Roggi couldn’t help himself; he was smiling as he walked up the pathway to Mammoth Manor’s front door. It had been a long while since he’d accomplished something as significant as the wins in the Fight Cave on his own. As much as he loved Dardeh, and loved fighting alongside Dardeh, it felt so very good to know that he was still capable of defeating foes with nothing more than his own arms – his arms, and the potions he’d crafted with his own knowledge and years of practice. He pushed open the door and stepped through; Dardeh was in his comfortable clothing, sitting in front of the fireplace.
I shouldn’t be so excited by the fact that I made that guy scream. But it was music to my ears. Such beautiful…
His thoughts stopped short as he saw Dardeh’s face from across the room. Dardeh looked up at Roggi’s entrance and pushed himself up out of the chair, slowly and painfully.
Uh-oh. Something’s wrong.
“Dar?”
“Did you get the lumber situation taken care of?” Dardeh’s voice was flat, and somewhat weak to Roggi’s ear.
“Yeah I did,” he said, slipping out of his armor and tossing it onto the chest beside him. He sat down and waited as Dardeh approached. “They’ll start getting lumber tomorrow. At a discount. And, uh… I’m the new grand champion or something like that.”
Dardeh smiled wanly. “That’s great. I knew you could do it.”
Roggi took Dardeh’s hands. He could feel the tension running through him just by that slight touch. He looked into Dardeh’s eyes and saw a mix of emotions – confusion, anger, regret… but mostly pain.
“What’s happened, Dar? Was it the dragon?”
Dardeh’s eyes filled with moisture. He shook his head.
“There was no dragon, Roggi. Rayya’s dead.”
“What? No dragon? Then why…”
Roggi’s emotions ran wild: first he was shocked. Then he was excited.
Gone? She’s gone? I never have to worry about her again?
Then he felt himself flushing with guilt.
How can I possibly be thinking such a thing? That’s awful.
I… can be thinking such a thing because I just don’t want to lose Dar. It took me so long to realize that I needed him to be mine. She was threatening that. I know she was. I’ve never trusted her, not for an instant.
He took just a moment to compose himself. “What happened?”
Dardeh told him the whole story. Roggi was angry, and concerned once more about the fact that vampires were after Dardeh. But looking at the agony on Dardeh’s face was the worst of all.
“You couldn’t help what happened, Dar. It wasn’t your fault. You were trying to help with a dragon.”
“But I killed her, Roggi. I did. Myself. If I hadn’t Shouted so fast…”
“No, love.” He smiled at Dardeh. “You were up against vampires. Fire is the thing they’re the most vulnerable to. You did the right thing.” Another thought occurred to him. “You know, if she was a thrall as you say, nothing would ever have changed that. You would have been in danger from now until… the end. And what if something had happened to one of the girls, or Lydia? You’d feel…”
“I’d feel like dying,” Dardeh rumbled, staring at the floor. “Just like I do now.”
“No, Dar. You can’t do that. You can’t leave me alone.” He did his best to smile. “Because there’s nobody alive out there who wants the Inquisitor coming for them with nobody to hold him back.”
Dardeh almost managed a smirk – almost, but not quite. “The Inquisitor.”
“Well,” he said, feeling that little curl of excitement in his gut once more, “they needed a name to call me. You know, to get people to wager on me. It seemed like the obvious choice.”
It was Dardeh’s turn to look concerned. “Roggi, no. Really?”
“Yeah. You should have seen me, Dar. I was really good. And don’t worry, it didn’t involve any kind of torture. Just battles.” Except for that one moment. I could have put him out of his misery right then, ended it quickly. But those screams… they were so …
Dardeh pulled him up off the chest and gathered him close. “I think we need each other, Roggi.”
Roggi inhaled Dardeh’s scent, and the curl of excitement grew stronger. “Mmm. You know it. Always.” He kissed Dardeh’s neck, and got the satisfaction of hearing the low rumble of a moan.
“Roggi. Be serious.”
“Oh, I am.” He pulled himself back, though, sensing that Dardeh needed time. “But what I’m concerned about most is who or what is behind all these vampire attacks on you, Dar.”
Dardeh nodded. “I agree. I didn’t want to believe it, but someone enthralled Rayya because she was close to me. I don’t know why, but I’m beginning to believe that we need to figure it out.”
