No, I am not dead. My internet was just being difficult. Add to that the tests and assessments I've had to do... I had to do them when our internet was working. Finally I got a spare moment in class to upload this chapter. Read and enjoy. Please review! Good and bad criticism welcome.
"Who's keeping watch first?" Evalin asked tiredly.
It had been a long night. Echo had woken up briefly and crawled under an unused table before going back to sleep.
"I'll do it." Marcus volunteered.
"You three have been using magic all night. If you keep watch you'll be exhausted in the morning." Vipir argued.
"Do it together. Tiaan's still not out of danger yet. If anything happens you'll only kill her. Marcus, don't do anything stupid. And something needs to be done about the cat. I don't want her sleeping down here." Evalin grumbled.
"Leave her be. This is the longest I've ever seen Echo sleep. She sleeps for a couple of hours and naps but I have never seen her sleep for a whole night." Maria argued.
"She's right. Echo never sleeps for the whole night. Usually only a few hours between midnight and dawn. I don't know how she does it." Vipir put in.
"No where near enough sleep for a seven year old. Night then." Evalin said and went upstairs.
"A word of warning; Don't touch her if you want to keep your fingers." Maria warned Marcus and followed Evalin up.
Marcus looked at Vipir in confusion. Vipir just shrugged.
"Echo bites." Was the only explanation he offered.
"So... How did you end up with the Thieves Guild?" Marcus asked.
"I've been with them for years. Since before they started to go down hill. How did you end up working for Evalin? Woman doesn't strike me as the teaching sort." This comment seemed to break an invisible wall between them.
"She's not. But Evalin is a great healer. If it were anyone else, I would give up on your friend's survival. I still have much to learn." And Marcus launched into the story of how he had wound up as Evalin's apprentice.
Vipir yawned and leaned back in his chair. Marcus stretched and stood up.
"Should we wake Maria or Evalin yet?" Vipir asked tiredly.
"No, I can stay awake for a few more hours. Evalin is a monster when she's tired. You go on up. I'll be right." Marcus assured him.
Vipir took a last look at Tiaan before heading for the door. He got to the door and turned back to Marcus and Tiaan.
"You know, I always thought I'd be glad to be rid of that drunken nuisance. But now she's actually going to die, I don't want her gone as much as I thought. The Flagon just won't be the same." He said and left.
Marcus smiled slightly. Sometimes he just wished Evalin would just leave him to his work and stop picking up every little mistake he made, but when she did leave, he felt completely lost and unsure of what to do next. There was movement under the table as a small, fury grey body shifted in the shadows.
"You can come out now." Marcus called softly.
There was a quiet, startled yelp and Echo crawled out from under the table, ears and tail twitching. She stood up, stretched and yawned. She blinked sleepily and sat on the table, leaning against the wall.
"Sleep well? Maria says that's the longest she's ever seen you sleep and you never sleep the whole night." Marcus told her.
Echo yawned and nodded.
"Longest I've slept since... The longest since... since-since-" The words froze in her throat.
"Since what? What is it?"
Echo shook her head as she tried to find her voice.
"N-n-n-nothing. I d-don't want to talk about it." Echo mumbled.
She forced the painful thoughts down and out of her mind. It's the longest since a lot of things. Helgen, the Companions, the Guild, Tiaan almost killing me, Aela... Tears welled at the corners of he eyes at the thought of the proud Huntress. She lied for no good reason! She could have stuck with her story! She didn't have to growl at me like that! Echo thought fiercely, wiping tears away. The memory of those shining silver-grey eyes, cold and hard, the way Aela growled at her, almost like an animal, the sight of the light reflecting off her bared teeth, so... wolfish. Echo sobbed silently and wiped away fresh tears. Marcus noticed but said nothing. Echo slipped off the table and grabbed hold of Tiaan's hand. Marcus studied the girl without a word. There was something different about her, something that hadn't been there earlier. A drop of blood fell from Echo's fingers and splattered against her knee. He looked at Tiaan's arm in concern. If it was bleeding, it would need to be dealt with immediately. Finding nothing, he went back to watching Echo. The candlelight flickered across her tear streaked face. Was it a trick of the light or was that blood smudged and matted into the fur on her cheek? Another sob shook silently through Echo. She readjusted her grip on Tiaan's hand and something flashed in the firelight. A line shone down Tiaan's arm and onto Echo's. Marcus blinked and the lines became two deep gashes. Tiaan's was fresh, while Echo's was at least a few weeks old and healing.
