In this chapter, stuff happens. Also, I have drawn more Caelan fanart, because I'm a nerd.

Chapter Eleven

"Passing through," Lucien snarled as soon as Arquen had departed the sanctuary, "Passing through. The nerve of that woman!"

"She was looking for Caelan," Teinaava spoke quietly, "But how did she know he was here...?"

"She doesn't know, she merely suspects. At least she didn't find him, close as it was. That would have been catastrophic."

"Speaker..." Antoinetta stared at her hands miserably, "Did I...did I screw up? I'm no good at lying..."

"No. You needn't chastise yourself." Lucien sighed, a sound both weary and frustrated, "Arquen has the unfortunate habit of seeing through any deception, no matter how skilful. She already knew we were hiding something, regardless of your words...it is a matter of making sure she cannot prove it. You were able to hide Caelan from her, that is what counts."

Antoinetta glanced at Caelan, "You're not too sore from staying under the bed all that time, are you?"

He shook his head; truthfully, he'd been laying on his arm for about an hour, and was only just starting to get any feeling back, but it was a petty concern. She had come so close, so close to finding her prize...

"Arquen is based in Chorrol...Telaendril's presence must have alerted her, then," Ocheeva mused, "But to find out so quickly...she must keep a close eye on her town."

"She frequents the Grey Mare inn with the rest of the locals. If a Mages Guild member gossiped about Telaendril's...interest in un-binding staffs, she would be one of the first to hear it," Lucien declared irritably, "Of all the cities in the world, why did it have to be Chorrol Guild hall to specialise in Conjuration?"

"Who's in Leyawiin...Alval Uvani? You think he'll take interest in M'raaj-Dar...?"

"He'll be fine. Uvani spends most of his time travelling anyway, he's hardly ever at his sanctuary. No, it's her we need to watch out for."

"So what are we going to do about Caelan?" Teinaava asked, nodding towards the elf, "Do we keep him here and risk her finding him, or sneak him to a more secure location? She's probably monitoring our actions, though..."

Ocheeva sighed; "A pity we can't masquerade him as one of our own, but we have no Altmer members."

There was a pause as everyone waited for the inevitable 'half Altmer!' from Caelan. It never came.

"Caelan?" Vicente asked softly, "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" Evidently he had been paying no attention, "Sorry, drifted off there. Did you ask me something?"

"Ocheeva just said 'Altmer'. We were expecting a protest."

"I'm half...yeah..." Caelan finished carelessly, seeming to wander back into his thoughts. Contrary to what he wanted, everyone immediately paid attention, confused and curious.

"What's wrong? You're not normally this distracted."

"I'm just...worried," Caelan admitted at last, "I knew the whole you-not-being-able-to-kill-me thing was bad, but I didn't realise it was this bad. Even when I found out you could be expelled from the Brotherhood, I didn't think it would actually happen. But seeing Arquen..." he bit his lower lip nervously, "It really is serious. Can you not fake my death, just so you're not at risk?"

Lucien shook his head, "It cannot be done. The Night Mother keeps track of all contracts, and passes the information on to Ungolim, who then relays it to the rest of the Black Hand. Even if you changed your entire identity, they would know you were still alive."

"Isn't there any way to stop the contract?"

"Only if the contractor lies dead. Not hard to arrange were it anyone else, but this is Mannimarco," Vicente explained grimly, "On top of him being a formidable foe, he has a legion of Necromancers at his command, and they have control over countless undead. It would take a master assassin to bring him down."

"And while I've gotten past his subordinates before, I cannot kill him. It's forbidden for a start, and even if I did, Arquen would use it as proof that I could not fulfil the contract," Lucien agreed, "I can't send one of my own assassins for the same reason, nor I can I hire someone else to do the job. A freelance mercenary would most likely fail anyway."

"So then..." Any glimmer of hope was drowned by despair, "What do we do? What do I do?"

"You stay here," the Speaker told him, "Arquen may return to inspect the sanctuary, but not for some time. She will watch for any smuggling, however, and chances are she'll keep an eye on Fort Farragut for a while. For that reason, you must not leave the sanctuary in case she sees you, understood?"

The mer swallowed anxiously. Once again he was house-bound, but this time it was not by Lucien's will: "I understand."

The door to Vicente's quarters creaked open of its own accord, and remained ajar. While the vampire couldn't see anything, he could hear the stealthy footsteps, the quiet rustle of fabric that would have been undetectable to human ears.

"What is it, Lucien?" he asked.

There was a grumble from the Speaker as he realised he'd been caught, and he let the chameleon spell drop. He continued to wander around the room, however, glancing around as if discreetly searching for something.

"Lucien?" Vicente politely inquired again.

"Caelan," he muttered back, looking in the wardrobe, on top of the wardrobe, behind the wardrobe, "He hasn't bothered me all evening, and it's making me suspicious."

