A/N: This chapter begins the second part of The Legend of The White Deathbell. I appreciate so much the reviews, follows, and favorites. Thank you and enjoy!
Now this was living. The white haired assassin crept along the dark corridors of the dwemer ruin and couldn't help smiling. There were four dead brigands scattered about the maze of dwarven corridors and caves behind with her target still to be found somewhere ahead. Not one had known she was there before her dagger had raced across their throats. This kind of work suited her. Unlike the thieves guild of Riften, the Dark Brotherhood held no qualms in her killing her way to the targets. And not only was she paid for what she loved doing, but she often had the opportunity to loot the places she visited and the people she ended and the guild let her keep it or helped her sell it. Assassination was indeed far more lucrative than anything she'd done as a thief. While her first three contracts had been boringly easy, she had walked away with 1500 septims. She had made more in a few days than she would have in probably 3 months in thieves guild. In fact, the single highest paying job she had done was for an oddity for which Delvin Mallory, the elder statesmen of the guild, had paid a whopping 200 septims.
Her only regret, if she held any at all, might be that she had not found the Family sooner. Though she wasn't sure how that would have been possible. She was only contacted when she had inadvertently stolen a contact from the Dark Brotherhood. She had heard of a boy performing the Black Sacrament, a ritual to summon the Dark Brotherhood, in Windhelm and, out of curiousity, investigated. The boy had thought her an assassin and refused to hear otherwise. He demanded that she kill the abusive headmistress of an orphanage to which he had been sent. Sable had accepted and decided to make sure the boy's story was true. While spying on the occupants of the orphanage, she witnessed the old woman who ran the place, Grelod "the Kind", mercilessly whip a boy for an offense he had not committed. The beating was so brutal that it brought her back to her own past and the abuses she had suffered from a "kindly" inn keeper that took her in after she had been orphaned. Grelod died swiftly, gargling as her blood poured out of her throat. When Sable, went back to the boy that hired her and reported the old woman dead, he had pressed her to accept an old family heirloom, a large silver plate with embellishments worked into the edges.
A few days later, she had been kidnapped and tested by Astrid, the leader of the assassin's guild. Sable had passed the test and was given the offer to join the Dark Brotherhood. Afterwards, she made her way down to the sanctuary and had never looked back.
The reception had been mixed when Astrid had introduced her to her new Family. Two men hadn't seemed to want anything to do with her. Arnbjorn, Astrid's husband and a werewolf, had come around and now seemed to accept her. Festus Krex, on the other hand, was nothing but a curmudgeon who barely tolerated anyone. There was also a Redguard name Nazir. At first, he was quite guarded, but after she had successfully completed the first few minor contracts he had given her, he opened up much more and Sable found his sarcasm to be amusing every now and then. Veezara, the Argonian, had welcomed her right away and was quite interesting. She had talked to him a bit about his history being a Shadowscale, one trained from birth as an assassin.
But it was Gabriella, a beautiful dark elf, and Babette, a ten year looking girl who was really a 300 year old vampire and master alchemist, that had made her feel most welcome. Babette had given her a most exuberant welcome and, Sable had learned later, had been responsible for procuring a beautiful red dress trimmed with gold and cream for her. It was one that the thief-turned-assassin had reluctantly left behind during a job for the thieves guild.
She had taken a liking to Babette immediately. There was something about how she seemed to dance back and forth between the long-lived malicious killer and 10 year old girl that intrigued Sable, possibly a reflection of what had been stolen from her and what she now considered herself to be. Unfortunately, the white haired assassin had not been able to spend much time with the guild's eldest member, as Astrid informed her that her sneaking would need work before they sent her out on any major contracts.
At first, Sable was a touch insulted by the suggestion that she needed training. She figured that her time spent in the thieves guild had made her quite stealthy. Astrid had not harshly overruled her, but rather calmly explained that while she had talent, it needed to be refined, and that if she could learn some of the methods the Family could teach her, she could not only get the drop on a Vigilant of Stendarr in broad daylight, but it would also make it very difficult for anything to do the same to her.
Upon further argument, Astrid took her to a small room in the sanctuary instructed her to stand in the middle of it and then blindfolded her.
"Now, I'm going out into the hall and I will sneak back in." The leader explained. "You call me out as soon as you're aware of me. Make sure to state where I am so we all know no one is cheating. If I manage to touch you before you are aware, I win and you'll be considered dead. If you win, I'll concede that you need no training. Deal?"
Sable smiled, knowing this was a game she would easily win. "Agreed."
"Then we begin as soon as I leave the room."
