Claimed: A Thieves Guild Fanfiction [Revised&Edited]

Chapter 22

  Somewhere in the dim light of Riftweald Manor one of the mercenaries Mercer had undoubtedly hired to guard the house shuffled, the sound seeming loud to Arsha's alert ears. She carefully closed the door behind her and entered the darkness.

Getting into Riftweald had been easy. All she had done was use a few honeyed words and Vald had left his post. Unfortunately, the instant Vald had left memories had come flooding into Arsha's mind. When she had just begun to sink into the evil woman she had later become, her persuasive skills had ruined more lives than her blades. People had trusted her, and she had abused that trust. It had been all too easy to whisper promises in the ear of a Jarl or a merchant and then turn around and take everything from them. Her persuasiveness made such a mark that the people in Markarth had taken to calling her the Silver Dragon in reference to her silver tongue after she had tricked the Jarl out of half of his treasury. Arsha had to take a moment to push down the disgust that she felt for herself before she was able to enter the building.

Asha's steps were cautious as she snuck through the large manor. She had no way to know what traps and nasty surprises Mercer had left behind. He had hired mercenaries to protect the house, and Arsha had the distinct feeling that he had done much worse than that. Her bow stayed drawn as she searched the house for some trace of Mercer or some clue to where he could have gone.

As she walked down one of the dark halls, a strange cabinet wardrobe her eye. The wood of the wardrobe was solid, more so than the others in the house had been so far, and the back was much thicker than it needed to be. Suspicious, Arsha pulled open the doors of the wardrobe and pushed on the back, remembering how the secret entrance to the Cistern was opened. At her touch, the back of the wardrobe swung open to reveal a passage even darker than the house. Arsha cast a candlelight spell to light her way and then stepped into the stone tunnel.

The tunnel wound its way around and Arsha had to be certain to place each foot carefully as she stepped. Mercer had left behind more than a few traps to deter anyone from reaching whatever was on the other end of these tunnels. Mercer certainly was paranoid, although it seemed that he had a good reason to be, namely the fact that he had been conning the Guild that had practically invented the method.

Arsha was painfully snapped out of her thoughts as a burst of flame scorched her left leg. A pained gasp escaped her lips and she quickly stepped back. She had stepped on some kind of pressure plate that had triggered a gout of flame. Arsha carefully bent forward to examine the plate. It was faintly scorched in an 'x' pattern. Arsha looked at the plate next to it and saw that that one was also scorched in the same way. The third tile was blank though. After quickly healing the minor burn on her leg, Arsha cautiously stepped on the unmarked plate. Nothing happened. Arsha smiled to herself as she spotted the same pattern continuing across the floor. It wasn't long before she was on the other side of the small room, untouched by any more flames.

The tunnel continued for a few more feet and then stopped at a wooden door. Knowing Mercer and judging by the number of traps that had littered the way so far, opening the door would trigger something. Arsha stood to the side of the door as she opened it and prayed that she would be out of the way of whatever trap Mercer had set. The door opened and as soon as it did metal darts flew past Arsha's face, coming within an inch of her mask. After the darts stopped flying, Arsha waited a few more seconds to see if Mercer had any other surprises for her. Nothing else happened, so Arsha stepped through the doorway and into the small room.

Arsha's eyes were immediately drawn to the small table along the back wall of the room. On the table was a sheet of paper. Arsha grabbed the paper and quickly scanned it, eyes going wide as she did so. She had found Mercer's plans, and if he succeeded with these plans they would never be able to catch him and make him pay for his crimes. She needed to get this information to Brynjolf and Karliah.