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Skyrim Page 5 - "NAKED! Naked naked naked "

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A/N: And after last chapter, we have now hit rock bottom and can now start climbing back up. Much like Madanach's going to have to, hem hem.

Trigger warning for substance abuse and after-effects, specifically Madanach on the tail end of a Skooma trip. Not to mention Lucia witnessing all this and really needing a cuddle.

Summary: The Reach's Queen is missing and the Reach responds - or at least it would if the commander-in-chief hadn't rendered himself completely incapable of responding to anything. With very few options left, it's time to resort to drastic measures - and when your king's got an addiction problem, staging an intervention takes on a whole new meaning.

Vlindrel Hall was locked and Cicero didn't have his key on him. Knocking and calling out to Liriel didn't work either.

“Do you think she is sleeping?” Lucia whispered.

“Sleeping? Of course she is not sleeping, she hardly ever sleeps during the day unless she has been up all night, and she slept last night eventually,” Cicero growled, resuming the hammering on the door. “Listener? LISTENER! IT IS CICERO! OPEN THE DOOR! PLEEEAAASE?” Cicero fluttered his eyelashes at the unmoving door and pouted, despite the fact that no one inside could see it. “PLLLLEEEEEEEAAAASE? Cicero is WORRIIIIIIEEEED!”

Still no answer. Cicero huffed and kicked the door.

“Bother and befuddle. She does not answer. Why does she not ANSWER?”

Lucia shrank back, a little afraid of Cicero when he was like this.

“Does anyone else have a key?” she whispered. “Does Da have a spare?”

Cicero stopped, looking up and giggling, smacking his forehead. “Of course, of course! Foolish Cicero! Cicero still has the spare key the Reach-King gave him! Sweet child, dear child, do not worry, just wait here. Cicero will return to the Keep and fetch it.”

So Lucia waited and it was nearly half an hour later by the time Cicero returned, brandishing the key and unlocking the door with a flourish, bouncing in without a care.

“Listener, Listener, dearest Listener, Cicero is here!” Cicero cooed as he pranced into the house. “Your dear brother is here to tend to you in your hour of need. Listener, oh Listener, where are youuuu?”

Lucia followed him, looking about her at the house that had once been home. She'd first come here with Argis, scared and tired and hungry after being taken prisoner by the Dark Brotherhood, missing her mother and wondering who that strange old wizard in the furs and bone had been and why his soldiers had come to rescue them. He'd said he was a king but Lucia knew there weren't any kings in Skyrim, not since King Torygg had been killed. So she'd not let her guard down for a second and by the time she got to Markarth and the soldiers had melted off into the wilds, she'd been exhausted. Then she'd got a cold not long after and her first few days in this house had been spent mostly in bed while Argis had made her soup and read her stories and by the time she felt better, Sissel had settled right in and Argis at least had proved beyond doubt he was a nice man.

Now that old wizard was king in truth and her father, and Argis lived in Solitude with his wife Queen Elisif, and Lucia hadn't really lived here long enough to really call the place home... but all the same she had fond memories of the place. So she looked around... and as Cicero knelt down next to a semi-conscious Uaile, Lucia saw the silver and sapphire magicka-boosting circlet that the College of Winterhold had given her mother lying on the floor and she knew her mother was in trouble.

“Uaile? Uaile, why are you lying on the floor, the floor is not for sleeping on! Wakey-wakey!” Cicero cooed as he shook her shoulder.

Uaile's eyes barely fluttered open as Cicero shook her but she did see the jester hat and pawed at the motley.

“Gar'lan,” she murmured. “Gar'lan, need... stop them... Brenhina...” Uaile fell back into unconsciousness in Cicero's arms and Cicero took his hand away, seeing blood all over it from where he'd been cupping her head.

“You are bleeding,” he whispered, going pale. “You are injured, you hit your head when you fell... you fell.” Cicero let her go and got up, racing into the back room, mind suddenly realising what had been wrong when he watched the Altmer family go. Lucia clutched the circlet she was holding to her, staring in horror at Uaile, talented ReachGuard warrior and personal assistant to Nepos himself, prostrate on the floor and injured, and Lucia knew her mother wasn't here.

“Cicero,” Lucia whispered as she followed him into the master bedroom. “Cicero, I found this. It's Mama's...” She stopped, watching Cicero stare at the bed and the lighter patch on the floor that marked where a chest used to be.

“Three chests,” Cicero said softly. “They had three big chests when they left, and a little one for Ancalime. But when they came, they only had two! Because they have taken a third from the Listener's house.” He turned to face her, smile gone, lips curled back in cold fury, dark eyes blazing out of a pale face and Lucia whimpered, terrified. Cheerful, lovable Cicero had gone and this man was capable of anything. He lowered his eyes to the circlet in Lucia's hands and while his expression barely changed, something in his manner made Lucia want to turn and run. But she was a Dragonborn's daughter, and she stood her ground.

“They have taken the Listener,” Cicero breathed. “Sweet Liriel's parents have taken my Listener. Oh how they will pay!”

“Cicero?” Lucia whispered, and he was actually going to kill someone, Lucia knew it, he was dangerous, really dangerous and oh gods, no one else knew she was here with him... “Cicero, Uaile's hurt, we need to help her...”

Cicero stared at her for a few seconds, as if she'd said something quite stupid. Then he laughed, shrugged and ran to the Reachwoman's side.

