Jerien's head was urging her to keep moving, but her heart had control of her legs. She heard the scream again and cursed herself as she turned around and made her way back to the office. A narrow set of wooden stairs were half hidden behind a bookshelf in the far corner. She knew the stairs creaked so she stayed along the wall and moved as slowly and quietly as possible. She made her way to a landing and continued down until she reached an open loft area that looked down on two jail cells surrounded with iron bars. A wooden table and chair was parallel to the far right cell so someone could look at and observe whatever was going on in it.
An Inquisitor was sitting at the table, writing in a book. He was watching a Thalmor soldier viciously whip a half-naked man with a cat-o-nine tail that was chained up against the wall.
"Stop please. I don't know anything else. Don't you think I would have told you already?" The beaten and bloody man pleaded. 'This must be the thief they were talking about' Jerien thought.
"Silence, you pig. Do not speak, unless spoken to. Master Rulindil will ask the questions." The female Altmer said as she began to choke the chained up man.
The inquisitor let the man gasp for air for almost a minute before he said, "Now now, not too much or he won't be able to speak." The woman let go but it was obvious that she wasn't happy about it. "Ok, let's begin again…" The prisoner coughed and strained to take a breath. "(Sigh) If you have nothing more to say then you have outlived your usefulness to me…"
"No, wait! (cough) I was just (gasp)…catching my breath." The man panted. He gulped for air again before he spoke. "I, I swear I'm not holding anything back…. I don't know what you want. I've already told you everything I know."
She heard a 'tsk tsk' from the inquisitor as he nodded at the guard. She smiled and punched the man repeatedly in the stomach.."Ooooff! I'm … Ahh…Ugh…" The woman didn't stop until the inquisitor cleared his throat.
"Are you ready to continue?" The thief nodded his head. "Good, now, again, from the beginning…." the Thalmor said as he dipped his quill in ink. It hovered over the top of the page as he waited for the man to begin talking.
The man struggled to breathe but finally said "There's this old man. (cough cough) I've seen him around Riften, he never comes out during the day. He, he kind of…matches the description of this Esbern guy you're looking for. He's really old and…and seems kind of crazy. He doesn't really talk to anyone and is always mumbling to himself. I've seen him in the ratway. I think he lives down there, down deep where the old cells are, but I'm not sure. I've never spoken to him. (cough, cough) He keeps to himself. I don't know anything else, I swear."
The Thalmor sighed deeply and put down his quill. "I must say that I continue to be disappointed in your lack of cooperation. Maybe a little more motivation is needed?"
"I don't know any more! I swear!" The man yelled. His eyes got wide with fear as the female Altmer walked over to him with a red hot poker in her hands. "Please! I don't know his name. Maybe it's him. Yes, yes, it could be him. I can take you to him. I Will! Please no! PLEASE!" The man screamed in agony as the woman shoved the burning metal into his right armpit. He passed out as she began wrenching the end around and around in the wound. The woman punched him in the face, but he did not react. Jerien had notched an arrow by now and was half a second from letting it impale the torturers neck.
"That's enough for now. It's a moot point if he's unconscious." The inquisitor closed the book and stood up.
"Sorry sir. These people, they're just so…so…frustrating. I can't help myself. If only I could beat some sense into them…" The woman apologized.
"Yes, yes, I understand. But this is the last one we have left. We need to make him last just a little longer. I have a feeling that he is on the verge of unburdening himself though. Especially after witnessing your magnificent knife skills as you disemboweled his cohort yesterday. Superb, if I do say so myself." The inquisitor nodded his head as they began to walk out of the room.
"Thank you sir. You have been an outstanding teacher. I've learned so much. I've also been practicing on…"
Jerien was happy she didn't hear the rest of the conversation. She realized that she was shaking from rage as she put the arrow back in her quiver. She quickly found the stairway and made her way down to the jail cell. She checked to see if the man was still alive and found him barely breathing. The smell of his burned flesh made her gag. "Hey" she whispered as she gently tapped his cheek. He softly moaned and tried to move his head. Jerien grabbed a healing potion from her bag and rubbed some on his lips. "Here, drink this. It will help heal you."
"N-n-no, no more, please." The man said as he vainly tried to move his mouth away from the vial. She gently grabbed his chin and tipped the bottle up so he had no choice but to swallow the liquid. He tried his best to resist, but drank the potion. She fed him another in the same manner. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" he asked as Jerien was healing the charred wound in his armpit.
"Ssssh, Quiet! Do you want me to stop and leave you here?" She snapped at him. Once she was satisfied that the wound was no more than a sunburn, she turned her attention to the rusted iron shackles chained to the wall. Jerien had never picked the lock on a manacle before and it was harder than she thought it would be.
