Opportunities

Ten: You Know That We Will Meet Again

The Honorblade was a lovely thing made of ebony, as black as my mood.

I’d decided to try the caves first, rather than Weatherleah. The Jemane brothers were nice boys, and so taken with the idea of being a family again that I didn’t want to tell them they’d come from a “family” like mine. I’d hoped I would never have to, that the blade would be in the caves, and luck was with me in that.

There’d been ogres in the cave as well, but all in all the job was nothing extraordinary. Nothing illegal, even. Just a test to see if a threat dangled over O’s head would really be enough to keep me in line.

It would. I brought the Honorblade back to Chorrol, got a room, and waited until Fathis returned to claim it. I handed it over silently, and as he turned it over and examined it with obvious satisfaction, I said one word.

“Othrelos.”

“He’s fine. He is away doing some errands for me.”

“Prove it.”

He shrugged and produced a short note. I recognized the writing.

Frathen Drothan’s excavation site located. Awaiting further instructions. – Othrelos.

Another stupid question whose answer I knew tumbled out of my mouth. “Why?”

He smiled like a doting grandfather. “To pay for you, of course.”

Of course. And now he had me working to pay for Othrelos. And as long as he kept us from finding each other, we were perfectly trapped. I should have paid attention all those times Othrelos tried to warn me. Of course, that would still have left him missing.

“Where is he?”

“I think I’ve told you enough for the price of one little favor,” he said, producing a bag of coins. “But of course I pay for good work.”

Two thousand septims, the amount of what I’d originally thought was my father’s debt. I wanted to throw the bag at the old mer’s head. Instead I clutched it so tightly in my hands that my knuckles started to ache.

“I’ll send a message for you the next time I need your services. I’m sure we can talk more about Othrelos then.”

And then he was gone. I threw the bag at the door, which was much less satisfying. I couldn’t let him take me by surprise next time, couldn’t let it go on like this. I couldn’t let him keep O hidden from me and use him as a weapon. I had to go somewhere and think.

I resisted the temptation to go to Bravil and talk to S’krivva. Involving her would mean losing my chance at getting any information out of Fathis. Still, I thought about her as I went west instead of south – about strength, about hunters and prey. Rather than Bravil, I went down to my own lair in Anvil, where my pirates and their next payment were waiting for me.

Zedrick and Jak were disappointed when I didn’t invite them into my cabin during the group’s usual round of reunion ale. They were also surprised when I asked them to stay on land for the time being anyway – until I told them why.

Waiting to hear back from one of my employers was the hardest part. I tried to make it painfully obvious that I was in Anvil, frequenting both the docks and the shops and tavern within the city walls, rather than just staying sequestered in Dunbarrow Cove. I helped the city guard break up a ring of girl bandits, so help me. If Othrelos had never roped me into the Thieves’ Guild, I probably would have joined them.

Well, no, because they lacked subtlety. They were bound to get caught sooner or later. They were the kind of criminals who were good to have around, just because catching them made city guardsmen feel like they had done something, so they didn’t bother looking harder for those of us with talent.

Fathis was the one who sent for me first, asking me to the Motierre house in Chorrol. I set out just as some kind of furor was rising up in Anvil about someone defacing the Chapel, and I was glad to be away, even as nervous as I was about my errand.

I didn’t think he’d mind my coming in wearing my sword. He couldn’t think I trusted him enough to come unarmed. After a look around the periphery of the house, I decided to look casual and come in the front way.

He was sitting in front of the fireplace, facing the door. “Ah, good. I have something a bit more involved for you this time.”

“Do you? I take it Othrelos is well?”

“He is. We can discuss it further after your contract.”

I licked my lips. “You came by yourself?”

He chuckled. “Of course not, my dear. I have several… assistants throughout the house. I never travel without protection.”

“That’s what I thought.” I composed myself, kept my face blank. “Now, I’d like to talk about Othrelos before we actually discuss this assignment you have for me. You didn’t give me very much last time, and I want to be sure I’m not doing all of this for nothing.”

