A/N: First off, Thanks to Sky (aka ScriptrixDraconum) for reading this chapter over for me. You're the best, Sky. Thanks to Relentless Revolver and birgittesilverbow for the reviews. And thanks to everyone who has read and enjoyed the story so far. Sorry so much time is going by in between chapters. This chapter was rather tricky in spots due to all the fight action to write.
Lastly, there was a bit of an oops on my part. There was supposed to be a crucial bit of conversation in a previous chapter between Sable and Sionis where he explains to Sable the enchantments on the daggers she stole from the Thalmor Embassy. Part way through writing this chapter, I realized that I had never actually written said conversation. Umm, oops. I have added it into Chapter 28, just before they leave Windhelm. Sorry a thousand times for this gaff and I hope it doesn't spoil this chapter for you.
- E. K.
The assassin stood at the other end of the Daedra's sacellum, another arrow nocked, bowstring pulled tight and her gaze trained on the goddess. In stature the goddess was much like a Nord, but otherwise had the appearance of a Dunmer, her skin being ashy grey in color with dark hair, her face oval-shaped and her visage stern.
"Boethiah," Sable called out, hoping the mortal fear she felt would not make its way into her voice. "I am Sable, of the Dark Brotherhood. This man has put a contract out on your life and I am here to fulfill it. I am here to kill you."
The Prince of Plots chuckled as she reached up and yanked the arrow from her forehead. If it pained her – or had any effect on her – she did not show it.
"And you think a single arrow is sufficient to kill a god?" Boethiah's matronly voice dripped venom. "You fool. Do you not know what will happen even if you could manage to kill this mortal form?"
"I don't care," Sable answered.
"I will just return to my plane of Oblivion. You can't kill me. I am a Daedric Prince."
"I said I don't care!" Sable spat and let the arrow fly.
It clanged off the goddess' breastplate. Boethiah smiled a vicious smile as she surveyed her opponent. "You have done well up to this point, my champion, but you are beginning to irritate me. Don't ruin it!"
Sable let another arrow fly. This one streaked through the air and sliced through Boethiah's ear before disappearing over the side of the mountain behind her.
"Enough posturing Boethiah," the assassin called out. "Face your death with some dignity."
"To Oblivion with you mortal!" the Daedric Lord shrieked. "You ruined my schemes with the elf, but you won't ruin my time here on Nirn. Let us see if the mouse can best the lion."
With that said, Boethiah charged her. Sable immediately skittered to her left, surprised by how fast the goddess moved despite being dressed in full plate armor.
The goddess chased her. Boethiah moved in the armor as if she were just wearing clothes. She also hefted the massive double bladed war axe as if it were a wooden practice sword. And it was all Sable could do to keep away from the Daedric Prince, much less figure out a way to defeat her.
Just a few minutes into the constant scampering and dodging left Sable panting. Meanwhile, Boethiah showed no signs of tiring. The goddess' movements were perfect and her attacks flawless. Sable knew she wasn't going to find an opening to strike. She would have to make one.
The assassin lashed out with both daggers. Boethiah raised her shield to deflect the attack, and swung her axe in retaliation. As soon as her daggers hit the Daedric Lord's shield, Sable ducked under the stroke of reprisal and stabbed both of her blades into the side of the goddess. Both found the seam in the armor and sunk into Boethiah's ribs.
The Daedric Prince shrieked, but instead of pulling away, tilted her side, pinching the two creases of her armor together, creating a bind against the daggers. Then the goddess brought her elbow slamming back into the assassin's head.
Sable's vision went black as Boethiah's elbow crashed into her. Her hands were ripped from her daggers and she was sent sprawling into the ground a few steps away. She grabbed her head, willing the world to stop spinning and for her vision to clear from a clouded blur.
She knew she should move. She had to roll away, get up and run, anything, but her mind simply couldn't will any part of her to function. She couldn't even cry out when she felt the kick from Boethiah send her flat on her back.
Her vision was still hazy, but it was clear that the goddess had hefted her axe high, about to deliver a killing blow. But it never came as there was a screech of the air being rent followed by a shattering sound like a glass window being violently broken. Beothiah staggered a step before she could bring the axe down.
"Sionis!?" Sable choked out, squinting to try get her vision back under control.
"If you ever do that again, Sable," he called out, "I will be aiming these ice spikes at you."
"Never again," she muttered too low for him to here.
"What treachery is this?" the Daedric Lord exhaled, turning now to the mage that had seemingly risen from the dead.
With Boethiah distracted by her beloved mage, Sable took the opportunity to grab a healing potion and down it.
