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<\/p>\nIt didn\u2019t seem too long a drop, though Dag couldn\u2019t tell how deep it had sunk into the mountain.\u00a0 It creaked and came to a stop in an alcove much like the one far above.\u00a0 Dag moved cautiously forward and into the corridor that wound to the right.\u00a0 Then she heard the slightest sound.\u00a0 Murmuring.\u00a0 Two voices, one deep and the other much lighter.\u00a0 It had to be them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rounding the corner, Dag found Brynjolf and Karliah at the foot of the stairs, before a closed Dwemer door.\u00a0 When Brynjolf turned to face her, she noticed that he was carrying in his main hand, instead of his glass dagger, a truly wicked-looking ebony sword.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be on the sharp end of that thing, she thought.<\/p>\n
Karliah looked up at her.\u00a0 \u201cI hope we\u2019re not too late.\u00a0 We need to catch up to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose bandits back there?\u201d Dag asked.\u00a0 \u201cWere they\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer\u2019s doing.\u00a0 They were like that when we got here.\u00a0 We should tread carefully, I\u2019m sure he\u2019s left us some surprises.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brynjolf was looking back toward the entrance chamber. He spoke, almost as if to himself. \u201cMercer will pay for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dag watched Brynjolf for a moment, trying to make sense of him.\u00a0 He says we are to keep their blades clean whenever possible.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t like having to handle the disposal of bodies.\u00a0 And yet, he\u2019s told me, specifically, to kill anyone who gets in my way.<\/em> She had no doubt that he was capable of doing so himself, though she\u2019d never seen him in battle. I don\u2019t understand you, Brynjolf. But you obviously feel strongly about this, so I\u2019ll just go with whatever you tell me.<\/em><\/p>\n Dag looked around.\u00a0 Neither Brynjolf nor Karliah was moving.\u00a0 Ok, I guess I\u2019m taking point again, she said.\u00a0 This is what they meant by being a leader?\u00a0 Leading us into disaster.\u00a0 She pushed the door open and ducked as a hanging morning-star dropped down just in front of her face.\u00a0 She turned around and looked at Karliah.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were right.\u201d<\/p>\n On the opposite side of the hall was a stone pedestal, with items placed on top of it.\u00a0 She stepped up to it.\u00a0 Three lockpicks, laid out in a carefully spaced row.\u00a0 A bottle.\u00a0 She picked it up and looked at the label: Black-Briar Reserve. In the spot where the bottle had been, the shadowmark for the Guild had been scratched into the stone.<\/p>\n \u201cLook at this!<\/em>\u201d she snarled.\u00a0 \u201cLook at it!\u00a0 He did this just to taunt us!\u00a0 Three lockpicks \u2013 three Nightingales, three thieves, the Guild, and a bottle of mead.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnless one of us does it first, lass,\u201d Brynjolf growled.<\/p>\n At the end of the hallway, they stepped out onto a balcony surrounded with high grating, looking out over a vast chamber.<\/p>\n Karliah ran forward to the grates. \u201cWait a moment, look, down there! It\u2019s Mercer!\u201d<\/p>\n Dag followed her.\u00a0 On a platform below them was a camp with several huts, conical at the bottom, supported by poles that met above, made of some material she had never seen before.\u00a0 In front of them squatted several of the most hideous beings Dag had ever laid eyes on.\u00a0 They were gangly, pallid, and in spite of very long elven ears they were in no sense as handsome as any race of mer she knew, not even the Orcs.\u00a0 They had no noses, just slits for their nostrils.\u00a0 And they were clearly blind.\u00a0 There were swellings where eyes would be, but no lids, no movement of the swellings, nothing that would indicate sight at all.<\/p>\n Falmer.\u00a0 So this is what had become of the Snow Elves. They\u2019d been imprisoned and tortured by the dwarves until they withdrew from the world above and became these creatures; and neither the Dwemer nor the snow elves had survived to the present day.<\/p>\n Several of them were squatting at the lip of the platform, and a dark shape was approaching from behind them.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m on it, lass,\u201d Brynjolf said, pulling his bow and running up and down the width of the grate; but there was no opening big enough for an arrow shot. \u201cDammit, there\u2019s no way through!