{"id":1154,"date":"2018-02-08T00:36:12","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T00:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/?page_id=1154"},"modified":"2020-02-22T04:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T04:01:00","slug":"chapter-13","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/volume-ii\/part-i-dardeh\/chapter-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

It certainly was easier to move in fancy clothing than in steel plate armor, but Dardeh didn\u2019t feel comfortable at all.\u00a0 He was sitting across the table from a pleasant-looking but very nervous, redheaded Bosmer who took one look at him and said \u201cYou\u2019re<\/em> who she picked?\u00a0 I hope she knows what she\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dardeh sighed. No, I\u2019m not a Redguard. Yes, I\u2019m Nord. Yes, I worship Talos. Yes, I\u2019m Dragonborn, whatever that means. No, I don\u2019t know how to breathe fire.\u00a0 Yet.\u00a0 Yes, I might possibly be tempted to use it on the next person who asked me these things, if I did know it.<\/em><\/p>\n

No, I don\u2019t really mean that. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m what she has to work with, so yes. I\u2019m who she picked.\u00a0 How do you want to handle this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Malborn arched an eyebrow.\u00a0 \u201cGive me whatever you can\u2019t live without and I\u2019ll smuggle it into the Embassy for you.\u00a0 Now I have to get back before I\u2019m missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dardeh passed his armor, his weapons and arrows, a few lockpicks, and all the healing potions he had to Malborn, and watched him scurry out the door with them. Hope he doesn\u2019t have any trouble getting that inside.\u00a0 It was hard enough getting my weapons back after Helgen.<\/em> He got himself another drink and sat back down with it, sipping it slowly while he thought, and tried to rest.<\/p>\n

This whole thing is beginning to tire me out.\u00a0 And now I have to go meet the Thalmor. Sneaking around in their Embassy?\u00a0 In full steel plate.\u00a0 And I\u2019m as big as an elk. This should be really good.<\/em><\/p>\n

Reluctantly, he heaved himself to his feet and left the Winking Skeever to meet Delphine and pick up the piece of paper that would get him access to the Embassy. She took everything else he had and promised to keep it all safe in her secret room in Riverwood.\u00a0 So that means another trek halfway across the province, he thought sourly. Then he sighed. I wonder what has become of the man Ma called \u201cmy sweet boy.\u201d I can barely remember him.\u00a0 Maybe I need to find a mine and chop out some ore.<\/p>\n

_______<\/p>\n

Dardeh was reminded once again of how short he really was compared with a full-blooded Nord when he stood next to Elenwen, the Thalmor Ambassador.\u00a0 The top of his head barely reached the level of her eyes. Tall, even by Altmer standards, and nothing short of statuesque, she approached him and greeted him kindly, asking for his name by way of a polite \u201cYou have me at a disadvantage. I don\u2019t believe we\u2019ve met,\u201d and carefully blocking his access to the rest of the room.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you!\u201d he said, hoping he sounded sincere.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve heard so much about you.\u201d\u00a0 That was certainly true. He flashed her a smile, hoping that it would distract her.\u00a0 He\u2019d been told that he had an attractive smile, that he should use it more often.\u00a0 It was worth a try.<\/p>\n

She smiled back at him.\u00a0 Nope, he thought.\u00a0 She\u2019s going to be polite but she\u2019s in no way distracted.\u00a0 I suppose I shouldn\u2019t be surprised. I\u2019m not exactly her type.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll good, I trust?\u00a0 But you were just about to introduce yourself\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiled at her again. No I wasn\u2019t.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u2019am?\u201d<\/p>\n

Malborn was speaking from just inside the room, and Elenwen turned to look at him.\u00a0 \u201cWe seem to have run out of the Alto wine.\u00a0 Do I have your permission to uncork the\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

She snapped at him. \u201cOf course you do. I\u2019ve told you not to bother me with such trifles!\u201d As she was talking, Dardeh slipped past, shooting another smile in Elenwen\u2019s direction and making the briefest of eye contact with Malborn, giving him a tiny nod, before making his way into the room.<\/p>\n

