One Night with the Emperor

Chapter Five – Oblivion Gates

Azura understood. She didn't like the idea of Dagon threatening her worshipers. But, as expected, I didn't get off easy. I had to clear a mine of vampires to "save" a few of her worshipers. Half of my cure disease potions ended up in my stomach. Just in case.

I rode directly back to Cloud Ruler Temple, bypassing Bruma completely on the game trails. It was faster. Honestly, I hoped Martin didn't have more of the Xarxes translated yet.

Several of the Blades patrolling the walls greeted me by name as I approached. They all knew my name, and I knew basically none of theirs. I needed to spend more time here to get to know them. Any excuse, right?

Of course, Martin sat at his table, reading. He even hijacked another table, dragging it next to him, and decorated it with more books and alchemic things. Well, somebody kept busy for the week or two I was gone. Or was it three or four? Time blurred into slow nothingness while I was gone and sped up while I was here. That's just not fair.

He didn't notice me as I walked up. Not even as I stood next to him, between him and his new table. I placed my hand on his shoulder. He jumped. I leaned over him, dangling Azura's Star in his view.

"Oh, Azura's Star," he sighed in awe. "As beautiful as all the tales tell. So she understood."

"Yep. Dagon threatens her worshipers too. But I didn't get off too easy, I still had to-"

Martin held up a hand. "I don't want to know. I've seen enough of the depravity of the Daedra."

Oh, right. The horrors from when he was a teenager and first getting into the Mage's Guild. I closed my mouth. I heard those stories on the way to Weynon Priory.

He took Azura's Star from me, placed it on his table, and sighed. "I haven't been as successful as you. You would think translating would get easier the farther along you get. Not with this thing. It's almost as if Camoran wrote it so it would only get significantly harder to translate."

"Well, maybe he did-"

The double doors at the other end of the hall burst open. All eyes in the room snapped up. Jauffre stood in the doorway, breathing heavily.

"Abiyomi!" He called. "Good, you're here. The Mythic Dawn is trying to act on their plans of opening a Great Gate near Bruma. I just got word that one Oblivion gate has been opened."

"But Abiyomi killed the spies. And it takes three to open a Great Gate." Martin replied, his voice holding a hint of bewilderment.

"Exactly my point. Abiyomi, we need you to go down there, take a few guards into the gate, and show them how to close it."

Jauffre's words hit like a death sentence. My hand slid off of Martin's shoulder. He caught it. I looked down at him.

"Hey, The Hero of Kvatch is highly sought after for her swordsmanship mastery." He squeezed my hand, trying to be strong for me. "Called to save the world and all that."

I squeezed back. Tried to smile. My hand slid from his.

Being on Dagon's plane of Oblivion wasn't as bad a second time. Maybe it had something to do with the four others who came in with me. Being here once before possibly helped eliminate the element of surprise. Or maybe seeing this place in my nightmares dulled my senses to it.

On the bright side, nobody human died. Captain Burd and his handful of guards managed very well, even if Burd seemed distracted. But who wouldn't want to be distracted there?

I told them everything I knew and did my best to make everything seem like no big deal. They were going to have to enter this place several times a day for who knows how long. So, I figured if I could make their first time as lighthearted as possible, it wouldn't be a constant nightmare for them. Or as much of a constant nightmare.

It seemed to work. When we were spit from the gate as it closed, they didn't have a haunted look in their eyes. Only exhaustion. Burd was the least affected, in a sense. He still seemed distracted as he thanked me before turning to his guards.

Darkness fell while we were in the gate, so I crashed at the Fighter's Guild for the night.

In the morning, I returned to Cloud Ruler Temple with the good news. Martin was actually asleep when I arrived. Jauffre told me that when he fell asleep at his table a few hours ago, Baurus managed to convince him to go to bed.

As we spoke about him, Martin pushed the door to the sleeping wing open. He looked terrible. Haggard.

"Abiyomi," he croaked, "you're okay."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Going there a second time wasn't so bad. And it's not like I have to keep going in there like those poor Bruma guards."

"I'm afraid I can't agree." Jauffre sighed. "I need you to go to all of the main cities and ask for help for Bruma. There are not enough guards to both guard Bruma and continuously close gates. And if the Mythic Dawn thought through any of this, they would open gates directly outside each city to keep them occupied. They will probably have you show them how to close gates before they are willing to send aid."

My heart fell. I needed to go into more Oblivion gates. Survive the land of my nightmares over and over. But I wouldn't be alone. I've gone two for two so far, and defied death twice. I can do this. It would only get easier. Maybe I could become an expert on Oblivion gates.

I looked over at Martin. He closed his eyes as he leaned heavily on the doorframe. My hand reached out and rested on his arm.

"Hey," I told him. "The Hero of Kvatch is highly sought after for her swordsmanship mastery and Oblivion gate expertise. You know, called to save the world and all that."

Martin opened his eyes. "It would be too much to ask you to come back after each city, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, it would. But I'll send letters, like I did with Baurus." I squeezed his arm. "How long does it take to visit all the cities in order? Four months? Five? Six? I'll chop that length down. Cut straight through the wilderness."

For a moment Martin studied me with haggard eyes. He moved suddenly, pulling me into a hug. I hugged him back.

"Be careful." He whispered into my ear.

"I'll try."