Chapter 126: Intruder

The distress note that Mehra Milo had left for me (or for Caius, I suppose) was cleverly worded so as to not appear as a distress note, but her request was plain enough. She was being held in the Ministry of Truth - the prison and 're-education centre for the correction of heretics' run by the Temple Ordinators - and wanted me to bring her a couple of Divine Intervention spell-scrolls so that she could escape.

I have mentioned before the awe-inspiring 'moon' called Baar Dau: the gigantic rock that hovered magically (or by divine providence, some would say) above the High Fane. It was perhaps indicative of the... 'intestinal fortitude' of the Ordinators that they had established the Ministry of Truth inside that massive floating boulder. Or perhaps it was indicative of their faith: for it was the powers of the man-god Vivec that held Baar Dau low in the sky above the Fane; or so it was said.


In any case, it was into Baar Dau that I had to go: though not without some resistance from Sirilonwe.

"I wouldn't go if I thought it was dangerous." I told her, in my best cajoling voice. "They won't even see me. I can become invisible, after all."

"As long as you don't touch anything!" Sirilonwe argued. "I am sure you know how easily those spells are disrupted."

"And if they do see me," I continued, "I can Charm or paralyse them."

"Unless they have protection against magic, or they surround you!" She countered.

"And," I went on, "if all else fails, I can teleport away."

"Unless they have wards in place! Edward, is this woman - and this information she has - really so important that you would risk yourself like this?"

I grunted in frustration, and replied:

"Look, as I said, they won't even see me... and if they somehow do, I won't be caught. Do you remember me telling you about my childhood? I was a thief for a long, long time; I know what I'm doing. And if I can sneak into the lair of the Quarra vampires, then I can manage a few Ordinators..." I glanced at the distress note again. "Besides, this guard at the entrance - Alvela Saram; it sounds like she's on Mehra's side. It says here that she'll let me in. Maybe I'll be able to simply walk in and give Mehra the spell-scrolls."

I attempted a rakish grin, but Sirilonwe was not amused, and still not keen on my plan: not at all. She did give up trying to dissuade me, though; at least.


A while later - near midnight - we arrived outside the High Fane. We had returned to the castle briefly to don our armour: just in case something went wrong, as Sirilonwe seemed convinced it would. I had considered going in without armour, in the interest of making less noise - but the blackened Shadow Lord armour was cunningly constructed to as to make a minimum of noise when worn. While in the keep, I had also picked up the Divine Intervention spell-scrolls Mehra had requested: lifting them from Yanika's stores, and leaving enough coins behind to cover their worth.

It was near midnight by the time we returned to the High Fane, because we had water-walked, invisible, across the bay from Wolfen castle to the southern tip of Vivec: aiming to avoid being spotted at all on our approach. Using an Almsivi Intervention spell to just appear outside the High Fane was no good: Ordinators patrolled that area night and day.

Sirilonwe was going to wait outside (which suited her perfectly, in her current mood), perched out-of-sight atop the crest of the very tall High Fane building. From there she would have a perfect view of the spectacular floating 'moon', Baar Dau. As vampires, I could yell loud enough - and her hearing was acute enough - that even if I was deep within the Ministry of Truth, she would be able to hear me calling for help, and come in after me.


Alvela Saram's hand was on her sword the instant my feet touched the wooden platform that ringed the great, floating stone; but before she could draw, I said:

"My name is Amaya... Well, not really, but the name should mean something to you, yes?"

Alvela, a Dunmer woman in Ordinator's armour (sans the golden, masked helmet Ordinators usually wore), peered at my glowing eyes: the only part of me that was visible. I was wearing my Adamantium helmet, and had the attached Netch-leather scarf wrapped around my face to (hopefully) preserve my anonymity.

"So you're the one..." she said. "In Almsivi's name, I thought Mehra was joking when she told me you were a vampire! Al-alright, listen -" she began, tossing me a small key - "that's the key to the outer doors. I'll say you subdued me with magic, and took it."

"You will say that you don't know who I am, and that you didn't see my face, I trust?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

She cocked her head to one side.

"Well, I don't know who you are - and I can't see your face, so..." She shrugged lightly. "At any rate, Mehra is in the Prison Keep - the largest chamber in the Ministry - in the rightmost cell. Finally, and this is important; some of the Ordinators here are sympathetic to the Dissident Priests, but if anyone sees you - a vampire - in there... they would attack you. And remember, this is a huge trust we're placing in you: if you hurt anyone..." Alvela shook her head seriously. "So don't harm anyone, and don't be seen. Alright? Now, go - quickly."

Alvela directed me to what she said would be the best point of entry: the door around the other side of the huge boulder. I pulled it open a crack to peer inside, and when I was sure no-one would see, slipped inside.


The Ministry seemed much bigger on the inside, and was frustratingly mazelike. For what seemed like nearly half an hour, I crept through the winding, carved stone corridors, renewing and reinforcing my invisibility spell whenever no-one was looking (I became momentarily visible whenever I did this). I lost count of the number of times I had to freeze, pressed up against the wall, as an Ordinator strolled by on his or her patrol. I must say, though; not needing to breathe certainly had its advantages: I could be dead-silent when I needed to be (if you will pardon the pun).

Eventually, I found the door to the Prison Keep, a large cavern with a complicated mess of stalls, wooden dividers, and decking cluttering the floor. At the far side, I could see a row of sturdy-looking doors, set into the stone wall. They had to be the cells.


