Chapter Twenty-four: Haven for Ahemmusa
Merlac knew he was dreaming again. He was in a large dungeon, somewhere deep underground. Around him were slowly flowing rivers of lava, and the air was hot and the toxic fumes burnt his throat. The cave was full of deformed creatures, who were building some kind of machines from wood and pieces of dwemer metal. To Merlac's horror, he recognised the deformed creatures; they were humans and dunmer, all infected by the terrible corpus disease. Merlac was able to see the fear and pain in the faces of those creatures, who had once been normal people of Vvardenfell, doing their daily tasks.
"...and now they are working for Dagoth Ur, I guess.", said a voice behind Merlac, as if knowing what he had been thinking.
Merlac turned around, surprised by the fact that nobody had actually talked to him in the dreams before. Even more surprised Merlac was when he saw Achen standing in front of him, staring at the working creatures.
"Achen...how...what are you doing here?", Merlac asked.
"I haven't told you, but I've been having these dreams as well, since we left the Cavern of the Incarnate. I guess Azura marked me as your companion in your journey, or something.", Achen said, sounding a bit sad, and walked closer.
"How do you know they are working for Dagoth Ur?"
"I saw this same place two nights ago. I saw the ash vampires who command these workers. They all work for the Dagoth family under Red Mountain, and the strongest of them are Dagoth's cousins and other relatives, like the one who you killed inside that Sixth House cult base."
Merlac looked to the other end of the cave and saw a long, dark figure standing and observing the workers. When one of the creatures stopped holding his head, the figure conjured a powerful spell of pain at it. The creature screamed and crawled in the ground.
"What are they building?"
"I'm not sure, but they sure as hell look like war machines, rams, scorpions, slings... they are preparing for war."
"War against what? What time is it?", Merlac wondered.
"I'm not sure, but from the look of those remainings of dwemer metal, it must be long after the war between the dwemer and the chimer. And as they are working for the Dagoth family, there really aren't many possibilities..."
"It's happening right now! They are preparing to invade Vvardenfell!"
"Do you think they could get past the Ghostfence?"
"Well, if some ash vampires have already managed to escape through it in small numbers, it's possible they can damage it enough to come through..."
"The only place where they can walk through with an army, is the Ghostgate. Elsewhere the mountain is too steep or the Ghostfence too strong."
"I agree. But how much time do we have?"
"Not much, Achen, not much..."
Slowly, the cave around them blurred and they both found themselves looking at the stars again. Merlac was right, they had to hurry, or they would not be able to stop the Dagoth family...
---
Early next morning, Merlac and Achen reached the Northeast tip of Vvardenfell, the place where the Ashlander tribe Ahemmusa lived. Now when the three Great Houses of Morrowind already followed Merlac's lead, the next part of the prophecy was to unite the four tribes. With Nibani Maesa as Merlac's guide, he had already gained trust of the Urshilaku tribe, and the next one on the list was the peace-loving community of Ahemmusa.
Unlike the first time Merlac visited Urshilaku camp, this time there were no warriors intercepting them. Merlac and Achen were able to reach the village before they met any Ashlanders at all. The people in the small camp stared curiously, some even scared, when the two companions walked through the camp towards the part where usually the tent of Ashkhan was situated. However, to Merlac's surprise, there was no Ashkhan's tent in this camp.
"Err... something's missing.", Merlac said, as they arrived to the centre of the camp, where was a decorated empty piece of ground, but no great tent.
"I can see that. Perhaps the Ashkhan lives elsewhere?"
"No, tribe leader's tent is always here, it is an Ashlander tradition."
"What now? Should we ask the tribe members?"
"No...let's go to see the wise woman, Sinnammu Mirpal. Nibani told me she would probably be happy to see us, but she didn't say anything about a missing Ashkhan...though maybe this was what she meant."
When Merlac and Achen arrived to the wise woman's tent, she was already standing in front of her tent.
"I am Sinnammu Mirpal, the wise woman of the poor tribe Ahemmusa. The word has spread and I know why you are here, Merlac the Imperial. Please, we shall continue in my tent.", the old woman greeted them and Merlac and Achen followed her inside the tent.
The woman sat down on a comfortable animal skin in the middle of the tent and Merlac and Achen sat down in front of her. The tent was much like Nibani's from the inside, as it was decorated with painted animal skins, home-made clothes and bone-jewellery.
"We thought we should first see your Ashkhan", Merlac started.
The wise woman looked down and looked sad. When she spoke, there was tiredness in her voice.
