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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By the time Dagnell got to Bersi Honey Hand, she found that word of her activities had already spread in just those few hours. He\u2019d practically fallen over himself in his eagerness to turn his money over, along with his regards to Brynjolf, without a hint of a problem.\u00a0 It was truly amusing.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t needed to so much as crack her knuckles to get the jobs done, but in the rumors that had spread almost instantaneously she was bigger and badder than she\u2019d ever hoped to be.<\/p>\n
The information Brynjolf had given her had been the key. Talen-Jei was visibly afraid of Brynjolf, and worried for Keerava\u2019s safety. \u00a0He couldn\u2019t bear the thought of someone getting hurt. He had told her to mention Keerava\u2019s family, who lived not far across the border. Just saying \u201cmaybe I should visit that farm in Morrowind,\u201d had resulted in Keerava\u2019s handing her the money owed with a chastened \u201cyou can tell Brynjolf that he won\u2019t have any more trouble from me. And it was all just a mistake. I didn\u2019t mean to tell him to jump off the pier.\u201d That had made Dag want to laugh aloud; she could just imagine Brynjolf\u2019s face after hearing that crack. It was clear that he didn\u2019t like not being taken seriously.<\/p>\n
Haelga had been the toughest nut to crack; at first she flatly refused to pay up.\u00a0 Dag hadn\u2019t threatened violence; she had simply walked around the corner into the next room, picked up the gaudy yellow statue of Dibella, returned to Haelga and calmly asked \u201cso you won\u2019t mind if I drop this statue down a well?\u201d Haelga had practically panicked, and had turned over the funds almost before Dag had the statue back on its shelf.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Haelga was probably not going to be one of her closest friends.<\/p>\n
She should have felt bad about it, but she didn\u2019t. \u00a0She\u2019d had a brief conversation with Haelga\u2019s niece, who did the dirty work around the \u201cbunkhouse\u201d and hated it and her aunt. It seemed that Haelga took her devotion to Dibella\u2019s arts of love very seriously, sleeping with as many men as she could. \u00a0Dag wasn\u2019t a prude, but Haelga was hardly an innocent victim.<\/p>\n
On her way back to the Ragged Flagon Dag pondered the tasks she\u2019d just done.\u00a0 They hadn\u2019t been difficult.\u00a0 Brynjolf clearly intimidated all of these people.\u00a0 Why had he been having trouble collecting on what was, in the end, a fairly small amount of coin?\u00a0 He could easily have done what she\u2019d just done, and likely more easily than she had. It made no sense.\u00a0 Unless it was just another little test, or some kind of payback for her being a smart mouth.\u00a0 That had to be it. \u00a0Except \u2013 she remembered Brand-Shei\u2019s sarcastic \u201cwhat is it this time, Brynjolf?\u201d\u00a0 Maybe his influence was waning.\u00a0 Still, she was hardly an imposing figure.\u00a0 Maybe it would all make sense at some point.<\/p>\n
Brynjolf was exactly where she had left him, and she had to wonder how much he\u2019d had to drink in the intervening time.\u00a0 Honestly, man, she thought. How are you still sitting upright on that stool?\u00a0 And they made a big deal about Roggi. No wonder the Guild had no money if this was how they spent their time. Or maybe they just drank so they wouldn\u2019t smell the place. She slid back onto the stool beside him, to find him almost smiling.\u00a0 Apparently news had travelled fast.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the job\u2019s done and you even brought back the coin,\u201d he said, his gaze resting on the flagon in front of him. She had to use both hands to maneuver those heavy flagons; just one of his wrapped almost completely around it. \u201cBest of all, you kept your blade clean. I like that,\u201d he purred.<\/p>\n
Dag suddenly felt very warm.<\/p>\n
By the Eight, Dag thought, surprised at her own reaction. She had to give the man credit.\u00a0 He could be desperately unpleasant but that was one damned seductive voice. She would wager he knew how to use it to his advantage, as well. He was old enough to have had lots and lots of practice.<\/p>\n
