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"Dragon shouts"

"Normal speech"

"Thoughts/whispers/written speech"

••••••••••

The next day.

I groaned unhappily as I tried to get comfortable in my bed for the fourth time that night. No matter what I did, I could not rest easy and the little sleep I got was restless. Something was wrong. Missing. But what?

My pillow was the same as it was before I left. My blanket was the same too, and I never had a problem sleeping in this bed before so what the hell could possibly be holding me back from a good night's rest? Maybe Babette or Nazir would know. Either of them might be able to suggest some sort of remedy for his situation, all I needed to do was ask.

I sat up to do just that until I remembered that it was still extremely early, probably two or three in the morning. The sun wouldn't have even begun to peek over the mountains. Babette and Nazir were both definitely still asleep. I laid back down and rolled around before finally giving up on getting anymore sleep.

"Fuck it then." I mumbled to myself then angrily tossed my pillow across the room. It slammed into the far wall with a quiet "fwoof".

It was childish to toss my pillow but it made me feel just a little better. I muttered as I rolled out of bed. Since I knew I wasn't going to get any more sleep I figured that I might as well get ready for the day. A warm bath and shave would serve to wake me up and maybe improve my mood. I grabbed a change of clothes, my boots, tossed a towel around my shoulders and grabbed my shave kit then quietly made my way up the hall to the small wash room next to the barracks and across from Babette's personal chambers.

Inside was a simple room that I had Delvin Mallory create a few months after we had moved in. It was only proper that the Sanctuary had a room for the sole purpose of cleaning yourself. On the far side of the room, across from the door, was a large tub for bathing. Beside it was a small bench that most used to simply keep their clothes and towels off the floor. Lastly was a chest high basin for cleaning one's face or clothes or anything else we might need, a small cabinet with soap and a few brushes for the body and hair, and a mirror directly above the basin.

I set my personal effects down then made sure to bolt the door closed. I didn't want anyone to accidently walk in on me. That was one embarrassing story I didn't need.

The magically heated bath was exactly what I needed. The hot bath followed by a quick shave left me feeling clean and a little more energized.

I made a mental note to thank Delvin the next time I saw him for pulling whatever strings he had to for that washroom. I still had no real idea the runes and magic that went into that room that allowed us to fill both the basin and tub at the turn of a knob but it was amazing and I was extremely thankful to have it.

I got dressed and gave myself one last look in the mirror. I was ready to go get a bite to eat from the main hall but ran into Cicero right as I opened the washroom door.

"Oh! Well good morning dear Listener. What has you up and about this time of day?"

I shrugged and tossed my towel around my shoulders. "Couldn't sleep. Decided to just get up and on with things."

Cicero nodded. "Ahhh Cicero sees. That is rather unfortunate. The Listener needs his sleep. Can't cut throats if you're tired, yes."

I nodded. "Very true. I'll ask Nazir or Babette about some home remedies that might help me if this problem persists. It's only been one night so maybe it's just one of those times."

Cicero cackled with glee. "Listener must be so tired. Rebuilding the family is no easy task, no no no. Oh but Cicero is sure the Listener can do it. The Black Hand will help once the Listener finds family to take the mantel. Speakers and Silencers."

I stopped him there. "Silencer? What is that and what does it have to do with the Black Hand?"

Cicero clapped and bounced. "Yes, that's right. Cicero forgets that the Listener does not know all that he should. That blasphemous whore Astrid did not teach him as she should have. Well no matter, Cicero will tell the Listener. The Listener already knows that the Black Hand are the leaders of the Brotherhood. Five members, four Speakers, one Listener. The Listener is the living connection to the unholy matron. He hears her words, her commands and conveys her will to the family."

"The Speakers do as their name suggests, they travelled the land and speak to those who prayed to Mother. They then arrange for each contract to be fulfilled. In Cicero's day each Speaker was assigned their own Sanctuary to oversee."

"What the Listener does not know is that there is a secret rank not known by any except the Black Hand. That is the rank of Silencer." he said before continuing much more quietly. "A Silencer is the personal assassin of a Speaker, thought Listener might wish to consider having one for himself. They rank directly above an Executioner and directly below the Speakers. Normally if a Speaker were to pass on into the void their replacement would be their Silencer. In most cases, each member of the Black Hand would take the brightest and most deadly member of their respective Sanctuary and in secret, promote them to the rank of Silencer. The Silencer would essentially disappear, working only for their respective Speaker, striking out at their behest. Cicero was a Silencer for a short time before he became Keeper. It was glorious."

