Chapter 5: Past Regrets, Current Failures
I returned to Winterhold and went to lay in bed for a time, contemplating of what that Bosmer had said. He was clearly insane. Wasn’t he? I shrugged off the thought and went to bed.
I had a nightmare I hadn’t had in years. I dreamt I was back in the Great War during the raid on the Imperial City. The bodies, the blood, my actions during all of it. It was all so real. Smoke burned my lungs and stung my eyes. People’s screams and terrified attempts to reason with the soldiers. The blood staining the streets.
I woke up just after I lit the torch while storming the Palace. After I woke, I stared at the ceiling, though night shrouded it from my eyes, contemplating what I had done after I lit the torch along with some of the others. We had just gotten caught up in the moment, we set fire to the Tower, houses, people.
I groaned and got up. It was about midnight, but I didn’t care. Maybe some poetry would help my conscience.
‘War divides the people
Blood bathes the path
Every window rings with women’s pleas and soldier’s wrath
The poet was a soldier
Cryptic messages unleashed
We burned the bodies that now lined all streets
The inferno burns the brightest
As bodies are piled upon the pyre
Innocent lives extinguished to be thrown upon the fire
War divides the people
For false promises of prestige
Yet glory does not atone for the horrors of the siege
The poet was a soldier
Taking orders like a fool
Which lead to committing acts far too cruel
The inferno burns the brightest
Branded into the mind
Along with the scream that was one of a kind
The poet swung the mace
The child screamed and died
The poet only laughed as the mother sobbed and cried
And his mind never forgave him’
The poem only made only made my insomnia worse. I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night; the last four lines of the poem cycled through my mind alongside the images of the child laying lifeless on the floor. My doing, now forever my burden to bear.
The next day’s lecture was cut short when the Arch-Mage came in and asked to speak with me. I was still distracted by my conscience, so I hadn’t really been learning anyway.
“May I help you, Arch-mage?”
“Possibly. How would you like to assist the College in an excavation?”
“You presume you mean the one of Saarthal? I’d love to.” I had heard of this dig. I also knew the history of it. Elves sacking the city of man, something I was all too familiar with, and had recently been reminded of. I didn't really want to visit, but I might find something important there.
“Excellent. Another question; have you had any combat training?”
“Yes, but that was many years ago. Why do you ask?”
“We fear that there might be Draugr in Saarthal, and our Destruction mages are all occupied elsewhere. We have enlisted the help of a Vigilant of Stendar who is willing to not only protect the excavators but also train another. Would you be willing to do so?”
I had heard of Draugr. Nasty things, embalmed corpses brought back by some foul magic. I suppose I’d be willing to take up some mace-fighting again.
“Of course. I look forward to meeting this… Vigilant.” The reality was I thought this Vigilant was a damn fool for doing this.
“Good, follow me then.” I did so and he took me back into the main hall in the Hall of the Elements. There a few training dummies had been set up and two Nords were standing there. One was a student, Onmund, and the other must be this Stendar-worshipper.
The Vigilant was older, maybe 40, with an unruly beard and piercingly blue eyes. He wore mage robes with steel boots and gauntlets, and a fur hood pulled over a steel helm. He had painted red lines in a criss-cross pattern on his face. A mace was attached to his belt.
“Hm. You that other un yer master mage or whatever was talkin’ ‘bout?” He asked me. His speech was an assault upon my senses.t Savos, sensing my imminent insult, spoke up.
“Yes, Valund, this is the other one. Don’t underestimate him just because he’s an elf and a scholar. He’s amongst the strongest people here in terms of brute force.” That comment about my being a Mer irked me even more. How dare that impudent ash-skin insult the Altmer!
“Well, I’d like to get this over with, if you don’t mind.”
“Hmph. Aight, we’re gonna start’cha off with the basics.”
He continued to speak to is like we were idiots. He taught us how to hold a mace, which I had been trained in, how to block using the mace, also trained in. Eventually he had us practice swinging at the dummies. Lastly, he taught us how to dodge attacks from most weapons. All of this I knew already, but it was good to get some practice.
“Well ‘en. Looks like the both of ya’ are ready for the next step, an that is sparring put these on.” He handed us each a pair of armor. The outside of it was heavily padded, though it simulated the limited mobility of armor fairly well. Next he handed us blunt sticks that had been weighted at one end.
“Well ‘en, now for the rules. No cheatin’, no hittin’ the back or the groin, and there certainly ain’t no killin’ got it? Good. Fight!”
I widened my stance to give me more balance. The soldier in me had reawakened. I grasped my mace-stick with two hands and held it at a diagonal, blocking most attacks. Onmund, however, took the offensive. He slowly approached me with his mace raised in an attack-ready position. Sadly for him, he had never been in real combat. It was an easy win. All I needed to do was sweep my front leg out and knock him down. Valund seemed surprised.
“Very good, elf. Again.”
This time my opponent took the same stance as I had previously. I took the offensive, but didn’t advance immediately. Instead I walked to the right. I feigned an attack, but instead rolled to my left. Just as I had hoped, Onmund had moved to his right to avoid my bluff attack, and I knocked him down as I rolled.
