Chapter 7 – Third Revelation
The three guards who had killed Endrich, Carius and Marus began converging on him immediately as he raced towards the door, and Alaina. He reached Alaina and pulled the blindfold off her head, then began running down the spiral staircase in front of him, dragging Alaina, her hands still bound, behind him.
"Where are we?" he called back to her.
"White Gold Tower! I overheard the guards mention it!"
White Gold Tower. He thought of a well-known story. A thief had broken into White Gold Tower and escaped down an ash flue which led into the Imperial sewers. The flue had been in the quarters of the Imperial Battlemages. The staircase didn't lead any further up, so they must have been down.
"Get these bindings off me, Lando!" Alaina said. Lando stopped and used his sword to cut through the bindings and free Alaina's arms.
"Let's go!" Lando said. He began running as fast as he could down the stairwell. He could hear the guards following them.
Shortly they came out in a large circular corridor. A guard ran at Lando but Lando was quick to take him down with his sword. Alaina took the fallen guard's sword.
Lando and Alaina reached a door marked 'Imperial Battlemages' Quarters'.
"Here we go!" Lando said. He kicked the door down and ran in.
The room was empty.
"There! By the fireplace!" Lando ran over to the fireplace and threw the trough containing still-burning coals out the way, revealing the ash flue underneath.
"Press your hands and feet against the walls to slow your fall" Lando said to Alaina. "I don't know how far down it is"
Lando leapt down into the vent, digging his hands and boots into the walls of the chute to slow his fall. Above him, he heard Alaina doing the same. After 50 feet of so of descent, they reached solid ground.
"Arcane University" Lando said. "It's the only safe place for us in the City"
"How do we get there?"
"It's South…" Lando said. He had completely lost all sense of direction.
"Are the guards following us?"
At this moment Lando realised that the guards had not confiscated his Night-Eye ring. He looked back up the ash flue – nothing.
"I think we've lost them" Lando looked around. There were four ways they could go – through a wide pipe, down a corridor, through a door that appeared to be locked or along a small channel of water. Lando chose the corridor.
"If in doubt, go the way that looks the least treacherous" he said to Alaina.
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After following the long and winding corridor, they finally turned a corner and saw daylight pouring through a large gate at the end of the tunnel. Lando looked through the gate. He could see a large stretch of ice ahead of them – Lake Nibenay. But beyond it he could see the large bridge that bridged the Nibenay River on the south of the Red Road.
"Thank the Nine, we chose the right way" Lando said. The gate swung open with ease and they both climbed out into the snow.
Behind them were the tall white walls of the Imperial City. The path leading from the sewer exit led up to a bridge across a small gully, on the other side of which stood a grand tower – the Arcane University.
"I can't believe we managed to escape" Lando said. "Come on, we have almost reached safety!"
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The Arcane University, entrance hall
"The University is poorly guarded, Raminus" Lando said. Before him stood Raminus Polus, a leading figure in the University.
"Lando Armitage… The last news I heard you had been captured and brought before the Emperor himself!"
"That is true, and I miraculously managed to escape"
"Incredible. Your reputation precedes you, Lando. Anyway, back to your question, we are no longer guarded by the Imperial Battlemages, not since the revolution started. Our own Destructionists are our private guard now. In any case, there are few Battlemages left now"
Lando looked at Raminus, puzzled.
"You know not of the Battle of Skingrad? Happened two evenings ago now"
"News of this has not reached me. Is Skingrad safe?"
"The Empire sent a battalion of some seventy Imperial Battlemages to Skingrad. But they had a tough journey through the snow, and were fighting a heavily fortified city with the best guard in Cyrodiil and a Mages Guild branch specialising in Destruction. I hear four men of Skingrad were killed, and not a single Battlemage returned"
"This is good news" Lando said. "As long as Skingrad is safe, so are Kvatch and Anvil"
"Lando, we must talk… Where is that young woman who was with you?" Raminus said, looking around the hall.
"I'm not sure. She was here a minute ago, wasn't she?"
Raminus nodded. "Only a fool would have gone back into the City though. She must be within the University somewhere, therefore she is safe. Come, follow me"
"You look as though you have a lot on your mind, Lando" Raminus said as the pair walked through the grounds of the Arcane University.
"The last twelve hours or so have brought many great losses to me" Lando replied. He began to recount the events since the evening before – the Nightblades attacking Chorrol, and the attack on Fort Nikel. He told Raminus of the deaths he had witnessed – his great friend Roman Andrius, as well as his loyal comrades Endrich and Marus, and Carius, the mage who was little more than a boy when he had met his end. He also told of Alaina leaving him, and how their escape from White Gold Tower may have been the last time he ever saw her.
"I don't even have weapons" Lando sighed. All he had was the clothes he had been wearing under his armour and the sword he had taken from the Emperor's bodyguard.
"I had a fine suit of Mithril mail, and a glass sword given to me by an Argonian who I considered my best friend"
"Come with me" Raminus said, opening the door into the Mystic Archives and ushering Lando in. The room was empty.
"Lando, have you had any encounter with the Nords since the beginning of the revolt?"
Lando's mind was cast back to the battle of Bruma, and the Nord missionary who had arrived just before the battle.
