Chapter CXIX – Phase Fifty-Eight

"Divines, I feel like I haven't eaten in days!"

Aeyrin exclaimed with a satisfied groan as she gorged herself on the thick roasted horker steak. Even after the brief respite in the icy cavern, they needed to gather back a lot of energy and have some proper rest after what they've been through.

At least here, at The Frozen Hearth, they could indulge themselves properly.

Bishop chuckled, tearing his attention away from his own food for a while, to watch her with palpable interest.

"Fuck, you look so hot like that," he smirked at her, somewhat mesmerized by the drop of grease trickling down from the corner of her mouth.

Aeyrin flushed and she started chewing her food hurriedly to give him an amused grin. "You know, you should hurry up with your own food. I'm going to the bathing room right after I finish and I'm not waiting for you," she winked at him. Her cheeks colored even deeper and she quickly averted her eyes again, concentrating on her food.

"Hah! Not a chance, princess! Besides, you definitely wouldn't have as much fun in there without me," he turned to his own plate eagerly, before his attention got caught by the man heading towards their table.

He had noticed him before. A mage, predictably, easily identifiable by the green College robes. A Bosmer. He was looking at the two of them from the moment they entered the tavern, studying them curiously. By the time they got their food, the man had disappeared. Bishop paid no attention to that, the mage might have just been another patron who had gone to the baths after all, but now he was approaching their table with inscrutable intent.

Just before he reached them, his eyes darted towards the other side of the room where another mage was sitting, as if he never had any interest in them at all. Now his direction was clear. Was Bishop just being paranoid again?

But as the man passed, a quiet murmur escaped his lips, almost silently: "Go downstairs."

Bishop perked up instantly, his eyes going wide. What was this about? Who was that man? And why was he acting all cloak and dagger? It reminded him of Delphine's stupid code words and closets with hidden entrances.

Aeyrin didn't seem to notice at all. All her attention was continuously captured by the slab of meat on her plate.

If this were a trap, it would be a really weird one… in the basement of a tavern full of patrons. But Bishop got so curious. The guy went through some trouble to stay subtle. Not that he did a very good job of it, but still. Bishop probably shouldn't discuss this so openly in the common room with Aeyrin though, in case someone was listening.

"Hey, let's go downstairs already," he nodded at her eagerly, too curious to wait.

She only giggled at him. She was clearly assuming that he wanted to get to the baths faster. Well… he did, but now he was too intrigued. And if it was a trap, they'd better take care of it fast.

"Nope. Food first!" Aeyrin ignored him again while she carved a rather impressive chunk out of the meat and stuffed it into her mouth.

Damn… that gave him ideas.

Ugh… now he was much more annoyed with the suspicious message rather than intrigued.

He threw a brief inconspicuous glance all around the tavern, including the elven mage. The man kept glancing at the two of them uncertainly, likely wondering if either of them even heard him before.

Bishop looked back at Aeyrin as she filled her mouth with another piece.

"Ftop ftaring 'n' eat!" she mumbled with her mouth full while she covered her lips with her hand.

He smirked at her again, but he could still feel the elf's eyes darting towards them all too often. It was starting to unnerve him.

Aeyrin barely managed to stuff the last piece into her mouth when Bishop got up from the table and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her towards the basement. His other hand darted close to the dagger on his belt, just in case.

"Hey! I wasn't done!" she protested, but she still giggled all the same and let him drag her along. His eagerness was somewhat endearing.

They entered the basement soon enough, into the rooms where the loud clanking of the home brewery echoed across the stone walls.

Bishop looked around carefully, but there was no one in sight. Were they supposed to wait for the mage? What would he want with them?

"What's going on?" Aeyrin furrowed her brows when she finally noticed his odd behavior.

"That elf that passed by our table told me to come here…" Bishop murmured while he still kept his hand on his dagger, scanning the room.

"What elf?" she raised her brow at him. She didn't notice anyone passing their table, let alone talking. Although… she was pretty preoccupied with her food.

Bishop smirked at her again in amusement before he returned his attention to scanning the room closely. That was when his eyes finally caught movement by the large brewing tank.

A familiar figure emerged from behind it a second later, giving them an enigmatic smile.

"Karliah?" Aeyrin tilted her head at her in surprise but the Dunmer disappeared behind the tank again promptly.

Another one of her secret operations? It was somewhat doubtful that there would be much hidden behind the tank. Karliah's endeavors were usually… grander.

They followed her eagerly, until they finally located the well-hidden door behind the tank. It was a somewhat ingenious hideout – nobody would have ever guessed that there was a room there unless they searched really hard. They both shared a surprised look before they slipped inside the secret chamber.

