Chapter LXXI: Valerica Volkihar

"You think she is in there?" Serana asks, both excitement and trepidation dancing in her expression.

"Yup." I nod with certainty "It wouldn't be sufficiently dramatic otherwise."

"You do know the world doesn't need to follow the rules of drama, right?"

'It is cute how she is trying to convince herself of that' I turn to her and quirk an eyebrow, saying absolutely nothing. After a brief bout of staring she huffs and looks away.

As we get closer to the massive mausoleum I suddenly stop walking, just in time for a faintly familiar looking spirit to dash past me with an ethereal blade raised in her hand. The elaborately robed Altmer rounds on me and raises her blade once again, practically frothing at the mouth "You! I will kill you!" 

As yet another pathetically telegraphed sword swipe passes by me I flip the Ebony Blade into my left hand and stab it in the back of her neck, draining away what little vitality or spiritual cohesion she had left and then, coating my foot in energy I punted her in her backside, sending the weightless thing flying off into the distance.

Sheathing my blade I regain my relaxed expression and start walking like nothing happened.

"Friend of yours?" Serana asks.

"Thalmor Justiciar actually." I correct her without inflection "Tried to revive a Falmer colony and send them to raid Skyrim in the thousands. I took exception to that. Still, I got my hands on her basic research into revitalization from her, so at least she was good for something."

"So no one important then."

"Exactly." I grin.

It doesn't take us long before we reach our destination, no other interruptions being forthcoming, but at the edge of my senses I could feel the guardians of this place slowly awakening and beginning to react to our intrusion.

That was for later Reyvin to deal with though, now I had to pacify a control freak vampire older than most nations.

As we ascended the staircase I could feel the gaze of something old fall over us, the slightest instance of panic emanating from the same source as it observed Serana. Before we could even finish climbing Valerica had already run up to the visible barrier keeping her within her home/prison and was staring at her daughter with both horror and astonishment, completely ignoring my presence for the moment.

"Serana?" The vampiric lady almost choked "What are you doing here?"

Serana stared at her wordlessly, her thoughts no doubt awhirl with the volatile mixture of things she wanted to say, but in the end, she simply settled on a cold if hopeful "Mother." 

"What... what are you doing here?" Valerica questions, still too surprised to return to the controlling matron I knew her to be.

"We are here to get you out, and for the scroll." Serana visibly forces herself to remain concise "We are ending Harkon's plans once and for all."

"What are you talking about?" Her mother sounds outright bewildered now "Who put these foolish ideas in your head?"

I can feel Serana restrain her desire to snarl but she does narrow her eyes "I have not come here to have you question my reasoning. I have come here to set us both free, permanently."

She could have spat on her face and Valerica would have probably been less furious, but her extensive life experience won out as she forced down whatever heated retort was no doubt at the tip of her tongue "You have no idea what you are talking about. I am no longer here of my own will and the masters of this place never let a soul escape their grasp. Leave while you still can." She demands stubbornly.

Serana slowly palms her face and takes a deep breath of the frigid air "You obviously did not hear me clearly. We are getting you and the scroll out and that is final and no amount of misplaced pride will stop us."

Valerica looks at her like he has just said the most idiotic thing ever "Even if you managed to free me from this place, and I assure you, you will not, the moment Harkon gets his hands on either one of us his plans will succeed and both of us will suffer fates worse than death."

"So what?" Serana outright glares now "We hide for the rest of our lives? Run from a shadow that will never leave us? Bury ourselves for LITERAL MILLENNIA?! Why not just kill ourselves and save the world the trouble?!"

Valerica flinches back as if struck "You don't know what you are talking about! I did everything to keep you safe!"

"You buried me alive and left me to rot!" Serana snarls "Did it ever even occur to you that I never wished to be part of your and Harkon's power games? Maybe I just wanted to actually live instead of being used as a weapon in your personal petty war!"

Her daughter's words finally seem to sink as her shoulders slump and Valerica finally realizes what an absolute twat she is being "It seems I was too blind to realize what we were doing to you. I am... sorry."

Serana glares at her for a while longer, then visibly deflates and mumbles "I just wanted my family back."

"Oh, my dear child." Valerica extends her hands toward the barrier, her voice breaking.

Seeing as that was pretty much done I clear my throat loudly "Pardon the interruption ladies but we do have work to do." Earning some immediate stink eye from Serana.

Valerica rounds on me, all her previous vulnerability gone in an instant "And who are you to meddle in our affairs?" The tone is so imperious it would have fit in the White Gold Tower like a glove.

But I was not about that life "To you, wife of a mere disgraced Petty King, I am His Exalted Lordship Dagoth III Reyvin the Flame-tongue, Court Mage of Skyrim."

I can see I hit a nerve there as her countenance becomes slightly more predatory "A mere mortal can hold as many titles as he wishes, it changes nothing."

"Are you quite sure about that?" I ask cheerfully and flare the full brunt of my Magicka, no doubt blinding her with the veritable sun that was my presence and causing her to flinch away "Forgot to add, I am also an Archmage." I smile smugly.

