Lately,
I'm not quite myself.
Maybe,
I do need some help.
Just my confusion,
Trust my delusion.
Don't you,
Regret you met me.
Go through,
These steps to get me,
Back to where we start,
'Fore I fall apart.
If I could black out,
It'd become so clear,
Standing face-to-face with everything I fear.
Watch so closely,
but still I don't see.
As bad as it seems,
a piece of mind I steal,
In ordinary life,
the consequence is real.
I'm past the point of reality. – Open your eyes, Sum 41
Chapter 1 – Business as usual.
I had chosen a fort near Windhelm for the meeting, I watched the road from the lookout tower while Jorgen cooked a dear I’d slain earlier that day. I hadn’t moved in hours and snow was piling up around me, as the relentless blizzard blew on. Interestingly enough the snow that had piled onto my armour was insulating me from the worst of the blizzard.
The smells rising from the fire downstairs reminded me that I had made the right choice in saving Jorgen’s life almost three years ago. I was 15 then and just starting out as an Assassin, I had heard about the famous Dark Brotherhood, and heard many stories about them. But I had also heard about them ‘cleansing’ their family every few hundred years. And I just didn’t want to tempt fate, so decided to make my name as a freelancer.
I was in Helgen following a ‘DB’ assassin, he obviously had a mark he was stalking but no awareness at all, and I thought I was supposed to be the amateur. So I followed this guy all the way to his mark. It was Jorgen, a tall barrel chested Nord with short brown hair and I’m fairly sure he could have used me as a warhammer if he had the mind to. Usually I wouldn’t intervene with the Dark Brotherhood and their contracts, out of some false sense of respect for them. But this guy either didn’t know or didn’t care I was there, which would be his undoing I had decided.
So I waited until the last moment and slit his throat from behind, spraying blood all over the Nord’s Steel armour, and covering the floor. The assassin just twitched on the floor as he bled out. Jorgen turned round to a rather unique sight, a dead assassin on the floor, and a child wiping blood off of her dagger looking up at him. He was a bandit himself, and could have easily taken me to his camp and locked me away, never to see the light of day again. Instead, he did take me back to his bandit camp nearby, but he kept me fed and watered.
He taught me the safer roads of skyrim, and the ones which were great for robbing nobles, he taught me how to cook, how to skin and prepare a hide, along with other smithing tricks. Jorgen even helped me design and forge the custom armour I use, having a friend of his enchant it for me. The most valuable thing he taught me was close quarters combat against multiple opponents.
Coming out of my daze I spotted a figure approaching from the main path, looked like a male, wearing a thick fur overcoat and expensive looking clothes, obviously a noble of some sort. As the man approached could see he was a Nord, elderly with shoulder length grey hair and a neatly trimmed beard ending in a small pony tail at his chin.
As he approached Jorgen walked over to meet him at the bottom of the stairs, resting his Steel battleaxe on his shoulder menacingly he questioned the approaching Nord. “You’re a long way from the safety of the city noble, are you lost?” The Nord replied a raspy but sheepish voice “Nn-n-no, I was t-t-told t-t-to meet s-s-someone h-h-here” the man had obviously not done a days work in his life and had been suckling off his Jarl’s teat. Jorgen knew he was the man they were waiting for, but couldn’t resist a good wind up especially with those holier than thou nobles.
Jorgen gave the surroundings a quick glance over and nodded the man to follow him inside closing the large wooden door behind them. Sitting down on a chair by the fire and table he motioned for him to do the same. “Liara, I believe you have a visitor” I had just shaken off the worst of the snow and headed down into the warmth, my hood covering my eyes in shadow I looked the feeble old Nord up and down before taking the venison Jorgen was handing me and sitting by the fire between Jorgen and the Nord.
“You’re just a child!” Scoffed the Nord. A curved daedric dagger grazed his neck, cutting into it as he swallowed. “I-i-i-i didn’t mean to offend…It’s just you’re so young.” My blade skimmed up his chin shaving a path where his beard had been and cut off his little pony tail, before throwing it in the fire. “Believe me, if you had offended me you wouldn’t be alive right now. But you now know that crossing me has consequences”
Liara got up, and paced the room. “Now I assume you are here because you need someone’s life ended?. Depending on what information you give me and who your target is, we will work out my payment from there, which must be paid in full before leaving here. Or there is no deal, Are we clear?” “How am I to be assured the work gets done?” “I work by past customers referral, that’s how I deal business. If this is a problem for you, feel free to leave now”
After a few moments thought, he looked up at me “No that’s fine, I need this matter dealt with as soon as possible.” I leant forward onto the table picking up a quill “Ok, now down to the details. Who’s the mark?”
To be continued...
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