This way they came out looking like saviors.”
“Stendarr,” Attrebus swore. “Can’t you ever imagine that people actually act from kindness? From mercy?”
“People might, or at least might imagine that’s what moves them,” Sul said. “Nations don’t.”
“I don’t believe that,” Attrebus said. “Nations are ruled by people. When did the Nords ever back down from a fight with Dunmer? Your people were weakened, Sul-battered, without home or resources.”
“They were desperate,” Sul replied. “Desperate and dangerous. You’ve too many romantic notions in your head.”
“Maybe,” Attrebus said. “And maybe nine times out of ten, you’re right-nations act from cold self-interest. But sometimes, at their very best, they act for a greater good, just as some men and women do.”
Sul waved that off. “I’m not going to argue any further,” he said. “Believe what you want. But to return to your question, my guess is that most Dunmer settled in the South and along the coasts, and I think we’re in the interior.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“No, but as I said, it was always a disputed territory, and therefore its essentials were a part of my education in the ministry.”
Despite Sul’s pronouncement, Attrebus wanted to press the debate, but at that moment he heard a soft noise from his haversack, both artificial and birdlike.
“Annaig,” he whispered. “She’s alive. I tried to contact her earlier but-”
“Go on,” Sul said. “But don’t stray far from the fire.”
Attrebus nodded and stepped a bit away from the flames, into the muffling spruces, for a bit of privacy. Then he hesitated at the cold, wondering why he needed discretion, why Sul assumed he did…
He pulled out Coo, the mechanical bird, an exquisitely crafted object, detailed down to the feather. He opened the small latch on its belly.
And there she was, Annaig, with her curly black hair and mouth curving up in a wide, happy grin.
“Attrebus,” she said. “I-I thought you were dead. It’s been so long.”
“Has it?” he asked. “I’m afraid I’ve lost all sense of time.”
“What happened?” she asked. “Where are you?”
“Things didn’t go exactly as planned,” he said. “Sul and I reached Umbriel, but Vuhon was too much for us. We barely escaped into Oblivion with our lives, and there-we were quite busy. I tried to contact you a few times but I never managed it.” He felt sick as he said it, and realized he was holding his gut scar. He forced a smile. “But now we have returned to Tamriel.”
“Vuhon? Who is Vuhon?”
“You haven’t heard of him? He’s the lord of Umbriel. He created it.”
Her brow furrowed.
“When they speak of the lord of Umbriel, they call him Umbriel,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anyone named Vuhon.”
“That’s odd,” Attrebus said, but he remembered Vuhon suggesting that he didn’t go by that name anymore, that he was only answering to it out of convenience for Sul. Then he caught the tense of her verb. “You speak as if you’re still there,” he said. “I thought you had managed to escape.”
“My plans didn’t fare so well either,” she replied. “It seems Umbriel has some hold over us. We flew out a few hundred yards and our bodies began to-ah-evaporate.”
“Evaporate? Like the larvae you told me about? I remember you said the inhabitants of Umbriel all believed they couldn’t leave.”
“And it seems they can’t. And now Glim and I can’t.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “All this time I thought you were safe. I tried to contact you once from Oblivion, when we had a moment’s respite, but there wasn’t an answer. There must be some way.”
“There is, I’m sure,” she said, but her eyes shifted away and her tone was unconvincing.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just haven’t made much progress, that’s all,” she said.
“We learned a few things from Vuhon that might help you,” he told her.
“Really?” she asked. “Such as?”
“Umbriel used to be a city in Oblivion, in the realm of Clavicus Vile. Vuhon-the lord of Umbriel-was trying to escape that realm with his companion, Umbra, but Vile essentially hardened the walls of his domain so no one could leave it. Vuhon found a way to sort of turn space around the city, though, and then break that free, like twisting a sausage casing and then tearing it.”
Annaig blinked. “So Umbriel is in a bubble-a bubble of the wall Clavicus Vile made it impossible to pass through?”
“I think that’s right,” he said. “Sul has tried to explain it better, but we’ve been rather busy-”
“But that helps,” she said excitedly. “Attrebus, that helps a lot. If I were there I would kiss-”
But she broke off and blushed.
“You know what I mean,” she said after a moment.
“I think I could suffer through a kiss from you,” he said.
Her brows drew in. “Oh, could you?” she asked.
“Sure-if it wasn’t too long, or wet.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, your highness,” she said. But then her face changed, as if she’d just remembered something awful.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is someone there?”
“No,” she replied. “No, privacy isn’t the problem it used to be.”
“How is that?”
“I’ve-moved up. I’m the chef of a kitchen now.”
“That’s good?”
“I think so. It puts me in a position to learn more about Umbriel. I think I may have found some weaknesses.”
“That’s wonderful, then. Are you safer?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Her good mood seemed to have all but left her. Now she sounded tired. “In a way, certainly. But every step up just means a new kind of danger. In two days I will make a meal for Umbriel himself.”
“Vuhon?”
“I guess so. I don’t know.”
“He’s a Dunmer, Annaig. From Morrowind.” A thought occurred, but he felt reluctant to voice it. She must have seen it on his face.
“You’re wondering if I can poison him.”
“No,” he said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I-” She closed her eyes. “I’m confused, Attrebus. To survive, to get to this position-I’ve had to do things. Things I’m not happy about or proud of.”
“I’m sure everything you’ve done was necessary,” he said. “Look, I know you’re not an assassin. I shouldn’t have-”
“If I thought I could succeed, I would do it,” she said. “The fact that he was once an elf, a person of flesh and blood like you and me-that’s interesting. But I don’t think he is that anymore.”
“No,” he said, “you’re probably right. He said that everything on Umbriel was a part of him, and he part of it. And he was so strong…”
Her expression had changed again, become thoughtful.
“If that’s true…” she began.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I need to think about this. Tell me everything you remember him saying, everything you know about Umbriel.”
He recounted the meeting with Vuhon and everything he could remember Sul saying about him, Clavicus Vile, and Umbra, continuing long into the night.
