Chapter 71

“You know, this didn’t quite work the way you wanted the last time we tried it.”

I had just a touch of exasperation in my voice. “Lydia, have I ever told you that you’re a bit of a pessimist?”

“Part of the job, my Thane. I’m just surprised you brought that necklace with you.”

“You’d be surprised at what I have stored in my pack and in the wagon with Serana. Now, let’s be quiet, I’m hoping this actually works.”

While we had been talking, we had been riding the road up the hill that led to the front gate of Kvatch. One squad of soldiers led the way, followed by Irileth and Erandur. The wagon, with Hector driving it, had Serana and Fasendil as passengers. The rest of us, on horse or foot, followed them. Fasendil looked a bit ... different.

He’d been unhappy when I explained my plan. The notes that Surgus and Sapphire had taken made it clear that we actually had no chance of actually breaching or taking the walls. The Aldmeri had magical alarms running along all of the walls. The only place they didn’t was the actual gate. While the assassin and thief had both managed to slip inside, it had been a near run thing. There was no way we’d be able to get eleven people inside that way, let alone any of our support troops, so it was time for some old fashioned deception.

We had made no attempts to hide or conceal ourselves as we followed the winding road up the face of the bluff. A squad of Thalmor soldiers was lined up outside the city, with at least another one visible upon the city walls watching down at us. I could see their bows ready.

“Halt! Who are you to approach the Aldmeri conclave at Kvatch?”

Lieutenant Caeronicus with the front squad said, “We’re the Imperial Army escort for a member of the Aldmeri Council. He said he wanted to come here, so ... here we are. Sorry, you’ll have to ask him anything else.”

The Thalmor squad leader looked puzzled. “A Councilor? But ... where is he?”

“In the carriage, of course. Can we proceed on in?”

“Not yet, no.” He started walking down the line, saw Irileth and Erandur. “You look like you know what’s going on here. Can you explain?”

“A member of the Council heard that you have uncovered something that will assist him in his ... research. I’ve been one of his guards for years, so I’m his personal escort down here. He’s ... well, I shouldn’t say this, but some of the rumors about Nord women really are true. So he brought some ... companionship ... along to comfort him on the journey.”

“That doesn’t explain why a Councilor doesn’t have a guard force of our own soldiers, thought. Nor does it produce a...”

Fasendil chose that moment to step down from the carriage. His fine clothing didn’t conceal his Aldmeri features, nor did it hide the necklace of the Aldmeri Council. “I am Councilor Herecinde. Why are you blocking my entrance into this city, when I have been traveling so long to get here?”

“Your pardon, Councilor. We ... we weren’t expecting you. Please, proceed on.” He moved back, motioning his guards to let us pass.

Fasendil got back into the carriage and we proceeded into the city. The Thalmor guard followed us in. Once we were through the gate, Irileth looked at the Thalmor and said, “I need a space for my soldiers to camp inside your walls.” She glanced around. “Is that spot over there available?” She pointed to a spot just outside the inner keep walls, across from the entrance.

“Yes, I suppose. Look, my Captain and the Justiciar that run this are both down in the mine under the church. I need to send word to them that a member of the Council is here, so if you don’t mind waiting...”

By this time Fasendil had gotten out of the carriage again. “Ah, but I do mind. I am so close in my research to making a breakthrough ... You may escort me and my closest bodyguards to them. I want to see this for myself.”

Under Lieutenant Caeronicus, our troops had all moved into the city. He issued them orders to begin deploying their tents and bedrolls, like they were going to be staying for a while.

“This is highly irregular, Councilor. Why is it that you have Imperial soldiers with you and ... these people?”

I spoke up. “Sergeant, is it?” He nodded. “He did it at my request. He and I have been working closely for some time now in Skyrim. I am related to the Emperor, and while I am quite aware of the relationship that Titus Mede has with the Dominion, there will be a time when he is no longer Emperor. So the Council is playing with the politics of both Skyrim and Cyrodiil, and we are both participating in those games. So it’s your choice, I suppose. Assist us, or...”

He looked disgusted. “Fine. Follow me, then.”

Fasendil said, “Lead the way.”

