Chapter 2: Eyes Open, Walk with the Shadows

It was by no means the first time Samuel had to steal something. Back when Grelod was running the Honorhall Orphanage, he sometimes had to sneak out and grab some food for himself and his friends. He had always hated her and her cruel punishments. He remembered a time when he was considering just climbing up a roof and jumping down from it. He'd almost lost his hope of getting out of this hell… until the mysterious assassin came and slew Grelod. Grelod the Kind. Just what kind of bad joke was that, really.

Samuel sneaked out of the Ratway and found himself on the wooden wharf below the city which ran along the curved canal underneath. Several shops were located down here. He stopped by all of them. Pretending he's looking at the merchandise, he placed a piece of paper with a note scribbled on it in a chest of each shop and then continued up the wooden stairs into the center of Riften. The morning breeze was surprisingly nice and fresh here. The usual Riften mist was not there and Samuel noticed that the city gates were open. It was awfully quiet and he knew the moment he'd climbed up the stairs that something was wrong.

The vendors and shopkeepers he passed gave him a surprised look as he walked past them, somehow telling him that he was not supposed to be there. Samuel met no other locals on the streets but noticed two hooded figures just outside the Black-Briar Meadery. It was never a good sign to see strange hooded figures so he hid behind a corner and kept watching them for a while. His eyes caught a glimpse of pale skin and a thin face underneath the black hood of one of them. High elves. The cautious looks of the local vendors silently peeking in the way of the two Thalmor could only mean that these are not welcome guests.

Samuel shook his head and made his way to the wooden door of Haelga's Bunkhouse. She was supposed to host a special guest today. Samuel's target was something in his possession. He entered the house and the grumpy face of Haelga behind the wooden counter welcomed him right away.

"This is no place for kids," she snapped. "Especially not at this time so get out."

Her face displayed signs of weariness and her dress seemed somewhat ragged and untidy which was unusual for this woman who liked to maintain her good appearance.

"I was sent by Constance Michel to deliver this," Samuel said with a smile, innocence framing his round face. He handed out a paper with a sloppy painting of Dibella. He drew it himself last night despite knowing well that he was bad at drawing. His brown eyes widened a little as he tried to look as pure and innocent as only a clueless child can be. "One of the kids in the orphanage drew this and she thought you might like it."

Haelga took the paper in her hands and turned it over a few times. Not really looking at the picture, she pointed at the entrance door behind him. "Thanks. And now get out."

Without saying goodbye she turned around. Samuel used this moment to open the door, close it again, sneak past the counter and up the stairs to the right. The special guest should be the only person up there today which made his work easier. Or at least he thought it would.

Having reached the upper floor, he did not have to search for long to find a lone figure sitting on a bed in the guest room on the left. Samuel gasped when he realized that the man he was staring at was an Altmer, his deep blue hood hiding most of his face.

Wait… that's not right. The special guest is a Thalmor? I'm supposed to steal from a Thalmor?!

He was frantically searching his memory for any clues about this that lady Aislinn could have pointed out. There were none.

Did she trick me? he thought to himself. If this guy catches me, I'm not going to jail, he'll kill me right away! The Nine know that they show no mercy. What are they doing here anyway?

He froze when the elf suddenly moved. Holding his breath, he watched the Altmer get up on his feet, exposing his full height which was definitely above average, and slowly walk to the door on the other side of the room. Samuel knew that this might the only chance he gets. With his face going pale as the skin of a snow elf, he crouched and silently crept to the bed the special guest had been sitting on a while ago. He located a small chest beneath it. Luckily it wasn't locked. The package was there, intact. A piece of thin rose-colored cloth covered it, a string of bast rope holding it in place.

Samuel heard movement behind him. His face even paler than before, his lips tightly pressed together, he crawled back to the corridor and just barely evaded confrontation with Haelga. He had a hard time climbing down the stairs and at one moment he was sure that one of the two people in the house had to hear the creaking sound of him stepping on the last of the loose wood blocks fashioning a great part of the steps. He came almost running to the entrance door and quickly left the house. Down the stairs to the wharfs again, enter the Ratway, sneak his way past the bandits who somehow always managed to find their way here and appear from thin air, and finally enter the Ragged Flagon. He came panting as he saw Aislinn wave at him.

"Good job out there," she smiled. "Deceiving three merchants and one bastard hostess like a professional. So, do you have it?"

"You deceived me!" he shouted at her, angry sparks in his dark brown eyes. "You wanted me dead!"

A confused look displayed in Aislinn's golden eyes when she replied. "If I wanted you dead, I'd have no problem killing you right away," she said quietly.

