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The Forsworn Retribution	By : Samson Category: +A through F > Elder Scrolls - Skyrim Views: 60892 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
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Chapter List
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The Name

The Forsworn Retribution
Part VI - "Budding Champions"
By: Jesse Racine AKA Samson
Original Date Written: July 30, 2014

Maximus’ punishment was neither gentle nor particularly swift. For Svetlana, he punished her for assuming she could pull the wool over his eyes, and for getting haughty enough to think that she could dominate some of Maximus’ own territory. For Sabrina, he punished her for allowing herself to be manipulated with the promise of lube, and for enjoying Svetlana’s domination a little too much for his liking. They both faced the same punishment, which just ended up with Sabrina slinking off with a limp, and Svetlana following Maximus back to the camp with an even worse cramp, of her own. Maximus had an amused smile on his face for the rest of the night. That’d teach them to go around behind his back, like that. Nobody made a damned cuckold of him and got away with it.

When morning came, everyone knew what was on the agenda. After a light breakfast, they set off, heading further into the hills with Bunny as their guide. After a couple hours of strenuous hiking, the landmark came into view: a pair of decaying towers, half collapsing under their own weight, separated by a wall of rock while also situated precariously close to the edge of the mountain summit. Before reaching the towers, Maximus made Johan understand that the group positively required Sabrina, his thus far all but absent teammate, for Magicka support, but that she wouldn’t be available until some time after nightfall. He explained away her nocturnal schedule by claiming she was preparing for the attack by stocking up on potions, which seemed to succeed in leaving Johan none the wiser. Johan ordered his men to wait until dusk, and added that his nimblest pair of fighters get out of their clunky armour and quietly scout ahead.

Maximus elected to check out the situation as well, which prompted Bunny to accompany him. Neither the Dunmer nor Svetlana were keen on the idea of the two venturing so close to the ruins, but they left their concerns unvoiced. As the others stayed near the first of the two Sundered Towers and set up the barest campsite possible, Maximus and the three others crept their way over towards the second, which immediately exposed an unforeseen flaw in Bunny’s plan. As it turned out, the two Sundered Towers were separated by a wooden bridge elevated about a dozen feet above the ground, which unfortunately had been raised from the other side. If the group was going to make proper use of the backdoor, they’d have to find some way to lower the bridge back down, otherwise they’d be scrambling down sheer mountain walls.

Putting that concern aside, Maximus inched towards the edge of the summit, keeping so close to the ground that his stomach was never more than a breath away from the stone. Bunny kept close to his left side, crawling across the ground with considerably more finesse than him, despite Sabrina’s stifling cloak. Johan’s two scouts brought up his right side, peeking over the edge of the rock at as tight an angle as possible. What they saw left each of them grim. The ruins were, indeed, massive, and certainly took the top spot for the grandest one Maximus had ever seen. The fact that the place was riddled with giant pillars in old Nordic style made the vista feel all the more forbidding.

There were numerous levels in the ruins, but from the group’s position, they could see only four: the tallest one just beneath them with some sort of an altar, two below that with multiple tents made of large animal pelts, and one farther down below with large pillars lining either side. True to Bunny’s claims, the second Sundered Tower seemed to lead right down into the uppermost tier, assuring them the high ground in the battle to come. Although the four of them could see quite a few figures wandering about in the two living areas, none of them could accurately estimate how many there really were. Bunny hazarded a guess at anywhere between seventeen and twenty-two, but considering they couldn’t see the full scope of the ruins, the true number of Forsworn could’ve been double that.

Without making a sound, the four of them crept back to the others. The numbers didn’t seem to faze anyone in either Johan or Maximus’ groups, but Maximus was well aware that his teammates could’ve been putting on staunch fronts. As Johan’s scouts drew a map of the ruins in the dirt and began to go over battle plans with him, Maximus took his lady friends aside under the pretense of doing the same. In reality, his intentions were a bit more personal. Once they were out of earshot from Johan’s group, Maximus came to a stop, glanced from face to face, and nonchalantly asked “So? Anyone feeling nervous? Jittery?” The Dunmer, Svetlana, and Bunny gave each other a little glance, as if they were each wondering what the others were thinking. Was it okay to be honest?

The Dunmer looked back at Maximus and slowly mumbled “Well...If those numbers are right, Max, then...Mathematically speaking, we’re at a disadvantage...A fairly big one. We’ll each have to kill two or three people, without losing any of our own people, just to win. The odds of that happening, um...” Bunny nodded and added “If we win, luck will have definitely played a part in the battle...And a fight coming down to luck is never reassuring.” Maximus raised an eyebrow, letting his eyes shift to Svetlana. The priestess opened her mouth a crack, but a second later, she shut it. She avoided his eyes, then quietly admitted “...For the first time in a while, I actually feel like really dedicating some time to serious prayer. I guess that doesn’t speak very well for my confidence, huh?...”

