A/N: I imagine you probably thought I'd abandoned this one, didn't you? Not a chance, I just took a bit of time off to write Nightshade and Juniper, that's all. But as that one's nearly finished, I thought I should revive Reclamations. So here is the next chapter.
Summary: Ria and Cicero are still adapting to the revelations about Ria, but they are professionals to the last and still have a job to do. Meanwhile back in Raven Rock, Calixto's distracted by a new arrival and the discovery of what Aranea was up to before Miraak's spell, but the distraction could prove costlier than he'd imagined.
The Wind Stone loomed above them, scaffolding only detracting a little from it as the enslaved Skaal hammered away.
"Here in my shrine... that you have forgotten... here do you toil... that you might remember..."
Every time Ria saw one of these stones, heard the chanting, it didn't get any less creepy. More so in fact. But at least they now had the means to do something about it. She hoped.
"So what do we do?" Ria asked, fingering her Akaviri sword. "Just shout the word at the stone and see what happens?"
"It seems a bit too easy," Aela said, looking up at the Wind Stone's twisted form pensively. "All the same, we lose nothing by trying. Which of you is going to do the honours?"
Ria looked at Cicero. Cicero just smiled back, bowed and waved her forward.
"Ria must learn! Ria must practice! Now sweetling, just take a deep breath, feel the word within yourself, project it into a Thu'um, that's right, DEEP BREATH and...!"
"GOL!" Ria Shouted, trying to feel the word, feel the solid earth under her and in her, solid unbreaking will that could contest anything and would not be moved... and Voice hit Stone. The sickly green light faded, the scaffolding began to crack, some new power, a cleaner power, came surging through the Stone, and the Skaal lowered their tools, all looking about them in surprise.
"Yes, sweetling, yes, it is working!" Cicero cried, dancing around at the water's edge as the stone frame built around the stone began to crumble. "Look, look, the Stone is free, look!"
The ground shook and the framework exploded, stone flying everywhere. Ria ducked, clinging on to Cicero as he squealed and howled with delight. Aela was crouched behind her, using the Dragonborns as a shelter. Which was not terribly honourable, even if Ria and Cicero were wearing more substantial armour than Aela was. But Ria didn't have time to think about that, as the water boiled and the screaming started.
"Ria, look out!" Aela cried, reaching for her bow. Before Ria could react, something smacked into her, and she was in pain, pain beyond imagining, her skin on fire.
"FUS RO DAH!"
Aela was grabbing her arm, helping her up, hauling her away, black gunk dripping from her armour as she started to shake from whatever poison was sinking into her veins.
"What – what is that?" Ria gasped as she turned to where some... some thing had burst from the water surrounding the Stone. Humanoid but with webbing and a head like some daedra fish, and spitting poison, black residue that grew tentacles where it landed.
"Drink," said Aela tersely, shoving poison cures and poison resistors and a healing potion into her hands before reaching for her bow. Ria drank, but there was only one thing that concerned her right now. Where was Cicero?
He was drinking a few potions himself, Dragonbane in his free hand as he glared down at where the thing was pulling itself to its feet.
"Cicero doesn't think so, Lurker!" Cicero snarled, reaching for the Sanguine Rose. "You do not hurt the loved ones of a Dovah!"
"I SMELL WEAKNESS!" the Dremora howled as it materialised into being. Cicero giggled, knocking back the last of the large red healing potion and leaping back, unshouldering his bow as he dodged another blast of poison and began to fire arrows.
"Now this is how you fight a Lurker, moni!" he called to Ria. "Shout at it and shoot it while someone else distracts it!"
Some of the Skaal had also got in on the act, hacking at the thing with their axes. Ria shook herself down, feeling the pain recede. She had no idea what the thing was or where it had come from, but she knew one thing. It wasn't going anywhere else and damned if she was letting her father kill the thing for her. Companions did their own fighting.
"FOR JORRVASKR!" she shouted, racing into the fray, shield raised and sword in hand. Cicero turned, confused and then horrified.
"Wha- RIA!" he shouted. "Meyyah kiir, GET BACK HERE – oh for Sithis' sake!"
Ria swept her Akaviri blade into the Lurker's side, and took a deep breath. Time to fight like a Dragonborn.
"SU GRAH DUN!"
Power flowed into her arms and she exchanged her shield for her Skyforge blade. Screaming, she carved into the Lurker, dragon-fuelled rage driving her strikes while Cicero and Aela's arrows thudded into it. She felt the thing's tentacles smack into her, but the pain felt less than before somehow. Black ichor spurted out as her blades cut in, and Cicero by this time had put his bow away and had sprung forward himself, shrieking as his own swords flung into action.
