The sound of weapons clanking against each other filled the air, bouncing off the cliffs around.
The last night of full Secunda passed much like the previous one. Bishop and Aeyrin stayed on the plateau near the Skybound pass, just like before. Once more, Aeyrin was secured in the chains through the night. It was all the same. She was aggressive and kept lunging and growling at Bishop throughout. He tried to talk to her, seeing if that would calm her a bit. At times, he felt like it worked, but at other times, it seemed to do the opposite. He wasn't really sure what to make of it.
Aeyrin had been so hopeful that it was going to get better the second night. She still remembered nothing from when she was transformed and Bishop really didn't want to bring her even more down by telling her that it was pretty much the same, but he didn't really want to lie to her either. He just tried to reassure her that it was too soon for her to be gaining control over the werewolf – the twins said so too.
She was disappointed, but she wasn't even sure why. She didn't want to 'become one' with that monster at all, did she? She tried to concentrate on the fact that there was a cure instead. It was the only hope she had been clinging to since this whole mess started.
Regardless, they made it through the last night of full Secunda unscathed and, once they got their rest through the morning, they headed out west, finally back on track towards Dragon Bridge.
Well… they weren't exactly on their intended 'track'. They took a considerable detour and now their best course of action was to go through Falkreath and then continue north through Rorikstead towards Dragon Bridge. It would also ensure that they would get to avoid the majority of Whiterun Hold. It wasn't as if they couldn't traverse it through the wilderness, avoiding patrols, but neither of them were really eager to deal with even the small chance of anything going wrong. They'd been stressed enough after their brief stay in Whiterun.
And besides, Bishop kind of wanted to go through Falkreath. This whole business with the bounties suddenly felt all too fresh and he was worried that whoever was sending these, might have sent one to Falkreath too. He just wanted to make sure. Better than to be caught off guard. They approached the town carefully and Bishop made sure to be seen by the guards from a large distance – far enough so that he could still run away safely if they got alerted to his presence. But fortunately, nobody in Falkreath even gave him a second look. It seemed like the place was still safe. It was a small victory, even though neither him nor Aeyrin really relished spending much time in the Hold altogether. It still brought back bad memories and it probably wouldn't get better anytime soon.
They didn't linger, neither in the town itself nor on the roads around the forests, even though those were much safer now with Thorn's clans wiped out. And besides, the weather tended to urge them onwards. The entire day, the whole Hold had been plagued by heavy rain mixed with the occasional snow.
They were almost on the road to Rorikstead, by the Reach border, when the sounds echoing through the area alerted them.
They could see the commotion down the road. Most of the old Imperial forts around Skyrim were often abandoned and so was Fort Sungard the few times they had passed around it. But today, a large battle was raging in the area. It looked like a siege.
The fort had visible red banners all displayed on its outer walls and an Imperial flag waving in the strong wind on a tall post on its tower.
It looked like it had been occupied by the Imperial forces. And their attackers were carrying tellingly blue banners.
The Stormcloak soldiers were rushing the fort in full force. There had to be at least several dozen of them, lunging themselves at the barricades and attempting to position large ladders on the battlements. The Imperial soldiers seemed to be staving them off for now though. They had plenty of archers and mages up on the battlements, defending them to their deaths.
The civil war was a constant presence in Skyrim, but Bishop and Aeyrin hadn't ever seen a large battle like this take place. According to the rumors, the factions mostly hit each other's more or less secret camps until now, way off the beaten paths.
There were many more soldiers battling than they had even imagined. Everyone was saying how many lives were being lost in the war daily, but seeing it like this, was a whole other matter.
"Why are they fighting so much over that fort?" Aeyrin scowled as she peered at the scene from a distance. They were very far, too far for any of the soldiers to even notice them, but the slaughter was still plain to see from their vantage point.
She wasn't sure what anyone would want with an old fort. Were the Stormcloaks just attacking because the Imperials occupied it?
"It's a good base," Bishop shrugged. "Close to the road, so they can ambush any war supply caravans. And having any base in enemy territory is probably a good thing. They can plan any further attacks from it better. Without risking the Imperials moving on from their camps until they get there."
That was a good point. It still felt a little odd to see it so openly though. They've seen a few skirmishes between small groups of soldiers before, but never this.
"What's weird is them trying to take a fort in the Reach," Bishop scowled. "I'd think that would be the last place they try to encroach upon. You know, with the Forsworn. They'd just have a harder time gaining more bases there, fighting off two enemies at once. And they don't have anywhere to retreat to. They're surrounded by Holds under Imperial control. Or… Whiterun, I guess."
That was weird. Starting with the Reach seemed counter-productive. But Aeyrin never understood much about war tactics. Ulfric wasn't an idiot. He had to have a reason for this attack. He wouldn't risk his men for nothing. Maybe if he and Master Lortheim had their way and she would try to delve into Talos worship from the perspective of a war-hardened soldier, she would understand this attack more. But like this, it just felt like pointless slaughter.
"Guess we should wait," Bishop sighed. They had already delayed enough, but there was not much else to do.
"So… we just… watch?" Aeyrin cringed at the notion. Somehow it felt wrong. Like a strange spectacle that they were intruding upon. Not that the soldiers even knew about them and plenty of other travelers must have seen the battle – it was right there on the roads. But it still made her feel uncomfortable.
"What else?" Bishop scoffed. "You wanna go join in?"
"No!" she shook her head vehemently. No matter what she thought about the Stormcloaks, she didn't want to help slaughter them by the dozens. And she definitely didn't want to give Tullius any ideas if she 'helped'. Nor did she want to anger Ulfric.
