Chapter 42: Change of Plans

To sneak past the Thalmor guards without being noticed proved harder than Babette had expected. It was quasi impossible in the daylight, but even at night, they made extra sure that the patrols did not miss a fly entering the city. And she was getting hungry. The stronger her hunger, the more ferocious she was, which was good lest a fight occurred, but very bad for sneaking. She tended to make silly mistakes, and there was no chance of surviving an imprisonment by the Thalmor, that much she knew. No, this would require planning very much ahead.

She looked up, inspecting the sky. A large passing cloud hid the moons from her sight, and since the wind was just a light breeze, softly caressing the snowy treetops, she knew it would stay there for a while. The elves could only rely on their torches and their own instincts, and even though they could definitely sense more than humans, she knew that in her current form she could beat them. She would notice a presence miles away.

Her small frame silently crawled to a nearby building and waited. The Shrouded Armor she wore concealed her presence almost completely and the three guards who passed her did not even stop to inspect what there was.

"How amusing, watching that Arethil fellow compete against Master Talwen so desperately," one of them chuckled derisively.

"Shh," another hissed timorously. "He got his spies over here, y'know…" Babette smiled. This one was definitely one of Talwen's loyal ones. And, judging by his accent, he was a Dunmer who had grown up in Skyrim, among the Nords.

"Of course," the third said, sarcasm apparent in his voice. "I don't think you need to worry about that. No one would dare touch a person who wins Winterhold for Lady Elenwen. That would mean their swift end."

The second elf suppressed a retort which, of course, only Babette could notice, and their voices faded out slowly. Babette turned her eyes to the road she wanted to follow. Two more patrols traversed it. It could be so easy if she could just kill all of them… but that was unacceptable. The contract stated clearly that no one else was to be harmed while executing the deed. She chased off a stray lock of her hair from her face and silently sneaked to the next building. There was a dark, narrow passage between it and the house on its left, and she used it to hide. She bit her lip as she noticed a hooded figure approach the spot where she was crouching. His step was steady, certain and calm. She needed to get out of there quickly… but where to?

Two more steps…

She promptly jumped up to the roof, grabbing its edge and swinging herself over it, happy that she had remained a child. A moment later, the guard's torch flooded the small space with light, but there was no one to be found. The elf froze, turning his head in slow motion, up and down, left and right, but the little vampire was hidden from his sight. He stretched out his hand and reached for an invisible target, but there was nothing. She heard a silent snort as he backed away cautiously. "You won't hide from me forever," he muttered under his breath.

She scanned her surroundings. This was quite convenient, as there were no lights up on the roofs that would give her away, and no prying eyes she needed to escape from. She climbed the roof in silence which proved to be difficult as the thatches, covered in thin layer of ice, were slippery, deadly if one was not careful. In the end, it wasn't that great after all.

She decided against jumping on the next roof and risking that she would slip and fall down. Instead, she landed soundlessly on the ground like a cat, and her fiery vampire eyes pierced the darkness before her. One last house and she'd be there. One last patrol… she grabbed a rock from the ground and weighed it in the palm of her hand, thinking whether she should try the elves' wits. If only she could make them think that it actually flew from the opposite direction… her lips suddenly curled in a wide smile as it hit her. She could!

She picked up another rock. It was slightly heavier than the first one and round, so she added a lighter one with a flat side. Her bright eyes measured the distance between herself and the deepest spot in the water. Her hand took a good aim, swinging several times for practice, and then she threw both of the rocks into the water. Shortly after the splashing sound which echoed through the still of the night, she dropped the first rock on the ground and swiftly pressed herself against the nearest wall. The torchlight missed her completely as the elves' attention turned to the water. She grinned and proceeded along the wall, creeping onto the low terrace and slipping through the door to the house of her target. She shut the door behind herself and locked it with a lockpick – a skill she had been taught by the Listener.

