Hiya! Well, after that turn of events, how you guys feeling? Just want to raise one idea... after all that happened, are those assassins dead or alive? If alive, will they hunt Tenebraeus? Will they be scared of him? Who is this Kata? But, that is more than one idea... let's read on!
Reviews...
Catdragon513 - Well, she's a cannibal assassin - figured I might as well. But, I enjoyed writing her that way - great character idea - please submit another one sometime!
TheIceCreamNinja - I haven't complimented your name yet... kudos! And APPLICATION TIME is when a reader (such as yourself) submits a character profile (with name, age, race, hair, eyes, clothing, weapons, personality and background), and I work my magic and produce them in a scene or two in this story - thought it was pretty nifty.
Ahhh - worth the wait then? WELL... I will say that the DB appeared in that chapter, but the rest is for speculation...
My eyes flickered open - I was in the cistern. I sat up on my bed, looking around at the injured people around me - they were patched up with bandages, slings, even splints and crutches.
As I tried to push myself up, I felt a harsh and involuntary intake of breath surge down my throat to stop myself from shouting - there were a series of bruises and scars down the side of my torso, as well as the large gash in my shoulder from the crossbow bolt.
As I lay in the bed, I thought about the man that was there - the one who had shot a bolt into my shoulder. The more I thought about him attacking me, the more it puzzled me; when the dragon was breathing fire at me, he had chosen to save me. When we were both falling, he grabbed me, and made sure I didn't fall to my death - it was only after he saw that I was okay that he left.
"How are you?" I looked up at a worried Vex, standing anxiously. I couldn't help but smile at her - even though it hurt physically to do so: she only seemed to let her guard down around me. "What is it?" She asked at my smile.
"I just... didn't know you cared." I grinned. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"I was hardly going to let you die. Especially after you fought a dragon."
"I didn't exactly fight a dragon." I murmured. "There was a man there - he shot me with a crossbow."
"An Imperial?"
"I don't know." I said slowly, thinking. "But, I could've died up there, and he risked his own life trying to save me." Vex mimicked my puzzled face.
"Why would someone try to kill you, then try to save you?" I scratched my head.
"Did the bail form help?" Vex nodded.
"Brynjolf's planning to scope the place out tomorrow night."
"Scope out where? Solitude?" Vex nodded again. "As in the Imperial Capital which hates thieves?" Again. "Trust Brynjolf to come up with that plan." I murmured, then realised Vex must've been there for a while. "Thanks by the way."
"For what?"
"You know, tending to my wounds." She snorted. "What?"
"I told you all those years ago, I'm not your wet nurse." I scrunched up my face in confusion. "Thank the girl." She jerked a thumb over to the pale-faced girl in the corner, who no longer pointed her ax at me.
"You?" I asked, completely dumb-founded. Kata shrugged, walking over sheepishly. "Why would you help me?"
"You did help me with those assassins." She muttered.
"So?"
"So, now we're even."
"Oh, we're nowhere near even." I groaned, sitting myself up on the bed, although it was extremely painful to do so. "I don't need help from a Stormcloak."
"You would've been dead now if it wasn't for me."
"Well, I wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for the Stormcloaks."
"I cannot believe this - I chose to help you, and this is how you repay me?"
"Forgive me, but we're running a little low on coin at the moment."
"I do not want your coin - I am not as superficial and fickle as a gutter rat like you."
"And I'm not as bold, or stupid, to call a man superficial and fickle when he shoots fire from his hands." She looked at me, completely speechless.
"Your are... unbelievable." She turned on heel and marched away from me. I grunted and grabbed my shirt from the table, pulling it on, and cursing under my breath at the pain I felt from moving. As soon as I grabbed a crutch from the table, I managed to make my way through the cistern, examining the damaged thieves - Astius Doronia had a few scrapes across his cheeks, but Sapphire had a series of large gashes down her neck and arms - she had helped get some of the thieves up top down to the Ratway. Rune had a sling around his neck from where he had broken his arm trying to help free someone from underneath rubble.
