Harald looked back across the bridge, trying to get his bearings. They’d come through what was left of Forlorn and were heading generally back toward the Divide. When they reached the intersection, though, Jackos took the branch south toward the bonfire.
The Bog lived up to its name. It was sodden, with trees nearly scoured of both leaf and bark and a heavy mist hanging just above the ground. It smelled bad, too; the scent of mildew, decay and rotting plant life was overpowering, especially with no breeze to move the air. The once-proud Imperial tower ahead of them now tilted at a crazy angle in the unstable soil as though weary of its existence.
In the meantime, Harald thought, it undoubtedly made a decent shelter for a band of mercenary renegades. He was certain that’s what the bonfire was: a central flame about which the raiders could gather, and plan. He was glad for its light, because he wasn’t familiar with the territory. On the other hand, he risked ruining his night vision; the sky was turning the rosy hue of sunset and soon they would be facing combat in the dark.
Just ahead of them outside a ruined cottage was a cart, actively aflame, the burned corpses of its former owners still steaming. The air was heavy with acrid smoke and the unsettling scent of burned flesh. As Harald reached the cart he jumped, startled by the huge form that rushed past him on the left, weapon held high. Jackos had engaged the Redguard who had emerged from the gloom before them, but it was Sek’s charge and his huge warhammer that took the man down. Harald didn’t even have a chance to draw.
Jackos pointed at the bonfire and started moving toward another low spot in the road. Harald followed, ruing the fact that his feet would be even wetter and hoping he’d be able to dry out his boots before his skin began to rot like the wood he moved through.
“Keep vigilant,” Jackos said quietly. “We’re bound to be set on soon.”
A moment later, Sek and another of the troops accelerated toward the center of the Redguard camp, leaving Harald and Ulkarin behind.
“Get moving,” Ulkarin said, picking up speed.
“Yeah, yeah,” Harald grumbled. “I’m tired. I’ll get there.” He could see the enemy emerging from all corners of their camp, converging on the huge beacon that was Sek in his enormity. “Looks like there will be plenty of work for us regardless.”
And he was right. He had just a moment to take in the partially-ruined inn, the remnants of the nearest ancient tower and the still-intact ones beyond before the area erupted in a battle of sheer confusion. People on both sides screamed at each other, the Redguards swaggering with their curved swords held high and Sek uttering some of the most profound and filthy insults Harald had ever heard.
Harald struck only when he was certain it was an enemy before him, and then backed out of the crowd, over and over. The flames being cast by both sides weren’t helping. More than once he found himself grateful to be standing in a bog, for the fire caught whatever wasn’t soaked and that included his armor’s padding. At one point, Sek missed a powerhouse blow that would have caved in the Redguard focused on Harald. Harald Shouted the two words he knew of Frost Breath, out of instinct more than anything else, but between the fire and the water it seemed to do nothing at all. Harald roared, and attacked with all he had, and it was his blade, not Sek’s, that took that man down.
He watched, dismayed, as a blow toppled Jackos and sent him flat onto his back in the soggy grass. Before he could rush to the rescue, though, Ulkarin quietly emerged from the shadows to give Jackos a hand up, and Sek ended the man who’d staggered him. Then that part of the battle was finished and Jackos, wet but very much alive, pointed toward the base of the most solid-looking of the old Imperial towers. There was a wooden ramp leading up into the tower, and at its base stood a lone mercenary.
“Bet you regret this now!” Jackos called out, charging.
Once again Sek beat both Harald and Ulkarin to the punch, Harald arriving at the base of the ramp just as Sek pulled his weapon out of the man’s shattered skull. But another Redguard ran out of the shadows. Harald saw red.
I won’t watch this battle from the sidelines!
But there were too many people in the same spot at the same time, and Harald wanted no part of striking the wrong person by accident. So, once again, he Shouted, slowing time, and in his next moment of awareness another very tall Redguard lay dead at his feet.
