Chapter CXXVI – The Wizard's Treasures

Bishop felt the effects of the invisibility potion dissipate just as the door shut quietly behind him.

He quickly pressed his ear to the thick metal door and listened intently for any hints of sounds that he could catch. Hopefully the guards wouldn't give Aeyrin trouble for the knocked-over chunk of metal. He didn't have much choice at that point, he had to do something that would catch the guard's attention. He needed to hurry before his body would become visible again – his potion supplies were limited as it were and he needed to keep as many as he could for emergencies.

But the metal of the door was so thick that he couldn't hear anything properly. There were some quiet murmurs and something that sounded like nervous stuttering, but that was all that he could tell from the faint muffled noises.

At least there did not seem to be any commotion, no yelling. That was a good sign.

Bishop let out a sigh of relief and he quickly opened up his chest plate to rummage around the inside pocket of his armor for the map that he had stashed there. He felt like he had it memorized by now after his meticulous preparations, but it was better to be safe than sorry. His eyes roamed once more over the blueprints and the notes. He knew his options already, but he still checked, just the same. He could not afford any mistakes.

When he was done and the map was again safely stashed inside his armor, he headed forward, silently creeping around the corner of the long hallway, before he could peer into the large chamber in front of him. A large room with one hallway leading further in and one side door which would leave him with a longer but safer route.

There was supposed to be someone on guard in the hallway, so if he were to take that path, he needed to get rid of them. There was the option of distracting the guard. Bishop could already hear him cough from around the corner – he could somehow lure him to the side door and take the shorter route. But that sounded risky.

He could also disarm the trap at the side door, but he would risk being seen unless he drank another potion and he would rather avoid that. He had four potions left. He needed one to get across the balcony leading towards the laboratory, lest someone in the streets could spot him. He needed another one for the getaway and he definitely needed one for emergencies. He could afford to drink one more now but… he was a little reluctant to waste his extra potion only minutes after he got inside.

Finally, he decided to step into the chamber discreetly to see if he could find a suitable distraction for the guard. It would be a challenge though. There was nothing but large steam pipes in that room. It was obviously just an unused crossroads point.

Bishop hid behind one of the steam pipes and began peeking out, on occasion, trying to see if the guard was making rounds. Maybe he could manage to time it right to escape the man's notice. He just needed to watch and listen for the guard's steps.

But dammit, he couldn't hear a thing with the steam humming in the pipe right by his ear! He could not find out what the man was doing like this.

Bishop peeked out again carefully, but the guard did not seem to be moving at all. That was inconvenient. This way he couldn't slip by him no matter how hard he tried, unless he sacrificed the potion.

While he was trying to figure out the best approach, a strange series of soft clanks startled him, making his head jerk towards the source behind him. But he didn't see anything there. It must have been something in the pipe.

Try as he might, he couldn't find any distraction that would not give him away. He may have to take the longer route behind the side door. If the guard wasn't moving, maybe he didn't even need to use the potion.

No risks, jackass! You know what's at stake if Mercer finds out!

Frey was sure to have many contacts in the city and if Bishop got caught here, he might put two and two together and figure out that he was there for the script. He must have known Karliah had the journal, he was probably missing that thing. And if Mercer found out that they were working with Karliah in any way… fuck, he didn't even want to think about that right now.

There it was again! The clanking! It almost sounded like…

Oh shit!

His head snapped back and he leaned away from the pipe to look at the ground behind it. It was his blind spot until now. And, within a second, his unpleasant hunch was confirmed when he saw a small automaton there.

The metallic spider raised its front legs immediately and the gem on top of it lit up with crackling lightning. That thing was ready to attack the second it took notice of Bishop.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

He hid back behind the pipe instantly, just as the lightning shot out, hitting the thick metal of the pipe. Then there was a strange rumble, coming from within the pipe and the steam inside began hissing wildly. Fuck, hopefully that thing wouldn't blow up or something. He didn't know if that was possible, but from the experience at Fellhammer, hissing steam was not a good sign.

"What the fuck?!" a voice echoed from the hallway nearby only a few seconds later as the guard was now alerted to the commotion.

Well… there goes the potion.

Bishop downed the extra potion quickly before he ran away from the spider and the pipe. Thank the fucking Gods for Delphine's ring – he still had it from the Thalmor embassy job. Something like that was not to be wasted or sold. It muffled all the heavy footsteps as he ran across the room, away from the commotion. Now if that thing would blow, at least it would spare him. Although the guard might not be so lucky.

