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Arc 8 Chapter XLII: A Full Hand
🕑 Added 2024-12-04 21:08:33 +0000 UTC(General POV)
'One foot before the other, one foot before the other...' Was all his mind could focus on as he kept himself moving forward, barely managing not to disturb the others marching beside him as he forced air into his lungs.
His hands still shook from the feeling of an Argonian monstrosity trying to yank his spear from his grip, the beast were so, so much stronger and yet... Yrel, the young cobbler from the poorer parts of Kragenmoor, just another face in the numberless masses really, shook his head and refocused once more on moving his feet.
The gambeson he wore smoldered under the harsh Morrowind sun, the rough fabric sticking to his skin as if it were made to be as uncomfortable as possible, the only thing managing to distract him from his discomfort being the constant clack of wood and metal caused by near three thousand elves marching as one.
A cart pulled by a large guar passed him by, the loot taken from the invaders stacked neatly atop it. Their... glorious leaders he supposed, they did lead them to devastating victory after all, told them everyone would get their share once they came back to the city, and while some grumbled no one wanted to waste more time in that corpse covered field.
"You alright there young'un?" An old gravelly voice drew him from his thoughts.
Yrel startled but managed not to disturb the formation as he turned to look at the one addressing him.
The old Mer, simply known as Grey to most, and the leader of his unit, was grinning at him, the old one's chainmail glinting proudly below his breastplate, and a sheathed saber waving slightly from his hip as he looked down at one of his charges.
"I am fine." Is all Yrel could say, the ash raised by the march making any kind of talk an effort. He was almost jealous of his superior's better equipment, but Grey's story was one many knew, and not a unique one either.
So many veterans of the previous invasion had lost so much...
"We did good today." Grey interrupted his thoughts again, the old Mer's voice sounding wistful "Almost feels like a dream to loose so few."
Yrel blinked and hissed, still making sure not to draw too much attention "Over a hundred of us died!"
Grey just snorts in response "If this were the first invasion we'd have probably lost more than half, and that is without victory being certain."
The young elf found his words failing him, so all he could do was direct a horrified look at the old one.
"Don't give me that look boy." The old elf snorts again, though one far less humorous this time "Our leaders back then weren't crafty enough to use the lizards' weight and size against them, best they could do was give us a shield and tell us to buy time." He scoffs "And I didn't even dream of getting armor before proving myself..."
"So all of this..." Yrel looks around baffled.
"Yes, we needed a child of the devil to show us how to fight." The old Mer says dryly.
The younger elf once more gives him a horrified look.
Grey just shook his head "Don't worry, those high and mighty types never care about what we say anyway."
"Well." Yrel felt a spark of indignation within his chest "Child of the devil or no, I for one am quite happy he came here."
The old elf chuckles dryly "I ain't stupid enough not to be grateful he saved our asses. Just an old man yapping on about the world turning on its head is all."
Just as Yrel as about to continue the conversation, they both heard heavy hooves striking the ground and turned to see the very figure they were discussing passing them by. Lord Dagoth's glowing eyes scoured the formation briefly, before he ever so slightly nodded and moved forward.
"Sweet Fucking Good Daedra!" He heard Grey hiss.
All too happy to not draw more attention from the elf who took an entire flank on his own, he looked back to the old elf "What is it?"
"Can't you feel it?" Grey asked instead of answering.
And Yrel found that he could, the stiffness of his limbs, the sores and blisters on his feet... All of it healed as if it were never there.
Grey shivered "One fucking look..."
Yrel did not need much elaboration on that.
"Come on kid." Grey clapped his shoulder before he could ponder what had just happened any further "He probably wants us not dallying if he bothered healing us, the city is minutes away anyway."
They kept marching on silently, even as the very air surrounding them felt reinvigorated and the grumbling and bellyaching of those around them stopped entirely. Soon the walls of Kragenmoor came into their sights and Yrel couldn't help but smile happily as he saw the crowd gathered just after the great gatehouse.
Then, after a bit of searching, he saw his sister's relieved face, and felt for certain that all the blood and death had been worth it.
(Reyvin's POV)
Having just listened to Almeril's quick report I nodded in approval.
The second clash in today's skirmish, and it was but a skirmish make no mistake, was a bit more messy and at least four times as long as the first but our casualties only more than doubled by the end of it, leaving us with one hundred and seventy three dead with the wounded and crippled simply not being a factor due to my presence.
No prisoners were taken either, with most of them refusing the very idea of surrender and those that weren't so reticent not actually speaking Tamrielic or Dunmeri proficiently enough to actually ask for mercy. That and most of the Dunmer, recruits or not, pretended they heard nothing and just stabbed them anyway.
The woman I picked up from the sea of corpses would live as well, even if the supposedly insane Bruman (going by the words of Furius) would probably just throw herself into certain death the moment the next battle came.
She apparently had a death wish or something, quite stupid but I wasn't about to bother myself with that when there were more important things to consider.
Like the barley contained bunch of recently returned soldiers staring hungrily and greedily at a group of Redoran and Sadras elves currently calling out names and giving out shares of the collected loot. If the one named was dead then the families would be called and the loot would be joined by an extra sum of septims.
Not the perfect solution but the families seemed to appreciate it so who was I to complain?
"All in all a rather successful first skirmish, wouldn't you say?" I ask aloud to the house representatives surrounding me.
"The Gods have given us a great victory." Vayrin Indoril inclines his head, his two pet Ashlanders standing silently behind him.
