Arc 3—Uncivil War—Chapter 10:

Cici had tears in her eyes as she looked at the broken vase and the scattered flowers. I waved a hand to her, as if to say it was okay, but didn't take my eyes off the flowers as I picked up a second and then a third. One by one, I picked them up and put them back together, restoring, to some degree, order and beauty from the destruction and chaos.

"Children, stay back," I said to them as they gathered around behind me. "Cici, please fetch a broom, a pan, mop, and another vase with water."

She gathered up her skirt and ran as I picked up another flower, adding it to the growing stack in my hand.

"Here, Daddy," said Aerica, handing me one of the stems that was on the edge of the mess. Aern and Andres, seeing what she'd done, ignored my earlier warning and moved forward to help, too.

"Be careful, kids. The broken glass is sharp."

"We will, Grandpa," said Andres, as he picked up one of the flowers and held it out to me as Aern and Aerica were doing the same. "We're sorry we broke the vase and made the mess."

"It's okay," I told them. "It actually reminded me of something, and someone, very special, from long ago."

~ESV~

I don't know how long I'd been asleep when I felt the distinctive danger tap on my arm. I waited a second as Serana's tapping continued, letting me know that the danger was nearby but not right on top of us. I opened my eyes in the nighttime darkness to see her nod and then give a slow shake of her hand, indicating the area of the threat. It was about a third of the way around us and growing.

Over the past two days, there'd been no sleep and very little food as we made our escape. We'd avoided several patrols and any number of other dangers as we got out of Eastmarch and went through The Pale. When we neared the Hjaalmarch border, we moved even more slowly, more quietly, trying to avoid the Stormcloak troops that had congregated there during my most recent visit, but we'd seen nothing. The Stormcloaks had apparently left the area, so we neared Morthal and then finally rested, planning to wait until after dark to enter the city without being recognized by sneaking through one of the incomplete sections of the palisade on the north bank. With a little luck, we'd be able to approach Idgrod and her mother without anyone in town being aware of our identities.

Listening closely, I heard the unnatural noise of a stick breaking just a short distance away. Still lying where I'd slept, Serana and I froze in place, unmoving, as we listened to muffled footsteps, more twigs snapping, and a hushed, barely audible command. "Silence, men. Remember, to the breach when the horn sounds. For Ulfric. For victory."

Stormcloaks!

Their absence in the western part of The Pale now made sense. They hadn't moved on or retreated; instead, they'd invaded Hjaalmarch and were now just outside Morthal with a plan all too similar to my own. Unless Dornan and his palisade construction crew had made major progress during my absence, the invaders would be walking right through one of the remaining openings in the defenses, swarm across the bridge, and be able to attack the southern part of the city at will. Using the element of surprise and the darkness, they would be able to capture the city, or at least Jarl Idgrod Ravencrone and her family, including young Idgrod, before the Hjaalmarchians had a chance to organize a real defense.

With Morthal captured, they could install a puppet jarl and quickly complete the town's defenses for use against the Imperials. Even worse, the Imperial force recently installed at Fort Snowhawk in the west might then be surrounded and cut off from reinforcements. Ulfric and his forces would then be within striking distance of Solitude and the ultimate victory he sought. Having bypassed the southern holds, they would be able to cut them off and take them later, after consolidating the north.

Two against possibly a hundred is impossible odds, and the Stormcloaks, I knew, might have several times that number. We needed to alert the city of the imminent danger and give its defenders time to organize resistance. With no time to come up with a real plan, I winged it, pointing to Serana and then toward the group of soldiers slowly sneaking past us just paces away. She nodded in understanding.

Too late! A horn sounded, but I was doubly surprised, both by its intensity and since it came from the gap Dornan and his crew should have completed over a week earlier.

"For Ulfric! For Victory!" shouted the Stormcloaks charging forward.

A lightning bolt blasted into the group, causing the Stormcloaks to shout in surprise as I rose to my feet and screamed, "Morthal! To arms! To arms! Attackers!"

