Thorin I
I put on my robes and slid the dagger in place at my hip. Scanning my home I saw the priestess of Dibella still laying across my bed, while my Housecarl was fixing our morning meal. I would eat with Argis and set out for the day. I would head down to the Silver-Blood Inn and learn the latest rumors circulating Skyrim. After this I would head to Raerek, the Jarl's Steward and uncle, and report my findings. I worked as his spymaster within the city. My official position was as Thane of some area in the Hold. I did not care about the details, I used the mines in the area to bring in gold to my coffers and with that gold I invested back into the area to get more gold out of it.
I had just walked out of the Inn when I saw a Breton man draw back his arm as if to strike. The man shouted something about the Forsworn and charged at a Nordic woman shopping at one of the stalls. Argis was on the move before anyone else could react. He threw his shield like a disc at the man. The mad Breton fell, the wind was knocked out of him, and Argis shoved his steel sword into the man's chest. With the death of the screaming mad man the crowd began to disperse as the guards arrived on the scene.
Argis and I followed the woman into the Inn. At the door a young, wild eyed Breton with the oddest facial tattoos grabbed my arm. "You dropped this friend." He shoved a note into my hand that I knew was not my own. The note told me to meet him at the abandoned Shrine of Talos, but when I looked up to inquire after the young man he was gone. I turned back to Argis and we entered the Inn.
I bought Argis a flagon of mead and told him to pick out a keg to take back to Vindrell Hall. He earned a reward. The man was not the most intelligent I had in my employ, but he was loyal. I could never ask him to be a Steward as I doubt he can count without using his fingers and toes but he speaks little and serves well.
"Actually, I was wandering if I could speak with you about buying a dog from Banning." Argis spoke his mind so rarely I had to stop and listen.
"What makes you think I want a dog inside my home?" I inquired. It was a double sided question.
"I did not figure you would want one, but it would give me a companion during the parts of the day when you are at court or when I am alone. They are trained for combat and I could house train it." Argis answered. My rhetorical question went right over his head. I could tell that he really wanted this and I knew he was often alone. He refused to take a woman to bed so I would not deny him this at least.
"Very well. You know where I keep the gold. Buy a dog and whatever you need to keep it." With that Argis the Bulwark left the Inn to go find Banning. Turning back around I scanned the room to find Margaret drinking heavily from a bottle, several empty bottles were laying around her.
"Excuse me," I interrupted the woman's drinking.
"By the gods, that man nearly killed me. You saved my life. Thank you." She slurred and began trying to give me a necklace. I grabbed her arms at the rest and stopped her.
"Why was that man trying to kill you?" I inquired.
She gulped down the last of her mead and motioned for me to follow her to her room.
When I sat down in the little wooden chair near her bed she bolted the door behind us and began enchanting all over the door. Soundproof. She turned with dagger in hand. "Who are you?'
I grabbed her wrist and twisted. Her blade fell from her hand and I cast a calming spell over her. "I am Thorin Vindrell of Markarth. I am a Thane of the Reach, and I am investigating several incidents like yours."
Pacified, she then explained herself to me. She was a spy for the Imperial court and was investigating Thonar Silver-Blood, second in line to the Silver-Blood family, while trying to get the deed to Cidhna Mine. She had received word that Thonar was on to her and suspected he was behind the attack.
"Thank you, Margaret." I stood to leave. My robes were wrinkled from how I had sat. I brushed my hands over them, in order to get the wrinkles out.
"That's it? That's all you have to say?" She stammered.
"Oh yes, try not to get killed. I would return to the Imperial City if I were you." I smiled at her.
Walking outside a guard met me in the main courtyard. They had moved the Breton's body but were still cleaning the mess. The guard warned me to stop with my investigation, which made me curious and more curious still. I was a thane of this hold. I was not the biggest fish in the pond, but I was certainly bigger than this petty guard. Nevertheless, I went to the Shrine of Talos and met with the man from before.