He flattened himself against a wall and waited for the guard to rush into the room. The man started to look around frantically for the source of the noises, especially since he must have heard the spider attacking, but when he couldn't see any intruders, he just stared at the spider in confusion.

"Fucking piece of junk! Broke-ass little bitch!" the man kicked the spider with anger and the small automaton promptly scampered away.

How did that thing know not to attack the guard?! That was so weird.

But no matter… this was Bishop's chance! It was the distraction that he needed in the first place. The steam in the pipe was already sounding calmer – just like it did before the spider attack. There was likely no risk of explosion and the guard was convinced that the spider had malfunctioned. Despite the unexpected hurdle, things turned out favorable for Bishop. And now he had the opportunity to get further in.

He ran into the hallway quickly, straight towards the door at its end while the guard was slowly returning to his post. He slipped inside the next room as quickly as he could and shut the door behind him carefully, before he could huff out a deep sigh of relief.

That was close. No more mistakes!

He was sure that he was now by the large hall that led to the balcony. According to the plan, this was where he needed to wait for the changing of the guards to slip by silently and get outside. He wondered how Karliah got information so detailed that she knew about guard shifts and patrols, but she may have just had one of them bribed. In any case, he was definitely grateful for the level of preparedness that she showed. Otherwise he may have hesitated about really accepting this mission.

Bishop got to the designated spot without any complications and he hid behind a couple of barrels and metallic cauldrons, completely out of sight.

Now he just needed to stay quiet.

…

Finally the guards in the room had left their posts and scurried towards the door eventually leading back to the museum and the Keep.

Bishop had a split second before the new ones would come in and he needed to use the window to slip out of the door and straight onto the balcony. He couldn't do that even a second later, he needed to get the timing just right. Because even with another invisibility potion in effect, if somebody managed to catch a glimpse of the balcony door opening on its own, it would have been a dead giveaway.

He downed the potion, rather now than later. It would last long enough, unless he somehow got delayed. But that was not going to happen. He couldn't afford any mistakes.

Bishop traversed the room on fast feet while he halfheartedly looked around, just in case there was something that could hinder his efforts for some reason. Or an unexpected guard.

There were several things that looked valuable at first sight, some displayed pieces of Dwemer metals, magical components and so many scrolls. He couldn't take any of them though, he couldn't even touch them. There had to be no trace of him.

He couldn't stop imagining what Mercer would do if he found out about Bishop's involvement.

What happened the last time was a clear indication of just how vengeful he could be. And Bishop had no doubt that even now Frey would use the same tactic that he had used to punish him before.

And why wouldn't he? It worked wonders for him back then.

That was why Bishop had to do everything perfectly now. He had to make sure that there was no way that Mercer would get another brilliant idea to take out his anger at Bishop on someone he cared about. There was no doubt about who would suffer for it this time.

He slipped out of the door quickly, before the new guards appeared, and he finally found himself on the balcony. He was certain that his presence until now was untraceable.

The balcony was blessedly empty, but the streets below were still bustling. Just to be sure, he leaned over the railing, still invisible, to see whether someone somehow noticed the door opening. It was practically impossible – it would have been such a coincidence and the person would have to have really keen eyes to see it from below on the streets at the right angle. Bishop could have sworn that he noticed Aeyrin down by the small stream under the Keep, walking towards the tavern, but she disappeared behind the corner in a second. If his eyes hadn't deceived him, she was already gone from Calcelmo's workstation.

Well, he was in his hiding place for a long time. She probably couldn't stall the wizard and his apprentice any longer.

No matter, he would be out of this place soon.

He started to traverse the balcony again, towards the metal door leading into the laboratory, quickly before his potion's effects dissipated. He couldn't help but look over his getaway route briefly along the way.

Damn, how he hated waterfalls.

But it was the fastest way out and he had neither the time nor enough potions to sneak all the way back.

That was a concern for a later time though. Right now, he had to reach the door before his potion's effects were gone. Then there was only one more room to traverse before he'd finally get to the laboratory proper.

He slipped inside the door quickly again and let out a silent sigh of relief. He couldn't help it. As sure as he was of what he was doing, every step he was taking, as sure as he was of the fact that he would not make any mistakes, his heart still pounded in his chest wildly throughout this entire venture. He wasn't sure when was the last time he was this nervous about a heist.

Alright. Now he was in. One more room to traverse. This could take some time too though. He needed to slip past the guards patrolling in the long hallway just around the corner.

