Chapter Nine: Raiders of the Lost Crown
The entrance to Korvanjund was reached by going down one flight of steps, into a deep gully with walls partly of natural rock and partly ancient stonework, and then up another staircase to the main door. It seemed an odd layout to Elisif, making entrance awkward without any clear benefit, but perhaps there was some defensive advantage not immediately apparent to her, or perhaps it had been dictated by the natural geography of the site. There was a gate at the end of the gully, beyond the stairs that led up, and Rikke ignored it and started to lead the soldiers up toward the main entrance. Elisif was about to follow but felt a tug at her belt as if someone was trying to pull her towards the gate. She looked down and saw that it was coming from Dawnbreaker. The sword had swung to point at the gate and was quivering like a hunting hound pointing at prey. As soon as she noticed it the sword went back to its usual position. Was Meridia giving her a hint that there was something worthwhile in the chamber? Perhaps even the Jagged Crown itself?
"Wait!" she called out to Rikke. "I want to investigate that side chamber first."
"Why?" Rikke queried. "We don't have time to spare."
Elisif hesitated before replying. She didn't want to admit to receiving prompts from a Daedric Prince, even one as benevolent as Meridia, and had to come up with another explanation.
"The Stormcloaks are bound to be delayed by traps and draugr," she said, after a second's thought, "and suppose it turned out that King Borgas was laid to rest in the outer chamber? I don't think it's probable, but we can't ignore the possibility. Also, from what Kaie has told me, and confirmed by my limited personal experience, the ancient Nords always built their barrows with emergency exits that opened only from the inside. If one emerges into that chamber, it might allow the Stormcloaks to escape us, unless we post guards. We should check, just to be sure."
"Oh, very well," Rikke conceded.
The gate to the chamber was locked. "Quite formidable," Lisette remarked, as she started to work on it, "but after that lock in Potema's Refuge defeated me I asked Inge Six-Fingers for some additional training. This shouldn't take me long."
Elisif, suspecting that there would be draugr within the chamber, drew Dawnbreaker. She had reversed the position of her swords since her participation in the recapture of Fort Hraggstad and now wore the Skyforge sword on her left hip and Dawnbreaker at her right. This meant that she drew Dawnbreaker with her grip reversed, holding it the way an untrained person would hold a dagger, and then she flipped it over into a conventional grip.
"That looks awkward," Rikke commented.
"It's the best technique I've managed to come up with, so far," Elisif explained. Dealing with the practicalities of wearing two swords, each for a different purpose, had proven to be more difficult than Elisif had expected. The obvious way to wear them, one on each hip the way Kaie and Jenassa wore their swords, presented problems when you wore a shield on one arm. Elisif needed to be able to draw a second sword quickly, if she was hit by the Disarm ability possessed by some of the more powerful draugr, and drawing her right-hand sword with the conventional grip from that position was far too awkward. Drawing it with her shield hand, and then transferring it to her sword hand, was much too slow. She had had to devote quite some time to experimentation before she came up with something that worked.
"Have you tried a back scabbard?" Rikke asked.
"Yes, and it's even slower and more awkward," Elisif replied. "It might work for a short Imperial sword but not with ones as long as Dawnbreaker and my Skyforge sword." She had seen men wearing greatswords on their backs and had observed how long it took them to get the sword into a fighting position. If they were taken by surprise, or if an enemy rushed them and reached close quarters before they could get the sword out, they would be almost helpless. If she were to be confronted by a Stormcloak greatsword-wielder, then charging at speed might give her a big advantage. It would not be honorable, perhaps, but it might keep her alive.
"Got it!" Lisette exclaimed. "I don't see any draugr inside… but be careful."
Elisif entered the chamber cautiously, Lydia following immediately behind her, but they found no foes, neither draugr nor Stormcloak. There were no sarcophagi holding undead warriors, and no sign of any cracks in the wall that might have been signs of secret doors. The chamber held nothing except a chest against one wall and a few gold coins scattered on the floor nearby.
"Lisette!" Elisif called. "Come, check a chest for traps, and unlock it if necessary." The chest looked far too new to hold the Jagged Crown but there had to be some reason why Meridia had directed her into this chamber. She picked up the coins from the floor, while Lisette was making sure the chest was not trapped, and she noticed that the head on the coins was that of Titus Mede II. This proved that the chamber had been used within the past thirty years or so and probably much more recently. Whatever was in the chest couldn't have any relationship to her current quest. So why was it important?
The answer was immediately apparent once the chest was opened. It held a few sacks of coin, no doubt the source of the loose coins on the floor, and a suit of Ebony armor styled for a female. Armor fit for a queen, indeed, giving better protection than her existing steel plate and far more impressive in appearance. It looked to be the right size to fit her and she almost drooled as she gazed upon it.
"That's certainly worthwhile," she said, understating her feelings considerably, "but I don't have time to change into it. Perhaps I should leave it here and pick it up later." She felt Dawnbreaker slap against her leg, hard enough that she was sure it would have hurt if not for her armor, and she realized that Meridia was telling her something. It could only be disagreement with her idea. "On second thoughts, we'd better take it with us, in case we don't come back the same way," she said. The sword didn't react, and she guessed she was going along with what Meridia wanted.
The three women divided the pieces of armor up between them, for ease of carrying, as fast as they could. It wasn't a complete set, lacking boots and gauntlets, but still bulky. They managed to arrange it so that they were not too encumbered. Lisette took the pouches of coin, for the time being, although it was understood that the final division of loot would be arranged once the mission was complete. They left the chamber, rejoined a visibly impatient Legate Rikke, and headed up the steps toward the complex entrance.
Bodies lay on the ground in front of the door. Not Stormcloaks, and not Legionaries, but rough-looking men in mismatched armor. Bandits, three human and one Orc. All were male. Elisif realized that this was the likely explanation for the Ebony armor in the lower chamber; the bandits must have gained it as loot, then found that it would not fit any of them, but it was far too valuable to discard. The bandit chief, no doubt one of those lying dead, must have locked it away to preserve it for future sale in a Hold where he had no bounty.
