Age of Tamriel: Caleb's Story

Welp, like the Rise and Fall of Caleb Adlis this is a story constructed from a number of pies done, about two years ago now. This story was part of Sithfanjed's Age of Tamriel RP, which sadly died before it truly got started, I spent a long time setting up my character and his backstory. Like the Rise and Fall of Caleb Adlis, it's very disjointed from everything else, so don't worry too much about the rest of the AoT world.

As I said before, this was written two years ago and I wanted to keep its authenticity, so forgive any errors and the briefness of the story. This was still in my RPing youth as it were, so expect spelling, grammar and other literate errors as well as rather short, not very descriptive sentences. xD

So, here it is, another chapter of the Dread Captain Caleb Adlis.

Enjoy! :D

Chapter 1: The Eye of the Storm
A courier arrived at the inn in Dawnstar with a letter that was to be delivered to a 'Caleb.'

It was odd that he was told to deliver to an inn of all things, perhaps he was a lodger? The courier didn't care...

He entered the Windpeak inn and made his way over to the counter, a middle aged nord stood behind the counter, he seemed bored which was never a good sign.

* Ahem...* The courier interrupted, clearing his throat.

"Yes?"

"I'm looking for a dunmer who goes by the name of 'Caleb." The courier explained, his eyes darting around the room.

"You haven't been looking very hard, he hasn't left his room in six months..." Thoring grunted, slipping him a key.

"Than-" The courier was cut off when Thoring grabbed his arm and pulled him forward.

"Don't talk to him, leave the letter and get out." Thoring added through gritted teeth.

The courier didn't know if he should take this as a warning or a threat, was Caleb dangerous?

It didn't matter... he had to deliver a letter.

The courier went over to Caleb's room and knocked, before enterring.

Caleb didn't respond, ''is he sleeping? Writing at his desk?''

The courier opened the door, if he was sleeping, he would just leave the letter and go.

The courier was taken back by the scene of the room, the desk, bed and chairs had all been moved and pressed against the wall. Leaving a single chair in the center of the room, where Caleb sat, emotionless and unmoving. He looked like a corpse and his room resembled a torture chamber.

"I have... something to deliver." The courier announced, "your eyes only."

Caleb didn't even glance at the courier, as if he wasn't there.

The courier, incredibly creeped out, left the letter on the desk. There was just enough room as a chair had occupied most of the desk's surface.

With that he shut the door and got the hell out of there.

Chapter 2: Departure
Caleb appeared in the doorway, looking like a spectre of regret. Despite his efforts, he still looked like a wreck, with  a tear on his sleeve and all of the lining being somewhat frilly at the end of his coat.

Thoring came out of one of the rooms and dropped a mug in shock, fortunately it was tin, so it didn't shatter.

Caleb just stood as he always had, in half of a trance.

"So..." Thoring mumbled awkwardly, "you're back from the dead?"

"Unfortunately... yes." Caleb muttered, making his way over to the counter.

"Do you want a drink?"

"I wish to leave..." Caleb replied, the lack of emotion in his voice sent shivers down Thoring's spine.

"Oh..." Thoring was taken by surprise. "Well you're a guest here, not a prisoner." Thoring reminded him, picking up the mug.

"I wish to pay..."

"Oh? I assumed that you wouldn't have the coin. I mean... we found you half dead afterall."

"I have... some coin." Caleb replied, evasively.

He reached into his coat pocket and dropped a coin purse on the table.

"10 gold per night... I've been here, what? A week?"

"Five months..." Thoring corrected him.

"Shit..."

Caleb reached into his other pocket, only to notice that it had been torn off and the rest of him money was either in the sea or on the beach he washed up on. Either way... it was gone.

"210 gold is the best I can do..."

Thoring didn't care, he simply wanted the dunmer gone at this point.

"It'll do, I suppose." Freeing up the room was good enough for him at this point, the 210 didn't exactly earn him a profit but it was better than nothing.

With that, Caleb made his way over to the door. He noticed how light he felt, his muscle and fat had withered away over the last 5 months and it would probably take a while to get it back to it's previous standard.

"Thank you..." He muttered, opening the door and stepping out.

Chapter 3: A stranger in need.
Caleb had been walking for a few days now, he forgot what dry land felt like, the endless spaces of nothing that had long awaited some rich man to come and take it all for himself.

The pirate sighed as the temperature dropped, though he picked his head up again, when he realised that he'd reach Whiterun before sun down.

He then spied something in the distance; it was slumped over, implying that it was dead or badly wounded. It wasn't human, too big to be human and it didn't look threatening, like a horse or a deer or something. He drew his swords, just to be safe, for all he knew; its killer was still around and Caleb may serve as a better meal.

As he got closer to it, he noticed that something else had come to inspect the body and at last the fearsome creature that had slain the mystery beast before him had revealed itself. A female nord child, with what he could swear was a toy bow, grabbed the deer by its feet and began to drag it off of the road. The deer left a big blood smear that even the greenest of trackers could follow.

Caleb sighed and approached the child, knowing that she would likely perish on her own.

As he approached the girl, cautiously, he stood on a twig.

Snap

Shit...

The nord girl quickly drew and arrow and raised her bow, aiming it at his head.

"D-don't come any closer!"

Caleb stopped and slowly raised his hands, he smirked and looked as if he wasn' taking the situation very seriously.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed, stepping infront of the deer on the off chance that he might pick it up and run away with it.

"Believe me kid... I'm asking myself that same question..." Caleb's voice still lacked any emotion, unlike before he was soft spoken and his tone was almost docile. "Do you need help, getting that thing home?"

