Summary: For 10 years, she prepared. Now Kieran Herne, a human from Earth turned into an elven warrior, must race against time to find the heir to the Empire and restore him to the throne, else all of Tamriel – and Nirn – perish.

Warning:Will contain graphic violence, cussing (in Farscape terminology or otherwise), bandits, marauders, papercuts, hangnails, Azura prophecy-messages. Will also include threats, verbal fencing matches, wild magic that's incredibly out of control, the Tribunal, tarot, and all sorts of havoc dedicated to the Prince of Madness.

Spoiler Warning:Spoilers for the Main Quest and the Mages Guild quest/storyline.


Edgedancer
Act 1 - Ending Beginning
Chapter 1-12 - "Counterattack"


The light faded, as did the deafening silence that had followed the sound of Azura's voice. Damn it, why was it that Daedric Princes always had to contact you at the most inopportune of moments to tell you something important! I'd have to contemplate the meaning behind her words later; I had only won half the battle at the moment.

My eyes opened and I lowered my arm, revealing the familiar night skies of Nirn and the charred walls of Kvatch before me. Held in my left hand was the Sigil Stone I had plucked from the Gate. The siege was, for the most part, over now. Now to clean up the mess.

I pocketed the Sigil Stone before turning behind me, approaching the barricade. I could see Captain Savlian and Menien, they and their fellow guards awe-struck by the fiery destruction of the gate and my more-or-less unscathed emergence from it. I gave the guardsmen a nod of confirmation that, yes, they did see what they thought they just saw.

"You closed the gate?" the captain asked, shocked. His expression, however, quickly became that of a renewed hope and vigor. "I knew you could do it! This is our chance to launch a counterattack!" He looked at Killian and I both now as the shadow joined my side, currently cleaning her wrist blades again. "I need you to come with us. You've got far more combat experience than these men. Are you able to join us now? I can wait, but not for long. We've got to move quickly, before they have a chance to barricade the city again. Your friend already went inside the city to see what she could do."

An annoyed look crossed my face again. That explained Killian's absence. "Somehow, I'm not surprised she did. I'm ready; let's go."

The captain nodded, withdrawing his longsword before raising it up into the air, addressing his men. "For Kvatch!"

"For Kvatch!" echoed the remaining guards, drawing their blades as well. I simply turned around, withdrawing my bow again as we rushed towards the gates. We were little more than five or so individuals strong, but I hoped my magic could more than make up for that.

Entering the plaza, however, I was surprised to see a large number of daedra corpses littering the area, all of them clearly having died from stab wounds. I could hear more fighting in the distance, behind the chapel - the sound of Dremora yelling out in pain, Clannfear and Scamps dying, and what could only be Killian's playful laughter over the sound of metal punching through metal and flesh.

"...She wiped the bastards out," Savlian noted, once again shocked. I, myself, was surprised; I didn't expect her to be this violent. Unless this was her own therapeutic session of some sorts...

Savlian's voice broke me from my thoughts. "It's safe to pull those people out of the chapel. Let's get in there and make sure they're all right." I nodded once as the Captain turned to me. "Come on. This is only the beginning of the battle for Kvatch. We can discuss the next phase once the civilians are safe."


Despite the ruined state of the chapel, I immediately found myself overwhelmed by a sense of peace and calming. There were a large number of civilians inside, I noted, along with only two or three remaining guardsmen. I didn't even pay attention to the Captain approach and ask for a report from the Redguard woman standing near the entrance. I was much more focused on the people present.

Unlike in the game, there were entire families here. A large number of children were huddled near the back of the chapel near the Altar of the Nine, where a man in gray robes was currently tending to the health of a young girl. He had short, dark brown hair that was well kept, and familiar blue-gray eyes that instantly reminded me of the late Emperor. There were shades of Emperor Uriel in his appearance, but they weren't too incredibly obvious...not at the moment.

"But sir! I want to help fight!"

The Redguard's voice caused me to turn from the children and the priest in the back towards the Kvatch guards that still remained.

"You will, soldier," assured the captain. "Once they're secure, get back here immediately. We'll need every available blade, and there'll be plenty of fighting to go around."

She nodded in response, saluting before turning to the refugees. "Sir, yes sir! Civilians, it's time to move out! Let's go!"