A thin Imperial man in crimson robes with golden emblem of sun around his neck was the only person occupying the place, and he was fully awake, jerking in shock as she turned to him. There was horror in face, doubled when his eyes studied her attire. He shook his head wildly.

"No," he whispered. "Please, no, I haven't done anything! I'm not planning to either!"

Babette took a step forward, leisurely, as though she had come to chat.

"You don't understand," he pleaded. "I have… information. I could be of use to… whoever your employer is… they need to know this… the Dragonborn needs to know it! I know you're with her. Please…"

Babette looked at him almost compassionately. "I'm sorry," she said in her sweet, childlike voice, "but once a contract has been made, no one can change it. No one can ever go against the will of Sithis."

"By the gods… the Brotherhood employs children?" he exhaled.

Babette laughed, waiting for his response.

"L-listen… isn't there a way? Can't you at least… postpone it?"

"Postpone it?" she repeated curiously. Now that was intriguing. "You know that would only make you suffer for longer?" Her smile was angelic.

"Yes, yes! I have information that could prove valuable to you! I know who's behind all this! The rostones, Mehrunes Dagon's involvement! If you spare me for now…" The man sounded desperate, as though he was on the verge of madness.

Nazir liked to say certain thing, Babette remembered. "It's not like the dead can run away." She could not agree more, and wild excitement tickled at the back of her mind.

She scratched her head, looking like a lost child for a moment, and then she nodded. "Very well," she said. "But that information won't do me any good. There's another person you need to tell it to, and I will see to it personally that you do."

"A-and then?"

"We will see," she shrugged. The man could compete with the snow outside in terms of paleness. "For now, you'll have to be my host. I can't possibly leave here secretly with you, so you will have to seek Master Talwen tomorrow. You will say to the guards exactly what I tell you, or we're both as good as dead."

"All right," he exhaled shakily. "Then…" he pointed to the chair behind the small desk standing next to the entrance door. She sat down, scanning the place indifferently. What a waste of a good, dark night, she thought bitterly. And she was so hungry. He would have made a delicious feast. But who was she to put her own needs before the potential benefit to the Listener?

The night passed in relative silence, broken only by an occasional crackle of the candlelight. Soft, violet light made its way through the window as the sun prepared to rise above the eastern horizon, and Babette suddenly felt awfully tired. There was a long day ahead of her.

"When are you permitted to go outside?" she asked the man. He took a breath as his eyes drifted to the window and the dust hanging in the air before it.

"Two hours after dawn," he said, "until noon, and then the three hours before dusk. But only if a guard accompanies us."

"Which is perfectly fine," she nodded. "Listen well. You will ask for Master Talwen and only Master Talwen, requesting an urgent visit. The password will be 'Pyandonea in the dark'. You will only speak to Master Talwen, and only do it when you are asked to. Once you finish, you'll return here and continue to live as you always have."

"A-and then?" he whispered as his lower lip trembled uncontrollably. Babette suppressed a wicked smile.

"Well, you have a choice," she purred. "From me, it'll be a fast delivery. From them," she purposely omitted the name to make the threat stand out, "a drag through Oblivion while being tied to a cart drawn by spider daedra."

The paleness in his face turned the unhealthy color of green. "This doesn't help me at all," he breathed hoarsely.

"Don't worry," she said with a nonchalant shrug, "Sithis is not cruel to the ones who serve him well."

"N-no!"

"Shhh, don't shout! You don't want them to hear us."

"I'm not so sure about that…"

"Have you ever heard of Thalmor interrogations?" Babette asked with the sweetest smile she could produce. "Because I have. Care to hear a few stories? They usually end up with the victims being 'broken beyond repair', both mentally and physically."

"Stop! Please, stop, I beg you!"

"Then you're going to cooperate?"

"Yes…" he stammered and Babette half expected tears to well up in his eyes. "Whatever you want, just… keep it painless."

"Painless, you say," she repeated thoughtfully. "We'll see about that. For now, I will inform Master Talwen of our deal."

