Celebration
3E 433
The Necromancer Celedaen is dead, and you are not. That is quite an accomplishment.
Before I assign you your next contract, my silencer, I ask you to return to Fort Farragut. There is something I wish to discuss with you in person.
Lledana summoned a flame into the hollow of her palm and burned the letter to ashes, before she turned away from the great oak tree and headed for the city gates.
It was the death of night; the black sky shrouded with clouds which extinguished the lights of moons and stars both. At this hour, she could see not a single person outside, only a pair of rather bored and tired looking guards at the gates. They didn’t even spare her a second glance when she passed by them.
Shadowmere awaited her behind a couple of trees, at a safe distance of the stables where no one was likely to found the extraordinary steed. Lledana run her fingers through the horse’s black mane, and her dark red, almost black neck, before she mounted her and gently nudged her into a galopp.
Shadowmere complied with a fiery huff and the dark forest around her became a blurry rush, trees and rocks and little farm houses and the distant dark remains of an Oblivion Gate blending into each other as distance melted away underneath black hooves.
Lledana held tight onto the horse’s mane, and kept her head low against the sharp winds that bit her cheeks and eyes. No ordinary horse was even remotely as fast as Shadowmere. Before she had been gifted her, the way from Chorrol to Cheydinhal had cost her weeks. With Shadowmere, however …
The clouds above her head began to part, allowing her to spot the crescent shape of Masser, when the sky reaching White-Gold Tower became visible in the distance. The downward slope of the valley drew near, and eventually the whole Imperial City gleamed white against the darkness of the night.
Shadowmere gallopped along the blurring roads, with only the large city remaining fixed point to Lledana’s right, and after maybe another hour, trees swallowed even its silhouette again as the horse thundered along the road leading to Cheydinhal. Lledana did not even have to show her the way - the steed seemed just as eager as her to return to her old master’s side, and found her way into the forests all on her own.
The sky only just started greying when Shadowmere eventually came to a halt, next to an old hollowed tree that held the secret entrance into Fort Farragut.
Lledana jumped from her back and hurried over to the hidden trapdoor, prying it open, and slipped through. Quickly, she started descending down the ladder until her feet met solid ground again.
A smirk ghosted across her lips. The dawn of the morning would give her an excellent excuse to stay within Fort Farragut until night fall. She had not expected being recalled to Lucien’s hide-out so soon again, so there had not been the opportunity to feed.
Lucien Lachance awaited her already, rising from his chair as soon as his gaze fell upon her, and his lips twitched into a smile that she knew was reserved for her alone. Her heart would’ve skipped a beat, if it were still beating. But her satisfied smirk grew into a bigger, happier smile at his sight.
She would rather burn to death than admit it to him, but she had missed him more than she had realized up to this moment. When he had told her that they would no longer speak in person, she had expected for months to pass until they would meet each other again.
And yet here she was, sooner than she had anticipated, and it was a more than welcome thing.
“You wanted to see me?”
Lucien inclined his head. “Yes. You see, as your last contract before our parting has not been very … pleasant, it would have been the wrong time to celebrate your promotion. I would see that changed.”
Lledana pushed the thought of Ocheeva’s jaw, dropping in disbelief of her deed, of Telaendril’s plead for mercy, of Gogron gro-Bolmog’s angered as well as betrayed scream from her mind. What was done was done. She couldn’t change it now, couldn’t bring them back. What did it help to dwell on it.
“Celedean was a very welcome change.”
“I knew it would be a contract after your liking. You always liked a challenge, if I remember correctly.”
“You know me too well.” She licked her lips. “How do you plan to celebrate my promotion, Speaker?” The contract on Celedean and Shadowmere had already been very gracious presents. Lucien certainly knew how to make a girl’s heart beat higher …
He took a full bottle of wine from the table he had been sitting on just moments before. “Your promotion deserves at least a toast, wouldn’t you agree? Hm …” He filled a crystal glass with the blood red liquor. “But I remember, you prefer something of more … substance. Come closer.”
Lledana stepped beside him, watching with growing curiosity as he protruded a vial from the folds of his midnight black robe, to fill a second crystal glass with red liquid, viscous and fragrant. She knew what it was without looking at it twice. The dark hunger awakening in her at the faint smell of copper told her enough.
Briefly, she thought that it meant she would have to leave earlier than she had hoped … But her hesitation was quickly blown away, when she felt her fingers itching after the red juice.
“To you, my Silencer.” He raised his glass, and dark eyes watched her as she did the same. “May your future within the Brotherhood be long and glorious.”
Lledana nipped at the blood, her eyes widening in surprise at how warm it still was, despite being held within a phial only moments before. Surprised - pleasantly - at its rich and full taste, so much more invigorating and stimulating than the dull, drained taste of the Beggar’s blood she so often had to feed on in order to avoid suspicion.
It brought warmth back into her cold fingers with every sip of it, and she almost believed to feel the echo of a heart that had stopped beating months ago.
“Very delicious. Where did you find it?” She set the emptied glass down, licked clean to savor even the last drop of it.
“A Speaker cannot tell all his secrets. Who would be the fun?” His free hand traced the line of her ears, fingers trailing down the side of her neck, and she felt herself shiver under his cool touch.
He tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ears, his finger lingering briefly on her cheeks before he let them sink. Not for a moment his dark eyes looked away, his gaze locked with hers, and in it …
“It’s a shame you ruined my plans for the day, Speaker.” She did not look away.
“How wicked you are.” His eyes flickered up, an eyebrow rising in recognition. “Do not fear. My next contract for you can wait another day, I am not in any hurry.” He looked at her, smiling. “Now … Tell me now, how did you dispose of Celedean?”
“I thought you’d already knew.”
“Oh, I do. But I enjoy hearing it from your lips, Lledana. I found your perspective to be very … inspiring.”
Lledana’s smile deepened. “Well, if you phrase it this way …” She licked the last remains of blood from her lips, and started telling.