Chapter Twenty-seven: Battle of Red Mountain
Merlac and Achen began their journey towards the Red Mountain as soon as they had rested. Merlac had never been near the Ghostgate or the Ghostfence itself, but the travelling was not a problem, as the mountain itself could be seen almost in all corners of Vvardenfell.
During their four-day-travel, the whether changed daily. The nearer they got to the mountain, more often ash storms clouded the sun. Despite the awful weathers, few times per day a scout from one of the Great Houses reached them to inform about the progress of gathering troops. Merlac was surprised how fast the Great Houses had been able to form the divisions and send them towards the Ghostgate, as he and Achen had trouble just walking forward in the constant storms.
Finally, in the morning of the fifth day after meeting Lord Vivec, Merlac and Achen finally reached the heavily guarded Ghostgate. For the first ten minutes, they just stood on a high hill and stared at the magical barrier surrounding the mountain and protecting Vvardenfell from the blight and the creatures inside it. In the barren, grey hills around the mountain, the sparkling blue magical wall looked like extremely strong polar lights, which continued into the horizon as far as Merlac was able to see.
Between the Ghostfence and Merlac, was a large, open area, large enough to fit whole city of Vivec there. Achen took a long breath, as he saw the thousands and thousands of warriors camping in the open area. He was able to recognise the bonemold armours of the Hlaalu and Redoran warriors, as well as the Telvanni elite guards and battlemages. However, there was one large group of people Merlac was not able to identify from that distance.
"Wow, I've never seen that many people in once place", Achen marvelled.
"Neither have I.", Merlac agreed.
"Hmm... who are those behind the Hlaalu warriors?"
"I was just wondering the same. We cant be sure from this far away, but from the look of their armours I'd say they are not either Hlaalu or Redoran."
"Yeah, and they can't be Telvanni either, their house don't have an army that big. Besides, the other Telvanni's are on the other side of the area."
Merlac and Achen started walking down the hill they had been standing on, wondering at the same time who the unknown group of warriors belonged to. As they reached the bottom of the valley, a group of people walked closer and greeted them. Most of them Merlac and Achen already knew.
"Ah, there you are! We've been expecting you!", a tall dunmer in ebony cuirass said and shook hands with Merlac and Achen.
"Bolvyn Venim, I expect you speak on the behalf of the Redoran troops, am I right?", Merlac said and nodded to the man.
"Yes, I will fight in the front line under your command, Hortator.", Venim said and grinned.
"Why don't you introduce your friends here", said Achen to Venim and pointed at the group of people around them.
Merlac looked around. His mouth turned into a smile as he saw Sul-Matuul and about twenty Urshilaku warriors.
"Merlac, I'm here as you requested.", the Ashkhan said and bowed politely to him.
"Here is the leader of the Hlaalu troops and his second-in-command.", said Venim and pointed at the two men standing next to the ashlander warriors. They both had a full set of dark-green glass armour. Merlac nodded to them.
"...and I believe you already know some of the Telvanni battlemages", Venim continued and pointed at the eight dunmer wizards and their guards on the other side of him.
Merlac saw Divayth Fyr and the other high wizards nodding slightly to Merlac, but to no-one's surprise they did not smile.
"The fine men on your left are the officers of the Imperial legions in Vvardenfell. I'm sure you find it rather pleasing to know that the Emperor himself ordered the whole garrisons near Balmora and Ald'ruhn to join this battle under your command.", Vemin said and couldn't help grinning.
"Caius Muritius, at your service, sir!", the nearest officer saluted Merlac, with his Imperial armour shining.
"Great to have you here!", Merlac thanked the officer.
"Just doing our job."
"So... how many of you are here, total?", Merlac asked, while starting to put on a magically enchanted cuirass one of the Redoran councillors had donated to him.
"With the Imperial reinforcements, I'd say almost fifteen thousand.", Vemin answered.
"Fifteen thousand?!", Merlac breathed and accidentally dropped one of the screws.
"That's what happens when you manage to unite something as powerful as the Great Houses of Morrowind", Achen grinned next to him.
"So, what do we...", the Hlaalu leader started, but he was interrupted as the ground started rumbling slightly.
"What the hell?", Achen cursed.
"We'd better get ready for anything", Venim said and took a small horn from his belt. He took a deep breath and blew at the horn, making a sharp sound that echoed from the Ghostfence. One by one, several horns answered from amongst the camping group of warriors.
Merlac and Achen watched impressed as 15 000 Dunmer and Imperial warriors started forming battle formations and putting out the campfires. Merlac was almost startled as another horn, this time a much bigger one, hooted in the valley.
