Chapter VIII – The Blind Thief

Bishop headed towards the College gates early in the morning.

Karnwyr disappeared right away when he noticed the direction in which Bishop was going, and he rushed towards some birds gathering around the Jarl's longhouse. It was for the best – Bishop needed to convince whoever was in charge of the gate to let him inside and the wolf might have lessened his chances.

Bishop caught a glimpse of the familiar Altmer's fiery hair quite a distance away from the stone bridge leading to the College. He wasn't sure if the fact that Faralda was guarding the gates would play in his favor – she seemed like the type to throw him off that bridge if she were so inclined.

He approached tentatively and more slowly than he had originally intended, before he caught the Altmer's attention. Faralda looked him over, but surprisingly enough, before he could start to make his case, she waved her hand and the large metal gate opened for him.

Huh… that was easy.

He quickly stepped onto the bridge before the mage changed her mind and he turned to her with a light smirk: "Lost another bet?" What other reason would there be for the self-proclaimed 'Master of destruction magic' to be standing by that gates idly yet again.

Faralda only groaned in frustration and nodded in response. Then she gestured towards the bridge and ushered Bishop further along towards the College.

"You might want to stop betting people. You're obviously shit at it," Bishop chuckled at her briefly. The elf seemed to be none too concerned with his presence there, but he did wonder for a while if he should refrain from teasing her, just in case. It was fun though.

"You're just not here for the times when I do win," Faralda scoffed at him, but there was a little smile tugging at her lips.

They continued silently for a while across the long bridge until Faralda finally asked the anticipated question: "What brings you back here? And where's the Dragonborn?"

Of course she would ask. But he was prepared for this.

"She had to take care of some shit urgently, so I came alone. I need to look into something in your library." It was simple enough. And there was no reason not to keep it vague. Who in their right mind would reveal all the details during small talk anyway?

Again, Faralda seemed satisfied enough with his reasons and she merely led him further across the bridge.

Everything went so smoothly so far.

"So… you still got that giant glowing orb in there?" Bishop asked noncommittally after a while of silence when they were nearing the College grounds.

But, surprisingly enough, Faralda suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked at him sharply. She looked completely caught off guard by the question before she narrowed her eyes in palpable suspicion: "Yes. Why?"

Bishop raised his hands in mock surrender when he saw her expression. He really didn't expect her to take his question this seriously. He was just making idle chatter. And he was still wary of that thing. Was that so weird? "Hey, I was just wondering if it has blown up on you yet. This way I'll have to be thinking about it exploding while I'm in there constantly."

Faralda scoffed at him and, finally, her expression softened and her lips quirked a bit in amusement again. "No changes so far. But… a lot of people seem interested in the Eye, that's all," she shrugged after a while.

"What, are the Thalmor being too nosey for your liking?" Bishop smirked at her again, but that earned him another shocked look followed by her dangerously narrowed eyes.

"What?! Why would you say something like that? Why Thalmor?"

She wasn't very good at misdirection. And she seemed really on edge with Bishop's random snippets of information. It was not like he knew any details about anything, but he understood why it would seem like he did. Maybe he and Aeyrin should have mentioned that curious Thalmor agent that had stopped them the last time they were at the College before.

"Relax. A Thalmor approached us the last time we were here. Asked all kinds of questions about that… 'Eye' of yours. Since we found it and shit. But he was being a dick so we played dumb until he got too frustrated," Bishop decided to tell Faralda the truth, if only to get her more at ease. Besides, he didn't really have anything to hide. He didn't know shit about the Eye or their weird struggles with nosey Thalmor.

"That's… that was good. Not like you could tell him anything but… never mind," Faralda let out a sigh of relief. "Could you do me a favor?" Her demeanor shifted instantly as she gave him a surprisingly sweet look.

She was really bad at being subtle. It was pretty amusing.

"Depends," Bishop smirked at her.

"Anyone asks you about the Eye, ever. Could you come tell me? It doesn't matter what you tell them. You don't know anything important anyway, but… I'd really like to know who asks about it." Bishop could almost see Faralda contemplating some elaborate conspiracy theories in her head as she said that.

