Chapter 24: The Field In Which They Died

"And who would you be?" Wuuhferth's hands began to emit sparks of lightning as he turned to face the intruders.

Neloth crossed his arms, he didn't look impressed. "My name is Neloth of House Telvanni, and these fine young men..." He waved a hand dismissively pointing at the soldiers behind him. "...well I'm sure they all have names as well."

"House Telvanni? I heard it was all but destroyed." Wuunferth was stalling to charge his spells, he did not care. He just wanted them gone.

"Reports of the demise of house Telvanni are highly exaggerated. And it just so turns out that you have a member of this house captive and are proposing to kill her. I object to this proposal."

Wuunferth looked to the cross in surprise. "No not that one. The one on the other side."

"Oh the mage, I see. Well how about you take her with you and let me go about my business?" He had no intentions of letting Brelyna go. He had kept the nature of his existence secret for a long time and wasn't about to let anyone run off with the knowledge.

"Yes..." Neloth said in his usual way that let his opposite know how much beneath him they were. "...Taking her is certainly part of it. Draw weapons." Metallic swishes sounded as the thirty men behind him unsheathed their swords almost simultaneously.

"Do you know your history?", Wuunferth said as the purple glow from his hands began to expand up his arms.

Neloth began to watch him closely and arrived at a slightly more aggressive stance.

"Many centuries ago, on this very field, two great armies of the ancient Nords met each other. They wiped each other out quite effectively, so the tale isn't well recorded. But surely a seasoned master of the arcane like you can feel it. The essence of the two thousand souls that perished here." His feet lifted off the ground, he began to hover. "They still linger."

Neloth looked over his right shoulder. "Kill him."

Half of his men began to approach the floating necromancer that had begun to emit flashes of lightning from all over his body. The flashes hit the ground all around him in ever increasing frequency. Before the soldiers could reach him, the earth began to shake and rumble, more violently than before. It took but a few seconds before the ground broke open in dozens of places both around Wuunferth and further out, up the mountain, beside and behind Neloth and his men.

Skeletons and Draugr, the reanimated dead of the ancient Nords that died in the battle Wuunferth spoke of, armed with ancient swords and axes, rose from the fields in great numbers. What seemed like a few dozen at first, quickly turned into hundreds, growling, menacingly banging their weapons against their shields. The ground they stood upon began to sink deeper and deeper as the corpses that were buried beneath it crawled to the surface. The soldiers didn't hesitate so bring their swords down on the undead that were rising in their immediate vicinity.

A moment of silence.

Wuunferth hovered a good deal over the battlefield, glowing in bright purple light. He had his arms at his side, his palms pointing forward. He slowly raised a hand and pointed at Neloth.

Without hesitation the swarm of undead began to stream towards the Dunmer, the earth trembling beneath their feet.

Brelyna looked at the scene in terror. Fortunately, the cross they were tied to was high enough for the undead masses storming by to not be able reach her. They didn't even seem to notice them up there. "Nephiah! Are you there?!" Still no response. She sure could have used her strength in that moment.

Neloth began to look worried as well, a look for which he wasn't known. His men formed two circles to defend against the hordes that closed in from all around them. The circle of soldiers that had stayed with Neloth had encased him in an effort to shield their commander.

He walked up to the man in front, put his elbow on his shoulder and pointed at the cross. "We are moving over there!", he yelled to make sure he was understood over the loud rumbling of undead footsteps.

While the Draugr closest to the groups were quick to attack and put down just as quickly, the mass of undead now hit the Dunmer like waves would hit a rock that sticks out of a furious sea. Their shields and armor were made of sturdy material so they could survive the initial force. They were pushed backwards however, decreasing the diameter of their formation somewhat.

As they came to a stop, each soldier drove their sword into the undead that was pushing against their shield. They then collectively pushed back, toppling Draugr over, the next wave climbed over the fallen. The clashing of steel against steel became louder and they were now fending off incoming battle axes and ancient swords.

Neloth rose over his group and began to release exploding balls of fire into the masses. He did not have to aim, anything with an area of effect worked quite nicely. Bits and pieces of dried bone and rotting flesh were hurled through the air upon impact.

The fighting skill of the Dunmer became evident as they cut down wave after wave. The movement of the undead was slow, their dexterity inferior.

Neloth's group moved towards the cross at a slow but steady pace.

Wuunferth turned towards the mage that hovered above it. He raised a hand towards him, then closed his fist.

