A Brother Scorned

Kaisa gingerly pulled the note from the corpse while trying not to gag on the smell. She marveled at how the blasted thing managed to make it to practically the door step to the royal palace doorstep without anybody seeing it. The commotion did attract some guards who were making their way to her at a brisk pace. Quickly reading the note before the guards reached her and started asking questions, she sighed in disbelief.

Kaisa Alierius,

It would be an honor to have you visit me in my demesne at your convenience. I have a small matter that you are ideally suited for. As always, my servants will test your mettle. Feel free to dispense with them. They can always be raised again.

The King of Worms,

Master of Scourge Barrow

Kaisa quickly stuffed the note into a crease in her armor just as the first guard reached her. Turning to the guardsmen she put her hands up in a placating manner.

"What's going on here?"

"I don't know! This thing just attacked me out of nowhere!" Kaisa said pretending to sound frightened.

"By the gods, what is that?" The guardsman said keeping a sword between Kaisa and the undead creature.

Kaisa smiled at the guardsman purposefully putting himself between her and the creature. It wasn't necessary but it was appreciated none the less.

"Thank you, guardsman, may I go?"

"Yes, you are free to go."

Kaisa turned and continued on to the palace, eager to get out of the already sweltering heat. As soon as she entered the palace, she sighed at the cool air kissing her heated skin. Walking across the marbled floor Kaisa came to open room with tables arranged in rows. Sitting…on the floor next to one of the tables was who she assumed, based on his clothes, the prince himself, causing Kaisa to stop for a moment in bewilderment.

Why is the prince sitting on the floor? Kaisa thought before shaking her head and continuing on.

Stopping in front of the seated Prince, Kaisa gave a slight curtsy before introducing herself.

"My Prince, my name is Kaisa Alierius. I received your letter," Kaisa said holding out his letter to him.

"Ah good, you received it. I understand you are searching for why the late King of Daggerfall is haunting his own capital."

"Yes, my Prince. If you have any information, I would be most thankful."

"I might, but my information comes at a price," Prince Lhotun said with a smirk.

Of course, it bloody does, Kaisa thought with an internal growl, although her face remained neutral.

"And what is the price for this information?" Kaisa said with a fake smile.

The prince's smile only grew as his brown eyes traveled up and down her body and drank in her perfect curves. The fake smile vanished from her beautiful face and her rich blue locked with his brown eyes.

"No," Kaisa said with a hard edge lacing her voice while a hand strayed towards her sword on her hip.

A blush quickly darkened the brown skin of his face as he cleared his throat in embarrassment.

"Information for information will suffice. I used to have an older brother, Arthago, that vanished ten or eleven years ago. Whenever I ask about him, they give me a vague answer and change the subject. Some say he got sick and died while some say he was kidnapped by the Underking. All I want is the truth. Find out what happened to my brother and I will tell you all I know about what happened to King Lysandus."

"Very well my Prince," Kaisa said turning around and heading for the door.

Kaisa's first stop was going to be back at the tavern and to beautiful Sariah. Taverns were always a good source of gossip and information. Walking through the desert heat she quickly made it to the tavern and had to stop in the door way for a second to give her eyes a moment to adjust to the darker light of the tavern. When her eyes finally adjusted, she found Sariah standing behind the bar smiling invitingly at her. Smiling herself, Kaisa sauntered over to Sariah with a little extra sway to her hips. Sariah's eyes fell to Kaisa's swaying hips causing Sariah to swallow in a futile attempt to wet a suddenly dry throat.

Traveling back up to the absolutely gorgeous face framed by silky hair the color of the darkest night, Sariah groaned with desire.

Gods she is beautiful, Sariah moaned internally as memories of her and Kaisa in tangled sheets and limbs surfaced. Shaking those thoughts from her head she rolled her eyes at seeing the knowing smirk gracing Kaisa's heavenly face.

"Back so soon," Sariah said leaning her elbows on the table and framing her face in her hands.

"What can I say, I couldn't bear the thought of going one more second without seeing your pretty face," Kaisa responded leaning on the table in a similar fashion so their faces were now only inches apart.

"Sure, you did, now cut the crap and tell me what you need," Sariah said laughing.

"Dear lady, you wound me!" Kaisa said leaning back and clutching a hand to her heart in mock outrage.

In reply Sariah only gave her a pointed look, her rosy lips split in an inviting smile.

"Oh fine," Kaisa sighed leaning back in. "What do you know about Prince Arthago?"

"So that's why you are here, someone back in the Imperial City take an interest into where the brother of the Queen of Daggerfall disappeared to?" Sariah said with an arched eyebrow.

"Not exactly. But it is related," Kaisa said vaguely.