Looks of hope suddenly sparked in the eyes of many citizens huddled near candles for warmth and the altars for comfort. The children suddenly beamed, but turned to the priest before daring to move with the rest of the townsfolk. I realized how incredibly likely it was for many of them to have lost their families thanks to this horrendous invasion. The girl whom the priest was attending to slowly stood up, taking the priest's hand before following him out with the remaining civilians, the other children right behind them. She seemed to frail to walk, however, causing the priest to be given no choice but to carry her out, with the Redguard member of the Kvatch Guard leading them towards the encampment.

A dull ache rose up in my chest. The poor child must've been very ill. Once this was over with, I'd have to see what I could do for these people and then approach the priest myself. In the meanwhile...

"We've done it!" noted the captain, filled with hope. I turned towards him as he spoke, standing quietly at attention. "I can't believe it - I didn't really think this would work. Maybe we do have a fighting chance."

My eyes closed as I folded my arms. "Where there's a will, there's a way, Captain."

He nodded, his eyes now filled with fiery determination. "Oh, yes. We're not done. Not even close. This was only the first step. If this town is to be ours again, we'll need to get inside the castle." I opened my eyes at this point as he spoke to me directly. "You've come this far with us: will you go further? If we're truly going to succeed, I'll need much more of your help. I warn you, though, what we've seen so far is nothing compared to the battle that likely awaits us. Take a few moments to catch your breath and think it over. When you're ready, let me know, and we'll get underway."

I touched the wounds on my sides and winced slightly in pain. I hadn't even noticed how much it hurt until now; the adrenaline had kept me going so fast, I hadn't even acknowledged it after receiving them. I was going to need to tend to those. "Give me about an hour, maybe two. I should be ready by then."

Because all the magicka in the world can't heal infections, even if you can cure most diseases (Aodh's Corpus, as I recalled, simply had the negative symptoms removed) with a swig of a potion or a simple prayer. Personally, I preferred to take precautions before utilizing either method.

Savlian nodded in response, to which I turned and walked towards one of the shadowed corners near the altar. I quickly withdrew two items from my pack - a roll of bandages and a flask filled with distilled wine. This was the only reason I even touched alcohol at all: for use as an antiseptic. I removed my armor long enough to soak and then apply the bandages to the wounds, ignoring the stinging sensation that followed before replacing my armor again. This actually takes longer than it sounds, for although I was wearing light armor, it was still, at minimum, 25 pounds of leather and metal that had to be cleaned (yes, I insisted on cleaning my armor at times like this, even though I was likely to be bleeding all over the place within the next few hours), repaired (while going through hammers at a vexingly fast rate - though a friend of mine at home had a hobby as a blacksmith and I picked up a few techniques from watching him take care of his smithing hammers, I was by no means as good at repair as most smithies in Cyrodiil), replaced, readjusted, and then secured into place. This took an hour to two hours, depending on the damage. Fortunately, this time it was only an hour.

My eyes closed as I recalled a mental checklist of what I needed to do. Gate to Kvatch closed? Check. Plaza cleared? Check, even though that was clearly Killian's doing. Civilians rescued and escorted to the encampment? Check. Retaking Kvatch from the daedra still here? That was next on the list. Only after that could I approach Martin and ask him to come to Weynon Priory and speak with Jauffre. I couldn't help but wonder why I decided to get myself involved in all of this in the first place.

'Because you've been stuck here in this universe with no other way to get back home, you're bored as hell, and this universe is being threatened with apocalypse again,' a sarcastic voice from the back of my head responded. 'And because you're supposed to, being Miss Goody-Two-Shoes for the most part.'

I figured it best to not argue with myself and risk losing at this point in time. By the time this crisis was over with, I wouldn't have been surprised if I developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I folded my hands in front of me, whispering a prayer to the Nine to aid these people however they could at this moment in time. Nirn was going to need all the help it could get now.

So was I, in hindsight.

With the prayer spoken and my wounds tended to, there wasn't much of a reason to delay any further. I approached Savlian again, a hard look of determination etched onto my face. The Captain turned to me, speaking upon my approach.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked, slightly concerned but knowing what needed to be done. "We need your help getting to the castle, but we need to move soon."

"I'm as ready as I'm going to get at this point," I answered calmly. Savlian nodded, laughing.

