So, as promised, it's just a smaller chapter for the sake of story progression... hope you guys enjoy it, especially those of you who haven't done the Thieves Guild questline yet... you really should do it - I've always loved the faction questlines...

Reviews...

SirAC - I know you have, and I'm very sorry... please accept this one as compensation! Thank you very much - you always leave reviews, and that's what really motivates me to continue this story. Ahh those 'MMS' as I like to call them... well, Tenebraeus has just been betrayed by the man who taught him to partially control his magic... it's all part of Tenebraeus growing into the thief he will become... and I think you would make a marvelous thief!

Guest - Thank you! And you are beautiful too!

Duesal10 - Well well well, my first serial reviewer! Thank you for leaving these reviews, it's really good to see that you're someone who will give me a lot of feedback!

1. Thank you - it was a nightmare to wait and write what is essentially a prologue, but I think I made the right decision.

2. I thought it was a nice little touch - makes the story seem more real, since it's involving other characters... I hope everyone felt a little bit of an Easter Egg feeling at his name.

3. Oh, honour is all good and well... it's just that you can't eat it or sleep in it at night...

4. Of course he's whiney! He's twelve years old at that point and orphaned... From struggle comes strength, as Morgan Freeman taught me...

5. Thank you! I did try to make it as dramatic as I could - a little hint towards a certain traitorous thief...

6. He's his brother - that's a bond that never breaks...

7. I wouldn't exactly call it a jump - more of a fall... with style maybe.

I'm pleased to announce that there is a new Story Follower, Duesal10, who has left an astonishing 7 reviews! I think that puts him ahead of everyone else! Anyway, onwards with the story!

Chapter Thirteen

I walked down the stairs of the tavern, opening the door and finding myself in the cellar, surrounded by large barrels and an aroma of mead. I approached the main source of light in the dim cellar, where Enthir and Karliah sat, tankards set beside a barrel.

"Back eh? And how was our friend Calcelmo?" Enthir asked with a grin. I shook my head, closed my eyes and sighed. I didn't even want to talk about it...

"This should help you translate the journal." I said, handing the journal to him, as well the scroll. He took both, and set them down in front of him, while sitting down opposite them, grabbing a tankard and pouring some mead out of the barrel for myself.

"They're a bit wet..." Enthir said, a frown evident in his voice.

"If you say anything, I swear..." Enthir glanced up from the scroll for a moment, examining my distraught and angry expression.

"...I suppose it would be inappropriate to ask how you obtained this, so I simply won't." He said, allowing me to drain the contents of my tankard peacefully. He unravelled the scroll and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "A rubbing eh? Odd. I expected notes..." I dropped the tankard down on the table loudly, making him look at me once more. "I trust it was an interesting adventure?"

"Oh, it was quite the tale." I said sarcastically, pouring myself some more mead. Enthir set the scroll out on the table, placing an inkwell and a tankard to weight it down. He then started flicking through the book while I continued drinking.

"Is it wise to drink so much?" I looked to Karliah, who steadily sipped her drink.

"I nearly died. Mead has never tasted better and it's free." I said, taking another mouthful.

"You want your wits about you." She stated. "Too much mead makes you vulnerable. Makes you clumsy."

"I'm never clumsy." I said, leaning back in my chair, placing my tankard on the table.

"Really?" She asked with a smirk. I paused, remembering the event of what had just transpired in Markarth.

"Everyone makes mistakes." I said.

"Especially when they're emotional." She informed me.

"Emotional? Me? I'm not the girl here..." I continued to drink.

"Typical man..." Karliah rolled her eyes. "Don't let hate cloud your mind."

"It's not clouding my mind." I snapped, looking into her eyes angrily. "It's motivating me."

"That sounds a lot like Mercer to me." We stared into each other eyes, her cold dark orbs reflecting my own. I gripped my tankard as her hand curled into a fist.

Enthir slowly coughed, trying to gain our attention.

"Back to the matter at hand?" I pulled my tankard back at drank from it again. Karliah turned her face back to Enthir, but I kept my eyes set on her. "What I've read... it's intriguing, but highly disturbing."

"What is?" Karliah asked. Enthir glanced back to the scroll to double-check his translation.