"The Ahemmusa have no Ashkhan, not anymore. Our great chief fell in battle long ago, and since that day our tribe has lived peacefully without choosing a new leader. No member of our clan is worthy. We have many capable warriors, but they are without a leader and nobody can train new, brave young ones. Every year our numbers diminish due to predators and thieves."
"How can I help?", Merlac asked without a delay.
The wise woman smiled.
"You have the right heart to become the protector of people, but there is indeed one thing I might ask you to do to us, as a favour, in return of naming you Nerevarine."
"We would be happy to help.", Achen confirmed Merlac's words.
"These lands of Vvardenfell no longer grow fertile enough to support our people, and the risk of looting adventurers increases all the time. Our tribe needs a safe place to live, but it must not be too far away from our current location, as the young ones cannot travel far. It also must be a cave of some sort, to protect us from ash storms and predators."
"Don't worry, we will find you a safe place to stay.", Merlac said firmly.
"No, there is no such place. There are no unoccupied caves or caverns in this part of Vvardenfell. However, I do have one place in my mind that would fill our needs. Please, follow me."
Merlac and Achen exchanges curious looks and followed the wise woman out of the tent. The woman walked through the camp on to a small hill surrounding it. Merlac and Achen followed her to the hill, and once on top of it, they saw the sea surrounding them.
"I never realised your tribe lives so near the coast", Merlac said.
"Fishing is our main source of food. Now, there, that is the place I want my people to move into.", the woman said and pointed at the nearby island a short distance from the beach.
Merlac looked at the direction Sinnammu was pointing at. He heard Achen to take a fast breath as well, as he recognised the dark figure of the towers of a daedric shrine.
"Err...don't tell me that is...", Achen started.
"...Ald Daedroth, one of the oldest Daedric shrines on Vvardenfell."
"You want us to make a daedric shrine a safe place to live for your tribe?", Merlac repeated.
"Yes. It is a perfect place with fertile island around it and protective caverns of the underground shrine. And don't worry about the daedra lords, they abandoned the place centuries ago."
"Oh... they did? I guess then it should be a safe place already, as looters have probably already stolen everything worth stealing."
"That is correct, but the shrine is not unoccupied.", the wise woman said, while still staring at the island.
"It isn't? Who lives in a place like that, except for the rats of course."
"Some unorganised members of the Daedra cult, a group of fanatics who still worship some daedric statues left there."
"Oh great... fanatics, anything else?", Merlac asked.
"Yes... but I do not wish to spoil your fun. Please come back and tell me when the place is safe enough for our children. Then, and only then, you will be named as the Nerevarine of tribe Ahemmusa."
The wise woman smiled widely to Merlac and Achen and walked back towards to village, leaving the two companions alone in the beach.
"Fanatics...", Merlac repeated.
"I didn't like the grin on that woman's face, Merlac, there is something else in this.
"I agree, but we both have been in more difficult places than that, so I believe we can handle few fanatics and... whatever there is."
"So... let's start building a raft then, shall we?"
---
A few hours later, Merlac and Achen had already paddled to the small island and started walking towards the shrine. As they approached, they heard a man yelling and they both pulled out their swords. They arrived to a small, open area in the middle of the island and on the other side of it they saw the entrance to the underground shrine. The only problem was that between them and the shrine was a battle going on.
"What the...?", Achen started.
They both kneeled behind a small rock to observe the situation. In front of them were several remainings of daedric statues and other ruins and a group of people with dark robes, firing spells to the other side of the open area.
"All right, those are the fanatics, but what are they shooting at?"
"Look, there!", Achen said and pointed at something glittering.
Merlac looked where Achen was pointing and saw two ordinators walking from behind a large, collapsed pillar, with their shields in front of them. The spells of the fanatics started striking them but doing only little damage to the enchanted golden shields. Behind these two ordinators came three more temple guards with their shiny armours, pointing at the fanatics with their crossbows.
"Fire!", one of the ordinators yelled and they fired simultaneously towards the fanatics. Merlac saw two of the fanatics to fall down with arrows in their chests and a third holding his wounded arm.
The two remaining fanatics fired few more spells uselessly towards the ordinators and then tried to ran away. The two nearest ordinators dropped their shields and fired stunning spells, which struck the fanatics in their backs. The ordinators surrounded the wounded fanatic and tied them all up.
"I think the battle is over...", Achen said.
"Yeah, this was probably the thing Sinnammu didn't mention, the temple is cleaning this shrine already."
