OK, apologies for the sudden (ish) turn of events, but I couldn't think of anything else to go before this chapter. A better author than I would probably have been able to make this whole part of the story much longer and better, but hey, I'm still learning. ;)

A lot of this chapter was inspired by the contents of Gallus's journal in-game.

Please enjoy!

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

I don't understand it. I just don't understand.

It feels like I'm spending every second of every day praying to the Gods to help me. This torment fills my thoughts almost every one of my waking hours and tortures my dreams at night. Last night I saw him standing there, staring at me. Staring at me as if I were his worst enemy, as if I had somehow betrayed him. He drew his sword and pointed it at me. He shouted something, and I remember that it shook me to the core, but I cannot for the life of me recall what it was.

I have been in countless battles. It is impossible for me to count all the times my life has been in danger. But combat no longer frightens me. I know I have the skill to survive most battles, and when the time comes for me to die, an honourable death whilst fighting is the one I would choose if I could. So if I am not afraid then, why now? If I am never scared by my enemies, why should I now be afraid of my friend?

Every day he seems further away from me. My own brother is slipping out of my reach and there is nothing I can do. I have tried – Divines know I've tried! I've invited him to join me on countless missions, sat down and shared a bottle of mead with him, offered to play cards with him… In short, I've done everything that I would have normally done with my best and oldest friend. And yet I might as well have been challenging a lump of stone to a card game. Every time I try to talk to him, he responds with a single word or else says nothing at all. Recently I managed to get him to play a single game with me - just one. I let him beat me, hoping that it might improve his mood. But as he set down his final card, he looked at me and said, 'I guess you're losing your touch, huh?' A few months ago, that would have made me laugh. But that time, it made me shiver. Because there was something about the way he said it that made it sound almost like a challenge. Or a threat.

It's not so bad in front of the others. It appears that he wants to make it appear to them as if everything is normal, though it clearly isn't. Sometimes he will make a joke or pay me one of his half-sarcastic compliments, and I will feel my heart soar. But then, only seconds later, as soon as nobody else is around, his gaze will harden, his smile will drop, and I know that he was only pretending.

And the worst of it is, it's only me who is recieving this treatment. No one else seems to be suffering this. Whatever is troubling him, it is something to do with me. I even asked Karliah if she had noticed Mercer acting oddly. She said no, he was just the same as he always was - as far as she had seen, anyway. Then she grew concerned and asked me if I thought there was something wrong with him, and told me that I seemed worried about something. I almost told her everything there and then, but for some reason I kept it secret, told her that it was nothing to worry about, I was probably just imagining things. Maybe I hoped that it would pass and be forgotten soon, and there was no need to drag anyone else into it. Or maybe I was trying to protect her from the torment I am enduring.

I know this is a selfish thing to say, but where can I speak the honest and simple truth, if not in my own journal? The truth is, it feels grossly unfair to me. These past few months with Karliah should have been some of the happiest of my life. And they have been – when I was able to forget everything else and simply rejoice in the fact that we were together. But it has all been ruined by the fact that I seem to have gained the love of the woman who I have dreamed of living my life with for so, so long, only to lose my best friend.

I sometimes think of the day when Mercer first came to the Guild. I remember watching Elandine bring him into the Cistern, and listening to Sereniel as she accepted him into our numbers. He went over to me and we talked, and he challenged me. 'Give me a weapon,' he said, as confident as ever, 'and I'll wipe the ground with you any day.'

Blade intervened, and we held a friendly duel. I managed to disarm him, and he was so impressed that a friendship was forged instantly. I thought then that we had made a bond so strong that it might never be broken.

I was wrong.

I am trying, trying with all my might, to work out what might have caused this. I first noticed it on the morning we arrived back from Winterhold, on the first day of this year. He acted so strangely, asked those weird questions, acted somehow cold and distant. And it's got worse and worse since then.

Since it's only me who he's acting like this around, the logical conclusion is that I have done something to offend him or hurt him. But what in the name of the Divines could do that to him? Stendarr's mercy, this is Mercer Frey I'm talking about! He's the most thick-skinned mortal I know.

Which only makes it worse. Because whatever I have done, it must have been truly terrible to turn him into this. And I don't even know what it was that I did wrong.

One thing is for sure. I will have to find out what it is. I will never have peace until I do, nor be able to experience a single moment of true happiness. I will try to speak to him, ask him what I did, apologise for whatever it was, and try to make amends. I fear that whatever I did is something that cannot be forgiven, but I must try. I cannot lose my greatest friend. I simply cannot, must not and will not let it happen.

Oh, this is agony. As if my heart is being torn into pieces...

