Chapter 9 – The Throne Room

There it was. Right in front of them. They were at the top of the tower. After exiting the room with the oblisks they had climbed two more steep corridors and gone through some kind of tunnel that looked like it had been chiselled out of a big rock. When finally reaching the end of the tunnel they found a huge, circular room with one big throne at the back wall and two floating stones in the middle of the room. A red light came up from the floor, through the stones and up through the roof.

"This is it," said Émile silently. His face looked solemn, and a bit sad.

Thanatos had already entered the room. He stood staring at the stones. "If I take one of these I'll be transported back to Cyrodiil, right?"

"Yes, you will. But please wait until the others are ready to leave."

Finn blinked. "Aren't you going to come with us?"

"No. I'm going to take the throne here, and since it has already been way too much disturbance in the balance between our worlds, I'll have to stay."

Nika knew how much it hurt Émile to say that, and if he could take Émile's place, he would. Unfortunately he couldn't. The title of deadric prince and the gift of immortality went hand in hand, you could not get one without getting the other, and he was already immortal. "I'm staying too." Said Nika decisively. He hadn't talked to Émile about it before, but surely the young man wouldn't decline his company?

"Nika.." mumbled Émile. "Even though I want you to stay, I can't let you throw away your life like that. I'll be fine on my own."

"I'm staying, no matter what you say."

"No, you're not. Who is going to look after Yatniel? Who is going to take charge over my army. It can not be anyone else than you."

"Einar can rule that army better than I, and Yatniel has Ragnhild. I will not leave Émile's side, was what I swore to your father, and I intend on keeping that vow."

"Is there any way to convince you?" said Émile with a sigh. Of course he wanted Nika by his side but.. But could he really be so selfish?

"No."

Thanatos turned around and looked at them. He looked extremely tired, like someone had drained him of all his energy. "Can I go now?"

"In a minute," said Émile and tried to smile encouragingly, it did not work. He started walking slowly towards the throne, with Nika by his side. "With powers like that I would be able to restore my eyesight. And I could probably change this place too, so that it becomes a bit less hostile."

"Really? That is amazing. Is it anything special you want to see?"

"A blue rose. That would be grate." Émile's voice trailed of as he found himself right in front of the throne. "Guess this is it." He took a deep breath and turned around, ready to sit down.

"Wait," mumbled Finn, but Émile did not hear him. Instead he clenched his fists and prepared to sit. "Wait!" This time Finn shouted out loud.

Émile blinked. "Yes?"

"Let me do it. I don't have a family, nor an army to return to. I can stay."

Émile smiled. It was a sad smile that made Nika's heart ache. "I can't let you do that for me."

Finn did not return the smile. His face was set and his expression hard and unyielding. "It is not for your sake that I want to do it. My whole life I have been nothing but a simple docker, going to the pub every night to forget how meaningless my life really is. If I do this, my life will have meant something. It will be important and maybe, just maybe, I'll be remembered even when my friends are gone, when you are gone."

Not knowing what to say, Émile just stared. "Are you sure?" he finally managed to squeeze out. Finn just nodded. "Okay," he said and stepped away from the throne, back to the middle of the room.

"You can go now. This is something I want to do on my own," mumbled Finn.

"Finn?" said Nika.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you earlier."

"Don't worry about it."

Nika nodded and turned towards Émile again. "How are we going to do this? One of the stones lead to Imperial City, and it is probably under heavy surveillance."

"You and Thanatos take one, I and Althea will take the other. I'm strong enough to clear they way out of the city, if we would end up there, and she has the ring."

Nika nodded and looked at Thanatos with a raised eyebrow. "Are you ready?"

Thanatos did not answer, but turned towards the sigil stone and reached out his hand towards it. Nika hurried to do the same thing. When they touched the stone the red light wavered unstably until it went out. Althea stared dumbfounded. They were gone, and so was the stone.

"Could you slow down, Ren? I'm not as quick as you." It was a warm morning. A slight breeze was playing with his long black hair, and he regretted that he hadn't put it up before they left.

"Hurry up! I want to reach Cheydinhal before sunrise." Ren's words sounded harsh, but he softened it by giving Lihau a bright smile.

"You're going to give me a heart attack."

Ren sighed and stopped in the middle of the road. "Give me your bag, I'll carry it for you."

"I can carry it myself, I'm not a kid any more." Lihau walked past Ren without looking at him.

