Day Twenty-three

Sleeping in one's own bed did wonders. I awoke feeling well-rested and ready to go. We had a breakfast of cooked beef, grilled leeks, and apple pie. I figured after such a successful mission that we at least deserved a decent meal. Nature, however does not concur. It rained heavily from Whiterun to Valtheim Keep. I did not see any roadsigns along the way for Riften yet so I kept us pointed in the direction of the town which took us across the river and through Cradlecrush Rock again. It was still empty, though the wolves had had their fill of the overcooked cow on the fire. As we passed, a dragon flew overhead, roaring a challenge but it never passed low enough to engage in a fight. It flew off. Perhaps it was a relative of the one the giant slew and was looking for revenge.

I continued us following the familiar trail past Eldergleam Sanctuary to a spot on the map called Darkwater Pass. The simple people in the mining area seemed to have their own dramas going on so I left as quietly as possible. The last thing I needed was other people's problems. I did get out my pickaxe, though, as I spotted more and more ores of metals with shiny bits stuck in them. I managed to extract several more raw gems while Lydia took the time to practice with her bow on the wildlife. I suggested I could find another pickaxe for her to use and she suggested what I could do with it if I did. I decided to let her relax.

We got into a more wooded area and I stumbled upon a ruin defended by a mage whose hands radiated cold even from a distance. I told her I could not care less about her ritual and tried to go around but she did not believe me. A shard of ice embedded itself into my leg and I felt the coldness go right through my body. Lydia closed in on her which gave me a chance to use my magic on the wound. Blood and water coursed down into my boot as the gash closed. My magic depleted just short of completely healing. If I did not have my natural resistance to cold as a Nord, I might not have healed so well. I quickly joined the fight. Lydia was having trouble reaching her through an elemental barrage of ice. I charged the mage from the side and took a swipe at her. She stopped her spell and created a magic shield to block me. I fixed my stance and delivered a powerful blow to the shield. It knocked her sideways and almost down to one knee. Lydia brought her axe down on the mage's neck and the fight was over.

While Lydia cleaned the gore from her weapon I checked the area for whatever the mage thought was worth dying for. All I could find was a book titled, 'Racial Phylogeny'. From the text it detailed how different races healed slightly different with similar spells. I glanced over at the halved mage. Perhaps a worm could heal from that, if it did not mind being two worms. I also found some sort of cage of Dwemer metal built into some stone. I picked the lock but only found some gold and a blue potion to help with magicka. Some mages were just plain crazy. On to Riften.

I had never been to Riften before and Lydia warned me that it was rife with thieves and cutthroats who actually had their own guild here. I did not doubt it since it seemed there are trainees around every bend of the road in Skyrim. The town appeared out of a fog and right away I was underwhelmed. Nothing about it impressed me which, when I thought about it, was exactly where I would want to hide. The guard at the main gate further lowered my estimation of this place.

"Halt," he said, "You must pay the visitor's tax. Two hundred gold or leave now."

"You sound like a thief I knew once, but you can't be him," I replied, "I slit his throat for trying to steal my money."

The guard put a hand to his sword. "You're not a smart one, are you?"

"Crossing swords with me is not the smart thing, guardsman. I've crapped more adversarial things than you. What sort of shakedown is this anyway?"

"All right, keep your voice down. You may enter."

As I passed the masked guard I stopped and said, "If I had used my voice, you would be sinking to the bottom of that stinking lake by now."

The gates slammed shut behind me. We were barely into the town when some lollygagger leaning against a post got my attention.

"New in town, huh? Be sure to mind your own business and don't even think about crossing the Black-Briars. I'm Maul and you'll deal with me if there's a problem."

Was everyone here looking for a fight, I wondered. "And if I think the Black-Briars are the problem, then what?"

Maul stared for a moment then laughed, "You're either stupid or the new court jester. You'll fit in just fine here either way. Something I can help you with?"

"Now that you mention it, where can I find Maven Black-Briar?"

"Direct, huh? Maven is not someone you find, she finds you. Now go about your business."

I approach closer to the man, then backed off as the smell of fish and sweat curdled my nostrils. "What can you tell me for a few coins?" I handed him a small pouch of gold. It disappeared before I could even look back again.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Who does your make-up? No, seriously, where can I find a man named Brynjolf?"

"He's a merchant, of sorts. Look for him in the market square just up ahead. Don't tell him I sent you. Understand?"

I told him I did, even though I didn't. Probably some personal vendetta thing I was sure I wanted no part of. I nudged Lydia who was quietly sizing up Maul for some reason. She was startled out of her inspection then followed quickly behind, casting the slacker a final smile.