Maximus puckered his lips, very briefly giving a subtle nod with his head. Sighing as he spoke, he flatly said “So, confidence is low, basically...Well, I can understand where you’re all coming from. Really, I can.” He crossed his arms over his chest, then briefly paced off to the side before meandering his way back. “But, think about the advantages we’ll have. We’ll have the high ground, and they won’t be able to surround us. They’ll have no choice but to come directly at us in a bottleneck, which almost completely eliminates their numbers advantage. We’re not alone, we have Johan’s team to help us out, and Sabrina will be able to help Bunny with ranged attacks...The Forsworn will have greater numbers, sure, but I think our advantages will more than make up for it.”

The Dunmer’s expression turned grim. “...We’ll have to be careful, nonetheless. This fight could go very bad, very quickly.” Maximus raised his chin as he took in a breath. “Yes, you’re right, but it’s not going to. How do I know? I just do. I can feel it in my gut, this fight’s gonna go our way. But, if we’re gonna have the best possible chance, we need to get one thing clear...Do we trust each other? I’d trust each of you with my life, and I promise, I won’t let anything happen to any of you. Do the three of you trust me? Do you trust me to get you through this?”

Bunny silently nodded, the look in her eyes sharpening as new courage bloomed in her breast. Svetlana gave a nod, too. Giving him a deep, trusting gaze, she softly said “I trust you, Max. This battle won’t be any different from the others.” Maximus’ eyes shifted over to the Dunmer, noticing how she had been quiet for a few seconds. She looked away from his eyes, her hands going to her hips for only a second before she weakly crossed them over her stomach. She glanced at the others through the corners of her eyes, then met his own, again. Maximus got the distinct impression that she was reluctant to say her piece, especially if she had to do it in front of the others.

“Well...Of course I trust you, Max...I’m sure we’ll be fine.” “But?” Maximus prodded, raising an eyebrow. The Dunmer looked away from his eyes, again. She gave a light shake with her head. “Nothing...” There were a few moments of silence. Svetlana and Bunny gave each other a glance, which Maximus took as a bad sign. If the elf’s gloomy mood persisted, she’d just break the new confidence he had kindled in the others. When Svetlana gave him a look, he raised an eyebrow. She gave a subtle nod in the Dunmer’s direction. He raised his eyebrows further in confusion, narrowing an eye. Svetlana’s eyes lightly widened, and almost in unison, she and Bunny gave firm nods at the Dunmer. Maximus almost rolled his eyes when realization dawned on him.

He sighed inwardly, then stepped closer to the Dunmer. She gave a start just before he brought his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug until half of her face was pushing against his shoulder. She didn’t react for a few seconds, but eventually, he felt her arms uncross from her stomach. She reached around his waist and hooked her hands over the middle of his back, holding on tight. The way she closed her eyes went unseen by the others, but they could all see how she sank into the embrace. To her, he must’ve been like a rising anchor, the one thing that could pull her up from the black depths of an ocean. After a few seconds, Maximus brought a hand up to the Dunmer’s head, stroking down her soft black hair. This got a smile out of Svetlana and Bunny, who fondly looked on in silence.

When nightfall came, everyone was ready. Maximus tossed around Sabrina’s vial, and only needed to wait a few minutes before she came walking out of the darkness. Judging by the dark circles growing around her eyes, she was a day or two late from her last feeding. Hopefully, she hadn’t thought she could gorge herself during the fight to come, because even a single shred of logic would suggest that she couldn’t get away with something messy like that when Johan’s soldiers were already feeling suspicious of her. Sabrina just made that tension all the more palpable by refusing to speak when Maximus tried to properly introduce her. When Maximus narrowed his eyes, tightened his jaw, and gave her a little smile, she nervously swallowed some saliva, but didn’t crack.

Seeing they were getting nowhere with introductions, Maximus focused everyone back on the attack, prompting Johan to lead his men between the two Sundered Towers. For much of the day, his mercenary teammates had been working out how to lower the bridge between the ruins, and had quickly deduced that it was impossible to lower the bridge from their side. For starters, the door to the first tower had been barred from the inside, leaving them stuck out in the cold. Even if there was a mechanism in either tower to lower the bridge, they couldn’t even enter the first.

It was theorized by Johan’s soldiers that the Sundered Towers were an escape route for the leaders of the Forsworn camp, and although Bunny was tempted to point out that her people would never retreat from a frontal assault like that, she quickly realized that she couldn’t word such a statement in virtually any way without drawing suspicion upon herself. Instead, she suggested climbing the stone divider between the towers, mentioning that it might be possible to leap and grab on to the edge of a ledge. If one were nimble enough, they could pull themselves up by the bridge and activate the controls.

