A New Lake

The cold dawn touched the lightly clouded sky with a yellow fire. A strange
sound floated to the survivors. It was a sound not heard in this vast waste-
land in living memory. Water. Water lapping upon grassy banks.

Cromm slowly opened his eyes. Every muscle and bone ached and even his
eyelids felt heavy, so he lay there, listening to the foreign sounds, looking
at the peaceful face of his khajiit wife. Her snaggle-tooth was barely
visible under her upper lip and shone dully in the pale light. He drank in
her features, covered in mud and sand as they were. He felt something stir
within him. It had been too long since last he looked so long on her face.

A small bird, all brown but for its black beak, alighted on her narrow
shoulder. She sniffed and her eyes flew open, causing the bird to shoot off
into the sun's rays. She smiled.

"We survived," she murmured.

Cromm found the corner of his mouth curling up; it was all the smile he could
manage.

"So we have..."

He levered himself up to a sitting position, testing his arms and legs. All
seemed to be working, though stiffly. The long cold swim had taken much out
of him. He felt so naked without his armor. Instinctively, he reached to his
left and his fingers found the haft of his great-axe. Yes, he still had that.
Loriella smiled again.

"Ah, the big to'khar needs his security blanket," she whispered teasingly.
"Why can't I be your blanket? I'm much more cuddly!"

She squirmed over, favoring her left arm; the one she used to hold her
busband above the water. She too ached, but that wasn't going to stop her
from having fun. As she closed to kiss him, there was movement off to the
side. The others were stirring, and Loriella sighed and gave her husband a
quick nip on the nose.

Cromm gave his own sigh, and rose to meet the sun. The day was going to be a
clear one. After all darkness below, the air seemed over-bright; a vast thing
not to be taken in all at once. K'tarin came up to Cromm's elbow.

"It is a magnificant sight, is it not, To'Khar?"

The two men looked out over the new lake a few meters away. Its surface
rippled in a fresh breeze. New shoots of grass and tiny white and red flowers
poked up from the sand. The bird was playing on the water, dipping to catch
its reflection, then darting up once more. On the other side reared the
plateau into which the Citadel had been cut, but the near face had fallen
away, leaving virgin rock to face a new day. Only a small island of broken
stone stood out from the cliff wall; the final remnants of the highest tower.

"I name this lake Holm Timulan, 'Heart's Deep,' and that island Krodume'a
Nun, 'Master's End.' It is magnificant."

They stood in silence a moment more, then turned to take stock of their
supplies. It was a long trek back to the nearest Werre enclave. It did not
take long. Only two packs remained, and all of the food in both was ruined
from the water. It was a grim counterpoint to the happy morning. Bandages
were also in short supply. Each warrior checked himself for injury, then each
looked over his watchman. Cromm counted no less than thirty scrapes, cuts,
and lacerations on his wife. The bruises were harder to count. In silence,
they took out what cloth was good, cut it into strips and bound their more
serious wounds. Quietly, Cromm began humming the harvest song Holm'ka was so
fond of. The others listened in respectful silence.

From the greening hill came a rumbling voice, and all looked up to see
Balefire and the rest of the group come striding down to the water. They
greeted each other with as much good cheer as the tired men could muster. At
Mea's offer of healing, Loriella half smiled.

"I'm the only one you could help, I'm afraid, but even so, I decline."

Cromm looked at her in surprise, though to most people, his face remained a
blank. Loriella, the woman who avoided discomfort like a plague and always
kept her hair in order, was refusing a healing touch. Cromm saw her now in a
different light. This ordeal had been different than all others, and she
wanted to feel every bit of its consequences. Her chipped tooth she would
wear as a badge of honor, and whatever other scars she might have incurred.
She didn't want any of it washed away.

It seemed Balefire and Twilight understood. Now the warmage invited all to
come back to The Angry Porcupine. Loriella had never been there, but it was a
famous place and she wanted very much to see it. K'tarin stepped forward.

"I have come here with Alduin, and I will depart with him. There is still the
matter of honor between me and the bloody traitors that I had vouched for.
He turned to clasp Cromm's hand in farewell, but the to'khar refused. He
looked long at the others and at Balefire, and he saw the light in his wife's
eyes.

"The desert is safe now. Soon the Wards will reassert themselves now that the
dampening Heart is gone. It will not be safe for any but Werre. I find I am
loathe to part company as yet. As you say, Balefire, we have tales to
exchange. Also, we need provisions and clean bandages. Only our salves
escaped damage."

