PART TWO: INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT

On his third day in the Elven Gardens, he put his plan into action. After informing the king, he set out with a small sack he hid inside his armor. At 10:45, he saw a Altmer walking out of his house and going into Luther Broad's Boarding House. There he inconspicuously patrolled outside, lying in wait. At 11:07, the same Altmer exited the building along with seven other people. Halcir quickly unslung his bow and strung an arrow, aiming it at the Altmer. He then gave a loud shout, which attracted the attention of his fellow officers and of the townspeople.

"HALT, ALTMER SPY!"

The Altmer gave a puzzled look, querying, "…Pardon me?"

"Don't play dumb with me, spy! I've been tracking you for months now. Come quietly or things are gonna get messy."

This infuriated his target, who responded, "Who do you think you are, attempting to arrest someone without valid proof?"

Halcir then unstrung his arrow and reached into his armor. From his sack, he produced a small packet of papers. "This is your authorization by the Union of Independent Provinces to engage in subversive activities detrimental to the Empire. I repeat, are you going to come quietly or are we going to have to drag you kicking and screaming to the prison?"

Now enraged, the Altmer cried, "I will not stand for the likes of this!" and produced a dagger. The guards flanking Halcir quickly slew him, and the crowd of townspeople was enraged, for unfortunately Halcir had not adequately studied the current events of the Imperial City prior to his operations. For many months now, the guard was cracking down on misdemeanour crimes, even inventing new laws on the spot, much to the anger of the local residents. This did nothing to assuage their anger. They began to proclaim that this was the last straw, and that the guards were corrupt, and that this was an act of police brutality. In the heat of the moment, a portion of the townspeople rushed the guards, and all hell broke loose. Halcir's men quickly and efficiently fanned out in the street, and quickly eliminated any civilians putting up resistance. Four were slain in this manner, and when the remaining three attackers fled, they were cut down with three efficient arrows from Halcir's bow, each one bearing the raven's feather that came to be Halcir's trademark. When the fighting was finished, Halcir quickly returned to the Legion offices to file a report with his account of what had happened, and later that night he returned to his sad little shack and awaited the inevitable.

Upon hearing news of the slayings, High Chancellor Ocato was furious, demanding that a tribunal be launched. The following day Halcir was dragged before the High Chancellor and told to testify.

The High Chancellor asked, "What brought you here, to Cyrodiil?"

He replied, "Ever since I was a young boy, I had dreams of joining the Imperial Legion, the finest fighting forces in the world."

With considerable ire, the High Chancellor said, "I appreciate your patriotism, but, with all due respect, ARE YOU INSANE? You have forever blemished the Imperial Watch, done nothing to assuage the fears and rage of the Empire borne towards her guards, and instead slew seven of her citizens! WHAT JUSTIFICATION DID YOU HAVE TO KILL ALENDIR?"

Halcir, who didn't even flinch under this stern barrage, reached into his armor and produced the same papers he had shown the day of the riots. "I introduce this as my evidence. It is Alendir's authorization by the Union of Independent Provinces to carry out subversive actions, violent if necessary, in order to unseat the Imperial government." He threw the papers down on the desk, and the guard brought them to the High Chancellor's desk. Of course, the papers were forged (actually almost an exact copy of his mission papers with a changed name), they were one of his required materials, but Imperial espionage agents experienced in dealing with rebellion wouldn't find that out until it was far too late. As Chancellor Ocato read the papers, his face went pale. "This tribunal is adjourned. I want an emergency meeting of the Council in the chambers. Now."

Later that day, when Halcir returned home, he received a letter from the king:

Halcir,

The Imperial palace has formally accused us of committing an act of war. Congratulations. Your orders are to leave the Imperial City permanently. Go to the Anvil docks. There will be a ship, "The Rose of the East", docked at one of the berths. You are to ask the man on board, "Is four hundred gold enough for a ticket?" He will respond with "It'll do." He will then give you an envelope. Do not open it until the ship is underway and has been underway for two hours.

The King

He immediately retrieved his belongings from the chest and went to the Chestnut Handy Stables, retrieving his horse. He rode on to Anvil, and boarded The Rose of the East, as per his orders. After two hours, he opened the envelope, which contained a note:

Go up on deck.

Halcir, slightly puzzled with the mundane request, complied and climbed the stairs to the upper deck, where a sight of sights awaited him.

A huge fleet was assembled before his eyes, and eventually The Rose of the East docked alongside the flagship, the Independence. Waiting on deck was King Felician and a band of Altmer marines and sailors. From the deck of each ship a battle cry was raised, until silenced with a wave of the king's hand. King Felician began to speak, "Brothers! Countrymen! The day of liberation is at hand! Rise up, for today, we sail into history!" The short edict had an explosive effect on the men, who roared with a ferocity Halcir had never seen before.

"I take it we're going to war, my liege?"

"Yes, we're going to war, Halcir. We're going to war."