Rikke stepped back, sheathing her sword. No one else in the room moved. All eyes were on Siddgeir who now lay still, eyes glazed with death, his mouth still open in his last gasp.

Finally, Elisif sighed and broke the silence.

'We have preparations to make,' she said, 'the Thalmor have invaded our land. We must meet them in the field. If they truly are making for the Throat of the World, then that is where we shall meet them. My Jarls, go and ready your forces.'

As if in a trance, everyone rose to their feet and, one by one, began moving towards the door, flanked by their housecarls. Only Igmund remained where he was, his eyes still transfixed by the body.

'Something on your mind, Jarl Igmund?' General Tuliius's gruff voice cut through the silence.

Igmund breathed in, deeply, before tearing his eyes from Siddgeir.

'Not really,' the Jarl of the Reach spoke as if in a trance, 'I must prepare my troops. My Queen, General, Dragonborn.' He nodded to each in turn before turning to leave, pointedly keeping his eyes from Siddgeir's body and also from Rikke.

As he left, Tullius growled.

'I don't trust that one,' he muttered, 'he has the look of a man ready to bolt for a safe place. He's been in Markarth too long. He's too eager to put his trust in the high walls of the Reach.' He turned to Rikke. 'Keep an eye on him, would you?'

Without hesitation, Rikke saluted and left the room.

'I would remind you, General,' Elisif said, haughtily, 'that Igmund declared for the Empire in the Civil War.'

Tullius sniffed. 'Attitudes change,' he said, 'loyalties change. Ulfric proved that. And flight can be appealing in the face of danger.'

'I don't think he'll flee,' Uhther spoke up. It was true. Igmund might be many things but Uhther doubted he was a coward. 'Igmund has always done what he thinks best for his people. He knows now what's at stake. He must know he can't hide from this.'

Tullius sniffed again, clearly unconvinced, but let the matter drop. He turned back to the queen.

'One thing I do not understand,' he said, 'if the Emperor has indeed declared the truce with the Thalmor over, then why allow them to cross Cyrodiil?'

'I do not know,' Elisif confessed, 'he may well have some plan in mind, but there was nothing else in his letter. For now, we must look to our own defences. Perhaps the Emperor will come to our aid, but we should not count on it.'

Tullius nodded in appreciation.

'Hope for the best but prepare for the worst, eh?' he said. 'Makes sense. I'd better head back to Castle Dour. Messages will need to be sent to the garrisons.'

Without another word, he saluted and left the room.

Now, only Elisif, Uhther and his housecarls were left in the room. Helvard also remained, his eyes still fixed on the body of his former lord.

'Don't think I've forgotten your crimes, Lord Uhther,' Elisif said, quietly.

Uhther did not react. He'd been expecting this earlier. He supposed he should be thankful that the queen had waited until after the jarls were gone.

'My queen,' Lydia spoke up, hesitantly, but fell silent when Elisif looked at her. The queen then turned back to regard Uhther.

'Siddgeir may well have invited them in. The Thalmor may well have been waiting for an excuse to invade. But it was you who gave them that excuse. Perhaps not a crime as grievous as the Jarl Siddgeir, but a crime nonetheless. I think, had this been any other time, I would have thrown you in a dungeon until your hair was grey.'

Uhther held his breath. In truth, he knew there was nothing he could say. Elisif was his queen. Dragonborn he might be but he was still her subject. If she wished to punish what he had done, there would nothing he could do to stop it.

Well, he thought, nothing he would be willing to do.

'As it is,' Elisif went on, 'the Thalmor attack our land. They attack our very world, our existence. So, my judgement is this. You will save us from this doom. You will defeat the Thalmor, safeguard the Throat of the World. You will save us all. Do that, and I shall consider your debt to Skyrim repaid.'

Uhther looked up, meeting Elisif's eyes. There was the usual look of authority there, the one he had seen more than a hundred times. But something else too, so different to normal that it took Uhther a moment to realise what it was. A mix of desperation and hope. Elisif was frightened, and believed he was the only one who could save her, her country, everything. The sight of that chilled him.

And here I thought that, after Miraak, I would be able to live a peaceful life, Uhther thought. But he did not even convince himself. The truth was he had been hungry for a new adventure since long before the day Alaric had arrived at Lakeview Manor.

Uhther knelt, drawing Dragon's Breath and holding it, hilt first, out to Elisif.

'By my honour, and this weapon,' he said, 'by the nine gods, I swear I will fight for Skyrim. I will fight for the Empire. I will defend the Tower.'

Elisif spoke no other word. She rested her hand upon the sword's hilt before nodding and leaving the room.

Uhther stood and turned to his housecarls.

'We'd better get ready,' he said. He was about to turn and follow Elisif out, when Helvard stepped up before him.

