She continued to sit on me hovering her face over mine and just looking at me as though she was trying to read me. I tried to push her off of my but she had her legs firmly placed on both sides of me with my arms pinned. Not only that but every inch of my body hurt worse with every attempt I made to move.

"Where are you trying to go?" She asked with smile. Her giggling was becoming a bit annoying. I didn't know what she wanted with me. But it was clear she didn't want to kill me. Maybe torment me to insanity was her plan?

"Get off me, monster!" I gasped out, not being able to yell from the pain.

Her smile and giggling stopped as it turned into a look of shock. Then scarcely became a look of anger. "MONSTER!?" She yelled. She then, calmly, pulled my helm off my head and slapped me in the face. "Tell me," she continued. "What in Oblivion would give you the right to call me a monster!?"

She sat up right looking down on me waiting for an answer. And I gave her one of honesty.

"You're a murderer." I said. "And what I saw in my room last night was..." She placed her hand over my mouth before I could say the rest.

"Sorry about that." She replied. "But I only did that because I knew you wouldn't let me talk to you willingly without trying to cut my head off." She uncovered my mouth before continuing. "And why would you call me a murderer?"

I continued to gasp for air as the pain continued to feel like one hundred daggers stabbing into my entire body. "I know you were the one who killed Hroggar in Morthal, and Vittoria Vici just now."

She laughed as though everything I said was false. "Hroggar, yes." She finally said. "But not that Vici woman." She finally decided to get off of me and stood over me. "And if you're calling me a murderer, I guess I'm guilty. But if you look at every life I've taken, even a man of light, such as yourself, would agree that they deserved what they got."

I managed to concentrate enough of my magika to cast a healing spell on myself. (One of the few perks of being a paladin.) I growled as I could feel broken bones reset themselves and all of my other injuries heal. Once I could feel no more pain, I stood up to face the woman whom I'd been after since all this started.

"I don't care what you think they are." I said. "It's still murder. And you're using the power of the voice to frame me for them."

She suddenly looked confused. "Frame you?" She replied. "Why, in the name of Oblivion, would I frame you?"

I felt as though she was trying to throw me off. "Don't toy with me!" I yelled. "You use your Thu'um to kill people and make them believe it is me! The dragonborn!"

"Dragonborn!?" She asked with surprise. "So you're the one I've heard everyone talking about. I was beginning to think that you disappeared and I was the only one left."

I could feel my face turn white as I heard this. I had every possible question running through my head to try and call her on her bluff. I'm the dragonborn. All this time, there has never been another turn up. Or perhaps Arngeir never told me, as he's known for his secrets.

"So you're dragonborn?" I asked.

She smiled as she answered, "Yes. Why would I lie about something like that?"

I couldn't help be brought into the conversation. But then I remembered I was talking to the criminal I'd been hunting for the past two weeks.

"Enough!" I yelled. "You are a murderer, and I'm going to take you in."

"It's that right?" She began to laugh. I kept my eyes on her as I drew my sword. She started walking around me and looking me over from head to toe. "I'll make you a deal." She continued. "You look into the one's who's lives I've taken, and you feel I'm still guilty of what you call murder, then I will surrender to you next time I see you."

"Next time? No. You're coming with me now!" I demanded.

She smiled and shook her head. Then, without warning, she shouted, "FUS!" and knocked me of my feet. The force from her shout made me a little woozy, but when I came to, I noticed she had gave me the slip. Once again, I failed to end this.

I went back to Solitude with my pride hurt. She got the best of me and escaped. I returned to Tullius with the news I had, then spent the rest of the day helping clean up after the horrible incident that occurred. Poor Vittoria, murdered on the happiest day of her life...

The next day, I gathered all the information from Tullis and Rikke about all the recent murders that involved this supposed dragonborn. I told Tullius I was going to travel out and investigate each one and keep him informed on what I found out. The closest was in Markarth. After looking into the matter, I had a woman named Muiri arrested same as Lami. She wanted a man named Alain Dufont murdered for using her to get close to the Shatter-Shield family in Windhelm to rob them blind. She also wanted Nilsine Shatter-Shield murdered to teach the family a lesson, but it didn't happen. So a bandit thug was killed, and a innocent was spared.