"That's a nice cut. How long have you had it?" Marcus asked.
Echo let go of Tiaan's hand and whipped around suddenly as if she had forgotten the apprentice was still there.
"A few weeks." She said quickly.
"Shouldn't you have left the bandage on?"
"Yes."
"How did it happen?" Marcus asked and Echo flinched.
"A fight."
"What gave you the wound?"
And I thought my questions were annoying! These are just plain pointless! Echo thought.
"A sword."
Then Marcus asked the question Echo had been dreading. Echo recalled that horrible night.
Tiaan seized her arm and threw her to the ground. She grabbed a sword and levelled it at Echo.
"And now the brave little kitten dies!"
Tiaan pressed the sword closer to Echo's throat. Maria gasped and Vex whispered something to her.
"Don't move! Or your friend dies." Tiaan threatened.
Just to prove her point, Tiaan pressed the sword closer again, making a shallow cut in Echo's neck. Echo felt blood run down her neck. Echo heard someone coming closer and growled. She laid her head back and closed her eyes to wait for her cold, inevitable death. Tiaan drew the sword back and stabbed.
Echo dragged herself back to the present. Marcus waited for an answer, oblivious to what was happening in Echo's head.
"Who did it? Who cut you?" He asked again.
"Some drunk." Echo said with a shudder.
She rubbed her arm. When she stopped, blood was smeared down her hand.
"It's bleeding. Come here, if you want, I can..." Marcus's voice died in his throat
"Do I want you to what? Stop the bleeding? Heal it without scars? No thanks." Echo growled as she wound the bandage around her arm. Three small dots flashed on her hand where her claws had cut into the skin.
Marcus stood up and knelt beside Echo. He gently twisted Tiaan's arm around so the underside of her arm was visible.
"Take that bandage off." He murmured.
Echo froze in surprise, "What?"
"Take the bandage off." Marcus repeated.
Echo shrugged and obeyed. Marcus reached out to grab her arm but Echo snatched it away and snapped at his fingers warningly.
"You do bite. May I?" He asked and held out his hand.
Echo grunted and let him reach for her arm, her eyes never leaving his. Something tingled in the air around her arm, making her fur stand on end. Magic! Echo thought with a start and snapped again. This time, she did bite. The marks her small, needle sharp teeth left in Marcus's fingers welled with blood as he recoiled in fright. Echo glared at him threateningly.
"You said it was alright for me to touch you! I'm not trying to hurt you!" He complained.
"Magic changes things like that completely. I said I didn't want magic used on me!" Echo growled.
"Fine! Sorry! No magic. Just give me your arm." He growled.
Echo let him take hold of her arm.
"Can you roll your arm over so I can see the wound better?" He asked.
"What are you looking at?" Echo asked. She was getting curious now.
"The wounds are both exactly same. Roll your arm so I can see the other side. See? Even the part that spirals around your wrist is the same. Was it Tiaan who cut you?" Marcus asked.
"No." Echo lied.
Marcus yawned suddenly. He stood up and walked over to a small window set high in the wall close to the ceiling. Echo watched warily as he pulled the heavy curtain back. A thin shaft of weak light filtered through the window. Marcus closed the curtain and sat down again. He yawned and closed his eyes.
"Why don't you get Maria or Evalin?" Echo asked.
"They've only been gone a few hours. Maria was asleep on her feet. Evalin will be in a really bad mood."
Echo shivered at the thought of Evalin's temper.
"I-I could watch her. I can get one of you if something happens and I won't go to sleep." Echo suggested.
"No, Evalin will... You know what? I'm so tired I don't care. Just get one of us if something happens. Don't fall asleep."
"Not much chance of that happening!" Echo hissed.