Once more her posture shifts, this time into a far more personable one, it would have been disturbing if I did not do it on the regular myself "I see." She states simply, but I hear the unsaid 'Yeah I see you as a peer now, speak as you wish.'

"Excellent." I clap my hands with false cheer "Now that the pecking order has been established" Her eye twitches "We can finally get to work. I see two options before us."

"Do tell." I can practically feel my smugness scraping against her nerves as she asks.

"Option one" I raise a finger "I bruteforce cut through the barrier and no doubt alert every single Ideal Master in the area, we grab the scroll and get out before we all die a horrible death."

"I do hope that option two is less suicidal." Valerica says in near deadpan.

"It is likely the one you are thinking of, and my preferred solution. Serana and I go and disable the trio of hubs currently funneling power into this barrier and we alert only some of the guardians, giving us more time to both prepare and escape."

"I see." Valerica pauses "I trust you will keep her safe?"

I scoff "Your lack of faith in your own progeny is genuinely insulting."

The barest hint of a smile twists at the edge of her lips "Very well, I will wait here."

Serana shares a quiet goodbye with her mother and we swiftly depart, those bones won't rattle themselves after all.

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The massive club of mammoth bone whooshes over my head as bombard the gigantic construct of bone with solar magic, encasing it in fire and extinguishing the final lynchpin on Valerica's prison.

I carve a small rune on the tiled floor and sheathe my weapons, allowing myself to finally relax within the veritable sea of blackened bone laying all around me. Soon Serana descended from the towers, having finished off the twenty ish archers that awaited there, a fancy looking elven bow in her hands.

"They were far stronger than I remember." I note idly as we start looting the place for all it was worth "Still relatively weak but I can totally see someone overrunning a town with a hundred of these."

"You fought them before?" Serana asks as she grabs an entire stack of gleaming soulgems.

"Once, in Meridia's temple." I nod, and seeing her looking at me questioningly I grin "The one that no longer exists, yes. Some chucklefuck thought it would be funny to summon a bunch of them using soul sacrifice rituals, they were annoying to deal with in numbers but fell quickly enough."

"These" I point to the demolished sea of bonemen "Could quite handily defeat a unit of legionaries."

"We are within their domain." Serana shrugs "It would have been more surprising if they were not stronger here."

"Fair." I nod "Not like they were even a threat, anything below a dragon really has no chances of even scratching us at this point." Hint, hint.

"They don't until they do." She warns "Finished with your little carving project?"

"Yup" I get up from my crouching position "We can go and grab your mother now."

I feel her staring a hole at my back as I walk away "Somehow I doubt it is going to be that easy, and your mention of a dragon does not inspire confidence."

I turn to her with a grin "I have absolutely no idea what you are on about."

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"Your speed is impressive." Are the words that greet us as we once more approach Valerica, her prison now completely open.

"Or maybe your standards are just that low." I jab.

"Mhm." She hums non-committedly "Follow me." And turns without waiting.

A moment later the great doorway opens and we step into the mausoleum... and it was nothing even close to what I remembered or even expected. The entire place looked as pristine as a palace, every single nook and cranny bore the visible marks of a true master's touch, and while her expression remained unchanged I could feel Valerica's hidden smugness at my reaction.

"I am definitely hiring you for interior design when we murder Harkon." I let out an appreciative whistle.

Valerica hums once again "I never said I was for hire."

This time it is my turn to give her a smug look "Don't make promises you can't keep."

Before we can devolve further into our still ongoing dick measuring contest Serana clears her throat "Scroll, danger, escape?" She asks us as if we were idiots.

A genuine smile appears on Valerica's face at her daughter's downright lively behavior "It is just in here" She points to an actual suite, masterfully carved into the surface of the thick walls, every possible amenity on display and every single thing crafted by hand.

And there, hanging upon the wall, lay the final piece of the puzzle. The Elder Scroll of The Sun.

"Serana, if you would?" I gesture toward the scroll.

She nods, leaving behind a curious Valerica "Skittish around such artifacts?"

"The last time I touched one I connected directly." I deadpan "I feel it is neither the time nor the place to repeat the experience."

"How curious." She continues with her reticent act.

"Got it!" Serana calls out.

"Let us leave then." Valerica is already moving, completely uncaring for all the work she is leaving behind.

Before she can make it to the fifth step I sense something "Incoming."

She rounds on me "What is coming?"

"It is a dragon, isn't it?" I can practically feel Serana's desire to strangle me.

Valerica directs a confused look toward her daughter but then grim realization strikes her "Durnehviir." She sounds outright horrified now "You must escape, quickly!"

"We are not leaving you behind." Serana outright refuses, her tone that of someone talking to a stubborn child.

"Foolish girl! If you do not leave you will die!"

The panicking mother looks to me only to see my face twisted into a bloodthirsty grin, and just as a massive half-rotten green dragon lands at the other end of the mausoleum I summon the Staff of Magnus and Blasphemy into my hands, her eyes immediately widening at the weapons' auras.

I turn my glowing eyes to her and then to the dragon "Nah, I'd win."

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