"What!?" Sable nearly shouted. "A Daedric Prince! You want me to kill a Daedric Prince! Sionis, you better tell me you're kidding and give me the real target or you're going to take another nap."
"It's not a joke, Sable." The mage replied a bit of anger seeping into his voice. "It was Boethiah that gave that mad wizard his power and I want his head."
"Is it even possible? To kill a Daedric Lord?" She asked
Sionis shrugged. "I've never heard of it happening before."
"Then why would I be able to?" Sable asked frantically.
"Because I've never seen anyone deal death the way you do."
Any retort she had disappeared and she felt her face flush. It was the most amazing compliment she'd ever been paid.
"That morning at Cragslane Cavern," he continued, "I'd never seen anything like it. It was like you were just dancing through them. It was like you'd elevated killing people to an art. It literally took my breath away."
Sable turned away from the darling mage as she blushed furiously. She wiped the nearly painful smile from her face and regained her composure before facing the man once more.
"If I'm so good, why were you hoping to meet with Astrid?" She asked. "Assuming that she was that much better than me?"
"No," Sionis replied calmly, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face. "I honestly wanted to request that you take my contract."
"Then why the hostility earlier, if I was the one you wanted to handle the contract?"
"I apologize," he said his a shake of his head. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon and I guess I wasn't prepared for it."
"Fine." She replied with a curt nod. "But I don't think the Dark Brotherhood should take the contract. I don't think a Daedric Prince can be killed. And even if they could, it would be suicide to try. I'm sorry."
"The assassin's guild is going to pass up the chance at assassinating such a legendary mark?" The mage asked gaining a bit of an edge back in his voice. "Besides you promised to take the contract earlier. I know I'm not exactly appealing to an honorable profession, but are you going to spur me again?"
The desperate barb he threw out might have stung if she'd even heard it. One word had caught Sable's attention and there had been nothing else to hear after that. Legendary. It was true. To kill a Daedric Lord – a god – would be the stuff of legend. She wouldn't just be feared throughout Skyrim but all of Tamriel as well. And what better way to prove her power over death it's itself? Her lips twisted in a delightedly cruel smile. Let Arkay try and come for her. She was a god-killer.
"Alright, you win, Sionis," she purred. "I will take the contract and murder Boethiah for the misery he caused you." She turned and went to her pack, opened it, and began looking through it. "The Legend of the White Deathbell will be made over the corpse of a Daedric Prince, but first," she whirled back around to reveal one of her elven daggers in her hand, "that awful, shaggy beard as got to go if you're coming with me."
Her smile grew even wider as she advanced on the dark-eyed mage.
Less than a half hour later, Sionis rubbed his now smooth jawline and chin. Even though he had just been through the quickest and most frightening shave of his life, he had to admit, it was probably the best he'd ever had and he was impressed. Perhaps quite disturbed, but definitely impressed. Sable busied herself with wiping her elven blade clean and re-stowing it in her knapsack.
"So what was that all about?" He asked after she had finished and turned back to him.
"A beard doesn't suit you at all." She explained cheerfully. "You look a lot younger now."
"That's it?" the mage asked incredulously.
"Yep." She answered.
Sionis just stared at her for a moment without saying anything further. He felt that there had to be more to it than petty vanity, but decided not to press it and let it drop.
"What's our first move, then?"
"That's what I was going to ask you." Sable replied. "Where can I find Boethiah?"
"I don't know." The mage answered.
"You don't know?" Sable cried out. "How am I supposed to assassinate her if I don't know where she is?"
"I'm sorry, Sable." Sionis conceded. "But he could be in Oblivion for all I know. I didn't say this would be an easy contract. But…"
"Easy? Try nearly impossible!" She exclaimed incredulously. "We're getting to a point where it's not a question of whether I will take the contract but rather whether I can."
"I believe I was told something similar to that the last time we talked." Sionis fired back, a hint of anger infiltrating his voice. Without even thinking about it he grabbed Mala Aran Naga's journal from the pocket of his robe and shook it at her. "I found this mage and …" He trailed off as he realized what was in his hand. It was the journal.
"What's that?" Sable asked.
"It's his journal." He replied with astonishment, wondering how he'd forgotten all about it. "It's the mage's journal."
"Okay. I don't see how that makes anything easier." She said pinching the bridge of her nose.
"There are probably some clues in here." The mage replied with excitement. "We should read it."