She felt more awake than ever after her long night of sleep, more awake than the time Farkas had accidentally given her coffee instead of milk.
Echo leaned against the wall and thought. Her month with the companions had been fun but challenging. Echo was the runt. She was the smallest, the weakest and the youngest. She couldn't lift as much weight as most of the other whelps could. The Guild was another story. The week and a half spent doing jobs for Vex and Delvin had shown her that her size was not always a bad thing. Vex had taught her how to slip into tight places. Brynjolf had begun to teach her how to use her age to fool and con people. There were certain disadvantages to being smaller and younger, but they were easily worked around.
A sigh jolted Echo from her thoughts. The sigh came again. Echo thought she could hear words on it.
"Huh? Who's there?" Echo whispered.
There was another sigh. This one sounded like a surprised gasp. Echo watched Tiaan. She was the same as she had been when Marcus left.
"What are you doing?" Echo called in a quite whisper.
Another sigh, this one almost like a laugh. A shiver of a memory ran through Echo, a very recent memory. She blinked and shook it off.
"What do you want? Show yourself!"
The sigh laughed again.
You can hear me? It seemed to say.
"Y-y-yes." Echo said, shivering.
You are a clever little one. Very clever indeed.
"What do you want? Who are you?" Echo demanded.
You are a strange child. Strong of mind and strong of will. So young. Yet... You grew up fast, didn't you? Yes... I can tell...
The voice sighed again and faded. Echo shivered and turned back to watching Tiaan. Tiaan's eyes moved under her eyelids. Echo gently held her hand. Echo felt Tiaan squeeze her hand, her touch lighter than a feather, but Echo felt it nonetheless. Tiaan moaned and squeezed Echo's hand again, harder this time. Echo rocked back onto her heels and looked up at Tiaan's face. Her eyes were open a tiny crack, thin slivers of red showing between grey eyelids. Tiaan freed her hand from Echo's and reached out to her. Tiaan's eyes opened fully and Echo instinctively shrank back. Tiaan's hand dropped limply to her side
"E-Echo?" Tiaan croaked.
Echo crept warily back to Tiaan's side.
"It's me, the annoying little cat." Echo whispered.
Something told her not to call anyone.
"You sure... it's Echo? I've never known that little... smart ass of a kitten to call herself the annoying... little cat." Tiaan said horsely, pausing for breath every few words.
"Yes it's me! You forgot sarcastic." Echo added
Tiaan made a sound that could have been a laugh but it quickly turned into a cough.
"It's you all right. What happened? Last I... remember, I was down at the docks... then I wake up to you holding my hand like you... actually give a shit."
Echo grinned. "It's you all right." She parroted.
"Don't make me regret not killing you the first time." Tiaan warned.
"I thought you already did regret not killing me the first few times. If memory serves you've had at least two opportunities to kill me. If you weren't around, who would knock me about?"
Tiaan laughed again. She stopped and broke into a coughing fit. Echo quickly suppressed a grin.
"Where are we? Where's Vipir and Maria?" Tiaan asked suspiciously.
"Turns out Maria's got a sister who lives in Solitude. This is Evalin's place, or at least the basement of it. She's a healer like Maria but I get the feeling she can do more than heal. She's scary. You still haven't answered my question. Where is Vipir?"
"Upstairs, probably asleep."
Suddenly Tiaan's eyes moved around the room, as if she was listening for something.
"Explain to me why I've been poisoned."
Echo hesitated before answering.
"We dunno what happened down at the docks. Maria and Evalin think you were attacked. Why were you down at the docks?"
Tiaan's eyes hardened. She shook her head warningly and closed her eyes. She breathed as deeply as she could manage. Echo watched as a pained look crossed her face.
"Why do... my lungs burn... as if they're... on fire?" Tiaan asked weakly. Her face was paling again.
"You got hurt real bad. A few arrows, a few nasty cuts what look like they came from a blade and hundreds of bruises to pick from." Echo said vaguely.
Tiaan's eyes said it all. She knew Echo was hiding something.
