Fire. Everything was devoured by flame and smoke. The stench of burning flesh perfumed the air, the cries of tortured victims rang through thick smoke clouds. The heat, the fear, the trauma was overwhelming. It seeped into her skin, burned into her eyes. She could taste it on her tongue, feel it running down her throat and congealing in her lungs. From the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes it lingered, devouring and burning until nothing else remained.
Hopelessness. Eternal terror.
Oblivion.
Elisif gasped, choking as the cool night air hit the back of her dry throat. It had been weeks since her run in with the Brotherhood bastard, and nearly every night since then found her plagued by dreams. Always the same, or very nearly. Always the fire and the stench. Horrors she had never dreamed before. Several times she even saw a face in the fire, a familiar specter wreathed in red and orange. So familiar...
She had plenty of time for pondering that dream, for she found herself in a very tedious situation the day before. Sure, there had been many close calls in her time rising through the ranks of the Thieves Guild, but never had Elisif landed herself in prison. It had been surprisingly short, the booking procedures, and now she lay on a prison cot, stripped of her possessions and dressed in rags and wrist irons. It was enough to make anyone have nightmares.
Strangely, something about the place almost comforted her, despite the screams of beaten or half mad prisoners. Strong Imperial walls and all that jargon, perhaps. She managed to sleep the day away, awakening to a dinner of water and moldy bread. She had no appetite to speak of but drank the water quickly. Being caught was bad enough, but being caught at something so simple and stupid was worse. A rookie's mistake, and now she sat in the prison, waiting out her sentence.
It had happened easily enough. Elisif had been betting at the Arena, and her luck had been terrible. No one from the yellow team had survived that day, and she had of course chosen all yellow. Raminus thought it extremely funny as he had bet straight blue, but she thought to have the final laugh, slipping a hand in his robes and deftly stealing his much heavier coin purse. He didn't notice, not immediately, and by the time he did Elli planted the evidence on someone else, a thuggish looking sailor who happened to slam into her master wizard companion. This caused a chain reaction which the arch mage was still not completely clear on but that ended in two women with their dresses on fire, a drunken brawl between a group of sailors, Raminus getting a black eye, and Elisif being caught as the perpetrator. Apparently a guard had witnessed her handiwork. Of course she had enough money to buy her way out, but after all the crimes were lumped up it turned out to be quite expensive. After her gambling losses, she'd rather just wait it out for a few days in jail rather than spend more coin. Plus, hearing Raminus say anything at all about her sticky fingers was enough to keep her happily in jail.
She turned her attention to the dark elf in the other cell; he'd been going on and on about this, that, or the other for some time. At first she paid him no mind, but since he still managed to find things to talk about, she spoke with him in return. Valen Dreth was his name. Imprisoned for years, but due to get out in less than a three seasons. She stood at the bars while he blathered on.
"Do you know why I was imprisoned, pretty little sneak thief?" Dreth asked with a smirk, flashing dingy yellow teeth.
"I have a feeling you're about to reveal the big secret."
"Yes." Valen answered, pacing his little cell, "I-I killed a few guards, you see. Six! Six guards. And do you know why?" Elisif made a show of leaning forward, pressing her forehead against the bars while he lowered his voice, "I stole an Elder Scroll." At this the thief raised a dubious brow.
"You did what?" She said doubtfully, and Dreth beamed.
"Yes!" he answered, "I'm the Grey Fox, you see." He held out his arms through the bars, showing off his skin, "It's because of my skin." Elisif laughed heartily at this, plopping down on the filthy stone floor.
"Oh, I'm sure, Dreth! And that's why the Grey Fox has been around for such a long time, I take it? Dark elves do live a remarkably long time after all." Valen Dreth glared at that.
"You know, one of the guards owes me a favor." he said suggestively. "I could get him to bring you over here, into my cell. What do you say? Get to bed your master before it all ends?" at her less-than-humored expression he continued, "Oh yes, little thief. They told you the time of your sentence, sure, but the truth is...you're going to die in here. You're going to die!" Elisif rolled her eyes at him as he began to cackle like a madman.
The echo of clanking armor and loud footfalls echoed throughout the Bastion, silencing the dark elf across the aisle. He looked somewhat frightened and bitter at first, then turned to Elisif, grinning his yellowest grin.
"Do you hear that?" he spoke low, "The guards are coming. For you! They'll beat the sarcasm out of you, and you'll be begging to be in a cell with your Guild Master." Right up to her cell they walked, three soldiers dressed in Akiviri armor and bearing katanas. Elisif hardly paid them any mind, instead focusing her pale gaze on the man they were so obviously protecting.
Tall, noble, white haired Uriel Septim. The emperor, come to her own cell at the Bastion. Very nearly the face from her nightmares, were he a little younger.
"Move back prisoner!" one of them yelled, and she did as she was told, shuffling to the back of the cell in her bare feet and iron cuffs. She could hear the female telling them Emperor something about his children, how they were only attacked.
"No, they are dead. I know it." The old Septim said with certainty as the door to her cell swung open.
The Blades and the Emperor swept into the little cell, a young male Redguard watching her carefully as the woman felt along the walls for something. Elisif made no move, but watched her emperor with concern. He seemed to notice this.
"You...I've seen you. Let me see your face." Uriel spoke, and as it was from her Emperor she did not dare to disobey, immediately coming to his side. "You are the one from my dreams...then the stars were right, and this is the day. Gods give me strength."
"Dreams, my lord?" she spoke, "I know dreams as well. Dreams I dare not utter to one such as you." The emperor raised a brow at that.
"Perhaps the gods have placed you here so that we may meet." he said thoughtfully, "Tell me, child. What of your dreams?"
"Fire and smoke and death. And in the middle of it all I see a face, so like you, yet different as well. It has haunted me for weeks now." Elisif answered, bowing her head to show proper respect, but the Emperor placed a hand under her chin and raised her gaze to his, appraising her now steady stare.
"Sire, what is happening?" Elisif dared ask.
"Assassins attacked my sons, and I'm next. My Blades are leading me out of the city along a secret escape route. By chance, the entrance to that escape route leads through your cell." As he spoke Captain Renault found what she had been searching for, and the wall slid back in on itself, revealing a passage wrought with neglect.
"What you have done to find yourself here does not matter. It is not what you will be remembered for." The emperor said. Gods I hope not, she thought. Raminus would never let me hear the end of that. Yet the man before her had meant it as a comfort.
"Thank you." she murmured quietly, watching as the Blades ushered the Emperor on. "But wait, Sire!" she glanced at the passage and at him as he peered back questioningly. "What should I do?" And at this the man smiled a little, the smile of a father comforting a small child just waking from a nightmare.
"You will find your own path, as we all must do. We will meet again before the end, Elisif." The Blades would not abide anymore delays, hurrying the Emperor down the passage and around the corner.
A man as wise as he need not be alone with just his guards on the hour of his despair, possibly even the hour of his death. And how redeeming a tale that would be, to tell Raminus that she saved the Emperor! Surely any anger he still over her botched prank would fall away at news like that.
With a grin she turned, waving goodbye to Valen Dreth who now stared wide eyed and slack jawed. The passage was dark, but she would find her way.
Only a passing thought flitted through her mind as she walked, yet it mattered little in the end. When had she told him her name?