"You did not kill him?" Reinya Talwen hissed, more with concern than anger. She paced around the dark tower in infinite circles and Babette watched her step curiously.

"I would," the little vampire said with a shrug, "but he seemed to offer something that might be of interest to you."

"I've never heard of the Dark Brotherhood being concerned with things like that." The red-haired elf shot Babette a look full of doubt and suspicion. "What's going on here?"

"This concerns us. It concerns the Listener. Old rules don't apply to us anymore, but I still feel compelled to do everything to protect her. After all, we can't hear our Mother's words without her."

Reinya Talwen visibly shuddered. Babette wondered if it was because of what she had said, or simply because she did not sound like that little innocent girl anymore. After all, she wasn't just a little innocent girl.

"So?" the elf asked with a slightly raised brow. "What am I to expect now?"

"I think it would be better if we separated as soon as possible. He might ask for audience any minute."

"Are you going to kill him then? The Dark Brotherhood cannot go back on their word."

"Yes."

"That's quite selfish of you. Do you know what that means for me?"

"Yes, and I'm prepared for that," Babette said with a smile. "I'm going to make it look like someone else ordered the murder. You can decide who it's going to be."

"What are the conditions?"

"Name someone and I will frame them."

"Any name?"

Babette paused for just a split second. She was aware of the risks of such a promise, but the Dark Brotherhood always prided itself in accomplishing the impossible. She simply knew there was no way back anymore. She took a deep breath and concealed it behind a nonchalant yawn.

"Yes," she replied.

"Then…" Reinya Talwen stared absentmindedly at a protruding stone on the wall, covered in pale green moss, "I need to dispose of a man called Arethil."

"I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before."

"You most likely have. He is a Squire, just like me, and Elenwen's favorite to the point where our rules do not apply to him. And I am warning you, this man is dangerous. He has ears everywhere. No one knows how he manages to gather his information, but if you make one slight mistake, it might cost us all. Treat is as though he already knows of this conversation."

"Nothing like a real challenge," Babette said in that indifferent tone of hers, while deep inside she was slightly worried. True, she had a lot of secret weapons at her disposal, but if this Arethil was as dangerous as Reinya Talwen had suggested, he might already know about them. So she needed to be faster than him. Fortunately, there was a person who, as she believed, would be able to outrun him in his little witch hunt.

The elf frowned at her easygoing attitude. "Listen well," she said urgently. "This is the last time we speak to each other. We cannot meet ever again. You and I have never met each other, nor have we heard of each other's existence."

"Naturally," Babette said with a smile. "Which, of course, brings up certain topic."

"You want a bonus."

Babette's eyelids slowly sank and rose again in confirmation. "Could I make it a favor instead of money?"

"Interesting. There is something that the Dark Brotherhood wants, apart from coin?"

"No. There's something I want."

"Speak up."

"Will you protect the Listener?"

"The Dragonborn? Naturally, I will do everything in my power to aid her, but I don't even know where she is. Word has it that she has gone back to Riften, but that was about two days ago, and we all know she never stays at one place for long. To protect her? How can I promise that?"

"And we all know she will make her appearance sooner or later."

"Do you realize what you are asking for?"

"You just asked me to frame the best informed guy in the Dominion," Babette shrugged and leaned against a stone pillar.

"And who is going to protect my people?" Reinya's hand reached for her hair and buried itself amidst the countless fiery waves.

"She will." A smile curled up on Babette's lips again. The elf threw up her hands in defeat.

"I hope so," she said with a shake of her head. "Stay close. And take this." From the depths of her pocket, Reinya Talwen withdrew what looked like a plain copper amulet and passed it to the girl.

"What is this?" Babette raised a brow.

"You'll see when the time comes. Now off you go."

The little vampire nodded and exited the room in a few jumps.

"Everybody out!" Reinya Talwen ordered everyone in the room. "And take her out as well." She pointed at a white-haired woman sitting on the humble looking throne in the far end of the hall. The Jarl of Dawnstar sighed and rose from her seat, head high and back straight.

