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Despite my initial fears of our progress and movements through Cyrodill would be noticed it was quickly becoming obvious that we were not the only armed parties on the march. Throughout the Empire the Imperial Legions were on the move and on two separate occasions on our journey to the west we encountered enormous form... |
The Daedra were also amassing and smaller towns and villages throughout Tamriel had either been abandoned or destroyed with the luckier survivors managing to flee towards the cities and their fortifications. For every military convoy we encountered we were met by a dozen groups of refugees, which was considerably diffe... |
There was no doubting that the Empire was under siege and the death toll was steadily rising but it was doing little more than foreshadowing the darkness that was yet to come. Since Kvatch and Ald’Ruhn there had not many comparably large cities destroyed by the daedra and while some had been directly attacked in other ... |
Not all the news was as hopeful as these tales, and there was some that left myself and a few of the others in particular feeling disgusted. The Elder Council had truly decided to withdraw the Legions from all the provinces and one by one they were being recalled to the Imperial City. The Altmer had been the first to b... |
These concerns and the increasing danger across Tamriel ensured that when the Order marched, we did so alert and ready at all times. Although unless our scouts and outriders warned us of any potential danger we marched with only half our number armed and armoured, rotating through the ranks to ensure that fatigue wasn’... |
None of us really knew where we were going though. I may have been in charge but I was simply following another who seemed to know exactly where to go. Since his knighting, Caleb had explained that when the sword had ben cleansed he had been gifted a vison of a place to the west along the coast of the Abecean Sea and e... |
For three weeks we marched, going through our daily routines and drilling the men-at-arms and knights continuously. The Black Knights of Talos and the Knights of the Nine were training together, not just in their skill in arms but more importantly formations and tactics. The composition of our forces was varied both in... |
Ever since we had entered County Kvatch there had been a foreboding sensation that the lands had been emptied of the local population, and County Anvil was no different. In the months since I had hunted bandits and encountered the Bosmer rangers the number of people scattered about had dropped even lower and despite pa... |
In my customary position towards the head of the column I had been casually chatting with Stavond, Viconia and Alexi as we walked our horses as one of the many mounted scouts came riding back hard. I had just shy of two dozen scouts under my command, most of which mounted on smaller, faster horses than those that mysel... |
Like many of the scouts, Sabiie was a Breton and showed a natural aptitude for horsemanship and the previous weeks had provided enough interactions that I knew them all by name. She and her scouting partner were usually far ahead and it wasn’t difficult to determine that she had been riding hard to get back with her in... |
"Sir!" She called out, reining in her horse a few metres away from where myself and the others were walking with our own steeds. "We think we have found something!" |
I could feel my brow furrow in confusion and yet there was a spike of adrenaline through my veins at her words. She, and many of the other scouts were very good at what they did and had been exceptional at reporting their findings. They had been chosen not only because of their memories and their ability to perceive an... |
"Define "something,’ Sabiie." |
Without hesitation she slid out of her saddle, handing the reins over to one of the nearest offered hand and tugging a folded up sheet of parchment out of her tunic. All of the scouts were also responsible for sketching out the lay of the land as they moved, and the large collection that I had been collecting was takin... |
"Five to six kilometres to the North west we encountered a small group of people heading towards the coast. There’s no paths or roads in this area but it looked like there was some kind of buildings or village built onto a peninsular there." |
Pulling out my own map and ignoring the way that both hers and mine were damp with sweat, I compared her crudely drawn one with a more official map of the area copied from the local legion’s records. "There’s not much in this area at all." I said, mentally adding the terrain features and spots of interest off Sabiie’s ... |
"With respect commander, it’s not a village. It’s more like a ruin and looks like it used to be a fortress than anything else. Whatever it is, it’s large." |
"These people... Describe them." |
"I didn’t get too good a look but there was ten, maybe eleven of them walking along. They didn’t seem really concerned or taking notice of their surroundings but Gadnil said they looked like elves. I can tell you a couple of things for certain; they were all dressed the same in golden armour and one of them was huge. E... |
Her casual gesture directed at Stavond and the other Black Knights was not lost to me or the others and my sense of foreboding was growing stronger. We had gone four days without seeing a single sign of any other living being beyond Kynareth’s creations and this was highly unusual. |
"How certain are you of their size?" |
If Sabiie was put off by my questions she didn’t show it and from my experience as a forester I had spent a considerable time teaching the scouts what sort of information was needed and that they would need to back themselves in their assessments. The previous training was now repaying the investment and Sabiie scrunch... |