He took a deep drink. \u201cLarceny\u2019s in your blood,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe telltale sign of a practiced thief. Well done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dagnell said nothing.\u00a0 Sure, she had learned from a young age how to take what she needed.\u00a0 She\u2019d had to. She wasn\u2019t a practiced thief, or at least not purposefully so; she was a survivor. But she didn\u2019t dare argue with Brynjolf after the way she\u2019d pushed him earlier. Like it or not, Brynjolf made her very uneasy.\u00a0 Not afraid, not necessarily, but definitely uneasy. It seemed important not to push limits any farther at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cJudging by how well you handled yourself with the shopkeepers, I\u2019d say you\u2019ve done more than simply prove yourself.\u00a0 We could use more people like you in our outfit.\u00a0 How about you come with me and I\u2019ll show you what we\u2019re all about.\u201d\u00a0 He started to rise from the barstool.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just one thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Brynjolf quirked an eyebrow at her. \u201cWhat\u2019s on your mind?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWord is that you\u2019re not doing so well down here.\u201d<\/p>\n
His face hardened a little.\u00a0 He\u2019s hiding something, she thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nothing to worry about, just a rough patch.\u00a0 Tell you what.\u00a0 You keep making us coin, and I\u2019ll worry about everything else. Fair enough?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dag did not like being patronized. She wanted to belt him, yet again, but managed to contain both her fist and her tongue. \u201cFair enough,\u201d she grumbled. After all, he was more or less in charge, and he was entitled to have his people follow instructions. Taking a deep breath, exhaling, and wishing she didn\u2019t have quite such a short fuse, she slid off the barstool and followed Brynjolf toward one of the alcoves that surrounded the Flagon\u2019s central pool.<\/p>\n
He told her they were heading to the Guild\u2019s actual headquarters, the Cistern \u2013 an appealing name if she\u2019d ever heard one – to show her the operation and to meet the Guildmaster, Mercer Frey. She was surprised to hear the amount of genuine respect in his voice when he mentioned the Guildmaster.\u00a0 After seeing how naturally everyone else deferred to Brynjolf, the idea of his doing the same toward someone else was intriguing. She was prepared to be impressed.\u00a0 \u201cLet me show you our operation,\u201d he had said, \u201cand then you can ask your questions.\u201d\u00a0 So she just nodded and told herself that he was just doing his job.<\/p>\n
At the back of the alcove, Brynjolf turned to fiddle with what looked like an odd storage cabinet.\u00a0 It swung open to reveal a passage; he disappeared around the corner to the left and she followed suit. She couldn\u2019t help but notice as he walked that the tight Guild leathers suited him especially well from the back. He was nicely put together. The bastard probably knows it, too, she thought, grinning in spite of herself. She couldn\u2019t possibly be the only one down here who had noticed.<\/p>\n
They went through a door into a large, round chamber.\u00a0 It was damp from the pool of water in the center of the room and the weeping, ancient stones above, and it smelled stale, musty, and dank.\u00a0 There were threadbare beds placed in niches along the walls, their covers\u2019 most recent laundering of indeterminate vintage.\u00a0 Everything else in the area \u2013 tables, chests, bookshelves \u2013 was covered by the same sticky dust as the barrels in the Ragged Flagon.<\/p>\n
It was disgusting.<\/p>\n
In the center of the Cistern, over the pool of water, was a circular stone platform with ramps in the cardinal directions leading to it, light shining down from an opening in the ceiling. On the platform stood a wiry, graying, utterly unremarkable Breton in black leathers.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Brynjolf led her to the center of the room. \u201cThis is Mercer Frey, our Guildmaster,\u201d he said, again with the same respect and admiration evident in the tone of his voice and the look on his face.<\/p>\n
She looked the Guildmaster over, trying to take the measure of him. Mercer was shorter than Brynjolf by half a head or more. He wasn\u2019t exactly skinny, but he in no way approached the bulk of Brynjolf or most of the other men she\u2019d seen in the Flagon. He had a long, sharp-featured face with a distinctly unpleasant expression, and resembled nothing so much as a skeever, she decided. Dag had to fight the small shudder that threatened to erupt from her gut.\u00a0 Brynjolf had annoyed her from the moment she\u2019d met him; this man, on the other hand, gave her the creeps. And she was stuck there.<\/p>\n
