A/N: Sorry for the ending the last chapter in the middle of the fight. (Then again, maybe not. ;) ) Enjoy the end of Dufont.
-Edward.
As Dufont got closer, she did her best to back away from him and still keep her footing. The vertigo was beginning to subside, but the assassin would have still preferred another few minutes before being forced to move, let alone fight someone. She longed for the dark embrace of the shadows. If she could disappear into them, she could maybe find a weapon from one of Dufont's fallen comrades and end the fight, but certainly the blood dripping from her face would leave a trail for her opponent to follow.
That gave her an idea. Sable backpedaled into the shadows with a taunt.
"Come find me Dufont. That is, if you're not afraid of the dark."
Dufont, laughed. "You think you gain anything, champion? Your broken nose will lead me to you. It would be far easier for both of us if you just accept your fate. But if you have to make it a game, so be it."
Sable didn't listen to his rant. She had already been circling around to the stairs that led to the ledge overlooking the room. She scrambled up the steps on all fours, still fighting some lingering dizziness. At one point, the assassin reached up and pinched her nose. The pain made her wince, but she needed to make sure Dufont still had a trail to follow.
When she reached the top, she made for the dead archer and pulled two arrows from his quiver. She broke them in half and took the bladed points with her. They looked comical to be used as make shift daggers, but it was what she had. When she reached the far side of the ledge, she pinched her nose again; this time to hopefully stop the bleeding for a moment and then jumped off the ledge. She fell to all fours as she landed to muffle the sound of it as best she could before head back towards the stairs. Fortunately Dufont had been constantly taunting her as he followed the blood trail so it was unlikely he heard her landing over the sound of his own voice.
A few moments later his voice rang out again as he stood over the body of Halver.
"You plan to come at me with toothpicks now, champion? I hope you at least got paid up front and enjoyed what gold you could get out of her before coming to your death."
Sable was back on the ledge now as Dufont made his way to the other end to find his blood trail disappear. He looked to either side for a bit, trying to search out a new beginning to the morbid breadcrumbs he had been following.
"Where did you go, you horrid rat of a woman?" He questioned to himself. But Sable was already within hearing distance of her prey.
"Have you looked behind you?" She called out as she ran to close the distance.
As Dufont turned around to face her, Sable leapt into the air. His eyes went wide in surprise as she crashed into him, bringing him to ground underneath her. As she landed, Sable viciously thrust both arrow points into his throat. She ripped them back out not noticing that the small arrow blades broke off in his neck and stabbed the broken shafts back into his neck over and over again until there wasn't much left of it. Dufont was dead. Finally.
She rose off his body, her face covered in the blood of them both. She searched around a bit for her steel daggers. The tip of one had broken off when Dufont's hammer had knocked it from her hand. She found the other – the one with which she had stabbed the self-proclaimed bandit king – still intact.
She still had an appointment in Windhelm, but she was exhausted and still in pain from her broken nose. Slowly she sank down next to the fire in the middle of the room and passed out.
She woke shivering and having a hard time breathing. The fire had died out and left her in darkness and the blood had clotted leaving her nose congested. The only light was the dim glow of the pitch torches still lit in the hallways from which she had come. Her face still throbbed from the head-butt she had received from Dufont. Sable reached up and cleared the dried blood as best she could. Then grabbed her nose and wrenched it back into place.
Her scream echoed off the walls of the dwarven corridors and the blood started flowing anew. She didn't much feel like The White Deathbell as she grabbed the dead woman's fur cap and pinched it over her nose to try to stop the bleeding, hoping it wasn't riddled with some disease like Ataxia.
Sable grew angry with herself just then. Astrid's assessment of her had been accurate. She had let her confidence get the better of good judgment. It would have been only too easy to lay low in the shadows and strike as soon as Alain Dufont let his guard down. But in her arrogance, she assumed that her skills easily surpassed his and had nearly died from that assumption. In her attempt to show her leader wrong, she had only proved otherwise. She wondered if she should simply abandon her life as an assassin. Perhaps she could crawl back to the thieves guild and see if they would still take her back. Or perhaps she could go off on her own and set up a shop or farm and be miserable for the rest of her life. The one thing that she'd always been good at and even enjoyed had nearly got her killed because she had underestimated an opponent. She hadn't taken the time to watch and measure up Dufont and she had paid for it.
She sat in the silence for a while before realizing that it didn't matter. Her near failing in the assassination of Dufont didn't matter. What mattered was that she was still alive. Ultimately, she had proved to be more powerful. She would use this experience to harden and strengthen her knowledge and her skills. She was sharper now. Just as the deathbell flower always seemed to overcome Skyrim's harsh winters and thrive in places where most flowers would wither, The White Deathbell had overcome this challenge and would now be greater because of it. She got up and walked from the room, heading to the exit of Raldbthar hoping that it was daytime outside the ruin and she could get some warmth and wash her face off in the nearby river.
Sable once again found herself at The Hag's Cure in Markarth. Killing Nilsine had been almost laughably easy compared to the fight with Dufont. The white-haired assassin had spent a day following her target. It was a simple matter picking the lock while the family was asleep and dragging her blade across Nilsine's throat.
Once again, Bothela had kicked them out of her store to conduct their private business.
"Well, what news?" Muiri asked. "Is Alain …"
"Alain Dufont now lies dead." Sable confirmed when Muiri didn't finish.
"Thank you." The Breton woman truly sounded thankful. "That bastard got exactly what he deserved. And … Nilsine?"