"Still act like one though.."

Lihau quickly turned around to glare at his brother. "I do not!"

"Yes, you do. If it wasn't for me and father, you would've gotten your as kicked out of the guild years ago!"

"Oh? And who was it that told me to sneak into the arch-mage's room from the beginning?"

Ren's serious expression suddenly wavered and gave way for a boisterous laugh. "I can't believe you actually did it! Oh, if I had only been there to see her face!"

Lihau pouted angrily and was about to say something witty, but before he even opened his mouth everything became dark. Dark and filled with pain. He could hear his brother scream, but could not do anything about it. His head felt like it was going to explode, his ears were ringing and something, or someone, was gnawing at his neck.

"Catch him, his running away!" The voice belonged to a man that he would later trust with his life, and it was the last thing he heard before fainting.

One tear fell from Thanatos cheek. "Ren," he mumbled, while travelling back to his own world. The man beside him seemed to experience something similar, but not quite as unfamiliar.

It was winter and the snow crystals sparkled in the bright sunlight. Blenda, an old and sturdy mare, was following him towards the stable. She made an appreciating noise when he gently patted her on her mule. They had been into town to buy a new saddle for her, since the old was getting worn.

The big stable was located behind the small manor that he, his wife and their two sons were living in. A big paddock surrounded it. The stud farm focused mainly on fast horses, those who could be used for transportation of the rich, but he also kept a considerable number of workhorses, such as Blenda.

When he opened the door to the stable Blenda stopped dead in her tracks. She put her ears back and snorted while trying to back away. He knew she wasn't too fond of being locked up in the stable, but it was too cold for her to stay outside.

"Come on now!" he said and tried to pull her forward. Once again the horse tried to back away, but this time he was prepared for it. "Come here you stubborn mule, I haven't got all day!" Finally the horse followed him inside, but it wasn't happy. She seems scared, he thought but did not reflect on why. He was getting cold and he wanted to get inside the manor as soon as possible.

After leading her into her box and removing the saddle from her back, he walked the usual round to make sure that all the horses were okay. Oddly enough, all creatures, including the cats, seemed just as spooked as Blenda. He stumbled over something and fell headlong onto the floor.

It took a while for him to realize that the thing that he had stumbled over was actually moving. A snake, was his first guess, but then he felt a knee.

He quickly got up on his feet again and looked down on the man sitting with his back against the wall and his legs stretched out in front of him. In the dim light he couldn't see the man's face properly.

"Hello?" he asked carefully. It had happened before that a homeless person had taken shelter from the cold in his stable.

"Please help," the man said with a weak, frail voice. The man had a odd smell, like burned meat. "Please."

At heart Nika was a kind and generous man, so he couldn't just shoo the poor man out. "My wife will make you some food if you follow me inside," he offered kindly.

"Please." The man's voice were now no more than a whisper. He said something more, but Nika could not hear it.

He bent down so that he could hear the man better. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last part." The man did not repeat himself. In fact, he said nothing at all. Instead he lunged at Nika's neck. Nika tried desperately to shake him of, but he had already winded his arms and legs around him with a crushing strength. He fell backwards towards the gate of a box and onto the floor, still trying to pry the man of himself. The horses were screaming in panic and kicking the walls ferociously. Small white stars were starting to appear in his field of vision and he knew he was close to fainting. Suddenly the man released him and pulled himself back into the corner.

"Sorry," Nika heard him mumble before fainting.

When he woke up it was dark outside and his whole body trembled in excruciating pain and it continued doing so until the sun had risen and fallen again. Only when the last rays of the sun had disappeared he felt strong enough to move. When he did, something else moved inside of him. It felt like some horrible beast trying to claw its way out of his chest. Before he knew it he had sucked every last drop of blood out of the closest horse. When he was done the beast had settled down, but just a little. Vampire, he thought. Immediately his thoughts went to his beloved sons, probably sleeping soundly in their beds by now, and his beautiful wife. He needed to leave, before he could hurt anyone that he loved.

When Nika and Thanatos opened their eyes they saw that they were not alone. At least 50 couple of eyes stared back at them, all with the same spiteful look.

"Well, well. What have we here?" It was Panahasi's booming voice echoing from a place somewhere behind the heavily armoured soldiers. "Kill them!"

Nika and Thanatos barely had the time to pull their swords before the frontmost soldiers were over them.