The soft clang of weapons and armor against themselves was prevalent as they stepped into the over-sized elevator, considering still that it was made for use by Dwemer. Everyone who got onto the mechanical lift could hear each other's harsh breathing as the air got thinner, and thinner, and the elevator went down, and down. Stone inscriptions left by the Dwemer were scrawled decoratively into the stone walls that passed them as the elevator continued its descent into the depths of Blackreach, where they would make their new home. Logvarine had to reason with himself that these "Snow-elves" were no longer people, so as to not feel the guilt of their genocide. If anything it was a merciful release from their tortured existence.

"Anyone here that has a bow will stick behind the group as the others make the push forward; I will lead the charge, but we need some mages to stick back for healing – any volunteers?" Logvarine asked.

Three hands instantly shot up that he could see.

"Good, then stay with the archers and assist only when necessary. This is going to get intense." Logvarine concurred.

The sounds of turning and whirring gears clicked on and on until suddenly the elevator lurched to a stop; they had arrived in the deepest known place in all of Tamriel. Closer to oblivion than they wished to be. The gate opened up and the scene in front of them was not as dark as they had originally thought. Many bioluminescent plants and fungi lit up the gloomy black caverns and light-producing rocks dotted the roof of the extremely tall cave. Logvarine could see for at least half a mile in one direction; it was most definitely the largest cave he had ever seen.

Down the slope that they stepped out onto were four Falmer, with their eyeless faces just as hideous as Logvarine had remembered them. They wore almost nothing, except for one that was in a full set of chitinous armor that even covered his "Eyes". Their weapons even looked twisted and wrong, just like them.

It seemed as if the Falmer had not yet noticed the intruders. Logvarine raised one open hand and everyone stopped walking. He took one last adrenaline fueled breath and then closed his hand in a fist.

"CHARGE!" shouted Tylnar. The group of men and women roared in agreement and burst forward with their weapons unsheathed and their mouths open to release their war cries. Logvarine sprinted toward the enemies that turned their heads and unsheathed their own weapons. One of the Falmer let out a shrieking, ear-rattling war cry and ran back at them. Logvarine stabbed one of the blind monstrosities by the neck and plunged the breath of Ysmir into the elf's stomach and it froze the area around the wound with frost magic. It began to choke on its own crimson life waters as it fell to the cavern floor, gurgling. Logvarine looked up to see that the Falmer from the nearby ruins had been alerted and had joined the fray; they were at least forty units strong. With no time to waste, Rytel jumped into the skirmish with two daggers in his hands and his bow on his back, obviously disobeying Logvarine's orders.

There was no time to get mad at anyone though. Logvarine ran through the crowds as they fought and clashed his blades with another Falmer whom proceeded to screech in his face, spraying saliva all over his cowl and hood. Logvarine grabbed the creature's arm and sent a nasty shock rocketing up his arm and into his brain; killing him. He pushed the elf aside and then lunged forward to stab another in the shoulder. The mutant roared out and then struck at Logvarine's arm with his claws, but to no avail. Logvarine plunged his icy sword deeper into the monster's shoulder and then slashed its neck with his clawed gauntlets. Blood sprayed all over both of them and the elf slid off of Logvarine's blade as he fell to the ground grasping his neck.

Without warning an arrow shot down from above him and placed its head in Logvarine's shoulder. He recoiled, but simply pulled the arrow out with a trace amount of his blood on its tip; it had barely pierced his armor. He looked up to see three Falmer notching oddly shaped arrows in their makeshift bows, on the Dwemer tower above. Logvarine shouted his own war cry as he sent a fireball hurdling towards the three snow elves. They noticed the large fiery sphere but were not quick enough to get away as they were nearly completely incinerated in the blast.

To his left, Logvarine could hear the howls of the werewolves that had turned. Samuel approached Logvarine in his werewolf form and an arm in his mouth. He grabbed it out and threw it to the ground. "We're pushing them back, Logvarine!" he growled through his white-gray muzzle.

"Good. Charge the wall!"

"Charge the wall!" Samuel echoed for all to hear and they all cheered back. Logvarine saw Rytel out the corner of his vision and ran over to help. He was beset upon by two Falmer and quickly dispatched them before Logvarine could step in.

"Rytel, follow me!" Logvarine called. Rytel looked up at his friend and nodded.

"I'm with you, Sera!"

Logvarine drew Rytel away from the main battle and leapt up to a climbable rock face, beside the walls that guarded the Falmer's stolen fortress. Logvarine went to call to Rytel but then noticed that he had climbed on ahead of him. He just shook his head and continued climbing. He vaulted up with one hand and landed on the wall with Rytel already decapitating one of the elves.

"What's your plan?" he asked as he approached Logvarine. Logvarine pulled his mask down to reveal his face and then exhaled.

