I AM SO SORRY! I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW SORRY I AM! I thought I had put a note in the last chapter about why it's taken so long. My little sister accidentally set a little babushka doll on top of my comp as a present for me, without knowing it was a little magnet. It destroyed my comp and all my chapters and notes I had written. I've been trying to remember and rewrite them all! When I went back to see if I could jog any memories, I saw my supposed note wasn't there. As an apology, I'm putting this up and I'll go back over to correct it. So please, tell me if there are any mistakes and errors.

Cicero finally returned to her at the worst possible moment. High on the cold slopes of the mountains, hunting for a bandit who had tricked a woman who now wanted revenge. Enemies were possibly everywhere and he decided to show up, singing of all things, behind her. The Jester screeched with laughter as he danced away from her quick blade and grinned at her. He gave her a mocking bow as she sheathed her weapon with an annoyed scowl. He had been gone for a little over three months and as soon as he was back, she was irritated as any poked saber cat.

"Humble Cicero has completed his task," he giggled happily and shot her a sly look,"Does dear Listener wish to know what sneaky Cicero discovered?"

They were able to find a cave a little lower on the mountain, but still high enough to be ridiculously cold. Hesara had spent many days tracking the bandits and she didn't want to lose the precious ground she had covered. All the mountains looked the same to her and by now, the signs of their beings would be blown away by the storm. A campfire was made, slowly heating up the cave and chasing the chill of the snow from their skins. As Hesara laid out her furs, Cicero chattered excitedly at her.

"Mortierre is one of the advisors to the king," he said suddenly at her ear, making her jerk and twitch at his sudden closeness,"Look at what he gave loyal Cicero!"

He pulled out a rather gaudy necklace that looked to hang to the wearer's stomach. Hesara crinkled her nose at it, and raised an eyebrow at Cicero.

"Apparently," he said to answer the question,"there are only a few people who can wear this...thing. And those are the lords of the Elder Council. Those who serve directly under the Emperor."

Hesara had never really been interested in Skyrim's politics. People were just people to her, she never knew why titles held such importance. If a target had a lot of gold, it just meant more fun for her. A shudder ran down her body at the thought of facing so many enemies and just cutting away at their bodies as if they were nothing. Cicero grinned as if he could read her thoughts as he handed it off to her so she could look it over as he went back to his chit chat and screeching songs. Hesara just continued to think. There was only one reason why a man just under the Emperor would want to contact the Dark Brotherhood. Even madmen could figure it out in an instant. Things were certainly going to become...interesting.

She silenced him with a hand, eyes narrowing and quietly crept to the mouth of the cave. Cicero unsheathed his blade and followed to the other side of the opening, glancing at the Listener. She was more tensed than usual and her eyes kept darting around and Cicero knew she could hear something not of an animal. By the way she was looking, something told Cicero it was people...and a lot of them.

An arrow flew past their heads and all Soverngard broke loose. Both assassin's ran swiftly from their cave to keep themselves from being blocked in and easier to kill, dodging and deflecting arrows from three of the bandits

This wasn't a band, it was a clan.

Hesara felt the bloodlust come over her quickly, making her eyes dilate and an unnerving grin to slide across her mouth. Her blood roared in her ears as she lashed out, causing someone else's to splatter her cheek. As the bandit toppled backwards, Hesara's milky eyes concentrated on his brethren who were watching her and Cicero warily. Once more, Hesara grinned at them and slowly slid her gore covered dagger across her tongue. A war cry broke and both sides charged.

Cicero became a small whirlwind, hacking and slashing anything he could reach with his daggers. Two bandits were dead immediately, while it took a few more hits and many maneuvers to make a large one with a sledgehammer fall.

"Fiends," the small Jester shrieked as he continued his frenzy of death, never leaving Hesara's side as they moved around,"You will not touch the Listener!"

He jumped a rather large bandit, narrowly dodging his axe to slip into an opening that allowed him to slice the back of the bandit's knees to bring him down close enough The Jester then grab at him and start stabbing at any pieces of skin he could see.

"Get him off me," the bandit yelled, trying to pull the Jester off,"He's killing me!"

Two more rushed over to pull the Jester off their friend, but it was too late. Cicero hopped off as the body fell, clinging to another and ready to send him on the heels of the first, except the third bandit was able to grab his wrist before he could strike and yanked him off. With an impressive heave and a strong arm, he launched Cicero away. The jester tried grabbing onto something, anything, as the snow carried him towards an edge. It was no good, he couldn't even use his dagger as it had fallen into enemy hands when he had been pulled away. Silently, for once, (he didn't want to distract the Listener and get her killed after all), he slipped out of sight and plunged down the mountain side.