I waded through a motley assortment of citizenry to the market square where I saw several booths with all different races manning them. I could almost smell the skooma in the air. It made me light-headed for a moment. The merchants all looked like they could be part of a thieve's guild so I just went up to the first one I saw.

"Brynjolf?" I asked a well-dressed Nord at a booth who was selling some red potions.

"You've never done an honest day's work in your life, have you?"

What was it with this town? "You've never taken a decent bath in your life, have you? Now are you Brynjolf or not?"

"Who wants to know?"

"I was sent by Delphine. She said he could help me find someone."

"I'm Brynjolf, but I don't do nothing for free. I do have a task you could help me with, however. Do this and I'll help you."

"Fine, she said to expect this, though I was hoping she was just being pessimistic."

"Riften is no place for hope, lad. That will just make the knife cut deeper. Now here's what I need you to do..."

Brynjolf laid out his plan for planting a ring on a fellow merchant. Apparently he was sick of some elf named Brand-Shei disparaging his potions and losing him sales. I thought of the book I found near Solitude about stealing items and wondered if I could do the same just in reverse. Guess I would find out. Lydia said she would keep an eye out for me though she did not think a Thane should lower himself to such deception. I agreed but pointed out Esbern's been hiding for a long time so he was obviously going to be tough to find. This would be much quicker.

Brynjolf created a distraction and the plan went off without a hitch. I even decided to help myself to a few shiny extras from Madesi's lockbox. Thieves should not have such nice things for themselves, I rationalized. After the crowd dispersed, a tall, gorgeous blonde suggested I stay at the Bunkhouse that night. The Bee and Barb was no place for the likes of me. I whole-heartedly agreed with her and told her to keep an eye out for me. I was intrigued with what she could show me.

Brynjolf watched the woman walk away then clapped me on the shoulder. "Haela's quite a woman, friend. I'd be careful with her though. They say she used to perform with a traveling show, some kind of sword swallower or something like that. There was nothing she could not make disappear."

"Really?" I said, more intrigued now than ever.

"That ruse worked better than I expected. Here's your payment for your part. There's more work for you if you are interested, though some may get messier than others, if you know what I mean."

He seemed nice enough but for a guild falling on hard times, he seemed awfully well off. Something told me he was holding back. I declined his offer.

"I'm here looking for someone, an old man reported to be here. Do you think you can help me find him?"

"Possibly, but I don't like discussing work out here in the open. Find your way to the Ragged Flagon in the Ratway and we'll talk in privacy there."

I reluctantly agreed. As I left to find this dubious sounding place, a guard approached Brand-Shei and told him he was under arrest. The elf protested and thought of running but the guard pulls out a long mace with 'Elf Tamer' written along the side.

"Give me a reason, Elf," the guard pleaded, "Any reason at all."

Brand-Shei audibly swallowed then gave up without a fight.

I shrugged and Lydia just shook her head. I left to find the thieve's warren.
It did not take long to find the Ratway. Lydia suggested we watch where the more unsavory of the crowd went and followed them. Sure enough, below the walkway we found a door with R.W. carved on it. We entered there and at the end of a dank, filth-ridden tunnel we were attacked by two eager bandits pretending to act civilized. They paid for their poor judgement quickly enough and actually had some gold and a nice loose ruby in one pocket. I thanked their cooling corpses and moved on.

I was forced to stop at a ledge. There was a drawbride on the other side but the controls were over there too.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Looks like we have to jump down," Lydia said, "It doesn't look far."

I could hear skeevers scratching around down below. No doubt there were packs of them running around. They probably named this place after its most prominent denizens. With no other way to go, I sat on the edge and dropped down, hoping to crush a skeever or two. I missed but I made up for it by killing two with my sword, not an easy task since they were so small and quick. Lydia joined me with her axe ready.

"Ever had roasted skeever jerky?" she asked, "It's not bad if you get all the bristly hairs off."

"Don't make me vomit. This place smells bad enough. Come on."

I was about to open a door when Lydia tapped me on the shoulder with her axe. "Ralos, wait."

I froze. "What?"

"The bottom of the door has a trip wire."

I looked closer. How the Nines did she see that? I deactivated it and proceeded, slower this time. "See, that's why I keep you around," I said.

"I thought it was for something to look at when you did not want to take the lead while walking."

How did she know that? I wondered. Obviously she did not mind. Suited me fine. Adventuring sure did bring out a different side of Lydia.

I came to a chamber with bear traps on the floor. I pointed them out and we easily got around them. There was only one exit, so I approached the door but before I could open it, a voice inside called out.

"Is someone there?"

