Author's Note: Hello, welcome to my current obsession. I have to apologize for the lack of original dialogue in the last chapter. I should have better opportunity this chapter to actually write my own stuff. My aim for this "Tales of Tamriel" series is to write my own version of each of the 6 main quest lines, flesh out the story along the way while also staying true to the actual in-game storyline. Reviews would be much appreciated. On a side note, who else is super excited for Skyrim? :)


The Blades crept down the stone passageways in the scant, bluish light. Their emperor followed within their protection, his robes sliding silently down the stairs he descended. Trailing behind this escape party was a cautious Khajiit, dressed in rags fitting of a prisoner. It would've been a strange sight indeed were the circumstances not so serious.

K'Lali was still reeling from her lucky escape, and from the Emperor's words. That is not what you will be remembered for, he had told her. What would she be remembered for then?

K'Lali had always taken a stoic stance in everything she did in life. It wasn't that she was uncertain of what to do, nor was it the way she was taught. That's just the way she was; she was a silent hunter of the night and she lived by her own rules. Other things just didn't bother her.

Now this emperor-Uriel Septim of all people-was imposing a fate upon her. Every fiber of her being was screaming against this decision, to follow this man who was invoking the will of the Gods as the reason of their meeting. However, somewhere in her heart, K'Lali couldn't help but follow. Something told her that she would want to see how this played out.

As they stepped into the next beam of light, the Blades suddenly drew their swords. "Protect the emperor!" the lady leader ordered her comrades.

K'Lali turned the corner and saw the attackers. Assassins dressed in red, covered in head to toe with silver armor. They lashed out with glowing daggers. The captain struck out with her katana, slaying the first one. To K'Lali's surprise, the armor and weapon suddenly disintegrated into red mist as the attacker fell. He was left wearing only a red cloak and hood.

"Summoned," the Emperor explained. He had stayed back by K'Lali, his sword also drawn. "Bound armor and weapons."

K'Lali couldn't imagine risking traveling around without a weapon as the assassins apparently did. Even now, K'Lali felt naked, with few ways to defend herself should the Blades fall and the assassins target her next. Even the Emperor was armed; she was not.

After a fierce battle, another assassin fell. The last one, desperate now that her comrades were dead, struck viciously at the Blades' captain. The captain was clipped in the shoulder and, staggering, stabbed in the chest. The Imperial Blade, Glenroy, dispatched the last assassin as the Redguard, Baurus, checked their fallen captain.

Baurus got up and approached Uriel. "Are you alright, sire? We're clear for now."

"Captain Renault?" the Emperor inquired.

Baurus sighed sadly. "She's dead. I'm sorry, sire, but we have to keep moving."

The remaining two Blades escorted the Emperor onward, down another set of stairs.

"How could they be waiting for us here?" Glenroy exclaimed angrily.

"Don't know," Baurus replied, clearly worried. "But it's too late to go back now. Don't worry sire, we'll get you out of here."

Glenroy gritted his teeth. "They won't be the first to underestimate the Blades." He quickly unlocked another gate standing in their way. "I'll take point. Let's move."

K'Lali moved to go after, but Baurus blocked her way. "You stay here prisoner. Don't try to follow us." Then he closed the gate behind him and moved out of sight.

K'Lali was thankful to be left in solitude once again. She wanted to be out of the presence of that emperor, who seemed to unnerve her a bit. Though as she pondered alone, she realized she was now trapped here. Her escape had been foiled. K'Lali surveyed the room, but found no other exits other than the barred one and the one from whence she came.

A scratching noise came from the wall. What had Valen said about rats? Of course, he was just an annoying fool, trying to mess with her, but were there rats milling about as he had said?

K'Lali shrugged it off, and went to study the bodies of the assassins. Indeed, they had no trace of weapon nor armor on their person, though the ones they had been grappling with were very real. They had defeated Captain Renault, whose body was just a short way off. She lie on the cold stone steps, eyes lifeless, but face still holding the stern expression she had held in life.

K'Lali's sharp eyes spotted a glinting weapon on the floor. It was the katana Renault had used. It's blade was more curved than most swords, giving it an almost elegant look. K'Lali picked it up, studying it interestedly, feeling it's deceptively light weight in her hands. It was a good sword to have by your side, K'Lali thought, it was quick, sharp and deadly.

