I dug my heels into the sides of Silver Shadow, I had never pushed her this hard, even when I had carried Cicero broken and bleeding back to the Sanctuary from Solitude. As the column of smoke grew closer my heart sunk to the bottom of my boots, it was my home that was burning.
I dropped lightly to the snow and crouched behind a bush. I spent a moment hiding, inspecting the entrance to the cavern below. The door had been dislodged from its place and was hanging open, smoke pouring from the opening. There was no movement and I could see blood left in drag marks in the snow, whoever had made their way inside had pulled someone out.
I slowly made my way to the door, my ears and eyes alert and wary of any moment around me. Bringing my fingertips to some of the blood on the snow I could feel it was already almost frozen, whoever had broken in and left was long gone. Moving faster I pulled my cowl over my head and face, hoping to deter the smoke from choking me. The heat was staggering as I made my way down the winding steps and into the first main room. It had been ransacked, but there wasn't much else, no blood, no bodies.
I continued into the entry way where Mother's shrine was located.
"Mother!" I breathed when I saw her sarcophagus had been knocked over. It was lying on the floor, still closed just as Cicero had left it the night before. "I am here, Mother!" I called to her, placing my hands on the warm metal. I could feel her, I knew she was still inside, safe and tucked away behind the heavy doors. I looked around for the boxes that Cicero kept nearby, the ones that were stuffed full of items used to care for our Matron. When I finally found them I dumped them all out until I found the large fabric with cords made from heavy, water repellant material.
"For keeping out water and smoke." Cicero explained with a smile. "Mother must be kept safe when traveling."
He had folded the fabric and returned it to the box I had just emptied to the floor.
"Here, Mother!" I called to her again as I did my best to wrap her cylinder with the fabric I had found. "I am sorry it's not as good as Cicero does it." I pressed my forehead to the material. "I will return, please, rest here and be safe."
I slowly made my way down the stairs from her shrine to the main hall, the fire was still burning, but was running out of fuel and had begun to burn only in the pile of wood that was our dining area only a few hours before. The heat from the fire hung heavy in the room, and even though I was wrapped in my light riding attire I was sweating. I made my way through the wreckage of the hall slowly, keeping my dagger ready and my eyes moving. I paused for moment when I saw the legs dangling out from behind a toppled over bookshelf, but when no movement came, I ventured forward.
My heart stopped in my chest when I saw Tagan lying on his back, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. I could feel my stomach turn at the sight of his mangled limbs and bashed in skull. I had seen plenty of death, even before joining the Dark Brotherhood, but I had never seen such intense violence. I sat down next to the dead body of my brother and let the tears silently fall down my cheeks as I held his broken hand in mine.
"Sleep now, dear Brother…" I breathed as I closed his eyelids. "Mother and Sithis have you now. May they wrap you in the peaceful embrace of The Void."
I continued to wind my way down the halls, past the body of poor Mortha, and into the sleeping chambers.
"Stop! Please, no more!" I heard Nazir's voice yell from behind an upturned bed.
"Speaker?" I called out to him.
"Listener? Is that you?" His voice was filled with pain.
I hurried around the side of the bed and was taken aback by the state of the old Redguard. He was missing an arm and a leg, the right side of his face was swollen, and he had fresh burns running down his chest.
"Let me go get some potions from Babette's room!" I turned to hurry away.
"No!" He lurched forward and grimaced in pain. "No, please. This old man is ready to see his Master in The Void."
"But…" My eyes began to fill with tears. "Nazir…"
He reached for my face and allowed his fingertips to brush my cheek. "It was only because of you that I got to feel the fullness of a Sanctuary with the Night Mother's presence." He smiled softly. "Thank you, little Dunmer."
Tears ran down my cheeks as I took his hand in mine. His large, dark hand was covered in old scars from years of training and assassinations and the fresh blood that ran over it seemed fitting.
"Do me one favor." He croaked as his eyes began to lose their focus.
"Of course, Speaker, anything." I crawled so I was next to him, kneeling in his blood.
"Find Babette. They took her, and I fear what monstrous things they will do to her when the find out she is undead." He closed his eyes. "And that fool, they took him too."
"Cicero?" Hope rose in my chest.
He nodded, his eyes remained closed.
"Of course, brother."
"Kill well, sister." He rasped. "And often."
As his hand went limp in mine and his chest stopped moving I could feel and emptiness rising in my chest. Three of my siblings had died today, all of them wrapped in the safety of our home. The emptiness was soon filled with anger, it slowly poured in, like hot pewter into a mold. The heat of it filled my chest and I began to shake uncontrollably, my hands clenched and unclenched, attempting to release the tension building in my body.
"Find Babette."
The last request of my now dead brother was all that filled my mind now. I had to find my remaining siblings and hope they were in one piece when I did. I hurried to the room Cicero and I shared, grabbing the biggest travel bag I could find. I made my way around the room, digging through the rubble of what was our belongings. I found my armor and dagger flung to one side of the room, and some potions with them. I stuffed it all in the bag. I dug through the discarded bags that had been sitting on top of my dresser and pulled out the masks I had commissioned. I was leaving the room when I saw them laying on the floor. Cicero's gloves.
