Skryim III: The Dawnguard Wars.

Part Fifteen: Sight No Longer.

"What do you mean, you can't see?" Serana asks Dexion Evicus as he sits down in an empty chair. Serana, Sinding and I stand near him. The old moth priest has his eyes covered with a handkerchief. The vampires Hestla and Ronthil stood on either side of the Moth Priest. He needed help being brought to us with the lack of sight. As soon as we left the Soul Cairn, Sinding has sent a letter to Fennorian to find us. We purposely had asked Ronthil and Hestla to help us. Serana said she knew that many members of her father's court were corrupt and that neither Hestla or Ronthil belonged in that coven and might be safer with the looming threat of the Dawnguard with Fennorian and his coven, House Ravenwatch.  
  "I'm sorry, milady." Dexion said, his voice dreamlike, "It seems that when I read of the Scroll, I had not taken all of the precautions and my eyes were not ready for the ordeal. I am  now....blind...due to that." 
  "Then what use is he to us?" Hestla asks, looking at Serana in confusion.  
"Evicus?" I ask. 
  "Yes, my mistress." Dexion replies. 
"Since you can no longer see.....do you know if there is a way for someone else to read the Scroll?" I ask, crossing my arms.  
  "Hhmmmm yes, there is." Dexion smiles. "In Ancestor Glade,  there is a Draw Knife, used by previous men such as myself, to scrape the wood off of a Canticle Tree. With that bark from the tree in your hand, you should be able to read the scroll...with no side effects."  
   "Ancestor Glade? Where is that?" Ronthil blurts out, then shamefully cringes if he spoke too soon.  
   "Near the mountains of Falkreath, you will find the Ancestor Glade." Dexion says. 
I nod, "Alright, so we know where to look....."      
   Ronthil and Hestla become alarmed as footsteps sound behind us, but I know who it is before I even turn around. 
   "I came as soon as I received your note, Sinding." Fennorian walks away from the openness near the jetty into the shed outside of the Castle grounds. 
   Serana nodded, "Good, because we have need of you, Fennorian."  Fenn smiles at Serana and gives her a gentleman's bow. "Of course, my lady. How can I serve?"
 "What is the meaning of this, my lady?" Hestla asks, her yellow eyes glowing.  "Who is this strange vampire?" 
  "He doesn't smell like one those blest by our lord, Harkon." Ronthil said, wringing his hands, nervously. 
"Because he isn't." Serana said, her eyes meeting mine. "He's better than what we are....and I have given him permission to take you all to a new home."  
  "What?!" Ronthil and Hestla exclaimed at once. 
"I know this comes as a shock to you both, but I promise you....I'm doing it for your safety." Serana says, "As your princess, I command it."  
   Ronthil's eyes widened. "Our safety? Has something happened?"  Serana looked at me and says, "Something will happen. I don't know if you can tell...but the Court is conniving. Harkon wants to proclaim the Tyranny of the Sun, but I have heard, that when he does that, he plans to rid himself of the lesser of our court." 
  I look at Serana in shock, I'm pretty sure she just made this up, but it's a good lie. A believable one. It was better than explaining how we were planning on sabotaging Harkon's plan. 
Serana looks at the growing horror on Hestla and Ronthil's face. Sinding even put on a good 'shocked' face. I had to keep from laughing at him. 
  "My friend, Fennorian, will take you with him over the sea to House Ravenwatch, a vampire coven in Highrock. There, our kind is safe to live, and no one judges each other." Serana looks at me and smiles. 
  "What about my forge...my tools?" Hestla asks, faltering. 
"We have one that has not been used, it would be perfect for you." Fennorian smiles. 
"And...what about me....I want to find something useful.....Feren treats me like I don't belong...I don't even have a coffin to sleep in." Ronthil says. 
    "At Ravenwatch, you will have your own bed and anything you would like." Fenn says. 
"What do we have to do...." Ronthil asks, "To go to this place?" 
 "Leave immediately with Fennorian, take the first boat out of Solitude and you will be on your way within days." Serana says. 
    Hestla and Ronthil look at each other and then back at us, when Serana begs. "Please. I don't want anything to happen to you." 
  Hestla nods. "Alright, I'll go."
"So will I." Ronthil agrees. 
  I sigh with relief as I see a smile tug on Dexion Evicus's face. 
  Serana smiles and she briefly gives the two vampires a hand shake. And nods to Fennorian. 
I look at Fenn and wrap him into a hug. This was goodbye for us for  now. "Thank you." I whisper.  
   "You and Sinding are my friends. Anything for you both." He says softly as he gives Sinding  a hug as well. 
 "Good luck you two." I say to Hestla and Ronthil. 
Hestla hugs me and Ronthil grips my hand tight before they follow Fennorian until the jetty and they disappear into the darkness. 
    I sigh with relief. Part of this ordeal was over.

