"Just a moment!" Sabine shouted over the blasts washing over her and Meesei's wards, sounding as if she was distracted by something marginally more peaceful than a battle. She stepped back from the edge of the tower behind Meesei to conceal herself, and then began forming another portal. "It will be a distance above the ground for safety!"

Just behind the frontline, the Dominion commander on the ground saw the initial shock of their charge wane. He knew the Nords would be cutting their way through until their arms grew tired, but his own forces needed cohesion again. He raised a bound sword and shouted a word out, barely intelligible over the melee around them, but just recognisable enough by the Altmer in their golden and glass armour. They took their chances to peel back from the fighting and formed a staggered line with their comrades in arms. As they did, each that did not already have one conjured a bound shield and spear into their hands. Spaces between the individual soldiers left room for Hjergir's Nords to give ground with spear points between them to cover their retreat. Within a few moments, though it felt like an eternity, Skaafin and various Daedric monstrosities were already bending the new line.

"You! Lycan commander!" The Dominion leader cried out. "Rhajul!" He approached Do'rhajul when he spotted the massive Khajiit. "Get your men into order! We need every one of them!"

Just as the pressure mounted to desperation, Sabine's portal opened up above and behind the Dominion formation.

Do’rhajul had heard the Altmer’s request, though he had already been taking his assessment of the situation. Their momentum was stalling, which was particularly dangerous for a battle against a larger force. Perhaps doubly so with the composition of their own forces. He had been a commander in Skyrim’s civil war, and he had experience fighting with and against Nordic forces. Their warrior culture, and particularly their belief in Sovngarde, could make them both ferocious and surprisingly fearless in battle. The Nordic recruits in his own forces tended to fight harder and did not easily waver, though they sometimes broke formations and became “lost” in the fighting. Legion training could even out their eccentricities, but the Stormcloaks fully embraced those tendencies, molding them into their strategies. If they had high morale and momentum in a battle, the Stormcloaks could seem unstoppable. Their attacks were quick and powerful, and their victories devastating. But, the other edge of that blade was that they could be reliant on their morale. When their momentum could be stalled, when they could be made to call into question their victory, the formations they fell into were undisciplined. In Do’rhajul’s experience, Stormcloak retreats were costly, and their losses disastrous. He did not know the histories of Hjergir’s soldiers, but he could see plainly that they fought much more like Stormcloaks.

What the Dominion commander wanted might have been appropriate for his own forces, but Do’rhajul had to adapt his approach to the soldiers he was given. Hjergir himself was embroiled in a duel with a Xivilai, so Do’rhajul had to be the one to act. “These are Nords; we must use them to their strengths. Push the frontline when we make the opening.”

“Yerig, behind me. We need to clear a path.” Do’rhajul said to the old Nord. They moved closer to the battlefield’s right flank, where many of the Nordic warriors were fighting. The frontline had become a brawl between the Thu’um-empowered Nords and the Daedra. The Nords were more deadly, but every kill the Daedra did make was more impactful. If Do’rhajul wanted to take advantage of the Nords’ ferocity, he needed to give them a more clear advantage, and for that, he had to make sure none of his allies were in front of him. Do’rhajul himself took up the task of clearing the way for Yerig. Over the years, the threat that the lycan clans had perceived from Do’rhajul as Vile’s general had diminished, but he was the man who had once defeated Meesei in single combat, leaving a mark on her health that had lasted a decade. He had not grown as the Champion’s pack had, but he was still showing that prowess.

Do’rhajul’s push through the brawl looked almost effortless. He too had the winds of Yerig’s shout guiding his weapon, and he knew more than most how to take advantage of it. Skaafin and Dremora both saw the towering Khajiit as an obvious threat, but each encounter lasted mere seconds. A single decisive thrust to exposed flesh from Rhajul’s ebony sword, or perhaps a quick parry and counter if the Daedra sighted him first. Without an organized effort from the Daedra, there was hardly anything that could be called a fight to slow his steady and sure advance, and with Spellbreaker as an impassable wall to opposing mages, Yerig could simply walk behind his protector as they moved into position.

With their allies finally behind them, Yerig, his breaths deep and steady, gave a gentle tap with his sword’s crossguard to the back of Do’rhajul’s shoulder, prompting him to move out of the way just as Yerig filled his lungs with air. “FUS-RO-DAH!”

While they were outnumbered, this was still a much smaller fight than out on the main battlefield, and they had killed enough of the Daedric force that Yerig’s shout was able to reach to the very rear flank of the Daedra’s loose formaion. The unrelenting force of Yerig’s shout threw everything from Scamp to Ogrim through the air. Many would survive, though depending on how far they flew or how they landed, some would not be so fortunate. Yerig’s shout had only affected a long line of foes directly in front of him, but he had still cleared out an opening straight through to the rear of the Daedric forces, and the Nordic warriors around him were more than happy to charge straight through, inspired by the might of Yerig’s voice. Do’rhajul did not have to even give the order.