"A missionary from Skyrim told us that Azura had ordered the Greybeards to help our cause, or something like that"
"It all makes sense then!" Raminus explained. "It is the Greybeards who are responsible for this dastardly weather!"
"But how is this aiding our cause?"
"That I do not know, I'm afraid, Lando. I am hoping that it will become clear sometime soon. Difficult times are upon us, Lando. The victories at Chorrol, Bruma and Skingrad, and the defeat at Bravil, were seen as signs to begin the revolution. I feel a great battle is ahead of us. The Empire will strike hard soon"
"I must return to Chorrol" Lando said. "I believe my business in the Imperial City is done"
"First I have something to give you" Raminus said.
Raminus opened a glass display case that was located in the Mystic Archives, and lifted from it the most exquisite sword Lando had ever seen. Its handle was forged from jet-black ebony, and the blade from a beautiful golden metal. Raminus handed it to Lando.
"This is Goldbrand, the sword used by the Champion of Cyrodiil to slay both Mankar Camoran and Mannimarco, The Worm King. I would like you to have it"
Lando took the sword. The handle felt warm, almost hot, and as he gripped it he could almost feel the sword's power surging through him.
"Truly, this is the weapon of a hero" Raminus said. "Return now to Chorrol. I hope that one day we speak again"
Before he left, Lando was given a suit of Mithril armour from the armoury. Raminus explained that the Guild frequently explored Ayleid ruins and had found many fine examples of Ayleid craftsmanship. Raminus also gave Lando a fine Elven amulet, also recovered from an Ayleid ruin.
"May it keep you hidden from unwanting eyes" he explained.
"You will not find Alaina before you leave?" Raminus said as Lando walked towards the University gate.
"No. She has no care for me anymore, so I have no care for her. Besides, I think this is the best place for her to be"
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Lando stepped out onto the solid ice that Lake Nibenay had become, and began walking west, back towards Chorrol. He was wearing the amulet Raminus had given him, and holding his hands in front of his face he realised that it had made him almost completely invisible, a shadow against his surroundings. He would be able to leave the city safely without being sighted by guards.
He had almost reached the western shore of the lake when he heard a colossal explosion from behind him, rocking the ground he stood on. It had come from the Arcane University. What had happened? Had it been an accident, or something else? Lando began running back towards the University.
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Lando reached the bridge that led from the Arboretum across to the Arcane University. To his alarm, he saw several Imperial Legion soldiers running across the bridge towards the University.
He drew his sword and ran up the bank onto the bridge, driving his sword into one of the Legion soldiers as he mounted the bridge. He was more collected now, more focused. Battling off another two Legion soldiers, he ran into the Arcane University.
The main door through the Arch-Mage's tower had been locked by some arcane spell, but the Legion soldiers had used gunpowder to blow down the iron gates on either side of it and fight their way into the University. Running towards one of the left-hand gates, Lando caught the four Legion soldiers attempting to fight their way past the Mages' Guild soldiers by surprise, thrusting his sword into one then another.
At this point he realised he was still wearing the amulet and was, for all intents and purposes, invisible to the soldiers he was fighting. Unable to find their hidden foe, the two remaining soldiers swung their swords blindly at thin air until Lando slaughtered them both. He pulled the amulet off and ran into the University.
"What's going on?" he asked one of the Spellswords guarding the gate. "Where's Raminus?"
"We're under attack!" the Spellsword replied. "I believe Raminus is at the other gate!"
Lando raced around the Arch-Mage's tower and saw Raminus running towards the gate, then unleashing an enormous fireball from his hands. Screams of pain filled the air.
"Lando! Thank the Nine!" Raminus said, spotting him. "The Legion has declared war against us! We cannot hold off much longer! We have sealed the main door but we are not sure how long it will hold!"
Suddenly, four Legion soldiers raced across the bridge from the City holding a battering ram, sending it careering into the main door. Wood splintered, but the door held.
"Bring them down!" Raminus yelled to those around him. "Lando, get in the tower! If they get in, stop them!"
Lando nodded and ran back round to the door of the tower. Out of the corner of his eye, standing on a balcony on one of the University buildings with a fine Elven bow, was Alaina.
"Alaina!" Lando called to her. "Help me hold the tower!"
He saw Alaina disappear back into the building and soon she appeared from the door on its ground floor.
Lando, Alaina and two Spellswords stood tensely in the ground floor of the tower. Every so often, the very foundations of the building would shake as the Imperial battering ram slammed into the door. Alaina held an arrow nocked in her bow, and Lando stood with sword and shield ready.
The next time the battering ram hit, it broke a large gash in the door.
"Get them!" Lando shouted. One of the Spellswords ran up to the crack, and a bolt of lightning sprang forth from his hands, hitting one of the Imperial soldiers and killing him instantly. He was met by an arrow, which lodged itself in his arm.
"I'm OK! I'm OK!" the Spellsword said, drawing a shortsword from his belt. "Let them come!"
"They're breaking in!" Alaina called back through the rear door. Two more fighters came in, swords in their hands.
The battering ram hit once more, this time smashing the door clean in two. The three Legion soldiers dropped the ram, drew their swords and charged into Lando's group. As Lando and the spellswords were fighting them off, he saw something much more alarming – the full extent of the invasion force. The Arboretum, visible across the bridge, was filled with Legion soldiers who were now racing across the bridge to the University.