Chapter 4
“Sorry, but I really need the money,” Adaie said running the dagger through the man's stomach, looking him in the eyes the whole time. She didn't want to forget the people she's killed, she didn't want to become a murderer who doesn't even give a single thought to the deaths she causes. She's seen quite a few people in the brotherhood like that, and they never lasted long.
The man's body slumped to the floor. The poor sap never even suspected the small girl looking for shelter in the storm, never thought that she would end up killing him.
Adaie wiped of her dagger on the man's shirt and looked through his dressers and chest. She grabbed about seventy gold, a few dresses, arrows, and some food. Then she set out, back to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, back home.
Adaie jogged through the woods, sneaking around travelers and avoiding the paths. When she finally reached the sanctuary, she gave the door the password and walked in. She traveled through the short hallway and saw Astrid, standing in the doorway.
“Hey Astrid, I finished the contract. I just have to go confirm with Nazir,” Adaie said, trying to walk past Astrid.
“Adaie, wait. Tell Nazir that I am sending you on the special contract, he'll know what one I'm talking about. I have faith that you will be able to do it just fine,” Astrid replied, no emotion in her voice. Adaie nodded, slipping past the blond woman. She jogged through the main room of the sanctuary, nodded a hello to all the other assassins in the room. She eventually got to the dining hall, where Nazir sat.
“Ah, Adaie. I hope the last contract is finished?” he asked when he saw the young girl.
The redguard nodded, burgundy curls falling into her face. “Ya, he didn't suspect a thing. I even got a few new outfits from his house.”
“Very good, do you need another contract?”
“Yeah, Astrid said that you have a special job for me?”
Nazirs face darkened, his brow furrowing, “Yes,” he said slowly, “There is a special job, but I didn't expect her to send you on it. It's a difficult job. You know the companions? And all the rumors about them being werewolfs? Well someone figured that the rumors are true, and they want to send a message to them all. They didn't have any solid proof, but its not my job to get the proof, just to do the job. The job is to kill Kodlak Whitemane. The leader of the Companions. He's a strong man, if a bit old. You up for the job?”
Adaie thought for a moment, the man would be hard to kill, but she suspected that he wouldn't suspect her. One of the perks of being a small girl, no one thinks that you'll kill them when their backs are turned. She finally decided that she would take the job. As young as she was, she's been an assassin as long as she could hold a dagger. Her mother was part of the Brotherhood, as was her father. Her father died while her mother was still pregnant with her. Not even on a job, just sickness. Her mother and Astrid were close friends, and they often took jobs to do together. But on one contract, Astrid slipped up, and her mother paid the price. Astrid never forgave herself for that one, and raised Adaie herself, for the girl was only three years of age when her mother was killed. Occupational hazard. Astrid raised her to be strong, raised her a fighter, raised her to kill. Her first kill was some old homeless bum that a landowner wanted gone, he kept trespassing on their property and the owner was not a patient man. Astrid sent Adaie. She killed him no problem, if a bit disconcerting, because of her mere five years of age. Ever since then she had been in this life, some old man shouldn't be too hard to deal with.
“I'll take the job. Im sure I can do it,” she decided out loud.
Nazir nodded, handing the girl her contract, one look at the paper and the girl spun around and left the sanctuary, ignoring Astrid on her way out.
When Adaie finally got to Whiterun, she stopped for a break and went into the inn.
“Can I have a room for the night?” She asked the innkeeper.
“Sure thing hun, 10 gold for one night,” the innkeeper replied. She led Adaie to her room and politely left, closing the door behind her. Adaie threw herself onto the one person bed, the only other furniture was the empty chest at the other end of the small room. Adaie decided that today would not be the day to kill the old man She was tired from traveling and even though she had killed with less energy than this, she simply did not want to. The girl rolled over and decided that sleep was the best option right now.
The next day, Adaie awoke with a feeling of boredom. She ran an old comb through her curls to calm them a bit, changed into clothes that protected her, but also kept her mobile (This outfit was a dark leather top that covered her torso and shoulders with a dark long sleve shirt under, and dark sturdy pants). Then the girl shoved everything into her bag and jogged down the stairs for some food.
“G’morning miss, would you like anything to eat?” the innkeeper asked when she saw Adaie appear.
“Yes I would, thank you. Anything is fine, I'm not picky,” Adaie replied, sitting on a log by the fire. The innkeeper told the cook and within ten minutes there was a plate of some meat and fresh fruit handed to her. She ate the food, thanking the cook and innkeeper, then she left, heading to Jorrvaskr to make a plan.
The assassin crept around the building looking for her target. She saw him talking to a few other companions, all armed. She would wait for the night to strike, when it was less likely for there to be witnesses. Until then, adaie walking in circles looking for the best way to get into the building and where the beds were. As far as she could tell, the beds and personal rooms were underground. She looked around the whole hall to find the best window for her entry and exit point. She found a window and opened it, placing a small stick in the opening so that she could easily get back in once night fell. Then she walked around the town, buying and selling clothes, jewelry that she ‘happened’ across during her previous contracts, and some fruit to keep her full until the night.
Once it was twilight, Adaie was heading back towards Jorrvaskr. Once she confirmed that there wasn't anyone in the main hall she slipped in through the window, leaving it propped open. She raised her dark brotherhood mask, hiding the majority of her face from view. Then she snuck across the hall to the stairs that led to the base floor. Adaie peaked around corners and hid behind barrels to get to the end of a long hallway, where the target was asleep. Adaie opened the door to his room and then silently closed it behind her. She looked up at the bed, and saw the man was asleep. Normally when the target were asleep it was fairly easy to kill them, they didn't even have a chance to yell. Adaie pulled her favorite dagger from her sleeve and silently padded over to the bed, placing the knife above the man's throat.
