Chapter 7
"Easy now, take it easy. You've been through a lot," the cool voice of Karliah said through the darkness.
Karianna fought and was finally able to open her eyes to see Karliah's face swimming before her. Karianna wanted to leap to her feat, draw her Elven Warhammer and attack, but her body still felt as if she had been cut open and had all over her bones and organs replaced with iron ingots. So instead, she settled for groaning pitifully and flopping back onto the bedding. Karliah pulled out a bottle and uncorked it to pour the contents into the Dragonborn's mouth for her to swallow. Despite all she had been told about Karliah being a murderer and traitor, she swallowed the potion and was instantly glad she did for it immediately lessened the pain in her head and limbs.
"There, that should help out some. You're lucky I shot you with that arrow when I did. It was tipped with a special poison I've spent years perfecting. I had enough for one shot," Karliah explained. "It wasn't meant to kill, only paralyze so that I may bring Mercer Frey back to the Guild for the justice he is owed."
She went on to explain how it was Mercer and not herself who had killed Gallus in Snow Veil Sanctum all those years ago. She had been in hiding perfecting her plan for revenge ever since. She had all the evidence to clear her name right in Gallus' journal, but unfortunately for her, Gallus encrypted his journal in a code she had no idea how to break. When Karianna took a look at the journal, she was immediately able to recognize the marking.
"It's the Falmer language!" she exclaimed. "I've gone through plenty of Dwemer ruins to recognize it. They infest the ruins all over Skyrim like you wouldn't believe."
"Hmmm, if what you're saying is true, then there's only one man I can think of who can confirm it. His name is Enthir and he works at the College of Winterhold."
"Then we'll go to him. I want to know the truth before I smash Mercer's skull in for stabbing me with that sword of his," Karianna stated.
Winterhold was a small town half buried in snow. The most prominent feature of it was not the Jarl's Headquarters, but the large stone castle that acted as the College of Winterhold to teach mages from all over Skyrim. Even though Enthir worked at the College, he was found instead in the Frozen Hearth. In the basement of the inn, he, Karliah and Karianna discussed the journal.
"You were right, Karianna," Enthir stated after studying the journal for a few tense minutes. Like everyone else associated with the Thieves Guild, Enthir thought Karliah was still a murderer. It was only after Karianna vouched for her and handed over the encrypted journal did he agree not to send for the guards.
"So you can translate it?" Karianna asked with hope.
"Unfortunately, no. There is, however, a wizard in Markarth. His name is Calcemo and he's an expert in the Falmer, particularly their language," Enthir answered.
"I'll stay here, for now. It'll be easier for you to get in and out of a city like Markarth if you're alone," Karliah said.
"Just don't go back to Riften without me," she said. "Talos knows what you'd find there if Mercer told them you were on your way here."
Karianna had been in Markarth once before and didn't particularly enjoy the experience. She was searching for sites where a dragon might be resurrected and decided to warn the Jarl of a possible attack. But the Jarl had scoffed at the notion of a dragon attacking his city. He called it impenetrable with it being carved from the mountains themselves. When she had protested, they laughed at her and had her thrown out of the Understone Keep. Add to that, the place was crawling with Imperials, most of which despised Nords, especially when they didn't agree with the White-Gold Concordat and insisted on worshipping their outlawed god, Talos.
As she walked past the guards and armored Thalmor on her way to the Keep, she kept her face hidden. The inside of the Keep was even darker and dilapidated than she remembered. Being built around the ancient Dwarven ruins that extended through the mountainside, the city was slowly crumbling. But no building showed it more than their government capitol. Giant piles of rubble flanked the stairs leading to the Jarl's throne room and dust choked the air surrounding everyone. If she remembered correctly, the court wizard could be found inside the excavation site under the Keep. And sure enough, there he was, a wizened old fool stooped forward over an Arcane Enchanter where he was studying various pieces of jewelry and gem stones.
Karianna stood behind him and cleared her throat loud enough for him to wheel around. "Are you Calcemo? The expert on the language of the Falmer?"
"I told the Jarl that I have enough bodyguards and yet he insists on sending me more?!" the man barked. "I don't need any more help! Off with you!"
Karianna looked down at herself and realized she was still wearing her Steel Plate armor. "No, you don't understand, I'm looking for your help," she said quickly as the man began walking away. "You see, I have a… series of documents I believe to have been written in the Falmer language. They were my father's, he was a very secretive man before he passed away. If I don't translate these documents, my family could lose everything."
It was a bold lie, but the man seemed to believe it even if only partially. "Alright, then I guess I could help you… for a bit of gold, that is."
