Link to episodes 1 through 3: http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=0m7tnj8g66wc2
The rendezvous point was a warehouse in the Majestic Vistas District. The boys arrived one by one after midnight, coming out of the sewer grate in the alley and slipping under a loose slat in the siding. Torsten was the last to arrive.
“Report,” he ordered, addressing a thirteen year old, named Arni.
“I met up with the Guild fence,” Arni reported. “At first he wouldn’t talk to me, even when I told him what kinds of things we had. But later he found me and said he’d changed his mind. He wants it all.”
“Excellent. Good work,” exulted Torsten. Torsten addressed the room. “We’re set up good on this haul, mates. This is our ticket into the Guild. We’ve impressed them!”
From a dark corner, a girl’s voice spoke, “Sure you didn’t just piss them off?”
Daggers appeared in the hands of every boy in the room. Some were stolen; some homemade from chipped glass or broken iron tools. The boys fanned out and surrounded the corner from which the voice had come.
A pile of pelts boiled up as a young Orsimer girl pushed them off of herself and stepped into the light. Torsten spread his arms in a welcoming pose. “Luciana! Well done and well met!”
From out of the bag on her back, Lucy drew a nasty-looking black club about the length of her forearm. “Tell them to put away the blades or I’ll start cracking heads.”
“Of course,” said Torsten smoothly. “Everyone stand down. She’s with us now. Luciana, your performance in the Market yesterday was brilliant. I can’t say enough about it. The way you threw off those three Southlanders…I almost forgot what I was about! We couldn’t have done it without you.”
Lucy held onto the club. “You said you’d have my back.”
“Right. Well I do apologize for that. We got a little busier than we expected, and then that monster of a guard showed up, and before we knew it, they hustled you out of there. Please don’t be mad. We all knew you’d escape, and now here you are, carrying a Guardsman’s truncheon, no less. Bet there’s a story behind that, yeah? You could put it away now, you know.”
She slapped it against her palm. “I like the way it feels in my hand. It’s got a great weight to it. Watch this.” She raised the club and brought it down on a crate next to her, which burst open, spilling its contents of clothing and tools. The boys jumped.
“I’m sorry. Was that one of yours?” she said.
“Ah no,” replied Torsten, a little less self-confidently than before. “Our stuff is on the far wall.” He pointed to a messy pile of burlap sacks, each appearing to be stuffed full of goods. “That one was here when we arrived. Bit of an inconvenience you smashing it like that. We’d rather the owner didn’t notice when we use this place. Luciana, I can’t help notice that you still seem a bit angry.”
“Maybe a wee bit,” she admitted. “But you say I’m in the gang now?”
“Certainly!” Torsten assured her. “You’ve proven your worth. Demonstrated what you can do.”
“That plan didn’t go so well for me. Not sure I want to do that again.”
“Of course you wouldn’t want that,” Torsten agreed with a smile. “But there are other opportunities now. We’re just now hitting the big time, Luciana. As a result of this job, we’ve got access to the Guild’s fence. We don’t need to limit ourselves to pickpocketing and burglary anymore. We’re going to branch out. Get into protection; maybe short term loans. We’re going to need someone who can do what you do. I know you said you weren’t interested in the enforcer position, but you have to admit you have natural talent.”
Lucy seemed to consider it. She gazed over their shoulders to the far wall of the warehouse. Finally satisfied, she met his eyes again.
“You know, I’m not even interested anymore. Your gang is nothing but a bunch of small time cutpurses. I think I’ve got better connections to the Guild than you do, and one day, you’ll be the one begging me to get in, and I’ll be asking you what you’re good for.”
“Big talk,” said Torsten, “coming from someone that’s got nothing. I think it’s time for you to leave, orc.” He signaled his boys, who pulled their knives out.
“Yeah it is time for me to leave,” she agreed. “But you’re the one that’s got nothing, Torsten. See for yourself.” She gestured at the far wall of the warehouse.
Despite himself, Torsten looked over his shoulder. Then he spun entirely around. The pile of loot had disappeared. “What the…!” he spluttered and broke into a run to investigate, his boys following. Lucy took the opportunity to slip away.
“You’ll find the stolen goods in the basement of the house of a bosmer named Erasmodhel on Rosendelunde Way,” Lucy told Captain gro-Ushal, as she stood before his desk in his office. “That’s who I was working for.”
“You were working for a bosmer?” gro-Ushal asked doubtfully.
