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<\/p>\nDagnell\u2019s eyes creaked open just a crack. A sound had brought her to consciousness, a quiet, irregular dripping that was impossible to sleep through once you\u2019d heard it. For a moment, she had no idea where she was. The light filtering in from above told her that it was day, but it was coming from straight overhead, not at an angle as through a window.\u00a0 Then she inhaled.\u00a0 The odor of stagnant water told her that she must be in the Cistern. She heard footsteps, then, people rustling about very quietly.\u00a0 It must be early.<\/p>\n
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She rolled over and silently cursed herself for being a fool. The club to the head from a bandit had felt only a little worse than what was going on in her skull at the moment, and her stomach was complaining bitterly about what she\u2019d done to it the previous night. Ignored your own limits again, didn\u2019t you?<\/em> her ever-present companion told her.\u00a0 Yes, and I know better, she replied silently. She tried to remember what had happened, and came up short. After \u201cbribe Gulum-Ei\u201d there was nothing at all.\u00a0 With any luck she hadn\u2019t done anything too conspicuously stupid, gotten maudlin in her mead, or sick on someone\u2019s boots.<\/p>\n Well at least, she thought, I remember what I\u2019m supposed to do next, even if I don\u2019t remember what I did. \u00a0Gods help me, what a stupid thing that was. My head hurts. It matches my mood, she thought as her brain replayed watching Roggi walk away from her. \u00a0If she\u2019d only been able to open her mouth and tell him the words she\u2019d been thinking.\u00a0 If only\u2026 but she was used to \u201cif only.\u201d She\u2019d had a lifetime of \u201cif only,\u201d starting with \u201cif only Da had gotten to a weapon quicker\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Still, it hurt. \u00a0It might have been something really special with Roggi, something that would have lasted for years.\u00a0 Or a lifetime, even.\u00a0 Now she would never know. She pried her eyes open the rest of the way and then caught her breath, completely confused.<\/p>\n Brynjolf was sitting on the floor beside the bed, leaning up against a cabinet, eyes closed, his arms crossed atop his knees, his breathing regular but quiet. She watched him for a moment, trying to sort out what was going on. It was one of the least comfortable sleeping positions she\u2019d ever seen; that floor was very hard. \u00a0Why in the world had he not gone to bed when things wound down for the night?<\/p>\n Unless, it slowly occurred to her with a sense of exquisite dismay, she was in<\/em> that bed?\u00a0 She lay there for a moment not wanting to move, focusing on the scent of the pillow she was on, and realized that no, it didn\u2019t just smell like unused, musty bedding; it did rather smell of, well, man.\u00a0 She must have just flopped down on the nearest bed and it happened to be his. She had no recollection of it. How completely, utterly embarrassing.<\/p>\n She pushed herself up, slowly, quietly, and closed her eyes again as her head commenced to pound.\u00a0 A few moments of sitting quietly, though, reassured her that her stomach wasn\u2019t going to rebel after all. Well, it could have been worse.\u00a0 She\u2019d be all right once she got going. And if she wasn\u2019t, it was her own fault.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you\u2019re awake, lass.\u201d It wasn\u2019t a question; it was a statement.<\/p>\n She peeled one eye open to find Brynjolf looking her over. Either he slept very lightly or he hadn\u2019t ever been asleep. \u201cYeah, I think so. \u00a0Um\u2026 I\u2019m sorry. I get the feeling that I ended up on your bed.\u201d<\/p>\n He smirked.\u00a0 \u201cYes,\u201d he said very quietly, \u201cand now we\u2019ll have fresh tales about how I bedded the new recruit. Happens every time. I\u2019m a real wonder, if you listen to the lads.\u201d He yawned and stretched, wincing as his back cracked. \u201cYou would think I might remember such a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag was certain she must be as red as Balimund\u2019s forge.<\/p>\n \u201cI suppose I need to get out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n He stood and stretched again.\u00a0 \u201cYes. Mercer is fit to be tied.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag sighed, and tried but failed to meet Brynjolf\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m really sorry about last night. I made a mess of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n He shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cEh. It\u2019s all right. We\u2019ve all been there.