"We are close." Said a voice over my shoulder and I nodded, feeling the tinge of pain from Caleb’s proximity as he moved over to where we were all talking. In the weeks since his knighthood there was a perceptible change to the young crusader. I wasn’t sure how everyone else felt around him but I knew that my vampirism... |
"I think so as well." Studying my map for quite possibly the millionth time in the past week, I tapped my finger on one of the markings to gain the attention of the others while looking up to meet their gaze. "The Order will continue on to this village. If Johnillius and Bacoro’s assessments were correct you all should... |
"No problems there Kaius." He said, the scar tissue on his cheek scrunching and twisting as he smiled. "You just can’t get away from your past as a scout, can you?" |
"This warrants investigating." My eyes roamed over the group and I nodded to Stavond and Viconia. "We’re going to go have a look at these ruins for ourselves and someone go find Carodus as well. We’ll follow Sabiie back to where she and Gadnil saw these people and if all goes well we should be back shortly after dark." |
There seemed to be no complaints from the others, who simply nodded and went about preparing for the rest of the day. It also didn’t take long for Carodus to appear, again almost proving a supernatural perception of when his commander required his services and before long we were all riding back from where Sabiie came ... |
In less than two hours we had travelled the distance back to Sabiie’s comrade and I was quite impressed with how she was able to lead us back to where they had originally spotted the small group, before continuing on a short distance looking for her fellow scout. Thankfully for all of us, Gadnil hadn’t moved too far fr... |
Shorter, and slightly older than myself, the Dunmer had come from a family of poachers throughout Bravil County and had honed his craft from a young age in the West Weald. Many of the smaller baronies throughout Cyrodiil had laws as varied as their rulers and those around Bravil in particular enforced their no-hunting ... |
"Commander." He said simply as we arrived, dismounting from our horses as he appeared as though conjured from the thicket. Most of the terrain around us was gently sloping hills around dry creeks and streams that would flood during the wetter months, but for the moment it was dry and dusty but still providing good cove... |
"Good morning Gadnil. What do you have for us?" |
Absently, he scratched at the back of his head and shrugged. "Looks to me like an ancient ruin of some kind, possibly Ayleid I reckon. Whatever it is, it seems to be extremely popular with the locals." |
"How many are we looking at?" |
His scratching continued and he shrugged again. "I’m... I’m not entirely sure. Dozens, probably more. I’m sorry commander but there is something about this place that doesn’t sit right with me." |
My own expression was featureless but I could see how the experienced hunter was nervous even without relying on my vampiric senses. Something about this area was eating away at him and I couldn’t help but sympathise. There was something unnatural about the region. |
"We’re close." Caleb simply said, and my unease increased even more as I saw the strange glow building around his irises. He was truly becoming less and less of the timid young man we had met and changing into something that truly terrified me. |
"Where’s the best vantage point?" |
Gadnil nodded in a rough direction over his shoulder. "About fifty metres through the trees is the crest of the hill. About ten metres further is the edge of the forest and it has clear views to the ruins." |
"That’s one thing has got me concerned commander. There’s a lot of activity down there but I have seen no sign of scouts or patrols out here. I mean... this is the first place I would have set upsome kind of early warning but there’s nothing around." |
My concern must have made itself visible on my face and both Stavond and Viconia simply nodded in unison. About the only person who didn’t seem to have any of his own concerns was Carodus who was still slowly and painfully lowering himself down out of his saddle and wincing as his knees audibly popped. "There’s not man... |
"Leave the horses here, we’ll move forward on foot as carefully as we can. There’s no telling whether this is some kind of ruse or the like." |
Slowly we made our way through the forest with Gadnil leading the way. there was no unnecessary breaking or snapping of trees or branches in our path and one by one we slid and ducked and even crawled where the bushes and shrubs grew dense. With softly spoken words both myself and our scout provided advice to the other... |
My first impressions were of a wide flat plain, yellow-gold grass swaying in the breeze that rippling and coursed through it in waves. The plain itself was wide and gently rolling but was almost entirely flat, lacking in trees and cover for hundreds of metres until it reached what was undoubtedly structures built by th... |
From the central building that appeared like the ruined base of a circular keep there were obviously what were roads leading out like spokes in a wheel, separating the crumbled remains of buildings from each other in the same style as every other Ayleid city or town throughout Cyrodiil. Some of the buildings were more ... |
"Well, whoever they are, they certainly plan on staying for a while." Muttered Stavond as he crawled on his stomach over to where I was squinting off into the distance. |
"And they aren’t locals." Gesturing to the far side of the ancient Ayleid stronghold I drew his attention to the collection of tall wooden spires rising into the sky. "I can’t see them from here, but those look like ships to me." |
Viconia too had crawled up alongside me, and I heard some mild cursing under my breath as we were also joined by Carodus who began picking thorns out of an arm. "I think you are right Kaius. Two... Maybe three of them." She said, shifting her head from side to side slightly to see if she could peer around the mound lik... |
