This is a one-chapter "teaser" for the sequel to my story "The Curse's Bounty" that will be coming soon.
Credit for the amazing cover art goes to tes-v. If you have a tumblr, definitely give them a follow! They are superb.
Karliah entered the Cistern and made her way across the pool of water. It was very late, and the small bed that was normally occupied by a certain person was empty. She knew exactly where to look, however.
She rounded the corner into the training room, light on her feet as always. The slim-fitting Nightingale boots made no sound on the well-worn stone beneath her, and she leaned against the side of the entrance as she looked on into the room ahead of her.
Lilly was sitting on the ground, cross-legged, in front of one of the locked training chests. It was the big one, slated only for master difficulty, and the entire summer so far had been full of Lilly's obsession with cracking it. Frowning, she snapped pick after pick—sometimes the lock turned as far as halfway, and sometimes it barely twitched.
Finally, after Karliah had counted fifteen picks, Lilly growled and withdrew the wrench, flinging it on the ground. She flopped backward, landing heavily on the stone floor.
After a second, her determined little voice broke the silence. "Do you have any advice, or are you just going to tease me like the others?"
Karliah blinked in surprise, and then smiled. "How did you know I was here?"
"Smelled you."
She drifted into the training room until she could see Lilly's face behind the chests blocking her. Her own time spent with master-level chests was something she could still recall, and she fondly remembered Gallus—multiple times—finding her in a similar fit of frustration.
"Even the best of us still struggle with these locks," she told the nine-year-old. "The trick is to go slowly…very slowly."
"I do go slowly."
"That may be true," she agreed, "but I think you're forgetting something. The breadth of room you have for error is much smaller than it would be with a novice lock. Only a shade or two off, and your pick will break. Accuracy is key."
Lilly sat up. "If the space is so small, how am I supposed to find it without breaking a hundred picks?"
Karliah smiled again. "Trial and error. You will grow to have a feel for the locks, and your fingertips will become sensitive to the vibrations from within. That being said, even Brynjolf can go through a dozen picks with a stubborn one."
Lilly's irritation slowly faded from her features, and she gazed back at Karliah with soft, coppery eyes. Karliah was impressed with her patience at such a young age, especially considering her older sister's temper. It most definitely was not a learned quality.
"I really wanted to crack it before I left," she said glumly. "But I guess it can wait until next summer. I'll keep practicing."
Karliah hesitated for only a second. "That's the spirit. Come along, now, it's time to get to bed."
The hybrid girl rose to her feet, brushing dust from her bottom. Brynjolf had had an uncharacteristically silly idea to make her Thieves Guild armor, sized to her small frame, but Karliah had shot him down. Determined as Lilly was to learn the craft and join up when she was able, it wasn't a good idea to brand her a criminal at such a young age.
Instead, Bryn had settled for finding her leather pants and a slim cuirass tanned the same color as the Guild armor. A passing glance would show that she matched, and that was enough for Lilly.
Karliah followed her back into the Cistern. Lilly trudged to her bed, across the way from the large Guildmaster's own place, and pulled her boots off. She scooted underneath the covers and rolled to her side.
Perching on the edge of the bed, Karliah smoothed her wavy, ink-black hair back from her forehead. Lilly rolled sleepy eyes up to hers and smiled.
"I had such a good time here. I can't wait for next year."
She petted Lilly's hair until her eyes fluttered shut, and then stayed closed. When she was satisfied that her breathing was slow and even enough, she rose and made her way to her own bed, immersed in her thoughts.
Less than a year ago, Lilly's older sister had bonded and then subsequently fled from Karliah's fellow Nightingale and Guildmaster, Aldric. The two werewolves had entered into what amounted to something deeper than marriage, while they were embroiled in a vicious conflict with a powerful clan of vampires. Ever since Rory had left Aldric that winter, he had visited the Guild exactly one time.
Karliah had been deeply upset by the entire ordeal. Many disturbing things had happened, the least of which was the near-destruction of Nightingale Hall. Rory had pledged to give as much coin as she was able to, and Brynjolf seemed to think the Hall would be livable again, but it still irritated her to think about.
Now that Lilly was about to leave them, it was hard for Karliah to not think of what had happened only a few months ago. In the first spring days after the events at Snowpoint, she had woken one night to nine-year-old Lilly shaking her awake. Utterly shocked, she had bolted upright, but the little girl had anxiously planted a small hand over her mouth, her eyes pleading.
Rory waited in the graveyard aboveground, standing in the shadows.
She blinked in confusion. "Rory?"
"Karliah. I find myself needing your help once again. I am sorry to interfere, but I have nowhere else to go." Her voice was much the same as it had always been—low, guarded. "Please."
The addition at the end was very unlike Rory, and for the first time Karliah entertained the thought that something was…off. "What is it?"
