CHAPTER SEVEN: FAMILY MATTERS

Mikhail

It was a ratty building. Two stories of old, rotting lumber had somehow managed to stand for apparently quite some time. The paint was peeling in several places. The door was crooked; Mikhail imagined that it creaked loudly when opened. Overall the house was definitely a place that he would never be able to call a home, had he the unfortunate luck of living in it. One should take pride in the place he resides in; at least enough pride to brush away the cobwebs in the window from time to time.

Mikhail looked to Baurus. His expression was unreadable, but it had been that way ten minutes, ever since they had stopped in front of the home. Both men were on horseback, having ridden from Cloud Ruler Temple for a week and a half to reach the city. Mikhail wanted to head to the nearest inn and take a nap so he would be revitalized enough to make the trip to Weynon Priory—about an hour away from their current location—then all the way back to Sancre Tor to get the armor of Talos. Baurus, however, seemed intent to stay put.

"Baurus... what are we doing here?" Mikhail asked, being unable to take anymore silent staring.

Baurus didn't answer. Perhaps he didn't hear me, or doesn't care to. Mikhail opened his mouth to ask again but the Redguard spoke first in what was barely more than a whisper. "This is my sister-in-law's home."

"Oh." I wish I would have just kept my mouth shut. Mikhail would have never guessed a house in such a state of disrepair would be the home of Baurus's relative. His small cabin near Bruma wasn't exactly in prestige condition, but it was nowhere near this bad.

"I don't know if I can do this," Baurus said aloud but to himself.

Mikhail knew what Baurus was planning, even though the man hadn't said anything. At least he'll tell his sister-in-law about Constance's death. Hopefully, if this goes well, he'll work up the courage to tell Kole too.

"What's done is done," Mikhail told him, encouraging the Blade in his own way. "She may not like what you hear—she shouldn't, should she care for her sister at all—but it is your duty to tell her... and her right to know."

"I know," Baurus sighed. "It's just... Rebecka never liked me. She hates me, actually. She'll never forgive me for letting Constance die; she had only just begun to forgive me for taking her sister away from their... organization."

His voice trailed off. At first Mikhail thought it had been due to him speaking of his recently-deceased wife. But there was something about the way he had said 'organization' that made Mikhail want to know more. "And exactly what organization is that?"

Baurus looked away from the house from the first time since they had arrived. "I consider you my friend, Mikhail. A good friend, a trusted friend. Would you say the same about me?"

"I would."

"Then if I tell you something that needs to stay between us, it would stay between us, wouldn't it?"

"If that is what you want."

Baurus looked over Mikhail silently for a moment. Mikhail didn't much like his loyalty or honesty being questioned, but it was true that the two of them knew very little of one another. We did meet each for the first time through cell bars, after all.

"I was a captain of the Imperial Watch once," Baurus began, apparently deciding that Mikhail could be trusted. "The youngest the city had seen in hundreds of years. I, like most captains, was offered a place in the Blades. I had to perform a job for the Blades to be fully inducted. The details of it are, for the most part, not important. But I had needed information, and the best place I had known to get information was... the Thieves Guild.

"I grew up as an orphan on the streets of the Waterfront District. As a child, nobody had paid attention to me, allowing me to sneakily learn the secrets of many men and women living in the city. Secrets are valuable things, things that I had sold to the Thieves Guild to make the closest thing I had to an income. So I had used my contacts to meet with a member of the guild in order to get the information I needed. As it turned out, the thief I had met with wanted to help me with the job the Blades had assigned me. She never exactly told me why, but I wasn't about to turn down free help.

Mikhail didn't want to interrupt, but he couldn't stop himself from saying, "that thief was Constance."

"Yes. By the time we had completed the job together, we had a bond that neither of us wanted to break. But she was a thief, and I was a Blade. One of us had to give up on our old lives in order to be with each other." Baurus raised his hand; his index finger and thumb were almost touching. "I had been this close to joining the guild, but she beat me to the punch. She had said that if we ever had children, she'd rather them be brought up to respect the law, not break it."

"So is your sister-in-law still a thief?" Mikhail asked.

"Rebeka's more than that," Baurus said. "She's married to the leader of the Thieves Guild. Well, the new leader of the Thieves Guild."

"How'd you know that?"