"Yep, but there are usually several dozen daedra worshippers in one shrine, those ordinators might need some backup."
"Lets go and introduce ourselves, shall we?"
"Err... Merlac, wait a second. We'd better not mention the Ahemmusa or the prophecy", Achen said.
"Why not?"
"Because... well, like Nibani said, temple will not like you trying to become Nerevarine, and the ordinators are the guards of the temple."
"Oh... good point, what if we say we are here to just loot the place?"
"Sounds simple enough, lets go."
Merlac and Achen stood up and started carefully walking towards the ordinators. In the midway, one of them noticed the two men and alerted the others. All of them put their hands on their scimitars but none of them pulled them out.
"Hello there!", Merlac said happily.
"What is your business here, stranger?", the nearest Ordinator demanded.
"Me and my friend here are just wondering if we could enter the shrine of Ald Daedroth to loot the place, I hope we are not interrupting anything important?"
The Ordinator snorted and they all relaxed a bit.
"I'm pretty sure there is nothing left in this shrine, except the fanatics."
Merlac tried to look surprised.
"The Tribunal Temple sent us to either kill or capture them", a second Ordinator said.
"Looks like you did a good job.", Achen said and nodded towards the bodies.
"Our main patrol had already entered the shrine, when these idiots came out of the forest and we were caught in crossfire. I'm pretty sure these were the last ones outside the caverns though."
"Can we help or something?", Merlac asked while trying to sound innocent.
"Hah, we can handle ourselves, thank you, but you can always go down to the tomb and tell the patrol that we have secured the surface. As soon as the fanatics have been taken into custody, the shrine is all yours. Loot it, occupy it, do whatever you like."
"Ah, that would be generous of you, thank you very much. We'll just go now and explore the shrine, good day to you!", Achen said and he and Merlac started walking towards the shrine door.
As they had almost reached the door, one of the ordinators yelled to them. Something inside Merlac told him they might be in trouble.
"Hey, you two, wait a second!"
Merlac and Achen stopped and turned around, carefully taking a better grab of their swords.
"Do I know you from somewhere?", one of the ordinators said and pointed at Merlac.
"Ordinators will mark you as their enemy", Merlac said quietly to himself. These temple guards had surely seen his picture several times after he had become the Hortator of House Hlaalu.
"Umm... probably not, I haven't been near the cities lately, perhaps you mix me up with someone else?"
"Yeah...maybe...no, I'm sure I've seen you before."
The other ordinators started staring Merlac more closely.
Suddenly, a stunning spell hit one of the ordinators in the back and stunned him. The others turned around and saw one more fanatic kneeling behind a bush. One of the ordinators grabbed a crossbow and fired, killing the man with a direct hit in his chest.
"Aarh, one of them was still hiding in the bushes... ah, you two are still here? You can go, we wont delay you any longer, there still might be some of them left.", the Ordinator said to Merlac and Achen.
Happy for this lucky event, Merlac and Achen quickly opened the large door and entered the underground shrine.
"That was close", Achen said as they walked down a narrow corridor.
"Too close, we might not be as lucky when we visit Vivec next time."
Soon they arrived to a bit larger corridor with a crossing. Two ordinators appeared from the tunnel in front of them, carrying the body of a dead fanatic.
"Hey, who are you?", the first Ordinator demanded when he noticed the two men.
"Err... hi, your friends on the surface let us in, we have nothing to do with the fanatics, just take them away for all we care.", Achen said quickly.
The ordinators looked at each other, nodded to Merlac and Achen and continued walking towards the surface.
"So, which corridor should we take?", Merlac asked.
"Well, the structure of daedric shrines is usually the same, so the corridor on the right probably leads to small, outer shrine rooms, and the corridor in front of us leads to the inner shrine. The ordinators have probably already cleared the outer parts of the shrine, so I guess we should then continue to the inner parts, there might still be some battles left."
"You're right, the sooner the ordinators clean this place, the sooner we can go and tell the Ahemmusa the good news."
Merlac and Achen continued walking along the dark corridors deeper and deeper underground, until they finally arrived to a small room with a large door made of daedric metal. The door was half open, and one could hear yelling and sounds of fighting from the other side.
"Sounds like someone's still home.", Achen said and pulled out his longsword again.
"Let's join the party", Merlac replied and pulled out the ebony sword Bolvyn Venim had given him after their duel in the great arena of Vivec.
