*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Four

He didn't need this shit. Garret was busy with other things and here Da'Virr was, getting arrested for stealing potions and flowers. He couldn't waste time to go down to Riften himself so he gave a coin purse to Drayce to bail her out, wrote a letter with his own personal seal and thanks to Anuriel and then took off to Bleak Fall Barrows. He instructed Drayce to not spend any from the black coin purse for it would be strictly for paying off bounty and then paying them to let Da'Virr remain in Riften…after some time off from them hopefully.

Sybel complained about never getting to do anything so he told him to go off exploring the lands of Skyrim. His reply had come shortly after, "Why so a troll can come and eat me!" Then he had to hear Dane bite his head off for not going to see him in the Skyforge in Whiterun when he visited the Jarl. Had he known Dane was there learning the ways of the best forge in Skyrim he would have seen him, but he didn't. Then he had to hear it when Sybel told Dane about him leaving his armor with some inn keeper in Solitude. That caused his brother to flip shit.

Now…now he was walking up a path in the cold, still wearing his mahogany tunic and leather pants and boots. Though now he had Drayce's cape. It came down to his knees but covered his essentials from the cold wind. She could do with her cowl or helmet, but he needed something he could use and this cape was meant to fit Nera and Dane combined. Since it was lined with iron in the inside it was harder for someone to get an arrow through it, but it was also heavy as fuck.

"I should have told him to go fuck himself." He muttered under his breath. Bleak Fall Barrows was on a hill. He asked around Whiterun and it happened to be an ancient Nordic Tomb. Not that anybody really cared too much to go adventuring and see it. He couldn't blame them; he wouldn't want to visit some old tomb. Especially if there weren't any family members in it, and he sure as hell knew, none of his family was in any type of Nordic tomb. It wasn't too far from Whiterun itself and he should end up there by the middle of the night. It would give him the advantage of surprise for any thugs or bandits lurking around. Did he mention that he took Drayce's bow and arrows as well? She didn't know about that part though.

A fox skipped by his feet before running into the trees. There was a skittish goat here and there, but no particular threat…unless you were afraid of goats. Then I guess you were really fucked out in Skyrim, because they were everywhere.

It took a while longer before he reached the steps of Bleak Falls Barrow. He crouched about twenty or so feet away from the steps and looked around. He eyed an iron helmet just barely at the top of the stairs. He could use the box, but it the person moved the arrow would miss and he would risk being detected. Those of Skyrim should clearly see that if an arrow almost hits them then there is some sort of threat that needed to be dealt with immediately. He decided on grabbing his daggers from his sheaths and slitting some throats. He took to walking slowly on the balls of his feet. His lack of armor made it easy for him not become detected.

By the time he made it up the stairs he was in a low crouch and he had spotted several arches walking about the top of the tomb. None of which were looking towards this poor unfortunate soul. It was a bandit wearing hide armor, his chest and back bare to him. Garret decided on a stab to the back. The dagger would penetrate through spine and then the heart and he would his other dagger to slice his throat from ear to ear. The plan was executed well enough and he set to dispersing the rest of the archers. The last one caught on and caught him in the shoulder with an arrow before he launched his body at her and aimed the dagger right through her neck. Through and through.

He pulled free and stood. No need on taking what they owned. He had his money. The arrow was caught in the iron of the cape so he had to put away his daggers and slowly remove it. The iron moved as if it were armor and he swore on his ancestors grave that Dane used magic to make it so. Metal was not meant to move the way Dane could make it which made him a genius in this age.

The entrance was to the side of him up the stairs, but he took a moment and enjoyed the view. He could see small fires started by the camps around the forest and the lights of Whiterun. It was almost serene. The air was cold, but there was no smells of ash, no smells of potions or food, just the earth. He loved it. Always loved being away from people and if it was up to him, he would have picked here as home, not the cave.

