Chapter 10
The captain of the Northern Maiden was thrilled to be sailing back to Skyrim, but he was less thrilled when he realized his passengers were three master thieves. The crew soon found out as well and looked at us askance, watching us out of the corner of their eyes. If anything, be it bread or necklace, went missing we were automatically blamed. It was too bad that he had recognized Brynjolf, but there wasn’t much any of us could do about it. His red hair made him distinctive, and he had a reputation across the Nine Holds that could rival my own. I tried to keep an even lower profile than he did as a thief, since it would do great damage to my own status among the Stormcloaks and Jarls. No one outside the Thieves’ Guild itself knew I was the Dragonborn.
With the crew glaring at us whenever we were on deck and Gjalund himself popping up everywhere we went, there wasn’t much time for private conversations. One night I stood at the rail, staring out over the sea. It was placid and calm in the moonlight, and I wished my life could reflect the sea. Without looking I felt Vex come up and stand beside me. She had seemed preoccupied lately, and not for the same reason as me.
“Vex, what happened with the Guild?” I asked her.
She was silent for a few heartbeats. “Brynjolf said we should wait until we reach port to tell you.”
Typical Brynjolf. “I’m the Guildmaster. Whatever it is, I need to know now.” I don’t know if they expected me to fly to pieces under pressure, but now that I was no longer in pain every second I could think clearly once more.
“Delvin got caught.”
Wow. Once she decided to tell you something she didn’t mince words. It was never good for a thief to get caught, but the Guild could almost always bail him out or else the thief would break out by himself. He would have to lay low for a while, but I didn’t see what was so bad about this. “So? The old fox can just break out, can’t he?”
“They’re executing him in Solitude in three days.”
My stomach dropped down like my legs had been cut out from under me. “What?” Unless he had gotten caught stealing something like the High King’s crown, I didn’t understand how he could be executed.
“He went on a job to steal something from the East Empire Trading Company. The job was a setup, he got caught, and the EETC convinced the captain of the guard in Solitude to make an example of him.” Her voice didn’t so much as hitch, but I knew how she felt about Delvin.
“You haven’t tried to get him out?” Even as I said this I flinched. Of all the stupid things to say….
“You think we haven’t? They have him under guard around the clock. We’re thieves, not fighters.” She didn’t raise her voice, but her eyes flashed angrily.
And I was a fighter and a thief, thus they had come to me. My brain raced through the possibilities. It would take almost another day to reach Skyrim, then another two to reach Solitude. By then I would have no time to observe the jail and the watches carefully like I normally would, and I’d rather rescue Delvin with time to spare. Then there was the matter of how to rescue him. I could only do so much as a thief without being pegged as the Dragonborn, and anyway, one man could only do so much against a horde of guards. I was a good fighter, but not that good, and then I would be so notorious that the bounty might even extend to other Holds.
But then, there was another option. I could go to High King Ulfric Stormcloak and call for that favor he owed me. But if I did that, there was no possible way I could keep myself from being discovered as the Guildmaster, and not even Ulfric could simply allow a known master thief walk freely, no matter past services rendered. I thought about bribing the captain of the guard, but surely Vex and Brynjolf had already tried that.
I would gladly give up anonymity for Delvin’s life, and it was beginning to look like I might have to. With an unpleasant lurch I realized that at this time I needed to be known only as the Dragonborn more than ever. With Miraak on the loose in the world I needed friends, and I would alienate many of those if I was discovered.
“We’ll save him, Vex. We’re still a day from Solitude, and I have some ideas.” I didn’t elaborate on those ‘ideas’, and she didn’t ask, but instead just nodded and drifted to the other side of the boat.
I was beginning to regret not staying safely in my house in Whiterun after all.
