Chapter 10

Morndas, the 11th of Sun's Height, Year 202 of the 4th Era

Daenerys had expected an alliance like this to require more negotiations, but once Odvan and Madanach agreed things fell into place quickly. The hardest part would be hiding thirty people from the Breton gang going over to the Forsworn tunnels from the Nord gang. After a short debate about whether they should even try to hide, everyone agreed that the Nord gang was too likely to rat them out to the guards. They decided to have a fake war. Daenerys wasn't happy with the plan. A fake war could too easily escalate into a real one, but she couldn't think of a better one.

Her role was to keep the Nords from leaving their tunnel. She and two Redguards along with Eola and two Forsworn camped outside the Nords tunnel. That helped block their view, and ensured the Nords didn't try to intervene. She wasn't happy to be working with Eola or having to deal with Grisvar.

"What's going on, Breton bitch?" demanded Grisvar. "Are you Brets finally showing your true colors?"

Daenerys lit up her hand with fire as a warning. "A trade. They made us a very good offer." It was actually an excuse for wedging open their gates with the lumber provided for shoring up tunnels. That was something the gangs rarely did. It served as an excuse for Bretons and Foresworn to march back and forth carrying silver from the Forsworn to the Bretons.

"Ah, and here she is now," mocked Eola. "My, she doesn't look happy."

Daenerys contained her irritation at having to work with the cannibal priestess and focused her glare on the Nords. "I don't blame her. She wasn't given much choice."

"What?! You're trading one of your whores! How much did you sell her for? We'll double it!"

Daenerys laughed. It came out rather brittle. "You couldn't afford her."

Grisvar started ranting and insulting her. She tuned out the profanity. She was much more worried about the upcoming fake fight not turning real. She was also concerned by the number of Nords clustered behind Grisvar. Enough to overrun both her and Eola even though they could cast spells. However, first the Nords would have to raise their gate. If they tried, she'd burn them.

Suddenly the cry of "Treachery!" went up behind her. She backed away to look and also so the Nords could see.

Borkul the Beast held up the Breton gate and kicked the lumber prop back into the Breton tunnel. He let the gate drop with a loud clang.

"Time to go," said Eola. She gave a blast of Sparks at the Nord gate and ran for the Forsworn side.

Daenerys and the men she had with her ran after Eola. She reached the shelter of the Forsworn gate and ran past Borkul who was holding up the gate and into the Forsworn tunnels. She turned around in case the Nords tried to rush the gate. She stood beside Eola and Borkul and watched as the drama played out. There was a lot of noise from the Breton side of the gate. The Nords sallied forth into the central chamber blustering and making demands. Eventually, Azeem appeared at the Breton gate and claimed that Odvan had been replaced. Azeem declared that he led the Redgaurd gang now and they were allied with the Forsworn. The Nords didn't like it, but after stomping around and swearing a lot they returned to their own tunnels.

Eola sighed when they left. "That was disappointing. Typical Nords, all brave when then have the upper hand. When they don't, they're just swagger and brag. We should have eaten Grisvar when we had the chance."

"Don't talk to me like we're friends." She snapped out her words like the crack of a whip. "We are allies by reason of necessity, so we can both escape. If Madanach's followers had sent more men, you would have left us to rot in here, or served all us Bretons up as a meal. I will keep my word. I will fight with you. I will heal your people, but I am fighting for my freedom and the freedom of the Bretons."

Eola giggled. "You can't hide your nature from me. I'm a priestess of the Rat. I will not shun you for what you are. I feel the hunger inside of you. Gnawing at you. You see the dead and your mouth grows wet. Your stomach growls."

She wanted to threaten Eola with fire or just attack her because there was some truth to what the priestess said. When Daenerys had stood over the burned body of Skjor in her werewolf form, he had smelled delicious. She had wanted to sink her teeth into his corpse and feed on his flesh. She hadn't given into the temptation then, not even when she watched Aela the Huntress feed on the corpses of the Silver Hands. Aela had claimed that feeding on human flesh made the inner wolf stronger, but Daenerys had refused. That memory was a large part of why she kept her werewolf on a short leash. She longed to knock that smug mocking smile off Eola's face.

The unwelcome weight of Molag Bal's mace appeared in her hand hanging down at her side. "You. Presume. Too. Much."

