Alik'rian Nights: Volume The First: Of Adamant And Beyond: Part 2: Rise Of The Scarab King

By this time, it was very late and well past time for sleep. The fire had gone out and the coals were growing cold. I had found Greatpapa’s tale riveting, but even so, my eyes were beginning to betray me. Greatpapa could see this and well knew the hour. He came over and picked me up. I tried to protest and begged him to continue the story, but my pleas were futile. So tired was I, that I don’t even remember him tucking me in.
The following morning I awoke early to the sound of much activity. We were striking camp and preparing for the final day of our journey. By midday, we would reach the city where we would begin to sell our wares. After breakfast, I tried to reach my Greatpapa to continue the story, but too much was going on for him to pay me any attention.
Strongly I desired him to tell me what would happen next, so I did everything I could to assist the others. Perhaps if we finished quickly, he would tell me more. My diligence surprised everyone greatly; since I was still very young. I had spent most of my days playing with the other children in the caravan, and had not been of much help in practical matters.
The morning went quickly and soon we were on our way. Even with the caravan moving on schedule, there was still too much work for Greatpapa to pause. Within a few hours we were within sight of the city and preparations were already being made for our next encampment outside the walls.
You may have already guessed that the rest of the day was full of activity and little storytelling. Alas, it was true. The life of a caravan is a hard one and little time remains for lore and reflection (one of the reason I became a historian!). By that evening however, once the sun had set and the city gates had been closed, my incessant crying wearied Greatpapa, and he began again.

The Seprine made the journey back to Sentinel. News of the Aldmeri invasion would have already reached them, but none knew of the evil secret he had discovered. The alliance between the Thalmor and the Dwemer had changed the balance of power in dramatic ways. The Redguard were not prepared for their coming.
Using the contacts he had made during his last visit to the capital, he was able to meet with the suzerains of the Crown and Forebear factions. The Aldmeri advance had been quick and devastating; several cities having already fallen under mysterious circumstances. An air of uncertainty filled the hearts of the people and their leaders. The armies of both Redguard factions were already moving, but there was no harmony between their movements.
The Seprine tried to explain the gravity of the situation; of the return of the dwarves, yet no one would believe him. It was true that none had returned recently from a dwarven ruin, but they suspected it was due more to a coincidental surge in the presence of the Falmer.
Both the Crowns and the Forebears recognized that the Aldmeri were acting far more aggressively than during their first invasion, but still they remained confident that the strength of the Redguard’s solid thighs would still be enough to repel the vile elves. The independent Crowns were steadfast in their arrogance, but the Forebear suzerain, Alzaeim Alhakim, was a wise and prudent man.
If on the off chance what this Scarab had told them was true, the situation was far darker and more serious than they realized. The Forebears held possession of much of the southern areas of the province; therefore, they stood to lose far more against the elves and he wasn’t one to take chances lightly.
He charged our Scarab with bringing them proof of Dwemer involvement. If our Scarab could do this, he pledged that he would follow our Scarab’s banner in the coming engagements. Then speaking more softly, he asked for one further favor. The Aldmeri would soon reach the city of Belkarth Guard, where his youngest son, Abn Jamil, was in charge of the forces. He tasked our Scarab with delivering a letter of warning, so that they might be prepared against the impending threat.

Leaving quickly, our Scarab made good time on his journey to Belkarth, but it was not fast enough. The Aldmeri army was soon on his heels and he reached the city only moments before the enemy arrived; The city guard sealing the gates immediately after he entered. There would be no leaving from this point on.
Our Scarab quickly located the city’s commander and provided him the message. It was a letter of warning; not regarding the Aldmeri army, rather imploring him to watch for dangers from the mountain. Belkarth, you see, had been founded for the primary purpose of guarding an ancient Dwemer ruin buried deep upon the height.
Long, long ago, the Dwarves had once lived there, but a dragon called Bovul Ahzid Strunmah had mercilessly driven them out toward the end of the merthic dragon war. The ruin had been silent for ages, but the city stood guard nevertheless, ready to protect the land from whatever still remained.
Commander Jamil took the warning to heart, but the besieging army at his gates was the priority. Together, they made their way to the top of the wall. Outside waited a Thalmor diplomat seeking the city’s surrender. Jamil declined the Thalmor’s offer and told many tales of the horror the Aldmeri had wrought upon their last visit.
With a sweep of his hand, the commander ordered massive vats of molten iron poured from the battlements. The burning liquid poured forth at the base of the gate, sealing it permanently and catching the Thalmor ablaze. As the diplomat ran back in agony, trumpets and horns sounded a war cry. Jamil and the Seprine turned to the mountain as a great rumbling and groaning sounded from the earth.
They looked on in horror as a section of the cliff gave way and buried the city keep beneath its weight. Massive sinkholes formed in the streets and from them sprang streams of Falmer berserkers and heavy Dwemer shock troops. Within moments the city guard lost cohesion and blinding terror descended upon the whole population. Desperately, Jamil ordered the Seprine into the tunnels to try and find a way to seal them.