"N-no... I got it."

"Look, it's four times your size, I can hel-"

As Caleb stepped forward to help her, she raised the bow and changed stance to a more defensive one.

"Did I say that you could move?!"

"No but I don't see that it makes any difference..." The old pirate sighed.

"Look... I just want to get this deer back to my family, okay?"

"They live in these woods?"

The girl looked away, you could tell that she had said too much.

"Look, if you don't want my help, I'll keep walking."

Caleb backed away and lowered his hands slowly until he reached the dirt road, in which he dropped them to his sides.

"Wait!"

He stopped, he knew that she wanted something. He slowly turned back to her and waited for her request.

"Do you have any potions?"

Caleb reached into his pocket and drew three potions, one was a gold coloured potion with no label on it, the middle one was a red potion with a label on it but the girl was unable to see what it said and the third was a blue potion with a label on it.

"What kind of potion?"

"Healing, strong healing! Cure disease as well to fight off an infection!"

Caleb raised his hands, "woah, slow down... What infection?"

"An... infected wound." The girl winced as she spoke, it sounded bad.

Caleb roled his eye and looked around, hoping that a hermit who specialised in healing potions would just happen to be walking by. Sadly, the divines didn't favour him that much...

"I have three potions."

"I'll take them all! You can have the deer!"

Caleb glanced at the animal carcass with disgust, "what am I supposed to do with it?"

"Cook it, skin it, screw it, hell I don't care!"

Caleb groaned with frustration as he held up the bottles.

"One of them is a potion of cure disease, the blue one is a potion of lesser magicka and the third is a cure for errectile disfunction." Caleb explained, lowering the bottles to his sides. "I took it from my ship, it's not mi-"

"Yeah, I'll take your word for it..." The girl replied, her nose retreated up her face. "I'll take the cure disease potion..."

"Will you now?"

The girl looked away, then looked back enraged with his toying. "I need it!"

Caleb had noticed that the sun was lower than he remembered it, he would no longer make it to Whiterun by sundown, this wouldn't normally bother him but bandits would be able to use the dark to their advantage.

"Take me back to your cabin and I'll give you the potion..."

"Not happening..."

"So, you're going to haul that deer up that hill? By yourself?" The pirate had her, she knew that she couldn't lift the deer and it would take forever to drag.

"Right but you go infront and if I see you do anything stupid, I'll shoot you in your 'good' eye and blind you!"

"So... I take it we have a deal?" Caleb smirked.

The girl said nothing and circled him, gesturing for him to take the deer's leg.

Caleb sighed and took the deer's leg, he stood still until the girl got the rear and began to carry the fallen beast up the hill.

Chapter 4: The Summit
"You got a name?" Caleb mumbled, dragging the deer behind him.

"Course I got a name!" The nord girl protested.

"Oh... so you just don't share it..."

"Not with flacid bandits who I meet in the woods..." The girl smirked, still thinking about his potions.

"Flacid?' The hell's that mean?!"

"Maybe you'd know if you read a book..." The girl laughed to herself after.

"Lady, I've read many books in my time and the word 'flacid's' never come up once..."

Caleb sighed heavily as they came to a door, he dropped the deer, causing the girl to stumbled as it keeled over.

"This it?"

"Y-yeah... now stand over there!" She demanded, raising her bow.

"Why?"

"So that I can open the door!"

Caleb scowled and stepped back.

"Now look away!" She demanded, pulling the arrow back, further.

"Why?"

"So that you don't see where I hide the key..." She muttered, through gritted teeth.

"Fine..." Caleb turned away and faced a nearby tree, sudenly realising how boring trees are.

The girl watched him for a moment to see if he was cheating but he just stood, staring at the tree. She quickly whipped the key out from under the door mat and placed it in the lock.

"Jeez, lady, how long does it take to grab a friggin' key from a damn door mat?" Caleb seethed.

''Dammit... how does he know?''

"Well, door's open now." She replied, impatiently, hitting at the lock and causing the door to swing open.

The girl went in first as Caleb dragged the deer in.

"Damn beast..." He grumbled, throwing it on the floor and heading towards the fire to warm his hands.

The girl had already ran over to an injured nord woman, who was resting in a sleeping bag. She was pale and barely moving, her breathing was heavy and Caleb got a strong feeling of despair, uppon looking at her, almost as if she irradiated it.

"What happened to her?" He asked, though he didn't really care.

"Bandits came out of the woods... they didn't ask us or anything, they just tried to kill us both." The girl replied, rubbing her thumb along the nord's hand.

"Yeah, we had a few raids like that..." Caleb sighed.

"Oh... did you lose someone?"

"What? No, we never lost men on raids, or at least it was very rare." Caleb grumbled falling into an arm chair. He groaned as his back hit, what felt like, a rock. He turned to see that the backing of the chair was wood, with no padding on it. Seemed pretty dumb to throw himself into it...

"Oh... we didn't have a plan or time to prepare but  we did what we could."

Caleb was going to correct her and tell her that he was actually talking about his raids on other ships. He kept his tongue steady.

The child drew a potion from her satchel and pressed it against the older nord's lips.

"Here... I got you this, it should fight the infection!"

"Smart kid..." Caleb muttered, though not loud enough for her to hear.

Chapter 5: Bedside Manner
The cold, harsh, unforgiving winds of Skyrim blew throughout the night, rattling the cheap windows in their frames.

Even with a small fire at the center of the room, the young Nord girl curled into a ball and sat as close to the fire as she, safely, could. Caleb sat in the corner, 'reading' book that he took from the inn, it's pages were damp from the humidity enduced mould and most of its pages were unreadable.