The scratching noise interrupted K'Lali's thoughts once again, whose sensitive ears became alert once again. There was something coming she knew it…

A wall came tumbling apart. Two giant rats scampered out from behind, nasty teeth bared. One lunged at K'Lali, gnawing at her arm. K'Lali swatted it away and, gripping Renault's katana in her left hand, stabbed the foul rodent. The other lunged as well, but she swatted it aside as easily as the first with her sword.

K'Lali panted from the sudden attack. So there were rats down here. K'Lali nudged one of their lifeless bodies with her foot. It tumbled over harmlessly. Nasty creatures…K'Lali looked up again at the hole in the wall.

Well…at least they had provided her with an alternate escape route. K'Lali ducked inside.

On the other side of the wall was a dark, low-ceilinged area with a dirt floor. Mangled skeletons lie dust-covered and scattered about the room, still clutching their weapons. A dried-up well stood in the center of the room, evidence that this cavern must've, at some point, been inhabited.

K'Lali crept across the room; her eyes tuned perfectly to see in the dark. She spotted a door on the other side and approached it. She was surprised to see a gnarly green goblin laying just beside the door, dead.

A search of the goblin and she discovered the key. Maybe Baurus was right-this was her lucky day. The goblin must have come in some way which meant there was another way out of the cavern. If only she could find it and get out, then she would never have to hear that emperor's silly prophecies ever again.

With this hope in mind, K'Lali stepped through the door and continued through another low-ceilinged room. Her ears flicked up in alertness when she heard the sounds of battle in the passage ahead.

Several rats scurried around the corner fleeing from a humanoid figure. K'Lali at first thought it might be a goblin, but this was far worse.

A zombie, attacking the rats. It's decaying flesh reeked of death, it emitted gurgling, moaning sounds from it's rotten mouth. It was missing an arm and maggots had obviously relieved it of it's skin from that area. Some of his ribs were exposed.

The rats fought valiantly against it but they were no match. It swatted them down with it's single arm just as easily as K'Lali had earlier.

With the rats down, the zombie focused on K'Lali as a target. K'Lali frantically sliced at the flesh, amazed as it fell easily apart. Soon the zombie could no longer continue.

After that nasty surprise, K'Lali continued down the passage, now at a more hurried pace. She passed through misty light from the passage above that the emperor was surely taking. She encountered a few more rats, but no more zombies, and no goblins….until….

Quietly, carefully, she snuck up on a figure ahead. Sitting on a crate tending his fire was a goblin. He wore a ram skull over his head like a helmet, and his green, emaciated body bent low over his work. Other than the skull, he wore only a loin cloth.

K'Lali silently stabbed him from behind. The creature let out a bloodcurdling screech, but otherwise put up little fight.

K'Lali saw that the goblin had been roasting a rat over his fire. The rank smell of the roasted rat smelled delicious to K'Lali's empty stomach. Only just realizing how hungry she was, she grabbed the rat and her sharp teeth tore into it. She hated falling into Valen's stereotype, but she was too hungry to care much about pride at the moment.

Fully satisfied, she continued delving into the natural caverns. She met a few more goblins, but they seemed to have the habit of falling into their own traps. One set off a trip wire, causing huge maces to swing from the ceiling and crash into him. K'Lali set a pile of logs rolling downhill to crush a pair of goblin archers.

Finally, K'Lali discovered the goblins' home. A large cavern held a pit full of rats in the middle; apparently the goblins had been farming them. Their intelligence surprised K'Lali, but she quickly became unimpressed once again as she spotted a few goblins gathered around a fire pit, inadvertently burning themselves by reaching into the flames.

She crept up on the group, intending to slay them, when a pain suddenly bit into K'Lali's shoulder.

Roaring in pain, she realized another goblin had been behind her. He screeched before taking a lethal blow to the face. Too late: the other goblins saw the skirmish and ran to it, brandishing axes.

K'Lali clumsily fought off the enemies' attacks. She thought she was done for, when suddenly, a lightning attack slammed one of the goblins into the center pit. A goblin witch had joined the fray, haphazardly shooting staff attacks at the fighting group. With some maneuvering, K'Lali allowed the witch to do some of the work for her. He aim for her and more often hit his companions. Soon, he was the remaining goblin.

The goblin witch rapid-fired his spell, but the nimble Khajiit dodged most of them. It was all she could do to leap in and out of the line of fire. K'Lali decided she better fight fire with… well, fire. She quickly shot a Flare spell at the witch. The goblin witch's robes caught fire. Now distracted, K'Lali was able to approach it and deal the final blow. The goblin flopped over, dead, his staff falling into the rat farm below.

