Chapter LXIII: The First Conquest (Part 2)

(Reyvin's POV, far from the battlefield)

"Can we not speed this up somehow?" I groan, lamenting the fact that real life did not, in fact, follow game rules.

Gelebor who had been praying the entire way while walking at a slow pace stops and mutters "Blessed are you Auri-El who grants respite to the weary." The slow dribble of sunlight suffusing the ewer stills and settles in the holy water imbuing it with an otherworldly glow.

The elven priest turns to me with a slightly exasperated smile "I apologize but as the ward is powered by faith the ceremony must be held in full for us to gain entry into the Chantry."

I sigh "And can you not just do it on your own while we go and help the troops?"

"I am afraid not." His smile turns wry "If you wish to follow me into the temple then you must at the very least accompany me on the way."

My eye twitches "And there is no way for you to speed it up?"

"Unless you carry Auri-El's direct blessing I am afraid we will have to do this the... old fashioned way." He explains patiently but I notice the slightest of upturns at the edge of his lips. We will make something out of him yet!

Deadpanning at him, I look to the skies and speak "Oi, big dragon man, help a Mer out?" An awkward second passes and I sigh again "No? Yeah, I did not think that would work."

'...Wait a bloody moment!' I suddenly still 'If it requires Auri-El's blessing, then that means that if I had Minthara here we would just be able to coast through the entire thing... but she is currently stuck in Cyrodiil. Damn me and my scheming ways!'

I let out a disappointed groan as my shoulders slump, waving my hand forward I admit defeat "Fine, just... do your thing."

"I think I just might." Gelebor offers me a sunny, literally, smile and resumes his prayer "We, your humble pilgrims, thank you for your divine beneficence..."

'This is going to be a loooong day...'

(Maren's POV)

The troops grow restless as we march through the snowy woodland, both the Dawnguards accompanying us and my own men unsettled by the sudden and complete silence that enveloped us.

"Sir Isran." I look to the frowning leader of the vampire hunters.

"You sense it too?" He asks, his frown deepening.

"Yes sir." I nod "This place is perfect for an ambush."

He grunts out his agreement "Prepare yourself, but keep it quiet. An ambush is only effective as long as the ambushed are unaware."

'What incredible wisdom.' I roll my eyes, somehow making the Redguard frown even deeper even if my face was completely covered up.

Word quickly spreads through the ranks and everyone prepares for battle. Hopefully the ferals won't notice the sudden tension.

A tense minute passes before we hear the telltale twang of bows loosing, and I nearly jump as I hear an arrow bounce off the helmet of the Mer next to me.

But the panic lasts for only a moment as my training kicks in "Ambush!" I point at the warriors "Defensive positions, and you" I look to the Falmer "Get those spheres in front!"

The black balls of metal roll out in front of the formation just in time for the ferals to emerge from the forest numbering well over a hundred strong, they fall upon our position like a tidal wave, a tidal wave hitting a sheer cliff face as the spheres unravel and start swinging with strength beyond most mortals, cleaving the little goblin beasts in two with each strike.

"Forward men! No quarter!" I order and join the fight, the Dawnguard acting as extra shields for when a beast manages to crawl through the lines and us swinging over the automatons, reaping one of them with each swing.

Before long the battle ends, only a single vampire hunter having been seriously injured.

The man screams out in pain as one of the Falmer attempts to heal the wide gash in his leg, purple poison leaking out just as heavily as blood. 

The mage's hands start to shake as he mutters "I... I cannot..." 

"Cut off the leg." I decide on the spot, earning a glare from Sir Isran.

But the man is a war veteran and controls himself "Why?" He grinds out.

"We cannot save him like this, cut off the leg and sear the wound." The wounded man whimpers in fear "Lord Dagoth can regrow it when we are done."

Isran stares at me for a moment before nodding "Do it."

The wounded Dawnguard tries to protest but the mage shakily casts some sort of paralysis spell and feeds him some kind of potion, knocking him out. I turn away as he draws his blade.

"You swear he will be healed?" Isran questions.

"On my honor." I nod and pointedly ignore the regeneration potion hanging off my side, it felt almost as if it was staring at me in judgment but I wasn't about to waste valuable resources that could save a life later. I also ignored the little voice in the back of my head that praised me for not wasting it on a human.

"Fine." Isran's voice brings me from my thoughts "Onto other matters." He forces out "Do you not think this was too easy?"

I look over the battlefield and the realization strikes me "They were expecting reinforcements."

"And yet there were none."

"Lord Davos must have dealt with them." I conclude after a moment "He was instructed to take out high value targets and must have found something." And as if summoned, a crow familiar lands on my shoulder, a folded parchment in its mouth.

I give it a quick read and nod "It would seem I was right, we can keep moving."

Before the Redguard can question me further I raise my weapon "Forward march!"

(Davos' POV)

I lazily kick at the body of a dead Falmer shaman, the entire hilltop around me covered in corpses that were more crossbow bolt than flesh "That all of them?" I ask.

"Just a moment!" Hound calls out and shoves his dagger into the throat of a still wiggling Falmer "Yep, that should be all of them!"