From inside I heard a bear trap snap closed and the voice began cursing up a storm of profanity. I took a chance on catching him distracted and busted through the door. Inside I found a big lout of a man, waiting to fight but with only his fists. I showed him my sword.

"Put your fists away before I make you eat them." I said.

Despite his bulk, he lunged and caught me on the helm with a right cross. It sounded as if a gong was struck beside me. I lurched to the side to give myself room and to let Lydia enter the fray. His next swing went wide as I dodged backwards. Lydia gashed him with her sword and I jumped forward to slice off whatever I could. He hit hard, as my dented helm could attest to, but his lack of armor did him in. Moments later I sent his lumpy head to rest beside his cooking pot. I checked out his hands and sure enough he was wearing a set of glowing gauntlets. I relieved his body of them and gave them to Lydia to stash away.

I followed the only open path up a flight of stairs. A swinging log trap barely missed me. Good thing I liked to cling to the walls when stalking my prey. This way lead to an odd room with a variety of plants growing in a circle of light from the ceiling. The light beamed directly down on a chopping block with an iron battleaxe embedded in it. In the next room I could smell food and slowed down to a crouching walk. I surprised some female lowlife in the middle of a snack.

"Never should have come here," she declared, a popular saying among those about to die.

Despite wielding her two daggers with skill, she was no match for me and the wolf Lydia summoned. I searched the room for anything valuable while the spectral wolf tried, quite humorously, to eat a heel of bread on the table. His ghostly muzzle kept passing through it until he finally howled in frustration then vanished. The only things I found were a book titled, 'Beggar' that describes how to beg for coin while stealing the whole purse, and a staff. The staff I gave to Lydia and she said it looked like one that shot flames. She pointed it at the bread and a gout of flames burned it to ash.

She grinned. "And you thought I was hot before."

"What? I never said that."

"Ah, so you keep me around for my fighting skills?"

"Well, you do have nice big axe."

"You did say 'axe', right?"

"Uh, sure. Let's see where this way leads."

One tunnel later I found a door with a wooden plaque reading, 'Ragged Flagon'. We went through and found ourselves in an enormous underground cave complete with lake, docks, storage areas, and of course, a bar. Everyone seemed to be located at the bar on the other side of the small lake so I headed there. I spotted Brynjolf but he was busy talking to someone so instead, I spoke to the barkeep.

"You better have some coin," he said before I could utter a word, "ain't nothing free down here. Of course, some things can be arranged." He winked at Lydia.

Lydia reciprocated with a gesture I thought only sailors and convicts knew.

The barkeep laughed and turned back to me, "Fine woman you got there. Nice long fingers. Name's Vekel the Man. What can I get for you?"

"I'm Ralos, also a man. I'm looking for information."

"Sorry, that's not on the menu today."

"Sure it is, says so right there."

"Where?" he asks.

I toss a pouch a coins on the counter. "Inside there."

Vekel opened the pouch. "I'll be damned, you're right. I see it now, but we only have a little here."

"That's all right, I only need a little. I'm looking for an old man said to be down here."

"Lots of old men come here, some just to die."

"Well, this one is still living and is supposed to have been in hiding for years."

"Ah, you must mean Esbern. Crazy old kook. He never leaves, even has his meals brought to him. Check the Warrens, that way through the Ratway Vault."

Brynjolf was just finishing his conversation when he got my attention.

"Find out what you needed?" he asked.

"I'll see, though the directions were pretty vague."

"I've got another job for you, if you're interested. Some people in town need some reminding of the debts they owe. I just need you to..."

"No thanks," I said quickly, "I've got enough to do right now without wasting time roughing up townspeople."

"Pardon me, Your Majesty. I did not mean to ruffle your royal feathers. Come see me, if you survive the fall from your high horse. And you will fall eventually, count on it."

Brynjolf stalked away. Behind him I saw a striking blonde woman in black leather armor standing with her arms folded in front of her and leaning against the railing. I did not want to be too antisocial, now did I. I approached her.

"Good day. Are you all right?"

She sneered, "Yes, why do you ask?"

"It must be a long fall from the heavens. I hope they have a replacement for their goddess of beauty."

A knife appeared at my throat. "They said I could return if I brought them the tongue of an ass. Until I met you, I thought they had misspoke." She looked over at Lydia and leaned back against the railing again. She ran the knife over her full lips. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Lydia. I'm here as a companion to the Thane of Whiterun," she nodded towards me.

The blonde spared me another glance then scoffed. "My name is Vex," she said to Lydia, "when you are done with this one, which should not be long, come back and see me. I think we would work well together."

Vex took her time leaving. I thought Lydia was actually blushing.

