[Dawnstar Sanctuary] Bloodied Fangs

One week. One long week of constant training both day and night, of distrustful glares or amused stares, of attacks in the middle of the night to keep the girl on her guard or challenges to test her skill. One long week of being in the brotherhood. And now, K'Vera had called Kestrel to the torture chambers.

This was one of the more visited rooms in the Sanctuary. Some came here just to watch the suffering of the prisoners, others to participate. Few even came by to clean up the tools, bring in new meat and toss out the rotten. Now, there were six fresh prisoners in there, each stripped of all their belongings and with a burlap sack over their heads. Some of them looked strong, youthful, others old and weak. Some were begging for their lives, or demanding to be let go. K'Vera watched them with amusement as she waited for the girl. It was time.

Kestrel quietly entered the room. On the first few days, just being near it made her hair stand on end that such a room existed, let alone entering it herself. Now, she was able to enter it without hesitation.

She simply had to tell herself that anyone in them that wasn't part of the brotherhood deserved to be in there. They had done something to deserve their pain.

"You summoned me?"

"Yes. It is time for you to kill." the khajiit stated, and at these words, the prisoners froze. A few frantically started to beg for their lives. K'Vera ignored them and gestured to the six. "There is a contract out on one of these people. Figure out which one and kill them. You may execute them however you would like and take as long as you want, but you have only half an hour to pick your prey."

Kestrel solemnly nodded. Don't show hesitation, don't show fear. And don't show mercy. If I fail this, I'll probably die myself.

She then turned to the prisoners, and spoke in a neutral tone. "Alright, each of you are going to identify yourselves and tell me who you are one at a time."

Kestrel took out the dagger that Nightshade had given her, making sure that the sound of it leaving its sheath could be heard. "If you answer, there is only a one in six chance that you'll die, if you don't answer, you'll die anyways."

And then, almost as an afterthought, "And if time gets close to running out, those that haven't answered will also die."

"So, who will tell me first?"

When Kestrel turned her eyes to the six prisoners and spoke coldly to them, three of them, a small argonian woman, a portly imperial man, and a fit-looking altmer man instantly burst out in scrambled words. "Name is-" "just live at home" "DON'T KILL ME PLEAASE"

In other words, not very productive.

The other three, a breton female, a scarred male dunmer, and a fit looking imperial woman were all silent, waiting for the others to finish talking. When they did, one of them, the breton went first.

"My name is Madaline Summers. I am the daughter of a merchant from High Rock. My father is not rich, but he lives a simple and honest life, as do I."

Next was the imperial woman. "I am Teresa Voreman. I am a servant of the Eight and One. I have lived my life piously, and for the Aedra."

And finally was the scarred dunmer. His posture was more ridged than the others, and his head was lowered. The voice he spoke in was low...and yet chillingly familiar."I have had many names over my life, and none of them matter. I...was a member of the Dark Brotherhood, and now it seems that the order has grown tired of me. I have killed many in my life, including my own family before being taken in."

Kestrel instantly felt suspicious, she slowly approached the Dunmer. "The family doesn't kill it's members simply because they tire of them. Tell me which tenant you broke."

I'll press the other three later...

The Dunmer tensed up, and then laughed bitterly, though it seemed forced. "So this really is the brotherhood then... And here I thought that I was just caught by some stupid bandits... Very well. I had disobeyed an order from a superior and I betrayed the brotherhood's secrets. I had got caught on a contract when I was specifically ordered not to, ...and then I lead an outsider to the Sanctuary." The Dunmer stated flatly, pausing oddly, as if thinking on what he needed to say.

Kestrel tightened her grip on the dagger as a sense of realization struck her. No...it can't be...

Not taking her eyes of the Dunmer, Kestrel spoke to the three that gibbered. "Agorian woman, Imperial man and Altmer man, answer my initial question. And don't talk over each other this time. Speak in the order I named you in."

She kept her gaze firm on the Dunmer, trying to find some distinguishing feature to confirm her suspicion.

The argonian whimpered, and started to speak. "I am Dances-In-Water, a handmaid at an imperial castle- in Cheydinhal. I have done nothing wrong in my life. Please spare me."

The Imperial went next. "I am Andrew Cohen. I am a...a thief with the Thieves Guild. I have stolen from many people, but I swear I'll change my ways. I swear!"

The Altmer had by now regained himself. "I am Florion, a member of the Thalmor Justicars. I punish those who worship the false god Talos, and I am one of your betters, and I demand that you release me, before I get angry!" His voice matched the one who had begged for mercy in tears.

The dunmer, however, seemed to be uncomfortable. On his back, there were several stitched wounds. It seemed that a few had reopened.

