Chapter 7: The Siege of Kvatch

The fires, Nightshade slowly realized, were not really encircling them. They were eating up the buildings around them: houses and shops, she guessed. Ice tugged on her sleeve. "Quit staring and let's go! And why are you still holding that--- that thing?"

He was treating the stone she had taken like some sort of diseased animal and that made her uneasy. She wasn't sure why she was holding it up to her chest, or why she felt so inclined to have it. "It's too big to fit in my pocket."

He rolled his eyes and they followed Elyon through the hot, dancing flames, almost like they were laughing at them for suffering, or even living.

They coughed and sputtered their way to a stone building, separate from the others. It was bigger, but not too big, with a peaked roof and many stained glass windows. The fire hadn't reached it.

"Quick! Get in!" Elyon didn't have to tell them. Ice dived for the large doors and flung them open to reveal a church with a group of guards and many people. They looked frightened and confused, and then someone whispered, "Our saviors," when the three stood in the doorway.

They entered, Nightshade first despite Ice's disapproval and selfishness. She stared at the sad faces. A boy, apparently Breton, clung to a woman's shirt and recoiled when she approached. On another pew a man was muttering to himself and staring blankly at the floor. Someone cried in the corner silently.

Elyon waved for her to come. They were speaking to a rather dirty and disgruntled guard whom she took as the captain that went in.

"… Right when we thought we'd be finished by all these scamps, the whole world seemed to disappear and we were in Kvatch. Did you have anything to do with that?"

Elyon nodded. "Nightshade, tell him what happened."

She hesitated. "Well, I went to the top of the middle tower, and up there was this," she held out the stone. "I pulled it out and then I was back with them."

"What is it?" the captain examined it, "some sort of lava rock?"

"We don't know," Elyon started to sound scholarly. "I'd like to send it to Morrowind for some info. This is of Oblivion, something I think they can help us with seeing as they're Daedra worshippers."

"I don't know if you can send anything over there with the House wars going on, but we'll discuss it later. Thank you, young dunmer. Might I ask of your name?"

"Nightshade."

"Well, thank you. I, Savlian Matius will make sure your name is known."

"Ok, so we got rid of Oblivion, now we need Martin," Ice butted in.

"Martin? Oh, you mean the monk. He's probably down in the undercroft, praying. But first we need help----"

No sooner had he said that Ice was marching down the stairs of the large church. Unsure of what to do, Nightshade followed.

The undercroft was dark and spooky, a characteristic Ice didn't overlook. He stopped on the stairs and stared at the stone floor, the marble pillars, and most importantly the white coffins that lay in the indentations in the walls. The candles gave hardly any light.

"Martin?" he called weakly. Nightshade didn't find it spooky. "Just go down there."

"Why don't you?" he snapped back.

"Because I'm shy and don't do well with people."

He rolled his eyes and, although scared, he was going to prove it was a piece of cake. He did stop once, though, and found it odd that Nightshade didn't say anything like "Coward," or "Scaredy-cat." She seemed out of it, still holding the stone that was too big to merely hold in her palm. Both arms wrapped around it near her chest.

"Martin?" he peered into a small, circular room. "Martin?"

A teenager that looked no older than he stared at him. He was an Imperial with shaggy brown hair and a baby blue apprentice's robe with a light brown rope tied around the waist. His equally blue eyes stared at him. "Yes, I'm Martin. Who are you?"

"We just came through an Oblivion gate to come and find you," Ice said. "We come from Jauffre with urgent news. Come on, we have to get to Cloud Top, right?" He looked at Nightshade who shrugged.

"Wait, you didn't answer my question. Who are you? And now I want to know why I have to go to some Temple." Martin stood up from his kneeling position.

"It's a long story."

"I have time," he eyed the stone.

"Look, I'm Ice, and this is Nightshade, and upstairs is Elyon talking to the captain. Jauffre sent us to come and look for you because you're the last heir to the Septim throne. Now we have to get to Cloud Top Temple to meet him there----"

"Cloud Ruler."