"You should read it." Sable corrected. "Let me know if you find anything useful." She turned to go get her knapsack. "I'm going to go see about getting a room of my own."
"You can stay with me," Sionis offered. "Don't have to pay for a room that way."
Her answer was only an intense questioning stare.
"You can have the bed." He blurted. "I'll sleep on the floor or in a chair."
She cracked a sly smile at his squirming. "I think I'd be safer in a room of my own." And with that jab, she grabbed her pack and left the room.
Sionis sat in puzzlement for a moment before realizing to what she was referring. He let out a long sigh before leaning back and cracking open Naga's journal. Apparently it was going to be awhile before he would be allowed to live that one down.
The next morning Sionis woke to the sound of knocking at his door. He grabbed the journal, which he found lying open against his chest, and closed it. Seeing that he was fully dressed (wearing the same robes he had fell asleep in), he rose and opened the door to find Sable stand there wearing the same sturdy blue dress from yesterday.
"Find anything useful in the journal?" She asked as she glided into the mage's room.
"Not much," he mumbled sleepily. He had stayed up late studying the journal, which he now flipped open to read a brief passage. "He did mention something about 'his end being where it all began' and more about 'helping my master through the gauntlet'. That's about it."
"And do you know what any of it means?" Sable asked growing a bit impatient by this contract to do the impossible.
"I'm pretty sure I know what the part about the gauntlet means." Sionis replied. "Boethiah can be summoned to the mortal plane on the 2nd of Sun's Dusk. It known as Gauntless or the Gauntlet Holiday." He paused for a moment but continued once he saw that she was not going to contribute anything. "Based on that, I'm pretty sure that Boethiah is not even on Nirn right now. I think Naga meant to summon him."
"Okay, well that gives us some time, then." Sable quipped. "It's soon to be Frostfall. We should have plenty of time to set up for Boethiah's arrival. Maybe we could prepare some surprises for her."
"There's the problem." Sionis countered sounding somewhat crestfallen. "Based on what I know of conjuration – and I'm not an expert – a Daedric Lord can only be summoned in a specific place. And I have no idea where that is."
"Okay, so we have just over a month to find out where that bitch will be."
"I think the end at the beginning bit is the clue to find that out," the mage started with a lot of doubt in his voice. "But I'm not sure where exactly that would be. Riften where we met? Or perhaps Cragslane? Or maybe even in Windhelm where I was 'recruited'? I just don't see how there is anything in any of those places that I missed."
"That doesn't make any sense." Sable stated flatly.
"I know, it would seem that he wouldn't have known about …"
"No," Sable interrupted, "it wouldn't make sense that his journal would be talking about either of us. Why would he care?" She asked emphatically to make her point. "He is talking about his end and his beginning." After a pause in which her wizard companion said nothing. "We need to find out where he struck his deal with the Prince of Plots."
Sionis dry-washed his face with his hands. "Gods, I'm tired." He finally said. "You're right, of course. But … how?"
"That is the question." Sable mused, pacing back and forth for a moment and then muttering under her breath. "How do we find out …" And then she stopped and her eyes went wide as it hit her. "You said that this mage was a Thalmor?"
"He was wearing Thalmor robes." Sionis confirmed. "And in his mental state, I don't think it was a ruse. I would assume he was Thalmor when he enacted whatever pact with Boethiah."
"Do the Thalmor keep records of their members?" She asked the excitement in her voice growing.
"As far as I know, they do." The dark-eyed mage answered. "That is assuming he was part of the contingent in Skyrim."
"Is there any place where those records would be kept?" Her line of questions continued.
"The Thalmor Embassy, I would guess. Why?" But then he understand what his assassin friend was saying. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? Are you saying that you want to …"
"We need to …"
"… break into the Thalmor Embassy." They finished together, though he didn't have the same look of glee on his face that she did.
Sionis shivered as he sat just inside the tree line. Snow fell gently around him and he pulled his cloak even tighter over his robes.
"Your teeth are chattering again." Sable remarked quite annoyed by the sound.
"It's cold way up here." Sionis hissed through clenched teeth. He couldn't see how she wasn't shivering as well. She only had a thick cloak over her familiar black and sanguine leather armor.
"It's no colder today than it has been the last week we've been here scouting out the Embassy." She retorted.
"My teeth aren't chattering any less today than any previous either." The mage grumbled.
"My point exactly." Sable returned. "I would think you would've gotten used to it by now."
Sionis shot her the darkest look he could manage in answer. It went completely ignored.
