DESTINY UNRAVELED

VII

7th of Hearthfire, 4E 201

Ziiah tried to keep her breathing steady as she sneaked past the sleeping mercenaries.

The men were bulky, the size of a wolf or a smaller bear and impressive weaponry hung from their belts. Ziiah did come on this mission knowing what she was up against, so she tried not to curse anyone or anything as she made her way through the mansion.

Luckily, she knew the floorplan, having been studying it the previous night. She eventually found the staircase that led to the upper floor where Aringoth, the mansion's owner, had hidden. Ziiah was careful as she climbed up the stairs, noticing that they screeched under pressure.

However, on her way to the Elf's room, there was a single obstacle in her way and this one was awake. Ziiah reached for a vial of paralysis poison in her satchel and dipped one of her daggers into it. She then threw the dagger into the mercenary's right shoulder and he fell immobile almost immediately.

Using the given chance, Ziiah made her way towards the Elf's room. Once inside, Ziiah noticed that it was rather empty and had found it odd that the owner would leave the mansion. With that said, she looked around and soon enough, she found an Altmer cowering behind a dresser with his face hidden in his palms.

"Hi" Ziiah said, in her opinion rather stupidly. "Aringoth, right?"

"I knew that those mercenaries were worthless" he spat.

"I will take that as a yes" Ziiah said. "Key to the safe, if you would be so kind ."

"Never" he nearly shouted. "I'll be dead if I let you take the key."

Ziiah crouched down to his level, her golden eyes piercingly cold. "And Mercer and Maven won't have you dead? Aren't you Altmer supposed to be intelligent?"

Aringoth shivered. "That's not your way…"

"It will be" Ziiah said and brandished her dagger near the Elf's throat. "I really don't want to do this so just give me the damn key."

The Elf eyed the blade with a dreadful stare before reaching inside his sleeve. He revealed a pair of keys laced onto an iron ring.

"Take this and go" he said, throwing the keys into her hands. "Once the new owner finds out I gave in, I'm dead anyway…"

Ziiah took the key. "New owner?"

He didn't reply but merely waved her off. Resisting the urge to return the gesture, Ziiah merely rolled her eyes before she took a look around the Elf's room. She eyed a gleaming golden statue of a bee before reaching for it shamelessly. She eyed the trinket in her hands, inspecting it thoroughly.

"You wouldn't mind, would you" she asked Aringoth though she didn't really need his approval.

The Elf was silent as she left his room, along with the key and the statue…

It took her awhile but Ziiah managed to reach the basement area of the estate where the safe was located.

Ziiah expected a lot of jewels in the safe; the size of the estate almost guaranteed a large amount of wealth hidden safely somewhere on the island. However, to her disappointment, there wasn't a lot of gold stashed within the safe - a couple hundred septims at most. Instead, she found a letter with an odd symbol in place of the signature - a cloaked dagger.

Strangely, Ziiah seemed to recall seeing a similar thing once upon a time but she couldn't quite remember.

"Not now, Ziiah" she reminded herself.

She stuffed the letter into her pouch, along with the gold, and then searched for a way out of the mansion. She knew that there was an opening in the basement itself. It took her a short while to find the opening and once back in the sewers, she hurried to the same ladder she had used to get inside the mansion.

Outside, Ziiah noticed that the sun's rays were grazing the horizon. Knowing she had only a few minutes until sunset, she hurried to the backyard of the manor where the hives were.

As she sneaked her way around the house, Ziiah noticed several bulky men standing watch over the entire island. She clicked her tongue before making her way across the island.

Every step was risky and though the night was fast-approaching, the shadows did little to help her. Luckily, she managed to hide beneath the watchtowers on her way to the hives.

Making sure no one noticed her, Ziiah opened the palm of her hand and with a little bit of focus, she created a spark of fire that set the hives ablaze in an instant.

With the smoke rising from the burning beehives, Ziiah quickly jumped off the island into the surrounding lake with a grin. While swimming away, she heard the mercenaries swearing left and right as they tried to extinguish the fire. The smoke rose high up over the island, towering even the manor itself.

The Guild would be notified of her success before she even reached the city gates, she thought to herself.

As she reached the shoreline, Ziiah checked her pockets and satchels, making sure the valuables she collected from the manor were still on her person and not in the lake. She let out a sigh of relief before making her way back to the city.

