Assassination

I stood before the ruins of a house in Irvastead. It had been easy to spot along the river, the only cottage not nicely kept in this stop for Pilgrim's seeking to climb to the Throat of the World. I had gone through Irvastead myself on the way to meet the Grey Beards and knew that if I weren't careful, I would be recognized.

I arrived at the town as dusk settled in. I had stored my glass armor in my pack, glad for the ingenious collapsible design Arcadia had been able to produce. Now I wore The Dark Brotherhood armor, the design of which clinged to my body in a way that I normally would have felt uncomfortable in. But the armor was tough, more flexible even than the Thieve's Guild set Brynjolf had provided me, and utterly silent. I found myself feeling more confident and at home in the armor than I wanted to admit. Over that I wore a brown, worn cloak I had traded for in Riverwood as I had made my way around the mountain. I could have easily afforded a new traveling cloak but preferred the weathered one that pegged me as a commoner, easy to blend in.

I took a deep breath, my heart beating faster as I stared up at the location of my first target. Part of me had already stopped thinking about how wrong it was to take a life that had not endangered my own, that had (to my knowledge) never wronged me in any conceivable way. This man had to die not because he was a murderer or a bandit but because I preferred his name to Vilkas or Aela or Njada. I was here because I had decided that their lives were more important without knowing a thing about this man or his past or his family or what he had done to wrong someone into contacting assassins.

And maybe, maybe his life was worth it if I could prevent a war. How many lives did Vilkas alone save every week? And the Companions as a whole? I could justify it. I could justify murder.

But I didn't want to.

Soundlessly I drew a dagger I had sharpened to make his death as quick and painless as I could. I kept it under my robes, where he couldn't see it if he managed to spot me before I saw him. As I entered, the distressed wood creaked and I remained perfectly still as a figure turned from a small fire at the back of the ruins.

The man stood to his full height as though it pained him, like he had spent much of his time bent over. His clothes were old and filthy, falling off him from overuse and apparent weight loss. His beard was long, scraggily, and it made it hard to tell his age. His eyes squinted in darkness, his face afraid before he spotted me, a large stick of wood in his hands. Instantly his eyes widened when they took me in and I gripped the dagger tighter, prepared to throw it if I had to.

But there was no need. He dropped the wooden slab, his face brightening up and seeming more childlike than a man of his age ought to be capable of. He ran at me, enveloping me in a hug and shouting a wordless sound of joy. Shocked, I remained still in the man's arms.

"Reyda, Reyda you're home! I knew you wouldn't leave me, sister. Not like mom and dad, not without saying goodbye," he said, hugging me even tighter and causing my weapons to dig into my back. "They told me you died, probably fell into the river but I knew you'd come back. You wouldn't leave me. You wouldn't leave your younger brother. I came here because I knew you'd find me here. Oh, Reyda I missed you."

"Narfi," I said, my voice breathless. "I -"

But Narfi squeezed me tighter before letting go. "I was so lonely without you. I thought I might die here. But you came back, you came back."

"Yes, I..." I said quietly, my finger rubbing the hilt of my dagger. "Yes, brother, I came back for you."

"I knew you couldn't be dead," Narfi said. "You couldn't be dead. And you're home. Come, sit with me."

Narfi smiled at me before turning back to the fire. It was clear the poor man was out of his mind and I wondered if this had happened before or after his sister had disappeared. If I had to guess, his condition was nothing new, but his sister had taken care of him. And she had likely died and left him here to fend for himself.

"How long have I been gone, brother?" I asked, following him and sitting beside him.

I continued to finger the dagger, wondering how I could bring myself to murder him now.

"Two months. But I knew you'd come back before winter," Narfi said.

"Did no one look for me?"

Narfi nodded. "I looked. And Barknar. He said you fell into the river, said your body wasn't recoverable because of the tide. But I knew he was wrong."

I remembered that name, vaguely. A ranger I had met on the way to meet the Grey Beards. He had seemed to know his business quite well. If he had proclaimed her dead it was likely more than just guesswork.

"Narfi, what if...what if I had died?"

"You didn't."