Well… it was not as if he expected anyone to pay him any mind whatsoever at the College, especially not regarding that orb. He could just agree to do this for her and then decide later, if it came to that.

"Sure," he smiled at her.

He barely even registered that they were already in front of the last gate leading to the College grounds. And just as he uttered the acceptance, Faralda waved her hand and the gate swung open for him.

Huh… what would have happened if he refused?

"Library closes at nine after dusk," Faralda informed him with a wry smile.

Bishop already knew that, of course. It was plenty of time to do everything he needed. He would do well to return back into town afterwards too. Even if the mages offered him to stay the night in the apprentice quarters again, it would be best to remove himself from the scene of the crime as fast as possible. Who knew if the Orc didn't read those rare books sometimes?

He headed straight towards the main tower entrance, but his attention got captured soon enough again by a small group of people near the large statue in the middle of the courtyard.

J'zargo, Brelyna and Darren looked to be in the middle of a heated discussion – Brelyna seemed to be explaining something to J'zargo rather aggressively while constantly pointing at Darren who stood nearby in stiff tension.

He should really stay away from whatever that was.

Bishop tried to walk past them and ignore them altogether, but Brelyna's voice soon forced him to stop in his tracks: "Hey, it's you!"

Fuck… so much for that.

Brelyna almost skipped forward towards him with excitement etched all over her face while J'zargo followed her calmly with Darren shuffling behind them.

"Hey…" Bishop murmured. He wasn't sure what she wanted from him, but he was eager to get to the library already. The more time he got to spend there hidden among the bookshelves, the more opportunities would present themselves for him to act.

"What are you doing back here?" Brelyna asked casually. J'zargo stood beside her, but his eyes kept darting towards Darren with a strange look in his eyes. Darren himself remained a short distance away, staring into the ground. He looked oddly… docile.

"Just need to look up some shit in the library," Bishop shrugged while inclining his head towards the main building.

Then he noticed that Darren looked up at him from where he stood with a strange contemplative expression on his face. He looked like he wanted to say something but then he changed his mind. Did he want to ask about Aeyrin, like everyone else did? Bishop wouldn't put it past this fucker to try and pry just so he could gloat or something.

"What?!" Bishop barked at him with palpable aggression in his voice. He certainly had no time nor energy to entertain that asshole.

But instead of some snide comment, Darren averted his eyes instantly and stared back into the ground. He looked uncharacteristically nervous.

What was with that reaction?

"Do not mind him, friend. Darren was likely seeing things again," J'zargo waved his hand dismissively.

'Seeing things'?

After Bishop gave them a questioning look, Brelyna finally elaborated: "Lately, Darren has been… claiming to see some people where there are none, or having strange conversations with himself. The Arch-Mage is looking into it, but… we all know that it's somehow linked to the… accident in Saarthal."

'Accident'? Was that what they were calling it? That asshole brought this upon himself. Who knew what that fucking orb was capable of? He probably even got off easy.

Darren did look like he was watching someone intently. It even looked like he was nodding on occasion. That 'Eye' must have really affected him. It was strange though that nobody had mentioned Darren's curious behavior during his and Aeyrin's last visit to the College – was it really from the incident in Saarthal? Well… maybe the mages just didn't want to spread that kind of information and cause a panic, since the orb was still inside the College. Maybe Darren's behavior was the reason why the Thalmor was so interested in any details about it.

Suddenly Darren jerked, as if he was riling himself up from some dream. He looked around in confusion, before his eyes rested on Bishop. He actually raised his brow at Bishop's presence there. Did he not notice until now? He must have really been out of it.

"J'zargo thinks he's back," the Khajiit looked at Darren curiously.

"Too bad. I kind of prefer him when he was not all here," Brelyna chuckled with a mean undertone in her voice.

Bishop expected a big outburst, judging from Darren's angry look, but the mage only took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Huh… anger control… that was definitely a switch.