I will go and find him. I will talk to him. And somehow I will set this right.

'Gallus!'

The shout made me look up sharply. Tonilia was running towards me, her eyes wide and her face pale. I threw aside my quill, snapped my journal shut and leaped to my feet. Clearly, something was wrong.

'What is it?' I burst out. 'What's happened?'

The Redguard girl skidded to a halt in front of my desk, breathing hard. 'You'd better come quickly.'

I followed her at a run through the Cistern and into the Flagon. Several of my fellow Guild members had gathered together, their drinks lying forgotten on tables and crates. Elruen was sitting slumped against the bar, his face twisted with pain. He had removed his leather tunic, revealing what looked like an arrow wound just below his shoulder. Elandine was crouching beside him, focusing healing magic on the injury, and Karliah was hovering nearby with a multitude of potions in her hands.

The others parted to let me though. 'Elruen, what did this?' I demanded. The Wood Elf had set off on a routine mission to Whiterun that morning with Delvin. There had been nothing dangerous involved with the job - it had been a simple break in. How in the name of Nocturnal had he been hurt?

The Bosmer winced as he turned his head towards me. 'Guards,' he said through gritted teeth. 'It was a lucky shot. But it doesn't matter, it's not bad. What matters is -'

He broke off with a grimace. 'Keep still!' Elandine snapped at him.

Elruen ignored her, pushing himself up a little so as to talk to me better. 'Gallus, it's Delvin. He's been arrested.'

A few gasps echoed around the Flagon, and I stared at the Wood Elf in shock. Delvin? How was that possible? He could walk as quietly as a Khajiit, and he never let his guard down. 'Delvin?' I repeated in disbelief. 'Arrested? How?'

'It was no one's fault,' Elruen told me. 'We were on an empty street. There was no one around except for two kids right at the end, playing some game with a ball, and they hadn't seen us, so Del started to pick open the door. Just as he'd nearly got it open, one of the kids threw the ball down the street, and they ran after it. Of course they saw us.'

I cursed mentally. 'So they called for the guards?'

Elruen nodded. 'We made a run for it, but Delvin got grabbed just as we were getting near the gates. I turned around to see if I could help - that was when I got that arrow in my shoulder. He yelled at me to keep going, so I just ran. I rode straight back here.' He shuddered. 'I'm sorry, Gallus. There wasn't anything I could have done.'

'Of course there wasn't,' I assured him. 'It wasn't your fault that he was caught. It sounds like pure bad luck.' I couldn't stop a spark of anger from igniting within me - I understood that Nocturnal's whim was unpredictable, but how could she have allowed one Guild member to be injured and another captured? Perhaps I've done something to offend her, too, I thought bitterly.

Tonilia was staring up at me with wide, frightened eyes. 'Gallus, what's going to happen to Delvin? He won't be...' Her voice trailed off, but I knew what she had been about to say.

Ahsla slipped her arm around her daughter's shoulders. 'Of course not. An attempted break-in is a minor crime. They'll just lock him up for a while.'

'Yes, but he's a Thieves Guild member, isn't he?' Thjon pointed out. 'He was wearing the armour, and the guards would have known who he worked for. That'll make them want to hold him longer, because they know that he will have committed other crimes in the past.'

'The law doesn't work like that,' Vex told him. 'Just because they know he's a criminal doesn't mean they can't charge him with crimes they don't know he's done, brainless.'

Thjon glared at her, and I quickly stepped between them. 'Stop it, both of you. We've got enough trouble already without you two squabbling. We need to keep clear heads.' I drew in a deep breath. 'It's true that the guards will probably want to keep him locked up for longer, if just because they aren't on best terms with the Guild. But they can't do anything worse to him. And in the meantime, I want someone reliable to go up to Whiterun and see if we can't pull some strings and get him released. Any volunteers?'

Why in the name of the Divines did I say 'reliable?' I thought. They're all reliable. And then I realised with a jolt that a few months ago, my first choice for this task would have been Mercer. Now, he was the last person I wanted to send.

'I'll go,' Elandine offered, getting to her feet. 'There's not much else to be done for that wound with magic.'

'Thank you, Elandine,' I said, relieved. 'And Thjon, will you go with her? Take some money in case you need to bribe the guards. And whatever you do, do not take any risks.'

Altmer and Nord both nodded. 'Sure thing,' Elandine said. 'We'll be back as soon as possible.'

'With Delvin, hopefully,' Thjon added.

As the Guild members dispersed, I knelt down beside Elruen. 'How are you feeling?'

'A little better,' the Bosmer replied. 'More tired than anything else.'

