A collab between [@Mortarion] and [@gcold]

The Nord man, who's name Tsleeixth did not have the oppertunity to know, went as fast he came. Almost immediately after he picked up the Argonian's arm, a rather large spike of ice flew into his back. The bolt had so much momentum that it went through his torso and came out the other side. What was left of chest and midsection was a gapping hole, with leftover bones and organ-bits spilling onto the person beside him. While his legs gave out with the rest of his body, his fall forward dragged down Tsleeixth with him. The Nordic man was heavyset, and wearing heavy armor to compound the problem. They tumbled fast. In a flash second, Tsleeixth's scaled face met stone, ejecting blood and teeth.

Tsleeixth didn't register much of the events that led him to fall to the ground, but the pain of his face against stone brought his consciousness back slightly. Spitting a pair of bloody teeth, the Argonian tried to stand up using his arms but he ended up falling again as pain flared through the broken bones of his arm. He crawled on the stone ground towards a group of crates to try and use them to stand up straight managing to do so after a few seconds. He looked around and winced as he saw the remains of the Nord man that had been carrying him, or what was left of him, but the Argonian didn't had much time to dwell on the fate of his companion or from where the killing blow had come as he noticed one of the giants roaring in his direction, forcing the spellsword to begin making his way to the relative security of the gates, throwing a lightning rune in the path of the giant to gain a few seconds.

Coming to Tsleeixth's aid were Keegan and Ariane. The rune exploded when the attacker stepped into it, but being drained and all, Tsleeixth's spell only managed to stumble the giant. Keegan, however, saw this oppertunity and added in a paralysis spell. With the giant already off balanced, the second spell put it firm, flat against the ground. Ariane called upon her feather spell, she dispatched it towards Tsleeixth. 

"Go drag him?" Ariane suggested, she however, stayed firm behind the wall of warriors.

"Are you out of your mind?" Keegan gawked, his eyes nearly popped out just at the sound of that. As if armored giants descending from armored giant ships wasn't shocking enough, a certain Breton just had try her dangerous stunt. "That just made him lighter, which means he gets flinged around easier!"

"Or he gets dragged back easier," Ariane countered. "Are we getting him back or not?"

"Not me...."

Out of nowhere came Farid, he dashed through the line and returned with a beaten Argonian dragged behind him. "You're welcome." He smirked, before running off to join another fight somewhere else. Returning Tsleeixth wasn't ideal, as his tail was scrapped against the ground. Small pieces of scale were flaking off.

"Now we can move him." Keegan stated. He and Ariane both took one of the Argonian's arms, supporting him while they moved him behind makeshift barricades, where Orakh and several badly injured fighters were.

"Slisht? Tsileeth?" Keegan guessed. Damn Argonians and their funny names. "Tsleeixth! You alright? Can you hear me?"

Tsleeixth was slightly more lucid by the time that Keegan and Ariane had dragged him behind the barricades, only remembering snippets of how he had ended up there and of feeling a slight pain as scales flaked off his tail as it was dragged against the stone. He tried to focus with some difficulty on the voice that was speaking to him at the moment "Hmmm, I recognize you" He muttered slightly, trying to stand with the help of the nearby wall, as he focused on Keegan.

"Keegan, right? Yeah, I can hear you" He asked the Altmer before he focused on the face that he didn't recognize "What's your name?" He asked to Ariane "But, I am guessing I have to thank you two for bringing me here, is that correct?" He asked, wincing as pain flared up in the area near his ribs as he leaned against one of the walls, panting slightly, shaking his head slightly to try and clear it.

"How goes the battle?" He asked after a few seconds "Have we lost any more men?" He said, wincing as he remembered the remains of the Nord man that had tried to bring him behind the gates and who now lay dead on the docks.

Keegan felt slight relief knowing his comrade, someone from the Reach, nonetheless, was still kicking. But Ariane remained unimpressed. She blinked when the Argonian asked her name, responding a second after. "Oh, I'm Ariane Fontaine, Ashav's new magic advisor - anyways." She stopped when Keegan shot her a glance.

