A/N: Another quick chapter upload for you to make up for my absence! Hope you enjoy!


CHAPTER SEVEN

The Monsters of Ganonah


Reaching out to help Varsa to his feet, Cassian looked around. The ground they stood upon was blackened and dead, just like the ground that now sat outside Kvatch. However, it seemed to be covered in another layer of something that Cassian didn't want to explain nor wanted to know anything about. It was white in colour and looked to have the same granule-like form of sand, but did not seem to be anything as remotely ordinary as sand. Cassian even shuddered to think what it was, knowing that he was better off not knowing anything that he didn't need to know about these horrifying, desolate lands.

"You alright?" Cassian asked, pulling his young companion to his feet. Dusting Varsa's shoulder off the best he could on the way up, Cassian made sure that everything was still in order and that they hadn't dropped anything that could have been of use to them from their bags on their fall through the Oblivion portal.

"Yeah, I guess." Varsa, dragging himself with the help of Cassian to one knee, looked around and scanned his surroundings for anything that would be remotely familiar. To his unsurprise, he found nothing. "What do we do now?"

"Absolutely no idea." Cassian smiled, holding his blade up to the light to make so no cracks or chips had been made within its blade in the fall. "We need to find a way to close the gate, that's our main goal."

"That's easier said than done." Varsa smiled, sheathing his daggers and outstretching his hands into a flexing motion. "Come on, let's check this place out."

Moving down the slope that led to the gate, both men made sure to be on guard. This was a foreign environment, filled with more hostile and ravenous creatures that could only be normally seen in books on the specific subject of daedra or in the nightmares of small children who feared the monsters that lurked in the dark. Seeing that said monsters were not only real, but more dangerous that he could have expected, terrified Cassian to the bone. He was an Imperial legionnaire, a member of an army dedicated to fighting rogue elements of the Imperial Empire and rebels who wished to do the citizens of the Empire harm. Not only was he untrained to deal with this sort of threat, he himself was terrified of even having to deal with the threat himself. Cassian could only think about what Varsa was thinking.

Moving further towards what looked to be a lake of pure lava, the one thing that hit Cassian, and to a lesser extent Varsa, was the heat. It was unlike anything he had felt before. It was if the whole entire atmosphere was hot, not just because of the lava around them. Everything was warm, even something as small as the air. Everything felt chokingly hot, like they were one step away from suffocating due to the lack of oxygen in the air, but knew it wasn't enough to kill them. Wiping the sweat forming on his brow, Cassian shrugged off the problems he was feeling and continued to look around, scouting the place where they had landed out the best they could to come up with a strategy of some kind.

It wasn't long before something caught Cassian's attention. Out of the corner of his eye, Cassian could see a figure running towards them. Humanoid in nature, with what looked to be Imperial-coloured skin and long black hair that flowed to his shoulders, it seemed that he was nothing like the creatures that they had fought on their way to the portal. Looking past him, Cassian realized that he was being tailed. More specifically, two of the daedric creatures that had been outside by the gate were galloping towards the man at an ever-increasing pace, their intentions known from mere seconds of spotting them.

"Scamps!" Varsa yelled, drawing his bow off of his back.

"How do you know what they're called?" Cassian raised an eyebrow and looked to his side as Varsa took a step forward, drawing an arrow.

In response, the ever-diligent woodsman just shrugged. "Recognized them from a book."

Simply nodding his head with a slight smile, Cassian left Varsa to provide covering fire as he rushed towards the man, spinning his sword in his hand to make sure he was loose enough to swing it properly. Reaching him in mere seconds, he jumped in front and readied himself with just enough time to slow the scamps down. This allowed Varsa, in turn, to launch an arrow which struck the nearest scamp directly in its right temple. With a smile, Cassian watched it slump over upon itself and rushed towards the latter one. Within seconds, he had already slashed it to pieces and was sheathing his weapon.

"Oh, thank the Nine…" The man said, dropping to one knee and throwing his sword to the ground as he looked up at Cassian and Varsa. "I never thought I would see a proper face. At last, something that isn't a daedra."

"Rest for a moment, friend." Cassian smiled, pulling his waterskin from his bag before handing it over for the man to drink from. "You must be one of the soldiers that Savlian Matius sent in to close the gate?"