"Break it up," growled Borkul. "Both of you." Borkul had drawn a shiv and moved to hold it at the ready. Clearly, he had seen the mace in her hand.

Eola's smirk faded some. She looked from Borkul to Daenerys and then took a step back. "Oh, my, what a big mace you have. Conjuration as well. You're full of surprises Danyen."

Borkul took a step toward Eola. "I said, break it up."

Eola pouted like a child. "Oh, very well. There will be time for fun later." She sauntered off with a deliberately exaggerated sway of her hips.

Daenerys waited with Borkul instead of following immediately. She did not want to deal with the cannibal priestess right now. She looked up at Borkul the Beast. As intimidating as he was, he at least seemed committed to their alliance. "Does she think this is a game?"

Borkul shrugged. "Madanach says we need her. So, I can't kill her. At least not yet, and she's a good lay. You offering to take her place?" He said it blandly, like talking about the weather.

"No, I am not." She stared him in the eye, not a challenge, but she wasn't backing down either. "I already explained that to Grisvar. Were you not listening?"

"I like how you explain things." Borkul laughed. "That's a good mace. Looks too heavy for you though. Can you handle it?"

Daenerys twirled the mace around. "I'm stronger than I look."

"Good. Maybe you'll make it out alive."

.oOo.

Daenerys followed the tunnel down. It wasn't difficult to find where everyone was congregating. Odvan and Madanach were standing close to each other as shields, weapons and sacks of food were distributed. Madanach had promised weapons for everyone, and he was keeping that promise, but only barely. Most of the weapons being handed out were made of chaurus chitin, no doubt taken from the Falmer. Chaurus chitin made for slow and heavy weapons, but they were still better than pickaxes. On the plus side, he was also distributing some chitin shields as well. They were even heavier than the weapons, but they at least provided some defense. Daenerys wasn't offered a shield. She waved off the offer of a weapon, but did take a bag of rations. She was one of the last to arrive and be outfitted.

Madanach and Odvan both gave short speeches about fighting their way to freedom, and then they set forth as planned. Really, they had little choice but to depart immediately. The main way that the Silver-Bloods kept their prisoners in line was by providing them with just enough food to survive. They didn't have enough food supplies to delay. The city of Nchuand-Zel was a large and confusing maze, and it might take days to fight their way through to the exit.

Madanach led them all through the tunnels to a breached wall that opened upon Dwemer ruins. This part of the tunnels was secured. They passed through a room filled with spiderwebs that had once held a frostbite spider nest, but the Forsworn had burned it out long ago. Eventually the tunnels opened out upon the ruins of Nchuand-Zel, or a least a portion of those ruins.

This section of the ruined city lay within a vast underground chamber. Far above them a domed ceiling glowed with a soft blue light. Far below lay an underground lake. Towers the size of buildings rose from the lake thrusting up all the way to the glowing ceiling above. Stone walkways linked these towers stretching from one to another, some sloping up or down. Against all common sense, none of the connecting walkways had any form of railing. The walkways were wide enough for two men to walk side-by-side comfortably, but any construction made by men instead of Dwemer would have included some form of railing. Some of the chamber was difficult to see in the dim light, but many of the towers and walkways were lit by bright lights. These lights appeared to be some trick of Dwemer artifice still working centuries after their deaths.

"Danyen, cast your spell," ordered Madanach.

Daenerys nodded and grabbed her Will, Focused on finding a way out, and for a Seeming she looked to Talos for guidance. A smokey white rope of magic formed and stretched out leading to the tower and the lift. Forsworn and Bretons both jumped out of the way of the glowing path as if it were dangerous magic. She cut off the flow of magic and let the trail dissipate. "There is a way out exactly where you described."

"Did you hear that?" asked Madanach. "There is a way out!"

Everyone cheered. Some were more enthusiastic than others. The quiet ones probably realized just because there was a path didn't mean they wouldn't have to fight their way through.

"Everyone listen up. This is the easy part. The Falmer don't like the lights, so there aren't many of them in here, but there may be some skulking in the shadows, so don't get cocky. We head to the central tower where there is a lift, a dwemer mechanism that causes the entire platform to rise up and down. We ride it to the bottom. That's where we can enter the ruins, and that's when the Falmer will start fighting us back."

