Sonata and her friends followed the group of vampires out of Ustengrav, though she was careful to study them in case this was going to be a trap later on. She had absolutely no idea what this Movarth wanted with her and why he had sent this group of vampires to ensure her safety, but the vampires claimed that their master knew something about her sisters. She couldn't pass up an opportunity to learn what had happened to her sisters, especially after she had been separated from them and had tried, in vain, to find them. How they came to Nirn, if they had truly come here, Sonata could guess at based on her own experience with the portal, but she needed to know where they were so she could stop worrying about them.
Because if Adagio and Aria were in Skyrim, fighting to protect themselves in a world they knew nothing about, then she needed to rescue them before they were harmed.
"So, where is Movarth's lair?" Kree asked the vampires, clearly trying to determine where they were heading so she could figure out how much traveling they would be doing.
"Just outside Morthal actually," the head vampire replied, while the rest of her group remained silent, "One of his spies noticed the three of you when you entered the small village and immediately told him of your presence, though we had been told to hold back until he decided whether you were a threat or not. Our spy also told him that the Dragonborn shouted the name 'Aria' this morning, something that allowed our master to decide that the three of you are allies and not additional enemies."
"You wouldn't happen to mean that your master assumed I might have been allies with Lord Grul, do you?" Sonata asked, though as she asked the question she noticed that the vampire seemed to pale for a moment as if she had hit the nail on the head, "Don't worry, I already don't like him or the army that he's commanding... even more so thanks to the terrible dream I had the previous night. Lord Grul has much to answer for... the only problem is finding him so we can punish him."
"Lord Movarth is going to like this one." one of the other vampires commented, turning to look at Sonata for a moment, before nodding as he turned back to what he was doing.
"Quite so," a third vampire said, though he held his sword out as they walked through the marsh, as if he was expecting danger to strike them, "Let's get to the lair before something..."
Before he could finish his statement a group of seven of orcs appeared from the mist around them, as if they had been using the mist to hide themselves the entire time. Sonata recalled that one of Grul's subordinates had a small veil of mist that had surrounded him, the one known as Mag'zul she remembered, so she assumed that these mage like orcs were his soldiers. Six of them had magic moving around their hands as they approached the vampires, but the last one had a sword in his hand as he approached Sonata and Lydia. All that told her was that Lord Grul was either testing her or had decided to get rid of her, but she would have to worry about that once they were out of danger.
"...happens." the vampire finished, sighing as he rushed at one of the mages and took his head off instantly, letting his companions deal with the remaining enemies, "Should have seen this coming."
Lydia leapt in front of the sword carrying orc and blocked his weapon with her shield, trying to push him back as the vampires dealt with the remaining mages. The orcs free hand, which wore a metal gauntlet, punched into Lydia's shield, denting the metal before he gripped the area he had ruined and tore it from her grasp. He then lifted his sword above his head before bringing it down on Lydia, cutting into her shoulder as she used her own weapon to prevent him from cleaving her in half. Before the orc could hit her again Sonata readied the Voice and used the Unrelenting Force on her target, blasting him backwards for a moment and leaving him without his weapon.
The orc looked up at Sonata as she approached him, though as she did so she could feel something familiar to awaken inside her as magic formed a light area around her right hand.
"You don't get to get away with hurting my friend," Sonata growled, pulling her arm back as she approached the orc, "now suffer the consequences for your actions."
Sonata swung her fist into the orc's chest and released the magic she had been gathering, shattering the armor that he was wearing in a matter of seconds. The orc started to back up for a moment, but then the area around where Sonata punched him deepened and crushed the ribs that were beneath it. The orc stared at Sonata for a moment and reached for her, but then his hand moved to his mouth as he started coughing up blood, indicating that something inside his body had broken in the worst way possible. Then, before anyone could move towards him and put him down, the orc's eyes rolled backwards and he collapsed on the floor of the marsh with a heavy thud.