"Maybe I should introduce her to Delphine," I said. "Let's go. These people make no sense."

I went through the door Vekel had indicated and found myself in another dark tunnel. At the end I could hear people talking and if I was not mistaken, they sounded like elves. I crept along until I could see who it was. I was stunned to see a Thalmor wizard standing on the other side of the room facing away from me. How the Nines did they get here before me and why didn't the thieves back at the bar warn me? Unless there's some other way down here, those losers would have some explaining to do. First I needed to take out this fool standing with his back to me. I drew out a steel dagger I kept for just such an occasion. I took two steps and the Thalmor spun around. "Who's there?"

Damn it! I needed to invest in some sort of sneaking shoes. I sheathed the dagger and ran at the wizard, unleashing my sword as I went. He managed to launch one of those ice spikes at me before I could close the distance. I got in two quick shots then I saw flames coursing over the wizard. I assumed Lydia had brought out her flame staff. The wizard's spells fizzled in his scorched hands and he was forced to go for his dagger. He obviously only had it for rituals because he tried to block my sword with it. It spun away still gripped in his hand and he died in the corner.

I turned just in time to see two Thalmor soldiers appear at the end of a corridor. Magical swords materialized in their hands and I backed up to fight them out in the open where Lydia could help. To my surprise, Lydia pointed a staff at the cut-down wizard and he rose up, glowing and expressionless. I engaged the soldiers but they did not last long as their former leader started hurling balls of fire at them from behind. After the second fell to my sword I looked over at the wizard who was just standing still, then at Lydia.

"Did you really do that?" I asked her.

She held out the staff I had asked her to keep covered. "I wanted to try it out," she said, grinning. "It must be powerful to be able to raise a Thalmor wizard."

"That was impressive. Now put that thing back under wraps. I don't want someone else finding it and using it. We don't need it against these guys."

Reluctantly, Lydia did as she's told and we moved on.

We enterd a lower chamber and I could hear a woman talking in another room. She was going through a list of items but apparently she was missing her inkpot. I thought the feather must have fallen off her quill a long time ago. She sounded a bit deranged because she kept repeating the list and the missing item over and over. I stepped up to a door and could tell she was in there. I left her to her tallying. I found another room at the base of the stairs but inside was just a man sitting alone in a room. He did not react to my presence so I just closed the door and left him. There are all sorts of problem people here.

I proceeded up the stairs and saw a man in a chef's uniform napping on some straw. He must have been pretty low ranking to have such fine accommodations. Or, as I soon found out, he had a temper problem. He brandished a meat cleaver and rushed at me screaming. Two hits from me later his head flew across the room, leaving his hat and body behind in perfect placement.

I left his body bleeding out in the straw and stopped at a locked door at the end of the hall. I knocked and right away a man slid a small door open at eye level.

"Who's there? What do you want?"

"I'm looking for a man named Esbern. Do you know him?"

"I'm sorry there's no one here by that name. Good day."

"Delphine sent me."

That made him pause. This had to be him.

"Delphine? How do I know this isn't some trick?"

"She said to ask you where you were on the 30th of Frostfall."

The man laughed. "That's Delphine all right. But what do you want? Why are you here?"

"Let me in and I'll explain."

He thought for a moment, "All right, just give me a minute."

Esbern closed the little door and started unlocking the big one. He must have had at least ten locks on it. He apologized for the delay. He probably had not unlocked them all in a long time. Finally he slid the last one and opened the door.

"Come in, come in, quickly now."

We entered the chamber. It was warm and well lit with food and books all over. Looked like a very comfortable place to hide out, if you did not mind being surrounded by crazies and cutpurses. At least it was good from a man's perspective. Lydia ran her fingers along the table and showed me the grime she picked up.

"Charming," she remarked sarcastically.

"Thank you, dear lady. I, eh, don't get many women callers down here. My, my," Esbern cleared his throat. "Now what's all this about?"

I took a seat at the table, "Delphine said you could help us defeat Alduin."

"Alduin? He's returned? We're doomed! Doomed! Fighting is useless. The prophecies are coming true. The world eater has risen! We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you!"

"So what you're saying is we're doomed?" I said.

"Our only chance is for a Dragonborn to step forth. But we haven't seen one of those in centuries."

I stood and stepped up to him, "Well, now you have. I've tasted the souls of dragons and I've been initiated by the Greybeards themselves. Delphine will confirm it, also."

"You? Can it be true?" he said, justifiably awed to be in my presence. "I suppose if Delphine sent you it must be true. Prophecies are known to have divergent lines of time. There can be no waiting now. Take me to Delphine. Alduin's reign must end now."

"Now you're talking."

"Just let me grab a few essentials and we'll be off."

