Vengeance
Imperial Condolances
4E 175
Imperial Citizen Lu'ah Al-Skaven,
It is with the deepest regret that I must inform you of the death of your husband Saeel.
He laid down his life in battle helping retake the Imperial City from the Aldmeri. He showed great courage in his final hour and his sacrifice will not be in vain. All considered him a man of high moral standing and a shining example of the best the Empire has to offer.
In this hour of your grief, please take solace in the fact that he gave up his life protecting the Empire which he held so dear.
Yours Sincerely,
Imperial Praefect Pius Bruccius
Tears burned in her eyes and she gasped, clutching the paper so tightly her nails had cut through it and through the skin beneath, drops of blood forming on the letter. A letter? Her husband was dead and all that came to her was a letter? A letter wouldn't bring him back! Her husband was dead! He was dead! Bursting into tears she fell to her knees. "Saeel!" she screamed in misery holding the note to her chest.
ES
Twenty-five years I have grieved for my husband, and sought revenge against the Empire for his death. I have researched the magicks to return his spirit to a body, and something about the story of Fjori and Holgeir has drawn me here...
…
Holgeir would make the perfect vessel to bring my Saeel back to life.
...
Two of Lu'ah's associates, a male sorcerer and female witch, patrolled an area. A third was in the same vicinity, eating. "I think it's sweet Lu'ah is so worked up over her dead soldier," the witch said to the sorcerer, looking meaningfully over at him.
"Yeah, but raising Draugr to take on both the Imperials and the Stormcloaks? That's just crazy," the sorcerer replied.
"True, but I'm not going to be the one to try to oppose her," the witch answered, shaking her head at the sorcerer hopelessly. So powerful yet so blind. Couldn't he hear the hints she dropped to him?
"Good. Better we leave her be," the sorcerer said. She sighed. He was certainly no romantic, she knew. Which only drew her to him more. Oh she was such a child to feel this way about him. About anyone.
ES
I have managed to raise the dead here and use them as laborers to clear the way to the main burial hall. Something about the methods used by the ancient Nords has kept them incredibly well preserved. Would that these Stormcloaks had half their sense. We could have used them to push the elves right off the continent and formed a new state to combat the empire.
…
And now, when I am so close, a war breaks out. The sleeping bear of Skyrim, who would not come to aid us in Hammerfell, awakens now that the Empire has abandoned them as well. They think they know suffering at the hands of the Empire? They know nothing. I would see both the Empire and these sons of Skyrim into Oblivion myself.
...
Lu'ah finished writing the last entry and read over the previous ones. She looked in on her followers and watched, enviously, the witch and the sorcerer. "Naïve girl," she murmured. Her heart would only be broken. He would die, like anyone else… He would die like her Saeel… She rose to watch the two young lovers. Could-be lovers, that was. The young sorcerer was oblivious to things such as love. Unless the witch spelled it out for him, it was unlikely he would clue in. Poor boy… Saeel had been like him…
ES
"Sorcerer, do you ever think about anything other than your magic?" the witch questioned, gazing infatuatedly at him.
"Hmm? Like what?" the sorcerer questioned.
"Oh I don't know. Maybe… romance?" the witch asked.
He looked over at her curiously. "Romance? What use is romance?" he questioned.
She frowned at him. "Well, to combat loneliness. To have companionship. To produce children," she said.
He looked confused. "I'm not sure of the practicality of that," he answered.
"Not everything has to be practical, sorcerer," she said, turning from him with a sigh. He looked at her from behind then smiled, chuckling. She didn't notice. He quietly moved up behind her then suddenly seized her around the waist, turning her quickly.
She blinked up at him in surprise. He took her lips, pulling her close to his body. She caught her breath and went red. He drew back, grinning wickedly and nuzzling her. "My little witch, I'm teasing you," he said to her, smirking. "Even I'm not as pragmatic as that." She grinned up at him and kissed him firmly. He spun her around with a soft laugh and set her down.
ES
Lu'ah watched the scene from her place, sadness in her eyes. She resented them. Part of her hoped the sorcerer was killed. Perhaps she would use him in one of her experiments… She knew she was only talking. The witch. She looked so content and secure in his arms. The look with which she fixed him… She had once fixed her lover with that gaze. The day before he left to go to battle and promised he would return. She closed her eyes tightly, swallowing painfully. Wait… She sensed a disturbance. Her eyes opened and narrowed dangerously. Immediately she sought for the source… She found him…
"I am Lu'ah Al-Skaven. Who are you to disrupt my work? Begone, or I will add you to my army of the dead!" she declared through her powers, transmitting the words to the figure who had dared intrude in her lair. Something or someone of immense power. No matter. He would not stop her. She raised draugr in the crypt. If they didn't stop him, they would slow him, at least. Perhaps long enough to her to complete her spell.
