Ch. 6 | part 2
-"Vyell is our listener. He hears the night mother's wishes, those who have made the black sacrament entrust our mother with a contract, and we attend their calling. This man over here, used to be one of us, until he betrayed us and burnt our sanctuary two years and a half ago, killing our brothers and sisters in the process! He must be eliminated!"- Jivete states. In that moment, Nikaia jumps over him, ready to fall over Wlfric with all her strength and her hammer's weight. Adstan, forseeing this, pushes me away from the middle of them two and we land next to where Astrid was standing. She kneels to hand me a helping hand while Adstan readies his sword. Meanwhile, Wlfric quickly took his staff and casts a protective shield in front of him, which saved him from receiving Nikaia's hit. –"It wasn't right! Killing people is never the answer!"- Wlfric exclaims and conjures a fire wolf to his aid. –"We serve our Lord Sithis! You were a Nightingale too, you knew what it was all about when you joined the guild!"- Jivete screams, running over Wlfric and attacking him with one of her heaviest attacks.
Nightingale? Dark Brotherhood? What on earth is going on here?! In that moment an explosion takes place, throwing me and Astrid far away from the place where we were watching. Adstan buried his sword to the ground, fact that helped him stay in place after the explosion took place. Looks like Wlfric's wolf was defeated by Vyell and, in a last sample of its power, it exploded, taking us all with it in the process.
My sight is blurry, I can hear a whistle in my ears that makes me unstable. I can see Astrid unconscious on the ground, I try to move her to wake her up, but she's got a wound on her head. I stand up and try to get where Jivete, Nikaia, Wlfric and Vyell are fighting, but my legs feel weak, my wound hurts and I fall to the ground again. Wlfric is at disadvantage. I need to help him! In that moment Wlfric's words echo in my head: "Killing people is never the answer…". He's right. Whatever Jivete and Nikaia do for a living, it can't be right if they kill people. I need to stop them. I stand up once again, take a glare at Adstan who's watching, doubting…
Jivete screams at him to come aid them. Wlfric, even though he's one against three, is somehow winning the fight. I look at Adstan, who's standing still on the same spot he was before the explosion took place. Jivete continues to scream at him, but his face doesn't change. I can see he's confused as to what to do. What's the right thing to do? Who should we believe in? Our saviours? Or the strange sorcerer fighting our companions? I don't know anything about the guilds they claim to be part of, but I can guess Adstan has an idea. So… why is he doubting? Jivete screams one last time, she's about to receive a strong hit coming from Wlfric's staff, and that's when Adstan makes his choice. He defends Jivete from the aggressive thunderbolt Wlfric sent her way. Adstan has joined the fight.
What can I do? Both of them killed people… Jivete claims her contracts are ordered by Sithis, said creator of the Daedra, a being worshipped by many, powerful and mighty. I don't really know much about this "God" if you can call it like that, but I sure don't feel comfortable killing people. I don't think someone could make a contract to kill someone just out of pleasure… and then it comes Wlfric. He says the Dark Brotherhood had to be eliminated because killing is never the answer. But Jivete said he killed her siblings and burnt her sanctuary! How can that possibly be the right thing to do? I'm doubting… but I've chosen my side of this battle. I decide to take a look at Vyell's book. I open it. Thousands of names have been written down, it's like a death note. No reason written next to their names, no explanation. Just a lot of names, some of them have been crossed out, and a location written next to each one of them. Oh Lord… don't tell me this is the reason why they disappear sometimes… I take my daggers, take off my cape and run to where those who used to be my friends and Wlfric are fighting. It's not fair. Four against one, that's savage. I'm taking the side of who haven't killed as many people… or so I want to believe.
I run next to Wlfric, he looks at me in surprise –"You're helping me?"- He asks, surprise on his face. I smile at him. I can see Jivete noticing I joined the fight and makes Nikaia a sign to attack me. Nikaia then, approaches me threadedly, her eyes are cold, she's smiling… and her smile is… frightening. I take my position, it's not like I've never fought her before, but this time something is different. I can see fire in her eyes, fire that I've never seen before. She means to kill me.
