Chapter 13. A change of plans.
Helseth was particularly pleased with himself. He’d been getting reports for the past several days keeping him up to date on how things were progressing. His new allies the Camonna Tong had supplied him with one of their own, an Argonian no less, who would play the part of the witness to Varvur’s betrayal. Hlaalu, Dres and Indoril leaders were preparing their people for a conflict; rumors had been started already about the Redoran and things were ready to come to a head. Helseth was now just waiting for the right time.
Varvur had to be captured first, and that would set all of the events in motion, but unfortunately Varvur had so far proved impossible to apprehend. Oh, he’d been seen, but not anywhere Helseth could get his hands on him without causing an uproar. No, he knew the timing for this would have to be perfect, but he was not in any rush. He had all the time in the world to prepare. Nothing could go wrong.
Helseth looked up from reading the most recent report with annoyance; someone outside the door to his study was causing a lot of noise. Shouts were passing back and forth now. What could be the matter? Helseth got up and walked to the door. As he was nearing it, it flung inwards and standing inside the door was Councillor Rethan.
“My king, may I have an audience?”
The captain interrupted apologetically, “I’m sorry, my king. I explained you did not want to be disturbed but we could not convince her to turn back.”
Helseth looked at his guard captain and finally shrugged, “It’s fine, show her in. I’m sure Raynasa has something very important to tell me, or she wouldn’t have bothered me.”
It was clear from his voice that if was not something important, Raynasa would regret it.
Raynasa had never been in danger of winning a beauty pageant, but today she looked simply haggard. “Councillor Rethan, perhaps you’d care to explain the reason for barging in here like this?”
“My king, I did not receive a reply to my letter. What are your orders?”
“What are you talking about, Raynasa?”
“I’m talking about Suran, my king; what would you have us do about it?”
Helseth sighed, “Raynasa, I have no idea what you’re talking about, what about Suran? Have the dancers gone on strike again? Has the Skooma run out? No more moon sugar perhaps? What’s wrong Raynasa?”
“But my king, I don’t understand, I sent word yesterday, how could you not know yet? King Helseth, Suran has fallen. The Telvanni are on the move.”
Helseth was speechless for a moment, this was not what Helseth had wanted to hear, and not what he’d expected to hear, either.
“Tell me all about it, Raynasa. Tell me what happened and make sure you leave nothing out.”
“My king, they came to Suran in the dead of night, Divayth Fyr leading a host of Telvanni Wizards and Vampires, they came straight from the road leading to Molag Mar, they hit Suran and were well inside before anyone knew what was happening. Our men did not stand a chance, my king, most were killed or captured, only a few got away to warn us.”
“How can this be? Do you expect me to believe the Telvanni can conquer one of our richest cities without anyone seeing them coming, without anyone so much as hearing them massing? Explain this Raynasa.” Helseth saw Raynasa’s face become white with fear, well as white as any Dunmer can get anyway.
“My king, we’ve been hearing some rumors these last few days, of Vampires fighting amongst one another, but nothing else. We assumed it was simply another Vampire war; we’ve seen those in the past.”
“Well you assumed wrong didn’t you?” Raynasa moved back at the ferocity of Helseth’s voice.
“Yes my king, we did.”
“Go on councillor, what happened next?”
“Well, our informants have told us on the third night after the funeral of lord Nerevar, the Telvanni split into three forces and attacked Dagon Fel, Suran and Ghostgate. In Suran our men fought as best they could, but they were outnumbered and unprepared. In Dagon Fel no one put up much if any resistance, and those believed to be agents of the other great houses were simply made to leave. In Ghostgate it was even easier for them; my informants tell me they simply marched up to the door, showed the leading priest some parchment and were given the keys to the city.”
“You mean to say the Buoyant Armigers did not lift a finger to oppose the Telvanni?” Helseth exclaimed.
“Correct my king; they did nothing.”
A thousand things went through Helseth’s mind, foremost among them wondering how this could have happened, how could it be that he had not seen this coming, why had the gutless Hlaalu in charge of Suran allowed themselves to be surprised, but much more importantly, why had the temple offered not even the slightest resistance, and what role did Supreme Magister Moven have in all this? He was well paid; he had no reason to double cross Helseth.
“You there, guard, send word by magical means to Port Telvannis immediately, tell Supreme Magister Moven I wish to see him here, in person, today. Tell him I don’t care how he does it, how much magic it will take but I want him here today! And after you’ve done that, tell Gavas I wish to see him. I’m getting to the bottom of this today.”
“Go Raynasa, go back to Vivec, to Yngling manor and wait there until I send word.”
