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Still half-asleep, Mordelia sat up and stretched, wincing as a knot in her back unraveled.
"Good morning sunshine." A silky voice said.
Mordelia snapped her eyes open and looked around her. She was no longer in the Valtheim Towers. Blood stains spattered the walls and floor of a small, one-room shack. Sitting on the top of an empty bookcase was a woman clothed in red and black, dangling her leg over the edge of the bookcase.
"Who are you?" Mordelia asked, standing up. She stretched her back and felt a satisfying pop. "Ahhh. Better." She sighed. She wasn't overly concerned about the woman. If worse came to worse, Mordelia could just blast her into the wall with a fireball.
The woman looked at Mordelia with a sparkle in her eyes and introduced herself. "I am Astrid. I represent the Dark Brotherhood."
"So you're here to kill me?" Mordelia asked nonchalantly.
The woman laughed. It was a cold, unfeeling laugh. "Of course not. You have a debt to pay us."
"For what?" Mordelia asked confused. She still felt groggy from sleep and the dark interior of the cabin wasn't helping. She crossed her arms.
"You took one of our contracts from us; therefore, you owe us a kill."
This must be about Grelod. "Okay. So who do you want me to kill?"
"That is for you to decide. Behind you are three captives. One has a contract. Decide which one that is and kill them." Astrid leaned back to watch Mordelia.
Mordelia huffed and turned around. Couldn't this Astrid just tell her who to kill, Mordelia had very little patience. She walked up to the captives. All three had burlap sacks tied over their heads with their arms bound behind them. One of the captives was protesting angrily. Mordelia went over to her first.
By her worn and patched dress and the roughness of her voice, Mordelia guessed this captive to be an old woman. What should I say? Mordelia thought. She'd never had to question someone about whether or not they had a contract on them. She thought a moment before asking the old woman, "Would someone pay to have you killed?"
"What?" The old woman stopped wriggling and tilted her covered head towards Mordelia. "Would someone pay to have me killed? What kind of a question is that? Why would someone want an old lady like me dead? Now let me go!" She screeched and began fussing with her bonds again.
Mordelia decided she seemed innocent enough and moved on to the next captive. This captive was a well-toned man who appeared to be sobbing. What in Talos name is wrong with him?
"Who are you?" Mordelia asked him.
"Fultheim the Fearless." The man relied quietly, sniffing his nose loudly.
"You don't seem very fearless to me." Mordelia taunted. "So why would someone want you killed, Fultheim?"
"I-I don't know." Fultheim wriggled uncomfortably.
"Oh come now. Surely someone with the name Fearless has done something?"
"I only left... It wasn't like I joined the Imperials!" Fultheim whined. He burst forth in a fresh round of tears.
"I see. You abandoned your army. You're not worth my time." Mordelia said disgusted. She moved on to the last captive.
Last one. Hopefully he seems guilty of something or or poor Fultheim won't see the light of day again.
"What's a Khajiit doing here?" Mordelia asked the third captive, nudging his tail with her foot.
"I am Vasha, Khajiit crime lord." The Khajiit replied in his heavily accented voice.
"Would someone pay to have you killed?"
"Vasha would be insulted if they didn't." Vasha shifted towards my voice. "If you free Vasha, he could get you anything. Septims, skooma, maybe a nice ma-"
Vasha's words were cut short with a gurgle.
"I tired of your voice." Mordelia wiped her blade on the front of Vasha's exquisite robe and let him fall to the floor with a dull thud.
Mordelia turned back to Astrid. "There," She said, "I killed someone. Was I right?"
Astrid's black eyes twinkled down at Mordelia. "Who you killed wasn't important. You followed the order to kill and did a clean job of it. Well done. You are free to go. But why stop now? I invite you to join my little family." Astrid dropped a key into Mordelia's hand and told her the location of the Sanctuary. "And remember," Astrid said as Mordelia unlocked the shack's door, "Silence, my brother."
Mordelia left the shack without answering.
Outside, the sun was hidden behind an overcast sky, bathing the surrounding marshes in a hazy light.
I may as well check this "family" out. If I don't like it I can always leave I suppose. Mordelia replayed the instructions over in her head. Go south to the Pine Forest. Look for a small pool of stagnant water and locate a door under a cliff of rock. Mordelia sighed out loud. The Pine Forest was all the way in Falkreath. She rarely traveled in that Hold, so she didn't know her way around well.
