skyrim’s capital he had never seen it in the same way that he now saw the home of the Dawnguard. It was not just a mighty fort, it was also the only hope he had of regaining the Alarne that he had started out on this journey with.
They had passed through the fortifications leading up to the massive door that gave access to the inner workings of the fort itself, all the while Blaise had been fully aware of the eyes that had followed them up to the main entrance. The great door had been easier to open then he had expected almost as though it opened of its own will, once inside they were greeted by the sight of a rounded room filled with the sunlight that streamed in from the circular hole in the roof.
It took only a few minutes looking around with a look of awe on his face for a female wood elf to walk through one of the three other entrances to the room that they now stood in. She was garbed in similar armour to those that had been watching them outside, yet unlike them she seemed to have trouble moving in the armour as though it was heavier than she was used to wearing. Resting on her right hip was an intricately carved war axe while from the other hung a steel crossbow that he guessed she was more proficient with.
“Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to tell me what you’re after? This is no place for sightseers mind you.” There was no tone in her voice as though she didn’t really care what they were doing, which he supposed was pretty likely.
“Uh, I came to get help for my friend Alarne…” He gestured to the blank faced figure of his friend as he spoke “…as you can see he’s out of his wits…”
“This is no temple to the divines, we are not priests to be consulted on such matters as this, we are warriors sworn to eliminate the evil that is the vampires of this land.” Her expression and tone changed so quickly that it had taken Blaise a full minute to begin speaking again.
“No, you don’t understand I think a vampire did this to him. A couple of days ago I came out of the inn in Ivarstead to find him like this he kept mumbling about a tall man with glowing eyes that he had seen enter the inn, yet I had seen no such man and I had followed him out.” The rush of words that had sprung from his mouth had left him out of breath, before he could continue the sound of footsteps resonated from the passage way to the right of where he stood.
Even the wood elf had stopped to look towards the figure that emerged from the arch that led deeper into the fort. The man that stood before them was a redguard who looked to be just getting to the beginning of old age, yet he moved as though he were of an age with Blaise himself. “Beleval go and fetch that buffoon Florentius and have him see what he can do about this boy.” Once the wood elf who was apparently Beleval had run off to follow this man’s order he turned to face Blaise.
“And you can come with me; if we’re going to help your friend here then you can repay use by running an errand for me.” Before Blaise could say anything the redguard had stormed off back through the arch way he had entered through.
After a moment’s hesitation he ran after the man who appeared to be the leader of the vampire slayers he had come in search for. By the time he made it through the arch way the redguard was almost to the top of the spiral staircase that lead to the second floor of the fort. Blaine hastily made his way up the stairs so as not to get lost in the unfamiliar layout of the building, what he found as he crested the second floor was what seemed to be this aging man’s private quarters. In one room was a bed bigger than the one that he had seen on one of the rare occasions that he had been inside Alarne’s house, and surrounding the bed were an assortment of wardrobes and cupboards.
The redguard stood in one of the other rooms that appeared to be an office of some sort “My name is Isran and I am in charge around here so if you want your friend to get better you had best do as I say, do you understand.” The mere implication of what he had just said prevented Blaise from managing even the most basic of words as he thought about what this man could want.
He gave a slight nod and then stood waiting for Isran to continue. “Humph, we’ll do all that can be done to free your friend from that fiend’s trance, but I would like you to deliver couple of messages to some of the Jarls for me. The letters are warnings of the location of known vampires and are being sent to let them know that we shall soon be moving against these threats to the people of Skyrim.”
This could not be happening he was no vampire slayer how could they expect him to deal with these problems himself “Wait I’m no vampire slayer how do you expect me to deal with these problems?”
“Tsk. I never said you would have to do anything about them all I need you to do is deliver the warnings for me is that understood?” As he said this Isran had turned towards the desk and picked up a pile of letters each with a jarl and hold written on the front. “Oh, and I should tell you that the most troubling vampire seems to be the court mage in Solitude a Breton by the name of Sybille Stentor, so if I were you I would be very careful while delivering that letter.
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