With that puzzle settled, at least plausibly enough to satisfy her curiosity, Elisif put the matter aside and concentrated on the mission at hand. The expeditionary force went through the entrance, passed through a small anteroom, and emerged into a vast chamber. There was nothing of interest there, other than the impressive scale of the construction, and they moved on without wasting time. A short distance into the corridor beyond the chamber a flight of steps led off to one side, ending at a door of wood heavily reinforced with iron.
"Locked, but I don't see any lock," Lisette remarked. "It must be bolted or barred from the other side. Battering it down would take forever."
"This must be the emergency exit that I was looking for outside," Elisif deduced. "Legate Rikke, we'd better leave a guard here in case the Stormcloaks get the Crown and leave this way before we catch up with them."
Rikke pursed her lips. "I don't want to reduce our numerical advantage too much by splitting our forces," she said. "I can only spare a couple of men, not to fight them but one to run and fetch the rest of us, the other to warn those guarding the horses." She gave the necessary orders to two of the Legionaries and then led the rest of the party deeper into the barrow complex.
Beyond that point the layout became something of a maze, with the onward route not always straightforward. They began to find the bodies of draugr, almost all permanently dead, and only one rose to attack them and was hacked down in seconds. The Stormcloaks had not passed through the draugr unscathed; the body of a Stormcloak warrior lay beside a draugr corpse.
"Well, that makes up for our leaving two men on guard," Rikke remarked. "Twelve to seven. Not quite the two to one advantage I'd wanted but close enough."
Elisif wasn't yet sufficiently accustomed to death to share Rikke's pragmatic attitude but had to admit that it was a quality suitable for the second-in-command of the Legion in Skyrim. She put aside any feelings of regret at the death of a Nord, who probably had genuinely believed in the rightness of the Stormcloak cause and thought he was doing the right thing, and pressed on.
They made quick progress, taking only the briefest of pauses to check out the few chests not already cleared, and then they began to hear voices ahead. They had caught up with the Stormcloaks.
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"Muiri is gorgeous and, not only that, she's easy," one voice said, far enough away to be scarcely audible to Elisif, and distorted by echoes from the stone walls. "Sweet-talk her and you'll be between her legs in no time."
"That's as may be, but I know a prettier girl in Markarth," another voice replied, the voices growing clearer as Elisif's party crept closer. "Hroki, at the Silver-Blood Inn."
"You pervert, she's only, what, fourteen?" a third voice joined the conversation.
"She's almost sixteen, and she's grown a great pair of knockers," the second man claimed. "I wouldn't marry her, in case she turned out like her shrew of a mother, but I wouldn't mind giving her a tumble."
"My choice would be Ingun Black-Briar," a new voice came in. "As pretty as any, and she's got a fire in her. I bet she'd make love like a sabre cat."
"You call it fire, but I call it a vicious streak a mile wide and, considering who her mother is, it would be safer to fuck the sabre cat," one of the previous voices countered. It provoked a burst of laughter from several of the Stormcloaks.
"Shut your mouths," a new voice, deeper and harsher than the others, growled. "I'm trying to think. The symbols on the stone are the same as those on this claw thing, but the order is different. I'd guess we have to line them up in the same order."
"That makes sense," said one of the others. "The sections must turn."
"Well, get on with it," the deep voice commanded. Elisif guessed it to be that of Brandir Troll-Fist, reported to be the commander of the Stormcloak force. "The top ring should be a fox." There was a grating noise as one of the men must have rotated the stone ring. "That's it! Next one down, a moth, and below that a dragon."
The lead elements of the Imperial party, Elisif among them, passed through an open doorway and into a long chamber. The stone walls were decorated with relief carvings of scenes from the life of the ancient Nords, similar to the ones Elisif had seen in Potema's catacombs, and at the far end was a wall with what appeared to be a circular doorway built in. Three sections of rings were set into the upper half of the apparent door, each one bearing a symbol in Ancient Nordic pictograms, with a circle in the center embossed with a design like a dragon's claw with three holes where the ends of the talons would be. Kaie had described the puzzle door she had faced in Bleak Falls Barrow to Elisif, and this was obviously the same thing. Two Stormcloaks were rotating the middle ring, the grating noise drowning out any slight sounds the Imperials were making as they approached stealthily, and the others were watching their colleagues' progress and not looking behind them.
The tallest of the Stormcloaks, no doubt Brandir Troll-Fist, wore officer's armor and had a huge greatsword sheathed at his back. He was the biggest man she had ever seen, almost a foot taller than Elisif's five feet ten, and in his hands the greatsword would be a devastating weapon.
He continued to talk as the two Stormcloaks began to turn the third ring. "Anyway, you're all wrong," he declared. "The prettiest girl in Skyrim is Idgrod the Younger, but the sexiest is – what in Oblivion?" He broke off as the grinding noise stopped and the sounds of the approaching Imperials became audible. "Imperials! To arms!"
Elisif was near the front of the group, her Skyforge steel sword ready in her hand, and she rushed straight for Brandir. If she could catch him before he could draw the greatsword from the clumsy back-scabbard she would have the advantage. He was holding a black metal object shaped like a dragon claw in his hands, no doubt a key like the golden claw Kaie had found in Bleak Falls Barrow, and getting rid of that delayed his draw for a crucial half-second before he could raise his hand to the sword's grip.
Elisif reached him with his sword barely half-drawn. His chest was well armored but his lower torso was protected only by leather and that was where Elisif struck. She thrust at his abdomen, angling her strike upwards, with the full momentum of her charge behind the blow. The Skyforge blade pierced through the leather and sank home right to the crossguard. Brandir released his grip on his sword and shoved Elisif away. Her sword came free, followed by a gout of blood and pieces of organs Elisif didn't want to think about, and the force of the push sent Elisif staggering back. Brandir tried to raise his hand to his sword again but his strength had gone. His arm flopped limp, he swayed on his feet, and fell to measure his considerable length on the floor.
Elisif regained her balance and readied herself to fight again. One Stormcloak rushed at her, ignoring all the other combatants, and shrugging off a blow from Lydia as he charged. Elisif blocked his strike with the Shield of Solitude and retaliated with a sword-thrust to the throat. Her blade struck home simultaneously with another blow from Lydia and the Stormcloak fell dead. Elisif looked around and saw no Stormcloaks still on their feet. All the legionaries were still standing, although one of them was dripping blood from a wounded hand. Surprise, and the advantage of numbers, had given the Legion an easy and conclusive victory.