"I need to go see the Arch-Mage," Darren mumbled quickly before he turned on his heel. Although he didn't forget to throw one more hateful look towards Brelyna before disappearing into the main building.

"Weird," Bishop muttered. This all just made him more uneasy about that fucking orb. What if it affected people somehow even without touching it? It affected both him and Aeyrin for a while in that barrow!

"He's been like that for a while now. But J'zargo is sure that the Arch-Mage will get to the bottom of this," J'zargo grinned at Bishop confidently.

It was not like Bishop cared about Darren's state of mind. He just hoped that spending a day right above that 'Eye' wasn't going to do anything to him too. Maybe it wasn't even noticeable at first and the mages didn't know what they were dealing with yet. Having that thing here was just so royally stupid. He did not understand why the mages would do that at all.

"Anyway, I'm so glad you're back here. I wanted to ask you for something," Brelyna changed the subject after a moment of uncomfortable silence, and she shot Bishop and eager smile.

What the fuck? What would she want from him?

"Talk about luck. But, first, just wait a second, alright? Don't go anywhere," she sputtered and then ran off instantly in the direction of the Hall of Attainment. Bishop didn't manage to say anything to her before she disappeared. He could only raise his eyebrow uncertainly at J'zargo.

"Just wait, friend. This could actually be worth it. J'zargo thinks that Brelyna is finally on to something this time," the Khajiit grinned again.

Bishop wasn't sure what that meant. The last time he saw Brelyna this excited, it was right before she turned Aeyrin green.

Brelyna was back in a matter of a minute. That ecstatic smile was still etched on her face and she was clutching something in her hand. Then she finally presented Bishop with a simple silver necklace with a pendant dangling from it – it was carved into the shape of a spherical eye and surprisingly detailed.

"Try it on," Brelyna grinned.

That did not sound like a good idea. It was clearly enchanted. And Brelyna was the one handing it to him. That could only end in disaster. And how exactly did he get roped into this again?

"Do not worry. It is safe. Many have tested it before, including J'zargo." The Khajiit smiled at him encouragingly.

"You know, you're not exactly trustworthy either after those fucking scrolls, J'zargo," Bishop smirked at him and J'zargo lowered his ears apologetically in response, but his smile still never disappeared.

Well… they said that it was tested before and it was just an amulet. He could just take it off.

He draped the amulet around his neck tentatively, while he kept trying to notice any changes. He could feel the familiar tingle of magic, but nothing happened instantly. That made him nervous.

And then, in only a few seconds, both Brelyna and J'zargo turned into strange glowing blobs in front of his eyes. What the fuck? He knew that this would be somehow broken! He was already prepared to either yell or laugh at Brelyna, depending on how fast his vision got fixed, but then he noticed something.

There was another glowing blob, right by the main building door.

No… not by the door – behind the door.

There were more in the building – some closer, some distant, some above him on the second floor.

He could see them. All of them.

Through walls.

He'd heard of this magic before, but he never actually saw it.

"Holy shit!" Bishop exclaimed, unable to contain his astonishment. He was pretty sure that it wasn't the reason why Brelyna wanted him to try the amulet, but he could not stop thinking about how helpful this would be today. Or on any heist, really.

"Pretty good, right? A detect life enchantment." He could practically hear the grin in Brelyna's voice, even though he couldn't see her face properly through the glow. "It's a rudimentary spell, really. More like a fun trick for the mages here. That's because none of us really find it all that useful. Unless you want to see which of our fellow apprentices or our instructors like to… spend time together," she giggled. Of course mages would only use it for something idiotic like that. There were so many possibilities with this and they were being wasted in the mages' hands. If they sold these to the Guild, they would make a fortune!

Damn… maybe he should mention this to Enthir. That guy was a decent enchanter. If he made these for Karliah's people, it would definitely give them a great advantage.

