Chapter Eight: A lesson on division
Chapter Eight: A lesson on division
"So I've heard all about you're problems" Karja said, taking a seat at her throne, Camori stood on one side of the throne and Harla and Keen stood on the other. Haskill was at his place at the bottom of the platform on the right side. Karja looked down upon the two smiths.
"There should be a vote on who gets to keep their shop!" Dumag suggested. "And then – there should be a law set in place that you're only allowed to vote for me!"
"Oh that's simply brilliant however did you think of it" Haskill commented, rolling his eyes.
"That'll never work! What of the people that want to come to MY shop?!" exclaimed cutter.
"Be quiet" Karja ordered. "I'm deciding how we're going to settle this matter. That's why I was summoned here"
"Yes because god forbid you should pay a visit on your own" droned Haskill.
"You're not helping" Karja said calmly, leaning her cheek one hand and looking down at Haskill expressionlessly.
"I'm supposed to be?" he asked. Karja sighed, grinning slightly, and turned to the smiths.
"You will battle to decide who gets to keep their shop, either to the death or until one of you surrenders"
"Oh that's excellent Lord!" Cutter said excitedly, Dumag seemed equally as pleased.
"Yes, this will be equally as effective as my idea because I'll still get to keep my shop!" Dumag exclaimed. Karja smiled looking up at Camori.
"The battle will take place tomorrow afternoon at the Gardens of Flesh and Bone in the Fringe" Camori told the smiths. The Mazken and Aureal all directed their gaze toward him. Only Keen and Harla seemed to not care that he was speaking without permission. "You may bring as many weapons, armor, and potions as you can carry, if you surrender your wounds will be tended to, if you die your body will lay in the garden – forever."
"Haskill" Karja said the following night, dinner has just ended, and she still sat at her place in the house of Dementia's table. Dumag and Cutter had attended dinner as honorary guests, and then were kicked out by the guard who had become fed up with their bickering, Karja didn't object.
"Yes?" he asked. He was still sitting at his place in the first chair away from Karja's on the right, a castle hand poured her a glass of wine. They were the only three in the room and she had requested he stay.
"What do you know about Oblivion?" she asked, leaning against one hand and running her finger around the rim of the wineglass with the other.
"Enough to write a book…why?" he asked in his regular monotone. Karja recalled her terrifying dream and closed her eyes for a brief moment.
"A gate to oblivion, other than the one that leads here – has opened up in Tamriel" she admitted. "What came out of it…destroyed an entire city"
"Hmm" Haskill thought. "What did the gate look like?"
"I didn't see the gate up close…but I went close enough to Kvatch to see some of the destruction – the sky was burning and – everything was on fire"
"It sounds like deadlands, the House of Troubles is made up of four realms and four Deadric Princes, one corner includes you – another includes Mehrunes Dagon – he was cast into Oblivion a long time ago – he shouldn't be able to come back out, though unless…"
"The Emperor is dead…the dragonfires are no longer ablaze" Karja informed. "He gave me something called the Amulet of Kings before he was assassinated…I'm supposed to give it to somebody named Jauffre but – I haven't"
"Why not?" he asked.
"I don't want to give it up" Karja confided. "I have a bad feeling about bringing it there"
"Well that's completely logical…the assassination of the Emperor coupled with the opening of Oblivion Gates is no coincidence, whoever it was that killed him must be looking for the Amulet, which is why he gave it to – if you return it to where he told you – the assassins will look there, they won't expect somebody like you, a seemingly normal person to be possessing it
"Mehrunes Dagon was sealed away, but if he had outside help he could get back into the world of Tamriel, the ones that killed the Emperor must be the ones helping him"
Karja took a sip of wine.
"What if I don't return it?"
"I imagine they will find other means of getting Dagon into the mortal realm" Haskill assured.
"How do I stop them?"
"You could kill them" he suggested dimly. "Before they figure out another way, why is a Deadric Lady such as yourself concerned with the affairs of the mortal world anyways? They're not your problem anymore"
"That doesn't mean there aren't people that I don't care about it, and it doesn't mean I don't care about Tamriel either, it's just as much my home as this place is"
"Of course…you can't be Sheogorath without another half" Haskill remembered.
