My Little Argonian: Family is Sacred

by Warren Peace

A Brother in all but Blood (Pt2|Ch11)

The walk home was uneventful, spent with sparse conversation and few dreams on my part. Rain and Moonbeam spoke of past exploits in the lands of Prance, Germaneigh, and at least later on Stalliongrad. I spent my time licking the wounds of my fight, remembering the feel of Silver’s shockstaff, as Moonbeam had called it. At least next time I would be more prepared.
I still wondered at the question of Luna and her lackies, glaring up at the night sky as our campfire crackled before me. Discord had mentioned Luna was trying to contact me via dream, but to what end? How much could she know? And, more importantly, what could she do with such information?
The crackling fire before me held no answers.

Home...

“S pritezdom!” Choc greeted us at the opposite end of the rope bridge leading to our sanctuary. Evening was coloring the sky a deepening orange as the day made way for night. Moonbeam received a solid embrace, Rain and I getting a stoic nod, “How did killing go?” she directed the question to Rain.
“Everything went off without a hitch,” Rain grinned.
“You’re forgetting Silver Shrike and her lackeys,” I added.
“I think we handled them pretty well,” Rain threw a sharp look my way, “I still think a more permanent end was needed, but at least Moonbeam and I were disguised.”
“Who is Silver Shrike?” Choc asked, looking between us.
“Equestrian Lunar Guard,” Moonbeam spoke up.
“Let’s talk inside,” I gestured for the Sanctuary, my acolytes following at my heel.

