Chapter 12 – Paths
"First, who's we? Who are you working for?" Camri asked Areen. "The Empire?"
"No, the Empire itself is only part of it. The Elder Council of Tamriel. It consists of the Emperor, the provincial kings of Morrowind, Skyrim, High Rock, Hammerfell, Black Marsh, Elsweyr, Valenwood and the Summerset Isle. As well as that is Arch-Mage Onstaro, the highest-ranking member of the Tamrielic Guild of Mages, Grandmaster Brevin Iron-Heart of the Guild of Fighters, and Eno Hlaalu, Grandmaster of the Morag Tong"
"And you work for them?"
"Well, for the King of Argonia, yes. Horunn was a representative of Skyrim, Sun is a representative of Morrowind"
"One last question – why? Why are we all being brought together?"
"I don't know" Areen replied honestly. "As the only one of the three guardians present I have to take you to the Elder Council Chambers in the Imperial City. But I must say I'm not happy with that. General Seminus and his men must be within days of launching their attack. I want to go and fight for my nation"
"Everything's starting to make sense now" Assurrani said, looking at Camri. "For the last few hours I've been wondering why you saved my life in Abagarlas"
"We've known since the beginning that we could not harm you" Camri said to him. "It hasn't been easy. And it was Areen and Horunn who broke you out of Fanacasecul, by the way"
"Well, thank you" Assurrani said to Areen.
Ariel spoke up for the first time. "The Expeditionary Force are just behind that rockslide. I doubt it will take them long to find a way past it"
"They're your people, aren't they?" Camri asked, turning to Eldred. "Who are you going to fight for?"
"I may be able to call them off now the Marsh Spirit is destroyed" Eldred said. "If they still attack you, they will be attacking those who have done nothing wrong. In the eyes of the Tribunal that is wrong, so I will join your side"
"Alright, Dunmers" Camri said. "If you're on our team, you need to know my rule. You protect Ariel, then yourself"
Ariel blushed as Camri looked at her, but she knew he was right. She couldn't defend herself against 20 Imperial Expeditionary Force soldiers, especially with no objects to hand to use as weapons.
In the tunnel, the Expeditionary Force men worked quickly. They took several bottles of naphtha and poured them all over the pile of fallen boulders, also leaving a trail of naphtha on the floor leading about 100 yards back down the tunnel. A mage cast a small fireball at the naphtha trail, igniting it. A wall of flame lanced down the tunnel and reached the rock wall, igniting the gallons of the oily liquid and blowing the blockage clean out of the tunnel.
Outside, the six dived for cover as flaming rocks burst out of the tunnel, as a colossal explosion rocked the ground. Eldred leapt up and ran towards the tunnel entrance as four Expeditionary Force soldiers ran out.
"Moravahn. Good to see you" the commanding officer said.
"Our work here is done, Commander" Eldred said. "The Marsh Spirit has been destroyed. We should make for the border and stop Seminus' men doing any damage"
The commanding officer removed his helmet. Assurrani shuddered when he saw the face of the man behind it. He had met him once in passing – it was Commander Odana, General Seminus' right-hand man.
"They're working for Seminus!" Assurrani shouted. "Kill them!"
At that moment, all hell broke loose. Eldred leapt to the ground as arrows pelted across the clearing from all directions – some from Camri, some from Assurrani, and most from the Expeditionary Force, the rest of whom had emerged from the tunnel.
"Get to cover!" Camri shouted. "Eldred, I hate to do this to you…"
Several of the Expeditionary Force men drew swords and began running towards Eldred. Eldred jumped up off the ground and vanished into thin air as he cast an invisibility spell on himself.
At the same time, Ariel, Areen and Lunia were running to the shelter of the temple while Assurrani and Camri kept firing arrows at the advancing Expeditionary Force soldiers. Camri had struck Commander Odana right between the eyes before he'd had chance to put his helmet back on. Assurrani hit another of the soldiers in the chest, the arrow piercing straight through his light armour.
