Cyrodiil Options

[Alexander]

Ok, so for the unavoidable introduction babble, as most of you know I was rather pleased with Morrowind. I thought it was far better then the dribble I wrote prior to that, and most people seemed to agree with me. After I finished Morrowind I already had an idea for a sequel, I actually wrote the very first chapter of said sequel while I was posting up parts of Morrowind. Unfortunately though, after that first chapter I kind of lost interest. I didn’t think the ideas I had back then were enough to weave an entire story together, and I was probably right.

But as these things have a habit of developing themselves, over the past months I kept thinking back to the sequel, and kept adding ideas to the pile I already had. Now it’s done. I once again enjoyed writing this, and I hope you’ll have similar fun reading it.

As I’ve explained in the past, I’m not very good at making up things like titles, Akatosh knows it took me about as long to come up with the various titles of the chapters as it did to write the entire thing, so I’ve named the story “Cyrodiil” (catchy wot? )

Before I end my babbling and get on with posting the story, I once again would like to thank Treydog for agreeing to help with my story as editor, and for fixing the many, many, many grammatical and spelling errors, and placing every comma, semicolon and whatchamacallit in the correct place. And thanks to everyone who ever read Morrowind, and commented. I really enjoy the comments.


Now, while you don’t have to have read Morrowind, I believe in order to get the most out of Cyrodiil, it would be recommended.


So, enough babbling and on to Cyrodiil.

[Alexander]

Chapter 15. Disclosure.

Once the captured Argonian saw the inside of the torture chambers at Cheydinhal, he was more then happy to talk. They had gathered there with only a few men; Ocato was there, alongside Jauffre and the emperor to be. Ocato was determined not to let the former Jester out of his sight even for a few minutes. After having gone through the trouble to get him here, he wasn’t about to lose him again.

They were joined by the Count of Cheydinhal; Andel Indarys and Balen Sarethi, who after having consulted his Archmaster in Blacklight using a scrying mirror, had decided to stay a while longer. Ocato was happy to have him, as he and his Redoran elite warriors had proven themselves during the failed ambush.

The tale of the Argonian confirmed much that Ocato thus far had only suspected. Countess Valga had been behind the deaths of Counts Terentius and Caro. The Argonian also told them of how a messenger had arrived a day ago and told the Argonians when and where to expect the column with the emperor. Obviously it was as Ocato had suspected; someone had intercepted his messenger to his bodyguard and thus found out the route the column was taking.

The Argonian further told of some of the conversations that had taken place while he was present, including Valga’s intentions to basically kill anyone who stood in her way, from the other counts and countesses to Ocato himself. It became clear Countess Valga would do anything to get her way. At first it might have been simply about turning Cyrodiil back to a kingdom, closing the borders and Cyrodiil keeping to itself, but over the weeks it had grown to ambitions to put a puppet emperor on the throne of Cyrodiil and rule by proxy. Clearly these were the ambitions of a very disturbed, very dangerous woman.

Throughout the confession of the Argonian, Ocato had seen the Duke of Cheydinhal become increasingly uneasy. Ocato wanted to point this out to Balen Sarethi, but a glance at him showed Ocato that the Redoran was already well aware of it. After the Argonian had told them what he knew, Ocato had him put into a cell; he might prove valuable later on. As the Argonian was taken from the room, Ocato looked over at Count Indarys.

“Well Andel, would you like to add something to the story of the Argonian?”

Falling to his knees, Andel Indarys looked up at Ocato with tears in his eyes. “I swear, Chancellor, I knew nothing of this attack. Please forgive me for betraying your trust.”

“So I was right then, Andel; you’ve been in the pocket of Countess Valga haven’t you? That’s why you voted in favor of turning Cyrodiil into a separate nation, right?”

