Disclaimer:

I do not own the Elder Scrolls series, but Bethesda does. They're a very lucky bunch, aren't they?

Tempting Fate

Chapter One- Being Dealt A Bad Hand

Linith awoke with a gasp, consciousness rushing back to her immediately, along with the sharp sensations of agony pounding on her skull. With her body now fully aware of the pain flowing through it, she squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to let the tears gathering in them out. Seconds ticked by as she waited, drifting at a slower pace than she would've preferred, but the barbed intensity soon faded, becoming nothing but a dull ache.

She opened her eyes then, her vision unfocused and blurred. Images of splotchy white freely intermingled with hues of gray forming indistinct and random shapes. Feeling rather puzzled, Linith let her eyes wander, trailing an unsteady path towards the ceiling. These baffling shades danced wildly in front of her, before joining together, forming a dark mass of shadows. At the same time, thin beams of light cut through the dusty air, highlighting the dust and other particles that floated about.

This was a foreign place, home to darkness, hidden away from the public eye, lost. Stone, cold and uncaring bored into her semi-blind gaze, the unyielding surfaces of the glistening walls surrounding her beginning to solidify, constrict, squeeze…

Raising her head to look around, she shifted experimentally, but this sudden motion raised many complaints from the muscles in her lower back and between her shoulder blades, pulling them taut like a stressed bowstring. Linith blinked a few times, deciding to stay on her back for the time being, before a blurred object in front of her came into full and complete focus.

The angle was all wrong, the shape not registering at all in her mind as she continued to idly stare at it. Yellow stains, cracks along the sides, giant holes for…eyes…?

A lone skull gaped at her, slack-jawed and decayed.

Linith stared death in the face for a full thirty seconds before that fact finally registered and the need to flee kicked in. Her first attempt ended when she fell into a heap, her wrists haphazardly stuck to each other, throwing her off balance. Her second try also ended in failure, her hands slipping on a particularly grimy spot of the cell, which in turn sent her crashing onto the offending item.

The squeal of terror currently lodged in her constricted throat was making a better attempt to escape than she was. On her third attempt she gave up on her arms altogether, spinning her body around so that her legs could push her body away from it instead.

Colliding with a solid stone barrier, she sucked in a quick breath as the tremors traveled along the planes of her already sore muscles.

Her eyes slid shut, the weight of everything sucking her down like quicksand. Linith was all too aware of the rapid pounding within her chest, and did all she could to gather the clarity and rationale she desperately needed to guide her through this.

It was a skull, only a simple skull…just a skull that used to belong to someone before they managed to rot away in this-

Breaths were taken in, and she tried to calm the chills endlessly running across her shoulders and spine.

Relax, relax, relax…She inhaled once, holding it briefly before exhaling, her hands massaging her temples.

…My name is Linith. I…live on the waterfront of the Imperial City, but don't actually own a house… I have a hawk that likes poking me in the head when I act like an idiot, which is often… I'm in the local thieves guild, and steal for a living.

What else… Hobbies, what are my…oh! I collect notes on people, oddities, habits, and quirks... I sing and dance sometimes… I enjoy drinking. I…

…I got caught.

It came back to her then, the way the guard had roughly introduced her head to the pavement the night before. That had happened right after she had learned the consequences of headbutting an officer. They weren't immediately dire, but if repeated, she guessed they would ultimately prove to be such.

Well, you do learn from your mistakes, Linith mused.

Her forehead throbbed in response and she reached her hand up to inspect the damage. With no panic present to blind her senses, Linith immediately noticed the tugging between her wrists. Clenching her hands she firmly moved them away from each other, the metal chain connecting them objecting with a silent "chnk."

Wrist irons. Rusty and heavy enough to be irritating as hell.

Thankfully she seemed to have none around her ankles, but that still put a serious damper on her movement. There was no comfortable length between them, only a distance of a hand-and-a-half between her wrists.

She sighed, and with no other distractions present, her headache came back in full force. Lazy, nagging sensations beat against her forehead reminding her constantly of her condition. Reaching up, her fingertips absently grazed thick cloth.

