Sera awoke with a sore head and was surprised to awaken at all. She felt dizzy, the roof of her mouth was dry, her vision was blurred and her eyes hurt at the twinkling light around them. She let out a low groan of pain as she attempted to come to her senses.
"Brown rot," a familiar voice grumbled, "nothing serious, nothing pleasant either."
"And do you have a remedy for it?" Another familiar voice, grumpy and impatient, hmm one that made her wary but why?
"If you have the coin for it, maybe" came the irritatingly cryptic retort.
Sera knew who he was now. "Sam," she groaned.
"Why am I not surprised that she knows your name?" the second voice quipped dryly.
"Doesn't everyone who is looking something special?" Sam retorted with a hint of displeasure seeping into his voice. "Now, do you have the coin or not? I get a little uncomfortable when I'm in the rich side of the city."
"Too many guards for you?" the other male retorted sardonically. "Alright, how much for the remedy? And don't try to con me, she's no friend or family to me so there is a limit to what I'll pay."
"I'm sure she's good for it," Sam muttered, "but alright, let's say sixty septim for a strong potion and that's with discount."
Sera attempted to open her eyes and let out another groan. If Sam was here was she safe or in danger? With the well-named shady Breton it was impossible to tell. 'If I am in danger is he going to leave me to it?' she wondered as her head continued to throb.
"Alright," the unknown male grumbled.
"So out of interest," Sam commented curiously, "if she's not friend or family then why are you bothering with her?"
"I'm not paying you for conversation," the male retorted sharply, "just give me the potion."
"Alright friend, I'm hardly the type to run and tell the guards," Sam murmured.
There was a clink of coins and glass and then footsteps. 'He's leaving me,' Sera thought angrily as she tried stubbornly to push through the haze. "Sam," she moaned again. 'Feel guilty you bastard,' she thought hatefully. The footsteps paused.
"It's late Breton," the second male remarked testily, "and honestly if I wanted to harm her I would have hardly sought you out for a cure to her disease."
The footsteps started again and Sera heard a door creak open and then shut again. She sagged in defeat; if she was in trouble her one slim hope for help had just deserted her. She tried to move but everything hurt and her eyes refused to focus properly. She tensed when she heard footsteps approaching again and sensed someone kneeling down before her. She wanted to struggle when she felt him press the cold end of the potion bottle against her lips and tilt her head back roughly. She knew it was a remedy, Sam wouldn't have sold him anything else, and yet she did not know this man or his motivations and did not want to find herself drugged and in a worse state of vulnerability.
The remedy was cold, sour and sticky as it trickled down her throat, stinging her lungs and burning her stomach causing her to give another groan of displeasure. She slumped back into unconsciousness after five minutes of trying not to moan into pain, wondering dully if she was going to wake up in one piece.
It was cold when Sera awoke, the roof of her mouth had a horrible, sticky taste to it, her lips seemed stained with dry skin and every muscle ached but on the plus side, she was alive, in one piece, and no longer subject to a pounding headache, dizziness and a feeling of sickness. She opened her eyes warily, her surroundings were dull and grey, turning a pale blue as the early sun started to peak through the windows.
She was ungracefully lying on a couch staring at a wooden floor. She lifted her head slightly, blinked her bloodshot eyes and took in an unkempt living room with a small fireplace, the ashes now white, a dented, wooden table with three chairs around it, a bookshelf with several old tomes gathering dust on it and a worn, tattered, bearskin rug on the ground. She stifled a yawn as she manoeuvred slowly into a sitting position and spotted what looked like the main door of entry. Perhaps she could sneak out of here, although she had to wonder, just whose house was this and why was she here?
She heard metal boots clanging on wooden stairs, echoing through the partially open door to the left of the fireplace and tensed, ready for the arrival. She cursed upon realising that her daggers had been removed and that she was defenceless. When the owner of the clanging boots arrived in the doorway she let out another, louder curse before she could help herself. "Shit!"