"Huh?" Ice looked at Nightshade who was staring at his feet. "Cloud Ruler Temple, not Cloud Top."

"Umm, is she ok?" Martin looked at her. She looked—faint, like if you blew on her she'd fall. Ice shrugged hesitantly. Martin went back to the subject at hand. "So, explain to me why I have to go with two complete strangers?"

"I told you, you're the last heir."

"Heir? Heir to what?"

"The Septim throne!"

"No, you're pulling my leg," he laughed weakly, "I'm just a prior boy, here to serve Akatosh."

"No, you're Martin Septim, the lost heir!"

"Please, you must be wrong," he shook his head. "Me, heir? No…"

"Look, brother," Ice's voice grew impatient. "Nightshade saw the emperor die. Do you think I'm lying?!"

He looked at Ice and sighed. "Fine, I'll go. But you're probably making a mistake. I'm no heir, and especially to no emperor."

They returned to the Chapel to find Elyon and the Captain waiting. She looked stern and stone-faced.

"The Count is still in his castle. We need to rescue him. But we don't have enough people. The Daedra are still out there, and we need to kill as many as we…"

It was after that point her words were lost to Nightshade, slurred in her mind and then just faint sounds. Her vision was blurring. The stone felt hot against her robe's sleeves. She could feel herself move, and then a bit of pain and a rush of air, then nothing.

She opened her eyes to see she was in some sort of castle made of the same stone as the towers. She was in a large, dimly lit room, and then laughter rung through it- evil laughter. She looked around. "You passed my first test, child, but don't think hell's over."

"Dude! You are weak!"

The insult caused Nightshade to open her eyes and glare at Ice. She was laying flat on her back on the church floor with about six faces in hers.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded and noticed the stone was gone. "How long was I out for?"

"About five minutes," Elyon looked out the windows. "You don't look well. We want you to stay here and guard the church."

"What?" At this she sprung up. "I'm not going to be left behind!"

"You need rest. Plus, someone needs to help these people."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do great," Ice's sarcasm made him smirk as the small group of guards left the castle and into the inferno. Martin tried to comfort her.

"It's ok. Maybe it's best."

She stared at the floor, trying to remember he dream. Five minutes was abnormal for a dream.

Martin walked past her to the altar and she saw he was carrying the stone. It didn't look as hot or bright as it did before. "Martin, is that hot?"

"Not really, but when one of the guards tried to pick it up, he said it burned his suit."

"Maybe that means you are the heir."

"And how about you? How come you could hold it?"

That she could not answer.

She was bored, sitting there, listening to Martin talk to the others. Boy, could he talk.

Oh, how she wished she could be with them than inside this church. She wasn't one for gods, which included the Daedra and the Nine Divines. She never went to the Temple to pray. She believed gods didn't help, praying wouldn't either. A helped person was one who tried to help themselves than sit around, wishing and hoping. Take action, not prayer.

"I can't take this anymore!" She got up, her sword behind her clanging as she did so. Martin quickly followed. "You can't go! These people need you!"

"They're ok. Geeze, no Daedra will step foot into a church of a Divine. Everyone knows that." She opened the doors and walked out. Most people knew that, but how could she?

It took her a while to find the palace. It was surrounded by a stone wall with only one way in. The drawbridge that was there was down, so she quickly ran across. She had killed a couple of scamps already, so adrenaline rushed through her.

The doors were wide open, or burnt off, she didn't see, and standing there was Ice. His arms were folded in a pouting anger look, and he didn't scold her.

"I can't believe it! They put me on guard duty because I was the youngest! I came along for adventure! If I knew I'd be watching for Daedra I would've stayed with you!"

"You're not going to ask why I'm here?"

"It's obvious. I would've done the same."

Nightshade thought for a moment. "Maybe we should check it out. I mean, I killed the scamps I met. There probably aren't any more around here."