“I assure you that the boy has come to no harm by me.”

My back stiffened. “That’s a rather restricted answer, isn’t it?”

“It’s all you’re going to – ” He stopped when he heard the crash upstairs. “Hides-His-Heart? Lazarr?” he called loudly, without turning away from me. There was no answer, and I allowed myself a little smile.

When Zedrick appeared on the stairs and Melliwin emerged from the back of the house, Fathis leapt to his feet, and it was with great joy that I kicked him back down into the chair.

“Your vessel’s been boarded by pirates,” I sneered, drawing my sword. “Now tell me exactly where Othrelos is.”

He remained calm, even as I raised the tip of my sword toward his throat. “He’s going to be very unhappy if you kill me, you know. I’m his uncle.” I wavered, and he nodded comfortably. “I suppose you never wondered why he doesn’t use his last name?”

I hadn’t, actually, even though it was extremely unusual for a Dunmer not to have a family name and to share it proudly. Family pride was too alien a concept for me to have noticed it was missing in him.

“He actually came here from Morrowind running away from the family business; I think he was a bit distressed to find I’d established it here.” He snorted. “He refused to get involved with me until I gave him a good enough motivation. So I thank you for that.”

Growling, I knelt in his lap and turned my blade to press the edge against his throat. “He’d forgive me. He forgives me everything. Where is he?”

Now he frowned. “He will be in more danger if you find him than if you don’t.” He hissed as I pressed the sword closer, and relented. “The eastern edge of Cyrodiil. He has infiltrated an army that is preparing to invade Tamriel. You mustn’t compromise his work.”

“You sent him to infiltrate an army. To counter a threat to the Empire.” How stupid did he think I was? “Why you? Why Othrelos? Why isn’t it the Imperial Legion, or the Blades?”

“Because they do not understand the threat like I do.” Anger was starting to show in his voice. “I doubt the Imperial agents in Morrowind have even informed anyone in Tamriel. What’s coming is not a sanctioned attack. It would be an embarrassment to our King and a threat to both countries.” He sneered at my bewilderment. “Don’t look so surprised. It isn’t altruism, you know. I’m a successful Dunmer in Tamriel: open strife between the Empire and Morrowind would be horrible for my business.”

“So you sent your own nephew to deal with it. Did you send him any help?”

He hesitated. “He’s a trained assassin. I made sure I gave him a couple of those contracts before I sent him, to make sure those skills were still sharp.”

I could feel myself panting, and struggled to maintain control. “You’ve been making him kill people.”

“Not exclusively. It’s not as if he was Morag Tong. But his father wanted him to be a capable enforcer. It’s not my fault the boy lacks ambition.”

It was true that I probably shouldn’t kill him. I had to breathe. “Tell me exactly where he is. Tell me before I decide that O’s family belongs in the ground with the Jemanes’ and mine.”

He sighed. “Sundercliff Watch. On the eastern shore of Lake Canulus.”

I climbed out of his lap. “We’re square,” I told him. “I owe you nothing, and Othrelos owes you nothing. I’m not just threatening you with Guild politics now. I have muscle of my own, like you do. Stay away from us.”

“Stay away from my own flesh and blood?”

“Yes.” Now that I had the information I needed, I was calm enough to be practical. “I’m not after your pride or your business, Fathis. No one is going to know we had this discussion. I’m just letting you know how it will be if you press this issue.”

He nodded. “As you say, then. Give him my regards, and try not to get him killed.”

I let my assistants ransack the house before we left it for good, but the take was not impressive, and the pirates agreed unanimously that they preferred foreign supply ships. All the same, they also agreed to come with me to find Othrelos: I was their friend, their financier, and on land, their captain. And as Zedrick said, the scale of the task before me clearly “called for a crew.”

But it had been bad enough trekking them all from Anvil to Chorrol on foot: to now hike all of us across the broadest part of the country from west to east would be ridiculous. We bought enough horses to camouflage the fact that we were stealing the rest of them, and having mounts sped up the journey considerably.