Cicero chuckled. "Well, Cicero will leave the Listener to enjoy his morning. There Listener can come to cover anytime if he has further questions. Cicero is glad we had this chat and to have you home." He said before continuing down the hall to the barracks.

I walked around the corner into the main hall and sat at one of the tables. I had no clue that the Silencers were ever a thing. If I could bring them back, they would make a very useful tool to the Black Hand. I absentmindedly picked up an apple and began to nibble as I thought about the possibilities.

"I see you are awake Morthos."

I flinched at the Nightmother's voice. She laughed at my discomfort.

"Come up to my chambers. I wish to speak to you."

"As you wish unholy matron."

I stood and made my way up the steps leading to the Nightmother's chamber, worry and apprehension gnawing at my insides.

Everything was still the same as I had last seen it. The Nightmother spoke as soon as I knelt before her coffin.

"Hello my Listener. You had quite the journey it seems."

I nodded. "Yes, unholy matron. It was pleasant…. For the most part."

"Pleasant you say. You allow for one of my children to be nearly killed and call it pleasant? To be burned at the stake is a very painful death. I fail to see anything pleasant about that."

I flinched when she mentioned Babette almost dying.

"I am most unhappy that such a fate nearly befell a member of my Hand under your watch Morthos. What have you to say for yourself?"

"I have no excuse. I made a mistake. I allowed myself to be distracted. I should have noticed something was wrong. It's my fault Babette was nearly killed." Admitting my guilt was both a relief and a blow to my pride. It was a harsh reminder that I was still relatively new to being a leader and leaders always paid far more dearly for their mistakes than anyone else.

The Nightmother seemed to consider my words for a moment. Finally, she spoke again.

"Our numbers are still small; the Black Hand is only half restored and I have received visions most worrisome of things to come. I cannot have someone so easily distracted leading my family. You will do better, or I will have you replaced."

My blood turned to ice. The Nightmother had never before threatened me. I had no doubts she could deliver on that threat either.

"As you command unholy matron. I will not disappoint you again."

"For your sake, I should hope not."

The Nightmother spoke to me for a little while longer about my responsibilities before she told me about two very special contracts. She refused to tell me exactly why they were special but she made it clear that they would greatly help in bringing the Brotherhood back to prominence. I memorized the names and locations of the two contacts then, thanked the Nightmother for her guidance then left.

The Nightmother allowed me to leave without another word. I made my way downstairs to the table to sit and rest. Speaking to the Nightmother was always taxing and having her displeased enough to actually threaten me made it far worse than usual. I was surprised to find nearly everyone awake and waiting for breakfast. Seems my meeting with the Nightmother took up the entire early morning. The only one missing was Nazir but I figured he either wanted to sleep in or was washing up. Cicero offered me a quick greeting before making his way up the stairs towards the Nightmother's chamber.

I offered my own quiet greetings to everyone before sitting beside the twins.

"Listener do we have new contracts?" Gileanna asked excitedly. I nodded.

"Yes. The Nightmother has given me the information regarding two. They are supposed to be very important though she refused to elaborate why."

Gileanna lit up like a bonefire. "That's wonderful! Can I be assigned one? Please! It's only fair! I haven't had a contract in such a long time."

Ardoneth snorted beside her sister. "Don't exaggerate. It's only been two weeks since you got back from the last one. You were gone far longer than you should have anyway so don't complain. I still think it's unfair you got that little vacation in Riften."

Gileanna blushed.

"This is different though Ardoneth. It's been months since the last time I got a challenging one and that wasn't a vacation; I was training with the Thieves guild. You heard the Listener, these contracts are going to be important, I want to have a hand in this." She turned back to me and gave me her best pleading look. "Please listener?"

"I'm sorry Gileanna but no one has even gone to the contacts to see what they want. I can't just assign you to a contract that we haven't even agreed to yet."

Gileanna groaned in disappointment.

I patted her on the back. "Don't be too upset. You'll get your chance to get back out there soon."

Gileanna brightened up a bit and turned her attention back to her plate. With her sister sufficiently placated, Ardoneth decided to speak. "If I may, who do you plan to send to retrieve the details of the contract? Speaker Nazir or Speaker Babette? Or do you plan on traveling and retrieving the details yourself?"