Daenerys listened and took her assigned place in the second wave. It felt odd to be a follower instead of one of the leaders. She had taken part during the planning back in the Breton tunnels, but she didn't know these ruins or the Falmer like the Forsworn did. Madanach had laid out a plan and presented it in such a well thought out manner that she'd had nothing to add. She could have claimed a more important role by revealing herself as the Dragonborn, but for the Dragonborn to support the Forsworn in rebellion against Markarth would cause her political problems in the future. Besides, she didn't entirely trust Madanach or the Forsworn. If they proved false, then keeping her abilities hidden might save her life and those of the Breton gang.

Madanach's plan seemed to work at first. There were a few Falmer that had climbed up the central tower and made nests from which they were firing arrows down, but they were bad shots. Probably, because Falmer were almost blind and depended upon their hearing, but they still hit and wounded a few men. Those men were brought back to her and Eola for healing while Madanach sent his few archers to shoot down the Falmer. After exchanging several volleys of arrows the Falmer snipers were silenced. They still lost two people: one shot in the chest and was dead before he could be brought back for healing. The other tried dodging arrow fire and fell off the walkway. One of the Falmer snipers hit the platform when it fell. The Forsworn dragged it back into the tunnels where Daenerys was waiting. Two of the Forsworn started butchering the corpse for meat.

Daenerys deliberately didn't watch. The Falmer were pitiful wretches. They had once been the proud and powerful race of Snow Elves, but they had gone to war with the Nords and lost. They had sought sanctuary with the Dwemer, the Deep Elves, but the Dwemer had betrayed and enslaved the Snow Elves. Gradually, under their enslavement to the Dwemer they had adapted to a subterranean existence. Their eyes had shriveled up, but their other senses had adapted to dwelling in the darkness. When the Dwemer race mysteriously vanished sometime in the First Era, the Falmer had inherited the cities, caverns, and tunnels the Dwemer left behind. Somehow, during the passing of time, the Falmer had gone feral. They were now more than beasts, but no longer quite mer. Their souls had even withered and could be captured in a common soul gem like animals, rather than requiring a black soul gem. They were clever. They wore scraps of clothing, and used weapons. They even had tamed the insectoid chaurus and used them as both food and beasts of battle, but they were considered by all to be merely monsters, and not an intelligent race, but that didn't mean she wanted to see them butchered.

Once the Falmer archers were slain, they were able to make it to the lift unopposed. The lift couldn't carry more than eight people at a time. That meant they had to take turns entering the lift, taking it down to the bottom level, then returning, but they eventually all reached the bottom of the chamber.

The lake at the bottom was shallow. Some of the taller men could stand in places. Daenerys found herself having to swim. She let Molag Bal's mace sink to the bottom. The lake was a good place to leave it, and the accursed mace would undoubtedly return to her. Madanach had a map and led them to an opening that led them out of the lake and into a series of Dwemer tunnels and ruins. Her wet linen smock clung to her after swimming in the lake and hid nothing. She ignored the hungry stares of the men around her. She had experienced worse among the Dothraki, but she didn't discount the danger from her own allies. She was very much aware that she was one of only two women surrounded by men. Even the best of men let their cocks think for them half the time, and these were far from the best of men. Even Eltrys stared at her. Then they encountered chaurus, and they all had more to worry about.

The chaurus attacked with no warning. Dark insectoid, skittering things that spit poison, and with teeth as sharp as blades. They ranged in size from that of a skeever to that of a lion. They swarmed out of the darkness clittering and clacking. Men cried out in pain as they were splattered with poison as the smaller ones rushed in and bit chunks out of their legs. Men screamed and yelled curses as they attacked back with the weapons they had.

Daenerys called upon Talos and cast a Candlelight spell lobbing it over the heads of the men fighting. The spell stuck to the ceiling and banished much of the shadows. Her light revealed a wave of the creatures swarming out like ants defending their nest. The battle was too chaotic for her to risk a Firebolt or any other offensive magic. She'd be as likely to injure her allies as the chaurus.

"Fall back! Fall back!" yelled Madanach. "Fall back to the lake! We'll fight them in the doorway!"

Daenerys fell back as did some of the men with her, but some of the men in front of her were unable to disengage and pull off a fighting retreat. She stood in the lake up to her waist in water and healed the ones who escaped. Even as she did, she could hear other men crying out in terror and pain as they died to the poison and claws of the chaurus. She focused on healing, doing what she could as the cries slowly died out.