Once that was done Sonata turned to Lydia and moved the severed part of the armor out of the way, before she pressed her hand on her friend's wounds and cast a healing spell. A few seconds later she pulled her hand back and revealed that the wound was gone, much to the amazement of Lydia, Kree, and the vampires around them. Sonata, on the other hand, swayed a bit and nearly fell into the marsh, but the vampire that had spoken to them first caught her before she could fall.
"You okay Sonata?" Kree asked, worried that the sudden attack might have taken more out of her friend than she was expecting, as she had no idea how much power Sonata had used to slay the orc and heal Lydia's wound.
"I... used too much energy," Sonata admitted, huffing for a moment before nodding to the vampire that was holding onto her, "Let's go meet with your master... before this happens again."
The vampire nodded her understanding before resuming the journey to her master's lair, which, as promised, rested right outside the small town of Morthal. When they entered the cave that housed Movarth's lair they were greeted by what appeared to be vampire thralls, bandits or something that had been turned Sonata guessed, who eagerly beckoned them deeper into the cave. The group passed through a section of the cave where there were bodies of the dead scattered everywhere, though Sonata immediately noticed that the bodies were merely more orcs like the ones they had seen out in the marsh. She guessed that Movarth's underlings had been removing Lord Grul's soldiers whenever they neared the town or had been wandering around the marsh.
They rounded a corner and found three vampires, two men and one women, sitting at a table with a number of vampires gathered around them, telling Sonata that they were the ones in charge. The one sitting at the head of the table though, Sonata could immediately tell that he was the one in charge of the entire cave, indicating that he had to be Lord Movarth.
"Ah, Laelette and her group return to us," the head vampire said, a small smile appearing on his face as the vampire that held Sonata, Laelette, released her and bowed to her master, "and she brings the Dragonborn, as was asked of her. Good job Laelette, but we must not get too excited... rejoin Alva outside and be sure that Grul's underlings stay away from this location."
"As you desire, my master," Laelette replied, turning around and taking her followers outside the cave, leaving Sonata and her friends to deal with whatever Movarth wanted.
"Proper introductions are in order," the head vampire said, beckoning to the man on his right, "To my right sits Master Vighar of Falkreath, while to my left sits Lady Vespula of the Rift. I am Lord Movarth of Morthal, and the three of us make up the Council of Three. You, on the other hand, are Sonata Dusk, the Dragonborn of legend and sister to Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze."
"That would be me," Sonata replied, standing straight as she beckoned to her friends, "this are Kree and Lydia, my friends. Now, I was told that you had information regarding my sisters."
"Ah, straight to your own concerns I see." Movarth laughed, before growing serious once more, "Yes, my companions and I know about your sisters. You see, Adagio and Aria arrived in Skyrim two weeks ago, in the same state of confusion that I assume that you woke up in, but instead of getting sidetracked like you did they immediately got to work reestablishing their magical powers. It didn't take them long to discover that they still had some inherent power inside their bodies, though they determined that it was possible to reforge the necklaces that they wore. They did not share with me the specifics of how they intended to reforge their necklaces, but they seemed convinced that it was possible and would not give up on their venture.
They spent ten days with Lady Vespula in the Rift, training against each other and the vampires that followed my companion, but Aria also enrolled in the College of Winterhold at the same time. I was told that it was because she wanted access to every book and ingredient the College had, so that way they could speed up their search on how to reforge their necklaces. Though when they discovered what they were searching for we received word that Lord Grul had appeared in Skyrim with his horde of orcs, but when I tried to dissuade your sisters from dealing with him they would not be talked back.
I thought that either Adagio or Aria was going to be the Dragonborn of legend, but before we could figure out who it was they both disappeared... never to be seen again."
Sonata sank into a hair and hung her head down, wondering why her sisters had decided it was a good idea to face Lord Grul without their full power backing them... if that was what they had done. They had come to Skyrim, exactly like she had done no doubt, but they had gotten to work on improving their abilities to survive in this unforgiving world. Now they were either wandering around Skyrim, searching for the orc leader she had seen in her dreams, or they had found him and fought him, only to lose and become prisoners. She considered the thought that Adagio and Aria might not stand a chance at defeating the orc leader, but then she shook her head and remembered that it was two Sirens versus an orc warlock.
