25th of First Seed 4E203
"The bandits!" Karliah gasped as the large, heavy doors to Irkngthand slammed shut behind them.
It took a few moments for Kaiya's eyes to adjust to the change in lighting before she could see what it was that had Karliah so upset. They were in a huge, cavernous room of stone and metal, typical of most dwarven ruins. In the center of the room, a fire burned with pots and a spit set up over the flames. The typical setup of a bandit hideout. As her eyes roamed around the room, Kaiya noticed several bed rolls lying about the fire, once again quite typical.
What made this scene different from most of the bandit dens Kaiya had seen, and what caused Karliah's gasp of horror, was the sheer amount of blood that covered the bed rolls and the stone floor. Bandits lie dead all around the room, their armor drenched in the blood that seemed to be everywhere. Stone steps led away from the fire pit and climbed higher, leading towards a stone corridor on the far side of the room. The steps were littered with corpses of bandits lying face first on the stone, apparent that they been killed as they tried to run away.
The sight caused Kaiya's brows to raise in surprise, but Karliah reacted with anger. "What happened?!" she exclaimed in a forced whisper.
As if in response, a hacking cough could be heard from somewhere on the stairs before them. The trio made their way past the dead bandits towards the sound, but only Kaiya thought to loot the bodies. She wondered to herself whether or not the other thieves thought themselves above that level of larceny. They continued to follow the sounds of harsh breathing and wet coughs before they finally found its source: a dying bandit in fur armor that sat leaning against one of the stone outcroppings surrounding the stairs.
"I didn't know shadows could kill" the dying bandit rasped as the thieves approached. "Impossible."
"Tell us what happened," Karliah urged, moving swiftly to create a tourniquet to stop the bleeding from a gushing wound in his upper thigh.
"Leave it," he instructed, using his fleeting strength to swat her away. "It's too late." He coughed again, a rattling, pained sound that sounded of death.
"It came out of the shadows," he started to explain, his eyes wide at the memory. "Just felt the blade enter my skin."
Karliah held her waterskin up to his lips and his mouth opened to take a few stray drops before he gave up. It wouldn't be long now.
"You saw nothing?" Brynjolf spoke now, his voice strained from the shock of the moment. This had not been expected. But the bandit was too far gone now. He continued to mutter quietly with the breath he had left, but no one could understand. His breathing became shallower and shallower. He managed to utter one last word, "impossible" as the life left his body, leaving yet another bandit corpse to litter the cold, stone floor.
"Mercer!" Karliah growled in her rage as she released the bandit. "He'll pay for this!"
Brynjolf's tense shoulders seemed to signal his agreement. "Aye, crime's one thing but murder is another."
While it hadn't been pleasant to watch the life leave the bandit, Kaiya couldn't find it in her to be angry with Mercer for killing them. Hundreds of bandits had fallen to her swords throughout Skyrim and she had never given it a second thought. In fact, she was certain that if Mercer hadn't killed all of the bandit inhabitants in the ruin, Kaiya would have left a similar scene in her wake.
"Uh…" Kaiya began to protest the strange turn of events, but she was unsure of what to say. "You guys know I'm in the Dark Brotherhood, right?"
That probably hadn't been the smartest thing for her to decide on to break the tension. Brynjolf and Karliah whipped around to glare at her, their eyes sharp with anger and accusal.
"What?" Kaiya shrugged, not understanding the need for so much anger this early in their mission. "I've killed people. Lots of people. I've killed way more bandits than this," she held her arms out to the side as she indicated the corpses around them, "yet you guys aren't making me pay."
Karliah's response was sharp. "What's your point?"
"My point is that I think you guys are trying a little too hard to make Mercer into a monster. He's already the bad guy. We don't have to add 'bandit slayer' to his list of offenses." She shrugged again. "I mean, if that's the case then you guys probably shouldn't like me very much. Or Ravyn. Or Thrynn. Or…"
Brynjolf cut her off. "All right, you've made your point, lass." He seemed irritated. "Let's get going."
They made their way past the rest of the dead bandits and snuck towards the open corridor that lie ahead. As they approached the stone archways, Kaiya noticed the remnants of a dwarven sphere lying on the floor. She had been through enough dwarven ruins in her time to know what this meant.
"Have you guys ever been into a dwarven ruin before?" she whispered, not wanting to alert anyone or anything to their presence.
Karliah whispered her answer. "Once or twice, why do you ask?"
"Because these," Kaiya kicked at the broken pieces of dwarven metal that littered the floor "are not fun, but it looks like we'll be facing them sooner rather than later."
Brynjolf's brows furrowed as he inspected the heap of metal Kaiya had indicated. "What is that?"
"They're dwarven spheres," she explained. "They shoot these wicked arrows and have a pretty bitchin' melee attack with this long arm thing." She held up the weapon as she spoke so they could see for themselves.
