-Chapter-9-

The last drop of mead was drank from my bottle.

"Lets go." I told Aranea. I glanced at Lorland, who was still sitting on his own. Staring blankly at the wall, deep in thought. We opened the door into a dark street.

"Actually, it's getting late. I will get some rooms for us all." Aranea decided.

"OK, I'm going for a walk." I replied.

"Oh, OK. Take care of yourself." Aranea turned and went back into inn. The sound of the bell was muffled.

I let my mind wonder just as I walked down the streets, turning randomly into alleyways. The city was quite small actually.

"Gimme all y'ur gold!"

I was suddenly alert staring down the alley. There were around five men surrounding a much smaller man. It seemed like they were all Nords, picking on a Breton. Bretons are quite small. I could only see the outlines of the people. The Breton cowered on the wall in front of one of the men.

The man pulled out a knife.

I saw that I was in the shadows, unable to be seen. I thought about getting help, but it was out of my mind in a flash.

"Get away from that man!" my voice boomed down the alley. I unsheathed Grimsever, it seemed to glow in the dark.

"What the fuck is that?" one of the men said.

I found myself charging down the alley. This made three of the men run. How cowardly.

The man who had been bulling the Breton turned to run.

"No Solding! Kill the guard!" called one of the men who was running away.

Solding stood away from the Breton and dived to the side as I flung Grimsever down. The man quickly lunged, it hit my armour which did absolutely nothing. Quickly, I swung Grimsever around, hilt first. The end of the hilt was spiky which made him yelp as it hit his temple, knocking him unconscious, well, I hope so.

I helped the Breton man up. He had short, bright, blonde hair and brown eyes. He wore the clothes of a noble.

"Thank you." his voice was shaky. He swept down and felt the Solding's pulse. "He's alive. Just." he started to search the body. He pulled out a big pouch of gold, a amethyst, and a few lock picks. "Have these." he past all of it to me. "As a repayment." then he pulled out a note as I took the loot reluctantly. He opened and started to read. "He's from the Thieves Guild."

I instantly disliked this guild.

"I'll put it back in his pocket, so when the guard looks for anything on him he will find that." he smiled. "He got what's coming to him." the noble stood. "I'll get the guard." he jogged and turned left, quickly returning with one. "I was attacked by thieves." The guard wore the same armour than me, but it was slightly thicker and it had big, wide shoulder plates.

"Hmm." the guard bent down and searched the pouches attached to Solding's armour.

"His name is Solding." I added.

The guard looked up sharply. Eyes widening. "Finally!" he cried, looking at the body. He felt Solding's pulse and nodded. "I should get him to the doctor." he picked Solding up and slung his arm over his shoulder. Then they had gone.

"What's your name?" I asked the noble.

"Petric is my name." he smiled. "Thank you again. I need to go." he turned and vanished around the corner.

I felt important. I could be a guard.

I needed to think about it.

The inn wasn't far away, I just wanted sleep. The adrenaline had worn off already. But i still felt happy about clearing Narsis of one more thief.

The cheerful bell rung above my head. The inn was a lot less busy. I sat on a stool next Aranea at the counter.

"I got you a room upstairs. You're the room with the elk."

"Thank you." I absent-mindedly looked at my feet.

"Mind out now Mjoll." Aranea warned. "The Thieves Guild is not to be messed with." she lowered her voice to a whisper. "They might try to look for you if you had get identified. They might even send the Dark Brotherhood."

My face twisted into a shocked expression. "What the! How did-" I broke off. "Azura."

"Yes. I'm not saying you shouldn't help someone in need, but don't get involved with them. I'm going to bed." she stood and walked up the stairs.

I sat there for a moment. I looked around. My mind flooded with disbelief when I could still Lorland still sitting at the same table. This time he was talking to someone. A moment later they stood and started to head towards me. The man he was with was only a few years older than me and had auburn hair which flowed down to his shoulders. He also had a light beard. His armour looked light and strong. It was brown and he was copiously padded. A gold-coloured dagger held onto his belt. It had lots of carvings on it, just like Vu-Nul and Anease's house.

"Who's this?" I asked. My eyes fixed on the handsome man.

Lorland narrowed his eyes. "Is it any of your business?"

"Lorland, don't worry, it's fine." the Nord had a deep burly accent. "My name is Brynjolf. I used to work with Lorland."

"Hello Brynjolf." I tried to sound flirty.

He smiled. "I need to go. Goodbye." he declared and walked to the door. But then turned around. "Oh, what is your name?" he asked me.

I blushed slightly. Hopefully he did not notice. "Mjoll the Lioness."

He smiled more broadly. "Goodnight Mjoll." He looked at Lorland. "Nice to catch up." then he had left.

I went off to bed.


A/N: Not giving anything away, but i think you now know more about Lorland's past.