day 120
It had taken us four days to reach the end of the beetle tunnels, two more to find shelter and set up a small base of operations. Morgran was quick to send out a runner to check the status of other outposts that he had been in charge of. Supposedly there were two other leaders that believed the Aldmeri Dominion should be overthrown and Hammerfell be returned to it's noble houses. This was the first I had heard of any other leader besides Morgran, it had seemed that he had always made it like he was in charge of everything.
"We are far from Rihad." Kharjo came into my tent with a huff. "We had been promised to be at the city by now." He had been checking in with the scouts and affirming our position on the map. We were in the northern part of Hammerfell and close to the border of High Rock. "We could just cut into High Rock and find the shard there, then come back later." He offered and walked over to the rock I was using as a desk. I had my map set up next to the one that I had gotten from Morgran a week ago.
"We could, but we don't know what these people would do to us. We're in the middle of their war with the Aldmeri Dominion. If we leave we could be considered deserters." I replied and added our small encampment to the map, crossing out the old hideout as well. "Besides, we don't even know if going North would be any better than the situation we're in now." I sighed and rubbed my fingers over my forehead.
"Well we need to figure something out. Staying with these people is getting us no where." Kharjo groaned and sat down on my cot. "By the divines that hurt!" He cursed and clutched his leg, apparently he had forgotten that he had hurt himself during the escape.
"Must you be so loud? I'm surprised the whole camp hasn't heard you two. Be glad they haven't!" Zaynabi came storming into the tent, scolding the two of us like we were children. She brought out a book and began to channel the energy, a ball of white light coming from her palms and into Kharjo's leg. "You still need to take it easy, the wound hasn't healed yet!" She hissed.
"I apologize Zaynabi." Kharjo sighed and stopped thrashing. He smiled as the pain left his body.
"You're getting better every day Zaynabi." I smiled as I turned to watch her work. Her tail twitched angrily in response.
"You two give me a lot to work with." She was still angry, more than likely due to lack of sleep as she had been healing people who were wounded. While magic sped up the healing process, restoration magic didn't work instantly like it had in the games. "Back to the comment before. If you two are going to talk about leaving, then speak quieter."
"You're right, sorry." I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. We all were stressed and the situation just seemed to be more and more grim. We had no idea what was happening in Rihad, we needed to get there quickly to recover the piece of Meridia's amulet and move on. The undead hordes grew everyday and we were still stuck here with a group that hadn't even believed the undead had existed the way we described them. Though we had done our best to describe our experiences in Skyrim, Morgran and his group simply thought they had other things to worry about.
"We need to do something soon." Kharjo peaked out of the tent flap at the others checking their tents, supplies, and wandering around the camp. "We're too out in the open." His tail swished back and forth angrily and his ears lowered.
"We'll do what we can, for now I need to find Morgran." I stood and stretched my limbs. I went to reach for Dawnbreaker then hesitated, instead I grabbed an extra iron sword that had been supplied to us. Strapping the plain blade to my belt I stared at the glowing gem that seemed to emit sadness as I walked away.
I exited the tent and was immediately greeted by a small group of three. Two where young looking dark elves and the other was the young redguard noble.
"Darius, please help us." The redguard pleaded as he stared at me. I hadn't yet learned his name as Morgran was very strict on keeping him away from the rest of the rebellion. "You, Kharjo and Zaynabi have fought these things before, now they threaten our home and our very lives. Please show us how to fight them." His eyes were a fierce green color, making me wonder who his parents had been. I hadn't ever seen a redguard with bright green eyes like that in the games.
"Honestly I'm no expert at fighting these things. While we have fought them before we still struggle to take them down like any opponent." I said with a wave of my hand. Had they heard us talking earlier? Should we worry that the whole camp now knows that we were talking of abandoning them? If so and Morgran found out. I shuddered at the thought and stared back at the three in front of me. The two dark elves looked much younger than any I had met. Their skin was a darker shade than what I had seen before and their hair was a snowy white color. The redguard had a few scars across his arm as he wore loose fitting cloth clothes, a curved blade at his hip. "Why do you wish to fight these things? For all you know it could very well be useless."
