Opportunities

Three: It’ll Cost You

He bought me breakfast in the morning, but still wouldn’t tell me anything except that he was “taking a few contracts” and was going to be traveling more than usual.

I mused over that as I walked up toward the Imperial City. I’d always thought of him as pretty well off, what with the house and all. I’d never thought twice about borrowing from him when my father got us into trouble, partly because Othrelos never seemed to think twice about lending to me.

Why would he need to take contracts outside the City? He didn’t usually go anywhere except Skingrad. He wouldn’t have agreed to pay Fathis Ules for me if he didn’t have the money, would he?

Well, all right: the priority was to get into the Thieves’ Guild and then start making the money back for him. I’d hurry the repayment along so Othrelos could come home. He was sort of a homebody.

Oh. Home. There was a thought. By now I didn’t have one. My father hadn’t owned our little Waterfront shack, of course, and now it was up for sale. If Othrelos wasn’t away he’d have let me stay with him, but I doubted Mandil liked me enough to let me use his room when he wasn’t there. I’d have to shell out for an inn or sleep out on the street with the beggars.

I went and waited behind Dareloth’s house. The locals all knew it as “Dareloth’s house” even though nobody knew who Dareloth was, and the house was apparently abandoned. The locals all likewise knew that it was only apparently abandoned, and was actually a staging area for various illegal activities. The city guard knew it too, but their will to prevent it was only sporadic.

Three people straggled into the yard after dark, two of whom I knew already because they’d been my neighbors. One was Methredhel, a Bosmer girl. We’d crossed paths a few times before: like Othrelos, she seemed like she was about my age although she probably wasn’t. The other was a middle aged Redguard - Armand Christophe. The third person was a stranger to me, an Argonian who introduced himself as Amusei.

Armand set us a test to make sure we were competent thieves: he said that he would only take the one who brought him the diary of Amantius Allectus. We were not to kill him or each other - “This isn't the Dark Brotherhood,” Armand said. He would be back the next night at midnight to see if any of us had succeeded.

He’d barely stopped talking when Methredhel grinned like a fiend and ran off. She knew where Amantius lived, as I did. I didn’t take after her because I knew she was a better runner than I was. Longer legs, even though she was short like me. Amusei, on the other hand, was not a local, so he just started wandering around hoping for who knew what.

Poor simple sod. He didn’t even know enough to ask around among the beggars.

I went down the street to where Puny Ancus usually camped out, woke him, and asked him what kind of hours Methredhel was keeping these days. She and her girlfriend always went out to dinner at six.

They’d moved everything out of our old house, but it hadn’t sold yet and there was nobody guarding it. I slept on the floor where my cot used to be, glad I’d thought to take my little treasure box down to Leyawiin. Dad could have bought the place outright for the amount he’d died owing to Fathis Ules. He could have saved so much money if he’d settled for just being a drunk.

I spent the day idly, and moved into position in the late afternoon. Eventually Methredhel emerged from her house, looking to be in high spirits. Her mopey girl Adanrel went with her - homely, like Mandil. Homely Bosmer women were all horse-faced: the pretty ones, like Methredhel, tended to higher cheekbones and less beaky noses.

After they’d been gone a few minutes, I let myself into the house and started my search. The diary was in a locked chest. In case this was her treasure box, I was nice and didn’t take anything else.

A few more hours and I was able to hand the book over to Armand with a peaceful smile on my face. The others didn’t show up: Methredhel was probably searching her house madly for the diary, and Amusei had likely just given up entirely.

Armand grinned. “Othrelos was right about you, then,” he said. Then he accepted me into the Guild with him as my doyen, and told me the fines for robbing or hurting fellow Guild members, and how to get bribes paid to city officials. I might be hired for special jobs and rise in the organization if I proved capable enough.

I was sure I would prove more than capable enough for him, but that wasn’t my current concern, so I asked about fences. My first Guild fence was to be Ongar, who lived up in Bruma. That was a shame, for two reasons. One, I’d grown up in warm, wet Leyawiin, and cold, dry Bruma did not sound like a treat to me. Two, I hadn’t told Agata or anyone else at the Guild that I’d be leaving for good again. I didn’t want to not leave things wrapped up like my mother always did.

