Nathan swallowed as he noticed the collection of bones laying around the blazing firepit. There was even one or two bodies that looked freshly burned to a crisp. The very air tingled with magic and put Nathan on edge. Nathan put out an arm to keep Serana from entering the room, whispering to her discreetly. "I don't like this. Something doesn't feel right." Serana sniffed the air, telling him a bit dryly. "I can only smell you. How about standing downwind from me?" Nathan lowered his arm to gesture her to go in first. He was trying to keep himself from saying something rude. Walking in regally, Serana sniffed the air again and told him openly. "I still only smell you. Nothing in here is alive... but I am sensing something. Power and lots of it. It's coming from him." Nathan moved up next to her, telling her with a slightly smug smile. "Glad were on the same page. And suggestions on how to deal with him?" She crossed her arms, stating out smugly in reply. "Well, I can sneak around him. What about you?" Nathan sheathed Dawnbreaker and removed his bow, while telling her flatly. "I hope your stealth skills are not as rusty as your people skills."

Glaring at him, she snapped out under her breath. "I hope your weapons are as sharp as your tongue." Nathan rolled his eyes, raising his hand to turn invisible. Serana flicked her hair off her shoulder, uttering out flatly as she turned to leave. "Men..." Nathan waited to see what direction she was going in, then went in the opposite direction. He almost half hoped that if the Draugr woke up that it would hunt her just to spite her ego. His charm was out, and he was internally questioning why he was bothering to help her. Was she really worth the effort? Silently they made their way around the stadium. Nathan was careful to avoid rubble and scattered bones. The closer they got to the Draugr's throne; the more Nathan held his breath. He was close enough now to see the Draugr's thick ancient ebony armor and across his lap was a terrifying ebony bow. The Draugr's helmet was Nordic in design but held the Dawnguard symbol upon the brow between the long dragon looking horns. Nathan stopped moving as he watched the Draugr's fingers tense up on his bow. The movement was subtle, but Nathan's heart practically jumped from his chest. This wasn't any Draugr. It was a Draugr Death Overlord! It knew they were there. This was a trap!

Ending his invisibility to save his mana, he threw up a ward and yelled out in a panic. "SERANA!" Springing up onto his feet, the Draugr Death Overlord drew his bow so fast and released an arrow so fast that Nathan had made the right call. The arrow bounced off his ward, before he whirled around to fire another arrow in her direction. Serana let out a sharp scream, turning into a small swarm of bats as the ebony arrow reached her. The arrow broke against the stone seats, but the Draugr didn't miss a beat. Lifting a hand into the air, his palm pulsed with a purple light. From within the firepit, the large cluster of bones clicked softly as they animated themselves into a group of living skeletons. Nathan cursed. They were outnumbered... by a lot! Each skeleton conjured a sword and shield, splitting off into smaller groups to divide and conquer. Nathan raised his bow to try taking aim at the Draugr Death Overlord. His only hope was to kill the Draugr. Otherwise, he'd just keep bringing the skeletons back to life. Nathan fired his arrow and watched the Draugr Death Overlord snatch it from the air inches from his face. Snapping the arrow between his fingers, the Draugr Death Overlord lowered his hand and belted out. "ZUN HAAL VIIIK!"

A burst of power shot forth and Nathan felt his bow get launched from his hand. Nathan staggered back to his knees from the power, gasping out. "Oh shit!" Nathan couldn't even see where his bow went. It just seemed to vanish into the shadowy rows of stone seats. Rather than trying to search for it, Nathan unsheathed Dawnbreaker and began to engage the skeletons as they reached him. Across the stadium, Serana turned into a swarm of bats to get her distance from the advancing skeletons, before reappearing again to fire spikes of ice at them. The ice spikes hit them causing them to shatter, unless they blocked it with their shield. Nathan's golden sword pulsed with white light whenever he managed to touch their boney bodies, igniting them in flames. The skeletons would screech as their bones caught fire, incinerating them to ash. Which only pissed off the Draugr Death Overlord. If they were ash, he couldn't revive them. For only a split second, Nathan was happy at his little victory. Until the Draugr Death Overlord notched another arrow and aimed it directly at him! The Draugr released the arrow and Nathan ducked. The Draugr's arrow was going to fly overhead, but at the last second a skeleton moved into the line of fire and took the arrow into his skull.