"We must try!" The redguard prince rose his voice slightly and clenched his fists. "None of this would have ever come to pass if I had just held my ground against the Aldmeri Dominion. If I had done what I could to hold my city this would have never happened. My people would be safe within our walls and our forces could turn the tide, leaving these creatures for the birds." This man seemed a little younger than I but he carried a lot of weight on his shoulders. I had never known the events that transpired that lead to the Aldmeri Dominion coming into possession of much of Hammerfell but had many guesses.
"Are there others that wish to continue fighting for this cause?" I asked, looking around at the blank faces of others much farther away.
"They are broken, we need a rallying cry." One of the dark elves spoke up. His voice was soft, almost a whisper. "While we believed that we could take back the city, we could have never prepared for the reality of what we had been hearing. I personally would have never believed that a horde of undead was truly taking over." His eyes cast down to the sand at his feet, eyes growing wide. "Those things tore into people who had seen many battles. I need to be stronger to help." His eyes rose to meet mine, a pleading look in those dark red pupils.
"While we have little experience, I have seen you handle yourself first hand. I wish to be of some use, even if Morgran doesn't wish it." The redguard took a step forward. "Will you help us?"
I looked between them and shook my head. It was still a strange feeling for me to raise a blade and while I had gotten over my fear of fighting, I still feared dying every day. While I had been here for about half a year, I felt that I was still a stranger to Tamriel and the universe that held many strange laws. I felt I was the last person to teach these people anything.
"I will speak with Kharjo, if anything he could teach you how to wield a blade properly. I had others teach me and I still find myself new to combat." I admitted and opened the tent flap. Kharjo had likely heard everything as he was already standing there as if waiting for his cue.
"I Think I can be of some assistance." He smiled and walked out of the tent.
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Day 150
Thirty days have gone, signaling the end of a long and arduous month. The time had been spent moving camp and setting up defenses around seemingly random places in the desert. Morgran was building small forts as he called in the other leaders of their resistance. Almost one hundred men and women came to occupy each of the forts that we had built. In this time I had met the other leaders of the resistance: A nord women named Valinka, A redguard mercenary named Vahir, and a Dark elf mage named Kerehmir. Then there was Morgran, the scarred orc who was a complete mystery to me. The others had shared their stories and past accomplishments while Morgran continued to remain silent about himself. Zaynabi had also seen him sending out messengers in the night. While I had originally believed they where just being sent to the other leaders or other members of the resistance. She swears that she had seen him give them black paper rolled up like a scroll each time.
"Darius, I believe it is time we continued moving. We are being left behind." Kharjo placed a hand on my shoulder, waking me from my thoughts as I looked out over the oasis before us. We were traveling along a road that was in the mountain bordering High Rock and Hammerfell. We had recently stopped at Skaven for supplies and payed respects to the recently deceased ruler of the city. Their daughter seemed plenty capable to me but Morgran had voiced that she would probably be assassinated within the next month or so.
"W-Wait up!" The redguard prince staggered up to us with his two dark elf friends in tow. I had learned that his name was Orman and the two dark elves were Forgrun and Domus. "Have the others moved on yet?" He asked while trying to catch his breath. Kharjo had been working them for some time. At first it had been a secret but Morgran had found out just a week ago. Instead of saying anything though he just shook his head and ignored it. Morgran's attention seemed to be away from the young prince and to other schemes lately.
"Yes. They have likely reached the encampment in the caverns by now." Kharjo sighed and adjusted the large pack that he was having Orman carry.
"Zaynabi is bound to be worried." Forgrun the dark elf with the longer hair spoke as a shiver noticeably ran through him. "She's scary sometimes."
"Best not worry her too much then." I smiled and lead the way along the path. The oasis that bordered this part of the mountain was a beautiful site, something I would definitely have liked to take a picture of if I was on a vacation. During the last month I had found myself missing my world more and more. While I hadn't really been doing well for myself it was still a world I had grown up in. I sighed heavily and shook my head, I needed to stay in the here and now.
The encampment was within view, the wooden palisades slicked with greenish blood from the beetles constantly trying to clear the pathway. The two dark elf brothers got their second wind and made it through the gates before the rest of us. The heavily armored guards nodded to us as we passed and closed the gates behind us. The bright sun shone high above as we brought ourselves to where our tents were..
"Morgran will want the report." Domus muttered as he walked past me and into his tent. I looked around saw the large tent that belonged to our "leader." Two large Nords guarded the tent's entrance and placed their arms in front of me as I went to step inside.