Not nearly as close as she would have liked. I know you believe I’m the only one for you, love of my life. And it may be that life treats us that way after all. But if she hadn’t died, you might have been tempted to give Rayya a go, the way things happened with me and Ulfric. And you would have been so confused, just like I was. That’s what I think. I’m glad she’s dead. I guess that makes me a lousy person.
“Did you get a good look at the vampire?”
“Yeah. I think he was a Breton. Close-shaved hair. There was someone else there, too, back in the shadows. I’d know the voice if I heard it again, I think.” He shook his head. “Why do people keep dying because of me, Roggi?”
Roggi shook his head. “It’s not because of you, Dardeh. It’s because of what people think you are. What they think you can give them. It’s not your fault that people are greedy.” He took Dardeh’s hand and pulled him toward the stairs. “Come on. We need to get back up to Helgen, but I think we need some rest first. You look like death warmed over right now.”
Dardeh still looked miserable, but he nodded. “Yeah. And if I keep worrying about it I won’t be of any use to anyone else. But it’s just like it was when I came back from Solstheim and…”
Roggi stopped him with a kiss, and could feel Dardeh responding to him.
That’s my boy.
“Let’s not revisit all of that,” he said when they were done. “We have enough else to take care of. Let’s go get some rest.”
___
By the time they made it to Helgen, piles of freshly-sawn lumber were already dotting various spots in the keep’s yard. There were workers hammering away at the standing buildings, tearing out wood that was beyond salvaging while checking to see which pieces might still be useful with just a bit of planing or sanding. Dardeh grinned at Roggi.
“Looks like all your fighting paid off. Finally, some real progress!”
“Told you, nobody wants the Inquisitor after them,” Roggi chuckled. “I’m glad to see it all worked out.”
Dardeh smiled at him again. Roggi had managed to distract him from letting his grief get the better of him. Now he felt primarily irritation at the situation and a burning desire to find out who had been behind putting them into it, and why.
They found Marcus Jannus down in the kitchen. Roggi pulled the papers he’d collected out of his pack and handed them over.
“The business with Reinhardt has been settled. He’s sent new discounted contracts. Here you go.”
“What? Discounted contracts? What happened?”
Roggi cleared his throat. “It’s a bit of a long story, but the first lumber shipments have already arrived, judging from the work happening outside.”
Marcus laughed. “Long, maybe so, but I’ll bet it will make for quite a tale to tell your grandchildren around the campfire some day.”
Dardeh smiled at the twinkle that appeared in Roggi’s eyes at that remark. He marveled once more that his life had turned out the way it had; that instead of being alone in the world as he had thought he would be just a couple of years before, he had a family brought together by choice and by love, if not by blood.
Yes. Maybe we will have grandchildren someday. That really would be something, wouldn’t it?
“Well done,” Marcus said. “Now we can get that old inn finished and start on the rest of the town! You’ve worked yourself out of a job with me, and you have my thanks. But… I believe Valerius has information for both of you.”
Dardeh swapped glances with Roggi yet again. Roggi was, this time, the one whose brow was drawn down into a deep frown. They returned up the spiral staircase and were crossing the main hall of the keep when Valerius himself appeared from the other doorway.
“You wanted to see us?” Dardeh said.
“Yes. I wanted to be absolutely certain before I spoke with you, but it’s been confirmed by my sources. There is indeed a slavery network in operation here in Skyrim, and all clues point to my old nemesis Aerandil as its chief operator.”
Behind him, Dardeh heard Roggi make a sound that reminded him of a wolf growling. He himself felt the embers that were always smoldering inside him begin to grow hotter. Slavery.
“They are capturing citizens, whole families and even their children and selling them as slaves. I’m afraid only the gods know what is happening to those poor souls after that.”
“What can we do to help?” Dardeh said, not bothering to check with Roggi. He knew they would do whatever they were asked to do, particularly having heard the story of what had happened to Valerius’ own family.
“Aerandil has certainly covered his tracks well, so we have little if anything to go on. All we know is that he specifically requested a transfer here, to be assigned overseer of all prison operations in Skyrim. Fortunately for us, one of their guards had loose lips at precisely the right moment. And you may remember Korst saying he spoke of his relationship with some whore at the Tall Mast Tavern? I know it’s not much, but perhaps she can provide us with something else to investigate. Could you…”
“See what we can get out of her? Sure. Where is this place?”