I fight Nikaia for a good while, I'm not going to make it easy for her. She's not holding back either. I give a quick glare to Vyell and Adstan, they're fighting Wlfric's conjured helpers. What a strong sorcerer he is. Finally, Jivete is fighting Wlfric herself and there seems to be a tie between them. Oh God, where did I get myself into? At least Nikaia can't help Jivete defeat Wlfric this time, I'm keeping her busy. In a second I see Nikaia jumping over me and I cast a lesser shield to protect myself from her hammer. The hit is so powerful, it makes me fly away all the way to where Vyell and Adstan, who hadn't notice until just now that I swiped to their feet, I had joined the battle, were fighting. Vyell helps me stand up, they haven't noticed whose side I'm fighting for yet, it seems. –"Don't you dare help that traitor Vyell! She's helping Wlfric get rid of us!"- Nikaia screams at Vyell. After hearing this, Adstan as Vyell look at me with astonishment. I can see how Adstan reaches one hand out to me but stops mid gesture –"What…"- He begins to say, eyes wide open, but couldn't find it in him to finish the sentence. I lower my sight –"I'm sorry Adstan… Vyell… I can't aid people who assassinate for a living…"- And so, I grab my daggers and jump over a startled Nikaia, who didn't expect me to attack her in that moment. I make one of the movements Jivete taught me and, in a minute, the hilt of my dagger had hit Nikaia's head so hard, she lost consciousness. Jivete, who saw this, screamed at Nikaia with all her might but one of Wlfric's attacks reached her throwing her to the ground, wounded.
I relax, looks like things are finally over. But in a second I can see with the corner of my eye how something approaches me with such speed it doesn't give me time to defend myself. A strong pain pierces the right side of my stomach. Jivete had pierced me with one of her daggers. I spit blood from my mouth and fall over my knees. I can hear Adstan scream at me, but the pain is so intense I can hardly hear or see anything beyond Jivete's silver eyes. She takes her dagger out of me –"You think you can just betray us after all we've done for you?! Oh girl, hope you liked this sunrise, because it will be the last one you'll ever see!"- She screams, smiling merciless at me. I can see she's going to give me the final hit, but something blocks her attack before she could hit me.
Adstan had saved me with his sword. –"I won't let you harm her, Jivete"- He says. I'm looking for Vyell, but he's nowhere to be found. –"A-Adstan… Vyell is… not… uhg!"- I try to say, but another spit of blood comes out of my mouth as I collapse to the floor. With all my might and strength, I stand on my knees once again to see how Jivete begins to attack Adstan, who does everything in his power to prevent her from hurting him, but he's tired. I can see that. Suddenly, as quickly as a lighting and out of nowhere I see Nikaia approaching Adstan from one side. Wlfric fails to hit her with one of his thunderbolts and invokes a rune of lightening before Nikaia can easily jump over it, escaping from the premediated attack Wlfric had planned to prevent her from attacking Adstan. I stand up, if I don't do something, they're going to kill him! I grab my dagger and do everything on my power to run towards Nikaia, but my legs fail me, and I end up falling down right behind Jivete. I can see Nikaia is about to hit Adstan with her hammer, but all of a sudden, an arrow pierces Nikaia's throat and she falls, lifeless, next to Adstan. Jivete gets distracted by this and Adstan takes the opportunity to push her away from him, moment I take advantage from, standing up, leaving the weakness and pain aside, and bury my dagger right in between Jivete's back, piercing her heart.
I can see how Jivete, in her last moments, took Nikaia's hand and kissed it one last time.
I, weak and heavily losing blood, search for the place where the arrow had come to Nikaia's encounter and see Astrid still holding her bow and in position to throw another arrow to our direction. She then, stands up and starts running towards me –"Fayre! Fayre! Are you alright!?"- She screams while running as fast as she can to my encounter. I look at Adstan one last time, he too, is coming my way, but what I didn't notice is I was standing too close to a slope and my weakness makes me fall down the cliff. The last thing I get to see is Adstan reaching his hand to me and Astrid arriving right after, tears in her eyes screaming my name…
Fayre.
