The Elder Scrolls: The Battle for Gryphus

by Urimas Ebonheart

Chapter 8

Everywhere in the city was fire and smoke, a few dragons are flying overhead while Razor's minions attack the populace from below, enemy and guard corpses litter the courtyard, even a few civilians lay dead on the floor. My rage peaks as I spot a filly among the carnage covered in blood and unmoving, I ignore the dull pain in my side as I fly up into the air to see around the area, I rush forward after I hear the sounds of someone calling for help.

I fly over the gatehouse and spot a mare running with a small colt clinging to her back, a griffon giving chase and gaining on them fast.

Staying quiet I dive down and at the last second, I swing my legs forward and impact the griffon right in its spine. We both slam into the floor, but thanks to my impromptu pillow, my fall was cushioned, the griffon though looks like it won't be getting back up any time soon.

"Oh thank you so much," the mare says to me.

I look back to where she came from to see a diamond dog and an earth pony charge around the corner, they stop after seeing me towering over their now dead ally.

"Get inside the castle, it should be safe in there now," I tell her, I was right as a unit of guards come out of the castle doors.

{97%} {50%} {100%} {100%}

The enemy decides to retreat but I pursue them. Taking to the air again, I'm now above them which they don't realize yet, they stop to see if anything is behind them, that's when I attack.

I point my sword forward and tackle the diamond dog while piercing his chest, I let go of the sword and flap back up into the air, I draw my bow and arrow quickly and take a quick shot at the pony, unfortunately I only just grazed his flank.

He panics and takes off down the street since he has no way to reach me, I land and recover my sword while holstering my bow.

I was about to chase him but I'm hit by a large red scaly tail and sent through one of the houses {70%}.

Coughing, I gingerly stand back up and notice I dropped my sword somewhere, I spot it just by the hole in the wall and walk over to it while healing my wound {13%} {100%}.

Before I could get it, I notice a gout of fire pour into the house. I dive to the left with a thud as I roughly land on my side, the room is flooded with flames but my armour protects me for the most part, I'm sure I've got a few burns at least {85%}.

I ignore my sword for now since it's glowing red and probably too hot to handle at the moment. So instead, I burst out of the building and fly straight at the dragon's face, the dragon’s too surprised to see me alive to react in time where I inhale and let out a thu'um. "Fo Krah Diin!" {25%} ice blasts the dragon's entire face freezing most of it, but what I'm aiming for was his eyes which froze over blinding him.

I then flap my wings to avoid a swipe from his claws, I quickly head back to my sword which is still warm to touch but not painfully so. I then fly over the dragon's head and turn around.

With a mighty flap of my wings, I charge at the back of his head and impale him through the top and out his neck, he gurgles for a few seconds before collapsing.

After he falls, I again absorb a soul, I shake my head and take a few steady breaths, I look around to see no one nearby, but I can hear the sounds of combat and cries for help.

After a minute, I take to the sky and look around, I spot eight guards escorting a few civilians towards the castle but they were being followed by a group of twenty of Razor's group.

{88%} {76%} {40%} {100%}

I fly over and land between them, the lackeys slide to a stop and the guards and civilians manage to get away, I slowly look at the gathered enemy, I don't think I'll be able to take all of them down by myself.

There are three minotaurs, eight griffins, five diamond dogs, two unicorns, one pegasus, and two earth ponies, each with a variety of weapons.

'Any ideas on how to handle this?' I ask Solnara.

'Well you could fly up and cast a Flames spell as you pass them, and if the flyers come up a Sparks spell would paralyse them enough to fall to their deaths,' she offers.

'Huh, that's a pretty good idea, I just hope my magicka will last for it,' I reply.

I sheath my sword and ready a Sparks spell in my left hand and a Flames spell in my right, I take off into the air and then dive at the group.

When I fly into range, I release a blast of fire at the wingless foes and their fur catches alight {40%}, They start to roll on the floor but the ones with wings leapt up and avoided the flames.

I'm hit three times from arrows by the griffins bows, two harmlessly bounce of my armour but one manages to hit me in my right hamstring {56%}. "Aaarggh!" I grunt in pain as the arrow lodges itself into the bone.