"It was quite brilliant of her actually," Sionis explained to the astonished goddess. "She stabbed me with a dagger laced with a powerful paralysis enchantment. It was powerful enough to make me appear dead. When she kissed me, she forced a healing potion into my mouth to heal the wound, provided I didn't actually die from drowning in it."
Sable's vision had finally cleared now with the help of the healing potion.
"Any reason you didn't tell me before hand?" Sionis asked his companion now that she had risen. "A little forewarning would have been nice."
"It had to be real," was all she offered, before she called out a taunt to the Daedric Prince. "What's the matter, Lord of Deception? Don't like being deceived?"
"Enough!" Boethiah screamed out. "It matters not. I will kill the both of you!"
The goddess took one step towards Sionis before rounding back on the assassin and rushing her. Sable dove out of the way of the Daedric Prince and grabbed out her second pair of elven daggers. Both glimmered briefly, showing off their enchantments. She then leveled a glare at Boethiah and charged her.
As soon as Boethiah set herself for the attack, Sable dropped and rolled through the goddess' legs. Coming up behind her, the assassin struck with both daggers at the same seam she had found earlier. Only one found it. The dagger with the life stealing enchantment bit into the Boethiah's side. Sable quickly withdrew the blade in order to avoid losing yet another one, but not before she felt the surge of rejuvenating strength flow into her, the ache in her head subsiding even further.
The goddess rounded on her, the axe cutting the air as she spun, but Sable had already shuffled back away from her adversary. Boethiah made to take a step towards Sable, but was stopped by a bolt of lightning that arced into her and stunned her for a moment.
Sable didn't waste the opportunity. She kicked the goddess' shield out of the way, ducked under Boethiah's axe hand and stabbed her dagger up into the goddess' wrist, twisted it, and then ripped it back out. Again Sable felt a surge of vitality and she decided then and there that she really liked that dagger.
Boethiah shrieked, dropped her enormous axe and lashed out with her shield. Sable was already stepping back to avoid any counter strike, but the Daedric Lord was too fast and still managed to land a glancing blow that pushed her to the ground.
The goddess held up her right hand, struggling to make her fingers move. A moment later, Sable was stunned to see Boethiah's hand regain full movement. The deity smiled a cruel smile at the assassin, but before she could gloat, there came again the sound of crystal shattering through the air. Boethiah staggered forward a step from the impact of the ice Sionis had thrown at her.
"I've had just about enough of you," the Daedric Prince snapped.
Her only answer was another spike of ice crashing against her, but this time her shield was up and her stance set. As soon as it shattered against her, Boethiah spun and launched her shield at Sionis.
The mage stood no chance. The escutcheon slammed into him, taking him to the ground where he lay very still. Sable stopped. All she could do was stare in shock and horror at her love lying – unmoving – on the cold ground.
She turned her attention back to the Daedric Lord with a rage filling her to a level of which she had never felt before. A primal scream ripped its way out of her. Boethiah put on a cruel smile, starting to throw out a mocking taunt at her adversary, but it never came.
Sable rushed headlong at the goddess. Boethiah barely had time to try to set her defense. But instead of the series of wild strikes the Daedric Prince expected, Sable barreled into Boethiah's legs, taking them out from under the deity. Boethiah came crashing to the ground. The assassin was back up in a flash and leapt atop her divine adversary and began hacking away with her daggers.
Confusion washed over the goddess as no pain came. Her flesh never once felt the bite of the white haired mortal's blades. Boethiah pushed it away for the moment, however, and quickly shrugged the assassin off of her and regained her feet. As she did, the armor plating protecting her chest and back sagged pitifully, not quite falling off of her completely.
"There," Sable said in between gasps for air, "Now that I've got you out of all that armor, it should be a lot easier to gut you."
"Well done, mouse," Boethiah sarcastically congratulated, ripping the armor the rest of the way off, "But I think you'll still find the lion too much for you."
The Daedric Lord advanced, swinging the giant axe to and fro in looping strokes, bringing the massive weapon back and forth, side to side, high and low. Sable had seen the strategy before – though it was usually done with light swords. The purpose being to make it so one's opponent could not guess from where the strike would eventually come.
Sable cast her gaze to her opponent's feet. She knew – thanks to Veezara's tutelage – that whichever foot the deity planted her weight on would betray the direction of the axe swing. One step more and Boethiah would have to make her decision.
At the top of the loop, the goddess planted with her left foot, bringing the axe down swiftly in a chop that would split the troublesome mortal in two.
Sable spun away to her right and Bothiah's cut missed her completely. Sable went low with her spin and kicked with all her might into the back of the Daedric Lord's right knee. With most of her weight supported by her left leg, Boethiah couldn't help going down to one knee. Sable, then popped up and jammed the dagger with the paralysis enchantment into the goddess' back and ripped it back out.
