Chapter 11 – The Fire Beyond The Mountain
Camri saw Commander Staada bravely fighting against two summoned zombies and raced towards her, leaping over rocks and fallen logs on the ground, plunging his sword into the back of one of the zombies as he reached her. Staada, now able to concentrate on one opponent, hewed the head from the other then thrust her sword into its heart.
"That's the problem with necromancers," Camri said, out of breath. "They always have others to do their bidding for them… Look out!"
Staada spun around just in time to hurl a bolt of lightning into a skeleton that was about to attack her, blowing it to pieces. Camri drew his bow and fired, but his level of fatigue was apparent – the arrow hit a necromancer, piercing through his abdomen, but the arrow's force had been weak and it did not penetrate far. The necromancer carried on towards the pair, wielding a summoned Daedric mace. Camri reloaded and fired again, this time striking the necromancer in the head and killing him.
"You need to rest, Camri" Staada said.
"Follow me" Camri said weakly. "Watch our backs"
Camri turned and began heading northwest, slowly descending the mountain. Staada followed, occasionally turning round to take out another pursuing skeleton or necromancer with lightning. Eventually, the pair reached a small, deserted campsite. Camri collapsed on the floor, as Staada had one last check around for enemies. They seemed to have eluded the necromancers…
"Camri" Staada said suddenly. "The balloon. Did you…"
Camri held a scroll up in his left hand. "Got it!"
Staada smiled and lay down next to Camri. Camri truly admired the Golden Saint's resilience – recent events had seen her banished from her homeland with the realisation that she might be the last surviving Golden Saint, and endure several attacks in a strange world she had never been to before in her life, not to mention surviving the fall from Mannimarco's hot-air balloon, but she had still fought the necromancers with all her strength.
Under the gentle glow of the moonlight, Camri leaned over and pecked Staada on the cheek. Much to his surprise, Staada climbed on top of Camri, closed her eyes and passionately kissed him.
--
"We need to thin their numbers out" Areen said grimly. "We won't make it back to the Imperial City with this many on our backs. Concentrate on the necromancers, I'll handle the summons"
"Alright, but we need to keep covering ground" Assurrani replied. The Dunmer spun around, kneeling down and aiming his bow high up into the mountains, firing and nailing a necromancer who was drawing attention to themselves by casting a summoning spell. As he did, Areen strode past him and took down a summoned skeleton with his staff.
The hillside above them was still crawling with necromancers…
A loud rustling sound nearby startled Assurrani, causing him to fluff his next shot. Drawing his sword, Assurrani turned around just as a zombie hit him hard in the side of the head. Assurrani stumbled but quickly regained his footing, spinning around and slicing off the zombie's arm with his blade as it tried to attack him again, then quickly plunging his sword into its heart.
Assurrani quickly saw the summoner and raced towards them, executing an acrobatic forward roll to avoid a fireball, then hewing the necromancer's head from their body.
"Areen, let's just get out of here!" Assurrani shouted.
"Right behind you," came Areen's reply.
Areen was fighting off a necromancer and his summoned skeleton. Assurrani reached for a bow to aid him but it was not on his back – he had cast it to the ground in the undergrowth, and in the darkness would have no hope of finding it again.
Assurrani swore to himself and bolted towards the Argonian, still trying to fight off the skeleton and disrupt the necromancer's spellcasting. Assurrani threw himself onto the necromancer, tackling them to the ground – the necromancer's head landed on a rock, cracking his skull open. Assurrani left him to die as the skeleton vanished.
"They're catching us up," Areen said quietly. "Maybe we should just make a break for it. As soon as we're at the Rumare we're safe. They won't risk going near the City"
"Come on, then" Assurrani replied. "Godspeed to you, friend"
The pair raced through the undergrowth, constantly watching for, and leaping over obstacles, occasionally turning around to fight off plucky necromancers. Eventually, they reached the edge of the dense undergrowth – only open, undulating grassland lay between them and the next source of cover, an Ayleid ruin.
Areen handed his bow to Assurrani. "Make a run for it. I'll cover you, then you cover me once you're there"
Assurrani nodded, taking the bow and watching with confusion as Areen slung his staff over his back and crouched down. He was going to face them unarmed? Assurrani gripped the bow and sprinted through the dead ground towards the Ayleid ruin.
