Dark Waters

Sigrid

..::~^~::..

“The biggest problem is your basically going in blind. I’ve been in part of the Embassy, but through the front door. Unfortunately, you won’t have that pleasure. I’m sure there’s a sewer somewhere on this end,” Delphine pointed to the north end of the Embassy on the map laid out on the table in the center of the room.

“So let me get this straight,” I said. I was tired, miserable, depressed, and frantic, the last thing I wanted to do was crawl through a sewer, “You want me to push my body through waste?”

“Well, that’s one option. Another is risking getting through the front door. Or, if you really don’t want to do either, you can find somewhere else to look, and someone else to help you,” Delphine said shortly, and I closed my eyes, and thought about it for a good minute. Nobody else could lose somebody, or something, to a dragon, if someone was out there to slay them. I would do anything for Nev, even if it was completely foul and disgusting.

“I’ll do it,” I said, realizing that this was just my luck. Delphine nodded.

“Good. Now, are you good with weapons?” she asked, “In the event that you may need to use them. Sometimes just sneaking around won’t help you very much.” I wanted to say something smart, but I kept forgetting that she didn’t know I was a part of the Brotherhood. I’ve been training with weapons since I was a youngling. I only nodded, and she smiled, “Great. You may want to get some sleep, you have a long ride ahead of you. And if you’re anything like me, you won’t rest until that dragon is dead. Now go,” she urged.

“I don’t have a room,” I said, knowing it was probably too late to pay for one.

“You can use my bed. It’s the one at the top of the stairs,” Delphine offered.

“Where will you sleep,” I asked, not wanting to put her out of her own room.

“I don’t sleep much,” she assured me, “and I’ll be down here, searching for any information that could be useful to you.”

“Thanks,” I said, honestly, “for everything,” she gave me a smile, and I turned around and headed up the stairs. My head seemed bigger than it ever had before.

..::~^~::..

As I neared the Embassy, I slowed Shadowsmere to a trotting speed. I kept her in the grass so that we wouldn’t be heard. The building was lit up, and there were a lot of voices. Serpentine, high-pitched voices. I suddenly felt very afraid, but I continued towards the northern end of the Embassy building, where I came upon a small river. I dismounted Shadowsmere, and as we both entered the river, he disappeared into it. On the wall, there were metal bars, spaced out just enough for me to slip through. I sniffed before I entered them, and was surprised it didn’t smell. Yet. I slipped in, and went against the way the stream was flowing. Somewhere along the small circular corridor, it began growing smaller, until I was at the point of crawling. There was still no smell, thankfully, but it was completely dark, adding to the effect of going in blind.

As I curved around in the sewer, light started to glow off of the walls. Then a strong smell did hit me, but instead of it being a foul scent, it was a metallic smell. I assumed there was a bunch of metal supporting the building and kept on crawling. There was a sharp turn into a regular sized hallway, and I was thankful to stand. Above me was the bottom of a wooden floor, which light poured through, along with a dripping liquid. I figured it was water, and crawled up the latter at the end of the small corridor. I opened the trap door, and as I looked in, the metallic smell hit me harder than ever. I looked into the room, and had to shut the door immediately at what I saw. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I had the urge to throw up. But I had to do this. I had to do this for Nev, more importantly. I opened the trap door, again, and crawled up onto the floor, trying not to touch the blood which it was coated with. I sprinted past head crushers, a Judas Chair, Knee splinters, and various other torture devices, which were just as covered in blood, and refused to look at the dead and destroyed bodies on the floor, near the items. As soon as I was out of the door, I quietly slammed it shut. I leaned against the door, and slid down it, so I was cradling my knees, and I started crying.

Never in my life have I ever seen something so horrible. After a small while, I was able to regain my composition, and walk down the straight hallway to another door. I cautiously opened the door, happy that this room wasn’t filled with blood. There were cages, full of prisoners. Some dead, and just bone. Others, sleeping. I closed the door, and tip-toed to the door one of the walls perpendicular to me. Once I was out of the door, I let out a large breath I wasn’t aware I had been holding. I was in a small room, the only other thing was a curved staircase, leading up. I looked down, and saw I was leaving red footprints, and started wiping my feet on the ground, until I came to the conclusion that it was a lost cause. I slipped off my boots, and hid them in the corner. I climbed the steps, finding myself in a room with a lot of empty bookshelves. Well, this was the place where I would have to start. They were books, after all.

