FVN Chapter 291: Chapter XVII: Battle of Dawnstar, Prelude
Chapter 291: Chapter XVII: Battle of Dawnstar, Prelude
Chapter 291: Chapter XVII: Battle of Dawnstar, Prelude
(General POV, about a day earlier)
A group of some ten gaunt figures dressed in plain black robes covered in nondescript light armor stood around in a circle, the haunting growls of the Draugr walking all around them failing to disturb an of them.
"Are the preparations finished?" The eldest among them asked a pair of youths that just entered the chamber.
"They are, Jonas." The young man of the pair answered "After the final count we have some seven hundred or so Draugr, that is including the three hundred or so servant bodies."
Jonas scoffed "We will have to bait them then." He turned to one of the other magi present "What about the traps?"
A woman in her late twenties shrugged "Made as much as I could even with the supplies he gave us but they will slow them down at best."
"Which is the entire point, woman." The man scoffs "There is no way in hell we are stopping a whole army, we are here to buy time and die like the cannon fodder we are."
Callen, the young man of the young pair looked at him with a mix of fury and surprise "Shut your hole old man, we were given scrolls to make our retreat when this is over, if you want to die because you are paranoid then go ahead."
"Better to be paranoid than to trust that insane Mephalan fuck." Jonas grouses and a couple of the other necromancers nod their agreement.
Jenna, the young woman beside Cullen scoffs and grabs her partner's shoulder "Don't listen to them, we are getting out of here alive."
The young man nodded slowly, almost hesitantly "Aye, we've done enough by now, I think we've earned our lives at least."
They both hoped it wasn't a mere platitude.
(Elsewhere)
Galmar Stone-Fist marched before the vanguard of his King's army, his brow creased as he considered the thousands of men and women who had joined their force practically overnight.
He did not doubt the fact they needed more bodies to throw at the enemy but he was a Great War veteran and he knew deep down that conscripts made for very poor soldiers. At least he would be able to use them to buy the true warriors a chance for glory, he thought.
"Stone-Fist, we have company!" One of his men shouted, his hand pointing toward the entrance of an old Nordic tomb, a group of three dozen Draugr handling old bows had rushed out when he wasn't looking and were preparing to loose arrows at his men.
It took him a mere split second to react and he was already charging at the ancient undead, his weapon swinging in a wide arc as he shattered the first embalmed creature to shreds, his men followed behind him and rushed to join the fight, but just as a couple more were cut down and they were about to engage them in truth, the Draugr retreated within the tomb.
"Damnation!" One of the housecarls cursed "They challenge us!"
Galmar did not see it that way but it was better his men thought that to be the case instead of the obvious bait being laid out for them. Still, if he simply let the undead do what they willed they would just keep attacking them at random and that was unacceptable, both for their numbers and their morale.
So, with a heavy heart, Stone-Fist grunted and signaled for a couple of his less valuable men to move in and scout.
The moment they stepped within the bounds of the tomb a rune below them lit up and burned them alive.
This was going to be a long day, wasn't it?
(On the necromancers' side)
The Stormcloaks wasted no time in assaulting their positions, and whoever was leading them knew what they were doing as multiple traps were avoided and many ambushes foiled,
leading to three necromancer conscripts dying already.
"Damn it all." Jonas snarled and pointed at one of his fellows "You, go and collapse the passages!"
"Y-yes!" The skittish man nodded and rushed off.
That ought to slow them down at least.
And it did, the Stormcloaks were forced down a pre-prepared path with dozens and of them dying with each and every turn they made, and once their bodies fell they soon rose to strike at their former comrades, further adding to the slaughter.
Hours passed as more necromancers slowly fell to their assailants, and soon the main chamber was close to being breached, with only Jonas and the young pair still remained among the living and their undead were being depleted at a rapid pace.
Sighing in acceptance, Jonas turned to the duo "We've held for as long as we could, you two should get out of here now."
Callen blinked "B-but what about you?"
"What about me?" Jonas scoffed "I fully accept and understand why I am here, and I know I deserve it. Fucking Flame-Tongue was right in that, at the very least." He shakes his head "You two on the other hand are young and should look to live your lives a bit before throwing them away."
The duo shared a look before nodding resolutely and opening a pair of scrolls, soon disappearing with the sound of cracking glass.
Jonas chuckled "Would you look at that, the fucker wasn't lying." He looked back to the doorway as it was slowly torn apart and with an air of resignation started chugging potion after potion, once more courtesy of their 'employer'
Power like he had not felt in his life flowed in his veins even as he poisoned himself to a slow death and he started cackling like a complete madman, corpses which were previously in too poor a shape to be risen slowly stood up and the entire tomb came to life as howls of undead rage were met with the hatred filled battle cries of the Stormcloaks.
By the time his sanctum was breached, Jonas was not coherent enough to notice the axe sailing for his head, nor the snarling bear-hooded man that swung it.
(Galmar's POV)
I spit on the insane fuck that had just cost me hundreds of my men, my troops slowly flowing
in behind me as they made sure the undead could not rise again.
I was just about to relax when a messenger boy rushed inside and called out "Lord Galmar,
terrible news!"
"What is it whelp?" I rounded on him.
"Our supply train was just ambushed, undead they say, and lots of them!" The boy answered quickly "They managed to slay them but the battle caused a small avalanche and blocked off the rest of our troops."
I closed my eyes, contemplated the fact that a bunch of rogue necromancers just cost us days of time, and finally swore "FUCK!"