"So what do you plan to do with me?" Dexion asks as the three of us stand around him. 
"I'm taking you to Fort Dawnguard for the time being." Sinding says,  helping the moth priest to his feet.   "Interesting, hearing that from a company of Vampires." he remarks. 
   I look at him, "You have done what you can for me, Dexion. I rather have you safe before the storm  hits." 
I look at Serana and she  nods. 
   I turn to my husband, "Are you sure you won't get hurt? Isran can be......" I struggle to find words but Sinding nods, "I promise you, everything will be fine. Lydia is there waiting for me. She will be able to help me if any trouble arises." He pulls me into a hug and whispers. "I will move forward with the cure....and if it works, once this ordeal is over....you can join me."    
 I raise my head and we share a kiss.  "Alright." I whisper. "I'll hold you to it." 
  Sinding laughs. "I know you will." Pulling away from me, he reaches his hand out towards Serana to shake. She takes it and smiles. "Goodluck, Sinding. Hopefully....we may meet again, under different circumstances." 
  "Same to you, Serana." He smiles. 
And with that, much like Fennorian and the vampires, Sinding leads Dexion towards the other jetty and they are off.  I close my eyes. Things were now coming into motion. I look at Serana, things just got a little harder for us. Three Vampires and the Moth Priest were now gone. Harkon would figure out something was happening. "So? To the Ancestor Glade?" I ask, Serana.
"To the Ancestor Glade." 

................................................................................................................................................................Serana.

Serana didn't like the rain. But, it was better than the burning sunlight.  She wondered how much she would love the sunlight if she wasn't a vampire. 
As her and Taniiaae made their trek towards the mountains, past the town of Falkreath. Serana wondered about what was going to happen to the castle where her father lived. She knew that Taniiaae had her ties with helping the Dawnguard....who wanted to kill her father. But, maybe....maybe this Isran had a point. If Harkon bought the Tyranny of the Sun to life, then many people would die. Many innocent people.  
    "Why did you tell Ronthil and Hestla that your father was planning on killing them?" Taniiaae asked as we slowly climbed up the hills towards the mountains. 
   Serana frowns and then turns to Taniiaae. "Because....I think what you have said about him is true. I think he will stop at nothing to get what he wants."   Taniiaae's wide eyes show surprise. She then slowly nods. "You know that the Dawnguard will probably kill him....and the others there." She says softly.  
   Serana looks down at her feet and sighs. "I know....that's why I lied to Ronthil and Hestla. Innocents don't need to die along with the guilty." She keeps continuing to walk and Taniaae keeps up. "Are you sure you want to do this?" 
  "I do." Serana replies. "When I spoke to my mother, I realized that if I ever want to have a relationship with her again, my father would have to die. With her journal, I know how to find her.....and can perhaps free her from her prison in Oblivion once he dies....."  
  Taniiaae looks at her in sorrow, and says. "Do you think you will have to kill him?" 
Serana nods, "If he doesn't listen to reason... But I assume if I don't, your Dawnguard allies will." 
  Taniiaae goes silent for a moment. And the two women continue to walk as the rain lessened and turned to snow. 
   "My father was killed." Taniiaae says, "But I wish I felt more joy when he died." Serana turns and looks at the other vampire in pity.  "He was an evil, evil man. He killed members of my family, including causing me to miscarry. Out of fury....Sinding killed him, for the horror he caused our family, for what he caused me. But yet...I wish I was the one to have torn him to shreds."  
   "I didn't know that about you." Serana says. 
"I didn't want you to. You already had seemed to have an opinion of me....but the thing is....my life hasn't been easy for almost a year. I'm blessed to have Sinding and Lucia in my life. But everything else, hasn't been easy at all." 
   She blinks, "Serana, if you kill your father, I don't blame you. But if you choose to save him. I also don't blame you. I will help you with whatever you need me to do." 
  Serana looks up at the grey sky and sighs. "I've never met anyone like you before, Taniiaae." 
   Taniiaae laughs. "I hear that alot."  
 The girls continue to walk when they reach a cave opening. "I think this is where the Ancestor Glade is...." Taniiaae says. "I see Spriggan Sap smeared all over the ground, looks like maybe others were looking for a way to read these Scrolls."  As the girls enter the cave, the massive tunnel leads to an opening right away. As mentioned, dead spriggans and vampire scouts litter the floor, but other than that, the Glade was beautiful.  Light filtered through the cave's ceiling, trees with pink leaves waved in the small breeze. Water gushed from small springs. It was peaceful. 
   "Wow....this is beautiful." Serana breathed.   Taniiaae pointed to the one of the springs, where a rock jutted out of the water. On top of flathead of the stone shrine, was a draw knife. The girls looked at each other briefly before Serana went ahead and grabbed the knife from it's rock pedestal. She held it up. A handle connected to the blade from both sides where two hands could hold the hilt. "It doesn't look like much." Serana said as she handed it to Taniiaae. "No, but maybe it will do what we want." Taniiaae says, hopefully.  
  She looks at one of the Canticle Trees and walks towards it.  Moths surround the bark of the tree in the swarms. Taniiaae looks over at Serana. "Here goes nothing."  
   She scrapes the knife against the bark until a couple of pieces crumble into her hand. She sets the draw knife down as she holds the bark in her hands when all the moths of the glade surround her. "Whoa, there is so many." Taniiaae says as Serana gasps. "You look like your glowing! They must be doing something!"   
  Taniiaae's yellow eyes take in the sight as Serana pulls out the Elder Scroll. She hands it to Taniiaae and takes a piece of the wood into her hand as well as the Breton girl opens the scroll for both of them to look.  The caves illuminates with light as the two girls read the prophecy of the scroll.