Bait and Switch

I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair looked darker than usual, a dull sort of color which matched my mood. I looked tired, my ribs newly bandaged after applying the medicine Wuunferth had given me. I sighed, turning from the mirror to the rest of the room which I had rented at Candlehearth Hall. I had paid for three nights I desperately wished I could keep given my injuries. But I couldn't risk Vilkas accompanying me on my journeys or waiting too long and risking losing Veezara's aid.

I turned over the hastily bought armor. It was little more than a worn leather tunic which fit oddly around my shoulders. But I couldn't risk leaving the city unarmored or wearing my Dark Brotherhood gear, and the glass armor was too restrictive to put over my bandages, let alone underneath the commoner clothing I was going to wear to the town square that night.

Once I had finished dressing, I grabbed two letters off the desk and stuck them in my pack which I left on my bed. It was then that I pulled out the amulet Vilkas had given me and placed it about my neck before pulling up my hair. I left the room, making sure to lock it behind me.

By the time I had written my letters, tended my wounds, and gotten redressed, Vilkas had made it to the Inn. He sat in a darkened corner, furthest from the large glowing hearth with a decidedly unhappy look on his face.

"Happy to see me, I see," I said as I came and sat down beside him.

"I – do you still insist on this foolish mission of yours?" he asked. "If so we should leave soon."

"I'm sure I have nothing to fear with my shield brother watching my back," I said.

Vilkas snorted and rose to his feet. I rose as well, attempting to maintain my cheeky smile, but wincing as I stood. Vilkas's eyes watched me steadily as I did so and I tilted my head, prompting him to comment on it, but he said nothing, simply strode beyond me, making for the door.

I followed him out but didn't stay close. Vilkas tended to draw attention and with me at his side it was unlikely he would be able to watch from a safe distance without arousing suspicion from the murderer. And I had to look like an ordinary citizen, one who wasn't stealthily equipped with no less than four daggers.

I knew where the square was when I had traveled there to gain new (and cheap) armor and made sure to walk there as I had earlier. When I arrived, the market was still somewhat crowded, though not as busy as it had been an hour earlier. I nodded to the blacksmith who asked if I had tried on my new pieces.

"Not yet," I said. "I am still recovering from my journey here." I touched my abdomen. "It was no safe trip but hopefully with new armor I can continue on once I'm healed thanks to you."

The armorer smiled, "Armor is an essential for the wary traveler."

I nodded to him as he turned to speak with a customer who appeared to be a new Stormcloak recruit judging by the conditions of his clothes. Earlier I had learned my identity (as Dragonborn, as a Companion, as the person who had jumped a drunkard hours earlier) had not yet become a widely known thing, or if it was, my face was not attached to it. That allowed me to be able to spread the rumor that I was just another traveler, one who was not accustomed to armor or fighting.

Next I went to the jewelry stall where I made a point to ask about the necklaces and their prices while thumbing the amulet around my neck.

"How much is this do you think?" I asked.

"That?" the Altmer lady leaned over her stall, squinting her eyes. "Ten."

"Ten? I bought it for fifty," I said. "Oh, darn, I paid fifty for it. I - "

"Hello," said a voice from beside me.

The man, a thin but tall Imperial stood too close for comfort. His clothes were fine but he smelled odd though I could not place what sort of scent it was. I ignored this, determined to keep up my friendly smile.

"Hello," I greeted.

"That amulet, you said you bought it for fifty? I would be willing to pay you five hundred gold for it," the man said. Then, as if remembering, "Calixto of Calixto's House of Curiosities. I came across a gentleman earlier today who showed me a similar piece though he wasn't willing to part with it but it's just the sort of trinket I'd be interested in buying."

"Corrium you're crazy," the Altmer jeweler said.

He shot her a smile and said, "Oddities don't come by every day."

"Oddities? That's just junk," she said.

"Well, how about it? I think that exchange is more than fair," he said.

"I don't know," I said, looking down at the jewel and muttering to myself. "I just…this reminded me of my sister. It was just the sort of jewelry she would wear and what with her dying this past winter…"

The man put a hand on my shoulder as I stared down at it. "I know what it is like to lose a sister." I looked up to him and smiled half-heartedly. "You have her eyes."

I took a deep, shaky breath and put my hand over his to remove it gently. "Let me think about it tonight. I'll come to you in the morning with my answer."

Calixto nodded and gave me directions to his shop before leaving the market. I continued to browse the market until finally the stalls closed and I began to leave, as did the rest of the stragglers. I didn't see Vilkas but I trusted that he was nearby as I made my way back to the Inn, making sure to take a less direct route and make something of a scene about being lost. It wasn't long before I came to dark and narrow alleyways and I sighed, looking about as if lost. I was beginning to wonder if the murderer had seen me at all. The best I could hope for was that if I hadn't grabbed their attention, that the person hadn't latched on to someone else.

It was at this moment that someone grabbed my wrist. I turned quickly but the small fingers belonged to a child, likely a fellow Breton, and my guard lowered. The kid's clothes hung on him, little more than rags, his face covered in dirt and dust. I estimated that he couldn't be older than six.

