The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 21: A New Contract

“So, Summer Dusk,” Stratus said, pushing Steadfast back to be held by the Blackwings behind her, “Or should I call you Sapphire?”

“What’s it matter?” I said, my sword out, not willing to let the ambassador get too close.

“Well, you certainly seem like a curious pony,” she said, flipping the books on the table closed with her wings, “Too bad the consequence of too much curiosity is often death.”

“Maybe for you,” I said, trying to portray confidence I didn’t have.

“Oh, please,” she said, “Do put away the sword before somepony gets hurt. I don’t want to kill you, otherwise you’d already be dead.”

“Then what do you want?” I asked, reluctantly dropping my sword.

“The real question here is what you want. What is it you were searching for here, Sapphire?”

“I want to know why the dragons are returning,” I answered honestly, “And I want to stop it.”

“And you thought we were behind it? Let me guess, that Blade Scarlet Shores put you up to this? It’s not your fault really, for falling for her trap. All she wants is revenge on the Blackwings; it’s blinded her to all else. But whether you really knew what you were doing or nor, there will be consequences.”

“Like what?”

“Well, you can see them for yourself. Because you decided to deceive me and rob me, your friend here was captured. And he will remain my prisoner until you meet my terms.”

“What terms?”

“There’s something I need done. Something I unfortunately have been unable to accomplish with my own agents. If you do it for me, I will release your friend, no strings attached.”

“What do you need done?”

“There’s a certain . . . agent of ours that went rogue a few years back. She went by the name of Mephalda the Meek. Of course, being a Blackwing, she was highly trained in the art of disappearing, and . . .”

“Even you can’t find her.”

“Correct. We believe she fled to Horizon, but we have no idea where she is. Obviously, we can’t have a rogue agent on the loose.”

“And you want me to find her?”

“I want you to kill her.”

“What?”

“She’s too dangerous to be left alive. Why, who knows how many ponies already she’s killed since she’s come here. She’s a trained killer, the best we ever had, and she won’t hesitate to kill anypony, mare or stallion, foal or elder.”

“You want me to locate and kill a highly trained psychopathic killer?” I asked.

“Precisely,” Stratus replied with a cruel smile.

“That’s insane! It’s impossible! There’s no way I could accomplish that!”

“Then your friend dies immediately. If you want him released alive, you will return with the head of Mephalda within a fortnight. If not, his head will roll instead. Not negotiable.”

“A fortnight?” I asked incredulously, “I don’t even know where to start! There’s no way I can do this!”

“There is only one piece of information I can provide that may help you,” Stratus said, “We believe the Thieves Guild may be hiding her, but we haven’t been able to infiltrate them so we can’t know for sure.”

“Well, thanks for the help,” I spat back sarcastically, “I guess I’ll be going then.”

The Blackwings moved aside as I stormed for the door.

“I promise I’ll get you out of here,” I told Steadfast as I passed him, though I had no idea how I would do it.

“I know you will,” he replied with full faith in me.

“And remember,” Stratus called after me as I left, “Time is of the essence.”

I stormed down the mountain, filled with anger. I was so mad at Stratus for holding Steadfast prisoner. So mad at myself for letting us get caught. So mad at Scarlet for suggesting this insane plan in the first place. Needless to say, when I arrived at the Skeever Hole to retrieve the rest of my gear, I was not happy to see her in the room.

“So, how’d it go?” she asked.

“Not good,” I replied, trying to keep my temper in check, “The Blackwings know nothing about the dragons, they’re closing in on your hideout in Riverwood, and Steadfast’s been captured.”

“I was so certain they were behind the return,” was all she said.

“Weren’t you listening?” I exploded, “They have my friend, and now to get him back I have to track down a rogue Blackwing agent nopony’s seen in years and assassinate her!”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Scarlet said, “In all likelihood, your friend’s dead already anyway. You’ll just have to move on. You win some, you lose some.”

“No!” I fought back, “I’m tired of being the loser! All my life I’ve been losing. He’s the only true friend I ever had, and now he’s gone. I’ve got no choice but to do anything to get him back!”

“Well then,” Scarlet said, “I’m going to help.”