"Anyway, I didn't make this. In fact, they are very difficult to make, according to Sergius, it's a bit of a trial and error thing," Brelyna sighed. Bishop felt her hand on the amulet and he reluctantly lowered his head so that she could remove it. Well… so much for that. But it was a nice idea. And maybe if Enthir had nothing better to do, he could at least try to make one for Bishop. "I was only allowed to borrow this for my second year thesis research," Brelyna continued while the glow dissipated from her, much to Bishop's disappointment. Everything was back to normal.

"You see, I'm trying to research developing a spell that would act in place of the amulet. So I'm studying the enchantment and making experiments based on the findings," Brelyna explained. She suddenly sounded so much more… capable and insightful. Definitely more than when she was fidgeting around while casting her broken spells on Aeyrin.

"Wait… the spell already exists, right? I've definitely heard of shit like this," Bishop gave her a curious look. It was not like he could ever hope to learn a damn spell, but he knew that it was already developed or something.

"Well of course, the enchantment is derived from the spell, obviously. But it has some other properties which you can't get from it. For one, as long as you wear the amulet, it's permanent. That is one thing that can't be imitated through the spell. Nobody would want this to be permanent. And you'd need a powerful dispelling incantation to ever get rid of it. It's too much hassle. It can be made long lasting though. But more importantly, the spell I'm developing could be cast on other people," Brelyna explained excitedly.

"As Brelyna says, mages and scholars don't usually make much use of the spell. But if they could cast it on others, it could make for another very useful and profitable service that the College could provide. Any capable mage could cast it on any adventurer, helping them stay safe in dungeons and such," J'zargo nodded along. He almost looked proud as he patted Brelyna on her back.

Adventuring… right. It was definitely useful for that too. But Bishop still couldn't stop thinking about the merit of this for the thieves and Karliah's operations specifically. If Brelyna actually managed this, Karliah would be the one with access to this spell first. Mercer had no contacts in the College as of now. They could definitely think of a way to use it to their advantage.

"So… how's the spell going?" he gave Brelyna a curious look.

"Well… that's where you come in!" she beamed at him.

Oh no…

"I was being more careful this time," Brelyna gave him a reassuring smile. "I actually convinced Master Drevis to let me try it out on him after I was sure that I had everything right. It was a complete success. The spell lasted almost twenty hours and there were no ill effects. But then, I wanted to show J'zargo and the spell didn't work at all. Nothing bad happened to him, but… nothing happened to him," she sighed in frustration. "Master Tolfdir helped me figure out what the problem was in the end. It turns out that the different physiologies of different races are a problem. Restoration magic has techniques to get around that issue, but they take a long time to apply to different spells and especially when we consider the different alignments of magicka within each being and…"

"You're losing me, Brelyna," Bishop interrupted her quickly. He didn't really have the whole day to stand there and listen to her theories.

"Right! Sorry! The point is, I think that I figured out the spell components to align with every race's physiology, but… I need to test them. No one so far exhibited any ill effects. The worst thing to happen was again… nothing. But I perfected the spell and now I only need it tested on two more races. Argonians and… Nords."

"Are you seriously telling me that you have trouble finding Nords in Skyrim?" Bishop scoffed at her. He was sure that there were better test subjects out there than him.

"Well… I have trouble finding Nords here. Master Tolfdir refuses to let the apprentices try out their spells on him… even though he supervises my thesis," she grumbled morosely. "And Onmund has gone back home to Karthwasten months ago because of some family issues. There are no other Nords here. And I can't go to Winterhold. The townspeople hate us. There's no way that any of them would let me experiment on them."

Brelyna gave him a very hopeful look and Bishop let out an exasperated sigh in turn.

He really liked the idea of this spell. And he knew that it would be useful if Brelyna managed to develop it and Enthir provided it to Karliah's people. Maybe he could even make an amulet like that one for Bishop with the new spell as a base, although Bishop wasn't sure if it worked like that.

"You tried it?" he turned to J'zargo. He was still not convinced that he could trust Brelyna with this.

"Yes. No problems at all. It worked instantly. J'zargo had a lot of fun spying on the fellow students," the Khajiit chuckled conspiratorially.