"Hello!" The man came flying up from where he was sitting on the ground. "Have you found anything out?
"Margaret was an Imperial spy. They want Cidhna Mine. She believes that Thonar Silver-Blood wants her killed." I informed him.
"Well that would make sense. Thonar believes that Markarth belongs to the Nords. He believes that we, Bretons should be slaves to you Nords. Many of us work at the smelter refined all of the ore that comes out of the Mine into ingots." He explained.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" I finally asked. Here I was meeting in the Shirne of an outlawed God with a stranger while Thalmor searched the city at will. I was a poor spymaster.
"Eltrys. You want answers? Well so do I. So does everyone in this city. A man goes crazy in the market. Everyone knows he's a Forsworn agent. Guards do nothing. Nothing but clean up the mess."
"Who was Weylin? Where did he live?" I asked.
"He was one of the smelter workers. I used to have a job down there myself, casting silver ingots. I never knew much about Weylin, except he lives in the Warrens, like all the other workers. I stopped working there when my wife got a job at the Treasury House. It put us up higher in station. My wife is now pregnant with our child and I run odd jobs for the Silver-Bloods."
I nodded at him and turned to go to the Warrens. The Warrens were the slums of the city. The smell alone was enough to make any self-respecting person avoid the area. Jarl Igmund had made it law that the Bretons of the lowest class could only live here. It was rare for them to get out of that class. One sick woman was sitting outside the entrance warning people of the horrible conditions. No doubt rattles or ataxia riddled the area. I would do my best to avoid touching anything if necessary.
After searching around for a small time I found a key into the room that had been occupied by Weylin. The inside of his room was sitting in several inches of water. No doubt a pipe that ran through the city had burst above his room. Good thing he was dead. A letter was sitting alone in a chest in his room. This was a drop box. This was not Weylin's room. This was the room a spymaster used to leave orders for his men. Reading the letter I discovered who the spymaster was. I knew I was in over my head. I had been in Markarth too long to not know who N was. Nepos the Nose. I needed to get back to Eltrys and tell him what was going on. Nepos was the former spymaster for Madanach, the King of the Reach and founder of the Forsworn.
As I exited the Warrens I saw a large Breton walking towards me. "You've been digging around where you don't belong. It's time you learned a lesson." His fist swung empty air. The invisibility spell cast seconds before his swing allowed me to step out of the way. Circling him I drew my blade from its hip. My left arm reached around his throat and pulled his head up. With my right I pressed the knife to his throat as the spell dissipated.
"Now then, these are my good robes and I don't want to spill your blood on them. Either you tell me who sent you or I'll open your throat." I warned the man. Blood trickled down his neck as I pressed the knife in harder. "I was sent by Nepos the Nose. The old man hands out the orders. He told me to make sure you didn't get in the way. That's all I know, I swear!" He screamed as I emptied his throat on the pavement. I would need new robes anyway.
After I had gotten rid of those robes and put on some newer ones I walked the short distance from my house to the home of Nepos. His steward was a bitch as always. This time it was different though. Nepos actually told her to let me in. Inside we traded the regular pleasantries. It was odd. I knew Nepos to be the former spy master, but since the war ended he had actually been working for the Silver-Blood. He was respected by Nords and Bretons alike. I assumed he had been working for someone else as well.
"I'm sorry about my housekeeper. She's a little protective of me. Now, what is it you want?" He snapped. His sudden rudeness brought me out of my thoughts.
"You. You still serve the Forsworn don't you." It was no question. The air turned stale between the two of them.
"Ah, yes. You've proven to be a real bloodhound. Well, you've sniffed me out. I've been playing this game for almost 20 years. Sending the young to their deaths. All in the name of the Forsworn. And I'm tired. So tired." The old man sighed as he slunk down into his padded seat.
"But why would you do this? You aren't the leader of this are you?" I did not think he would act of his own accord.
"Because my king told me to. I'm just a servant. To my king, Madanach" He answered before going into a monologue. It was like he was trying to get himself to approve whatever plan he had. To rationalize it. He seemed to not agree completely with it.