With military efficiency, the Werre gathered and packed what little that
remained to them and formed their square formation with Cromm and Loriella
in front, and Joran and K'tarin in the rear.

Suddenly the boy broke into song, the words ringing clear in the desert dawn.
The words had little meaning to him before, but now sprang to his lips as if
he himself had written the song.

  Horn calls rang and men forth sprang
  From ridges up on high,
  Orcs below with fire and bow
  Let loose a deadly cry!
  A storm rose up and on its fang
  Were Denigroth high and low.

  The armies met in hideous strength
  The ground was soaked with blood,
  Orcs piled high, bows rent, swords bent
  The plain began to flood!
  The storm was black and in its length
  Denigroth came and went.

  The orcs were dead and cruel men fled
  Toward the Silver Eye,
  The gates flew wide and from within
  There issued swift reply!
  The storm blew hard as has been said
  And Denigroth, the fray, drove in.

  Catapults threw their heavy load
  Against the gates they crashed,
  Stones came down and barred the way
  As Werre, with axes, lashed!
  And from the wind on which they rode
  Came Denigroth, wild and fey.

  The gates were sundered with a flash
  And out poured more black foes,
  The Werre fought with greater need
  Their axes weaving blows!
  The field became a sea of ash
  The wind began to bleed.

  Lord Sollár then roused his men
  Upon a hill he stood,
  While about the base there came
  Denigroth, in blackest mood!
  Upon the ridge a light stood then
  Wizards swept down in flame.

  A Shadow then obscured the gates
  A Terror moved therein,
  The enemy about the mound
  Raised a mighty din!
  The wizards knowing not the Fates
  Were swallowed in the sound.

  Upon the mound there leapt the Shadow
  Black as darkest night,
  Lord Sollár withstood its gaze
  He met its will and might!
  The man stood tall, though he be sallow
  And his sight a haze.

  The lord raised up his hand--behold!
  And from his ring there came,
  A crimson light that tore away
  The Terror's shadow-mane!
  The two were locked in mortal hold
  And night gave way to day.

  A wild scream then rent the air
  The Terror had been felled!
  The enemy engulfed the mound
  And as the men beheld,
  Their Lord Sollár did not despair
  'Ere he fell and drowned.

  Upon the men had madness grown
  Who pressed the Denigroth,
  They hewed their limbs and pressed ahead
  And then took Perinoth!
  The fortress now was overthrown
  The land about was dead.

  The Heart and Blood have passed away
  And Lord Sollár is gone,
  The Terror now has long been dead
  And night gives way to dawn!
  But who knows what will come today?
  Who knows where we be led?

  But after day then dusk must fall
  Fear may re-awaken,
  The Heart and Blood will stir again
  The earth again be shaken!
  A new dark lord will take the hall
  And Perinoth regain.

Now all the Werre joined in.

  A black-skinned man with fiery eyes
  Will come from lands afar,
  He will brave both storm and sand
  And prise the doors ajar!
  In his ring the Bloodstone lies
  Death lies in his hand.

  In his throne the dark lord waits
  Heartstone at his side,
  Denigroth prey on his mind
  From which he cannot hide!
  The Bloodstone which the Heartstone hates
  Doth likewise hate in kind.

  The midnight man and lord doth meet
  Within his hall of bone,
  Pillar, wall, and floor doth shake
  Until a blow drives home!
  Now the lord lay at his feet
  Now the Bloodstone spake:

  "You now are the master here
  Lord of Perinoth,
  Darkness lies at your command
  And the Denigroth!
  Death and war now comes by here
  Famine on the land."

  The midnight man ignored the words
  The Heart and Blood he took,
  He broke them in the shadowed room
  The fortress moved and shook!
  Upon the wind came fair swift birds
  Barren land took bloom.

  The black-skinned man with crimson eyes
  Then left the citadel,
  He past away to foreign lands
  Of which few hear or tell!
  The citadel which all despise
  Was swallowed in the sands.

  In the future, I would think
  As many moons pass by,
  Perinoth in Derigliv
  Will fade from mind and eye!
  Yet possibly in some scribe's ink
  The memory will live?

  Give me here that bit of cloth
  I'll write while I yet live.

  For I was there at Perinoth
  In darkling Derigliv.

Tenaka had stood motionless, listening to the tale, for he had not heard it
before. It was prophesy come true. Everyone here had participated in a legend
written long ago by some forgotten scribe. It was a strange feeling. He
reveled in it a moment more, then brought to his mind the image of the inn
they all longed for. The Window opened.

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Alduin dor Lammoth