Their eyes went wide as they entered the somewhat small room. Two of the stone walls were all covered with papers filled with writing – some of it in a strange unfamiliar script as well as what looked like Daedric and dragon language. Others had sketches of strange items, blueprints or tracings of some odd texts. The last wall away from the door was barely visible behind the crates and barrels that were all filled with weapons, armor pieces and even jewelry and books. Other than that, there was only a single bed and a large table with one chair.

"What the fuck?" Bishop peered at the papers all over the walls. Some were arranged to form what looked like concise images and tracings and some just seemed to be splattered around somewhat haphazardly. There were several numbers written in prominently red chalk with a circle around them by some of the more elaborate writings.

Karliah chuckled briefly, before she inclined her head at them: "Welcome. What a coincidence to find you two here."

"Why is everyone we're working with insane?" Bishop was still looking over the walls, while Aeyrin chuckled a little uncomfortably. This really looked like the hideout of a lunatic.

"Aye… I know how it… wait! Who else are you working with?" Karliah's brows creased in worry and she looked over them suspiciously.

"Oh! It has nothing to do with… well… all this. Just… Dragonborn stuff. Don't worry about it," Aeyrin smiled at her reassuringly. There was no need to mention Delphine to anyone – it had nothing to do with Karliah's plans.

"Hmm… alright…" Karliah still looked a bit worried about that, but it was obvious that she was trying to ignore her suspicions. "In any case, welcome to Enthir's shop. Temporarily turned into my hideout… of sorts."

"This is a shop?!" Aeyrin gaped at her before she started looking around again. How was anyone even supposed to find it?

"Aye. An unconventional one, if you will. The mages at the College are, after all, rather stingy with their magical trinkets," Karliah gave them a conspiratorial smile as she inclined her head towards the boxes and barrels filled with various items. "In any case, Enthir is helping out with the plan. We're working on something here together and when he's running his business upstairs, he's promised to let me know about anyone entering the tavern that might seem… suspicious or dangerous. You know, in case Mercer's people are snooping around. And well… a while ago, he described two individuals of interest who sounded very familiar," she smirked at them.

They only nodded absentmindedly at her explanation as their eyes still roamed over the writings on the walls. Those numbers in red circles were everywhere.

"Any news? Seeing as you're in… this particular area, not very far from a certain place," Karliah looked at them curiously after a moment of silence as she moved towards the table and picked up one of the papers on it.

"Yeah, we were just there a while ago," Bishop nodded as he finally tore his eyes from the strange writings.

They needed to tell her all that happened at Fort Fellhammer.

She needed to make another plan for getting rid of the Altmer.

…

"It is a shame that Tilmuril wasn't there, but still… I doubt that there could be an operation bigger than that hidden anywhere. You've most likely made a considerable dent to Mercer's skooma trade," Karliah gave them a pleased smile before she sat down at her lone table and started scribbling something down on her paper.

Luckily, Bishop left out most of the details about their assault on the fort and only concentrated on the results of their efforts. Karliah didn't strike Aeyrin as someone who would appreciate her reckless mayhem.

"So… now that you know what we've been up to, care to enlighten us?" Aeyrin gestured towards the papers with a wry smile.

"Well… a lot has happened since we've seen each other, actually," Karliah nodded. "Rune got back to me, saying that he had talked to Brynjolf. Apparently, the man believed him, but they are still investigating covertly to find out if my claims are true without getting Mercer suspicious. That… could take a while… I suppose. Mercer guards his secrets tighter than the Thalmor."

Aeyrin and Bishop exchanged a half-knowing and half-mocking look, thinking on just how 'carefully' the Thalmor actually guarded their secrets. Definitely not carefully enough to keep them from the two of them.

"In any case, there's nothing to do but wait for phase thirty-three to conclude, hopefully without further interference," Karliah sighed as she continued looking over her paper intently.

"Wait, what? 'Phase' what?" Bishop raised his brows at her.

"Oh. Excuse me… It's just a working system. There's a lot of operations to oversee and a lot of things to finalize. It's just easier to make lists and number things," she smiled somewhat bashfully before she finally put down the paper that she had been clutching.

Bishop and Aeyrin looked around the room again. The large red numbers everywhere were now making a bit more sense.

"So… phase thirty-three is getting the Guild to turn against Mercer?" Aeyrin looked back to Karliah before her head started to spin from concentrating on the chaotic arrangements on the walls. It was hard to believe that there was actually any system at work there.

"No… phase thirty-three is… getting Brynjolf to believe me. Phase thirty was convincing the first full-fledged Guild member to believe me, phase thirty-one was getting them to speak to Brynjolf and Delvin on my behalf, thirty-two getting Delvin to believe me… you get the gist," Karliah chuckled a little uncertainly. Clearly she was somewhat self-aware of how disturbingly meticulous this was.