"When the uprising fell at the hands of the Nords, they threw him in the mines. I don't know how, but he lives. I get his messages, and I hand out his orders without question. Markarth and the Reach are our lands. That is why we are the Forsworn. We cannot claim the home that is rightly ours. But then during their war with the elves, we had our moment. We drove the Nords out of the Reach in a great uprising. Then Ulfric and his men came. Those of us who didn't run were executed, except for myself, my king, and a handful of others."
He took a moment to gather his thoughts. His fire crackled nearby. His servants had all filed into the room. It seemed like they were all doing one task or another, but I knew that they were there for if things went sour.
"He is the King in Rags. A man who once held all the Reach within his grip. He stokes the passions of the downtrodden in this city. Directs them to kill the enemies of the Forsworn in our name. All from inside Cidhna Mine. A Nord prison. The irony is quite thick." He laughed that soft, yet deep laugh that old men do.
"My dear boy, what makes you think you're getting out of here alive? You were seen coming in. The girl at the door is a Forsworn agent masquerading as a maid. You aren't the first one to have gotten this far. You won't be the last."
He pulled out his sword and jumped with surprising agility for such an old man. Other than the old man, they all fought like the witchblades that Bretons were known for magic and dagger. It was only after all but the last one fell did the survivor realize he had killed his friends and boss. The mayhem spell I had cast had turned them all against one another. When he turned to me with sorrowful eyes he knelt down. The fight was gone from this man. He had been wounded by Nepos and would quickly bleed out. "Mercy."
"Would you have shown me mercy?" I sneered at the man. I walked to him and put his dagger back in his hand. I left for the Treasury House before the man ended his life. I would send word to Raerek that someone would need to clean up this mess.
Entering the financial center of Markarth I took in what I saw around me. All of the payment of the city's workers came through here. A building owned by the Silver-Blood family, these workers either worked in the mines or at the smelter both owned by the Silver-Bloods. It just seemed corrupt. I am not one against corruption, without it I would be out of a job. I, however, am good enough at my job to see the problems the city was facing all came from this building.
Thonar was bent over a table flirting with the pretty young woman sitting there. I started talking to the elderly servants, learning that they had each served in the Treasury House since twenty years ago. I then met with Thonar's wife, I recognized her from her days in the Temple. She was very skilled in the Dibellan arts. When I saw that Thonar had returned to the back room I walked to the counter.
"How can I help you?" She asked. She leaned forward, placing her elbows on the top of the desk. Her ample already showing thanks to the revealing clothes became even more prominent. Nice Thonar, I now see why he hired some nobody to work here.
"I would like to ask how you came to work here."
"I'm just a servant. Don't pay me any mind." She smiled at me. I now see how Eltrys fell in love with this woman.
"Oh but it is my job. I am a Thane of this Hold. I am to see to the people of the Reach." I gave this speech on girls like her more often than people would guess. It normally worked for different reasons.
"Working in the Treasury House isn't so bad. I earn good money." She replied. She had a look on her face that told me to press more.
"How are things with your boss?"
"I…I… I have records to tend to." She stammered.
"Does Eltrys know that your child is actually Thonar's not his?" I asked, casting a calming spell on her as I did so.
"No, I don't plan on telling him. How do you know my husband?" It always amused me to hear the tone of voice people used when they were pacified.
"I have been working with him for a short while now. Your secret is safe with me." I turned to walk towards Thonar's door when she stopped me.
""The Treasury House is really just for patrons of the Silver-Blood family. You don't belong here. I'm sorry. We're only interested in helping our patrons." The calm had worn off.
"I am sorry, my dear, but I am here to see Thonar."
"I'm afraid he's asked to not be disturbed. He has important business." She snidely returned.
"You must be confused. I was not asking for your permission." I kicked in Thonar's door and walked into the room. He was up stammering trying to draw his sword out. "What are you doing here? I told them no visitors."
