Chapter 2

A/N: The different proportions of the characters come from the All Shapes and Sizes mod.

Ocheeva rubbed one of her cranial spikes as she sighed. She had been so sure that today was going to be a good day. Lucien had just sent her seven new contracts all at once, mostly with the potential to be very lucrative. She had managed to remind Antoinetta Marie of the Tenets apropos of harming her Brothers and Sisters, and thus hopefully averted any future garlic-related cooking disasters. And no one had knocked over the Dark Guardian in days, saving Ocheeva the trouble of piecing the old skeleton back together again. Yes, technically she ought to be able to delegate that chore – preferably to whomever had done the damage to start with – but no one ever seemed to be able to complete it to her satisfaction. Really, it was bizarre how easily how easily the thing could be damaged by accident, given how difficult it was to do on purpose.

And now there was this. The Argonian restrained her tail from twitching only with great difficulty as she looked at Gogron and his so-called new recruit. The little Elf looked more or less like any other young Bosmer, round-faced and pointed of ear. She might be a little paler than usual, perhaps, but that was not surprising. (Ocheeva tried to ignore the red eyes. She had gotten used to Vicente's, but he was not a barely-adult Wood Elf.) In any case, she looked like some kind of pet, standing there in her threadbare robe beside the enormous Orc.

Ocheeva had nothing in particular against Bosmer. Telaendril had been a valued member of her Sanctuary for some years now. Nor had she any problem with vampires, given the frequent and useful participation of Vicente Valtieri. But this...

"We don't do the recruiting, Gogron," Ocheeva said. "You know that responsibility belongs to Lucien LaChance."

"Is that in the Tenets, then?" Gogron asked. He was using his "big stupid Orc" voice again, the one he often used when he knew he was right and Ocheeva was wrong.

"You know full well it's not in the Tenets," Ocheeva snapped. "But it is the way things have always been done. The Night Mother speaks to the Listener, and the Listener to the Speakers, and the Speakers choose our Brothers and Sisters. If you want a god who favors blind chance, worship Sheogorath."

"I don't know from gods," Gogron said. "I just thought, what with her falling down the well and everything, it might be a gift. You know, from the Night Mother. But like you said, I'm not the one she talks to."

Ocheeva glared at the Orc, who now wore an expression of calculated imbecility. Given that she'd just finished arguing against random chance, it would be awkward for her to say the Bosmer's presence was a coincidence, and he knew it.

"I could simply order you to kill her," Ocheeva said. "According to the Tenets, you may not disobey."

"Yeah," Gogron said. He looked her in the eye, which in this case meant tilting his head downwards somewhat. "That's true."

But, Ocheeva recognized silently, that wouldn't stop him from doing any number of things to inconvenience her later. He might be a brute, but Gogron gro-Bolmog was not stupid. If he had been, Lucien would never have recruited him.

"Besides," Ocheeva said aloud. "What could I possibly tell Lucien?"

"I have an idea about that," Gogron said. "I figured I could take her with me on my next contract, she could kill somebody, and then if she's right for a Sister, he'll know. He always knows."

Ocheeva tugged on her spine-rings, considering this. It sounded like an excellent solution to the problem, if not exactly for the reasons Gogron presented.

"What do you say to that?" Ocheeva said at last, turning to the Bosmer. "Are you willing to kill in cold blood?"

"Yes," said the vampire. "I think so."

"Hmph. You'll need to be a little more certain than that," Ocheeva said. "But she'll have to earn her armor, Gogron. You're responsible for outfitting her. And if I have the slightest suspicion she is feeding on any Brother or Sister here..."

"Not to worry," Gogron said. "I got enough to spare for her. She doesn't need much."

"If you say so," Ocheeva said. "Oh, and about speaking of contracts, I have one for you right now."

---

"That went about like I thought it would," said Gogron gro-Bolmog. Dree pushed her short hair behind her long ears. It was still yellowish. Too bad her eyes would never be the same.

"I didn't think she would agree," Dree said. She followed the Orc through a set of heavy wooden doors and down some stairs. Something coarse and hairy brushed past her ankle. "Was that a really big rat?"

"That's Schemer. He lives here." Gogron stumped down a set of steps into a smaller room, spartanly furnished with tables, crates, and shelves. "And Ocheeva thinks I'm going to hack you into messes," Gogron said. "Otherwise she wouldn't have. Mind if I eat?"

"No, of course not. Are you going to hack me into messes?" said Dree.

Gogron shrugged his massive shoulders as he rummaged through the cupboard. "Depends on you," he said. "See, I didn't get here by accident. None of us did."

"You had to kill somebody, right?" Dree said.

"Right. And I know you're thinking it, so I'll tell you. Let's see." Gogron held up his gauntleted fists and counted off on his fingers. "My father. My mother. Both of my brothers. My uncle. Two of my uncle's hired hands. Also, near as I could tell afterwards, all of my uncle's dogs, horses, and anything else that was alive and moving."

"You went berserk?" Dree said.

"Sort of," Gogron said. He came over to the table with his arms full and began spreading out bread, meat, and vegetables over the table surface, ignoring the plates. "From what I hear about Orc berserking, you're supposed to still know what's going on. I don't remember a thing between when my father started beating me for about the hundredth time and when I woke up in the middle of a cornfield with blood all over me. But all of those people I mentioned were armed, and I wasn't. The law didn't believe I could have killed them all by myself, even as big as I already was. Lucien LaChance came along that night after I finished burying everybody. I figured I was probably going to do it again anyhow, so I might as well get paid."

