Chapter 11 – A New World Order (Part 1)
"Come on!" Father Indarys shouted, protecting himself from arrows using a summoned shield. "The more we can kill whilst they're still on the ships, the easier the job our soldiers will have!"
The Battlemages all cast spells on themselves and raced onto the water's surface, running the half-mile or so to Vivec city. Father Indarys cast a spell on himself, then Levisson.
"As the spell starts to fade your feet will slowly begin to sink" Father Indarys said to the Imperial soldier. "If that happens, tell me"
Levisson nodded and followed Father Indarys onto the water's surface. As the priest ran, he continuously cast fireballs at the enemy, one hitting another ship and setting its mast ablaze. The mast toppled over, igniting the sails of the ship, landing on the deck and turning it into an inferno. Another ship down.
Soon, though, ships began to reach the St. Olms and St. Delyn cantons. Father Indarys swore to himself as soldiers began running across planks between the decks of the ships and the remains of the cantons' walkways.
"We have to take the battle to the ships!" Father Indarys called. "The soldiers in the city are the Legion's problem now!"
Levisson suddenly spotted an opportunity and ran for the ship furthest away from the city, another large galleon, beckoning several of the Sun and Moon Cult battlemages to follow him. Behind him, he could hear a constant volley of arrows whipping through the air then splashing into the sea, and the occasional roar of a fireball or crack of lightning.
"By Azura, there's hundreds of them!" Father Indarys cried. He guessed that every ship which was making its way towards Vivec had been filled to capacity with Dres soldiers – it was as if every soldier the House could muster was part of this invasion.
Commander Cunius watched the scene unfolding from atop the Foreign Quarter canton. He could see soldiers filing off the ships onto the St. Olms canton, using the sloping tunnels which led to the canton's upper floor as well as the sea-level walkways to cross the canton. Every couple of seconds a soldier would be sent flying backwards, dead, by Sten Hawk-Eye's crossbow, whose owner was still entrenched atop the Foreign Quarter canton with Commander Cunius.
"Stay up here, Sten" Cunius said. "If it gets too dangerous retreat back to the shore. I am taking the battle to them"
Legion soldiers began running around the perimeter of the Foreign Quarter, their tower shields primed to defend from arrow attacks, making for the Arena Canton. One bridge connected the St. Olms canton to the Arena, and a further bridge still stood between the Arena and the Redoran canton, the only route to the Foreign Quarter and also the only route out of Vivec. The House Dres soldiers were going to be forced into a bottleneck as soon as they tried to leave the Arena.
But the Dres soldiers seemed to have come prepared for this. Shock troops, kitted out in heavy armour, moved to the front of the Dres army. They carried tower shields and axes – they were there to break through the Legion's defences. Legion archers began launching volleys of arrows at the Dres shock troops from the edges of the Arena, but the Dres soldiers raised their tower shields at a diagonal angle, deflecting almost all of the arrows.
Officers ordered the melee troops to regroup and charge, and the two groups clashed on the bridge between the two cantons. In the background there was a huge explosion as another troop ship burst into flames. The two armies fought hard on the bridge, both losing men but making no headway.
"We have to hold the Arena canton for as long as we can" Cunius said coolly. "Once they reach Redoran we are at our last line of defence. The Foreign Quarter is too big and we have too few men to defend it"
"I'll deal with those shock troops for you" Sten said as he took aim with his crossbow and fired. The bolt shot through Vivec and punched through the helmet of one of the heavily-armoured Dres soldiers, striking him in the temple and killing him instantly.
--
Father Indarys watched the scene between the two cantons unfolding, still buoyed by his water-walking spell. Levisson still stood next to him.
"Get up there and help your Legion fight, Tertius" Father Indarys said. "And stay off the bridge"
At that moment, the Legion defences gave way and House Dres forced their way through onto the Arena canton.
Cunius could no longer stay atop the Foreign Quarter. With Sten guarding him he raced for the Redoran canton, shouting at his men to hold the walkway and fortify the bridge between the Arena and Redoran cantons. Part of the walkway around the Arena had collapsed, meaning it was not a complete circle and there was only one route between the two bridges.
The Legion retreated around the corner of the Arena canton and lowered their tower shields to form a barricade – as Dres soldiers charged around the corner they were also met by a volley of arrows from a company of archers on the Redoran canton, hitting them in their exposed flanks and decimating their number.
As this was happening, Father Indarys raced for the bridge between the St. Olms and Arena cantons and cast the most powerful bolt of lightning he could muster at it. Soldiers were moving across it quickly and overwhelming the Legion's defences on the canton. The bridge crumbled but held. Father Indarys called to his Battlemages to help him – they all knew that if they destroyed the bridge, a portion of Dres' army would be stranded on the St. Olms canton. Their ships had all been destroyed by the Battlemages but many soldiers still stood on the St. Olms canton and several Battlemages were hit and killed by longbow fire.
Father Indarys desperately cast a fireball at the bridge, striking it in the same part where the lightning had hit it and weakened it, and in a glorious explosion the bridge split in two and collapsed into the sea. The soldiers who had been standing on it either drowned, weighed down by their heavy armour, or were picked off by the Battlemages and the archers on the Redoran canton.
"We have to hold them!" Commander Cunius shouted. "The Redoran Canton cannot fall!"
The Legion were prepared for the renewed attack by the Dres soldiers, positioning men equipped with halberds and spears behind the front-line soldiers who were trying to hold off the shock troops, the halberdiers and spearmen attacking the Dres soldiers through the gaps between their front-line men. But the Dres soldiers, with their heavy steel axes, were beginning to force their way through the Legion line of defence. Few men remained beyond the Legion defences – some men were fortified on the bridge between the Arena and Redoran cantons, and a company of archers remained.
