Chapter 8
Poisoned with Silence
The next morning we continued our way to Anvil, by the end of the day he set off to go to Applewatch, I told him I'd meet him there soon after my investigation.
I went to the location of the next dead drop behind the mermaid statue in Anvil. It was still quite early in the day. I found a spot nearby and put on the enchanted ring that Lucien had of invisibility to cloak myself from watchful weary eyes. I had given him an enchanted Ring of Shield in return. So that it may give him some protection from unexpected danger.
I nervously waited and was anxious. I did not want to be seen. Soon I saw someone approach and start to put a letter into the barrel and I quickly confronted him.
"Who are you and why have you been putting these false orders here!" I snarled angrily as I removed the enchanted ring.
"I'm... I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do anything wrong! It was the robed man! He... he paid me to put those things in the barrel!" I grabbed him by the shirt as he spoke.
"Who is he!"
"I don't know his name, and his face was in shadow. He called to me yesterday as I walked by the lighthouse. I think he lives there! Or he did, anyway. He told me he was leaving Anvil. I'm sorry, but that's all I know!" He was feared me greatly. I simply threw him aside and rushed to the lighthouse.
Upon entering the light house I was confronted by a nord.
"Well now, what might you want?"
"I demand the key to the cellar room!" I was in a hurry, if the traitor had left that meant they know where Lucien is headed.
"Now why should I give you the key?" He challenged.
"If you don't give me the key I will take it from your corpse!" I snarled as I pulled out my Blade of Woe and put it to his throat.
"Look I don't want any trouble, here's the key!" He immediately gave me the key.
I quickly went to the cellar room just below the lighthouse. The stench was horrid, upon descending the stairs I came across a dead dog. The corpse was rotting, it seemed to have been there awhile.
I looked around for clues amongst the dead bodies and barrels. Then I heard a growl coming from behind a door. I opened it to see a crazed dog jump up at me. I swiftly dog and kill the crazed dog. I looked into the room and say a head set on a table along with a circle of candles beside it and a journal. I opened it and scanned through it. There was illegible writing written in some pages. Others were just jibberish.
It's all right, mother. It's almost over. I'm close. So very close. How long have we struggled? How long have we waited? Too long, I know. But it's almost over. I promise.
...
Mommy mommy as you lie the dark man comes and makes you die my daddy's hands are red with guilt because he killed the life we built
I hate it! All this lying, all this pretending! Sithis and the Five Tenets be damned! How long do I have to live by their rules? How long before I get my chance? I saw Lucien Lachance yesterday. He was in the Sanctuary talking with Ocheeva. He was right there! So close I could have severed his spine in less than a heartbeat! Oh Mother, never before have I had to exercise such self-control. What's sickeningly ironic is that it was the Dark Brotherhood's discipline that allowed me to restrain myself. I've been a part of their "family" for so long it's a part of me, whether I like it or not. And in all that time I've fooled them all. They see me as a fellow member of the Brother, a trusted family member. Some day soon I will learn the truth about the Night Mother, and when I do, I will use that trust to get close to her. Close enough so that I may rend the head from her body, just as Lucien Lachance did to you so long ago!
Damn it, mother! Why did it have to be this way? Maria was so beautiful. She was perfect in so many ways. Why couldn't she handle the truth? Why couldn't she realize her "family" didn't really love her? She was a murderer like the rest of us. Paid to kill in the name of Sithis. I really thought we could be together. Make a real family, with real love. But she told me she could never accept your place in my life. So now she's gone. She didn't deserve to live after the horrible things she said about you. I never should have told her, I know. I'm so sorry. It will never happen again, and the others will never find her, don't worry. There's nothing left of her to find.
...
I did it, mother! I killed them all! I killed them and I cursed them to wander their ship in undeath for all eternity! They came to talk to the old man in the lighthouse. When they saw me, they could have kept walking. But no. They laughed! They laughed at me, mother! They called me names! They said I was strange, that I was a human rat, living here in the cellar of the lighthouse. They did not know who they were dealing with! So I snuck on board, later that night, and I slit their throats. Every last one of them. So there the Serpent's Wake sits. The ghost ship of Anvil they'll call it now! Ha ha ha ha ha!
Some wonderful news, mother! Advancement at last! Lucien Lachance paid a visit to the Sanctuary today, to talk with me! He told me the Black Hand needed my services. One of the other Speakers is looking to replace his assistant, who was killed fulfilling a contract. So Lucien Lachance suggested me! I met with the Speaker, and will serve as his new "Silencer." Ha! Lachance might as well have given me a contract to kill the Night Mother herself! I am now one step closer to realizing our dream. I will learn the Night Mother's identity and tear the heart from her chest. Oh yes, and I have something special planned for Lachance himself...
mommy I so afrade. i mis yu mommy. i just wantyu to kis me agenn
father prayed and guess who came the hooded man in Sithis' name who left but then he came once more to pass through window wall and door I lie in fear my mouth agape as wicked blade did cleave your nape for I was watching 'neath the bed to see the falling of your head and when your face lie on the floor our loving eyes did meet once more and so I pledged to you that day the Brotherhood would dearly pay and just as they took me from you I'd find and kill their mother too but there's someplace I need to start and that's with father's beating heart and when that's done I'll sing and dance to celebrate a dead LaChance
...