Neloth instantly noticed the telekinesis that was trying to get hold of him but was able to withstand it with his own which was keeping him afloat. His position wavered as he turned to his arcane opponent and sent a powerful thunderbolt his way.

It impacted on Wuunferth's ward, doing no damage but propelling him backwards a fair bit where he eventually landed on the ground, his fall softened by the high snow.

Neloth let himself drift to the ground. He walked up to one of the soldiers. "Get Maryon to Windhelm! I'll deal with this N-wah!"

"Yes Sir!", the busy soldier shouted back.

Neloth lifted himself off the ground and began to move towards Wuunferth, releasing blasts of fire into the horde beneath as he went.

The formation of the group in the middle of the field began to crumble. One of their soldiers was decapitated, another one had an axe implanted deep into his chest, a third one stabbed through the shoulder by a particularly impatient Draugr that had climbed over the one in front of him and jumped down from there. With each man they lost, they closed the gap, decreasing the size of their circle.

The second group finally reached the cross and took up position around it. One of the soldiers broke formation by taking a step back, the circle closed in front of him. He turned around and looked up at Brelyna, her eyes full of fear. He raised his sword and cut the rope that bound her feet to the cross. She gave off a short pained scream as her entire weight was now held by the ropes around her wrists.

The soldier looked at the problem. She was too high up to reach the remaining restrains. "I need two men!", he shouted. Two soldiers moved back into the circle, the remaining fighters closed the gap. "You! Hold her feet! You! Give me a lift!"

One of them put his back to the cross and reached up, placing his palms under Brelyna's feet, the other one crossed his hands and formed a step. He lifted the first soldier up until he stepped onto his shoulders, then he grabbed his ankles to keep him steady.

The elevated soldier, now at the same height as Brelyna, quickly lost balance and let himself fall forward. He stopped himself from falling by getting hold of her shoulders in reflex.

"Excuse me, Ma'am!", he said, addressing the inappropriate contact with a royal member of his house.

"N-not at all...", she replied, hope of survival returning to her.

His sword cut the rope to his right. Brelyna dropped a few centimeters, her weight now supported by the soldier holding her feet. However, nobody has holding Nephiah up. She instantly fell from the cross and started to dangle on the arm that was still tied to the cross.

Brelyna screamed as the rope was twisted back and forth with every swing.

"Damnit!", the soldier shouted, quickly passing his sword from his right hand to his left. He cut the rope, Nephiah dropped to the ground.

As Brelyna was detached, she fell forward.

The soldier in front of her stopped her from falling, the ones under them doing their best to keep them steady.

"We are leaving!", he yelled.

"Not without her!", she shouted back. He looked down to see the unconscious woman that had fallen off the other side of the cross. He looked back up but before he could answer a number of arrows that Draugr archers had fired from the distance pierced his neck, their tips sticking out the other side. The impact threw his body sideways to the ground, taking her with him.

He landed on one of the fighters that were holding off the undead in the circle. The formation instantly buckled as the surprise of the event redirected the focus of the soldiers next to them ever so briefly. An opening the Draugr were all too eager to exploit, cutting them down.

As the battle descended into chaos, the soldiers gave up any kind of coordinated maneuver, now fighting a more desperate style of improvisation.

Brelyna crawled to her love on her hands and knees. She turned her to lie on her back, then shook her to get her to wake up. "Nephiah! Please!" A sliced apart Draugr dropped beside them, another one in front of them, a dead Telvanni behind them. She moved over her, took her face in both hands and moved close enough to feel her breath.

She had seen her in this state before. Not asleep, more than unconscious. Last time it took her six months to wake from it. She remembered the cold emptiness when she kissed her back then. "I need you..." She pressed their lips together.

Screams and shouts of soldiers, monstrous growls of the undead, the sounds weapons clashing, the rumbling of footsteps, it all faded away as the world around them slowed down to a crawl.

Brelyna's wrists stopped aching, the icy winds stopped chipping away at her skin. Warmth shot through her like a wave, consuming all traces of fear as it traveled through her body. She slowly moved her head back and opened her eyes.

Nephiah looked back at her, very calmly, like she had just awoken from a good night's sleep. "What?"

Brelyna giggled in happiness, her darkest fear taken from her. A tear fell from her eye. "Here you are..."

It didn't take long for the world to reach its usual speed after that.

Nephiah looked around, getting a grasp on what she had missed. She quickly rolled over and grabbed a couple of swords, there were enough of them lying around. She jumped to her feet, followed by Brelyna. She grabbed her hand and pulled her over. "Stay close."