"But Master Talwen," a man in an excessively decorate version of the Thalmor robes started, but the Squire shut him with a single look.

"You too, Neleth, and I will not repeat myself."

"But we are sworn to—"

"Get. Out. Now."

"Yes, Master Talwen…"

The room was soon vacated save for the Squire in command and the Imperial man in red robes who stood before her, trembling and uneasy. The elf kept watching him out of the corner of her eye as she walked around the room and cast one spell after another, sealing doors, windows and every crevice she could think of and creating soundproof walls around them. The tips of her fingers kept flashing in gold, green, blue and purple until she finally walked back with an exhale. She seated herself on the throne, leaning comfortably against the upholstered backrest, and watched the man with her eyes slightly narrowed like a falcon scouting the land for potential prey.

"Well then, Mister Vesuius" she said in a neutral tone, "let us hear what you have to say. I have been informed you have some kind of valuable information for me?"

"Yes, yes," the man nodded enthusiastically. Too enthusiastically, Reinya thought. "I have information on the rotstones and everything that has been going on with Mehrunes Dagon and his champion."

"Truly? Possibly something about the one who killed him?"

"Killed him?" Confusion replaced fear in Silus Vesuius's face for just a moment. Then his finger shot up and he nodded slowly. "Oh, you mean Marilis? No, Lord Dagon would never choose such a weakling as his champion."

"Wait. You mean to tell me that Marilis was not a champion of Mehrunes Dagon? That there is someone else?"

"Correct. Marilis was never more than a pawn, a distraction to keep your eyes away from the real threat."

"Then who is his champion?"

The man took a deep breath and shifted his weight. "Lord Camoran."

"Camoran?" Reinya Talwen repeated, slowly, quietly, fighting a sudden obstacle in her throat to pronounce the word. "Mankar Camoran?"

The man raised a brow and shook his head. "Mankar Camoran has been dead for two centuries. I mean his son, Elion Camoran."

"Traitor." The word was spat, venom reeking from every sound of it. The man who had articulated it was beautiful, as most high elves were, with pale skin and long, dark hair tied up in a ponytail with two gilded hairpins. He stood on top of the stone steps to the Candlehearth Hall with two other men by his side, looking down at Karliah and her Altmer companion, a woman with obvious liking for rose color as her hair color, shades around her eyes and several parts of her attire suggested. The two women stood close to each other, one holding a dark bow with a nocked arrow while the other readied a spell in one hand and clutched a dagger in the other. They exchanged a quick look before firing. The men surrounding the pale one fell at once.

"Your effort will come to waste," he continued. "We will be avenged." He did not even try to draw his sword before his body fell on top of his comrades.

"I think that was the last of them," Karliah said in her soft, quiet voice and grabbed the arm of her companion, dragging her into one of the niches in the wall on the western side of the plaza. She scanned her surroundings with a quick glance and crouched, gesturing to the Altmer woman to do the same. The place was full of corpses of both men and mer, and among them lay an occasional Argonian. The Altmer gave the scenery a sorrowful look before turning around to face Karliah.

"And we are the last of us. This isn't how it was supposed to be."

A wild roar cut through the air and made both of them raise their heads. Karliah frowned. She was not good with battles, especially not the ones that involved fire-breathing winged beasts and endless beams of magical light, but at least, thanks to all the smoke, cinders and light that occasionally flashed through them, she could not see the sky which also meant no one could see her from there. She could not tell how many dragons were out there, but the less they could see of them the better.

"I know," she said with a heavy sigh, "but we can't give up yet."

"Karliah, this is madness! We should have never—"

"But we're already here. There's no turning back at this point."

"Look, I'm… I'm not a warrior, I'm a simple merchant and—"

"I know. That's why this time we'll do it our way."

The Altmer raised her brow and gave Karliah a questioning look. The dark elf simply shrugged in response and checked the buckles on her boots, tugging at the dagger that was attached to them.