'Lord Uhther,' the housecarl began, 'I wish to enter your service.'

This, on top of everything else Uhther had seen and heard today, almost made him stagger.

'I…you…what?' was all he was able to get out. Helvard drew his sword then offered it to Uhther in the same way he had offered Dragon's Breath to Elisif.

'You are a man of honour and a proven gold-giver,' Helvard said, 'If I am to find new service, I would swear my sword to you. Will you have me? I am a good fighter and a loyal son of Skyrim.'

'That didn't help your last lord much,' said Uhther. He saw Helvard's jaw tighten at that, but he did not care. If he was to accept a man into his household, he had to be sure of his loyalty.

'He was a traitor,' Helvard said, finally, 'I will fight for you, Lord, and follow none but you. But I will serve Skyrim first.'

Uhther nodded slowly, his mind racing. The truth was, he did not want another housecarl. He already had eight, which seemed plenty for any lord. It was more than many of the jarls had. However…

'Delphine!'

The Blades Commander stepped forward.

'Could you use a strong and loyal son of Skyrim among the Blades?' he asked. Helvard looked up at him then over at Delphine. She seemed to appraise him for a moment before nodding.

'I can use him,' was all she said.

'Then so be it,' Uhther said, taking Helvard by the arm and lifting him to his feet, 'go with Delphine and swear your oath, Helvard.'

Helvard seemed stunned but then finally bowed his head and went with Delphine from the room.

Uhther gestured to Lydia and the two of them left the room.

He found someone waiting for him.

'Well that was quite the show,' said Llirvalie, 'a call to war and a dead jarl. Very exciting stuff.'

The Nightingale was leaning against the wall opposite the door, two wicked looking swords hanging from her belt.

'Wasn't expecting to see you here quite so soon,' Uhther said, not breaking step as he turned up the corridor, 'thought you and the rest of the Thieves Guild were watching the border for the Thalmor.'

Llirvalie snorted as she fell into step beside Uhther.

'The Thalmor are already over the border, in case you'd forgotten,' she said, impatiently, 'and our agents were watching the whole time. How do you think news got here so fast? If we hadn't set up our relay, the Thalmor would be burning Riverwood before you even knew they were here.'

Uhther huffed but said nothing in response. It was not as if he could disagree. That had been what he and Llirvalie had decided on all that time ago when they had first been told of the Towers.

'Any luck finding out who's leading them?' he asked the Nightingale. That had been the other role given to the Thieves Guild. Intelligence gathering.

Llirvalie nodded.

'Wasn't easy,' she admitted, the levity had dropped from her voice, 'we sent ten agents into the Thalmor camp to find out what they could. Only one reported back. But we know. The leader is a High Councillor in the Dominion, name of Estoriil Larethan.' She paused and Uhther, glancing at her was shocked to see that the dark elf actually looked worried. 'He's a bad piece of work, Dragonborn. He makes some of the Inquisitors you've seen look like children at a feast day dance. I don't want to think about the number of people he's had killed. And he's leading a whole cadre of wizards and inquisitors almost as bad as he is.'

'I'm familiar with his work.'

Uhther actually jumped before realising that it was Quaranir, who had fallen into step beside them.

'Larethan was a novice in the Psijic Order,' the sorcerer went on, 'one of the most powerful we'd ever seen. But he left before he was raised, taking a large group of his admirers with him. He formed something of a cabal inside the Dominion Hierarchy. If he's commanding the Thalmor forces, it will be a tough fight. He has a cunning mind, that's only one of the many reasons he's risen so high.'

'Quaranir,' Uhther was finally able to say, 'what are you doing here?'

The Psijic looked startled by the question.

'Why, looking for you, of course,' he said, 'the battle is finally upon us, did you think I would just leave you to it? Besides, I carry word from the Arch-mage. She's arrived and would like to speak with you.'

'I daresay she would,' Uhther said, a sinking feeling going through his stomach, 'very well, take me to her.'

'Actually, I'd say there's someone you'll want to visit first,' Llirvalie said, 'a certain travelling companion of mine who I think you'll want to see as much as they want to see you.'

'A travelling companion?' Uhther said, honestly surprised. 'I wouldn't have thought Nightingales would want to travel with anyone.'

'Oh, normally we don't,' Llirvalie said, smiling. 'But I made an exception for this one. She seemed like she could do with a bit of a hand, just to understand how the world worked. In truth, it began as nothing more than me trying to get her and her pack of followers out of the way, she nearly ruined all our operations. But I'll be honest, I found myself quite liking the little she-wolf so I decided to stick with her.'

'Who is it?' Uhther asked, curious. Then he remembered. With everything that had happened in the moot, he had completely forgotten what he'd been told.

'Why it's your daughter, Uhther,' Llirvalie said, sounding amused, 'Lucia is waiting for you down at the camp.'