"That was a rash thing to do, Jarl Elisif," Rikke scolded.
"I couldn't let him get his greatsword drawn," Elisif replied, "and the drawback to using a back-scabbard was fresh in my mind. I saw the opportunity and I took it."
Rikke nodded. "In that case, it was sensible rather than rash. Well done, Jarl Elisif." A chorus of agreement came from the legionaries and Elisif felt a glow of pride.
She picked up the black dragon claw from where Brandir had cast it aside. "This is the key to that puzzle lock," she told Rikke. "The Stormcloaks have set the puzzle symbols correctly and we just need to insert this into the center holes and turn it to open the door. Before we do that, now that we have time, I'm going to change into the ebony armor. There are likely to be draugr inside, perhaps even a Deathlord, and I'd like to be as well protected as possible when we go in in case we have to fight straight away."
"That's wise, Jarl Elisif," Rikke agreed. "Men, heal any wounds you may have taken, and check the Stormcloak bodies for potions and arrows that we can use."
Elisif set aside the claw, cleaned off her sword on a Stormcloak sash and sheathed it, and then began to change into the newly acquired Ebony armor. Her estimate of its size was correct and it fit her almost as if it had been made for her. She passed on her steel plate armor to Lydia, although she was a little worried that it would be too tight on the more muscular woman, but the discrepancy between their builds was less than it had been when they first met, as Elisif had put on muscle through hard exercise, and it turned out that only some adjustments to the strapping were needed for it to fit Lydia reasonably well.
Meanwhile, Lisette was examining the greatsword that had belonged to the late Brandir Troll-Fist. "Not bad," she commented. "Good steel, and a fairly powerful Frost enchantment. He could have done a lot of damage with this if you hadn't taken him down before he could get it into action. I can't use it myself, and I don't think any of the rest of you use two-handed weapons, but it will sell for a good price. I'd better be the one to carry it, as I have lighter gear than anyone else."
"That makes sense," Elisif agreed, as she fastened up the last straps of her new armor. She picked up the claw once more. "If everyone is ready, I'll get this door open. We might have to fight as soon as we're inside, so be ready."
She inserted the prongs of the claw into the sockets in the central circle and turned it. The sections bearing the symbols revolved until all showed the dragon emblem, the stone slab slid downward, and the doorway was clear. She tucked the claw away, drew Dawnbreaker ready for combat against draugr, and led the way through, ignoring Rikke's frown of disapproval, but it didn't open directly into a chamber filled with draugr guarding the Jagged Crown as she had expected. The room beyond the puzzle door was large, with walkways running around the room at a higher level, but there was nothing on the ground floor other than empty bookcases and several vertically-standing sarcophagi that no doubt held draugr. Two passageways led out of the room, one open and the other blocked by an iron gate. The open passageway led only up to the upper walkways, and so the way onward must be through the gate, but it was firmly locked, with no visible keyhole, and there was no sign of any control lever in the vicinity.
"The lever must be on the upper level somewhere," Rikke deduced. "Legionaries, spread out. Find that lever, or handle, or pull-chain."
Lisette joined the search party but Elisif and Lydia stayed with Rikke near the gate. Elisif had a feeling that opening the gate would also open the sarcophagi, with draugr emerging and attacking, and she wanted to be ready. Her intuition proved correct.
"Found it!" Lisette called from above and, as she pulled a handle and caused the gate to swing open, the fronts of the sarcophagi fell away. Five draugr came forth with weapons raised.
Elisif laid into the nearest with Dawnbreaker. Meridia's Retribution didn't trigger, and there was no fiery blast, but the undead being caught fire anyway and staggered back. Elisif hacked it down, Lydia and Rikke slew one each, and the legionaries on the upper walkways felled the remaining two with arrows.
"The way is clear, let's move on!" Rikke called, and the legionaries scurried back down to rejoin their commander.
"I found some valuable gems, too," Lisette reported to Elisif.
"That's nice," Elisif responded, but her attention was concentrated on the passage ahead that the open gate had revealed. She kept Dawnbreaker at the ready as she advanced.
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The room beyond the passageway was clearly the one for which they had been aiming. On the far side of it was what was obviously a Word Wall, looking just like the one near Meridia's temple, with a flight of steps leading upward at its side. Just in front of the Wall was a raised area on which stood a throne, flanked by two upright sarcophagi. On the throne sat a draugr, a large and formidable-looking one, and on its head was a helm. Not the type bearing long horns, as worn by the Deathlords Elisif had fought in Potema's Sanctum, but one with what appeared to be dragons' teeth projecting upward to form horns and downward to guard the wearer's face. It could only be the Jagged Crown.
"We've found it," Rikke breathed.
"I expect that draugr will rise when we touch the crown and try to kill us," Elisif cautioned. "Maybe I can preempt it." She advanced toward the enthroned draugr. "I bet more will come out of the sarcophagi at the sides," she warned, as she drew close. "Everybody had better be ready."
"You heard her, legionaries," Rikke called. "Be on your guard."
Elisif reached the throne, Dawnbreaker poised, Lydia at her side and Lisette hanging back to support them with magic. Elisif raised the sword to strike, wondering as she did so if this draugr was actually King Borgas himself. Probably yes, she decided, but she wasn't going to let that hold her back from putting a final end to him. Meridia had assured Kaie that Undeath was a curse, and that destroying the undead Red Eagle would be an act of mercy, and the same applied here. Still, it seemed somehow disrespectful, but she knew it had to be done. Getting the Jagged Crown would be an important step towards ending the war, and she knew Ulfric's men, such as the late Brandir Troll-Fist, wouldn't have hesitated to strike King Borgas down. After all, Ulfric had struck down a living king without even giving him a fair chance… Elisif gritted her teeth and struck with all her might.
Dawnbreaker bit deep, and tongues of flame licked briefly at the edges of the wound, but it wasn't enough. An eerie blue glow lit up the undead eyes and the corpse of King Borgas stood up, seeming to shrug off the blow, and reached for the grip of the greatsword slung on its back. Elisif struck twice more as the sword was coming out, to no apparent effect, and then the draugr Shouted.
