"Well now, it seems that our closing of the Oblivion Gate has inspired the guards to fight once more," Rend commented, stepping up next to Nightmare as he stared at the iron gates that served as the entrance to Kvatch, "Captain Savlian has asked for our assistance in ridding this city of any daedra that are still wandering the streets, to which I have agreed to aid him in this manner."
"You help them out and get to Martin at the same time," Nightmare said, turning back to look at her companion, "trust me, Rend Orgresh, I am familiar with how things get done. We do something for someone else, granted that helping them reclaim this burning town is the something in question, and in return we get some aid to further our own goals, such as Brother Martin. Once we have dealt with the daedra I'm sure that the guards will want to hail you as the liberator of their fair town."
There had been a time when Nightmare had to do something similar to what they were doing, though she had been helping the Griffin Kingdom deal with one of their enemies. The Dragon Empire had marched into one of their settlements and decimated the entire place, scattering the griffins that called the town home and torching their homes. King Raketalon, on the urges of his son Blackwing, had called upon her assistance in the matter and had even offered her a personal favor if she would help him out. All she had to do was descend upon their army, trash them with as much power as she wanted, scare them back into their region, and make sure the griffins reclaimed the town that had been taken.
Nightmare had jumped at the chance to show the Dragon Emperor that the griffins and ponies weren't to be underestimated in battle, showing that they had an alliance that could not be broken. Her sister wasn't too pleased when she found out that she had fought off the Dragon Empire for the Griffin Kingdom, without consulting her before she opened a 'new set of problems' as she called it.
"Yes, I can see that you have some experience with this," Rend commented, raising an eyebrow as he observed her, "however, this is the path that we must take to achieve our goal. We had best deal with the daedra before they're able to summon any more of those vile gateways of theirs."
Nightmare nodded and the group followed the excited guards into the city, keeping their weapons at the ready in case there were any more daedra hanging around. The moment they entered the city they found that there were daedra left behind to deal with whoever survived the initial attack, though there had to be a good two dozen of them in the courtyard alone. Rend charged forward, his blades spinning in a fury of blows as he disarmed one daedric warrior, slew it where it stood, and then proceeded to do the same to another one right next to him.
Shadow, seeing three warriors coming his way, held up his weapon, uttered a prayer to the Divines for strength, and dodged as the first warrior came at him. He pulled himself up, spun around, and sank his weapon into the warrior's side, breaking through the armor and driving the blade deep into his enemy's heart. He proceeded to pull the blade out so he could fight again, but as he did so one of the other warriors came up to him and brought its sword down hard, hitting Shadow's blade in the center and shattering it almost immediately. Shadow, seeing a two handed silver greatsword laying on the ground behind him, rolled back before the warriors got on top of him, picked the heavy blade up, and swung at the two warriors, somehow lifting the weapon high enough to sever both of their heads at the same time.
Pandora, seeing that she had to contend with five daedric archers, pulled an arrow from her quiver, pulled the string back, and loosed the arrow so hard that the archer it hit fell within seconds. The other four noticed their comrade fall, so they pulled out their own arrows, nocked them within seconds, and took aim on her, releasing them in her direction. Pandora dropped down low, letting the arrows fly into the wall behind her, and pulled an arrow back that tore through a second archer with ease. Before the third or fourth archer could react Pandora picked two more arrows out and loosed them, tearing down the both of them as the last one noticed the exchange. The last one loosed an arrow that drew close to her, passing by her ear and barely missing her, though Pandora loosed an arrow right into its heart and felled it before it hit the ground.
The rest of the daedra were focused on Nightmare, who descended upon them within seconds of Rend and the others beginning their fights with the smaller groups. She spun her battleaxe around and brought it down on one of the warriors, separating its head from its body in seconds, before turning around and cutting the arms off of another warrior. One of them came right at her with the intent on hitting her in the back, but Nightmare felt him coming and spun around, letting her wings clip the warrior and knocked it into one of the ruined buildings so hard it was impaled immediately. The remaining warriors came her way, but she was prepared for them as her weapon met them in battle, cutting off their heads, their arms, their legs, or just plain butchering them.
The archers, seeing their comrades fall so easily, took aim on Nightmare and prepared to loose their arrows at her, but she saw them on top of the buildings and raised her hand towards them. At first nothing happened, but then small black daggers shot out of her mane and pierced three of the remaining five archers in their chests, cutting into their armor. The three archers than turned their arrows on their own comrades, filling them full of holes until they were the last three daedra standing in the courtyard. Nightmare smiled and leapt onto the area the archers were on, her battleaxe spinning as she separated their heads from their bodies, silencing their enemies at least.