I was a loner, not a follower or a leader. I had managed to get through the Stormcloak rebellion under Ulfric’s leadership, but that was because he was more my friend than my superior. Moreover, he had understood that as the Dragonborn I could never be entirely under his command, so he hadn’t tried to exert it over me. And the Thieves’ Guild- well, the Guild pretty much ran itself. The thieves who called it home didn’t need a babysitter. They were used to making a living for themselves. I mostly only managed business transactions that required a representative to meet with the leader of another guild or business. Other than that, I made decisions about who was allowed to join and who wasn’t, along with taking care of some of the most delicate jobs.
No, I wasn’t cut out to be a leader, and I had an automatic and natural dislike of following orders. I was better off wandering Skyrim as a lonely adventurer.
Unfortunately, I knew present circumstances would probably drive me to be both.
I kneaded my forehead with my knuckles, wishing fervently that I had just stayed in Skyrim. No Miraak, no serpentine dragons, no….
A thought suddenly struck me like a war hammer. Why hadn’t the dovah blood in me tried to take control during the fight with Miraak? If that hadn’t been a stressful situation, I didn’t know what was. Ever since I had absorbed that first soul at Whiterun I had always felt it straining to come to the surface during a fight, yet in the most dangerous confrontation of my life it had lain dormant.
Well, I suppose I could add this to my list of things that don’t make sense. Maybe I would pay a visit to the Greybeards after I figured out what in Oblivion to do about Delvin.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Gjalund yelped. I looked down and realized I had been prying splinters of wood off the railing and throwing them into the water.
The three of us were standing on the docks in Windhelm, and I still hadn’t thought of any less disastrous ideas. Both thieves were looking at me expectantly, Vex having told Brynjolf that she told me by now. I silently led the way to the stables, where Vex and Brynjolf picked up the horses they had left there and I found Gormlaith happily munching away at hay. I paid for her upkeep and we rode off to the northwest, heading in the direction of Solitude.
After riding in silence for about a quarter of an hour, I spoke. “Well, here are my ideas. We could bring horses just outside the gates, I could go in and wait for Delvin to be brought out, and we could both make a run for it.” Vex snorted. It was a pretty terribly plan, but it was an option. “Second, I could go to Ulfric.” Neither of them spoke. They knew what that would mean for me. “Third, I could try to sneak in and get him out before the execution.”
“You’d never make it. As I told you, there are too many guards.” Vex didn’t look happy about telling me not to try, but she knew a suicide mission when she heard one.
I raised my hands. “I said they were plans, not good plans.”
“You second plan seems most likely,” Brynjolf said, adjusting his grip in the reins. “But lad, are you sure you would want to do that? Especially now?”
“I will unless we can think of something else before we reach Solitude.” I didn’t want to beg, and I didn’t want Ulfric to know I was Guildmaster, but I was pretty sure there was nothing else to be done. I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated. Sometimes I wished I could simply Shout all these problems to Oblivion.
I straightened up suddenly, bringing Gormlaith to a halt. Shouting…. I changed direction a bit, leaving the path. “New plan. Follow me,” was all I would reply to Brynjolf’s question.
Several hours later we were at the top of a mountain peak called Skyborn Altar, hiding behind bushes and staring at a reddish black dragon asleep on top of an empty Word Wall. The sun had disappeared behind the peak beside this mountain, shrouding the lair in darkness
“This is insane,” Brynjolf hissed. “When you said plan, I thought you meant something we could use to get Delvin out!”
I didn’t blame him for being angry. This detour had cost us several hours delay, and if we were riding the rest of the way there we might not even reach Solitude in time. “This will help him, trust me. And stay here.” I jumped out, my boots crunching on loose stone. The dragon instantly looked up and let out an indignant hiss, bounding into the air. I waited patiently for it to circle a few times, carefully keeping an eye out for signs it was about to perform a strafing attack. But it came down with a roar and landed in front of me, mouth gaping wide open. “Gol Hah Dov!” I Shouted, letting the power to control course through me.
It shut its mouth. “Hail, thuri. Shall we fly together?”
