Chapter 3 - No Quarter
Camri Everlight's first impression of the Shivering Isles was one of absolute awe, partly because he expected The Fringe to be a desolate wasteland, after hearing the tale of it falling to the forces of Order whilst Sheogorath was seeking a mortal champion. Evidently Sheogorath had rebuilt the Fringe, though, as looking to the north Camri was greeted by an explosion of bright colours – almost-fluorescent plant life, dark purple rocks and vividly green grass, through which mysterious trails of orange magicka darted erratically.
"It's not as nice if you look the other way" Assurrani said, following Camri's gaze. Camri turned around to be greeted by the Demented half of The Fringe, a dark, swampy maze of twisted roots which reminded him of Blackwood on a particularly grim day.
The three had taken their chances and stepped through the portal on the small mysterious island in the Niben basin – after a momentary sensation of weightlessness they had appeared in The Fringe. They could see a figure approaching them up a path which ran along the dividing line between Mania and Dementia. Assurrani identified her as a Golden Saint, him being a Morrowind native where those particular Daedra were a common sight in the wilderness. Ariel noticed Assurrani place a hand on the hilt of his sword, and stopped him.
"They're the soldiers and law enforcers of Sheogorath's realm" Ariel whispered. "We are here by decree of Sheogorath so they will not harm us"
The Golden Saint approached the three and drew her sword. "Identify yourselves immediately"
"So much for them being harmless" Assurrani said dryly.
"Camri Everlight, Falas Assurrani and Ariel Lasaille" Camri said to the Golden Saint. "We were told you were expecting us"
The Golden Saint smiled and sheathed her sword. "Of course. You must forgive my caution. My name is Commander Staada. I have been sent to welcome you to the Shivering Isles"
"Is it true what we've been told, Commander?" Assurrani asked. "Does Sheogorath have a daughter?"
"It is true – it was she who summoned you here. She waits for you in the inn in Passwall. I warn you that the Shivering Isles are a dangerous place at the moment. Both House Mania and House Dementia are rulerless and we are on the verge of civil unrest. And Sheogorath seems to be slowly forsaking my kind, aligning himself more obviously with the Dark Seducers. In any case, you will be safe if you stay with me. Follow me"
Staada began to lead the three down the path towards the settlement of Passwall. Camri spoke quietly to Assurrani.
"Is it wrong to think that Commander Staada is extremely beautiful?"
Assurrani turned to Camri. "Not at all, my friend"
--
The four entered the upstairs area of Passwall's inn and Staada shut the door behind them. The room was empty apart from a pretty blonde-haired woman seated at one of the tables, dressed in Mithril armour and wearing a glass claymore on his back.
"I brought them straight to you as you ordered, Latta" Staada said to the woman, who momentarily studied the other three before standing to greet them.
"I am truly honoured to meet you" Latta said. "Your reputation precedes you – news of how the three of you came together has even reached the Shivering Isles. I believe in the prophecy – I believe my mother played a part in it"
"Your name – Latta" Ariel commented. "It means 'Light' in the old Ayleid language"
"Very good, Ariel" Latta said, smiling warmly. "My mother named me"
"That's probably a good thing. If Sheogorath had named you, you would probably be called Venison or something" Camri joked. Latta laughed, as Camri stood amazed that he had just told a joke that had made a Daedric Princess laugh.
"What we are doing is very important" Latta said, suddenly speaking more seriously. "You are surely aware that events have gone far beyond the consequence of the mortal realm. Sheogorath wants me to remain here in the Isles, to help him rule it, but first I must defeat Mannimarco, who I fear has grown stronger than we realise. And a new Daedra is a great disturbance in the natural energies, one that may upset the other Daedra. I fear my existence alone may bring war to the Shivering Isles. For that reason I am not even permitted to leave Passwall until our task is done"
The three vaguely knew of Passwall, knowing it was an almost limbo-like region separating the Shivering Isles proper from the mortal realm – only those deemed worthy by Sheogorath could leave Passwall, and it seemed that at present he did not think his own daughter worthy.
"I have to confess to not knowing where to begin with our task" Latta continued. "We cannot attack Mannimarco yet – he is being sheltered in the waters of Oblivion before he is powerful enough to return to the mortal realm – and when he does, there will be trouble. Every time he resurrects himself he comes back more powerful. Our only hope at the moment is someone on the inside, someone who was a prisoner of a powerful necromancer here in the Shivering Isles for a long time, who has overheard that necromancer mention the King of Worms – Mannimarco. But she is living in the Crucible district of New Sheoth, beyond the Gates of Madness, so we have to somehow get into the Shivering Isles"
"I'm sure we can take on that big bastard guarding the gates," Camri said, referring to the Gatekeeper.