”You’ll also find a lot of smuggled items,” Lucy added.
Gro-Ushal raised his bushy eyebrows. “A smuggler, eh? We’ll have to check that out. But why do I still suspect I’m being played? What’s the real story here, girl? This guy cross the wrong people? Cut somebody out of the loop?”
“Suspect whatever you want,” Lucy said blandly. “But this makes us square, right? I’m free to go?”
“As long as your story checks out, you can consider the charges dropped. Wanted to talk to you about something, though.”
Lucy bounced on her heels, eager to leave. Reluctantly, “What?”
“Wanted to offer you a job.”
“I’m not sure the Guard is really the direction I want to go with my life.”
He leaned forward. “Girl, the direction you’re life is going leads right back to the hangman’s noose. Don’t let this little adventure make you cocky.” He stretched and relaxed into his chair. “Anyway, I wasn’t exactly suggesting you enlist. I was just thinking that if you wanted to spend some time around here, we could find things you could do, and there might be a chance for you to learn some things.”
“Like what things?” she asked suspicious and slightly intrigued at the same time.
“Orsimer things,” he replied. “Useful things; maybe a few magical techniques—nothing fancy, our people don’t put too much stock in magic, but there are a few tricks that suit us. Also, since you’re so interested in Codes, you might be interested in studying the Orsimer Warrior’s Code.”
She hesitated, as though torn in two directions at once, then made a choice. “Listen, I kind of like you. I believe you’ve got your own sort of honor, so I’m going to tell you just slightly more about myself that I really ought.”
“I appreciate that,” said the Captain. “I’m listening.”
“My parents came to this country as war refugees during the High Rock Troubles. They rescued me off the body of a soldier who died in the fighting.”
“That explains a lot,” observed Captain Gro-Ushal.
“Yeah. It might explain why I’m not that interested in the Orsimer Warrior’s Code, or in hanging out with the Imperial Guard.”
Gro-Ushal raised his hands, palms up, and grimaced. “I’m not even going to try to justify all of the things that happened on that campaign—“
“Good. May I go now?”
He waved her off, defeated. Just before the door closed, she added, “And this time, don’t have me followed.”
He jumped up from his chair, knocking it back and stumbling over it. By the time he reached the door, she was nowhere to be seen.
Late that night, after taking a very roundabout route, she finally reached home, where her father and mother waited up for her. She first gave a gentle and loving hug to her mother, then fell into her father’s arms, shaking.
“You’re home, Sweetheart. It’s over,” her father comforted her.
“Did you see me?” she asked them eagerly. “I wasn’t sure you were there.”
Her mother smiled. “I was there the entire time, moving goods. You were wonderful!”
Her father said, “I saw it all, but I almost missed your entrance, because I had to take care of your tail.”
“You didn’t have to kill her, did you?”
She was answered not by either of her parents, but by a dunmer that she had not noticed, standing in the corner in black leather. “We kept her alive for questioning, but we can’t let her go. She knows too much now. We’ll take her to another city and frame her for something—something they’ll hang her for.”
“Luciana Henriette,” her father introduced her, “Meet Modryn Farys, our doyen.”
“Honored,” she said, emphatically.
“The honor is mine, Luciana. By the way, I was there in that warehouse as well. I was directing the extraction of the goods. Your little skit was very well played.”
“Thank you. So all the goods made it to Erasmodhel’s basement?” she asked.
Farys shrugged. “The Guild took a small finder’s fee, of course. His smuggled items ought to make up the difference.”
“Including something for us, I assume,” she indicated herself and her parents.
“But of course!” he agreed.
“This makes me a guild member, right?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said. “You’re a bit young. Consider this little collaboration to be an item on your resume.”
Lucy wasn’t sure what a resume was, but this was unsatisfactory. “Wait a minute! I’ve proven my loyalty and my abilities. That’d more than get anybody else in. Is there no honor among thieves?”
Farys rubbed his temples, but relented somewhat. “You’ve proven you can manipulate your mark, keep a secret, and you have a very basic understanding of stealth... How about this? You could be in the Thieves Guild Youth Corps. You’re the first member of this start-up organization, and your father can be your troop advisor. Acceptable?”
“I suppose that’ll do for now,” she allowed. “Since we’re brand new, first thing in the morning, I’ll draft us up a Code.” Then she fell asleep in her father’s lap.
Comments
The wait for chapter 5 might be a while. These were the stories that were clamoring to get out. Not to say there won't be a chapter 5 some day.