The night was clear and a soft breeze was blowing in off Lake Rumare when Liam stepped into the garden and the flickering light of a torch held by none other than his closest neighbour, Armand Christoph.
"So, are you the 'friend' who sent me this?" Liam asked, passing the note to Armand who took it with a curious expression.
"No," he said, with a wry smile as he read the note, "but I work for the one who did." He looked up, "I heard you did a little time in prison down in Bravil."
"It was a short stay and a misunderstanding," said Liam suspiciously, wondering where this was leading.
"Yah," said the Red Guard with a chuckle, "that's what they all say."
Liam immediately turned to leave; he hadn't wandered out into the night to be insulted by someone he barely knew.
"Wait!" Armand said, catching the big man's arm, "at least hear me out." Liam stopped and turned back but the stern look on his face said clearly that if Armand wanted him to listen he better make it quick. "The fact is," Armand went on, "you have gained the attention of someone who is very interested in having you join the guild."
"What guild?" Liam asked. He had never had the desire to join a guild or get a regular job anywhere for that matter. He lived off of what he could scavenge or find and that suited him very well. In fact, when he thought about it, he couldn't think of a single guild that he would feel skilled enough to join with the possible exception of the fighter's guild and, from what he had heard, that was a lot of work and not a lot of pay.
"The Thieves Guild," said Armand in a whisper while glancing about.
Liam was taken aback. "But I'm not a thief," he said more puzzled than insulted.
"That's not what I heard; nice door by the way."
Liam felt his face flush.
"I'm not the only member of the Thieves Guild on the waterfront." Armand smirked at him with the same kind of 'got you' smile as a parent would who had just caught a kid with his hand in the cookie jar.
"I don't consider that stealing," said Liam, "I figure we all paid for that and then some this afternoon."
"How would you like to get your money's worth 'and then some'?" asked Armand.
Liam eyed the dark man and considered where all this could be taking him. He had no desire to spend another night in an Imperial prison and yet he would love to put that pig man in his place, not to mention the guard who thought it okay to hit defenceless women. "Tell me more," he said.
The Red Guard laughed. "I knew you'd come around. You have gained the attention of the Grey Fox himself, who has a special place in his heart for the people of the waterfront. He would be very pleased to have someone with similar interests working with us. Once you are a member of the Thieves Guild you will gain all the special privileges thereof including the ability to find buyers for otherwise difficult to sell items as well as make arrest warrants disappear."
Liam's thoughts immediately turned to the stolen items taken from the bandit on the road, the very ones that landed him in the Bravil prison; this might work out in his favour in the long run.
"However," Armand continued, "before you can join you have to pass a test. It's not hard but will prove your skills well enough one way or the other. If you pass, you can join, if you don't…we might be thieves but we do have standards."
"What kind of a test?" Liam asked, but before Armand could answer he heard the soft tread of footsteps in the grass. They were also coming to the garden.
A Bosmer and an Argonian entered the garden; Armand looked as though he had been expecting them.
"Now that everyone is here," he began, but Liam's mind was already wandering. He was surprised that this 'test' was going to be more of a contest. It seemed strange to him that one thief's skills had to be better than another thief's in order to get in. He just thought it would be smarter to test everyone individually. The little Bosmer interjected something about training her whole life for this moment. Wow, Liam thought, so this girl has dreamt of being a thief? Not what most girls dreamed of being when they grow up; but maybe Bosmers have different ideas of success. And she trained for it, he suddenly didn't feel like he had much of a chance, however, being competitive by nature he felt compelled to give it a try anyway.
"Any questions," Armand was asking.
Liam's mind raced back, he really should pay more attention when people were talking to him, he thought. He did recall a couple of things Armand had said, there was a name, Amantius Allectus, but what were they supposed to steal from him?
"I'll have that diary before sunrise," the Bosmer boasted, and Liam grinned.
One of the women in town had mentioned something about the beggars being the eyes and ears of the Grey Fox. If that were the case, they had to know a few other things as well. Liam hurried out of the garden and grabbed a hold of the old beggar who lived on a mat just outside its walls. He might as well try out his theory.
"I'll give you this gold coin if you can tell me where Amantius Allectus lives," he said holding his hand up with a septim pinned between two fingers.
"Oooh," said the beggar with greedy eyes, and grabbed for the coin which Liam held just out of the little man's reach. "He, he lives in the Temple District," the dirty little Imperial panted stretching for the shiny coin, but Liam wasn't done with him yet.
"What's the fastest way there?" he asked.
"Straight through the gates into the city, turn right and cut through the garden, it's the first door on your left after that."
"I'll give you an extra coin, if you have a lockpick on you," Liam said and with the grace of magician, produced a second coin from where he had hidden it in his very large palm.
The beggar stuffed his hand deep into his pocket and pulled out a lockpick. The two men traded items and Liam, tired though he was, broke into a run. He was surprised that the guards at the gate took hardly any notice of him as he dashed past them and turned right. He was beginning to wonder exactly what his tax money was paying for when he saw the slim outline of what he assumed was the Bosmer heading up the walkway and counting doors. Racing through the garden he slipped on some loose dirt and almost fell as he rounded the corner to his left. Panting slightly, Liam crouched down and stepped silently into the shadow of the doorway, slid the lockpick into the lock and listened as he moved it about. Click, click, click went the tumblers of the lock as the skills Liam had learned breaking into the storeroom of his uncle's inn in Skyrim came back to him. It was there that he and his cousin had learned all about the finer things in life like, fine mead, fine wine and fine ale. The door to the Allectus house creaked as it opened to him and he crept inside.
In the dim light of the room Liam found what he had been looking for, a writing desk and inside it was the very diary he needed. He could hardly believe this was a test. The door creaked again and the huge man froze. A small hand preceded a slim body through the opening and Liam breathed a sigh of relief. Grinning at the Bosmer, he waved the diary and sped out of the house into the night. If that's all it took to be in the Thieves Guild, he thought, then maybe he had enough skills to be in some of the other guilds as well, not that he had any desire to find out.
Armand was still in the stone walled garden when Liam returned, diary in hand. "What now?" he asked.
"Now," said Armand, taking the diary and clapping the big man on the back, "you go home and get some sleep. Meet me here tomorrow night and we'll talk about those taxes they collected from the waterfront. Well done by the way."
It was strange to hear the words 'well done' connected with the very thing that had once earned him a beating as a boy. He remembered the day he had stolen his sisters' diaries. They had ganged up on him and left him black and blue, but he smiled as he remembered the information he had gained had been well worth the bruises.
His key turned quietly in the lock and he stepped inside the warmth of his cabin. The embers of the fire he had lit before his excursion into the night were still glowing and he tossed another bit of wood on them before crawling into bed. It was funny, he thought, while he was still tired, it was now a normal kind of tired, not the kind that lingers after an illness. He sighed contentedly; tomorrow was going to be a good day, he was sure.