» Sun May 05, 2013 2:41 pm
Baldur, Boldir, Marius, Rebec, Samuel
Early Morning just before daybreak
Pale Pass Camp
Baldur was currently in the command tent looking over some charts, and worrying over this "operation". When a stormcloak soldier came in and interrupted.
"Sir, Four Armour civilians came in holding a hooded man, they said you would understand, "Leader of the sundered six-tailed dragon....they told us to bring him to you. We have him bound and hooded."
"Have the man brought to me immediately please."
Baldur gave a heavy heave of breath, as it was finally time to get this operation underway. He couldn't help but feel that all he was doing was endangering Boldir for no reason, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.
Two stormcloak soldiers came into the command tent, dragging in a man with a tied hood who's arms were bound, he wore a dark cloak and had leather gloves. The soldiers put him into a position were he was on both his knees, before leaving the tent.
Baldur stepped forward from behind his table, and pulled the hood from off of the man's head.
"Well I'll be. The General of the Sixth Legion in the flesh. I honestly can't believe it."
"General Baldur Blood-Snow I take it?" The general's face looked surprisingly calm, especially for the situation he was in.
"It's Red-Snow," said Baldur agitatedly. "Let's skip the small talk. Do you really think your men will join us?"
"I think...I could could convince a good deal..."
The general, whom started to look around his surroundings, half-jokingly asked Baldur,
"Care to untie me, Blood-snow?"
"Perhaps I'll untie you, when you get my name correct," said Baldur.
"Red-snow...fits well Baldur...now please untie me..."
Baldur reluctantly cut his bonds with his axe by sawing of the bindings.
"I still don't trust you, or this arrangement, so keep that in mind before you make any sudden movements."
Baldur patted the General down to make sure that he didn't have any concealed weapons.
Marius, quite calmly, told Baldur as he patted Marius down
"Hmmmm, surprising, your showing me much more hospitality then you did to Prefect Lorgar, general..."
"That's because unlike you, Lorgar wasn't someone that could be blackmailed into submission. That, and the man would have taken my head off if I let him. I could tell from his eyes. You? I knew you were broken the moment I looked at yours. I wondered if this whole Talos worshipping thing about you was true, and if Samuel was simpy helping the Imperials pull a fast one, but...lets just say if someone asked me what a man forced to betray someone looked like, it'd be you."
That, and I know what it feels like. Having to kill my father and all.
"How sweet Baldur, but if you think i'm broken and submitting to you, then you must have misunderstood, iv'e already acknowledged to myself that what i'm doing is necessary for the overall survival of the empire, who is the truly broken one here? I can see what a broken man is...Baldur what made you so broken?, what made you willingly to use a mans kindness and twist it around by pretending you were going to [censored] a girl...Oh...one more thing..." Marius's face twisted into a dark smile. "How's your father doing...oh wait..."
Baldur was caught off guard a little from that last response.
"My father? So, you know about that. If you're looking for a way to hurt my feelings, you won't find it there. Sure, I felt like I betrayed my father when I killed him. But when I went to kill him, I didn't know it was him. But he knew it was me when he made a move on my life. And he was a [censored] of a father anyway. So, I at first felt like I betrayed him, but I got over it. He was the Imperial soldier. He betrayed his people first. To your other comments, how does that make me broken? I killed no one, and I didn't even lay a finger on your Lorgar. So...care to try again?"
That's when Marius's composure finally snapped. He angrily glared at Baldur
"Touched him...You didn't [censored] touch him?! It WAS real to him...ALL OF IT, you killing his soldiers infront of his face, you pretending you were going to [censored] that girl . Don't you feel a tad guilty for what you did to that man you [censored]?! You know he has nightmares's all the time now?, I've heard him call out your name in his dreams. Do you have any [censored] idea how bad condition that man is in? Did you came to realize that the people who love him suffer as well?! I tried to get him help...but he refused. That's why I hate you stormcloaks, you think that the imperial you kill are monsters, we're people too...What about the people of Falkreath? I thought you stormcloaks lived to "protect" the nordic people, you're burning there property leaving them homeless, "scorched earth tactics"?! Don't tell me, it's our fault, the "imperials" are to blame for "forcing" us?"
Baldur was now starting to get angry. The audacity of the Imperial talking about hurting others really hit his nerves, and it showed.
"Oh please, you bastards allow far worse from the Thalmor. If Lorgar can't handle some nightmares, maybe you can give him a dolly and tuck him in perhaps? As for my tactics, I guess you'd prefer I let the Legion grow fat for months on end off of our land? I'm not stupid. I'll personally make sure my people get paid for the property that was destroyed, don't you worry. I don't apologize for anything I've done. None of it would've happened if you just accepted our independence."