"Miss, are you lost?" he asked.

"Sort of," I said, giving a small a laugh.

I was beginning to feel nervous. I had neither saw nor sensed anyone but this one child following me which led me to question: where was the murderer? Where was Vilkas? And what if the murderer attacked while the child was here?

"If you're looking for your friend, he went with some man," the kid said. "They were fighting about something and then they left together."

"What?" I asked, confused. "What did this man look like?"

"Blonde, sort of thin. Creepy dark eyes."

I recalled the shop owner clearly in my mind, his dirty blonde locks, small puckered lips, and dark brown eyes. He had been casual about his interest in the amulet but still he had been the most obviously suspicious person there. It was him I had thought to meet in this alley instead of this child telling me that he had wandered off with Vilkas.

And Vilkas had argued with him, which given his nature wasn't surprising. But what was surprising was that he had left with this man. Knowing I was injured and not wishing me to do this bait-mission at all he had just left with Calixto in the middle of an argument?

"Where did they go?" I asked quickly.

"I can show you," the boy said.

I nodded for him to go and he took off at a run. He led us down a few alleys. I knew this boy could be lying, luring me in to a trap. I was a stranger in the city and the likeliness I had a friend with me was high and most of the people in the city were Nords, many of them had blonde hair and dark eyes. Alternatively, he could be working for Calixto or the murderer, luring women to their deaths.

Stealthily I unsheathed two daggers, hiding them in my sleeves as I ran.

When we stopped we were before an large building in one of the older and wealthier neighborhoods in the city. Unlike the streets surrounding it, the homes on this street were largely in disrepair, vines grew up the side and small stones littered the ground beneath my feet. The door was one of the better kept features, it's sturdy wood seemed both solid and heavy.

"They went in there I think," the boy said. "But I'm not going in!"

"Can you get the guard? I promise to reward you if you do," I said.

The boy bit his lip before nodding and racing off in the opposite direction. I had no idea if the men that passed for the city watch would pay the child any heed but even if they did, as spread thin as they were, the nearest guard could be too far away to be of much help if things went poorly.

I tried the door, which was locked. I retrieved a pick and began working on it. The mechanism was complicated but no where near as much as Veezara's cuffs had been and I was extremely focused. I didn't bother to discover whether anyone saw my endeavors. If this was elaborate trap, I had to fall for it because it was that or risk harm coming to Vilkas if he were in danger.

The door opened, no magical barrier blocking the door which left me relieved. I shut the door quietly behind me, quickly and quietly moving to where I heard noise coming from the inside of the house.

I heard a man talking, his voice wavering between excitement and anger.

"You just couldn't leave well enough alone," the voice said, the first clear words I caught. There was a scraping noise. Years spent with my mother told me that was likely the sound of a mortar. "Had to get that girl of yours involved. Now I'll just have to use you instead. Pity because it's not nearly enough usable material, but I'll get more once you and her are out of the way."

It was at this point I came upon a dim room. It was lit by a couple of torches that revealed Vilkas, strapped to a standing table by his wrists and feet. Both his armor and underclothes had been stripped from him. His eyes looked on blankly but his fingers were flexing, slowly tightening into a fist. Calixto stood over a long bloodied table on my side of the room to my left. He would use a mortar and pestle one moment before picking up a tool and fiddling with it the next. He was facing my direction though his gaze was firmly down on the table until he turned around, having picked up a sharp, thin carving blade.

"Lucky for you, I devised a method to keep the material fresh, able to last longer. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to be a part of my masterpiece," Calixto said, looking at Vilkas.

His head tilted upwards and he cursed under his breath, turning pack to the table and grabbing a shot. Quickly he turned back to Vilkas, jamming it into my shield brother's arm violently and emptying its contents. Vilkas's hands went limp, his fingers unfurling. Calixto sighed in relief before placing the vile back on the table he was using. When he turned back to Vilkas he stood, watching him for a moment before he spoke.

"Now, where were we?" he said.

As he took a couple of steps toward Vilkas, I snuck in, creeping up behind the madman silently. Inches from him and less than two seconds away from being able to take his life, the man turned, wildly swinging the knife so that I was forced to duck. Hopping back and away from me, Calixto attempted to rush around me to the table. Just as he picked up another syringe, this one full of liquid, I grabbed him, my hand over his mouth, I yanked him back towards me and the shot fell to the floor, shattering.

"You really shouldn't have turned your back on me," I said, ending his life swiftly as my blade drew across his throat before he had a second to react. Then quietly, "And you really shouldn't have threatened my Shield Brother."

The man choked, coughing blood once before going still and I dropped his body to the floor. I turned back to Vilkas, the panic that had been delayed while the threat was still in the room hitting suddenly. Quickly I looked at the table mechanism, adjusting it so that he was lying on his back. I went back to Calixto's body, retrieving his key and unlatching the manacles on Vilkas's ankles and wrists.

Quickly I went back to the table, examining the ingredients and trying to recall my mother's lessons in the subject to figure out what the man had done to him. I recognized a couple of ingredients that, when combined, had a paralyzation effect. Still there were others I didn't recognize but smelled similar to the embalming fluids. Aside from these were a couple of ingredients that I believed were used in healing poultices.