“Yes my lord, you were, and I was. I had no choice; she knows things about me, things that would destroy me, and what remains of my family. But in light of what I heard, I cannot remain silent any longer, not even should it be the end of me.” He bowed his head and continued in a low voice:

“During the last war, I secretly had meetings with the Mythic Dawn cult. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do. I saw how little Uriel Septim cared for, and helped House Hlaalu in their struggle against the Telvanni in the war, and when he was killed and Mankar Camoran proclaimed himself to be the rightful new emperor, I thought he might be more sympathetic to the cause of my family members still in Morrowind, and that was exactly what the Mythic Dawn promised me to get my cooperation.”

“It goes to show you, Chancellor Ocato; you can never trust a Hlaalu,” Balen said in a gruff voice.

Ocato ignored this for the moment and asked, “But I remember you as one of the most fervent allies in our struggle against the Mythic Dawn. What happened? What made you change your opinion of them?”

“After several meetings in rundown bars and secluded locations, I grew emboldened and invited a ranking Mythic Dawn member into one of my private chambers for a meeting. It would be one of the final meetings before I joined the cult. Disaster struck before I could though, because during the meeting, my wife, Akatosh guide her soul, stumbled across the cultist and me. She was appalled when she saw the man I was with, and made it known very clearly. I asked the man to leave so I could talk it over with my wife, but she would not change her mind. She made it clear if I pursued this course, she would leave me.”

“I went to bed that night feeling miserable and was determined to cut off all ties to the Mythic Dawn. I would not lose the love of my life for anything. When I woke up the next morning, my wife was not lying next to me, and I found the entire castle buzzing with uneasy silence. I tried asking some servants what was wrong, but most hurried away as soon as they saw me. Finally my son came to me, crying. He never cries, and he told me his mother had gone for a stroll on the battlements sometime during the night, and somehow lost her balance and fallen to her death. A guard found her there that morning. Everyone just assumed it was a freak accident, but I knew better. I’ve never heard of someone falling twenty feet to their deaths and not uttering a single cry.”

“When next I saw the Mythic Dawn member that had been there with me that night, he admitted to first knocking my wife out, and then throwing her off the battlement. He did it to preserve his identity, he told me. And he apologized for it. Can you imagine that, he offered me his apologies. Even after I had him tortured, he still had that innocent smile on his face. He died with it and ever since all I could think of was getting my revenge by killing as many of the Mythic Dawn as I could.”

“But where does Countess Valga fit into all this?” Ocato asked.

“Some weeks ago, after the first failed vote, when she initiated the plan to withdraw all remaining Legions to the imperial province and see only to Cyrodiil, she came to me. She told me she knew all about what happened; she told me my wife, on the night she died, sent her a letter explaining she had caught me with someone from the Mythic Dawn and asking for advice. Valga threatened to show the letter to the rest of the Council, but above all to my son. He is everything to me, and even the thought of him seeing me responsible for the death of his mother, and make no mistake about it, I am, fills me with dread.”

“But knowing all that, I cannot go on supporting Valga, I nearly betrayed my rightful emperor once; I will not come close to that again.” Turning to emperor-to-be Dilbor, he spoke, “Before all here I proclaim you emperor of Tamriel and my rightful ruler. Do with me as you will, take my land, my titles, my freedom, my life. I would rather die than betray you.”

Ocato looked at Dilbor and wondered if he should speak in his stead.. One side of him wanted to summon a Daedroth and order it to rip Andel apart. Another side of him wanted to offer him a word of comfort. Dilbor took the choice away from Ocato though when he spoke after apparently a few moments of thought.

“Count Indarys, it seems to me any punishment I can come up with is as dust compared to the punishment you’ve been giving yourself since your wife’s untimely death. I thank you for your show of support, but I am not emperor yet. I therefore only have a favor to ask of you. Chancellor Ocato has told me how fervent you were in your battles with the Mythic Dawn, and now the reason is clear. I would only ask you to join us, with as many men as Cheydinhal can spare and lead them as we do battle with Countess Valga and whomever would support her, and forever after that until the end of one of our lives.”

“It would be my honor, Emperor.”

Ocato smiled. With this the new Emperor surely had found the first of many brave allies he would need to keep the Empire together in these troubling times.