"Zun Haal Viik!" It was the Disarming shout Elisif had encountered before and, just like when she had fought Queen Potema, she avoided the Shout's effect by dropping Dawnbreaker before the Shout was complete. The enchanted sword remained close to her feet. Lydia, who had joined Elisif in attacking the draugr, was not so lucky and her ebony war-axe was torn from her grasp and sent flying off across the room. Elisif started to bend down to retrieve her sword but King Borgas delivered a mighty blow with the greatsword. Elisif blocked it with her shield but the impact sent her staggering back and King Borgas followed up immediately, putting himself between Elisif and Dawnbreaker. She had no alternative but to draw her Skyforge sword instead, and close with King Borgas to negate the reach advantage of his greatsword, but then a new factor came into play.
Her guess that other draugr would emerge from the flanking sarcophagi had been correct. Two of the Undead stepped forth, and they weren't the lesser draugr like the ones they had faced in the previous room. One was a Draugr Wight, large, powerful, well-armed and capable of using magic; the other… was a second Deathlord. Or Deathlady, perhaps, as its body shape was distinctly feminine. And it knew the Thu'um.
"FUS RO DAH!" The full fury of the Shout that had felled Elisif's husband resounded through the chamber. Elisif was too close to King Borgas to be caught by the Shout, and Lydia was struck only by the fringe of the blast and staggered back only a couple of steps, but Rikke and most of the legionaries were hit by the full force and were hurled back across the room. Elisif and Lydia were left to take on three powerful draugr by themselves.
The Deathlady, armed with a single-handed ebony sword, went for Lydia. It – or perhaps she – bore no shield but was adept at parrying. Lydia had drawn her back-up sword when her axe went flying, one of the superior quality Ancient swords like the one that Kaie liked so much, but even with the advantage of her shield she was still hard-pressed to defend herself against the female draugr. King Borgas and the Wight both attacked Elisif, King Borgas from her right and the Wight on her left, and she was kept on the back foot, blocking the Wight's war-axe with her shield and desperately parrying the sword of King Borgas with her Skyforge blade, unable to strike back. An arrow from one of those legionaries still on their feet, aimed at Borgas, missed and hit Elisif in the back but bounced harmlessly from her ebony armor. The Wight switched from using its axe to casting Frost magic at Elisif, no doubt intending to slow her down, and only her Nord cold resistance and the magic resistance from the Shield of Solitude kept her going.
Then Lisette cast her Turn Undead spell and everything changed. It had no effect upon King Borgas and the female Deathlord, both much too powerful to be affected by the spell, but the Wight cowered back and its spell failed. Elisif seized on the opening. She turned to face Borgas, deflected his sword stroke with her shield, and stabbed him low in the abdomen, in the same way as she had stabbed Brandir, with the Skyforge sword. It jammed under the bottom edge of his armor but she didn't waste time trying to pull it free. Instead she dived through the gap that had opened up, snatched up Dawnbreaker, and swung as hard as she could at the ancient king's leg as he turned to follow her.
She caught him behind the knee of his leading leg, his leg buckled and he fell to one knee. He let go of his sword with one hand and put his hand to the floor to stop himself falling. Elisif stood up straight and realized that, just for one instant, King Borgas was in a very vulnerable position. She raised Dawnbreaker high and brought it down, with all her strength, at the back of the draugr king's neck. The enchanted blade sheared through undead flesh and bone. The head that bore the Jagged Crown came off and fell to the floor. Meridia's Retribution activated and the headless body burst into flame as it toppled. The explosion struck the other two draugr as well and both lit up with eerie blue-white flames. The Wight, already retreating from Lisette's spell, turned, ran straight into the curved alcove of the Word Wall, and cowered there against the stone. The Deathlady fled in the opposite direction, past the legionaries who were still picking themselves up after being felled by her Unrelenting Force Shout, and out through the door towards the chamber where the puzzle door stood open. Lydia charged forward and finished off the burning Draugr Wight.
Elisif took a deep breath, sheathed Dawnbreaker, retrieved the Skyforge sword from the ashes of King Borgas and sheathed it too. She stooped to where the head of the undead, now permanently dead, king lay and picked up the Jagged Crown. For a moment she just held it out at arms' length, gazing at the crown, and then she heard Lisette call out "Don't just stare at it, put it on!" Elisif felt the heat of a blush on her cheeks as she came to herself. She was about to remove her circlet, so that she could don the crown, when she noticed that the crown had a recess on the inside that seemed to match the dimensions of the jeweled headpiece. She lowered the crown onto her head and, indeed, it fitted snugly over the circlet. She could gain the benefit of additional head protection without losing the archery skills with which the circlet endowed her. There would be no need to keep her head exposed, so that she would be recognizable in battle, as the Jagged Crown was distinctive enough. The best of all worlds.
"Very queenly," Lisette commented, then her attention was caught by something on the floor. "Ooh, shiny gems!" she exclaimed. "They must have been blasted off the shelves by the Thu'um. And, ooh, a spell-book!" She stooped and started to gather up the valuables. "Summon Flame Atronach! Excellent! I didn't know that one." She opened the book immediately and began to read.
"Well done, Jarl Elisif," Rikke said. "You turned the tide of that fight. It could have gone badly for us."
"Lisette deserves a lot of praise," Elisif pointed out. "It was her spell that gave me the opportunity to regain Dawnbreaker and strike."
"I'll be sure to mention that in my report," Rikke said. "Now, we can…" She broke off as an ominous sound, distant but still loud, interrupted her.
"Fus Ro Dah!"
Elisif only knew of two living people, other than the Greybeards, who could Shout. For Ulfric Stormcloak to come to the barrow himself seemed a vanishingly unlikely possibility, Kaie wouldn't know Elisif was here, and it would be a massive coincidence if she just happened to explore this barrow at exactly the same time. The source of the Shout had to be the Deathlady.
"That must be the draugr that ran out of here," Rikke observed. "But what's it Shouting at? It must be… our rearguard! They're in danger!"
"It's not that far away," Elisif contradicted her. "Unless… they were coming to warn us of something?"
