Dragonborn Rising Ch. 09

Chapter 9 - Rise of the Guild

*****

Though I was leader in name, Brynjolf pulled me aside and said he'd rather not announce it until he had word from across Skyrim that the Guild was present. I agreed, suggesting that only when the Guild was back at full strength would I have proven worthy of the position. I did suggest that he or Karliah would still be the better choice. Brynjolf just retorted, suggesting in return that I was being overly modest.

Not one to just sit back and take the plaudits, I was immediately in Brynjolf's and Delvin's ears about jobs. While I could easily just turn up in a city and go on the rob, I preferred specific, high value targets, the sort that either had a specific buyer or at least something that could be fenced that would be a nice little earner.

The first job I was given had me complaining to Brynjolf about the fact it was too damned easy. Break into Dragonsreach in Whiterun, forge a ledger and steal a letter. Hardly bloody difficult. Delvin cracked up laughing as I demanded something a little more taxing on my skills, thinking I was nuts. "Most thieves want easy scores," he said.

"Others might, but I like that hint of danger."

Delvin gave me another job a week later, this time in Solitude. Knowing I'd be gone for quite a while, I thought I'd invite someone along for company. I asked Haelga first, figuring we might even be able to make it a little romantic. But she had two reasons why she couldn't come. One, Svana just couldn't run the Bunkhouse alone, which I understood. And, two, she was a vehement Stormcloak supporter and wouldn't feel comfortable being in the still loyal to the Empire capital of Skyrim. I knew she was a supporter, it was a topic we never really discussed, but didn't think she was that supportive. I didn't mind, and accepted.

So I asked Karliah if she'd like to go. She wasn't up to much herself so accepted. We wouldn't need too many supplies for the two-day journey, though agreed we'd avoid Whiterun and simply camp on the way to Solitude. Other than that, I suggested we simply book a room at the inn when we arrived and go from there. We packed our Nightingale armour away, agreeing to only wear that when actually on the job, otherwise we'd wear regular armour covered by a warm coat.

Normally I would have spent the night before leaving on such a journey with Haelga, but I had received a dinner invitation from Maven, to join her and her daughter. I accepted, believing a refusal would have offended her. When I told Haelga, she didn't know whether to laugh or not, figuring I was a lamb to the wolves. I smirked, retorting that she must underestimate me. She thought I'd taken offense, assuring her I hadn't, admitting it would be an interesting experience.

Maven and Ingun had apparently cooked dinner and certainly put on a smorgasbord of food on the table, allied with a choice of a few wines and even some brandy if so chose. Ingun had made sure she sat next to me, as close as possible, and her hand was soon caressing my thigh. Maven noticed, of course, though didn't mention it, simply engaging me in conversation about what I was up to. By now, Ingun had a very good idea of what I did, and while I never openly admitted it, she didn't seem to care. Pretty much the only thing she warned me not to do was get caught.

After dinner, we retired to the sitting room by the fire, where I found myself in between mother and daughter. I was thinking this could go horribly wrong, or go in a direction completely unexpected, and a little weird. Thankfully, while Maven had made her intentions clear earlier, she was simply enjoying some light flirting with me, which still felt a little strange, as I knew she was usually an absolute ball breaker. Hearing her giggle at one or two of my jokes had me exchanging glances with Ingun, who looked utterly dumbfounded in her change in demeanour.

Maven eventually headed to bed before Ingun and I, and let me know what she would be doing upstairs once she was alone. She wasn't as quiet as she thought as I know Ingun heard every word, before she disappeared upstairs.

"So mother likes you too?" Ingun asked once we were alone.

"It appears she does."

"Understandable, but I have to say, that was weird to see. Mother does not giggle, nor flirt so outrageously. And she definitely does not admit to masturbating to another man while her daughter sits next to him!"

"Well, it was either pleasure herself or make an awkward suggestion." Ingun pulled a face which had me crack up with laughter. "I thought it would get the reaction. I'm thankful she didn't suggest it."

"Would you, though?"

"Would I what?"

"Would you fuck my mother? Would you actually have the balls, and I mean that figuratively and literally, to fuck Maven Black-Briar?"