\u201d He made a vague waving motion toward his nose. Apparently its unique shape was the souvenir of a bender. \u00a0It was, after all, fairly obvious that he had a temper. She vaguely remembered him saying something about things going \u201csideways.\u201d She didn\u2019t need to hear the story, but the idea was still amusing. Or it would have been, if her head hadn\u2019t still felt like it was inside a barrel being beaten with steel swords.<\/p>\n \u201cJust get going now. Good luck in Solitude, lass.\u00a0 Keep Gulum-Ei alive, but remind him who we are. Eyes open, and walk with the shadows.\u201d \u00a0He turned and headed out toward the Flagon, rotating his shoulders as he did so, stretching them out. Lass, Dag thought. I guess he\u2019s still suffering from his affliction. He\u2019ll never remember my name.\u00a0 Looking down at her feet, she realized that her boots were off; someone had removed them for her the previous night and placed them at the foot of the bed.\u00a0 Huh.<\/em>\u00a0 Well, she was pretty sure they hadn\u2019t all \u201cbeen there,\u201d to that place she\u2019d been in the last several days, but at least they\u2019d treated her with a fair amount of compassion.<\/p>\n Eyes open, and walk with the shadows.\u00a0 Such an odd phrase, and yet somehow appropriate, she thought as she pulled her boots on. \u00a0She started toward the Flagon, looking around at the alcoves, and then stopped as something dawned on her. There were extra beds there.\u00a0 They\u2019d told her about them, even shown her the empty ones.\u00a0 Dag looked around for Brynjolf, but he\u2019d disappeared.<\/p>\n Huh.<\/em><\/p>\n Before she left the Guild, Dag spoke to both Vex and Delvin about extra work.\u00a0 Vex told her to plant a beautiful, stolen ruby in a home in Whiterun. \u00a0Delvin tasked her with stealing 500 septims\u2019 worth of goods in Windhelm, to show the locals the Guild was still around and not to be trifled with.\u00a0 She was hoping to do those jobs along with the trip to Solitude, somehow. Both jobs had nice price tags attached, and she could keep any goods she stole from Windhelm.\u00a0 That house here in Riften might actually be within reach fairly soon, at this rate. It made no sense, but the idea of it was beginning to appeal to her. She could always sell it later, if she changed her mind.<\/p>\n She stopped in at the Bee and Barb to pick up the plainest breakfast of bread and cheese that she could get, and looked at her map.\u00a0 The obvious route to Solitude was north to Windhelm and then west.\u00a0 But that would take her by Kynesgrove, and she just couldn\u2019t bear the thought.\u00a0 Not now. Not for awhile. \u00a0Not even if she skirted the town by going up into the forests above it. She decided to avoid the roads as much as she could, and just head northwest, overland, making a first stop in Whiterun.<\/p>\n As she was leaving, the mage mercenary sitting in his usual spot by the door tapped her on the arm.<\/p>\n \u201cName\u2019s Marcurio,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t mean to be forward, but are you feeling better this morning? You looked a bit under the weather yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag grinned.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s one way of putting it, I suppose,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cThanks for asking. I\u2019ll be fine.\u201d Eventually. Some day.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAll right, that\u2019s good,\u201d Marcurio said, nodding.\u00a0 \u201cI see you\u2019re looking at a map.\u00a0 I\u2019m still available if you need some backup.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag considered it for a second or two.\u00a0 \u201cThanks, but no,\u201d she said, smiling.\u00a0 \u201cI need to make this trip alone.\u201d\u00a0 For all sorts of reasons, she thought.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right, then.\u00a0 Be careful out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, she thought. He\u2019s still a handsome thing.\u00a0 And I\u2019m still not interested.<\/p>\n It was actually easier to make good time alone and overland than with a companion on the road, she decided as she climbed the hills just to the west of Shor\u2019s Stone.\u00a0 Jogging along in the fresh air was helping blow the cobwebs out of her head.\u00a0 It was clear and sunny, and the beautiful scenery was calming. The climb worked her muscles and focused her mind, as well.\u00a0 She listened for animals, and heard mostly birds. Surprisingly, very few wolves or creatures of any sort approached her, and those that did were easily taken care of.<\/p>\n It felt like old times, the times wandering about in Hammerfell on her own, not needing to worry about what anyone else did or thought, shaking off sadness through physical exertion. \u00a0It felt good to be in the light, instead of in the dank Cistern.