With that done, Sable paid the deity no more attention, but rather dashed over to Sionis. Kneeling down, she ripped the glove from her right hand and thrust it down in front of his face. She nearly cried out when she felt his breath gently curl over and around her fingers. She rolled him to his back and reached for a healing potion from leg pocket.
"Come . . . back . . . here."
Sable nearly dropped the precious vial in shock at hearing Boethiah's voice. She looked back and saw the goddess moving slowly towards her.
"How in Oblivion . . ." she muttered. It seemed that the enchantment on her green shimmering dagger was not powerful enough to actually paralyze the Daedric Prince. But it was certainly having an effect. Boethiah was still fully ambulatory, but her movement was sluggish; almost like trying to run underwater.
Sable didn't know whether to praise the Divines, or curse them all to the void. The fact that she still had to fight the Daedric Lord made her feel so weary that she wanted to just lie down and let the goddess take her, but it also tipped the unfair fight solely in her favor. And she so loved an unfair fight when she held the advantage.
With a sigh, she replaced the healing potion in her pocket and stood to face Boethiah yet again. The goddess's movement were growing faster by the second, making it clear that the paralysis effect was wearing off.
Sable rushed back towards the deity. Boethiah's movements were still slowed slightly, but unfortunately, she couldn't take advantage of it. She had to get the Daedric Prince away from Sionis. Knocking the slow moving strike from Boethiah's axe aside, Sable stabbed the life stealing dagger into Boethiah's right wrist again. Once again disarming her opponent and getting some much needed relief snaking its way into her tired, burning muscles.
She then moved around the goddess and stabbed her again in the back with the vitality drinking blade, again feeling the revitalizing enchantment creep into her. She struck once more before backing off a fair distance from the deity.
The only move left now was to wait that last second or two for the paralysis effect to fully wear off and have the goddess come after her again. The last second seemed to take at least five minutes, but it finally happened and Boethiah shrugged off the enchantment, grabbed up the axe, and came roaring at her.
Sable let the raging deity get as close as she dared before she whipped the paralysis inducing dagger at her divine opponent. It spun through the air and embedded itself firmly in the Boethiah's head. Boethiah instantly fell to the ground.
Sable scampered over to Sionis and grabbed out the healing potion. After ripping the cork from the bottle with her teeth, she lifted her love's head up and hurriedly poured the contents of the bottle into his mouth. A quick look over her shoulder signaled it was time to get ready to resume the fight. Boethiah was slowly getting to her feet. Hoping he wouldn't choke on the life-saving liquid, she laid Sionis' head back down and turned to face the Daedric Lord yet again.
The assassin rushed her divine opponent. Boethiah, now on one knee, looked up as Sable approached and attempted to raise an arm to ward off the attack. But with the accursed blade still working its lethargic enchantment upon her, she was too slow.
Sable showed no mercy, kicking the arm away and slashing at the goddess' eyes, then reaching up and wrenching her other dagger from Boethiah's head.
The Daedric Lord's face sluggishly twisted itself into a howl of pain and rage as the arm made its way back to cover her wounded face and eyes.
The actual scream came a moment later, and if she wasn't so tired and done with the whole affair, Sable might have found it comical. Instead she struck at Boethiah again and again, each strike from the daggers renewing the torpidity of her opponent as well as restoring her vigor to keep fighting.
Boethiah was flailing in vain attempts to block any of the strikes. Her languid movements were easily shoved aside, however, and the slashes and stabs just kept coming and her blood just kept flowing freely.
Sable was reveling in the idea that she had beaten a god. It was only a matter of time until Boethiah would succumb to the injuries and loss of blood, and when she died, the assassin would be a legend. The Dark Brotherhood would be feared throughout all of Tamriel and let everyone, even The Divines, take notice. She was so caught up in the rush of killing the Daedric Lord that she failed to notice that Boethiah's movements were starting to get faster. Though she struck with the paralysis dagger, it was no longer inflicting its effect upon the goddess.
Suddenly, Boethiah's left hand caught Sable's right. Sable froze. She stared at the enchanted dagger in her caught hand in shock and betrayal.
"It looks as though the enchantment on your pretty knife as run out," the Daedric Prince said gleefully. "And since it appears to have no further use to you. . ."
There was a loud crack and Sable screamed as Boethiah snapped her wrist. The dagger fell to the ground. The goddess rose and stood, still holding Sable's broken wrist. Sable gaze now turned to Boethiah's heavily damaged face. Despite the eyes being slashed and their fluids leaking down her face, the Daedric Lord seemed to be looking her right in her eyes. Combined with all of the lacerations from Sable's assault, it made for a terrifying visage and the assassin remain petrified in its malevolent gaze.