That definitely wasn't there before. In fact, her wound was treated, but not healed. The idea struck her as odd at first, but the more Linith thought about it the more the idea appeared to make sense. She would hopefully avoid any infections during her stay, but also wouldn't be at full strength. Prisoners would be kept coddled and emaciated, too dependent on their captors to think clearly or consider escape. It was a subtle form of control and her temper momentarily flared.

Keeping the wound in mind, she concentrated on a light, flowing sensation, calling up one of the only spells she knew. She'd never received injuries worse than sprains or bruises, but the minor healing spell was always useful to have whenever faced with situations like this.

An ache, slow and burning answered her request, and that was not what she was hoping for. Linith tried again, focusing all of her leftover energy into the wound, using any little bit that could be wrung out of her limited store of magicka.

Once again, no answers were given and her need for energy was denied. Linith's tired mind eventually forced her to give up, frustrated by the restraints put upon her. Her condition was far from lethal, but the spell would've given her the pick me up she desperately longed for, and would ultimately be denied, at the moment.

"Fine," Linith huffed. "It's not like I'm a stinking mage, anyway."

A manual check-up would have to do for now. She carefully checked over the rest of her body, glad to find bruises decorating the surface rather than broken bones beneath it. Any movements would've alerted her to severe breaks by now, but the last thing she needed was to find the hidden ones while dodging, say…a crazed madman with a sword. That kind of lesson she could only learn once.

At least some relief could be had regarding the night before. That confrontation could've ended horribly, reducing her to nothing but a shivering mess in a dingy cell. She must've had some luck left to prevent that, any and all scraps making her grateful to be lucky to begin with.

The itchy sackcloth was far from a blessing, however. The realization that her tried and true leather armor had been replaced with the worn and dirty garments made her reach reflexively for her gear, the sound of chains being thrown rapidly back and forth punctuating her hurried movements.

Her wrecked pouch would've lost her essentials on the street, so that was a lost cause to begin with. Her old bow and iron mace? Those could easily be replaced, so Linith didn't waste any time missing them either.

Her armor and journal? Both were one of a kind, customized to fit her and her alone. One was fit to her specifications with what little money and crafting talent she'd had, while the other had her words, thoughts, opinions, and experiences. Everything walking, sitting, and breathing in the Imperial City had warranted a comment or note from her, and in someone else's hands a book like that proved to be one hell of a liability, if not a source of unexpected humor.

Simply put, she'd indirectly handed over all evidence needed to get her and every thief she knew pulled off the street and locked up indefinitely.

"Gods-damn it!" Linith yelled, violently slamming her fist into the one of the many dusty walls of stone surrounding her. That proved to be neither graceful nor clever on her end, leaving her now with a smarting forehead, a bruised ego, and an aching right hand.

At least Methredhel wasn't rotting here with her; Linith was sure she'd be catching the tail end of a string of curses against her family if she were. The other mer had been smart enough to stay out of sight, but had still attempted to retaliate. Thankfully the whole confusing mess brought about by Linith's antics had distracted them enough to focus on her, not whether or not she'd had an accomplice.

A part of her hoped that maybe the others would consider breaking her out, but she had dug the hole she was currently trying to scrape her way out of. She would learn nothing about consequences if that happened.

If it's your problem, you fix it. Armand would say. Don't drag others down for your mistakes, especially stupid ones.

Linith did her best to take that to heart, though the selfish part of her began to long for their familiar company. This place was too strange, too foreign. The shadows crept along the walls and played tricks with her eyes, the air remaining stagnant and stale.

At least they could both watch out for her feathered companion in the interim. Rowan, her hawk, was never far from her and she expected more than a few jabs from him upon her return.

He'd become a master at expressing exactly how he felt regarding some of her more hare-brained ideas, and she'd in turn learned to read every single expression he could throw at her. That damn hawk was special to her, and the thought of him brought up beautiful images of clear skies, dense forests and crystalline lakes, making the idea of freedom all the more fleeting.

