The Hammer and the Anvil: An Elder Scrolls Novel
Greg J Miller
~O~
Chapter 21
Turdas the 25th of First Seed 4E49
Malcolm Forester was up rather early that morning, but he felt quite well rested. The bed wasn't even near to the finest he'd ever slept in, but he'd decided that it was comfortable enough. He supposed that he might have just become more used to it over the past couple of days. At least he had his own room, even if it was very small.
He poured some water into the shallow basin and washed his face, then paused to check his trimmed beard. It felt much better than it had just a few days earlier.
After taking a few sips of water from the flask, he dressed for the day in his familiar mithril armour, then headed off for the nearby shared bathroom facilities.
Forester intended to head up to the kitchen area after that. He was hoping that he might take a morning meal with Taimar and Rena. He'd made the acquaintance of some new friends, but he still preferred the company of those more familiar ones.
Provided that nothing more urgent arose, he expected to meet with Arbonem that morning to further discuss plans for the immediate future. Forester had a few pertinent suggestions to explore; some of which they'd already touched upon. There were several things that required some measure of attention, especially in light of recent developments.
During the discussions of the previous day, Forester had counselled the need for a greater level of discretion. At least until certain matters had become more settled. Of course, it was fair to say that he held a far better perspective with regard to some of those things.
There were certain things that could be easily managed with some finesse, utilising the resources at hand. Some other matters might be less simple. In fact, certain circumstances might be better served by not acting at all. He had already expressed his concerns over moving too quickly or attracting further unwanted attention. In the fullness of time, everything would come to stand upon its own merit, but it would not serve the greater good to act prematurely.
Forester found himself casually wondering why he had been making things so difficult just a few days earlier. He was confident that good things lay ahead of them. They just needed to exercise proper caution and plan for matters to proceed in an orderly fashion.
Once everything was properly in place and moving forward, he imagined that history would look upon them rather kindly. In some respects, he likened it to the beginning of the Fighter's Guild. Only that new order would be born in the west and without the influence of the Akaviri occupiers of the Second Era. That new organisation would accommodate an even broader scope, both in the range of participants and purpose. If everything proceeded according to plan, the fates and fortunes of that new order would not be quite so tied to the rise or fall of Emperors. Forester found himself feeling quite optimistic about the future.
Monika and Alex had both woken early that morning. It was rather cramped on that small bunk. It was quite obviously not meant for two, not even optimistically. Alex was slightly regretting sleeping with his back against the hard frame of the ship's hull. That rolled up blanket behind him did not seem to help as he planned. Aside from that minor discomfort, he was feeling rather pleased with things in general.
The activities of the previous evening seemed to indicate that Monika's disposition was on the mend after the difficulties of past weeks. Of course, no matter how perfectly inevitable it might have been, the loss of her father was no small matter.
Monika might have kept up a resolute front, but Alex expected that he might have yet to witness exactly what longer termed effects might arise. After the last of his own family was gone, his whole world had changed quite a bit. Still, Monika's circumstances were different. She still had family back in Wayrest. Added to that, she still held to purpose of her own choosing. So, Alex remained generally optimistic.
He supposed that it was a good thing that Monika's period of mourning seemed relatively brief. At least, that is what her father would have wanted. Alex had come to know Nikulas well enough that he could almost imagine what he would have said. It probably would have been something like, 'life goes on'; a simple statement that conveyed a great deal.
Shortly after waking, Monika seemed to keen get up and leave that cramped cabin behind. As she noted, they were going to have come back down there before the ship reached Sentinel, so they might as well make the most of the time they had.
Once they had dressed, they left the confines of that cabin. After visited the bathroom facilities on the level above, they stopped in at the ship's mess for a light repast, then made their way for the upper deck of the Crested Seahawk.