"I will be going to collect one of them myself. One is far to the east near Morthal. The other is to the west at some fort ruins. I'll be going to arrange the one to the west. Babette or Nazir will have to decide for themselves which of them will go to retrieve the other. Maybe you would like to escort me Gileanna since your so eager to get out and all?"

Said elf twin brightened instantly and nodded yes.

Ardoneth tilted her head to the side. "An escort? Perhaps you would allow me to escort Speaker Babette then, if she goes? If you send Speaker Nazir, Glasha will insist she go with him and you already have a volunteer."

I shrugged. "Perhaps. You would have to ask her how she feels about having an escort but I don't think she would mind too much. I know that I would feel better knowing she had someone to watch her back."

Ardoneth seemed satisfied by my answer.

"Are you sure you want me to escort you Listener?" Gileanna asked through a mouthful of wild berries.

I nodded. "Yes, fairly sure. You and your sister have been doing very well since joining the family. Your very capable assassins. I see no reason for me to be worried about you joining me for the trip. Understand though that in front of others that are not of the Brotherhood we must act appropriately. That means all the formalities will need to be followed and you will need to conduct yourself as my subordinate and I, your leader. The only reason I haven't been truly enforcing that is because there are so few of us."

Gileanna smiled. "Okay then. I'm honored to be chosen my Lord. Maybe I'll finally get a chance to practice silently incapacitating a living target. It's supposed to be very different from my usual tactics."

I couldn't help but laugh at her antics. "My Lord is a bit much but it will do I suppose. Silently hmm?"

For some reason her words brought back the subject of "Silencers" from earlier to the front of my mind.

Remembering that conversation made my eyes go wide and my lips curve up into a smile.

Yes, this could work. I needed to establish the ranks anyway. Might as well fill the Black Hand as much as I can and both the twins really were exceptional assassin's in their own ways. I'd make them Executioner's. I would have Babette tell me if Ardoneth was ready to be a Silencer and see to Gileanna myself. The upcoming contracts would be the test to see if they could serve as Silencers for the Hand.

"Hey, I have a question for all of you."

Everyone glanced my way.

"Does anyone know what rank they are?"

•••••

Gileanna and I made good time, arriving to Fort Dunstad to meet our client after only three days travel. Shadowmare made the trip with only a few rest stops per day to drink and graze. I loved my dark steed. She never failed to amaze me. She never complained or seemed to tire, even carrying two fully grown people.

Our client turned out to be a high elf woman named Bronagh. She was young by elf standards, only sixty years old. She greeted us coldly but respectfully before quickly telling us she wanted a slaver and his son dead. She only cared that both men met their end. She didn't really care how. The gold she had taken from the house of her would be owner and abuser was more than enough to cover our fee.

The contract I had come all this way to arrange turned out to be ridiculously easy. Kill a noble that doubled as a slaver named Hermaes Lagro and his son. Lagro lived in Windhelm while the man's son, Garmund, had been relocated south to Falkreath. I would have to arrange for Babette and Ardoneth to handle the son while Gileanna and I ended the father. Hopefully they managed to talk Nazir into arranging the other contract.

The client's story though, captured Gileanna's attention. Bronagh had at one time been the maid for Hermaes' house until father and son both turned their eyes on her for her exotic appearance. When she refused to let them have their way with her, they kidnapped her and sold her into slavery where she was eventually purchased by another fat slaver. She strangled him the same day she had been delivered to his home. She performed the Black Sacrament using his corpse then took what she could and ran, ending up situated in the ruins of Fort Dunstad to wait for us.

It was a good thing that the Night Mother had heard her prayer or we would never have known where to look for her.

Gileanna spoke to me in private before we agreed to take on the contract. She hinted that we might get a contract as well as some use out of the girl if we played our cards right. She ran her plan by me and I found myself very happy with her suggestion. Once she received my blessing to proceed, she told the girl that if she would be willing to provide a service to the Brotherhood then we would be willing to offer Bronagh a small discount on our blood price, a place to stay and protection. Perhaps even a chance to join the family if the girl wished.

Gileanna explained that if Bronagh didn't wish to join the family then we would meet her in Solitude two weeks from today. The Brotherhood would arrange for her to live and work in the winking Skeever. Once settled, we would only ask that she serve as a set of eyes and ears in the city. Bronagh shied away from the prospect of becoming an assassin. Instead she consented to be our spy, the prospect of protection and shelter appealing far more to the abused girl then a life delivering death. We parted ways shortly thereafter, Bronagh promising to see us in two weeks.