Folded arms and an irritated scowl was her answer. He was a Breton, tall, somewhere in his early thirties with short, chestnut brown hued hair, scornful, grey eyes, skin tanned by the sun and pleasant enough features with a prominent nose, no fringe, hair tucked behind his ears and plump lips, currently turned down in disapproval. To Sera he was well known as one of Umbacano's guards, one she had successfully evaded on that fateful day when she had bloodied her hands for the first time.
"Know me do you thief?" he queried bluntly.
She shook her head dumbly and he let out a harsh laugh that had frowning in annoyance. "Pardon for the intrusion ser," she said with feigned politeness, "though I certainly did not mean to intrude-"
"Nor did you," he interrupted bluntly, "as you know I'm sure. I brought you here after finding you collapsed on the road to the city, I could have left you," he was quick to point out, "certainly no one else had a mind to help you."
"Well why did you?" she snapped. She knew she sounded ungrateful but he worked for Umbacano after all and knew her for a thief, his motivations could not be good.
His frown deepened and a very faint strain of pink crept up his neck. "Ungrateful brat," he grumbled, "I bring you into my house and get you medicine, which wasn't easy. Hard to find a healer for a thief and an affordable one at that."
"I'll give you the coin," she commented dryly.
He let out a sharp laugh at that. "A thief giving," he sneered, "that'll be the day. Look, pauper princess, I'll cut to the chase here, you took something from Umbacano, something more valuable than you obviously realise."
"Prove it," she growled out as her green eyes flickered briefly to the main door. 'I could make it,' she thought confidently.
"I know it was you," he said in irritation, "I gave chase, I recognise you."
"Mistaken identity," she retorted coldly.
"I know it was you," he repeated firmly, "I knew you the moment I saw you on the road, different clothes sure but same long, blonde hair, same Imperial features and same green eyes."
Sera eyed him warily, uncomfortable with his words. 'He's a little intense,' she thought sardonically as she stood up at last. "Look if you took me in just to blackmail or threaten me it's not going to work, you want to turn me over to Umbacano or the guards just try it."
He shook his head scornfully. "I would hardly go to all the hassle of helping you just to turn you in. I want to make a deal."
"A deal?" she echoed.
"Yes, that trinket you stole off Umbacano, it's worth a lot of coin, enough for you and I to split and be happy about. You happen to come across it then I might happen to come across a buyer for it, that's all."
Sera arched a blonde eyebrow at him, now this she had not been expecting. "I thought you were loyal to Umbacano," she accused.
He sneered back at her and let out a dry chuckle. "I'm paid by him not friends with him," he explained, "he's kind of an arrogant bastard if you get right down to it, but he pays well enough for all I do, but I'm getting tired of chasing thieves in the streets for him and he gets tight on the coin when I fail to catch them."
"Alright," Sera murmured, "but if you think I'm a thief then surely you know coin's not hard for me to come by."
"This kind of coin is," the Breton retorted confidently with a grin, "your lot live on the Waterfront; you're crafty but not rich. Look are you in or not?"
Sera frowned testily as she studied the man. "I find it hard to believe you picked me up of the street, brought me into your house, and paid for a healing remedy for me all in the hopes that I would negotiate with you."
"Well when you put it like that," he retorted calmly as the flush on his neck darkened, "you owe me."
Sera sighed and pushed back a stray strand of her wavy hair. "What's your name?" she questioned.
"Matthias, Matthias Draconis."
"Well Ser Draconis I'll have to think about it, maybe the treasure finds its way to me, and maybe it doesn't. Give me two days and I'll get back to you."
"Fair enough but on the chance that you decide not to get back to me you still owe me, I would consider breakfast a good start."
Her eyes widened at this and she swallowed down a splutter of indignation. 'Is he serious?' she wondered as she studied his calm and cool expression. 'Breakfast...is it a trick? Could it hurt?'
"Where?" she queried, forcing herself to appear unflustered.