Nodding his head, the man took a large gulp of water from the waterskin and looked to sigh heavily. Cassian didn't even want to imagine how he had survived an entire night in this forsaken land, but he was sure that the man could handle himself. Looking him up and down, Cassian could see the man had done nothing but fight constant battles since he arrived in the desolate arena they found themselves in. His armour was scratched and battered, the white tabard he wore scratched and torn enough to reveal the chainmail links hidden underneath it. The steel pauldrons and gauntlets that covered his arms and hands had been scratched and dented enough to remove all the white paint that once covered them, instead showing the glistened grey steel underneath. The shield he wore on his right arm was chipped at the edges and showing the hardwood underneath, the painted overlayer of the Kvatch Wolf barely recognizable after everything.

Looking down at the blade he had thrown down, Cassian shook his head. The thing looked dull and barely efficient to cut through wood, let alone bone and flesh. Chips had started to break into the sides of the silver coating to the steel and a large crack had began to begin the cross-guard. Sooner or later, the blade would collapse in on itself into nothing but spare parts that could be used as little more than scrap in an armourer's workshop. How the hell this man had survived an entire night in this world was unbelievable to Cassian, given the state that his armour and weapons were in now that they had found him. He was lucky, for Cassian was sure the guardsman wouldn't have survived another day.

"What's your name, guardsman?" Varsa asked as he approached, slinging the string of his bow across his chest.

"Ilend. Ilend Vonius. Corporal in the Kvatch Guard." The guardsman replied, handing the waterskin back over to Cassian as he pushed his sweat-soaked hair out of his eyes.

"You're lucky to be alive, Ilend." Cassian knelt down to the man's level. "Your weapon is nearly in pieces. Where's the rest of the squad that Matius sent in with you?"

"We…we tried to cross that bridge as soon as we entered." Ilend explained, pointing to the now-closed bridge that seemed to lead across the lava. "Dremora archers trapped us on the bridge. We scattered, but ended up getting picked off one by one."

"You're the last one?" Varsa shook his head. "Goddamnit…"

"Our commanding officer, Menien Goneld…he's alive, I think." Ilend spoke up. Turning to the distance, he pointed to a large tower structure. "The dremora took him there."

"Dremora?" Cassian asked. "What's a 'dremora'?"

"Dremora are like daedric footsoldiers." Varsa replied. "They're sort of the intelligent cannon fodder, if that makes sense. They only come out when those grunts down there can't handle the job, or if they need someone to lead said grunts."

Taking a moment to consider everything that he had been told, Cassian scratched at the beard on his chin. Thoughts raced through his head, but he eventually came up with a half-decent plan of action. It was barely something, but it was something, at least.

"If this Menien had been taken to the tower, he must have been important to the Dremora for some reason." Cassian looked to Varsa. "It's possible he knows how to close the gate."

"Then the tower looks to be our destination." Varsa replied, dragging one of his daggers out of its sheath.

"Can you fight?" Looking down at Ilend, Cassian wondered. He didn't want to put the man in any worse situation than he had already been in, but he would not deny the man the chance to exact revenge on the monsters who had killed his friends and razed his home. "We could use an extra blade in here."

"I can." Stumbling to his feet, Ilend picked up his blade. "I'll fight until this thing breaks in two. What's our plan of action?"

Cassian simply smiled. "Simple. We walk up to the front door and slaughter as many of the bastards as we can on the way to Menien."

A sick smile crept across Ilend's face, but he then looked between the pair. "I'm sorry, but I don't even know your names…"

"Cassian Silvanus, former Imperial Quaestor." Cassian smiled. "That's Varsa March."

In response, Varsa held his hand up in a wave as he turned to look at the slope that led them up to the front door of the tower. All three men readied themselves, before they set off towards the tower.


Climbing up the slope, the only thing that they could hear was the crunching of their boots upon the ground below them. Nothing seemed to deter them from their goal as the tower got ever closer towards them. Unfortunately, their crunching seemed to also attract the attention of the Dremora stationed outside the tower. Cassian watched with peering eyes as at least three Dremora guards unsheathed their blades and came walking towards them. Smiling, he counted three of them and three of him and companions. An even battle, at least.

Gritting his teeth, Cassian swung his sword in a circular motion in his hand and rushed towards the middle Dremora. Swinging his blade in a circular fashion over his head, Cassian jumped off of the ground and spun in a 360 motion, before bringing his blade down on the Dremora's shoulderplate. Digging his blade directly into the chink in the daedric armour, Cassian smiled as the creature let out a roar of pure fury. That said fury was then accompanied by a fearsome headbutt that sent Cassian stumbling back, just enough for the Dremora to have enough time to recover and come charging at him instead.