After a few more seconds of muffled annoyance, Carodus finished picking the last of the thorns out of his flesh and ignoring the way that he was bleeding had begun fishing about in the small bag that he had dragged along. "Here sahr, this might help." |
"Where did you get this?" I said, seeing the spyglass in his hands before I reached over to take the offered item. |
"Won it a few years ago in a game of dice. Best win I ever had." |
"My thanks." Carefully, I lifted it up to my eye after seeing where the sun was in case the crystal and metal of the spyglass reflected in the direction of the ruins. It took some getting used to but combined with my vampiric eyesight it suddenly allowed me to see incredible detail despite the couple of kilometres dist... |
Fashioned like a wheel, the north west and western edges of the ruins met the Abecean sea and the tall wooden spires were indeed the masts ships moored into the marble-like stone wharfs jutting out from the coast. The direct north of the central structure was one of four major roads crossing through the ruins, and as f... |
Gadnil and ben correct in stating that there were dozens or more people down in the ruins, and if anything he had been grossly underestimating. Everywhere I looked I could see people moving back and forth, carrying supplies and materials and going about all manner of jobs. There were cooking fires by the dozens and tha... |
"See anything interesting?" Viconia asked, sarcasm infusing her tone as I took the spyglass away from my eye and blinked several times from the unusual effect. |
"Quite a bit, but unfortunately I don’t know how much of it is going to be useful." Again I put it back up to my eye and slowly and carefully moved it about, taking note of everything I could see. |
"There’s hundreds of people down there, and while I think we’re a bit too far to really see I think they are all elves." I was partially lying for the benefit of the others who were unaware of my vampirism but I could see much clearer than I should’ve. Almost all of the beings were tall, slender and almost exclusively ... |
"Pirates?" Stavond muttered, his own eyes attempting to pick out details without the assistance of Carodus’ eyeglass. |
"I don’t think so." Carefully, I handed the delicate item over to the giant Knight who appeared somewhat ludicrous with it up to an eye. |
"Hmmm..." His voice was a low growl as he looked over the sight before us. "Their equipment is too uniform to be pirates or bandits. I don’t see much discrepancy amongst them at all. I roughly guess that there’s about five hundred of them down there, not including any that may be in the buildings, tents or those ships.... |
"That’s a sizable force of elves to simply unload and set up shop in Cyrodiil. Oblivion take them... that’s a sizable force of anyone to set up anywhere. There’s at least a casta down there." |
The spyglass was passed between us and returned to Carodus and we were all left looking between ourselves and the distant ruins while the ex-legionary put his possession to use. "There’s no sign of attempts to fortify the place, but there’s a lot of open ground to cover for anyone to cover so my guess would be that the... |
My own attention was on Caleb, who had not spoken a word and yet his attention was fully focussed upon the ruins as though he was attempting to conquer the place with willpower alone. He had been leading us for a month now but for the past two days he had been uncharacteristically silent. |
"There’s more than just elves down there." Carodus suddenly said, squinting through the eyeglass and propping his elbows into the soil. "There’s..." |
One second he was looking through the spyglass, concentrating hard and trying to get a better look at what had caught his attention, and the next he flung the priceless object into the dirt and explosively vomited. |
His reaction startled all of us, especially as his retching continued. |
"Carodus? What is it?" |
"Gods... if... I... know..." he rasped, strings of saliva dripping from his lips and chin and I could smell bile on the air. "South road... A hundred metres away from centre..." his chest and stomach heaved again and he was breathing heavily, wiping at his face and the tears from his eyes. "Ugh, don’t look at it direct... |
Viconia got to the eyeglass first and after a brief moment’s fiddling with it she carefully looked over the ruins in the direction Carodus had described. Slowly, she moved it about, her expression growing dark as she began muttering in Drow before changing to common. |
"There’s Aurorans down there." The mere mention of the daedric creatures we had faced in Leyawiin’s cathedral was more than enough proof but she was still continuing studying the area. "I count at twenty-three, and there looks like there’s some kind of magicka or ritual circle set up closer to the central building. Unl... |
It was easy to determine when she too laid eyes on the source of Carodus’ discomfort as she simply froze in place, turning a waxy-grey colour as all the blood rushed from her face. With the slightest tremble running through her arms she lowered the eyeglass and appeared to be doing her best not to let her own nausea ge... |
"We’re in the right place." |
"Umaril." Hissed Caleb, and for a moment I felt an echo of the undying hatred that Viconia and I had experienced firsthand when we had met Pelinal’s spectre. The fey light within his eyes burned brighter for a moment and I suddenly had a very real concern that he was preparing to stand up and charge the ruins on his ow... |
Looking between Stavond and Carodus, I nodded to the two who I believed had the most experience in cavalry and infantry and gestured towards the ruins. "We know where they are now, but we will need everyone we have to be able to attack this place. Gadnil?" |
"Sir." Replied the Dark Elf and I felt his eyes join the others looking in my direction. |