The party itself was well-appointed, with a bard playing a flute, trays of sweets, cheeses, meats and breads laid out, and serving girls carrying trays of drinks around to the guests.\u00a0 Dardeh took a piece of cheese to nibble, and a goblet of wine to sip, then scanned the room.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t recognize most of the people there, aside from the man he\u2019d met just outside the Embassy, the one who had proudly told him that he was there for the drinking.\u00a0 He walked into the crowd, smiling and nodding at people he didn\u2019t know and who didn\u2019t know him, all of them behaving in that excruciatingly polite fashion used by people who didn\u2019t actually like each other at all. \u00a0In fact, he heard mutterings about Elenwen, and the Thalmor in general. It became increasingly obvious that many of these people were Jarls, or Thanes in their various courts, and only a few of them had anything good to say about any of it.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t help himself; he grinned.<\/p>\n

Dardeh heard a familiar voice behind him and turned to find Jarl Balgruuf the Greater across the room, speaking to a younger man wearing a circlet topped with elk horns.\u00a0 Balgruuf met his eyes and one eyebrow twitched, but he didn\u2019t acknowledge Dardeh\u2019s presence in any other way.\u00a0 Dardeh nodded at him, then made his way back to the bar, near the Embassy entrance, and spoke to Malborn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like a drink,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, sir! Here you are; the finest Colovian brandy!\u201d Malborn said loudly.\u00a0 Then he dropped his voice to a whisper. \u201cGood, you made it.\u00a0 Now you need to figure out a way to distract the guards somehow.\u00a0 Then come back to me and I\u2019ll sneak you out the back way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right.\u00a0 I think I have an idea,\u201d Dardeh said, turning back to the party guests.<\/p>\n

Balgruuf was still in his corner, standing next to Proventus Avenicci, complaining about the Thalmor in a volume that probably was not wise.\u00a0 Dardeh approached him, nodding at Proventus but making it clear that he wanted Balgruuf\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Jarl,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Look at me, talking to a Jarl just as though I belong in this company. Although I am Thane of Whiterun, so maybe I do. Life is so strange these days. <\/em>\u201cEnjoying the party?\u201d<\/p>\n

Balgruuf frowned. \u201cI am not. I have no more taste for Thalmor wine than I do for Thalmor company.\u00a0 What is more, I\u2019m away from the hold at a time when there are dragons and Stormcloaks on the loose. There\u2019s every chance I\u2019ll return to find a pile of smoking ash where Whiterun once stood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dardeh nodded, then spoke quietly.\u00a0 \u201cWell I\u2019ve been trying my best where the dragons are concerned. There are several fewer than there were the last time we spoke. Which brings me to why I\u2019m here.\u00a0 I need your help with something, if you\u2019re willing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI need you to cause a scene.\u00a0 Something to get everyone\u2019s attention for just a few minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balgruuf\u2019s eyes twinkled, he grinned, and Dardeh had no choice but to grin back. He hadn\u2019t expected to pique Balgruuf\u2019s sense of mischief but it seemed as though he had.\u00a0 \u201cSay no more.\u00a0 I was wondering what you were doing here.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad to play my part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dardeh headed back toward Malborn, slowly, and watched Balgruuf approach the drunk who had been sitting outside the Embassy when he arrived.\u00a0 He heard Balgruuf whisper \u201cIt\u2019s for a good cause\u201d to the man, and then start accusing him, loudly, of disrespecting the Ambassador and her Justicars.\u00a0 Every eye in the room snapped to the two of them; there wasn\u2019t a chance anyone was going to notice an unknown slipping around the back side of the bar.<\/p>\n

Dardeh grinned at Malborn. \u201cAll set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malborn ushered Dardeh through the kitchens, to the chest where his things were stowed.\u00a0 He changed into his reassuring steel plate, armed his weapons, took a deep breath, dropped into a crouch and slipped through the door into the Embassy proper.<\/p>\n

And then things got exciting.<\/p>\n

There was absolutely no sneaking to be had as he moved through the Embassy.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter how careful he was; the Thalmor, warriors and mages alike, heard him and attacked.\u00a0 He was grateful once again for the plate mail from Ustengrav, and for the fact that he\u2019d remembered potions.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t dare use a Shout for fear of bringing the whole Embassy to him, so he swung and blocked and used his shoulders and his bulk as a battering ram; and eventually he made his way out an upper door onto a walkway surrounding the inner courtyard.\u00a0 Across a short opening was the building where Elenwen had her private quarters and where, he assumed, he would find anything that Delphine might be able to use.<\/p>\n

But the Thalmor spotted him instantly and started firing magic at him.\u00a0 There was only one thing he could think to do that might get him where he needed to be.<\/p>\n