'I can imagine,' Karliah muttered. She poured a few drops of some pinkish liquid onto a cloth, and pressed it against Elruen's wound. 'You didn't do yourself any favours by riding back here so quickly.'

'It wasn't as if I had much choice,' Elruen pointed out.

'You did well, Elruen,' I said quietly. 'You put your Guild brother before yourself when you came here to get help before trying to attend to your injury, and that's something to be respected. I'm sure Delvin will want to thank you when he gets back.'

Elruen looked a little happier at that, but I could see unease in his eyes. Perhaps he doubted that the Breton actually would come back.

'I don't like this,' Karliah murmured to me. She spoke in Dunmeris, and I knew instantly that she wished to say something that it would be better for Elruen not to understand. 'This is the second time within a month.'

I frowned, momentarily unsure of what she meant, then remembered the incident that had taken place a week ago. 'You mean what happened to Ma'rhaz in Solitude? But he wasn't arrested - he managed to talk his way out of it. The guards let him go.'

'What I meant was that it's the second time recently that one of us has been caught whilst carrying out an easy job. And both times, the reason they were apprehended has been seemingly to do with bad luck, not because of any error or carelessness of their own. Ma'rhaz said that guard was completely absorbed in his mead until for some reason he happened to glance up and notice Ma'rhaz just about to reach into someone's pocket. And now Delvin's been arrested and Elruen injured just because two children threw a ball in his direction. Ma'rhaz, Elruen and Delvin didn't do anything wrong. It was all bad luck.' Those normally calm eyes were troubled. 'And just a little while before that, that group of skeevers that moved into the Ratway Warrens and bit Tonilia? If Elandine got to her quickly, or she might have ended up getting Ataxia.' Her voice shook slightly - it was Ataxia that had brought about her father's death. 'And what happened to her - it was bad luck too. Gallus... do you think she's angry with us?'

I did not need to ask who she meant by she. It was the same thought that had suddenly struck me the moment she had mentioned the words bad luck. 'I honestly don't know,' I replied heavily. 'When you say 'us,' do you mean the Nightingales, or just the Guild in general.'

'Either. Both.'

Elruen was staring at us blankly, but I wasn't particularly concerned with how much we must be confusing him at the present moment in time. 'I can't think of anything I've done recently that might have angered her. I can't speak for the rest of us. But it would be unfair for Nocturnal to punish a Guild member who had never even heard of the Nightingales, or who didn't know how closely we were bound to her. I don't think she works like that. Which really narrows it down to the three of us.'

Karliah's eyes narrowed. 'It would be unfairof her to punish the entire Guild just because of something one of us had done, which is what she's doing,' she pointed out sharply. 'But I think you're right. Maybe we should go and talk to her. She might tell us why she's doing this.'

I hesitated, thinking the situation through. I had a horrible feeling that this was somehow connected with Mercer's cold indifference towards me, but there was no obvious connection. Unless I had somehow done something that had offended both Mercer and Nocturnal.

Then I shook myself. I was being foolish. It was only down to my current paranoia caused by my worries over Mercer that I was seeing danger everywhere. I had to be logical and face this problem like a true Guildmaster, not like a fool scared of loosing his best friend. Because that was what I was being right now, and I had to stop.

'No,' I said firmly. 'We're being ridiculous. I can't think of any reason why Nocturnal would punish the Guild as a whole for something one of us three had done. That's not her way, I'm almost certain of it.' I knew that with Nocturnal you could be certain of nothing, but I was all but sure that punishing innocent people was not something she did. 'We've had no problems of this sort in the Guild for years. That's why we're taking it so badly now. But let's be honest - from time to time, thieves are going to get caught. Nocturnal might not be involved at all, and if she is, she's probably just reminding us not to get too complacent.'

Karliah gave a small smile. 'I hope you're right.'

I nodded, trying to look and sound more certain than I felt. Even if I was troubled by this, I couldn't let other people wear themselves out worrying about it to. Especially not Karliah. 'You know, Nocturnal might just be trying to say that we can't depend on her for everthing. Perhaps she thinks we're relying on her too much instead of on our own skills. Even though we are Nightingales and Guild members, we must always remember that a thief's first loyalty, deep down, is to himself.'

'Or herself,' Karliah corrected me. She looked a little more content, and I could see that even if my words had done little to calm the storm of thoughts in my mind, it had at least helped her.

'I am still here, you know,' Elruen said pointedly.

'Sorry.' I straightened up and gave the two elves a quick smile. 'I'm going to talk to Mercer,' I told them, speaking in the common tongue once more. 'If you need any help with anything, just call me.'

