As the group climbed out of the pool with Eldred and Tarric's help, only Jauffre did not seem particularly surprised.
"What are you doing here?" Camri asked Eldred after they had exchanged greetings - he had not seen the Dunmer adventurer for several years.
"Mainly I'm here to turn you round. You won't find the Capstone in this cave"
"You know about the Capstone?"
Jauffre approached the pair upon hearing this. "Sorry, Camri, I should have told you who I'm actually working for at the moment"
"So you and Eldred are in this together. But someone must be paying your wages..."
"Amador and his men are all dead," Jauffre said to Eldred, ignoring Camri. "The immediate threat may be dealt with"
"Camri, the situation involving the Dunmer coming after the Capstone is somewhat more delicate than you might realise," Eldred explained. "I'm sure you know that Morrowind is essentially ruled by a balance of power between the King and the Great Houses. Amador was House Redoran, so were all his men. They have very little to do with King Helseth and his court"
"Then why are they acting in the name of the nation of Morrowind?"
"They're not," Eldred said, "Well, not entirely. They are acting in the name of the allegiance of the Great Houses. Interestingly, the soldiers of the Great Houses are all fighting against the Argonian occupation, while many of the King's soldiers have surrendered. By all accounts, they get on amicably with the Argonian invaders and many of them are garrisoning captured towns"
King Helseth's men are helping the Argonian invaders, but the Great Houses are not, Camri thought. What's really going on here?
"Whatever the case, Amador Herelas is now lying on the floor with a crossbow bolt through his head," Camri said. "Now, what were you saying about the Capstone?"
"It's not in Kingscrest Cavern," Eldred said.
"That's what I'd come up here to tell you about, Captain," Tarric said. "Then Eldred here found me on the way to Fanacas when we ran into a bit of trouble. By correspondence with Eldred, the Council discovered where the Capstone really ended up and sent me to find you and help you out. But by the time Eldred himself showed up, they had learned of the threat the Legion poses"
Eldred sighed. "Camri, the Imperial Legion has orders to retrieve the Capstone and neutralise any threat that gets in their way. Any threat. And yes, that does include national heroes and members of the Arcane University"
"Eldred, where's the Capstone?" Camri asked impatiently.
"Ah, yes. I suspect you have made the same mistake that we did to begin with - you thought that Melethar Selevras was the last person to have possession of the Capstone, and you have been following his trail to where he left it"
Camri nodded.
"But the trail does not end with Melethar. In fact, it made one more move after he brought it into this cave. It took a lot of hunting, but eventually I found an account which details how Stendarran monks came to Kingscrest Cavern and took the Capstone from it"
"Followers of Stendarr? What did they want with the Capstone?" Jauffre asked.
"The same thing we want with it," Eldred explained. "Stendarr, in some guises, represents trade and commerce. These monks were approached by a group of traders who were willing to donate enormous riches to the chapel of Stendarr should the Capstone disappear in a way that no-one could really explain what had happened to it"
"I still don't see why," Jauffre asked.
"I think I do," Ariel said suddenly. "Eldred, by any chance were these traders sellers of enchanted devices?"
Eldred tapped his nose with his index finger
"Seems like they didn't want their produce to plummet in value after the market was flooded with thousands of enchanted weapons created by the Capstone," Tarric said. "So the traders decided to employ a little divine intervention"
"Religious quests to regulate the economy," Camri said. "Incredible. I'm hoping you know where the Capstone ended up"
"Indeed I do," Eldred said. An air of relief suddenly descended over the small cavern. "To paraphrase the account, they took the Capstone back south towards Fanacas, then 'returned it to its rightful place atop the greatest peak of them all'. The key bit of information is that they never left the Valus foothills"
"The greatest peak of them all?" Camri thought aloud. "It must be Dive Rock..."
"That's what we thought too," Tarric said.
"Hang on," Horst asked. "You're telling me that for the last couple of hundred years the peak of Dive Rock has been a Daedric gemstone?"