A moment later, the footsteps went quiet and Sable knew the game had begun. She had always considered herself very intuitive and aware of her surroundings. The rookie assassin concentrated on what she was feeling. She had always felt she had a stronger sense of awareness than most and that she could almost feel when things changed or inhabitants moved in her general vicinity.
But she felt nothing. She washed all the thoughts from her mind and centered her awareness on the room. Still nothing. Had Astrid even come in yet?
Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. "You're dead," a silken voice chimed. "Care to try again."
Flustered, Sable nodded. How had Astrid done that? She never heard a sound or felt any shift in the room?
"Begin." She heard followed by a few footsteps before it went quiet again.
This time, Sable really dug into herself; into her awareness, determined not to be embarrassed again. She took note of the damp smell of the room; took in the gentle crackling of the wall torches. The room was still and quiet.
And then, came the tap. "Dead again." She nearly growled in frustration. Three more times they played the game and three more times Astrid "killed" her, each time faster than the one before. Sable ripped the blindfold off her head in rage. The guild's matron just smirked. "Let's try again. But this time I will play the victim. We'll see how good you are."
A grin broke out on Sable's face as soon as the blindfold was on Astrid. Now, she could give Astrid a taste of her own infuriating medicine. She walked out and then dropped into a crouch and began to silently creep back in and towards the source of her consternation. As soon as she had fully come through the door, Astrid voice rang out.
"You've made it a whole two steps through the door. Try again." Sable was stunned. She prided herself on being completely unknown up until the moment she made the kill. She wasn't even in striking distance. Perhaps a good leap could close the distance, but she didn't figure that any assassin worthy of the profession did much desperate lunging at their victims. She stood and walked back out.
This time she went much slower, taking her time to make sure she was absolutely silently. She had just about halved the distance when Astrid's voice again foiled her attempt.
"Much better this time. I figure you have about 3 more steps until you strike. Shall we try once more?" Sable stood and stomped out of the room.
Moments later, Sable rounded the corner of the door and her target came into view. The tall blonde Nord had been a great source of frustration this day. Her pale blue-silver eyes focused as she used every ounce of skill to sneak up on Astrid. She passed her previous mark and still no utterance, she crept closer and still closer. Sable was there. She raised her hand for the tap, when her prey suddenly stepped away and spoke.
"Now, that is impressive." There was genuine admiration in her voice. "It's been a long time since any one has got that close to me. Except for Veezara. No one has ever beaten him in either role at this game." She said as removed her blindfold. "You removed your boots on this attempt?" she paused considering the tactic. "It displays a willingness to adapt oneself. Still the overachiever, I see."
Despite her frustration being near boiling point at having almost had Astrid and still failing, Sable couldn't help but smile at seeing the smile on her leader's face.
"You have real potential." The matron purred. "I'll see to it that Veezara instructs you from now on. I look forward to seeing just how good you can become."
Sable was a swinging pendulum of pride and rage as Astrid explained the task of training their newest sister to Veezara.
"She's got some natural talent." The chief assassin explained. "I need you to sharpen it into real skill. She's shown some initiative and adaptability, but thinks her prowess better than it really is and lets go of her focus sometimes. I also thought of you because, like you, she seems to favor daggers so make sure she knows how to use them when she's fighting more than just an unsuspecting throat." She then looked over and smiled warmly at Sable. "She's quite the overachiever. Make sure to challenge her in order to bring out her best."
Veezara walked over and smiled into her pale blue-silver eyes. "Do not trouble yoursself over her wordss to much." Her reptilian brother assured her as if reading her thoughts. "Asstrid actually cares for uss deeply and wantss uss protected. One way of doing that iss by honing our sskillss. I look forward to assssissting you in your growth."
The training Veezara provided had been invaluable to improving her sneaking abilities. Since the Argonian's skill was too great to make the game anything but counter-productive, he took to watching Sable play the game with others willing to help (mainly Babette and Gabriella) and then offered advice.
"Don't just think of what you are aware of. You target hass awarenessss of their own. Think about the thingss they are aware of, thingss they could be aware of, and thingss they should be aware of but are not before you approach. Take time to sstudy your target and learn their aptitudess. Thiss will help you determine the amount of sstealth you need and whether you can ssacrifice any in favor of sspeed." He instructed her. "Alsso, apply these ssame principless to yoursself and you will find that you will be harder to ssneak up on as well. Be mindful about what ssomeone elsse would be aware of about you. Ssee your ssurroundingss from as many pointss of view as possssible."