“Of course, of course! We must take her to a healer, yes, to the duty healer at the Keep. Come, come, sweet Lucia must follow Cicero! Cicero must tell the Reach-King this and then he needs his mace and his crossbow and armour and more daggers and poison and potions and various little trinkets and... yes. There is no time to lose, come!”

Cicero ran back into the kitchen, scooped Uaile up in his arms and raced for the door. Clutching her mother's circlet in her hands, Lucia had no choice but to follow. Mama gone, Cicero scaring her, Uaile hurt... Lucia didn't know what was going on. She was ten years old and terrified. But her father was back at the Keep. Da would make it all go away, wouldn't he?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cicero had raced into the Keep, turning left into one of the many side passages and into the open all hours clinic that Madanach had opened in the first year of his kingship, emergency treatment free for all and non-emergency treatment free for all citizens of the Reach and any child regardless of nationality. All that was required was a tolerance of magic and experimental medical techniques and the occasional willingness to submit oneself as a participant in whatever magical research was going on that week.

Unless of course you were the Steward's right-hand woman and your father was the Field-Marshal of the ReachGuard, in which case everyone dropped everything to deal with the problem. Cicero left Uaile on one of the beds while about five Forsworn healers descended on her.

“What happened?” the healer in charge snapped at Cicero. “How'd she get like this?”

“Cicero found her lying on the floor of the Listener's house,” Cicero shrugged. “Cicero thinks she fell or was hit on the head. Possibly drugged. Now Cicero has brought her, Cicero needs to leave. The Listener is in trouble.” With that, he turned and walked away. Anyone other than the Garra-Lann and the healers would have ordered him stopped but they all knew not to push him without the King or Queen or Princess being around. Someone had already run to find one of them. Lucia, unsure what to do now, trailed after Cicero, who was heading for his room.

“Wait, where are you going?” Lucia cried. “Mama's out there and in trouble!”

Cicero stopped and turned to her, and something approximating kindness appeared in his smile.

“I know, sweet one. Cicero is getting his things and then he is going after her. Cicero will find your mother and bring her home, do not fear, little one.”

“Don't kill them,” Lucia whispered. “Please! Please don't kill Cali, she's my friend!”

Cicero did chuckle at that.

“Dear child, do not fear, the little elf is safe from me. Cicero would not harm her. Cicero will bring her back too, after all it would not be right to leave a little orphan girl all on her own, would it?”

“Cicero!” Lucia cried, but before he could answer, Eola appeared, flinging her arms round him.

“Cicero, there you are, what's wrong? I could feel you from across the city! What's happened? Why is Lucia upset? What did you do?”

“I didn't do anything!” Cicero protested. “At least... not yet. Sister, sister, the Listener is in trouble, there is no time to lose!”

“Liriel?” Eola asked, puzzled, and then she saw the circlet in Lucia's hand's, the one Liriel had been wearing that morning, her favourite one that massively boosted her magicka and that the previous Archmage had given her. “Oh sweet Lady, where did that come from. Liriel would never leave that behind!”

“It was in her house,” Lucia sniffled. “On the floor, near where we found Uaile. Eola, I think someone hurt Mama! And they took her away!”

“Her parents have abducted her,” Eola breathed. “Sithis' sake. Cicero, there's no time to lose, take Shadowmere, get your things, go. When did they leave?”

“About an hour and a half ago,” Lucia whispered, fighting back tears. Mama, Mama, she desperately wanted her Mama to hold her and tell her it would be all right... but she wasn't here and it really wasn't all right. “Eola, please, Cicero's going to kill them!”

Cicero had cackled gleefully, already sprinting off to gather all his things. Eola patted Lucia's cheek gently.

“Sweetie, they've taken your ma prisoner. She's Brenhina of the Reach, abducting a lawful ruler or their family, that's not just illegal, that's treason or an act of war. Da's entitled to execute the pair of them for this. Sending Cicero just makes it that bit quicker with less paperwork and Da is all in favour of less paperwork.”

“But they're Cali's parents!” Lucia cried. Eola nodded sadly.

“I know,” she said quietly. “But Cicero wouldn't hurt Cali any more than he would your ma, and he'll bring them both back. We'll look after her, Lulu, I promise.”

“That's not the point!” Lucia cried, horrified at how Eola could just accept her own husband going off to murder Liriel's parents. “We have to talk to Da, he'll stop it, even Cicero listens to him!”

“We should definitely tell him, he'll want to know if his Matrimony Bond didn't already tell him,” Eola agreed, and then she frowned. “No, seriously, it should have told him she'd left the city, even if Liriel was taken by surprise and knocked out. If she's conscious, how could he not know she was in trouble? They argued but the bond's still there, and he still loves her.” Eola turned to look in the direction of the Royal Quarters, worry all over her face. “He should be out here snapping orders or at least wanting reports, and he's not, where is he?”

“He's not on his throne?” Lucia asked, alarmed. But Madanach had only just re-opened court after the holiday for the wedding, why wouldn't he be ruling? He'd argued with Mama, really seriously argued with her from the sounds of it, and if Lucia had been scared before, now she was terrified. Maybe Madanach guarded his time jealously but he was usually fairly serious about administering the kingdom.

“Come on,” Eola said, breaking into a run. “We need Nepos. He wasn't far behind me.”

Nepos, no longer a young man, in fact he was older than Madanach, came running breathlessly from the court room.

“Eola, what happened? What's Cicero done now?”