Even as she said that one of the two who had been left near the entrance ran into the room at top speed. "Stormcloaks!" he shouted. "Dozens of them!"
"Form up for combat!" Rikke ordered the legionaries. "Soldier, report! How many?"
"Thirty at least, maybe forty," the man replied, his words coming out jerkily as he panted for breath. "Jorfmund is dead. He held them back to give me a chance to get away. They would have caught me anyway but a burning draugr ran right past me, then its fire went out and it attacked the Stormcloaks. Can't see it holding them for long, there's just too many."
"That's why the ones we slew were malcontents," Elisif said, realization hitting her. "They were bait. Expendables, sacrificed to lure us here."
"And we are trapped," Rikke said. "All we can do is sell our lives dearly."
"No, there's a way out," Elisif said. "Up those stairs! It will lead to the barred door near the entrance."
"You're right," Rikke agreed. "Soldiers! You heard her. Up the stairs!"
Legionaries were accustomed to moving fast in groups, and the rush for the stairs was accomplished with a minimum of people getting in each other's way. Lisette brought up the rear, a blue glow emanating from her left hand, and halted half-way up the stairs. "This should delay them a bit," she said, and cast Summon Flame Atronach. The fiery being materialized at the foot of the stairs and hovered in place as Lisette turned and rushed to rejoin the others.
The stairs led to a corridor which did not lead directly to the barred door, only to an unlocked double door, and Elisif's heart sank briefly, but beyond that door was a small chamber on the far side of which was the barred door she had expected. The leading legionaries raised the bar, opened the door, and the party hastened down the steps, through the big hall, and into the anteroom just inside the complex entrance.
The Stormcloaks had left a rearguard there. Not just a couple of men, as Rikke's small force had done, but a full section of ten men. The Imperial force of thirteen didn't have much of an edge, especially as one of those thirteen was almost exhausted after his headlong rush to warn the others, and another was Lisette, whose magicka had not yet replenished sufficiently, after casting the Summon Flame Atronach spell, to cast any effective combat spells. Almost even numbers, and anything short of a quick victory would put the Imperials in danger of the main Stormcloak body catching up to them. The situation was grave – but the Imperials had the veteran Rikke, Lydia, and the Queen of Swords.
Rikke closed with a Stormcloak who was unslinging a war-hammer from his back and, like Elisif with Brandir Troll-Fist, drove home her handy Imperial short-sword before the man could get his powerful but clumsy weapon into action. Lydia killed two men with two swift strokes. Elisif stabbed one man in the chest, her Skyforge blade piercing the Stormcloak's padded cuirass with ease, deflected with her shield a blow from a man who attacked her from the side, and then turned and killed that man too. A third Stormcloak came at her from the other side but Lisette managed a short burst of a Flames spell that struck the man in the side of his face. The spell fizzled out after only a couple of seconds but it was enough to make him recoil. Elisif withdrew her sword from her second victim, spun on her heel, and lashed the tip of her blade across the third attacker's throat. She looked around for a new target, as the Stormcloak staggered and collapsed, but found none. Two of the Legionaries lay unmoving, dead or critically injured, and a couple bore bleeding wounds, but all of the Stormcloaks were down.
Rikke wiped off her sword on the sash of the second Stormcloak she had slain. "Move out!" she ordered. "We'll have to leave our fallen. If they live, they'll be prisoners, but we can't spare the time to do more. Move!"
Elisif had been going to cast Healing Hands on the closest of the two prone legionaries, but the spell failed, and she realized that the man was dead. The other looked just as inert and, reluctantly, she conceded that Rikke was right to give them up as a lost cause. She pulled a Stamina potion from her pouch, gave it to the legionary who was still suffering fatigue after his desperate sprint to warn them of the Stormcloaks, and then joined in the rush as everyone dashed out of the barrow. Down one set of stairs, up the one on the far side, and out of the Korvanjund complex. They headed for where they had left the horses – but they weren't there. Only two bodies, pierced with arrows, lay beside the place marked by hoofprints in the snow, and scattered mounds of horse dung, barely visible in the pre-dawn twilight and rapidly becoming obscured by the falling snow.
"They must have taken the horses, or driven them off, rather than leave a guard," Rikke observed. "We'll have to escape on foot."
"To Whiterun, then," Elisif said. "The Stormcloaks can't attack us once we're inside the border of the Hold, not without bringing Balgruuf into the war on our side."
Rikke nodded agreement and pointed with her sword. "Quick march!" she ordered her legionaries. As they set off, she lowered her voice and spoke to Elisif. "Balgruuf won't let us stay, as that would violate his neutrality too," she said.
"There's an ancient convention that allows you twenty-four hours," Elisif said, remembering seeing a mention of that point as she was reading about how to be an effective ruler. "Long enough at least to get healing, food, and a night's sleep before heading for Solitude."
"That will be enough," said Rikke, "as long as the Stormcloaks don't catch us before we reach the border with Whiterun Hold."
They didn't. In fact, rather to the surprise of Rikke and Elisif, they saw no sign of any pursuit. Perhaps, Elisif guessed, the Stormcloak commander had been killed by the Deathlady, or by Lisette's Flame Atronach, and the rank-and-file hadn't known what to do without his orders. Or perhaps they had assumed that the Imperials would be returning to Solitude by the route by which they had come and had charged off in the wrong direction. Elisif didn't know which was the correct explanation, or if it was for some other reason that the Stormcloaks hadn't followed, and she could only feel relieved and grateful.
By the time they came within sight of the border post at Whitewatch Tower, shortly after the break of dawn, there was still no sign of any pursuit. Elisif had relaxed enough to be engaged in a discussion with Lisette about the identity of the Deathlady. Had she been the wife of King Borgas, the name of whose queen was not recorded in any of the historical records of the time, or had she been a Housecarl, the equivalent of Lydia or Irileth? Perhaps Giraud Gemane, the Dean of History at the Bards College, might know more but otherwise they could only speculate.
"I wonder who Brandir Troll-Fist was about to name as the 'sexiest woman in Skyrim' before we interrupted him, permanently," Lisette mused, moving on from the topic of the Deathlady's possible identity. "Probably not me, as I don't recall ever seeing him in the Winking Skeever, and someone that tall would be hard to miss."