"So you thought he'd be here?" Vicente guessed with a knowing smile. Lucien was considerably more possessive than he liked to admit, "I haven't seen him at all, I'm afraid. Have you tried the living quarters?"

"He isn't there. Not in the training room either," Lucien ran a hand through his hair, brow furrowed, "You don't think he's left the sanctuary, do you? Not after I explained everything to him..."

Now it was Vicente's turn to look worried, "I don't think so. He may not have much common sense, but he understood the importance of the situation. Perhaps you just missed him?"

"Vicente, have you seen- oh, hello Speaker," Ocheeva appeared at the doorway – giving the room the same discreetly searching glance as Lucien had, "My apologies, I did not mean to interrupt you."

"It's fine...are you looking for something, Sister?"

"It's nothing really...I just seem to have misplaced an item," she told him, though the look on her face suggested 'misplaced' wasn't quite the word, "...You haven't seen my invisibility scrolls anywhere, have you?"

"Oh hell," Lucien cursed, and swiftly strode form the room.

"Speaker-!" he heard Vicente call from behind him, "Where are you going?"

"To find Caelan!" he answered hurriedly, climbing up the ladder to the sanctuary's well entrance, and only just remembering to re-cast his chameleon spell. With any luck, he could catch him as he was leaving Cheydinhal.

The invisibility spell flickered and died as he approached Shadowmere; she regarded him calmly, unfazed by his sudden appearance as though she had already known he was there, although she seemed to grow suspicious as he drew closer. Silly, really – horses couldn't look suspicious, but then she was no ordinary steed.

"Sshh," he whispered soothingly, fingertips just barely stroking her glossy mane, "Good horse, good h- ow," she promptly bit him as he tried to grab her reigns, "Bad horse. Now come on, I need co-operation."

He evidently wasn't going to get it, since she snorted and pulled her head away. She had never acted up around Lucien, as far as he could recall...this one knew who her master was.

"Please. There isn't much time," he told her urgently – feeling ridiculous for explaining himself to an animal, but he had the eerie impression she could understand him, if not by his words, "I just need to go somewhere...only for a little while, I promise, then we'll come back. If everything goes according to plan, this might just save Lucien's hide."

...She understood. He wasn't sure how she understood, or how he even knew that she did, but she recognised she was being borrowed, not stolen. He took her lack of fuss as the go-ahead, and hoisted himself onto the saddle.

...Now what?

Truthfully, he had never ridden a horse before – excluding his journey to Cheydinhal, but Lucien had been the one guiding Shadowmere; he had just been clinging onto him, probably much tighter than he had needed to.

"Erm – ah – um," he stammered when she, bored of his indecision, began to move towards the gate. He had no idea how to steer her, but she seemed capable of doing it herself, "...I'll just leave it up to you, then."

By the time Lucien reached the east gate of Cheydinhal, Caelan was gone.

And, he quickly realised with a glance over at the stables, so was Shadowmere.

"Thief!" he cursed in a low hiss, marching over to the open gate. He could see fresh hoof-prints in the dirt path leading away from Cheydinhal; it was almost certainly Caelan who had ridden away.

But that was odd...why would she go willingly? Bandits and the like had tried to steal Shadowmere before – exotic and powerful as she was, who could resist? But they usually ended up thrown in the bushes, or at least savagely bitten. She knew to whom she belonged.

"He's got my own horse disobeying me," he muttered darkly, heading back to Cheydinhal with an unusual and unpleasant sense of defeat. Deliberately contrary as he was, it wasn't wholly surprising that Caelan inspired defiance in others as well. He could only hope Shadowmere would eventually wander back to Fort Farragut as she usually did.

And that she'll bring that infuriating elf with her, he thought savagely, So I can remove those thieving hands of his twice over.

Oh dear.

His ride to Cheydinhal had been rather gentle, he now realised; Lucien had kept Shadowmere to an unhurried trot, probably due to his guest rider. But Lucien wasn't here now, and his steed was not easily controlled.

So far he'd figured out that pulling the left or right reign nudged her in that general direction. That wasn't how you steered a horse, he was sure, but she seemed to get the gist of his intentions. But while compliant, and not trying to throw him to the ground, she was determined to scare the life out of him.

I'm sure horses aren't meant to be this fast... he thought weakly, fingers twisting and knotting around the reigns. It didn't help that he was so damn light; no matter how far he leaned forwards, he still felt in danger of falling off. And given the speed Shadowmere was currently going, that would be very painful indeed.

But the sooner I get there, the better. He wondered if Shadowmere knew that too, given the urgency in her stride. He wasn't sure if he was being chased – by Arquen or otherwise – but it certainly felt like it. Ironically, fleeing was the last thing on his mind: he was going to confront his problems head-on instead of hiding or running away. The mantra of his location repeated over and over in his head, as if to remind himself why he was going through all this trouble instead of sitting pretty in the sanctuary with an apple and a good book. Because just the name of his destination summed up the task he was about to undertake:

Echo Cave.