So this is what happens when you gamble with chance and lose. Now she knew why good thieves never got caught. Prison was as close to hell as she wanted to get.

Her time idling about here was up; she had to get out. Using the wall for balance, Linith climbed to her feet, wavering slightly due to the sensation in her head. Equilibrium came quickly however, and once settled she crept towards the rusty barred door. It had a lock, and for every lock there had to be a way to pick it, right?

Times like this made her wish that she'd worn one of the more fashionable and absurd hairstyles. Blonde hair just wasn't meant to hide lockpicks well, unless under the guise of decoration, but any and all adornments would've been confiscated upon arrival, a fact that she didn't want to waste any time thinking about at all.

"…Planning your escape already, wood elf?"

She froze immediately. The sudden sense of someone else being there practically shocked the snot out of her. The halls had been quiet, or quiet enough for her to dismiss any noises as rats or any other odd creatures taking up residence here.

Seeing as how a prison typically holds more than one captive at a time, that fact shouldn't have surprised her at all. It was beginning to look like she'd left her common sense littered on the streets of the Imperial City as well.

Shaking off her surprise, she continued to examine the lock, responding to him in passing. "Good at guessing games, Dunmer? I don't exactly see a big sign posted on my cell stating who or what I am."

Red eyes glinted from within the cell opposite her own as he moved up to the door, his face scrunched up as if he'd eaten something that didn't agree with him.

"You're neither covered in mangy fur or slimy scales, so that narrowed down my choices rather quickly."

She suddenly stopped fiddling with the lock. What did that damn fetcher just imply?

He laughed suddenly, the mocking tone in his voice becoming even more pronounced. "…I'm sorry, am I not speaking loudly and clearly enough for you to understand me? Typical Bosmer. Your kind never did take the time to become educated."

Anger began to build, a slow, steady burning sensation deep in her chest. Patience wasn't one of her better qualities, but now was not the time for her to lose it!

"Come to think of it, why are you here? There's nothing down here for you, no forests, no open spaces, none of your filthy animals…nothing but harsh rock and stone. You're trapped here at the mercy of others, Bosmer! Payment for your foolish behavior!"

"I have a name, you sniveling bastard," Linith muttered acerbically.

She couldn't believe she was taking the bait. The metal door shook slightly under her white-knuckle grip, and the tide of the war seemed to be going against her. Simply put, the more she reacted the more she knew he would spot it, reveling in her annoyance and anger.

She would have to be chained up against her will before she'd spend any longer in this gods-forsaken place with him. A week here might mean his murder and her execution, two things that she'd rather not deal with at this time. Her shaking hands began to hurriedly look for loose bolts, weak areas in the bars, anything. Anything to get her out and far, far away from this hole in the earth and the crazy Dunmer stuck in it.

Something suddenly shifted down the hall then, creaking as it moved. Linith's long ears twitched, picking up the slight sound of metal, moving in time with something. The Dunmer in the other cell must've picked up on it too, because he was leaning against the bars and concentrating on the shadows at the end of the stone tunnel.

"Well, I think we have a visitor."

Clanging metal reverberated in her ears and she shot away from the door, not eager to get caught in the act a second time.

Armored footsteps halted once the approaching figure reached the outside of her cell. Pressing herself against the wall, Linith had only one thought concerning her present situation.

Shit.

Hieronymus Lex really didn't strike her as the cheerful, understanding type. His current grimace only served to reinforce that fact.

"On your feet, prisoner." She knew that this was one of those times where it was a good idea to listen.

The advantage wasn't hers here. Linith's element was long gone, hidden amongst the trees and houses just outside of the prison. Hesitantly she stood, leaning against the wall and staying in the one area where she did have a mild advantage. The shadows. Right now, she needed them on her side the most.

She just had to try that stunt a few days ago. Maybe he'd make a wild guess and connect the current stains on her face to the dirt she'd slapped on for her half-hearted disguise. Of all the people to blindly point fingers, Hieronymus Lex would probably be the most likely to get it spot on. For that reason, she stayed put.

"From what I understand of yesterday's events, you weren't the only thief to successfully break into the Imperial Trading Company's Offices and Warehouse."

