章節 17: The Cure for Madness
Ghel stands in a field of white, the waves of the Sea of Ghosts lap over each other behind her. A large man sits in a small puddle of crimson to the side of the hidden Dawnstar Sanctuary. She strolls over to him and squats down while reaching her hand out to run her fingers through his hair.
"Arnbjorn~" she smiles softly and he smacks her hand away. Her smile turns sarcastic as she rubs the hand he swatted. "You're bleeding..."
"What gave it away?" he coughs. "And I've told you not to touch my hair."
"Doesn't matter, I'll get it someday." she smiles playfully and Arnbjorn grimaces. "I've been told to deal with Cicero. You're free to use Shadowmere as a ride back if you need to." She stands and turns towards the Black Door as Arnbjorn exhales sharply and groans in pain.
"I'll take you up on that offer. I got a good swing on him so you just need to follow the trail of blood"
She walks forward to the Black Door as Arnbjorn carefully climbs onto Shadowmere and gallops away.
"What is life's greatest illusion?" The door whispers softly.
Placing a hand on the door, she whispers her answer.
"Innocence, my brother."
She slowly pushes the door open as it whispers again.
"Welcome home."
Stepping inside, the door closes behind her and she walks down a small set of stairs. A table stands to her left where something catches her eye.
A set of clothing identical to Cicero's, lays neatly on the table. She picks up the shoes and examines them as a manic voice echoes around her.
"Listener? Is that you?! Oh, I knew you'd come!" He giggles. "Send the best to defeat the best. Astrid knew her stupid wolf couldn't slay sly Cicero."
Her eyes widen as she places the shoes back on the table.
"Cicero, please tell me you're wearing clothes." There's a slight waver in her voice as the words leave her mouth and she can hear him chuckle. She draws power to her left hand and summons the Spectral Assassin, Lucien Lachance.
"I'm here to kill you anyway but if you're naked you'll be killed slowly!" She starts walking down another small set of stairs as Cicero speaks again.
"Oh, but that isn't at all what Mother would want! You kill the Keeper or I kill the Listener!? Now that's madness!" He laughs lightly and the Sanctuary falls silent.
Ghel reaches the next room, a small overlook to the right, a hallway of sorts to the left and stairs directly ahead of her. The stairs are blocked off by spikes, making Ghel to turn towards the hallway. A bridge connects her side to the other and as she makes her first step on the wooden planks, Lachance pulls her back as spears fly in front of her just narrowly missing her face. A spectre emerges from the wall on the far side as Cicero's voice echoes throughout the Sanctuary.
"Ouch! Pointy pointy! My home certainly is well defended. I always have been a stickler for details!" he giggles. "Get it? 'Stick-ler?' Oh, I slay me!" His laughter fills the air then falls into silence.
Ghel pulls the bow off of her back and shoots an arrow into the head of the spectre, causing it to dissipate. Passing by the spears, she and Lucien walk across the bridge and down a staircase.
At the bottom is a circular room, the bridge they just crossed swings high above it. The floor holds barrels that have been tipped over, the smell of gasoline lingering in the air. Archery targets stand in one area while tables sit in another. An old training room.
Looking up, Ghel spots jars that have been lit on fire. She steps into the room, setting off the trap and quickly stepping back out. Flames dance throughout the room and Ghel watches until they die off. Stepping back into the room, two spectres come out of the walls and Lucien rushes to the one furthest from Ghel while she drives a dagger into its head. Watching Lucien swing his dagger violently causes Ghel to chuckle, but that may have just been his style when he was alive.
Once both spectres disappear, Ghel continues her walk across the room.
"You're... still alive." Cicero's voice cracks as he speaks. "C-cicero respects the Listener's abilities, of course, but could you at least slow down a bit? I'm... not what I used to be heh..."
Ghel chuckles at Cicero's words.
"I'll be there soon." she whispers as she makes her way back upstairs.
Silence follows her before a voice sounds from behind.
"The Keeper is a sacred position within the Dark Brotherhood. Ask yourself - do you trust the wisdom of our Lady?" His voice is deep and brooding.
Ghel keeps walking and the Spectral Assassin follows her closely.
At the top of the stairs is a hallway, and after walking through it, Ghel enters the room that was blocked off at the entrance. Another spectre appears and Ghel wastes no time propelling her dagger at it's head. The blade imbeds itself inside its neck only for the creature to dissipate and make the dagger clatter to the stone floor.
Walking into the room, a small door lies to the right while a hole in the wall sits in front of her. Broken glass the color of red and black litters the floor around the hole while the trail of blood leads to the door.
Picking up her dagger, she walks over to the door and pushes on it lightly. When it doesn't budge, Ghel smiles and lets out a whisper.
"You had time to prepare..."
She walks back over to the hole and climbs through, carefully avoiding the jagged edges of broken glass. Her feet land softly on ice and snow, the air around her slowly getting colder. Looking to her left, she sees the large hole in the ceiling leading up to the surface, moonlight seeping inside and reflecting off of the snow. Turning to the right shows a cavern of ice with a thin crevice ahead.
As she sidles through the slippery crevice a breeze blows over her body, causing any loose items on her to move with it.
"Brrr! Chilly!" a voice chuckles. "You'll enjoy this one. Not an original part of the Sanctuary, more of a... bit of a 'forced' addition... Forced by what? Oh, come and see!"
