here's chapter 9...enjoy...


Chapter 9

Ilend fell to the ground, holding his shield up desperately to hold off the onslaught of the Clannfear attacking him.

Swinging out wildly with his sword, he managed to cut off the beast's muzzle.

As the Daedra fell to the ground, screeching in pain, Ilend quickly fled as fast as his wounds would allow him.

It was terrible.

He was the only one left.

The rest of them had all perished before the fury of the Daedra.

He had been trying to escape, fighting through the Daedra.

Many of them had fallen to his blade, but even more came.

Now, he was lost in a different world, surrounded by hostile creatures and not a single ally with him.

As he turned a corner, he suddenly ran into a group of Dremora.

Shouting in their harsh voices, they charged at him.

Ilend's sword and shield hung limply at his sides.

I'm doomed, I can go no further.

One of the Dremora reached him first and raised its mace.

Ilend just looked it in the eye

He only saw hate, rage and bloodlust looking back.

Suddenly, the creature was suddenly enveloped in ice right before his eyes.

An even more peculiar creature which looked like a boulder with two legs and arms and carrying a war axe threw itself onto the other Dremora.

A woman clad in leather armour also whirled in and out of the fray, slaying a Dremora with a nasty looking dagger every time she joined the fray.

A Khajiit was running up to him and said something to him.

The words did not register into Ilend.

He suddenly felt giddy and fell forward.

He could see nothing but darkness.

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Arvina and M'raaj-Dar examined the unconscious Imperial lying on the ground while Grun wiped his axe clean of Daedric blood.

"He dead?" the dwarf asked.

"No, just unconscious," answered Arvina.

M'raaj-Dar cast a healing spell over the man's wounds, which healed up to a certain degree.

The Khajiit shook his head.

"That's the best I can do," he said. "I'm not really good with Restoration spells."

"He's waking up," said Arvina.

The Imperial's eyes fluttered open. First they turned to Arvina, then the Khajiit next to her.

"Who…who are you?" he asked, groaning slightly as he tried to sit up.

"Easy there," said Arvina, helping him. "Your captain sent us here."

"Captain Matius?" said the man.

Arvina nodded.

"What's your name? Where are your men?" asked M'raaj-Dar.

"Ilend Vonius," answered the man. "My subordinates…"

He began to tremble.

"Dead, they're all dead," he said. "The Daedra, they were too many. We never stood a chance…"

Arvina and M'raaj-Dar nodded sympathetically.

"Look, we're going to try and close the portal," said M'raaj-Dar after Ilend had calmed down. "You'd better get out of here."

"I can't leave you people here," said Ilend. "You saved my life, I owe you."

"You owe us nothing," answered Arvina.

"I'm coming with you," insisted Ilend.

"Bah," said Gurn. "Let him come with us, he'll probably get himself and killed and we can slip past the enemy while their hackin' him to pieces."

"What?" cried Ilend angrily. "I'm a soldier you…whatever you are. I won't get myself killed so easily!"

Grun snorted.

"Right," said the dwarf sarcastically. "You lost a lot of blood, you're wounds are only partially healed thanks to Whiskers's clumsy healin' spells, I can tell from the way you're movin' that you cracked a few ribs. With all that, you're plannin' on takin' on a few Daedra and expect to come out alive? Don't make me laugh."

Ilend could only stare.

The air between the Imperial male and the dwarf was extremely tense.

Arvina broke it.

"Ilend, I'm sorry," she said. "But Grun is right. You won't be much use to us in you're present condition."

Ilend looked down at the ground.

"I know," he whispered. "But I'm so ashamed, my men all died trying to protect something, but I couldn't save them. I failed them."

"You're the survivor, lad," barked Grun. "Stop moppin' around and keep you're head up! You still have a duty to the dead! They'll be havin' families won't they? You need to tell them and you're captain about what happened! That's you're duty as the survivor!"

Ilend stared at the dwarf speechlessly.

"You're captain needs all the men he can get on the other side," said M'raaj-Dar quietly. "Go, tell him about what happened. Leave everything to us on this side."

Ilend blinked back the tears in his eyes and nodded. "Thank you all, and good luck."

With that, he headed to the portal.

The trio looked around the place.

"Any idea how to close that infernal thing?" asked Grun.

Arvina shrugged. "You're the magicka expert here, Dar. Could you think of something?"

"Maybe, give me a moment," answered the Khajiit.

He closed his eyes for awhile and fell into some sort of trance.

Arvina and Grun watched expectantly.

After awhile, the Khajiit opened his eyes.

"The magicka here is chaotic," he said. "But I managed to find a link between the portal and that tower there."

He pointed.

Arvina and Grun turned to where he pointed.

The tower was ebony, tall and absolutely menacing.

"Perfect," grumbled Grun. "What are the odds they'll just let us in if we knock?"

Arvina turned to M'raaj-Dar. "You sure?"

M'raaj-Dar shrugged. "It's the only thing I can find that has any link with the portal. Oh, the source is also at the top."

Arvina drew out Sufferthorn. "It's our best bet, let's go."

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Inside the tower, the trio looked up in awe.

A fiery fountain shot all the way up to the top but did little to illuminate the darkness within the tower.

"Only way to go is up," said M'raaj-Dar.

