Sera was colder than she could remember being in a long time. She had smelled the snow before she had felt it but even with the warning the icy flakes against her skin were still a shock. She had turned down Perennia's offer of clothes, in part out of guilt for imposing upon the woman and in part because Caelia's glowers had made it clear that Sera wasn't welcome to any of the Draconis' possessions. So Sera had set out wearing only the clothes she had already accepted and one old, brown cloak that smelled of farm animals.
Matthias had offered to accompany her but had admitted to having pressing matters in the Imperial City to return to. Suspecting his mother was behind his generous offer, Sera had turned him down before hastening on her way. It would have been a risk anyway, he might have lingered in Bruma with her and she didn't want him tagging along to the Cloud Ruler Temple to potentially meet her long lost twin.
Sera had walked for most of the day and as an early evening sneaked in under cloud cover she was relieved to see the stone walls of Bruma appearing through the gloom. At first it was just shadowy edges of stone highlighted by flickering torchlight but as she grew closer the road became visible through the gradually falling snow.
She stumbled into the city through the wooden gates, weary from travel and the cold. Her entire body was numb, her fingers, which were burrowed in her armpits, were starting to burn and she could see her breath escaping as a white mist. Legs shaking and teeth chattering, Sera squinted through the now rapidly falling snow seeking potential salvation. She knew Bruma from tales not experience- it was a Nord stronghold in Cyrodiil, which was obvious the moment one stepped into the city. Its stone architecture was akin to the houses in Skyrim, its population was mostly Nord and its temple was to Talos, the questionable Divine revered by Nords.
Sera tried to recall which thieves she knew were in Bruma and froze up with a pang as she remembered Armand telling her the Gray Fox was here. That had been back in the Imperial City just before she had left for Kvatch. She had lied and told Armand to send the Gray Fox word that she would wait for him in the Imperial City. Was he in the capital looking for her now or had Armand realised her ruse and withheld the message? Could he still be here?
She manoeuvred past buildings of stone and wood, trying to avoid eye contact with the guards whilst looking for the small etchings on the walls that would indicate the presence of a thief. At long last she spied a symbol, barely visible in the dark, which meant sanctuary. It was black and upon the wooden wall of a small, single storey building, hard to spot if one wasn't looking for it. Sera tried the door and found it locked. Knowing that it would be an offence against the Guild to break in if it was a thief's sanctuary, she swallowed down a curse and slumped against the building instead. She arched her back against the door, trying to shelter under the narrow porch as best she could. Next she fixed the tattered cloak about herself, bowed her head and burrowed her frozen hands against her armpits once more as she raised her knees against herself.
Sera did not know how much time passed her by out in the cold. It was quiet as the snow muffled all sound and the wiser residents took shelter from the chill of the night. A few guards remained out but they slowed their patrol, opting for sanctuary under porches to watch any potential threat from instead. It made Bruma appear an unsettling place; it would be too easy to sneak up on someone with the silence of snow and the dark cover of the heavy wintry clouds.
"Oh look, a visitor!" a chirpy male's voice remarked.
"Really?" a female retorted dubiously. "Since when do you get visitors Ongar?"
"I have you two," a third voice, also male but older, grumbled wearily.
The younger male chuckled at this. "Yeah but I'm family Uncle Ongar."
"What shall we do with her?" the female queried.
"Bring her in of course, anything else would not be chivalrous," the male retorted dramatically.
"Even if she's a murderer in disguise?" the female quipped darkly.
Sera tensed at the words as she finally tuned into them. She turned her head up slowly, shaking some of the snow from her blonde crown as she did.
"I'm really tired," the eldest of the three complained. "Can we just get on with this?"
"You're always tired uncle," the young male jested.
"Wait a minute," the female remarked sharply. She scurried forward and leaned down and into Sera. "Sera is that you?!"
Sera blinked up at the woman tiredly before taking in her features. "Heriah?" she queried hoarsely.
"Goodness it is you!" the Imperial female exclaimed. "Quick, let's get her into the house, she must be freezing!"