"I know that, but what if I did? What would you do?"

Narfi shook his head violently. "No, no, no, no. You can't die. You can't."

"Narfi -"

And then the full grown Nord burst out crying, wrapping his arms around my waist and putting his head on my chest like a child. Slowly I wrapped my arms around him, keeping the dagger from touching the skin on his back.

"You can't leave me, please. I don't want to be without you. Not after mother and father left and didn't say goodbye. I couldn't, please don't go, Reyda," he said, crying.

"Shh, shh," I said, feeling the guilt well up within me that I hadn't felt when thinking about the task outside. "Shh, I'm here. It's going to be ok."

With my heart pound I quickly turned toward him, forcing the dagger into his back, to his heart, placing my left hand over his mouth to muffle his shout of pain as his wide eyes stared up at me, confused. His arms continued to hold me.

I removed my hand from his mouth as he dropped his arms. Realization came to his eyes then and he saw that this Breton woman before him was not the sister he had known his whole life.

"You're not Reyda," he gasped.

"You'll be with her soon," I said, my voice steady even as emotion built inside my throat.

Narfi's mouth moved soundlessly as the light left his eyes. I shut mine, tears running down my cheeks for the first time in a long time as I leaned over him, his blood on my right hand and dagger.

"How touching," said a female voice from behind me.

Before I could react, the person was upon me, her dagger in my side. I cried out, gasping, as she removed the blade. I turned, crying out as pain shot up my side, and slashed at her neck but she dodged. I managed to cut her cheek, a large red gash showing up before her dagger went into my thigh and I screamed, pain instantly lacing up and down my leg and abdomen. It was clear that her daggers had some sort of poison or toxin on them as tremors seized my whole body and I fell forward, into myself, dropping my dagger.

My brain screamed at me to get up, to pick up my blade and at least take her out with me but the pain quickly became overwhelming, searing through every thought. The Nord female grabbed a hold of my hair, forcing my tear covered face to look up at her as the pain threatened to blind me. Her long dark hair fell loose around her, brushing my cheek.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Are you Reyda?"

The woman smiled, cruel. "You would be lucky if I were just some grief-stricken commoner. No, my name is Lenna, and you're the reason my husband is dead. I don't think we had the pleasure of meeting when you were at the Sanctuary, sister."

I ground my teeth, as pain hit me again and she threw my head down. "I-I had nothing to do with his death."

She kicked me and I coughed hard, my body convulsing again before I was able to regain control of it.

"Of course you did, sister. You were Amalia's precious little Shadow, a Legacy. But who were you to us, really? Hahmish was Nadine's brother. You were just some bastard she's never known," Lenna continued, wiping off her blade as I looked up at her through the loose strands of my hair. "We were her real family and she killed him and everyone ignores it. They treat it like it didn't happen because of who your mother was. Well I knew Amalia, and she was nothing like you."

I laughed weakly. "I tried telling her that."

Lenna smiled but there was no joy in it, just a cold glint as she put her dagger back in her robes. "I'm glad we agree on something. It's nothing personal, really, but I have to drag out your death. Did you know there's plenty of buyers for the Dragonborn's head? Seems like you've made a few enemies."

"Seems like it," I said weakly, my body shuddering again as my arms collapsed and I fell the rest of the say to the floor.

I laid there on the floor, fear flooding my body. Just behind me lay Narfi, his body growing colder by the second. I had murdered him in cold blood and couldn't help but think that this was karma making quick work of me. Maybe dying now would prevent me from becoming a monster.

"We have a few hours though, and I plan to get very intimate with you until then so don't go passing out," she said. She roughly forced me onto my back and got down, pressing her knees into my thighs, one going right into the stab wound and causing me to scream, and she placed a hand over my mouth. "Shh, shh, that was nothing. We're just getting started."

I shut my eyes for only a second and then heard a soft thud, feeling something fall next to me. I turned my head toward the noise, opening my eyes to see Lenna's lifeless blue eyes boring into mine, her face expressionless. I looked upward once more to see Veezara standing above me. I felt relief flood me as he came to lean down beside me, opposite of where the Nord's body now lie.

