You promised.
The girl repeats this over and over again in her head. It is the only thing that keeps her moving forward. It is sheer willpower that at this point keeps her aching limbs moving. Her eyes are stinging and her jaw aches and she can't take a deep breath without the feelings of stabbing pain but still she keeps moving, keeps running.
You promised.
The two words echo over and over again in her head, haunting her, urging her to increase her speed, to run ever faster.
She clasps the necklace tightly in one hand, gripping it so hard that the large red jewel cuts into her palm.
She is afraid. Perhaps more afraid than she had ever been in her entire life. She hadn't been this afraid when the guards had thrown her in that cell or when that insufferable mer in the cell across from her cackled that she was destined for the block. She hadn't even been this afraid when she had been attacked by wolves as a child and had to be rescued by her brother. It wasn't the fear of death that ran like fire through her veins. No, it was the fear of failure, the fear of breaking her promise to the old man that she had failed to save.
The emperor. He had known. He had known that he was going to his death the moment he stepped into that cell and saw her face. He had known her somehow. He had taken her face in his hands and stared deep into her eyes and it was as though he could see into her soul. He had stopped his blades from killing her. He had allowed her to escape through the hidden passage as well. It was when they met up again, in one of those dark, damp, winding tunnels and those men in their jagged black and red armor and the four blades agents were busy fighting them off that he pushed her behind him, shielding her from the dangers.
"Not long now" she had heard him murmuring under his breathe and only now did she understand what he had been talking about.
Once the attackers were all dead, the blades had him continue through the tunnel and he had refused to leave her behind, keeping one hand clenched around her wrist. It was as they walked that he began talking to her, telling her that it was his destiny to die that day, in those tunnels. He told her that his sons were all dead, that the septim line was all but destroyed. He told her of his last son, who was a priest of Akatosh in Kvatch named Martin. He was a bastard, born well after his other sons and given to a farmer to raise. He told her that the dragonfires in front of the imperial palace had been extinguished and that the planes of oblivion would soon infiltrate their world. He also told her that he was sorry. That he knew this was not what she had wanted but that it was her destiny to slam shut the doors of oblivion and save the empire. He told her she would become a hero, a legend, a tale told to children by the fire. She would have laughed in his face, would have called him mad, if it had been for that sad but resolute look in his eyes. Then they had come to that bend in the path and he had pulled the amulet of kings from around his neck and thrust it into her hands. He told her to take it to a man named Jauffre at Weynon Priory and to find and protect his last son.
He made her swear on Sithis and that was when she realized that he knew. Even the guards who arrested her didn't know that she was the listener for the Cheydinhal chapter of the Dark Brotherhood. The emperor didn't seem to care however, and there was no judgement visible on his face.
It all happened so quickly. She had sworn on Sithis and the night mother and the next moment they were surrounded. Once again the emperor pushed her behind him and she could only watch as one by one the blades were cut down and then the emperor was on the ground, a puddle of red forming beneath him. She had frozen, staring numbly at the bodies around her. Never before had she been affected by death like this. Normally she would relish in it. But then again, she was normally the cause of said deaths. It was only when a knife glinted towards her that she sprung to action, dodging the blow and arming herself with the katana of one of the fallen. She danced lightly around their blows, managing to avoid most of their hits, and one by one they fell until she was alone in the darkness, surrounded by blood and death.
It was then that she started running.
She had no honorable bone in her body, her sense of right and wrong had become twisted after years in the brotherhood, and yet she had to fulfill her promise to the fallen emperor. She didn't know why but she had to.
So with aching muscles and tears running down her cheeks, she ran.
And in the end Uriel Septim VII was proved correct as the unlikely hero went on to save first Kvatch and then the entirety of Tamriel from the prince of destruction himself.