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<\/p>\nDagnell walked around the marketplace for a bit, speaking briefly to the shopkeepers and getting the lay of the land.\u00a0 Madesi the Argonian jeweler made his wares himself in the traditional Argonian, or \u201cSaxhleel,\u201d style. They were really nice pieces, too; delicate, with an artisan\u2019s expert choice of gems set into them, and probably worth a lot of coin. Grelka, the armor merchant, was sharp-tongued and bristly, and she had no patience. \u201cIf you\u2019re not going to buy something, move along. Come back when you\u2019ve got more gold. Gods know I could use it.\u201d She had some decent goods, though; Dag decided to check back with her later if she managed to come by that coin.\u00a0 Brand-Shei, the Dunmer with an Argonian name who Red had named the lucky recipient of the stolen ring, was pleasant enough but had nothing very appealing in his shop.\u00a0 She wondered how he\u2019d become someone\u2019s target.<\/p>\n
Outside the central market area, closer to the water, was Honorhall Orphanage, a dreary-looking building that didn\u2019t seem at all welcoming.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t imagine being a child stuck in a place like that; her childhood hadn\u2019t exactly been the stuff of dreams but she\u2019d at least been free to roam after her parents died. Across the canal from it, and down an alley from Balimund\u2019s smithy, were a general goods store and a building bearing a sign that caught her attention: Black-Briar Meadery.\u00a0 So this was Roggi\u2019s dream vacation.\u00a0 The mead definitely smelled good from outside, and there was in fact a distinct hint of honey in the air.\u00a0 Curiosity led her inside to speak to the young Bosmer man behind the counter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllow me to recommend the Black-Briar mead, the purest brew in all of Skyrim!\u201d the wood elf offered. He raved about the mead for several minutes, then sighed. \u201cSorry,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cI\u2019m not very good at this.\u201d<\/p>\n
She thought for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cSure you are,\u201d she told him.\u00a0 \u201cAnd yes, actually, I\u2019d like one,\u201d she said, pushing a coin across the counter.\u00a0 Taking her drink, she stepped outside and walked toward a door leading down to the lakefront.\u00a0 The mead was good.\u00a0 Delicious, actually, possibly the best mead she\u2019d ever had.\u00a0 She could see why Roggi had raved about it. It was smooth, warming but not overpowering.\u00a0 She probably shouldn\u2019t have spent the money on it, she thought, but it was well worth the coin, and she\u2019d be sure to tell Roggi about it when she saw him again.\u00a0 She grinned. Yes, she fully intended to make sure she saw him again. \u00a0He was too interesting to pass up.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Riften sat on \u2013 and partially over \u2013 the banks of a huge lake.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t all that wide, this lake, but she couldn\u2019t see the far end of it.\u00a0 Down the steps at water level was the fishery, its scents putting her right back on the docks of home.\u00a0 No, it wasn\u2019t salt water; but there was nothing quite like the smell of fresh fish.<\/p>\n
Dag wandered around the end of the dock, sipping at her mead.\u00a0 Movement on the next dock over caught her attention; Maul was standing, arms crossed, near the door to a large windowless building.\u00a0 He was definitely watching her. She didn\u2019t relish another chat with him. Instead, she turned to head down a long pier extending farther out over the pretty lake.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
An Argonian woman stood unsteadily at the end of the pier, trying to sweep the area but leaning heavily on her broom.\u00a0 Something about her set Dag\u2019s internal alarms to ringing, and she approached.\u00a0 \u201cAre you alright?\u201d The woman blinked at her, then fought to focus on Dag\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Wujeeta. You gotta help me,\u201d she pleaded. \u201cI\u2019m going to lose my job at the Riften Fishery!\u201d\u00a0 She sighed.\u00a0 \u201cBolli, the owner, is a good man. He pays us well and watches out for us.\u00a0 But he said that if I show up for work in this condition one more time, then I\u2019m out.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Dag thought she knew.\u00a0 She was pretty sure that she recognized the symptoms, even though she\u2019d never known an Argonian well enough, and her stomach churned.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t much given to pitying others, but this was different.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2026 what condition are you in, exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wujeeta looked down at her feet. \u201cI don\u2019t mean to do this to myself, but I can\u2019t help it. I tried some skooma a year ago, and ever since then, I can\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thought so, Dag fumed silently.\u00a0 Skooma was a highly refined, highly addictive and highly illegal form of moon sugar. Some people could use it without problems.\u00a0 Some. Moon sugar was one thing; it was safe to use occasionally as a pick-me-up as long as one used just a little of it. The Khajiit used it all the time.\u00a0 Dag was all for people doing what they liked. But skooma?<\/p>\n