Well, here goes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWULD!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dardeh\u2019s Shout took him to within a few paces of the door to Elenwen\u2019s solar, quickly enough that none of the attacking Thalmor could aim at him again.\u00a0 He burst through the door and was immediately attacked by two more Thalmor and a man in plain clothing.\u00a0 None of them was particularly difficult to dispatch, but he took a fair number of burns and slashes, and was again glad for having learned some healing magic by the time he was finished with them.<\/p>\n

Dardeh wandered as quietly as he could around the place, marveling at the number of books in it. They were everywhere: in stacks, on the numerous shelves, on the floor, and piled high on a desk in a room that was clearly an office.\u00a0 Behind the desk he found a chest with two journals, a key, and a note regarding the investigation into the dragons.\u00a0 He read the note and frowned.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally? They don\u2019t know any more than we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

The two journals contained information on Delphine, and to his surprise, Ulfric Stormcloak.\u00a0 Nothing in the documents about Delphine surprised him, although he was again hard-pressed to reconcile what he\u2019d seen of her with the idea that she was a veteran of the Blades.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard about the Blades from his mother. They were practically the stuff of legend.\u00a0 No wonder Delphine was more than a little arrogant.<\/p>\n

But Ulfric Stormcloak as a former Thalmor \u201casset?\u201d\u00a0 That surprised Dardeh.\u00a0 He knew that Ulfric and his men had been in Markarth some twenty years ago, but he had always thought of them as Stormcloaks, not as Legionnaires.\u00a0 And he certainly had no idea that the Thalmor had used him.\u00a0 And tortured him.\u00a0 Or, rather, \u201cinterrogated,\u201d according to this journal.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t fooled by the wording. No wonder Ulfric was so persistent against the Empire.<\/p>\n

Still, interesting as the journals were, they told him nothing important about the return of the dragons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He found a set of stairs leading down from the office to a dingy little hallway below, ending before a locked door that yielded to the key he\u2019d found.\u00a0 The door opened onto a narrow landing.\u00a0 What he saw below him shocked him.\u00a0 There was blood spattered all over the floor and over a small table from what was clearly an equally bloody torturer\u2019s rack.\u00a0 A Thalmor was pacing back and forth before a caged cell in which Dardeh could just make out the slumped figure of a Breton man, hanging by his wrists from metal shackles affixed to the wall.<\/p>\n

What kind of a sick piece of work does this?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

It was one thing to kill a man in battle, to protect oneself from a direct attack.\u00a0 But to torture them? Make them suffer, deliberately?<\/p>\n

Sick. These people have to be taken care of, somehow.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dardeh made his way down to the lower level and drew his bow. Inching out into the room, he crouched, barely breathing, and took aim at the Thalmor.\u00a0 He was just about to release when the man turned, saw Dardeh, and released a gout of magical flames.\u00a0 Dardeh released the arrow, not able to see whether he was still on target or not, and rolled to the side, behind a wooden pillar.\u00a0 Standing and drawing his swords, he rushed forward to find the Thalmor still staggered, the arrow having caught him squarely in the gut.\u00a0 It took only a couple of slashes to finish him off.<\/p>\n

There was another chest on the floor, behind a table placed so as to give the interrogator a clear view of the cells.\u00a0 Inside, Dardeh found one more journal like the two he had found upstairs.\u00a0 This one discussed a man named Esbern, a former Blade who might, they thought, be their last chance to learn about the dragons.<\/p>\n

Dardeh opened the gate of the cell.\u00a0 The Breton in rags lifted his head slowly, glanced at Dardeh, then slumped again. He was covered with livid bruises and dried blood, and had clearly been battered by the now-dead Thalmor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already told you everything.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t you just kill me and get it over with?\u201d<\/p>\n

I need to know what this all is, Dardeh thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to hear it one more time,\u201d he said.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry to put you through this, but I just really have to know.<\/em><\/p>\n

The man confirmed what was in the journal.\u00a0 The Thalmor were looking for a man named Esbern.\u00a0 The prisoner, who gave his name as Etienne Rarnis, was from Riften and knew of an old man living in a place called the Ratway.\u00a0 \u201cHe matches the description of the guy they\u2019re looking for. \u00a0That\u2019s all I know, I swear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dardeh nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThanks. Now. I\u2019m not here to torture you, I just needed the information.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get out of here.\u201d\u00a0 He released a very surprised Etienne.<\/p>\n

