"Charge!"
As the gates swung open, the Imperial Legion surged into the fort. Since opening the gates had been our greatest obstacle, it felt as though the tide of battle was about to turn in an instant.
The Imperial soldiers let out a thunderous roar as they rushed forward, cutting down the Stormcloak soldiers one by one.
However, by pulling the lever and drawing the attention of the Stormcloaks atop the walls, I had suddenly found myself in a precarious position.
"You bastard!"
"It's done...!"
Lowering the lever was the easy part, but every soldier near the mechanism realized what I had done. They swarmed me immediately.
—Vrumm!
Against these numbers, fighting alone was a death sentence. I conjured a shield to block as many strikes as possible and threw myself off the ramparts.
—Thud!
"Ugh!"
I braced the shield with my left arm as I hit the ground, but the shield didn't absorb the entire impact. A stinging pain shot through my arm.
"Mister!"
Eloise came running toward me as I landed outside the fort. Being the healer, she had stayed in the rear. Noticing my arm was likely broken, she immediately began mending it with a restoration spell.
"Phew... that's better."
"You successfully infiltrated the place."
Lydia was also by Eloise's side. As she said, I had succeeded in rescuing the prisoners and opening the gates, but the battle wasn't over yet.
—Shing!
"It's not over yet. Let's finish off these rebels!"
"Understood!"
I shouted while summoning a Flame Atronach. Lydia concurred and drew her weapon.
I began firing bolts into the rebel ranks. Their high armor penetration allowed me to inflict fatal wounds, but there was one glaring issue.
The reload speed of the crossbow was god-awful.
While the heavy hitting power was useful for assassinations or one-on-one duels, that slow reload was a massive liability in a chaotic skirmish against multiple foes.
"Can't be helped...!"
I dropped the crossbow and conjured a bow instead. Though the damage per shot was lower, the ability to fire rapidly was much better suited for this brawl.
As my Conjuration skill grew, the power of my Bound Bow had increased significantly, compensating for its relative weaknesses.
The Imperial Legion, enjoying the advantage of numbers, naturally held the upper hand. The Stormcloak soldiers were being cut down helplessly.
—Neigh!
But just as I aimed at a Stormcloak with my bow, the sound of a horse's whinny echoed from my flank.
Turning toward the noise, I spotted a Stormcloak cavalryman mounted atop a massive horse.
He swung a spear as he carved through the battlefield. With incredible mobility and expert spearwork, he was laying Imperial soldiers to waste.
"Is that what they meant by 'veteran soldiers'?"
Though the Empire had the overall advantage, we were going to take serious losses if we didn't deal with that rider.
I leveled my bow at the cavalryman. I caught my breath, stilled my heart, and aimed at the magnified target before releasing the arrow.
—Fwish!
The arrow sliced through the air, destined to pierce his head...
"Clang!"
—But it didn't.
The rider deflected my ethereal arrow with the shaft of his spear. Deciding I was a nuisance, he yanked the reins and galloped straight for me.
'Why is he so huge?!'
As the rider drew closer, I was stunned by his sheer scale. Between the massive breed of horse common to the North and the sturdy frame of the man in the saddle, he loomed nearly three meters tall.
In my moment of hesitation, the rider reached me and lunged his spear tip at my throat.
—Thwack!
"Gah!"
I threw myself aside just in time to avoid a pierced throat, but the spear carved a deep gash into my shoulder.
With my increased Health, I normally wouldn't have been injured this badly, but the combination of the rider's skill and the horse's momentum made for a lethal strike.
I pressed my hand firmly against the wound to stem the bleeding. The rider circled back for another charge after passing me.
—Crack!
This time, he swung the spear like a club. My mobility was hampered by the injury, and I took the blow directly to the head.
Blood poured from my scalp, trickling down my cheek.
'I'm going to die at this rate!'
There were plenty of Imperial soldiers around, but everyone was too busy fighting their own Stormcloaks to help me. I watched in a mixture of despair and fear as the rider looped around the fort again, preparing his final pass.
