As she reached the final door, the door to the Sigillum Sanguis, she allowed herself a sigh of relief.

"Thank the Nine," she said alound. She opened the door and stepped through. When she turned around, her breath caught in her throat. Where was the man from Kvatch? He was behind her just a moment ago! What could have happened to him? Steeling herself, she thought only of her quest as she forced her legs to walk onto the platform, creeping along side the ruby red dome in the centre of the tower and making her way up the claw-like stairs. Stepping onto the thin red membrane that served as the final platform, she saw the Sigil Stone on the other side of the tower. Running towards it, she didn't see the dremora mage until he cast a spell to paralyze her.

"Aahh!!" She cried out as the spell hit her, and she froze on the spot. Her sword fell out of her immobilized hand as the dremora walked towards her.

"Such a pretty thing," he drawled, his voice like the crunching of gravel underneath boots. She tried to move but the spell was strong. He stood before her, his red skin matching the colour of the dome below. "Such a pretty plaything you would make." She could smell the foul stench that came from his mouth when he spoke. He withdrew a dagger from his belt and held it to her cheek. "A pity I cannot keep you."

He moved the dagger from her cheek and it fell out of her veiw, until she felt it slice open her throat.

She awoke with a bloodcurdling scream and sat up. From his bedroll on her left, Baurus yawned in the darkness. "Another nightmare, Rozenn?" Panting, Isolde Rozenn nodded. "Yes," she whispered when she had found her voice.

"Must it happen every night?" Snapped a tired sounding Caroline.

Shivering as she threw the blanket from her body, Isolde, ignoring Caroline, rose from her bedroll and walked out of the sleeping quarters, knowing that sleep would not come to her again this night. She walked up the stairs and into the Great Hall, thankful that the fire was still blazing. She took a chair from one of the tables and sat down close to the flames. She stared unblinking into the fire and was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear approaching footsteps. She jumped when a hand was laid on her shoulder and she looked up to see Baurus standing over her with a small smile.

"Another night of this, and I'm going to beg Jauffre to give you your own room." Isolde forced a small smile and Baurus pulled his hand away. "Was it the tower," he asked her, his tone now serious. "Or the caverns?"

"The tower again," she whispered. "It was...terrible in that place, in Oblivon. Baurus, you have no idea." The Redguard nodded; it was true, he could only imagine what the planes of Oblivion were like. Secretly, he hoped never to have to find out. Baurus studied the young woman he had known for such a short time.

When he first laid eyes on her, she was a prisoner in the dungeons, and now she sat before him the 'Hero of Kvatch' and a new member of the Blades. She had obviously proved herself to Jauffre, and she had proven her worth to Baurus when she had helped him out down in the Elven Garden sewers. She had been thrust into this new life by the dead Emperor, and she seemed to be adjusting to it quickly. Except for the nightmares. Killing a whole cavern full of Mythic Dawn agents would be no sweat off of his back, but Isolde had been pretty shaken up about it. Baurus had to admit that he was becoming fond of the girl, and he took this moment to try and comfort her.

"You did a good job cleaning out those caverns," he complimented. "I was lucky," she told him, running a hand through her blonde hair. "And I was too slow to retrieve the Amulet, besides." Isolde sighed regretfully and turned her head back to the fireplace.

"No, but you did get the book. That's something."

"It wasn't enough," Isolde lamented.

Baurus sighed. He could understand all too well what she felt like: the feeling of utter failure was almost overwhelming. He himself was still wracked with the guilt over the death of Uriel Septum. "Look on the bright side," he tried to tell her. "You got rid of a whole cave full of Mythic Dawn. That's quite the contribution to the Empire. And you closed an Oblivion Gate! Hell, Rozenn, the other Blades are green with envy at the all fame you're getting. Not that they'll admit it."

But Isolde shook her head. "The cavern was different than the Kvatch gate. Dremora and scamps were one thing, but these were citizens of Cyrodiil. People with families and houses and jobs. And I had to kill all of them, Baurus."