There was still a small force of Daedra on the far right flank that had not been caught in Yerig’s shout, but they were caught between the Nords on one side, and Senche cavalry on the other. The main force of Daedra would now find themselves with both Nordic forces and cavalry moving around their flank and behind them, with an organized Dominion formation in front of them. The Daedra would fight to the last, but that advantage they had in numbers would not be as relevant when they were outflanked on nearly every side.

From Sabine’s portal, Meesei landed on the ground with a thud just behind the Dominion forces, so she was not in a position to lead the charge among her own soldiers. Though, that did not terribly concern her. Even if she had no actual authority among them, she did not need to be giving orders to fill an impactful role among a magically inclined force. With the gaps they had initially opened up to accommodate the Nords’ retreat, Meesei moved forward between the Dominion ranks towards the front. She stood tall above them, taking a moment to observe, perhaps even inspect their formations. They were professional and disciplined like the Legion, but there was something even more to them than that. It was something that was difficult to really identify at first, but Meesei felt that she finally understood it. It was a trait shared among soldiers from some of their own clans from Dominion territories. It was confidence that make them seem like more of an unbreakable unit compared to even Legion soldiers. They had the same degree of training, but also complete confidence both in that training, and in their leadership. Even in the face of Daedric hordes, their formation was as clean and organized as if they were putting on a show in a parade, because they trusted fully in the skill of the commander that ordered them into that formation.

Nevertheless, as enlightening of an observation as it was, Meesei still had the battle in front of her to fight. She supposed she would see how adaptable they could be to the actions of an outsider among their ranks. For magically-inclined allies such as these, Meesei could easily think of what would serve the greatest advantage to them. Something that was, perhaps, familiar to them, if not surprising to see come from a werewolf.

Though not a damaging spell, the power Meesei pushed through her fingertips was still great. Once at the frontline, Meesei extended her hands out wide, giving structure and form to a spell for which that very idea seemed like a paradox. Long, sharply-glowing dispelling chains shot forth from her hands, which she then lashed across as much of the Daedric frontline as she could. Compared to her early attempts at the spell during her duel with Teroiah, she had refined the technique considerably. They now tore apart the structure magical structure of spells and enchantments more easily, and without as much of a drain on her magicka. All across the Daedric front, wards and other spells were essentially ripped apart into formless magicka, leaving them with no magical defenses to speak of. Meesei was not sure if any rumors of her duel with Teroiah had escaped that arena, but if they had, then Meesei was certainly giving them credibility.

The only detail that betrayed the impact of Meesei's spell in the eyes of the Dominion -- apart from eyes darting left and right to the soldiers beside them -- was the delay before they responded. They had to process the site in front of them as if it was an illusion.

The Dominion officer on the ground showed the most expression through his helmet. It was the most incredulous he had ever been in his long life. But he knew exactly what Meesei's magic meant. He pointed a bound sword towards the enemy. "Advance, lightning!"

His order barked across the lines and lit up the right hands of every dominion soldier. A cavalcade of lightning bolts flashed and forked directly into the Daedra pincered by the Nords and Senche-Raht cavalry. Bestial cries of pain and indignity played out between the magical sparks that cut them down behind their fallen defences. When the front rank ran short of magicka, they would fold back to allow the next rank to take over the magical assault.

And the slow march resumed in the Dominion forces, closing in on the Daedra to reduce their manoeuvres.

Sabine found her chance to help then and there by ensuring the spells kept flowing. She raised the Staff of Magnus towards the sky and let a bright restoration magic flow into all the Altmer around her, keeping their magicka reserves comfortably replenished.

They had finally reached the tipping point in this battle. Between the flanking force of Nords and Senche cavalry, and the magically charged Aldmeri frontline, the momentum had shifted firmly against the Daedra. Against a normal army, the presence of massive Daedra like Ogrims, Daedroth, and Xivilai could demolish standard formations, but Teroiah had sent one of her elite units for the critical job of pushing through the mountain pass, and the lycans, of course, had werecreatures that could stop even the massive Daedra in their tracks. The Daedric commanders, while fearsome, were not tacticians. Once they no longer had numbers, they simply shouted at their warriors to fight harder…and to the last.

