Author's Note: Woo, new shift. Brain. So sleepy. Forgive the suck. I lost my old notebook, so I'm rewriting this bit again. And I'm sleepy.

Is it from the game? Do you recognize it? Awesome. My name is not Bethesda Softworks, so I didn't make that bit.

Nobody Important

Chapter Eighteen: Silencer

In which much murder is glossed over.

By: N3k0

Two weeks passed.

Lachance had left her a letter explaining her new role. She was his Silencer, his most trusted and valuable asset. This, naturally, meant she'd never see him again. He left orders for her in locked boxes, their locations increasingly remote, and increasingly lethal.

Part of her wondered what would happen if someone tampered with one of these "dead drops," but she already knew the short version: she'd be out five hundred gold.

It didn't take long for her to realize Lachance was the real traitor. She'd discovered his treachery in the home of the Khajiit J'Ghasta – with the cat's corpse cooling, and the sun well over the horizon, she'd had nothing to do but rifle through his things. She'd found robes and a hood to match Lucien's – Black Hand clothing – and several books about the Brotherhood. It was damning evidence, to Lyssi's mind, especially with the excuse Lachance had given.

The excuse itself was odd. She hadn't figured that Lachance would be much for explaining why the man needed to die. Ocheeva hadn't been, and the only time Vicente had given that much background on a Contract was when it was required for her to stage a murder, rather than actually kill anyone.

Maybe it was a mark of her role as Silencer. She got to see more if the inner workings of the world. Even if they were all lies.

She wondered what drove Lachance to kill off his brethren like that – for she took no blame, here. He was the murderer. She was just the knife.

In the end, though, it didn't matter.

Knowing that Lachance was the traitor made it harder to excuse following his orders. Why did she continue? Why trudge all the way up a mountain in a blizzard to find one target? Why wade through a waterlogged cave for another?

The money was good, it was true. She'd bought and furnished a shack in the Imperial City with her earnings. She'd be lying if she claimed that was the reason, though. She barely got to sleep at all, much less with the luxury of a bed.

The Mythic Dawn hounded her. Every few nights, one or two of them would find her. One day, she'd had to slaughter a group of six. One night, she woke up in the throat of a massive lizard-thing, and had to cut herself out before the beast could finish digesting her.

When it wasn't the Dawn, seeking her out for something she didn't have, it was the Argonian she'd come to know as Eshk. She supposed he'd gone rogue from the Brotherhood: he'd apparently been quite fond of Ocheeva and Teinaava, and he blamed her for their deaths.

Unlike the Dawn assassins who'd come for her, Eshk was still alive. He was skilled enough, she supposed … and Lyssi couldn't fault him for his hatred.

Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, then. She'd gone mad, but unlike a normal person who could just lay down and die, she had to keep going.

Or maybe, just maybe, she wanted to see the Brotherhood as a whole – and Lachance in particular – to feel her pain. The faster she worked, the more Families she hurt. The swifter retribution came.

After all.

Lachance was the murderer.

She was just the knife.

Alyssia the Bosmer knelt next to the corpse. Her prey had been a wood elf, like her. And in a far cry from the timid, fearful thing she'd been, she murdered him in the center of town, guards be damned, at the feet of a female statue. The "lucky" old lady, it was called.

She was preparing her excuse while she cleaned her blade on his fancy green shirt. "He was my man, sir," she'd begin, "And when he started seeing that harlot ..."

"What are you doing?" Her reverie was broken by a voice she hadn't expected, with the question she had.

"Your orders."

Lachance looked like he'd slept even less in the past few weeks than she had. He was pale, shaky. His eyes were red-rimmed, his expression was shocked. Horrified.

Beaten.

"My orders, "he repeated dully. "My orders? My orders went ignored, while you betrayed me! You think – you honestly think – " He laughed, and the sound of it was sick, almost manic. "J'Ghasta, Shaleez … Alval … even Havilstein Hoar-Blood. Speakers, and Silencers all … and now this! The Listener himself!" He looked down at the body, disgusted, and her gaze followed his. "What could possibly make you think I ordered this?"

"Your orders," she repeated, this time presenting him with the last of the dead drop notes. He took it from her, and she saw his hand trembling.

"This – this is my handwriting, it's true – but these are not my words. Tell me – if I had written these orders … why would I have called an assassin on you?" He watched her, waited for her reaction. He was cold and calculating, even pushed to the edge like this.

An assassin, though? "... Eshk?" She raised an eyebrow, arms folded quietly. "Worked alone. He was overwrought. Figured he'd gone rogue." She shrugged a bit at that.

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head. "Nevermind. The important thing is that we stop this madness. It says here your next drop is in Anvil. These drops were planted by someone else. These orders are forgeries, demanding the deaths of the highest echelon of the Dark Brotherhood. We – you – need to find out who switched the orders. Find proof if you can. Then kill him. The Black Hand knows you are my Silencer – they know you act on my behalf." He laughed a little bit at the irony. "Despite your part in these murders, they know you are innocent. After all you're only the knife."

He nodded slightly to her, handed the note back. "Walk quietly, Silencer, but be swift. We must clear my name. We must find the real traitor here … before he kills again. When you've found the evidence, meet me at Applewatch. It's a farm near Bruma, deserted now."

She returned his nod and turned on her heel, already gone.

Maybe she just needed someone to obey.

Tenet 1: Never dishonor the Night Mother. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 2: Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 3: Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 4: Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.