Dear reader,

The dragon is slain and debts with Maven are repaid. Now it is time to settle things with Mercer and that will be no easy task...

Onwards, then, to chapter 11.

Stolen Heart

By: Anonymous

- Chapter 11: Burnout -

"Bryn. It's getting' late and I reckon you've been stood up. Let's go back to the Flagon and do somethin' darin' like have a glass of wine." Delvin grabbed Brynjolfs arm and tried to coerce him in to standing up.

"… Not yet." Brynjolf had said the same two word phrase during the past half an hour of coercion. In truth, he was starting to get a little nervous. What if she had died? What if she was laying with more broken bones? Should he have gone after her?

Every time the tavern doors opened, he perked up like some sort of eager skeever, only to sink back down when it wasn't her. He toyed with the empty bottle of imported mead, the coin purse he provided earlier had been emptied after about an hour of him and Delvin drinking and the purse he swiped from Keerava lasted only another 15 minutes, they had been nursing the same drinks for the best part of two hours and the Argonian was livid.

She continually dropped not-so-subtle hints such as how much she hated useless sacks of human flesh that failed to pay their way and how she'd heard rumours that the Thieves Guild were nothing but a useless pile of rabble. For the most part, she was right. However, Brynjolf had no doubts that in time the guild would restore itself and become strong and his trusted instincts told him that it would be Cathryne that would help him along with Vex and Delvin to usher in that age. Of course, Mercer Frey's corpse would also be a necessary part of any such vision – a very necessary factor indeed.

He reached for his ebony dagger and looked at the edge, he noticed from the corner of his eye that Keerava had skulked back behind her bar and her complaints had quietened – he would need to remember this trick for next time.

The silvery edge gleamed with a green-hued light, soon that finely polished silver would be stained red with Mercer's blood…

The doors of the Bee and Barb swung open violently and a body staggered in. Everyone looked up, the sounds of voices and lute playing fell silent. Brynjolf's head snapped up to see who was there, and in an even swifter motion he was up and at Cathryne's side.

"You stupid woman!" he barked as he picked her up "What did you do? Ask for a brawl with the dragon?"

She smirked up at him "Well… it doesn't have any arms, just wings you know… I thought it was an easy win."

Brynjolf kissed her forehead "No amount of joking is going to get you out of this one, you brat. You're in trouble now."

Delvin was white as a sheet, if it were possible the man was already frightfully pale, he stared at the two as they stood there "B-Bryn! Is that….?"

"Aye, Delvin. It's our lass. She's alive and well."

"SHE'S A GHOST!" Delvin shouted "Get away from her Bryn, she's probably some sort of daedra lie!"

"Oh put a sock in it. You and your curses and witchcraft… She's alive. Mercer got bad information, that's all." Brynjolf walked back to the table, he glanced around the room and quirked his eyebrow "This isn't a show, folks. On with your lives now."

The tavern goers looked away and the general hum of chatter and music returned.

Cathryne reached for her coin purse and held it up "Mead. Please."

Brynjolf took the pouch and laughed "So let me get this straight: You fight a dragon and all you can think about is alcohol?"

"… When you put it like that it sounds bad. Still, this is a tavern." She smiled tiredly "I'll be fine, I promise. It's just a bit of dragon fire and some scratches."

Once again Delvin's eyebrows raised "Um… Dragons?"

"Oh right." Brynjolf smiled "Sorry, Delvin, I meant to tell you. The lass is Dragonborn. She can kill those beasties, permanently."

Delvin choked on the last dregs of his mead "Dragh-!"

Brynjolf patted his back sympathetically "There there, lad. You've had a lot to take in for one day."

"Fuck off, Bryn. Don't treat me like one of your sodding protagies or whatever you call 'em" Delvin muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand "So… you kill dragons, permanent?"

"Yeah. Take their souls and all that mystic stuff." Cathryne looked at Brynjolf "Mead?"

"Oh right…" He settled her down in a spare chair and went to the bar to extort more of the 'good stuff' from Keerava.

Delvin looked at her "You look like shit, Cat."

"Thanks. You're no oil painting, Delvin…"

"Haha! Guess not." He grinned "Welcome home. I'm glad you aren't dead like Mercer says. What a load of bullshit."