"I...I don't believe it..." Captain Savlian struggled to say, having now witnessed the abilities of the Queen of Knights for himself, "Your even greater than the stories I have heard."
"Thanks," Nightmare replied, shrugging to Rend as they approached the ruined chapel.
Inside the chapel they found a group of civilians gathering around each other, chatting about what was happening outside, while one of them sat near the shrine, no doubt praying for the aid of the Divines. Nightmare didn't need to be told which one of the survivors was the person they were searching for, but she allowed Rend to approach the priest while she hung back. As she stood there she could feel the eyes of everyone on her, but she was used to the treatment thanks to her time in the arena, though she heard them whisper among themselves and even spotted one of them pointing at her. Rend and Brother Martin continued to talk for some time, with Martin pointing at her once or twice and Rend following up with whatever he said to the priest.
Eventually Rend and Martin walked over to the others, though Nightmare was glad that they had finally settled things and they could get back to the Priory.
"Well? Has he considered all of us to be mad yet?" Pandora asked, letting a chuckle escape before silencing herself.
"I see that you are plagued by Sheogorath's Madness," Martin said, stepping forward and offering a prayer for her, "I've heard that there's a door to the Shivering Isles somewhere in Cyrodiil, so maybe you can investigate the rumors and find something to calm the madness down a bit."
"He considered us all to be liars until he decided that the Divines truly had a plan for him," Rend said, before beckoning to the captain, "but I promised that we'd retake Kvatch before we left. Nightmare, would you like to help me clean out the daedra?"
"I, too, would enjoy purging this city of the daedra," Shadow sighed, knowing where this conversation would be going, "but someone must look after Martin while you hunt the daedra down, not to mention watch Pandora. Go, clear out the daedra, then we'll begin the journey back to the priory."
"But I must deliver the madness to the daedra!" Pandora said, though she was being lead out of the city by both Martin and Shadow.
"Let's do this then," Rend said, drawing his weapons again as the two of them walked into the open area behind the chapel.
Sure enough there were more daedra waiting for them, but Nightmare leapt into the air, sailed over most of their heads, and landed behind a pair of warriors, her battleaxe taking their heads in one fell swoop. Rend grinned and parried an attack from one of the warriors, only to drive blade into its heart as he heard the sound of bows being drawn behind him. To his relief the soldiers that were fighting on their side were taking to fighting from a distance, providing cover fire for the two of them while they mowed down the enemies. With the combined might of Rend, Nightmare, and their archers, they cut down the daedra that surrounded the gate that lead into the main castle, only to find it locked tight.
"How are we supposed to open this then?" Rend asked, turning to face the captain, "Please tell me there's a hidden gate that we can use to get in."
"Well, we'll need to talk with one of my soldiers in the camp to get the key to the sewers," the Captain replied, "which unlocks the grate on the other side of this part of the city. Then you'll have to traverse a tunnel or two to find the path leading into the castle's courtyard, before you can unlock the gate....where did the Queen of Knights go?"
Rend looked around for a moment, noticing that his comrade had suddenly disappeared in the middle of learning what they needed to do to open the gate, until he heard the sound of the gate being pulled up. He turned around and noticed Nightmare standing behind the gate, beckoning for them to join her before planting her battleaxe in the chest of an enemy. He would have wondered how she could have done all of that without hearing the Captain out, but then he remembered that she had wings and had likely flown off the moment she heard where the crank was located.
The rest of them poured into the castle's courtyard, arrows piercing the daedra's hides while Rend's blades cut them down those that remained where they stood. Nightmare walked up to the doors and passed through, her weapon spinning around the moment the daedra noticed her enter the castle and came at her. She made sure to separate their heads from their bodies, but those that didn't receive that treatment were sliced and diced before they could understand why they lost. Eventually the entrance was cleared, so she continued her advance inwards, seeking more daedra until she was one hundred percent sure that they had been removed.
"Just what is she?" the Captain commented, watching Nightmare tear through the daedra like they were nothing, "I find it impossible to imagine that any mortal could fight off so many daedra without being wounded or even run out of energy, though she has surpassed both of those with ease."
"I'm not exactly sure what she is either," Rend spoke up, prepared to follow his ally, "all I do know is that she is on our side, so we stand a very good chance at dealing with the daedric threat now. We'll find the Count and make sure he's alive, or bring back his sigil ring if he's dead."