The old pirate grumbled as his sentence was cut short by a big greenish brown smeer on the page, he closed the book and threw it to his right. Now he was bored, it was too dark and cold to go back out and this girl looked like she was barely surviving.

He looked back at her and saw that her eyes were welling up with tears, though he was sure if it was the fire or the hopelesness of her situation that had caused her eyes to tear up.

"Your eyes wouldn't hurt so much, if you didn't sit so close to the fire kid..." He mumbled, in a vain effort to be helpful.

She looked back at him with a sadness, that quickly turned to anger.

"Morgen..." She replied, as if answering a question that he never asked.

"Huh?"

"Not kid... 'Morgen!" She corrected him.

"Okay, 'Morgen' don't look into the light..." Caleb's tone quickly lost its facetious tone as he quickly retreated to a quiet mumble. "I'm 'Caleb,' thanks for askin'..."

There was a long silence, it's rare that an introduction kills a conversation.

"Who is she? I mean... she your mother or..."

"Sylvie? She's my sister." Morgen corrected him.

"Right..." Caleb nodded.

"We were out hunting, she slipped and fell on something. A branch went right through her back and came out of her stomach... Thought she was dead, there and then but she came too and...

I barely got her home..."

Caleb glanced back at her, seeing a puff of steam come out of her mouth as she exhaled.

She ain't gonna make it...

Chapter 6: And now we wait...
The two of them sat in silence for several hours, Morgen was trying to remain strong for her sister and Caleb was simply bored, trapped in this place, waiting for the weather to release him.

Morgen caught his eye several times, looking like she was going to speak but she always backed out of it, like a child approaching a scary looking dog on a dare.

"You mentioned 'raids..." Morgen finally said staring at him and waiting for a response. "What do you do? Are you a guard or something?

Caleb sighed heavily and made himself comfortable, before answering her question, "A guard? How many guards wear eye patches and have clothes that smell of tar?"

"So... you're a criminal?" Morgen muttered, sounding disappointed in him.

"Yep, I used to rob ships."

Morgen looked up, ''a pirate? Out here?''

"You're a long way from the sea, grandpa." She smirked.

Caleb groaned, he hated being called 'grandpa,' he was only in his fourties but a life like his would make anyone look old.

"I got a letter from the Jarl of Whiterun..." He confessed, pulling the piece of paper from his pocket and holding it up in the air.

Morgen, sounded unimpressed. "What did you do, to piss him off?"

Caleb didn't know, he'd never even been to Whiterun... "I dunno, maybe I harpooned his favourite whale."

Morgen smiled at the thought, she would have laughed but she was trying to keep up her 'defensive' persona.

"Or sank a ship that was meant to deliver his month supply of skooma." The nord suggested.

"Or erectile disfunction medicine."

Morgen burst out laughing, slapping her knee and throwing her head forward, Caleb himself couldn't help but chuckle.

Chapter 7: A new burden
Caleb awoke, gasping as he glanced around, trying to remember where he was and why he was here.

''Urgh... still in this shit hole.''

He slowly rose to his feet, noticing that Morgen was curled up on the floor, hugging her knees and shivering. The old pirate sighed as he removed his coat and threw it on her, after a few seconds she had stopped shivering and lay still.

The dunmer went over to the window, most of the evergreen trees had snow clinging to their branches and leaves. But apart from that, there was nothing else to see... trees obscured the view.

''This is a dangerous place to be... ''Caleb thought to himself and of course, he was right. They had no time to prepare for bandit or creature raids. Anything could come out of those trees and they would have, at best, 10-15 seconds to prepare. He sighed and looked back over them, sick and dying... these people need someone with half a brain, to get them out of this shit hole.

He turned back to the outside world, noticing a deer that had ventured up to the window. Building up a lot of courage.

"Heh... where were you yesterday?" The pirate muttered, looking it square in the eye.

The deer's ear flicked, almost as if it was responding to him but it quickly scampered off, uppon realising that it was standing face to face with a mer.

Morgen awoke, noticing that something was on top of her, something light.

She glanced over her shoulder to see what it was, a coat?

She glanced back at the dunmer with his back facing her, glaring out of the window.

"I see that you're up early..." The nord grumbled, sliding the coat off of her body.

Shit, that's cold!

She quickly abandoned her pride and pulled it back.

Caleb turned back to her and shrugged, "not really, I always get up at the same time."

"You don't sleep in?" She asked, somewhat amazed.

"No, why would I?"

Morgen thought about it but there was no answer.

"So... you're still here, I assume that you want something." She sighed, hoping that she wouldn't have to pay him.

"Actually, I was going to offer something..." The pirate stepped forward and knelt down infront of her, "I'm going to be honest... if you don't get a healer here, that girl..."

"Sylvia!"

"Sylvia, isn't going to make it."

The news hit Morgen like a ton of bricks, she hadn't had to deal with an injured person before and didn't know anything about healing or first aid. Was this mer right? Would her sister die? She glanced back over her shoulder and a tear rolled down her face.

"We have to take her to Whiterun..."

Morgen looked back, gasping at the dunmer's kindness.

"Thank you!" She cried out, she wasn't able to stop herself from lunging forward and hugging him.

Caleb wanted to push her off but what was the point in ruining the moment?

"Pack your things..." He ordered,  "we're leaving this place."

Morgen opened the front door and stepped back to allow Caleb through, he carried Sylvia in his arms with little effort. She weighed next to nothing...

