Hey everyone! My second story is up, I hope you enjoy! I'm doing this one on my own, so if there are any errors, please let me know and I will fix them right away! Also, if anything said here is inaccurate to the game Oblivion, PM me and I will do my best to correct the problems!

And now, for our feature presentation...


Delchkahn Amori skulked through the wilderness, annoyed by the bright sunlight streaming through the bows of the trees above him. Even though he had recently cured his vampirism, the sun still bothered him. He leaned against a tree, clad in his Dark Brotherhood armor, lost in memories of the guild he had left leaderless when he abandoned it. He thought of his greatest mistake in life, of how following a contract would leave him empty and hollow. He remembered when he purged the Cheydinhall Sanctuary. He had been disgusted by most of the heartless killers there, but one of the assassins had stood out to him, as though she had belonged somewhere other than that dismal place: Ocheeva. A tear formed in his eye at the memory of her, her voice, her scent, her eyes. He remembered killing the last of the assassins other than her, that brutish orc, before she ambushed him. He whipped around in self defense, and to his horror, realized he had stabbed her, straight through her belly. He remembered how he had gently laid her on the ground, holding her hand in his as she died. He remembered the last question she had asked him: "Why?"


Soul-Swimmer skulked through the Cheydinhall Sanctuary, just a few short weeks after the purging. She could smell the blood in the walls, and she hated it. She was wearing her new suit of Dark Brotherhood armor, and she hated the uncomfortable clinginess of the cuirass, which had obviously been recycled from a deceased male member of the guild, and the way the hood cramped her head fins. She had falsified her birth papers to show that she had been born under the sign of the Shadow not so that she would be accepted into the guild as a Shadowscale, but to gain free immigration into Cyyrodiil without having to fear passing through Leyawiin and the risk of its Countess, who is rumored to torture and murder Argonian immigrants. The small problem now, however, was that she was stuck in the brotherhood. If she tried to leave, the guild would hunt her down and kill her, and if she stayed, she would eventually wind up the same way as its legendary leader, Delchkahn Amori. She had no idea what had happened to the poor man, but she had noticed how haunted he looked, and the deep regret etched into his young, bright-purple features. The flexible spines that topped his head were always unkempt, and whenever he returned to the sanctuary, he smelt of cheap wine. She had once even seen him execute a member for performing an un-contracted killing, saying that he had been "risking the secrecy of the Brotherhood with his careless actions". But she knew that something had happened to him, something that had turned him from being an assassin who killed for the thrill of the hunt into a haunted, tired man, who was far beyond his years in sadness. This belief was reinforced in her when Delchkahn Amori, the Shadow's Shadow, the Blade in the Night, the fabled Deathhunter, disappeared, leaving the rest of the members of the Black Hand slain. She knew that she had to find him. She knew that he was her only chance of getting out of the Brotherhood alive.


Delchkahn crouched in the shadows, and fired his first arrow. It struck M'raaj Dar in the back, and the evil Khajiit cried out in pain as the arrow froze his blood while electrifying him at the same time. His skin ruptured, and his eyes became solid balls of ice in their sockets. Almost immediately, the skeletal guardians of the sanctuary attacked, their claymores swinging past the lithe Argonian's head, flying just a few centimeters past his skull. A few slices from his blade, FrostFire, and their husks were frozen and ignited almost simultaneously, and the two skeletons crumbled into dust. Antoinette Marie charged him, and with a quick jab, he plunged his blade through her chest, impaling the filthy wench's black heart. As one, Teinaava and Vicente charged him, swords at the ready. While it pained him to kill his love's twin brother, he entered battle with the two. A swift kick to Valtieri's skull stunned the vampire, the very vampire who had given Amori his strength and agility, allowing Amori to turn and fight Teinaava. As the red-scaled Argonian charged, he yelled "I won't let you touch my sister! I'll die before I let you kill her, 'brother'!" Teinaava spat the last word at Amori, and lunged at him, sword leading. Amori sidestepped, and grabbed Teinaava's arm in two places, snapping it like a twig. Teinaava howled in pain before Amori put an arrow through his skull, silencing him forever. "Fool," he said coldly, "I love your sister, I would never hurt her!" Just as he turned around, he saw Valtieri's blade coming down towards his head. With lightning-fast reflexes, Delchkahn rolled out of the way, and as he stood, he led with his blade, shoving FrostFire's tip up under Valtieri's ribcage. The vampire screamed as the fire surged through his body, and crumbled into a pile of bones and ash. Then, that blundering fool Gogron stumbled out of the mess hall, smelling of beer and cheap meat. Amori tossed an apple at the orc's open mouth, lodging it between the idiot's teeth, and rushed the green monstrosity. Pulling the steak knife from the orc's belt, Amori stabbed it through the apple and out the back of gro-Bolmog's head, blood spraying out behind the startled orc's body. As the heavy orc tumbled to the ground, Amori began cleaning his blade. "I hope Ocheeva's still asleep," he thought to himself, blushing slightly as he remembered their "activities" the previous night. Little did he know, she was already awake, and was creeping up behind him. Delchkahn heard something and whipped around, only to see Ocheeva flying towards him holding a blade, still in her underwear. Too late he tried to lower his sword, and he watched in horror as its tip plunged into Ocheeva's tender belly. She gasped, and—