"That building there," she pointed at the smallest building that comprised the Thalmor Embassy, "has got to be a barracks for the soldiers garrisoned here. We won't finding any personnel documents in there."
Sionis looked over the compound. It consisted of three buildings (including the barracks Sable had just pointed out) encompassed by a stone wall topped with spiked metal fencing. The only way in or out was through a gate in the southern wall with the barracks sitting just inside and to the left. What appeared to be the main building sat in the middle, bifurcating the embassy grounds. Beyond that, tucked into the top corner of the pentagon shaped compound was the third building. The entire Embassy sat on a mountain northwest of Solitude.
"So w-w-when are w-we g-g-going in?" He asked through teeth that were chattering yet again.
"Tonight." Sable answered with a smile.
"Thank the D-D-Divines." Sionis muttered.
"Your teeth are chattering again. I'm not going to let you come with me if you can't get that under control."
He stared daggers at her back as she turned and walked away.
"Let's head back to camp." She said oblivious to the murderous look she was getting. "We should try to get some rest before we break in."
Finally, the dark-eyed mage got up and followed after her. It sounded as if it was going to be a long night.
"When I thought of infiltrating the Thalmor Embassy, this is not what I had in mind." Sionis spat as the pair slowly and carefully made their way along the cliff face that ran along the western end of the Embassy grounds.
"How else are we going to approach without being seen immediately?" Sable asked in exasperation. "We can't just go waltzing through the front gate and they patrol the forest side of the place regularly. But," she added after a pause, "They don't pay the same attention to this side."
"There's good reason for that." The mage huffed. "Why would anyone try to assault the Embassy by climbing an Oblivion cursed mountain!?"
"Exactly." The blue-silver eyed assassin gleefully confirmed.
"Not what I meant." Sionis grumbled under his breath.
"We should be about there." Sable whispered down a moment later. "Let's go up and see what we can find out."
The two fell into silence as they slowly, carefully made their way up the mountainside. Thankfully the cliff face had not been terribly difficult and they had gone just far enough to be out of sight. A few moments later and with much grunting the pair crested the cliffs and were in view of the Embassy wall just a short distance away.
"That's new." Sionis huffed pointing to the bow slung across her back.
"Yes it is." The assassin confirmed as she scanned the wall looking for any guards. "Decided it would be just one more advantage I could have over my enemies. I wouldn't say I'm an expert, but I've been practicing. I hope I won't need to rely on it much."
Sionis was just about the reply with a jab when she hushed him.
"Don't move!" She commanded in a whisper.
He looked up to see a Thalmor agent come into view along the wall, walking leisurely towards them. Sable prompted with her hands and they quickly skittered back closer to the cliff they had just climbed up, hoping they hadn't been seen. She took her bow from her back and quickly set an arrow.
She pulled the bow back and tracked him as he walked.
"Stop walking you piece of scamp dung." She said quietly through clenched teeth. "Just stop walking, so I can ..."
But the high elf kept on his route oblivious to the two would be intruders. Still Sable waited hoping, willing him to stop in order to take the shot. Her arms were starting to burn from the strain of holding the bow string taut.
"Sithis, please, just make him stop walking." The tired assassin pleaded.
"Hello there!" She heard Sionis shout next her. "I have a couple of Talos worshippers here!"
The elf stopped and whirled around. His gaze quickly snapped onto the mage standing there waving his arms. Sable, despite her surprise and anger, seized the opportunity and let the bow string slip from her grasp. The arrow shot from her bow, closing the distance in an instant and burying itself into Altmer's face. His head snapped back from the impact and he fell backwards to the ground.
"What in Oblivion was that!?" Sable nearly shouted at her companion.
"I'm sorry." Sionis replied. "I just felt a compulsion to do it. Perhaps Sithis used me to answer your request. Come," he continued starting off towards the Embassy wall. "We should do something about that body."
Her eyes threw daggers into his back as he walked away from her. She could just see the lopsided grin on his face from self-appreciation at his own jab. She replaced her bow on her back and took off at a run to get by him and scale the wall.
"I've killed people for less, you know." She snarled as she passed him by.
The assassin reached the wall first and scaled the stone work portion of it easily. The spiked fencing was another matter though. What saved the whole operation was the decorative nature of the fencing. Every so often there were diamond shaped holes about half way to the top of the fence. Just high enough to use to get over the fence with a decent jump.
