60: The Storm

I spent the next week doing as the Nerevarine wished. I had the most experience with the Daedra of anyone in the city, so my duties mostly consisted of telling soldiers and mages of my experiences and how I felt the Daedra could be best combated. Other than that, I would tend to the minor aches and pains that some soldiers would sustain from constructing defenses. I was very impressed with the amount of work that had been done over the course of the week. The massive, natural stone archway that acted as an entrance to the city had been closed off with massive wooden gates, and much of the river that passed through the center of the city had been reinforced. Three silt striders patrolled the exterior of the city walls, and a fourth was stationed within the city itself. Overall, I felt the city was as well defended as it possibly could be, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never been within a city during the course of a siege, so I kept my mind alert and trained each day for the coming battle.

Still, there was no sign of the Daedra. Scouts had seen several small gates opening in the nearby country, but the few Daedra that came out showed no signs of assaulting the city. Tension mounted steadily, and many began to grumble about the incessant waiting. The little relief I had from the tension came in the form of Darkasha’s reports. He would return every few days with tales of the nord camp and how they still didn’t know about his existence. He had been wreaking havoc in their ranks by biting and infecting several of their soldiers in the night. The nords were in no danger of becoming vampires, as they would be treated in the morning, but it still caused panic and suspicion in the invading force. Darkasha also saw to it that their plans and dispatches were either misplaced or stolen, and kept the Nerevarine apprised of the nord movements. The Nerevarine was confident that the threat of being attacked by the nords was neutralized, though he kept Darakasha in the field.

I found myself restless, however, we had had no further contact with Ald’Ruhn and Kael was still missing. To relax, I would often take walks on the walls that had been constructed, or on top of the rock archway. I would often chat with the archers or mages stationed there, just to pass the time. Often I would end up answering questions about the Daedra, which began to become tiresome, but I answered in good faith.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to expect.” I said on the last day of the week. “The Daedra have many tricks that no one knows about, like those metal constructs I’ve told you about.” The man I was talking to was a fellow mage, Artan, and we were standing on top of the stone arch way looking out over the field beyond.

“I hope they don’t have too many more tricks.” He said, squinting his eyes into the sun as it faded in the west. “Those monstrosities sound bad enough as it is.” He breathed in the salty breeze coming inland off the sea, “it is a glorious night, is it not, my friend?” I gazed out over the landscape, catching a red glimpse in the corner of my eye.

“It’s about to get a lot worse.” I said. “Look over there!” I pointed out across the fields, where a cluster of oblivion gates had begun to open. There was no doubt about it this time. The gates had begun to open, and the Daedra were marching through. The battle was about to begin.

I burst into action, lighting the nearby signal fire and launching a magical flare into the sky to warn the soldiers. As I did so, I noticed that the other sides of the city were lighting their own flares and signal fires. We were being surrounded by Daedra. The soldiers down in the city were beginning to armor up and psych themselves up for battle. I wondered if the Nerevarine had heard yet that the Daedra were approaching.

He had, and he burst from the command post in full battle armor, wielding the fiery twin blades Hopesfire and Trueflame. He was clad in a suit of armor I had never seen before, but it glowed with magic in the dim light of the dying sun. It was truly a sight to behold, and many of the soldiers gasped as he passed them. He leaped to the top of a wagon that stood in the street and began to speak. The soldiers turned and listened to him, drinking in every explosive word. I was disappointed that I was too far away to hear him, though I could feel the energy that he was granting to the troops. His speech crescendoed just as a great Oblivion gate ground its way out of the earth just a few hundred feet away from the archway where I stood. It reached its peak just about equal with the top of the arch I was standing on, and Artan gasped.

“May the nine help us all…” The guards below us at the base of the gates braced themselves as a swarm of Daedra poured out of the oblivion gate towards them. The archers around us on the arch began firing, but the Daedra were well out of my range. Instead, I turned to watch the soldiers within the city running to their respective posts around the walls. The Nerevarine sprinted faster than any of them to the gates on the other side of the city from me. I turned back to the battle and began launching spells at the horde down below. The troops below clashed with the Daedra. It was mostly scamps and clannfear, an advance force that the soldiers could handle, but I was worried about their numbers. The advance force was huge, and the dremora and Xivilai that would follow would be of a comparable size. I wondered if we could hold against the tide.

Just then a huge, tree-trunk of a leg landed nearby me, and then several more followed. The strider from inside the city was climbing the wall to reach the battle. It towered above me, and I cheered as it crashed down onto the unsuspecting Daedra below. Its anger inhibitor removed, it tore through the ranks of Daedra, kicking them high into the air and smashing them with its massive legs. I had personally instructed the striders’ captains to destroy the gates first and then mop up the remaining Daedra, and I could see that this captain was doing just that. It kicked through the Daedra on the ground and made its way towards the gate, preparing to bring its massive claws down on the huge stone pillars. However, I saw one of the metal constructs emerge from the fiery portal and crash into the strider, spewing fire up the side of the creature’s skin. It squealed in pain and nearly lost its balance, but brought its claws down onto the side of the machine. The two giants locked in battle, and I could only hope for the strider’s success. I cast a spell of slow fall and jumped down to aid the troops guarding the gate, which had been reinforced by troops from the interior. I threw blasts of frost and lightning down on the swarming horde of Dremora and Clannfear (most of the scamps had been taken out by this time) as I fell, and I landed safely near the gates. I did what I could to aid the wounded and extract them from battle, but most of the soldiers were in dire shape, and it was all I could do to keep them alive.

“Let me help,” said the Dark One. “You are not enough to do this alone.” His presence was like a pressure in the back of my mind, waiting to explode. “Let me help!” I complied, letting the Dark One directly guide many of my actions. I took the chance to rest my mind, receding slightly from the combat which seemed to be dragging on for hours. After a few minutes, I felt surprisingly refreshed, and I retook much of the control of my body. The strider and Daedric construct wrestled on, rolling over many of the Daedric reinforcements that charged through the oblivion gates.

“Will,” the Dark One said again, “We have a problem.” His voice was grave and somewhat panicked. I immediately began to panic as well, though I waited hesitantly for his explanation. “It’s the wound in your foot. It’s built up too much energy. We need to release it now!” I wasn’t sure what to do. The energy leaking from my wound had been under control for so long now that I had forgotten about it. “Will, I can’t focus it! It’s going to explode from you!” My skin was beginning to feel strangely prickly, and I could see a faint glow around my hands. “I’m going to try and release it as controlled as possible, but it will explode to an extent! Get away from the Redoran soldiers!” I pushed through the line of soldiers and into the swarm of Daedra. They began clawing at me, but I was wearing some light armor and I pushed through into the center of them just as the staff began burning and spewing pure magical energy. It coalesced in strange and beautiful patterns as it ripped through the nearby Daedra. It began steaming off of my skin in little wisps of smoke, and my hands began flaming with magic. It didn’t hurt, though it was increasingly warm, and suddenly I felt like I had been punched in the side. I looked down and saw a stream of energy bursting from a bloody whole in my side. The strange thing was, the magic began healing my wound even as it created it. I felt the final wave of energy rippling up through my skin, and I collapsed just before it burst out and ripped through everything around me.