Chapter 11 – When The War Came

Hlormaren, The Bitter Coast

“Here you are, Commander” the young Imperial woman said, smiling nervously as she handed Ralix Hermidius his thick leather hunting jacket.

“You really didn’t have to bring me this, Aurelia” Hermidius replied as he stepped out of the doorway of Hlormaren. “It really is quite a nice day. Won’t you join me?”

Aurelia Mestivius ran outside after Hermidius as soon as he had finished speaking. Hermidius smiled to himself – he was more than used to attention from the female members of the expeditionary force. At thirty-one years of age he was very young to be in a position of command, but he had earnt it through combat and strategy prowess and fierce loyalty to the Empire. With ruffled, shoulder-length brown hair, angular cheekbones and stunningly blue eyes, his looks had also won him acclaim with female staff officers.

Hermidius, Romanus and their people had only been at Hlormaren for around a week but it was already beginning to look like home. The holes in the fortress’ outer structure had been repaired, and the Propylon chamber cleared of its no-longer-functioning devices, creating a huge space that Hermidius had devoted to recreation, building a bar out of crates and barrels and ensuring that Varo’s supply of Cyrodiilic ale and brandy was being put to good use. He had, however, left a crate of each aside for Varo. When the Commander returned, Hermidius knew he would deserve it.

The fortress also had the advantage of being coastal, and possessing a natural harbour, walled by a chain of small islands.

“Commander!” Aurelia cried suddenly. “Look! There’s a ship coming!”

Hermidius raced to the western wall of the stronghold, the one overlooking the harbour. Sure enough, slowly manoeuvring through the channels between the islands into the harbour, was a ship.

Not just any ship. An enormous metal Dwemer steamship.

“By the Nine Divines, that’s Varo’s ship!” Hermidius exclaimed, leaping over the wall of the fortress and sliding down its sloped outer walls towards the dock.

As the ship’s dinghy hit the water, several people began climbing down the rope ladder that led off the side of the ship’s deck. Galmina, Jurard, Father Indarys and Levisson, along with Rigs-Sails who brought the four ashore in the dinghy. Galmina leapt ashore as soon as she could and ran towards Hermidius.

“Galmina, what brings you here?” Hermidius asked.

“We need your help” Galmina replied, speaking quickly. “Varo and Father Velas were captured by the Dunmer. I overheard Commander Indoril say that he intends to fulfil Nerevarine’s prophecy, using Varo and Father Velas to help him”

“You want us to rescue them?”

“No, we are going to let the Dunmer go through with the plan. Varo will hopefully cause an eruption of Red Mountain which will channel lava to Molag Mar and Ald-Ruhn”

“Wait, slow down, Galmina. What does any of this have to do with us?”

“We have to make sure that the Dunmer army are in Ald-Ruhn when Red Mountain erupts”

Hermidius looked Galmina in the eye. What she was saying sounded preposterous, and Hermidius didn’t understand most of it – how was Varo going to cause a volcanic eruption? – yet for some reason he trusted her. Perhaps it was the fact that she and Varo, despite being separated, seemed to have almost formulated this plan together.

“I have many soldiers here” Hermidius said. “If you can get us to Ald-Ruhn we will besiege the Dunmer in the city. But how do you know that that’s where they are?”

“Every time they retreat or leave a battle scene, it’s to the north. The only sign of civilisation in the north that remains is Ald-Ruhn”

“Like I say, I have the man-power but I don’t know where this city is” Hermidius continued. “I will do this for you, but you will have to take me there”

“I can’t take you” Galmina said. “I am going to go to Vivec and meet Varo”

--

The Cavern of the Incarnate, Red Mountain

The Cavern of the Incarnate was small, but this took away none of the impact of entering it. Central to the cavern was, of course, a statue of Azura, over which water dripped from a small pipe in the ceiling of the cavern, giving the statue the same ‘living’ appearance as the statue in the shrine. And surrounding the Cavern were books and scrolls, hundreds of them – Kagrenac’s Library.

Even so, as Varo entered the cavern, he didn’t notice any of this. He felt both angry and helpless. Father Velas was dead. No-one knew where he was, and he was surrounded by Dunmer soldiers. His fate was in their hands.

“Alright everyone, get reading” Drothan said to his soldiers. “Varo, stay out of trouble or I’ll kill you”

“I thought you said I was important to you” Varo retorted.

“You are” Drothan said coldly. “But I will still not hesitate to slit your throat if you step out of line”

A few hours later, one of the Dunmer soldiers beckoned Drothan to join him, as the pair began to speak in discreet whispers, speaking the native Dunmer language so that Varo would not be able to understand them. Varo sighed and returned to the book he was reading – with nothing else to do, he had indulged in the secrets of Kagrenac’s Library. One thing had interested him, something which was obviously a more recent addition to the Library, somehow added to the collection after the fall of the Sixth House. It was a text containing a theory that Vivec somehow destroyed Dagoth Ur by engineering an eruption in Red Mountain.

