A/N: For those of you who have been following me for a while or read versions previous to June 24th, 2012, be warned: there have been some changes (I've improved in my writing quite a bit since I first started this story, and wanted to iron out some inconsistencies and dead end plot points)! While I do suggest you go back a reread it, I'll give you a list of the most significant changes (that I can remember off the top of my head):

1) Sara no longer has an aversion to Bruma

2) Tar-Meena now reacts more appropriately upon seeing the Commentaries (this one's thanks to you, Ellagne!)

3) Baurus doesn't have a death wish. Instead, he likens Sara's belief of her guilt over the massacre at Water's Edge to his own guilt over the massacre at Kvatch ("what about my failure, Sara? If I'd done better, Kvatch never would happened." "Please dont' tell me you believe that." "Shouldn't I? You seem pretty bent on your guilt.")

4) There's no Holger scene (it was superfluous). This is the biggest scene I cut, I think, but several others have been trimmed down to their essentials to cut down on unnecessary information and word count.

5) Sara is no longer greviously injured by the end of the previous chapter (before it was chapter 14, now it's chapter 12, I believe). Instead, she and Baurus manage to hobble their way over to Mels Maryon, who fixes them up. (Incidentally, the amount of chapters has been reduced by two. This has led to a couple long chapters in the middle, but I felt it broke the story up in more natural places this way.)

And, finally, I would like to thank everyone who's read this story, and, especially, everyone who's left me a review or shown me any kind of extra support. You are all wonderful and appreciated! Thanks for going on this journey with me!

Now, on to chapter 13! :D

"You know, you never answered my question."

Baurus and I weren't far from Bruma – we could see the city clearly from where we walked along the silver road, him on Shadowmere, me on foot – and I looked up at my companion.

"Oh? What question is that?" I said, knowing full well the question to which he referred.

"Back at Cloud Ruler," he replied. "Before you left. You asked me if I'd ever had a special someone. I answered. Now it's your turn."

"Oh, I don't think I remember asking that," I said. He stared down at me. I laughed. My spirits had risen significantly since the beginning of our return home to Cloud Ruler Temple. I owed much of it to him. "Okay, okay, maybe I do remember," I amended. Baurus gave a snort of agreement. I laughed again. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, do you have a special someone?"

"Weren't you there when I told Llensi about Modryn and me?"

"Doesn't mean there isn't someone else."

Scoping the territory, Baurus? I hid a smile.

"No, there isn't anyone else. There have been special someones, but none who've ever really returned the feeling."

"I find that hard to believe."

"What, that there isn't a special someone or that my feelings have never really been returned?"

"Both, I guess."

I gave a huff of laughter and surveyed the road ahead of us. I could see the guards standing outside the gate, their yellow tunics easily visible against the grey stone of Bruma's walls.

"It's not like I haven't had relationships," I said. "There've been lots of men in my life. Just not—"

I didn't finish my sentence. There was a sudden silence, as if all sound was being sucked away, or as if some giant creature was taking in a deep breath, and then a bolt of red lightning materialized out of the bright blue sky, a crack of thunder so loud in its wake it hurt my ears and vibrated my very bones. The bolt struck the ground some distance before Bruma's gate, and, with a horrible groaning and screeching of earth and rock, two stone pillars raised themselves from the earth and formed a jagged semicircle in the air. After a moment there was a flash of bright light from within the semicircle, and, when I could see again, the semicircle was filled with fiery, flickering light that licked and danced like fire: an Oblivion gate.

"Go!" I shouted to Baurus. As he put his heels to Shadowmere's side, I grasped her saddle and vaulted up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist just in time to keep myself from falling. Daedra began to pour from the gate. Civilians screamed; one of the guards drew his sword and engaged the daedra, the other disappeared through the open city gate.

Gripping Shadowmere with my knees, I let go of Baurus and readied my bow as best I could. I wouldn't be able to shoot – the bow I carried now was too big to use from horseback – but I would be ready when we were close enough to engage the daedra. Inside Bruma, alarms began to sound – the great, booming bells of the chapel rang in warning. Several of the guard appeared in the open gate and engaged the daedra, breaking their charge and giving the few surviving civilians a chance to make it into the city.