A dirty, tired K'Lali continued through the caverns, eventually coming to a doorway that led back into the familiar stone passageway she had come from. She must've circumvented the gate the Blades had left her behind.

Leaping down, she slunk along the stone floor, spotting the main pathway below. She was just about to leap down to it when she detected voices coming down the path.

"….defensible spot and protect the Emperor until help arrives," said one voice, unmistakably Glenroy's.

"Help?" exclaimed Baurus's voice, "What makes you think help will get here before more of those bastards? We need to get the Emperor out of here-"

He was interrupted by a fresh wave of assassins, summoning their armor out of a cloud of red smoke. Baurus and Glenroy quickly flung themselves into action, staving of the attack and drawing the fight away from the Emperor. They clearly outmatched the assassins in terms of combat skill; K'Lali was amazed at the Blades' superior skill with a blade. They swung the sword in just the right spots, hitting the enemy's weak points while blocking every attempt at a counterattack, everything done in a blur of precision and power. Not at all like K'Lali's clumsy slashes with Renault's katana. In no time, the assassins were finished off.

"I think that was all of them," Glenroy announced. "Let me look around." Silence followed Glenroy's footsteps a short distance away.

"Have you seen the prisoner?" asked the Emperor's calm voice.

Asking about K'Lali again? She crept closer to the scene, now able to see the Emperor conversing with Baurus.

"Do you think she followed us? How could she?" Baurus said.

K'Lali couldn't help but smile. Here she was, right on the heels of the Blades and they didn't suspect a thing. She couldn't pass this opportunity up…

She leaped out into the light, braids flying behind her, landing swiftly in a crouch in front of Baurus and Glenroy. Glenroy became alarmed and drew his sword.

"Dammit, it's that prisoner again!" he exclaimed, "Kill her, she might be working with the assassins."

K'Lali slowly rose from her crouch, ready for an attack.

The Emperor put a calming hand on Glenroy's shoulder. "No, she is not one of them. She can help us. She must help us."

"As you wish, sire," Glenroy resigned.

K'Lali's ears flattened against her head in displeasure. The Emperor was going on about her fate again. The old man approached her and spoke with her.

"They cannot understand why I trust you. They've not seen what I've seen."

K'Lali's eyes narrowed. What was it about the Emperor that made her want to trust him, against all of her instincts?

The Emperor shook his head. "How can I explain?" he pondered.

K'Lali watched him as he mused. He looked back up at her.

"Listen. You know the Nine? How they guide our fates with an invisible hand?"

The Nine Divine? The Gods her entire lifestyle went against? K'Lali was sure they would never choose her as any sort of important part of the Emperor's fate. Akatosh himself would probably choose that goblin witch before he chose K'Lali.

"Hmph," she responded, "I'm not on good terms with the Gods."

The Emperor put a reassuring hand on K'Lali's shoulder, a small smile on his face.

"I've served the Nine all my days, and I chart my course by the cycle of the heavens. The skies are marked with numberless sparks, each a fire, and every one a sign. I know these stars well and I wonder…which sign marked your birth?"

K'Lali crossed her arms, almost daring the Emperor to laugh as she told him her sign. "The Lady," she said, slightly disgruntled.

To K'Lali's surprise, the Emperor only smiled and nodded.

"The signs I read show the end of my path. My death, a necessary end, will come when it will come," his expression saddened a little as he spoke. K'Lali could not help but feel a little sorry for a man who knew he was doomed to die.

"What about me?" K'Lali asked quietly.

The Emperor's small smile returned. "Your stars are not mine. Today the Lady shall fortify you in your quest for glory."

The Emperor was, K'Lali noticed, once again using words that connected them to a much grander scheme of things than just they two. Words like "quest" "fate" and "glory" reminded K'Lali of the stories she heard as a kitten of the great heroes of old: the Champions and the Nerevarine and the stuff of Elder Scrolls. Though none of those heroes faced death as willingly as the Emperor did now. K'Lali would never forfeit her life that easily.

"But….Aren't you afraid to die?" she asked quietly.

"No trophies of my triumphs precede me. But I have lived well and my ghost shall rest easy," he reflected sagely. "Men are but flesh and blood. They know their doom, but not the hour. In this, I am blessed to see the hour of my death…to face my apportioned fate, then fall."