Drothan approached him. “Commander, we have had some success”

“Will I see it as success?” Varo sighed.

“Let me explain why we have come here” Drothan began. “The four-line riddle refers to some sort of machine beneath Vivec. You have seen it with your own eyes. It is behind the big metal door beneath the Palace”

“Is there anything you don’t know about me?” Varo snapped. Drothan ignored him and continued.

“Three of these machines exist. One was built for each Almsivi God. One, obviously, resides beneath Mournhold. This has been known for many years. Another is theorised to exist in the Clockwork City of Sotha Sil. The third resides beneath Vivec’s palace. What these machines did was not clear until now, but my researchers have just found Kagrenac’s complete account of how he built the machines. They control a great volcano nearby…”

“Red Mountain” Varo said.

“Correct. One of the functions of this machine is to trigger a huge ash storm”

Drothan stopped. Varo stared at him in disbelief.

“I am not helping you trigger an ash storm. Don’t you realise the impact it will have? Ashes from Red Mountain contain the Blight! You would bring that dreaded disease back to the island?”

“Varo, the Dunmer have lived with the Blight for their entire history. As such, we know how to cure it. Not only that, we know how to immunise ourselves against it. Myself and all my men have immunised ourselves against it”

“But my people will be wiped out”

“Yes, now you understand my plan, Commander. And, ironically, you will be the one to carry it out. The machine requires Wraithguard to operate safely, and it has been tuned by Jurard to your body. No-one else can use it”

At the mention of Wraithguard, Varo’s mind went into overdrive. The machine was beneath Vivec Palace, the site where Vivec was killed by Sixth House cultists. But then there was that scroll, the theory that it was Vivec who had caused the eruption of Red Mountain which destroyed Dagoth Ur. Vivec was killed where the machine was, so his final dying act must have been…

“Come on, then” Varo said with false reluctancy. “Let’s get this whole sorry business over with”

--

Vivec, the next day

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Sea Monster asked as the steamship slowly came to a halt near Vivec palace.

“Probably not, but I have no choice” Galmina replied. “I have to see Varo again”

Sea Monster had assembled a skeleton crew to take Galmina and Father Indarys to Vivec palace, so they could be there when Drothan brought their leaders to whatever it was that lay behind the metal door.

Both of them silently disembarked the ship onto the crumbling ziggurat of the palace. Neither were in the mood for talking – they had most likely both come to their death – and the weather added even more of a sense of hopelessness and melancholy. The skies were a dull grey and a strong wind blew a light rain into their faces.

“Sea Monster” Galmina said, turning round. “Stay nearby. When you see the volcano erupting, come back to the palace. If we somehow get out of this alive, we’ll need a way to escape”

“I’ll be here” Sea Monster called back. “Not much use for a ship in Ald-Ruhn…”

The ship’s engines began to roar again as the rear paddle snapped into action, slowly but steadily accelerating the ship away from Vivec, towards Seyda Neen where Sea Monster would moor, trying to remain unseen.

Galmina and Father Indarys both entered the palace to shelter from the rain. Still, neither of them spoke.

“Galmina” Father Indarys said eventually. “Can you do something for me?”

“What is it?” Galmina asked.

“When you see Varo, tell him exactly how you feel about him”

Galmina smiled softly. “I will”

“You know, I really hope we survive this” Father Indarys said, gazing out of the palace door across Vivec. “I want to see how this saga ends”

“Saga?” Galmina said, confused. “Hopefully it will end with Red Mountain erupting”

“There’s more to it than that” Father Indarys said somewhat ominously. “Vvardenfell is completely unlike anywhere else in Tamriel. The very island itself seems to be alive. It seems to serve some purpose”

“The dreams” Galmina said. “Father Velas said that they’re something to do with the rocks”

“Rocks that came from Red Mountain, specifically the eruption that destroyed Dagoth Ur. But it didn’t really destroy him, in a sense it scattered him across the whole island. Dagoth Ur is Vvardenfell now. There’s other things, too. In the caves around Molag Mar we kept finding huge purple crystals which glowed with a strange light, and they seemed to provide a limitless source of magicka. Crystals are created from volcanic eruptions, so…”

“But if Dagoth Ur is sending the dreams, why were the dreams helpful? I thought Nerevarine was constantly tormented by nightmares sent by Dagoth Ur”

“It’s all about politics, my girl” Father Velas said, turning back to face her. “Nerevarine, the Temple, even the Dunmer people were enemies of Dagoth Ur. The Dunmer destroyed his house, killed his people and if theories are to be believed they wiped out the Dwemer. Even in his destroyed, spiritual form he is exacting his revenge on the Dunmer, and we are helping him”

Galmina gasped. “We are aiding the Dark Lord?”