I turned around and would have grinned at Brynjolf and Vex’s looks of disbelief, but we were on a timetable here and I didn’t feel much like smiling. “Well, come on!” I prompted them. I climbed onto the dragon, which didn’t look pleased and having two additional passengers but didn’t complain either.
“This is insane,” Vex insisted. “I’m not getting on that beast.”
“Not even for Delvin?” I asked sweetly, knowing I had her there.
“I shall catch you if you fall,” the dragon asserted. Brynjolf glanced uneasily at its enormous clawed feet, not looking much reassured.
But finally they got on, Vex behind me and Brynjolf behind her. The dragon beat its wings without further ado and took off. It wasn’t enough to make Vex shriek (I honestly wasn’t sure if she could shriek), but it was enough to make her wrap her arms around me so tight I could hardly breathe. The ache in my shoulder started again at the embrace, but I didn’t ask her to loosen up.
Once we were properly in the air and gliding toward Solitude she gradually loosened her arms, completely enchanted with the view. I had ridden a dragon once before, not counting Sahrotaar in Apocrypha, and I had to admit that the view was stunning. The forests were bathed in the golden light of evening, making Skyrim’s jagged wilds seem almost gentle. The dragon flew at heights that made even the great snowy mountains seem small, mere rocks with a dusting of powder on top. Terrain that would have taken us another day and a half to cross took just over a few hours on dragonback. I directed the dragon to land in an alcove in the rock behind the mountain that Solitude was built into. Somehow, I didn’t think the townspeople would respond too well to a dragon landing in their city with three riders.
The dragon instantly curled up and went to sleep after we jumped off, to my surprise. Maybe they stay will bent until you release them? I had expected I would have to Shout at it again.
Vex looked slightly green and Brynjolf staggered a bit after the long ride. The altitude and coldness had started my shoulder aching again, and I massaged it in an attempt to alleviate the pain. “See? We’re here.”
They just growled at me. This time I really did grin, then stopped abruptly at the thought of the Skaal village.
“So what’s the plan?” Brynjolf rubbed his cold hands together.
“This dragon-”
“Diivanah.” I jumped at the abnormally loud words. “My name is Diivanah,” the dragon repeated, raising its head.
Raising his head. I couldn’t think of him as an animal. Not after knowing Parthurnaax and Ohdaviing. “Right. Diivanah will attack the section of the city near the palace and create a diversion. We’ll show up for the execution as though we just came to watch, then wait for him to attack and most of the guards to leave. The townspeople should run for the buildings, and the rest of the guards will take Delvin into one of the towers. We’ll take out those guards and head out of Solitude the back way.” Short, simple, and straightforward.
Apparently it wasn’t as straightforward to anyone else. “Even if… Diivanah causes a distraction, how do you know the guards will all head that way?” Brynjolf demanded.
“I’ll have him fly over the gate first. And I happen to know High King Ulfric will be at the Blue Palace, so all the guards will go rushing up there to keep Diivanah from burning it down.” I looked at the dragon, who had laid his head back down and was to all appearances ignoring everyone. “And you are not to burn down anything,” I told him sharply. “And try not to kill anyone.”
He opened one eye lazily. “Geh, thuri.” I really hoped that meant ‘yes’, but I didn’t actually speak Dovahzul, the dragon language, only knew some Shouts. The eye drifted shut again.
Brynjolf looked uncertain. “We trust you, lad, but I can’t say the same for him. You’re forcing him to help us. What if you lose control?”
“I won’t. I can’t explain how I know that, but I just won’t.” Well that was the greatest explanation ever.
Certainly the dragon didn’t look very menacing now. In fact it, looked more like a large cat curled up in front of a fireplace than a fearsome predator.
“If you say so, lad.” Why Brynjolf insisted on calling me ‘lad’ when I really wasn’t much younger than he was eluded me. Anyway, I had heard him call Karliah ‘lass’, so I guess it wasn’t just me. How anyone could call that demon of a Nightingale ‘lass’ was beyond me, but whatever. I’d seen sabertooth cats with a less murderous glare.