"Okay... you need to take point and do exactly as I say." The pirate instructed, looking around.

After getting his bearings he gestured forward, Morgen drew her bow and glanced around as she lead the way.

Chapter 8: The Heretic's Siege
Caleb had been travelling for several hours, stil holding Sylvia in his arms and looking around at the wilderness.

"So... what's the age difference between you and her?"

Morgen looked over her shoulder, not seeing what difference it made or what business it was of his.

"I'm fourteen and she's 29, so... you do the sums." She looked back at the path, I can't...

Caleb thought it odd that there would be a fifteen year difference between them, they didn't look well off and their parents presumably died when Morgen was in her infancy. He sighed and carried on, wishing that he hadn't used his coat to wrap Sylvia up and protect her from the cold.

Caleb glanced up and noticed something, smoke was coming from the city of Whiterun.

Shit...

"This is bad..." Morgen muttered, stepping back and looking as if she wanted to run away from the burning city.

Caleb glanced up, it looked like some sort of doomsday with fire coming out of the city walls and an army of guards battling with the unknown attackers. The old pirate glanced up and noticed that a dragon had landed on the road ahead, a khajit helped a nord woman onboard, before flying away with her. They were quickly pursued by another dragon, that was being ridden by another figure, who the dunmer couldn't identify.

"Might be another bandit raid... there was a big one a few years ago." Morgen added, breaking his trail of thought.

"Whatever it is, the guards should be able to handle it..." Caleb grunted, stepping forward with Sylvia.

Morgen watched as he marched towards the burning city, that was still under siege.

"Erm... aren't you forgetting something?" She blurted, chasing after him.

"Don't believe I am..." He grumbled, keeping his gaze fixed on the battlefield.

"My sister? You're the only one strong enough to carry her!"

The old pirate stopped and turned around, sighing in the process.

"That city contains the only healer in miles..." He reminded her, "Your sister won't make it any further..."

Morgen glanced back at the burning city, her heart beating out of her chest.

You can't leave Sylvie...

"Alright... but you'd better have a plan!"

Caleb laughed at her, his cold, grainy laugh sent a shiver down her spine.

"Don't I always?"

Chapter 9: The Invaders from the North
Caleb ran towards the city, carrying Sylvia in his arms. Morgen followed behind him, quickly glancing around for anybody who would attack them.

''This is a bad idea... who is this man? I don't know him... now he's got my sister and he's running with her towards a burning city!''

She shook her head, casting her doubts from her mind, she knew that it wouldn't get her anywhere.

Caleb scampered up the approach to the old nordic city, barely keeping his balance, due to the weight of the 20-something, nord girl in his arms.

"Halt!" A guard demanded, raising his sword. Caleb hadn't seen him and immediately jumped up, his back shot up straight.

"I need to get through!" He replied, though the words were that of a plea, it sounded like an order. "I have wounded and a child with me..." He gestured back to Morgen.

The guard gestured with his head and left shoulder.

"Go on through... women and children have been sent to Dragon'sreach."

"Right... I'll keep that in mind." Caleb muttered, though he had no intentions of going there.

The gate opened and the dunmer looked over his shoulder, "C'mon..."

Morgen followed behind him, clutching her bow.

Caleb burst into Arcadia's Cauldron, expecting it to be empty. The pirate was right of course, there wasn't a soul to recieve him or the wounded woman in his arms...

"Okay, you just watch over her, I'm going to look around." Caleb's tone was asertive, as if he was a superior officer of sorts. He was too used to being a capatain and he dreaded starting a new life in which he'd just be an underling again...

The dunmer went into the back room and began to look at the stock on the shelves, "Okay... let me see what we have here..."

Morgen glanced over to her sister, she had never seen anyone so... white before. She almost looked like a corpse, for the first time in a long time, she truly worried about her condition.

"Sylvie... it's okay, that dark elf is getting a potion. Just hang in there..."

Sylvia murmered something but she was too weak to speak, Morgen couldn't hear what she was saying.

Caleb came back with several bottles, potions of healing of all sorts of strength and potions of regeneration to speed up the healing process.

"Right, I need you to hold her head back and pinch her nose..." Caleb ordered, forcing the cork off of one of the bottles.

"Right!" Morgen ran around and placed her hands over sister's ears, holding her head back as Caleb instructed. She looked worried, constantly looking up and down.

The dunmer leaned forward and poured the healing potion into the nord's mouth, holding her wrist and stopping her from squirming, he threw the empty bottle away and went for another one.

"You know what you're doing, don't you?" Morgen asked, sounding desperate at this point.

"Yeah, I've seen guys survive worse..." The dunmer lied, holding her still as she choked.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard behind them and an imperial came into view. She was an old woman with grey hair that had clearly been brown at some point. She looked furious as she noticed that some of her stock had been taken.

"Bastard looters! Get out of here, now!" She barked at them, grabbing a sword from under the counter.

"We can't go yet!" Caleb snapped, looking over his shoulder.

"Urgh... bloody thieves, my life has been one hard struggle against you! First my shop assistant steals my gold and my stock and now you're here looting!" She stepped forward, seething with rage, she was going to run her sword through the old dunmer's back until she saw the barely living nord infront of her.

"G-gods... is she?"

"No..." Caleb grumbled "but her chances will improve if you give us more potions!"

Arcadia looked like she was going to be sick, she dropped the iron long sword to the ground and ran to the back room. Trying to find a healing or cure disease potion that hadn't already been found and used.

"Is she going to die?" Morgen panicked, sounding like the fourteen year old child that she really was. This hard facade could only last as long as she was in control and she was slowly losing control to forces that were beyond the control of any man/mer or even the daedra.

