A Nord's Tale

Sanyue stood as still as she could, her eyes watching four shadows descending the stone stairs. Their voices were low and hushed; even fearful. Curiosity over-rode her fear as she stepped closer to the bars, cocking her head to the left to watch the strange procession. Slowly, three solders emerged from the shadows. No, not solders...these were Blades. Tales of their bravery had reached far and wide. They were the cream of every profession, the best of the best. And some were even better than that. The lead Blade was a deceptively beautiful Breton woman, most of her face hidden under a helm of sapphire and gold. Two more Blades appeared, just a step behind her and to either side. One was a Red Guard, face drawn tight in a scowl. The other was a Nord, not unlike herself, tall and broad at the shoulder with thick muscles rippling under chain-mail.

The group was traveling quickly, the fourth member's face still in shadows as he kept his head bowed. Sanyue almost mistook him for another prisoner. "My sons are dead, aren't they?" The pain in the man's voice was enough to cause a pang of sympathy for him. Sanyue remembered that same tone from her mother when she could not find her husband among the wounded after the bandit attack. She watched, dumbfounded as the group stopped in front of her cell. The man with the Blades was looking listlessly at a spot on the ground as the lead took a ring of keys from her belt.

"We don't know that sir!" She seemed to not see Sanyue as she flipped through the multitude of keys. "We have to keep moving." Sanyue listened as the Captain tried to keep the older man's mind in the present. The look on his face was enough to make Sanyue want to reach out for him in comfort. But she was also wondering why this man seemed so familiar to her. His dress was that of someone in a high station. He was wearing red crushed velvet robes with a royal purple cloak lined with white fur. What was this poor man running from that had the Blades themselves escorting him into the prison? The man lifted his head, his eyes locking with hers for a moment before the Blades around him noticed her presence and drew their swords. Sanyue backed up, not wanting to have one of those driven into her body.

"What the devil is this prisoner doing here?" The Captain seemed beside herself with anger. The Nord at her side sputtered something about the arresting guard being unfamiliar with certain rules, though the Captain was hardly listening. "Move to the back of the cell, keep facing us. Now!" Sanyue jumped as she backed away to the left hand corner of the cell, watching the four as they entered her cell, locking it behind them. What in the world was going on? The Red Guard had his sword leveled at her, but Sanyue's attention was not on him. She had locked eyes with the man again. She had a strange feeling that he was not looking at her, but into her.

"You!" The Red Guard made to step between the him and Sanyue, but old man laid a hand on his arm. "I've seen you. Let me see your face." Sanyue hesitated as the man beckoned her forward, staring at the sword that the Red Guard had trained on her. Slowly, keeping her hands out, palms up she took a few steps forward. The recognition on his face set her heart pounding. Was he mistaking her for an enemy or past liaison? "You are the one from my dreams." Sanyue didn't know whether to to be worried or flattered. "Then the stars were right, and this is the day," the old man lifted his eyes to a place beyond the low ceiling of the cell. "Gods give me strength!" leaving everyone in the cell wondering what was going on.

Sanyue tilted her head, trying to get a feel for who exactly stood in front of her. She could not shake the feeling that she should know who this person was, but neither him or his guards were divulging any information. Nor did they seem willing to do so, which left Sanyue with little choice but to play the ignorant card and hope she did not get run through by by these over zealous chaperons. "What is going on?"

To her surprise, the question did not offend the elderly man. He lowered his head, shoulders slumping as though he carried the weight of all Tamriel on his shoulders. "Assassins attacked my sons, and I am next. My Blades are leading me out of the city along a secret escape route...By chance, the entrance to that escape route leads through your cell." Sanyue could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She knew the work of fate when she felt it.

"Who are you?" Again he did not seem the least bit offended by her questions. In fact, it seemed as though he welcomed them.

"I am your Emperor, Uriel Septim. By the grace of the Gods, I server Tamriel as her ruler." Sanyeu sputtered, acutely aware that her mouth was hanging open but in no condition to close it. The Emperor? In her cell? Only did then did she remember herself and bow to him, though he would not accept such a display and shook his head. "You are a citizen of Tamriel, and you too, shall serve her in your own way." Sanyue could not believe her ears. The Emperor was in her cell, speaking to her as though he had met her along the stone terraces of Green Emperor Way! He spoke to her as though there was no difference between his station and hers, throwing everything she thought she knew about the Emperor into Lake Remere.

But would he be repulsed by the knowledge that she had slain one of his guard? Even in self defense it was still a punishable offense to even strike on of the Imperial Guard. "Do you know why I am here?"