Harald blinked, confused. Once again he’d lost time to whatever monstrous rage lived within him. In the next instant he was even more confused. Another enemy ran into the fray, suddenly surrounded by a glowing green cloud of stinking gas.
Poison.
Harald backpedaled, quickly stepping out of range of the cloud, and saw that another mercenary just up the ramp had emerged from the tower and done the same thing.
“Sek! Poison!” he yelled, not knowing whether he could be heard. Somewhere behind him, Ulkarin taunted another of the enemy; having satisfied himself that his bodyguard was safe Harald turned his attention back to the battle. Jackos had breathed in a lungful of the poison and was gasping for air near the foot of the ramp. Another of Jackos’ men stood between the two clouds. Harald roared, an inchoate howl of pure rage, and leapt forward to take a mighty swing at the shorter Redguard’s thin mail shirt. Jackos then regained his feet, shaking his head and then raising his sword, and the two mercenaries were suddenly surrounded on three sides. Harald’s mind shut down to all but the most primal of functions: bash, cut, destroy. The Redguards set off another pair of poison clouds, and he tried not to breathe, just slash.
Then it was over, and Jackos was shaking his head. Harald slowly came back to himself, his heart rate slowing and his anger dissipating.
“Looted the whole town!” Jackos said. “Nothing left to salvage.”
“Where’s everything they took?” Ulkarin said, coming up to stand beside them.
“In the mines, I’d wager.” Jackos looked around at the sadly diminished group of Arniman defenders and grunted. “Let’s go get back what’s ours. Avenge all who were slain here, soldier and commoner alike.”
With that, Jackos took off running toward the rocky hillside. Harald stood for a moment, still shaken by the battle just past, until Ulkarin cleared his throat.
“You think we might move, yer Highness? Like Jackos said – keep close or we’ll be easy targets.”
Harald cast one more look around the soggy battlegrounds and nodded. “Right.”
They caught up with Jackos at a double wooden door set into a stone wall. The dark made it hard to tell whether this had been a fortress wall or was just a stone facade set up to support the mine; but it looked to be intact and strong, not leaning oddly or sunken into the ground. No wonder Jackos had expected the mercenaries’ main base to be inside. Harald couldn’t imagine a better place to hide out, sheltered from the merciless rains.
“Keep your wits about you. These Reds will lash out when cornered,” Jackos said, glancing at each of them in turn. “All inside. Keep vigilant.”
The area inside the doors might have been anything. Fortress, mine, hostel – it was so dark and so full of smoke that Harald could barely breathe, much less recognize what he was looking at. The only thing cleanly visible was a statue of Dibella, and then only because there was a lively fire pit just in front of her. For the briefest of moments they all stepped forward into the murk. Then Jackos snorted.
“Outed yourself.”
And it was on once more, all of them converging on a pair of Redguards. One was pushed off-balance and ended up in the path of a fireball from Jackos’ battle mage, his clothing beginning to flare as Harald slowed time once more and tried to put the man out of his misery.
He was going to die, regardless. No sense in making him die in agony.
“I’ll have your head!” Jackos growled, stepping out of the second Redguard’s wide swing, then once more pressing the attack. The Redguard, having lost balance, fell forward onto Jackos’ waiting blade, and was done.
There was a moment to catch a breath. Only a moment, though, for a voice floated down from a platform above them.
“Now you’re mine!”
Harald couldn’t pick the man’s shape out of the gloom; it might have been a human he saw, or barrels stacked one atop the next, or a support pillar. Apparently he wasn’t the only one being hampered by the dark, either. One of Jackos’ men called out “come on, now, don’t be shy!”
Sek ran up a nearby set of stairs with Harald on his tail. A figure stepped forward from the general area Harald had thought he saw someone; Sek got to the figure first.
“Sneaky – little – prick,” he growled, raising his hammer. “Come here, prick!” The huge knight stretched up onto his toes and brought the hammer down in a blow the likes of which Harald had only seen once before.
When Roggi splits wood, that’s what he looks like. That’s nothing but pure power, and a lot of anger. I want to stay well away from that.