“He is only known as that because that is how the Dunmer portray him” Father Indarys replied comfortingly. “In his days as Lord Voryn Dagoth he was a great man. A leader, a creator, a visionary. But then the war of the First Council came and everything he had created was destroyed. You can’t blame him for wanting vengeance against the Dunmer. Morrowind has complicated politics – it is often difficult to distinguish between good and bad. Look at the situation the Nerevarine prophecy has got us into”

--

The West Gash, south of Ald-Ruhn

The combined forces of the remainder of Varo’s soldiers, Hermidius’ men and the handful of mercenaries that Romanus had left numbered around one hundred and fifty men, whilst Hermidius estimated there to be at least two hundred soldiers garrisoned in the remains of Ald-Ruhn. From his vantage point atop a small hill south of the town, he could see what they were up against. The town itself was in a bad shape – the previous eruption of Red Mountain had caused lava to flow into the lower southern half of the town, completely levelling it. However, the strange, curved Redoran architecture of the higher part of town still stood firm, as did the enormous Ald-Skar, although the town’s temple had long crumbled away. The Dunmer soldiers, since arriving in the city, had built a temporary stone wall around the town. Many soldiers could be seen patrolling the inside of the city and around its perimeter, and Hermidius kept spotting soldiers filing in and out of the Ald-Skar, where he guessed the majority of them were garrisoned.

Ralix Hermidius turned and briskly walked back down the hill to where his men were waiting. Only four were noticeable by their absence – Sea Monster, Rigs-Sails, Sten Hawk-Eye and Erdora. Sten and Erdora had left Hlormaren to head towards Vivec, not stating their reason but wishing everyone else the blessing of the Nine for the coming battle.

“Soldiers and mercenaries of the Empire” Hermidius said to his men, standing proud before them. “The fate of our future in Vvardenfell lies not in us but in two men. Commander Varo Sinclair, a fearless leader and explorer and a friend to all of us. Father Velas, a kind yet visionary priest. Both were kidnapped by our enemies, and if Mr Aurmine and Father Indarys are to be believed, are going to be taken to Vivec to be forced to commit a terrible act, one which could potentially kill every last one of us. But I know Varo, and he will not let that happen. I know that he will work out that he must go against the orders of his captors and cause Red Mountain to erupt. This may well mean he also causes his own death, but if that does happen, should his legacy not live on in a Vvardenfell free of Dunmer oppression, a Vvardenfell that is part of the Empire?”

A huge cheer came out of the assembled army.

“We must make sure Drothan’s army is besieged in Ald-Ruhn when the volcano erupts. They must be overcome by the tide of lava while we make good our escape. Varo will not know it, but if he can make Red Mountain erupt, the Dunmer will be banished from Vvardenfell. There may be a day when the Empire falls and the Dunmer rekindle their ill claim to this island, but this is not that day! Strike hard, aim true and do not let the Dunmer leave this town!”

With that, Hermidius turned around, drew his sword and raced back up the hillside, his army following behind him, shouting at the top of their lungs. As Hermidius reached the top of the hill, he hurled his arm forwards as the archers all drew their bows and fired at once. Arrows rained down on the Dunmer soldiers in Ald-Ruhn, killing several of their rank and sending panic shooting through the town. How could the weakened and oppressed Expeditionary Force have assembled such a powerful counter-attack?

As Hermidius’ melee fighters raised the hill and began to descend its northern slope, past the rubble and crumbling remains of Fort Buckmoth, the Dunmer began to form a counter-attack, lining up in ranks behind the stone wall, drawing bows and firing. However, Hermidius’ men were prepared for this, raising their shields at the last second and blocking the hail of arrows that rained down on them. Soon they reached the wall, which was only around four feet high and built mainly to keep Kagouti out of the city, and carried by their momentum, every single one of Hermidius’ soldiers leapt over the wall!

“Force them into the Ald-Skar!” Hermidius shouted, leading from the front. “Come on!”

The Dunmer archers all dropped their bows and drew swords, forming rank upon rank of soldiers dressed in bonemold armour, all different types of helms – the native forms that were worn by whichever house the soldier was a member of. Hermidius and his men soon reached the soldiers, colliding with them with shocking force. Brandishing Imperial steel swords and axes, the soldiers slaughtered the front row of the Dunmer rank immediately. Hermidius, wielding a glass blade made for him by Baldur gra-Orash, fought skilfully, using the two-handed Claymore to block attacks and force the Dunmer soldiers’ weapons from their hands before killing them. Every now and then, a Dunmer would be thrown forwards, dead, by an impact from behind. It was Hermidius’ secret weapon – Burdush gra-Barat and Mistarie, who had climbed up the back of the Ald-Skar onto its roof, where they were wreaking havoc on the Dunmer with their bows.

“Back to the Skar!” a gruff Dunmer voice bellowed. Still fighting hard, Hermidius’ men were only too happy to help the soldiers carry out their order. The Dunmer were being carved down by Hermidius’ soldiers on the front line and pummelled with deadly arrow fire from behind – Hermidius and his men were all over them.

Suddenly, Hermidius froze as he heard an ominous rumbling sound coming from the east.

"The volcano..." he said softly to himself.