Regnild Sadras snorts derisively "I am sure Boethiah got a good show of it but I doubt they needed to give much help with how easy all of that felt."
"There is a reason the Telvanni were targeted first, even if the greatest vendetta of Argonia was on the Dres. Having a powerful mage on our side is not something to be ignored" Almeril Faren points out simply, that I didn't use any great spells did not mean magic was not in play, and the veteran Redoran knew it "Do not grow overconfident however, this was but a scouting party."
"A bit more than a mere scouting party I'd say." I say as I turn around "Can't really expect to hold ground with only that and we know they were trying to cut us off, at least start doing so."
The Redoran inclines his head slightly "A paraphrase if you will."
"Fair, fair." I nod along "In any case, I doubt the lizards will be all that happy to leave their noses bloodied without looking for a way to retaliate soon."
My words are met with grumbling agreement.
I look to Redoran "Do you know any place they may attack beside just throwing themselves at the wall?"
"Beside where we just met them?" Almeril asks rhetorically "Not much beside some of the nearby villages, and the kwama mine..."
Ah, there it is "The kwama mine." I repeat dryly "The same kwama mine which has great cultural and economical implications to the people of Morrowind? That kwama mine?"
Almeril stops moving entirely for a brief moment before sighing "Yes, Lord Dagoth, that kwama mine."
"Right." I drawl "Well, we didn't waste four hours bloodying our troops just so some cheeky lizard can ruin their morale all over again so I will be going to ensure nothing happens there. You all will stay here and keep preparations going."
Anondor gives me a well concealed look of pure frustration "You will be going alone?"
"I will bring Junior with me." I shrug "You can kill some time by trying to find some talent among the recruits, might as well start training those worth training to do more than just poke forward."
He just shakes his head, keeping his grumbles to himself.
"If that is all?" I ask the rest of them and receiving no answer I nod and sprout my wings, drawing immediate looks of surprise from most of them as I soared into the skies and began flying northwest.
The mine should be only a few minutes of flying away, so all I will have to do is set up some traps, right?
(General POV)
"Gods damn it all girl, stop cackling and start killing!" He roared as his metal whip flashed out, the heirloom weapon's fear enchantment sending the massive lizards the Argonians were riding stumbling away in terror, one of them even rolling over its rider and killing it with a loud snap of bone.
"Oh don't be like that, Merin." The madwoman huffed "I need you to position them neatly first, I am not made of Magicka, you know!"
That would have been easier if she didn't waste their first chance and let their bodyguards die uselessly "Fucking do it anyway!" He yelled back and yanked his head away from a particularly cruel looking cleaver sword.
"Fine!" The Telvanni shrew shrieked "Taste fire you animals!"
A fireball struck a trio of riders who were attempting to flank around them, the rest of the mounts of the dozen or so attackers once more recoiling in fear, much to the apparent fury of their riders.
"And I am out!" The far too cheerful mage clapped her hands, uselessly slumping against a nearby wall as she did so.
Merin Zadir of Great House Dres felt like throttling the little girl foisted onto him by the Telvanni but luckily for the damn incompetent, his enemies still held most of his fury.
The animals, seeing as their heavily armored mounts were proving a detriment, began dismounting, their massive leader leaping off his own mount effortlessly and immediately flowing into an overhead swing with that same massive cleaver sword.
Merin barely managed to deflect the strike without losing every bone in his shield arm, dropping his whip and drawing his sword he tried stabbing the lizard through his eye but only managed to scrape his brow as his opponent dodged to the side.
Another two lizards joined the fight, forcing Merin back on the defensive as all he could do was deflect their flurry of blows, mentally counting down the time the rest would need to reach him.
"Oh!" The shrew suddenly cheered "I forgot I had those!"
In the next instant a blast of bright blue lightning nearly blinded him as a bolt of chain lightning instantly killed five of the lizardmen, leaving only four of them alive and currently hissing a furious battle cry.
Taking his chance, Merin slammed his shield into one of the animals and stabbed the other through the heart, kicking the leader in the knee and buying leverage to back away as the massive Argonian tried decapitating him on reflex "By the Webweaver, if we survive this I am going to fucking murder you Karvanni!"
"Swearing by the Webweaver only means you are lying~" The little shit singsonged as she pulled out another scroll but before she could cast the spell it held, one of the animals wizened up and launched its spear at her, striking her in the shoulder and practically nailing her to the cave wall as she shrieked in pain.
The leader of the Argonians pressed the attack, finally managing to break Merin's shield as the Dres was momentarily distracted. He tried pulling out a side knife but another of the Argonians slammed into his side with a shield of its own, sending him sprawling onto his back.
Everything turned oddly quiet as the leader went to strike him down... only for a blade to emerge from the lizard's chest, numerous bloody fractures spreading through his body from the original wound, effectively disintegrating him as the damage became too great.
The body fell apart and revealed a shrouded elven figure, it couldn't possibly be an Argonian, but Merin was understandably distracted as he saw something else behind the elf.
A downright massive specimen of spider was currently dragging one of the animals' mounts and spinning it into a cocoon as the beast wailed weakly under the no doubt murderous poison.
Merin rose his hand to warn the elf, causing him to turn around, and what followed was something he fully suspected was an illusion...
As the elf unsummoned his ebony crown and approached the spider without a hint of fear... and then began to fucking pet it.
"Who is a good girl?" The elf cooed in a rich and powerful voice "Yes you are!" And. Kept. Fucking. Petting. The. Giant. Metal. Spider!
Merin was fucking done with today.