Suddenly, something colourful erupted from the mountain. The whole army, including the group around Merlac, stopped moving and stared at the phenomenon. The purple, sparkling phenomenon rose high above the mountain, until it suddenly changed direction and fell towards the Ghostfence.
"Oh crap, it's going to hit the...", Achen started, but too late. The magic hit the Ghostgate with enormous power, smashing the entire small fortress into burning pieces, which rained over the startled army.
Then Merlac saw it; behind the burning remains of the Ghostgate, stood thousands and thousands of creatures, blighted animals, corpus monsters, ash vampires and giant ogrims. As the ash clouds covered the sky almost completely, the army of those creatures looked even scarier than Merlac had feared. Luckily, Merlac did not freeze, but acted fast.
"They're coming! Prepare your troops!", Merlac yelled to Hlaalu and Redoran leaders.
"Archers!", Venim yelled and blew into his horn again. Only few seconds later, hundreds of arrows darted towards the creatures, which had now started coming through the remainings of the wall.
"Merlac! You'd better hurry, we'll hold them here!", Venim yelled to Merlac and rushed towards the frontline.
"Sul-Matuul, you and your warriors come with me and Achen to the mountain. The others will remain here and protect the valley, no ash vampires must be allowed to leave the hills!", Merlac yelled to the group.
"Let's go then!", Achen yelled to the small remaining group and drew out his longsword. The Urshilaku warriors drew out their weapons as well and Merlac grabbed his ebony broadsword.
The group started jogging towards the front line, as another swarm of arrows whistled over them and struck the creatures. Despite the rain of arrows, the monster army started running over the still-burning ruins of the Ghostfence and charged against the waiting troops. The nearest Redoran platoon drew out their swords simultaneously and prepared to intercept the creatures.
Merlac couldn't help noticing the similarity of the scene to the battle he had seen in his dreams long time ago. That battle had taken place at the same valley, between the Chimer and the Dwemer. While still jogging towards the Ghostgate, Merlac saw a familiar, small, rock hill on his right side. It was the same hill general Nerevar had been standing in that dream. However, in that dream, there had not been a mountain, just another dwemer fortress.
Just before the group reached the burning remains of the gate, the two opposite armies struck together. Hundreds of animals and creatures swarmed over the fearless Redoran warriors. Though they were only brainless animals and creatures, they tried to kill their enemies by using brute numbers and force. When the first line of warriors fell in battle, the next one took their place without hesitation. Another swarm of arrows flew over their heads and struck the enemy. Merlac knew they had to hurry, the longer they waited the more Vvardenfell's people would die in the battle...
As the battle was raging at the remainings of the main gate of Ghostgate, Merlac and his companions used another, a smaller, only partially broken gate a bit farther away. While trying to avoid detection by the creature army, the small group started climbing the rocky paths towards the top of the mountain.
"We are heading for the crater of the mountain, yes?", Sul-Matuul asked after few minutes of walking.
"No, Lord Vivec told me I have to acquire two items first, before we can defeat Dagoth Ur.", Merlac yelled over the raging wind.
"Where can we find these items you are talking about?"
"The artefacts are called the Sunder and Sword of Keening, according to Vivec they can be found from the two dwemer forts on the slopes of Red Mountain."
"I have heard of these holy weapons, their might is unbelievable. However, the second fort is on the other side of the mountain, we will never reach Dagoth Ur's chambers in time unless we split up. Me and few of my men will acquire the other, you two and the rest of my warriors should go for the other one."
Merlac thought for a minute and then agreed reluctantly.
"Ok, but remember this, it's important, you must NOT touch the weapon -- whichever you find -- with your bare hands, or it will kill you. Only the one who has the wraithguard may safely whield Sunder or Keening, and we only have one of these gauntlets.", Merlac said and pointed at the shining magical gauntlet in his right arm.
"Very well, we will now leave for the furthest fortress, meet you as soon as possible near the edge of the crater."
"Good luck, Sul-Matuul, and be careful. There can still be some ash vampires left who have not joined the battle."
"Do not worry, Nerevarine, though our people have the hearts of a warrior, our ancestors left us few spells as well. Walk with fortune, Merlac!"
The group split in two and continued towards their chosen targets. Though Merlac tried to keep his concentration in front of him, he couldn't help worrying for Sul-Matuul and his companions. Though they were indeed great warriors, they might not be a match for an ash vampire or some other Sixth House wizard. Then Merlac realised that the same problem might be his own trouble as well...