Indeed, although each army had worked ahead of time to mentally prepare their soldiers for a fight against Daedra, they were quite unlike any foe they had fought before. For mortal armies, the basic instinct of self-preservation made battles end long before the last warrior was dead. When defeat seemed assured, armies would rout, retreat, or surrender. Right now, at the front, Meesei was at the spearhead of the Dominion lines. She alternated between storms of lightning, dispelling chains when the enemy showed a hint of magical defenses, or simply tearing apart whatever Daedra happened to be in front of her with her claws. For the army around her, with Sabine to restore them, their magical endurance seemed limitless. By the time spears or swords reached them, most of the Daedra in front of them were scarred and crippled by spellfire, or simply electrocuted.

The rest of Meesei’s pack did eventually emerge from the tower, after clearing it themselves, though they did not have much time to reach the frontline by that point. The Dominion soldiers’ advance was steady and unstoppable, while the lycans had moved around behind the Daedra, slaughtering the archers and mages that had few warriors around them to protect them in melee. Hjergir himself had taken on his werewolf form. He had taken his fair share of injuries, staining his white fur red with blood, though he did not seem to be slowed in the slightest by them. Even by lycan standards, he was a brutal warrior. An Ogrim had counter-charged into the Nords, trampling two under its weight, and with a simple, massive punch, broke both the wooden shield of a third Nord, and the arm holding it. Before it could do any more damage, Hjergir pounced on its back, hooking his claws into its flesh on the front, while stabbing the claws on his feet into its back. While the Daedra was struggling to reach up and grab the werewolf, Hjergir repeatedly ripped and tore chunks of meat and fat from around the area of the Ogrim’s neck. He tore apart, and even devoured parts of the Ogrim while it was still alive. He was ferocious enough that one could be forgiven for mistaking him for a feral.

Ultimately, when the Dominion and Nordic forces did meet, it was when the last of the Daedra had been slain between them. It was a victory, and a firm display of the skill of the soldiers they had with them, but it was still not a victory that Meesei, or any of the commanders, could be particularly comfortable with. They had maintained a strong momentum against a numerically superior force, and even once that momentum had been stalled, they had managed to successfully react and maintain their advantage. But, they had still taken losses. Dead Nords, Altmer and one Senche lay on the ground behind them, along with injured soldiers that needed to be tended to if they wanted to avoid more deaths. The casualties they suffered would be considered light by any conventional measure, but they had only just begun their push through the mountain pass. They had only taken one of the watchtowers. If they had to keep fighting like this, even light losses would eventually wear them down until they did not have enough soldiers to push on to their final destination.

The disciplined Dominion soldiers did not join in the cheers and triumphant gestures of their allies when the fighting began to abate. They only allowed themselves to catch their breath and see to the residual tremors in their hands that the prolonged charge of magic put into them.

The Dominion commander rapidly barked an order to set the Altmer into block formations to continue marching forward. It appeared he had no intention of stopping to recover the dead and injured save for the scattered teams of Dominion restorationists straggling behind them.

"Commanders!" Rossarm shouted through a scowl. "My unit is staying behind to revive the wounded! We will catch up in due course."

The Dominion commander's brow creased with fury at the words. "Impossible, Dunmer!" He spat. "Your formation is needed against the next counterattack. You will remain with the army!"

"You will need every body you can muster," Rossarm retorted less emotionally, if sternly. "Even your Nordish allies. Do not waste my time."

Fendros caught up to the commotion, back on Leaps' saddle. Leaps slid to a stop by Sabine and Meesei. "What is keeping us here?" he asked.

Even in her current form, Meesei had to look up slightly to make eye contact with Fendros on the back of Leaps. “The watchtower, we should claim it. It may be useful to coordinating the battle below. I saw an orb on a pedestal on top, and I believe I know what it may be used for. Did any of you see the commander’s quarters when you were fighting down through the tower?”

Ahnasha had caught up in time to be able to answer. “We saw a room near the top with some maps and other documents.”

Meesei nodded. “Good, there is something specific I want you to search it for. Look for any mirrors, especially handheld mirrors. You may be able to feel an enchantment within them.”

Although Meesei was not in an immediate rush to march their forces forward, it was still important that they act quickly and get moving again as soon as they were able, so Ahnasha wasted no time in rushing back inside. Meesei next turned her attention to Sabine beside her. “Help with the wounded as best as you are able. We do not have time to wait for reinforcements, so we need to minimize our losses.” She said. The kind of mass healing that Sabine would be able to offer quickly would be more along the lines of brute force, using the Staff to empower the spell, but it would still be helpful. Sabine would likely need to start focusing more on absorbing magicka with the Staff in coming battles. Before the battle, they had empowered the Staff of Magnus with a combination of welkynd stones and other reservoirs of magicka, but that power was not limitless.