"I hadn't seen him before, either, and he'd have stood out even in a crowd," Elisif said, "so he was unlikely to be naming anyone from Solitude. As he said that the prettiest girl in Skyrim was Idgrod the Younger, my guess is that he was going to name someone from Morthal. We'll never know."
"I have to agree with him about Idgrod the Younger," Lisette said. "I've only seen her once or twice, but she really is quite beautiful."
"She is, and she's very sweet and kind," Elisif agreed.
"Probably not the qualities Brandir Troll-Fist would have admired," Lisette said, grinning.
During this relatively light-hearted conversation Elisif was trying to think of how best to reward Lisette for her significant contribution to the success of the mission. Her well-timed spell might not have directly saved Elisif's life, but it had certainly swung the fight in her favor and enabled her to seize the initiative. She deserved some kind of official recognition, but what?
Elisif would have liked to appoint Lisette as a Thane of Haafingar, not only because it would be a suitable reward, but also because it would annoy Erikur and give Elisif someone in court she could talk with as a friend. The existing Thanes, and Sybille Stentor the Court Wizard, all had been appointed by Torygg's father High King Istlod. Falk Firebeard was appointed as Steward by Torygg. All of them had tended to act in a somewhat patronizing manner towards Elisif, although less so since her transformation into a warrior, and none could really be counted as friends. Lydia was totally loyal but, to be honest, not much of a conversationalist. The only people who could talk to Elisif as true friends, neither intimidated by her position nor talking down to her because of her youth and inexperience, were Kaie and Jarl Balgruuf. Now Lisette was joining that group, and her cheerful irreverence would be a breath of fresh air in the somewhat stuffy atmosphere of the court. There was, however, a big stumbling block preventing Elisif from simply appointing Lisette as a Thane.
Rules in Haafingar's constitution required a prospective Thane to be 'known throughout the Hold', which the popular bard already fulfilled, and to own property in the city. That was the problem. Currently Lisette lived rent-free in the Winking Skeever, in return for her bardic performances, and the only property currently for sale, Proudspire Manor, was valued at twenty-five thousand septims. Way beyond Lisette's resources, and way beyond anything Elisif could contribute to subsidize her, at least out of her personal funds, and using state resources for personal ends was one of the hallmarks of a corrupt ruler. She wasn't going to go down that road. No, she would have to find some other way of publicly acknowledging Lisette's deeds.
An interruption from outside the party caused Elisif to break off from her pondering. By now they were within quarter of a mile of Whitewatch Tower, close to where a track led off to a farm on a hill, and at that junction a cart which had lost a wheel was stranded. A short Imperial man clad in the distinctive apparel of a jester stood beside the broken-down cart. On seeing the party approaching he began to caper and call out.
"Agh! Bother and befuddle! Stuck here! Stuck! My mother, my poor mother. Unmoving. At rest, but too still. Help poor Cicero, I implore you!"
Although Rikke was nominally in charge of the expedition, this only really applied to matters directly related to the Legion and the mission, and so it was Elisif who replied to the jester.
"I see the problem," she said. "How long have you been stranded here?"
"Three days," the jester replied. "Five times has poor Cicero asked farmer Loreius to fix this damnable wagon wheel. He has tools! He could help! But he refuses and Cicero and his poor, dead, mother are stuck here. Stuck! Stranded! Abandoned! Helpless!"
"Well, I think we should be able to do something about that," Elisif said. The nearby farm was on the Pale side of the border, if only by a couple of hundred yards, and if the farmer was a firm Stormcloak supporter he might refuse to be swayed by an appeal from the Imperial candidate for the High Queenship. However, even if that was the case, she was sure the legionaries would be able to mend the cart's wheel. Her thought was proven correct even before she could set off up the hill towards the farm.
"Jarl Elisif, I was a wainwright before I enlisted," one of the legionaries spoke up. "I still carry a couple of tools in case of need. It looks as if the axle and the wheel are intact, and only the retainer has come loose. I could fix that in minutes. We'd need to raise that corner of the cart to be able to put the wheel back in place, and I don't have anything to serve as a jack, but if we move that… coffin… rearwards, to shift the balance, then two or three strong men should be able to lift and hold that front corner long enough for me to get the wheel back on. All told, it shouldn't take more than half an hour."
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" the jester cried. "I will reward you with coin. Gleamy, shiny, coin!"
Elisif turned to Rikke. "I think we can spare the time, Legate Rikke, assuming some legionaries volunteer for the task," she said. "If the Stormcloaks should turn up at last we can be over the border at Whitewatch Tower well before they could catch up."
"Unless they're mounted," Rikke said, "although even then we could keep ahead, provided they didn't manage to get up close before we spotted them. Very well, I'll call for volunteers, and assign a couple of men to take up a look-out position on that rocky outcrop to the right."
There was no shortage of willing volunteers, in fact the only ones who didn't volunteer were Lydia, as it would distract from her bodyguard duty, Lisette, who lacked the required physical strength, and one legionary who had lost the little finger of his left hand in the fighting in Korvanjund and didn't yet know how it would affect his grip when dealing with a heavy load. Rikke assigned that man, and the smallest of the volunteers, to be the lookouts and sent them off to the outcrop.
Vognir, the ex-wainwright, examined the wheel hub and then began to work on what Elisif presumed was the wheel's retaining catch. The rest of the volunteers waited for him to finish and then direct them in how he wanted the cart to be raised into position for the wheel to be reattached. The jester, Cicero, watched for a brief time and then turned his attention to Elisif.
"Thank you! May I ask the name of the kind lady who has organized this assistance for poor Cicero?" His voice was high and somewhat squeaky, and no doubt would become intensely irritating in a long conversation, but probably appropriate for a comic entertainer. Children might find it particularly amusing… although Balgruuf's horrible children would mock him mercilessly.