"Well what matters now is that I've settled things with Maven, she should be on the guild's side and more importantly… now it's Mercer's turn." She looked at the ceiling of the tavern, before closing her eyes.

"Oy." A bottle of mead tapped her cheek "No closing your eyes, lass. I might get worried that you're passing out." Brynjolf sat beside her "Now. That stomach wound needs attention, so drink up then we're off to patch you up."

She opened one eye and looked at him "I think we need to have a plan first, if Mercer catches wind…"

"He won't. Trust me. He thinks that it's over and he's won. Smug little bastard has been grinning to himself since he gave the guild the news. There's no way he'd suspect a thing until it's too late." Brynjolf looked at Delvin "You'll help out, won't you Delvin?"

"Of course." Delvin replied "You tell me what needs doin' and I'll get it done. You tell me who needs settin' up and I'll get them set." He made a knife-dragging gesture across his neck.

Cathryne drank from the bottle of ale, it was strong stuff and helped numbed the edges of the pain in her chest and the ache of her burns. She looked at Brynjolf and Delvin, they both had a determined, angry look in their eyes. A feeling of unity and strength was brewing between them as they sat at that table discussing what would come next.

She felt like as a group, as a dysfunctional and occasionally stupid family, they would be able to pull this off and bring Mercer to account. However, before Brynjolf would allow them to exact any revenge plots he demanded that Cathryne go to the local temple and receive healing. Together with Delvin he ushered her towards a priest.

"It really could wait until Mercer's dying…" Cathryne whined as the doors slammed ominously behind them.

"No lass. It can't. If that gets infected and you die… well it doesn't bear thinking about, does it?" Brynjolf's voice was firm, the no-nonsense tone he would use on sparing occasions.

"… Worrywart" Cathryne grumbled as the priest of Mara came over to inspect her condition.

It took an hour of healing and a few stitches, but in the end she was left with a minor scar and some relatively mild singes – and she felt better for it. Just as Brynjolf and Delvin were leaving, the priest cleared his throat loudly.

"Ahem?" he looked at the two, then at the collection box.

"Oh." Brynjolf replied, patting his many pockets "I'm sorry… your… holiness? I seem to be a wee bit short on cash."

"Uh yeah. Me too." Delvin replied, mimicking Brynjolf''s pocket-patting motions.

The priest sighed deeply and shook his head. Cathryne giggled "I'm sorry. These two spent all their coin on drinks to calm their nerves whilst waiting for me. Here. Take this. It's not gold but you might get some for it."

She handed the priest a flawless emerald which she had found following her most recent dragon fight, it seemed a small price to pay for her comfort. The priest was stunned, and Cathryne took his silence as a chance to shoo the thieves out of the temple.

"Why'd you give him that?" Delvin muttered "Coulda made a fortune off it."

"Oh enough." Cathryne shook her head "He did help me out. I owed him."

"Not that much!"

Brynjolf patted Delvin on the shoulder "There will be more priceless gemstones in our future, once we get rid of Mercer."

"Right." Cathyne nodded "We need to go and end this. Now."

"Now? As in right now?" Delvin frowned "Don't you need a rest or something?"

"I won't be able to sleep while I know there's something I can do to hurt Mercer and I'm not doing it."

"That makes two of us." Brynjolf said "Alright. Let's go to Mercer then. I think we should go via the Flagon, the graveyard entrance doesn't feel right on this occasion."

"Fine. We'll trust your instincts." Cathryne replied and waked with the two thieves towards the Ratways. They navigated the dingy corridors quietly. None of them spoke so as to avoid alerting the inhabitants of the Ratways of their presence. The last thing they needed was a knife fight with vagabonds before a real fight with Mercer. Delvin reached out and opened the door of their private tavern, The Flagon was empty as they walked inside. Only the sound of Vekel's broom filled the air.

"I guess Vex is on a job." Delvin muttered. "A shame, I think she'd like to be involved in castrating old Mercer…"

They passed through the Flagon, Vekel nodded to them and continued his sweeping – he seemed to understand what the serious look in Brynjolf and Delvin's eyes meant. He also gave Cathryne a curt nod, after a few long hard stares and a rub of his eyes.