Baurus smiled. It wasn't much of one, but it was the first one Mikhail had seen on his friend's face in weeks without Kole being around. "Constance may have left her life as a thief, but she stayed in contact with her sister over the years. Apparently a year ago the old Gray Fox had stepped down—a feat many thought was impossible, mind you—and the man that had made it possible took over the position."

Mikhail looked at the house in front of the two Blades. Again he was almost disgusted by its rundown state. "This house doesn't look like one that would be long to a master thief and his wife. Even the homeless would avoid living in there; else they would risk losing their self-respect."

"I imagine the house is left that way to throw off any suspicion that the owners are actually wealthy thieves," Baurus said. He rubbed his chin. "It's strange that they would pick Chorrol to live in; it's only been six months since the Dark Brotherhood left the city."

"The Dark Brotherhood was housed in Chorrol?"

"Yes. Like I said, about half a year ago another abandoned looking house was reeking of death. Guards went in to check it out, finding the remnants of the Dark Brotherhood's headquarters filled with the rotting corpses of assassins."

"Did the Dark Brotherhood take itself out?"

Baurus shrugged. "Nobody knows exactly what happened to the Dark Brotherhood or why so many of their assassins were killed. Perhaps a rival group did the deed, or maybe they did all kill each other. All that is known is that some small percentage of the Brotherhood survived since random yet precise assassinations are still occurring throughout Cyrodiil."

Mikhail was surprised to hear all this new information at once. At least Skyrim isn't as messed up as this country is. He wanted to question his friend further but Baurus had apparently found the courage to approach the house as he was dismounting his horse. "Do you want to go in there alone?" he asked.

Baurus seemed to be considering his answer. "I think it'd be best if you came with me. I know Rebecka isn't going to like what I tell her... but I don't know how she'll react. I'd feel safer knowing that, should she want to slit my throat, you'll be there to heal the wound."

"And while I'm healing you, her husband can stab me in the back. Great," Mikhail joked. Baurus managed a smile, though it was weak and probably half-hearted.

Mikhail climbed off his horse as well and followed Baurus to the front door. The stairs of the front porch creaked violently under their feet. Mikhail was a little worried that the porch wouldn't support his weight, but breaking through the floorboards might actually improve how the house looks.

"Well... here goes nothing." Baurus rapped his fist on the door. He and Mikhail waited for a moment, but there was no answer. He knocked again, this time a little more firmly. Still there was no response.

"Maybe they're not home," Mikhail guessed.

"I suppose we could come back later, after we get the key from Weynon Priory," said Baurus with some disappointment in his voice.

They turned around and jumped. An Imperial woman stood a foot away from them. Mikhail had no idea how long she had been standing there, or how she could have appeared without making a single noise. Her gray eyes seemed intent on staring only at Baurus. Her light brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her clothes, being worn over a slim, athletic figure, were neither fancy nor ragged. She had a plain but pretty face, one that would be hard to pick out of a crowd.

"Baurus," she said in an almost hostile tone.

"Rebecka," he said in a tight voice.

"Oh," Mikhail said, a little stunned by who the woman was. I must admit, I was expecting Rebecka to be a Redguard. She and Constance must be half-sisters then, or something along those lines.

Rebecka's eyes moved to Mikhail. "Mikhail Iron-Heart, the Grand Champion? You became something of a local hero in the Imperial City when you defeated Agnorak gro-Malog. The Gray Prince liked to think that he was adored by his fans, but in truth many people hated him for claiming to be a part of Cyrodiil's nobility." She flashed a smile at him. "I made quite a bit of money betting on you."

"Why... um... no problem," Mikhail said, caught off guard by the sudden rundown of his personal information. She obviously doesn't know everything, considering Agnorak threw the fight. He barely made any effort to protect himself after learning his father had been a vampire for nearly two hundred years. Or maybe she does know, and doesn't care. Money is money, after all.

She looked back at Baurus, her smile gone. "So what is it that you want? I thought the Blades would be busy, what with the Oblivion Crisis. Not a great time to have a family reunion." Her eyes opened a little wider. "Why aren't Constance and Kole with you? Are they okay?"

"We should probably talk about it inside," Baurus said a little uneasily.

Rebecka crossed her arms in a stubborn fashion. "Or we can talk about it here and now."

"Honey," said a silk-like voice from behind Mikhail and Baurus, "if he wants to speak inside, I see no problem in obliging him."