I managed to stay airborne and turn around and charge at the griffins, they fire again but two of the arrows lodge into the gaps between the pauldron and chest plate near the armpit area, "Nnnghh!" {34%}, the last arrow bounces off the helmet. I tackle one of them and point my left hand at the two griffins and pegasi and release the spell {18%}, electricity rushes instantly towards them and they tense up as they lose control over their wings and plummet to the ground.

One pegasus survived but the others land in a nasty position either snapping their neck, spine, or cracking their heads open.

I pile drive the griffon I'm holding onto the road and cast a Flames spell in his face {3%}, he screams as I literally melt his face off.

'LOOK OUT!' Solnara yells.

{100%}

As I finish, I'm hit by something. "Uuunngghh!" {14%} and sent flying a good five metres away.

'You need to fall back, you're badly injured, your bleeding out from the arrows and that blow just fractured your left arm!' she tells me.

'I'm fine! I'm not stopping till they're all dead!' I reply.

'And how will you kill them in your condition? Face it, you're vulnerable right now, head back to the castle and get healed then you can come back out!' she sternly tells me.

Dammit, she's right. I look back and see only six of them survived my assault; a minotaur with a massive hammer, he must of been the one who hit me, an earth pony, that pegasus that survived its fall, and three diamond dogs. They look slightly burnt but otherwise fine.

They slowly walk towards me grinning like idiots, I try to stand but collapse from the pain I'm in.

The minotaur reaches me and lifts me by my right arm which aggravates the arrow wounds. I look up into his eyes and grin, he looks confused and I shout a thu'um. "Gaan Lah HASS!" {0%} A purple ring of energy hits him in the face as a red mist seeps out from him and into me.

He screams as his skin and muscle shrivel up into a dried husk {38%} {12%}, his grip fails and I'm dropped onto my injured arm. *Thud* {30%} "GAH!" The others look surprised but then charge at me.

Just a few seconds later, a unit of the elite guard rush out and make quick work of them.

I go limp as an unicorn with a gilded suit of armour rushes over and examines me. "Sir don't move, you have some severe injuries including blood loss, we're going to carry you back to the castle, but first I'll have to remove the arrows and cauterise the wounds." I nodded in acknowledgement and brace for the pain.

{25%} I grunt from the sudden pulls and the small beams of magic burning the wounds closed {23%}.

I'm breathing heavily as I'm put onto a stretcher which is levitated a few feet off the floor, I watch as the buildings rush past. Two unicorns, one on each side of me both have their horns aglow, I can feel my wounds slowly heal but not by much {33%}. I'm guessing the one with the red cross on his armour is a healer or medic while the other is carrying me.

I can hear the fighting still going on but I'm too tired from the constant fighting and heavy blows I've taken to stay awake and I pass out.

{55%} {100%} {100%} {100%}

I wake up to the sounds of hooves hitting the floor, orders being given left and right, the groans and screams of pain echoing around me.

Opening my eyes, I look around. I'm on a medical bed with a mare washing medical tools next to me facing the bed to my right, to my left is a pegasus mare removing the bandages on my leg and applying some kind of cream to my arrow wound, I hiss sharply from the burning sting from it making her gasp and face me.

"PRINCESS! PRINCESS! HE'S AWAKE!" she yells as she rushes out the room, another nurse takes over and reapplies new bandages to my leg.

I notice I'm not wearing my armour and my left arm is in a makeshift splint, the nurse bandaging my leg smiles at me. "Just relax, your leg wound has been mostly healed but I'm afraid your arm will need time to heal," she calmly tells me.

I try lifting my left arm but pain shoots through it, I slowly place my right hand on it and try healing it myself, but it only relieved the pain slightly {63%}.

I lay there for a good ten minutes when Celestia walks in and comes to my side. "Farengar, are you feeling alright?" she asks. I notice the bandages are gone from her head now. "What you did was rather reckless, but you saved some lives. Just please be more careful, I don't think Luna could..." She looks down and then at me. "Just come back to her."

