Even though it was late, I found that Honningbrew was still open for outsiders. Or at least the door was unlocked.

The moment I stepped in, the acrid smell of rodent as well as the sweet scent of mead hit me. I coughed and covered my nose. That was not an odor combination I ever expected to smell, nor wanted to smell again. The smell of rodent came from two dead skeevers that had been left lying in the middle of the floor. Their corpses were laid in puddles of blood. Mallus had not been exaggerating when he told me this place had a problem.

A man stood just in front of a long wooden bar. He had thinning gray hair, a small gray goatee, and the harshest scowl I had ever seen. I assumed he was Sabjorn. "What are you gawking at? Can't you see that I have problems here?"

I cleared my throat, dropped my hands, and faked an innocent smile. "Is something wrong?"

His scowl deepened, if that were possible. "Are you kidding me? Look at this place. I'm supposed to be holding a tasting of the new Honningbrew Reserve for the Captain of the Guard. If he sees the meadery in this state, I'll be ruined."

I glanced between the skeever bodies. "I might be able to help."

"Oh, really? And I don't suppose you'd wouldn't do this out of the kindness of your heart, would you? I hope you're not expecting to be paid until the job's done."

I bristled a little. Of course I wanted the payment in advance. Doubtful he would pay me as he was being escorted to the prisons for nearly poisoning the Captain of the Guard. I could make a little money on the side, could I not?

I felt a little pleasure as I intimidated him into doing what I wanted. "You'd better, or I yell 'skeever.'"

His eyes grew wide, and he held his hands in front of him. "Okay, okay! No need to make rash decisions. Here's half. You get the rest when the job's done. My only demand is that these vermin are permanently eliminated before my reputation is completely destroyed."

He handed me a rather large coin purse. I tucked it into my ever-filling satchel. "How do I 'permanently" clear the vermin?"

"I bought some poison. I was going to have my lazy, good-for-nothing assistant Mallus handle it, but he seems to have vanished. If you plant it in the vermin's nest, it should stop them from ever coming back."

I held out my hand, still pretending to be friendly and willing to help. "You've got a deal."

Sabjorn just sneered at my hand. Then, he pressed small black bottle and a key against my open and empty palm. "Don't come back until after every one of those things are dead."

I stuck the poison in my bag, then headed for the door leading towards the brewery. As I walked away, Sabjorn muttered something along the lines of, "Now I have to clean up this mess."

I closed the door behind me, finding myself in some sort of storage room. Filled with barrels that I assumed contained bottles of Honningbrew mead. I went down some stairs, coming to a door that was locked. I used the key Sabjorn gave me and opened the door.

Right away, two skeevers, bigger—and smellier—than normal skeevers attacked me. I whipped out my sword and ran one through, kicking the other one in the snout. It bit my boot, but its teeth did not break through my armor. I pulled my sword out of the first rodent and chopped through the second one. I kicked its body aside, then kept going.

I had to skirt past a couple bear traps that had been laid in the doorway leading further into the tunnels. I did not want to get my foot caught in one of those. No doubt, it would crush my foot.

More skeevers filled the next cavern. I got bit more than once, but none pierced my armor. My only regret was now my armor reeked of rodent saliva, and that was not a smell that went away easily.

"Why, oh, why were skeevers created?" I muttered to myself as I wiped my blade clean. I hated those nasty things.

Pressing on, I came into a dim tunnel that had thick cobwebs hanging from the empty corners. My gut twisted. There was only one thing I hated more than skeevers.

Frostbite spiders.

The moment I saw them, I had to bite my lip to keep from shrieking. There had to be five of them, and one was bigger than a cave bear. They had not seen me yet, so my chances of killing them silently were good.

I pulled my bow off my back, slid an arrow onto the string, then pulled back. I lined the tip up with the nearest arachnid, let out a slow breath, then released.

My arrow flew true, striking the spider in the middle of its ugly, multi-eyed face. It died with a horrid chittering noise, which alerted all of its spider friends. I suppressed a curse and nocked another arrow. The spiders were coming closer, and it would not be long before they were on top of me.

I released my second arrow, killing another spider, then rushed back the way I had come. I hoped I could hide a little longer, give myself time to prepare to take on three gigantic creepy-crawlers. Which just so happened to be my least favorite creature in all of Tamriel.

Pull yourself together, Femke. You're thirty years old. You're braver than that.

