Hey guys, thanks for reading, and thanks for your reviews Darkzerker. I got plenty of time on my hands now, so I will hopefully release a few more chapters in the next week or two.


"What... have you done?"

Kaiden looked down to Alria, he was too shocked to truly comprehend what had just happened.

"I killed her brother." Miris smiled and began wiping her short sword clean. "I knew your emotions might get in the way, so I came to help you."

Kaiden clenched his fist silently, and looked up at Miris, with a gaze that could kill. Miris was oblivious to Kaiden's stance, still wiping down her short sword.

"It's better this way brother. If you had let her live, the listener himself would have come for you. You'll thank me for..."

The two froze as Alria gasped and coughed blood.

"It looks like I missed her heart, no problem."

Miris took her blade in an underhanded grip and prepared to thrust down into Alria's chest.

"NO!"

Kaiden snapped, and without thinking leapt forward, punching Miris hard in the face. She stumbled back, staring at Kaiden.

"Miris... I... I..."

Miris let out a blood curdling scream and leapt forward, slashing at Kaiden with her weapon. Kaiden managed to dodge each attack, until she thrust right at his chest. He caught Miris' arm and struggled to hold her back. Miris was pushing with all her strength, but Kaiden managed to hold her at bay. Miris looked into Kaiden's eyes and slowly her features began to soften, her breathing slowed and her grip relaxed somewhat. Kaiden breathed a sigh of relief and nudged Miris' sword hand aside, he moved to embrace Miris but she stepped back from him.

"No. Never again."

"Miris..."

"You're not my brother anymore. You're nothing to me."

"Miris... don't say these things."

"How dare you tell me not to say this? You would risk the wrath of the night mother for the sake of your girlfriend? You must love her much more than you do me."

"That's not true, don't say that!"

"If you cared about me you wouldn't risk your life for her! Not a few hours ago you lay with me, with promises of ending this... affair of yours. Then you come out to the woods to... to dance with your half elf bitch, and when I try to fix this, you attack me!"

"Miris please..." Kaiden was in tears by this point. "I love you, I didn't mean to hurt you. There's nothing between us, you must believe me!"

"No Kaiden! No! I DON'T believe you! They'll send someone to kill you, maybe even the listener himself. Perhaps you'll come to see your foolishness in the moment before our dread father takes you."

Miris sheathed her sword and ran away through the woods. Kaiden considered chasing her, but he knew there was no point. Miris would be inconsolable, Kaiden was everything to her and he knew it, she must feel betrayed. But Miris had changed since joining the brotherhood. The change was subtle at first but it was there and now she had been completely altered. She never would hesitate to take a life if she had to. But now she seemed to enjoy murder, and her single minded obsession for Kaiden... A dangerous combination, and so different from that young girl in the woods so long ago.

Kaiden concluded that there was no use in going after her. Instead he looked to the ground, to Alria, slowly bleeding out, while he was helpless to do anything. She had inched her hand toward her bag, lying on the ground near her.

"Your bag!"

Kaiden scooped up the bag from the ground and opened it. Inside, among other things were two potion bottles.

"I hope these are healing potions."

He uncorked one bottle and gently poured it down Alria's throat. She coughed for a second and then her breathing began to even out. Kaiden gave a sigh of relief and slowly fed the second potion to Alria. He then checked her wound.

The potion had begun it's task of healing her body, but she had been too close to death, and potions could only heal the living. The wound had begun to close but was still bleeding, at least he had bought her some time. Kaiden wrapped the wound with a bandage from Alria's bag and then gently scooped her up from the ground.

"Don't worry, I'll find you a healer in Cheydin..." Kaiden gulped.

If he went back to Cheydinhal, he knew that both he and Alria would be dead within the hour. Where then? Alria couldn't survive the chill air of Bruma in her current state, the Imperial City then. A long walk, especially with a dying woman in his arms, but he had no choice.


Kaiden made his way down the Blue road towards the Imperial City. His arms were beginning to feel numb from carrying Alria, but he forced himself to press on.

A little while later the sun began to rise. Kaiden was lucky that he'd fed right before leaving Cheydinhal, otherwise the sunrise would bring both his and Alria's deaths. He said a silent prayer to the Night Mother but stopped midway. No, he no longer worshipped the Night Mother, would never mention her in prayer again.