Raising his blade just enough to block the Dremora's counterattack, followed suit by yet another block from a second strike, Cassian willed himself up just enough to deliver a hard boot to the chestplate of the Dremora. Knocking him back a few steps, Cassian used the remaining time he had before the Dremora recovered to rush forwards and slide past him, driving his blade directly through the Dremora's throat. With a gurgle, the Dremora dropped to both knees before, to Cassian's delight, keeling over to one side and falling silent.

Looking over to one side, Cassian nodded as his companions finished off their respective foes before following him up the steps to the tower. Staring up at the tall, intimidating obsidian door that stood before them, Cassian felt no fear. He needed to ready himself for what was to come, for what the Emperor had prophesied, and this was it. The Prince of Destruction and his mortal servants, Cassian understood it now. Mehrunes Dagon was behind this invasion, he wanted something to do with the mortal realm and this was his demonstration at how far his powers had come since the last time he had invaded Tamriel in his own personal conquest.

Pulling the lever at the side of the door, Cassian flexed his shoulders and waited for the doors to open, readying himself for what was to come. Rushing inside as soon as the doors were open, the three men went about cutting through every daedra that tried to get in their way on the ground level. Ducking under the mace of a dremora, Cassian turned and delivered a fearsome boot that sent the daedra falling down into the abyss that led down past the lava fire in the middle of the room. Dropping to one knee, Cassian looked around him and scanned the room. It was completely and utterly pitch black save the fire that emanated an orange hue to the room, the obsidian the tower was made from blocking out all traces of whatever kept Oblivion in light.

Shrugging off the sheer unnatural feeling to this entire realm, Cassian continued onwards. Looking around the room, scanning the doors and further up the spire, they knew that they had to find Menien. Evnetually, as Cassian stared up at the orange beam that seemed to lead up through a hole in the ceiling, it hit him.

"I believe I know how to close this gate." Cassian turned to his companions. "I have a feeling that the orange beam leads to something. You two go and find Menien, I'll try and get whatever is up there."

"You sure?" Varsa asked, his leather armour becoming more and more caked in the blood of the daedra he had cut down in this realm. "This is a dangerous place."

"I'm not important, not in the grand scale of things." Cassian smiled. "Now go, it'll be quicker if we split up and try different avenues."

"We'll meet up with you at the top of the spire." Ilend added, wiping blood from his sword with the inside of his tabard. "Don't do anything that could leave us in this cursed place."

"No man gets left behind." Cassian smiled. "Now go, find Menien. I'll see you on the other side."

Nodding to one another, Cassian split off from the other two and went through a separate door, while the others quickly rushed through another. Whatever they found, they were sure that at least one of them would be able to close the gate to this monstrous realm.


"Die, you disgusting piece of filth!"

Cutting through the head of a clannfear, Varsa stumbled back and kicked the beast in the neck for good measure. He had never liked the look of the creatures, even from when he had seen them from his books. He just couldn't believe that he was facing them now. The world was really going mad, everything seemed to point to that. The death of the Emperor and his sons, a city razed to the ground and demonic portals leading to a realm of nothing but death, inhumanity and monsters and a lone traitor to the Empire running to an inconsequential priory just outside Chorrol with nothing but a worn shortsword, numerous lacerations and bruises, cloth clothes with no shoes and the Amulet of Kings seemed to point out to him that life was never going to be the same as it was.

Despite all of this madness, Varsa was happy to be a part of it all. He didn't want to be just another person living in the Empire, he wanted to be a somebody. He wanted to be known Empire-wide for his great deeds as a hero, to have his name be recognized as passers-by and be saluted as a hero. He didn't want to a nobody, but a somebody. This was his way of doing just that. Through blood, sweat and tears he would find this Menien and he would do whatever he could to bring him home. He would be heralded as a hero by somebody, that was all that he could hope for at this time.

"Wow, you certainly showed that thing." Ilend smiled, sheathing his blade. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"My father, mostly." Varsa replied, stepping over the clannfear as they looked around the room. "But you do teach yourself and pick up things when you're on your own."

Watching him out of the corner of his eye, Varsa sighed heavily as he watched Ilend turn to face him. He knew what was coming next out of his mouth.

"How old are you, exactly?" Ilend asked, curiosity slashing across his face. "I don't mean to pry, but you don't seem to look…"

"Eighteen." Cutting Ilend off, Varsa snapped back sharply. "I'm young, but it doesn't mean I can't handle myself better than anyone else can."

