\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on, Bryn,\u201d she had told him, trying to calm herself. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to deal with the Night Mother. At least I have something to look<\/em> at when she speaks to me, and I know where the voice is coming from. This \u2013 I don\u2019t know who it is, or where it is, or whether it even has anything to do with finding the Cowl. What if it\u2019s one of the Daedra?\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf had retrieved their armor from the roof and brought it inside, quiet and thoughtful as he dressed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be the first time we\u2019ve dealt with one of those. But I can see why you\u2019d be a bit nervous.\u201d\u00a0 He began filling his water skins from the keg Sayma had insisted they bring from Falkreath.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s probably stupid to leave at this time of day.\u00a0 But I feel like we really need to get this done, and soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma had agreed. It wasn\u2019t that she didn\u2019t like Ben Erai. It was the growing sense of unease, of impending disaster, that had her wanting to get on with things.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s something here, or something back home. But something is just wrong and I want to get this done and taken care of.<\/em><\/p>\n The air was heavy on this day. It was dry, as it always was in the desert, but it felt heavy, and thick, and even the dune ripper they needed to dispatch at a small building east of Ben Erai seemed to move lethargically as the heat waves rippled up off the sand. Brynjolf chased it over the dune and past the structure, and it scurried off, unwilling to engage further.\u00a0 They ducked inside the gazebo for a moment of shade.<\/p>\n \u201cMust have scared them off,\u201d Brynjolf said as he took a sip of water. \u201cWhat is this place?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot sure.\u201d\u00a0 Sayma examined the pedestal in the center of the space.\u00a0 There was something familiar about the item in its center; and when she touched it she found out why.\u00a0 There was an explosion of magic, and light leapt up from the pedestal through the roof.\u00a0 She stepped out from under cover and looked up, to find that the light shone as far up into the sky as the blinding sun would allow her to see.<\/p>\n \u201cMagical lantern. At least we\u2019ll know where we\u2019ve been if we need to find the way back. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma led them east. At least she hoped she was going east, and north, roughly following the odd line of tall obelisks placed at regular intervals stretching across the dunes. \u00a0They passed a group of wolves at the top of one dune; the beasts howled at them but stayed their distance.\u00a0 They were about to descend into the next valley, near the eastern range of rocky hills, when she heard it again.<\/p>\n Come to me. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhat in Oblivion\u2026?\u201d\u00a0 Sayma stopped short, and ran back up to the crest of the dune for a better vantage point.\u00a0 She looked around, in all directions; but aside from the wolves moving past them there were no signs of life.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it?\u201d Brynjolf said as he pulled up alongside her.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard him again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile you were awake this time.\u00a0 Hmm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, and I have no idea where it\u2019s coming from either.\u00a0 But it\u2019s too hot to stop and look around; let\u2019s keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAgreed.\u201d<\/p>\n The trail of obelisks led them through another valley and up yet another high ridge.\u00a0 The view from its crest was startling. Directly before them, atop the next ridge, was another gazebo like the one in which they\u2019d found the lantern.\u00a0 To its left, though, was a dense grove of trees.\u00a0 And all of them were dead; only their bones reached to the sky like a tribe in supplication to the gods for a bit of moisture.<\/p>\n \u201cThat doesn\u2019t look like an oasis to me,\u201d Brynjolf said. \u201cExcept for those few live trees around the building there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know. I really think we\u2019re going the wrong way. But I don\u2019t know what the right way is. All I know is east and north of Ben Erai, and that\u2019s where we\u2019re going.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded. \u201cI\u2019m certain of it.\u00a0 Well let\u2019s at least get inside for a few moments and get some shade, and we can decide where to go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Between the insistent, disembodied voice and the dead forest they\u2019d stumbled into Sayma was feeling unsettled, and was grateful for Brynjolf\u2019s calm. She trotted down the side of the dune they were on and trudged up the next, stepping gratefully into the slight shade provided by the gazebo on the ridge. It, too, held a lantern. She touched it, and again heard the percussive sound of magic activating; but once again she could not tell what sort of magic it might be. She didn\u2019t have time to ponder it, either; she stepped outside to see whether there might be another beam of light reaching up from here and instead met a fireball. A dune ripper had been scuffling about on the far side of the ridge, just below their sight line; but it had heard them approaching and attacked.