They had been reasonably expecting to be greeted by another bright and sunny spring morning. However, it seemed that the weather had turned overnight. A great deal of high cloud filled the skies overhead, making for a much cooler day. Only the eastern horizon seemed relatively clear and the sun had already risen high enough to become obscured by the light blanket of cloud overhead. The breeze across the deck was immediately more notable than the previous day, but not enough to make for rough waters.
"That don't look good." An Imperial sailor made the comment as they passed him by.
He directed their attention toward the west. The skies appeared much darker toward the west. Dark clouds framed the western horizon, extending all the way to the south.
"Sea storm?" Monika prompted.
"Yeah." The sailor agreed.
"Is it coming this way?" Alex queried.
"Looks like." The sailor confirmed. "I reckon it looks like a storm front coming in from the Eltheric Ocean. If it makes it across High Rock into the bay, we could be in for a bit of rough water."
Monika weighed in. "Yeah, does look like it's coming this way."
Alex stared off into the western sky. "Will it… is it likely to move that fast? Is there any danger?"
The sailor seemed confident. "Nah, we oughta be in port before it makes it here."
Monika accepted his judgement easily enough, turning away and leading Alex onward toward the bow of the vessel. Alex continued to glance westward, trying to see whether he could determine just how fast those distant clouds might be moving. Of course, it was still too far away to tell.
After a while, Alex raised a different question. "Have you ever been to Daggerfall?"
"Nah, never have."
Alex's glance indicated a further question.
Monika expanded. "For the most part, I'd never really set foot too far outside of Wayrest. Not since I was little. Not until I left for Cyrodiil."
"But you had been to Sentinel?" Alex prompted.
"Only when I took that ship out of Wayrest. Nearly ten years back. It was just one day in Sentinel, half a day in Hegathe. Then it was all the way onto Anvil. Made my way to the Imperial City on trade wagons."
Alex continued looking across the bay. "I wonder what it is like. Daggerfall, I mean."
Monika shrugged slightly. "I've seen some drawings and paintings. Lots of stone and tall structures. Big stone walls." She paused. "From what I hear, it's probably nearly as big as Wayrest. Though I think it's on hilly land, so I s'pose it might be a bit more like Skingrad, or something like that."
Alex tried to imagine it in his mind. He found himself only picturing Skingrad. He expected that it actually looked nothing at all like that.
After a brief silence had passed, Alex asked Monika about Hegathe. She described it as a bit different from Sentinel. She thought that some of the structures resembled those of Sentinel, but the place seemed a bit run down by comparison. At least, it seemed like that when she was last there and that was ten years back. Added to that, she reiterated that she was only there for less than a day. She did mention that Hegathe had been the original capital of Hammerfell, but that was way back in the second era. It was pretty obvious that all the wealth of Hammerfell now seemed to flow toward Sentinel.
Monika's comments led Alex to try imagining a Redguard city that appeared less impressive than either Sentinel or Stros M'kai. Even such an image still seemed like a city of some note in his mind. Since leaving Falkreath behind, almost every city that he had seen made that city of his homeland seem like no more than a small township. He recalled that the city of Bravil had not been all that much to look at, behind those tall stone walls. Still, Falkreath could have easily fit inside those walls three times over.
Alex again looked to the dark clouds in the west with some concern. "Do you think that bad weather is likely to be a problem for us?"
Monika placed her hand upon his shoulder, leaning up against him as she looked out across the bay. "I don't think so. Looks like it'll probably just be a bit of wind and rain. Either way, we'll be in Sentinel by the time it's anywhere near here."
The wind had been picking up a bit, but it was hardly blowing a gale. Alex just accepted her opinion without comment.
The remainder of the morning passed rather peacefully, long periods of silence punctuated by brief passages of idle conversation. Nothing of special consequence came up in discussion. For the most part, the weather served as a perfect distraction.
It couldn't have been too far off noon by the time that the Crested Seahawk was finally nearing the port of Sentinel. Though it was hard to really tell exactly where the sun might be behind the thickening cloud cover.
