visitor
Esbern at first didn't know what had woken him but immediately rose with creaking bones from his bed. His joints protested as he straightened and listened anxiously.
Knocking.
Knocking on his door! Nobody should be knocking at his door, he lived in the Ratway for a reason after all.
Decades of training drove away the haze of sleep and replaced it with healthy paranoia. Esbern approached the door cautiously, slid the cover from the small window and peered through. A tall figure was standing outside, face hidden in the shadow of a mage's hood.
"Who's there?" asked Esbern.
"A friend. I am looking for Esbern." The accent was strange. Esbern knew that tune from somewhere.
"Esbern?" he answered. "I don't know an Esbern. Ask Knjakr next door."
A hint of impatience coloured the visitor's voice as he said: "I was sent here by Delphine. Where were you on the last of Frostfall?"
"What?" It couldn't be…
"Frostfall the thirtieth. Open the door, Breton. The Thalmor are everywhere in the Ratway."
"You could be one of them!" Esbern hadn't survived that long by just believing every stranger who knocked at his door.
"Both of us know Delphine would rather die than betray you even under torture. Now, if you would be so kind…"
Esbern closed the small window again and began to undo the seven locks, five bolts and the iron bar that kept his door safely shut. It was hard work, but after squeezing his thumb painfully a few time the door swung open to admit the visitor inside. As soon as the tall man had entered, Esbern bolted the door again.
He paled as the visitor pushed his hood back.