One Night with the Emperor

Chapter Six – Information Gathering

City after city. Gate after gate. The only time I rested was when I wrote the letters to Martin. I even stopped by Battlehorn Castle and closed a gate near there. Good thing the Mythic Dawn didn't connect me to them yet, or it may not still be standing. Hopefully they never connect me there. Just in case, I didn't send any of my men to Bruma's aid. If more than one gate at a time opened near us, we would have issues.

As I told Martin, I chopped the travel time between cities down. Only took me three months, even with closing a gate outside each city. Every city sent help, even Kvatch. Well, every city except for The Imperial City. In High Chancellor Ocato's defense, he did still have guards on patrol, trying to close gates near settlements without walls.

I stayed a night in the Fighter's Guild in Bruma and cleaned up as much as possible before heading back up to Cloud Ruler Temple. The less exhausted I looked the better. Martin already wore himself to the bone.

When I pushed the main double doors to Cloud Ruler Temple open, Martin sat at his usual spot. He hunched over a few open books, but gripped a stack of fold-creased papers in one hand. Were those… my letters? At least he looked significantly better than when I left him.

He didn't notice as I approached. I placed a hand on his shoulder. For the first time, he didn't jump, just looked up. It took a moment for his eyes to register me.

"Abiyomi!" He jumped up from his chair, nearly knocking it over. "You're home! You're okay!"

I smiled. "Of course I am. Didn't my letters tell you that?"

"Oh, yes, your letters." He held up the stack of fold-creased papers before placing them on his table. "Thanks for these. They helped."

"Helped with what?"

"Keeping my sanity."

A smile tugged on my lips. "But that implies that you were even mildly sane to begin with."

A similar smile grew on his lips. "Believe it or not, I still do have some of my sanity. I had more before meeting you. Now you, on the other hand…"

"Ah, Abiyomi, you're returned." Jauffre's voice broke through our conversation. Martin's smile evaporated. "Has Martin told you about the next item needed for the ritual?"

"No, but I was about to ask." I cleared my throat. "So, Martin, get any more translating done while I was gone?"

Martin looked down. "Yes, I figured out the next one a few weeks ago. The counterpart to the Daedric artifact, the blood of a god. It confused me because gods don't manifest like the Daedra do, nor do they have artifacts. Jauffre figured that part out. Tiber Septim, the man who became a god; his armor sits on a shrine in Sancre Tor."

"Awesome. Who'd you send to get it?"

Jauffre shook his head. "That's just it. The first Grandmaster of the Blades sealed off Sancre Tor because an evil took over the holy catacombs. It used to be a place of pilgrimage for all Blades, but nobody has entered and come back alive in centuries."

I sighed. "So you want me to go after it."

He nodded, still not looking at me. "You have defied death twice. I believe you may be the warrior of legend. Though I fear I may be sending you to your death, we have no choice."

"So, no pressure." I sighed again. "Do you have any information I can use? Even anything about the wilderness around the place would be helpful."

"I…" Jauffre crossed his arms in thought. "I might have something. A hunter's journal who lived near the area back when it was first cursed. Let me see if it's still in the library."

Jauffre left, muttering to himself. I turned back to Martin. His eyes focused on the table, his hand resting on my letters.

"Martin?" I asked. "You okay?"

"I keep sending you to your death." He whispered.

I placed my hands on his shoulders and turned him to face me. "On the contrary, the only place you sent me was to get a Daedric artifact and that didn't threaten my life at all. Well, not much. Jauffre keeps sending me to my death and I keep coming back for more. I think I might be slightly masochistic."

Martin's eyes rose to meet mine. "Slightly?"

I held my fingers up, about an inch apart. "Slightly."

Martin took my other hand off of his shoulder and held my hands as far apart as they would go. "Slightly."

A smile grew on my face. The corners of Martin's mouth twitched. I drew his lips up into a smile with my fingers. He swatted my hands away, smiling.

"There we go, much better. And hey, look at the bright side. Depending on how long that journal is, I may very well be here all day. I do not read as fast as you do."

As I finished my sentence, Jauffre returned holding a book. It was thicker than I expected. Significantly thicker.

I grimaced. "Yeah, I'll be here all day."

Martin and I read together all day. He cleared off a spot on the table so I could sit next to him and read. Granted, half of his reading was working on alchemic experiments, which were rather distracting as he jumped up off of the bench to do his experiments, but we got a lot of work done. Well, he got a lot of work done. I barely finished the journal.

The last few pages were the hardest to finish.

"Abiyomi, you need to get some sleep."

"Shut up, Martin. I'm almost done."

He poked me in the cheek. "You said that three pages ago and you read slow. You really need to get some sleep."

"Martin."

It got to the point where I turned and sat sideways on the bench so I could push him against one of his tables with my back. He's stronger than I expected and resisted for quite some time. But I won and finished the journal.

"Finally." Martin sighed as I lifted forward off of him. "I can breathe. Now off to bed with you. You're very distracting when I'm trying to get work done."

"I'm distracting?" I asked, standing.

"Yes, you are." Martin turned back to his books.

"Oh, I don't think so." I grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. "If I have to get some sleep, so do you."

He sighed overdramatically, but let me pull him along. "Okay, you win. Probably a good idea. I sleep better when I know you're home safe."

For the first time in months, I slept pretty good. Maybe it had to do with being home and in a safe place. Or maybe it had to do with knowing that Martin actually slept, only a floor above me.

Wait, did I just call Cloud Ruler Temple home?

I woke before he did, but not by much. As I sat at a table with Baurus and some food, Martin walked in. He sat by us. We talked about everything except me leaving, spending a nice hour together. It ended much too soon.

Martin walked me outside. He told me before that he tried to get outside a few times a day, but I'm sure he forgot most days. Yesterday being one of them.

"So, The Hero of Kvatch is once again sought after for her swordsmanship mastery." He stated, watching the Blades patrol on top of the wall.

"Yep, to go save the world and all that." I elbowed him in the side. "Hey, I won't be gone that long. Sancre Tor isn't that far away. Just a few days by crazy horse ride. I'll be back soon."

"Or you might not come back at all."

"Hey, don't talk like that. The gods gave me a knack for staying alive, and it's come through twice so far. Isn't the third time the charm? This should be a snap then."

He sighed and turned to look at me. "I hope you're right."

"Of course I'm right, I'm a lady."

He snorted. "You, a lady?"

"Oh, I apologize." I pretended to curtsy. "I did not mean to suggest that my ladyship is greater than your ladyship."

Martin shoved my shoulder. I staggered, laughing. He smiled. I threw my arms around him and hugged tight. He returned the embrace.

"Don't wear Baurus out too much while I'm gone."

"I think I wear Jauffre out more. Be careful."

"I'll try."

As I rode away from Cloud Ruler Temple, I couldn't help but think that the opposite might be true. What if the third time being the charm meant that this time my knack would actually fail?