AN: Hey Ho guys, I´m back =) I apologise humbly for letting you wait for so long. You surely must have feared that I won´t be finishing this and that wasn´t nice of me. I can´t even say what kept me. At first I had a writer´s block for some time, but then my head was just into other things for a while. But I didn´t want to leave the story like this. Missy and Brynjolf deserve better. So today I made time and now I´m abel to give you the next chapter (tadada...^^) and from now on I will post regualary till this is finished... promised.

Seventh encounter

Trailing Greta was far easier than it should have been, Missy noted. She was heading more or less straight north and usually stayed on the road. So Missy could stay in the forest around the road that covered her effectively. She had always thought to be good at hiding and trailing, but this was awkward. Greta obviously wasn´t eager to reach her destination. She rested always at nightfall and though she went by horse, Missy suspected she would have been faster walking. But then she could understand Greta. A mission with this guild master was something Missy wouldn´t have been eager to start, too.

Speaking of it, Missy thought, it was strange that she wasn´t traveling together with Mercer considering that they came from the same point and we on their way to the same point to meet there, but he was nowhere to be seen. Missy shrugged her shoulders, it was her luck after all. This man surely would have detected her. Even though she disliked him, she didn´t made the mistake to underestimate him.

When the sun started to sink and the sky turned orange red, Greta stopped her horse. Missy as she had no choice, stopped Shadowmere, too. The horse seemed to give her an irritated and slightly annoyed look. It seemed going slow wasn´t his favourite option. "C´mon don´t be angry with me, try to enjoy it, we´ll be rushing again soon enough…" she said, tenderly stroking his head. She took her bags off and sat in the dark pulling a thick cloak around her.

Greta was busy collecting some wood to make a fire and as Missy was cold as always, she watched her enviously. For a moment she considered going over to her and acting as if they just met. She wasn´t even sure why she did this so secretly, damn, she wasn´t even sure why she did this at all… damn her gut instinct… she knew she should stay where she was… and then although longingly watching the smoke descending, she stayed at her hideout.

Leaning her back against a tree and hugging her knees she closed her eyes and silently wished Greta a good night, who also had just laid down.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next morning it started to rain and Missy felt that she was slowly getting annoyed. Thanks to all gods, Greta seemed so too as she picked up the pace. They were only a few miles from Windhelm now, if they kept heading north they´d probably reach it at afternoon. Missy send a small prayer that Greta wasn´t heading there. She really didn´t want to go in that town anytime soon again…

Pulling her hood deeper to prevent the raindrops from falling into her face, Missy resumed trailing the thief. When suddenly 3 men blocked Greta´s way. They didn´t looked inviting at all. Missy stayed in the woods watching, but already drew her sword silently. Those men clearly had no good intentions. They looked slightly ragged. Their armours didn´t really fit and were mixed together from different types. But they had swords.

Missy couldn´t hear what exactly they said to Greta, but she could image that it was something like "Give us all your money, and you won´t get hurt, pretty girl!" She had experienced this herself all too often. It showed Greta wasn´t intimidated so easily. As she dismounted and drew her sword, which was finely crafted, Missy observed. It seemed now she warned those bandits. As much as Missy wanted to intervene and help Greta, she was very interested to see how the young woman could handle herself in a situation like this.

One of the men, obviously the leader or something like that, seemed to be laughing at her. The other two took that as a signal and drew their swords to attack. When the first lunged out, Greta easily blocked him. To prevent the strike of the other man, she took a step forward. Now she was in front of the first man. Seemingly out of nothing she had a dagger in her hand and without hesitation she stabbed him. Groaning and burbling he went to the ground.

Missy felt how her excitement grew. The second man was now lunging at Greta again, but she dodged all of his attempts to hit her as Greta was by far faster than that man. The third, who hadn´t been fighting until now watched her with something between fear and astonishment. When she finally countered the attacks and stabbed the man in front of her so forcefully that her sword reappeared at the man´s back, the third let his own drop and ran away.

Greta didn´t seem to have a very vengeful nature as she just let him ran and didn´t bothered any further. She acted as if unaffected by the fight, cleaning her sword, but taking a closer look, Missy could see that she was breathing heavily. Bu then who was she to judge… her own heart was beating rapidly and her hand had gripped her sword so tightly her knuckles were turning white. Slowly releasing her breath and relaxing again, Missy concluded that Greta could handle herself. Actually she was even a bit proud on her.

Both mounted their horses again and went their way, while the rain mixed the dead men´s blood with the muddy forest floor.

Only a few hours later they reached a clearing. Missy stayed behind to see where Greta would go. In front of them, but still in some distance one could see the big town walls of Windhelm. Greta raised her head to examine the sky and the position of the sun. Much to Missy´s joy she seemed to have concluded that she could still ride for a few hours and that she wouldn´t stay in the town.

She urged the horse further on the road turning to Winterhold. Missy gave Greta a little head start as it would be difficult to hide on the clearing and by experience she knew that the vegetation would become sparse the further they got north. Definitely not the best circumstances to trail someone.

