A Knife in the Dark (unrelated to our mini-contest), This is REALLY for the contest... Options

[redsrock]

This story has nothing to do with the contest we just held, I simply like the name.

CHAPTER ONE


The Imperial walked right past me, unaware that I had been crouching here for two hours. I admit, I had unfortunately mixed up my times, but at least I was early and not late. Thank Talos I was not late…

As he continued to creep on a fake target, I carefully stood up from my position and quietly unsheathed by prized possession: a custom made Orcish dagger. The blade was slightly bent ¾ of the way to the top, making it easier to slice across someone’s throat. Its hilt was decoratively created by the Orcish ‘artist’ with many fancy and complicated designs. The Orcs made the best quality weapons by far in my opinion, and I was about to back that up in a matter of seconds.

The two of us were in a small room, at the home of a Cyrodilic Countess in fact. The Imperial didn’t know that I was a mere few feet behind him. What he also did not know is that the target he was trying to eliminate was not in this room. A fake body had been cleverly placed in the bed of the room to cause confusion.

“Damn, I’ve been tricked!”

He whispered this loudly, for he had finally realized it was a setup. The entire room was pitch-black, save for a thin-ray of light coming from beneath the closed door of the room. I was actually quite impressed that he had been able to walk through the room so well in this darkness in the first place, though it was likely he was using a spell to help him see. I myself was using such a spell.

I crept along the finely made carpet and inched my way closer to the Imperial. He stood there next to the bed, still mystified that he had been tricked. I quickly shoved him onto the bed face down and held his hands together with one arm, while putting the edge of my dagger to the back of his neck with the other.

“Gotcha,” I said into the Imperials ear.

“Who the hell are you?” The Imperial asked, clearly surprised by what had just taken place.

“Actually, I was about to ask you the same thing. You do realize you’re in the chambers of Lady Valga, correct?” I asked, with a sarcastic tone. I liked to do that quite often to those who I am ‘hunting’. It always pisses them off and caused them to act irrationally.

Then, showing strength I was very surprised by, he shoved me away and I went flying into the air, landing hard on my back five feet from the bed. The Imperial unsheathed a silver shortsword and came charging at me. I quickly got up from the ground and readied myself for the attack.

The Imperial lunged at me and swiped at my neck with his sword, but I easily sidestepped and stabbed the man in the right ribcage with my own blade. He stumbled a bit and a caught him, only to slam him against the wall. Even though I am short and skinny, I am a lot stronger than people give me credit for.

“Who are you and why have you been planning the Countess’s murder?” I asked, this time with no tone of sarcasm, only seriousness. Playing time was over, for this Imperial meant business.

The wound was deep into his skin, and he was in severe pain. “I ain’t telling you a damn thing!” And again he showed his strength and pushed me away despite the pain he was enduring. He swung again but I dodged the attack once more. And this time, rather than wound him, I went straight for the kill. I slashed by dagger into his throat, and then ripped across the skin to the right. The body crumpled to the ground with a thud, and his life was over. I didn’t really want to kill him without asking more questions, but I could tell I wasn’t going to get anything from him.

I walked outside the door and then brought back with me a torch. I shined the light over the Imperial to see who it was. He was an old wrinkly man with medium-length gray hair. It was very surprising to see someone of his age attempting to take away the Countess’s life. But alas the Imperial was not familiar to me, but then again I am not from Chorrol anyway so that was to be expected. After leaving the room I went to the Nord guard Captain, Bittneld Curse-Bringer, and told him the task had been accomplished.

“Very good, we should report this to Lady Valga right away.”

Bittneld ordered the guards to place the body somewhere else and then ordered for the servants and maids to clean up the mess I had left. Blood was going to be hard to clean up, but I didn’t say anything to Bittneld about it, for he didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.


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”Thank you for everything you’ve done. I realize what danger you’ve put yourself in, and trust me; you actions will not go unrewarded.”

I was speaking with the Countess of Chorrol, Lady Valga, in a small cabin a couple of miles west of the city itself. You see, threats of an attempted assassination were recovered by a guard several days ago. I was sent in by my boss to take care of the situation.

“You are very welcome, madam,” I said with a polite bow.

“The gold will be sent by a courier of mine, once everything is settled. Again, I thank you for what you’ve done for the community here in Chorrol. You agency will never be forgotten here.”

“I appreciate the kind words, but the job is not yet done I’m afraid. I want to investigate a bit more to ensure there is no one else involved with this crime. Once your men look at the now-dead Imperial and know his identity and I will hopefully be given several leads. I want to stomp this threat out before it spreads. I feel it will be safe for you to return to Chorrol, but not with out protection the entire time. Also, I want at least five guards with you wherever you go, and those guards will stand outside your room while you sleep. The deed is almost done, but we cannot let our guard down just yet.”




Before we move on, I’d like to explain what has happened up to this point. My name is Agaron, a Bosmer. I am an agent of the highly skilled group, “Midnight’s Watch”. We are a group of talented ‘assassin’s/bodyguards-for-hire’. Our leader, Rindral the Dunmer, rounded all five of us up a couple of years ago. We all come from different regions of Cyrodiil, and have made quite a name for ourselves in these first two years of service.

I am but twenty-seven years of age, but my small body makes me excellent at what I do. And along with our job of assassins and bodyguards, we’ve also find ourselves in roles of ‘investigators’ as well. It’s actually quite fun solving all the puzzles of life. I like it almost more than I do ending a would-be-murder’s life.




“Of course, I wouldn’t think any other way. I’m awfully happy that I may return to my city. I don’t quite like it here in the wild, no matter how many guards I have protecting me,” she said with a happy cheer.

“Well, we don’t want to take any chances, but you should be safe for now. Once I find out what’s going on there’s a chance you will be moved again, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

So we left the hidden cabin of the forest and traveled back to Chorrol in the safety of ten guards. When we made it back the Imperial had already been placed in the catacombs under the church. That is where we went, and Lady Carvain immediately recognized the body.

“By Talos,” she whispered while putting her boney hands to her face. “It’s…it’s Valus Odiil. He has two boys living on a farm not too far from here. I don’t understand why he would do such a thing.”

She was clearly shocked at the identity and looked on the verge of crying, but I had my lead. “Bittneld, can you take me to this farm. We need to act fast before something else happens. I realize the two boys are not for sure a part of this, but we need to find out as soon as possible,” I said forcefully, wanting to get to that farm quickly.

“Yes, follow me, we will ride by horse.”

“No, I want to find them by surprise if they are in fact involved with this. Exactly how far is the farm from here?”

“Just a couple of miles, isolated from the main roads,” Bittneld answered, a little taken back by my forceful tone.

“Then we will in fact jog, horses will make too much noise. I hate to leave so soon, madam. We will speak on these matters upon my return,” I said to Lady Valga quickly.

I didn’t wait for her to reply, and immediately Bittneld and I left the catacombs and exited the city. I felt bad about not speaking with Lady Valga anymore than I did just then, but I felt there were more important things to be taken care of. There would be time to talk later.