Then the chaurus swarmed out of tunnel and into the shallow water of the lake. They were only able to emerge one or two at a time and it was now the humans that had the advantage. Each bug that emerged was attacked on all sides. They went down quickly, but they kept coming. They seemingly didn't care if they died, just emerging from their tunnel in a continuous stream of attackers, one after another, after another. They died fast, few were able to bite anyone, but their poison spit struck many. Madanach kept shouting orders, and the injured fell back for her and Eola to heal while others took their place. The ones who they healed turned back to rejoin the battle.

"I can't keep this up!" shouted Eola. "I'm almost out of healing."

As much as it pained Daenerys to agree with Eola, she wasn't far behind. "I'm running low, too!"

"Clear the corpses!" yelled Madanach. "Get those doors closed! Now!"

To make matters worse two Falmer archers opened fire upon them from a walkway above them. Their aim was still bad as many of their arrows missed, but they had a lot of targets. Some of their men cried in pain. An arrow struck the water next to her as she healed another man.

A cheer broke out in front of her as they closed the doors. Three men held the door shut while Borkul the Beast and some others moved large chunks of rubble over and dropped them outside the door to seal it shut. Borkul had a Falmer arrow sticking out of his shoulder and didn't even seem to care.

"Everyone! Follow me!" yelled Madanach as he led the way to another doorway.

Daenerys swam after him. There wasn't much else she could do. She was out of magicka and needed time to rest before she could do much of anything.

.oOo.

After guards had been placed, everyone had been healed, and the dead had been counted, Madanach had a quick council of war with Borkul the Beast, Eola the Priestess, Odvan and Daenerys. "We're obviously not going to make it through the path we used before. Not past the chaurus. We lost nine good men trying. We'll have to explore the ruins and find another path. We'll start with this tower."

"There might be a way through," offered Daenerys. "I have been giving it some thought. Chaurus are just big bugs. They're aggressive and dangerous, but not smart. We could open the door back up just enough to let one at a time through. They're like ants. Poke them with a stick, they'll come pouring out. We surround and kill them as they come through one at a time. Eola and I heal. When we run low on magicka, seal the doors and rest again. We would have to send some archers up to deal with the Falmer snipers as well."

Madanach crossed his arms and frowned, but he didn't say anything for a while. "It might work. I would even go along with it if we had more arrows and archers, but we don't. We're down to a score of arrows among three archers, and they're crap Falmer arrows at that."

Daenerys sighed and nodded her head. "Then my plan won't work. While we could handle the chaurus we'd lose men to the Falmer archers. It looks like finding an alternate path is our only option."

"Very well. We'll let everyone breathe, dry off, and have a meal," ordered Madanach. "Then we'll resume. Remember, the Falmer know these ruins. They're good at hiding in the dark places and ambushing. Danyen, I want you to use that pathfinding spell of yours and that light spell you used in the chaurus den. Eola, conserve your magicka for healing. Even if Danyen's pathfinding spell works, we'll come to intersections. Keep every path guarded as we work our way past."

Nobody was entirely happy with the plan, but everyone agreed.

The plan seemed to work. When Daenerys cast Clairvoyance it led them deeper into the Dwemer tunnels instead of back out into the chamber. These tunnels didn't have any chaurus eggs, giant killer insects, or Falmer. What it did have were surprisingly clean corridors lined with huge pipes of dwemer metal. Daenerys was astounded that the metal was used for something so mundane. An ingot of dwemer metal was worth more than silver, but the Dwemer used it for everything. Not that they could steal the pipes. They were hot to the touch and leaked hot steam in places. Steam pipes were commonly found in Dwemer ruins, no one really knew why, except they were connected to Dwemer machines somehow. This section Nchuand-Zel seemed to have some working machines judging by the throbbing, clanking, and whistling sounds, but they were hidden away somewhere.

They were making their way up a ramp when they triggered the first trap. Some kind of mechanism popped out of the top of the ramp and sprouted a spinning mass of whirling blades that scythed its way down the ramp killing two people, lopping the hand off another man, and injuring several others.