“He's going to kill Liriel's parents!” Lucia cried. Nepos just blinked.

“I... see. That would be awfully tragic, yes indeed. Have they left the city then?”

“Over an hour ago,” Eola said. “Nepos, we think they took Liriel prisoner! She went to Vlindrel Hall to talk to them and now she's missing! Lucia found her circlet and Uaile was found unconscious. She's with the healers now. Cicero brought her in.”

“And Cicero is presumably going after them now to retrieve Liriel – well, if they have taken her, I can't think of anyone better placed to retrieve her than him, other than the King himself of course. We are sure she's not in the city?”

“She wasn't in the house,” Lucia whispered, wiping a tear away. “We searched but she wasn't there, just Uaile with her head bleeding and lying on the floor, and the circlet and the chest in her bedroom gone. Cicero thinks they took the chest with them and Mama was in it – they had three chests and the third looked like hers, it was heavy, Nepos, I want Mama!”

Lucia didn't cry, she'd learnt from her aunt and uncle that crying didn't do any good, it just got you a worse beating. But the tears were rolling down her cheeks anyway and then Eola was kneeling next to her, brushing them away and giving her a hug.

“We'll get her back, sweetie, I promise.”

“Yes we will,” said Nepos, not kneeling because at his age that was always a perilous undertaking, but patting Lucia on the back gently. “Come on, let us go find your father. I'm a bit concerned he's not out here rallying the entire ReachGuard. He wasn't tired enough to sleep, so he's either too depressed to care, has been ransacking his entire drinks cabinet or... we need to find him.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Borkul was standing guard outside Madanach's bedroom door as the three of them approached, and he stood up and barred the way.

“Boss said no disturbances. Not even you two.”

“Oh come on, Borkul, it's important!” Eola pleaded. “What's it worth, hmm? You let Liriel in for a shiv when you were inside, and she was a stranger to him back then.”

“Yeah, cause not only had he not ordered her kept out, he'd actually told me we'd likely be getting a new inmate and when she showed up, he wanted to meet her,” Borkul growled. “If I wanted a little toll off her first, that's no one else's business. You two were specifically told not to bother him.”

“Yes, and normally I'd respect the King's privacy completely,” Nepos sighed, although everyone knew Nepos respected absolutely no one's privacy and was the worst gossip-hound in a Keep full of them. “However, it's vitally important we speak with him immediately. The country's future is at stake.”

“When isn't it?” Borkul snorted. It was at that moment Lucia could take no more.

“Mama's missing!” Lucia cried, clutching the circlet. “We don't know where she is! Cicero thinks her parents abducted her and he's gone after them! I think he's going to kill them!”

“Good on him – wait, Liriel's missing? They took her?” Borkul looked over his shoulder, clearly torn between orders and necessity and then he looked down at Lucia. “Well, he never said anything about not letting you in. And his standing orders are that he's always available if you and Sissel need him. All right, Lucia can go in and tell him what happened.” He stood aside and opened the door, waving her in.

Inside it was quiet, a bit too quiet, the fire burning low, but enough light to see by. Madanach wasn't at the table, but Lucia could see a figure lying on the bed once she'd made her way round the corner.

“Da?” she whispered, foreboding trickling down her spine. “Daddy?” He was lying face down on the bed, dressed in his favourite blue and gold robes, but torc and circlet off, one hand hanging off the side of the bed.

No response. Lucia ran closer and yelped as she trod on something. It turned out to be a little glass bottle that had had some sweet, sticky substance in it once. Empty now though.

“Daddy?” Lucia whispered, crawling on the bed next to him, shaking his shoulder. “Daddy, wake up, please...”

Madanach groaned softly, eyes flicking open as he looked hazily up at her, and Lucia was shocked to see how pale he looked. Pale, covered in sweat, and his eyes... Lucia could barely see the irises, just the inky black of pupils dilated far far beyond what they should be, and the whites of his eyes were horribly bloodshot.

“Say wha...?” Madanach murmured, seeming to stare right through her. “You're a bit young to be in here, aren't you? Nords arresting kids now?”

“Daddy, it's me, don't you recognise me?” Lucia gasped, but he just looked confused.

“Kaie? Kaie, cariad, your eyes are the wrong colour. And... I had a dream you died, I had to do your funeral. It was horrible... but you came back to me!”

Lucia remembered Kaie, hair a similar colour to hers but a grown woman in Forsworn gear who'd wielded magic with a skill like Liriel's and had cheerfully told her and Sissel not to worry, she wouldn't let anyone take them prisoner again. Lucia had liked her. She'd only met her the once but they'd become friends on that trip back to Markarth from Falkreath. Kaie had been nice to her, kind and understanding and apparently a friend of Cicero's. Lucia had been heartbroken to hear she'd died, and one thing that had helped bond her to her new father had been timidly asking him if she could visit Kaie's grave, and to her surprise he'd looked sad but smiled and said of course. They'd gone out there next Loredas and spent the day out there, lazing around in the sunshine and having a picnic and talking about her. That day, Lucia had learnt an awful lot about her new father, and families in general, and what Kaie had been like, and that losing a child was the worst thing that could ever happen to you and Madanach had no intention of it ever happening again.

“But I'm not really your little girl,” she'd said as he'd cuddled her. He'd smiled and ruffled her hair.

“Yes you are,” he'd told her. “Kaie was your age when I got sent down and I missed so much of her life. I can't make it up to her, but I can make it up to you. So by my right as Reach-King, you're officially my daughter and I'll look after you, how's that sound?”