"Camri, draw them back to the temple!" Assurrani called. "I've got a plan!"
"Good, because I haven't" Camri replied as he began backpedalling towards the temple, all the time dodging arrows and firing off his own.
Assurrani dived behind a rock. From where Camri was, he saw Assurrani cast an invisibility spell on himself, but the soldiers wouldn't have seen it. They would simply think he was looking for cover.
"Areen! I'm gonna need you!" Camri shouted back to the temple. The Argonian appeared from behind a rock, brandishing his mace. The path to the temple was a wide trail between two tall rock walls, which the Expeditionary Force men had now reached and were filing down.
"Camri!" Ariel called to him. "Keep them in that passageway!"
She scanned around, seeing the two purple glows betraying Eldred and Assurrani's positions to her climbing up two trees to reach the rocks that lined the trail.
At the same time, Camri and Areen, who had been hiding around the corners of the rock wall, leapt out and instantly killed two of the Expeditionary Force soldiers. Losing no time, they turned to face the next two, Areen knocking one unconscious with his mace, Camri swiftly disarming another by forcing his axe to the ground with his own sword, before plunging his sword through the soldier's chest.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Camri saw the figures of Assurrani and Eldred materialise on top of the rock wall, Assurrani holding another phial of naphtha and Eldred's hands raised as if to cast a spell.
Assurrani took the lid off the phial then cast its contents through the air. Eldred immediately cast a wave of fire which ignited the naphtha, causing the burning liquid to rain down on the Expeditionary Force men. Drawing their weapons, they leapt down into the carnage and began fighting their way through the soldiers, who were either being burnt alive or panicking and trying to escape.
Soon, silence fell on the clearing.
"How did you know about the naphtha trick?" Eldred asked Assurrani.
"It's a Buoyant Armiger trick, isn't it?" Assurrani replied. "I noticed you glancing at the phials on my belt. That's how I knew you were an Armiger"
Eldred turned so he could see the other four.
"I bring news from the south" Eldred said. "General Seminus still thought Assurrani was working for him, and thought he was going to get the Marsh Spirit. Now he hasn't, he's having to rethink his tactics a bit. He was supposed to attack today. Now he will attack in three days' time"
Camri looked at Areen. "Three days, then"
Areen nodded. "Meet me in the Deer's Leap Inn in Gideon, and we will take arms together"
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That evening, after a long walk through the tunnel and having to dodge the traps in Abagarlas again, the group emerged from Sideways Cave. The night sky was cloudless and glowing with the light of thousands of stars, whilst the two moons burnt brightly above them.
"Camri, I have nowhere to go" Ariel said helplessly. "My home is all the way back in High Rock…"
"I have no home either" Camri replied. "I'd been in prison for who knows how long when all this started, and before that I just lived in camps. You should try one of the inns in the city"
"Are you coming too?"
"No, they don't like me in the cities…"
"I will not sleep in a warm bed in a tavern with the thought of you asleep in a tent somewhere" Ariel said, turning to Camri. "Come on, let's find a campsite"
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Later that evening, Camri and Ariel sat at a small fire in an empty camp they had found on the shores of the Rumare. Areen had returned to Argonia, and Eldred and Assurrani had gone with him – they had also decided to help the Argonians fight off the invasion.
"It's just starting to hit me how messed up everything's just become" Camri said. "Areen and Horunn knew each other before we met, Assurrani's on our side now… I mean, do you think we can trust him?"
"I think so" Ariel replied. "He defected as soon as he found out that General Seminus was working against the Empire. He's a Morag Tong agent, so we know that he is loyal to the Empire"
"That may be a problem, because I'm not"
"With respect, Camri, your problem does not seem to be with the Empire, it's with the guard captains and the counts of the cities. I mean, if something like the Oblivion crisis happened again, would you fight for the Empire?"
"I think I would" Camri replied. "And I think you may have inadvertently just predicted the future again, then"
"What do you mean?"
