Skyrim | Thief Of Hearts | DISCONTINUED

12.

{(Y/n) POV}

'Welcome to the family, lass. I'm expecting you to make us a lot of coin, so don't disappoint me.' Brynjolf had turned towards me with a stern look on his face. This meant business and it was for him apparently no time to be nice towards me right now. 'So how do I get my cut of the spoils?' I asked, putting my hand on my hip. 'Simple. Do as you're told and keep your blade clean. We can't turn a profit by killing. You should talk with Delvin Mallory and Vex. They know their way around this place and they'll be able to kick some extra jobs your way. Oh, and talk to Tonilia in the Flagon... she'll set you up with your new armor.' I gave him a quick nod. 'Sure thing.' ' Goldenglow Estate is a bee farm; they raise the wretched little things for honey. It's run by some smart-mouth wood elf named Aringoth. We need you to teach him a lesson by burning down three of his estate's hives.' 'What's the catch?' I asked, clearly knowing that I couldn't just do what I wanted to do. 'The catch is that you can't burn the whole place to the ground. That important client Mercer mentioned would be furious if you did.' 'What is so important about this clients?' 'The Guild depends on an arrangement of influential people to keep things running smoothly. Without them at our backs, we'd be in serious trouble.' I nodded understandingly, a small frown crossing my face. 'What should I do about that Aringoth guy?' Brynjolf stood up and picked up his dirty cloak. 'Maven prefers that Aringoth remains alive, but if he tries to stop you from getting the job done, kill him. The Guild has a lot riding on this. Don't make me look foolish by mucking it up.' You watch yourself on that island. Those mercenaries don't take prisoners.' I knew what that meant very well and nodded. 'So I should kill them.' 'Indeed lass. Now go. Before you leave, speak to Vex. I heard she knows a little shortcut into the place.' Again I nodded and went towards the Ragged Flagon. After I got the armor from Tonilia, I decided to look for Vex. She was leaning against some crates, her arms crossed. She cocked an eyebrow as I approached her. 'Oh look, it's the prize Brynjolf got from the market!' I frowned. 'Al... right... Well, I heard you ran into some trouble at Goldenglow Estate?' 'Hmph, yeah, I did. That wood elf piece of shit... he's a lot smarter than I expected. Can you believe that fetcher had more than triple the guards? There must have been eight of them in there. It was like he was daring us to come and get him.' I pressed my mouth into a tight line. 'Any tips to get me in there?' 'Well, there's an old sewer tunnel that dumps into the lake on the northwest side of the island. That's how I slipped in there. Should still be unguarded.' I smiled. 'Thank you, Vex.' 'Whatever.' That girl just didn't seem to like me. I walked away pulling up my hood. Better do this job quick and return before midnight.

My breath was caught in my throat as I sat crouched in front of the wooden gate that lead to the Estate. I fumbled with some lockpicks as quiet as possible, but when the fifth broke, I cursed a bit too loud. 'Hey, over here!' My gaze shot up and I faced a bandit, a wicked smile on his face. 'Hello there girlie! Want to break in, eh? You want to see what we do to trespassers?' I stepped backwards and my eyes shot around, looking for a way to escape. I quickly dodged the arrow as I jumped onto a rock formation in the river that was next to the bridge I had been standing on. 'Where are you?' I hear the voice of a bandit very close to me. I held my breath, pressing my body even tighter against the rock. My hand wrapped itself around a dagger in my belt and I listened to the footsteps of the man. 'Must've been the wind.' As they became less and less loud, I slipped out of my hiding spot and sneaked up behind the man. I quietly went up, covering his mouth with my gloved hand as I slid my knife into his back. 'There, there...' I whispered in his ear as I pulled the blade out of him, his lifeless body collapsing onto the ground. 'There you are!' I looked over my shoulder, a bandit pointing at me dangerously. I spun around firmly, the dagger leaving my hand with a fast movement. It dug itself into the bandit's skull with a loud crack. Blood spilled over my newly received armor as I fetched the dagger from the dead woman. 'Guys! Look, over there!' I felt arrows fly right past me and I swallowed. I rolled behind a tree, lining up an arrow. As I stabilized the tip on one of the bandits chests, a small smirk appeared on my face. The arrow made impact with the mans body, he stumbled backwards fell onto the ground. Just a few enemies left. I could beat all of them within a matter of seconds. Moving quickly to dodge the arrows, I walked towards them. I grabbed my sword from it's sheath and started slicing the men and women up. 'Weren't expecting that, were ya?' I mocked one of the lines one of them tried earlier to scare me away. As my gaze settled upon the beehives, I smiled. This was going to be as easy as taking candy from a kid.

The flames had been reaching high into the sky as my torch set them alight. However, after this small success, I decided to slip inside the house quickly through the shortcut Vex had mentioned, Nero waiting right outside. He was not flexible enough to make his way up ladders and such. It turned out Vex hadn't been lying; the place was indeed crowded with mercenaries. This was of course no trouble for me and I killed them with ease. When I reached the master bedroom, leaving a trail of death behind, I saw Aringoth sitting in a corner, shrunk into a ball of trembling misery. 'Hello, mer scum.' He looked up, his amber eyes scared and weak. 'Hand me the key to your safe or I am going to make this really painful.' The Bosmer stood up and handed me the key. 'N-Now go before I change my mind.' I smirked. 'Very well. Stay there, you pathetic old man.' Being harsh towards this Guild-traitor made me feel confident. I started pacing around the room and took a valuable looking bee statue from the nightstand. 'Is this worth something?' I asked sarcastically. His eyes widened. 'N-No please not--' 'Don't even try, mer.' I slipped it into my bag. 'Now stay there until I leave and wait for three hours. If you alert anyone, you're going to be very sorry. Have a nice day.' The rest of the job was a piece of cake. I killed the last few mercenaries that were walking around the basement, plundered the contents of Aringoths safe and lock-picked myself into a nicely filled chest. I chuckled to myself as I placed the moonstone circlet I found on top of my head. '(Y/n) (L/n), the queen of thieves.' However, I didn't notice a man sneaking up to me. When his wooden club made contact with the back of my head, the world became black.