\u201d<\/p>\n Karliah snorted. \u201cHe\u2019s toying with us. He wants us to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag watched in something akin to horror as the dark figure slipped up behind the nearest Falmer and killed it.\u00a0 The Falmer never showed any sign that it had heard anything at all. He was, indeed, the shadow that kills. There was a feeling crawling up Dag\u2019s spine that she couldn\u2019t quite identify.\u00a0 Some of it was horror at what a formidable foe Mercer was, that he could have killed so many people by stealth.\u00a0 Some of it was something else.<\/p>\n Brynjolf spoke. \u201cAye, lass. And we\u2019ll be ready for him. There will be blood today.\u00a0 I can promise you that. Let\u2019s keep moving.\u201d<\/p>\n There you go<\/em>, said the voice in the back of her head.\u00a0 There will be blood today<\/em>.\u00a0 Shut up, Dag told it.\u00a0 But there was a fluttering feeling in the pit of her stomach that said \u201cthe hunt is on, Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n She shook her head to clear it. Focus, Dag.\u00a0 Pay attention to what\u2019s in front of you.\u00a0 What was in front of her was a door at the rear of the balcony they were on.\u00a0 She pushed through it, followed by the others.<\/p>\n Brynjolf inhaled sharply.\u00a0 \u201cLook at the size of this place! Have you ever seen anything like it, lass?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I don\u2019t believe I have,\u201d Karliah answered. \u201cCan you imagine the riches that must be hidden here?\u201d<\/p>\n This area opened into a large side chamber with a horseshoe-shaped balcony along three of its sides, dropping down via staircases at either side to a long hallway with a barred gate at its far end. There was a Falmer hut just to their right, at the rear of the room, and several more at the far end on the lower level.\u00a0 Directly in front of and below them, at the base of the near stairs, were a damaged Dwarven spider, a dead Falmer, and one that was very much alive.<\/p>\n The Falmer was squatting, nearly motionless, doing nothing and apparently oblivious to its surroundings.\u00a0 Brynjolf looked at Dag and Karliah and pointed at the Falmer, then at himself, then raised his sword and wiggled it.\u00a0 They both nodded.<\/p>\n Brynjolf crept up behind it.\u00a0 He was nearly as good as Mercer at stealth, but not quite; as he got within sword reach of the creature, it stood and turned to face him, raising a hand and gathering magic in it.<\/p>\n Brynjolf stood, took one more step toward it.\u00a0 Its head flew across the room.<\/p>\n Dag gasped. \u201cStendarr\u2019s great shiny balls!\u201d<\/p>\n Karliah chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cIndeed.\u201d<\/p>\n Brynjolf had just calmly decapitated the Falmer, with one swift backhanded sword stroke and no fanfare of any kind.\u00a0 He looked back at her and tilted his head in the direction of the exit.\u00a0 Time to move along.<\/p>\n Dag was a bit shaken.\u00a0 She\u2019d never seen Brynjolf fight before.\u00a0 She knew he was big, her shoulders remembered how strong he was, and his build said he was probably powerful in a full-on fight, but this she had not expected. He was dangerous.<\/p>\n She would not ever be getting into a fight with this man if she could possibly help it.<\/p>\n In fact, a moment later Dag got to see Brynjolf in action again.\u00a0 There were a couple of Falmer tents set up, on either side of the gate, and Dag\u2019s exclamation had brought out their residents. He started down the central path toward them. One darted up the path, but stopped short as a Dwemer whirling blade popped up and cut it in two.<\/p>\n \u201cBrynjolf! Look out!\u201d Dag shrieked. She\u2019d seen what those blades could do to guards in steel armor and didn\u2019t want to see what it would do to him.<\/p>\n Brynjolf barely missed a beat; he jumped atop a pile of rubble on the side and rolled forward, avoiding the blades and reaching the open area nearest the gate. The whirling blade dropped back into the floor. One of the two remaining Falmer charged him, swinging a war axe that looked like a wicked talon.\u00a0 He whirled, using his mass to add to the momentum of the sword.\u00a0 It sliced the Falmer open, dropping it neatly onto the floor.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s why I\u2019m the best,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dag couldn\u2019t help it; in spite of the incongruity of the situation \u2013 or perhaps because of it — she giggled.<\/p>\n Brynjolf started toward the second Falmer, which had raised what looked like a magical staff and was gathering power into it.\u00a0 Dag went for her bow.