Against one Dremora, one Companion in Blades armour and one shrieking, furious Jester Dragonborn, the Lurker didn't stand a chance. It died... but Ria didn't have long to recover before she had a bigger problem on her hands.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Cicero shrieked, sheathing his blades and turning on her, grabbing her shoulders. "Cicero had this in hand. RIA DID NOT NEED TO GET INVOLVED!"
"ALL RIGHT, THAT IS IT!" Aela shouted, arrow pointed at Cicero for the second time that day. "You will LEAVE RIA ALONE!"
"RIA WILL GET HERSELF KILLED!" Cicero howled, and then he'd flung his arms around her, clinging on to her with his head on her shoulder. To Ria's surprise, he was shaking all over.
"Cicero," Ria whispered, motioning for Aela to lower her weapons with one hand while she hugged Cicero with the other. "Cicero, it's all right, I'm a Companion, it's what I do. You don't need to worry!"
"I do, I do!" Cicero wailed. "Of course Cicero worries. Cicero ALWAYS worries! He worries about Eola, about Delphine, about Kodlak, about all his friends and loved ones! They all say they can look after themselves and not to worry, but Cicero still does! Mama... Mama said not to worry, she'd be back soon, before she went out to fight the Thalmor! But she never did... she never did and Cicero had to find her... she'd been lying in the street for days..."
He clung on to her, face hidden on her shoulder and Ria realised he was sniffling quietly.
"Oh honey," Ria whispered. "Cicero, don't cry. It's OK. I'm not dead. I'm not even hurt, Aela gave me a poison resistance potion among all the others, look."
Cicero just sobbed harder. Ria hugged him to her, and looked up at Aela who'd arrived and started rubbing his back.
"Cicero," said Aela softly. "Cicero, Ria's fine, the thing is dead. You don't need to worry."
Cicero sniffled and let Ria go. "Cicero knows but Cicero still does," Cicero whispered faintly. He looked at Ria, glaring at her. "Ria is not allowed to die. Cicero will not have it! Cicero... Cicero would miss her..."
"I'd miss you too," said Ria gently. "Come on, let's get back to the Skaal village. We should check in with Frea and Storn, see what else they can tell us."
Cicero nodded, wiping his eyes as he trailed after them both. They did have a job to do, and they did now know how to free Vilkas and Aranea. He just wished his newly-discovered child didn't have to be involved. He'd send her home if he could... but he knew she'd never go. She was too much his kin for that – no. Too much his mother's kin. Stelmaria would never have backed down from a fight either. It had killed her in the end. Cicero had no intention of letting Ria go the same way.
The Skaal Village looked like a different place when they returned to it. The shield gone, the place looking bright and open, filled with villagers talking to each other, trying to figure out what had just happened. After inquiring where Frea and Storn had gone, they were pointed in the direction of a small house on the edge of the village.
Frea answered the door and promptly hugged all three of them in turn, including a very surprised Cicero.
"You did it," she breathed. "You did it! You freed my people! Come in, come in, my father wants to talk to you!"
Ria stepped in, Cicero bouncing in behind her and Aela bringing up the rear. Inside, Storn was lying down on a single bed in the back room, clearly looking exhausted.
"So it is done," he said, faint smile on his face as he sat up. "Welcome back, Dovahkiin. I had a feeling you would manage it."
"We did, we did!" Cicero squealed, sitting on the earthen floor with his legs crossed in one fluid movement. "And now kind Storn will tell us how to defeat Miraak, hmm?"
"I did not promise you that," Storn sighed. "Only that I could tell you more if you helped us. Well, you have done that so I will tell you what I can. Do you know the story of Saering's Watch?"
Shake of the head from all three. Ria had slowly lowered herself to sit next to Cicero, her Blades gear clanking and really how did Cicero manage to make this look so effortless?
"No, why would you, it is not a well-known tale even here," said Storn. "But I will tell it to you. The ruin dates back to when Miraak was still a loyal dragon priest, Solstheim's ruler, well-respected and known to be Dragonborn by that point. However, he did not rule alone. He had a consort. Younger than him, a talented warrior in the Dragon Cult, beautiful long red hair and dark eyes, unusual for a Nord. A handsome young man called Saering."
Cicero had gone very still as Storn had spoken, and Ria couldn't help but glance at him. Red hair and dark eyes – had Saering looked like Cicero?
"What happened to him?" Cicero whispered, drawing his knees up to his chest, eyes wide.