The Thalmor started off towards the front door of the chapel. I glanced over at Surgus and said in a low voice, “Stay here with Caeronicus. There is a case of spiced wine in the wagon. It should be given as a gift to the Thalmor soldiers here. Warm it, put this in it as additional ... spice, and make sure none of our soldiers drink it.”

I handed him a small pouch. “What is this?” he asked.

“Powdered Jarrin root.”

He blinked. “Gods, I was only joking, I didn’t know I was right. You are the most fearsome assassin in all Skyrim.” He took the pouch and headed over to Caeronicus.

Other than being empty except for soldiers, the town looked fairly normal. Some weeds were high, and a few of the buildings showed that they hadn’t been maintained for a bit. Many of the others, though, were being used as barracks for the Thalmor soldiers. The Chapel of Akatosh was on our right, just a short walk into town. The spire looked off, like it had been replaced at some point in the past and was of different construction than the rest of the building. Two soldiers stood guard at the entrance.

I moved up so that I was next to Fasendil and right behind the Sergeant. The remainder of our party trailed behind, acting like they were just along for the walk. I could tell from the way Lydia and Jordris carried themselves that their swords and bows were ready.

“So, Sergeant, Councilor Herecinde was working on special research in Skyrim, research that needed more power than was available in that land. While I know everything that he was working on in Skyrim, I’m not totally privy to everything you’ve found here, but I presume it has something to do with the Ayleid ruins and their wells near here.”

He led us in the Chapel. The center of the room, where the altar would be, had been torn up. Scaffolding surrounded the hole, with a small boom for lifting rocks taking up most of the free space to one side. The Sergeant said, “We had to do this, there wasn’t enough room to work in the undercroft. We still access the pit down there, though, so this way, please. As to your question, that’s what I understand from the Justiciar in charge. It appears that our ancestors used this as a place of worship themselves before the lesser ... before men took over in Cyrodiil.”

Fasendil said, “Do not fear insulting my companion here. She recognizes that there are certain facets of life regarding our people that are beyond her control.”

The Thalmor Sergeant looked grateful. “Thank you, Councilor.”

As we passed the shaft, there was a faint whiff of corruption coming up from below. Once we were down the stairs and into the undercroft, it was more pronounced. The Sergeant apologized. “Sorry, Councilor, there’s just not that much air flow down here. Once we actually start down the shaft, it’ll actually get a little better.”

The scaffolding in the shaft itself seemed sturdy enough to support all of us. The hole heading down was easily thirty feet in diameter, similar to some of the mine shafts we’d descended before. It spiraled down several times and we finally ended up at a landing a good hundred feet below the surface. There were lanterns and torches lining the rough walls of this underground room. Two more guards were waiting at the bottom.

One of them stopped us. “Sergeant, nothing unusual to report. Things below seem to have settled down since yesterday.”

“Good.” He turned to Fasendil. “Follow me, please.”

At the end of the roughly hewn room, there was an actual doorway. It gleamed in the torchlight from the sparkling gems inset into the door. The Sergeant started to open the door. “Pardon me, but isn’t that an Ayleid door?” I asked.

“Ah, very few not of the Aldmeri would recognize this. Yes, it is.”

The door opened into a huge underground room. The walls were lit from glowing stones spaced out every thirty feet or so. The actual room construction itself matched what my mother had told me of the Ayleid ruins she’d had explored or looted. We were at the top of a walkway that went around the room. On the far side, a flight of stairs descended to a floor space that was easily four times the size of my Luxury Suite. In the center of the room, there were four giant yellowish white glowing stones surrounding a fifth stone that glowed a malevolent red.

What I wasn’t expecting to see was what else was in the room.

There was a fenced area off to our right. We had seen these before, under the Aldmeri building in Skyrim. Instead of draugr, these were zombies. And there were probably fifty of them crammed inside that area. They were slightly different from what we’d found before, in that these had been undead for a long time, not freshly turned. They still smelled horrendous.

There was a magical fence in another corner. The creatures behind this fences looked a bit like the Dragon Priests I’d encountered in Skyrim. These had a staff with them and seemed to float off the ground like a Dragon Priest, but appeared to have a decayed face instead of a mask of some kind. There were about a dozen of them inside the fence.

All of that was bad enough, but I was expecting to see just an Aldmeri Captain and one Justiciar down here. Not two dozen of them, standing around the five stones, chanting and casting magic into them.