I cursed under my breath. There were too many ingredients for such a novice to figure out if there was an antidote for whatever Calixto had done to him, and guessing could just make situations worse.

"Everlee," Vilkas's voice said, rough and raspy.

I went over to his side and looked at him, trying and failing to hide my panic. "I don't know what to do, I don't know enough magic or alchemy to do anything. I should go get Wuunferth. But I…"

I didn't want to leave him helpless, unarmed and paralyzed, especially if there was a chance he could die. My brain, panic and disorganized, ran through my options but couldn't come up with a plan. At some point the disjointed thoughts led me to realize that Vilkas was completely naked, which caused me to blush and turn from him, searching for something to cover him with. Finding only bloodied sheets, I opted for Vilkas's own pants, which had been cut open and lay in a corner with his things.

Vilkas made a sound like a snort though his face was blank, still unable to show the derision he must have felt. I almost smiled at the fact that at least he couldn't look at me judgmentally now before feeling guilty at the light heartedness when he could be badly injured.

It was then I heard the door bust open and two guards quickly appeared in the room, swords raised. They looked from me to the body on the floor.

"My name is Everlee and we're Companions. This man was the murderer stalking your cities. Please, I need to get Wuunferth," I said, keeping my voice calm and clear despite my fast beating heart.

The two men looked at each other before lowering their swords. I wasn't sure whether they believed me because they knew of me from Ralof or whether they just assumed it was more feasible the old man lying on the floor who had collected oddities had been the one stalking and killing women. Either way, I raced passed them without a second look back and didn't stop until I hit Wuunferth's door. I knocked several times frantically. I was just about to lockpick his door when I heard an irritated voice call out that he was coming.

Wuunferth showed up at the door wearing long night clothes and glaring. "What do you want?"

I stood panting, and holding my injured side for a second longer than I wanted. "My friend is injured, poisoned. I think some sort of burial fluids mixed with a paralysis but I'm not sure if that's it or what they used, please, help," I said between breaths.

"I don't get paid enough for this," the man said quietly but turned and motioned me in.

He quickly gathered many of his supplies, carefully piling them in to two bags, one of which he handed to me.

"Do you read?" he asked, as we followed me back to the house.

I didn't have time to look over my shoulder and glare at him so I said simply, "Yes."

"And recognize alchemist ingredients?" Wuunferth asked.

"Many of them, my mother was an alchemist though I am not," I said.

"I gathered what I thought we would need, but I may need you to run back and get more if I have need," he said.

When we arrived back at the house, there were was a small crowd of onlookers, maybe four or five. Two guards posted at the door let us through.

Wuunferth quickly got to work, wrinkling his nose at the table, taking a sample from Vilkas and making noises that I couldn't quite figure out the meaning to. Vilkas seemed to be able to move his eyes as well now though they tended to stay focused on me as I stood next to him while Wuunferth set about creating the potion at his makeshift lab. I felt the urge to hold his hand in comfort, as my mother had done for me when I was young and very sick but couldn't imagine my shield brother taking kindly to it, especially when he had no ability to say anything or remove my hand.

"Here, this ought to reverse the effects," Wuunferth said finally. "Likely would have worked its way out of his system on its own in time but if not it would have stopped his heart. So, not a complete waste of time."

Wuunefth nodded to Vilkas's head, which I tilted up as he poured one liquid down his throat. After that he set it down, picking up a poultice and applying it to to the areas where the injection had taken place. By the time he had completed that, Vilkas's eyes had closed. The man the looked to me.

"He will be fine by morning," Wuunferth said.

I didn't want to question him but I had to be confident, "Are you sure?"

The man rolled his eyes as he went to collecting his supplies back into their bags. "Yes. I have no reason to coddle you. If there were a chance he would not be back to his old, irritating self by morning I would tell you." He then mumbled something under his breath as he went back to gathering his tings.

"Thank you," I said, my voice relieved, breathless. "For both of us. I know this isn't your job, but you saved our lives."

The man turned, his face blank, but just nodded before summoning one of the guards to gather his things. He then ordered two more standing nearby to take Vilkas wherever we were staying, and we headed back to his room at Candlehearth, the innkeeper rushing to let us in.

Vilkas hadn't woken in the whole affair and I drew up his blanket over his sleeping form. I looked at the clock. It was nearly eleven, when Veezara's distraction was to take place. There was no way to contact him now to tell him to call it off. There was also no need for it or the invisibility potion that was stored in my room upstairs.

Leaving now would be easy and Wuunferth had been certain Vilkas would wake in the morning restored. The murderer had been stopped and I could easily attract guards to the inn to protect Vilkas until he awoke, just in case he had not acted alone.

Still, he had almost been killed. I thought of what the others had said about him, when I had been injured and had lie unconscious for a week. He had stayed by my side. It felt wrong to leave him until I could see for my own eyes that we was well.

I rose from the wooden chair to sit on a worn but comfortable looking couch and settled in for the night.