Ongar sighed before he tugged out his ring of keys and moved slowly to unlock the door. Heriah's grunts of impatience did not hasten the older Nord and she even suspected of him going slower just to vex her. Once the door was open Ongar held back the younger pair with one hand and crouched down to Sera who had almost tumbled backwards into his house as he had opened the door. "Who are you?" he queried coolly.
"She's Sera! I just said that!" Heriah snapped.
"I want to hear from her who she is," Ongar retorted gruffly as he held Sera's emerald stare. "And why she's on my porch," he added.
"I am Seraphina Polita," she answered quietly. "I saw the symbol for sanctuary and I seek it."
Ongar nodded in a grudging acceptance before he extended a hand down towards her. "I know your name, he's mentioned it often," he admitted.
Sera accepted his hand even as she filled with surprise. "Is he here?" she queried, still quiet.
Ongar pulled her to her feet and shook his head. "Was," he answered bluntly. "Left a few days ago, got a message that you were waiting for him in the Imperial City."
Sera bowed her head and turned away from Ongar's accusing grey stare. She started to regret coming to his house but feeling the warmth of it sneak out to her she knew she could not depart from it. She moved inside slowly, eyes on the dead fireplace hopefully as she wondered where she should sit.
"Get the fire going Indyk," Ongar ordered the younger male.
The boy, a Nord, kicked off his heavy boots, tugged off his cloak and hung it on the wooden stand by the door, and then hastened to the fireplace.
Heriah moved to Sera's aid whilst Ongar closed and locked the door. Heriah tugged off Sera's tattered, brown cloak and moved her friend to a seat by the fire. She hung the cloak up with Indyk's and then tugged off an old blanket from the back of another chair and bundled it about the blonde.
"It's been too long!" Heriah exclaimed excitedly as she sat opposite her friend and took in her features. "I was in the city a few days ago, must've just missed you," she murmured. "Methredhel had so much to say, about vampires and Roland and that Lex fellow!"
Sera just nodded along wearily, too tired to speak. She was both relieved and saddened to have missed the Gray Fox. It made her guilty to think of her deception but even worse to consider what his reaction might be if he knew what he had done. She thought of Lucien and her stomach turned in revulsion, she did not have long to make his deadline in Cheydinhal where Vicente would be waiting for her with another contract.
"How far is the Cloud Ruler Temple from here?" she queried hoarsely.
"Half a day up the mountain pass," Ongar answered. "Why?" He looked at her with a serious, probing grey stare. Ongar was suitably titled the World-Weary, he looked like a tired man preparing to cross into his senior years, slouched slightly with wrinkles at his brow and grey in his hair. One could easily be fooled by his weary, beggar appearance but Sera could see the sharp glint in his eye and knew instinctively that he was far more than he seemed.
The blonde considered her answer carefully. What if she was wrong about it? What if he just looked like Thomas? He'd called himself Fenrick Burd and shown no recognition for Count Goldwine but he looked so like Sam and she had felt something when seeing him, some connection she couldn't explain. "A friend of mine said he was heading there," she explained. It wasn't quite a lie and all the truth they needed.
"A friend?" Ongar scoffed, clearly unconvinced. "Must be some friend travelling up there, it's a heavily guarded place you know, Blades live up there, dangerous to thieves."
"He's not a thief," Sera grumbled.
"If he's not a Blade he's not welcome up there," Ongar retorted.
"Wait. it's on the way to Ald Olyra!" Heriah enthused with a gleeful grin. "Oh how fortuitous, I bet it's Nocturnal's will you're here!" she squealed at Sera.
Sera blinked back in confusion whilst Ongar gave a grunt of disapproval and Indyk frowned. "What's Ald Olyra?" Sera quipped.
"It's an old castle," Heriah explained, "on a hill on the way to Cloud Ruler Temple. According to people round here it dates back to the second era when a collection of nobles built it to protect themselves during one of the epidemics. They didn't want any of the diseased masses to get into their midst and spread the plague, so they built up quite a sophisticated security system for the time."
"Right and why is it of interest?" Sera queried.
Indyk sighed. "Because the Order of St Eadnua plan to have a ritual feast in it tomorrow and according to what I heard they're embarrassingly rich and given how old the castle is its protection is bound to be minimal."
"Ah." Sera glanced from Heriah to Indyk. "And you two are planning on hitting it tomorrow, right?"
