An Uneasy Alliance

Fandom: Elder Scrolls (Skyrim with DLCs)

Author: CatandKaraForever

Rating: T

Genres: Adventure, Action, Fantasy

Karisse's Point of View:

"General Karisse," the soldier said, "We have a problem."
"What kind of problem?"

"We were arming up for the voyage to Skyrim," he said, "When we got to the heavy armory, it was empty."

The heavy armory was where we kept our higher powered weapons like magical bows, muskets and things like that.
"You mean…?"

"Yes, General. Someone took the weapons."

"By the Eight," I hissed through my teeth, "Then the New Order have us out-armed and outnumbered, and the Nords have no idea they've got such powerful weapons in their arsenal."

The soldier nodded.

"Get back to the others, continue preparing," I ordered, "We've got to move, and now. We have to intercept the traitors before they can strike a city...With our muskets the Nords and their allies have no chance."

The plank dropped heavily to the sand and our soldiers began pouring out onto the beach as I stood on the deck and watched. We'd made landfall on Hammerfell, on the southernmost tip. Several dozen redguard cavalry were waiting for us, sitting on their horses. While most of Hammerfell didn't like us, the uneasy peace we had had led to an agreement. Our forces were allowed to pass through undisturbed, however we couldn't camp near cities.

"Greetings, General Karisse," the rider in the front said, stepping off his horse and approaching me.

I nodded respectfully.

"Commander Tarar," I said, "I thank you for meeting us here."

"You took longer to arrive than anticipated," he said.

"We had to avoid a storm," I told him, "Any sightings of the New Order?"

"Aye," he said, "They've taken the city of Taneth, but most of their forces kept moving."

We'd hired Tarar's scouts to explore around us and alert us to New Order movements while we traveled.

"Taneth eh? So our suspicions were right," I mused, "Very well. Would you be able to guess how many men they left behind?"

"I would reckon 2 or 3 hundred," he reported, "Do you plan to take the city?"

"With only a couple hundred troops there I figure we can take it with only slight casualties and loss of speed," Carir said from his position next to me, "But we would lose slightly more travel time than we do to bypass the city."

"We'd be better to take the city," I reckoned, "Losing about the same amount of time..If we take the city they'll lose some of their men and that's what we need. We're already vastly outnumbered, but it's worth it to take out a couple hundred of their troops, especially if we take minimal losses. If we start losing too many we can always disengage and head for a bypass instead."

Carir nodded his agreement.
"I know our agreement WAS that we'd just scout for you, report on positions, but these swine captured our city. We have to take it back. Our riders will fight with you," Tarar said.