"Good." I write the report down and summon my familiar "Let us get going, I don't want to find out what Boss would do if he learned a third of his army was almost killed by an avalanche."

A couple of the guildsmen shivered at the thought before stepping in behind me, no one wanted to be at the other end of that particular beatdown.

(Reyvin's POV)

"Welcome initiate to the shrine of-"

'Blah blah blah blah blah, Auri-El, blah blah blah, praise the sun! Blah blah blah.' My eyes were completely dead as I leaned on my glaive and observed Gelebor offer yet another overly long prayer before the second wayshrine. I honestly felt like I was siting in on a math lecture and this time I couldn't just sleep through it, oh no, this young supplicant must remain awake to be graced with the sun's eternal wisdom!

Fucking hate this ostentatious crap.

'Silver lining pops, at least you don't have to do the prayer yourself.' Scorch chirps, obviously trying to fuck with me.

"If I had to do that then I would let Harkon win out of sheer spite." I mutter to myself.

"You say something?" Serana asks from beside me.

"Nothing" I wave her off "Just grumbling about hours of religious drivel."

"I personally find it fascinating." Valerica pipes in "Listening to the prayers of a dead culture is one of the rare things that can truly interest me."

"So you are telling me that the vampire lady is interested in prayers to the sun?" I ask with a quirked eyebrow.

Her lips become a thin line as her eyes narrow "You know that is not what I said, you insufferable child."

"Oh come now, you know you lo- Urk!" I wine as I feel an elbow smash into my stomach.

The perpetrator of the treasonous act being one very pissed off Nightshade giving me the 'Can you not right now?' look.

"Fine, fine." I raise my hands in mock surrender "I will be good."

She shares a look with Valerica and it was at that moment that a grand alliance was made.

The Falmer huffs and turns back to Gelebor, who was still deep in prayer.

I look at the slowly setting sun with a forlorn expression 'Yup, a really long fucking day.'

(Varen's POV)

Everything was prepared, the enemy was surrounded in their camps and completely unaware of our presence. Our target camp was the largest of all and the cave entrance it guarded was the most important one, as it led into another section of the magical cave through which we entered the valley.

I raised my hand, ready to signal the attack, but then the scholar Alor grabbed me by the shoulder and pointed toward the center of the camp, I could not make out what he was trying to tell me at first but then I noticed a garish blue robe covered in starts and then the figure it was attached to.

"What is he doing?" I hiss, fearing for the eccentric Argonian's life.

Alor simply shrugged his shoulders, obviously having no idea about it himself.

I can only pray that he will survive as he was a great mage. I could not let this opportunity to strike go but once again Alor shook me out of my determination "What?" I hiss, this time with far more annoyance in my voice.

"Look." The Falmer mage points, and what I saw made me think I was drunk.

Lord Shalazar was standing on the head of one of the panicking feral shamans, his hands moving daintily as if he was moving a puppet... and the entire camp was in chaos.

Falmer were stabbing each other, some of them even biting into their brethren, all the while the tiny wizard cackled like a complete madman, his squeaky voice making the whole situation that much more terrifying.

One of my officers speaks "I thought we had a plan? Wasn't he supposed to just counter the mages?" There is genuine terror in his voice as his eyes shift from the Argonian and then back to me.

"Oh?" I give him a deadpan look "And are you going to be the one to tell the suspected archmage what he can and can't do?"

The Mer looks at me as if to say 'Are you fucking kidding me?' and shakes his head vigorously.

Slowly, I stand up from my position, the feral sentries long since dead by their own hands, and grumble "Let's just... clean everything up."

I was glad that no more of my subordinates would die today, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that fighting to the death would have made me feel better than this.

(Reyvin's POV)

"Thank you for your report." I tell the three brothers "You are dismissed for the night."

"Ummm, my lord?" Maren speaks up.

"Yes, Captain?" I tilt my head.

"I promised the Dawnguards you would heal one of his men, we had to amputate his leg see and..." My deadpan stare made him so uncomfortable he started to actually fidget.

With a lazy flick of my hand, I summon a potion and toss it at him, his hands moving to catch it without any thought as he stared at me like I just killed his dog "Just feed him that, that is what the potions are for."

He stares at me for a moment longer, offers a stiff bow, and walks out of the tent.

"Wonder who shat in his breakfast?" I mutter.

The thought only remains for a moment longer as my mind returns to the report. Sixteen dead, including a Falmer that got an unlucky arrow through the eye once his Magicka ran out and he couldn't keep his wind cloak going.

It was... expected that I would lose people in this expedition but the numbers were still uncomfortable to look at. They were my people, looking up to me to keep them save and alive, and now sixteen were dead.

I knew that this was unavoidable, they had to get blooded at some point or they would otherwise remain just fancy adornments decorating my halls, but that did not make me any more comfortable with the fact.

And so, like any responsible adult, I decided to find something else to occupy my mind as I walked up a nearby hill free of any sentry or guard.

The shadows moved as I approached, a barely visible form coiling around itself and allowing twin massive golden embers to greet me as a deep voice rumbled "Finally ready for your meditations, Thuri?"

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