The temple was in ruins on the inside. The walls seemed to be collapsing and the only column left was the one directly in the middle of the room. There was a dead bandit lying next to his iron mace and then some skeevers around him. I wondered what killed him. Voices could be heard as a soft echo so he kept quiet and went back into his crouched position. He slowly picked up the mace and took it with him. Around the pillar was an opening and he saw that pillar number one wasn't alone, but had a sibling. It was also blocking a good view of the people at the fire. He could hear them talking the closer he came and he had to basically become one with the pillar and ease his way around.

The fire could be his enemy if he got in there view so he needed to remain a small distance until he could at least see them. There were two sitting around the cooking pit above the fire. Both had their backs turned to him. Fatal mistake. Always have someone watch your back or you ended up dead. He moved a bit faster as he pulled one dagger back from it's sheath and threw it at the female's neck. He swung the mace at the male closest to him with all his strength and heard the iron give underneath the blow. The man moaned while the woman convulsed on the floor, bleeding everywhere. The man was up and at him in a second, but Garret was still taller and stronger. The mace made contact with the man's sword, knocking it out of his hands and allowing Garret to kick the man in the stomach. He fell backwards into the pit and the fire, but Garret didn't let him scream in pain. He ended it quick with a few more strikes to the head with the mace.

He collected his dagger and dropped the mace before heading over to the chest by the opening. There was some coin that he took to go toss at Sybel, but the rest was useless. He had no need to keep steel or iron. None what so ever.

The stairs led to a shit load of spider webs and a hallway of urns on stone tables. Any other family member would have searched them, but he would rather light himself on fire. There was ashes in those and the last thing he wanted to do was touch where either someone's ashes had been or someone's organs had been. Fuck that. He passed it and continued down a small slope that lead past a collapsed staircase and into another long hallway with some bookshelves. There was an old potion and a few wine bottles. The potion, yeah…no. The wine? Yes. He grabbed a bottle and pulled it open, smelling the contents. It smelled good enough so he took a swig and kept walking.

More stairs led down to another room that had a man walking back and forth so he set down the wine and pulled out the bow He wore everything but a helmet. It seemed that the nords of Skyrim weren't as smart as they had been when he was a child. Hell, he was taught by his father when he first started walking to keep yourself protected at any cost. It was a quick enough kill and he could go back to drinking as he entered and pulled the arrow free of the man's head.

The room had another level hat was accessible by only one stairway. There was a lever besides it, in the middle of the room, a closed gate in the front of it. There was a snake in the mouth of a man in the ground and to the side he saw two birds and what looked like a whale, but he wasn't sure. Something. The whale was in the middle, but as he got closer, he realized that they moved. It was a key to getting the door open. A puzzle. He should have brought Nera.

He looked above him at the second floor. There were two faces above and the middle face must have been the face that was now in the ground by the lever. The face to the left had a snake and the one to the right had the whale thing. At least it wasn't a hard puzzle. He walked activated the pillars until they went snake, snake, whale and then walked over to the lever. "I swear to Talos, If I get shot and die I am finding the architect who designed this place and torturing them." He spoke as he kicked the lever over.

There was a quick pause before he saw the gate lifted out of his way. With a smug smile on his face he walked into the room.

"I can't believe he took my bow! The one thing I value more than life and he took it. That fucker is going to pay dearly." Drayce had Nera in town on the way to Riften. Garret had given her a black leather coin purse to deal with Da'Virr and then another to pay for Nera, but then went ahead and took her bow and arrows. It wasn't like they were some hunting bow with worthless iron arrows. She spent precious time and coin into caring for her bow. Her name was even carved into the grip and for him to take it from her was bull.

"He didn't have anything other than his daggers. It would be unfair to leave him without something else as protection." Nera argued.

"He has my cape. That is protection enough. Hell there are a shit load of weapons where we live and he could have gone back into town and sacrificed a little pride in getting something at the lowly blacksmiths instead of taking my bow. Now all I have is daggers and my axe. I don't even have my cape so now everyone sees my weapons." Drayce looked around the path. It was dead silent and pitch black. They were almost at Riften and left shortly after Garret when she decided to chase him down and beat him with the blunt side of her axe.