Kestrel tightened her grip on the dagger even more. So this is the test, is it...? I have the question, now for my answer...

Kestrel started to pace, deep in thought. "Dunmer, if what you say is true...then yes, I can see why members of the family believe you deserve the wrath of Sithis..." She raised the dagger and looked at the blade, "...and I was given specific orders."

Kestrel turned swiftly and lashed out with the blade, slicing the neck and shedding the blood of one of the prisoners. Then, without a moment's hesitation, she plunged the dagger into the thief's heart. "But the wrath of Sithis is different from a contract."

"The Justicar on the other hand...I'm sure quite a few people in Skyrim would preform the sacrament in order to kill him. And mere shop owners will hire thugs to kill a thief, a wealthier victim would no doubt call on us instead..."

K'Vera smiled as the terrified screams pierced the air. The ones closest to the thief tried to inch away, only to fall over. Only the Dunmer and the imperial woman were still.

"Very good reasoning, girl, but the Wrath of Sithis has not been in effect for over twenty years." The cat sauntered over to the dunmer, a dagger held in her hand. Without a second thought, she placed the dagger against the mer's throat and cut it. "This test is not to see if you could actually figure out which one is the target; it does not actually matter. This is merely to see whether or not you would kill for the brotherhood."

Casually, Kestrel returned the dagger to its place on her belt. "I assumed you wanted the image to be kept up for the guests. Besides, someone somewhere will be happy those two are dead."

Kestrel winced inwardly, but refused to comment on the Dunmer's death. She had figured out that it most likely wasn't Nightshade, if they were going to kill him he would have been dead by the time she met K'Vera. I hope so anyways...

"My point still stands though, if there wasn't a Black Sacrament preformed to summon the family, then it's not a contract. It's a punishment."

"You are smart, Kestrel." The cat stated, and then gestured to the other prisoners, making a sign to kill them as she approached the Imperial woman, who had perked up suddenly. "I am sure there are many who want these people dead. But we never care for reasons, we are merely there to kill them. We kill for profit, not for revenge or for some sense of right or wrong. We-"

Once K'Vera had approached the imperial, she had quickly reared back and slammed her head into the khajiit's stomach. She was taken off guard as the prisoner stood and slammed her elbows blindly into the feline. K'Vera tried slashing at the woman with the sack on her head, but the dagger in her hands was taken. Soon, the woman was free, and she pulled the sack off her head.

Then, oddly enough, she turned on her heel and charged at Kestrel, the dagger raised.

"K'Vera!" Reflex kicked in and Kestrel drew her dagger. Taking a defensive stance, she braced herself.

Reaching out with her free hand, Kestrel moved to grab the woman's wrist, although simply moving her arm away from her opponent's body would work just as well for her. In the same instant, she stabbed upwards into her stomach.

The woman twisted herself to avoid the bite of the dagger, which grazed painfully against her side. Still, she forced herself to ignore it as a ball of lightning appeared in the Imperial's hand.

Then all of a sudden, she stopped. In her back, two metallic shapes stuck out. The woman slumped against Kestrel, the throwing daggers taking most of her life now. K'Vera snorted and spun another knife in her hand. "K'Vera was careless." she stated simply, but boredly. "Should not take priestess for granted. Her fault. She should also kill the priestess' friends for this. Kestrel, kill the rest of these prisoners. K'Vera needs to hunt."

"Right."

Calmly, and without emotion showing on her face, Kestrel slit the throats of the remaining prisoners. If they were to die, she'd give them a quick and painless death. May whatever god you wished to take you take you.

Turning, Kestrel looked at the body of the priestess, a troubled look on her face. The way to the door was clear...why charge at me? And why was she suddenly so alert when K'Vera said my name?

Pushing the questions from her mind, Kestrel scanned the room one last time.

Some cleaning would need to be done.

"Good girl. You are now a member of the brotherhood. You can get contracts from K'Vera or other higher ranked siblings whenever you want once you finish cleaning." The cat departed, leaving the corpses behind and flexing her claws. "Good hunting, little one, and may Sithis guide your blade."

Kestrel merely nodded. "May he guide yours. Have a good hunt K'Vera."

Without another word, Kestrel set to work cleaning, the priestess' action still in her mind, causing confusion.

She cleaned a while before moving to the dunmer, carefully, she removed his hood, hoping that she was right.

The hood had stuck to the wound because of the blood, but after careful tugging, the sack came off. The dunmer's face was mostly beaten, difficult to tell much about him. But his hair was shaved short and the general structure of his face was much different. This wasn't Nightshade, but merely made to look like him.

(Elsewhere in Tamriel, the assassin was busy dangling a rat over a fire in boredom.)