Sithis, Let Me Test Her

He waited until he felt her body go limp in his arms before gently lying her on the ground. There were days like today that he felt as though he would never fully understand the land and people of Skyrim. When he was born under the sign of the Shadow his people had given him to the Dark Brotherhood, to fulfill his destiny as Shadowscale. Long ago he had learned that was not the way of the people in this land, their destiny was not fated at birth. Yet Nadine seemed convinced that this woman had been born to the Dark Brotherhood, as he himself had been.

If that were not odd enough, the young woman had agreed to join the Dark Brotherhood, had already proven an aptitude for stealth and killing. He did not understand why they had to capture her for the third time and he was starting to suspect that it was some odd family tradition of Nadine's.

"It is done," Veezara said, his green eyes still focused on the female at his feet. "She should sleep for an hour."

"That was easier than I thought it would be," Arnbjorn said gruffly. Leaning down, he hesitated before picking her up, wrinkling his nose. "She smells weird. Must be the wolves she travels with."

Easily and roughly, the large Nord picked up the small half-Breton, pulling her over his shoulder. They made their way over to the carriage where his brother put her body into the cart without ceremony.

"Get her fixed up, I'll get the horses."

"Is this necessary?" Veezara asked. "She is joining our family and will know our location soon enough."

"That's not set in stone. Astrid still wants to meet her first. Honestly I can't see what all the fuss is about over the tidbit. Hardly seems everything Nadine made her out to be," he said.

"She came here willingly," he said, keeping his stance calmly. "It is unlikely she would have resisted coming with us if we had explained -"

"She isn't one of us yet, so stop treating her like it," the man growled. "Just do the job. What's with you tonight?"

Veezara nodded and the the wolf turned from him and back toward the stables where he'd somehow manage to coax one of the horses to come with him despite his beast blood. The argonian thought about the man's question. He did feel that he was acting not himself tonight, that the nature of this woman's joining did not sit well with him. He had always felt at home with his family, had never questioned his destiny or his place among them. Consequently, he had never questioned the jobs he'd been given: until this one.

He would be happy when the business was done with he decided as he began focusing on the task at hand. It would take Arnbjorn some time to coax the horse to do his bidding, more than enough time for him to make sure that the woman would not be able to escape when she woke up. He climbed into the back of the cart, gently pulling her further in and turning her over. He began checking her armor first, pulling out a surprising number of ingeniously hidden daggers and lockpicks in addition to her swords, bow, arrows, and pack.

He saw one lockpick hidden, nearly invisible so that even he with his diligence he had almost missed it. He ran his hands along the craftsmanship of her armor that hid the pick so well. He had heard Nadine speak of her nearly constantly when she had been at the Sanctuary (as had everyone whether they wanted to or not). She had seemed to almost burst with pride when telling them that she had picked up stealth and lockpicking with no assistance, quickly coming to pick moderate-leveled locks.

Veezara's green eyes looked over to see that his brother was still trying to soothe one of the dark brown horses at the stables. He looked back to the girl, curious if the stories about her were accurate. He held the rope in his hand that had been placed in the back of the cart for the purposes of binding her and back to the pick in his hand.

The argonian gave one last look at his brother before dropping the rope and tucking the lock back in the compartment at her back. Reaching into his own pack he brought out a pair of cuffs, bright silver and ingeniously made. The lock on them was surprisingly sophisticated, atypical of most cuffs, and likely more difficult than the budding thief before him had ever attempted before. Swiftly he clasped them to her wrists.

Sithis, let me test her. If she can escape, then I will accept her as a worthy sister, one who does not need to be bound. If not I will follow the orders of my family and let them decide.

Veezara then took the blindfold and wrapped it around her eyes.

"Is the tidbit tied and ready?" Arnbjorn said, leading an uncertain-looking equine to the front of the cart.

We shall see, Veezara thought. But he simply nodded as he moved to the edge of the cart to close off the back so that no unlucky traveler might spot their package in the night.

"Let's get this over with then," the Nord grumbled.

Author's Note(s): Thank you so much to everyone who has commented/liked/and favorited this story!
To EricLightscythe: I totally agree about the last (and this chapter) being too short. I intended to add this chapter after seeing your comment early (then adding another one today) but the first week of the semester was more hectic than normal. This week, however, I will make up for the short chapters by adding another one mid-week. Thanks for your review.