Ilend steps forwards, nodding. "You fight a whole lot better than I've seen of men twice your age, kid. You should be impressed."

"Yeah, thanks." Varsa nodded, looking around. "Where to now?"

Looking around, Varsa could see nothing but two doors leading left and right. "Did you try the door over there?"

"Yes," Ilend sighed. "It seems to be locked. We'll have to try this other one here."

"It's our only option." Varsa smiled, before walking towards the door. Pushing it open with all of his strength, it took everything that the boy had to prise it open as Ilend and Cassian had done with the other ones. It was only at that point did he realize how hard this journey would be. He'd been fighting for what felt like hours now, to the point where he was so tired that he couldn't properly prise open a door. He knew he needed more training, proper training, if he was to become good enough to survive the onslaught that these daedra would throw at them if they ever met them again.

Stumbling out through the door, Varsa immediately felt the heat hit him once more. It was only after taking a few more steps did he realize that they had actually stumbled outside onto a small bridge that was leading to another tower off in the distance. Nearly losing his balance after looking down, Varsa was grabbed from behind and held steady by Ilend.

"You alright?" Ilend yelled, the hot wind blowing hard at both of them.

"Yeah, let's just keep moving." Varsa replied, nodding. Beginning to walk forwards, Varsa made sure to keep himself steady the best he could in order to make it across. Pointing at the tower that was their destination, Varsa turned his head to the side and looked a little at Ilend. "I think Menien might be in that tower."

"How do you know?" Ilend asked, shielding his face with his hand as he slowly edged his way across, just a little behind Varsa.

"I don't." Varsa chuckled in response. "But I'm really hoping that I'm right."

Picking up the pace as they made their way further and further across the bridge, Varsa literally jumped the last few feet towards the door and prised it open the best he could, literally falling through it to try and get inside. Now on even ground, he shook off the nerves and cobwebs that had grown out of that situation and rushed up the slope that led to the top of the tower. There, directly before him, lay an old man inside a cage, being poked over and over again by a Dremora with a large, demonic spear of some form.

"Menien!" Ilend yelled from behind, drawing his blade. This attracted the Dremora's attention, who simply snarled at him and furrowed his brow.

"You should not be here, mortals!" He yelled, his voice demonic and ear-piercing, unlike anything that Varsa had ever heard before. "Your blood is forfeit! Your flesh is mine!"

"Oh yeah?" Varsa smiled, drawing his dagger. "Come get it."

Rushing towards them with a battle cry, Varsa literally flipped to the side with just enough for the Dremora to miss the both of them. Watching from afar, Varsa watched Ilend rush away from the combat and run to Menien, kneeling beside him. This, however, was the distraction that the Dremora needed. Rushing forwards, the Dremora drove his shoulder directly into Varsa's gut and sent him flying into the wall. Cracking against the obsidian hard, Varsa dropped to the floor and coughed up blood. Looking up at the Dremora, who looked to be chuckling at the sight, Varsa growled and gritted his teeth. Jumping to his feet, Varsa immediately spat out bloody saliva into the face of the Dremora and leapt at him, driving his daggers straight into the Dremora's chest. Stabbing down hard into it, Varsa growled in fury as he removes one and proceeded to plunge it directly between the Dremora's eyes.

Pulling out his blade and rolling off onto his back, Varsa breathed out heavily. Looking at the reddened sky above, he knew that he couldn't wait to go back home. This world was terrifying to him, moreso than anything he had ever seen before. He had always been scared of the monsters in the dark when he was a kid, of the daedra his mother had always told him would come and get him when he was scared, but to actually see and fight them up close was a completely different level of fear. He knew he could defeat them, but he didn't know how many he could defeat before they took him with them.

Turning over onto his side, he watched as Ilend rattled the cage that Menien was in.

"Menien!" Ilend yelled. "Menien, come on!"

"Ilend…what are you doing here?" Menien replied, sluggish. However, as soon as he realized what was going he leapt to his knees and faced his comrade. "You have to leave this place! Go, before they come looking for you!"

"Not without you, sir." Ilend replied, glancing all around the cage. "I'll get you out of there."

"Ilend. There's no way out." Menien sighed. "Look around. There's no exit to this cage…except the one I'm kneeling on."