Running forward toward the nearest group, I yelled again, but this time, it was a true shout, a dragon shout, for the only help I knew that might make a true difference under the circumstances. It boomed across the land: "Od Ah Viing!"

There were screams and shouting within the city, but there was nothing more I could do for the Morthalians since I was immediately engaged with several confused Stormcloaks who hadn't been expecting an attack from their flank. With an ebony longsword in my right hand and a dragonbone dagger in my left, I cut down two Stormcloaks before a fireball erupted on another group of soldiers nearing the breach. Serana, I suspected, was putting her staff to good use.

My longsword parried a blow with an axe, ripping it from the fingers of the startled soldier, before sending him to Sovngarde with my dagger. I was about to engage another when a gust of wind told me that my company had arrived.

"DOVAHKIIN! Saraan uth?"

"Help Serana and me defend the city outside the walls from these attackers!" I cried out in reply.

Without replying, a powerful downdraft and, for just a moment, the stars above disappearing, told me that Odahviing was winging his way closer to the timber wall. A gout of flames lit the sky and revealed his immense body for a moment before bursting into the Stormcloak soldiers streaming toward the opening. From what I could see in that brief moment, that part of the palisade hadn't been touched since I'd left.

There was no time to study it further, though, since the battle was now raging. Where the Stormcloaks had been sure of themselves and their victory, some were suddenly screaming in fear as the giant dragon passed overhead, picking up one and then another and throwing them at their fellows. There was now as many cries of fear as those of their battle fury just moments earlier.

Another lightning bolt flashed past me, sizzling a couple of soldiers who'd been charging toward me. I stabbed one and kicked him off my blade before approaching another making his way toward me.

"Dragonborn, I knew you were traitor to our people, to Skyrim," called a voice I vaguely recognized but couldn't quite place. "Captain Greshal said it wasn't you, but I told him I recognized you. Bjorn, indeed! Now, die, traitor!"

Another blast of flames lit the sky and earth nearby, setting fire to the low vegetation on the cleared ground and to the attackers alike. The flames provided dancing light and shadows all around, giving the battle a spooky, eerie feel. They also lit up my attacker, allowing me to see the sword slashing in toward me, wielded by Sergeant Brukol, the man I most remembered for killing a confused young man and then desecrating his body. There was no time to dwell on that, though, for Brukol was a big brute of man and a powerful warrior; I succeeded in turning the sword but had no protection as he slammed his great shield against me, sending me staggering back several steps. As I winced at the pain and tried to refocus on him, I considered myself quite lucky that I hadn't tripped and fallen to the ground to prove Lydia's point about prone men being dead men.

He laughed. "Not so tough without your tricks are you, Dragonborn? I told Greshal that we should have taken you when we had the opportunity. Too bad. You'll die now, instead!"

I deflected his thrust and dodged a second blow of his shield. He was fast and was attacking with a ferocity that left me little time but to deflect and stay out of his way as I gave ground, still trying to keep from falling over as I did. My sword kept his sword away and as he tired, his shield became a less effective weapon but was still quite substantial on the defensive side. Since I had little time to attack, I waited until I was an opening and quickly kicked in with my boot, catching him in the kneecap. It was his turn to stagger in pain so I followed up by slashing with my sword and cutting with my dagger, forcing him to go on the defensive. I didn't let up, driving him back as he tried to intercept attacks from two directions similar to what he'd done with me seconds earlier.

"Burn!" called Odahviing before releasing another jet of flames near the opening in the palisade. Some of the Stormcloaks were trying to fire arrows against him, but many were now fleeing.

Serana fired off another fireball from her staff and followed up, using her magicka, with yet another lightning bolt. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw she was protected by a Stormcloak soldier, though I suspected he no longer knew he was doing it.