He shrugged. "You're the one paying, you tell me."
The Merchants' Inn and The Feed Bag were the only inns Sera had ever ventured into in the Imperial City, sharing lunch with Roland in them a few times. Her stomach knotted tightly at that thought, she didn't want to have lunch with someone who wasn't Roland in those places, nor did she want any of the other local diners to see her there with Matthias.
'I need to get this over with,' she thought in irritation, 'and...' And what? Find the Gray Fox? Armand? She thought of Rufio and the Redguard and trembled slightly, their blood was on her hands along with Pennus', how she could face any of the thieves knowing that? What would she say to them? Certainly not the truth, not even to him, he could forgive her for one but surely not for three. 'Even if he's found a way for me to get out of this mess it's too late,' she thought bitterly.
"Is it really that hard to pick a place?" Matthias grumbled. "Or are you afraid some guard might spot you?"
"Maybe I'm just trying to think of the cheapest place," Sera retorted snidely.
Matthias frowned at her and retorted moodily, "your medicine wasn't cheap."
Sera shrugged. "It's the price you pay for helping strangers," she chided him with a mocking smile. "Let's go to the Bloated Float." It was close to the Waterfront and there would be a risk of bumping into Methredhel or one of the other thieves but it was a risk Sera was prepared to take, she knew none of them had any interest in the ship styled restaurant, except for Jair who was a fan of its cuisine but he had no interest in Sera and was unlikely to gossip about her presence.
Matthias seemed to consider the suggestion, truthfully the Breton had never ventured anywhere other than The Foaming Flask, it was close to his house and he and his housemate Collatinum found it all too handy to wander drunk home from. "A boat," he said dubiously, "better not all be fish food."
Sera let out a chuckle at that and then immediately fell silent, stunned at her ability to be amused after such a troubling experience. 'Did Lucien see me poisoned by zombies?' she wondered hatefully. 'Did he or one of the others wander past and leave me for dead? No, he went to such an effort to get me into his horrid group he wouldn't let me die but suffer, yes he'd let me suffer quite happily.'
"Well let's go," Matthias remarked impatiently, tiring of the way her mood seemed to shift rapidly.
"Could a girl get a change of clothes?" Sera quipped as she looked down at her filthy garments with scorn. They stank of rot and were stained with dust and some brown smears she hoped had come from the zombies.
"Legally or illegally?" Matthias demanded.
"Does it matter?" Sera replied sharply.
The Breton shrugged. "As long as you're quick and don't try a disappearing act."
"And is there is somewhere I could wash before that?" she queried.
"Upstairs," he grunted.
Two hours later found Matthias Draconis and Seraphina Polita in an odd companionship inside The Bloated Float enjoying a pleasant meal of blackberry jam and bread, pears, ham, slices of sweetcake and lemon flavoured water. Sera was washed and wearing the pleasant, blue, velvet garments of a middleclass woman pilfered from and placed on shamelessly in one woman's modest and delightfully people free home. Matthias had commented dryly that she did not need the silver, leaf shaped clasp to hold the purple cloak she had thrown over the ensemble or the silver, blue stoned circlet she had placed on her brow but she had merely shrugged and informed him he obviously knew nothing about fashion.
"I don't get this," Sera commented as she looked across the wooden table at the older Breton with suspicion. "You rescued me, took me into your home and got a cure for me in the hopes of making a deal with me. I still haven't agreed to the deal but you're happy to have breakfast with me and you swear you're not going to turn me into the guards?"
The dark flush was back at the Breton's neck as he nodded quickly before looking down at his half-empty plate. "I have no issue with thieves except when they're taking from Umbacano, then it's interfering with my job."
"So this trinket you think I took from him, and I'm still not admitting to that, how much is it worth?" she queried curiously.
"I'm not telling you that," he retorted with a small grin, "you can find out when we take it to a dealer."
"We," she murmured, "and you're not planning on taking it from me, maybe leaving me for dead? Well probably not, I suppose you did help me," she admitted grudgingly.