Thankfully, her idea bore fruit. Bypassing the bridge was an easy enough affair, as everyone quickly noticed that the platforms the bridge spanned weren’t impossibly high. All it took was two soldiers giving a third a running step-jump for the group to get someone up at the bridge controls, and with that, the entire obstacle became undone. With the pull of a chain, the bridge dropped itself down, rather quietly opening the way. Then, the entrance to the first tower was opened, allowing everyone to pour inside. Before anyone could get very far, however, the Dunmer noticed a number of traps lining the second tower. First was a pull string near the floor, which she safely disarmed before it could swing nail-riddled chunks of wood hanging from the ceiling down into anyone’s face.

Next were a pair of bear traps hidden just at the bottom step of the stairs, which she managed to shift out of the way without loudly setting off. Finally, crowded together in the bottom chamber of the dank, dingy tower, they came up against a locked Nordic door, which the Dunmer set about quietly lockpicking. Everyone waited in silent anxiety, wondering what they might see on the other side. It took her a minute, but the eventual click from the door meant the Dunmer had gotten the final tumbler out of the way. She slowly withdrew her lockpick, slipped away her tools, and silently pulled the doors open.

The doorway was elevated just slightly above the uppermost landing in the ruins, with a giant eagle-motif archway to their left, positioned above some sort of altar. More important was the figure standing directly across from them, his back turned to the group as he looked out over the nearby living area, on a lower landing. Bunny immediately reached for her quiver, but Maximus held out a hand, stopping her. She gave him a confused glance, but understood his intentions once he reached out and gave the Dunmer a pat on the shoulder. The dark elf briefly glanced at him, then nodded in understanding. Crouching low to the ground, she gave a little jump, crossing the rickety wooden stairway beneath the doorway.

She deftly landed in a squat, making not a sound. She gave a few quick glances left and right, making sure nobody had spotted her. To her left, there seemed to be some kind of throne across from the altar, but thankfully, it appeared unoccupied. To her right, there was an impressive stone stairway leading downwards, but it, too, appeared vacant. The pickpocket set her eyes back on her target as she reached for one of her daggers, unsheathing the blade without so much as a metallic whisper.

She came so close to the man that she could smell his awful musk, lingering around him like some disgusting fog. Out of scorn, she felt like whispering into his ear that he should take a bath, but she managed to clench her jaw and restrain herself. She stood up and shot her arms around him, with her left hand clamping down over his mouth before he could shout anything. She ensured absolute silence by plunging her dagger into his throat, gouging it around in a burst of blood before sliding the edge all the way across, her arm shaking with the struggle of tearing across his muscles. When he went limp, she eased him down to the ground, lightly resting him on his back. She gave a few more glances around, then looked back at the others and waved them over.

Slowly, as quietly as possible, Maximus led the way down the wooden stairway, getting a look around at the area, himself. Past the Dunmer, down in the living area, he could see a few people wandering around, apparently oblivious to the invaders. When his eyes shifted to the left, he spotted something he hadn’t seen during the scouting mission, earlier on in the day. There was a tent on the tallest elevation, just past the altar and throne. Maximus looked at Johan and gestured at the tent; logic would dictate that the leader would be using that one, and if they could kill the most prominent figure before the battle really broke out, they’d just have yet another advantage.

Johan nodded in wordless understanding. He gestured for his soldiers to take positions along the top of the stone stairway, readying themselves in case the group was spotted by those below. Maximus, meanwhile, gestured for his own team to follow him. His face was stony as he stepped up by the altar, looking across at the tent. Not even the dismembered animal bodies and bits of gore staining the altar could distract him. From his position, he could see someone standing in the tent, illuminated by candlelight. Judging by the bulky and imposing physique, it was a man, dressed in the typical loincloth ensemble of the Forsworn. He was facing a table, looking down at something Maximus couldn’t make out, but the young Imperial didn’t much care. All he really paid attention to was the fact that the man appeared unarmed, defenceless.

Maximus glanced at the Dunmer, then gestured for her to move forward. She had assassinated the last target easily enough, another should be no problem. She gave a nod, then started closing the distance, stepping as softly as she could. Bunny somewhat nervously glanced to her right, peering over the altar at the lower landings. Svetlana watched the pickpocket intently, almost wringing her hands with anxiety. Sabrina watched with a fairly casual, unconcerned look on her face, as if she truly did not have a single worry about the battle. The Dunmer crept her way into the tent, stepping on to a snowy bear pelt acting as a rug as she came up behind the man. He muttered something to himself, then tapped at the table, still staring down at whatever was preoccupying him.