"Perhaps the Gods have placed you here so that we may meet?" Sanyue was dumbstruck yet again. Surely he must know! "As for what you have done, it does not matter." Sanyue nearly feinted. "That is not what you will be remembered for." She decided that the Emperor couldn't have known why she was here, other wise he surely would have not spoken to her in the first place. And for that, she was grateful.

"I have always gone my own way." Uriel smiled at that.

"So do we all, but what path can be avoided whose end is fixed by the almighty Gods?" Sanyue did not line the sound of that one bit. She had never been one to believe in unchangeable fate or any such mess. She felt that she had at least some control over her life, even if it was just what she had for breakfast that morning.

But her respite was broken when the Blade Captain chose that moment to remind her of their presence."Please, Sire, we must keep moving." She was gently urging the Emperor to keep going, coming just short of shoving him through the secret passage. She and the Nord, Glenroy she heard his name was, walked through with the Emperor, the young Red Guard lagging behind.

"Looks like this is your lucky day." Sanyue detected a hint of venom in those words and fought not to cower under his stare. She stepped behind as the Red Guard stepped through, wondering if she would survive this.

"Better not close this door. There's no way to open it from the other side." Great, a Blade with jitters. Just what Sanuye needed to instill confidence in herself. The group turned left after exiting the tunnel and made their way down a flight of stairs. The stonework was holding up well to age, but every now and then a piece of the wall or ceiling had crumbled just enough to remind her that they were several meters beneath the ground. And not only did Sanyue worry about sudden cave ins, she was also worried about all the shadows in far corners. Shadows big enough to hide an assassin or two from their eyes.

Sanyue regretted having that thought when she saw too late two black-armored assassins leap from the shadows and take the Captain down with one swift plunge of their blades. She had yelled a command to protect the Emperor before her breath was stolen forever, though she needn't have worried. The two remaining blades dispatched the assassins with swift fury, nearly decapitating one of them as their body flew against the wall. Their armor, which was black as obsidian, evaporated as their life left them, leaving them wearing blood red robes with rope sandals. Monks perhaps?

Who ever these assassins were, they were nothing Sanyue had seen before. "Are you alright, Sire?" The Red Guard gave the Emperor a once over to satisfy himself that he had not been harmed.

"No...and Captain Renault?"

The Red Guard shook his head as he checked her body. "She's dead, sir. I'm sorry, but we have to keep moving." The Emperor nodded his head wearily and descended the stairs with his Blades. Glenroy, the Nord was darting his eyes from one shadow to the next, expecting an entire cadre of black-armored assassins to spring onto his back at any moment.

"How could they be waiting for us here?"

"Don't know, but it's too late to go back now." The Red Guard, Barus as the Captain had called him earlier, seemed distressed at the Emperor blank expression. "Don't worry, Sire. We will get you out of here." The conviction was enough to put at smile on his face and clap the young Red Guard on the arm in a fatherly fashion as though to say, 'lead on'. But when Sanyue tried to follow, Barus raised his hand to stop her from going any further. "You stay here prisoner, don't try to follow us." Sanyue gave him her most incredulous look. Stay here, unprotected? What if one of those assassins thought she was someone important and decided to slip a blade between her ribs? But before she could protest, the Emperor caught her eye again and directed her gaze to the wall to the right of the gate they were going through, giving her a knowing wink before he turned around and disappeared around a corner.

Poor Sanyue had barely recovered from the shock of the Emperor winking at her when she heard clawing and scratching behind the same section of wall the Emperor had directed her gaze to. Looking around for any kind of weapon, she picked up one of the Captain's swords, passing up the assassins daggers. Those were much too short for what she had in mind. Sanyue was ready for one of those assassins to burst from the wall at any moment. But instead of an assassin, a horde of starving rats poured out through the wall. Sanyue, leaving her dignity on the bottom step screamed as loud as she could and ran all the way back up the steps with the rats following close behind. Assassins she could handle, but she hated rats!

Sanyue slashed and hacked away at the rats, dancing around like an idiot as they lunged at her ankles in their hunger. She nearly chopped her own feet off several times before she got rid of the rats, the hem of her dress tattered and stained with rat blood. All the perfumes in the world would not take the smell of this place out of her clothes. This dress was destined for the fireplace when she got out of here. There was no use even touching anything that had come in contact with rats, let alone their blood. Slowly she climbed down the steps again, looking through the hole in the wall. It seemed clear, but she hesitated.

It would not do for one of the Blades to be found in this place being chewed on by rats. Sanyue carefully picked up Captain Renault's body and placed her on the raised area between the stair cases to keep any hungry rats from her body. Satasfied with herself, she gripped the hilt of the katana tightly in her right hand, and stepped through the passage way into the darkened chamber beyond.