"You wanna bet on who wins instead?" Bishop smirked at her maliciously.
"Bishop!" she scowled at him in chastisement. That would just make her feel even worse.
"What? They signed up for this," Bishop shrugged. And what was so bad about betting on people anyway? Especially the bets that they tended to make. Though… granted, those weren't usually built upon so much slaughter.
"Who even knows anymore," Aeyrin sighed. "Don't you remember Tullius's new scheme? Maybe they're just innocent villagers and travelers, dragged into this against their will." This was just sick. And it only served to help an even bigger evil down the line, making Alduin even more powerful, as if he needed it.
"Hmm, true," Bishop nodded. Not everyone had the luxury of having a guardian High Queen, desperate to keep them placated.
They stayed silent for a while, watching the scene with some measure of discomfort. Some of the Stormcloak soldiers managed to break down the barricades by the fort main gate and, soon enough, a group of them emerged on the battlements, slaughtering the Imperial archers. They made a considerable dent in their numbers before one of the Imperial mages managed to thin their ranks with a few well-placed fireballs.
It looked like they would be stuck there, watching the massacre for a while. There was no good route to avoid the battle and, at one point, Bishop spotted a carriage down the road in the distance, turning around to avoid the fort altogether. It was an odd thing to watch, how the regular people tried to avoid the war as much as they did. It often felt like everyone not involved in it just tried to ignore it as best as they could. It wasn't surprising though. What else was there to do? Wallow in fear, in case some of the warmongers decided to start slaughtering civilians to sow terror?
They watched the battle for a longer time silently, getting soaked in the rain, despite them trying to hide below a nearby tree. In what felt like at least an hour, the numbers started to thin considerably. There were only around twenty soldiers left that they could see and it looked like the Imperials were in the majority. Though it was a little hard to tell from the distance.
After that, it only took a couple more minutes before a few more soldiers fell and distant cheers echoed through the area. The Imperials have defended their fort. But at what cost? They must have lost at least half a hundred men.
"Look at that," Bishop scoffed. "The Empire in all its glory. Now they get to keep some old crumbled fort to twiddle their thumbs in until the barbarians come to finish them off."
That was bleak. But, unfortunately, he was probably right. The Reachmen were excellent scouts, at least as far as Aeyrin knew. And this battle was hardly subtle. It would be all too easy to land a blow against the Empire if a Forsworn clan decided to take over the fort.
"Or not…" Bishop narrowed his eyes as his gaze caught something on the horizon. Aeyrin quickly followed his line of sight – it wasn't hard to notice when she knew where to look. Up in the skies, a dragon was flying towards the fort from the direction of the cliffs to the southwest. It didn't even roar. It didn't alert itself in any way, as if it was 'sneaking up' on the soldiers. They were still recuperating and trying to collect themselves after the rough battle.
It looked like it was going to finish them off instead.
"This is what they do?" Aeyrin gasped quietly, as if she was wary that she would be overheard. "It's not enough that so many people died in the battle, they have to finish off the few that survived too?" That was despicable. Though probably no less despicable than attacking innocent travelers on the road.
"Do you… wanna go kill it?" Bishop asked her uncertainly. He wasn't asking whether she wanted to try and save the soldiers. They were too far away to make it there in time – the dragon was already almost upon them. And maybe they would even win against the beast too, all on their own. They were trained soldiers after all.
Aeyrin knew why he asked so carefully. They were still not sure about the effects that becoming a werewolf had on her. They already knew that she lost most control over her Shouts, but they had no idea if the absorptions would be the same. Maybe her soul was changed too? Maybe she was too weak now to survive one. Maybe she wouldn't even absorb the dragon at all.
She knew that she would have to find out one day. It was too much to hope for to be able to avoid the dragons entirely. But right now, she was too scared to even go down the road and see what happened. She might have to, if the soldiers won, but she wasn't exactly eager to throw herself at the beast either. Everything had just been… too much. She didn't feel ready to deal with more unexpected changes. And she really worried that she might not make it through the absorption. Despite the Companions constantly talking about 'power', she just felt so… weak and helpless.
She only lowered her head, shaking it in response. It felt wrong. She had never done this before – hanging back while there was a dragon menacing people. She was always quick to try to help. She was the only one who could help. It was disheartening, how much the fear paralyzed her.
Bishop merely placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. She was pretty sure he had only asked in the first place because he knew that she wouldn't want to. He was never fond of her chasing after dragons voluntarily.
They watched the scene for a little while longer. It only appeared more eerie in the bleak weather as the downpour continued along with the strong howling wind. The dragon managed to catch the soldiers off guard relatively well, spewing frost onto them in an instant. A couple of the soldiers fell down limply, but the rest of them seemed to react quicker though. And unexpectedly. Instead of facing the beast after the previous brutal battle, they promptly rushed away, towards the fort's tower. The dragon was distracted with the few soldiers it had managed to fell and the rest were able to get away and hide inside.
That was a little uplifting. And what was more, the dragon didn't seem interested in waiting for them until they had to come out. Once the couple of soldiers were dead, it soared again and headed back, across the sky, towards the mountains once more.
The unnerving spectacle was finally over and their way was clear at last.
"At this rate, we're not gonna make it to Dragon Bridge tonight," Aeyrin sighed, though she was feeling very relieved about the dragon flying away. If they were lucky, they would get to Haafingar after midnight at the earliest. But… maybe that was a good thing. She was still nervous about the transformations, despite what the brothers had assured her of. It was safer to be awake and alert when Secunda was high in the sky, in case it happened again.
"Doesn't matter," Bishop shrugged. "That 'commander', whoever it is, can wait another night."