I wonder what it is that makes him so angry.
Ulkarin came up behind Harald, who turned and grinned at him. “Gotta be quicker than that, Tiny. Sek’s a real monster!”
“Right. Didn’t see you involved in that one, either.”
“Yeah, yeah. Where’s Jackos?”
“Over there.” Jackos had moved past Sek and was heading deeper into the building. As they followed, Ulkarin looked around and made a sound of approval. “Gotta hand it to the men who built these forts. Really stood the test of time.”
Harald nodded. “They’re like that in Skyrim, too. Some of the towers are partially down, of course, just like here – but the forts are mostly intact. They built for wet, they built for snow – doesn’t seem to matter which, the forts and city walls are still there. It’s impressive.”
Ulkarin snorted. “Especially since they look like they were made with shit and shingles.”
Harald chuckled.
This is a long way from what I’m used to at home. I don’t know that I’ve ever actually been in a group like this before. Maybe all the people I trained with were just on their best behavior because I was there.
Ridiculous.
This feels more real.
They ran through the room at the top of the stairs and into a descending staircase, passing a large but empty prisoner cage on the way. Harald, stuck behind Sek once more, observed that he’d never reach anyone in the fort below if he stayed there. He wanted to engage the enemy himself; he pushed past Sek and dashed down the stairs to take a position directly behind Jackos.
“Guard up,” Jackos said calmly. “Prepare for blood.”
Jackos was right, too. As Harald turned to check Ulkarin’s position a man in Alik’r armor stepped out of the shadows and sliced into him from behind. He gasped with the pain and felt heat building in his chest.
My blood, and my fault. I wasn’t paying attention.
Now I am.
He could feel blood trickling down inside his armor but the need to punish this man was too strong for him to stop and heal himself. Instead, he pushed forward, grinding the spikes of his shield against the Redguard as hard as he could and then reaching around to slash at him with all his strength. Unfortunately, he also stepped into the path of a fireball cast by Jackos’ battle mage.
Two things went through his mind at the same moment. The first was the fleeting thought: what counteracts fire?
“IIZ!”
It doused some of the flames, for certain, and froze one of the Redguards as intended. Unfortunately, though, Ulkarin had stepped up to cover his flank, and the Shout caught him full-on. He toppled over, and Harald swore.
The second thing was the knowledge that if he didn’t heal himself quickly, Ulfric would never hear about the unrest on the western border. While casting healing he watched in satisfaction as a well-targeted fireball and a hammer blow from Sek struck the last of the Redguards at the same time. The cry of anguish from the dark beyond the flames told Harald that they’d taken down the last of the opponents from this area.
Ulkarin climbed slowly back to his feet and shook himself free of the frost.
“I’m so sorry,” Harald said quietly. “I hope you know I didn’t intend that for you.”
Ulkarin shrugged. “My fault for walking in front of you. That guy was trying to take your head though. I thought it might be good for me to earn my pay.”
“Thanks.” He paused for a moment and shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on with me right now to be truthful. One second I’m careful, the way I was taught, and the next…”
“Told ya, yer Highness. You’re a berserker of some kind. That’s why you need me. Besides, you’re the one with the money.” He grinned down at Harald.
The group moved past the bodies and into a small foyer, where Jackos stopped before a closed wooden door. As the group panted and took sips of water, he turned to face them.
“If you need a second to breathe, take it now. We’re not going to relent against these rats, lest they regather. A direct spearhead through their ranks…”
“Good plan,” Harald murmured. Then he felt his face flushing. Who was he to be giving his opinion on battle plans, anyway?
“Alright, break over,” Jackos said a few moments later, giving no sign that he had either heard nor cared about Harald’s contribution. “Off we go!”
On the other side of the door was a small room with a hole on the far wall leading into a rough-hewn tunnel. Harald nodded to himself. The old Imperial fortress made the perfect entry to a mine: solid, protected, and with plenty of storage space. He didn’t have much time to spend imagining, though: two more Redguards attacked from the dark.