"The tale isn't clear," said Storn sombrely. "There are several versions but all agree that Saering and Miraak were deeply in love, that Miraak adored Saering, had fine armour and weapons crafted for him, ensured he had the best warriors on the island guarding him, spoiled him with gifts, spent many long hours with him, holding his hand and staring into his eyes. Then something happened. Some say it was an accident, that Saering got in the way of a Shout. Others that becoming Dragonborn changed Miraak somehow and he started to see Saering less as a human to be loved and more as a possession, and Saering tried to leave. Some even say Saering was unfaithful, had a woman on the side, perhaps even a child, and was trying to flee Solstheim with them when it happened. But all the versions agree that Saering died in Miraak's arms and Miraak was never the same again. So he built Saering's Watch as a shrine to his lost love, at the spot where they used to walk together and watch the sea and the stars, and laid Saering to rest there. And his followers raised up a new Word Wall in his memory, and it is said that from that wall, Miraak beheld a new Thu'um, one he'd never seen before. One that gave him power over the earth itself, over the All-Maker Stones even, and he knew instinctively that if he knew the other two words of the Shout, he could command even the dragons. For one who had just lost his lover, who had tried and failed to compel the one he loved not to go, the power was too much to resist. He tried to find the other words but failed... until he turned to Herma-Mora for help. I believe you know the rest."
"A Black Book," Cicero whispered. "Miraak had a Black Book in his Temple, it took poor wretched Cicero to Mora's realm, Miraak was there!"
"Aye, I imagine it did," said Storn softly. "Do you have it still? Let me see it."
Cicero dug into his pack, producing the hateful thing and holding it out to Storn. The room seemed to darken as he did and Storn backed away, visibly repulsed.
"I have seen enough. Put it away, Dragonborn. As I thought, Miraak found a Black Book, probably more than one, and travelled to Apocrypha to learn from Mora himself. Meaning you will have to do the same."
Cicero let out a sob as he packed the book away. He put a hand to his face, visibly shaking, and Ria drew nearer, hating seeing him like this. He just looked so vulnerable and unhappy, and Ria wasn't even sure what to do, only that regardless of any blood tie, he was her friend and she cared about him.
"What do we do?" she said, drawing Cicero into her arms. "He's not... he's not the only Dragonborn. We found out that so am I. I can learn Shouts too, I can take dragon souls, I can go to Apocrypha and learn what Miraak did. It doesn't have to be Cicero. I'm not scared – well, all right, I am scared but not like Cicero is."
"Because you have not been there. You have not seen – you do not know – he is terrifying!" Cicero wailed, face screwed up in pain. "Moni, you can't, you mustn't!"
"We're going to," said Ria firmly. "Storn, what do you know about the Black Books?"
"Very little, other than that they are evil things and this path... perilous," said Storn, his eyes sympathetic. "But I know how you can find out more. This is not the first Black Book I have seen. A while back, I had a visitor who brought one with him and wished to know if I had seen any others. The Dark Elf sorcerer, Neloth of Tel Mithryn."
"Neloth," said Aela, looking as if she could cry or possibly punch something. "The Telvanni wizard, Neloth."
"I think he was from House Telvanni, yes. Why, do you know him?" Storn asked. All three nodded. Ria had had to chase after Cicero so hadn't seen as much of him as Aela had, but she'd seen enough to not be surprised the man had a Black Book in his possession.
"So we need to talk to him," said Ria, feeling a bit dubious about this but not seeing any other options. "If he'll help, that is."
"Help?" Aela snorted. "When we spoke to him, he said he had no intention of getting involved as he 'wanted to see how it ended'. He said sorting it out was our job."
That must have been the bit Ria had missed. She had to admit it didn't sound promising, but Cicero had cheered right up.
"Oh do not worry, Shield-Sister, Neloth will certainly help. Or he will find that he will be seeing an ending sooner than he would wish." Cicero was rubbing his hands, demented grin in place at the idea of chaining the Dunmer up and torturing the information out of him.
"We'll talk to him," Ria promised. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"
"Not about Black Books, no," Storn sighed. "But there is something else you can do. You freed one Stone and the land already feels healthier. There are five others. The Tree Stone is in Miraak's old temple – you will not be able to free it while Miraak remains undefeated. But the other four, the Beast, Water, Earth and Sun Stones, those you could free. Each one restored, each one cleaned, will heal the land and help restore the oneness, make it harder for Miraak to return. Will you do that for me, cleanse the other Stones?"
Given that cleansing the Wind Stone had resulted in that horrific thing, that Lurker, emerging and trying to kill them, Ria wasn't so sure she wanted to. But they had to cleanse the Earth Stone anyway, they might as well do the others too.
"We'll do it," Ria said firmly. "Won't we, Cicero?"
"Oh yes," Cicero said cheerfully. "We will do what we must."