"Close the gates!" I heard one of them scream as he plunged his sword into a scamp. A guard fell, and then another. Baurus drew his sword, raising it in one hand as we bore down upon the daedra, roaring out a battle cry. He slashed down as we plunged into their midst. I slipped off the back Shadowmere's rump, landing easily on my feet, and drew an arrow, firing it at the nearest daedra before turning and shooting the next. The city gates began to rumble closed. A daedric voice shouted orders in a guttural tongue, and the daedra converged upon the guardsman, trying to push past them. Magic flashed from the city side of the battle, and I glanced over between shots to see a young Imperial woman standing in the slowly diminishing space between the two doors of the gate, blasting ice and lightning from her fingertips with a look of fierce determination. A guardsman fell, overwhelmed, as did another, and the daedra swarmed over their bodies and made for her.

"Baurus!" I shouted, catching the Blade's eyes from across the battlefield, jerking my head in the woman's direction before launching myself past the grasping claws of a daedroth and making for the gate. I saw fear flash across the woman's face, but she didn't falter as the daedra charged her. I raised my bow and shot, taking one down, but there were many. The woman made a complicated series of motions with her hands, and, as the daedra were about to reach her, flung out her arms and pushed them back with a wave of force that threw them off their feet. The doors were nearly closed now, a width of maybe twice her shoulders the only space between them.

"Hurry!" the woman shouted, her eyes fixed on me. I released an arrow into one of the downed daedra, and then another, and then another, vaulting over a scamp that was making to rise before sliding to a stop in front of the gate, turning with arrow readied to defend myself. Baurus cut down a dremora who made to stop him and moved to my side.

"Get inside!" the woman cried, and I glanced back at her.

"Someone has to take down that Oblivion gate," I said. "Tell Captain Burd to prepare for a siege – get the civilians into the Chapel. Send word to the Countess!"

She nodded once, wide eyed, and then the gates closed with a resounding thud. I faced forward again, watching as the daedra continued to swarm towards us. The remnants of the guardsman who stopped the initial charge rallied around us, blood dripping from weapons and wounds, and we moved together as we attempted to stave off the surrounding daedra. There was a shout from atop the walls, and a hail of arrows rained down upon the daedra nearest the Oblivion gate. They crumpled like broken dolls, screams, screeches, and cries filling the air. There were more shouts orders from above on the wall, and then another volley lanced down. Magic also roared from the walls a fireball that flung daedra from about its detonation point, and a lightning bolt that arced between several scamps before dissipating. The daedra responded with their own magic; an atronach launched two fistfuls of fire at the ramparts, eliciting cries of pain and confusion, while one of the half-woman, half-spider daedra began scaling the walls, her arachnid legs clinging to the stone with supernatural power. I turned my bow from the daedra around me to her, taking careful aim before releasing the arrow on its path to drive into her neck. She screeched with pain, but broke off the offending protrudence and pressed on. The defenders began to fire at her, and the daedra below, freed of the arrow storm that had pinned them, surged forward over the corpse ridden ground to press harder against Baurus, me, and the remaining guardsmen. A guardsman beside me crumpled to the ground, an dremora's arrow deep in his chest; another one was overwhelmed by a pack of scamps and borne to the ground. They swarmed him, a bright arc of blood spurting above them as they began feasting on his still living flesh. Baurus and one of the last remaining guards struck at them, killing some and driving the others back, but it was too late: he was dead.

"Baurus!" I shouted over the roar of the battle, my body moving reflexively to keep up with the targets my eyes sighted. "We need to close that Oblivion gate!"

There was an inhuman screech as the spider-woman tumbled from the city walls, her body a mass of scorch marks and arrows, but another two appeared from the gate and streaked across the ground to take her place.