“I will go up and investigate that orb, but first, let us deal with this…disagreement.” Meesei said with a glance up to Fendros before moving to approach the Dominion commander and Rossarm. She did not bother to question either of them about the argument, nor ask for opinions. She instead gave firm, direct orders. “We shall all be holding position here briefly while we take control of this watchtower. If I am correct, it will have tools we can use to aid the battle below. I want you to treat as many of the wounded as you can while we wait.”

"Take Leaps, Ahna," Fendros quickly dismounted. "He'll get you there fast."

Sabine was nearby as she was checking on Do'rhajul and her newer packmate Tarna. Tarna was flicking Daedra blood off her shortsword even though her presence was not obvious on the battlefield.

"I will," Sabine responded clearly to Meesei's order. "Tarna, go ahead of Rossarm's people and stabilise whomever you can before they reach them. I will assist them as well." She handed Tarna a potion while the spoke, no doubt to assist her magicka reserves after the fight.

Tarna took the potion and set off after a quick nod.

The argument had little time to develop before Meesei and Fendros diverted their attention. Rossarm and the Dominion commander exchanged a challenging look, but it was Rossarm who responded first. "At once, champion."

The Dominion commander gritted his teeth. Holding back complaint, he spun and spoke an order. "Halt! Full halt! Form ranks three! Rearward, restore casualties!"

The golden-armoured ranks fell into position with small, rapid drumbeat footfalls. Three rows of Dominion soldiers formed bound shields on the front line while the rest grouped up to find survivors behind them.

"We shall see that depending on this diversion does not grant the Daedra an advantage, Champion of Hircine," the commander said.

Fendros retorted before the statement could set in. "We shall see that time is not wasted informing commander Teroiah of your unprompted opinions!"

The commander's yellowed Altmer face flushed pink with anger and embarrassment. After a seething breath in, he tersely yelled a "Duly noted!" and turned to administrate his subordinates.

The words drew a long glance from Rossarm on his way out, but neither he nor Fendros gave each other a word.

Now a short distance out, Sabine lifted the top of her staff into the air and charged a radiant golden magic above it. The light grew until almost painful to look at before she used her other hand to direct it, spreading wafting tendrils of restorative energy out and towards the still-alive casualties strewn around her.

While Meesei could have also assisted with the wounded, a mage needed to be the one to examine the orb in the tower. She might have allowed another mage outside of her pack to do so, but it was more valuable for her to ensure there were no delays. Once her orders had been given, Meesei headed up the tower as well.

---

The plan from the commanders high on their vantage point at the portal had been coming to fruition down below on the battlefield. Though, unbeknownst to them, it only had a chance to succeed because of the interference of the Champion's pack with the first watchtower. Fast, agile lycan teams had performed quick strikes against the growing Daedric formation, only to pull back before the Daedra could collapse their forces upon them. They poked and prodded the Daedra just enough to encourage them to chase them off. At the same time, a fair portion of the supporting forces to the center of their own lines, where Hal-Neesa was advancing, stayed back hidden in the trees as the rest of them were crossing an open field. It made their lines seem just thin enough to be a tempting target, without being an obvious trap.

Eventually, the lycans' periodic attacks on the Daedra brought the forces chasing them close enough to see the seemingly weak mortal lines, and at least one of their commanders took the bait. Whether to seize a perceived opportunity, or just out of a desire to earn glory in battle, a horde of Daedra marched across the field as well to meet them in battle.

Hal-Neesa was, of course, aware of the plan. One of their werevulture messengers had informed her of their intended deception. She knew that reinforcements would come to their aid once the Daedra were committed to battle. However, Hal-Neesa had no intention of waiting on rescue when she could turn the tide of the battle herself. As Skaafin and various Daedric beasts charged across the field, rapidly closing on their lines, Hal-Neesa took in a breath and focused. The amount of magicka that she could pull through her fingertips was of a magnitude only rivaled by the greatest mortal mages in history. Mages like Galerion or Divayth Fyr, for whom even gods could not simply ignore their power.

What Neesa produced was a spell that could not only be felt, but quite simply seen from across the battlefield. It was a massive ball of lightning above her, glowing as bright as the Silent City's sun. Even the immortal, supposedly fearless Daedra in front of her had been given pause at the sight of it. Though, they did not have the time nor ability to do anything about it. When Neesa pushed her hands forward, the ball of lightning split off into smaller orbs that spread out in an arc in front of her, flying over the heads of the Daedra. From each orb, violent streaks of lightning struck down towards the ground like a curtain of pure energy, essentially disintegrating any living thing unfortunate enough to be caught in their path. Among those close enough to directly threaten Neesa, only storm atronachs remained standing once the power of the lightning orbs died out.