Marius smirked,
"Oh I thought Ulfric was almost in-debt? How is he suppose to "pay" these people back? You don't know the monster you've unleashed Baldur...Lorgar is different... and eventually you'll know the meaning of "Arrow to the heart..."
"We have ties with Hammerfell, remember? Trade can proceed once more through their borders. We will be prosperous once more, and Ulfric's money issues are solving themselves thanks to the silver from our minds that no longer go to you. Where do you think we got the coin to make all this armor? As for Lorgar, he's the least of my worries. If we ever do meet in combat, I won't be so kind next time...And another thing. I..."
Baldur noticed someone was at the tent. tapping on the flap, when he was about to speak
An axe taps on the tent flap, someone seeking entry. Rebec stands outside. At the campfire, she had decided that she was being an idiot for avoiding Baldur, and she did want to talk about Samuel. There are voices inside, but she assumes it's a captain getting orders. When Baldur calls for her to enter, she lifts the tent flap, steps through, then stops short, looking from one man to the other. "Am I disturbing you, General? I can come back."
"No, please. We were just finishing up. Did you wish to discuss something?"
Rebec looks at Marius again before she answers, then makes the connection. "So this is the person we're supposed to believe is General Marius? I'm sorry, I don't recognize you. I wasn't at the last tea party at White Gold Tower." She turns to Baldur. "Is there any way we can know he is who he says he is? The stories Moon Balls is spinning out there about him, I can't keep it all straight."
"Yes, I recognize his description from Ulfric. He's the one who came storming in the palace."
Rebec is amazed by this, shaking her head. "Well. We can forget our own plans with Boldir, then. Moon Balls told me that they've planted a Talos amulet in his quarters and he's going to be denounced to those Thalmor they've got with them." She can't resist a smirk at Marius. "Welcome to Skyrim, General. Hail Talos."
She turns to leave again, seeing that Baldur has a lot in his hands. "Let me know if you need anything else, General." Like a headsman, her expression reads.
"Well...that pretty much ruins that plan. If you will excuse me, General, I need to speak to Samuel. MEN!"
Two Grim Ones came into the tent after he called.
"Have a team of guards watch over our guest while he stays here, and have Samuel meet me in here."
"No need, General, I have been eavesdropping on you ever since Marius arrived," Samuel came in just as the Grim Ones were about to go out. "Greeting Marius, I did not expect to see you just yet."
"Samuel..." Marius was smirking. "How are you doing?"
"Better than you, though that doesn't require much effort these days," Samuel surprisingly didn't return the smirk, but rather gave him his arrogant smile. "It seems I gave you the short end of the stick of a business deal that was cancelled and turned into a getrue of good faith, on my part, towards the Stormcloaks. Baldur, who was it in here that wanted to talk to me? I didn't quite catch that part."
"It was myself. Apparently you took it upon yourself to let the Thalmor know he worships Talos? Kinda ruins any chance of using him to get soldiers don't you think?"
"Your plan would have failed, and miserably so," Samuel didn't seem bothered. "The General has been acting strange ever since my visit, and I can confirm that certain members of the Inquisition have become suspicious. Not to mention that his disappearance is likely to be discovered before you arrive. To top it off, the Princess Mortierre is in his camp. She made sure she was introduced with all the officers in person. You wouldn't have gotten far before your men were in a Thalmor cell, singing like birds. And that last part is not meant as an insult, but a fact we all know to be true."
"I had a plan to keep that from happening, Samuel. I'm no fool. But now that you took it upon yourself to spill the beans, the General is no longer of any immediate use to me besides information you'd likely have been able to gain yourself. So...now what?"
"Of course," the sarcasm hang heavily in the air and he rolled his eyes. "His information is still useful to you, because the gesture of good will started and ended with stopping Marius from helping the Empire and slowing them down. He knows little I don't. but I doubt you are willing to pay my prices when he can tell you. And just so you know, Baldur, talking to the Imperial soldiers, even for Marius here, would be more risky than you believed. With the Princess present, there are security checks at any suspicious activity, below the rank of General who get a tiny bit of wiggle room."
"Great, back to square one then. Was this a recent development with the Princess? You seemed very sure that he'd be getting us Imperial soldiers."
"No, I did not. All I said that there might be some who joined that were loyal to Marius, rather than the Empire. You jumped to the conclusion that I promised you a large part of the 6th Legion, when all I offered was one of its heads on a silver plate."
Samuel sounded a tad annoyed and had let his arrogant tone go down a notch or two. "There is still the matter of me; I promised to remain a captive as long as you desired, so when will you let me go? Or am I to spend more time with you Nords and the General?" he nodded to Marius.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I assumed that since you know everything, you knew that you were free to go. My bad. Anyway, don't think that I don't appreciate this. I just had to remain suspicious. You understand. At any rate, we have the General with us, and we can continue with our little affair. Thank you kindly, Samuel."