Walking during the nighttime, wet and heavy from the moist armor, was certainly an inconvenience. Knowing she'd catch a cold, Ziiah figured she'd better see the alchemist before reporting back to Mercer.

With that said, she made her way inside the city through the canal from the docks, wanting to avoid the main gates' guards. One would say that any inconvenience is worth more than a sewer's odor but Ziiah disagreed heavily.

Riften guardsmen are just not worth the trouble.

Reaching the alchamist's shop was a short walk from the other side of the canal. She feared that, considering the time of day, the shop would be closed. Luckily for her, the door opened as she applied pressure to the knob and she was welcomed by a familiar smell of acid and poultice.

She was briefly taken back to her early childhood days but only briefly for suddenly, a tall and grumpy figure appeared in front of her.

"You here for lessons" the elderly man asked, "or you'll buy something?"

Flabbergasted, Ziiah was silent for a moment. Once she collected her thoughts, she politely answered to the man, "I'd like a curing potion, please. I fear I may be coming down with a cold."

The Nord hummed and rushed behind the counter, apparently searching for the potion. As he did that, Ziiah took a look around the shop, taking notice of various herbs and strange...toes laying around. She never quite understood what intrigued men and women to study alchemy, even less to actually taste and eat the ingredients they use. Ziiah remembers seeing a man eat spider eggs in order to learn their alchemical properties.

Needless to say, she was discussed by alchemists since then.

Nevertheless, she had to give them credit for creating useful baubles.

"Here" said the man, putting a small vial on the counter. "This should do the trick. Just take it after a meal and before sleep, and you should be fine by morning."

Ziiah gave the man a crooked smile along with ten septims and a thank you before leaving the shop.

It was Brynjolf who welcomed her first.

The smirk on his face spoke volumes and Ziiah took it as a good sign, despite the scowl on Mercer's face. As she approached the redhead, she heard him chuckle.

"Word on the street is Goldenglow's been hit" he said with a hint of pride. "Have to say, good job lass."

"Thank you, Bryn" Ziiah responded and handed him the satchel that's been hanging from her belt. "This was in the safe, by the way."

Brynjolf took the satchel and quickly rummaged through its contents. He then threw the satchel, along with all the septims in it, back to Ziiah, keeping only the letter. She watched his face change colors and turn into a sour frown as he read it.

"That idiot! He actually sold Goldenglow" he said. "Oh, Maven will be so angry…"

"He's not going to be alright, is he" Ziiah asked.

"No way" he said. "He and whoever bought the farm will face Maven's fury soon enough. Speaking of the buyer, any idea what this symbol is?"

Ziiah bit her lip. "To be honest, the symbol is familiar to me but I can't put my finger on it. At the moment, your guess is as good as mine."

Brynjolf clicked his tongue. "Shame. Would've been better if we had the buyer's name instead."

"Doesn't Mercer have, like, a dozen contacts that could look up the symbol" Ziiah asked.

"Now, now" Brynjolf chided her through a smile, "don't be like that. Mercer may be a sourpuss but he is still your boss."

"Our boss" Ziiah emphasized. "In any case, I'm done with Golgenglow so...what's next?"

"Next" Brynjolf said, stuffing the letter into his back pocket, "you're off to see Maven."

Ziiah turned pale. "What?"

Brynjolf laughed. "Relax lass! If she wanted you dead, she wouldn't be calling on you personally but sending a quick missive to the Dark Brotherhood."

For a moment, Ziiah felt very dizzy and disoriented. After all, Maven Black-Briar was not on her list of people to talk to or the people to talk to if needed. Brynjolf noticed her rather weak disposition and took hold of her shoulders.

"Don't go fainting on me, lass" he said.

Ziiah nodded her head, wordlessly letting him know that she was alright. "So, where am I supposed to meet her?"

"She's waiting for you in the Bee and Barb" he answered, adding, "and don't worry, you'll get some gold out of it."

"Speaking of which" Ziiah said, all sobered up.

Brynjolf laughed. "Smart as a whip, lass."

He then reached for a pouch on his belt and gave it to Ziiah. Surprised at its weight, she gasped and caught Brynjolf's smiling green eyes. Clearing her throat, Ziiah thanked him and excused herself while hoping she didn't make a fool out of herself too much...