Jackos, he decided, was utterly fearless. The man charged the first mercenary in line, calling out “Let’s play!” as he crashed forward with his shield. Jackos’ mage started his attack, carefully threading the space between Jackos and Harald and catching the Redguard full-on. The man screamed and dropped back a few paces as two more of his fellows rushed out of the mine.
Then it was complete chaos again, as Sek barreled into the foes, knocking one of them over and blocking the mine. Ulkarin slipped around Harald and began fighting at Sek’s side. Harald tried to attack the nearest raider but Jackos was too close, and he knew they couldn’t prevail without Jackos. So he waited – for what seemed like an eternity – until one of the adversaries stepped aside. Then he Shouted, and the man toppled in a block of ice, giving Harald the few moments he needed to do massive damage before the ice melted.
And then the path was clear, with space to slip through the tunnel. Beyond it was a large open cavern, obviously a living area for miners or, in more recent times, raiders – none of whom, thankfully, were here. On each of its levels were tables laden with wine bottles, snacks, and ingots, all lighted by robustly-burning braziers. Jackos ran through the space, looking from side to side and making a satisfied noise.
“Good! They didn’t trash the mines while they were here. Could open for further function once we clear these Reds out. More coin for Raven Spring, lads! Rejoice!”
Raven Spring. Interesting that he calls the town by its old name. I wonder what he’d think if I told him how disparaging Merosa is toward people who do.
Out of his peripheral vision Harald noticed a torch moving toward him and assumed it was one of their people holding it. He was wrong. A moment later both the torch and the man holding it were rushing Jackos. Harald swore under his breath at the moments of advantage lost; he rushed to help Jackos and got to the enemy just as Ulkarin’s arrow found him, followed almost instantly by Sek’s warhammer.
Harald turned to look at Ulkarin, who shook his head.
“I know, I know. Better with the axe. But I’m not getting under that warhammer, are you?”
Harald chuckled. “No. Not if I can help it.”
It was hard not to feel a bit nervous as they all moved ahead into the mine proper. It was as dark as if they stood directly in the rock itself – dark enough that any number of enemies could potentially get the drop on them. In fact, a moment later Jackos called back down the tunnel.
“We have hostiles!”
They were, of course, forced to join the battle one by one; there really wasn’t space for anyone swinging weapons to fight two abreast. Once again, by the time Harald reached the battle, Sek was ending it. He stopped, sighing, and looked up at the enormous fighter, shaking his head.
“Why are you so tall?” he said in spite of his better wisdom. It had been on his mind ever since he first saw Sek. He just needed to know.
Sek snorted. “Why are you so ugly?”
Harald stood in stunned silence for a moment before laughing. Nobody had ever called him ugly. Not once. But it was, actually, the perfect response to a rude question. “Fair enough.”
A noise down the next passage caught his attention. This time, he and Ulkarin swapped a quick glance and darted down the tunnel together. Harald landed the first blow, but it was Ulkarin’s axe that finished him.
From Harald’s vantage it looked as though they’d reached the end of the mine. Once again he caught his breath as Jackos and the rest of the group filtered in.
“So what now?” Harald asked. “Should we head out to do that other task for you?”
Jackos shook his head. “Not yet. Reports are that there’s a camp, out through the back way. Right on the water. These bastards sailed up through the Iliac Bay and followed the river as far as it would take their boats. If we haven’t cleared all of them out here in the mine, that’s where they’ll be. Let’s get to it!”
Jackos led them out through the darkened back entrance of the mine, into the even darker night. He charged ahead through the tall grasses; Harald, completely disoriented, stuck close to him. After several minutes they reached a narrow trail, beaten down by the passage of Redguards to and from the mine in the Bog; a moment later he saw standing torches casting pools of light on the grounds beneath. The camp was high on a hillside in a perfect spot to keep watch on both the mine and, if Jackos had been correct about its placement, the waterway on the other side.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” Ulkarin murmured.
