The journey took much longer than expected. One could say she felt as if she had run right into a wall. As she drew closer to Daggerfall, she felt the winds change. Slowly walking to the house, she glimpsed out of the corner of her eye a few ghosts just down the road.
"What on earth is that? Those must be the ghosts that I was expecting to see here and that I was warned about," Kaisa thought to herself.
She hurried into the house unexpecting those ghosts to attack her. Safe inside she knew that there was time for a bath, a little sleep, and some food.
"After some rest I will go talk to the queen in the morning," Kaisa determined.
The dawn broke through the windows shining the sun across Kaisa's face. She yawned and she stretched to remembering how much she despised the morning light. She pulled herself together she sat down to have some tea muttering to herself how much the morning light made her twinge.
After a quick breakfast and a wipe down with her washcloth she dressed herself in her armor. Slowly emerging into the light, Kaisa determined that her best plan of action would to go straight to the queen with the news of Nulfaga. Slowly walking to the castle seemed more of a chore that morning than had been any other time period
Before entering the castle, Kaisa quickly removed her weaponry. She walked into the court slowly biting her time as not to approach the queen with too much urgency.
"You've returned. What news have you brought of my husband's grandmother?" asked the queen.
Kaisa slowly lowered her knee to the queen. "Your majesty, though somewhat mad with grief, Nulfaga is still very much alive."
A wave of relief came across the Queen's face. Her shoulder softened and her eyes closed. She turned her eyes down to the warrior kneeling in front of her.
"I confess, I did not expect you to return alive. Your news about Nulfaga still being among the living does my heart much good. Here is your dagger."
Queen Aubuk-I Slowly handed a dagger of orcish descent. Kaisa notice the markings on the dagger, those of enchantment for banishing. Kaisa looked over the dagger closely. It had a decent weight with a good strong hilt. Placing it to her back, she turned back to the queen.
"Your majesty, is there anything else I can help you with?"
"I am indeed, in need of your assistance once more. Your discretion and valour in the meanings of Nulfaga have been invaluable. But, ah, I do not even know how to approach this subject. I need you to promise me on your ancestors honor you will do what you can to help me. And never breathe a word of what you see or what I say to anyone else ever anywhere. Will you so swear this, my champion?"
Kaisa was suddenly taken aback by the Queen's request. Without hesitation she honorably replied, "Yes, of course, your majesty!"
"I will trust you then. The matter concerns my mother-in-law, the Dowager queen of Daggerfall and widow of Lysandus, Mynisera. As mistress of the household finances, I have noticed she is paying for the upkeep of fortress castle called Necromoghan, complete with a large platoon of soldiers. A couple of days ago, she disappeared with a wrapped parcel of papers. And when she returned, she came back empty handed. She has recently left again with another parcel of papers. My spies have confirmed that she has returned to Castle Necromoghan."
Aubuk-I drew a deep breath. As her eyes sank into her head, Kaisa could tell that this particular situation was very troublesome for the queen. Aubuk-I quickly regained her thought process and continued with her situation.
"You will have to trust that my instincts and my suspicions are justifiable. I am not in a position to offer proof. What I need you to do is to go to Castle Necromoghan and find that parcel of papers. Or possibly any other information that could help us with this. Mynisera will be returning soon so it is urgent that you leave immediately. Good luck they made the divine watch you."
Kaisa bowed her head to the queen and the king sitting next to her. She took three steps backwards before turning around. Another castle, another journey, another errand. Kaisa was hopeful that this would bring more information for what the emperor had insisted on fighting for in the first place. She had already made up her mind to rummage through the parcel of letters to see if she could find the letter that the emperor was fixed to find before it ended up in the wrong hands.
Kaisa quickly returned to her home. She gathered a few items, took them to the inn, and sold them. She had enough Septims to purchase a little bit of food for her journey. After packing the horse, she mounted it and pulled out her map. Her journey was taking her west.
As Kaisa rode on, she saw the castle fortress coming into view. Its large sturdy walls dominated the landscape. All across the castle, there were murder holes. Kaisa approached carefully as she watched each of the holes to make sure she would not be attacked.
Once she had determined her own safety, she approached the doors with caution. She hadn't drawn her sword but determined that this castle was going to be like all the rest in Daggerfall. Tunnels upon tunnels, waves upon waves of random creatures waiting for her to arrive.
As Kaisa confirmed the sturdiness of the castle, she also realized that she neither saw nor heard a single soul. Her mind began to wander, wondering why such a large castle would be completely evacuated, although Aubuk-I had insisted a platoon of soldiers were paid to be here. The castle itself seemed to stand against the test of time, and the weathered look on the outside appeared that it had done so all of these years. Each of the stones that had been used to build the castle we're slowly wearing down from the years of erosion. On some walls, vines began to grow rapidly up the sides. From the outside the castle's appearance seemed to be that it had been long since it been cared for, but the determination of its standing was enough to intimidate anyone.
Kaisa stood before the large massive castle door. She knelt down and checked the ground. Years of wear and tracks had been erased simply by rain. There were only one set of tracks besides hers, and Kaisa had decided that it was the Dowager queen who had entered the castle through this very door.