"Morgran is busy." One of the gruff men simply stated and kept his hand before the entrance.
"I was told to report in with him when I returned from patrol." I said with a sigh and went to step forward again. However the other guard grabbed my arm and shoved me back.
"He's busy." He repeated the other and scowled from beneath his hood. I shook my head and went to leave, then an idea popped in my head. It was just a tent right? I should just be able to get in on the other side, or at least listen in on what the orc was doing. I went around to the other side of the tent, it was blocked off on most sides by boxes and weapon racks. I went behind a few of the boxes and went to pick up the tent flap. As soon as I did though I noticed that the tent seemed to be over a large rock. I picked up a few more ends of the tent flaps and found that a large rock wall was under the tent. But how? How could it-. That's when it hit me. I remembered Zaynabi telling me about the different kinds of magic as she was reading her books. I recalled what she had told me about illusion magic, how it could appear solid and real and sometimes even make something into another thing. It was a powerful form of magic and mastering it took much practice. As I was wondering how Morgran could use such magic the blade at my hip began to hum to life. I had been keeping myself away from Dawnbreaker but today I had given in since I was being sent on a patrol. The gem on the hilt glowed as an image flashed through my mind. The image of the gem touching an invisible barrier appeared before my eyes. When it touched the barrier the whole wall lit up and vanished as if it hadn't been there before. When the image faded I shook my head and looked down at the sword with wonder. I couldn't help but chuckle slightly as I thought of this as being shown some kind of tutorial from a video game or something.
Drawing the blade I did as the image showed. Sure enough a small hole formed in the rock and I was able to peek my head through and catch site of something I hadn't really expected. While I believed that Morgran was hiding a great many things, I hadn't thought that he could have been one of them.
"You almost had me killed! The horde was much to close!" The orc shouted angrily at a large blue fire that floated in the middle of his tent.
"It had to be done. You have one among you who serves an enemy." A voice echoed around the tent, it seemed feminine but the voice was almost like a whisper from the flame.
"I will handle him in due time. I see the blade and know the meaning but he has his uses. All these fools do." Morgran huffed and crossed his large arms. "Besides, once we turn the rebel leaders into undead pawns we can use their skills without their thoughts or opinions getting in the way. How far is the horde from the first stronghold? I sent a courier with the locations."
"A group will arrive within a few days. We had trouble with the Dominion." The voice sighed then continued to speak. "I would rather you dispose of this enemy sooner rather than later. Useful or not, I want him dead."
"I will personally see to it tonight then. I could easily make it seem like a Dominion assassin came in and killed a few of our own." Morgran grinned and pulled out a small elven dagger.
That was all I cared to see as now I feared for my life. Returning the flap to the ground and sheathing Dawnbreaker I made my way back to the middle of the camp and headed towards my tent. Zaynabi and Kharjo should be there, I needed to get to them quickly. We had to leave, now.
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Day 150-continued
We ran. I don't know exactly how far or fast but we had escaped the encampment that was meant to be our graves. Kharjo and Zaynabi sat with me by the fire, our heads and eyes constantly flicking from the flames to the rocks around us. We are on our way to the first fort we had made to warn the other rebel leaders of Morgran's plan.
"Valinka is the leader of that fort, yes?" Kharjo asked, his accent more thick when he was nervous.
"I believe she was the one that took ownership of thefort. It was smart too if Morgran had planned this all along. She leads the strongest of the rebellion's troops. If the horde took them out then turned them, it would mean the doom for the rest of the rebels." I stared at the flames, trying to think of a way out of this. So far no one had tried to follow us. I had claimed that Morgran was sending us out again on a patrol, even went as far to carry as lightly as we could so as to not rouse suspicion. It was a poor move however as we now held little in the way of food and water.
"We are about a day's walk from the fort. I hope we make it in time." Zaynabi looked over the map, trying to figure out exactly where we were. After a heavy sigh she folded up the map and tucked it into her satchel. "Do you believe that Orman and the other two made it to Vahir's mercenary's?" Orman had left with us, the two dark elves had followed suite. They believed me when I told everyone of the conversation with the mysterious person inside the orc's tent.
"Let's just hope they did." I rose to my feet and looked out from behind the group of rocks we had camped behind. In the distance I could see fires burning, they looked like hundreds of torches. "What-?!" I was cut off as an arrow flew past my head and into the sand beside me. "They're here!"