Chapter 34

It wasn’t quite at a run that we made it to the stable but close. “Jordris, grab a horse. Giemund, you know us by now from caring for our horses. We need another.”

He nodded and told me a fair price that I immediately paid. “Okay, mount up and ride as if Elisif’s life depends upon it. Which I suspect it does.” We left at a gallop.

“Lydia, Serana, this is the way we first went when we headed for Castle Volkihar. Be ready in case of animals, don’t stop, just ride over them.” We actually did end up taking out a skeever that way. I’m sure that by the time the last horse ran over him nothing was left but pulped meat.

Upon entering Broken Oar Grotto, the first thing I noticed was the sheer size of it. It was a huge underground cavern. From the conditions of the rock and dirt outside, I guessed that at up until recently, it had been open to the sea. This was confirmed upon entering, as there were still ships, some partially submerged from damage, inside. A large wooden platform with stairs lay ahead, still half full of boxes and barrels.

We went up the stairs and stopped at the top. The body of a pirate lay before us. That caused me to pause. “Okay, we’re here, but ... I think slowing down is in order. Sorry for the way I acted earlier.”

“Martina, my love, there’s no reason for you to ever apologize to any of us.”

There were two paths before us. One to the left led up a natural stone bridge to an overlook, the other followed the wall. “Come on, let’s follow that natural bridge up and over the water and see what we can from the high ground.”

We found the body of another pirate up there, and I carefully crept to the edge of the cliff. Our current pathway led back down, where wooden bridge spanned the underground lake to rejoin the pathway we’d just left. Half a dozen people were clustered around the bridge, having a conversation. I focused in on them, and saw several Forsworn, including a Briarheart, and ... someone in ebony armor. Damn.

“Is that...” Argis whispered.

“Yes, that’s ebony,” whispered Lydia.

“Damn, that’s almost as good as what Martina has,” said Annekke.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Fill the guy in the ebony with arrows. Once he’s down, switch to another target. If they start closing, you three switch to sword and shield, Annekke stay on bow, Serana use magic.”

We lined up, five of us with bows. Four arrows flew true at the armor, Lydia actually overshot and hit one of the Forsworn standing behind the armored figure, killing her. Two arrows bounced off from the angle, with only mine and the one Annekke fired actually penetrating. He was staggered but still standing, so another volley went his way. Three of them hit him and finished him off.

In the meantime the remaining Forsworn and the Briarheart came charging across the rock bridge. Annekke and I each fired an arrow at them, while Serana cast resurrection on the dead pirate to act as a meat shield, and then she started firing ice spikes. One of the Forsworn summoned a frost atronach. Their atronach took the front line, blocking the Forsworn from coming up behind him. At the top of the rise it was met by Argis and the dead pirate.

Swords clanging off ice resonated through the cave. Lydia and Jordris moved up when Argis faltered, taking his place. He had taken a blow to the head, cutting him above the eye and staggering him back. He drank a healing potion. Serana’s pirate collapsed into ash as he died again. In the meantime two of the Forsworn were also dead, their atronach dispelled, and only one whirling dervish with two swords was holding us back. The Briarheart behind started casting fireballs up the ramp at us. That might have worked but he was aiming too high and it hit well behind us, off the ceiling.

Lydia took a sword to the leg and went down, while Jordris finished off the last Forsworn fighter. The Briarheart had stepped back to adjust his aim, giving me a free sight at him. I could feel the snap of the bow string and watched the arrow sail true, going right through the center of his throat. He reached up with both hands, trying to staunch the spurting blood, then fell over, dead.

The Forsworn sword was stuck to Lydia’s leg. She hadn’t passed out from pain, but was grimacing. I quickly poured a potion of healing down her throat and started casting healing upon her as well. “There’s no easy way to do this, so start drinking this one now.” She did, and I yanked the barbed sword out of her skin. The magic of the potion healed her ripped flesh quickly.

Argis was finally sitting up. The front of his armor was drenched with blood that had poured from his open head wound, but that was closed now. Jordris had received a bit of a bruising, but was remarkably untouched otherwise. Annekke was unhurt, and Serena and I had both received minor burns to our back from the fireball.

“Annekke, keep watch, everyone else, drink plenty of potions or come to me for a healing spell.”

Surprisingly enough, no reinforcements came to see what had happened, and we were able to take a few minutes to recover and regroup. We stripped the bodies of useful things, as well as taking the ebony armor so that Adrianne could repair it. “Jordris, you might carry that, because once Adrianne or I fix it, you’ve earned it.”

She started to protest that it was too expensive, and Lydia quickly shushed her. “You’ll find that our Martina is quite concerned for us.”

I looked at Serana. “Do you recognize him?”

“No, Martina, he wasn’t a member of my Father’s court, but that means nothing. That he choose to wear this may have been an attempt to conceal his true identity from the Forsworn. But ... yes, look, here on the helm. The fanged wolf. That’s Hestla’s personal mark. She’s the armorer at Castle Volkihar, and there’s no way this armor made it out here without Father’s blessing.”

