Skyrim | Thief Of Hearts | DISCONTINUED

1.

{Brynjolf POV}

I opened my eyes slightly and shut them again immediately to block out the light of the torches on the walls of the cistern. I groaned and yawned, stretching as far as I could. 'Well there sleeping beauty, took you long enough to wake up!' Vipir the Fleet joked as he threw a bag of potions onto my stomach, pushing all the air out of me. The glass bottles clanked against each other rather dangerously. I sat up coughing, sending him a death glare. 'What was that for!?' 'It's almost noon, get your lazy butt up. Mercer wanted to speak with you personally. Besides, you should go to the market with your little business, don't want to keep the customers waiting.' Vipir said with a mocking grin. I huffed grumpily, pushed the cow hide off me and stood up, putting the bag of potions over my shoulder. I checked if all the bottles were still intact. Luckily, there wasn't any liquid seeping out of one of them, so that was good. I made my way to Mercer yawning. 'Morn-- I mean afternoon.' I hopped onto the desk, Mercers ink well falling over and ink spilling all over his armor. 'What the hell Brynjolf! Are you crazy?!' The Guilds leader sneered angrily, his jaw tightening as he saw the ink dripping onto the cobblestone floor. 'Sorry Mercer, but you wanted to speak with me?' He nodded once and held up the file he was writing on. 'This... Ink-drenched paper was supposed to be the register of all our members. Their names, skills and the duties they fulfilled. I am disappointed of how few really good members we have. We need better thieves, Bryn.' I leaned over the desk and scanned the parchment, vaguely making up some names and skills, but the deeds were totally wiped out because of the ink well accident. 'Brynjolf, I want you to fetch another member for us. A good one this time. Our name is failing, we need to bring it up again, we need people to fear us.' I nodded, folding my hands behind my back. 'So we are looking for a stealthy member.' 'Indeed. Get one before the end of the day. Now go.'

I leaned against a wooden pole of my stand, all potions manifested on the flat board, but none of them sold. I sighed and leaned my head back to look at the sky. It was grey and threatening, as if a storm was about to erupt above Riften. I watched as Snilf hassled some random passer-bys and eavesdropped on local stories the citizens shared. I didn't get a single customer. Suddenly, my eyes fell on a shadowy figure next to Madesi's stand. It was wearing a dark hood and cloak, and a quiver of ebony arrows dangled on its back. I couldn't tell the figures gender. I narrowed my eyes as the figure crouched as it thought no one was looking. With skilled gloved fingers, it fiddled with some lockpicks until a click was heard. The figure pulled some golden expensive jewelry from a strongbox and stuffed it in its pockets. Casually, the figure stood up and looked around as if nothing happened. The figure suddenly looked at me and I turned my gaze away quickly. Madesi was always extremely cautious of thieves, this one was good! We needed him, or her. At that moment, the sky started to cry. Quickly, I put all my potions in my bag and rushed to the Cistern to tell Mercer about this stranger. I almost fell over a bag of potatoes while stumbling over to Mercers desk, my clothes damp from the rain. 'Mercer, you wouldn't believe what I saw today! There was a dark figure on the market place and--' 'Brynjolf, calm down! We don't need a new member anymore! Sapphire already found one. This is Relyn, as you can see he is a Redguard and he is a master in lockpicking. Relyn, this is Brynjolf, one of our members.' 'But Mercer you--' 'No, it's alright now. Thanks for the effort though. This one is a pretty good catch, trust me. Now if you'll excuse us, I have to show Relyn around.' I watched them leave and closed my eyes groaning, making a mental note to find this figure later and prove Mercer that I knew that we needed that mysterious person in our Guild. 'Hey Bryn, you alright?' Delvin asked when I walked into the Ragged Flagon. 'You look like a rotten prune with that face. What's wrong?' I hoisted myself onto a bar stool and Vekel handed me a full tankard. I gulped down half of the ale and wiped my mouth. 'I saw today at the marketplace the perfect person for our Guild, no one noticed it when it stole from Madesi! Its fingers were quicker than I've ever seen before.' 'It?' Dirge asked and cocked an eyebrow. 'Yes it... I couldn't see if it was a man or a woman.' 'What did "it" look like then?' I took another sip of my drink before answering. 'Dark, long cloak and hood, leather gloves, ebony weapons. Very dark person I must day. And very sneaky.' 'Let's call it the Shadow, shall we?' I looked at Delvin surprised. 'Why so?' 'That sounds at least nicer than "it".' 'I agree.' Tonilia said while folding some hoods. 'The Shadow. Alright, did you tell Mercer about it?' I nodded, emptying my tankard. 'Yes, but he wouldn't even listen to what I had to say. He already hired somebody else, a Redguard named Relyn. Couldn't say he looked intimidating at all.' A short moment of silence was heard. 'So, what are you going to do about it?' I hopped from my bar stool, streching before turning to the door of the Cistern. 'I am going to figure this Shadow person out and prove Mercer that we need the Shadow.'