By Right of Blood – 2

Zed opted to take a carriage to Riften. Half of this decision was for convenience, the other half for the desire not to spend a hardy day's walk fighting off the vicious Rift wildlife. It wasn't surprising, however. The hold had the most temperate climate next to Whiterun, this being the only way the flame-leafed birch bark trees could stay alive. It honestly wouldn't be a terrible place to live it weren't for the animals that ran amuck or the infamy of the Thieves Guild making it notorious. Even the authority figures seemed to be falling victim to this, as the guard at the gate attempts to convince Zed that he had to pay some sort of visitor's tax.

"Tell me the truth, how many people do you actually trick into giving you money?" Zed inquires after a pause of contemplation at what the guard asked for. He couldn't see the guard's expression under the helmet he wore, but he could tell by the shift in his stance that he didn't want to answer truthfully, or at all.

"If you're going to extort people, don't make it so obvious." Zed finishes, gesturing the gate, "I'd like entrance into the city, if you have nothing else to say."

The guard grumbles something under his breath, walking over and unlocking the gate. Zed nods out of fake thanks as enters, entirely aware that the fellow Nord was probably cursing him to Oblivion.

The weather-beaten city of Riften wasn't much to look at. Zed isn't an expert on its history, though he knew it was a fairly malicious. The place wore corruption like a broken mask; just suitable enough to pull the wool over a naïve person's eyes but just cracked enough for one of sense to know what was really going on. It's funny how terrible the city presents itself, yet some of the wealthiest people in Skyrim populated its walls.

But Zed wasn't thinking about such things. It was what he was about to do that occupied his thoughts. Why was he even thinking about this? He had come to Riften to kill a stranger because a boy thought he was an assassin. The whole idea of it was ridiculous. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that this was something more. He knew there was a much more logical approach, but some feeling resided within him that it was a task that needed to be done.

He stops in front of the orphanage, forgetting that he had been walking as he was thinking. With surprising reluctance, he thinks rationally. Aventus was a child, probably looking for attention. This Grelod the Kind probably wasn't as cruel as he had let on, considering that children tended to exaggerate to impress. He decides then that he would see what this caretaker was like then make his decision.

Satisfied with this, Zed quietly enters the orphanage, stunned to already find himself wanting to kill the old hag within the first thirty seconds of his presence.

Grelod stands in the middle of the room, four children slouching in front of her. A malicious sneer makes its home on her face, seeming to be in the middle of a speech, "…and any of those who shirk their duties will get an extra beating, understand?"

"Yes, Grelod." The children respond in monotone, though a couple tried to force sincerity.

"And another thing! I will hear no more talks of adoptions. Nobody needs you nobody wants you. That's why you're here my darlings. You'll be here until you come of age to be thrown in to the wide, horrible world. Now what do you all say?"

"Thank you, Grelod, you're very kind."

"By the Divines this is depressing." Zed mumbles, mostly to himself.

Grelod looks up, having finished her speech. She glares at Zed, "What are you doing here?" she demands, becoming even more annoyed when Zed remains silent with a steady narrow gaze, "What are you staring at, you worthless piece of gutter trash? Constance! Get rid of him!"

Another woman, Constance, having stood in the back throughout Grelod's speech, hurries to him as the children disperse. She speaks with a quick, nervous voice, "I'm sorry, none of the children are up for adoption. If you have no other business here, I have to ask you to leave."

"Does she always act like that?" Zed asks, rather disturbed by the fact that he's been referred to a trash twice in two days.

Constance glances behind her to make sure Grelod's preoccupied before sighing forlornly and responding, "Sadly, yes. Even the townsfolk have taken to calling her "Grelod the Kind." Her very existence has become something of a running joke." She pauses, becoming increasingly nervous the more she speaks, "Grelod runs this orphanage because she's old, and set in her ways, and doesn't know any other life. These children need love, and comfort. I try... But... I'm sorry, you should go. The children aren't up for adoption, and it's cruel to get their hopes up. Besides, Grelod hates... visitors."

Zed wanders as he listens to Constance, ignoring her requests for him to leave, much to her distress, "I honestly don't care if she gets mad." he says complacently, pushing a door open, a small closet with child-sized shackles behind it, "…what's this?"

"Um…the punishment room." Constance replies softly. Zed stares at her for a couple seconds without responding, resulting in her quick, repeated plea, "You really should go."