"As much as I would like to see that diabolical creation destroyed, killing the Gatekeeper would draw Sheogorath's attention to our presence. Remember, all of us apart from Commander Staada are forbidden from entering the Shivering Isles"
"I can get you in," Staada said unsurely. "But we will have to be very careful. My life will be at severe risk if we get caught sneaking in"
Latta turned to face Staada. "You would risk going against Sheogorath's will for us?"
"Ever since I found Sheogorath in his bed with three Dark Seducers I do not care what he thinks," Staada replied sternly. "We can use the Saints' Entrance – it is a tunnel leading out of the ruins that emerges in Mania. We use it to get in here, or out of here, if there is trouble. Only myself and a few other Aureal officers hold the key to it. Once we are in Mania we will be safe"
"But your problems do not end there, Staada" Latta said. "You must find Aendel in Crucible, and there is no other way to do that than to enter New Sheoth. It would be advisable for us to keep our numbers down – in fact, I would suggest you do this alone"
"This task would be simple were it not for the fact that we Aureal are forbidden to enter Crucible or the House of Dementia"
"Then you need to be creative," Camri suggested. "Commander, one of my chief skills is the ability to get into places I am not permitted to enter. Are there any circumstances in which you are allowed to enter Crucible?"
"Once I pursued a thief who stole from a village in Mania through the divide into Dementia. Once I had apprehended the thief I escorted him through Crucible to the treasury in the palace so he could pay the fine for theft. The Dark Seducers did not intervene"
"And is there anywhere in the city where the Golden Saints hold absolute power?"
"At the moment, House Mania has no holder of the throne and Sheogorath has granted it military order. In short, there is – the halls of House Mania"
"So, this is how we can get into Crucible" Camri said authoritatively. "We enter the Isles through the secret tunnel, then make our way to New Sheoth and hole up in House Mania until night falls. Then, we will have a much easier job of getting to your source undetected. If we do get apprehended, our cover is that I am a prisoner whom you are escorting to the treasury"
"And how do you plan to get out once you have her?" Latta asked.
Camri paused awkwardly. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it"
"The Dark Seducer guards know that our source is under protection by Sheogorath" Staada said. "They will think nothing of me collecting her and leading her back into Bliss. Mr Everlight, you will have to find your own way back to the Fringe if we are spotted. I need to make a few preparations, then we can leave"
Camri nodded, taking Ariel and Assurrani to one side. "I know we're supposed to do everything together but I think it is an unnecessary risk bringing you two along in this case. Stay here and speak to Latta. Find out what she knows"
Assurrani nodded. "Good luck to you, Camri"
Ariel turned to face Camri. "Use the rooftops to get around Crucible at night. No-one will see you"
Camri smiled warmly. "Thanks, Ariel"
--
The pair watched Camri and Staada leave the room, then Assurrani turned back to Ariel.
"The rooftops – did you see that in a vision?"
"No, it's just a feeling I got" Ariel replied nonchalantly.
"Did you get a feeling about anything else?"
Assurrani's words resonated around Ariel's mind. Her dreams and thoughts were constantly filled with random, flashing images, most of which made no sense or bore no relevance to her. Generally, she would eventually piece together enough images to make a logical deduction or prediction. She thought hard for anything that might be important, anything she might have seen repeatedly…
"I keep seeing a crystal," Ariel said. "A great azure crystal, somewhere atop a tower. A piece has been cut from it"
Assurrani made a mental note of what Ariel said.
"I could not tell you what this crystal bears relevance to" Ariel continued, before turning to Latta.
"My Lady, we need to establish the background to our quest. Why would Staada need to sneak into Crucible to speak to a victim of necromancy, which Sheogorath seems to have declared himself an enemy of?"
"This happened long ago, before I was born" Latta replied. "But I know this. The woman the other two are seeking is called Aendel. She was a prisoner of a renowned necromancer who lived in the Isles, Relmyna Verenim. Sheogorath learnt of the horrific practices that Verenim performed in her lair of Xaselm, but considered her a necessary evil, due to the role that Verenim's work played in defending the Shivering Isles…"
"The Gatekeeper?" Ariel guessed.