"Doing what I can here!" the Blade yelled back. I shot a clannfear charging towards us as he dispatched a pair of scamps closing up on our flank.

"Get me to the gate," I told him. "I can do the rest!"

I saw him glance at me before engaging a dremora who came storming up with mace readied and though he would argue, but he parried, counterattacked, and slew him before meeting my eye and nodding. I nodded back.

"Soldier," he said to the last remaining guardsman. "With me!" Then he drew himself up, took in a breath, and charged into the daedra lines with a roar.

"For the Empire!"

I dashed after him, a cry on my own lips as I followed in the wake of the carnage left behind him, my bow singing as I loosed arrows to the left and right. He split the skull of a nearby scamp, redirected the blow of a clannfear with a precisely executed parry and sidestep, struck an atronach who closed in on us and dispatched it with a second strike. The guardsman at his side followed, finishing those Baurus had thrown off balance or wounded. We covered ground quickly, the viciousness of our counterattack clearly unexpected by the daedra. I drew my dagger and slashed at a dremora too close to use my bow on, gashing him across the face and sending him staggering back before sheathing it and driving and arrow into his chest. We were near the Oblivion gate now; it filled up the entirety of my vision when I looked at it, the shadows of the daedra dark before it.

I turned my attention back to the daedra, galvanized by the gate's proximity. The guard just before me slashed and hacked, grunts and cries of fury passing his lips with every strike. Baurus whirled, his bright, Akaviri blade a blur of silver among the red and black of the battle. We broke through the line of daedra and moved into the small space immediately before the Oblivion gate, spinning around to cover our rear and flanks. I could feel the heat from the gate. Then it grew dark, as if something large had just stepped out and blocked off its light. I looked back.

"Daedroth!" I shouted. I threw myself forward to avoid its attack, sensing the proximity of its claw to my feet as somersaulted away. I came up in the ranks of the daedra and drew my dagger, slashing around with quick, whirling strikes as I tried to get some ground between me and them. I ducked under a dremora's mace, vaulted over a clannfear, and dove forward past a pair of scamps, rolling to my feet beside the Oblivion gate. I fell into proper stance and drew and arrow.

"Sara!" Baurus shouted. "Go!"

My eyes flicked to him, his gaze meeting mine for but a moment, and then the daedroth claimed his attention as it lunged towards him. I looked down my arrow at the daedroth again, hesitated, then turned and threw myself into the Oblivion gate with a cry.

I materialized in Oblivion still screaming with fury. There were daedra there; a pair of dremora shouted orders and organized the mass of fifty or so lesser daedra still waiting to exit out of the gate. I drew up my bow and shot the first between the eyes before he barely had a chance to register my presence; he collapsed with a look of dumbfounded surprise on his face. The second had time to reach for his mace, but he had two arrows in his chest before he could do more.

The lesser daedra began to react. The scamps at the head of the line lunged at me. I leaned back to avoid the first's strike, drew my dagger and slashed at it, sidestepped the second's attack, slashed at the first again, and kicked the back of the knee of the second, forcing it to the ground. The third scamp screeched and clawed at me. I parried its attack with my dagger hand and punched it in the face with my bow hand, spinning around to duck under the strike of a fourth scamp. My eyes darted beyond them attempting to ascertain some point of escape as I came up and stabbed the second scamp in the throat. The tower where the Sigil Stone was no doubt kept if the daedra had any consistency was not too far off to the northeast. The entrance to the Oblivion gate was in a small gully. If I could somehow get out of the gully, I might be able to find cover and lose the daedra. It was impossible to assume that I would be able to hold off the masses here alone.