“Yes my king” And Raynasa bowed and left. Helseth threw his ink bottle against the door as soon as she’d closed it.
“Incompetent fool, I can rely on no one.”
It did not take Gavas long to arrive at the door to king Helseth’s study. He knocked, and Helseth bid him to enter.
“Gavas, there you are,” Helseth started in his most charming voice, “perhaps you can clear up a little mystery for me. I was just informed by Raynasa Rethan that your fellow priests simply gave Ghostgate over to the Telvanni, without any fight whatsoever.”
Helseth became angrier as he went along, “So tell me how it can be, that a well fortified stronghold like Ghostgate, packed with Buoyant Armigers, just surrenders like that with no resistance? How does that happen Gavas? Tell me!”
Gavas tried his best to keep a dignified look, but Helseth saw he was scared. “My king, we are by vow forbidden from interfering in an internal struggle of the great houses.”
“Nonsense! Such vows did not stop you from naming lord Nerevar an impostor and putting a reward on his death.”
“You are right, my king, and after it was revealed to us that he was the real lord Nerevar, and then came into power, he made all the temple priests swear a new oath; he made us swear we would never again involve ourselves with an internal matter and would only defend Morrowind against external threats.”
“Azura be damned, so you’re saying even if I made you head of the temple today, you still could not oppose the Telvanni?”
“Yes my king, it is so.”
“Damn him, damn him straight to Oblivion. I knew I should have taken out lord Nerevar much sooner.”
Helseth saw the look of fear in Gavas’s eyes when he said that. “Oh don’t worry Gavas, I don’t think you’ll betray me, not with all the filthy black secrets I know about you. Leave me; I must consider what you’ve told me carefully.”
Hours later Helseth was sitting on his throne. Dinner had been bland today, and he’d had the cook whipped for serving it. He knew it was only because of his unsettled thoughts that he didn’t like his food, but it felt good to see the cook whimper in pain. A smile crossed his face just thinking about the expression of the hapless servant. But now he must focus on other things; a herald had just announced the Telvanni delegate had arrived and would enter at any moment. Helseth heard someone at the entrance; he looked there just as the door opened and in walked…. Divayth Fyr. Helseth was shocked; he had expected Supreme Magister Moven, but here, right before his very eyes, was Divayth Fyr himself, ancient, powerful, dressed in his usual Daedric armor.
All around the room Helseth saw the guards clap their hands to their blades, ready to strike, the tension almost visible.
“Good day, my liege.”
Helseth shuddered; that old commanding voice- he had never liked it. It always made him feel inadequate.
“And how fare you on this beautiful day, my liege? I pray my visit isn’t too much of a surprise.” Helseth saw the smile on Divayth’s face when he said that.
“Why are you here, Master Fyr? I summoned Supreme Magister Moven, not you.”
“Ah, well you see my liege, he couldn’t make it, and we of house Telvanni would not want to insult our rightful liege of course, so we sent me instead.” Just that word “liege” made Helseth feel uncomfortable. It sounded far too much like “leach” for his liking.
“But where is the Supreme Magister, and why isn’t he here?”
“Now that, my liege, is a good question. And very simple really. I fear the good Supreme Magister has ah, how to say this delicately—misplaced himself.” Divayth gave that insolent smile of his when he said it, “I’m sure if you insist I could scrape together enough of him to give you an idea of what happened, but I’m sure you get the picture as it is.”
“You killed the head of your house? Do you know the penalty for that, Master Fyr?”
“Yes, I do actually, my liege. None. Not even the late lord Nerevar was able to influence house Telvanni enough to make us change our ways of granting power to those who take it. So I can kill whomever I like within our house; I can kill the entire house if I want to, and no law in this province can hold it against me.”
Helseth had to admit he was correct. As much as lord Nerevar had been against senseless killing, oddly the subject of this practice within the Telvanni had never been brought up. Helseth didn’t have much time to think about that though,
“Why have you attacked us, Master Fyr? We did nothing to provoke this attack; Suran never opposed the Telvanni.”
A hard booming laugh emanated from Divayth Fyr at that, “I’m sorry for laughing, my liege, but ‘never did anything against us’? Well, I won’t even go into the countless wars that have been fought between your house and mine, the countless assassinations you paid for and the spies you planted within our house, but other than that, it is true you’ve done nothing against the Telvanni.”
“But let’s cut to the chase, shall we, my liege? You’re not the only one with spies, you know. We know about your plans against the Redoran, we’ve known for a long time now, and personally, we could not care less what happens to Athyn Sarethi and his gang, but we will not allow you to attack us with the combined forces of three great houses. Instead, we claim all lands we now hold, everything on Vvardenfall east of the Suran – Ghostgate – Foyada Bani-Dad line. We claim it as compensation for the betrayal you were going to bestow upon us. We also urge you to abandon your ideas of a unified Morrowind under your reign. I promise you, Helseth, it will not come to pass.”
