Chapter 6 – The Assault on Fort Nikel
"We need to secure that courtyard before they know what's hit them!" Lando whispered. "Carius, Marus, Endrich, use your ranged attacks. If you see anyone on higher ground, kill them. Roman, you and I will handle anyone on the ground. Endrich, you're on point"
Endrich and Marus drew their bows whilst Roman and Lando unsheathed their swords. They began running down the hill towards the opening into the courtyard, Endrich in front.
Endrich and Lando raced through the archway into the courtyard. As they expected, all hell broke loose. Endrich was immediately hit from the side by an arrow, the arrowhead wedging itself in Endrich's bracer but not reaching his skin. Endrich spun round, located the archer and fired an arrow back.
Lando engaged a swordsman in a duel. The swordsman was using a large claymore and Lando was struggling to fight him, and soon found himself pinned against a pillar. Then the swordsman suddenly froze with a look of horror on his face, then fell backwards, lifeless. Roman stood behind with a bloodstained sword.
Marus and Endrich were constantly ducking in and out of the pillars holding up the upper levels of the courtyard, firing arrows at the archers high up on the balconies. Carius hurled fireballs up to the highest reaches of the tower, where arrows would not reach.
"Inside! Quickly!" Lando shouted. He had located the door into the fortress, and he threw it open. All five of them ran inside, Carius letting off one final fireball which hit one of the supporting pillars and brought one of the upper balconies tumbling down in an almighty crash.
The five found themselves in the old part of the fortress, in a corridor made from crumbling stone which seemed to lead down to a larger hall. Two guards stood a short distance down the hall and spotted them immediately in the glow of their torches, and charged at the group.
Endrich and Marus began firing arrows towards the guards. They were both unskilled with bows and their accuracy was poor, but Marus managed to hit one of the guards in the chest.
"They're coming in from behind us!" Carius shouted. Dawn light flooded into the hallway as the doors into the fortress swung open and two archers ran in.
"Hold them off! Hold them off!" Lando shouted. He charged at the remaining archer from inside the hallway, brandishing his shield in front of him. He felt a heavy impact as an arrow hit his shield, causing shards of wood to splinter off it. At the last moment, Lando dropped his shield and swung his sword with all his might, hewing the guard's head clean off his body.
He turned round to see the rest of the group retreating towards him.
"There's too many!" Roman shouted. "They've sent in reinforcements from the City!"
Lando ran back to join the group. They were fighting six or seven guards – Endrich and Roman fighting with swords whilst Marus and Carius constantly backpedalled and fired arrows and fireballs at the guards.
"I'm going on ahead!" Lando shouted to the group. "Hold them off as long as you can! If it gets too hectic follow me!"
"Godspeed, Captain!" Carius called back. He drew his sword and began duelling with a guard.
Lando began to run down the corridor, not knowing what lay ahead. He heard footsteps following him. He spun round, brandishing his sword.
It was Roman.
"Roman, I'm going alone!" Lando said.
"No you're not! How can you possibly argue that one soldier is better than two?"
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Lando and Roman burst into the main hall of Fort Nikel. Four guards stood in the room, and directly opposite where Lando and Roman stood was a door which was different to the rest of the interior. It was a new-looking door, forged from steel. No doubt it led down to the new parts of the fortress that the Empire had built.
"Come on!" Lando shouted. He ran into the room, swinging his sword downwards towards one of the guards. Before the guard had a chance to fight back, Lando's sword gruesomely split the guard's head in half. Another guard ran over, wielding a mace, and swung it at Lando. Lando didn't react quickly enough and the mace slammed into the side of his head, knocking him to the ground. His vision exploded into a field of stars.
"Roman!" he shouted as loud as he could. His comrade ran over and engaged the guard, skilfully moving to avoid mace swings before plunging his sword into the guard's chest. Two down, two to go.
Lando climbed to his feet and picked up his sword. Roman was fighting one of the other guards – where was the fourth?
He instinctively turned round, just in time to duck and avoid the fourth guard swinging his sword horizontally at Lando's neck. Lando crash-tackled the guard to the ground and brought his boot down on the man's chest as hard as he could. He heard the guard's ribcage cracking as blood began to pouring from his mouth.
Roman slayed the final guard and joined Lando.
"Aren't you going to finish him off?"
"No. He deserves to die in pain"
Lando ran over to the large steel door and threw it open. A narrow staircase led down into a series of caverns cut from the rock. Lando ran down the stairs, Roman following him.
They took in their surroundings immediately. The large cavern they were in was filled with cages, with three or four people in each. Then they noticed something much more appalling.
Almost all the prisoners were dead.
Lando quickly located Alaina, crouched in the corner of one of the cages.
"Thank Stendarr, she's alive!" he said. "Come on!"
Two guards ran towards them.
"They're here for the prisoner from Chorrol!" one of them shouted. "Kill her!"
"No!" Lando yelled. He began to sprint as fast as he could towards the cage Alaina was being held in. A guard standing by it, holding a bow, nocked an arrow and began to draw back the string…
Lando brought his sword down on the man's wrist, slicing his hand clean off. He fell to the floor, screaming in pain.
"Lando!" Alaina exclaimed. Lando took Alaina's crossbow and quiver off his back and passed them to her through the bars of the cage.
"Let's get out of here" he said. Alaina took the crossbow, loaded a bolt, took aim and fired, hitting one of the guards that Roman was fighting in the back of the head. Roman used the distraction to stab his sword into the second guard's chest.