So I headed south first. When I got back down to the Leyawiin Guild hall, Agata was in fits - not over me, but over a letter from my darling mother.

Have arrived in Anvil. Need an escort back to Leyawiin. Send someone to The Count‘s Arms. - Yvette Ganon.

“Just like her,” Agata snarled as I read it. “Just like her to wander back home and expect someone to come running.”

“I’ll go,” I sighed. “She’s my mother.” Then I thought for a moment. “Why does she want an escort? She left on her own, didn’t she? What’s the difference?”

“She didn’t leave alone. She left with some Nord she met at a tavern.”

Ah, of course. Big, burly Nords were her usual type. Not men like my father, as she used to tell me frequently. But they’d met when luck had still been with him, and she’d thought of him as a rich Imperial and potential ticket into higher society. That had fallen apart quickly enough.

Another long walk, then, down to Anvil. It turned out to be an appealing city, with white buildings and the smell of the sea. My mother was at the inn, drinking. She was still lovely, even though she was starting to look a little worn around the edges. Most of her hair was still black, just a few strands now of the gray I’d had from birth.

She greeted me with all the warmth of a casual acquaintance. “Luminara. What are you doing here?”

What are you doing here. It was going to be one of these interactions with her, then, the kind that made Agata want to pull out her hair. “You sent a letter to the Guild saying you wanted an escort. So I’m here to escort you.”

She snorted. “A little girl. How useful. They couldn’t have sent me Kalthar?”

“No, they couldn’t. He’s been expelled.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “Well, I’m sorry you went to the trouble. It turns out I’ve found someone to make the trip with me after all. Another day and you would have missed me.”

Of course. “A Nord, I suppose.”

“Sigmund,” she grinned, and took a sip of her drink.

I sat down and sighed. “Thanks for letting us know. I have my own problems to attend to, you know.”

“Are you pregnant?” I shook my head, and she nodded and took another drink. “Good. Don’t ever have children if you can help it, Luminara.”

“Ruin my life. I know. We’ve had that talk.” I wished I had a drink myself. “So are you going to ask how Dad is?”

She smirked. “Of course. How is Maurius?”

“Dead.”

That actually shut her up for a minute. Finally she took my hand, which was as good as she got as a mother. “I’m sorry, baby. How did he go?”

“Daedra. He was at the Temple of the One praying for luck when it was attacked.”

She laughed. “Of course. That’s your father.” Then she looked at me and sobered herself. “Well, anyway, he can’t gamble you away now.”

“You knew about that?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, did he really? I was just joking. But it figures.” She waved off the whole conversation with one hand. “Anyway, take some time to enjoy Anvil while you’re here. It’s an amusing city, especially out on the docks. I won’t be needing your help.”

I had been dismissed, so I left. There was no point prolonging the agony for both of us. I needed a drink, and I didn’t want to get it where she was drinking, so I headed out toward the docks. There’d be another tavern out there, surely. Yes - The Flowing Bowl. This was where the people more of my sort would be. In fact, hadn’t Weebam-Na told me he knew a freelance fence here? Khafiz. Since I was in town anyway, it would be handy to find a local fence.

There was a good crowd, as seemed proper for a tavern on a dock. Khafiz sounded like a Khajiit name to me, so that was what I looked for first, but no luck. I did, however, spot a perfectly gorgeous Imperial man with long black hair. Perhaps he’d like to buy me a drink.

He was definitely a sailor: he still smelled of the sea, and he had the thick hands of someone who hauled a lot of rope. He was sitting with a plain, disinterested Redguard, and several empty tankards were on the table between them.

I decided they would tolerate a straightforward approach, and I took the last few steps toward their table with a casual air. “Are you drunk enough to buy ale for a stranger yet?” I smiled.

The pretty Imperial looked me up and down, grinned, and pushed out the empty chair next to him. “For you, yes.” As I sat, he shouted over my shoulder for more ale. “But let’s not be strangers by the time it gets here. Zedrick Green. That’s Khafiz,” he added, gesturing toward the Redguard.

“Luminara.” Then I realized who he’d introduced, and turned toward Zedrick’s silent drinking partner. “You’re Khafiz? Do you know Weebam-Na from Leyawiin?”

He nodded. “How do you know him?”

“We’ve worked together,” I said, with the slight smile one used to indicate the nature of the work. “He recommended you if I was ever in Anvil.”