Lucia had clung on to him, lost for words. He'd never needed to do anything else to win her over after that. She'd adored him and he'd been as good as his word and looked after her. Until now.

“Borkul! Eola! Nepos! Daddy's ill! He's not waking up properly!”

Borkul promptly ran in, sprinting up to the bed, eyes widening in horror as he took one look at Madanach.

“Madanach, you stupid, stupid bastard! Nepos, get in here!”

Madanach's eyes flickered as he looked up at Borkul, sly grin on his face.

“Oh hey, Borkul. Want some, did ya? Too late, I drank it all. Unless it was something else you were after...”

“Knock it off, your daughter's here for Malacath's sake,” Borkul growled. “Lucia, somewhere around here there'll be a little bottle, wide at the top, narrow at the bottom, kinda purple colour.”

“Like this one?” Lucia said, holding it up and Borkul actually recoiled from it, shaking all over.

“That's it,” Borkul gasped. “No, I don't want it, give it to Nepos right now.”

Nepos was making his way up the steps that led to Madanach's bed and his eyes took on the same shocked look that Borkul's had as he saw what Lucia was holding.

“I'm not seeing this, am I?” he said incredulously. “Don't tell me that at the exact moment we need our King, he's flung himself well and truly off the cart?”

“Off the cart and into the juniper bushes,” Borkul growled. “Madanach, I am so disappointed in you. We all thought you were better than this.”

“Da?” Eola by this time had come running, staring down at her father in shock. “Da, what happened??”

Madanach did look up on hearing her voice, looking even more confused.

“Mireen?” he said vacantly, and Eola, who never normally came close to crying, let out a little sob as she shook her head.

“Mireen, you cut your hair...” Madanach slurred. “Hey, cariad. You were right, you know. It wasn't your fault at all. It was me all along, I'm a terrible husband! I break everything I touch. Shouldna be allowed to have a family. Tell the kids I'm sorry?”

“What happened?” Eola whispered, horrified. Nepos took the bottle off Lucia and showed it to Eola.

“Skooma happened. I don't know where he got it from but he apparently had some stashed away, and has decided sobriety was overrated.”

Eola sank down onto the bed, stunned.

“But... but he can't have done, he's clean. I mean, I know he took the stuff in prison, but he's not had any since, not even tried finding any! Why do it now, well all right yes, I know he was upset over Liriel, but... but he knows it's dangerous! Why'd he take it? He's not addicted or anything...” Her voice trailed off at the looks on Nepos and Borkul's faces. “But he isn't, he just isn't the type, he's in control of himself, he doesn't go hitting up dealers at night or anything. He's not an addict!”

“He was inside for twenty years knocking back the stuff,” Borkul said quietly. “Course he's an addict.”

“What's Skooma?” Lucia whispered, coming to cuddle Eola, looking as terrified as Eola felt.

“Bad stuff, bachgen,” Eola said softly, holding on to her little sister. “Very bad stuff. And our Da's just taken some.”

“Is he going to be all right?” Lucia whispered, choking on her tears.

“I'll go and get the healers,” Borkul said quietly. “Need to get him some purgatives and antidotes and then sort out some meds to stop it happening again. Not gonna be pretty but not like we've never done it before. Just never thought it'd be him.”

“You do that,” Nepos sighed. “Also get some of the ReachGuard in here after, I want this room scoured from top to bottom to make sure there's no more in here. I'll deal with what's left of this.” He got up, motioning for Eola and Lucia to follow, sitting them down at the table while Borkul left to get help. Madanach had collapsed back on the bed, muttering something about being a terrible man, a vile selfish excuse for a human being and it was a good thing Sanguine loved him, no one else ever could.

“Who's Sanguine?” Lucia whispered. Eola had gone pale, gritting her teeth in fury.

“I think I know how the Skooma got here,” Eola growled. “Never mind that now. Nepos, Liriel's missing, Lucia's terrified, Da's rendered himself completely useless and my husband's out there after blood. And I hate to say it, that last thing is our best hope. You say what you will about Cicero but he will never let his family down.”

“No, he never would,” Nepos sighed. “Eola, I hate to say it, but we're down to our course of last resort. Our Queen's a prisoner of hostile enemy forces – her parents wouldn't hurt her, but if they take her to the Embassy, or back to Alinor... once the Thalmor machine has her, anything could happen. Thanks to Madanach's little argument with her this morning, they might even be able to make some sort of claim she's no longer Queen.”

Lucia gripped Eola even tighter. “But they can't say that, she's married to Da!” Lucia wailed. “She can't leave him!”

“She doesn't want to, honey,” Eola said softly. “We're gonna get her back and then the two of them are going to sort themselves out, you just see.”

“We can but hope,” Nepos said, smiling faintly. “But in the mean time, Liriel is gone and our best hope of finding her is presently off his face on a banned substance. And had he been sober still, his empathy bond with her would have told him she was in trouble. He'd have been locking down the city and ordering the ReachGuard after her the moment he sensed trouble. As it is, we've lost two hours nearly, even Shadowmere's got limits and Cicero's just one man, and he's not the one bonded to Liriel.”

“Don't you count my ceilin out just yet,” Eola said fiercely. “He just went past Blind Cliff Cave. Speed he's going, he'll be past Broken Tower in the next hour. He'll find them, don't worry. They're on a cart, they can't go off-road. Meryndor's not a warrior, nor is the driver, it's just two Thalmor soldiers and Mama Liriel. Cicero's a match for them.”

