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A Nord's Tale	By : draygon Category: +A through F > Elder Scrolls - Oblivion Views: 4695 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Sanyue walked the long way back to Luther Broad's. She kept her gate steady to avoid raising suspicions of both the city guard and any one hiding in the shadows wishing to stop her from finding the Amulet. When she was sure she was not being followed, she went through the Green Way to get to the Elven Gardens district where Baurus had told her to meet him. As soon as she entered the door to Luther's, he made a slight gesture with his head to the stairs. As she passed the bar, he murmured, "Third door on the right," while wiping the wood down with a damp rag.

Sanyue nodded slightly and climbed the stairs quickly, finding the afore mentioned door and turning the handle. The room was unlit, and to anyone casually observing, would have seemed empty. She stepped into the room, startled when Baurus closed the door behind her. He must have heard her climbing the stairs and hid behind the door just in case. "You're not easy to get a hold of," he spoke softly, his voice devoid of chastisement. It seemed that he was rather pleased by his not being able to tail her. "What have you found out."

Sanyue slid the folded parchment out of her pocket and gave it to Baurus. He lit a candle with a flint lock so he could get a better look. "According to Tar-meena, there are four books in the set. She thinks that there's a message in the books but she needs all four to figure it out." She pointed to the parchment. "I was able to get the third book from some poor sod who thought he was just going to do some scholarly research. He also mentioned someone named the 'Sponsor' would give him the fourth since only the Mythic Dawn themselves hold the fourth volume. That note is for a meeting to hand the book over."

She watched as Baurus' face lit up. "This just might be the break we're looking for." He clapped her on the shoulder in brotherly affection. "Good work."

"Do you know how we would do this? I mean, they might spook if there were two of us."

Baurus stroked his chin as he sat in the only chair in the room. Sanyue sat on the bed, her feet tired from walking all day. "I think I have an idea. Though I have to warn you that it may get ugly." He looked at the note one more time before he folded it up, slipping it into the pocket of his vest.

"We have to get that book back, no matter what." Sanyue stood, folding her arms as she stared at her shadow on the door. "Ugly or not, I am fully prepared to kill every last one of them." She didn't see the dark look that crossed Baurus' face. "I made a promise. And I intend to keep it." She lowered her head. "I owe him my life."

Baurus stared at her back, his brow furrowed. "Was Octavian Occeto really as addled as you told the guards?"

Sanyue snorted a laugh. "More so, even. He was known to frequent the scooma dens and warn them about the raids before hand so his supply wouldn't run out."

Baurus winced. "It was that well known?" He shook his head.

"Yes. He was a blemish on the Imperial Guard. But gods forbid they ever have to bear the shame of having to punish one of their own."

"And so you punished him, yourself?" Baurus knew he had hit a nerve when she spun round and fixed him with a stare that would have melted steel.

"I am not some self-important vigilante who took Justice into my own hands!" Her voice was rising with her anger and Baurus had the urge to remind her of their mission, but he wasn't sure he could stop her. "I stumbled upon him as he was pouring that vile filth down his throat. I was there when he went into a frenzy!" She advanced on Baurus who got up from the chair, fully ready to defend himself should she take a swing at him. "He tried to eat me," she nearly cried, pulling the material of her armor away from her neck to show him the teeth marks where Octavian had almost gotten a piece of her.

Baurus nearly paled when faced with direct evidence of the guard's deeds. "The other guards pretended not to see the marks or Occeto's black tongue or the wild look still on his face," she waved her hand dismissively, demonstrating how casually the other guards had covered up for one of their worst. "and left me to rot in that jail cell. They probably would have hung me with a clean conscience or a second thought."

Baurus felt absolutely foolish. The thought that she was only guilty of self-defense hadn't even crossed his mind when he was met with her wide frightened stare in that dirty cell. He had assumed that it was all a facade to selfishly garner sympathy for herself. He should have known that she was innocent when the Emperor's face had brightened with awe at seeing her in that cell like some apparition of prophesy. He should have known to trust the Emperor; should never have let doubt enter his heart that the Emperor would entrust his last son's very life to someone who would stab him in the back, literally. The thought had actually crossed is mind in his melancholy that this nord woman had done the Emperor in and lied to him.

"I," Baurus bit the bitter taste of his shame back and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I had assumed that you were guilty of cutting down one of the city guard in cold blood. That you were wrongly accused had not crossed my mind, not even when the Emperor put his faith in you. I apologize. Forgive me." Baurus lowered his head in supplication, the customary gesture used by the Blades to ask for forgiveness from an equal.

Sanyue shook her head and took a deep breath, slightly embarrassed by his apology. "Straighten up, will you?" She ripped the leather cap from her head so she could run her hands through her hair. "What happened, happened and now all we have to do is put the pieces back together."

Baurus straightened himself, regarding her with a strange look.

"If we do this right we can be in and out and no one will know who we are." Sanyue gathered her hair and stuffed it under the leather cap, smoothing it on her head.

Baurus nodded, taking a deep cleansing breath before he clapped the woman on the shoulder again. "Alright. We do this together and when it's done, I will go to serve at my Emperor's side."

It took a moment before Sanyue realized Baurus was talking about serving at Martin's side. She nodded, smiling as she returned the gesture. "Together then. I might not be a Blade, but that doesn't mean I'm going to shirk my duty. Uriel tasked me with getting the Amulet back to Martin and keeping Cyrodiil out of Dagon's clutches, and that's exactly what I'll do, Oblivion be thrice damned."