"I am Jarl Elisif of Solitude," she replied. "Tell me, where are you taking your… deceased mother?" As the cart was stranded only yards from the border of Whiterun Hold she guessed that Whiterun was the jester's destination, and if that was the case she would warn him against trying to get employment in Jarl Balgruuf's court. Frothar wasn't too badly behaved, but Nelkir and Dagny would either reduce the jester to tears or push him until he snapped and either spanked them, and brought Balgruuf's wrath down upon him, or went berserk and dismembered the little brats with the dagger he wore at his belt. An ebony dagger, Elisif noticed, surprisingly valuable for the sidearm of someone in a profession she wouldn't have expected to be well paid. Useful for someone crossing Skyrim alone, driving a laden cart that might well attract the attention of bandits, and Elisif put the thought out of her mind.
"I'm taking Mother to her new crypt in Falkreath Hold," Cicero answered her question. That made sense; Falkreath was known for its cemeteries.
"Well, if you are looking for employment, Falkreath is a good place to start," Elisif advised him. "Jarl Siddgeir is probably the only Jarl in Skyrim who might be interested in having a Court Jester." She thought she saw a disappointed look on Cicero's face and guessed he had hoped she'd offer him a place in her court. "I'm too busy with the war to consider any additions to my own staff."
"I have heard of the Civil War but I do not know much about it," the jester said. "Poor Cicero was all alone in Mother's old crypt in Dawnstar, only seeing other people when he went to buy food, and most people there talked only of nightmares. Only Jarl Skald the Elder talked of the war, mostly when shouting at friendly Brina Merilis when she walked past his hall."
"That sounds typical of him," Elisif said. "He's totally opposed to the Empire, and I'm on the Empire's side." Skald was a bitter old man, from what she had seen of him, probably more fanatically opposed to the Empire than any other Jarl. She had heard that he'd sent as many able-bodied men as he could gather off to join the Stormcloaks, leaving Dawnstar virtually undefended, and she thought that the Legion could take over the Hold in an afternoon. They couldn't hold it, though, as Ulfric would be able to send overwhelming numbers to retake it, so it wasn't worth asking General Tullius to invade.
A patrolling Pale guard walked up the road toward them, studiously ignoring the Legion party that was far too dangerous for him to try to arrest, and Elisif fell silent as she watched the man. Lisette spoke up to take over the conversation.
"Jarl Elisif is only telling part of the story," Lisette said, speaking loudly so that the guardsman would overhear. "She isn't just on the Empire's side, she's the rightful High Queen of Skyrim, and she fights on our side as our Queen of Swords… unlike the cowardly leader of our enemies the Stormcloaks." Elisif saw the patrolling guardsman, on hearing Lisett's words, break his stride and turn his head to stare at Lisette and Elisif, with his mouth agape, before averting his gaze again and resuming his patrol and his air of studied indifference.
"Humble Cicero has never met a queen before," the jester said, his eyes widening. "Is that helmet a crown? And is it made of dragons' teeth?"
"Yes, it is a crown, the ancient Jagged Crown of Skyrim, and yes, it is made of dragons' teeth," Elisif confirmed, "but I'm not High Queen yet."
"You will be, it's only a matter of time," Lisette stated with a confident air. "You have the Jagged Crown, after all." She directed her attention back to Cicero. "I'm composing a song about our expedition to retrieve the long-lost crown. It should be quite an epic. The song I wrote about Elisif defeating the spirit of the evil Queen Potema has become very popular. Talsgar the Wanderer heard me singing it and he's spread it pretty much across all of Skyrim – although he doesn't stick to my tune, and I don't really think he does the song justice. I'm having a little problem with this song, though. I can't think of a good rhyme for Korvanjund."
"Cummerbund!" Cicero cried. "Punned, funned, sunned, refund, rotund, stunned, shunned, moribund…"
Lisette's eyes widened. "That's… amazing," she almost gasped. "You have a true gift for rhyming." She grinned, and then the grin turned into a grimace. "Unfortunately, none of those rhymes make even remote sense in context. I'll have to find an alternative end for that line. Hmm. Barrow… no, the stress would be on the wrong syllable. Burial mound! Got it! Let's see…" She screwed her eyes up, concentrating, and then began to sing.
"The Queen of Swords, she led her men
Toward the burial mound.
In Korvanjund the Jagged Crown
Lay deep within the ground.
Oh, across the snowfields they rode
Then into the barrow they strode…"
Lisette paused, either because it was a natural pause in the song or because she was considering the next line, and Elisif seized the opportunity to interrupt. "But… I didn't lead us," she pointed out. "That was Legate Rikke."
Lisette shrugged. "Don't fuss about minor details," she said, grinning and sounding cheerfully unrepentant. "This makes for a better song. Anyway, you really did all the things I'll put later in the song, like killing undead King Borgas, and setting the Deathlady on fire so she ran off and crashed into the Stormcloaks. I'll get on with that part now. It's a pity I haven't brought my lute. You wouldn't happen to have one on your cart, Cicero, would you?"
"Alas, sweet lass, I have no lute, nor even a flute," Cicero said. "When humble merryman Cicero sings his comic songs, he does so without instrumental accompaniment."
"Oh, well, maybe I can borrow one in Whiterun," Lisette said. "I'll work on the rest of the song without it for now. I'd appreciate it if you helped me with the rhymes, Cicero." The jester enthusiastically assented.
"I've finished preparing the wheel and axle," Vognir the ex-wainwright announced. "I'll need the volunteers to first move the coffin, and then raise the wagon corner at the wheel side. Two others will be needed to put the wheel into position on the axle. Right, if I could have three people to move the coffin, tight up against the left-hand side of the cart and overhanging at the rear by about another two feet…"
The legionaries went into action, directed by Vognir, and the jester broke off from his collaboration with Lisette and watched, with an anxious expression on his face, as they moved the coffin. Lifting the corner of the wagon was accomplished, with some effort, and then Elisif stepped forward to be one of the pair handling the wheel. She had exercised strenuously since Helgen, not just with sword practice but also hammering iron at Beirand's smithy and even chopping firewood, and although she might not be able to match a fit man for sheer brute strength she was a lot stronger than she had been in the days before her baptism of fire. Her joining the party working on the wagon repair was not for the purpose of exercise, however, it was to demonstrate to the legionaries that she did not regard herself as above such tasks. She saw Rikke raise an eyebrow, and guessed that the Legate had expected her to order Lydia to join the last unengaged legionary in raising the wheel, but then she saw Rikke's expression change to a smile accompanied by a nod of approval.