“She's a veteran of the Great War and the Oblivion Crisis, you really think Cicero can fight all three of them on his own? Well, maybe you're right, but we can't take chances. We need to respond and our commander-in-chief is presently not fit to run a village fair, never mind the Reach. We have no choice, Eola. I'm invoking the Act of Regency.”

“The Act of what?” Eola said, puzzled. She'd not heard of that one. “What does it do? Declare martial law or something?”

“No,” said Nepos softly. “No, it's, well, traditionally if a Reach-King or Queen or any leader turned out to be completely incompetent or insane, the only solution was for a challenger to gain sufficient support to take over and that invariably involved killing the incumbent. Your father became chief of Karthspire that way.”

“I know,” Eola said, remembering the story of how she'd had an uncle Kelvan once, before she was born. He'd been Mireen's younger brother, barely twenty or so when their father had died and Kelvan had become chief, chosen over Mireen because women weren't chiefs back then. He'd turned out to be a licentious waste of space, using and abusing his power to gather a harem of women, insisting on a right of seniority that gave him first pick of the tribe's young girls up for initiation, whether they wanted him or not. After three such incidents, virtually every parent of a daughter in the tribe was visiting Madanach and Mireen in secret, begging them to help. As a father of a young nine-month-old baby girl, Madanach was sympathetic, and when Kelvan decided sixteen was an arbitrary age of consent anyway, and girls could be up for initiation as soon as they started their monthly bleeding, Madanach decided enough was enough. Three weeks later, Kelvan met his end with Madanach's boot forcing his head into the Karth while his Destruction magic froze the entire surface of the river solid, and Madanach was chief. The rise to power had started there.

“I'm sure you do,” Nepos said. “Well, Madanach and I discussed the matter and decided there had to be a better way of allowing unjust rulers to be reined in without either a civil war, bloody coup or the Dark Brotherhood getting involved. So we thought about it and came up with the Act of Regency, in which if the ruler turns out to be unfit to rule, a Council of Regents can form, comprised of the Steward, Field-Marshal, First Matriarch, Consort if there is one and there invariably will be, and the heir to the throne. Also if the ruler has a living parent, they can take the consort's place. They take over instead of the ruler until said ruler is fit to return. We need three of the five to declare regency, and all five to give assent within the first month as chances are they won't all be in the city at the time. You and me are here, the Queen's out of reach, but we can get someone porting out to Keirine to fetch her within the hour – I know her opinion on Skooma, she will not hesitate to back us. I can't imagine Uraccen will be terribly sympathetic to Madanach when he hears Uaile was hurt either. He's in Lost Valley at the moment but we can get him back here soon enough.”

“We're deposing him??” Eola gasped and Lucia's eyes had gone wide.

“You can't do that, he's King!” Lucia cried. “What'll happen to us?”

“Nothing, you'll be taken care of and loved as you always were, little one,” Nepos said gently. “Which would not be the case if Madanach had to be overthrown by force, I promise you. As it is, we're not deposing him. We're merely taking supreme executive power out of his hands until he's sorted himself out, and given he's currently staring into space babbling about what a waste of flesh he is, do you honestly think he's in any state to be giving orders to anyone? In fact, if he'd not specifically ordered that Eola and myself were not to disturb him, one of us would probably have been here and stopped him.”

“I'm gonna be Queen Regent,” Eola said faintly, fingering her wolf's head torc. “Gods help us.”

“Indeed, the council needs a leader and as current heir to the throne, you're the best option,” Nepos nodded. “Looks like less of a coup if the current heir is in charge. As it is, I have no doubt he'll be furious and may never forgive us for this, but he has largely brought this on himself.”

“Maybe it's better this way,” Eola said, mind racing as to how to play this. “Means when he's sober, we can send him after Liriel, and if he's not officially King, if he's taken a leave of absence from duty to sort his family woes out – yeah, that'll work. He's not a Skooma-addled mess, he just needs to focus on his family right now. If we send the ReachGuard after Liriel, that'll be an official response and the Embassy will get involved and cite it as official harrassment of their citizens, of which Liriel still is one. But if it's just a husband going after his wife, well, that's a personal matter and nothing to do with the government of the Reach. When he's done with that, we can have him back, get him into the Skooma addict treatment programme and start negotiating his return to power, right?”

“We can indeed,” Nepos said, relieved. “I knew you'd get it. Come on, Regent, I need to send word to Uraccen and get Keirine down here.”

“What's going to happen to Daddy?” Lucia said, clutching plaintively at Eola. “Will he be all right? And Mama, what about her?”

The door flung open and Borkul returned at the head of a small team of Forsworn healers, the leader of which took one look at Madanach and shook her head in despair.

“Of all the people... you know, I honestly thought he'd beaten it. Thought he'd survived all that time taking it without getting addicted. He's always seemed so functional and on top of it all. Crazy but he was always crazy from what Bothela tells me. Steward, Princess, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave, this isn't going to be pretty.”

“Come on,” Eola said softly, leading Lucia away after Nepos. “The healers are going to make him all better again, and then he's going to find Liriel for us. In the mean time you can stay with me and help me run court, yeah? I don't have any kids, so I guess that makes you next in line, hey? Nepos, can you get Sissel in here too? Need to tell her what happened and they both need extra guards watching them now.”