"I hope so, Dragonborn. Dragonborns, I should say." Storn looked them both over, impressed. "For there to be two such, here at the same time Miraak is trying to come back – this is a sign from the All-Maker indeed. Are you kin?"
Ria wasn't sure she was quite ready to admit it out loud just yet, but Cicero had no such inhibition.
"Yes, yes, sweet Ria is indeed kin to proud Cicero, yes!" he babbled, squeezing her hand. "Cicero is honoured to be related to lovely Ria and very proud of her."
Despite herself, Ria blushed. She still had no idea how to feel about Cicero being her father, but he was definitely trying and the affection was real enough. So she squeezed his hand too and let him hug her. She could figure it out properly later.
Days since Cicero and the others had left Raven Rock for Miraak's temple. Calixto had lost count of how many, they all seemed to blur in to one after a while. Thank Sithis for Milore, she'd brought him potions to keep him awake, taken shifts herself so he could have a break, helped keep him sane while he watched.
No change in Aranea or Vilkas, just the constant chanting and the work and he could see Aranea tiring already. It was all right for Vilkas, he was a well-muscled warrior with a trained body. Not so Aranea, a mage and priestess more concerned with soul and spirit than the physical plane. She was healthy enough, but Calixto could see torn fingernails, cuts on her hands, and this would kill her. No sleep, no rest, just unceasing toil wearing his Aranea down. Hurry up, Cicero. I can heal almost anything but I can't bring the dead back. Gods know I spent enough time trying.
Movement over by the docks, and Calixto had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. A boat, it was a boat, and not just any boat. The Northern Maiden was back. Whatever mission Aranea had sent Gjalund Sea-Sage on, he was back. With a passenger from the looks of it. A Nord, female passenger in grey leather armour and with dark hair, currently being interrogated by Adril Arano. She was carrying what looked like a strongbox in her arms, and Calixto knew her even from over the bay.
Tired brain deciding the risk was worth it for acquiring another ally, and quite apart from that, she needed warning before she ended up hacking away at the Earth Stone too, Calixto raced off for the harbour, darting past Crescius Caerellius and Mirri Severin on the way and arriving at the end of the jetty just as Adril and Sapphire emerged on to dry land.
"Sapphire!" Calixto gasped. "Thank the gods. What are you doing here, did Aranea send you?"
"So you do know each other," said Adril, nodding in approval. "She said she'd brought a special delivery for Madam Ienith, to be given to her or Elder Othreloth at the Temple. Do you know anything about it?"
Calixto glanced at Sapphire, whose face remained impassive, which probably meant this was not only important but not to be shared with outsiders.
"Of course!" Calixto laughed. "Aranea told me she was expecting a parcel of special ingredients, and Sapphire and I are old friends. Good to see you, my dear, shall we...?"
Adril, clearly mollified on seeing they knew each other, bowed and swept off, looking thoughtful. Calixto waited until he was out of earshot before beckoning Sapphire off for a slightly more private conversation.
"Sapphire, what happened?" For Sapphire to leave Windhelm Sanctuary without any real leaders, it must be important. He could only assume she'd sent both the new recruits out on jobs.
"I was hoping you could tell me!" Sapphire hissed. "You're gone barely three days then Shahvee's in the New Gnisis looking terrified but telling me there's a Nord sailor on the docks with an urgent message for me. Turns out Aranea needs the entire ingredients for a Night Mother shrine in a hurry and she needs it yesterday. What in Oblivion is going on, Cal?"
"I – have no idea. A Night Mother shrine? In there?" he asked, eyeing the strongbox.
"Ingredients for one, yeah," Sapphire nodded. "I heisted the rubies, bought the ingots off Oengil War-Anvil and the rest was all lying around in your workroom."
"My... workroom – you've got one of my soul gems in there? I had a valuable experiment going on with those!" Wonderful, he'd have to start all over again now. He'd been trying to see whether souls in a soul gem were aware of the outside world, and if the way the gems were spoken to had any affect on the strength of the eventual enchantment. He'd have to start all over again now...
"Look, I'm just the messenger girl," Sapphire sighed. "Take it up with the boss lady if you've got a problem. Now where is she anyway? Is there an inn in town? Or cornerclub, or whatever they call them in Morrowind?"
"Yes, but... oh hang it, Sapphire, things aren't going well," Calixto sighed, trying not to think of Aranea up there and really not looking forward to having to break the news of her condition to Sapphire. She was already looking a bit pained.
"Cicero's not got himself arrested, has he? What did he do? As if I can't guess."
"No, Cicero's fine, at least I think he is, he's gone off in to the interior to investigate Miraak, I've not seen him for three days. No, it's... did you sleep on the boat?"