Careful testing showed the trap reset itself and would go off again, but there was a short pause while it reset. During that time it was possible to sprint up the ramp and past the scything blade trap. They bypassed the trap by triggering it and then sprinting past four at a time. Daenerys thought they were lucky not to lose anyone else getting past the trap.

Madanach called a break after they got past the scything blade trap and they split up into two camps to eat and rest. Eola had to be a bitch. She encouraged the Forsworn to make a big show of cooking the Falmer meat they had butchered and loudly enjoying it. Meanwhile, the Bretons dined on prison rations that had been dunked in lakewater.

She looked around and saw the tired faces of the Bretons. She wasn't blind to their losses today. Two on the bridge, nine more when fighting the chaurus, and two to traps. Thirteen in all, more than a fifth of their total. These men didn't feel like celebrating, but someone needed to do something about their defeated attitude.

She stepped out among them and raised her voice. "Bretons, I know you are tired. I know we lost friends today. I know you grieve their loss. I do as well, but we should also remember them for how they died. They could have stayed in Cidhna Mine, but they chose to risk escape. They fought and they died as free men. Not prisoners. Not slaves. Free men. That's what we all are now. Free men. We have left our chains behind. We are not slaving away mining silver for our masters. We're fighting for our freedom."

There was some muttering among the Bretons, but they listened and followed her every word, more than she expected they would.

"The Nords, they believe that how you live your life is less important than how you face death. I say that they are only half right. If you live your life taking from others, pushing them down, oppressing your fellow men, then you've already given your soul to Molag Bal by your deeds. No good death will save you then. However, how you face death does matter, because it is how we face death that shows our true courage. I ask you not to give up, but to fight. Fight for your freedom. Fight for the Bretons we left behind in Cidhna Mine who are depending on us. I would rather die free than live a slave. I tell all of you, that you have already broken your chains!"

There were a lot of cheers from the Bretons, far more than she expected, but they also stared at her in awe. She didn't think it was that good a speech. "I also tell you, that whether we live or die, we do so as free men, and that even the gods will respect that."

Again the cheers seemed out of proportion to her speech, but she wasn't going to complain. "Danders," she said calling on someone she knew was close to one of the men who had died. "I know that Soran was a friend of yours. Would you tell us of his life, so we can honor him?"

"Yes, Priestess!" Hesitantly at first, and then with increasing confidence Danders spoke of his friend Soran. How he had been a simple cobbler that had liked ale and blondes. How he'd slept with the wrong Nord's daughter and gotten thrown in for rape although the girl had been more than willing. Soran had been eager to fight although he hadn't known how. He'd gone down fighting a chaurus with a weapon in his hand. "But you're right. He died free."

After Danders she coaxed others to come forward and speak of their dead. Some of them were innocent of their crimes. Some had been guilty, but they'd all died free. Daenerys didn't know if this was the kind of sermon she should be giving as a priestess of Talos or not. However, it seemed to help the men find their courage, and that was good enough for her. She was also puzzled by the amount of respect she was receiving. Even some of the Forsworn listened and Borkul the Beast was one of them.

Odvan walked up to her afterwards. "That was quite a sermon. Thank you, Priestess." He bowed and turned away. "Alright! Everyone who isn't on guard duty, get to sleep. We've got more fighting tomorrow."

Everyone drifted off to their beds. Many of them gave her respectful nods. Even Eltrys was acting funny. He seemed hesitant to follow her. Maybe he wasn't needed as a shield to protect her when she slept, but she felt better for his presence. "Eltrys, is something wrong?"

"You don't know do you?" asked Eltrys. "It's your hair. When you were giving your sermon. The light was on you and your hair just seemed to start glowing and now it's gone white. It's like the gods were sending a sign."

The potion! She'd forgotten it would only last a week and then quickly fade. It must have run out while she was giving that sermon. She grabbed a lock of her hair and pulled it to where she could see and it was back to its proper shade, so pale a blonde to be almost white. She almost explained to Eltrys that it wasn't a miracle, just a hair-coloring potion. It was silly for everyone to be that impressed when priests healed and cast other spells all the time, but then she thought about it. Maybe it was a miracle of sorts. The same kind of miracle that had her reaching the summit of the Throat of the World just at high noon on the summer solstice.

She let go of her lock of hair and brushed it behind her back. "It was indeed a sign. Even here in the darkness, the gods listen. We're going to make it out of here."