Dragging himself to his feet, Varsa held his chest and looked down below the cage. Spikes layered the floor underneath, sharpened into fine points. His eyes were then slowly, sadly, drawn to the bottom of the cage. It seemed to be the only part of the cage that was loose enough to open up, meaning that there was only one end for the people who were placed into these cages. Beaten until they gave up what the Dremora needed them for, before being dropped and impaled to their death on the spikes below. It made Varsa sick to his stomach to even think about the mere thought of such a practice.

"No, no!" Ilend walked around the cage, looking for something that he could do. "I'm getting you out, sir, no matter what it takes."

"Ilend…. look at me." Menien sighed. Eventually, Ilend stopped moved and did as he was told, meeting Menien's eyes as best he could. "Don't you see? I'm an example. There's no escape for me, just as there would be no escape for you or anyone else who shares my fate."

"…He's right." Varsa groaned, walking towards the cage. "This cage goes nowhere but to the spike pit below. Whatever this cage is used for, it's meant to serve as an example to those who would fight against the daedra."

Turning to Menien, Varsa sighed. "Menien... he's an omen. A glimpse of what we all become if we don't stop whatever threat is looming over us."

"Don't you dare speak like that!" Ilend growled, staring at Varsa.

"Ilend, he's right." Menien sighed once again. "You need to go, for your own sake."

Taking a moment, Varsa watched with sadness as Ilend conflicted. Holding his hands behind his head, he seemed to have no clue what to do. Neither of them did, they felt helpless at the mere sight of what was going on around them, at the mere monstrosity of what this place was and what it did to the people who found themselves within it.

"...Where do we go now?" Ilend asked. "We need to close this gate. I need to complete our mission, sir."

"Take the key on that…thing's belt." Menien pointed to the Dremora. "I heard that it leads to something up at the top of the spire. I think it powers the gate."

"Thank you, Menien." Ilend smiled. "For everything."

"Go on, Ilend." Menien smiled. "Make me proud. Avenge our people…and don't be afraid."

With a nod, Ilend sheathed his sword and led the way out of the tower, their mission now set ahead of them. Varsa breathed heavily, doing whatever he could to regain his breath. Gathering his blade and the key, they knew what they had to do.

They were nearly done here.


Heading across the bridge and back into the main tower, the two men began their ascent up the tower anew once again. As they got closer to their objective, the deck became more and more stacked against them. Daedra poured out of every available nook and cranny, from scamps to daedroth they tried their best to halt the progress of the two. Despite this, the small army that had been created were nothing compared to the determination and rage felt by the band of two Imperials, who cut through the lesser daedra like they were nothing at all. Varsa hadn't seen anyone cut through anything like Ilend was doing now. He was like a man on a mission, cutting through whatever daedra was in his way. He fought like no man had ever fought before, fuelled with the fire of a dead city that wanted revenge for the things that had been done to them.

Eventually reaching the doors to the Sigil Keep, both men went back to back as they attacked whatever daedra had followed them up. Turning around, Varsa shoved the key into the lock and twisted as hard as he could, unlocking the door as quickly as he could. Shoving his fingers between the now-unlocked sides of the door, Varsa yelled and cried as he pushed with all of his might, doing whatever he could to rip the door open.

"Where's Cassian?!" Ilend yelled, blocking the strikes of Dremora with his shield. "He should be here by now!"

As if on cue, Varsa turned around to see a figure rushing up the other slope to the tower. Caked in blood and dirt, his face weary and beaten, Cassian rushed up beside his two companions and stabbed away at the daedra attacking Ilend.

"Where's Menien?!" Cassian said, throwing back a clannfear that had jumped at them.

"Gone." Ilend replied, trying not to get too much into what exactly had happened back at the secondary tower.

"…I'm sorry." Cassian replied. "How are we doing?"

"…Nearly got it!" Varsa replied, ripping the door wide enough that he could stand between it. "Alright, let's go!"

Holding the door open the best he could, Varsa ushered Cassian and Ilend through before jumping through himself, closing the door behind him. Standing with his two other companions, Varsa chuckled to himself.

"Well, long time no see." He smiled, clapping Cassian on the back. "You okay?"

"I've been better." Cassian growled. "Sooner we leave this god-forsaken place, the better."

Entering into the main chamber, all three of them were struck by the light that emanated from the vertical stream. It seemed to be that a small black orb that floated within a circle of fire was the main thing being protected, at the top of the orange fire stream that ran through the entire tower. To them, it looked to be powering the tower. It was this tower that kept the gate open, it would be the destruction of this tower that closed it.