Babette and I spoke through letters carried by Thief guild runners, much faster than standard couriers though a bit more expensive. She had thought nailing down the ranks of each member was a good idea and agreed with me that everyone deserved the rank I had given them. Ardoneth and Gileanna were Executioners, Glasha was an Eliminator, Xagug was a Murderer and I even went so far as to declare Karita out in Dawnstar, under our patronage. That same status would include Bronagh once she was settled in Solitude.

She also went on to tell me that she was as happy with Ardoneth as I was with Gileanna. Both girls were showing us that they could handle the responsibility that comes with the rank of Assassin. If they continued to do well, I would have no issue with them ascending higher. I had high hopes for Gileanna to be my Silencer. Ardoneth would be scouted by Babette while killing Garmund and I doubt Nazir would have any choice but to make Glasha his Silencer when she gained enough experience.

I sent Babette my regards as well as the details of Bronagh's contract and what I needed her to have done, namely to contact Corpulus Vinius about Bronagh and to kill Garmund. I knew that Babette and Ardoneth, would set out to get the job done as soon as they received my message.

That was four days ago. Now I was sitting up a mountain near the stables of Windhelm, under a tree covered in snow waiting on Gileanna and thinking about who we had run into on the way here.

After parting ways with Bronagh, we headed north up to Windhelm to deal with Lagro. On three occasions we ran into a small contingent of Dawnguard hopefuls making their way down towards Riften, where the fortress the Dawnguard used as their base of operations was near. They were all ranting about hoping to help purge the vampire scourge from Skyrim.

Each time, Gileanna and I made nice with the groups and asked for details. We didn't get much aside from the Dawnguards normal recruitment speech and general location of their fortress. Most said they just wanted to do their part to protect the people of Skyrim. Others just wanted money.

The only valuable piece of information we got was a name.

Isran, leader of the Dawnguard. A Redguard and former member of the Vigilantes of Stendarr. Not much else was known but now that I had a name I could ask Karita to keep her ears open for anything else involving him. Maybe I would ask the Thieves Guild if they knew anything substantial about the man.

After we had gotten all the information possible, I had us wait for everyone to tuck into their tents and bedrolls before I began slitting their throats. Gileanna caught on quickly and helped.

Once all the Dawnguards hopefuls were dead, we would be on our way up the road towards Windhelm and our target.

That there was so many would be recruits for the Dawnguard made me nervous. I also noticed that Gileanna was acting different. I didn't notice it until the third group but she was going about her killings a little differently than I remembered. No less efficient just different. I chalked it up to her time spent training with that fool cat Ra'faer just before Babette and I had left to Cyrodiil. Maybe she had trained with Ra'faer more while we were gone. It would explain the difference in what I felt was normal.

I looked down the mountain to Windhelm. It had been a few hours since Gileanna had entered the city to find Lagro. I wished I would have gone into the city to wait in the tavern. At least then I'd be warm, but I didn't want to risk Lagro making a break for it and escaping if Gileanna didn't manage to end his life.

My back was stiff from sitting in Shadowmare's saddle and then sitting around all day. Unfortunately for me, the sun had begun to set and the winter chill was sinking in. Worse than the cold, a storm had recently passed through so the wilderness was already covered in more frost and snow than usual. My boots were as insulated enough to keep my feet dry and my robes were thick enough to keep me warm but they didn't protect my face or ears from the falling snow or biting winds. The chill this far north bit down to the bone even through my hood.

It's times like this I couldn't help but curse the wood-elf in my blood for giving me the standard enlarged, pointed and overly sensitive ears all elves had.

Funny enough, I used to love the snow growing up. Now it was just a pain.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair trying to relax and keep my mind on the positives. We would now have two souls under our patronage acting as our eyes and ears in the world. That was a very good thing and I'm sure Mother would be very pleased if we continued this way.

Thoughts of a "brighter" future for the Brotherhood almost made me smile until I heard a snap above me . I looked up in time to see all the snow that had built up in the branches above me come crashing straight down onto me. I growled and quickly dug myself out of the snow cursing the entire time. I managed to keep most the snow that had dropped into my hood when I had looked up from running down into my robes. Ice water running down my back would have seen me tossing fire balls.

After I finished clearing myself of snow, I looked back down to the entrance of the city.