Brukol was tiring as I drove him backward, giving him no time to rest or check his surroundings. He continued to try to parry my cuts, stabs, and slashes, but was so focused that he missed the rocks I drove him into, leading him to fall backward. Laying on the ground, he looked up at me and said, "I yield, Dragonborn," as he tossed his sword away and dropped his shield to his side. "Quarter."

"Like you gave Rousen?"

"That fool boy? He got what he deserved for strikin—Urrrgh!"

"Exactly like you gave Rousen," I replied to the dying man as I twisted my sword before pulling it from his body. I turned and started toward the battle within the palisade.

I was joined by Serana and yet another of her dead protectors before I reached the opening in the wall. Fortunately, as we approached, the sounds of battle inside the breach started to turn, as the soldiers of Morthal, some still in their nightclothes, worked to drive the Stormcloaks back. Without the reinforcements behind them that they'd expected, some of the attackers tried to withdraw, only to be attacked outside the wall by the dragon, while some of those inside threw down their arms and surrendered.

~ESV~

It seemed to me as if it was an hour, but someone later told me that the Battle of Morthal lasted less than twenty minutes. We never got a firm count on the number of Stormcloaks killed, but we knew from the bodies recovered that it was over forty, not counting several ash piles that I purposely avoided mentioning to anyone. Captain Greshal's burned body was found near the breach. He'd probably been among those to die from one of Odahviing's fiery blasts.

Almost fifty Stormcloak wounded were left behind on the battlefield; a few of those would die before they could be gathered up and treated and several others didn't live to see the morning. Finally, twenty-three others surrendered without serious wounds. The names of all of the survivors, both the wounded and the reasonably whole, were taken and they were released according to the new parole system we'd established. The rest of their force had fled back into The Pale.

Nineteen soldiers of Morthal were being laid out on the ground and being covered by sheets when I walked by. Another thirteen were wounded, but I didn't stop to check on them either. Instead, I made my way to one of the houses on the new street that ran behind Jorgen and Lami's house. Serana was right behind me.

Approaching Dornan's house with my candelight spell going, I mounted the step and kicked open the door without knocking. There, we found Dornan on his hands and knees in front of the fireplace replacing paverstones. He grabbed up a loaded crossbow and started to aim at me but I shouted, "Zun Haal Viik," sending it flying from his hands.

"No, Dragonborn! You don't understand!" He was covered in blood, as if he'd been engaged in the fighting, but I suspected that I knew which side he'd been fighting for.

"That you're a traitor to Morthal and Hjaalmarch? That you could have had that gap closed days ago but that you somehow delayed to allow them to enter? How much did they pay you or do you really support Ulfric?"

My candlelight spell going out distracted him for a moment, but his own candles burning provided enough light for all of us to see. Turning back toward me, Dornan answered as he continued cowering on the floor. "Ulfric Stormcloak is the true king of Skyrim. Killing me won't change that."

"No, Dornan. You're dead wrong, but I'm not killing you for your belief. Now, scoot back."

He reluctantly did so, allowing me room to pull up the flat stone to reveal the hollow below. Seething, I pulled out the horn and shook it in front of his face.

"You blew this to help the Stormcloaks find the opening. Did you dismiss the guards in that area, too, or did you kill them first?"

On seeing that I'd uncovered his crimes, actual and suspected, he didn't answer; instead, he dropped his head, staring down at the floor.

"Dornan of Morthal, you're under arrest and will face the jarl's justice for the evil you've brought on this place. May it be as severe as you deserve. Let's go so she can mete out your punishment."

The man nodded and reluctantly rose to his feet. I turned and started to walk out before him when Serana fired a lightning bolt. Looking around, ashes were falling to the ground in a pile where the bloodied Dornan had stood just a moment earlier.

Looking at her, I cried out, "Serana? Why?"

Using her toe, she kicked at the pile, sending a dagger sliding out. "He was going to use it on you," she replied, "though I suspect he knew what would happen and knew that would be easier than what the jarl would do to him."

"Probably so," I agreed. "Thank you, my friend. Well, let's go do what we originally came here for."