Luck never seemed to be on the poor girl's side, as the man awoke, nostrils flared. Of course. He was a werewolf, and he could smell an intruder in his room. Adaie moved, quick and silent as a mouse, and ended up behind a small dresser, squished between the hard wood and the wall. The old man sat up, placing his feet on the floor next to the bed. Now, most people would look around their room, see no one and go back to sleep. At least, that's what has happened in the past. This man knew that there was someone in his room, he could still smell the intruder and hear another heart beat in the room. Granted, the heartbeat was not the normal sporadic beat of someone who was caught, but instead a steady strong beat, ready for whatever happened.
Kodlak stood and faced the direction of the dresser, “I know you are there, there is no point in hiding.”
Adaie decided that standing and fighting was better than being trapped behind a piece of furniture. She slipped out from her hiding spot and faced the man, daggers at the ready.
“Now, girl, why are you here? I know that face mask you wear, Dark Brotherhood if I am correct. I don't know who would want to kill me, but I do know that you have a job,” he said evenly, “You don't look as old as the other members of your family, you are but a child! I don't want to hurt you, you have much to live for still.”
Adaie glanced at the door, just because she was caught now doesn't mean that she couldn't come back later…
“Now hun, don't think about it. If you leave now and I have no reason for you to stay away, you'll just come back. And this will repeat, or I'll call for my men, who will surely outmatch you,” he whispered.
Adaie stared at him, he was smart, not at all senile. She shifted her weight, ready to fight. Even if he called his men, she was quick, a bunch of big hulking men were not as fast as she was.
Before she even had a moment to think about her movements, the dagger was already out of her hand and flying toward the man, who quickly side stepped, the dagger grazing his arm, instead of hitting square in the chest as intended.
“Now kid, you're a weapon down. Now what?” he asked, “You can leave, but you have to give me some guarantee that you are not going to come back. Your name, your family name perhaps? I need something that will keep you away. I won't go and hurt anyone, but the knowledge that I could is what keeps them all away.”
Adaie snapped into action, the second dagger switched to her right hand and she dove, aimed for his right arm, disable him first, then kill. He moved, quicker than she thought he would, the dagger barely grazed him, a mere papercut.
He swung his arm out, hitting her against the wall. She fell to the ground and rolled to her feet, glancing at the door, but no one else came in.
Kodlak took another swing at her, missing by a mile, as she had dodged and was behind him, she slashed at his back, missing as he spun to face her.
They spun around each other in the small room, each trying to pin the other to where they could attack. The older man had the upperhand on size, but that also made it easy for the short girl to dodge under his arms and around him without being caught.
“Kid, you really don't want me to put my all into this fight, but you,” he said, dodging her knife once again, “are proving to be difficult.” He took a step back, and Adaie took that chance to grab at the other dagger still on the ground where it had landed when she had thrown it. When she turned back around the man was transforming, already half wolf half man. Adaie backed up, not prepared to fight a full on wolf. She ran to the door, trying to escape while she could.
Nazir never said he was actually a werewolf! Well, I guess he didn't say he wasn't… Adaie thought, only a few steps into the hallway.
She suddenly jerked forward, falling to her hands and knees, and she could feel a large bruise forming on her back where a large paw struck her. She crawled towards the exit, glancing back to see the wolf. He was towering over her, at least twice the size he was before. Adaie jumped to her feet to run the last bit to the door, to her escape. A clawed paw hit her shoulder, spinning her around, and then another hit her in the face. Her hand flew to her right cheek, trying to asses the damage. She saw the wolf pause, take a step back, and then turn back human.
She backed up, still in shock from the fight, Kodlak now stood in front of her, eyes almost as wide as hers.
“I'm so sorry, I only meant to scare you off, I didn't mean to-” he broke off, realizing that she wasn't listening. She still was backing away from him, her eyes never leaving him, looking for any sign that he was going to attack her again. Once she was sure he wasn't going to, she spun and ran through the door and up the stairs, barely noticing that her mask had been torn off when he scratched her. She ran across the hall and out the window before she had time to process what had happened. She ran across Whiterun and to the stables, asking the carriage man to take her to falkreath, ignoring the looks the man gave her, ignoring her wounds.
On the ride to Falkreath Adaie dressed her wounds. She didn't need any stitches or anything, well, she probably did. But she wasn't going to put any in herself, and she definitely wasn't going to let astrid know how bad it really was, so she had no one to help her with it. Therefor, she didn't need any stitches.
When the carriage stopped she stepped out of the back, careful not to jostle any of her wounds.
“Hey kid, it's not any of my business, but are you ok? I know Dark Brotherhood armor when I see it, but I'm not here to judge. We’ve all done things that are not the best choices probably. Do you need help? To get away from this life, to get medical care, do you need to talk?” The carriage coach asked her, concern on his face.
Adaie really looked at the man for the first time. He wasn't young or old, he had probably seen about 45 summers, “Thank you sir, I am ok injury-wise. But I messed up, and I don't know if I'll be allowed to stay with the brotherhood. I might have to leave, and then-” she broke off suddenly, “Then I'd have nowhere to go…”
The man nodded, understanding her situation, “Well, how about I stay here in this city for the night. And if in the morning you are here, waiting, then I can take you back to another city for free. So you can get a new start. And if I wake up and you aren't here, then I'll know that you are okay. Sound good?” he offered, trying to help her.
Adaie nodded, smiling at the man, “That would be very kind of you, thank you so much.” Then she ducked her head and walked away, over the hills and through the trees to get to the sanctuary.