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I mean, she's an older version of you. And it's weird seeing her act in such a way. But, to be honest, probably not. Though I don't like leading her on either." Meeting her eyes, I asked, "What would you think?"

"It would be weird if I could sit there with mother comparing our lover. But I also understand why. She must get lonely. She's been a widower for a long time now."

Thankfully we agreed to move the topic of conversation on to something different, and after finishing the glass of wine, we headed downstairs to her bedroom. It had been a long time since we'd been intimate, and Ingun was very, very eager to please, and desperate for me to slide my cock inside her. I would normally have enjoyed going down on her, but once we were naked, she got down on all fours on the floor, thankfully covered by a nice thick rug, and begged for me to just fuck her.

Seeing her in such a position, her arse up in the air, her pussy wet and ready, I willingly obliged her. If someone had walked in, we'd have looked like a pair of animals rutting, as she had her head on the ground, arse raised as high as possible as I crouched over her, ramming my cock into her. She was loving it, moaning my name or other things not particularly intelligible, and constantly asking for it to be harder and faster.

I had a feeling she was trying to prove something to me too, but she needn't have worried. I remembered our first time rather fondly, and had simply been waiting for another opportunity to be intimate with her. But I wasn't going to complain about the completely submissive attitude she'd taken so far, but it wasn't something I expected nor wanted. Well, except for Haelga, but we were still exploring that aspect of our sex life...

Ingun eventually took a load inside her, which satisfied her completely, both of us collapsing to the ground once I pulled out. She shuffled across and threw a hand across my chest. "Gods, I needed that," she murmured.

"What?"

"To just be fucked hard. I've been wet most of the night, Ragnar, so you didn't have to bother doing anything else." I couldn't help laugh, unsure of what to say to such a confession. "I still want you to cum in my mouth sometime this evening though." My laughter continued at such honesty, simply because it was so unexpected.

To prove her point, she gave me around fifteen minutes before she moved down my body. Considering her attitude that evening, I made sure I stood up so she had to kneel. The look in her eyes as she sucked my cock was... I'm not sure. It wasn't love, that's for sure. But there was something that suggested she was very happy with what was happening. I don't honestly think she was into all that dominant and submissive thing that Haelga liked, I think she was just happy with me taking the lead. And as she took my length, I remained gentle with her, stroking her hair and letting her know how beautiful she was, how smart she was, and all the other positive things I knew and liked about it.

Then I came in her mouth, which made her incredibly happy, and once she'd taken her time to clean me up, we got under the blankets of her bed and snuggled for a little while. "When am I going to be invited to your new place?" she wondered.

"I've been meaning to, but life is still a little hectic with everything going on. Plus, you know, I have others..."

"Who's the Dunmer I've seen go in occasionally?"

"Karliah. I work with her."

"She's very pretty, Ragnar." I looked at her, surprised she'd say something nice about another woman I was intimate with. "What? She is! And she has excellent taste in clothes."

"She's also a lot older than me. I've never been with a woman with such an age gap between us, though it is different as elves live so long compared to us."

"How much older?"

"Triple my age, and a little more!" That made her laugh. "I know! I can honestly say if she was human, the thought would never have crossed my mind, but as a Dunmer, she barely looks a day over, what, thirty, thirty-five..."

"I'm still waiting for that invitation from Haelga, by the way." I gave her a curious look, not remembering to what she was referring. That caused her to giggle. "You seriously don't remember? Haelga made it quite clear she'd like to taste me too."

"Oh, that's right."

"I can't believe that you, as a man, forgot about the possibility of a threesome!"

I shrugged. "I've had one or two. While they're fun at times, sometimes it's not what it's crack up to be either. Don't get me wrong, having you and Haelga at once will be very good indeed. I'll mention it to Haelga when I get back from Solitude."

Conversation ceased as we started to make out again, and once I was hard, Ingun straddled me, slid herself down my cock and, to my surprise, gently started to ride me. She must have noticed my look, as she mentioned I'd fucked her hard as she'd wanted, now it was time to make love to her. I shuffled back so I was in more of a seated position, lavishing her breasts with plenty of attention, interspersed with more making out. I let Ingun control the tempo completely, and she really took her time. Resting her forehead against mine, she stared into my eyes, a slight smile on her face, listening to her breathing, the occasional moan, a whisper of my name, a compliment about what my cock was doing to her.