“I see.” He started to look more interested in the conversation. “Are you looking to transact business right now?”

“No, but I’m glad to find you for later.” I turned my attention back to Zedrick, the one I’d actually come over to meet. “Do you work with Khafiz?”

He snorted and took a swig of his ale before answering. “Not currently. I’m between jobs.”

“So you’re not from the Clarabella.” He raised his eyebrows at me, so I smiled. “Just because I work on land doesn’t mean I don’t understand the principle, you know. What happened to your ship?”

He frowned. “Captain got caught when we were on shore in Hammerfell. Made my way back down to Anvil to look for a new crew.”

My drink had arrived. “Dangerous line of work,” I said, raising it to my lips. “I hope it pays well enough to be worth all the extra risk.”

“When it goes right, it does.”

We devoted a little while to drinking and ogling each other. Maybe Khafiz felt neglected, because he was the one who brought up the new subject. “There’s supposed to be an abandoned ship under Castle Anvil. In a cave.”

“Really.” I sipped at my third ale and pretended indifference.

“Pirate ship. Been there hundreds of years. Could still have its last haul in it.”

I chuckled and glanced sidelong at Zedrick. “What do you think?”

He slammed down his tankard. “It’s worth a look. Let’s go.”

We rose, and Zedrick touched one hand to the small of my back as we walked out of the tavern into the night air. The moonlight shimmered on the water, and made silvery the other drunken sailors staggering up and down the docks. When we reached the bridge to the little island where Castle Anvil stood, Khafiz started to laugh.

“Oh!” He doubled over. “There’s going to be guards, aren’t there? Around the castle.”

“Where’s the cave supposed to be?” I asked.

“Around on the far side.”

“We’ll swim!” Zedrick peeled off his shirt and strode toward the water. When he noticed we weren’t following, he turned around and beckoned with both arms. “Come on, then!”

I could see the definition of all the muscles of his chest and arms beneath the skin. He was just gorgeous. I followed him into the waves, Khafiz behind me, and I suppressed a shriek at how cool it was. The water was relatively peaceful, and we swam around the rocky edge of the island without much difficulty.

Zedrick found the spot first, and roared in outrage. “It’s not a cave, it’s a door. And it’s locked.”

“Allow me!” I called, and swam to the spot, then stood, because near the door the water was shallow. I dug around for a lockpick and set to work as Khafiz caught up with us. Neither the sea nor the ale was helpful, but eventually I managed to unlock the door, and I opened it with a grin.

“Very nice,” Zedrick smiled back, climbing into the darkness. “Anybody bring a torch?” he called back over his shoulder.

“Not likely!” I giggled. “We’re, you know, in the water.”

“Damn! Light spell?”

“That I can do.” I stepped in after him and cast the spell, raising one hand. We were in a little cave, dry around the edges with a depression full of sea water in the middle.

Khafiz came in and looked around, then harrumphed. “Well, that’s not as interesting as I’d hoped.”

Zedrick waded across and beckoned us forward. “There’s another opening here. Maybe it gets better.”

It did: at the other end of a narrow passage it opened out into a much larger cave of much more interest. But the first things we noticed were the skeletons, because they attacked us.

Zedrick barked in surprise but got his cutlass pulled out before the first of them reached us. That was a good thing, because Khafiz and I were both slower on the draw. I got my sword out as Zedrick dispatched the first of them with a mighty cut. I wasn’t useless with a blade, so I got another of them killed - well, destroyed - while Zedrick put down a third. Others came down from further away, and in the end there was a pile of bones from some half a dozen of them scattered all around us.

We stood still for a moment after the last of them fell. Then we all started to laugh hysterically. We kept laughing when we realized that we were standing in front of the wreckage of a ship.

“How did they ever get it in here?” Khafiz asked, still laughing.

It was in rather good condition, and surrounded by multiple docks leading to and from its deck from various platforms of rock. “I get the ship,” I announced.

Zedrick sneered at me playfully. “You can’t have the ship! What would you do with it?”

“What would you do with it? You can’t get it out of the cave. So it’s mine. It’s my house. You can go and get a real ship.”

Zedrick and Khafiz looked at each other, then shrugged. “Fine,” Zedrick said. “Your ship. But we split anything else.”