As weeks passed, I started to piece together all the marks. Several thugs were killed but all accounted innocence were left alive. It was just like Morthal. Hroggar was killed because he walked free after killing his family. It started to all come together, although she was a member of the Dark Brotherhood, she was trying to help people rather than just kill for money. But to make sure, there was one last mark I needed to look into. Honorhall Orphanage in Riften. Reports showed that the original owner was murdered in her sleep.

After a two day carriage ride, I finally reached Riften. Things were a little more difficult for the people in Riften due to Maven Black-Briar now being Jarl after the Legion took over during the war. I went straight for the orphanage to speak with the new owner. The woman's name was Constance Michel. She seemed nice at heart and truly cared for the children. But when I asked her about the night of the murder, she didn't seem to have any regrets for what happened when she began to explain it to me.

"Most people don't understand how it was here. Grelod was a cruel, evil woman. She refused to allow the children to be adopted by good families. She treated them like slaves. When they would make too much noise from trying to play, she would beat them. And if they forgot their chores, she would shackle them in the closet. These kids needed better. But the night it happened, I'll never forget it. I was awake. Grelod was asleep in her room when someone snuck in. They went into her room and shut the door. All I remember after that is hearing her screaming for a second before the one responsible ran out of the room. Grelod was covered in ice."

I sat there listening to the story and couldn't help but feel sorry for the children. But she wasn't finished.

"After Grelod's death, I took over the orphanage and the children are much happier. They're much safer. And couples are coming in and considering adopting them. I can't help but think that Grelod's death was the best for these children."

Although I knew it wasn't up to a single individual to decide someone's fate like that, I couldn't help but agree with Constance. I asked her if she remembered anything about the one who did it. Constance thought to herself for a minute before answering.

"Yes, they were in brown leather armor and a hood. They looked more like a thief than a member of... Well, you know."

She didn't want to risk having the children scared by saying "Dark Brotherhood" out loud. And I couldn't blame her. But it was the outfit she described that caught my attention. I'd seen this outfit before. That's when it hit me. Our dragonborn culprit used to be a thief. And if I wanted to find out who she was, I needed to speak to a thief. And since this was Riften, I was in luck.

I remembered a few years ago, when I first came to Riften, a tall red headed nord man approached me with an offer to make good money. When I discovered what he was, I turned him down on his offer. His name was Brynjolf and he just happened to run his own market. All I had to do was find him and get the information I needed.

I managed to find Brynjolf at his stall in his usual fancy civilian clothes trying to sell junk potions to anyone foolish enough to believe his scheme. I approached him to have a little talk.

"Excuse me, Brynjolf, is it?" I asked him.

"Aye, lad. What can I do for you?" He responded.

I signaled him to follow me to talk in private. "I have an urgent Imperial matter I'd like your assistance with."

We were walking around the Bee and Barb Inn trying to keep out of ear shot of others.

"Well lad," he said. "If you need assistance, then I'm sure you've come to the right man. But something like assistance usually means someone is getting paid, am I correct?"

I knew he would be difficult like this. Always out to pinch people out of their last septim. I agreed to a payment and paid him to tell me whatever I wanted to know.

"Good doing business with you, lad." He commented. "Now what would you like to know?"

I looked around to make sure no one else could hear me and said, "I have reason to believe that not long ago, you had a woman in your organization up until you found out she killed another woman here in Riften."

Brynjolf looked surprised at this and said, "Aye, we might have."

I could tell he was uneasy about the conversation, but I needed to know what he knew. So I went on to ask the one question I was hoping he could answer.

"Do you have a name?"

He looked at me with a half cracked smile. "Well, lad." He said. "That's not something that's so willingly given. Names will have to cost extra."

That was it. He had the info I wanted. But of course he was going to try and scam me out of more money. I grew angry at this and decided to look past my limits a little.

"I don't have time for this!" I growled at him. Before he knew what hit him, I grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the building. He tried to break free from me, but with every attempt he made, I squeezed harder. When he finally quit fighting, he agreed to answer me.

"Now," I continued. "Nord woman, brown hair, green eyes, claimed to be dragonborn. Who is she? Answer me and I might not tell General Tullius about your little origination."

Brynjolf's eyes grew wide with fear when I threatened him. "Alright, lad!" He gasped. "I'll tell you. But it's not much."

"A name!" I yelled as I tightened my grip.

His face clinched with pain as he opened his mouth to say, "Amberia. Her name was Amberia.