I've been careless! Too careless. The bodies, the burnings. Killing that fool Blanchard was the worst mistake I've made so far. I was seen! I was cloaked and hooded, and escaped into shadow, so no one learned my true identity. But now the Black Hand is suspicious. They suspect treachery, suspect a traitor! I must be more cautious than ever.
when in the snow I like to lie and fold my arms and wait to die
I've been switching them! Switching the dead drops! It was so easy! I tracked Lachance from his lair at Fort Farragut to the first dead drop location. After Lachance placed the orders, when I was sure he was gone, I switched them! It was so easy. Now Lachance's fool Silencer is working for us, mother! Oh, the fun we'll have. One of the Black Hand told me they haven't seen such an ambitious family member since I first joined the Dark Brotherhood. I will use that very ambition to my own advantage. The fool will never question the dead drops, and as I write this is en route to the first target - one of the very members of the Black Hand! And so it begins. Lachance's silencer will kill one high ranking Brother member, then another, then another, and so on, until the entire family implodes. Eventually, as is the custom, the survivors will consult the Night Mother and seek her guidance. When that day comes, I will be there, ready to punge a blade into that dark whore's fetid heart!
...
I closed the book and took it with me, along with the head atop of the alter like table. I put both into my bag and run off to Shadowmere. I had to get to Lucien before them. The traitor was with them and wanted Lucien dead!
It took me a bit less than expected to arrive at Applewatch. I didn't even bother to tether Shadowmere, I heard screams of agony inside and quickly rushed in. I broke down the wooden door and drew my blade to Lucien's attacker.
"Stop! He's not the traiter, if you need proof just read the diary!" I pulled it out the diary along with the head. "And in case the traitor decides to do anything funny I have his mothers head. Any funny business and I'll burn her!" Only one had gasped, I gave the diary to the female Black Hand member; she was the one with the most blood on her. Upon doing so I quickly went to Lucien's side.
A male member of the Black Hand spoke up.
"How do you not know if all this is forged?"
"Why would I forge such a thing? If anything, I should be asking you why you were in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary after the purification. What was your supposed investigation for? Or were you just clearing up all the evidence you had left there. I'm not stupid Mathieu. I figured you were not to be trusted from that moment on."
I looked back at Lucien he was losing blood quickly. I conjured up my strength and started casting a healing spell. All his wounds started to slowly heal. Soon they were all mostly healed; it took a lot of energy out of me. Lucien smiled at me gratefully.
I stood up and started to help him up but then I felt a blade go through me. It seems the traitor had gone bold. I coughed up a crimson fluid and looked back at the traitor. Everyone began to attack, I too attacked him. I had inquired many other wounds, much worse than before.
Mathieu had slashed me multiple times in my chest. I also slashed at him, making wounds on his chest and abdominal area. Soon I was able to get his throat, but he had stabbed me in the stomach with a small knife. The blade burned as it cut through me. He fell down to his knees with a smirk upon his face as he stared into my eyes. I watched as the Black Hand members slew him.
I fell to my knees soon after, the bleeding wouldn't stop, no matter how much I tried to stop the bleeding. I looked up at Lucien and smiled. He was still okay.
"I'm glad you're safe now." I fell to the floor weak. I could no longer even stand on my knees, there was a burning in my abdomen that grew, that's when I realized he had poisoned me.
Minutes went by, the wound started burning rapidly. I writhed, the burning sensation had caused tears to flow from my eyes, causing me to gasp painfully for air and blurring everything more than it already was. Everyone gathered around and Lucien gently lifted me from the floor. I looked at Lucien with a weak smile. He was full of sorrow.
"You've done well dear Silencer." The woman had smiled at me. I coughed in response.
"Don't worry Ilazki. You'll be fine." Lucien's voice wavered as one of the other Black Hand members began to use a healing spell.
"It's no use, the knife was poisoned..." I coughed some blood out into my hands. "I have to embrace my fate as the others whom I've brought death to... "
Lucien looked over at the stab wound which was bleeding profoundly for such a small wound.
"I killed everyone... I was ever close to... Even before the purification..." I confessed. "Insanity… It was always there... I always blamed another." I gasped for air as it was getting harder to breathe. "Joining the Dark Brotherhood has made me accept the deaths I've caused.. It is my fault for realizing this too late... But I've finally accepted that everyone I cared for, I slew them myself for my own gain. Even my childhood friend... Roselia was her name..." I coughed out more blood. "I took her life to take her name"
Everything was starting to grow to a blur. "I want to thank you Lucien... For everything..." I shifted my eyes towards the beautiful auburn eyes I had first fell in love with. "I am quite clumsy... Aren't I?" Everything started darkening.
I could hear loud distant muffled voices. I could faintly feel Lucien shaking me, his voice was the loudest. I heard him so clearly, yet I could not understand anything he said. I tried to open my eyes once more.
I could faintly make out two other shadowy figures tending to the bleeding area that had been filled with poison.
"… I'm sorry… For that… My dear Speaker…" I began to cough more violently.
I saw the grief in Lucien's eyes. I tried my best to lift my hand to touch his face. I had so much trouble doing this small feat. I felt his hand wrap itself around my own, I smiled softly.
"I… Love… You…"
I tried to speak but couldn't speak anymore. I lost control to my arm and it fell down to the floor I slowly closed my eyes and struggled to open them again. I saw my patron Lucien, my Speaker, my love.
Then Nothing...
