Kapitel 5: Alain Dufont - Mourning Never Comes

An arrow whizzes by Alain's head and strikes his comrade dead. He turns away from the entrance only to face a girl elf holding a dagger to his throat. Looking her up and down he sees she's dressed in simple leather and her hair is put up behind her, some still covering her fierce yet calm eyes. Her lithe frame sticks out to him the most, she could never work on a mill with a body that frail looking. A smirk settles on his face and he opens his mouth to speak.

"I knew there was something wrong when my men weren't responding." His Adam's apple bounces above the blade against his neck and his voice carries doubt that she could kill him before he kills her. There's a hint of confusion in the girls eyes, but it quickly shrouds away. "Do you have anything to say to me, or is this all some sort of dream?"

"Oh but how you'll wish this were just a dream," Her voice is sweet, doesn't sound like she could hurt a torchbug. "Muiri says hello."

His eyes widen at the mention of Muiri, and then a smile stretches wide across his face.

"How much did she pay you to track me down? I'll pay you double to kill her instead." There's slight desperation to his voice, but he hasn't succumbed to it. Not yet. He watches the elf's eyes narrow slightly.

"This isn't up for negotiation, Dufont. There's a contract on your head, and I'm here to collect it." She presses the dagger closer to his neck, nicking his flesh, and she watches as panic settles in his eyes. He tries to look around, searching for any sign of escape. Then his eyes settle on her.

She pulls the dagger away from his neck, and he calms down. She beckons with her hand for something and he stares at her.

"Give me the hammer."

"Is this some sort of joke?" Alain stares at her unchanging face. "..alright." Pulling Aegisbane off of his back, he watches as she reaches for it. Alain tries to sweep her with it in an attempt to kill her with it but she's faster than he initially thought she was. Her dagger is plunged into his stomach before he can say anything.

"I hear this is the fastest way to a man's heart." Alain watches as she leans closer to his ear, bringing the dagger up through his torso. "Is it working yet?" her voice is soft and sweet, and for a moment he isn't sure if she's actually the one cutting him. Alain watches as she pulls away, leaving the blade inside of him. Looking down, his vision grows blurry and he sees that it isn't a dagger at all. It's some sort of green and black tentacle, wiggling like a fish out of water.

He pulls it from his chest and it drops to the floor, continuing to wriggle and writhe back to the girls hands. His eyes meet hers and he watches as her face morphs into that of a troll, then a daedra, then a simple blinding golden light.

Falling to the ground, Dufont grabs at her feet but his hands pass right through them, their consistency like water. He looks up to see her holding a stick in one hand, reaching over to his head.

Ghel watches as he struggles to stand. His hands wave around in front of him as he regains his balance. Once he stands straight, he looks at her with dead eyes and an arrow pierces his skull. She immediately disappears from sight and turns to see a Khajiit entering the chamber.

She's tall, and her eyes seem to glow in the dark. Her tail sways back and forth with every step, and Ghel wonders if it's for balance or something else. Examining her armor from a distance, she guesses that it's for warmth more than it is protection.

The cat inspects the body of Alain Dufont and she picks up the nightshade flower tucked behind his ear. After staring at it for a few seconds her head whips around and her eyes meet Ghel's, but she doesn't seem to have noticed her. Instead, her pupils contract like she realizes something is wrong, but can't quite place it. Ghel takes this moment to leave the ruins as quickly and quietly as she can.

Once outside, she sits in the middle of a thick snowberry bush. Ghel can't have someone going around claiming to have killed one of her marks or she won't get paid. As she contemplates killing the Khajiit, they also exit the ruins. Ghel decides it's now or never and aims one of her daggers at the cat's head. Throwing the knife from her hand, she waits for it to finish the job only to find that the Khajiit has blocked it. Before Ghel can assess what happened, the Khajiit is in front of the bush, her sword in the air and ready to come down.

Ghel rolls out of the bush, counter-attacking by stabbing a knife into the cat's lower abdomen. It doesn't do much, she must have a spell cast. Pulling the knife back out she begins to do what she can to dodge, she just needs to last until the Khajiit's spell wears off. She learns to dodge quicker attacks as the Khajiit grows slightly frenzied. Just as Ghel lifts her dagger into the air to come down onto her opponent, the Khajiit shouts something.

"Iiz Slen Nus!" Ghel is frozen and she watches as the Khajiit sheathes her sword and stares at her. "Your intention to kill me is clear, but I have no interest in fighting you any longer than I already have." A smile appears on her face. "May I ask your name?"

"It's Ghel." She stares baffled at the Khajiit.

"Nice to meet you, Ghel. My name is Nami." she continues to smile. "Shall we talk?" The ice surrounding Ghel quickly shatters and the two sit in the snow, both keeping a close eye on the other.

"You fight differently than the others that I've fought, it's a nice change of pace." Ghel speaks her words carefully, wondering if Nami might decide to kill her anyway. "May I ask what you are?"

"I'm the Dragonborn." Nami sits silently before speaking again. "And you?"

"I'm an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood." Surprise sits in Nami's eyes before nodding towards Raldbthar.

"Was he one of your marks?"

"He was, yes. I only attacked you because I can't have someone claiming to have killed him or my payment is forfeit." A serious tone lies in Ghel's voice and Nami ponders for a moment, looking down into the snow.

"Well, it looks like you were there first anyway. He looked pretty delirious as well." She peeks up at Ghel. "I'd say he was dead before I even released that arrow from my grasp."

"He was." A small smile rests on Ghel's face as she stands and brushes the snow off of her legs.

"Are we friends?" The sudden question shocks Ghel and she looks at Nami. Isn't that just a fancy word for liability?

"Sure, but don't expect me to call you that." She sighs. She can hear Nami chuckling as she stands, reaching a hand out to Ghel.

"I've got a home in Falkreath, come look me up if you're ever in the area and we can either train or maybe go on a quest together." Nami continues to hold her hand out to Ghel who just stares at her. She lowers her hand and continues to speak. "I'm not always home though, so if you show up and I'm not there just leave a message with Jordis."

Nami turns and walks down the hill to the path leading down to Riften. Ghel watches as she leaves and once she's out of sight completely, she heads up to Windhelm.