A Thief's Destiny - Arc 1, Chapter 2

  • My stomach grumbled loudly. Apparently, it didn't get the message that I had no money, as it demanded food. "If only I had some food," I muttered, "Then my stupid stomach would shut up."

    I wandered the streets of Riften, looking for anyone traveling through. No one new was here, and anyone rich who lives here watched me carefully. There is somewhat of a social divide among the people of Riften about me. Beggars, merchants, the poor, they love me. Even when I have no extra gold to give, they simply shrug it off, noting "Your generosity is a kindness, not a guarantee." I still feel bad
    when I have nothing to give though.

    The rich, on the other hand, oh boy! They throw a fit when they see me, grabbing their coin purses and watching me with the eyes of a hawk. They think I'm with the Thieves' Guild, and I don't correct them. Without that assumption, they would have already reported me to the guards.

    Speaking of guards, I had to adjust the paths I travelled to avoid them. Not that it was difficult, however, as there are very few guards compared to before the war.

    I remember the day it happened. The Imperial invasion. They got reinforcements, many, many times the entire Stormcloak army. They marched out, and the Stormcloaks were swept away like leaves in a summer storm. At least at first. Then, the Stormcloaks got angry. When they fought, the average Stormcloak took 6 men before he went down. And the Dragonborn, he killed scores of them, but the reinforcements kept on coming. Finally, only Windhelm had yet to be taken.

    The Imperials were a day's march away, so the Stormcloaks started to make their final stand. They sent mages to blow up the bridge, they used boulders to double the walls, they made more walls inside of the city for when the Imperials used the mountains to get above the walls, they did everything they could.

    And as the Imperials finally broke through, the Dragonborn went out to fight them, only him. At first, the Imperials laughed at the lone Nord, until he started killing, of course. Then they ran. The Dragonborn destroyed so much of their army, that when he passed out,
    from dozens of wounds that would of killed any other man had he gotten one of them, the force of Imperials was just 32. Right now, the Stormcloaks are making a comeback, but the Imperials got more reinforcements, not as many as before, but still enough. So Skyrim was plunged into turmoil once again.

    As I had these thoughts, thinking of the days when this happened, I got weary from walking and sat in the market.

    That was a big mistake. I was so lost in thought about the war, I didn't realize my mistake until it was almost too late. When I heard a low laugh, and the merchants saying "Begone! Get out of here you thieving scum!" I suddenly came to.

    I saw them blocking the way to the market, giving me time to escape. It was the Thieves' Guild! They sent thugs after me constantly, and I was sitting out here, ripe for the taking. I suddenly dashed away, distracting the thugs from the merchants. Unfortunately the merchants got distracted too, and got roughly shoved out of the way as my pursuers sprinted after me, yelling "Get back here! You won't get away this time!"

    I'm just 14, and small for my age, so after shaking them off my tail I hid in the slot under a merchants stall where they keep their strong box. It was very uncomfortable, but would do. I didn't have time to see who the merchant who owned the stall was, but I was notified when the thugs were gone. Unfortunately the method I was informed that they were gone was by being grabbed and roughly dragged out by the merchant.

    I saw who it was, and inwardly groaned. Grelka, the armor merchant. No wonder the bottom of the compartment wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, it's covered by clothes.
    After dragging me out, she searched me for any stolen items. After finding nothing, and seeing everything still there under her stall, she sent me on my way, growling "Don't chose my stall for your hiding place next time."

    She trusted me not to steal, but was still rather unfriendly, and if I got too close to her wares she got suspicious.

    Suddenly, I heard the doors to the outside open. A old man, a mage by the looks of it, came in. He had a staff loosely strapped to his back, a heavy coin purse attached to his belt, and a bag that was slightly transparent in the right light.


    Luckily it was the right lighting, and as he came by I saw it's contents for a second. Gems, soul gems, and a smaller then average spell tome. A prime target for several weeks of meals.

    By the Divines, I can't believe my luck. I've only had more then one week of meals once in my life that I can remember, and that was thanks to several different people whom I stole from, I could have quite possibly failed one of the jobs and only had a couple days of meals. This one is just one job, and an old man who is most likely very easy to rob. In other words, I hit the jackpot!

    Hiding my grin, I set out following the old mage. 

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Comments

5 Comments
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  February 27, 2016
    I fixed the double space and guaranty, I think I fixed the next, previous, and TOC problem.
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  February 25, 2016
    Also, on my phone the links to the previous, next, and TOC are all over the place.
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  February 25, 2016
    In line 1 of paragraph 2 you should delete that double space between I and wandered. You should also replace guaranty with guarantee in that same paragraph.
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  January 7, 2016
    Haha, thanks. Yeah, you can pretty much tell, can't you? Pretty soon, he'll  be rethinking his definition of "lucky", though in all honesty, he is pretty lucky in the chapters to come. Mainly because he doesn't die. And thanks for the market scene mention...  more
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  January 7, 2016
    This isn't going to end well. We all know it but still, I can't wait to see it play out.
    Soem nice descriptions here and you caught the market scene well.