"No, not... like that. Almost as if someone drove... a burning knife through my chest. It feels like an iron band is... tightening around my lungs. Gods, I'm tired." Tiaan said weakly.
She began to cough again. Echo was amazed no one had heard and come running yet. When the fit subsided, Tiaan fixed Echo with an intense stare. The question tumbled from Echo's lips. She couldn't help it, Tiaan's fiery eyes forced it from her.
"Who was the person that attacked you?"
Tiaan's lips twitched in a smile, but it held no love or happiness.
"Someone I swore kill a long time ago. Someone who also swore to kill me. The coward..." Tiaan struggled to get the words out.
"Who? Who was a coward?" Echo whispered but Tiaan had already fallen back into unconsciousness.
Someone came down the stairs, grumbling irritably. Echo stumbled back against the wall and acted as if nothing had happened as Evalin came into the room. She took one look at Echo and her frown deepened.
"I am going to kill Marcus when we finish here. Then I will kill him again and slice him into the smallest pieces imaginable. Then do you know what I'm going to do with the pieces?" Evalin asked.
"Chop them up into even smaller pieces?" Echo suggested.
"No. I will sew him back together and feed him to a dragon." Evalin growled.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side." Echo muttered.
"You better remember it! Out." Evalin ordered.
Echo scrambled to obey.
"Personally, I would have gone for feeding the pieces to a skeever. Then I would have killed the skeever and burned it to ashes. Then I would have incinerated the ashes" Echo said as she walked into the kitchen
"Hm?" Felicity said absently.
She had her back to Echo. Echo tried to see what she was doing but Felicity put whatever it was in a satchel.
"What are you doing?" Echo asked.
"Nothing. I was just about to leave." Flick said quickly.
"Where are you going?"
"The Bard's College. I went back this morning. Inge said if I set foot outside the college... I think she decided on hanging me. She's going to be pissed, to put it lightly, when she finds out I gave her the slip again. How's Tiaan?"
"No different. What do you mean gave her the slip?"
"She still doesn't know how I get out of the college." Felicity said as she opened the door and went outside. Maria and Vipir came upstairs and sat down.
"Who were you talking to?" Maria asked.
"Flick. She's in trouble with Inge for skipping classes yesterday."
"And she won't be the only one when Marcus gets up. Unless you want to join him, sit your backside down in that chair and tell me why Marcus has teeth marks that look like they came from a cat on his hand." Maria growled.
"It's simple really..." Echo began and told Maria why she had bitten Marcus.
Maria rolled her eyes when Echo finished.
"That fool. Although... Now I come to think of it the cut on your arm looks remarkably similar to Tiaan's." Maria looked at Vipir.
"Identical almost. Let's hope Tiaan killed or at least badly wounded her attacker." Vipir said sourly.
"Why? What am I missing?" Echo asked in confusion.
"Nothing you need to know." Maria said coldly.
"I hate it when people say that!" Echo grumbled.
"Did Tiaan do anything after Marcus left?"
Nothing you need to know about. "I could have been babysitting a rock for all that happened."
"I'll be sure to tell her that when she wakes up." Maria laughed.
Echo rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
"Now what? It better be something exciting, 'cause I am seriously bored!" Echo complained.
"I am going downstairs to help my snappy sister. You are staying here with Vipir and praying to the Divines and Daedra that I come back with my head still attached. Behave." Maria warned and went downstairs.
Echo shrugged and turned to Vipir.
"What are we gonna do? Like I said, I'm bored." She said mischievously.
"Nothing. Amuse yourself. I'm going back to sleep." Vipir said grumpily.
"Well that's nice! See if you like it when I drop a handful of mud down your pants! I'm going to find Svari, Minette and Kayd." Echo grumbled.
As soon as she set foot outside, a gust of cold wind hit her. Echo growled in disgust. No one would be out with the wind blowing the way it was.
"And back to being bored." Echo said to herself.
It began to rain. Echo mumbled a curse.
"Now that is just..." The words died in her throat and Echo grinned, "very nice of you, weather. Can't waste beautiful weather like this being bored!" She flicked her hood up and pulled out her lock picks.