Dagnell saw Coyle then, in her mind\u2019s eye.\u00a0 Coyle, with his long brown hair, twinkling brown eyes and ready smile, his boisterous teasing and beautiful body, hauling nets of fish up from the ships and setting to on them, singing bawdy songs in his bright tenor.\u00a0 He and Daron and Dag had been inseparable from the time they were children on, even after she and Coyle grew into young adults and chose each other to spend the nights with, playing at love on the beaches.\u00a0 Daron had always rolled his eyes at them and walked away, laughing as he went, yelling \u201cIs it safe yet?\u201d when he returned in the morning.<\/p>\n
And then she saw the two of them huddled in the corner of the filthy skooma den, coughing as though their lungs would come up, mouths agape, drooling, eyes dull and muscles shrunken.\u00a0 The two of them had tried it on a lark. They had insisted that they were fine, even as time went by and they eventually spent every septim they earned and then sold their things, to raise money.\u00a0 They had ended up stooping so low as to sell themselves to older men, just to get more, and that was the least of it. They hadn\u2019t accepted help; in fact they\u2019d driven her off when she\u2019d offered, and pleaded, and cried. Yes, she had even cried, and she was not the kind of person who cried often; she had to be tough to survive. Dag ground her teeth to keep the memory of those tears from coming to her eyes for the thousandth time.\u00a0 There sure hadn\u2019t been many good reasons to keep her at home after that, after she\u2019d lost her best friends; so she had left Stros M\u2019Kai, taking passage on the first ship out to Daggerfall in the province of High Rock simply because that\u2019s where it was going, and had spent a long while wandering while she waited to feel human again.<\/p>\n
She never wanted to witness that again, even though she knew she probably would. Those who sold skooma and then fed off people\u2019s misery were scum. The only good skooma dealer was a dead one, and all that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you could give me a healing potion I could cleanse this poison from my body and get back to my life,\u201d Wujeeta said, blinking and swaying a bit on her feet. Yes.\u00a0 A healing potion. It was just that easy, but once skooma got hold of people they didn\u2019t often have enough to their names to buy such a potion, or the desire to take one if they did.<\/p>\n
Dag sighed.\u00a0 If only she could have convinced the boys to just down one potion, one little flask of liquid.\u00a0 She swallowed hard, but turned her attention to the problem at hand. She only had a couple of potions to her name, but Wujeeta was in a bad way. She dug around in her pockets for one of the flasks and handed it over. A few moments after she had downed the potion, Wujeeta began to look better; she stood solid and strong and the tension melted away from her. \u201cThank you,\u201d she said, with the odd expression that passed for a smile on an Argonian face. \u201cYour kindness will never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, I used to work at a fishery once.\u00a0 It\u2019s good work.\u00a0 I\u2019d hate to see you lose it. By the way, who\u2019s been selling you this horker dung?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, I don\u2019t think I should say.\u00a0 They could kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not if I kill them first, Dag thought. She would relish the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on, Wujeeta. I think you owe me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wujeeta hesitated, then sighed.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re right.\u00a0 I get my skooma from Sarthis Idren.\u00a0 He has some sort of a setup at the Riften Warehouse.\u00a0 You can\u2019t get inside, though; they\u2019ve had that place locked up tight since the war began.\u00a0 When I meet Sarthis there, he\u2019s usually outside with his bodyguard.