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<\/p>\nIt was getting altogether too hot in Bruma.<\/p>\n
Oh, no, not the temperature.\u00a0 The Jerall Mountains were just as high and frigid as they\u2019d ever been.\u00a0 Sedor was still full of ice. \u00a0The air was the kind of cold that froze moisture from a person\u2019s breath before it had left his nostrils.\u00a0 He, personally, was working as hard as he could to keep his teeth from chattering together loudly, right that very moment. If not for the bath at the Jerall View Inn in the city he\u2019d have frozen solid several times over in the last few weeks.<\/p>\n
No, what was getting hot was his pursuit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He crouched in his rooftop perch, silent, trying to bring his breathing under control. Below him, guards scurried about like insects scattering at the sudden shining of a light, while the street walker wailed over the small corpse and a female guard examined the large one. It should have been almost silent at this time of night, this deep into the dead hours, but between the shouts and slapping of feet against cold stone, and the howls of the street walker mourning a child that wasn\u2019t even her own, it was a wonder the entire city hadn\u2019t emptied into the streets, cold or not.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d think the world had come to an end for all the caterwauling. It\u2019s just one more child, for the love of the gods. We\u2019ll make more, all of the men with their never-ending needs and the women who humor them for love or money. I\u2019d thin the herd even more if I wouldn\u2019t put myself in danger of being found out, nasty little things that they are.<\/em><\/p>\n Was it my fault the little bastard got in my way?\u00a0 I had no choice but to slit his throat, or he\u2019d have given me away.<\/em><\/p>\n His mouth curled into a grimace, and he shook his head and squelched the urge to sigh loudly at himself. It was too easy to make excuses. He knew better. He\u2019d been careless.<\/p>\n This should have been the easiest job in the world. I should have been soaking in the bath by now. But I rushed it and didn\u2019t check the area thoroughly enough. I should have waited till I had a completely clear head.<\/em><\/p>\n He\u2019d been at this job for a decade, since he was not much more than a child himself, since the largest things he killed were cats and dogs.\u00a0 He\u2019d been trained by the best, in Bravil, before it had fallen to the ravages of the skooma wars. She had been a tough taskmistress who suffered fools not at all, particularly not attractive, smart-mouthed boys who thought they were much better at the art of killing than they actually were, and much more appealing to the opposite sex than they actually were.\u00a0 She had her favorites, and he had not been one of them. But he had worked hard, and had refined his arts until they never knew he was there until it was too late; and he had performed his job impeccably. \u00a0For years.\u00a0 He learned all the right things to say to her and his brothers, about sending souls to Sithis and the like, but in truth he didn\u2019t much care about gods and such.\u00a0 He just wanted to make money doing what he\u2019d always enjoyed the most, and if he managed a smile from her or a night in the sack with one of the brothers, he considered it a bonus.<\/p>\n He looked down and tried not to think about the muscles cramping from his crouched position.\u00a0 The shouting had tapered off, replaced by the unintelligible murmuring of guards sharing information. They were beginning to leave for warmer areas, now that they\u2019d determined there was no killer skulking in the corners or waiting in a doorway.\u00a0 For some unaccountable reason, nobody had looked up.\u00a0 He was fairly certain they wouldn\u2019t see him even if they did; from below he would appear just a slightly darker spot against the dark skies. It had worked this way many times in the past.\u00a0 But they didn\u2019t look up. \u00a0They just wanted out of the cold. \u00a0A few of them, though, were doggedly examining the scene, trying to comfort the wailing woman and get her away from the smaller of the two corpses.<\/p>\n He shifted, just the tiniest bit, just enough to relieve the aching of his calves as they gripped the edge of the roof, and shivered as the change in position allowed more cold air up into his armor.<\/p>\n I know what she\u2019d be saying.\u00a0 You\u2019re a fool, Vitus.\u00a0 You weren\u2019t careful. You were sloppy.<\/em><\/p>\n Back when he\u2019d first met her, he\u2019d been a wee bit too close to the center of the conflict in Bravil for comfort.\u00a0 When you grew up in a family of skooma dealers, even one not directly affiliated with either of the two competing families, you were close to the problem \u2013 even closer than you probably ought to have been given nimble fingers, a talent for taking what didn\u2019t belong to you, and a taste for the stuff.\u00a0 Even after most of that family was wiped out in the early stages of the conflict, you were still too involved. But you also had contacts, and friends, and lovers, and people who would slip you information and goods on the sly.<\/p>\n He\u2019d escaped Bravil just a breath ahead of the final paroxysm of violence that took out the Lucky Old Lady. He had heard of the demise of the Listener from a safer haven, here in Bruma, where nobody would expect the Dark Brotherhood to still have any presence at all following the destruction of its former Sanctuary. It seemed that the Night Mother\u2019s coffin had been brought out of the chaos of Bravil and taken away, but to what part of the world \u2013 and by whom – he didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n Somehow, though, even though the Listener had fallen, the contracts kept coming, through what channels he did not know and didn\u2019t expend the energy to research. It was always the same: a messenger would find him and hand him a note and a coin purse.\u00a0 Just a name, on the note, never more than that, but he knew what it meant. \u00a0If a person knew enough to seek him out they knew that he would complete the job. \u00a0And he\u2019d been all over the Empire doing just that, in all the years that had passed between then and now.<\/p>\n They never knew what name he would use at any given time, and neither did he, but they did know that he wore a black mask that hid his face, and that his services did not come cheaply.