AN: See an awkward phrase? Typo? Grammatical monstrosity? Let me know! Love the characters? Hate them and find them as stiff and flat as cardboard? Let me know!
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Withing a few years' time, Argis became an important warrior for Markarth. He was officially a man in every conception and valiant warrior in addition to that. The remaining Forsworn had been scattered to remote camps, but they still plagued the outlying farms and caravans along with the other monsters that were already a threat within the Reach. Argis was never out of demand for people asking him to head a group of warriors in clearing a troublesome group of Forsworn or a cave of trolls.
His farmer origins lay forgotten to everyone but him, but he never forgot that first battle or the days leading up to it. He thought often of Calder, but he never knew what happened to the other man or if he even survived the battle.
One day, Argis was summoned before Jarl Igmund much to the warrior's confusion. He arrived at Understone Keep and was led to the Jarl's throne room. The Jarl sprawled atop his throne as a stranger stood nearby. Argis vaguely recognized the man as one of the people who had helped clear out a few of the caves but had dismissed him as an adventurer out for gold.
The man's dark brown eyes, black hair, and rough hewn features reminded Argis of nothing more than the caves that he helped to clear. The man unnervingly eyed Argis closely, but the warrior ignored him and bowed to the Jarl. He cautiously asked, "You summon me, Jarl?" The jarl nodded and sat up straight before gesturing to the stranger sitting near him. He spoke quickly, "This is Keldin and I am appointing him as a thane. I have decided to honour you with being his housecarl." Argis couldn't hold in his grin as he heard the pronouncement. He strode over to Keldin as Igmund continued, "Keldin, this is your housecarl, Argis the Bulwark." The man nodded wordlessly and ignored Argis' outstretched hand as he looked over Argis like he were examining a horse to be bought.
Gritting his teeth at the treatment, Argis tried to remain polite and asked, "Will you be having me move in to your home? Or shall-" but the new thane cut him off with an imperious gesture and exclaimed, "Continue to live wherever you currently reside. My home is small as it is." Argis simply nodded and turned back to the Jarl, who had begin to speak again, "Keldin plans to make a move against one of the last remaining Briarhearts in the region and I trust you will assist them in any way you can." Argis wordlessly nodded as he turned back to his new thane and asked, "When do we leave?"
Keldin calmly replied, "I have already gathered a group of soldiers. We leave tomorrow."
Argis grinned at the prospect of fighting the Forsworn again and nodded. The Jarl waved his hand, dismissing the warrior. Argis bowed before both of the other men before returning to his small home and checking his gear. He readied his armour as well as the supplies necessary to journey to the camp to the north. He sat on his small cot, looked over the supplies once more before drifting off to sleep.
The following morning he met his team at the gates of the city and nodded at the other people. There would be ten other soldiers, himself, and Keldin. They left quietly and marched quickly for the Forsworn camp. They fully expected to be outnumbered, but to be able to persevere. If they brought too many more people, then they ran the risk of discovery and the Forsworn disappearing into the woods, but if they brought too few soldiers they would be slaughtered.
The first day of marching was uneventful as they were still in territory that was controlled by the Jarl. By the second day they passed most of the farms and were on guard for monster attacks. By the third day they were within attack range of the camp with its rough tents. They lit no fires that night and simply wrapped their cloaks around themselves, their Nord blood preserving them from the worst of the cold. The Forsworn were foolish enough not to take such precautions and their few fires were highly visible.
Keldin quietly went over the battle plan with the men. "We are going to attack in the morning. They know the terrain better than we do, so we can't afford to have them ambushing us or escaping. We charge in, cut them down." He then pointed to four of the men, "You three are going to stay back and the moment you see the briarheart, you pincushion him. Understood?" The nodded grimly and Argis did not envy them their task. It was a dangerous duty to have to watch for and try to kill the briarheart.
The soldiers hunkered down, facing west towards the mountains and the encampment, and waited for the sun to rise. As dawn broke over the cold terrain they leapt into action and charged in towards the camp.
The group's bowmen efficiently dispatched the lone, sleepy sentry who watched over the plains. Argis' blood was up as he charged into their camp, and he wanted to release a war cry that would shake the mountains but he held it in check. Orders were to kill as many as they could in silence before rousing the whole camp – and the briarheart.
His steel shield shining the light, Argis led the charge up the short incline to the first major group of tents which were arranged in a circle. The men quickly fanned out and charged into the tents and screams and shouts poured out of the tents shortly afterwards.
Argis charged into one of the tents and a man was just staggering out of his bedroll and reaching for a nearby sword when Argis rammed his sword through the man's ribs. With all the fighting and noise, he saw no point in holding in his fury any longer and bellowed loudly.