Indyk nodded solemnly. He was reluctant to cut Sera in and lessen his share of treasure but he had to admit having the Gray Fox's prodigy along for the heist might be useful.
"You have to come!" Heriah enthused. "It's on the way to Cloud Ruler Temple; I mean it has to be a sign."
"Except the feast is in the evening, I could hardly venture to the temple after," Sera pointed out with a shake of her head.
"Can you hold off on the temple for one more day?" Heriah pleaded. "And then we can come with you."
Sera frowned slightly; she no more wanted Heriah and Indyk with her than she had wanted Mathias. Heriah was a good friend but it was bad enough with Sera being a thief without bringing two others in tow to the Cloud Ruler Temple, the Blades were liable to shoot them with arrows on sight.
"Three thieves venturing to the Blades," Ongar scorned, "don't be silly."
"We could go part of the way," Indyk said, "to make sure Sera reaches there safely." He might be reluctant to have Sera coming to the castle but his chivalrous side was even more reluctant to see her traipsing up a long mountain path in the snow alone, vulnerable to bears, wolves, bandits, and worse.
"Come on Sera when were you last on such an exciting heist?" Heriah queried excitedly as her eyes went as wide as saucers. She leaned across to the blonde and gripped her left hand suddenly. "It's what we do after all," she reminded her, "in honour of the Gray Fox and Nocturnal, come on; I know it would make him proud."
Sera blanched at that thought and a tight, bitter smile cut across her face. 'Make him proud,' she thought numbly. 'Gods could something like this lessen the blow of everything else I've done? Show him that I'm still a thief at heart?' She suppressed a tremble and found herself nodding slowly without even being certain why.
"You should come too uncle," Indyk urged.
Ongar shook his head dismissively. "I'm retired," he grumbled, "and I've already told you it's a bad idea."
"Why?" Sera demanded as she looked to the older man.
He crossed his arms and frowned over at her. "I've lived in Bruma a long time, I've been everywhere and done everything, and yet I know very little about this castle and less about this order."
"Oh uncle, don't be cross because some untapped treasure slipped past you," Indyk retorted teasingly.
Ongar sighed. "Don't listen to me if you don't want to but I insist there's something off about this castle. Now, I'm really tired so get to bed already."
Ongar occupied the only bed in the building leaving the others to make up bedding on the stone floor with blankets, sheets and pillows. They curled up together beside the fading fire and for once Sera finally felt safe.
It was three hours after sundown. The evening had come in a rush for Sera, blanketing her in darkness and ice before she had barely registered the sun. It had been an uneasy day, beginning with Ongar rousing Sera from a frightening dream. The jaded thief had informed the blonde she had been yelling about red skulls and worms. Sera had tried to dismiss it as nothing but nonsense conjured by Vaermina but she had seen in Ongar's pale grey stare that he had not believed her. The rest of the day Sera had spent preparing with Heriah. The blonde had tried to dismiss her night terrors and focus on the task at hand but she could not shake the feeling of someone or something watching her. Fearing the Brotherhood she had kept a keen eye out for figures in black hooded cloaks but had spotted none.
Now here she was with Heriah and Indyk staring up at a modestly sized ruined castle situated atop a hill. It was fifteen minutes off the beaten path and through a cluster of pine and fir trees. Unnoticeable until one cleared the last of the trees to spy the small, bumpy hill from which the building dominated. A few lights winked out at them hinting at the life within but there was not nearly enough festivity or activity to suggest a feast.
Sera felt the roof of her mouth turn dry as she was certain something was amiss. "I don't like this, surely it should be busier for a feast," she pointed out quietly.
"They're probably still setting up inside," Indyk dismissed her concerns quickly, "or maybe their idea of a feast is a quieter one than ours."
They headed up the hill as stealthy as they could before pausing just before they lost the shadows to the lights of the castle. "We'll climb the wall there," Heriah remarked quietly as she gestured to a stone wall that whilst sturdy had many chinks from wear offering firm footholds and handholds.
Sera followed her friend's gaze to the wall and nodded, it wasn't too high, she could manage it.
"And I shall provide a distraction while you girls get the gold," Indyk commented happily with a confident smile.