Yet Zed didn't really hear her. He wasn't listening to her, but to something else. He couldn't quite place what he heard, but it seemed rather far off. He couldn't quite make out the words, but he somehow knew what it was probably saying. He glances at Constance silently, saying nothing in return to her. She shifts slightly, rather put off by his response.

"Are you still here?" Grelod asks harshly, crossing her arms, "This is an orphanage, not an inn. Be gone from here."

"Please mister, you got to get us out of here!" one of the children suddenly speaks up, stepping to the side so he can be seen behind Grelod, "Ever since Aventus left, I swear she's going to kill one of us!"

Grelod turns her back to Zed, glaring at the child who spoke, "Did you just speak?"

The child immediately shrinks into himself, "Um…"

"You never speak out of turn like that! Not in my orphanage! I'll teach you to think you can just break the rules like that!"

She raises her hand like she intends to strike the child, but Zed steps forward, catching her wrist. She starts to protest, but he silences her, swiftly dragging a dagger across her throat.

Grelod's body falls to the ground as soon as Zed releases her. The children gather around, staring silently with mouths agape. Constance has her hand over her mouth, stunned.

Almost as suddenly as silence consumes the place, it's broken. Constance screams, running around the room frantically. At the same moment, the children cheer, following Constance's lead, but with pure, unadulterated joy plastered on their faces.

"Grelod is dead! I can't believe she's dead!"

"Aventus did it! He really did it!"

"Someone killed Grelod!"

There was something quite disturbing about watching a bunch of children run about in happiness over the death of an old woman. Zed supposes that he would be doing the same thing if he had been stuck an orphanage like the one he resided in now. The child that had spoken out before runs up, a huge grin on his face, "Wow mister, I didn't think someone would actually kill that old hag. Guess I was wrong!" he pauses for a happy laugh, holding out his hand as if about to greet a noble, "I'm Hroar. I'm named after the sound a lion makes- "

Constance, who had been preoccupied by the shock of the event, runs up and pulls the young boy away. She had regained her composure, but the essance of fear still lingered on her expression, "You stay away from him!"

Zed wonders how exactly he's going to get away with this. The same voice that convinced him kill Grelod in the first place seemed to bring the idea of killing Constance across his mind. The children definitely wouldn't be telling anyone, based on their reactions. He glances at the bloodied dagger in his hand, then back at Constance, who seems to know what he indeeds, and pales in response.

"W-wait, don't kill Constance. She's nice!" Hroar says quickly, surprisingly intelligent in his interpretation of the silence and their looks, "She won't tell anyone!"

"Hroar!" Constance speaks the name as if to scold, but can't find the words to do so.

"…I'm not going to kill you." Zed says gently, keeping his voice soft, his tone comforting, "You weren't the contract, and I doubt Aventus would want you dead too."

"So it was Aventus that called you." Constance replies, her voice shaking despite the relief of Zed's words, "I had no love for the Grelod, but you Dark Brotherhood assassins, killing in cold blood-"

"See, that's the thing…I'm not part of the Dark Brotherhood."

"You…what? Then how did you-"

"Listen for two seconds, okay? I was curious about the rumors around Aventus. When I found him he was out of it and thought I was an assassin. I didn't want him to continue stabbing a human effigy for days on end so I figured I would carry out what he asked. That's it."

Constance watches him for a moment, as if looking for sighs of manipulation. By the sigh that escapes her, he knows she believes him, "I…suppose I can understand that." She takes on a more serious expression, "I can't say I completely agree with what you've done, but I'll stay silent about it. Just go now, before you're caught."

She tosses a small rag to him for the purpose of wiping away the blood. Zed forces himself not to express his relief, nodding shortly to the assitant and cleaning his blade and hand. The sound of the children saying their goodbyes follow him out when he leaves without another word. As he retreats from the orphange, he mumbles to himself, "I can't believe I got away with that."

He passes by the general store, the Pawned Prawn, as it were, only to intercepted as the door opens, Spirit backing out with a smile, "Thank you for your generous contribution, Bersi!" she says as she exits, bowing rather insultingly before shutting the door. She turns seeing Zed, "Oh, hey! What are you doing here? I thought you were in Windhelm"

Zed grumbles, really not wanting to explain what he was actually there for. The last thing he wanted was to be scolded by a friend, which he knew would happen. He quickly thinks of a lie, not skipping a beat, "I was, but I came here afterward. I figured we should stay together until this Dragonborn buisness is figured out."