I hoped I sounded calm to the Sergeant when I said, “Again, your pardon, Sergeant, but I’ve not seen that type of undead before. They look like something I’m familiar with from Skyrim, but not quite.”

“Ah, the liches? Yes, it was quite the battle to get them contained like that. There will still be the occasional zombie or lich that somehow or other finds its way from the lower levels to here, and we just throw them in with the others. Justiciar Adael said that we’re stockpiling them for fuel so that when he’s finally ready to use ... well, whatever it is we’ve found here ... that we can use their magic first. You’re actually just in time, I think he is nearly ready to set things loose.”

I muttered under my breath, “Just in time in more ways than one.” Louder, I said, “Thank you. Councilor, I think we should probably get down there, don’t you?”

Fasendil had been stunned at what he’d seen and stopped. My words jarred him. “Oh, yes, of course, Your ... you’re right. Please, Sergeant, lead us down there.”

A dozen people proceeding down the walkway didn’t go unnoticed from below. The Altmer Captain met us at the bottom of the stairs. “What is going on here? Why have you brought these people down here?” Even with all of use coming to the same floor they were on, none of the Justiciars even turned their heads to look at us.

“Sir, this is Councilor Herecinde, from Skyrim. He has heard of what we are doing here, that we have a source of power, and wishes to see it for himself.”

The Thalmor Captain stepped back. “A member of the Aldmeri Council? Oh. Well, then ... come this way, please. You will, of course, vouch for all those with you.”

Fasendil was ready. “I would not have brought them with me if I didn’t trust any or all of them with my life, unlike certain others who shall remain nameless but are closely related to me through blood.”

“Ah, I had heard the games of Council were ... well, let us proceed, shall we?”

Now that we were on the floor with the gems, Erandur took two steps and then reached up to his head in pain. “By Mara! What is it that you are doing here?”

“Ah, I’m sure the Councilor only heard that this was a source of power. What he may not know is that it seems to be the ultimate source of power.”

I realized then what I saw before us as we got closer. “Captain, those are Great Welkynd Stones, aren’t they? I thought they were all destroyed.”

“Ah, you are well learned for one so young. Yes, with Varla stones surrounding the hall, to help keep the magic contained. It’s fortunate that we found this. Who knows what might have happened should the ... well, humans ... have found this source of power?”

“We ... the Councilor and I ... have been in Skyrim for quite some time. But wasn’t this city home to the Chapel of Akatosh?”

“That’s correct. It was only through sheer luck that we found this here. The presence of the worshipers of Akatosh covered the presence. Fortunately, Justiciar Adael found evidence in Miscarcand that something was hidden here. We were able to manipulate Titus Mede into allowing us free access to this city and the chapel. It took us years, but that is one thing we have, being long lived.”

Fasendil said, “The experiments in Skyrim were to ... convert ... other mer into Altmer. It took a lot of power, but was successful on a small scale. What does Justiciar Adael hope to accomplish here?”

“There was ... a disturbance recently. Many forces that we had fought against simply ... vanished. Auri-El has limited us for too long. Adael says that with the use of these stones, we can remove those limits, restore the power of the Ayleid to our people, and take full control of Tamriel and then all of Nirn.” He looked at me. “Of course, those who assist us will be cared for as well.”

“You said that the forces against you vanished?”

“Why, yes. Look, I’m just a soldier, so I don’t know all of the specifics. But one day while we were exploring Miscarcand, Justiciar Adael found a small Welkynd stone that somehow everyone else had missed. It opened a hidden chamber. He found more stones inside, and a map. We placed those stones at the other locations, which showed us that this great hall was hidden here.”

Another Altmer came up to us then. “Yes, it did. Fortunately, I was able to figure out how to start the power in these stones from afar, as the residents of this town didn’t want to let us in. That took care of that obstacle, and it was a simple matter to convince our puppet to allow us to have this city. Now, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced, I am Justiciar Adael.”

Fasendil looked at him. “No, we haven’t. But then again, as a member of the Council, I need no introduction. There are experiments that have been conducted in Skyrim that utilize the power of life, that have so far changed Bosmer to Altmer. That is why I am here, to see if this power source could be used for that purpose.”