Sera glanced his way and swallowed hard as she wished she could share his confidence. 'Is it just because I'm rusty?' she pondered. 'A job like this should be a cinch. The castle is old, its defences are feeble and forgotten and these people within... Well that's it, I know virtually nothing about them and Heriah and Indyk don't know much more. A feast for St. Eadnua, who is that?'
The blonde had no more time to consider her decision to join the quest as Heriah urged her into action. The pair headed to the wall quickly and began a perilous climb using only their hands and feet, no ropes or pickaxes, such tools might be handy but they equally might give the game away too soon.
Heriah made it up first with ease, slipping over the edge of the wall onto the empty guard's post. She turned and helped pull Sera up the rest of the way. The pair then turned and leaned low to the wall to watch as Indyk performed his part of the job.
The young, cocky thief stepped up to the door of the castle with a bashful smile and gave a loud, brisk knock.
Heriah watched excitedly as she wondered what Indyk's story would be this time- lost adventurer, travelling bard or something else? The possibilities were endless. The door opened and the soft murmurings of a woman were heard. Heriah's smile widened as she spied Indyk slipping into the castle before the door was shut and the light flooding out was banished. Indyk always did have charm that was why he nearly always played the role of distraction when they did heists together.
"That didn't take long," Sera murmured, sounding more suspicious than impressed.
"It never does for Indyk," Heriah boasted. She stood upright and led the way to a wooden door the guards would have used. The lock was long rusted off and sadly the door was no challenge at all, requiring only some determined hard pushing before it gave way to a dim, musty room.
"How long have you two been working together?" Sera queried quietly as she walked with Heriah.
Heriah was just a year younger than Sera and had been one of her first friends in the Imperial City. An orphan taken in by the Waterfront she had had greeted the wary, then twelve-year-old Sera with a smile and an offer of a skipping rope to share. A friendship had been born quickly on that day and for close to a year the pair had even been roommates, watched closely by an Imperial thief called Varla. Their friendship had been cut short when Varla had been brutally murdered.
No one ever found out who had murdered Varla and as Sera had come to learn it had not been a quick death. Fearful for Sera's wellbeing, the Gray Fox had spirited her away to Bravil for a month. When Sera had returned to the Imperial City she had been distraught to hear that Heriah had gone. The Imperial had not left without a word however, leaving behind the skipping rope and a brief note bestowing the toy to Sera. Sera and Heriah had met several times since but they scarcely spent more than a week together before duties drove them apart.
Heriah shrugged at the question. "I'm not sure, a year maybe." She pushed back a strand of dark brown hair, pushing it back into her tan hood.
"How did you meet?" Sera pried.
"Through Ongar," Heriah retorted as they sneaked down a corridor. "He was my fence and Indyk is his nephew."
They reached a large set of heavy double doors secured with several locks and a few traps. Some looked old and stiff but still working whilst others were evidently new. "This must be it," Heriah commented excitedly as she rubbed her gloved hands together in anticipation. "I'll take the older traps." She stepped forward carefully, avoiding a trick tile in the floor and ducking swiftly past a telltale iron ringed hole in the wall that undoubtedly would unleash fire or an arrow into an unsuspecting fool.
Sera nodded even as she looked over her shoulder with unease. The blonde still could not rid herself of the feeling of being followed. Seeing no shadowy figures she swallowed down the lump in her throat and turned her attention to the traps. It didn't take long for the blonde to figure out their weaknesses, a limp clasp here, a loose screw there, and a spring that was just a little too tight.
The blonde felt the excitement in her grow as she relaxed into the familiar habits of trap disablement and lock picking. With all that had happened to her she had almost forgotten the thrill of being a thief. It was why she had agreed to come tonight, to feel that rush again and welcome the distraction from all her other woes.
Within minutes the doors were free and Sera and Heriah pushed them open with anticipation. Their avaricious dreams paled to reality as a glittering mountain of gold and jewels greeted them. Relics glowed with magic, weapons gleamed with gilding and jewels, gemstones as large as their fists spilled down the mountain of gold coins and bars, bottles of potions glinted from the walls, and scrolls and books bowed the shelves with their weight.