“Not too far west of Fort Snowhawk. I assume you know the place?”
Roggi snorted. “The fort? Altogether too well. That was a night I’d just as soon forget.”
“Want to sit this one out, Roggi?” Dardeh asked. After all, Roggi had just been involved in several substantial physical battles, and he hadn’t. He could surely take a break if the task simply involved talking to people in a tavern.
“Not on your life,” Roggi laughed. “Letting you into a whorehouse without supervision? Not happening.”
Dardeh felt himself flushing. “Roggi. Good grief!” he hissed.
Roggi grinned at him. “Come on. Let’s get going.”
___
It was dark when they approached the Tall Mast Tavern. It was, as Valerius had said, not too terribly far west down the road from Fort Snowhawk. It was a fairly good-sized building, and when they stepped inside Dardeh noted that it was reasonably well-kept and the size of the Jarl’s longhouse in Falkreath. Dardeh greeted one or two men seated in nicely-appointed alcoves, but knew he was looking for a woman, so didn’t spend time in conversation. As he reached the far end of the room a woman wearing a very revealing robe stepped out of a side room, looked him over carefully, and made her way toward the fireplace.
Great. This must be the one.
“Um, excuse me,” he said, walking up behind her. When she turned to face him, his mouth dropped open; her robe was barely fastened in the front, open all the way to her navel. She wore no shoes, and her legs were bare as well. She was very pretty, to be sure, if one could manage to focus his attention on her face, and he fought to do just that.
All she needs to do is move suddenly, and…
He looked around for Roggi, for morale support, but couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Yes?” she said.
“Um… oh. I’m looking for a high elf named Aerandil. I was told he might have, uh… spent some time here. Do you know where I might find him?”
The woman crossed her arms and looked him up and down, very carefully. There wasn’t a single question in his mind as to what she was thinking, and he swallowed hard.
Gods help me, I hope I’m in the shadows. I must be the color of a Mythic Dawn banner.
She smirked. “Well, handsome, my name is Dianna, and I only provide one kind of service here. And information? Ain’t it. Besides, I never kiss and tell. What you see is what you get with me, sugar.”
Well I certainly can see what I’d be getting if I was interested in that kind of thing. By Talos, where did Roggi go?
“So,” Dianna continued, “if you’re not interested in my – company – I suggest you go to the bar and leave me be.”
Dardeh wasn’t one to panic, generally speaking, but he’d never really sought out the company of street women before and he had no idea how to approach the problem. He could feel his pulse racing, and not in a pleasant way.
“Uh, I have to… um… one moment. I’ll… uh… come see you in a minute.”
“Suit yourself, honey,” she said with a smirk, clearly amused by his state of discomfiture.
Dardeh looked around the room, frantically, and breathed a sigh of relief as Roggi came striding down the stairs from the second floor. He practically bolted in Roggi’s direction.
“Where were you?” he hissed. “I need help!”
Roggi looked past his shoulder. Dardeh saw the moment when Roggi spotted Dianna, and recognized the appreciation in his gaze. He looked at her for what Dardeh considered maybe a moment or two too long and then turned back to face him.
“So, uh, what help do you need, exactly?” Roggi said, grinning. “She took a liking to you, did she?”
“Roggi! It’s not funny! By the Nine, she’s the one we need information from and she says that… uh…”
Roggi crossed his arms and grinned, his eyes twinkling. “Let me guess. She’d rather have your company? Girl’s got good taste, I’d say. After all, Dar, you are a pretty fine specimen. I can’t imagine why anyone would turn down a chance to…”
“Roggi.” Dardeh grabbed his husband by the upper arms. “Focus for just a second, would you? I mean, I know how much you enjoy… this,” he said, waving at himself and lowering his voice to a harsh whisper. “But I’ve never been with a woman who works at a brothel. Or any other woman, for that matter. Not happening. I need help. How can I get her to talk?”
The grin still didn’t leave Roggi’s face. “And you think I’m the experienced one, do you? Well, all right, Dar, if that’s what it takes…” He made as if to move toward Dianna, and Dardeh froze for just a moment. Then he gripped Roggi even harder.
“You wouldn’t.”
