There was a moment where nobody spoke. Then all Oblivion broke loose with everyone in the room talking at once. The voices blended into a din that made everything incomprehensible. The jarls shouted at each other, the housecarls shouted at each other and all the while Queen Elisif tried to return order to the room. Uhther tried to help her but it was no use. Nobody wanted to listen to any voice but their own.
Finally, General Tullius succeeded where Uhther and Elisif had failed. He took a battleaxe from Legate Rikke, brought the head up and slammed the blade into the table. The room was silent as quickly as if a spell had been cast on all of them. Tullius looked around the room, darkly.
'If that's all finished with?' he spoke as if he were asking, but his eyes made it very clear that none were to answer. When no one did, he dropped a quick salute to Elisif and then retreated back to the edge of the room.
'Bickering won't get us anywhere,' Elisif announced to the now quiet room.
'Bickering?' Siddgeir exclaimed, 'Bickering is it? My hold has been taken by the Thalmor, my warriors now fight and die in the south hold and all because he wanted to play at being Ulfric Stormcloak.'
The jarl's finger was pointed, unsurprisingly, at Uhther. Another murmuring went up at that. Uhther could see that more than one head was nodding in agreement. Even Brunwulf looked troubled. Saerlund and Frothar were looking frightened. The Falkreath border was their responsibility now and Uhther could imagine no more daunting first challenge than a full-scale invasion by the Aldmeri Dominion.
Uhther opened his mouth to answer Siddgeir but Elisif raised a hand and he snapped his jaw shut.
'The reason why the Thalmor invaded is, for now, irrelevant,' said the queen, 'the important thing is that they are here. The Aldmeri Dominion has invaded our lands and the lands of the Empire. The important question is, what are we to do about it?'
'Do?' Brunwulf said, his voice gruff, 'why we go and meet them, of course. We meet them in battle with steel and the power of our voices. We show them what a Nord is truly made of and we push them back to the south lands, where they belong!'
There was a chorus of approved shouting and stamping at this, even Igmund nodded in approval. Siddgeir, on the other hand, still looked sour.
'But where do we meet them?' asked Brina, 'do we mobilise all our forces and march down to Falkreath?'
Elisif shook her head, her gold circlet flashing in the candlelight.
'It would take too long for the northern armies to get there,' she said, 'and those that could get there immediately would fare no better than the Falkreath forces.' She nodded at Frothar, Saerlund and Igmund. 'We must form a unified force elsewhere and meet the Thalmor with everything we can throw at them.'
'Well where then?' Kraldar asked. Elisif turned to Uhther and nodded. Uhther stood himself upright. Now was the time.
'The Thalmor are here for one thing,' he said, 'the Throat of the World. There is a power there that holds Mundus in place. The Thalmor believe that if they destroy it, Mundus will collapse and everything will return to Aetherius.'
Silence had descended over the table.
'Dragonborn,' Kraldar said, slowly, 'I mean you no disrespect, and I see no reason why you would lie, but what you talk of is nonsense. To unmake the world, the Thalmor will attack a mountain?'
He was not alone. Several jarls around the table were looking sceptical. Many more, however, were not. Igmund's face had dawned with understanding, Idgrod had raised a finger to her lips and Saerlund had gone white.
'You speak of the Towers of Mundus?' Igmund asked. Brunwulf turned to regard Igmund, sceptically.
'You know of this?'
Igmund nodded. 'Calcelmo explained it to me once. He claimed it was purely theoretical. According to him, the elves, particularly the Altmer, believe themselves descended of the gods and that mortality is a curse forced on them by the creation of Mundus. If Mundus were to fail, they would return to the forms they once had.'
'And what are the Towers of Mundus?' Frothar asked.
'They're the things that keep Mundus alive,' Saerlund piped up, 'Anuriel once told me they were mentioned in really ancient writings. According to her, its only because of the Towers that we're alive.'
'And the towers are being destroyed,' Uhther cut in. All eyes returned to him. He noticed there was less scepticism now, but more uncertainty. 'The Throat of the World is one of the Towers,' he said, 'the Thalmor want it destroyed. That is why they have invaded. I was just an excuse.'
'What a load of tripe,' Siddgeir sneered, 'was that your plan, Uhther? Come in here with this complete farce of a story to excuse your actions? You try to distract us from the fact it is you who caused the Thalmor to invade, and you that the Thalmor want. You and just you.'
'But, Lord Siddgeir,' Elisif cut across Uhther again, 'if that were the case, why would they invade like this? Surely a few Justicars would have served?'
Siddgeir snorted.