“I’m going to walk up into the city and see if I can find out what time tomorrow the execution is supposed to be held-”
“And leave us with him?” Vex pointed at the dragon.
“He won’t attack you. I’m sure of it.” And I was sure. I could feel that I still had control of the dragon and that my control wasn’t going to fade soon, but that wasn’t really something I could explain to them.
“While you’re up there, talk to Gulum-Ei. I doubt the lizard would have helped set up Delvin after how close you came to killing him last time he associated himself too closely with the East Empire Trading Company, but he may have some useful knowledge.” My face must have been as easy to read as a book, because Brynjolf added, “I know you don’t like him, but he knows not to fool around with you.”
The Argonian had a personality as slippery as his skin, which I had been very tempted to flay off him last time we met. Unfortunately he was our only contact in Solitude, and he was in deep with some important companies, not least the EETC. He wasn’t exactly part of the Guild, but he paid us a substantial cut of his profits to keep us off his back while making quite a bit of gold himself. Mercer Frey had started the relationship, and despite my feelings toward the lizard I had allowed it to continue.
Only until I find another contact in Solitude, I promised myself darkly. “Fine,” I said out loud. “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”
Night had now settled its velvety blanket across all of Skyrim. Just the faintest hint of deep red remained on the horizon over the ocean and green strands of the northern lights were being to weave their way across the sky. The crisp night air was chilly, but I pulled my Nightingale hood low over my face for another reason. I didn’t want to be recognized.
The road to Solitude followed the shore closely until it bent around in a horseshoe shape and led to the city gates. I could hear the steady lap of water slapping the shore, and glancing that way, I thought I saw the gossamer sails of a ship leaving the harbor. Fog hung thick over the harbor, sheltered from the wind as it was by the mountain Solitude was built into. I saw no animals throughout the walk to the gates. It made my entirely too paranoid mind suspicious for a while, then I remembered that we had kind of just flown in on a dragon. Small wonder the deer had scattered.
Luckily I reached the main road up to Solitude just as a party of three Bretons came up the road from the stables. I was able to mingle with them and avoid any attention from the two guards at the gate. A traveler alone was always more suspicious than a group.
Once inside I slipped away from the group. Despite the late hour people still walked the streets, most hurrying along on some sort of business. A few carousers stood outside the Winking Skeever, catcalling at every woman who had the misfortune to walk by. I gave them a disgusted look and pushed past, opening the door to the inn. It was bright and cheerful inside, the bard’s voice singing Ragnar the Red. I personally had little taste for the song, but it was a popular and well-known tale.
Anyway, I wasn’t here to make merry. I wove in between the tables, heading for an alcove where I knew I had about a 50/50 chance of finding Gulum-Ei. The Argonian had staked out the alcove as his evening deal-making haunt, and at this hour he would more than likely be there.
He was. “-Four bales of blue, two of white, and one of black, along with one of leather,” a Dunmer was telling Gulum-Ei in a low voice. Both were bent over a paper, which the Dunmer hurriedly folded up when he noticed me. Gulum-Ei looked up and snapped, “I have no busi-” His expression and tone changed immediately when I shifted back my hood. “We’ll have to finish this later, sir,” he told the Dunmer. The elf left rather quickly when I started fingering my sword hilt suggestively.
If I had needed any more, I had just found another reason to hate Miraak. The blasted Oblivion-spawn had made me leave my other Daedric sword in Apocrypha, and there was absolutely no way I was going back there to retrieve it.
I took the vacated seat and put my elbows on the table. If Gulum-Ei was nervous, he hid it well. “Ah, the Guildmaster graces me with his presence. What can I do for the Guild?”