Of course, Neesa's one spell was not enough to end the battle on its own. It was far from large enough to stretch across the entire battlefield, or even a majority of it. The lightning had cut a large swathe through the enemy, but only in an arc in front of Neesa. What it had done, though, was to give her time. She sent forward her undead thralls to fill in the gap and slow the enemy further, then pulled from her pouch a crimson red sigil stone.

Neesa levitated the sigil stone in front of her, then, with a flick of her wrist, pushed it straight down and embedded it into the ground. She cast a spell onto the ground over it, which formed a collection of glowing blue Daedric sigils on the ground all around it. It was not the method one would use if they were to form a portal to Tamriel, but the barriers between two realms of Oblivion were not nearly as robust. All it took was activating the sigil stone for Molag Bal to grasp a hold into Vile's realm.

In the sky above the field, there was a low rumbling almost like thunder, then the ethereal form of a Dark Anchor began to manifest. The ghostly ring soon solidified into stone, then a loud sound akin to a war horn sounded out all throughout the valley, and beyond. Three massive stone spikes fell down through the portal, connected by chains up to the anchor. After the chains pulled taut, Daedra from Coldharbour dropped like meteors from the portal onto the ground below, surrounded and protected by glowing blue magic.

---

After about ten minutes in the watchtower, Meesei and Ahnasha both came down together, with Ahnasha holding under her arm several cloth-wrapped objects. They sought out Fendros quickly, with Meesei grabbing his attention as Ahnasha climbed down off of Leaps. "Fendros, get one of our messengers. We need to send a werevulture to the commanders. I was correct, the orb at the top of the watchtower is enchanted. I do not have time to examine it in detail, but it seems to be a life detection enchantment combined with another alteration enchantment. Looking through the orb allows one to see over a far distance, with any life clearly visible through both terrain and foliage. It cannot see over the entire valley, but the other watchtowers no doubt cover those areas. And aside from the orbs, there are also these..." She said, gesturing towards Ahnasha.

Ahnasha unwrapped one of the cloths, revealing what appeared to be two hand mirrors. She handed one to Fendros, then looked into the one she was holding. "Our research on the Skaafin was correct." She said, though Fendros would hear her voice not only from right in front of him, but from the mirror as well. Looking into the mirror, Fendros would be able to see Ahnasha's face in it. "Skaafin use these enchanted mirrors to communicate from a distance. They are connected in pairs. We found three. These two are probably a spare set, and the third I have wrapped here is probably connected to another mirror in the hands of a Skaafin commander."

"I want some of our scouts in this tower." Meesei continued. "Give your mirror to them, and send Ahnasha's with a message back to our commanders. They can use this tower to help coordinate our movements, and target for our siege weapons. Though, we also need to warn them that the Daedra can do the same with the other towers. If our army in the valley moves forward into their view, before we can capture or destroy them, our army will be at a severe disadvantage.

It was at that point that the sound of a war horn echoed across the battlefield. Meesei turned her head up towards the sky and saw the portal hovering over the center of the battlefield, followed by a rain of magically-protected Daedra dropping down from the Dark Anchor. While they were, strictly speaking, allied reinforcements, that did not make them encouraging to see.

Fendros swung himself back up onto Leaps-On-Elves' saddle while Meesei explained their discoveries. He nodded at each point, but had one more question before he set off. "Are we certain they're pairs only?" He looked into the mirror again. "We don't want any enemies spying our plans."

The portal to Cold Harbour interrupted any answer. Everyone's heads turned to the sight.

"Azura's light..." Fendros breathed.

"All the more reason to move!" Janius barked as he slammed his affixed dragon bone axe against the soil. "She'll have an endless amount of those Daedra!"

Fendros reined Leaps around while looking back. "I'll find a messenger!"

Once Fendros had sent their message, their forces quickly got moving up the pass again, while leaving behind a few scouts to occupy the tower. The mirrors were indeed able to be used as expected, and in combination with the tower, they were exceptional assets in coordinating their forces. Once they were able to move and assemble siege weapons through the portal, they could target the weapons with exceptional accuracy while avoiding friendly fire on the main battlefield in the valley. Of course, that advantage only applied with the support of the tower, and the enchanted orb at the top only had a limited field of view. Once the armies below moved out of the view of their tower and into the view of the next, it would be the enemy which had that advantage. The Daedra did have their own siege weapons as well, so it was an advantage they could not afford to give to their enemy.