"Oh you must be joking." I said to myself. "There is no fucking way."

I couldn't believe it. There was Lagro walking out of town accompanied by his bodyguard.

"Thank the Nightmother, an excuse to move."

Gileanna was taking way too long trying to find this man and here he was walking around without a care in the world. If she was going to take forever the least, she should do is succeed in killing our target. I quickly made my way through the snow to where Shadowmare was grazing. I patted her side gently and whispered to her that I would be back shortly. I was going to kill Lagro myself.

I quickly made my way all the way down towards the pair of walking dead men as they crossed the bridge leading to the stables and closer to my position. I hid behind some trees beside the path and waited for them to draw close. I closed my eyes and listened for them. It wasn't long until I heard their voices getting close. Hermaes sounded like a someone I would enjoy killing. He spoke with a false confidence that most cowards used when trying to make themselves seem more impressive than they were. His body guard didn't say a word. More than likely because Lagro had commanded the man to remain silent. I rolled my eyes when I heard Lagro's next sentence.

"A waste of time. I was hoping to find a replacement for that young little tart I sold. It's so hard to find good help these days. Maybe the next maid will know her place and bend over when I tell her to."

Oh the irony of hearing him complain about the very woman that had arranged his death. I didn't linger on the thought to much. They had passed me and we're no longer in sight of the stables. Now it was time to do what I had been paid to do.

•••••

I sighed, this time in contentment. Nothing beat a hot mug of cider in my hand and a steaming hot bowl of stew after choking a sniveling worm to death in the snow. Thank goodness Candlehearth Hall had a few rooms available for me and Gileanna. It was worth every septim.

Gileanna had left to her own room in a huff the minute we arrived. She was still mad that she had found me half buried in the snow, laughing manically and slowly choking the life out of Hermaes. She went on to scream at me that I was a kill thief and how unfair I was.

I might have taken her serious had she not been gagging at the smell coming from Lagro's bodyguard who had soiled his trousers when I had introduced myself. That along with his obvious lack of spine made it all the less satisfying when set him on fire and left him to die in the snow. It only got worse once Lagro ran off into the woods after seeing his guard light up like dry kindling. Stupid fool actually had me looking for nearly half an hour before I finally caught him back where we had started. He ended up running us in a circle ending up back by the main road still just out of sight from the city. By that point though I was beyond granting him just death. No, I was going to kill him like a rabid dog. I admit I did get a sick pleasure seeing his eyes bulge out of their sockets as I wrapped my fingers tight around his neck. I was actually having fun watching his skin slowly turn red then blue then purple before I would release him, let him catch his breath a little then tighten my grip once more. I played that game with him eight more times before I got bored and squeezed until I felt his trachea cave in.

Gileanna was very unhappy that I had taken what she thought to be her kill, even more so because earlier she had the opportunity to end his life herself but decided to practice stalking her prey first.

She turned and walked off towards the bridge leading to the city gate in a huff. I followed after her once I stabbed him repeatedly, snapped his neck and then set his body on fire. All for good measure and to ensure the Target was dead, certainly not because I was so angry and annoyed that words failed to describe precisely just how I felt. The upside to everything was that I decided we would be spending a night in the city since the sun had nearly set and the trails would be damn near impossible to see, let alone travel on even for Shadowmare. It wasn't very safe to travel the mountains at night and I wanted to rest. By the time I had placed Shadowmare in the stable and we reached the inn Gileanna had cooled off enough to apologize. I told her that I didn't care about her practicing but a contract should always be treated as just that, a contract. Not a practice run. Practice was something to be done in your off time.

I shrugged it off and went back to eating. If Gileanna wanted me to take her serious then she needed to show it through her actions. I had already put a lot of trust in her and Ardoneth by giving them the rank of Executioner.

I shrugged off my thoughts of work and turned my attention back to the delicious food in front of me. There was plenty of time to worry about things after eating and a full night's rest.

•••••

I woke up the next day still a bit tired and more than a little sore, even my fingers were stiff. Sitting in a saddle and then up a mountain all day then choking the life from a man would do that to a person. I could tell from the sounds of a busy street outside that it was nearly mid-day.

Gileanna and I had a very late breakfast together before I sent her out to get a few supplies for our trip to Solitude. We'd be traveling mostly through the mountains where there wasn't a lot of game to hunt so I asked her to get enough rations to last us the trip just in case.

While she was gone I decided to take a walk through town.