“Behold it, boys,” Jackos said. “The rat’s nest. Let’s be the fire that ousts this vermin. Give no quarter! We need to show these river scum that the Reach isn’t to be trifled with.”
Harald gave his sword a swing to loosen up his arm, and came perilously close to striking Sek. The huge man had come up behind him, astonishingly quiet in his passage for someone so large, wearing heavy armor.
“Hit me and I’ll put you on your ass,” he said.
Harald tried not to gulp audibly. Having Sek strike wasn’t something he wished to have happen, now or ever. “Sorry about that,” he mumbled.
Jackos led the charge once again, to the gate of a fence made not from wooden slats, but from entire logs. Nothing was going to break down that perimeter. The gate stood open, though, probably because the Redguards hadn’t expected company.
Poor choice on their part. Surprising. One thing I took away from Dardeh and Roggi is that you never assume anything when you’re in battle. The tides of fortune can change in the blink of an eye, and I’ve seen that often enough already. So here they are, wide open to an attack.
Their advantage didn’t last long. As soon as Jackos passed beneath the light of a torch, the mercenaries attacked in a swarm and the battle was on. It was too easy to strike the wrong person, too dark to tell how many there were or exactly where unless they were directly under the torches. Harald, therefore, stayed close to Sek. If he was near the man who was half again as tall as anyone else on the field, he would at least see who Sek was striking. Harald would dart forward to land a blow with either shield or sword, then step backward out of the way of others’ weapons and get his bearings for the next attack.
They cleared the area near the gate and ran uphill toward the next puddle of light. There were tents near the top of the hill, the likely spot for the commander. Harald’s confidence built as he followed Jackos up; he stopped holding back and started pressing attacks on his own until, just below the last rise, he and Jackos reached a corsair at the same moment. Jackos slammed the Redguard with his shield. Harald leveled a mighty backhanded sword blow at him; in the next moment there was a headless corpse dropping to the ground in front of him. He stared at it for a moment, a shudder from deep within his core rippled out to all parts of his body.
It happened again! Why is this happening to me?
For the next few minutes Jackos’ men were occupied ending stragglers along the fence line. Several ran back out through the gate to deal with Redguard troops arriving from the grounds nearest the mine; Harald and Jackos, on the other hand, found several guards posted just inside the fence. Harald dealt with one of them the same way he had the man outside of Arnima: a vicious overhand stab straight down into the mercenary’s chest.
Turning back from the gate he could see that it was, in fact, a sizable camp, with close to a dozen tents of various sizes and potentially more on the other side of the ridge. A watchtower in the center overlooked the cluster of tents. What better spot could they have chosen for raids into the interior? Harald wondered. There was, if Jackos was to be believed, quick and easy access to a water escape on the other side of this hill, and on this side the mine and the substantial fortress obscured the camp and blocked approach.
Jackos and his battle mage made a beeline for the hilltop and the most brightly-lit of the tents, open to the night air and glowing like a signal beacon. Harald tsk’d. If the tent flaps had been closed, one might not even have noticed its existence. As it was, though, it was one of the least-camouflaged structures he’d ever seen.
And, oddly, it was empty of people.
Harald frowned in confusion. If the commander wasn’t in his tent, where was he?
“We have hostiles,” Jackos called back, running slightly downhill. Harald spotted it then: a large, round enclosure inside a stockade fence – a place to contain animals, perhaps. People moved around its perimeter. In the next moment it was utter chaos yet again, darkness concealing enemies until they were practically atop him, the torches thrust in his face blinding him for a few moments. Those were moments he couldn’t afford to lose. He did one of the few things he could to help himself.
“SU- GRAH!”
For a short time after using this Shout, he could swing his blade and block with his deadly shield much faster than normally. He was tired, his arms burning with fatigue. But for long enough to clear the space before him, Harald could strike like the wind itself.
The sound of metallic latches caught his attention. He looked uphill and spotted a guard overlooking the fenced-in pit; he’d opened its gate, the snarls from below suggesting there was a saber cat inside, meant to be unleashed on the attackers. With rage powering his legs, Harald sprinted for the man, catching him full in the face with his shield’s spikes before the guard could even react. The Redguard howled in pain and Harald ended him with his sword just a moment later.
