Murphy's Law

Chapter 64

It was quite the shock, when they finally found the Ancestor Glade, to see the Black Knight already there and waiting for them, with Emmet's scroll. "I see that didn't take as long as you were expecting," Mayhem told him, grinning. The Knight shook his head.

"Hey, isn't that one of Lucy's swords?" Sirius asked, spying the much smaller dragonbone sword on his belt. "What happened to yours?"

'Alduin,' the Knight signed. Sirius winced.

"Oh. I'm. Sorry?"

'It's fine. I can ask Iron-Tail to forge me a new one when this dragon mess is over.'

"How close is that, anyway?"

"Yeah, how did it go on the mountain?"

'We came close to defeating Alduin, but he fled. Emmet's finding out where to.'

"Coward," Sirius spat. The Knight huffed in amusement.

'Lucy said the same thing.'

"Glad I'm not the only one that recognizes that."

"In the meantime," Balthazar interrupted, "we still have this other prophecy 'mess' to deal with. We have all three Scrolls; we really should get to finding out what they have to tell us."

"Right," Sirius agreed.

'Just wait til you see this place, it's incredible.'

"That so? Doesn't look like much from out here." The Knight got back to his feet, motioning for them to follow. He led them deeper into the cave, grinning to himself when the narrow tunnel opened into a vast cavern, and he heard three gasps behind him.

"Wow," Balthazar murmured, clearly awed.

Sunlight shone down from the open roof of the cave, illuminating the entire space. The cavern was filled with small pines and countless wildflowers, a waterfall cascading down one wall. Several sets of stairs had been carved into the stone, leading downward. Near the bottom of the cavern, a beam of focused light shone on a small island surrounded by hot springs, a small, ancient-looking tree growing next to it, and they could just make out a carved pedestal. "I've never seen a tree like that before," Mayhem remarked.

"Probably a canticle tree," Sirius told her. "Divines, look at this place. I bet you no one's been here in centuries!" At a nudge from the Knight, he continued onward, leading the way down to the base of the cavern.

"So how exactly is this ritual supposed to work?" Balthazar asked.

"You start by cutting a bit of bark from a canticle tree using a draw knife, which I'm assuming is on that fancy pedestal down there. The moths are drawn by the scent of it, and once you've collected enough, you can tap into their second sight. Granted, that usually takes years of training to learn how to do, but we don't exactly have that sort of time."

"I hope you can figure it out, then."

"Oh I'm sure I can."

Mayhem snickered. "Might want to watch your pride, Sirius. It was already your downfall once." He huffed at her in response.

"Nonbelievers."

They finally reached the bottom. Sirius retrieved the draw knife from the pedestal- an oddly shaped, two-handled thing, no doubt meant to do as little damage to the tree as possible while scraping off the bark. He stepped closer to the tree nearby to test it out, and was rewarded with a few shavings, the blade still surprisingly sharp after being left to the elements for so long. He hoped the handful he now carried would be enough.

"Now what?"

"We hunt down some moths." Balthazar accompanied him as he made his way through the cavern, the two warriors staying back so as not to frighten the moths away.

"Look at them, they've definitely taken a liking to you," the vampire chuckled after Sirius had attracted a few. "And unless I'm seeing things, you're starting to... glimmer."

"Fascinating," Sirius murmured, looking around at himself. "I don't recall reading anything about that."

"Think that's enough?"

"Mm... Not yet. We should keep looking, there must be more around here." They continued their trek around the cavern, slowly collecting more of the moths until there was perhaps twenty of them fluttering around Sirius.

"Whoa!" Balthazar gasped as the air around the half-elf began to glow brightly. "Is that what you were waiting for?"

"I think so," Sirius answered, giving him a grin. They headed back down to the dais.

"Wow!" Mayhem exclaimed, staring at him. "So that's why they're called Moth Priests!"

'Are you ready to read the Scrolls now?'

"As ready as I'll get," Sirius answered, taking in a deep breath and shrugging off the Scroll he carried. "I think I need to start with this one, and then I'll need Balthazar's scroll, and then Emmet's."

They watched with bated breath as Sirius opened the first Scroll, then the second, then the third. He was stock still as he stared at something only he could see, then slowly reached up to trace something, his lips moving but no sound coming out. The Knight was quick to grab him as the moths suddenly took off and Sirius was left swaying on his feet.

The half-elf drew in a sudden sharp breath and blinked several times as he came back to himself, lifting his eyebrows in surprise to find the Knight grasping his shoulders. "Are you okay??" Mayhem gasped. "You went white as the snow!"

Slowly he started to grin. "Never mind that," he answered, "it worked!"

"After all we've been through it had damn well better work," Balthazar sighed. The Knight finally released Sirius, certain that he could stand on his own two feet again. "What about Auriel's Bow? Do you know where we can find it?"

Sirius nodded. "The Scrolls showed me its exact location. Almost directly north of Markarth and west of Solitude."

"Then it's almost over," Balthazar sighed in relief. "We can finally rewrite the prophecy as we see fit."

'Let's get going,' the Knight urged. 'We should try to get there before his father has a chance to track us down.'

"You're coming with us?" Sirius asked in surprise.

'Emmet's quest has taken him to Whiterun. I'm certainly not welcome there, so I'm no longer of any help to him. And you three are in more immediate danger than the rebellion. They're in good hands.'

"Oh." Sirius nodded. "Then we're glad to have you along." He pointedly ignored Balthazar's smirk.