<\/p>\n Sayma cried out as the fire flared in her face, and only barely avoided being scorched by rolling to the side.\u00a0 By the time she\u2019d scrambled back to her feet, Brynjolf was closing on the creature, firing arrows as fast as he could, the menace in his posture unsettling even to her. She drew her own bow and joined him in the hunt. As her last arrow buried itself in the dune ripper\u2019s head, felling it, two other things happened.<\/p>\n First, a skeleton hurtled up the bank behind Brynjolf, and took a swing at him with a war axe.<\/p>\n Second, the wind rose, suddenly and unexpectedly, and with it a stinging cloud of sand that darkened the sky. The temperature dropped, which was a relief; but it was hard to see and hard to breathe.<\/p>\n Sayma took the best breath she was able to take and shrieked, an incoherent noise at best. Brynjolf had already turned to face the skeleton. The axe blow had obviously missed him; either that, or he was better at fighting through an injury than she knew.\u00a0 He barely missed a beat before drawing his sword and downing the skeleton with one massive swipe.<\/p>\n He ran back up the hill toward her, and they ducked back inside the gazebo for a moment.\u00a0 Sayma had to fight the instinct to grab Brynjolf and check him for injuries; all she could do was look at the way he moved and assume that he was mostly in one piece.<\/p>\n \u201cSandstorm,\u201d she mumbled.\u00a0 \u201cCover your face and pull that hood down over your eyes. I don\u2019t know how long they last here, but they\u2019re miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAye, it\u2019s hard to see out there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt least it\u2019s not as hot. Are you alright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. I don\u2019t know why that beast was such a bad shot but all the axe did was to startle me.\u201d<\/p>\n She reached for a water skin and took a sip.\u00a0 \u201cDid you see what I saw? It\u2019s like everything is dead out there. Besides the obvious, I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s caused it but it doesn\u2019t look natural to me. If it was just the weather, or the desert, there would be at least a few trees still alive here and there, you would think. There\u2019s nothing out there, not even a sapling.\u201d<\/p>\n He smiled at her, and she didn\u2019t believe for a moment that he was really as unscathed as he pretended to be; but Sayma decided to accept the smile and move on. It was going to be hard to navigate in the sandstorm, but continuing on the northeasterly path they\u2019d been taking was probably going to be their best bet, as far as she could tell.<\/p>\n Sayma led the way out of the gazebo and back along the crest of the hill it sat on, and to her dismay saw two more skeletons, down in the next gully, neither of which seemed to have spotted them yet.\u00a0 One was just at the edge of her bow\u2019s range; she took careful aim and fired at it when it stopped to look around.\u00a0 The arrow, and the shock enchantment supplied by her bow, disintegrated it easily. She kept moving in its direction; but as she went, visibility dropped rapidly.\u00a0 It seemed as though every few paces they moved, another skeleton shuffled forward from the dust clouds.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t difficult to dispatch, but the farther they went the more uneasy she felt.<\/p>\n Two skeletons walking side by side emerged from behind a curious stone wall.\u00a0 They seemed oblivious to Sayma and Brynjolf\u2019s presence.\u00a0 She looked at him and pointed toward the skeleton on the right; he nodded, drew his bow and took it down as she did the same for the one on the left.\u00a0 The wall behind which they had come was flat, and narrow, and had two vaguely triangular points on either end.\u00a0 Stranger still, they found three more of them as they crept around it; four short, eared walls arranged in a square, with a set of braziers and a font of magic in its center.\u00a0 They approached the center, and at least six skeletons rushed out from behind the other walls to attack.\u00a0 They were both very busy for the next few minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is going on?\u201d Sayma panted as Brynjolf resheathed his sword.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t know. I have a feeling it\u2019s related to the dead trees, though.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma scanned the area, feeling more than a bit nervous. The light was beginning to wane, the wind hadn\u2019t died a bit, and she still had no real idea where they were supposed to be going. She turned this way and that, trying to orient herself with respect to the rough square of walls; but they were all identical and she couldn\u2019t remember which of them they had first approached.