The third scamp stuck at me again and I dodged its blow, striking with my dagger and forcing it back with a hiss. The fourth scamp attacked from behind, catching me across the back, but my cuirass protected me, and I was grateful in that moment for the money I'd spent getting it enchanted to shield against such physical damage. I glanced back, noted its position and struck it in the jaw with a well-placed elbow strike when it moved forward to attack again, hooked my bow on my back and then turned and leapt up the side of the gully, scrambling to haul myself up over the edge. I had almost climbed out when lightning enveloped me. I screamed, but fought against the pain and forced my body to obey, climbing to the top even as my legs twitched beneath me and my arms trembled. Once up, I rose to my feet and began to stagger away, my strides become longer and more assured as the spell's magic wore off. I had a good dozen feet behind me before the first daedra scaled the gully's walls. A harsh female voice called out in the guttural tongue of the daedra, and, when I glanced back to note my pursuers, I noticed several of them turning back. The attack on Bruma must be the priority. They don't think I'll make it to the Sigil Stone. I looked forward again, willing my legs to keep moving, and dashed around a corner of rock about as tall as me, turned, reached up, and hauled myself to its top, then flattened myself against its surface and listened as the daedra who had been following me sped past, all snarls, screeches, and angry noises. I lifted my head a little and watched them as they came to a slow stop, infuriated at losing their prey and searching for me, then cautiously rose to my knees and retrieved my bow from my back. There were only about six of them, and they were dead before they realized where I was.

Lowering my bow, I collapsed back on the surface of the rock, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath. It had been some time since I'd had to pull off an escape like that. I was out of shape. It'd been too long since I'd done the grunt work in the Thieves Guild, and the Fighters Guild never required such behaviour. It reminded me of when I had been an assassin, making my kill, and then fleeing across rooftops or through alleys, over walls, through gardens, up trees and building's sides. I'd never done it in full armour, no, but I had been fleet and nimble, quiet and strong.

I didn't give myself much time to rest on the rock. I didn't know if more of the daedra would come looking for me if the others didn't return, and was painfully aware of the fact that Baurus and the guardsman had precious little time before they were overwhelmed, if they weren't already. I also had a nagging feeling that there was more to the invasion that I was aware of; Kvatch had been the province's largest and greatest city next to the Imperial City, and, even taken by surprise, I couldn't believe that it had been taken by as many daedra as I had seen here. There were many, yes, but not so many that the closed city gates, the guard, the Fighters Guild, and other miscellaneous warriors couldn't handle. Rising, I climbed down off the rock and set off towards the tower.

My passage was much similar to that of my first trip through Oblivion. I went as quickly as I dared, ducking out of sight when patrols of daedra went by towards the gate, I assumed, where they would aid in the attack and taking out those who blocked my way from hidden points as quickly and secretly as possible as much as I hated to admit it, my Dark Brotherhood training served me well.

It took me about a half hour to reach the tower, and, despite my caution, I was running low on arrows. I had only about half a dozen left. Since joining the Fighters Guild I'd had many people scoff at me about the size of my quiver I packed around roughly triple the amount most foot archers carried, and more than that when on Shadowmere but now I was grateful I'd never let it get to me. If I'd done as was customary, I would have run out before I even went through the Oblivion gate. I could wield a dagger with some skill and had training in hand-to-hand combat, but those skills were much less used, and my stamina in such fighting was limited. I approached the entrance to the tower and eased it the door open, doing my best to minimize the noise produced as it ground across the stone floor. Once it was open enough for me to pass through, I slipped inside.

As it had been in the first tower, it was dark here. I waited a moment, frozen, for my eyes to adjust, detecting the slightest bit of motion where, again like the first tower, a spiralling column of fire rose up from the floor and disappeared into the ceiling. Slipping off to the side, I hid myself behind a column and cast my detect life spell. It illuminated the forms of three dremora from what I could tell and I drew an arrow and nocked it as I noted their position. Stepping out from behind the column, I shot three arrows in quick succession, hitting and silencing the three daedra before they had a chance to sound the alarm or even realize what was happening. I moved to the bodies and was able to salvage two of my arrows. I returned them to my quiver, and moved on.

The door leading out of the first room opened up into a dark hallway that curved around and upwards, following the cylindrical shape of the tower. It led into a square room with a fountain gushing red fluid and a pair of dremora warriors in daedric armour standing guard in front of the only door leading out. It was shadowy in here the only light coming from the unnatural glow of the fountain's red liquid but my eyes had adjusted, and the shadows only served to make me more confident and assured. I had worn the shadows all my life. They served me well.