"Roman, find the keys!" Lando ordered. He ran back to the staircase that led up into the fortress. He could hear many footfalls coming from heavy boots descending the wide staircase into the great hall above them.
"Endrich, Marus, is that you?" he hollered up the steps. No answer came.
"Quickly, Roman!"
Roman located a key on one of the dead guards and tossed it to Lando. Lando caught it and ran over to Alaina's cage. Miraculously, it was the right key.
"We may not be lovers anymore but we can still fight together" Lando said. He began to run back towards the staircase, Alaina following him.
Suddenly, guards began to pour out of the entrance to the stairwell. Roman didn't stand a chance. As he was fighting off swordstrokes from one guard, another smashed a warhammer down on his head. At least he had died a painless death. Lando watched the whole event in apoplectic horror.
"I'll fucking kill every one of you!" he yelled at the top of his voice as he began charging towards them, brandishing his sword in front of him.
"That's the Guard Captain! Avidius wants him alive!" one of the guards said.
"Surrender and we will spare the prisoner's life," another shouted to Lando.
"Never!" Lando yelled back, cutting the guard down where he stood with his sword. Then he saw a figure unlike all the others, wearing a black robe and hood. It was one of the Nightblades. Suddenly he was snapped back to reality by a guard swinging his sword at Lando. Lando managed to duck just in time, and swung his own sword back, slicing a deep gash into the guard's arm.
Another guard placed a blade against Lando's neck, then the Nightblade approached and stabbed a dagger into Lando's arm. He felt his whole arm go numb – it was a paralysis poison. He felt the numbness spreading through his body. Using his final ounce of strength, he leapt to his feet and plunged his sword into the Nightblade's throat. Then his eyes closed, and he fell to the ground.
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When he came around, he was lying down on what felt like a carpet. Above him he could see an ornately decorated ceiling carved from a pale, marble-like stone. Archways supported the ceiling, made from the same stone.
"Captain Armitage, I believe" a voice said. Lando snapped up and saw the source of the voice – a middle-aged man wearing clothes so elaborate they betrayed his identity immediately.
It was Audens Avidius, Emperor of Cyrodiil.
"You!" Lando snarled. "The man who is destroying Cyrodiil piece by piece!"
"Captain, I wish only to speak to you" Avidius said calmly.
"I shall have no audience until you explain the thousands of innocent lives you have ended!" Lando snapped back. "Or until you explain what happened to my friends in Fort Nikel!"
"If you wish to know, your friends surrendered and are now prisoners of the Empire, as is Miss Winterstar"
"Where have you taken them?"
"Why should I tell you that, Captain? After all, we are enemies now"
Lando walked up to Emperor Avidius. He saw the Emperor's bodyguard place a hand on the sword sheathed on his belt.
"Why are you doing this?" he said through his teeth.
"To restore the purity of Cyrodiil" Avidius replied with an air of smugness to his voice. "Think of all the problems Cyrodiil had, Lando, and think who caused them. The Dark Brotherhood? The man responsible for finding new recruits is a Breton and the man responsible for gathering contracts is an Altmer. Skooma is smuggled into Cyrodiil by Dunmer, and Moon Sugar by Khajiit. And what of Mankar Camoran, the Altmer? Need I go on?"
"So you just conveniently ignore the fact that the Grey Fox, when he was unmasked, turned out to not only be Imperial but a nobleman?" Lando retorted. "And was the Champion of Cyrodiil not a Redguard? Is the Grandmaster of the Blades not a Breton?"
"You cannot do anything to stop what is happening, Lando" Avidius said, changing the subject quickly. "Perhaps while I am here you can help me"
"Why should I help you?"
"The snow, Lando. Do you have any idea where it is coming from?"
Lando shook his head. "It has frozen the Empire. It was very nearly the end of me. I would like to know as well"
"Captain, you are free to go" Avidius said. "But know that as soon as you leave this room you will be arrested"
"I'm not exactly 'free to go' then, am I?" Lando retorted.
"Lando, even if you were, what would be the point in your freedom? You and your little revolution will not be able to topple the Empire"
"I am going to put a stop to this" Lando said authoritatively.
"You and whose army?"
"Me and my army. Every honest citizen in Cyrodiil who can wield a weapon. I hope the walls of the Imperial City are strong"
"But where will the fearless Captain Armitage be without the loyal support of his friends?" Avidius said. He pointed behind him. "I hoped it would not come to this"
Lando turned round. Endrich, Carius and Marus stood blindfolded, a guard behind each of them holding a dagger to their necks. Avidius clicked his fingers and the guards slit each of their throats. Lando watched in horror as the dead bodies of his friends fell limply to the ground.
"Are you going to surrender yet?"
Lando shook his head. "I am not going to give up until I see your head sliced clean off your body!"
"Then perhaps this will persuade you"
Lando looked towards the doorway into the chamber. Alaina was shoved in by a guard, also blindfolded.
"You are one of the few people I have met who truly do not deserve to be alive" Lando said. He swung his fist as hard as he could into Avidius' face, sending the Emperor flying backwards.
"He's behind you, Alaina!" Lando shouted. Alaina responded immediately, thrusting her leg backwards into the guard's groin. Lando crash-tackled the Emperor's bodyguard to the ground and kicked him in the stomach, and while he was there he spat in Avidius' face.
"Damn, that felt good" he said to himself. He wrenched the Emperor's bodyguard's sword from his hands, and ran.