Rushing through the entrance doors and up the stairs, the Dremora that awaited them had no chance when faced with the teamwork of these three men. Scamps were cut down with ease, Dremora battled and outmatched, all of them led to the upper levels and until they stood before the sigil stone itself. Humming with power, the stone floated within the fire and awaited the two of them, yet Cassian had no idea what to do.

"What do we do now?" Varsa yelled, ducking under an arrow that flew in his direction.

"I don't know." Cassian replied. "I think…"

Instinctively, he reached out and touched the stone with both hands. He had expected it to burn hotter than anything he had ever felt in his life, but instead it felt strange, unnatural like everything else that seemed to exist within the realm the two stood within.

"Are you crazy?" Ilend asked, his face covered with beads of sweat.

With a deep intake of breath, Cassian pulled the stone from the fire and stumbled back, watching the stone itself shrink into nothing more than a small black ball in the palm of his hand. Standing together, in a circle position that easily defended one another, the three men watched as the fire that had consumed the stone expanded until it consumed them, burning everything in its path as it engulfed the whole tower.

The noise was almost unbearable, a noise that Cassian likened to the end of the world. It grew louder and louder as the fire consumed the pair of them, causing Cassian to instinctively close his eyes, as if the end of everything was upon them. He hoped that this would end it, that he had saved Kvatch and allowed the guardsmen to launch a counterattack. The noise continued until there was a large bang, a sonic boom of some sorts that echoed through the air. And then, there was nothing.

Nothing but silence.


Opening his eyes, Cassian felt the cool breeze of wind against his cheek and found himself in Tamriel once again. Immediately being thrown out onto the floor, his knees digging into the ash-stained dirt that surrounded the Oblivion gate, Cassian had returned home. Looking around, Cassian watched as his companions did the same. Lying flat on his back, staring up at the night sky above, was Varsa. He looked peaceful, happy even. Ilend, on the other hand, was grinning from ear-to-ear as he looked around the world he had not seen in over twenty-four long hours, the longest of his life.

Stumbling to his feet, Cassian looked up to see the Kvatch guards, Savlian, Jesan Rillian and Merandil, finishing off the last few Daedra that were attacking them. With a smile, they turned to see both Cassian, Varsa and Ilend before them. Turning around himself, Cassian scoffed when he saw the large metal doors of Kvatch, blocked by nothing but the foul remains of what had once been a large portal to the hellish plane of Oblivion. With a nod, he smiled before walking over to Varsa.

"Come on, kid." Cassian smiled.

"We're home?" Varsa opened his eyes.

"Yep, we're home." Cassian laughed heartily. "You're a hero."

Walking over and clapping Cassian hard upon his back, Ilend looked elated. Immediately walking forwards to rejoin the rest of the guardsmen, he beckoned for Cassian to follow him. Nodding, Cassian did just that, meeting up with the men he had spoken to a few hours before, men that were once filled with terror. Now, they were filled with determination, with hope.

"Ilend!" Savlian cried, smiling. "You're alive! You did it, both of you!"

"Barely, thanks to this man." Ilend smiled, sheathing his longsword. "If not for him, I wouldn't have survived, I'm sure of that."

Turning to Cassian and Varsa, Savlian smiled warmly. "I knew you could do it, I just knew it. The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you two were special. Only you could have done what you've just done, that's for sure. You're a hero to us all, my friend."

"I did what anyone else would do." Cassian smiled, folding his arms.

"I'll make sure the whole world knows of your deeds." Matius nodded. "The whole world will know you as the Heroes of Kvatch. I promise you that much."

With a nod, Cassian smiled and turned his back to the Kvatch guards, looking at the once-chaotic scene before him. Savlian quickly stood beside him.

"Now is our chance to launch a counterattack." Savlian smiled. "We're not going to be able to get any better opportunity than the one that we have now."

Turning to face Cassian, Savlian placed his hand on his fellow Imperial's shoulder. "I need you to come with us. You've got far more combat experience than all of these men."

Placing his own hand on Savlian's shoulder, Cassian nodded. "Until this city is secure, I'm with you all of the way."

"That's what I wanted to hear." Brandishing his silver longsword, Savlian raised it into the sky and then pointed it towards the gate. "Come on men, for Kvatch!"

"For Kvatch!" All the other guardsmen cried, before all five men rushed towards the gate with their weapons drawn, ready to retake the city itself.