“We maybe have problem, then,” Choc rumbled once we’d finished the debrief, “How did guards know to find you?”
That was the one part of this whole thing I’d yet to figure out. I highly doubted it was one of my acolytes, if anything I was the odd man out in this group. That left only three possibilities, at least ones I could put a name, a face, and a dagger to...if needed.
“One of Hoity Toity’s people might’ve slipped up,” I said, gesturing to my bipedal form, “I’m a bit of a sore thumb in a crowd, if someone mentioned seeing me word may have travelled.”
“A sore what now?” Moonbeam gave me a frown.
“He means he sticks out like a swayback,” Rain explained before I could, “The thumb thing’s a griffon idiom or whatever, he sticks out in a crowd.”
“Hm,” Moonbeam said, eyeing my fingers with a peculiar look.
“That’s our best option because so long as we don’t deal with Hoity again, even if we do, it will be easy to get around. Avoid his people, meet in a more discreet location, easy to accommodate.”
“That zebra!” Moonbeam exclaimed, beating me to the punch on the second possibility, “That Zecora, or whatever, she saw us leaving...though she did warn us to avoid Ponyville.”
“And that’s the last time we ran into her,” I had already put her at the bottom of the list, almost as unlikely as Rain or Moonbeam being a snitch, “She might be skilled in the ways of stealth, but I’m certain she didn’t follow us.”
“Zebra was in market,” Choc added, “I saw her some days ago, after you left.”
I guess we can mark her off the list, I thought, And fortunately not with a dagger...
‘So who does that leave?’ Discord’s sudden voice in my head made me flinch, ‘Oh, sorry, I’d knock first but rapping on the inner sanctums of your mind with my metaphysical knuckles might not end too well...for you, at least, I would be fine.’
“It’s funny you should ask,” I growled under my breath, turning a glare at the statue sitting in our Sanctuary’s kitchen.
‘Oh, don’t look at me!’ Discord sounded offended, ‘I’m naked!’
He’s got you there, my mind said.
“Oh, be quiet,” I grumbled, turning back to find myself getting odd looks from across the table, Damn ponies and their sharp ears, I mentally muttered.
“Discord?” Rain asked.
“Discord,” I nodded, thankful as their awkward looks lessened.
‘Discord!’ His voice was in my head again, earning another sharp glare, ‘Sorry, rule of three…’
“Funny the name should come up!” I spoke up, hoping some added volume would drown out any more mental musings, “He came to me in my sleep one of the nights and made mention that Luna was trying to get into my dreams. She’s done this before, even building a dream for me from my own memories. Thinking back on it, who knows if he managed to keep her at bay, or if she managed to glean anything from my dreams.”
‘I am, quite literally, right here, you know, right?’ I ignored his words as they rang through my head, ‘Like, inside your head.’
“She created a dream for you, from your memories?” Moonbeam asked, looking anxious, “What sort of memories? How did she get them from you? If she coerced them from you without consent, then that’s way illegal,” he waved a hoof for added emphasis.
“She claimed she only...peeked was the word, I think,” I thought back, “Something like that, that she only searched for fond memories, that my secrets were safe.”
“Well, dream magic isn’t my forte…” Moonbeam chewed over his words for a moment, “If all she did was draw from the surface of your mind, general emotions and ideas and whatnot or things you can get with a simple stimulus…”
“Assume she did,” I cut in before the technicals overwhelmed my mundane mind, “Are we safe?”
“Yes,” Moonbeam nodded after a moment’s thought, “If you’ll indulge me for a moment?”
“Keep it simple,” I allowed.
“Okay, okay...without getting into the nitty gritty, you can’t just go looking for whatever you want in someone’s mind, no matter how powerful you are. In short: you have to make them think about the information you want with some sort of stimulus, like me telling you not to think about an elephant makes you think about an elephant.”
“What’s an elephant?” I asked.
“Beside the point,” Moonbeam waved the question away, “Any significant mental digging would’ve woken you up, like shaking you awake but with your mind,” he pondered a moment, “Let me ask you this: you said Luna created a dream from your memories, what memories were they? What happened in the dream?”
Sudden discomfort kept my jaw shut for a moment before I spoke, “The memories were of Falkreath hold back in Skyrim, a warmer region to the south, and of another argonian I once fancied,” I gave them the minimum details, uncomfortable sharing even that, “In the dream I had a home in Falkreath and the argonian was my mate, we had a child.”
“That’s all?” Moonbeam asked, getting a nod in return, “Something as simple as that could be gleaned with an incredibly simple stimulus, something not even put into words as you or I understand them. Something like that, while perhaps frowned upon, would also be within the confines of the law.
“So again, in short, we’re safe,” Moonbeam finished.
“If that’s settled?” Rain looked between us, getting nods from Moonbeam and I, “It wasn’t Zecora, if it was Hoity it’s not a problem, Luna doesn’t have any viable information...and what was the verdict on Discord?”
‘Guilty on all charges of being a real swell spirit?’
“I do have my doubts,” I admitted, “But I suppose we’ll see.”
“Well if that’s just about everything, I’d like a nice wash and a proper bed to sleep in,” Moonbeam spoke up in the ensuing silence, “It’s been what, almost a week now?”
“Fair point,” Rain nodded as Moonbeam excused himself from the table, followed shortly by Choc.
Not a bad idea, I had to admit, though as I stood from the table there was a tantalizing clink as Rain set an elegant looking bottle down between us. The words on the label were unknown to me, but the small picture of a honeycomb could mean only one thing.
“Mead?” I asked, taking the bottle for closer inspection. Rain nodded smugly, “Where..?”
“Spotted it in the mansion, down in the wine cellar,” Rain’s voice was as smug as her face as she passed me a corkscrew, “Magical know-how isn’t the only thing that Moonbeam rubbed off on me.”
The honeyed scent of the nectar-like fluid filled my nostrils as the cork came out. I took a swig from the bottle, finding it quite delectable. It wasn’t nord mead, but perhaps just as good.
“Hey, whoa, wait up there!” Rain called out as she grabbed a pair of clean glasses, “That’s to share between us two friends! Besides, you owe me a story. Or did you forget your promise to tell me about your brother Aventus once the contract was complete?”
The name turned my guts cold, I warmed them with a larger swig from the bottle.
“Gimme that thing before you drink it all,” Rain held out a wing for the bottle and after a moment’s hesitation I relented.
I watched as the clear, yellow liquid swirled into the two glasses, taking a quick gulp when Rain passed mine to me. Though I’d not admit it, I had forgotten that promise, and now it was coming back to bite me in the ass. Perhaps I’d made the promise to spill my figurative guts too quickly, or under the ply of too much alcohol. I started to come up with an excuse, but when I looked into Rain’s golden eyes...I…

In a different time and place...

