Chapter 12

The Guild, though in mourning at the loss of Brynjolf, was more than happy to name Karianna as the new Guild Master. Gold was pouring in from every corner of Skyrim with all the contracts people were so eager to make with them. The Dragonborn did her best to lead the Guild down the right path, but soon, she became restless and began requesting small contracts here and there. Eventually she was taking on bigger ones that lead her across the nine holds through many different territories and terrain. Anything to distract her from the pain. The pain brought on by the final realization that Brynjolf was never coming back.

She began running herself ragged and cracks began to show around the edges. She began making mistakes. Small ones at first, a misplaced footstep here, a clank of displaced silverware there, then the bigger mistakes came that cost her gold and put her in danger of capture. Finally, on a job in Solitude, she made her final mistake. She had failed to make sure she wasn't spotted while picking the lock to the back door of a mansion and so when she exited with her prize, the entire city's guard and even a few Penitus Oculatus agents surrounded her before she even had the chance to close the door behind her.

Karianna was far too tired to fight and so she chose instead to surrender. Her cell in Castle Dour was dark and dank with a small cot hanging loosely on one wall devoid of any bedding. The guards had promised her a very long stay for her crimes against Skyrim and the city of Solitude but she still held out hope that contacts in the city got word to her Guild soon enough that their Guild Master was imprisoned. Sighing in defeat, she sat on the cot and pulled out the only thing she was able to keep from the things they took from her after dressing her in prisoners' rags. The cloth she had used to wrap the Amulet of Mara in and the same cloth used by Brynjolf so long ago to mend her wounds.

"I can't believe you still have that, lass," an all too familiar voice said from the doorway of her cell.

Karianna looked up to see him standing there. Not a specter or even a vision. The real Brynjolf alive and in the flesh.

"You're alive!" she cried as she leapt from her seat and grasped the bars of her cell. "But how?"

Brynjolf chuckled as he worked the lock on her cell. "Quiet, now. We can't have you alerting the guards."

"How?" she insisted.

"They're sleeping not even two rooms away," he pointed out playfully and finally opened the door of her cell.

Karianna smacked him on the back of the head a he rose and demanded the real story.

"Well, you see, lass, I simply came up on the opposite side of the lake as you and Karliah," he explained and rubbed the sore spot on his head. "It was a pretty damn big lake, if you remember. Without a horse it took me forever to reach town and by then a chill had set in. The innkeeper insisted I stay until I was well. She was actually a very nice lady. She wanted me to marry one of her daughters, I think, I'm not very versed in the Orcish tongue, you see.

"I only had arrived back at the Guild a half day after you left for this job in Solitude. I had hoped to surprise you after you finished the job, but you got yourself arrested. So now I'm here to save your ass… again."

Fighting the urge to burst into tears of joy, she insisted they leave.

"I already have your things, including the target. But we can't go back that way. There are far too many guards."

"Then how do you suggest we escape?" she demanded as she slipped into her armor.

"The markings." He laughed at the look of confusion on her face. "I take it you never read Delvin Mallory's book."

"I might have skimmed it," she mumbled.

He explained to her that all over Skyrim were markings made by thieves to show where good targets were as well as the location of safe houses and escape routes.

"But before we leave, I thought I should return this to you." From his pocket he pulled out Karianna's Amulet of Mara. The same one she had lost in the escape from the Dwemer ruins. As he slipped it over her head, she felt her face burn red hot. "A woman must wear this in order for a man to propose," he said softly. She looked up at him and saw the softness in his eyes. "Will you? Marry me, I mean?"

"Of course." She beamed at him and shared a brief kiss before they made their grand escape.