It took aim at the closest dremora and dropped him with an arrow to the throat. The second dremora sprung into action, drawing his sword and charging as he launch a handful of lighting at me, but I slipped behind the corner where the hallway met the room, and it hit the wall harmlessly but for the bit of dust and couple of stone fragments it released. I readied an arrow and stepped around the corner, firing it point blank into his face as he was about to bear down upon me. He crumpled in a unceremonious heap, legs twitching for a moment before laying still. I moved forward to inspect the arrow, but it wasn't salvageable. Neither was the one in the other dremora. I was down to three arrows.

I moved to the door and laid a hand against the stone, looking for some way to open it, and it came to life, slowly pulling apart from the middle to reveal another spiralling hallway leading upwards. It levelled out after a short time, turning into a straight hallway illuminated at regular intervals by a deep red light source I couldn't identify. There was a scamp patrolling the hallway, but I managed to avoid its detection until its back was turned, and I plunged my dagger into its ribs, killing it. I went along a little farther, and came to another door like the one I had previously passed through. It too, opened easily under my hand, and I pressed on, aware that I had already taken too long. I tried not to think about Baurus' odds of survival outside the gates of Bruma and before the gate of Oblivion.

The door opened into a round chamber. In the center of it, the column of fire from the first floor continued to coil upwards, disappearing once again into the ceiling. A small walkway spiralled up around the edge of the chamber. I cast my detect life spell, noting a single life form up ahead. I made my way forward cautiously, an arrow ready, until a dremora in full daedric armour came into view. It he? was leaning against the railing of the walkway, staring with what looked like boredom into the column of fire. It was an oddly human gesture, and it startled me. But it was an enemy, and so it was with little hesitation that I raised my bow and killed him. It crumpled to the side, an arrow in his temple, and I moved to the door just beyond him. It had a keyhole, unlike any of the others I had come across so far. Remembering the last keyholed door I'd come across the last time I was in Oblivion, I went to the dremora and searched its body, coming up with a key of dark metal. I tried it in the door, and then it opened without protest.

I was at the top of the tower now. There was a short hallway, and then it opened up into a circular room with a red dome in the center. The fiery column burst out from the center of the dome, continuing on its path up the ceiling of the tower, where it extinguished. There were two jagged, red flights of stairs along the outside of the room, and they converged on a platform that jutted out towards the column, where, in the column's fire there, the Sigil Stone sat suspended. I cast my detect life spell and detected four life forms I had only three arrows.

Steeling myself, I drew an arrow and set it across my bow, taking mental note of the positions of the daedra, and then stepped into the room. The first daedra I saw was a dremora dressed in robes a mage, maybe. I took aim and released; it stumbled back from the force of the impact and collapsed, the arrow in its chest. I drew another arrow and whirled, shooting the next daedra another dremora through the head. It, too, collapsed in a heap. There was a screeching cry, and then a clannfear charged at me from my right, barely perceptible through my peripheral vision. I rolled forward, avoiding its attack, and spun around, burying an arrow in its skull at point blank range. My arrows were gone. I glanced around for the last dremora and saw it across the room, watching me. Its lips curled.

"You are out of arrows, mortal. What trick will you use now?"

I released my bow, letting it clatter to the ground, and reached up to undo the buckle on the strap holding my quiver. I lowering the quiver down by the strap to sit by my bow, my eyes never leaving the dremora. I hadn't practised with it. It would be an encumbrance.

"I don't need arrows to kill you, swine."

I reached over to my left side and drew my sword. The blue blade of Chillrend glinted in the red light as I stared at him. The dremora laughed.

"I've heard of you, "Hero of Kvatch"," it said. "It is said you are a fearsome warrior. But it is also said that you use a bow, not a sword." It grasped the sword at its side, drawing it slowly, leering at me. "I wonder which one of us is the better?"