Helseth was livid, “How dare you, Telvanni, come into my throne room and tell me you’re taking part of my land? Moven was a fool, and I’m glad to be rid of him, but you forget I still have three other houses supporting me, and I can easily offer proof to the Redoran that in fact you were responsible for the murder of lord Nerevar and two Hlaalu councillors. Ha, I’ve always heard how smart lord Fyr was supposed to be, but it seems you’re not that smart after all, are you?”
Helseth smirked and looked around the room to see most of his guards holding their breaths, deathly afraid of Divayth Fyr’s reaction. But Helseth wanted to show them he at least had the guts to stand up to a Telvanni, no matter how old and powerful a wizard the Mer might be.
He had expected Divayth to become angry, maybe shout out or even curse him, but he had not expected the sly little smile that was on his face.
“Four great houses, Helseth, four unified great houses going against us, are you sure of that?”
That had Helseth confused; what did he mean, was there another house about to turn against him, and if so, which house? The confusion and concern must have shown on his face for Divayth laughed again,
“Yes, think about it Helseth. Who is next to betray you? Well, I would love to be able to stay here all day long, and see you struggle with that thought and second guess everyone near you, but I cannot. People to see, places to conquer, I’m sure you know how it is, Helseth. Good-bye, my liege, and best of luck.” And with a smile, he raised his arms and vanished from sight.
Helseth knew he had to move fast. He summoned the heads of the four other houses; to three he simply told them to come tomorrow, to Athyn Sarethi he sent word that he had uncovered a witness who could identify the killers of lord Nerevar. He was sure that could get Athyn to come to Mournhold.
And the last thing he did that day was pay a visit to the Argonian member of the Camonna Tong, and tell him that the plan had been changed. He should not say Varvur Sarethi had been behind the attack, but rather that he’d seen a servant of Baladas Demnevanni put something in the drink of lord Nerevar the day he was murdered.
He went to bed that night, smiling and thinking to himself that things might just work out even better this way, but all the while he could not forget what Divayth had said about places to conquer. Had it been idle chatter, or based on something more? He fell asleep very later that night.
On to the next chapter
Helseth was particularly pleased with himself. He’d been getting reports for the past several days keeping him up to date on how things were progressing. His new allies the Camonna Tong had supplied him with one of their own, an Argonian no less, who would play the part of the witness to Varvur’s betrayal. Hlaalu, Dres and Indoril leaders were preparing their people for a conflict; rumors had been started already about the Redoran and things were ready to come to a head. Helseth was now just waiting for the right time.
Varvur had to be captured first, and that would set all of the events in motion, but unfortunately Varvur had so far proved impossible to apprehend. Oh, he’d been seen, but not anywhere Helseth could get his hands on him without causing an uproar. No, he knew the timing for this would have to be perfect, but he was not in any rush. He had all the time in the world to prepare. Nothing could go wrong.
Helseth looked up from reading the most recent report with annoyance; someone outside the door to his study was causing a lot of noise. Shouts were passing back and forth now. What could be the matter? Helseth got up and walked to the door. As he was nearing it, it flung inwards and standing inside the door was Councillor Rethan.
“My king, may I have an audience?”
The captain interrupted apologetically, “I’m sorry, my king. I explained you did not want to be disturbed but we could not convince her to turn back.”
Helseth looked at his guard captain and finally shrugged, “It’s fine, show her in. I’m sure Raynasa has something very important to tell me, or she wouldn’t have bothered me.”
It was clear from his voice that if was not something important, Raynasa would regret it.
Raynasa had never been in danger of winning a beauty pageant, but today she looked simply haggard. “Councillor Rethan, perhaps you’d care to explain the reason for barging in here like this?”
“My king, I did not receive a reply to my letter. What are your orders?”
“What are you talking about, Raynasa?”
“I’m talking about Suran, my king; what would you have us do about it?”
Helseth sighed, “Raynasa, I have no idea what you’re talking about, what about Suran? Have the dancers gone on strike again? Has the Skooma run out? No more moon sugar perhaps? What’s wrong Raynasa?”
“But my king, I don’t understand, I sent word yesterday, how could you not know yet? King Helseth, Suran has fallen. The Telvanni are on the move.”
Helseth was speechless for a moment, this was not what Helseth had wanted to hear, and not what he’d expected to hear, either.
“Tell me all about it, Raynasa. Tell me what happened and make sure you leave nothing out.”
