Chapter Nineteen

They reached Winterhold almost a day later, Inigo getting jarred awake when the cart stopped, nudging his companion before they got out. Dar' stretched, watching the cart rattle away before heading into The Frozen Hearth and going downstairs, Enthir and Karliah waiting for them. "Back, eh?" the Bosmer said. "And how was our friend Calcelmo?"

The female Khajiit smirked, taking out the roll of papers from her bag and handing them over. "Perhaps this might help translate Gallus's journal." She intoned, grinning at the look on his face. "I suppose it would...inappropriate of me to ask how you obtained this, so I simply won't." He looked at her. "A rubbing, eh? Odd, I expected notes."

"It's quite the tale," came the reply. "I'll have to tell you about it sometime."

"I understand. Now, let me take a good look at this-over here please."

Enthir walked over to a table and laid out the rubbing, going between the two. "Hmm. This is intriguing, but highly disturbing." He glanced up. "It appears that Gallus had suspicions about Mercer Frey's allegiance to the Guild for months. Apparently Gallus had begun to uncover what he calls an '...unduly lavish lifestyle replete with spending vast amounts of gold on personal pleasures'."

"Does the journal say where this wealth came from?" Karliah asked.

"Yes," came the reply. "Gallus seems certain that Mercer had been removing funds from the Guild's treasury without anyone's knowledge."

"Anything else, Enthir?" came the question. "Anything about...the Nightingales?"

The Bosmer looked. "Hmm. Yes, here it is." He said. "The last few pages seem to describe 'the failure of the Nightingales' although it doesn't go into great detail. He also repeatedly mentions his strong belief that Mercer desecrated something known as the 'Twilight Sepulcher'."

The Dunmer woman staggered as if struck. "Shadows preserve us." She said. "So it's true..."

"I'm not familiar with the Twilight Sepulcher. What is it-what's Mercer Frey done?" The mage looked worriedly between them as his friend spoke. "I'm sorry Enthir, but I can't say. All that matters is that we deliver your translation to the Guild immediately. Farewell, Enthir...words can't express..."

"It's alright Karliah-you don't have to say a word." Enthir came over, looking at Dar'. "Listen," he said. "All I want is the truth to be revealed to the Guild. They respected Karliah, and she deserves better. Do whatever you can and I'd consider it a personal favor."

"I will Enthir," she said. "And I'm grateful for your help."

She turned to the other thief, who looked at her. "We must hasten to Riften before Mercer can do any more damage to the Guild." She said. "I can see the questions in your eyes however. Since you've come this far, I see no harm in concealing it any longer. The Twilight Sepulcher is the temple to Nocturnal-it's what the Nightingales are sworn to protect with their lives."

"Why does it require such manner of protection?" Inigo asked, watching her.

"Everything that represents Nocturnal's influence is contained within the walls of the Sepulcher." Came the reply. "Now it seems Mercer's broken his oath with Nocturnal and defiled the very thing he swore to protect."

The white-furred feline bared her fangs at the actions of the bastard who had stabbed her and left her for dead, her green eyes widening as she was handed an ebony blade. "I want you to have this Dar'Mora," Karliah said. "It belonged to Gallus, but given the circumstances I think he'd approve-you may need it if the Guild isn't willing to listen to reason. I'm going to head back to Riften and scout everything out-meet me in the Flagon?"

"Count on it Karliah," Dar' said. "We'll be there."

The pair headed out of the inn, walking towards Windhelm to catch a cart to Riften.

~Timeskip~

The pair reached Riften, taking a rest at the Bee and Barb and waiting until nightfall before heading out, entering the Ratway and making their way to the Ragged Flagon. Dar' glanced around, going wary as she noticed that the place was empty save for Tonilia and Vekel the Man. She listened to what Karliah had to say before going over to the Nord, asking him the news. "Look, I like you, Dar'," he said, looking straight at her. "So I'll tell it to you straight-Brynjolf and the rest are in the Guild, and they're ready to cut you down. I know you have a damn good reason for siding with Karliah, so I hope you can give it to them."

"I have my reasons Vekel," came the reply, the female Khajiit giving him a smirk. "The last thing I want to do is to kill my Guildmates-but they need to hear what we have to say." She shot a wry smile over at the Dunmer before following her into the Cistern, exhaling slowly.

They found Brynjolf, Vex and Devin waiting for them, the first one glaring. "You better have a damn good reason to be here with that murderer." He snarled.

"Please, lower your weapons so we can speak." Karliah said. "We have proof that you've all been misled!"