“Could you spare a coin?” the pitiful voice of the little beggar girl draws me from my drink. Twisting in my seat I see her tugging at Aventus’ shirttails, big eyes staring into his own dark pair.
“Here, have a septim,” Aventus smiles, crouching down and pressing a septim into her hands. Her eyes light up, locking onto the coin before moving to the smiling face of my accomplice. My partner. My brother.
“Oh, thank you!” the child exclaims, smile still bright on her face, “Divines bless your kind heart!”
I grumble and turn back to my drink, taking a swig of the delectable liquid as the fire and music continue to dance at my back. Aventus takes the seat next to me, leaning forwards against the bar.
“You want a drink?” the barmaid asks, pausing from her sweeping.
“I’m fine,” Aventus gives her a quick smile.
“Waste of a good septim,” I mutter into my drink.
“A waste?” he turns to me, incredulous, “Aram, we weren’t any different from her at that age. Lost, hungry, without anyone to help and guide us through the hardships of life,” his face turns sour, “No one but that old…whore Grelod until I got…” his eyes flicker to the barmaid, “Well, you know.”
“Yeah? Well I don’t remember anyone handing me a septim for nothing other than being less fortunate. Do you?” I reply with a glaring glance away from my drink.
“That’s exactly my point! We didn’t get help when we were little like her! But we come from a similar background, we know what it’s like to have no one there. 
“Therefore it’s our duty to help her and those like her! To help them have a life that we weren’t fortunate enough to have!” Aventus argues like a priest for his gods.
And like with any divine-loving priest, I reply with a disbelieving snort, “I still think it’s a waste of a good septim.”
Aventus heaves a sigh, turning his eyes to the barmaid who was no doubt snooping in on our conversation, “What’ve you got?”
“Drink for the thirsty, food for the hungry,” the barmaid replies, setting her broom aside.

“You two didn’t quite see eye to eye,” Rain observed as I refilled my glass, her own almost untouched aside from a few small sips.
“Definitely not,” I almost felt a smile creep across my face, almost, “We agreed on some things. How to earn septims, for one…” I stared into the swirling surface of my glass, seeing my scowl in the reflection, “We were bounty hunters back then, taking down bandits and murderers and the like for the good of all Skyrim. But ever since he had Grelod assassinated he wanted to join the Dark Brotherhood. Figured if he got good enough against bandits he might get invited to join them…

Night is falling, paving the way for Secunda and Masser to rise above the black horizon.
A lone bandit stands watch outside the mouth of the cave, a warm fire crackling away at his ironclad feet. He’s oblivious to our presence among the tall trees just a stone’s throw away. This is his folly, for we are his doom.
“Can you get him?” Aventus hisses in my ear, dead still in the shadows beside me.
“Yes,” I finish applying the poison to my arrow. It’s a new mix, deathbell petals and the guts of a river betty, combined with the juices of a bleeding crown mushroom. It smells foul as I nock and draw the arrow to my earhole and it makes the bandit choke and writhe when the arrow pierces his flesh.
We approach the cave in silence, me in my quiet leather garb and him in his muffled iron armor. The body is dragged out of sight and the fire doused with loose dirt. 
Moving in tandem silence, the two of us make quick work of two more guards just inside the entrance. Aventus’ twin blades might’ve flashed if it hadn’t been dark inside. My own blade splits flesh, filling the body with poison that works quick and efficient.
We drag two more bodies into the dark.
The rest of the bandits are asleep, smelling of sweat and booze and other less savory things. We let them sleep, finding their leader tucked away in his own quarters. His eyes open in fright as Aventus pierces his heart, a gauntlet silencing his cries.
Removing the head is no easy task, but a requirement if we wish to be paid in full.
Leaving with the spoils, the bandits are likely to elect a new leader within the week and we are likely to return shortly thereafter...

“Did he?” Rain asked.
“What?” I startled, drawn suddenly from my memories.
“Did he ever get invited to join the Dark Brotherhood?”
The uneasy feeling in my guts rose like foul bile in my throat as I remained silent.
“Aram?” She pierced my silence with her words, a hoof reaching out to touch my hand.
“No…