“Mercer?\u201d Brynjolf said, almost apologetically. \u201cThis is the one I was talking about, our new recruit.”<\/p>\n
Mercer turned to look her over, without the slightest hint of a smile, his eyes wary and expressionless.\u00a0 Dag couldn\u2019t tell whether he was sneering or it was just his natural expression at work. Then, without so much as addressing her, he turned toward Brynjolf.<\/p>\n
“This had better not be another waste of the Guild’s resources, Brynjolf.” His voice was higher than Brynjolf\u2019s, and had a nasal tone. There was something about the way he pronounced Red\u2019s name that bothered her, stressing it in a way that felt demeaning, as though he felt compelled to put Brynjolf in his place.<\/p>\n
Or maybe she was just imagining things because this was just such an uncomfortable, dismal place to be.<\/p>\n
Mercer finally turned to her. \u201cBefore we continue, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. If you play by the rules, you walk away rich. You break the rules and you lose your share. No debates, no discussions. You do what we say, when we say. Do I make myself clear?\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the least friendly greeting she\u2019d ever had.\u00a0 Even bandits who\u2019d declared that they couldn\u2019t wait to count out her coin had sounded more eager to make her acquaintance.\u00a0 Well, yeah, I get it, she thought. In spite of some of the snappier retorts that sprang to mind, she choked them all down and simply said \u201cCertainly.\u201d Skeever-face.\u00a0 Red and Skeever-face.\u00a0 Wow am I a lucky girl.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cGood,\u201d he told her.\u00a0 \u201cThen I think it\u2019s time we put your expertise to the test.\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf had been looking around the Cistern but his attention snapped back to Mercer Frey at that. \u201cWait a moment; you\u2019re not talking about Goldenglow, are you? Even our little Vex couldn\u2019t get in.\u201d He looked honestly astonished.<\/p>\n She had to control the urge to roll her eyes again.\u00a0 Their \u201clittle\u201d Vex?\u00a0 The pro thief?\u00a0 The one described as part of a dying breed?\u00a0 Please, gods, spare me from this man before I have to strangle him in his sleep.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou claim this recruit possesses an aptitude for our line of work.\u00a0 If so, let her prove it,\u201d Mercer replied. He\u2019s up to something, Dag thought. I\u2019m being set up.<\/p>\n He turned to her again. \u201cGoldenglow Estate is critically important to one of our largest clients. However, the owner has suddenly decided to take matters into his own hands and shut us out. He needs to be taught a lesson. Brynjolf will provide you with the details.\u201d He started to turn away, the conversation obviously at an end as far as he was concerned.<\/p>\n \u201cAren\u2019t you forgetting something, Mercer?\u201d Brynjolf said.<\/p>\n He stopped. \u201cHmm? Oh, yes,\u201d he said grudgingly, looking her over again. \u201cSince Brynjolf assures me you\u2019ll be nothing but a benefit to us, then you\u2019re in.\u00a0 Welcome to the Thieves Guild.\u201d<\/p>\n Dagnell stood for a moment, marveling at her own ineptitude.\u00a0 How had she managed to get herself into this situation?\u00a0 She looked at Brynjolf and tried to suppress a grimace. It\u2019s Red\u2019s fault, she thought.\u00a0 He annoyed me so much that I had to show him that I could handle myself.\u00a0 On the other hand, he obviously had been selling her skills to the Guildmaster, so that was something to consider. Then she sighed. Really, what else did she have to do, where else did she have to be? She would give it a try.\u00a0 She knew how to disappear if necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cWelcome to the family, lass,\u201d Brynjolf said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m expecting you to make us a lot of coin. So don\u2019t<\/em> disappoint me.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag ground her teeth.\u00a0 Family, indeed. What an annoying man, and what a ridiculous situation.<\/p>\n By the time Dagnell got to Bersi Honey Hand, she found that word of her activities had already spread in just those few hours. He\u2019d practically fallen over himself in his eagerness to turn his money over, along with his regards to Brynjolf, without a hint of a problem.\u00a0 It was truly amusing.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/1-1-9-5.png\")
<\/p>\nPart I: Survivors<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"