When Bunny squinted and noticed the man’s corpse-like skin tone, her eyes widened. She reached out and grabbed Maximus by the wrist, squeezing like a vise out of pure terror. Maximus quickly looked at her, confused by her sudden panic. The Dunmer paid no attention to the man’s skin. Raising her arms, she was a split-second away from hooking them around his shoulders, ensuring him the same demise as her last target. Just before her dagger arm bolted over, a hand grabbed her by the wrist, squeezing hard enough to fracture bones.

The Dunmer didn’t have time to scream. The man had moved in the blink of an eye, crushing her in his steel grip. As he turned to the side and looked over his shoulder, a surge of Magicka flooded the air, and the air around him abruptly turned deep blue with an electrical current. Electricity constantly arcing across his body, he grinned just before the Lightning Cloak spell struck the Dunmer, making her cry out as a surge of electricity crashed through her body. The Magicka hit her so hard that it threw her off her feet, sending her flying right back out of the tent as soon as the man let go of her wrist. Everyone’s eyes widened. Maximus was the first to react, bolting towards the fallen Dunmer.

Bunny saw the immense gash in the Forsworn man’s chest a moment before it was too late. The Briarheart laughed as he thrust out both arms, firing a thick beam of concentrated lightning right into Maximus’ chest. Pain flooded him, flooring him as his muscles spasmed under the electric current. The lightning chained to the rest of his lady friends, blasting them each as hard as the first, sending them collapsing to the ground. It had all happened so fast, only then did Johan and his men look back in confusion. The Briarheart sucked in a deep breath, puffed out his chest, and bellowed out “Reeeaachmeeeen!!” Johan and his soldiers tensed up as the living area below suddenly came alive, with Forsworn men and women piling out of tents and dark corners like hungry vermin.

Sabrina lay panting in pain, holding her stomach at the positively nauseating sensation of having her Magicka directly jolted. Svetlana was similarly shaken, but not nearly to the same degree as the sorceress. The Dunmer was more stunned from the barrage of attacks she had taken, than anything else. Bunny’s inborn resistance to Magicka saw her quickly struggling to get to her feet, but of them all, Maximus was the first to rise. The Briarheart bared his teeth and fired another beam of electricity right into Maximus’ chest, but aside from making him stumble, it didn’t stop his charging approach. Bunny pulled an arrow on her drawstring, quickly lining up with the Briarheart’s chest. The chest cavity had barely been stitched shut, and all it would take was one good, hard knock on the bewitched replacement for the man’s heart. If she could just get the arrow inside...

Forsworn berserkers came racing up the stone stairway, each holding a weapon in either hand, with some using swords while others preferred hatchets. Johan’s men had already arranged themselves in a proper formation to hold their ground, with the shieldmen at the front and center while those with longer weapons, Johan included, took the flanks. The berserkers came in swinging and yelling, their deadliness coming from their speed and recklessness, with the fairly undisciplined men and women flailing their weapons with zero regard for their own survival. None of Johan’s soldiers were fazed, and the line was held.

Down below was where the real danger lurked. The archers were hanging back, already dipping their arrows into little jars of poison, while the Ice Maidens started summoning Frost Atronachs, preparing to throw their deadly pawns into the mix. The Frost Atronachs, each a walking iceberg, were decidedly masculine in their physique, offering a stark contrast to their fiery sisters. They each towered over ordinary humanoids, easily standing over eight or nine feet tall, frosty mist wafting off of each glossy body. With a jagged spike for one hand and a massive club for the other, they spelled death for all but the most skilled of warriors.

Bunny let loose her arrow at just the wrong moment, missing the Briarheart’s exposed chest cavity by several inches, hitting him instead in the right side of his torso. The Briarheart completely ignored the arrow, failing to even notice it as if it had been a mosquito bite. When Maximus chopped his sword down for the man’s shoulder, he gave a deft hop to the side, avoiding the swipe while throwing a punch in, for good measure. He struck Maximus in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind from his lungs, creating an opening for himself to escape. With a maniacal laugh, the Briarheart leapt over the side of the landing, plummeting over a dozen feet to the next landing, below.

He landed with a hard crash over an ancient, collapsed pillar, scrambling to his feet before running off towards a descending stone stairway, quickly disappearing out of sight. Maximus, a hand to his stomach, watched the man flee with rage painted clear on his face. Sabrina finally managed to get to her feet, by that point. Pulling a Magicka potion from inside a sleeve, she quaffed it in one big gulp, revitalizing herself before loudly declaring “Max, it’s getting worse, over here!” Maximus glanced over, brow sinking as arrows started zipping up into the landing, flying over the heads of Johan’s men when they weren’t clinking into their armour. The white glow of mist started to appear past Johan’s soldiers, along with the heavy stomps of incoming Atronachs. The flooding adrenaline sharpened Maximus’ senses, quickening his reaction speed and thought processes.