The skeleton staggered, dropping to a knee before Nathan. Nathan leaned back from the skeleton to avoid the sharp arrow tip that stuck out of the skeleton's glowing eye socket. The Draugr Death Overlord let out a loud groan in frustration and notched another arrow. This time when the Draugr released it, Nathan blocked a blow from a skeleton's sword and yelped. He had no way to avoid it. He was getting surrounded. However, the arrow shot cleanly through another skeleton's ribcage and would have hit him... had the Skeleton not had a conjured shield up. The arrow bounced off the shield and made the Skeleton jump in surprise. The Skeleton turned to see where the stray arrow had come from, and Nathan chuckled as he beheaded the Skeleton in the next moment. The Draugr stomped his foot in frustration, finally moving away from his throne toward him. Nathan's smile at the Draugr's expense ended, before he yelled out. "Serana?! A little help!" He could hear her fighting, but she didn't respond to him. Shoving a Skeleton away from himself, he turned to raise Dawnbreaker toward the Draugr. In the moment that he tried to send out a pulse to fry him, the Draugr shouted out at him. "GAAN LAH HAAS!"

All around Nathan the skeleton's jerked and fell lifelessly to pieces. As the blast hit Nathan, he gasped and fell to all fours. He felt suddenly weak and dizzy. The shout was draining him of his magic, and he guessed even his very life. He could barely move. Dropping across the stone floor, Nathan heard the Draugr laugh as it stomped forward. Stopping before him, the Draugr Death Overlord menacingly notched his bow and pulled the tight string back. Nathan's hand shook from the strain of trying to move it, but he managed to grip Dawnbreaker enough to jab the point into the Draugr's exposed ankle. The Draugr let out an inhuman wail of agony as his leg ignited in white flames. The flames burned fast and hot, causing the Draugr to stagger back and helplessly cry out in shocked defeat as his body was quickly consumed. His charred remains crumbling to ash, leaving only his bow and armor to clang loudly against the stone. Nathan felt the magic pull that had been draining him lift, allowing him to relax and collect himself. While across the stadium, the skeletons fighting Serana clattered across the stone seats as they fell apart. Serana's voice then cheered out gleefully. "HA! That's that last of them!" Nathan wanted to flick her off, but he didn't have the energy.

Finally feeling a bit better, he sat up as Serana rushed up the steps nearby to say with a smug smile. "Laying down on the job...?" Nathan narrowed his eyes on her, grumbling out a bit breathlessly. "Kiss my ass." Serana crossed her arms over her chest, telling him coolly. "It was a joke. Jeez, your sense of humor is as dry as these bones." Nathan groaned as he got to his feet, dryly retorting. "I almost died while you were pissing around with skeletons! So, forgive me if I'm not in a humorous mood." Serana exhaled softly, telling him a little apologetically. "Well, I can't be everywhere at once. Besides, you're still alive, aren't you? You don't have to be so melodramatic. I kept quite a few off you." Nathan picked up his sword to sheath it, glaring at her in passing as he replied sharply. "The skeletons are merely flees on a much larger animal. An animal YOU could have been helping me kill. The Draugr dies. THEY ALL DIE." Serana's face suddenly turned to one of realization as she guiltily winced out. "Oh... right. Sorry. I forgot." Nathan trudged through the darkness trying to find his bow. He wanted to conjure his ball of light but didn't want to risk making himself pass out. He just didn't feel up to casting even his small spells.

After a few minutes of searching, Serana let out a low whistle to get his attention. He turned to snap something at her, until he realized she had found his bow. Making his way over to her, he thanked her and took it before walking on to find an exit. Following behind him, Serana filled the silence by telling him casually. "Maybe I'm a bit more rusty than I thought... I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Nathan didn't bother to give her a response. He just wanted to get out of here. He was tired and just done with this place. Pushing open a wooden door, he followed the tunnel to an iron gate and pulled on the chain. The moment it was high enough, Nate slipped under it and out into the bright sunlight. After being in such a dark cave, his eyes struggled to adjust to the intensity of the sunlight. The next issue came from going from a warm cave to the sudden crisp cold. Shivering, he tightened his cloak around himself. He could feel his toes starting to go numb already from the snow that encased his thin boots. Beside him, Serana flipped up a large dark hood and inhaled deeply as she said aloud with a bright smile. "Ah, it's good to breathe fresh air again! Well... Not that I need too... but you know. Even in this bitter weather, it's still better than the stagnate cave."

Nathan hugged himself under his cloak to fight off the cold that lingered in the breeze. He hated that the cold did nothing to her. As thin as her clothing was, she was immune since she was already a cold vampire. Upon hearing the snort of an animal, Nathan turned in surprise to scan the area. It was that moment that Nathan grew uneasy to his surroundings. Why was Walter and Mercy here? He'd left the horses on the other side of the mountain and where was Dumbuk's horse? Serana moved up to the pretty white mare that had belonged to Tolan, sweetly purring out. "Aww, how pretty. Are these yours?" Nathan didn't answer, his eyes were on the ground trying to look for tracks. Kneeling as he found some, he touched the footprint and looked over a third set of hoof tracks. Raising an eyebrow, he looked off in the direction they went, mumbling out himself. "Dumbuk...? How...?" Nathan was drawn out of his thoughts by Serana asking a bit impatiently. "What are you doing? Shouldn't we be going?" Exhaling heavily, he glanced over his shoulder at her. He didn't know how to feel right now. Could he trust her? Slowly getting to his feet, he walked over to his horse and dryly told her. "Suddenly in a hurry to get home?"