With a menacing smile, Boethiah reached down to her boot and pulled a long knife from it. Sable was snapped from her stupor from the icy cold pain of that knife being shoved into her side.
"Any last words, mortal?" Boethiah gloated.
"I. . . will. . . kill. . . you," Sable said through clenched teeth. And with that, she brought the dagger in her right hand and jammed it into the base of the goddess' neck. The enchantment on that one was still active and Sable drank in the vitality it imparted to her.
Boethiah roared and let go of the assassin's broken hand, punched her, and then grabbed her around chest. The Daedric Lord lifted Sable from the ground and began squeezing her with tremendous strength.
A moment later, a sharp pop sounded as one of Sable's ribs cracked under the pressure. Sable shrieked at the pain. Instantly Boethiah squeezed tighter, cutting off her ability to take air back in. There was another pop as another rib gave way. Then another. And another. Sable's vision was beginning to blur.
"Foolish, puny mortal!" Boethiah taunted. "How ridiculous to think you could defeat me. When I'm done with you, I will move on to your mage friend. I will strip the very flesh from his bones. He will curse your name before I am done with him. He will beg me to kill him."
Another rib cracked, but Sable didn't feel the pain this time. At the mention of Sionis falling under Boethiah's tortures, a seething rage flooded through her, bringing murderous resolve with it. Despite barely being able to see or draw breath, Sable found the dagger still sticking out of Boethiah's neck. She ripped it out of the goddess' clavicle and brought it back down again and again. She didn't know where she was stabbing the Oblivion-spawned whore, but she didn't care. She just stabbed and stabbed again and again. She held no doubt that she would not survive her encounter with the Daedric Lord, but she was bringing Boethiah to the Void with her.
She no longer felt the small bursts of vitality coursing into her with each strike. Whether it was because she was too far gone or if that dagger had betrayed her as well, she didn't know. She didn't care. All that mattered was stabbing Boethiah has many times as she could before she died.
Suddenly the grip around her loosened and she fell to the ground. On instinct, she sucked in a breath as deeply as she could. Pain exploded through her chest and her vision went black for a moment. For several seconds, she lay there convulsing as her body forced air into her only to have it swallowed by the pain. When they finally subsided and her lungs relinquished control back to her, Sable opened her eyes to see Boethiah lying there next to her. They were face to face.
"Impossible. . ." the Daedric Prince breathed raggedly and then went still.
Sable smiled and closed her eyes. And for a moment it almost seemed as if the pain was gone and none of it had really happened. But she had done it. She had killed a god. She realized that she would die and that, ultimately, Arkay had won, but she smiled anyway. Let him have this small victory. She would haunt him from the Void forever.
The giggle forced its way out but was soon smothered by a violent, burning cough. Her eyes snapped open as she tried in vain to moan and scream through the fit. When it finally and mercifully came to end, she found that she was now looking up into the sky and that her face was wet. That was odd. Had she spilled something?
Her contemplations about the wetness on her face was broken by a moan coming from somewhere above her.
"Si. . . Si. . ." was all she managed for more coughing seized her.
"Sable?" It was Sionis voice. "Sable!"
He appeared in her vision then, his face full of fear and concern.
"Si-Sion. . . Sionis," she gasped, before coughing again.
He tried to shush her.
"I k. . . ki. . . killed. . . h-her," she rasped. "I. . . I . . . did it."
And then, she closed her eyes and said no more.
"Sable," Sionis said, cupping her blood covered face in his hand. "Sable? Sable! Sable! NO!"
Sioins's hands lit up with the golden light of healing magic. He poured it into her with all the strength he had. He knew only the most basic of healing spells, but he hoped that with his abilities now augmented by Mephala's gifting, it would be enough.
He kept it up until he could no longer hold on to his connection to Aetherius. Just as he stopped, a violent cough ripped through her and blood spewed out of her mouth, but her eyes did not open.
It was then that he noticed that Boethiah's corpse still lay there on the ground. He was not an expert on Oblivion or Daedric Lords, but he knew that upon his death, Boethiah should have vanished back to his plane of Oblivion, banished for 100 years. But that hadn't happened. Boethiah still lay on the mortal plane stone dead.
He looked back down at Sable and her last words flashed back through his mind. I killed her. I did it.
"By the Divines, Sable," he muttered with astonishment, "What exactly have you done?"
A/N: The epilogue will follow shortly. Either later today or tomorrow. Stay tuned.