As he moved over to the Dunmer, he loudly said “Bunny, take care of the archers! Sabrina, help them with the spell casters! Svetlana, come here, the elf’s messed up!” The Dunmer misunderstood his words in the worst way possible. Holding her injured wrist, she abruptly yelled out “I didn’t mess up! Screw you, Max!” The Dunmer slid her back against a nearby pillar, rising to her feet. When he tried to step closer, she shoved her uninjured arm out, pushing him away. Before he could grab her, she had jumped over the edge of the platform, slamming down into the same collapsed pillar that the Briarheart had hit. She crumpled down to her side in the impact, but was quick to kick herself back to her feet, then gave chase after the escaping leader.

Maximus bared his teeth in anger and desperation. Sabrina started tossing firebolts over the heads of Johan’s soldiers, striking the multiple Atronachs as many times as she could before they entered the fray. Once the archers down below realized that the enemy had a spell caster of their own, they shifted their focus from Johan’s soldiers, searching for a target they hoped would be a little more susceptible to arrows. Bunny stood by a pillar near the bloody altar with an arrow pulled tight on her drawstring, waiting for the first body to come into view. As soon as one of the archers shifted out into her line of sight, she let the arrow loose like a bolt from a god, hitting the man in the chest so hard he collapsed to his back. Of course, it wasn’t long at all before the rest of the archers spotted Bunny, returning fire up at her in a volley of death.

Svetlana rushed over just as Bunny was hit with two arrows, one getting her stomach while the other got her between two ribs. Svetlana quickly expended the rest of her Magicka by raising a Ward with one hand, covering a vast section of Bunny’s side, leaving her only vulnerability the narrow slit in front of her through which she fired. With the other hand, she yanked the arrows back out of the archer, then laid hands upon her, slowly closing the wounds with a Restoration spell. Bunny gave as good as she got, firing arrows down at the enemy as quickly and accurately as she could, aiming for heart after heart.

Johan swung his Dwarven greatsword down into a berserker’s left shoulder so hard that he nearly severed the limb, entirely. He followed up with a vicious lunge, running the man through on the wide blade. While his blade was trapped, a Frost Atronach, head melting from one of Sabrina’s firebolts, came swinging with it’s mace hand, smashing Johan in the torso hard enough to knock him right off of his feet. Thankfully, he kept his hands on his blade, pulling it back out of the berserker as he collapsed under the weight of his armour. The Atronach pulled back it’s spike arm, aimed it down at his abdomen, and thrust out. Johan, holding his blade with both hands, swung it up for a parry, hitting the underside of the Atronach’s arm with unintended consequences.

While he was strong enough to parry the strike, he simply redirected it towards his own face. When the tip of the Atronach’s spike hit him, the face of his helmet caved inwards, distorting as it crushed down on him. The blow didn’t appear to kill him, at least not immediately, and Sabrina saved him from further attacks by firing a concentrated fireball right at the Atronach’s chest. The fireball exploded around the behemoth’s torso, scorching it with such intense heat that it sizzled with steam, a large part of it instantly evaporating. The Atronach leaned back, started to tip over, and disappeared as it was banished back to Oblivion. Sabrina curled up a lip in anger, flourishing a hand around in the air just before she turned invisible, vanishing from sight.

When she reappeared, she was all the way over behind the berserkers and Atronachs, well out of cover. She thrust out her arms in different directions, pointing her left just in front of herself, and her right at the archers and Frost Maidens by the living area. In front of her, a Flame Atronach appeared in a burst of purple-black light, while by the ranged attackers, a Frost Atronach of her own appeared, the lumbering giant almost seeming to groan with boredom as it saw the Frost Magicka in the hands of it’s enemies. Some of the Ice Maidens panicked, tossing giant icicles at the Atronach with wild abandon. These attacks, of course, were completely futile against the creature, but the Ice Maidens couldn’t expect the same resistance against the frigid giant.

Sabrina’s Flame Atronach immediately set about eliminating it’s polar opposites, raising it’s hands and unleashing gouts of flame against their backs to eat away their bodies. Seeing how quickly the situation had been contained, Maximus saw no reason to linger. Getting a firm grip on his sword with both hands, he charged towards the others, but simply ran past them before any of them could pay attention to him. He heard Sabrina call his name in confusion as he ran past her, sprinting down the rest of the stone steps to the next landing. He bolted past the Ice Maidens, still distracted with Sabrina’s Frost Atronach. The archers instantly followed him with arrows, but Bunny quickly covered him once Svetlana had dropped her barrier, raining arrows down on those below, forcing them to scatter just to protect themselves.