Without waiting for a reply Rend followed after Nightmare, cutting down one of the daedra that decided to attack her from behind, though she nodded at him and they marched in together. There weren't very many daedra left in the castle at that point, though those that remained charged at them as they approached, only to find their weapons stalled by Nightmare's battleaxe. Many of the remaining warriors lost their arms in the process, though those that avoided such a fate were quickly removed by Rend, who made sure to avoid the battleaxe's head. Eventually they arrived at the Count's chambers, only when they arrived they found that the Count had been slain and was lying down in a pool of his own blood.
Rend, offering the Count a peaceful journey to the afterlife, gently removed the Sigil Ring from the Count's finger and nodded to Nightmare, telling her that they could make their way back outside. When they reached the Captain he was devastated once he learned that they were too late to save the Count, though he gladly accepted the Sigil Ring with a heavy heart. With the deed done they began the journey back to the camp at the base of the hill, though Rend made sure to grab each and every daedric weapon he could get his hands on. Nightmare knew what it was almost immediately, it was an offering to Shadow, in an apology for not letting him come along in the fight against the daedra.
She remembered that, back during her assault against the Dragon Empire, she had done something similar to what Rend was doing, though not for the same reasons. After one of her victories against the dragons she had taken one of their flags, gave it a few enchantments to keep it together till the end of time, and delivered it as a prize to the Griffin King. It furthered the trust between her and Raketalon and, as a bonus, the bond between the two kingdoms grew with the deed, though she had planned on making the griffins complete allies to her and her sister, and vise versa. Though, as she suspected, her sister wasn't too keen on the idea of allying themselves with the griffins, despite Nightmare's attempts to persuade her to think otherwise.
Once the two of them made their way out of Kvatch they found their friends waiting for them; Martin looking like he wanted to get underway almost immediately, Shadow kneeling and praying to the Divines yet again, and Pandora with her bow drawn, hitting whatever was at the base of the hill that had offended her.
"Shadow, I bring gifts for you," Rend said, placing the stack of weapons in the fire for his friend to see.
"Evil and vile weapons these are," Shadow commented, pulling out a pouch and taking a pinch of dust out of it, "I shall purify these weapons with this dust, so that they cannot be used by anyone again."
Nightmare wasn't sure what the dust would do, but the moment it was added to the fire the flames began to eat at the weapons, somehow breaking metal into pieces until they were suddenly no more. Again she had witnessed the power of the Divines, but she wasn't sure what she was seeing or even which of the Nine was caused the change. Shadow nodded and the group got underway, Pandora running up to them as they walked away from Kvatch with a pack full of assorted meats. Nightmare noted that what she had been doing was hunting, no doubt preparing for some sort of dinner they could prepare when they arrived at the priory.
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When they arrived at the priory they found that it was under attack by some red robe wearing cultists, though by the speed of which her companions drew their weapons it was clear to Nightmare that they knew what was going on. One of the cultists reached for one of the priests, but Pandora put an arrow in his chest and knocked him to the ground, saving the priest from an untimely death. A group came at Rend and Shadow, but they swiftly met their end as their hearts were pierced by Rend's daedric swords and Shadow's new greatsword. Nightmare, spotting one cultist heading into a sitting area, moved in after him and surprised him before he could do any harm to Jauffre, who seemed glad to have help.
Jauffre beckoned for Nightmare to follow and together they headed back into the main building, where they headed up the stairs and entered a room that rested across from his desk. Once they were inside Jauffre was devastated the moment he opened the chest that rested beside the bed, which looked like it had been ransacked recently.
"They have the Amulet," Jauffre moaned, "the Mythic Dawn have beaten us at every turn."
"Not this time," Rend commented, walking into the open chamber with Shadow, Pandora, and Martin right behind him, "We saved Martin from Kvatch, so that means that the Septim line is still very much alive. We just need to get him somewhere safe, somewhere where the Mythic Dawn would never think to look for him."
"Cloud Ruler Temple," Jauffre said, his eyes lighting up as he realized that there was still hope, "but not right now. I am well aware that you have been through a lot today, so I suggest that we get some dinner started and then get some sleep before we rise early tomorrow."
Nightmare agreed that the plan was sound and let them go about their business, either making dinner, in the case of Shadow and Martin, surveying the outside, as Pandora was known for doing, or talking strategy, which Rend and Jauffre were doing. All she did for the moment was look outside and stared at the starry night, silently wishing that she was home, so she could stare up at her own moon and her own night.