Luckily, he had a way to do so.

Bishop looked to the metal grate by his feet. He could barely hear the guards walking around with all the hissing of the steam, but the noise would provide him with a good cover. He pulled up the grate as silently as possible and he raised it above his head to keep it held there while he slowly slithered down into the hole that was now left in the floor. There were enough pipes to support his descent; he just needed to be careful not to break any of them. And not to make a noise with that stupid grate in his hand.

It took a lot of careful maneuvering, but finally, after a few minutes of effort, he was there, standing on one of the sturdier pipes with the grate still in his hand, raised right above the hole.

He waited.

His arm was getting weak in that position, but he needed to hold on.

Finally, a loud hiss of steam echoed through the area and he used the opportunity to fasten the grate back over the hole. The metallic clank which could normally be heard on the contact was drowned out completely by the steam.

Fuck, he'd need to do this on the other end. And on the way back too. That was an annoying thought.

But he needed to be patient.

It was bad enough that he couldn't be exactly certain about the operation at Fellhammer, he couldn't mess this up too! He knew that it was nearly impossible that anyone would have escaped the mayhem at Fellhammer, but there was still this stray gnawing thought. What if?

What if his eagerness to help Karliah got them in trouble with Mercer? What if his reluctance to just avoid Frey and to let the Guild and all their associates be cost him the one person he cared about more than anything?

What if he made the exact same mistake that he did years ago?

Would the outcome be different this time?

He very much doubted that.

If anything… there might be even more pain and suffering along the way, all until the bitter end when he would lose Aeyrin for good.

He couldn't let that happen.

He wouldn't let that happen.

Bishop hopped down from the pipe into the underbelly of the chamber. He had to sneak through this lower lever, right where the pipes let out streams of scalding steam. He had no idea what those pipes were even for. They were in all those Dwemer ruins and even inside some houses in Markarth. He knew that the one at the inn was used to heat up the water in the bathing room and maybe the stoves in the kitchen, but he had no idea why there were so many fucking pipes in the wizard's laboratory. But they were probably just there before, for the Dwemer, and now people were just too wary to remove them.

The two guards were walking calmly right above Bishop, visible behind the grate separating them. He would have preferred solid ground. This way they could see him too, but they'd have to look down and search for him very carefully. Just in case, he stayed in the shadows, hiding behind the pipes and making sure that he wasn't in either of their lines of sight.

It was taking forever.

But he needed to be careful.

And he needed to time his movements to avoid the escaping steam.

He weaved through the long hallway, slowly and carefully, until he was finally almost there, almost to the other side where he could climb up again and get inside the laboratory. Luckily, the guards were both walking towards the other end, chatting about something he couldn't really hear.

Now was his chance.

But just as he rushed forward to reach his exit route, one of the pipes let out a thick stream of steam, right onto the side of his body. Instantly he rolled out of the way with a muffled movement and his hand instinctively covered his mouth to stop the escaping gasp as the leather of his armor shrunk on the skin of his bicep, pinching it hard.

Fuck! That was close! That could have hit his face.

He shook his head briskly, as if to snap himself out of the shock. He needed to move on fast, there was no time to waste. The guards were still far enough but they would be too close to him again soon. He made the last few steps towards his destination before he hoisted himself up on another pipe and raised the grate carefully above the floor level. This was harder than the first time from this position. With effort, he climbed up a little unceremoniously, using only one hand and his legs.

He almost collapsed on the floor when he finally got back up onto the upper level. But he had no time to recollect himself properly as the sounds of footsteps in the hallway were just around the corner, approaching steadily.

Luckily, another hiss of steam was imminent and he quickly placed the gate back and slipped into the door behind him, finally reaching the laboratory.

Hopefully it really was empty, like it was supposed to be. He was pretty sure that if it weren't someone would hear his frantic labored breaths by now.

…

Bishop made his way through the entryway and up the large stairs silently.

It seemed like the contact was correct and there really wasn't anyone in the laboratory. He should be relatively safe right now. That is… if none of the guards had caught wind of him and decided to investigate.

No… that was impossible… he left no trace, no hint of his passing.

Why did that damned mage need to keep this place so secure anyway? What treasures could he possibly be hiding there to garner such protection? His research? Was it really that important? Were there some rogue mages hiding behind every corner, waiting to steal his knowledge? Or was there something else of value?