She brushed that aside, shooting back a question of her own. "Have you seen Aldric?"
"No. No one has. Bryn has tried to get him to Riften, but he won't come. He's told us he'll visit in the winter," Karliah told her. Then she immediately regretted saying anything. It wasn't Rory that she owed loyalty or allegiance.
"And you're sure of that?" Rory pressed. "That he won't come until then?"
Karliah had looked over the letters Bryn had showed her. They'd been penned in an unfamiliar hand, that of Lydia—who had added, unknown to Aldric, that he wasn't doing well. "Yes. I'm certain."
Rory was silent a moment.
"What do you need?" Karliah asked her, careful to keep her tone neutral. "You should come down into the Cistern, where we can talk—"
"No," Rory interrupted, and something in her voice hinted at panic. Karliah heard her take a breath, and then her next words were calm. "No. I'll stay here."
"In the shadows. Where I can scarcely see you." Karliah stared at Rory's barely discernible outline in the darkness.
The other woman ignored that. "I need you to take Lilly in for this summer."
"You cannot be serious," Karliah said, not bothering to hide her hostility. "After everything that happened, you want us to take her again."
"There isn't danger now. And I don't want this, I need it." She couldn't be sure, but she thought Rory's voice quivered slightly. "Please. I beg of you. I need time to make preparations for something…important."
"What's so important?" Karliah asked her so suspiciously.
"I can't trust you with that. I'm sorry. I know you have no great love for me, but this is serious."
"This is absurd." She ran a hand through her hair in annoyance. "After what you did, I ought to run you off right now."
"This is not for me. It's for…" Rory's voice trailed off. "Lilly."
"Why do I get the feeling that you did not intend to say 'Lilly' at the end of that sentence?" Karliah demanded.
"Because I didn't," Rory snapped.
Karliah folded her arms. "Ah, now there's the first hint of the woman I know."
For a long moment, only the sounds of buzzing torchbugs and night birds in the distance filled the space around them. "Lilly has been mostly alone her entire life. She bonds with people very quickly. She loves you, and Brynjolf. I can't take her away from you so suddenly."
Frustrated, Karliah looked away. "That's underhanded."
"It's the truth. Please, take her. I'll return in Sun's Height, I swear it."
Karliah squeezed her eyes shut and swore. "Fine. All right. I suppose you can't give me an exact date?"
"No, I can't. And Karliah…"
Somehow, she knew exactly what Rory was about to say. "Do you think I'm sadistic? I would never tell Aldric."
"Thank you," Rory whispered.
When Karliah looked up again, she was gone.
A small sound near her bed immediately jerked Karliah awake. She blearily opened her eyes to see Lilly creeping toward the ladder, completely dressed with her knapsack on her shoulders. She looked over her shoulder, and her eyes were serious.
Brain heavy with sleep, Karliah blinked hard and sat up. "Something wrong?" she called out. The situation felt eerily like the memory she had been thinking about before falling asleep, and that thought jolted her to alertness. "Is Rory here?"
Lilly jumped at being caught, and then nodded. "I have to go now."
Karliah's lips thinned into a determined line. "Oh, no, you don't. Where's Brynjolf? He threatened to drown me in the cistern if I didn't bring him when she returned." She stood up and made for the Flagon.
Lilly's hand wrapped around her wrist, and Karliah stumbled when she felt the astonishing strength in the little girl's grasp. She turned with a frown.
Lilly's eyes were concerned, but calm. "No, Karliah. I have to go up by myself."
"That's rubbish, what—"
"Please." Lilly softened her grip, but didn't release her arm.
Karliah's violet eyes stared down into Lilly's. Finally, curiosity and confusion won out. "Very well, then. You have everything?"
"Yes."
"Did you remember my birthday present?"
Lilly grinned shyly and pulled something from her belt. It was a simple silver necklace, hung with a charm that she and Brynjolf had custom-ordered: four bands shaped into the outline of a diamond, overlapped with two interlocking circles. It was the Shadowmark that indicated the personal protection of the Guild. Karliah watched her drape it over her head.
"Got it."
"Good. I'll say goodbye to Bryn for you."
Lilly's smile slipped a little, but she recovered and looked up at her. "And Vex and Delvin, too? And Tonilia and Cynric? And—"
"Yes," she broke in, chuckling. "I'll say goodbye to the whole dirty lot of them for you."
Karliah watched her walk to the ladder and begin to climb up. She was amazed at the good fortune Rory had to pick such a quiet time. The Cistern was half-empty, with many people out on jobs, and those that remained were all fast asleep. It was a phenomenon that hardly ever occurred.
Very quietly, she swept up the ladder and into the space beneath the tomb. Lilly was halfway up the steps, and she could hear Rory exchange a few quiet words with her, urging her to hurry.