“My king, they came to Suran in the dead of night, Divayth Fyr leading a host of Telvanni Wizards and Vampires, they came straight from the road leading to Molag Mar, they hit Suran and were well inside before anyone knew what was happening. Our men did not stand a chance, my king, most were killed or captured, only a few got away to warn us.”
“How can this be? Do you expect me to believe the Telvanni can conquer one of our richest cities without anyone seeing them coming, without anyone so much as hearing them massing? Explain this Raynasa.” Helseth saw Raynasa’s face become white with fear, well as white as any Dunmer can get anyway.
“My king, we’ve been hearing some rumors these last few days, of Vampires fighting amongst one another, but nothing else. We assumed it was simply another Vampire war; we’ve seen those in the past.”
“Well you assumed wrong didn’t you?” Raynasa moved back at the ferocity of Helseth’s voice.
“Yes my king, we did.”
“Go on councillor, what happened next?”
“Well, our informants have told us on the third night after the funeral of lord Nerevar, the Telvanni split into three forces and attacked Dagon Fel, Suran and Ghostgate. In Suran our men fought as best they could, but they were outnumbered and unprepared. In Dagon Fel no one put up much if any resistance, and those believed to be agents of the other great houses were simply made to leave. In Ghostgate it was even easier for them; my informants tell me they simply marched up to the door, showed the leading priest some parchment and were given the keys to the city.”
“You mean to say the Buoyant Armigers did not lift a finger to oppose the Telvanni?” Helseth exclaimed.
“Correct my king; they did nothing.”
A thousand things went through Helseth’s mind, foremost among them wondering how this could have happened, how could it be that he had not seen this coming, why had the gutless Hlaalu in charge of Suran allowed themselves to be surprised, but much more importantly, why had the temple offered not even the slightest resistance, and what role did Supreme Magister Moven have in all this? He was well paid; he had no reason to double cross Helseth.
“You there, guard, send word by magical means to Port Telvannis immediately, tell Supreme Magister Moven I wish to see him here, in person, today. Tell him I don’t care how he does it, how much magic it will take but I want him here today! And after you’ve done that, tell Gavas I wish to see him. I’m getting to the bottom of this today.”
“Go Raynasa, go back to Vivec, to Yngling manor and wait there until I send word.”
“Yes my king” And Raynasa bowed and left. Helseth threw his ink bottle against the door as soon as she’d closed it.
“Incompetent fool, I can rely on no one.”
It did not take Gavas long to arrive at the door to king Helseth’s study. He knocked, and Helseth bid him to enter.
“Gavas, there you are,” Helseth started in his most charming voice, “perhaps you can clear up a little mystery for me. I was just informed by Raynasa Rethan that your fellow priests simply gave Ghostgate over to the Telvanni, without any fight whatsoever.”
Helseth became angrier as he went along, “So tell me how it can be, that a well fortified stronghold like Ghostgate, packed with Buoyant Armigers, just surrenders like that with no resistance? How does that happen Gavas? Tell me!”
Gavas tried his best to keep a dignified look, but Helseth saw he was scared. “My king, we are by vow forbidden from interfering in an internal struggle of the great houses.”
“Nonsense! Such vows did not stop you from naming lord Nerevar an impostor and putting a reward on his death.”
“You are right, my king, and after it was revealed to us that he was the real lord Nerevar, and then came into power, he made all the temple priests swear a new oath; he made us swear we would never again involve ourselves with an internal matter and would only defend Morrowind against external threats.”
“Azura be damned, so you’re saying even if I made you head of the temple today, you still could not oppose the Telvanni?”
“Yes my king, it is so.”
“Damn him, damn him straight to Oblivion. I knew I should have taken out lord Nerevar much sooner.”
Helseth saw the look of fear in Gavas’s eyes when he said that. “Oh don’t worry Gavas, I don’t think you’ll betray me, not with all the filthy black secrets I know about you. Leave me; I must consider what you’ve told me carefully.”
Hours later Helseth was sitting on his throne. Dinner had been bland today, and he’d had the cook whipped for serving it. He knew it was only because of his unsettled thoughts that he didn’t like his food, but it felt good to see the cook whimper in pain. A smile crossed his face just thinking about the expression of the hapless servant. But now he must focus on other things; a herald had just announced the Telvanni delegate had arrived and would enter at any moment. Helseth heard someone at the entrance; he looked there just as the door opened and in walked…. Divayth Fyr. Helseth was shocked; he had expected Supreme Magister Moven, but here, right before his very eyes, was Divayth Fyr himself, ancient, powerful, dressed in his usual Daedric armor.