We continued on through the cave system. As we did, it became obvious why there had been no reinforcements – this was a huge cave system, and between the water and the way the cavern walls twisted and turned, it had naturally deadened the sound. Two more Forsworn guards fell to our arrows while traversing the smaller passages. This opened up into a huge room, where the pirates had kept some ships at one point, and we killed another two guards standing at the exit.

Evidence of the rockfall that had closed the cavern was also evident here, with one ship visible beneath the waters, the hole in it quite visible from where a boulder from the ceiling had fallen straight through it. Another ship was anchored to a wooden scaffolding, with several people sitting there eating. On the top of the scaffolding was the cabin from another ship, probably used as quarters, and I could see a forge and other parts of a smithy on the far side.

“Gods, look how many of them there are. So many Forsworn. If they get close to us, they can take us down simply by swarming.”

“Martina, how many of those potions do you have that improve archery? I drank the one I normally carry when we went against the guy in ebony,” Lydia asked.

“Enough for everyone to have another. But I don’t think one potion will help, they’re scattered all over the place. By the time we switch targets, it’ll have worn off.”

“Not if they’re all gathered together, wondering why their forge is suddenly speaking to them with taunts.”

“By Talos, Lydia, that’s brilliant! I can use the shout aimed over there, they’ll hear it, gather up, and we fill them with arrows.” I took her in my arms and gave her a quick, but deep, kiss for her idea.

I passed out potions to everyone. “Jordris, you know I’m the Dragonborn. You know that Ulfric used a shout on Torygg, that was Unrelenting Force. There are many, many others, and I can use them all. Well, just watch what happens, and be ready to drink your potions and then let fly with as many arrows as quickly and accurately as you can.”

I turned to our undead companion. “Serana, it’s possible there may be some of them come at us down that cliff path. We’re going to be concentrating on killing them in groups. It’s up to you to guard our backs, and if there are too many of them for you to handle, let us know immediately.”

“Don’t worry about that, Martina. We’ll have two Forsworn reinforcements if need be.”

We readied our arrows. I shouted towards the forge. “Hey, ugly!” came from the forge. Two of the nearby Forsworn came to investigate. They didn’t find anything, and as they started to turn away, I shouted again. “Hey, troll bait!” coming from the forge gained the attention of all the Forsworn on the scaffolding. More than a dozen of them, along with someone wearing glass armor and even a Hagraven as well, came over to look at the mysterious forge.

We could see them arguing with each other.

“Now!”

We drank our potions and started loosing arrows. The first flight came in for a landing, killing five of the Forsworn. It took them by surprise, and I shouted again, “Hey, melon nose!” We fired another volley, taking down the person in glass armor and three more of the Forsworn. The Hagraven realized what was up and shouted directions, so the remaining four Forsworn started towards us.

Serana used her Vampire’s Servant ability to reanimate one of the slain Forsworn, and it charged into combat at her behest, blocking the path of the four coming towards us. The Hagraven was casting fireballs towards us, but missing, they were hitting below us on the rocks. “You four, take her out! I’ll help Serana.”

Serana was firing ice spikes, and I assisted with arrows. Two of the attacking Forsworn were down, then her servant fell. The other two came charging towards us in perfect line.

“FUS RO DAH!”

The echo of the Shout in the enclosed cavern was nearly deafening. The two Forsworn were flung backwards, tumbling over rocks. I dropped my bow and grabbed my dagger with one hand, my sword with the other. While they were tough enough to handle being flung about, they couldn’t handle being stabbed in the heart.

The cavern grew quiet, with no more fireball spells.

“Yeah, you Hagraven bitch! Took my eye once, did you? Now how can you see with my arrows in your eyes?” Argis was feeling better, it seemed.

Serana cast a quick spell of detect life and said, “Martina, I think we got them all.”

“Okay, let’s get up there, then, and see what the magic is that’s happening, see if we can interfere with it.” When we got to the top, where we’d killed most of the attackers, Serana knelt down and pulled the glass helmet off the body.

“Another one with Hestla’s mark on it. And this is ... was ... an older vampire. Easily four times the age of Sybille, twice as old as the one up front. I almost think this whole cave was supposed to be a trap for you.”

“That actually makes sense. So far as your Father knew, it was just you, Lydia, and I, right? If it had been only the three of us ... if the first group didn’t get us, certainly the second one would have.”

Further on, we found the body of a woman in a wedding dress. “Elisif was having visions of a dead woman in a wedding dress.”

Jordris said, “The lady looks like Elisif. What manner of magic is this?”

“The Forsworn and their cursed Hagraven sorcery. Mixed in with vampires.