Fortunately for their allies below, even the Daedra could not simply summon up another army on a whim to stop their force in the mountain pass. The next two towers were only able to put up a token resistance, which was easily put down. With each tower that was captured, not only were their armies in the valley below cleared to move forward, but they would be moving with the advantages each tower could provide. They did not find a spare set of enchanted mirrors on the second tower, so they moved the scouts from the previous tower up instead. On the third tower, they did find another set of mirrors, but rather than stationing another set of scouts in the tower, and leaving the second tower to do essentially nothing, they decided instead to move up the scouts from the previous tower again while leaving one of the new mirrors in their hands. The other mirror Meesei trusted to Fendros, as it would allow them to quickly communicate back to the third tower, and therefore, back to the commanders at the portal as well.

Naturally, the Daedra did not simply abandon the pass, and while the allied force was able to take two watchtowers quickly, the werevulture scouts they had sent ahead of them were now coming back to report a sizable Daedric force amassing to guard the pass ahead of the fourth tower. Meesei and her pack, along with Hjergir, Rossarm, Ri’kalesh, and the Dominion commander, were all gathered at the front with one of the werevultures.

“The path splits into three ahead.” The werevulture explained. “The middle path is pretty narrow all throughout, though the left and right sides get a lot wider in places. The three paths are separated by areas of sharp, steep, jagged rocks, with only narrow passages in between. Small groups might be able to get through from one path to the next, but a large force would quickly get bogged down if they tried it. The Daedra have defenses set up along all three paths, but all three paths do converge into one at the end, and that’s where we think most of their forces are still waiting. The twilights forced us back before we could get too good of a look, but their numbers don’t look quite as high as the force they sent after us at the first tower. Still, they’re the ones defending this time, and they’re entrenched.”

"A conventional advance is suicide." Rossarm was the first to respond. "They have too many replacements. We would be buried underneath their corpses before we were let through." He looked at the others. "My men could rush one path, but we cannot punch through the converged defences alone."

The Dominion commander sniffed. "At least three strong spearheads are required."

"At least?" Janius asked.

"I have enough magicka to send a handful of people through a portal," Sabine answered. "I just need to see it and concentrate for long enough."

Fendros nodded. "We will need as many approaches as we can bring to bear. Are there any further ways to take on our enemies here? How many werevultures to we have available to cover our advance from above?"

The werevulture shook her head. “We don’t really have the numbers here to be a fighting force. My flock are scouts. Most of our warriors are fighting in the battle below. We’ll still follow your orders, though, whatever they are.” She answered.

“Maybe we could just push through one pass?” Ahnasha suggested. “Don’t let them divide us. Maybe if we just hit one of their lines really hard, we can push through before we get trapped?”

Meesei was reluctant to accept the suggestion. “I do not think that will work. I do agree with the commander here.” She said, gesturing to the Dominion officer. They are using the narrow pass to their advantage. Even if we put all of our forces through one path, we will not be able to bring them all to bear at once. They could slow us down, then send a force down one of the unguarded paths to get around behind us trap us in from both sides. I do believe we have no choice but to dedicate forces to all three paths. But, as Sabine suggests, we could use portals or other tactics to give us an advantage.”

Perhaps it was the excitement of the ongoing battle riling him up, but Janius' suggestion was more like an outburst. "Send Kaleeth and I down the middle path while others punch through the left and right. If we lure them into the middle path, we can occupy them so the rest of the forces can focus on the other two approaches!"

"You will need support," Sabine said. "I can provide it."

Fendros looked from Janius to Meesei. "Rossarm's mages are a spearhead, as are the rest of our pack. Hjergir, whatever elites we have in our formations...Any pressure off them makes them sharper."

After hearing the counsel of her pack, Meesei was satisfied with the plan they had reached. There was nothing better coming to mind for her, and they did not have the time to wait around much longer. “Very well, I agree. We will split our soldiers roughly evenly between the left and right paths. Janius, Kaleeth, and Sabine will lead a smaller force down through the middle. Being that it is a narrower path, you would not benefit from a larger force, regardless. Rossarm and his mages will accompany the forces on the right, while myself and the remainder of my pack will go along the left. Ri’kalesh, your Senche will not have room to maneuver down the center, so you should split your forces between the left and right.”

Ri’kalesh nodded in agreement, followed shortly by Hjergir. For Meesei’s final question, she decided to allow the Dominion commander to make his determination. Meesei did feel that having the skills of both the Nords and Dominion soldiers on all paths would give them the best chance, but it would require them to work together more closely than before. If the Altmer did not think his soldiers would do so effectively, Meesei was not going to order them to try. Not when the stakes were so high. “Commander, do you think your soldiers can work in tandem with mine on all flanks, or would you rather command your forces directly on one path, while we take the others?"

The Dominion Commander's response was almost strangely confident. "They will work in tandem," he said, hands clasped behind his back. "My second is capable enough to direct them. Not to mention, fighting alongside their former enemies has discouraged them to show weakness."