It wasn't that Kaisa didn't trust her ex-lover from before she joined the Imperial Legion, it was actually the exact opposite. She trusted the beautiful Redguard with her life but Penitus Oculotis agents only told each other the bare minimum to each other to protect each other. That way if one of them was ever captured by the Oblivion and taken to the Thalmor, they couldn't endanger fellow agents. Sariah in turn simply nodded and didn't press the matter.

"He was known as the Scholar Prince, focused on academia instead of swords and battles. As you can imagine that didn't go over well with Redguard nobility, not that he had much choice given that he was always sickly. Then one day he just up and vanished, some say he died from his chronic illnesses while others say he was kidnapped by the Underking."

"Which one do you think it was?" Kaisa said nodding her understanding.

"Neither. I mean kidnapped certainly but not by the Underking. If I had to put money on it, I would say his own parents, the King and Queen of Sentinel did it to get rid of the embarrassment. With Lhotun they had their heir they could be proud of, Arthago was just shameful dead weight in their eyes."

Kaisa's blood boiled at hearing that and anger surged through her at the royal family. She loved her brother Aydin with all her heart and the thought of him just being tossed aside because he wasn't good enough by some arbitrary standard angered her beyond belief.

Sariah noticed her rising anger and reached across the small gap between them and took Kaisa's soft hands in hers.

"Hey, you know that is not what I think. I would kill anyone who tried to hurt Aydin," Sariah said while rubbing soothing circles into Kaisa's hands.

"I know," Kaisa said bringing Sariah's dark hands and laying a gentle kiss on them causing Sariah to glow with a happy smile.

Their moment of fondness was ruined when an old woman hobbled by and slid a note to Kaisa before heading out the door without pausing nor saying a word. Kaisa and Sariah locked eyes for a moment before Sariah started scanning the tavern for any eyes that looked a little too interested in two beautiful women having a tender moment together. Knowing Sariah had her overwatch, Kaisa opened the letter and read it quickly.

Dear Kaisa Alierius,

If you are interested in learning the truth about Prince Arthago, meet me at the Resolution of Zenithar here in Sentinel.

"Gods! Does everyone know about my bloody mission!" Kaisa cursed quietly.

"It's the Illiac Bay, welcome to spy central," Sariah said with a smile.

"Great," Kaisa said sarcastically.

Sariah just winked playfully at Kaisa earning her an eye roll from the Nord beauty in front of her.

"Well, I got to go, I apparently have an appointment to keep," Kaisa said glancing down at the note before tucking it away.

"Don't I get a kiss before you go? You know, to keep up appearances," Sariah said batting her eyelashes at Kaisa.

Laughing Kaisa leaned forward and kissed Sariah on her soft, inviting lips, causing a content sigh to escape both of them.

"For appearances sake," Kaisa whispered when she drew back.

"Of course," Sariah said with her eyes sparkling with amusement, a look that Kaisa knew she was mirroring.

Kaisa left the tavern into the desert heat and wondered how the people she saw walking in the city streets could stand this heat. She made her way while dodging people and ignoring street side vendors shouting their products. Arriving at the small chapel the first thing that captured Kaisa's eyes was the beautiful Redguard in a revealing dress dancing in the main room that held the shrine. Her smooth brown skin contrasted beautifully with the blue dress causing Kaisa to almost miss the Redguard soldier guarding the chapel and the dancing priestess.

The Redguards certainly do things differently, Kaisa thought with a smile.

Shaking her head, Kaisa headed to the back room of the chapel, guessing that would be the most likely place to find this mystery person. Kaisa found a man with Breton features flipping through the pages of a book.

"Are you the one who sent me this note?" Kaisa said holding said note up.

"Lower your voice, I would prefer that no one heard me talking to you," the man said in a harsh whisper.

Kaisa bristled at the rebuke but swallowed her pride and simply nodded while leaning in closer to the man.

"It has come to our attention that the Underking has been wrongfully accused of abducting Prince Arthago. Before you judge check into Castle Faallem."

"And who are you?" Kaisa said with a flirtatious smile.

"Consider me a loyal servant, now get out of here before someone sees us."

Huffing, Kaisa turned on her heel and strode out of the temple into the mid-day heat. Winking at a pretty girl who was ogling her curves that her modified orcish armor flaunted, she pulled her map out from her pack to see where the hell she was going. The girl blushed at being caught and scurried off down the street causing Kaisa to laugh. Kaisa found that the castle was on an island just off the coast to the north east and headed for the stables next to the front gate where Sky was stabled. Hopefully there was a ferry in the small bay that the island guarded the mouth of. In the almost two months that she had been in the Illiac Bay she had been on more ships and boats than the rest of her twenty-four years combined. Arriving at the stables quickly enough she found Sky munching on fodder and smiled when Sky snorted and shook his head at her approach.

"Hey big guy, ready for another trip?" Kaisa said patting his snout affectionately.

In response Sky snorted again making Kaisa laugh.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kaisa said grabbing the saddle.