I eventually got to Brynjolf, who was tending to Delvin's bleeding forehead. He saw me, and then stood up.
"Not everyone in here is a thief." I observed, and Brynjolf nodded.
"Most are orphans or beggars with nowhere to go."
"Can we afford to feed them all?" Brynjolf sighed.
"Aye, but not well enough I fear." He rubbed his chin. "You alright lad?"
"I'm fine." I muttered.
"You know, for a while there it looked like... well..." I eventually made sense of what he meant.
"Oh." It was all I could muster. "Well... I'm okay." I said awkwardly.
"Well..." Brynjolf coughed, scratching the back of his hair. "I'm...glad." We stood there awkwardly for a few moments, unsure of what to do.
"Vex said you're scoping out Solitude?" I said in a desperate attempt to break the silence.
"Aye - Aye, the Bard's Festival is taking place there tomorrow night - it seems like the perfect cover for a certain merchant to go in undercover." He winked at me.
"No, a merchant's too suspicious." Delvin chimed in. "As soon as you get to the records, you'd be banged up."
"Records?" I asked Brynjolf, confused.
"Aye, if they have records of Mercer, it could help us find his house." I raised an eyebrow, unconvinced by his plan. "This is the only lead we have lad." I sighed.
"Okay, fine. What about if I go?"
"Eh?" Brynjolf was now the one with the confused look. Delvin looked towards me.
"That's not half-bad." He murmured to himself.
"What? No." Brynjolf shook his head. "You're half-dead already."
"I've had worse." I shrugged. "Besides, who else here has been in an Imperial court?" Brynjolf and Delvin looked at each other, trying to think of anyone else they could send. "I'll get some rest, and take some of your potions Brynjolf - I'll be fine." Brynjolf muttered to himself, cursing the Nine as he walked away.
"He cares about you more than he lets on you know lad." I nodded.
"I know." I faced him.
"The thought of losing you... even my old man wasn't that worried about me." I nodded.
"Take care Delvin." I said and turned away, placing the crutch against the war and beginning to walk without one.
I saw a boy sitting on his own, looking into the pool below the stone bridges in the cistern. I stared for a moment, remembering when I was the twelve-year-old crying over the pool, how scared I was. And how Brynjolf had helped me. I limped over to the boy and sat down beside him. He eyed me with suspicion, and I nodded stiffly at him before looking down into the water.
"You, ah... you alright?" I asked awkwardly.
"I'm fine." He said with a tone of defiance. I noticed something strange about his left eye - it was as white as... well, as his Nordic skin.
"What happened to your eye?" He looked the other way from me.
"I don't want to talk about it." He said again, emphasising each word. I waited a moment before responding.
"Alright." I said. I thought about what to do to cheer up the boy. Maybe I could use my magic? "Hey, want to see some magic?"
"No." I stopped and thought - jeez, no wonder Brynjolf was so bad at this.
"So, where's your family?"
"Dead." He muttered, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.
"I'm sorry." I murmured. "I know how that feels." I sighed. He looked over to me.
"No you don't."
"Want to bet?"
"Did you have your family killed by vampires and then see them kidnap your sister?" I thought for a second, unsure of how to respond.
"No." I said after a while. "I can't say I have."
"Then you don't know how I feel." He sulked.
"Maybe not." I nodded. "But I can guess." I said. "What's your name?" He looked up at me, wiping his nose again.
"Xander."
"That's short for Alexander right?" He nodded. "I'm Tenebraeus."
Yes, that was an OC from TheIceCreamNinja's APPLICATION TIME - I did change the age and a few other things, but he's essentially the same! Anyway, that's just a nice little filler chapter. I'm going to do a couple more that branch from the Thieves Guild before I get back onto the questline, but I hope you guys like it!
p.s. ANNOUNCEMENT - I'm still thinking at the moment, but it's very very VERY possible and VERY VERY likely that we are more than halfway through this story... so... yeah - let me know what you thank of those apples...
Rouge.