Bishop let out another sigh. It was kind of a perfect time to do this too, right before his heist.

"Fine. Just don't fuck up," he grumbled at the elf.

"Yes! Don't worry. I'm sure it will be fine. It was fine for every other race so far," Brelyna gave him another reassuring smile. Why were her smiles making him even more nervous? But he had already decided. This was a good idea. Everything that she was saying made it sound like a no-risk situation.

Bishop stood there expectantly and watched as Brelyna's hand lit with swirling blue and yellow colors.

Soon enough, the spell hit him and his vision blurred and darkened.

He was starting to see the faint outline of the glowing people in front of him. A very faint one. The darkness subsided, only a little, and everything looked like it was actually covered with thick heavily textured glass. There was the glow, but he could barely make it out among the blurry shapes all around him.

"What the… how long does it take to clear?" Bishop growled in annoyance. It was taking too long already.

"Uhh… 'clear'?" Brelyna's voice echoed in his head, unpleasantly clearly. It was like she was yelling right into his ear.

What the fuck did that mean?! Was this not normal?!

"What… uh… what do you see?" Brelyna asked uncertainly.

"Everything is fucking blurry! I can't make out shit!" Bishop yelled at her in frustration, now that it was obvious that this was not the intended outcome.

"Oh… uhm… something must have gone wrong… this has never happened before," he could hear the panic in Brelyna's voice.

Fuck! What now?! He could not finish his mission like this! And what if it was permanent?!

"Again?! Seriously?! Fuck this! Where's the old man?" Bishop barked at her. Tolfdir could surely fix this, right?

"No! Please! You can't tell Master Tolfdir!" Brelyna panicked again.

"What? Why not? You said that he was working with you on this!"

"Y-yes, but… but… I wasn't supposed to cast it without his supervision. But I wanted to test it before you leave and…"

"Master Tolfdir is not here, friend. He's back in Saarthal with some students to continue deciphering the runes there," J'zargo's voice echoed in Bishop's ears.

FUCK!

Fucking Brelyna!

"Fix it!" he yelled at her again. This was the last thing he needed. He knew that he shouldn't have trusted her with this. Fucking Void, why did he?

"I-I-I… I can't! I'm so sorry! I have no way to dispel this! Only Master Tolfdir is good enough with alteration to dispel this. You… you'll need to wait for this to pass. I swear this will pass!" Brelyna's voice was getting increasingly grating.

But what else could Bishop do? Tolfdir wasn't there! He was probably the only one skilled enough to undo this. This was so fucking frustrating. He had half a mind to wring Brelyna's neck for this shit.

But at least he could make out some shapes. And the spell kind of worked. He was able to make out the glows of each person around. But it was so hard to actually see anything. He would not be able to read like this. And he would likely not be able to recognize the book that he needed like this.

Fuck.

He could just wait. Either for this to pass or for Tolfdir to return.

But… it was done already and Bishop was already here.

There was probably no harm in trying at least to go on with the mission. If he would be careful enough and if nothing went horribly wrong, he could just try again the next day.

It was better than wasting a whole day waiting.

"I'm really sorry," Brelyna's voice delved into his ears again.

His hearing was very sharp now with his vision impaired. Maybe it would be an advantage at least.

"You better fucking pray this passes, Brelyna," he growled at her again before he turned to the main building. He's had enough of her. He should leave before her grating voice would drive him to actually punch her or something.

This was gonna be… challenging.

…

"Hey!"

Bishop called the old Orc for attention. He could faintly see his glow crouching behind where the library desk should be. The man was likely looking for something down there.

Walking by that fucking orb downstairs made everything even worse. The glow from it blinded Bishop even further. But nothing changed in his plan. He still needed to be subtle and inconspicuous. He needed to borrow some books and to look like he was reading until the Orc left his desk.

He couldn't see the glass cabinet, but he was pretty sure that he would be able to locate it once he got the opportunity. And he was pretty proud of himself for adjusting so quickly. He could make out the outlines of objects and he didn't even bump into anything. People were the easiest to make out with the faint glow, lucky for him.