"A... thanks? From you? You do know I am of Cyrod blood, right?" The Imperial seemed surprised, for the first time, as well as humored "Well, that was an unexpected turn of events, to say the least. Take it as a compliment," he added, with a wink to Baldur. "Few people surprise me and even fewer positively."
Samuel turned around and opened the tent, but stopped and quickly looked back at them. "And General Red-Snow: I wish you luck. You will need it."
Don't I know it.
****
A few hours after his talk with Samuel, Baldur had his men up and ready to shed blood in the name of Skyrim. Baldur breathed in and sighed heavily as he began to explain to Boldir the recent changes.
"Okay Boldir, I have the men waiting for your orders. There's a change of plans. The General came in not to long ago, but the Emperor deemed it necessary to send his little girl in with the big boys, so because of this, the plan with the General isn't going to work. Samuel already spilled the beans that he's a Talos worshiper anyway, so the plan was doomed to fail regardless, which honestly I'm glad. I prefer a straight up fight anyway compared to wondering if they were going to attack us in our sleep. Bright side is we have their General now as either a prisoner or an ally, still not sure on that."
Baldur gave yet another sigh that was starting to be a characteristic of him now that his job required him to explain so much to so many.
"So, anyway you're going in with the Stormcloak archers and Hammerfell skirmishers. As before, you'll wait for them to advance, then dog their advance all the way back. When they get close to the entrance, retreat back, and our Grim Ones will form a shield wall and block their way while your archers from behind the shield wall lob arrows over my men into the imperials. After that, we simply retreat, and set up a perimeter boxing them in this area restricting them to the burned farmland and houses. Jodun will be leaving with you. Got the plan?
Boldir breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't been excited at the prospect walking into the Imperial camp, disguised or not.
"Yes brother, I've got it. Never worked with Jodun before, but he seems alright. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does... You know Baldur, don't tell the others any of this, but I'm honestly really relieved to hear this news. Rebec was probably right, that assignment would've likely gotten me killed whether the General'd been wanted or not. Speaking of, what's your take on Marius?"
Baldur was also strangely relieved that his task no longer required the General directly. At least now he knew what to expect.
"You see that I have him on guard constantly, right? I think that about covers my feelings of him, don't you? Talos worshiper or not, we're about to start killing his men. Until this is over, he's a POW until I think otherwise of him. Samuel gave us quite the boon."
"Samuel? You mean that civilian you had tied to a tree earlier? I figured him for a spy, not an informant. Seems like I'm in the dark on a lot of things lately... I still don't know why the General has had so sudden a change of heart. If he's anything like every other Imperial we've encountered, he wouldn't just abandon his Legion like that. What's his angle in all this Baldur?"
Baldur began to chuckle when he realized his mistake.
"I could have sworn I told you this already. I must have missed that detail. Anyway, he's not exactly with us. He's blackmailed. Samuel exposed his Talos worship, so he has nowhere else to go. So even though we can't use him to get more soldiers, we at least have their General out of play, and he can give us information later about them. Things like how they think, and tenancies of the particular Legion here in battle. Whether he does so willingly or not is up to him, but it seems clear from my talk with him he will, albeit reluctantly. He knows the ones in charge of the Empire are under the Thalmor's thumb."
"That's right, you have already told me he was being blackmailed. I guess I just figured he'd have an actual reason of his own to want to be here. A powerful man doesn't often join his enemies without motive. And then there's that Samuel. This whole situation confuses me friend, and I feel that there's much I still don't know, so forgive my edginess."
Boldir put a hand on Baldur's shoulder.
"But as long as you're the one leading us brother, I have no doubt in my mind that it will all be for the best."
"Well. I'm glad you have more confidence in me than I do, friend. I have a bad feeling that after this war is over, you may not feel the same way about me ever again."
Baldur let that sentence linger, while he contemplated. Baldur had been thinking about a past meeting with Galmar and Ulfric on battle tactics, where Ulfric asked for ideas on what they could do on worst case scenarios. Baldur gave out some ideas that he mainly just threw out but didn't actually think either of the two would take seriously. Ulfric approved them, however to Baldur's surprise and told him that they needed to win this war at any and all costs. If they didn't do everything at their disposal to win this war, then they failed as leaders. Baldur agreed, but he didn't like the thought of actually carrying out his ideas. The problem with one particular strategy is that although it was a smart move, it required some convincing to pull off, but even if it's primary goal failed, it could cause a great outcry across Tamriel against the Empire.
"At any rate, the General feels that what he's doing will be for the Empire's benefit in the long run. I guess it's either this or be forced to watch while the Thalmor corrupt everything. Now, go in there and do the Necro Nords proud. The Grim Ones await your return. When you come back, be sure to sound your battlehorn so we know the enemy is approaching. Talos guide you."
"Talos guide us both."