As Maximus pressed on, he soon realized what the Briarheart had fled for. There were numerous additional landings that nobody had seen on their scouting mission, and each had a small handful of Forsworn warriors hastily preparing to join the others. The melee warriors disregarded him as they made for the main force, but the archers drew and followed him with their bows, firing arrows at him like furious hornets. A few whistled past Maximus as he ran, and once or twice he felt like he might’ve been hit, but he was too focused on the Dunmer and that damned Briarheart to care much about anything else. He followed the lengthy stone stairways through landing after landing until, finally, he reached the bottom, coming face to face with an ajar Nordic door set in a stone wall. The corpses with slashed throats lying outside were as good a clue as any other. Maximus followed his two targets inside without even the slightest hint of trepidation.

Inside, he found himself in a dim corridor, crafted in the old Nordic style. Brick walls were supported by thick stone columns and archways, while the passage of time had allowed vines and moss to grow plentiful. To his left, the passageway had collapsed entirely, but to his right, the sounds of battle reached his ears. He ran down a short flight of steps, took a sharp left turn, and ran out into an expansive cavern. Moon and starlight flooded in from openings in the stone ceiling, illuminating the descending stairways, pillars, and pervading flora under a pale shine. Maximus looked to his left, eyes following the stairway down to a stone brazier far below, burning with hot coals.

He could see the Dunmer and the Briarheart both, the dark elf trying her damnedest to land even a single blow on the Briarheart. The man had come into possession of a Forsworn sword, however, which he used to full efficiency, deflecting and parrying her at every turn. With one of her wrists near useless, she was forced to use only one of her daggers, severely limiting her offensive capability. The Briarheart seemed to sense Maximus, as he suddenly gave a glance up the chamber, spotting him by the entrance. He grinned, then thrust an arm out towards the Dunmer, blasting out a stream of lightning from the palm of his hand. The Dunmer tried to evade the spell, but it struck her directly in the stomach, knocking her down to the ground by the brazier. A moment later, the Briarheart had turned and ran again, moving out of sight as he made for further into the chamber.

Maximus was in such a rush that he jumped forwards, cascading over the edge of the platform he had found himself upon, completely bypassing the log stairway not even three steps to his side. He landed with a thud on a stone platform, just a few feet away from another bloody altar. Shouting voices came from further on in the cavern, spurring him on. He ran to the edge of the second platform, jumped, and hit a descending dirt incline in a roll, jumping to his feet before he reached the Dunmer. She didn’t say anything when she noticed him, merely glancing at him from her position on the ground. She looked to her right as running footsteps started dashing closer, then spotted the handle in the brazier’s side. Before Maximus could do anything, she had reached out, grabbed the little handle, and yanked on it.

A trap came alive, further down the stone stairway. A small metal shelf in the rock wall to their left sides, which had been keeping a payload of stones at bay, suddenly dropped, unleashing a miniature landslide down towards the attackers. By the shouts, the trap had caught most of the incoming enemies off-guard, but more than likely hadn’t killed any of them. At the very least, it bought the two sellswords time. The Dunmer was panting with pain when Maximus hurried to her side, dropping to a knee beside her. Furious, but not at all unconcerned, he muttered out “What the fuck were you thinking, running off like that? Are you insane?”

The Dunmer glared at him, trying to push him away with her injured hand as she pushed herself up with the other. “I didn’t mess up, you bastard! I’ll get him myself, just back off!” Maximus grabbed her by the arm, just barely resisting the urge to shout in her face. “That’s not what I meant, you stupid bitch! You heard me wrong! Knock it off, you’re gonna get us both killed!” The Dunmer looked at him with blank anger, as if unable to comprehend that her fury had been over something so insignificant. Maximus looked over to the side, watching as five Forsworn berserkers came running up the stairway, yelling bloody murder as they swung their weapons around.

Maximus pulled the Dunmer up to her feet as he rose up, himself. They got up just in time for the first berserker to reach them, which Maximus greeted by launching out a kick into the man’s stomach. This earned the man’s ire, who focused entirely on him instead of the pickpocket. As the man came charging, swinging his axes around in a flurry, the Dunmer chased behind him. Maximus kept backpedalling until the man paused, at which point the Dunmer snapped out kick into the back of the man’s knees. He collapsed to his knees with a grunt, earning himself a most inglorious death. As Maximus plunged his sword through the man’s chest, the Dunmer stabbed her knife down into the top of his skull, ending his life in the blink of an eye.

