Flash Fiction February 2023 Day 21: Person Followed By An Invisible Thing (Lucien)

 A/N: Lucien has morals and is fundamentally a good person despite his occupation (much like Eno Hlaalu) and I will die on this hill. Also how is there only a week left in flash fic feb 2023 what?! Time flies when you're having fun and I certainly have been, I hope you have also been enjoying these little mini fics and following along throughout the month :)

Prompt: Person followed by invisible thing

There are many skills that make the job of a professional assassin a much easier one, and magic is a more overlooked skill in that arsenal. It is true perhaps that most who go into the profession just simply lack the natural talent to be able to wield arcane knowledge in such a manner, except for The Morag Tong who essentially require training in the art of magic. Though in that case it does make more sense given the organization operates entirely within Morrowind and primarily recruits Dunmer who like Bretons such as myself have a natural affinity to magic. I for one utilize the various schools to their full capacity from a handy destruction based spell for my occasional firefights with the dark guardians that roam the halls of Fort Farragut, to the occasional conjured weapon or at rare times a familiar. Primarily I prefer the spells of the illusion school, they always come in handy, especially during contracts like this. Silently from afar I stalk my contract, a wealthy Imperial man known to gamble along with other far less savory activities, as he wanders drunkenly through the streets of the Elven Gardens district late at night. Clad in my typical black attire and staying in the shadows I remain out of sight for the time being without the need for any additional disguise, though when I get closer an invisibility spell will prove helpful. The city watch is not overly active in this primarily residential district, especially at this time of night, and I only count one patrol that passes by on their walk to rendezvous with other members of the guard for the changing of shift. Like a ghost I follow the marked man until he reaches his home and allow him to enter and close the door behind him, there is a window on the second floor that I can climb in through instead. No point in making a scene in the middle of the street on a quiet and beautiful night like this, murder behind closed doors is almost always preferred when it’s a possibility. Employing a chameleon spell to allow myself to move unseen, I scale the wall of the house and climb through the window, landing on the carpet in the drunk man's bedroom and find he’s passed out haphazardly on the bed. Then I notice something else, on the bed as well and tied to one of the bedposts is a young woman who appears to be around my age, perhaps a few years younger but still early to mid twenties and no older than me, she looks scared. The chameleon spell I notice has worn off as the woman looks at me with an expression of shock and alternates between looking at me and looking at the unconscious target of mine. Silently I hold up a finger to gesture to be silent and scrawl out a note on a piece of paper I’d stuffed in one of my many pockets asking if she is there against her will. Unsurprisingly I find the answer is yes and quickly untie her before rummaging through whatever clean clothes had been strewn about so she has something to cover up with and send her from the room. I had little empathy for this contract before, just based on the background information I’d been given, and now I have none. Drawing the silver blade from its sheath I slit the man's throat, leaving him on the bed with a brief note signaling this was a Dark Brotherhood contract and go join the newly freed captive downstairs. Opening the door I let her exit first before employing the chameleon spell again and leaving myself, allowing her to close the door should anyone be awake at this time of night and watching to find a door mysteriously close by itself. It is here we part ways, I tell the lady to find the nearest guardsmen they should be able to help, and to not mention me as it would put us both in danger. Some members of the Brotherhood tell me I have too big a heart, or that I prefer to help those in need too much, and that’s a dangerous thing. You’ll end up getting yourself killed Lucien, they say, you care too much. I simply call it having morals, I may be an assassin, but at the end of the day I still have a conscious, and if I’m going to be the invisible thing following people that leads to their death I’d at least like to be the one that gets the people who deserve it in the end. With the contract finished and the young woman freed, my work here is done and I disappear once again into the night, back to Luther Broad's Boarding House for a warm meal and a good night's rest…I’ll get Shadowmere in the morning.