Merlac and Achen kicked the door open together and rushed into the inner shrine. The room was actually a large hall similar to the one Achen had visited under fort Firemoth. In the middle was standing a large daedric statue and everything around it was total chaos. There were several dead or dying fanatics on the floor and even two ordinators were badly injured and trying to crawl to safety.
As soon as Merlac stepped inside the room, he had to evade a flying body, which crashed into the stone wall next to him. A gigantic roar filled the hall as a huge, grey ogrim tried to smash an Ordinator with his enormous fists.
"What the...?"
"Looks like the fanatics had a little pet", Achen said.
"A little pet?!", Merlac yelled and evaded another flying fanatic.
The ordinators were ignoring the panicking fanatics and were surrounding the ogrim, trying to kill it with combined spells.
"That ogrim is bigger than a bull netch, it's a one hell of a job to get that baby down...", Achen moaned.
"We must help them.", Merlac said suddenly.
"Err... are you mad? Why can't we just let the ogrim eat the fanatics and ordinators and maybe it will leave us alone?"
"Because I don't think the Ahemmusa will consider this a safe place if it contains a raging ogrim."
Achen shook his head and ran after Merlac, who had already started fighting his way towards the monster. Along the way, Merlac stunned two fanatics and Achen kicked third in the stomach.
"Can you keep me safe for a few seconds?", Merlac yelled over the noises of battle, while evading the crossfire from the ordinators and the fanatics.
"Err... sure, you want me to feed that ogrim as well?", Achen grinned and knocked another fanatic out of his feet.
Merlac knew he needed something nastier than a stunning spell this time. It was many times harder to summon a fireball now when he was not affected by the hatred-producing incense inside the Sixth House base. However, he knew he had the skill, he just had to concentrate just for a few seconds.
Achen blocked a spell heading towards Merlac with his shield. Merlac closed his eyes and his hands started sparkling. Few ordinators noticed what Merlac was doing and jumped out of the way. Merlac waved his hands in large circle and threw an enormous firespell at the Ogrim. It struck with full force right into the ogrim's chest, burning a large, smoking hole into it.
The ogrim made a loud roar and started swinging in pain. It hit one of the ordinators with his fist and despite the strong armour, the Ordinator flew across the room like an empty crate. The other ordinators hit the monster with few more spells, until the enormous creature moaned and fell against the large statue, collapsing it over himself.
"Oh... excellent timing, a skilful battlemage was just what we needed out here.", one of the ordinators said to Merlac as the ogrim's body didn't move anymore.
"Don't mention it.", Merlac grinned.
"Hey, they are getting away!", Achen yelled from the other side of the room, as two remaining fanatics ran out of the hall towards the surface.
"Let them go, we have men on the surface that will catch them", another Ordinator said to Achen.
Achen sheathed his sword and tapped Merlac into his shoulder.
"Nice job, it didn't even have a chance."
"Indeed, nice job considering you're just an adventurer....aren't you? Or have I seen you before?", the Ordinator wondered and started staring at Merlac more closely.
"Err... I think your friends on the surface said that you should collect the bodies rather fast and then return to the mainland, next task is waiting or something...", Achen interrupted.
"Oh... of course, you two probably want to keep everything you find down here, well, it's all yours. Probably nothing left though. Men! Gather the bodies, treat the injured and then lets move out!", the Ordinator instructed his men and left Achen and Merlac standing next to the large corpse of the ogrim.
It took the ordinators several hours to transport the bodies and the wounded out of the shrine. The highest ranking Ordinator thanked Merlac and Achen one more time, until the group of temple guards touched their Almsivi amulets and disappeared back to the mainland.
"So... I guess the shrine is empty now.", said Merlac as they were standing outside the shrine entrance, this time alone.
"Yeah, now we can go and...wait, there's somebody moving around there!", Achen whispered and pointed at the forest.
Merlac lowered his hand to his sword's hilt and stared where Achen was pointing at. There was indeed somebody moving there. Finally, a small group of people walked out of the forest and continued towards the shrine. Merlac immediately recognised most of them and relaxed again.
The group was led by Sul-Matuul himself, closely followed by Nibani Maesa and Sinnammu Mirpal, the Ahemmusa wise woman. They were guarded by few Urshilaku warriors.
Merlac was about to greet his friends as they approached, but then he noticed the sad expressions on their faces.
"I'm afraid we bring bad news", the Urshilaku Ashkhan said as they arrived to speaking distance.
"What is it?", Achen asked worried.
Nibani shook his head sadly and spoke.
"We bring terrible news indeed..."