"Correct" Latta continued. "I dread to think how such a being came into existence – it was clearly once human, or parts of it were"
Assurrani shuddered briefly.
"Anyway, the upshot of it is that Sheogorath must be seen to be a public enemy of necromancy, but secretly he does not want harm to come to Verenim. And in a very devious move, he publicly announced that the Golden Saints would raid Xaselm and clear it out of any dark practices, but at the same time he tipped off Verenim, telling her to flee Xaselm. So Staada and her Golden Saints stormed Xaselm but found it empty, and Verenim is still out there somewhere.
"But the interesting aspect to this is that Sheogorath originally knew nothing of what was happening in Xaselm, before somebody he trusted greatly told him"
"Who?" Ariel asked.
"My mother. Meridia"
The other two paused to let Latta's words sink in.
"You two look in need of rest," Latta said, breaking the silence. "Let me see if the innkeeper can provide you with food and beds here"
Latta got up and stepped out of the upstairs room of the inn, closing the door behind her. Assurrani turned to Ariel.
"Speaking of beds, I'm expecting to wake up from this at any moment"
"Me too" Ariel replied. "I can sense that this is all about something else, something much bigger than necromancy or the Daedra"
"What?"
"The balance of power. I cannot tell you any more at this time, but I believe we might be very small pieces in this game"
"There was something else I was wondering about, Ariel. I thought you might know the answer – or at least be able to make a good guess at it"
"What is it, Falas?"
"How long has Meridia been involved in this for? We kept coming across references to her during the war in Argonia – the statues in Sideways Cave and all the clues leading to them, and the Marsh Spirit itself was built inside a shrine to her. And now we find ourselves under orders to help her daughter. Maybe Meridia has always known her daughter would need help, and she's been engineering a series of events to draw us two and Camri together"
"I don't think so," Ariel said, thinking hard. "Camri told me he found documents about ten years ago mentioning the prophecy, and he said the documents were ancient – some were written in the Ayleid language, implying that they were written by Ayleids. I don't know how old Latta is, but if this source that Camri and Staada are going after is a mortal, then there is a timescale in this series of events, which is much smaller than you suggest it might be. Perhaps Meridia has always wanted help defeating Mannimarco, since her powers are few in Tamriel, but I believe the overlap with the affairs of Sheogorath to be a coincidence"
"It was the 'affairs of Sheogorath' that got us involved in this in the first place" Assurrani said dryly.
--
That night, Ariel Lasaille had a terrible dream that caused her to sit bolt upright in bed, in a cold sweat. It was a dream that predicted the future, telling of an event that had such great repercussions that she could not bring herself to tell anyone of it.
--
Notes on Duality of the Great Towers of Tamriel
A theory states that White Gold Tower was originally built to reach the Divines – a tower to the heavens, a tower to Aethereus. The divine power of White Gold Tower comes from the gemstone that once sat atop the Tower – the Chim-el Adabal, an enormous soul gem of Ayleid origin said to contain the souls of the Divines. The Chim-el Adabal is more commonly known as the Amulet of Kings, whose centrepiece crystal was cut from the stone that sat atop White Gold Tower.
White Gold Tower has survived the ages, unlike Red Tower, which once stood on the site of Red Mountain in Morrowind. Red Tower originally contained the Heart of Lorkhan, which of course was placed in Tamriel to allow the mortal realm to exist on its own without constant divine presence. The behaviours of Red Tower and White Gold Tower are complementary – Red Tower brought the Divine to Nirn whilst White Gold Tower attempts to take Nirn to the Divine Realm.
However, I believe that with Red Tower long destroyed, White Gold Tower must have another counterpart somewhere in Tamriel. A tower with a sinister purpose – to reach evil. What leads me to believe this is my study of the artifact known as the Necromancer's Amulet, an amulet similar in manufacture to the Amulet of Kings but wrought from a different type of stone, the likes of which I have never seen in Tamriel. If we think of a colour wheel, the dark red of the Amulet of Kings and the azure of the Necromancer's Amulet are directly opposite one another. Could the Necromancer's Amulet have been wrought from a gemstone identical, yet opposite to that which sat atop White Gold Tower? Does a Black Gold Tower lie in an uncharted corner of Tamriel?
- Brother Nu-Hatta, Great Thinker of the Psijic Order/PSJJJ