"No." Caleb replied, sternly. He truly believed it, she had to pull through here, because he believed she would.

The dunmer pulled up her dress, Morgen looked confused and slightly horrified at first but she said nothing. She had to trust him...

The pirate noticed a small black ring around her stomach. The wound had been closed but it was still infected underneath and it looked like she had some internal damage...

"Where's the nearest healer?" He snapped at Arcadia, he was too panicked to compose himself, this woman had minutes to live.

"He'll be with everyone else, in dragon's reach!" Arcadia informed him, she was truly afraid of him now. Moreso than she was when she thought that the dunmer before him was a common criminal.

"Right, thanks..." He strained, lifting the unconscious nord up and carrying her to the door, gesturing for Morgen to follow, the girl obeyed, holding her bow with trembling hands.

"You can't go out there, the city is under siege!" Arcadia cried out, warning them.

Caleb stopped, thinking about what she had said.

"Then we'll just have to be quick..."

The pirate booted the door open and stepped out in to the battlefield.

Chapter 10: Fear No Evil
As Caleb broke out into the fiery battlefield that used to be Whiterun, he took in a deep breath to immerse himself into the chaos of it all... Several vampires in orcish armour had jumped the wall and quickly had a guard pinned to the floor, tearing her apart.

"Let's go..." Caleb ordered, begining to walk up the approach.

He felt exposed, it would only take one vampire to take him and Morgen down as Morgen wasn't exactly a force to be reckoned with and he was unarmed. Suddenly, two whiterun guards cut them off, one armed with a sword and shield, the other had a claymore. "You there! What are you doing? You need to get to Dragon's reach!" the everso helpful guard informed them.

Caleb decided not to antagonise these idiots... they maybe useful, later. "That's where we're headed but we have wounded..." he replied, jiggling Sylvia in his arms.

"Talos... Are you... is she?"

"No, she'll be okay, if we get her to the healer at the top of this hill!"

Morgen looked away, she was starting to worry, c'mon... We're almost there Sylvie... just hang in there.

Caleb looked up, "we're wasting time! We could use your support!"

"We aren't supposed to abandon our post..." The sword/shield argued, though it didn't seem like much of a protest.

"There aren't any enemies here!" Caleb protested, looking around. "They're at the front gate!"

"And if they get past the front gate?" The claymore guard snapped.

"Oh yeah, because you two are practically an army!" Caleb snorted, these guards weren't worth his time.

The pirate pushed past them and Morgen trailed behind, looking eager to get up the hill.

"What's going on here?!" Another guard called, though he looked more important than the others, almost as if he had some status.

He was a nord, with quite long blonde hair. A pretty boy hero type but he looked like he was getting on a bit, he had several scratch marks across his face from drunken brawls or bandit raids. Nothing from any real action...

"We've just established that these guards are useless..." Caleb grumbled as the other two rolled their eyes.

"What's he talking about?" The guard snapped, turning to his underlings with a stern look.

"Captain! This dunmer tried to get us to abandon our posts." The claymore guard explained, she seemed pretty confident that she had made the right choice.

"I was trying to get some he- You know what? Screw the both of you... C'mon Morgen." Caleb began to run up the approach as the status guard watched, he glanced back at the others.

"I'll go with them, you stay here." The guard captain drew his hammer and chased after them, his feet pounding up the path.

Caleb made his way past the statue of Talos, not paying it any mind. He wasn't on good terms with the gods...

Morgen stopped to stare at it, it was magnificent, she'd never seen anything like it before. If it wasn't made of stone, she could have sworn that it was the real Talos.

Morgen then noticed that the others had gone on without her. Some responsible guardians you are... She thought, then she remembered that neither of them legally required to look out for her. She sighed, it sounded awful in her head but she was worried about herself, more than Sylvia... What would happen to her? Would she stay with Caleb? Would she go to an orphanage? Be forced to work on some farm?

She swallowed hard and caught up with them as they went through the keep of Dragonsreach, seeing a bunch of misplaced refugees huddled around in the corner with several healers running around, trying to get the wounded guards back on their feet. Caleb stepped forward, not caring about the guard's sudden movements, the captain made them stand down with a hand gesture as they approached the center of the keep.

Jarl Balgruf stepped down from his throne, approaching the guard captain.

"Fenris, what's the damage?"

"We're keeping them at bay at the front gate. One or two stragglers or maybe they're the smart ones but either way they've jumped the walls..." Guard captain Fenris replied.

"Jumped the wall? How many are we talking here?" Irileth snapped, stepping to the front.

Caleb stepped out of their way and went over to the healer, the priority was to heal Sylvia and get Morgen out of here. Everything and everyone else could rott for all he cared... He placed the nord girl on the floor and looked up at the healer, gesturing to her. "She needs a healer..."

The healer rolled her eyes and raised Sylvia's shirt, before gasping.

"How long has she been like this?" She replied, her voice was shaking.

Caleb looked back to Morgen for confirmation.

"Two months..." Morgen replied, she was starting to worry, herself.

"I'll do what I can, is your daughte-"

"We aren't related..." Caleb replied, coldly. Almost as if the idea disgusted him.

"Right, your... friend here, does she have anyone else?"

"No." Caleb replied, standing to his feet.

"Then she'll have to go up to the kitchen, we're keeping the children the-."

Suddenly the door to the great hall burst open, a burned guard burst in, he was missing a glove and his armour had been torn to shreds.

"C-captain!" He cried.

