Broken Vows
Chapter 1: Help from the Wrong Person
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I stared at the top of my jail cell as I laid on my bedroll, smiling because of the reason why I was there.
"You seem awfully happy to be here, you pathetic worm!" Dreth yelled from across the prison. I stood up at his remark. "Ha ha ha! It seems the mighty has fallen! To think, a High Elf in an Imperial Dungeon; you must be a huge disgrace to your kind."
I walked to the bars, crossed my arms, and leaned against the wall. I threw a devilish smile at him. "They are the ones who are a disgrace to me."
"Ha! You seem so proud to be here. What could a High Elf possibly do?!"
I leaned close to the bars, put my face between them and whispered, "I was the one who planned the emperor's assassination; I was the one who murdered his three sons." I pulled back from the bars.
"I…I…" Dreth sputtered, stepping back. He looked at me in horror. "No…you couldn't have…" his voice trailed off.
"Baurus close that door behind us," a voice came.
"My sons are dead, aren't they?" another voice came.
"We don't know, sire. The reports only said they were attacked."
"No, I know they're dead."
I ignored the conversation and sat down at the table in my cell. I pulled my rogue knot out of my shirt when I noticed four people standing in front of my cell.
"What's this prisoner doing here!" a woman yelled.
"Um…a usually mix up with the watch I –" a Redguard replied.
"Never mind, get that gate open!"
"Yes ma'am. You, prisoner! Stand there by the window. We won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way!"
Letting out a more than audible groan, I got up and stood under the window, leaning against the wall.
I watched the people walk in. "Wait a minute…," I thought, "that's Blades armor. That means…!"
An old man wearing very ornate clothing walked in. "You!" he gasped. "I've seen you!"
I laughed silently to myself as I realized the old man was the emperor. "I'm sure you have."
"Sire, there's no time to talk we must keep moving," the woman said. She pushed a brick in, revealing a secret passage.
"Looks like this is your lucky day, just stay out of our way."
"Lucky day?! This is the greatest day of my life!"
I cast a glance at Dreth before leaving my cell. His arm was outstretched, as if beckoning the emperor not to go. He tried to warn the emperor (as I assumed 'cause his mouth was moving), but his words failed him. I threw him a fiendish smile before following the group.
--
"Defend yourselves!" one of the Blades screamed.
Out from the shadows, four assassins appeared with conjured armor and weapons. I quickly jumped back into the shadows, hiding from them.
"I'm sorry my Brothers and Sisters, I need to hide for now. I'm so close to him, I could rip his spine out and help you dispatch these idiot Blades, but…I have a feeling I could learn something that would greatly help our cause…I'm sorry.
I tightly shut my eyes as I heard the dieing screams of my Brothers and Sisters.
"Sire, are you alright?" one of the Blades asked.
"Captain Renault?"
"She's dead, sire, we need to keep moving."
I followed them until they reached a door. One of the Blades turned and faced me. "Don't follow us. You stay here." They turned and left, locking the door behind them.
"Damnit," I muttered.
I looked around the room. "I need to catch up with them. How the hell do I get out of here?"
As I was walking around the room, I heard squeaking behind me. I turned around to see a couple of rats who had broken through the wall.
"Perfect." I raised my hand in the air and summoned my conjured armor and weapon.
I sighed in relief, "It feels so good to be in this again." I quickly dispatched the two rats and made my way through the caverns that followed.
--
"Look out!" the Blades screamed.
I leapt back into the shadows once more as I saw more of my Brothers and Sisters jump out from their hiding places. Each of them were quickly slain.
"Please, I need to rest," the emperor said.
"Alright sire, but only for a little while."
"Weak, incompetent man! It's almost unbearable that I can't slay him where he stands! Ugh…self-control Aldamil. It'll pay off."
I soon jumped from my hiding spot as I realized that they wouldn't be moving anytime soon.
"There's that prisoner again! Kill him; he might be working with the assassins!"
Again, I laughed silently to myself, "If I was actually working with them, you'd already be dead!"
"No, he will help us," the emperor said, "he must."
"They have not seen what I have seen," he explained to me. "How can I explain this…I go to my death, a tongue shriller than all the rest.
"Aren't you afraid to die?" I asked, shocked that he said this.
"From the day they are born, men know that they will go to their doom, but they do not know their hour. In this, I am blessed to know my hour."
"Come sire, we must go."
The group left me in the room. I was stunned. I never knew the emperor was as brave as he was. "Too bad his destiny is…darker. Ha ha ha!"
--
"It's locked; a trap!"
"What about that side passage back there?"
"Worth a try; let's go!"
We walked warily to the side passage; well, at least the Blades did. I would've killed the emperor by now if I didn't have the gut feeling that I did.
"It's a dead end."
"They're behind us!"
"You stay here," one of the Blades said to me, "guard the emperor with your life."
They turned about and attacked the oncoming assassins.
I turned back to the emperor who, by now, was taking off the Amulet of Kings.
He held his arm outstretched to me. "Take it. Go to Weynon Priory and give this to Jauffre. There is another heir."
"Another one?! The Master will be most pleased with this," I thought in glee.
"Though your path may be twisted and corrupt, you will find a way. I have faith."
Immediately after saying this, a dagger was thrust through his chest. "Ha ha ha!" a Dunmer laughed behind his conjured armor. He let the emperor's dead body slump to the ground and started attacking me. "This was the wrong day to –."
"YOU IDIOT!" I roared as I grabbed the assassin and threw him to the side. His armor and weapon disappeared as he hit the wall. "Don't you recognize me?!"
I stared at the man, he was obviously thinking about what I said. "Maybe this will help your memory!" I hissed at him. My hand glowed with a golden light as a Daedric Long Sword replaced the air. He looked at it in awe.
"But…but there's only one person who can…High Commander Aldamil?"
"Yes, you idiot. And you're lucky you didn't kill the emperor a few seconds quicker." The Dunmer cocked an eyebrow. I smiled maliciously and held up the Amulet of Kings, "There is another heir."
"No! The emperor!" a Blades cried out as he ran into the room. He immediately turned his attention to the Dunmer lying on the ground, completely ignoring me. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
The Blade brought down his sword. A clang resonated through the dungeon as I blocked the sword. I twirled my sword around along with his, quickly throwing his guard off. The stunned Blade didn't have a chance to react before I cleanly decapitated him, with his bloody corpse collapsing to the ground.
"Th-thank you High Commander," the Dunmer stuttered. I nodded in response.
"Go to the Master; tell him that I've escaped from the Imperial Prison and I hold the Amulet of Kings. The only reason that I did not return myself nor give him the Amulet first is because I believe that this Amulet is the key to finding the last heir.
The Dunmer nodded and quickly ran off. I looked down at the emperor's body. "Though your path may be twisted and corrupt, you will find a way. I have faith." His words must have run though my mind a thousand times before I finally left. I was completely confused with what he had said.
"Am I...actually going to help them? No! I'm with the Mythic Dawn...but, then again..." I shook my head in disgust. "What in Oblivion am I thinking? He was just a crazy senile old fool!" I escaped through the same secret passage the Dunmer assassin went through only minutes before, quickly setting off for Weynon Priory as I left.
For those of you that are wondering, yes, this story will still follow the main quest line, it'll just have a few offshoots here and there. I tried rushing threw this chapter because pretty much everyone knows what happens, so I figured that I didn't need to explain everything. I really hope that it didn't take away from the story.
Hope you enjoyed it (and reviews are always welcome)!