\u201cUm, thank you?\u00a0 I think there\u2019s a way out, over here.\u00a0 A trap door.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen them dumping bodies down there.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll have to find the key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dumping bodies? Good grief.\u00a0 I feel a lot less guilty about killing them, now.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dardeh was just about to begin searching when voices from the platform above caught his attention.\u00a0 Two more Thalmor entered, leading a frightened-looking Malborn.\u00a0 Dardeh pulled out his bow and tried to find a spot within range, but the Thalmor spotted him before he could draw.\u00a0 The next few moments were a blur of arrows, swords, and spells, along with one very well-timed Shout that sent both Thalmor through the air onto their backs.\u00a0 Malborn managed to duck out of the way, Etienne just vanished somehow, and Dardeh finished one of the Thalmor with his swords.<\/p>\n

The second stood and began to gather magic in his hand. Dardeh leapt at him, intending to knock him down again.\u00a0 He was just short of his intended spot; instead, his arms reached around the Thalmor\u2019s legs and his momentum took both of them down.\u00a0 There was a resounding, sickening crack as the Thalmor\u2019s head struck the stairs behind him.<\/p>\n

Dardeh stood, staring down at the man.\u00a0 He\u2019d been unfortunate enough to land exactly the wrong way, and his neck had been broken.<\/p>\n

Dardeh searched the bodies; each of them had a key to the trap door. He opened the trap, and looked around.\u00a0 Etienne and Malborn had emerged from whatever shadows they\u2019d found for cover, and they both looked none the worse for wear.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go,\u201d Dardeh said, dropping down ahead of the two unarmed men.\u00a0 At least I can be a shield of some sort.<\/em><\/p>\n

There was a short, dirt passage ahead of them.\u00a0 Etienne made as if to rush ahead of Dardeh, but Dardeh grabbed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t do that.\u00a0 You\u2019re in rags and I have weapons.\u00a0 Besides. Listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The distinctive groans and snorts of a frost troll came toward them from the far end of the passage.\u00a0 Dardeh drew his bow and turned to look back at the other two men.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you can\u2019t wait to get out of here,\u201d he said, \u201cbut let me go first.\u00a0 I\u2019ll see if I can get rid of the troll.\u00a0 If I can\u2019t, then sure, run like Oblivion and pray.\u201d<\/p>\n

They edged down the corridor onto a dirt ledge, and Dardeh began unloading arrows into the troll.\u00a0 He was making good progress on it when Etienne ran past him and jumped down.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn it!\u201d Dardeh yelped, and followed him down into the cave, drawing his swords.\u00a0 The troll had its eyes on Etienne and was heading for him when Dardeh tossed it backward with Unrelenting Force, then flew to it and killed it as quickly as he could.<\/p>\n

He stood, panting, and looked around just in time to see both Malborn and Etienne running out of the narrow cavern entrance.\u00a0 He sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d he murmured to the empty cave.<\/p>\n

______<\/p>\n

He nodded at Delphine.\u00a0 \u201cRight.\u00a0 Riften it is.\u00a0 I have a couple of things to do in Whiterun and then I\u2019ll head out.\u201d\u00a0 He turned to leave and then looked back at her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, the dragons are bad, but the thing is that we can<\/em> kill them. I\u2019m not so sure that the Thalmor aren\u2019t worse.\u00a0 I don\u2019t blame you for hating them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI thought you might come to understand that. Be careful in Riften.\u00a0 Good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dardeh climbed the stairs, slowly.\u00a0 He needed a drink.\u00a0 He needed to rest.\u00a0 He needed a chance to resume the search for his sister.\u00a0 And he needed to see Proventus Avenicci about a house.\u00a0 Balgruuf had offered him a little place in Whiterun and he intended to have it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll give Lydia a place to do \u2026 whatever it is that housecarls do.<\/em><\/p>\n

Part I: Dardeh<\/a><\/div>\n
Previous<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It certainly was easier to move in fancy clothing than in steel plate armor, but Dardeh didn\u2019t feel comfortable at all.\u00a0 He was sitting across the table from a pleasant-looking but very nervous, redheaded Bosmer who took one look at him and said \u201cYou\u2019re who she picked?\u00a0 I hope she knows what she\u2019s doing.\u201d Dardeh … <\/p>\n

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