My thoughts drifted to what to do next as I made my way around. Life was beginning to fall into a rhythm I hadn't felt since before I took the position of Listener. Prayers were made to the Nightmother, the Nightmother would pass names and locations to me, then someone would go out and hammer out the details of the client's contract before someone was sent out to fulfill said contract. That isn't to say we don't have a few issues to deal with.

The most pressing issue that springs to mind is definitely the Dawnguard.

Isran was clearly attracting the attention of a large number of people, if the contingents we had run into were anything to go by. It was also clear that they were on a mission but I didn't really believe that killing vampires was it. I felt that I was missing a few things and wouldn't be able to understand the big picture until I found out exactly what it was that I was missing.

One thing was for certain though: The Dawnguard were a very real threat. and should the opportunity present itself, I would do everything in my power to see them burnt to cinders the same way they had tried to burn Babette.

I had made my way through most the shopping district and was moving closer and closer to the shady part of the city. I shrugged and turned into an alleyway that would lead back to the center of town. My thoughts were interrupted when an old Nord I didn't recognize bumped into me halfway through.

"Watch where your walking you pointy eared freak!" he snarled.

I felt my lips twitch at the slur but resisted the urge to set the fool on fire. I was no stranger to racial hate. The population of Winterhold was by far the most racist of any hold in Skyrim. Meeting someone stupid enough to start something with me was inevitable. I took comfort in the fact that while I COULD kill him with the flick of the wrist and a little magicka, I was CHOOSING not to. With that in mind I pushed past the old timer. I'd been having a good day so far and there was no sense turning old racist into a bloody stain. All I'd get is a body to hide and that was more trouble than I was willing to deal with at the moment.

"What, you don't even have the decency to apologize for running into someone? All you slant eyed freaks are the same."

This one just didn't know how to walk away. Now I was struggling to restrain myself.

"Just keep walking. Just make it to the center of town." I thought to myself. I made it another few steps before I felt a hand grip my shoulder. He spun me around and spit in my face.

Now. Now I was pissed.

I snarled and wiped my face with one hand and drew Crimson Eviserator from her sheath with the other. Mr. Racist was still smiling all smug like even faced with an armed opponent. I realized why when I noticed a two pairs of guards watching from both ends the alley but doing nothing. Obviously they weren't going to intervene on my behalf but I had no doubt they wouldn't hesitate to arrest me if I attacked the old man.

"Your making a mistake if you think those pigs will save you worm." I hissed.

He laughed. "You ain't the first stupid elf to threaten me. Your all talk just like the rest of your kind. Guards have me covered. You spit my way and you'll be carted off to jail."

A smile that slowly spread across my face. "Oh they may or may not catch me but either way it doesn't matter. Your going to die."

Quick as a flash I stabbed him straight through the sternum. I was already pulling on my magicka and used it to fuel a fire rune spell. The old racist burst into flames. He screamed in agony, my dagger holding him in place. It felt longer but the entire attack happened in under thirty seconds. His burning corpse dropped dead once I pulled Crimson Eviserator free.

I looked up the alley ready to start fighting the closer pair of guards only to see both already face down on the ground, the thief I hated more than any other in Skyrim standing over them.

That. Damn. Thrice. Blasted. Cat!

"Hurry friend! Ra'faer knows way out of city."

While my mind raged and went over every single reason I hated the thief Kahjiit, my body didn't hesitate to follow after him away from the last two remaining guards. We ran into another side alley that would lead us toward the market place, the guards right on our heels. He probably knew of a secret passage that would allow us to escape. I thought luck was on our side until we dashed into the market square and we're met by another pair of guards that immediately drew their weapons when they saw us.

"Halt! What's going on?" one of them asked.

From behind us I heard the other guard shout back. "Don't let them get away! They murdered a citizen and attacked two other guards!"

I held in a groan as we quickly were surrounded by more and more guards, each drawing their weapons as they got near.

"Seems we must fight our way out of here friend." Ra'faer whispered to me.

"No shit!" I thought to myself. I scanned for a breach in the figurative wall of guards and adjusted my grip on Crimson Eviserator. Good thing I hadn't put her back in her sheath. The guards would probably charge us instantly if they saw me draw a weapon.

I decided to take the I the initiative and attack first. I'm not a knight after all.