Ghel sighs and continues through the crevice until it opens up to a larger area. Dead animals litter the ground, mostly goats and deer but there are other skulls that heavily suggest something is living here and eating animals raw. Walking through the twists and turns, Ghel finds herself a large open space made entirely of ice. Heavy footsteps sound above her as she passes through.
"All right, so Cicero attacked that harlot, Astrid! But what's a fool to do, when his mother is slandered and mocked!?" Something heavy hits the ground to the left of Ghel. Looking over shows a dead deer with fresh bites. There's a sharp inhale and Cicero's voice squeaks: "Surely the Listener understands?"
Ghel slowly takes a step forward, hoping to avoid whatever was eating that deer. When nothing happens she takes another step, and then another. She turns around to look at Lucien who has drawn his dagger, and the both of them watch a troll crash down between them. Without thinking, she unsheathes her dagger and leaps onto the back of the troll, driving the blade into its shoulder and severing anything she can to keep it from using that arm.
Lucien begins slashing at the troll's chest and legs while it's distracted with Ghel, allowing him to wound it enough to keep it from being able to grab her. The troll swings its arms wildly, doing what it can to shake Ghel off of it's back as she digs her right hand into the hole she carved and casts Fireshock; a spell that casts both Flames and Sparks, and depletes Magicka just as quickly. Careful not to drain all of her Magicka at once, she pulls her hand back out allowing the wound to close and let the spell do the rest of the work. Lucien continues cutting into the troll as the fire magic refuses to let the troll heal as quickly as before and Ghel stabs her blade into the troll's head. The troll falls to its knees and Lucien joins Ghel in stabbing the head, causing it's wound to turn to mush soon after. The two back away from the dead troll and sheathe their weapons. Turning away from it, they walk through the room and towards the only opening that leads to wood and stone.
A door stands before them. Ghel pushes it open to show that it leads to a stairwell blocked by spears. A pull chain hangs to the side of the door. Lucien pulls the chain and the spears retreat into their holes while the two descend the stairs and enter the catacombs. The dimly lit halls line themselves with the coffins of assassins long past. Almost as if on cue, two spectres step out of coffins. Ghel pulls the bow off of her back while Lucien charges ahead and drives his blade up through the spectre's stomach. As it dissipates, an arrow whistles past Lachance's head and into the face of the one further ahead.
"Cicero admits, he thought the Listener would be dead by now. Heheh. Maybe we could just forget about all this? Hmmm? Let bygones be bygones?" There's a pause and then a sharp inhale. "What do you say?"
Silence ensues as both Ghel and Lucien continue down the hallway, remaining vigilant of any more Sanctuary Guardians. Turning the corner, she watches as three more appear further up ahead by some stairs leading back up. She puts her hand out to the side to stop Lucien and crouches down, sneaking to a better and darker spot. She places an arrow on the nock of her bow and pulls the string towards herself, releasing and propelling the arrow towards the furthest spectre. She draws another arrow and steps out of the shadows, drawing the attention of both spectres. She shoots the one closest and watches as Lucien unsheathes his dagger, ready to kill. Just as the spectre passes Lucien, he jumps out and slits the throat of it. Ghel and Lucien continue to the stairs.
"If it's any comfort, I do feel slightly bad about Veezara. Stupid lizard got in my way! But please tell me that hulking sheepdog has bled to death." Cicero groans. Ascending the stairs shows a hallway with a door at the end of it. A framed version of the Five Tenets hangs on the wall above a long end table in the center of the hallway. Nearing the end, a wheeze comes from in front of Ghel.
"And now we come to the end of our play. The grand finale." Cicero coughs.
She reaches the door and places a hand on it, while Lucien places his spectral hand on her shoulder.
"I will kill this jester if you so desire, but there is a disturbance in the Void. Our Dread Father does not want this." His hand is shaken off as Ghel pushes the door open.
Cicero lies curled up on the floor, one hand supporting him on the floor and the other one covering his wound. As she slowly approaches him, he balances himself on his hip and waves the free hand around as he coughs out his words.
"You caught me! I surrender! Hahahaha!"
Ghel remains silent while watching him closely and thinking about the words Lucien said to her.
"You prefer to listen, eh? Of course, of course! The Listener listens! A joke! A funny joke!" he laughs maniacally then stops abruptly. "I get it. Then listen to this - don't kill me. Let poor Cicero live! I attacked the strumpet Astrid, I did! And I'd do it again! Anything for our Mother! Return to the pretender, tell her I'm dead! Tell her you strangled me with my own intestines!" He chuckles. "But lie! Yes, lie! Lie, and let me live!" His eyes widen pleadingly as he glances at Ghel's dagger, her hand resting on its hilt. Ghel sighs and drops her hand to her side.
"You're crazy, and everyone back home wants you dead. But, I've been told that Sithis doesn't want this and neither does our Unholy Matron." She turns and walks to the door. "I hope to see you around, Cicero."
Swinging the door open, she takes the shortcut to the entrance of the Sanctuary and enters the quiet and sleeping city of Dawnstar.
創作者的想法 
HappyHappenstances
HappyHappenstances This one is a bit of a more 'fun' chapter. It wasn't going to be included or written about when I started this whole thing but after getting closer to it in the timeline I thought it would be nice to include, even if he doesn't die.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票