"Ah, the long arm thing" Brynjolf teased, unable to resist the opportunity. "Sounds treacherous."
"Ignore my warning at your own peril, Brynjolf" she scowled. "Just know that they're mean and they're fast. The first time I encountered one of these things I ended up running around in circles trying to drink healing potions until I could face it."
A small laugh shook Brynjolf's shoulders at the image. "Well let's hope you've improved since then, Dragonborn."
"You'll see" she warned, unaffected by his jab at her by using her title.
They continued on through the open corridor, encountering a small pool of water that was littered with shards of metal from dwarven spheres and spiders. "Damn," Kaiya breathed as she took in all of the wreckage. "Mercer handled those automatons like a boss." She was beginning to get a sense of just how capable of a fighter he really was. It's as if those sessions in the training room back in the cistern may not have showcased all of his prowess after all.
"I guess we owe Mercer a thank you," Brynjolf teased.
Kaiya scoffed at his optimism. "There are always more. Always."
The doorway into the next room of the ruin gave Kaiya pause. The walls were covered in ports that dwarven spheres and spiders loved to hide in, waiting on the next intruders. "Careful up ahead," she warned as she took the lead. "I have a feeling we're about to encounter some of our very own."
Just as Kaiya had predicted, two dwarven spheres descended from the ports along the wall as soon as they crept through the doorway. Although the constructs had sensed the presence of intruders, the thieves had not yet been spotted, giving them the advantage. Kaiya unsheathed her dragonbone sword and silently cast the Ebonyflesh spell with her free hand, preparing for a rough fight.
The two spheres rolled around the stone floor, their giant, humanoid bodies still compacted into spheres. Kaiya had learned that if you could wipe out a dwarven sphere before they fully transformed into their attack form, it was much easier. She crept further down the corridor while instructing Karliah and Brynjolf to hold back for the time being. Pressed against one of the walls, she waited for the sphere to pass by on its seemingly preordained route.
In no time, Kaiya got her wish. The sphere rolled towards her as she remained undetected, allowing her to plunge her sword straight into the metal that encased the construct. As it tried to unfold into its attack form before her, she continued to whack away at the more vulnerable aspects of the automaton: its thin legs that connect the body to the wheels and allow it to be mobile as well as the singular rod that acted as a spine. Within three well placed swings of her blade, Kaiya had single handedly dismantled the first sphere.
As she knew would happen however, the commotion caused by the first fight brought the second sphere into the fray with a vengeance. Before Kaiya could fully recover from her final blow to the first sphere, the second was racing towards her with an inhuman speed. She ducked out of the range of its first strike at the last moment, then tucked her head to roll away to gain some distance.
Karliah's arrows began to penetrate the few weak points in the armor as it approached Kaiya for a second strike, but Kaiya was ready this time. As it lunged forward with all its power to land a blow, Kaiya took the opportunity to slide past it on her knees, taking a powerful swing at its spine as she went. The automaton was not yet destroyed, but it wouldn't be long. Brynjolf then jumped into the fight with his daggers, slashing away at the chest of the humanoid construct.
"Aim for the hip joints!" Kaiya called out to him. "Hips, spine and legs!"
Brynjolf adjusted his slashes to hit the areas Kaiya was yelling to him, his sharp twin blades slicing through the dwarven metal with ease. With a final blow, the sphere crumbled before him, chunks of metal lying in a heap on the floor.
Out of breath but not injured, Brynjolf sheathed his ebony daggers. "Whew!" he called out as the success of the fight rushed through his veins. Kaiya knew that feeling and smiled as she watched him experience it.
"Head rush, huh?" she laughed as she sheathed her own blade.
Karliah didn't seem to be as euphoric. "And to think, Mercer took out twice that many by himself."
Kaiya placed a hand on Karliah's shoulder before leaning in and whispering in her ear. "Let him have a win Karliah. We're going to need confidence to make it through this alive."
She nodded quickly to agree, her mind racing for a way to be encouraging. "Nicely done, team!" It sounded forced, but it was a start.
Forging on, the trio continued. They slowly traversed the flame traps that littered the next room of the ruin, keeping to the edges and fighting off any dwarven spiders that popped out along the way. After working their way through what they soon learned was merely the entrance to the ruin itself, they found themselves at one of the iconic dwarven style elevators that would take them deeper underground into the Irkngthand Grand Cavern. After they all nodded that they were ready to continue, Karliah pulled the giant lever to operate the elevator and they descended.
After exiting the elevator, they found themselves in a small room that consisted of nothing more than a set of stone stairs that led to giant, golden doors. They paused for a moment to adjust to the feeling of being underground, a feeling that never got easier no matter how many times Kaiya had done it.