He fucking better. And he fucking better be someone actually willing to help, if their theories panned out.
They were in sore need of some good news.
…
Just as they had predicted, Aeyrin and Bishop only managed to reach Dragon Bridge very late that day. Or the next day, to be more exact. It must have been around two in the morning, based on the moons' position.
The good news was that Aeyrin was completely fine, aside from the general misery born of her entire situation. There was no transformation during the night, just as the twins had previously reassured her.
The bad news was that their meeting with Commander Maro had to be postponed again – it wasn't really a good idea to drag him out of bed so late. And the two of them were quite exhausted from the all-day journey. They hadn't even stopped for a meal the entire time just so they could make it to the small town before they were too exhausted to continue walking.
They spent the rest of the night drying out from the constant hails and rain and recuperating with some food, a proper bath and a soft bed at the Four Shields Tavern. Not that Aeyrin got much rest – she was still too worried throughout the night, too wary of turning again. She kept trying to keep herself awake almost subconsciously, trying to stay alert. The only rest she got was during the times she passed out from tiredness, only to wake herself up forcibly when at least a tiny bit of lucidity peeked through her restless sleep. It wasn't anything she hadn't expected though. She knew that the night would be hard, no matter how much Bishop kept trying to reassure her that everything would be fine.
Then, when the morning came again, it was time to find out what these Penitus Oculatus people wanted at last.
The weather did improve a bit overnight, but it was still raining, even though the freezing winter wind wasn't accompanying the downpour this time. Although here, in the more northern parts of Skyrim, the rain felt more like falling ice.
The grey skies only accentuated the perpetual mood. It was strange. No matter what happened, everything felt wrong ever since they left Whiterun. Bleak.
Sure, things felt much less dire now after Secunda began waning again and after they knew that there actually was a cure for lycanthropy, but Aeyrin still couldn't help her disposition. She continued to wallow in her misery for the most part, remaining generally silent and somber. That tended to reflect on Bishop too.
They couldn't even muster enthusiasm about meeting the commander. Despite their previous hopefulness, somehow, now it just felt like it was too naïve to put too many expectations into this.
But maybe they would get to be pleasantly surprised yet.
Once they finished their breakfast, they walked outside into the frozen rain and ran across the street towards the Penitus Oculatus outpost. It was easy to spot – it had a banner by its door, depicting the same symbol of the eye that was on the letter from the commander. They never really had any reason to pay attention to it before – just another outpost with a tellingly red flag – there were plenty of Imperial 'special units' and things like that in Solitude and all around it. They didn't even recognize the symbol on the letter. But now that they knew what to look for, it was all too easy to find.
There was a soldier waiting by the door, looking very morose in the unpleasant weather.
"No civilian admittance," he grumbled instantly when Bishop and Aeyrin ran to try and hide below the slight overhang of the building's roof.
"Uhm… Commander Maro asked us to come?" Aeyrin gave him an uncertain look.
"Regarding what?" the soldier narrowed his eyes at them. Didn't anyone expect them here?
"Some shit in Dawnstar," Bishop scoffed. He still had no idea what to even expect from this meeting and the soldier was only vexing him more.
"Ah. The new Dawnstar incident," the man nodded. At least he knew about that, whatever the word 'incident' meant in these circumstances. "Come with me," he nodded at them and moved to enter the building at last.
They followed along inside. The place looked kind of like some barracks – something one really would expect from a military fort. There was a relatively small mess hall that they passed and they could see an armory in one of the open doors too. They were led through the ground floor, all the way into one small room. It looked like a war room. It had plenty of shelves filled with sealed rolled up scrolls and dossiers and a large table in the middle with a map splayed on it. It wasn't filled with the usual red and blue flags in every hold, signaling the progression of the civil war though. There were only small black pins in several places. Multiple ones in Dawnstar.
There were three more soldiers in the room. They were all wearing armors with that same symbol on them – that eye. It looked just like any other Imperial armor, worn by any rank and file soldier when one didn't specifically concentrate on the symbol. Only the soldier who was standing behind the large desk looked much more ceremoniously armored than the rest. A middle-aged Imperial man with long, dark hair and a neatly trimmed goatee.
"Commander, these two are here because of the recent Dawnstar incident," the soldier who led them there announced.
"Ah. Good," the middle-aged Imperial nodded at the soldier before he turned his attention to Aeyrin and Bishop at last. "Thank you for coming, please, make yourselves comfortable." He gestured towards the empty space in front of the desk, but just as he finished talking, the two remaining soldiers in the room promptly grabbed a couple of chairs from the sides of the chamber and moved them towards the desk.
Bishop and Aeyrin only shared a brief look, but they sat down on the chairs as instructed while the man, clearly Commander Maro, sat down himself opposite them. The other soldiers remained in the room, but they stayed by the exit, as if they were standing guard. It was making the two of them moderately uncomfortable. They still weren't really sure what this was going to be about.
"So," the commander gave them each a once over as he twined his fingers and placed his connected hands onto the table. "You are the ones who have been involved in the disturbance in Dawnstar. I have… questions about that incident. My unit has been asked to investigate what happened and I need some things cleared up."
"Why?" Bishop scowled at him promptly. This was just fishy. And having those soldiers behind his back only made him more suspicious. "Why was a clearly Imperial group asked to investigate some fucking petty theft in Dawnstar? In Stormcloak territory."
"Good question," the commander smirked. "There's a certain… arrangement. It was in Jarl Skald's best interest. Let me ask first, what do you know about Penitus Oculatus?"