“Of course, but Lucia as heir? She's not royal by blood, not even a Reachwoman,” Nepos said, sounding a little dubious.

“Da wasn't royal by blood either, his father was a smelter-worker,” Eola said, arm around Lucia's shoulders and good heavens, the girl was nearly as tall as her now, what were they feeding her? “I don't have any kids, I don't have any other blood siblings but Argis and he's a Nord. The only other heir would be my consort, and are you seriously suggesting Cicero as potential King?”

“Of course not,” Nepos shuddered. “Fine, Lucia as your heir it is, not that I'm expecting you to die soon.”

Unless her father killed them all for this, of course. Eola certainly wasn't sure he'd still love her the same after she'd just helped dethrone him... but after seeing her all-powerful, all-conquering battlemage warrior of a father off his face on Skooma, she wasn't sure she'd ever feel the same about him either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took nearly an hour but the healers worked their magic and the potions did what they were supposed to. Madanach finally emerged from the pool in his bedroom shaking, pale, feeling dreadful but back in the real world again.

“Back with us, boss?” Borkul asked gently, patting him on the back as Madanach finally finished towelling himself off and hauled his Forsworn armour on, his robes off for cleaning.

“That was horrific,” Madanach growled. “Don't sit there looking sympathetic, you let them do it! I told you not to let anyone in!”

“Yeah, that was before I knew you were gonna be in here shooting the moons!” Borkul snapped, arms folded as he glared down at his king. “Boss, I'm really disappointed in you. We all looked up to you, you know? Thought you were the strong one. That you'd actually done it, beaten the cravings on your own. Now look at you.”

“Yeah, well I never asked you to treat me like a god!” Madanach snarled, rounding on him with eyes still bloodshot from the Skooma. “I'm just a man, Borkul, same as any other. And I wasn't alone, I had a war to fight, I had Kaie and I had Liriel. Now I don't have any of that, do I?”

“No, but you've got a country to run, you've got Eola, Sissel and Lucia, you've got Argis and Lirela in Solitude, and Liriel's not completely lost to you if you sort yourself out,” Borkul said, glaring. “It was Lucia who found you, you know? She didn't know what was wrong, she thought you were ill. Poor girl's terrified. We told Sissel you'd taken some bad potions and weren't well but you were gonna be fine, and she's OK with that, but Lucia saw you, boss. Her ma's gone, you were out of it, the poor girl thought she'd be back on the streets as an orphan again.”

Madanach's anger faded as that realisation hit him. Maybe he genuinely believed himself unworthy of Liriel, but their daughters were another matter – and although Liriel had adopted them first before ever meeting Madanach, as far as he was concerned, they were his daughters now.

“She didn't,” Madanach breathed, horrified.

“She did,” Borkul confirmed, actually pleased at the fear in Madanach's eyes. Good, if anything motivated a man to kick Skooma for good, it was their loved ones. A good sign indeed that Madanach still cared about his kids.

“I have to find her,” Madanach gasped, running for the door. Borkul got up and followed, grinning. Maybe Madanach had had a bit of a lapse... but he'd still held out longer than anyone else who'd been in that mine, and that was without any treatments. There was hope for the man yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucia turned out to be out by the throne room, sitting on the steps of the Mournful Throne, more guards than usual around her. She was wearing Eola's silver wolf torc, which struck Madanach as a bit odd, but if Eola had said yes, he supposed it was fine. He was more worried about his little girl having seen him on Skooma – Dagon's balls, had Sanguine gone by that point?? He hoped so, and Borkul hadn't said anything about anyone seeing him entwined with a big Dremora. Good, Madanach had enough problems right now, such as calming his daughter down, calming his court down, getting back to work and trying to work out how to get his hands on more Skooma without Nepos finding out – no. Stop that, right there, he didn't need Skooma, even if it did make him feel warm and safe and loved and summoned Sanguine back...

No. No, definitely not thinking about any of that, not with Lucia crying out and running over, clinging on to him and terrified, and dear gods he was the worst father ever.

“Lucia,” Madanach said softly, kneeling down to hold her. “Gods, Lucia, are you all right?”

Tearful shake of the head and Madanach held her tighter. Poor girl, the poor girl, she looked awful.

“Cariad,” Madanach breathed, kissing her forehead and holding on to her, and this was worse, worse than the potions they'd force-fed him, worse than all the physical unpleasantness of the Skooma being purged out of him. Little Lucia scared and terrified and it was his fault. Probably a good thing Liriel was gone, the girls could go with her and be cared for by a competent parent who wasn't a Skooma addict.

I'm a Skooma addict, aren't I? All that time hoping he'd dodged the arrow, inventing creative punishments for anyone stupid enough to deal in the poison in his kingdom, searching the Khajiit traders every time they arrived to make sure they only had raw moon sugar and not the distilled variety, using Restoration magic to stop the shakes, burying himself in work, getting Keirine to come to Druadach within days of escaping to get the Skooma they had with them dealt with, relying on jenever and Liriel and thoughts and fantasies of Liriel to occupy his downtime with... and it hadn't changed a thing. One more thing to blame the Nords for, landing him with this.

“Daddy, are you all right?” Lucia whispered, clinging on to him. “Eola said you'd taken something bad, that you weren't well...”

“I'm not,” said Madanach quietly, still feeling nauseous and sore and hungry and exhausted on top of the guilt and self-loathing. “But I will be... I think. Lucia, I'm sorry, so so sorry, you should never have had to see me like that. It's been over a year, well over a year since I last had any, not since I was inside... you know I was in prison once, right?”