"We are stealth experts, so we need to help in the best way we can."

"Flank tactics…"

A raspy, reptilian voice began to speak behind Logvarine, "Oh, and I'm not an expert?" asked Em-shei. Logvarine whipped around but then saw his friend.

"Fine, follow us, but don't muck it up." He made that point very clear. The trio proceeded carefully down the wall and used the clashing ruckus of combat to cover up their noised steps, even if Logvarine did have enchanted armor it was better safe than sorry. He approached a snow elf from behind and slit its throat with one fluid motion.

Rytel looked down over the wall into the fortress, the doors hadn't been opened yet, but their men were working on busting it down. The clang of people pushing back and forth on the stone door was clearly hearable. "When they break through, jump down onto the nearest Falmer, okay." Logvarine told both of his comrades.

Both Em-shei and Rytel nodded in agreement and then got into position as they could hear the door opening more and more. There was at least fifty Falmer in this fortress, and Logvarine had only lost two men from what he could tell. The battle was evenly matched considering that even with their larger numbers, the Falmer had no training.

With one final push the door was thrown open and the men and women flooded forward. "NOW!" Logvarine shouted as he jumped forward and plotted his jump's course. He landed directly on one of the Falmer and plunged his weapon into the top of the elf's shoulder. He recovered from the staggering jump and stabbed the elf in the face, splitting its head open. Rytel and Em-shei also landed on their own targets and joined the fight. Logvarine unsheathed Parthurnaax and passed his other sword off into his left hand. With both of his blades at the ready, he charged forward with Rytel and Em-shei beside him.

A chaurus, a horrible earwig-esque black monstrous thing with giant mandibles, jumped forward and caught Logvarine's leg in its maw. He staggered back but took no time plunging his magical blades into the head of the monster. How the Falmer managed to tame these things was anyone's guess. He ripped the closed mandibles from his leg and charged on at the Falmer before him, equipped in full chaurus chitin armor. The elf screeched at his opponent as he made a step forward and held out his sword. Logvarine struck at the Falmer's sword and sent it reeling sideways but when he tried to take a stab at the mutant elf it blocked his strike with its chitinous shield. Logvarine kicked up the shield with his knee and finally struck the armored Falmer in the chest. The flaming blade sliced through the black armor like jelly and charred the monster's skin.

It continued yelling at Logvarine in some dead language that no one could understand.

"Just DIE!" Logvarine screamed as he rushed his other blade through the chest of the Falmer. Logvarine lurched forward to make the blades go deeper and the creature tried to take a breath but was met with the ashes that used to be his lungs. Logvarine slid his swords from the beast's chest and let him fall back onto the ground. A pool of dark scarlet painted the ground, a canvas of carnage. He kneeled down in exhaustion and took his breaths with a grain of salt; any could be his last.

A screech to the right of a now tired Logvarine heralded his imminent death. He turned but did not have enough time to dodge as the Falmer ran toward him with a spear in his hands. Before it could make contact however, the Falmer was met with another spear to the side of the gut, and it tore through him like a wolf would tear apart his prey. Logvarine recognized the spear and accepted the hand that was soon extended to him. He got to his feet with the Hound's aid and looked down at his attacker, the Falmer's intestines were spilling out and its chest slowly stopped moving.

"Is that all there is?" Logvarine asked. The Hound had blood all over his lower face, a sign that he had feasted amid the battle.

"I wish there were more… but there don't seem to be any more." He breathed hard like a saber-cat after a successful hunt.

"Good… well we might as well… clean up…" he looked down at the Falmer with his insides out and cringed. He obviously wasn't very hungry.

"Are you going to eat that?" asked the Hound, jokingly.

By the end of the day, everyone was nearly moved in and the place already looked like home. Banners bearing the symbol of the white-gold tower were hung from the walls of the fortress and torch stances were set up around the court yard. Logvarine had sent out a few scouting parties not long after the battle to drive out the rest of whatever might be living down there. Everything looked so small when he stood upon the walls of the underground city and peered off into the distance. The cavern walls were so dark that they seemed more like gateways to another world than shadowed walls.

"We're still cleaning up the blood; what a mess." Said Catath'een from behind him.

"Do you like it?" asked Logvarine without turning around.

"I wish we did not have to see so many die, but yes, it is wonderful." She embraced him from behind and wrapped her warm arms around him.

"Will you help me move the artifacts down here?" he asked suddenly. She released him and stepped back.

"Uh… sure." She said as she grabbed his hand and they walked off toward the elevator.

The only thing that worried him, was thinking about how strong the full force of the Aldmeri dominion would be. Could they hope to actually defeat them in fair combat, or would they have to stick to cowardly hit and run tactics? Guerilla warfare was tiring and not effective enough to drive off the Thalmor menace. The planning would have to wait until after the wedding of course.