Saeel, I will have you back soon…
The figure continued on and she frowned. He was drawing nearer to her helpers. More importantly he was coming closer to her. If he intended to stop her, things would end badly. She raised more draugr in his path. "Rise from your graves to defeat this worm," she declared. Still he went on, and alarm was rising now. She raised more draugr still. How was it he was still standing? How was he still coming? "I shall have vengeance for the death of my husband. Rise!" she commanded her draugr. By now the witches and sorcerers were becoming alert. They knew something was going wrong and they were preparing to fight back. The Dragonborn continued forth and Lu'ah sobbed once, closing her eyes tightly. This couldn't be happening. Anger, then, darkened her features, and dangerously she looked up, tears welling in her eyes. Tears of hatred and anger and hurt. "I could not raise him, but I will raise an army to avenge his defilement!" she declared.
ES
"What's happening out there?" the witch fearfully questioned.
"I-I don't know," the sorcerer answered, equally as fearful. "Whatever it is, its trouble. He's fought through four waves of high powered draugr. He's a machine!" Just then they heard pained cries and gasped, looking in that direction.
"People are dying," she said, eyes wide.
"Get into position, quick," he ordered, urging her to her spot. Namely a place where she would be hard to target and hard to see. Fortunately, she wasn't aware of that little detail. Quickly he moved to his own place across the room. And in plain sight of any archer, which was why the first thing he did was throw on a flesh spell. Ebony flesh, to be precise. And a ward for good measure in case this attacker happened to be a magic wielder. He looked around for any sign of the intruder. An arrow flew out, grazing him. He cried out in alarm, but Ebony Flesh deflected it. The next instant a man raced into the room. Immediately the sorcerer and witch ganged up on him, hitting him with spells without any hesitation.
Her Magika was waning, he noted in fear. He was taking the brunt of the damage, she worriedly saw. It appeared this intruder's policy was take out the strongest player first. She wouldn't allow it! She immediately threw herself into the battle, trying to get between the sorcerer and attacker without her lover knowing what she was doing. She wasn't sure why she thought she could trick him. It wasn't ten seconds later that he seized her around the waist and lifted her up, turning her and putting her out of the way. The attacker struck at him. The sorcerer cried out in pain as the blade slashed him deeply. He looked up quickly, scowling.
The witch immediately threw herself into the attacker, bringing him down. The two tussled on the ground, her eyes flaming murderously. The sorcerer called her name in alarm. The intruder struck. His sword ran her through the stomach. "No!" the sorcerer exclaimed. The figure threw her off of him. She lay weakly on the ground, coughing. The man was going for the killing blow. She looked up at him weakly then turned her gaze to the pale sorcerer.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered to him. The attacker brought down his blade. The sorcerer was not about to watch it happen. He threw a powerful spell at the intruder, paralyzing him. He lunged for the witch, seizing her and dragging her away from the enemy as quickly as he could manage. He could have finished off the man. Perhaps it would have been better for him if he had. He would accept whatever punishment Lu'ah gave him for letting the enemy go, though. As long as the witch lived.
ES
Lu'ah observed the actions taken by the lovers. The girl was the one who fell. It was surprising to her. More touching still, how desperately the sorcerer tried to protect his beloved.
"I will do everything it takes to protect you. I promise. You will be safe again. We will live our lives in peace once more. Do not despair. Soon it will end, my love," Saeel's voice whispered in her memories. Their last night together.
The intruder was racing at the witch and sorcerer. The sorcerer turned sharply back, eyes wide in fear and alarm. Immediately he moved between the enemy and the witch. He shot him with another powerful spell, but the attacker tanked through it, barrelling down on him. "Run, run!" the witch pled, seizing her lover's robes beseechingly.
"I will die with you before I abandon you!" he furiously replied… And at the same time Lu'ah herself was whispering those exact same words… She had whispered them on her bed alone in the nights for days and days after news had come to her of her husband's death… Why had she never done so? Because she believed she could still bring him back.
The witch sobbed. Lu'ah raised her hand, casting a spell. Draugr rose. They barred the attacker's access. Immediately the sorcerer took hold of his witch, helping her up and swiftly moving with her, escaping the attacker.
ES
The Dragonborn arrived. She knew him as Dragonborn now. She had heard his shouts. She saw him cast Detect Life. He had tried to hunt down the witch and the sorcerer, but they had escaped him. Good. She listened to his footsteps approaching determinedly. "They burned his body before I could raise him… it should have been returned to me… You will not stop me from killing those who wage this pointless war!" she suddenly yelled, turning and shooting him with a spell before raising the undead to do her bidding…
ES
She lay still, dying in the dirt. The Dragonborn was gone. Footsteps came forth. She felt her breath leaving her body. A spell was cast on her, joined by another. Her eyes flickered. The Witch and Sorcerer stood above her, calling her back from the brink of death. For a moment she almost believed they were the reincarnations of the ghosts buried here who she had tried to use as vessels; but then why would they spare her? Only a tale… But that these two had come for her… She closed her eyes, feeling her life returning. She would have her vengeance, she determined…. And if she failed, at least she would be with Saeel again… The Imperials would pay. The Stormcloaks would suffer. The Thalmor… Oh they would cower… Darkly she began to laugh. The Witch and Sorcerer silently backed away and seemed to vanish into thin air.