\u00a0 Magic staves could be brutal, and he might well need backup.\u00a0 Before she could get it fully into position, though, Karliah placed an arrow through the Falmer\u2019s head.\u00a0 Brynjolf\u2019s voice floated back up to them.<\/p>\n \u201cDamn. Just as I was getting warmed up!\u201d<\/p>\n Dag walked around the perimeter of the room, searching for a mechanism to open the gate, smiling to herself.\u00a0 It was a precarious situation they were in, but still Brynjolf managed to be full of himself, whether he meant it seriously or as a break for the tension.\u00a0 It was amusing and somehow oddly comforting.<\/p>\n At the end of the balcony, she found a lever much like the one that had lowered her from the doorway of Irkngthand to meet the others.\u00a0 She pulled it; there was a whirring sound and gears set behind the lever began to turn.\u00a0 Nothing happened at the gate, however.\u00a0 She walked around to the far side of the room.\u00a0 About halfway there, the whirring sound stopped; looking back at the lever she saw that the gears had ceased moving.\u00a0 There was a second lever and gear setup at the far side of the room, directly opposite the one she had activated.\u00a0 Ok, Dag thought; I need to pull both of these and I need to do it quickly.<\/p>\n She called down to Brynjolf and Karliah.\u00a0 \u201cStay where you are.\u00a0 I need to do a bit of a sprint here.\u201d<\/p>\n She pulled the first lever and waited to be sure the gears were turning.\u00a0 Then she dashed to where the stairs were, down one set, across, up the next, and then down to the far end of that arm of the balcony.\u00a0 She threw the lever and stood panting, watching in satisfaction as the bars slipped down into their slots, and then took a moment to search a nearby chest and relieve it of two rings and some jewels.<\/p>\n Beyond the gate was a path through a tangled mass of debris, with bear traps placed along its length.\u00a0 Dag snorted. \u00a0Really, Mercer, she thought as she disabled them.\u00a0 Really? Did you think we wouldn\u2019t see these? Does it make you feel good to leave insults along the path as you go?<\/p>\n The passage opened into a cavern; a big one, with a great many piles of rubble blocking it.\u00a0 There was a sizeable metallic dome directly in front of them, sitting at a crazy angle where it had landed after collapsing. A number of curving ramps lead upward, one of which they could reach by following a trail up a debris pile to the left.\u00a0 There were also Falmer huts in the cavern, and she could see several of the creatures moving about.\u00a0 A path wound through the huts toward the far end of the cavern.<\/p>\n Dag followed the Dwemer ramps with her eyes and found the doors to which they led.\u00a0 \u201cUp there,\u201d she whispered, pointing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like we can take the low road, or the high road.\u00a0 Your choice, lass.\u00a0 We\u2019re right behind you,\u201d Brynjolf murmured.\u00a0 Dag nodded and started up the ramp of dirt to her left. \u00a0High road, thanks. She was fairly sure that Karliah and Brynjolf could sneak past the Falmer, but was not so sure about herself.<\/p>\n She had crossed about half the length of the cavern when it started to vibrate.\u00a0 A deep-throated rumble was followed by a gargantuan crash that shook the entire area.\u00a0 Dag had to put out a hand and steady herself against a collapsed pillar to keep from falling. After checking to make sure Brynjolf and Karliah were still with her, she crept forward.\u00a0 Not far ahead, she spotted another great dome, collapsed in the center of the cavern, dust still rising from around it.<\/p>\n \u201cSo this is what we heard!\u201d Brynjolf exclaimed.\u00a0 \u201cThe entire tower collapsed.\u00a0 If he\u2019s able to do that \u2026 Gods.\u201d<\/p>\n Karliah shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cI told you, Brynjolf, it\u2019s the Key.\u00a0 In Mercer\u2019s hands there\u2019s no telling what he could do.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag was almost at the base of the Dwemer ramp when it all went wrong.\u00a0 Her foot found a loose stone, which went flying, making a sound which would probably not have been noticeable under most circumstances, but which felt like a fanfare of trumpets here.\u00a0 Dag saw Falmer stirring in the lower levels of the chamber. A Falmer sitting atop the first dome spotted her and sent an arrow flying her way.\u00a0 The sound it made hitting the ramp alerted all the other Falmer in the area, and suddenly the three of them found themselves in a pitched battle.