"It appears that Gallus had suspicions about Mercer Frey's allegiance to the Guild for months. He had begun to uncover what he called an... 'unduly lavish lifestyle replete with spending vast amounts of gold on personal pleasures.'"

"Figured as much..." I muttered.

"Does the journal say where this wealth came from?" Karliah asked, ignoring my comment.

"Yes." Enthir flicked the page over, spent a moment referring to the scroll, then to the book. "Gallus seemed certain that Mercer had been removing funds from the Guild's treasury without anyone's knowledge." Karliah lightly touched the bridge of her nose in heavy thought. She began to pace, then turned back to Enthir.

"Anything else Enthir? Anything about..." She glanced at my cautiously, then resumed speaking. "Anything about the Nightingales?"

"Nightingales?" I asked, curious. What did a 'splinter group' as Karliah called them have to do with Mercer stealing funds?

"Yes... he did somewhere..." Enthir flicked back a few pages. "Ah, yes, it here is. The last few pages seem to describe 'the failure of the Nightingales' although it doesn't seem to go into great detail." Enthir furrowed his brow, annoyed and confused. "Gallus also repeatedly mentions his strong belief that Mercer desecrated something known as the Twilight Sepulcher." Karliah gasped, making me and Enthir look towards her. She placed a hand on her forehead in despair.

"Shadows preserve us..." She muttered, closing her eyes. "So it's true..." Me and Enthir looked at each other, intrigued. Enthir adjusted himself in the seat, then rested his hands on the table. "I-I'm not familiar with the... Twilight Sepulcher?" He glanced back at the book, then to the scroll, then to the book. "What is it? What has Mercer Frey done?" Karliah composed herself and then placed a hand on one of Enthir's.

"I'm sorry Enthir, I can't say. All that matters is that we deliver your translation to the Guild immediately." Enthir nodded, understanding, and placed his other hand on top of hers.

"I'll start writing out a translation now." He said, then left the room with the journal and the scroll.

I looked at Karliah for a moment, as she leaned over the table, one hand cradling her temple. She seemed so anguished at Gallus' journal. I contemplated placing a hand on top of hers, as she had done to Enthir, but decided that we weren't close enough for me to do so. I looked around to check Enthir had gone, then clasped my tankard with both hands.

"So..." I said, making her look up at me. "Gallus' journal mentioned the 'Twilight Sepulcher'?" She sighed, pondering on something for a moment."

"You've come this far..." She murmured. "So... I guess can see no harm in concealing it any longer." I leant forwards, focused on listening to her. "The Twilight Sepulcher is the temple to Nocturnal. It's what the Nightingales are sworn to protect with their lives." I tightened my brow.

"Your lives?" I asked, perplexed. "That's a bit drastic."

"It is necessary."

"Why? Why would it require that kind of protection?"

"Everything that represents Nocturnal's influence is contained within the walls of the sepulcher." She stated. "Now it seems that Mercer's broken his oath with Nocturnal and defiled the very thing swore to protect." I mulled it over in my head ... honestly, it was hard to believe. The Twilight Sepulcher was a temple? A temple? I let out a long breath and rubbed my chin.

"Thieves and temples." I said cynically. "It just... it just doesn't add up." Karliah let out a gentle, musical chuckle.

"I felt the same way when Gallus first revealed these things to me." She said, a small smile pulling up on the corners of her lips as she began to reminisce. "I think, given time, you'll understand what I mean."

"I'd understand a lot better if there was less mystery involved." I informed her. She smiled again at me.

"As a Nightingale, I've been sworn to secrecy regarding the Sepulcher." I rolled my eyes, and pulled back my tankard, drinking the last of it. "Look, I know that the Guild doesn't do much to foster faith, but I'm going to have to ask that you continue to trust me."

"I don't even know if I trust you now." I interjected.

"You're right not to." She nodded. "But I need you to do so. Please." Her eyes were no longer cold or dark, but now bright in the candle light and pouring open, revealing her bare soul to me. "I've spent twenty-five years in exile. Twenty-five years running. I've been waiting for this moment for twenty-five years..." I continued looking into her eyes, trying to empathise with her pain. It reminded me of my own pain - the pain of being orphaned, being abandoned. The pain of losing someone so close to you to someone else. My father had been trying to help the Stormcloaks, and they killed him...