“Yes Da, Mama said,” Lucia said quietly. “Are you going to take any more?”

Yes.

No.

I don't know! I'm frightened and I want Liriel back. But I can't have her...

“No,” Madanach said, knowing nothing less would make Lucia stop being so frightened, and actually feeling relieved to say it. He'd promised his little girl, so he'd have to keep it now, right? Simple as that. Simple. Right. “No, I was just... your mother and I... Lucia, I don't know what you may have heard...”

And this was the bit he'd been dreading, breaking the news of the impending divorce to his children and dammit, why had Liriel had to adopt two little girls in the first place, and why did they have to be so adorable, why had they ever called him father, why had they decided to love him, why, couldn't they see he was a terrible human being?

“Her parents took her prisoner!” Lucia cried, and whatever Madanach had been expecting, it hadn't been that. “They hurt Uaile and knocked her out and they did the same to Mama and put her in a trunk and took her with them! Cicero went after them, I think he's going to kill them! Daddy, you have to do something!”

Madanach felt his entire world contracting, everything grinding to a halt as everything came to focus on one thing. Liriel a prisoner, Liriel in trouble, Liriel not sent away or gone of her own free will but taken.

Madanach focused on the empathy bond, weak and fragile but there, still there and looked for her. Further away than he'd like, far to the north-east, heading for Solitude most likely. And she was screaming. Now the Skooma was out of his system and he wasn't blocking her, he could feel it, howling fury and rage alternating with desperate pleading and then for long stretches, just this odd calm focus. There weren't any words but he could sense the sentiment behind it all too clearly.

Madanach, help me.

“I'm coming for you, cariad,” Madanach whispered, focusing on her as strongly as he could, wrapping the thought of her in fierce, protective love and hoping she could feel it, and wonder of wonders, he could feel her responding, surprise, anger, hope... love.

Navigating emotional problems had never been Madanach's strong point, it had to be said. But give Madanach a practical problem to deal with, preferably the sort best solved by raining fire and death on some unfortunate soul, and he was all over it.

“I'll find her,” Madanach promised, kissing Lucia on the cheek. “I'm leaving right now, as soon as I can get the ReachGuard organised – in the mean time, I need you to stay in the Keep and be good, and we need to get your sister in here as well...”

“She's in her room,” Eola cut in, and Madanach slowly got up to see Eola sitting in his throne... with his torc around her neck. “I already had extra guards assigned to Sissel and Lucia both, and I will say your goodbyes for you. Uraccen is on his way back, Keirine is here, the ReachGuard are already on alert and I have given orders to seal the borders and restricted teleportal use to government use only, my authorisation required. You just need to grab whatever things you need and get your arse out of this city and after Liriel. I assume you're quite done getting off your face?”

Far too like her mother, and Madanach narrowed his eyes. Eola was glaring at him, Nepos was sitting next to her with his arms folded, and somehow Keirine had got here, on Eola's other side, illusions in place that made her look like a perfectly ordinary old woman, and yet that somehow made the disapproving frown worse.

“What is this,” Madanach said quietly. “Daughter, that is my torc you are wearing – no, that is the official badge of office of the Reach-King or Queen, which you assuredly aren't just yet, what have you done?”

“I believe it's called staging an intervention,” Nepos put in. “I think that's what happens when someone has a problem and refuses to admit it.”

“Sitting them down and giving them a good talking-to, yes, not stealing their torc!” Madanach looked at the three faces of his closest friends and kin all glaring at him, recalled Uraccen was also on his way back, and realised what they'd done. “By Sithis, Eola, you backstabbing, treacherous, bitch-”

“That's enough!” Borkul said, moving in and wrestling Madanach back before he actually did go for Eola. “Boss, you need to calm down, you have other problems.”

“I am your father, damn you!” Madanach roared, still struggling in Borkul's arms, quietly pleased to see at least a flicker of upset on Eola's face... until she got to her own feet, shaking her head in quiet disgust.

“My father was a mighty warrior king who the whole Reach feared,” Eola said, eyes as cold and hard as her mother's ever had been. “My father was a terrifyingly competent warlord that controlled everything in this country, pulling the strings even when the Nords ran it. Had my father been in charge today, Ma and Da Dragonborn would have got as far as Salvius Farm before the ReachGuard caught up with them and busted Liriel out of there! As it is, no one knew she was even gone until an hour after they'd taken her, because the one who was empathy-bonded to her, who would otherwise have known she was in trouble, was getting wasted on Skooma!”

It was true, it was all true, Madanach already knew he was the world's worst husband who did not deserve Liriel in his life in any way, shape or form, but there was really no need for Eola to be quite so harsh over this.

“It was the first time in eighteen months!” Madanach protested. “I'd had that bottle for nearly a year and done nothing with it!”

“If you'd had any sense, you'd have given it to me or Nepos to get rid of months ago,” Keirine snapped. “As it is... brother, what have you done to yourself?”

“It's not my fault I ended up in prison!” Madanach protested, but none of the three looked remotely impressed.

“Not Liriel's fault she ended up in a trunk bound for Alinor either, but thanks to you and her parents that's exactly where she is,” Eola said bitterly. “Da, I don't care about the Skooma, I don't even care about you and Liriel arguing. But I do care that my little sister's upset and that my husband's out there on a crazed rampage and my best friend is in trouble!” Eola took a few deep breaths to calm herself and stared back at him, anger finally fading and Madanach felt the guilt flare up again as he realised his twenty six year old daughter was no less worried than the ten year old – she was just hiding it better.