<\/p>\n Oasis. Oasis of Mora Sul. This is as opposite an oasis as I can imagine, with all the dead. Dead trees, dead people, dead\u2026 <\/em><\/p>\n Far in front of her she caught movement, and reflexively pulled her bow and fired at it even as the creature dropped down the next hillside out of sight. She could almost feel the resounding thwack <\/em>as the ebony arrow struck its target; but she also sensed that whatever she had hit was not down.\u00a0 She dashed behind a piece of toppled stone block that might once have been part of a wall or pillar, and looked out around it.\u00a0 Her mouth fell open and chills ran up her back.<\/p>\n Running back up the sand dune was a figure in black, wearing a distinctive horned helmet.\u00a0 It was a draugr death lord, a creature she had met only once before, in the company of the former Guildmaster Mercer Frey.\u00a0 It had been a formidable enemy then and she was certain it would be no less formidable now. Sayma fired another quick shot at it, scanning desperately around her for any sign of Brynjolf but not seeing him.<\/p>\n \u201cBryn!\u201d she shrieked. \u201cOver here! Deathlord!\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf appeared from around the corner of one of the four walls, his bow at the ready, frowning as he scanned the area for threats. She wanted to heave a sigh of relief; but behind him yet another skeleton came rushing toward them.<\/p>\n \u201cLook out!\u201d she shouted, firing at the skeleton and dismantling it. Brynjolf frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but the words never came.<\/p>\n \u201cFUS- RO DAH!\u201d she heard, and squeaked in fright as she recognized the words of Unrelenting Force for the first time and saw the shock wave of the Draugr\u2019s Shout blast toward them. She readied her bow and tried to slide around the narrow end of the nearest wall, but before she had made it all the way there, she heard a guttural grunt.<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d Brynjolf snarled.<\/p>\n She peered back at him just in time to see the draugr, tall and fearsome with its dead blue eyes glowing malice, strike Brynjolf with some sort of cold-enchanted weapon.\u00a0 Brynjolf grunted, but didn\u2019t miss a beat; even as his armor whitened with frost he pulled his sword and an ebony dagger and forced the attack on the draugr.\u00a0 \u201cIs that all you\u2019ve got?\u201d he growled, whirling to give his Daedric sword the benefit of his mass and momentum.<\/p>\n Sayma fired another arrow at the draugr and then nearly panicked; for just as she released the bowstring Brynjolf stepped to the left, nearly in front of the draugr. In a fraction of a moment that seemed to last forever she waited for her own arrow to cut down her partner, wondering how she would manage to save his life and her own at the same time. And then the dance between Brynjolf and the draugr proceeded; they drifted apart just long enough for the arrow to slam into the draugr\u2019s chest. The draugr staggered back, but did not fall; Brynjolf took advantage of that moment to step forward and bring his sword straight down in a massive blow that ended the creature.<\/p>\n Her knees nearly gave out at how close they had come to disaster.\u00a0 I almost killed him. I can\u2019t believe it.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThank the gods, Bryn. I thought he had us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAye, that was close.\u201d<\/p>\n Closer than you think. I never would be able to forgive myself if I hurt you by mistake.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cListen!\u201d he hissed.\u00a0 \u201cWhat was that?\u201d<\/p>\n She looked around, turned in all directions, but saw nothing.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t see anything, Red. What\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He shook his head. \u201cThere\u2019s something out there still. Down the hill. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n She moved forward, down into the rocky gully beyond the walls.\u00a0 There was one more skeleton, moving out of the sandstorm toward them; but that surely was not what he had heard. It was a simple matter to end it; in fact she barely stopped moving, just aimed her bow and shot it. But she could feel the unease radiating from Brynjolf and began to feel it herself.<\/p>\n She slid to the left, and downhill further into the gully. As they inched forward a structure on the next hill, up against the first outcroppings of the stony mountains, emerged from the clouds of sand.\u00a0 Unlike so many of the other places they\u2019d discovered here in the desert this one did not resemble the Halls of the West, or Al Shedim. Nor was it another Dwemer ruin.<\/p>\n A barrow? An ancient Nord barrow? Here?<\/em><\/p>\n Yet another skeleton shuffled out in their direction; Brynjolf picked it off with a quick bowshot.\u00a0 Sayma rubbed the sand away from her eyes and squinted out ahead of them.\u00a0 She caught movement, or thought she did; Brynjolf tapped her on the arm and pointed in the direction she\u2019d seen something.\u00a0 She nodded and let fly a long shot, in the direction of what seemed like it might be another skeleton.