She gasped and recoiled forwards when a berserker came up behind her, chopping his axe into her back. Her leather armour seemed to absorb the brunt of the force, but the crude edge still managed to bite through and connect with her shoulder blade. Maximus pulled his sword back and thrust out his arm to it’s fullest length, deftly plunging the blade past the Dunmer’s head and over her shoulder. The tip of his sword bit directly into the berserker’s right eye, and the sudden disability was enough to stun him into stumbling back. Maximus dashed forward in a sudden burst of speed, charging after the man so vehemently that he nearly knocked the Dunmer right over. Before the man could recover, Maximus had pulled his sword back again, shot it out, and ran the man through his unprotected breast, killing him when he destroyed his heart.

Before the other three berserkers could reach Maximus, the Dunmer surprised them all with an unorthodox attack. She stepped closer to the brazier and thrust her injured hand inside, grabbing a handful of red-hot coals and ash. With her natural resistance as a Dunmer to flame, she could avoid instantly reducing her skin to blisters and char, but only for a moment. A moment was all she needed before pitching the coals right at the berserkers, shocking even Maximus with the attack. Only one of the berserkers was able to ignore the attack. One of them panicked as burning ash struck his body, while the other screamed as a few burning coals managed to land inside his clothing, trapping themselves against his body as he fell back down the stairway.

Maximus clashed blades with the one stalwart berserker, keeping both hands on his sword as he repeatedly parried the berserker’s two blades. The berserker managed to land a flurry of three light slashes over Maximus’ chest, but his armour completely nullified the strikes, protecting him entirely. Maximus responded by lunging forward with an overhead swing, but the berserker swatted Maximus’ sword to the side, then used the momentum to swing around with his other sword, aiming for a decapitating slash.

Maximus ducked in the nick of time, moving forward to get behind him as the berserker spun past. Before turning to face the man, Maximus shot out a kick into the chest of the berserker distracted with ash, making him stumble hard enough to collapse down the stairs. He and the first berserker twisted around with the same attack, aiming a diagonal swipe for each other. Their forearms impacted above their heads, and out of surprise, they both paused for a moment. The Dunmer used that opening to run towards the man’s unprotected side, plunging her dagger into the small of his back, rupturing vital organs as she twisted the blade. The man, baring his teeth in pain, aimed his other sword by his side, planning to run Maximus through the stomach. Before he could thrust out his arm, however, his wounds got the better of him. His strength failed, and he slowly fell to the ground.

The Forsworn man whose garb had caught hot coals screamed as his clothing ignited, struggling to free himself of his garments. The one distracted by ash charged towards the two, blindly swinging his weapons in a bid to eliminate them. The Dunmer gave him a humiliating death, making him look like quite the fool as she simply took a step forward, thrust out her arm, and plunged her dagger directly into his throat. The man kept trying to swing his weapons, but the agony was so overwhelming, he could manage little more than flailing. The Dunmer pulled her dagger upwards as she withdrew it, cutting up beneath his jaw until she hit his chin, tilting his head back in the process. Maximus didn’t even turn around. He simply launched out a leg behind himself, stomping into the man’s chest. With the man already tilting back, Maximus’ kick knocked him right off his feet.

Maximus’ eyes started to go wild with bloodlust. He rushed down the steps to the next brazier, on a small rocky platform. Before the ignited berserker could react, Maximus had swung his sword into the side of his head, chopping it right into his skull. The man collapsed, but he didn’t perish until an impalement through the chest had finished him off. Now, it was the Dunmer’s turn to chase after him. Laughing to himself, Maximus ran to the bottom of the incline, racing into the only passageway available, a cave corridor marked by a lit torch. She called his name, chasing him through the short passageway until she came out into an even larger cavern chamber.

Close-by, an underground tree stood, decorated with several glowing Taproots slung from tiny string sacks. Maximus stood beneath it, fending off two female berserkers at once, twisting left and right as he traded blows with them. His mounting bloodlust made him focus less on deflecting attacks and more on sinking his blade into flesh, which resulted in him taking multiple slashes right before the Dunmer’s eyes. She raced over to help even the odds, but before she even got to him, he suddenly ended the battle. While one berserker was busy trying to smash her blade into the side of his rib cage, he surprised the other with a sudden thrust, running her through the stomach. While she was weakened, he pried away an axe from one of her hands, then spun around in a vicious swing, hitting the other so hard in the side of her neck that her head tilted over at a rather unhealthy angle.