Harald, panting and trying to slow his racing heart, glanced down into the pit and saw one of Jackos’ men finishing the cat. Then everyone was making for the back gate, toward another brightly-lit tent. As they neared it, two women in skimpy clothing darted from inside and made for the lower part of the camp. Harald tsk’d. The commander was here, in his protected tent, carousing with women while the rest of his people fought and died in a battle with a rag-tag band of Arniman protectors.
Pitiful. I don’t know what kind of leader he’s supposed to be but you don’t send your people out to do what you won’t do yourself.
They ran into the tent and Harald’s disdain grew even deeper. While his troops slept on piles of hay or rough bedrolls, the commander had a sturdy, well-built bed and soft carpet runners, food on silver platters and water in silver pitchers atop a fine cabinet next to the bed. The man himself wore the clothing of nobility. He also cowered in the corner as Jackos and Sek approached.
Harald darted past both of them and sank his sword deep into the commander’s chest. The man slumped to the floor, bleeding all over the fine appointments of his tent.
“Well!” Ulkarin said as he surveyed the damage. “That’s another burden lifted from the kingdom. Saying that, I’d much rather our only burden was the Redguards. At least they’re civil compared to all the other bastards in this land.”
Harald looked from Ulkarin back down to the commander, realizing that he was still holding his dripping sword. He shook it off, sheathing it while shaking his head.
This is getting to be far too easy for me. I don’t like it.
Jackos started laughing. “We actually did it! One heck of a rampage we had. Let’s hope they don’t send any other boats up our way.”
“So, is that it, Jackos?” he asked. “Are they gone for good?”
Jackos snorted. “This batch, maybe. Redguards and piracy aren’t easily parted. But even a dog should know when to stay clear of a fire and we’ll make sure to have the flames of their ships burn bright enough for the whole river to see. Just have to get some of the mage lads down here to work their magic.” He looked around and shrugged. “I caught wind that Sigmayne is sparing some of his precious treasury our way. Good thing, too. The bog was one of the chief contributors to our Kingdom’s wealth.”
“Sigmayne is?” Harald asked.
“The King. In Evermore. Forgot you’re not from around these parts.”
“Ah, I see. And this is why you were so happy to see the mine hadn’t been looted. Well good. We’ve gotten it cleared out. Maybe now Arnima can get back to normal.”
“Whatever normal is. Well, once we’re sure that those desert rats aren’t making any further plans, we’ll have that rubble-heap cleared up and made pretty again.”
Harald shifted his shoulders around. He was going to be sore later on. “Need me to do anything else?”
Jackos considered for a moment. “Me? No. But Kegor might. If you haven’t met him already, you’ll find him in Evermore. He’ll be the one you meet for any proposed clean-up duties. But…”
“But?”
“Take care of that other matter first, would you?”
Right. Courier duty. I’d almost forgotten.
“Sure. We’ll do that next.”
“Cheers for the help here. The boys are more than appreciative for your presence.”
Harald simply nodded, for he felt an enormous yawn coming on. Ulkarin, standing just to his side, chuckled.
“What’s so funny? I can’t be tired after that long an evening? Anyway, I guess we should make for the Divide. We can have a good long rest once we’ve taken care of that duty.” He frowned, realizing that his companion was staring at him.
“What?”
“Well,” Ulkarin said, “Remember how you said some people aren’t cut out to be warriors?”
“Yes, and?”
“Some are. I don’t know who you are, mate, but I do know a born warrior when I see one and you’re it. You’ve gotten better just since we left the Divide. Just wanted to make sure you knew that. I don’t know that this endeavor would have gone as well without you. Just like Jackos said.”
Harald chuckled nervously. Nervously, because Ulkarin was right. Nervously, because he wasn’t at all certain he liked how very good he was at this. But he tried to cover his dismay.
“Thanks, Tiny. Let’s get going.”