Karianna agreed and quickly pulled out a small handful of gold from her coin purse.
"Where are the documents?" Calcemo asked which caused her to look at him in alarm. "I can't very well translate these documents of yours without looking at them."
She cursed silently for she knew she couldn't show him Gallus' journal. It'd give away her lie and gods only knew how many secrets of the Thieves Guild.
"I-I was just hoping to get a look at your notes. Even if it was just a chart of characters and letters!" she said desperately trying to keep in the act.
"Ha!" he scoffed. "I can't let you look at my notes! They're nowhere near finished! I don't even trust my nephew to look at them let alone some total stranger!"
"Please, sir! I'm begging you!" she cried in desperation and threw herself at the man's feet where she clutched his robes. "If I don't prove that my father's documents give us ownership of our homestead, my whole family will be sold into slavery! You'll condemn us all!"
"Guards! Get this Nord wench out of here! Take your filthy gold and be gone!" Calcemo wailed and wrenched his robes from her fingers.
As he turned and fled into his lab, he failed to notice Karianna pocketing a small, bronze key. And so, for the second time in her life, Karianna was thrown out of the Understone Keep but this time she knew she'd be back. That night, in the cover of darkness, she slipped inside and used the shadows to make her way to the door of Calcemo's lab. It seemed to simply be a series of rooms cluttered with Dwemer artifacts from bent and rusted bowls to gleaming swords. In one room labeled as Aicanter's study, she found a bronze staff topped with four metal prongs surrounding a red orb. When she spoke the incantation written down on a piece of paper and pointed at a spot on the floor by the door, a Dwemer Spider leapt out from one of the many ducts in the walls. It didn't seem hostile towards her, but when a guard walked by, it sent out a bolt of electricity which caused the guard to spasm and fall to the ground dead.
"Good boy," she whispered and patted it on its domed head.
With every wave of the staff, Karianna was able to command the Spider to cut down each and every guard. Finally, she found herself in a room which seemed to act as a dining area. There, at the table was a host of guards as well as a young man in robes she recognized as the wizard's nephew. There also seemed to be a series of grooves on the floor and in the walls which she immediately recognized as traps. Sure enough, when she pulled on a lever locked away behind a gate, a large explosion went off and caused all of the people in the room to flee. Through a large, bronze door on the other side of the room, she was met with the cool night air of Markarth. To her right was a set of stairs leading into a tower and over the railing below her the guards of the city were all running around trying to organize and search for the intruder.
The tower turned out to be Calcemo's room. Up a winding staircase was a set of doors leading to his bed chamber and outside of another set of doors was a balcony with a gigantic stone table covered in the same script as in Gallus' journal. And there, locked away in a display case was a green leather-bound book with gold letters on the front reading Falmer Language Guide: A Guide To The Lost Language Of The Snow Elves Turned Falmer. No sooner had she tucked the guide away into her armor than she heard the crashing of doors and shouts. The wizard's nephew had arrived flanked by guards.
"Something is wrong here. Whoever is trying to sabotage my uncle's work is in this room. Spread out and find them… then kill them!" he ordered.
Karianna swallowed hard and ducked down further into the shadows of the stone tablet. She pulled the staff back out and pointed it at the area beside the nephew but to no avail. Cursing silently, she looked around the room for an opening.
"There!" a voice shouted when she peeked out once more.
There was a sudden blast and Karianna was thrown out into the open at the feet of the young wizard.
"I knew it!" he snarled.
Karianna leapt to her feet and tried the staff once more. The nephew laughed and sent a bolt of electricity through her body.
"That staff only works in the lab," he sneered with glee.
Unable to reply with a snide remark, she settled for bringing the staff down hard onto the young man's head. Not hard enough to kill him but certainly hard enough to disrupt his spell and bring him to his knees. Seizing the opportunity, she ran for the door and ducked behind an outcropping of rocks. As the guards ran past towards the main part of the lab, Karianna backed up even further until her foot slipped and she was falling through air down into the pool of water below the base of one of Markarth's many waterfalls.
By the time she made it all the way back to Winterhold and the Frozen Hearth inn, she was honestly too exhausted to be angry. Instead, she simply tossed the Guide down onto the table in front of Enthir and ordered a large meal filled with plenty of mead and meat. It was dawn by the time he finished translating the journal and was able to confirm Karliah's story as well as fill in the holes left behind by unanswered questions.
"We have to take this to the Guild as soon as possible," Karliah gasped as she stared at the journal entries.
"I'm guessing it's too much to ask for a day's rest, huh?" Karianna asked who was growing weary of travelling.
When Karliah began to protest, Karianna held up her hands and said they might as well get on with it the travel preparations.