"Remember that cave in Skingrad that the clues in the castle led to? The one my father destroyed? While I was in there I found an ancient scroll, which said something about three people brought together by a big event, to take on something even bigger"
"You think that's us three?"
Camri nodded but said nothing.
"Whatever happens, I hope it's not just the three of us" he said eventually. "I've grown fond of Areen, and Eldred seems to have his head screwed on the right way"
Camri looked up at the cloudless, starry sky.
"It's getting late. We should get some sleep"
"I'm not really tired" Ariel said. "I think it's adrenaline, from everything that's happened today"
Camri smiled and got up, taking a worn-looking shortsword from his belt, a spare that he always carried with him, and handed it to Ariel.
"In that case, I'll teach you how to fight!"
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Blackrose, Black Marsh, the next day
Through the driving rain, Areen saw Sudana sheltering in one of the guard stations of the palace, waiting for him. Despite the fact that most of it was hidden from view by the rain and fog, Areen never ceased to be amazed by the sight of Blackrose Palace, the heart of Argonia. Four enormous Hist trees grew from each corner of a colossal ziggurat, snaking up the steps to meet in the centre and create an enormous, spiralling tower that vaulted up to an enormous verdant canopy. The ziggurat itself was an architectural marvel even though it was dwarfed by the four Hist trees – it was a colossal stepped pyramid fifteen storeys high, forged from marble and inlaid and bound with lavish gold, glass and ebony decorations.
As Areen approached Sudana, under the watchful eye of two guards, she stepped out of the shelter to greet him.
"You're late, but I understand you've had a very long journey" Sudana said. "The King is waiting for us"
The pair began to climb the broad staircase that led up the ziggurat into the palace. At either side of the stairway were two broad channels down which an orange liquid flowed – Hist sap which literally poured from the four enormous trees.
"Did you manage to get us any help?" Sudana asked as they climbed.
"Camri, Ariel, Assurrani and another Dunmer, Eldred Moravahn, are all coming to our aid" Areen replied. "I told them to meet us in Gideon on the dawn of the day of battle"
"What about the Empire?"
"Useless as always. They don't want to send any men because if they get spotted it will expose the fact that they messed up and couldn't stop Seminus. As far as the citizens of Cyrodiil are concerned, the Third Battalion are still servants of the Empire"
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"It may surprise you to learn that you are the only one left, Areen"
King Jararka of Argonia got up from his throne and walked towards Areen. With Areen was the Steward, Kee-Nara, and Sudana.
"One of whom?" Areen asked.
"The three that were tasked with looking after Camri, Ariel and Falas"
"I know of Horunn" Areen said. "But what happened to Sun?"
"He is presumed dead. The Dark Brotherhood launched a raid on the Morag Tong's headquarters in Vivec. The Morag Tong agents fought off the invaders but suffered heavy casualties. Sun, or his dead body, were never found"
"Sad news indeed"
"Yes. But, nevertheless, you succeeded in your task. Camri, Ariel and Falas dealt with the issue regarding the Marsh Spirit, although not necessarily gaining the result we may have wanted. And they didn't kill each other, and they now know that they are united under one banner. Now, all that remains is the small matter of the Third Battalion"
"Your Highness, my spies have reported back. We know of Seminus' plans" Sudana said. Jararka looked at her expectantly.
"They are essentially using all their resources to capture Gideon. Once Gideon falls to them, they are going to use it as a foothold to attack the other cities"
"Luckily I suspected this" Jararka said. "For the last few weeks we have been strengthening the defences in Gideon and building an advance-warning system that will tell us as soon as the Imperials cross the border into Black Marsh"
"Early warning system?" Areen asked.
"Yes. It functions using water. It's essentially a very long pipe with a tank of water at each end, one end in Gideon and the other by the lookout on the border. The two tanks are full to the brim and connected by a pipe. When the scouts see the Third Battalion, they will push down a lid on their tank which is the same size as the tank itself, forcing water out of the tank in Gideon. It will happen instantly, giving us several hours to prepare for battle"