By then, the distant shadow of the hill country above the coastline to the west had all but disappeared from view. It was not so much about the distance. The line of dark cloud shrouded the horizon as far as the eye could see. It was the same toward the south. Without a doubt, it seemed rather more likely that bad weather was on the way. Still, it would probably be a few hours before any of it reached the Hammerfell coast.
Ahead, the taller structures of Sentinel could be seen rising above the cliffs, but the actual port was still out of view. Since the crew of the vessel were all coming up on deck to prepare to make port, Alex and Monika made their way for below deck to return to their cabin.
Returning to that cramped cabin just meant more waiting. They didn't even need to deal with packing anything away, since they'd left their packs mostly intact.
To pass the time, Alex asked a little more about Sentinel, to add to what little he already knew from that brief visit a couple of weeks earlier. Of course, Monika didn't know all that much more than he did. She recounted that the general layout of that city appeared to roughly resemble that of the Imperial City. Only in as much as the Palace District occupied the centre and the surrounding districts formed a rough circle around it.
From what she recalled, the south-eastern side of Sentinel was supposed to represent the less friendly side of town. It was meant to be the poorer part of the city and a place of shady business, though she'd never seen it for herself.
As she understood it, the Temple District of Sentinel was supposed to be something like that of Wayrest, a bit like a small village around the main temple. She thought that there were a lot of houses around that as well, but she wasn't all that sure. She'd only just taken a quick look as she passed through and it was quite some time ago.
Monika did mention that Sentinel was supposed to have an open theatre that often hosted all sorts of performances. She used to occasionally hear about it back in Wayrest. She had vague recollection of hearing that performers from the Horley College, and even some of the local bards of Wayrest, would sometimes travel to Sentinel for that theatre. Again, she'd never seen it for herself, so she didn't really know that much.
Almost an hour had passed by before the ship seemed to come to a relative rest, indicating that they must have docked at the port. They waited a little longer before loading up with their belongings and leaving the cabin behind.
Back up on the deck of the Crested Seahawk, the sailors appeared to be busy with retying the hastily raised sails and securing the deck. They were yet to begin the work of any loading or unloading of cargo. Given the turn of weather, that might have either needed to be rushed or delayed accordingly. The wind had picked up even more. The dark clouds out somewhere over the bay looked to carry the promise or threat of heavy rains.
After a brief delay, the Argonian Bosun had cleared Alex and Monika to disembark the vessel onto the Sentinel docks. They quickly moved out of the way, dodging the frantic activity of the workers shifting crates and barrels on the dock.
Aside from the ship they'd just arrived on, there were three fishing boats and a smaller cargo vessel at the docks. Everyone in view seemed anxious to complete their tasks before the storm arrived. Monika managed to ask someone where they might find the harbourmaster or the equivalent. They were directed toward the dockside trading warehouse located near northern end of the docks.
Inside the dockside warehouse, they met a Breton man with a notable High Rock accent that ran the place. He'd introduced himself as Moorfield.
Mentioning the vessel they'd arrived on and the smaller cargo vessel at port, Monika asked out booking passage on the next ship bound for Cyrodiil.
Moorfield mentioned that the smaller ship only ran between Sentinel and Daggerfall, and sometimes up to Wayrest. He also suggested that nobody was likely to be going anywhere until that western storm had passed.
The Breton man further advised that it would be a few days before he could help with what they were after. The next southbound trading vessel wouldn't be in port until next Tirdas, leaving on the Middas. Even then, he wouldn't know if it were taking passengers until Loredas, when it passed through on its way up to Wayrest. There would be another trading vessel just two days after that, but it was still the same situation.
With nothing else for it, Monika and Alex elected to just leave it for the moment and head up for that inn located in the High District of Sentinel. Looking out across the bay behind them, it looked like the rain was no more than an hour or two away. They made their way quickly up the stepped hill, headed directly for the Seaview Inn.