After a quick glance in either direction to make sure no other guard was coming, Sable hiked up to the custom-made foot hold and the jump over to the other side. She quickly grabbed her bow and checked both ends of the wall again for any sentries and then called for Sionis to follow her. A moment later the mage plopped rather ungracefully down next to her.
The mage gave a low whistle as he saw Sable's arrow sticking out of the dead elf's left eye.
"You call that shot not being an expert?" He asked.
"He was standing still." Sable chided. "I never would have made it on a moving target."
"I see," the mage replied somewhat doubtfully, still impressed with the shot. "Well, what's next?"
"Now that we're inside, our presence is sure to be detected at some point. The trick is to delay that until we are already gone." The assassin explained to her companion. "So we need to try to hide any bodies we create. And we need to try to be quick. Even if we no one finds a body, someone will eventually notice that someone else has gone missing."
"Okay, so we need to make sure that our first corpse is not discovered, correct?" Sionis asked.
"For as long as possible." She confirmed.
"I can accomplish that." The mage offered cheerfully. And at that he stood and called upon his connection to Aetherius. Using a simple, but Mephala-magnified telekinesis spell, he lifted the dead elf into the air. He held the body there for a moment and then brought forth a wave of telekinetic magic and blasted the corpse off over the side of the cliff. Its limbs failed about wildly as it sailed through air before eventually descending in a slow arc down beyond the mountain side. He fought the strong urge to laugh as he watched the body fall away from sight.
When he turned to face his companion, she was just staring at him her mouth agape.
"What?" He cried. "We needed to hide the body right? If they can find him before we're gone, we deserve to get caught."
She just shook her head at him.
"Come on. We'll check out the main building first. Hopefully we'll find something there." She finally managed to say before crouching and starting on her way.
Sionis sighed and then cast both a muffle and invisibility spell over himself before following.
Sable stayed low as she moved along the walkway just inside the wall towards the main building that separated the two halves of the compound. It was now she noticed that both the wall and the walkway were terraced to accommodate the slope of the mountain with a couple of steps leading up or down at regular intervals. As she came close to the main building, the walkway ended in a sharp right turn with a small staircase leading down to the courtyard. She peeked around the corner and saw two more guards. One up on the wall on the other side of the embassy looking out to the forest beyond and the other was walking a patrol in the courtyard between the main building and the front gate.
She waited, absolutely still, for the guard nearest her to turn his back on her. If she was careful, she could probably slit his throat quietly enough to not alert the other on the wall. Finally with a huff, the Thalmor finally moved along his circuitous route exposing his back to her. The curvy assassin slithered silently down the handful of steps and peaked around the edge towards the gate.
There, at the far end of the courtyard standing at the door to the barracks was a third guard that had, until now, been obscured from view by the walled walkway. Sable frowned. There was now no way to deal with any of them without being noticed. And there also was no entrance into the main building on this side of the of the embassy grounds.
She would just have to sneak across. Fortunately, the stairs leading up to the main door of the embassy were rather grandiose and came down to the middle of the courtyard. And with yet more stone walls running along them, she was confident she could get there without being seen.
She crept out, her eyes constantly darting to each of the three guards to make sure that, with each step, she hadn't been seen. Two more steps were all that were needed. Just two more and she would be hidden once more.
A moment later, she reached a square landing. One more step without any alarm and they would be able to slip into the Embassy undetected. One moment later, she crouched against the upward running stairs having made it across the courtyard unnoticed.
Sable remained low to the ground as she crept up the stairs to the top. Her eyes went wide. The guard that had been standing watching the forest on this side of the compound was gone. Frantically, she whipped her head around searching for him. She was on a rather large landing with the door to the main building just to her left. To her right was a considerable jut of rock that look as if it had been too stubborn for the original builder to carve away; instead the landing and the short stone wall that ran along the outside edges of it had been built on top of it. A few feet beyond the southern edge of the landing was an evergreen tree just tall enough – just full enough – to obscure the southeastern corner of the compound and its wall from view. The far side of the landing was comprised of the outside wall's walkway and in the corner where the walkway met the main building there stood two younger, smaller evergreens.
Silently, the assassin made her way to those two smaller pines. The going was slow but the rewards would be twofold. Not only would she move to position where she could get a view of the whole walkway on this side of the embassy and perhaps locate her missing guard, but she would also gain some cover (however insubstantial it might be) while she searched. She drew up the hood of her armor to conceal her white hair and fair-skinned face and drew up sideways against the smaller of the two trees closer to the main building. With the trunk of the young evergreen concealing as much of her as possible and with the other tree standing in front of the one she was hiding behind, hopefully she wouldn't be seen if her missing sentry looked her way.