"No tricks, Karliah," the Nord said. "Or I'll cut you down where you stand. Now what's this so-called proof you speak of?"

Dar' handed over the translated journal. "This was Gallus's journal." She said. "Have a look inside."

Brynjolf took the book, opening it and skimming through it, his face horror-struck. "No, it...it can't be." He looked at them. "This can't be true-I've known Mercer too long..."

"Not true?!" came the snarl as the female Khajiit unfastened part of her armor, showing them the scar where she was stabbed and noticing the shocked looks the others gave her. "Mercer left me for dead Bryn-he stabbed me in Snow Veil Sanctum. It's only because of Karliah and Inigo I'm still here. He's been stealing from you for years-right under your noses!"

"There's only one way to find out if what they're saying is true-Delvin, I'll need you to open the vault."

The group walked to the vault, Dar' fastening the top of her armor again while blushing-it had been a split-second choice to show them exactly what Mercer Frey had done to her, The Nord's voice cutting into her thoughts. "By the Eight!" he cried. "It's gone-everything's gone! Get in here, all of you!"

They ran in, seeing the place was empty, Vex swearing before Brynjolf sent her and Devlin to watch the Flagon, turning to the female Khajiit. "Look," he said. "Before I have you help track Mercer down I need to know what you learned from Karliah-and I mean everything."

She explained what she had been told, watching him nod. "Then I have an important task for you-I need you to break into Mercer's home and search for anything that could tell us where he's gone."

"He has a house here in Riften?" Inigo asked, the Nord look at him. "Aye. A gift from the Black-Briars after they kicked the previous family out-Riftweald Manor. He never stays there-just pays for the upkeep on it. Hired some lout by the name of Vald to guard the place."

"Consider it done Bryn." Dar' said, baring her fangs and asking for a bit of additional information before heading into the Flagon, finding Delvin. "Stabbed in the back," he muttered. "It's like the Dark Brotherhood all over again." His eyes lit up as she took out the cube and ship model she had found, paying for them straight across and lifting up the cube, examining it. "You got a good eye Dar'," he said. "Quite a feat to get this out of that tower."

"Wouldn't expect anything less from someone whose name means 'clever shadow." Vex said, touching her shoulder and looking at her. "Glad you made it back." She proceeded to give her some info on Vald before the two felines took off.

They stopped off and saw Maven, who was surprised anyone would help him before telling them if they found the quill he lost she'd consider the debt paid in full. Dar' dove into Lake Honrich, spotting a boat half-buried in the lakebed. She surfaced briefly, making her way to a nearby island and casting Waterbreathing on herself before swimming back out to the location, deftly picking the lock on the strongbox and grabbing what was inside before surfacing, swimming back over and climbing out as she felt the spell end, Inigo coming over as she grinned. "I think that's the first time I've picked a lock underwater." She said, breathing hard as they headed for the Black-Briar Meadery, presenting Maven with the quill. "You're kidding?" She asked. "You actually found it...I wrote this off a long time ago." She let out an elaborate sigh, smirking at the pair as she handed them a book. "My end of the bargain-give this to Vald, it'll free him, but tell him I don't ever want to see him in Riften again."

"Pretty sure he'll agree to that," Inigo intoned. "Though why anyone would want to leave Riften on their own is beyond me."

The pair left, swinging around back of the manor and finding Vald, handing him the book and getting handed a key before he took off, waving in thanks. The female Khajiit blasted the ramp with a spell, watching it fall and they headed up, slipping inside. They crouched in the shadows, their eyes adjusting to the dim light of the building as they looked around. "We are coming back here when we have time." Dar' whispered, her eyes seeing several things she could take and either sell or break down. They watched one of the bandits that had taken up residence, an Orc, walk past, the female Khajiit casting a powerful Fear spell and watching him run out screaming, doing the same thing to the Nord that came up to see what the racket was about. "Well done." Inigo said, poking around a little himself before hearing her call to him, walking over and seeing her step through a wardrobe with a false back. They slipped through the traps and into a back room, finding plans on a table. The blue-furred feline looked them over before rolling them up as his friend picked the lock on a case and took out a blade, belting it at her waist before grabbing an old bust from the table and finding a way into the Vault, pointing out the shadowmark carved into the stone: an upside-down triangle with a line through the center and a circle around the point. "Why would there be a 'danger' shadowmark here?" she intoned, shaking her head as they dropped down, coming out by the back door to the Flagon. Dar' walked over to Delvin, plunking down the bust. "You interested?" she asked, watching him take it. "Must have come from Mercer's place." He said. "He'd admired the Gray Fox for quite some time. Sure, I'll buy it from you." He handed her a pouch of gold before getting up, grabbing her a mug of mead. "Sit for a moment and drink that-you look like you're running ragged my friend."