I killed the third one and had just injured the fourth before they saw me. The two that remained spat their deadly, blood-chilling venom at me. I dodged the first gout, but the second splashed against my chest. Some drops hit my face, and I screamed in pain. It felt as though I had icicles driving themselves into my cheeks and chin.

I turned and ran back the way I came, then hid behind an empty, overturned barrel. I needed to take care of the poison on my face, then finish off those disgusting spiders.

Biting back more curses, I wiped the underside of my arm against my face, getting the venom off my skin. The pain remained, but at least it would not get worse. I blinked, then swallowed. I was sure to have marks left by the venom spots, but I could not care less at this point. I was too determined to make the creatures that had hurt me pay for it.

Without much thought, I slung my bow over my back, then pulled out my sword and dagger. I stood up, rushed back down the cave, and faced the spiders head-on. They lashed at me with their front two legs, tried to bite me, but I avoided their attacks by ducking and rolling.

I slipped under the bigger spider, drove my sword into its hard underbelly, then scurried away before it collapsed on me. The smaller one came at me, but I threw my dagger into its head. It twitched just before it died.

Panting, I pulled my knife from its head, then kept going. I really wished that was all I had to do. But I still had a nest and brewing vat to poison.

With a huff, I headed deeper into the tunnels. No wonder Sabjorn had a pest problem. He had built his meadery right on top of a tunnel system. Skeevers loved dark and damp tunnels.

I came to a large cavern, one that was lit only by glowing, green-blue mushrooms that grew on the walls. Several skeevers paced back and forth in the cavern, and I thought I heard a man's voice coming from the far side, just out of my sight line.

I pulled out my bow, nocked an arrow, and held two more in my teeth. I would need to be quick at reloading if I were to kill all the skeevers without being seen.

I loosed my first arrow, striking my target with ease. The other skeevers did not notice me, so I notched the next arrow and fired. The second skeever fell. This time, the third skeever looked up and sniffed the air. Then, it growled.

"What is it?" called the voice from the other side of the cavern. I had not been hearing things earlier. There was someone else down here.

Without much thought, I killed the last skeever with my third arrow. I then put my bow on my back and drew my sword.

Out of the shadows came this madman. In the dim light, I could not make out his facial features. I could only see that he wore fur pelts around his waist, and nothing on his chest. He had flames in one hand, and a dagger in the other. He launched a gout of fire at me, and I just managed to dive away from it. Rolling to rid myself of the excess momentum, I held my sword's hilt tightly and jumped to my feet.

The madman slashed at me with his dagger. I dodged the blow, my hood falling off my head in the process. The next blow I parried with my blade. The man growled under his breath, then screamed at me.

His arm shot forward, his knife glinting in the soft light from the mushrooms, and bright pain ripped across my lower left cheek. Warm, sticky liquid poured freely down my chin as I reeled back. I bit back a curse, then drove my sword forward. The sharp tip pierced his chest, and the man let out a shriek of pain. I silenced him by driving my blade further into his body. He died then, falling off my blade with ease.

Panting, spitting blood from my mouth, I looted his body to see if he had anything useful. Just a journal, which I decided to keep for reading later. He also had some gold on him, and I pocketed that, too.

Once finished, I moved to the skeever nest. I poured half the poison into the piles of straw, then looted a chest that had been place next to the nest. I wiped my jaw free of blood again, since the wound had refused to close.

This is the second job that I've been hurt on. I hope they won't all cause me physical injury.

I headed out of the cavern, into the brewhouse. My job was almost done, thank goodness. I headed to the vats, having to go through another locked door to get to the room. The key I had been given by Sabjorn opened the door, so I did not have to waste perfectly good lock picks on getting in.

Once inside, I headed up a set of stairs that led to a catwalk above the brewing vats. I went to the farthest one, which Mallus had said held the special mead that Sabjorn was hoping to show to the Captain of the Guard. I pried open the lid, dumped the rest of the poison into the vat, then closed the lid back and ran for the stairs.

I sighed in relief as I left the brewhouse. Finally, that task was done. Now, I just had to collect the information about Sabjorn's mysterious partner for Maven, then I would be headed back to the Guild.

I found Sabjorn pacing back and forth behind the bar, his hands wringing together as he walked. Watching him were Mallus as well as a dark-skinned Imperial wearing Whiterun Guard armor. He must have been the captain. By the look on his face, he did not like being kept waiting.