All around the room Helseth saw the guards clap their hands to their blades, ready to strike, the tension almost visible.
“Good day, my liege.”
Helseth shuddered; that old commanding voice- he had never liked it. It always made him feel inadequate.
“And how fare you on this beautiful day, my liege? I pray my visit isn’t too much of a surprise.” Helseth saw the smile on Divayth’s face when he said that.
“Why are you here, Master Fyr? I summoned Supreme Magister Moven, not you.”
“Ah, well you see my liege, he couldn’t make it, and we of house Telvanni would not want to insult our rightful liege of course, so we sent me instead.” Just that word “liege” made Helseth feel uncomfortable. It sounded far too much like “leach” for his liking.
“But where is the Supreme Magister, and why isn’t he here?”
“Now that, my liege, is a good question. And very simple really. I fear the good Supreme Magister has ah, how to say this delicately—misplaced himself.” Divayth gave that insolent smile of his when he said it, “I’m sure if you insist I could scrape together enough of him to give you an idea of what happened, but I’m sure you get the picture as it is.”
“You killed the head of your house? Do you know the penalty for that, Master Fyr?”
“Yes, I do actually, my liege. None. Not even the late lord Nerevar was able to influence house Telvanni enough to make us change our ways of granting power to those who take it. So I can kill whomever I like within our house; I can kill the entire house if I want to, and no law in this province can hold it against me.”
Helseth had to admit he was correct. As much as lord Nerevar had been against senseless killing, oddly the subject of this practice within the Telvanni had never been brought up. Helseth didn’t have much time to think about that though,
“Why have you attacked us, Master Fyr? We did nothing to provoke this attack; Suran never opposed the Telvanni.”
A hard booming laugh emanated from Divayth Fyr at that, “I’m sorry for laughing, my liege, but ‘never did anything against us’? Well, I won’t even go into the countless wars that have been fought between your house and mine, the countless assassinations you paid for and the spies you planted within our house, but other than that, it is true you’ve done nothing against the Telvanni.”
“But let’s cut to the chase, shall we, my liege? You’re not the only one with spies, you know. We know about your plans against the Redoran, we’ve known for a long time now, and personally, we could not care less what happens to Athyn Sarethi and his gang, but we will not allow you to attack us with the combined forces of three great houses. Instead, we claim all lands we now hold, everything on Vvardenfall east of the Suran – Ghostgate – Foyada Bani-Dad line. We claim it as compensation for the betrayal you were going to bestow upon us. We also urge you to abandon your ideas of a unified Morrowind under your reign. I promise you, Helseth, it will not come to pass.”
Helseth was livid, “How dare you, Telvanni, come into my throne room and tell me you’re taking part of my land? Moven was a fool, and I’m glad to be rid of him, but you forget I still have three other houses supporting me, and I can easily offer proof to the Redoran that in fact you were responsible for the murder of lord Nerevar and two Hlaalu councillors. Ha, I’ve always heard how smart lord Fyr was supposed to be, but it seems you’re not that smart after all, are you?”
Helseth smirked and looked around the room to see most of his guards holding their breaths, deathly afraid of Divayth Fyr’s reaction. But Helseth wanted to show them he at least had the guts to stand up to a Telvanni, no matter how old and powerful a wizard the Mer might be.
He had expected Divayth to become angry, maybe shout out or even curse him, but he had not expected the sly little smile that was on his face.
“Four great houses, Helseth, four unified great houses going against us, are you sure of that?”
That had Helseth confused; what did he mean, was there another house about to turn against him, and if so, which house? The confusion and concern must have shown on his face for Divayth laughed again,
“Yes, think about it Helseth. Who is next to betray you? Well, I would love to be able to stay here all day long, and see you struggle with that thought and second guess everyone near you, but I cannot. People to see, places to conquer, I’m sure you know how it is, Helseth. Good-bye, my liege, and best of luck.” And with a smile, he raised his arms and vanished from sight.
Helseth knew he had to move fast. He summoned the heads of the four other houses; to three he simply told them to come tomorrow, to Athyn Sarethi he sent word that he had uncovered a witness who could identify the killers of lord Nerevar. He was sure that could get Athyn to come to Mournhold.
And the last thing he did that day was pay a visit to the Argonian member of the Camonna Tong, and tell him that the plan had been changed. He should not say Varvur Sarethi had been behind the attack, but rather that he’d seen a servant of Baladas Demnevanni put something in the drink of lord Nerevar the day he was murdered.
He went to bed that night, smiling and thinking to himself that things might just work out even better this way, but all the while he could not forget what Divayth had said about places to conquer. Had it been idle chatter, or based on something more? He fell asleep very later that night.
On to the next chapter