The white-furred feline collapsed into a chair, downing the contents of the mug. "I needed that." She said, managing to get up after a little bit. "I'll rest soon-I promise-even sleep in the cistern just so you can make sure of it. Right now we need to deal with Mercer-we can't let him get away."

The Breton smirked at her as the pair headed into the cistern, delivering the plans to Bryn before going into the middle of the area where Karliah was waiting. "Brynjolf," she said. "The time has come to decide Mercer's fate. Until a new Guild Master is chosen, that decision falls to you."

"Aye lass," he said. "And I've come to ruling. Mercer Frey tried to kill both of you. He betrayed the Guild, murdered Gallus and made us question our future. He needs to die."

Dar' listened to them before heading out of the Cistern, walking towards the location the Dunmer had mentioned.

~Timeskip~

The female Khajiit limped into Nightgate Inn three days later, spotting her friend at the bar. "I'm here Inigo." She said, wringing out her cloak before downing a healing potion. The blue-furred feline glanced over before getting up and hurrying to her side, helping her into the room he had rented, telling her to get out of her wet things and change before leaving the room. Dar' chuckled, removing her leathers and setting them to dry after hanging up her cloak, carefully brushing out the fur with a practiced hand. She came out after a moment in a blue dress and boots, her hair out of its usual braid so it could dry before she plopped some coin on the counter. "Apologies for dripping water everywhere." She said, the Nord eyeing her curiously. "It's all right Hadring," Inigo added. "She's the one I've been waiting for and the one whose stories I've been entertaining you with."

Hadring blinked at that. "This is the one that rides dragons?" he asked in wonder. "And who speaks with them?"

The white-furred feline blushed. "I am Dar'Mora. Honor to you and your fine inn Hadring. What Inigo has told you is true-I have ridden a dragon and spoken with a few myself-among other things. We'd be here for days if we told you everything my friend and I have done." She shivered slightly, moving closer to the fire to warm up. "Might I ask why you were soaked?" the Nord asked curiously, watching her look up. "Chasing someone through a cave and an explosion made it fill with water." Came the reply as she saw the stew being ladled out and came back over, digging in. "Got lucky when some rocks fell from the ceiling and gave me a way out before I drowned." She shook her head. "Compared to taking on Alduin this was almost routine."

"So you're the Dragonborn," a voice said behind them, a second Nord male coming up with a strangely familiar sword at his hip. He watched her study him, raising an eyebrow at the weapon and he nodded before going back to his drink.

Dar' sat back, thinking about what had happened in the cave-Mercer Frey had caused the explosion and forced Bryn to fight Karliah. She had lost it at that point, easily smelling the Breton out and killing him. She had stood over the body with hatred in her eyes and even spit on the body before looting him of the Skeleton Key and the Eyes of the Falmer-two giant oval-shaped gems. She grabbed the Dwarven blade the man had stabbed her with. "Looks like the only blade to taste Nightingale blood was mine morto sunej." She had snarled, the whole room shaking as the water began to pour in after that point. It had taken nearly all of her stamina potions to just make it to the inn and she still had to go return the key. Inigo shot out of his chair as she swayed a little, catching her and helping her lay down. "I'll...sleep later Inigo," she said weakly before passing out, sleeping for the next four hours before waking with a jolt and quickly dressing, coming out. The blue-furred feline looked up as she put on her cloak and backpack. "I take it you slept well?" he asked, watching her glare at him slightly before they headed for Falkreath.

~Timeskip~

Dar' watched Karliah and Gallus's spirit speak one last time before he disappeared, leaving the cave and looking at the sky, idly wondering if she'd ever know that kind of happiness, Inigo looking at her. "Come on," he said. "Let's head back to Lakeview-you need a good night's rest."
"You'll...be there, right Inigo?"

The male Khajiit smiled at her as they began to walk. "Always Dar'," came the reply. "I will stay as long as you want."

(A.N.: just a little more with the Thieves Guild, then onto the DLCs. I'd like to give a shoutout to Outlaw666 on Nexus-I had forgotten to ask about using the bows from his mod and he was real cool about it.

Ta'agra translations:

morto sunej=black heart [best I could come up with since the word I wanted to use wouldn't translate])