Fenris was there to recieve him, catching him as he fell to the floor.

"What the hell, happened?!" He demanded, this got Caleb's attention as he stood up and turned around.

As the guard began to speak, the dunmer noticed that it was the sword and shield guard from before. "V-vampire... lord, vampire!" The stammered.

He then rolled his eyes and died in Fenris' arms, leaving the guard captain with nothing but women and children to defend the keep with.

"What do we do?" Belethor cried out, starting a panic.

"Silence!" Irelith snapped as the panic began to infect the whole hall.

"Fenris! How many men, do you have left?" Irelith demanded, drawing her sword.

"The ones in the guard towers should be fine... They have a secret escape tunnel that leads to the bottom of the hill."

"Right, summon them!" Irileth ordered. "How many men does that leave us?"

Fenris didn't answer her, instead he blew on a horn that signaled for his men to fall back to the keep. He lowered the horn and turned back to her with a grim look.

"Six..."

"S-six..." Irileth stammered.

Caleb looked up, seeing the pathetic look of the women and children around them. Their weakened position angered him to some degree but it was more than that... Morgen wouldn't make it if they had to flee. Caleb could survive anything but she... she wouldn't leave Sylvia.

"Seven..." Caleb stepped forward, drawing his swords.

Irileth turned back. "Please, old timer. I suggest that you remain here in the kee-"

"Don't patronise me... I'm more experienced than half of those asshole guards. I bet that none of you have ever faced a vampire before..."

"Vampire lord." Fenris corrected him.

"Whatever, call those freaks whatever you want, they all bleed and die to me..." Caled replied. Anyone who didn't know him would call this bravado but Caleb intended to stay true to his word.

Morgen thought for a second, before stepping forward herself. "Eight!"

Everyone gasped and turned around, Caleb being one of them.

"Kid... I appreciat-"

"What? You're going to tell me to sit here and wait for those things to kill me!? I've killed deer before!"

Caleb chuckled, however, he wasn't laughing at her, because of her age. He truly believed that she could shoot a vampire if she had too but vampires and deer were two very different stories.

"Alright..." The pirate agreed, thinking of what she could do.

"What?" Irileth snapped, you aren't seriously suggesting...

"Why? She is right, if those things make it to the great hall, they'll kill her anyway." Caleb shrugged.

"Take your bow and stay away from the battle, take a shot whenever you can, okay? No heroics, no bullshit!"

Morgen nodded in agreement, clutching her bow.

"Here..." Fenris muttered, handing her his bow. "I'd feel a lot safer if you used this, that bow look like it's about to break."

"Anybody else?" Irileth turned to the refugees in the great hall.

"I!" Idolaf battle born stepped forward.

Avulstein Gray-Mane stepped foward, drawing his hammer. "Oh no, you bastard Battle-borns aren't claiming all the glory today! Avulstein Gray-mane offer his support as do all able bodied members of the Gray-Mane family!"

"The companions also offer you our lives!" Farkas put forward, the others nodded in agreement.

"Thank you but your skill in battle will be enough..." Fenris smirked.

"Anybody else?" Irileth offered, as she did, a young redguard woman in her mid twenties stood up. She had long dreaded hair and she wielded an akaviri katana, though she didn't look like a blade. She didn't wear their armour, just simple clothing that was presumably fashionable in Hammerfell. The reguard simply nodded but didn't say anything, nobody appeared to know her or know who she was with.

"Right, I shall take the companions and the Gray-manes and stop any wall jumpers, we'll cut off their reinforcements as well." Irileth explained.

"Fenris? You take the dunmer, the redguard and the Battle-borns and protect the keep. With your lives if necessary!"

"I think my sword is a more effective weapon..." Caleb smirked.

Irileth ignored the old fool's joke and took the others down to the secret passage that lead out to the bannered mare.

Fenris looked back and gestured over his shoulder. The Battleborns, the redguard, the guards, Caleb and Morgen quickly followed. Morgen kept her gaze fixed on her sister until the gates closed and obstructed her view.

Caleb stepped out into the battlefield of Whiterun, immediately encountering several vampires, who were feeding off of the corpses of dead guardsmen. One of them heard the old pirate's footsteps and turned, snarling at him. As Caleb drew his swords, an arrow flew over his shoulder and went into the creature's forehead, it's head flew back as it keeled over. The dunmer swung around to see Morgen, stood ontop of a rock, readying another arrow.

As he faced his enemies again, many of them had pulled to their feet and began to sprint for him. Caleb swung the first of his imperial shortswords and wounded one of the vampires, below the ribs and across the shoulder, sending it staggering over the edge of the stairway and falling several ft, head first onto the stone paving slabs at the bottom. Caleb ran the second one through and decaptitated it with an, almost immediate, horrizontal strike. It's head flew into the air, spraying blood on the dunmer's face and spraying the Battleborns as they ran into the fray, taking care of the enemies infront of them.

Fenris marched past the slaughter, gesturing for Caleb and the redguard, along with several guards to follow him. Caleb looked over to the redguard woman, like him, she didn't seem to be here by choice. Fait had dragged her here, kicking and screaming and it had no intentions of letting her go, in many ways, they were the same.

"Stop!" Fenris insisted, raising his hand.

He peered over the approached to area outside of the Bannered Mare, before turning back to his group. "I spotted twenty to thirty of them down there..." He explained, kneeling down to reduce the chances of getting spotted.

"There are twenty of them down there..." Fenris explained as everyone huddled around. "Now, we need to make sure that the gates are shut, keeping reinforcements out but we also need to kill all of the vampires in the city, so that we don't get overwhelmed the second that we shut the gate."