"Listen. Our allies may be dead, but so are theirs. I believe we didn't let anyone escape, and that means they don't know you betrayed them."

"But I didn't."

"Not the point. Can you still keep up the act?"

"What do you want me to do?"

There was a brief silence before Karliah spoke again, failing to hide a slight tremble in her voice. "Nothing, if everything goes as planned."

"And if it doesn't?"

The dark elf leaned to her companion and whispered something in her ear. It was returned with an expression of utter shock.

"What?!" the Altmer squeaked and put her hand over her mouth at once.

"Shhh!"

"You… you're joking, right?"

"I wish I were, Niranye. I wish I were." Karliah's body tensed as she heard footsteps on the ground, light leather boots treading on the thin layer of snow and producing soft, crunching sound. It was soon accompanied by another, heavier sound, and Karliah deduced the other must be a man in light armor, most likely elven or glass. The two of them held their breath.

Karliah dared peek over the edge of the stone platform adjacent to the niche and saw a pair of elves – an armored Altmer man carrying a glass mace and a robed woman whose face she could not see under her hood. She clutched her bow until the knuckles on her hand turned white, but her arrows stayed untouched in her quiver.

"I knew there was something going on here," the woman hissed. Her voice was cold, unpleasant and creaky. "We have to tell the others."

"Shh! Whoever did this might still be here. Let's go."

The footsteps faded away and the two of them exhaled at once.

"We have to get out of here," Niranye urged.

"Nurelion's shop is that way, right?" Karliah waved her hand to the corner on her right.

"It is, but they moved everything useful to the palace courtyard."

"Brilliant. That saves us a lot of trouble."

Niranye raised a brow and granted her friend a curious look.

"Let's go," Karliah said with a shrug and pressed herself to a wall. Niranye followed her example and the two of them proceeded slowly along it to the western part of the city, jumping from niche to niche, using the shadows to hide their presence. There was barely anyone in the streets, the lower parts of the city seemed strangely deserted, as though there was a vacuum in the middle of a sea of troubled waters. Cinders fell from above to silently land on the ground and melt tiny holes into the thin layer of snow beneath. There were voices coming from the direction of the Palace of the Kings where neither of them dared take a peek, and figures loomed on the walls, but everyone seemed focused on what was happening on the battlefield outside of the city. Karliah knew they would soon start looking for them, as only one pair of elves would return to their leaders with news about the massacre by the gate.

A number of elves supporting a massive wooden ladder ran past them and they held their breath, trying to blend into the texture of the stone. Karliah let out a silent sigh, remembering her Nightingale Armor which would cover her perfectly. Fortunately, the passersby did not stop to look around. Niranye let out a shaky breath.

The street led them to a small plaza which once used to be a marketplace. Niranye knew this place better than her own home, as this was where she used to call to potential customers and haggle over the prices not too long ago, before it became a workshop for weapons and war equipment. She gave it a long, nostalgic look. Several dark figures were flocked around a small, inconspicuous door that led to a turret, located just a few feet from where Niranye's stall had once stood. Occasionally, someone left or joined, keeping the road between the marketplace and the Palace of the Kings busy.

"How are we going to cross it?" Niranye asked, frowning until a deep wrinkle formed between her eyes.

"When you can't hide in shadows, you need to make your own," Karliah said with a slight smile. "Look at that person." She pointed to one of the two figures that detached from the group and made their way across the plaza, towards the cemetery. "See where he's looking?"

"The forge?"

"Yes, the forge. So if you wanted to walk past him unnoticed, what would you do?"

"Avoid the forge?"

"No. You'd go right through it."

"What?"

"Look at him. His body is stiff and there is this slight tremble that makes him scan everything around him, but his eyes are fixed on that forge just because it's the most distinct thing in the area. Do you know what scares him the most?"

"No?"

"The things he cannot see. If you slip just outside of his view or get behind him, he'll notice. Ironically, the forge that he's looking at is the one thing that he ignores, because he sees it. Or he thinks he does. Watch me."