“Still no other way in as far as I can see,” I report, returning to our secluded hideout on the mountainside, “The guards will rotate soon.”
Aventus nods, dark eyes watching the small ball of flickering firelight further up the mountain. Our own campsite is cold, dark, and miserable but we can’t risk being seen when we’re so close to our prize. Hidden in the darkness above, two guards are warming themselves with a campfire burning outside the mouth of a cavern. I had watched them all day and into the night, them and the shaggy steed that belonged to our quarry.
“Right,” Aventus’ breath mists as he speaks, “Get some rest, I’ll take the first watch.”
“No, we should make our move!” I counter, earning his gaze, “We’re getting low on rations and there’ll be snow soon. If we move in now we can be out by the time the weather turns, the perfect cover for our escape.”
“I dunno, I don’t like this spot,” Aventus’ scowl is barely visible in the darkness, “If we move down the mountain we can ambush him once he leaves as well as replenish our food, remember that stream we passed? Should be plenty of fish to catch.”
“I do,” I concede that single point, “But the longer we wait, the greater the chance of someone else getting to him, and what if he sneaks past us? We’d miss him entirely!”
“You’re too paranoid,” Aventus says, “No one’s going to steal our bounty, we’re the only ones who even know he’s in there.”
“You’re not paranoid enough,” I counter again, “Winter is coming, what if he decides to wait it out in that cave? He could have it stocked with supplies. We could wind up stuck out here for months on end. The time to make our move is now!”
Aventus is quiet for a time, chewing over his words. I knew I was making sense, I just had to make him see it!
“Can we sneak past the guards?”
“Last I saw they were filling their bellies with mead,” I answer immediately, “Only thing they were watching was the fire.”
“Fine, but on one condition!” He holds up a finger, “This is a scouting mission before all else; we’re going in there to look around and see what he’s doing. If it’s as you say and he’s stocked up or if we get an opportunity to get him we’ll take it. If not, if there’s any doubt or a threat of us being spotted, we leave and do this my way. Deal?”
“Deal,” I doom him to die with a smile on my lips.
We pack our belongings, leaving them ready to go before heading up the mountain. I sniff quickly at my arrows and dagger, ensuring the poisons I’ve applied are still potent. Aventus moves about in his armor, the area between the plates filled with leather and hide to keep them from making a racket.
Reaching the entrance to the cave unseen, we find the guards drunk and merry, guffawing at some dumb joke or brazen boast. They fail to notice two shadows slip past them and into the dark maw of the cave.
Torches burn quietly from their sconces on the walls, bolted in here and there leaving little pools of darkness. We swim through these pools, steps quiet and quick until the cave opens up before us into a great cavern. Aventus gestures and we move off to one side into a dark alcove.
“Two guards there,” he hisses in my earhole, pointing them out at the lip of a branching tunnel above.
“Plenty of other tunnels,” I whisper back, scanning over the present area. It is wide and open with dark openings on the ground level as well as above.
Crude woodworks (barrels, tables, chairs, etcetera) are positioned around the ground level with scaffolding and ramps leading to a few of the elevated tunnels...there! I point it out.
“There’s an overhang there,” I hiss to Aventus, “I could climb up and stay unseen till the end of time.”
“We’re here to scout, Aram,” Aventus dissuades me with a quiet voice, slipping over to a group of barrels off to one side. Following his lead, I help him pop the lid and peer inside, “Salted meats.”
“So he’s stocked for the winter,” I assess as Aventus pockets a few rations, setting the barrel’s lid back on quietly, “All the more reason to kill him now and be done with it!”
Aventus takes some time to consider, hidden away in the shadow beside me. I give him his time, letting him alone with his thoughts until…
“Fine, we kill him now,” he gestures to the spot where I would betray him, “Take a position up there, watch the entrance and make sure he doesn’t get through. I’ll see if I can’t stir things up and get him to pop his head out.”
I nod in the darkness, grinning. We depart for the last time in silence, me to my hidden overhang and him to the dark tunnels. No one notices the shadow against the rocks, a few loose pebbles striking the floor as I make my ascent.
Drawing a steel-tipped arrow, I sniff to ensure I haven’t poisoned it already and apply a potent mix sure to stop our target in his tracks. Nocking the arrow (and being sure not to poke myself with the tip) I lie in wait; no different from a shadow except in my deadliness.
Time crawls by like a mudcrab, my eyes searching for any sign of movement outside the flickering torchlight. 
Then a sudden crash of breaking pottery, the roar of a flame, and shouts of alarm echo from the tunnel Aventus disappeared into. I shake the weariness from my bones, half-lifting my bow in preparation for the shot.
A trickle of smoke and a bout of coughing precede the bandits as they rush from the tunnel, some stopping to fill their lungs while others rush into branching tunnels calling for water and buckets. Only three remain, the grip on my bow tightening as I spy our quarry among them: the one-eyed nord with a flowing, red beard.
But as I draw back my bow, sighting down the shaft, Aventus spills from the shadows like some unknown horror. The first guard hardly has time to shout before Aventus’ blades stab through the openings in his armor, piercing heart and lungs.
Our target and the other bandit draw their weapons; the bandit manages a swing with his axe and a shout of anger. Aventus stops the swing with one blade, the shout with his second and the bandit falls dead. Then he ducks under a swing from our target, the move putting him between us. I keep my bow drawn, but don’t dare to release for fear of hitting Aventus.
“Move, damnit!” I can’t recall if I spoke the whisper then or now.
Our target scoops up the second bandit’s axe, matching Aventus’ two blades. They ring and peal, sparks flying as they meet with grunts. The two of them remain too close for me to get a shot off.
Aventus lets one of our target’s blades clang off of his armor, using the opening to drive one of his own blades into the man’s leg. The man lets out a cry, collapsing to one knee and slashing wildly in an attempt to drive Aventus back. Aventus merely steps aside, slashing the blade from his hand and eliciting another shout of pain.
Yet before Aventus can strike the final blow, a whirlwind of magic bowls him over and away from our target. My eyes shift, having missed the arrival of a robed mage in the struggle between Aventus and our target. As Aventus rises the mage’s hands flash and a pair of snarling dremora leap into existence.
These new enemies leap at my brother with snarls and shouts for blood and death. He manages to hold them back, but only barely as their weapons bite into his own. His own steel weapons chip and spark as they meet their daedric swords.
Movement in my peripherals draws me back to our target, the man limping towards the cavern’s entrance. Then a shout from Aventus draws me back to him, seeing blood dripping from a cut on his arm.
The shout and sight of blood drive a cold blade of terror into my heart, the sudden realization that the dremora have him outmatched striking me far harder than any physical blow could. The mage cackles, seeing the same thing I was down below. I could use my arrow on him, end the fight and send his dremora back to Oblivion, but our quarry was escaping! He would rally the guards and escape on his horse once again!
I had a decision to make, and not enough time to make it.
“Aram! Help me! Shoot him!” I hear Aventus cry from down below, clashing steel ringing in my ears. But instead I shift my aim to our target and the arrow takes flight.
The shaft leaps into his unarmored side, a choking sound escaping his lips as he stumbles just outside the safety of the tunnel and falls dead.
Time almost stops as I hear the screech of metal, eyes drawn to Aventus’ shocked expression below and the long, black blade piercing his chestplate.
He crumples to the floor, blood spilling from his lips.
My world turns red as a shout echoes from my dark overhang.

