My execution is tomorrow. The turnkey asks what I'd like for my last meal.

Bring me paper, I say. A quill and a candle.

erhaps the !arl would like a confession. I would rather pass the time.
"hen my father's harem #urned down and our family fortune was lost to the ashes, my #rother and I
set to #egging in the gutters of $lsweyr. I will ne%er forget the first time we stole a tra%eler's purse. It
was almost #y accident. !ust a slip of the claw and the pouch fell into our hands. "e ate like kings that
night. "e slept in a warm #ed for the first time in months.
&oon after, my #rother and I took up the knife. The gang we 'oined treated us as the dirty orphans we
were. "e ro##ed, we scammed, we cut and ran and years of de#auchery and hard li%ing took their toll.
I lost half my left ear in a knife fight with a #lind drunk Argonian.
I wanted to gi%e up, #ut my #rother, he dreamed #igger, #etter.
My #rother wanted to make it to (yrodiil and #ecome legit merchants. "e had a plan. )ne final heist
of a north#ound cara%an said to #e filled with 'ewels.
&omething went wrong. My #rother could not stop the horses on time, and I stood helplessly #y and
watched the wagon plummet o%er a cliff. But as I picked through the wreckage, my de%astation turned
into excitement. There were no 'ewels, #ut there were plenty of luxurious wolf pelts, horker tusks and
mammoth hides, more than enough to #uy my way to (yrodiil. I'd follow in the footsteps of so many of
my kind. A tra%eling merchant, someone with a respecta#le profession.
I had all the furs #undled in my pack when I saw my #rother's #roken #ody. *is ears were still warm,
and I shut his eyes for the last time. This was his dream. And he would want me to go. But what I
wanted, well, the cara%an guards were coming. I had to go, #ut I couldn't 'ust lea%e his #ody to rot.
My #rother ga%e me my first skin. It was to #e a memento. But in the darkness of the fence's ca#in, the
coin hit my hand hea%y. Then she looked at my #rother's pelt and offered three times the amount of any
other fur. +isgust caught in my throat, #ut did not li%e %ery long. I reali,ed the cost of such a for#idden
luxury. The %alue, the demand, the respect.
This is what I wanted.
It #ecame easier. A dark alley, a gag in one hand an a quick slice across the throat. -ently hold the #ody
as it #leeds. I #ecame faster, my cuts precise and fluid. I peel the skin with one motion and kept the
merchandise pristine, in one piece. I #ecame rich. .ar richer than anyone in my family had e%er #een.
/et I was careful. My stronghold was well0hidden, and practically impenetra#le. I hired the men that
used to employ me. "e mo%ed frequently on less tra%eled roads when we hunted in the wild. "e
stalked the #ack alleys we used to sleep in when we hunted in the city. I grew so rich that I no longer
needed to dirty my own hands.
atchwork colored furs fetched the #est price among the Bosmer. Argonians preferred the pelts
completely skinned and tanned. )rcs pri,ed the thick, waterproof leather of the Argonians. *umans
most often #ought tails and ears. I had to employ an alchemist and a master craftsman for a couple odd
requests, #ut I didn't ask questions when the gold piled up.
And now I'm a prisoner. May#e I #ecame careless. May#e I let too many secrets slip #etween the
sheets. The raid of my fortress was a massacre. They took me ali%e, #arely. That was their mistake. My
enemies should ha%e killed me when they had the chance.
I ha%e one lockpick. And the northern wall of my cell is weak from disrepair. My head shall not roll
tomorrow.
I am not finished with the trade. There will always #e #uyers. &omeday, I will send my own skin for a
king's ransom, as my name is legend. And yours shall rot in the gutters with your #ones.
0The .ur Trader