Karliah moved towards the forge before her friend could stop her. Niranye gasped and her eyes widened as the Dunmer stood up and confidently walked through the forge, picking a random ingot on her way and dusting it before her figure disappeared on the other side behind a number of massive barrels. The two people passed her by inches, unbothered by her presence. Niranye shook her head. Her eyes followed the figures until they disappeared behind the stone wall separating the cemetery from the rest of the city. As though something snapped her from a haze, she suddenly noticed Karliah waving to her. The way was clear now and Niranye used the opportunity to quickly join her before anyone else decided to cross her path.

"Now that's what I call luck," Karliah commented with a raised brow. Crawling to the closest building, she reached for the handle of its entrance door. "Locked, just as I thought." She groped about her pocket for a lockpick but was stopped by Niranye presenting her with a small copper key.

"Looking for this?"

"What? How did you…"

"Most people gave me their keys when this all started, trusting me to warn them… in case something goes horribly wrong… you know…" There was a pained look in Niranye's eyes and Karliah sensed a tremble in her hands as she handed her the key. The Dunmer gave a slow nod.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Let's just go," the Altmer urged with a dismissive gesture.

They entered the house and locked the door behind themselves. It was dark inside, no candle or torch lit the interior and infinite number of cobwebs covered the dusty corners. Books lay in disorganized piles on the counter, some open and some with their pages torn and crumpled. A clay bowl lay broken in pieces on the table to their left, and some white, dusty matter had scattered around it.

A roar from the outside shook the whole structure. Karliah gave her companion an uneasy look.

"Just how many dragons are there?" she asked, knitting her brows. Niranye replied with a simple shake of her head. "Anyway, this place looks deserted. What in Oblivion happened to the young merchant that used to live here?"

"He was one of the first to be dragged away. Wrong place, wrong time, and the Thalmor had learnt that he knew Aislinn quite well. No one has heard of him ever since."

"Damn them," Karliah hissed quietly. "Let's find what we need."

"And what would that be?"

"Snowberries, blue mountain flowers, flour, a few pieces of paper, a rope and some smaller bags."

Niranye's brows shot up abruptly. "Erm, Karliah… you're not very good at alchemy, are you?"

The Dunmer chuckled. "What's with the euphemism? I'm not. Which, in this case, turns in our favor."

"It does?"

Karliah rounded the counter and searched the almost empty shelves behind it. "Yes. Once, I thought I could replace purple mountain flower with blue, so I did and mixed it with snowberries and water. Do you know what I got?"

"No?"

"A substance so viscous you could compare it to glue. It's quite useless, as it doesn't stick like glue or have any kind of special properties, but it can without fail serve as a great obstacle when you step in it."

"And the rest of the things?"

"Flour serves to increase the amount. I don't expect to find too much of these ingredients here, even if they are the most common ones, but we don't need so much to wreak havoc. And the rest… well, you can cast a fireball, right? I still have a bit of the explosive powder I used for my signal. It should be enough to scatter it all over." Karliah grabbed a handful of dried flowers and proceeded to the adjacent room. A number of boxes lay scattered around and the two of them started rummaging through one after another.

"Blazes, Karliah, if… if this works out…"

"Then most of the inner city will be taken care of. Can you go upstairs and see if you can find those berries? I think we got the rest."

The Altmer nodded and scurried away while Karliah prepared several bags with flour and paper scraps. She found a mortar with a pestle by the laboratory just beside the counter and started working on the herbs. By the time she finished distributing the powder evenly to the bags, Niranye joined her, handing her a bowl full of snowberries.

"They're all dried out though."

"Just what I need," Karliah said and dumped them into the mortar. "We need powder so it can spread over the snow. When it mixes, that's where the fun begins."

"Phew, I'm glad you're not my enemy."

"I'm only wicked when people are mean to me or my friends." Karliah's lips curled up as she ground the berries into fine powder. "Say, you know the city. Which are the best spots to throw these to?"