They stood before the door to the Cistern, looking at one another then back at the hefty wooden entrance. They had discussed this part in the tavern and it had been agreed that Delvin and Brynjolf would enter first with Cathryne behind them, in order to fool Mercer for as long as they possibly could. Once inside they would be in a good position to block off the entrances and finish him once and for all…

Delvin opened the door and walked in, followed shortly by Brynjolf. Cathryne crouched down and followed them stealthily, her hands were itching for a weapon, every nerve in her body was on edge as they neared the central opening of the Cistern. With every step she took, her head filled with possibilities – ways to kill Mercer, what might happen and how she might react.

Her thoughts did not prepare her for what actually happened as Brynjolf and Delvin both slumped to the floor, unconscious. She looked up and saw Mercer standing with a bow in hand.

"Well well. If it isn't Cathyne. I had a horrible suspicion that you might be alive…" He looked down at her and sneered, then he glanced at Brynjolf and Delvin "Oh! And don't worry, I haven't killed your lover boy just yet… I wanted him to be alive, to hear our little talk and to overhear your subsequent death." He offered her a toothy grin that made her skin crawl.

"… Mercer." Cathryne hissed his name as she stood straight and tall, returning his sneering look with a seething gaze.

"You see. That's what I dislike most about you. Those eyes of yours that look of defiance that they hold." For a moment he looked rueful "I've seen those eyes before and that time I cut them down for defying me, this time will be no different!"

For a brief moment Cathryne contemplated asking him what he meant, but she decided against it and asked the more burning question in her mind "How did you know?"

"What? That the thorn in my side wasn't quite dead? Ha! It's easy if you know where to look. For instance… your precious Brynjolf. He couldn't quite hide the relief in his eyes. It's kind of obvious when someone no longer looks like they've been crushed by despair. Also, that frigid bitch Maven, she was harder to glean from but when someone who is normally cold gives you an icy stare you get the message that she knows something. I suspected from the moment she looked at me after the manor incident that she knew more than she was letting on and the only person that could have told her was you."

"I see." Cathryne sighed "So you've had suspicions all along."

"That's right. With that in mind I've set up something special. Took a few sleepless nights and a bit of planning but I think it's going to end this guild rather spectacularly."

"What?" Cathryne's eyes narrowed "What have you done, Mercer?"

"You know. I always hated this place." He started to stroll around the central circular platform of the Cistern as he spoke "Dank. Stinky. A total shit hole. A real organisation would have picked somewhere a less embarrassing, but the Skyrim Thieves Guild? No. They prefer honour and Skeever piss to luxury and wealth."

She readied her bow and slid her hand down to reach for an arrow. His voice echoed out, making her hesitate.

"Don't even think about it, Cathyrne. You asked me what I've done and I'll do better than tell you – I'll show you!"

It all happened faster than Cathryne could register, Mercer pulled a scroll of fireball from his pocket and cast the spell, he aimed the attack at the floor where puddles of sewer water gathered. As the flames formed and burned on the surface of the water Cathryne noticed that there was a distinct shimmering oily nature to the surface. Her eyes widened as she realised what he had done – but it was too late. The water caught fire, the flames spreading quickly around the cistern consuming everything in bright golden-red.

Mercer laughed "I'll be rid of you and this useless guild, Cathryne! You're going to die as a family, cremated and forgotten!" he turned and fled through the graveyard exit, the flames raged up as he escaped, blocking his exit route.

"MERCER!" Cathryne shouted, before choking on the smoke. She looked around the room and tried desperate to assess the situation. She noted that each of the guild beds was full, with members that had been rendered paralysed by Mercer's deadly arrow bolts.

To her side she heard Brynjolf choking. Se moved to his side and crouched down, placing a hand on his back "Bryn…"

"Damn it all to the daedra!" he hissed, struggling to fight the paralysis "He had us. He played us all for fools!"

"It isn't over yet!" Cathyne shouted over the roaring flames "We can't give up!" she looked around herself, the flames were consuming the tattered remnants of the Thieves Guild's banners as well as the pieces of decrepit furniture that Delvin had acquired for them to keep loot in. They were losing their entire legacy to Mercer's cruelty…

"I'll do something!" She whispered "None of us are dying here…"

~ End Chapter 11 ~

^^ As always, I'm a total broken record, thanks for the reviews and subscriptions to this story! It really is energising to know people are following / enjoying this!