(Remaining necromancers' POV)
Callen and Jenna appeared within the imperial encampment in a flash of color, both of them too worn out to even care about the vertigo caused by such a sudden shift. In fact, they would have probably let themselves sleep then and there had it not been for the sound of someone
clearing their throat.
Both of them immediately turned rigid as they stood up and saluted the elf that waited for
them.
They dared not speak and were thankfully spared of any further awkwardness as Reyvin Flame-Tongue spoke first "Are you all that is left?" He asked, almost uninterested.
"Yes." Callen nodded "Y-yes sir!" He quickly added.
The elf shook his head "Pity, I had expected more of you to have instincts of self preservation." He waves his hand and two folded scrolls appear within his grip "No matter, take these and present them at the College of Winterhold, your conscription is over and by the authority the High King vested in me you are hereby pardoned for your crimes."
Both of them stared at the elf, their mouths agape. They would have probably remained staring for a great while longer but the repeated waving of the Court Mage's hand quickly told them of his annoyance as they grabbed the scrolls and bowed to show their gratitude.
By the time they rose their heads they realized they were completely alone in the tent.
(Back to the present, Reyvin's POV)
Not all of us were blessed with bullshit magic eyes after all.
The newfound back and forth continued for the entire day with no great amount of territory
changing hands, even as hundreds died on both sides by the end of it.
I will give the Stormcloaks this, fuckers were relentless. How they managed to get even
casualties with our forward positions while having worse equipment and being on the attack I honestly did not want to know but they sure as shit did.
Their engineers must have been working fast because as soon as the mists dispersed the next
day our forward camps, the minor fortified positions connected by a simple stake palisade,
saw themselves showered in pots of explosive oil.
It did not do much damage as I personally blew any truly dangerous shells out of the air but
the constant bombardment did a number on the legionaries' morale and the follow-up
attacks started stacking up kills for the Stormcloak side.
I was just about to ascend into the skies and show them just what I thought about them daring
to use strategy against us but Tullius proposed that that was exactly what they wanted, a
likely attempt of trapping or distracting me, and I was forced to remain grounded as I agreed
with his assessment.
And so the preamble went on for two more whole days. Accompanied with more forgotten dreams, much to my irritation.
On the dawn of the fifth day of the siege, the Stormcloak camp seemed to surge almost as if it
were a nest of ants. It did not take much for me to put two and two together and realize their reinforcements were finally set up enough for the army to act in cohesion and it was time for them to attack us in truth.
Thousands of men and women in lighter armor marched into the forests to the east while a veritable army of well over fifteen thousand started slowly approaching the frontline, the constant explosions caused by the artillery of both sides being the only thing breaking the ground-shaking noise of their steps.
More worrying was the fact that the enemy center was made up almost entirely of heavily armored housecarls, all of them surrounding Ulfric and Grimnir, and what I vaguely recognized as men wearing the same uniform as those beginner tongues I decimated near
Helgen.
Almost leisurely, I got up and stretched, Oren's eyes immediately snapping to me as I did so. I
pat the man lazily on his pauldron "No need to follow me this time, just do as much damage
as you can and keep the casualties to a minimum."
The Captain of my forces salutes but hesitates "What... what if the Imperials question our
reluctance to fight?"
I roll my eyes "Then they will have to find someone else to heal their ungrateful asses after the fighting is done."
He takes no further prompting and accepts his orders.
I spent a while longer looking over the approaching army, four forward camps having already
been given the order to retreat after they did sufficient damage to the enemy, and just as I was
about to go and find him it would seem that Tullius decided to do present himself instead.
"That is at least five thousand more than expected, not counting the potentially equal number still in camp." I tell him without turning around.
"Yes." The General grinds out "I had hoped that your mysterious informant was incompetent
but I've learned not to rely on such hopes as of recently. To think Ulfric would be willing to go
so far just to win this one battle..."
And should he win it truly would only be this one battle. Forcing so many to fight may seem
simple on paper but Ulfric had just created the next generation of Skyrim's banditry with this one retarded move.
"Did you need something, General?" I ask, my eyes still focused on the enemy.
He pauses briefly "I suspect Ulfric may attempt to abuse the voice to punch through our
lines." "And you want me to counter him?" I ask and he tenses up "I already planned on doing so." That seems to relax the General greatly "Good, I will ensure you do not find yourself without a way to retreat should their numbers overpower you, however briefly." "Now you are talking my language" I grin and finally turn to the man "Good luck General."
"And you, Court Mage." He offers his hand and we share a warrior's handshake. An instant passes and I am already flying up into the air, Scorch's wings blazing brightly and
drawing thousands of eyes upwards.
(General POV)
Ulfric Stormcloak stepped in front of his sworn companions, his heart alight with righteous fury as he glared at the wooden fort blocking his way to his people in Dawnstar. Without any hesitation or care for the lives within he breathed deeply of Kyne's breath "FUUUUS RO DAH!" The mighty call of unrelenting force surged toward the pitiful gates... only to suddenly
disperse as the very earth rose in such massive volume as to dispel the shout fully. The risen earth was then split aside, leaving the sight of a singular figure clad in black in
purple standing before his entire army.
"Tell the others to commence the attack." Ulfric commanded one of his aides "We will deal
with the elf." His men did as commanded and he centered himself, ready to face the true
monster of the enemy.
Even as he prepared to charge his hated foe, Ulfric could not help but suppress a tiny little
shudder.
Why exactly was the damned creature looking at him with such hunger?!
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