It was late when Elienne finally returned, but they were all ready. All were armed, had their armour set, and were prepared to storm the manor. Leola had her beautiful new shield and the mace of Molag Bal, which seemed a strange combination to her, but they were what she had to use. When Elienne had realized that Leola had the mace, she'd given Leola a handful of empty soul gems, saying that if she killed anything with the mace while she was carrying them, they'd charge and could be used for enchantments.
"Did Bottar and Shelur say anything to you, Elienne?" Aventus asked her as they began to walk in the direction of the manor.
"They thanked me," Elienne said. "They each read the letter, then they hid it before Oraina came back."
"How did they get rid of her before Cassius and Naniena got there?" asked Erith.
"They didn't," Elienne said, shaking her head. "Cassius approached Bottar, and Shelur pulled Oraina to the side while they talked, telling her that she didn't want to interrupt their conversation since they were old friends."
"That's clever," said Leola.
"It was," Elienne agreed. "That was my cue to leave, so I don't know what happened next, only that we need to get to that manor."
It wasn't a long walk, and soon, they were near the manor. They split apart, hiding in the trees and trying to find their friends, and it was Aventus who soon stumbled upon them.
"Thank Sithis you all made it," Naniena said to them softly. "What's our plan?"
"Have you seen anyone around the house?" Aventus asked.
"They have three men taking turns standing guard," said Cassius in a low voice. "I don't know how many are inside, but none have come or gone."
"Did you ditch Oraina?" Aventus asked, looking to Bottar.
"We left her at the inn," Bottar said. "It was hard, but she doesn't know where we are now. She hasn't followed us, and she hasn't come here to warn them that she lost us - we'd have seen if she did."
"She's probably too scared to tell Samuel that she failed," said Louisa, shaking her head.
"Here's the plan," said Aventus. "There are two doors. Elienne, Leola, Ulfric, Naniena, and I will go in the back door while Erith, Bottar, Shelur, Louisa, and Cassius go in through the front door. That way, we have them surrounded."
"Try not to kill anyone," said Erith. "Lots of the people in there are people we consider friends. Dorthe and Frodnar have children - we absolutely cannot orphan little kids."
"When we get Minot freed, she has magic that can pacify people if need be," said Naniena. "Getting them to surrender or knocking them out is a good bet, too."
"We basically need to disable everyone in there and kill Samuel," said Leola.
"We can tie them up once we've got control over the situation," said Ulfric. "Once we have everyone tied up, we can determine what we'll do with them."
"We should go," Aventus said softly. "Look, they've just switched the guard. That means we can take out the current guard and not have to worry about anyone else stumbling on him while we get into position. We're losing time."
"Let's go," Leola agreed with a nod.
Leola, alone with Elienne, Naniena, Aventus, and her father, began to creep around the treeline to the back door. While they walked, Aventus suddenly paused, holding up a hand. They froze, and quietly, Aventus began to walk towards the man standing guard. He was a sturdy-looking man with a certain elegance about him, with short brown curls and a thick layer of stubble over his face.
"That's Grimvar Cruel-Sea," Ulfric whispered to her.
"The one with something against Aventus?" asked Leola.
"Yes," said Naniena softly.
They watched quietly as Aventus crept up behind the man. It was amazing just how sneaky Aventus was, absolutely soundless as he came up to the man. In an instant, he rose to his feet and caught Grimvar around the neck, one hand covering his mouth while he choked him out. Within moments, Grimvar's body collapsed in Aventus's arms, and the silent assassin carefully moved him to prop him up against the side of the manor. Looking back in the direction of his group, Aventus gestured with his hand for them to keep going. He, meanwhile, began to creep along the wall, staying ducked below the windows so nobody looking out might see him.
They reached the back door just in time to hear the fighting break out at the front of the house. Leola hoped that Erith was alright - she hadn't thought to question Aventus when he made up the groups, to ask that Erith be kept with her instead of Elienne being their mage, but it was too late now. Shouting sounded, and Ulfric was the one to kick open the back door.