The only thing that he still hasn't figured out was how to find the right book. But he was sure that he would think of something when the time came. He was good at improvising.

Now he could at least take any book on the Scrolls that the Orc had and use his time to try to make out the letters. Maybe if he concentrated enough, it would be possible. He had nothing else to do anyway.

"What?" the Orc's deep voice interrupted his pondering.

"I need everything you have on the Elder Scrolls," Bishop answered while he watched the Orc straighten behind the desk.

"Ha!" the Orc's booming laugh echoed in his ears. "I haven't heard that one in a while. What? Are you hoping to find one on a treasure hunt and drown yourself in money after you sell it?" he snickered at Bishop. It sounded like something specific that he had heard before.

Well… it was understandable. An Elder Scroll would be worth a fortune. But it was very unlikely that someone could just… find one like that. Bishop wasn't that naïve. He didn't even expect anything substantial to come from the research. Just… maybe clearing some things up. The more they knew about them, the better, right?

"Something like that," Bishop shrugged. "Do you have anything?"

"We have a few books on the subject, but it's not much, so don't get your hopes up. It's mostly lies, leavened with rumor and conjecture," the Orc mumbled while he stepped from behind his desk. Bishop could hear the footsteps echo as he marched towards the center of the library.

Great…

Well… it was not like he had expected much more. And at least if there was nothing useful, he wouldn't feel so crappy about not being able to read the books too meticulously in his current condition.

The Orc came back in a while and a large thud echoed from the desk. Bishop could see the outline of a small stack of no more than two or maybe three books there.

"Here. Don't eat, don't drink and don't blow your fucking nose around them or I'll summon a horde of atronachs to tear you apart, understood?" the Orc growled.

Bishop couldn't help but laugh as he grabbed the books. "Yeah, yeah," he smirked before he made his way along the bookcases to sit on the ground a short distance away from the desk.

He was covered. It was a bit harder to make out the environment since the glow of the people penetrated the surrounding bookcases, but he could make out their distance by the size of their glowing blobs at least.

His back was to one of the bookcases and there were two people reading in the alcove nearby. There were other people on the other side of the library, but from what he could make out, their view of him was obstructed by the bookcases lining the center of the room.

It looked good.

This way he only needed to worry about the Orc. But the man didn't show any sign of moving from the desk for now. He might as well try to decipher something from the books in the meantime.

Bishop took the first book and ran his hand over the cover. He could feel the imprint on it. The letters were large and he could make out a vague outline while his roaming finger helped him out by feeling the indentations.

Effects… ot… of… fhe… the… Elder… Sarolls… Scrolls.

Hm… that wasn't that hard. And if he stopped to think instead of just concentrating on the letters, he might be able to discern a large part of the texts from context.

He opened the book.

Fuck, it was all so blurry. His head was starting to hurt.

He tried to narrow his eyes and focus on a single letter. It was so small. He again used his finger to trace the paper. It was much harder now with the smaller letters and shallower indentations, but… he could do it.

His eyes darted towards the desk.

Still no movement from the Orc.

Well… back to work.

…

He placed the first book back onto the ground.

It took him over two hours to get through it and he still wasn't really sure if he got everything. It was too difficult to make out every word. But he was pretty sure that he got the gist of it.

One thing was for certain. There was no way in fucking Oblivion that Aeyrin was reading a Scroll, if they ever found one. The book said that if someone who has not 'staved off their minds' would go blind instantly from reading one. He'd heard of the Blind Moth Priests. Everyone has. There was no way that anyone was putting Aeyrin through that, prophecy or not.

Maybe they could find one of the priests. The book suggested that they could read them and only be affected in their old age. Ridding the world of dragons was important for everyone and maybe if they traveled to Cyrodiil, they could just get one of the priests to help them.

It would be the best option. And while he knew that Aeyrin was willing to do a lot to help people and to defeat Alduin, he also knew that she wasn't stupid enough not to be concerned over her life and well-being. And what use would it be to read that shit if she went blind instantly? The book even suggested that she would not actually gain any knowledge from it anyway if she didn't know how to understand it.