"Then you just love to see the scared faces of your struggling victims?" he hissed.

Shock replaced Aislinn's confusion. "A kid shouldn't talk like that. No, a kid shouldn't even think like that. For the sake of Nocturnal, how did you come up with this?"

"You didn't mention that the special guest would be a Thalmor." Samuel's voice sounded broken, betrayed. He gave Aislinn a look she knew far too well. A memory of a charred body, probably still lying in the depths of Falkreath Sanctuary of the Dark Brotherhood, flashed through her mind. But she had had a reason. Samuel was wrong. At least partially.

"I… what?!" she stared at him and then slowly turned to Delvin Mallory. "That wasn't a part of the deal, Delvin."

He looked just as startled. "No… it wasn't. But at least," a slight smile formed on his lips, "you know you've found yourself a damn good thief." He gave Samuel an impressed look.

Aislinn didn't look amused. "Do you have the package?" she asked Samuel. She knew he did. He would never return if he didn't have it. She could see the pride in his eyes, the determination to break out of his orphan shell and show the people around what he could do. He was like her. Not wanting to succumb to the cruelty of the world, not wanting to stay behind and wait to see the world make a move on its own. He was the one who was supposed to make that move. He was the one who would change the world and make it his own.

Samuel hesitated before handing the package over to Aislinn. She took it and examined it carefully. Delvin reached his hand for it but instead of passing it to him, Aislinn started removing the bast rope and the cloth.

"Boss, what in Oblivion are you doing? We're supposed to hand this over to the client! Intact!" Despite him trying to sound as though he only wanted to remind her of how the Guild worked, she could almost touch the urge in his voice.

Aislinn knew the moment she felt the familiar shape of the object in her hand that she couldn't just give it away.

"Who is the client?" she asked.

"You know I can't tell you that," Delvin replied, averting his eyes. "You have to give it to me. Hopefully he won't realize we opened it. For Nocturnal's sake, I'm begging you, boss."

"This deal is far more important than you made it out to be." There was no apparent emotion in Aislinn's voice but Delvin still felt the reproach in her look.

"It is. And I had no idea you'd send a kid to take care of it. Sometimes I figure it might be more useful to just pretend it's a piece of cake. Guess I'll have to be more careful with you. Nocturnal knows that you tend to do all sorts of crazy things." He sighed with a resigned expression.

Aislinn raised her right hand holding a strange trinket that looked like a dragon claw made out of a pearl. "I'm not returning this," she said resolutely. "Not yet, at least."

"Boss…"

"Is that a dragon claw?" A voice echoed from the direction of the secret way to the Cistern. Brynjolf has come to join the party, his brows raised in an inquisitive manner.

"Not you too, Brynjolf," moaned Delvin.

"You know it?" asked Aislinn curiously.

"Aren't these supposed open the ancient Nord tombs? Just what do you want to do with something like this, lass?"

"Didn't you just answer your own question, Brynjolf? I'm going to open a tomb with this."

"Boss, what do you think this guild is? Some kind of tomb raiders association?" asked Delvin with the same doubtful look he had given her last night when she'd assigned Samuel for the mission.

"Now now, Delvin," said Brynjolf in a calming tone. "You know far too well that our lass isn't just a thief."

"Yeah, I know she loves adventures, fighting dragons and all that big stuff. But this is interfering with our business."

"Who is your client?" Aislinn repeated her question.

There was a silence.

"Delvin, who in Tamriel could order the Thieves Guild to recover a dragon claw from a Thalmor? Speak, because I'm running out of patience."

"Listen," said Delvin in a cranky voice. "Endon met this gal in Markarth. Apparently she was all mysterious and didn't show her face for a single moment but she paid him a small fortune just to get this. Said it was about some inheritance or something. We can't afford to fail this deal."

"Right. I'm off to Markarth then."

"You gonna return it?" There was a tiny bit of hope in Delvin's voice.

"Depends," Aislinn answered, her face shifting between smirking and a playful smile. "I wanna know what's going on here. I don't like it. There are far too many Thalmor in Riften at the moment and now they're messing with the Guild. And," her eyes turned to the claw, still in her hands, "then there's the tomb. There's a reason why these claws are dragon claws, you know."

"If you're expecting to find a dragon there, I must disappoint you," Delvin snorted. "Dragons don't usually live underground, you know."

"But the dragon priests do, my dear Delvin," she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "And they usually have something I find extremely valuable."

Another doubtful look from Delvin's direction.

"What's the point of returning this anyway? It's useless to normal people, there's barely anyone who would dare make their way through the hordes of draugr just to enter some ancient tomb."

