Chapter Four - Shadows and Secrets
Raven was cold.
That was the first thing he realised. He didn't recall coming to. He just slowly eased into realisations that he was not only cold, but uncomfortable.
He could feel something stabbing into his back, something sharp. Probably a rock, judging be the semi-dirt stone floor on which he could feel he was laying. He could feel that his wrists were bound behind him, and that his Leather armour had been stripped, leaving only the meagre clothes he wore beneath it. Raven didn't believe in paying good money for clothes that would be beneath his armour, and as a direct result, he ended up sleeping in a sackcloth garment that made him look like a begger.
He owned his own house, but he'd never seen the point in forking out for furnishings. Like his clothes, it was bare an unadorned. It's only features were a bed, and chest at the foot of it. He ate his meals at the guild, or cross-legged on the floor.
"Awake, are we?"
The deep, melodious voice shocked Raven, and brought his memories flooding back into his mind. The Assassins, then Vay'leon killing them...and knocking him out!
"Whaaaaa..." Raven moaned, before swallowing, gathering himself, and putting all his effort into talking, despite a numb jaw.
"What's...going on?" he asked simply.
"Heh...you tell me!" Vay'leon motioned, and Raven could now see they sat within a cave, the Mage leaning against a wall nearby.
"It was smart of you...getting your friends to attack me like that, while you were with me. It almost fooled me when you shot one...but then...I know you bastards are all heartless sociopaths. You probably enjoyed killing a comrade."
"What the hell...are you...Talking about?" asked Raven, as loudly and angrily as he could, despite his still semi-paralysed body. Somehow, he managed to convey some sense of displeasure despite his condition. Vay'leon grinned, then strode over to him, letting something fall. Raven felt something land on his chest...an arrow?
"This was found in the body of a Mage's Guild healer known as White Pheonix, in the Imperial City. It's called the Rose of Sithis...but I'm betting you knew that already. We already identified where the shot came from. Only a master marksman could have done it. And you've got history with the Brotherhood...hell, your father was one of them! And it looks like we were right...an attack, as soon as you knew I was in town?"
Raven desperatly gasped, trying both to proclaim his innocence and force his jaws to work, and the result was a strangled moan.
"Don't bother. The guild already knows all about you. Your 'connections'. Face it, Raven. You, are, a dead man."
Vay'leon put careful purpose on the last few words, letting them sink in. Raven was shocked. They'd already passed his sentance? But, he was innocent!
But...if they'd given him the Death Penalty, Vay'leon would be well within his rights to just kill him...so why hadn't he already?
"Heh...you've figured it out by now, havn't you? No, I'm not going to kill you. Guess why?" Vay'leon smirked, bending over Raven so the paralysed young man could see his face. He waited for a second, then continued:
"It's like this. I need you...for something to happen. And I need you to draw others here. So, you get to live for now. Here's the deal. I've placed a spell on you while you were asleep. It was a very difficult one to work, but not impossible for someone of my own skill. The basic premise is this...while you're within a certain distance from me, you live. Leave that area, or I die, and you kinda...explode. Well, not really. It's more a turning-inside-out and simultaneuosly corroding. But that's not the point. It's nasty, that's all you need to know."
"So...what happens now?" asked Raven, feeling sick.
"That's easy too..." the mage stated, opening the old wooden door and letting light fill the dank cave, as Raven's bindings dissapeared mysteriously: "You and I...we are going to the Imperial City. We need to go see someone very special."
~
Talin moved quietly through the shadows at the base of the city's wall, less then a shadow herself. She skirted the guard-post at the gates, unseen, and dashed across the open area into the relative safety of a doorway.
Now, she drew a Lockpick from her light clothes, a skintight leather armour wrapped about in a cloak, and examined the lock. With an expert twist, she had the door open, and slipped inside as a patrol appeared around the corner, closing the door behind her.
Moving silently through the darkened, still house, she quickly ascended a staircase and was in the bedroom. She crept across the stone floor, rounding a bookcase to find...an empty bed?
That's when the knife buired itself in her left arm.
Talin had long since learned that screaming in pain on a burglarly never brought about any good, so she remained silent, but that was hardly an indication that it didn't hurt. In fact, right now, she was in agony, she simply didn't show it.
"That on was a warning..." a calm voice said from behind her, as the smoothe 'Shhhhing' of a sword being drawn could be heard. She spun about to see a Dai-Katana pointed directly at her heart.
"Heh...if I can say anything about the Dark Brotherhood, it's that they've made their armour a helluva a lot sexier since last time I killed one of their 'Sisters'."
Before her stood a tall man, clad in a full suit of Ebony Armour, a Dark Elf, no less. His weapon looked like one of Morrowind's Dagoth variety. It was the middle of the night, Talin noted. This guy slept in his armour?
"Dark Brotherhood? You've got the wrong sneak, Dunmer!" Talin protested, a wry grin playing across her face. Despite the pain in her arm, and the still-unremoved dagger, she knew that she could possibly escape a much more painful fate with a few simple gestures now.
"Oh, you were from some OTHER group that wears black leather, and decided to assassinate me in my sleep? Of course...how stupid of me! Dehsworn, how could you have made such an easy mistake?"
With that, he pressed the tip of his blade against her throat and smiled.
"Look...I was sent here to steal a few trinkets, is all. The Doyen said that the old guy that lived here collected Daedric artifacts from Cyrodiil and Vvardenfel. He was hoping to score some."
"Theives Guild? Ah, I see...well, your information was correct, after a fashion...but I'm far from old. And I've been in town less then a week...tell me...where did you hear of this?"
Talin hesitated. The Doyan has said he'd got the info' off a guy in a black robe, who said he was a fellow theif without the skills to break in here. Of course, she shouldn't tell him their source...but then, most people reacted quite predictably to the revelation that they were not being assassinated, but robbed. They all screamed out: "GUARDS!"
Dehsworn, on the other hand, had no intention of giving her a choice. Someone had told them he was here, and led them to believe he was a soft target. They'd probably wanted him to kill the theif they sent, forcing himself to relocate, and maybe even turning himself into a criminal. Clever. He raised the sword to eye level, before motioning the to door to the lower level.
"C'mon. Let's discuss it over some Surlie Brothers...or are you a fan of Taminka's brew?"
OH EM GEE!
Plot development! Vay'leon is ARRESTING Raven? And he wants him to see someone 'Special'?
And Talin meets a character we havn't seen for a Chapter or two: Dehsworn!
Now, this chapter's quiz! Not one of the members in this fic actually knows who each of the other character are. So, to get the rep this time, you have to give me the identities of the following characters!
Zetsumi - Who oh who? I wonder...
Dehsworn - The Morag Tong assassin, and marketplace brawler! Fond of alchohol?
Raven - Asthetic 'leader' of the Skingrad Fighters Guild, and...wanted criminal? Murderer?
Vay'Leon - Master Mage, and Bounty Hunter, it seems? The name gives it away.
Talin - Master Theif, and immensly hawt female? This could give you trouble...
The White Pheonix - It seems he's dead! I wonder...