"Oh, I thought I would offer myself up for sex and get a job. Isn't that what you do here?" I smiled. My dagger was in hand, a spell at the ready in my offhand. "Why did you try to kill Margaret?"
"The Imperial agent? That's right. I knew. How many dogs is the Empire going to send after me? This is my business. My city. You Empire lovers should learn to stay out of it. Now get out."
Ignoring him, I asked of the Forsworn.
"They're crazy. Think they rule the Reach. Well guess who really runs things around here? Me. I own the mines. I make the coin pass to the right hands. That answer your damn questions? Now get out."
This time I laughed at him. "So the guard is under your payroll as well?"
"What did you expect? That no one was going to notice you butting into business that wasn't yours? The guards know who holds the purse strings in this city, and I don't like snoops. Markarth is my city. You have no right looking into my business. Now get out." He shouted starting to move towards me when a crash came from the main room.
We both ran for the room to find his lover and wife both dead. The servants had weapons drawn and were advancing on us. The man's hands sot flames out. Throwing the hood up on my cloak I dove inside the range of his flames. My robes absorbed most magicka damage, but the heat was still intense. My blade bit into the man's hands severing one and cutting deep into the other. I sidestepped the man, he was flailing and screaming, and I opened his throat and turned to Thonar. He was ducked behind his counter throwing things at the old maid, who in return was throwing balls of fire at her former employer. A few seconds later she was crumpling to the ground as a Nordic man buried his sword into her back.
"Damn the Forsworn. Damn them." Thonar looked to his wife and Rhiada both dead on the floor. He dismissed his man and turned to me. ""My wife. They killed her. Damn Madanach. Damn his Forsworn backside."" I merely glared at him. "I want the truth, you bastard. Do you realize how many times I have been either in a fight or almost killed just today?"
"Fine. You want to know what the Forsworn really are. They're my puppets. I have their 'king' rotting in Cidhna Mine. He was supposed to keep them under control. Madanach. The King in Rags. While we were off fighting the Elves in the Great War, Madanach was busy ruling over the Reach. Until Ulfric came and put them down. When their uprising was crushed, I had Madanach brought to me. He was a wild animal, but a useful one. I offered him a stay from execution if he used his influence to deal with any annoyances that came up. Competitors, agents, idiots. So I've let him run his little Forsworn rebellion from inside Cidhna Mine. Now he's out of control." He went into a tirade.
"I will help you solve this problem." I told the man. It was not for him, but if Thonar Silver-Blood owed me a favor damn everyone else.
"You already got what you wanted, you damn hound. This is your fault. You and Madanach are animals, and I'll see you both rot to death in Cidhna Mine for this. Now get out of my house!" He threw something at the door as I left. I ran straight to the Shrine, hoping I had not missed Eltrys. If he had returned home it would be an empty home and for that I pitied the man.
I soon learned that Eltrys would not return home. I found his body broken and bloody at the Shrine of Talos. I needed to get to Raerek, he could do something if Eltrys was dead. Then the guards marched in. More guards than I had seen at any one time before.
"We warned you, but you just had to go and cause trouble. Now we have to pin all these recent murders on you. Silence witnesses. Work. Work. Work." It was the same man that I had met twice before. He was the pompous ass at the scene of Weylin's death and again after I talked with Margaret.
"Why kill Eltrys? I was the one investigating." I pointed to the leader.
"We had a nice little deal going between Thonar and Madanach until you and Eltrys started snooping around. Well, you wanted to find the man responsible for those killings? You'll have plenty of time with the King in Rags when you're in Cidhna mine." He laughed and others joined him. "You'll never see the sun again, you hear me? No one escapes Cidhna Mine. No one."
My hands glowed. An invisibility spell and a mayhem would do nicely here. An arrow pierced my shoulder. I didn't remember seeing an archer. Where did that come from? I began to pull out the arrow when a large hand struck my face. I was blacking out before I hit the ground.