"What about that... dunmer's team?" The redguard finally spoke, to everyone's surprise.

"Irileth are our reinforcements."

"Wouldn't they be the perfect team to deal with those vampires?" The redguard was clearly doubtful of Fenris and his men.

"We can't sit around waiting for them." A guard butted in, looking around for any vampires in the upper parts of the city.

"That's for damn sure..." Caleb hissed, raising his swords.

"What are you-"

"Your guards and I can clear that bottom area, if we can't kill them, then we'll distract them long enough for you to close the gate and be our reinforcements." The pirate explained, glancing over his shoulder, checking on Morgen, who seemed to be stood around, looking for any threats.

Fenris nodded in agreement, "it's better than waiting here... but who will lead them?"

"I will!" Caleb and the redguard snapped, simultaneously. They then looked at eachother in dissagreement.

"Do either of you have military experience?" Fenris asked, trying to interview them both.

"I lead a squadren of blades." The redguard put forward, she didn't seem especially proud of it and was stating it as a fact.

"I was the captain of ship..." Caleb countered, not giving too much away.

Fenris paused for a second, "fine, dunmer? You're incharge of these men."

Caleb felt a sense of accomplishment until he noticed the ice cold glare of the redguard next to him.

"Okay men... move out!" Fenris ordered.

Chapter 11: The Heretic's Champion
As Caleb entered the market district of Whiterun, he immediately drew the attention of the bloodsucking freaks, as they broke away from the corpses that they were feasting on.

Caleb drew his swords and began to walk over to them, running one of them through with one of his swords and decapitating it with the other.

"Go! Kill 'em all!" He ordered, striking another one down.

Several guards charged down the hill as Caleb was surrounded by enemies, Caleb looked like he could handle this himself. The blood, the screams and the clashing of swords sent him deeper and deeper into his past.

The guards were less eager to get into the bloodshed, showing some fear towards the vampires but they stood their ground, knowing that they would likely be slaughtered by the mad dunmer if they ran. Caleb seemed to have forgotten about everything else, enjoying bashing these creatures with the pummel of his sword, he had longed for a true battle for so long...

The guards provided little support, knowing that their attempts to be helpful would just get in the way, the redguard didn't even draw her sword and even the eager Morgen, who had positioned herself on a nearby rock stood idly, waiting for Caleb to finish.

Fenris quickly threw himself against the gate, as did the men following him. They pushed, against the vampires who had seen Caleb's massacre from afar and were on their way to help their bretheren.

"Caleb!" Morgen called out, pointing it out to him, the dunmer stopped smashing a vampire's face in and looked up.

Shit...

He quickly gestured to the others and pointed at the remaining vampires who had been badly beaten by the pirate. Caleb's age was quickly catching up to him as he was already fatigued...

Exhaustion wouldn't stop him though, as Caleb immediately threw himself at the attacking vampires, slashing at them vertically and horrizontally. Fenris had almost pushed the door too, though reinforcements would likely be the death of him, as he wouldn't be able to run or fight after all of this pushing. Caleb grinned as the numbers began to thin out and the group came out on top of things for once. However, their victory was short lived, when a vampire lord charged through the gates, knocking guards and his own people flying and sending the gate back into Fenris' face.

As the guard captain fell to the floor, the rest of his men began to stumble back as they were awed and terrified by this beast. An almost demonic figure that radiated evil, stood infront of the smithy and began to approach them. The guards quickly backed away but Caleb didn't move an inch...

"Humph... After the display you put on for me, I would have thought that you would have had the intelligence to cower in fear like your men." The vampire lord spoke with the usual superiority complex.

"To Caleb Adlis... You are nothing!" The dunmer quickly swung his sword and the vampire lord vanished. Caleb glanced around, trying to find the beast...

"Coward! Show yourself and meet your end at my blade!"

The lord simply chuckled, his deep laugh was carried by the wind...

"Poor perception... lack of wit... My, my and to think that you were put in charge of all of these men..."

"At least I'm not hiding like a child!" Caleb countered, glancing around with his eye, scanning for any shimmers of light that would be the coward's downfall.

Granting the pirate captain's wish the vampire lord materialised above him and charged up his drain life spell, hoping to kill the old fool in a single hit.

However, his spell was lost when he was shot in the shoulder with an arrow, causing him to grunt in fury, this drew Caleb's attention. "Damn you!" He looked around and saw a nord child on a rock, holding a bow. I'll have fun killing that little bitch, myse- his thoughts were interrupted as Caleb threw one of his knives at the vampire lord, he had think fast and dodge it but the knife went through his wing. He roared out in fury as he landed on his feet with an earth shattering thud.

"Enough! I shall teach you all; to tremble at the mention of 'Lord Herrick!" He yelled as he threw a large punch at Caleb. The dunmer ducked it and went in with him imperial long sword but the vampire lord quickly caught his wrist, dragged him forward and struck down on his back, knocking him to the floor.

"You are not my equal!" He snapped at him, ready to stamp on the pirate's head with his foot, Caleb quickly came back to his sense and rolled out of the way, dodging the attack.

Caleb said nothing, even though responses were racing through his head, he quickly got himself together and stood upright as he always did, before getting into his duelist stance.

Morgen fired another shot at the beast, hitting it in the chest but it was a weak shot, so it did virtually nothing to the beast other than anger him. Caleb was quick on his feet and sliced across Herrick's stomach, causing him to groan again, before punching the dunmer on the forehead. The force of the punch knocked Caleb onto his back but equally damaged Herrick's hand, however, he was much too proud to show his weakness. Caleb's vision had gone dark from the punch forgetting, momentarily, where he was. Herrick took advantage of this and walked over to him to finish him off, charging up his drain life spell.

