An Uneasy Alliance

Fandom: Elder Scrolls (Skyrim with DLCs)

Author: CatandKaraForever

Rating: T

Genres: Adventure, Action, Fantasy

Kiraak's Point of View:

I sighed, setting down my sweetroll as the Diamond City guard burst into the room.

"My Jarl," he said, nodding at Valinil, "Lady Kira."

"What is it?"
"My apologies for the interruption," he said, "But there's an army at our gates. Elves, and by the looks of them, Thalmor."

I sighed, rising from the table.

I strode up the stairs onto the city's battlements, scanning the forces. They were wearing traditional elven armors, but they were black and gold instead of the traditional green.

"Captain Salar," I called, and the man came jogging up to where I was standing.

"Yes, General?"
"Get the townspeople as far into the depths as you can," I told him quickly, and he nodded as he turned away.

"Commander Syndol," I called, beckoning the elf woman up to the walls, "Get your archers up here, as many as you can, but have them hold fire, we don't know if we're under siege."

She nodded, running off. As I stood watching, the elven line split open, and a squared formation of elves emerged from the main body of the army. Each of the square raised a long wood and metal rod. The Bosmer archers came running up, ducking behind the walls. I heard several resounding booms which echoed through the sky, and chunks of stone flew off of our walls.

"What in Oblivion was that?"

"Some kind of ranged weapon," one of the archers speculated.

"Open fire," I ordered the Bosmer company, "Take those elves down before they can get those things firing again!"

The archers popped up, firing a barrage of arrows which tore into the Aldmeri ranks. The front line of the company of weirdly armed Thalmor fell, but the others were already taking aim. The archers ducked back down as the other elves fired their weapons, aside from one of the Bosmer, whose foot had gotten stuck in the gap where a stone was missing from the walls. A black metal ball punched through his cuirass and left a bloody hole in his chest as he pitched off the wall. I unslung Auriel's Bow, setting a sunhallowed elven arrow to my string. I swiftly took aim and fired, catching one of the elven sharpshooters in the throat. He fell, catching aflame as he did. The flames jumped from him to another, and soon the entire company was ablaze as well. They screamed as they died, and I ducked back just in time to avoid a barrage of crossbow bolts that rattled off the stone wall. The Bosmer archers opened fire again, their arrows cutting into the Thalmor ranks. Hundreds of elves fell, the Bosmer archers' arrows easily finding their targets. My keen eyes easily went to the back of the army, to see several siege towers coming forward as the forces separated to let them through.

"Siege towers," I shouted, pointing to them, "Looks like they've got those...things that those sharpshooters had!"

The Bosmer archers took aim, firing a cloud of arrows which thudded into the heavy wood that was the frontal plate of the towers. A crossbow bolt slashed open my cheek, and I swore as I felt my own blood running down my cheek. There were a series of heavy booms, and I heard crunching sounds as the heavy balls of metal smashed into our walls. I cast a healing spell, the wound on my cheek healing swiftly, but then I got disoriented. I fell backwards off the wall, landing heavily on the ground, and I blacked out.