I left Karliah still tending to Elruen's wound as I left the Flagon. I had made my decision. It was time to speak to Mercer. But now I knew that I had to do this not merely for my own sake. It was for the sake of Ma'rhaz, who had nearly been arrested, for Delvin, who was now a prisoner, for Elruen, wounded by a guard's arrow. And maybe even for the sake of all the Guild. Because if I had done something that had angered Nocturnal, and it was the same thing that had made Mercer lose any sense of kinship he had felt towards me, then I had to know what it was so that I could fix it. If we lost Nocturnal's favour, then the Thieves Guild would fall.

Mercer, as it turned out, was not in the Cistern after all. In fact, he wasn't even in Riften, having left that morning. No one I spoke to was quite certain where he had gone, but Vex told me that she had seen him heading towards the stables that morning. I had asked him only yesterday if he could take care of a job in Dragon Bridge, and I hoped with all my heart that he had left to carry out my request. I had no idea where he had gone if that was not what he was doing. Confused, and somewhat angry, I returned to my desk to wait. No Guild member was allowed to leave without telling someone where they were going. It wasn't just so that I could keep track of them, it was for their own safety. What if Delvin had gone to Whiterun alone, without informing someone? When he had been arrested, no one would have known where he was and what had happened to him.

It was some hours before I finally heard the creak of the trapdoor opening, and saw Mercer jump down the ladder into the Cistern. He rubbed his hands together, and I saw his eyes flick from side to side, as if he were looking for something - or, I thought with unease, trying to check that there was no one around.

He caught my eye for the briefest of moments, then looked away and started to march towards the Flagon. I breathed in deeply, got to my feet, and called out to him. 'Mercer.'

He stopped walking, stood completely still for a moment, then very slowly turned toward him. 'What?' he demanded.

I forced myself to remain calm. 'Mercer, I need to speak to you.'

He stood in front of my desk, his hands in his pockets, somehow managing to look both casual and threatening. 'You do, huh?'

'Yes,' I said firmly. 'Where did you go today, and why did you leave without telling anyone?'

'Why do you care?' he shot back. 'Do I have to inform my Guildmaster of every move I make?'

I felt a surge of fury. 'No, it's for your safety. Since you haven't been here all day, you don't know what happened earlier, do you? Elruen returned from Riften with an arrow wound in his shoulder, and told us that Delvin had been caught whilst picking a lock and arrested. What if the same thing had happened to you?'

'It didn't,' he snapped. 'Was that all you wanted to say?'

'No. Where were you?'

He folded his arms across his chest. 'Dragon Bridge. Carrying out your orders. Is that against Guild rules now?'

Stay calm, Gallus, I told myself. 'All right, then. I'm glad you were on Guild business, at least. Can I have the Guild's cut of the profits for the treasury, please?'

I expected him to protest. but to my surprise he simply reached inside a pocket and threw a small bag of coins onto the desk. 'There.'

'You should have given that to me the moment you got back,' I told him, pushing it to one side. 'I hope you weren't hoping that I would forget.'

He stared at me with a face like stone. 'Can I go now?'

'No,' I growled, struggling to contain my frustration. 'There's something much more important I want to discuss with you.'

'Can't it wait?'

'No. It can't.'

I gazed into those cold grey-green eyes, searching for the tiniest spark of warmth or friendship. There was none. But I gathered my courage and asked the question that I had wanted to ask for so, so long.

'What did I do wrong, Mercer?'

From his expression, you might have thought that my words had punched him in the face. 'What?'

I swallowed, closed my eyes briefly, and repeated the question. 'What did I do wrong?'

He neither moved, nor spoke.

'We were friends until a few months ago,' I burst out, and I could hear my own desperation in the words. 'By the Nine, Mercer, we were brothers. And whatever you think about me, I haven't stopped thinking of you as my brother, and I never will. But I want to know what it is that's suddenly driven a wedge between us. I know you well enough to be almost certain that you're holding something against me. And I can't bear this, Mercer. I need you to tell me what it was that I did, so that I can put it right.'

For a few, unforgiving seconds, there was complete and utter silence as I finished speaking. Then Mercer spoke slowly, every word half a snarl.

'You mean you don't know?'

I shook my head, my throat suddenly dry. Was what I had done really that obvious? I couldn't think of any way that I could possibly have hurt Mercer so badly - and yet I had somehow done enough to extinguish every last spark of kinship he had ever felt towards me.

'No,' I said. My voice came dangerously close to squeaking like a child's and I had to stop for a moment to get it under control. 'No, I don't. So tell me. And then I will know.'