The Dunmer gasped when an intense beam of electricity abruptly fired out from the side, striking Maximus hard enough to induce shouts of pain. Maximus writhed for a moment, struggling to remain standing before he finally fell to his knees. The Dunmer looked over to the side as the beam ended, spotting the Briarheart. The Briarheart’s territory was marked by a large stag head, still dripping blood on the spikes it had been impaled over. On the stone outcropping just behind the bloody mess, there stood the Briarheart, Forsworn sword still clutched in one hand, crackling electricity running between the fingers of the other. The slender man grinned, then leapt into the air, landing nimbly on his feet before charging towards the Dunmer.

Her eyes widened just before she raised her dagger. He moved with unnatural speed, crossing the distance in but a moment. She very narrowly managed to avoid a running thrust from the Briarheart, but the man’s inhuman strength let him split open her leather armour with even the least forceful of slashes, something he demonstrated by swiping to the side and catching her across the stomach with barely any room to swing his blade. She saw the odd shape beneath the stitches across his chest cavity, she knew her target, but actually getting to it would be quite the challenge. If she could destroy his false heart, he’d be finished. When he swung for her head, she ducked, and when he lashed out with a foot, she rolled backwards and jumped back to her feet, smiling just a little tauntingly.

Maximus fought to get back up to his feet, watching as the Dunmer dashed towards the man, swooping past his side while slashing her dagger across his chest. She missed his chest cavity, but just the fact that she had gone for that target infuriated the Briarheart. Baring his teeth, he spun around with his free hand extended, landing a savage hammer blow across the back of her head. She gasped and stumbled to the side, momentarily bringing a hand to her head in pain, glaring at the man from over her shoulder. Maximus charged towards the Briarheart, causing him to split his attention. With his free hand, he started blasting a stream of electricity at the Dunmer, while with his sword, he readied himself to deflect Maximus’ blade.

The Dunmer let out a sharp scream of pain, but after a moment, the expression of agony on her face turned to rage. Her teeth began to bare, her eyes widened, her brow furrowed deep, and a moment later, a dim red glow began to surround her body. As her ancestor’s wrath began to manifest, the air around her began to spontaneously ignite, bursting into little tufts of flame. Maximus wanted to tackle right into the man, but the tip of his sword remained low, keeping Maximus at bay. Every time he chopped out for the man, he instantly parried, deflecting the blade away from himself. When the Dunmer fought against the electricity and started stumbling towards the Briarheart, his eyes visibly widened in surprise.

He cut off the stream of Magicka, twisting around just as the Dunmer lunged for him. She sucked in a sharp gasp, eyes screwing shut in pain as his sword cut through her armour, sinking into her stomach. He tried to pull his sword back out to keep Maximus at a distance, but the Dunmer grabbed his arm with her injured hand, keeping him close. When the Briarheart realized that his skin was bubbling and blackening, he screamed, trying to separate himself from his sword handle before they fused together. He heard Maximus’ approach with stunned eyes. He raised a hand to blast him with Magicka, but Maximus responded by whipping his sword up, slicing right through the man’s wrist in one blow. Before the Briarheart could do anything, Maximus had followed through with another intense swing, decapitating the man with a triumphant yell.

The Dunmer collapsed along with the Briarheart, once his severed head had hit the floor. Maximus, panting with anger, adrenaline, and exertion, didn’t notice the sword stuck in the dark elf’s stomach until a moment or two had passed. When he finally did, he tensed up, then quickly stepped around the Briarheart’s corpse. Kneeling down beside her, his hand went for the sword handle, but she harshly croaked out “N-No! Leave it! Take it out, and I’ll just bleed to death...Keep the wound blocked, I’ll last longer...” Maximus looked up to her eyes, reluctantly withdrawing his hand. She simply gazed back for a couple seconds, the weak aura of flame around her body dimming until it vanished. Maximus’ jaw tightened.

“C’mon, we have to get you to Lana. I don’t have any healing potions, on me.”

“...If I move, I could just m-make it worse. I need to stay put.”

“I’m not leaving you in this hole, elf. Lana might not be that far away, we need to get going, come on!”

She gave a few slow blinks. Her bottom lip began to tremble. “...It’s Gabriella. M-My name’s Gabriella, Max...”

Maximus paused. After a moment, he smiled. “Well, now I’m definitely not leaving you down here. Quit moping, up and at ‘em, Gabby...We’re getting you some help.” Gabriella watched him, wincing as he shifted beside her and pulled her arm over his shoulder. She warbled with pain as he eased her up to her feet, shuffling her along as quickly as they could in the direction they had come. Climbing all those inclines and stairways was no picnic, but Maximus wasn’t about to risk having her slip away because Svetlana couldn’t get to her, in time. Even if he had to carve a path one-handed through the Forsworn horde, even if it cost him his life, he’d get her to some healing.
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The Forsworn Retribution