“I think you’ve helped enough,” I replied angrily, “If it wasn’t for your plan, and your obsession with the Blackwings, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

All my gear back in my saddlebags and my armor slipped on, I prepared to leave.

“Listen Scarlet,” I said, reigning my anger back in, “I know you never meant this to happen, and I know you want to help fix it, but this is something I have to do on my own. Just take care of Steadfast’s things. I’ll be back for them, with him.”

Saying nothing more, I departed the Skeever Hole and headed out into Seclusion’s night. My only lead was the Thieves Guild, so I was headed for Splitten. Nothing was going to stand in my way.

A whole day slipped away as I travelled, the first of the fourteen I had to save my friend. I entered Splitten at nightfall, but the guards allowed me to pass this time. I wasn’t in the mood for another extortion attempt anyway.

My last escapade here had apparently been forgotten, as none of the guards so much as paused as I passed them. There weren’t that many guards I passed on the way to the Ratway, Splitten’s network of subterranean tunnels, but still, it was odd they didn’t recognize me. I entered the Ratway as sneakily as possible and made my way to the Ragged Flagon, trying to remember the path I had taken last time.

I was nearly there when I heard voices and the stamp of heavy boots on stone coming from up ahead. Torchlight caused shadows to flicker across the walls as I got closer. Peering around a corner, I could see a whole host of guards wearing Splitten’s colors were marching through the Ratway.

“We’re getting close,” I could hear the leader say from up front as I followed along, “I can feel it. Today we finally put an end to the Thieves Guild threat.”

Well, the head guard had one thing right at least. They were getting dangerously close to the Ragged Flagon. I was a bit torn on whether I wanted them to end the Thieves Guild though. On one hoof, they were a group of thieves and criminals, but on the other hoof they seemed decent enough ponies that would only steal from the insanely wealthy and corrupt, and only enough that wouldn’t be sorely missed. Plus, I needed them to tell me where Mephalda was hiding. In the end, keeping these guards from finding the Guild won out.

I counted up twelve in all, including the leader. There was no way I could fight them all before they reached the Flagon, but I could at least trim them down a little. As they took a turn at one of the many crossroads, I seized my chance. Just before the last one disappeared around the corner, I launched myself forward, knocking him into a branching tunnel. Striking him swiftly with my blade, I left his body and moved on, following the rest of the guards.

We were getting dangerously close to the Ragged Flagon before I had another chance. I picked off a mare in the back as they turned a corner, throwing her into a room off to the side. With my magic, I quickly gagged her mouth with a rag before she could call for help. I tackled her to the ground, choking the life from her until she fell over limp.

With the sound of a door creaking open, I jumped to my hooves and pursued the remaining guards down the passage. They had just opened the door leading to the cistern. The Ragged Flagon was discovered.

“We’ve done it,” the leader whispered, “Split up and let’s take these thieves out for good.”

They split into two groups and began to make their way around the cistern silently. I tailed one group and waited until they were about halfway across before I struck.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>> I Shouted, knocking four of them into the cistern and announcing our presence to any Thieves Guild members.

One guard remained near me, and she drew her mace and charged toward me. Drawing my war axe, I blocked her swing. As she swung it at me again, I spun my axe around, hooking the blade over the mace’s handle. With a twist, I threw it from her grip and cut through her chest with my axe.

The other guards were beginning to climb from the water now, but Thieves Guild members were also now running to help. Across the cistern, they were already engaging the other group of guards. I brought my sword and war axe both up to block as two guards attacked me with their own swords.

Blocking their swings, I was forced back toward the Ragged Flagon. Luckily, that helped close the distance with the Thieves Guild reinforcements. One of the guards I was fighting was forced to disengage me to fight back against Serif, who swung a long, thin knife at him. She dispatched him with a few quick slashes and moved on to the next one.

With only one guard fighting me, I went on the offensive, swinging both my blades to force her back. At last my sword broke through her defense and cut her across her foreleg. As she kneeled down in pain, my axe sliced across her neck. She fell over into the water of the cistern, dying it red with her blood.