“Daughter, I'll find her. I promise,” Madanach said fiercely, already considering his options. So they'd invoked a regency – well, could have been worse. As it was, he had more important things to worry about. Liriel was in trouble, and if anything happened to her, he wouldn't care about the Reach or anything else anyway. “I'm going to need a few of her things – and my robes, where are they?”

“Being cleaned,” Eola sighed. “What exactly did you get up to in there – actually, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Either go like that or wear that old gear of Harkon's.”

Well, the vampire armour did have strange effects on Liriel, it had to be said. What it said about her that she liked killing powerful men, taking their things and then getting her husband to dress up like them, Madanach didn't know, but he'd accept the gifts.

“Take her circlet as well, she'll want it back,” Eola said, handing it over. “Also, I think you'll be wanting these.”

Eola held out her hand. In it were two gold diamond rings. His and Liriel's wedding rings.

“Bit premature, isn't it?” Madanach said roughly, hiding the effect seeing them again was having on him. “I'm not even sure she'll still want me after all this.”

“Nor am I, to be honest, but if you go down on one knee and offer the ring back, she might just take pity on you and say yes,” Eola said, faint smile on her face. “Go on, take them. You might need them.”

Madanach accepted the rings and slipped one on each hand. Mara's rings, not a traditional Forsworn custom at all, but the Reachmen were adopting worship of the Eight alongside the traditional gods of Anu/Auriel, Sithis, Yffre and Magnus. Mara and Dibella had been particular favourites, adopted without hesitation into a pantheon previously devoid of goddesses (although the Night Mother was also a late addition, and there'd always been the Daedra). Madanach wouldn't exactly call himself a follower of Mara... but Liriel was an ardent devotee of the goddess of love and family life. A little prayer to Mara to take pity on Liriel if not him couldn't hurt.

Dear Mara, please help Liriel find happiness. And... please help me save her. And... I still love her, if there's any chance I can actually make her happy instead of ruining her life... please.

“I'll need ten minutes to get equipped,” Madanach said, mentally cataloguing the contents of his and Liriel's room. “Also I'll need Borkul.”

“Damn right he's going, I'm not letting you go on your own,” Eola snorted. “Anything else?”

“Yes. Get the teleportal warmed up, I'll need to port out. It's the only way of catching up with her now, especially if Cicero's taken Shadowmere, and honestly I think I'd rather walk than ride on the back of that daedra-beast again.” Especially feeling like he presently did.

“You're going via Cwm Prendwemyn,” Keirine noted. “Good choice, we have a stables there, I'm sure you can requisition a horse and catch up that way.”

“I'm not going to Cwm Prendwemyn,” Madanach said, mentally rather proud of himself for having the foresight to set this up in advance. He knew he'd need it one day. “I'm going to Solitude.”

“Solitu- Madanach, there is no teleportal in Solitude,” Nepos said firmly. “Jarl Elisif was very firm that she was not having, and I quote, 'some cursed doorway to the Daedric realms' in her city.”

Madanach did indeed remember that conversation, and he'd not quite realised Elisif knew that many ways of telling a man off and been very grateful Argis was her husband and he'd not had to marry her for peace.

“Technically it isn't in the city,” Madanach said, biting back laughter at the looks on his sister, daughter and steward's faces. They might be able to take the reins of power off him, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

“Are you telling me you've created an illicit teleportal gate somewhere in or near Solitude without the Jarl or anyone else knowing?” Eola asked, and Madanach couldn't help but grin.

“Maybe,” Madanach smirked. Keirine just shook her head.

“So that's why you needed those soul gems,” she sighed. “Dare I ask where it is?”

“Potema's Catacombs,” Madanach admitted. “Left fully open, but no one ever goes down there, place has been locked up tight since that whole Potema trying to come back business, and best of all, Liriel's key to the gate is right here. She got given one when they sent her down there, and no one ever asked for it back. So I crept off down there one day while visiting Argis and set a small portal up. Only takes a couple of people at a time, but that's all I need. I imagine my son, young Jordis and the esteemed Jarl of Solitude will be quite happy to provide any further assistance that might be required in the way of, say, shutting the docks, searching everyone wanting to get a ship, possibly having patrols at Dragon Bridge, getting a party together to intercept them before they cross the Karth, that sort of thing. So daughter. When your genius of a father has done all this and brought Liriel home, could he possibly have the torc and throne he was fighting for while you were doing who knows what back please?”

“For most of my lifetime, you were in prison, developing a Skooma habit and murdering your own people,” Eola said sternly, but there was the hint of a smile there. “Bring Liriel home and we'll all sit down and discuss it, hmm?”

If she still wanted to call the Reach home after all this. But whatever happened, Madanach knew one thing – he'd see Liriel free and happy no matter what the cost... and anyone who got in his way was going to pay dearly.

~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Cwm Prendwemyn - Deepwood Vale, second city of the Reach and former Forsworn camp far to the north. Home to Keirine the teleporting Hagraven, so obviously she was ideally placed to set up a teleport between there and her brother's city, Markarth.

Next chapter, the action starts hotting up as the rescue mission launches in earnest.

Oi oi Reachmen vs Thalmor. TROUBLE.

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