When they made camp for the night Missy´s apprehensions had proved right. Even though they were only some miles north from Windhelm there was already a lot of space between the trees, so you could hardly call it a forest anymore. And much to her distaste the wind that had picked up, as there weren´t enough trees to stop it, was biting cold, while the floor on whom she currently sat was wet cold. She sighed, hopefully Greta´s journey would be over soon. But then the thief-girl probably wasn´t as bothered by this as she was a nord after all.

Missy snuggled herself closer to Shadowmere, who at least provided her with some warmth. Tonight there was no smoke in the air. It seemed she hadn´t started a fire, probably all wood was wet from the rain earlier. Therefore she also couldn´t see Greta in the distance what unnerved Missy a bit. She had to stay here where she could hardly hear Greta, but then Greta couldn´t hear her also, which was a good thing. Around them it was pitch black by now, they probably wouldn´t be seeing each other even when they sat in front of each other.

"Please, let her stay where she is" Missy prayed "at least until daylight comes"

Intensely listening to the sounds of the night, she fell into an uneasy slumber.

The morning couldn´t come quickly enough for Missy. Her limbs were cold as ice and she would have done a lot for a warm bath. But that was slightly unrealistic here in the middle of nowhere.

Half-hearted she chewed on an apple she had carried with her as supply, when in the distance she could see that Greta already mounted her horse even though dawn had just begun. Why they were rushing now Missy couldn´t tell, but didn´t felt like complaining and mounted Shadowmere. And Greta was keeping this up, they had a much quicker pace then the last days and it was indeed starting to become difficult keep up with her while always staying hidden.

Around midday Greta suddenly stopped and as Missy currently wasn´t paying attention, she got dangerously near Greta. It was pure luck that the girl had been looking into a map. In the blink of an eye, Missy jumped down from the horse and hid behind a big tree. Shadowmere obviously understood what was going on and also stepped behind it. Breathing heavily they waited for a reaction of Greta, but nothing came.

The girl had just shrugged the noise off and had resumed to contemplate her map. After some anxious minutes Missy had dared to take a look around the tree, only to see that Greta was abandoning the road and was heading into the wilderness.

Slowly regaining her breath and relaxing again, she mounted Shadowmere again, who seemed to be a bit annoyed at this whole hide-and-seek-game. "I should pay more attention" Missy muttered to herself. Out here in the middle of nowhere it was very unlikely to meet someone by pure accident. And if Greta detected her and even though she was naïve, she wouldn´t buy it. Especially now that they left the road. She petted Shadowmere´s neck. "I do believe we are getting closer to our destination…" she told the horse.

Staying hidden within the wilderness proved to be easier than on the road, but it was harder to keep an eye on Greta as she all too often disappeared behind some bushes or trees. As twilight was coming closer this was starting to become a problem. Greta on the other hand seemed to be eager to get wherever she was heading. She had made by now some turns and from time to time stopped to take a look around, obviously she was searching something. But for Missy this meant that she needed to be twice as careful.

And then when the sun had nearly sat it happened. Missy lost Greta. On second she was heading straight forward then she had stopped had Missy had hid, but when she dared a look from her hideout the girl was gone, as if the earth had swallowed her up.

Carefully placing each step, Missy dared to take a look, how could someone just disappear? Some bad, bad curses escaped her and then she made her way in the direction she hoped Greta had gone. The darker it got, the more difficult it would become to find her, especially without raising attention.

She figured that sneaking would be easier, when not sitting on a big horse. So Missy dismounted Shadowmere and let him wander off to wherever he wanted to go. The horse seemed quite pleased about this. He had always thought humans to act rather ridiculously.

Slowly Missy went on, actually feeling ridiculously, sneaking around bushes, here in the middle of nowhere. But she seemed to have no luck tonight. Greta was gone and not to be found. By now it was pitch black and Missy was very very frustrated. Sighing she leaned her back against a tree. This search was pointless under this circumstances. The dilemma was that with every hour Missy waited Greta could get further away, but in this darkness she could neither say it which direction she thief had gone nor it which she was going her herself. She had no choice, but waiting for dawn to come. Missy looked up in the sky to the moon. It´s light broke through the clouds.

An angry grumble escaped her and she gave the tree a forceful kick. Needless to say it seemed unaffected, while Missy`s leg hurt. She surely would get a bruise from this.

Sliding down with her back again at the tree, she prepared to stay here for the night.

When the first birds started to chirp, Missy woke up again. Well, she didn´t really woke up, because she would have had to sleep for that, but she hadn´t slept the whole night. It had been too cold for her and her temper wasn´t getting any better during those hours she had waited. Actually she was quite sure, she would kill Greta if she ever found her again.

Getting up, she stretched her numb limbs. In the east one could already see an orange red at the base of the horizon. And also much to Missy´s astonishment something that looked like an ancient nord ruin. Some sort of a tomb like you could find them everywhere in Skyrim. It wasn´t that far away, but then in the darkness she hadn´t even got the slightest glimpse of it. Taking a look around Missy thought that this was her best option to go. Where else should Greta have gone in this abandoned area?