"Well, that was considerate of you." Spirit responds, although she did seem rather suspicious. Then again, she had no reason not to trust him, "How many bears did you have to kill to get here?"

"None, I took a carriage."

"Dammit, I should've done that. I had enough bear pelts by the time I got here to line the walls of every home in Skyrim."

"Well, you could've made a cloak."

"Who said I didn't?" Spirit grins, taking the knapsack off her back and pulling out a very well-made, pure white bear cloak.

Zed raises an eyebrow, "Made that all by yourself, did you?"

"Oh yeah, and it took some time too!"

"Uh huh…and where exactly did you find a snow bear in the Rift?"

"…Shit."

"That's what I thought."

"They left it sitting right out on the counter and-"

"You don't have to explain yourself, you should just know what bears live where before trying to lie about it."

Spirit scoffs at her friend, "Oh, I'm sorry about my lack of bear knowledge."

"Your lack of knowledge disgusts me." Zed says with fake dramatic tension, "How could you do this?"

"Oh shut up." Spirit mumbles, punching his arm and walking back to the merchant circle, "I haven't got any word from Aura, so I guess we can wait around here."

"I could use a drink anyway. And you could explain why you're stealing money from shopkeepers." Zed says, gesturing to the newly aquired coin purse in Spirit's hand.

Spirit smiles, "I might just take you up on that."

~And we stand tall, sons of the snow, we will not fall under these blows…~

The two retreated into the inn, the keeper not particularly thrilled to see Spirit, who had apparently stolen money from her as well. She became slightly more friendly when they actually paid for their drinks, however. Spirit explained her encounter with the Thieves Guild and the exploit they had sent her on to return owed money. Zed listens, but finds himself drifting. He didn't want to stay in Riften much longer. He needed to return to Windhelm.

"I have to bring the money back to them," Spirit says, winding down her story, "but I wanted to wait for Aura."

"Well I guess we could go right now."

Spirit turns, greeted with the sight of her sister, "Well you're just that convinient aren't you?"

"It's what I do." She looks at Zed, "I got you a present."

Zed let's out an exagerrated gasp, "For me? You shouldn't have."

"Oh please, here." She drops a silvery ring in his hand, a soft purple glow surrounding it, "it muffles your armor, makes you move more quietly."

Zed smiles. That would certainly be helpful, especially if the guards happen to figure out the murder he had just recently commited. He couldn't wipe it out of his mind.

Spirit wastes no time resummerizing the story of the Thieves Guild to her sister, who smiles at every word, eager to get involved, Zed thinks. When she finishes, Aura sighs, "That sounds good…really good but…we really should deal with this…thing," Aura speaks sheepishly.

"What 'thing'?" Zed asks curiously.

Now, Aura commences in her tale. She speaks of her and Owlet's decent into the ruins of Ustegrav, Aura's reading of the dragon wall and finding the horn they were looking for missing.

"You've got to be kidding…" Spirit scoffs, "And he expects us to just meet at his command?"

"We don't have much of a choice in the matter, it seems," Zed says evenly, "But if the six of us go it might turn out a bit better."

"Exactly, and I'd rather deal with it sooner rather than later," Aura resolves with a rather paranoid look.

"Well it will take us a few days to gather everyone up," Spirit sighs, "So I'll take my time and get this money back to the Guild." She stands, as if to prove her point that no one was arguing.

Aura smiles at her sister's impulsive rebellion, turning to Zed, "I think you can find your way there, right?"

"I don't know, I heard there have been some snow bear encounters in the Rift lately—" Zed says with a smirk, dodging an empty bottle thrown by Spirit. It shatters loudly on the counter and with a glare from the innkeeper Spirit leaves, cursing with little seriousness.

Aura backs to the door, pointing at Zed, "Riverwood, alright? We're all meeting there within the next week," She disappears out the door.

Zed leans back, finishing his drink and standing. Within a week. That gave him just enough time to make it back to Windhelm and back to Riverwood. He nods to himself to assure his plan, giving the innkeeper a generous amount of gold before walking out. In the back of his mind, the voice whispers hauntingly in silence.