I smile and she places her horn onto my left arm, her horn glows a warm golden colour and my arm feels better already, even the arrow wounds no longer sting {100%}.

Celestia pants slightly. "I've learnt a few of your more advanced healing spells and although very effective require a large amount of magic to perform, but I believe you're fully healed now.

"Thanks Celestia. So how long have I been out for? And how's Luna doing?" I ask her.

"Only about thirty minutes since your arrival, I've only just recovered myself, I believe the city has been fully evacuated now but the enemy is trying to break down the shield Shining Armour has placed around the castle. As for Luna, she's awake but still recovering," she replies.

To prove her point, a mild quake echoes through the castle. "That's good. Well then, I feel fine now thanks to you, so I can help fight again," I say as I stand up and jump to test my leg, no pain was felt and I swing my arms a bit receiving none as well.

"That would be most welcome, Shining Armour cannot hold the shield up much longer," she tells me and looks towards the front entrance.

I then frown in thought. "Wait, what happened to Sahloknir, Sharatier, Paarthurnax, and the Greybeards?" I ask her.

"They are defending the cliff entrance where they have been staying, they are the only reason why the enemy has not sneaked into the castle from there yet." I nodded and head over to my gear in the corner of the room. Once re-equipped, Celestia casts a spell and again is clad in the daedric style bound armour, next to her is a large sword as big as mine but hers is engulfed in golden flames.

"What kind of sword is that?" I ask her.

"Hmmm? Oh, just like Luna can make moonsteel, I can make solarsteel. Moonsteel emits moonlight while solarsteel emits sunlight, the main difference is that moonsteel is an ore from the moon while solarsteel is made by smelting steel in a sunforge, a forge fired by the flames of the sun itself, it is a lot harder to make," she tells me.

"Eorlund Gray-mane would love to try that, he operates a forge called the Skyforge to make Skyforged weapons," I reply.

"Well, we can discuss this later, right now we need to seal the hallway leading to the cliff bay, then once Paarthurnax and the others start their attack we shall join in the battle as well."

I do a double take from the look in her eyes, although she looks calm, I can see rage beyond anything I've seen before, a cold shiver went down my spine.

"Celestia, how did they manage to surprise you and Luna? I thought you were strong enough to take on an army?" I ask.

"Due to Luna's pregnancy her magic has been temporarily reduced to prevent any harm to herself or the foal due to her mood swings, the same happens to unicorns as well, as for me, I was in the throne room when a dragon smashed through the wall and I was rendered unconscious by a large section of the wall. I received your letter about ten minutes after I regained my senses, but I was in no condition to fight back till now," she replies.

Behind me are twenty units of the elite and normal guard consisting of thirty ponies, ten of each pony type. The front row are the ten earth ponies with heavy plate armour and large shields on their left shoulders, they also have a mace like right foreleg boot. The unicorns are behind them in robed armour and a variety of staffs each made of a type of wood and gem, the pegasi are hovering above them in light chain armour and spears.

I was about to reply, but a loud quake and roar sound out from the front of the castle.

"And that's our cue," Celestia says.

The doors open and I see Paarthurnax and Sahloknir pinning down two smaller dragons while biting into their necks. Sharatier is breathing fire on a good quarter of the ground troops.

Before I could charge out, Celestia flies out above the enemy forces, her horn glows a bright gold and a beam of golden flame fires off the tip and slams into the enemy below, they're instantly turned to ash from the intense heat and start spreading out.

The units behind me cry out and charge the enemy, the pegasi take off to battle any opponents in the air above their unit providing air support.

The unicorns are firing off blasts of magic at ground targets while the earth ponies slam any that try to get too close or block arrows aimed at the unicorns.

I look to the right and spot a large black dragon flying straight for Celestia. "CELESTIA WATCH OUT!" I yell and fly towards the dragon, Celestia turns in time to see it coming as I slam right into his head knocking it off course just metres away from her.

I'm pulled along with it as it manages to bite into my right arm. {66%} I roar out in agony as it bites down on it taking my hand.