"For some value of sleep, yeah," said Sapphire, frowning. "Why?"
"Thank the gods," Calixto sighed. At least one of them was relatively well rested then. "Come on, let's get your package delivered to this Elder Othreloth and then I'll tell you everything."
Elder Othreloth had proved very pleased and relieved to hear they were friends of Aranea's and even more so to learn they had everything needed to build a replacement shrine to Mephala. Calixto had just about managed to keep a straight face as Othreloth had explained the tragedy that had befallen the Dunmer people over the summer as all the shrines to Mephala had stopped working – apparently it was worse on the mainland as temples had closed, shrines had been quietly removed and the Great Houses doing their best to keep order and reassure a terrified populace. Othreloth had only kept order here by ensuring no one outside the Temple itself and Councilor Morvayn's household knew about the problem. Sapphire had looked stunned but managed to keep her composure as she heard Aranea's communion with Azura had resulted in receiving a set of instructions to make a new shrine to Mephala, who was now to be known also as the Mother of the Night.
"Mother of the – right," said Sapphire faintly. "Well, we've got everything and can get this built, but you'll need a smith to do it. Ideally a good one who's discreet and won't ask questions. Got one of those in town? Aranea had trouble finding anyone in Windhelm, we had to send the gear out to the Reach to get ours built – we've got a friend with contacts there who found us an arcane smith in the Forsworn who could do the job."
"I'm not sure we have the time for that – the Temple certainly doesn't have the funds," Othreloth sighed. "The Reach is a long way from Solstheim, and from what I hear, anything complicated requiring knowledge of Reach-magic needs personal authorisation from the King. I can only imagine how long it would take to jump through all those hoops. No, we'll need to make do with what we have. The smith in town, Glover Mallory, he's known to be discreet. We'll have to ask him – if he can't do it, we may have to send word to the Skaal. If they can smith Stalhrim, they can make one of these."
"Sorry, did you say Glover Mallory?" Sapphire interrupted, eyes lighting up. "As in Glover Mallory of Riften?"
"I think that's where he lived before, yes," said Othreloth. "Why, do you know him?"
"Know him?" Sapphire laughed. "Guy was like a mentor to me back when I lived there. Kept an eye out for me, trained me, we were like buddies. Then one day he just upped and left. Didn't even say goodbye or where he was going. He didn't even tell his brother Delvin why, just told him to keep an eye on me. That was, what, four years ago now? And he's been here all this time? Wow. Don't worry, Elder. I'll go talk to him. If he can do it, he will, and you don't need to worry about him asking questions. He knows when to keep his mouth shut."
"Glover!"
Glover Mallory looked up from his forge, feeling his heart almost stop as he recognised the voice. No... it couldn't be... not after all these years. Not here, not in Raven Rock.
"Sapphire?" he whispered, looking up. Sure enough it was her, in the armour he'd made for her when she first joined the Guild, his own special Blackguard version of Guild leathers, a little welcome present.
"Glover! It is you!" she laughed. She had a strongbox under her arm, which she placed by his forge, and reached out for a hug.
"Sapphire," he gasped, embracing her, his daughter, his little girl although she had no idea and he didn't think he'd ever get up the nerve to tell her. She was the reason he'd left Riften – he couldn't see her around the Cistern every day and live with the guilt over abandoning her mother. "What are you even doing here? Did Delvin send you?"
"No, I – I'm not working for the Guild any more, well, not full-time anyway, I do the odd job for them, fence a few things to them, but I'm not... Glover, this is Calixto, he's a friend of mine."
"We've met," said Glover, letting Sapphire go as he took in Calixto, dressed like a trader but with those damn Shrouded boots and if ever a man's eyes screamed 'murderer' it was this man. By Dibella, she'd joined the Brotherhood. Always a temptation for any skilled thief when pickings were slim, if they had the nerve to kill. Glover could fight well enough and while he'd killed a few people, he wasn't a cold-blooded murderer. To think of his daughter joining up...
"Are things that bad?" he asked her. "In the Guild? Were you so desperate for coin you turned to... them?"
Sapphire's face hardened as she glared at him. "I won't lie, the Guild's not doing well... but the coin's not why I changed careers, Glover. Well, not the only reason anyway. There's new management over at the Brotherhood. The family's got a new head. She's so much better than the old one and she was willing to give me a chance. So I went back to my old job." She just looked at him through those dark lashes of hers, face calm as she let that sink in. Old job – she didn't leave the Guild to take up assassination, she'd left the Brotherhood to take up thieving. Oh Sapphire. Blood on her hands before he'd even met her – she was twenty three when she'd joined the Guild, five years ago now. Had she escaped the bandits, killed to survive and been recruited by them? Or had the bandits that killed her family and wiped out her village been her first trainers in the arts of brutality? He didn't know, but what he did know was that however much her being an assassin hurt, it hurt all the more because if he'd stayed, he might have been able to prevent it.