"Why would you think that? How do you know that I wasn't just wandering around there? People take walks at night. Sometimes they find themselves in places they shouldn't be…"

He laughed, a great sound in the tiny space they all occupied. "How stupid do you thieves think I am?"

She wisely chose not to answer that question. When you're involved in a competition seeing how many times you can trick him in a year, it's probably much healthier for you to keep your mouth shut.

Lex eyed her carefully, thinking for a moment before proceeding. "The evidence is against you, and it would very much benefit you to admit to it. Whether you do or don't depends entirely on your sentence. You see, the longer you refuse to admit it, the longer we will hold onto you before you tell us who did."

He leaned in closer to the bars, now speaking in a more conspiratorial tone. "And I know that you're about as partial to your current residence as I am to the Gray Fox himself. Make it easier for us and we'll make it easier for you. Progress is progress, and every bit will count towards your release."

Admitting it would be the first mistake. Saying anything about her friends or the Gray Fox would be the next. Which was more important at the moment? Release or loyalty?

The answer was all too easy to find. Loyalty. She'd craved it for years, and would rot in this cell rather than give it up so easily.

Linith sighed, letting her shoulders slump. "Okay, you want an answer? Fine. I did it… It was my target and mine alone. Does that count as progress?"

He stood very still, barely moving before nodding slowly. "…Progress is progress."

He was handling her very delicately at this point and Linith knew that he was waiting for any small mistake to happen. Lex's eyes were glued to her, and she began to suspect that he was picking apart anything he could spot, ranging from her messy hair and her wary stare, to her minutely twitching fingers.

"Why can't we use magic in here?" she asked hesitantly, raising both of her hands to push the slipping bandages back up onto their place on her forehead.

"We capture sorcerers as well as pirates and thieves. It's for our safety as well as yours that we keep magic use to a strict minimum. Wounds will be given minor care if the injury is considered serious, but no more courtesy will be extended beyond that. This is the Imperial Prison, not a local Inn."

Linith tried to cross her arms, and fought with the chain for a few seconds before giving up, reaching both hands up rub a cramp in the back of her neck. "If that were the case, I'd complain about the living arrangements…" she sighed.

His eyes narrowed, watching her with renewed suspicion. "What was that?"

"Huh? Oh! I was thinking about how this place reminds me of home." She smiled, a gaudy thing in and of itself, and she mentally smacked herself for fooling around. Now wasn't the time, and Lex wasn't the one to pick on for now.

Mild annoyance crossed his features, but it faded as he stood up straighter, clearing his throat. Her thoughts on the cell or the prison were fairly inconsequential, and she sensed that he was getting to the real business at hand. "Now…I was hoping you could tell me where to locate the Gray Fox."

She really should've expected that question. Still she couldn't help the look of exasperation on her face. "You're joking with me, right? I'm a thief. I don't deal in myths and legends."

Now, if only you had asked my extended family that question… I have a few aunts who'd probably string me up for doubting that fact.

She respected the Gray Fox for what he was, but even she wasn't sure if he was real or not. Words were spoken about him in passing, rumors about appearances and clandestine meetings, and the only picture she had to refer to was the one posted on every wall in the Imperial City.

Only Armand had hinted that he'd been able to communicate with him, and judging by his seriousness on the matter he believed in the master thief entirely.

"Prisoner!"

Impatience had leaked into Lex's voice by now, and her eyes were once again reluctantly focusing on him. "All of the thieves know, respect, and fear the Gray Fox. I know the hold he has on the Waterfront, and the words spoken about me behind my back. You all think of me as some lumbering incompetent, but I won't rest until he's captured, convicted, and condemned. That's my duty to this city and to its people, and I won't rest until I've taken him in myself. I'm going to ask you one more time, do you know of the Gray Fox's location?"

"No, and just in case you were still wondering if I was lying to you, no. I really don't. In fact, I want you to consider something."

Temporarily forgetting her pledge to keep herself relatively concealed, she slowly approached the bars, raising her hands so she could curl her fingers around them.