\u00a0 I overheard Bolli say that only the Jarl carries the key to the warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks, Wujeeta,\u201d Dag said, and walked back down the dock toward town. It didn\u2019t add up. First, someone besides the Jarl had a key to the warehouse, or else there would be no skooma dealings inside it. She wondered who might have had access to that key long enough to make a copy of it. Then she shook her head. That was intriguing, but it was secondary. What was more important was that the operation was in there at all. The absolute last thing Dagnell wanted to do with her life was to get involved in the affairs of this city, but this was different. There was stealing, and then there was stealing lives. She would tell the Jarl what she knew.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t hard to figure out which building was Mistveil Keep, residence of Jarl Laila Law-Giver.\u00a0 It was the only stone building in the city, situated atop the highest point in Riften, and an impressive place indeed with its stone fences and guards.\u00a0 Inside it was equally grand, with a beautiful green rug beneath an enormous table that held silver place settings, candlesticks, and ewers.<\/p>\n
The Jarl of the Rift was seated on the throne at the far end of the room, deep in conversation with a Bosmer woman.\u00a0 Dagnell approached, only to be stopped when a large, scowling, red-haired Nord, heavily armed and war-painted, stepped out in front of her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Jarl Laila\u2019s housecarl, I would ask you to keep a respectable distance from her at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Certainly, Dag thought, checking over his impressive array of arms, physical and metal alike. I am many things, but generally speaking a fool is not one of those things. \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
It suddenly occurred to Dag that this man probably knew more about the entirety of Riften than most people. \u201cI have a question. What can you tell me about the Thieves Guild? I\u2019m new here, and have heard the name a number of times already. I\u2019m really curious.\u201d<\/p>\n
He snorted.\u00a0 \u201cLiars and bastards, every one of them.\u00a0 I\u2019d have their heads on pikes if not for the war effort.\u00a0 All I would need are a dozen men and we could march into the Ratway and burn them out like rodents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the Ratway?\u201d<\/p>\n
He sneered in obvious disdain.\u00a0 \u201cEveryone knows the Thieves Guild uses the old sewer system beneath Riften as their hideout.\u00a0 I\u2019d go down there myself but that would leave Jarl Laila unprotected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course rats would live in the sewers.\u00a0 \u201cThank you,\u201d she told him, then turned toward the Jarl.<\/p>\n
Jarl Laila Law-Giver was a small, middle-aged Nord woman with dark blonde hair, dressed in a rich bronze and green gown and wearing a jeweled circlet.\u00a0 For all that she was tiny, though, she had a real aura of authority and dignity about her.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome to Riften, traveler,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cI hope the road fared well for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you.\u201d\u00a0 The road fared very badly for me, Dag thought, but I think I\u2019ll skip that tale. \u201cI\u2019ve discovered that there is a skooma dealer in Riften and thought you should know about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laila sighed. \u201cYes, I\u2019m afraid we\u2019re all aware of Sarthis\u2019 presence in the warehouse,\u201d she said. \u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019re certain he has informants within the city guard. Every time we\u2019ve made a move to arrest him, he\u2019s escaped. However,\u201d she said, pausing to look Dag over, \u201cyou\u2019re new here. If you\u2019d take care of this discreetly, you might be able to surprise him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I must look like a mercenary, Dag thought.\u00a0 People keep assuming. Not that there was any question about her taking the job, this time. And this was a Jarl asking her to do so. Jarls had money; just the settings on her feasting table said so.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. I\u2019ll gladly do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExcellent. Here\u2019s the key to the warehouse.\u00a0 See if you can drop in on this dealer of poison and close down his operation permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dagnell took the key and left the keep, shaking her head.\u00a0 What on earth are you doing, you idiot? she asked herself.\u00a0 The idea was to get out of Skyrim, wasn\u2019t it?\u00a0 What happened to keeping your head down?\u00a0 Well it wasn\u2019t as though she had been going to back away, from the moment she met Wujeeta.\u00a0 She had thought all that was buried now, buried so deep that it wouldn\u2019t ever bother her again.\u00a0 What a foolish thought.\u00a0 It hadn\u2019t been nearly long enough.\u00a0 Maybe it never would be.<\/p>\n