For a moment the women were stunned into silence. The treasure was so brilliant it glowed with its own light and it was too vast to take in all at once. Sera did not even know the names of some of the trinkets and she pondered at the emblems on some of the shields not recognising whom they might have belonged to. They were so enthralled they did not hear the man who approached them from behind until he spoke.
"You must be Lady Tressed and Lady Tsafkaerb." He greeted them in a soft, calm voice and yet it was enough to have them spinning round with startled gasps.
Sera's hands paused at both her daggers concealed beneath her cloak. She looked to the man fearfully as he gave her a pleasant smile. He had the appearance of a monk in a black hooded cloak woven with silver and gold threading. It was not the garb of the Brotherhood and yet it instantly put Sera in mind of them anyway.
Heriah could not speak and merely nodded. Indyk was the charmer who welcomed an opportunity like this to demonstrate his quick thinking and glib tongue but Heriah was slower to think of something convincing to say. "I'm afraid we're a little lost," she stammered.
"I can see that," the man retorted with a small laugh. "That's the armoury. I'll show you the way to the dining hall. We were afraid you weren't going to arrive. The feast is nearly over."
Heriah and Sera exchanged a brief look. Sera's emerald eyes were wary but Heriah looked intrigued. She flashed the blonde a brief, assuring smile before she turned a wider grin upon the monk and nodded.
The pair of thieves followed the monk down the dimly lit corridor and outside to a courtyard.
The courtyard was overgrown with weeds; its centrepiece was a broken plaster fountain that a thin sliver of moonlight shone down upon. Sera tensed slightly as she looked to it, its white edges were stained with red as if with rust or blood.
They followed the monk across the courtyard, to a set double doors leading to the dining hall. Two robes identical to the one the monk was wearing hung on a hook outside. He paused, plucked them off and held them out to the women with a knowing smile. Sera looked at back at him with suspicion, his smile revolted her and she was certain there was a gleam of malice in his dark eyes. 'How did there happen to be two robes just waiting here?' she pondered.
Heriah accepted a robe without hesitation and slipped it on. She mimicked the monk as she lowered the hood over her head and entered the hall. Feeling she had little choice but to do the same, Sera copied her friend.
Torches illuminated the figures within around the large rectangular table. Each occupant wore the uniform black robe that covered all features, and from the look of things, the feast was over. Empty plates, platters, and glasses filled every inch of the wood with only the faintest spots and dribbles of the food remaining. It was a breaking of a fast it seemed.
For a moment, Heriah stopped to think about poor, lost Lady Tressed who had missed her opportunity for gluttony. Sera was not as concerned for Lady Tsafkaerb, what kind of a name was that anyway? It certainly wasn't Imperial.
The only unusual item on the table was its centrepiece: a huge golden hourglass which was on its last minute's worth of sand.
Though each person looked alike, some were sleeping, some were chatting merrily to one another, and one was playing a lute. It was not a soothing sound; the notes came slow and drawn out adding a creepy undertone to the already uneasy atmosphere.
Heria looked at the lute curiously and felt her heart skip a beat, it was Indyk's lute, she then noticed Indyk's ring on the finger of the man playing the lute. Heriah was suddenly grateful for the anonymity of the hood. Perhaps Indyk would not realize that it was she, and that she and Sera had blundered. Relief flooded through her and only then did she realise she had been a little scared. Indyk was here, working his charm as usual, it would not be long before he had them in his thrall and she and Sera could slip off to pocket the gold.
"Tressed," said the young man to the assembled, who turned as one to her and burst into applause. "And Tsafkaerb." That earned another applause and several mocking chuckles.
Sera tensed again, the applause did not sound friendly. Taking in the anonymity put her in mind of the Dark Brotherhood yet again. People wearing dark cloaks and hoods were people who had something to hide.
The conscious members of the Order arose to kiss Heriah's hand, and introduce themselves.
"Nirdla."
"Suelec."
"Kyler."
The names got stranger.
"Toniop."
"Htillyts."
"Noihtarap."
Heriah could not help laughing as she finally caught on to their game. "I understand. It's all backwards. Your real names are Aldrin, Celeus, Relyk, Poinot, Styllith, Parathion," she announced proudly.
