I am Laeilwyn Riverpool (A Skyrim Adventure)

Chapter Twenty Six: Change of Plans

-Laeilwyn's Perspective- 

The snow pelted my face, like a thousand tiny daggers. 

Great, even the afterlife has snow. 

"Laeilwyn?" I heard a voice calling my name. "Can you hear me?" 

Yes? Who is it?

"If you can hear me, blink your eyes." 

I scrunched my face. 

Wait, I can move? 

Slowly the feeling was coming back to me. I felt the hard ground I was laying on, and heat next to my body, a fire. I heard the whinny of a horse. I blinked my eyes open. I was in a small forest. The sun was up but it was not warm in the slightest. I raised my arm to block the blinding light. Then I saw Karliah lean over me. 

I tried to get up as fast as I could, but to no avail, I was too weak. Instead, I tried to push her away. That effort failed too. 

"Easy, easy. Don't get up so quickly." She said, easing me down. 

"Get... away...." 

"How are you feeling?" 

"You.....shot.... me..."

"No. I saved your life. My arrow was tipped with a unique paralytic poison. It slowed your heart and kept you from bleeding out. Had I intended to kill you, we wouldn't be having this conversation. What I didn't realize is that Mercer would stab you with a sword coated in a different poison, one made of netch jelly?" I nodded. "Clever. But it weakened you more than I intended. Now, we need to make a slight change of plans."

"Plan?" I tried sitting up again, and failed. 

"My original intent was to use that arrow on Mercer, but I never had a clear shot. All I hoped was to capture him alive."

"Why keep him alive? Why not just hunt down that filthy traitor?"

"Mercer must be brought before the Guild to answer for what he's done. He needs to pay for Gallus's murder, and now your attempted murder."

"How will we prove your point to the others now that he's gone?"

"My purpose in using Snow Veil Sanctum to ambush Mercer wasn't simply for irony's sake. Before both of you arrived, I recovered a journal from Gallus's remains. I suspect the information we need is inside. The only problem: the journal is written in some language I've never seen before, and I need to visit Enthir at the College of Winterhold to translate it. It's the only person Gallus would have trusted with his Nightingale identity."

"Nightingale identity?"

"There were three of us; Gallus, myself and Mercer. We were an anonymous splinter of the Thieves Guild in Riften. I'll explain more later, right now, I need to visit Enthir." Karliah said, getting up. 

"I'll go with you. Let me get my things." I tried sitting up, but I couldn't do it. 

"You're too weak. You have to stay here and regain your strength while I work on this." She mounted her horse. "There's food in the barrels over there. Use a flames spell to keep the fire going. I won't be back for several days. Try to keep hidden until then. Hiyah!" She rode off to the North. 

I dragged myself over to the little tent and bedroll she had set up. I peeled back my armor to check out my wounds. The capillaries surrounding them were completely black, an effect of the poisons. It took all my energy to wrap the puncture wounds in some cloth Karliah left. When I finished I collapsed on the ground in a deep sleep.