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n The figure running toward them was another death lord draugr, ready for the attack.\u00a0 She took another couple of quick shots at it, one of which went wild and missed. She ran perpendicular to its path to get clear, just as it inhaled.<\/p>\n \u201cFUS- RO DAH!\u201d<\/p>\n The shock of the force shout missed her, and she turned to take aim on the creature again.\u00a0 But in that short blink of time, Brynjolf had sprinted into battle and was slashing away at the death lord.\u00a0 Sayma searched frantically for an opening to shoot at the draugr, but they were moving too quickly. Every arrow either flew far wide of its target or came dangerously close to striking Brynjolf.<\/p>\n \u201cFO- KRAH DIIN!\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma\u2019s head whipped right as she heard the now-familiar words of Frost Breath and watched a billowing cloud of white roll toward the battle.<\/p>\n \u201cBrynjolf! Look out!\u201d she shrieked; but it was far too late and the howling of the sandstorm far too loud for him to hear over the sounds of his own battle. The frost cloud struck both him and the draugr before him, and drove both of them to their knees.<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d she cried, loosing another arrow at the draugr.<\/p>\n For a moment it seemed that she could do nothing other than fire recklessly in the direction of the battle. There were two death lords now, both trying their best to kill Brynjolf, and she could not seem to move. It felt as though the words of Frost Breath had frozen her<\/em>, not Brynjolf.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a stealth fighter. I kill in the dark, from behind, in secret. I can\u2019t do this.<\/em><\/p>\n And Brynjolf is a thief, not a melee warrior. He\u2019s going to die if you don\u2019t get in there and do something! <\/em><\/p>\n For once she did not argue with the other voice in her mind. It didn\u2019t matter whose voice it was. Her legs started moving, and then picked up speed; and as she ran she secured her bow and drew her two swords.<\/p>\n You won\u2019t have him.<\/em><\/p>\n Brynjolf cried out, and went down on one knee for a moment.<\/p>\n Sayma saw red.\u00a0 She barreled into the draugr that she\u2019d seen first, the one that had several ebony arrows buried in its chest.\u00a0 Flailing and hacking as hard as she could, she managed to bring it down quickly and turn to find the second towering over Brynjolf with an axe raised high.\u00a0 It started to laugh \u2013 a dry, raspy, horrible sound.\u00a0 She managed to block its axe long enough for Brynjolf to move aside, and then began what was in retrospect one of the fiercest flurries of strikes she\u2019d ever thrown.\u00a0 It took her several moments, but the draugr finally fell.<\/p>\n And then it got even worse.<\/p>\n She turned, relieved, looking for Brynjolf, and saw yet another death lord come running up the slope toward him, a greatsword raised over his shoulder, ready for the attack.\u00a0 She opened her mouth to scream at him, but the draugr cut her off with a Shout. Unrelenting Force knocked Brynjolf backward and off his feet. Sayma sprinted to cut off the draugr\u2019s path to him and laid into him with both swords; but her arms were tiring and her blows weren\u2019t as strong as they had been. As she drew back for another strike, and a breath with which to support it, the beast Shouted frost at Brynjolf once more, forcing him down again.\u00a0 Sayma clenched her jaw and forced herself forward, bringing the Daedric sword from the Halls of the West down across the back of its neck.<\/p>\n Finally, it dropped.<\/p>\n Sayma rushed to Brynjolf and grabbed his upper arms.\u00a0 \u201cAre you alright?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded. \u201cHardly felt a thing.\u201d \u00a0But it was clear that he was exhausted; there was a tiny tremor in his stance that spoke of muscles not quite strong enough to resist freezing, and she knew that beneath the black leathers he would be a mass of bruises.<\/p>\n \u201cLiar,\u201d she said, to be rewarded with a grin.<\/p>\n \u201cAlright then. I hurt. I want to go see if that barrow has a place we can rest for a moment. I need some water and I don\u2019t want to be drinking sand along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n They explored the area for a few moments. The barrow itself was impassable; only the front entryway was clear of sand and stone rubble.\u00a0 The sarcophagi from which the draugr had come were open, and empty. Nearby there was a stone hut containing a half-buried chest with a few coins in it; it was at least something to block the wind and sand, and they sat for a few minutes to sip water, and rest.<\/p>\n \u201cAt least it\u2019s not burning hot anymore,\u201d Brynjolf said.<\/p>\n \u201cRight. But the sun\u2019s going down and this sandstorm doesn\u2019t show any signs of stopping. I still don\u2019t know where we are but I\u2019m certain this wasn\u2019t our goal. Four Deathlords, Bryn! What do you suppose has happened here?\u201d<\/p>\n He shook his head, peering out into the storm. \u201cNo idea. I\u2019d have laughed at myself to say this before the end of Mercer, but I would guess it’s some kind of curse. I couldn\u2019t imagine what put it in place. But nothing else could explain all the death.