Still, there was time for long conversations about stealth, and strategy. Most of us were going to stick out in a hole full of Dunmer: we agreed that other than myself, Kovan Kren would be the other one in the lead, followed by Yinz’r, who could pass as the kind of servants they’d be likely to employ. We’d scout ahead of the others for trouble.

If there was an army waiting underground, they’d covered their tracks well. To all outward appearances, Sundercliff Watch was just one more ruined fort, the likes of which were littered all over Tamriel – often, to be sure, filled with bandits, whereas this one seemed completely abandoned. Perhaps that in itself was suspicious.

Sure enough, we found two guards posted in the keep. Melliwin shot one through the throat while Kovan and I dispatched the other. Opposite us in the room was a hall ending in a thick-looking door. We nodded to each other quietly, and Kovan moved ahead of me to knock.

A muffled voice came from the other side. “Who gathers stormclouds over Nirn?”

Kovan snorted. “Chimer!” he called back, and within seconds we could hear the door being unlocked. “As any child would know,” he whispered over his shoulder to me.

“Really? I didn’t.”

But then the door was open and there were two more Dunmeri to kill, which again we accomplished quickly. By the door was a table, and the documents there yielded a great deal of information. They referred to the gathered soldiers as Drothmeri, under the leadership of Arch-Mage Frathen Drothan – yes, the name from the note Fathis had shown me. If Fathis was correct, Morrowind’s Arch-Mage was acting without the sanction of his King. The papers seemed to support that theory: Drothan was calling for better vigilance at the door, as he had already caught a would-be assassin –

Oh, gods.

I was never going to find him in time if my heart stopped beating. I argued with it silently for several seconds before I felt it thud painfully back to life.

“Quickly now,” I hissed. “Quickly. Now we are looking for a prisoner.”

Through another door, this one unlocked, and into a huge open cavern with several wooden shacks built where the ground was flat enough, and a bridge crossing from the western to the eastern side. Kovan and I silently waved to each other that we would each scout a different area. I crept northward and into the first building I found.

It was clearly a little prison, and my heart jumped at my good luck. The cell was unguarded, and occupied. Fighting to control my breath and my grin of relief, I picked the lock.

The prisoner who turned and came to the door was significantly older than Othrelos. “Thank you, Breton,” he whispered. “Your business here is your own: I return to mine.” A chameleon spell glimmered over him, and then he was gone.

Confused and now concerned again, I searched the nearby desk for information. Morag Tong, this prisoner had been, an assassin officially sanctioned by the government of Morrowind. But he’d hidden his writ of execution so as not to let his enemies learn who his target was. That he’d been jailed at all was more proof that Drothan was exceeding his authority.

Then where –

Shouts and sounds of struggle outside. My people had been spotted.

I ran out into the chaos. Several Dunmeri soldiers had come out into the center of the cavern, clashing with Kovan and Zedrick; two were running for an eastern passage with Jak and Yinz’r in pursuit; an archer shot at their backs from a balcony on the next building ahead of me. Melliwin spotted him and fired back, but he had Yinz’r down before she even notched her first arrow.

And, of course, one other soldier saw me emerge from the little jail and rushed me, as yet two more of his fellows joined in the main fight, going after Melliwin. I drew my sword and struggled against my opponent, making several attempts before I finally sliced deep enough into his kidney to stop his advance. I turned to see how my friends were doing.

It looked like Jak had prevented the fleeing soldiers from getting out to raise any alarms. Scurvy John had beaten back Melliwin’s attackers at first, but took an arrow to the leg and then fell to their swords. Zedrick ran to defend her, and she focused again on the archer, finally piercing his right shoulder and forcing him to lower his bow.

He dropped to his knees, and as Melliwin’s next shot flew towards his heart, I saw his face.

“Hold!” I screamed, running toward the building. “Hold!”

It was a barracks, empty now because its tenants had all come out to meet us already. I ran up the stairs and onto the balcony, turning the now-limp body so that I could look at him more closely.

Yes. This one, bleeding and losing consciousness, feverish from the poison on Melliwin’s arrows. This one was Othrelos.