Chapter 8
"Okay, go through the Ratway and wait for me in the Ragged Flagon," Karianna told Karliah when they made it into Riften. "I'll talk to the others, try to get them to hear me out before you tell them your side of the story."
Karliah simply nodded in response and headed down to the door. She seemed extremely nervous to be back in the Thieves Guild's home city. With a sigh, Karianna walked over behind the Temple of Mara and into the cemetery. There, amongst the headstones and Nightshade stood a mausoleum bearing the symbol for the Thieves Guild: a circle set into a diamond. On the stone sarcophagus was a button in the same shape which, when pushed, opened the floor beneath her feet and revealed a set of stone steps leading to a hole covered in wooden boards. Beneath that was a rickety ladder which Karianna used to get into the Cistern for the Ragged Flagon. It looked like every member of the Thieves Guild had been called in for a meeting of sorts for they all stood around the center platform where Mercer Frey was giving a speech beside Brynjolf.
"We can't let Karliah slip away again," Mercer was saying. "She's already killed two members of the Guild and who's to say she won't kill more? She must be brought to justice!"
"Karianna?" Brynjolf asked suddenly as he spotted her.
He pushed his way through the crowd which was now whispering.
"Impossible!" Mercer's voice shouted above everyone.
"I can't believe it, you're alive," Brynjolf murmured. He grasped her by the shoulders and examined her. "It's a miracle!"
"No, it was Karliah," she protested.
"Yes, we know. Mercer told us how Karliah shot you."
"She did, but only so she could save me," she explained. "Look, there isn't much time, we have to stop Mercer."
"Stop Mercer from doing what?"
As quickly as she could, Karianna explained the story. How Karliah, Gallus and Mercer had been part of an ancient sect of the Thieves Guild known as the Nightingales; how Mercer had killed Gallus because he suspected Mercer of stealing from the Guild; how Mercer tried to kill her but Karliah had saved her life.
"Where's Karliah, now?" Brynjolf asked.
"In the Ragged Flagon."
"Okay, go and get her, we'll detain Mercer. Delvin!"
"He's gone!" Delvin called out.
Sure enough, Mercer Frey had disappeared.
"Shit, he must have slipped away when we weren't looking," Brynjolf cursed. He paused for a moment in order to think. "Before we go running after him and accusing him of murder, we need the evidence."
"I'll go search his house, then, there has to be something there," Karianna suggested.
"Yes, good. Just watch out for Mercer's bodyguard, Vald. He's a mean son of a bitch, but if you offer him some coin, he might just turn the other cheek."
Brynjolf hadn't been kidding about Vald. As soon as Karianna crept up to the gate, Vald came sprinting out of seemingly nowhere and nearly chopped her hands off as she was picking the lock. When she came back, the gate was lit up with torches and the only shadows were along the wall. She quickly judged the height of the wall and decided to run at it in order to leap over it. On the other side of the wall, she kept to the shadows as she made her way to the door only to find it barred shut. With a curse, she began climbing the trellis leading down from a balcony where she was able to climb through an open window.
As Karianna crept silently through the empty halls of the house, she noticed all of the lavish decorations and wondered how no one had noticed that Mercer was stealing from the Guild. Even though Gallus' death had taken the secret to the grave with him, Mercer wasn't officially supposed to have access to the vault. She had learned this when they searched the vault to find it empty. He had taken every piece of gold or item of value with him. Even the shelves behind the Guildmaster's desk stood empty of it's rare treasures. But she put all of this out of her mind once she reached the basement. The rest of the house was devoid of any secrets, not even so much as a hidden room or compartment. All that remained was the basement.
"Where could it be?" she asked feeling the frustration build in her.
She threw open a wardrobe and when she found it to be empty of even a speck of dust, she shouted in anger and banged her fists on the back wall. That was when it shifted and slid aside to reveal a hidden passage.
At the end of a narrow passageway, she found a door guarded by traps but easily evaded by a combination of light footing and quick hands. Inside the room, she hit the mother-load. It was full to the brim with piles of gold and bowls of jewels. Through a little path between the gold, she was able to make her way to a desk with a book open on top of it. Mercer's journal! With a thanks to the Nine Divines, she slid the book into her armor and began to backtrack through the house.
On the first floor, Karianna found the door that had been barred from entry. She heaved the wooden beam holding the door shut aside and threw open the doors. But instead of finding herself in the cold night air, she instead found herself on her back with a strong pair of hands around her throat. At first she thought that Mercer had returned for the riches in his basement, but then she remembered that Vald was guarding the house and cursed her own stupidity.
"Mercer's not gonna be happy to find out that one of his own Guild members is stealing from him," Vald hissed in her ear.
Beneath his hulking form, Karianna drew her knees to her chest and pressed the palms of her hands and the balls of her feet into Vald's chest. Gathering all of the remaining strength in her, she was able to heave the man off of her. He leaned back and swung his arms to regain his balance, when he came back down, she whipped out her Dwarven Dagger from her belt and sliced at the exposed skin of his abdomen. As he screamed in pain from the dual power of the deep cut and the Frostbite Spider venom she had dipped the dagger in, she rolled out of the way and readied herself for another attack.
But it never came, for when he reared up for the next attack, a blade whipped around his throat and left an angry red slit in its wake. Vald clutched at the ragged cut as if he hoped to hold in the life bleeding out of him. It was in vain, though, as a second later, he collapsed to the floor in a lifeless heap. Karianna, still breathing through a bruised windpipe, looked up at her savior.
"Brynjolf," she croaked.
"Don't speak," he ordered and examined the bruises forming around her neck. "It looks like he got you pretty good, lass."
She couldn't help but smile. He was like her shadow on every mission she had in Riften. But her smile quickly faded as she remembered why they were in Mercer's house in the first place.
"I found this." She pulled the journal from her armor and handed it over.
Brynjolf flipped open the journal and quickly scanned the pages before snapping it shut with a nod. "That's a good job, there, lassie. You should probably get some rest, now. You've more than earned it."
As soon as he said it, she realized how tired she felt. He pulled out a little bottle and had her drink it before he headed back to the Thieves Guild leaving Karianna behind.