Crossed and Double-Crossed

My Dearest Kousei,

I can imagine that you're most likely beside yourself with worry at the length of time I took to send you this letter. And the fault is all mine, I admit. I let my guard down, and I was betrayed by none other than the person I was helping. I would have surely perished from the stab wound he gave me if help did not come from a most unlikely source.

My love, I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you about my Riften associates before. I do not know if you have ever been to the Ragged Flagon, but they make a haunt of that place. Not the most nice-looking of places, yes. But none of us would have minded -- we were bound together by a common interest in certain rare and valuable curiosities. And the man who betrayed me? He was our leader.

He substituted 'Karliah' for his name.

To be honest, I have never been too at ease around Mercer Frey. And I guess the feeling was quite mutual, because he hardly took the effort to hide his irritability whenever I'm around. However, I had uncovered some vital information about a certain person called Karliah who had been undermining our operations lately. Mercer had narrated to me this story about how she murdered our previous leader, Gallus Desidenius. He later told me (or rather, ordered me) to help him deal with her. We needed stealth and cunning to bring her down, and he singled me out specifically for the purpose. I really wanted to let you accompany me, Kousei, but Mercer would have not allowed it. Your method of battle would have given us away.

I find your know-how to be quite questionable in origin.

I had never before thought of taking the illumination machine with me whenever I had to do errands in the name of our little group, but I decided to make an exception with Mercer Frey. Something primal in me warned that he has... something up his sleeve. Might as well take illuminations secretly, just in case.

Who needs those claws when you have...

Mercer Frey was suspiciously quite helpful during most of our traversal of Snow Veil Sanctum. Too helpful, in fact. I mean, how does one unlock the doors of Nordic tombs just like that? I do not know what kind of "know-how" or "skill" Mercer had to learn in order to bypass the locks laid down personally by Dragons and their Priests, but it's evident it wasn't your normal lockpicking. The deeper we went into the tomb, the deeper my sense of dread became. I was already close to cursing myself for not letting you come with me. I just reasoned that if it was a trap, at least you wouldn't be caught in it.

Talk first, kill later.

And a trap, it was. At the last chamber of the dungeon, Mercer told me to go first through the door. I took a deep breath before my first step, and no sooner was this done when I fell to the ground, paralyzed. It was a poisoned arrow -- it had to be! And it can only be Karliah who fired it. I struggled to open my eyes, and I confirmed my suspicions... in more ways than one. Yes, it was Karliah who shot the poisoned dart. But the more disturbing part of the matter: Mercer Frey was indeed not meant to be trusted. It was not the first time he did this treachery, Kousei. Now I know, without a shred of a doubt, how Gallus Desidenius met his end.

Have you seen this man? Kill on sight.

I blacked out with my mind a-jumble. I was screaming your name in my mind, at the same time hoping that a dragon would eat Mercer Frey the moment he stepped out of Snow Veil Sanctum. This was certainly a most unceremonious way to die, I thought. But I couldn't defend myself from Mercer's blade, and I honestly thought that the sight of his loathsome face would be the last one I'd see. Thankfully, that was not to be.

Not the best ways to save someone, but I thank you.

You'll have to thank Karliah for bringing me back, Kousei. It's difficult to trust someone who just shot you down, but amazingly, I did just that. Mercer had framed Karliah for our previous leader's death, and I was more than willing to team up with her to get even with that bastard. Oh yes, we got even with him -- Karliah, I, and our little group, who accepted her back into the fold once Mercer's true colors came to light. Mercer Frey's corpse is already rotting at the bottom of some watery grave at this very moment. None of our group would miss him, because it turned out he was also stealing from our coffers throughout his stint with us. It's a relief to have him gone.

Now, my friends have kindly allowed me to take illuminations of them for your convenience. You'll find them to be quite an interesting bunch.

Team Ragged Flagon

This guy finds things people are looking for.

I suggest you go to her if you find some of those curious floating pink stones.

She'll buy almost anything from you.

This one keeps the ale flowing.

Don't worry if this guy's in a foul mood. He always is.

Once again, forgive me for not giving you news about my whereabouts for a long time. Things just happened so fast, and I couldn't risk taking the time to write knowing that our enemy was so close to slipping away from our grasp. Only the Divines know how relieved I was when you wrote to me that you made it out of the Dark Brotherhood's clutches alive, and it's darkly amusing that we both dealt with some untrustworthy figures on our own ways. Know, my darling, that you were the first thing that entered my mind when I recovered my consciousness in Karliah's camp. I was alive, and I wanted nothing more than to see you, above anything else.

Love,

Kiya

P.S.

Did you come across a curious silver mold when you cleared Rigel Strong-Arm's treasure trove in Pinewatch? Do you happen to still have it? Delvin Mallory had received word that it was stolen from someone in Markarth. If you can give the mold to us, we would gladly help you return it to its proper owner.