\u00a0 They also knew that if they tried to turn him, the messenger, or anyone remotely connected to the contract over to the authorities, they would die, gruesomely.\u00a0 It had happened a number of times, over the years.\u00a0 There had been several partially-disassembled bodies found in close conjunction to an attempted contact.\u00a0 He remembered watching the horrified reactions to his work from a safe vantage point, and remembered the pride he had felt when observers turned green or stumbled for the nearest bush to deposit their most recent meal.<\/p>\n He was among the best, and had been for a decade.<\/p>\n But this time, he\u2019d gotten careless.<\/p>\n It had become obvious in recent months that he was in danger of ruining his reputation as the best of the best. The escapes had become narrower and narrower. \u00a0This time he\u2019d done his usual impeccable work taking out the target \u2013 silent, disappearing into the shadows as if he was made of the same stuff as them — only to turn and find the red-haired boy staring at him, about to open his mouth and alert the guard. It had been one of those exquisite moments of time standing still, as he tried to process the knowledge that he\u2019d been caught, and by a child to boot.\u00a0 He\u2019d had to act fast.\u00a0 He\u2019d done the obvious thing to do, without hesitation, and then had dashed for his escape route just ahead of the authorities.<\/p>\n By the gods, I was sloppy.\u00a0 I can\u2019t afford to be sloppy. Time to move, Vitus, you\u2019re losing your touch.<\/em><\/p>\n He reached up under his mask and rubbed his eyes.<\/p>\n Damnable blurry eyes.\u00a0 <\/em>He could just hear it, the nagging. \u201cToo much of a good thing, Vitus. You have a problem, and you know it, and it\u2019s going to end up killing you if you don\u2019t get a handle on yourself.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>He sighed.\u00a0 And that\u2019s probably true. At least I\u2019ll go out handsome. <\/em><\/p>\n Beneath him, it began to settle.\u00a0 Someone wrapped an arm around the shoulders of the street walker and led her away toward the rougher part of town.\u00a0 Going to rent one of those appalling little stalls at the Restful Watchman, no doubt.\u00a0 Buy her a drink, give her a little comfort, get to work on the next generation of the appalling little creatures, yes?\u00a0 Well done. I\u2019d help you out with that myself, but I am a little bit preoccupied at the moment.<\/em><\/p>\n A pair of guards bearing a litter set it down next to the mark and rolled the man onto it, then picked the litter up, one of them at each end, and left the area.\u00a0 He waited until everyone was gone, and then a good bit longer, shivering but knowing that silence was his partner and darkness his friend. Oddly, nobody returned for the corpse of the boy.<\/p>\n Finally, he coaxed cold muscles into motion and moved to the back of the building, making certain there were no signs of life in any direction, and then dropped down into the shadows next to a group of crates and barrels.\u00a0 He reached into the nearest barrel and pulled out a set of quilted clothing, which he put on over his armor, grateful for the additional insulation.\u00a0 He peeled off the masked hood, rolled it up and slipped it into a pocket, then shook out his hair and double-checked to be sure none of his armor showed beneath the clothing.<\/p>\n He made his way along the back passageways, hugging the shadows under the eaves of the buildings, until he got far enough away from the crime scene that he would, if anyone even noticed him, look like just another tourist coming back to the higher-end inn after slumming in the low-rent district a bit.\u00a0 He made sure to weave unsteadily, just the slightest bit.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t see another soul anywhere, but he\u2019d been at this game long enough to know that eyes could be hiding anywhere, just as his own had been just a few moments earlier.<\/p>\n He was just about to round the last corner, to head for the Jerall View, when he spied it.\u00a0 A small form, reaching into a barrel behind one of the shops, looking for whatever he might be able to steal and eat, or use, or sell.\u00a0 Vitus sneered, but kept walking toward the figure.\u00a0 A moment later, as he passed the spot, the child slumped over the barrel.\u00a0 A dark stain spread down the sides of the wood.<\/p>\n Vitus bent quickly and ran his blade through a pile of snow to clean it.<\/p>\n Sorry, kid. Wrong place, wrong time, bad mood.\u00a0 One fewer nasty little vermin in the world.<\/em><\/p>\n He made his way to the room he\u2019d rented earlier and locked the door behind him, then peeled out of his armor, rubbing his arms.\u00a0 He\u2019d saved some of the brandy for this moment.\u00a0 He downed it, and it warmed him from the inside.<\/p>\n That was really a stupid thing to have done. I can\u2019t believe I did it. What if someone was watching that? Vitus Perdeti, the idiot assassin. I really need to clear out of here before I\u2019m my own next victim by mistake.<\/em><\/p>\n Then he pulled the pack out from under his bed and pulled out the note he\u2019d had just enough time to look at earlier.<\/p>\n Ondolemar.<\/em><\/p>\n Well it surely won\u2019t be any warmer in Skyrim, but that\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0 A little less heat will do me good.<\/em><\/p>\n He took the note to the fireplace and dropped it into the flames.<\/p>\n What shall I call myself this time? Easier to remember if I at least keep my initials the same.\u00a0 How about something like Vinnus Pettellia.\u00a0 That will do.<\/em><\/p>\n He stretched and yawned.<\/p>\n All right, Vinnus.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get ourselves some sleep.\u00a0 We\u2019ll head north in the morning.<\/em><\/p>\n It was getting altogether too hot in Bruma. Oh, no, not the temperature.\u00a0 The Jerall Mountains were just as high and frigid as they\u2019d ever been.\u00a0 Sedor was still full of ice. \u00a0The air was the kind of cold that froze moisture from a person\u2019s breath before it had left his nostrils.\u00a0 He, personally, was … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/3-1-1-2.png\")
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<\/p>\nPart I: Andante<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"