Sable didn't stop practicing outside of her trainings. She was on a mission to best Astrid at the game so she took to sneaking up on other members of the guild whenever the opportunity came. At first a couple of them were annoyed, but as she explained the purpose, the Family, except Festus of course, embraced it and not only helped by trying to sneak up on her as well, but also made sure that Astrid didn't find out. They all hoped that the rookie would get the better of their leader. She quickly learned that if she was to sneak up on Arnbjorn, she better be downwind. She also sparred with anyone willing. She quickly became ever more proficient at fighting with daggers against all kinds of weapons.
A couple of weeks later, the time came.
"She iss ready Misstressss." Veezara proclaimed to Astrid as she was standing over her table.
"Already?" the matron was surprised how quickly the shadowscale had returned. "She is truly ready to be tested again?"
"Of coursse, Misstressss." The Argonion replied. "You told me not to bring her to you before it wass time."
"Such a short time." The matron of the Dark Brotherhood mused. "Still the overachiever, it seems."
"Indeed, Misstressss. I haven't sseen one abide in the shadowss as she in a long time. She sstill needss to masster fighting with her daggerss, but if she remainss cautiouss and unsseen, she should do quite well."
"I see. Where is …"
Astrid's forthcoming question was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder.
"You're dead." She heard Sable's voice full of glee just behind her right ear.
Astrid spun to face her newest sister grinning brilliantly. For a short moment, she was a bit angry at being tricked, but the emotion quickly melted to intrigue as she considered just how much Sable had improved in such a short time. "Well, well. Impressive. Let's see how good you've become. Let the game begin."
Astrid lifted a blindfold out of belt pocket on her armor and gave her a questioning look, as if challenging her to play the game in her guildmaster's domain. The fair-skinned Nord, closed her eyes and leaned forward a bit, accepting her mistress' challenge.
As the "victim", Astrid bested her just once. Sable sank herself into the techniques Veezara had taught her. Though she was blindfolded, it was almost as if she could still see. And not just see, but see the room from nearly every angle. It was like she could feel it when the shadows moved or when the stone around her accepted new weight upon even if it did so silently. Still, Astrid was very good. The matron's first two attempts got her within just a couple of steps from "striking". On Astrid's third and final attempt, Sable was straining to sense anything when she felt a pinch on the back of her leg just below her rump that made her jump in surprise. She could not suppress a small yelp either.
"You're dead." The silken voice called out, laden with amusement.
Sable turned and removed the blindfold to and looked down to her still crouching leader. Astrid was barefoot. The white haired assassin smirked.
"Copying the little sister's methods?" she asked with the satisfaction of a fox in a chicken coop.
"Adapting." Astrid replied with a smirk of her own. "A promising young recruit once showed me the value of it. Ready to see how you do as the predator?"
In answer, the "promising young recruit" tossed the blindfold to Astrid and began to walk from the small room.
Sable got to her leader on the first attempt and almost had her on the second when Astrid called her out. They were even with one attempt left. There was no way she was losing the game, especially as the predator. And there was no way she was going barefoot to accomplish the win. She had to one up her mistress. Then an idea came to her and she had to suppress a giggle at the thought.
She stalked silently into the room spotting her target. But instead of making straight for the blindfolded woman, she took a more circuitous route. Every step was painstakingly slow as she silently and carefully made her way around Astrid. There were times that she simply waited in one spot when she picked up the subtle movement of her prey shifting her weight from one foot to the other every so often. This was taxing her abilities to their limits, but she just had to pull this off.
She paused about halfway through her circle around Astrid at an unremarkable vase that held a growing deathbell plant. This was the big gamble in her attempt to one up her mistress. Sable slowly and silently drew a dagger and brought it up to the flower's stem. She gently eased the stem against her blade until it finally gave way without a sound. Sheathing her dagger, and placing stem in her teeth, she resumed stalking around the edge of the room.
She was now directly in front of Astrid. One more step and she was there. Her hazel-eyed prey was still unaware. Here it was. She had her. Quickly, Sable stood up and pushed the stem of the deathbell flower into her matron's hair.
Startled, Astrid yelped loudly and jumped a couple of steps backwards. She tore the blindfold off before noticing the deep purple and blue flowers hanging above her forehead. She stared daggers at her white haired sister, her face flushed red in anger. Sable was having trouble suppressing the giggles at seeing how ridiculous her leader looked. It was then that they both looked to Veezara, who had been standing in a corner to watch how his protégée would perform, and saw his eyes wide and mouth hanging open at what he had just witnessed. The sight of their reptilian brother standing in shock was too much and both women burst into laughter. Astrid walked over to Sable and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Well done, sister. That was the most impressive win I've ever seen at the game. I hope to never accept a flower from you again."