<\/p>\n Dag flattened herself against the wall and began firing arrows at the several Falmer above her, as fast as she could; but speed sacrificed accuracy and it took her twice as many arrows as usual to take any of them down.\u00a0 She could hear Karliah shouting supplications to Noctural as she fired her bow at more Falmer, and Brynjolf was below, taunting them, egging them on, slashing and turning and taking them down right and left.\u00a0 One of them rushed Dag; she pulled out her sword and whirled at it.\u00a0 Think Dwemer blades, Dag, she told herself again.\u00a0 It helped; the Falmer dropped without landing a blow on her.<\/p>\n Suddenly there was a cry of pain. Dag had never heard him in pain before.\u00a0 She whirled.\u00a0 He had stumbled off the lower edge of a ramp and fallen hard, and a magic-wielding Falmer was rushing him.<\/p>\n \u201cBryn!\u201d she shrieked.<\/p>\n Dag sprinted at the Falmer, swords high.\u00a0 It turned just before she got to it and fired a frost spike at her.\u00a0 Always with the frost magic, she thought with a part of her mind as it caught her in the leg and she yelped.\u00a0 She stumbled forward, but had enough momentum to carry her to the Falmer, and she set to on it with a flurry of ill-timed, inefficient slashes. It was just enough to knock the creature over, just long enough for Karliah to sink an arrow into its brain.<\/p>\n All three of them stood panting, looking at each other.<\/p>\n Brynjolf stood and brushed himself off.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s alright, I\u2019m fine.\u201d\u00a0 He started for the ramp again, but was limping.\u00a0 Dag grabbed him around his chest with one arm to prop him up.<\/p>\n \u201cNo you\u2019re not, Red.\u00a0 Hold still.\u201d\u00a0 Dag pulled together all of her healing magic and threw it at him until it was exhausted.\u00a0 \u201cSee if that helped.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, lass,\u201d he said, walking a few paces to be sure that he was better.<\/p>\n Karliah leaned close to Dag.<\/p>\n \u201cRed?\u201d<\/p>\n Dagnell grinned, even knowing that Karliah couldn\u2019t see it under her Nightingale mask.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not explaining it, Karliah.\u00a0 You figure it out. \u00a0<\/em>Dag led them up the ramp toward the Dwemer doors, slightly embarrassed at how badly she had panicked hearing Brynjolf cry out.\u00a0 And she was also fairly sure that he really hadn\u2019t needed her to hold him up, but she had grabbed him anyway.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t been that badly injured.<\/p>\n The doors opened into an empty room, empty by virtue of Mercer\u2019s having killed the lone Falmer inside.\u00a0 To the right was a small antechamber, doors open, with a Dwemer chest at the far wall.\u00a0 Dag trotted into the space, but found that all the chests and shelves had been looted save for a few scrolls. Mercer. \u00a0Just like a thief to leave no valuables behind.\u00a0 As she turned to leave, the light reflecting oddly off the back wall caught her attention and she leaned closer to examine it. Just above the opened chest were words scratched into the wall, the text written backwards.\u00a0 She stared at it for a moment, trying to work out what it said.<\/p>\n One step\u2026\u00a0 One step \u2026 ahead.\u00a0 –Mercer.<\/p>\n Dag turned around and snarled.\u00a0 \u201cThat son of a horker!\u00a0 He\u2019s taunting us!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does it say, lass?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt says \u2018One step ahead \u2013 Mercer.\u2019\u00a0 That bastard.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe won\u2019t be, for long,\u201d Karliah said quietly.\u00a0 It was startling to Dag how much menace she could convey with her quiet little voice.<\/p>\n Through the gate and a short passage filled with more bear traps were doors that opened into a huge cavern.\u00a0 Dag froze.\u00a0 Directly before them was something she had seen before, in Markarth:\u00a0 a Dwarven Centurion.\u00a0 This one was enormous, far and away larger than the Dwemer Museum\u2019s specimen.<\/p>\n \u201cShor\u2019s bones!\u201d Brynjolf breathed.\u00a0 \u201cWill you look at that monstrosity!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a Dwarven Centurion,\u201d Karliah said, \u201cand it\u2019s very deadly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can take the beast on or sneak around,\u201d Brynjolf said.\u00a0 \u201cYour call, lass. We\u2019re right behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure, make me decide,\u201d Dag muttered.<\/p>\n She looked around.