"Nothing," Bishop scoffed. They still hadn't really figured it out. It all just looked like another military group.
"Yes… I have suspected as much. And after certain events, we are going to some lengths to ensure that our purpose isn't a common knowledge," Maro nodded. "Let me ask in another way then. Do you know who the Blades were?"
Bishop and Aeyrin tensed up instantly at that question. It was completely unexpected. Weren't they here because of Dawnstar? Presumably because of the Brotherhood? What did the Blades have to do with this? And what did this man even know about them? Nobody was supposed to know about them.
"W-weren't they the Emperor's bodyguards?" Aeyrin asked promptly. That was what everyone knew about the Blades at least. It was always her go-to move whenever someone mentioned them out of the blue. She just hoped that nothing in her expression revealed that she knew that there was more to it.
"Partially, correct," Maro nodded again. "After the Oblivion crisis, they have left their posts, however. Disbanded after a time. But they were still needed. There was a new Emperor, not to mention how much need the Empire itself had of them. That's when our organization formed. To fill that role."
Ah. Good. This wasn't about what the Blades were doing now. He was still on about his own group. He probably had no idea that the Blades used to be dragon slayers or anything like that.
"So you're the Emperor's bodyguards? Aren't you kinda… missing the Emperor?" Bishop smirked. Not very good bodyguards when they were in another Province altogether, were they?
Commander Maro let out a brief chuckle as he shook his head. "I suppose. There are plenty of Penitus Oculatus agents 'bodyguarding' the Emperor. But that is not all we are. We protect the Empire's interests where necessary. While the Legion protects the military interests, different divisions of Penitus Oculatus take care of other threats that the Empire faces. Without open confrontation and military conflict."
"So… spies," Bishop scoffed. What else would all that mean? "Why are you telling us? You just said it shouldn't be common knowledge." It sounded like bad spy-work to tell people about it in any case.
"Hah! I wouldn't call us 'spies'," Maro smirked. "Special operatives, let's say. And I merely said that our purpose should not become common knowledge. We are attempting to keep our organization out of the popular stories and legends. The Blades have become renowned heroes after the Oblivion Crisis and it ultimately led to their disbanding. But people still need to know who they are dealing with when we investigate certain occurrences. People like Jarl Skald. So that they know who to give information to."
That made some sense. They probably mostly wanted to avoid having too much attention drawn to them. Based on what happened to the Blades, it could potentially attract Thalmor ire. But they still needed to operate somehow in an official capacity. But none of this still explained what it had to do with what happened in Dawnstar.
"My unit is dedicated to a very specific task, integral for the protection of the Empire," Maro continued to explain. "But first, another question for you. Jarl Skald called us to Dawnstar because we had asked him a few years ago to report any… suspicious activity to us. So, when there are witnesses to a strange chase through the town, involving invisible people, based on the footprints, and enchanted darts found on the scene, that definitely qualifies. So my question is: who were you running from?"
Bishop and Aeyrin shared another look. It was difficult to trust someone with this information, although it was becoming increasingly probable that Commander Maro already knew the answer. Yet admitting that could be… dangerous. The Brotherhood would very likely not take kindly to being 'ratted out' to the Imperial 'special operatives'. And they still had the very volatile information about Sibbi's death. Also, they could just go from 'trying to capture' to 'kill on sight' basically any time. Bishop still didn't understand why they even still bothered still trying to capture him. He couldn't have been that important to them. He couldn't have been worth that much trouble. Or maybe they were trying to capture him to kill him. Maybe they just wanted to prolong that? It's what any of the other despots hunting him in the past would have done.
It was dangerous to fess up. Even if not because of the fact that the Brotherhood might find out and retaliate, too many questions from the commander could get Bishop into a lot of trouble too. With the law and with Maven.
But what if this man could really help? What if this really was a way out? They couldn't keep living like this, in constant alertness, always on the move, just in case the assassins tracked them down again. Or even found them by accident. It was exhausting and stressful. If there really was a chance, how could they not try?
Aeyrin gave Bishop a soft reassuring nod. Maybe it was naïve to think that this man could help them against the Brotherhood, but what other choice was left for them?
"Assassins," Bishop sighed. This better lead to something helpful.
"The Dark Brotherhood?" Maro asked, but he didn't really wait for the answer. It all seemed to be already obvious to him anyway. "This is quite… rare. When we get reports of their suspected activity, we usually only discover corpses. If we're lucky."
"So… you're really investigating the Dark Brotherhood?" Aeyrin asked him carefully. "To what end?" It wasn't exactly something that she would expect from the replacement for the Blades.
"The Empire is not led by war generals," the commander explained. "It is led by the Council, the Chancellor, the Emperor. Those people ensure its stability and prosperity. People in power always have a lot of enemies. And these people are not usually at risk from dying in wars and conflicts. They are at risk from assassins. We have seen this pass many times before, especially when it came to the Dark Brotherhood and their contracts. That is why the Emperor has designated a unit of the Penitus Oculatus to hunt them down in turn. My predecessor had begun a very fruitful investigation in Cyrodiil. She managed to thin their remaining ranks considerably down south. And when she was killed, I took over and our unit finished the job. After that, more rumors and reports led us here. To Skyrim."
"You actually got rid of the Brotherhood entirely in Cyrodiil?" Aeyrin gaped at him. It was odd to think about, unless this was very recent, she never heard about the Brotherhood being effectively wiped out there. Maybe it was all part of that 'not letting the Penitus Oculatus become common knowledge'. Granted, she had only heard eerie rumors about the guild of assassins. She had never really seen any of their 'work'. Maybe that was all it was – rumors and legends.