Moving swiftly, she grabbed in one hand the lantern that was stationed on the floor of the crypt. With the other hand, she leapt forward and seized Lilly's collar from behind just as she walked out of the small mausoleum.
Startled, Lilly let out a yelp. And, as Karliah knew she would, Rory emerged from the darkness, alarm and anger on her face. Many more emotions ran through her eyes as she realized her getaway had failed.
Karliah held up the lantern, the pale gold light washing over the three of them. It was the first time she had ever seen Rory dressed in anything but tight and well-crafted armor. She wore simple leather trousers and a long-sleeved tunic that was gathered at the waist.
The leaf-green fabric draped over the monumentally obvious swell of her middle. Karliah's mouth worked in shock as she stared at Rory.
"You're…"
Rory looked down, her hands coming to rest protectively over her belly. "I will give birth very soon. In less than a month's time, they tell me."
Karliah's heart thudded unevenly. She could not think of one coherent thing to say.
"You may hate me, Karliah, but you're a woman," Rory began. "There are things about my situation that I'm sure you can grasp."
"Your situation?" Karliah raged, her mind returning to her abruptly. "You're about to have a child that Aldric knows nothing about! How could you possibly—"
"I don't expect you to understand my choices." Her voice held the same artificial nature of peace, but Karliah didn't miss that her eyes were stormy. "I do expect you, however, to swear to me that you won't tell anyone else."
In that moment, Karliah wanted to strangle Rory. The only thing that stopped her, ironically, was her condition. "How could you ask something like that of me?"
Rory looked down. Her hands tightened over her belly, and she shut her eyes. Karliah looked down, and could see that Rory's left hand was jumping unusually. It took her only a second to figure out that a tiny foot was kicking from within.
"I cannot make any promises about what I will do in the future," Rory said, her eyes still closed, "but for now, I need to do what's best for myself and my baby."
"Aldric is what's best for you and your baby," Karliah pointed out angrily.
Rory opened her eyes, and two tears immediately trailed down her cheeks. The forced calm had shattered. "Karliah, please. I need time. I cannot see him, not right now." Her voice sounded brittle.
"I thought being bonded to him meant that you couldn't be away from him," Karliah snapped. "Doesn't it hurt?"
"Yes!" Rory's hands balled into fists. "It hurts! You cannot imagine how frightened I am to do this alone, Karliah."
"You don't have to do this alone!" She took a step forward, reaching out to touch Rory's shoulder. "Aldric would do anything for you if he only knew where you were. If he knew he was about to be a father—"
Rory shook her head. "No, please. Karliah, swear to me that you won't tell him."
"You cannot ask me—"
She broke off suddenly when Rory closed her eyes again and held her belly. She pulled in a long, slow breath, and Karliah couldn't tell if she was in pain or not.
"Are you all right?" she asked hesitantly.
Rory nodded without opening her eyes. "It happens from time to time. It will pass."
"Please, stay here. Let me fetch Brynjolf. He's much closer to Aldric than I am, I'm sure he'd have some things to say."
"No." Rory's copper eyes burned. Desperation, anger, and fear mixed together in her gaze.
She turned away from the taller woman, wanting to yell in frustration. "Walk away, Rory. Just leave. That's what you're best at in life, isn't it?"
There was a long, enduring silence from behind. Then quiet footsteps retreated from her.
"Bye, Karliah," Lilly said sadly.
She turned around. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Lilly."
The girl shrugged. "It was worse before she brought me here. She cried for weeks after we went to a temple. She said the priestesses would help her, but I guess they didn't."
Karliah looked past Lilly, into the darkness. So Rory had had the chance to end her pregnancy. But she didn't.
She still loves him, she thought.
"Take good care of your sister," she told Lilly. "She will need a lot of help after the baby comes."
"I know." Lilly's face brightened. "I'm excited. I hope it's a girl. I can teach her lots of stuff."
"I'm sure you can." Karliah patted Lilly's head. "Goodbye, Lilly."
The girl hugged her around the waist, and then scampered off into the darkness.
Karliah stood over the entrance to the Cistern for a long time after the coffin had closed over her. She eventually sat on the last step and rested her head in her hands.
Aldric professed ignorance over the events that led Rory to run, but Karliah knew there had to be more to it. Somehow, she had fully retreated within herself, lost the ability to trust anyone—herself, Brynjolf, even Aldric.
It hurt her in many ways that she didn't fully understand, but she wouldn't tell him. She would not tell Aldric. He was torn apart not being able to find Rory, and she couldn't imagine how much worse that would be if he knew he had a son or daughter that he was being kept from.
Karliah sent a silent prayer to Nocturnal for guidance, and pulled open the entrance to the Cistern.