"I see," said Glover, looking away. "Well, if it's what you want – the Guild and Brotherhood still have that non-aggression pact going, don't they?"
"We do," said Sapphire, smile flickering on her lips. "Can't say we're likely to get a lot of business out here anyway."
"No, probably not," said Glover, thinking of people likely to have the funds and motive to hire the Brotherhood in Raven Rock, and drawing a blank. The list of potential targets – in theory, anyone, but there weren't many people likely to have wealthy and powerful enemies. "So what does bring you to Solstheim anyway? I can't believe it was just to see me."
"Oh! Well, we've got a job needs doing. A job involving discretion and not asking too many questions. Not that sort of job," she added hastily. "No, I need some crafting doing. It's for the Temple."
"For the Temple?" Now Glover was completely confused. The Temple needed something making on the quiet, and the Dark Brotherhood were involved? Glover had no idea, not unless the Temple of the Reclamations was launching some sort of Inquisition and needed a torture chamber building. Grim work, but not his to ask questions, right? "What do you need?"
Sapphire opened the box and handed the design and schematics over. "A new shrine," she whispered. "To... Mephala. The old one stopped working, you see. We're helping replace it – one of us is an old friend of Othreloth's and a former priestess of Azura. She was given these instructions on what to do."
Extract of nightshade mixed in to molten ebony, then the whole thing moulded around a human skull with a filled black soul gem inserted in the cavity, then two flawless rubies in the eye sockets, and a hand print moulded into the forehead with daedra heart essence used to stain it. Tricky, but not impossible, and to be done at night.
"You got all the gear?" he asked, nudging the box, about the right size to hold a skull, never mind all the other things. Grisly but doable. No wonder they wanted someone discreet.
Sapphire nodded. "Can you do it?" she asked. "Soon? I'll pay you for your trouble, of course."
"Yeah, no problem, leave it with me," said Glover. Now for the haggling. "I was thinking about..."
"Here," said Sapphire, retrieving a large coin purse from her pack. "This'll be enough, right?"
Glover reached out and steadied himself as he nearly dropped the gold. There must be nearly five hundred septims in here.
"It'll be fine," Glover managed to get out. Dear gods, she'd clearly overpaid him, this job must be important. "Are you collecting it, or should I take it to the Temple when it's done?"
"Deliver it to Elder Othreloth personally. Don't trust anyone else, unless it's me or Cal here, or Aranea Ienith," Sapphire told him. Glover promised he wouldn't say a word. He knew what the handprint meant from talking to Delvin about the Brotherhood, he knew this was likely some totem to whatever dark deity they followed. What the Temple wanted with one, he had no idea, but he knew when not to ask questions. Stashing Sapphire's supplies and gold away for safekeeping, he bade her goodbye and left her and her colleague to it.
"See, told you he'd be able to help," said Sapphire cheerfully as she and Calixto stepped out into the market square. "Now, where's Aranea? What's she been up to, other than swindling an entire religion obviously?"
Calixto steeled himself to answer this one, really not wanting to talk about it but knowing he'd postponed matters long enough.
"Cal?" asked Sapphire, her smile fading as she noticed the look on his face. "Honey? Where is she? What happened?"
Before Calixto could answer, there was the sound of someone Shouting, a woman from the sound of it but that surely couldn't be right, how many women on Solstheim knew the Thu'um? It sounded like "GOL!" but neither Calixto nor Sapphire had the chance to think about it for long before the sound of a huge explosion rocked both air and ground, and then the sound of some horrible roar from some indescribable atrocity. Sapphire turned round, stunned and scratching her head in confusion, but Calixto knew what it was. He'd heard it before, and from the sound of things, there was not one, but two of the beasts. Lurkers, up by the Earth Stone.
"By the gods. Aranea's up there!" he cried, drawing his blades. That galvanised Sapphire into motion. Drawing two Akaviri blades that she'd claimed from Sky Haven Temple before she left, Sapphire turned and sprinted up the slope, Calixto and half the Redoran Guard following behind.
Vilkas shook his head, confused. How'd he get here? Hadn't he been in bed? Why did he feel quite so groggy and achy? Why was he... why was he fully dressed?
All good questions, but the wave of water smacking into him from two... things bursting up from the pool surrounding the Earth Stone woke him up, and Vilkas grabbed his greatsword with a yell. Instinct kicked in as he began swinging out at the thing nearest him.