Two necromancers approached, hurling fireballs at Assurrani, which he managed to avoid. At that moment, Assurrani saw Areen stand up, and two silvery flashes flitting through the air, before the two necromancers were sent stumbling backwards with star-shaped explosions of blood bursting from their foreheads.
As Assurrani neared the Ayleid ruin, Areen drew two more throwing stars and cast them both at an approaching zombie, piercing it in the torso and head and killing it.
"Areen! Go! Stay down!" Assurrani called. He had made it to the Ayleid ruin and was knelt on a raised walkway with Areen's bow.
Areen crouch-ran across the dead ground, twice hearing arrows shooting over his head, followed by the distinctive sound of an arrow hitting flesh.
How many more can there be? Areen thought to himself as he reached Assurrani.
"We're safe" Assurrani said. "Look"
Areen followed Assurrani's gaze to the west. He had never been so glad to see the Imperial Legion in his life – a company of around ten men, some mounted on horseback, others on foot.
"Cover us!" Areen called to the Legion soldiers. "We're on your side!"
"We've got you," a soldier called back. "Keep your heads down!"
The pair leapt from the walkway and landed in a run just as a group of necromancers reached the Ayleid ruin and renewed their attack. A volley of arrows from the Legion shot over the pair, taking down several of the necromancers. But then, mere yards from safety, a colossal bolt of lightning hit Areen in the back. The Argonian stumbled forwards, where he lay face-down in the grass.
"Covering fire!" Assurrani shouted as he ran to Areen. Several of the Legion archers stepped in front of them.
Assurrani rolled Areen onto his back, hoping there was still chance to save him.
"Azura bless you, brother," Assurrani whispered. But it was too late. Areen lay motionless, the life faded from his eyes. Memories came flooding back to Assurrani, in particular the time when Areen had broken Assurrani out of an Imperial interrogation facility – it was a selfless act, as the two were not even fighting the same fight at the time. Assurrani had later learnt that this was Areen's job with the Court of Argonia – freeing falsely imprisoned Argonians, mainly slaves in Morrowind.
Assurrani reverently laid Areen's bow on his chest and crossed his arms over it.
"I'm sorry" a voice said as Assurrani felt a hand placed on one of his shoulders.
"Thank you" Assurrani said, turning to face the Legion soldier. At that moment, he noticed something – silence. The battle was over. Assurrani turned around and, as dawn broke, began to walk back towards the Imperial City.
--
Camri Everlight had awoken just after dawn in the campsite, as the first rays of a crisp, clear morning had shone onto his face. Staada had still been asleep next to him, her head resting on his chest. Camri had briefly admired her form, unsullied by her golden armour or the blue robe she had been given, before getting up and crawling out of the tent, gazing across the beautiful spectacle of the Imperial City at dawn. With sunlight only illuminating the top of the tower, the sun still being partially blocked by the Valus Mountains, the highest point of White Gold Tower seemed to radiate with a divine power, exactly as its original purpose had been – to reach the Divines from the mortal plane. Camri could just catch a glimpse of red atop the tower – the remaining, non-enchanted part of the Chim-el Adabal.
Soon, Staada had emerged, wearing her blue robe, and taken Camri's hand in hers as the pair watched the sunlight slowly crawling down White Gold Tower.
By midday, the pair had reached the Elven Gardens district of the Imperial City where they had organised to regroup with Assurrani and Areen in the Foaming Flask. When they entered the inn, they saw Assurrani sitting in the corner, alone, and joined him, immediately sensing something was wrong. Camri didn't even want to ask the question that came out of his lips.
"Where's Areen?"
Assurrani shook his head gravely. "I'm so sorry, Camri… he didn't make it"
Camri closed his eyes and buried his head in his hands, as Staada gently gripped his hand.
"Did he go down fighting?" Camri asked eventually.
