Skyrim: A Sorcerer's Tale

Chapter 197: Chapter I: Ripples

Chapter 197: Chapter I: Ripples



Within an ancient, dusty, and near ruined hall something that can only be described as a pack of ravenous beasts wearing human skin feasting on the flesh of their once brethren was taking place.

Yet to the youthful man sitting at the jagged throne at the hall's head, this was but a nightly occurrence. More refined than his... lesser servants, the brooding man wiped the tiny splotch of blood from his mouth with a silken handkerchief with all the manners of a king.

"Tell me Garan" The man speaks in a calm, soothing voice yet it is laced with authority "Have you confirmed the words of those pitiful Altmer..." He seemingly chews on the word before finishing "Diplomats?"

A well dressed, one could even say gentlemanly Dunmer pulls out a scroll with a practiced flourish "Indeed, my lord. The mortals have begun their war and I estimate it will last for enough time for the prophesy to occur."

"Splendid." The vampiric lord's lip curls up ever so slightly "And the other matter?"

"I have narrowed the position down to Skyrim's central mountain range." Garan Marethi answers dutifully.

Lord Harkon Volkihar frowns for a brief instant "Less than I desired but it will have to do." He declares "Call for Orthjolf and Vingalmo."

"Pardon my impertinence, my lord." Garan interjects "But is it wise to entrust such an important task to those two?"

Had anyone else dared question him Harkon would have no doubt been halfway through draining them of all their lifeforce by this point... But Garan had earned the closest thing the ancient vampire had to trust so he merely gave him a pointed stare "While I agree that the two fools like to play their games they are also the most enthusiastic in their pitiful attempts of currying my favor. They will serve their purpose." He states with finality.

"As you command." The elf bows and moves to accomplish his master's command.

"Soon." Harkon mutters, already fantasizing about his ages old desire.

A broadly built Redguard bashes away an axe swing with his warhammer, pushing his opponent with his forward momentum and ending the light movement with the young lad he was training ass own on the ground.

"You are getting better boy." Isran, the leader of the newly reforged Dawnguard says while watching the young blonde slowly get up, though there is little actual praise in his tone.

The young man, Agmaer, pats his backside in a vain attempt of cleaning himself up but soon gives up and shily scratches the back of his head "Thank you sir, I promise I will not fail you!" Isran grunts in a mix of annoyance and dismissal, something the boy gets after only fifteen seconds of dumb staring. An improvement since the previous full minute to be certain!

"Farmboys and old orcs." Isran mutters with a mix of disdain and disappointment "How am I supposed to kill those monsters with only that?" His question is mostly rhetorical as his eyes narrow with determination "No matter, we will succeed all the same."

"Done with your little ritual?" The familiar cheerful voice of his old associate startles him from behind, though it doesn't show as he turns to face him.

"Celann." Isran greets him in his usual gruff tone, one solar cloak and one deep annoyed frown later Isran speaks again "I trust you have something to report?"

The rapid muttering of 'insane paranoid jackass' goes completely ignored as Celann calms himself "RIght." The young Breton man sighs "The vampires from the castle-"

"Volkihar." Isran growls.

"I don't care what the bats call themselves, they are monsters all the same." Celann snaps.

Isran takes a long breath as to stop his own snapping response before speaking again "It is important to know who and what they are so that we may hunt them down. They are stronger than us, faster than us and more importantly far more experienced than us. Each advantage is something that must be explored."

Celann stares at him for a moment before nodding "Fine, fine! The Volhigar-"

Isran's eye twitches.

"-Have been seen leaving the castle ever since Meridia's temple was destroyed. Which was something that we expected yes, but it was only three days ago that a dozen of the creatures left for the mountains north of Whiterun."

Isran mulls the report over for a while and then questions "You are certain you were not spotted?"

"Yup." Celann smirks "I made sure to keep my distance and kept applying that odd tonic you gave me to my armor."

"Good." Isran grinds out.

He is silent for a good while his face constantly switching from pondering to frowning. Finally he speaks "If they are moving so swiftly then that means we must move in turn, yet our preparations are not nearly enough. We must recruit more people for the cause."

I take the towel from my obviously excited maid and start wiping myself "Anything happen

while I was busy?"

She stares at me absent mindedly for a moment before quickly shaking her head "Sera Karsus

wanted to talk to you about a message."

"Oh?" I tilt my head "Did he say it was urgent?"

"He did not but he did seem confused about its origins." She explains.

"Hmmm..." I hum for a moment and then shrug, with a snap of my finger all of the sweat is

gone and I am fully clothed in my robes "Thank you for your service Alissa, I will be going

now."

The maid seems almost reluctant as she notices I am suddenly clothed but merely bows as I

leave.

Moments later I am entering my office where Karsus was currently busying himself writing down some notes on my ever expanding business.

"Alissa said you had a message for me." I say in lieu of greeting.

My Steward nods and points his hand toward my table, still scribbling all the while "Yes my lord, it is right there on the table, the scroll with the sunburst crest."

I leave to his work and grab the scroll while scanning it for magic fuckery. The emblem the

scroll is sealed with causes my eyebrows to raise in both surprise and annoyance "Already?" I

mutter too quietly to be heard.

'To: Court Mage Reyvin Flame-tongue

Your spat with Meridia has had its consequences, the Volkihar clan is rousing and we are in

need of your assistance to combat the undead threat.

Signed: Isran, leader of the Dawnguard'

'As terse as I expected him to be, but I do not begrudge him his attitude in his line of work.' I

hold the scroll aloft for a couple of moments longer before I speak to my Steward "Call for Davos, Nightshade and Alor. It seems a change of plans is in order."

The Dunmer gets up immediately, leaving me to my ever spiraling thoughts of the future.

Isran got some stones, not for long tho.

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