"She is dead as well." The assassin said evenly.
"Oh, thank you again." Muiri said. "You have more than fulfilled your part of the bargain. Please take this as payment … and as symbol of my gratitude."
The apothecary assistant pushed an unremarkable looking silver ring into her hand.
"What's this?" Sable asked. She could feel her anger rising. After what she went through, she just might have to kill Muiri if this was the entire payment.
"It's my ring," Muiri stated. "It's payment for … Nilsine. It's enchanted. It makes potions … or poisons you create more potent. I figure someone in your line of work would find that useful."
"And the payment for Alain Dufont. You mentioned being paid in gold." The assassin asked an edge finding its way into her voice.
"Yes, of course." The Breton replied. "I have a small chest of gold in my quarters in the shop. Under my bed. I hope it's enough. I've managed to save up 1200 septims."
Sable was not sure she could keep the surprise from her face. Together, they retrieved the rest of her payment. The chest was heavy enough that she hired a carriage back to Falkreath. It was an afternoon's walk from there to the Sanctuary.
As usual, Astrid was the first person Sable encountered as she was leaning over her table, ever planning the next move for the guild.
"Welcome home, sister." The silken voice of her guild leader purred. "We've missed …"
She stopped short as she turned and saw Sable.
"What happened to you?" The matron asked with genuine concern in her voice. "Your nose looks like it's been broken … and rather poorly re-set."
"I had a run in with a rather thick skull." The white-haired assassin explained. She so badly wanted to hide her stupidity in her encounter with Dufont, but somehow knew it would be futile to try to lie to her leader. "I underestimated my target and had a harder time fulfilling the contract than I should have." Sable hung her head. For some inexplicable reason, she felt like a child that had disappointed a beloved parent.
Astrid gently lifted her newest sister's eyes from the floor. "Don't despair, sister. All of us have done the same at some point. Just be sure to learn from the experience though. You've have a promising career as an assassin in front of you. Don't let it be cut short. Now I do want to hear all about the contract, but first, let's get you to Gabriella and see what she can do for your nose. You can leave your gold here. I'll see to it that it's brought to your room."
Astrid led Sable through the network of caves that served as the Dark Brotherhood's Sanctuary to her room.
"Go ahead and get settled and lie down. I will return shortly with Gabriella."
Sable sighed. She was exhausted after her ordeal with the bandit leader. She peeled off her leather armor and pulled a pretty dress from her wardrobe. It was ivory trimmed in pale green. It was made of a soft, light material and just flowed around her curves rather than hugging them. It was a very comfortable dress and she looked very pretty in it she thought. The assassin couldn't help twirling around a couple of times with a gleeful smile on her face. She then fell into the bed and waited for Astrid to return with her dunmer sister.
A moment later there was a soft knock on the door.
"Come." Sable called out tiredly.
The door opened and she looked over to see a whole committee of people. Behind Astrid was Gabriella, Babette, Nazir and Veezara.
"Welcome back, sister." Nazir's deep voice boomed. "Glad to see you've returned in one piece. Mostly anyway."
Sable smiled at Nazir's barb. "Sorry to disappoint you, brother." She returned.
"My only disappointment would've been if you hadn't returned at all." The Redguard replied sincerely.
"I am glad to ssee that I sstill have a chance to ssomeday play the game with you, ssisster." Veezara rasped.
Babette ran up to the side of her bed. "So glad you're back Sable." She exclaimed. "Gabriella and I have a present for you. We'll show you when you're all done here."
Before she could reply, Astrid shooed them all out except for Gabriella and herself.
"As you probably know already, Gabriella is a practitioner of restoration magic. She has agreed to repair the damage to your nose. With your permission, I will remain as well and do my best to comfort you while she works."
Sable, confused, but not wanting to question what her matron had said, nodded her consent.
"Try not to move." Astrid offered before nodding to the dark elf.
Gabriella looked down to Sable with a look of concern before bringing her hand just above her face. She closed her eyes and started whispering. Sable couldn't catch the words, but a moment later a yellow-gold light began to emanate from the dunmer's hands. It expanded over her face until she was forced to close her eyes against the brightness. Then she felt a warmth begin to permeate her face. Then came a pain beyond anything he had ever felt.
She grunted as it slammed into her. Her every muscle locked. Astrid's voice was at her ear.
"Try not to move my white deathbell. The pain is exquisite. I know. But you can't let it overtake you. Hold on to my voice and do your best to endure it. Just stay with me sister."
She was glad then that she had consented to her matron staying with her. Without her voice, she would have been lost in the pain as she felt cartilage and bone snap and reposition themselves and fuse back together. She desperately clung to Astrid's silken voice as her only way to resist the blackness trying to overtake her.
Finally the brightness receded.
"It is done mistress. The damage had been undone." Gabriella said to Astrid. Then kneeling close to Sable's ear, she softly spoke condolences, her voice full of sorrow. "I'm sorry, sister. I hope to never have to do such a thing for you again, but know I will never refuse it to you."
As she was coming back to her senses, Sable realized she was panting to catch her breath. Sweat was beading from her forehead and it seemed that every bone and muscle in her body ached. She had been exhausted before, but now she just wanted to roll over and sleep for days.
"Rest for now." Astrid said, always seeming to know what was in her thoughts. "Come and see me once you've recovered and give me a full report. There is no rush. Take your time. Sleep well, sister."
Sable relaxed and let sleep take her.