It began to move in, slowly circling as it waited for an opportunity. I raised my sword in a defensive stance, circling with it as I also waited.

Some, they like to go barrelling in. While that has its place, you have to be aware. Got to watch your enemy, got to know. And when the time is right, bam! That's when you strike, full force! Catch them off guard! Drive them back until they've got nowhere to go.

Modryn's voice echoed in my mind as the dremora moved just outside striking range my striking range, at least. In this situation, my Bosmer blood did me little good, as my limited height shortened my reach significantly in comparison to my enemy's. The memory of him comforted me. I strengthened my resolve.

The dremora smiled at me, revealing pointed teeth, and then it lunged.

I parried the first strike clumsily, stepping back. The dremora moved with me, still smiling as it pressed the attack, swinging again. My instincts screamed to incapacitate, to dodge and duck, to flee until a safe distance was established, but I knew that this battle could only be won one way. I blocked its strike again, stepping back, losing ground as I struggled to keep its deadly blade at bay, and the dremora laughed.

"I'm not even trying, mortal!" it said, and it swung low and then brought its blade high as I moved to parry it, slamming me in the shoulder. I staggered, and it caught me on the ribs on the other side. I roared and struck back, ignoring the pain. It parried my blow, and I brought my left hand forward to throw a fireball in its face. It knocked my hand aside, the flame only grazing the side of its face. The smile disappeared in a scowl. I brought my sword hand up to impale it, and it parried it again, sending my arm wide, opening me up to attack. Its left hand came up. Lightning shot from its fingers and engulfed me. My head snapped back. My muscled spasmed. I screamed as the attack continued.

"This place is not yours," the dremora said. "And you shall not stop us. The Prince of Destruction will have his rightful place restored to him, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it."

I heard his words only vaguely. He released me from the grasp of his magic, and I crumpled to the ground, limbs still twitching. Through blurred vision, I watched him approach me.

"We suffered a defeat at Kvatch," the dremora continued. "But you paid for your victory dearly. There is no pitiful emperor to protect you now. Defeat us, and we shall return tenfold stronger."

Yeah, you got short reach, but the just means you have the advantage when you're closer. You can get inside their reach, make it harder to hit you. You might not think it, but a sword's only good when they're so far away.

Baurus, I thought. Are you still alive?

The dremora stopped beside me. I didn't know where my sword was, but my mind was beginning to clear.

"This is the end for you, "Hero of Kvatch"." The dremora raised its blade above its head. Inside their reach…

The dremora struck. I rolled towards it, the sword hitting the stone ground behind me. I grabbed its feet, pulling them with all my might towards me. It toppled back, arms flailing, borne downwards by the heavy armour it wore. I lunged on top of it, drew my dagger, and plunged it into its eye. It screamed and thrashed, hands coming up to scrabble at my face. I twisted the dagger. The hands dropped, twitched, lay still. I let the snarl on my lips fade and pulled my dagger out with a sickening squelch before heaving myself wearily up. I staggered over to where Chillrend lay, and then over to my bow and empty quiver. Returning them to their rightful places, I looked up at the Sigil Stone and began to climb the stairs towards it. Once on the platform, I stared at it a moment before steeling myself and reaching into the fire, pulling it from its place and hugging it to my breast. It was as it had been before: the world lurched, the column burst in a fiery explosion, the stones of the tower cracked. And, when it seemed as if the whole world were about to be devoured, I found myself falling to my knees, off balance, on the burnt grass in the smoking ruin of the Oblivion gate, Tamriel, Bruma.

I didn't have long to collect my wits. There were daedra all about me: scamps, daedroths, spider daedra, dremora, all of them. Their attention was on Bruma which, I was distantly relieved to see, was still standing, albeit scorched and weathered but, as the sky began to clear of its unnatural red and the lightning fade, they turned their attention back to the ruined gate. I saw a look of horror build on a nearby spider daedra's face. She lifted a hand and pointed at the gate, crying out in a terrified voice. Other daedra turned, and, with a collective cry, half of the invasion force surged towards the dead Oblivion gate. I turned and ran, cutting across the battlefield so that I was halfway between the Oblivion gate and the city, but off to the side, still as far away from the city gate as I had been before. A shout rang out from the city walls.

