Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the "Oblivion" universe. Only the characters you do not recognize were created by me for the sole purposes of this story. I wrote this for your enjoyment and mine and I appreciate any constructive feedback :) - Fallon.

Chapter Four

Lairah lay in her bed, sweating and exhausted as she held her newborn child in her arms. Ariella smiled at her as she cleaned her hands in a large basin of hot water. Hours of painful labor had ended happily with the birth of a healthy baby girl that Lairah had decided to name Laena. The babe had lovely brown eyes, a head full of dark hair and small tipped ears.

"She's perfect." Lairah whispered. "Your daddy loves you my little Laena..." Overjoyed but full of sadness, the poor Bosmer was smiling and crying as she lay in bed. Ariella approached her and brushed the hair from her forehead.

"What can I do to make you comfortable Lairah?" She asked the woman.

She got a hold of herself and held her child out to the Imperial. Ariella took the child and looked down at the elf strangely. "Please take care of her..."

"Lairah, your fine..." Ariella tried to reassure the woman. "Everything will be alright."

She shook her head. "You can't know that, just please promise me that whatever happens you will take care of her."

The little girl squirmed in Ariella's arms. "I promise Lairah, no matter what."

The exhausted elf smiled and laid back in her bed. She was asleep within seconds. Ariella looked down at the child and hurried upstairs to let the new mother sleep. The door closed softly behind her and she hurried to prepare a substitute for the milk that Lairah could not produce. She had tried to nurse the child and became frustrated when the babe's sucking gave no results. Ariella had reassured her that she knew how to make a replacement for the milk.

When Ariella was a young girl, her mother had given birth to her youngest brother. Unable to produce enough milk to fill the babe, the resourceful Imperial woman had made a "potion" of sorts that was as close to a mothers' milk as alchemy would allow.

Ariella quickly mixed a strong healing potion into milk from a cow and warmed the mixture over a small flame. Hungry and tired, Laena began to wail and was only silenced when the tip of a leather skin full of milk was pressed to her tiny lips. The child was content in her arms, cuddled up against her breasts. Ariella had always wanted to be a mother and had once hoped to have her husbands'. Unfortunately, that dream had died along with him.

She walked to the front of the house and peeked out the window. The guards had tripled their patrols since the Gate had opened outside the city two days ago, mainly to keep the panic in the city to a minimum. The Count had assured them that everything was going to be dealt with, but Ariella had her doubts. Lairah had told her about the creatures of Oblivion when she had taken the Bosmer in all those months ago. Truthfully, she was not sure that creatures so evil and cruel could exist.

Closing the curtain, she sat in the padded chair near the window and sighed. She wondered where Ilmeres was and if he had managed to evade the creatures pouring out of the Gates.


Night was falling on the city of Skingrad and the Gate to Oblivion glow in the distance like a deadly beacon. Ilmeres had been free for over a week and still he had not left the West Weald. He had kept the city of Skingrad within his sights, but was not sure why he could not bring himself to leave. He sat at his campsite under a large willow tree that gave him a clear view of the city below. He had raided a cave nearby, which had given him a small amount of gold, a leather chest piece and a silver short sword.

He could still not forget the woman who had owned him and then abruptly freed him from his servitude. Nor could he forget the night before she freed him, when her sweet lips had met his.

Ilmeres sighed. Ariella Artoria was plaguing his thoughts and dreams. Her pale skin was a stark contrast to his, but damn him, he loved it. Love. No, he did not love her, the most he felt was a strong desire to bed her...

Frustrated he shook his head. He wasn't the man he was when he had been sold into slavery. Once the womanizer, he could no longer deny the feelings that he had for the short, curvy widow of Rosethorn Hall. A large, earth shaking rumble tore him from his thoughts and he sprung to his feet. Fireballs burst near the main gate of the city and Ilmeres opened his eyes wide. Screams started soon after and he finally saw the source of the panic. Red pulsing waves were emanating from the Gate near the city and Ilmeres saw another, larger gate had appeared.

"Oblivion..."


Screams erupted from the streets and Ariella tore open the curtains. Lairah stood behind her with her babe in her arms. "What's going on?" The elf asked, terror filling her voice.