"Just remember that they killed the Emperor, Rozenn, before you start to feel guilty," Baurus said, telling her the harsh truth. "They deserve no less than death. And they don't deserve your pity. You did what you had to do. Kill or be killed."

Isolde nodded. "I know," she said. "I know that you're right. I just wish I didn't dream about them."

Baurus sighed. "The nightmares came to everyone, Rozenn. You just have to wait them out."

"You had nightmares?" She asked, surprised.

"Well, of course I didn't," Baurus smirked a little. "I am a Redguard, after all. This is what I was born for." Isolde grinned. "But they will go away," he assured her.

"When?"

Baurus could only shrug. "When they do." Isolde blinked and nodded slowly. The Redguard smiled gently. "Try and get some sleep," he told her before walking back to the west wing. Baurus had been gone for about ten minutes when Isolde heard someone clearing their throat behind her.

"May I join you?"

Isolde looked up to see Martin standing in the doorway with two mugs in his hands.

"Of course."

Martin walked over and passed her one of the mugs which contained hot mulled wine. "Here," he said, pulling up a chair beside her. "I figured you would be up here again. I thought you might welcome a warm drink." Isolde took a sip and smiled as the warm liquid filled her stomach. "Thank-you, Martin, I appreciate it. But what are you doing up at this hour? Last night you said that you would retire early and give working on the Mysterium Xarxes a rest." Martin cleared his throat. "I heard your screams again," he told her honestly. "I thought perhaps you might want to talk about it."

Isolde felt a stab of guilt. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I...I didn't mean to," she finished lamely.

But Martin just shook his head. "There is no need to apologize, Isolde. As I've said before, what you saw in Kvatch when you closed that gate, well, I can only imagine. I assume that it would stick with a person."

"And it's only going to get worse, isn't it?" she asked him with a whisper. "Yes," Martin agreed. "It probably will."

Isolde looked into the blue eyes of the new Emperor. She had delivered the Mysterium Xarxes to him almost a week ago, and he had enough to worry about now without her adding her troubles to the list. "Martin, it's alright. I told you I don't need to talk about it. They're just nightmares, they'll go away eventually." The pair sat drinking their wine in silence until Martin spoke up. "You know, you never did tell me how you got to be wrapped up in this."

At this, Isolde felt herself grin. "Haven't I?"

Martin shook his head.

"I was in the Imperial city dungeons when the Emperor was fleeing."

He let out a noise of shock. "You were in the dungeons? Why?" Isolde put her mug down on the floor. "I had two cousins visiting from Evermor. They had never been to the Imperial city before, and they demanded that I show them a good time. That of course meant tavern after tavern. But none of us can hold our drink very well." Martin chuckled quietly beside her. "Yanick quickly picked a fight with the wrong Bosmer, and soon it was an all out tavern brawl. The guards came soon after it broke up, and that bastard Bosmer outed us as the ring leaders. I was only trying to help my cousins," Isolde said, turning her head to Martin.

"I tried to stop them from fighting. But the guards didn't listen. I even tried to tell them that I was friends with one of their captains and that he wouldn't take kindly to my being arrested, but it did no good. Instead they took us to the jail. We would have been released if we paid gold, but we had spent it all. And to top it off, my mother was in Skingrad, so I couldn't look to her for gold. Yanick, Erwan and I were sentenced then to stay in the dungeons until my mother got back from Skingrad and bailed us out. She was to be back in only two days, so we figured it wasn't such a bad punishment. It could have been worse. And then early on the second morning, the Blades came and the Emperor saw me and bade me to come with him. The rest you know."

She finished her story and saw that Martin had an odd half smile on his face. "What?" The smile grew and he shrugged a shoulder. "I cannot believe that you, Isolde, were in a tavern brawl."

Isolde laughed. "I told you, I was only trying to stop my cousins from fighting." But a sly look crept into her eyes, and Martin smiled again.

"I'm afraid I don't fully believe you." Isolde scowled at him, but her eyes were grinning. Martin cocked his head to the side a little and looked at her. "You know, I am glad that I have gotten to know you better over the past few nights."

Isolde nodded her agreement and thought back to when they had first met, more than a week ago.