"The key…(cough)…is over there, on the table." The thief said after she broke two lock picks. Jerien looked over and saw the gold colored key he was talking about. It was alongside the book the inquisitor was writing in. She quickly scooped up both and freed the wounded mans' wrists. She put his left arm around her neck to support him so he didn't fall to the floor. "Can you walk?" She asked.
"I think so…ahhh!" His right ankle buckled as soon as he put pressure on it. "Sorry, (ugh) that elven bitch crushed it with a hammer yesterday." He said as he grimaced from the pain. "I can't put any weight on it."
The Nord pursed her lips as she contemplated how to get the man out of there. "Here, drink this." Jerien handed him the last healing potion she had with her and placed her hands softly on his ankle. She whispered a healing spell as her hands began to glow yellow and the joint slowly began to shrink in size. He did his best to hide the pain he must have been feeling as his bones were being knitted back together. "Better?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you." The thief said as he moved his mended ankle around in a circle.
"Alright, we need to get out of here. Do you have any idea how to do that other than back out the front door? That's the only way I know of, and I don't have enough invisibility potions for the both of us." Jerien said as she began to look around for anything that looked like a door to the outside.
The thief shook his head from side to side. "We were gagged and hooded when they brought us in, …when was it, two, three days ago? But over there…" the young Breton pointed to a cell diagonal from them. It looked to be converted into a makeshift privy. "…there's a trap door in the far corner. I've seen them throw dead bodies down it, along with their waste. I thought I heard a growl of some kind when they threw Navarrs' body down yesterday. It sounded like a troll. If it's down there, there must be a way it gets in and out."
Jerien sighed and said, "Alright, sewer chute it is." She helped the man over to the cell, moving a half full bucket of fecal matter out of the way. Someone had left a black robe hanging over a wooden divider put up to separate and provide a little more privacy while doing their business. "Here. Put this on." She handed the robe to the half-naked man but he did not make any attempts to take it. "Look, it's snowing and below freezing out there and all you have on is ripped trousers and foot wraps. You can either put this on or freeze to death, your choice." The man looked at the piece of clothing like it was a snake ready to strike, but reluctantly took it and slipped it on.
It took some effort, but Jerien was able to open the rusted door. She couldn't see a thing as she peered into the hole. It smelled like shit and rotten flesh. "Maybe we could look around a little more…" she said as she covered her nose and mouth and tried not to retch. The Brenton peaked around her shoulder and grimaced as he nodded in agreement. Unfortunately, their decision was made for them.
Jerien happened to look over the divider just in time to see the high elf torturer walking back into the room. The woman noticed the missing prisoner and drew her sword as she yelled, "Master Rulindil! He's escaped!"
"Down we go!" Jerien whispered to the thief as she slipped through the opening into the dark stinking abyss. She immediately cast her candlelight spell and a light blue ball sprang to life above her. She was standing in a pile of excrement that had splashed half way up her legs. The thief jumped down as soon as he saw her light. He was able to avoid landing on anything unpleasant but still slipped and fell. She helped him to his feet as they looked around and took stock of the small cavern they were in. Bones, body parts and all manner of waste was all around them. Two openings led from the main cavity, one in front of them and one off to the left. "Which way?" Jerien asked as she covered her mouth again.
"Stop!" They looked up and saw the face of the female Altmer peering down at them. The thief pushed her towards the left offshoot and made an obscene gesture with his hand at the elf as he followed Jerien out of the stench. The path they chose was narrow with several twists and turns. But it was obvious that someone or something had been this way recently from the bits and pieces of flesh that littered the ground. They slowed their pace when they heard a growl come from somewhere in front of them.
Jerien stopped and rummaged through her pack. She turned and gave the glass dagger to the Breton. He took it and nodded his head in thanks as she readied her bow with a poisoned arrow. She motioned for him to stay where he was in the tunnel. She crouched down and gradually made her way to where the passageway opened to another small cavern. Her floating light had dissipated by now but the opening up ahead was dimly lit by moonlight coming from a hole high up on a far wall. Her plan was to sneak up on the beast, drug it with the poison arrow, then burn it to a cinder with her flames. That was her plan, but the troll had something else in mind.
The air was knocked out of her lungs as the dense creature jumped down on her back from above. She felt a rib crack as she hit the ground. It yowled as it began to slash at her back pack, scattering papers and books with every swipe. It pummeled her upper back with both fists and pushed out any remaining breath she had, stopping her from calling out. Before she was able to refill her lungs, the troll growled out in pain. Jerien was able to roll out of the reach of the animal as it swung around trying to knock something off its back.
