"I had no idea your hair could do that!" Saerza commented, staring at Sonata's hair for a few seconds, which had been spiked upwards thanks to her tapping into her anger again, "When did you learn to do this on command? And why did your hair suddenly turn red when the aura wrapped around you?"
Sonata had a number of answers for those questions, as she knew exactly what had allowed her to do this, but she had no answers as to where her target was hiding. Harkon was definitely allied with Grul, as the appearance of one of his Lieutenants was a clear indicator of that, but now the vampire lord was out there somewhere, plotting his next move. She had never heard of other races, save for her sisters and the Changelings, having the ability to change their appearance at will, though it appeared that such an ability was useful to the warlock. She then considered that there were many orcs in Grul's army, all under the command of his four Lieutenants, which meant that there could be more like the orc she had just slain... which meant that there might be more shapeshifters roaming Skyrim.
It was a pity that she couldn't ask the dead for information, as Serana told her countless times that her necromancy didn't work like that, despite the fact that some times she wished that the dead remembered everything so she could extract information from them. Though even as she thought about that she knew that she would need to answer Saerza's questions, otherwise she would never get around to leaving this cursed castle behind.
"I learned to do that in my first battle with Alduin," Sonata replied at last, noting that Saerza was taking notes while the others were making sure that the remaining vampires didn't try anything funny, "Anger and rage are the keys to tapping into the power trapped within my necklace, where the power of the Siren Queen resides until I am ready to take on that mantle once again. There is, for lack of a better word, a barrier that's preventing me from accessing my full power, which is why Grul wants me to deal with Alduin, Harkon, and Miraak before the two of us fight. Somehow he learned of a way to bypass the seals on Aria's and Adagio's necklaces, only to give the same information to me when I destroyed that dragon outside Solitude.
As for the other question; anger is usually associated with the color red, so I can only assume that the reason my hair turned that color was because of what I was feeling at the moment."
"Your the Siren Queen that Lord Harkon has been searching for?" one of the vampires spoke up, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Don't make us laugh Dragonborn. The Siren Queen, according to Grul's messengers, is a being of incredible power that could level this entire castle with one spell, yet your power in nowhere near hers."
"And you should be thankful that I haven't done so yet," Sonata replied, glaring at the vampire for a moment, silently daring him to piss her off more than she already was, "otherwise you would have a ruined castle resting around you. Now sit down and shut up, otherwise you'll find out just how powerful I really am."
One of the things that was slowly returning to her, in addition to her powers, was the authority that came with her voice, which was how Adagio and Aria followed her orders before she gave up and stopped caring all those years ago. This power was similar to a ruler telling one of their subjects to do something, regardless if it was important or not, and the person did it, no questions asked. It was also similar to the powers that she and her sisters had used to keep themselves fed back on Earth, before their necklaces had shattered anyway. She hadn't used this particular power in over a thousand years, so she was a little rusty in terms of her practice, but she knew it would get the job done.
Eventually the vampire sat back down in the chair he had originally been sitting in, though it was clear that he knew he had been mistaken when calling her a liar.
"Now then, onto the business at hand." Sonata said, turning to face her friends again, who were all eager to hear what their next course of action was, "We know that Harkon is searching for something called Auriel's Bow, which I assume is some legendary weapon with an incredible amount of power. We don't know the location of the Bow, which means that Harkon doesn't know it either, because the fake Harkon appeared to be a little excited when he noticed our Elder Scrolls. Our Scrolls are linked to the Bow, which means we need to focus on them and figure out what they're trying to tell us or where they're trying to lead us."
"Well, Lord Harkon's imposter did say that a Moth Priest was coming to Skyrim," one of the other vampires commented, drawing the attention of everyone in the room to her, "Last I heard he was supposed to be arriving in Solitude this morning, which means that he's already left the city and will be heading to Dragon Bridge. From there he's supposed to be heading to the College of Winterhold, though what route he takes after leaving the small village will be up to him and his escort."
"We seem to have our next task," Sonata said, to which she pulled herself out of the chair she had been sitting in the whole time they had been talking, "We'll go find this Moth Priest, no doubt save him from whatever trouble he's in, and then we'll see what we need to do with our Elder Scrolls... and then maybe we'll figure out where this bow is located."
What she didn't tell them was that she hoped that they would bump into the real Harkon sometime in the future, so that she could bring this entire venture to an end and give her the opportunity to focus her efforts on Miraak.
It didn't take Sonata and her friends very long to return to where they had left their carriages and return to the road they had taken to reach the boat that took them to Lord Harkon's castle. Nor did it take them very long to reach the docks that rested outside Solitude, where they got out to stretch their legs for a few seconds before they moved on to Dragon Bridge. Sonata's mood had improved over the course of their short journey, because for the first time in ages they weren't attacked by random bandits, a pack of wild animals, or members of a faction that wanted her dead. Even Grul's orcs hadn't been seen since their last encounter, which only made her happier as they approached the small village the Moth Priest was supposed to have passed through this morning.
She had the feeling that this was one of Grul's plans to make her lower her guard, but she kept her eyes open for anything that would threaten her or her friends.
When they reached their destination they were greeted by one of the guards as the people who lived in the town looked at them for a few seconds before going back to their business. Sonata knew that most of them hadn't seen her and her friends when they came through the village the first time, because it was mostly night when that happened, so she didn't expect many of them to get excited or show hostility towards them. Considering that none of the villagers wanted to interact with them Sonata decided that the guard would have to be the one they asked their questions to.
"Have you seen a Moth Priest pass through the village lately?" Sonata asked, hoping that the vampire's information had been correct and that they hadn't been mislead, "He and his escort were supposed to have passed through this village sometime this morning."
