The Brotherhood
Sonin crept through the woods, sensing the foul magic of the Brotherhood’s door. It was one of the voice controlled ones that required the passcode to open. She knew she wouldn’t have the code, but that wouldn’t stop her. Taking a comfortable resting position in a bush, she cast a lingering invisibility spell that would last so long as she stayed still.
A few hours passed into the night before a veiled figure, argonian by the looks of the tail, came into view. Sonin listened carefully to his answer, committing it to memory before letting the door shut behind him. She let a few more moments pass before walking up to the door and giving the answer.
She stayed low to the ground as she entered the unfamiliar territory. A whispered detect life shout showed her that there were several people here in various areas of the surprisingly large cavern. A woman was just down the stairs, dressed in the classic skin tight leathers of the brotherhood.
“Whoever is practicing their sneaking,” the woman spoke but didn’t turn around, “You’re doing a lousy job.”
Sonin knew she had been caught, but not entirely. This woman thought she was a member of her twisted family. Quickly she used this to her advantage, standing up and letting her magic flow through her hands. Just as the strange woman turned around, black smoked hands clasped around her mouth. The dark magic entered her lungs through her nostrils, suffocating her slowly while keeping her silent. The panic on her face was palatable. She struggled, of course, to no avail. Her dagger slicing into the shrouded hands before a failed attempt to throw it into Sonin’s chest. Her body went limp and Sonin led the hands to place her down silently.
With one down, Sonin made her way deeper into the unknown. She could hear cheerful voices and the sound of a blacksmith sharpening tools on a whetstone. Keeping close to the shadows like she learned in Oblivion, she could make out the Argonian she had seen before. Across the open area was a tall Nord who looked to pose the biggest threat to her. Just before launching her next attack, and after downing a bottle of restore magicka, Sonin made out the figure of a child. Her stomach flipped.
Sonin’s next spell to practice was a daedric one. It would summon a foggy haze that would affect everyone in its path, making them violently ill before passing out and dying. She couldn’t, nay, wouldn’t put a child through that. Falling back to older tactics, Sonin summoned her bound bow and readied a spirit arrow. It flew true, but the Nord she aimed at caught it in mid air. She knew only of one type of beast that would be able to hear that and stop it in time. Sonin was about to fight a rogue werewolf.
…
“Where are you, lambchop?” The Nord questioned, looking to the shadows and secretly fearing for his wife for an invader to get so far into their home. “What did you do to Astrid?!”
Sonin kept silent as she watched the werewolf approach and change form. He was as big as Farkas’ wolf, but lighter in color. The Argonian had his weapons at the ready. The child, to Sonin’s disbelief, was not running to hide. She turned into the light and Sonin could see the truth. She was a vampire child, her hungry red eyes giving it away.
Not liking her odds and hearing other footsteps approach, she decided to level the playing field. Two portals to Sanguine’s plane of Oblivion opened behind the brotherhood members inbound. The Daedra that entered rushed straight to battle. The werewolf turned and faced both of them, holding his own against their sword and axe duo. The argonian and child, though, were rushing straight toward Sonin.
Quick as she could, Sonin let out a flash of lightning. It stopped them both in their tracks as their bodies convulsed, but gave away her position entirely. Knowing vampires often use magic, Sonin kept the sparks on the child. It was unnerving, but she kept reminding herself that this was a vampire. The Argonian continued his advance, daggers whipping wildly to and fro.
Sonin couldn’t keep out of their reach long, opting for another daedric spell she learned. Using the last of her current reserves, Sonin brought forth a toxic mist that filled the area around her. She held her breath and backed up the stairs as the argonian coughed and spat blood. Another magic user appeared, an old man, and hit lightning right on Sonin. She stumbled and let out a curse as she caught her ankle on the stairwell.
The werewolf had fallen with a howl, managing to take one of the daedra with him. The second was badly injured, but rushed to defend Sonin. He only had about thirty seconds left before he would be pulled back through the portal Sonin opened. It decapitated the stunned vampire child while Sonin wasn’t looking and was rushing the argonian that had become dangerously close to her.
“Damn you!” She spat and drew her silver dagger from her leg strap.
“Me?” The Argonian spat back, “You are killing my family!”
“What family?” Sonin blocked his attacks, still at a disadvantage on the floor. “You are all just a bunch of murderers!”
“We-!” His voice was cut off as the daedra ran him through with his sword.
“Thank you,” Sonin spoke and he nodded his head, offering her a hand up before vanishing in a purple haze.
Sonin looked around at the bodies before her, wondering if this was really all of them. Taking a health potion to fix her twisted ankle, Sonin walked back out of the lair. She had been becoming reliant on her new found summoning powers. When Sanguine offered her his men she didn’t take him seriously at first, but now they proved invaluable.
…
“To Riften, huh?” The driver looked down at a very tired and slightly blooded Sonin.
“I have the coin,” she produced a heavy bag of gold.
“Fair enough. Climb on back and we’ll be off.”