Lucy sat next to the woodstove and shivered. Her mother brought her tea. She wrapped her hands around the mug, but didn’t drink. “I have to find him,” she announced, in the voice of a sleepwalker. Her mother put a hand on her shoulder.
“There are too many tunnels they could have taken, Sweets. You'll never find him in time. He'll have to save himself.”
That was where she sat when her father arrived, swinging the door wide, and boisterously shouting, “Ha, HA!”
“Quiet, man!” scolded Lauren. “What is there to be so happy about?”
“We found all six clients murdered down in the sewers,” Henri explained. We’re off the hook. The assassins removed them as a threat.” He noticed his daughter sitting by the stove. “Your crazy scheme worked, Sweets, even if not the way you had in mind.”
Lucy swallowed. “But… what about the amulet?”
“Maybe the Brotherhood has it. As long as they take it far away, who cares?” her father crowed.
“But that means,” Lucy choked, “That means Swims didn’t need to go after it?”
Henri’s good humor began to deflate as he realized his daughter’s distress. “Swims what?” he asked.
“I sent him… for nothing, and he’s probably going to die!” Lucy whispered in horror.
Lauren put her arms around Lucy as she explained to her husband what Swims had done.
“That stubborn boy!” exclaimed Henri. “Modryn told him to go straight home after he was finished helping Lucy.”
“Which must be why he insisted that she be the one to send him,” observed Lauren. Before Henri could react to that, the door shuddered under a heavy pounding.
“LUCY! I need to speak to LUCIANA HENRIETTE!” shouted a gravelly voice.
Henri drew his dagger, and pressed himself to the wall by the door.
Lauren jumped up and shielded her daughter. “Who’s there!” demanded Henri.
“I’d rather not say on the street,” replied the gravelly voice. “But your daughter knows me. I mean you no harm. I need to talk to all of you.”
Henri looked to Lucy, still sitting stunned by the stove. Reluctantly, she said, “It’s Captain gro-Ushal of the Legion. I swear I never told him where we live.”
Henri called, “Go away!”
“I’m not leaving until you talk to me,” shouted gro-Ushal. “I think you’d rather have me inside than shouting outside your door.”
Henri opened the door, but didn’t put his weapon away. Durz gro-Ushal entered quickly, but with his empty hands held up, palms out. He was dressed in cheap civilian clothing. He had to stoop under their low ceiling.
Mr. and Mrs… ahhh…?” He fished for a name, but they just stared at him, stone-faced. “Well, my name is…”
“We know who you are,” interrupted Henri. “What do you want?”
“It’s about—I’m sorry, do you mind if I sit?” He folded himself to a sitting position on the floor. “It’s about that damn amulet.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Henri said, darting a suspicious glance at Lucy.
“You do. My agents are not entirely incompetent. All three of you were sighted at that mess uptown today. I need to know where that amulet is now. It’s a very dangerous thing. If you have it, you don’t want it.”
“Good thing we don’t have it, then,” replied Henri.
“Do you know what it is?” asked gro-Ushal. “Or was it just a job to you? Thing’s an Akaviri doomsday weapon. Been told it’s the most powerful enchanted item since the Totem of Tiber Septim. If the Aldmeri Dominion or the Dark Brotherhood try to use it, it will, quote ‘swallow the World’ unquote.”
Lucy’s heart was pounding. This was terrible news, but somehow, the huge weight of guilt that had landed on her heart seemed to lift a little. She looked to her parents for guidance. Henri asked gro-Ushal, “And what will happen if the Emperor gets it?”
“Emperor hasn’t mentioned to me that he’s looking for it,” gro-Ushal answered. “But if Durz gro-Ushal gets his hands on it, he’ll destroy the damn thing. I’m offering to forgive bounties for anyone that can help me locate and acquire it.”
Henri looked at his wife and mouthed the word, “Doyen.” Lauren left to bring him.
He gave Lucy a nod. “We saw it this morning,” she told him, and launched into a description of what they saw in the sewers. Before she was done, Lauren had returned with Modryn Farys.
“Damn! There must be hundreds of exits from the sewers—outflows, street drains, maintenance tunnels…” gro-Ushal complained.
“Five hundred forty three that I’ve counted,” Farys said. “Not including secret passages from private residences.”
“Divines! How many of those are there?”
“I doubt I personally know a tenth of them, but some of my people may know a few others.”
Gro-Ushal grunted. “Well with so many to check, we should concentrate first on the outfalls outside the walls. If that Argonian gets into the river, he won’t need to surface before he’s left the country. We’ll never track him.”
“Swims will take of that,” said Lucy. The adults looked at her, questioningly.
“Do you remember that alphabet I made up as a baby?” she directed the question to her mother. “When you decided it was time to teach me to write?” Her mother nodded, and Lucy went on. “I taught it to the Youth Corps. When we work together, we use letters to mark our path.” She took a scorched stick from the fire and drew three parallel lines, middle one longer than the other two, into the hearthstone. “This means ‘straight,’” she explained. She drew two more symbols. “This is right; this is left. If Swims tracks the assassin out of the sewers, he’ll scratch these into the stones by the exit, and he’ll leave a trail from there.”
“Your friend just might save the world,” remarked gro-Ushal.
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