"I knew you'd be up to it!" he commented, grinning. I couldn't help but smirk at his enthusiasm - hope had a way of giving you a second wind in times such as this. However, both of us quickly turned serious again. "Our goal is the Castle gate. We should be able to use this door to get out to the plaza in front of the Castle gatehouse. Your friend is clearly capable of taking care of herself, but I doubt she can eliminate them all. You know the drill. Stick close, and keep your eyes open. Let's move out!"


The captain, the two guardsmen from the barricade, and I emerged from the Chapel of Akatosh and stepped into the charred streets of Kvatch's northern half, notably littered with the corpses of numerous daedra felled and filled with numerous stab wounds by what appeared to be Killian's wrist blades. I couldn't see her anywhere, but I doubted she had been "killed" and technically unsummoned - she was too unpredictable and too fast for multiple opponents to successfully kill if she kept moving. She was most likely in the north-eastern section of the city, where the Kvatch Arena was located.

Our quartet quickly made our way towards the bridge over the moat surrounding the castle. Upon arrival, however, we quickly noticed our way was blocked by iron bars.

"Dammit! This is no good! The gates are locked, and the only way to open them is from within the gatehouse," explained Savlian, glaring at the obstacle currently hindering us from reaching our objective.

My eyes narrowed as I stepped forward, observing the gate. I had to hold back a tired sigh of annoyance before speaking up. I hated playing dumb. "Is there a way to open it from the outside?"

The Captain's reply was immediate. "We can't open that gate from out here. The only mechanism for raising it is inside the gatehouse. And the only way to get into the gatehouse now would be through the passage at the North Guard House. But that's always kept locked." He now shifted his focus from the lowered gate to me. "Hurry and find Berich Inian. He should be back in the Chapel, and should still have the key to the Guard House. Once you've got it, get to the Guard House, find the passage, and open that gate. Then we can get inside the caste and secure it."

I nodded in response before turning and rushing back towards the chapel, pushing one of the heavy double-doors open before stepping inside. I wasn't the only one to arrive at that moment, however - three men in dark iron armor, one of them an archer and the other two clearly swordsmen, entered as well, one of the swordsmen approaching me.

"We saw the smoke from the Gold Road while out on patrol. How can we help?" he asked.

Huh. Guess my prayer was answered. (...Not. This always happened in the game.) "Follow me!"

The Imperial Legion Soldier nodded. "We'll be right behind you."

...Really. They would. My attention now shifted to the Imperial man standing near the doors leading back outside, who I quickly approached. He turned to me with a slightly enthusiastic look. "I'm just waiting for Captain Matius to give the order. Finally, a chance to fight back!"

I cut straight to the point. "Do you have the Guard House key?"

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Yes, I have it. Why?"

"I need to get into the castle."

Berich's eyes (for this was most definitely Berich Inian) widened upon remembering an important detail. "That's right! They managed to close the castle gates just before we were forced in here." His shock quickly melted away, however, and once again we were back to brass tacks. "I'm afraid you're in for a tough time, friend. The city's in bad shape, and it will be difficult to make it to the Guard House by yourself. I'd better go with you. We'll have to go through the Chapel Undercroft, and then through what's left of the city." A slightly fearful look now crossed his face. "If…If I don't make it, take the key and carry on without me. You need to reach the tower at the north wall of the city."

"You're going to survive and I plan to make damn certain of it," I said seriously, my eyes narrowing from beneath my hood. Berich gave a small smile before nodding, motioning for me and the Imperial Legionaries (I wasn't even sure if that was the correct term) to follow. He quickly led us down the stairs in the middle of the entrance atrium and made a U-turn towards the door to the right. The Chapel Undercroft. I already knew there was going to be too many obstacles and too little space for me to fire a bow. I was going to need a melee weapon and primarily on-touch spells.


Damn.

Flame Atronachs.

Of all times I had to get flashbacks of constantly dying in the third act of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.


Though slightly shaken, we managed to emerge from the Chapel Undercroft alive and mostly unscathed, seeing as to how we now had a few limbs cooked medium rare. My eyes caught sight of a number of dead daedra bodies scattered across the plaza, almost as if...

"She's left us a trail," I noted aloud, lifting my head eastward towards the Arena. "And looks like she took care of most of the fighting for us, if not all of it."

Berich and the other three guardsmen shot me a look as I motioned for them to follow, keeping my elven dagger out as a precaution. "She?"