\u00a0 The room was huge, multi-leveled, with stairs at the far end leading to balconies on either side. It was clear that they needed to get to a landing at the far side, but collapses had blocked the direct access to it; they would have to go around and up some other way. She looked up. Above them and to the left were the metal grates surrounding the spot where they\u2019d first come in and seen Mercer.\u00a0 Dag sighed.\u00a0 All that and they were only back where they\u2019d started.<\/p>\n Well, we\u2019re sneaking past this thing if at all possible.\u00a0 I\u2019m not fighting it.\u00a0 She jumped off the platform, to the right, and began edging along in the shadows.<\/p>\n She\u2019d gotten about halfway down the length of the cavern when a hiss and clanking noises nearly made her heart stop.\u00a0 Something had caught the attention of the Falmer and they, in turn, had activated the Centurion.\u00a0 It lurched into motion and began swinging at the Falmer, which massed about it and began fighting as hard as they could.\u00a0 \u201cCome on!\u201d Dag hissed, and dashed for the stairs at the end of the room.\u00a0 Up, left, up another half-flight and left again, onto a ramp that spanned the cavern and ended up on an enclosed balcony.\u00a0 She looked back just in time to see the Centurion crash to the ground.\u00a0 It had taken out all but one of the Falmer, and that one was badly injured, but it had itself finally succumbed to numbers.<\/p>\n There were more bear traps along the balcony and the ramp leading down from it. Dag looked below them.\u00a0 There were five or six Falmer and an equal number of frostbite spiders on the landing below, and they would need to get rid of them all to get through the room. But this was where Mercer had been.\u00a0 She could see where he\u2019d gone.\u00a0 They needed to get him.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where we saw Mercer,\u201d Karliah said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll need to be very careful.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag nodded, and pointed at the targets below.\u00a0 She and Karliah pulled their bows and picked all of them off, methodically, with no problems.\u00a0 Dag couldn\u2019t hear the sound her arrows made slamming into the spiders but she could picture it well enough.\u00a0 Splat.\u00a0 Splat.\u00a0 Splat.\u00a0 It felt like good practice for Mercer Frey.\u00a0 She led them down the ramp and through the opening at the far end of the cavern.<\/p>\n \u201cUgh,\u201d she heard behind her. \u201cDo the Falmer also lack a sense of smell? The stench.\u00a0 This place reeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag grinned.\u00a0 It does, Brynjolf, but you live in a place that smells of mold, stagnant water, and unwashed men.\u00a0 Really, is this that much worse?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt must be their hive,\u201d Karliah whispered.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll have to remain silent to avoid attracting their attention.\u201d<\/p>\n Then be silent, Dag thought.\u00a0 Please. Just stop talking.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t going to say anything to either of them about it, though.\u00a0 Maybe she would be able to lead by example.<\/p>\n Around a corner and below them was a small room filled with torture devices.\u00a0 Racks, one of which still had a body attached, took up most of the space. There was a table laid out with embalming tools and other implements Dag didn\u2019t want to ponder too closely, and which also held numerous potion bottles. Two Falmer were squatting on the floor.<\/p>\n Dag spied something familiar near them.\u00a0 There were two of the slots she had come to associate with whirling Dwemer blades.\u00a0 There was a lever just in front of her.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t hesitate, but threw the lever open.\u00a0 It took only seconds before the Falmer were in pieces on the floor.\u00a0 Dag looked up to see Brynjolf and Karliah staring at her.\u00a0 What? she thought.\u00a0 I used the tools at hand.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n The body on the rack was a thief, and he had a note on him that read \u201cI\u2019ve seen them! The Eyes of the Falmer are real!\u201d\u00a0 He was with a friend, it says, who escaped through the collapsed tunnel; he himself had been captured.\u00a0 That made no sense at all; they\u2019d just come through the tunnels and there was a clear exit all the way back.<\/p>\n They pushed forward, through passages burrowed into the piles of debris from partially collapsed rooms.\u00a0 Dag jumped as Brynjolf touched her arm and murmured \u201cI think we should prepare for the worst.\u201d She hadn\u2019t been expecting his voice, and to have him touch her as well was startling.