“I’m sure you already know perfectly well, Gulum-Ei.” I had watched his expression carefully, and while the scaly green reptilian snout and deep set eyes of all Argonians were hard to read I was almost sure that there had been no hint of surprise on his face when he saw me. Gulum-Ei may have played fast and loose with loyalty, but he was no fool. He must have known that Delvin’s impending execution would not happen without incident.
“Ah, yes. Nasty bit of business, that.” He must have seen my eyes flash dangerously because he went on smoothly, “Anything I can do to help, of course, I will.”
“Let’s start with how the East Empire Trading Company knew to set a trap,” I suggested, not really trying to keep the pointed suspicion out of my voice.
Gulum-Ei’s thin reptilian lips flattened in a wry smile. “I can assure you, it was none of my doing. Our arrangement is too profitable to endanger with such an action.” He scraped the tip of his tail thoughtfully across the wooden floor boards of the inn. “I won’t deny I had expected the Guild to show up, so I did a little fishing just in case one of you came to me.” Gulum-Ei paused, and my fingers twitched slightly with the desire to wring his neck. “I have some connections in the EETC, as you may know-”
May know? That’s a good one.
“-and I managed to get inside the warehouse. The item he had been hired to steal was there. It was a legit contract.”
Gulum-Ei didn’t have to explain the implications, but he also didn’t know how serious this actually was. If the contract had been a setup, there wouldn’t have been anything real to steal. That the item had actually been there meant that we had a traitor somewhere inside the Guild to deal with. Whoever it was must have tipped off the guards in time to arrest Delvin, but not in time to remove the item he was sent to steal. Or maybe they didn’t even say what it was, just sent an anonymous note that someone would try to rob the EETC.
Either way, here was another problem to add onto my list. How could I know that whatever information was leaked next wouldn’t contain the astonishing fact that the Dragonborn was the Guildmaster of the Thieves’ Guild?
I had one or two stolen items in my pockets that needed to be fenced, but I couldn’t stand to be around the annoying reptile longer than absolutely necessary. “I’ll be going then.”
Gulum-Ei smiled a thin lipped smile. “Do recommend me to your associates, won’t you?”
I didn’t bother to answer. Instead I meandered up to the bar and signaled for a drink, glancing at the Breton beside me out of the corner of my eye. He had a mug to hand but wasn’t drunk enough to be useful. “And one for this fine gentleman here, bartender,” I called out, waving my hand.
The man looked up at me cautiously. “That’s very kind of you, but I-”
“Oh it’s no trouble, no trouble at all!” I exclaimed jovially, rolling some coins across the wooden surface to the bartender as he set down the drinks. While the bartender’s and the Breton’s eyes were upon the rolling coins I deftly slipped my hand into my pocket and poured some of the most potent wine in Skyrim into the mug, replacing the bottle before the man looked back at me.
Not five minutes later the Breton had his arm around my shoulder like he had known me my entire life and was recounting the time when he battled a snow bear. I was smiling and nodding in all the right places, waiting for the right moment to insert some harmless questions. “Well done! You must be a hunter of great renown. Are you settling down in Solitude for a while?”
“Well,” he slurred his speech slightly, “probably only just long enough to see that execution tomorrow.”
“Execution?” I feigned surprise.
“They’re executin’ some thief. If you ask me, Skyrim’s better off without that scum.” He jostled my elbow and laughed uproariously, earning a few glances from some others in the inn.
Nobody did ask you, I wanted to growl. I took a second to control my temper. “Right you are, friend. Can you tell me when the execution will be held?”
“Well, roundabouts midday, I reckon,” he mumbled, looking into the bottom of an empty mug. “Leastways, it seems like I heard the guards say so. Should be a good turn out.”
My blood boiled to hear him talk about executions like they were just some kind of game to cheer and applaud. He had no idea what it was like to face death like that, people laughing and saying you were getting what you deserved….
I dropped my jovial attitude. “I wouldn't count on that execution tomorrow, mate,” I growled in his ear on my way to the door, leaving him to stare after me.
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