Once inside, our Scarab found that all the openings seemed to be fed by a single massive tunnel leading under the mountain. There was but one weakness near the point where the main tunnel broke into the numerous smaller outlets. Lighting a fire against the supports, he was able to collapse the tunnel, but at great cost. He had not been able to escape in time. Now our Scarab was trapped at the base of a mountain with utter darkness between him and escape.
As he explored the system of passages and caves, he found himself within the deepest reaches of the old Dwemer city. While once only ruins, the Dwarves had been hard at work rebuilding their infrastructure. There were many dangers for him here and the penalty for leaving the shadows was harsh. It would not be easy for him to make his way up through the mountain, but there were no other options available to him.
As he passed quietly through the maze of rooms and passages, he soon found the palace of the local dwarf lord. Upon sneaking inside, he came across the office of the Aldmeri detachment to the city. There, on the desk was a letter between the Thalmor representative and the Aldmeri government. Within its pages was the dark secret of the Thalmor’s plans.
It revealed that the invasion of Hammerfell was merely the means to an evil end. It was their intention to reach the great tower of Adamant and to destroy not only that, but also the convention of the gods themselves!
The Seprine knew that the Redguard needed to know this at once, for the fate of the whole world and all the peoples therein hung in the balance. He accelerated his escape, but there was one last trial for him to endure within the mountain. Though he had tried to pass through the Dwarven city unnoticed, still his presence had been felt. Nearing the exit, he came upon a great hall within which waited the city’s chief tonal architect and engineer.
He had created a technological marvel beyond words; a gigantic suit of armor, nearly the height of two men! Vapor erupted from its seams as the mechanical construct attacked the Seprine unrelentingly. The great gears and cogs of the machine bore the enormous weight of such armor, and the Dwemer who sat within laughed and laughed for he needed expend no effort to crush this little scarab into paste.
Enraged, with a mission and purpose behind him, the Seprine is a warrior without equal. With no more than his bare hands, he tore the armored plates from the great machine, smashed the inner workings, and slew the devilish mer within.
But now with his foe defeated, he left the city of the deep elves and once again walked the surface of Nirn. As he stood at the peak of the mountain, his gaze fell upon Belkarth Guard along the plain. He was overcome with grief, for the city had completely fallen. His eyes passed over the gates and watched as the Aldmeri troops passed through them; securing their conquest. Even as he watched, the great bulk of the army was beginning to move to their next target. This war was not going well.

With much haste, he returned to Sentinel with grim news. Belkarth had been expected to hold for at least a month, but the Dominion had taken in a matter of hours. Word had reached the Crowns and the Forebears of the battle, and they had heard of our Scarab’s heroism and the shocking method the Dwarves had used to capture the city. There was no mistaking it now. The Dwemer had returned.
This news reached them with rumors ever more serious. The Aldmeri were advancing with breathtaking speed, and many small towns and villages had already been wiped from the map. Some suggested that genocide was coming, for the whispers of how the Aldmeri were treating the human population were unspeakable.
The Seprine urged unity and cooperation, but the suzerain of the Crowns, Malik La'Yarham, would not hear of it. It had been guerrilla tactics and assassinations which had driven the Aldmeri back during the first invasion, and he planned on utilizing the same strategy again. Traditional warfare was of little interest to him.
With no resolution and seemingly little else to gain, the council of kings broke down and retired. There would be no unified Hammerfell. With little time to despair, Suzerain Alzaeim Alhakim came again to the Seprine to ask his assistance. The next city the Aldmeri were to take was Taneth on the coast north of Rihad. Since the Seprine was the only one with experience against the dwarves, the Forebear king tasked him with managing the city’s defense against the coming wrath.

As he prepared to leave however, chance afforded him an unexpected blessing. The Forebear Prince, and Crown Princess, came to him in secret with a plan. Princess Aibnatu Rashiqa was a rebellious one, and very idealistic. She did not agree with her father’s assessment and had been losing faith in him. If the rumors of genocide were true, there would be no time to conduct a guerrilla campaign. Showing the influence of the Forebear Prince, Amir Madrus, upon her, she recognized that it was their duty to protect and serve the population, not create their own legends of tragedy and heroism.
So with fear and trembling, she forged a letter in her father's hand. In it, she placed the armies of the Crowns in the command of the Seprine and instructed them to support the city of Taneth. Such an action was treason, but they felt that no alternative could be found. If just one city was able to halt the Aldmeri blitzkrieg, perhaps it could slow their advance long enough to organize a true defense.