He took a step backwards, staring at me with a mixture of disgust and hatred. It was the sort of look you would never give to a friend, the sort of look one might give a poisonous snake. A shudder ran through me.

'Mercer, please,' I almost whispered. 'I swear on everything I hold dear that I never meant to do whatever I did to hurt you. I don't even know what it was that I did. Tell me what it was, and then maybe I can do something to put it right.' When he still did not reply, I added, 'I will do everything in my power to put it right. I promise.'

He took another step away. 'There's nothing that can be done,' he spat. 'I can't change it and I'm not going to try. And even if I told you what it was, then you'd break that promise in a heartbeat.'

My initial confusion was drowned by a wave of indignation at his final sentence. 'Mercer, you know I don't break my promises!'

'You'd break that one,' he snapped, with so much conviction and certainty that he might have been telling me that fire burned. 'You wouldn't want to keep it if I told you what you did. Open your ears. It can't be put right.'

With those last five words, I felt as if the ground had been pulled out from under my feet. With that simple sentence, Mercer had taken the friendship that I had given to him, crushed it, and thrown it back in my face.

But I stood firm, determined not to let my despair and anguish show on my face. Yet the only way I could manage it was to hold on to my anger and take my strength from it. 'If you're determined to destroy our friendship, then don't let me stand in your way,' I hissed. 'But if you're not willing to say anything for my sake, perhaps I might be able to persuade you to say it for the sake of our entire family.'

For the first time, a glimmer of unease sparked in his eyes. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

Stay calm, I told myself. If you lose your temper, it'll just make him even angier, and that will just make him harder to reason with. Stay calm.

'It means,' I said carefully, 'that I'm not only asking this for myself. Mercer, I don't know if you're aware, but two missions have gone wrong in as many weeks, and I don't like it. I spoke to Karliah earlier, and she thought the same as I do - that there's a possibility that we've somehow angered Nocturnal.'

If I had been thinking clearly, if I had only been able to concentrate through my grief and distress and rage, I would not only have seen that his body stiffened, but I would have questioned why. And I would have made the connections I should have made. But though I saw it, I thought that it was merely because of the notion that Nocturnal might be displeased with us. What a fool I was. What a blind, arrogant fool.

'Mercer, if we have offended Nocturnal, then you know what the consequences could be for the Guild. For our family. We lose her favour, and we lose the luck that she gives to us. We lose that luck, and we lose everything that makes us successful thieves. Not only would our missions fail, but we wouldn't be a Guild any longer. We'd stop being a family. We'd be a group of common bandits with a couple of rules that no longer meant anything.'

Yet again, he was staring stonily at me. It was all I could do to stop myself from wailing my desperation loud enough for them to hear me in Elsweyr. 'And if... if I have done something this bad... then maybe it's the same thing that Nocturnal might - or might not - be angry about too. Mercer, for the sake of the Guild, I'm begging you to tell me - '

'It's nothing to do with what you did,' Mercer snapped, so forcefully that I stopped instantly. 'Now have you got any more preaching to do, or can I go?'

I felt the fight drain out of me. I had tried everything within my power, and I had failed. Mercer seemed to have lost all feelings of brotherhood towards me. And not only was he refusing to forgive me, he would not tell me what I needed to be forgiven for. And he denied that I could ever be forgiven. What more was there to be done? What could I do? What could anyone do?

Defeated, I slumped down into my seat. 'Go,' I said quietly, not meeting his eyes.

I listened to his footsteps move away, dim, and finally fade into silence. Then I buried my face in my hands, not trying to hold back the shudder that ran through my body. I felt like crying, but my grief at losing Mercer's friendship was far beyond tears. All I could do was sit there and let his words run through my head. I simply could not stop thinking about the icy way he had looked at me, or the loathing behind every word he had spoken. I had never in all my life believed that Mercer of all people would ever act in such a way towards me. And yet he had.

How had I let this happen? Why had the Gods let this happen?

I had never felt more hopeless. My best friend hated me. I didn't even know why. There was nothing I could do to change things. And it even seemed that I had done something to upset Nocturnal -

I froze.

What was it that Mercer had said? It's nothing to do with what you did. Perhaps he meant that whatever it was that I had done was nothing that could possibly offend Nocturnal. And yet somehow I felt that he had meant something different. It was the certainty with which he had said the words.

It was almost as if...

I almost stopped breathing. Now that I let those words sound again in my mind, it sounded as if Mercer had known what it was that had angered the Dark Lady. And he also knew that it was nothing to do with me.

What if I had been wrong in my suspicions? What if my distress at Mercer's attitude towards me had made me take guilt upon myself and believe that everything was my fault, when in fact, I was not the culprit?