"Might as well try and find it anyways." She said to herself. Maybe I can stop by Helgen, kill a few bandits, make some Septims.
Suddenly Mordelia froze. She had heard a dragon.
"Not now." She said. Mordelia drew her bow and crept towards the cover of some bushes, scanning the sky as she moved.
High in the sky, and a few miles away, Mordelia spotted the dragon. It seemed to be circling over a certain area, letting out jets of fire from it's mouth.
Seeing that she was in no immediate danger, Mordelia stood and started her long walk to Falkreath.
Mordelia made it to the Pine Forest in Falkreath in good time. Even though she stopped in Helgen, it only took her eleven days. Night was falling when Mordelia finally found the stagnant pool described by Astrid. Near the pool was a stone cliff, and in that stone cliff was a door. The door looked to be made of solid stone and had carvings of skeletons and a large skull in the middle of it.
Mordelia placed her hand on the door and tried to push it open.
"What is the music of life?"
Mordelia jumped back in surprise, almost hitting her head on the stone overhanging the door. What was that?! A voice had seemingly come from the large stone skull on the door. Mordelia looked around, just to make sure there was no one around who could've spoken.
No one.
"Okay. Strange..." She placed her hand on the door again and braced herself, determined not to get scared again.
"What is the music of life." The voice repeated again. It was an ethereal voice, breathy and hoarse. It seemed to be everywhere around her, yet only in her head.
This time Mordelia succeeded in not jumping back in fright, although a small shiver went up her spine. What am I supposed to do now? Suddenly a phrase came back to her.
"Silence, my brother." Mordelia said aloud.
"Welcome home." The voice said. The stone door gave way under Mordelia's hand and swung inward. Mordelia walked through the doorway and down a small tunnel until she found herself in a small room with a low ceiling. The room was entirely made of stone. A table with a map of Skyrim spread across it was on the far wall, to the left was a doorway to another room. In front of Mordelia were shelves and bookcases containing a random assortment of items; nightshade flowers, books, weapons, and of course, skulls. The only light in the room came from an assortment of candles and lanterns scattered randomly about. Leaning against another doorway leading to a flight of steps, was Astrid.
"I see you decided to take me up on my offer." Astrid walked over to the shelves and grabbed a black and red bundle off of one of them. "Welcome to the Family." Astrid said, handing Mordelia the bundle. It was a set of armour similar to what Astrid wore.
"Thank you." Mordelia said, admiring the armour. It was black leather with red details. There was a pair of studded boots, body armour, gloves, and a black hood with a red mask. Mordelia found the overall effect of it to be quite beautiful. "How did you know I would come to find you?"
Astrid went back to leaning against the doorway. "I had a feeling. Someone like you doesn't shirk from such an offer. I'm working on a contract for you at the moment. Why don't you head down to the Grotto and find Nazir, I'm sure he could find something for you to do."
When Mordelia walked into the Grotto, everyone was gathered in a circle talking. Of course, Astrid hadn't bothered to explain who Nazir was. Was he the Argonian? Not likely, that didn't sound like a very Argonian name. How about the handsome Nord? Or maybe even the little girl with the black eyes? Mordelia decided to get closer and investigate.
At that moment the little girl was finishing a story. "Ahhh! Your teeth! You're a-" She made a sound mimicking someone dying.
Everyone laughed. A Dunmer wearing a hooded robe said, "Oh, Babette! How wicked!"
There was a lull in the conversation, so Mordelia took the her chance and approached the group.
"Excuse me." She said. All eyes were suddenly on her. The Nord growled menacingly. Mordelia swallowed, she wasn't used to being intimidated. "Which one of you is Nazir?"
"That would be me." A deep voice said behind her.
Mordelia turned to see a Redguard warming his hands over a fire. She hadn't noticed him when she walked in. She went over to Nazir, glad to be away from the eyes of the others.
"I take it you're our new member." Nazir said as Mordelia walked over.
"Yes." Mordelia replied. "Astrid told me to speak with you. She said you could find something for me to do while she prepares my contract."
"I have a few small contracts you can do." Nazir offered.
Everyone else went back to telling stories as Nazir explained Mordelia's contracts.