They're journey up the tower was a slow, painstaking task.

Deadra ambushed them at every turn and by the time they reached a floor near the top, they had suffered cuts, bruises and exhaustion.

"They just keep comin'," panted Grun, leaning on his axe.

"Where almost there, hang in there," said Arvina wearily and she moved to open the door.

It wouldn't move.

"I think it's locked," said Arvina, trying again. "You know any spells that can unlock this, Dar?"

"I'll try," answered the Khajiit.

He stood before the door, casting several spells that made the door shine and gleam.

But it still wouldn't move.

"You done with you're light show, Whiskers?" asked Grun nastily.

"Shut up!" snarled M'raaj-Dar. "Why don't you try cracking the door with that thick skull of yours instead of making comments?"

"Calm down, you two!" said Arvina, quickly intervening before the two of them started fighting. "We'll just have to find another way. Look, there's another door there."

The trio went through it, and gasped at what they saw.

A bridge stretched over the hellish plains of Oblivion, connecting the tower they were in to another tower.

"Some view, eh?" said M'raaj-Dar.

The trio crossed it carefully and entered the other tower.

There was a long ramp going up the sides of the tower and a cage above.

Below, right at the bottom floor, was a floor of spikes.

The trio climbed up the ramp and turned a corner leading to the top.

And stood face to face with a Dremora.

"You should not be here, mortals!" it snarled in its harsh voice.

"But we are," sneered Grun. "Get over it."

The Dremora lunged at Grun with its battle-axe.

With a swift movement, the dwarf sent the Dremora's axe to the floor.

With another movement, he sent the Dremora falling down the middle of the tower where he landed right on a spike.

The Dremora's screams echoed throughout the tower before fading.

Arvina and M'raaj-Dar shuddered. Grun, however simply picked up and examined the Dremora's battle-axe. He swung it once and grunted with approval.

"This is a nice axe," he said. "Let's keep movin'."

Reaching the top, they saw an odd sight.

A half naked Imperial man was sitting in the cage, staring back at them with equal surprise.

"Who are you?" asked Arvina.

"Menien Goneld," the Imperial answered. "You're here to shut the portal, aren't you?"

The trio nodded.

"Good, I managed to pickpocket the key to the top floor of the other tower from the Dremora, take it," he said, handing Arvina a key through the bars of the cage. "Now listen closely, I learnt some stuff from listening to the Daedra. Apparently, the portal is being powered by some kind of stone, if you remove it the portal will close and anyone holding the stone and whoever holding him or her will be transported back to where the portal was erected on the other side. Got all that?"

The trio nodded.

"Good, now go!" said Menien.

"What about you?" asked Arvina.

"Don't waste your time trying to save me, just go!" answered Menien.

"Sorry, but no can do," said M'raaj-Dar, using a Mysticism spell to bring the cage closer to the ramp.

Once there, he cast a freezing spell on the bars.

Grun broke the bars with a swing of his new battle-axe.

Menien climbed out.

"Thank you," he said.

Grun shook his head. "No time for that, let's go."

The four of them ran back to the first tower.

Unlocking the door, they quickly reached the top of the tower and entered the top of the tower.

Here, there was an opening to Oblivion's hellish skies and the fiery fountain from below sprung up right to centre of the room.

The four of them could see a black stone hovering there.

They also saw a few Deadra guarding it.

Charging up a macabre stair, the four of them fought the Daedra guarding the stone.

Moments later, the Daedra lay dead on the floor.

The four of them stood before the stone.

"You think it'll scorch me?" asked M'raaj-Dar, looking at it in alarm.

"I can fix that," said Grun.

He turned to one of the armoured Dremora bodies and hacked of its arms.

He retrieved the gauntlets and handed it to the appalled Khajiit.

"You're sick, you know that," said M'raajDar, putting the gauntlets on.

"Just take the bleedin' stone already," growled the dwarf. "I want to get out of this hell hole!"

M'raaj-Dar reached out to the stone, expecting to feel the heat.

Instead, his hands went through the fire and closed around the stone easily.

Surprised, he pulled the stone towards him.

The effect was instantaneous.

The tower began to rumble and fire burst out from the floors.

Grun, Arvina and Menien quickly held on to the Khajiit.

The rumbling grew louder and the fire grew brighter.

The four of them screamed as it moved forward to consume them…

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Back at Kvatch, the city guards began to cry out as the portal began to rumble.

The fiery light of the portal gathered into one ball.

Savlian Matius saw this, and shouted quickly.

"Take cover!"

The ball burst into a bright light, blinding them.

Ilend, who had just made it back and had been treated, recovered first.

He saw four figures lying on the ground.

"Captain!" he cried. "It's them!"

Savlian quickly rushed forward and checked their pulse.

"Thank the Nine," he said. "They're alive! Go get a healer, quick!"

As his men moved to obey, Savlian looked down at them.

"I don't know who you are," he said to the unconscious people lying there. "But thank you all. You saved Kvatch."

A healer came bustling up and began to do his work.

"Who are these people?" he asked as he tended to them.

Savlian merely said four words.

"The Saviours of Kvatch."

there it is...chapter 9...

pls do comment...it's kinda rushed...but i hope it'll do...

chapter 10...coming soon...