"I am stuck here in this miserable place because I did something foolish and got caught stealing from a warehouse. Careless and clumsy as I am, if I were someone who was part of the Gray Fox's…inner circle, I would hardly be assigned such a mundane task. Trust me, it'd be a lot more exciting, like stealing a scroll from the Arcane University, or your pants while you were still wearing them."

His mouth opened and closed and she quickly continued to speak, not willing to let him interrupt in the slightest. With every new sentence came an increased feeling of boldness, and some part of her relished the fact that she did nothing to curb it.

"There'd be no chance of me getting caught, and I certainly wouldn't still be here now. In the absolute worst of situations, a potential follower of the Gray Fox, according to myths and legends mind you, would simply wait for you walk away, leaving nothing but an empty cell by morning. What we have here, however, is a simple thief caught on a bad day, and a guard captain renowned for chasing shadows. You know what we both think is going to happen? You're going to leave and come back, day after day, asking me the same questions every time…and I'm going to give you the same answers, regardless of whether we like it or not."

Under torchlight, she could see the red tint covering his face and ears, and the way he kept his lips pursed tightly. Linith could see that he was straining to retain his composure, and the snickering coming from the other cell did nothing to help that. Clearing his throat loudly, he maintained eye contact, trying to keep himself in a position of authority.

"You won't…reconsider?" he asked in a strained tone, his patience worn down to the bone.

Her response was a staunch, "No."

"Very well. You are still expected to serve out your sentence due to the current bounty on your head. Do keep in mind that if you happen to escape or if you're caught in the act of escaping, I'll deal with the matter personally, and the consequences will be far from favorable. Maybe some time here will help to re-examine your ways and remind you of what you've done." He brusquely left, his boots clanking with each step until they faded and were replaced by the sudden slamming of a door.

She watched him go for a couple of seconds and then rested her head against the bars. Not smart at all. Leave it to her to try and make a point in a prison cell to one of the most stubborn people in Cyrodiil.

The snickering from the other cell stopped, but now he was eyeing her while wearing a malicious grin.

"A thief, with wandering hands and sticky fingers? Hah! How does it feel to have your own things taken from you? Payback from all those times you couldn't keep your hands to yourself!"

"So help me," she cut in, her temper finally boiling over. "if we find a way out of here and by some unlucky twist I meet you again on the street, I won't hesitate to beat you senseless and turn you into a pin-cushion." She shot through clenched teeth.

He didn't seem to be fazed by her statement or the venom behind it, and she could barely make out his muffled response. Was that laughter? "Ha! You silly Wood Elf. Is that what you call a threat?"

"No, but give me enough time and I'll come up with a better one…"

She'd had enough. At the moment she could do nothing to help her situation, only learn to get through it and ride it out until it ended. Destructive emotions and thoughts would only bring her down, and she refused to give in to such thinking.

Linith approached the back of her cell and leaned against the stone wall, sliding to the ground in an ungraceful heap. Maybe the guards would do the their usual rounds soon and she'd get something to eat. Knowing that what she'd get would probably be mush rather than venison or boar, she hoped that she would at least get a fork or knife.

She thought about it for a while, the idea of carving her own lockpick bringing it's own sense of relief to her nerves, but eventually shook her head at the idea. No, with Lex present that would never happen. Not when he was personally keeping an eye on every thief picked up off the streets.

With her hair in her face, she pulled her knees towards her so she could pick at the bottom of one of her pant legs. When the tear was deep enough, she ripped off a long strip and used it to tame the tangled and dirty beast currently taking up residence on her head. A low ponytail did the trick, and once done with the simple task she dropped her hands down on her stomach, staring blankly at the dimly lit hallway.

All she could do now was wait.

Thanks are definitely given to Sonsasu The Winter Dragon for helping me with the start of this chapter. I'm really sorry that it took so long to do, but it's done, and hopefully editing and writing will be done to continue this. I'm going to take this at a good pace since I've come to realize that this is…ambitious to say the least, but I don't want to stop. Let me know if you spot any grammar errors, and what you think of it. Enjoy!