The last guard on this side of the water rushed toward me, but suddenly fell down in front of me as an arrow buried itself in his forehead. I looked over my shoulder to see Malif standing behind me, his bow floating in front of him. All the guards now defeated, most of the Thieves Guild members began to return to the Ragged Flagon, though a few stayed behind to clean up the bodies.

“Whew! That was really something, wasn’t it?” Serif said in her usual enthusiastic tone, trotting up next to me.

“That was too close,” Malif answered her question in his usual gloomy tone, “Guards have never gotten this close to finding the Flagon before. It’s almost as if somepony led them down here.”

Malif fixed me with a stare as he finished.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Serif defended me, “Sapphire didn’t lead them down here. In fact, if she hadn’t alerted us, we would’ve been taken completely off guard. And we could use all the help we can get, being so low on horsepower right now.”

Looking around the Flagon, I could see there were indeed quite a few less ponies than I had seen before here.

“Where is everypony?” I asked.

“Vespers took a few Guildmembers with him on a trip to Foalkreath last night,” Serif answered, “They haven’t returned yet, though.”

“So, besides taking on the Splitten guard,” she continued, “What brings you down here again? Looking for another job?”

“Not really,” I answered, “In fact, I need you to help me find somepony. A former Blackwing agent named Mephalda.”

“Mephalda?” Serif asked, “Yes, I think I’ve heard Vespers mention her once or twice. You’d have to ask him when he gets back.”

“So, what am I supposed to do until then?”

“I don’t know. You could come along on a heist we were planning before those guards showed up.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, “I’m in kind of a hurry to find Mephalda.”

“Why do you need to find her so badly?” Malif asked.

“The Blackwings have taken a friend of mine hostage,” I admitted sadly, “If I want him back, I need to find Mephalda.”

“Oh, I wish we could help,” Serif said sincerely, “But Vespers is the only one in the Guild who would know how.”

“However,” she said, perking up again, “I think this heist we’ve been planning might be just up your alley. You see, Jarl Aria has a certain artifact in her keep that we received word the Blackwings are looking for. The Pegasari agents are no more our friends then the Legion, so our plan is to steal the artifact, both to teach Aria a lesson and to spite the Blackwings in one blow. What do you say?”

I normally wasn’t a vengeful pony, but right now I was willing to do anything to get back at the Blackwings, in however petty a way. They may have had Steadfast hostage, but they were going to pay for that. The sooner I could make them feel the hurt, the better.

“All right,” I agreed, “What do we need to do?”

A few minutes later, I found myself sneaking through the Ratway toward Splitten’s Keep along with Serif and two other thieves. Before leaving, Serif had gotten me some of their many-pocketed light leather armor. Though I wasn’t a full member of the Guild, they couldn’t have me giving us away with the clanking of my heavy steel armor. Swiftly and silently, we moved through the tunnels until we were right below the keep.

Serif climbed a ladder set into the wall and took a look around where she had emerged before waving the rest of us up. At the top of the ladder was a cramped compartment with a secret panel that opened onto one of the keep’s hallways. Nopony was currently in the hallway, so we filed out and sneaked down the passage, following Serif.

The keep seemed empty of guards, and we didn’t see a single one until we neared the Jarl’s bedchambers. A single guard was posted outside the door, guarding Splitten’s head of state. Pulling a small stone from one of the pouches on her armor, Serif threw it down the passage, knocking it against a pot. As the guard investigated the sound, we rushed down the hall to the Jarl’s quarters. Serif and I entered the room as the other two thieves waited to ambush the guard when she returned.

We searched the room as quietly as possible, careful not to wake Jarl Aria, who was sleeping in the bed in the center of the room. The Jarl had quite a collection of priceless artifacts and trinkets in her room, but I had no clue which was the one we were planning to steal.

“What are we looking for?” I whispered to Serif.

“An emerald ornament in the shape of a dragon’s claw,” she answered, returning to her searching.

“Here it is,” I called her over when I found it, locked within a display case.