"How can you even be sure you dealt with them?" Bishop scoffed at him. They were pretty good at popping up out of nowhere.
"We can't," Maro nodded somberly. "But we have gotten somewhat good at spotting the clues and we would be able to catch on quickly if their activity sprang up again. Decades of investigations led to that. We are attempting to do the same here to protect the military leaders and allied jarls. But of course, we need to know of the Brotherhood's activity all around the Province, not just the Empire-controlled areas. That is why we have notified all the jarls of our investigation. It is very much in their interest to help us when they spot anything that might suggest the Brotherhood's activity. As I said, people in power always have enemies."
"So what do you know so far?" Bishop prodded. It was probably too much to hope for that this 'unit' had been quick on the Brotherhood's heels already. Although… maybe it was why they were so desperate for new members.
"Not much," Maro sighed as his gaze went over the black pins on the large map. "We have some reports of their activities, but not enough to even suspect where their bases could be. But that's where you come in. I think I have answered a lot, without even prompting. So how about you enlighten me with some things in return? Such as: are you being targeted by a Brotherhood contract?" He looked at Bishop meaningfully. It must have been clear that Bishop was the one 'targeted', if they did their investigation right. They would have heard about the Nord in the tavern that lured Bishop away right before the incident.
Once more, Bishop hesitated. It felt like confessing to a crime. He kind of was. But he was so fucking tired of overthinking this, so fucking tired of obsessing over the Brotherhood's retaliation and the consequences of admitting this. He was done. This man wiped out the Brotherhood in the south, who better to help? Bishop couldn't think of any better options.
"No," he let out a resigned sigh. "I don't think they want to kill me."
"Yes, we found the darts," Maro nodded. "They had paralyzing enchantments. But it's not unheard of for the Brotherhood to be hired to abduct people as well. Do you know of anyone who could have summoned them for something like that?"
"No one did," Bishop let the words out through gritted teeth. He really felt uncomfortable saying this, but he had to force himself to do it. It was the best chance they got to get rid of these constant kidnapping attempts. "They want to recruit me."
The room suddenly felt unbearably silent as the commander's eyes widened in shock. It took a long time before he spoke and Bishop had almost regretted telling him. He was sure that those questions would come now.
"And… you're running from them?" Maro narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"I don't want to be recruited," Bishop grumbled in response.
"This was their attempt? Luring you to the edge of town? It… sounds unusual… given their tactics…" Maro mostly pondered out loud to himself before Bishop interrupted him.
"Fourth."
"What?" The commander looked at him with surprise in his eyes again.
"Fourth attempt," he clarified. He wasn't even sure why. It wasn't relevant. But he was already doing this, so what the fuck? The more information this guy had, the better, right?
"Why?" Maro narrowed his eyes again. He didn't really voice it, but the meaning of the question was clear. Why bother so much with one person? Why try so hard?
"Wish I fucking knew," Bishop growled. He wished much more that they would just take the fucking 'no' for an answer and leave him alone already.
"Bishop's very good at… stealth… and stuff," Aeyrin interjected quickly when she saw the commander's dubious expression. She knew all too well that Bishop would never speak a word about Sibbi, but his curt answers weren't really doing him any favors just then. "It's not really a secret," she chuckled a bit, although there was palpable nervousness in her voice. "I think they just… thought he would be good at… what they do. But when he refused, they just… kept coming. Maybe they're really desperate for new members. Or maybe they're just intent on getting what they wanted in the first place." That part was really anyone's guess.
"And you escaped them. Four times?" Maro actually looked kind of impressed.
"Yeah, feels like they're being kind of careful about alerting people. Or at least trying to. Maybe they're not so good at the 'not killing' part," Bishop scoffed. It wasn't as if they were incompetent though. If anything, their plans should have worked. The first time, they probably didn't expect Bishop to refuse. The second – meeting that child vampire on the road – it felt much more like some kind of improvised coincidence. And the last two attempts were really only foiled because someone came to Bishop's rescue – whether it was the Stormcloak guard in Windhelm or Karnwyr in Dawnstar.
"Hmm. If they wanted you dead, you would be dead the first time, I'm sure," Maro nodded at him somberly. It was obvious. Bishop could have had his throat slit in his sleep that night and no one would be the wiser. "They certainly are being careful. We heard nothing until the incident in Dawnstar. Perhaps they are getting desperate by now." The commander spoke again more to himself before his eyes returned to the two of them.
There was strange eagerness in his gaze. They could practically see his mind wandering to the new doors that opened to his investigations with this information.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. We can help each other. I assume you would like the Brotherhood off your back?" he asked, mostly out of formality. The answer was plain to see.
"Yeah," Bishop nodded in response.
"We have common goals then," Maro nodded. "Now, tell me everything. I need to know what happened during each one of these 'attempts' of theirs."
…
"This is… more than I have ever hoped for," Maro let out a somewhat victorious sigh as Bishop finished telling him about the last of the attempts – the events in Dawnstar. "To think, we actually found a potential recruit, willing to assist."
They had spent some time in that room, recounting anything that they could recall while one of the soldiers kept scribbling it down furiously. The commander just looked more and more pleased by the second.
"The patterns of their tactics to get to you are already giving me some ideas," he pondered out loud again. "But before we get to take any action, I would prefer to know about the members themselves. Maybe we can track them down when they are operating within the cities, take them out one by one. The more we know of them, the better. Do you recall any details? You must have seen some of them properly."
Maro snapped his fingers promptly before Bishop could speak and another soldier rushed towards the table with a notepad and a piece of charcoal in his hand. Was he… going to make sketches?