\u00a0 She would be at the escarpment soon; then she would find out how good her climbing skills were.\u00a0 Hopefully, she thought, I can get down it without breaking my neck.\u00a0 That would really have Mercer fit to be tied, to find out that his new errand girl wouldn\u2019t be doing his errand.<\/p>\n Dag heard an odd noise ahead of her somewhere; a strange, almost hollow sound that at first made her think of thunder, that echoed like thunder, but wasn\u2019t, quite. It was like the scream of a hawk, but not, quite; it was a broader and deeper and harsher sound that reverberated through the valley and bounced off the mountaintops. It was at some distance, but as she continued on her way over the next half hour or so it happened again several times, growing louder and louder.\u00a0 She had never heard anything like it, and the louder it got, the more unsettling it was.<\/p>\n Dag was almost at the edge of the cliffs when the sound happened again, nearby, and was followed by an enormous boom<\/em> that shook the ground, sending her heart pounding in a sudden fit of sheer terror. It took all her self-control not to simply bolt; but she didn\u2019t want to become the running rabbit to some great hawk. She dropped into a crouch and pulled her bow, then crept out of the trees just far enough to get a view of the area.<\/p>\n And she nearly fainted.<\/p>\n There was what had obviously been a mining camp a few hundred feet ahead of and below her.\u00a0 Smoke rose from the partially-collapsed bones of three cabins.\u00a0 There was what appeared to be a curved stone wall at the southern edge of the camp.\u00a0 But what was on top of the wall was the thing that nearly froze her solid.<\/p>\n It was a dragon.<\/p>\n There was no doubt that it was a dragon.\u00a0 It had a long, snake-like neck with a blocky head covered with spikes.\u00a0 Its body was brownish-green, and huge, scaled, beautiful but terrifying, as massive as two or three mammoths together, ending in a tail as long as its neck.\u00a0 The wickedest talons she\u2019d ever seen grasped the top of the stone wall.\u00a0 But what was most impressive was the pair of enormous, folded wings; even closed they spanned more than half the wall.<\/p>\n Dardeh had been telling the truth.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t dare move.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll probably hear one of those bastards before you see him. And if you do, find some good solid shelter,\u201d Dardeh had told them.\u00a0 She had no shelter but the trees behind her, and those had been thinning out as she had approached the edge of the escarpment.\u00a0 So she backed, slowly, agonizingly slowly, toward that little bit of cover, praying to any gods who might be paying attention to keep her movements quiet.<\/p>\n Suddenly, in a riot of motion and sound the likes of which Dag had never experienced, the dragon launched itself from the wall, its enormous wings setting leaves and dust flying as it worked to gain altitude.\u00a0 It circled overhead once, close enough that Dag could see at least the first two of its gigantic fangs.\u00a0 She had joked to herself about getting eaten by one of Dardeh\u2019s dragons, but the proximity of that event had her trembling in her boots.\u00a0 She wished for a brief moment that she\u2019d brought Marcurio with her after all; she had no idea what kind of magicks he knew but anything would have been more useful than what she had at hand.<\/p>\n Then the beast screamed and flew away to the north.\u00a0 The hollow noise repeated at odd intervals, growing fainter, until finally she couldn\u2019t hear it any longer.<\/p>\n Dag tucked her bow away and ran as hard as she could toward the northwest, finding the quickest route she could down the side of the escarpment.\u00a0 She kept running until she was on the hills just above the western edge of the volcanic tundra.\u00a0 There, she made a rough camp under a rocky overhang, and sat, trembling, still not quite able to believe what she had seen.\u00a0 She felt very small, and very alone.<\/p>\n She hoped that Dardeh, wherever he was, really did know how to kill a dragon, because she surely didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Dagnell\u2019s eyes creaked open just a crack. A sound had brought her to consciousness, a quiet, irregular dripping that was impossible to sleep through once you\u2019d heard it. For a moment, she had no idea where she was. The light filtering in from above told her that it was day, but it was coming from … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/1-2-1-2.png\")
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<\/p>\nPart II: Shadows<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"