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So that's where you go. As you get closer, it would seem that you're not the only one with this idea. It's utter mayhem, with dozens of people crowding the ramparts for a voice of the situation. Some guards are hard at work shooing away civilians who want to gawk at the horizon, but most of them are busy staring into the distance and shouting among themselves, in an effort to make some sense of the situation.
“I've never seen so many boats! There must be over a hundred of them out there!”
“How many soldiers do you think they've got on board?! Two, three thousand?”
“This doesn't make any sense! Their quarrel is with the Empire, not with us! They don't even share a border with Hammerfell!”
It takes a bit of shoving and barking orders before you're able to get close to the edge. In the middle of the madness, it's difficult to get anyone to listen to you. Once you've gotten a good vantage point however, you finally see the source of all of this madness.
There are more ships sailing across Hew's Bay than you've ever seen before, all bearing the same black sails with golden trim. These are not the colours of merchants or even pirates, but those of the Thalmor and the Aldmeri Dominion. None of the boats are close enough for you to make anyone standing on them, but each of them is large enough to require a crew of twenty men, with enough space to house twenty more. There must be thousands of elves sailing across the sea right now, straight towards the city of Taneth.
The Thalmor are the ruling elite of the high elves, who espouse the supremacy of mer over men. They reign over the Aldmeri Dominion, which controls not only the Summerset Isles, but the nations of Valenwood and Elswyr as well. If they have come to Hammerfell, then they must intend on ending Imperial rule over this region and claiming it for themselves, which can only mean one thing – the Dominion has declared war on the Empire.
Taneth has somewhere between two and three hundred guards in total to keep its streets safe. It would take more than a day on horseback to reach the nearest Imperial fort and even then, you're not certain if the Fifth Legion would be able to fight off this invasion on its own.
There's currently an argument over whether or not the gate should be closed, as the waterfront is still full of people, with some fools having even left the city to stand by the water's edge, to get a closer look at the incoming fleet. They mustn't under the danger that they're in. At this rate, you guess that the first boats will make landfall within ten minutes. By the time that happens, if the gates aren't sealed, then the city will fall. In your mind, it's as simple as that.
