“Igmund's not that good a Jarl, is he?” she sighed. “Especially not with all this going on under his nose. And as for Thonar Silver-Blood, I'd happily kill him myself for slinging me in here without even a trial. Whereas you've actually been nice to me and you in no way had to be.” She turned to face him. “You know, you'd make a better Jarl than Igmund. But no more murdering innocent people, or massacring Nords, understand? You have to behave yourselves. I can't get you your land back or grant you a pardon if you're not actually sorry and willing to change your ways.”
Madanach was grinning, and there was very little evidence of remorse there at all, but he did nod in agreement.
“Oh, don't worry, my little deal with Thonar is drawing to a close. And if the High Queen of Skyrim is considering giving us our land back, well, I can agree a little amnesty for a while. May I take it your Blades friends won't be destroying any more of our camps?”
“I'll talk to them,” Elisif promised. “It really was just the Temple we wanted, now we have that, we're good.”
“I hope so,” Madanach said. He was still watching her, something clearly still bothering him.
“What is it?” Elisif sighed. “What else do you want?”
“I have some more questions, if I may,” Madanach said. Elisif nodded for him to go and ask them. “If you're so against murdering the innocent, why are you working with the Dark Brotherhood? Don't tell me you don't have one of them with you, I have eyewitness accounts of a little red-haired daedra called Cicero swearing he'd send us to the Void in the name of Sithis. Well, he's not one of us, and the only other organisation who believe in Sithis and the Void are the Brotherhood. Going to get them to stop murdering innocents too?”
“If I have to,” said Elisif, remembering Veezara lying dead on the floor of her bedroom and Arnbjorn bleeding out on the road through Falkreath. “They tried to kill me once. They'll try again, but I don't intend to let them win.”
A sharp intake of breath from Madanach, and she'd never thought she'd see fear in his eyes, but he looked genuinely worried.
“They have a contract out on you,” he gasped. “Sithis, Elisif...”
And this was what Elisif had feared, the Dark Brotherhood and Forsworn being in league.
“You have an agreement with them,” she said, prepared to run if she had to – but where, that was the trouble. So it was she could have cried when Madanach shook his head.
“We used to. Many years ago when they first got started. We trained their assassins, they helped us out. Sithis is one of our gods, they worship Sithis too.” Then his eyes hardened. “But we drifted apart years ago. Sacrament doesn't even work any more. There's no one in the Forsworn remembers the old days personally, and I think they've abandoned us. So you're planning to take them on, are you? Presumably this Cicero's a renegade member.”
“Yes, although he doesn't see it that way,” Elisif explained. “The Dark Brotherhood's down to one group, according to him. They lost their Cyrodiil Sanctuaries after the war, there's just the Skyrim one and it no longer follows their leader, the Night Mother. Cicero still does, but he's the only one. There was a fight over it and he had to flee the Sanctuary. We saved him and now he's working for us. He thinks they're liars and heretics, not the real Brotherhood any more, so he's willing to help me fight them. He's... a bit odd, all right, very odd, but he can be really nice and he's already taken care of one of them for me!”
Madanach's worry had eased, and now he just looked sad. “So the Brotherhood have abandoned their Matriarch. No wonder the Sacrament stopped working.” He did smile then, grinning at Elisif in the candlelight. “In that case, I'd say they've got it coming. All right, next question. How exactly did you end up here anyway? My opinion of the Nords' intelligence has never been high, but even they aren't stupid enough to throw their own queen into prison, right? Surely the Jarl recognised you, he was up in Solitude at that Moot thing they held after the old High King died.”
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timeasmymeasure
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 13.11
Date: 2013-11-11 09:00 pm (UTC)Madanach was grinning, and there was very little evidence of remorse there at all, but he did nod in agreement.
“Oh, don't worry, my little deal with Thonar is drawing to a close. And if the High Queen of Skyrim is considering giving us our land back, well, I can agree a little amnesty for a while. May I take it your Blades friends won't be destroying any more of our camps?”
“I'll talk to them,” Elisif promised. “It really was just the Temple we wanted, now we have that, we're good.”
“I hope so,” Madanach said. He was still watching her, something clearly still bothering him.
“What is it?” Elisif sighed. “What else do you want?”
“I have some more questions, if I may,” Madanach said. Elisif nodded for him to go and ask them. “If you're so against murdering the innocent, why are you working with the Dark Brotherhood? Don't tell me you don't have one of them with you, I have eyewitness accounts of a little red-haired daedra called Cicero swearing he'd send us to the Void in the name of Sithis. Well, he's not one of us, and the only other organisation who believe in Sithis and the Void are the Brotherhood. Going to get them to stop murdering innocents too?”
“If I have to,” said Elisif, remembering Veezara lying dead on the floor of her bedroom and Arnbjorn bleeding out on the road through Falkreath. “They tried to kill me once. They'll try again, but I don't intend to let them win.”
A sharp intake of breath from Madanach, and she'd never thought she'd see fear in his eyes, but he looked genuinely worried.
“They have a contract out on you,” he gasped. “Sithis, Elisif...”
And this was what Elisif had feared, the Dark Brotherhood and Forsworn being in league.
“You have an agreement with them,” she said, prepared to run if she had to – but where, that was the trouble. So it was she could have cried when Madanach shook his head.
“We used to. Many years ago when they first got started. We trained their assassins, they helped us out. Sithis is one of our gods, they worship Sithis too.” Then his eyes hardened. “But we drifted apart years ago. Sacrament doesn't even work any more. There's no one in the Forsworn remembers the old days personally, and I think they've abandoned us. So you're planning to take them on, are you? Presumably this Cicero's a renegade member.”
“Yes, although he doesn't see it that way,” Elisif explained. “The Dark Brotherhood's down to one group, according to him. They lost their Cyrodiil Sanctuaries after the war, there's just the Skyrim one and it no longer follows their leader, the Night Mother. Cicero still does, but he's the only one. There was a fight over it and he had to flee the Sanctuary. We saved him and now he's working for us. He thinks they're liars and heretics, not the real Brotherhood any more, so he's willing to help me fight them. He's... a bit odd, all right, very odd, but he can be really nice and he's already taken care of one of them for me!”
Madanach's worry had eased, and now he just looked sad. “So the Brotherhood have abandoned their Matriarch. No wonder the Sacrament stopped working.” He did smile then, grinning at Elisif in the candlelight. “In that case, I'd say they've got it coming. All right, next question. How exactly did you end up here anyway? My opinion of the Nords' intelligence has never been high, but even they aren't stupid enough to throw their own queen into prison, right? Surely the Jarl recognised you, he was up in Solitude at that Moot thing they held after the old High King died.”