Dree added two and two together and came up with the requisite number. Written in blood. Mine. "So the Argonian – what was her name?"

"Ocheeva," Gogron said. He slid off his gauntlets, picked up an apple, and delicately removed the stem. Then he put the entire thing into his mouth.

"She thinks that when we go on this contract, you'll go crazy and kill me along with everyone else?" Dree said, raising her voice to be heard over the Orc's jaws working.

Gogron swallowed. "I think so," he said. "Normally we work alone, so it was never a problem before. I'd sneak in somewhere, kill everything, and then whenever I snapped out of it, I'd sneak out. Near as I can figure out, I'm not loud when it happens, I'm just really, really angry."

"I think I understand," Dree said. "Your plan is that I go with you, try to stay out of your way, and try and kill someone before there's no one left."

"That's the plan," Gogron said. He reached for a loaf of bread. "You heard the contract. It's not a bad start, if you can stomach it. Once I get going, you ought to be able to catch one or two trying to get away."

"I don't have any reason to like necromancers," Dree said.

"It's more than that," Gogron said. He picked up a knife and began sawing at the hard loaf. "I'll warn you now. If you think you're going to freeze up, don't go. You'll just get killed."

"I won't freeze," Dree said. "I've had people try to kill me before." Pretty much all the time, since I turned into what I am now.

"Good," Gogron said. He took a drink of ale. Dree, watching with something like awe, watched him put away another pound or so of meat in a matter of seconds. He wasn't a rude or messy eater, but he did seem to believe in quantity. Of course, she had removed a couple of pints of his blood earlier.

"So how are you at making yourself invisible?" Gogron said eventually.

"I can blend in really well," Dree said. "It's always worked so far." It was too bad she'd forgotten to do it when she was trying to pick the basement lock of the house where the guard had caught her. She'd been very thirsty, and in pain, and it had slipped her mind. I won't let it happen again.

"How about shooting? Any good with a bow?"

Dree stared at him. "I'm still a Bosmer, you know," she said.

"Fine, I'll get you a bow. Lots of Wood Elves around Cheydinhal. It shouldn't be too hard to find some lightweight armor in a real small size."

"Gogron," Dree said. "Why are you doing this?"

The Orc paused with a cup halfway to his mouth. He set it down and looked at her for a few seconds without saying anything. Then he said, "It's really going to annoy somebody I want to annoy. Let's leave it at that, Huh? You should be all right here until I get back. Ocheeva will make sure nobody bothers you. She's strict about anything happening in the Sanctuary."

---

Dree watched with something akin to dread as Gogron left. He was frightening, but he hadn't tried to hurt her, which was more than she could say for ninety percent of the people she had met since she had caught the porphyry. And about fifty percent of the all the people I've met in my entire life, counting the vampire I never saw, Dree thought glumly. She padded back to the living quarters as quietly as possible. Her fabric shoes were so worn she could feel every individual stone in the floor. If she listened, she could hear hearts beating, but she was trying really hard not to notice that.

Dree seized one handle of the huge doors and hauled back, then twitched backward as the door flew open. The tawny Khajiit she had seen earlier stalked out of the doorway, and they stood eye to eye. Well, not eye to eye exactly. He was a good six inches taller than Dree, which would make him about a foot shorter than Gogron. Now that she could see all of him, he looked thinner than she had expected. The magicka that reeked from his robe was tangible, an almost-audible crackle in the air.

"Are you M'raaj-Dar?" Dree said.

The Khajiit inspected her through narrowed eyes. His ears were flat. "Who are you? And what is an unnecessary small Bosmer doing here obstructing the walkway of those with legitimate purpose?"

"I'm Dree," she said. "Actually, we met earlier." She grinned hopefully, then realized too late that this meant showing her sharp teeth.

"Oh. Gogron's vampire." The Khajiit's ears rose to something approximating half-mast. Dree received the strong impression they spent a lot of time that way. "Then get out of the way, little biting creature. This one has work to do."

Dree moved out of the way and watched the Khajiit pass. He did not give her a second glance. He doesn't walk like a mage. He walks like a thief, Dree thought. Her experience of assassins was very limited up until now, but her experience of thieves was comprehensive. What she saw was the arrogant tread of one who owns all he surveys, but also makes very little sound, in case the people who think they own what he is surveying are still within earshot.

I really am in a Dark Brotherhood sanctuary, Dree thought, and crept back into the living quarters and closed the door, very quietly. It had been a long few days, and a terrifying morning, and more than anything, she wanted to curl up and just be somewhere else for a while. She went past the table and the cupboards and peered around a support column at the beds. There were several of them, but it wasn't hard to tell which one was Gogron's. It had a huge indentation in the middle of the mattress. Dree stood and looked at it for a while. She thought about the torches, and how much they reminded her of sunlight, and how quietly everyone around here seemed to walk.

Then she went and crawled under the bed.

I'll wake up as soon as Gogron comes back, she thought. Then she blew out the light inside, and for a while there was nothing at all.