Hello again! This chapter turned out ok, could have been better, could have been worse.
Shoutouts:
DarkAngel1345: That's perfectly true! And even if there are no secret meanings, it shows character!
eep246: Maybe I'll finish one day, I just ran out of ideas...
Guest: I'm glad you liked it! not my favorite chapter but it was necessary.
Chapter 6: Too much mail
The next morning, the guild was in an uproar, but then again, it usually was these days.
Something was always wrong, it gave Brynjolf a headache. Seemed there was nothing they could do to make things go right for a change.
Mercer was practically on fire the way he ran around screaming at people, almost jumping off the walls with frustration. He was waving the letter that his second in command had left for him on the Guild's desk like it was a flag for his anger, which, if you really thought about it, it kind of was.
"How could we not have seen this one coming!" Mercer threw the words at the Nord who just leaned against the Cistern walls, "I mean it was RIGHT there in our faces! Why else would Aringoth have the balls to betray Maven and the guild?"
And he spoke in circled for a while; Brynjolf had been standing there listening to him drabble for quite some time now and Mercer had not actually mentioned what was in the letter.
"We let this slip RIGHT under our noses and you know why? We're all TOO caught up in doing these tiny little jobs, Sapphire is always God-knows where, Delvin just likes to sit back with his mead and pawn the big jobs off to every small man the guild has and Vex is out of action now! Brynjolf you fix this!" Mercer stepped dangerously closer with his long fingers in the Nords face, "You better fucking fix this Bryn or it's the end of the guild, FUCK"
Once again, Brynjolf had no idea what Mercer was actually talking about.
Was it the girl? Brynjolf thought for a moment, it was doubtful; he hadn't even had a second to even tell Mercer about her, not that the Breton would even care. Mercer had gotten high strung; he didn't want to waste another drop of resources in recruiting, training only to find the members dead or in jail which is fairly reasonable, but with Vex out of work times like these were they needed more recruits.
"Oy Bryn, what's alla' that fuss about then?" Delvin whistled at him with a nod.
"I'm not too sure, but I would wager it had something to do with a certain present a little bird left me."
Mallory just cackled and walked away, assuming it was part of a joke he was supposed to understand, in a way, Brynjolf was disappointed. If anyone knew her, it would be Delvin, the man had contacts everywhere. He knew Maven knew about her, but Maven isn't exactly someone you just walk up to and ask for the name of one of their distinctive thieves.
Bryn sighed and headed over to the Guild's desk and picked up the letter that Mercer had tossed in his fit before heading to the Flagon.
And when he unfolded the crisp paper and read the cursive writing, he immediately understood the Guild master's frustration, he wasn't as tempted to throw himself into the Cistern waters and run around like a hurricane as the guild master was, say all you want about red heads, Brynjolf was an exception to the rule of hot headed gingers.
The letter stated the sale of Goldenglow, with one of the terms of to cut off any affiliation with the Guild.
This person was out to cause trouble.
They had signed the top of the page with a strange symbol, which may be something to go on, but the name Gulum-Ei which appeared on the page as witness to the Bill of Sale would be something a little more helpful.
And Brynjolf was so tired of playing these games as he folded the page and left it on the desk.
But as he walked away back to the Flagon he wondered…. Why did the girl have the letter? Was she a part of this or did she simply pull it from the safe of Goldenglow before she left?
He entered the Flagon in hopes to drown sorrows in mead, as is the custom, when he noticed a young Nord man standing at the front of the Flagon with shivers down his spine like he had seen a ghost. He must have made it past the bandits that flooded the Ratways.
"I h-h-have a let-t-t-ter for a Bryn…..Golf?" He stuttered, Bryn chuckled as he heard the mispronunciation. Turns out, it doesn't matter how easy a name looks or how common it is, people will always find a way to get it wrong.
Brynjolf stepped forward and introduced himself to the young courier who was shaking out of his thin leather boots.
"Never been to the Ratways, lad?" He chuckled, "I can tell it's not your scene already." He extended a hand for the letter.
The courier didn't even reply, he wiped his forehead with his sleeve whilst handing over the letter.
To be truthful, Brynjolf was already over getting mail.
"Here's a coin for yer trouble, lad." He tossed a Septim at the boy, only to see it bounce off his chest to his feet, "I would recommend making deliveries to Sapphire in future, she sticks around upstairs more than the rest of us."
The courier nodded before sprinting away as if he had started to grow a second head.
He walked back to the table and sat by Delvin, looking over at the bar he saw Mercer humming into a Tankard, Vekel had probably convinced him to have a mead and probably decided to spice it up with something a little more powerful in hopes to make the man merrier. Yet even when he was drunk, the man had an aura of unapproachable menace.
Bryn turned back to his tankard and stared at the envelope he had received, it was plain paper with his name written in a fanciful cursive he had not seen before in Skyrim.
When he opened the letter, a smile came to his face when down the bottom it was signed by 'the grey fox'.
That's right! Take that minor cliffhanger to THE FACE! Don't forget to leave a review! Need at least 3 for the next update...