Her new friend had imitated the frost trolls attack and had jumped on its back, submerging the dagger up to the hilt right between its shoulder blades. "Jump back!" Jerien was finally able to yell as she put her wrists together and summoned a stream of fire from her palms. The thief pushed off the creature just as the flames engulfed the beast. It screamed in agony as the fire wrapped around it like a shroud. It reached out an arm in a feeble attempt to swipe at her again, but it was in vain. The blackened body of the beast fell with a soft thud as Jerien let go of the spell. She lay there on the ground taking shallow breaths as she touched her lower chest with a glowing yellow hand.
The thief came over and helped her to her feet once she was able to take a breath without wincing from the pain. "That was not exactly how I had planned this out." She said to the man. "Actually nothing has gone to plan since I decided to help you. Who are you?" she asked as she started picking up the scattered papers. Some were singed around the edges but were still mostly readable.
"Etienne Rarnis, at your service." He said has he took off an imaginary hat and gave her an exaggerated bow. "Wooer of farmers' daughters, reliever of heavy coin purses and thief extraordinaire."
"I don't think I've ever met anyone who bragged about being a thief." Jerien said as she wiped some unknown black substance off one of the journals. She took a sniff and wrinkled her nose as she stuffed it in her bag or what was left of it.
The man smiled. "Well, I'm glad I could be your first and I hope it was a memorable experience." Jerien chuckled as she glanced over at him. He definitely had bravado. "And who might you be, my benevolent savior?"
"Jerien Amontè, my good man." She said as she stood and curtsied deeply. "Dragonborn extraordinaire."
Etienne began to chuckle. "That's a good one. You are funny, my friend." She shrugged and picked up the last of the rolled up parchments. "Wait, you're serious, aren't you?" She nodded as he began to laugh in earnest, doubling over.
"What's so funny?" she asked as she tied what was left of her leather bag together so nothing would fall out.
"To think…(hahaha) that the, the dragonborn, THE Dragonborn, is just a common thief like me." He wiped a tear from his eye and then looked over at Jerien.
"But I'm not…(sigh)" Jerien couldn't come up with a good argument and it was so obvious that she couldn't deny it. "I'm not… I didn't take all this for my own benefit. We needed to find out what the Thalmor know about the dragon attacks and there was no other way of obtaining it. It's not like they're known for sharing information." She stood once she was satisfied that her pack was secure and heaved it on her back. She winced a little as she could feel the bruises on her shoulders from where the troll had pounded her. She grunted as she tried to touch her back with her hands but was unable to reach the right spot.
"True, but you could've hired a real thief for a job like that, instead of getting your pretty little hands dirty." He winked at her as he walked by and started climbing the fallen tree that led to the opening out of the cave. "I might know of a few that would have been bold enough to take on a challenge like that."
"True, but as you've found out yourself, the Thalmor have spies everywhere." Jerien chuckled to herself a little when she realized that she sounded just like Delphine. "I overheard your friend Gissur arguing with the inquisitor about his finder's fee. And besides, would they have turned around to save your narrow butt or would they have taken off and saved their own skin instead?" She grinned from ear to ear as he looked over his shoulder at her. "You're welcome." She said as they climbed out of a narrow ravine that was the opening of the cave.
They cleared the fissure as the two moons were beginning to make their way back down to the horizon. The snow storm had died but the air was still very sharp and brisk. Etienne reached out and gently grabbed her hand. "Thank you, Jerien Dragonborn. If you hadn't freed me from that prison, I would surely have been dead before the morning." He held her hand to his mouth and softly kissed it. "You have my gratitude." He shivered as she pulled her hand away from him. Jerien knelt down and took her satchel off her back and untied it so she could rummage around in it. She found what she was looking for and handed the sabre cat cape to the shaking man. He raised his eyebrows as he looked from the pelt to her but quickly grabbed the stole and draped it across his shoulders. "Does it match my eyes?" He asked. They both laughed as they started walking south.
Etienne suggested that they avoid the main thoroughfares. "The roads will probably be crawling with those Thalmor bastards by now. Are you sure you want to head back to Solitude? I doubt it is the safest place for you right now."
Jerien thought about it for a couple of minutes then nodded her head. "You might be right, but I still have to get to Riverwood. Though I don't have my map or any idea how to get there from here other than head east and south."
"You're in luck my dear." The Breton smiled and hooked his elbow through hers. "You are now striding arm in arm with a living, walking map of Skyrim. Where ever you would like to go, I would be honored to be your guide."