Serana mounted up onto Mercy, replying regally. "I've been eager to get home. I told you, the world could depend on it." Nathan swung up onto Walter, muttering out under his breath. "Yes... The world could depend on it for reasons that I'm not allowed to know until we get there. Sounds legit." Serana turned Mercy to face him better, asking bluntly. "You're not backing out because you're scared, are you?" Nathan turned Walter in the direction of Solitude, telling her dryly. "I have my concerns about dropping you off at a possible vampire den, yes. I think that's a pretty fucking good reason to be worried. But no. I'm not walking away without that Scroll." Giving her a smug grin, he asked her over his shoulder. "You could just give it to me, and I'll get out of your hair?" Serana gave him the fakest smile he'd ever seen, telling him swiftly. "Not a chance." Nathan shrugged, teasing out to her. "Alright. You leave me no choice." Sitting up straighter in his saddle, he started to sing the most annoying song he could think of and kept repeating it. Serana groaned, trying to plug her ears in response. It was going to be a long ride to Solitude.

When they finally had to stop for the night, Serana impatiently told him. "Can't we keep going?" Sliding off his horse, he grumbled out to her. "No. We can't." Serana exhaled loudly, before asking. "Why not? We must be getting close, right?" Removing his gear for a tent, he told her bluntly. "I can give you a few. One, I can't see in the dark. Two, I'm starving. Three, I'm exhausted and might just fall off my horse if I continue. And lastly, my ass is sore." Serana groaned, reluctantly climbing off her horse as she mumbled out. "Mortals are so slow." Nathan began setting up his tent, huffing out. "There is nothing stopping you from leaving." Serana hugged herself, muttering out. "I would leave you behind, but... I still think we can help each other." Nathan didn't let her see him roll his eyes. He heard her pacing though as she continued. "Despite you trying to get on my last nerve. Which makes me so glad that I'm an only child." Nathan flipped out his bed, muttering under his breath in response. "No shock there." Serana clearly heard him though and stopped her pacing to ask him flatly. "How long do you need to rest? A few minutes?" Nathan took a deep breath, telling her bluntly. "Try at least four hours. And I'm being generous with that. I usually prefer six or seven on a good day."

Serana gasped out in response. "Four hours?! What am I supposed to do for four hours?!" Nathan hung his head with a groan, gruffly growling out. "I don't know. Find something quiet to do. Play dead." Serana let out a fake laugh, snapping back. "Oh, you're so funny! Are you always this much fun sober?" Nathan stopped to look over his shoulder at her with guarded eyes. Serana started pacing again, blurting out. "Don't look at me like that, Mortal. I know the smell of booze and your clothes reek of it. How many wineskins of alcohol do you need anyway?" Nathan blinked, growling out. "As many as it takes to drown you out." Serana dropped down on a log, drumming her fingers on her arm as she said aloud. "You know, I don't care for the sun, but I rode through it for you. Couldn't you push yourself to do the same?" Nathan whirled around to face her, stating out firmly. "Tell you what, Serana. I'll pack everything up and we can continue onward this second into the darkness. If you can answer me one fucking question." Serana shrugged, eagerly awaiting the question. Nathan looked her dead in the eyes and asked curtly. "What's my name?" Serana stilled with a defeated look. Nathan nodded somberly, telling her a bit dryly. "Exactly. You haven't even bothered to ask. So, why should I push myself to my limits for a spoiled little vampire like you?"

Laying down in the tent, Nathan began eating some of his fish jerky and tried to convince himself to fall asleep. It was hard to convince himself though, when he kept thinking about how she might feed on him in his sleep. Serana's voice softened, before she said grimly. "You're right... Can we just... start over?" Nathan sighed, he didn't want to, but he felt like he wasn't going to get that scroll without lightening up a bit. Serana started by asking him in a sweet tone of voice. "What's your name?" Staring up at the ceiling of his tent, he answered a little reluctantly. "It's Nathan." Serana then replied nicely. "It's nice to meet you, Nathan. Thank you for helping me." Nathan waved to her, numbly asking. "Can I trust you not to feed on me while I sleep?" When Serana didn't answer, he conjured a protective circle rune before his tent. Which made her chuckle as she playfully told him. "Relax. I'm just fucking with you. I'm not hungry." To Be Continued...