Curiosity encouraged Mikhail to see who the voice belonged to. Another Imperial leaned against the crooked door. Again Mikhail wondered how someone had managed to sneak up on him without alerting him. He must have come from inside as our backs were to the door. Maybe the door doesn't make as much noise as I thought. The man's hair closely cropped hair was the shade of a moonless night. His intense green eyes were brilliant yet a little offsetting. His beard was well-groomed, unlike Mikhail's own wild and long one. He wore a black coat with many pockets, likely used to store small yet valuable things that people wouldn't notice were missing for a while.

"The husband, I presume?" Mikhail asked.

The man nodded. "You presumed correctly." He extended his hand. "The husband's name is Valentine. Giovanni Julius Valentine."

"Wow..." Mikhail said while shaking Giovanni's hand. "That's quite a long name."

"You're one to talk, Mikhail Iron-Heart."

"I meant no offense, of course."

Giovanni smiled. "And none was taken. You are correct, though; most of the time I just go by 'Valentine'. It's much quicker to say, and it's more... ominous."

"That it does. I suppose sounding ominous would be important in the thieving business."

Giovanni glanced at Baurus, none of his self-confidence waning for even a second as he said, "I have no doubt that you had a good reason to let more authority figures know about the existence of the Thieves Guild. I suppose you know I lead it too, don't you?" he asked Mikhail.

"Aye, I do."

"Even better. The last Gray Fox never had to worry about being recognized. It was literally impossible. Now I have two Blades that know my face."

Mikhail wanted to question Giovanni about how he knew about him being a Blade. Members of the Blades were rarely announced to the public. Most of them were undercover across all of Tamriel; if their names and faces were known to the world, it would make their jobs much more difficult to be done discreetly. But he decided that it wasn't the most important thing that needed to be discussed at the time; Constance's passing was.

"So can we go inside now?" Baurus said eagerly and a little on-edge.

"Let's," Giovanni said. He turned around and opened the door. The hinges squealed so loudly that it nearly hurt Mikhail's ears. How did he open it without a sound before? The inside of the house was just as bad as the outside. Dust and webs covered all of the old, ruined furniture. The fireplace looked like it hadn't been used since the day the house had been constructed. Mikhail couldn't imagine what the rest of the house would look like. Quite frankly, I'm glad I can't.

"Has it been a while since the last time you cleaned this room?" Mikhail asked. "Or are you still preparing for the first cleaning?"

Rebecka laughed a little. "I'd die before I live in this mess. We leave the house like this to keep unwanted visitors away." She looked at Baurus. "I suppose even the best plans can fail."

"Then where do you live?" Mikhail asked, trying to ease the tension.

"In the basement," Giovanni answered.

"That doesn't sound much better," Mikhail said.

Giovanni chuckled. "Wait until you see it." He pulled a key from his pocket and proceeded to a door at the far end of the room. He unlocked then opened it, revealing a set of stairs that lead to the underground floor of the house.

All four of them descended into the basement. Mikhail, much to his pleasure, noticed that the stairwell was an improvement over every other part of the house he had seen. They came across another set of doors, which Giovanni unlocked with a different key. He opened both, saying at the same time: "Welcome to, what I like to call, the Fox's Den."

The large room was lit up by several torches, allowing Mikhail to see everything. And there was a lot to see. Many different paintings and vases and other types of art were decorated on all the walls and across the entire floor. No doubt most—if not all—of them were stolen. A small dining table sat in the middle of the room; a kitchen took up one of the corners. At the far end of the room was a king-sized bed with linen sheets and silk pillows. A door to a side-room was used to store "all of the real valuables", according to Giovanni.

"Best damn basement I've ever seen," Mikhail stated.

"Giovanni and I both agreed that, if we were going to live underground, we might as well do it as stylishly as possible," Rebecka said. "Let's sit down at the table and speak of... whatever it is you have come to say."

Mikhail, Baurus, and Rebecka all found seats around the dining table. Giovanni took a detour to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of Cyrodiilic Brandy and four glasses. He popped the cork and poured to the top of each glass as he said, "so Baurus, from what I hear you used to be an associate for the guild before you joined the Legion."

"I don't know if associate is the right word," Baurus said, taking a sip of the drink before he continued. "When I was living on the streets, I would sell secrets to the guild from time to time. I only did it so I wouldn't starve to death."

Giovanni nodded as he drank the full contents of his glass and began refilling it. "We all do what we must to survive." He looked to Mikhail. "And what of you? Had you any contact with the Thieves Guild before today?"