"Uhh… are you gonna make bounty notices? Because that's…" Fucking risky. Bishop got instantly too wary to continue. This would backfire. They would definitely know who was the only one left alive to talk, if he was the only one. But this would come back to bite him instantly.
"No! This is just for my agents to know who to look for. We are not putting out bounty notices. We don't have proof, save for your word. We can't do that," Maro chuckled a bit. "Besides, the more wary they would be, the more careful they would be. We need to draw them out."
Fine. That was… understandable. Bishop still couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about all of this. He felt like a rat. Ratting people out like this was just shitty. It was something that everyone working in the underworld was taught not to do. Not that everyone listened. He hadn't always listened. The last time he ratted out someone, it was Jules. Well… not exactly Jules, just the whole paladin ambush thing back then. At least this time he wasn't concerned about hurting the assassins' fucking feelings. Now he was just worried about their retaliation.
But they were bad enough even now. He saw no other way out. And this Maro person looked really fucking confident about hunting them down.
"The first one was… a Nord woman. I only saw her eyes," Bishop sighed. That one was really not gonna be easy to spot. "We did see the kid after that though."
"The vampire?" Maro clarified.
"Right. And the Dunmer in Windhelm. And the Nord in Dawnstar," Bishop added. He didn't see much of the rest of those that ambushed him in Dawnstar. He knew that there was an old Nord, based on the stature and the wrinkles. There was an Argonian with green eyes and green scales and there was a Redguard. Once more though, he only saw them all in their masks and hoods, without any really distinguishing features.
"Right. We have a sketch of the man in Dawnstar from a witness at the Windpeak. Drasius?" Maro motioned his hand towards the man with the charcoal and he promptly flipped a few pages of his notebook until he found a sketch – of the exact same Nord that had approached Bishop at the inn. "Is this him?"
"Yeah, that's him," Bishop nodded. He didn't know if that man was actually an assassin or some lackey. Or maybe some poor sap forced into luring Bishop away. It didn't matter though. He would have information for Maro regardless.
"Good. The vampire might be problematic. Questioning children does not really go over well," the commander grumbled. "But tell me about the Dunmer. You said you knew her from before? That's why you followed her."
"Yeah… I did. And she said she knew where Aeyrin is, so I went with her," Bishop answered.
"Yes, you explained the… Butcher situation. That's quite clear," Maro nodded. "I'm more interested in the previous encounter with this alleged 'Gabriella'. How did you know her? Where did you meet before?"
"Right there," Bishop pointed into the general direction of the inn. Maro was definitely going to be interested in this story. Bishop still felt like he was talking about something illegal he had done. He wasn't sure why. He never mentioned Sibbi, of course, and he didn't even really do anything wrong otherwise, not when it came to this. Or did he? He wasn't even really sure. But Maro wasn't interested in his crimes. He must have suspected that Bishop had done something to earn such attention from the Brotherhood, but he didn't pry into that at all. It was a little reassuring.
"There was… something happened there at the inn like… three years ago. A group of people were murdered overnight."
"I know what you're referring to. We had investigated," Maro's eyes widened at him. "You saw this Gabriella person here that night?"
"Yeah…" Bishop sighed. Not only did he see her, he told the soldiers interrogating him, likely these soldiers, that she had been with him the entire night. Which was clearly not true. But hopefully Maro wouldn't get too hung up over that detail. "I didn't know that it was her who killed those people. I didn't know she was an assassin. I only found out during that whole Windhelm shitstorm."
"There was clearly more to it than you catching a glimpse of her in the tavern. You said you knew her. What happened?" Maro asked curiously.
This was kind of uncomfortable to be talking about in front of Aeyrin. She already knew what happened, but still… it felt weird to be reliving that like this.
"We talked at the bar for a while. Then… we went into my room," Bishop explained, perhaps a bit more hurriedly than necessary. "That was all I know."
"So you were at the tavern in the morning?" Maro scowled. "Both of you? Were you questioned?"
"Look, I thought we were just in the room. I thought she was asleep, like I was," Bishop sighed. "I told the guards that she was with me all night, because that's what I thought. Nobody was asking me anything more after that."
"But now you think that she slipped out of your room during the night?" Maro continued attempting to piece it together.
"I don't think that. I know that," Bishop growled. "She told me in Windhelm. Practically. I mean, she told me that I was her alibi and that she 'charmed' me during… the night, so that I wouldn't know what was going on, probably so that I wouldn't accidentally notice her leaving the room."
"So you let a dangerous woman into your room voluntarily and you didn't notice her trying to cast a spell on you?" Maro raised his brow.
"I didn't know she was dangerous! And I was kinda distracted," Bishop scoffed. He really wasn't going to explain his state of mind back then to this man. And wasn't it fucking obvious that he was 'distracted'. Surely he didn't need to spell it out. "She was a pretty elf, alone in a tavern, and I was in a crappy mood, trying to get drunk. What the fuck more do you want to hear?"
The commander only nodded thoughtfully before his eyes darted towards Aeyrin with a brief curious glance. Ugh, that was uncomfortable. She felt like he was wondering whether she's just another 'pretty elf from a tavern' to alleviate Bishop's bad mood.
"Can we move on? You already know that this Gabriella killed those people," Aeyrin huffed in frustration as she folded her arms across her chest. Her tone was much more pleading than she had intended though. She really didn't want to delve even more into the tales of Bishop's night with the assassin.
"Very well," the commander nodded. "Please, try to help Drasius compose everyone's image. I will… discuss our next step with my men." He stood up from his seat with a determined nod before he walked away from the room altogether.