Ariella saw the wooden gates to the city down the street bulge as some large, unknown force tried to enter the city. Guards hurried to hold the gate shut and Ariella quickly turned back to her elven friend. "We have to leave, now!"

Lairah dropped to her knees as fear gripped her, the memories from Kvatch flooding back into her mind. Ariella bolted past her and began stuffing a bag with dried foods and clothes from the trunks in the hall. Her head spun on a swivel as she tried to think logically. Knowing that death was at her doorstep, she hurried up the stairs and grabbed "A History of Skingrad" from the table were she had left it.

She jumped over the last few steps and swung the pack over her shoulder. Ariella strapped the only weapon she owned onto her hip, a steel dagger. Lairah was still rocking on the floor, Laena crying in her arms. Deaf to the screams, Lairah was lost in her own mind. Ariella grabbed the supplies she needed to feed the child and hurried to the stunned elf's side. "We have to go!"

The elf didn't respond or even look the Imperial in the eye.

Ariella grabbed her chin and made her look at her. "Lairah!"

That got her attention and the elf allowed herself to be help to her feet. "I-I can't Ari-"

"Do it for Laena!" Ariella pleaded. "Please!"

Lairah looked down at her babe and shook her head. She kissed the child on her forehead and handed her to Ariella. "You go, take her."

Ariella heard the gates burst and the screams were joined by the clashing of weapons. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not running from it anymore, I'm tired Ariella...let me see my husband again."

The Imperial could not believe what she was hearing. "What about your daughter?"

"I shouldn't have let her be born into this...but she is better off with you, please my friend." She touched Ariella's face and turned to go up the stairs. Ariella wept as she watched the Bosmer climb the stairs but was pulled back into her senses by the terror on the streets and the crying child in her arms. She ran across the entry hall and forced open the door to the garden.

Though it was dark, an ominous red glow from the Gate provided a source of light. She left the garden and crept along the city wall, trying to think over the screams about what her next move was. She heard the sickening sound of the wooden gate bursting behind her and guards shouting as they were faced with the hoards of Oblivion. Ariella held the baby tight to her chest and prayed for it all to go away.


Ilmeres sprinted down the slop toward Skingrad. He wasn't sure what he was doing was the most logical move, but leaving without making sure Ariella was safe was not an option he would even contemplate. Scamps appeared and tossed balls of fire at him. Ilmeres dodged them and drew his sword, driving his blade through the crispy flesh of the creatures. The majority of the creatures were busy killing and looting inside and he was able to fight his way into the city with little resistance. He quickly turned right once he entered the city and narrowly avoided the icy blast from a monstrous creature made of rocks that guards were working to bring down.

He ignored the burning exhaustion in his legs and climbed the hill to enter the rich district of Skingrad. The brick house next to him was hit and huge chunks of rock exploded in every direction. Ilmeres clenched his hands and whispered a shield spell. A boulder flying towards him deflected off the shield he had just brought up and shattered into a million tiny pieces.

From an ally, a spider daedra crawled and headed straight for him. Though her upper body was that of a woman, her lower half was the body of a hairy spider. Ilmeres felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end but he faced the creature regardless. The daedra bolted at him and he quickly brought his sword up, impaling the under belly of the beast and swiftly eviscerating her. White-green guts spilled onto the street and the daedra convulsed before death finally claimed it. The same white-green goo coated his sword and his hand but he pressed on toward Rosethorn Hall.


Ariella pressed her back so hard to the stone fence that she was sure it was cutting her skin. She wanted to just melt into the fence and get away, but she knew it wasn't going to be that easy. Finally willing herself to her feet, she left the backyard of her house just as she heard the front door to Rosethorn Hall explode open. Her heart ached for Lairah, but she refused to let it stop her as the wailing child in her arms was urging her onwards. She saw a guard approaching from the street and immediately tried to grab for her dagger to defend herself if need be. Ariella saw the captain's seal on the guards' breast and sighed.

"Come on!" Leonde urged, grabbing for her hand to pull her onward. "You have to get out of here."

