Baurus

We'd been searching through records for three days awaiting word from Jauffre for our next step. He only told us to find someone who had a past with these assassins, even loosely. The Emperor was grief stricken over the loss his sons and his pain was our failure. He sat silently in the prison's repository of records while we combed through names and past affiliations. Several could have fit the mold of what we were looking for but the more we searched the more worried we became for the Emperor's safety. Someone had to of known something about these crimes committed against the Empire or how they operated.

It was Captain Renault that found Kainé's name. She had uttered the name a few times to herself before retrieving a dusty scroll from a rack. She hurried back and leaned over the document. The faint flicker of half-spent candlelight lit the text. Her eyes darted from one end of the page to the next as she read. The silence was deafening as Glenroy and I waited for whatever discovery she had made. Her lips moved silently as her eyes shot up to us. A small spark of relief caught our attention and we leaned over the scroll.

"I heard about this one," she uttered. I looked at her as she recounted to herself the story. "It was some time ago. A child was found in Sideways Cave amongst the corpses of her parents. She couldn't have been more than five or six at the time. According to reports from the citizens of Bravil, the family was on a brief expedition and hadn't shown up in days. When they finally went in search for them the place was a disaster. The parents were unrecognizable. The amount of trauma to them was devastating; they weren't even recognizable at that point." She paused with a stifled sigh and shook her head. "She didn't say much about what happened only that a monster came and hurt them. They found books on summoning daedra and etchings of daedric text written in her hand."

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Glenroy asked hesitantly. "This girl couldn't be here for that. It's inconceivable to think that a child has grown up in a place like this since then."

Captain Renault glanced at the paper; her finger drug down it till it came down to a second section. She stared at it intensely and frowned. Whatever she had found had unsettled the usual stoic woman. She turned her gaze to the heavy wooden door and back to the paper as if rereading it to be sure she was correct in her assumption.

"She's been here for five years," she finally replied. "Since she was twelve years of age."

"What in Mara's mercy did she do?" I questioned.

"Triple homicide," she muttered as she turned her back from us.

I stiffened at the revelation. The very idea of a child sitting in a cell for so long would have driven her insane. The notion was unsettling for us all. I snatched the file from the table and read it aloud. Everything stared at me in black and white. She had been convicted of the murders of her adoptive mother, her sibling, and an unidentified person.

"I heard about that," Glenroy growled. "The man that adopted her was an Imperial legionnaire. He had been very adamant about her innocence, but people who had been to both scenes had said they were almost identical. The only difference being the third and we wouldn't even know about that if she hadn't shown up."

"I had only heard about the double. It was a triple?" I queried; my mouth ran dry in an instant.

"The unidentified person was a friend of hers. She was covered in blood when guards found her. She had only been mumbling incoherently to herself. It took days to find out what happened and that's when they found out about the boy. His severed arm was found near the opening to the cave," Glenroy responded. His complexion became gaunt as he spoke. "It's a damn shame, too."

"So do we think it's still wise to question her?" I asked.

"We don't have much choice," Renault muttered. "We've already exhausted most of our leads and she's the only one left."

The Emperor cleared his throat and approached us. He glanced over the table stacked with books and scrolls. His eyebrow furrowed in thought and nodded. We could see the deep wrinkles becoming craggier in his face. He was exhausted from the ordeal. It had us all pent up with tension. He eyed Captain Renault and silently motioned for the last document in the stack of Kainé's file.

"She's scheduled for execution today, by order of the Elder Council and me," the Emperor stated.

"Baurus, tell the jailor we'd like to speak with the condemned," Captain Renault gruffly ordered.

I snapped to and saluted. If this girl was our last avenue of opportunity then we had to take it for the sake of the emperor's life. I had my doubts about this, but there was no hesitation in the captain's eyes. She knew - as well as the rest of us - that if this didn't work we'd have no choice but to get the emperor to safety with limited resources and knowledge about our enemy. I prayed that she would be of some help to us. She had to be.

I hurried from the room and ran across the prison's yard. The sun had barely broken the horizon and the summer's coming dawn was balmy and sweet. No one would have guessed that terrible dealings were going on and the inevitable backroom deal we would have to render if this child could help us.

As I opened the door to the prison tower, several guards were exiting for their morning patrols. They were unaware of the dangers that could be lurking in the shadows. When I slipped in I entered a dimly lit room. The jailor sat at his desk reading the reports for the previous night. His eyes shot up at me when the door slammed shut. I didn't give him time to say anything. I approached his desk and tossed the scroll on top. His eyes fell on it questioningly and then rose up, perplexed by what I was giving him.

"We want to see Kainé," I blurted.

He rounded the desk; his eyes narrowed on me intently and frowned.

"That's going to be a problem," he said. "Kainé is in solitary confinement at the moment for assaulting a guard."

"We just need to question her about some things," I replied. "We know she's scheduled for execution. It won't delay it."

"I don't think you understand," he interjected with a sniff. "Kainé hasn't spoken to anyone in over two years. You won't get anything from her. And for the safety of the public I can't allow her to leave her cell until her execution. I'm sorry."

"Let us try, then," I insisted. He folded his arms and scowled. He stared at the floor in thought for several minutes. I could only wait as he mulled over the risks of a violent offender getting out and in to the population. "We know her sordid past and if she does anything we'll cut her down."

"If I let her out for questioning, I want two guards in the room with her at all times. And she is to remain shackled," he snapped coldly.

"That's fine," I uttered rapidly.

He let out a sigh and motioned for another guard. The young man neared and leaned in as the jailor whispered to him. The gentleman's eyes shot to me and nodded slowly. He pulled away and slipped through another door.

"We'll bring her to you in a few minutes," he said before returning to his work.

I was relieved. I could only turn around and walk out knowing that our chances of success had minutely increased. Everything hinged on a condemned individual and my reluctance to trust what she had to say weighed heavily. I was worried about the gamble we were making on this conversation we were about to have with a convicted murderer. Even the jailors seemed wary of her. They didn't fear their charges but this woman, this child; had rattled them at the mere idea of letting her out.

As we sat and waited for her arrival we all shared glances. Outside the birds sang and everything was a euphoric experience, but here: it was desolate and lifeless. I don't think anything could have made it worse until we heard the scraping of chains along the stonework. Two sets of boots marched closer and stopped. The door swung open letting in bright daylight sun from the windows in the next room.

Our eyes then fell on the hooded and chained person between them. She was small and pale. Two twig-like arms were shackled in front of her. She took a couple of steps and was pulled back by one of the hulking guards. She looked like a child compared to them. The top of her head barely graced their shoulders as they stood in the doorway.

She swayed to and fro as they dragged her to a chair across the table from us. They slammed her into it, sending the chains into singing. She stiffened slightly and then relaxed. Her head hung forward and she let out a sigh. It was weak and wavering. Her whole body seemed to shudder as she breathed. It was pathetic to witness and disheartening to see the wounds from her manacles across her wrists. Carved into the iron were runes. It didn't seem possible that a girl of this stature could have committed so many deaths. Yet here she sat with an executioner's hood on and a blindfold.

"Alright, Kainé, you are going to answer these people's questions and you aren't going to give them any lip," one of the guard's growled.

Her head shot to the man. The feeling of contempt was palpable to all present. Even blinded, bound, and sentenced to death, she was still defiant. That's when I realized that we might have nothing with this one either. But that's when I first met the girl named Kainé.