She only had to hold the wheel in place for a short time, as Vognir fastened the catch, and she was able to release her grip and step back as the legionaries lowered the side of the wagon to set the wheel upon the ground. Vognir checked the fastenings of the other wheels, pronounced them satisfactory, and informed the jester that the wagon should get him, and the body of his mother, to Falkreath without any further problems.
"Oh thank you, thank you!" Cicero cried. "Here, for your trouble, for you and your men." He extracted a large coin purse from his belt and handed it to Elisif.
Elisif felt the weight of the purse and raised her eyebrows. "This must be several hundred septims," she estimated. "Are you sure you can spare it?"
"Five hundred, fair lady," Cicero confirmed. "Cicero has little need of money, for his expenses are few, and Mother needs no money at all, for she is dead."
"Well, if you're sure, I thank you on behalf of the legionaries," Elisif said. "I'll divide it up between them. Safe travels to Falkreath."
The rest of the journey to Whiterun passed without incident, much to Elisif's relief, as exhaustion was beginning to set in after the long and arduous day and night. They parted ways with Cicero and his wagon at the crossroads where the road to Riverwood, and from there to Falkreath, split off from the Whiterun road. Once in the city Rikke led the legionaries to seek temporary lodging in the guard barracks and Elisif, Lydia, and Lisette carried on to Dragonsreach. All the way through the city those they met saw the Jagged Crown and exclaimed in astonishment, or tried to question Elisif about it, but she couldn't face going through explanations and had to pass the questioners on to a perhaps overly enthusiastic Lisette, although even she was beginning to flag by the time they entered Dragonsreach.
"Elisif? Ebony armor and… by the Ni- the Eight, is that the Jagged Crown?" Balgruuf greeted her.
"It is," Elisif confirmed, "but I've been up for, I think, about twenty-eight hours, and have fought in three combats, and I'm pretty much dead on my feet. I'm too tired even to eat. If we could have beds, I'll tell you about it after I've slept. Or Lisette will tell you now."
Lisette shook her head. "I'm ready to pass out, too," she said. "It's well worth hearing, Jarl Balgruuf, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait, probably until tomorrow, before I'm up to giving you a report… although it might be better described as a saga."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Ulfric glared at the Stormcloak messenger who was giving him a report on the events at Korvanjund. "Are you saying we failed?" he growled. "How did the Legion dogs escape the trap?"
The Stormcloak quaked. "There was a back way out of the crypt," he said, "and we didn't find it in time. A draugr came out of the crypt and attacked us, one of those known as Deathlords with long horns on its helm, and it could use the Thu'um. It slew Yrsarald and three other men before we could kill it. Then, when we made it into the crypt, there was no-one there but one of those burning Daedra creatures and it met us with blasts of fire. It slew two more of us, and it exploded when we killed it and another of us died. There was a hidden back way out of the crypt and by the time we found it the Legion force were gone."
"And Yrsarald didn't think to leave a covering force at the barrow exit?" Ulfric grimaced and shook his head.
"He did, my Jarl," the Stormcloak said. "He left ten men to cover the exit, but when we got there… they were all dead." He saw Ulfric's face contort in fury and tried to prevent the explosion by delivering the only crumb of good news he had. "There were two dead legionaries with them," he said.
"Two? Only two? So how many legionaries died in total?"
"We killed the two they had guarding their horses, and one of the guard they had left covering their rear, and there were the two killed by our rearguard," the Stormcloak said, "so, five."
"And we lost how many?"
"All the advance party of eight, and one killed by their rearguard, and four killed by the Deathlord, then three killed by the flaming Daedra, and our rearguard of ten," the Stormcloak related. "Twenty-six in all."
"Twenty-six out of forty-eight? And they only lost five of… sixteen, is that right?"
"That is what Sorli the Builder told Arrald Frozen-Heart," the Stormcloak confirmed, "and we found sixteen horses outside the barrow, so I think it accurate. We drove off the horses, rather than detach men to guard them, and when we thought of using them to pursue the legionaries the horses had scattered, and we could only catch five. By the time we gave up the attempt the legion force was long gone, and the snow had covered any tracks they may have left."
Ulfric lowered his head and grimaced. "We outnumbered them four to one, and they killed five of us for each one that they lost. That is… shameful."
"The Queen of Swords was with them, according to Sorli the Builder," the messenger volunteered.
"Do not use that name!" Ulfric shouted. "She is Jarl Elisif of Solitude and that is all! A mere slip of a girl who had never even held a sword before Helgen. The enemy are trying to create a legend and I will not have it repeated!" He lowered his voice to a normal speaking tone. "No, it is Legate Rikke who is behind our defeat, and that housecarl Balgruuf gave to Elisif. He will have chosen the finest of his guard for the role. The legend is the work of Rikke, and that bard Lisette. No doubt she will be composing some song glorifying Elisif for this, their victory and our failure, even as we speak. Did you at least recover the Jagged Crown?"
The messenger shook his head. "We found no sign of it," he confessed. "Only empty sarcophagi and the ashes of the draugr who had occupied them. We did find an enchanted ebony sword, on the Deathlord who slew Yrsarald Thrice-Pierced and, as I said, we captured five horses."
Ulfric scowled. "The enemy women took four horses from the camp of Istar Cairn-Breaker," he said, "and so we have gained only one horse and a sword for the loss of twenty men more than the enemy. This is a defeat, whichever way we look at it, even if the enemy did not recover the Jagged Crown. If they did… then this is a catastrophe."
"We should have given the Ebony Claw to our main body, not to Brandir Troll-Fist," Galmar put in, speaking for the first time. "Then the so-called queen and her escort would have been trapped against the inner chamber door when the main body arrived."
"You are right, old friend," Ulfric agreed. "We made an error, and a costly one, and the enemy will make the most of it. We must kill this false legend quickly, before it takes such great hold that our allied Jarls start losing faith." He pursed his lips and frowned deeply. "The first step must be to remove that bard Lisette. I can see no honorable way of achieving that aim… but in the circumstances honor will have to be set aside. Find men who have contacts with the bandit gangs, and have the word passed that there will be a full pardon for all past crimes, and a reward of five thousand septims, for whoever brings in Lisette. Dead or alive."