K'Lali thought long and hard. She supposed "fate" could also just be another word for "death." Did, perhaps, the Emperor know of K'Lali's "fate"?

She voiced her question. The Emperor sighed. "My dreams grant me no opinion of success. Their compass ventures not beyond the doors of death."

So K'Lali might be right-she could be walking right to her doom.

"But," he continued, "in your face, I behold the sun's companion. The dawn of Akatosh's bright glory may banish the coming darkness."

"So there's hope?" K'Lali asked.

"Yes," Uriel confirmed, "With such hope, and with the promise of your aid, my heart must be satisfied."

K'Lali straightened. She wasn't sure what was going on, but for whatever reason strong feelings of righteousness began to well up within her. For the first time in a long, long time, she wanted to help someone else. Not the citizens of Tamriel, no, she could care less about them. She wanted to help Uriel Septim.

"Where are we going?" she asked importantly.

"I go to my grave. A tongue shriller than all the music calls me," Uriel explained. "You shall follow me yet for a while, then we must part."

At this point, a worried Glenroy spurred the Emperor forward. Baurus came up to K'Lali.

"You may as well make yourself useful," Baurus told her, handing her a torch, "Carry this torch and stick close."

As K'Lali lit her torch (though she saw little need for it-she could see quite well in the dark), the group headed through the next doorway.

"So, Baurus," K'Lali began, "What exactly do the Blades do?"

"We're the Emperor's body guards. Our job is to get him out of situations like this," Baurus explained shortly, "Although I admit, things are not going according to plan."

K'Lali couldn't help but chuckle at Baurus' annoyed tone. Baurus tried to appear angry, but could only smirk. "You've got an awfully dry sense of humor, you know that?" he chuckled at K'Lali.

The group delved further into the path, Glenroy at the lead, the Emperor guarded in the center, Baurus guarding his rear and K'Lali bringing up the rear and lighting the way ahead. Three more times the party was attacked; three more times the two Blades slayed the red-robed summoners. K'Lali could do nothing but stick close to the Emperor, hoping to defend him if she had to.

Glenroy apprehensively approached a long stairwell. "Hold on," he commanded, holding up a hand to halt the others. "I don't like this. Let me take a look." He cautiously descended the stairs. Surveying the landing for a few seconds, he deemed it safe.

"Okay," he affirmed, "It's clear. The path will lead us straight to the sewers." He indicated a gate to their right. The party followed as he approached it.

Glenroy looked confusedly at the gate. He checked his key ring once again for the appropriate key then, finding none, jiggled the bars of the gate frustrated.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed with one final kick, "It's barred from the other side. A trap!"

Baurus glanced behind them. "What about that side passage over there?" he pointed.

Glenroy looked disgruntled; apparently things not going according to plan was bothering him more than it was Baurus. "Worth a try. Let's go!"

They all drew their blades, escorting the Emperor down the side path. K'Lali felt especially on-edge; though her keen senses told her nothing was amiss, she still felt otherwise. The narrow passage felt like it was closing in. The shadows flitted around the walls menacingly in the torch light, almost licking at their prey.

"It's a dead end," Baurus stated the obvious. The group surveyed the hall, which was lined with window-like stone alcoves. "What's your call, sir?"

But there was no time for Glenroy to think. The assassins materialized in the other room.

"They're behind us! Wait here, sire," Glenroy added, rushing headlong into battle.

"Wait here with the Emperor," Baurus told K'Lali quickly, "Guard him with your life." The Redguard gave her a meaningful look before following his fellow Blade member.

K'Lali stood closer to the Emperor than ever, muscles tense, eyes on the battle outside. She paid no mind to any of this "fate" business, but more than ever she felt she should protect the Emperor, that it was her duty even. Her instincts, strangely enough, told her so-and her instincts had served her well thus far.

But the Emperor had other ideas.

"I can go no further. You alone must stand against the Prince of Destruction and his mortal servants," He removed the red amulet from his neck and pressed it into K'Lali's palm. He gave her a determined look. "He must not have the Amulet of Kings!"

K'Lali looked at him, confused. "I…but…No! I'm getting you out of here!" she growled.

Uriel shook his head, still giving her that intense expression. "Take the Amulet. Give it to Jauffre. He alone knows where to find my last son."

After grasping K'Lali's hand, he let go of the Amulet of Kings and stepped back.

"Find him, and close shut the jaws of Oblivion!"