Roggi laughed. He reached up and caressed Dardeh’s face for just a moment. “No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t do that to you, Dar. But what I can tell you is I’ve never known a woman in her line of work who didn’t like the looks of a nice, fat…”
“ROGGI.”
“Coin purse, Dar. A nice, fat, coin purse full of septims.” Roggi reached into his pack and pulled out just such a coin purse. “Here. Compliments of the Inquisitor. I, uh… made back the payment for the lumber and then some. See if this might not loosen her lips a little bit.”
Dardeh took the coin purse and glowered at his husband. “Loosen her lips. I’m going to have things to say to you with mine, later on.”
“One can only hope,” Roggi said, waggling his eyebrows.
“By the Nine. I don’t know what’s gotten into you but…” Dardeh stopped and grinned at Roggi. “I think I like it.”
He was still blushing as he turned to find Dianna ogling him from across the room. He took a long, deep breath to steady himself and started in her direction.
By the gods, what is my problem? It’s not as though I’ve never had a woman come on to me before. I can handle this. Then he chuckled. And then Roggi’s making it up to me later on.
“Dianna,” he said as he got near enough to be heard.
“Handsome,” she smiled, taking a particularly provocative pose.
“Would approximately,” he paused and opened up the coin purse, peering inside it and jiggling it a bit to generate a nice sound, “oh about fifteen hundred septims make it easier for you to share some information?”
He glanced back up to see a decided glint in the woman’s eyes, and smiled again.
“Well, baby,” she said, “if you’re feeling that generous – maybe I know a little. But I was hoping to get to know a handsome man like you a little better. That lean body, and those muscles… such a pity. I’d even spend some time with you for free some day.”
Movement caught Dardeh’s eye. Roggi had slipped into the bar behind them, apparently while Dar had been looking at the coin purse; he stepped out into the area and grinned again just as Dianna offered her assessment of Dardeh’s form. Dardeh looked at him and grinned back.
“Well, I’m flattered. Thank you. But you see that handsome man over there?” He nodded his head toward Roggi. “That’s my husband. I’ll hand you this coin purse and it’ll be easier on your back than working for it would be. Just tell me what you know about Aerandil.”
“What I know about him? Nothing much. He’s been here to see me a time or two. Not very – uh – impressive, if you ask me. But that’s another story. All I really know is that another one of the girls said that someone else came in here looking for him, yesterday. She said he sure did his share of talking – he was more a limp sail than a tall mast, if you get my drift. He said his name was Maenen. Anyway, he said he’d be taking a ship out of Solitude back home soon. For all I know, he might still be there.” She gave Dardeh one more sultry look, and then sighed in apparent disappointment. “Now, if you don’t need me for anything else, I have customers to take care of.”
“That’s… all I needed.”
“Mmmm,” she said, winking at him and turning for the doorway to the bar. “That’s a pity, honey.”
“Thanks for the information. And the compliment. I appreciate it,” he said, watching for a moment as she swayed across the room.
I’ll never understand the attraction. Not at all.
He turned to Roggi and grabbed him by the arm. “Out. Now. We’re going to Solitude.”
“Yes, dear,” Roggi chuckled.
___
They didn’t bother asking around when they got to Solitude. Dardeh simply headed for the Winking Skeever. There were only a couple of places in Solitude where Altmer would normally be found: one was the Thalmor offices in Castle Dour and the other was – as could be said for any traveler of any race – the inn. Dardeh looked around as he entered. There were a couple of Argonians, several Bretons, and lots of Nords in the common room, but no Altmer. He headed directly for the stairwell to the second floor.
On the upstairs landing, seated at a small dining table, was a single, sour-looking Altmer who looked none too pleased when Dardeh approached him. He shrank back a bit, looked up at Dardeh and said “yes?”
“Yes. I’m assuming that you’re Maenen. I’m looking for a High Elf named Aerandil and was told you know him.”
“What?” the mer said. “Who? You must be mistaking me for someone else. I know no one by that name.”
“Hmm. That’s interesting, because the word is that you’re involved in the slave trade.”
“How dare you! That’s absolutely preposterous!”
Roggi, standing behind Dardeh, cleared his throat. Dardeh didn’t turn to see what he was doing, but whatever it was must have been somewhat intimidating based on the reaction on Maenen’s face. Dardeh sneered.