I looked at all of the covers, and read through some of them. I’d come across a book that spoke of a ‘Dragonborn’, who devoured the soul of the Dragon’s it killed. The whole idea sent shivers up my spines. I read further, where it talked about thu’ums, which were shouts of magic. I ended up having to shut the book before I read through it, and placed it back on the shelf. I looked around at some of the other books, none of them helping me out much.

I decided to continue further into the building, and headed up a set of stairs. When I got to the top, I was surprised to see a group of guards, some sleeping, and some sitting around at tables. This couldn’t be the end of my search. I had to get somewhere. I looked around for a path to the door, where I would be able to sneak. There were few candles lit, leaving many shadows. There were barrels around the room, along with chests, and large plants. I would use these to my advantage. As I once again headed to the top of the stairs, I drew my dagger, clutching it in my hand just in case I was spotted. I got down into leopard crawling position, and headed for the nearest chest, concealed by shadows.

I didn’t get the rush that I used to when I was on contracts for the brotherhood; I didn’t experience the well-too-known thrill. Instead, I felt scared, and out of my comfort zone. Still, I slowly crawled forward, towards a large plant. From the large plant, there was a large gap to the barrels. I’d have to be careful not to catch anybody’s eyes. I held my breath as I crawled to the barrels, and once I was behind them, I got into a crouching position. Next was to get through the archway, which seemed to enter into what looked like an empty room. I looked back at the guards. They were all facing away from the barrels and from the doors, so I sprinted for it. Once I was into the room, I was as close to the wall as I could get, my knuckles white as I clutched the Ebony dagger in my hand. I waited for a few minutes, sure nobody suspected somebody else in the room.

I knew I wouldn’t do well in a fight against a bunch of Thalmor. Most of the elves were extremely experienced with magic. I, on the other hand, was the only Breton in Tamriel who didn’t practice it. Growing up, even as a young kid, I strictly practiced with as many weapons as I could master. As I was pushed up against the wall, a memory drifted, from when I was a young kid.

”What, are you scared,” Nevaris accused, and I laughed loudly at him. I was ten years old. There were two numbers in my age. What did I possibly have to be scared of? “Sigrid’s a coward, Sigrid’s a coward, Sigrid’s a coward,” Nev chanted, and I pushed him to the dirt, holding the stick sword to his throat.

“I’ll show you who’s scared,” I said. I gave him enough time to scramble up from the ground, and cross swords with me. I pranced around, playing with our fake wooden swords outside of the Sanctuary. Without meaning to, I got him on the side of the face, giving him a large black bruise, and a few splinters. Still, he wouldn’t give up.

“I’m not losing to a girl,” he mocked, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not losing to a girl, either,” I grinned, and he growled, coming at me full force.

Thinking back, at the time I didn’t enjoy Nevaris, or his presence. Now, I found the memory fond, along with a few others that came back to me.

”Do you see that star?” he asked, and I looked where he was pointing, but I just couldn’t. I shook my head, and he scooted closer to me, and putting his arm around my shoulders, he pointed again, for a more accurate position. I followed his finger, this time noticing the start, brighter than the others. I nodded my head, “Well, that’s the North Star. Kind of like you, the brightest of all the others.”

At this time in my life, I didn’t really take notice to the compliment. I was still young, just sixteen years from birth. Though all the other girls my age were getting married, I was a trained killer. I wasn’t destined to be married. Astrid had said that I could if I wanted to, but it either had to be in the Brotherhood – and I knew who she was referring to – or I’d have to leave the Brotherhood. I knew she preferred I didn’t to the latter. I just chose not to think about it.

Nev was more like an older brother to me, and that’s mostly how he’d remained for my whole life. Through that time, he’d done nice things for me, he was gentle, and caring. But at other times, he was short tempered, hard headed, and at some times, he could be completely narcissistic.

The tears rolling down my eyes brought me back to reality. I had to continue on. In the room I was in, there were only weapons displayed. Some covered in blood, which brought back more recent bad memories, and caused a shudder down my spine. There would be nothing here that would help me. I went through the only door, and came face to back with a Thalmor guard. With my dagger in my hand, I snuck up behind him, and quickly slit his throat. I made sure to cover his mouth, and lay him down softly on the stone ground. There were many archways into various rooms. I peered in through them to see if they were worth any time. One was for forging weapons. In another was an alchemy lab, and an arcane enchanter. Things that some of the Brotherhood was familiar with, but I always decided not to mess with it. In the last room, there were more books.

In there, was a book. I didn’t read through many of the pages, but there was much about dragons. I decided that this would be the start of what I needed, and I wasn’t leaving here without it.

©Shannon.