Ariella nodded but panic soon gripped her when Leonde stopped abruptly and his face contorted in agony. A spear burst through his chest, splattering Ariella and the baby with blood. She screamed and freed herself from his grasp, only to fall back on her hip roughly. Leonde fell over and a tall, muscular beast was revealed behind him. The creature's skin was ash black and two horns jutted from his forehead. His eyes were golden yellow and empty. Ariella remembered Lairah telling her about these creatures. "Xivilai..." She whimpered.

The xivilai licked the blood from his spear and took another step towards her. An evil cackle emanated from him and Ariella closed her eyes tightly. The cackle turned into a shrill scream and she opened her eyes to see a Dunmer had appeared and slashed it across the chest. "Ilmeres..." Ariella could not believe her eyes.

Ilmeres thrust his blade forward into the creatures' flesh and urged the blade upwards through bone and organs. The xivilai groaned and smiled evilly as Ilmeres sliced him from gut to shoulder. The daedra fell to its knees and laughed as death approached him. "You will all die..." It breathed. "My master will bathe in your blood and slaughter your children for fun!"

Ilmeres cursed the beast and tore his blade from his chest, only to swing it through the air and decapitate the doomed daedra. He panted as he tried to catch his breath. Ariella stood and approached him, touching his shoulder with her free hand. "Ilmeres..."

He turned and lovingly cupped her face despite the blood that covered her. "Are you alright? Where is Lairah?" He asked.

"She refused to come, said she wanted to see her husband again..." Ariella whispered through her tears. "She told me to take care of Laena."

Ilmeres glanced from the baby in her arms back to her. He nodded and laced his fingers through Ariella's, urging her back the way he came. He led her around the fighting that continued in the streets and out the gate of the city.


Lairah lay awake on the bed of her mistress with her hair down and spread out around her. She had stripped out of her clothes and lay naked under the silk sheets and warm furs. Years ago, when everything was still sane in the world, she had hoped she would die of old age after a lifetime of happiness with her husband. But that dream was gone, dead with the husband she had lost to Oblivion. She heard the doors to Rosethorn Hall burst open and heavy feet hurry up the stairs. Her hands ran over her breasts to her stomach which was still large from childbirth. "Laena..." She whispered. "I love you..."

The wood elf closed her eyes tightly as the door to the room burst open and the monster came in.

A rough hand grabbed her by the neck and pulled her from the warmth of the bed. Her eyes opened and were greeted by the dead, golden eyes of a xivilai. The dark creature licked the side of her face and ran his painfully hot hand down her body. Lairah turned her head to the side and saw her husband sitting at the table. He leaned toward her and whispered that everything would be alright. Lairah was limp under the xivilai, fully accepting of her impending death.

The xivilai wrapped its hands around her neck and squeezed. The pressure was unbearable and the coal-hot heat from his skin was blistering. The full weight of the monster was atop her, burning every sensitive inch of her. Despite the agony, she continued to look at the ghostly silhouette of her husband. I'll be with you soon my love, she thought as darkness came over her.


From their camp overlooking the city, Ilmeres and Ariella saw the fall of Skingrad. They both wept, for Lairah, for Leonde and for Rosethorn Hall and the memories it held. Ilmeres hurried to grab the few supplies he had left at the camp and quickly rolled up his cot. Ariella watched him work as Laena slept soundly in a sling around her chest. The newborn elf slept as if the events that led to the destruction of an entire city had not taken place and her mother was still alive.

"Why did you come back..." Ariella asked. "I freed you."

Ilmeres slung his pack over his shoulders and began to clean the blood from his blade. "I don't know..." He lied.

"Thank you." She whispered. "Where should we go now?"

"Cloud Ruler Temple." He stated without hesitation. "It is a long journey, but I think the guards there could use what knowledge we have of the Oblivion assault on Skingrad. We'd be safe there too."

Ariella nodded and rubbed her dirty hands on her linen skirt. Ilmeres stood and approached her. She looked at him strangely and jumped when he began to clean the blood from her face. "Calm down..." He urged her. "It's over."

She stared into his eyes as he cleaned her face. Once he finished, he gently cleaned the dried blood on the infant as she lay asleep against Ariella's chest. He smiled down at the sleeping, clean child and sheathed his sword. "Are you ready?" He asked the Imperial woman.

Ariella looked back down at the city that had once been her home and sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be."