"Hey! Bring me another round of the absolute finest mead you've got! Ah, what the hell, drinks for everyone on me!"
The whole bar erupted into a fit of cheers as Brynjolf tossed yet another hefty bag of coins onto the counter, with the barkeep counting them out just to make sure. You never knew if someone could be cheating you in a deal, and it would've been even truer if the man actually knew what kind of occupation Brynjolf did for a living.
Despite this, Bryn was giving the genuine amount tonight. He was feeling especially generous this evening after a huge haul that he obtained with his two fellow Nightingales, who were casually watching at one of the tables while sipping from their mead. Well… Balithus was anyway. Occasionally Karliah would drink some of the Black-Briar Mead, but honestly she'd been forced to deal with Maven so many times before that she couldn't care less about the stuff.
The Winking Skeever was relatively packed this evening, thanks to it being a celebration of Vittoria Vici's wedding that was surprisingly uninterrupted. The guards were sure that they would've had to arrest at least one would-be assassin, but thankfully nothing terrible like that happened.
What did happen though was the theft of a handful of jewels and more Septims than the three Nightingales could even count from the Jarl's palace. They actually made a bit of a competition out of it. Whoever could grab the most shit from the palace before the guards and everyone else came back to the Blue Palace would win, and clearly Brynjolf picked the best room in the house. The rest of the night went pretty much how you'd expect – with Brynjolf drinking his money away, and his two companions amusedly but slightly concernedly watching from afar.
"Don't you think he's had enough?" Karliah asked, twirling a strand of hair around her finger absentmindedly, "I mean, he's making a complete fool out of himself, and somebody's bound to figure out where all his money's coming from."
Balithus shook it off. "Nah, let him enjoy himself for now. He'll be fine. We shouldn't kill his buzz."
"I think he passed the buzz stage about four drinks ago," Karliah mentioned, watching as Brynjolf downed his mead in almost one sitting. "If he keeps this up, there's a good chance we're going to get caught."
Sure enough, three guards soon opened the door to the Winking Skeever with their intimidating presences. Karliah couldn't see their faces due to the helmets, but she was sure that they weren't looking too happy.
"Just keep it cool, Bal, and wait for my signal…" she instructed, getting a silent nod from the wood elf.
Brynjolf didn't even seem to notice them walk in, as he continued to engage in conversation with an old orc who had plopped a seat next to him. One of the guards firmly put his hand on Brynjolf's shoulder, and he looked back behind him with glossy eyes – mead swimming through his brain.
"So you're the one making the ruckus around here," one of the guards confirmed, crossing his arms over his chest. "We've gotten several complaints about unruly behaviour coming from a red-headed Nord over at the tavern. Sound familiar?"
"Nope, but if I see him I'll be sure to let you lads know," he tried to excuse himself, but to no avail. The second guard came and roughly pushed him back down into the bar seat. Balithus's fingers grazed the hilt of his blade on instinct, but Karliah set it back in his lap. Killing the guards would definitely not be a smart move on their part.
"So how is it that you managed to obtain all of this wealth anyway? You would think that an average citizen would simply keep it locked away in a safe somewhere, not just sitting on their person. Unless… you'd like to confess to something?" the guard insinuated, putting his hand on the hilt of his axe in case things became difficult.
Grinning wolfishly, Brynjolf wiggled his eyebrows at Balithus as he turned back towards the guard and explained, "It's all about sizing up your mark, lads."
"Oh gods, no…" Balithus muttered, burying his head on the table, "Please, don't give him any ideas."
"You're coming with me, thief!" the guard roared, pulling out a steel war axe and holding it menacingly above his head.
Thinking quickly, Brynjolf rammed into the guard's sternum, causing him to collapse into the other guard and send them both tumbling down. "Quickly! Run!" he shouted, heading for the door and sprinting towards the main gate of Solitude. A barrage of arrows luckily missed their targets, hitting instead the wooden planks of just collapsing uselessly against the stone walls of the city.
"Dodge this!" Karliah shouted, placing an arrow in her quiver and firing in an instant, setting its mark in a guard's arm. Of course though, in typical Karliah fashion, she did this while expertly leaping over another guard and placing a paralytic poison inside of his pocket, knocking him over almost instantly.
"Bless you, Lady of Shadows. I live another day," she whispered, catching up to her fellow Nightingales who were saddling up to their horses.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have the coolest catchphrases?" Balithus asked, helping Karliah up to the back of his own horse and galloping behind Brynjolf. The red-headed Nord seemed a little wobbly on his steed.
"Why is it we're letting him ride the horse?" she asked, watching as he slowly proceeded to fall over into a ditch.
Scratching his head, Balithus shrugged and rode past him, muttering something about not waiting for the old drunk.