Delchkahn sat up, panting heavily on the stiff roll-out mattress he had made his bed while in the wilderness. He had had that nightmare for the past three nights in a row, that haunting memory of how he had destroyed his only chance at happiness. Only then did he notice the young female Argonian crouched above him. As he saw the Brotherhood uniform she wore, he lashed out in rage. He leaped forward, surprising the young female, and carried her to the ground. He punched her across the jaw, and grabbed her by the throat, squeezing, crushing her windpipe in his hand. She kicked and struggled as he carried her to the tree he had been sleeping against, her face growing paler by the second, her eyes wide as she searched for oxygen. He lifted her into the air, and slammed her back against the tree. He heard a satisfying crunch as one of her ribs snapped, and felt as the wood gave way under the impact, sending splinters into her back. She tried to cry out, but all that exited her mouth was a small gargle and a trickle of blood. "What does the Brotherhood think they're doing, sending a novice against me!" he raged, pressing his hand even harder against her neck. The female's eyes bulged out of their sockets, and her attempts at loosening his hands and her kicking grew weaker. "Tell me who the new Black Hand is, I want to pay them a visit!" he demanded, loosening his grip just enough for his prisoner to gasp out a few words. She coughed, blood spraying from her mouth as she tried to use her tongue for vocalization.

"Please…" she gasped, her voice barely audible, "didn't send… ran a-away…" As she said this, Amori snapped. How dare this pitiful excuse for an assassin try to lie to him! His eyes widened, and he flung her through the air to land in the dust. She let out a small gargle of pain as her ribs snapped, unable to scream because of the blood welling in her mouth. She coughed, blood spewing from her gullet, and tried to crawl away, terrified, too weak to stand. Amori walked over to her slowly, and turned her over so that she was lying on her back. He drew FrostFire, the blade he had come to call Woe as opposed to its true name, and held it up to her slender neck. She gasped as it cut the skin, wincing inpain as she felt the wound freeze and burn simultaneously.

"Now," spat Amori, inwardly wondering why he was wasting his time interrogating a lowly Initiate, "tell me the truth, and you might live. Who sent you, and where are they?" The female looked hesitant. "What are you waiting for?" Delchkahn demanded, furious, wondering if he should just kill her and be done with it, "SPEAK!" The female motioned to his sword, and he realized that it was so close to her neck that if she did speak, it would slit her throat. He pulled his blade away about a centimeter, and the female took a long, deep breath.

"Nobody sent me," she coughed hoarsely, unable to wipe her mouth as blood trickled down her lip. Her eyes widened in horror as Amori pushed his blade closer to her neck, leaving her just enough space to whisper. "I… I can prove it!" she whispered, fearing for her life. Amori hesitated; normally being threatened by his blade could make anybody spill in a matter of seconds. Also, although he was no longer a vampire, he still had a knack for hearing a heartbeat at a distance, and although hers was fast, terrified, it was not the erratic one of a liar. He drew his blade back… and slid it into the scabbard he kept on his back, even while asleep. The young female slumped against the tree, breathing heavily. "Check… check my pockets… you will find… a note. It's from… from an assassin who is chasing me, toying with me before he closes in for the kill. Please… I'm not lying…" Tears began to well in her eyes, and she thought "do I die today? I don't want to die!" Amori began to search the limp female's body, and sure enough, he found the note. It read:

My dear little swamp flower,

Did you honestly think that you could escape the Brotherhood? Did you honestly believe that you could dishonor the Dark Lord Sithis and go unpunished? I will tell you now that you cannot, and that I am coming to kill you, you beautiful little thing! Who knows? Maybe we can have a little "fun" before I kill you? If you don't resist, I may just let you live…

My regards,

Rhiihaaj.

We will meet again.

Delchkahn's hand trembled as he crumpled the note in his hand, throwing it to the floor, angry at both himself and what the Khajiit assassin had written. "Filthy Khajiit!" he thought, "It's not bad enough that he's in the Brotherhood, but he's trying to get a woman to sleep with him as a possible way not to die?! If I ever see this Rhiihaaj, I'll kill him!" He knelt over the Argonian woman, his gentle eyes calming her pounding heart. "Sorry about earlier," he said apologetically, "I thought the Brotherhood sent you to dispose of their renegade leader. I should have realized that this wasn't true when I didn't wake up dead!" He chuckled to himself, realizing that since she had been there when he woke up, she had had innumerable opportunities to slit his throat while he slept. "Tell me, what's your name?" The female blushed before she replied.

"I am Soul-Swimmer, and… and you didn't get dressed before you attacked me…"

Delchkahn looked down at himself and blushed; he was still in his underwear! "Uhm, you stay here, and I'll go get some clothes on…" he said, more than a little embarrassed to be standing in front of a female, a young, beautiful female, no less, wearing almost nothing.

"No problem with that…" Soul-Swimmer said with a small laugh. She smiled, and fell into a much needed sleep, unable to resist the pull of unconsciousness any longer.


ooh! A mysterious female, and a broken-hearted man! She is a lowly novice, while he is a master assassin who has put down his swords because of regret for past actions! What will happen between the two? Will Delchkahn Amori ever let go of Ocheeva? Will Soul-Swimmer escape Rhiihaaj? Only time will tell...