<\/p>\n Karliah spoke up.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a mass of Falmer in this chamber.\u00a0 We can sneak through or take them down. I don\u2019t care, as long as we get to Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAye,\u201d Brynjolf agreed. \u201cWhatever you want to do, we\u2019re with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Dagnell looked at them both in consternation.\u00a0 Would you both please just shut up?\u00a0 I get it.\u00a0 We\u2019re after Mercer. I\u2019m leading, you\u2019re following.\u00a0 We can\u2019t be silent if we\u2019re not silent!<\/em><\/p>\n Getting a bit testy, are we<\/em>? observed the sarcastic voice.\u00a0 Yes. Yes we are.\u00a0 And we\u2019re getting closer to Mercer, I can feel it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be stopped by a bunch of misbegotten former snow elves that are guilty of nothing more than existing, just because everyone else feels compelled to comment on the situation.<\/em><\/p>\n The chamber before her was long, narrow, dark and full of steam.\u00a0 What seemed like dozens of Falmer huts lined each side.\u00a0 A pathway down the center was flanked in most spots by what smelled like rich soil; Dag moved in and to the right, and discovered that the soil was covered with mushrooms of every type that normally grew on soil.\u00a0 Agriculture?\u00a0 Were they farming the mushrooms for poisons?<\/p>\n This time the three of them managed to move silently through the mass of huts.\u00a0 Falmer moved in and out of them, intermittently; every time Dag caught motion out of the corner of her eye she froze, and so did the others.\u00a0 Eventually the mound of dirt on which she walked rose up, almost as a ramp.\u00a0 She crept up it, cautiously, and found herself looking at a network of huge Dwarven metal pipes.<\/p>\n There was one more section of Falmer hive to move through.\u00a0 Dag inched forward enough to see that the pipes ran just below the roof, all the way to the end of that room.\u00a0 She turned and made sure Karliah and Brynjolf saw her pointing at the pipes.\u00a0 They nodded and moved forward.\u00a0 They were able to scoot along the top of the pipes to where they disappeared into the rock.<\/p>\n Beneath them, Dag saw one Falmer, a magic user by the looks, and something she\u2019d never seen before: a huge, flying insect of some kind.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what that is, she thought, and I don\u2019t want to know.\u00a0 She crouched, silent, for several minutes watching the two creatures walk back and forth until she\u2019d worked out their pattern.\u00a0 She dropped down and pushed through a strange gate made of ribs, or scales, or some sort of chitin.\u00a0 And she held her breath hoping that Brynjolf and Karliah wouldn\u2019t alert the Falmer behind her.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t, praise all the gods.<\/p>\n They snuck past two more Falmer as they worked downward through a dirt-filled room and into a winding tunnel.\u00a0 This place was almost filled by Dwemer pipes, and with the sound of water.<\/p>\n \u201cI can hear water rushing through these pipes,\u201d Karliah murmured.\u00a0 \u201cWe must be under a lake.\u201d<\/p>\n The path wound around the pipes and downward, until at last they reached a ramp, with collapsed stone pillars on either side and dwarven metal doors at the end.\u00a0 Dag heard sounds from beyond them, and held up her hand for Brynjolf and Karliah to stop.<\/p>\n Clank.\u00a0 Clank.\u00a0 The sound of a hammer and chisel on metal.<\/p>\n She turned back and pointed at the door.<\/p>\n \u201cIt must be Mercer,\u201d Karliah whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cThen this is it,\u201d Brynjolf said, rising from his crouch and striding toward the door. \u201cWe do this for Gallus, and for the Guild.\u201d<\/p>\n Dag\u2019s heart started beating faster. He\u2019s close.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to kill him. He\u2019s going to pay for this, for making them hurt, for everything they\u2019ve suffered.\u00a0 At last. She pushed the door open.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t seem too long a drop, though Dag couldn\u2019t tell how deep it had sunk into the mountain.\u00a0 It creaked and came to a stop in an alcove much like the one far above.\u00a0 Dag moved cautiously forward and into the corridor that wound to the right.\u00a0 Then she heard the slightest sound.\u00a0 Murmuring.\u00a0 … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/1-2-19-2.png\")
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<\/p>\nPart II: Shadows<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"