Ra'faer stayed close to me as the rest of the guards closed ranks around us. I slashed my way through three guards when I finally got a good look at what the cat was doing behind me. Ra'faer was keeping me well defended but he wasn't killing any of the guards, he was sticking to deflecting their attacks or disarming them. That wasn't going to work for very long, they just picked up their weapon and kept coming back at him. If this kept up he would get tired and the two of us would be overwhelmed.

I pulled him back out of the way of the path of a sword that would have cut his arm from his body and slapped him in the face.

"You have THIS!" I snarled, drawing his strange granite looking Dagger from his belt and shoved it into his hands. "USE it!"

I barely managed to say my piece while defending myself and the stupid pacifist thief. I had only managed to kill three so far and the guards were still coming from all over the city to take us down. Ra'faer hesitated for a second then joined me in the fight.

The speed and ferocity of my attack quickly overwhelmed the next guard to get too close. I couldn't believe it when that fucking cat spun in from the side and plunged his dagger straight into the guards neck instantly ending his life. I channeled my anger at Ra'faer into attacking another guard. I parried their initial swing then ducked below their follow up. I dropped down and sliced through the soft leather of his boots straight into his shins. The guard cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. Before I could dart forward and finish him off, Ra'faer rolled across my shoulders and dropped his knee straight into his neck. I heard the snap of the guards spine and knew his life was over even without seeing the blood splash out of his mouth.

"You fuckin kill thief!" I shouted. "Cut it out and leave my kills to me you no good feline!"

I saw red when Ra'faer smirked at me before focusing back on fighting off the guards. I threw myself into the fray and managed to drop two guards within seconds. I glanced over and saw Ra'faer block a mace swing and duck under the fist of a guard who had been disarmed. My lips curled upwards in a manic smile as I slid past Ra'faer and the guard he was holding off, gutting him as I went by. I used the momentum from my slide to roll back up on to my feet. I chuckled when I heard Ra'faer call out from behind me. "You call this one a kill thief!?"

We slowly began cutting a path through the guards closer and closer to the wall. Just as we made it within arms reach of the wall Ra'faer stepped in front of me and tossed a pouch onto the ground.

We were nearly instantly surrounded by a thick blanket of smoke. I coughed and stumbled blindly until I felt a furry hand pull me back in the direction we had come. I was too busy coughing and trying not to trip to fight.

I used my sleeve to filter the smoke and managed to catch my breath. We pushed through the smoke until Ra'faer led us to the city undercroft. He opened the door and quickly pushed me inside.

"Why did we go to the market if this is where we were going?" I asked.

Ra'faer brushed himself off, his whiskers twitching. "Misdirection my friend. The guards will now be looking around the market for how we escaped."

I couldn't say anything against that. It made perfect sense after all.

The exit Ra'faer had lead me through was an ancient escape route that had long since been forgotten and ended up letting us out near the river south of the city. I managed to peek at how Ra'faer opened the door to the exit and committed it to memory. It would be useful to have access to such a handy escape route in the future.

Ra'faer clapped me on the shoulder and waved toward the south.

"Come friend. We must go meet little Gileanna. Ra'faer told her where he would take you before he went to find you." He said. "This one has much to tell you."

I swatted his hand away. "When in all that madness did you tell Gileanna to meet us somewhere? And better yet, why did she listen to you?"

Ra'faer chuckled. "Ra'faer supposes he is good with his words. Little Gileanna is waiting. Come my friend, we have little time."

I crossed my arms and glared. "What exactly is so important that you had to come see us in person?"

Ra'faer's happy attitude seemed to wilt. "Ra'faer has news about the Dawnguard. They plan to start a war."

That caught my attention. "A war with who?"

His expression turned fully grim. "A war with the elder Vampires of Skyrim."

••••••••••

Finally another chapter complete.

It took far longer than I planned to get this done but trying to handle work, personal life and writer's block out the butt is difficult. I'm sure other FF authors can relate/sympathize.

Either way I'm glad I finally managed to get the old brain housing group working long enough to get this chapter done. Next up I'll finally be starting what I like to call the "Vampire princess/ arc". The name should give those well versed in Skyrim what is going to happen next.

As usual I thank my Beta: TheBoredBoot.

He truly is a great friend for taking the time to help and critique my work, especially since he's trying to get more done on his own stories.

A special thank you goes out to everyone who has been patiently (or in some cases impatiently) waiting for my updates.

I truly appreciate your support and any reviews or suggestions you're willing to send my way.

Until next time

Walk always dear family.

TheForlornSage