Thus empowered, the Seprine made for Taneth. He arrived as the commanders of the city were struggling to prepare for the assault. Preparations for this battle would be very different from the previous. Taneth sat in a narrow gap between the mountains and the sea. Thus wedged, no long siege would be possible for there was no way the Aldmeri army might surround the city. It was a location of incredible strategic importance and would be the hinge on which the coming war would turn.
The Seprine joined them in the task of preparation while they waited for the arrival of the Crown army. They worked quickly, but before long, the vile elves were upon them and the attack began. The Dwarves had come prepared and had brought with them a siege engine the likes of which had never been seen before.
The Seprine watched from the walls as the Dwemer assembled themselves upon a nearby hill. They set up a great tube of bronze filled with magic powder and sealed with a great stone. The defenders had thought themselves ready for anything, but they were not ready for what came. With a resounding boom, like thunder, the cannon roared with fire.
The missile struck the walls with impossible force and did unbelievable damage, knocking the defenders flat. Jumping to their feet, they watched in terror as the Dwemer loaded the next shot. The wall had held the first barrage, but it would not hold many more. Unless something changed drastically in the next few moments, doom would be upon them.
The Seprine learned that there was a secret passage out of the city which led to a spot behind the Aldmeri lines. Appointing someone to take charge of the defense, he assembled for himself a small strike force. If they could disable or destroy the Dwarven Cannon, perhaps there might be hope.
The passage led them out into the canyon which existed along the road leading up to the city. The Aldmeri had passed over the great bridge when they arrived, but now their backs were exposed to the cliffs. Climbing briskly and carefully along the wall, they made it up to the plateau.
Perceiving that the magic powder the cannon consumed was volatile in the extreme, the band of warriors jumped suddenly into the unsuspecting Dwarves. Gathering all the barrels of powder under the artillery, they lit it ablaze. The roar of fire and death was heard across the whole of Tamriel! Not since the wrath of the Red Mountain had anyone seen such fury!
Shocked and discordant by the eruption, the attack force fell into disarray. While all this had been going on, the Crown army had arrived and filled the city. Sensing the proper moment to strike, the commander of the city ordered an immediate counter-attack. Like a great river Redguard soldiers poured forth from the gates and utterly overwhelmed the panicked elves. So fierce was their retreat that the great weight of their multitude was too much for the bridge. It collapsed from beneath them and sent hundreds falling to their damnation. What enemy remained were quickly killed or captured.

There was no time to dawdle though. News of their victory needed to be taken to Sentinel posthaste. Yet when he arrived, there was not joy, but weeping. Suzerain La'Yarham had learned of his daughters treasonous actions and had ordered her imprisonment and execution. Furthermore, in his great rage, he had ordered the armies of the Crowns to disband and conduct underground operations from henceforth.
The suzerain’s advisers and consorts begged him to see reason, but alas, it was to no avail. The darkness of the hour was great, but despair the Seprine could not! Prince Amir came to him and asked for his assistance in rescuing the princess. Wasting no time, they proceeded to the location of her imprisonment and released her. She was equally incensed by her father's actions and knew that the situation was too grim to permit.
Begging another favor, princess Rashiqa asked the Seprine to gather the other Crown lords and princes together so that she might speak with them. It took little time to assemble, for everyone could feel the impending evil air. She spoke to them with beautiful stirring words.
She said that the tyranny of a single man should not cost a people their country. That the duty of a nation’s leaders was foremost to their citizens, and not to their tombs and the stories told from there. That power is bestowed not by sheer might, but by the consent of those under his rule. That only by unity and common purpose could life and light burn free.
It was not an easy lesson for them to learn (for the influence of the Forebear Prince was clear upon her), but they surely all agreed that the suzerain had been driven to madness and must be dethroned if they were to stand against the elves.
In united procession, the Crowns met with Malik La'Yarham to demand his repentance. To say that he did not take the proclamation well could not be overstated. I will not elaborate to young ears of his fate, but suffice it to say that in the end, his daughter was pronounced the new suzerain of the Crowns. Using her new-found authority, she proclaimed that the Crowns and the Forebears were now a united people, and they would drive the Thalmor and their allies back at all cost.