It didn't take long for us to cross the rest of the ruins and then make our way towards the north wall. I was right - Killian had done all of the fighting for us. This was especially evident when we heard a shout of "Damn it! Now what am I supposed to kill!"

A few of the Imperial Watch sent each other glances of uncertainty upon seeing the hooded Shadow Warrior in black pouting with her arms folded and glaring at the corpses scattered around the area. Most likely what was going through their heads: do we start laughing or do we start worrying?

Berich quickly led me into the nearby half-ruined tower, filled with crates, barrels, and other containers for a large number of all sorts of supplies. Near the western section of wall, however, was a trapdoor, upon which was a lock. The guardsman withdrew the key, placing it in the keyhole before turning it. With a click, the lock undid itself, which Berich removed before turning to me.

"This is it," he said. "The entrance to the passage is right through here. Best of luck."

"Divines be with us, then," I said seriously, motioning towards Killian and the other Imperial Watchmen that had followed before descending into the small, claustrophobic, and somewhat aflame passage.

I wasn't sure, but I could have sworn I saw Killian make a disgusted face at the word "Divines"...


"Stay dead, damn you!"

The castle was filled with daedra. Captain Matius, the other guard, and the rest of the Imperial Watch were currently holding the grand hall at my insistence, while Killian and I were currently cleaving our way through the rest of the castle. Though I doubted we would make it in time, we were supposed to find Count Ormellius Goldwine and bring him to safety. Otherwise, if he was already dead (and I had a particularly nasty feeling he was), I needed to snag his Colovian signet ring.

Killian sent another Clannfear Runt flying my direction, which I had to sidestep while parrying an incoming fireball from a Flame Atronach. I countered with a blast of cold, along with the blunt end of the Spear of Bitter Mercy, causing it to shatter into tiny pieces of ice. The Shadow Warrior was just having way too much fun at this point, taking on at least five or so daedra at a time while I was concentrating on cutting them down one by one. Most of the fight was a blur of movement, flame, and magicka blasts, to be honest.

But we made it to the back of the castle, and to the Count's quarters. Just as I had expected, standing above the Count's dead body was a Flame Atronach, which died within a matter of two Frozen Blasts and then another stab to the chest. I had to grimace as I withdrew the ring from the Count's finger on his right, not liking the smell of boiling blood. Killian was pouting when I rejoined with her, her wrist blades away and her arms folded.

"We'll have more fighting to do back at the Priory," I informed her, walking past before picking up a book near the way back to the Great Hall. A Dance in Fire, v4 - the middle chapter of the seven-part series. Hopefully, it was an actual series of books instead of just chapter-length passages. "Look on the bright side - it'll be those cultists we're cutting down once we get there."

She didn't say anything as we entered the hall again, where the guardsmen, the Watch, and the Captain had managed to extinguish what they could of the flames and establish camp. Savlian raised his head towards us upon our approach, but said nothing as I withdrew the ring, placing it in his hand before closing it.

For a long time, there was nothing but silence. My voice was quiet, a bit raspy from the smoke. "I'm sorry, Captain. He didn't make it."

I expected him to start talking again, but he instead opened his hand, looking at the ring before nodding. He had determined it genuine. "This is indeed a dark day for all of us left. But I thank you - both of you - for risking your own lives to help us. At least this is safe. Thank you. I'll make sure it is protected for the time when a new Count is crowned." He gave another nod before slipping off his cuirass, as he was wearing normal civilian clothing beneath it. Folding it, he gave it to me, which I took into my arms.

"Take this," he said, looking at me in the eye (as best he could through the shadows my hood cast). "I'm tired of fighting. I may serve you well in days to come."

My only response was a nod as I slipped it into my pack, readjusting my cloak. "This battle may be over, Captain, but I feel the war is only about to begin. I only hope that Kvatch will be restored to its former glory sometime soon."

"As do we all," he agreed. "Akatosh be with you, Miss..."

I was silent before standing, turning back towards the giant doors leading to the castle courtyard. "Kieran Herne. My companion is Killian, my...sister."

He nodded again. "Your names won't be forgotten, Kieran, Killian. Kvatch will remember them in other dark times to come."

Nothing else was said between us afterward as we left the castle.