“Talk, or I can have Ulfric throw you in jail for a long time.”
“Or you could come visit me in Ulfric’s dungeon,” Roggi said in the low voice that made the hair on Dardeh’s neck stand up. Maenan swallowed hard.
“Yes, yes, I know who you are. I mean who doesn’t know about the Hero of Skyrim?”
“Heroes. There are two of us here. And this is your last warning. Talk.”
“Very well, I will talk; but only if you guarantee that you’ll let me sail back home.”
“Fine. Where is Aerandil?”
“I don’t know,” Maenan said. Roggi hissed; and Maenan held his hands up before his face defensively. “I don’t! I never met him, actually! I’ve only met with one of his associates, a Nord bandit named Guunlaug. Some say his last name is Fork-tongue, but I wouldn’t know that for sure.”
Dardeh leaned forward a bit closer to the mer’s face. He felt certain that his internal fires must be showing in his eyes.
“What exactly do you know for sure?”
“Um… Aerandil sends the, um, ‘product’ to Guunlaug and he takes care of getting them smuggled out of Skyrim.”
“Product,” Roggi growled. “Those are people you’re talking about, Elf.”
Dardeh turned to Roggi and laid a hand on his arm. “Easy.”
“Sorry, Dar, it’s just that… there are some things you don’t know. I could kill him where he sits.”
“And then we’d know nothing.” Dardeh turned back to the elf. “Continue.”
“I… I don’t know exactly where he is, but I know they smuggle the product out of Skyrim from an old shipwreck on the coast northwest of here. I heard they use an old frozen cave to hold the product and then use boats to transfer them out to one of their ships at night. My shipment is supposed to be on its way to there now. I swear to you, that’s all I know.”
Roggi leaned over the table. “Your product will not be shipped as you hoped it would, if I can help it.”
“No. I suppose it won’t be.”
Dardeh smiled grimly. “You will leave Skyrim on the first possible ship. Or things will become rather… heated… for you. Do we understand each other?”
“Yes, yes, of course,” the elf stammered. “As I said, I’ve already made the arrangements to leave.”
“And you won’t return. Otherwise you’re dead,” Roggi added.
“You… needn’t worry about that.”
“That’s very good,” Dardeh said. He nodded to Roggi, and turned to stride heavily across the landing and down the stairs, then out the door of the inn. Once they were outside, he turned to Roggi.
“So, do we head there right now?”
“Of course.”
“And what is it that I don’t know?”
“Come on. Let’s go. I’ll tell you while we’re walking.” Roggi didn’t meet his gaze; rather, he stared straight ahead with his mouth in a grim line until they were outside Solitude’s gates and well down the road. Then he started talking.
Dardeh had always had the utmost respect, and a painful spot in his heart, for all the things he knew Roggi had been through. And as with all other things, Roggi had revealed them to him one layer at a time, never giving him the entire sordid story of what had transpired during those last years with Ulfric. He’d learned to accept that about Roggi, because he loved the man and what he’d done before they’d met wasn’t really any of his concern.
And now, once more, the details were filled in a bit further. The bandits who had waylaid them – Roggi, and Briinda, and the rest of Roggi’s family – had been after their modest wealth, but once they saw her they’d also been hoping to take Briinda as a slave. He’d been injured to the point that he couldn’t rise, couldn’t fight back, and he pretended to be dead. That part, Dardeh already knew. What he hadn’t known was that Roggi had watched Briinda scream and struggle against a man far larger than herself while he beat her, pinned her to the ground, and raped her. Then, even worse, the leader – a haughty Altmer – had looked down his nose at her, looked at the bandit, and said that he’d ruined the goods now, and they wouldn’t be able to sell her. They’d killed her there on the spot and Roggi hadn’t been able to do anything but memorize the bandits’ faces and plan the awful things he would do to them once he had recovered.
“I don’t ever want to hear anyone referred to as ‘merchandise’ or ‘product’ ever again, Dar,” he muttered. “I’ll kill the next person I hear say that.” He still didn’t stop walking, didn’t stop his angry striding toward the path over Haafingar’s central ridge.
Dardeh had to stop him with a strong grip on his arm. He said nothing, but simply pulled Roggi close and held him, firmly, until finally he felt Roggi shudder.
