Kingdom Under Fire
an excerpt

Chapter 1
The Circle Opens

I awaken. A fiery breath fills my lungs. I wonder where I am. All I see is a small table, a scratchy blanket, and some measly venison that a dog wouldn’t sniff. I look at my white hands, tarnished by dirt. I obviously am an Imperial, but I can’t remember who I am exactly. I hear a nasally voice reaching my ears, which are frigid.

“Oh, look, an Imperial in the Imperial Prison. I guess they don't play favorites, huh? Your own kinsmen think you're a piece of human trash. How sad. I bet the guards give you "special" treatment before the end. Oh, that's right. You're going to die in here, Imperial! You're going to die! Imperial criminal scum like you give the Empire a bad name, you see. You're an embarrassment. Best if you just... disappeared.” This greenish man is across the hall from me in the same style of the dingy room I’m in. He has sharp, pointed ears, and blood-red eyes. I try and pay no attention to this… whatever it is.

I try to think about why I was here in the first place. No matter how hard I try, I pull a blank. This amnesia creates a thick haze which no light can penetrate.

The hairs on my ear stand up. The idiot Valen is prattling on and on about how I’ll die, but I’m tuning him out. I hear three, no, four pairs of footsteps. I overhear bits and pieces of the oncoming conversation. “We haven’t checked on your youngest yet, sir.” a deep, rough voice echoed.

A frail voice followed. “Don’t bother. I know he’s dead.”

"You hear that, scum? The guards are coming… for you!” Sure enough, they stop at my cell door. “Prisoner!” the Imperial male guard bellows. There are three guards. One is a Redguard, who has dark brown skin. The other two are Imperials, one a female, with rough features, and the other, the male that bellowed at me, is glaring at me, partly with rage, partly with confusion.

“What are you doing here? This cell is supposed to be unoccupied!” He starts to make a violent gesture towards me, but the three guards part, at the command of a pair of old, wrinkly hands. They step aside to reveal a man who is 160, brilliantly dressed in red and purple robes. He has long white hair, and the most beautiful necklace I have ever seen. It is a red diamond, laced with gold, and hung by a gold chain. The diamond is filled with a liquid, and the glass itself is so dazzling, it hurts my eyes.

“Leave him be.” he commanded the other guards. He opened the old, rusty iron gates that were containing me, and cautiously approached me. “You.” He said simply. “You are the one from my dreams.”

I must have had a puzzled look on my face, because the old man said, “I am your Emperor, Uriel Septim VII. These bodyguards, they are my Blades. They serve me until mine or their death. All of my sons are dead. I am the only left in the Septim bloodline. Without me, the Empire falls apart. But, what none of the others know, I am on my way to certain death.”

I gasped slightly. “We must go. Come.” He turned to me and said, “I pardon you of all crimes you might have committed.”

I step back, as a secret tunnel appears out of the wall of my cell. He follows it for a short time, when assassins ambush us. I hear a high-pitched scream and turn to see the female Imperial bodyguard has fallen. In a state of blind rage, I pick up her Akaviri Katana and thrust it into the heart of the nearest assassin. The fight is over. For now.

We continue onward, until we reach a gate. It is locked from the other side. “Damn!” the Imperial male exclaims. “Another ambush!”

“Wait!” the dark-skinned Redguard named Baurus says, “What about that side passage?” He points to a small tunnel that leads into a bigger room.

“Worth a try.” the Imperial says. “Let’s move out!” We travel through the short tunnel, until we reach a larger room. The Emperor turns to me.
“Here is where I shall draw my final breath. Be cautious. The Prince of Destruction, the Lord of the Daedra, Mehrunes Dagon, is bringing hell on Earth. Close shut the jaws of hell. I can go no further.” He hands me the necklace, which I eagerly put on. However, to my dismay, it slips right off. “Only the true Septim blood can wear this. Go to Jauffre, my dear old friend in Weynon Priory. Ask him about Martin. He’s our only hope. Goodb…” Right at that moment, the Emperor was murdered in cold blood. I unsheathed my sword and let 8 rings of hell loose upon the assassins. After the battle had subdued, only myself and Baurus were left standing.

“Th.. The Emperor. I.. I’ve failed.” Baurus said, tears welling up in his eyes. “The Amulet of Kings.” he said, astonished. “Where is the Amulet of Kings?!?!” I gently held out my hand, showing him, and telling him about Jauffre. Jauffre, as it turns out, is the Grandmaster, or leader, of the Blades. “You must hurry. Fulfill the Emperor’s last wish. Hurry!” he called after me, as I ran out of the Imperial City sewers, knowing my life, short as I knew it, would never be the same.