"Yes. There's no way I would have escaped if it weren't for him. He decimated their number. We were so close to safety…"
"You know, Areen is how I got involved in this, after he broke me out of the Imperial Prison. That was before I even knew about the prophecy – I just thought I was fighting a good cause for the Argonians. He wasn't even ordered to participate in this mission – he stayed with us through loyalty alone"
The three sat in silence for a few more minutes.
"Do you bring good news with you, Camri?" Assurrani asked eventually.
Camri smiled weakly and produced the scroll he had taken from Mannimarco.
"I checked in with the Cartography on the way back here. The temple is in the centre of a huge volcano. You can't get in over the top of the crater – it's just impossible. There's a river that flows from a lake in the crater, but by the time you can access it from outside the mountain it's a raging torrent thundering down a steep-walled ravine. But it forks as soon as it's out of the ravine, and the exact location marked on Mannimarco's map is the point where the river splits. There's something there that leads into the crater. We've got other things to worry about first, though – like eliminating the manufacture of black soul gems"
"You still think we can do that?"
"It's simple, all we need to do is stop black soul gems being easily available take out the altars. There are only four of them and I know where they all are. Hopefully things have calmed down at the Dark Fissure now"
The three got up to leave.
"Are you alright, Camri?" Assurrani asked earnestly as they stood.
"This is a great loss to us. Areen was a good friend. But I know the last thing he would want is to stall on his part. Now Mannimarco is back in Tamriel, the factor of time has come into play"
"Right. So let's destroy these altars then. Any ideas how we're going to do it?"
"Yes. We need to find my stash. I've got a few barrels of mining explosives hidden away, and some other things that we might need in the next few days"
--
In the Imperial Prison, the warden let two men into Ariel and Halisman's cell. Every other cell had been emptied, the prisoners transferred to empty cells in either Cheydinal or Bravil. Ariel knew one of the men – he was an infamous Imperial Legion Captain who anyone who had spent any time in the Imperial city would have encountered. Farix Kanvius was an ex-Dark Brotherhood assassin and was exactly the kind of man who was unsuited to a position of power in the Imperial Legion – an assassin who enjoyed his job.
"Ariel" Kanvius said curtly. "What's going to happen?"
"I don't know" Ariel replied impatiently. "Perhaps if I had a comfortable bed to sleep in a few more dreams might have come to me…"
"I don't get paid to listen to your complaints! My job is to find out everything you know about the coming crisis"
"I can't just will visions out of thin air. I've told you everything I've seen"
Kanvius shoved Ariel roughly into the stone wall. Ariel winced as her head banged against a rock. At that moment, Halisman, his wrists not bound like Ariel's, approached Kanvius and delivered a powerful punch to his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to double up in pain.
The other man in the cell, a faceless Legion grunt, drew a dagger. Halisman roared in pain as the soldier plunged the dagger into Halisman's shoulder.
"Bad idea" Halisman said through gritted teeth as he agonisingly pulled the dagger out of his shoulder with his left hand then thrust it gruesomely into the soldier's eye, killing him instantly.
Kanvius angrily grabbed the dagger and threw it far out of Halisman's reach.
"The only thing keeping me from killing you is the Emperor's orders for you to guard Ariel, Marlus Halisman" Kanvius said coldly. "I don't care what your rank in High Rock was, this has got nothing to do with you. And if Ariel doesn't help us soon, well, you will have failed in your task. Ariel, you have one day to come up with something good"
Kanvius left the cell, the warden locking the door behind him after removing the dead soldier's body from the cell, leaving the pair in shocked silence. Halisman cast a weak healing spell on himself to try to curb the pain from the stab wound in his shoulder, then helped Ariel to her feet.
"Thank you, Marlus" Ariel said shakily. "You didn't have to stick up for me like that"
"Yes I did. Your father tasked me to protect you, and that's what I'm going to do. You should try and get some rest"
"I know. Kanvius is right – the Empire needs to know more about what's going to happen. But ever since we've been in prison my dreams have lost all focus. Everything was starting to relate to itself, but now I'm just back to random images"
Halisman handed Ariel a notebook and quill that had been left in the cell.
"Write it down anyway. You never know – one more dream might make it all make sense, then we can get out of here"
"We only have hope to get us out of here," Ariel said meekly. "Hope that Chancellor Ocato can somehow undo this whole mess"