"I've killed a thief or two," Mikhail said. "I'm not exactly sure if any of them had been members of the Thieves Guild. Then again, the dead don't talk too much, do they?"

"Not without the right spell," Giovanni said.

He and Mikhail laughed, though they stopped when the glares from Baurus and Rebecka became unbearable. The two of them then looked at each other. Baurus's glare went away; Rebecka's didn't.

"Why are you here? Did something happen to Constance? Kole?" Rebecka asked.

Baurus finished off his glass and sighed. "Kole is fine. He's staying in a secure location where nothing bad can reach him."

Rebecka seemed to sense what he was going to say next because her voice faltered as she asked, "and... what of my sister?"

There was a deadly silence lingering in the air for the longest time. Baurus didn't look Rebecka in the eyes the whole time. Mikhail patted his friend on the back to give him some encouragement. Giovanni played with the sapphire necklace that dangled around his neck.

"Constance... she... there was an Oblivion Gate that opened up in front of our house..." Baurus said slowly. "There were so many Daedra surrounding the house by the time I got there... by the time that I cleared them all out..."

"Say it!" Rebecka yelled in his face, tears already rolling down her face.

"She was dead..." Baurus whispered. He too was crying, likely from guilt as much as sadness. "I was too late; she had been dead for at least half the day by the time I found her body. She'd locked Kole in our basement then... sacrificed herself so that our son would live."

Rebecka didn't say a word. All she did was look down at the table. Giovanni wrapped his arms around his wife and spoke inaudible words into her ear.

"I always knew that I should have convinced her to come back to the guild," Rebecka muttered under her breath. She looked up at Baurus. Her eyes were red with anger and sorrow. "But she was so much in love with you that she couldn't see what I could. I saw that you were nothing but bad news... and now it's too late to save her."

"You have no idea how—" Baurus began.

Rebecka leapt out of her seat, over the table, and onto Baurus in one swift, lightning-fast move. As the two of them fell to the ground, a steel dagger that appeared from nowhere appeared in her hand. She pressed the dagger against his throat, cutting into his flesh enough to break the skin.

Mikhail and Giovanni left their seats and approached the situation slowly and with caution. Mikhail could have healed the small injury that had been dealt, but he feared that if he bent down to do so, Rebecka would finish him off. All he could do was watch.

"Why should my sister die, and you get to live!" Rebecka screamed in Baurus's face.

"Believe me," he said, "I'd rather it had been the other way."

"Give me one reason," she demanded, pressing harder on the dagger, spilling more blood, "one reason that I shouldn't make things right; one reason that I shouldn't kill you."

Baurus hesitated, which made Mikhail worry for his life. Then he said, "if you kill me, you will make Kole, my son—your nephew—an orphan. He doesn't even know what happened to Constance; what do you think will happen when he finds out that not one, but both, of his parents are dead? One of them by your hand, no less."

Rebecka didn't move. No one did. A moment passed before she removed the dagger from Baurus's bloody throat and climbed off of him. Mikhail swept down and healed him with a strong Restoration spell. He ripped away part of his shirt to wipe away the blood from the wound. There was barely a scar where the dagger had been.

As Mikhail helped Baurus onto his feet, Rebecka trembled in Giovanni's arms. The bloodied dagger had disappeared, though Mikhail was sure it could come back just as easily as it had before. Her head was pressed his shoulder, but he was looking at the two Blades. His expression was clear: it was time for them to leave—now.

They didn't linger. A minute later they were back out on the porch, heading towards their horses. Baurus rubbed his throat as he said, "well that couldn't have gone much worse than it did."

"She could have killed you," Mikhail reminded him.

"I suppose..."

They mounted their horses and rode away from the Fox's Den. Mikhail was waiting for Baurus to say something, but no words passed from the Redguard's lips. That didn't go down exactly as planned. Then again, he did expect her to slit his throat. And I was there to heal it.

"I guess we should go get that key from Weynon Priory," Baurus said in a flat voice.

Mikhail wanted to make him feel better, but he couldn't think of any words that would work. So instead he shrugged and said in agreement, "the sooner we get Talos's armor, the sooner we can get back the base."

"And the sooner I'll be back with Kole."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, it's been a while since I've updated either of my stories. Real life stuff. I don't need to go into it any further than saying that school work is dull yet, "luckily", comes in quick a large quantity.

Leave me some reviews please. They encourage me to write even further.