"Tamriel's a strange place at times," Hermione said. "It's probably buried under quite a lot of snow and ice by now..."
"Let's stop wasting time," Jauffre said suddenly. "Eldred, can you lead us out of this cave?"
"That's not going to be easy..."
Outside, a fifty-year-old Imperial man stood on a large boulder, overlooking the Valus foothills. He could just make out the ruins of Fanacas to the north, and to the south, the patch of trees that the entrance to Kingscrest Cave was hidden in. Elsewhere, his men had two entrances to an abandoned mine surrounded.
He would succeed where other parties had not. He would make sure of it. Somewhere underground, be it in Fanacas or natural caves, Camri Everlight, the Arcane University's team, and possibly a group of Nord adventurers, were doing the legwork of the treasure hunt for him. When they emerged, with or without the Capstone, there would be no avoiding him. One thing was for certain - by the end of the day, the Capstone would be his, and the Empire would rise again.
"The foothills are absolutely crawling with Imperial Legionnaires," Eldred said. "We just about managed to slip past them to get into this cave. There's no way we would have been able to get to Fanacas"
"And you say that their orders are to kill anyone who gets in their way?" Camri asked. Eldred nodded sadly.
"Eldred, did you find out who is leading them?"
"It's Acilius" Eldred said flatly.
Camri balked at the name. He had heard enough of Marus Acilius to know that he was a deeply unpleasant man. A one-time leader of a group of special agents working for the Legion, he was dismissed after his generals realised how he had been treating prisoners - innocent political prisoners who had been subjected to torture so shockingly brutal that one warden at the Imperial prison could simply not bring himself to enter the cell block. But due to a shortage of Legion soldiers of officer standard during various outbreaks of conflict, he had been recruited as a patrol leader - indeed, his skills as a soldier were very good indeed. In his new role, he was equally notorious. Knowing the reason he had been dismissed in his first role, he declared that he had had a change of heart. He no longer took prisoners - he simply executed them.
"This might be risky, but as soon as we encounter them we wait for them to fire the first shot," Camri said. "I'm willing to take the chance that they won't be hostile towards us. We don't know who they consider their enemies - it could be the Dunmer, or another party that we haven't encountered yet"
"Why don't we just go back to Fanacas?" Horst asked. "Surely it must be easier to reach Dive Rock from there"
"We think that's where the Legion will be concentrating their power," Tarric said. "I mean, most of the signposts point towards the Capstone being in there. And I don't know about you guys, but I don't feel like hanging around"
"Right," Camri said. "Eldred, lead on. Ariel, give life detection everything you've got. I want to see them coming from a league away this time"
Wielding a crossbow very similar to the ones that the Dunmer agents had been using, Eldred Moravahn led the party through a wide, upwardly-sloping tunnel further into Kingscrest Cavern. The chamber it emerged in was a remarkable sight - the underground trees that Camri had spoken of. In some cases, huge clumps of roots stretched like pillars from floor to ceiling, disappearing into cracks. And dotted around were a few trees, their wood black and knotted, almost petrified and bare of leaves.
"Wherever our travels take us there are some sights that never cease to amaze me," Ariel mused.
Soon, the group arrived at what Eldred identified as the point of entry into the cave system. It was another tree-filled chamber, and from the distant end of another tunnel could be seen a speck of sunlight.
"Is it clear out there, Ariel?" Eldred asked.
Ariel cast a spell on herself then glanced around. Then, suddenly, she froze in shock.
"What is it?" Camri said, placing a hand on Ariel's arm. Ariel leant into Camri and cast the same spell on him, the same life detecting spell.
"We've never been in this much trouble before"
Camri's vision filled with a purple aura. He knew enough about the spell to know that the life it was revealing was far away, but there was a lot of it. He spun around, seeing the same in every direction.
"How many do you think there are?"
"Hundreds, at least," Ariel said nervously. "Far too many for us to take on. Wait... there's a small group getting closer, moving in formation..."