\u201d<\/p>\n Once they had their legs back under them, they continued on their way.\u00a0 Because they were now up against the mountains \u2013 Sayma presumed they had found the eastern range \u2013 she continued hugging the range as they moved generally toward the north.\u00a0 Not too far from the barrow they encountered what had once been a camp.\u00a0 There was a broken-down cart, mostly filled with sand.\u00a0 The remnants of a fire pit still poked up through the drifts, with a surprisingly intact, if rusted, cooking spit still waiting above it.\u00a0 An old chest was open, and like the cart was filled with sand. \u00a0There was nothing else there, at least nothing that was visible until Brynjolf stumbled over a skull.\u00a0 He harrumphed, then leaned down and started moving sand aside.\u00a0 There was in fact a group of two or three skeletons, all in pieces and all piled in the same spot.\u00a0 Once they were clear of their burial, the wind took the lighter bones and began rolling them away from the campsite.<\/p>\n \u201cOdd,\u201d he said, shaking his head at her.<\/p>\n \u201cVery. Something covered them all up in this one spot. I don\u2019t really understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNeither do I. Let\u2019s keep moving.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma looked around.\u00a0 She turned in a complete circle, several times. They\u2019d moved far enough away from the barrow that they were surrounded by rocky outcroppings. It wasn\u2019t clear, in the heavy sandstorm, which were the mountains and which were not. And she had no idea which way to go.<\/p>\n Gods damn it. I\u2019m lost. I am completely lost.<\/em><\/p>\n She tried to make out the general direction of the dwindling light, and put what she thought she saw on her left.\u00a0 If she was right, that would take them generally north.\u00a0 They trotted along for some time, up and down the sand dunes, and then Sayma saw something horizontal, regular, and clearly man-made.\u00a0 It might be Al Shedim! If it\u2019s Al Shedim it\u2019s not where we want to be but at least I\u2019ll know where we are!\u00a0 <\/em>She broke into a sprint and ran for it, wanting to reach whatever it was before it got completely dark.<\/p>\n Halfway up the next rise, Sayma realized that she was once again completely disoriented.\u00a0 There was no sound aside from the roaring of the wind.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t truly see anything in the sand aside from vaguely darker shapes here and there in the distance, and she couldn\u2019t judge how great that distance might be.\u00a0 She swung around to look for Brynjolf and couldn\u2019t see him, and her heart started to pound in panic.<\/p>\n \u201cBryn? Brynjolf? Where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n She heard the sound of his footsteps before his form emerged from the dark.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m right here. Right behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n She nodded, not wanting to reveal how relieved she was to see him, and started running again.\u00a0 She could no longer spy the outlines she\u2019d been certain were those of Al Shedim, but began running in what she hoped was that direction. They needed to get somewhere, out of the sandstorm, and soon; and they needed to find the Cowl. She ran, and ran, not knowing how fast she was going or how far they\u2019d gone, and suddenly, out of the darkness came a stone brick wall.\u00a0 She stopped short and stared at it.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve run all the way to Riften, she thought briefly; and indeed the wall looked very much like the walls around their home city.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are we?\u201d Brynjolf murmured.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. I thought I was heading for Al Shedim. This isn\u2019t it. And it doesn\u2019t look like an oasis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. Let\u2019s keep going and see what we find.\u201d<\/p>\n What they found was twofold. First, and not too far beyond them, was another of the fountains glimmering with magic that they\u2019d passed several times before.\u00a0 Second, there was a dune ripper; and this one got the drop on them, its senses better than theirs in the sandstorm.\u00a0 There was a huge, fiery explosion, and Brynjolf cried out.\u00a0 Sayma turned to see him outlined in flames and immediately drew her bow.\u00a0 She struck the creature twice before it once again spat a fireball at Brynjolf.<\/p>\n Sayma heard him yelp, and screamed at him.\u00a0 \u201cBack UP, Brynjolf! Get away from it!\u201d<\/p>\n But Brynjolf couldn\u2019t hear her over the wind. He kept advancing on the dune ripper, bow drawn, taunting it with sounds she could barely hear in words she could not understand.\u00a0 She cried out in frustration and readied another shot, only to watch both Brynjolf and the dune ripper completely vanish into the dark clouds of disorienting sand. She followed as best she could, pulling out her swords. It was more likely than ever now that she was going to come up on an adversary with no warning at all, and she would be better equipped to defend herself with her swords.