Baurus smiled as he grabbed the sword leaning against the wall and tied it to his belt. "Alright. I know that part of the sewers well anyway. We'll be there in no time."

Both saw the withered stare Luther was leveling at them as they descended the stairs. "Lover's quarrel?" Sanyue blushed and sped up toward the door as Baurus just laughed and shook his head. "Have your special ready when we get back," he called, Luther waving them off with a dismissive toss of his hand.

The entrance to the sewers, surprisingly, was the very alcove she had nearly died in. She could still see the flattened bushes and the depression in the ground where they had fought. Even the grass was still stained with his blood. The sound of the heavy metal grate being pulled from the manhole pulled her from her memories. Baurus slipped into the opening and climbed down the ladder, Sanyue following as she pulled the metal grate back over the top as they descended into the sewers.

The sewers smelled just as stagnant and horrid as she remembered when she had first set out on her journey. Sanyue took a small cloth out of her pocket and tied it around her face. Sweetened by herbs as it was it kept most of the stench from her nose and most probably would keep her from getting sick. She wouldn't tolerate any delay and counted the sewer crabs and goblins as unnecessary obstacles in her path. She still seethed quietly that Baurus had still thought her guilty of murder even after all that she had done in the Emperor's service. She knew it was not his fault since he only had the information given to him by the other guards who were shamed enough with the fact that one of their own had succumbed to schooma's madness. Admitting that to one of the Blades would have been too much.

Yet it lit a fire in her to prove doubly so that she was no murderer. She would kill anyone helping the Mythic Dawn in their plans, but that would be it. She was no mindless weapon to be pointed at the nearest inconvenience and set loose. No matter what the Emperor had said about his path being fixed by the gods, she still had a choice in this. No matter what, she would not become what she hunted, she promised herself that much.

As they got closer to the meeting place, Sanyue could feel the dread, but also the elation that there was a chance she would be dispatching those who had killed her Emperor. If everything went perfectly, no one else would need to die. They would walk in and out without a drop of blood being spilled. She took in a deep breath as Baurus stopped before a set of doors, one directly ahead, the other up a flight of stairs.

"Alright," Baurus kept his voice low as he peeked into the lower door. "The room with the table is just inside. I always wondered who put it there." He turned to Sanyue, the easy smile on his face barely hiding his rising anxiousness. "It happens that if you go up these stairs, you'll have a great vantage point on the entire room." Sanyue nodded and lifted her bow off of her shoulders and tested the string. "I'd better handle the meeting. You keep watch from above in case this goes sour."

"Alright. Be careful." She and Baurus clasped hands before he went into the door and she climbed the stairs. She poked her head out of the opening. The room below was in a long rectangle with the table situated to her left and below the narrow walkway. If she squinted, she could make out the rusted bars of a gate beyond that probably led to where the cultists were holed up. Slipping back into the shadows, Sanyue pulled her pack off her back and took out an empty glass vial. She had been working in Georick's shoppe for long enough to mix some of the lesser known potions. Many spys and assassins used Chameleon often enough that she had sold quite a few of the horrid tasting vials to less than savory characters.

Georick had a policy about not selling to the Dark Brotherhood, but she knew better. She also knew better than to say anything lest she be the victim of her own poisons. She used her skinning knife and cut a piece of dried beef, some root pulp from the Columbine flower and a radish she had picked up on her long walk around Imperial City. The concoction smelled rancid and fizzled like a startled rattle snake for a moment. Sanyue listened closely before she put her thumb over the opening and gave the potion a good shake before she tossed the liquid down her throat. She tried not to taste it but it nearly made her retch never the less. She could feel the tingle on her skin as she heard a low voice in the room below her.

She crept slowly out until she could see what was going on. The man meeting Baurus was a High Elf with chestnut brown hair and blood red robes. His back was to Sanyue, but she could see that he had set the book on the table and was speaking intently with Baurus. She kept still, knowing that the potion was as weak as it was short lived and if she moved too much she would give herself away as sure as if she were sneaking around fully visible. A creaking groan caught Sanyue's attention. She looked up just in time to see two hooded figures exit the gate and make their way slowly over the walkway.

She kept as still as she could, wishing these two would hurry up. They seemed momentarily engrossed with the meeting taking place below them and stopped on the walkway to observe. Sanyue checked her hands to make sure she was still reasonably concealed and fumbled around for a place to hide. The only place she had was also the craziest. The gods must have been rolling in laughter as she dove out of the small alcove and hung literally by her hands from the walkway, wishing these two nosy cultists would just get going already.

Their curiosity satisfied, the two red robed observers continued on their way, talking quietly as they walked. "Did you hear something?" The two cast about for the source of the noise, Sanyue biting her lip to keep from crying out. The nearest cultist pivoted on his foot and ground his sandaled foot on Sanyue's fingers, making her eyes sting with tears. "Probably just a rat. Filthy things." And with that the two left, none the wiser of the camouflaged woman who's fingers he had stepped on. Sanyue whimpered softly as she climbed back onto the walk way as Baurus finished his conversation and the high elf left the room with Baurus holding the fourth volume in his hands.

She leaned against the wall of the alcove, holding her hand to her chest to soothe the throbbing of her fingers. She hoped the two didn't make their trip short or she might have to use that hand to knock them out for their unintentional transgression. She opened the gate as she heard Baurus walk across the room below her and met him at the foot of the stairs, his face barely concealing a tight lipped grin. "Nice work."

"Don't say anything else. Let's just get out of here and get that book to Tar-Meena." She flexed her hand a few more times before letting it fall to her side. "I've had enough of these sewers."
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A Nord's Tale