Monika and Alex soon entered the tavern area of the Seaview Inn. It seemed relatively quiet inside. The only patrons were just a couple of Bretons sitting at a table over on the right and a solitary Imperial man by the corner nearest to the front doors.
They headed directly for the young Redguard woman standing behind the main counter. At their approach, she turned her attention toward them with a slight smile. "Welcome to the Seaview. What can I do for you?"
Monika responded. "We're uh… friends of Forester and Maplewood. There might be a message left here for us?"
The Redguard woman hesitated, glancing behind her.
Almost immediately, the older Colovian man that owned the Seaview emerged from the back room. "I got this, Tallie." His expression seemed slightly serious. "Northwind, isn't it? And uh…?"
Monika spoke up. "Monika Northwind and Alex Pinewatch, Fighter's Guild."
"That's right. Northwind and Pinewatch. I remember you, from a couple of week's back. Name's Hodge. I expect you'll be wondering about Forester."
"He said he'd be leaving word with you." Monika prompted.
Hodge's expression turned more grim. "Maybe we should go sit down and talk. I'll get you some drinks first."
A concerned glance passed between Monika and Alex. Neither of them liked the sound of the tavern owner's tone.
Hodge provided an ale for Monika. Alex declined any strong drink, opting for some water. Hodge soon led them over to an empty table, away from the few patrons in the tavern.
Alex and Monika lowered their packs, shields and bows to the floor before taking their seats. Once they were settled, Hodge started to tell what he knew. He started with a very brief outline of Forester and Maplewood's time there, as he knew of it, leading up to Rena's disappearance. Followed by Forester's disappearance shortly afterward.
Both Monika and Alex were suitably alarmed and concerned by what Hodge had to tell them. It was not all what they'd been expecting to hear. It almost seemed difficult to even believe that such a thing could have happened.
Alex was struggling to make sense of the sequence of events from that brief explanation. "So, how much time has passed… since all of this?"
Hodge scratched his ear. "Well, Maplewood must have gone missing… about last Tirdas." He paused another beat. "Then, it would been either Turdas or Fredas when Forester disappeared."
"Nearly a week?" Monika sounded incredulous.
"Well, yes. About that." Hodge gestured with open hands.
Monika exchanged another concerned glance with Alex before responding. "I think you should tell us everything you know."
Hodge nodded with an expression of clear agreement. "Of course." He went on to provide a far more detailed account of what he knew.
As he mentioned, it was fortunate that Forester had actually confided quite a bit. He knew that Forester and Maplewood had started with visiting all the business establishments of the city in their search for Taimar. Fairly early on, they had made the acquaintance of Captain Broder, the man in charge of the Legion Garrison over in the Foreign Quarter. Hodge briefly explained Broder's circumstances.
Hodge said Forester had related his suspicions of the behaviour of various persons he'd encountered throughout the city. He'd already formed the opinion that some sort of secretive activity seemed to be going on in the city. Both Forester and Maplewood seemed to think that a criminal organisation of some sort was most likely. Quiet whispers of someone referred to as 'the blacksmith' had drawn their attention. Hodge conceded that he'd never heard of anything like that before.
At first, their suspicions had been mostly raised by the beggars, some of the people they'd encountered over at the Sentinel Arena and some of the other businesses down in the lower district. Hodge specified the places he could think of.
Hodge explained the chain of events that involved the Dunmer called Hlaran, the representative of the Sentinel Trader's Association and the Breton priest from the temple, named Dufont. Planted information had led Forester and Maplewood into a potentially hostile encounter with the local Vigilants of Stendarr out on the northern road to Tigonus. It turned out that the Vigilants had been similarly duped.
Subsequent investigations seemed to indicate that neither Hlaran nor Dufont were knowingly aware of the deception, but they were unable to learn who was actually responsible.