Fortunately, the topic of Gabriella was over. But both Bishop and Aeyrin were quite anxious to see what the commander would come up with now.
…
"Are you alright?" Aeyrin whispered as the soldiers finally left with the finished sketches, leaving the two of them alone in the room, waiting for the commander to return. "You got more… talkative than I expected." She didn't exactly mind – she would have probably spilled everything, just for the small sliver of hope that Maro could help. But it wasn't Bishop's usual tactic. She had never really seen him divulge so many details to someone in a position of official authority. And she knew that he was wary of saying anything about the Brotherhood to anyone.
"Yeah… feels fucking weird," Bishop sighed quietly. It was so risky. The Brotherhood would definitely get pissed off about this. He wasn't even sure if they didn't know already. They could have seen them walk into this outpost. He could never be sure whether he was being watched. But that was exactly part of the problem. "I just… I don't know what else to do." He couldn't take this for much longer. Especially when he knew how much Aeyrin hated living like this too. It'd been going on for too long with no solution in sight. He couldn't help but cling to the faint hope that Maro was giving them. He needed that. He didn't even really care who these men worked for.
Aeyrin only gently placed her hand on his in understanding. She had no idea what else to do either. Living like this, constantly watching their backs, it was exhausting. Dealing with Thorn and Mercer should have been their victory – their opportunity to come out of all these dealings with vicious underworld tyrants. But they only gained an even scarier enemy in the process. It had to end. And Maro seemed so confident that he could make that happen. It was the right choice.
Before they could say anything more though, the door to the room swung open once again. This time, Commander Maro came in alone. He looked really determined. It was partly encouraging, but partly scary.
"We have a plan," he nodded as he sat himself back down again onto his chair. "It is a risky one, but it's the only one we have now. As it stands, we have information on several members of the Brotherhood thanks to you, but we have no way of locating them and spreading their likeness too much would put you in too much danger and it would make our targets too wary. We cannot have that."
Bishop and Aeyrin nodded at him in accord. The less the Brotherhood knew about their sudden semi-alliance with Maro, the better.
"As for you," the commander gave Bishop a meaningful look. "You probably realize by now how quickly it would all end if the Brotherhood decided that they want to kill you instead of 'recruiting' you."
Bishop only nodded again as he swallowed inaudibly. He realized that a little too much. How many times was he already at their mercy? If they weren't so concerned with getting him alive and cooperative, they wouldn't be having so much trouble with it.
"The real question is: why are they so desperate to get you? Unless you figure that out, you will never know what to expect," Maro continued somberly. "For all you know, they could decide to kill you right now, for whatever reason they have. You need to learn more. Just like we do."
"What are you suggesting?" Aeyrin asked him with palpable trepidation in her voice. She wasn't exactly sure where this was going yet, but she had a bad feeling about it regardless.
"I'm suggesting… that the next time, you let them," the commander let his words sink in for a bit, but the second both Bishop and Aeyrin gave him a sharp, shocked look, he made a calming gesture with his hands.
"What? You can't be serious!" Aeyrin snapped at him. Was Bishop now supposed to pretend to want to be an assassin? And how far should this go? Not to mention how dangerous this would be. Who knew whether they didn't want to kill him already?
"I know, this is risky, but hear me out," Maro made another gesture with his hands while Bishop remained suspiciously quiet. He didn't even look that outraged anymore. "This is our chance to find out more about the Brotherhood's presence and about what their intentions are with you. This is an opportunity we cannot let pass. And like I said, I have a plan. We will be behind you on this. And I promise…"
"What's your plan?" Bishop interjected. Maro was right. Bishop wouldn't ever feel safe before he knew what they wanted with him. Why they were still hunting him. He would just go on, paranoid and tense, and then, when it came to it, their next attempt would still somehow catch him off guard. They had a knack for doing that.
But that wasn't even his main concern. He could see that the Brotherhood was getting frustrated. There were four of them waiting for him the last time. And by the end, they even switched to a very lethal crossbow instead of those stupid darts. And he wasn't even sure if that bolt was meant for him. It was kind of the last straw. He couldn't keep waiting to see what they would resort to next. He couldn't keep waiting to see if they decided to involve Aeyrin to leverage her against him. He would risk himself sooner than he would let that happen. And at least now, with Maro, there was a chance that this would all work out favorably. The man slaughtered the rest of their ilk in Cyrodiil, didn't he? He had to have some tricks up his sleeve.
"Yes… the plan," Maro looked very placated by Bishop's lack of resistance. "Of course, if you came willingly with them, that would just seem suspicious. They would know that something is up. We need to create a scenario that makes it believable. Create the perfect opportunity for them to strike again and then, when they do, you need to still pretend to try and run. But they need to win this time. We, however, will control everything. We will choose where this happens, when this happens and we will know where they will take you. While you find out whatever you can, stay with them, as long as you can so that you can learn more."
"What if he's in trouble? What if they want to kill him? How are we gonna know if he's still 'learning more' or if he's already dead?" Aeyrin snapped again. She hated this plan. Why wasn't Bishop protesting more? This was suicidal! None of them knew what the Brotherhood wanted!
"You don't need to worry. Like I said, we will be there, every step of the way," Maro gave her a somewhat comforting smile, but his stern expression never really left his face entirely. "We can put things to motion right away. From everything you have told me, it should be fairly easy to lure them out to try again. You would just need to do what you usually do. Find a place to stay, a city or a village, and remain there a while. It might not even be necessary to make your presence overly known, I suspect that by now you draw attention regardless, but it still might help. If you stay in an Imperial Hold, we can have several of my men dressed into regulation armor and remain in the area inconspicuously. Eventually, the Brotherhood will come up with another scheme to lure you away."