She peeked out from behind the pines and found him now standing at the southeast corner, still looking out at the world beyond.
She smiled and silently praised Sithis for her good fortune. Between the low stone walls and the trees, he would never see her make her way into the embassy even if he turned back towards them. She would just have to be quick.
Sable turned and quickly made her way to the door, grabbed the handle and pulled. It didn't budge. The door was locked. Sable cursed and reached into her pocket for some lock picks. Finding only a handful, she hoped that her skills from her thieving days still held up. She set a pick and her bar and began probing. Almost instantly the pick broke. She grabbed another and tried again. Going more slowly, she found a start point before the third pick bent and broke.
Cursing again, Sable ripped her gloves off and slipped yet another in.
"Hurry!" Startled at Sionis' voice right next to her, she jerked and snapped the pick.
"By Sithis, don't do that!" She hissed.
"The guard at the far corner just turned around and is walking back towards us." Came his voice again, ignoring her indignation. "Hurry."
"Just shut up." She responded in a whisper.
Looking down, she saw only two picks left. She set one in lock and took a deep breath before trying once more. "Pulling too quick always yields a broken pick", she heard in her head – one of the many little rhyming mantras that was tossed about to new initiates in the Thieves Guild. Slowly she tested the pick as she searched the lock for just the right position, pulling her bar ever so gently. Each second seemed to take forever and just as she was sure they would be caught, the lock gave way and the door cracked open.
Quickly she shuffled inside and slowly, quietly closed the door behind her. She turned to around to see a Thalmor guard looking right at her, apparently just about to walk out to the courtyard. His eyes went wide. Sable pursed her lips and brought one finger up against them. "Shhhh." His face screwed up in confusion for a moment.
That was all she needed. In that moment of confusion and incredulity, she sprang from her crouch, launching herself at the sentry, daggers leading the way. The blades slammed into him – one in his chest and one in his neck – as she crashed into him, bringing him to the ground with a dull thud. The assassin pulled her elven daggers from the high elf and stayed crouched over him for a moment to see if any other guards had been alerted.
She started when she heard the door open behind her. She spun and watched as it just hung open for a moment before it closed of its own accord.
"Sionis?" she whispered as loudly as she dared. "Is that you?"
"Yes," he answered quietly. "You didn't give me any time to come in with you."
"Sorry, I forgot you were there."
"Understandable." He conceded. There was no hint of anger or frustration in his voice. "I take it we were nearly found out?"
"Yes," came the matter of fact reply from the white-haired assassin. "Now need to move his body to somewhere it's less likely he'll be discovered. I'll take a look around. Alert me if anyone comes along."
She turned back to face the interior of the building. She was at the end of a short hallway that opened into a large room. The second floor of the building hung over the room bit on the far side and was supported by a row of evenly spaced columns. To her left, was a bar with a door behind it.
"Looks like this is some kind of ballroom." She quietly informed her clandestine partner. "This must be where the Embassy parties and gatherings are held. I'm guessing that most of upstairs are bedrooms and guest quarters. I doubt we'll find anything in here. Looks like we can stash him over in the far corner of the ballroom, there. The shadows from the columns should hide him fairly well until morning."
Sable grabbed the body by its feet so as not to get any of the blood on her and laboriously dragged it across the ballroom and stuffed it in the corner.
"That's quite an impressive blood trail you've left." The mage's disembodied voice quipped.
Sable looked down to the floor and took in the obvious sign of her infiltration. She heaved a sigh. "We'll have to be quick."
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. Part of the reason is I really wanted the chapters involving the Thalmor Embassy to be as perfect as I can get them. It's also been tough to find time to write. I'll will try to get future chapters out in a more timely fashion.
And so Sable and Sionis are back in action together and their first order of business is to break into the Thalmor Embassy. Coming up in the next few chapters are the rest of the Embassy infiltration and trying to find out more about the AWOL Thalmor, Mala Aran Naga, and how and where he made his pact with the Prince of Plots.
I've also been thinking about writing a short story (from his point of view) detailing exactly where Mala Aran Naga came from, how he came into contact with Boethiah, and his descent into madness. If anyone would be interested in reading it, let me know. PM's are always welcome.
Lastly, a huge thanks to everyone that's taken the time to read this story. I appreciate it greatly.
-E.K.