Suddenly, Commander Cunius saw a sight that made his blood run cold and realised in one horrific instant that the battle had been lost.
Dres soldiers were pouring out of one of the sloping tunnels that had once led to the upper walkways – the northern tunnel, meaning they were surrounding the Legion soldiers. The northern walkway at sea level had collapsed, but the Dres soldiers had bypassed this by using the tunnels.
"Hold the bridge! Fall back!" Commander Cunius ordered. The men on the bridge formed up, the archers renewed the ferocity of their attack, trying to concentrate fire in two places at once. The remaining Legion soldiers fought desperately, stuck between the two groups of House Dres soldiers, bravely attempting to fight their way to the bridge.
--
A few miles to the east, Sea Monster's ship thundered towards Vivec at full power. The Nord captain knew exactly what he was going to do – the ship contained enough momentum to demolish one of the cantons on collision. What he did not know was which canton should meet this fate. At the bow of the ship, Rigs-Sails was studying the battle through his telescope.
"The Dres soldiers look stranded on St. Olms" the Argonian called to Sea Monster. "But they're pouring all over the Arena. Think you can take it down?"
Sea Monster nodded slowly. "I just hope the wizard can take care of St. Olms. Be ready on that ballista – this is going to be a hot landing"
--
Seeing the carnage and knowing that there was little time left, Father Indarys acted instinctively.
"Kill them all" he said coldly to his Battlemages, still standing on the surface of the water. At once they launched a ferocious volley of all forms of elemental magic at the soldiers stranded on the St. Olms canton, massacring them but completely draining the magicka of the Battlemages, Father Indarys included. Their part in this battle was over. As Father Indarys turned round his heart skipped a beat.
"By Azura…" was all he could muster as Sea Monster's Dwemer steamship shot past him at terrific speed and slammed into the side of the Arena canton with an earth-shattering crash. Weakened, the great tower collapsed slowly in a southward direction, kicking up an enormous cloud of dust and debris as it crashed down into the St. Olms canton, crushing the few soldiers that remained on the canton. Then, the remains of the Arena canton collapsed, causing a huge tidal wave as they crashed into the sea with a deafening roar. The Legion soldiers abandoned the bridge and ran for their lives as the bridge gave way and dust and rubble rained down onto the walkways surrounding the Redoran canton. Immediately, the surviving House Dres soldiers who had been on the north-western quarter of the walkway and fighting on the bridge leapt into action, trying to storm the decks of Sea Monster's ship, but the crew were ready, Rigs-Sails using the ballista and S'Barama his bow, attacking the soldiers as they climbed the rocks.
Then, silence.
"By the Gods, we did it!" Sea Monster cried in elation. Father Indarys began to climb up the wreckage to get to the deck of the ship.
"I was considering praying for divine aid just before you showed up, Alfjned" the priest said, out of breath. "The city lies in ruin but we are victorious, thanks to you"
"We were just following orders from Varo" Sea Monster said humbly. "We saw the Dres ships going up in flames from miles away. You fought well, Father"
"The ship… will you ever be able to use her again?"
"I've got her out of a mess like this before. We can always use mining explosives to break her free. She'll take it"
"We need her now, I believe" Father Indarys said, with a sudden urgency to his voice. "Let me speak to Commander Cunius"
--
Father Indarys ran to catch up with Commander Cunius, who was helping to tend to his wounded men on the walkways of the Redoran and Foreign Quarter cantons.
"Commander!" Father Indarys called. Cunius ran to meet him.
"Congratulations, Father" Cunius said, shaking the priest's hand. "Vivec is safe"
"And to you, Commander. But I fear that he has slipped through our net"
"Who?"
"Arlen Saroth. You saw the men fighting first-hand. They were all just soldiers. None fought like the reincarnation of Nerevarine would be expected to. And we can't have killed him – would they have carried on fighting like that had their leader been killed in battle?"
"You think Saroth survived?"
"I don't think he was here at all. What if this invasion were nothing more than a distraction? What if he and a few other soldiers landed upshore? Commander Sinclair has always thought that whatever Saroth wants from this island, it is in Caldera"
"I have few men left. But we should go after him"
"I will tend to your wounded for you, Commander. Take whatever you have left. Help Sea Monster get his ship free and sail up the Odai river. Once the ship can go no further continue on foot – you will be close to Caldera by then.
--
With great difficulty and a large quantity of fuel allowing the engines to run at full power, the great Dwemer steamship eventually tore itself free of the rubble that engulfed it and slid down back into the sea with a great splash. Sea Monster manoeuvred the ship back up to the edge of the ruined canton and every able-bodied Legion soldier boarded.
--
Several hours later, Odai river, near Balmora
Sea Monster, Rigs-Sails and S'Barama sat on the grassy shores of the Odai, as the ship lay at anchor in a stretch of river barely wide and deep enough to accommodate it. There was little they could do other than wait to hear the outcome of events in Caldera.
"You know, things will get pretty easy if our boys win this" Sea Monster said.
"How so?" Rigs-Sails asked.
"I don't see the Dunmer troubling us any more. This will be twice we have beaten them in war. And who else is there? No other province in Tamriel wants anything to do with this damn island anymore"
"And if we lose?"
"If we lose, we get on this ship and get the hell back to Solstheim…"
Sea Monster was interrupted as there was a loud bang to the north, and the sky was suddenly lit up with a dazzlingly bright light, lasting for several seconds. The three sailors turned away and shielded their eyes. Sea Monster broke the ensuing silence.
"What in the name of all that's holy was that?"