I loved running my hands over her body. I loved running my hands over any woman's body I was intimate with, as they were usually so soft compared to mine. Ingun was completely different to Haelga and Karliah. She wasn't athletic at all. She wasn't slim, though her curves were faint, as she still looked after herself. Her breasts were wonderful, continuing to give them plenty of attention, while I loved grabbing a handful of her arse, particularly when she was riding me.

She couldn't ride me forever, not in such a manner, without feeling the need to finally have an orgasm. I'm not sure how long we'd been at it before she finally picked up the tempo, immediately riding me faster and a hell of a lot faster, thrusting down on my cock with such force, I wondered how she didn't hurt herself. But it worked, as she arched her back as she climaxed, screaming out my name so loudly, I'm sure Maven would have heard us upstairs. I had to hold onto her tightly as she near enough passed out, pulling her back towards me as she collapsed against my chest.

"Okay, that was really fucking good," she whispered.

"Glad you enjoyed my cock so much."

"Not just your cock, Ragnar," she said softly, lifting her head to lay a gentle kiss on my lips before resting her head back down against my chest.

We sat like that for a while, my cock still hard an inside her. She eventually realised and asked if I needed to cum again. I said I would like to, so she happily blew me to completion a second time. I just called her greedy as she swallowed another load. She happily admitted that what I gave her tasted quite nice. I wasn't one to judge that, but as I happily ate women out, I guess it was roughly the same.

Spooning together a little later, Ingun holding both my hands, ensuring her body was moulded into mine, she admitted to liking me quite a lot. I returned the same words, though she added further that she knew it would never be more, but until she met a man she could see a future with, she was happy for our arrangement to continue. That was good news to me, and I said once she found another, I would sadly, but not reluctantly, as that would be unfair, let her go.

Breakfast wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be the next morning. Ingun had a constant smile on her face, the smile of a woman who'd been satisfied the night before. Maven looked like she had a hangover, and she admitted to perhaps drinking a bit too much wine, though she still thanked me for the company the night before.

Heading back to Riftweald, I'd packed before heading out, so all I needed to do was change into the armour I'd bought from Grelka, cover that with my coat, then head out to the stables to meet Karliah. She knew what I'd been up to the night before, asking one or two pointed questions, primarily about Maven to my amusement. I could happily state I only had dinner with Maven, though didn't go into details about what I'd been up to with Ingun. I knew Karliah still found the whole Maven thing amusing.

The ride towards Whiterun took place without incident, keeping the pace gentle but ensuring we covered enough distance by nightfall so that we'd make Solitude by nightfall the next day. Camping on the plains of Whiterun, it was a clear night, the two moons providing light. Karliah and I sat on a log and spent a lot of time looking up at the stars after we'd had dinner, sharing a bottle of wine. Heading to bed later, all we did was take off our armour and cuddle under the blankets. Neither of us rode horses often, so we were both feeling a little sore after a day in the saddle.

The next day wasn't without incident, as we found our progress halted around lunchtime by half a dozen bandits, threatening to kill us if we didn't hand over our supplies and horses. The fact we showed absolutely no fear put them off enough that they didn't notice Karliah get her bow ready. I dismounted, sword and shield in hand, and by the time I was past the head of my horse, Karliah had her bow up and an arrow fired. Two bandits came towards me. Neither were particularly good swordsman, and with my experience, and confidence, the first dropped rather easily, the second at least got in a couple of decent swings before I cut him down. Three of the bandits had taken arrows, two dead, the other wounded, leaving one final bandit alive. He simply dropped his weapons, turned and ran. I raised a hand to Karliah not to bother. "We defend ourselves but we're not cold-blooded killers," I said.

