“Mirkrali!”
The captain shouted my name which served to draw my attention away from the shore battle that took place ahead of us. Siltal was an Altmer well worth her weight on the battlefield. Strong, intelligent, talented; she was also a highly resourceful individual. She stood as a living example of what all Altmer should strive for. She also didn't like waiting and so she waved me over with a brusque motion of her hand. I nodded as I took my helmet from underneath my arm and slid it over my head then approached her position on deck.
“You fool!”
Siltal raised her voice yet kept her demeanor calm as she brought a gauntlet encased fist across my face; the blow so sudden and quick that it caught me off my guard. Fortunately if it had not been for my helmet, which thankfully absorbed most of the impact, I would have received more than just a busted nose. She just stood there with her hands on her hips and shook her head as she waited for me to compose myself.
“What were you thinking Mirkrali? Just standing there on deck, watching the battle with a smile on your face! Does the thought of our brothers' and sisters' blood being spilled somehow please you?”
Siltal's eyes had gone dark and cold as she spoke. I felt my shame brighten my face and so I lowered my gaze as blood dripped from my nose. She was right, I know, and I could not help but feel abashed by what I had done. What was I thinking to have been so excited and looking forward to the coming battle. Mer and men would both die that day. I had no right to smile while my Altmer brethren fought and died on the snow covered banks.
“We don't have time for this nonsense. Prepare yourself for we make port soon to join the battle. See to it that you are ready!”
She placed a hand on my shoulder, the same fist that had struck me, and offered a smile to show that all was forgiven. Just hearing the conviction in her voice could motivate anyone to better themselves and I was no different. I returned the smile then snapped up and stood at attention as I placed my right hand over my chest plate and tapped it twice before I hurried off to rally my fellow Altmer. We prepared ourselves as we readied our nerves, each passing moment brought us closer to battle.
*****
The Nord collapsed and as he laid there I withdrew my blade from his gut. He had a shocked expression on his face; his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he gurgled on blood as it flowed from his mouth. I had almost felt sorry for him. He was just a boy really, still in his teen years, but if you march to war you had better be ready to pay the ultimate price. Still, he had fought well and deserved a quick death. So I brought my blade down and severed his head from his body, his life ended in one quick stroke.
“Mirkrali! Stop fooling around and get over here!”
Siltal commanded me to rejoin the ranks as I had somehow managed to break away during my fight with the boy. I looked toward where she shouted from and could see the regiment being pushed back toward the coastal waters. I could not believe it. Those backwater savages were pushing us back? I never would have thought that that was possible. They were just barbarians with axes and nothing more. What they had managed to do was just a folly. A mistake. Something that would soon be corrected.
“Yes Captain! Right away!”
I cursed under my breath and returned as I prepared a flame spell, which I released into the flank of the Nords that attacked. The smell of roasted flesh and hair instantly overpowered my senses and caused me to gag, my body hunched over as vomit spewed from my mouth, and coated the ground with my morning meal. I would have paid for such a mistake had Siltal not plunged her sword into the ribs of a Nord who had sought to cleave my head from my shoulders.
“Control yourself! You are no good to anyone throwing up all over the place. You are going to end up dead, or worse, get one of us killed!”
The captain hissed between clenched teeth as she yanked her sword free from the now lifeless corpse. She would have likely punched my face again, but then wasn't the right time nor place. I had no time to thank the Eight Divines for small miracles and so pulled myself together as fast as I could. There was a job to be done and I had to do what I could to see it finished.
“Yes Captain Siltal!”
I responded, after having taken a deep breath, as I stepped over the charred remains of the dead and rushed back to the fight. Siltal was right as she often was and those who had fought alongside her knew it. Whenever I was around her I often felt like an amateur, but at the same time, felt that I should constantly do my best.
*****
Several hours of bloody battle had been fought upon the shores of Solitude. A trail of bodies, both mer and man, laid about in heaps of shattered bones and tattered flesh. We had managed to push them back, having won both the docks and the outer gate, and the Nords had retreated back into the safety of their walled town. It had been a tiresome engagement and if not for the Second Fleet having had arrived, we would have been pushed back into our ships and forced to retreat. I had thanked the Gods for the replenished merpower.
With the siege momentarily halted, my brethren had begun to take care of the dead and wounded; myself having had received more than a few cuts and bruises, but nothing a healing spell did not fix. I had taken a break, having had just finished patrolling the docks, when a messenger arrived and informed me that my presence was required at the outer gate. There was much that had to be done that day and not much time in which it could be finished.
* This is a rather old and more than unfinished fanfic I started a year or more ago. It got lost for a while and I doubt will ever resume this. However, I thought someone would find reading this unfinished chapter entertaining maybe. At the very least it could serve as some kind of inspiration for someone looking for ideas for their own story. *