"I don't think that's any of our business," replied Delvin wryly.

"Don't you worry, Delvin. I'm going to see this through and… deal with this client so you don't have to lose your sleep over the Guild's future," Aislinn said in a comforting voice. Delvin didn't seem convinced, however.

"Wait, lass. I'm going to go with you and make sure everything goes smoothly." Brynjolf's figure suddenly appeared next to Aislinn. She raised her brows but decided not to comment on that. She had the feeling that Brynjolf did not understand his decision all that well himself, but the thieves were sometimes spontaneous, just like their fickle patron of luck.

"What about me?" a question came from the little Samuel who was standing there for the whole conversation, his eyes roving between Delvin and Aislinn. "I tricked a Thalmor. Maybe I can kill a dragon too."

Aislinn chuckled. "It's nice to have big dreams," she smiled at him tenderly, stroking him on the wild shag of his hair. "If you hate it in the orphanage, you can stay here, but there's no way I'm taking you with us."

"I want to roam the world as well," Samuel pleaded. "Please, lady Aislinn. Let me go with you. I can be of use. I can prepare meals for you and do all kinds of work. Lady… I mean Grelod taught me well. I hated it but we had to be useful if we wanted to escape punishment… so I can do a lot."

"I believe you, Sam. I really do but this is no place for a kid. There are things even I have problems dealing with out there. I can't have you getting in the way at a time like that. Stay here and learn what you can. Work hard and your time will surely come." Aislinn grabbed an empty sack from a chest nearby and filled it with coins from her own. "Take this and use it for the training and food. Don't waste it. You'll be on your own when you've spent it all."

Doubts and restraint showed in Samuel's face.

"Don't be like that," she scolded him softly. "You're a thief now and thief shows no restraint. Take what you get. You won't get so many chances like this."

He slowly took the sack.

Without saying another word, Aislinn turned to the secret passage to the Cistern. Brynjolf followed her silently, seemingly ready to leave right away. Another mystery. No matter what, Brynjolf was always ready. As if he was expecting what was going to happen. He never failed.

They marched through the Cistern together, climbed up the wooden ladder on the right side of the room and opened the secret way out. Aislinn froze when she heard two sweet elven voices talking in the cemetery. She crouched and pressed herself to the cold pale stone of the sarcophagus and Brynjolf followed promptly.

"This one is done," said one of them. "The others in the Rift are sure to follow. We should be on our way soon."

"Do you think it's wise to leave just like this?" the other one asked. A female voice, a bit higher and sweeter than the other one. Suddenly Aislinn thought that this voice had the taste of an almond. "They spotted the Dragonborn here. This could be our chance."

Brynjolf gave his companion a meaningful look. Her brows furrowed.

"Leave the Dragonborn be," the man said. "She might not look like much but she's dangerous. I don't see how you'd defeat her when she's capable of taking down a fort all by herself. Don't worry, Elenwen has a way to deal with her. Our time will come soon."

The voices faded as their owners walked away. Aislinn carefully stuck out her head and took an examining look at the cemetery. Several corpses lay nearby a headless statue that was once the shrine of Talos. She stared at them in shock.

"They… they are killing people for worshipping Talos."

Brynjolf shrugged.

She stared at him in disbelief. "I know they were sending them into prisons… but this time they actually killed a bunch. Does that seem all right to you?"

"One would think you'd be more bothered by the Dragonborn talk, my lass," he stated unscrupulously. "It's the Dominion we're talking about. If they ever had restraints, it wasn't out of mercy."

She frowned. "I don't think we're going to be able to enter Markarth through the main gate anymore," she said. "Nor is it going to be easy to find our contact."

"Of course not. But the world would be boring if things were always easy, don't you think?" He winked at her.

"Right…" she said slowly, trying to get over his lightheaded attitude. She pulled her hood over her head. There was a nice stalhrim helmet resting in her backpack but she didn't dare put it on, knowing there were at least two hungry Thalmor watching out for her wandering about. Sneakily the two of them got out of the city. Aislinn knew she couldn't ride Shadowmere to Markarth and didn't even attempt to make contact with him. They crossed the lake beneath the south gate, eyes open and walked with the shadows. This was going to be a long trip they were about to make. A trip that could possibly change many lives.

And so the second chapter is over. Thanks for reading it, thanks for all your likes and wait for the next chapter. I'm still waiting eagerly for your reviews so don't hesitate to send me your opinions. I would much appreciate them.

I'll start working on my next chapter in just a moment but I cannot promise I'll release one every day. Still, stay tuned. It'll get better.

Thanks for all your support. :)