Traveling to Skyrim

Chapter 7: The Dark Brotherhood

WARNING: The beginning part may be a little graphic, just so u know.

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Once I entered the mess hall, I used a sealing magic to block the entrances and exits.The man was barely coming to, and I grabbed an iron dagger, and started a fire in my palm.

"So the Khajiit finally visits the lowly prisoner." I turned to him, my face expressionless.

"Why don't we start off with you telling me who hired you."

"Fat chance of that." He spat. Smirking, I placed the blade into the fire, until it was hot enough to easily pierce flesh. Kneeling down in front of him, I said," You're going to tell me who hired you, or this blade," I said,waving the hot blade in front of his face so he understood," is going into your leg. Start talking." The man sneered, then spat directly into my eyes. Wiping the spit out of my eyes, I took the blade, pointed it downward, and started to insert it into his leg. He groaned, but those groans soon turned to screams. The blade was halfway into his leg when I stopped, and asked again," Who hired you?"

His eyes stubbornly bored into my own, and I sighed yet again. Grabbing another dagger, I heated it once again, and told him," Would you rather be able to walk for the rest of your miserable life, or be permanently crippled and food for the wolves?" His eyes widened in fear when I placed the dagger on his knee, then slowly started to apply pressure. The blade broke the skin, and he yelled,"STOP! I'll tell you... I'll tell you... Just don't.. Do that.." Well, that wasn't too hard, I thought. Panting, the man said," A woman had come to the dark brotherhood. She asked us to kill the Greybeards, and offered 1,000 gold for every Grey beard slain. But for Arngeir, she offered 5,000 gold. The offer was too good, so I went back to finish the contract I had started. That's all I know, I swear!" He said, when he saw my eyes flash dangerously.

"Fine. That's all I needed to know. I'll let the master of the Greybeards, Paarthurnax, decide what to do with you." I tied his hands, forcefully removed the dagger from his leg, and healed it enough to where it stopped bleeding, but still caused pain. Using a rope attached to his bindings, I pulled him along, going up the slope, stopping only to clear the powerful winds. Night had already approached, and I wondered why Paarthurnax had not sent the others down the mountain yet. Before I cleared the next section of powerful wind, I noticed that thudding, but shuffling footsteps could be heard. Crouching, I pressed myself against the rock wall to our right. The assassin wondered what I was doing, but before I could move him to safety, the rope holding his bindings had snapped, and large red splotches began blossoming on his shirt. A powerful white, clawed hand then slapped him off the edge of the mountain, never to be seen again. His mouth was open in a silent scream, as my eyes were filled with anger at losing our only asset. Once the troll had taken care of him, he sniffed around, knowing I was here but not where. I quickly shouted," YOL TOOR SHUL!" A giant fireball was seen flying towards the troll, the force of it knocking both the wind out of him and him off the side of the mountain, to join the assassin in the depths of hell. Catching my breath, I moved away from the edge of the path, scared and angry at what had happened.

"Good job. I should've stepped in to help you, at least save the prisoner, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Would you allow me to escort you to Paarthurnax? I overheard your *lovely* interrogation with the prisoner, and know what we need to do. Though, we'll need your friends help to get there." Timius said. I nodded, and we both continued up the mountain, finally arriving at Paarthurnax's domain. When we were spotted by Paarthurnax, he was greatly confused that we didn't have the prisoner.

"Troll." I told him in dragon tongue, and he bowed his head in anger and sad at such an important loss. We faced the others, and I began my rehearsed speech.
"I've figured out who murder the Grey Beards, and well, they're no one pleasant. They also have large numbers, so I am going to need you guys, all of you, to help me. You're proficient enough in the art of weaponry that you know how to kill beasts and at least cripple your opponent. Killing shouldn't be required, and should probably be avoided. So, get some rest, and Paarthurnax will drop us off at Morthal in the morning. We all headed to the greybeards castle, me and Timius kept guard, looking for any signs of trouble, while the others rested fitfully.