"They're coming," Captain Pasqual said ominously. "An advance party"
"We can hide back in Fanacas," Jauffre said. "There must be more to it than meets the eye - those vampires were coming out of the bloody walls"
"He's right..." Hermione began. But then there was a loud, splintering crash from somewhere in the tunnel beyond them. The door into the cave system, barricaded shut by Eldred and Tarric, had been smashed open.
"Get back to the trees!" Camri urged. "We can use them as cover!"
In a flash of light, summoned by Captain Pasqual, a Daedroth materialised in the tunnel leading to the surface - a welcoming party for the Legion soldiers. The group dispersed into the chamber that was filled with pillar-like tree roots. Camri, Captain Pasqual, Hermione and Stijn, the Nord archer, remained nearest the front, with Eldred ready to cover their retreat.
Half-visible in shadows, the Legion group thundered down the tunnel. The Daedroth charged at them, taking two almighty swipes with its tree trunk-like forearms, taking down three soldiers straight away. But then it staggered back, several arrows protruding from its chest, before it vanished in another burst of white light.
Camri nodded to Stijn, who was standing nearest to him. They were both carrying the powerful Dunmer crossbows, and in perfect synchronisation they hopped out of cover and fired. Camri's shot went wide, but Stijn nailed one of the approaching soldiers in the throat. But the Legion men were quick on the draw - as Stijn tried to roll back into cover, his arm was winged by an arrow.
"Ah! Fuck!" he shouted, falling to the ground.
"Get in cover!" Hermione shouted to him, realising he was totally exposed. But as he tried to get to his feet, another arrow struck him in the temple. He slumped to the ground, the tree next to him getting showered in blood and brain matter. Camri jammed another bolt into his crossbow and left cover long enough to locate the sniper who had killed Stijn, taking him down with a shot that hit him in the bridge of the nose. He only just managed to get back behind the tree as an arrow whizzed past him, and another struck into the root with a dull thud, making the whole tree vibrate.
"Give 'em hell!" Camri shouted. "Ariel, do something about these bloody arrows!"
Captain Pasqual left cover and was immediately fired upon by another archer, but the arrow bounced harmlessly off his sturdy ebony armour. A colossal fireball roared from the Captain's hands, striking the ground in the middle of a group of three archers. The impact kicked up a cloud of dust which was ignited by the fire, incinerating the three marksmen. Only then did Pasqual duck as an arrow sailed past him.
"Ariel!" Camri shouted, spinning round. He saw Horst and the rest of his men, moving through cover and preparing to charge. Eldred, his bow raised and firing upon the group of attackers. Jauffre, darting in and out of cover, carrying the third Dunmer crossbow and trying to get the Legion men within the weapon's lethal range. Tarric, casting a volley of spells into the melee, some offensive, some beneficial to the others.
But Ariel was nowhere to be seen.
Desperately, Camri leapt out from behind the pillar-like root, spinning on the spot as he landed to minimise his profile as an arrow shot by either side of him. In three more huge paces, he landed at Hermione's side as she pulled an arrow from her quiver.
"Ariel's gone. I have to go and find her"
"What?" Hermione shouted, firing off her bow.
"Look, it's too hot here. You'll have to retreat back to Fanacas. I'll find you in there"
Hermione nodded. "Good luck, Camri"
Camri placed an arm on Hermione's shoulder. "I'll see you soon"
As Camri ran towards the back of the cave, Hermione was knocked to her feet as a fire-tipped arrow struck the tree she was hiding behind, igniting the ancient, bone-dry wood in an instant. He briefly wondered if he would ever see her, or any of the others, again.
"Hermione, this is insane!" Captain Pasqual shouted. "What the hell do we do?"