What if Mercer had been the one? What if it was he who had done something to invoke our Lady's rage?

It was like running into a cliff of solid rock. The sudden turn of bad fortune for the Guild... Tonilia being attacked by the Skeevers. Ma'rhaz being caught whilst pickpocketing. Elruen being shot. Delvin being arrested. Mercer and I suddenly torn apart. And now that I thought about it, that wasn't all. Heavy rain over recent weeks had forced me to call off several jobs. I had thought it was just the usual springtime rain, just a little heavier than usual, but what if it was not? And then there was what had happened to Ebony a week or so ago. She had picked up a sharp stone in her hoof, and it had injured her so badly that I was still not yet able to ride her. I had thought nothing of it at the time - accidents happened, after all. But not a string of accidents like this one.

And it had all started... it had started not long after I had first noticed Mercer acting strangely towards me.

My heart almost stopped.

Could Mercer, my oldest and greatest friend, the most loyal second-in-command any Guildmaster could ever have wished for, and until now someone I would have trusted with my life, have betrayed the Guild?

Betrayed the Nightingales?

Betrayed me?

For the next few days, I found myself watching Mercer like a hawk watching a rabbit. I tried my utmost to keep my efforts hidden from him, but I had a nasty suspicion he already suspected that I was keeping an eye on him. And yet I knew I had no choice. If Mercer had comitted some act of treachery, then I had to find out what it was. And more importantly, I had to discover whether or not he had in the first place.

It made me feel a little better to know that I was finally doing something to help my Guild, but it was made a thousand times worse by the fact that this was Mercer who I was spying on. The memory of Dralsi and I taking him to Nightingale Hall burned in my memory every second of every day. I remembered how Nocturnal had asked us the question - Are you prepared to guard your fellow Nightingale with every ounce of strength that you possess, and, should the need arise, to give your lives in order to save his? And I had replied without a moment of hesitation that I did. And I had meant every word. Not once did I suspect that Mercer would break his own vow, his vow to stand by me and protect me. I did not doubt that he had meant it when he had made it. But somehow I had caused him to break it.

I wondered if I was breaking my vow by spying on Mercer like this. But then, I had also sworn to do everything that lay within my power to defend the Nightingales. Did that mean that I was keeping one promise by breaking another?

I kept my inner turmoil carefully hidden from the rest of the Guild, doing my best to act as if everything was normal. I told no one of my worries - not even Karliah. Elandine and Thjon soon returned from Whiterun with a slightly shaken but otherwise unharmed Delvin in tow, but the reprieve from our sudden ill fortune was short-lived. Only two days later, Vex slipped whilst scaling the side of a building, fell two stories and broke her arm. Elandine soon managed to heal her, but the incident was all the proof I needed that this string of accidents was not a coincidence. Nocturnal was no longer supplying us with the luck we so badly needed to carry out our trade.

It was not, however, until a full week after my confrontation with Mercer, that I was finally given solid evidence that I was right to suspect that he was the guilty party.

Night was falling, and most of the Guild already lay alseep. I had watched them all trickle in slowly and collapse onto their beds. The Cistern was filled with the sound of Delvin snoring, the twins purring softly, and the monotonous cascade of water into the pool. Underneath the louder sounds, my quill scratched faintly, forming words I could barely make out in the darkness.

Mercer continues to elude my every step. I think he's aware I'm following him, and appears to be taking no unnecessary chances. I'm bringing all of my skills to the forefront in order to deceive him.

I sighed deeply, bit my lip, and continued.

It still pains me that the deception is necessary. When I became a Nightingale, using my newfound talents against my own was the furthest thought from my mind.

I laid down my quill and blew out the candle I had been writing by. It was time to join my fellow thieves. I needed to get some rest, although I knew that it would be plagued by troubled dreams.

As I stood up, I suddenly caught sight of something moving on the opposite side of the Cistern. A patch of darker darkness flitting forward, slipping along the edge of the wall. I peered through the gloom, my brow furrowing with confusion. What on Nirn could have slipped into the Cistern without anyone noticing?

The figure paused, flattening itself against the wall. Then it began to move forwards, almost silently, and so slowly it was hard to tell if it was actually moving. Gradually, little by little, my eyes became accustomed to the darkness. And suddenly I realised that it was a person.

My hand dropped to my sword hilt. But just as I was preparing to draw my blade and challenge the intruder, I realised with a jolt that it was Mercer.

A few months ago, I would have released my grip on my weapon instantly. But I did not. I tightened it. I opened my mouth to call out to him.

And closed it again.