"So that was a Moth Priest?" the guard inquired, though he sounded as if he was a little annoyed that he had missed the chance to speak to one of the elusive monks, "He was riding in a wagon with some Imperial guards. They didn't stop to visit, though. They rode through town heading south, and went across the big bridge. It was only just a little bit ago. I bet you can catch them if you hurry up."
Sonata could not believe their luck, as they were quite literally behind the monk that they were searching for, which meant that they could save him from whatever threat was waiting ahead of him. She quickly thanked the guard as they continued down the road, passing over the actual Dragon Bridge as they hurried to catch up with the Moth Priest. It actually didn't take them very long to find the Moth Priest and his caravan, because they had stopped on the side of the road and the soldiers were protecting their charge. There appeared to be a large force of vampires standing on the bridge that they needed to pass through, though that wasn't the oddest thing Sonata was seeing.
The vampires weren't fighting the Imperial soldiers, rather they were fighting two figures that were literally tearing them to pieces. The first of those figures was a draugr that looked almost like the one they had seen at the end of Dimhollow Crypt, though a few seconds later Sonata spotted the Blood Blade and knew which draugr they were staring at. The other figure was an orc warrior that was wearing the standard orcish armor she had seen them wear, as well as the fact that he was carrying an ebony sword and shield, though Sonata noticed that he was also carrying a flag on his back... one that bared the symbol of Lord Grul.
To make the situation even weirder the orc took one look at Sonata and nodded his head to her, which almost made her wonder if she had found an orc that had turned on his master and left the army behind.
Apparently they had arrived at the end of the fight, because the orc and the draugr just happened to be finishing off the last of the vampires when Sonata and her friends arrived. For once Sonata didn't have to raise her hand and fight something, which no doubt surprised her friends as well, though she climbed out of the carriage and approached the odd pair.
"You must be the Dragonborn, Sonata Dusk." the orc commented, bowing his head towards her in respect, something that she wasn't expecting at all.
"I am," Sonata replied, wondering what was happening, because nothing was making sense anymore, "And you would be?"
"Krovor Bloodaxe," the orc replied, though that was when he tore the flag from his back and tossed it at the ground, before he took a torch out of his backpack and set the entire thing on fire, "formally of Lord Grul's army. I have severed my ties with my former master and set out to find you, the Siren Queen, so that I can inform you of what the evil warlock has planned for this world."
"Just like that?" Sonata asked, as she suspected that the warlock would have been furious by Krovor's betrayal, "Grul just let you go and did nothing to stop you?"
"Yes, though I know I should be dead right now," Krovor admitted, as if he had been expecting such a question, "The last time an orc dared to leave the warlock's army he killed the unfortunate warrior and used his twisted magic to use the stolen life energy to empower his already considerable power. I know that I should have faced this fate myself, and I would gladly have faced it if it meant having a chance at killing that vile warlock, but he has not been at the camp for several days... thus allowing me to leave with my life.
I can tell you why Grul was not at the camp, and why this draugr came looking for you as well; Grul is searching for artifacts of incredible power, so he can sacrifice their power to fuel his infernal portal."
Sonata's nightmare, where she had seen the whole of Skyrim look dead and twisted beyond believe, came back to her... as well as the creature that was lurking behind the portal. She fell to her knees for a moment as a new part of that vision took shape in her mind, forcing her to observe what it wanted to show her. She saw the large oval shaped portal, resting in the side of a mountain somewhere, though this time she saw Lord Grul standing before it as an army of demons poured out of it. The vision widened to give her an overview look of the entirety of Skyrim, where the demonic army cut their way through the Imperials and Stormcloaks and burned the very ground they walked on.
The vision turned back to the portal as a massive creature, easily the size of Dragonsreach, stepped out of the portal and brought about the end of Nirn... before she regained her focus and came back to her body.
"Ah, my words have triggered a vision for you to see," Krovor said, helping Sonata onto her feet, "Grul wishes to dominate all life on Nirn... and then allow his master to burn the world to a withered husk. I saw the same thing a few days ago, which is how I discovered the warlock's plans. Let me join your army, Siren Queen, and I will give you all the information I have on Grul and his plans... just so we can save this world."
Sonata stared at the orc for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea to allow one of Grul's former underlings into her group, but then considered all the information that he could give her on what her enemy was doing. If she wanted to she could use this information and decimate Grul's main camp while he, and likely his Lieutenants, were out searching for whatever artifact they were trying to get their hands on.
"I would be a fool to turn down your assistance." Sonata said, noticing a faint smile appear on Krovor's face for a moment, to which she turned to the draugr that was still standing nearby, "Gurgath the Wicked... it was an honor to watch you fight. What can I do for you?"
The Death Overlord stared at her for a moment, as if it was trying to determine how to speak to her, before it sheathed its legendary weapon, undid the sheath from his side, and held it out for Sonata to take. She knew what the ancient warrior wanted; his weapon was likely charged with magical energies from all the people he had killed, or blessed by one of the Divines or Daedric Princes. He somehow knew that Grul would be coming for his weapon, now that his resting place had been revealed, so he wanted his weapon in safe hands before the orc came to his burial chamber.
Sonata smiled and took the weapon from the ancient warrior, to which the Death Overlord turned down the path to the north of where they were standing and started walking... until he disappeared into the distance.
"Well then, I guess its time we see where Grul's main base is located," Sonata commented, attaching the Blood Blade to her belt for the moment, "Maybe we can blow it up while we're there."
Even as she said those words she knew that there would be a large army standing outside the portal, which meant that they would study the base and then move on... which was just fine with her at the moment.