She agreed, and after I remounted my horse, we restarted our journey, which was uninterrupted all the way to Solitude. It was dusk by the time we arrived, so after stabling our horses, we headed through the gates, barely earning a curious glance from the two guards, and straight for the Winking Skeever. Unsure of how long we'd be in town for, the innkeeper agreed to payment each morning once we'd decided what to do. Karliah hadn't been in Solitude for years, so after we'd changed into some regular clothing, we strolled the streets hand in hand, and it felt more like a date than being on the job, so much so that she eventually wrapped an arm around and cuddled into me as we strolled.

Heading back to the tavern for a meal and a drink, we ended up talking with a few of the locals, catching up on the local gossip. Some of it was about the civil war, though I admitted to seeing little signs of it, told that it was apparently a stalemate with no sign of it changing. The main topic of conversation was still about what happened between the High King and Ulfric. Despite being in Solitude, a few did admit that what Ulfric did wasn't particularly honourable, but he had challenged the young king in the correct manner. We sat with people until last call, heading up to bed once we'd finished our drinks, where we made love before falling asleep.

The next morning, we were heading to the house of the local contact when we found ourselves stopped by an Argonian. "You two are passing through Solitude? Maybe you're looking to make some easy gold, yes?"

I shared a glance with Karliah. "I can speak for both of us that we like gold," I replied, "Why do you ask?"

"It's easy to find things to sell. Things nobody will miss. Things from underground, or just left lying around in someone's house. I bet the two of us, we're very alike. So why not take the next step? We can help each other. My sister Deeja and I are treasure hunters. We like to collect things."

"So you're thieves?" Karliah pretty much accused.

"Of course not! Thieves take what is precious. Thieves steal. We just take what will not be missed. What no one needs anymore. Maybe we take some weapons and stop a few deaths. Who would call that thievery?"

I've always said you can't bullshit a bullshitter. "Look, do you know who we are?" I wondered.

"No. Should I?"

I stepped closer, unsurprised that he was immediately intimidated. "We're with the Guild," I whispered, "And you shouldn't be performing jobs like this without their knowledge."

"I heard the Guild was back but had no idea you were in operating in Solitude again."

"We're technically not at the moment, but we're here at the moment working on regaining a foothold."

"Okay, I'll tell you our idea. With the war, many more ships come through Solitude docks. Loaded with weapons and pay, but few people, as most are either on the front line. But these ships pass through dangerous waters. We have an interest in one of those boats, the Icerunner. The Solitude Lighthouse will be guiding it in... But if its fire were to go out, the Icerunner would run aground."

"When is it expected to arrive?" Karliah asked.

"Well, let's say if the fire were to go out sometime tonight, the Icerunner won't make it into dock tomorrow."

"That sounds like we have at least a little time. Tell you what, we'll do what we need to do right now, but we might take a look into this tonight," I said.

"Well, it is up to you in the end. If the fire were to go out in the lighthouse, the ship will run aground. If not, the ship will dock safely." And with those words, the Argonian turned and walked away.

Karliah and I resumed walking to the house we'd been told to visit, talking over what we'd been told. We agreed that something about it smelled fishy, but agreed that we'd get involved and find out what was going on. I suggested there would be two outcomes; we'd either have a new ally in Solitude, or... we'd take out a rival faction.

After speaking with our contact, the task given was rather simple, but he assured us that, if completed successfully, the Guild would once again have a foothold in Solitude. Obtaining the Balmora Blue that we needed could have been more expensive than originally intended, the seller realising she was dealing with two well-trained Guild members ensuring she saw sense and sold it at a more reasonable rate.

Heading to where a ship called the Dainty Sload was docked, Karliah suggested she would be the best choice to infiltrate and plant the drug. I didn't have to worry about her. Quite frankly, she was a better thief than I was, and could certainly make it all the way into the ship and out without being seen, and if required, could kill silently.

I hid well enough that I could watch her slip onto the ship without being noticed, and simply kept watch, waiting for her to reappear. I have no idea if she had to fight her way to the captain's cabin or not, but I didn't have to wait as long as I thought for her to reappear, giving a short, sharp whistle so she knew where I was. Once in the treeline with me, she said, "Easy peasy."

"You make this far too simple at times, Karliah."

"I make it look simple. I had to kill half of them inside. I've hidden their bodies so they won't be found until the guards arrive to arrest the captain."