It felt strange to Leola, bursting into her childhood home like this, but she followed her father in along with the others. To one side of her, she saw Elienne give a wave of her hands, and suddenly, ahead of them, a black portal-type form appeared. From the strange darkness there appeared what looked like a giant made of ice, gleaming blue and heavy. Leola's eyes widened and she watched as the beast began to walk ahead of them.
Two Nord men appeared ahead of them, one with a greatsword in his hands and the other prepared to launch a ball of fire at them. The warrior yelled out as he came towards Ulfric, and Leola could see just how great a warrior her father was as he fought the other man, taking great care to not land any devastating injuries. The mage, meanwhile, concentrated his attacks on the frosty giant. When Elienne reached him, the giant had already been toppled, disappearing into a black vortex like the one it had come from. Elienne summoned a strange, ghostly transparent bow into her hands, but instead of using it to shoot, she lunged forward and hit the mage with it.
The mage cried out, stumbling slightly, and Aventus stepped up. He carried only one dagger, and with his free hand, he landed a harsh punch to the mage. Within seconds of the mage toppling over unconscious, Ulfric downed the man he was fighting, who cried out for mercy.
Leola opened an end table drawer near her, pulling out a length of rope that she'd known to be there from living in the house, and she hurried over to the man her father had been fighting. She knelt down and he let her tie his wrists together, pleading for them not to kill him all the while. Elienne had all but disappeared, hurrying forward alongside Ulfric, while Aventus had stopped to tie up the unconscious mage. Naniena had fallen back slightly, and Leola could see that she was opting to stay by the door and catch any stragglers who tried to escape.
In the main hall, the fighting was bad. Leola could see six various strangers, obviously enemies, doing battle with her friends. Louisa had already been knocked down, and was lying on the ground near the front door. Erith had stopped to use her healing magic on Louisa, and the pair of them were being covered by Shelur and Bottar, who valiantly fought against a dark-haired man and a blond man, respectively. Cassius was surrounded by a blonde woman and another dark-haired man, and Leola arrived just in time to see Aventus charging forward to help his friend.
Another dark-haired man, accompanied by a young woman with short, dark curls, was aiming to attack Elienne. The woman seemed to be a mage, her hands empty of any real weapons, and as Ulfric charged in to attack the man who was with her, she suddenly vanished. Leola's eyes widened - she'd become invisible. Gripping her blue shield firmly, she decided to head first to her father's aid. She rushed forward, the mace held high, and she could see the surprise in the dark-haired man's eyes as she reached them. His sword had just been deflected by Ulfric's shield, and Leola landed a strike across the back of his head that immediately knocked him to the floor.
Ulfric said nothing to his daughter, instead turning his attention to the man with whom Aventus fought. "Fus ro dah!" Ulfric shouted, and a wave of power seemed to escape him with the power of his voice, barreling into the man and sending him flying backwards. He slammed into a wall, and then he was unconscious.
With the distraction of her comrade being knocked away, the blonde woman was quick to be overtaken by Cassius and Aventus, who caught her around the neck and squeezed as he had with the man outside until she fell unconscious in his arms.
The only enemies left were the two fighting Bottar and Shelur. Though they traded blows, they didn't seem to be landing any, but Aventus was quick to change that, leaping up on one of the mens' backs and strangling him out while Cassius struck the other one across the back of his head with the blunt handle of his blade.
"Where's Samuel?" asked Leola loudly as her friends began to regroup.
"Go upstairs, now!" Aventus said. Half of them hurried up one set of stairs while the other half took the others, guaranteeing that Samuel would have no way to escape down the stairs.
Opening the door to what was once her bedroom, Leola's eyes widened as she saw Samuel there. He had Minot beside him, tied up and with a dagger to her throat. Kayd was also there, holding a mace and a shield.
"Samuel, you're done," Leola said, brandishing her mace. "Let Minot go."
"So my friends were no help - neither are yours," Samuel growled. Leola could see the terror in Minot's pretty blue eyes as he tightened his grip on her, the dagger pressing harder against her neck and a squeak leaving her lips. "Don't take one step closer or your friend dies."