"Correct," Matthias answered bluntly as he leaned back in his seat and took in their nautical surroundings. "I like this," he admitted. They were seated by a diamond paned window with a view to the calm harbour. The tavern of the ship had been converted into a pleasant restaurant with a bar, the wooden interior complete with rope riggings and a central wooden post, along with trophy fish, dried up starfish and large, beautiful shells on the walls for decor, made for a pleasant and amusing setting.
Sera nodded in agreement as she wondered why she and Roland had never ventured here, it was different and nice. 'Just as well we didn't,' she thought to herself with a slight frown, 'or it would be another place tainted.'
They finished their meal amicably before exiting off the ship to a sunny but cool early afternoon. "Two days," Matthias reminded her, "come find me in my home, call by sooner if you want breakfast again, that medicine was dear."
Sera smiled and shook her head teasingly. "Two days," she mused, "and if I decide I can make this trinket appear and you don't turn me into Umbacano or the guards maybe I'll buy you lunch."
"Sera!" a squeal of surprise interrupted their parting.
'Damn,' the blonde thought with a wince, 'I almost avoided being seen with him.' She turned expectantly as the wood elf rushed up to her with wide, brown eyes.
"Sera where have you been?" Methredhel demanded with a look of annoyance. "Armand said you were on a mission!" She paused suddenly to give Matthias a suspicious glance. "Who's this?" she queried coolly.
Sera rolled her eyes at the brunette's obvious hostility as she waved one hand from her to Matthias. "Methredhel this is Matthias Draconis, Matthias," she paused and her cheeks turned a faint pink, it seemed strange to address him by his first name so quickly but he had insisted during breakfast, "this is Methredhel."
"Draconis," Methredhel murmured as she puzzled over the name.
"Afternoon," he murmured before adding, "I should be on my way."
"Yes," Sera said hastily, "see you soon...er...well...soonish," she mumbled awkwardly.
He gave a smug smile in retort before nodding and turning from them, heading towards the main doors back into the city. Methredhel watched him go with a curious look before turning her wide stare back on Sera. "How long have you been back?" she demanded. "Have you heard the news?"
"What news?" Sera queried.
"About Roland!" Methredhel squealed. "Lucky escape for you, you know! Luckier than we thought!"
"What do you mean?" Sera demanded as a jolt of fear ran through her. 'Lucien!' she thought with worry as she felt her heart begin to hammer against her chest.
Methredhel glanced about them quickly before leaning close to Sera and hissing, "he's a vampire!"
"WHAT?!" Sera yelled the word out louder than intended earning a suspicious glance from a passing guard.
Methredhel gave the guard a sheepish smile before grabbing Sera by one hand and tugging her towards the steps that led into the domain of the thieves. "A vampire," she repeated, "he killed poor Relfina one night!"
"No," Sera protested with a firm shake of her head, "he wouldn't have, he's not!"
"It's what everyone in town is talking about," Methredhel insisted.
Sera tugged free from her friend's grasp violently and shook her head again. "I don't believe it," she said stubbornly, "I'm going to his house right now to find out the truth!" Before Methredhel could protest Sera bolted, the pleasantries of the morning forgotten for worries about her former lover.
It did not take long for the blonde to reach Roland's house, she sneaked in through the back entrance down a narrow alleyway undetected. Naturally it was guarded at the front and when she entered quietly she was unsurprised to find it ransacked. 'Please be safe Roland,' she thought as her heart pounded loudly again and her throat turned dry. 'Was Lucien involved?' she wondered angrily. 'Was it some ploy of his? It doesn't seem his style, Roland would be dead and the message clear if he was behind this.'