Why was he acting like this? What was he doing? If I confronted him, I would never know the answers to those questions. But if I stayed put and watched him...

... If I watched him, then perhaps I might finally get my hands on some answers.

He kept moving, glancing over his shoulder every few steps, but not seeing me standing motionless in the shadows. Carefully, quietly, he crept forwards, and my eyes narrowed as I saw what he was heading for. The door to the vault. The door behind which all of the Guild's wealth was stored.

I do not know what alerted him, and I doubt I ever will. Perhaps I breathed in too sharply. Perhaps I moved ever so slightly. Perhaps he somehow felt my eyes boring into him. But without warning, he spun around, staring across the Cistern, directly at me.

I froze. My breath caught in my throat. I realised that my hand was still wrapped around the hilt of my sword. Silently, I prayed to the Divines that I would not have to use it. And then I was instantly ashamed of myself for even considering using it. How could I ever raise my weapon against my oldest friend?

For a moment, we gazed at each other across the pool. Then he spun around and marched back towards the Flagon, this time making no efforts to hide himself.

Slowly, breathing hard, I sank back down into my chair. I knew I had just witnessed something important - but what? Without intending to, Mercer had given me a clue to this entire situation, and yet I did not yet know what that clue was.

I closed my eyes and tried to think it through. He had been heading towards the vault, I was certain of that. But what had he been trying to achieve? He could never open the door alone. The door to the Guild's treasury was sealed firmly, and could not be opened without the use of two keys. Mercer had only one. Elandine had another, but I knew that she could be trusted completely with it, and she had not breathed a word to me about it going missing. And as for mine... I slipped my hand a little way beneath the neck of my tunic, fingering the metal chain around my neck, warm from years of never being removed. My own key to the vault hung on it. I seldom used it, though. The profits that I and my fellow thieves made over the course of two or so months were stored in a group of chests in an ante-room near the Cistern. That way, we had an easily accesible source of money. After the end of a few months, we would empty some of the chests into the vault. That hadn't happened for some time. Perhaps I should check on the vault now.

But no, there was no point. Mercer could never have got inside. I needed more evidence before I could even start forming any proper suspicions. And right now, I was too tired to try gathering any more evidence.

It was time for me to follow the example set by my fellow thieves and get some rest. Perhaps everything would seem clearer in the morning.

Much to my surprise, I slept deeply. If I dreamed, I did not remember what I dreamed of when I awoke. It was already well into the morning by the time I awoke, and most of my family were already awake.

Instantly my thoughts flew to Mercer, but I shook my head angrily at myself. I would have time to worry about him later. Right now, I had to attend to my usual business - organising the jobs for the day.

I hurried over to my desk, making a mental note to clean it up soon as I did so. I made the same mental note every morning, and I never did it, but it didn't stop me from repeatedly telling myself that I would. It was littered with books - my journal, the Guild's business ledger, a copy of The Firmament which I had stolen from a house in Windhelm... In fact, I couldn't help smiling to myself as I realised that out everything on this desk - including every quill, bottle of ink and piece of parchment - my journal and the ledger were practically the only things I legitimately owned. There was something satisfying about that knowledge.

I pushed aside some of the clutter and pulled out a small, leather-bound book which contained the list of jobs I had been asked to do. Flicking through lists of missions which had been written down, completed and crossed out, I felt a pang as I realised just how many of them Mercer and I had carried out together.

There were not many to be done today, I saw. One in Falkreath, by request of some merchant or other, and another in Rorikstead. I set the book down, already beginning to decide who would be most suited to do them.

I saw Elruen hurrying by with his bow slung over his shoulder. 'Elruen,' I called. 'If you're up to it, could you take a trip to Rorikstead?'

'Course I'm up to it,' he replied, sounding a little indignant.

'I thought as much. It's not a particularly big mission - just steal something, or maybe several somethings, from the inn.'

'Am I going alone?'

'No,' I said instantly, and perhaps too forcefully. 'Take someone else with you - Thjon, maybe.'

The Bosmer nodded. 'Sure. I'm onto it.'

'Thank you, Elruen. And can you tell the twins that I want them to head up to Falkreath? The Jarl's annoyed one of our clients, and they've asked us to teach him a lesson.'

'I'll tell them,' he promised.

I dipped my head. 'Good. Listen, I think you and the twins should travel together for as long as you can.' I hurriedly improvised a reason - saying that I believed that we were currently being plagued by bad luck was hardly a convincing excuse. 'Apparently there's been a pack of sabre cats attacking people along the road to Falkreath.'