He nodded. "I'm for going in there."

The two walked through the large hall, and then started to run. They kicked open as many doors as they could, ad when Nightshade stepped on a body, she screamed, thinking it was Elyon. Ice led her through the flames and ran into two guards who joined them after a short argument. They came to the last door. "That's the Count's room. Captain said he wanted his ring to prove he was really dead," a female guard said.

"You go in," Ice pushed Nightshade who pushed back. "Why don't you, coward?"

"Because you're made for this sort of thing," he pushed her again, and this time she hit him on his arm. Before he could hit back, the other guard stepped in the way. "Would someone please just go in already?"

Nightshade stuck out her tongue and entered, highly hoping he'd be alive. She entered his parlor first, where furniture was thrown into a burning pile. Two scamps were walking around and she killed them with a small fight. Nervous, she entered the last room, to find the Count dead.

Grossed out, she had trouble bringing herself to pry the ring off someone's cold, dead finger. She quickly put it in her pocket and rushed out.

"Well, is he dead?" Ice growled, still sore about loosing. She nodded and held out the ring. "It's disgusting."

"It's what Captain Matius wanted," the guard shrugged. "Now we have to find the others. You two should stay in the front and wait----"

"Oh we are not. We're coming with you." Ice stomped in front of the guard. She bit her lip, and the other guard, a Nord, shrugged. "Let them get in trouble."

They knew they didn't have much time. The castle could fall any minute, so they wasted no time. Falling, burning planks almost hit them. Flame would just come out of nowhere from burning embers and sparks. Nothing could be salvaged now.

"Elyon?" Nightshade coughed. The fumes were starting to get to them. Ice tugged on her robe. Then a figure leaped through the flames. At first, they thought it was the Captain carrying Elyon when it happened to be the opposite. She looked surprised to see the two, but she asked no questions. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

They ran, the fire getting worse, the smoke getting thicker, the choking feeling growing. A plank fell, a slight yelp, but they didn't stop until they found the entrance. They crossed the bridge to see the castle collapse.

They counted who was left. Out of the five guards, only two survived, both forlorn and tired. Elyon was trying to revive the Captain with a spell, muttering incantations and moving her hands so a light blue light appeared and disappeared like a wave of slow lightning. Ice was breathing hard and leaning against a wall. Nightshade merely watched.

As though answering to their misery, the overcast sky finally let down some rain dowsing the fires some. "Should be about an hour before all the fires are out," Ice tried to mask his worried feeling by trying to be calm and smart. It didn't work.

The Captain came to after a while. He moved and coughed. "You'll probably be coughing like that for a while to get the smoke out of your system," Elyon told him in a doctor-ish voice. He grinned slightly and looked around. "Not many of us survived." He sighed. "What of the Count?"

"Dead," Nightshade didn't want the ring anymore, so she hastily handed it over to him. He sighed sadly. "I'll be sure to hand it down to the next Count or Countess."

The six of them walked slowly back to the Temple where they were greeted by somewhat-rejoicing people. Martin looked happy.

They agreed, after dowsing some temporary energy potions from Elyon, to get out of the city. It wasn't hard; there were no more Daedra left. The siege of Kvatch was over.

They parted ways with the Captain after they got out. The people were so happy to be out again, out of the terror. They were praising them as the Heroes of Kvatch, which made Ice grin broadly and Elyon just sort of wave it off with a small smile and then turned her attention to Richu and Silver. But Nightshade felt bugged. She knew this was only the beginning, as they walked down the mountain with Martin talking to Ice like they had known each other for years. She knew there would be more, and it would be worse every time. Those doors she saw in that hall, she knew each one would open and there would always be another battle. And there was no way out anymore.

A Word from Haunt: Yeah! First quest is over. Or is it?

If you don't know Elder Scrolls isn't mine, then you need to start paying more attention to my small blurts. Elyon, Nightshade, Richu, Silver, and Ice (it's getting tiring to say them) are mine.