Morgen knew that Caleb would likely be finished, if she didn't intervein, so she quickly reached for another arrow and fired it but totally missed the beast's head and her arrow went into the stream.

"Shit!" She snapped alloud, drawing the attention of the guardsmen, who had never heard such foul language come from a child of fourteen.

Caleb saw the creature coming towards him and he tried to reach for his sword but the creature placed his foot on his chest, pinning him down. Caleb didn't give up as he continued to reach over to his, recently dropped, imperial sword.

Just as Herrick was about to fire his spell, his hand was sliced in half by the reguard who had interveined in Caleb's duel. The vampire lord cried out in pain, before roaring in fury and trying to find the culprit.

"You, will perish!"

"So you keep telling me..." The Redguard mumbled, unimpressed, flicking the blood off of the end of her katana.

The two of them circled eachother, staring into eachother's eyes and waiting for the other to faulter. Caleb saw this as an excelent advantage and quickly reached for his imperial sword and swung it at the creature's legs, however, Herrick was quick to dodge it by stepping back and immediately responded by kicking the dunmer in the face. He laughed at the weakling's pathetic attempt on his life, when he noticed that the redguard had used the distraction to his advantage. She quickly lunged forward him, yelling out in rage...

Herrick dissapeared into a cloud of bats as the redguard lunged forward, reappearing over Caleb as he tried to get up.

"Die already!" The vampire lord cried out in rage, the malfestation in his voice sent shivers down the spines of the weak willed. Caleb didn't listen, he'd fought every kind of foe imaginable and nothing would hold power over him...

He grabbed his sword and swung it around, only to notice that Herrick was gone, the pirate spun around to get grabbed by the neck and held up in the air, slowly being choked.

'''"You are NOT my equal!" Herrick bellowed as he got ready to throw the dunmer, "YOU are noth-" '''Herrick then screamed out in pain as his left wing was cut off by the redguard's katana, he staggered around, trying to free his hands to reach it and try to supress the pain with his fingers. Desperately, he slammed Caleb into the floor and reaced over his shoulder to try and grab hold of it. He cried out in pain, a second time, as Morgen shot his wound with a well place arrow.

"You little harlot! You'll pay for that!" Herrick snapped as he spun aroud to face the child, building up his drain life spell.

Caleb scrambled to his feet with a large, red gash on the side of his head, that was still sticky with blood. His knuckles were badly cut up and he had bruises and cuts all over his upper and lower body. He slowly shambled towards the hulking beast as it spluttered his threats, unaware that the old dunmer still had some life in him.

Just as Herrick was about to fire a drain life spell at the girl, Caleb staggered over to him and fell forward, driving both of his swords into the vampire lord's back. Herrick, quickly, found himself in too much pain to speak as the dunmer twisted the swords, inflicting as much pain as possible.

"Y-you...!"

"You talk too much..." The redguard muttered, kicking the vampire in the chest and watching him fall to he floor.

Caleb, barely, got out of the way as Herrick hit the floor with a loud thud, shaking the groun around him. The redguard and the dunmer looked over to eachother before approaching the fallen lord. He was slowly dying...

"The... Heretic... cannot be stopped..." he wheezed, "even... if you take... my... life..."

Caleb shrugged and slammed his sword through the vampire-lord's skull for good measure, he smirked as he pulled away, still leaving the sword embedded in the monster's face.

"Sorry... didn't catch that."

"Captain!" One of the guards cried out from behind the fence, kneeling down beside Fenris' body. The nord had been thrown into a barracade, he was impaled and he died, not long after.

Caleb looked away feeling some pain for the nord's loss but not much, he'd lost a lot over the last few years and the death of a stranger wasn't really all that tragic anymore.

He turned around, ignoring the vampires as they began to flee the battlefield and return to whatever plain of Oblivion they were sent from. The Redguard joined caleb's side as did Morgen, who hopped down from the rock that she had used as a tower.

Jarl Balgruff appeared from Dragon's Reach, spreading his arms out and cheering. "We have triumphed in our darkest hour!" It was rare that the Jarl showed any kind of excitment toward war but today was a special day, his city was still standing after a battle with, what could only be described as 'the embodyment of all evil.'

The guards and Morgen all bowed at the sight of the Jarl. Caleb didn't, nor did the Redguard, they didn't care what this Nord lord's title was, to them he was just another asshole.

The Jarl glanced over to the dead vampire lord, a smile grew across his lips...

"You helped my guards take down a vampire lord and hold off reinforcements."

Caleb's eyes darted around, being the center of attention was something that he loathed. "Well... the redguard did most of the work."

"Jarl balgruff! This dunmer took the vampire lord, single handedly!" One of the guards blurted.

"Hey, she cut his hand off and-"

The redguard frowned and shook her head, as if she was more afraid of the attention than he was.

"Where is Fenris?" The Jarl asked suddenly noticing his abscense, this was an answered prayer for Caleb.

"He... didn't make it." One of the guards muttered, she was quite shaken over the whole thing. "Fenris... he died for the people of this city, his sacrifice will not be forgotten."

He then glanced over to Caleb and his group with a smile, "With Fenris gone, we need someone who's a proven leader and capable fighter..."

"Wait... what are yo-" his advisor was cut off as the Jarl raised his hand.

"It seems that Whiterun has a new Champion..." He said, glancing over to a, confused, Caleb and Redguard.