"Wow… you are insane," Aeyrin gasped at her a little. And she thought that she was being overly concerned with planning her journeys, given their very unpredictable nature. Karliah was even worse.

"Heh… I suppose. I… cannot leave things to chance. Mercer will pay for what he's done… for what he's been doing. I will make certain of that," Karliah's tone got surprisingly somber and she lowered her piercingly violet eyes down on the table in deep thought.

"Three-hundred-seventy-four?!" Bishop yelled out suddenly, interrupting Karliah's sorrowful moment, while pointing at one of the numbers on the wall with unbridled shock. How many of those 'phases' were there?!

"Aye… it would be best if you didn't concern yourselves with the system," Karliah smirked lightly, rolling her eyes. She certainly didn't seem eager to start explaining everything in such detail. And she was prone to keep most of her operations a secret. That was plainly obvious from all these plans.

"Alright… so… what else happened?" Aeyrin gave her a sympathetic look. The Dunmer seemed a bit ashamed over her obsessive planning. It was best not to call attention to it anymore.

"Something… not so great… definitely something which was not part of my plan," Karliah sighed. "Mercer knows that I am behind his recent misfortunes. Apparently, he had Sabjorn, my associate at the Honningbrew meadery… tortured…" she let out a disgusted scoff, shaking her head. "I had managed to free him from Mercer's clutches, but he had divulged some information. In any case, while Mercer does know that I'm involved, he doesn't have any idea of the scope of the operations. He has no idea about the Solitude smuggler ring, about Raven, Rune, and let me assure you, he has no idea about the two of you. Right now, he's mostly just fuming at the realization of who's working against him. And that certainly doesn't leave me idle," her expression turned into a sly smile as she gestured towards one particular part of the wall filled with papers – the one covered with writings in the unidentifiable script.

"What is that?" Bishop narrowed his eyes at the letters. It looked nothing like anything he's ever seen before.

"Gallus's journal. Encrypted. I have managed to have someone… 'acquire' it from Mercer. I am… uncertain of what it contains, but I am sure that Gallus has been investigating Mercer himself, before he… before Mercer killed him. Mercer has clearly been interested in the contents of the journal himself, since he kept it, but I suspect that he didn't get anywhere with the decryption," Karliah smiled somewhat proudly at that.

"Have you?" Bishop smirked at her. It certainly didn't look like there was any translation on the wall, mostly just other scripts for comparison.

"No… but I suspect that I know what could help. I simply need more material, more foreign scripts and such. That is why I am here. Enthir has been helping me gain some… lore from the College," she smirked again, nodding towards the piles of books by the elf's goods.

"So you suspect that this is some outlandish script?" Aeyrin moved towards the writings to study them carefully. It was definitely not dragon language and neither was it Daedric. She's never really seen any other scripts.

"I suspect that it is a combination of several scripts, in fact. My Gallus was far too clever to merely use a foreign script for his innermost thoughts and machinations," she smiled wistfully, but her eyes remained downcast.

"'Your' Gallus?" Aeyrin threw her a curious look. There was clear sorrow on the Dunmer's face and she only shook her head gently in response, signaling her unwillingness to elaborate. Her meticulous plans to get revenge now seemed much more understandable. This obviously wasn't only about being shunned from the Guild because of Mercer. This was much more personal.

"Aye… in any case, if you'd like to help further, there's plenty more to do," Karliah gave them a hopeful smile, eliciting a nod from the both of them. There was no harm in taking on another quest. Karliah knew well enough not to give them anything too time-sensitive and she already knew to make sure that nobody knew about their involvement, especially now when Mercer was catching on.

"I'm happy to say that Mercer's fallen almost completely out of Maven Black-Briar's favor. Now with the skooma trade disrupted, she is sure to withdraw her funds from his operations… which are very considerable. But there are still many more operations that bring him income and support," Karliah smirked smugly. "Are you headed somewhere specific? I can see if there's something you could help out with on the way."

"We'll be heading out to the Reach after some rest here," Aeyrin confirmed, making sure that she mentioned the rest so that Karliah didn't send them off on a nighttime errand. They certainly had no energy for that.

"Oh! Really?! That's actually very convenient. It's exactly what I need for phase fifty-eight!" Karliah exclaimed as she grabbed the paper she'd been pawing at the entire time and she began marking something down onto it excitedly.

Bishop and Aeyrin shared a look again, amused at her planning.

"Right… I should explain. I need another script… the tracing of it, in fact. And no one can see you do it. Well… that goes without saying. You'd get arrested," Karliah chuckled briefly, pointedly looking at Bishop.

It was no wonder. Aeyrin was hardly the one to call upon for subtle action.

"Where is this… script?" Bishop sighed. He was already expecting something extremely dangerous.

