Chapter 4 – Good Weather For Airstrikes
Veyond Cave, near Bravil
Camri, Areen, Ariel and Horunn walked into the cave, the rock walls illuminated by a torch held by Horunn. They reached the first chamber and saw Sudana, along with her two guards.
"Areen, Camri, you have returned" she said, approaching them. "And you have the book"
"Sudana, this is Ariel Lasaille and Horunn. They have an aim in common with us"
Sudana took the book from Areen and shook hands with Ariel and Horunn.
"What is it, Areen?" Sudana said, looking into Areen's eyes. "Something's wrong"
"The Empire are onto us" Areen said. "They've hired an agent, Falas Assurrani, to stop what we're doing. And he can't die"
"He can't die?" Sudana said dubiously. "This needs explaining"
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The next day, Camri walked into Sudana's study in Veyond Cave.
"Anything?" Camri asked. Sudana was reading the book that Camri and Areen had recovered from Morahame.
"This book is exactly what I was looking for. It was written by an Argonian mage during the War of the Niben. It looks like the creators of the Marsh Spirit left a secret trail, or maybe a code, that leads to it"
"What do you mean?" Camri asked, sitting down next to her.
"The book was written in Daedric, presumably to stop all but the most well-educated from being able to understand it" Sudana said. "This is a translation of the last page"
Sudana handed Camri a piece of paper, which he read aloud.
"We shall continue our work in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is a secret place, deep in the heart of the Empire. If you wish to join me there, stand by the castle gates in Chorrol at 5 hours past noon"
"I see what you mean" Camri said. "The Church of the Holy Sepulchre… I don't know it, I'm afraid"
"Neither do I, but at least we have somewhere to start" Sudana said. "If you set off now, you can be in Chorrol by that time"
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Outside, Areen and Horunn stood guarding the cave. They had lit a fire over which a pot of water was simmering – to a passer-by it would have looked like they were simply two wildmen cooking.
"What's going on, Areen?" Horunn asked suddenly. "Your people are plotting something against the Empire"
"Our people are defending ourselves" Areen replied. "To an extent, at least. The Empire plans to invade southern Tamriel, claiming Black Marsh and Elsweyr and placing them under Imperial rule. When the Empire invades, my people will strike back, as will the people of Elsweyr. We will do what they are trying to do to us, and reclaim the parts of southern Cyrodiil that were once ours"
"I do not normally care for the affairs of the Empire" Horunn said. "But it seems that Ariel does"
"Camri told me something" Areen said. "He says that Ariel told her that it is his and her destiny to stop the war"
"Ariel is a very special person" Horunn said. "I do not believe in destiny, but there must be a reason Ariel was blessed with her powers. Perhaps this is it"
"Shit, someone was in there!" Areen shouted suddenly. He had seen a flash of purple dart from the mouth of the cave, someone invisible who Areen only noticed thanks to one of his life-detection potions.
Areen took a small steel dart and dipped it in a small phial of potion on his belt, then began sprinting after the purple glow. He could run quicker than whoever it was, and as soon as he was in range he hurled the dart, striking the figure in the thigh. As he did so, he ducked down into the undergrowth as the dispelling potion took effect, revealing Falas Assurrani. Assurrani looked around, saw nothing and began walking swiftly through the undergrowth away from Areen. When Assurrani was out of sight, Areen got up and ran back to the cave, where Ariel and Camri were waiting with Horunn.
"It was Assurrani" Areen said between gasps of breath as he got back to the cave. "He was in the cave, spying on us"
"Which way did he run?" Camri asked.
"North, towards the Imperial City"
"He overheard me and Sudana, then" Camri said bleakly. "He's on his way to Chorrol"
"What?"
"Sudana translated the book we got from Morahame. The upshot is that we need to be outside Castle Chorrol at 5 o'clock, and apparently we'll find the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which may be the whereabouts of the Marsh Spirit"
"We can buy some time if we can find the church without having to be in Chorrol" Ariel said. "What did the book say? Deep in the heart of the Empire…"
"The Imperial City?" Camri asked.
"No, if it was there its whereabouts would be public knowledge. It could be referring to the Imperial Reserve…"
"That's near Chorrol, it would make sense" Camri said. "But I only know of one church in the Reserve, it's in Hackdirt. They're Daedra worshippers. I wouldn't really associate the name 'Holy Sepulchre' with the Daedra"
"I don't think we have much choice" Areen said. "If we go to Chorrol, we've got Assurrani to deal with. If we go straight to the church, we can be in and out before he even reaches Chorrol"
"To the Imperial Reserve, then" Camri said as he began to walk in the direction of the road.
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The Imperial City, Office of Imperial Commerce
Buoyant Armiger Eldred Moravahn approached the man sitting behind the desk that was the only thing on the ground floor of the Office of Imperial Commerce.
"Can I help you?" the man asked.
"I am Eldred Moravahn, Buoyant Armiger of the Tribunal Temple of Morrowind. I have been sent to see Commander Villars"
"I thought it was you" the man said, standing up. "I'm Commander Villars, temporary employee of the Office of Imperial Commerce. The less people there are between us, the better"
Commander Tertius Villars of the Imperial Watch had been given a task of utmost importance by the Emperor himself. Corruption in the upper ranks of the Imperial army, suspicion of high-ranking generals trying to engineer war in southern Tamriel for their own personal gain. Eldred Moravahn was sent from Morrowind because the Emperor also suspected involvement by the Morag Tong, and the reasons for a Temple representative being sent to Cyrodiil were twofold – the Temple were sworn enemies with the Morag Tong, and they were also attempting to rekindle their failing alliance with the Empire.