He had removed them to prepare to oil mother, and they had most likely still been sitting on the table when the intruders had dismantled our room. I grabbed them and noticed his book and papers all over the floor under what was left of our bed. I carefully piled the loose papers together and placed them in the front cover of the book. I wrapped the whole thing in a torn shirt I found and gently tucked it into the bag with the other items.
I turned to face our room one more time before leaving. A heavy feeling of forever came over me as I pulled forward many memories of times spent here. "I will find you, my Keeper." I whispered before turning and making my way back to the entrance of the Sanctuary.
"I will return." I paused and bowed to the overturned sarcophagus, my forehead pressed to the floor. "Please Mother. May Sithis grant me the strength and cunning to destroy these defilers. Please…" My voice caught in my throat. "Please keep Cicero and Babette safe."
I had left my mother at the inn in Dawnstar. I left her there in the snow and began walking. I wasn't sure where I was going, or where to even begin looking, but I knew that I had to find my family. I remembered looking at the drag marks in the thin layer of snow outside of the Sanctuary, the footprints had headed south, and so that's the direction I went.
The further I walked the worse the snow storm grew. I had begun to wonder in circles, blinded and lost. I thought about hunkering down behind a rock or tree, to wait for the storm to blow over, but all I could think of was Cicero. I had to find him, to save him from the horrors that were surely being inflicted on him.
'Besides,' I told myself. 'If I stop for too long, I will freeze to death.'
My arms were wrapped around myself and I was shivering as I continued to place one foot in front of another. I lost track of how long I had been walking, the storm just continued to rage all around me. The blue tones in my skin were growing deeper and I had begun to loose feeling in my hands. As tears began to press behind the backs of my eyes I started to panic. I was going to die out here, and then Cicero and Babette would be left to their kidnappers. It was in that moment that I first saw the flickering light of a fire in the distance.
"A camp!" I exclaimed and tried to press onward towards the small light. It must have been further away than it seemed. No matter how long I walked, dragging one lead filled leg after another, the flame never got closer.
"Please, help!" I tried to call to the people who would surely be sitting around it. My voice was small against the swirling snow. I stared at the light as I felt my legs buckle beneath me.
'Please, Mother…' I begged as my vision began to spot. 'Please, help me.'
Everything went dark.
My sleep was dark, but peaceful. There were no dreams, for the first time in my entire life, my sleep was like The Void itself. I was aware of the warmth and softness that was pressing itself against my skin, and I couldn't help but indulge in it.
"I don't think she's going to make it…" I woman's voice floated through my darkness.
"We've done everything we can, we just have to wait now." A man's voice.
"She's just so small…" The woman's voice was filled with concern.
"Standing over her isn't going to help." The man's voice was deep, vastly different from the voice of my Keeper.
"I know." The woman replied.
I wanted to know who they were. I wanted to see their faces. I tried to open my eyes, but they were so tired. I let the closeness of consciousness slip away as the darkness and silence enveloped me once again.
My eyes flew open. I was laying on my back, staring up at a stone ceiling. I sat up straight in the bed I had been placed in. Looking around the room I didn't recognize anything except the pile of my own belongings in the corner. There were crates and other storage items piled against one of the walls along with some rolled up rugs and a rack of dried alchemy ingredients.
I was pulled away from my observations of my surroundings by movement at the end of my bed.
"No…" The woman mumbled, she was sitting in a chair beside the bed with her head rested on the mattress, sleeping. "I don't want a damn sweetroll…" She mumbled again, her mouth turned down into a frown. She looked familiar, but I couldn't place where I knew her from. She looked young, and yet there was something old about her, as though she had lived enough for lifetimes.
The door suddenly flew open. "Look what I found!" A large hulking Nord man swung in the room, stopping when he locked eyes with me.
"I wasn't sleeping!" The woman sat up straight, her hair sticking up on the side and drool running down her chin.
The man only silently pointed at me.
The woman turned her half-lidded eyes to me. "Oh!" Her eyes grew wide. "You're awake!"
I nodded. I tightened my fists, only to realize my hands were wrapped in bandages. I held them up to look at them.
"Oh, your hands were frostbitten." She explained. "Do they hurt? I can give you some more blue mountain flowers, if you'd like, for the pain."
I shook my head. "No," My voice cracked. "Thank you."
She smiled and her eyes lit up.
"Dov, perhaps we should…" The man motioned to me again.
"Oh, yes…" She stood from where she had been sitting. "I am sorry, my name is Dyre." She motioned to the man standing next to her. "This is Farkas."
He smiled, and for a moment despite his looming frame he looked like a child. "Hey."
"Vilvyni." I nodded again. "Where…" My throat was sore. "Where am I?"
"We found you unconscious in the middle of a snow storm…" Farkas began.
"We brought you back to our home to treat you." Dyre reached for my forehead. "You are in Jorrvaskr, the home of the Companions."