"You and Sabiie stay here. Keep an eye on them and if there are any suggestions that they are going to move or leave or that they know that we’re in the area I want to know immediately." |
"Easily done commander. |
"Try to determine their numbers if you can. The more we know the better." |
Carefully making our way back through the thicket to our horses, we wasted no time in making our way back to the rest of our forces. We had been gone for several hours and the sun was getting low by the time we managed to catch up to where they had made camp in a village long since abandoned. Despite our best efforts t... |
As for myself and the others there was very quickly a council of war created inside the shell of an abandoned tavern, ringing around one of the few remaining tables and a freshly drawn map laid out across it. Every commander or sub commander was present as were a handful of other important members of both Orders and de... |
I found myself feeling amazed that I was standing in such a room, and not only that but I was actually in command of such a group. Almost everyone we had spent months travelling and training alongside were there as well as the newer arrivals. With Viconia and Alexi to my left they were simply the highest ranking member... |
It was a collection of incredible skill and faith, of bravery and determination and besides the fact that I felt extremely out of place with my own internal corruption it wasn’t being helped by the person standing on the opposite end of the table. Caleb too was also present and more and more I was feeling out of place ... |
"The latest report from the scouts states that there is at least five hundred elves and daedra within the ruins and that at least half, possibly two thirds of them are armed." I began, feeling the parchment in my fingers that I had received less than thirty minutes before from Sabiie. "The daedra consist of twenty to t... |
"What kind of Atronachs?" asked Detane, his expression cold and hard as we were used to but there was no venom in his words. If I was truly honest the change that was coming over him the previous month was taking quite some getting used to. |
Viconia lifted her head and met his eyes before looking around at the assembled group, leaning over and tapping a symbol that had been marked on the larger map just south of the centre. "I believe they are Light Atronachs, similar to those that we encountered in Leyawiin’s cathedral but these are not temporarily summon... |
"But that means that there is potentially skilled magicka users there too." Alexi added. |
She nodded, her tongue briefly sliding between her teeth as she grimaced. "Conjurers at least. the ritual circle at this location would have to be the foci of their enchantments and summons but to have so many bound daedra represents a significant amount of effort." |
Her hands clasped at her back in a typical legion stance, Avita was studying the map intently but listening to every word. "Just who are these elves? Do we have any idea why they are supporting the likes of Umaril?" |
This time it was Carodus that answered, he too standing in a similar stance to Avita but with his hand resting on the pommel of his gladius. "Elvish supremacists I reckon. During my time on Stros M’kai there were several times when one group or another came onto the island and tried causing problems." |
"Elvish Supremacists?" I asked. |
"Yeh, it’s a bit of a popular thing on the Isles. There’s always one group or another who want to see the old days of the Elves ruling Tamriel to return, and it don’t surprise me that a group of them would support the likes of Umaril. I mean, isn’t he one of the last Ayleid Kings so it would make sense that he would ha... |
"Supremacists, anarchists, it doesn’t matter." Detane’s voice had the hint of his previous venom returning for a moment. "They are supporting Umaril and judging by their numbers and resources available to them they have some serious backing from somewhere. Three men-of-wars? Dozens of bound daedra? That’s a significant... |
Stavond nodded and gestured to the map where a trio of stones had been placed representing the ships. "The ships represent a differing threat to our mission. If Umaril or these elves learn that we are nearby they may attempt to flee and unlike them, we do not have the capability to pursue. We can’t afford to let them e... |
"So we strike hard and fast." My thoughts were rolling through my head as I looked over the handful of carved figures sitting at the base of the map, ready for use. "Suggestions?" |
Unsurprisingly Carodus was one of the first to move forward, gesturing to north east portions of the map where the elvish camp had been constructed. "Attacking from the north or north east would allow us to get in and close by using the forest, but any attack through there is going to get bogged down. Any attempts to k... |
"It would make for poor cavalry terrain as well. The ruins themselves would prove more of a danger to our horses breaking legs, let alone fighting an enemy." |
I nodded to Avita’s comment and so did the others in the room with cavalry experience. "This leaves us attacking from the east, south east or the south. All of which is across hundreds of metres of open country." |
"That could play to our advantage." |
All eyes turned to Carodus and Alexi looked as though he was trying not to scoff at the notion. "Throwing away our advantage of surprise is going to be advantageous?" |
Carodus simply shrugged, stepping forward and pointing to the south east on the map. "We either throw away our formations and our chances of winning with it, or we use our strengths to our advantage." |
He nodded at my words, grasping the carved figures and placing them on the map. "Whoever these elves are, unless they are strategic geniuses and are playing us utterly for fools they don’t know a damn about defending themselves. From my brief look today before I saw... him... I saw no signs of defences or fortification... |
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