Just as he swung his spear to deliver the killing blow—
"Mister Bart!"
"Lydia!?"
Lydia, our dependable tank, had arrived. She leaped to my side, intercepting the spear with her shield to protect me.
Since Eloise was too far away, I fumbled for a Healing Potion in my vest. I poured it over my shoulder and head before chugging the rest.
The potion worked quickly; the bleeding stopped, and the wounds began to knit back together almost immediately.
While I recovered, the rider charged again, this time aiming for Lydia's throat.
—Slash!
"What?!"
Lydia's swordsmanship outclassed his spearwork. She didn't just block; she severed the head of his spear in a single stroke. The weapon was reduced to a useless wooden pole.
Shocked by her skill, the rider turned his horse and tried to flee in the opposite direction.
Regaining my senses thanks to the potion, I conjured an ethereal javelin and hurled it at the retreating figure with all my might.
—Squeal!
The summoned javelin buried itself in the horse's hind leg. The beast shrieked and collapsed sideways.
"Aaagh!"
Thrown by the momentum, the rider was tossed from the saddle and tumbled across the frozen ground for several meters.
With neither horse nor spear, he was no longer a feared cavalryman—he was just another pathetic foot soldier.
"W-wait! Wait!"
As Lydia and I approached with our weapons drawn, the man scrambled backward on his hands and knees.
"Nothing personal."
He tried to kill me, so I was simply returning the favor.
I conjured a sword and drove it straight into his skull.
After finishing off the rider, Lydia and I helped the Legion mopping up the remaining rebels. The victory was total and without further surprises.
Once the fort was secured, Rikke led us and the Legion directly into Winterhold to confront the Jarl in his longhouse.
"Halt! You'll go no further unless you step over our corpses!"
A handful of Stormcloaks remained to defend the city, but when surrounded by over fifty Imperial soldiers, they quickly lost their will to fight and surrendered.
—Thud
Rikke and I marched into the Jarl's office. Jarl Korir looked as though he had been expecting this.
"So, it finally comes to this..."
Standing before Korir, Rikke unfurled an arrest warrant issued by General Tullius.
"Korir, Jarl of Winterhold. You are hereby charged with siding with the rebel leader Ulfric, inciting chaos in a peaceful Skyrim, and leading countless souls to their deaths. You are stripped of your title and placed under arrest. From this moment, administrative and governing authority over Winterhold is transferred to Kraldar. Do you have anything to say?"
When Rikke finished reading the declaration, Jarl Korir hung his head in gloom.
"No... I do not."
"Take him away."
Accepting his fate, Korir was led away by the Imperial soldiers without resistance. Rikke watched him go, a look of relief washing over her face.
"Now, all that's left..."
"Is Windhelm," I finished for her.
"Exactly. It will likely be the hardest battle we've faced yet."
She echoed my thoughts. The Stormcloak army, their officers, and Ulfric himself—who had mastered the Thu'um.
The battle at Windhelm would be no simple task. It would surely demand a great sacrifice.
"Well, that's a problem for another time. Use that mysterious magic of yours to report to General Tullius immediately."
"Yes, ma'am."
Leaving the cleanup of Winterhold to the new Jarl, Kraldar, Rikke departed for the Legion's base near Windhelm.
"Good work..."
"You too, Lydia."
Once she was gone, I regrouped with Eloise and Lydia.
"If only Haneul were here..."
Though we had won the battle and completed the mission, the mood of our party was still haggard.
It was because Choi Ha-neul, our mood-maker, was missing. How could we be happy when our companion had been brainwashed and joined the side of monsters?
While the method to bring her back remained a mystery, we needed to recover from the exhaustion of battle first. We headed to the inn in Winterhold.
Settling into a table in the corner, we ordered food and waited in silence for the meal to arrive.
"Mercer should have reached the guild by now."
"He's probably spread lies claiming we're the traitors."
"I just hope those guild idiots are willing to listen to reason."
Suddenly, the cellar door behind the inn's counter swung open, and a familiar voice drifted out.