"Be still, help is coming," Veezara said.

"Help isn't very pleased," grumbled a low voice, entering the shack loudly, the boards under him creaking. I attempted to look up at him, but another wave of pain struck me and I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth as another shudder stole through me.

"Please Festus, it isn't as if you had anything else to do with the way Contracts have dried up," said a female voice humorously.

I opened my eyes again when the wave had passed to look at Veezara. I tried to crack a smile. "I'm not typically this incompetent."

"I wouldn't worry about it, dear," said the female voice which belonged to a Dunmer who came to move the Nord's body further away from me, picking up her dagger and looking at it in the fire light. She sat it down on a nearby table and opened a pack she had with her, beginning to set up alchemical equipment. "Lenna was an expert in illusion spells. You could not have seen her coming with your magical skill."

"Skill, hmpf," the older man grunted, a Nord. He moved a chair noisily to the place Lenna's body had been until the Dark Elf had removed it. "You mean lack of skill. Your mother now, that was a mage that could cast a beauty of a spell. Not as good as me, mind you, but given time, given time."

"So," I said, looking back to Veezara, temporarily having to stop to suppress a scream. "Does Nadine always have someone follow me or is this a special occasion?"

The older man grunted but Veezara laughed quietly. The argonian said, "You laugh in the face of death?"

"Like her mother," the female's voice said quietly. Then, more cheerfully, "I am Gabriella. I knew your mother when I was very young, she was the one who recruited me. Taught Lenna this poison too, I believe. It's ingredients are hard to discern from tests. Luckily, she taught it to me as well. It should take twenty minutes, so try not to die until then."

"She said I had a couple of hours," I said, my body shuddering.

The man snorted, "Arrogance. Lenna was never as good at alchemy as she thought, she always left that to Hahmish. He was ok at it, for a Khajiit. I'd say you have maybe a half hour, hour tops."

"Jee, thanks," I said, pressing my lips together tightly as another wave of pain came, faster than before.

"Festus, can you slow the progression?" Veezara asked, his voice sounding genuinely concerned.

The man, Festus grunted, before saying, "I'm no healer but I can give her a few extra minutes. As long as Gabriella gets the antidote ready in time."

"Old man, you know I am more than capable of that," Gabriella said lightly.

Suddenly my body began to convulse. Somewhere I was vaguely aware that two hands were pressing my shoulders to the floor as I screamed. Suddenly I felt warmth hit, and the pain eased. My body fell to the floor, suddenly limp and I took a gasping breath, sweat pouring from my brow.

Of all the ways I had thought I would die, surrounded by assassins had always seemed a likely option. Surrounded by assassins desperately working together to keep me alive, however, had never crossed my mind.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked Veezara as Festus continued to pour healing energy into me. "Why go through all this trouble?"

The old man grumbled something about being 'ungrateful,' but Veezara's steady gaze held my eyes. "You are our sister, now."

"So was Lenna," I said.

"She betrayed us when the blade punctured your skin. Lenna was no longer family," he said.

"And Hahmish?" He said nothing, an uncomfortable silence descended on the trio. "Does everyone know?"

"No," Gabriella said. "And it would be best you drop the subject."

"Are there others? Others who want me dead because of -"

"What did I say?" the dark elf said frustrated, turning to look at me.

Festus quickly reprimanded her, "Get back to work. I'm not doing this much work for a corpse. And I'm definitely not going to hear Nadine's constant ranting if we let her die."

Gabriella turned back to her work. Veezara removed his hands from my shoulders and I realized at that moment that he hadn't let go since my episode. Finally he said, "It is possible that Lenna spoke of her grievances to others, but as far as we are aware, she was the only one who was angry and wanted revenge. Most whom she spoke with knew the truth already and chose to remain out of the situation -"

Festus grunted something I couldn't understand.

"And those who were not already aware seem to have dismissed it as gossip, unsubstantiated," Veezara said.

"Why?"

He hesitated. "It would mean that Astrid knew and had chosen not to act."

"We're a family," Gabriella said, her voice steady. "Hahmish endangered that when he betrayed a secret kept by us."