Then, Maplewood seemed to have gone missing shortly after visiting Hlaran on her own. Over the following two days, Forester had investigated thoroughly, but came up with nothing. However, Hodge thought that Forester must have been close. Close enough that it resulted in his own disappearance.
Hodge relate a few further relevant points before he paused.
Monika's tone carried her disbelief. "So, three Fighter's Guild members have gone missing in the city? And the guards of the city?"
"No help there." Hodge's grim expression broadcast his frustration. "There's nothing to support the claim, but my say so. And no bodies have turned up." He winced at that suggestion. "Of course, Broder understands the situation, but his hands are firmly tied. He's had the two Guild Fighters on the task since they got back, Bjorn and Ceno, but he can't get permission to involve the Legion."
Monika's eyes shifted as she processed her thoughts.
Alex spoke up. "What should we do?"
Monika glanced to Alex. "We find them." Her tone emphasised her conviction.
Of course, Alex agreed, though he doubted it would be a simple matter. Hodge seemed openly impressed with the sentiment and said as much.
Monika pressed Hodge for anything else that he might know. Any possibly relevant detail that he might have left out.
In response, he spoke of that Vigilant of Stendarr that came into the tavern the other evening and of that group's particular interest in finding the cause of some other less obvious disappearances. Hodge went on to relate the details of the discussion with Broder from the previous evening. The key point of that discourse had been the notion that there might be a powerful vampire lurking somewhere in the city. One that was powerful enough to enthral strong and healthy warriors, keeping them close for the purpose of providing a good source of blood.
Though she tried to mask it, Monika appeared visibly discomforted by that particular idea. She'd dispatched a number of fairly ordinary vampires before, but none with extraordinary powers of mesmerism. One that might be able to mentally subdue someone like Forester gave her some pause. She tried to remind herself that they might not be even facing that kind of thing.
Alex did not seem to truly recognise the potential of that kind of threat. Of course, those vampires that they had dealt with near Skingrad last year, had been the only ones that he had ever encountered. Even then, only one of them had really seemed to present a higher level of threat.
According to Hodge, Captain Broder had said that he intended to encourage Bjorn and Ceno to go to the Vigilants of Stendarr and make some effort to coordinate their current investigations. As he hadn't seen Broder since then, he didn't know how that passed.
During their discussions, the sound of rain had started to make itself heard from outside. It started off rather subdued, but by then it was starting to grow much louder. There hadn't been any indication of thunder, just the noise of wind and heavy rain.
Just then, the front doors of the tavern unexpectedly burst open, drawing the immediate attention of everyone within. Two casually dressed male Dunmer and another man wearing a heavy cloak rushed inside. The wind driven rain followed at their dampened backs.
Fighting the surging gusts of wind, the two Dunmer appeared to struggle with getting the doors closed again. Hodge shifted in his seat, looking as though he was about to deliver some choice words.
"Get that closed." Tallie shouted out from behind the counter. Immediately afterward, she briskly strode toward the Dunmer with a broom and rags in hand.
Hodge settled back into his seat, keeping a wary eye upon the situation.
The young Redguard woman thrust the broom into the hands of one surprised Dunmer, forcing the second one to accept the rags. "This mess needs cleaning up before either of you start asking me for that stuff you drink."
Both Dunmer appeared humbly contrite, blaming the unexpected ferocity of the downpour outside. Nevertheless, they complied with Tallie's directions. The third man had deftly dodged the whole situation, settling by a table in the corner.
Though somewhat surprised by the intensity of the weather outside, neither Hodge nor anyone else at the table passed any comment. There were far important things on their minds at that moment.
Returning to matter at hand, another thought occurred to Monika. "You said something about storing the stuff that Forester and Maplewood left behind in their rooms?"
"That's right. It's all in my lockup." Hodge affirmed.
"Have you been through it?" Monika prompted.
Hodge returned a slightly confused look. "Well, not as such…"
Monika clarified. "Well, we oughta go take a proper look though it all. See if they left any sort of clues."
