Published at 30th of July 2022 8:28 am

Chapter 654: Among Us (3)

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The disappearance of Festus, the timely trap in the Living Quarters, the eruption of the Alchemy Lab, and the attack on Arnbjorn… someone timed everything very perfectly for Astrid to witness.

Those were her thoughts as she crawled up and ran to the forge where her werewolf husband was struggling inside, before dragging him out of it without minding the burns she suffered.

The werewolf was in clear pain and agony but Astrid couldn't just stand there. She pushed him with all her might across the dark hall to the opposite side where a water stream made a small pond inside the sanctuary. She immediately ran with him into the water and put him down to extinguish the flames that were eating him alive.

"Bjorn! Bjorn! Calm down! Easy! Easy love! Please!"

Astrid screamed out of her wits as she tried to stop Arnbjorn from moving but he wasn't feeling good and struggled like a wounded beast before finally becoming quiet.

The gasses from the explosion started to slowly dissipate and light started to brighten through the sanctuary once again. The sight of Arnbjorn became visibly clear to Astrid who sat on her knees in front of him, drenched in water, and bearing many burn marks from entering the forge and moving the burning werewolf.

"No!"

Astrid's shoulders collapsed and her face turned dumbfounded and pale. Her blonde hair was all wet and her eyes were bloodshot.

"NO!"

She put her hands on the body of the dead werewolf. He, who was charred black from the intense fires and died a painful death, was her husband and only true family in the world.

"NOOO!"

Screaming from the pain of her loss, the three assassins who were just with her joined her in the hall. Babette walked to her and Nazir supported Gabriella to walk up.

"By the sands!" Nazir saw what had become of Arnbjorn and sighed.

*THUD*

A strong sound vibrated through the sanctuary and made the place shake from its power.

"It is coming from outside." Babette said as she saw the dust coming from above, "Astrid, get it together."

"I'll see what that is." Nazir helped Gabriella down and headed towards the entrance of the sanctuary.

"Astrid, we need you with us." Gabriella spoke to Astrid but the latter was completely frozen in front of her husband's body.

"Hurry. No time left to waste." Babette dragged Astrid from her shoulders and got her out of the water but Astrid only looked around like a lost person.

"You're alright?" Astrid asked.

"Who?" Gabriella asked back.

"That damnable man. The Keeper… Cicero… Where is he?" Astrid said with the Blade of Woe in her hand.

Surely she meant no good towards the mad jester.

"It is the Legion!" Nazir came back running, "Legion soldiers are trying to break into the sanctuary with a battering ram!"

"The Black Door won't fall." Babette said, "It won't be broken unless they have the words."

"They said the words but it seemed the Black Door wouldn't work from outside either." Nazir said.

"Then we are safe… until we flush out the traitor… we are safe." Astrid still insisted on the idea of a traitor and looked around till she saw a blood trace.

It led to the hallway between the Living Quarters and the Night Mother's chamber up through the stairs and all she needed was to get there and do the deed. Astrid walked out shaking, limbing, and devastated.

The remaining three followed her and all entered the hallway. There, they saw Cicero, at its end. He was lying on the ground with two claw marks running deep through his chest.

"Mother… Mother… Answer me… was I… fool of hearts… worthy… or it was… all in vain… to vain…" Cicero hallucinated from his injuries which seemed to have been caused by Arnbjorn.

But Cicero wasn't alone and he was receiving treatment by someone Astrid wanted to see so badly. Someone whom she wanted to blame as much as Cicero.

Her Agent turned Listener.

Serana.

"I see that it is just the four of you." Serana said.

"Traitor!" Astrid called.

"Me?" Serana smiled, "Too bad, you've got the wrong person."

"My husband is dead!" Astrid shouted, "Veezara is dead!" She shouted again, "Festus is gone." She shouted last.

"And that's upsetting you?" Serana asked.

"I should have never accepted the likes of you." Astrid glared with hate, "Neither the likes of you nor the likes of him."

Astrid took one first painful step towards her vengeance.

"But neither I nor he killed any of your people."

"SHUT UP!"

"Neither I nor he betrayed the Brotherhood."

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Astrid jumped towards Serana, knife in hand, but just as she did so, a shadow struck her and pushed her from the hallway into the Night Mother's chambers.

She landed by rolling on the ground and could hardly stand up afterward. The shadow that struck her disappeared and the ones who ran for her were her three assassin subordinates.

"Serana, stop this." Gabriella shouted.

"I didn't do anything." Serana walked into the Night Mother's chamber while helping the injured Cicero to stand.

"Then why did you do all this?" Nazir asked with a hand on his sword's hilt ready to fight at a moment's notice.

"There is a Traitor in our midst indeed." Serana said, "But it is neither me nor Cicero. We only followed the orders of the Listener."

"The Listener?" Astrid recovered from her daze and heard Serana's words, "So… you weren't a Listener."

"No." Serana replied, "I am a member of the Black Hand, alright, and I always answer to the one true Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. Cicero as well, he answers to the Listener too. It is by his orders that this Sanctuary was to be purified."