"MUL QAH!" he heard Cicero howl, and he didn't recognise that one, some new Shout perhaps? Then the sight of a glowing figure summoning a Dremora using some staff he had and firing off arrows into the other abomination. The Redoran Guard were also arriving by now, arrows and Destruction magic firing through the air, and a young woman in what looked a bit like Thieves Guild armour firing a few shots of her own. Come to think of it, he knew her, that was the assassin that had seen them off at Windhelm, Aranea's lady friend. No time to wonder how she'd got here, he had more pressing concerns, such as the black ichor the thing had just spat at him and the tentacles writhing up his armour. Vilkas hissed in pain from the poison leaching into him, just thankful beast blood granted some measure of resistance to it. Then tentacles curled around his axe and sent the Skyforge weapon flying from hands, and really where was his grip, why did he feel so damn tired?
"MUL QAH!" someone else Shouted and that wasn't Cicero, wasn't even male. The Lurker turned and then Vilkas heard another Shout.
"YOL TOOR SHUL!" and the Lurker was engulfed in flames, howling in pain. It turned on the glowing figure behind it. Cicero again?
No. Not Cicero, because he'd left the Dremora, the Redoran Guard and that Imperial friend of his, Calixto, dealing with the other Lurker and splashed his way over, golden Dragon covering him. In his hands was a greatsword, a red one glowing with some sort of magic Vilkas had never seen before.
"Vilkas, Vilkas!" Cicero squealed, holding it out to him. "For you, for you!"
Vilkas wasn't sure what to make of it, only that he must have found it in a tomb somewhere and probably wasn't any good with it himself – well, he knew that, he'd seen Cicero try to use two-handed weapons at Jorrvaskr and not laughed so hard in a long time. But given his Skyforge greatsword was presently lying on the other side of the stone and his ebony battleaxe was probably back at the Retching Netch, he didn't have a lot of choice. He took the blade and charged back in to the fray while Cicero resumed shooting.
He'd not expected the energy beam. It swept into the Lurker, making it shriek, and the glowing woman, he could see it was a woman now, leapt out of the way before darting back in, her own sword carving into the Lurker. He couldn't see her clearly, didn't know who she was but she certainly had technique. She'd clearly learned from the best. Together they danced around the monster, carving into it until finally it howled its last and collapsed to the floor.
Vilkas let it go and stared at the greatsword Cicero had given him. The man himself had hopped to his side and was grinning up at him.
"Does Vilkas like his shiny shiny new blade?" Cicero purred. "Cicero found it at the bottom of Raven Rock mine and thought it should go to someone who could use it. Aren't the beams pretty?"
"They're beautiful," Vilkas whispered, before recollecting himself. "I mean, er, this is clearly a very dangerous weapon. Could be lethal in the wrong hands. Probably best if I keep it safe. Make sure no one unsuitable gets their hands on it." Not that he held with magical weapons, not at all, the very idea was cheating at best and rather unethical considering most required souls to power them. Still, he had it now and clearly he'd need to look after it, make sure no one misused it.
"Yes Vilkas," Cicero purred, smirk widening. "Of course, of course, it is a matter of duty and honour, and Vilkas was not enjoying blasting that Lurker with it, not at all." He patted Vilkas on the arm, the golden glow fading. "Cicero understands."
"Vilkas!" Vilkas barely had time to look up before Ria sprinted through the pool, golden light flickering out, and had that been her, fighting that Lurker with him? Surely not, when had she learnt to Shout? How had she learnt to Shout?
She collided with him, arms around him, holding him tight, as if she'd been worried about him, and that was rather unusual. Ria normally acted as if she didn't need him, didn't even care about him, although sometimes she had her caring moments. She was never normally this affectionate though, and though he worried constantly about her, the reverse was unheard of. Yet here she was holding on to him as if she'd been afraid she'd lost him... and it was nice. It was very nice indeed to have someone holding him like this, taking care of him – it didn't happen very often and probably wasn't going to happen again. So he made the most of it, hugging Ria right back.
"What happened?" he asked, surveying the rest of the scene, rubble everywhere, ichor everywhere, tentacles still writhing on their own, two dead Lurkers lying on the ground, Redoran Guards scratching their heads, and Cicero scampering over to where Aela, Calixto and Sapphire were having an animated conversation.
"It's a long story," Ria whispered, head resting on his shoulder. "But you're all right. You're all right, thank the Eight, I was so worried..."
"How did I get here?" Vilkas asked, still a little hazy on that point. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep at the Netch.
"Miraak was mind-controlling the entire island to build shrines around these Stones so he could use their power to come back," Ria told him, shivering. "We had to track down a Word Wall that gave us a Shout to break the spell. You and Aranea were under the spell for days."