The stalls and wooden dividers provided good cover, and I made it across to the cell doors without incident. However, at the very moment my invisibility was disrupted by the spell I used to unlock Mehra's cell, an Ordinator on a raised platform looked down - and saw me.

"Stop, filthy s'wit!" He bellowed, as I threw the door open and dashed inside.

Inside the cell, a small chamber carved from the rock, a Dunmer woman with copper hair and copper eyes leapt from her cot.

"What? Who are you?" Mehra Milo asked, obviously startled, as I slammed the door behind me.

"I'm Amaya." I replied impatiently, locking the cell door with another spell.

"By Almsivi..." Mehra breathed, staring at my vampiric eyes; "so it's true..."

I tossed her the rolled-up Divine Intervention spell-scrolls, saying:

"There's no time: they saw me. If you use one of those now, I can follow you-"

But the priestess shook her head, interrupting me:

"No, we should separate. Listen quickly. We'll meet at the Dissident Priests' secret monastery, Holamayan. Look for a woman named Blatta Hateria on the East Docks at Ebonheart. Tell her I sent you, and that you want to go fishing."

A pounding at the door made her redouble her already feverish pace:

"She'll take you there; but beware, vampire: the monastery can only be accessed at dawn and dusk. Prepare accordingly."

I turned as the cell door flew open, a pack of furious Ordinators on the other side. My leather scarf still hid my face, and I think it was too dark for them to see my eyes; save for the light that glowed within them, of course. They surely knew that I was a vampire. There was a -crack- behind me as Mehra teleported away - and before the Ordinators could take another step, I followed her example.

However, I cast Almsivi Intervention and appeared outside the High Fane. I needed to collect Sirilonwe from the crest of the temple, before the Ordinators began a search of the Ministry and its surrounds for any suspicious individuals.


We made it home safely, and I had to assume that Priestess Mehra escaped too. We had to hunt and feed before the night was over, but were indoors well before the sun rose.

Travelling by boat to this intriguing secret monastery would require some careful planning and consideration if we wanted to avoid being roasted by the sun. Making things more complicated was the need to arrange things so that we would arrive during the night sometime; enabling us to wait until dawn so that we could actually get into the monastery. We could not rush into it, in any case. The plan was to find this Blatta Hateria the following evening, and find out more from her about what it would take to reach Holamayan.

Neither Sirilonwe or I had many duties to attend to that day, so in the early afternoon we retired to bed in Wolfen Keep, to sleep until the night came. This turned out to be just the opportunity one particularly dangerous individual was waiting for.

I woke at the brash clanging of a bell, and started horribly when I realised what it meant. Sirilonwe and I had fastened bells to all the doors and window shutters leading into my chambers, in case someone tried to enter without our knowledge or blessing. It saved us, on this occasion. Sunlight streamed onto the foot of the bed. Silhouetted in an open window was a figure in shining plate armour.

"Die, vampires! Fiends!" A female voice shouted, as the armoured figure darted across the room, towards the bed. She was very fast, even in full plate armour. I suspected she had any number of spells coursing through her body to grant her such speed: speed that rivalled our own. That, and the fact that she had yelled "die, vampires" made me certain that she was a vampire hunter.


Since I had been rudely awakened, I did not have my armour or weapons: I was stark nude, in fact. I did, however, have my magic. I leapt out of bed, and immediately made myself invisible. Sirilonwe had the same idea, and vanished too. I dashed around behind the armoured figure, to slam the shutters closed and keep out the burning sunlight - at the same time distracting our attacker, so that Sirilonwe could sneak up behind her.

It worked - after a fashion; she tried what was obviously a Sleep spell, only rather than the vampire hunter falling to the floor, there was a flash - and instead Sirilonwe was staggering back, looking groggy.

"The armour's enchanted... reflection..." she mumbled, before disappearing beneath an invisibility spell again.

No offensive magic, then. It would only reflect back on me; to potentially disastrous effect. Magic that acted upon me, though; that could work. I made myself invisible again.

"Hold on." I whispered, low enough that only Sirilonwe could hear me. "I'll try something."

While the armoured figure's attention was turned away from me - scanning the room to find Sirilonwe - I snatched up my Daedric katana from the top of my dresser, and struck the vampire hunter as hard as I could across the back of her head; with the flat of the blade.

The helmet flew off as the hunter pitched forward, onto the floor, revealing her to be a dark-haired Dunmer. At the moment she lost her footing, it was over for our attacker. I pounced on her and held her down, sinking my fangs into her neck. She struggled valiantly, even managing to rise to her feet with me still latched onto her back, draining her. Soon though, she had simply lost too much blood, and collapsed to the floor under the weight of her plate armour; too weak to move, and barely conscious.

"She's a vampire hunter, isn't she?" Sirilonwe said as she reappeared, blinking away the effects of her own Sleep spell, and stood over our fallen attacker.

I nodded; speechless at how rich the Dunmer's blood had been. She was very fit - and healthy.

"We cannot just let her go;" Sirilonwe was saying; "She would only come back and try to kill us again; and... I do not want to kill her like this." She paused. "You know... I can't help but think of those mortals you told me about, at Ashmelech: what did they call them? Cattle?"

She licked her lips absently, and asked, eyes on the armoured figure:

"Can we keep her, do you think?"

I looked down at the Dunmer woman, weakly pressing her hand against the wound on her neck, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Yes;" I said; "I think we can."