Tables were overturned, pots shattered, dishes smashed and several items stolen, such as the crystal glasses from his mother and some fine bottles of wine. Sera swallowed down a lump in her throat before heading upstairs. She found his gold embroidered, red bed sheets in a crumpled heap on the floor, the small, gold hourglass she had gifted him with was smashed on the floor and his two chests had been opened and stolen from. It made her angry to see how his home had been abused and defiled, most probably by guards, and to think how they had probably pawed through his more intimate treasures, nosing into his affairs when they had no right to.
She paused as she stepped on a book lying on the floor with a broken spine and bent down to pick it up with a frown. It was 'Aevar Stone-Singer', his favourite tome; it had been passed down from his grandfather. She dusted it with disdain before closing its broken cover and placing it back on the table, nudging a wooden plate out of the way as she did. She paused as a letter beneath the plate became revealed and dared to pluck it up and peer at its contents.
'My dearest Roland,
I cannot wait for you to return from Bravil. My heart swells with joy as I know we will once again soon be together. I yearn for you every night that I look beside me in my bed, and you are not there. How I wish I could have taken the journey with you, but I understand that these are dangerous times, and I would only slow you down. When you return, perhaps we should get away from the chaos of the Imperial City. Let's go back to that cabin in the woods. The one where you said we would always be safe from the world. The one where you took me in your arms and sang songs of moonlight and happiness. The one where you said "I love you."
Hurry, my love,
Relfina'
Sera crumpled the paper in her hand in anger and despair. 'His cabin,' she thought with hate, 'he never once took me there! He said it was rundown and not worth visiting.' For a moment bitterness consumed her and she thought to abandon Roland to whatever murky fate he was suffering but then she caught a flash of his warm, golden eyes and smooth, tanned skin and knew that she had to help him. 'Did he ever sing of the moonlight to me?' she wondered dully as she crumpled the letter tighter before shoving it into her shirt's pocket. 'Or take me in his arms and say that he loved me? Was he ever sincere about his love for me?'
She felt her eyes burn as she descended down the house slowly and retreated the way she had come to the cold streets of the Imperial City. 'I must go to his cabin,' she decided, 'he said it was on a hill just outside of the city, it must be where he is hiding.' She paused as a dark shadow fell upon her and found herself looking up into the stern, golden-brown eyes of Lucien LaChance.
"Greetings my dark murderer," he purred at her gleefully. "I see you have not hesitated into returning to your dreary city life so I will not keep you long. I have a new target for you."
"Already?" she exclaimed as her gaze filled with disgust.
He nodded. "The list for death is never ending sweet Sera; Sithis is always hungry for victims. I will be generous and give you four days to complete this next task since I know you have plans to do dirty dealings with Mr Draconis. Do not think it does not amuse me that you will stain your hands with one deed but not another Sera, such questionable standards you have."
She flinched at the accusation whilst wondering in horror how she had never once sensed him when he had evidently been so close, picking up on her private affairs. "Did you see me wounded on the road?" she demanded angrily. "And pass me by? Or spy me even sooner, diseased and fleeing from zombies and bandits?!"
"Sera if I thought you needed a helping hand with every task I would not have given you the task."
"Perhaps you overestimated me," she commented bitingly.
"Or perhaps you underestimate yourself. Now, onto business, the sacrament has been performed and another has been called to our beloved Father. Berich Inian must go to Sithis."
Sera filled with shock at the name and it was all she could do to keep it from her face though she could not stop the colour draining from her face or her fists clenching tightly together. It was a name she knew.
Lucien looked at her with suspicion before dismissing her pallor as nerves, a sign of her lingering reluctance to be an assassin. "You will find him in Kvatch," he instructed, "he is an Imperial member of the Castle Guard. Have a care when you kill him, you must be discreet, no one must know the Brotherhood had a hand in it, perhaps poison. I could supply you with some."
"No thanks," she said bitingly as she dared to wonder if the day could get any worse. 'How can I go back there?' she thought with a pang. 'Berich...he'll know me straight away...they all will...I can't!'
"Very well, now remember, four days Sera." Lucien turned from her, melting back into the shadows he had stepped out from abandoning her to the cold city once more.