Two dragons, one of golden sun-fire, the other of the silver ice of the moons, perched upon a golden hourglass and a silver wheel respectively.
The world was caught between dusk and dawn, between life and death, the city aflame and at the same time swallowed by the sea.
A giant four-armed man of blood-red skin roared at the two dragons, only to vanish in a burst of frozen fire.

A woman slept in the midst of a sea of stars and darkness, garbed in robes of black and violet shadow and pale white and teal moonlight fabric, broken chains upon her wrists and ankles.
Her bed: a silver wheel of the arcane zodiacs, one of Nirn, two others not of Mundus.
Golden hair remained loose, framing her marked face, floating as if caught amidst the waters of time.
In silhouette to either side of her - a woman, heavily pregnant, and an old crone, garbed in black, both holding dim candles in the darkness.
Both pairs of eyes remained upon the sleeping maiden, whose dreams could not be seen.

Upon her brow: a silver circlet of the moon in its cycles, waxing and waning.
Around her waist: a jeweled girdle of ebony, shaped and representing a snake coiling in on itself.
Upon her hand: a ring of silver, a crescent moon overlapping a blazing sun.
And around her neck: Guided-to-Serenity-by-Twin-Moon-and-Triad-Star.

All time occurs in Three.


"So now what?"

We were halfway to the city gates when Killian spoke up. She had shaken me from my strange vision in the Chapel of Akatosh, which was probably a good thing for the moment. My response was simple. "Find the Heir. Convince him to come with us. Return to the Priory. Find all hell breaking loose."

The Shadow rolled her eyes. "Why is it always business with you nowadays? You should be having fun. This is what you wanted, isn't it? An adventure? Excitement? The ability to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted?"

I sent her a glare from beneath my hood. "The metaphorical guillotine about ready to drop and slice off the head of all semblance of hope? The threat of the daedra ready to pour into the mortal realm at a moment's notice? Property taxes? No, Killian, this is not some fantasy game that you can just reload at a moment's notice if everything is about to go to hell. This is real. You are real. Ten years ago, I would've been shocked at the fact that I could even launch half of these spells, let alone summon you!"

A chuckle escaped her lips. That smirk of hers was different from her usual playful one - it was a lot...darker. More menacing, even. "Yes, unusual, isn't it? You'd qualify for a Caladeum Wizard in that game series, and yet somehow you have the skills of a Viz-Jaq'taar, who don't even use magic themselves..."

She was getting at something, but what? "Killian, what in Oblivion are you-?"

The only response I gave was her speeding up her steps and giggling before giving a small wave. "I'll clear the road - you pick up our Barrier Priest and meet up with me at Skingrad, n'kay?"

Before I could even attempt to stop her, she had suddenly vanished through the city gates. When I emerged on the other side, she had literally vanished. Annoyance and anger were evident on my face as I walked forward before scanning the area again, mumbling to myself about how I needed to keep her on a leash before she did something like this again. My eyes finally fell upon the city gates again, and the rest of the charred walls surrounding the ruined city.

So many people... so many dead... I couldn't help but feel that this was the Twin Towers attack, where the Emperor's assassination had been the one on the Pentagon.

To think that 9-11 was almost a full twenty years ago...

Footsteps from behind me. A male voice, eerily similar to that of Sean Bean.

How I was expecting the question was anyone's guess.

"Who are you?"



Author's Notes: Again, URGH, I hate this chapter. But the way I see it, I got through it. Sure, many missed moments of awesome, more than likely, but once the next chapter comes into play, I won't be a lazy bum. That's also presuming I'll be able to get my homework done and turned in on time, because English for College class is likely to take up a humongous amount of my time.

But no one's here to hear me whine, so let's skip that and move on to more important stuff, shall we?

Andrigno: Thank you! I try to stick as close to the source as possible while still seeing how much havoc I can wrea- I MEAN… While still seeing how much I can tweak to make the story different from other standard novelizations of the game. I hope I live up to your expectations.

Godlybunny: At this point, I'm hereby presuming you a regular reader. Oh, and thank you for your last review, by the way; I now have this rabid plot bunny going through my head that's going to make this story even longer than I originally planned it, and Killian has not stopped bugging me about it for the past few weeks. It might not start for a few chapters, though.

Next Chapter: Escorting Martin, the attack on Weynon Priory, and the retreat to Cloud Ruler Temple.

Until next chapter…

- Kestrel Harper