"It's the Hero of Kvatch!"

I looked up to see heads peering down at me, faces blackened with soot. There was more shouting, and then a guardsman in the yellow tunic of Bruma threw down a rope.

"Sarasamacial!" the guards man shouted. "Grab on!"

I dashed forward, ducking under the strike of a daedroth, and leaping over the fallen bodies of a clannfear and scamp. I made it to the wall and grabbed the rope, beginning to climb up. I heard a roar behind me, and glanced back to see the daedroth from before charging me. I looked up again and struggled to make time, but my muscles ached from the dremora's lightning, and I'd never been a very good climber anyway. There was a whistling sound, and the dremora bellowed behind me. I glanced back to see it clawing at a pair of arrows that had pierced its shoulders. Another pair of arrows lanced down, and it roared again.

"Champion, climb!"

I looked up to see Right-Wind and Bumph gra-Gash, both of the Bruma Fighters Guild chapter, and a Bruma guardsman staring down at me. Right-Wind held a bow in his hands, as did the Bruma guardsman beside him. Bumph grabbed the rope and began hauling me up. I struggled harder to climb. Magic flashed my way several times during the climb up, but nothing hit me, and soon enough, I was hauled over the ramparts, where I collapsed onto my hands and knees.

"Here, drink this."

Bumph put a bottle to my lips, and the bitter taste of healing potion flowed through me, easing my wounds and invigorating my limbs.

"Thanks," I said, wiping my lips and handing the bottle back. Right-Wind's bow hummed beside me.

"Thank you, Champion," the Orc replied. "We thought they'd just keep coming with that gate open!"

I smiled and nodded, rising to my feet.

The daedra were routed by the time the sun set. With the destruction of the gate, many of them seemed to lose morale, some of them even fleeing into the oncoming darkness when it became clear their siege was to fail. Right-Wind had shared his stock of arrows with me, and, for the first time in many years, my hands ached with the stress of drawing and releasing arrow after arrow once I'd finally put up my bow and given them chance to rest. There had been casualties, yes. Daedra had gotten inside the city by climbing over the walls, but it was nothing compared to Kvatch. When the last daedra fled, a cheer rose up amongst us, and I added my voice to the call.

"We did it!" Right-Wind yelled, his Argonian teeth flashing in the last rays of the sun.

"Take that, you Oblivion bastards!" Bumph shouted after them, raising her bow above her head in victory.

"Sara! Sara!"

I turned to see Baurus making his way towards me, a face splitting grin on his face as he squeezed by defenders cheering, hugging, and otherwise celebrating our victory. I smiled back at him with a smile so large my cheeks protested, turning to face him. He's alive.

"Oh, thank Talos you're alive!" he said, and then he scooped me up and held me in a hug.

"I'm alive? What about you?" I said, my voice coloured by laughter I couldn't suppress. The memory of my worry in Oblivion touched the corner of my mind. He released me and I stared up at him, hands on his arms. "I didn't think anyone could survive that many daedra!"

"The same could be said for you," he replied. His gaze softened and his voice lowered. "I had to survive, Sara. You were coming back." He raised a gloved hand to touch my cheek. I gazed up at him, the smile slowly fading from my lips.

Baurus…

"There you are!"

I blinked, startled by call, and Baurus let his hand drop, a mask of professionalism dropping over his face as he stepped back, turning to face the new speaker. It was Burd, captain of Bruma's guard. He strode towards us, purposeful and strong. As I neared, I noticed that his eyebrows and eyelashes had been singed off.

"You two!" he said. He stopped by us and grabbed our hands, raising them above our heads. "Three cheers for the heroes of Bruma!"

Around us the defenders burst into a chorus of cheers.

It was many more than three.