<\/p>\n Then the most remarkable thing happened.\u00a0 As she descended toward the sounds of Brynjolf fighting, the sandstorm sputtered.\u00a0 For a moment it was as clear as though there had never been a storm; she could see a tiny oasis at the bottom of the valley before her, and could see Brynjolf beating on the dune ripper.\u00a0 She could also see and hear multiple wolves attacking him as well.\u00a0 Then the wind picked up again, and the sand with it; and she ran blindly forward into it toward the battle she knew was taking place.<\/p>\n She reached the edge of the water.\u00a0 Three wolves leapt toward her.\u00a0 But wolves, she could handle; and because she had picked up more soul gems along the way their energies exploded and rushed to her as she took them out one after the next. She killed three of them, and saw the carcasses of two others on the ground; but when she looked for Brynjolf she found him halfway up the next hill, chasing down the dune ripper that had twice fire blasted him.<\/p>\n Stendarr\u2019s great shiny balls, Bryn, leave the damnable thing alone!<\/em><\/p>\n He was flagging. That much was clear.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t running up the sand dune so much as plodding up it.\u00a0 The storm, though, had died, just as easily as it had started; and with clear vision before her Sayma was able to sprint up to the crest of the hill and take aim at the beast with her bow.\u00a0 It took only two more shots before the thing died.<\/p>\n She turned and stared at him, waiting as he trudged the rest of the way to meet her.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought you didn\u2019t like fire.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d he panted, grinning. \u201cBut I like those things even less. It had to die.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, well, you might have as well, tough guy.\u00a0 It may come as something of a surprise to you, Guildmaster, sir, but I really do not want to see you die out here in the middle of some forgotten armpit of Hammerfell.\u201d<\/p>\n He laughed. \u201cA forgotten armpit. That would be quite a feat.\u201d\u00a0 He reached down and started patting his armor, clouds of dust and sand falling away from it.\u00a0 He ran his hands through his hair and shook it out, and then tried valiantly to dust off his beard.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s everywhere. I\u2019ll bet I have sand in places we won\u2019t even mention.\u201d<\/p>\n In spite of herself, Sayma had to laugh at him.\u00a0 \u201cI know. It\u2019s going to be fun getting rid of it all.\u201d\u00a0 She pointed down over the hill. \u201cBut not right now. Look at that!\u201d<\/p>\n Before them, nestled against the mountains, was the wall she\u2019d nearly collided with not long before.\u00a0 A cold, luminescent fog filled the area behind it, rising up against the mountains and spilling over the wall in places. Sayma thought she could see movement behind the walls, bright spots of light traversing whatever landscape there was back there.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the place we saw before, isn\u2019t it?\u201d Brynjolf asked. \u201cWhen we were getting ready to visit the cheetahs. That\u2019s the spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI think so.\u00a0 I think we need to go see what it is.\u00a0 It may be where the Cowl is hidden, don\u2019t you think? I didn\u2019t see anything else that looked like an oasis that might have a name.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHmm.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never heard of an oasis with a stone wall around the outside.\u00a0\u00a0 But we are right here.\u00a0 We may as well look.\u201d\u00a0 He stretched his arms out behind him and rotated his shoulders. \u201cUgh. I\u2019m going to be sore later on.\u00a0 But never mind.\u00a0 You lead and I\u2019ll follow, Listener.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayma grinned at him.\u00a0 Listener, indeed. <\/em>\u00a0\u201cWhatever you say, Red.\u201d<\/p>\n She started down the hillside toward the walls, snickering as she heard the inevitable disgusted grunt behind her.<\/p>\n Against their better judgment, Sayma and Brynjolf decided to leave in mid-afternoon the next day. Sayma had bolted awake, crying out and waking Brynjolf, just as the sun was high in the sky. Once again she had heard the man\u2019s voice, deep and commanding, speaking to her in the dark. Come to me. \u201cI don\u2019t … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-1.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-2.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-3.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-4.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-5.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-6.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-7.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-8.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-9.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-10.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-1-19-11.png\")
<\/p>\n