"Still," Festus grunted, "there are rules."

"I know that but he gave her no choice," she said.

"That isn't for you to decide. We weren't there," the man replied.

"Astrid believed it, and that is good enough for me."

The Nord grunted again but said nothing.

"You can see why this issue is problematic for our family to discuss. So I would appreciate it if you would not bring it up in future. What's done is done, and you should be safe now, sister," Veezara said, calmly.

"Don't count your chickens yet," Festus said.

"So pessimistic old man, you know what that does to a girl," Gabriella said.

"Don't tease me, child," Festus said. "I'm too old for games."

Gabriella laughed, her voice almost melodic. "But old man, you are so easy to antagonize."

"I'll have you know that I could light this entire village up right now if I wanted to. You should show some respect," he said.

"And yourself in it," Gabriella said. "You would think you had learned your lesson about that already."

"That was over fifty years ago," the man said.

I found myself amused and surprised by their easy banter. If I closed my eyes I could easily picture Festus as Skjor or Athis arguing with Ria or Aela. They were comfortable with each other, even as they bickered. They sounded like – like family.

I shut my eyes and felt myself drifting into sleep, the pain present but dulled.

"Don't let her fall asleep," a man's voice ordered.

Then a smooth male's voice, "Sister, wake up, stay awake now."

I opened my eyes to stare into large green eyes. Alien eyes. I tried to think of a time in Cyrodiil I had ever been up close and personal with an Argonian. There were so few Argonian mages in Cyrodiil that I had only met maybe four my entire life. I noticed that within the deep green eyes were shades of brown, rich and warm.

"You nearly done, elf?"

"You getting tired old man?"

"You know this isn't one of your experiments, this is practical knowledge. You have to be quick, think on your feet."

"Save the lecture, old man."

Suddenly the pain was back and I found it hard to breathe, my brain awakened by the sting of it. Veezara's hands were on my shoulders now, keeping me down as my body shuddered, twitching. I clamped my teeth together but ultimately couldn't hold back the screaming.

"By the nine she's loud," Festus said loudly over my screaming. "Good thing I cast that silence spell over the area."

"Keep bragging, gives me time to pass you up," Gabriella said.

"Focus," Veezara's smooth voice demanded. "Both of you."

Finally the pain died down, my voice raw from screaming. My head fell back, shivers running up and down my arms and legs as sweat poured out of me. I was overwhelmingly hot.

I'm dying.The thought sunk in. I was dying. Despite their carefree banter, despite their confidence, the truth was that I was dying. I was dying far from my home in Cyrodiil in the presence of strangers who knew nothing about me. I thought of the Companions, how I wished it was them here with me. I wondered what would happen when I didn't return. Would anyone even alert them to my death? What would happen to Jared? How would this affect Farkas?

And Vilkas, I had promised Vilkas I would come back. I felt my chest tighten with emotion. I could still remember the way his yellow eyes had bored into me, leaning down and telling me plainly that he knew my mission was more than I said it had been. All this time he had been afraid that he would hurt me but it was always my own decisions that were bound to get me in to trouble. I shouldn't have left, I should have stayed. I had promised him I would come back from this and I had lied.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. But the eyes above me weren't yellow, they were green. I could see in them knowledge though, the knowledge I wasn't apologizing to him.

I let my head fall to its side as the darkness began to gather quickly I closed my eyes, not wishing to stare out lifelessly in death.

"Not just yet," Gabriella said.

I felt arms lifting me up, my head lolling back and I was too weak to lift it. I felt a gentle yet strong hand lift my head slightly as something was brought to my lips. Liquid, vile tasting, poured down my throat and I began to cough.

"Bout time," a voice grumbled.

"She'll be fine by morning," a female voice.

Then I felt myself lifted off the ground as a smooth voice said, "Sleep, sister."

AN: A bit darker than previous chapters but hope it was a good read. Also a bit of an answer to your musings last chapter EricLightscythe which is definitely something she will have to deal with more as time goes on.

On a brighter note, managed not to leave this in a cliffhanger for once. Probably would have been extra cruel if I had.