“What...what happened next is all a blank,” I gulped down the rest of my mead, “All I remember is that when I came out of it my bow was shattered, dagger stuck in a bandit’s skull, I was the only one still breathing, and Aventus...” I couldn’t finish the sentence, at least not with an empty glass. Lifting the bottle, I emptied it down my gullet and let it clatter to the floor.
“I tried everything to bring him back,” our glasses rattled on the table as I brought my fist down on the wood, “I poured every healing potion I had down his breathless throat, I used every bandage I had to close his bloodless wounds, I prayed to every god there was and every god there wasn’t just to bring him back. I...I...I couldn’t...he was dead, just dead.
“I killed him,” the final statement escaped me at a whisper.
Silence, having waited patiently throughout the tale, now took the time to fill the room as I cradled my head and stared down at the blurry table before me. For a time, that became my world; the rough wood in front of my nose, my gloves pressing into my face, the pain in my chest, and the wetness in my eyes.
Then Rain’s forehooves snaked their way across the table, taking one of my arms and drawing my gaze to her. I felt my world shift as I lifted my eyes to hers, the soft contours of her face filling my vision.
She offered me no words, no condolences, no weeping apologies or long-winded arguments that it wasn’t my fault, that I wasn’t to blame. She just sat there, leaned across the table, eyes staring into mine, hooves outstretched and tingling through my glove and into my hand, a soft and understanding smile piercing through my haze of alcohol and unshed tears.
Slowly, over the course of an indeterminate amount of time, my eyes dried and the pain lifted from my heart. It wasn’t entirely gone, I knew it never would be, but it receded further back than it ever had in a very long time. Something...warm filled up the excess space, perhaps the alcohol, perhaps something else, I couldn’t be certain.
“Thank you,” I said, taking my hand from her hooves and letting it relax back at my side, struggling with my words, “That...it was…good to talk.”
“What are friends for?” Rain waved off the thanks and gave me another smile. I felt my lips creep up in an effort to return it, “I’m glad you were willing to share, let me get to know you a little better.”
“I’d better get some rest,” I stood on uneasy feet, it had been some time since I’d gotten drunk. It took a moment for the world to swirl into focus as I braced myself against the table.
“You good?” Our glasses clinked as Rain scooped them up.
“I’ll manage,” I waved away her offer to help, testing my balance and making my way…
‘Aram!’ I jumped as Discord’s voice snapped in between my ears, ‘We’ve got a problem.’
“To oblivion with you!” I snarled back, sending a glare towards the cowering statue.
“What?” Rain asked from the sink where she’d placed our glasses.
“Discord,” I grumbled back at her, getting a nod.
‘I’ve been there, rather droll this time of year, not a big fan,’ Discord’s normal half-mocking, half-cheery voice took on a sobering tone as he replied, ‘In any case, maybe this will sober you up: we’ve got company of the uninvited variety.’
“Who? Get to the point!” I growled, taking a moment to lean against a wall. I stumbled when Discord spoke the single, heart-stopping name.
‘Luna.’