Eldred looked around the room. Apart from himself and Villars, it was empty.
"So, what have you achieved without me?" Eldred asked. "Any suspects yet?"
"Just one" Villars said. "General Anvius Seminus. A Dunmer entered Cyrodiil a few weeks ago from Morrowind, stating that he was a courier delivering an ebony sword to Seminus, one that had been forged personally for him, with his initials inscribed on the handle, in Morrowind"
"Sounds fine to me" Eldred said. "I'm an agent of the Temple and I can afford a glass sword, so I'm sure a General can afford an ebony one"
"Yes, but there's two loose ends. One, General Seminus hasn't fought a battle for the last 10 years. He's a pen-pusher, works in recruiting, training, commanding operations from back here in the City, that sort of thing. Two, Seminus and myself used to be guards in the Market District. Whenever there was trouble and he had to draw a weapon, it would always be an axe. I've never seen him hold a sword in my life"
"What do you want me to do, then?"
"He has a room on permanent rent at the Tiber Septim Hotel. That's all I know about him, and I want to know more. And I'm going to see what I can find on the Dunmer who brought the sword to him"
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Falas Assurrani walked through the gates of Chorrol, seeing the castle standing proudly on a small hill in the east of the town. By the angle of the sun in the sky, he guessed it to be around 4 o'clock – he had a while to wait. Another thing he had noticed was the weather – over the last week, everywhere north of the Imperial City had seen nothing but torrential rain. That day, however, the sky was cloudless and the sun burnt brightly in the west.
As 5 o'clock approached, Assurrani kept his eyes peeled on the castle. He wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen, until he noticed something. A bright glow, high up on the castle gate. Assurrani raced towards it, and as he approached it he noticed that the sunlight was at the correct angle to shine through a diamond mounted into the castle gate, which magnified the sunlight into a fine beam. This beam reflected off a tiny sliver of silver mounted on another wall beyond the gate, then simply hit the southern wall of the castle courtyard and ended.
Assurrani examined this phenomenon, frantically trying to deduce its meaning before the beam faded as the sun moved out of alignment.
Then, it hit him. He had almost forgotten what he was looking for. It was a church. A secret place, deep in the heart of the Empire. The beam of light was pointing south, out of Chorrol towards the Imperial Reserve. The heart of the Empire.
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East of Hackdirt, The Imperial Reserve
Areen led Camri, Ariel and Horunn through the undergrowth until Hackdirt came into view.
"Hackdirt is a dangerous place" Areen whispered. "They've become so detached from the Empire that they've got their own army who will attack any outsiders on sight"
Camri took his bow off his back and gave it to Areen, along with the quiver of arrows. "You seem to have a good grasp on marksmanship, if those darts are anything to go by" Camri said. "Cover us from back here. Horunn, Ariel, come with me"
"Most of the soldiers are garrisoned in the church" Ariel said. "But there's a secret entrance to the church, through the caves"
"Caves?" Camri asked.
"Yes, there's a series of natural caverns that run underneath Hackdirt. There's a trapdoor into them in every house"
"Leave that to me" Camri said. "If you can, draw some of the soldiers out of the church and make my job a bit easier"
Areen drew a bead on one of the Hackdirt soldiers who were patrolling the streets of the village. He released the drawstring, and the well-aimed arrow sailed through the air, striking the soldier in the temple and killing him instantly.
"Outsiders!"one of the other soldiers bellowed. There were five more on patrol on the high street of the village.
Camri leapt from cover, motioning Horunn and Ariel to do the same. A nearby soldier spotted them immediately and charged at Camri, who swiftly drew his sword and plunged it into the soldier's chest before he had chance to attack. Next to him, Horunn used his shield to block a blow from another soldier's mace, as Camri turned to face his next opponent. The soldier swung an axe at Camri, who ducked to avoid the blow, returning the attack by lunging forwards and crash-tackling the soldier to the ground. Suddenly, he looked up to see another soldier racing towards him, a sword held high above his head. As Camri wrestled his opponent on the ground, a well-built Imperial soldier, he desperately picked up the soldier's axe and hurled it behind him at Ariel.
Please figure it out, Ariel…
Ariel saw the axe flying towards her and instinctively holding her hands in front of her, halting the axe and leaving it hovering in the air. Pushing her hands forward, she sent the axe spinning through the air at phenomenal speed. The axe struck the swordsman square in the chest and sent him flying backwards, landing awkwardly head-first on the paved high street and snapping his neck.
Camri used the distraction to leap to his feet and slit the throat of the soldier he was fighting with his sword. As he looked around, he saw that Horunn had killed the soldier he was fighting. The fifth soldier turned round and bolted back into the village, disappearing into a run-down house.
Camri walked around, collecting the weapons of the five fallen soldiers, and dumped them at Ariel's feet.
"Between us we've come up with a very powerful weapon" Camri said. "You should be able to hold the village"
"I know very little about weapons" Ariel said. "I fear telekinesis may not be the way to fight this battle"
"Ariel, if a person gets hit by a large piece of metal flying at high speed, they won't be fighting many more battles" Camri replied. "Besides, you've got Horunn to look after you"
Areen approached the pair, carrying Camri's bow in one hand and his wooden staff in the other.
"I have fought alongside you since we met, and it's not about to change" Areen said. "Let's find a way into the caves"
"Gentlemen, remember we don't have long" Horunn said urgently. "We have to get into that church as soon as possible"
"Why?" Areen asked.
"Assurrani" Horunn replied. "If we can't kill him, it would benefit us hugely if he didn't turn up"
"I'll signal you somehow when we get into the church" Camri said. "Then, break down those doors and attack"