Valund was looking at me suspiciously now.
“Hey, elf. You weren't a soldier in the Great War, were ya?”
“That I was.”
“Damn elves.” He muttered. “One last time.”
I felt bad for this Nord mage. He clearly wasn't cut out for this. I decided to let him win one. When he raised his mace in a defensive position, I did the same, but I held my arms a little to the left. This opened up my torso to attack, and would be a fatal mistake in real battle. Onmund didn’t bite. If he wasn’t smart enough to take that chance, it wasn’t worth letting him win. I advanced and loosened my grip on my mace, preparing it for my attack. When I got within range, I lashed my hand out and took hold of the handle on his practice mace. Stunned, he tried to pull it back, opening him up to attack. Another easy win.
At this point Valund was amazed. “Yer pretty good for an elf.”
“I know.” I looked over at Onmund and saw him looking at his feet, ashamed. I took hold of his forearm and shook it which seemed to make him feel a little better.
I only felt good mentally. Physically, I was in pain and exhausted. I hadn’t rolled that way in at least a decade. It made me smile to think of myself back then. Even in that short time, I had changed much.
At this point Savos had returned. He strolled over to Valund the Vigil, as I had decided to call him, and whispered some things to him all I could pick up was:
“Which one….” “… bone walkers…” “The boy is…”
Finally they both turned to us. Savos had a worried look in his eye.
“After some delegation, we’ve decided that you shall both go to Saarthal.” This announcement didn’t surprise me. I had always known I would go for my combat skill, and Onmund would go because our Vigilant friend couldn’t stand the thought of a Mer being better than a Nord. Onmund apparently hadn’t realized this and was ecstatic when Aren told us this.
“Aye, get ready to trek to Saarthal, gentlemen.” Valund said in his uneducated lower class accent.
I looked forward to some field work for once. It was far more interesting than reading about somebody else’s field work.
Valund, Onmund, and I began our trip, stopping at Birna’s for some armor the College had ordered. It was leather armor. Not quite the Glided Elven style I was used to wearing, but some protection was always better than none. We also picked up some real maces made of steel. Also not as fine as those made by Elven blacksmiths, but also better than being unarmed.
We continued on a small path leading West and made it to the dig site in only a few minutes. For a few hours we didn't do much except keep tabs on the scholars and patrol the areas that had just been unearthed. We continued to do so until Tolfdir arrived with a few of the other students to study ancient applications of magic. After that, we were each assigned a section to patrol while some of the students worked.
Not long into it, a Khajiit got himself trapped in a room when he took some amulet off a wall. Tolfdir and I ran over to help the fool and he noticed some form of energy shared with the necklace and the wall.
“I wonder affect your spells might have… try casting one.” The cat cast a fireball, and the wall crumbled to reveal a passage.
The gate opened and the two of us ran into the room, expecting some form of Draugr. There were none. J’zargo, as Tolfdir called him, walked out, clearly shaken up. By now Onmund and Valund had arrived. Tolfdir addressed the three of us.
"We need to be sure that this is safe. I’d like the three of you to go in there and make sure that the dead are staying dead.” He obviously wanted to go too, but something was preventing him.
We went down the tunnel and arrived at a small chamber with a podium and three upright coffins. None of them burst open; yet anyway.
Suddenly the my partners froze and everything turned blue and shimmered.
I looked around and couldn’t find any reason. I walked over to Valund and was about to touch him when I heard a voice.
“I wouldn’t do that, young Mer.” I spun around and saw a fellow Altmer wearing mage robes. “Listen well. Know that you have set in motion a chain of events that cannot be stopped. Judgement has not been passed as you had no way of knowing . Judgement will be passed on your action to come and how you deal with the dangers ahead of you. This message has been passed to you because the Psijic Order believes in you. You mage, and you alone, have the potential to prevent great disaster. Take great care, and know that the Order is watching.”
The vision dissipated and the others unfroze. Valund looked over at me.
“Eh? What’ve you just done to us?” He glared at me
“Why, I’ve done nothing. I swear it.” I didn’t think he would believe that I had just been contacted by a member of a magic order that had disappeared decades prior.
He frowned and looked at the coffins.
“We ought to open ‘em up.”
We began to take the cover of one off when the other two burst open. Valund and I immediately snapped into defensive positions, but Onmund wasn’t as skilled as us. When he saw the Draugr, he took an offensive out of instinct.
He took a large swing at one and missed. The ancient Nord swung it's sword left and opened a gash in the boy’s torso. He fell to the ground, near death.
Valund and I allowed the undead filth to attack, upon which we blocked and smashed in their skulls.
We both ran over to Onmund, picking him up by his arms and dragging him back to the main dig site.
The gash was wide and deep. I laid him on the floor and began going through every step I had learned during my healing training so far. As I used a healing spell I looked into eyes. We both knew nothing could be done; the wound was too deep.
Blood trickled out the side of his mouth, and he died in my arms.
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