Dag guessed that the warehouse was the windowless building near the docks, where she\u2019d seen Maul standing earlier, so she headed in that direction. The day was winding down, with few people about as she approached.\u00a0 Thankfully, nobody was nearby now to see her unlock the door. She dropped into a crouch, drew her sword and readied her flame, hoping to let herself in silently.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
There was a shout, and a Dunmer swinging his war axe rushed the door.\u00a0 Dag barely managed to block his blow, but countered it with a blast of flame from her left hand.\u00a0 He howled and stumbled back, giving her just enough of an opening to run him through.<\/p>\n
A moment later a heavy blow against her shoulder nearly sent her flying. She spun to find another Dunmer, this one with a longsword and iron armor. \u201cYou won\u2019t get out of here alive!\u201d he snarled, moving in to attack again.\u00a0 Dag\u2019s shoulder was numb, but she shot flames at him as best she could.\u00a0 Slashing and blocking with her sword, over and over, she tried but failed to get under his shield. He was good; he saw when she went for his legs and dodged, used his shield to block the flames. He was strong, and angry, and had everything to lose, and he was beating her.<\/p>\n
Desperate, tiring, and out of energy to cast flames, Dag pulled the only other weapon she had, the dagger she had lifted from Kynesgrove.\u00a0 She was only going to get one chance to use it. Dodging a blow, she rolled to the side just enough to pop up beside the man and drive it into his throat as hard as she could.\u00a0 Stunned, he dropped his weapon and clutched at the dagger, but it had done its job; he slumped to the floor, dying.<\/p>\n
Dag stood there, panting, sweat running down her face. By the gods, that had been entirely too close, especially the desperation dagger move. She wasn\u2019t exactly sure how she\u2019d managed to do that. There had to be some better weapons and armor in her very near future or she would be dead before she could get to Cyrodiil.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Once her heart stopped pounding, she sheathed her sword and dagger and looked around the warehouse.\u00a0 It was the emptiest warehouse she\u2019d ever seen. Not even the side room toward the back had more than a few dusty barrels in it.\u00a0 The two dead Dunmer had more things of value on them than were anywhere else in the room.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t going to take those things, however; just the thought of stripping the armor off a skooma dealer made her sick.\u00a0 She did find a key on one of them, though, the one who had gone down hard, the one who probably had been Sarthis. Good riddance.<\/em><\/p>\n There was a stairwell leading down in one corner of the room. If there really was some sort of \u201csetup\u201d here it had to be downstairs, because it sure wasn\u2019t upstairs. Oddly, the downstairs also held only a few barrels and boxes. Just to the left of the stairs, though, was a locked door which opened with Sarthis\u2019 key.<\/p>\n It was a small closet with shelves holding a good many bowls of moonsugar and bottles of skooma as well as a note reading: Sarthis, just got in a shipment of moonsugar from Morrowind. We\u2019re refining it now, and the skooma should be ready by the time you get to Cragslane Cavern. Bring the gold or don\u2019t show up at all.\u00a0 Kilnyr.<\/em><\/p>\n This, at least, was some useful information.\u00a0 The Jarl could send some of her beefy guards out to track it down and lay waste to it.\u00a0 Dag pondered firing the poison in front of her, but reconsidered; maybe the Jarl would need it for evidence.<\/p>\n Dag had expected, when she handed Jarl Laila the note, to be thanked for her efforts and likely rewarded with some amount of coin.\u00a0 Instead, she found herself astonished, struggling to keep her mouth closed as Laila said \u201cThe source of this poison must be destroyed once and for all; otherwise another dealer will simply take his place.\u00a0 Do this task for me and you will be well on your way to a title in Riften.\u201d<\/p>\n A title?\u00a0 A title<\/em>?\u00a0 Dag had barely survived an attack from the two Dunmer; she could not imagine taking on what she would find in Cragslane Cavern. She was good enough with her bow to drop a few people if she could sneak up on them, but any kind of close quarters battle would render her, well, dead.<\/p>\n Shaking her head, Dagnell walked from the keep to the Bee and Barb to rent a room.<\/p>\n Dagnell walked around the marketplace for a bit, speaking briefly to the shopkeepers and getting the lay of the land.\u00a0 Madesi the Argonian jeweler made his wares himself in the traditional Argonian, or \u201cSaxhleel,\u201d style. They were really nice pieces, too; delicate, with an artisan\u2019s expert choice of gems set into them, and probably worth … <\/p>\nPart I: Survivors<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"