Niranye put a finger over her lips and stared into a corner absentmindedly. A spider ran out of the cobweb that covered it, making its way toward a small pile of hay that lay beneath the bed on the remote side of the room. After a while, the Altmer spoke quietly.

"Probably the turrets. There's always a passage to the ground level located in them, so if you block them, you block all the communication. Also, around the gates. They have braziers and barrels with oil there, so if you disable that area, you'll give Balgruuf's men free passage."

Karliah nodded. Her work was done and she stood up, taking a deep, long breath. "Then we're going to do just that. Will you be my guide?" She bent down to grab a few bags.

"Before we go, Karliah… can you tell me one thing?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you willing to go this far?"

Karliah stopped in her motion and gave her a long, pensive look. "I guess I find our guildmaster a little inspiring," she said at last and smiled.

They exited the house and sneakily made their way back to the main gate area. The city started swarming with figures in dark robes and shiny armors and the process of getting through it was long and painful as they sometimes had to wait for a long while for an opportunity to quickly move to another hiding place. Karliah had always hated Windhelm for its lack of greenery, but now her hate reached a whole new level, even though she found her quest quite educational. As resourceful as they could be, she and Niranye used everything they could think of to hide, be it barrels, signposts, dead people or even living ones. When they finally reached the Grey Quarter, Niranye was trembling.

"I'm a merchant, dammit!" she said in a tiny voice and shook her head.

"I know, I know! I'm sorry, Niranye, I…"

"No… don't apologize… forget about it. Let's go, I can't stand the waiting."

"All right. We'll start with the east gate. Don't stay too close to me. Trail me, don't go ahead, okay?"

"Karliah…" The Altmer gave her a pleading look. It was dismissed with a wave of Karliah's hand.

"No. We already went through this. There is no alternative. Let's go."

The two of them darted towards the gate. Karliah wasn't as good at throwing things as she was at shooting with a bow, but nevertheless, years of practice had taught her to aim well. The first bag flew above the great wall and burst into a cloud of blinding sticky dust as soon as it was hit by a fireball shot from Niranye's fingertips. The elves on top of the wall let out a surprised shriek but the two infiltrators did not stop. They ran westward and stopped at the first turret, repeating the process. The bomb went a little sideways as it was hard to aim this high, and Karliah scolded herself in her thoughts. Fortunately, the dust still hit the target area and its occupants were soon fighting in order to just stand on their feet.

One more turret and it was time for the gate. Left side was dealt with quickly. Several elves fell from the wall and died as soon as they hit the ground. Both Karliah and Niranye twisted their faces in disgust at the unhealthy cracking sound as their bodies landed, and proceeded to the right side of the gate. Karliah scurried towards a dark nook conveniently covered by a small bush, but as soon as she did, her path was blocked by debris as a huge blazing rock shot from the outside hit the wall above her. She gasped and backed away, frantically searching for a place to hide.

"An intruder! There she is!"

Karliah turned her head after the sound. A slight robed Altmer woman was pointing in her direction and beckoning to others to follow her. Karliah cussed in her thoughts and broke into a run, jumping over the crumbling stone in her way as she went. Niranye was somewhere behind her, but she knew what she had to do.

Karliah took a turn to the right, towards the cemetery which she rapidly crossed, and returned to the former marketplace. She quickly threw another bomb at the closest turret and fired a firebolt after it.

"That'll have to do," she quietly said to herself.

Niranye skipped to her side as she turned to the alchemy house, but there was no way they were going to make it. Enemies poured from every direction Karliah could see, in pairs or threes, but she knew there was no way to defeat this many. She grimaced and dropped the remaining bags, drawing her dagger.

"Die, bitch!" she yelled and lunged at Niranye. The Altmer's eyes widened in shock as she staggered backwards, preparing a spell. "What is it? Scared of the dark?!" Karliah taunted.

Niranye hissed. "As if!" she shouted back. "You'll pay for this!"

