S'raffa Assassin Fic

Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to Bethesda Studios. I own S'raffa.

Chapter 38: Assassin amongst Assassins Part 1

Lucien cursed himself at being too late to stop me. He was on a tirade about what I was doing and he was going to kill me, but I was confused. Even in his anger, Lucien took a moment to notice I was completely confused about the whole thing. I followed the dead drop orders to the letter, literally. Lucien then realized what was going on and he shook his head. He began explaining that, after the Draconis family murders, my orders were being switched with that of members of the Black Hand. I had been unknowingly killing members of the Black Hand starting with J'ghasta. Oh, I was in trouble. What was worse, according to Lucien, was that I had just finished off the Listener.

Lucien explained that there was a traitor in the Dark Brotherhood. I had heard of such a rumor from one of the other assassins at the Sanctuary so very long ago, but I never really thought of anything of it. Now, it was coming into full circle. The rest of the Black Hand members know I am an innocent pawn in all of this, according to Lucien. Lucien believes the Black Hand thinks he is the traitor. His fort is compromised and he has instructed me with the following; head to Anvil and wait at the next drop point. Once there, confront diplomatically whoever comes and handles the barrel. Find out what they know. Lucien would wait for me at Apple Watch, where the first member of the Draconis family was murdered. It should be safe there.

He then disappeared into the night.

I shook my head in confusion. Was it the fight that made me delirious? Did I really do this?

I shook my head for a moment, then scavenged the body of the Listener. I recovered some arrows and managed to take the bow. It was the Bow of Silence, and I smirked; this would definitely come in handy against mages. I then traveled to Anvil.

I arrived at midday and there was already a rain mixed with the salty air. I shook my head and waited near the barrel behind the statue in the pond. As I waited, I paced. I was careful to stay out of sight to ensure that I could see my target. It did make sense; a lot of those targets were tough, especially Shaleez. I guess I really did bungle it, but a part of me actually wondered about something. I was able to systematically eliminate the ruling council of the Black Hand by myself, one at a time. They were supposed to be the best of the best, blessed by the unholy Night Mother with powers that make even demons quake. Yet, I was able to beat them. Either I was a better assassin than I thought, or they were not as good assassins as they thought. Regardless, I had done it, and now, I am here, learning who the traitor is, and why is he doing this.

I walk around the statue silently, blessed with invisibility by the Ring of Khajiiti. I then notice a man approaching the barrel. The man is slight and feeble looking, despite being so young. I watch him carefully move the lid off of the barrel and place an envelope in it. I tap him on the shoulder and he is startled. I glare at him, and I ask simply what was he doing. He then began babbling, saying that a robed man paid him to put the order in here. He kept babbling, saying that this robed man was held up in a lighthouse basement, and this guy Ulfgar Fog-Eye would know more. He rented the place to this man. The coward then ran off.

I decided to go to the light house and find this Fog-Eye. As I went through the house, I found him, coming from the light house. I demanded he give me the key for the Dark Brotherhood and he trembled, saying something unholy was happening down there. I spat on the ground near him, took the key and, drawing my dagger, skulked inside. I had no worry of Fog-Eye alerting the guard; he was weaker than he looked.

I skulked into the basement. When he said something was unholy down here, he was not kidding. I saw the mangled carcass of a dog lying on the ground, and several bodies dug up. I saw a woman stripped naked, her spine arched inhumanly over a piece of furniture. I heard the sound of something coming from the other side of a door way and, as I opened it, saw a crazed dog foaming at the mouth. I killed the dog without too much trouble and then took note of the room around me.

It seemed more like a shrine than anything. There was blood stained all over the walls and floor, and a coffin was pried open. Most of it was bones, but, on the table itself, there was a head of a woman. It looked to be old and rotted, like it was buried for a long time. I shook my head; this traitor had to be sadistic. For a moment, I thought this was Lucien giving me the run around, but, as I looked around, I came across a journal near the shrine.

The journal was the ranting work of a man obsessed with wiping out the Dark Brotherhood completely. Though it does not mention any names, it does indicate that this traitor had worked his way up to the ranks of the guild, eventually becoming a member of the Black Hand. It went on to say that this traitor was going to murder everyone in the Dark Brotherhood, including the Night Mother, because, years earlier, the man had lost his mother to an assassination, and this was his payback. It even mentioned killing Lucien.

Now, I know Lucien is not a traitor. But, who is? I had to get to Applewatch before it was too late…

Next Chapter:

The Exciting Conclusion