While he found extra garb or food or whatever, I helped myself to everything else he left behind including a book titled, "Fire and Darkness" that showed how to best get inside an opponent's guard with a short sword. Nice. I also found a dagger lying around that was almost too cold to touch. I wrapped it in some linen cloth and handed it to Lydia to carry.

"I am sworn to carry your burdens," she muttered, again.

"You know, I never get tired of hearing that. Say it again, slower this time. Oh, now that gesture is just uncalled for. Do it again."

"All right, let's go," Esbern said.

Esbern led the way out of the room and as soon as we left I heard a voice call out.

"I knew I'd find you here. There is no escape now."

I heard someone talking but I did not see anyone. I noticed sparks from below behind a set of bars. The three of us went down the stairs ready to fight. I saw a Thalmor pacing behind the bars trying to cast some lightning spell through them. Behind him I could see one of those huge frost atronochs bumping into him.

"Get back, you cursed walking ice cube," the wizard said, "Bust through this wall, will you?"

A Thalmor guard attacked from the right but the three of us cut him down in moments. I stepped up to the bars and tried to poke at the wizard through the bars but he dodged, nearly tripping over the atronoch.

"You'll regret that," he yelled, still trying to cast his spells at me.

I looked over to see Esbern and Lydia disappear through a tunnel. I followed and came up to them fighting with the wizard. Obviously the Thalmor must have been low on wizards to send one that can not follow a simple tunnel. The Thalmor's atronoch was gone and he seemed to be having trouble keeping up any other spell as Esbern sprayed him with his a sparking spell of his own. Typically, he tried to flee at the last second but I caught him in the back and he fell face first into the wall.

"We should go quickly," Esbern said, "The Thalmor are like the rats down here. Where there's one, there'll be more."

We backtracked and the way was quicker now that the drawbridge could be lowered. I did come across a room with some chests in it that yielded some nice gems and a necklace. Besides that, the escape was uneventful.

Back above the Ratway, I see Lydia holding a new bow.

"Where did you get that?" I asked her.

She looked at me oddly, "You were right there. It was in the big chest in that room with the other chests. You probably didn't see it because there was an emerald the size of your knuckle in there as well."

"Chests are favorite things to check out."

"Obviously."

"That bow doesn't look like anything special. Can you tell anything from holding it?"

Lydia inspected it closer, "No, but look here. There's a name on it, 'Dravin'."

"Dravin?" I said, "That's a dumb name for a bow. I'd call it 'Shaft Slinger' or 'The Penetrator'."

"You would. It's probably the owner's name."

I grinned, "Same goes."

"Pig."

"Can we keep going, please?" Esbern said. "You can have your lovers' squabble while we walk."

"Lovers' squabble?" I choked out.

"Hardly," Lydia said.

"Look, it's already late," I said, changing the subject, "Let's just quietly get a room and take the carriage to Riverwood in the morning."

Esbern looked shocked, "Riverwood? Don't tell me she's still with Orgnar."

"You just want to stay here to find that slut, Haela," Lydia said to me.

"That's ridiculous," I objected, "She's probably not even still up, do you think?"

Lydia sighed, "Just go check out the other inn for Thalmor and rent us a room. I'll wait here with Esbern."

I threw my hands up and headed for the Bee and Barb. Just as I got under the light from the front door an Argonian woman rushed at me with a dagger.

"You should not have meddled in the affairs of the Thalmor!" she hissed.

I did not have my weapon out and her attack was too swift for me to even shout. Her dagger expertly found the few weak spots in my armor and I was hoping she did not lace the blade with poison. I shoulder bashed her to get some space then whipped my sword out, aiming the blade for her nose. She leaned back out of the way then jumped at me again with her dagger aimed for my neck. I somehow managed to block but it still cut me on the shoulder. I punched her in the snout with a fistful of steel and she reeled back, choking on blood and teeth. My sword chopped down onto her unarmored back then once more at her neck, severing it save for a flap of scaly hide.

I looked around but if anyone saw the fight, they were not willing to reveal themselves as witnesses. I cleaned my blade off on her dress then searched her for anything telling or valuable. She had quite a bit of gold and a note partially stained with her warm blood. It smelled of skooma. I took a long sniff from it. Reading it, I learned I had been being watched for some time. They tracked me to Riften and finally ordered this, Shavari, to kill me. It was signed simply by 'E.'. Who the Nines would that be? Why they thought a lizard in a dress could kill the Dragonborn of destiny I have no idea. I dragged the Argonian to the water and dumped her over the edge.

Now that my blood was pumping nicely, it was time to find this Haela. Oh, and first find a room for the other two.