Rushing over, Serif quickly picked the lock and pulled the claw from the case. Tucking it away in her armor, the turquoise mare led the way out of the room. Shutting the door behind us, we met up with the other thieves, who had knocked the guard unconscious, and retreated back into the tunnels.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Serif said, pulling the jewel encrusted claw out and tossing it to me, “It’s pretty enough, but I wonder why the Blackwings wanted it so badly.”

“This isn’t just another ornament,” I said, rotating it around in my magic and inspecting the draconic runes inscribed on the palm, “This claw is a key that opens the lower crypt of some Draugr ruin. I’ve seen this kind of thing before.”

“Keep it,” Serif told me, “Maybe it’ll be useful some day.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, we didn’t steal from the Jarl for the money; we did it to teach her to respect us again.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The Thieves Guild once spanned the whole of the Empire. Now we’re all that’s left, a small group of thieves hiding out in Splitten’s sewers. We used to own this town, but even that’s changed. Jarl Aria is doing anything she can to wipe us out, and she just might be able to do it. Of all the corrupt and insanely wealthy ponies in this land, she’s the worst. She already owns over half the town, but she uses her wealth and power for her own benefit alone. She feasts in her keep while the city starves just outside her walls. If we don’t stand up to her, nopony will.”

I nodded my understanding as I tucked the Emerald Claw away. Perhaps it would be useful later in my excursions into the Draugr ruins. At the moment, though, only one goal was at the forefront of my mind. I had to find Mephalda and get Steadfast back.

“I take it the job went well,” Vespers’s eerie voice greeted us as we entered the Ragged Flagon, “And I see Sapphire has also returned to our ranks.”

“Not for long,” I answered, “I just need your help to find an ex-Blackwing named Mephalda.”

“Mephalda the Meek?” Vespers asked, cocking an eyebrow, “I hope you don’t plan on doing anything foolish like killing her. She may seem defenseless, but she’s killed hundreds, if not thousands of the Blackwing’s enemies. It would take an army to bring her down.”

“Do you know where she is?” I asked. Though his description of her was a bit unsettling, I still intended to go through with it.

“I do not,” he responded simply, “She is under Dark Brotherhoof protection. It is them you would have to ask if you wish to find her.”

“Well, how do I find the Dark Brotherhoof?” I asked, disappointed.

“That is something I cannot help you with,” Vespers replied, “If you wish to tangle with Dark Brotherhoof assassins, that’s your business. While the Guild and the Brotherhoof maintain a weak contact, for mutual support, I cannot get you in to see them.”

“Very well,” I said, turning to leave.

If the Guild couldn’t help me, I would have to find the Dark Brotherhoof myself. The only problem was I had no idea how to do it.

My only lead had dried up. The Thieves Guild wasn’t hiding Mephalda, the Dark Brotherhoof was. And I had no idea how to contact them. I had been denied sleep the night before, what with the events at the Blackwing Embassy, and my mind was clouded from sleep deprivation. I decided I would get some rest in Splitten’s inn and think of a new plan in the morning.

Even though it was the middle of the night, I didn’t go to sleep immediately after paying for my room. Tired as I was, I just couldn’t sleep and ordered a meal instead. As I waited for it to arrive, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation of two of the local ponies chatting at the bar.

“Did you hear about what happened with that foal Cloverdust?” a mare wearing the gear of a hunter asked her companion.

“Didn’t he escape from the orphanage?” the fisher-stallion next to her said, “Wasn’t here long; must’ve sprung out first chance he got.”

“That’s right. Well, there’s a rumor circling around that he returned to his home, where he lived before his parents died.”

“In Windhorn?”

“Yeah, but that’s not all. They say he’s trying to summon the Dark Brotherhoof!”

My ears pricked up at the mention of the order I was seeking.

“Excuse me, did you mention the Dark Brotherhoof?” I asked, turning around in my chair.

“Yes, I can’t believe it either,” the mare answered, “I just wish I knew who a foal has a reason to call out an assassination on. I’d hate to be them. The Brotherhoof will come, that’s for sure.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I once again had a lead. All I had to do was find this Cloverdust, and then I could find the Dark Brotherhoof. Soon Mephalda would be dead, and Steadfast would be free. Cloverdust was my new target, and I would find him no matter what.