Nera had dragged her back and set her on the path to Riften and since then they had just been walking while she raved. It had to be around three in the morning, but neither of them was tired. Hell Nera was skipping behind her, now wearing her mages robes. They were mainly white. Nothing like the classic Nordic mages robes, but completely different. The hood beaked over to cover over half of her face. There was a blue silk cloth lined in red that slipped from the top of her shoulders down the middle of her front. It was held not tightly to her body, but loosely, her belt nothing more than a long red ribbon. It was tied around her waist three times before the knot was made to hang low at her middle. There was another cloth below the blue silk, but on top of the white made of a darker red cloth. It didn't go far down the robe, but was angled like the robe itself to come to point at the middle of her legs. It was connected somehow to a piece that traveled up her back and then wrapped in the front again at the top of her chest with some birds carved into the metal clip.

Since the robe didn't go all the way to her ankles but angled off at her knees, Garret made her wear leather pants underneath them. Nera had her staff of sparks with her, using it as a walking stick while Drayce, once again carried the bags of supplies that would be carted back to Winterhold when they were done here. There was books neatly place in the first bag at her hip along with scrolls tucking into the side and then the potions were in the bigger bag with nothing more than plants and other herds for Nera's potions. Three different bags. One on each hip and the last on her back next to her axe.

"I think I'm going to buy a horse for the ride back." She said under her breath.

They arrived at Riften when the early sun began to rise and was greeted by a guard who thought to bribe them. She almost killed him when the other guard stepped in and allowed her to enter. She was never bribed and by Talos she would kill anyone who ever to tried to bribe her again. She looked wealthy, yes, but she also looked deadly and angry and mean and everything that should keep bitches like guards from treating her like a peasent.

"Calm down." Nera spoke.

"This is the equivalent to you having to wear commoners clothes." Nera gasped at the thought. "Yeah exactly. Shut it." There was two people talking to the side of them. The woman wore armor, branded iron armor for sure and a battleaxe at her back. She seemed to have an orangey blonde hair and was talking with a man and they were talking. With what she did not care about.

As she continued to walk she met a man leaning against a pole. "Who is that?" Nera asked. She was at her back, her body glued to armor as if Nera was getting ready to use her as a shield.

"I don't know you." He spoke. Well obviously. "You in Riften looking for trouble?" The man had black hair and a balbo going on. Not as nicely kept as Sybel's though. He wore steel armor and was bulky, giving off the whole I'm baddest of the baddest.

"Listen, I am in no mood to deal with you. I'm here for my own reasons that don't include you in them and I expect you to shut your mouth and leave me be. Come on." She walked away without another word, grabbing onto Nera's wrists. "We are staying at the inn until everyone but the creeps and weirdos are awake."

Nera was lying in bed playing with her fingers while Drayce lay on the floor. The bags were above her resting on the wardrobe, but her weapons were cradled against her. She was in a foul mood over her not having her bow, which made no sense. Her sister was always possessive of that and her axe. She only really used those and the armor she had on now. She didn't like to many outfits because it made life harder. More choices more difficult in her eyes. She had very few nice clothes either. Mostly commoners clothes that she would just relax in at home.

She was needed to nap, but she also wanted to look around the place. The only thing keeping her from that was the thought of the Thieves Guild. Riften was rumored to be the home of the famous Thieves Guild and she had a feeling going outside before everyone was out and about made her a clear target for a thief. She'd rather not. So she remained in the bed until it Drayce woke.

"So who was that man?" Nera asked as they walked around the marketplace.

"Hell if I know. I never really go through that door so I never met him before." There was an empty stand in the marketplace, but everyone else was there. They walked into the Mistveil Keep and approached the elf by the Jarl. The Jarl was oblivious to the fact that an armed woman and a mage had walked into her home, but the elf didn't.

"I have a letter for Anuriel. Are you her?" Drayce went right up to her, all business no play.

"Yes." She reached for the letter and took it from Drayce. Nera looked over the table and watched the male nord at the other side of the Jarl kept glancing over at Anuriel. There was two people to the right of the room arguing about the Imperia-Stormcloak war, and then the other elf closest to them wearing mage robes. "Follow me." Anuriel excused herself from the table and showed them out the door. Nera was about to ask why when they started walking around to a tunnel that had another door. "You are Garret's sisters?"