Brelyna quickly nodded, feeling infinitely safer all of a sudden.

A Draugr charged the flank of a Telvanni that was otherwise occupied. It brought its axe down to meet his head, yet it was stopped close before impact by two swords that hit its handle.

Nephiah moved both her arms up, making the Draugr spin towards and past her, then she brought both blades down on its exposed side, slicing it in half. "Who in Oblivion are you?!", the soldier yelled after taking care of his other attacker.

Giving no answer, Nephiah instantly turned to respond to another undead charging their way.

"You know what?! Doesn't matter!" The soldier turned his attention back front.

Staying within earshot of Nephiah, Brelyna began to send balls of fire towards incoming targets. She hadn't even thought about it, she just did it. Just having her warrior there granted her the mental fortitude she required.

An enormous eruption of fire shot into the night on the far end of the battle field, illuminating the chaos under it. Neloth and Wuunferth rapidly rose out of the flames in a straight vertical line, circling each other, casting powerful spells of fire and lightning. It was hard to make out who was who but the intense flickering of orange and blue at the top of the ever-rising column of smoke told the tale of what was happening.

For a moment everybody and everything looked their way.

Regaining focus faster than the Draugr in front of her, Nephiah sliced her right hand sword across it's chest. She used the momentum to bring her left hand sword all the way back, then forward again to decapitate the undead that stood next to it.

The horde stopped looking at the arcane fireworks and turned its attention back to the surviving Dunmer.

From where they were standing, there didn't seem to be an end to them. Nephiah's dual wielding fighting style was able to block, redirect and counter attackers in a 120 degree angle in front of her. Yet there were so many of them, she began to instinctively walk backwards.

Eventually her back met with that of Brelyna and the two remaining Telvanni soldiers. One of them was run through by a greatsword, it created sparks as its tip grazed the back of her armor.

The Draugr held on to the sword as the soldier fell to the ground, putting it in a convenient position for decapitation. An opportunity the last soldier did not pass up.

"Nephiah?" Fear began to grab hold of Brelyna yet again.

"Keep firing!", Nephiah responded, her eyes quickly scanning the movements in front of her, deciding in split seconds which ones to counter. She didn't even seem worried, just very focused on the task at hand.

Brelyna pressed her lips together, switched from fireballs to flames and cast rays of fire out in front of her.

The last Telvanni's head was split open by a battleaxe, Brelyna quickly redirected one hand to fire at the Draugr that held it. They were now standing directly back to back. She began to move her arms in a semi circle in front of her, showering the front row of approaching undead in flames. The skeletons amongst them instantly fell to pieces, the Draugr were set on fire.

Draugr would continue their approach while on fire but they died before reaching her.

She began to feel dizzy, the upkeep of the spell demanded its toll. "Nephiah..."

"Keep firing!", she heard her warrior behind her in between the many metallic impact noises.

"I could use a boost..." Nephiah knew what she was talking about. But she was countering an average of three blows per second. If she turned around even for a moment, the fight would be over.

They were getting incredibly close, the two of them a tiny island in a sea of undead streaming towards them.

"Nephiah..." Her flames flickered unevenly, a drop of blood fell from her nose.

Her exhausted voice drove right into Nephiah's heart. Her focused eyes flared up in fearful realization for just a second, before her senses took in everything around her all at once. Darkness settled on her face. "Brelyna!"

"Yes?"

"Kneel!"

Brelyna was all too happy to oblige. A few moments more and she may have done that regardless.

As soon as she felt the back of her mage slide down, Nephiah brought her right arm back as far as she could, moving her left across her field of vision, deflecting every blade and axe in its path. As the motion was complete, she gave off a short aggressive scream and swung her right sword in a circle in front of her, falling to one knee and continuing to swirl the sword over both their heads counterclockwise, bending backwards when her arm was behind her and forward when it was in front of her. After a couple of rotations every Draugr that faced them was sliced in half at the hip.

The maneuver had bought them a few seconds, so Nephiah did not waste a single one of them. She let go of her weapons, turned around and grabbed her mage by the shoulders. She pushed her to the ground and moved over her.

Brelyna hadn't noticed any of it, she was so dizzy. The cold snow on her back made her open her eyes. There she was. All close and beautiful. That stern look on her face. She began to smile. "Hey you..."

The night sky behind her warrior began to fill up with ancient blades of various types.

"Ward.", Nephiah said.

"Okay.", Brelyna replied, still smiling.

Nephiah's left hand moved under her mage's chin.