In a moment, Karliah was disarmed and sent to her knees by the means of a hilt of a greatsword which painfully hit the top of her head. A man stood above her, sturdier than most of his high elf kinsmen, and his face was twisted in a grin which boded ill. Karliah gasped for air and blinked to chase the stars dancing before her eyes away.

"Now would you look at that," the man drawled, clearly delighting in every syllable he let out. "We finally caught the little rat. Well done, errand girl. I'll be sure to reward you accordingly."

Karliah clenched her fists. She could sense the tremble from Niranye's body, overcome by fear. She lashed out at her just for the effect, reminding her friend of her role. Niranye snarled and kicked her side. Karliah groaned and curled up on the ground.

"Sir, what shall we do with her?" a female voice asked. "There's no one to interrogate her at the moment…"

"No need for that. I will personally deliver her to Arethil. I'm sure they will find… a common topic," the man hissed as he grabbed Karliah's hair and pulled her back to her feet. She staggered and the stars returned. "Prepare to depart, the city is lost. Miss errand girl, would you be kind enough to put our guest to sleep?"

Niranye hesitated for just a moment. "Yes, my lord," she replied quietly. She picked up Karliah's dagger from the ground and clutched it tightly. A moment that felt like eternity for Karliah passed and then the hilt shot forward and buried under her rib cage, making her crash into the wall behind her. She felt the heat of Niranye's body as the Altmer merchant closed the distance between them, and she could swear she heard a silent "I'm sorry" before the world around her sank into darkness.

Hey there, I'm back! As always, I have to apologize for the great delay, the longest I've had so far. A lot has been happening in my life, I've been fighting my health and working on several other projects to keep myself busy and not think of certain depressing topics. I've also written quite a few chapters of my other Skyrim fic, Clouds of the Past. So now I'm back to Strike and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

To be honest, this one was quite a challenge. It might be just because I took a long break, but I also couldn't bring myself to write because my head was full of this new mod for Skyrim which is made as a total overhaul – meaning you install a whole new game with new world, new story and even new game mechanics that just looks a lot like Skyrim. It's called Enderal and it's… awesome. Unbelievable. Astonishing. Magnificent. Amazing. And I'm running out of words… anyway, its story is so intense that I just can't get it out of my head. I forbid myself from writing an Enderal fanfic before I finish at least one of those that I've already started, but really… it's great. If you ever have the chance to play Enderal, do it. And prepare a lot of tissues.

Anyway, as for this chapter… well, not much to say about it, except: yes, I made a lot of stuff up, like there's no Elion Camoran in the Elder Scrolls lore (yet :D), and there are no doors leading to the turrets in Windhelm, but since I need to make the city a bit believable, I have to improvise a bit.

And now some thanks are in order, for you guys have been simply amazing! I noticed new followers and favorites for which I'm very grateful, and quite a few of you sent me awesome reviews or private messages that just made my day.

My special thanks belong to Smenghauser who sent me this wonderful constructive criticism that made me think a lot about how I write my characters. Thank you! You're right, I do need to work on them quite a lot. And now I have to apologize for the weird reply I gave you, it was really out of place now that I think about it. I better just go and work hard.

Pietersielie: As always, thank you for the review! Yeah, Dagon went kind of Sheogorath's path, but that's ok, he has his reasons. But thank you for pointing this out, I'll make sure this is explained clearly in further in the story.

AlbertDp: Once again, thank you very much, your words gladden my heart! As you can see, I haven't stopped updating my story, though I'm very sorry for the delay.

Eric: Well, it's always Mission Impossible. Luckily, this stage is mine to command. Thank you for the review. :)

Twillin: TWILLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN! I already said this to you, but it's great to have you back! And Cicero, well… you know what they say. Out of sight, out of mind. Not like he can hear her thoughts… maybe. I hope. She hopes. Y'know. :D

dart0808: *just hides away and tries to sweep the delay under the carpet* Thanks for the beta. As always. ;)

And that's all folks! Stay tuned!

Mirwen