She was sure that, if a battle had raged between her sisters and Grul, her sisters would have won, but there were no stories of such a fight occurring, so she had to assume that they were still safe at the moment.
"Wait... they were trying to reforge their necklaces?" Sonata asked, a look of shock on her face, because she had determined that the stones had been shattered completely with little hope of them actually being repaired.
"That was what they told us," Vighar commented, drawing attention to himself for a moment, "I do not know how its possible to reforge those shattered stones, because they appeared to have the appearance of shattered soul gems, but they seemed convinced that it was possible to achieve what I deemed impossible."
"Quite so," Lady Vespula added, sipping from her goblet before speaking again, "Despite not being born in this world, or even knowing anything that had happened in the past, they were determined to bring an end to the war that rages on. Further more they were preparing themselves for the eventually arrival of the dragons, to which they trained their skills daily to be sure they were prepared for that day. It seems that all three of us were wrong to think that either of them were the Dragonborn, despite the vast amount of power they each commanded before they left to find Lord Grul."
"Did they say anything before they left?" Sonata asked, wondering if they might have left a clue behind in case they determined that she would be arriving shortly after they left.
"Yes, they left a rather vague message," Lord Movarth said, a frown replacing his facial expression as he recalled what they had said with ease, "Adagio said that, if they didn't return in one weeks time, then the 'Siren Queen' would come to Skyrim and do what they could not... does that mean anything to you?"
Sonata remained silent for a moment, though while she did that her right hand moved up to her neck and touched her own necklace, as if remembering something. She knew what Adagio was talking about, as Aria had likely determined the same thing when she heard their sister speak the term none of them had spoken in over a thousand years. The problem was that she didn't want to think about that at all, because it was something that the three of them had agreed to forget about after their banishment. Though if Adagio had mentioned the Siren Queen like that... it meant that she was concerned that only the Queen's power might be enough to defeat Lord Grul.
Kree coughed for a moment and snapped Sonata back to reality, as she had clearly been lost in her own thoughts for a few minutes, so she knew that she needed to answer the question.
"No... the term means nothing to me." Sonata lied, though she didn't make any of the motions or mannerisms that would reveal if she was lying, something that she and her sisters had picked up over their long banishment.
She didn't want to lie to people who might be her allies against Lord Grul, but at the moment she had no idea where any of the vampire's loyalties lay, so she didn't want to reveal something as specific as the Siren Queen to any of them. She had grown tired of lying to people over the long years of her banishment, but time and time again it seemed that she needed to tell one or two to get through life. She also determined that, at some point in the near future, she would have to tell Kree and Lydia about the Siren Queen, but she would wait until the opportunity to do so.
"Well then, I guess we're still at square one on that subject then," Movarth said, sighing before beckoning to his companions, "Know this Sonata Dusk, the Council of Three and our underlings will support you in your war against Lord Grul and fight on your behalf, until you have accomplished whatever tasks you need to complete before you want to deal with the warlock."
Sonata sighed and looked at the ceiling for a moment, wondering why one of the council members, the one whose underlings had tried to kill her, wanted to ally with her all of a sudden. She determined that if these three vampire leaders were actually her allies, then she would keep her eyes on them to be sure that one of them wasn't allied with Lord Grul. If that warlock learned of the Siren Queen's existence, even a whisper of her existence, then Sonata was sure that he would stop at nothing to gain that power. She would make sure that the vampires would make good on their offer to aid them, so she could keep the orc warlock and his army at bay until she was ready to deal with him.
She also needed to find her sisters, wherever they happened to be in the vastness that was Skyrim, and, somehow, uncover the method they were working on to reforge her amulet... because she was sure she was going to need its power now more than ever.