Well, neither do I, so I might as well get the show on the road.

I strode past Mallus and right up to Sabjorn. "Job's finished."

He stopped pacing and glared at me. "Well, it's about time! I had to stall the Captain until you were finished."

Like I care. "What about the rest of my pay?"

"You'll just have to wait until after the captain's finished. I suppose you can wait around if you must." With that, he put on a smile and walked towards the captain, who still had not stopped glaring.

The captain crossed his arms. "Well, Sabjorn, now that you've taken care of your little pest problem, how about I get a taste of some of your mead?"

Sabjorn smiled and bowed his head. "Help yourself, milord. It's my finest brew yet. I call it, 'Honningbrew Reserve.' I think you'll find it quite pleasing to your palate."

"Come now, Sabjorn. This is mead, not some wine to be sipped and savored." He held a small cup under a keg placed on the bar, then began to fill it with mead.

I stood next to Mallus as the captain stirred the mead around in his cup. Mallus had a sick smile of satisfaction in his face. "I can't wait to see Sabjorn squirm."

We watched in silence as the captain raised the cup to his lips, took a long swig, then spat it back out.

His eyes widened. "By the Eight! What... what's in this?!"

Sabjorn's jaw dropped a little, and he shook his head. "I... I don't know. What's wrong?"

"You assured me this place was clean!" The captain swayed a little, his eyes glassy. "I'll see... see that you remain in irons for the rest of your days!"

"No, please! I don't understand!"

"Silence, idiot! I should've known better than to trust this place after it's been riddled with filth."

"I beg you, please! This is not what it seems!"

The captain ignored him, striding towards us instead. His face still scowling, he jabbed a finger at Mallus. "You! You're in charge here until I can sort this all out."

I watched as Mallus poorly concealed his glee. "It will be my pleasure."

The captain nodded, then spun on his heel and returned to Sabjorn. "And you! You're coming with me to Dragonsreach! We'll see how quickly your memory clears in the city's prisons! Now move!"

Sabjorn shook his head and held out his hands. "Look, I assure you. This is all just a huge misunderstanding!"

The captain drew his sword, holding it to Sabjorn's gut. "I said move!"

Without another word, Sabjorn swallowed and began walking towards the door. The captain stayed behind him, still angry and still wielding his weapon.

Mallus gave Sabjorn a smile as the two passed us. "Farewell, Sabjorn," he said with a wave.

Sabjorn glared, then opened the door for himself and the captain. They stepped through, then the captain kicked the door shut.

Once they were gone, Mallus turned to me and crossed his arms. He still had a grin on his pale face. "I don't think that could have gone any better. Anything else you need before you head back to Riften?"

I wiped my hand against my stinging jaw. The cut had finally stopped bleeding, but it still hurt like Oblivion. "I need to get into Sabjorn's books."

"So, Maven wants to hunt down Sabjorn's private partner, huh? You're welcome to look around Sabjorn's office. He keeps most of his papers stashed in his desk. Here," He handed me a key, "this should help."

I took the key from him, then crossed my arms. "You never mentioned that lunatic living in the tunnels."

His face fell, and voice grew quiet. "I decided it would be best to leave some of the details out of our previous discussion. Didn't want to risk you walking away from the job. Besides, you've done Maven a favor by getting rid of him and saved me from wasting coin hiring someone else to do it later."

"Fair enough." I backed towards the door leading to the storeroom. "Thanks for the key." I turned on my heel, then proceeded through the doors. I turned right, went upstairs to the next floor, then let myself into Sabjorn's private room. I headed straight for the desk next to the double bed, opened the top drawer, then took the contents. One item was a big coin purse, the other a note. I opened the note, then began to read what it said.

"Sabjorn,
Within the enclosed crate, you'll find the final payment. As we discussed, Honningbrew Meadery should now begin brewing mead at full production. In regards to your concerns about interference from Maven Black-Briar, I can assure you that I'll do everything in my power to keep her assets and her cronies at bay. This is the beginning of a long and successful future for both of us."

Just like the letter I found at Goldenglow, this note had no signature. Just a symbol at the top of the page. The same symbol from the Goldenglow letter. Whoever convinced Aringoth to sell Goldenglow was the same person behind Sabjorn's product's sudden rise to market.

This is not good. Not good at all.