"I need to know more about that too…am I immortal now?"
"I suppose over time you will become immortal" Haskill answered.
"I don't understand, how could I take his place?"
"Because that is what he wished" Haskill said a bit sharply.
"But – I'm not the original, I don't understand how I can be a god, I wasn't created as one I was born a mortal, just because Sheogorath is dead – "
"He's not dead you fool!"
Karja shook her head, obviously confused; Keen had told her he was dead, now she was being told the opposite.
"Then what happened to him?"
"He vanished" Haskill explained. "It's as simple as that. I told you, you cannot be Sheogorath without another half. He was split between the madgod Sheogorath, and the semi-mortal being known as Jyggalag. You, are made up of the mortal Karja, and the madgod Sheogorath"
Karja took another sip of wine, her head was hurting from all the thinking Haskill was making her do.
"So…are there two different physical beings of me?"
"Not yet, of course" Haskill informed. Karja leaned forward with interest. "There isn't a need for another physical being until one of your halves wishes for something else than the other – such as Jyggalag wished for order, while Sheogorath wished for madness"
"What does Tamriel have to do with my two halves?" Karja asked, she tapped her fingernails against the table; Haskill peered down at them with annoyance. "I'm very sorry, but this is confusing, and I should know these things or I won't make a very good leader"
"True" Haskill agreed, he plucked Karja's glass of wine off the table and took a sip from it.
"That was mine" she told him, without a hint of displeasure in her voice.
"I'm going to need some"
"Fair enough" she said. "Guard! Get Haskill a glass of wine" she ordered an Aureal who was passing by the table.
"I live to serve, my Lord"
"Okay, you'll make a much more efficient Sheogorath than the last one, because your other half already possesses what she desires, and it does not conflict with the other half"
"What is that?"
"That is Nirn of course, the mortal world" Haskill explained. "Karja wishes for a mortal world – which fuels her desire to stop Dagon, Sheogorath is content here in Oblivion, and doesn't have to sacrifice her madness to give Karja what she wants, unless there is another thing you desire" his eyes drifted towards the entrance to the hallway that lead to her quarters.
"Camori?" she asked quietly.
"He is mortal" Haskill reminded her. "He could be easily killed, and it's only a matter of time before you lose the ability to die"
"Camori is an Altmer, he has the longest lifetime out of the elf family, and I'm not worried about him getting killed. I will make sure Camori knows where he stands in this"
"Good, no worries then" Haskill finished. Karja took a gulp of wine, her hand wrapped around it, making sure that Haskill didn't steal anymore.
"Now how do I stop Dagon?" she asked. Haskill shrugged.
"I suppose…you could find out who is trying to help him and kill them. And only then return the Amulet so the next in line for the Throne may light the Dragonfires to keep Dagon at bay permanently. But it's best to keep the amulet here, where nobody can find it. Nobody outside knows you're Sheogorath, correct?"
"That is correct" Karja nodded. "As soon I leave here again we're closing the gate to the Isles"
"How will you get back here?" Haskill asked.
"Once this is over we'll open another one, but in a different place" Haskill cleared his throat.
"I'm afraid it's not that easy, my Lord" he informed her. "You see, the only reason you are able to commute from the Isles to Tamriel is because Sheogorath opened the gate hoping to lure in a champion such as yourself…you can only make a gate every 1000 years, and now that Jyggalag is gone there really isn't need to make a gate…but it's still possible, if we close it you won't be able to come back for another era" Karja took another gulp of wine, stressed. She mulled over the facts for a couple of moments.
"Then we'll just have to hide the amulet nice and good" she concluded. The Aureal had then returned and placed the glass in front of Haskill. Karja lifted hers.
"A toast?" she asked.
"To what?" he inquired.
"I don't know" she answered. "To…mounting movements" she clinked her glass against his and gulped down the rest of her wine.
"Really, my Lord, I hope you've a strong stomach"