Karliah gave him an innocent smile in return and her lips thinned into a small line before she spoke again: "The court wizard's laboratory in Markarth."

Of course…

Bishop only chuckled in response. How predictable.

But… stealing from the court wizard was a rather tempting challenge. And if this meant that they could decode the journal that Mercer's been struggling with ever since he killed Gallus… just the thought of besting him like that made Bishop smile.

It was just the wizard's laboratory, not the Jarl's quarters or something. He could manage that!

"Listen, if you're not up for it…" Karliah gave him a concerned look, but he shook his head, interrupting her.

"I can handle it." He could see Aeyrin's concerned look from the corner of his eye but he decided to ignore it for now. It was probably no more dangerous than Goldenglow or the infiltration of the Thalmor embassy.

"I'll have a contact get you blueprints and other information about that place, don't worry," Karliah smiled.

Aeyrin's brows were still creased, but Karliah's plans and information were often well thought-out. It was obvious that she didn't have enough information on Fort Fellhammer before she sent them there, but a theft from a secure place in a large city sounded like something that she'd have figured out to the last detail. Besides, she had contacts and helpers everywhere in the cities.

It was still a bit concerning that Bishop agreed to this, but Aeyrin knew how much he wanted to take down Mercer's operations.

And he was giving her a hard time about obsessive revenge for her past.

Karliah grabbed a few more papers from the table before she looked at Bishop with a palpably eager smile.

"Now then… let us talk details."

…

"Are you really sure about this?"

Aeyrin still couldn't get her mind eased about the thought of Bishop infiltrating the court wizard's laboratory alone. Not that she'd be much help with that… but still. She'd rather leave these kinds of things to Karliah's people.

"It's gonna be fine, sweetness. You know Karliah, she'll have an air-tight plan... with a hundred phases or so. I bet you anything that whatever the queen of crazy has for us will be twice as dangerous," Bishop chuckled at her as he gently ran his soaped up hands over her skin while she relaxed a bit on his lap in the bathing tub. "Besides… the sooner all this gets moving the better. Before Frey gets the wind of everything," he grumbled slightly.

"Wait… are you doing this because of… because of what happened at the fort?" Aeyrin turned her head towards him with an uncertain expression. Was he taking the risk with this dangerous mission to fix her mistake? To make sure that Mercer gets taken down as soon as possible? Sooner than him or Tilmuril can get any ideas about what had happened? She knew that Bishop hoped that they could leave that place with more… certainty, but still… Mercer or Tilmuril finding out about who did the damage at the fort was extremely unlikely.

"No… it's not that," he sighed a little morosely. He shifted her on his lap and then returned his hands to run over her breasts and stomach, as if he tried to comfort himself like that. "Just… it's been a long time coming."

He knew that it took a lot of time for Karliah to build up her network and get her operations to the grand state they've been in now, but he still couldn't help but feel bitter about the fact that she, or someone like her, wasn't around back then. Back then when it would have prevented Mercer from sending Jules back to Thorn. Back then when it would have saved his brother's life at least for a few more years.

With Karliah's dedication and determination, he had no doubt that Frey would go down suffering for everything that he had done.

For some things, it was too late.

But for other things, it wasn't.

He had to help however he could before things went wrong. And he knew that getting rid of Thorn was part of Karliah's plan. She may not have understood what she stood against yet, judging from her eagerness to send him and Aeyrin to do the dirty work, but at least Raven knew all too well. He'd make sure to work on a steady plan with Karliah. He wanted Thorn dead maybe even as much as Bishop did after what happened to Jules.

Well… that wasn't true.

No one wanted Thorn dead as much as Bishop did.

He let out another long sigh before he rested his head on Aeyrin's shoulder and buried his face in her hair. His hands were still slowly gliding along her body with idle movements.

She shifted from the position after a while, struggling a little with the limited space in the single tub, and she turned around to straddle his thighs, facing him.

"You know… I really don't think there's a way Mercer could find out about us helping Karliah," she gave him a rather weak reassuring smile. What she really wanted to convey was the constant fear of hers that Bishop was blaming her for the potential danger.

"I know, sweetness," he smiled at her in turn, giving her a gentle kiss. He knew it was unlikely that anyone had escaped the fort and it was just as unlikely that the Altmer would figure out who had decimated his operation when he returned – the explosions took care of that. Anyone could have caused them and their scope hid any other signs of Aeyrin's presence – such as the scorch marks or broken furniture from the Shouting.

It would still make Bishop much more comfortable to know that the elf was taken care of as well.

But the best option to ensure that neither of them had to be dragged into Thorn's and Mercer's sick games, was getting rid of both of them.

And all their loyal followers.

Fuck… hopefully Karliah's meticulous plans with hundreds of phases would be effective.

There was no help to be found elsewhere.

That damn journal better be worth the trouble.