“Elisif is the Jarl after all. Plenty of people would kill just to see her drown in her own tears, especially now that she’s found you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure how, or why, and really don’t care. But you’ve replaced Torygg in her heart. So she again has found happiness. Now, if something happened to you, that would be utterly devastating and destroy her. Which would...” She looked troubled.

“Which would what?”

“With no one left in the bloodline, Thane Erikur is senior, and would inherit the throne.”

“He’s a despicable pig, but ... I don’t think he’s part of this plot, although having him in power, with his connections to the Thalmor and Elenwen ... shit.” I looked around. “Okay, split up, let’s see what we can find here quickly.” I yawned unexpectedly.

“Maybe not so quickly, Martina. We’ve a hard ride ahead of us to get back to Solitude, and we almost certainly are going right back into combat with Potema. Let’s get some rest. We can take shifts, get a bit of rest, and do some quick searching as well. Even a few hours rest now will make a difference. Here, this was the main bed, we’ll use the bedrolls.”

“You’re right, Lydia. Thank you.” I should have smelled a skeever from her wording. When she woke me up, I went, “Okay, we ready for to change shifts? Why do I feel so rested?”

“Sorry, my Thane. We ... forgot to wake you for your shift. We worked around it.” At the look on my face, she said, “Hey, we also found that schematic for the crossbow that Sorine wanted. And yes, we did get some rest as well.”

“They truly did, Martina,” Serana said. “They had Annekke and I rest a bit as well, although I needed less. They ... we ... all love you. Let us help care for you, okay?”

I couldn’t speak for a moment. Even when I did, my voice was a bit husky with emotion. “Fine. And ... thank you. Let’s get going then, shall we?”

We made it back out of the cave and then back to the Blue Palace by early afternoon. I went straight to Sybille. “We checked out the cave. The Forsworn were using it for some sort of ritual.”

“By the gods! A cave overrun with Forsworn near Solitude! Now, why would the Forsworn come here?”

“Even better. They were working with ... a couple of your undead kindred. And just to put the topping on that cake, we found evidence of Volkihar influence as well. In addition, we found this strange wedding dress on a dead girl who looked like Elisif.”

“Let me take a look.”

“It’s cut through. You can see the girl was sacrificed while wearing it.”

“Some sort of profane wedding. It looks like they cut her open from gullet to groin. An innocent. Damn them!”

“You’ve seen something like this before?”

“Not seen it, but I know of it. This is a Dark Wedding. Research on this is banned by the Synod.”

“So ... necromancy, but practiced upon the living instead of the dead. That makes twisted sense, especially with the Volkihar involvement.”

“I don’t know. Why would the vampire Lords care about Elisif?”

Serana said, “He doesn’t. To him, she’s just cattle. But ... to fulfill his prophecy, he needs three Elder Scrolls. So this was an elaborate trap, to catch Martina and I both. That he’s killing an innocent child means nothing to him.”

“Well, she’s not going to die anytime soon. I can’t break the curse, but I know what it is. Just because research into is forbidden doesn’t mean I don’t know what I need to do to counteract it so it doesn’t progress any further. And the rider from Whiterun made it back just a bit ago, so I have plenty of potions now. You’ll need to do whatever it takes to stop it, so the evil doesn’t swallow Elisif.”

“So we have a dead girl, a defiled wedding dress, and Elisif is dying...”

“Two places I can think of, and one is nearby. The Bards College has been around for millenia. Much knowledge lies within its walls. Stories and ancient legends.”

“Of course. While Urag might know of it, if it’s happened before, there’s surely a song or story about it as well that’s been passed down from bard to bard.”

“Very good. Do what you can for Elisif then, keep her alive, Sybille.”

“Yes, my liege.”

I hurried from the Blue Palace to the Bards College. Pantea was outside, watching some of the new bards practice their craft. “I have an oddball request for you, the utmost teacher of the Bards College. Does the college have any lore about the Forsworn, a curse, and a wedding dress?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “I might have what you need. Ancient stories of the Reach, legends recorded in song, something about a cursed wedding.”

“That sounds like that might be it.”

“Wait here a moment. I know just where that book is.” She ran inside, then almost immediately was back out. “Odd, the book wasn’t where it was supposed to be, it was actually sitting on the table in the parlor. I saw it when I ran by, that’s why I was able to come back so quickly.”

“Who would have used the parlor to read such a thing?”

“I don’t know. The parlor is only used by guests of the Bards College, to read materials that we have. Full members and students would use the lounge and put the books back on the shelves. It’s almost unthinkable that this book was left out like that.”

“Who gets to use the parlor, though? Anyone who wishes to pursue the knowledge?”

“Oh, no. Only those who have patronage of a member. Anyway, this is probably what you’re looking for.”

I read the book, then snapped it shut. Time to go talk to some unpleasant women about making a wedding dress. We went to Radiant Rainment.

Taarie and her sister Endarie were both inside. Taarie spoke to me in her snooty voice. “We usually make clothing for the best of Solitude’s residents and nobility. But for you I suppose we can make an exception.”