Rushing out of the small tent, he saw that the soldier's were regrouping in the middle of the tent ring. Argis frowned to see that they were one soldier short, but that the four bowmen remained. Up another short incline, the Forsworn were rallying and the other half of the camp came alive with shouting warriors. Argis took a deep breath, settled his shield on his arm, and lead the charge up the ramp with a fierce shout.
Arrows from both directions rushed by him, and he heard a loud scream from behind him. He swore mentally, trying to keep count of his remaining men as an arrow stuck in his shield. Reaching the top of the ramp, he pushed into the still assembling Forsworn there and immediately disembowelled a man. His large frame and fierce cry made his enemies hesitate, which allowed the rest of the remaining soldiers to arrive with him. "For Markarth!" Keldin resounding shouted, and the Nords pressed into the Forsworn horde.
The battle was definitely in the favour of the Nords with the element of surprise and the presence of the bowmen. The four archers stayed in a tight clump and used their arrows sparingly and aimed only for other archers or for places where the other soldiers might crack. Lightning suddenly hit the lead bowman, and forked into the other three. The one first hit collapsed to his side, smoking, and did not rise. The other three staggered apart and looked for the source of the bolt. The briarheart had joined the battle.
With a ghastly wound in his chest the spellcaster looking impassively out over the battle before throwing a bolt of fire at one of the archers. The man tried to dodge, but his shocked muscles couldn't respond in time and the spell hit him in his leg. He shouted in pain as the spell ignited his leg, but screamed louder when the magical fires began to spread to the rest of him. Behind the deer head mask, the wizard's face was unreadable.
Argis was locked in combat with a reinvigorated horde of Forsworn, who had rallied when their commander showed up. Swinging his sword and dagger in a vicious flurry that quickly killed his opponent, Keldin roared, "Push through to the briarheart before he can cast more spells. Archers take him down!" The remaining two archers raised their bows and released shots at the briarheart, who ducked behind cover to avoid them. He could only pop up and hurtle weak spells for fear of being shot. Thus suppressed, the remaining Nords in melee pushed even harder to try to kill their opponents.
A comrade to Argis' left suddenly screamed and collapsed. Argis whipped around to see the man's blade caught in one of the Forsworn's swords and the other sword buried in Argis' friend's side. Argis swore and struggled to hold off two attackers, his sword and shield rang as they repelled blows. Keldin suddenly engaged one of Argis's assailants, neither of whom were a match for either Keldin or Argis on their own.
After using his shield to push the dead Forsworn off his blade, Argis used the moment to breathe and look around. He winced again at seeing only three of the remaining swordsmen still standing, but they were whittling away at the last opponents. A sudden crackle of lightning and a scream from one of the archers told him that the briarheart was still active.
The last archer looked panicked as he knocked arrow and after and fired them at the barely contained briarheart. Clanking loudly, Argis charged up the last incline to the briarheart in an effort to kill him before he wiped out the rest of them. The briarheart immediately oriented on Argis and shot a jagged shard of ice at him. Argis instinctively blocked the spell, and the ice shattered upon impacting the shield but the frost magicka penetrated through numbing his shield arm. He grunted in surprise, but as a Nord he was no stranger to the cold and kept moving. He was close enough to see the briarheart's eyes widen in shock as the heavily armoured warrior charged in. Argis grimaced as he saw the briarheart put his hands together and mould a large fireball in his hands, knowing that there was nothing Argis could do. An arrow suddenly struck the Forsworn wizard in his arm and penetrated all the way through.
Instinctively, the wizard screamed and clutched his arm, abandoning his spell. Taking advantage of the distraction, Argis jammed his sword into the gaping hole in the man's chest, hoping that there was still a vital organ to hit. The briarheart instantly stiffened before collapsing to the ground, dead.
Argis raised his sword in appreciation to the remaining archer who smiled back shakily and raised his bow in acknowledgement. Keldin walked up to Argis who stood alone at the peak of the encampment and smiled widely. He clapped the exhausted warrior on his shoulder and crowed, "An excellent victory, is it not? We did well here today." Argis looked at the blood soaked earth, and in particular at the six fallen soldiers from Markarth before coldly replying, "Tell that to those who now reside in Sovngarde – show some regret for those lost." "You will treat your thane with more respect in the future, housecarl," snapped the once-adventurer. Keldin frowned sharply before walking away. Argis could hear his cheerful voice calling out the men, "I'm sure the jarl will reward us with a feast and great reward for this grand victory. Come, let's return to Markarth." Argis glowered at the man's back, thinking darkly about how adventurers never lose their greed.