“I’m so sorry, Roggi,” he said quietly. “Nobody should ever have to go through something like that. Not her, not you, and…” he trailed off.
“Not Valerius,” Roggi finished. Slowly, his arms came up to surround Dardeh, and he hugged him for a moment. Then he pulled back.
“Thanks, Dar,” he said simply. “I’m ok now. It’s just one of those things. It doesn’t matter how much time goes by.”
“I know,” Dardeh said, smiling and reaching for Roggi’s hand. “It’s like me and Solstheim.” He found himself shuddering involuntarily. “Some of the things that happened there will never leave me.”
They walked for a few minutes in silence. Then, out of nowhere, something that Dardeh had thought about for all of the intervening time popped out of him almost on its own.
“I still have the letters I wrote to you when I was there, you know.”
Roggi looked at him, his eyebrows arched in surprise. “Letters?”
“Yeah. Lydia got a couple of letters but I never sent the ones I wrote to you because, well…”
“Because why? I would have been so relieved to get them.”
Dardeh smiled, and sighed. “Because I kept telling you that I loved you. And I figured, back then, that if I said that to you, you’d run away as fast and far as you could.”
They walked in silence a bit longer, dropping down over the crest of the hill and approaching Fort Hraggstad. Roggi chuckled.
“Thanks for telling me that, Dar. You had no way to know how much I wouldn’t have run away. I might have tried to, but…” he trailed off.
“But what?”
“But I already knew way back then how much I wanted you. I just didn’t want to admit it to myself.”
Dardeh grinned. “So why were you pushing me at that street girl in the tavern, eh?”
Roggi laughed. “Just testing. You never know when some beautiful girl might come and…”
“She’d have to be a lot better at making tea than you are,” Dardeh said. His heart swelled in his chest. I don’t know how I was so lucky. He’s everything I ever wanted. He was worth waiting for. It doesn’t matter how damaged he is. I love him and that’s all there is to it.
The fort perched at the top of the escarpment, and there was a steep, fairly precarious way down to the seashore just around to its side. Dardeh was picking his way carefully down the path, watching for loose rocks or anything else that might trip him up, when Roggi suddenly snatched his sword from his back and sprinted toward a stand of trees.
“Roggi, wait…”
But Roggi wasn’t about to wait, that was clear. He was already swinging at a figure Dardeh couldn’t see, deep in the shadows thrown by the forest on this bright morning. He drew his own swords and, as he neared them, heard a harsh voice yelling at Roggi.
“This is what you want? Huh?” Then there was the sound of swords clashing. Roggi was silent. That was almost as unsettling to Dardeh as it would have been if he’d been screaming in rage; for the gods only knew what would happen to his opponent when Roggi finally erupted.
He was just about to where he could flank the bandit when a second one stepped out of the trees and attacked him. The man took a wild swing at him with an iron blade; it bounced harmlessly off Dardeh’s ebony armor and back at him. Dardeh caught the look of momentary panic on the bandit’s face, panic that he tried to cover by shouting “Give up while you still can!” But Dardeh snorted, stepped up to him, and took a single quick swipe with his scimitars. The bandit fell to his feet.
Dardeh stepped over the man’s body and around the trees, to see Roggi block a massive swing by an Orc wielding a warhammer. It was easy to get under the Orc’s reach and take care of him. He started to open his mouth to ask Roggi if he was alright, but heard Roggi growling again and the voices of two more bandits.
As they ran back up the slope toward the voices it became clear that there was some sort of encampment set up there. Barrels and a brazier marked what looked like an old mine entrance just beyond. This had to be the place Maenan had mentioned; but before they could enter they needed to get past an angry Redguard bandit at the entrance. It didn’t take long, though, with both of them hacking away at him.
Dardeh pushed his hood back off his head and sheathed his swords.
“You ok?”
Roggi nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think this is the place, don’t you?”
Dardeh nodded. “I do.” He turned around and looked through the trees at the Sea of Ghosts, and pointed. “The wreck’s just off-shore down there. This must be where they’re keeping the captives. Ready?”
“You know I am,” Roggi said.
Dardeh nodded at him. He was ready. He wasn’t certain about Roggi, though. He’d never seen such a grim look on the man’s face, not even when he’d faced Ulfric for the first time.
I hope nobody gets killed who isn’t supposed to.
Like Rayya.