The bright blue bubble of Brelyna's ward closed around them as soon as their lips touched. Draugr axes and swords impacted on it as if it was made if solid stone. A second later the bubble expanded half a meter, pushing the undead closest to it back. Immediately after it collapsed onto them, only to then expand with force, pushing back everything in its path.

Draugr were flung through the air like straw dolls, skeletons shattered on impact. It moved out and dissipated after about ten meters, leaving a large snowy hole in the otherwise black field of undead.

Nephiah pushed herself to her feet and extended a hand to her mage. Brelyna grabbed it and was pulled up. They looked around, there were more than enough undead still standing, they began to charge.

Nephiah pulled her mage close.

"Again?", she asked. Brelyna giggled and moved her arms around Nephiah's neck. "I could do this all day."

A second arcane explosion lit up the night sky high above them. It's deep bang powerful enough to make the air noticeably shift. Two objects fell from the point of origin, leaving trails of smoke behind as they went. Snow shot up high where they landed, one of them far to the left of the battle field, one of them far to the right.

As soon as the snow settled an uproar moved through the undead crowd. The ground they stood upon rumbled, eventually opening up and swallowing every single one, leaving only the slain behind.

Whatever spell Wuunferth had over them had lost its power when he hit the ground. In stark contrast to a minute ago, it was dead silent.

"Ou ou ou!" Brelyna held her aching wrists.

Nephiah grabbed both her hands and examined the damage. The ropes had worn off some of the skin, black and blue bruises marked the spot. "So Healing Hands is the only one you know?"

"Yes." she moaned "And that one doesn't work on the person casting it. Also, fox stew. Remember?"

"Hm." Nephiah took bandages from her pouch. A pouch she only wore to hold this particular kind of item. She began to tend to the wounds. "I'm sorry...", she faintly said.

"What? No!", Brelyna tried to stop her, "I can only imagine how hard it was for you on that cross! And I know this would have been a lot worse if it had been anybody but you up there."

"No..." Nephiah was still looking at the finished bandage, avoiding eye contact. "I mean for all of this. For bringing you here."

A moment passed.

"Hey..." Brelyna put both her hands on her face and made her look her in the eye. Guilt was written all over Nephiah's face. Brelyna softly smiled at her. "I am exactly where I want to be, all right?"

Nephiah showed no reaction.

"If my warrior aims to face death itself, where else would I be but at her side?"

Nephiah reached up to take her hands and looked down yet again.

"One day you'll have to start believing me.", Brelyna said, still smiling. Still holding her hands, Nephiah pulled her a bit closer until their foreheads gently touched. Then she looked up, quickly licked the tip of her nose and looked down again.

Brelyna giggled. "That's a start."

Nephiah took a deep breath and looked up. Then to the left, then right.

"Which one is Wuunferth?" Brelyna shrugged.

"Hm." Nephiah picked a direction and started walking. The one on the left landed behind the bushes, she might find her own sword there. A few steps in she noticed she was treading through high snow barefoot. As she remembered why that was, she turned around.

The ward spell had broken off the cross and thrown it outward, along with anything else that wasn't nailed to the ground. No way she'd find her boots in that chaos. Frustrated she continued on her course, followed by her mage. She picked up her ebony sword from behind the bush as they passed it and eventually arrived at the snowy crater left by the impact of a falling mage.

It was Neloth who was lying in its center, his eyes closed. They stepped close and kneeled down.

Brelyna put a hand on his shoulder. She never liked him, but she didn't want him to die either. And this night for his twisted reasons, he had saved her life. "I'm sorry."

Neloth coughed as his eyes were flung open and he grabbed her hand. Startled, she tried to pull it away but his grip was too strong.

Nephiah grabbed his wrist in return, ready to pry it away from her. "That is some power you have, young Maryon...", he said, pain in his voice. He let go, so did Nephiah. "I would have liked to know its secret."

Brelyna's hand was still resting on his shoulder. She smiled down upon him. "It's love..."

His gaze wandered up into the sky, he began to laugh loudly. "That I would never have guessed..." His laughter turned to coughing, blood erupted from his mouth. Brelyna held his hand as he took his final breath. "He is not dead...", he said upon exhaling. He stopped moving.

Nephiah jumped to her feet and turned to look to the other point of impact. She started to run. She went as fast as she could through the snow, climbing over corpses and ancient weaponry.

She was not half way there when Wuunferth ascended from her destination, his entire body covered in sparks of lightning, arcane discharges crackling loudly. She stopped running.

"Did I not promise you a fitting death?!"