~ESV~

It was a little after midnight when a group assembled in Highmoon Hall. Jarl Idgrod Ravencrone stood at the head of the table, with Aslfur, her husband and chief advisor, and Taurinus Duilis, Imperial legate and "military advisor" to the jarl on one side, and Young Idgrod and Serana on the other. I was on the opposite end from the jarl.

"Ulfric wants me dead, so he's given orders to his troops to take me out, but he can't openly put a bounty on my head because of my past service to Skyrim."

The jarl nodded. "However, avoiding Stormcloak soldiers doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be safe. There's nothing to stop him from sending an individual bounty hunter, or a group of them, or even the Dark Brotherhood, after you."

"Or after Lucia or even your princess," agreed Serana, with a nod to Idgrod. The jarl frowned at her, but Serana continued. "Jorleif admitted that Ulfric's followers have been spying on you, so he has to know about them and that you love them. Both." The look Serana gave the jarl on adding that last word made me think she was going to stick her tongue out at her, but she looked back at me and finished her thought. "If Ulfric can take them prisoner—one or both—he might think he can force you to join him."

"Yes, what's to stop him?" agreed the legate. "General Tullius really wants you on our side, but I suspect Ulfric Stormcloak would do just about anything to get you on theirs. The man will stop at nothing to get what he wants and a bit of hostage taking—"

I nodded and held up my hand. "My jarl, those are the facts as we see them. Idgrod and my daughter aren't safe since Ulfric won't hesitate to use them as pawns. You're not going to like this but they have to disappear and so do I, at least temporarily, so Ulfric won't look for them."

She stared at me for several seconds before closing her eyes. I knew it was quite late and that we were all exhausted, but I hadn't expected her to fall asleep on us.

"Where can they go? Fort Dawnguard?" asked Aslfur. "I hear they have a good fighting force there now that the vampire threat has—at least mostly—" he said with a frown as he stared at Serana, "been neutralized."

"That's a good idea, Aerik," agreed Serana, "even if it did come from him." She gave Aslfur an equally sour look.

"Great idea, but too obvious," I replied. "With the publicity the Dawnguard got across Skyrim with your father, they have, indeed, put together a pretty good force, but not everyone who applies is accepted. If there's even a hint that we might have gone that way, all it would take is one disgruntled person who didn't get in to give away the location and Ulfric could dispatch an army to find out if it's true. The Dawnguard force would be able to hold out for a long while, but they'd eventually fall due to shear numbers, destroying the good work the Dawnguard is trying to do."

"Aerik, Jarl Ulfric could still do that, even if there's not a hint," pointed out Idgrod, taking my hand. She gave it a gentle squeeze but didn't let go.

"True, which is why we have to give him another hint." The Ravencrone's eyes were open as she said this, looking straight at our hands before turning her gaze toward me.

Aslfur looked questioningly at his wife. "Idgrod, what do you mean?"

She stared down the table at me for a few seconds more before replying. "Tell them, Dragonborn."

"I'm sending them south, through the mountains, into Cyrodiil."

Aslfur's head shook furiously. "But he can dispatch people to follow them there, too! There's no way they'll be safe there."

Knowing the truth of his statement, I nodded and then explained my true plan. It was met with more skeptical looks than I'd hoped, even from Young Idgrod, but the jarl slowly drummed her fingers on the table as she considered it. Finally, the Ravencrone nodded.

"Make it so. Keep my daughter safe, Aerik Dovahkiin. And keep your daughter safe, too."

An hour later, the guards at the south gate to Morthal saw Serana and me leave. On reaching the main road, we turned east, toward Stonehills. A short time later, Idgrod the Younger, accompanied by Gorm, the jarl's trusted housecarl, also left the city, but on reaching the road, they turned west, toward Dragonbridge. By dawn, there was no sign of either group anywhere near the road.

~ESV~

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading and for your support! Fire more chapters remain.