Too bad that Bishop couldn't steal anything. Or really even touch anything. He couldn't even leave a handprint on a dusty surface. Everything had to look exactly as it did before he came here.

With that disappointing thought in mind, he finally made it to the laboratory proper.

It looked like a madman's room. There were parchments everywhere, plastered all over the walls just like in Karliah's current hideout. There were arcane symbols on the floor, drawn with ectoplasm, for reasons that he couldn't discern. He avoided stepping on them adamantly though, just in case. They may have been traps. And even if they weren't, he might have smeared the ectoplasm around with his boot, leaving a very prominent trace behind.

Bishop had never thought that any wizard could work in such a mess. Maybe it had a system that he just didn't see or didn't understand, but… still. This looked like a place that any sane person would readily avoid. There was even a strange contraption in the center of the room – a platform made out of Dwemer metal with a small ball above it, enveloped in several wide circles and an arrow piercing it, all sculpted out of the gold-bronze metal. Hopefully it wasn't a trap and that arrow wouldn't shoot him the second he got in its trajectory. He needed to get in that trajectory. He needed to get to the prominently displayed large stone slab with a strange script carved into it, right across the room on the small balcony overseeing the entryway.

He approached the stone tentatively and he slowly ran his gloved hand over the unfamiliar Falmer letters.

The translation into Dwemeris was carved below it – Karliah needed both. She said that she already had the translation into Cyrodilic. Apparently deciphering Falmer language was relatively easy, but what she was looking for was the equivalent of the Falmer letters in Dwemeris. At least that was the scope of what Bishop had understood. She blabbered something about accessibility of Falmer scripts and something about patterns of morolo… morpho… what the fuck was that word? Ah, it didn't matter. She was simply convinced that Gallus combined several ancient languages to write his code and she needed both these scripts for her deciphering.

Bishop pulled out one of the blank scrolls, which he had prepared in a metal document tube on his belt, and he spread it over the first part of the stone slab. He took out a piece of charcoal and got to work meticulously.

Everything was taking so fucking long.

But soon, he'd be out of this place, back to Aeyrin, and one step closer to taking down Mercer for good.

…

He was almost done.

Just one last part of the Dwemer script.

He pulled out the last parchment with a sigh. His arm was already getting tired – the constant rubbing of the charcoal, and right after holding the grates up for so long, was sending shooting pains from his wrist to his elbow.

But he had to suck it up and stick through it. It was almost over, after all. Just a few more strokes and he would have everything he needed.

Before he finally finished, however, a sound of a metal door opening startled him.

Shit! Fuck! Shit!

He needed to hurry before someone could hear the rubbing. And before someone could see him!

He quickly and sloppily finished the tracing in a single second and he stashed the parchment back into the tube. He promptly downed his emergency potion, just in time to see Aicantar rushing into the laboratory. The young Altmer stopped in the middle of the room, right by the strange contraption, and he began to look around frantically.

Fuck, did he know someone was there? Did he hear something?

After a few tense seconds, Aicantar started to sift through the papers spread all around the room quickly. Hopefully that only meant that his frantic looks before were concerned about finding whatever research he was looking for, not a potential thief.

This was Bishop's chance to escape, but he was too worried that the rather loud door leading back to the balcony would alert the man. After all, he heard it when Aicantar had arrived before.

It was too risky. He had to wait.

He hid behind the corner of a large stone shelf, just in case his potion dissipated before the man left. Hiding on the small balcony with the slab was not a good idea – anyone could have walked in after Aicantar and seen him there once he was visible again. It was best to remain hidden inside the room.

But luckily, he didn't have to worry about any of that for long. The Altmer only collected a few select papers from around the room and he quickly hurried back downstairs towards the balcony and likely back to the Keep.

This was an opportunity! He could slip in the door as Aicantar opened it, making sure that no one would suspect anything – especially the guards in the next room. The door was slow to close. He would have enough time to do that and not to alert the young mage at all.

He instantly hurried after the apprentice, keeping a safe distance so that the man wouldn't feel his presence near him. He had to stay as silent as possible too. While the ring muffled the motions of his body, it certainly did nothing to silence his breaths.

Once the mage opened the door and rushed back inside the keep, Bishop caught it, keeping it open just a little bit longer so that he could slip inside, leaving no one the wiser.

Great.

Now to travel through the grates all over again until he could get back on the balcony.

This was gonna take so fucking long.

…

Bishop stood at the balcony, invisible, with his last potion gone.

At least it was done.

Now just to do the last part.