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The next morning, at approximately 1 AM, Sam had been experimenting with magicks he could use when the extraordinary happened. He had been fiddling with fire when he suddenly thought I wish to be home. And voila! He was home, back in the real world. He then thought I wish to be in Skyrim, and he returned to where he was. Reveling in his newfound power, he knew that once he helped Suzannah and the others, he could leave and never have to worry about this world again. With that thought in mind, he rested peacefully, whereas both Sakaji and Timius had caught the scent of something foul, but didn't know what it was.

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In the morning, once everyone was saddled with their armor, weapons and plenty of health potions (I had been up half the knight, guarding and brewing potions), we set off.

"Paarthurnax, remember, when we land in Morthal, if the guards attack, you are NOT to attack them back, no matter what."
"How about I just drop you off a little ways outside the town, so we don't have a crisis on our hands?" I nodded, and soon we were on snowy, but level ground. Walking into Morthal, I headed into the shop and purchased more potions, some were stamina and other were health.

"Never can be too careful." I told the others, while Timius purchased food from a stubborn farmer. A little while later, we had just finished when the cries of a dragon reached my ears. We were in the open land, so there was nowhere to hide. I drew my weapon, as did everyone else. I saw the dragon head straight for us, and land. I began circling it, keeping its attention on me, all the while landing hits here and there with my axe. Timius and Travis were going to work on the dragons backside, slowly weakening it. I glanced towards Lindsey, who was standing to the side, watching. I finally looked at Sam, to see his face pulled into pure fear and horror. For a moment, we made eye contact, and the dragon had finally uttered its last breath when I clearly heard him say," I wish to go home." As he said those words, the soul from the dragon divided into multiple parts and flew to me, Timius, Lindsey and Travis. When I was able to see again, Sam was nowhere to be found. We searched for a little while before I realized he had used a spell to return home, abandoning us. I cursed, and focused back on the task at hand.

Back on our way to the sanctuary, when the land had flattened a bit, we saw a rare sight. A woman in ebony armor, with an ebony sword, was fending off two trolls, all on her own. Once the trolls had been defeated, she turned quickly, saw us and fled quickly and silently.

"Well, that was strange... Something seemed familiar about her, too.."

It was late afternoon when we finally reached the entrance to the sanctuary of the Dark Brotherhood, and I heard the cries of another dragon. I knew it was far, but close at the same time. Not wasting any time, I opened the door using the secret words that were spoken. (The prisoner had been rather chatty, telling me all I needed to know, hoping I wouldn't stick another dagger into his leg.) We were greeted by noisy a jubilant cries of drunken men down below. Creeping silently, I drew my bow, and aimed for just above one of the drunkards heads. Letting my arrow fly, it was a moment before every member realized what had happened. All drew their swords, looking around cautiously. Standing, I cleared my throat, grabbing every member's attention.

"Well, now that you are all paying attention, I have some questions. One of your assassins, rest in peace, tried to kill a Grey beard who happens to be a good friend of mine. He also slaughtered all of the other ones. Before he was killed by a frost troll, he told me a woman had come to this sanctuary, and offered a contract worth quite a pretty penny. Could anyone tell me what this woman looked like, or who she was? Or am I going to have to hurt some of you?" I said, crossing my arms, but ready to grab my axe if it came to it. The men and women gathered in the room snarled, and took up battle positions. I gripped the handle of my battle axe, ready to spring into action if needed. The others did so as well, and for a moment it was a staring contest between us and them. Then, the strange, murderous peace was broken, and the members charged us. Before the first and fastest could reach us, a voice, clear and familiar yelled,"STOP!"

Looking towards the source, I noticed a figure in ebony armor, an ebony sword sheathed on her left hip. Even though her features were a bit strange, given that her race had changed, she still looked the same.

"BROOKE!" Travis and I yelled, Travis pushing past me and the others to get to her. I tried to hold him back, to remind him that there were murderers in front of us, but he didn't care. They parted to let him through, and he and Brooke hugged, happy to see each other.

"Well, I'm glad to see you, but how on earth did you get here?" He asked.