"Just hold them off for a bit longer," Hermione said evenly. The Legion soldiers had now broken fully into the cavern and Hermione got a proper look at them. Their armour was silver-plated chain mail, tough and lightweight, and they wore black hoods pulled up over their heads. They were the Elite Party, extremely skilled soldiers trained for fighting in close quarters and small numbers, rather than on the open like the regular Legion men. Hermione reached for an arrow from her quiver, realising it was the last one, and pulled back her drawstring, just as another Legion archer raised his own weapon at her. Hermione fired her bow at exactly the same time the Legion man did, but strangely he stumbled backwards, dead, as soon as he had released the arrow. His shot went high, clattering off the ceiling, and Hermione noticed that a crossbow bolt protruded from the marksman's neck. Jauffre had reached the front line and got his shot off maybe a fraction of a second before Hermione.
"Draw them back," Hermione said to Jauffre. The old man nodded, scooping up Stijn's shield and running to another tree root, using the shield to deflect a volley of arrows that was fired at him. As soon as he reached cover, he popped out from the other side and fired off his crossbow, nailing another archer in the thigh whilst blocking an arrow with his shield.
It worked. Some of the archers sheathed their bows and drew swords, charging towards the cluster of trees, several advancing towards Jauffre. Two archers raised their bows to cover the advance, but before they even got their shots off, they were taken down by twin bolts of lightning from Captain Pasqual and Tarric. Two swordsmen reached Jauffre's position, but he fired his crossbow at point-blank range into the head of one of them, then threw Stijn's shield like a discus at the other, striking him in the throat and knocking the wind from him.
"Tarric's hit!" someone shouted. "Get to him!"
"On it!" came a loud Nordic reply. Jauffre saw one of Horst's men leave cover and race towards Tarric, who was lying slumped behind another tree with an arrow protruding from his gut. He got halfway before he was nailed by an archer, struck in the temple.
"Get me some cover!" Jauffre shouted. He threw his crossbow hard, low to the ground, and it landed close enough to Tarric for him to agonisingly bend forward and lift it up. His load lightened, he broke into a lightning-fast sprint across the exposed ground, arrowfire peppering the ground behind him as he ran. But, just as he neared Tarric, a soldier lunged at him with a sword...
...only for his head to suddenly explode as a crossbow bolt struck the back of his skull. As the soldier fell, Jauffre saw Tarric, lying back, exhausted and holding onto the crossbow.
"You alright?" Jauffre asked, falling down by Tarric's side.
Tarric nodded. "Are we gonna get out of this?"
"I think we are," Jauffre replied. "Take a look at this"
By now, all of the Elite Party men had realised that using bows was bogging the fight down into a stalemate - Hermione, Captain Pasqual and Eldred were too entrenched, so they had all downed their bows and drawn swords and charged. Almost as if they had been waiting for the moment, the three retreated in formation - one would run then cover the other two. They made ground quickly, nearing the back of the cave with the swordsmen just behind them...
Held back by the weight of his armour, Captain Pasqual's pace was slowing. In a flash of light, a Daedric sword materialised in his hands and he turned to face his opponents. He stayed where he was, adopting a blocking stance as two swordsmen charged at him...
At that moment, Horst and Holjer jumped out from behind cover and cut down the two swordsmen. A third followed them up, but Horst did not even stop, carrying on the colossal swing of his axe and thudding it into the soldier's side, slicing straight through his chainmail armour and much of his abdomen.
The trap that the group had carefully been laying finally became apparent. The swordsmen had become surrounded by an ambush - Horst and his men parried with them in the centre of the patch of tree roots as they were picked off one by one by Eldred, Hermione and Captain Pasqual.
Silence fell in the cavern, before Captain Pasqual exhaled a deep breath.
The group took in their losses. The gung-ho spirit had faded from Horst's eyes as the deaths of two of his friends hit him. Tarric's stomach wound was beyond what anyone could heal in the field. Camri and Ariel had gone missing.
"I suppose they're in a better place now," Horst said, looking at the two dead Nords. "They don't have to go through any more of this shit"
"What do we do?" Eldred asked. "Make a run for it?"
"No. Make for Fanacas" Hermione said. "Camri was right - there's enough hiding places in there to get around the Legion. Then we can find the back way out of there that Melethar mentioned and make a run for the Capstone"
"And what about Camri and Ariel?"
Hermione shook her head. "We can only hope for the best"