"No need to thank us," Keegan said. He was about to mention Farid, but then again, they don't get along well enough to warrant gratitude. "We can't just leave you in the open, us mages cannot survive an onslaught like that." He pointed to the carnage not far from them, concidentally, someone just had their legs chopped off.

"Case in point." Ariane agreed. She shifted around the scaled man, lizard to take a look at his head. "Are you feeling any lighter? I had to give you a feather dose, it might have side effects."

"Lighter?" Keegan raised his eyebrow. "What kind of question is that? His nose is bleeding, for the divines' sake!"

It's true, maybe Tsleeixth got used to it, or maybe he lost the feeling to his nose. Whatever the case, there was still slow but steady trickle coming out. Keegan took out a piece of lined from his bag, ripping it to smaller size for the lizard's nose, snout, or whatever. 

"Here, I'll give you some ice." Without notice, cold air flowed from Ariane's fingers. She moved her hand to Tsleeixth's nose but Keegan took it away. 

"Stop the bleeding first, then ice." Keegan corrected her. After giving out the makeshift bandage and Tsleeixth applied properly on himself, Ariane started touching up with light frost spell. That was how a nosebleed should be stopped, right? None of them were experts on medicine, so it was basically roll the dice with lizard nose. 

"You would not believe it." Keegan started. "The guards at pier four are all killed. At least a dozen from our company are dead or dying. I've never seen anything like it." 

"I saw you kill one of these things, impressive." Ariane piped in, her tone flat.

Tsleeixth nodded when the Breton woman introduced herself "Ah, good to meet you, although I wish we had met under better circumstances" Said Tsleeixth, chuckling slightly despite the situation but fell silent when he saw Keegan shooting a glance at Ariane.

"Hmm, yes, you are right, I should have been more careful" He said, letting out a soft sigh and shook his head as he thought on the man who had given his life saving his own while Keegan pointed to the carnage going on the docks below.

He chuckled softly when Ariane asked him if he was feeling any lighter, but was surprised to hear that he was having a nosebleed. He took a hand to his snout, touching it slightly and frowned when he felt warm blood in it.

He was surprised when he saw Ariane moving her fingers closer to his snout, feeling the cold emanating from them "I think Keegan is right, but thanks nonetheless" He said as Keegan stopped Ariane, taking the makeshift bandage that the Altmer man offered and applied it to his snout and then waited for Ariane to apply the frost spell.

He looked down when Keegan mentioned that all he guards at pier four were dead and that a dozen or so from their company were dead or dying "Damn" He muttered  letting out a soft sigh "How are we supposed to stop those things if it takes more than one of us to take one of them down" He said, punching the nearby wall with his healthy hand.

He shifted slightly when Ariane mentioned that she had seen him kill one of the armored creatures, letting out a soft chuckle "Impressive perhaps, but it was a foolish thing" He said "Because of me, we lost one of our own, maybe if I had tried to coordinate with one of the others in our group that wouldn't have happened" He said as he turned to look at the dock and the carnage that was unfolding on it.

"I'm not certain, but we'll find a way." Keegan told the Argonian, he tried to sound certain, trying to resettle the experince from the Reach here. It failed to make him certain, and his quivering voice spoke nothing of certainty. "Or else..." He whispered to himself.

Ariane simply nodded, she did not laugh or comfort Tsleeixth. She stood back further when the spell cooled the snout, crossing her arms when she spoke again. "Nothing you could do. I've read about another invasion of Windhelm, long ago. And if this is anything like the last, we are fortunate to take out so many already." 

"Look as if the bleeding has subsided." Keegan said. "Now if we can just get a healer..."

"What is that?" Ariane looked behind her. On the giant steps leading from the gates to docks, a great many footfalls came. Armed inviduals, over a hundred, poured down the steps. "Reinforcements."