"What?" Days? Vilkas could barely believe it, and yet that would explain why every muscle ached, every sinew raw. "How? And how did the rest of you not fall under it?"
"Aela got warned by the werewolves that live here," Ria explained. "So she just stayed awake. It's falling asleep that's the trigger. She found Calixto and Cicero before they went to bed and warned them. You, me, Aranea, we were all under it, at least until Cicero woke me up."
"And he didn't do the same for us?" Vilkas demanded. Ria shook her head sadly.
"He tried. The two of you tried to kill him. It's... complicated. Come on, let's go find the others. I'd rather tell you all together."
The little group of four seemed to have broken up, with Calixto in particular scouring the area, running to every motionless body, turning it over and moving panicked on to the next.
"Aranea!" he cried, even as Sapphire ran to grab his arm, pleading with him to stop. "ARANEA!"
"What's up?" Vilkas asked Aela, who was looking grim, although not as grim as Cicero, who was staring at his fellow assassins with despair in his eyes.
"Aranea," said Aela softly. "She was under the spell with you, Calixto says she's been here all this time, was here when the boat with Sapphire on it arrived... then he went off to see why Sapphire was here and now Aranea's not anywhere."
"But... where would she go?" Ria asked, surprised. "Aranea wouldn't have gone far, she'd have retreated back and started firing magic at those Lurkers."
There had been magic used, Vilkas recalled, but the Redoran Guard probably knew how to use it. He'd seen firebolts, ice spikes, lightning – but all apprentice level things. Not the walls of lightning or the fireballs he'd been told Aranea liked to fling around – the only fireball he'd seen cast had been one lobbed by Calixto.
"I don't think she was fighting," said Vilkas, his heart sinking. Cicero looked up at his words, nodding in agreement, and that was death in his eyes, death for anyone who'd hurt his Dark Sister.
"She was not here," Cicero growled. "Cicero did not see her when he arrived, only Vilkas and some guardsmen. He thought Calixto had managed to get her away to a safe place and keep her prisoner if he could not rouse her. But he has not, he left her here... and now she is gone. Someone has taken my sister."
Taken Aranea? But why? What would anyone want with Aranea? Any number of things, none of them good.
"Who?" Ria whispered. "Do you think it was Miraak?" Cicero shook his head, arms folded as he gazed off into the distance.
"No," Cicero growled. "Else he would have taken Vilkas too. But Cicero is remembering what Aranea told him when she first met him. It happened many human lifetimes ago, but Morrowind is an elven land, and elves have long memories." He looked up and Ria flinched back, nestling closer to Vilkas. He put his arms protectively around her, not liking the look on Cicero's face.
"Aranea had enemies in Morrowind? Who?" Vilkas asked, wondering why no one had bothered to tell him this before.
Cicero gritted his teeth and spat out one phrase, two words that chilled the blood of them all.
"Morag Tong!" With not another glance at them, he strode off to join his fellow assassins, leaving three Companions wondering what they'd just signed up for.
"Morag Tong? What's that?" Ria whispered. Vilkas closed his eyes, remembering what he'd read about them over the summer while he'd made a point of chasing down every scrap of information on the Brotherhood he could find.
"A guild of assassins that used to operate all over Tamriel – still do in Morrowind from the sounds of it," said Vilkas sombrely. "The Dark Brotherhood split off from them, apparently they used to be bitter enemies. I imagine that hasn't changed."
"And they've taken Aranea," said Aela quietly. "Well. Don't imagine we'll see her again. A shame. She was all right, for a Dark Brotherhood assassin."
"Oh," Ria whispered, hand to her mouth. Vilkas held on to her, not sure what to say to comfort her. Truth be told, there wasn't a lot he could say. But Aranea was Brotherhood and one thing he did know, they looked after their own. Even Kodlak had put his foot down with regards to taking on the Brotherhood, rightly pointing out they had no idea where the assassins had their headquarters, it would be suicide to take them on. Now the Tong had decided to do just that, and the Dark Brotherhood's single most dangerous assassin was here to take revenge. If anyone could find Aranea, it would be Cicero.
A/N: The Miraak backstory actually made me sniffle a bit. I feel a bit sorry for him, even if he did mistreat Saering, who tried to run and got killed by Miraak in a fit of rage (Miraak didn't even intend to, he just lost his temper and Fus Ro Dah'ed off a balcony and Saering died from it). Miraak never loved anyone else, and then along comes Cicero looking just like him...
And I got to have Sapphire and Glover meet again! YAY! I was wondering how to get them together, and now I see a way... But before that, we need to sort out the Morag Tong plot thread.