Victory or Sovngarde

Chapter Nineteen

Fairster gripped the handle of his battleaxe tighter. "For my family."

"For all our families," said Ralof.

"For Skyrim," said Marina. Her gray eyes were as hard and sharp as a steel sword. "We follow your lead, General."

I nodded once, then motioned for us and the dozen other men and women with us to rush the gate.

We broke the lock and heaved the door open as quickly and quietly as possible. Slipping in, we shut the gate behind us and split up in our groups. I led the first, Marina led the second, Ralof the third, and a seasoned Imperial Legate named Aquitor Velvan led the last group. We fanned out to find where they were keeping the prisoners. One large group of intruders was bound to attract more attention, so we had decided long before we marched to keep in smaller groups.

I led my group towards the east wall, and before long, we came across iron-barred cages filled to capacity with Stormcloak prisoners. Each cage was guarded by two Thalmor soldiers, and they outnumbered us four-to-one.

"How are we going to get past all of them without raising an alarm?" asked Fairster. "We can't stop all of them."

I had not counted on so many guards surrounding each cage. It did not matter now, though. We were in the thick of things, and we had to fight.

"I'll draw them away," I said, unsheathing my sword. "The rest of you free the prisoners. Find the armory and raid it."

"No, General, you can't." Fairster grabbed my elbow. "Even you can't defeat that many Thalmor guards. We need you."

"I'll only engage them if I have to. Just trust me. We don't have much time before the sun rises and we lose the cover of night."

"But—"

"This one trusts the General," said Do'zahr, one of the few Khajiit warriors we had amongst the Stormcloak ranks. "We have our orders."

I gave Do'zahr a thankful nod before easing my arm from Fairster's grip. "Trust me."

"I trust you, General." He sighed. "I just don't want you to be killed."

"She can't be killed," said the final member in our group, a young Bosmer lass named Faerie. For someone so small and thin, she was deadly with a blade and an invaluable fighter. She gave me a smile. "We can handle this, General. Just keep yourself safe."

"Same to you. Don't do anything reckless." I gave them all one final look before creeping away, slinking in the shadows like a thief in the night. Once I was far enough away from my soldiers—but still close enough for the Thalmor to hear me—I used my Throw Voice Shout to hurl an insult at the guards and draw them away.

"Who said that?!" called one, drawing his sword. He motioned for half of the guards to follow him, and as one, they started prowling towards the sound.

Meanwhile, I was crouched twelve yards away, trying not to smile. "Zul, mey GUT!"

"Hey, skeever butt!"

Every solider's back stiffened, faces bent with indignation. "Who is that?" They continued to circle around, looking for the intruder. I kept them distracted while also watching for my comrades. They had subdued the guards by their cages, and were now releasing the prisoners. They armed them with the weapons we had carried in with us, then led them away to help release the others. I took that as my cue to circle back and join them. Hopefully, I had kept the soliders busy long enough that the other groups had found and released their prisoners. We still had to take the fort in the middle of the encampment.

I rendezvoused with my men, finding myself in the center of everyone's attention. All the freed prisoners gasped and stared at me with awe. Murmurs of the Dragonborn began to circle through the men and women, and all were trying to get a look at me.