"Akatosh, Mara, Stendarr, anyone. Please... please help me to save Alria, give me the strength to continue." But he heard no response.

Suddenly Kaiden spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked towards the woods but could see nothing. Suddenly Kaiden had the feeling that he was being watched. If Miris had headed back to the sanctuary and told them what had happened, an assassin could have been dispatched immediately, such an assassin could have caught up to him by now. But would Miris truly condemn him like that?

Suddenly Kaiden did find the strength to continue, and at a fast pace. Almost an hour later he reached an intersection, the Red ring road. Just beyond it was a lake, and in the middle of that lake sat the Imperial City on the City Isle. The only problem was that the entrance was on the other side of that lake. Kaiden paused for a moment to catch his breath, when he noticed a small boat tied up at the edge of the lake. A miracle, maybe the gods were listening to his prayer.

Kaiden made his way to the boat and gently lowered Alria into it. He looked around. Who did this boat belong to? Well if he ever found out he would have to thank them. Kaiden got into the boat and noticed a small sack sitting beside the oars. He opened it to find a set of clothes. Suddenly Kaiden realized how foolish it would have been to stroll into the Imperial City in his Dark Brotherhood Armor.

"Two miracles in one day? The gods sure are generous."


Kaiden rowed his boat towards the prison. He knew that there was an entrance to the market district on that side of the city. The boat hit land beneath the walls of the Imperial City and Kaiden dismounted. He lifted Alria from the vessel and began to climb up the steep slope to the bridge. He had barely made it halfway up when an Imperial guard peered over the edge of the bridge.

"What's going on down there?"

"This woman is injured! I need to get her to a healer!"

"Hold on citizen! I can assist you."

The guard carefully picked his way down the slope and helped Kaiden bring Alria to the city. He escorted Kaiden to a healer in the market district. A woman in blue robes appeared from behind a curtain.

"Can I help?"

"She's dying!" gasped Kaiden, exhausted.

The guard stepped forward. "This woman's been injured and needs urgent attention."

"Oh my." Said the woman, spotting Alria's wound. "Lay her down on the benchtop."


The healer used magic to close the wound, and several potions to revitalize Alria. After several hours Alria had regained consciousness and was able to sit up. She looked over at Kaiden, who had been sitting there for the whole duration of her healing.

"Kaiden?"

"Alria, I'm relieved to hear your voice."

"What happened?"

"You were attacked."

"By who?"

"I'll tell you later, when we're in private."

Just as Kaiden finished speaking the healer woman appeared again from behind the curtain.

"Well, I'm glad to see you up. You were quite far gone, for a little while I thought you wouldn't make it."

"How much do I owe you?" Asked Kaiden to the healer

"Nothing, that guard covered it for you."

"Three miracles in one day."

"Pardon?"

"Never mind. Is Alria well enough to leave?"

The healer walked over to Alria and inspected her.

"I believe you should be able to walk young lady. But I'd recommend not leaving the Imperial City for a few days. To regain your strength."

"The Imperial City?" Alria asked.

"I'll explain outside." Said Kaiden.


Kaiden walked with Alria to the merchant's inn. On the way he explained everything to her. About the Dark Brotherhood, about Miris, and about the fact that he had put both their lives in danger. To his surprise Alria was taking it quite well. In all honesty he had expected her to run off screaming to the guards. Instead, she surprised Kaiden by putting an arm around his shoulder.

"You've known her your whole life, I can't imagine how bad you must feel right now. I'm sorry for bringing this upon you."

Kaiden smiled, despite her life being in danger, she was trying to comfort the man who had caused it.

"You have no need to be sorry. This was entirely my fault."

"Perhaps, but we can't lay blame now. How do we fix it?"

"We can't." Sighed Kaiden. "Unless we were to take out the entire Dark Brotherhood."

"Then what do we do?"

"They will send an assassin eventually. If we can defeat this assassin, then hopefully they will not send another."

"And if they do?"

"Then we keep beating them. Until they decide it's not worth it."

"That's not a very good plan."

"It's our only one."

"Well what do we do in the meantime?"

"There's something I need to do, will you help me?"

"What is it?"

"There's a witch that lives by the Corbolo river. I spoke to her once, That's where I have to go... to cure my vampirism."