He still had no idea what this knowledge was supposed to be or what the Scroll would actually… do.

And did they need a specific one? Like the one that was used against Alduin before?

Ugh… this didn't tell him much. It only made things seem even more impossible and complicated.

Maybe Esbern would find some other way than using the Scrolls. That was still an option.

Bishop looked back at the Orc in his brief respite.

Still nothing, no movement.

Well… back to the other book then.

Bishop ran his hand over the cover again carefully.

Rumi… ruminations on the Elder Scrolls.

He was getting pretty good at this.

…

The second book was obviously not printed on a press. It made it so much harder to read – the indentations of the quill weren't nearly as deep and the handwriting was too hard to discern.

Even so, Bishop was pretty sure that he had made out some words.

And they were gibberish.

The book made no sense! He was almost certain of it.

He could ask the Orc about it, but there was still this nagging feeling that he had just misunderstood it because he couldn't see the words properly. That would give him away. Who in their right mind would try to read while practically blinded?

Maybe he should try to go through it again.

Just as he grabbed the book once more with a weary sigh, he noticed a movement of the glowing blob out of the corner of his eye. The Orc! Bishop had always been making sure that the man was still in his sights and now he was moving.

Bishop waited with bated breath and watched the blob travel through the center of the library.

Another glowing mass approached him and, a second later, there was a noise.

Books falling. Bishop could hear it so clearly.

"Dammit, boy! Careful! If any of these are damaged you're in for a world of hurt!" the Orc bellowed.

"S-sorry, sir! I didn't mean to! Please, let me help!"

Both the blobs lowered to the ground, likely picking up the fallen books. It seemed like the Orc was carrying a lot of them. Was he going to be stacking them into the bookcases? That would be perfect!

True to Bishop's suspicion, the glowing masses approached a bookcase at the other side of the room. One of them stayed there, likely the Orc, and the other returned to the center of the room. His footsteps were softer than the Orc's, Bishop could tell that it was the 'boy'.

The boy approached the desk and the following noise suggested that he had placed some books down on it. The blob then turned around and floated away towards the staircase leading from the library.

Perfect!

This was his chance.

No one was in sight. He made sure of it.

Bishop grabbed his pack quickly and fished around for the wooden box.

Thankfully, his ring muffled all the movement of his boots so it was all too easy to sneak behind the desk silently.

He was careful not to bump into something and when he finally saw vague shapes of large cabinets in front of him, he started to run his hand over them to find the glass one.

It only took a second. He fished around his pocket for his lockpicks and hastily located the lock.

He turned his head every now and then. The Orc was still behind the cases, stacking books. All the other people never moved from their spots.

Good.

The cabinet was finally unlocked. He made sure to open it very slowly to avoid any squeak of the glass and hinges.

Now to locate the book. It was a good thing that he had practice. And it was especially a good thing that the book had the title printed on the spine. It would make it easier to recognize since he had seen the fake copy before. Of course, this would all be much, much easier if he could actually see everything properly.

Bishop ran his hand over several books while frantically looking back towards the Orc every now and then.

Fuck!

The Orc moved.

Bishop hastily closed the cabinet and rushed back to his spot.

He rammed the wooden box back into his pack and opened one of his borrowed books. He should calm down, he couldn't appear winded or frantic right now. He needed to take a deep breath now before anyone was close enough to overhear. His panting would be quite telling.

It took a few seconds for Bishop to calm down while the Orc made his way back to the desk. He was pretty sure that if anyone concentrated on him too much, they would notice the deep breaths that he was trying to subtly take.

Fuck, he didn't have the time to lock the cabinet. Hopefully it wouldn't open on its own and nobody would notice that it was unlocked.

The Orc never stepped behind the desk again and only rummaged around the table.

A minute or two later, his blob floated away again, this time towards the alcove.

More books to stack? Bishop really hoped so.