"Of course," said the young monk who had brought them in. "Won't you have a seat?"
"Sey," giggled Heriah, getting into the spirit of the masque and taking an empty chair. "I suppose that when the hourglass runs out, the backwards names go back to normal?"
Sera was not so keen on the game and she remained standing until the monk, Aldrin or Nirdla as he was choosing to go by, gripped her shoulders tightly and forced her into a seat. She was seated at the end of the table, far from Heriah who was in the middle of the ground. Aldrin remained at Sera's back, his grasp still present on her shoulders though it loosened.
"That's correct, Tressed," said the woman next to Heriah. "It's just one of our Order's little amusements. This castle seemed like the appropriately ironic venue for our feast, devised as it was to shun the plague victims who were, in their way, a walking dead."
Heriah felt herself light-headed from the odour of the torches, and bumped into the sleeping man next to her. He fell face forward onto the table. He hit the table with a hard, stiff thud, his movement too still for an unconscious man.
"Poor Esruoc Tsrif," said a neighbouring man, helping to prop the body up. "He's given us so much."
Heriah stumbled to her feet and began walking uncertainly for the front door. Her brown eyes darted about nervously as she tried to spy Sera amongst the hoods.
"Where are you going, Tressed?" asked one of the figures, his voice taking on an unpleasant mocking quality.
"My name isn't Tressed," she mumbled as she reached the lutist and gripped his arm tightly. "I'm sorry, partner. We need to go."
The last crumb of sand fell in the hour glass as the man pulled back his hood. It was not Indyk. It was not even human, but a stretched grotesquery of a man with hungry eyes and a wide mouth filled with tusk-like fangs.
Heriah fell back into the chair of the now propped up figure they called Esruoc Tsrif. His hood fell open, revealing the pallid, bloodless face of Indyk. Bit soft flesh had been torn from his face and he bore deep bite marks at his throat. As Heriah began to scream, they fell on her.
Sera, who had already shaken off the monk's grasp and jumped to her feet to walk to her friend, now broke into a run as she tugged out her daggers.
"It's not your turn yet Tsafkaerb," Aldrin snarled out from behind her.
At last Sera saw the feast for what it was. The sleeping guests were not sleeping at all, they were dead. The red stains on the table were not from wine but blood, and the greasy strips of skin had not come from fowl or boar. She pressed back the nausea rising inside her as her daggers slashed out at the robed figure who made to block her.
She tightened her grip on her daggers as a flashback of figures in robes running down a castle corridor almost overwhelmed her. 'Not now!' she thought desperately as the blades cut through black cloth and bit at flesh.
The monk recoiled with a hiss of pain just as another came at the blonde from her right. A fist caught her hard in the ribs. She stumbled to the left, banging against a table as she did. Her hood tumbled down exposing her blonde curls but she did not care, there was no need for disguises anymore anyway.
Heriah screamed, clawed and kicked out as three assailants forced her to the ground. Only one had the tusk like fangs, the others were almost still humane looking, almost. They had faces flushed red and smeared with blood, eyes wide and rage fuelled as they came down upon her snarling and snapping like rabid beasts.
"Wait, Tressed should be savoured!" a woman cried out.
Heriah's eyes went wide at those words as the attacks finally ceased. Her heart skipped as a beat as she finally spelled "Tressed" backwards. "NO!"
Sera successfully left a deep slice in a woman's cheek and almost severed a man's hand from his arm before Aldrin subdued her from behind. He struck her on the head with the blunt end of a mace sending her falling to the floor with a groan of pain as a wave of sickness and darkness washed over her.
So as I'm sure some of you have noticed a lot of this chapter comes from A Surfeit of Thieves, a book you can find in the Elder Scrolls games. Even though you can get this book in Morrowind meaning the tale predates the Oblivion timeline I choose to disregard that :-) I had intially intended Heriah and Indyk to come into this fic much sooner so their fate would have more of an impact but it just didn't work with the story. I couldn't resist retelling the story with Sera however.
Many thanks for all the lovely reviews and favs I'm so sorry this fic has taken so long to update I just don't have as much time for writing as I want :-( I hope it was worth the wait and please keep the reviews coming!