Black Rose

  • Maven may think that she had complete control over Riften but that didn’t mean she knew what she was getting into by demanding, not asking but demanding her presence in her Manor. She suspected that she had picked this meeting place in the hopes of being safe, for whenever had an assassin been able to kill someone in their own home?

    At the thought she let out a small laugh and her mouth curled into a smile. If Maven wanted to believe that she had the upper hand let her, but if for one second she thought that she could control her, she would teach her how wrong she was.

    She was known throughout Skyrim as the Black Rose; not that anyone other than Maven had connected her two identities before. They had ‘awarded’ her the title after she had killed the Emperor, he had not been what she was expecting and in the few minutes that she had spoken to him he had gained her respect. He had been given a quick death and once she was certain that he was gone she had moved him to his bed and arranged him as they do for those who are to be buried.

    In his hand she had placed a single rose and then she had left by way of the balcony at the stern of the ship.

    Raising a hand she knocked on the window to the second story room that Maven was currently in. Within seconds the window was opened and she was able to climb into the room, it was rather spacious and seemed to be a meeting room of sorts.

    Maven stood waiting in the middle of the room with an annoyed look upon her face “You took your damn time getting here; you don’t even live that far away.”

    So this is how she wants to start things then? This thought and many an irritated jab crossed her mind while she waited for Maven to get down to why she had called her here.

    “I suppose you had business to attend to. Well as you know I have recently discovered who you are and in exchange for keeping your secret I require you to perform a job for me.” This was obvious and for someone notorious for liking her underlings to get right to it she seemed to be taking her time. “So I would like for you to eliminate a certain Nord who is currently causing me quite a bit of trouble. By this I mean the Dragonborn.”

    Before she could stop herself she was laughing, she couldn’t believe it Maven wanted her to kill the most powerful man in Skyrim, but unlike the Emperor he was powerful in the fact he was the Dragonborn.

    Maven’s face had started turning a bright red when she finally stopped herself and spoke “Do you have any idea how many assassin’s the Dark Brotherhood alone lost trying to kill that man, not to mention all the Thalmor agents that have gone missing since he broke into their embassy. Only a fool would take a contract on that man and only another fool would hire them.”

    It took some time for Maven to regain control of herself and once she had she was incredulous “Surely you who are supposed to be the best would be able to perform such a task. Is it that you’re unable or are you scared of him? If you should be afraid of anyone it should be me.”

    “Maven you may think of yourself as the Queen of Shadows in this province but that man is the light. Your power is nothing compared to the rage that will come crashing done on all those even so much as affiliated with us if I were to succeed or fail.” She paused to let Maven take it all in surely she could see what would happen if she got her way.

    “So you are scared, I would have thought the woman who infiltrated the Emperor’s personal ship which was swarming with guards would not be afraid of a single man no matter who he is.” She looked smug as though she had found a weakness that she knew she could exploit and it was easy to tell Maven was used to getting her way.

    She hadn’t wanted it to come to this but she had not choice she would have to convince Maven to keep her mouth shut.

    “Have you ever met the Dragonborn? From the look on your face I can see you have. Did you take note of how his mere presence is enough to frighten even the mightiest of warriors, I have personally seen him simply arrive at the site of an upcoming battle and those that would have to face him immediately lay down their weapons. Now if you’re as smart as you are rumoured to be, you should leave all this well enough alone.”

    The redness of before had returned to Maven’s face and she did not even try to calm herself before she spoke “How DARE you try to tell me, Maven Black-Briar what to do. I’ll have you know…” Her words were interrupted by the sound of four bodies hitting the ground; her head swivelled from side to side as she tried to grasp what had just happened.

    “Hmm, I could have sworn there was a fifth man watching over you but I could be…” there was another loud crash as the body of another man came crashing done onto the table in the middle of the room “…oh there he is. Now Maven do you see what I am capable of?”

    She could see true fear on Maven’s face and she was sure that it had been a long time since she had felt fear “Good now you had better listen to what I have to say. If you value your own life then you had better stop trying to get someone to kill the Dragonborn, for someday someone will get lucky and succeed and who will be the first person they look towards when it happens? Perhaps the person who gains the most out of it, hmm?”

    Maven was starting to shake, from what she couldn’t tell but she continued anyway “Oh and if I were you I wouldn’t act on what you know about me, do you understand?”

    Her legs were starting to go stiff from standing perfectly still, before Maven finally spoke up “If you think you can intimidate me…” Before she could even finish the sentence a knife was being held against her neck so tightly that a single drop of blood started to roll down her throat.

    “Oh I definitely do, you know me knocking earlier was a curtesy I was willing to pay you. You would do well to remember who I am and those who have died at my hand. Now I think that will be all for tonight don’t you?”

Comments

4 Comments
  • Golden Fool
    Golden Fool   ·  June 22, 2015
    Well it has been about 12 years since this happened
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  June 22, 2015
    Thump, thump, thump, thump.... Wait for it.... Thump.  Better late than never I suppose.
    You wrote that well although I can't see Maven leaving it there. Time will tell.
  • Golden Fool
    Golden Fool   ·  November 9, 2014
    Thanks, I always find that whenever i write i tend to use commas and things like it incorrectly at least once. Unfortunately my friend who proofreads for me didn't and wont for a while, have access to wifi so getting it checked over might not happen for a while.
  • Tolveor
    Tolveor   ·  November 9, 2014
    Nice to see Maven put in her place. There are a few small typos here and there, and I'd recommend you have someone read through it who knows the rules about commas etc to polish it. I like it though, it's a good story.