Kaisa looked around to see if there were any tracks from any type of soldiers accompanying the queen in her journey. Finding not even hoof prints from another horse, Kaisa was very confused. She wondered why the queen would have traveled alone without so much as an escort, or even a lady in waiting. Kaisa stood back and looked at the towering castle above her the walls seemed to pull down on her face as she looked up. Her eyes were blinded slightly by the sunlight and she began to grow dizzy as she stared up into the high massiveness of the stone.
Bringing her sight back down, Kaisa shook her head lightly. "You idiot, why would you look up at the top of the tower when you know it makes you dizzy? Stop it! Stop doing that to yourself."
Kaisa readied her sword and her shield. Opening the castle door, she found it very easy to pull. As she stepped easily into the doorway, she checked her walls and her corners. Finding nothing meeting her right at the doorway, Kaisa determined to probably make a mark so she could return easily to the castle door.
Never had Kaisa really taken magic seriously. Both of her parents had decided that her magic skills should not be conditioned, but that she should have more of the sword and the shield. Her mother's expertise with the bow had given Kaisa much experience over the years as she had learned and become part of the Legion. Magic was not a necessity.
Until today.
As Kaisa focused her being into her magic, she repeated the word, "Mark."
From Kaisa's left hand grew a great ball of purple and blue light. Around her swirled the air, bringing the musty smell of the castle into her nostrils. She felt the mark grow underneath her feet, turning the same blue and purple light as had come from her hand. In the back of her mind, she prayed to the Divines that she would be able to utilize this to the best of her ability and that it would actually work for her in the way that she had read the book. If it did work, using the recall spell should bring her right back to this point from any point in this castle.
"Why are there always so many tunnels?" Kaisa said, exasperated from the sudden use of magic. She looked about her, and down the several tunnels that lay before her. Turning to her right, she slowly made her way down.
"This is a wooden door, unlike the rest of them. Perhaps this way?" Kaisa thought to herself. As she approached the door, she realized there was yet another tunnel that branched away from where she stood.
Suddenly, from behind the door came a pounding on a shield. "Shit," Kaisa said as she slowly opened the door.
Behind the door was a skeletal warrior. Kaisa jumped back as the skeleton blew its sword right past her armor. With one steady swipe, her sword took the skeleton out, and dropped it to the ground. Kaisa continued down the hall coming to an open doorway. Instinct grabbed her, as she tilted her head back suddenly just as a swarm of venom came flying across the hall.
"Spider!"
The spider spat its venom at her once more, causing Kaisa to roll out of the way. As she came to her feet, she swept her leg underneath the spiders and stabbed the spider straight between the eyes.
After several other tunnels and the same enlightened creatures coming across her path, Kaisa was able to pick up a few things in chests along the way. Among these were a Mithril shield, and a spell tome for toxic cloud. She also picked up a silver bow, one that she had determined might be more useful if she sold it.
She found herself in a room that consisted of eight separate doors. One of them simply needed to have those letters behind it. As she checked each one of the doors, she found each one of them had a single separate room inside. The rooms were no bigger than that of a laboratory, and not even a child could sleep in each one of these rooms. In one of the doors she opened, she came across a table with a stack of letters on top of it.
"Finally!"
Kaisa picked up the letters, looked over both of her shoulders, and started going through them. What she found seemed to be more gibberish than anything. A few letters of I love you, I don't know what to do without you, among other catchphrases, really gained the attention of the new holder.
"So, it would seem that the late king had himself a mistress. I wonder if this is why the queen wanted me to have complete discretion. I'm also willing to wager that she already knows about this indiscretion."
Kaisa packed the letters carefully into her pouch. She pulled herself together, and began chanting the word, "Recall," all the while, hoping it would bring her back to the main door of the castle. As the light intensified around her, she felt the entire room began to fade. Within what seemed like a moment of instant, she was back at the front door of the castle and exiting it.
Mounting her horse, Kaisa rode quickly back to Daggerfall. Hitching the horse outside of the castle, she went inside with a little more urgency than she had that morning. She slowed her approach as she got to the queen, and took her knee.
"Did you discover what the queen has been up to?"
"Your majesty, here are the letters that Mynisera was hiding."
"How very sad. To be honest, this is not what I expected the letters to contain. Poor Mynisera. Everyone in court knows that the late King Lysandus preferred the form and face of another to hers, but she still attempts to hide all evidence of it. Her loyalty to Lysandus is almost as great as his foolish loyalty to the emperor."
Kaisa tried to hold back the cringe in her mind that was trying to speak from her face. She simply could not believe the queen herself had insulted the emperor in front of her. The queen read further into the letters, understanding more of what Kaisa had originally thought to be gibberish.
"And those poor little children! We know of the barbarism of the orcs, but surely, they did not deserve that much. It's hardly a surprise that Mynisera did not want anyone to know that her father had such a dealing in such a grotesque situation. Again, I thank you for your valor. And for your complete discretion in this matter. Please, except this small token from my esteem, not as a payment, but more as a gift. May Arkay bless thee."
As Kaisa rose from her knee, she realized that someone had slipped a note into her pocket. Stepping away from the queen and turning, she pulled the note from her pocket. As she slowly read the note, she realized two things. One, she was very tired to not feel someone slide something into her very skin tight armor. And two, her next stop would be in Wayrest to see the Princess.