He groaned under his breath as he peered down the cliffside. The water was falling in a thick stream from above the large cliff which had the entire Understone Keep nestled in it, ending up in the river leading around the Orc's forge and down towards the mines.

He knew it was safe… but still…

He hated waterfalls so much.

But there was no time to lose. He had to take the plunge while he was still invisible to avoid anyone seeing him plummeting down from the balcony. With a determined nod to himself, he took a deep breath and jumped, as far away from the cliff as he could to avoid crashing into the rocks.

At least it wasn't a long drop.

Bishop barely even registered what was happening. As he fell, he felt the intense pressure of the water, swirling and tumbling him around before he hit the surface of the river. But the current of the waterfall was too strong and it was dragging him down under the water.

He had to collect himself as fast as he could before his strength left him completely.

He forced his eyes open and he managed to vaguely make out the stone of the pathway near him. He ignored the stinging pain in his right arm that was still there after those stupid grates and tracings, and he made a few powerful strokes before his hands connected with the stone, clinging to it desperately. Finally he managed to raise his hands through the strong currents and to grab onto the edge of the pathway to hoist himself up with enormous effort.

Fuck… everything hurt.

He slumped to the ground instantly as the last vestiges of his strength left him. His form was now visible but, fortunately, he was hidden in the shadowy corner of the pathway beneath the cliffside. When he regained his senses a little and looked over his surroundings, to ensure that nobody was around, he began to calm his breathing tentatively. At least he didn't swallow any water. Thank the Gods for that ring from J'zargo's. It made this so much easier.

After a while, he huddled more into the shadows and pressed his back against the cliffside. He was out of any immediate sight from the streets. If someone were to see him, they would really have to be looking for something there carefully. It was a relatively safe place for him to make himself a bit more presentable for the public streets.

Bishop once more ensured that he was alone there and he began squeezing the leather of his armor to wring as much water from it as he could. He couldn't just walk into the tavern dripping with water.

He just had to wait for a while.

Again.

This was frustrating.

He wished that he could at least call Karnwyr to come over there, to get some company after the long day, but whistling could only bring unwanted attention to him. A lot of people were still walking around the streets.

It was alright. Aeyrin already knew that he'd be a while, but… everything still took way more patience than he had expected. Maybe it just felt like it because of how anxious he was the entire time about messing something up.

He took off his wet gloves and opened the metal document tube that held the tracings. Everything looked dry, thanks to the sturdiness of it. The contact really knew what he was doing when he gave this tube to Bishop.

Everything was perfect. He was done.

He made no mistakes.

He could finally relax.

He just needed to dry off a little. Just a little patience.

It was a good thing that he had practice. Every hunter needed to be patient. He couldn't imagine Aeyrin doing something like this – she would flip out instantly, fidgeting with nothing to do but wait. She'd rather take the risk and do something stupidly reckless than to just wait for the best opportunity.

He couldn't help but smile at the thought.

No matter what trouble her recklessness got them in, he loved that about her.

…

Bishop finally entered the bustling tavern.

He was pretty tired after the whole excursion. He couldn't wait to have some food and drink, then hopefully an eventful bath with Aeyrin and then just sleep until noon the next day. And maybe even stay in bed the rest of the day after that. Why not? They had no immediate pressing matters to attend to after all. They did what they needed to do here and now they had nothing but time for each other.

With a weary sigh, he looked around the common room of the tavern.

Strange. Aeyrin was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe she had gone to bed already. It was unlike her not to wait for him, but maybe she got too bored after the whole day of doing nothing but trying to entertain the wizard. And she must have been anxious, worrying over him. Maybe she just needed to be alone.

Bishop headed towards their rented room instead of the planned food and drink. He was much more eager to see her than any of that. He could eat later. Right now, he needed to make sure that she knew that everything was alright.

But just when he reached for the door, a voice interrupted him, coming back from the direction of the common room.

"Hey! You, dipshit! Wait!"

Bishop raised his brow at the source of that voice. There was a woman yelling at him. She looked around the common room briefly before she rushed over towards Bishop with a deep scowl. What the fuck was this about? She certainly seemed to address him in an overly familiar way.

He looked her up and down curiously, trying to discern the intentions of her approach. She was wearing rather drab commoner clothes, but the heavy pack on her back suggested that she was not a local, and that she was equipped for more than a tavern. She had long black hair, piercingly deep blue eyes and several prominent scars over her face and neck. Something about those eyes was…

Wait…

He knew her.