"That's what it said in the letter did it not?" Drayce snapped. Talking to an elf wasn't helping Drayce's mood at all. "I want to get my sister and go as soon as possible." Anuriel nodded and opened the door into the prison. They walked along, passing two guards on the way to the lower level of cells. Da'Virr was wearing a ragged tunic and pants sitting across from an elf.

"Here she is. All her stuff is in a chest upstairs." Drayce pulled out the black coin purse and handed it over in exchange for the key.

"You can leave now." Drayce spoke as she took the key and opened the door.

"I would like to get to-"

"Go." She snapped. Nera almost laughed, but if she did then she would face the wrath of her sister. Note to self: do not take something of Drayces. Anuriel left them in a hurry. Da'Virr was up on her feet and at the door in seconds and she felt as if Drayce was going to reach into the cellar and throttle their furry sister. "You are an idiot."

"It's not my fault." Da'Virr defended.

"How is stealing not your fault?" Nera hung back and let Drayce talk with Da'Virr. They got into just as many fights as Drayce did with Sybel.

"It's not my fault I got caught, not that I stole." Da'Virr remarked.

"Garret found out. He is the reason why you are still being allowed in Riften right now. How he got the steward in his grasp I do not know…well maybe I do, but that isn't the point. You need to be careful what you do."She scolded. Drayce took over as the mother hen sometimes. Garret was the more likable mother hen, but Drayce was still as overprotective as Garret when it came down to it.

"Come on, Nera. Would you really let your sister rot in a prison?" Da'Virr looked towards her for some assistance.

"Don't look at me. Drayce will beat me up if I try and stop her and the dump me in the next block. Kiss her butt, not mine." Nera lifted her hands in her own defense. The last thing she needed was to be on Drayce's shit list while mad. Her sister still appeared to be the same. Nothing changed on her. There wasn't much to change on her anyway. She was a Khajiit and they had a certain fur and a certain eye color. There was no cutting or restyling the hair unless she wanted to be bald in some areas.

Da'Virr looked back at Drayce. Drayce would let Da'Virr out. She may be mad, but she wasn't mad at Da'Virr. She was mad at Garret and so she would let Da'Virr out and apologize for taking out her anger on the poor cat. Just right now she was probably enjoying the fact that Da'Virr needed Drayce in order to be free and that would mean Da'Virr would owe her. It wouldn't be the first time and Drayce took her time before she ever collected anything.

"Fine. Want to play dirty." She spoke, grabbing on the bars and pressing her face into the cool metal. "If you don't let me out right now, I won't tell Garret that you were the reason he lost his client back in Cyrodil. The pretty imperial with the busty chest?"

Drayce's jaw dropped and Nera's ears perked with interest. "What is this I hear?" She spoke as she came over to Drayce and nudged her over.

"How did you know?" Drayce asked.

"I followed you. You walked up to her wearing this slick outfit I had never seen before and started flirting with her like there was no tomorrow. You were every move calculated in your methods. The top at the neckline plunged down ever so much and you had weapons strapped to your hips with a hood over your head. It made you mysterious and that imperial loved it. By the time Garret had actually found her to sign the contract she was completely smitten with you and wanted nothing but you." Da'Virr purred in the satisfaction that she had something to hold Drayce with.

"She had the big time contract out on that general traveling to Solitude. That's why Garret went back to High Rock for a little. He lost his contract to some women he didn't know form a hole in the ground and his pride was busted." Nera let out a laugh. "If he found out that was you…oh boy, you might as well just stop talking to him now."

"Your choice, sister dear. My freedom or your damnation?" Da'Virr's purring got louder.

Drayce was silent for a second before she growled out a yes. She gave the keys to Nera and she opened the cell for her sister. Da'Virr jumped out of the cage and attacked her with a great big hug. Her claws dug into her robes, but didn't pierce them, which was great because she didn't want to deal with her robes also having holes in them.

"Now, you two can come with me to meet some people with more work for me." She said with a gleeful hint of mischief in her eyes.