Delicately pointed arches surrounded us in limestone lace that closed in on a small stand in the center of the island. Silver braziers formed a ring around the stand, the metal shining bright in the faint daylight.
"Soulgems." Valindor scooped a handful of violently glowing gem fragments and let them trickle back into the brazier with dull clanks.
"They're all filled," I said, holding one up to the light and marveling at the glowing essence within. It danced and shifted like luminescent smoke. An eye, frightened and despairing, appeared pressed against the crystal for a moment before disappearing. The gem clinked to the floor and I rubbed my hands is if they'd been burned. I had almost heard the trapped soul screaming for help.
Valindor swore harshly in a language even I didn't recognize, the sound cracking across the cavern with explosive force. "How many have they killed to achieve this?"
"All of the Vigilants at least." For several moments I watched the glowing crystals in the brazier wondering how they would be lit and what would happen if they were. Countless living people had been sacrificed, their souls trapped somewhere. From what Falion described, it sounded like those souls would be in the Soul Cairn. They're with Derkeethus. My blood boiled at the thought. I examined the stand, which was marked with a blood stain so ancient it was almost faded, and knew what I had to do.
"I release this fury so that my foes shall feel Stendarr's mercy!" I called aloud, feeling slightly foolish as I uttered the oath. My hand clamped down on the stand, gripping it like a hawk with a rabbit.
"No! You can't do that!"
I stared at my friend whose face appeared thinner and sharper than I remembered. "Why not?"
"Don't you know who Stendarr stands for? You're not like that, Henny!"
"How would you know?" I asked bluntly. Immediately, I regretted those words, but any apology was put on hold as a silver needle pierced my palm. Biting back a scream, I ground my teeth, avoiding looking at the spine and feeling vaguely sick. Val's fingers scrabbled at my hand as he tried to free it, but a surge of magical energy shoved him to the floor.
"This is madness! Why did you go and stick your hand on that thing!" he shouted. A violet fire erupted from the braziers. Dozens of voices cried out in unison until the sound rose into an unearthly wail. Then, just as abruptly as it began, the voices stilled, fires dimmed, and the needle retracted back into the stand. The floor beneath our feet descended, revealing a larger base.
"It needed to be done. I had to release those souls."
"That could have killed you! You--you have no idea what you've just unleashed, do you?" Val paced frantically as the platform slowed to a grinding halt.
"No, but I know it must answer a number of questions I have."
"This is all part of your 'research' isn't it?" he accused, "What are you trying to do? Bring someone back from the dead?" Just as my friend arrived at that thought, his face filled with dismay as if realizing some crushing disappointment. I couldn't quite meet his gaze, and my cheeks blazed with shame. What his accusation suggested was so blasphemous to Y'ffre--no Bosmer ever considered death beyond the departure of the soul from the body. If only that wasn't so very close to what I intended to do.
Before he could give voice to his revelation, the base of the stand clicked open, revealing a tiny compartment. Inside was a young woman carrying a golden scroll. She tumbled to the floor and gasped for breath as if she'd been holding it for eras.
"Vingalmo? Where...mother? ... ... she--" the woman stumbled to a stop, speaking mostly in a language I didn't understand. Her eyes, once completely black, shrank to a burning orange. "...year... ...?" she asked so quietly I almost didn't hear her. Not that I understood much of what she said anyway.
"Who are you?" Dreamily, she turned to gaze at me, the shadows of her face the color of an old bruise. Another vampire? When she smiled uneasily, as if merely placating me, elongated canines glimmered coldly against her lips. I swallowed and slowly backed away, my suspicions confirmed. She's probably very hungry.
"She asked you a question," Val spat, clearly still displeased with this turn of events. The vampire shrugged politely, still wearing that placating smile. "Do you not understand us?"
"I don't think she does."
"Perfect," he said, lapsing into Bosmeri.
The vampire's eyes lit in recognition.
"Take to father?" Her accent was terrible and strange, and she wielded the language as one swings a war hammer. "Please. Need father."
"No. I don't know who you are or what you want, but I've had enough of your 'family'," he replied scathingly. "Let's get out of here, Henny. Before she latches on to one of us."
"Family! See family. North over...hm...wat-er. Wat-er ghosts." She looked to each of us hopefully, desperately. In spite of my misgivings, I felt guilty for leaving her here. As Valindor turned to head back through the crypt the way we came, I took his icy hand.
"Wait. We should at least take her home. Do this for me, if no one else."
The Bosmer signed and rubbed the already healing wound in my palm. "All right. But only because you've asked me to and maybe it'll distract you from this insanity that's possessing you." With a stiff nod to the young woman, he added, "Which is the quickest way out?"
We followed her lead in the opposite direction of our entrance up several flights of stairs and into what could only be a Nordic shrine. Gradually the grinning, winged Imga and pointed arches disappeared, and we faced more familiar Nordic designs. Desperately uncomfortable in the presence of one vampire and someone else slowly becoming one, I pulled Valindor into a dark corner when the woman, whose name I understood to be Serana, was otherwise distracted.
"Take this," I said, pressing the potion into his hand after shaking it.
"What is it?"
"It'll make you feel a little less surly, I hope," I smiled awkwardly. He downed the potion in one swallow, grimacing and coughing as it went down. Anxiously I looked into his face, waiting to see something happen. I was rewarded with some of the shadows disappearing from under his eyes and a lightening of his sclera. It's a start, at least.
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