'You think a few justicars would have been enough to take him if he did not wish to be taken?' He demanded, 'we all know that if Lord Uhther,' he put as much derision into the word lord as he could, 'had not gone willingly, it would have taken an army to capture him. That is the only reason why so many have come.'
A spark of suspicion popped into being in Uhther's mind. Glancing across the room, he caught the eye of Tullius and Rikke. It seemed the same thought had occurred to both of them too.
'But they are killing your people even as we speak,' Elisif exclaimed, exasperated, 'had they truly been here for nothing than Uhther, why would they do this?'
'Because they did not cooperate with the Thalmor, I suppose,' Siddgeir shrugged. It seemed that, while he took offence to his land being invaded, he cared little for the lives being lost in that invasion. 'If they choose to rile the Dominion, then they are merely reaping the reward of stupidity. I say we give the Thalmor what they want,' he pointed at Uhther, 'then they shall leave.'
Suspicion turned to certainty in Uhther's mind.
'You knew they were coming, didn't you?' he said, his eyes widening, 'you let the Thalmor bring their army across the border!'
Annoyance flickered across Siddgeir's face but in a second it was gone, replaced by the familiar arrogant sneer.
'I was sent word of their coming,' he said, his tone vague, 'they said they were bringing a large force to ensure they could bring you to justice. I don't like the Thalmor coming into my land any more than any of you. But if all they want is you, I saw no reason to stand against them. This was before I heard the Emperor's edict, of course, otherwise I would never have allowed it.' He said the last part quickly, though he tried to cover that with a tone of smug confidence. Uhther was reminded of the times his children had tried to cover their wrongdoings.
The jarls, it seemed, were no more convinced by Siddgeir's words than he had been. All were on their feet in a moment and shouting. Even Frothar was red faced with fury as he shook a fist at Siddgeir, his elder.
'Blatant treachery!' Brunwulf snarled as Idgrod and Brina shouted things to similar effect.
'Stupid bastard!' Kraldar managed to sound scolding even as he banged the table in his temper.
The housecarls, Delphine and Ralof, and all others in the room added their voices to the roar. All but Helvard. A housecarl could not, after all, speak against his liege lord. But he did not defend Siddgeir either. His eyes were shadowed and unreadable. Even Igmund was shouting his condemnation of Siddgeir. It seemed that all but inviting a Thalmor army into Skyrim had been enough to make him momentarily forget that, until a moment ago, he had been of a like mind to Siddgeir.
Uhther said nothing. He had never liked Siddgeir. He had always seen him as a man who saw his position as a way to get gold and power while taking none of the responsibility that went with the office. But Uhther had never expected him capable of this. To allow the Thalmor into his land without preparing his defences. Uhther would be amazed if Siddgeir had even warned his militia that the Thalmor would be coming. Every part of him wanted nothing more than to draw Dragon's Breath but he controlled himself. He already knew what would happen next. It was important that he not get involved.
There was a hiss of metal against leather that cut through the noise. The room fell silent. All eyes now on the steel of the sword that lay against Siddgeir's throat. Legate Rikke had, while all others in the room had been distracted, crept up behind Siddgeir. It was her blade that now lay against Siddgeir's throat, not enough to draw blood, but enough to ensure the jarl would not move.
'What in Oblivion do you think you're doing?' Siddgeir demanded, 'I am a jarl of Skyrim. You will be punished for this. Helvard! Deal with this dog!'
But Helvard did not move.
'You allowed enemy forces into Imperial land,' the commanding voice of General Tullius cut through the silence that filled the room, 'by your own testimony, you colluded with them to allow, not a deputation, but an invasion army into Falkreath Hold. That makes you either a traitor or a fool. Either way, you are something that we cannot risk in the days ahead.'
'You have no right,' Siddgeir snarled, though there was a look of panic in his eyes now.
'He has every right,' Elisif spoke, her voice neutral, though Uhther could hear the fiery anger behind her words, 'you allowed our enemy to invade my land. To invade our Skyrim. The Emperor's edict was very clear. 'All who side with the Aldmeri Dominion to be enemies of the state. Any loyal subject to dispense retribution upon them as they would on the battlefield.' Jarl Siddgeir of Falkreath, I name you a traitor to the Empire and to Skyrim. May Shor have mercy upon you.'
'No!' Siddgeir shouted, desperately, but that was as far as he got. With a flash of steel, Rikke brought her sword back and plunged the blade into Siddgeir's spine. A clean, executioner's thrust. Siddgeir went limp immediately and fell to the floor, his circlet clattering on the stones.