"I'm still not hearing how he's gonna be 'safe'," Aeyrin growled. "What makes you think that the Brotherhood can't evade your notice?" They've been evading him for ages now, haven't they?
"Of course. We need to have some safety measures. I would suggest our mages marking you with a clairvoyance trigger. We would be able to follow once you signal us," Maro nodded at Bishop before his eyes turned towards Aeyrin with a somewhat sympathetic smile on his face. "I can provide you with a scroll of the spell if you like, you could mark him yourself to be able to follow on your own, if you have doubts about my men."
Well… that was something. She wasn't really sure how that spell worked, but she had seen that pesky courier use it. And he always found them.
"Maybe you would even be able to get inside their base," Maro looked at Bishop again, now with palpable eagerness in his eyes. "If you signaled us then, we could raid the entire place."
"You keep saying 'signaled'," Bishop scowled. "How the fuck would I signal you about anything? The last time, I was at a knifepoint. And before that, I was kind of tied up and shit. What do you think's gonna happen now?"
"Ah, that's the best part," the commander beamed proudly as he rummaged around in a small pouch on his belt. He pulled out three identical rings within a second. Simple. Silver with an amethyst gem brushed into a sharp protruding point. Although… on second glance, it didn't really look like amethyst. Something was glowing and swirling inside the gem in a strangely familiar spectacle.
"These are special rings," Maro smiled at them. "Note the filled soul gems in place of a jewel. They are all filled with one soul. I think this was a skeever or something, but that's hardly relevant. Once the soul gets depleted or chased out of one, the others extinguish as well. All you need is to use it, or crush it."
"You… split a soul gem? Is that possible?" Aeyrin gaped at the rings. She had never heard of such a thing. How would one even do that?
"Apparently, it's a very advanced process," Maro explained. "A mage could certainly tell you the specific, but I know the basics. A filled soul gem needs to be crushed. That would turn it into dust and let the soul escape. But with sufficient proficiency in conjuration magic, apparently, the dust itself can act as a carrier for a soul. It's… unstable. And unusable. Unless one molds it with transmutation magic into whole pieces again. But since it still carries only one soul, the pieces can be molded separately, all carrying the same soul. When one gets depleted or broken, the rest of the soul escapes the remaining chunks. I assure you, as a soul gem, this is very useless. It barely has enough power for any enchantment. But the link between the pieces – the same soul imbued into the dust, molded into several chunks, that's what makes it invaluable. The process was discovered at the Arcane University and one of the mages assigned to my unit knows it well by now. We use these rings whenever an agent is sent on a very dangerous mission. I always keep tabs on my people," he winked slyly.
That was almost hard to believe. It made sense now why Maro kept talking about Bishop 'signaling' them. Aeyrin was still unsure about this plan. It was so dangerous. She couldn't pretend like waiting for the Brotherhood to strike again was safer, but this just felt… scary. She kind of started to understand now how Bishop must have felt whenever she went looking for dragons, like for those stupid caravans.
"You can each take one," Maro smiled at them. "I don't have any illusions about being able to leave you out of this," he chuckled at Aeyrin briefly. That must have been obvious with how defensive she had been about this plan. "And you," he turned to Bishop again. "You need to use this ring, crush it, the second you think you might be in danger from them, no matter what you find. We will be near and we will be ready."
"Alright," Bishop nodded and he readily reached out for one of the rings. This sounded good. Better than he had anticipated. The magical trinkets and spells made him feel safer. Funny, he would have never expected that to be the case, but it just screamed of preparedness somehow. Maro had kind of impressed him with this plan. He pretty much expected to be told to play along with the Brotherhood until they actually killed him, no matter what. But he did like how careful Maro was, even with trying to make it seem like the Brotherhood's next attempt would be just Bishop's unlucky day.
"Bishop, are… are you sure? This is…" Aeyrin looked at him desperately. She wasn't even sure what she was hoping for. She knew that this mess had to be solved somehow. That they couldn't keep going like this. But… she wasn't used to being the one protesting crazy plans. Why wasn't he protesting? Couldn't she just go instead of him? She knew that that didn't make any sense, but… she hated this. Poor Bishop. He had to go through this with her constantly.
"I'm sure," he gave her a determined and reassuring nod. "This is the best we got now. We sure as fuck won't get a better plan on our own," he scoffed as he gestured towards the remaining rings on the table. He had decided to go along with Maro a while ago, but these trinkets and the preparedness only convinced him further. He would not let the Brotherhood mess with them any longer.
"I don't care if you don't find out anything. If you think they're onto you, you need to make it stop and signal me right away," she scowled. She didn't care one bit if this plan didn't end up helping Maro's efforts here. She just needed Bishop to stay safe. And to be especially careful, now that she couldn't protect him with her Shouts.
Bishop's only answer was an affectionate smile as he gently placed his hand on Aeyrin's cheek, stroking over it a bit. She knew that he wouldn't risk his life for Maro's plans either, even though the lack of the Brotherhood in Skyrim would make their lives so much easier.
"Yes. Correct," Maro nodded. "We have no interest in getting you killed. It would serve us no purpose. This is an opportunity for all of us."
It wasn't exactly encouraging, but Maro was right. It was an opportunity. Maybe not a better one than they had secretly hoped for, but a better one than they had expected.
When they only remained silent again, without protesting further, Maro seemed satisfied.
He turned around to grab one of the little books on a shelf behind him and he prepared a quill as well. It took him only a few seconds before he situated everything on his desk and turned towards the two of them once more.
"So, let's talk details."