With a determined silent huff, Bishop got up to his feet again to repeat the process.

He grabbed the box and rushed back to the cabinet. It was even easier now when he knew what to look for.

He checked the upper shelf already, now only to check the lower one.

Again, he ran his fingers over the spines of the old books. He was careful, but a disturbing thought still plagued him. These books were fragile, what if he ruined any of them by touching them? Visibly at that?

He couldn't worry about that now though.

Finally! He was sure that he could feel those right words under his fingers. Then he turned his head briskly, only to find every blob in the exact same spot where he had expected them to be.

Good.

He pulled the book out of its place on the shelf carefully and opened the box. He looked at both books – each in one of his hands.

The blurry shapes looked exactly the same in size and color.

That was a good sign.

He quickly placed the fake book into the cabinet and silently closed it. He had to be careful stashing the fragile book into the case, but he still needed to be quick about it.

Finally, only locking the cabinet remained.

When he rummaged inside his pocket once more, his lockpicks jingled slightly and he looked back in alarm.

But no one seemed to notice. Maybe it was just Bishop's keener hearing right then – it didn't look like anybody else heard the soft jingle. And he couldn't waste much time by making sure. The sooner he got that thing locked and returned down to his spot, the better.

Fortunately, locking the cabinet took much less time than unlocking it.

Fuck… he was done.

Heh… he actually stole a book while blinded. That was pretty impressive. He got the urge to brag about it to someone, but Enthir would likely only be annoyed that he had even taken such a risk. Karliah better be fucking impressed though. Although… she might actually be pissed off too. She did often favor results over means, but she might have the urge to discourage this kind of behavior nonetheless. She was always way too frantic about all her plans going perfectly, she would hardly want her people to risk that for no good reason.

Bishop felt a tinge of disappointment at the thought that this achievement was going to remain a secret while he rushed back to stuff the box back into his pack. Just then he noticed the Orc move once more. That was really fucking close.

Bishop slumped the pack over his shoulder and collected the two books from the ground. He wasn't so winded this time – his retreat was not nearly as panicked, but he still took a few moments to collect himself before he approached anyone.

After a while, as the Orc was slowly returning to his desk, Bishop made his way back there too. He placed the two borrowed books back on the desk and gave the Orc an uncertain look.

"So… one of these was… uhm…" he started nervously. He still wasn't sure if he didn't just misunderstand because of his impairment.

But the Orc suddenly roared in laughter. "Had a nice read, did you? That's the work of Septimus Signus. He used to be one of our most insightful and famous mages here, but… with great genius often comes great madness."

No kidding.

"He was considered something of a savant on the nature of the Elder Scrolls actually, but… well he's been gone a long time," the Orc sighed.

"Dead?" Bishop inquired. Even mad, a man like that could have something useful to say. But 'gone' did not sound very encouraging. It looked like his research didn't yield much useful information today, aside from some warnings that he needed to relay to Aeyrin eventually.

"I don't think so," the Orc answered, much to Bishop's surprise. "But we can't be sure. Last we heard, he made himself sort of a hermit. Holed himself up in a cavern within an iceberg in the ice fields on the sea north of here. Rumor has it, he found some Dwemer artifact there and was studying it."

Fuck… all these mages were insane.

Bishop didn't exactly relish the thought of searching around the ice fields on the sea, but… maybe it was worth a look. He was already here anyway and since he started gathering all that he could on the Scrolls, he might as well finish it, right? Anything to help Aeyrin deal with this mess in the future.

"Alright… thanks," he nodded at the Orc.

He waited by the desk for a while, in case the Orc reacted in some way, but the man didn't seem to do anything out of the ordinary. Bishop was still unsure whether he didn't accidentally leave anything out of order by the cabinet, even if he was meticulously careful. There was the disadvantage of not being able to check now.

"Say hi to Septimus if you actually go look for him. Miss that old bugger," the Orc grumbled in a wistful voice.

Good, there didn't seem to be any hint of suspicion in his tone or anything.

He may have actually pulled this off.