Carefully she made her way to the place and watched it from a safe distance. Nothing unusual happened and Missy rounded the ruin to find traces of Greta. And at the base of some sort of stairs she found a lone horse that seemed to be waiting alone. There Greta must have gone into the tomb. But still there was no hint on Mercer´s presence. That was strange and concerning. Missy only wanted to make sure Greta was doing well. She had no intention of coming across this man. It would be very difficult to stay hidden, if she followed her. Especially since she had to assume that Mercer was in there, too. But if she stayed her and waited, she had no influence on what was happening in there. Missy chewed on the inside of her cheek. Maybe she could find an exit at the other side and wait there?! Still that wouldn´t help the main problem… and she had to consider that they had about six hours of head start. Anything and everything could have already happened by now…

Her thoughts were cut short, when she heard noises coming from the stairs. Missy stopped breathing. Someone was coming down and walked towards the horse. Just one person and that was not Greta… no this was a man, probably Mercer, but Missy couldn´t tell that for sure, because of the distance. He was muttering something. This was strange, very strange… where was Greta? Now, he took her horse and urged it to gallop as fast as possible. He obviously was in a hurry.

Missy crouched down into the brushwood. But there was no point as he paid no attention.

As she felt safe, Missy got up from her position and carefully watching the tomb as she approached it. No sound escaped this ancient building. Drawing her sword she dared to take a look inside. There lay two corpses, but not Greta´s. It were those damned Draugr. She whispered "Greta? Are you there?" but no one answered. She didn´t dared to shout, in case there were still some of those Draugr alive… well, something like that at least…

Was it really useful to go in there?! Missy wasn´t sure. She knew that these tombs could be unbelievable big and complex like a labyrinth. Missy took a deep breath. If Greta was caught in here somewhere and hopefully still alive, what would she do? She couldn´t expect any help as she didn´t know that Missy or anyone else for that matter, was here. So she would try to get out herself, wouldn´t she? The idea of finding another exit popped back into her mind again. If she wasn´t going with Mercer for whatever reason, she wouldn´t go his way, wouldn´t she?

She went down the stairs again, now on the opposite site, but stopped halfway. There had been a noise… she looked around. Nothing, but there was it again, a rustling or more swishing noise like someone dragged something heavy over the floor… but it was just faint like in a far distance.

Missy closed her eyes and concentrated on the noise. Deliberately she slowly moved in the direction of the source. When she reopened her eyes, there was still nothing to see… strange.

All of a sudden with a loud cracking the face of the rock beside Missy opened. With a loud shriek she jumped aside and draw her swords. In front of her stood Karliah with Greta in her arms.

"What are you doing here?" both dunmer women said, while both looking equally shocked.

Missy was the first to regain her composure. She sheathed her swords and to see how Greta was doing. Karliah let her, even though no answer had been given until now, but for Missy waited the next shock. Greta´s pale face and obviously unconscious form were indicating the worst.

"Oh my… is she dead?" she asked. Karliah let Greta slip to the ground just outside the tomb, she didn´t looked to good either, though unharmed.

"No… but not far from it. She has a poison cursing through her system that slows her heartbeat down..." Both were now kneeling beside the nord woman and Missy felt at her neck for her pulse, to check if indeed she wasn´t dead yet. "Do you have an antidote?" she asked worried.

"Well, yes… but I wouldn´t advise to give to her at the moment." Karliah mentioned to Greta´s torso, where two large nasty stabbing wounds could be seen. Missy once again drew in a sharp breath. She hadn´t noticed them until now, because they were barely bleeding.

"She`ll probably bleed to death before we could do anything. Can you perform a healing spell?" Karliah finished. "Me?! No… I´m bad with these things… We need to get her to a healer… fast. Winterhold not that far." Missy proposed standing up again and whistling for Shadowmere.

"No!" Karliah said obviously not tolerating any dissent. "Mercer mustn't know that she´s still alive." Missy didn´t liked it to not being in command. She crossed her arms and watched Karliah with a stony face, while Shadowmere appeared behind her. "What exactly happened here?" she asked. Karliah had been in this business far long to feel intimidated by the younger dunmer.

"That´s quite a long story and I fear she doesn't have the time for it." She said calmly and mentioning to Greta. That was what kicked Missy back in action. She grabbed Greta by the shoulder and dragged her to Shadowmere. The horse understood instantly and kneeled down.

"Help me to get her on the horse. I will take her to our sanctuary." They shoved together the unconscious woman on the horse back in front of Missy. "You will follow us." Missy commanded "Go to Dawnstar, check in at the local inn. I will fetch you there."

Karliah only nodded. When Missy mounted Shadowmere, pulling Greta into a tight embrace, so she couldn´t fall of the horse and was ready to go. Karliah called for her a last time. "Missy, please make her survive…"

AN: So, what do you think? Be so kind and leave me a review, would be really interesting to see who´s still there =)