"Of course." Hodge felt a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought of that before.
Monika and Alex took up their gear and followed Hodge to the lock up, located in the back. He retrieved the belongings that he'd collected from Forester and Maplewood's rooms and passed them over. He assured that everything was just as they left it, except that he had to pack some of it away for them. It seemed to include everything but their weapons. Forester's bag contained very few items, though he'd left quite a bit of gold behind. Rena's packs were quite a different matter, since it was pretty much everything she'd brought with her on the journey to that land. Everything, except of course, her weapons and shield and anything else she had on her person when she disappeared.
Despite Monika's hopes, they found nothing of obvious relevance. Perhaps the most telling thing was that everything was still there, including any gold that they hadn't been carrying on their persons when they went missing.
Everything was soon put back in place and then returned to the lock up, to be left in Hodge's care. At least for the time being.
Alex looked to Monika. "So, what should we do now?"
Monika tilted her head. "Well, the weather's not exactly giving us much choice."
"Looked pretty serious." Hodge commented.
Monika looked back toward the front. "We oughta look at getting a room, then plan for what we're gonna do tomorrow."
"That, I can certainly help with." Hodge offered a mild grin.
They all headed back out the front to the main counter and Hodge organised suitable accommodation for them. In accordance with their preference, he'd organised a couple's room up on the third level. He made a point of telling them he would only accept payment to the value of a second level room.
Monika suggested that he might want think further about that, since they were fairly likely to be staying until the following Middas.
Hodge accepted that possibility, but he wouldn't hear of charging them any more. He was more interested in helping them find their comrades, with any small effort that he could reasonably offer. He also mentioned that if Broder happened to come into the tavern that evening, he would either get word to them or send him upstairs, if they preferred.
Alex and Monika soon left Hodge behind, heading upstairs to the room on the third level of the Seaview. At first impression, that room did appear rather well appointed. It might well have been the best room in the place. It was at least the equal of some of the better places they'd stayed before, other than that suite in the White-Gold Tower, of course.
Without pulling out everything, they unpacked some of their belongings, making proper use of the lock up chest provided for storing valuables.
They'd also laid out their leather armour to air for the next day. Monika had suggested that they would need to be fully prepared for trouble when they headed out in the morning. That meant being fully armed and armoured.
They soon headed back downstairs for a meal, hoping to beat any rush of activity in the tavern. As it passed, it hadn't been quite that busy. The persistent rain outside was the most likely reason for that circumstance.
Afterward, they visited the bathroom facilities, then retired to their upstairs room for the evening. It was still raining quite heavily outside. Looking out the windows, they could barely make out the lights in the windows of other nearby buildings in view.
Monika and Alex briefly discussed tenuous plans for the next day. Monika suggested that they should probably go see that Legion Captain first. She hoped that they could find out what those other Guild Fighters and the local Vigilants were up to. Once they had a better idea of exactly what was going on, they could plan their activities accordingly.
Trying to anticipate their needs, Alex asked whether they should be seeking supplies suited to dealing with vampires. From that previous mission, he recalled the effectiveness of those silver weapons and special poisons. He didn't know what else they might utilise for that purpose.
Monika reminded him that they might not be even facing a vampire. Still, she did concede that it might be a good idea to prepare for that possibility. At the same time, she advised that they were going to need to be on guard for the unexpected and ready for anything.
Alex quietly accepted her assessment, without really having any idea what to expect.
Monika affected a crooked smile. "Well, it looks like we're going to be having a good look at Sentinel after all."
"Yes, I suppose." Alex had not actually spoken of his wish to have the time to fully explore the place. Of course, he had not previously considered that they might be needing to conduct a search for their absent comrades. Nor did he want that to be the reason for passing so much time in that city.
Alex and Monika spoke for a while longer, going over some of the things that Hodge had told them. Intending to rise early the next day, they were off to bed relatively early. Sleep did not come quite so easily.
~O~