"Purified?"

The word ran through the tongues of every assassin in the sanctuary as they shuddered from its true meaning. Fourteen years ago, this Sanctuary was under the threat of Purification by the last known Listener Alisanne Dupre but they were barely spared.

But now came a new Listener and a new threat of Purification, something that they wanted to avoid.

"You don't have the right to." Astrid said as she could barely stand and looked at Serana with anger, "I am the Leader of this Sanctuary… I won't allow…"

*THUD*

The sanctuary shook again after another strike from the battering ram making the looming danger seep through their hearts.

"Astrid." Serana spoke, "While I am not as devout as Cicero, let me tell you who is the traitor here. It is the one who rejected the old ways, the one who fought against it and defied its Tenets, the one who betrayed the supposed Listener whom I impersonated and ratted them to Commander Maro of the Penitus Oculatus, the one who led the Agents of the Penitus Oculatus to this Sanctuary."

Serana's words marked all the wrongdoings Astrid committed.

Having her sins revealed this way, Astrid faced the judgment of the Brotherhood in front of her family members.

"I protected this family, I picked them up when everything was lost, I kept things running." She said.

"And you did well." Serana replied with an assuring face, "But you let your own greed take over and tarnished your sworn duty as a Dark Brotherhood Assassin."

"To Oblivion with that!" Astrid shouted and tried to stand up but she was too tired and injured, "Sithis wasn't going to help us… the Night Mother wasn't going to help either. All they demanded was absolute devotion and blind trust."

"You signed up for this." Serana said, "You all did."

"But… I didn't want to lose my life… or my family." Astrid said in tears as she lowered her head.

*THUD*

"To be honest, I don't like any of this either. You chose the Path of Sithis and now you walk it to the end. I doubt there would be a happy ending within the Void but I am sure there is no bad ending either." Serana sympathized offering some solace, "Family can be what makes you strong but it can also bring your downfall."

She spoke of experience and pain. She wanted to have a family as well but hers is something she could only make with her vampirism and power the Daughter of Coldharbour. While her plans behind Jon's back were for that family to grow stronger and more powerful, she had to pass the judgment on Astrid who was struggling for the same goal as hers.

*THUD*

"Veezara and Arnbjorn died to the one whom they chose to stand behind, and their sacrifice was necessary for the rise of the New Listener." Serana said.

"Wait!" Gabriella interrupted, "Festus, is he alive?"

"The Wizard lives." Serana pointed to a nearby wall and a shadow door formed that through, an elderly Imperial crawled out of.

"Festus!" Gabriella rushed at her friend and helped him to sit up as he seemed exhausted.

From that shadow door, a small girl walked out following Festus. She was almost at the same height as Babette but showed older features. Her hair was black and her eyes were feline blue with her ears growing on the top of her head like a cat.

"That is?" Asked Nazir.

"The Silencer of the Listener. Performer of the Purification." Serana replied.

In other words, the one who killed Veezara and Arnbjorn.

No one looked at Nefertiti with good intentions at this moment seeing how small she was. Killing two of their comrades is surely something they won't easily forgive but they had no choice but to show some hostility.

In response to that, Nefertiti transformed into a Werecat for the first time in a long while and her form was nothing short of diabolical.

*THUD*

"Those Legionaries you brought won't stop, Astrid." Serana said, "Only the Listener can save us at this point."

"How?" Astrid asked.

"He is outside the Sanctuary. All he needs is an invitation which only you can extend to him as the Matron of the Sanctuary, Astrid. Call him." Serana said.

"I don't know…" Astrid said and in a glimmer of inspiration, she realized what had to be done.

She looked back towards the sealed Night Mother Coffin and just knew what to do.

She sat on her knees and lowered her head. She knew that to end this and prevent the Legion from destroying the Sanctuary and the remaining Assassins, she had to face the error of her ways.

She had to contact the Listener and what better way to do so other than going directly to the Night Mother.

*THUD*

The Black Door of the sanctuary wasn't going to fall but what's at stake here was the sanctuary's integrity as chucks of the cave system would start to collapse very soon at this rate by the look of the many cracks forming around the wall.

"I am ready." Astrid said.

As she said so, Nefertiti returned to her human form, placed a few candles she had around Astrid, and handed her a pair of Nightshade roses.

Astrid stared at Nefertiti and wondered what kind of a mighty being has become the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, who will bring it to a new dawn through the abandoned old ways.

*THUD*

"I am sorry for what I have caused." Astrid spoke as she rubbed her hand against her Blade of Woe with the petals of Nightshade in hand.

"Dammit, Astrid!" Nazir spoke in frustration.

"Girl." Festus was also sad to see Astrid reduced to that.

It was then that it finally had to happen

"Sweet Mother, Sweet Mother, send your child upon me. For the Sins of the Unworthy must be baptized in Blood and Fear."

And Astrid stabbed herself.

It was then when the Night Mother's coffin opened and someone walked out.

"Sweet Child, Sweet Child, I hear you calling me, for the malice in your heart must be washed by Void and Sin."

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