Murphy's Law

Chapter 49

It was only a short flight to Rex from Benny's prison, but not an easy one. Hermaeus Mora was waiting for them, tentacles draping down all around, waiting to snare them. "Hold on," Sahrotaar told them, bracing himself for the aerobatics he would have to perform to get them through. Emmet tightened his grip as much as he dared without suffocating their mount. Lucy slid her arms around his waist, holding fast, and Kitty did the same to her.

Emmet let out a scream as they wheeled to one side, reflexively tightening his grip further. They just barely slipped past a grasping tentacle, watching as it curled around empty air. On the platform below them, Rex was Shouting, trying to help clear a path for them. Sahrotaar took the opening when several tentacles flinched away from dragon fire, swooping past and landing roughly near the First Dragonborn. Emmet lost his grip, and the three of them were thrown from the dragon's back, tumbling across the stone ground. Sahrotaar shook himself off and took to the sky again, joining several other dragons in attacking the tentacles now that he no longer had passengers to worry about.

The three mortals glanced up to see Rex's mask glaring down at them. Or at least it seemed like he was glaring. "Rex," Emmet gasped, trying to push himself to his feet.

"Stay down," he instructed, and they could definitely hear a frown in his voice. Emmet blinked at him for a moment before plopping himself back down. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to help you," Emmet said, the same time Lucy was saying "we came to stop you." Emmet turned toward her, somewhat startled, and flinched away from the intense stare she was aiming at Rex.

"Stop me?" Rex sounded amused. "From doing what, I wonder?"

"Whatever you did to form a bond with Emmet has been draining him," Kitty explained. Rex stilled at that. "I'm willing to give you the benefit of a doubt and believe it wasn't intentional, but we still need to break it before it kills him."

"Very well then," Rex agreed. Lucy was immediately on edge; that was far too easy. "I accomplished what I set out to do, anyway." Emmet let out a surprised gasp, slumping over against Lucy, as something he hadn't even noticed before was suddenly severed. The shock of it left him feeling numb and boneless.

"Emmet??"

"That felt weird..." He smiled a bit at her fussing. "I'll be okay. In a bit. I think."

"If you're sure..." He nodded.

"And now that you're here, I can leave." They turned back to Rex as he spoke.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, glaring at him suspiciously.

"You didn't really think Hermaeus Mora would just let one of his trophies leave without something to replace it, did you?"

Lucy felt chilled at his words.

"He wants to collect Emmet, so I devised a plan that would ensure Emmet returned to take my place, and grant me the power to fight Mora for my freedom."

"You monster!" Lucy spat, and at her side, Kitty had laid her ears flat, growling as she called her magic forth. "I knew you couldn't be trusted!" Rex only laughed as she lunged at him, blades drawn, and summoned his own sword to fend her off. He deflected her blows easily, and Shouted her away from him. She nearly slid right over the edge of the platform before she finally caught herself again. She hauled herself back up with shaking arms, and watched for a moment as Kitty assaulted him with every spell she could conjure, only for him to flick them away effortlessly. Behind them, long black tentacles were reaching for a still dazed and weakened Emmet.

Well. Considering what was at stake, she wasn't about to fight fairly. She retrieved her swords from where she'd lost them, thanking each of the Divines personally that they hadn't fallen into the tar pits below, and took a deep breath.

"Sheogorath!"