My thoughts were interrupted as Enthir entered the room again, holding a satchel, which I presumed contained the journal and his translation. I stood up with Karliah as Enthir handed the bad to me with a nod, then turned to Karliah.

"Enthir..." She said, a sad, white smile etching across her face. "Words can't express..."

"You don't need to say anything Karliah." He said, cupping one of her hands and returning the smile.

"Farewell old friend." She said, and then turned to leave the cellar.

I moved to follow her, but Enthir grabbed my arm. I turned around to face him completely, and as the door sounded shut, he began to speak to me.

"Listen, all I want is the truth to be revealed to the Guild; they respected Karliah, and she deserves better." He said lowly, but sternly. I could tell how strong their friendship was from his tone. "Do whatever you can for her and I'll consider it a personal favour." I nodded. "Here." He said, reaching into his own satchel and removing a pair of large books, both with strange markings carved into their tattered and worn fronts. "Karliah told me about your magic... she said you've been struggling with them." How did she know that? "Anyway... well, these were what I read when I first started at the college and... they got me here alive." I began turning the books over in my hands, opening the first one and reading along some of the lines.

"Destruction magic?" I asked inquisitively.

"Maybe you'll be able to make some bigger flames from now on eh?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Karliah." He said simply. "Listen... when this is all over, you should come to the college."

"What college?"

"The college - here in Winterhold. It's a Mage's college. They can teach you to control your magic there." How had I never heard of this? A mages college? "I must warn you though , they don't appreciate thieves much." I smiled, happy, for the first time in months.

"Thank you Enthir." He placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Just take care of her. Now go... I plan to keep this barrel to myself." He grinned, sitting down and drinking from his tankard as I placed the new (or rather, old) books in the satchel.

I walked up the stairs into the tavern and then out into the snowing winter, pulling up my hood with Karliah.

"What now?" I asked. She looked at me, then up to the night sky.

"We must hasten to Riften before Mercer can do any more damage to the Guild." I nodded. I noticed her chilled breaths, spotting her nerves.

"Are you okay?" She turned back to me.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you said it yourself, you've been in exile for twenty-five years, and now you're coming home. You must be a little bit nervous." She nodded.

"Whatever happens happens." She said, confident. "If things... go badly, at least I tried. I cannot regret that." She sighed again. "Although I could regret getting you killed too. This is not your fight."

"It is. Mercer used me, he left me for dead. It's as much my fight as it is yours."

"If they kill me," She said, ignoring me again, "I want you to run." I shook my head, one hundred percent opposed to the idea.

"I do not run." I stated. She sighed.

"Then you are a fool." She paused, and then I made out the small change in her lips under the moonlight. "But thank you." She began to untie her belt. "I want you to have this." She handed me the belt with a shorter sword sheathed in a black leather scabbard. I began to examine the hilt - it was a strong, wooden hilt, wrapped in black leather and small metal rings. The pommel was like a bird's talon, with three claws gently protruding outwards like the petals of a flower, and at the beginning of the blade, I saw the same insignia from Gallus' journal: a nightbird was cradling a moon with its wings. I held the sheathed blade and began turning it in the moonlight, examining the emblem. "It belonged to Gallus." Karliah informed me. I looked at her in shock, and opened my mouth to tell her I wouldn't accept this - I couldn't. It wasn't my place to, but she held a hand out, silencing me. "Given the circumstances, I know he would approve." I let the breath out of my raised chest, and nodded, lowering the scabbard.

"I'll put it to good use." I promised her.

"If the Guild isn't willing to listen to reason, you might have to." She said with an unfortunate tone. She then looked up to the sky. "It's a beautiful night." She stated. I looked up at the stars with her.

"It is." I agreed. "It really is."

So, what did you guys think? I figured that even though Tenebraeus is a mage, I couldn't leave the Nightingale blade out of this! That'd be insane! So, say what you thought - I know I said 'smiles' a lot, but 'grins' and 'smirks' didn't really give the right feel... sorry for any typos - I realise I've been making them a lot, but it's 1:20 now (UK time) and I am pretty out of it... the chapter's longer than I thought it would be - nice little surprise huh?