"Let's get on with it then!" Janius pushed himself back up onto his feet and loped ahead. He stopped at the front of the formations and let out a roar that reverberated through the valley.

Sabine looked to Tarna and Do'rhajul. "I will need you both with me. This will not be easy."

"Of course, Alpha," Tarna replied with a cautious smile. "Small crowded spaces are not ideal for me, though I can still protect you two."

All the while, it took barely half a minute for the Dominion troops to split and form up in twin columns.

Hjergir too split his forces and formed up into the two columns that would be moving along the left and right flanks, though he also dedicated a smaller force to assisting the members of Meesei’s pack that would be assaulting down the center. In such a narrow pass, it was more possible for a smaller force to defeat a larger one, but they would have to make sure their frontline never faltered, as there would not be many reinforcements to fill in the gaps.

Meesei and Lorag were front and center on the frontline of the left flank. Hjergir was just behind them, while to the left and right there was a shield wall of both Nordic and Dominion troops extending almost to the sides of the passage. The front was supported by mages on the second rank back, with similarly alternating ranks heading all the way back to the rear of the column. Ahnasha had joined Fendros on Leaps’ saddle, and they were moving near the front along with the Senche cavalry.

On all three flanks, the type of resistance the allied forces would face were similar. The Skaafin had neglected to reinforce the last few watchtowers so they could take the time to fortify these passages. Metal barricades had been moved into position about halfway through each of the three passageways. On the left and right flanks, the barricades were simple, spiked barricades not unlike the wooden versions used by armies in Tamriel. They would primarily deter cavalry, but the Daedric spearmen holding behind them could attack while soldiers were slowed by them as well. In the center passage, there was much less distance for the barricades to cover, so the Skaafin had been able to build up stronger defenses. In addition to the spiked barricades, they had also assembled walls out of metal posts, with elevated platforms behind them from which they could attack with spells, arrows, and long spears.

Meesei was at the front on the left flank, so she was the first to encounter the other defense the Daedra had prepared. Out of seemingly nowhere, a small orange, disk with four spike-like claws appeared in front of her and jumped up spinning into the air. Reflexively, Meesei formed a ward in front of herself, which did absorb the fireball from the ensuing explosion. Meesei shouted and brought the column to a halt, then cast form dispelling chains from both of her hands. As the chains cuts across the area in front of them, they stripped away the illusions the Daedra had put in place to hide their traps. From one side of the path to the other, dozens upon dozens of these mechanical fireball traps had been placed. Although the traps were no longer hidden, they would still have to deal with them as they pushed forward, and the Daedra ahead had already begun shooting volleys of spells and arrows. The other two paths were defended by illusion-obscured traps as well, and would need to be dealt with swiftly.

The appearance of the leaping magical traps the Daedra had set made Fendros suddenly appreciate the Dominion's slower and more methodical means of advance. If Ahnasha, Leaps, and he were scouting ahead before Meesei could ward such a device, they might have been seriously hurt. And that was mentioning nothing of the casualties they would have faced marching a formation into them.

Not that their current situation was good. Fendros loosed a dark chitin arrow across to lodge in the neck of a Skaafin mage, though he could not stop to fell any more under the enemy retaliation. They could not afford to be bogged down here.

"Ahna!" Fendros said over his shoulder. "Could you summon something tough to run through these traps?"

Over in the central path, Janius, Kaleeth, Sabine, and their force made quicker time. Janius was the one who triggered the first trap. He smelled a whiff of magical fire coming to his nose right before Sabine cried out warning. He covered his face as a reflex and the blast forced him back.

The smoke cleared as Janius regained his balance. He shook his snout and growled ahead.

"Wait! There are more of them!" Sabine said, holding a spell in one hand that helped her at least see that there were illusions ahead. "They are hidden!"

The Skaafin they faced saw fit to let loose on them with similar arrows and spells from behind their barricades. Sabine brought up a ward to help cover herself and some of those behind her. She tried to figure a way through, looking past the shimmer of her ward. She did not have the time or space to set up a portal to bypass the traps. She did not have the ability to ward everyone against them. She barely had a few potions that could effectively protect against magical fire. Most of all, she was not used to being any leader in this battle.

"Do'rhajul!" She called over to the one with experience as a general. "I cannot protect everyone from these traps. How do we advance?"

For a moment, as she looked ahead across the now-revealed field of traps, Ahnasha was not sure how they would get across quickly, but Fendros' suggestion was enough to make the answer clear to her.

Extending both hands out in front of her, charged with dark violet energy, Ahnasha summoned from two portals a pair of flame atronachs. She instructed them to move forward, darting back and forth across the open area in front of them to set off as many of the traps as possible. Just like before, the mechanical traps jumped up into the air and exploded in fire, to which the atronachs were immune.