We explored the cavern before boarding the ship. We found a few weapons, a good bit of gold, and a little cell Khafiz said would be perfect for his pig. We laughed for a few more minutes over the idea of a pet pig, then staggered back out toward the docks and onto the ship.

A rude surprise on board: one more skeleton, more powerful than the others, with what seemed to be an enchanted cutlass. Zedrick and I fought it together. As it fell, my attention immediately shifted to the way the sweat was glistening on Zedrick’s muscular chest, and the violent grace with which he moved.

He looked over at me, and his pale eyes lit up as if he was thinking something similarly flattering about me. He waved back at Khafiz without looking at him. “Why don’t you go get your pig? We’ll wait for you here.”

“Yeah, great,” Khafiz snarled. “You always get the girl, don’t you?”

“So stop at the Foc’s’le first, and get your own. Don’t hurry back on our account.”

Khafiz clucked his tongue at us but retreated out of the cabin. Zedrick immediately strode over to me and grabbed me to him with a fierce kiss. I returned it urgently: I’d been waiting for it ever since I demanded to be bought a drink. He was the most beautiful human male I’d ever seen. His fingers dug into my ass as he pulled my hips toward his - a bit of a task, since I was so much shorter. I came up onto my toes.

“So,” he whispered into my ear. “Your ship. Where do you want it, Captain?”

I looked around and realized there really weren’t many options. The space was completely bare. But I certainly didn’t intend to lie down in centuries of dust. I pulled him with me to the nearest wall, leaned against it, and resumed our kiss. He pressed in close against me, and I dragged my nails down his bare back, making him gasp. Grinning, he opened my shirt; but instead of playing with my breasts, he reached around behind me and slipped his hands into my pants, caressing my ass.

The swords were really becoming a nuisance. I removed my belt and lowered it to the floor, then did the same with his. He brought one of my hands down to his crotch, and I rubbed at him through the fabric, finding him to be of a pleasing size. I opened his pants for better access, wrapping my fingers around his cock and stroking him. His breath quickened and he bit at my lips. Suddenly he spun me around to face the wall and pulled my pants down. His hands ran up and down my sides, and he stooped to bite the fleshy part of my hip.

As I turned to watch him over my shoulder he bent his knees and pressed into me. Again I had to stand on my toes to help him, and now I had to stay that way. As he fell into rhythm he grabbed into the braids tied at the nape of my neck and jerked my head back. I squealed, and the sound echoed through the empty ship, making him chuckle. He slapped my ass, and I squealed louder.

He started to go harder, and I had to brace myself against the wall and will strength into my calves. He was thicker than I was used to, and the friction started to get intense. He reached around to my breasts - finally - and pinched at both nipples, which I felt all over my body. Out of the corner of my eye I could just see his lovely face, slack and heavy-lidded, all focus on the sensation of fucking me. I moaned with pleasure and felt myself tighten around him as I tried to crane my neck back further, to see him more clearly. He responded with a weak grin and another pinch, then closed his eyes and sped up again. He licked idly at the back of my neck, sighed, then gave me one little moan himself as he came.

He stood pressed tight against me for a few seconds, then staggered back a little and fell to his knees. “Damn, that hurt my legs.” He laughed.

I pulled my pants up and then turned and knelt with him, taking the opportunity I’d lacked during the sex to run my hands down his chest. “Are you all right? We’re going to have to swim again, you know.”

“Let’s wait a few minutes.”

“You think it’s going to hurt less when the ale wears off?” I smiled.

“Well, there’s a point.” He smiled back. “So, Khafiz and I can use the cave, right? Just not the ship.”

I shrugged. “Let’s say the ship too. Just not the cabin. The cabin’s mine.”

“Excellent.” He gave me a light kiss as he fastened his trousers. “We’ll need some kind of raft from now on, if we’re going to get our things here dry. And the damned pig. I doubt it can swim.”

“You’ll remember the cabin is mine, right? I won’t always be here.”

He snorted. “What a shock, thief girl. Neither will I. I don’t see a problem.” He paused, then added with a lopsided grin, “Although you’ll have to pass through my part of the ship to get to yours, and I may charge a toll.” He reached around and squeezed my ass playfully.

I smiled again. “We’re going to get along very well.”