'It'll be the last mistake they ever make if they decide to attack us,' Elruen said confidently. 'But thanks for the warning. I don't fancy being mauled by sabre cats.'

At the word maul, it was as if a candlelight spell had been cast within my brain. As I watched Elruen go, it was like a wind had blown away the clouds that had been filling my mind. Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.

I did not want to believe that Mercer could have possibly done anything to betray the Nightingales or the Thieves Guild. But it was a possbility, a real possibility. And I had a duty to investigate it, for the sake of my family and my Trinity.

Filled with sudden new purpose, I headed out of the Cistern and into the city. I stood for a moment at the edge of the marketplace, enjoying the sight of life, for once, continuing as normal, and then headed towards the docks. I knew who I was looking for. I was seeking someone who knew Riften and its people almost as well as I did. Very little happened in the City of Thieves that he was not aware of. He had contacts in all the right places - or rather, he was one of those contacts, working for someone who needed them. I had often offered him and his slightly less intelligent brother a chance to join the Guild, but so far, though he had clearly been tempted, he had refused. It had disappointed me before, but now I was glad of it. Right now, I needed someone with no links to the Guild. Someone who could find information without being discovered.

I knew that at this time of day he would have gone to the docks, to keep an eye on any incoming shipments. I hurried past the fishery, remembering with a pang the mission that Mercer and I had carried out in there the night Dralsi died, and down to the warehouse. As I had expected, he was leaning against the wall, arms folded,staring with hostility with everyone who passed.

'Morning, Maul,' I called.

He turned his head towards me, with a suspicious glare which faded when he recognised me. 'Gallus,' he said with a curt nod.

'Everything going according to plan?'

'There's not been any trouble for the Black-Briars, if that's what you mean,' he shrugged. 'And if you're here to talk about me and Dirge joining the Guild - '

I almost told him that the correct grammar was Dirge and I, but I decided against it. 'Actually, no. That was the last thing on my mind.'

'What then?' he grunted. Maul was not a man to waste time on small talk.

I breathed in deeply. 'I understand that you're busy as it is, keeping an eye on things in the city for Maven. But if you could spare the time, there's something I need help with.'

'What's the pay?'

I had anticipated that question. 'I'm willing to pay you whatever you ask for it, Maul. Within reason, naturally.'

His eyes widened slightly, and I saw interest spark within them. 'Sounds good. And what's the job?'

I swallowed. This was the part I had been dreading. 'Do you know my second in command? Mercer Frey?'

He gave a short, curt not. 'Spoken to him once or twice.'

'Good.' I pressed my hands together. 'Listen, Maul, and please don't ask any questions until I'm finished. I need you to...keep an eye on him. If he does anything suspicious, tell me instantly.' I could see him opening his mouth to ask questions, but I cut across him. 'Look, it's just a small suspicion I have. It's practically unfounded. I am almost certainly wrong to suspect that Mercer might have done anything even remotely wrong, and by the Divines, I hope I am. But right now, there is a possible threat to the Guild brewing, and as its Guildmaster, it is my duty to prevent such a threat in any way I can.'

Maul stared at me for a moment, then nodded slowly. 'I'll tell Maven Black-Briar that you've asked me to keep an eye on someone, but not who. I'll use every source at my disposal.' He gave me a wry grin. 'Mercer Frey will not so much as eat, sleep, or pick his nose without me getting to know about it.'

I laughed quietly, though it was slightly forced. 'Well, I doubt it has to be quite that extreme. But... just watch him. Report back to me. I'll pay you what you ask.'

I could see him mentally battling with his respect for me, and the temptation to ask for as much as possible. I decided to help him. 'What do you say to five hundred septims a week?'

A smile spread over his face. 'That sounds fair.'

'Then we have a deal.' I looked into Maul's eyes. 'Whatever you do, do not let him know what you are doing.'

'I won't,' he assured me. 'And I'll tell you the instant he does anything suspect.'

'Thank you,' I said quietly.

As I turned and headed back into the city, I found myself wondering if this was truly necessary. Did I really believe that Mercer was responsible for what was happening?

I didn't know. I had to admit it to myself - I simply didn't know.

There were many things that I did not know. And one of them was that I had just set in motion a chain of events that would come close to destroying everything I cared about.

A chain of events that would almost wipe out the Guild.

A chain of events that would end my life.

I wasn't too sure about putting Maul in, but Gallus's journal in-game quite definitely states that Maul was the one who told him about what Mercer was doing. I know that Maul was once a Guild member who left after the Guild started to decline, but I don't think Gallus would have told his suspicions about Mercer to another Guild member, so he is still just one of Gallus's contacts at this point.

Thanks for reading!