"We should tread carefully," Karliah muttered. "If Mercer knows that we're following him, I wouldn't be surprised if he left behind a few surprises for us."
The thought made Kaiya feel uneasy. It was one thing to imagine facing off with Mercer as two equals fighting to the death, but it was another to think of him stealthily setting traps with the intention of hurting or maiming them. She grimaced at the thought.
Karliah turned and placed her gloved hands on the door leading into the next room. Turning to look over her shoulder at her fellow thieves, she gave her command. "Let's continue."
As soon as the doors swung open, Karliah's warning became real. A spiked steel ball came flying at Karliah's face before she ducked out of the way, just in time. That wasn't a trap one expects to find in a dwarven ruin. That was a Mercer trap.
"Well if either of you were wondering whether or not Mercer knows we're following him, you now have your answer" Kaiya commented, pointing at the trap for reference.
Brynjolf nodded as he examined the trap. "Aye, that will be the first of many I'm sure."
They entered through the door after examining for any more traps and found themselves in another spacious stone hallway. More remnants and pieces of dwarven constructs littered the floor, a sign that Mercer had fought his way through. The thieves looked at each other in silent communication, understanding that they should all be on alert.
The hallway made a sharp left, then right, before opening up into what seemed to be a balcony of sorts, overlooking a vast area below. Between them and the lower zone was a looming, metal partition made up of slats of dwarven metal that allowed one to see through to the other side, but it in no way could be breached.
All three of the thieves put their faces up to the slats of the partition in order to see what was beyond. That's when Karliah saw him.
"Wait a moment, what's that?!" she cried in an excited whisper. "It's Mercer! Look! Down there!"
Kaiya's eyes searched the cavernous area below in a frenzy hoping for just a sight of him. She didn't ask herself why she wanted to spot him so badly, but she didn't want the answer anyway. Brynjolf must have spotted him as well, tossing an "I'm on it, lass" over his shoulder as he looked for a way down. Suddenly, Kaiya saw movement. A dark blur moved across the white stone with purpose. He was quick and silent, but she would recognize that Guildmaster armor anywhere.
"Damn it!" Brynjolf cried as he returned to peer through the partition with them. "There's no way through!"
Her heart seemed to pause and her breath waited to exhale as she watched Mercer sneak through the Falmer den below. Everything around her seemed to slow and fade away, making it seem as though it was just the two of them. For a moment, she forgot about the mission, about the Falmer and the dwarven spheres and all she knew was that Mercer was right there. So close, but unattainable.
Before she was even aware of what she was doing, Kaiya heard herself call out to him.
"Mercer!"
It was spoken as if it were a prayer, a soft and breathless plea. She didn't scream it out. It was actually spoken softer than what Karliah and Brynjolf had said when Mercer had first been spotted. But for whatever reason, Mercer seemed to hear her.
His head shot up immediately and focused in on the dwarven partition above him. His eyes searched for the source of the sound, not believing his own ears. Then it happened. Their eyes met. It was only for a matter of seconds but sometimes a matter of seconds is all you need to communicate everything.
He seemed sad to see her. Not angry, not annoyed, but sad. Sad as though he was hoping she wouldn't have to witness this side of him. Sad as if the thought of facing off against her pained him. As if he regretted the traps he set, knowing she may be hurt.
She had no idea what he was able to derive from her expression as she gazed at him, but she hoped it told him enough. She hoped he saw her heartbreak, her anger. She hoped he saw how broken she was from this. Though she wanted him to see the consequences of his actions as they scarred her expression, she also hoped he saw how much she missed him. She wanted him to know that she still yearned for him, even though she hated him for it.
As quickly as the moment had begun, it ended. Mercer snapped his attention back to the situation at hand and put all his concentration into killing the Falmer that stood just a few feet from him. He crept up behind the Falmer, sliced its throat in one fluid motion and then continued back the way he came.
"He's toying with us!" Karliah exclaimed as she rattled the partition with both hands. "He wants us to follow!"
"Aye lass," Brynjolf answered as he pulled her away from the partition. "And we'll be ready for him. Let's keep moving."
Kaiya slowly picked her feet up, one at a time, to follow Brynjolf and Karliah as they pressed forward through the ruin. Her mind was chaos, replaying the image of Mercer's face as he looked her way over and over. She had tried to prepare herself for a lot of different outcomes from this mission. She had practiced what she'd do or say if Mercer was cold and callous towards her. She was ready for his anger, for his unbridled greed. She had rehearsed her response if he told her she had meant nothing to him. She had been ready for almost anything, but she hadn't expected sadness.
The memory of those sad eyes was chipping away at the wall she had built around her heart for this mission, but she couldn't let it fall. If her heart was open and vulnerable, how would she ever be able to do what was required of her when the time came?
How would she ever be able to plunge a sword through his heart if he looked at her that way?