"Conjurers! Let's clear these traps!" Ahnasha shouted. Though, the enemy remained far from passive as they looked on. The two armies were still at long range from one another, but arrows and spellfire were already coming in from behind the Skaafin fortifications. In addition to targeting the opposing army, they would likely try to kill the atronachs as well.

In the center path, Do'rhajul moved to the front, holding Spellbreaker firmly out in front of him. Destruction spells from the mages on the barricades struck the unbreaking ward with no perceivable effect. Arrows were a threat as well, though the Dwemer metal protected just as well against them. Once he stepped far enough forward, another trap was triggered, and this time he was able to get a closer look at it. The explosion had no more of an effect on Spellbreaker's ward than the Skaafin's spells, so Do'rhajul stepped back in line with the other troops and shouted back to Sabine. "These traps, they are physical things. They can be destroyed, or set off early. This one cannot clear them all himself, but have mages form up on my flanks. Have them launch spells in front of us as we advance, while the both of us defend them."

Fendros was at first unsure if the svelte fire atronachs were strong enough for the job, but he grinned at his own lack of awareness as they shrugged off the blasts around them. "Yes! Perfect!" Fendros said. "We can advance!"

The excitement in Fendros' voice was interrupted by a spell flying towards him. He raised a ward in time for an magical icicle to shatter against it. Leaps flinched back a step at the noise. Fendros turned his head around. "Hjergir! Meesei! We can charge upon them behind these Daedra if we force them to cover!"

Sabine nodded firmly at Do'rhajul and immediately carried out the suggestion. With an order, she brought the mages to the fore to sweep the path ahead. With another order, she set up archers to fire at will upon the barricades in high arcs. Even if they did not hit, they could threaten the defenders and keep them under pressure.

"Do not tarry! We have limited arrows!" She extended a hand and leaned into her contribution to the sweeping effort: After a moment to shape her new spell, she drew power from the Staff of Magnus to fire off a broadly spread hail of magical ice spikes. The individual spikes were little threat to an armoured or warded foe, but the sheer rate at which they flew from her hand meant the stationary traps could no longer hide. Behind the explosions that flew up the dirt in front of her the mist generated by the spell flowed in a cloudy sheet from her whole arm and coated the ground she stepped through.

Hjergir let out a roar. At this point his bloodlust looked as if it was only somewhat contained. He had more than enough years of experience to be expected to be able to control his beast, but he was someone who seemed to lean on its savagery in battle. Still, he was not so far gone as to be unable to answer. “Alright, then let’s give ‘em something to fear! Volley! Force them to ground!”

The archers near the rear of their force were not as numerous as the ranged threats from the Daedra, but they could still put ample pressure on at least the front line. Combined with the Dominion mages that followed suit, the Daedra behind the barricades had to worry about their own defense just as much as they did about fighting back. At the same time, Meesei pushed forward with the frontline while arcing lightning across the tops of the barricades.

In the center path, progress was slower, but they still marched steadily forward with every trap that they destroyed. The narrow path did mean that they could not spread out enough to overwhelm the Daedra, but that did also mean the Daedra had less ability to focus ranged fire on any specific part of their frontline defenses. They could hold, and when they did reach the barricades, it was Kaleeth that was the first to make contact. The tall metal wall in front of her reached even above her head, but she did not expect for it to be much of an obstacle for her. She found the opening between two parts of the wall, then shoved her claws into it. From there, she pulled the two apart, growling as the metal bent under the immense force she could provide. The Daedra on the other side had not yet reorganized their defense, as they had not expected the barrier to be breached so quickly.

On the left flank, Meesei was about to mantle over the barricades when a roar echoed through the valley. She turned her head to the sky and fell back down onto their side of the barricades. It was the Daedric Titan. The massive beast had been healed, or simply rested enough to rejoin the fight, and it was setting its sights on the mountain pass. As it flew towards them, Meesei created a ward and expanded it to try and protect as many as she could, but the beast did not stop on their flank. Instead, it flew overhead, past the center path, and towards the far right flank.

Ahnasha bared her teeth as the Titan flew over. If even one of the flanks fell, the Daedra could wrap around and surround them. They had to act quickly, but at the same time, they could not weaken their own flank too greatly, else they would face the same problem. Ahnasha had an idea in mind, though in truth, she was not completely sure it would work. Not that she would let on to that fact, considering how few other options they had. “Meesei! I think I know how to stop that thing, I just have to get close!”

Meesei turned back briefly, answering with considerable haste with the battle still raging around them. “Do it, we’ll be fine here. Fendros, can you get her there?”