Crossfire (A Skyrim Fan Fiction)

Chapter 4: Enemy of My Enemy

Mira

Jiran had given me many things in the months we had spent together. He had taught me to survive in Skyrim, to read maps and travel the province, to make and break camp, to fight with daggers and a bow, and, over all, to be an assassin.

He had also given me some less desirable traits. My hands were now stained with blood, a fact which still haunted me when I put too much thought to what I'd done. He'd given me a way to seek my revenge, enabling my desire for blood and destruction of the Black-Briar family. He'd also given me an acute paranoia- anything and anyone could want me dead at any time and I'd begun to act accordingly, walking in the shadows when there was no reason to do so and lying when I might as well tell the truth.

Now, I had very good reason to be paranoid and I could tell Jiran was too. After all, we were standing in potentially unfriendly territory, surrounded by thieves who could easily turn hostile at any moment with no easy way to escape.

Jiran trusted very, very few people. He must trust Karliah beyond a doubt if he was willing to follow her here.

The Dark Elf in question lounged against a table, waiting for someone to appear from the corridor across the tavern I had never realized was right beneath Riften. I mean, I had known the Thieves' Guild lived in the Ratway. I hadn't realized they had an entire tavern and market of their own as well. Curiosity encouraged me to lean slightly to the side and glance at the stalls set into alcoves in the walls, but I couldn't really see any wares from here. What would thieves sell to each other?

"Kisvar!" Karliah's musical voice rang out suddenly and I turned back to the tavern just in time to see her throw herself at a man who had just entered, discarding her usual reserved attitude and wrapping her arms around him. "By Nocturnal, it's good to see you again."

"You'll break my ribs again," he said jokingly in a muffled voice. "But it's good to see you too, Karliah. More than you realize," he added as she released him.

So this was the Dragonborn and Guildmaster of the Thieves' Guild. Even with just a cursory glance, I had no trouble believing both claims. Kisvar was at least as tall as Jiran and considerably broader across the shoulders, giving him a quite formidable stature. He wore the same armor as most of the other thieves I had seen- well, no, not quite the same. Upon closer inspection, I could see that it was designed a little differently, though I wasn't sure what the differences were or why they mattered. Kisvar wore the armor as comfortably as Jiran wore his, but instead of a bow upon his back, Kisvar wore two wicked-looking red and black swords at his waist. A scar that looked half healed ran from his jaw down his neck and his brown hair fell about two piercing blue eyes that seized upon the object of their gaze with conviction.

My eyes had been darting about the Cistern until I saw Kisvar. I had kind of subconsciously expected all assassins' and thieves' eyes to do the same; the more things you saw and the faster you saw them, the better you could react to them. Kisvar looked as though he feared nothing and had never run from anything in his life.

"We can talk later," Karliah said, regaining her usual calm demeanor. "Let's go somewhere more private, shall we?"

Kisvar glanced behind her, his eyes briefly flicking over me and settling on Jiran. "Of course. The meeting room should do." He turned and led the way through the tables to the corridor on the other side of the tavern. Glancing around for a sign, I realized it was called the Ragged Flagon.

A long table stood in the center of the room, surrounded by chairs. Another man and a woman sat at the table, the redhaired man absentmindedly twirling a dagger on the wooden boards and the whitehaired woman gazing at us impassively as they watched us sit. I tried not to fidget as a short silence ensued following the quiet click as the door closed behind us.